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diff --git a/31419.txt b/31419.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebbdec9 --- /dev/null +++ b/31419.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9324 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wyn's Camping Days, by Amy Bell Marlowe + +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: Wyn's Camping Days + or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club + +Author: Amy Bell Marlowe + +Release Date: February 27, 2010 [EBook #31419] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WYN'S CAMPING DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +WYN'S CAMPING DAYS + + + + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +By AMY BELL MARLOWE + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid + +THE OLDEST OF FOUR + Or Natalie's Way Out + +THE GIRLS OF HILLCREST FARM + Or the Secret of the Rocks + +A LITTLE MISS NOBOBY + Or With the Girls of Pinewood Hall + +THE GIRL FROM SUNSET RANCH + Or Alone in a Great City + +WYN'S CAMPING DAYS + Or The Outing of Go-Ahead Club + +FRANCES OF THE RANGES + Or The Old Ranchman's Treasure + +THE GIRLS OF RIVERCLIFF SCHOOL + Or Beth Baldwin's Resolve + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + + + + +[Illustration: IT DID SEEM, BECAUSE THEY WERE IN A HURRY, THAT +EVERYTHING WENT WRONG. _Frontispiece (Page 80)._] + + + + +WYN'S CAMPING DAYS + +OR + +THE OUTING OF THE GO-AHEAD CLUB + +BY + +AMY BELL MARLOWE + +AUTHOR OF +THE OLDEST OF FOUR, THE GIRL FROM SUNSET RANCH, +A LITTLE MISS NOBODY, ETC. + +Illustrated + +NEW YORK + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1914, by + +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +Wyn's Camping Days + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter Page + I. THE GO-AHEAD CLUB 1 + II. THE BUSTERS 12 + III. POLLY 20 + IV. THE SILVER IMAGES 34 + V. BESSIE LAVINE 49 + VI. OFF FOR THE LAKE 55 + VII. THE STORM BREAKS 71 + VIII. AT WINDMILL FARM 83 + IX. JOHN JARLEY, EXILE 94 + X. THE "HAPPY DAY" 104 + XI. WHERE THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED 120 + XII. AN OVERTURN 129 + XIII. A SERIOUS ADVENTURE 144 + XIV. THE REPULSE 150 + XV. TROUBLE "BRUIN" 161 + XVI. TIT FOR TAT 171 + XVII. VISITORS 188 + XVIII. THE REGATTA 198 + XIX. UNDER WHITE WINGS 207 + XX. THE CANOE RACE 213 + XXI. THE WAY OF THE WIND 224 + XXII. THE PRISONERS OF THE TOWER 232 + XXIII. WYN HITS SOMETHING 240 + XXIV. THE NIGHT ALARM 248 + XXV. THE STRANGE BATEAU 258 + XXVI. THE BOYS TO THE RESCUE 267 + XXVII. IS IT THE "BRIGHT EYES"? 278 + XXVIII. A FRIEND IN NEED 288 + XXIX. THE SUNKEN TREASURE 296 + XXX. STRIKING CAMP 306 + + + + +WYN'S CAMPING DAYS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE GO-AHEAD CLUB + + +"Oh, girls! such news!" cried Wynifred Mallory, banging open the door of +Canoe Lodge, and bringing into the living room a big breath of the cool +May air, which drew out of the open fireplace a sudden balloon of smoke, +setting the other members of the Go-Ahead Club there assembled coughing. + +Grace Hedges, who was acting as fireman that week, turned an exasperated +face, with a bar of smut across it, exclaiming: + +"If another soul comes in that door and creates a back-draught until +this fire gets to burning properly, I certainly shall have hysterics! I +never did see such a mean old thing to burn." + +"Never mind, Gracie. We're all here now--all six of us. There are no +more Go-Aheads to come," observed Bessie Lavine, yawning over her book +in the only sunny corner of the room. + +"There! it's burning--finally," exclaimed Grace, with blended disgust +and thankfulness. "I never was cut out for a fireman, girls." + +"Poor Gracie," purred Wyn, who had approached the blaze that was now +beginning to curl through the hickory sticks piled more or less +scientifically against the backlog. "Don't you know it needed just that +back-draught to break the deadlock in the chimney and start your fire +crackling this way?" + +"Bah! it was just hateful," grumbled Grace. "I hate fire making. And it +does seem as though my week for playing fireman comes around twice as +often as it should." Wyn had moved rather too near to the darting +flames, and Grace suddenly pulled the captain of the club aside. +"_Don't_ stand so near, Silly!" she cried. + +"Fireman! save my che-ild!" wailed "Frank" Cameron, coming forward and +winding her long arms around Wynifred. "What's the news, Wyn, dear? +Nobody had the politeness to ask you. Wherefore all the excitement?" + +"There must be a strike at the blacksmith shop," said Percy Havel, a +curly-headed blonde girl. + +"No!" cried Frank, with a droll twist of her rather homely features. +"I'll wager they've laid off one of the hands of the town clock. +Business is dreadfully dull. I heard my father say so." + +She was a tall, lanky girl, was Frances Cameron, with a great mass of +blue-black hair and flashing black eyes. She was thin, strong, and +lacking in those soft curves of budding womanhood which girls of her age +usually display. "Straight up and down, my dears," she often said. +"Built upon the most approved clothespin plan, with every bone +perfectly--not to say generously--developed." + +"Well," said Wyn, laughing, "if you girls will give me a chance I will +divulge my news." + +"Be still!" commanded Frank. "The oracle speaks." + +"Oh, hurry up, Wyn!" exclaimed Percy, coming nearer the group before the +now roaring fire. "I've been dying to tell them." + +"Well, girls," said Wyn, smiling, so that her brown eyes fairly danced. +"Mrs. Havel--Percy's aunt--says she will go." + +"Fine!" exclaimed Frankie. + +"You don't mean it, Wyn?" gasped Mina Everett. "Then we really +_can_ go camping?" + +"And to Lake Honotonka?" put in Bessie. + +"That's what we aimed to do; wasn't it?" demanded Wyn, laughing. "And +when the Go-Ahead Club starts to do a thing, it usually arrives; doesn't +it?" + +"At least, the captain arrives for them," said Frank, giving Wyn's arm a +little squeeze. "We wouldn't get far in our 'go-ahead' plans if it +wasn't for you, Wynnie." + +"Such flattery!" protested the captain. + +"You didn't have an easy time convincing my mother--I know that," said +Mina, shaking _her_ head. "You know, she's so afraid of water." + +"And my mother is afraid of high winds," confessed Bessie. "Wyn had to +coax to bring her around." + +"And of course, Gracie's mother is afraid of fire," chuckled Frank; "and +there you have the three elements. You can plainly see that Gracie knows +very little about fire. She never built one in her life until we formed +our camping club." + +"Oh, well," observed Grace, trying to rub the smut off her face with a +handkerchief and the aid of a pocket-mirror, "this is about the end of +the fire season, thank goodness! If we go into camp after school closes, +on Lake Honotonka, there won't be any fires to build." + +"Oh, _won't_ there?" cried Bessie. "You just wait. Instead of +taking turns at being fireman for the week, as we do through the winter, +we'll draw lots to see who shall build _all_ the fires. And you +know very well, Gracie, that you always _are_ unlucky." + +"Sure she is," agreed Frank. "She always draws the very boobiest of all +booby prizes out of the grab-bag." + +"Oh, dear me!" wailed Grace, who was big, and handsome, and not a little +lazy, "I do so hate to work, too. If there had been another set of girls +I liked at Denton Academy, I'd never have joined the Go-Ahead Club." + +"Right. Gracie is better fitted for a Fall-Behind Club," observed Wyn. + +"But tell us, Wynnie," begged Mina. "Is it really all arranged? Has +everybody agreed that we can go in our canoes to Lake Honotonka?" + +"And stay all vacation if we like?" cried Percy. + +"That is the understanding," Wyn assured them. "Percy's aunt is the very +kindest lady who ever was----" + +"Vote we buy her something nice," interposed Frank. + +"That will come in due season," Wyn continued. "But Mrs. Havel went with +me to all our people. She knows all about the place, of course----" + +"So does my father," interposed Bessie. + +"And he wasn't hard to convince," Wyn responded. "Of course, there are +wild nooks along Honotonka's shores; but at the upper end is Braisely +Park, where all those rich folks live; and there's the village of +Meade's Forge at this end of the lake. We can get supplies, or a doctor, +or send a telephone message, easily enough. And what more does one +want--camping out?" + +"We'll have just a lovely time!" sighed Bessie. "I can hardly wait for +school to close." + +"A month and a half yet," said Frank Cameron. "And every day will seem +longer than the one that preceded it. But then! when it does come----" + +"Just think of living under canvas--and for weeks and weeks! It almost +makes me feel spooky," declared Grace, beginning to grow enthusiastic. + +These girls, all attending Denton Academy and living within the limits +of that town, being the daughters of fairly well-to-do parents, had been +able to enjoy many advantages as well as pleasures that poorer girls +could not have; but none of them had chanced to experience the joys of a +vacation in the woods. + +During the preceding autumn they had become immensely interested in +canoeing. Denton was situated upon the beautiful, winding Wintinooski, +and the six members of the Go-Ahead Club had taken several Saturday +cruises on the river. But never had they gone as far up the stream as +Lake Honotonka. + +That was a wide and beautiful sheet of water, thirty-five miles to the +west of the town of Denton. Their boy friends had sometimes been allowed +to go camping upon the shores of the lake; and their enthusiastic praise +of the fun to be had under canvas had set Wynifred Mallory and her chums +"just wild," as Frank Cameron expressed it, to try it too. + +Wyn was a girl of determination and physical as well as moral courage. +If she made up her mind that a thing was right, and she wanted it, she +usually got it. + +When the girls first broached their desire to spend the summer at the +big lake, and actually live under canvas, not one of their parents +encouraged the idea. Because the "Busters," a certain boys' club of the +girls' friends, were going to the lake again for the long vacation, made +no difference to the mothers and fathers--especially the mothers of Wyn +and her chums of the Go-Ahead Club. + +"It's no use," Bessie Lavine had reported, at their first meeting after +the idea was born in Canoe Lodge, as the girls called their novel +boathouse overhanging the bank of a quiet pool of the Wintinooski. "Even +father won't hear of it. Six girls going alone into the wilds----" + +"But the Busters and Professor Skillings will be near our camp," Frank +had cried. "That's what I told mother. But she couldn't see it." + +Wyn had listened at that meeting to the opinions of all the other +girls--and to their hopeless and disappointed complaints as well--and +then she had taken the whole burden on her own shoulders. + +"Don't you say another word at home about it, girls--any of you," she +said. "Leave it to me. Our idea of living for the summer in the open is +a good one. We'll come back to school in the fall with ginger and health +enough to keep us going like dynamos during the next school year." + +"But you can't make my mother see that," wailed Percy. "She only sees +the snakes, and mosquitoes, and tramps, and big winds, and drowning, and +I don't know but she visualizes earthquake shocks and volcanoes!" + +"Give me a chance," said Wyn. + +"Voted!" Frankie declared. "When Wyn sets out to do a thing we might as +well give her her head. She's like Davy Crockett; and I hope all our +folks will come down without being shot, like the historic 'coon." + +And this present declaration of their captain, which had so aroused the +Go-Ahead Club, was the result of Wyn Mallory's exertions. + +She had first obtained the interest and cooperation of Percy's Aunt +Evelyn, who was a widowed lady fond of outdoor life herself. Mrs. Havel +was to act as chaperone. With this addition to their forces, the girls +stood a much better chance to win over their parents to their plan. + +And finally Wyn had gained the permission of the most obdurate parent. +The cruise of the Go-Ahead Club in their canoes to Lake Honotonka, and +their camping for the summer at some available spot along the lake +shore, was decided upon. + +"And are the Busters going?" asked Frank. "That's the next important +matter." + +"Oh, we can get along without those boys, I guess," scoffed Bessie. + +"Yes, I know. We don't need 'em. And they are a great nuisance +sometimes," admitted Frank, laughing. "But just the same, we'll have +lots more fun with them around--especially Dave Shepard--eh, Wynnie?" + +"I don't see that you need _me_ to witness the truth of your +statement, Frank," returned Wyn, flushing very prettily, for the girls +sometimes teased her about Dave, who was her next-door neighbor. "Of +course we want the boys, even if Bess is a man-hater." + +"I guess they'll go," Frank said. "They liked it so much last year. And +the professor is interested in the geological specimens to be found up +that way." + +"Goodness!" exclaimed Mina. "Is Professor Skillings going with them +again? He is so odd." + +"He's very absent-minded," said Bessie. + +Frank began to laugh again. "Say!" she began, "did you hear about what +happened to him last week? Father met him coming down Lane Street--you +know, it's narrow and the sidewalk in places is scarcely wide enough for +two people to pass comfortably. + +"There was poor Professor Skillings hobbling along with one foot +continually in the gutter, his eyes fixed on a book he was reading as he +walked. Father said to him: + +"'Good morning, Professor! How are you feeling to-day?' + +"'Why--why--why!' exclaimed the professor--you know his funny way of +speaking. 'Why--why--why--I was very well when I started out, I thought. +But I don't know what's come over me. Do you know, I've developed a +pronounced limp since leaving the house!'" + +"Well, the boys like him," Wyn said, when the girls' laughter had +subsided. + +"I thought I saw Dave Shepard and that 'Tubby' Blaisdell around here +when I hurried down from school to light the fire," remarked Grace. + +At that moment a strange, scraping sound was heard right above the +girls' heads. Bess and Mina jumped up. + +"What's that?" cried Grace. + +"It's something on the roof," declared Wyn. + +Now, Canoe Lodge was built on a high bank over the river. One stepped +from the level sward into the living room. The roof on one side was a +short, sharp pitch; but over the river it ran out in a long, easy slope +to shelter the canoe landing. + +Suddenly there was a crash, and the very house shook. There was a wheezy +shout of alarm, the sound of another voice in wild laughter, and some +heavy body slid down the long side of the roof with the noise of an +avalanche. + +"The Busters!" shrieked Percy, and ran to a window overlooking the +river. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BUSTERS + + +The girls could overlook the lower slope of the long roof through the +bay window at the end of the living room. They crowded to it after Percy +Havel, and beheld a most amazing as well as ridiculous sight. + +A very fat youth, in a blue and white striped sweater and with a +closely-cropped yellow head, was face down upon a length of plank, which +plank was sliding like a bobsled down the incline of green-stained +shingles. + +"It's Tubby!" gasped Frank Cameron. + +"Oh! oh! oh!" squealed Mina. "Is he doing that for _fun_?" + +Before any further comment could be made, the boy on the plank shot out +over the edge of the roof and dived, with a mighty splash, into the deep +water of the pool, adjoining which Canoe Lodge was built. + +"He'll be drowned!" cried Grace, wringing her plump hands. + +"It'll serve him right if he is!" exclaimed Bessie. "What business had +he on our roof, I want to know?" + +"Poor Tubby!" cried Wyn, choked with laughter. + +"Isn't he the most ridiculous creature that ever was?" rejoined Frank. +"See there! he's come up to blow like a frog." + +"It's a whale that comes up to blow," Wyn reminded her. + +"Well! isn't Tubby Blaisdell a regular whale of a boy?" returned the +black-eyed girl. + +"There's Dave!" cried Mina. + +"I knew the two wouldn't be far apart!" sniffed Bess Lavine. + +"He's got a boat and is going to Tubby's rescue," cried Grace. + +"But see Tubby flounder around!" Frankie observed. "Why! that boy +couldn't sink if you filled his pockets with flatirons!" + +"There! he _is_ going under," ejaculated the more timorous Mina. + +"Dave will get him, all right," declared Wyn, with confidence. + +She and Dave Shepard had been good chums since they were both in +rompers. Her girl friends might tease Wyn sometimes about Dave; but the +girl had no brothers and Dave made up the loss to her in every way. + +"Oh! he's going to spear him with that boathook!" gasped Mina again. + +And really, it looked so. Tubby Blaisdell was splashing about in the +pool before the canoe landing like a young grampus. Tubby was always +getting into more or less serious predicaments, and he always "lost his +head" and usually had to be aided by his friends. + +In this case Dave Shepard prepared to literally spear him in the water. +Dave--who was a tall, athletic boy, with a frank, pleasant face, if +freckled, and close-cut brown curls in profusion--had driven the +flat-bottomed skiff he had obtained from a neighboring landing, across +the pool, and now, standing erect in the boat, with a single lunge +impaled upon the boathook the tail of Tubby's coat. + +His chum was going down, as Dave thrust the boathook; for the +unfortunate victim of the accident had swallowed a quantity of water +when he dived with the plank from the eaves of the roof of Canoe Lodge. +There was no time to lose if Dave wished to rescue Tubby before serious +injury resulted to the unfortunate fat youth. + +It was something of a feat to bring Tubby Blaisdell alongside the skiff +and haul him inboard without overturning the boat. But Dave accomplished +it to the admiration of the girls--even to Bessie's satisfaction. + +"Well, I'm glad he got Tubby out," said that damsel, nodding her head. + +"Glad to know that you are so humane, Bess," laughed Frank. + +The girls trooped out to learn at closer range if the Blaisdell youth +was really injured or only exhausted. + +He lay panting like a big fish in the bottom of the skiff. It was +altogether too cold an evening for him to be exposed in his wet +clothing. When the skiff's nose bumped into the shore, Dave Shepard +leaped out with alacrity and secured the painter to a post. + +"Get up out of there, Tubby!" he commanded. "You'll get your death of +dampness. Come on!" + +"Oh--oh--oh! I can't," chattered the fat youth. "I--I'm fr-roze to the +ve-ry mar-row of m-m-my bones!" + +"The chill has struck in awful deep, then, Tubby," cried Frank Cameron, +from the river bank. + +"Come on out of that!" commanded Dave. "I'm going to run you home so +that you will not get cold." + +"Me?" chattered Blaisdell, rising like a turtle out of its shell. "Run +me home? Wh-wh-why, I c-c-couldn't do it. You know I couldn't r-r-run +that far, Dave." + +"He must go right in by our fire and get warm," declared Wyn, quickly. +"Get your things, girls, and we'll all go home and leave Dave and Tubby +to enjoy that nice fire Grace built." + +"That wet boy all over our nice rug!" exclaimed Bessie. "I object." + +"Don't be hateful, Bess," admonished Grace. + +"But what was he doing on our roof?" demanded the girl who claimed that +she did not like boys. + +At this Dave burst into a great laugh and was scarcely able to drag +Tubby ashore. + +"It's a wonder he didn't come right through on our heads," complained +Frank. "He's so heavy." + +"But he _would_ do it," declared Dave, still laughing as he helped +his fat friend up the bank to the door of Canoe Lodge. "It would have +been a real good trick, too, if Tubby hadn't slipped." + +"Always up to mischief!" sniffed Bessie Lavine. "That's why I dislike +boys so." + +"I don't see what he could do on our roof," said Wyn, wonderingly. + +"And he had no business there!" cried Grace. + +"Why," explained Dave, for Tubby could not defend himself. "We saw Grace +making the fire, and we knew the wood was green. It made a big smudge +coming out of the chimney, and Tubby thought he had a brilliant idea." + +"I know!" exclaimed Frankie. "He had that plank to put over the top of +our chimney. We'd have been smoked out, sure enough." + +"That's it," chuckled Dave. "Tubby got up all right, and he got the +plank up all right. But just as he tried to lift the plank to the top of +the chimney his foot slipped, the board dropped, he fell on it as if he +was coasting down hill, and--you saw the rest!" + +"Oh--oh!" chattered Tubby. "Come on in and let me get--get to--to +th-that f-f-fire. I'm _frozen_!" + +"Here's the key, Dave," said Wyn, laughing (for the fat youth _did_ +look so funny), "and you can lock up when you go home and bring the key +to my house. Don't you boys make a mess in here for us to clean up," she +added. + +"But they will. Boys always do," declared Bessie Lavine. + +"Well, thank goodness, it won't be _my_ turn to clean up after +them, or make another fire," declared Grace. + +"They will do no damage," returned Wyn, with assurance, as the girls +trooped away from the boathouse toward the town. + +"They have to keep their camp clean," declared Frank. "I know that. +Professor Skillings may be forgetful; but he is very particular about +_that_. Ferdinand Roberts told me so." + +"I expect those horrid Busters _do_ know a lot more than we do +about camping." + +"Indeed they do," sighed Grace. "How'll we ever put up a tent big enough +to house seven?" + +"The boys will help us," declared Wyn. + +"I expect we'll have to let them," grumbled Bess. "Or else pay a man to +do it for us." + +"My goodness me!" laughed Frances Cameron. "It must be a dreadful thing +to hate boys like Bess does! They're awfully bad sometimes, I know----" + +"Look at what those two boys tried to do to us this very evening," +exclaimed Bessie. + +"Oh, Tubby's always up to some foolishness," said Percy, laughing. + +"And that Dave Shepard is just as bad!" cried Bess Lavine, tossing her +head. + +"Wyn won't agree with that statement," chuckled Frank. + +"And all six of the Busters are full of mischief," went on the +complaining one. "I wish they were not going to the same place we are to +camp." + +"Why, Bess!" exclaimed Mina. + +"I _do_ wish that. They'll be around under foot all the time. And +they'll play tricks, and be rough and rude, and I know they will spoil +the summer for us." + +"You go on!" came from Frank, with some scorn. "I guess I can hold up my +end against the Busters." + +"Just wait and see," prophesied Bessie, shaking her head. "I feel very +sure that, the Busters and the Go-Ahead Club will not get along well +together at Lake Honotonka." + +"It takes two parties for an argument," said Wyn Mallory, quietly. "And +in spite of their mischief I believe in the Busters." + +"Wait and see if what I say isn't true!" snapped Bessie, and turned off +into a side street toward her own home. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +POLLY + + +Wyn Mallory was one of those girls whom people called "different." + +Not that there was a thing really odd about her. She was happy, healthy, +more than a little athletic, of a sanguine temperament, and possessed a +deal of tact for a girl of her age. + +But there was a quality in her character that balanced her better than +most girls are. That foundation of good sense on which only can be +erected a lasting character, was Wyn's. She was just as girlish and +"fly-away" at times, as Frances Cameron herself, or Percy Havel; but she +always stopped short of hurting another person's feelings and she seemed +to really enjoy doing things for others, which her mates sometimes +acclaimed as "tiresome." + +And don't think there was a mite of self-consciousness about all this in +Wyn Mallory's make-up, for there wasn't. She enjoyed being helpful and +kind because that was her nature--not for the praise she might receive +from her older friends. + +Wyn was a natural leader. Such girls always are. Without asserting +themselves, other girls will look up to them, and copy them, and follow +them. Whereas a bad, or ill-natured, or haughty girl must have some +means of bribing the weak-minded ones to gain a following at all. + +The Mallory family was a small one. Wyn had a little sister; but there +was a difference of twelve years between them. The family was a very +affectionate one, and Papa Mallory, Mamma Mallory, and Wyn all +worshipped at the shrine of little May. + +So when at supper that Friday evening something was said about certain +drygoods needed for the little one, Wyn offered at once to spend her +Saturday forenoon shopping. + +She had plenty to do that morning; Saturday morning is always a busy +time for any school girl in the upper grades, and Wyn was well advanced +at Denton Academy. But she hastened out by nine o'clock and went down +town. + +Denton was a pretty town, with good stores, a courthouse, well stocked +library and several churches of various denominations. In the center was +an ancient Parade Ground--a broad, well-shaped public park, with a huge +flagstaff in the middle of the main field, and Civil War cannon flanking +the entrances. + +Denton had a history. On this open field the Minute Men had marched and +counter-marched; and before Revolutionary days, even, the so-called +"train-bands" had paraded here. Like Boston Common, Denton's Parade +Ground was a plot devoted for all time to the people, and could be used +for no other purpose but that of a public park. + +The streets that bordered the three sides of the Parade Ground (for it +was of flat-iron shape) were the best residential streets of the town; +yet Market Street--the main business thoroughfare--was only a square +away from one side of the park. + +Wyn Mallory on this bright May morning walked briskly along the shaded +side of the park and turned off at Archer Street to reach the main stem +of the town, where the shops stood in rows and the electric cars to +Maynbury had the right of way in the middle of the street. + +Her very first call was at Mr. Erad's drygoods and notion store. His +shop was much smaller than some of the modern "department" stores that +had of late appeared in Denton; but the old store held the conservative +trade. Mr. Erad had been in trade, at this very corner, from the time he +was a smooth-faced young man; and now his hair and beard were almost +white. + +He was a pleasant, cheerful--and usually charitable--gentleman, with +rosy cheeks and gold-rimmed spectacles. He spent most of his time "on +the floor," greeting old customers, attracting new ones with his +courtesy, and generally overseeing the salesmen. + +He usually had a pleasant word and a hand-shake for Wyn when she entered +his store; but this morning the old gentleman did not even notice her as +she came through one of the turnstile doors. + +He stood near, however, speaking with a girl of about Wyn's age--a girl +who was a total stranger to the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. The +stranger was rather poorly dressed. She wore shabby gloves, and a shabby +hat, and shabby shoes. Besides, both her dark frock and the hat were +"ages and ages" behind the fashion. + +Her clothes were really so ugly that the girl herself did not have a +chance to look her best. Wyn realized that after the second glance. And +she saw that the strange girl was almost handsome. + +She was as big as Grace Hedges; but she was dark. Her hair was +beautifully crinkled where it lay flat against the sides of her head +over her ears. At the back there was a great roll, and it was glossy and +well cared-for. Even a girl who cannot afford to dress in the mode can +make her hair beautiful by a little effort. + +This girl had made that effort and, furthermore, she had made herself as +neat as anyone need be. + +In addition to her beautiful hair, the stranger's other attractions can +be enumerated as a long, well formed nose, well defined eyebrows and +long lashes, and deep gray eyes that looked almost black in the shade of +her broad brow. Her skin was lovely, although she was very much bronzed +by the sun. A rose-flush showed through this tan and aided her red, full +lips to give color to her face. Her teeth were two splendid, perfect +rows of dazzling white; her chin was beautifully molded. This fully +developed countenance was lit by intelligence, as well, and, with her +well rounded figure and gentle, deprecating manner, Wyn thought of her +instantly as a big helpless child. + +Mr. Erad was speaking very sternly to her, and that, alone, made Wyn +desire to take her part. She could not bear to hear anybody scold a +person so timid and humble. And at every decisive phrase Mr. Erad +uttered, Wyn could see her wince. + +"I cannot do it. I do not see why I should," declared the storekeeper. +"Indeed, there are many reasons why I should not. Yes--I know. I +employed John Jarley at one time. But that was years ago. He would not +stay with me. He was always trying something new. And he never stuck to +a thing long enough for either he--or anybody else--to find out whether +he was fitted for it or not. + +"Hold on! I take that back. I guess there's _one_ man in town," +said Mr. Erad, with almost a snarl, "who thinks John Jarley stuck long +enough on one job." + +Wyn, frankly listening, but watching the girl and Mr. Erad covertly, saw +the former's face flame hotly at the shot. But her murmured reply was +too low for Wyn to hear. + +"Ha! I know nothing was ever proved against him. But decent people know +the other party, and know that he is square. John Jarley got out of town +and stayed out of town. That was enough to show everybody that he felt +guilty." + +"You are wrong, sir," said the dark girl, her voice trembling, but +audible now in her strong emotion. "You are wrong. It was my mother's +ill health that took us into the woods. And the ill-natured gossip of +the neighbors--just such things as you have now repeated--troubled my +mother, too. So father took us away from it all." + +"If he was honest, he made a great mistake in running away at that +time," asserted Mr. Erad. + +"No, he made no mistake," returned the girl, her fine eyes flashing. "He +did the right thing. He saved my mother agony, and made her last years +beautiful. My father did no wrong in either case, sir." + +"Well, well, well!" snapped Mr. Erad. "I cannot discuss the matter with +you. We should not agree, I am sure. And I can do nothing for you." + +"Wait, please! give me a chance! Let me work for you to pay for these +things we need. I will work faithfully----" + +"I have no place for you." + +"Oh, sir----" + +"My goodness, girl! _No_, I tell you. Isn't that enough? Beside, +you are not well dressed enough to wait upon my customers. And you could +not earn enough here to pay your board, dress decently, and pay for any +bill of goods that you--or your father--may want." + +The girl turned away. There was a bit of dingy veiling attached to the +front of her old-fashioned hat, and Wyn saw her pull this down quickly +over her face. The listener knew _why_, and she had to wink her own +eyes hard to keep back the tears. + +She deliberately turned her back upon old Mr. Erad, whom she was usually +so glad to see, and went hastily down the aisle. From her distant +station by the notion counter she saw the drooping figure of the strange +girl leave the store. + +Wyn Mallory was worried. She could not see a forlorn cat on the street, +or a homeless dog shivering beside a garbage can, that she was not +tempted to "do something for it." + +Dave Shepard often laughingly said that it was an adventure to go +walking with Wyn Mallory, One never knew what she was going to see that +needed "fixing." And Dave might have added, that if Wyn had him for +escort, she usually got these wrong things "fixed." + +She now hastened through her purchasing, not with any definite object in +view, save that she wanted to get out of the store. Mr. Erad was not at +all the nice, charitable man whom she had always supposed him to be. +That is, it looked so now to the impulsive, warm-hearted girl. + +Her mind was fixed upon the strange girl and her troubles. Wyn did not +neglect the errand her mother had given her to do, although she hurried +her shopping. + +When she was out of the store, she drew a long breath. "I couldn't +breathe in that place--not well," she told herself. "I wonder where that +poor girl has gone now?" + +There was nobody to answer her, nor was the strange girl in sight. Wyn +felt rather remorseful that she had not let her shopping wait and +followed the strange girl out of the store immediately. + +The stranger might have been in desperate straits. Wyn could not imagine +anybody begging for goods, and for work, especially after the way Mr. +Erad had spoken, unless in great trouble. + +Wyn began to take herself seriously to task. The strange girl had +disappeared and she had not even tried to help her, or comfort her. + +"I might have gone out and offered some little help, or sympathy. How do +I know what will become of her? And she may have no friends in town. At +least, it is evident that she does not live here." + +There were several other errands to do. All the time, especially while +she was on the street, she kept her eye open for the strange girl whose +name she presumed must be "Jarley." + +[Illustration: "MY DEAR, I WILL BE YOUR FRIEND." _Page 30._] +But Wyn did not see her anywhere, and it seemed useless to wander down +Market Street looking for her. So, when she had completed her purchases, +she turned her face homeward. + +She went up past Mr. Erad's store again and turned through Archer +Street. As she crossed into the park she looked for a settee to rest on, +for unconsciously she had walked more briskly than usual. + +There, under a wide-limbed oak, was a green-painted seat, removed from +any other settee; but there was a figure on it. + +"There's room for two, I guess," thought Wyn; and then she made a +discovery that almost made her cry out aloud. Its occupant was the very +girl for whom she was in search! + +Wyn controlled her impulse to run forward, and approached the bench +quite casually. Before she reached it, however, she realized that the +dark girl was crying softly. + +Natural delicacy would have restrained Wyn from approaching the girl so +abruptly. Only, she was deeply interested, and already knowing the +occasion for her tears, the captain of the Go-Ahead Club could not +ignore the forlorn figure on the bench. + +Without speaking, she dropped into the seat beside the strange girl, and +put her hand on the other's shoulder. + +"My dear!" she said, when the startled gray eyes--all a-flood with +tears--were raised to her own. "My dear, tell me all about +it--_do_! If I can't help you, I will be your friend, and it will +make you feel lots better to tell it all to somebody who sympathizes." + +"Bu-but you ca-can't sympathize with me!" gasped the other, looking into +Wyn's steady, brown eyes and finding friendliness and commiseration +there. "You--you see, you never knew the lack of anything good; you're +not poor." + +"No, I am not poor," admitted Wyn. + +"And I don't want charity!" cried the strange girl quickly. + +"I am not going to offer it to you. But I'd dearly love to be your +friend," Wyn said. "You know--you're so pretty!" she added, impulsively. + +The girl flushed charmingly again. "I--I guess I'm not very pretty in my +old duds, and with my nose and eyes red from crying." + +But she was really one of those few persons who are not made ugly by +crying. She had neither red eyes nor a red nose. + +"Do tell me what troubles you," urged Wyn, patting her firm, calloused +hand. + +Those hands were no soft, useless members--no, indeed! Pretty as she +was, the stranger had evidently been in the habit of performing arduous +manual labor. + +"Where do you live, my dear?" asked Wyn, again, as her first question +was not answered. + +"Up beyond Meade's Forge," said the strange girl. + +"Oh, my! On Lake Honotonka?" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Please don't _ma'am_ me!" cried the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. +"My name is Wynifred Mallory. My friends all call me Wyn. Now, I want +you to be my friend, so you must commence calling me Wyn right away." + +"But--but you don't know me," said the other girl, hesitatingly. + +"I am going to; am I not?" demanded Wyn, with her frank smile. "Surely, +now that I have confided in you, you will confide in me to the same +extent? Or, don't you like me?" + +"Of course I like you!" exclaimed the still sobbing girl. "But--but I do +not know that I have any right to allow you to be my friend." + +"Goodness me! why not?" exclaimed Wyn. + +"Why--why, we have a bad name in this town, it seems," said the other. + +"Who have?" snapped Wyn, hating Mr. Erad harder than ever now. + +"My father and I." + +"What have you done that makes you a pariah?" exclaimed Wyn, fairly +laughing now. "Aren't you foolish?" + +"No. People say my father was not honest I am Polly Jarley," said the +girl, desperately. + +"Polly Jolly?" cried Wyn. "Not much you are! You are anything but jolly. +You are Polly Miserrimus." + +"I don't know what that means, ma'am----" + +"Wyn!" exclaimed the other girl, quickly. + +"M--Miss Wyn." + +"Not right. Just Wyn. Plain Wyn----" + +"Oh, I couldn't call you plain," cried the poorly dressed girl, with +some spontaneity now. "For you are very pretty. But I don't really know +what Mis--Mis----" + +"'Miserrimus'?'" + +"That is it." + +"It's Latin, and it means miserable, all right," laughed Wyn. "And you +act more to fit the name of 'Polly Miserrimus' than that of 'Polly +Jolly.'" + +"It's Jarley, Miss Wyn." + +"But now tell me all about it, Polly," urged Wyn, having by this means +stopped the flow of Polly's tears. "Surely it will help you just to free +your mind. And don't be foolish enough to think that I wouldn't want to +know you and be your friend if your poor father was the biggest criminal +on earth." + +"He isn't! He is unfortunate. He has been accused wrongfully, and +everybody is against him," exclaimed Polly, with some heat. + +"All right. Then let's hear about it," urged Wyn, capturing both of the +other girl's hands in her own, and smiling into her tear-drenched gray +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SILVER IMAGES + + +"Didn't you ever hear of us Jarleys?" Polly first of all demanded. + +"Only as being interested in the wax-work business," replied Wyn, with +twinkling eyes. + +"I--I guess father never made wax-work," said Polly, hesitatingly. + +She was an innocent sort of girl, who evidently lacked many advantages +of education and reading that Wyn and her friends had enjoyed as a +matter of course. + +"Well, I never heard the name before to-day--not _your_ name, nor +your father's," Wyn said. + +"Well, we used to live here." + +"In Denton?" + +"Yes, ma'am----" + +"Will you stop that?" cried Wyn. "I am Wyn Mallory, I tell you." + +"All right, Wyn. It's a pretty name. I'll be glad to use it," returned +Polly. + +"Prove it by using it altogether," commanded Wyn. "Now, what about your +father?" + +"I--I can't tell you much about it--much of the particulars, I mean," +said the girl from Lake Honotonka, diffidently. "I don't really know +them. Father never speaks of it much. But even as a tiny girl mother +explained to me that when folks said father had done wrong I must deny +it. That it was not so. It was only circumstances that made him appear +in the wrong. And--you know, Wyn--your mother wouldn't lie to you!" + +"Of course not!" cried Wyn, warmly. "Of course not!" + +"Well, then, you'll have to believe just what I tell you. Father was in +some business deal with a man here in Denton, and something went wrong. +The other man accused father of being dishonest. Father could not defend +himself. Circumstances were dead against him. And it worried mother so +that it made her sick. + +"So we all left town. Father had very little money, and he built a shack +up there in the woods near Honotonka. We're just 'squatters' up there. +But gradually father got a few boats, and built a float, and made enough +in the summer from fishermen and campers to support us. Of course, +mother being sick so many years before she died, kept us very poor. I +only go to the district school winters. Then I have to walk four miles +each way, for we own no horse. Summers I help father with the boats." + +"That's where you got such palms! cried Wyn, touching her new friend's +calloused hands again. + +"It's rowing does it. But I don't mind. I love the water, you see." + +"So do I. I've got a canoe. I'm captain of a girls' canoe club." + +"That's nice," said Polly. "I suppose when you take up boating for just +a sport it's lots better than trying to make one's living out of it." + +"Well, tell me more," urged Wyn. "What are you in town for now? Why did +I find you crying here on the bench?" + +"A man hurt me by talking harshly about poor father," said the girl from +Lake Honotonka. + +"Come on! tell me," urged Wyn, giving her a little shake. Polly suddenly +threw an arm about the town girl and hugged her tightly. + +"I _do_ love you, Wyn Mallory," she sobbed. "I--I wish you were my +sister. I get so lonely sometimes up there in the woods, for there's +only father and me now. And this past winter he was very sick with +rheumatic fever. You see, there was an accident." + +"He met with an accident, you mean?" + +"Yes. It was awful--or it might have been awful for him if he and I had +not had signals that we use when there's a fog on the lake. I'll tell +you. + +"You see, there is a man named Shelton--Dr. Shelton--who lives in one of +the grand houses at Braisely Park--you know, that is the rich people's +summer colony at the upper end of the lake?" + +"I know about it," said Wyn. "Although I never was there." + +"Well, Dr. Shelton had his motor boat down at our float. He left it +there himself, and he told father to go to the express office at Meade's +Forge on a certain day and get a box that would be there addressed to +Dr. Shelton. It was a valuable box. + +"When father went for it the expressman would not give it up until he +had telephoned to Dr. Shelton and recognized the doctor's voice over the +wire. It seems that that box was packed with ancient silver images that +had been found in a ruined temple in Yucatan, and had been sent to Dr. +Shelton by the man who found them. They claim they were worth at the +least five thousand dollars. + +"The doctor had a party at his house right then, he said over the +telephone, and he wanted father to come up the lake with the box. He +wanted to display his antique treasures to his friends. + +"Now, it was a dreadfully bad day. After father had started down to the +Forge in the motor boat he knew that a storm was coming. And ahead of it +was a thick fog. He told Dr. Shelton over the 'phone that it was a bad +time to make the trip the whole length of Lake Honotonka. + +"The doctor would not listen to any excuses, however; and it was his +boat that was being risked. And his silver images, too! Those rich +people don't care much about a poor man's life, and if father had +refused to risk his on the lake in the storm Dr. Shelton would have +given his trade to some other boatkeeper after that. + +"So father started in the _Bright Eyes_. He did not shoot right up +the middle of the lake, as he would have done had the day been fair. The +lake is twenty miles broad, you know, in the middle. So he kept near our +side--the south side it is--and did not lose sight of the shore at +first. + +"But at Gannet Island he knew he had better run outside. You see, the +strait between the island and the shore is narrow and, when the wind is +high, it sometimes is dangerous in there. Why, ten years ago, one of the +little excursion steamers that used to ply the lake then, got caught in +that strait and was wrecked! + +"So father _had_ to go outside of Gannet Island. The fog shut down +as thick as a blanket before he more than sighted the end of the island. +He kept on, remembering what Dr. Shelton had said, and that is where he +made a mistake," said Polly, shaking her head. "He ought to have turned +right around and come back to our landing." + +"Oh, dear me! what happened to him?" cried Wyn, eagerly. + +"The fog came down, thicker and thicker," proceeded the boatman's +daughter. "And the wind rode down upon father, too. Wind and fog +together are not usual; but when the two combine it is much worse than +either alone. You see, the thick mist swirling into father's eyes, +driven head-on by the wind, blinded him. He steered a shade too near the +shore. + +"Suddenly the _Bright Eyes_ struck. A motor boat, going head-on +upon a snag, can be easily wrecked. The boat struck and stuck, and +father leaped up to shut off the engine. + +"As he did so, something swished through the blinding fog and struck +him, carrying him backward over the stern of the boat. Perhaps it was +the loss of his weight that allowed the _Bright Eyes_ to scrape +over the snag. At least, she did so as father plunged into the lake, and +as he sank he knew that the boat, with her engine at half speed, was +tearing away across the lake. + +"It was the drooping limb of a tree that had torn father from the stern +of the motor boat," continued Polly Jarley. "It may have been a big root +of the same tree, under water, that had proved the finish of the boat. +For nobody ever saw the _Bright Eyes_ again. She just ran off at a +tangent, into the middle of the lake, somewhere, we suppose, and filled +and sank." + +"Oh, dear me! And your father?" asked Wyn, anxiously. + +"He got ashore on the island. Then he signalled to me, and I went off +during a lull in the storm, and got him. He went to bed, and it was +three months before he was up and around again. + +"He suffered dreadfully with rheumatic fever," continued Polly, sadly. +"And all the time Dr. Shelton was talking just as mean about him as he +could. He didn't believe his story. He even said that he thought my +father took the motor boat down the river somewhere and sold it. And the +way he talked about that box of silver images----" + +"Oh, oh!" cried Wyn. "I'd forgotten about them. Of course they were +lost, too?" + +"Sunk somewhere in Lake Honotonka," declared Polly. "Father knows no +more about where the boat lies than Dr. Shelton himself. But there are +always people ready and willing to pick up the evil that is said about a +person and help circulate it. + +"While father was flat on his back, folks were talking about him. We had +to raise money on the boats to pay for our food and father's medicine. +If we don't have a good season this summer we will be unable to pay off +the chattel mortgage next winter, and will lose the boats. I tell you, +Miss Wyn, it is _hard_." + +"You poor, dear girl!" exclaimed Wyn. "I should think it _was_ +hard. And that mean man accuses your father----" + +"Well, you see, there was father's past record against him. The story of +his trouble here in Denton followed him into the woods, of course. If +anybody gets mad at us up at the Forge, they throw the whole thing up to +us. I--I _hate_ it there," sobbed the boatkeeper's daughter. + +"And yet, it is harder on poor father. He is straight, but everything +has been against him. I saw he felt dreadfully these past few days +because I need some decent clothes. And there is no money to buy any. + +"So I thought I would come to town and see some old friends of mother's +who used to come and see us years ago. Yes, there were a few people who +stuck to mother, even if they did not quite approve of poor father. But, +when I paddled 'way down here----" + +"Not in a canoe?" cried Wyn. + +"Yes, I came down very easily yesterday evening and stopped at a +boatman's house on the edge of town. I shall go back again to-day. The +Wintinooski isn't kicking up much of a rumpus just now. The spring +floods are about all over." + +"But you must be a splendid hand with a paddle," said Wyn. "It's a long +way to the lake." + +"Oh! I don't mind it," said Polly. "Or, I _wouldn't_ mind it if it +had done me the least good to come down here," and she sighed. + +"You are disappointed?" queried Wyn. + +"Dreadfully! I did not find mother's old friends. I had not heard from +them for two or three years, and found that they were away--nobody knows +where. I did not know but I might get work here in town for a few weeks, +and live with these old friends, and so earn some money. I am so shabby! +And father isn't fit to be seen. + +"And then--then there was a man in town who used to befriend mother. I +know when I was quite a little girl, the year after we had gone to the +woods to live, father was ill for a long time and mother had to have +things. She went to this storekeeper in Denton and he let her have +things on account and we paid him afterward. Oh, we paid him--every +cent!" declared Polly, again wiping her eyes. + +"And I hoped he would--for mother's sake--help us again. I went to him. +I--I reminded him of how father once worked for him, and that he knew +mother. But he was angry about something--he would not listen--he would +neither give me work nor let me have goods charged. I--I--well, it just +broke me down, Wyn Mallory, and I came here to cry it out." + +"It's a shame!" exclaimed Wyn. "I am just as sorry for you as I can be. +And I believe that your father is perfectly honest and that he never in +his life intended to defraud anybody." + +It was that blessed _tact_ that made Wynifred Mallory say that. It +was the sure way to Polly Jarley's heart; and Wyn's words and way opened +the door wide and Polly took her in. + +"You--you _blessed_ creature!" cried the boatman's daughter. "I +know you must have been 'specially sent to comfort me. I _was_ so +miserable." + +"Of course I was sent," declared Wyn. She did not propose to tell her +new acquaintance that she had observed her in Erad's store and had +looked for her all over Market Street. + +"Such things are meant to be. If we trust to God we surely shall have +release from our difficulties. That is just as sure as the day follows +the night," declared Wyn, with simple, straight-forward faith. + +"And just see how it is proved in this case. You were in trouble, and +sat here crying, and needed somebody to help you. And I came along +perfectly willing and able to help you, and you are going to be helped." + +"I _am_ helped!" declared Polly. "You just put the courage back +into me. I didn't know what to do----" + +"Do you know any better now?" demanded Wyn, quickly. + +"We--ell, I----" + +"That doesn't sound as though you had _quite_ made up your mind," +said Wyn, with a little laugh. + +"Never mind. I can stand even going back home with my hands empty, +better than before I met you," declared Polly, bravely. + +"But you won't go back home empty-handed." + +"Oh, Wyn! Can you get me work?" + +"No, not here. Nor do I believe you ought to leave your father alone up +there for so long. I expect he is not very well yet?" + +"No. He is not," admitted Polly. + +"Then, you go home. That is the best place for you, anyway. But before +you go you shall make such purchases as you may need----" + +Polly drew away from her along the seat, and her gray eyes grew +brighter. "Oh, Miss Mallory!" she murmured. "Don't do _that_." + +"Don't do what?" demanded Wyn. + +"Don't spoil it all." + +"Spoil what-all?" cried Wyn, in exasperation. "I'm not going to spoil +anything. But you listen to me. This is sense." + +"I--I couldn't take charity from _you_--a stranger." + +"I offer to lend you twenty dollars. You can pay it back when you +choose." + +"Twenty dollars! You lend me twenty dollars?" + +"Yes. I have quite some spending money given to me, and I have been +saving nearly all of it for some time. So I can easily spare it." + +"But I don't know when I can repay you." + +"I can tell you, then. You can pay me back this very summer." + +"This summer, miss?" + +"Don't call me 'miss'!" cried Wyn, in greater exasperation. "I have told +you my name is 'Wyn'! And I mean exactly what I say. This is a perfectly +straight business proposition," and she laughed her full-throated laugh +that made even Polly Jarley, in her trouble, smile. + +"Then your business, Wyn Mallory, must be the saving of people from +trouble--is that it? For there is no reason in what you say you will +do--Oh, I can't accept it. It would be charity!" cried Polly, again +clasping Wyn's hands. + +"It is not charity," said Wyn, firmly, opening her purse. "And I'll +quickly show you why it is not. You see, Polly Jolly--and I want you to +smile at me and look as though you fitted that name. You see, I am +captain of the Go-Ahead Club." + +"The Go-Ahead Club?" + +"Yes. We are six girls. We each own canoes. And we are just _crazy_ +to spend next summer under canvas." + +"You are going camping?" + +"That is our intention," Wyn said, nodding. + +"Oh, then! come up to Lake Honotonka," cried Polly. "I can show you +beautiful places to camp, and we can have lots of fun----" + +"That likewise is our intention," broke in Wyn. "We have just decided to +camp for the summer on the shore of the lake. Rather, our parents, +guardians, and the cat, have finally agreed to our plans. We shall come +up there the week after the Academy closes." + +"Now, we want you, Polly, to find us the very best camping place, to +arrange everything for us, and don't have it too far from your place, +and from Meade's Forge. I expect the Busters will camp on one of the +islands. The Busters, you see, are our boy friends who are likewise +going to the lake. They were there last year with Professor Skillings." + +"I remember them," said Polly, wonderingly. "And you and your girl +friends are coming?" + +"Just the surest thing you know, Polly," declared Wyn. "So you are going +to take this twenty dollars," and she suddenly thrust the bill into the +other girl's hand and closed her fingers over it. "Then, next summer, we +shall let you pay it back in perfectly legitimate charges, for we'll +want you and your father to help us a good deal. + +"Now, what say, Polly Jolly? Will you please let your face fit your +name--as I have rechristened you? Smile, my dear--smile!" + +"I could cry again, Wyn--you are so kind!" half sobbed the other girl. + +"Now, you stop all that foolishness--a great, big girl like you!" +exclaimed Wyn. "Turn off the sprinkler, as Dave Shepard says. Get right +up now and go briskly about your buying. And write to me when you get +home and write just as often as you can till we meet at the lake this +summer." + +"You dear!" ejaculated Polly. + +"You're another. How will I address you--at the Forge?" + +"Yes, and you must give me your address," said the boatman's daughter, +eagerly. + +Wyn did so. The two girls, such recent but already such warm friends, +kissed each other and Polly Jarley went briskly away toward Market +Street. Wyn stopped on the bench for several minutes and watched the +girl from Lake Honotonka walk away, while a smile wreathed her lips and +a warm light lingered in her brown eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +BESSIE LAVINE + + +Suddenly a gay voice hailed Wyn. + +"Hi, Captain of the Go-Aheads! What are you doing, mooning here?" + +"Why, Bess!" returned Wyn, turning to greet Bessie Lavine. "I didn't see +you coming along." + +"No; but I saw you, my noble captain." + +"Going shopping?" + +"Aye, aye, Captain!" cried the other member of the Go-Ahead club. "But +who was that I saw you with? Didn't I see you talking to that girl who +just crossed Benefit Street?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"Who was she?" + +"Polly Jarley. She is daughter of a boatman up at the lake. And wasn't +it fortunate that I met her? She can find us a camping place and get +everything fixed up there for our coming." + +"What's her name?" asked Bess, sharply. + +"Polly Jarley." + +"And she lives up there by the lake?" + +"So she says." + +"Her father is John Jarley, of course?" queried Bessie, looking down at +Wyn, darkly. + +"Yes. That is her father's name," said Wyn, beginning to wonder at her +friend's manner. + +"Well! I guess you don't know those Jarleys very well; do you?" + +"Why--I----" + +Wyn hesitated to tell Bessie that she had only just now met the +unfortunate boatman's daughter. She remembered Polly's story, and what +she had overheard Mr. Erad say in the drygoods store. + +"You surely _can't_ know what and who they are, and still be +friendly with that girl?" repeated Bessie, her eyes flashing with anger. + +"Why, my dear," said Wyn, soothingly. "Don't speak that way. Sit down +and tell me what you mean. I certainly have not known Polly long; and I +never met her father----" + +"Oh, they left this town a long time ago." + +"So she told me. And she said something about her father having been +accused of dishonesty----" + +"I should say so!" gasped Bessie. "Why, John Jarley almost ruined +_my_ father. He was a traitor to him. They were in a deal +together--it was when my father first tried to get into the real estate +business here in Denton--and this John Jarley sold him out. Why, +everybody knows it! It crippled father for a long time, and what Jarley +got out of playing traitor never did him any good, I guess, for they +were soon as poor as Job's turkey, and they went to live in the woods +there. He's a poor, miserable wretch. Father says he's never had a +stroke of luck since he played him such a mean trick--and serves him +right!" + +Wyn stared at her in amazement, for Bessie had gone on quite +breathlessly and had spoken with much heat. Finally Wyn observed: + +"Well, dear, _your_ father has done well since those days. They say +he is one of our richest citizens. Surely you can forgive what poor John +Jarley did, for he and his daughter are now very miserable." + +"I don't see why we should forgive them," cried Bessie, hotly. + +"Why, Bess! This poor girl had nothing to do with her father wronging +your father----" + +"I don't care. She's his daughter. It's in the blood. I wouldn't trust +her a single bit. I wouldn't speak to her. And no girl can be _her_ +friend and mine, too!" + +"Why, Bess! don't say that," urged Wyn. "You and I have been friends for +years and years. We wouldn't want to have a falling out." + +"I see no need for us to fall out," exclaimed Bessie, her eyes still +flashing. "But I just won't associate with girls who associate with +those low people--there now!" + +"Now do you feel better, Bess?" asked Wyn, laughing. + +That was the worst of Wyn Mallory! All the girls said so. One couldn't +"fight" with her. For, you see, it takes two at least to keep a quarrel +alive, although but one to start it. + +"Well, you don't know how mean that man, Jarley, was to my father. And +years ago they were the very best of friends. Why! they went to school +together, and were chums--just as thick as you and I are, Wynnie--just +as thick. And for him to be a traitor----" + +"If he was, don't you think he has been paying for it?" asked Wyn, +sensibly. "According to what I hear he is poor, and ill, and +unfortunate----" + +"I don't know whether he is or not. It was only a few weeks ago we heard +of his stealing a motor boat up there at the lake and some other +valuables, and selling them----" + +"He wouldn't be poor if he had done that; would he?" interrupted Wyn. +"For I know for a fact that he is very, very poor." + +She did not want to tell Bessie that she had given Polly Jarley money; +but she did not believe that the boatman's daughter would be in need as +she was if Mr. Jarley were guilty of the crime of which he had been so +recently accused. + +"Well, I haven't a mite of sympathy for them," declared Bessie. + +"Perhaps you cannot be expected to have sympathy for the Jarleys," +admitted Wyn, in her wholesome way. "But you won't mind, will you, dear, +if _I_ have a little for poor Polly?" and she hugged Bessie, who +had sat down, close to her. "Come on, Bessie--don't be mad at +_me_." + +"Oh, dear! nobody can be mad at you, Wyn Mallory. You do blarney so." + +"Ah, now, my dear; it isn't blarneying at all!" laughed Wyn. "It's just +showing you the sensible way. We girls don't want to be flighty, and +have 'mads on,' as Frank says, for no real reason. And this poor girl +will never trouble you in the world----" + +"I wish she wasn't up at that lake," declared Bessie. + +"Why, Bess! the lake's plenty big enough," said Wyn, chuckling. "We +won't have to see much of the Jarleys. Although----" + +"I sha'n't go if she is to be on hand," asserted Bessie, with vehemence. + +"One would think poor Polly Jarley had an infectious disease. She won't +hurt you, Bess." + +"I don't care. I feel just as papa does about it. He and Jarley were +closer than brothers. But he wouldn't speak to Jarley now--no, sir! And +I don't want anything to do with that girl." + +With this Bess jumped up, preparing to go on her way to the stores. Wyn +was going home, and she gathered up her packages. + +"You'll think differently about it some day, Bess," she said, +thoughtfully, as her friend tripped away. "How foolish to hold rancor so +long! For years and years those two men have hated each other. And I +expect Polly would dislike Bess just as Bess dislikes her--and for no +real reason! + +"And it seems too bad. Mr. Lavine is very rich while John Jarley is very +poor. Usually it is the wicked man who prospers--for a time, at least I +really don't understand this," sighed Wyn, traveling homeward. "If +Polly's father is guilty as they believe he is, what did he do with the +money he must have made by his crimes?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OFF FOR THE LAKE + + +Although the members of the Go-Ahead Club--some of them, at least--had +expressed the wish that the time to start for Lake Honotonka was already +at hand, the remaining days of May and the busy month of June slipped +away speedily. At odd hours there was a deal to do to prepare for the +outing which the girl canoeists longed to enjoy. + +Wyn received several letters from Polly Jarley, more hopeful letters +than she might have expected considering the situation in which the +boatman's daughter was placed. Evidently Polly was trying to live up to +her "rechristening." + +In reply Wyn made several arrangements for the big outing which she +confided only in a general way to the club. Polly had selected a +beautiful spot just east of the rough water behind Gannet Island, and +not half a mile from her father's boathouse, for the camping place of +the Go-Ahead Club, and she wrote Wyn that she had stuck up a sign +pre-empting the spot for the girls from Denton. + +It was arranged with the Busters, who would go up to Lake Honotonka the +same day as the Go-Aheads, to send the stores together by bateau. Wyn +arranged to have the girls' stores housed by the Jarleys, for she did +not think that the canvas of either the sleeping or the cook-tent would +be sufficient protection if there came a heavy storm. + +The boys had picked their camping place the year before. They would go +to the far end of Gannet Island, where there was a cave which promised a +fairly good storehouse for their goods and chattels. They proposed to +erect their one big tent right in front of this cavity in the rock--in +conjunction therewith, in fact. There was a backbone of rock through the +center of the island in which Professor Skillings, as a geologist, was +very much interested, and had been for a long time. + +To purchase the stores cost considerable money. The girls had to do it +all out of their own pockets, and to tell the truth some of them had to +mortgage their spending allowance for the entire summer to "put up" +their pro rata sum for these supplies. + +"Papa says it is going to cost me as much as though I were spending the +summer at Newport," Percy Havel said, with a sigh. + +"_My_ folks have expressed some surprise," admitted Mina Everett. +"They thought we were going to camp out _al fresco_; but they can +scarcely believe now that we are not going to live upon _pate de foie +gras_ and have a French chef to get up the meals." + +"My father began to say something about the cost the other night," +giggled Frank Cameron. "But I put the stopper on poor pa very quickly. I +told him that I'd willingly give up the camping-out scheme if he'd buy a +touring car. I said: + +"'Pa, I've figured the whole thing out, and we can do it easily enough. +The car, to begin with, will cost $5,000, which at six per cent, is only +$300 a year. If we charge ten per cent, off for depreciation it will +come to $500 more. A good chauffeur can be had for $125 per month, or +$1,500 per year. I have allowed $10 per week for gasoline and $5 for +repairs. The chauffeur's uniform and furs will come to about $200. Now, +let's see what it comes to. Three hundred, plus five hundred, and then +the chauffeur's salary at----' + +"'Don't bother me any more, my dear,' says pa. 'I know what it comes +to.' + +"'What _does_ it come to, Pa?' I asked. 'How quick you are at +figures!' + +"'My dear,' he said, impressively, 'it comes to a standstill right here +and now. We will have no touring car. I'll say no more about the +Go-Ahead Club.' + +"Oh, you can manage the grown-ups," concluded Frank, with a laugh, "if +you go about it right." + +The bateau of stores went up the Wintinooski two days before the girls +and boys were to start; yet for fear that all might not have gone right +with the provisions, Wyn insisted that each member of the Go-Ahead. Club +pack in her canoe the usual "day's ration" that they had been taught +should always be carried for an emergency. + +"It only adds to the weight," grumbled Grace. "And dear knows, the old +blankets and things that you make us paddle about, makes the going hard +enough." + +"That's it--kick!" exclaimed Frank. "You'd kick if your feet were tied, +Gracie." + +"Assuredly!" returned the big girl. + +"Now, don't fuss at the rules of the club that have long ago been voted +upon and adopted," said Wyn, cheerfully. "We do not know what is going +to happen. Somebody might hit a snag. It would take hours to make +repairs--perhaps we would have to camp for the night somewhere on the +way. We want to be prepared for all such emergencies." + +"Well, the Busters aren't loading themselves down with all this truck," +declared Grace, with, vigor. + +"That's all right. Let us be the wise ones," laughed Wynifred. "The boys +may want to borrow of us before we get to Lake Honotonka." + +"Why, Wynnie!" cried Bess Lavine, "if you are expecting all sorts of +breakdowns and misfortunes, I shall be afraid to start at all." + +"Guess I'll go on with Aunt Evelyn to the Forge, and send my canoe by +train," laughed Percy Havel. "Wyn's got us drowned already." + +But on the morning of the departure not one of the girls prophesied +misfortune. As for the boys, they were bubbling over with fun. + +Professor Skillings was going to paddle up the river with them, although +Mrs. Havel would take the afternoon train to the lake. The professor had +gone on ahead; but Dave Shepard arranged the two clubs in line and boys +and girls marched through the streets and down to the river, being +hailed by their friends and bidden good-bye by their less fortunate +mates. + +Somebody started singing, and the twelve young voices were soon in the +rhythm of "This is the Life!" Dave and Tubby were ahead, their paddles +over their shoulders, each carrying his blanket-roll in approved scout +fashion. The roll made Tubby Blaisdell look twice his real size. + +As the party struck across the sward toward the boathouses Dave suddenly +dropped his paraphernalia and started on a run for the river. + +"Hi, there!" he shouted. "The professor is in trouble, boys!" + +The Busters bounded away after him, and the girls, catching the +excitement, followed along the bank of the swiftly-flowing Wintinooski. +There was Professor Skillings in his canoe, drifting rapidly into the +middle of the current, and plainly without his paddle. Indeed, that +useful--not to say necessary--instrument, capped the pile of Professor +Skillings' impedimenta on the bank. He had evidently--in his usual +absent-minded manner--stepped into his canoe and pushed off from shore +without getting his cargo aboard. + +Amid much laughter Dave and Ferd Roberts got a skiff and went after +their teacher. Professor Skillings chuckled at his own troubles. +Although he was well past the meridian of life, he had neither lost his +sense of the ridiculous nor his ability to laugh at a joke when it was +on himself. + +While the boys were rescuing their friend and mentor, the Go-Ahead Club +proceeded to get out their own canoes and load them. The weight had to +be distributed in bow and stern of the light, cedar craft; but Wyn and +her mates had practised loading and launching their boats so frequently +that there was little danger of an overset now. + +Grace was still growling about the food and cooking apparatus +distributed among the canoeists. Wyn said, laughing: + +"That is still the bone of contention; is it, Gracie?" + +"What _is_ a 'bone of contention'?" demanded Mina, innocently. + +"Why, the jawbone, of course, silly!" cried Frank. + +"Don't you mind about my jawbone, miss!" snapped Grace. + +"Oh, don't let's fight, girls," Mina said, soothingly. + +"Better a dinner of herbs with contentment than a stalled ox and trouble +on the side," misquoted Frank. + +The six girls quickly shot their canoes out into the stream. At this +point the current was swift; but above Denton the river broadened into +wide pools through which the current flowed sluggishly and it would be +easier paddling. + +The girls set into a steady stroke, led by their captain, and passed the +pretty town in a few minutes. Wyn could see the upper windows of her +home and noted a white cloth fluttering from one. She knew that her +mother was standing there with the field-glasses and Baby May. Perhaps +the little one was trying to see "sister" through the strong glasses. + +So Wyn pulled off her cap and swung it over her head and the six canoes +immediately fell out of alignment. + +"Don't do that, Wyn!" shouted Bess. "Those boys will catch up with us." + +"Well, we want them to; don't we?" asked the captain of the Go-Aheads, +good-naturedly. "We're going to lunch together, and if we make the poor +boys work too hard they'll eat every crumb we've got and leave nothing +for poor little we-uns." + +"So _that's_ why you made us bring all this food?" demanded Bess, +in disgust. "Can't those boys feed themselves?" + +"Oh, they'll do their share," Wyn replied, laughing. "You'll see. Don't +you see how heavily laden Tubby's canoe is? I warrant he has enough +luncheon aboard for a small army." + +"I can't look over my shoulder--I never can," quoth Bessie. "Paddling a +canoe takes more of my attention than riding a bicycle." + +"Or a motorcycle. Those things are just awful," cried Mina Everett. + +"Shucks!" exclaimed the lively Frankie. "A motorcycle is only an +ordinary bicycle driven crazy by over-indulgence in gasoline." + +"How smart!" cried Bessie. "But you'd better save your breath to cool +your porridge----" + +"Or, better still, to work your paddle," commented Grace, with a swift +glance behind. "Those Busters are coming up the river, hand over fist." + +"With poor Tubby in the rear, of course," said Frank, glancing back. +"The tide is certainly against _him_." + +"Oh, dear me!" giggled Percy, "poor Tubby was more than 'tide' last week +when he took Annabel Craven out on the river. Did you hear about it? You +know--the night before graduation." + +"I believe that fat youth is sweet on Annabel," announced Bessie, +shaking her head seriously. + +"What do you suppose Ann thinks of Tubby?" cried Grace. + +"You know how it is," chuckled Frank. "Nobody loves a fat boy. Go on, +Percy. What happened to poor old Tubby?" + +"Why, he inveigled Annabel down to the river and got her into a boat and +was going to row her around in the moonlight. You know it was just a +scrumptious night." + +"M-m-m! wasn't it?" agreed Frank. + +"Well," said Percy, "Tubby got in without overturning the boat and +settled to work. The current was pretty swift and he struck right out +into it and headed up stream. + +"And there he tugged, and tugged, and tugged, giving all his attention +to the oars and having none to spare for Annabel. By and by, after Tubby +had tugged, and grunted, and perspired for half an hour, he said: + +"'Say, I never saw anything like this current to-night--not in all my +born days! I've been pulling like a horse for half an hour and I don't +see that we've made as much as a dozen feet!' + +"And then Annabel spoke up real pretty, and says she: + +"'Oh, Mr. Blaisdell! I've just thought of something. The anchor fell +overboard some time ago and I forgot to tell you. Do you suppose it +could have caught on something?'" + +The other girls were intensely amused at this, for they all appreciated +Annabel Craven's character as well as poor Tubby's good-natured +blundering. But while they laughed and chattered in this way the Busters +crept steadily up on them. + +"I told you how it would be," said Bess, tartly, "if we didn't hurry +up." + +"What's the matter with you girls?" demanded Dave Shepard. "One would +think you were sent for and couldn't come, by the way you paddle. You'll +get to the lake before noon at this rate." + +"Not much danger of that, Davie," returned Wyn. "And you know we agreed +to stop at Ware's Island for lunch." + +"Oh, I wish that was right here!" grunted a voice from the rear, where +Tubby Blaisdell was paddling away with almost as much splashing as a +small side-wheel steamer. + +"My goodness, boy!" cried Ferd Roberts. "You're not hungry so soon, are +you?" + +"Soon?" repeated Tubby, with disgust "It's so long since breakfast that +I've forgotten what I had to eat." + +"What do you want to eat, Tubby?" asked Frank, giggling. + +"Not particular. Anything--from a marshmallow cake to a tough steak," +grunted the fat boy. + +"Tubby wouldn't be as particular as the grouchy gentleman who went into +the restaurant out West and ordered a steak," chuckled Dave. "After the +waiter brought it the customer tried his knife on it and then called the +waiter back. + +"'Say!' he objected. 'This steak isn't tender enough.' + +"'Not tender enough, stranger?' returned the cowboy waiter. 'What d'you +expect? Want it to hug an' kiss yer?'" + +When the laugh on Tubby had subsided Professor Skillings said, with a +twinkle in his eye: + +"Our friend, Blaisdell, should be able to exist some time on his +accumulation of fat. He ought not to seriously suffer from hunger as +yet." + +"Like a camel living on its hump--eh?" said Wyn. "How about that, +Tubby?" + +"I'm no relation to a camel--I tell you that," snorted the fat boy, with +disgust. + +"Then Mr. Blaisdell might imitate some insects; mightn't he, Professor +Skillings?" suggested Frank, with a sly look. "You know there are +insects that live on nothing." + +"On nothing?" exclaimed the professor, quickly. "Oh, no, young lady, you +are mistaken. That is quite impossible." + +"But, Professor! A moth lives on nothing; doesn't it?" + +"No, indeed. How could that be?" cried the scientific gentleman, greatly +perturbed by Frank's apparent display of ignorance. + +"Why, moths eat holes; don't they?" chortled Frank. "Surely 'holes' are +a pretty slim diet." + +Professor Skillings led the laughter himself over this simple joke. But +he added: + +"I fear I should not be able to interest you in science, Frances." + +"Not in summer, sir--oh, never!" cried Frank. "I refuse to learn a +single, living thing until school opens again next fall." + +In spite of Tubby's complaints, the canoeing party sighted Ware Island +in good season for luncheon. This was a low, wooded spot around which +the Wintinooski--split in two streams--flowed very quietly. The country +on both sides was cut up into farms, with intervening patches of woods, +dotted with ferns, and was very beautiful. + +There was a little beach on one side of the island, with a green, shaded +bank above. This was a favorite picnicking spot for parties from Denton; +but our friends had the island all to themselves this day. + +The girls had been as far as this island before in their canoes; but +never beyond. From this spot on the journey up the Wintinooski would be +all new to Wyn Mallory and her chums. + +The canoes were hauled up out of the water and the boys skirmished for +fuel while the girls got out the luncheon. Ferd Roberts was +fire-builder, and Grace, who hated that work, watched him closely, +marveling how quickly and well he constructed the pyre and had a blaze +merrily dancing among the sticks. + +"Doesn't that beat all!" cried Grace. "You must love fires as much as +Nero did." + +"Nero? Let's see--he was the chap that always was cold; wasn't he?" +queried Ferd, grinning. + +"Nope!" broke in Frank. "That was Zero. You _will_ get your ancient +history mixed, Ferd!" + +The luncheon was quickly laid, and Tubby was not the only one who did it +justice. But Bessie Lavine continued to act disagreeably toward the +boys. She was "forever nagging," as Dave said; and sometimes there was a +spark of fire when she managed to get one or another of the boys "mad." + +Professor Skillings wandered off with his bag and little geological +hammer and Tubby rolled over on his back under a shady bush and went to +sleep. + +"Pig!" ejaculated Bess, in disgust. "That's all boys think of--their +stomachs." + +"Oh, don't be so hateful, Bess," advised Frank. "Come on; the rest of us +are going to walk around a little to settle our luncheon, before +tackling the paddles again." + +"Humph! with the boys?" snapped Bess, seeing Wyn start off with Dave by +her side. "Not me, thank you!" + +"All right," chuckled Frank Cameron. "You can keep Tubby company." + +But that suggestion made Bess even more angry, and she went off with her +nose in the air, and all alone. But as the crowd of young folk came +around the east end of Ware Island, they, saw Bess standing upon the +brink of a steep bank, under a small tree, where the water had washed +out a good deal of the earth in a sort of cave beneath where she stood. + +"Hi, Bessie! get back from there!" shouted Dave, warningly. "That place +is likely to cave in." + +"Then you certainly _would_ get a ducking," added Frank. + +"Pooh! I guess I know what I'm about," said the girl. "I'm no baby." + +"You're acting like one," growled Dave. "That place is dangerous." + +"It's not, Mr. Smartie!" cried Bess, and she stamped her foot in anger. + +And just as though that had been the signal for which it had been +waiting, several square yards of the steep bank, with the tree she was +clinging to, slumped down into the river. + +The girls screamed, while the boys bounded forward toward the spot where +Bessie had disappeared. + +"Oh, Dave!" cried Wyn. "Save her! save her! She can't swim very well. +She will be drowned!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STORM BREAKS + + +Dave Shepard, followed by the other "Busters," leaped down to the edge +of the water before they came to the spot where the bank had caved. They +feared that by tramping along the edge they might bring down even a +greater avalanche than had fallen with the unfortunate Bessie. + +"There she is, fellows!" cried Dave. "She's hanging to the tree!" + +"I see her!" returned Ferd Roberts. + +"Oh, Dave! we can't reach her," cried another of the Busters. + +"I wish the professor was here," cried Ferd. "He'd know what to do." + +"My goodness!" returned Dave, throwing off his coat and cap. "I don't +need anybody to tell me what to do. _We've got to go after her!_" + +He tore off the low shoes he wore, pitched them after his cap and coat, +and leaped into the water. The current tugged hard at the end of the +island, and Bessie and the uprooted sapling were being carried out +farther and farther into the stream. + +The girl had not screamed. Indeed, she had been startled to such a +degree when she went down that she had really not breath enough for +speech as yet. + +The boys were "right on the job," and only a few seconds elapsed from +the moment the bank gave away until that in which Dave Shepard sprang +into the river. + +Some of the roots of the tree still clung to the shore. A part of the +loosened earth had fallen upon these roots and so the tree was anchored. +But Bessie was clinging to the hole of the sapling quite fifteen feet +from the edge of the solid beach. + +"Catch hold of hands, boys!" commanded Dave. "Make a chain! Give me one +hand, Ferd! The current is tugging me right off my feet!" + +His four mates obeyed orders promptly. Dave was captain of the Busters, +as Wyn was of the Go-Ahead Club; and the boys had learned to obey their +captain promptly--all but Tubby, at least. But Tubby was not in this +exciting adventure at all, being asleep under the bush at their lunching +place. + +The fat boy was not even aroused when the crowd trooped back to the +spot, boys and girls alike chattering like magpies. Dave and Ferd +carried the dripping Bessie in "arm-chair" fashion and the girl who so +disliked boys clung to her two chief rescuers with abandon. + +They had hauled her out of the river just as she was losing her grasp on +the tree. A moment later she might have been whirled down stream by the +current and her life endangered. As it was, she had swallowed much +water, and was just as wet inside and out as she would ever be in her +life. + +All the boys were more or less wet--Dave was saturated to his arm-pits. +But the day was warm, and the boys were used to such duckings. It was +another matter, however, with the girl. She was already shaking with an +incipient chill. + +"Wood on the fire, boys--get a lot of it," commanded Dave. "And get our +blankets and let's put up a makeshift tent for Bess to use. She must get +off her wet duds and wring them out and dry them. Hi! wake up that Tubby +Blaisdell. We want his help." + +Ferd proceeded to walk right over the fat youth on his way for more fuel +and that effectually aroused the lad. + +"Hey--you! what are you about?" yawned Tubby. "Can't you find another +place to walk on but _me_, Ferd Roberts?" + +"I've got to walk _some_where," quoth Ferd. + +"Why! you're all wet," gasped Tubby. "And so are you, Dave! And those +other fellows--I declare!" + +"Wake up and do something, Tubby," commanded Dave. "We want to get a +tent up, There's been an accident, and Bessie Lavine is wetter than any +of us. Let's have your knife." + +"My--my knife?" yawned Tubby, rolling over slowly to reach into his +breeches pocket. + +This was too good a chance for Ferd to resist. Tubby was rolling near +the edge of the bank as Ferd came back with his arms full of broken +branches. Ferd put his foot against Tubby's back and pushed with all his +might. + +"Hi! Stop that! Ugh!" + +Tubby rolled over once--he rolled over twice; then, with many +ejaculations and bumps rolled completely down the slope, amid the +laughter of the boys and girls above him. + +Tubby missed the canoes--by good luck--and rolled with a splash into a +shallow pool at the river's edge. + +"You mean thing!" he yelled, getting up with some alacrity and shaking +his fist at Ferd. "I--I'm all wet." + +"So are we, Tubby," Dave said. "You belong to our lodge now. Come on up +here with that knife of yours. Didn't I tell you I wanted to use it?" + +The other boys were scurrying after stakes and blankets, while the girls +fed the fire till it roared high, and Bessie stood in the heat of the +flames. + +"What do you think of the boys _now_, Bess?" Frank Cameron +whispered in the victim's ear. "Some good--at times--eh?" + +"Now, don't worry her, Frank," commanded Mina, the tender-hearted. "The +poor, dear girl! See--she's just as wet as she can possibly be." + +"Oh, and wasn't I scared!" gasped Bess, honestly. "When that bank went +down I thought I was right on my way through to China! I did, indeed." + +"I was so thankful Dave was there," said Wyn Mallory, thoughtfully. "You +see, Dave is one of those dependable boys." + +"I've got to admit it," gasped Bess. "He's some good. Why! he caught me +just as I was slipping off that tree. I _can't_ thank him!" + +"Never mind," said Wyn, cheerfully. "It is decided, I guess, that the +boys may be of some use to us this summer, after all." + +"That's so, if we're all going to run the risk of drowning," Grace +Hedges observed. + +"I am going to learn to swim better," declared Bess. "I'll just put my +t--time all in on _that_. But, oh, girls! I am so wet!" + +"Tent's ready, ladies!" shouted Dave Shepard. "Make her take her +clothing off, Wyn. We fellows will get the professor and go over to the +other side of the island for a swim. Ferd and I have got to strip off +and wring out our trousers, anyway. And I reckon Tubby is some wet." + +"That's all right," grumbled the fat youth, waddling after his mates. +"I'll pay Ferd out for that--you see!" + +The boys were back in an hour and a half. By that time Bess had been +made quite presentable, for her garments had been dried over the fire. +However, the girls were dressed in a way to stand--as well as might +be--such accidents as Bessie had met. + +The girl who had declared boys no good frankly shook hands with Dave +before they embarked again, and thanked him very prettily for his help +in time of need. + +"Go ahead! get a medal for me," said Dave. "Pin it right _there_," +and he pointed to the lapel of his jacket. "I'm a hero. Keep on praising +me, Miss Lavine, and I'll grow as tall as a giraffe." + +"And that's the highest form of animal life--ask the professor if it +isn't," chuckled Frank Cameron. + +But they were all very thankful that nothing serious had resulted from +the accident. There was an after-result, however, that promised to be +unpleasant. They had been so delayed at the island that it was half-past +three before they got off. There was still a long stretch to paddle to +Meade's Forge at the foot of Honotonka Lake. + +And, swiftly as they paddled, the sun was setting when they arrived at +the Forge. Besides, a heavy cloud was coming up, threatening a storm. +Indeed, lightning was already playing around the horizon behind them. + +There was no hotel at the Forge, and no good place to stop for the +night. Mrs. Havel was out in her canoe waiting for them. Gannet Island, +where the boys were to camp, was in sight, and the camping place the +girls had had selected for them was even nearer. + +"We had better go at once," said the professor, earnestly. "We will stop +and help you erect your tents first----" + +"No, you will not," returned Mrs. Havel. "The girls and I have got to +learn to be independent. Besides, your stores are waiting for you over +there on the island, and I understand from the boatmen that the things +are not yet under cover. You must hurry. We'll get along all right; +won't we, girls?" + +"Sure!" agreed Frank. + +"We haven't come up here to be a burden on the boys, I hope," said Wyn, +sturdily. + +Wyn was captain, and as both she and Mrs. Havel thought they could get +along all right, it was not for the other girls to object. The professor +and the boys bade them good-bye and paddled away as fast as possible for +the distant island. Even Tubby put forth some effort, for the +thunderstorm was surely coming. + +Tired as they were, the girls of the Go-Ahead Club made their paddles +fly for another half-hour. Then they were in sight of a white birch, to +the top of which was fastened a long streamer, like a pennant. + +"There's the place!" cried Wyn, recognizing the signal that Polly Jarley +had written to her about. + +"And yonder is the boatman's place where our stores were left?" asked +Mrs. Havel. + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"We cannot stop for anything now, and must depend for the night upon +what we have with us. I don't like the look of that cloud," said the +lady. + +None of the girls liked the look of it, either. It had now rolled up to +the zenith--a leaden mass, looming over them most threateningly. And +there was a rumble of thunder in the summer air. + +"Oh! what a beautiful spot!" cried Percy. + +"See that reach of lawn--and the thick grove behind it. Goodness me!" +exclaimed Mina Everett, "do you suppose there are bears in that woods?" + +"If there are, we'll catch 'em and eat 'em," said Frank, practically. +"Now you know, Mina, there hasn't been a bear shot in this state since +your grandfather's time." + +"Well, then, if there's been none shot, maybe there are a lot grown up +here in the woods," objected Mina. + +"Don't scare a fellow to death with your croaking," admonished Percy. + +Bessie had known that Polly Jarley had chosen the site for the camp; and +she was secretly prepared to find fault with it. But as they drove their +canoes ashore on the little, silvery beach below the green knoll where +the pennant fluttered, Bess could find in her heart no complaint. + +It seemed an ideal spot. On three sides the thick woods sheltered the +knoll of green. In front the lake lay like a mirror--its surface +whitened in ridges 'way out toward the middle now, for the wind was +coming. + +"Hurry ashore, girls," said Mrs. Havel. "And pull your canoes well up on +the sand. We must hurry to get our shelter up first of all. It will rain +before dark, and the night is coming fast." + +"Wish the boys had stopped to help us," wailed Grace. + +"And let their own stores get all wet--eh?" cried Wyn. "For shame! Come +on, girls. To the tent!" + +There was a pile of canvas which had been dropped here by the bateau men +on their way to Gannet Island that forenoon. There were stakes and poles +with the canvas, and the girls had practised putting up the shelter and +striking it for some weeks in Wyn's back yard. + +They were not so clumsy at this work, therefore; but it did seem, +because they were in a hurry, that everything went wrong. + +Mina pounded her thumb with a stake-mallet, and the ridge pole fell once +and struck Grace on the side of the head. Poor Grace was always +unfortunate. + +"Oh, dear me! I wish I was home!" wailed the big girl. "And ouch! it's +going to thunder and lightning just awful!" + +"Now, keep at work!" admonished their captain. "Fasten those pegs down +well, Frankie," she added, to the girl, who had taken the mallet. "Never +mind crying over your poor thumb, Mina. Wait till the tent's up and all +our things brought up from the canoes." + +"Here come the first drops, girls!" shrieked Frankie. + +Drops! It was a deluge! It came across the lake in a perfect wall of +water, shutting out their view of Gannet Island and everything else. + +The girls scuttled for the canoes, emptied them, turned the boats keel +upward, and then retreated to the big tent, Wyn even dragging the canvas +of the cook tent inside to keep it from becoming saturated. + +Fortunately the last peg had been secured. The flap was laced down +quickly. In the semi-darkness of the sudden twilight the girls and Mrs. +Havel stood together and listened to the rain drum upon the taut canvas. + +How it sounded! Worse than the rain on a tin roof! Peering out through +the slit in the middle of the tent-flap they could see nothing but a +gray wall of water. + +Suddenly there was a glaring blue flash, followed soon by the roar of +the thunder. Several of the girls cried out and crouched upon the +ground. + +"Oh, dear me! this is awful!" groaned Grace again. + +Mina Everett was sobbing with the pain in her thumb and her fear of the +lightning. + +"Now, this will never do, girls," admonished Wyn Mallory. "Come! we can +set up the alcohol lamp and make tea. That will help some. There are +crackers and some ham, and a whole big bottle of olives. Why! we sha'n't +starve for supper, that's sure." + +"I--I don't know as I want to eat," quavered Mina. + +"Pshaw! We Go-Aheads must not be afraid of a little storm----" + +Wyn's voice was drowned in the clap of thunder which accompanied an +awful flash of lightning. With both came a splintering crash, the tent +seemed to rock, and for a moment its interior was vividly illuminated by +the electric bolt. The lightning had struck near at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT WINDMILL FARM + + +Both Wyn and Mrs. Havel--the bravest of the seven gathered in the big +tent--were frightened by this awful shock. The other girls clung to +them, Mina and Grace sobbing aloud. + +"I--I feel as though that bolt fairly seared my eyeballs," groaned Frank +Cameron. "Oh, dear! Here's another!" + +But this flash was not so severe. The girls peered out of the slit in +the front of the tent and screamed again in alarm. The rain had passed +for the moment. There, not many rods away, stood an old, half-dead oak +with its top all ablaze. + +"That is where the lightning struck," cried Wyn. + +"It is fortunate our tent was no nearer to that side of the plateau," +observed Mrs. Havel. + +Then the rain commenced again, and the thudding on the canvas drowned +out their voices for a time. + +Somehow Wyn managed to get supper. The thunder and lightning gradually +subsided; but for an hour the rain came in intermittent dashes and it +was nine o'clock before they could venture forth into the cool, damp +air. + +They had eaten their simple meal and set up the sleeping cots (which +were likewise of canvas) before that. There was a flooring of matched +planks to be laid, too; but the rain had wet them and the girls would +have to wait for to-morrow's sun to dry them. + +"Oh! I don't believe living under canvas is going to be half so nice as +we thought," complained Mina. "I never _did_ think about its +storming." + +"A bad beginning makes a good ending," quoted Mrs. Havel, brightly. +"This is only for one night." + +"Excuse me! I don't want another like it, Auntie," declared her niece. + +They could have no lamp to see to go to bed by, save Wyn's pocket +electric flash. + +"And it's so plaguey awkward!" cried Frankie. "Here one of us has to +hold the snapper shut so the others can see. Here, Mina! I've played +Goddess of Liberty long enough; _you_ hold the lamp awhile." + +Wyn slung a line from one end of the tent to the other, and on this they +hung their clothes. All the girls were provided with warm pajamas as +being safer night garments under canvas than the muslin robes they wore +at home. + +"I _do_ feel so funny," cried Percy, hopping into her own nest. "I +can't curl my toes up in my nightgown--they stick right out at the +bottom of these trousers!" + +"And doesn't the grass tickle your feet?" cried Frank, dancing about +between the cots. "My, my! this _is_ camping out in real earnest. +O-o-o! Here's a trickle of water running under the side of the tent, +Wyn." + +"You can thank your stars it isn't running through a hole in the tent +right upon your heads," responded the captain. "Do get into bed, Frank." + +Even Frank was quiet at last. The day had been a strenuous one. The +muttering thunder in the distance lulled them to sleep. Soon the big +white tent upon the knoll by the lake was silent save for the soft +breathing of the girls and their chaperone. + +And--odd as it may seem, considering the strangeness of their +surroundings--all the girls slept soundly through the night. It was Wyn +Mallory herself who first opened her eyes and knew, by the light +outside, that it must be near sunrise. + +Up she popped, stepping lightly over the cold grass so as not to arouse +her mates and Mrs. Havel, and reached the opening. She peered through. +To the east the horizon was aglow with melting shades of pink, amber, +turquoise and rose. The sun was coming! + +Wyn snapped open the flap and ran out to welcome His Majesty. Then, +however, she remembered that she was in pajamas, and glanced around +swiftly to see if she was observed. + +Not a soul was in sight. At that moment the first chorus of the +feathered choir that welcomes the day in the wilds, had ceased. Silence +had fallen upon the forest and upon the lake. + +Only the lap, lap, lap of the little waves upon the shore was audible. +The wind did not stir the tree branches. There was a little chill in the +air after the storm, and the ground was saturated. + +Wyn was doubtful about that "early morning plunge" in the lake that she +had heard the boys talk about, and which she had secretly determined to +emulate. But the boys' camp was at the far end of Gannet Island and she +could not see it at all. She wondered if Dave and his friends would +plunge into that awfully cold-looking water on this chilly morning? + +To assure herself that the water _was_ cold she ran down to where +the canoes lay and poked one big toe into the edge of the pool. Ouch! it +was just like ice! + +"No, no!" whispered Wyn, and scuttled up the bank again, hugging herself +tight in both arms to counteract the chill. + +But she couldn't go back to bed. It was too beautiful a morning. And all +the others were sleeping soundly. + +Wyn decided that she would not awaken them. But she slipped inside, +selected her own clothing, and in ten minutes was dressed. Then she ran +down to the pool again, palmed the water all over her face, rubbing her +cheeks and forehead and ears till they tingled, and then wiped dry upon +the towel she had brought with her. + +Another five minutes and her hair was braided Indian fashion, and tied +neatly. Then the sun popped up--broadly agrin and with the promise in +his red countenance of a very warm day. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Sun!" quoth Wyn, dancing a little dance of her own +invention upon the summit of the green knoll that overhung the lake +before the tent. "I hope you give us a fine day, and that we all enjoy +it." + +With a final pirouette she ran back to the tent. Still Mrs. Havel and +the others slept. + +"What lazy folk!" she told them, in a whisper, and then caught up a +six-quart pail and ran back through the open place and found the wood +road that Polly had written her about. + +She knew that to her left lay the way to the landing where Mr. Jarley +kept his boats, and where their stores were under cover in a shed. But +breakfast was the first consideration, and in the other direction lay +Windmill Farm, at which Polly told her she had arranged for the +Go-Aheads to get milk, fresh eggs, and garden vegetables. + +So Wyn tripped along this right hand extension of the wood path and, +within half an hour, came out of the forest upon the edge of the cleared +farm. Before her lay sloping fields up, up, up to a high knoll, on the +top of which stood a windmill, painted red. + +The long arms of the mill, canvas-covered, rose much higher in the air +than the gilt vane that glistened on the very peak of the roof. The +rising sun shone full upon the windmill and made it a brilliant spot of +color against the blue sky; but the wind was still and the sails did not +cause the arms to revolve. + +Just below the mill, upon the leisurely slope of the knoll, was set the +white-painted farmhouse, with well-kept stables and out-buildings and +poultry yards and piggery at the rear. + +"What a pretty spot!" cried Wyn, aloud. "And the woods are so thick +between it and the lake that one would never know it was here." + +She hurried on, for she knew by the smoke rising from the house chimney +and the bustle of sound from the barnyard that the farmer and his family +were astir. + +Before she reached the side porch a number of cows, one with a bell on +her neck leading the herd, filed out through the side yard and took a +lane for the distant pasture. Horses neighed for their breakfasts, the +pigs squealed in their sties and there was a pretty young woman singing +at the well curb as she drew a great, splashing bucket of water. + +"Oh! you're one of the girls Polly Jarley told us were coming to the +lake to camp?" said the farmer's wife, graciously. "And did you get here +in the storm last night? How do you all like it?" + +"I can only answer for myself," declared Wyn, laughing. "They were all +asleep when I came away. But I guess if we have nothing worse to trouble +us than that shower we shall get along all right." + +"You're a plucky girl--for a city one," said the woman. "Now, do you +want milk and eggs?" + +Wyn told her what she wanted, and paid for the things. Then she started +back to camp, laden with the brimming milk pail and a basket which the +farmer's wife had let her have. + +The sun was now mounting swiftly in his course across the sky. Faintly +she heard the sawmill at the Forge blowing a whistle to call the hands, +and knew that it was six o'clock. She hurried her steps and reached the +opening where the tent was pitched just as the first sleepy Go-Ahead was +creeping out to see what manner of day it might be. + +"For goodness' sake, Wyn Mallory!" cried this yawning nymph in blue +pajamas. "Have you been up all night?" + +"Aren't you cute in those things, Percy?" returned Wyn. "You look just +like a doll in a store window. Come on and dress. It's time you were all +up. Why! the day will be gone before you know it." + +"Oh--ow--ouch!" yawned Percy, and then jumped quickly through the +opening of the tent because Grace Hedges pushed her. + +"Why! the sun's up!" cried the big girl. "Why! and there's Wyn with +milk--and eggs--and pretty red radishes--and _peas_. Mercy me! Look +at all the things in this basket. Whose garden have you been robbing, +Wyn?" + +"Come on!" commanded the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. "I brought a bag +of meal in _my_ canoe. And there is salt, and aluminum bowls, and +spoons. We can make a good breakfast of eggs and mush. Hurry up, all you +lazy folk, and help get breakfast." + +"O-o-o! isn't the grass cold!" exclaimed one girl who had just stepped +out from between woolen blankets. + +"I--I feel as though I were dressing outdoors," gasped another, with +chattering teeth. "D-don't you suppose anybody can see through this +tent?" + +"Nonsense, goosey!" ejaculated Frank. "Hurry up and get into your +clothes. You take up more room than an elephant." + +"Did you ever share a dressing room with an elephant, Frank?" demanded +Bess. + +"Not before," returned the thin girl, grimly. "But I am preparing for +that experience when I try to dress in the same tent with Gracie." + +But they were all eager to get outside when they sniffed the smoke of +the campfire, and, a little later, the odor of eggs "frying in the pan." +Despite the saturated condition of most of the underbrush Wyn knew where +to get dry wood for fuel, Dave had long ago taught her that bit of +woodcraft. + +With a small camp hatchet she had attacked the under branches of the +spruce and low pine trees, and soon had a good heap of these dead sticks +near the tent. She turned over a flat stone that lay near by for a +hearth. Before the other girls and Mrs. Havel were dressed and had +washed their faces at the lakeside, Captain Wyn was stirring mush in a +kettle and frying eggs in pork fat in a big aluminum pan. + +"Sunny side up; or with a veil of brown drawn over their beautiful +faces, Frankie?" asked Wyn, referring to the sizzling eggs. "How do you +like 'em?" + +"I like 'em on toast--'Adam and Eve on a raft' Brother Ed calls 'em. And +when he wants 'em scrambled he says, 'Wreck 'em!'" + +"You'll get no toast this morning," declared Wyn. "You'll be satisfied +with crackers--or go without." + +"Cruel lady!" quoth Frank. "I expect I'll have to accept my yoke of +eggs----" + +"Only the _yolk_ of the eggs, Frank?" + +"No, I mean the pair I want," laughed Frankie. "And I'll take 'em +without the toast and--'sunny side up.'" + +"Good! I can't turn an egg without breaking it--never could. Now, girls! +bring your plates. I'll flop a pair of eggs onto each plate. There's +crackers in the box. Hand around your bowls. The cornmeal mush is nice, +and there is lovely milk and sugar if you want it. For 'them that likes' +there is coffee." + +"M-m-m! Doesn't it smell good?" cried Grace, as the party came trooping +to the fire with their kits. + +"I--I thought I'd miss the sweet butter," said Bess, sitting down +cross-legged on the already dry grass. "But somehow I've got _such_ +an appetite." + +"I hope the boys are having as good a time," sighed Wyn, sitting back +upon her heels and spooning up her mush, flooded with the new milk. +"Isn't this just scrumptious, Mrs. Havel?" + +"It is the simple life," replied that lady, smiling. "Plenty of fresh +air, no frills, plain food--that ought to do much for you girls this +summer. I am sure if you can endure plain food and simple living for +these several weeks before us, you will all be improved in both health +and mind." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +JOHN JARLEY, EXILE + + +This could be no day of leisure for the Go-Ahead Club. To get settled in +camp was the first task--and that no small one. + +There was the plank flooring to be laid in the big tent, the cook-tent +to be erected, and the floor laid in that. There was a sheet-iron stove +to erect, with a smoke pipe to the outside, and an asbestos "blanket" to +wrap around the pipe to keep the canvas of the tent-top from scorching. + +There were the swinging shelves to put up, fastened to the ridge-pole of +the cook-tent, on which certain supplies could be kept out of the reach +of the wood mice and other small vermin. Indeed, there were a dozen and +one things of moment to see about, beside bringing over to the camp a +selection of the stores--and their extra clothes--from John Jarley's +shack by the boat landing. + +Wyn was a competent girl and knew something about using a hammer and a +saw. The flooring planks for both tents had been assembled at Denton, +and were numbered; but after they got the sleepers laid Wyn realized +that she and her mates had tackled more of a task than they had +expected. + +"And the boys will be just as busy as they can be to-day," she said to +the other girls. "It's a wonder if everything they owned didn't get +soaked last evening. + +"Now, we can't depend upon the Busters to give us any assistance just +now. Doubt if we see 'hide nor hair' of them to-day. But we need +somebody to make these floors properly. There! Bess has stuck a splinter +into her hand already." + +"Plague take the old board!" snapped Bess, dropping it and sucking on a +ragged little wound in her hand. + +"You see," Wyn said, quickly. "I'm going to get some help. Anybody want +to walk over to Jarley's with me?" + +"Are you going to get that man to come here?" demanded Bess, sharply. + +"Don't see what else there is to do--do you, Bessie?" + +"Isn't there anybody else to help us around here? There must be other +squatters." + +"I do not know of any. We chance to know the Jarleys----" + +"Not I!" cried Bess, shaking her head. "_I_ don't know them--and I +won't know them." + +"All right. You and Grace and Percy take the pails and try for some +berries in the woods yonder. I saw some ripe ones this morning. Fresh +picked berries will add nicely to our bill-of-fare; isn't that so, Mrs. +Havel?" + +"Quite so, my dear," replied the widow, and buried herself in her book +again, for, as she had told the girls, she had not come here to work; +they must treat her as a guest. + +"Are you going to stop with Mrs. Havel, Mina?" continued Wyn. "Then come +along with me, Frank. We'll go over and see if the Jarleys bite. Bess is +afraid they will!" + +"She was telling us all about John Jarley," said Wyn's chum, as the two +left the camp on the green knoll. "Do you suppose he stole that motor +boat and the box of silver statuettes?" + + * * * * * + +"I don't _know_ anything about it," said Wyn, briskly. "But I know +that he and Polly are very poor, and with a motor boat and five thousand +dollars' worth of silver, it looks to me as though they would be very +foolish to suffer the privations they do. It's nasty gossip, that's all +it is." + +"Well, Bess says the man stole from her father years ago----" + +"I don't know much about _that_, either," interrupted Wynifred. +"But I think Bess is overstepping the line of exact truth when she says +John Jarley stole from her father. They were doing business together, +and Mr. Lavine accused Jarley of 'selling him out' in a real estate +deal. + +"I asked my father about it. Father says the whole business was a little +misty, at best. If Jarley did all Lavine said, he merely was guilty of +being false to his friend and partner. It is doubtful if he made much +out of it. But Lavine talked loudly and long; he had lots of friends +even then. The talk and all fairly hounded the Jarleys out of town. + +"And now," said Wyn, warmly, "the Lavines are rich and the Jarleys have +always been poor. Mr. Jarley is an exile from his old home and such +friends as he had in Denton. It is really a shame, I think--and you'll +say so, too, when you see what a splendid girl Polly is." + +The two girls had followed the edge of the lake toward the landing, +instead of taking the path through the wood. Suddenly they came in sight +of the float and shack, with the several boats in Mr. Jarley's keeping. + +Back from the shore was a tiny cottage, painted red, its window sash and +door striped with yellow. It was a gay little cot, and everything about +it was as neat and as gaily painted as a Dutch picture. + +As Wyn and Frank came down the hill they saw Polly Jarley run out of the +house and down to the landing. Her father was busy there at an +overturned boat--evidently caulking the seams. + +The boatman's girl did not see her visitors coming; but Wyn and Frank +got a good view of her, and the latter exclaimed to Wyn: + +"Why! she's as pretty as a picture! She's handsome! If she only had on +nice clothes she would be a perfect beauty." + +"Wouldn't she?" returned Wyn, happily. "I think my Polly Jolly is just +the _dearest_ looking creature. Isn't she brown? And what pretty +feet and hands she has!" + +Polly wore a very short skirt, patched and stained. Her blouse was open +at the throat, so that the soft roundness of the curve of her shoulder +was plainly visible. + +Out of the open neck of the blouse her deeply tanned throat rose like a +bronze column; the roses in her cheeks and on her lips relieved the +sun-darkened skin. Her hair was in two great plaits and it was evident +that she seldom troubled about a hat. She was lithe, graceful as she +could be, and bubbling over with good health if not good spirits. + +And this was a morning--after the rain--to make even a lachrymose person +lively. The smell of all growing things was in the nostrils--the warmth +of the sun lapped one about like a mantle--it was a beautiful, beautiful +day,--one to be remembered. + +Wyn shouted and started running down the hill. Polly heard her, turned +to see who it might be who called, and recognizing her friend, set out +to meet her quite as eagerly. + +"Oh, Miss Wynifred!" cried the boatman's daughter. + +"Polly Jolly! This is Frank Cameron." She kissed Polly warmly. "How fine +you look, Polly! Tell me! will all we girls look as healthy and be as +strong as you are, by the autumn? You're a picture!" + +"A pretty shabby one, I fear, Miss Wyn," protested Polly, yet smiling. +"I am in the very oldest clothes I have, for there is much dirty work to +be done around here. We have hardly got ready for the summer yet. Father +has been so lame." + +"And you must introduce me to your father, Polly," Wyn said, quickly. +"We have something for him to do--if he will be so kind." + +"All you need to do is to say what it is, Wynifred," responded Polly, +warmly. "If either of us can do anything for you we will only be too +glad." + +The three girls walked to the spot where Mr. Jarley was engaged upon his +boat. He was not at all the sort of a person whom the girls from town +had expected to see. The boatmen and woodsmen who sometimes drifted into +Denton were rough characters. This man, after being ten years and more +in the woods, savored little of the rough life he had followed. + +He was a small man, very neat in his suit of brown overalls, with +grizzled hair, a short-cropped gray mustache, and without color in his +face save the coat of tan his out-of-door life had given him. + +There was a gentle, deprecatory air about him that reminded Wyn strongly +of Polly herself. But this manner was almost the only characteristic +that father and daughter had in common. + +Mr. Jarley was low-spoken, too; he listened quietly and with an air of +deference to what Wyn had to propose. + +"Surely I will come around and do all I can to aid you, Miss Mallory," +he said. "You shall pick out the stores you think you will need, and we +will take a boat around to your camp. Your stores will be perfectly safe +here--if you wish to risk them in my care," he added. + +"Of course, sir. And we expect to pay you for keeping them. If we have a +long spell of rainy weather the dampness would be bound to spoil things +in our tents." + +"True. This corrugated iron shack will keep the stores dry, and the door +has a good padlock," returned Mr. Jarley. "Now, you young ladies pick +out what you wish carried over to the camp and I will soon be at your +service." + +"Isn't he nice?" whispered Wyn to Frank, when Polly had run into the +house for something, and Mr. Jarley himself was out of hearing. + +"Why! he is a perfect gentleman!" exclaimed Frank. "How can Bess talk as +she does about him? I am surprised at her." + +"And these other people about here, too!" declared Wyn, warmly. "What an +evil tongue Gossip has! That man--Shelton, is his name?--at the other +end of the lake, who has accused Mr. Jarley of stealing his boat and the +silver statues, ought to be punished." + +"Well--of course--we don't _know_ anything more about the Jarleys +than these other people," observed Frank, doubtfully. + +"I judge people by their appearance a good deal, I suppose," admitted +Wyn. "And mother tells me that is a poor way to judge. Just the same, I +_feel_ that the Jarleys are being maligned. And I would love to +help them." + +"Well! there isn't much chance to do that unless you can prove that he +_is_ honest, after all," remarked Frank. + +"I know it. Everything is going to tell against him unless the lost boat +and the images can be found. I wonder where it was sunk? Do you suppose +Polly would tell us just where the accident happened?" + +"Ask her." + +"I will, if I get a chance," declared Wyn. "And wouldn't it be fine if +we girls could find the sunken boat and the box belonging to Dr. +Shelton, and clear up the whole trouble?" + +"Even _that_ would not satisfy Bessie Lavine," said Frankie, with a +little laugh. "You know--Bess is 'awful sot in her ways.' When she has +made up her mind that a thing is so, you can't shake it out of her with +a charge of dynamite!" + +"You never tried the dynamite; did you, Frank?" queried Wyn, smiling. + +"No! But I've wanted to--at times." + +"Bessie is like her father--obstinate. It is a family trait Yet, once +get her turned around--show her that she has been wrong and unfair to +anybody--and she can't do too much for her to prove how sorry she is." + +"That's right! look how she talked against the boys--especially against +Dave Shepard. And now you can just wager she won't be able to do enough +for him to show how grateful she is for being pulled out of the water," +laughed Frank. + +Mr. Jarley was ready to load the boat for them, and Polly came back with +the key to the shack. Polly could not go over to the camp, for both she +and her father could not leave the landing at once. Some fishermen might +come along at any time to hire a boat. The season was opening now, and +after the "lean months" that had gone by, the Jarleys had to be on the +watch for every dollar that might come their way. + +"It seems an awfully hard life for such a man--and for Polly," whispered +Wyn to her companion. "I'd just _love_ to have Polly for a member +of our club." + +"So would I," agreed Frank. "She's just as sweet as she can be. But Bess +would go right up in the air!" + +"Oh, I know it," sighed Wyn. "Somehow we have got to make Bessie Lavine +see the error of her ways. Oh, dear! why can't people be nice to each +other all the time?" + +"Goodness me, Wyn Mallory!" exclaimed Frank. "What do you expect while +there still remains 'original sin' in the world? That seems to have been +left out of _your_ constitution; but most of the rest of us have +our share." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE "HAPPY DAY" + + +That day the camp upon the hill overlooking Lake Honotonka was +completed. Mr. Jarley was very helpful, for beside laying the floors of +the two tents, and setting up the stove, he built for the girls an +open-air fireplace of flat rocks, dragged up from the shore; set up +their plank dining table, cut and set three posts for their clothes-line +(for they were to do their own laundry work), dug shallow ditches all +around the tents, with a drain to carry off any water that might +collect; built an "overlook-seat" at the foot of a big birch which +overhung the water, and did countless other little services which most +of the Go-Ahead Club appreciated. + +Bessie Lavine did not come back from the berrying expedition until Mr. +Jarley had gone back to the landing; and of course she hadn't much to +say about the change in the appearance of things. But the other girls +were enthusiastic. + +"And now we must have a name for the camp," said Mrs. Havel, as they sat +down to the oilcloth-covered table to dinner. + +The arrangements for cooking and eating were of the simplest; yet +everything was neat. Using oilcloth saved laundry, and using paper +napkins was likewise a help. The food was served daintily, if simply, +and although all the girls were used to much finer table service at +home, the hearty appetites engendered by the pure air of lake and forest +made even coarse food taste delicious. + +They were all instantly enthusiastic over their chaperone's suggestion. +Half a dozen names were suggested on the spur of the moment; but no +particular one met the approval of all the girls, immediately. + +"We'll have to draw lots," suggested Mina. + +"No! let's each write down the best names we can think of, and then vote +on them," said Bess. + +"Goody!" cried Frank. "We must have a name that fits, but is pretty and +not too 'hifalutin',' as my grandmother would say." + +"Naming the camp is all very well, girls," said Wyn, seriously, rapping +on the table for order. "But there are more important things to decide. +The work of the camp is to be properly apportioned----" + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Grace. "Have we _got_ to work? After +traipsing over four miles of huckleberry pasture all the morning I feel +as though I had done my share for to-day." + +"And she ate as many as she picked!" cried Bess. "Oh, I'm going to tell +on you, Miss! You're not going to crawl out of your fair share." + +"I didn't enlist to work," declared Grace, with some sullenness. "What's +the fun of camping out if one has to work like a slave all the time?" + +"And we haven't even begun!" cried Frank. "For shame, Gracie!" + +"Now, none of the members of the Go-Aheads, I feel sure," quoth Wyn, +quietly, "will try to escape her just burden. To have the fun of camping +out under canvas we must each do our share of the work quickly and +cheerfully. We will divide up the tasks, and change them about weekly. +Of course, Mrs. Havel is not supposed to lift her hand. She is our +guest." + +"Oh, but auntie is going to show us how to make pancakes," cried Percy. + +"I'll learn to do _that_," said Grace, brightening up. "For I love +'em." + +"Of course--piggy-wiggy!" scoffed Bess. "Come, Wyn, you set us our tasks +and any girl who kicks about 'em shall be fined." + +"We'll do better than that. We will use Mina's idea of drawing lots +about the work. There are certain things to be done each week--each day, +of course. Two girls must 'tend fires and cook; two girls must air and +make beds, clean up about the tents, and wait on table if needed; the +other two must get up early and go for the milk and vegetables, gather +berries, and do odd jobs. The girls who do the 'chamber work' should +wash the dishes, too, for the cooks will be too tired and heated after +preparing the meals to clean up the tables and mess with the +dishwashing. + +"Now are those three divisions satisfactory? Every third week, you see, +the two who go for the milk, etcetera, will have an easy job. Is it +agreed?" + +There was no objection raised to this plan, and the girls paired off as +they usually did--Wyn and Frank together, Grace and Percy, and Bess and +Mina. + +Then they drew straws--really grass blades of three lengths--to see +which couple should do which. It fell to the lot of Bess and Mina to +cook for a week. Grace and Percy Havel were "chambermaids," and Wyn and +Frank Cameron had the good luck to get the shortest blade of grass. + +"Of course, _I'd_ have to work hard two weeks before getting a +chance to rest," grumbled Grace. "Probably something will happen after +we're here a fortnight, and we'll all have to go home." + +"It would take something _awful_ to send me home from this +beautiful spot in a fortnight," cried Mina. + +"Just my luck if you all got smallpox, or something equally contagious," +growled Grace. + +"Then you certainly would be fortunate for once--if you escaped it," +chuckled Wyn. + +"Not a bit of it. They'd quarantine you here, and have nurses, and lots +of nice jellies and ices for you; while poor unlucky me would be packed +back to Denton for the rest of the summer--and after working like a +slave, dishwashing, and sweeping, and making beds, and cooking, and the +like, for two whole weeks." + +Despite Grace's complaints, the club as a whole was satisfied with the +arrangements for taking care of the camp. There had been a secondary +consideration in the minds of all their mothers when permission was +obtained for the Go-Aheads to spend the summer under canvas. Mrs. Evelyn +Havel was a wondrously good housekeeper. She had been trained in +domestic science, too. And she had promised to have an oversight of each +girl's work and to teach them, from time to time, many helpful domestic +things. + +This phase of the camping-out plan Wyn had "played up" in getting the +consent of all the parents; and for one, Wyn was determined to carry the +scheme through. When they went back to Denton in the fall she proposed +to be a good "plain cook" herself, and she hoped the other girls would +fall in cheerfully with the project also. She knew Mrs. Havel would do +all she could toward teaching them. + +The work once apportioned to them, the girls' minds could be given more +particularly to the naming of the camp. But they would not decide upon +it until bedtime. However, all six cudgeled their brains to invent +striking names. + +It was decided that only one name could be suggested by each girl, and +this would give them a list of six to choose from. Oddly enough both +Mina and Grace chose the same--Camp Pleasant. It looked as though +_that_ name had a lead at the start. + +Frank suggested Birch Tree Camp--for there was an enormous birch on the +knoll at the foot of which Mr. Jarley had set up a bench for them. + +"Now you, Bess?" said Wyn, as mistress of ceremonies. + +"Camp Pleasant is all right," admitted Miss Lavine; "only it is not very +distinctive. I expect there are thousands of Camp Pleasants--don't you +think so?" + +"What's the matter with _my_ name?" demanded Frank Cameron. + +"I find the same fault with it," replied Bess. "It is not distinctive +enough. Now, I don't know that I have the right idea; but I believe that +calling the camp after our club wouldn't be so bad. And it would mean +something." + +"Go-Ahead Camp? Or Camp Go-Ahead?" cried Grace. + +"There's nothing romantic about it, that's sure," objected Mina. + +"Goodness me! we're not looking for romance, I hope," cried the +strong-minded Bess. + +"Bess is a suffragette in embryo--I declare!" cried Frank, laughing. + +"How does Camp Cheer sound?" suggested Percy. "Now, that's real nice, +_I_ think." + +"Say, we've got to vote on them, anyway," said Grace. "_We've_ got +two votes for Camp Pleasant, Mina." + +"But hold on!" cried Frank. "Here's one hasn't been heard from. The +shrinking violet of all our crew! What's the matter, Wynnie? Can't you +decide on a name?" + +"I thought of one last evening when we were paddling over here from the +Forge--before the rain," admitted the captain. + +"Well! for pity's sake!" gasped Grace. "That's before we even knew it +was to have a name." + +"I didn't think particularly about naming the camp," said Wyn, +reflectively, "but from the water, with the squall working up behind us, +and the last light of the day lingering on this little hill, the name +flashed into my mind." + +"What is it?" chorused the others. "Do tell us, Wyn!" + +"Green Knoll." + +"Just _that_?" cried Grace. "'Green Knoll'? Why! It _was_ +green; wasn't it?" + +"I remember how green it seemed from the lake," added Bess. "It's not a +silly name, either. It means something." + +"I take it all back about 'Birch Tree Camp,'" declared Frank. "'Green +Knoll.' There's a dignity about that--as our assistant principal, Miss +Hutchins, would say." + +"It's a fine name, _I_ think," admitted Percy Havel, slowly. "I +withdraw Camp Cheer. It may not be so cheerful here all the +time--especially if we catch smallpox, as Grace says. But it will +_always_ be green up here on the knoll." + +"As long as we are here to see it, at least," agreed Frankie, nodding. + +"Say! our Camp Pleasant is swamped!" cried Grace. "What say, Mina? Shall +we surrender?" + +"Green Knoll sounds very pretty," agreed the sweet-tempered Mina +Everett. + +"Oh, girls! do you really all like it?" Wyn cried. + +"I vote aye!" said Frank, with emphasis. The other four followed in +quick succession. + +"Why, that's lovely of you!" cried the captain of the club. "I--I was +afraid nobody would like it but myself." + +"It's so appropriate," said Bess. + +"It's all _right_," Frank declared. "I wonder what the Busters will +call their camp?" + +"They named it last fall," said Wyn. "Dave told me. It is +Cave-in-the-Wood Camp. Not so bad--eh?" + +"Pretty good for a parcel of boys," observed Bess. + +"Well, I'm glad the worry's over," yawned Grace. "Let's go to bed. You +know, Percy, we've got to work like slaves to-morrow, so it behooves us +to get to bed betimes." + +"Mercy!" cried Frankie, "they'll be wanting to make up the cots before +we are out of them in the morning. Come on! let's all turn in." + +There was a general roll-call at daybreak the next morning. Wynifred and +Frank were not the only ones to get up as soon as day approached, +although to them had been allotted the task of going to Windmill Farm +for the milk and the day's supply of vegetables. + +They had agreed the night before to venture into the water. The boys +always bragged about this early morning dip, which was a rule of their +camp. + +"I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do anything those boys do," +declared Bess, with her usual contempt for the vaunted superiority of +the other sex. "If they can run down and plunge right into the water, +right out of bed, why can't _we_?" + +So even Grace--who had her doubts about it--ventured on this second +morning. They slipped out of their sleeping clothes and into bathing +suits. There _was_ a little chill in the air; but Wyn assured them +the water would be warmer than the air and--if they remained in half an +hour, or so--the sun would be up and his rays would warm them when they +came out. + +And Wyn's prophecy was proven right. The six girls disported in the lake +like a flock of ducks. Mrs. Havel, however, would not let them remain +more than twenty minutes. The sun had shot up, then, and already the +green knoll was warm in his first rays. + +Wyn and Frank scurried into their clothes and hurried away to the farm +for the milk and vegetables. Frank saw the windmill on the summit of the +hill, and nothing would do but she must run up and inspect it. The +breeze was rising and the farmer, who was likewise the miller, was +preparing to "grind a grist." + +"We've got a good bit of grain on hand; but we've not had wind enough of +daytimes lately to grind a handful," he said. "I can't invite you +inside, young ladies, because when they set up this mill for me they +made the door, as you see, right behind the sails. When the arms are in +motion I am shut in till the grist is ground; or I stop the sails with +this lever just inside the door--d'ye see?" + +As the girls went back toward the house the arms began turning with a +groaning sound. The wind became fresher. Round and round the long arms +turned, while the canvas bellied like the sails on a boat. + +Louder and louder grew the hum of the mill. The miller threw in the +clutch and the stones began to grind. They heard the corn poured into +the hopper, and then the shriek of the kernels as they were ground +between the stones. The whole building began to shake. + +"What a ponderous thing it is!" exclaimed Frank. "And see! there's a +tiny window in the roof facing the lake. I imagine you could see clear +to Meade's Forge from that window." + +"Farther than that, my dear--much farther," said the farmer's wife, +handing Frank the basket of fresh vegetables over the garden fence. "On +a clear day you can see 'way across the lake to Braisely Park. The tower +of Dr. Shelton's fine house is visible from that window. And the whole +spread of the lake. But the air must be very clear." + +"Goody! We'll bring the other girls up here some day when the mill is +not running and climb to the top of the mill for the view," declared +Frank. + +Bess and Mina, with some advice from Mrs. Havel, made a very good +breakfast. Although neither was very domestic in her tastes, the two +young cooks were on their mettle, and did the best they could. If the +hot biscuits were not quite so flaky as their mothers' own cooks made +them at home, and some of the poached eggs broke in the poacher, and the +broiled bacon got afire several time and "fussed them all up," as Mina +said, the general opinion of the occupants of Green Knoll Camp was that +"there was no kick coming"--of course, expressed thus by the slangy +Frank Cameron. + +Grace _would_ dawdle over the dishwashing, and Percy was a good +second. Therefore, those two still had work on their hands when Bess +sighted a motor boat coming swiftly toward their camp from the direction +of Gannet Island. + +"Now somebody's going to butt in and bother us," declared Bess. "It +can't be the Busters, I s'pose?" + +"That's exactly who it is!" cried Wyn, delightedly. "That's the _Happy +Day_. Dave said if his cousin, Frank Dumont, could come up here, he +would bring his father's motor boat. And he must have come yesterday +when we were busy and did not see him." + +"Hurrah!" cried Frank. "A motor boat beats a canoe all to pieces." + +"The Busters are aboard, all right," sighed Bess, after another look. +"Now we'll have a noisy time." + +"Now there'll be something doing!" quoth Frank. "That's the trouble with +a crowd of girls. After they have played 'Ring Around the Rosy' and +'London Bridge is Falling Down' they don't know another living thing to +do except to sit down and look prim and be prosy. But with boys it's +different. There's something doing all the time." + +"You should have been a boy, Frank," declared Bess, with some disgust. + +"If I was one, I'd be hanging around your house all the time, Bessie +mine," laughed the other, hugging the boy-hater. + +"Get away! I'd have Patrick turn the hose on you if you did!" cried +Bess, in mock wrath. + +But secretly, Miss Lavine, as well as her mates, was glad of the break +in the quiet affairs of Green Knoll Camp made by the appearance of Dave +Shepard and his spirited chums. + +"Oh, crackey, girls! you ought to see our camp! We've got a regular +pirates' cave," declared Ferdinand Roberts. + +"Did your stores get wet in that awful storm?" demanded Wyn from the top +of the knoll. + +"Not much. We managed to cover them with the canvas. And now we've +cleaned out the cave and it's great. All we need is some captives to +take over there and chain to the rocks," laughed Dave. + +"And fatten 'em up till they're fit to eat," drawled Tubby Blaisdell. + +"Stop it, Tub!" cried one of his mates. "We're not going to play +cannibals, but pirates." + +"Well, in either case," declared Bess, "you will not get captives at +Green Knoll Camp." + +"Is that what you call this pretty hillock?" cried Dave. "Well, it +_is_ a beauty spot! And how nice you girls have made everything. +Why! you don't need any boys around at all." + +"That's what I've always told them," murmured Bess. "They're only a +nuisance." + +"We came over to see if we could help you," continued Dave. "Here's my +cousin, Frank Dumont, girls. Some of you know him, anyway. This is his +motor boat, and if there really is nothing we can do to help you here, +why, Frank wants to take you all--with Mrs. Havel, if she is +agreeable--for a trip around the lake. We've got supplies aboard and +we'll stop somewhere and make a picnic dinner." + +"Goody!" cried Mina. "Then we will not have to make dinner here, Bess." + +"Agreed!" announced Grace. "There will be no more dishes to wash until +evening, then." + +"Well, I don't know," Dave said, slowly. "Of course we like to have you +girls go along; but usually girls do the grub-getting and dishwashing on +a picnic." + +"Nothing doing, then," declared Frank, laughing at him. "This crowd of +girls are going as invited guests, or not at all. We promise to be +ornamental, but not useful." + +"You're ornamental, all right, in those blouses and bloomers," declared +Ferd, for the girls had discarded skirts about the camp, and felt much +more free and comfortable than they usually did. + +"If worse comes to worst," said Mrs. Havel, smiling, "_I_ will be +the camp drudge, boys, for I want to see the lake shore in panorama." + +"Oh, let 'em come," drawled Tubby, still lying on his back on the little +deck of the _Happy Day_. "They'll get hungry some time and +_have_ to cook for us." + +And so, amid much bustle, and laughter, and raillery, the girls of Green +Knoll Camp joined the boys of Cave-in-the-Wood Camp in the motor boat +for a trip around the big lake. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHERE THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED + + +"And where is Professor Skillings?" asked Mrs. Havel, as the well-laden +launch drew away from the little natural landing which defended one end +of the girls' bathing beach at Green Knoll Camp. + +"Bless your heart, ma'am," said Ferdinand Roberts, laughing, "the old +gentleman is trying to figure out one of Tubby's unanswerable +arguments--that is, I believe, what you'd call it." + +"One of Tubby's unanswerable arguments?" cried Wyn. "For pity's sake! +what can that be?" + +"Why, at breakfast this morning the professor got to 'dreaming,' as he +sometimes does. He tells us lots of interesting things when he begins +talking that way; but sometimes, if we are in a hurry to get away, we +have to put the stopper in," chuckled Ferd. + +"Tubby usually does it. Tubby really _is_ good for something beside +eating and sleeping, girls--you wouldn't believe it!" + +"You _do_ surprise us," admitted Bess Lavine, cuttingly. + +"All right. But just wait and listen. We wanted to get away early and +come over here after you," said Ferd. "And the professor began to give +us one of his talks. This time it was on literature. By and by he says: + +"'We are told that it took, Gray, author of 'An Elegy Written in a +Country Churchyard,' seven years to write that famous poem." + +"'Gee!' exclaimed Tubby. 'If he'd only known stenography how much better +off he'd been.' + +"'Ahem! how do you prove that, Mr. Blaisdell?' inquired the professor, +quite amazed. + +"'Why, we took that as a lesson in the shorthand class of the Commercial +Department last spring,' said Tubby, 'and some of the real good ones +could do Gray's Elegy, from dictation, in seven minutes. See what Gray +would have saved if he'd known shorthand!' + +"And that completely shut up the professor," said Ferd, as the laughter +broke out. "He hasn't recovered from the shock yet." + +The _Happy Day_ was turned toward the Forge first, skirting the +shore all the way. That brought them, of course, close to Jarley's +Landing. Polly was just pushing out in a little skiff. + +Wyn and Frank waved to her; but the other girls did not know her, of +course, and only watched the boatman's daughter curiously. + +"How well she rows!" exclaimed Percy. + +"Say! but she's a fine looking girl," said Dave, earnestly. "What +handsome arms she's got." + +"Handsome is as handsome does," remarked Bess, snappishly. + +"She's as brown as an Indian," observed Mina. + +"That doesn't hurt her," declared Dave, stoutly. "Is _she_ the girl +you were speaking about, Wyn?" + +"She is Polly Jarley, and she is my friend," responded Wynifred, +quietly. "And I believe her to be as good as she is beautiful." + +"Then there are wings sprouting under her blouse," laughed Frank; "for +there's no girl _I_ ever saw who could hold a candle to Polly for +right down beauty." + +"She looks so sad," said Mina, softly. + +"Why shouldn't she be sad?" Wyn demanded, "with everybody talking about +her father the way they do?" + +"Come, girls!" commanded Mrs. Havel. "Don't gossip. Find some other +topic of conversation." + +"Ha! quite so," cried Frank, with a grimace upon her own homely face. "A +girl may be as pretty as a picture and spoil it all by an ugly frame of +mind. How's _that_ for a spark thrown from the wheel?" + +"Stand back, audience!" exclaimed Dave. "Something like that is likely +to happen any minute." + +"I don't really see how the old professor gets on with you boys at all," +remarked Bessie Lavine, with a sigh. "You'd worry the life out of an +angel." + +"But Professor Skillings is _not_ an angel--thanks be!" exclaimed +Dave. + +"He's a good old scout!" drawled Tubby. + +"He just hasn't forgotten what it is to be a boy," began Ferd. + +"But, goodness me!" cried Frankie. "He's forgotten about everything +else, at some time or other; hasn't he?" + +"Not what he's learned out of books and from observation," declared +Dave. "But my goodness! he _is_ absent-minded. Yesterday a couple +of us fellows chopped up a good heap of firewood. We don't have a fancy +stove like you girls, but just an out-of-doors fireplace. After supper +the dear old prof, said he'd wash the dishes, and we dumped all the pots +and pans together and--what do you think?" + +"Couldn't think," drawled Frank. "I'm too lazy. Tell us without making +your story so complicated." + +"Why, we found he had carried an armful of firewood down to the shore +and was industriously swashing the sticks up and down in the water, +thinking he was washing the supper dishes." + +With similar conversation, and merry badinage, the journey around Lake +Honotonka progressed. The shores of the lake, in full summer dress, were +beautiful. There was an awning upon the motor boat, so the rapidly +mounting sun did not trouble the party. But it _was_ hot at +noonday, and through Dave's glasses they could see that the sails on the +mill behind Windmill Farm were still. There wasn't air enough stirring, +even at that height, to keep the arms in motion, and down here on the +water the temperature grew baking. + +They ran into a cool cove and went ashore for dinner. Nobody wanted +anything hot, and so, as there was a splendid spring at hand, they made +lemonade and ate sandwiches of potted chicken and hard-boiled eggs which +the boys had been thoughtful enough to bring along. The girls had crisp +salad leaves to go with the chicken, too, and some nice mayonnaise. +Altogether even Tubby was willing to pronounce the "cold bite" +satisfying. + +"And I'm no hypocrite," declared the fat youth, earnestly. "When I say a +thing I mean it." + +"What _is_ your idea of a hypocrite, Tubby?" demanded Wyn, +laughing. + +"A boy who comes to school smiling," replied Tubby, promptly. + +After a while a little breeze ruffled the surface of the lake again and +the _Happy Day_ was made ready for departure. They continued then +toward the west, where lay the preserve known as Braisely Park, in which +there were at least a dozen rich men's lodges. They were all in sight +from the lake--at some point, at least. Each beautiful place had a water +privilege, and the landings and boathouses were very picturesque. There +was a whole fleet of craft here, too, ranging in size from a cedar canoe +to a steam yacht. The latter belonged to Dr. Shelton, the man who had +accused John Jarley of stealing the motor boat _Bright Eyes_ and +the five thousand dollars' worth of silver images from the ruined +temples of Yucatan. + +"And of course," said Wyn, warmly, "that is nonsense. For if Polly and +her father had done such a thing, they would turn the silver into money; +wouldn't they, and stop living in poverty?" + +"Well, it looks mighty funny where that boat and all could have gone," +Bessie remarked. + +"If she sank as quickly as he says, the wreck must lie off Gannet Island +somewhere," remarked Dave, reflectively. + +"Oh! I wish we could find it," commented Wyn. + +"If it ever sank at all," sneered Bessie. + +But it was almost impossible to quarrel with Wyn Mallory. Frank would +have "got hot" a dozen times at Bess while the party chanced to discuss +the Jarleys and their troubles. But the captain of the Go-Ahead Club was +patient. + +Bye and bye--and after mid-afternoon--the _Happy Day_ came around +to the west end of Gannet Island. Up among the trees a glint of white +betrayed the presence of the boys' tent. In a little sheltered cove +below the site of Cave-in-the-Wood Camp, danced the fleet of canoes. + +Nothing would do but the girls and Mrs. Havel must go ashore and see the +cave and the camp. + +"And we can have tea," said Ferd. "How's that, girls? Professor +Skillings has got a whole canister of best gunpowder in his private +stores--and there he is on that log, examining specimens." + +"Oh, dear me!" cried Frankie, "tea isn't going to satisfy the gnawing of +_my_ appetite." + +"How about a fish-fry?" demanded Dave, swerving the motor boat suddenly +away from the landing. + +"Where'll you get your fish?" cried Percy Havel. + +"In the fish store at Meade's Forge," scoffed Ferdinand Roberts. + +"That's too far to run for supper--and back again--this afternoon, +boys," said Mrs. Havel. + +"Just you wait," cried Dave. "I caught sight of something just +now--there she is!" + +The _Happy Day_ rounded a wooded point of the island. Near the +shore floated Polly Jarley's skiff and Polly was just getting up her +anchor. + +"She's been fishing all day!" exclaimed Wyn. + +"And I'll wager she's got a fine mess of perch," said Dave. "Hi, Miss +Jarley!" he shouted. "Hold on a minute." + +Polly had heard the chugging of the motor boat. Now she stood up +suddenly and waved both hands in some excitement. + +"What does she want?" demanded Bess. + +"Get out! farther out!" the boatman's daughter shouted, her clear voice +echoing from the wooded heights of the island. "Danger here!" + +"What's the matter with her?" demanded Bess again. "Is there a submarine +mine sunk here?" + +But Dave veered off, taking a wider course from the shore. + +"What is the matter, Polly?" shouted Wyn, standing up and making a +megaphone of her hands. + +"Snags!" replied the other girl. "Here's where father ran Dr. Shelton's +boat on a root. The shallow water here is full of them. Look out" + +"Say!" cried Frank Dumont "We don't want to sink the old _Happy +Day_." + +"So _this_ is where the accident happened; is it?" observed Wyn, +looking around at the shores of the little cove and the contour of the +island's outline. + +"Humph!" snapped Bessie Lavine, sitting down quickly. "I don't believe +there was any accident at all. It was all a story." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN OVERTURN + + +Dave Shepard had stopped the motor boat land now he hailed the pretty +girl in the skiff. + +"I say, Miss Jarley! did you have any luck?" + +"I've got a good string of white perch. They love to feed among these +stumps," returned Polly. + +"Oh, Polly Jolly! sell us some; will you?" cried Wyn, eagerly. "We're so +hungry." + +"Do, do!" chorused several of the other girls and boys aboard the +_Happy Day_. + +Polly, smiling, held up a long withe on which wriggled at least two +dozen silvery fish. "Aren't they beauties?" she demanded. "Wait! I'll +row out." + +She had already raised her anchor. Now she sat down, seized the short +oars, and plunged them into the water. How she could row! Even Bessie +Lavine murmured some enthusiastic praise of the boatman's daughter. + +Her skiff shot alongside the motor boat. She caught the gunwale, and +then held up the string of fish again. + +"How much, Miss Jarley?" asked Dave. + +"Half a dollar. Is that too much?" + +"It looks too little; but I suppose you know what you can get for them +at the Forge," he said. + +"And this saves me rowing down there," returned the brown girl, smiling +and blushing under the scrutiny of so many eyes. + +Wyn leaned over the rail, took the fish, and kissed Polly on her brown +cheek. + +"Dreadfully glad to see you, dear," she declared. "Won't you come over +to the camp to-morrow and show us girls where--and how--to fish, too? +We're crazy for a fishing trip." + +"Why--if you want me?" said Polly, her fine eyes slowly taking in the +group of girls aboard the motor boat. + +All looked at her in a friendly way save Bessie, and she had her back to +the girl. + +"I'll come," said Polly, blushing again; and then she pocketed, the +piece of money Dave gave her, and pushed off a bit. + +"Is this really where your father came so near losing his life, Polly?" +asked Wyn, seriously. + +"Yes, Miss Wyn. Right yonder. It was so thick he could not see the +shore. A limb of that tree yonder--you can see where it was broken off; +see the scar?" + +There was a long yellow mark high up on the tree trunk overhanging the +pool where Polly had been fishing. + +"That limb brushed father out of the boat just as she struck. The snag +must have torn a big hole in the bottom of the _Bright Eyes_. +Lightened by his going overboard, she shot away--somewhere--toward the +middle of the lake, perhaps. He knows that he gave the wheel a twirl +just as he went overboard and that must have driven the nose of the boat +around. + +"She shot away into the fog. He never saw or heard of her again. We +paddled about for a week afterward--the bateau men and I--and we +couldn't find it. Poor father was abed, you see, for a long time and +could not help." + +"All a story, _I_ believe," whispered Bess, to Mina. + +"Oh, don't!" begged the tender-hearted girl. + +Perhaps Polly heard this aside. She plunged her oars into the water +again and the skiff shot away. She only nodded when they sang out +"Good-bye" to her. + +The _Happy Day_ carried the party quickly back to the cove under +the hill on which Cave-in-the-Wood Camp had been established. The girls +and boys landed and were met by Professor Skillings--who could be a very +gallant man indeed, where ladies were concerned. He helped Mrs. Havel +out of the motor boat, which Dave had brought alongside of a steep bank, +where the water was deep, and which made a good landing place. + +"My dear Mrs. Havel! I am charmed to see you again," said the professor. +"You are comfortably situated over there on the shore, I hope?" + +"My girls are as successful in making me comfortable as are your boys in +looking after you, I believe, Professor Skillings," returned the lady, +laughing. + +"More so--I have no doubt! More so," admitted the professor. + +"Treason! treason!" shouted Dave Shepard. + +"What's the matter with you?" demanded Wyn, who had hopped ashore behind +the chaperone. + +"Professor Skillings is going back on us, boys," declared Dave. + +"Why, Professor!" cried Ferdinand. "Where would you find in all the five +zones such a set of boys as we-uns?" + +"Five zones? Correct, my boy," declared the professor, seriously. "But +name those five zones; will you, please?" + +"Sure!" wheezed Tubby, before Ferd could reply. "Temperate, Intemperate, +Canal, Torrid, and Ozone." + +"Goodness gracious, Agnes!" gasped Dave. "Can you beat Tubby when he +lays himself out to be real erudite?" while the others--even the +professor and Mrs. Havel--could not forbear to chuckle. + +But Dave and Ferd got busy at once while the others laughed, and +chaffed, and looked over the boys' camping arrangements. Dave was cook +and Ferd made and fed the fire. These boys had all the approved Scout +tricks for making fire and preparing food--they could have qualified as +first-class scouts. + +Ferd started for an armful of wood he had cut down at the bottom of the +steep bank and suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, he slipped, his +feet pointed heavenward, and he skated down the bank upon the small of +his back. + +"My goodness me!" exclaimed Frank Cameron. "Did you see that?" + +"Sure," said Dave, amid the laughter of the crowd. "Poor Ferdy! the +whole world is against him!" + +"You bet it is," growled Ferd, picking himself up slowly at the bottom +of the bank. "And it's an awful hard world at that." + +"Come on! Come on!" whined Tubby Blaisdell. "Aren't you ever going to +get supper? You're wasting time." + +Dave was expertly cleaning fish. Wyn ran to his help, finding the flour, +cracker-crumbs, and salt pork. The pan was already heating over the +blaze that the unfortunate Ferdinand had started in the fireplace. + +"If you're so blamed hungry," said Dumont to the wailing Tubby, "start +on the raw flour. It's filling, I'll be bound." + +"Say! I don't just want to get filled. I want to enjoy what I eat. I +could be another Nebuchadnezzar and eat grass, if it was just +_filling_ I wanted." + +"Ha!" cried Dave. "Tubby is as particular as the Western lawyer--a +perfectly literal man--who entered a restaurant where the waiter came to +him and said: + +"'What'll you 'ave, sir? I 'ave frogs' legs, deviled kidneys, pigs' +feet, and calves' brains.' + +"'You look it,' declared the lawyer man. 'But what is that to me? I have +come here to eat--don't tell me your misfortunes.'" + +Amid much laughter and chaffing they finally sat down to the +fish-fry--and if there is anything more toothsome than perch, fresh from +the water, and fried crisply in a pan with salt pork over the hot coals +of a campfire, "the deponent knoweth not," as Frank Cameron put it. + +Then Tubby got his banjo, Dumont his mandolin, Dave his ocarina, and +they sang, and played, and told jokes, until a silver crescent moon +rising over the lake warned them that the hour was growing late. The +feminine visitors then boarded the _Happy Day_ and under the escort +of Dave and Ferdinand to work the boat, the girls and their chaperone +made the run back to Green Knoll Camp, giving the cove where Polly +Jarley had caught the perch a wide berth. + +Dave insisted upon going ashore at Green Knoll and searching the camp +"for possible burglars," as he laughingly said. + +"Do, _do_ look under my bed, Dave!" squealed Frank, in mock +distraction. "I've always expected to find a man under my bed." + +"But it was real nice of him, just the same," admitted Mina Everett, +when the _Happy Day_ had chugged away. "I feel a whole lot better +now that he has beaten up the camp." + +On the next morning Grace and Percy were not allowed to lag over the +breakfast dishes till all hours. + +"This shall be no lazy girls' camp," declared Mrs. Havel. "The quicker +you all get your tasks done, the better. Then you can have games, and go +fishing, and otherwise enjoy yourselves." + +The fish-fry they had enjoyed at Cave-in-the-Wood Camp the evening +before had given them all an appetite for more, and as Polly Jarley +appeared early, according to promise, Wyn began to bustle around and +hunt out the fishing tackle. + +There probably wasn't a girl in the crowd who was afraid to put a worm +on a hook, save Mina. She owned up to the fact that they made her +"squirmy" and she hated to see live bait on a hook. + +"But that's what we have to use for lake fish--or river fish, either," +Wyn told her. "You're not going to be much good to this fishing party." + +"I know it, Wynnie. And I sha'n't go," said the timid one. "Mrs. Havel +is not going fishing, and I can stay with her." + +"You'll have company," snapped Bessie Lavine. "I'm sure _I'm_ not +going," and she said it with such a significant look at Polly Jarley, +who had come ashore, that the boatman's daughter, as well as the other +girls, could not fail to understand _why_ she made the declaration. + +"Why, Bess Lavine!" exclaimed Frankie, the outspoken. + +Polly's face had flushed deeply, then paled. Bess had avoided her +before; but now she had come out openly with her animosity. + +"Is your name Miss Lavine?" asked the boatman's daughter, her voice +quivering with emotion. + +"What if it is?" snapped Bess. + +"Then I guess I know why you speak to me so----" + +"Don't flatter yourself, Miss! I don't care to speak to you," said Bess. + +"Nor do I care to have anything to do with you," said Polly, plucking up +a little spirit herself under this provocation. "You are Henry Lavine's +daughter. I am not surprised at your speech and actions. He has done all +he could to hurt my father's reputation for years--and you seem to be +just like him." + +"Hurt your father's reputation--Bosh!" cried Bess. "You can't spoil +a----" + +But here Wyn Mallory came to the rescue. + +"Stop, Bess! Don't you pay any attention to what she says, Polly. If +this quarrel goes on, Bess, I shall tell Mrs. Havel immediately. You +come with us, Polly; if Bessie doesn't wish to go fishing, she can +remain at camp. Come, girls!" + +Bess and Mina remained behind. + +"I told you how 'twould be, Miss Wyn," said Polly, her eyes bright and +hard and the angry flush in her cheek making her handsomer than ever. "I +shall only make trouble among your friends." + +"You don't notice any of the rest of us running up the red flag; do +you?" interposed Frank Cameron. "Bess's crazy." + +"The Lavines have been our worst enemies--worse than Dr. Shelton," said +Polly, with half a sob. "Mr. Lavine is up here at the lake in the spring +and fall, usually, and he will always talk to anybody who will listen +about his old trouble with father. And he is an influential man." + +"Don't you cry a tear about it!" exclaimed Frank, wiping her own eyes +angrily. + +Wyn had put a comforting arm over the shoulder of the boatman's +daughter. "We'll just forget it, my dear," she said, gently. + +But it was not so easy to forget--not so easy for Polly, at least, +although the other girls treated her as nicely as they could. Her face +remained sad, and she could not respond to their quips and sallies as +the fleet of four canoes and Polly's skiff got under weigh. + +Polly pulled strongly along the shore in her light craft; but of course +the canoes could have left her far behind had the girls so wished. Their +guide warned them finally against loud talking and splashing, and soon +they came to a quiet cove where the trees stood thickly along the lake +shore, and the water was not much ruffled by the morning breeze. + +Polly had brought the right kind of bait for perch, and most of the +girls of the Go-Ahead Club had no difficulty in arranging their rods and +lines and casting for the hungry fish. Perch, "shiners," roaches, and an +occasional "bullhead" began to come into the canoes. These latter scared +some of the girls; but they were better eating than any of the other +fish and both Wyn and Frank, as well as Polly, knew how to take them off +the hook without getting "horned." + +Polly did not remain with them more than an hour. She was sure the girls +would get all the fish they would want right at this spot, and so, +excusing herself, she rowed back to the landing. + +"It's a shame!" exclaimed Frank, the minute she was out of hearing. "I +don't see what possesses Bess to be so mean." + +"I am sorry," rejoined Wyn. "Polly will not come to the camp again--I +can see that." + +"A shame!" cried Percy. "And she seems such a nice girl." + +"Bessie ought to be strapped!" declared Frank. + +"I am sure Polly seems just as good as we are," Grace remarked. "I don't +see why Bess has to make herself so objectionable." + +"She should be punished for it," declared Percy. + +"Turn the tables on her," suggested Frank. "If she will not have +anything to do with Polly, let's give _her_ the cold shoulder." + +"No," said Wyn, firmly. "That would be adding fuel to the flames--and +would be unfair to Bess." + +"Well, Bess is unfair to your Polly Jolly," said Frankie. + +"Two wrongs never yet made a right," said the captain of the Go-Ahead +Club. + +"Well!" + +"Bessie is a member of our club. She has greater rights at Green Knoll +Camp than Polly. It is true Polly will not come again, unless Bessie is +more friendly. The thing, then is to convince Bess that she is wrong." + +"Well!" exclaimed Frank again. "I'd like to see you do it." + +"I hope you will see me," returned Wyn, placidly. "Or, at least, I hope +you will see Bessie's mind changed, whether by my efforts, or not. Oh, +dear! it's so much easier to get along pleasantly in this world if folks +only thought so. Query: Why is a grouch?" + +Percy suddenly uttered a yell and almost plunged out of her canoe. She +had whipped in her line and there was a small eel on the hook. + +It is really wonderful what an excited eel can do in a canoe with a girl +as his partner in crime! Mr. Eel tangled up Percy's line in the first +place until it seemed as though somebody must have been playing cat's +cradle with it. + +Percy shrieked and finally bethought her to throw the whole thing +overboard--tangled line, rod, and Mr. Eel. In his native element, the +slippery chap in some mysterious way got off the hook; but the linen +line was a mess, and that stopped the fishing for that morning. + +They had a nice string, however, and when the odor of the frying fish on +the outdoor fire began to spread about Green Knoll Camp, Frank declared: + +"The angels flying overhead must stop to sniff--that smell is so +heavenly!" + +"Nonsense, child!" returned Grace. "That thing you see 'way up there +isn't an angel. It's a fish-hawk." + +There were letters to take to the Forge that afternoon, and the girls +all expected mail, too. But after the fishing bout, and the heavy dinner +they ate, not many of the Go-Aheads cared to paddle to town. + +"The duty devolves on your captain," announced Wyn, good-naturedly. "Of +course, if anybody else wants to go along----" + +"Don't all speak at once," yawned Frank, and rolled over in the shade of +the beech. + +"It's a shame! I'll go with you," said Bessie Lavine, getting up with +alacrity. + +"All right, Bess," said Wyn, cheerfully. "I am glad to have you go." + +The other girls had been a little distant to Bess since their return +from the fishing trip; but not Wyn. She had given no sign that she was +annoyed by Bessie's demeanor towards Polly Jarley. + +Nor did she "preach" while she and Bess paddled to the Forge. That was +not Wynifred Mallory's way. She knew that, in this case, taking Bess to +task for her treatment of Polly would do only harm. + +Bess had probably offered to come with Wyn for the special purpose of +finding opportunity to argue the case with the captain of the club. But +Wyn gave her no opening. + +The girls got to the Forge, did their errands, and started back in the +canoes. Not until they got well out into the lake did they notice that +there were angry clouds in the northwest. And very soon the sun became +overcast, while the wind whipped down upon them sharply. + +"Oh, dear, me!" cried Bess. "Had we better turn back, Wyn?" + +"We're about as far from the Forge as we are from Green Knoll Camp," +declared the other girl. + +"Then let's run ashore----" + +But they had struck right out into the lake from the landing, and it was +a long way to land--even to the nearest point. While they were +discussing the advisability of changing their course, there came a lull +in the wind. + +"Maybe we'll get home all right!" cried Bess, and the two bent to their +paddles again, driving the canoes toward distant Green Knoll. + +And almost at once--her words had scarcely passed--the wind whipped down +upon them from a different direction. The surface of the lake was +agitated angrily, and in a minute the two girls were in the midst of a +whirlpool of jumping waves. + +In ordinary water the canoes were safe enough. But when Bess tried to +paddle, a wave caught the blade and whirled the canoe around. She was +up-set before she could scream. + +And in striving to drive her own craft to her friend's assistance, Wyn +Mallory was caught likewise in a flaw, and she, too, plunged into the +lake, while both canoes floated bottom upward. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A SERIOUS ADVENTURE + + +Wyn Mallory was a pretty cool-headed girl; nor was this the first time +she had been in an accident of this nature. + +Naturally, in learning to handle the light cedar craft as expertly as +they did, the members of the Go-Ahead Club had much experience. While +the weather was good the girls plied their paddles up and down the +Wintinooski, but seldom was the river as rough as this open lake in +which Wyn and Bessie Lavine had been so unexpectedly overturned. + +"Oh! am I not the unluckiest girl that--that ever happened?" wailed +Bess, when she came up puffing. + +"N-o-no more than _I_, Bess," stammered Wyn. + +"Get your canoe, Wyn!" cried Bess. + +"Oh, yes; but we can't turn them over in this sea. Oh! isn't that +horrid!" as another miniature wave slapped the captain of the club in +the face and rolled her companion completely over. + +Bess lost her grip on her canoe. The latter floated beyond her reach +while Wyn was striving to get her friend to the surface again. + +"Why! we're going to be drowned!" shrieked Bess, suddenly +horror-stricken. + +"Don't you _dare_ lose your nerve," commanded Wynifred. "If we lose +courage we certainly will be lost." + +"Oh, but, Wyn----" + +"Oh, but, Bess! Don't you dare. Here! get hold of the keel of my canoe." + +"But it won't bear us both up," groaned Bessie Lavine. + +"It's got to," declared Wyn. "Have courage; don't be afraid." + +"You needn't try to tell me you're not afraid yourself, Wyn Mallory!" +chattered her friend. + +"Of course I am, dear; but I mean, don't lose your head because you +_are_ afraid," said Wyn. "Come, now! Paddle with one hand and cling +to the keel with the other. I'll do the same." + +"Oh, dear, me! if we were only not so far from the shore," groaned Bess. + +"Somebody may see us and come to our help," said Wyn, with more +confidence in her tone than she really felt. + +"The canoes couldn't live in this gale." + +"It's only a squall." + +"That's all very well; but they wouldn't dare to start out for us from +Green Knoll." + +"But the boys----" + +"Their camp isn't in sight of this place, Wyn," moaned Bess. "Oh! we +_will_ be drowned." + +But Wyn had another hope. She remembered, just before the overturn, that +she had caught a glimpse of the red and yellow cottage behind Jarley's +Landing. + +"Oh, Bess!" she gasped. "Perhaps Mr. Jarley will see us. Perhaps +Polly----" + +Another slapping wave came and rolled them and the canoe over. The frail +craft came keel up, level full of water. The least weight upon it now +would send it to the bottom of the lake. + +"Oh, oh!" shrieked Bess, when she found her voice. "What shall we do +now?" + +They could both swim; but the lake was rough. The sudden and spiteful +squall had torn up the surface for many yards around. Yet, as they rose +upon one of the waves, they saw the sun shining boldly in the westward. +The squall was scurrying away. + +"Come on! we've got to swim," urged Wyn. + +[Illustration: THEY COULD BOTH SWIM, BUT THE LAKE WAS ROUGH. _Page +146._] +"That's so hard," wailed Bess, but striking out, nevertheless, in the +way she had been so well taught by the instructor in Denton. All these +girls had been trained in the public school baths. + +"There's the other canoe," said Wyn, hopefully. + +"But we--we don't want to go that way," gasped Bess. "It's away from +land." + +Now Wyn knew very well that they had scarcely a chance of swimming to +the distant shore. In ordinarily calm weather--yes; but in this rough +sea, and hampered as they were by their bloomers and other clothing--no. + +The two girls swam close together, but Wyn dared not offer her comrade +help. She wanted to, but she feared that if she did so Bess would break +down and become helpless entirely; and Wyn hoped they would get much +farther inshore before that happened. + +The squall had quite gone over and the sun began to shine. It seemed a +cruel thing--to drown out there in the sunlight. And yet the buffeting +little waves, kicked up by the wind-flaw, were so hard to swim through. + +Had the waves been of a really serious size the struggle would have been +less difficult for the two girls. They could have ridden over the big +waves and managed to keep their heads above water; but every once in a +while a cross wavelet would slap their faces, and every time one did so +Bess managed to get a mouthful of water. + +"Oh! what will papa do?" moaned Bess. + +And Wyn knew what the poor girl meant. She was her father's close +companion and chum. The other girls in the Lavine family were smaller +and their mother was devoted to them; but Bess and Mr. Lavine were pals +all the time. + +Bess repeated this exclamation over and over again, until Wyn thought +she should shriek in nervous despair. She realized quite fully that +their chance for life was very slim indeed; but moaning and groaning +about it would not benefit them or change the situation in the slightest +degree. + +Wyn kept her head and saved her breath for work. She raised up now and +then, breast high in the water, and tried to scan the shore. + +Suddenly the sun revealed Green Knoll Camp to her--bathing the little +hillock, with the tents upon it, in the full strength of his rays. But +it was quite two miles away. + +Wyn could see no moving figures upon the knoll. Nor could her friends +see her and Bess struggling in the water at that distance. If their +overset had not been sighted, Mrs. Havel and the four other members of +the Go-Ahead Club would not be aware of their peril. + +And, Wyn believed, the swamping of the canoes could only have been +observed through a glass. Had anybody along shore been watching the two +canoes as the squall struck the craft and overset them? + +In that possibility, she thought, lay their only hope of rescue. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REPULSE + + +As the squall threatened in the northwest, it had been observed by many +on the shores of Lake Honotonka--and many on the lake itself, as well. +Sailing craft had run for havens. The lake could be nasty at times and +there might be more than a capful of wind in the black cloud that spread +so quickly over a sky that had--an hour before--been of azure. + +Had the two girls from Green Knoll Camp been observed by the watermen as +they embarked in their canoes at Meade's Forge, they might have been +warned against venturing far from the shore in those cockleshells. But +Wynifred and Bessie had not been observed, so were not warned. + +The squall had come down so quickly that they were not much to be +blamed. It had startled other people on the lake--and those much more +used to its vagaries. + +In a cove on the north shore a small cat-rigged boat had been drifting +since noon-time, its single occupant having found the fishing very good. +This fisher was the boatman's daughter, Polly Jarley. + +She had now a splendid catch and she knew that, if the wind held true, a +sharp run to the westward would bring her to Braisely Park. At some one +of the private landings there her fish would be welcomed--she could get +more for them than she could at the Forge, which was nearer. + +But the squall gathered so fast that she had to put aside the thought of +the run down the lake. The wind would switch about, too, after the +squall. That was a foregone conclusion. + +She waited until the blow was past and then saw that it would be quite +impossible to make the park that afternoon and return to the landing in +time for tea. And if she was later her father would be worried. + +Mr. Jarley did not like to have his girl go out this way and work all +day; but there seemed nothing else to be done this summer. They owed so +much at the stores at the Forge; and the principal and interest on the +chattel mortgage must be found before New Year or they would lose their +fleet of boats. And as yet few campers had come to the lake who wished +to hire Mr. Jarley's boats. + +So by fishing (and none of the old fellows who had fished Honotonka for +years was wiser about the good fishing places than Polly) the girl added +from one to two dollars every favorable day to the family income. +Sometimes she was off by light in one boat or another; but she did not +often come to this northern side of the lake. This cove was at least ten +miles from home. + +As the last breath of the squall passed, the wind veered as she had +expected, and Polly, having reeled in her two lines and unjointed the +bamboo poles, stowed everything neatly, raised the anchor, or kedge, and +set a hand's breadth of the big sail. + +The canvas filled, and with the sheet in one hand and the other on the +arm of the tiller, the girl steered the catboat out of the cove and into +the rumpus kicked up by the passing squall. + +The girls of the Go-Ahead Club would surely have been frightened had +they been aboard the little _Coquette_, as the catboat was named. +She rocked and jumped, and the spume flew over her gunwale in an +intermittent shower. But in this sea, which so easily swamped the +canoes, the catboat was as safe as a house. + +Polly was used to much rougher weather than this. In the summer Lake +Honotonka was on its best behavior. At other seasons the tempests tore +down from the north and west and sometimes made the lake so terrible in +appearance that even the hardiest bateau man in those parts would not +risk himself in a boat. + +Polly knew, however, that the worst of the squall was over. The lake +would gradually subside to its former calm. And the change in the wind +was favorable now to a quick passage either to the Forge or to her +father's tiny landing. + +"Can't get any fancy price for the fish at Meade's," thought Polly. "I +have a good mind to put them in our trap and try again for Braisely Park +to-morrow morning." + +As she spoke she was running outside the horns of the cove. She could +get a clear sweep now of the lake--as far as it could be viewed from the +low eminence of the boat--and she rose up to see it. + +"Nobody out but I," she thought. "Ah! all those folk at the end of the +lake ran in when the squall appeared. And the girls and boys over +yonder----" + +She was peering now across the lake ahead of the _Coquette's_ nose, +toward the little island where was Cave-in-the-Wood Camp, and at Green +Knoll Camp, where the girls from Denton were staying. + +Her face fell as she focused her gaze upon the bit of high, green bank +on which the sun was now shining again so brilliantly. She remembered +how badly she had been treated by Bess Lavine only that morning. + +"I can't go over there any more," she muttered. "That girl will never +forget--or let the others forget--that father has been accused of being +a thief. It's a shame! A hateful shame! And we're every bit as good as +she is----" + +Her gaze dropped to the tumbling wavelets between her and the distant +green hillock. She was about to resume her seat and catch the tiller, +which she had held steady with her knee. + +But now her breath left her and for a moment she stood motionless--only +giving to the plunge and jump of the _Coquette_ through the choppy +waves. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed again, after a little intake of breath. + +There were two round objects rising and falling in the rough water--and +far ahead. They looked like cocoanuts. + +But a little to one side was a long, black something--a stick of timber +drifting on the current? No! _An overturned boat._ + +There was no mistaking the cocoanut-like objects. They were human heads. +Two capsized people were struggling in the lake. + +Polly, in thirty seconds, was keenly alive to what she must do. There +was no time lost in bewailing the catastrophe, or wondering about the +identity of the castaways. + +Who or whatever they were they must be saved. There was not another boat +on the lake. And the swimmers were too far from land to be observed +under any conditions. + +The wind was strong and steady. The wavelets were still choppy, but +Polly Jarley never thought of a wetting. + +Up went the sail--up, up, up until the unhelmed catboat lay over almost +on beam ends. The girl took a sailor's turn of the sheet around the +cleat and then swung all her weight against the tiller, to bring the +boat's head up. She held the sheet ready to let go if a warning creak +from the mast should sound, or the boat refuse to respond. + +But in half a minute the _Coquette_ righted. It had been a perilous +chance--she might have torn the stick out. The immediate peril was past, +however. The great canvas filled. Away shot the sprightly +_Coquette_ with the wind--a bone in her teeth. + +Now and then she dipped and the spume flew high, drenching Polly. The +boatman's daughter was not dressed for this rough work, for she was +hatless and wore merely a blouse and old skirt for outside garments. She +had pulled off her shoes and stockings while she fished and had not had +time to put them on again. + +So the flying spray wet her through. She dodged occasionally to protect +her eyes from the spoondrift which slatted so sharply across the deck +and into the cockpit. The water gathered in the bottom of the old boat +and was soon ankle-deep. + +But Polly knew the craft was tight and that this water could be bailed +out again when she had time. Just now her mind and gaze were fixed +mainly upon the round, bobbing objects ahead. + +For some minutes, although the catboat was traveling about as fast as +Polly had ever sailed, save in a power boat, the girl could not be sure +whether the swamped voyagers were girls or boys. It might be two of the +Busters, from Gannet Island, for all she knew. She had made up her mind +that the victims of the accident were from one camp or the other. There +were no other campers as yet on the shore at this end of the lake. + +Then Polly realized that the heads belonged to girls. She could see the +braids floating out behind. And she knew that they were fighting for +their lives. + +They swam near together; once one of them raised up breast high in the +water, as though looking shoreward. But neither turned back to see if +help was coming from behind. + +With both hands engaged with sheet and tiller Polly could not make a +megaphone to carry her voice; but several times she shouted as loud as +she could: + +"Ahoy! Hold on! I'm coming!" + +Her voice seemed flung right back into her face--drowned by the slatting +spray. How viciously that water stung! + +The _Coquette_ was traveling at racing speed; but would she be in +time? + +How long could those two girls bear up in the choppy sea? + +One of the heads suddenly disappeared. Polly shrieked; but she could do +nothing to aid. + +The spray filled her eyes again and, when she had shaken them free, +Polly saw that the other swimmer--the stronger one--had gotten her +comrade above the surface once more. + +Indeed, this one was swimming on her back and holding up the girl who +had gone under. How brave she was! + +The sun shone clear upon the two in the water and Polly recognized +Wynifred Mallory. + +"Wyn! Wynnie! Hold to her! Hold up!" cried the boatman's daughter. "I'll +help you!" + +But she was still so far away--it seemed as though the catboat never +_would_ come within hailing distance. But before she turned over in +the water to swim with Bessie's hand upon her shoulder, the captain of +the Go-Ahead Club beheld the catboat rushing down upon them. + +She could only wave a beckoning hand. She could not cry out. Wyn was +well-nigh breathless, and Bessie's only hope was in her. The captain of +the canoe club had to save her strength. + +Down swooped the catboat. Polly was shouting madly; but not for an +instant did she lose control of the boat or ignore the work she had in +hand. She wanted to encourage Wyn and the other; but she was taking no +chances. + +Suddenly she let the sheet run and loosed the halliards. The canvas +fluttered down on the deck with a rustle and crash. The catboat sprang +to even keel, but shot on under the momentum it had gained in swooping +down upon the swamped girls. + +"Wyn! hold hard! _I've got you!_" + +But it was the other girl Polly grasped. Wyn had turned, thrust the +half-drowned Bessie before her, and Polly, leaning over the gunwale of +the tossing boat, seized her by the shoulders. + +In a moment she heaved up, struggled, dragged the other girl forward, +and together rescuer and rescued tumbled flat into the cockpit of the +_Coquette_. + +Polly shouted again: + +"Wyn! Wyn! I'll come back for you----" + +"Give me a hand!" cried Wyn, hanging to the rudder. "Polly! you old +darling! If you hadn't got here when you did----" + +Polly left Bess to her own resources and rushed to the stern. She helped +Wyn clamber into the boat. Then she hoisted the sail again, and got way +upon the boat. She raised the canvas only a little, for she had risked +all the weight she dared upon the mast before. + +"Are you all right, Bess?" cried Wyn. + +"I--I'm alive. But, oh! I'm so--so sick," gasped Miss Lavine. + +"Brace up, Bess! We're all right now. Polly has saved us." + +"Polly?" cried Bess, sitting up, the better to see the boatman's +daughter as the latter sat again at the helm. "Oh, Polly!" + +"You'd better both lie down till we get to the camp. I'll take you right +there," said the other girl, briefly. + +"We'd have been--been drowned, Wyn!" gasped Bess. + +"I guess we would. We are still a long way from shore." + +"And Polly saved us? All alone? How wonderful!" + +But Polly's face was stern. She scarcely spoke to the two Denton girls +as the _Coquette_ swept across the lake. Wyn told her just how it +all happened and the condition of the two canoes when they lost sight of +them. + +"I saw one; maybe the other can be found," Polly said. "I'll speak to +father and, if the moon comes up clear bye and bye, we'll run out and +see if we can recover them." + +But for Bess she had no word, or look, and when the other put out her +hand timidly and tried to thank her, as they neared the shore, Polly +only said: + +"That's all right. We're used to helping people who get overturned. It +really is nothing." + +She would not see Bessie's hand. The latter felt the repulse and Wyn, +who watched them both anxiously, dared not say a word. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TROUBLE "BRUIN" + + +The other girls and Mrs. Havel were all down on the beach to meet the +catboat and her passengers. To see Wyn and Bessie returning across the +lake in the sailboat, instead of the canoes, forewarned the Go-Aheads +that an accident had happened. + +But although the girls were wet and bedraggled, the captain of the club +made light of the affair. + +"Where are your canoes?" + +"What's happened?" + +"Who is it with you?" + +"What under the sun did you do--go overboard?" + +Wyn answered all questions in a single sentence: + +"We were capsized and lost the letters and things; but Polly picked us +up and brought us home." + +Then, amid the excited cries and congratulations, her voice rose again: + +"Isn't she brave? What do you think of my Polly Jolly _now_? Can +you blame me for being proud of her?" + +"I tell you wh--what she is!" gasped Bessie. "She's the bravest and +smartest girl I ever heard of." + +"Good for you, Bess!" shouted Frank Cameron, helping the castaways +ashore. "You're coming to your senses." + +"And--and I'm sorry," blurted out Bess, "that I ever treated her so----" + +Polly shoved off the catboat and proceeded to get under way again. + +"Oh, _do_ come ashore, Polly!" begged Grace. + +"I want to hug you, Miss Jarley!" cried Percy. + +"What? All wet as I am now?" returned the boatman's daughter, +laughing--although the laugh was not a pleasant one. "You make too much +of this matter. We're used to oversets on the lake. It is nothing." + +"You do not call saving two girls' lives _nothing_, my +dear--surely?" proposed Mrs. Havel. + +"If I saved them, I am very, very glad of it," returned Polly, gravely. +"Anybody would be glad of _that_, of course, But you are making too +much of it----" + +"My father will not think so!" exclaimed the almost hysterical Bess. +"When he learns of this he will not be able to do enough for you----" + +"Your father can do nothing for me, Bessie Lavine!" cried the boatman's +daughter, with sharpness. + +"Oh, Polly!" said Wyn, holding out her arms to her. + +"He'll--he'll _want_ to," pursued Bess, eagerly. "Oh! he will! He'd +do anything for you now----" + +"There's only one thing Henry Lavine can do for me," cried Polly, +turning an angry face now toward the shore. "He can stop telling stories +about my father. He can be kind to him--be decent to him. I don't want +anything else--and I don't want that as pay for fishing you out of the +lake!" + +She had got the sail up again and now the breeze filled it. The +_Coquette_ laid over and slipped away from the shore. Her last +words had silenced all the girls--even Mrs. Havel herself. + +Bess burst into tears. She was quite broken down, and Wyn went off with +her to the tent, her arm over her shoulder, and whispering to her +comfortingly. + +"I don't care. Polly's served her right," declared Frank Cameron. + +"I do not know that Polly can be blamed," Mrs. Havel observed. "But--but +I wish she was more forgiving. It is not for herself that she speaks, +however. It is for her father." + +"And I'll wager he's just as nice a man as ever was," declared Frank. +"I'm going to ask _my_ father if he will not do something for Mr. +Jarley." + +"Do so, Frances," advised the chaperon. "I think you will do well." + +The accident cast a cloud over Green Knoll Camp for the evening. The +girls who had been swamped went to bed and were dosed with hot drinks +brewed over the campfire by Mrs. Havel. And when the boys came over in +their fleet for an evening sing and frolic, they were sent back again to +the island almost at once. + +The boys did not take altogether kindly to this rebuff, and Tubby was +heard to say: + +"Isn't that just like girls? Because they got a little wet they must go +to bed and take catnip tea, or something, and be quiet. Their nerves are +all unstrung! Gee! wouldn't that make your ears buzz?" + +"Aw, you're a doubting Thomas and always will be, Tub," said Ferd +Roberts. "You never believe what you're told. You're as suspicious as +the farmer who went to town and bought a pair of shoes, and when he'd +paid for 'em the clerk says: + +"'Now, sir, can't I sell you a pair of shoe trees?' + +"'Don't you get fresh with me, sonny,' says the farmer, his whiskers +bristling. 'I don't believe shoes kin be raised on trees any more 'n I +believe rubbers grow on rubber trees, or oysters on oyster plants, +b'gosh!'" + +"Well," snarled the fat youth, as the other Busters laughed, "the girls +are always making excuses. You can never tell what a girl means, +anyway--not by what she _says_." + +"You know speech was given us to hide our thoughts," laughed Dave. + +"Say! I'll get square just the same--paddlin' clear over here for +nothing. Humph! I know that Hedges girl is afraid there's bears in the +woods? Say, fellers! I've _got_ it! Yes, I've got it!" + +When Tubby spoke in this way, and his eyes snapped and he began to look +eager, his mates knew that the fat youth's gigantic mind was working +overtime, and they immediately gathered around and stopped paddling. + +As Dave said, chuckling, a little later, "trouble was bruin!" + +In the morning the girls found the two lost canoes on the shore below +the camp. Polly and her father had evidently gone out in the evening, +after the moon rose, and recovered them. Neither, of course, was +damaged. + +"And we must do something nice to pay them for it!" cried Grace. + +Bessie was still deeply concerned over Polly's attitude. + +"I am going to write father at once, and tell him all about it," she +said. "And I _am_ sorry for the way I treated Polly at first. Do +you suppose she will ever forgive me, Wyn?" + +Just as Wyn had once said in discussing Bessie's character: when the +latter realized that she was in the wrong, or had been unfair to anyone, +she was never afraid to admit her fault and try to "make it up." But +this seemed to be a case where it was very difficult for Bessie to +"square herself." + +The boatman's daughter had shown herself unwilling to be friendly with +Bess. Nor was Polly, perhaps, to be blamed. + +However, on this particular morning the girls of Green Knoll Camp had +something besides Bessie's disturbance of mind and Polly Jarley's +attitude to think about. + +And this "something" came upon them with a suddenness that set the +entire camp in an uproar. Grace, the dilatory, was picking berries +before breakfast along the edge of the clearing, and popping them into +her mouth as fast as she could find ripe ones. + +"Come here and help, Grace!" called Percy from the tent where she was +shaking out the heavy blankets. "I'm not going to do all my work and +yours, too." + +"You come and help _me_. It's more fun," returned Grace, laughing +at her. + +Then the lazy girl turned and reached for a particularly juicy +blackberry, in the clump ahead of her. Percy saw her struck motionless +for a second, or two; then the big girl fairly fell backward, rolled +over, picked herself up, and raced back to the tents, her mouth wide +open and her hair streaming in the wind. + +"What _is_ the matter?" gasped Percy. + +"Oh, Grace! you look dreadful! Tell us, what has happened!" begged +Bessie, as the big girl sank down by the entrance to the tent, her limbs +too weak to bear her farther. + +"What has scared you so, Grace?" demanded Wyn, running up. + +Grace's eyes rolled, she shut and opened her mouth again several times. +Then she was only able to gasp out the one word: + +"Bear!" + +The other girls came crowding around. "What do you mean, Grace?" "Stop +trying to scare us, Grace!" "She's fooling," were some of the cries they +uttered. + +But Wyn saw that her friend was really frightened; she was not "putting +it on." + +"You don't mean that it was a _real_ bear?" cried Frank Cameron. + +"A bear, I tell you!" moaned Grace, rocking herself to and fro. "I told +you they were here in the woods." + +"Oh, dear me!" screamed Mina. "What shall we do?" + +"You didn't _see_ it, Grace?" demanded Wyn, sternly. "You only +heard it." + +"I saw it, I tell you!" + +"Not really?" + +"Do--do you think I don't know a bear when I see one?" demanded Grace. +"He--he'll be right after us----" + +"No. If it was a real, wild bear he would be just as scared at seeing +you as you would be at seeing him," remarked the decidedly sensible +captain. + +"He--he _couldn't_ be as scared as I am," moaned Grace, with +considerable emphasis. + +"I don't believe there's a bear within miles and miles of here!" +declared Frank. + +"Well! I declare I hope there isn't," cried Bess. + +"I'll look," offered Wyn. "Grace just thought she saw something." + +"A great, black and brown hairy beast!" moaned Grace. "He stood right up +on his hind legs and stretched out his arms to me----" + +"Enamored of all your young charms," giggled Frank. + +"It's no joke!" gasped the frightened one. + +"It _might_ be a bear, you know," quavered Mina. + +The breakfast was being neglected. Mrs. Havel was down at the edge of +the lake washing out some bits of lace. She had not heard the rumpus. + +"I'm going to see," announced Frank, and ran back over the course Grace +had come. + +She reached the berry bushes. She parted them and peered through. She +began to enter the jungle, indeed, in search of bruin. + +And then the girls all heard a sort of snuffling growl--just the sort of +a noise they _thought_ a bear must make. Frank jumped out of those +bushes as though they had become suddenly afire! + +"Wha--what did I tell you?" screamed Grace. + +"He's there!" groaned Mina. + +Then suddenly a dark object appeared among the saplings and underbrush. + +"Look out, Frank! Run!" cried the other girls, in chorus; but Miss +Cameron needed no urging; she ran with all her might! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TIT FOR TAT + + +But instead of returning toward the tents she ran straight across the +clearing. Possibly she did not stop to think where she was going, for +she came against the underbrush again and that terrific growl was once +more repeated. + +Frankie stopped as though she had been shot. Right in front of her +loomed a second black, hairy figure. + +She glared around wildly. At the back of the clearing was the opening +into the wood path leading from Windmill Farm down to the boat-landing +at John Jarley's place. And in that opening, and for an instant, +appeared likewise a threatening form! + +"Come here! Come here, Frank!" shrieked Bess. "There's another of +them--we're surrounded." + +The Cameron girl started again, and let out the last link of speed that +there was in her. She ran straight down to the shore where Mrs. Havel +just aroused by the shrieks, was starting to return to camp. + +The other girls piled after her. But Wyn brought up the rear. She looked +around now and then. Three bears! In a place where no bears had been +seen for years and years! Wyn was puzzled. + +"There are bears in the woods, Mrs. Havel!" gasped Grace. + +"Nonsense, child!" + +"I saw 'em. One almost grabbed me," declared the big girl. + +"And _I_ saw them, Auntie," urged Percy Havel. + +"This way! this way!" cried Frank, running along the shore under the +high knoll on which the camp was pitched. "They can't see us down here." + +Mrs. Havel was urged along by her niece and Grace. Wyn brought up the +rear. Oddly enough, none of the bears came out of the bushes--that she +could see. + +The girls plunged along the sand, and through the shallow water for +several yards. Here the bushes grew right down to the edge of the lake. +Suddenly Wyn caught sight of something ahead, and uttered a sharp +command: + +"Stop! every one of you! Do you hear me, Frank? Stop!" + +"Oh, dear! they can eat us here just as well as anywhere," groaned +Grace. + +"Now be quiet!" said Wynifred, in some heat. "We've all been foolish +enough. _Those were not bears._" + +"Cows, maybe, Wynnie?" asked Mrs. Havel. "But I am quite as afraid of +cows----" + +"Nor cows, either. I guess you wouldn't have been fooled for a minute if +you had seen them," said Wyn. + +"What do you mean, Wyn?" cried Frank. "I tell you I saw them with my own +eyes----" + +"Of course you did. So did I," admitted Wyn. "But we did not see them +right. They are not bears, walking on their hind legs; they are just +boys walking on the only legs they've got!" + +"The Busters!" ejaculated Frank. + +"Oh, Wyn! do you think so?" asked Mina, hopefully. + +"Look ahead," commanded Wyn. "There are the boys' canoes. They paddled +over here this morning and dressed up in those old moth-eaten buffalo +robes they had over there, on the island, and managed to frighten us +nicely." + +"That's it! They played a joke on us," began Frank, laughing. + +But Mrs. Havel was angry. "They should be sent home for playing such a +trick," she said, "and I shall speak to Professor Skillings about it." + +"Pooh!" said Wyn. "They're only boys. And of course they'll be up to +such tricks. The thing to do is to go them one better." + +"How, Wyn, how?" cried her mates. + +"I do not know that I can allow this, Wynifred," began Mrs. Havel, +doubtfully. + +"You wish to punish them; don't you, Mrs. Havel?" + +"They should be punished--yes." + +"Then we have the chance," cried Wyn, gleefully. "You go back to the +camp, Mrs. Havel, and we girls will take their canoes--every one of +them. We'll call them the trophies of war, and we'll make the Busters +pay--and pay well for them--before they get their canoes back. What do +you say, girls?" + +"Splendid!" cried Frank. "And they frightened me so!" + +"Look out for the biscuits, Mrs. Havel, please," begged Bess. "I am +afraid they will be burned." + +The lady returned hurriedly to the camp on the top of the hillock. When +she mounted the rise from the shore, there was a circle of giggling +youths about the open fireplace and a pile of moth-eaten buffalo hides +near by. Dave was messing with the Dutch oven in which Bess had just +before put the pan of biscuit for breakfast. + +"Ho, ho!" cried Tubby. "Where are the girls?" + +"Bear hunting, I bet!" cried Ferd Roberts. + +"Good-morning, Mrs. Havel," said Dave, smiling rather sheepishly. "I +hope we didn't scare _you_." + +"You rather startled me--coming unannounced," admitted Mrs. Havel, but +smiling quietly. "You surely have not breakfasted so early?" + +"No. That's part of the game," declared another youth. "We claim +forfeit--and in this case take payment in eats." + +"I am afraid you are more slangy than understandable," returned Mrs. +Havel. "Did you come for something particular?" + +"Goodness! didn't you see those girls running?" cried Ferd. + +"Running? Where to?" queried the chaperone. + +Dave began to look more serious. + +"Perhaps they are running yet!" squealed Tubby, only seeing the fun of +it. + +"Bet they've gone for help to hunt the bears," laughed another of the +reckless youngsters. + +"They'll get out the whole countryside to find 'em," choked Ferdinand +Roberts. "That's _too_ rich." + +"Are you sure the girls didn't come your way, Mrs. Havel?" asked Dave, +with anxiety. + +"Oh, the girls will be back presently. I came up to see to the biscuit, +Mr. Shepard. About inviting you to breakfast--You know, I am only a +guest of Green Knoll Camp myself. I couldn't invite you," said Mrs. +Havel, demurely. + +The boys looked at each other in some surprise and Tubby's face fell +woefully. + +"Ca-can't we do something to help you get breakfast, Mrs. Havel?" + +Mrs. Havel had to hide a smile at that, but she remained obdurate. "I +have really nothing to do with it, Sir Tubby. You must wait for the +girls to come," she said. + +The boys began whispering together; but they did not move. They had +scuttled over from their own camp early with the express intention of +"getting one" on the girls, and making a breakfast out of it. But now +the accomplishment of their purpose seemed doubtful, and there was a +hollow look about them all that should have made Mrs. Havel pity them. + +That lady, however, remembered vividly how she had run along the shore +in fear of a flock of bears; this was a part of the boys' punishment for +that ill-begotten joke. + +The biscuit were beginning to brown, the coffee sent off a delicious +odor, and here were eggs ready to drop into the kettle of boiling water +for their four-minute submersion. Besides, there was mush and milk. +Every minute the boys became hungrier. + +"Aren't the girls ever coming?" sighed Tubby. "They _couldn't_ be +so heartless." + +"They haven't gone far; have they?" queried Dave Shepard. "We saw their +canoes on the beach." + +Just then the laughter of the girls in the distance broke upon the ears +of those on the hillock. They were approaching along the +shore--apparently from the direction of Jarley's landing. + +"They don't seem to have been much scared, after all," grumbled Tubby to +Ferd. + +"It was a silly thing to do, anyway," returned young Roberts. "Suppose +we don't get any breakfast?" + +At this horrid thought the fat youth almost fainted. The girls came in +sight, and at once hailed the boys gaily: + +"Oh! see who's here!" cried Frank. "What a lovely surprise!" + +"Isn't it?" said Bess, but with rather a vicious snap. "We couldn't get +along, of course, without having a parcel of boys around. 'Morning, Mr. +Shepard." + +Bess made a difference between Dave and the rest of the Busters, for +Dave had helped her in a serious difficulty. + +"Where's the professor?" demanded Grace. "Isn't he here, too?" + +"He's having breakfast all by his lonesome over on the island," said +Ferd, and Tubby groaned at the word "breakfast," while Dave added: + +"We--we got a dreadfully early start this morning." + +"Quite a start--I should say," returned Wyn, smiling broadly. "And now +you're hungry, I suppose?" + +"Oh, aren't we, just?" cried one of the crowd, hollowly. + +"How about it, Bess? Is there enough for so many more?" + +Bess was already sifting flour for more biscuit. She said: "I'll have +another panful in a jiffy. Put in the eggs, Mina. We can make a +beginning." + +"There's plenty of mush," said Mina. "That's one sure thing." + +"But we can't all sit down," cried Grace. + +"You know, there are but six of these folding seats, and Wyn's been +sitting on a cracker box ever since we set up the tents." + +"Feed 'em where they're sitting," said Wyn, quickly. "Beggars mustn't be +choosers." + +"Jinks! we didn't treat you like this when you came over to our camp," +cried Ferd. + +"And we didn't come over almost before you were up in the morning," +responded Frank, quickly. "How did you know we had made our 'twilights' +at such an unconscionable hour?" + +The girls were all laughing a good deal. Nobody said a word about the +"bear" fright, and the boys felt a little diffidence about broaching the +subject. Evidently their joke had fallen flat. + +But the girls really had no intention of being mean to the six Busters. +The first pan of biscuit came out of the oven a golden brown. Grace and +Percy set them and the bowls of mush on the table, and handed around +other bowls and a pitcher of milk to the circle of boys, sitting +cross-legged on the ground like so many tailors. + +There was honey for the biscuits, too, as well as golden butter--both +from Windmill Farm. The eggs were cooked just right, and there were +plenty of them. Crisp radishes and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes added +to the fare. + +"Gee!" sighed Tubby, "doesn't it take girls to live _right_ in +camp? And look at those doughnuts." + +"I fried them," cried Mina, proudly. "Mrs. Havel showed me how, though." + +"Mrs. Havel, come over to Gannet Island and teach us how to cook," cried +Dave. "We don't have anything like this." + +"Not a sweetie except what we buy at the Forge--and that's baker's +stuff," complained Tubby. + +"Don't you think you boys had better be pretty good to us--if you want +to come to tea--or breakfast--once in a while?" asked Wyn, pointedly. + +"Right!" declared Dave. + +"Got us there," admitted Ferdinand. + +"_I'll_ see that they behave themselves, Wyn," cried Tubby, with +great enthusiasm. "These fellows are too fresh, anyway----" + +But at this the other boys rose up in their might and pitched upon +Master Blaisdell, rolling him over and over on the grass and making him +lose half of his last doughnut. + +"Now, now, now!" cried Mrs. Havel. "This is no bear-garden. Try to +behave." + +The boys began to laugh uproariously at this. "What do _you_ know +about a bear-garden, Grace?" Ferd demanded. + +"And wasn't that growling of Dave's awe-inspiring?" cried another. + +"And weren't _you_ scared, Frank Cameron?" suggested Tubby, +grinning hugely when his mates had let him up. "I never did know you +could run so fast." + +"Why, pshaw!" responded Frank. "Did you boys really think you had scared +us with those moth-eaten old robes?" + +"How ridiculous!" chimed in Bess. "A boy is usually a good deal of a +bear, I know; but he doesn't _look_ like one." + +"And--and there haven't been any bears in this country for--for years," +said Grace, though rather quaveringly. + +"Say! what do you know about all this?" demanded Dave, of his mates. + +"Do you girls mean to say that you weren't scared pretty near into +fits?" cried one lad. + +"Did we act scared?" laughed Wyn. "I guess we fooled you a little, eh?" + +"You're just as much mistaken," said Frank, "as the red-headed man was +who went to see the doctor because he had indigestion. When the doctor +told him to diet, it wasn't his hair he meant; but the red-headed man +got mad just the same. Now, you boys----" + +"Aw, come! come!" cried Dave. "You can't say honestly you were not +scared. You know you were." + +"I am afraid your joke fell flat, Davie," laughed Wyn. All the girls +were enjoying the boys' discomfiture. "Of course, I suppose you thought +you deserved your breakfast as a forfeit because you got a trick across +on us. But you'll have to try again, I am afraid. Just because we ran +doesn't prove that we did not recognize the combination of a boy and a +buffalo robe." + +"Aw, now!" cried one of the boys. "What did you run for?" + +"There's a reason," laughed Percy. + +"Wait!" advised Frank, shaking her head and her own eyes dancing. "You +will find out soon enough why we ran." + +"'He laughs best who laughs last,'" quoted Grace. "Bears, indeed!" + +The boys were puzzled. Breakfast being over the girls went about their +several tasks and paid their friends of the opposite sex very little +attention. To all suggestions that they get out the canoes and go across +to the island with the boys, or on other junkets, the girls responded +with refusals. They evidently thought they had something like a joke +themselves on the boys, and finally the latter went off through the +brush toward the spot where they had tied their canoes, half inclined to +be angry. + +They were gone a long while, and were very quiet. The girls whispered +together, and kept right near the tents, waiting for the explosion. + +"At least," Wyn said, chuckling, "we gave them a good breakfast, so they +won't starve to death; but if they want to go to the island they will +have to swim." + +"We've given them 'tit for tat,'" said Frankie, nodding her head. "Glad +of it. And _they'll_ pay the forfeit, instead of us." + +"If they don't find the canoes," whispered Grace. + +"They wouldn't find them in a week of Sundays," cried Percy. + +"Then let's set them a good hard task for payment," suggested Bess. + +"That's right. They oughtn't to have tried to scare us so," agreed Mina. + +"I guess it is agreed," laughed Wyn, "to show them no mercy. Ah! here +they come now." + +The Busters slowly climbed the knoll in rather woebegone fashion. Their +feathers certainly were drooped, as Frank remarked. + +"Well," said Dave, throwing himself down on the sward, "we must hand it +to you Go-Aheads. You've got us 'way out on the limb, and if you shake +the tree very hard we'll drop off." + +"No, thanks!" snapped Bess. "We don't care for green fruit." + +"Oh, oh!" squealed Ferd. "I bet that hurt me." + +"Now, there's no use quarreling," said Dave. "We admit defeat. Where +under the sun you girls could have hidden our canoes I don't see. And +your own haven't been used this morning, that's sure." + +Wyn and her mates broke into uncontrollable laughter at this. + +"Who's the joke on now?" cried Bess. + +"What will you give to find your canoes?" exclaimed Frankie. + +"Aw--say--don't rub it in," begged Tubby. "We own up to the corn. You +beat us. Where are the canoes?" + +"Ahem!" said Wynifred, clearing her throat loudly, and standing forth. + +"Hear, hear!" cried Mina. + +"Oh! you've got it all fixed up for us, I see," muttered Ferd. + +"The understanding always has been," said Wyn, calmly, "that if one +party succeeded in playing a practical joke on the other, and 'getting +away with it,' as you slangy boys say, the party falling for the trick +should pay forfeit. Isn't that so?" + +"Go on! Do your worst," growled Ferd. + +"That's right. You state the case clearly, Miss Mallory," said Dave, +with a bow of mockery. + +"And they never paid a forfeit for the time Tubby slid down our +boathouse roof, plunk into the water," cried Bessie. + +"Aw--that's ancient history," growled Tubby. + +"Let us stick to recent events," agreed Wyn, smiling. "If we girls were +at all frightened by your 'bear-faced' attempt to frighten us this +morning, we have paid with a breakfast; haven't we?" + +"And it was a good one," agreed Dave. + +"It's made me go right to cooking again," said Bess. "A swarm of locusts +would have brought about no greater devastation." + +"Then, gentlemen," said Wynifred, "do you admit that the shoe is now on +the other foot? You cannot find your canoes. Will you pay us to find +them for you?" + +"That's only fair," admitted Dave. + +"Say! how do we pay you?" demanded Ferd. + +"Shall I tell them what we demand, girls?" asked Wyn. + +"Go ahead!" "It'll serve them right!" "They've got to do it!" were some +of the exclamations from the Go-Aheads. + +"Oh, let the blow fall!" groaned Dave. + +"Then, gentlemen of the Busters Association, it is agreed by the ladies +of the Go-Ahead Club that while we remain in camp on Green Knoll this +summer, you young gentlemen shall cut and stack all the firewood we +shall need!" + +"Ow-ouch!" cried Ferd. + +"What a cheek!" gasped Tubby, rolling his eyes. + +"_All_ the firewood you use?" repeated one of the other boys. +"Why--that will be cords and cords!" + +"Every stick!" declared Wyn, firmly. + +"And I'd be ashamed, if I were you, to complain," pursued Bessie. "If +you had been gentlemanly you would have offered to cut our wood before. +You know that that is the _one_ thing that girls can't do easily +about a camp." + +"Gee! you have quite a heap of stove wood yonder," said Tubby. + +"That is what Mr. Jarley cut for us," Wyn said. "But it doesn't matter +what other means we may have for getting our firewood cut. Will you +accept the forfeit like honorable gentlemen?" + +"Why, we've _got_ to!" cried Ferd. + +"We're honestly caught," admitted Dave Shepard. "I'll do my share. Two +of us, for half a day a week, can more than keep you supplied--unless +you waste it." + +"And we can have the canoes back?" demanded one of the other Busters, +eagerly. + +And so it was agreed--"signed, sworn to, and delivered," as Frankie +said. With great glee the girls led the Busters to the steep bank by the +waterside, over which a great curtain of wild honeysuckle hung. This +curtain of fragrant flowers and thick vines dragged upon the ground. +There was a hollow behind it that Wyn had discovered quite by chance. + +And this hollow was big enough to hide the six canoes, one stacked a-top +of the other. One passing by would never have suspected the hiding +place, and in hiding the craft the girls had left no tell-tale +footprints. + +So, for once at least, the Go-Aheads got the best of the Busters. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +VISITORS + + +Bessie Lavine had written home, as she said she would, regarding her +adventure with Wyn when they were overturned by the squall, and all +about Polly Jarley. But the result of this letter--and the others that +went along to Denton with it--was not just what the girls had expected. + +Although Mrs. Havel, in charge of the Go-Aheads, reported regularly to +her brother-in-law, Percy's father, the story of the overturn made a +great stir among the mothers especially, whose consent to the six girls +living under canvas for the summer had been gained with such difficulty. + +"What do you know about this, girls?" cried Frank, on next mail day. "My +mother and father are coming out here. They can stay but one night; but +they say they must see with their own eyes just how we are living here." + +"And my Uncle Will is coming," announced Grace. "What do you know about +_that_? Mother has made him promise to come and see if I am all +right." + +"_My_ mother says," quoth Mina, slowly, "that she doesn't doubt +Mrs. Havel does the very best she can by us; but she and papa are coming +up here with Mr. and Mrs. Cameron." + +Bessie began to laugh, too. "Pa's coming," she said. "It's a plot, I +believe. He says he has hired the _Sissy Radcliffe_, and all of our +parents can come if they like. The boat's big enough. He will bring +another sleeping tent and those who wish can sleep under canvas while +they remain. The boat has lots of berths in it. Say! maybe we'll have a +great time." + +"I expect," said Mrs. Havel, looking up and smiling, from her own +letter, "that your mothers, girls, will not really be content until they +see for themselves how you are getting along. So we may as well make +ready for visitors. They will arrive on Saturday. Some will remain only +over Sunday and return by train from the Forge. But Mr. Lavine, I +believe, and some of the gentlemen, will be here on the lake for a week, +or more." + +"No more oversets, now, girls," said Frankie. "That's what is bringing +the mothers up here." + +"_My_ father is coming to see if he cannot do something for Polly +Jarley," declared Bessie, with emphasis. + +But Wynifred Mallory was quite sure that the Lavines--no matter how good +their intentions now were toward the boatman's daughter--would find +Polly rather difficult. Wyn had been down to the boatkeeper's house +several times alone to see Polly; but the backwoods girl would not be +shaken from her attitude. She would not come to Green Knoll Camp any +more, nor would she send any word to Bess Lavine. + +Bess really was sorry for what she had said and the way she had treated +Polly. But the latter was obdurate. + +"I don't want anything from those Lavines," she replied to Wyn's urging. +"Only that Mr. Lavine should treat my father kindly. I'd pull the girl +out of the lake again--sure! But I don't want her for a friend, and I +don't want to be paid for doing my duty. _You_ don't offer to pay +me, Wynnie." + +"No, dear. I couldn't pay you for saving my life," Wynifred admitted. + +"Neither can they!" retorted Polly, heatedly. "They think they're so +much above us, because they have money and we have none. They are like +those millionaires at the other end of the lake--Dr. Shelton and the +others. I don't want their money!" + +But Polly's obstinacy was cutting the boatman's daughter out of a lot of +fun. This fact became more pronounced, too, when the visitors from +Denton, in the _Sissy Radcliffe_, came to Green Knoll Camp. + +The _Sissy_ was a big motor launch, and there was a good-sized +party aboard. When the ladies had once seen how the girls and Mrs. Havel +lived, they were glad to take advantage of the tent Mr. Lavine brought. +The gentlemen slept aboard the launch, which was anchored at night off +Green Knoll Camp. + +There were indeed gay times, for instead of acting as "wet-blankets" to +the young folks' fun, the visitors entered into the spirit of the outing +and, with the Busters and Professor Skillings from Gannet Island, made a +holiday of the occasion. + +Both the girls and boys "showed off" in their canoes in the shallow +water under the bank, and in their bathing suits. They showed the more +or less anxious parents just how skillful they were in the management of +the tricky craft. + +When the canoes were overturned, the girls and boys were able to right +them, bail them out, and scramble aboard again. They could all swim and +dive like ducks--save Bessie and Tubby. But Bessie was improving every +day, and Tubby never _could_ really sink, they all declared, unless +he swallowed so much of the lake for ballast that he would be able to +wade ashore from the middle. + +It was now the height of the camping season and the Busters and +Go-Aheads, with their friends, were not the only parties along the +shores of Lake Honotonka. The Jarleys were doing a good business, almost +all their craft being in use most of the time. A battalion of Boy Scouts +went into camp about ten miles to the west of Gannet Island and Dave and +his mates had some friends among them. + +Several small steamboats plied the waters of the lake with excursion +parties. The people at Braisely Park often came down to Gannet Island +and the neighborhood of Green Knoll in their boats. Altogether there was +considerable intimacy among the campers and between them and the +residents of Braisely Park. + +This pleasant condition of affairs brought about the idea of the +regatta, or boating sports. Some of the wealthy men at the west end of +the lake arranged the events, put up the prizes for certain classes of +boat trials and other aquatic sports, had the necessary printing and +advertising done, and + + HONOTONKA REGATTA DAY + +became emblazoned on the billboards along the neighboring highways and +railroad lines. + +The events were entirely amateur and were confined to those actually +camping on, or living on, the shores of the lake. Arrangements went +ahead with a rush, the date being set so close that most of the parents +and friends who had come up with Mr. Lavine from Denton were encouraged +to stay over. + +Some of the Busters were going to enter for the canoeing events, and +there was a girls' contest, too, that interested our friends. Bessie +Lavine could paddle a canoe as well as anybody, and she was eager to +take part in one or two of the races. So she got out early one morning, +with Wyn and Grace, and Mr. Lavine for referee, and they did some good +work. + +They chanced to get well over toward the Jarley boat landing and +suddenly Wyn set up a shout: + +"Polly! Polly Jolly! I never knew you had a canoe. Come on over here!" + +She had caught sight of the boatman's daughter paddling near the shore +in an Indian canoe. It was of birchbark and Polly shot it along under +the stroke of her paddle as though it had the weight of a feather. And, +indeed, it was not so heavy by a good deal as the cedar boats of the +Go-Ahead girls. + +Polly waved her hand and turned the canoe's prow toward Wyn. Not until +she was right among the other canoes did she realize that in one of them +sat Bessie Lavine. + +"We are very glad to see you, Polly," declared Wyn. "Are you going to +enter for the girls' races?" + +"Good-morning, Polly," cried Grace, equally cordial. "What a pretty boat +you have!" + +Polly stammered some words of welcome and then looked from Bessie to Mr. +Lavine. Evidently the boatman's daughter suspected who the gentleman +was. + +Mr. Lavine was a pleasant enough man to meet socially. It is true that +both he and his daughter were impulsive and perhaps prided themselves on +being "good haters." This does not mean that they were haters of that +which was good; but that if they considered anybody their enemy the +enmity was not allowed to die out. + +"I am glad to see you again, Polly," Bess said, driving her canoe close +to that of the boatman's daughter. "Won't you speak to me at all?" + +"Oh, Miss Lavine! I would not be so rude as to refuse to speak to you," +Polly replied. "But--but it doesn't do any good----" + +"Yes, it does, Polly," Bess said, quickly. "This is my father and he +wants to thank you for saving my life." + +"Indeed I do!" exclaimed Mr. Lavine, heartily. "I can't tell you how +much I appreciate what you did----" + +"Oh, yes, sir," said Polly, hurriedly. "I know all about that. You told +me how you felt in your letter. And I'm sure I am obliged to you----" + +"For what?" demanded the gentleman, smiling. "I have done nothing but +acknowledge in empty phrases your bravery and good sense. I think a deal +of my Bessie, and I must show you in some more substantial way how much +I appreciate what you did for her." + +"No, sir; you cannot do that," declared Polly, very much flushed, but +with firmness, too. + +"Oh, come, now I My dear girl! Don't be so offish----" + +"You have thanked me sufficiently, sir," declared Polly. "If I did not +know better than to accept anything more substantial myself, my father +would not allow it." + +"Oh, come now! Your father----" + +"My father, sir, is John Jarley. He used to be your friend and partner +in business. You have seen fit to spread abroad tales about him that he +denies--that are untrue, sir," pursued Polly, her anger making her voice +tremble. + +"From you, Mr. Lavine, we could accept nothing--no charity. If we are +poor, and if I have no advantages--such advantages as your daughter has, +for instance--_you_ are as much to blame for it as anybody." + +"Oh! come now!" + +"It is true. Your libelling of my father ruined his reputation in +Denton. He could get no business there. And it worried my mother almost +to death. So he had to come away up here into the woods." + +"I really was not to blame for that, Polly," said Mr. Lavine. + +"You were! Whether you realize it yourself, or not, you are the cause of +all our troubles, for they began with your being angry with father over +the Steel Rivet Corporation deal. I know. He's told me about it +himself." + +Mr. Lavine was putting a strong brake upon his temper. He was deeply +grateful to Polly; but he was a proud man, too. + +"Let us put aside the difference of opinion between John Jarley and +myself, my dear girl," he said, quietly. "Perhaps he and I had better +discuss that; not _you_ and I. Bessie, I know, wishes to be your +friend, and so do I. Had you not rescued her from the lake as you did, +Polly, I should be mourning her death. It is a terrible thing to think +of!" + +Polly was silenced by this. But if she did not look actually sullen, she +certainly gave no sign of giving way. + +"So, my dear, you must see how strongly we both feel. You would be doing +a kind action, Polly, if you allowed Bessie to be your friend." + +"That is true, Polly," cried Bessie, putting out her hand again. "Do, +_do_ shake hands with me. Why! I owe you my life!" + +"Don't talk that way!" returned the boatman's daughter. But she gave +Bess her hand. "You make too much of what I did. And I don't want to +seem mean--and ungrateful. + +"But, truly, you can do nothing for me. No, Mr. Lavine; there is nothing +I could accept. You have wronged my father----" + +He put up his hand in denial, but she went on to say: + +"At least, _I_ believe so. You can do nothing for me. I would be +glad if you would right the wrong you did him so long ago; but I do not +want you to do _that_ in payment for anything I may have done for +Miss Bessie. + +"No, sir. Right my father's wrong because it _is_ a wrong and +because you realize it to be such--that you were mistaken----" + +"I do not see that," Mr. Lavine returned, stiffly. + +"Then there is nothing more to be said," declared Polly, and with a +quick flirt of her paddle, she drove her birchbark out of the huddle of +other canoes and, in half a minute, was out of earshot. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE REGATTA + + +The late July morning that broke upon the scene of the last preparations +for Honotonka regatta promised as fine a day as heart could wish. + +There was a good breeze from early morning. This was fine for the +catboat races and for the sailing canoes. Yet the breeze was not too +strong, and there was not much "sea." This latter fact made the paddling +less difficult. + +The camps on Gannet Island and at Green Knoll were deserted soon after +breakfast. The Busters took their canoes aboard the _Happy Day_, +while Mr. Lavine's launch, the _Sissy Radcliffe_, carried the +girls' canoes as well as the girls themselves. + +They were two merry boatloads, and the boats themselves were strung with +banners and pennants. As they shot up the sunlit lake they sighted many +other craft headed toward Braisely Park, for some contestants had come +from as far away as the Forge, at the head of the Wintinooski. + +Suddenly Wyn, looking through the camp spyglass, recognized the patched +sail of the _Coquette_, the little catboat in which Polly Jarley +had come to the rescue of the two members of the Go-Ahead Club on that +memorable day. + +"Polly is aboard," she told Frank Cameron, passing the glass to her +friend. "But who is the boy with her?" + +"That's no boy!" declared the sharp-eyed Frankie. "Why! he's got a +mustache." + +"It's never Mr. Jarley himself?" exclaimed Wyn, in surprise. + +"That's exactly who it is." + +"I didn't think they'd both leave the landing at the same time. Do you +suppose they have entered the _Coquette_ in the free-for-all +catboat race?" + +"I shouldn't wonder. She's a fast boat if she _is_ old and +lubberly-looking. And Dr. Shelton has offered twenty-five dollars for +the winning boat." + +"It takes two to work a catboat properly, too. That is the +understanding," said Wyn, thoughtfully: "a crew of two." + +"Hope they win the race!" declared Frank, generously. + +"So do I. And they've got Polly's birch canoe aboard. She will enter for +the girls' canoe race, I am sure." + +"All right," said Frank. "If you don't win the prize in _that_, my +dear, then I hope Polly does." + +"Why, I haven't a chance beside Bess, I am sure." + +"That's all right. Bess is too erratic. One day she paddles well and the +next she is 'way behind. It's her temperament. She's not a steady old +warhorse like yourself, Wynnie." + +"Thanks," laughed Wyn. "How about Polly? What do you call _her_?" + +"I don't know. I admire her vastly," said Frank. "But Polly puzzles me. +And I haven't seen her working at the paddle much. I only know that in a +skiff she can out row any of the Busters." + +"I fancy she can paddle some, too. And her canoe is as light as a +feather. All those birchbarks are." + +"The judges may handicap her, then. But, hullo! what's that Dave Shepard +up to?" + +Wyn turned to look at her next-door neighbor. Dave was writing upon a +slip of paper. Once he looked across at Frank and Wyn and saw that the +two girls were watching him. + +He seemed confused, started as though to tear the paper up, and then hid +it under a coil of rope at his feet. But he was very particular to hide +every particle of the paper. + +"What you doing there, Dave?" demanded Frank, with plain curiosity. + +"Oh, nothing," responded the youth, and rose up, stretching his arms and +yawning. It was plain that he did not wish to be questioned. + +"What was that paper?" pursued Frank. + +"Oh--that--er----It's of no consequence," declared Dave, and walked aft +so as not to be further questioned. + +"Now, he can't fool me!" cried Frank, under her breath. "It _was_ +something of consequence. I--I'm going to see." + +"I wouldn't," said Wyn. + +"Why not?" + +"Well--whatever it is, it isn't ours." + +"Pooh!" + +"And he evidently didn't want us to see it." + +"For that very reason I am going to look," declared Frankie. And the +moment Dave was out of sight she sprang across the deck and lifted up +the rope enough to pull out the paper. + +The moment she scanned it, Wyn saw Frankie's face turn very red. She +looked angry, and stamped her foot. Then she burst into a giggle, and +slid the paper back out of sight again. + +She came back to her friend with a mixture of emotions expressed on her +countenance. "What do you suppose?" she demanded. + +"Suppose about what?" asked Wyn. + +"What do you suppose Dave wrote on that paper?" + +"I give it up. Something that didn't concern us, as I told you." + +"You're wrong," cried Frank, divided between wrath and amusement. "And +it's just the very _meanest_ thing!" + +"Why, you excite my curiosity," admitted Wyn. + +"That's what he did it for," declared Frankie. + +"_What_ did he write?" cried Wyn. "Out with it." + +"He wrote: 'I bet an ice-cream treat all around that your curiosity will +not permit you to leave this alone.' Now! could anything be meaner?" + +"Ha, ha!" chuckled Wyn. + +"Don't you see? We can't claim the treat without giving ourselves away? +I believe I'll join forces with Bess. There _is_ nothing meaner +than a boy." + +"Never mind," said Wyn. "I'll find some way of making Master Dave pay +for the ice-cream treat, just the same. You see if I don't." + +Soon after this the launches were sent to one side so as to leave the +course clear, and the races began. The men's and boys' canoe races were +very interesting, and Dave Shepard won a sweater, while one of the other +Busters got the second prize of a dollar for quickness in overturning +and righting a canoe. + +Some "funny stunts" followed in the water, and then came a girls' +swimming race. Here the Go-Ahead girls excelled, although there were +more than a score of entries. Wyn Mallory won a two-hundred-yard, +straightaway dash, while Frank was second and Grace Hedges third in the +same race. The people who had come up from Denton cheered the girls +enthusiastically. When the parents who had been so afraid for their +daughters' safety saw how well able the girls were to take care of +themselves, their anxiety was allayed. + +After these swimming contests there was an interval of two hours for +refreshments. A caterer had prepared tables of sandwiches and cold +drinks, as well as ice cream and cake, on one of the bigger docks +belonging to Braisely Park. In fact, it was Dr. Shelton's dock. + +The catboat races were to follow the intermission and Wyn found that the +Jarley _Coquette_ had been entered. She ran over to the dock from +which the "cats" were to start for the line, and as she approached the +spot she heard loud voices and saw a little crowd of excited people. + +The _Coquette_ was almost the only catboat left. Dr. Shelton had +backed Mr. Jarley up against a post on the wharf and, in a loud and +angry voice, was telling the unfortunate boatman what he thought of him. + +"_You_ have the cheek to be in this race, John Jarley?" cried the +angry man. "I don't mind your daughter--I pity her. But I'm hanged if +I'll let a thief take part in this race--and me offering the prize. Get +out of here!" + +"Hold on, Shelton!" exclaimed one of his friends. "You're going too far +when you call Jarley a thief." + +"Or else you are not going far enough," chimed in another. "If you +believe Jarley stole those images--and the boat--why don't you go about +it right? Report it to the county prosecutor and have the man arrested." + +"Or, if Jarley is _not_ guilty," added another, "I advise him, as a +lawyer, to sue you for damages." + +"Let him sue and be hanged to him!" cried Dr. Shelton, who was a great, +rough man, twice the size of the boatman, and with all the confidence of +his great wealth, as well as his great muscle, behind him. "But he +sha'n't sail in this race." + +"We'll go back home, Father----Oh, let's go back!" cried Polly, from the +cockpit of the dancing _Coquette_. + +But Wyn Mallory knew that the Jarleys must have hoped to win the +twenty-five dollar prize. The _Coquette_ was being mentioned as a +possible winner among the knowing ones about the course. + +"Dr. Shelton!" she cried, tugging at the angry man's arm. "Do you mind +if Polly and I sail the boat instead?" + +"Eh? _You_--a girl?" grunted the doctor, "Well, why not? I've got +nothing--as I said before--against his daughter. It's the man himself +who has no business at this end of the lake. I sent him word so a month +and more ago. I ought to have him arrested." + +Win thought it would be less cruel to do so, and have the matter +thrashed out in the courts. Mr. Jarley was stooping from the wharf, +whispering with Polly. + +"I can help her," Wyn cried, turning to the abused boatman. "Let +me--do!" + +"You are very kind, Miss Mallory," said Jarley. + +The captain of the Go-Ahead Club leaped lightly down into the +_Coquette_. + +"What's our number--sixteen?" she cried. "Pay off the sheet, Polly. +We're off." Then she added, in a low tone, to the weeping girl in the +stern: "Don't you mind the doctor, Polly--mean old thing! We'll win the +prize in spite of him--you see if we don't." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +UNDER WHITE WINGS + + +Already the catboats were getting off from the starting line, in +rotation of numbers and about two minutes apart. The course was ten +miles (or thereabout) straightaway to the stake-boat, set far out in the +lake--quite out of sight from the decks of the boats about the starting +point--and turning that, to beat back. The wind was free, but not too +strong. The out-and-return course would prove the boats themselves and +the seamanship of their crews. + +Being a free-for-all race, there had been brought together some pretty +odd-looking craft beside the smart, new boats belonging to dwellers in +Braisely Park. But the Jarleys' boat was by no means the worst-looking. + +However, it attracted considerable attention because it was the only +catboat "manned" by girls. + +Wynifred Mallory had done this on impulse, and it was not usual for her +to act in such a way. But her parents had gone home and she had nobody +to ask permission of but Mrs. Havel--and she did not really know where +the Go-Aheads' chaperone was. + +Beside, there wasn't time to ask. The catboats were already getting +under way. The _Coquette_ was almost the last to start. Wyn was not +at all afraid of the task before her, for she had helped Dave sail his +cousin's catboat on the Wintinooski many times. She knew how to 'tend +sheet. + +The Go-Aheads and Busters recognized Wyn, and began to cheer her and +Polly before the _Coquette_ came to the line. Other onlookers +caught sight of the two girls, and whether they knew the crew of the +_Coquette_ or not, gave them a good "send-off." + +Polly had accepted Wyn's help quietly, but with a look that Wyn was not +likely to forget. It meant much to the Jarleys if the _Coquette_ +won the twenty-five dollars. They needed every dollar they could +honestly earn. + +The boatman's daughter did not stop then to thank her friend. Instead +she gave her brief, but plain, instructions as to what she was to do, +and Wyn went about her work in a practical manner. + +The catboat was sixteen feet over all, with its mast stepped well +forward, of course, carrying a large fore-and-aft sail with gaff and +boom. A single person _can_ sail a cat all right; but to get speed +out of one, and manoeuver quickly, it takes a sheet-tender as well as +a steersman. + +"Sixteen!" shouted the starter's assistant through his megaphone, and +Polly brought the _Coquette_ about and shot towards the starter's +boat. + +The boatman's girl had held off some distance from the line. Number +Fifteen had just crossed and was now swooping away on her first tack +toward the distant stake-boat. The momentum the _Coquette_ obtained +racing down to the line was what Polly wanted. + +"Go!" shouted the starter, looking at his watch and comparing it with +the timekeeper's. + +The _Coquette_ flashed past the line of motor-boats and smaller +craft that lined the course for some distance. The course was not very +well policed and one of the small steamers, with a party of +excursionists aboard, got right in the way of the racing boats. + +"Look out, Wynnie!" shouted Polly. "I'm going to tack to pass those +boats." + +Wyn fell flat on the decked-over portion of the _Coquette_, and the +boom swung across. With gathering speed the catboat flew on and on. +Although her sail was patched, and she was shabby-looking in the +extreme, the _Coquette_ showed her heels that day to many handsomer +craft. + +The various boats raced with each other--first one ahead, and then +another. There were not many important changes in the positions of the +contesting boats, however, until the stake-boat was reached. + +But Number Sixteen passed Thirteen, Fifteen, and Twelve for good and +all, before five miles of the course were sailed. The _Coquette_, +when once she had dropped an opponent behind, never was caught by it. + +Wyn was on the _qui vive_ every moment. She sprang to obey Captain +Polly's commands, and the latter certainly knew how to sail a catboat. +She never let an advantage slip. She tacked at just the right time. Yet +she sailed very little off the straight course. + +The motor boats and steamboats came hooting after the racing catboats +that their passengers might have a good view of the contest. These +outside boats were a deal of a nuisance, and two of the tail-enders in +the race dropped out entirely because of the closeness of the pleasure +boats' pursuit. + +[Illustration: THE _COQUETTE_ SHOT OVER THE COURSE, LIKE A GREAT +SWOOPING BIRD. _Page 212._] +"But they couldn't win anyway," Polly confided to Wynifred. "Get a +bucket of water, dear. Dip it right up. That's right! Now throw it on +the sail. Another! Another! It will hold the wind better if it is wet." + +"What a scheme!" cried Wyn. "Oh, Polly! I wish you lived in Denton and +went to our school and belonged to the Go-Ahead Club." + +But Polly only shook her head. That was beyond the reach of possibility +for her, she believed. But she thanked Wyn for suggesting it. + +Neither girl let her attention to the present business fail, however. +They were on their mettle, being the only girls in the race. + +Some of the other crews had jollied them at the start; but the old +_Coquette_ passed first one and then another of the competing +boats, and none of the other craft passed her. + +Because of the fact that the boats had started about two minutes apart +it was rather difficult to tell which was really winning. The leading +boats were still far ahead when the _Coquette_ rounded the +stake-boat. + +Polly took the turn as shortly as any craft in the race--and as cleanly. +The _Coquette_ made a long leg of her first tack, then a short one. +Whereas it seemed as though at first the other craft were crowding Polly +and Wyn close, in a little while the _Coquette_ was shown to be +among the flock of leading craft! + +"Only Numbers One, Three, Four, Seven, and Nine ahead of us, Polly +Jolly!" reported Wynifred. "And we're Sixteen! Why, it's wonderful! We +are sailing two lengths to one of some of them, I verily believe!" + +"But Conningsby's _Elf_, and the _Pretty Sue_ are good +sailers--I've watched 'em," said Polly. "And the _Waking Up_ is +splendidly manned. If our sail would only hold the wind! It's a regular +old sieve." + +Wyn splashed bucket after bucket of water into the bellying sail. On the +long tacks the _Coquette_ shot over the course like a great, +swooping bird. When she passed near one of the excursion boats the +spectators cheered the two girls vociferously. + +Half-way back to the starting boat the _Happy Day_, into which the +Go-Aheads and all the Busters had piled, shot alongside the racing +catboat manned by the two girls, and from that point on their friends +"rooted" for the _Coquette_. + +The _Coquette_ passed Numbers Seven and Nine; It did seem as though +she must have sailed the course fast enough to bring her well up among +the leaders, so many higher numbers than her own had been passed. + +But Wyn and Polly were not sure, when they crossed the line, how they +stood in the race. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE CANOE RACE + + +Dave Shepard, at the wheel of the _Happy Day_, ran directly behind +the judges' boat and stopped. + +"Who won?" cried the boys, in chorus. "Where does Number Sixteen stand?" + +"How can we tell you until all the boats are in?" returned one of the +gentlemen, smiling. + +"Of course we know," declared Dr. Shelton. "And you are quite right to +cheer them, boys. The _Coquette_ is 'way ahead of everything +else--those two girls are corkers!" + +Instantly the Busters and the Go-Aheads began to cheer anew. The older +members of their party aboard the _Sissy Radcliffe_ took up the +chorus. Wyn Mallory and Polly Jarley had beaten out the other catboats +in the dingy old craft, and had won the twenty-five-dollar prize. + +"It's all for you, dear," cried Wyn, when Polly kissed and thanked her. +"Of course I don't need the money, while you and your father do. You'll +take it from me--for friendship's sake, dear?" + +"Yes, Wyn. From _you_," returned the boatman's daughter, with +trembling lips. + +"And now you are coming to try for the canoe prize, too? That will be a +five-dollar gold piece. But you will have to fight all us Go-Ahead girls +for it. I shall beat you myself, if I can," laughed Wynifred. + +Dave had rushed the motor boat over to the landing and he got Wyn's and +Polly's canoes into the water. The whistle had blown for the girls' +canoe race the minute before, and the other girls were out on the lake. + +Altogether there were forty-three canoes. Some were birchbarks like +Polly's; but the large majority were cedar boats. + +"Birchbarks line up at Dr. Shelton's landing!" bellowed the starter's +voice through his megaphone. "Get me? Shelton's landing!" + +Polly and the few other girls who had the Indian canoes waved their +hands and got into position. They kept a pretty straight line. + +"Now at the starting line here for you cedars!" cried the man, and Wyn, +with her five mates, and the rest of the girl canoeists from all about +the lake, tried to obey the command. + +But there were so many of them that it was not altogether easy to get +into line. Nearly forty canoes were "some bunch," to quote the slangy +Frank, who was, by the way, just as eager as any of the other +contestants. + +Although Frank believed that Wyn, and perhaps Bess, as well as Polly and +Grace, had a better chance than _she_ of winning the race; there +was, of course, a chance of the very best canoeist getting a spill and +so being put out of the race. + +It is not always the best paddler who wins; there is too much +uncertainty in handling the "tippy" craft--especially in moments of +excitement, and among many other similar craft. + +So there was hope for any and all. The eager faces of the girls in the +canoes showed it. They scuffled somewhat to get place on the line; but +the entries had all been numbered, so it was merely a case of getting in +right and leaving enough space on either side of one's bobbing canoe. + +One of the starters was pulled up and down the line in a skiff to +criticise. Not every girl was as fair-minded to her opponents as the +girls from Green Knoll Camp, and there was some little bickering before +the starter shouted for the whole crowd--both cedars and birches--to get +ready. + +"At the shot, remember," he cried through the megaphone. "Once around +the stake-boat, to the right, and return. The birchbarks finish at this +line, like the cedars. Now!" + +A moment later the pistol shot rang out. There was a splash of +paddles--even a clash of them, for some of the girls were too near each +other and too eager. + +The spectators cheered--the boys from Gannet Island doing especially +well in that line. They were determined to root indiscriminately for the +girls of Green Knoll Camp. + +But within a very few minutes Dave Shepard shouted to his friends: + +"Look what's coming up, fellows! See Polly!" + +"Polly Jolly!" yelled the excitable Ferd. "Is that her in the first +birchbark?" + +"Of course it is," responded Tubby Blaisdell. "Well! did you ever see a +girl like that before? Look at those arms. She's got better biceps than +_you_ have, Dave, m' boy!" + +For the girls were in their bathing dresses and Polly's bare arms were +displayed to the best advantage as she flashed past the motor boat. Her +face was set--her eyes bright. And she weaved back and forth as she +drove the paddle with the steadiness of a machine. + +"Hooray for Polly Jolly!" yelled Ferd Roberts, again. + +The Busters took up the chorus. They could not restrain their +enthusiasm, for the pace at which Polly was overhauling the cedar boats +was really marvelous. + +Of course, it was a foregone conclusion that some of the contestants +would drop out. These canoes Polly passed as though they were standing +still. + +In the lead were Wyn, Bess, Grace, Frank, and half a dozen other girls +from about the lake. There were already two spills, and several slight +collisions followed. The handicap on the birch canoes was really greater +than was expected, for being in the rear, they had to dodge all the +overset boats and the other paddlers who did not know enough to keep out +of the course. + +But Polly Jarley had taken the outside and she shot by all the trouble +easily. She was soon clinging to the skirts of the head canoes and it +looked, before the turn, as though she would soon be in the lead +herself. + +Up ahead Wyn and Bess and Grace were struggling almost neck and neck +with two strange girls. The captain of the Go-Aheads wanted to win--she +wanted to do so very much. She was a good sport, and therefore a good +loser; but that does not necessarily mean that one _likes_ to lose. + +Bessie Lavine was paddling splendidly for her--it was evidently one of +her good days. Frank Cameron had fallen behind--indeed, she had clashed +with another girl and both were out of the race. + +Grace Hedges was almost as big and strong as Polly Jarley; but she +lacked the training of the boatman's daughter. Polly was used to hard +work every day of her life. That is different from gymwork and a little +paddling, or swimming, or other athletic fun a few times a week. + +But Grace was doing finely and she even might have won had she not tried +unwisely to pass one of her rivals. Her paddle clashed with that of the +other girl. Both canoeists were straining hard--and their tempers were a +bit strained, too. + +"I wish you'd look where you're going, Miss!" snapped the other girl, +and before Grace could return the compliment--had she so wished--the two +canoes crashed together and both girls were spilled into the lake. + +There was no danger in these spills. Two motor boats followed behind and +picked up the swamped contestants. + +But before Grace was picked up she saw Polly Jarley flash by in the +birchbark. There were but three cedar boats ahead of the boatman's +daughter, and all were coming down the return course, the paddlers +straining to do their very best. + +Wyn had a splendid, even stroke; Bess was getting heated, and bit her +lip as she paddled. It always hurt Bess when she lost. Up from the rear +Polly urged her birchbark with long, steady heaves that seemed to prove +her magnificent muscles tireless. + +The spectators began to shout for the boatman's daughter. They saw that +she was making a magnificent attempt to win the race. + +But when Wyn heard them shouting for another number rather than her +own--she did not notice which!--she put forth every ounce of spare +strength she possessed. + +Bess was left behind by the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. Her canoe +quivering, her paddle actually bending under her work, Wyn dashed on. +Bess and the other girl were out of the race--hopelessly. It lay between +Wyn and the birchbark canoe. + +Polly did not withhold her paddle when she saw her friend dart ahead; it +was a perfectly fair race. But the boatman's girl had done so well at +first, considering her handicap and all, that there was little wonder if +she could not keep up the gruelling work. She had no reserve force, as +Wyn had. + +The latter dashed over the mark with undiminished speed. Polly only +halted long enough to congratulate her. + +"It's dear of you to be glad, Polly, when I know you wanted the prize," +cried Wyn. "But we couldn't both have it." + +"You have helped me enough to-day, Wynifred," replied Polly, softly. +"Now father and I will go home. He told me how it would be, if he came +down here; but at least we won the big prize, thanks to you, and money +means so much to us now!" + +The day was not over yet for the Go-Aheads and the Busters, although the +races were finished. Somehow the news was spread among the campers on +Gannet Island and Green Knoll that there was to be a "grand treat" at +the ice-cream tables, and they gathered "like eagles to the kill," +Frankie poetically declared. + +The waiter brought heaping dishes of cream, there were nice cakes, and +Tubby's unctuous smile at one end of the table radiated cheer. They were +all very jolly and nobody asked who was to pay the piper until the +waiter gravely brought Dave Shepard the check and a slip of paper. + +"Hi! did _I_ order this feed?" demanded Dave, startled by the size +of the check. + +"I was ordered to give the check to you--and the paper," quoth the +waiter, calmly. + +"Gee, Dave! somebody's stung you!" croaked Tubby, with his mouth still +full. + +Dave unfolded the paper slowly, and read in his own handwriting: "I bet +an ice-cream treat all around to the Go-Ahead girls that your curiosity +would not permit you to leave this alone." + +"You don't deny your own handwriting; do you, sir?" queried the waiter, +with a perfectly grave face. "I served the company on that order, Mr. +Shepard." + +"That Wyn Mallory! She got me!" groaned Dave, and paid up like a man. + +"But what's the use of trying to put a joke over on those girls?" he +said to Tubby afterward. "They're always turning the tables on a +fellow." + +"Very good table, too--very good table," agreed Tubby, smacking his +lips. "But you're so reckless with your promises, Dave." + +Mr. Lavine's man took the _Happy Day_ and the canoes back to camp, +while the whole party of young folk piled aboard the larger +_Sissy_. They had a fine time sailing down the lake and reached the +Cave-in-the-Wood Camp at late supper time. + +There was still light enough on the water for the voyagers to see a boat +rocking on the waves in the little cove where Polly Jarley had first +been introduced to the two canoe clubs. + +"And that's Polly and her father there now," said Dave, quickly. + +"Yes. It's the _Coquette_," agreed Wyn. + +"What are they doing in there?" asked Frankie. "See! he is standing up +and gesticulating--not to us. He's talking to Polly." + +"That is the place where he had the misfortune to lose Dr. Shelton's +motor boat last winter," said Wyn. "Don't you remember?" + +"You see," Dave cried, "he is showing her the place where the limb fell +again--and the direction the boat must have taken in the fog." + +"A lot _he_ knows where it went," said Tubby, scornfully. "He was +swept overboard, and as far as he knows the _Bright Eyes_ might +have gone right up into the air!" + +"But it didn't explode, you see, nor did it have wings," laughed +Wynifred. "So it took no aerial voyage--we may be sure of that. I'd give +anything to find where it sank." + +"So would I, Wyn," cried Dave. "If we could locate the sunken boat, Mr. +Jarley could easily prove he had neither stolen it nor the silver +images." + +"I'd give something handsome to have the mystery explained, myself," +said Mr. Lavine, suddenly. + +"What would you give, Father?" asked his daughter. + +"I'll tell you," he replied, smiling. "I understand both of your +clubs--the Go-Aheads and the Busters--are anxious to really _own_ a +motor boat. Frank Dumont, here, tells me he has got to go home with the +_Happy Day_ to-morrow, as his vacation is ended. + +"Now, I'll make you boys and girls an offer," pursued Mr. Lavine, more +earnestly. "You'll hunt in packs, anyway--the boys together and the +girls together. If the girls find the sunken boat I'll present them with +a motor boat as good as the _Happy Day_; and if the boys have the +luck, then the boat shall belong to the Busters. What say?" + +"We say 'Thanks!'" cried Dave, instantly. + +"_We_ think it is very handsome of you, sir," declared Wyn, coming +over to the gentleman and taking his hand. "And I know why you do it, +sir--so I thank you twice. If poor Mr. Jarley could be absolved of Dr. +Shelton's accusation, it would help a whole lot." + +"Humph!" muttered Mr. Lavine, "I heard Shelton going on about Jarley +myself to-day, and it made me ashamed--I'm free to own it. I never +_did_ think John as bad as all that!" + +"It sounds different when you hear somebody else say it," whispered Dave +in Wynifred's ear. + +Mr. Lavine's proposal, however, met with enthusiastic favor on the part +of both clubs. A motor boat would be just the finest thing to own! Both +boys and girls determined to find the lost _Bright Eyes_ before the +season was out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WAY OF THE WIND + + +"Did you know," said Professor Skillings, visiting Camp Green Knoll with +the Busters several days later, "that there are several thousand Poles +in the Wintinooski Valley?" + +"You surprise me," remarked Mrs. Havel. + +"Fine things to grow beans on, Professor," declared Dave, coming up with +a brimming bucket of water from the spring. + +"Not the right kind of poles, my boy--not the right kind of poles," said +the professor, smiling gently, and offering Mrs. Havel a cocoanut-cup of +the sparkling water. "You see what a misunderstanding of terms will do," +the professor added, in his argumentative way. "A little +knowledge--especially a little scientific knowledge--is a dangerous +thing." + +"You are right, Professor," cried Tubby, who was within hearing +distance. "Did you hear about what Dr. Mackenzie's servant girl did?" + +"Dr. Mackenzie is very erudite," commented the professor, dreamily. + +"That's right. Anyhow, the girl heard a lot of talk about bugs, and +grubs, and germs, and the like--and it proves just what Professor +Skillings says about the danger of knowing a little science." + +"How's that, Tubby?" queried one of the interested young folk. + +"Why, one day the doctor's wife asked this servant for a glass of water, +and the girl brought it. + +"'It has a very peculiar taste, Mary,' said Mrs. Mackenzie. + +"'Sure, ma'am, it's all right, ma'am. There ain't a germ in it, for I +ran it through the colander before I brought it to you, ma'am!' says +Mary. Oh, Mary had picked up some scientific notions, all right, all +right!" + +"I believe there would be more breeze up on Windmill Farm," observed +Wynifred Mallory. + +"Wish I was up there, then," growled Tubby, who had quite collapsed +after telling his joke. + +"Let's go!" suggested Frankie. + +"There will be plenty of wind bye and bye," said Dave, thoughtfully +eyeing the clouds on the horizon. + +"Listen to the weather prophet," scoffed Ferdinand. + +"I tell you!" cried Frankie, jumping up. "Let's go up into the windmill +and see how far one can really _see_ from that height. The farmer's +wife says it is a great view--doesn't she, Wyn?" + +"I'm game," responded Wyn. "We'll be no warmer walking than we are +sitting here talking about the heat." + +She and Frankie and Dave started off ahead; but Tubby would not come, +nor would Grace Hedges. The others, however, saw some prospect of +amusement and were willing to pay the price. + +They began to be paid for their walk as soon as they came out into the +open fields of Windmill Farm. A little breeze had sprung up and, +although it was fitful at first, it soon grew to a steady wind from +across the lake. + +The distant haze was dissipated, and when the boys and girls reached the +top of the hill they were glad they had come. + +"I bet we have a storm bye and bye," Dave said. "But isn't the air up +here cool?" + +"Let's climb up into the loft," Frank urged. "The farmer's wife said we +could." + +"They're all away from home to-day," Wyn said. "But I don't believe they +will mind. When we came up for the milk this morning Mrs. Prosser told +us they were going on a Sunday school picnic." + +"I'd like to set the old thing to working," remarked the inquisitive +Ferdinand. "What do you know about it, Dave?" + +"It starts by throwing in this clutch," replied the bigger boy, just +inside the door. "If the wind keeps on the farmer will probably grind a +grist when he comes back. You see, there are several bags of corn and +wheat yonder." + +The girls were already finding their way up the dusty ladders, from loft +to loft of the tower. Frank got to the top floor first and called out +her delight at the view. + +"Come on up!" she cried. "There is plenty of room. It's bigger up here +than you think--and the breeze is nice. There are two windows, and that +makes a fine draught." + +The boys trooped up behind the Go-Aheads--all but Ferdinand. But none of +them missed him for some minutes. + +What a view was obtained from the window of the mill! The whole panorama +of Lake Honotonka and its shores, with a portion of the Wintinooski +Valley, lay spread like a carpet at their feet--woods and fields, +cultivated land in the foreground, the rocky ridges of Gannet Island, +Jarley's Landing, the Forge, the steep shore of the lake beyond the +Wintinooski, and so around to the fine houses in Braisely Park and the +smoke of the big city to the west. + +In the midst of their exclamations there came a sudden jar through the +heavily-timbered building that startled them. + +"What's that?" cried Mina. + +"An earthquake!" laughed Frankie. + +"It's the sails!" yelled Dave, starting for the ladder. "What are you +doing down there, Ferd?" + +The groaning and shaking continued. The arms of the windmill were going +round and round--every revolution increasing their speed. + +"Stop that, Ferd!" shouted Dave again, starting to descend the ladder. + +"Isn't that just like a boy?" demanded Bess, in disgust. "He just +_had_ to fool with the machinery." + +"What do you suppose the miller will say?" queried Wyn, anxiously. + +The roar of the whirling arms almost drowned their voices. The wind had +increased to a brisk breeze. With the sails so well filled the arms +turned at top-notch speed. The tower shook as though it were about to +tumble down. + +"Oh, dear me!" moaned Mina, the timid one. "Let us get out of here." + +"Why doesn't Dave make him stop it?" shouted Frankie. + +"Why doesn't the foolish Ferd stop it himself?" was Wyn's demand. + +The other boys were already tumbling down the ladder, and the girls +followed as fast as possible. It was rather dark below, and when they +came to the ground floor, it was full of dancing dust-particles. Dave +and Ferd were busy over the machinery near the door. + +"Can't you stop it, Dave?" shrieked Percy. + +"The confounded thing is broken!" announced Dave, in disgust. + +"Goodness me!" cried Frank. "I want to get out of here." + +She started for the door; but Wyn grabbed her just in time. Past the +open door whirled the sails of the mill--one after the other--faster and +faster. And so close were the sails to the doorway that there was not +room for the very smallest of the Go-Ahead girls to get out without +being struck. + +Dave stared around at the others. It was almost impossible to hear each +other speak--and what was there to say? Each boy and girl realized the +situation in which Ferd's meddling had placed them. + +Until the wind subsided they were prisoners in the tower. + +Ferd Roberts subsided into a corner, and hid his face in his hands. He +had done something that scared his inquisitive soul to the very bottom. + +He had started the sails, and then, in trying to throw out the clutch, +he had started the millstones as well. _They_ made most of this +noise that almost deafened them. + +Finally, however, Dave pushed the power belt from the flywheel, and the +stones stopped turning; but there was no way of stopping the sails. To +step outside the door was to court instant death, and until the wind +stopped blowing it seemed as though there would be no escape. + +"And the wind blows sometimes two or three days at a stretch!" cried +Frankie. + +"It's lucky Tubby isn't up here with us," Dave said, grimly. "He would +want to cast lots at once to see which one of the party should be eaten +first." + +"Ugh! don't joke like that, Dave," begged Mina. "Maybe we _will_ be +dreadfully hungry before we get out of this place." + +"I'm hungry now," announced Frankie. + +"It _is_ near time for luncheon," agreed Wyn. + +"'Luncheon'! Huh!" ejaculated Dave. "I s'pose that's the feminine of +'lunch.' I could eat a stack of pancakes and a whole can of beans right +now. I'm too hungry for any mere 'luncheon.'" + +"Oh, dear! It's so hot down here," sighed Percy. "If we've got to stay, +let's go upstairs again, where there is some air stirring." + +"Let's wave a signal from the window. Maybe somebody will see it and +come to our rescue," suggested Frank. + +"And what could they do?" demanded Wyn, "These sails can't be stopped +from the outside; can they, Dave?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Dave. "If there was a tree near, a fellow +might tie a kedge rope to it, and then throw the kedge over one of the +arms. But that would tear the machinery all to pieces, I suppose, it +would stop it with such a jerk." + +Just then Mina Everett uttered a shrill cry of alarm. "Look! Look!" she +cried. "It's afire! We'll burn up in here! Oh, oh, Wynnie! what shall we +do?" + +The others turned, aghast There _was_ blue smoke spurting out +around the shaft above their heads. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE PRISONERS OF THE TOWER + + +"Fire!" cried Percy Havel. "Oh! what _shall_ we do?" + +"Well, your yelling about it won't put it out," snapped Frank. + +But Dave Shepard had sprung up the ladder and immediately announced the +trouble. + +"The axle is getting overheated. See that can of oil yonder, Ferd? Come +out of your trance and do something useful, boy! Quick! hand me the +can." + +But it was Wyn who got it to him. Dave quickly refilled the oil cups and +squirted some of the lubricant into the cracks about the shaft. The +smoke immediately drifted away. + +"The rest of you go up where it's cooler," he commanded. "I will remain +here and play engineer. And for goodness' sake, pray for the wind to die +down!" + +The situation was really serious; nobody among the prisoners of the +tower knew what to do. + +While the wind swung the arms of the mill round and round, there was no +chance to get out. Not that they did not all cudgel their brains within +the next hour to that end. There were enough suggestions made to lead to +a dozen escapes; only--none of the suggestions were practical. + +It was less noisy, now that Dave had stopped the millstones; but the +building continued to tremble, and the great wheel to creak. + +"What a donkey the man was to let them cut his door right behind the +arms," exclaimed Frankie. + +"And with no proper means of stopping the sails from inside, once the +wind began to blow," added Percy. + +"No. That's my fault," admitted Ferdinand. "I broke the gear some way." + +"Well, if we only had an axe," said one of the other boys, "we might cut +our way out of the building on the side opposite the door." + +But Dave had already searched the mill for tools. There wasn't even a +rope. Had there been, they could have let themselves down from the high +window to the ground. + +"It should be against the law to build windmills without proper +fire-escapes," declared Frank, trying to laugh. + +But it was hard to joke about the matter. It looked altogether too +serious. + +The wind continued to blow steadily--a little harder, indeed, as time +passed; but the sun grew hotter. It came noon, and they knew that those +at Green Knoll Camp had long since expected them back. + +Finally a figure appeared upon the path far down the hill. They +recognized Tubby Blaisdell trudging painfully up the slope in the hot +sun, evidently an unwilling messenger from Mrs. Havel and Professor +Skillings. + +They began to shout to Tubby, although they knew very well it was +useless. He couldn't have heard their voices down there, even if the +windmill hadn't made so much noise. + +But the girls fluttered their hats from the window and, bye and bye, the +stolid fat youth, glancing up while he mopped his brow, caught sight of +the signals. He halted, glared up at the window from under his hand, and +then hurried his steps. + +"Oh, you Tubby!" shouted Frank, at last, thrusting her tousled curls out +of the window. "Can't you help us?" + +He heard these words, and looked more bewildered than ever. + +"Say! what do you want?" he bellowed up at them. "Don't ask me to climb +up those ladders, for I can't. And Mrs. Havel and the prof. say for you +to come back to camp. They think a storm is coming. Besides--aren't you +hungry?" + +"Hungry! why, Tub," yelled down Ferd, "if we could only get at you, we'd +eat you alive!" + +Tubby looked more than a little startled, and glanced behind him to see +that the way of retreat was clear. + +"Well, why don't you come down and get your lunch, then?" demanded young +Blaisdell. + +"We can't," said Wyn, and she explained their predicament. + +"Can't stop those sails?" gasped Tubby. "Why--why--Where's the man who +owns the old contraption?" + +They explained further. Tubby went around to the other side and caught a +glimpse of Dave playing engineer. The chums shouted back and forth to +each other for some time. + +Tubby wanted to see if he couldn't stop the sails by making a grab at +them. + +"You do it, Tubby, and the blamed things will throw you a mile through +the air," declared Dave. "Besides, we don't want to smash the farmer's +mill. We have done enough harm as it is. So, there's no use in backing +one of those heavy wagons into it and wrecking the sails. No. I guess +we've got to stand it here for a while." + +They heard one of the girls calling, and Tubby lumbered around to see +Frankie gesticulating from the window. + +"Oh, Tubby! don't leave us to starve--and we're so _awfully_ +thirsty, too," cried Wyn, pushing her friend to one side. "Get us a +bucket of water from the well, first of all." + +"Gee! how am I going to get it up to you--throw it?" cackled the fat +youth. + +"You get the bucket--and a rope," commanded Wyn. + +"But if he can throw a rope up to us, we can get out of this fix," +Ferdinand cried. "Can't we, Dave?" he asked of his captain, who had come +up the ladders for a breath of fresh air. + +"Tubby couldn't throw a coil of rope for a cent. He couldn't learn to +use a lasso, you know." + +"And we girls could not get down on a rope," objected Bess. + +"We could lower you," Ferd declared. + +"It would have to be a pretty strong rope," said Dave. "And maybe there +isn't anything bigger than clothes line about the farm." + +Which proved to be the case. At least, Tubby could find nothing else and +finally brought the brimming bucket and the line he had found on the +drying green behind the farmhouse. + +"I can't throw the thing up so high," complained Tubby, after two or +three attempts. + +"Wait!" commanded Wyn. + +"Hold on! Wynnie's great mind is at work." + +"Everybody sit down and unlace his or her shoes. I want the lacings," +declared Wynifred. + +"Hurray!" exclaimed Ferd. "Wait a bit, Tubby; don't wear your poor +little self to a grease spot trying to throw that rope over the mill." + +Tubby, nothing loath, sat down and breathed heavily. The day _was_ +hot in spite of the high wind. + +Wyn got all the shoe strings and tied them together, with a bolt +fastened to the lower end for a sinker, and let it down to the ground. +There Tubby attached the end of the clothes line and they pulled it up. +It was long enough, and strong enough, and Dave carefully raised the +bucket of water--and oh! how good it tasted to the thirsty prisoners. + +They were all provided with cups, for the Academy teachers and the +Denton mothers were rather insistent on that point. + +"But, oh, golly!" burst forth Frank, "if they'd only made us always +carry an emergency ration." + +"We didn't expect to be cast away on a desert island in this fashion," +said Dave. + +But Wyn had another idea. + +"There are melons on the back porch. I saw them there this morning. Go +get us a lot, Tubby. Send 'em up by the bucket-full. And there are +tomatoes in the garden, and some summer apples on that tree by the fence +corner. We'll make it all right with Mrs. Prosser. Why, say! we sha'n't +starve." + +"I'll get you some eggs if you want 'em," suggested the willing youth. +"I hear the hens cackling." + +But all objected to raw eggs and thought the melons and fresh tomatoes +would suffice. + +"You go back to camp and report," ordered Dave, through the window. "The +prof, and Mrs. Havel will be having conniption fits if these girls don't +show up pretty soon. Tell 'em we're all right--but goodness knows we +want the wind to stop blowing." + +It did not seem, however, as though the wind had any such intention. +After Tubby Blaisdell departed it blew even stronger. + +It was hard to keep the whole party in good temper. The imprisonment was +getting on their nerves. Besides, the sky was growing darker, although +it was not yet mid-afternoon; and not long after the fat youth was out +of sight, heavy drops of rain began to fall. + +Rather, the wind whipped the raindrops in at the tower window. Patter, +patter, patter, they fell, faster and faster, and in the distance +thunder rumbled. + +The picnicking farmers should be home ahead of this storm; yet, if they +came, they could not stop the sails of the windmill. The shaft groaned +and smoked, but Dave kept the oil cups filled. + +Nearer and nearer came the thunder, and the lightning began to flash. +Some of the girls were frightened. Nor was this a pleasant place in +which to be imprisoned during an electrical storm. The tall, revolving +arms seemed just the things to attract the lightning. + +They all were glad--boys as well as girls--to retire to the ground floor +of the mill while the elements shrieked overhead and the rain pounded +upon the roof and the sails. It was really a most unpleasant situation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WYN HITS SOMETHING + + +In the midst of the storm a voice hailed them from outside. Dave went to +the doorway and saw--through the falling rain--Farmer Prosser, standing +by his horses' heads. He had just brought his family home from the +picnic and they had scurried into the house. + +"What are you doing in there?" demanded the farmer. "Can't you stop the +sails?" + +Dave explained, making it as light for Ferd as possible. + +"Well! I've been expecting something like this ever since the mill was +put up. We can't do anything about it now. But I believe the wind will +shift soon. And if it does, perhaps I can stop the sails from outside +here." + +It was nearly dark, however, and quite supper-time, before the farmer's +prophecy came true. Then the rain suddenly ceased to fall (the thunder +and lightning had long since rolled away into the distance) and the wind +dropped. + +The farmer and his man rigged a brake to fall against the narrow breadth +of shaft which extended outside of the mill wall, and so brought +pressure to bear upon the revolving axle. This helped bring the sails to +a stop. + +How thankfully the Go-Aheads and the Busters got out of that tower, it +would be difficult to express. Professor Skillings had started up +through the rain to see what he could do; but on the way he had picked +up a white pebble washed out of the roadside by the rain, and there +being something peculiar about it, he stopped under a hedge to examine +it by the light of his pocket lamp. Then he must needs proceed with his +ever-present geological hammer to break the stone in two. Long after +dark his electric lamp was flashing down there on the hillside like some +huge wavering firefly. + +Not that he could have done a thing to help his young friends. Mrs. +Prosser, the farmer's wife, had the most practical idea of anybody; for, +the minute the boys and girls were out of the mill, she insisted that +they troop into the farmhouse kitchen and there sit down to her long +table and "get outside of" great bowls of milk and bread, with a host of +ginger cookies on the side. + +So the incident ended happily after all, though Ferdinand Roberts's +spirits drooped for several days. It was well for him to suffer in +spirit--as Frankie said: it might teach him a lesson. And he had to pay +the farmer for the damage he had done to the machinery. + +Ferdinand never had any money. He spent his allowance in advance, +borrowing of the other Busters whenever he could. When he got money from +home he had to sit down and apportion it all out to his creditors, and +then had to begin borrowing again. + +He had hard work scraping together the wherewithal to pay Mr. Prosser; +but the boys made it up for him, and the girls would have helped--only +Dave Shepard had instilled it into Ferd's mind that it was not honorable +to borrow from a girl. + +However, having cleaned his own pocket and strained his credit to the +snapping point, Ferdinand was over at the Forge with Tubby a couple of +days afterward and beheld something in a store window that he thought he +wanted. + +"Oh, Tubby!" he cried. "Lend me half a dollar; will you? I must have +that." + +Tubby looked at him out of heavy-lidded eyes, and croaked: "Snow again, +brother; I don't get your drift!" + +When Ferd went from one to the other of his mates they all refused--if +not quite as slangily as the fat youth, Ferd found himself actually a +pauper, with all lines of credit shut to him. It made him serious. + +"If all you fellows, and the old prof., should suddenly die on me up +here--what would I do?" gasped Ferd. "Why--I'd have to walk home!" + +"Or swim," said Dave, heartlessly. "You'd pawn your canoe, I s'pose." + +Speaking of swimming, that was an art in which several of the boys, as +well as Bessie Lavine and Mina Everett, needed practice. Beside the +early morning dip, both clubs often held swimming matches either at +Green Knoll Camp, or off the boys' camp on Gannet Island. + +The boys built a good diving raft and anchored it in deep water after +much hard work. The good swimmers among the girls--especially Wyn and +Grace--liked to paddle over to the raft and dive from it. + +Late in the afternoon the Go-Aheads had come to the raft in their canoes +dressed only in their bathing suits, and found that the boys had gone +off on some excursion, and that even Professor Skillings was not in +sight at Cave-in-the-Wood Camp. + +"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Bess, with satisfaction. "Now we can have a good +time without those trifling boys bothering us. I'm going to learn to +dive properly, Wyn." + +"Sure," returned her friend and captain, encouragingly. "Now's the +time," and she gave Bess a good deal of attention for some few minutes. + +The other girls disported themselves in the deep water to their vast +enjoyment. Bessie learned a good bit about diving and finally sat upon +the edge of the float to rest. + +Wyn dived overboard. + +She had taken a long slant out from the float, but once under the +surface she turned and went deeper. She was like an otter in the water, +and having stuffed her ears with cotton she felt prepared to remain +below a long time. + +Once she had opened her eyes while diving with Bess, and she thought she +saw a shadowy something on the bottom of the lake that was neither a +boulder nor a waterlogged snag. + +She beat her way to the bottom as rapidly as possible; but the light did +not follow her. She could see nothing when she opened her eyes. It +seemed as though something overshadowed her. + +The water was tugging at her; she could not remain below for long. But +as she turned to drift up again, her shoulder touched something. She +struck out and reached it. But the blow really pushed her away and she +floated upward toward the surface. + +When she paddled to the raft she was panting, and Frank demanded: + +"What's the matter, Wyn? You look as if you'd seen a ghost I believe you +stay down too long." + +"No," gasped Wyn. "I--I hit something." + +"What was it?" + +"Why--why, it looked like a wagon. 'Twas something." + +"I suppose so!" laughed Frank. "Wagon with a load of hay on it--eh?" + +Wyn said nothing more. She sat upon the float, with her knees drawn up +and hugged in her brown arms, and thought. The other girls could get +nothing out of her. + +She wasn't dreaming, however. She was thinking to a serious purpose. + +It _had_ looked like a wagon--as much as it looked like anything +else. But, of course, she had seen it very dimly. She knew by the touch +that it was of wood; but it was no waterlogged tree, although there was +slime upon it It was not rough; but smooth. + +Of course, it wasn't a wagon. Nor was it a huge box. Neither wagon nor +box could have got out here, fifteen or twenty rods off Gannet Island. + +Wyn glanced over toward the island and saw that she could look right +into the cove where John Jarley had met with his accident. According to +the boatman's story, as he went overboard from the motor boat he gave +the wheel a twist that should have shot her directly out of the cove +toward the middle of the lake. + +"But suppose the boat didn't respond, after all, to the twist of the +wheel?" Wyn was thinking. "Or, suppose the slant of the rudder was not +as great as he supposed?" + +She fixed in her mind about the spot where the thing lay she had hit, +and then glanced back to the tree on the bank of the cove, that showed +the long scar where the branch was torn off. + +The line between the two was clear. The motor boat might have run out +exactly on that course and missed the wooded point which guarded the +entrance to the cove. + +Suppose the thing she had hit when she dived was the _Bright Eyes_, +Dr. Shelton's lost motor boat? + +Wyn was about to shout to the other girls--to call them around her to +divulge the idea that had come into her mind--when a hail from the water +announced the return of the Busters. + +She remembered Mr. Lavine's promise. The two clubs were rivals in this +matter. Wouldn't it be a fine thing for the Go-Aheads to own a motor +boat all by themselves! + +Wyn got up and dived again. But she did not dive toward the mysterious +something that she had previously found. She swam stoutly instead to +meet the coming Busters. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE NIGHT ALARM + + +Wyn Mallory had "another mind," as the saying is, before the Go-Aheads +left the island and paddled swiftly for their own camp. + +She determined not to say anything to her girl friends of the club about +the sunken object she had hit under the water. Perhaps it was nothing of +any consequence; then they would laugh at her. If it _was_ the lost +motor boat, to tell the girls might spread the story farther than it +ought to be spread at once. + +The Go-Aheads and the Busters were rivals. Mr. Lavine had promised the +prize to whichever club found the sunken boat and the box of silver +images that Dr. Shelton had accused John Jarley of stealing. + +"And it may not be anything, after all," thought Wyn. "It may be a false +alarm. Then the _boys_ would have the laugh on us." + +To make sure of what she had hit when she dived seemed to Wyn to be the +principal thing. And how could she make sure of this without going down +specially to examine the mystery? + +"How under the sun am I going to do that without the boys seeing me?" +she mused. "And if I take the girls into my confidence they will all +want to be there, too--and then sure enough the Busters will catch us at +it. Dear me! I don't know what to do--really." + +She had half a mind to take Frank into her confidence; but, then, Frank +was such a joker. The girls and boys had often talked about hunting for +the missing motor boat; but since Mr. Lavine had gone back to Denton, +after the regatta, neither club had seriously attempted a search for the +_Bright Eyes_. + +Polly had told Wyn how men from Meade's Forge had searched for the boat +when she was first lost; and some of the bateau men had kept up the +search for a long time. Had the motor boat and the silver images been +found, Dr. Shelton might have been obliged to pay a large reward to +obtain them, for not all of the bateau men of the lake were honest. + +"Some of them bothered father a good deal while he was first laid up +from his accident, coming by night and trying to get him to give them +details which he hadn't given to the other searchers. They thought he +must know just where the _Bright Eyes_ was sunk," Polly had told +the captain of the Go-Ahead Club. "But they got tired of that after a +while. They saw he really did not know what had become of the boat." + +Polly! She was the one to confide in, Wyn decided. And the captain of +the Go-Ahead Club did not decide upon this until after the other girls +in the big tent, and Mrs. Havel, were all asleep. Wyn had been awake an +hour wondering what she would better do. + +Now, convinced that the boatman's daughter would be a wiser as well as +safer confidante at this stage than Frank or the others, Wyn wriggled +out of her blanket and seized her bathing suit. It was a beautiful warm +night. She was no more afraid of the woods and lake at this hour than +she was by daylight. + +So she slipped into the suit, got out of the tent without rousing any of +the others, selected her own paddle from the heap by the fireplace, and +ran barefooted down to the shore. It took but a minute to push her canoe +into the water. + +She paddled away around the rushes at the end of the strip of sand below +the knoll, driving the canoe toward the Jarley Landing. Out of the +rushes came a sudden splashing, and some water-fowl, disturbed by her +passing, spattered deeper into hiding. + +Wyn only laughed. The warm, misty night wrapped her around like a cloak; +yet there was sufficient light on the surface of the lake for her to see +her course a few yards ahead. + +_This_ was a real adventure--out in her canoe alone in the dark. +And how fast she made the light craft travel through the still water! + +She reached the landing in a very short time. Hopping out, she hauled up +the canoe. Was that the water splashing--or was there a sound behind her +on the float? Was it a footstep--somebody hastening away? + +Now, for the first time, Wyn felt a little tremor. But she was naturally +too brave to be particularly disturbed by such a fancy. Who would be +lurking about the Jarleys' place at this hour? + +So, after a moment, she shook off her doubt, and ran lightly up the +float and along the path to the little cottage. She knew Polly's window +well enough, and dark as it was, she soon found the spot. + +It was shuttered, and the shutter was bolted on the inside; but Wyn +scratched upon the blind and after doing so a second time she heard a +movement within. + +"Polly!" she breathed. + +She did not want to awaken Mr. Jarley. She just felt that she could not +explain to _him_. Of course, what she had hit under the water might +have nothing to do with the sunken boat, and Wyn shrank from disturbing +the boatman himself about it. + +"Polly!" she exclaimed, again in a whisper, "it's I--Wyn--Wyn Mallory." + +At once she heard her friend's voice in return. The shutter opened. +Polly blinked at Wyn through the darkness. + +"My _dear_! What do you want? What has happened?" asked the girl of +the woods. + +"Come on out--do, Polly. I've got something to tell you. Just put on +your bathing suit," Wyn whispered. + +"For pity's sake! What is it?" + +"Don't awaken your father. Come." + +"Just a minute," whispered the sleepy Polly, and in not much longer than +the time stated she crept through the window. + +"I'd wake father if I went out by the door," she said. "Now come down to +the landing. What are you doing 'way over here at this time o' night?" + +"I have the most surprising thing to tell you." + +"What about?" + +"I wish you'd go over to Gannet Island with me and see if I'm right. The +moon will be up bye and bye; won't it?" + +"Yes. But what do you mean? What is the mystery?" inquired Polly. Then +she seized Wyn's arm and demanded that she "Hush!" although Wyn's lips +were not open at the moment. + +"I declare I thought I heard something just then," whispered Polly. + +"You're bound to hear things in the dark," returned Wyn, cheerfully. + +"But it was somebody coughing." + +"A bird?" ventured Wyn. "I heard one splashing in the sedges as I came +along in the canoe." + +"A bird clearing its throat?" laughed Polly. "Not likely!" + +She did not bother about it again, but squeezed Wyn's arm. "Tell me what +the matter is. It must be something very important to bring you 'way +over here alone at night." + +"That's right. It is," replied Wyn, and she related to Polly the thing +that was troubling her. + +"And, oh, Polly! if that thing I hit under the water should be that +boat----" + +"Oh, Wyn! What would father say?" + +"He'd be delighted. So would we all. And we must find out for sure." + +"I'll tell him in the morning. We'll go there and see----" + +But Wyn stopped her. She showed her how necessary it was for the matter +to be looked into secretly. Mr. Lavine had promised to give a motor boat +to whichever club found the sunken _Bright Eyes_ and the silver +images. And the Busters must not know a thing about it until they were +sure---- + +"Then Mr. Lavine believes father's story about the boat?" burst in +Polly. + +"I believe he does, Polly, dear. I think, Polly, that he would be very, +very glad to have Mr. Jarley cleared of all suspicion. He is sorry for +your father's trouble. I think his attitude, toward your father has +changed from what it must have been at one time." + +"It ought to be!" exclaimed Polly. + +"Of course. But we none of us always do all we ought to do," observed +Wyn mildly. + +"If we are going to try and find that place where you dived to-day, Wyn, +we'd better be about it," Polly urged. + +"You'll go now?" cried Wyn. + +"Of course I will. The boys will be asleep up in their camp. We will +take the _Coquette_. There is a breeze." + +"Let's tow my canoe behind, then," said Wyn, eagerly. "Come on! I'm just +crazy to dive for the thing again. If it _is_ the _Bright +Eyes_----" + +Polly insisted upon hunting out a couple of old blankets to wrap about +them if the wind should turn chill. + +"And after you have been overboard you'll want something to protect you +from the night air," she said. + +"Oh, Polly! do you suppose I can find the place again?" cried Wyn, +infinitely more eager than the boatman's daughter. + +"You say it's right off the boys' float? Well! we can look, I guess." + +"Feel, you mean," laughed Wyn. "For _I_ couldn't see anything down +there even by daylight--it was so deep." + +"All right. We'll look with our hands. I shall know if it's a boat, Wyn, +once I reach it." + +"And I hope it _is_" gasped Wyn. "Not alone for _your_ sake, +Polly. Why, if it is the _Bright Eyes_, the Go-Aheads will own a +motor boat their very own selves. Won't that be fine?" + +But Polly was too busy getting the catboat ready to answer. The +_Coquette_ was moored just a little way off the landing, and the +two girls went out to her in Wyn's canoe. + +There was a lantern in her cuddy and Polly lit it. Then they slipped the +buoyed moorings and spread a little canvas. There was quite a breeze, +and it was fair for their course to Gannet Island. Soon the catboat was +laying over a bit, and the foam was streaking away behind them in a +broad wake. + +"What a lovely night!" sighed Wyn. "And it will be the very gladdest +night I ever saw if that thing I hit proves to be the _Bright +Eyes_." + +Polly had glanced behind them frequently. "Don't you hear anything?" she +asked finally. + +"Hear what?" + +"Hush! that's somebody getting up a sail. Can't you hear it?" + +Wyn listened, and then murmured: "Your ears must be sharper than mine, +Polly. I hear nothing but the slap of the water." + +"No. There is another sailboat under weigh. Where can it be from?" + +"You don't suppose your father was aroused, and is coming after us?" +asked Wyn. + +"Of course not. Beside, the _Coquette_ is the only sailing +boat--except a canoe--that we have at present. The other cat is loaned +for a week. And I heard the hoops creaking on the mast as a heavy sail +went up." + +"Some crowd of fishermen?" suggested Wyn. + +"But where's their light?" + +Wyn stared all around. "You're right," she gasped. "There isn't a single +twinkling lantern--except ashore." + +Polly, sitting in the stern seat, reached for their own lantern and +smothered its rays. "We won't show a gleam, either," she muttered. + +"Why! who could it possibly be?" cried Wyn. "Do you think somebody may +be following us?" + +"I don't know," returned Polly, grimly. "But I thought I heard something +back there at our house. We were talking loud. If those silver images +were worth all Dr. Shelton says they were, there are more than us girls +who would like to find them." + +"My goodness me! I didn't think of _that_," observed Wyn Mallory, +with a little shiver. "Do you suppose we really are being followed?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE STRANGE BATEAU + + +Polly laughed a little. Yet she spoke seriously. + +"You needn't be so worried, Wyn. I know most of the men who do business +on the lake. Some of them are mighty fine fellows, and others are just +the opposite; but I'm not afraid of the worst of them." + +"If they followed us, and we _did_ find the sunken motor boat, +couldn't they grapple for the box of silver images, and steal them?" +demanded Wyn. + +"Not easily. You see, they don't know where the box was stowed. Father +told nobody but me. The _Bright Eyes_ was a good-sized boat, and +they'd have some trouble getting up the box without raising the boat +herself." + +"I suppose that's so," admitted Wyn, less anxiously, as the +_Coquette_ carried them swiftly toward Gannet Island. "But these +men you speak of might interfere with us." + +"Yes. That's so. But they'd get as good as they sent, I reckon," said +Polly, who didn't seem to have a bit of fear. + +Wyn was no coward; she had shown that the time she and Bessie Lavine +were spilled out of their canoes in the middle of the lake. But she had +not lived, like Polly, in the woods with few but rough people for +associates. + +Soon they passed Green Knoll Camp, lying peacefully in the light of the +moon that was just then rising above the Forge. Its rays silvered all +the knoll and made the camp a charming spot. + +"I hope none of them will wake up and find me gone," remarked Wyn, +chuckling. + +Polly gave the tiller and sheet to her friend and stood up to get a +better view of the lake astern of them. At first she saw nothing but the +dim shores and the silvering water. Then, some distance out, Polly +caught sight of a ghostly sail drifting across the path of moonlight. + +"A bateau!" she exclaimed. "And--with the wind the way it is--she must +have come right out of our cove, Wynnie." + +"Do--do you really think anybody was listening to us when we were +talking there on the landing, Polly?" Wyn asked. "And are they aboard +_that_ bateau?" + +"I don't know. But I know I heard something then." + +"But that boat isn't following us." + +"It may be. We can't tell. They can watch us just as easily as we can +watch them." + +But when the _Coquette_ got around to the side of Gannet Island +where the boys' camp was established, the shadow of the high, wooded +ridge was thrown out so far across the lake that the swimming raft and +its neighborhood were in darkness. + +The catboat, with her sail dropped and her nose just touching the edge +of the float, was quite hidden by this shadow of the island, which was +all the darker in contrast with the brilliant moonlight lying on the +water farther out. + +"I'll carry the kedge to the float," whispered Polly, "and then we'll +pay out the line till the _Coquette_ floats about over the spot +where you think the thing you hit lies." + +"Let's get my canoe out of the way, too," urged Wyn. "Oh! I hope the +boys will not wake up." + +"What's that light up there?" exclaimed Polly, suddenly. + +"That's the spark of their campfire. It's in the rocks, so no harm can +come from it; they don't trouble to cover it when they go to bed." + +"Now, Wyn--push the boat off." + +They worked the catboat from the float for several yards. "Wait," +whispered Wyn. "Let's try here." + +"Are you going to dive?" + +"Yes. It will make some splash; but I don't believe I can reach the +bottom of the lake otherwise, it is so deep here." + +"Careful!" cautioned Polly. "You may hurt yourself on whatever is down +there." + +"I'll look out," returned Wyn, again filling her ears with cotton. She +slipped off the skirt of her bathing suit, too, so as to have more +freedom. Then she poised herself for a moment on the decked-over part of +the sailboat--a slim, lithe figure in the semi-darkness--and gradually +bent over with her arms outstretched to part the water. + +As she dived forward she thought she heard a quick exclamation from +Polly; but Wyn believed it to be an encouraging cry. At least, she gave +it no attention as she clove the water and went down, down, down into +the depths of the lake. + +She opened her eyes, but, of course, saw nothing but a great, shadowy +mass below her. Toward this mass she swam eagerly; the lake seemed much +deeper than it had by daylight. + +Struggling against the uplift of the water, she beat her way down into +the depths for more than a minute. That was a goodly length of time for +the first submersion. And she did not reach the bottom, nor find any +object like the thing she had struck against some hours before. + +It was necessary for her to rise. As she turned over, a luminous spot +appeared over her head, and toward this spot she sprang. With aching +chest she reached the surface, and sprang breast high out of the +water--some yards from the catboat. There was a strong current here. + +"Polly!" she gasped. + +"Sh!" hissed her comrade's voice, in warning. + +Surprised, Wyn obeyed the warning. Causing scarcely a ripple in the +water, she paddled to the boat. There she clung to the rail and +listened. She could not see Polly. + +"Dunno where they went to in that cat, Eb," growled a hoarse voice out +of the darkness. + +Wyn darted a glance over her shoulder. There, looming gray and ghostly, +was the tall sail they had seen once before. The strange, square-nosed +bateau was drifting by, but at some distance. Evidently the catboat was +well hidden in the shadow of the island. + +Suddenly Polly reached over the edge of the boat and seized Wyn's +shoulders. "Don't try to climb in," she whispered. "They'll see or hear +the splash." + +"All right," breathed back the captain of the Go-Aheads. + +"It's Eb Lornigan and some of his friends. Eb is a disgrace to the lake. +He's been in jail more than once," whispered Polly. + +But Wyn's shoulders began to feel cold. The night air, after all, was +not really warm. "I'm going down again," she whispered. + +"Did--did you find it?" queried Polly. + +"No. But I will," declared the other girl, confidently, and slipped into +the water. + +She ventured under the bottom of the catboat and, turning suddenly, +braced her feet against it, and so flung herself down into the depths. + +She descended more swiftly with the momentum thus gained, traveling +toward the bottom on a different slant than before. With her hands far +before her she defended her head from collision with any sunken object +there might be down here. And this time she actually did hit something +again. + +She turned quickly and grabbed at it with both hands. It seemed like a +sharp, smooth pole sticking almost upright in the water. There was a bit +of rag, or marine plant of some kind, attached to it. + +She struggled to pull herself down by the staff, but she had been below +now longer than before. Just what the staff could be she did not imagine +until she had again turned and "kicked" her way upward. + +"It's the pennant staff of the sunken boat!" she gasped, as she came to +the surface and could open her mouth once more. + +"Hush! what's the matter with you?" demanded Polly, in a low voice, +directly at hand. + +"Oh! have they gone?" + +"The bateau is out of hearing distance. But you _do_ splash like a +porpoise." + +"Nonsense! Let me climb up." + +Polly gave her some help and in a few moments Wyn lay panting in the +tiny cockpit of the boat. + +"Did--did you find anything?" queried Polly, anxiously. + +Wyn told her what she believed she had found underneath the water, and +the position of the staff. "It must be lying bow on to us here," she +said. + +"Oh! do you suppose it really _is_ the _Bright Eyes_?" + +"It's something," replied Wyn, confidently, pulling one of the blankets +around her. + +"I'm going down myself," declared Polly, sharply. + +"All right. Maybe you can find more of the boat. It's there." + +Polly sprang up into the bow of the catboat, poised herself for a moment +and then dived overboard. She could outswim and outdive any of the +Go-Ahead girls--and why not? She was in, or on, the lake from early +spring until late autumn. + +Polly was under the surface no longer than Wyn; but when she came up she +struck out for the _Coquette_ and scrambled immediately into the +boat. + +"What is it? Am I right? Is it a boat?" cried the anxious Wynnie. + +"Yes! It's there. Oh, Wynifred Mallory! My father is going to be so +relieved! It's--it's just heavenly! How can we ever thank you?" + +Wyn was crying softly. "I'm so delighted, dear Polly. It--it is +_sure_ the _Bright Eyes_?" + +"It is a motor boat. I went right down to the deck, and scrambled around +it. There are surely not _two_ motor boats sunk in Lake Honotonka," +declared Polly. + +"Hush, then!" urged Wyn. "We'll keep still about it. It is my find and +I'll telegraph to Mr. Lavine as quick as I can. The Go-Ahead girls are +going to own a motor boat! Won't that be fine?" + +"Say nothing to any of the others. I'll tell father," said Polly, +beginning to haul in on the kedge line. "And he'll know what to do about +raising the launch. He'll have to go to the Forge----" + +"Then he can send the message to Mr. Lavine for me. Tell him the girls +have found the sunken boat, and sign my name to it. That will bring +Bessie's father up here in a hurry." + +The girls got their anchor and the canoe, and put up the sail again. As +the _Coquette_ shot away from the boys' swimming float, the ghostly +sail of the strange bateau again crossed the path of moonlight at the +other end of the island. + +"I'd feel better," muttered Polly, "if those, fellows were not hanging +about so close." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE BOYS TO THE RESCUE + + +Wyn got into her canoe in sight of Green Knoll Camp, and leaving Polly +to work the _Coquette_ home alone, paddled to the shore, drew out +the canoe and turned it over on the beach with the six other canoes +belonging to the camp, and so stole up the hill and prepared for bed +again. + +Nobody seemed to have missed her, although it was now two hours after +midnight. The captain of the girls' club felt a glow of satisfaction at +her heart as she composed herself for sleep. She believed she was going +to have a great and happy surprise for the girls of the Go-Ahead Club; +and in addition the Jarleys would be relieved of the cloud of suspicion +that had hung over Mr. Jarley ever since Dr. Shelton's motor boat was +lost. + +Wyn slept so late that all the other girls were up and had run down for +their morning dip ere Mrs. Havel shook her. + +"You must have had your bath very early, Wynnie," said that lady. "Here +is your bathing suit all wet." + +"Yes, ma'am," responded Wyn, sleepily. + +"Now, rouse up. The whole camp is astir," said Mrs. Havel, and Wyn was +fully dressed when the other girls came back. There were not too many +questions asked, so her secret remained safe. + +She became considerably disturbed, however, when the hours of the +forenoon passed and she neither heard from nor saw anything of the +Jarleys. + +Once a big bateau went drifting by and disappeared behind Gannet Island, +under a lazy sail and with two men at the long sweeps, or oars. When it +was lost to view Wyn was troubled by the thought that it might be the +same mysterious craft that had followed the catboat the night before. +Had it anchored off the boys' camp now? + +So, to calm her own mind, she suggested that they all paddle over to +Cave-in-the-Wood Camp and take their luncheon with them. + +"Goodness me, Wynifred!" exclaimed Bess, the boy-despiser, "can't you +keep away from those boys for a single day?" + +"I notice we usually have a good time when the boys are around," +returned Wyn, cheerfully. + +"Oh, they're quite a 'necessary evil,'" drawled Frank. "But I feel +myself like Johnny Bloom's aunt when we get rid of the Busters for a +time." + +"What about Johnny's aunt?" queried Mina. + +"Why, do you know that Johnny belongs to the Scouts and one law of the +Scouts is that they shall each do something for somebody each day to +make the said somebody happy." + +"Rather involved in your English, Miss, but we understand you," said +Grace. + +"So far," agreed Percy Havel. "But where do Johnny Bloom and his aunt +come in?" + +"Why, any day he can't think of any other kindness to render his +friends," chuckled Frankie, "he goes to see his aunt. She is so glad +when he goes home again--she detests boys--that Johnny feels all the +thrill of having performed a good deed." + +"Now, Frank!" laughed Wyn, "you know it isn't as bad as all +_that_." + +"Yes, it is," chuckled Frankie. "You don't know Johnny Bloom as well as +his neighbors do. He lives on my street." + +"Humph! most boys are just as bad," declared Bess. "Just the same, if +Wyn says 'Gannet Island' I reckon we'll all have to go." + +"And we'll have some fun diving," Grace Hedges declared. "I wish we had +a diving float over here." + +Mrs. Havel preferred to remain at the camp and the six girls were a very +hilarious party as they set forth in their canoes and fresh bathing +suits for the island. + +By this time every member of the Go-Ahead Club was as brown as a berry, +inured to exposure in the sun, and enjoying the outdoor life of woods +and lake to the full. + +Mina's timidity had worn off, Percy was not so "finicky" in her tastes, +Bessie was more careful of other people's feelings, Grace really seemed +almost cured of laziness, Frank was by no means so hoydenish as she once +was, and as for Wynifred, she was just as hearty and happy as it seemed +a girl could be. Their independent, busy life on Green Knoll was doing +them all a world of good. + +As the little squadron of canoes drew near to the easterly end of the +Island the girls were suddenly excited by a great disturbance in the +bushes on the hill above them. This end of the island was exceedingly +steep and rocky. + +"Oh, what's that?" cried Mina, as some object flashed into view for a +moment and then disappeared. + +"It's one of the goats," squealed Frankie. + +Gannet Island was grazed by a good-sized herd of goats, but they +remained mostly at this end and kept away from the boys' camp at the +other. The girls had seldom seen any of the herd, although they had +heard the kids bleating now and then, and the boys had described the old +rams and how ugly they were. + +Here, right above them, was going on a striking domestic wrangle, for in +a moment they saw that two of the rams were having a set-to among the +bushes on the side-hill, while several mild-eyed Nannies and their +progeny looked on. + +The rams would back away a little in the brush and then charge each +other. When their hard horns collided, they rang like steel, and several +times the antagonists were both overborne by the shock and rolled upon +the ground. + +"What a place for a fight!" exclaimed Frank. "What do you know about +_that_, girls?" + +"It's a shame," quavered Mina. "Somebody ought to separate them." + +"Sure! I vote that you go right up and do so, Miss Everett," said Grace, +briskly. + +However, Frank's criticism of the judgment of the combating goats was +correct. It was no place for a fair fight. One of the animals happened +to get "up hill" and at the next charge the lower goat was lifted +completely off its feet and came tumbling down the steep descent with +the speed of an avalanche. + +The girls screamed, the other goats bleated--while the conquering Billie +took a commanding position on a rock and gazed down upon his falling +enemy. The latter could not stop. Twice he tried to scramble to his +sharp little hoofs, but could not accomplish the feat. So, then, quite +helpless, he fell the entire distance and came finally, with a mighty +splash, into the deep water under the bank. + +"Oh! the poor creature will be drowned!" cried Wyn, in great distress at +this catastrophe, although some of the other girls were inclined to +laugh, for the goat _did_ look more than a little comical. + +He had been battered a good deal and had received a wound upon one side +of his face that did not improve his looks at all. And while he had been +so lively and pugnacious up on the hillside, now he splashed about in +the lake quite helplessly. + +The shore of the island just here was altogether too abrupt to afford +the unlucky goat any foot-hold. And the goat is not naturally an aquatic +animal. + +"Come on!" urged Bessie. "Let's leave him. We can't do any good here." + +"Of course we can help him," cried Wyn. "Grab him by the other horn, +Frank!" + +She had driven her own canoe to the far side of the goat and now seized +the beast's horn. He could not fight in the water and Wyn and Frank +slowly guided him along the shore until they reached a sloping piece of +beach where he could, at least, get a footing. But he lay down, half in +and half out of the water, seemingly exhausted. + +"He can never climb that bank," declared Mina. + +"We'll boost him up, then," said Frank, with confidence. "Having set out +to be twin Good Samaritans, we'll finish the job properly; eh, Wyn?" + +Her friend agreed, laughing, and both girls sprang ashore. They didn't +mind getting a little wet, considering how they were dressed. + +The goat bleated forlornly as they seized upon him; he was quite all the +two girls could lift, and they actually had to drag him up the steeper +part of the hill by his legs. + +Their friends below chaffed them a good deal, for it was a ridiculous +sight. Soon, however, Wyn and Frank got their awkward burden to the +mouth of an easily sloping gully, that led toward the interior of the +island. As soon as he could, the animal scrambled upon his feet. + +Once firmly set, however, this ungrateful goat's temper changed most +surprisingly. Or he may have felt that his dignity had been ruffled by +the treatment he had received at the hands of his rescuers. + +So he began stamping his little sharp hoofs and lowered his head, +shaking the latter threateningly. + +"What did I tell you?" called Bess, from below. "Next you two sillies +know he'll butt you." + +"Oh, come along, Wyn!" gasped Frankie. "Plague the goat, anyway!" as she +dodged the enraged animal's first charge. + +The goat was headed up the gully, away from the shore, or he might have +gone head first into the lake again. As the girls escaped him, Wyn, +laughing immoderately, looked back. A big beech tree cropped out of the +bank not far away, and under this tree she descried a figure lying. + +"Oh, Frank!" she cried. + +Her friend turned and saw the figure, too. + +"Oh, Wyn!" + +Their ejaculations seemed to have attracted Mr. William Goat's attention +to the same reclining figure. Outstretched upon the sward, with a large +handkerchief over his face as a protection from gnats and other insects, +and with his fat fingers interlaced across what Dave Shepard wickedly +termed his chum's "bow-window," lay the quite unconscious Tubby +Blaisdell. + +"Tubby!" shrieked the girls in chorus. + +The fat boy sat up as though a spring had been released. The +handkerchief was still over his face, and he grunted blindly. + +It was a challenge to Mr. Goat. He charged. Amid the screams of the +girls the goat hurtled through the air, all four feet gathered beneath +him, and landed head-and-horns in the middle of poor Tubby's waistcoat! + +It wasn't a very big goat. 'Twas lucky for Master Blaisdell that this +was so. Tubby went back with an awful grunt, heels in the air, and the +goat turned a complete somersault. But the latter scrambled to his feet +a whole lot quicker than did Tubby. + +"Run--run, Tubby!" shrieked Frank. + +"Look out for him, Ralph!" cried Wyn. + +Back the goat came. This time he took Master Blaisdell from the rear and +butted him so hard that he actually seemed to lift the fat boy to his +feet. + +The youth had scratched the handkerchief from his face, and now could +see the enemy. Tubby had emitted nothing but a series of excruciating +grunts; but now, when he saw the goat making ready for another charge, +he met the animal with a yell, leaping into the air with his legs +a-straddle, so that the Billie ran between them, and then Tubby footed +it up the gully as fast as he could travel. + +The goat, headed down hill again, saw his old enemies, the two girls, +and made as though to attack them. Wyn and Frank, almost dead with +laughter, managed to roll down the bank and so get out of the erratic +goat's sight. The other girls had only heard the noise of the conflict, +and did not understand; nor could Wyn and Frankie explain when they +first scrambled into their canoes. + +"Poor Tubby! Poor Tubby!" was all Wyn could say. "Let's paddle around to +the boys' camp. He's run for home." + +"It was a home run, all right!" gasped Frank. + +But three minutes later, when the canoes got into the cove where Polly's +father had met with his accident in the _Bright Eyes_, Wyn suddenly +found something more serious than Tubby Blaisdell's experience to worry +about. There was the big bateau, its sail furled, almost over the spot +where Wyn and Polly were sure the lost motor boat lay! + +"Oh, dear me!" cried Bess. "Now we can't have any fun on the raft. Those +men will be in our way. What do you suppose they are poking around there +in the water with those poles for?" + +Wyn began to paddle fast. She shot ahead of the other girls and aimed +directly for the bit of beach on which the boys' canoes were drawn. + +The noise and laughter up at the camp assured her that Tubby had arrived +and that all the Busters were at home. Wyn had made up her mind quickly +that, if she must, she would rather take the boys into her confidence +about the sunken boat than let those bateau men find it. + +"Boys! Dave!" she hailed them from the water. + +Young Shepard appeared at once and, seeing Wyn, ran down to the shore. + +"Will you help us?" gasped Wyn. "Quick! get the boys! Move your diving +float where I tell you; those men will find it first, if you don't." + +"Find what?" demanded Dave. "Are you sensible, Wynnie?" + +The explanation tumbled out of Wyn Mallory's lips then in rather a +jumbled fashion; but Dave understood. He turned and gave the view-halloa +for his mates. They all tumbled down the bank save Tubby. + +"Get a move on, fellows," commanded the leader of the Busters. "We've +got to move that raft. Wyn will tell us where. And later we'll tell you +_why_. But the word is now: Look sharp!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +IS IT THE "BRIGHT EYES"? + + +With a whirl and clash of paddles the little flotilla of canoes shot out +to the diving float. The bateau was only a few yards away. The two +rough-looking men in her were sounding the lake bottom, with long poles; +but as yet they had not got around to the right spot. + +Wyn breathlessly told the boys to move the raft to the place to which +she paddled. The other girls were excitedly asking questions but neither +Wyn nor Dave answered. + +The captain of the Go-Aheads thought that if the raft could be held +stationary--anchored in some way--directly over the sunken boat, the +prize would be safe until Mr. Jarley, or somebody else in authority, +came to claim the _Bright Eyes_. Of course, providing this sunken +boat was she. + +Polly had seemed so positive, and so eager to get her father started +after the motor boat he had lost, that Wyn could not understand why the +Jarleys were not already on the spot. + +"Hey, there! what are you boys doing?" demanded one of the bateau men, +hailing Dave and his friends on the raft. + +"Moving our float," replied the captain of the Busters, promptly. + +"Well, don't you git in our way," said the man, crossly. + +"Hel-_lo_!" exclaimed the saucy Ferd Roberts. "I've always wondered +who owned Lake Honotonka, and now I know." + +"You'll know a whole lot more if you don't look out, Young Fresh," +growled the other boatman. + +"I shouldn't wonder," laughed Ferd. "But I'm not going to school to +_you_, Mister." + +"Do be quiet, Ferd," advised Dave. "Now, Wynnie! What do you say to +this?" + +Meantime the boys had raised the two big stones that served the raft as +anchors, and had poled the float near to Wyn's canoe. + +"Oh! a little farther, Dave, please," cried the anxious girl. + +"Say! I wanter know what you young ones are up to?" repeated the first +boatman. + +"Can't you see?" returned Dave. "We're shifting our raft." + +"What for?" + +"Cat's fur! To make kittens' breeches of, 'cause we couldn't get dog +fur--_now_ do you know?" snapped Ferd. + +"Shut up, Ferd!" commanded Dave, again. + +"He'd better shut up," growled the man, "or something'll happen to +him--the young shrimp!" + +"Oh, dear me, Wyn!" cried Bessie Lavine; "let's go back to camp." + +"You'd all better scatter--both gels and boys," said the boatman, +threateningly. "We're busy here an' we don't want to be bothered by +shrimps." + +"I guess we'll stay a while longer, Mister," Dave said, boldly. + +"We were here first," cried the irrepressible Ferd. + +"You youngsters air in our way. Get out," commanded the Boatman. + +He was working the bateau nearer to the raft, using one of the long +sweeps for that purpose. + +"Heave over the anchors again, fellows," said Dave, quietly. "Then stand +by with your paddles to repel boarders. We mustn't let 'em have the +raft, or move it." + +"Oh, Wyn!" begged Mina Everett, "let's go away." + +The girls had all paddled near Wyn Mallory. Now they clustered about her +in plain anxiety. The boys had climbed upon the raft and all five were +plainly intending to offer resistance to the ugly boatmen. + +"Now, girls," begged the captain of the Go-Aheads, firmly, "let us show +_some_ courage, at least. The boys are willing to fight our +battle----" + +"_Our_ battle?" gasped Bessie. "What do you mean?" + +In a whisper Wyn explained to the wondering and frightened girls what it +was all about. + +"Polly and I believe the lost motor boat lies right beneath us here. We +must keep those men off, for they are hunting for the sunken boat, too," +concluded Wynnie. + +"My goodness! how exciting!" cried Grace Hedges. + +"And we'll actually win the prize your father offered us, Bess!" gasped +Percy Havel. + +"I don't see that _we_ have had much to do with it," said Frank. +"Wyn made the discovery." + +"What is for one is for all," declared Wynnie. "But we won't win Mr. +Lavine's prize unless the boat is raised and the silver images are +delivered to Dr. Shelton. If those men get hold of the boat----" + +Suddenly one of the boatmen--a long-legged fellow with a cast in one eye +and lantern jaws sparsely covered with sandy whisker--came forward to +the bow of the bateau and poised himself for a leap to the diving float. + +"Keep off!" Dave warned him, swinging his paddle over his head. "You +jump over here and you'll catch this where Kellup caught the hen--right +in the neck! You let us alone and we'll let you alone." + +The boatman told him, in no very choice language, what he would do to +Dave when he caught him; but the captain of the Busters did not appear +to be much shaken. + +"Hold, on, Eb!" yelled the other boatman. "I'll run that raft down and +spill 'em all off." + +"You try it and you'll likely smash your boat," shouted Dave. "I warn +you." + +Mina Everett began to cry softly, for the suggestion of a pitched battle +between the boys and the boatmen frightened her dreadfully. Bess began +to grow excited. + +"Aren't those men just _mean_? I wish I had something to hit them +with--I do! I believe I'll get out on the raft with _my_ paddle." + +"That wouldn't be a bad idea," said Grace. "I think the boys are as nice +to us as they can be." + +Suddenly, while the attention of all the others was held by the exciting +situation on the raft, Frank Cameron cried out: + +"Who's this coming? Oh, girls! isn't that Polly? Look, Wyn!" + +Wyn almost overturned her canoe in her eagerness to back out of the +group and whirl her canoe about that she might see. Down upon the scene +was bearing one of the larger power boats from the other end of the +lake. + +"It's Dr. Shelton's _Sunshine Boy_!" cried Percy Havel. + +"And that _is_ Polly Jolly in the bow," exclaimed Wyn. "Hurrah!" + +She drove her paddle into the water and sent her canoe driving for the +approaching motor boat. + +"Polly! Polly!" she called, long before the boatman's daughter could +hear her. + +But Polly recognized her just the same, and waved her hand; there was a +gentleman pacing the deck, too, who came to lean on the rail and look at +the flying canoe. Wyn next saw Mr. Jarley, in his working clothes, put +his head out of the cabin that housed the motor. + +"It's Dr. Shelton," Wyn thought. "Then he and Mr. Jarley have made it +up. I'm so glad!" + +But the motor boat was coming fast and Wyn drove her canoe as though she +were racing. Swerving the craft quickly, the girl brought it very nicely +into a berth beside the motor boat. Polly leaned down and steadied the +canoe with the boat hook, and her friend hopped aboard. Then together +they hoisted over the rail the almost swamped canoe. + +"What's all this? What's all this?" demanded Dr. Shelton. "You girls are +regular acrobats. Hullo! This is the young miss who won the canoe race +and the swimming match for girls, the other day. Am I right?" + +"Yes, sir," said Polly, presenting Wyn proudly. "This is Miss Wynifred +Mallory, my very dear friend." + +"The girl who thinks she has found our old motor boat--eh?" asked the +burly doctor. + +"I am sure she has found it, sir," declared Polly. "And what are Eb and +his chum, Billy Smith, trying to do there at the raft, Wyn?" + +"They suspect something; but the boys have got the float right over the +sunken boat and have promised to hold the bateau men off----" + +Just then Dr. Shelton turned quickly, picked up a megaphone and bawled +through it to the bateau men, one of whom had leaped aboard the boys, +raft. + +"Hey, you! Get off that raft and keep off it, or I'll put you both in +jail at the Forge. Understand me?" + +It was evident that the boatmen _did_ understand the doctor, for +the trespasser aboard the raft leaped back into the bateau without a +blow being struck, although the boys were ready for him. The big sail of +the craft was immediately raised and she had borne off to some distance +when the _Sunshine Boy_ was allowed to drift in close to the float. + +"Now, boys," said Dr. Shelton, genially, "I understand you have found my +old _Bright Eyes_ under water here and have been guarding it from +all comers. Is that right?" + +"No, Doctor," returned Dave. "We fellows have had mighty little to do +with it. It's the girls----" + +"It's Wyn!" cried Frank, "and nobody else." + +"Wyn did it all," agreed Bess. + +"But those men, poking around here, might have found it and laid claim +to it, sir, if the boys had not come to the rescue," declared the +captain of the Go-Aheads, warmly. + +"You seem to be a Mutual Admiration Society," laughed the doctor. +"However, if the boat is here and that express box intact, as Jarley +says, I certainly owe somebody something handsome for finding it." + +"Oh, no, sir!" murmured Wyn, quickly, standing by his side. "You owe me +nothing. Mr. Lavine has promised our club a present, and Polly and her +father are going to be made very happy if it turns out all right. +_That_ is reward enough for us." + +"Humph! you feel that way about it; do you, Miss Mallory?" queried the +doctor. "Just the same, if the _Bright Eyes_ really is sunk here I +must show my gratitude to somebody." + +"Then do something for Polly," Wyn whispered. "Give her a chance to go +to school--to Denton Academy with the rest of us girls. That would be +fine! She wouldn't let Mr. Lavine do that for her; but I know she'll +accept it from you, when her father has proved himself clear of +suspicion." + +"Ha! John Jarley is a better man than I am," grunted Dr. Shelton. "I had +no business to talk to him the way I did regatta day. I'm free to admit +I was wrong, whether we recover the _Bright Eyes_ and the silver +images, or not!" + +And the question, Is it the _Bright Eyes_? was the principal +subject of discussion among them all. The boys were just as eager as +were the girls over the affair. + +"If the sunken boat is all right--and the images," said Dave Shepard, +"you girls will be lucky enough to sail a motor boat of your own." + +"And we'd never own it if you boys hadn't come forward as you did," +declared Wyn. "Isn't that so, Bess?" + +Bess had to admit the fact, much as she disliked praising boys. + +"Oh, we'll let you boys sail in our new boat once in a while," she said. + +"Goodness me! I should say yes!" exclaimed Frank, suddenly. "For we've +got to have somebody teach us how to run a motor boat; haven't we?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +It was early on the next day that Bessie received a message from her +father for the whole club: + + "Look for me in a few hours. Shall run up to see what Wyn has + done as soon as I can get away. If it is all right, you shall + have new boat this season.--Henry Lavine." + +A man brought it over from the Forge. The girls were delighted with the +news. A guard had been set over the spot where the sunken boat lay and +Dr. Shelton and Mr. Jarley were making arrangements to have a derrick +barge towed up to Gannet Island, so that the old _Bright Eyes_ +could be brought to the surface quickly. + +Naturally the Busters were too much interested in these proceedings to +come over to Green Knoll Camp; and the girls had had so much excitement +and exercise of late that they were inclined to take matters quietly for +the time being. + +Therefore, there was not a canoe on the lake when a fussy, smoky little +motor boat, late in the afternoon, came into the lake from the +Wintinooski and puffed out into deep water, evidently bound for either +the Island or Green Knoll Camp. + +The deep cove, at the head of which the little red and yellow cottage of +the Jarleys was set, was like a big bay in the contour of the lake +shore. It was out here in this deep water that Wyn Mallory and Bess +Lavine had been swamped by the squall. From the docks at the Forge to +the point east of Green Knoll, where the girls' camp was situated, was +all of eight miles. When this little motor boat had sputtered along +until she was about half way between those two points, she suddenly +stopped. + +The girls had been lazily on the lookout for Mr. Lavine's appearance and +earlier in the day had kept the camp spyglass busy. Now Frank suddenly +caught it up again and focused it almost at once on the stalled motor +boat. + +"Oh! what's that?" was her excited demand. "Girls! there's a boat we +missed before." + +"Where?" drawled Grace, lazily. + +"It isn't father; is it?" demanded Bess. + +"How do I know? It's a power boat----Goodness, what's that?" + +She jumped so that Wyn came to her side quickly. "Let me see, Frank," +she begged. + +"There's--there's a fire!" gasped Frankie. + +The girls came running at her cry. Even Mrs. Havel left her seat and +stepped out of the shade of the beech tree to scan the water under her +hand. + +"I see smoke!" cried Percy. + +"Dear me! is the boat really afire?" demanded Mina Everett. + +"Of course, it can't be father," declared Bess. "He knows how to take +care of a motor boat." + +Through the glass Wyn, who now had it, saw the flames leaping from under +the hood of the boat, while a dense plume of smoke began to reel away on +the breeze that was blowing. + +"It is afire!" she gasped "Oh! it _is_! What can we do?" + +"We could never reach it in our canoes before the boat burns to the +water's edge," cried Frankie. + +They could see two figures on the doomed boat. Through the glass Wyn +could see them so plainly that she knew one to be a waterman, while the +other was much better dressed. Indeed, she feared that she recognized +the figure of this second man. + +"Let me have the glass, Wyn," said Bessie, eagerly. + +But Wyn, for once, was disobliging. "You can't see anything--much," she +said. "Come on, Bess! let's try and paddle out to them." + +"And have them swamp our canoes if they tried to climb in," said Miss +Lavine. "No, thanks!" + +"Come on!" cried Frank, joining in. "We ought to try and help." + +"What's the use?" drawled Bessie, walking away. "And you're mean not to +let me have the glass, Wyn." + +"Oh, come on and take it!" gasped Wyn. + +"Don't want it now," snapped Bess, who took offense rather easily at +times. "You can keep the old thing." + +Wyn sighed with relief. Then she whirled quickly and ran down to the +beach, with Frank right at her heels. They were the only two girls who +launched their canoes. Wyn had brought the glass with her. + +"Now I _know_ Bess won't see him," she exclaimed, almost in a +whisper. + +"What's that?" demanded Frankie, who overheard. "What do you mean, Wyn?" + +"I believe that is Mr. Lavine out there," said the captain of the +Go-Aheads. "Oh, Frank! paddle hard!" + +And it _was_ Mr. Lavine. He had hired this little gasoline boat, +with its owner to run it, at Denton, and had paid the owner an extra +five-dollar bill to force the boat to its very highest speed (and that +wasn't much) all the way up the Wintinooski. Mr. Lavine was in a hurry; +he was in too much of a hurry, as it proved. + +Somewhere off Meade's Forge he began to smell the gasoline all too +strongly. There was a leak somewhere; but the boat kept on. + +Finally even the reckless driver grew frightened and shut off the spark. + +"There's a leak, boss," he drawled. "Sure as aigs is aigs!" + +Mr. Lavine tore up one of the boards under his feet in the cockpit. A +man with half an eye could have seen the scum of gasoline on the bilge +in the cockpit. + +"Leak!" he exclaimed, wrathfully. "I should say you had been using the +boat's bottom for a gasoline tank. Why! we might have been blown up a +dozen times." + +"I expect the leak's in the feed pipe," confessed the boatman. "But I +thought I'd got her fixed las' week." + +"You've got _us_ fixed," snapped Mr. Lavine. "'Way out here in the +middle of Lake Honotonka, too--and I in a hurry." + +"Wal," said the man, "I'll putty up the leak and you see if you kin swab +out the boat. I wouldn't dare try and ignite her again with so much +gasoline around." + +"I--should--say--not!" gasped the gentleman, and removed his coat, +rolled up his sleeves and his trousers, and set to work. + +They both labored like beavers for half an hour and then the boatman did +the very silliest thing one can imagine. He had worked hard and, being a +man addicted to tobacco, he felt the need of a smoke. + +He pulled out his pipe, filled it, unnoticed by Mr. Lavine, who was +still trying to swab out the last of the bilge and gasoline, and +scratched a match. He was directly in front of the hood of the boat when +he did it. The next moment there was a flash, a roar, and the man was +flung the length of the boat, against Mr. Lavine in the stern, and the +two almost went overboard. + +The foolish smoker lost his mustache, eyebrows, and lashes, and a lot of +his front hair. He was scorched quite severely, too; but the peril which +menaced them with the front of the boat in flames drove the thought of +his burns from the fellow's mind. + +"And I can't swim a stroke, boss!" he cried. + +"You have nothing on me there," declared Mr. Lavine. "I have never been +able to master more than the first few motions in the art of swimming." + +But the flames were springing higher and they had nothing with which to +throw water on the fire. The man had not even a bailing tin in his +moribund old craft. Mr. Lavine had been using a swab and was covered +with grease and dirty water. + +This became a small thing, however--and that within a very few minutes. +The boat was doomed and both knew it. + +Mr. Lavine tried to tear up more of the grating under foot so as to make +something that would float and upon which they might bear themselves up +in the water. But the boards were too thin. + +Then he tried to unship the rudder (the singed boatman was no use at all +in this emergency) and so make use of that as a float. But the bolts +were rusted and the boat had begun to swing around so that the fire blew +right into the stern. + +They both had to leap overboard. + +It was a serious situation indeed. By Mr. Lavine's advice they paddled +toward the bow, one on either side of the boat, for the flames were +rushing aft. + +The bow was a mere shell, however. The flames had already almost +consumed it, and soon the fire fairly ate through the bows at the water +level. The water rushed in and so sank the boat by the head. + +Not that the boat went straight down. The stern rose in the water and +the two men, in their desperate strait, gazed at the flames above their +heads. + +Had it been night the fire would have been like a great torch in the +middle of the lake--and it would have brought help from all directions. +As it was, the black smoke first thrown off, and then the steam, +attracted more than the girls of Green Knoll Camp to the scene. + +At the landing Mr. Jarley was splicing some heavy rope which he expected +to use the next day when the sunken _Bright Eyes_ would be actually +raised. Polly saw the smoke first from the cottage and ran out to tell +him. + +"One of those motor boats is afire, Father!" she cried. Instantly the +boatman set about going to the rescue. It was a fair day, but there was +a good breeze blowing. Jarley took the _Coquette_. + +He had no idea to whom he was playing the friend in need when he sailed +the catboat down upon the scene of the disaster. It was a chance to help +two fellow beings and the boatman cared not who they were. + +Of course the sailing craft beat out the two frantically paddling girls +from Green Knoll Camp. Yet it was still a long way from the spot when +the last of the burning boat seemed to sink completely and the flames +were snuffed out by the waters of the lake. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + +Wyn and Frank were in despair when they saw the last of the flames wink +out and the balloon of smoke sail away upon the breeze. They were too +far away to be able to see the men struggling in the water--if they were +still there. + +"Oh! suppose Mr. Jarley doesn't reach them in time?" cried the captain +of the girls' club. + +"He must! he must!" groaned Frank, beating the water as hard as she +could with her paddle. + +"You'll have your canoe over!" exclaimed Wyn. "Look out, Frank!" + +"I don't care! I don't care!" repeated the good-hearted Frances. "Oh, +dear me! Suppose Mr. Lavine should be drowned? What would Bessie do? And +they so much to each other!" + +The girls saw the catboat round to suddenly, and Mr. Jarley drop the +sail. The _Coquette_ seemed to drive straight across the spot where +the burned motor boat had gone down. + +They saw the boatman bend over the rail once--and then again. Each time +he lifted in--or helped lift in--some object; but whether it was the men +he picked up, or some of the floating wreckage, the girls could not see. + +They drove their canoes on, however, and Mr. Jarley saw them when he +brought the catboat about. So he sailed down to pick them up likewise. + +"Did you get them? Did you get them?" shouted Wyn, resting on her +paddle. + +Frankie was crying--and she was not a "weepy" girl as a general thing. +But the peril seemed so terrible that she could not control herself for +the moment. + +Mr. Jarley--whose figure was all the girls could see in the +catboat--leaned over and waved his hand to the girls. Was it meant to be +reassuring? They did not know until the _Coquette_ tacked so as to +run down very close to them. + +"Is that his girl with you, Miss Mallory?" demanded Polly's father. + +"No. She did not come. She doesn't know," cried Wyn. "Oh, Mr. Jarley! is +he all right?" + +At that Mr. Lavine's head and shoulders appeared above the rail. + +"We're alive, girls," he called, hoarsely. "This brave fellow caught us +just in time. Where's Bess?" + +"She doesn't even know it was you in the burning boat," cried Wyn. "But +Frank and I started out for you." + +"You'd been awfully wet before ever we could have reached you, though, +Mr. Lavine," choked Frank, quickly turning from tears to laughter, as +was her nature. + +Mr. Jarley had dropped the sail again, and beckoned the girls to +approach. + +"Come aboard," he said, gravely, "and I'll tow your canoes behind us. +Shall I take this gentleman to your camp, Miss Mallory?" + +But Wyn was thinking to good purpose. She saw that Mr. Jarley, like his +daughter, wished to have nothing to do with the Lavines. She knew that +now Mr. Lavine would be doubly grateful to the boatman and that the time +was ripe for the old friends to come to a better understanding. + +"Why, Mr. Jarley," she said, "we haven't a thing at the camp he can put +on--or the other man. No, sir. I don't know what we should do with them +there." + +Jarley's face flushed and he glanced back at the Forge. But it was near +sunset already, and the Forge was much farther away than his own +landing. The case was obvious. + +"Well," he said, "I can take them home. Polly will find something for +them to put on while their clothing is being dried. Yes! that may be +best." + +"And you take us girls right along with you and we'll paddle home from +the landing," declared Wyn. + +Wyn wanted to see Polly. After all, she believed, it lay with the +boatman's daughter to make friends between the Jarleys and the Lavines. +The captain of the Go-Ahead Club felt as though her long and exciting +vacation under canvas would come to a very happy conclusion if she could +see the two men who had once been such close friends, reunited. + +Wyn was the first one ashore when the bow of the catboat touched the +landing. Polly came running from the cottage, for she had spied their +approach. + +"Oh, Wynnie!" she cried, "what was it? Did father get them safely?" + +"He saved them both--the most wonderful thing, Polly Jolly!" cried Wyn. + +"Not so wonderful," corrected Polly, with pride. "My father has saved +the lives of people from the lake before." + +"But it _is_ wonderful," quoth Wyn, "because one of the men saved +is Bessie's father." + +"Mr. Lavine!" gasped Polly. + +"Yes. Now he owes his life to your father, just as Bess owes hers to +you." + +"Don't talk so, Wyn," begged Polly. "It's nothing." + +"Nothing! It's everything! Don't stand in the way of your father and +Bessie's being good friends again." + +"Why, Wynnie!" gasped Polly, with a deeper color in her cheek. + +"Don't you dare to act 'offish,'" warned Wyn. "The Lavines feel very +kindly toward you--you know it. And now I am sure Mr. Lavine will feel +more than kindly toward your father. Bring them together, Polly." + +"You talk as though _I_ could do anything," responded the boatman's +girl. + +"You can. You can do everything! Show your father that you feel kindly +toward Mr. Lavine. That will break down _his_ coldness quicker than +anything," declared the inspired young peacemaker. + +Wet and bedraggled, Mr. Lavine and his companion stepped ashore. + +"Hi, Polly!" shouted her father. "Take Mr. Lavine up to the house and +see if he can wear some of my things while his clothes are drying. I can +find something at the shed here, for Bill." + +Polly hesitated just a moment. The eager Wyn gave her a little push from +behind. The boatman's girl ran forward to greet Mr. Lavine. + +"Oh, sir!" she cried, timidly, "I am _so_ sorry you had this +accident." + +"I don't know yet whether I am sorry, or not," said Mr. Lavine, grasping +her hand. + +She turned and walked beside him and her other hand sought his arm in a +friendly way. John Jarley stood on the landing and followed them with +his eyes. The expression upon his face pleased Wyn immensely. + +She beckoned Frank away. "Come on! let's hurry back to the camp before +it gets dark. Mrs. Havel will be worried about us." + +"And leave Mr. Lavine here?" queried Frank. + +"He couldn't be in better hands; could he?" + +"I don't know that he could, Wyn!" cried her friend, suddenly. "What a +smart girl you are!" + +But Wyn would not accept that praise without qualifying it. "The +accident was providential," she declared, gravely. "And without +_my_ assistance I am sure Polly knows how to do the right thing." + +Perhaps Polly did. At least she gave much attention to their visitor, +and her father could not help but see that Polly and Mr. Lavine were +very good friends. + +In half an hour Mr. Lavine appeared from the cottage dressed in Mr. +Jarley's best suit of clothes. He shook hands with Polly, and then +suddenly drew her to him and kissed her on the forehead. + +"You are a dear girl, Polly," he declared, with some emotion. "I have to +thank you for my little girl's life; and now I am going to thank your +father for _mine_." + +He walked straight down to the landing where Mr. Jarley was apparently +very busy. + +"Bill, here, says he will row you over to that camp if you care to go, +Mr. Lavine," said the boatman. + +"I don't want to see Bill, John," said the real estate man. "I want to +see _you_. I am going to take advantage of my position as your +guest, John. You cannot turn me off, or refuse to talk with me. You +always were a gentleman, John, and I am sure you will listen to me now." + +Mr. Jarley looked at him a good deal as Polly had looked (at first) at +Wyn Mallory. + +"Come! don't hold a grudge, John, just because _I_ have been wicked +enough to hold one all these years. I was wrong. I freely admit it. Come +and sit down here, old man, and let's talk all that old matter over and +see where our misunderstanding lay." + +"Misunderstanding?" + +"Aye," said the other, warmly. "Misunderstanding. For I am convinced now +that a brave and generous man like you, John Jarley, would never have +knowingly done what--all these years--I have held you to be guilty of!" + +He had put his arm through the boatman's. Together they walked aside and +sat down upon an upturned skiff. And they were sitting there long after +it grew pitch dark upon the landing, with only the glow of Polly's lamp +in the kitchen window and that uncertain radiance upon the lake which +seems the reflection of the distant stars. + +Finally the two men stepped into a skiff and Mr. Jarley rowed it over to +Green Knoll Camp. They did not reach the camp until nearly bedtime, and +they came so softly to the shore that the girls did not hear the +scraping of the boat's keel. + +Lavine seized his old friend's hand before leaping ashore. + +"Then it's understood, John? You're to get out of this place and come +back to Denton? I'm sorry Dr. Shelton is ahead of me in giving Polly +something substantial; but you and I are going to begin just where we +left off in that Steel Rivet Corporation deal, John. + +"About next month I'll have a bigger thing than _that_ in sight, +and you shall have the same share in it that you would have had in the +old deal. You used to be mighty good in handling your end of the game, +John; I want you to take hold of it in just the same way again. Will you +agree, old man?" + +And Mr. Jarley gave him his hand upon it. + +The girls put their visitor to sleep in the cook tent that night and the +next morning the whole party went over to Gannet Island to see the work +of raising the sunken motor boat carried on. The Busters were as excited +as the girls themselves over the affair, and Cave-in-the-Wood Camp was a +lively place indeed that day. + +Tubby Blaisdell was the only person in the party who wore an aggrieved +air. At first he could hardly be made to believe that the girls had not +"sicked" the goat upon him two days before when he had stolen away from +the other boys for a nap in the woods. Tubby walked lame and could have +displayed bruises for several days. + +The derrick barge had been towed over to the place where the _Bright +Eyes_ was sunk, the evening before. The boys helped put the chains +around the hull of the sunken boat, for they were all good divers--save +the fat youth, who remained on the invalid list. + +Before noon the lost boat was raised to the surface and lashed to the +side of the barge. Mr. Jarley very quickly tacked a tarpaulin over the +hole in her bottom, and then she was pumped out. Further repairs were +made and by night the _Bright Eyes_ was riding safely to her own +anchor and Mr. Jarley pried open the rusted lock of the cabin. + +Dr. Shelton had come over in the _Sunshine Boy_ and received from +Mr. Jarley the box containing the silver images intact. It made Polly +Jarley very happy to hear what the quick-tempered doctor said to her +father; and it made Wyn Mallory blush to listen to what they _all_ +said to her! + +"You can't get out of it, girlie!" laughed Frank Cameron. "What they say +is quite true. If it hadn't been for you they never would have found the +boat, and of course the images would have remained hidden. You're +_it_, Wyn Mallory--no getting away from that!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +STRIKING CAMP + + +It was a glorious September morning--and no other month of all the year +can display such beauties of sky and landscape, such invigorating air, +or all Nature in so delightful a mood. + +It was a still morning. The newly-kindled fire on Green Knoll sent a +spiral of blue smoke mounting skyward. There was the delicious odor of +pancakes and farm-made sausage hovering all about the camp of the +Go-Ahead girls. Windmill Farm had supplied these first "goodies" of the +autumn and the members of the club enjoyed them to the full. + +"But, thanks be! there will be no more dishes to wash for a while," +declared Grace Hedges. + +"Nor beds to make," agreed her partner, Percy Havel. + +"Nor fires to kindle," sighed Bessie Lavine. + +"Well!" exclaimed Frank Cameron, "an outing in the woods isn't +_all_ it's cracked up to be, I admit. One might just as well accept +a situation as servant in a very untidy household. It would be about the +same thing. But my! we've had some fun between times." + +"And such excitement!" declared Mina Everett. "Think of all that's +happened to us since we paddled up from Denton two months and more ago." + +"And happened to the boys, too," said Frank, "I understand that Tubby +Blaisdell has put on ten additional pounds of flesh since yesterday +morning." + +"Now, Frank! how could he?" gasped Grace. + +"Nobody could be much fatter than Tubby already is," added Bess, +laughing. + +"You never know till you try," chided Mina. "You have put on some flesh +yourself, Miss Lavine." + +"Bah! they'll soon work it off of me when we're back in school," groaned +Bessie. "That's the worst of a vacation--there's always work at the end +of it." + +"Lazy!" cried Percy. "I believe I'll _love_ study when I'm back to +the 'scholastic grind.'" + +"You can have my share," grumbled Bess. "But what about Tubby's +additional avoirdupois, Frankie? He's as big as a haystack anyway." + + "'All flesh is grass,' the Scriptures say, + So Tubby B.'s a load of hay!" + +chuckled Frank. "Is that it? And Tubby is all swelled up now--as big as +a barrel." + +"That's an awful fib, Frank," declared Mina. "He couldn't be." + +"Well, Ferd says he _looks_ so. The boys found a bumble bees' nest +and Tubby didn't have any paddle to hit them with. So they all went for +poor Tubby and they stung him so that his face is twice as big as +usual--so Ferd says." + +"Something is always happening to that boy," said Bess, laughing. +"Hullo! where have _you_ been, Wyn?" + +Wyn came up from the shore. "I know where she's been," cried Frank. "She +has been down there gloating!" + +"Gloating?" repeated Percy. + +"Over the boat. Is it all there, Wyn?" + +The girls ran to the brow of the bank. There, floating off their beach, +was a freshly painted motor boat, its brasswork shining, and everything +spick and span about it. A very commodious and handsome craft she was, +with "Go-Ahead" painted on either side of her bow and on her +stern-board. + +"Oh, she's all there! nobody has run off with her in the night," laughed +Wyn. "And Mr. Lavine couldn't have found a better boat if he had +tried--Mr. Jarley says so." + +"It was good of Dr. Shelton to sell the _Bright Eyes_ to father," +said Bessie Lavine. "And they made a good job of it at the boatyard at +the Forge." + +"She's such a fine and roomy boat," declared Frankie. "We couldn't have +expected such a big one, otherwise." + +"And it's big enough for the Busters and Professor Skillings to sail +home with us, too," said Percy. "Mr. Jarley is going to take charge of +the boys' canoes, as well as ours, and ship them to us." + +"Bully! An all-day cruise on the lake and then down the Wintinooski by +moonlight to-night," sighed Wyn. "It will be just scrumptious!" + +"Come, then, girls," warned Mrs. Havel. "We must strike camp. Everything +must be rolled up and secured, ready for shipment on the bateau when it +comes. I saw the sail of the bateau going past the point of Gannet +Island early this morning. I expect the boys are all ready before this +time." + +"Let's wait for them," said the languid Bess. "What's the use of having +boy friends if you don't make use of them?" + +"Listen to her!" exclaimed Wyn, with scorn. "Depend upon the boys? +I--rather--guess--not!" + +"Don't be so independent, Miss," returned Miss Lavine. "You'll be glad +to have Davie at your beck and call again when we get back home." + +Wyn laughed. "It's all right to have them within reach if need should +arise----" + +"Like a mouse, or a snake," put in Frank Cameron. + +"Goodness!" drawled Grace. "After all the bugs, and worms, and +caterpillars, and other monsters we have faced--alone and +single-handed--here in the woods, I don't believe I'll _ever_ +squeal if I put my hand upon a mouse in the pantry." + +"Pshaw!" said Frank. "You only _think_ that. It's the frailties of +the sex we cannot get over. You all know very well that a boy with a +teenty, tinty garter-snake on the end of a stick could chase this whole +crowd either into the lake, or into hysterics." + +"Shame!" cried Wyn. "That is rank treachery to the 'manhood' of us girls +of the Go-Ahead Club." + +"You are right, Wyn," agreed Mina. "Why, we none of us have any nerves +now--but plenty of _nerve_, of course." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Frank, starting back suddenly. "See that! Is it a spider +over your head, Mina?" + +Miss Everett uttered an ear-piercing shriek and sprang up, to run madly +from the spot. Frank burst into laughter. + +"How brave! Such nerve! My, my! we'll none of us ever be afraid +again----" + +They all pitched upon the joker, and Mrs. Havel had to come to her +rescue with the reminder that time was flying. + +"If you want to show the boys that you are really fit to camp out alone, +get to work!" she commanded. + +The next hour was a busy one for the Go-Aheads. But how much more +handily they went about the striking of the tents than they had about +raising them two months before! + +Life in the open had really done wonders for the girls from Denton. They +knew how to do things that they had never dreamed of doing at home. Most +of them had learned how to swing an axe, although the boys had +faithfully paid their forfeit by cutting the firewood for Green Knoll +Camp all summer. The girls could use a hammer, too, and tie workman-like +knots, and do a host of other things that had never come into their +lives before. + +"It is well to be sufficient unto one's self," Mrs. Havel told them. "A +girl cannot always expect to find a boy at her beck and call. It is nice +to be waited on by the male sex--and it is good for boys to learn to +attend properly upon their girl friends; it is better, however, to know +how to accept favors gracefully from our boy friends, and yet not really +_need_ their assistance." + +So Green Knoll Camp presented a very orderly appearance when the boys +and Professor Skillings appeared ahead of the bateau that was to take +all their goods and chattels back to their home town. + +"Goodness! aren't you girls smart?" cried Dave Shepard, the first +ashore. "Are you _all_ ready?" + +"Every bit," declared Wyn. + +"Then we can get off in the _Go-Ahead_ at once?" + +"Right," declared Frank, laughing. "And as soon as you can teach Wyn and +me how to manage the motor boat, we girls sha'n't need you boys at all." + +"A fine lot of suffragettes you are going to make," growled Dave. + +"No; we'll never be 'suffering-cats,' Davie," returned Frank, laughing. +"We don't need to. Let us alone for being able to get the best of you +Busters whenever we want to." + +"Isn't she right?" cried Ferdinand Roberts, admiringly. "You can't beat +'em!" + +"No, you can't," snarled Tubby Blaisdell, very puffy about his face, and +with a wry smile. "They even get the goats to help 'em." + +"They got your goat, old man," said Dave, chuckling, "that's sure. But +you blame them for a crime they did not commit, I believe. Remember how +many times you have tried to trick _them_?" + +"Huh!" snorted the fat youth. "Did I ever succeed?" + +"I hope," said Mrs. Havel, breaking in upon this "give and take" +conversation, "that your parents will not blame me if you all +appear--both girls and boys--to have lost your good manners here in the +woods. Do simmer down. Remember, you return to civilization to-day." + +"Oh, dear! don't remind us--don't, dear Mrs. Havel," cried Frank. + +"Just think!" scoffed Ferd. "You girls will have to be all 'dolled up' +on Sunday again. Won't you _hate_ it?" + +"Rather go around in a tramping skirt and without a hat," admitted Wyn, +frankly. + +"The tastes of girlhood are much different now from what they were in +_my_ day," said the lady, with a sigh. "When I was young we never +thought of doing the things you girls do now." + +"Isn't that why you didn't do them?" asked Frank, slily. "Perhaps we +girls of this generation have better-developed imaginations." + +"Oh, sure!" cried Ferd, with sarcasm. "You girls are wonders--just as +smart as little Hen Rogers was last term when Miss Haley asked him if he +could name any town in Alaska." + +"What did he say?" asked Frank, with interest. + +"He said, 'Nome'--and she sent him to the foot of the class," chuckled +Ferd. + +"Oh! aren't you smart?" railed Bessie. "That joke is the twin to the one +about the boy who was asked by the professor in physics if he knew what +'nasal organ' meant. And the boy said 'No, sir' and got a 'perfect' +mark." + +"Come on, folks!" cried Wyn. "Stop telling silly jokes and bear a hand +here. All these things have to go into the boat." + +Mr. Jarley and Polly joined them just then, Mr. Jarley to collect the +canoes and take them to the Forge, while Polly was to go with the two +clubs aboard the newly-named _Go-Ahead_ to Denton. + +Polly, in a brand-new boating costume, was so pretty that the boys +couldn't keep their eyes away from her. She was happy, too, and this +fact gave an entirely different expression to her face. + +She was to go home with Wyn, and in a few weeks her father would follow +and establish a home for them both in Denton. He was going, as Mr. +Lavine declared, to start in his old home town just where he had left +off more than ten years before. And Polly was to enter the academy with +the girls of Green Knoll Camp on the opening day. + +The party got under weigh on the _Go-Ahead_ and were some miles +down the lake ere it was discovered that Professor Skillings had +forgotten both his shoes and his hat, for he had paddled over to the +girls' camp barefoot as usual. It was too late to go back then, for the +baggage had all been put aboard the bateau. + +So the professor went home with a handkerchief tied around his head and +a pair of moccasins on his feet--the latter borrowed from Dr. Shelton, +at whose dock they stopped for luncheon. + +The bluff doctor insisted that the whole party come ashore and lunch +with him. He had arranged for Polly's tuition at the Denton Academy, had +bought her text-books, and when the party left for home that day he +thrust into Polly Jolly's hand a silver chain purse with more money in +it than the boatman's daughter had ever possessed before. + +Polly Jolly was beginning to live up to the loving name that Wyn Mallory +had given to her. She was the very gayest of the gay as the +_Go-Ahead_ proceeded down the lake and then down the Wintinooski to +Denton. + +The last of the journey was taken after they had had a picnic supper, +and under the brilliant light of the September moon. The boys and girls +sang and told stories, and otherwise enjoyed themselves. But as they +drew near home they quieted down. + +The summer was behind them. For more than two months they had skylarked, +and enjoyed themselves to the full on the lake and in the woods. They +"were going back to civilization," as Frankie said, and it made them a +bit thoughtful. + +"I expect," said Mina Everett, "that we have had just the best time that +we will ever have in all our lives." + +"Why so?" demanded Bess. "Can't we go camping again?" + +"Sure we will!" declared Dave Shepard. + +"I see what Mina means--and I guess she is right," Wyn remarked, +earnestly. "We may go camping again; but it will never be just like this +first time. For the girls, I mean. We had never done such a thing +before. And then--if we go next summer--we'll be a whole year older. And +a year is a long, long time." + +"Long enough to spoil some of you girls, I expect," grumbled Ferdinand. + +"Spoil us, Mister? How's that?" snapped Bess, at once taking up the +gauntlet. + +"You'll be wanting to put up your hair and let down your skirts, and +will be wearing all the new-style folderols by next summer," retorted +Ferd. + +"Oh, won't they, just!" groaned Tubby, in agreement. + +"You wait and see, Smartie!" cried Frank Cameron. + +"We are not like the girls you are thinking of," declared Grace, with +some warmth. + +"No, indeed," agreed Percy. + +"The Go-Aheads are going to fool you, Ferdie," said Wyn, laughing. "Just +you watch us. _All_ girls aren't in a hurry to grow up and ape +their mothers and older sisters. We're going in for athletics and the +'simple life' strongly; aren't we, girls?" + +Her fellow club members agreed in a hearty chorus. "Besides," added +Bess, "we can have all the fun the other kind of girls have as well as +our own kind. We can dance, and go to parties, and wear pretty frocks +for _part_ of the time." + +"What did I tell you?" demanded Ferd, grinning. + +"Never mind, Ferd, never mind," said Dave, softly. "We'll be a bit that +way ourselves before the winter's over. You know, Ferd, that your folks +will insist on your keeping your hair cut and your finger-nails +manicured." + +"And of course I'll have a blister on my heel from wearing dancing pumps +before the season is over," groaned Tubby. "Oh, well! it's not +altogether our fault that we grow up so fast. Our folks make us," and he +groaned again, for dancing school was one of the fat youth's pet +aversions. + +"That is what youth is for," advised Mrs. Havel, who overheard all this. +"It is a preparation for manhood and womanhood." + +"Dear me! Dear me! let's forget it," cried Dave. "This is no time for +feeling solemn. Thank goodness, for two solid months we have forgotten +all about the 'duty we owe to posterity,' as the professor expresses it. +Maybe next year we can forget it again in our camps upon the shores of +Lake Honotonka." + +"Well expressed, little boy--well expressed," agreed Wynifred, tweaking +one of Dave's curls that would _not_ lie down, no matter what he +did to them. "My! but we _have_ grown serious. This is no way to +end our camping days, girls. Come! another lively song----" + +The motor boat drifted in to the boathouse landing to the lilt of a +familiar rowing song. Wyn's camping days were over; the outing of the +Go-Ahead Club was at an end. + +THE END + + + + +SOMETHING ABOUT + +AMY BELL MARLOWE + +AND HER BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +In these days, when the printing presses are turning out so many books +for girls that are good, bad and indifferent, it is refreshing to come +upon the works of such a gifted authoress as Miss Amy Bell Marlowe, who +is now under contract to write exclusively for Messrs. Grosset & Dunlap. + +In many ways Miss Marlowe's books may be compared with those of Miss +Alcott and Mrs. Meade, but all are thoroughly modern and wholly American +in scene and action. Her plots, while never improbable, are exceedingly +clever, and her girlish characters are as natural as they are +interesting. + +On the following pages will be found a list of Miss Marlowe's books. +Every girl in our land ought to read these fresh and wholesome tales. +They are to be found at all booksellers. Each volume is handsomely +illustrated and bound in cloth, stamped in colors. Published by Grosset +& Dunlap, New York. A free catalogue of Miss Marlowe's books may be had +for the asking. + + + + +THE OLDEST OF FOUR + +"I don't see any way out!" + +It was Natalie's mother who said that, after the awful news had been +received that Mr. Raymond had been lost in a shipwreck on the Atlantic. +Natalie was the oldest of four children, and the family was left with +but scant means for support. + +"I've got to do something--yes, I've just got to!" Natalie said to +herself, and what the brave girl did is well related in "The Oldest of +Four; Or, Natalie's Way Out." In this volume we find Natalie with a +strong desire to become a writer. At first she contributes to a local +paper, but soon she aspires to larger things, and comes in contact with +the editor of a popular magazine. This man becomes her warm friend, and +not only aids her in a literary way but also helps in a hunt for the +missing Mr. Raymond. + +Natalie has many ups and downs, and has to face more than one bitter +disappointment. But she is a plucky girl through and through. + +"One of the brightest girls' stories ever penned," one well-known author +has said of this book, and we agree with him. Natalie is a thoroughly +lovable character, and one long to be remembered. Published as are all +the Amy Bell Marlowe books, by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, and for sale +by all booksellers. Ask your dealer to let you look the volume over. + + + + +THE GIRLS OF HILLCREST FARM + +"We'll go to the old farm, and we'll take boarders! We can fix the old +place up, and, maybe, make money!" + +The father of the two girls was broken down in health and a physician +had recommended that he go to the country, where he could get plenty of +fresh air and sunshine. An aunt owned an abandoned farm and she said the +family could live on this and use the place as they pleased. It was +great sport moving and getting settled, and the boarders offered one +surprise after another. There was a mystery about the old farm, and a +mystery concerning one of the boarders, and how the girls got to the +bottom of affairs is told in detail in the story, which is called, "The +Girls of Hillcrest Farm; Or, The Secret of the Rocks." + +It was great fun to move to the farm, and once the girls had the scare +of their lives. And they attended a great "vendue" too. + +"I just had to write that story--I couldn't help it," said Miss Marlowe, +when she handed in the manuscript. "I knew just such a farm when I was a +little girl, and oh! what fun I had there! And there was a mystery about +that place, too!" + +Published, like all the Marlowe books, by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, +and for sale wherever good books are sold. + + + + +A LITTLE MISS NOBODY + +"Oh, she's only a little nobody! Don't have anything to do with her!" + +How often poor Nancy Nelson heard those words, and how they cut her to +the heart. And the saying was true, she _was_ a nobody. She had no +folks, and she did not know where she had come from. All she did know +was that she was at a boarding school and that a lawyer paid her tuition +bills and gave her a mite of spending money. + +"I am going to find out who I am, and where I came from," said Nancy to +herself, one day, and what she did, and how it all ended, is absorbingly +related in "A Little Miss Nobody; Or, With the Girls of Pinewood Hall." +Nancy made a warm friend of a poor office boy who worked for that +lawyer, and this boy kept his eyes and ears open and learned many +things. + +The book tells much about boarding school life, of study and fun mixed, +and of a great race on skates. Nancy made some friends as well as +enemies, and on more than one occasion proved that she was "true blue" +in the best meaning of that term. + +Published by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, and for sale by booksellers +everywhere. If you desire a catalogue of Amy Bell Marlowe books send to +the publishers for it and it will come free. + + + + +THE GIRL FROM SUNSET RANCH + +Helen was very thoughtful as she rode along the trail from Sunset Ranch +to the View. She had lost her father but a month before, and he had +passed away with a stain on his name--a stain of many years' standing, +as the girl had just found out. + +"I am going to New York and I am going to clear his name!" she resolved, +and just then she saw a young man dashing along, close to the edge of a +cliff. Over he went, and Helen, with no thought of the danger to +herself, went to the rescue. + +Then the brave Western girl found herself set down at the Grand Central +Terminal in New York City. She knew not which way to go or what to do. +Her relatives, who thought she was poor and ignorant, had refused to +even meet her. She had to fight her way along from the start, and how +she did this, and won out, is well related in "The Girl from Sunset +Ranch; Or, Alone in a Great City." + +This is one of the finest of Amy Bell Marlowe's books, with its +true-to-life scenes of the plains and mountains, and of the great +metropolis. Helen is a girl all readers will love from the start. + +Published by Grosset & Dunlap, New York, and for sale by booksellers +everywhere. + + + + +WYN'S CAMPING DAYS + +"Oh, girls, such news!" cried Wynifred Mallory to her chums, one day. +"We can go camping on Lake Honotonka! Isn't it grand!" + +It certainly was, and the members of the Go-Ahead Club were delighted. +Soon they set off, with their boy friends to keep them company in +another camp not far away. Those boys played numerous tricks on the +girls, and the girls retaliated, you may be sure. And then Wyn did a +strange girl a favor, and learned how some ancient statues of rare value +had been lost in the lake, and how the girl's father was accused of +stealing them. + +"We must do all we can for that girl," said Wyn. But this was not so +easy, for the girl campers had many troubles of their own. They had +canoe races, and one of them fell overboard and came close to drowning, +and then came a big storm, and a nearby tree was struck by lightning. + +"I used to love to go camping when a girl, and I love to go yet," said +Miss Marlowe, in speaking of this tale, which is called, "Wyn's Camping +Days; Or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club." "I think all girls ought to +know the pleasures of summer life under canvas." + +A book that ought to be in the hands of all girls. Issued by Grosset & +Dunlap, New York, and for sale by booksellers everywhere. + + + + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES + +By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON + +12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING + +Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The +girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with +interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track +and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on +the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, +pure and wholesome. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH + Or Rivals for all Honors. + +A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of +mystery and a strange initiation. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA + Or The Crew That Won. + +Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL + Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery. + +Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketball and in +addition, the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high school +authorities for a long while. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE + Or The Play That Took the Prize. + +How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote a play +which afterward was made over for the professional stage and brought +in some much-needed money. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD + Or The Girl Champions of the School League + +This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved and +up-to-date fashion. Full of fun and excitement. + +THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP + Or The Old Professor's Secret. + +The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful time at +boating, swimming and picnic parties. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Bobbsey Twins Series." + +12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING + +The adventures of Ruth and Alice DeVere. Their father, a widower, is +an actor who has taken up work for the "movies." Both girls wish to +aid him in his work and visit various localities to act in all sorts +of pictures. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS + Or First Appearance in Photo Dramas. + +Having lost his voice, the father of the girls goes into the movies +and the girls follow. Tells how many "parlor dramas" are filmed. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM + Or Queer Happenings While Taking Rural Plays. + +Full of fun in the country, the haps and mishaps of taking film plays, +and giving an account of two unusual discoveries. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND + Or The Proof on the Film. + +A tale of winter adventures in the wilderness, showing how the +photo-play actors sometimes suffer. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS + Or Lost in the Wilds of Florida. + +How they went to the land of palms, played many parts in dramas before +the camera; were lost, and aided others who were also lost. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH + Or Great Days Among the Cowboys. + +All who have ever seen moving pictures of the great West will want to +know just how they are made. This volume gives every detail and is +full of clean fun and excitement. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA + Or a Pictured Shipwreck that Became Real. + +A thrilling account of the girls' experiences on the water. + +THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS + Or The Sham Battles at Oak Farm. + +The girls play important parts in big battle scenes and have plenty of +hard work along with considerable fun. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of the "Bobbsey Twin Books" and "Bunny Brown" Series. + +12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. + +These tales take in the various adventures participated in by several +bright, up-to-date girls who love outdoor life. They are clean and +wholesome, free from sensationalism, absorbing from the first chapter +to the last. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE + Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health. + +Telling how the girls organized their Camping and Tramping Club, how +they went on a tour, and of various adventures which befell them. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE + Or Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem. + +One of the girls becomes the proud possessor of a motor boat and +invites her club members to take a trip down the river to Rainbow +Lake, a beautiful sheet of water lying between the mountains. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR + Or The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley. + +One of the girls has learned to run a big motor car, and she invites +the club to go on a tour to visit some distant relatives. On the way +they stop at a deserted mansion and make a surprising discovery. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP + Or Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats. + +In this story, the scene is shifted to a winter season. The girls have +some jolly times skating and ice boating, and visit a hunters' camp in +the big woods. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA. + Or Wintering in the Sunny South. + +The parents of one of the girls have bought an orange grove in +Florida, and her companions are invited to visit the place. They take +a trip into the interior, where several unusual things happen. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW + Or The Box that Was Found in the Sand. + +The girls have great fun and solve a mystery while on an outing along +the New England coast. + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND + Or A Cave and What it Contained. + +A bright, healthful story, full of good times at a bungalow camp on +Pine Island. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS + +For Little Men and Women + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Bunny Brown" Series, Etc. + +12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING. + +Copyright publications which cannot be obtained elsewhere. Books that +charm the hearts of the little ones, and of which they never tire. +Many of the adventures are comical in the extreme, and all the +accidents that ordinarily happen to youthful personages happened to +these many-sided little mortals. Their haps and mishaps make decidedly +entertaining reading. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + +Telling how they go home from the seashore; went to school and were +promoted, and of their many trials and tribulations. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + +Telling of the winter holidays, and of the many fine times and +adventures the twins had at a winter lodge in the big woods. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + +Mr. Bobbsey obtains a houseboat, and the whole family go off on a +tour. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + +The young folks visit the farm again and have plenty of good times and +several adventures. + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + +The twins get into all sorts of trouble--and out again--also bring aid +to a poor family. + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wyn's Camping Days, by Amy Bell Marlowe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WYN'S CAMPING DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 31419.txt or 31419.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/4/1/31419/ + +Produced by Roger Frank, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://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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