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diff --git a/17099-h/17099-h.htm b/17099-h/17099-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7d057a --- /dev/null +++ b/17099-h/17099-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7184 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea, by Janet Aldridge. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + a[name] { position:absolute; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + + table { font-variant:small-caps; width: 60%; padding: 1em; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .tr {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + .tocch { text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + .tocpg {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } +.img1 {border-style:solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#2F0076; } + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; text-indent: 0; font-weight: normal; color: gray; font-size: 0.7em; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea, by Janet Aldridge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea + Or The Loss of The Lonesome Bar + +Author: Janet Aldridge + +Release Date: November 18, 2005 [EBook #17099] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA *** + + + + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Greg Weeks, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="The Sea Lay Sparkling in the Sunlight." width="350" height="526" /><span class="caption"><br />The Sea Lay Sparkling in the Sunlight.</span></p> + + +<h1>The Meadow-Brook <br /> +Girls by the Sea</h1> + +<h3>OR<br /> + +The Loss of The Lonesome Bar</h3> + + +<h3> </h3> +<h3> </h3> +<h3>By</h3> +<h2>JANET ALDRIDGE</h2> + + +<h4>Author of the Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas, The Meadow-Brook<br /> +Girls Across Country, The Meadow-Brook Girls<br /> +Afloat, The Meadow-Brook Girls in The Hills,<br /> +The Meadow-Brook Girls on The<br /> +Tennis Courts</h4> + + +<h3> </h3> +<h3> </h3> +<h3> </h3> +<h3>THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY</h3> +<p class="center"> <b>Akron, Ohio </b> + <b>New York</b></p> + +<p class="center"><b>Made in U.S.A.</b></p> + +<p class="center"> </p> +<p class="center"> </p> +<p class="center">Copyright MCMXIV</p> +<p class="center"><i>By</i> THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY +</p> + + + +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table summary="Contents" > +<tr> + + <td colspan="2" class="tocch">Chapter.</td> + + <td ></td><td class="tocpg">Page.</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">I</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_I">A Delightful Mystery</a></td><td class="tocpg">7</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">II</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_II">What Came of a Cold Plunge</a></td><td class="tocpg">21</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">III</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Harriet Has a Narrow Escape</a></td><td class="tocpg">33</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">A Question of Politics</a></td><td class="tocpg">43</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">V</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Rocky Road to Wau-Wau</a></td><td class="tocpg">56</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">At Home by the Sea</a></td><td class="tocpg">73</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">A Sudden Storm</a></td><td class="tocpg">83</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">A Never-to-be-Forgotten Night</a></td><td class="tocpg">91</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">A Surprise That Proved a Shock</a></td><td class="tocpg">102</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">X</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Summoned to the Council</a></td><td class="tocpg">109</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">A Reward Well Earned</a></td><td class="tocpg">120</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Mystery on a Sand Bar</a></td><td class="tocpg">131</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">A Strange Proceeding</a></td><td class="tocpg">139</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">A Visitor Who Was Welcome</a></td><td class="tocpg">147</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Tommy Makes a Discovery</a></td><td class="tocpg">157</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XVI</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Too Good to be True</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">167</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XVII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">When Their Ship Came In</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">178</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XVIII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">Fireworks From the Masthead</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">190</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XIX</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">Sailing the Blue Water</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">200</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XX</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">Out of Sight of Land</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">214</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XXI</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">An Anxious Outlook</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">225</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XXII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">In the Grip of Mighty Seas</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">232</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIII</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">Waging a Desperate Battle</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">239</td></tr> +<tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIV</td> + <td > </td> + <td ><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">Conclusion</a></td> + <td class="tocpg">246</td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Meadow-Brook_Girls_by_the_Sea" id="The_Meadow-Brook_Girls_by_the_Sea"></a>The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY</h3> + + +<p>"I think we are ready to start, girls." Miss Elting folded the road +map that she had been studying and placed it in a pocket of her long +dust coat. There was a half-smile on her face, a merry twinkle in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Which way do I drive?" questioned Jane McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"Straight ahead out of the village," answered Miss Elting, the +guardian of the party of young girls who were embarking on their +summer's vacation under somewhat unusual circumstances.</p> + +<p>"It's the first time I ever started for a place without knowing what +the place was, or where I was going," declared Jane McCarthy, +otherwise known as "Crazy Jane."</p> + +<p>"Won't you pleathe tell uth where we are going?" lisped Grace +Thompson.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting shook her head, with decision.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do my father and mother know where we are going?" persisted Grace.</p> + +<p>"Of course they know, Tommy. The parents of each of you know, and I +know, and so shall you after you reach your destination. Have you +everything in the car, Jane?"</p> + +<p>"Everything but myself," nodded Jane. The latter's automobile, well +loaded with camping equipment, stood awaiting its passengers. The +latter were Miss Elting, Jane McCarthy, Harriet Burrell, Grace +Thompson, Hazel Holland and Margery Brown, the party being otherwise +known as "The Meadow-Brook Girls." "Get in, girls. We'll shake the +dust of Meadow-Brook from our tires before you can count twenty," +continued Jane. "If Crazy Jane were to drive through the town slowly +folks surely would think something startling had happened to her. Is +there anything you wish to do before we leave, Miss Elting?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I think of at the moment, Jane."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's say good-bye to our folks," suggested Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>"I have thaid good-bye," answered Grace with finality.</p> + +<p>"We'll give them a farewell blast," chuckled Jane. With that she +climbed into the car, and, with a honk of the horn, drove down that +street and into the next, keeping the horn going almost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>continually. +As they passed the home of each girl the young women gave the yell of +the Meadow-Brook Girls:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rah, rah, rah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rah, rah, rah!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sis, boom, ah!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was shouted in chorus at their homes, and as the car passed the +homes of their friends as well. Hands were waved from windows, hats +were swung in the air by boy friends, while the older people smiled +indulgently and nodded to them as the rapidly moving motor car passed +through the village.</p> + +<p>"I think the town knows all about it now. Suppose we make a start?" +suggested Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"We haven't therenaded the pothtmathter yet," Tommy reminded her.</p> + +<p>"Nor the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker," answered +Harriet Burrell laughingly. "How long a drive have we, Miss Elting?"</p> + +<p>"Four or five hours, ordinarily. Jane undoubtedly will make it in much +less time, if she drives at her usual rate of speed. Straight south, +Jane. I will tell you when to change." +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>The faces of the girls wore a puzzled expression. They could not +imagine where they were going. Miss Elting had made a mystery of this +summer vacation, and not a word had the girls been able to obtain from +her as to where they were to go: whether to tour the country in Crazy +Jane's automobile, or to go into camp. Tommy declared that it was a +perfectly delightful mythtery, and that she didn't care where they +were going, while Margery on the contrary, grumbled incessantly.</p> + +<p>The start had been made late in the afternoon. The day had been +cloudy. There were even indications of rain, but the girls did not +care. They were too well inured to the weather to be disturbed by +lowering skies and threatening clouds. In the meantime Jane McCarthy +was bowling along to the southward, throwing up a cloud of dust, +having many narrow escapes from collisions with farmers' wagons and +wandering stock. They had been traveling about two hours when the +guardian directed their daring driver to turn to the left. The latter +did so, thus heading the car to the eastward.</p> + +<p>"I think I begin to understand," thought Harriet Burrell aloud.</p> + +<p>"What ith it that you underthtand?" demanded Tommy, pricking up her +ears. "You know where we are going, don't you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can make a close guess," replied Harriet, nodding brightly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, tell uth, tell uth," begged Tommy.</p> + +<p>Harriet shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't think of it. Miss Elting wishes it to be a surprise to +you."</p> + +<p>"Well, won't it be jutht ath much of a thurprithe now ath it will be +thome other time?" argued Grace Thompson.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Harriet just imagines she knows. I do not believe she knows +any more about our destination than do the rest of our party," said +the guardian. "But why worry about it? You will know when you get +there."</p> + +<p>Jane stopped the car, and, getting out, proceeded to put the curtains +up on one side, Harriet and Hazel doing the same on the opposite side. +The storm curtain, with its square of transparent isinglass, was next +set in place to protect the driver from the front, the wind shield +first having been turned down out of the way.</p> + +<p>"Now let the rain come," chuckled Jane, after having taken a quick +survey of their work.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it is nice and cosy in here," answered Miss Elting. "I almost +believe I should like to sleep in here during a rainstorm."</p> + +<p>"Excuthe me," objected Tommy. "I'd be thure to get crampth in my +neck."</p> + +<p>"She would that," answered Jane laughingly, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>starting the car and a +moment later throwing in the high-speed clutch.</p> + +<p>The party was not more than fairly started on the way again when the +raindrops began pattering on the leather top of the car.</p> + +<p>"There it comes," cried Jane McCarthy. "Sounds like rain on a tin +roof, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>The downpour rapidly grew heavier, accompanied by lightning and +thunder. The flashes were blinding, dazzling Jane's eyes so that she +had difficulty in keeping her car in the road. It was now nearly +evening, and an early darkness had already settled over the landscape. +There was little hope of more light, for night would be upon them by +the time the storm had passed. True, there would be a moon behind the +clouds, but the latter bade fair to be wholly obscured during the +evening.</p> + +<p>Despite the blinding storm that masked the road, and the sharp flashes +of lightning that dazzled the eyes of the driver, Crazy Jane McCarthy +went on driving ahead at the same rate of speed until Miss Elting +begged her to go more slowly. Jane reduced the speed of the car, +though so slightly as to be scarcely noticeable.</p> + +<p>The guardian smiled but made no further comment. Being shut in as they +were, they would have difficulty in getting out were an ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>cident to +befall them. All at once, however, Jane slowed down with a jolt. She +then sent the car cautiously ahead, this time driving out on a level +grass plot at the side of the road. There she shut down, turned off +the power, and, leaning back, yawned audibly.</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" she said wearily.</p> + +<p>"Why, Jane, what is the matter?" cried Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"Like a sailboat, we can't make much headway without wind. As it +happens, we have no wind on the quarter, as the sailors would say."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"She means the tires are down," explained Harriet Burrell.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I told Dad those rear tires were leaking, but he declared they +were good for five hundred miles yet."</p> + +<p>"Can't we patch them?" queried Harriet.</p> + +<p>"We can," replied Jane, "but we aren't going to until this rain lets +up a little. Please don't ask me to get out and paddle about in the +wet, for I'm not going to do anything of the sort." Jane began to hum +a tune. Her companions settled back comfortably. It was dry and cosy +in the car and the travellers felt drowsy. Jane was the only really +wide-awake one. Margery finally uttered a single, loud snore that +awakened the others. The girls ut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>tered a shout and began shaking +Margery, who pulled herself sharply together, protesting that she +hadn't been asleep for even one little minute.</p> + +<p>"That ith the way thhe alwayth doeth," observed Tommy. "Then thhe +denieth it. I'm glad I don't thnore. Ithn't it awful to thnore, Mith +Elting?"</p> + +<p>"Having too much to say is worse," answered Jane pointedly. "The storm +has passed. Let's get out and fix things up. Harriet, will you help +me? Miss Elting, if you will be good enough to engineer the +taking-down of the side curtains and the lowering of the top I shall +be obliged. We shan't need the top. We aren't going to have any more +rain to-night, and I want all the light I can get, especially as we +are going over strange roads. Have you been this way before?"</p> + +<p>"No, Jane, but I have the road map."</p> + +<p>"Road map!" scoffed the Irish girl. "I followed one once and landed in +a ditch!"</p> + +<p>"That ith nothing for Crathy Jane to do," lisped Grace.</p> + +<p>"Right you are, Tommy," answered Jane with a hearty laugh. "Just as I +thought, the tires, the inner tubes, are leaking around the valves. We +shan't be able to do much with them, but I think we can make them hold +until <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>we get in. I'll have some new inner tubes sent out to us. By +the way, are we going to be where we can send for supplies and have +them delivered?" questioned Jane shrewdly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think so," was Miss Elting's evasive answer.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you glad you found out?" chuckled Harriet.</p> + +<p>Jane grinned, but said nothing. The work of patching the two inner +tubes occupied nearly an hour before the tires were back in place and +the car ready to start. Harriet, in the meantime, had lighted the big +headlights and the rear light.</p> + +<p>"All aboard for Nowhere!" shouted Jane. The girls again took their +places in the car, which started with a jolt. "Is it straight ahead, +Miss Elting?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I hope you know where you're going. I'm sure I don't," remarked Jane +under her breath.</p> + +<p>They had gone but a short distance before the driver discovered that +which displeased her very much. The lights on the front of the car +were growing dim. Her companions noticed this at about the same time.</p> + +<p>"The gas is giving out," exclaimed Jane. "Isn't that provoking? With +us it is one continuous round of surprises."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What are we going to do?" questioned Margery apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"Just the same as before: keep on going," replied the Irish girl. +"I've driven without lights before this. I guess I can do it again. I +can see the road and so can you."</p> + +<p>"Please reduce your speed a little," urged Miss Elting. The driver did +so, for Jane was not quite so confident of her ability to keep to the +road as she would have had them believe. "There comes some one. Please +stop; I want to ask him a question."</p> + +<p>A farmer on a horse had ridden out to one side of the road, where he +was holding his mount, the horse being afraid of the car. Miss Elting +asked him how they might reach the Lonesome Cove. The girls were very +deeply interested in this question as well as in the answer to it. +They had never heard of Lonesome Cove. So that was to be their +destination? They nudged each other knowingly. The farmer informed +Miss Elting that the Cove was about eight miles farther on.</p> + +<p>"Take your third right hand turn and it'll lead you right down into +the Cove," he said. "It's a pretty lonesome place now," he added.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand," replied the guardian hurriedly, "but we know all +about that. Thank you very much. You may drive ahead now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>Jane." Jane +smiled and started on. "I keep watch of the turns of the road. You pay +attention to your driving exclusively," added Miss Elting. "And, +girls, you keep a sharp lookout, too."</p> + +<p>"Where ith thith Lonethome Cove?" questioned Tommy. "I don't like the +thound of the name."</p> + +<p>"You will like it when you get there," answered the guardian. "But I +said I would not tell you anything about it. Time enough when we reach +there. You shall then see for yourselves. You are going too fast, +Jane."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to reach there some time before morning. The road is clear +and level. I'm going only twenty miles an hour, as it is. That's just +a creeping pace, you know," reassured Jane.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," answered the guardian, with a shake of her head. They +continued on, but without much conversation, for Jane was busy +watching the road, her companions keeping a sharp lookout for the +turns. They had already passed two roads that led off to the right. +The next, according to their informant, would be the one for them to +take to reach the Lonesome Cove.</p> + +<p>"Here is the third turn," announced Jane finally, bringing her car to +a stop. The high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>way on which they had been riding was shaded with +second-growth trees, as was the intersecting road. The latter was +narrow; but, from Jane's investigations, she having stepped down to +examine it, it was hard though not well-traveled. "Have you been here +before, Miss Elting?"</p> + +<p>"No, Jane; I have not. Go ahead and drive carefully, for I hardly +think it a main road."</p> + +<p>"It's a good one, whether it is a main road or not."</p> + +<p>They moved on down the side road, and, gaining confidence as they +progressed, Jane McCarthy let out a notch at a time until she was +traveling at a fairly high rate of speed. Their way wound in and out +among the small trees and bushes that bordered the road, the latter +narrowing little by little until there was barely room for turning out +in case they were to meet another vehicle. However, there seemed +little chance of that. The motor car appeared to be the only vehicle +abroad that night.</p> + +<p>The road now was so dark that it was only by glancing up at the tops +of the bordering trees, outlined against the sky, that the driver of +the car was able to keep well in the middle of it. She was straining +her eyes, peering into the darkness ahead.</p> + +<p>"How far?" demanded Jane shortly, never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>removing her gaze from the +trees and the roadway.</p> + +<p>"We must be near the place. Surely it cannot be far now," answered the +guardian. "I thought we should have seen a light before this."</p> + +<p>"We're coming into the open," broke in Jane. "I'm glad of that. Now we +needn't be afraid of running into the trees or the fences, if there +are any along the track. I can't make out the sides of the road at +all. I—"</p> + +<p>A sudden and new sound cut short her words. The girls, realizing that +something unusual was occurring, fell suddenly silent. The roadway +beneath them gave off a hollow sound, as if they were going over a +bridge. The fringe of trees had fallen away, while all about them was +what appeared to be a darkened plain or field. Yet strain their eyes +as they would, the travelers were unable to distinguish the character +of their surroundings, though Harriet Burrell, with chin elevated, had +been sniffing the air suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"I smell water," she cried.</p> + +<p>"Tho do I," lisped Tommy. "But I don't want a drink."</p> + +<p>Jane began to slow down as soon as the new sound had been heard. The +car was rolling along slowly. For some unaccountable reason the driver +put on a little more speed. Then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>came Jane McCarthy's voice, in a +quick, warning shout:</p> + +<p>"Here's trouble. Jump, girls! Jump! We're going in!"</p> + +<p>They did not know what it was that they were going into, but not a +girl of them obeyed Jane's command. Margery half-arose from the seat. +Hazel pulled her back.</p> + +<p>"Sit still, girls!" commanded Miss Elting. "Stop the car, Jane!"</p> + +<p>The driver shut off and applied the brake. But she was too late. The +automobile kept on going. The roadway underneath it seemed to be +dropping away from them; for a few seconds they experienced the +sensation of riding on thin air; then the car lurched heavily forward, +and, with a mighty splash, plunged into water. A great sheet of solid +water leaped up and enveloped them.</p> + +<p>"Everyone for herself!" cried Harriet Burrell. "Jump, girls!"</p> + +<p>This time they <i>did</i> essay to jump. Before they could do so, however, +they were struggling to free themselves from the sinking car, the +water already over their heads.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>WHAT CAME OF A COLD PLUNGE</h3> + + +<p>Five girls and their guardian struggled free from the sinking motor +car and began paddling for the surface. All knowing how to swim, they +instinctively held their breath when they felt the water closing over +them. Fortunately for the Meadow-Brook Girls, the top had been removed +from the car, else all would have been drowned before they could have +extricated themselves. Jane had the most difficulty in getting out. +She was held to her seat by the steering wheel for a few seconds, but +not so much as a thought of fear entered her mind. Crazy Jane went to +work methodically to free herself, which she succeeded in doing a few +seconds after her companions had reached the surface.</p> + +<p>"Thave me, oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy Thompson chokingly.</p> + +<p>There followed a great splashing, accompanied by shouts and choking +coughs. About this time Jane McCarthy's head appeared above the water. +She took a long, gasping breath, then called out:</p> + +<p>"Here we are, darlin's! Is anybody wet?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Girls, are you all here?" cried Miss Elting anxiously. "Call your +names."</p> + +<p>They did so, and there was relief in every heart when it was found +that not a girl was missing. But they had yet to learn how they +happened to be in the water. The latter was cold as ice, it seemed to +them, and their desire now was to get to shore as quickly as possible. +Which way the shore lay they did not know, but from the looks of the +sky-line it was apparent that they would not be obliged to go far in +either direction to find a landing place.</p> + +<p>"Follow me, girls," directed the guardian. "We will get out of here +and talk about our disaster afterward. Harriet, please bring up the +rear. Be sure that no one is left behind."</p> + +<p>The splashing ceased, each girl starting forward with her own +particular stroke: Tommy swimming frog-fashion, Margery blowing, +puffing, and groaning, paddling like a four-footed animal.</p> + +<p>"Oh, help!" she moaned.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I'm not tho fat ath you are," observed Tommy to the puffing +Margery.</p> + +<p>"That will do, Tommy! Buster is quite as well able to take care of +herself as are you. I've touched bottom! Here we are, girls. Oh, I am +so glad!"</p> + +<p>"Where ith it? I can't thee the bottom."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stop swimming, and you'll feel it," suggested Jane, who, having +reached the shore, waded out of the water and ran, laughing, up the +bank. "My stars, what a mess!"</p> + +<p>One by one the others emerged from the cold water and stood shivering +on the beach.</p> + +<p>"Wring out your clothes," directed Miss Elting. This, some of them +were already doing. Margery sat down helplessly. Harriet assisted her +to her feet.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't do that. You surely will catch cold. Keep moving, dear," +ordered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I can't. My clothes weigh a ton," protested Margery.</p> + +<p>"Buthter thinkth it ith her clotheth that are heavy," jeered Tommy. +"It ithn't your clotheth, Buthter; it'th you."</p> + +<p>"Make her stop, Miss Elting. Don't you think I am suffering enough, +without Tommy making me feel any worse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do. Tommy, will you please stop annoying Margery?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth, Mith Elting, I'll thtop until Buthter getth dry again. But I'm +jutht ath wet at thhe ith, and I'm not croth."</p> + +<p>"Girls, we have had a very narrow escape. I dread to think what would +have happened had that automobile top been up. We should give thanks +for our deliverance. But I don't under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>stand how we came to get in +there, or what it is that we did get into," said the guardian.</p> + +<p>"I know. It wath water," Tommy informed her. "It wath wet water, too, +and cold water, and—"</p> + +<p>A shivering chorus of laughs greeted her words. Some of the girls +began whipping their arms and jumping up and down, for all were very +cold.</p> + +<p>"Can't we run?" asked Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if we can decide where the water is, and where it isn't," +replied Miss Elting. "Suppose we find the road? We can run up and down +that without danger of falling in."</p> + +<p>"It is just to the left of us; I can see the opening between the +trees," answered Harriet. She moved in the direction she had +indicated, "Here it is. Come on, girls."</p> + +<p>The others picked their way cautiously to her. Harriet started up the +road at a run, followed by the others and accompanied by the "plush, +plush, plush!" of shoes nearly full of water. Tommy sat down.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing on the ground?" shrieked Margery, as she stumbled +and fell over her little companion. "Why don't you tell me when you +are going to sit down, so that I won't fall over you?"</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't, if you weren't tho fat."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tommy!" broke in Miss Elting. The whole party had come to a halt, +following Margery's mishap.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mith Elting. I forgot. Buthter ithn't dry yet. +What am I doing? Yeth, I'm bailing out my thhoeth. Ugh! How they do +thtick to my feet. Oh, I can't get them on again!" wailed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"What a helpless creature you are," answered Harriet laughingly. +"Here, let me help you. There. You see how easy it is when once you +make up your mind that you really can."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't thee. It ith too dark. Help me up!"</p> + +<p>"Take hold of my hand. Here, Margery, you get on the other side. We +three will run together. Everyone else keep out of our way."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, becauthe Buthter ith—" Tommy, remembering her promise, checked +herself. The three started up the road at a brisk trot. Reaching the +main road, Harriet led them about, then began running back toward the +water.</p> + +<p>"Look out for the water," warned Jane shrilly, after they had been +going for a few minutes. But her warning came too late. Harriet, Tommy +and Margery had turned to the right after reaching the open. The three +fell in with a splash and a chorus of screams. The water was shallow +and there was no difficulty in get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>ting out, but the girls now were as +wet as before, and shivering more than ever. At this juncture the +guardian took a hand. She directed them to walk up and down the road +in orderly fashion, which they did, shivering, their teeth chattering +and the water dripping from their clothing. Reaching the main highway +the guardian turned out on this, walking her charges a full mile in +the direction they had been following before turning off into the +byway.</p> + +<p>"This part of the country appears to be deserted," she said. "I think +we had better return. In the morning we will try to find some one."</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" moaned Tommy. "Mutht we thtay here in our wet clotheth all +night?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so. What else is there for us to do?"</p> + +<p>"But let uth get our dry clotheth and put them on," urged Tommy. The +girls laughed at her.</p> + +<p>"Our clothes are down under the water in the car, darlin'," Jane +informed her.</p> + +<p>"Of course, they are soaked," reflected Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"I do not think so. The chest on the back of the car is water-proof as +well as dust-proof," said Jane. "If it weren't water-proof the things +in it would get soaked every time there was a driving rainstorm. No; +our other clothing is as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>dry as toast. You'll see that it is when we +get it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, when we do," groaned Margery—"<i>when</i> we do!"</p> + +<p>"It might as well be wet," observed the guardian. "We shan't be able +to get it out. Do you think the car is ruined, Jane?"</p> + +<p>"It's wet, like ourselves, Miss Elting. I reckon it will take a whole +summer to dry it out thoroughly. I've got to get word to Dad to come +after it."</p> + +<p>"What will he say when he learns of the accident, Jane?" questioned +Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Say? He will say it served the old car right for being such a fool. +My dad has common sense. He will have another car up here for us just +as soon as he can get one here. By the way, Miss Elting, how much +farther do we have to go?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Jane. I hope it isn't much farther. How far do you +think we traveled after meeting the man?"</p> + +<p>"Five miles, I should say."</p> + +<p>"And he told us that the third turn-off would lead us to Lonesome +Cove, did he not?"</p> + +<p>"He did, but he made a mistake. This is Wet Cove."</p> + +<p>"And a lonesome one, too, even if it isn't <i>the</i> Lonesome one," +chuckled Harriet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then we cannot be so very far from our destination. I am sure this +isn't the place. We haven't come far enough. Why didn't we think of +that before we turned into this road?"</p> + +<p>"If I knew where you wanted to go, I might be better able to answer +that question," reminded Jane. But the guardian was not to be caught +in Crazy Jane's trap, though it was too dark to reveal the quizzical +smile that wrinkled Miss Elting's face.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that I know myself, Jane," was her reply.</p> + +<p>"You fully expected to find some one here, did you not?" teased +Harriet. "I might say that you looked to find a number of persons +here?"</p> + +<p>"We won't discuss that now. Do you wish to spoil the little surprise +that I have been planning for you?"</p> + +<p>"If this is your surprise, I don't think much of it," declared Jane +bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Nor can I blame you," agreed Miss Elting. "But this is not the +surprise."</p> + +<p>"Maybe if we wait we will fall into thome more pondth," suggested +Grace. "Ith your thurprithe ath wet at thith one wath?"</p> + +<p>"I admit your right to tease me, Tommy," laughed the guardian.</p> + +<p>"Come on, everybody!" urged Harriet. "We must walk briskly and keep it +up. That will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>be the only way to keep us from catching cold as a +result of our wetting." Having paused for a moment to discuss their +situation the girls began tramping once more. As the hours dragged +along all became weary and drowsy. Their joints were growing stiff, +too, which condition was not improved by the chill of the night air. +Most active of all the party was little Tommy Thompson, who skipped +along, talking incessantly. Margery was scarcely able to keep up with +the party. Twice she leaned against a tree, closing her eyes, only to +fall to the ground in a heap. Harriet, though nearly as tired and +footsore as her companions, summoned all her will power and trudged +bravely along.</p> + +<p>Had the Meadow-Brook Girls not been so well seasoned to hardship, +serious results might have followed their unexpected bath in the chill +waters, followed by their exposure to the searching night wind. But +they were healthy, outdoor girls, as all our readers know. The first +volume of this series, "<span class="smcap">The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas</span>," +told the story of their first vacation spent in the open, when, as +members of Camp Wau-Wau in the Pocono Woods, they served their +novitiate as Camp Girls, winning many honors and becoming firmly +wedded to life in the woods.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>When that camping period came to an end Harriet and her companions, as +related in "<span class="smcap">The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country</span>," set out +on the long walk home, meeting with plenty of adventures and many +laughable happenings. It was during this hike that they became +acquainted with the Tramp Club Boys and entered into a walking contest +against them, which the Meadow-Brook Girls won.</p> + +<p>Our readers next met the girls in "<span class="smcap">The Meadow-Brook Girls +Afloat</span>," a volume which contained the account of their houseboat +life on Lake Winnepesaukee. It was there that they again outwitted the +Tramp Club, who took their defeat good-naturedly and by way of +retaliation aided the girls in running down a mysterious enemy whose +malicious mischief had caused them repeated annoyance.</p> + +<p>Then, as their summer was not yet ended, the Meadow-Brook Girls +accepted an invitation from Jane McCarthy to accompany her on a trip +through the White Mountains, all of which is fully set forth in +"<span class="smcap">The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills</span>."</p> + +<p>It was there that they met with a series of mishaps which they laid at +the door of an ill-favored man who had vainly tried to become their +guide. The disappearance of Janus Grubb, the guide who had been +engaged by Miss <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>Elting during their mountain hike, and the surprising +events that followed made the story of their mountain trip well worth +reading.</p> + +<p>And now, once more, we find the Meadow-Brook Girls ready to take the +trail again wherever that trail might lead. At the present moment, +however, it did not look as though Harriet Burrell and her friends +would reach their destination in the immediate future unless it were +nearer at hand than they thought.</p> + +<p>Not once during the night did the moon show her face, though about two +o'clock in the morning the clouds thinned, the landscape showing with +more distinctness. The girls, when they walked down to the shore, saw +a sheet of water covering several acres. Leading down to the water was +a pier that extended far out into the little lake or pond, whatever it +might be. Harriet, Jane and Miss Elting walked out to the far end of +the pier.</p> + +<p>Harriet pointed to the end of the pier as she stood above it. "It has +broken down," she said.</p> + +<p>"No; I think not," answered the guardian. "I think, too, that I +understand what this is. It is an ice pier. Ice is harvested from this +pond and carried up over that sloping platform and so on to the shore +or to conveyances waiting here. But how narrow it is. How ever did you +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>manage to keep on the pier until you reached the end, Jane, dear?"</p> + +<p>"I really don't know, Miss Elting," replied Jane, evidently impressed +with the feat she had accomplished. She leaned over and peered into +the water to see if she could find her car. It was not to be seen. +Dark objects, floating here and there about the surface, showed the +girls where part of their equipment had gone. Harriet was regarding +the dark objects with inquiring eyes.</p> + +<p>"I wish we had a boat," said Miss Elting. "We could gather up our +stuff. We can't afford to lose it."</p> + +<p>"We don't need a boat. Jane and I will get it out. What do you say, +Jane?" answered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you have in mind, darlin', but I'm with you, +whatever it is."</p> + +<p>"You and I will go in after the things."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Jane. "And in this cold water. +Br-rr-r!"</p> + +<p>"No; you must not do that," objected the guardian. "At least not now."</p> + +<p>"What is it you folks are planning?" questioned Hazel, who, with Tommy +and Buster, had joined the party at the end of the pier. Jane +explained what Harriet had proposed. Margery's teeth began to chatter +again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My—my weak heart won't stand any more," she groaned. "Don't ask me +to go into that horrid, cold water again. <i>Please</i> don't!"</p> + +<p>"You won't feel the cold once you are in," urged Harriet.</p> + +<p>"No. I didn't feel it the other time, did I?"</p> + +<p>"What? Go in thwimming," demanded Tommy. "I wouldn't go in that water +again for a dollar and fifty thentth; no, not for a dollar and +theventy-five thentth." Tommy began backing away, as though fearing +the others might insist and assist her in. Suddenly she uttered a +scream.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" yelled Tommy.</p> + +<p>They saw her lurch backward; her feet left the pier; then came a +splash. Tommy Thompson had gone over backward and taken to the water +head first.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>HARRIET HAS A NARROW ESCAPE</h3> + + +<p>"Thave me! Oh, thave me!"</p> + +<p>Tommy had turned over and righted herself before rising to the +surface. When she did appear she was within a foot or so of the pier. +Her little blonde head popped up from under the water all of a sudden, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>and in that instant she opened her mouth in a wail for help. Tommy's +companions were fairly hysterical with merriment. Tommy yelled again, +begging them to "thave" her.</p> + +<p>"I'll save ye, darlin'," cried Jane, throwing herself down and +fastening a hand lightly in Tommy's hair, whereat the little girl +screamed more lustily than before. "Lend a hand here, my hearties. The +darlin' wants to be saved. We'll save her, won't we?" Jane shouted in +great glee.</p> + +<p>"Of course we will," answered Harriet. She leaned over the edge of the +pier, Jane raising the little girl until the latter's shoulders were +above water; Harriet got hold of her dress and worked her hand along +until she had grasped Tommy by the ankles.</p> + +<p>"Let go!" yelled Tommy.</p> + +<p>She meant for Harriet to release her feet, but instead Jane McCarthy +released her hold on Tommy's shoulders. The next second Tommy Thompson +was standing on her head in the pond with Harriet Burrell jouncing her +up and down, trying to get her out of the water, but taking more time +about it, so it seemed, than was really necessary. Every time Tommy's +head was drawn free of the water she uttered a choking yell. There was +no telling how long the nonsense might have continued, had not Miss +El<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>ting thrust Harriet aside, resulting in Tommy's falling into the +water and having to be rescued again. Tommy was weeping when finally +they dragged her to the pier and wrung the water out of her clothing.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't you wish you were <i>fat</i>?" jeered Margery. "If you had +been, they couldn't have lifted you and you wouldn't have fallen in +again."</p> + +<p>"Fat like you? Never! I'd die firtht," replied Tommy. "But I may ath +it ith. I'm freething, Mith Elting."</p> + +<p>"Get up and go ashore. Hazel, will you please see that Grace doesn't +sit down on the cold ground?"</p> + +<p>Hazel Holland led the protesting Tommy along the pier to the shore, +where she walked the little girl up and down as fast as she could be +induced to move, which, after all, was not much faster than an +ordinarily slow walk. The others of the party remained out at the end, +walking back and forth and waiting until the coming of the dawn, so +that they might see to that for which they had planned by daylight.</p> + +<p>At the first suggestion of dawn, Harriet plunged into the pond without +a word of warning to her companions and began gathering up and pushing +bundles of equipment toward the shore. Jane and Hazel were not far +behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>her. Then Miss Elting, not to be outdone by her charges, +plunged in after them. Margery, shivering, turned her back on them and +walked shoreward.</p> + +<p>"'Fraid cat! 'fraid cat!" taunted Tommy, when she saw Margery coming.</p> + +<p>"I'm no more afraid than you are. You're afraid to go into the water. +The only way you can go in is to fall in or be pushed!"</p> + +<p>"Am I? Ith that tho? Well, I'll thhow you whether I am afraid of the +water. I dare you to follow me." Tommy fairly flew down the pier; +then, leaping up into the air, jumped far out, taking a clean +feet-first dive into the pond, uttering a shrill little yell just +before disappearing under the surface. But all at once she stood up, +and, by raising her chin a little, was able to keep her head above +water.</p> + +<p>"Hello there, Tommy, what are you standing on?" called Harriet, +puffing and blowing as she pushed a canvas-bound pack along ahead of +her.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I gueth it mutht be the automobile top. It ith nithe +and thpringy."</p> + +<p>"Please stay there until I get back. I wish to look it over. If you +can, I wish you would find the rear end of the car, so I may locate it +exactly."</p> + +<p>"What have you in mind, darlin'?" asked Jane, with a quick glance at +Harriet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm going to try to get our clothes. The trunk is strapped and +buckled to the rear end, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Tell me just how those buckles are placed; whether there is also a +loop through which the strap has been run, and all about it."</p> + +<p>"How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"You put the trunk on, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, but I can't remember all those things, even if I ever knew +them."</p> + +<p>"Jane, you should learn to observe more closely. Most persons are +careless about that." Harriet began swimming toward the shore with +Jane.</p> + +<p>"Thay! How long mutht I thtand here in the wet up to my prethiouth +neck?" demanded Grace Thompson. Her feet seemed to be very light. They +persisted in either rising or drifting away from the submerged +automobile top. Tommy kept her hands moving slowly to assist in +maintaining her equilibrium.</p> + +<p>"Wait until I return, if you will, please," answered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Thave me! I can't wait. Here I go <i>now</i>!" She slipped off and went +under, but came up sputtering and protesting. Instead of remaining to +mark the sunken car, Tommy swam rapidly to shore. She found Harriet, +Hazel and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>Jane sitting with feet hanging over the pier talking to +Miss Elting. The four were dripping, but none of them seemed to mind +this. The sun soon would be up, and its rays would dry their clothing +and bring them warmth for the first time since their disaster of the +night before.</p> + +<p>"Do be careful," Miss Elting was saying when Tommy swam up, and, +clinging to the pier with one hand, floated listlessly while listening +to what was being said.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Tommy? Couldn't you stand it any longer?" asked +Harriet.</p> + +<p>"My feet got tho light that I couldn't hang on."</p> + +<p>"She means her head instead of her feet," corrected Margery.</p> + +<p>"I think I had better go after the trunk now," decided Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would let me go with you," urged Jane.</p> + +<p>"No; two of us would be in each other's way. You folks had better stay +here and wait. There will be plenty to do after I get the trunk +ashore, provided I do. We must have all our outfit together by +sunrise, for we have a day's work ahead of us. Want to get up, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth."</p> + +<p>Harriet reached down and assisted Grace, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>dripping, to the pier. Then +she slipped in and swam in a leisurely way to the sunken automobile, +which she located after swimming about for a few moments. The next +thing to do was to find the rear end of the car. This was quickly +accomplished. Harriet took a long breath, then dived swiftly. It +seemed to her companions that she had been gone a long time, when, +finally, the girl's dark head rose dripping from the pond. She shook +her head, took several long breaths, then dived again.</p> + +<p>Three times Harriet Burrell repeated this. At last, after a brief +dive, they saw the black trunk leap free to the surface of the pond. +The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered a yell. Harriet had accomplished a task +that would have proved to be too much for the average man. Down there, +underneath the water, crouching under the backward tilting automobile +on the bottom of the pond, she had unbuckled three stubborn straps, +rising to the surface after unbuckling each strap, taking in a new +supply of delicious fresh air, then returning to her task.</p> + +<p>Before the Meadow-Brook Girls had finished with their shouting, +cheering and gleeful dancing, the black luggage had drifted some +distance from the spot where it had first appeared. So delighted were +they with the result of Harriet Burrell's efforts that, for the +moment, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>others entirely forgot the girl herself. But all at once +Miss Elting came to a realization of the truth. Something was wrong.</p> + +<p>"Harriet!" she cried excitedly. It was unusual for the guardian to +show alarm, even though she might feel it. "Where is Harriet?"</p> + +<p>The shouting and the cheering ceased instantly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's just playing a trick on us," scoffed Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the keen eyes of Jane McCarthy caught sight of something that +sent her heart leaping. That something was a series of bubbles that +rose to the surface. Jane gazed wide-eyed, neither moving nor +speaking, then suddenly hurled herself into the pond. Two loud +splashes followed her own dive into the water. Tommy and Miss Elting +were plunging ahead with all speed. Jane was the first to reach the +scene. She dived, came up empty-handed, then dived again. Tommy +essayed to make a dive, but did not get in deep enough to fully cover +her back. Miss Elting made an error in her calculations, as Jane had +done on the first dive, missing the sunken automobile by several feet.</p> + +<p>Now Hazel sprang into the water and swam to them as fast as she knew +how to propel herself. Jane shot out of the water and waved both arms +frantically above her head.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Spread out!" she cried in a strained, frightened voice.</p> + +<p>"Did—didn't you find her?" gasped Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>Jane was gone again, leaving a wake that reached all the way to the +beach, so violent had been her floundering dive.</p> + +<p>Tommy, who had raised her head from the water a short distance from +where the guardian was paddling, uttered a scream.</p> + +<p>"There thhe ith!" she cried; "there she ith! Right down there. Come in +a hurry. She ith under the car. I could thee her plainly. Oh, I'm tho +thcared!" Tommy began paddling for the shore with all speed.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting did not answer. Instead, she took a long dive. About this +time Jane came up. Hazel, who was making for the spot where the +guardian had disappeared, pointed to it. Jane understood. It took her +but a few seconds to reach the center of the rippling circle left by +the guardian; then Crazy Jane's feet kicked the air a couple of times. +She had taken an almost perpendicular dive. But it seemed that she had +not been under water more than a second or two when she lunged to the +surface. A few feet from her Miss Elting appeared, threw herself over +on her back and lay gasping for breath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She'th got her!" screamed Tommy. "Harriet ith dead!"</p> + +<p>Gazing out over the pond she saw Jane swimming swiftly toward shore, +dragging the apparently lifeless body of Harriet Burrell. Miss Elting +and Hazel were closing up on Jane rapidly. Reaching her side a moment +later, the guardian took one of Harriet's arms and assisted in towing +her in.</p> + +<p>Tommy remembered afterward having been fascinated by the expressions +in their faces. She stared and stared. The faces of the two women were +white and haggard. Still farther back she saw only Hazel's eyes. They +were so large that Tommy was scarcely able to credit their belonging +to Hazel. Had Tommy known it, her own face was more pale and haggard +at that moment than those of her companions.</p> + +<p>Jane dragged Harriet ashore; then Miss Elting grasped the unconscious +girl almost roughly, flung her over on her stomach and began applying +"first aid to the drowned."</p> + +<p>"Ith—ith she dead?" gasped Tommy.</p> + +<p>"She's drowned, darlin'," answered Crazy Jane McCarthy abruptly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>A QUESTION OF POLITICS</h3> + + +<p>"Lay her over on her back!"</p> + +<p>Jane obeyed Miss Elting's command promptly. The guardian, using her +wet handkerchief, cleared Harriet's mouth by keeping the tongue down +to admit the air.</p> + +<p>"Work her arms back and forth. We must set up artificial respiration," +she directed.</p> + +<p>Jane, without any apparent excitement, began a steady movement of the +patient's arms, bringing them together above the head, then down to +the sides. She continued this as steadily as if she were not face to +face with a great tragedy. She did not yet know whether or not it were +a tragedy; but, if appearances went for anything, it was. In the +meantime the guardian had glanced over her shoulder at the pond. She +saw the trunk slowly drifting in.</p> + +<p>"Get it and open it, Hazel," she commanded.</p> + +<p>"I haven't a key."</p> + +<p>"Break it open with a stone. Never mind a key."</p> + +<p>Hazel ran out into the water until she was up to her neck, then she +swam out. Reaching the floating trunk, she got behind it and began +push<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>ing it shoreward. Margery and Tommy stood watching the +proceedings in speechless horror. Hazel got the trunk ashore, when, +following the guardian's directions, she broke the lock open with a +stone.</p> + +<p>"It's open," she cried.</p> + +<p>"Are the things inside very wet?"</p> + +<p>"No; they are just as dry as they can be."</p> + +<p>"Good. Are Harriet's clothes there?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. Shall I take them out?"</p> + +<p>"Not just yet. I will tell you if they are needed."</p> + +<p>Hazel understood what was in the mind of the guardian. Were Harriet +Burrell not to recover, the dry clothing would not be needed. +Nevertheless, Hazel piled the contents of the trunk on the ground, +then replaced it, leaving Harriet's belongings at the top of the pile, +so that they would be ready at hand in case of need. In the meantime +Crazy Jane and Miss Elting persisted in their efforts to resuscitate +the unconscious girl. Though no sign of returning life rewarded their +labor, they continued without a second's halting. Half an hour had +passed. That was lengthened to an hour, then suddenly Jane stopped, +leaned over and peered into the pale face of Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I see a little color returning!" she cried in a shrill voice. +"Hurrah! Harriet's alive!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't thay?" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Keep her arms going! Don't stop for a single second," commanded Miss +Elting. "Hazel, take off Harriet's shoes. Beat the bottoms of her +feet. Oh, if we had something warm to put her in. Margery, you get out +Harriet's clothing from the trunk."</p> + +<p>"I—I can't," answered Buster in a weak voice.</p> + +<p>"Buthter ith too nervouth. I'll get them," offered Tommy. She did, +too. Now that she had something to do, she went about it as calmly as +though she had had no previous fear. "Are thethe what you want, Mith +Elting?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes; bring them here. She is breathing. Faster, Jane, faster!"</p> + +<p>"Don't pull her armth out by the roootth," warned Tommy. The guardian +made no reply. It was a critical moment and Harriet Burrell's life +hung on a very slender thread. Return to consciousness was so slow as +to seem like no recovery at all. The spot of red that had appeared in +either cheek faded and disappeared. Miss Elting's heart sank when she +noted the change in the face of the unconscious girl. Jane saw it, +too, but made no comment.</p> + +<p>Tommy, having taken the clothes from the trunk, now very methodically +piled them up near at hand, so that the guardian might reach <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>them +without shifting her position materially. Then the little girl stood +with hands clasped before her, her eyes squinting, her face twisted +into what Jane afterward said was a really hard knot.</p> + +<p>Two tiny spots of red once more appeared in each cheek of Harriet's +white face.</p> + +<p>"Shall I move her arms faster?" asked Jane.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting shook her head. "Keep on as you are. I don't quite +understand, but she is alive. Of that I am positive."</p> + +<p>For fully fifteen minutes after that the two young women worked in +silence. They noted joyfully that the tiny spots of color in Harriet's +cheeks were growing. The spots were now as large as a twenty-five-cent +piece. Miss Elting motioned for Jane to cease the arm movements, then +she laid an ear over Harriet's heart.</p> + +<p>"Keep it up," she cried, straightening suddenly. "We are going to save +her." Margery, who had drawn slowly near, turned abruptly, walked away +and sat down heavily. Jane's under lip trembled ever so little, but +she showed no other sign of emotion, and methodically continued at her +work.</p> + +<p>"Now, as soon as we can get the breath of life into her body, we must +strip off those wet clothes and bundle her into something dry. We +shall be taking a great chance in undressing her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>in the open air, but +the fact that Harriet is in such splendid condition should go a long +way toward pulling her through. I wish we had a blanket to wrap her +in. However, we shall have to do with what we have."</p> + +<p>Jane kept steadily at her work, her eyes fixed on the face of the +patient. She made no reply to Miss Elting's words. Tommy, however, +tilted her head to one side reflectively. Then she turned it ever so +little, regarding the broken trunk as if trying to make up her mind +whether or not she should hold it responsible for the disaster. After +a few moments of staring at the trunk she sidled over to it, and, +stooping down, began rummaging through its contents. From the trunk +she finally drew forth a long flannel nightgown. This she carried over +and gravely spread out on the pile of clothing that she had previously +placed near Miss Elting. The guardian's eyes lighted appreciatively.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear. That is splendid," she said, flashing a smile at +Tommy. "You are very resourceful. I am proud of you."</p> + +<p>"You're welcome," answered Grace with a grimace. "Ith there anything +elthe that I can do?"</p> + +<p>Miss Elting shook her head. The smile had left her face; all her +faculties were again centered on the work in hand. Shortly after that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>the two workers were gratified to note a quiver of the eyelids of the +patient. This was followed by a slight rising and falling of the +chest, and a few moments later Harriet Burrell opened her eyes, closed +them wearily and turned over on her face. Crazy Jane promptly turned +her on her back, and none too gently at that.</p> + +<p>"Plea—se let me alone. I'm all right," murmured Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Help me carry her out yonder under the trees," ordered the guardian. +"There will be less breeze there."</p> + +<p>"I'll carry her, Miss Elting." Jane picked Harriet up, and, throwing +the girl over her shoulder, staggered off into the bushes with her +burden. Harriet was heavy, but Jane McCarthy's fine strength was equal +to her task. Miss Elting had gathered up the clothing and followed. +Tommy started to accompany her, but the guardian motioned her back.</p> + +<p>"Jane and I will attend to her," she said. Tommy pouted and strolled +over to Margery.</p> + +<p>"Is—is Harriet going to die?" wailed Margery.</p> + +<p>"No, Buthter, she ithn't."</p> + +<p>Margery turned anxiously away. By the time the guardian reached the +spot where Jane had put Harriet down, the latter had fully recovered +consciousness; but she was shivering, her lips <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>were blue and her face +gray and haggard except for the two faint spots of color that had +first indicated her return to consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Hold her up while I strip off her waist," commanded Miss Elting. +Harriet protested that she was able to stand alone, but just the same +Jane supported her. It was the work of but a few moments to strip off +the cold, wet garments and put on dry ones, including the flannel +nightgown.</p> + +<p>"Let me lie down a little while," begged Harriet weakly.</p> + +<p>"No; you must walk. Jane, will you keep her going?"</p> + +<p>"That I will. Come to me, darlin'."</p> + +<p>Harriet got to her feet with the assistance of her companion. Jane +then began walking her slowly about. The color gradually returned to +the face of the Meadow-Brook Girl, the gray pallor giving place to a +more healthy glow. She wanted to talk, but Miss Elting said she was +not to do so for the present. Now, Tommy and Margery followed her +about, though without speaking. This walking was continued for the +better part of an hour. In the meantime Miss Elting was considering +what might best be done. She decided to go in search of some one who +would take them to their destination. After a talk with Harriet, and +leaving directions as to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>what was to be done during her absence, the +guardian set out, walking fast. She realized the necessity of warm +drinks and something to assist in stirring Harriet's circulation. The +Meadow-Brook Girl's escape from drowning had been a narrow one, but no +one realized the necessity for further treatment more than Miss Elting +did.</p> + +<p>After a time Harriet insisted on walking without the support of Jane's +arm, but it was a difficult undertaking. Harriet had to bring all the +resolution she possessed to the task of supporting her weakened limbs; +but she managed it, with now and then a rest, leaning against a tree +or a rock. Tommy had found her tongue again, to keep up a running fire +of inconsequential chatter that served its purpose well, assisting +Harriet in keeping her mind from her own troubles.</p> + +<p>The guardian returned, after having been absent half an hour. She came +running down the byway, shouting before she appeared in sight of the +party to know if all were well.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Harriet, I'm so glad to see you looking better! I have a boy and +a democrat wagon to take us to the real cove. This isn't the place at +all. Lonesome Cove is nearly five miles from here. But look! I've +something that will please you!" exclaimed the guardian.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What ith it?" demanded Tommy, edging near.</p> + +<p>"Coffee!" exclaimed Miss Elting triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"But how are we going to cook it?" cried Jane.</p> + +<p>"Get the coffee pot. It is in one of the packs that we saved. We have +neither milk nor sugar, but we shan't care about that. I met a boy, as +I have told you. He had been to mill with a grist, and was also taking +some groceries home with him. I secured the coffee by paying double +price for it, but consider it cheap at that. Hazel, you and Margery +will gather some dry wood and make a fire." Jane already had gone to +look for the coffee pot. She found it, after opening one of the wet +packs.</p> + +<p>"The fire is laid," announced Hazel, "but we haven't any matches. What +shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"Mith Elting hath thome matcheth," answered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"How do you know, my dear?" The guardian laughed merrily.</p> + +<p>"I thee a box in your pocket."</p> + +<p>"You see too much," declared Margery.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I bought matches, too." Miss Elting herself applied a match to +the sticks that had been laid for the cook fire. "Harriet, come right +here by the fire and warm yourself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Where is the boy?" asked Harriet.</p> + +<p>"He will be along in a few minutes. I ran all the way back. He will +drive in and wait until we are ready. I promised him two dollars if he +would take us to our destination."</p> + +<p>"Does he know where it is?" questioned Jane.</p> + +<p>"He says he does, but—" The guardian flushed and checked herself +abruptly. "I nearly gave my surprise away."</p> + +<p>Jane had the water boiling in a few minutes, then quickly made the +coffee. A cup was handed to Harriet. She drank it steaming hot.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that tastes good!" she breathed.</p> + +<p>"You can feel it all the way down, can't you?" questioned Tommy +solemnly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can."</p> + +<p>"Drink another one, dear," urged the guardian; "it won't keep you +awake. Perhaps, now that you feel better, you will tell us how you +came so near drowning?"</p> + +<p>"I did nearly drown, didn't I?"</p> + +<p>"You did, as thoroughly as one could and yet live to tell of it," +replied Miss Elting, her voice husky.</p> + +<p>"I had unfastened all the straps save the third one," began Harriet. +"By that time the trunk was standing on end. It was very buoyant. The +idea never occurred to me that there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>was any danger from the trunk. I +was too much concerned wondering if I shouldn't have to open my mouth, +for my lungs were nearly bursting. Well, I gave the last strap a jerk +and I think the buckle must have pulled off, for the end of the trunk +flew up and hit me on the head."</p> + +<p>"But how did you get wedged under the car springs?" interrupted the +guardian. "I found you there."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I don't remember anything that occurred after I was hit +by the trunk until I began to realize that some one was working over +me, and that I wished to be let alone. I was so comfortable that I did +not wish to be disturbed."</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" exclaimed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"How long did you work over me?"</p> + +<p>"More than an hour," replied Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"Then I really was just about drowned, was I not?" questioned Harriet, +her eyes growing large.</p> + +<p>"You were."</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell pondered a moment, then lifted a pair of serious brown +eyes to her companions.</p> + +<p>"I am glad I had the experience," she said, "but I am sorry I made so +much trouble. I feel all right now, and strong enough for almost +anything. When do we start for the Cove?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"At once. I hear the boy coming. Do you think you are really ready?"</p> + +<p>"I know I am. But I believe I will have another cup of coffee before +we start. Did we rescue all of our equipment?"</p> + +<p>"Some of it has been lost, but that doesn't matter so long as we have +you safe and sound, yes, there is the boy. Hoo-e-e-e!" called the +guardian.</p> + +<p>"Ye-o-o-w!" answered the boy promptly. They saw him turn into the +byway. The horse he was driving was so thin that every rib stood out +plainly. The democrat wagon was all squeaks and groans, its wheels +being so crooked that the girls thought they were going to come off.</p> + +<p>"You must help us to get our things aboard," said Miss Elting. "Will +your wagon hold them all?"</p> + +<p>"If it doesn't break down," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Well, some of us can walk."</p> + +<p>The boy backed his rickety wagon down near where the belongings of the +Meadow-Brook Girls lay in a tumbled heap. Jane assisted him in loading +the equipment, amazing the country boy by her strength and quickness.</p> + +<p>"You going to camp, eh?" he questioned.</p> + +<p>"We don't know what we are going to do," replied Jane. "We're likely +to do almost any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>thing that happens to enter our minds as well as some +things that don't enter our minds. Stow that package under the seat +forward; yes, that way. There. Do you think of anything else, Miss +Elting!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing except the automobile. I hardly think we shall be able to +take that with us."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, no," answered Jane with a broad grin. "We'll let Dad do that. +Who is going to ride?"</p> + +<p>"Let's see. Harriet, of course—"</p> + +<p>"I can walk," protested Harriet.</p> + +<p>"No; you will ride. Margery and Tommy also may ride. Hazel, Jane and I +will walk. It will do us good, for we need exercise this morning, +though I must say that a little breakfast would not come amiss."</p> + +<p>"You thay that ith a Democrat wagon?" questioned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear. Why do you ask?" answered Miss Elting smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I jutht wanted to know. I'll walk, thank you, Mith Elting. You thay +it ith a Democrat wagon?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. What of it?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't ride in a Democrat wagon. My father would dithown me if I +did! If it wath a Republican wagon, now, it would be all right—but a +Democrat wagon—thave me!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE ROCKY ROAD TO WAU-WAU</h3> + + +<p>"You surely are a loyal little Republican, Tommy. Whether we agree +with you in politics or not, we must respect your loyalty. However, I +think you had better get up and ride," urged Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>Tommy shook her head, regarding the democrat wagon with a disapproving +squint. Jane assisted Harriet up over the front wheel, Margery climbed +in on the other side, the boy "pushed on the reins," and the +procession moved slowly toward the main road, with Miss Elting, Jane, +Hazel and Tommy trudging on ahead. Harriet rode only a short distance +before she grew weary of it, and, dropping to the ground, ran on and +joined her companions.</p> + +<p>"I shall have nervous prostration if I ride in that wagon," she said. +"Every minute expecting it to collapse isn't any too good for one who +has just been drowned, and whose nerves are on edge."</p> + +<p>"Promise me that you will not overtax your strength; that if you feel +yourself getting weary you <i>will</i> get in and ride," answered the +guardian, looking anxiously at Harriet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I promise," was Harriet's laughing rejoinder.</p> + +<p>The sun by this time was high in the heavens and was blazing down on +them hotly. The warmth felt good, especially to those who still wore +the clothes in which they had spent so much time in the cold water of +the pond. To Harriet it was a grateful relief from the chill that had +followed her accident. Tommy permitted herself to lag behind, and the +moment she was out of ear-shot of her companions she began to quiz the +country boy to learn where he was taking them.</p> + +<p>"Lonesome Cove," he replied.</p> + +<p>"Where ith that?"</p> + +<p>"On the shore."</p> + +<p>"On what thhore?"</p> + +<p>"The sea shore."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Tho we are going to the thea thhore? I thee," reflected Tommy +wisely. "Are there lotth of people there?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't nobody there. It's just sea shore, that's all."</p> + +<p>Tommy chuckled and nodded to herself as she increased her pace and +joined her party.</p> + +<p>"When we get to camp I'm going to take a bath in the thea," she +announced carelessly. Miss Elting regarded her sharply.</p> + +<p>"Camp? Sea?" questioned the guardian.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yeth. I thaid 'camp' and 'thea.'"</p> + +<p>"Where do you think you are going, Grace?"</p> + +<p>"Why, to the thea thhore of courthe. But there ithn't anybody there."</p> + +<p>"Tommy, you've been spying. I am amazed at you."</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't been doing anything of the thort. It ith true, ithn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"I shall not tell you a single thing. You are trying to quiz me. That +isn't fair, my dear."</p> + +<p>Tommy chuckled and joined Harriet, linking an arm with her and +starting a lively conversation. Harriet, instead of growing weary, +appeared to be getting stronger with the moments. Her step was more +and more springy, and her face had resumed its usual healthy color, +but this was the longest five miles she remembered to have traveled. +The others felt much the same. It must be remembered that they had had +neither supper nor breakfast, except for the cup of coffee that they +had taken before starting out on their tramp. The guardian had hoped +to reach her destination in time for luncheon, when she knew the girls +would have a satisfying meal. However, the hour was near to one +o'clock when finally the boy shouted to them.</p> + +<p>They halted and waited for him.</p> + +<p>"Lonesome Cove down there, 'bout a quarter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>of a mile," he informed +them, jerking the butt of his whip in the direction of a thin forest +of spindling pines to the right of the highway. "Ocean right over +there."</p> + +<p>"I hear it," cried Harriet. "Doesn't it sound glorious?"</p> + +<p>"We thank you. You may unload our equipment and pile it by the side of +the road. We will carry it down to the beach, and again I thank you +very much."</p> + +<p>Jane and Hazel assisted in the unloading. They would permit neither +Harriet nor Miss Elting to help. The boy was paid and drove away +whistling. He had made a good deal, and knew very well that the folks +at home would find no fault over his delay when they learned that he +had earned two dollars.</p> + +<p>"Now, girls, do you know where you are?" asked the guardian, turning +to her charges.</p> + +<p>"Lost in the wilds of New Hampshire," answered Jane dramatically.</p> + +<p>"No, not lost. We shall soon be among friends. I promise you a great +surprise when we get down so near the sea that you hear the pounding +of the breakers on the beach."</p> + +<p>"I gueth you will be thurprithed, too," ventured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Grace?" demanded Miss Elting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I would suggest that we get started," urged Harriet. "I'm hungry. I +want my supper, breakfast and luncheon all in one. You forget that I +am a drowned person."</p> + +<p>"We are not likely to forget it," answered the guardian, smiling +faintly. "Yes, we will carry our equipment in. Jane, suppose we break +it into smaller packs, so it can be the more easily carried. I think +we are all ready for a good meal, and that is what we are going to +have very shortly now. You know you always get good meals at Wau-Wau."</p> + +<p>"Wau-Wau!" exclaimed the Meadow-Brook Girls in chorus.</p> + +<p>"Why, Wau-Wau is in the Pocono Woods," said Harriet. "We are a long +way from there, aren't we?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, yes!" The guardian flushed guiltily. "I spoke without +thinking."</p> + +<p>No one except Harriet and Tommy gave any special heed to the final +words of the guardian. The others were busy getting ready to move. +They were in something of a hurry for their luncheon. Packs were +divided up among them. Harriet insisted upon carrying one end of the +trunk with Jane, in addition to the pack she had slung over her +shoulder. They finally started down a narrow path that led on down to +the shore, leaving some of their equipment behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>to be brought later +on in the afternoon. As they neared the shore the boom of the surf +grew louder and louder.</p> + +<p>The girls uttered shouts of delight when finally they staggered out +into the open with their burdens, on a high bluff overlooking the sea. +The sea lay sparkling in the sunlight, while almost at their feet +great white-crested combers were rolling in and breaking against the +sandy bluff. The salt spray dashed up into their faces and the odor of +the salt sea was strong in their nostrils.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this glorious?" cried Harriet, with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think you'd ever want to see water again after what +occurred this morning," replied Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that! I had forgotten all about it. This is different, Buster. +This is the real sea, and it's perfectly wonderful. Isn't it, Miss +Elting?"</p> + +<p>The guardian, thus far, had not spoken a word. There was a look of +puzzled surprise on her face.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Miss Elting?" questioned Harriet, instantly discovering +that something was wrong.</p> + +<p>"I—I thought we should find some others here," replied the guardian +hesitatingly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I told you there wath no one here," answered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Whom did you hope to find?" asked Harriet Burrell.</p> + +<p>"Some friends of mine. It has been a rocky road to Wau-Wau, and we +haven't reached it yet," muttered the guardian under her breath.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand this, girls," she continued. "I fear we have made +a mistake. This isn't the place I thought we were seeking. I must +confess that I am lost. But the real place can not be far away. We +shall have to walk from this on. Are you equal to it?"</p> + +<p>"Not till I get thome food," answered Tommy with emphasis. "I'm +famithhed. I want thomething to eat."</p> + +<p>"So do I, darlin'," added Crazy Jane. "But I don't see anything +hereabout that looks like food. Do you?"</p> + +<p>Margery sat down helplessly. Harriet was smiling. She understood +something of the plans of the guardian now; yet, like her companions, +she was disappointed that the promised meal was not at hand. Miss +Elting recovered her composure quickly.</p> + +<p>"We shall have to cook our own dinner, dears," she said. "Harriet, you +sit down in the sun and rest; we will take care of the meal-getting." +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You treat me as though I were an invalid. I am able to do my share of +the work, and to eat my share of the food, as you will see when we get +something cooked."</p> + +<p>Jane already had run back toward the road to bring some dry sticks +that she had discovered when coming in. Miss Elting began opening the +packs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is too bad!" she cried. "We must have left that coffee pot +with the other things out by the road."</p> + +<p>"I'll get it." Tommy bounded away. Hazel assisted the guardian in +getting the cooking utensils ready, Margery walked about, getting in +the way, but not accomplishing much of anything else. There were cold +roast beef, butter and plenty of canned goods. The bread that they had +brought with them had been dissolved in the water of the ice pond, as +had the sugar and considerable other food stuff.</p> + +<p>Jane came in with an armful of wood and quickly started a fire. Tommy +arrived some moments later with the coffee pot and other utensils. +While all this was going on Harriet was spreading out their belongings +so these might dry out in the sunlight. But the water for the coffee, +secured some distance back, was brackish and poor. They made it do, +however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>and as quickly as possible had boiled their coffee and +warmed over the beef and canned beans as well. As for drinking water, +there was none at hand fit for this purpose. Dishes were somewhat +limited, many of theirs having been lost when the automobile went into +the pond. But they were glad enough to do with what they had, and when +Jane sounded the meal call, "Come and get it!" there was not an +instant's hesitation on the part of any member of that little party of +adventurous spirits.</p> + +<p>"Now take your time, girls," warned Miss Elting. "We will not gulp our +food down, even if we have a walk before us this afternoon. And we may +have to sleep out-of-doors, but it will not have been the first time +for the Meadow-Brook Girls."</p> + +<p>"Ith thith the thurprithe that you were going to give us?" asked Tommy +innocently.</p> + +<p>"It is a surprise to me, dear. This isn't the place I thought it was +at all. The joke is that I don't know where the right place is."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, if you would tell us where you wish to go, we might be of +some assistance to you," suggested Jane McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"You can't get the secret from me, Jane," answered the guardian +smilingly. "I am going to keep that little secret to myself at all +costs. Don't tease me, for I shall not tell you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It hath cotht a good deal already," piped Tommy. "Let me thee. It +hath cotht one automobile, theveral thkirtth, and a girl drowned. +Thome cotht that, eh? Pleathe path the beanth."</p> + +<p>"Tommy has a keen appetite for beans this afternoon. Will you please +open another can, Jane?" asked the guardian.</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Will you have them cold this time, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"I will not, thank you. My father thayth there ith more real +nourithhment in beanth than there ith in beeftheak. I gueth he knowth. +He wath brought up on a bean farm."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll take the beefsteak and never mind the nourishment," +declared Jane, who was not particularly fond of beans.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have both," said Margery hungrily.</p> + +<p>"Of courth you would," teased Tommy. "That ith why you—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, say something new," groaned Buster.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting permitted them to jest to their hearts' content. The more +they talked the better was she pleased, because it kept them from +eating too rapidly. Their meal finished and the dishes cleaned in salt +water and sand, the guardian gave thought to their next move. But she +was in no haste. The girls were allowed plenty of time to rest and +digest their hearty meal, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>which they did by sitting in the sand with +the sun beating down on them. After the lapse of an hour she told the +girls to get ready.</p> + +<p>"I will say to you frankly that I do not know where I am, though I am +positive we are on the right road. Our destination can not be so very +far from here, and I believe we have ample time to reach it before +dark. However, each of you will put a can of beans in her pocket. We +will take the coffee, our cups and the coffee pot. Thus equipped, we +shall not go hungry in case we are caught out over night. Then, again, +there must be houses somewhere along this road. The first one we see I +shall stop and make inquiries."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do with the rest of our things?" questioned Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Make them into packages and hide the lot. You might blaze a tree near +the road, in case we forget. All parts of the road hereabouts look +very much alike to me. There is a good place for a <i>cache</i> about half +way between here and the highway. I should go in a few rods, but any +food that is not in cans we had better throw away."</p> + +<p>"I don't thee why we can't camp right here," said Grace.</p> + +<p>"This is not the place to which we are going," Harriet informed her. +"I don't know where it is, but, sooner or later, we'll arrive there."</p> + +<p>"If we are lucky," added Tommy under her breath.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_02.jpg" alt="Jane and Harriet Hid the Trunk." width="350" height="536" /><span class="caption"><br />Jane and Harriet Hid the Trunk.</span></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>Jane had already started for the road. She was called back by +Harriet to take hold of one end of the trunk. Together the two girls +lugged this to the place on the path that had been indicated by Miss +Elting. By going straight in among the trees a short distance they +found rocks, under one of which was a hole hollowed out in former +times by water, and which made an excellent place in which to stow +their equipment until such time as they might be able to return for +it.</p> + +<p>Hazel, Margery and Tommy brought the rest of their belongings from the +highway, Miss Elting and Hazel what had been left at their camping +place, all being neatly packed away in the hollow in the rock. This +done, and a mound of small stones built over it, the girls were ready +to proceed on their journey.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was now well along, so they started off at a brisk pace, +led by the guardian. Harriet appeared to have fully recovered from her +accident. About an hour later they came in sight of a farmhouse. The +guardian directed the girls to sit down and rest while she went up to +the house to make some inquiries. When she returned her face was all +smiles.</p> + +<p>"I know where I am now," she called.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How far have we to go?" asked Harriet.</p> + +<p>"About five miles, they say, but one has to make allowances for +distances in the country. It is difficult to find two persons who will +agree on the distance to any certain point."</p> + +<p>"Five mileth, did you say?" questioned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear."</p> + +<p>"Thave me!"</p> + +<p>"We shall easily make it in two hours. I don't think we can go astray. +So long as we keep within sound of the sea we shall be right. If you +are ready, we will move on."</p> + +<p>Once more they set out. They had gone on less than an hour when +Margery began to cry. Tommy regarded her with disapproving eyes. +Margery declared that she couldn't walk another step. Inquiry by Miss +Elting developed the fact that Buster had a blister on her right foot. +This meant another delay. Miss Elting removed the girl's shoe from +that foot and treated the blister. Half an hour was lost by this +delay, but no one except Tommy Thompson complained. Tommy complained +for the sake of saying something. She teased Margery so unmercifully +that Miss Elting was obliged to rebuke her, after which Tommy went off +by herself and sat pensively down by the roadside until the order to +march was given.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>The afternoon was waning when once more they came in sight of the sea. +The setting sun had turned the expanse of ocean into a vast plain of +shimmering, quivering gold. The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered +exclamations of delight when they set eyes on the scene. For a few +moments they stood still, gazing and gazing as if it were not possible +to get enough of the, to most of them, unusual spectacle.</p> + +<p>A full quarter of a mile ahead they observed that the shores a little +back were quite heavily wooded, though the trees were small and +slender. This particular spot seemed to have attracted Miss Elting's +attention to the exclusion of all else. As she looked, a smile +overspread her countenance. The girls did not observe it.</p> + +<p>"We are nearly there," she called.</p> + +<p>"Near the camp?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the camp, you little tantalizer," chuckled the guardian. "But +you will not know what camp until you reach it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yeth I thall. It ith our camp, the Meadow-Brook camp."</p> + +<p>"I hear shouts. I do believe they are girls'," cried Crazy Jane. She +glanced inquiringly at Miss Elting, but the latter's face now gave no +hint as to what was in her mind. "Come on; let's run, girls."</p> + +<p>With one accord they started forward at a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>brisk trot. This brought a +wail from the limping Margery.</p> + +<p>"Wait for me," she cried. "I—I can't run."</p> + +<p>To their surprise Tommy halted, waited for Buster, then, linking an +arm within hers, assisted Margery to trot along and keep up with her +companions. Miss Elting gave Grace an appreciative nod and smile, +which amply repaid the little girl for her kindly act. They covered +the distance to the miniature forest in quick time, impelled by their +curiosity, now realizing that they were to meet with the surprise that +their guardian had prepared for them. Harriet had a fairly well +defined idea as to what was awaiting them, but even she was to be +happily surprised.</p> + +<p>They reached a point opposite the little forest, when, as they looked +toward the sea, visible in spots between the trees, they discovered a +row of tents, and in the center of an open space a flag fluttering +from a sapling from which the limbs and foliage had been trimmed.</p> + +<p>"It's Camp Wau-Wau!" shouted Crazy Jane. "Come along, darlin's. Let's +see what else there is to surprise us."</p> + +<p>The girls rushed in among the trees, shouting and laughing. They +brought up in the middle of the encampment and halted. A middle-aged, +pleasant-faced woman stepped from a tent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>gazed at them a moment, +then opened her arms, into which the Meadow-Brook Girls rushed, fairly +smothering the woman with their affectionate embraces.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>AT HOME BY THE SEA</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, my dear Meadow-Brook Girls!" cried the woman. "And I did not know +you were coming. Why did you not let me know?" Mrs. Livingston, the +Chief Guardian of the Camp Girls, held her young friends off the +better to look at them.</p> + +<p>"We did," replied Miss Elting. "When you wrote that you would be glad +to have us join the camp, I made the arrangements and wrote you that +we would be here yesterday."</p> + +<p>"I never received the letter."</p> + +<p>"But why do you call thith plathe Camp Wau-Wau?" demanded Grace. "Camp +Wau-Wau ith in the Pocono Woodth, Mrs. Livingthton."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear; but a camp may move, may it not? This is the same old +Camp Wau-Wau, but in a different location. This year we concluded to +make our camp by the sea shore, and chose Lonesome Bar for our camping +place."</p> + +<p>"Lonesome Bar!" exclaimed Miss Elting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That explains it. We Were looking for Lonesome Cove."</p> + +<p>"Which we found," chuckled Harriet.</p> + +<p>"We've had the most awful time, and Harriet got drowned," put in +Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>"Drowned?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth, thhe did," nodded Tommy eagerly. "And we had thuch a time +undrowning her! Thhe thwallowed a whole ithe pond of water."</p> + +<p>Miss Elting here explained to the Chief Guardian what had happened. +Mrs. Livingston was amazed. She gazed curiously at the smiling +Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I should not be surprised at anything Harriet does, but +that you all should have fallen into a pond with your car is +incredible. What became of the car?"</p> + +<p>"It's there!" chuckled Jane. "They'll be cutting it out in sections +when they take ice from the pond next winter, I reckon. Where can I +send a letter? I must have another car, and that quickly! It's +something like hard labor to get in and out of this place! But let's +be introduced to these nice girls that I see in camp here."</p> + +<p>"You are the same old Jane, aren't you?" answered the Chief Guardian, +with an indulgent smile. "I trust your father is well?"</p> + +<p>"He is, thank you, but he'll be wanting to have nervous prostration +when he hears about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>my driving into an old pond. Hello, little girl! +Have I seen you before!" questioned Crazy Jane, catching a little +golden-haired girl by the arm and gazing down into the latter's blue +eyes.</p> + +<p>"This is Miss Skinner, from Concord, young ladies," introduced Mrs. +Livingston.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Mith Thkinner," greeted Tommy. "Like mythelf, you +aren't fat, are you?"</p> + +<p>"I am not," replied Miss Skinner.</p> + +<p>"Where do we stow our belongings?" asked Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston looked puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Every tent in the camp is full," she replied. "Really, I do not know +what I am going to do with you, girls."</p> + +<p>"That is easily answered. We will sleep out-of-doors," proposed Jane. +"We were out all last night, and in our wet clothing at that."</p> + +<p>"How soon will you have vacancies?" asked Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"Four girls will be leaving the last of next week, Miss Elting. +Others, I don't recall how many, are to go about the middle of the +week following. Until then I fear you will have to shift for +yourselves."</p> + +<p>"We can have something to eat, can't we?" interjected Margery, in a +hopeful tone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yeth, Buthter mutht have thomething to eat all the time," averred +Tommy.</p> + +<p>"There is plenty for all. Now, come and meet our girls. We have a very +fine lot of young women at Camp Wau-Wau this summer, and we think we +have an ideal camp, too. I am so sorry that I did not know you were +coming. I might make room for two of you on the floor in my tent. +There isn't a bit of floor space left in any of the other tents."</p> + +<p>"I think we all should prefer sleeping out-of-doors, so long as the +weather remains fine," answered Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"That is just the point. What will you do when it rains?" smiled Mrs. +Livingston.</p> + +<p>"I know," spoke up Tommy. "I'll jutht run and jump into the othean and +get wet all over, all at onthe; then I won't mind it at all. Do you +thee?"</p> + +<p>"I do," replied the Chief Guardian gravely.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston already had begun introducing the Meadow-Brook Girls +to the Camp Girls, most of whom had not been in Camp Wau-Wau when the +Meadow-Brook Girls had visited it in the Pocono Woods two seasons +before. By the time the introductions had been finished and the camp +inspected, supper time had arrived. The girls sat down at long tables +in brightly lighted tents and enjoyed a delicious supper. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>was the +first real meal the newcomers had enjoyed in more than a day, and they +did full justice to this one, especially did Margery, though openly +teased by Tommy because of her appetite.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston had been kept thoroughly informed of the progress of +the Meadow-Brook Girls through her correspondence with Miss Elting, so +that she was fully prepared to bestow the rewards that the girls had +earned. A council fire was called for that evening, at which the +achievements of Harriet Burrell and her companions were related to the +camp, and the beads that each, of the five girls had earned were +bestowed. Harriet now had quite a string of colored beads, the envy of +every Camp Girl. Each of the other girls of the Meadow-Brook party had +performed either heroic or meritorious acts, for which they were +rewarded by the gift of beads according to the regulations of the +order. Unfortunately, the now badly damaged trunk that had been +carried at the rear of Jane McCarthy's car contained their ceremonial +dresses, so that the Meadow-Brook Girls were unable to appear in the +regulation costume; and they also lacked other important equipment, +namely, blankets in which to wrap themselves for outdoor sleeping.</p> + +<p>"There is not an extra blanket in camp," said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>Mrs. Livingston, when +the situation was explained to the Chief Guardian. "I don't know what +we shall do. I fear you girls will have to go into town and stay at a +hotel."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. We have slept out-of-doors under worse conditions," declared +Harriet. "Please do not concern yourself over us. We shall get along +very nicely. Do you happen to have an extra piece of canvas in camp?"</p> + +<p>"There is a side wall that we use for covering our vegetables, such as +potatoes. You may use that if you wish, but I warn you it is not very +clean."</p> + +<p>"We will give it a good dusting. It will answer very nicely to lie on +and we'll sleep close together to keep warm. I am not sure but I +should prefer sleeping out in that way. The Indians many times slept +in the open without covering. I don't see why we shouldn't do the +same."</p> + +<p>"Are there any thnaketh here?" inquired Tommy anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," the Chief Guardian replied smilingly.</p> + +<p>"Any bugth?"</p> + +<p>"Naturally, there are some insects; fleas, perhaps, but you don't mind +those."</p> + +<p>"No. My father thayth I hop around like a thand flea at a clam bake +mythelf, but if I wath <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>fat I couldn't do that, could I?" asked Tommy +with a sidelong glance at Buster.</p> + +<p>Margery, who had been an interested listener to the conversation, now +turned her back, elevating her nose disdainfully. She made no reply to +Tommy's fling at her. Harriet already had gone to bring the canvas, +which was to be their bed for the night. She determined on the morrow +to make bough beds for herself and companions, provided any suitable +boughs were to be had. The canvas was dragged to a level spot. Jane +and Hazel scraped the ground clean and smooth while Harriet was +beating the canvas to get the dust out of it. This done, the canvas +was spread out on the ground and folded over twice, leaving sufficient +of it to cover them after they had taken their positions for the +night.</p> + +<p>Tommy regarded the preparations with mild interest.</p> + +<p>"Who ith going to thleep next to the wall?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"We thought we should place you next to the fold," replied Miss +Elting. "You can't kick the cover off there."</p> + +<p>"And where ith Buthter going to thleep?"</p> + +<p>"In the middle."</p> + +<p>"That ith all right. I don't withh to be too clothe to her. We might +thquabble all night."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now, Tommy, you first," nodded Harriet.</p> + +<p>Tommy took her place on the canvas with great care, gathering her +skirts about her, turning around and around as if in search of the +softest possible place on which to lie.</p> + +<p>"You are thure Buthter ithn't going to thleep near me?" persisted Miss +Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. Please get in," urged Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"I jutht wanted to know, that ith all." She lay down, then one by one +her companions took their places on the canvas. Harriet was the last +to turn in. Before doing so she drew the unoccupied half of the canvas +over the girls, leaving Tommy at the fold, as had been promised. There +were no pillows. It was a case of lying stretched out flat or using +one's arm for a pillow. The latter plan was adopted by most of the +girls, though Harriet lay flat on her back after tucking herself in, +gazing up at the stars and listening to the surf beating on the shore +as the tide came rolling in. Now and then a roller showed a white +ridge at its top, the white plainly visible even in the darkness, for +the moon had not yet risen.</p> + +<p>The campfire burned low, the camp itself being as silent as if +deserted. Now and then twitterings in the tree tops might have been +heard; were heard, in fact, by Harriet Burrell, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>but not heeded, for +her gaze was fixed, as it had been for some moments, on two tiny +specks of light far out on the dark sea. One of the specks was green, +the other red. They rose and fell in unison, now and then disappearing +for a few seconds, then rising, high in the air, as it appeared. The +two lights were the side lights of a boat, red on the port and green +on the starboard, and above them was a single white light at the +masthead.</p> + +<p>"According to those lights the boat is heading directly toward the +beach," mused Harriet reflectively. "I wonder if I ought to show a +light? No. They know where they are going. Besides, they can see the +light of the campfire. The wind is increasing, too."</p> + +<p>Harriet dozed. She awakened half an hour later and gazed sleepily out +to sea. The same lights were there, though they now appeared to be +much nearer. All of a sudden they blinked out and were seen no more.</p> + +<p>The girl sat up, rubbing her eyes wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Could they have sunk? No, of course not. How silly of me! The boat +has turned about, and the lights are not visible from behind." But she +did not lie down at once. Instead, she rested her chin in the palms of +her hands and gazed dreamily out over the water. A fresh, salty breeze +was now blowing in. She could hear the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>flap, flap of the canvas of +the tents off in the camp, a thin veil of mist was obscuring the +stars, the pound of the surf was growing louder and the swish of the +water on the beach more surly.</p> + +<p>All at once what looked to her to be a huge cloud suddenly loomed +close at hand, then began moving along the beach.</p> + +<p>"Mercy! what is it?" exclaimed the girl under her breath. She crept +from beneath the canvas and ran down to the beach. "It's a ship! How +close to the shore they are running, and they have no lights out."</p> + +<p>Harriet watched the vessel for some moments. She saw it swing around a +long, narrow point of land a short distance to the south of the camp +and boldly enter a bay. She was unable to make out with any +distinctness what was being done there, but she heard the creak of the +boom as it swung over and the rattle of the tackle as the sails came +down, though unable to interpret these sounds. Soon there came a sharp +whistle from human lips, answered by a similar whistle from the shore, +then all was quiet.</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell crept back under the canvas, wondering vaguely what +could be the meaning of this. She was too sleepy to think much about +it and soon dropped into a sound sleep, from which she was destined to +be rudely awakened.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>A SUDDEN STORM</h3> + + +<p>The canvas that covered the sleeping Meadow-Brook Girls was suddenly +lifted from them, then whipped back with a force that nearly knocked +the breath out of some of them.</p> + +<p>A chorus of yells greeted the giant slap of the canvas, and a bevy of +girls rolled and scrambled out of the way.</p> + +<p>"Hold it down, or we shall lose it," cried Harriet, her voice barely +heard in the roar of the wind. But no one of the party seemed inclined +to act as an anchor for the canvas, which was rolled, then whisked out +of sight.</p> + +<p>"There, now you have done it!" shouted Crazy Jane McCarthy. "We sleep +on the ground for the rest of the night!" A gust of wind had thrown +Jane off her balance and knocked her down.</p> + +<p>"Take hold of a tree," advised Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I can't get to one," wailed Margery. "I can't walk."</p> + +<p>"Creep," suggested Tommy shrilly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we must seek cover. I fear there will be rain soon," added Miss +Elting. "This is an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>awful blow. I can feel the spray from the ocean."</p> + +<p>"Will the ocean come up here?" questioned Margery apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"No. Don't be foolish," answered Harriet. "But we shall get wet, all +the same."</p> + +<p>Half walking, half crawling, the Meadow-Brook Girls crept farther back +among the small trees, through which the wind was shrieking and +howling. They saw the campfire lifted from the ground and sent flying +through the air, leaving a trail of starry sparks in its wake.</p> + +<p>"There go the tents!" cried Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>A medley of shouts and cries of alarm followed hard upon the +guardian's words. A gust more severe than any that had preceded it, +and of longer duration, had rooted up the weakened tent stakes or +broken the guy ropes. A whole street of tents tipped over backward, +leaving their occupants scrambling from their cots, now in the open +air.</p> + +<p>"Girls, see if you can lend the Wau-Wau girls assistance," commanded +Miss Elting. "Hurry!"</p> + +<p>About all that was necessary to get to the distressed campers was to +let go of the trees to which the Meadow-Brook Girls had been clinging. +The wind did the rest, and they brought up in confused heaps near and +beyond the uncov<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>ered tents. Cots had been overturned by the sudden +heavy squall, blankets and equipment blown away. The cook tent was +down and the contents apparently a wreck.</p> + +<p>"Cling to the trees! Never mind saving anything now!" cried Mrs. +Livingston, whose tent had shared the same fate as those of her +charges. "Take care of yourselves first. The squall is blowing itself +out. It will soon pass."</p> + +<p>Almost before the words were uttered, the gale subsided. A sudden hush +fell over the camp. "There!" called Mrs. Livingston. "What did I tell +you? Now, hurry and get the things together. Never mind sorting out +your belongings. We must get some cover over us as soon as possible, +for we are going to have rain."</p> + +<p>The rain began in a spattering of heavy drops. The thunder of the surf +was becoming louder and louder, for the sea had been lashed into foamy +billows by the brief, though heavy, blow. The waves were now mounting +the bluff back of the beach, leaving a white coating of creamy foam +over a considerable part of the ground below the camp.</p> + +<p>"Do you think it ith going to rain?" questioned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"It is, my dear," answered Mrs. Livingston. "You had better prepare +yourself for it."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I think tho, too. I think I will. I told <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>the girlth what I +would do. Here goeth." Tommy turned and ran toward the beach at full +speed.</p> + +<p>"Come back, Tommy! Where are you going!" called Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to fool the rain. I'm going to get wet before the rain +cometh."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she is going to do as she said—jump into the ocean," suggested +Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>Harriet suddenly dropped the piece of canvas at which she had been +tugging, and started after Tommy, who had already headed for the +bluff, and was running with all her might, apparently to get into the +water before the rain came down hard enough to soak her. The little +lisping girl had no intention of getting into the water, knowing full +well that by standing on the edge of the bluff a moment she could get +a drenching that would be perfectly satisfactory so far as a thorough +wetting was concerned. But even in this Harriet Burrell saw danger.</p> + +<p>"Don't go near the edge, Tommy!" she shouted.</p> + +<p>Tommy Thompson merely waved her hand and continued on. Nor did she +halt until she had reached the edge of the bluff, having waded through +the white foam with which the ground had been covered. She stood +there, faintly outlined in the night, and with both hands thrown +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>above her head as if she were about to dive, uttered a shrill little +yell.</p> + +<p>"Stop! Come back!" begged Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to take a thwim," replied Tommy.</p> + +<p>A great, dark roller came thundering in. It leaped up into the air, +hovered an instant, then descended in an overwhelming flood right over +the shivering figure of the little Meadow-Brook Girl standing on the +edge of the bluff. Harriet had reached the scene just in time to get +the full force of the downpour. Neither girl could speak, both were +choking, when suddenly the ground gave way beneath their feet and they +felt themselves slipping down and down until it seemed to Harriet as +if they were going to the very bottom of the sea.</p> + +<p>Now they were lifted from their feet. They were no longer slipping +downward. Instead, they were being carried up and up until they were +free from the choking pressure of the water, and once more were +breathing the free, though misty, salt air of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I'll try. I don't know. We have been carried out to sea by a receding +wave. The bank gave way. Oh, what a foolish girl you are! Swim! Swim +with all your might! We shall have to fight hard. We may not be able +to save ourselves as it is. Swim toward the shore!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Whi—ch way ith the thhore?" wailed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I can't see. I think it must be that way." She placed a +firm grip on Tommy's shoulder, turning the smaller girl about, heading +her toward what Harriet Burrell believed to be the shore. She wondered +why she could see no light over there, having forgotten that the +campfire had been blown away in the squall.</p> + +<p>The two girls now began to swim with all their might. It seemed to +them, in their anxiety, as if they had been swimming for hours. +Harriet finally ceased swimming and lay floating with a slight +movement of her arms.</p> + +<p>"What ith it?" questioned Grace.</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"But you thee thomething, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"That is the worst of it. I do not. Look sharp. Can you make out +anything that looks like the shore?"</p> + +<p>"I thee a light! I thee a light!" cried Tommy delightedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I see it now. That must be on the shore. We have been going in +the wrong direction. Swim with all your might!"</p> + +<p>For a few moments they did swim, strongly and with long overhand +strokes, Tommy and Harriet keeping close together, Harriet ever +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>watchful that a swell did not carry her little companion from her. +They had made considerable progress, but still the shore seemed to +have disappeared from view. The light that Tommy had discovered had +gone out. At least, it was no longer to be seen. Harriet stopped +swimming, and, raising herself as high as possible out of the water, +again and again took quick surveys of their surroundings. The seas +were heavier and less broken where they now were. Slowly it dawned +upon Harriet Burrell that they were in deep water. She raised her +voice in a long-drawn shout. Both listened. No sound save the swish of +the water about them was to be heard. The wind had not come up again, +but a fresh, salty breeze was blowing over them, chilling the girls, +sending shivers through their slender bodies.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what thhall we do?" sobbed Grace. "What can we do to thave +ourthelveth?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Tommy. About all we can do is to keep up our courage +and wait for daylight. We must keep moving as well as we can, or we +shall get so cold that we shall perish."</p> + +<p>"Wait until daylight? Oh, thave me! I thall die—I thurely thall. +Thave me, Harriet!"</p> + +<p>"Keep up your courage, darling. We are far from being goners yet, but +we have before us a night that will call for all the courage we +pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>sess. Now pull yourself together and be a brave little girl."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to be brave; I want to go home," wailed Grace.</p> + +<p>"So do I, and we shall go as soon as we are able to see where home +is," answered Harriet, forcing a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you go?"</p> + +<p>"I can't."</p> + +<p>"I'm going." Tommy began to swim. Harriet propelled herself up to her +companion and grasped her by an arm.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, you <i>must</i> obey me! You don't know where you are going. You +may be swimming out to sea for all you know. Be a good girl and save +your strength. The night may become lighter later on, then we shall +manage to reach the shore somehow."</p> + +<p>"But why don't you go now?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't know where the shore is, dearie. We are lost, just as +much lost as if we were in the middle of the Atlantic," answered +Harriet solemnly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>A NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>"Be brave! Remember that you are a Meadow-Brook Girl, Tommy," +encouraged Harriet. "We are swimmers. We can't drown unless we get +into a panic. There is a boat somewhere hereabouts. I saw one sail +into the cove, or the bay, whichever it is, before I went to sleep +this evening. The men surely will be coming out in the morning; then, +if we are too far from shore to get in, we ought to be able to attract +their attention. They will pick us up."</p> + +<p>"Do—do you think we are far from thhore?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so. Still, I can't be certain about that. I am dreadfully +confused and don't know one direction from another. I wish the moon +would come up. That would give us our points of compass. Perhaps the +clouds may blow away after a little. We shall at least be able to see +more clearly after that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm tho cold! I'm freething, Har-r-r-i-e-t."</p> + +<p>"I will fix that. Come, swim with me. We will ride the waves," cried +Harriet. The swells were long and high. Now they would ride to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>top of one, then go slipping down the other side on a plane of almost +oily smoothness. At such times Tommy would cry out. Even Harriet's +heart would sink as she glanced up at the towering mountains of water +on either side of them. It seemed as if nothing could save them from +being engulfed, buried under tons of dark water. At the second when +all hope appeared to be gone they would find themselves being slowly +lifted up and up and up until once more they topped another +mountainous swell.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for the two girls, the tops of the swells were in most +instances solid, dark water. The strong wind having gone down, the +crests generally showed no white, broken foam. When such an one was +met with it meant a rough few moments for the Meadow-Brook Girls and a +severe shaking up. Tommy had been in the surf on many occasions, when +at the sea shore with her parents, and understood it fairly well. +Harriet had never been in the salt water, but was guided wholly by the +instincts of the swimmer, of one who loved the water, and for whom it +seemed almost her natural element, and in the excitement of the hour +she at times forgot the peril of their position. So far as she knew +they might already be far out to sea, with a mile or more of salt +water underneath them.</p> + +<p>In the meantime there was intense excitement <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>in the camp. Miss Elting +had been a witness to the sudden disappearance of Grace and Harriet. +She had seen both girls enveloped in the cloud of spray and dark +water. Jane McCarthy had gone bounding toward the beach, followed by +their guardian and several of the Camp Girls, who, though not having +seen Harriet and Grace disappear, surmised something of the truth.</p> + +<p>Reaching the edge of the bluff, they saw at once what had occurred. A +large portion of the sandy bluff had sloughed off and slipped into the +sea, having been loosened and undermined by the persistent smash of +the waves against the bluff. Jane started to leap down, but Miss +Elting caught her in time.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no," protested the guardian; "you must not!"</p> + +<p>"But they are down there drowning!" screamed Crazy Jane.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing we can do to save them. They aren't there. You can +see they are not."</p> + +<p>"But if not, where are they?" cried Jane.</p> + +<p>"My dears, if they went in there they undoubtedly have been carried +out. The undertow is very strong in a storm such as this," said Mrs. +Livingston sadly. She had hurried down to the beach upon seeing the +others running in that direction, to ascertain the cause.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Some one get a boat!" screamed Margery.</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian shook her head sadly.</p> + +<p>"There is no boat here. Even if there were, we could not launch it +against that sea, nor would it live a moment did we succeed in getting +it launched. We can do no more than trust in God and wait. You see the +wind is blowing on shore and—"</p> + +<p>"No, it is blowing off toward the cove. The wind has shifted," +answered Jane McCarthy. "But that doesn't help us a bit."</p> + +<p>"Gather wood and build a fire," commanded Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>The Camp Girls hurriedly set about gathering fuel for a fire, but +having brought wood, the fuel refused to burn. The rain had thoroughly +soaked everything. The merest flicker of flame was all they were able +to get. They tried again and again, but with no better results, +finally giving up the attempt altogether.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we shall have to let it go," decided the Chief Guardian. +"A light would help so much, and, if the two girls are alive, would +serve as a guide for them."</p> + +<p>Jane interrupted by uttering a shrill cry. She listened, but there was +no response. She cried out again and again, then finally gave up the +effort.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid they are gone," she moaned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Unless they were hurt when the wave struck them I do not believe they +are lost," said Miss Elting, with a calmness and hopefulness that she +really did not feel, though she dared not permit herself to admit that +Harriet and Grace really had been lost. "Both are excellent swimmers, +and Harriet never would give up so long as there was a breath of life +left in her body."</p> + +<p>"But can't we do something?" pleaded Margery.</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian shook her head sadly.</p> + +<p>"I fear we can not. You have but to look out there to know that any +efforts on our part would be futile."</p> + +<p>Miss Elting suddenly cried out.</p> + +<p>"Girls, what can we be thinking of? We must patrol the beach. The sea +is going down a little. Divide up into pairs; keep as close to the +shore as possible without being caught by a wave; then search every +foot of the beach all along. I will go up the beach. Hazel, you come +with me. Mrs. Livingston, will you have the other girls assist us?"</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian gave the orders promptly. Fifty girls began running +along the shore. Mrs. Livingston quickly called them back, dividing +the party into groups of two. She was very business-like and calm, +which, in a measure, served to calm the girls themselves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look carefully," she cautioned. "The missing girls may have been +washed ashore; they may be found nearly drowned, and it may not be too +late to revive them. Make all haste!"</p> + +<p>There was no delay. The Camp Girls took up their work systematically. +A thorough search was made of the beach in both directions, the +patrols eventually returning to the Chief Guardian to report that they +had found no trace of the missing girls.</p> + +<p>"Keep moving. They may drift in," commanded Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>The search was again taken up, pairs of girls going over the ground +thoroughly, investigating every shadow, every sticky mass of sea weed +that caught their anxious glances, but not a sign of either of the two +girls did they find.</p> + +<p>An hour had passed; then Mrs. Livingston called them in. She directed +certain groups to return to camp and begin getting the tents laid out, +and to put up such as were in condition to be raised. The Chief +Guardian herself remained on the beach with Miss Elting and the +Meadow-Brook Girls. There was little conversation. The women walked +slowly back and forth, scanning the sea, of which they could see but +little, for the night was still very dark. At first they tried calling +out at intervals, ceasing only when their voices had grown hoarse. To +none of their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>calls was there any reply. Harriet and Tommy were too +far out, and the noise about them was too great to permit of their +hearing a human voice, even had it been closer at hand.</p> + +<p>Meantime the two girls were now swimming quite steadily. Harriet knew +that, were they to remain quiet too long, they would grow stiff and +gradually get chilled through. That would mark the end, as she well +understood. Then again it was necessary to give Tommy enough to do to +keep her mind from her troubles, which were many that night.</p> + +<p>All the time Harriet was straining eyes and ears to locate the land. +She had not the remotest idea in which direction it lay, and dared not +swim straight ahead in any direction for fear of going farther away. +The wind died out and rose again. Had it continued to freshen from the +start, she would have permitted herself to drift with it, but Harriet +feared that the wind had veered, and that it was now blowing out to +sea, what little there was of it, so she tried to swim about in a +circle in so far as was possible. Tommy, of course, knew nothing of +what was in the mind of her companion, nor did Harriet think best to +confide in her.</p> + +<p>"I'm getting tired. I can't keep up much longer," wailed Grace.</p> + +<p>"Rest a moment on your back. I will keep a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>hand under your shoulders +so you won't sink. If only one knew it, it isn't really possible to +sink, provided the lungs are kept well filled with air and no water +swallowed."</p> + +<p>"I could think like a thtone if I let mythelf go."</p> + +<p>"Don't let yourself go. There is every reason why you should not, and +not one why you should."</p> + +<p>"Yeth." Tommy turned over on her back. "Did you ever thwallow thalt +water?"</p> + +<p>"I never did."</p> + +<p>"Then don't. It ith awful. Oh, I'm tho tired and I'm getting thleepy."</p> + +<p>Harriet roused herself instantly. She gave Tommy a brisk slap on one +cheek. Tommy cried out and began fighting back, with the result that +she was the one to swallow salt water. Tommy choked, strangled and +floundered, still screaming for Harriet to save her. Instead Harriet +let her companion struggle, keeping close to her, but making no effort +to help.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!"</p> + +<p>It was a choking moan. Uttering it, Tommy disappeared. Harriet lunged +for her and dragged her companion up, and none too soon, for the +little girl had swallowed so much salt water that she was really half +drowned. Harriet shook her and pounded her on the back, all the time +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>managing to float on the surface of the water, evidencing that +Harriet was something of a swimmer. Yet she was becoming weary and the +sense of feeling was leaving her limbs. She realized that it was the +chill of the Atlantic and that unless she succeeded in restoring her +circulation she would soon be helpless. Just now, however, all her +efforts were devoted to the task of arousing Grace. The little girl +began to whimper and to struggle anew.</p> + +<p>"I am amazed at you, Tommy," gasped Harriet. "You, a swimmer, to +swallow part of the ocean!"</p> + +<p>"I didn't. The ocean thwallowed me—e."</p> + +<p>"You must work. Swim, Tommy!"</p> + +<p>"I—I can't. I'm tho tired." Grace made languid efforts to prove that +she was weary. There could be no doubt of it. She did not have the +endurance possessed by her companion, and even Harriet's strength was +leaving her, because of that terrible numbness in her lower limbs, a +numbness that was creeping upward little by little.</p> + +<p>"I will help you. But you must do something for yourself. Turn over on +your stomach. There. You need not try to fight it, just make swimming +motions, slowly. Not so fast. Now you have the pace."</p> + +<p>"I can't keep it. My limbth will not work. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>My kneeth are thtiff. Oh, +Harriet, I think I'm going to die!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! Why, you could swim all night, if necessary, and be up in +time for six o'clock breakfast just the same."</p> + +<p>"Breakfatht. It will be fithh for breakfatht for Tommy Thompthon, I +gueth. Fithh, Harriet, fithh," mumbled Grace, then ceased swimming. +"Fithh!"</p> + +<p>"Poor girl, she is about done for!" muttered Harriet Burrell. She +turned Tommy over on her back and, placing a hand under the little +girl, began swimming slowly. The added burden was almost more than +Harriet, in her benumbed state, was able to handle. She knew that she +could not support Grace and herself through the rest of that long, +dark night. She knew, too, that unless they were rescued, her +companion would be past help by the end of another hour. It already +seemed hours since they had slipped into the sea and rode out on the +crest of a receding wave. Now her movements were becoming slower and +slower. She seemed not to possess the power to move her limbs. It was +not all weariness either; it was that dragging numbness that was +pulling her down.</p> + +<p>Harriet fought a more desperate battle with herself than she ever had +been called upon to fight before. She did not now believe that they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>would be rescued, but that did not prevent her keeping up the battle +as long as a single vestige of strength remained. It was sheer grit +that kept Harriet Burrell afloat during that long, heart-breaking swim +among the Atlantic rollers on this never-to-be-forgotten night.</p> + +<p>But at last the girl ceased swimming. Her limbs simply would not move +in obedience to her will; her arms seemed weighed down by some +tremendous pressure; her head grew heavy and her senses dulled.</p> + +<p>"I believe this is the end," muttered Harriet. One great struggle, +then her weary muscles relaxed. For a few moments she floated on her +back, turned over with a great effort, then settled lower and lower in +the water, all the time fighting to regain possession of her +faculties, but growing weaker with each effort.</p> + +<p>Then Harriet Burrell went down, dragging Tommy with her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A SURPRISE THAT PROVED A SHOCK</h3> + + +<p>It could not have been very long, not more than a few seconds, before +Harriet Burrell's benumbed senses began to perform their natural +functions. Deep down in her inner consciousness was the feeling that, +though the surf was breaking over her, underneath her was something +solid, immovable. In a vague sort of way she wondered at this, but for +the time being was too weary and dulled to reason out the cause of the +phenomenon.</p> + +<p>After a time the girl began to feel little pains shooting up her arms, +reaching to her shoulders and down along her spine. Again was her +wonderment aroused. Little by little her heavy eyelids struggled open. +But her eyes saw only black darkness and water. Harriet, by a supreme +force of will, now began to reason the cause.</p> + +<p>"I am still in the water, but my hands and feet are on something +solid. What does it mean?" she thought.</p> + +<p>Turning her head slightly, she saw that which increased her +wonderment. Tommy Thompson was sitting beside her, the little girl's +head lean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>ing against Harriet. It struck Harriet as peculiar that +Tommy was able to sit on the water with nearly half her body out of +the water. Harriet then discovered that she was crouching on all +fours. It was a peculiar position for her, too. She wondered, if able +to maintain that position, why she might not stand up just as well.</p> + +<p>"I can do it!" she screamed. "I can stand on the—" She paused. Tommy +had toppled over and lay on her side, partly covered with water. +"Land!" breathed Harriet. "We are on land, but there is water all +about us. I don't understand."</p> + +<p>Pondering over this for a moment, Harriet stooped and lifted Grace to +a sitting posture. Her blood had begun to circulate and a warm glow +was suffusing her entire body.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, wake up! Wake up! It's land. We are on solid ground. Don't you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"Breakfatht for fithh," muttered Tommy. Harriet shook her as +vigorously as she could. It required no little effort to get Grace +wide enough awake to understand what Harriet was saying, but after a +short time Tommy seemed to understand, understanding that finally came +to her with a shock almost equal to that that Harriet had felt.</p> + +<p>"We—we are on thhore?" she questioned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. Let's get out of the water. Come, dear, I will support +you." This she did, though Harriet staggered and was barely able to +support herself. She slipped a cold arm about Grace's waist. "Make +your feet go." The two girls stumbled forward, Tommy now having an arm +about Harriet's waist, then with a scream from Tommy they stepped off +into deep water and went in all over.</p> + +<p>"Thave me, oh, thave me!" moaned Tommy as they came up.</p> + +<p>But the plunge had done them good. It had shaken both girls wide awake +and cleared their clouded minds. They once more had been awakened to a +realization of their position.</p> + +<p>"It wathn't land at all! Let me go, let me die," insisted Tommy, +struggling to free herself from Harriet's grasp.</p> + +<p>"It was a sand bar," explained Harriet. "Please behave yourself, +Tommy. You must <i>do</i> something. It is all I can do to take care of +myself. Now, please, help me by helping yourself and we shall be on +dry land in a few moments."</p> + +<p>Grace made several awkward attempts to swim, then gave it up.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it, Harriet. What ith the uthe of trying to thwim any +more?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you understand? We were on a sand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>bar. It was that that saved +our lives after we were overcome. We should have drowned had it not +been for the bar."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, but we are in deep water again," wailed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Think, think! Don't be so stupid. We must be near the shore. I don't +believe there would be a shallow place like that one far out from +land."</p> + +<p>"Do you think tho?" Tommy's voice was weaker than before.</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it. Swim. That's a good girl."</p> + +<p>"I—I can't."</p> + +<p>"Then I will swim for you."</p> + +<p>Once more Harriet Burrell placed a hand under Grace and began swimming +with her. The surf was behind them and was rapidly carrying them with +it toward either the shore or the sea, Harriet neither knew nor +thought which. Had she not been still half dazed she might have +smelled the vegetation on shore, not so very far from them, but of +this she took no heed. She swam, summoning all her strength to the +task, knowing that she would not be able to keep up much longer. Then +all at once her hands touched bottom. A moment more and she lay full +length upon the wet, sandy bottom with the waves breaking over her. +Harriet groped with her hands and found that the water at arm's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>length, ahead was but a few inches deep. She sprang up with, a weak +cry.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, Tommy! We've made it."</p> + +<p>"Fithh," muttered Grace.</p> + +<p>Harriet grasped her by the arms and began backing toward shore, +dragging her companion with her.</p> + +<p>The ground grew more and more solid as she backed. There could be no +doubt now. They were rapidly getting to dry land. Here, unlike the +beach fronting the camp, the ground sloped gradually up away from the +sea, then extended off among the trees a level stretch for some +distance.</p> + +<p>Tommy struggled a little when Harriet raised her to her feet. The +latter did not know which way camp lay from where they had landed, but +she decided that it must be to the right of them. In this surmise +Harriet was correct, but the camp was farther away than she had +thought. She staggered along, half leading, half carrying, her +companion, until, exhausted by her efforts, she sank down, Tommy with +her.</p> + +<p>"I can't go another step; I'm tired out," gasped Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Ye-t-h," agreed Grace weakly.</p> + +<p>The two girls toppled over and stretched out on the wet ground, +clasped in each other's arms. They were almost instantly asleep. Tired +na<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>ture could endure no more, and there they continued to lie and +slumber through the remaining hours of the night.</p> + +<p>Break of day still found patrol parties running along the shore, +alternately searching the beach and gazing out to sea. An occasional +boat was sighted far out, but that was all. No signs of the missing +Meadow-Brook Girls had been found. Ever since the dawn, however, Crazy +Jane McCarthy had been taking account of the direction of the wind, +which was blowing across the bay to the right of their camp. She +decided to investigate that part of the coast on her own account, +going far beyond the farthest point that had been reached by any of +the patrols.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Crazy Jane uttered a yell that should have been heard at the +camp, but was not. She had discovered the girls lying on the +beach—still locked in each other's arms.</p> + +<p>Jane rushed to them, and, grabbing Tommy, began shaking her. Harriet +raised her heavy eyelids, sat up and rubbed her eyes. Tommy tried to +brush Jane aside.</p> + +<p>"Fithh for breakfatht," she muttered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jane, is it really you?" stammered Harriet, trying to keep from +lying back and again going to sleep.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my stars, darlin's! And we thought all the time that you were +both drowned. Don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>tell me a thing now. I'll go right back and get +some of the girls to help me get you back to camp."</p> + +<p>"No, no; we can walk. There is nothing the matter with us except that +we are tired out. Tommy, Tommy, wake up! It is morning and we are safe +and dry. Think of it!"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't want to think. I want to go to thleep."</p> + +<p>Jane lifted and shook the little lisping girl until Tommy begged for +mercy, declaring that she would rather go to sleep than return to +camp. It required no little effort to get the girl to try to walk. +Harriet herself would have much preferred going back to sleep, but +after a time, with their arms about Tommy, they managed to get her +started, upon which they took up their weary trudge to the camp, more +than a mile away, stumbling along with Tommy, half asleep nearly every +minute of the time.</p> + +<p>It was almost an hour later when a great shout arose from the camp as +the girls were discovered slowly approaching. There was a wild rush to +meet them. Every girl in camp, including the guardians, joined in the +rush to welcome the returning Meadow-Brook Girls.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>SUMMONED TO THE COUNCIL</h3> + + +<p>"They're saved! They're saved!" shouted fifty voices, their owners +almost wild with delight. With one common impulse they gathered up +Tommy and Harriet and started to carry them into camp. Tommy offered +no resistance. She submitted willingly. With Harriet it was different. +She struggled, freed herself from the detaining arms, and sprang away +from her rejoicing companions, laughing softly.</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly able to take care of myself, thank you," she said.</p> + +<p>"You certainly do not look it," declared the Chief Guardian. Harriet's +face was pale, her eyes sunken, with dark rings underneath them, but +in other ways she appeared to be her old self. "We shall both be as +well as ever after we have had something warm to eat and drink."</p> + +<p>"Tell us, oh, tell us about it," cried several girls in chorus.</p> + +<p>"Not a word until after the girls have had something to eat and drink. +They are completely exhausted." Mrs. Livingston gazed wonderingly at +Harriet Burrell, knowing full well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>that the latter had borne the +greater share of the burden in the battle that she must have had to +fight through the long, dark night.</p> + +<p>The cook girls were already making coffee and warming up food left +over from their own breakfast, as being the quickest way to prepare +something for the returned Meadow-Brook Girls. That meal strengthened +and cheered them wonderfully. Tommy began to chatter after having +drunk her first cup of coffee. Their companions sat about in a +semi-circle watching them, scarcely able to restrain their curiosity +as to what had happened during the night. Jane opened the recital by a +question.</p> + +<p>"Did you really mean that you wished fish for breakfast, Tommy?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>Grace regarded her with a frowning squint.</p> + +<p>"I didn't want any fithh for breakfatht. It wath the fithh that wanted +me for their breakfatht."</p> + +<p>"And there are sharks off this coast, too!" gasped one of the girls.</p> + +<p>"Were you in the water for long?" asked Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"It seemed like a long time, it seemed like hours and hours," admitted +Harriet, accompanying the words with a bright smile that the keen-eyed +Chief Guardian saw was forced.</p> + +<p>"For hours!" cried the girls in chorus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If you feel able, please tell us about it," urged Hazel.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Both girls are going to bed immediately. Please fix up two cots for +them in my tent. No, no," she added in answer to Harriet's protests, +"it is my order. You are to turn in and sleep until supper time, if +you wish; by that time we shall have the camp put to rights and you +may talk to your hearts' content."</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian led the two girls to her tent, assisting them to +remove their damp clothing, putting them in warm flannel night gowns +and tucking them in their cots. Harriet insisted that she did not wish +to be "babied," but, the guardian was firm. After tucking them in Mrs. +Livingston sat down on the edge of Tommy's cot and began asking her +questions, all of which Tommy answered volubly, Harriet now and then +offering objections to her companion's praise. In a few moments the +Chief Guardian was in possession of the whole story of the night's +experiences.</p> + +<p>"You are the same brave Harriet that we came to know so well at our +camp in the Pocono Woods," said Mrs. Livingston. "There are not many +like you; but we shall speak of your achievements later. Now I will +draw the flap, and I do not wish to see it opened until sundown. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>I +know that I may depend upon you to obey orders."</p> + +<p>Harriet nodded. "There is something I should like to ask. Did you see +anything of a sail boat in the bay this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No. Why?"</p> + +<p>"I saw one come in last night before the blow. It anchored in the +cove. They had put out their lights before coming in, which made me +wonder."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure about that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. I wondered if they had been blown ashore?"</p> + +<p>"We should have known of it if such had been the case. But I can't +understand what a boat could be doing in here. This is a remote place +where people seldom come. That was why I chose it for our summer +camping place. I will ask the girls if they saw anything of the boat +you mention, but it is doubtful."</p> + +<p>"Another thing. Oh, I'm not going to keep you here talking with me all +day."</p> + +<p>"No; I want to go to thleep," interjected Grace.</p> + +<p>"I saw a cabin down on that long point of land just this side of the +bay. What is it?"</p> + +<p>"A fisherman's cabin. It is not occupied, nor has it been in a very +long time."</p> + +<p>"Then why can't we Meadow-Brook Girls use <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>it while we are in camp? I +should love to be down by the water, with the sea almost at my feet."</p> + +<p>"I should think you would have had enough of the sea, after your +dreadful experience of last night," laughed Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>"I am fascinated with the sea. It is wonderful! Do you think we could +have the cabin?"</p> + +<p>"I will consult with Miss Elting. If she thinks it wise, I will see +what can be done. Of course, it is a little farther from the camp than +I like. I prefer to have my girls where I can have an eye on them at +all times. But the Meadow-Brook Girls can be depended upon to take +care of themselves, save that they are too venturesome. Yes, I will +see what can be done."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you ever so much," answered Harriet with glowing eyes. +"Then, if we wish, we may sleep out on the sands when the nights are +warm."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to think about that, my dear. Now go to sleep. This +evening I shall have more to say."</p> + +<p>Tommy was already asleep. Harriet dropped into a heavy slumber within +a very few moments after the Chief Guardian's departure. She did not +awaken until the sun had dipped into the sea. As she forced herself to +a realization of her surroundings, the merry chatter of voices <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>was +borne to her ears and the savory odor of camp cooking to her nostrils.</p> + +<p>In the meantime an active day had been spent by the Camp Girls. There +was much to be done, for the camp was in a confused condition after +the storm of the preceding evening. A day of labor had given a keen +zest to the appetites of the campers; added to this was the +satisfaction of having completed their work. The camp now was in trim +condition. Acting upon the orders of the Chief Guardian, the wood had +been laid for a council fire. The orders had been issued for the girls +to don ceremonial dress and report for a council at eight o'clock that +evening.</p> + +<p>The girls wondered what important subject was to come up for +consideration, as it was not the evening for the regular weekly +council fire that was always held during the summer encampment. Of all +this Harriet was unaware. When she awakened she found dry clothing +laid out for her to put on. The same had been done for Grace, who was +still sleeping soundly. Harriet shook the little girl awake.</p> + +<p>"It is nearly night, dear," she said. "How do you feel?"</p> + +<p>Tommy blinked several times before replying. "How do I feel? Not tho +wet ath I did latht night. I thmell thupper!" exclaimed Tommy, sitting +up suddenly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I told you it was nearly night. Let's go out and see the girls. How +good they all are to us!"</p> + +<p>"I thuppothe they will all be looking at me and following me about ath +though I wath thome thort of curiothity," complained Grace.</p> + +<p>"Of course you would not like that. It would embarrass you, wouldn't +it, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"It would embarrath me more if they didn't," answered Tommy honestly, +puckering her face into frowns and squinting up at Harriet so +whimsically that the older girl burst into a peal of merry laughter.</p> + +<p>Instantly following the laugh, Jane's head was thrust through the tent +opening. The head was in disorder, for Jane had found no time to +attend to her hair. She had been working, which meant that she had +been accomplishing things, for Jane was a host in herself when it came +to work.</p> + +<p>"Excuse the condition of my crowning glory, darlin's, but I couldn't +wait to comb it. I have been sent to tell you that the grease is on +the bacon and the potatoes are popping open in the hot ashes of the +cook fire. We're going to cut off the tops of them, dig out a tunnel +and fill the tunnel with butter. Um, um! Now, what do you think of +that?"</p> + +<p>In a twinkling Tommy was out of bed and gleefully hurrying into her +clothes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought it would interest you, darlin'," chuckled Jane.</p> + +<p>"You dress as if you were going to a fire," declared Harriet, with a +good-natured laugh.</p> + +<p>"She is," answered Crazy Jane; "the camp fire—the cook fire, I should +say."</p> + +<p>Tommy, during this dialogue, had not uttered a word. Finally, having +got into her clothes to her satisfaction, she darted from the tent, +spinning Jane half-way around as she dashed past her, the little girl +twisting her hair into a hard knot as she ran.</p> + +<p>"I want a potato with a hole in it," she shouted the moment she came +in sight of the cook fire. Some one snatched a hot tuber from the +ashes and tossed it to her. Tommy caught the potato, but dropped it +instantly and began cooling her fingers. "I want one with a hole in +it," she insisted.</p> + +<p>"Bring it here and you shall have it," replied Miss Elting. Instead of +picking up the potato and carrying it, Tommy propelled it along with +the toe of her boot. She did not propose to burn her fingers again. +The guardian gouged out a hole to the bottom, filling the hole with +butter, Tommy's eyes growing larger and larger. Then she began to eat +the potato with great relish, after having seasoned it with salt and +pepper. This was no time for words, nor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>were any uttered until +nothing but the blackened skin of the potato was left.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" gasped Tommy. "Pleathe, may I have another?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think it would be well to wait for supper?" suggested Miss +Elting. "In your greediness you have forgotten the others."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, but I wath tho hungry! If you had been a fithh +thwimming in the ocean all night you, too, would have an appetite. How +would you like to be a fithh, Mith Livingthton?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite content to be a mere human being," was the Chief +Guardian's laughing reply. "Were you afraid when you found yourself +out in the ocean all alone?"</p> + +<p>"Afraid? I—I gueth I didn't think about that. I wath too buthy trying +to keep from filling up with thalt water. Did you ever drink any of +that water, Mith Livingthton?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly."</p> + +<p>"Then take the advice of a fithh, and don't."</p> + +<p>All hands were called to supper, thus putting an end to the +conversation, which had been heartily enjoyed by Mrs. Livingston. +Tommy always was a source of amusement to her. She appreciated the +active mind and the keen, if sometimes rude, retorts and ready answers +of the little lisping girl.</p> + +<p>After supper a short time was spent in visit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>ing among the girls +principally to discuss the marvelous experience of the two +Meadow-Brook Girls; then one by one the girls left to go to their +tents to don their ceremonial dress, and in place of the regulation +serge uniform of the Camp Girls figures clad in the ceremonial dress, +their hair hanging in two braids over their shoulders, and beads +glistening about their necks, began to make their appearance.</p> + +<p>Barely had the girls put on their ceremonial costumes before a +moccasined Wau-Wau girl ran at an Indian lope through the camp, crying +out the call for the council fire:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Gather round the council fire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The chieftain waits you there,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>chanted the runner, circling the camp after having gone straight +through the center from her own tent. The girls began moving toward a +dark spot in the young forest where the wood for the fire had been +piled, but not yet lighted.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do?" questioned Tommy.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting said she could not say; that the Chief Guardian had called +the council. Silent figures took their places, sitting on the ground, +curling their feet underneath them, speaking no words, waiting for the +flame that would open <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>the Wau-Wau council. At last all were seated. +From among the number there stepped forward a dark figure who halted +before the pile of dry wood, then, stooping, began rubbing two sticks +together, while the circle of Camp Girls chanted:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Flicker, flicker, flicker, flame;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Burn, fire, burn!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A tiny blaze sprang from the two sticks, then the chant rose higher +and higher, figures rose up, swaying their bodies from side to side in +unison as the blaze grew into a flame and the flame into a roaring +fire, the tongues of which reached almost to the tops of the slender +trees that surrounded the camp of the Wau-Wau Girls.</p> + +<p>"I light the light of health for Wau-Wau," announced the firemaker, +turning her back to the flames and facing part of the circle of +expectant faces on which the lights and shadows from the fire were +playing weirdly.</p> + +<p>This completed the opening ceremony. The council fire was in order, +the purpose of the meeting would soon be explained, thus relieving the +curiosity of some fifty girls who were burning to know what it was all +about. Not the least curious of these was Tommy Thompson.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A REWARD WELL-EARNED</h3> + + +<p>"I'm just perishing to know what it's about," confided Margery Brown +to the girl next to her. "What do you suppose it is?"</p> + +<p>"I think it has something to do with last night," answered the Camp +Girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you mean about Harriet and Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Be quiet, the C.G. is going to say something."</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian had already risen. Passing about the circle, she +extended a hand to each of the girls there assembled. There were no +other greetings than the warm clasp of friendship and good-fellowship, +but it meant much to these brown-faced, strong-limbed young women who +had been members of the organization for a year or more.</p> + +<p>The Chief Guardian took her place by the fire.</p> + +<p>"My daughters," she said, "we have gathered this evening about the +council fire, that ancient institution, to speak of matters that are +near to the heart of each of us. Last night two of your number gave a +marked demonstration of what a Camp Girl may do, of what pluck will +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>do, an exhibition of sheer moral courage, one of the greatest assets +of a Camp Girl."</p> + +<p>"That ith uth," whispered Tommy to Harriet Burrell, who sat beside +her. Harriet's face was flushed. She feared the guardian was about to +speak of her achievements, which Harriet was not at all eager to hear.</p> + +<p>"I refer to the thrilling experiences of Miss Burrell and Miss +Thompson in battling with the big seas far out there in the darkness, +and with every reason to believe that their efforts would prove of no +avail. It is not the battle of despair to which I refer. There was no +such. Rather, it was that dogged courage that never even permits a +suggestion of give-up to enter the mind of the fighter. It was a +courage such as this, combined with rare judgment and physical +ability, that makes it possible for Miss Burrell and Miss Thompson to +be present with us at the council fire this evening.</p> + +<p>"They have not told the story willingly. I had to draw it from them +bit by bit, which I venture to say is more than any of my girls have +succeeded in doing." The guardian smiled as she glanced about at the +eager, flushed faces of the Camp Girls.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" they cried.</p> + +<p>"As you all know, Miss Burrell, seeing the danger of her companion, +hurried to her rescue, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>with the result that both girls went into the +sea. They were quickly carried out to sea by the undertow, which they +fought away from and propelled themselves to the surface. Then they +began swimming, but in the darkness were unable to see the shore. +After a time, Miss Thompson, less strong than her companion, gave out. +Then began the real battle, and though Miss Burrell was benumbed with +cold, exhausted by her efforts, she managed by a great effort to keep +herself and her companion afloat. Fortunately for them, the wind had +shifted and they swam and drifted into the bay and eventually to the +shore. We have no means of telling how long our two plucky Wau-Wau +Girls were in the water, because they themselves cannot tell when they +reached the shore—but, think of it! cast away on a dark and stormy +ocean in a black night such as that was. That is a triumph, an act of +courage and heroism that should be held up as an example to every Camp +Girl in America. However, I should not advise any of you to attempt to +emulate the example set by our two young friends," added the Chief +Guardian warningly.</p> + +<p>A ripple of laughter ran around the circle, then the ensuing silence +was broken by a remark from Tommy which sent the girls nearest to her +into a shout of laughter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, I thhould thay not!" exploded Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You might tell the girls how you felt when you believed that all was +lost," suggested the Chief Guardian smilingly, nodding at Tommy. "Do +you recall how you felt in that trying moment?"</p> + +<p>"I motht thertainly do."</p> + +<p>"How did you feel?"</p> + +<p>"I felt cold. I had what Harriet callth 'cold feet.' Then I gueth I +didn't feel much of anything till I felt mythelf thitting in the thand +with thome of me dry and thome of me wet, and Harriet trying to drag +me out of the thudth."</p> + +<p>"Out of what?" exclaimed the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"Thudth."</p> + +<p>"Suds," interpreted Miss Elting. "Grace refers to the froth left on +the shore by the beating waves."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, thudth," repeated Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Harriet, your companions would like to hear from your own lips about +your experiences in the water."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, Mrs. Livingston, won't you excuse me?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish, but—"</p> + +<p>"My own part was nothing more than an in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>stinct to save myself, which +everyone possesses. I do want to say, though, that Tommy Thompson was +the bravest girl I ever saw. She was not afraid, nor can she be blamed +for getting numb and sleepy. I did myself. No one can ever tell me +that Tommy isn't as brave a girl as lives. She has proved that."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I'm a real hero," piped Tommy with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"A heroine, you mean, Tommy," corrected Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I gueth tho," agreed the little lisping girl amid general +laughter, in which, the Chief Guardian joined.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing else that I can think of to say, Mrs. Livingston. We +were fortunate; we have much for which to be thankful, for it was +through no heroism on my part that we got ashore and were saved."</p> + +<p>Harriet sat down, inwardly glad that her part of the story was told.</p> + +<p>"We have our own views as to that," answered the Chief Guardian. "And +now that we have cleared the way, I would say that the camp guardians +have unanimously agreed on giving each of you two young ladies a full +set of beads for your achievements of last night, for such +achievements touch upon nearly all the crafts of our order. They have +been worthily won and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>will prove a splendid addition to the already +heavy necklace of beads you have earned."</p> + +<p>"I gueth we'll need a chain bearer inthtead of a torch bearer if we +keep on earning beadth," suggested Grace.</p> + +<p>The two girls were requested to step out. They did so, posing demurely +before the blazing campfire.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston placed a string of beads about the neck of each of the +two girls. There were beads of red, orange, sky blue, wood brown, +green, black and gold, and red, white and blue, representative of the +different crafts of the organization.</p> + +<p>Linking hands and raising them above their heads, thus forming a chain +about the blazing campfire, the Wau-Wau Girls began swaying the human +chain, chanting in low voices:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Beads of red and beads of blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beads that keep us ever true;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beads of gold and beads of brown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Make for health and great renown."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Tommy, chancing to catch the eyes of Margery Brown on the opposite +side of the circle, winked wisely at her. Tommy was in her element, +but quite the opposite was the case with Harriet. She was +uncomfortable and embarrassed, and though proud of the beads that had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>been awarded to her, she felt that she scarcely had earned them. She +was suddenly aroused by the voice of the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"Miss Thompson will be seated," she was saying. "Miss Burrell will +kindly remain standing."</p> + +<p>"Now you are going to catch it," whispered Grace, as she began +stepping backward toward her place, which she did not quite reach. She +sat down on Hazel instead, raising a titter among the girls near by +who had witnessed the mishap. But the interruption was brief. The +girls were too much interested in what was taking place there by the +campfire. They had not the remotest idea what the Chief Guardian was +going to do, though they felt positive that some further honor was to +be paid to Harriet Burrell.</p> + +<p>"I think I but voice the feelings of the guardians and the girls of +Camp Wau-Wau, both those who are with us here for the first time and, +those who were members of this camp when the Meadow-Brook Girls +joined, when I say that Harriet Burrell is deserving of further +promotion at our hands. In the two years that she has been a member of +our great organization she has worn the crossed logs upon her sleeve, +the emblem of the 'Wood Gatherer'; she has borne with honor the +crossed logs, the flame and smoke, the emblem of the 'Fire-Maker.' She +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>has, too, more than fulfilled the requirements of these ranks, +filled them with honor to herself, her friends and the organization; +and instead of earning sixteen honors from the list of elective +honors, she has won more than forty, a record in the Camp Girls' +organization. She has fulfilled other requirements that pertain to an +even higher rank. She has proved herself a leader, trustworthy, happy, +unselfish, has led her own group through many trying situations and +emergencies, winning the love and enthusiasm of those whom she has +led."</p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_03.jpg" alt="Harriet and Tommy Received Their Reward." width="350" height="538" /><span class="caption"><br />Harriet and Tommy Received Their Reward.</span></p> + +<p>"My dear, what is the greatest desire of a Torch Bearer?"</p> + +<p>"To pass on to others the light that has been given to her; to make +others happy and to light their pathway through life," was Harriet's +ready response.</p> + +<p>There were those in the circle who quickly caught the significance of +the Chief Guardian's question. Many were now aware what reward was to +be bestowed upon the Meadow-Brook Girl.</p> + +<p>"Who bring to the hearth the wood and kindling?" questioned the Chief +Guardian.</p> + +<p>"The Wood Gatherers."</p> + +<p>"Who place the sticks for lighting?"</p> + +<p>"The Fire Makers." Harriet's replies were prompt, but given with some +embarrassment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Who rubs together the tinder sticks and imparts the spark that +produces the flame?"</p> + +<p>"The Torch Bearer," answered Harriet in a low voice. Her face now +seemed to be burning almost as hotly as was the council fire before +her.</p> + +<p>"What are the further duties of a Torch Bearer?"</p> + +<p>"To act as a leader of her fellows in their sports and in their more +serious occupations, to assist them in learning that work, that +accomplishment, bring the greater joys of life; to assist the guardian +in any and all ways," was the low-spoken reply.</p> + +<p>"Correct. And having more than fulfilled the requirements, I now +appoint you to be a Torch Bearer, a real leader in the Camp Girls' +organization, thus entitling you to wear that much-coveted emblem, the +crossed logs, flame and smoke. Workers, arise and salute your Torch +Bearer with the grand hailing sign of the tribe!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>MYSTERY ON A SAND BAR</h3> + + +<p>"I—I thank you."</p> + +<p>Harriet, placing the right hand over the heart, bowed low, and the +ceremony was complete. The voices of the Wau-Wau Girls were raised in +singing, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." Then they ran forward, fairly +smothering Harriet with their embraces and congratulations.</p> + +<p>"You forget that I am the real hero," Tommy reminded them; whereat +they picked up the little girl and tried to toss her back and forth, +with the result that she was dropped on the ground.</p> + +<p>The guardians added their congratulations as soon as they succeeded in +getting close enough to Harriet to do so. Grace also came in for her +share of congratulation and praise, with which she was well content.</p> + +<p>"Come, girls," urged Miss Elting, "you know we have to make our beds, +and the hour is getting late."</p> + +<p>"I'm not thleepy," protested Grace, "I could thtay awake for ageth."</p> + +<p>"You will be by the time we find our sleeping <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>place. It is some +little distance from here." Harriet glanced at the guardian +inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is the cabin," answered Miss Elting. "Mrs. Livingston lost no +time in arranging for us to occupy it, though I am not at all certain +that it is the wise thing to do under the circumstances."</p> + +<p>"Under what circumstances?" asked Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Storms."</p> + +<p>"But they can do us no harm."</p> + +<p>"We shall have to take for granted that they will not. Mrs. Livingston +sent to town to ask permission of the owner, who readily granted it. +He had forgotten that he owned the cabin. It seems that no one has +occupied it in several years. Mrs. Livingston also obtained some new +blankets for us, but for to-night we shall have to put up with some +hardships. To-morrow you girls can fix us bough-beds; then we shall be +quite comfortable. But we shall have to cook out-of-doors, there being +no stove in the cabin."</p> + +<p>"We shan't be able to cook on the bar. The breeze from the sea is so +strong there that it would blow the fire away."</p> + +<p>"We must come to camp for our meals, then. Perhaps that would be +better after all. We don't wish to run away by ourselves; and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>sides +this, you are now a Torch Bearer and must take a more active part in +the affairs of the Camp, even if you are of the Meadow-Brook group," +reminded the guardian.</p> + +<p>Harriet nodded thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"How good and kind Mrs. Livingston is! And think of what she has done +for me. It is too good to be true."</p> + +<p>"What is too good to be true?" questioned the Chief Guardian herself.</p> + +<p>"Everything—all that you have done for me."</p> + +<p>"We are still in your debt. Now you had better be getting along. Will +you need a light?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you. Harriet ith an owl. She can thee in the dark jutht ath +well ath in the light," answered Tommy, speaking for Harriet.</p> + +<p>The Meadow-Brook party, after calling their good nights, started +toward the cabin, Harriet with the thought strong in her mind that +only one rank lay between her and the highest gift in the power of the +organization to bestow. She determined that one day she would be a +Guardian of the Fire, but she dared not even dream of ever rising to +the high office of Chief Guardian. Harriet's life would be too full of +other things, she felt.</p> + +<p>They trooped, laughing and chatting, along the beach, and, reaching +the Lonesome Bar, fol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>lowed it out. The bar was a narrow, sandy strip +that extended nearly a quarter of a mile out into the bay. About half +way out the cabin had been built and for some time occupied by a +Portsmouth man, who occasionally ran down there for a week-end fishing +trip. The cabin, as a camping place, possessed the double advantage of +being out of the mosquito zone and of being swept by ocean breezes +almost continuously. A fresh breeze was now blowing in from the sea, +and the white-crested rollers could be seen slipping past them on +either side. It was almost as though they were walking down an ocean +lane without even wetting their boots. The water was shallow on either +side, so that even though they stepped off they were in no danger of +going into deep water.</p> + +<p>"We have forgotten all about a lamp!" exclaimed Harriet as they neared +the cabin.</p> + +<p>"That has been attended to," replied Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"You know we have been thleeping, Harriet," reminded Tommy—"thleeping +our young headth off. Ithn't it nithe to be able to thleep while other +folkth do your work for you?"</p> + +<p>They had hurried on and Tommy was obliged to run to catch up with +them. Miss Elting was lighting a swinging lamp when they entered the +cottage, which consisted of one room, above <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>which was an attic, but +with no entrance so far as they were able to observe. Six rolls of +blankets lay on the floor against a side wall ready to be opened and +spread when the girls should be ready for bed. One solitary window +commanded a view of the sea. Tommy surveyed the place with a squint +and a scowl. There was not another article in the place besides the +blankets.</p> + +<p>"There ithn't much danger of falling over the furniture in the dark, +ith there?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Not when we have a Torch Bearer with us," answered Buster, from the +shadow just outside the door.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" murmured Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my stars! We'll laugh to-morrow, darlin'. It's too dark to laugh +now. Come in and sit down, Buster. It isn't safe to leave you out +there. No telling what you might not do after having given out such a +flimsy 'joke.'"</p> + +<p>"Where shall I sit?" asked Margery, stepping in and glancing about the +room.</p> + +<p>"Take the easy chair over there in the corner," suggested Harriet +smilingly.</p> + +<p>"But there isn't any chair there."</p> + +<p>"That ith all right. You jutht thit where the chair would be if there +were one," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"No sitting this evening," declared the guardian. "You will all +prepare for bed. At least <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>two of you need rest—I mean Harriet and +Tommy."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, we alwayth need that. I never thhall get enough of it until +after I have been dead ever and ever tho long."</p> + +<p>"I am not sleepy, but, of course, being a leader now, I have to set a +good example," said Harriet lightly.</p> + +<p>Tommy squinted at her inquiringly, as if trying to decide whether or +not it were prudent to take advantage of her now that Harriet was a +leader officially. She decided to test the matter out at the first +opportunity, but just now there was a matter of several hours' sleep +ahead, so Tommy quickly prepared for sleep, after which, straightening +out her blanket, she twisted herself up in it in a mummy roll with +only the top of her tow-head and a pair of very bright little eyes +observable over the top of the blanket.</p> + +<p>Harriet waited until her companions had rolled up in their blankets; +then she opened the door wide so that the ocean breeze blew in and +swirled about the interior of the cabin in a miniature gale. The girls +did not mind it at all. They thought it delicious. This was getting +the real benefit of being at the sea shore. Harriet rolled in her +blanket directly in front of the door with her head pillowed on the +sill. To enter the cabin one would have to step over her. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>went to +sleep after lying gazing out over the sea for some time.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" Harriet started up with a half-smothered exclamation. A +report that sounded like the discharge of a gun had aroused her, or +else she had been dreaming. She was not certain which it had been. The +other girls were asleep, as was indicated by their regular breathing. +Harriet listened intently. She had not changed her position, but her +eyes were wide open, looking straight out to sea. Nothing unusual was +found there. She was about to close her eyes again when a peculiar +creaking sound greeted her ears. Harriet knew instantly the meaning of +the sound. It came from the straining of ropes on a sailboat.</p> + +<p>Unrolling from the blanket and hastily dressing, the Meadow-Brook Girl +crawled out to the bar, wishing to make her observations unseen by any +one else. Now she saw it again, that same filmy cloud in the darkness, +towering up in the air, moving almost phantom-like into the bay to the +south of the cabin on Lonesome Bar.</p> + +<p>"It's a boat. I believe it is the same one I saw in there before. But +I can't be sure of that. I don't know boats well enough; then, again, +the night is too dark to make certain. I don't know that it would be +anything of importance if a boat were to run in here to anchor for the +night. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>That evidently is what they propose doing," she thought.</p> + +<p>That Harriet's surmise was correct was evidenced a few moments later +when the boat's anchor splashed into the waters of the bay and the +anchor chain rattled through the hawse hole. Harriet tried to get a +clear idea of what the boat itself looked like, but was unable to do +so on account of the darkness. Now the creak of oars was borne faintly +to her ears; the sound ceased abruptly, then was taken up again.</p> + +<p>"They are putting a boat ashore!" muttered Harriet, who was now +sitting on the sand, her hair streaming over her shoulder in the +fresh, salty breeze. "I hope to goodness none of them comes out here. +The girls would be terribly frightened if they knew about this. I +don't believe I shall tell them, unless—"</p> + +<p>Harriet paused suddenly as the sound of men's voices was heard +somewhere toward the land end of the bar. She walked around to the +rear of the cabin, peering shoreward. She made out faintly the figures +of two men coming down the bar. They were carrying something between +them—something that seemed to be heavy and burdensome, for the men +were staggering under its weight.</p> + +<p>The Meadow-Brook Girl realized that she was face to face with a +mystery, but what that mys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>tery was she could not even surmise, nor +would she for some time to come. She determined to act, however, and +that, if possible, without alarming her companions. Hesitating but a +moment, Harriet stepped out boldly and started up the bar to meet the +mysterious strangers with their heavy burden.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE PROCEEDING</h3> + + +<p>They did not appear to see her until Harriet was within a few yards of +them.</p> + +<p>Then they halted sharply, dropped their burden and straightened up. +The right hand of one of them slipped to his hip pocket, then a few +seconds later was slowly withdrawn with a handkerchief in it.</p> + +<p>"It's a girl," exclaimed one of the pair in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think about that?"</p> + +<p>"Hello, there, Miss! What is it? Who are ye?" demanded one of the men.</p> + +<p>"I was about to ask the same question of you. What are you doing +here?"</p> + +<p>"This here is free coast, young woman. We've as good a right to be +here as yourself, and maybe more right," returned the stranger.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That depends, sir. I wish you wouldn't speak so loudly, either. You +will awaken my companions. I would just as soon they did not see you, +for I don't like the looks of you in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Companions!" exploded one of the men under his breath. "Whew! Where +are they?"</p> + +<p>"In the cabin. We are occupying it now. Where were you going with that +box? You know there is nothing but the sea beyond here. This is a bar. +The mainland is the other way. Perhaps you thought you were headed up +the beach?"</p> + +<p>"Sure we did, Miss. Thank you. We'll be going. Sorry to have disturbed +you. Got some provisions for a friend of ours who is down this part of +the coast on a fishing trip. Thank you."</p> + +<p>They gathered up their burden and started back toward the beach as +fast as they could stagger, Harriet in the meantime standing where +they had left her, gazing after them with forehead wrinkled into +ridges of perplexity. Harriet watched the men all the way back to the +beach. She saw them put down the box they had been carrying and stand +looking back at her. Harriet quickly retraced her steps to the cabin, +in the shadow of which she halted and continued her watching.</p> + +<p>The men stood for some time, evidently en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>gaged in a discussion, +though no sound of voices reached the listening girl. They then picked +up their box and walked down the beach with it.</p> + +<p>"That is odd. They said they were going up the beach with provisions +for a friend. I don't understand this proceeding at all, but it looks +questionable to me. I know what I'll do; I'll follow them."</p> + +<p>The Meadow-Brook Girl did not stop to consider that she had decided +upon a possibly dangerous adventure. Stooping over as low as possible +and yet remain on her feet, Harriet ran full speed toward the beach. +She saw the men halt and put down the box, whereat the girl flattened +herself on the sandy bar and lay motionless until, finally, they +picked up their burden and went on. She was able to make out the +sailboat anchored some little distance out in the bay.</p> + +<p>"They must have brought the box off from the boat," she mused. "I +wonder what is in it? I am positive that there is some mystery here. +It isn't my affair, but my woman's curiosity makes me wonder what it +is all about. There they go again." She was up and off, this time +reaching the beach before they put down the box again. Now Harriet was +reasonably safe from discovery. She crouched close to the sandy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>bluff +and lay watching. She saw one of the men put off in a rowboat, which +he propelled rapidly over to the sailboat. He did not remain there +long, and she saw him pulling back to shore as if in more haste than +when he went out.</p> + +<p>"Now they are going to do something," decided the watching girl. "Yes, +they are going to take the box."</p> + +<p>The men did. Picking it up, they carried it back in among the trees, +Harriet following at a safe distance, picking her way cautiously, not +making the slightest sound in moving about among the spindling pines.</p> + +<p>Finally, realizing that the men had stopped, the girl crouched down +with eyes and ears on the alert. She could hear them at work. They +were not going ahead, but they were engaged in some occupation the +nature of which for the moment puzzled Harriet Burrell. Then all at +once the truth flashed into her mind.</p> + +<p>"They are hiding the box!" exclaimed the girl under her breath. "But +why are they doing that? What secret could be so dark that it needs +hiding in the woods? I shall make it my business to find out. There, +they are coming out."</p> + +<p>She threw herself on the ground. She could hear the men approaching. +They seemed, from the sound of their voices, to be coming directly +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>toward her. Harriet gathered herself ready for a spring in case of +discovery, which now seemed imminent, then again flattened herself on +the ground.</p> + +<p>"I won't run until I have to," she decided. Courage was required for a +girl to remain in Harriet's position under the circumstances, but +Harriet Burrell had plenty of this and to spare. In the meantime the +men were rapidly drawing near. They were conversing in low tones, but +the girl in hiding on the ground was unable to make out what they were +saying. Rather was her attention centered on what they were going to +do, which was the all-important question at that moment. But Harriet +was not left long in suspense. The men were coming straight toward +her. She could see them quite plainly now, and wondered why they did +not see her. It was evident that they had not yet done so, perhaps +because they were so fully occupied with their own affairs.</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell braced herself. To rise would mean instant discovery; +to remain as she was, possible avoidance of it. She decided upon the +latter course and lay still. Within a minute the expected occurred. +The men had swerved to their right slightly, raising the hope in the +mind of Harriet that they were going to pass her without discovering +her. Instead a heavy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>boot came in contact with her own feet. There +followed a muttered exclamation, the man pitched headlong, the girl +having stiffened her limbs to meet the shock the instant she felt the +touch of the boot against her feet.</p> + +<p>The man's companion laughed uproariously and was called sharply to +account by the one who had fallen.</p> + +<p>Now came the supreme test for Harriet. She could scarcely restrain +herself from crying out, springing up and running away. Instead, she +lay perfectly quiet, breathing as lightly as possible. The man got up +growling.</p> + +<p>"Confound these dark holes," he snarled.</p> + +<p>"Hurt yourself?" questioned his companion.</p> + +<p>"No, only skinned my wrist. Let's get back to the boat. Why doesn't +the Cap'n do it himself instead of asking us to take all the risks and +all the knocks to boot?"</p> + +<p>"Because he is paying us for doing it. I reckon you'd better do as +you're told if you want to come in for the clean-up. We'd better be +hustling, too, for Cap'n wants to get under way. We've lost too much +time already and we'll be in bad first thing we know."</p> + +<p>The man who had fallen answered with an unintelligible growl. He had +not looked behind him to see what he had fallen over. Instead, he +wrapped a handkerchief about his wrist and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>started on. The two men +trudged on down toward where they had left their boat. They were +nearly at the beach before Harriet Burrell finally sat up.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that a narrow escape?" she breathed. "He fell over me and +never saw me. I wonder if my ankle is broken? It feels as though it +were. How it did hurt when he kicked me! It is a wonder I did not +scream. I wonder what they are going to do now?"</p> + +<p>She got up and limped toward the beach, using a little less caution +than she had done when coming out. She paused just at the edge of the +trees, where she stood in the shadow observing the men. They shoved +the boat off and followed it out a little way, splashing in the water +with their heavy boots, for the beach was too shallow to permit their +getting into the rowboat and rowing directly away from the shore. They +first had to shove it off into deeper water. This was quickly +accomplished, and piling in, one of the pair began rowing out toward +the sailboat.</p> + +<p>The Meadow-Brook girl sat down and began to rub her injured ankle. The +rowboat was now merely a dark blotch out on the bay. The blotch neared +the sailboat and was lost in the shadow that surrounded the larger +craft. A few moments later Harriet heard the anchor being hauled in, +then the creak of the rings on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>mast as the sail was being raised. +The boat got under way quickly and with very little disturbance, swung +to the breeze, the boom lurching to the leeward side of the boat with +a "clank." Then the sailboat began moving slowly from the bay. There +were no lights to be seen either within or without. The boat was in +darkness. Harriet gazed with straining eyes until the boat had finally +merged with the sea and was lost to view. A few moments later she +caught the twinkle of a masthead light. She watched the light and saw +that it was moving slowly up the coast.</p> + +<p>"That's the last of them for to-night," she reflected. "I wonder where +they put that box and what is in it? However, I can't look for it +to-night. I will see if I can find out anything about it in the +morning. I hope Miss Elting hasn't awakened and missed me."</p> + +<p>Harriet stepped quickly down to the beach. She gained the bar and ran +until she reached the cabin. Listening outside the door, she found +that her companions were still asleep. She crept cautiously into the +cabin, undressed, rolled in her blanket and lay staring up at the +ceiling until her heavy eyelids closed and she was sound asleep. Her +companions apparently had slept through the entire adventure, for +which Harriet Burrell was thankful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>A VISITOR WHO WAS WELCOME</h3> + + +<p>"Wake up, girls. Put on your bathing suits and jump in." Miss Elting +already was dressed in her blue bathing costume, her hair tucked under +her red rubber bathing cap. "We have just time for a swim before +breakfast. I see the smoke curling up from the campfire already."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to thwim; I want to thleep," protested Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Get a move, darlin', unless you want to be thrown in," interjected +Jane, who was hurrying into her bathing suit. "Margery, don't tempt us +too far, or we will throw you in, too."</p> + +<p>"I am sleepy, too," declared Harriet, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. +"I can't imagine what makes me feel so stupid this morning." Then, +remembering, she became silent.</p> + +<p>"If you would go to bed with the children and get your regular night's +rest, you wouldn't be so sleepy in the morning," Jane answered with +apparent indifference. Harriet regarded Jane with inquiring eyes. "I +wonder if Jane really suspects that I was out of the cabin in the +night, or whether it was one of her incidental re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>marks?" she +reflected. "I'll find out before the day is ended."</p> + +<p>"Am I right, darlin'?" persisted Jane, with a tantalizing smile.</p> + +<p>"Right about what?"</p> + +<p>"Being up late?"</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," replied Harriet frankly, looking her questioner +straight in the eyes. "I am losing altogether too much sleep of late."</p> + +<p>"We didn't lothe any thleep latht night," added Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You certainly did not, my dear; nor did Margery nor any of the others +unless it were Crazy Jane," declared Harriet with a mischievous glance +at Jane McCarthy, who refused to be disturbed by it or to be trapped +into any sort of an admission.</p> + +<p>"Girls, girls, aren't you coming in?" Miss Elting rose dripping from +the bay and peered into the cabin. "Come in or you'll be too late."</p> + +<p>"At once, Miss Elting," called Harriet. "It has taken me some little +time to get awake. I am awake now. Here I come." She ran out of the +cabin and sprang into the water with a shout and a splash, striking +out for the opposite side, nearly a quarter of a mile away. She had +reached the middle of the bay before the guardian caught sight of her +and called to her to return. The Meadow-Brook girl did so, though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>it +had been her intention to swim all the way across the bay and back.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the other girls had begun their swim. Jane was +splashing about in deep water, Hazel doing likewise, while Margery was +swimming in water barely up to her neck. Tommy, on the other hand, +appeared to be afraid to venture out. Every time a ripple would break +about her knees she would scream and run back out of the way.</p> + +<p>"'Fraid cat!" jeered Margery. "'Fraid to come in where the water is +deep."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I am," admitted Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I told you so, I told you so," shouted Buster. "I always said she was +a 'fraid cat, and now she has shown you that I am right."</p> + +<p>"Who is a 'fraid cat?" demanded Miss Elting, pulling herself up on the +beach with her hands.</p> + +<p>"I am," answered Tommy, speaking for herself.</p> + +<p>"Who says you are?"</p> + +<p>"Buthter."</p> + +<p>"Margery, I am ashamed of you. You have evidently forgotten that Grace +showed how little she was afraid when she was lost at sea the other +night," chided the guardian.</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I'm a 'fraid cat. But I'd rather be a 'fraid cat than a fat +cat!" declared the little, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>lisping girl with an earnestness that made +them all smile. Harriet came swinging in with long, steady strokes, +the last one landing her on the sand with the greater part of her body +out of the shallow water.</p> + +<p>"Why wouldn't you let me go across, Miss Elting?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"You would be late for breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I thought you feared I might drown," answered Harriet +whimsically.</p> + +<p>"Once is enough," answered Jane. "There goes the fish horn. Hurry, +girls! We are going to be late."</p> + +<p>"The fithh horn? Are we going to have fithh for breakfatht?" +questioned Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Never mind what, girls. Tuck up your blankets and get busy. Remember, +you must braid your hair before going to breakfast. I don't like to +see you at meals with your hair down; you girls are too old for that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Elting," answered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"I gueth I'll cut my hair off. It ith too much trouble to fix it every +morning," decided Grace. "But, Mith Elting, couldn't I fix it the +night before and thleep in it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not! How can you suggest such a thing?"</p> + +<p>Tommy twisted her face out of shape and blinked solemnly at Margery, +whose chin was in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>the air. They were all hurrying now, for their +morning bath had given them keen appetites. Miss Elting was first to +be ready, then Harriet, but they waited until their companions were +dressed and ready to go.</p> + +<p>"The Indian lope to the breakfast tent," announced Miss Elting. +"Forward, go!"</p> + +<p>The girls started off at an easy though not particularly graceful +lope, the guardian and the Torch Bearer setting the pace for the rest. +They arrived at the cook tent with faces flushed and eyes sparkling, +with a few moments to spare before the moment for marching in arrived. +The Chief Guardian smiled approvingly.</p> + +<p>"Sleeping out on the bay appears to agree with you girls," she said. +"I have no need to ask if you slept well."</p> + +<p>"Harriet is the restless one," answered Jane.</p> + +<p>Harriet flushed in spite of her self-control; but no special +significance was attached to Jane's remark, for it was seldom that she +was taken seriously.</p> + +<p>Harriet, after recovering from her momentary confusion, chuckled and +laughed, very much amused over what had made no impression at all on +her companions.</p> + +<p>"I shall ask some of our craftswomen here to build beds for the +cabin," announced the Chief Guardian, as they were sitting down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is not necessary," replied Miss Elting. "Our girls prefer the +bough beds, which they will build during the day."</p> + +<p>"And what will our new Torch Bearer do to amuse herself after the +regular duties of the day are done?" questioned Mrs. Livingston. "Will +she take her group for a swim in the Atlantic?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth, Harriet and mythelf are going to try to thwim acroth thith +afternoon," Grace informed them.</p> + +<p>"Swim across the Atlantic? Mercy me!" answered Mrs. Livingston +laughingly. "That would indeed be an achievement."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, but I didn't thay 'acroth the othean'; I meant to +thwim acroth the pond down in the cove yonder. Harriet could thwim +acroth the othean if she withhed to, though," added Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You surely have a loyal champion, Miss Burrell," called one of the +guardians from the far end of the table. "Still, we have not heard +what you are going to do to-day. I am quite sure it will be something +worth while?"</p> + +<p>"I have about made up my mind to go out in search of buried treasure," +answered Harriet, with mock gravity. They laughed heartily at this. +Jane regarded her narrowly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what Harriet has in her little head now?" she said under her +breath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, what do you mean?" asked the Chief Guardian. "Buried treasure +along this little strip of coast? Perhaps, however, you may mean out +on the Shoal Islands."</p> + +<p>"No, Mrs. Livingston. Right here in Camp Wau-Wau there is buried +treasure. I don't know whether it is worth anything or not, but there +is a buried treasure here."</p> + +<p>The girls uttered exclamations of amazement, for they saw that their +new Torch Bearer was in earnest, that she meant every word she had +uttered about the treasure.</p> + +<p>"Now, isn't that perfectly remarkable?" breathed Margery.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do tell us about it?" cried the girls.</p> + +<p>"Not a word more," answered Harriet. "I give you leave to find it, +though, if you can. Some of you clever trailers see if you can pick up +the trail and follow it to its end. At the end you will find the +buried treasure, unless it has been taken away within a few hours, +which I very much doubt. Now, that is all I am going to tell you about +it."</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean that, Harriet?" questioned Grace.</p> + +<p>Harriet nodded.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you get it yourthelf, then?"</p> + +<p>"I may one of these days if the girls fail to find it. I wish to see +if they are good trailers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>But we are forgetting to eat breakfast. +Just now I am more in need of breakfast than of buried treasure."</p> + +<p>"Yes, girls, please eat your breakfast. We must put the camp to rights +as soon as we finish, for I have an idea that we may have visitors +before the day is done," urged Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>The Wau-Wau girls were too much excited over Harriet's words to be +particularly interested in the subject of visitors just then, so they +hurried their breakfast, discussing the new Torch Bearer's veiled +suggestions, eager to have done with the morning meal and the morning +work that they might try to solve this delightful mystery. Harriet was +well satisfied with the excitement she had stirred, though having done +so would rather bar her from carrying out certain plans that she had +had in mind ever since the previous night.</p> + +<p>Later in the morning, however, under pretext of wishing to get pine +boughs for her bed, she, with Tommy, strolled off into the woods, but +beyond locating the spot where she had lain when the man stumbled over +her in the darkness she made no progress toward solving the mystery. +Not the slightest trace of the box did she discover. Of course, +Harriet did not hope to find the mysterious box standing in plain +sight, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>she could not imagine what they had done with it in so +brief a time. She did not dare make much of a point of searching +about, observing that Tommy was regarding her keenly during the +morning stroll.</p> + +<p>With her belt hatchet Harriet selected and cut such boughs as she +desired and placed them in a pile, afterward to be carried out to the +cabin on the Lonesome Bar. Later on they were assisted by the other +Meadow-Brook Girls. They covered the floor of the cabin with the +fragrant green boughs until Tommy declared that it made her "thleepy" +just to smell it. In the meantime, those of their companions who were +not engaged with camp duties were strolling about along the beach near +the camp, discussing what Harriet had told them at breakfast that +morning. It was all right to tell them to pick up the trail, but what +trail was it, and how were they to find it? Even the guardians were +not beyond curiosity in the matter, and they, too, when they thought +themselves unobserved, might have been seen looking eagerly about for +the "trail." All this amused Harriet Burrell very much.</p> + +<p>With her group, Harriet was at the cabin arranging the boughs, when +they were summoned to camp by three blasts of the fish horn used for +the various signals employed by Camp Wau-Wau. Something had happened +in camp.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thomebody hath found it!" cried Tommy, shooting a quick glance of +inquiry at Harriet Burrell. The latter flushed, then burst out +laughing after a look toward the miniature forest of spindling pines.</p> + +<p>"I hope they have. But I may tell you, my dear Tommy, that they +haven't found either the trail or my buried treasure."</p> + +<p>"You must know pretty well where it is," said Miss Elting, eyeing +Harriet steadily for a few seconds. "Come, we must not delay answering +that summons."</p> + +<p>They did not delay. The Meadow-Brook Girls responded promptly, making +a run for it in good order.</p> + +<p>"There's a motor car," shouted Jane, when they came in sight of the +camp. "O darlin's, maybe it is a new car Daddy has sent down for me to +take the place of the one that is drowned."</p> + +<p>Jane leaped on ahead of her companions, intent upon reaching the camp. +Harriet sprinted up beside her, almost as much excited as was Crazy +Jane herself.</p> + +<p>The two girls easily outdistanced their companions in a very few +moments. It was a race between them to see who should first reach the +camp. Harriet fell behind slightly as her quick eyes made out a figure +sitting in front of the Chief Guardian's tent. The figure was that of +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>man and he was conversing with Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>Jane uttered a sudden shrill cry. She, too, had discovered the visitor +and recognized him.</p> + +<p>"It's Daddy. It's my dear old Daddy!" she screamed, and, forgetful of +the lectures she had received on comporting herself with dignity and +restraint, Crazy Jane threw herself—hurled herself, in fact—into the +arms of Contractor McCarthy. Now, a camp chair is never any too +substantial. The one on which Mr. McCarthy was sitting was no +exception to the rule. It collapsed under the force of Crazy Jane's +projectile-like force. Mr. McCarthy, in attempting to save himself +from going down with it, lurched sideways. In doing so he bumped +heavily against the Chief Guardian, and with a sharp little cry from +the latter, the three went down in a confused heap.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY</h3> + + +<p>A dozen girls sprang forward to the assistance of the unfortunate +trio, but Harriet was ahead of them. She grasped the Chief Guardian +under the arms and lifted her to her feet, then taking a hand of Mr. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>McCarthy pulled him up with disconcerting suddenness. He looked dazed +and a little sheepish.</p> + +<p>"It's that mad girl Jane of mine," he explained.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston's face was flushed, her eyes snapped; then her angry +expression softened and she burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"O Jane, Jane! You will be the undoing of all of us before you have +done."</p> + +<p>Jane, with her hair disheveled, stood ruefully surveying the scene.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Mrs. Livingston, that you went over. I didn't want to make +you fall down, but I just had to show Daddy how glad I was to see +him."</p> + +<p>"You showed me all right, young lady. Lucky, for us all that we had +soft ground under us. Mrs. Livingston, I suppose you'll be telling me +to take this mad-cap daughter of mine home with me. I shouldn't blame +you if you did, and I don't think I'd cry over it, for I want her. No, +I don't mean that—"</p> + +<p>"Daddy!" rebuked Jane.</p> + +<p>"I mean that she is better off here, and you are doing her a heap of +good, Mrs. Livingston, even if she did give way to one of her old fits +of violence just now."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, Mr. McCarthy," answered the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>Chief Guardian promptly. +"We all love Jane. She is a splendid girl and we should miss her. I +certainly did miss her last summer, and now I should miss her more +than ever. I hope we shall have her with us for many summers; then one +of these days, when she is older, she, too, will have a camp of girls +to look after."</p> + +<p>"I feel very thorry for the camp," broke in Tommy.</p> + +<p>"You will have to buy a new camp stool, Daddy," reminded Jane. "I'm +glad I'm not so stout that I break up the furniture every time I sit +on it."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, Buthter doeth that," said Tommy, nodding solemnly.</p> + +<p>"And you, young lady, you've got some strength in those arms," he +said, turning to Harriet. "The way you bounced me to my feet was a +wonder. Tommy, you haven't shaken hands with your old friend. Come +here, my dear, and shake hands with me."</p> + +<p>"You were tho mixed up that I couldn't tell which wath the hand to +thhake," replied Grace promptly. "That wath what Jane callth a meth, +wathn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It was. Why, how do you do, Hazel—and Margery, too? Well, well! this +is a delightful surprise. How fine you all look. And I hear you had a +swim the other night, Harriet, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>you, too, Tommy. Well, well! And +you like the water, eh?"</p> + +<p>"It is glorious," breathed Harriet, instinctively glancing out to sea, +where a flock of gulls were circling and swooping down in search of +food.</p> + +<p>"You won't have to swim any more unless you wish to. I've made +different arrangements about that."</p> + +<p>"You mean you have bought me a new car, Daddy?" interrupted Jane.</p> + +<p>"I haven't said. I reckon you don't need a car here. You must have +learned, from your recent experience, that an automobile doesn't +travel on water half as well as it does on land."</p> + +<p>"Ourth did. It traveled fine until it got to the bottom," Tommy +informed him.</p> + +<p>"No, I haven't bought another car yet. I have some men who are going +to get the old one up to-morrow. We shall see what shape she's in. Of +course, if she isn't workable any more, I will have another for you by +the time you get home. Tell me how it happened. I couldn't make much +out of your telegram. By the way, when you send a telegram, don't +forget that you aren't writing a letter. That telegram you sent cost +me nine dollars and thirty-seven cents."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it worth that much to hear from your daughter?" Jane's eyes +were dancing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. McCarthy took off his hat and wiped the perspiration from his +forehead.</p> + +<p>"What would you do with her, Mrs. Livingston?" he laughed.</p> + +<p>"I should love her, Mr. McCarthy; she is worth it," was the Chief +Guardian's prompt reply.</p> + +<p>"She is," he agreed solemnly, "and I do. But you haven't told me, +Jane, darling."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let Harriet do it. I never was strong on telling things so any +one could understand what I was talking about."</p> + +<p>"There isn't much to tell about the accident, except that we turned +off on a side road according to directions. Jane wheeled down it at a +slow rate of speed—for her," added Harriet under her breath. "We ran +out on an ice pier and plumped right into the pond."</p> + +<p>"You went down with the car, then?" stammered Mr. McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"Right down to the bottom," Tommy informed him.</p> + +<p>"That did not amount to much," continued Harriet. "The top was not up. +We had little difficulty in getting out—"</p> + +<p>"But Harriet was drowned in getting the trunk free from the rear end," +declared Jane earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Drowned?" exclaimed the contractor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, nearly drowned," corrected Miss Elting. "We had a pretty hard +time resuscitating her. I am beginning to think that the Meadow-Brook +Girls bear charmed lives, Mr. McCarthy."</p> + +<p>"So am I. But you don't mean to tell me that Harriet really was all +but drowned?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"It does beat all, it does," reflected Mr. McCarthy, mopping his +forehead again and regarding Harriet with wondering eyes. "It is a +guess as to whether she or Jane can get into the most trouble. They +are a pair hard to beat."</p> + +<p>"We do not try to find excitement, Mr. McCarthy," expostulated +Harriet. "We cannot always help it if trouble overtakes us the way it +did when the car went into the ice pond."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. I know you, at least, are wholly to be depended upon, +but Jane isn't always the most prudent girl in the world. Now, will +you dears run along and enjoy yourselves. I have several things to +discuss with Mrs. Livingston, then we will have an afternoon together. +I wish Jane and Harriet to drive down with me and show me the place +where they lost the car later on in the afternoon. You remember you +interrupted our conversation here a short time ago, Jane," reminded +the visitor.</p> + +<p>"May I try the car, Dad?" questioned Jane.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. But look sharp that you don't wreck the thing. I have no fancy +to walk all the way back to Portsmouth this evening," he chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Come along, Meadow-Brooks. I can't take any more this trip, but if +Dad's buggy goes all right, I'll take the rest of you out on the +instalment plan."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go," decided Tommy. "I want to thtay here and retht. +I never get any retht at all."</p> + +<p>The others were eager to go. Jane already was cranking up the car. Her +companions, with the exception of Grace Thompson, piled in, and a few +moments later the car rolled from the camp, headed for the highway +some little distance from the camp. There was no road leading to the +camp, but the way was reasonably smooth, provided one dodged the +trees, both standing and fallen.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the other girls went about their duties and +recreations. Mr. McCarthy and Mrs. Livingston again sat down and +continued their conversation. Tommy, now being without a guardian, +Miss Elting having gone with Jane and her party, started down toward +the beach, her eyes very bright, her movements quick and alert. Some +of the girls whom she met asked where she was going. Tommy replied +that she might go fishing, but that she couldn't say for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>sure until +she found out whether she could catch anything. The little girl kept +edging farther and farther away from her companions, until finally, +finding herself beyond sight of them, began running with all her +might. They saw no more of Tommy Thompson for several hours.</p> + +<p>While all this was going on, Jane McCarthy was racing her father's car +up and down the road at an ever-increasing rate of speed. Those in the +camp could hear the purr of the motors, and now and then a flash of +red showed between the trees as the car sped past the camp.</p> + +<p>"Must be doing close to fifty miles an hour," observed Mr. McCarthy, +grinning.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you afraid she will kill herself, or some one else?" +questioned the guardian anxiously.</p> + +<p>"She never has. I don't reckon it would bother any of the Meadow-Brook +Girls to go into the ditch. They are pretty well used to getting into +mix-ups."</p> + +<p>"They certainly have every reason to be used to it," nodded Mrs. +Livingston reflectively. "But, were they my daughters, I must confess +I should not know an easy moment. I do not, as it is, when they are +out of my sight. That was the reason I hesitated to accede to your +request. However, they will have nothing to do with the operation of +it. All they will have to do will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>to sit still and enjoy +themselves. Then, again, it is the one thing needful to make a summer +at the sea shore thoroughly enjoyable. I know that all of my girls +will take the keenest possible delight in it, and I thank you, on +their behalf, for your thoughtfulness and kindness. You have done a +great deal for our camp, as well as for our organization, and I wish +you would permit me to make it known to the general officers in—"</p> + +<p>"By no means, Mrs. Livingston," hastily interposed the visitor. "It is +nothing at all, and it's just a little pride in that mad-cap daughter +of mine that has led me to do what little I have. But in reference to +the new plan, you will tell the girls to-day, eh?"</p> + +<p>"No; you tell them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, leave me out of it, please."</p> + +<p>"I could not do that. You will take dinner with us to-day, of course, +and then you may announce it to the girls. I can imagine how pleased +they will be. Why, there come the girls now!" exclaimed the Chief +Guardian.</p> + +<p>"The girls?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. Jane—"</p> + +<p>"Eh? Alone?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. There is Miss Elting and Harriet. Yes, they are all there. +What can it mean?"</p> + +<p>"It means that they have smashed the car," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>groaned Mr. McCarthy. "I +told you." He did not look around, but sat fumbling with his hat, his +face very red. Jane stepped up before him, and with chin on her breast +surveyed him from under her eyelashes, "Well?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're here," answered Jane.</p> + +<p>"What is the trouble, girls?" cried Mrs. Livingston. "Thank goodness, +you are all here. Why doesn't some one speak up?"</p> + +<p>"How much damage did you do to her, Jane?" questioned the visitor +calmly, referring to the car.</p> + +<p>"Enough."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it!"</p> + +<p>"She's in the ditch about a mile up the road."</p> + +<p>"Think we can pull her out between us?"</p> + +<p>Jane shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Not without the wrecking crew. She's bottom side up, two wheels off +and part of her machinery on the other side of the road," was Crazy +Jane's calm reply. However, before they had an opportunity to say +more, Tommy Thompson came running toward them, her face flushed with +excitement.</p> + +<p>"I've found it! I've found it!" she shouted.</p> + +<p>"Found what?" demanded the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"I've found the treathure trail. I've got it, I know I have!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE</h3> + + +<p>"She's found the buried treasure!" screamed Buster.</p> + +<p>The girls uttered a cheer. Harriet regarded Tommy's excited face +inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"You really have found it?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth, yeth."</p> + +<p>"Where is the treasure?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. How thhould I know?"</p> + +<p>"But you said you had found it," interposed the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"No, I thaid I had found the trail. Of courthe, I haven't found the +treathure. But I've found thomething, and—"</p> + +<p>"What did you find? Come, tell us," urged Harriet.</p> + +<p>Controlling herself somewhat, Tommy glanced triumphantly at the +expectant faces about her.</p> + +<p>"There wath a man at thith camp latht night."</p> + +<p>"What?" The girls asked the question at the top of their voices.</p> + +<p>"There were two men here latht night," persisted Grace.</p> + +<p>"Please explain what you mean, Grace," com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>manded the Chief Guardian. +"You say there were two men here last night. How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"I found the markth of their feet—in the thand. But that wathn't all +I found. There wath a boat here, too—a boat. Now, what do you think +of that?"</p> + +<p>"Try to be more explicit, Grace," urged Miss Elting. "Tell us what you +have discovered, without beating about the bush so long."</p> + +<p>"There wathn't any buthh to beat about. It wath right on the thand. +Don't you underthtand?"</p> + +<p>Miss Elting sat down. "Tell it your own way, then. We are simply +wasting time in trying to hurry you," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yeth. Well, it wath thith way. I wath looking for the treathure trail +that Harriet told uth about at breakfatht thith morning, though I +don't thee how thhe thhould know anything about it. My footthepth led +me—led me, you understand? No, it wath my feet, not my footthtepth, +that led me—right along the thhore of the ocean. And what do you +thuppose I found?"</p> + +<p>"An oyster shell," suggested Margery.</p> + +<p>"No, not that. I found where a boat had been drawn up on the thhore +and then thhoved out again. It had been drawn up on the thand. Then +there were trackth about the place, trackth of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>heavy bootth, and a +mark in the thand where thomething heavy had been put down. It looked +like a box. I gueth it wath. The men had taken the box between them +and carried it up and down the thhore ath far ath I could thee. You +know, the tide wathhed the marks out near down to the thea."</p> + +<p>"What did they do with the box, dearie?" interrupted Harriet.</p> + +<p>"That I have not yet dethided. I thhall find out about that later. +Well, after a time, it theemth, they took the box up the thandy beach +and into the woodth, but by that time it wath tho dark that I couldn't +thee any more footprintth and couldn't tell what they did with the +box."</p> + +<p>"Marvelous," muttered Buster. "Excruciatingly marvelous!"</p> + +<p>"Is this a fairy story?" demanded Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>"Ask Harriet," suggested Crazy Jane. "I think she knows more about it +than Tommy does. Don't you, Harriet?"</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that, Jane?" questioned Harriet mischievously.</p> + +<p>"Ask me, darlin'."</p> + +<p>"I have, dear."</p> + +<p>Jane stepped over and whispered in Harriet's ear, the others regarding +the proceeding with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>puzzled expressions on their faces. Harriet's +face broke out into a ripple of smiles.</p> + +<p>"I am caught red-handed," she said. "It seems that I am not the only +light sleeper in the Meadow-Brook camp. Jane chanced to observe +something that I did last night. She has known it all along. She +hinted at it this morning, and I suspected that she knew more than she +had told us."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, we are all in the dark," reminded the Chief Guardian. +"Won't you be good enough to explain this mystery? Surely you can do +so in a way that will make it clear to us. Two men, a box and a boat +and goodness knows what else, here on this lonely part of the coast."</p> + +<p>"I was suddenly awakened last night," began Harriet without +preliminary remarks. "A boat sailed into the bay close to shore and +came to anchor. Then a small boat put off. Two men were in it. They +came ashore with a heavy box, started down the bar, then back to the +beach after I had met and stopped them. Tommy has told you the truth +about their further movements."</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment. You stopped them, you say?" questioned Mrs. +Livingston.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I didn't want them to get near the cabin and disturb our party. +According to their story they had made a mistake. They had some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>supplies for a friend of theirs who was on a fishing trip somewhere +up the coast."</p> + +<p>"You believed that to be the case, then?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mrs. Livingston, I did not, because, instead of going up the +beach after I had turned them back, they went the other way, +eventually turning in among the trees, where they remained for some +time. I did not see them again until they fell over me later—"</p> + +<p>"What!" The guardian was more amazed than before.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I followed them to see what they were +going to do. I didn't find out, but they found me, though they were +not aware of it." Harriet explained how she had lain down on the +ground and how one of the two men had stumbled over her feet without +discovering her presence. Exclamations of amazement greeted this part +of the story.</p> + +<p>"What became of them after that?" asked Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"They shoved off their rowboat, rowed out to the sailboat, which +quickly weighed anchor and put out to sea. That is all I know about +it. You see, Tommy was right."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston turned to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"My dear, you did splendidly. Of all this camp of girls you were the +only one who found the trail and read it aright. That is trailing for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>you, Mr. McCarthy. But what could the men have been doing here? I do +not like the looks of it at all."</p> + +<p>"They have gone, so we needn't worry," replied Harriet. "I forgot to +say that there was a boat in here—I think it was the same one—the +other night just before the storm. It is my idea that they came in on +that occasion to put something ashore, but were obliged to get out to +sea before the storm broke. They came back on the following night to +finish what they had failed to do the first time."</p> + +<p>Mr. McCarthy nodded. So did Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>"Remarkable girls, these Meadow-Brook Girls, Mr. McCarthy. However, +there is nothing to be done. We shall not be bothered any more, in all +probability. Besides, they were not here on our account, so we have no +cause to worry."</p> + +<p>"And I've got to walk back to Portsmouth," groaned Mr. McCarthy. "I +told you, Mrs. Livingston."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we may catch some farmer who is going in that direction, and +who will be willing to give you a lift," she suggested.</p> + +<p>"No; you will have to let me sleep under a tree and hang about +to-night. The men are coming down in the morning to get the car out of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>pond. They might as well have two jobs as one. How did it happen, +Jane?"</p> + +<p>For the first time the party of Camp Girls who had gathered about the +little group gave their attention to the Meadow-Brook Girls. The +latter were now discovered to be much the worse for wear. Their hair +was down over their shoulders and their clothes were soiled and torn.</p> + +<p>"Got it hard, didn't you?" chuckled Mr. McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not so much," replied Jane, repressing a smile.</p> + +<p>"You are a thight. You look ath though you had been digging for buried +treathure," declared Tommy.</p> + +<p>"How'd it happen?" rumbled Mr. McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"It was like this, Daddy, dear. We were running along nicely and +easily—just at a comfortable jog, when—"</p> + +<p>"How fast?"</p> + +<p>"How much time were we making, Harriet?"</p> + +<p>"Nearly sixty miles an hour."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I knew it wasn't very fast. Just jogging, Daddy."</p> + +<p>The visitor grunted.</p> + +<p>"Something went wrong with the steering gear. I don't know what it +was, but the wheel had no effect on the car. You should have seen us. +It was funny, wasn't it, girls, the way that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>car darted from one side +of the road to the other, and we hanging on for dear life? You see, +that was all we could do—hang on. Well, the car jumped the ditch, +went up the bank on that side of the road, smashed into the iron post +of a wire fence, then stood up on end and turned over backward. Did +you ever see such a contrary automobile? Where did you buy it, Dad?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't buy it. Borrowed it of a man I know up at Portsmouth. It'll +cost me only a few thousand to make it right with him, but then Dad's +rich; don't you care."</p> + +<p>"I never do," chuckled Jane. "Do you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I don't, so long as no one gets hurt. How'd you get out? What did +you do when the car was stopped by the fence?"</p> + +<p>"We just went on over, Dad. You know nothing can stop a Meadow-Brook +Girl when she is once well started on a course. We landed on plowed +ground on the other side of the fence."</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" exclaimed the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"Can anything hurt you, girls?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not," answered Harriet. "This was a little sudden, but we +didn't mind it so very much, did we, Miss Elting?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know who you mean by 'we,' but please do not include me in +this particular 'we.' I am not over the shock of that plunge yet, nor +do I expect to be for some hours to come. I fear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>the car is ruined, +Mr. McCarthy. I hope you will not send another one down here for Jane, +if you will pardon my saying so." This from Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Miss Elting. I am not going to send another car at +present. Perhaps when you young folks are ready to go home I may send +a car for you, but I may give you a driver. For the present I've got +something else in my mind. I had to wait until I asked Mrs. Livingston +about it before I put it through. She thinks it will be fine. She will +tell you all about it at dinner to-day."</p> + +<p>"There goes the dinner horn now," announced the guardian of the +Meadow-Brook Girls. "Girls, you are not presentable. Hurry and get +ready for dinner. We mustn't be late to-day, of all days."</p> + +<p>It was really marvelous that the girls were able to work such a +transformation in themselves in so short a time. In the few moments +that had been left to them they had rearranged their hair, brushed the +dirt of the plowed field from their clothing and washed their faces +and hands. It was really a jolly dinner, too, for the good-natured +guest kept them all laughing with his humorous stories and odd +remarks. He was so much like his daughter Jane that they had no need +to be reminded of the relationship.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This has been a day of excitement, hasn't it?" remarked one of the +guardians to Miss Elting. "Buried treasure, automobile wrecks, +visitors, mysterious strangers. Gracious me! what are the Camp Girls +coming to?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Did Mr. McCarthy say what the surprise is that he has +in store for the girls? I thought perhaps he might have said something +about it during our absence on that automobile ride."</p> + +<p>"Not that I heard. He undoubtedly told Mrs. Livingston. There, she is +speaking now," added the guardian.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston had risen and rapped on the table with a knife for +attention.</p> + +<p>"Our guest and good friend, Mr. McCarthy, wishes to make an +announcement," she said, then sat down.</p> + +<p>Jane's father got up, his face very red, his forehead glistening with +beads of perspiration.</p> + +<p>"Your guest and good friend most emphatically <i>does not</i> wish to make +an announcement," declared the visitor. "But it is up to him to do so +because he wishes to please that fine woman, your Chief Guardian—is +that what you call yourself, Mrs. Livingston? I get all mixed up with +various names and titles. It's as bad as attending a reception of the +royal family, judging from what I've heard."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston nodded, smiling good-naturedly.</p> + +<p>"Well, girls, you know I've got to do something to furnish that mad-cap +daughter of mine with a variety of means of ending her life and those +of her friends. She has exhausted everything thus far. However, this +is a perfectly safe proposition, this one that I have planned for you +and her, and I don't think any of you can get into serious difficulty +through it."</p> + +<p>"Don't keep us in suspense, Dad! Tommy will suffocate if you don't +tell us now. She has been holding her breath ever since you began +speaking," cried Jane.</p> + +<p>A ripple of laughter ran along both sides of the table, but quickly +subsided when Mr. McCarthy again began speaking.</p> + +<p>"Very good, if you must know. But—I say, Mrs. Livingston, I think we +won't tell them until to-morrow. As I think it over, I guess I won't +tell them after all. They'll know all about it when it gets here. +That's all." Mr. McCarthy sat down, wiping his forehead and looking +vastly relieved.</p> + +<p>A chorus of "Ohs!" greeted the announcement. "Please, please tell us, +oh, do," they begged, but the visitor shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I think, Mr. McCarthy, that I had better tell them if you do not wish +to. They will be too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>much upset otherwise," said the Chief Guardian. +"Have I your permission?"</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>"As you wish. They've got me so flustered that I couldn't say another +word to them."</p> + +<p>"Very good. Listen, girls, and I will tell you," said the Chief +Guardian.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>WHEN THEIR SHIP CAME IN</h3> + + +<p>There was no need to further impose silence on the Camp Girls. +Eager-eyed, they leaned forward, gazing straight at the smiling woman +at the head of the table.</p> + +<p>"I wanted Mr. McCarthy to tell you. However, as he refuses, I shall do +so. You are to have a boat for the rest of the summer. The boat is the +gift of Mr. McCarthy to the Meadow-Brook Girls directly, and to the +rest of you indirectly."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a boat ith it?" piped Tommy.</p> + +<p>"A sailboat," answered the visitor. "I have appointed Miss Burrell as +the commodore, though she doesn't know it. I understand she did very +well as the captain of the 'Red Rover' last summer. Now we'll give her +a trial on salt water. You will look to her for your orders and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>permission to go out, and I imagine you won't have any cause to +complain of her treatment of you, eh, Harriet?"</p> + +<p>"O Mr. McCarthy! you embarrass me. But tell us about the boat," +answered Harriet laughingly.</p> + +<p>"It's just a little old sailboat, that's all—one I picked up at +Portsmouth; but even though she's a tub, she is perfectly safe and you +may go as far as you wish with her, always first consulting with the +captain and the commodore."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is there to be a captain? Am I to be the captain?" questioned +Jane mischievously.</p> + +<p>"My grathiouth, I hope not," exclaimed Grace.</p> + +<p>"No. The captain owns this particular boat, and he will be wholly in +charge of the actual operation of it, acting upon the orders of the +commodore as to who is to go and when and where. Now it's all out and +I'm glad of it. I—"</p> + +<p>Mr. McCarthy's further words were unheard because of the cheer given +by the Camp Girls, in which Mrs. Livingston and the guardians joined +enthusiastically, much to the discomfiture of the guest, who half rose +as though to run away. Evidently thinking better of it, he settled +back in his seat and wiped his forehead.</p> + +<p>Jane got up, and, running to her father, threw a pair of impulsive +arms about his neck.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Isn't he the darling Dad, though, girls?"</p> + +<p>"He is," agreed the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"You won't think tho after we have all gone and drowned ourthelveth +from thith—from the—what ith the name of the thhip on which we are +going to thail the thalt water?"</p> + +<p>"Her name is 'The Sister Sue,'" replied Mr. McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!" wailed Tommy. "The boat may be all right, but think of +being drowned in a name like that! Now, if it wath 'The Queen of the +Theath,' or thome thuch name ath that, I thouldn't so much mind being +drowned in her, but 'The Thithter Thue'—thave uth!"</p> + +<p>"You are not going to drown at all," laughed Miss Elting, "so don't +begin to lay any plans in that direction."</p> + +<p>"When is the boat coming here, Daddy?" questioned Jane.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow morning early, if they have her ready in time. I told the +owner to slap some new clothes on her, and make her presentable by +to-morrow, sure. How do you like the idea, girls?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's just too glorious for anything," cried Margery, now awakened +to the possibilities of having a sailboat of their very own. Tommy +regarded her quizzically, opened her mouth to speak, then closed her +lips.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is it, dear?" questioned Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"It ith nothing now. Maybe I'll thay it when we get to thea, provided +Buthter doeth not thay it for me."</p> + +<p>"See here! We have forgotten all about that buried treasure," +exclaimed Mr. McCarthy, at his ease once more after having escaped +from the table. "Will you show me, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"No, thir. That ith a dark thecret."</p> + +<p>"What, girls keep a secret?" scoffed the visitor.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think they can?" demanded Tommy, squinting at him with one +eye tightly closed.</p> + +<p>"Never saw one that could."</p> + +<p>"Then pleathe look at me."</p> + +<p>"By the way, Mr. McCarthy," called Mrs. Livingston, "did you mention +the name of our new captain, the one who owns and sails the boat?"</p> + +<p>"That's so. I reckon I forgot that. He is known as Captain Bill. His +real name, I believe, is Cummings."</p> + +<p>"You are quite sure that he is all right, are you, Mr. McCarthy?"</p> + +<p>"Has a reputation second to none among the Portsmouth skippers. I took +care of that, knowing you were a lot of lone women and girls down +here. I didn't see him personally. Took my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>friend Lawyer Roberts's +word for it, and what else I could pick up about the docks," added Mr. +McCarthy. "But I must be thinking about getting back."</p> + +<p>"Surely, Daddy, you are never going to think of walking back, are +you?"</p> + +<p>"Not I. I hear an automobile coming. I'm just going to get out to the +road and beg a ride. They'll be keeping along on this road for at +least ten miles and I can walk the rest of the way in, if I have to. +In case I do not see you again, Mrs. Livingston, here's good-bye and +good luck. I hope you all have a fine time with the boat. If that +skipper doesn't obey orders, day or night, get a telegram to me +instantly, and I'll bounce him right off. But don't let Jane send any +telegrams. She'll break me, she's so long-winded—"</p> + +<p>"Which I inherited," finished Crazy Jane. "Come on, girls; let's go +out to the highway and see Dad off. We may have to watch him start off +on foot."</p> + +<p>They met the men who were coming to pull the automobile out of the ice +pond. Mr. McCarthy gave them the additional job of towing the wrecked +car to the nearest garage.</p> + +<p>Mr. McCarthy was in luck. The automobile that they had heard +approaching was a big power moving-van that had been down the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>coast +with a load of furniture for a city family who were moving into their +summer home. The driver was willing to give Mr. McCarthy a lift, and a +few moments later the contractor was bowling along the highway on his +way to Portsmouth, thence on to his home at Meadow-Brook. The girls +stood waving to him as long as the big car was in sight, he +occasionally leaning out to wave back at them. They then retraced +their steps to the camp, talking animatedly about the great treat in +store for them—the sailboat with the homely name. They could scarcely +contain themselves until the morrow, when the boat was to arrive. In +the meantime everybody went over to examine the trail that Tommy +Thompson had found. As she had said, it led into the woods and was +there lost. Harriet showed them as nearly as possible where she had +lain when the man stumbled over her, but search as they might they +were unable to find a single trace of the box that had so mysteriously +disappeared.</p> + +<p>At supper that evening Mrs. Livingston advised the girls to say +nothing to any one outside of their own companions regarding the +strange proceeding. She explained that, by remaining silent on the +subject, they might be able to learn more about it, and that perhaps +some violation of the law might be at the bottom of it.</p> + +<p>Early on the following morning all the girls <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>were up scanning the sea +for a sail. A coasting schooner in the far distance, making up the +coast, was the only boat in sight. The day was brilliant with +sunshine, the sea blue and sparkling. The lookouts could see a long +distance. The day passed and the night passed, but still no trace of +their boat. Nor had the other mysterious craft paid another visit to +the bay. At least, if it had, none of the campers had been awake at +the time.</p> + +<p>It was late that afternoon when some one raised a shout and pointed up +the coast. There, about five miles away, was a tiny speck of white +that they knew to be a sail. There seemed to be but a single sail, +which told them that a small boat was carrying it. Then, again, the +sail looked so white that they decided it must either be their boat or +a private yacht cruising down the coast.</p> + +<p>"It does look more like a yacht than the 'tub' that Mr. McCarthy +described," said the Chief Guardian. "If this is the 'Sister Sue' she +is a very trim little craft."</p> + +<p>The beach was lined with Camp Girls eagerly watching the approaching +sailboat, which was coming on at what seemed to them to be an +aggravatingly slow rate of speed.</p> + +<p>"What he needs is an engine," declared Jane. "Now, if he had that +motor that's doubled up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>under the car we ran into the ditch, he could +make some time."</p> + +<p>"That boat is sailing much faster than you think," answered Harriet. +"You will see when it gets opposite us how fast it is moving. It is +moving so fast that I can't make myself believe it is our boat."</p> + +<p>"I gueth we'll wait till it getth here," decided Tommy, which voiced +the feelings of all. As the sailboat drew down into plain view, +exclamations of admiration were heard on all sides. For a +single-masted boat she carried a great spread of white canvas and two +jibs, each of which was full of wind, pulling powerfully. The wind +being off shore, the sloop was heeling the other way, showing quite a +portion of her black hull, which was in strong contrast with her +glistening white sides and snowy sails. The water was spurting away +from her bows, showing white along the black side below her water +line—all in all, an inspiring sight to the lover of boats and the big +water.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah, see her go! She's skimming along like a scared cat. No, that +isn't our tub, darlin's. I know Dad. She will be safe, but she will +come limping and groaning down the line at a mile an hour, then +probably go aground in the bay because there won't be room enough for +her to turn about. You see if I'm not right."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are all wrong," answered Harriet. "How do I know? Never mind. You +will find that you are." She had seen a man hauling in on the main +sheets—the ropes that led from the mainsail back toward the cockpit. +From that she knew the boat was preparing to change its course. This +it did a few moments later, heading in toward the shore, but pointed +at a spot a full half mile below the camp, as nearly as the girls +could observe.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is too bad! See, they are going somewhere else," cried Miss +Elting. "Why—why, what are they trying to do? Are those people +crazy?"</p> + +<p>"They are tacking in," answered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Of course. How stupid of me."</p> + +<p>"It ith the 'Thilly Thue,'" shouted Tommy.</p> + +<p>"The 'Silly Sue'! hurrah!" yelled the girls, instantly adopting +Tommy's nickname for the boat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, darlin's, isn't she the beauty?" cried Jane. She began dancing +about, several others doing likewise.</p> + +<p>"I thought you knew it was going to be an old tub," reminded Harriet +teasingly.</p> + +<p>"I take it all back. When I see Dad I shall get down on my knees and +beg his pardon." Jane began running toward the bay, turning out to the +bar as the most likely place to get a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>good view of their present. She +was followed by the entire camp, Chief Guardian and guardians, who ran +shouting and waving their hats.</p> + +<p>As the boat swept majestically into the bay the jibs came in and the +mainsail was lowered slightly, the boom being permitted to swing far +out. The girls then saw that there were two men on board, one handling +the sails, the other was stationed at the wheel. The craft crossed and +criss-crossed the bay, sawing back and forth several times before +reaching a position for which the skipper evidently had been heading. +Then, all at once, he swung the bow of the boat squarely into the +wind.</p> + +<p>"Let go!" he called.</p> + +<p>The big sail came down with a clatter and rattle of rings, and the +anchor went overboard with a loud splash. The "Sister Sue" was at +anchor in the bay. The skipper lighted his pipe and sat down all +hunched together, puffing away with most aggravating deliberateness.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you coming ashore so we may get aboard and see the boat?" +called Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Bymeby," was the laconic answer.</p> + +<p>"I am the commodore. I wish—"</p> + +<p>"The what?"</p> + +<p>"The commodore," answered Harriet, laughing so that she barely made +herself heard.</p> + +<p>"Commodore's quarters aren't ready," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>called back Captain Billy. "Let +you know when we're ready for you. We aren't going out again to-day."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to talk to the captain, I fear," said Mrs. Livingston, +smiling faintly.</p> + +<p>Soon after coming to anchor the second man on the boat was observed to +be busy furling the sail, which he took his time in doing. This +finished, he hauled up pails of water with a pail tied to the end of a +rope and started swabbing down the decks. This completed, he went +about other duties, which, to the row of girls sitting on the Lonesome +Bar, seemed trivial and for the sake of killing time.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it perfectly aggravating?" grumbled Margery Brown.</p> + +<p>The supper horn blew while they still sat there waiting. The Camp +Girls reluctantly turned back toward camp. They were disappointed, and +so expressed themselves with emphasis while eating their supper. But +Harriet, who had been excused before the others had finished, hurried +out to take an observation. She was back almost at once.</p> + +<p>"Their rowboat is coming ashore," she cried, pointing toward the bay.</p> + +<p>Instantly every girl in the cook tent, without the formality of asking +to be excused, pushed back her chair and dashed out. Mrs. Livingston +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>so far overlooked their breach of etiquette as to rush out with the +rest of them.</p> + +<p>"Come on, darlin's. They've come ashore for us at last. First there, +first to go out. Go!"</p> + +<p>It was a race for the landing place, with Harriet and Jane running +side by side, Tommy Thompson following and gradually lessening the +distance between them in a series of flying leaps. Tommy could run +like a frightened fawn. Harriet heard her coming and increased her +speed. Tommy gained no more on Harriet, though she arrived at their +objective point by the side of Crazy Jane McCarthy.</p> + +<p>"Ready to go out," announced the man. "But I can't take more than five +at a time. Who goes first?"</p> + +<p>Harriet halted sharply at sound of his voice, and gazed at the man +perplexedly. His voice was strangely familiar, but, try as she would, +she could not think where she had seen him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>FIREWORKS FROM THE MASTHEAD</h3> + + +<p>"Wait for Mrs. Livingston," replied Harriet in answer to the man's +question. "You are not the captain, are you?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head. Mrs. Livingston came upon the scene. Harriet +assisted her into the rowboat. The Chief Guardian directed the other +Meadow-Brook girls to get in, telling the girls who were left on shore +that they would be taken out to the "Sister Sue" as fast as possible, +until there was no more room. The others would have their turn soon +afterward.</p> + +<p>If the girls had been pleased with the "Sister Sue" from a shore view, +they were enthusiastic at what they saw when they got on board. The +decks were white from scouring, the binnacle that held the compass +shone with mirror-like brightness, ropes were neatly coiled and +everywhere was the smell of fresh paint and the faint, salty odor of +the deep sea.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" was some forty feet in length over all, broad of beam, +covered over about half her length amidships by a raised deck cabin, a +cabin that rises above the deck a few inches with nar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>row windows on +the two sides. Two doors from the cockpit led into the cabin. Into +this the Meadow-Brook Girls hurried, after one quick look over the +trim craft. They cried out for Mrs. Livingston to join them. The +interior of the cabin was in white with plush seats on each side, the +seats being broad and comfortable, affording lounging space for +several persons at one time. A tank holding drinking water, at the +forward end of the cabin, was the only other furnishing.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" was far from palatial, but the Camp Girls thought they had +never seen a neater or prettier boat, and as for its ability to sail, +they had seen something of that as the sloop came into the bay.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Livingston had remained outside to speak with the skipper. +Harriet soon joined them. Captain Billy was a type. His grizzled, red +beard was so near the color of his face that it was not easy to +determine where the beard left off and the face began. Billy had a +habit of avoiding one's eyes when speaking. Either he would be +consulting the deck of the "Sue" or gazing at the sky. He was looking +up at the clouds now.</p> + +<p>"The captain says he can safely carry ten persons without crowding, +Harriet," the Chief Guardian informed her. Then turning to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>captain, "This young lady has been placed in charge of the boat by +Mr. McCarthy; of course, your judgment as to what is best for all +concerned must prevail."</p> + +<p>Captain Billy's whiskers bristled. He swept the Meadow-Brook Girl with +a quick, measuring glance, then permitted his eyes to gaze upward +again.</p> + +<p>"I was going to suggest, Mrs. Livingston, that we first take you and +the other guardians out for a sail, say to-morrow morning. I don't +think the captain will wish to go out in the evening," said Harriet.</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," declared Mrs. Livingston. "And now, sir, what about +your meals—the board for yourself and your man?"</p> + +<p>"Get my own. He goes away early in the morning. Sleep on board, too. +You needn't worry about me. Got any gear you want to get aboard?"</p> + +<p>"Gear?" questioned the Chief Guardian blankly.</p> + +<p>"Dunnage?" nodded the skipper. "Anything you want to bring aboard?" he +shouted.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, nothing at present," answered Harriet.</p> + +<p>"Man will fetch it off before he goes away if there is. Don't ask me +to do any packing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our young women are perfectly able to help themselves," replied Mrs. +Livingston with dignity. "I suppose, however, that having only one +rowboat you will come ashore for us whenever we wish to go out?" she +added.</p> + +<p>The captain shook his head. He was the most ungracious person they +ever had known. But when Harriet said they had better get word to Mr. +McCarthy at once, the captain changed his mind quickly. He said he +would come for them whenever they gave him the word. He told them, +further, that they would have to bring their own provisions when they +went out for a sail, but that he could show them how to catch some +fish if they desired to do so.</p> + +<p>"We shall be ready to go out about ten o'clock to-morrow morning," +Mrs. Livingston told him. "If there is anything you wish us to do, you +might call to the young women who occupy the cabin there on the +Lonesome Bar. I am very glad you are going to remain aboard your boat, +for we are not equipped for putting up strangers. But if there is +anything you wish in the way of supplies, do not hesitate to send word +to me. We have quite a quantity. We are obliged to go beyond the +highway for our drinking water, and it is a trifle brackish."</p> + +<p>"Hadn't we better go ashore and give the others a chance to come out?" +asked Harriet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You and I will remain here. The others may go," returned Mrs. +Livingston.</p> + +<p>Several boatloads of excited girls were put aboard the "Sister Sue." +The girls were enthusiastic; they chattered and sang and made merry, +Captain Billy growing more taciturn and sour as the moments passed. +Finally, Mrs. Livingston said they must put off further visiting of +the boat until morning; that night was now upon them. They bade good +night to Captain Billy, and his man put them ashore, Mrs. Livingston +leaving the sloop last.</p> + +<p>"He is a queer character," she declared after joining Harriet on the +beach later on. "What do you make of him?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose he is like many of his calling, gruff and of few words. But +there is something beyond that which I can't quite make out."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? Do you think that he is untrustworthy?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Mrs. Livingston. I do know that I dislike him. Isn't +that silly in me?" asked the girl laughingly. "I have no confidence in +him."</p> + +<p>"I think you are in error. Mr. McCarthy would not send us a man who +was not trustworthy in every way. He is supposed to be a skillful +skipper, and from my observation I know he will behave himself, so we +don't care <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>what he is beyond that. Shall you go back to the camp with +us, or direct to the cabin?"</p> + +<p>"To camp."</p> + +<p>The girls sat about the campfire, singing the songs of the Camp Girls +until ten o'clock that evening, after which the Meadow-Brook party +bade good night to their companions and strolled down to the bar, +thence out to the cabin. All were keenly alive to the pleasures that +awaited them on the following day, when they were to have their first +sail in the "Sister Sue."</p> + +<p>Harriet made ready for bed with her companions, but she was not +sleepy. She lay on her bough bed near the door, where she remained +wide awake, thinking over the occurrences of the past few days. A +sound out on the bay, as if something had dropped to the deck of the +sloop, attracted her attention. The girl crawled from her bed and out +to the front of the cabin on all fours. She then sat up, leaning her +back against the cabin; shading her eyes, she gazed off at the boat +riding easily in the bay.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" was faintly outlined in the dim light of the night, but the +night was too dark to enable the girl to make out anything in detail, +nor was there a sound on board to indicate that any one was awake.</p> + +<p>"It may be that the captain is putting his man ashore, or else has +just returned from doing so. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>Still, this seems to me a pretty late +hour to be sending any one ashore." Harriet thought she could now make +out the small boat floating astern of the "Sue," where it was +ordinarily kept, though she could not be certain of this. "Ah! There +is something going on over there."</p> + +<p>The faint creak of block and tackle reached her listening ears, which +she strained and strained, even closing her eyes that she might +concentrate wholly on the sense of hearing. The creaking continued for +a couple of minutes, then ceased altogether.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the captain can be making sail to go out?" Harriet asked +herself, opening wide her eyes and gazing toward the sloop. But the +latter was riding lazily on the gentle swell as before, the girl being +unable to make out anything that looked like the sail. She thought she +surely would be able to see the sail, had it been hoisted.</p> + +<p>Something was dropped on the deck, making a great clatter, then for +several minutes all was silent on board the "Sister Sue." Harriet +could not imagine what was going on there. After a time there were +further evidences of activity on board; noises, faint, it is true, +which indicated that something out of the ordinary was taking place on +the boat. Harriet wondered if she had not better call Miss Elting and +have her listen, too. Upon second thought, however, she de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>cided not +to do so. In the first place she could see and hear fully as much as +could the guardian, besides which, were she to awaken the guardian, +the other girls undoubtedly would be disturbed. They might make a +noise that would prevent her learning what was being done on board the +sloop.</p> + +<p>Harriet shivered, for she was in her kimono, while the breeze blowing +in from the sea was fresh and penetrating. She felt a sneeze coming. +The girl made heroic efforts to repress the sneeze, then, finding she +could not, stuffed an end of her kimono into her mouth and covered her +nose with both hands.</p> + +<p>It was a long, shuddering sneeze that Harriet Burrell uttered. She +feared it had not only attracted the attention of the man or men on +board the sloop, but awakened her companions as well. The faint noises +on deck continued as before. No sound came from the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness, no one heard me," she muttered. "Why is it that one +has to sneeze when she doesn't want to, I wonder? I—" She started at +sound of a low voice close at hand speaking her name.</p> + +<p>"Harriet, ith that you?"</p> + +<p>"Tommy, what a start you gave me! When did you wake up? What are you +doing here?" questioned Harriet in a whisper.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That ith what I wath going to athk you. What ith it?"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h! You will waken the others."</p> + +<p>"If you didn't wake them up with that thneeze nothing but a club will +wake them." Tommy crept close to her companion. "You thee thomething, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Not much. The night is too dark. I can see the outlines of the 'Sue' +over there, but that is about all."</p> + +<p>"Ith anything the matter with her?"</p> + +<p>"I think not."</p> + +<p>"Then why are you watching her tho clothely?"</p> + +<p>"You are altogether too observant, Tommy. But don't speak so loudly, +please. There is nothing of any importance over there. Please go back +to bed. You will complain about having to get up for breakfast in the +morning."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear me complain about having to eat?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say that I ever did," smiled Harriet. "But you will catch +cold out here."</p> + +<p>"Tho will you. You will catch cold firtht becauthe you have been out +here longer than I have. Anything elthe?"</p> + +<p>"No, except that I am not going to waste my breath giving you advice. +When you become cold enough I presume you will go back to bed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yeth, when I find out what ith going on out here. I won't catch cold, +but maybe if I thtay out here long enough I'll catch a fithh. There! I +know what you are watching. You are watching that 'Thilly Thue.'"</p> + +<p>"Sh-h-h!"</p> + +<p>The creaking on board had begun again. It continued at intervals for +several moments, both girls listening almost breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Wha—at are they doing?" whispered Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. That is what I am trying to find out."</p> + +<p>"My grathiouth! Maybe the captain is going to run away with the +'Thilly Thue'."</p> + +<p>"No. Come to think of it, I believe he must be getting the boat ready +for our sail to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Not without a light. There ith thomething else going on. Oh, look!"</p> + +<p>Following a period of silence, blue sparks began sputtering from the +masthead of the "Sister Sue." The girls could hear the sparks crackle +and snap spitefully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at the fireworkth!" cried Tommy out loud. "The thhip ith on +fire!"</p> + +<p>Harriet laid a firm hand on her arm. "Keep still!"</p> + +<p>A faint squealing sound was now distinguish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>able, while the sparking +at the masthead continued with almost rhythmic regularity.</p> + +<p>"I know! I know what it is!" gasped Harriet excitedly. "Listen, Tommy, +listen. Don't you know?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>SAILING THE BLUE WATER</h3> + + +<p>"No, I don't know what it ith. If I did, I thhouldn't be athking you," +answered Grace. "It ith either lightning, fireworkth or a real fire."</p> + +<p>"It is wireless, Tommy. Don't you know now?"</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you ever hear a wireless machine work?"</p> + +<p>"No; but there ithn't any wireleth on the 'Thilly Thue,' ith there?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know. I mean, I did not see any when we were out there +to-day. I don't understand it. What can he be doing with wireless so +late at night?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe he ith telegraphing home to find out if the folkth are all +right," suggested Tommy.</p> + +<p>Harriet did not smile. Her face was very grave, her forehead wrinkled +in thought. For <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>the greater part of an hour, with brief intervals +between, the wireless on the sloop continued, the sparks at the +masthead sputtering and snapping with marked regularity. Had Harriet +Burrell understood a little more of telegraphy she would have known, +though unable to read the dots and dashes, that the operator was +calling some one who did not answer. After a long time he apparently +gave it up, for the sparking at the masthead ceased suddenly, followed +by a brief period of silence on board, then the creaking of block and +tackle was renewed. This was followed by a subdued thumping and +rattling about on deck, this lasting only a few moments. The "riding +light"—a light hung from the stern of the boat—was hung out, a dim +light appeared in the cabin, which after a time was extinguished, then +silence settled over the sloop for the night.</p> + +<p>"That is all for to-night, I think," said Harriet aloud, but in a low +voice. "I do not know what it is all about, Tommy, but I do know that +something queer is going on here. Do you think you and I will be able +to solve the mystery?"</p> + +<p>"I think tho. Don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I do. This makes two mysteries for us to solve, one the finding of +that mysterious box and the other the mystery of the wireless on the +'Sister Sue.' I would suggest that you don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>say a word about it to +any one to-morrow. Don't ask any questions, either—leave that to +me—but keep your eyes open while you are on board. Perhaps we may +discover something that we overlooked there to-day. Wireless on the +'Sister Sue'! I don't understand it at all. Be very careful that you +do not wake up the others when you go in. Make sure that you don't +fall over a cot and startle the girls."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I'll be careful."</p> + +<p>Harriet remained outside while Grace was getting herself back to bed, +but the former darted in quickly upon hearing a crash in the cabin, +followed by a scream from Margery. Tommy had stumbled against Buster's +bed and fallen across it and on the sleeping stout girl. But Harriet, +knowing it would not do for the girls to know that two of their number +had been mooning out-of-doors, darted into her own cot, and before +they realized that she had just got in, was sitting up in bed +demanding to know what all the disturbance was about.</p> + +<p>"Tommy, have you been walking in your sleep?" demanded Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"Yeth, I've been walking, I gueth. Excuthe me, Buthter. If you hadn't +been in my way I wouldn't have fallen over you. Good night, friendth." +Tommy tumbled into bed, muttering to herself. Harriet did not go to +sleep at once. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>She lay for some little time thinking over the strange +occurrences of the night, and wondering what it could mean. Then, her +companions having gone to sleep, she too settled down for the few +hours that remained before the rising horn blew.</p> + +<p>Her first thought, upon awakening in the morning, was for the sloop. +Quickly scrambling out of bed, she stepped to the door and gazed out +on the bay. The "Sister Sue" lay at her anchorage motionless, +glistening in the bright rays of the morning sunlight, handsomer, +Harriet thought, as she stood admiring the pretty craft, than she had +appeared on the previous day.</p> + +<p>The Camp Girls were filled with expectations of what was before them. +They were to sail shortly after ten o'clock, and for many of them it +was to be the first sail they had ever enjoyed. Breakfast was eaten +and the camp put in order in record time that morning. Promptly at ten +o'clock Captain Billy rowed the small boat ashore. He dragged down +some trees which he cut, thus making a crude pier for the girls to +walk out on, thus enabling him to leave the small boat in deeper +water. However, he could take out no more than five passengers at a +time. Mrs. Livingston told him that they did not care to sail far that +morning. It was her purpose to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>give each of the girls in the camp a +sail that day. Several trips, therefore, would be necessary.</p> + +<p>"If that's the case, we can take a bigger load on the sloop," replied +the captain. "Pile 'em in."</p> + +<p>"Will it be perfectly safe?" questioned the Chief Guardian.</p> + +<p>"You can't sink her. The reason I didn't want a big crowd was that I +thought you would be going out a long way. We're likely to meet heavy +weather several miles outside. In that case a skipper wants plenty of +room to move about. Sometimes quick work is necessary, and—"</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose that being a commodore will prevent my assisting in +sailing the boat, will it?" asked Harriet smilingly.</p> + +<p>The skipper looked her over critically.</p> + +<p>"I reckon we can make a sailor of you. Know anything about sailing?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"Yeth, she doeth," interjected Grace. "She wath the captain of the +'Red Rover' latht year."</p> + +<p>"And sunk it," chuckled Crazy Jane.</p> + +<p>"If you will tell me what to do, I shall be glad to start, Captain."</p> + +<p>"All right. Get hold of that halyard and see if you can haul the sail +up," he answered, grinning mischievously. Captain Billy had not the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>least idea that she possessed the strength to raise the sail. But +Harriet surprised him. She grasped the rope, and, though so light that +the weight of the sail nearly pulled her off her feet, she hauled it +slowly but steadily to the peak, then, throwing all her weight into +one hand and arm, made the halyard fast to a cleat on the deck.</p> + +<p>"Is that right, sir?" she asked, her face slightly flushed from the +exertion.</p> + +<p>"Great boomers, but you have muscle in your arms!" wondered the +skipper. "Now, please hold this wheel just where it is; I'll take in +the anchor. The man went back home last night. Don't need him with all +these strong-arm ladies on board. We'll be under way in a few minutes +now. I—Look out there!"</p> + +<p>A sudden though slight puff of wind struck the mainsail, sending the +sloop ahead directly toward the shore. But without waiting for orders +Harriet sprang to the wheel, pointing the bow of the sloop, that had +heeled dangerously, right toward the wind that was blowing in from the +sea.</p> + +<p>"Fine!" shouted the captain, shipping the anchor and scrambling back +to the cockpit as the sloop settled down on an even keel again, the +squall drumming on the ropes and stays. "You've sailed a boat before, +young lady."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing more than a canoe and a house boat."</p> + +<p>"You've got the instinct, just the same. I'll have you sailing this +'Sister Sue' before you're a week older, and sailing it as well as I +could sail it myself. Where do you wish to go!" turning inquiringly to +Mrs. Livingston.</p> + +<p>"Up and down the coast, not far out."</p> + +<p>The skipper tacked back and forth a couple of times to clear the bay, +then laid his course diagonally away from the coast. The day was an +ideal one, the sloop lay well over and steadily gained headway as she +forged ahead with white water spurting away from her bows.</p> + +<p>"Gul-lor-ious!" cried Margery.</p> + +<p>"Love-a-ly!" mocked Crazy Jane.</p> + +<p>Tommy eyed Buster quizzically.</p> + +<p>"Yeth, but thith ithn't the real thea. You will be singing inthide +inthtead of outthide when we get out on the real othean. It won't be +the gul-lor-iouth then."</p> + +<p>"All we need now to make us a real ship is a wireless machine," said +Harriet, with apparent innocence.</p> + +<p>The skipper shot a quick look at her from under his heavy red +eyebrows, but Harriet's face was guileless.</p> + +<p>"Would it not be possible to put a wireless outfit on a boat of this +kind, Captain?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, if you wanted to. But what good would it do you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, except that we might talk with ships far out at +sea—ships that we could not see at all. Why don't you put a wireless +machine on your little ship? I think that would be fine," persisted +the Meadow-Brook girl, with feigned enthusiasm. The skipper growled an +unintelligible reply and devoted himself to sailing his boat. Then +Tommy took up the subject, discussing wireless telegraphy with great +confidence, but in an unscientific manner that would have brought +groans of anguish from one familiar with the subject.</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell through all of this conversation had been watching the +skipper without appearing to do so. That he was ill at ease she saw by +the scowl that wrinkled his forehead, but otherwise there was no sign +to indicate that their talk had disturbed him.</p> + +<p>They sailed for two hours, then the sloop returned to the bay, where +most of the girls were put ashore and another lot taken aboard. The +Meadow-Brook Girls and Mrs. Livingston remained on board. Harriet, +during the time the captain was engaged in assisting his passengers +over the side, where they were rowed ashore by Jane and Hazel, looked +over the "Sister Sue" with more care than she had done before. There +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>was nothing that she could discover that looked like a wireless +apparatus. However, at the forward end of the cabin she discovered a +small door let into the paneling. This door was locked. She asked the +captain to what it opened.</p> + +<p>"That's the chain locker, where we stow things," he answered gruffly.</p> + +<p>The girl then began calculating on how much space there was under the +floor of the cabin. She decided that there must be at least three feet +of hull under there, but the flooring was covered with carpet that +extended under the lockers and seats at the side, so that she was +unable to determine whether or not the floor could be readily taken +up. Altogether, her discoveries did not amount to very much. She was +obliged to confess as much to herself. As for Tommy, that young woman +had conducted herself admirably during the sail, proving that she was +discreet and fully as keen as was Harriet Burrell; and, though Tommy +said very little on the subject uppermost in the minds of the two +girls, the little girl was constantly on the alert.</p> + +<p>In the joy of sailing they forgot their noon meal. Nor were they +reminded of it when Captain Bill, giving Harriet the wheel, made +himself a cup of black coffee over an oil stove and drank it, eating +several slices of dry bread.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> Having finished his luncheon, he +pointed to the compass, asking Harriet if she knew anything about it. +She said she did not.</p> + +<p class="center"><img class="img1" src="images/image_04.jpg" alt="Harriet Took the Wheel." width="350" height="536" /><span class="caption"><br />Harriet Took the Wheel.</span></p> + +<p>"If you are going to be a sailor, you must learn to read the compass," +he said. "In the first place, you must learn to 'box the compass.' +I'll show you."</p> + +<p>"Are you looking for the boxth?" questioned Tommy, observing the +skipper searching for something in a locker under the stern seat.</p> + +<p>"Box? No," he grunted. "We don't use that kind of a box in boxing the +compass. By boxing the compass we mean reading the points of it." He +produced a long, stiff wire, with which he pointed to the compass +card. "A mariner's compass is divided into thirty-two points," he +informed Harriet. "In the first place, there are four cardinal points, +North, East, South and West. As you will see, by looking at the +compass card, it is divided into smaller points which are not named on +the card. I'll draw you a card to-night with all the points named, +then you can learn them. Until you do, you are not a sailor. For +instance, to read the compass, we begin with North and go on until we +have completed the circle of the card, naming each point and +sub-division as we go along. Then you should learn to read it backward +as well. After you have learned to do <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>that I will show you how to lay +a course by a chart."</p> + +<p>"I don't thee anything to read," said Tommy, squinting down at the +card.</p> + +<p>"You are not taking the lesson, darlin'," Jane reminded her.</p> + +<p>"This is the way to begin," Captain Billy told them. "First is North. +Then you say north one-quarter, one-half, three-quarters, then the +next sub-division is North by East with the same fractions of degrees. +We go on as you will see by following the card, as follows, North +Northeast; Northeast by North; Northeast; Northeast by East; East +Northeast; East by North; East. You proceed in exactly the same manner +with the other cardinal points, East, South and West, and that is what +is called 'boxing the compass.' Do you think you understand, Miss +Burrell?"</p> + +<p>"I have at least a start," replied Harriet smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I haven't," declared Tommy with emphasis. "I couldn't thpeak at all +if I repeated that awful thtuff."</p> + +<p>In the meantime Harriet was gazing steadily at the card, fixing the +points in mind, really photographing the points of the compass and +their sub-divisions on her memory, the skipper observing her with a +dry smile. He thought he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>given the young sailor a problem that +would keep her busy for some days to come. What was his surprise, +therefore, when just after they had come to anchor, Harriet asked him +to hear her lesson. She began boxing the compass and only once did she +pause until she had gone all the way around the card.</p> + +<p>"How near right was I, Captain?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Right as a plumb line. Girl, you're a wonder. Took me four months to +learn to read the card; then I didn't have it down as fine as you +have. Will you forget it before to-morrow morning?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me, no," she laughed. "I hope I shall not," added the girl, +sobering a little. "I shall write the points down as soon as possible +after I get back to camp."</p> + +<p>"If you have it down fine in the morning, I'll take you for a long +sail to-morrow," promised the captain, as he assisted the girls over +the side into the waiting small boat.</p> + +<p>The Wau-Wau girls voted it the most delightful day they ever had +spent. When they had reached camp, however, Harriet heard something +that caused her to think even more seriously of what already had +happened at Camp Wau-Wau. Before the night was over she was to witness +that which would add still further to her perplexity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND</h3> + + +<p>"The man wished to know to whom the boat out in the bay belonged," +Miss Elting was saying to the Chief Guardian. "He did not give his +name, but asked many questions—who the captain is, where we got him +and how, and all about it. The questioner was very mysterious. What do +you suppose he could have been trying to find out?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he was a police officer looking for a stolen boat. I +understand a great many boats are stolen along this coast. But we do +not have to worry in the present instance. Miss McCarthy's father +would not have given us a man who was not right in every way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," answered Miss Elting. "He seemed perfectly satisfied with +what I told him, but he did spend quite a time strolling up and down +the beach, out beyond the bar."</p> + +<p>Harriet had overheard the conversation between Miss Elting and Mrs. +Livingston. She smiled at the thought of the light she might possibly +shed on the inquiry made by the visitor that afternoon.</p> + +<p>The girls were sleepy that night and retired <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>early, all save Harriet +Burrell and Tommy, who asked permission to sit out on the bar in front +of the cabin, which permission Miss Elting readily granted. But Tommy +soon grew weary and stumbled into the cabin, where she floundered +about sleepily until she had awakened everyone of her companions.</p> + +<p>Soon after the camp had settled down Harriet was conscious of a +renewal of the previous night's activity on board the sloop, and in +due time the wireless sparks began sputtering from the aerials at the +masthead.</p> + +<p>They had hardly begun when they abruptly ceased. Her ears caught the +sound of the anchor chain scraping through the hawse-hole. The anchor +came aboard with a clatter, the mainsail was sent to the peak in short +order, the boom swung over and the big sail caught the faint breeze +that drifted in from the sea. The sloop, to her amazement, moved out +from the bay. No sooner had it cleared the land than a fresh ocean +breeze heeled the boat down, sending it rapidly out to sea, where it +soon disappeared, sailing without any lights whatever, even the riding +light having been taken in before the captain had started out.</p> + +<p>"What can it mean?" wondered Harriet Burrell. "I know something +questionable is going on here, but what is it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no answer to the question. The tide was now booming on the +beach and a fresher breeze was springing up, the wind outside having +veered until it blew directly into the cove. The girl waited for the +return of the "Sister Sue" until long after midnight, then went to +bed. The sky had become overcast and a spattering of raindrops smote +her in the face. The prospect was for a drizzly night.</p> + +<p>When the camp awakened next morning the sloop was at her anchorage. +What time she had come in Harriet had not the slightest idea, but it +must have been early in the morning, because the skipper was just +furling the mainsail as the girl emerged from the cabin. The sail was +so soaked that he had difficulty in bending it to the boom to which he +was trying to house it. But Harriet Burrell said nothing of her +discovery at breakfast that morning. Later in the day she confided the +secret to Tommy. The latter twisted her face, grimaced and winked +wisely. The two girls understood each other.</p> + +<p>Captain Bill did not mention having been out with the boat, though +Harriet gave him an excellent opportunity to do so that same day. A +drenching drizzle fell all day long. Of course, this did not interfere +with the camp work. The Camp Girls never ceased their labors for rain +or storm of any kind. Later on in the day the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>Meadow-Brook Girls went +aboard the sloop with their guardian, principally for the reason that +Harriet wished to take further lessons in seamanship. She had learned +her compass card well and earned the praise of the grizzled old +skipper, but she was ambitious to accomplish greater things.</p> + +<p>Several days passed, during which the drizzle scarcely ceased for a +moment. But during all this time the young woman was not idle, so far +as her new interests were concerned. She had asked questions, +inquiring the names of things and their uses until she knew them +intimately. The ropes and stays, from a mass of complex, meaningless +cordage, had resolved themselves into individual units, each of which +had its use and its purpose; the compass was no longer a mystery, and, +during a lull in the drizzle, when the sun had come out on the fifth +day, Harriet was permitted to take an observation with the sextant, +the instrument with which mariners take sights to determine their +positions at sea.</p> + +<p>Harriet was instructed to catch the sun at its zenith, which she did, +noting the figures on the scale of the sextant and from which, under +the instruction of the captain, she figured out the latitude of the +sloop. He allowed her to do all the figuring herself. The result was +startling. The skipper took her calculations, studied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>them, frowned, +then permitted his face to expand into a wrinkled grin.</p> + +<p>"Young lady, did you think this was Noah's Ark!" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. Wh—y?"</p> + +<p>"Because according to your figures the 'Sister Sue' is at this minute +located on a line with Mt. Washington, off yonder in the White Range."</p> + +<p>Harriet flushed to the roots of her hair as her companions shouted +gleefully. At last Harriet Burrell had found something that she could +not do. But the captain quickly informed them that to be able to take +observations accurately, and then figure them out, required long and +close application. Some mariners never were really good at theoretical +navigation. Nor had Harriet, as yet, mastered the principles of +trigonometry, which branch of mathematics underlies navigation.</p> + +<p>On the following morning the sun came out, and by the time the camp +was awake the mainsails and jibs had been put out to dry. They were +permitted to swing free all day long and by nightfall were dry and +white, ready for the next sail. Captain Billy had promised them a long +sail, though not having told them where. That evening he consulted +with the Chief Guardian in her tent, with the result that the +Meadow-Brook <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>Girls, Miss Elting and five of their companions were +told to prepare themselves for an early departure on the following +morning, provided the day were fair.</p> + +<p>The girls were delighted, especially Harriet, who looked forward to +putting into actual practice the theories that she had learned. A full +day's provisions were put aboard, for these long sails could not be +made on schedule time in every instance. An early breakfast was eaten +by those who were to go on the sail, after which, bidding good-bye to +their companions who remained behind, the sailing party set out for +the beach, where Captain Billy was awaiting them with the small boat. +The passengers were put aboard in two loads, Harriet and Crazy Jane in +the first boat. The two girls set the jibs, which they had in place by +the time the skipper returned with the others of the sailing party. +They then hoisted the mainsail, and were under way a very few minutes +after the party was snugly aboard. The "Sister Sue" sailed out of the +bay to the accompaniment of fluttering handkerchiefs from the shore +and shrill cries of good-bye.</p> + +<p>"I'll thend you a pothtal card from Europe," shouted Tommy.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" dipped and heeled under the fresh breeze, and, with a "bone +in her teeth"—a white <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>bar of foam at her bows—reached for the open +sea.</p> + +<p>"Take the wheel," ordered the skipper, nodding at Harriet. "Don't move +it much except to fill your sails. See that the sails are full and +pulling strongly at all times, and watch the weather for squalls. When +the sails are pulling too strong, point the nose closer into the wind, +but the 'Sue' will stand up under more than an ordinary squall. That's +it."</p> + +<p>"She is a splendid boat!" cried Harriet.</p> + +<p>"She is at least a well-balanced boat," answered Captain Billy. +"Having the wind on the quarter, we do not have to tack any on this +course. You see, we are headed Northeast by East three-quarters. Keep +her there."</p> + +<p>"Were I to keep straight on as I am, where would we land?" asked +Harriet.</p> + +<p>"England."</p> + +<p>"Oh, let uth keep right on until we get to England," piped Tommy. "How +far ith it?"</p> + +<p>"Three thousand miles, more or less," replied the skipper.</p> + +<p>"Thave me!"</p> + +<p>She had followed the skipper forward, where he had gone to change the +set of one of the jibs, Tommy watching him with questioning eyes.</p> + +<p>"There wath a man at the camp the other day," began the little lisping +girl.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A man? What did he want in your camp?"</p> + +<p>"He wath athking quethtionth about you and the boat," replied Tommy +innocently.</p> + +<p>"Eh?" The skipper's filmy blue eyes took on a steely glint. "Asking +about me?"</p> + +<p>"Yeth."</p> + +<p>"What did he want to know?"</p> + +<p>"All about you."</p> + +<p>"Did he say what for?" Captain Billy showed more excitement in his +manner than Tommy ever before had seen him exhibit.</p> + +<p>"No, not that I know of. He athked the guardianth about you, tho I +heard, where we got you and who got you. Why do you thuppothe he +wanted to know all of thothe thingth?" questioned the little girl, her +eyes wide, questioning and innocent.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Miss. Forget it."</p> + +<p>"Do you thuppothe it hath anything to do with the 'Thilly Thue' going +out in the night?"</p> + +<p>Captain Billy gripped the sheet that he was wrapping about a cleat, +his red face took on a deeper shade, his eyes grew menacing. But Tommy +refused to see anything threatening in either attitude or gaze. She +chuckled gleefully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can keep a thecret. I haven't told anything, have I?" laughed +Tommy as she ran back to her companions, her eyes bright and +sparkling. "I made him thit up and notithe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>thingth," she chuckled in +Harriet's ear. "You watch him, and thee how mad he lookth when he +cometh back here."</p> + +<p>The expression on the face of the skipper bore out all that Tommy had +said of him. Harriet rebuked her, and demanded to know what she had +said, but Tommy laughed merrily and ran into the cabin.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" was getting well out to sea now. The shore line was sinking +gradually into the sea. The land had become a faint, purplish blur in +the distance, a strong, salty breeze was blowing across the sloop and +the Atlantic rollers were becoming longer. The "Sue" was beginning to +roll heavily, rising and falling to the accompaniment of creaking +boom, rattling mast rings and flapping jibs. Keeping on one's feet was +becoming more and more difficult with the passing of the moments.</p> + +<p>"Oh, help!" moaned Margery, in an anguished voice.</p> + +<p>"What ith the matter!" demanded Tommy, squinting quizzically at her +companion, whose face was deathly pale.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so ill," moaned Buster. Then she toppled over into the +cockpit, where she lay moaning. Miss Elting and Hazel picked her up, +carried her into the cabin and placed her on one of the cushioned +locker seats. Margery <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>promptly rolled off with the next lurch of the +sloop. "I wish I were dead!" she moaned.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up! The wortht ith yet to come," cooed Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Do you think this is perfectly safe?" questioned Miss Elting, after +having staggered outside. "The sea is very rough and we are a long way +from shore."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Miss," replied the captain. "This is a very fine sea. +Why, this boat could go through a hurricane and never leak a drop. You +see, we are taking no water aboard at all. Where will you find a boat +as dry as this, I'd like to know?"</p> + +<p>Thus reassured, the guardian felt better about their situation, though +she began to feel dizzy and a few moments later was forced to join +Margery in the cabin. Buster was still on the cabin floor, unable to +keep on the locker seat. She was tossing from side to side with every +roll of the sloop. Four other girls from the camp by this time had +sought what comfort was to be had in the cabin. Outside, Jane, +Harriet, Tommy, Hazel and the skipper were taking their full measure +of the enjoyment of the hour. Harriet got out a basket of food, and, +bracing herself against the combing, proceeded to eat. Her companions +on deck joined her. Tommy carried a roast beef sandwich into the +cabin.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Have a nithe, fat thandwitch with me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Dismal groans greeted her invitation. Harriet called her back.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't have done that, Tommy," she rebuked. "It was most +unkind of you. How would you like to be aggravated if you were +seasick?"</p> + +<p>"If I got theathick I'd detherve to be teathed. Oh, thee the gullth."</p> + +<p>A flock of white gulls was circling over the "Sister Sue." Harriet +flung overboard a handful of crumbs, whereat the birds swooped down, +rode the swells and greedily picked up the crumbs. They started up and +soon overtook the sloop. For an hour the girls fed them; then, the +crumbs being exhausted, the gulls soared out to sea in search of other +craft and food.</p> + +<p>For some time the sailing party had been so fully engaged with their +own affairs that they had given little thought to their surroundings. +They now began to look about them.</p> + +<p>"The land has disappeared!" cried Harriet. "We are out of sight of +land. Isn't this splendid? How far are we out from home, Captain?"</p> + +<p>"Nearly forty miles," he answered, after consulting the log. "Want to +go back?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! Let's keep on going. How I wish we could keep on forever in +this way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We will go on until we meet a ship that is due here."</p> + +<p>"A ship! Oh, where?" cried the girls.</p> + +<p>The captain pointed a gnarled finger at a faint smudge on the distant +horizon.</p> + +<p>"Yonder she is," he answered. "Shall we go out and meet her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, oh, yes!" shouted the Meadow-Brook Girls gleefully. He changed +the course of the "Sister Sue" ever so little, and they went bowling +along over the Atlantic rollers headed for the big liner that was +approaching them at nearly thirty miles an hour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK</h3> + + +<p>"Come out, girlth, and thee the thhip," shouted Tommy, poking her head +into the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Go away and don't bother me," groaned Margery. "Can't you see how +sick I am?"</p> + +<p>"Ithn't that too bad?" deplored Tommy, withdrawing her face with a +most unsympathetic grin. All those on deck were watching the black +smudge on the horizon, and as they gazed it grew into a great, dark +cloud. Out of the cloud, after a time, they saw white foam flashing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>in the sunlight, caused by the displacement of the great ship as she +forged through the summer seas.</p> + +<p>"Shall we pass near her?" questioned Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"We're right on her course," replied the skipper. "We'll turn out +soon, for she won't shift her position an inch unless she thinks we're +going to run into her. Let your boat off a point to starboard, Miss +Burrell."</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye," answered Harriet promptly, shifting the wheel slightly, +eyes fixed on the trembling compass card. The shift of position threw +the wind directly abeam. It was now blowing squarely against the +quarter, causing the sloop to heel down at a sharp angle. The boat +fairly leaped forward, her lee rail almost buried in a smother of +foam. The eyes of the girl at the wheel sparkled with pleasure. It was +glorious. Harriet Burrell could not remember to have enjoyed a happier +moment.</p> + +<p>"They are watching us," announced the captain, who had been examining +the oncoming ship through his glass. "They think we may be coming out +to speak to them," he added with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>"We don't thpeak thhipth in the daylight," answered Tommy, drawing a +quick glance from the captain. Harriet gave her a warning look, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>then +devoted her attention to steering the course, glancing at the oncoming +ship every now and then.</p> + +<p>"Swing out," directed Captain Billy. "She throws a heavy swell. We +will cut across it at right angles passing under her stern. I'll tell +you when to swing in so we'll just make it. Now, can you see the +people?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" cried the girls.</p> + +<p>The huge red and black funnels belching clouds of dense black smoke +were now plainly visible, as were the towering upperworks of the ship, +and the bridge high in the air.</p> + +<p>"Swing in," commanded the "Sue's" skipper.</p> + +<p>Harriet put the helm hard over. The sloop responded quickly. Now the +spray dashed over the boat in a drenching shower, bringing shouts of +glee from the Meadow-Brook Girls. The move in a few minutes brought +them so close to the big ship that the girls could look into the fresh +sea-blown faces of the passengers who crowded the rails on that side +of the liner. It seemed as if the sloop must crash into the side of +the larger boat. Harriet glanced inquiringly at Captain Billy, who +nodded encouragingly, from which she understood that there was no +cause for alarm.</p> + +<p>The girls were now waving their handker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>chiefs and shouting to the +amazed passengers, who could not understand why a party in so frail a +craft should be met with far out to sea, how far few of those on the +ship knew. They did know that they were out of sight of land, which +made the marvel all the greater.</p> + +<p>"Point in closer," commanded Captain Billy.</p> + +<p>Harriet swung in still more. The "Sister Sue" buried her nose in the +foamy, eddying wake of the liner close under the counter, so close, in +fact, that the girls could see the water boiling over the twin +propellers and hear their beat. The next moment they had passed her +and were on the open, rolling sea again, with the big ship threshing +her way toward New York, rapidly widening the gap between herself and +the venturesome little craft. For the moment that they had been +blanketed by the steamer their sails had flattened and they had lost +headway, but now the wind picked them up, the sails bellied and the +little sloop continued on her way.</p> + +<p>"We must turn now," said the skipper, consulting the skies, which he +swept with a comprehensive glance. He gave Harriet the return course. +"I fear we are going to lose the wind. It will pick up later, however. +No need to be anxious." He stepped inside the cabin and, leaning +forward, consulted the barometer. Harriet noted that his face wore a +look of anxiety <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>for the moment. But it had entirely disappeared when +he returned to the deck. Once more he swept the horizon.</p> + +<p>"How is the glass?" she asked, but in a voice too low for her +companions to hear. Harriet referred to the barometer.</p> + +<p>"It has fallen over an inch in two hours," answered Captain Billy.</p> + +<p>"That is a big drop, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so. But don't say anything to the others," he added, +with a quick glance at the girls to see if any had overheard either +his or Harriet Burrell's remarks.</p> + +<p>"It means a blow, does it not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But it may be a long way off, possibly a hundred miles or more."</p> + +<p>"Then, again, we may be right in the center of it?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>The skipper nodded again.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything to be done?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing except to make all the time we can and keep a weather eye +aloft and abroad. Watch your sails and trim them for every breath of +air. Jockey her. Now is your time to see what can be done when there +is little wind to be had."</p> + +<p>Harriet was getting practical experience in sailing a boat such as +falls to few novices, but she took to the work like one who had long +been used to the sea and its varying moods. Under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>her skilful +manipulation the "Sister Sue" was making fairly good headway, though +nothing like what she had done on the outward voyage, for the wind was +dying out, becoming more fitful, shifting from one point of the +compass to another.</p> + +<p>"When the wind moves opposite to the direction of the hands of a +clock—what seamen call 'against the clock'—look out for foul +weather," the captain informed her.</p> + +<p>"That is the way it is going now, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"I hope we shall have enough to take us home."</p> + +<p>"We may have too much." Once more the skipper studied the horizon to +the northeast. That he was not pleased with his observation Harriet +was confident. Again he took a long look at the barometer, glanced at +the compass to see that she was on her course, then, thrusting his +hands into his pockets, studied the rigging overhead.</p> + +<p>"We aren't making much headway, are we?" questioned Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"None at all," was the, to her, surprising reply; "we're in a dead +calm now."</p> + +<p>The waves had taken on an oily appearance and there were no longer +white crests on the rollers. The "Sister Sue" rolled and plunged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>in a +sickening way, the boom swinging from side to side. All hands were in +the cockpit or cabin, however, so that there was no danger of their +being hit by the swinging boom. In the cabin was heard a series of +groans more agonized than before. The guardian had recovered in a +measure, though they observed that she was very pale. The fresh air +outside revived her somewhat.</p> + +<p>"I wish you to tell me frankly if there is any danger?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," was the skipper's evasive answer.</p> + +<p>"Meaning that there may be later?"</p> + +<p>"We may be late getting home," he replied. "I can't say any more than +that now. Ugh!"</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell saw him gazing off to the northeast. She followed the +direction of his glance, and saw a purplish haze hanging heavily on +the horizon. As she gazed the purple haze seemed to grow darker and to +increase in size. The sight disturbed her, though she did not know +why. The sea now made little noise. A flock of seagulls could be +plainly heard honking high overhead, and a chattering flock of stormy +petrels soared down, coming to rest on the water in the wake of the +sloop.</p> + +<p>"I'll take in the jibs. Mind your wheel. We are in for a blow," +announced the skipper.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>IN THE GRIP OF MIGHTY SEAS</h3> + + +<p>The captain quickly furled the jibs, then took a reef in the mainsail. +Consulting the skies again, he decided to leave one of the jibs up, so +set it once more and took another reef in the mainsail, thus +shortening the latter considerably.</p> + +<p>The "Sister Sue" was now making no headway at all, but was rolling +dizzily from wave to wave, now and then a swell striking the side of +the little boat and tumbling torrents of green water over into the +cockpit. The girls were set to work bailing. They already were soaked +to the skin, though, instead of being disturbed, they were laughing +joyously, thinking it great fun. Their attention was called to a +school of porpoises that came leaping toward them, appearing at first +like miniature geysers springing out of the oily green seas. The +porpoises divided, passing on either side of the sloop and close +aboard, racing on toward the land that lay off yonder somewhere in the +green distance.</p> + +<p>It was now impossible to stand without holding fast to something that +would not give. Harriet had never seen a boat roll so fast. From <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>side +to side it lurched, plunging at the same time, both with almost +incredible speed. Her own head was beginning to spin. Tommy's face was +pale.</p> + +<p>"You're getting seasick," smiled Harriet, eyeing her friend sharply.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not," protested the little girl "You're getting thick +yourthelf."</p> + +<p>"I confess to being dizzy," admitted Harriet, "but I am not so ill +that I must go to bed. Keep outside. You will be much better off than +in the cabin, where the air is close and the others are suffering."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to, thank you." Tommy stood braced against the cabin, her +keen little eyes observing the now serious face of the skipper. "I +gueth thomething ith going to happen," she observed.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell the others," cautioned Harriet, with a warning shake of +the head.</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to. What ith it, a thtorm?"</p> + +<p>Harriet nodded.</p> + +<p>"I knew it. I jutht knew thomething wath going to break loothe."</p> + +<p>The purple haze was nearing at a rapid rate of speed, and Harriet +Burrell saw that with it the sea was piling up, its white crests angry +and menacing.</p> + +<p>"Try to keep the wind dead astern," ordered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>the skipper. "I will +handle the sheets. Do you think you can manage it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I will be on the lookout for orders. You may depend upon +me, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll weather it, but we shall get pretty wet, and night is +coming on, too. We're going to have a merry night of it! All hands who +do not wish to get a ducking go below," shouted the skipper.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting, Jane, Harriet and Tommy remained outside. The captain +tossed a rope to each, directing them to tie the ropes about their +waists, making the lines fast to a cleat on the after end of the +raised deck cabin.</p> + +<p>"Just for safety's sake," he nodded.</p> + +<p>The wind was beginning to whistle through the rigging, the water to +foam under the bows of the "Sister Sue," showing that she was getting +under good headway.</p> + +<p>"Port one point," bellowed the skipper. Harriet instantly obeyed the +command. Then the gale was upon them with a screech and a roar. A +volume of water that threatened to swamp them rolled toward the stern, +but before it had done so Harriet, acting upon a sharply uttered +command, had swung the sloop about until its nose met the oncoming +rush of wind and water. She gasped for breath as the flood of salt +water enveloped her; yet, bracing her feet, clung firmly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>to the +wheel, holding the craft on the new course. Afterward Harriet had a +faint recollection of having seen her companions swimming on the green +sea in the little cockpit, Tommy's pale face standing out more +prominently than all the rest.</p> + +<p>"We made it," roared the skipper. "Now hold her steady, and she will +ride it out like a duck." He grabbed up a pail and began bailing with +all his might. Jane did likewise, then Miss Elting lent her +assistance. Tommy was clinging to the cabin roof with all her might.</p> + +<p>Before the storm struck them they had not thought to light their +masthead and side lights. Now it was next to impossible to do so. The +sloop was rushing through the seas without a light to mark her +presence on the sea that was growing more wild with the moments. But +the binnacle light was burning steadily over the compass, so that the +helmswoman was able to see in which direction they were heading. The +compass told her that, instead of making headway toward land, they +were rushing along at a frightful rate of speed toward Europe. Still, +she realized that this was the only safe course to follow.</p> + +<p>All at once Harriet Burrell uttered a sharp cry of alarm. She threw +the wheel over so suddenly that a wave smashing against the side of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>the sloop nearly turned them turtle. Captain Billy, with quick +instinct, let go the mainsail, which swung out far to leeward, thus +saving the little craft from being upset. Up to this moment he did not +know what the sudden shifting meant, but just as he was about to +bellow to the helmswoman he caught sight of a towering mass of lights +that for the moment seemed to hang over them, then flashed on, missing +the "Sue" by a few scant rods of water. They had had a narrow escape +from being run down by a steamer. But for Harriet's quickness, nothing +could have saved them. It was plain that those on the bridge of the +steamer had not discovered the small boat in the sea under their bows, +for they did not even hail.</p> + +<p>"Good work," bellowed the skipper.</p> + +<p>"I thought we'd got to Europe," shouted Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Lay her to. I've got to close reef that sail," commanded the captain.</p> + +<p>Harriet pointed the bow right into the teeth of the wind. Oh, how that +little craft did plunge! At times it seemed as if the greater part of +her length were wholly out of water, that she had taken a long, +quivering leap from the crest of one great wave to another. So hard +was she pitching that she had little time left in which to roll. Salt +spray rained down over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>decks until the cabin itself was almost +wholly hidden from the view of the girl at the wheel. In the meantime +the captain had reefed the mainsail down to the last row.</p> + +<p>"Now let her off a few points," he directed.</p> + +<p>Boom!</p> + +<p>"Oh, what was that?" cried Miss Elting, her voice barely heard in the +shriek of the gale. "What happened?"</p> + +<p>"Jib gone by the board," shouted the captain. "Lucky if we don't lose +the mainsail the same way."</p> + +<p>Harriet had not uttered a sound when the startling report had boomed +out above the roar of the storm, but her heart had seemed to leap into +her throat. Her arms had grown numb under the strain of holding the +wheel, for the sea was hurling its tremendous force against the craft, +requiring great effort on the part of the helmswoman to keep the boat +on its course. But she clung doggedly to her chosen task, seeking to +pierce the darkness ahead with her gaze. The salt water made her eyes +smart so that she could scarcely see at all. Yet she could feel the +wind on her face, and by that guide alone she was enabled to keep the +"Sue" headed into the storm. She long since had ceased trying to keep +the boat on a compass course, for the greater part of the time the +compass card was invisible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>either through the spray or solid water, +as the case might be.</p> + +<p>It was marvelous how the little boat stood up under the bombardment of +the Atlantic rollers and the mountains of water that hurled themselves +upon her. Harriet was standing in water up to her knees, but, +fortunately, every time the boat rolled or plunged, a volume of salt +water was hurled out into the sea itself.</p> + +<p>In the cabin everything movable was afloat. The passengers in there +were nearly drowned at times, but in their fright most of them had +forgotten their seasickness. They were clinging to the seats in most +instances, screaming with fear. Miss Elting, deciding that her +presence was needed in the cabin rather than outside, plunged into the +dark hole head-first. Quickly gathering herself together, she did her +best to calm and comfort the girls, though every plunge of the boat +she expected would be its last. It did not seem possible that the +little craft could weather the gale.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there came a mighty crash above their heads, followed by a +ripping, tearing sound, and above it all sounded the screams of the +girls who were fighting their great battle out there in the cockpit of +the "Sister Sue."</p> + +<p>The girls in the cabin threw themselves into one another's arms, +screaming wildly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Stop it!" shouted Miss Elting. "Be brave, girls. Remember, you are +Camp Girls!"</p> + +<p>The cabin doors burst in and a great green wave hurled them the length +of the cabin, crushing them against the bulkhead at the far end, the +guardian clinging, gasping, nearly drowned, to a rail above the +doorway.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>WAGING A DESPERATE BATTLE</h3> + + +<p>"We're lost!" exclaimed Miss Elting, turning back into the cabin. But +she was suddenly attracted by a shout from without.</p> + +<p>"Cut away!" screamed Harriet. "Jane, are you there? Tommy!"</p> + +<p>"He's gone!" It was Jane's voice that answered in a long, wailing cry.</p> + +<p>The water was rapidly receding from the cabin. Miss Elting quickly +straightened the girls out. She did not know how seriously they had +been hurt, if at all, but after making sure that all within the cabin +were alive, the guardian groped her way to the cockpit. Harriet stood +braced against the wheel, shouting out her commands, screaming at the +top of her voice to make herself heard and understood above the gale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>The guardian staggered over to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what has happened?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"The mast has gone overboard—part of it at least, and—"</p> + +<p>"Captain Billy's gone, too! The boom struck and carried him over!" +yelled Jane when she had crept near enough to be heard.</p> + +<p>"Cut away, I tell you. Here is a hatchet." Harriet had groped in the +locker, from which she drew a keen-edged hatchet and handed it to +Crazy Jane McCarthy. "You'll have to be quick. We're being swamped. +See, we are taking water over the side. Oh, <i>do</i> hurry, Jane!"</p> + +<p>"The captain gone!" moaned Miss Elting. "Can nothing be done?"</p> + +<p>"No." Harriet's voice was firm. "Unless we work fast we shall all go +to the bottom. We must save those on the boat, Miss Elting. But you +listen for his voice. Oh, this is terrible!"</p> + +<p>The steady whack—whack of the hatchet in the hands of Jane McCarthy +came faintly to their ears. Once Jane slipped over the side into the +water; but, grasping the life-line to which she was tied, the girl +pulled herself back on the deck and set pluckily to work again. It was +the wonder of Harriet Burrell that the "Sue" kept afloat at all, for +she was more under water than above it, and the seas were breaking +over her.</p> + +<p>"Please get back and look after the girls. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>Where is your life-line?" +asked Harriet of Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"I threw it off when I went into the cabin."</p> + +<p>"Get back! Stay there until I call you, or—"</p> + +<p>Harriet did not finish the sentence, but the guardian understood and +turned back into the cabin, where she did her best to comfort the +panic-stricken Camp Girls.</p> + +<p>"Whoop!" shrieked Jane.</p> + +<p>The "Sue" righted with a violent jolt. Jane had freed the side of the +boat of the rigging which, attached to the broken mast and sail, was +holding the craft down and threatening every second to swamp her. Jane +crept down into the cockpit, and was about to cut away the stays that +held the wreckage, which was now floating astern of the sloop.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" commanded Harriet. "Wait till we see what effect it has on us, +but stand by to cut away if we see there is peril. Oh, I hope we shall +be able to ride it out. That poor captain! He must have been stunned +by a blow of the boom. It seems cruel to stand here without lifting a +hand to save him. But what can we do? Jane, is there anything you can +think of that we can do?"</p> + +<p>Crazy Jane shook her head slowly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but to tell his family, if we ever get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>back to land," was +her solemn reply. "But, darlin', we aren't on land ourselves yet, and +I doubt me very much if we ever shall be. See the waves breaking over +this old tub. How long do you think she will stand it?"</p> + +<p>Harriet did not answer at once. She was peering forward into the +darkness. Holding up her hand, she noted the direction of the wind.</p> + +<p>"Do you see, Jane, the 'Sue' is behaving better! She isn't taking +nearly so much water. Do you know what has happened?"</p> + +<p>"What is it, darlin'?"</p> + +<p>"The wreckage that you cut away is holding the stern and acting as a +sea anchor, and it has pulled the bow of the boat around until we are +headed right into the gale. I am glad I didn't let you cut loose the +wreckage. It may be the very thing that will save us, but I don't +know. I wish you would get some one to help you bail out the pit. The +water is getting deep in here again, and the cabin is all afloat."</p> + +<p>"But more will come in," objected Jane.</p> + +<p>"And more will swamp us, first thing we know. You take the wheel. I +will bail."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it myself, darlin'."</p> + +<p>Jane asked Hazel to assist her, and together they slaved until it +seemed as if their backs surely would break.</p> + +<p>The storm, while not abating any, did not ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>pear to increase in fury. +It was severe enough as it was. The seas loomed above the broken craft +like huge, black mountains, yet somehow they seemed to break just a +few seconds before engulfing her and to divide, passing on either +side, but the "Sister Sue" wallowed in a smother of foam, creaking and +groaning, giving in every joint, and threatening to fall to pieces +with each new twist and turn forced upon her by the writhing seas.</p> + +<p>Miss Elting, after having in a measure quieted the girls in the cabin, +came out clinging to a rope. She and Harriet held a shouted +conversation, after which the guardian returned to the cabin, where +there was less danger of being beaten down by huge seas, although one +could get fully as wet inside the cabin as on deck.</p> + +<p>The hours of the night wore slowly away. The intense impenetrable +blackness, the roar and thunder of the sea, the terrible jerking, +jolting and hurling beneath them, shook the nerves of the girls, +keeping them constantly in a half-dazed condition that perhaps +lessened the keenness of their suffering. Harriet and Jane, however, +never for a single second relaxed their vigilance, or left a single +thing undone that would tend to ease the boat or to contribute to its +safety. The binnacle light long since had been extinguished by the +water, making it impossible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>to see the compass to tell which way they +were headed. Little good it would have done them to know, either, they +being powerless to change their course, or to make any headway at all, +save as they drifted with the seas. Harriet hoped they might be +drifting toward shore. Instead, they were being slowly carried down +the coast and parallel with it.</p> + +<p>At last the gray of the early dawn appeared in the east, but it was a +"high dawn," with the light first appearing high in the sky, meaning +to sailors wind or storm. Harriet did not know the meaning of it, +however, though she thought it a most peculiar looking sky. And now, +as the light came slowly, they were able to get an idea what the sea +in which they had been wallowing all night looked like. It was a +fearsome sight. As they gazed their hearts sank within them. Mountains +of leaden water rose into the air, then sank out of sight again, and +when the "Sue" went into one of those troughs of the sea it was like +sinking into a great black pit from which there was no escape. Yet the +buoyant hull of the sloop rose every time, shaking the water from her +glistening white sides and bending to the oncoming seas preparatory to +taking another dizzy dive.</p> + +<p>The lower half of the mast was still standing, a ragged stump, the +deck itself swept clean of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>every vestige of wreckage and movable +equipment. What troubled Harriet most was the loss of the water cask. +The small water tank in the cabin had been hurled to the floor by the +pitching of the sloop and its contents spilled. The Meadow-Brook Girl +saw that they were going to be without water to drink, a most serious +thing, provided they were not drowned before needing something to +drink. As she studied the boat, an idea was gradually formed in her +mind, a plan outlined that she determined to try to adopt were the +wind to go down sufficiently to make the attempt prudent. Harriet +called the others to her, and the girls talked it over in all its +details for the better part of an hour.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to eat on board now, nor did many of the party feel +like eating. Tommy, however, found her appetite shortly after daybreak +and raised quite a disturbance because there was nothing to be had. +She suggested breaking open the doors that led to the chain locker, +but of this Harriet would not hear. She did not wish water to get in +there, for that appeared to be the one part of the boat that was now +free from it, and that really had saved them from going to the bottom. +In the meantime the wind did not appear to be abating in the +slightest. All that wretched forenoon the majority of the girls, +half-dead from fright and exposure, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>clung desperately to the cushions +of the locker seats, wild-eyed and despairing. All that forenoon +Harriet Burrell, Jane McCarthy, Tommy, Hazel and Miss Elting stuck to +their posts and worked without once pausing to rest. About noon the +wind suddenly died out, then began veering in puffs from various +quarters of the compass.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jane, is our chance," cried Harriet. "The storm is broken, but +the seas will be high all the rest of the day. If we can fix up some +sort of a sail, we may be able to reach land before long."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION</h3> + + +<p>When the "Sister Sue" failed to return the previous afternoon, and the +storm came on, Mrs. Livingston, greatly alarmed, sent a party of girls +with a guardian to the nearest telephone to send word to Portsmouth +that the sloop and its passengers were missing. A revenue cutter was +sent out to look for them, first, however, having been in +communication with the ocean liner the girls had passed by wireless, +learning from the captain of the ship of their having sighted the +"Sister <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>Sue" and giving the latter's position at the time. This +served as a guide for the revenue boat, which steamed through the +great seas until daylight.</p> + +<p>There were no signs of the missing sloop; but, reasoning that, if the +boat was still afloat, it must have been blown down the coast, the +revenue boat headed in that direction. It was not until three o'clock +in the afternoon, however, that the lookout reported seeing something +floating in the far distance, off the starboard bow. A study of this +object through the glasses led the captain to turn his cutter in that +direction. An hour later he was close enough to see that it was a +dismantled boat, and that there were people aboard it.</p> + +<p>Full speed ahead was ordered and the revenue boat rapidly drew up. A +strange spectacle was revealed to the officers and men of the revenue +cutter as she approached close enough to make out details. The +dismantled sloop was lying very low in the water, showing that she was +in a bad way. To the top of the stump of the mast a staple had been +driven and through this a rope run. This rope held a jib, the greater +part of which was on the deck because there was not height enough to +spread it all. But what there was of the jib was pulling well in the +fresh breeze and the sloop was wallowing through the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>seas, making +fair headway toward land, which now was not more than fifteen miles +away.</p> + +<p>Harriet Burrell, still at the wheel, was giving her full attention to +handling the boat, leaving to her companions the task of attracting +the attention of the cutter, which, however, had seen the sloop long +before the passengers on her had discovered the revenue boat.</p> + +<p>The captain of the cutter lay to as close to the sloop as he dared go, +then held a megaphone conversation with the survivors. Harriet replied +that she thought she would be able to get the boat to shore, but +suggested that they take off the other girls. The captain would not +listen to Harriet's first proposition. After a perilous passage he +finally succeeded in getting a boat's crew aboard the sloop, the +skipper himself accompanying the rescue party.</p> + +<p>"And you brought this tub through the gale?" he questioned, turning to +Harriet after hearing a brief account of the loss of Captain Billy and +the consequent experiences of the "Sister Sue's" passengers.</p> + +<p>"It was purely good luck, sir," answered Harriet modestly.</p> + +<p>"It was something a great deal stronger than luck," answered the +captain. "The sea is going down. As soon as it is down enough to be +safe I will put you all aboard the cutter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Are you going to leave the sloop?" asked Miss Elting.</p> + +<p>"No. We want that boat for reasons of our own. We wish to look it over +at our leisure. Your sea anchor saved you, that and good seamanship. +Miss Burrell, it is a pity you are not a man. You would be commanding +a ship in a few years. I think we had better transfer you now. I'm +afraid of the sloop."</p> + +<p>The transfer was a thrilling experience for the Camp Girls. Several +times they narrowly missed being upset and thrown into the sea, but +after more than two hours' work everyone had been safely landed on +the deck of the revenue boat. Three men were put aboard the sloop, a +lifeboat being left with them in case the "Sue" foundered. The revenue +cutter then started towing her toward home. It was late in the evening +when finally they came to anchor off Camp Wau-Wau. The surf was +running so high that it was decided not to put the girls ashore until +the following morning, though the "Sue" was cast off from her tow and +allowed to drift into the bay. From here her crew rowed ashore and +informed the anxious Camp Girls that everyone of their companions was +safe.</p> + +<p>But the morning brought with it a further surprise. The cabin in which +the Meadow-Brook Girls had made their home had wholly disap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>peared. +With it had gone the bar, swept out by the storm, the cabin lying a +hopeless, tangled wreck on the shore of the bay. With it, too, had +gone ashore a variety of stuff which the officers of the revenue boat +examined early that morning. They pronounced the ruined stuff +ammunition.</p> + +<p>Harriet told of the mysterious box that she had seen carried into the +woods. Later in the day this was located and dug up. It was found to +be a zinc-lined case, packed with military rifles of old pattern.</p> + +<p>On board the "Sister Sue," in the chain locker, was found a complete +wireless equipment, together with quite a cargo of rifles and +ammunition.</p> + +<p>"These guns were meant for <i>business</i>!" remarked the captain of the +revenue cutter, as he and another officer stood by superintending the +work of four sailors.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought the days of piracy had gone by," remarked Harriet.</p> + +<p>"<i>Pi</i>—" gasped Tommy, and turned pale.</p> + +<p>"Pirates!" echoed Margery Brown in consternation. "Why, we might have +been killed and no one would have known what became of us!"</p> + +<p>"Who said anything about pirates!" retorted the revenue captain, +smiling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, you thaid—" began Tommy wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"I spoke of 'business,'" came the answer of the man in uniform, "and +that was what I meant to say. In these days, in Latin-American +countries, revolution appears to be one of the leading forms of +business."</p> + +<p>"<i>Revolution?</i>" echoed Margery, quickly reviving, while Tommy listened +in amazement. "Why, revolutions are romantic; there's nothing awful +about 'em."</p> + +<p>"Nothing awful," laughed Captain Rupert. "In the countries to the +south of us most of the revolutions are very tame affairs, so far as +actual fighting goes. The crowd that makes the most noise, whether +government or insurgent, usually wins the day. For that matter, I +never could understand why blank cartridges wouldn't do as well as the +real ammunition in these Latin-American revolutions."</p> + +<p>"Yet if these rifles and cartridges were intended for use in a +revolution," Harriet broke in, "doesn't it seem odd to land them on +this short strip of New Hampshire coast?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all odd when you understand the reason," Captain Rupert went +on. "These rifles are intended to be used in another projected +uprising of the blacks in Cuba. The blacks there are always ready to +fight, provided some self<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>seeking white man offers them the weapons, +and a prosperous time, without work, in the event of victory. Such +another uprising of the blacks in Cuba has been planned. The secret +service men of the Cuban government got wind of the affair and trailed +some of the plotters to this country.</p> + +<p>"Now, the United States is the place where nearly all of the supplies +for these revolutions are bought. So our government, watching, +discovered that the arms were being slyly shipped to Portsmouth, +instead of being directly shipped from New York to Cuba. It was, of +course, quite plain that Portsmouth was the port from which the arms +and ammunition were to be shipped. So the cutter that I command was +ordered to Portsmouth. As soon as the plotters there found the +'Terrapin' cruising off that port they knew they must find some other +way of getting the goods out of the country, for it is against the law +to ship arms from this country for use against any other established +government.</p> + +<p>"So the plotters hit upon a new plan. They engaged the skipper of a +regular fishing smack to carry small lots of arms out to sea, there to +transfer them to a sloop. Captain Billy was the man selected to +receive the arms and ammunition at sea. He brought them in here, +hiding them, with the intention of putting out some dark night, making +several short trips, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>transferring all the rifles and +cartridges—eight thousand rifles and three million cartridges, to a +small steamer that would be waiting in the offing. The steam vessel +would then carry the cargo to Cuba, landing the goods at some secret, +appointed place. Captain Billy, as our government learned, was to +receive one thousand dollars for his share in the work. It was a bit +risky, as he faced prison if caught—as he surely would have been +imprisoned had he lived."</p> + +<p>"Poor man!" sighed Harriet sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," nodded Captain Rupert gravely. "Captain Billy was +a good fellow, as men go; but he had passed his fiftieth year with +fortune as far away as ever, and he caught at the bait of a thousand +dollars, though he knew he was breaking the laws of his country. But +he's dead," added the revenue officer, uncovering his head for a +moment; "therefore we won't discuss his fault further."</p> + +<p>When the "hidden treasure" in the woods was unearthed it proved to be +a large consignment of rifles and cartridges. These had been hidden in +a cleverly concealed artificial, sod-covered cave in the woods. Its +existence had been so well hidden that Camp Wau-Wau girls had scores +of times passed over the cave without suspecting its existence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before the revenue cutter sailed away the six officers aboard came +ashore one evening, taking dinner with the girls, in company with a +number of young men, invited from the neighborhood. Afterward until +half-past ten o'clock there was a pleasant dance.</p> + +<p>All too soon Harriet Burrell and her friends found this vacation trip +at an end. Proud of the honors they had won, delighted beyond words +with the good times they had had, they left for home the day before +the hulk of the "Sister Sue" was taken away, at Mr. McCarthy's order, +and sold.</p> + +<p>"We are leaving behind us the best time we have ever had," sighed +Hazel on the morning of their departure.</p> + +<p>"I am sure there are plenty of good times ahead of all of us yet," +declared Harriet brightly.</p> + +<p>"What I'm going to say, girls," broke in Miss Elting, "is not +original, but practical. The driver we've engaged to take our +belongings to the station will be due here in ten minutes. If we're +not ready for him, he'll charge us extra for waiting."</p> + +<p>So the packing was finished, the driver departed with the luggage, and +the Meadow-Brook Girls, somewhat wet-eyed, took leave of all at Camp +Wau-Wau. Then, Torch Bearer Harriet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>Burrell leading the way, the four +girls and their guardian took the trail.</p> + +<p>Yet there was another good time coming, as all our readers will +speedily discover when they open the next volume, which is published +under the title: "<span class="smcap">The Meadow-Brook Girls on the Tennis +Courts</span>; Or, Winning Out in the Big Tournament."</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The End.</span></h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea +by Janet Aldridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA *** + +***** This file should be named 17099-h.htm or 17099-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/9/17099/ + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Greg Weeks, Sankar Viswanathan, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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