initial commit of ebook 36391HEADmain

1 files changed, 7319 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/36391-0.txt b/36391-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42524dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/36391-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7319 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country, by Janet Aldridge
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country
+       The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike
+
+Author: Janet Aldridge
+
+Release Date: June 12, 2011 [EBook #36391]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Girls Made Camp and Ate Supper.]
+
+
+
+
+                 The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country
+
+                                   OR
+
+                 The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike
+
+                                   By
+
+                             JANET ALDRIDGE
+
+             Author of The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas,
+                  The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat, etc.
+
+                              Illustrated
+
+                              PHILADELPHIA
+                         HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+                          Copyright, 1913, by
+                           Howard E. Altemus
+
+
+
+
+                                CONTENTS
+
+        CHAPTER                                               PAGE
+             I. A Night of Excitement                            7
+            II. The Red Eye in the Dark                         30
+           III. A Blessing and a Threat                         39
+            IV. The Coming of Crazy Jane                        50
+             V. Catching the Speckled Beauties                  62
+            VI. The Call of the Dancing Bear                    69
+           VII. Discovering Midnight Prowlers                   79
+          VIII. Caught in a Morass                              90
+            IX. The Tramp Club to the Rescue                   102
+             X. In the Hands of the Rescuers                   112
+            XI. A Contest of Endurance                         124
+           XII. Meadow-Brook Girls up a Tree                   134
+          XIII. A Serious Predicament                          146
+           XIV. Harriet Is Resourceful                         152
+            XV. A Race for Life                                163
+           XVI. A Treat That Was Not a Treat                   173
+          XVII. Trying out the Gipsy Trail                     186
+         XVIII. The Queen Takes a Hand                         196
+           XIX. Delving Into the Mysteries                     206
+            XX. Getting Even With George                       217
+           XXI. Harriet Plans to Outwit the Tramp Club         225
+          XXII. A Combietta Concert                            230
+         XXIII. The Harmonica Serenade                         236
+          XXIV. Conclusion                                     244
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I—A NIGHT OF EXCITEMENT
+
+
+“Oh, where can Crazy Jane be!” wailed Margery Brown.
+
+“It isn’t so much a question of where Jane may be as where we ourselves
+are, Buster,” answered Harriet Burrell, laughingly. “However, if she
+doesn’t come, why, we will make the best of it. This will not be the
+first time we have spent the night out of doors.”
+
+“Are we lost?” gasped Hazel Holland.
+
+“It looks very much as though we had gone astray,” replied Miss Elting,
+who was acting as guardian and chaperon to the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+“Oh, thave me!” wailed Grace Thompson, her impish little face appearing
+to grow several degrees smaller.
+
+“Girls! Please do not become excited,” urged the guardian. “There is no
+cause for alarm. Even if we have lost our way we shall find it again on
+the morrow. Harriet, you have the map. Suppose we examine it again and
+see if we can find out where we are. We surely must be near human
+habitation, and the country is so open that really getting lost is quite
+impossible.”
+
+Harriet Burrell unslung the pack that she carried over her shoulder,
+then felt about in it until she found that for which she was looking.
+She spread the map out on the ground at one side of the road, her
+companions gathering about and gazing down over her shoulder. Miss
+Elting sat down beside the map.
+
+“Here! Trace our day’s route with the pencil,” she said. “This should be
+Harmon’s Valley. That being the case, the village of Harmon should be
+not more than a mile farther on.”
+
+“There is no village anywhere near us, according to the route we have
+traveled since this morning,” answered Harriet.
+
+“Oh, that can’t be possible,” exclaimed Miss Elting.
+
+“Please look for yourself, Miss Elting,” Harriet replied earnestly.
+“After leaving Granite Mountain we swung to the left as you will see by
+the line I have marked.”
+
+“Hm-m-m,” murmured the guardian as she scanned the map.
+
+“It looks to me very much as though we had taken the wrong valley,” said
+Harriet, as she paused in her scrutiny of the map to glance up at the
+hills that shut in the valley where they now were. “See! There isn’t a
+town marked on this map anywhere in this valley.”
+
+“I believe you are right. In order to get to our stopping place for the
+night we shall have to cross those hills to the right. How far is it
+across?”
+
+“Five miles,” answered Harriet, after making some brief measurements.
+
+“Five mileth?” wailed Grace. “Oh, thave me!”
+
+“Tommy, will you be quiet?” begged Margery. “You make me nervous. Miss
+Elting, you aren’t going on, to-night, are you? I simply can’t walk
+another mile. My feet are so numb that I can’t feel them.”
+
+“I can feel mine. They are ath big ath elephantth,” declared Tommy.
+
+“What do you say, girls? Shall we go on or make camp for the night?”
+questioned the guardian. “Remember, Jane McCarthy is no doubt waiting
+with her car for us over in the other valley. She will not know where to
+go if we do not get in touch with her to-night.”
+
+Grace, Hazel and Margery begged Miss Elting to go no farther. They
+already had made ten miles that day, which they declared was quite
+enough.
+
+“What do you say, Harriet?” asked Miss Elting.
+
+“Of course I am a little footsore, but I could walk another ten miles if
+necessary. However, the other girls do not wish to go farther, so I vote
+with them to remain here for the night. But won’t Jane be puzzled where
+to go in the morning!”
+
+“She will find us, my dear,” smiled the guardian.
+
+“If you think best I will cross the ridge, after supper, and see if I
+can find her,” suggested Harriet Burrell.
+
+“No. I could not think of permitting you to do that, Harriet. Jane will
+be sure to wait at the meeting place we agreed upon until noon to-morrow
+before starting on to the next stopping place.”
+
+“But we haven’t any plathe to thleep,” protested the lisping Tommy. “I
+can’t thleep on the ground, can I?”
+
+“No. You are going to sleep standing up like a horse,” answered Margery
+petulantly.
+
+“No, I’m not. I’m going to lie down jutht like I alwayth do,” lisped the
+little girl.
+
+“Girls, stop your disputing. We have other things to think of,” rebuked
+Harriet. “Let’s try to make the best of our unpleasant situation.”
+
+Miss Elting, shading her eyes with her hand, gazed inquiringly at the
+surrounding country. It was barren of buildings except for a large barn
+and a number of stacks and sheds, some distance away in a field to the
+west. Still beyond this was a clump of trees and bushes. There was
+nothing else—no house, no human beings other than themselves in sight.
+
+“Girls, let’s investigate that miniature forest over yonder,” called the
+guardian. “It looks as though it might be an excellent place in which to
+cook supper, provided we are able to find water.”
+
+“Supper!” cried the girls in chorus. They realized all at once that they
+were hungry. With one accord they snatched up their packs, heavy as they
+were, slung them over their shoulders and laboriously climbed the
+roadside fence. Tommy caught her foot on the top rail in attempting to
+jump to the ground on the other side.
+
+“Look out!” warned Miss Elting sharply.
+
+“Thave me!” wailed the lisping Tommy and sprawled on all fours on the
+other side of the fence, kicking frantically as she fell.
+
+“Are you hurt, dear?” cried Harriet, springing over to her companion.
+
+“Hurt? I gueth I am. Don’t you thee, I’ve thkinned my nothe. Oh, I withh
+I were home!”
+
+“No, you don’t. Think what a lot of fun you are having,” comforted
+Harriet. “There! You are all right now.”
+
+“Am I all right?”
+
+“Of course you are.”
+
+“All right, if you thay tho,” nodded Tommy, gathering up her pack and
+moving away with Harriet Burrell’s arm about her. Miss Elting and the
+other girls had started for the clump of trees. Arriving, they quickly
+flung down their packs. The guardian began hunting for water. She found
+a stream of cold water just inside the clump of trees beyond the field,
+as she had anticipated. The greenness of the foliage about the spot had
+told her that water was near. In other parts of the valley the leaves
+were turning. There was a strong suggestion of Autumn in the air, which
+at night was crisp and bracing, though the days thus far on their long
+tramp, had been unusually warm for so late in the Fall.
+
+It was Harriet’s duty to build the fire. She went about this task at
+once. There was some difficulty in finding wood that would burn. After
+searching she found some pieces of old fence rails. These were of pine,
+and as they were too long for a fire over which to cook food, Harriet
+got out her hatchet and began to chop them into smaller pieces. It was a
+hard task to chop through a rail, sharp though the hatchet was. However,
+within fifteen minutes, the girl had accomplished the task and the fire
+was burning.
+
+“I am afraid I can’t promise a great variety or quantity of edibles for
+supper,” announced Miss Elting, “though what there is to eat will be
+appetizing.”
+
+“If there is enough, it will answer,” Margery declared.
+
+“Enough?” repeated Tommy wisely. “Buthter, you thurely ought to diet—a
+girl ath thtout ath you are.”
+
+“I think I’ve heard you remark something of the sort before,” sighed
+Margery wearily. “I wish you would forget that I weigh—well, never mind
+how much! The subject is a distressing one. I’m almost too hungry
+to-night to think of anything except eating.”
+
+Tommy’s mischievous glance roved about, resting first on Harriet, who
+with flushed face was bending over the fire, then on Miss Elting, who
+was slicing bacon. In addition to the bacon there was to be coffee,
+supplemented by a few biscuits. There was nothing very hearty about that
+repast for healthy girls who had tramped for hours under a warm
+September sun. Still, there were no complaints, save as Tommy and
+Margery had voiced their disgust with their present life.
+
+Though none of these young women could guess it, they were destined,
+before morning, to encounter enough excitement to make them all wish
+they had never started on this long walk from Camp Wau-Wau, where they
+had spent the summer, to their homes in Meadow-Brook.
+
+Surely the Meadow-Brook Girls need no introduction to the readers of
+this series who will recall how, under the chaperonage of Miss Elting,
+the four girls had gone to the summer camp in the Pocono Woods, where,
+somehow, each day of their life had grown increasingly exciting. All of
+the things that happened to Harriet and her friends at that time are set
+forth in the first volume of this series, under the title of “The
+Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas.” While in the summer camp the
+Meadow-Brook Girls had passed through many varied and exciting
+experiences. The mischievous initiation of Harriet Burrell and Grace
+Thompson by the older girls, the arrival in the camp of Jane McCarthy,
+known to her friends as “Crazy Jane” and the series of lively happenings
+that followed her coming; the nocturnal visit of a bear, and Harriet’s
+spirited chase of the animal were incidents that contributed to the
+interest of the narrative.
+
+Harriet’s brave rescue of her companions during a severe storm and her
+subsequent generous treatment of the two Camp Girls, Patricia Scott and
+Cora Kidder, who had plotted against her, won for her the warm
+admiration of her associates at Camp Wau-Wau.
+
+When it had come time to leave the camp in the great forest it had been
+agreed by the Meadow-Brook Girls and their guardian that, instead of
+returning by train they would walk all the way home, disdaining any
+“lifts” or other helps that prevented them from making their way
+strictly on foot.
+
+So endeared had “Crazy Jane” McCarthy become to them all during her stay
+in camp that she had been voted as one of their number. Crazy Jane,
+however, would hear of but little walking. She sent for her automobile,
+a present from her father, and insisted on using this in “scouting” and
+in carrying the tent and provisions for the Pathfinders, as the
+Meadow-Brook Girls now elected to call themselves.
+
+Each night Jane would meet the girls at a place agreed upon in advance.
+Then the tent would be pitched at some distance from the highway, and
+there the girls would spend the night. But now, on the third day, the
+Meadow-Brook Girls had failed to meet their supply car. What they were
+to do for the night, Miss Elting did not know. Her first move was to see
+to the preparation of the little food that they had with them.
+
+Jane McCarthy, with a full purse and a wealthy, indulgent father, had
+claimed the right of being purveyor of food on that long journey. The
+speed at which that young woman traveled permitted of her foraging far
+and wide. Whereever she went she was likely to be remembered, for it was
+her reckless driving that had given her the name of “Crazy Jane.” Yet
+this light-hearted, impulsive girl had wonderful control of her machine.
+With all her reckless driving she had never yet injured any one, though
+her friends often remonstrated with her for her haphazard style of
+running her car.
+
+Supper finished, Margery and Hazel were left to attend to the dishes,
+and to put them in the packs, which were ordinary hunters’ bags, made to
+strap over the shoulders.
+
+“After you have finished the work, girls,” directed Miss Elting, “be
+sure to extinguish the last spark of the fire. Harriet, will you come
+with me?”
+
+“Thay, where are you going?” cried Grace. “Pleathe don’t go away and
+leave uth here alone. It ith going to be dark, pretty thoon.”
+
+“Don’t you want a place to sleep?” smiled the guardian.
+
+“Yeth, but it’th getting dark,” Tommy insisted.
+
+“All the more reason for finding sleeping quarters,” smiled Miss Elting.
+
+“Are you thinking of trying the barns?” asked Harriet, as she and the
+guardian stepped away.
+
+“Yes. I don’t see anything else to do.”
+
+“We’re going to have a storm,” Harriet went on thoughtfully, “so of
+course we shall do well to secure more shelter than we could get by
+making a brush lean-to.”
+
+“I don’t believe we are in the least danger of being disturbed in the
+barn,” the guardian continued. “I don’t imagine there are any other
+human beings within several miles of this place. This is certainly a
+very lonesome bit of country. It is the first day since we have been out
+that we haven’t met some one. That may be because we have kept away from
+the roads to-day. We haven’t been on a highway more than an hour all day
+long.”
+
+“This is what I like,” answered Harriet. “I just love to strike out
+across country and blaze new trails. It’s ever so much more interesting.
+But, Miss Elting, are you certain there is no one about?”
+
+The guardian halted sharply and faced her companion. She knew Harriet
+Burrell too well not to understand that the girl’s question was
+significant.
+
+“What is it?” she asked.
+
+“I saw some one not far from camp when we were eating our supper,” was
+Harriet’s quiet announcement.
+
+“You are sure of that?”
+
+“Yes; it was just beyond the woods there. At first I thought it a fence
+post; then all at once the post moved. I saw it was a person.”
+
+“What was the person doing, Harriet?”
+
+“The person appeared to be watching us. I also discovered something
+else. The person was a _woman_.”
+
+Miss Elting threw back her head and laughed merrily.
+
+“I don’t think we need to be very much alarmed at that. So long as it
+wasn’t a tramp you saw, we won’t disturb ourselves.”
+
+“She was a strange looking creature,” continued Harriet. “I couldn’t
+make her out very well. All at once she disappeared in the most
+mysterious fashion. You said something. I glanced up, then back to the
+place where the woman had been standing and she had gone. It happened in
+less than half a dozen seconds. She would have to be a pretty lively
+person to get out of sight in that time, wouldn’t she, Miss Elting?”
+
+The guardian nodded. They had now reached the big barn. Like its
+surroundings, it was deserted so far as they were able to observe. Miss
+Elting wished to examine the place while there was still light, so they
+hurried in, the doors being wide open. The scent of hay was strong on
+the air as they entered. There were little heaps of hay on the barn
+floor, and on either side in the mows the hay was piled up high. Ladders
+led up to the top of the mows from the barn floor.
+
+“This looks nice and comfy, doesn’t it?” smiled the guardian.
+
+“The best sort of bedroom,” agreed Harriet. “I hope there are no mice
+here?”
+
+“Mice? Gracious! I hope not, too. I think we can do no better than to
+climb the ladder to the top of one of the mows, roll up in our blankets
+and go to sleep. Which bedroom will you take, the north or the south?”
+
+“I think I should prefer the room on the south side. One is more likely
+to get the morning sun there,” answered Harriet gravely.
+
+Miss Elting laughed.
+
+“Thank you. I hadn’t thought of it in that light. The south side bedroom
+will be best for the Meadow-Brook Girls. I know Jane McCarthy would
+enjoy this sort of camping out. As it is, she will have to sleep at a
+farm house to-night. She will never be able to find us here. Suppose you
+climb the ladder and see how the land lies.”
+
+“You mean the hay,” chuckled Harriet, running up the ladder with
+agility. “Oh, it is fine up here, and just as warm as can be. Won’t it
+be splendid to sleep on the hay?” she called down, peering over the edge
+of the mow.
+
+After gazing over the mows for some moments Harriet finally descended to
+the floor. Next she and Miss Elting made a survey of the yard back of
+the barn. The yard was surrounded by empty sheds and great stacks of hay
+and straw. It was evident that the owners intended to winter
+considerable stock in this remote place.
+
+“Well, what do you think of it, Harriet?” inquired Miss Elting.
+
+“Glorious! It is as clean and sweet here as in our own bedrooms at home.
+I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll run back and get the girls,” said
+Harriet.
+
+Miss Elting nodded acquiescence and Harriet hurried across the field,
+the teacher remaining at the barn to investigate the place further while
+Harriet went for her companions. This she did, and decided that they
+were most fortunate in finding so comfortable a place in which to spend
+the night.
+
+Half an hour later she heard them coming. Tommy’s chatter sounded louder
+than the conversation of all the rest of the party. Twilight had settled
+over the interior of the barn by the time the girls came trooping in.
+
+“Br-r-r-r! This place looks spooky,” cried Margery. “We aren’t going to
+stay in here all night, are we, Miss Elting?”
+
+“Yes, Margery. You are not afraid of the dark, are you?”
+
+“No-o-o. But——”
+
+“There is nothing to alarm you. As we are all rather tired, I propose
+that we go upstairs and get to bed at once. I am sorry we shall not be
+able to get our baths this evening. This hotel isn’t provided with bath
+tubs. By the way. There are matches in our packs, so we will leave them
+below. One of the first things a Camp Girl learns, you know, is to be
+careful of fire both indoors and out. Strap your blanket rolls over your
+shoulders. You know it is quite a climb to your bedrooms.”
+
+“Up there is where we sleep,” Harriet informed them. The top of the mow
+was not discernible from the barn floor now.
+
+“What! Away up there?” demanded Margery. “How do we get up?”
+
+“We shall have to climb the ladder,” answered Miss Elting.
+
+Margery groaned.
+
+“I’m glad it’s dark. If it were daylight I know I should fall,” declared
+Hazel. “Let me go first. I don’t want to stand here and think about what
+is before me. If I stop to think I’ll never have the courage to climb.”
+
+“Don’t look down,” cautioned the guardian. “There. That’s fine.”
+
+Hazel was going up rapidly. Margery, with many a groan, next essayed the
+climb. Harriet was directly behind her. Margery had not gone far before
+the wisdom of Harriet’s action became apparent. A wail from Margery
+brought a chorus of “ohs!” from her companions.
+
+“I can’t go another step,” gasped Margery. “I’m going to fall. Catch me
+somebody.”
+
+“Margery, keep on climbing. I’m right below you here. Go on,” urged
+Harriet.
+
+“Oh, I—I can’t. I’m dizzy.”
+
+“Buthter ith theathick,” observed Tommy from the barn floor. Harriet
+began lightly, tapping Buster with a switch that she had brought with
+her.
+
+“Oh! Ouch! Stop it! I tell you stop it!” howled Margery.
+
+“Climb!”
+
+Margery _did_ climb. She went up the ladder faster than she ever had
+climbed before, wailing and threatening every foot of the way. Tommy was
+delightedly dancing about on the barn floor during all this time,
+uttering a perfect volley of unintelligible lisps and jeering cries.
+Margery reached the top of the ladder and flung herself panting on the
+hay.
+
+“Be careful not to come too near the edge,” warned Harriet, hurriedly
+clambering down. Buster made no reply. She was too much out of breath to
+say a word. “Now, let’s see what _you_ can do, Tommy. See if you can do
+any better,” chuckled Harriet.
+
+“You jutht thee me climb. I’ll thhow you. I gueth I know how to climb.
+Buthter ith too fat to climb a ladder. Don’t you hit me. I’ll kick you
+if you do,” was her parting admonition as she began running up the
+ladder. Rather to the amazement of her companions, Grace made the climb
+to the haymow without the least difficulty. Only once did her foot slip
+from a rung of the ladder. Grace recovered it with no more than a
+smothered little exclamation.
+
+“You next, Miss Elting,” nodded Harriet.
+
+“I will wait until you get up. I wish to look after the packs first.
+What would we do were we to lose them? We shouldn’t have a thing to eat
+for breakfast, and goodness knows when we will reach a store to purchase
+food.”
+
+It was not long afterwards that the party of young women were fussing
+about in the hay, making their beds for the night. This consisted in
+leveling off the hay and spreading their blankets. Some little time was
+occupied in working out the uneven spots, but after a time they lay down
+with piled-up hay for pillows, and rolled themselves in their blankets.
+
+The girls went to sleep almost at once. Miss Elting, however, remained
+awake until her charges had finally settled down, as she supposed, for
+the night. She was just about to doze off when she was awakened by a
+scream and a commotion at one end of the mow. The guardian sprang up in
+alarm.
+
+“For mercy’s sake! What is it?” she cried.
+
+“Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy.
+
+Miss Elting and Harriet groped their way to Grace.
+
+“I got a bug in my ear. Yeth I did. It bit me. I won’t thtay here
+another minute. I’ll——”
+
+“I’ll go out doors and sleep,” declared Margery in disgust. “The idea of
+being kept awake all night by that crazy girl.”
+
+“Margery!” rebuked the guardian. “Now, Tommy, you must lie down and go
+to sleep. This will not do at all.”
+
+“I will drag my blanket over and keep her company, Miss Elting,” offered
+Harriet. “Perhaps she did get bitten. I felt some sort of insect
+crawling over my face a moment ago. There now, Tommy, you just snuggle
+down and forget all about it.”
+
+“I don’t like bugth,” complained Tommy, somewhat mollified. A few
+moments later she was sound asleep. Harriet, after making sure that
+Grace was slumbering, once more permitted herself to doze off. She had
+been asleep but a few moments when a wild scream of terror awakened them
+all. Harriet felt the blanket jerked violently from her and heard a
+floundering and threshing on all sides that filled her with alarm.
+Stretching out her hand she found that Tommy was no longer beside her.
+Tommy’s voice rose in a loud wail of terror.
+
+“Oh, Tommy!” cried Harriet.
+
+“Girls, girls! What _is_ the matter?” exclaimed Miss Elting.
+
+“A mouthe, a mouthe!” shrieked Tommy.
+
+“This isn’t a hay barn, it’s a lunatic asylum,” scoffed Margery. “Oh,
+mercy! Help, help!” she shrieked. The mouse had found Margery too. In
+the darkness of the haymow the Meadow-Brook Girls were now floundering
+about in great alarm. Out of the disorder Miss Elting quickly brought
+order. She spoke sharply to Tommy, insisted that Margery should return
+to her blanket and commanded the girls to make no further disturbance.
+
+“The idea that Meadow-Brook Girls should be so timid,” she rebuked.
+“Harriet, I am glad to know that you are not.”
+
+“I—I think I should have screamed too if a mouse had—how do you know it
+was a mouse, Tommy?”
+
+“It ran right over my fathe. I gueth I know what it wath. I gueth I will
+thleep thanding up. May I, Miss Elting?”
+
+“If you prefer to do so. I am going back to bed. I must insist on the
+others doing the same, or at least keeping quiet. We shall be in no
+shape to go on with our journey in the morning at this rate.”
+
+Tommy decided that she, too, would lie down and soon their regular
+breathing told the guardian that most, if not all, of the Meadow-Brook
+Girls were sound asleep. Harriet, however, now that she had been
+awakened, found it difficult to go to sleep again. She lay staring up
+into the darkness for some time.
+
+A sound down on the barn floor put her instantly on the alert. At first
+she thought some farm animal had wandered into the barn; then the
+distinct sound of human footsteps, reached her ears.
+
+Harriet Burrell listened intently, as yet unafraid. She crawled
+cautiously to the edge of the mow and peered over. A human form was
+faintly outlined down there. The figure was groping along the edge of
+the mow and muttering. The listener was unable to make out the words. At
+last the intruder uttered a sharp little exclamation of satisfaction,
+then began to climb the ladder on the opposite side of the barn floor.
+
+“It’s a woman!” gasped Harriet. “Who can it be, and what does she want
+here?” With straining ears and closed eyes the Meadow-Brook girl
+listened. She heard the woman reach the top of the ladder and step off
+into the hay. A few moments later Harriet heard her mumbling at the far
+side of the mow, over near the opposite end of the hay barn. “How
+strange!” muttered the girl.
+
+A low, distant rumble of thunder attracted her attention in another
+direction. A moment later a faint flash of lightning dispelled the gloom
+a little.
+
+“The storm is coming. I hope the girls won’t wake up.” The darkness now
+seemed to be more intense than before. Harriet was unable to distinguish
+one object from another. She crawled back toward her bed and was about
+to wrap herself in her blanket again when a second time she heard
+footsteps on the barn floor. This time she scrambled back to the edge
+more hastily than before. At first she thought the woman had climbed
+down and was going away from the mow. The girl leaned far over. She
+could see no one this time, but she plainly heard some one climbing up
+the opposite ladder again. Harriet wondered if it were tramps; then she
+recalled that the first visitor, being a woman, would be unlikely to be
+a tramp.
+
+“It must be some one seeking shelter from the coming storm,” Harriet
+finally decided, now wondering if it would not be advisable to wake up
+Miss Elting. Upon second thought the girl decided not to do so. Instead,
+she leaned farther out over the edge of the mow and peered down
+anxiously.
+
+A flash of lightning, more brilliant than the first, lighted up the barn
+from end to end. By the light of the flash Harriet Burrell saw that
+which set her nerves to tingling and caused her to utter a suppressed
+gasp.
+
+Below her on the barn floor stood a man. He was swarthy; his coal black
+hair hung down in long, glistening locks. His eyes, large and very black
+were gazing right up into the girl’s face. She shrank back trembling.
+
+“Oh!” gasped the Meadow-Brook girl. “Oh! He saw me. Oh, what shall I
+do!”
+
+The man began climbing the ladder on her side of the barn. Harriet could
+hear him plainly. She began crawling back into the mow on her hands and
+knees. Her first inclination, on reaching her blanket, was to burrow
+under the hay so as to be out of sight. But it occurred to her that her
+companions would still be in plain sight were another flash of lightning
+to illumine the mow. Harriet promptly decided to lie still and await
+developments. She knew that Miss Elting carried a revolver, and that the
+guardian was proficient in its use. This thought gave Harriet comfort.
+Besides, what was there to fear?
+
+To add to the excitement a second man entered the barn at this juncture.
+But instead of climbing up after the other man he took the opposite
+ladder up which the woman had gone a few moments before. The man on the
+girls’ side was rapidly nearing the top. Harriet lay trembling, hoping
+there would be no more lightning. Suddenly a brilliant flash lighted up
+the barn from end to end. It revealed the man clinging to the ladder,
+his head on a level with the top of the mow, glancing over it keenly,
+searchingly. Harriet’s left hand stole toward Miss Elting who lay within
+easy reach. It was Harriet’s intention to awaken her as quietly as
+possible as soon as the light died away. But ere her hand descended on
+Miss Elting’s arm, something occurred that made this move on Harriet
+Burrell’s part, unnecessary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II—THE RED EYE IN THE DARK
+
+
+There was an ominous snapping sound; then the rung of the ladder gave
+way and the man fell backward to the floor.
+
+“Oh! He has fallen!” gasped Harriet, in dismay, as she scrambled hastily
+toward the edge of the mow. “He must be seriously injured.”
+
+“What ith that noithe?” demanded Grace.
+
+“Sh-h-h!” warned Harriet softly.
+
+Nothing more was heard from Grace for the time being. She had dropped to
+sleep again. Fortunately none of the others had been awakened by the
+racket, but Harriet’s heart was beating rapidly. She leaned over the
+edge of the mow. What the next flash of lightning revealed relieved her
+anxiety somewhat. She saw the man get up and rub his back. She saw, too,
+that he had fallen on a heap of hay, the latter undoubtedly having saved
+him from severe injury. A moment later he limped across the floor and
+began climbing up the ladder on the other side of the barn.
+
+“Thank goodness!” muttered Harriet. “I hope no more of them come in here
+to-night. I shall scream if they do. I know I shall.”
+
+The man threw himself, grumbling, on the hay; silence once more settled
+over the barn so far as the occupants were concerned. The thunder was
+now growing louder, the lightning flashes became more frequent. Harriet,
+however, felt no particular alarm. She was unafraid of thunder storms,
+and gave no thought to the fact that barns are more frequently struck by
+lightning than are dwelling houses.
+
+By this time her companions had begun to stir restlessly. Miss Elting
+sat up.
+
+“Harriet, is that you?” she asked in a low tone.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“What are you doing?”
+
+“Just looking about a little,” replied Harriet in a whisper, not deeming
+it advisable to alarm the guardian by telling her what she had just
+discovered.
+
+“How long has it been storming?” asked the guardian.
+
+“Only a little while. I do not believe it is going to amount to
+anything. I hope this old barn doesn’t leak.”
+
+“No, I do not believe it will. There is too much valuable hay here. The
+owner undoubtedly has seen to it that the roof is sound. Are you going
+to try to sleep?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+Harriet lay down, but she did not sleep. The memory of the old woman and
+the two men over in the other mow, banished all thought of sleep from
+her mind. She did not know whether the woman knew the men were there or
+not. Perhaps they might belong to the same party. However, there had
+been no conversation between them and while the two men were near the
+outer edge of the mow, the woman was at the far end of the barn as
+nearly as Harriet was able to determine.
+
+Soon after that, rain drops began to patter on the barn roof. Then it
+began to rain heavily. Harriet nestled deeper into the blanket and lay
+listening. There was no sound from their neighbors on the other side.
+
+At last the listening girl closed her eyes. No sooner had she done so
+than she opened them again. A flash of lightning, more brilliant than
+any she had yet seen, was playing along the rafters of the barn. The
+thunder followed the flash just as Harriet threw an arm over her eyes to
+shut out the light. It was not a particularly heavy clap of thunder,
+just a quick, sharp report. Above the report a shrill scream of terror
+rang out. Then all was silent.
+
+Instantly every one of the Meadow-Brook Girls sat up wide awake.
+
+“What—what is it?” cried Margery.
+
+“Girls! Girls! are you all right?” called the guardian.
+
+“Oh, what ith it? Did the barn fall down?” wailed Tommy in great alarm.
+
+“What has happened?” questioned Hazel Holland excitedly.
+
+Harriet did not speak. She was listening to what the others of her party
+had not noticed, a sudden sound of voices in the other mow, and the
+hasty clambering down the ladder of the two men she had seen go to the
+opposite mow. At least she believed it to be the two men. Evidently they
+had become alarmed, either by the lightning, the scream of the woman, or
+by the cries of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They ran out of the barn, making
+no attempt to go quietly. Once on the outside she heard one of them
+shout.
+
+“I heard thome one!” exclaimed Tommy.
+
+“So did I,” agreed Hazel.
+
+“I thought I, too, heard some one cry out,” said Miss Elting. “Perhaps
+it was a night bird fleeing from the storm.”
+
+“It was no night bird, Miss Elting,” said Harriet in a low tone. “Did
+you hear that scream? Some one is in trouble. There is a woman on the
+other side of the mow. What shall we do?”
+
+“A woman?”
+
+“Yes, yes. She climbed up to the mow a long time ago. Oh, look, look!”
+
+A tiny red eye had suddenly appeared at the far end of the hay barn. It
+appeared to have risen out of the hay at the extreme end of the opposite
+mow. The girls gazed at it in silence. They did not understand the
+meaning of the strange dull red spot. Even Harriet was for the moment,
+puzzled. Then all at once she understood.
+
+“Quick! Get down to the floor! Don’t waste a minute! Miss Elting please
+look after the girls. There’s a rung on the ladder broken. Watch that no
+one falls. I’m going.”
+
+“Harriet! Harriet! What do you mean?”
+
+“The woman! I must get her. I may want you to help me. If I call you,
+come at once. Oh, I must hurry, Miss Elting.”
+
+“Thee! That red eye ith getting bigger,” cried Tommy.
+
+“It is fire, Miss Elting,” whispered Harriet. “The barn is on fire. The
+last bolt of lightning must have set fire to the hay. Don’t tell the
+girls now, but get them down to the barn floor as quickly as possible.
+There is going to be an awful fire.”
+
+Harriet bounded toward the ladder.
+
+“Harriet! Don’t go. I will go,” shouted the guardian.
+
+“I know where she is,” cried Harriet, swinging herself to the ladder
+using care not to lose her footing on the broken rung.
+
+“The broken rung is the fifth one down,” she called. Grasping the sides
+of the ladder she permitted herself to slide all the way to the bottom,
+wholly unconscious of the fact that the skin was being scraped from the
+palms of her hands.
+
+Reaching the barn floor the girl dashed across it to the opposite side.
+A few precious seconds were lost in groping for the ladder there. She
+found it, ran up with the speed of a squirrel, then went stumbling and
+falling across the mow toward the red eye that was now growing into a
+great red glare.
+
+“Where are you?” she cried, raising her voice to a high pitch.
+
+There was no response from her side. From the other mow came the answer
+from Margery, who did not understand: “We’re here.”
+
+The red eye was now lighting up the far end of the mow so that Harriet
+was able to see much more clearly. Little piles of hay formed deceiving
+shadows. She ran first to one, then to another, in this way losing
+precious seconds.
+
+All at once the girl caught sight of a dark object lying on the hay. She
+ran toward it. It was the huddled form of an old woman, her eyes wide
+and staring. Harriet feared she was dead. The fire had already crept
+perilously near to the woman. The flames at one point had communicated
+with the roof and were eating their way through it. The girls on the
+other mow now realized that the barn was on fire. A chorus of wails
+reached Harriet. But she knew her companions were in good hands, that
+Miss Elting would get them out safely.
+
+Harriet grasped the old woman under the arms and began dragging her
+toward the edge of the mow.
+
+“I’ve got her!” she screamed. “Come and help me as soon as you can, Miss
+Elting. Get the girls down and make them go outside. You will have to
+hurry. The roof may fall in. Make a rope of the blankets. We shall have
+to lower her to the ground. She is helpless.”
+
+“I’ll be with you in a moment,” called the calm, confident voice of the
+guardian. Miss Elting was always to be depended upon in an emergency.
+She had gotten the other girls safely down before Harriet had called out
+to her, thinking that Harriet might need her undivided assistance in
+rescuing the woman from her perilous position.
+
+“Outdoors, girls, every one of you,” she commanded. “Don’t you dare come
+near the barn! Harriet is rescuing some one from the other mow. I am
+going to help her. Leave the blankets, but take the packs with you.” She
+gave the protesting Tommy a push toward the door. Hazel grasped Grace by
+the arm and hurried her out of the barn. Margery needed no assistance.
+She was in as great a hurry to leave the barn as Miss Elting was to have
+her do so.
+
+The guardian climbed the ladder as rapidly as possible, after having
+knotted the five blankets into a kind of rope. She tested each knot with
+her full strength; then being satisfied that the rope would stand a
+heavy strain, she began climbing the ladder holding one end of the
+blanket rope. At the top of the ladder the heat was suffocating, the
+smoke blinding. Harriet was coughing and choking. She was on the verge
+of collapse, having inhaled a great deal of smoke.
+
+“Will—will it reach?” Miss Elting gasped.
+
+“I think so.”
+
+“Ti—ie it under her arms. Go below to catch her if she falls. I’ll let
+her down,” promised Harriet.
+
+“Get down yourself as fast as you can,” commanded the guardian.
+
+Harriet did not move. She buried her head in her skirt and crouched down
+close to the edge of the mow in an effort to get some fresh air, but
+without very great success.
+
+“Now go, please,” urged Harriet. “You are strong enough to catch her if
+the rope breaks. I’m not. I know how to handle it at this end. Hurry,
+Miss Elting. We haven’t a second to lose.”
+
+Miss Elting hesitated, glanced quickly at her companion, then started
+down the ladder. Harriet took a quick turn of the rope about a beam.
+Without the least hesitation, she slid the unconscious woman over the
+edge of the mow feet first. The girl prayed fervently that the rope
+might hold. It did. Little by little, though as rapidly as she dared,
+the girl lowered her burden. Sparks were flying all about her. She stood
+enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but not for an instant did the girl give
+thought to her own perilous position.
+
+“I’ve got her,” screamed Miss Elting. “Come down. Be quick, oh do be
+quick.”
+
+Harriet’s fingers released the rope. She staggered toward the ladder
+groping blindly for it. Reaching it she sank down choking.
+
+“Can you make it?” called the guardian.
+
+“Yes,” was the faint reply. “Get—get her out.”
+
+Miss Elting seeing that Harriet was coming down the ladder, hastily
+dragged the unconscious woman out into the open air. The way seemed
+endless to the descending girl. About half way down her fingers relaxed.
+Harriet fell, landing heavily in a heap on the barn floor. She lay where
+she had fallen, with the flames crackling overhead as they leaped across
+the intervening space and began devouring the mow on the opposite side.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III—A BLESSING AND A THREAT
+
+
+From end to end of the great hay barn the roof was now wrapped in
+flames. Now the stacks at the rear began blazing. The entire building
+was doomed to destruction. In the meantime, Miss Elting, having dragged
+the woman to a point of safety, was working to revive her. So engrossed
+was she that, for the moment, all thought of Harriet Burrell escaped her
+until she was reminded of Harriet by Tommy.
+
+“Where ith Harriet?” piped Tommy.
+
+“Harriet? Oh!” gasped the guardian.
+
+Tommy understood without further explanation and darted toward the barn,
+with Miss Elting running after her to bring her back. But there was no
+stopping Tommy when once she had started to carry out a resolve. She ran
+to the barn on winged feet and plunged into the dense cloud of smoke
+that issued from the burning barn. The little girl had no idea what she
+would do when she got there, and perhaps she might have been injured
+before Miss Elting reached her, had Tommy not fallen accidently over
+Harriet. The latter was unconscious from the smoke she had inhaled.
+Tommy grabbed her by the arms and began dragging her out. The little
+girl had gotten to the door with her burden as Miss Elting reached the
+scene.
+
+“Brave Tommy!” cried the guardian. “You shall have a whole string of
+Camp Girls’ beads for this. Let Harriet lie where she is for the
+present. Place her on her back so the rain may beat in her face. She
+will be all right in a few moments.”
+
+Miss Elting did not know that Harriet had fallen, and that it was not
+only the smoke but the shock of the fall as well that had overcome her.
+
+“But, thuppothe the barn fallth down!” exclaimed Tommy.
+
+“Yes, you are right. We must get her farther away.” Together they
+carried Harriet out to the place where the old woman lay. When they
+reached there the old woman was sitting up looking about her in a dazed
+manner. Shouts and cries off toward the highway told the little company
+that men were hastening to the scene of the fire.
+
+Harriet became conscious in a short time, but she had frequent coughing
+spells for some minutes.
+
+“That ith right. Cough up all the thmoke,” suggested Tommy wisely.
+“You’ll feel better after you get the thmoke out of your thythtem. I
+know, for I thwallowed a lot of thmoke once.”
+
+The men ran past the party of women, shouting and gesticulating. There
+were a dozen of them. Others could be heard approaching the scene of the
+fire. Harriet, as soon as she was able to talk, and the coughing spells
+became less frequent, went over to the woman she had rescued. The
+swarthy complexion, straight black hair, and piercing black eyes of the
+woman were the same characteristics that Harriet had observed in the man
+who had fallen from the ladder.
+
+“Do you feel better?” questioned Harriet, smiling a little.
+
+The old woman nodded, her eyes never leaving the face of her questioner
+for an instant.
+
+“You have this young woman to thank for being alive,” Miss Elting
+informed the old woman, stepping up to her and nodding toward Harriet.
+
+“You saved me, eh?” questioned the stranger, looking searchingly at the
+girl.
+
+Harriet did not reply, but Miss Elting answered for her.
+
+“You saved Sybarina from fire from the skies?” insisted the woman.
+
+“She means the lightning,” suggested Hazel.
+
+“Yes, she did,” repeated Miss Elting. “She climbed the ladder to the hay
+loft and let you down with blankets tied together. Our blankets are
+there yet.”
+
+“Oh, I forgot them,” cried Harriet. “How thoughtless of me! Now we shall
+have nothing to sleep in.”
+
+“Never mind the blankets. We have others in the car.”
+
+“You saved Sybarina?” repeated the old woman, staggering to her feet.
+She had been temporarily paralyzed from the electric bolt, and was as
+yet barely able to stand on her feet.
+
+“Please don’t mention it,” urged Harriet, flushing.
+
+The old woman seized Harriet’s hand and gazed deeply into it by the
+light of the burning barn. As she gazed she swayed her body from side to
+side with quick, nervous movements.
+
+“Ah! Sybarina sees that which pleases her,” crooned the old woman. “She
+sees a noble girl whom the fires from the skies cannot frighten. And she
+sees more. She sees wealth and happiness and a great future for her who
+fears not the fire from above. Sybarina gives you her blessing.”
+
+A heavy hand was laid on the old woman’s shoulder.
+
+“Here, you Gipsy woman. Were you sleeping in that barn?” demanded a
+gruff voice.
+
+“I met two Gipsy men running across the fields to the west as I came
+down,” answered another male voice. “The Gipsies are camped about a mile
+and a half from here. I think we ought to arrest the old woman, don’t
+you, Squire?”
+
+“Sybarina was asleep in the barn,” admitted the Gipsy woman.
+
+“And you set the barn on fire, too,” declared the squire. “I’ll have to
+arrest you.”
+
+“She didn’t set the barn on fire, sir,” defended Harriet Burrell.
+
+“The fires from the skies made the barn burn,” announced the Gipsy
+woman.
+
+“Who are you?” demanded the man, turning sharply to Harriet. “I suppose
+you will tell me _you_ weren’t sleeping in my barn?”
+
+“On the contrary, we were,” interjected Miss Elting.
+
+“Then I arrest the whole parcel of you.”
+
+“Thave me!” wailed Tommy Thompson. “We didn’t thet your old barn on
+fire. We were jutht thleeping there, that wath all.”
+
+“You will all stay here till I get through with this fire; then I’ll
+hold court on you and if you don’t answer to suit me I’ll have you all
+over to the county seat to-morrow.”
+
+“No one set your barn on fire, sir,” declared Harriet, with emphasis.
+“The barn was struck by lightning.”
+
+“Did you see it?”
+
+“I can’t say that I saw the lightning strike, but I saw the flash, then
+saw the fire start up directly afterwards. I heard this woman scream and
+we hurried to her rescue. She was unconscious. The bolt had nearly
+killed her. That proves that it was lightning, not matches, that set
+your barn on fire.”
+
+“What were you doing in my barn?”
+
+“Thleeping with the mithe and the bugth,” volunteered Tommy.
+
+“Who be you? You ain’t Gipsies?”
+
+“No. We are from Meadow-Brook, and we are walking home from the Pocono
+Woods, where we have been spending the summer in camp,” Miss Elting
+informed the man.
+
+“So, that’s it, hey?”
+
+“Yes, sir. A young woman friend of ours usually meets us at night. She
+has our equipment in her automobile, but we took the wrong trail to-day,
+and have lost her. She is over in the other valley waiting for us, I
+think.”
+
+“Is she a crazy woman with light hair that streams over her shoulders,
+and does she drive her car as though she was running a race?”
+
+“From your description I think you must have met Miss McCarthy,”
+answered the guardian, smiling a little. “Have you seen her to-day?”
+
+“I should say I had. She nigh killed a calf of mine this afternoon. I’d
+just like to get my grip on her once. I’d make her answer to the law.”
+
+“Was your calf in the road, sir?” questioned Harriet.
+
+“Yes. What of it?”
+
+“I don’t believe the law would do anything to Miss McCarthy in that
+case. Of course I am sorry for the calf,” said Harriet.
+
+“Oh, the calf ain’t hurt. Jest lost a little hair off her tail, shaved
+off as close as ye could do it with a razor. But that don’t matter. It’s
+the barn and nigh onto a hundred tons of hay gone up in smoke that
+bothers me. I wisht I was sure you was telling the truth. If I thought
+you weren’t I’d have you all in the lock-up afore morning.”
+
+“Are—are there any mithe in the lock-up?” questioned Tommy
+apprehensively.
+
+“Eh? Stacks all gone, too?” This in answer to a word from a farmer who
+came from the rear of the burning barn. “Well, let ’em go. There’ll be
+another crop of hay next year. Mebby the price’ll be better then.”
+
+The loss of his barn did not appear to trouble the “Squire” greatly. All
+the time he was talking he was regarding the women out of the corners of
+his eyes. He saw that they were drenched through and through. Tommy and
+Margery were shivering. He decided that they were persons of some
+consequence, even if they had been sleeping in his barn. His reflections
+were interrupted by Miss Elting.
+
+“Can you tell me which way the young woman and the car went?”
+
+“Can I? I guess I can. She went east. The calf could tell ye, too, if
+she could talk, but she wouldn’t say it quite so easy like as I’m
+tellin’ you now.”
+
+“Jane was looking for us,” nodded Miss Elting. “She must have reasoned
+that we had gotten into this valley by mistake.”
+
+“Where you going to stay the rest of the night?” questioned the squire
+gruffly.
+
+“I am afraid we shall have to stay out in the rain if we don’t succeed
+in finding another barn,” laughed the guardian. “My girls are pretty
+well used to roughing it, though they never before passed quite such a
+night as this has been. Do you know of a farm house nearby where we may
+get lodgings? We are perfectly willing to sleep on the floor in the
+kitchen, provided we can have the room to dry out our clothes, and we
+shall be glad and willing to pay for the trouble.”
+
+“You may come home with me,” answered the man, after a brief hesitation.
+
+“What is your name, sir?” questioned Miss Elting.
+
+“Squire Olney, Miss. You see I ain’t a squire by appointment. The
+neighbors jest call me that because I settle their difficulties. I’ve
+got more land in this township than all the rest of them put together.
+That’s why I ain’t takin’ the burnin’ of the barn to heart so much as
+you think I ought to,” he added, with a broad smile.
+
+“Have you a family at home?” questioned Miss Elting.
+
+“My wife and I are alone. Children all married.”
+
+“How far is it from here to your home, sir?”
+
+“About a mile right over the hill. What do you say?”
+
+“We will go with you. We thank you for your kindness. I am very sorry,
+indeed, that you have lost your barn and your hay,” said the guardian in
+a sympathetic tone.
+
+The squire leaned toward her.
+
+“I ain’t lost anything,” he said, with a wink. “Insured. Insured plumb
+up to the muzzle, and then some more. Boys, I’m going home to show the
+ladies the way. You can have all the hay that’s left. I want the ashes
+for fertilizer. Ashes is good for the cut worms in the cabbage patch.
+Come on, ladies.”
+
+Squire Olney nodded to them and started away. He halted sharply.
+
+“Where’s that old Gipsy woman? She ain’t included in the invitation.”
+
+“Why, she has gone,” exclaimed Hazel. “I didn’t see her go. Did you,
+Harriet?”
+
+Harriet Burrell shook her head. She was puzzled at the mysterious
+disappearance of Sybarina, who had given her rescuer her blessing, then
+so strangely slipped away.
+
+The walk over the hill did not add to the comfort of the Meadow-Brook
+Girls. They splashed through deep puddles of water in the little
+hollows, slipped and stumbled over bare clay spots, fell over stones and
+roots until they were not only soaked to the skin, but badly bruised as
+well. Margery wailed and groaned all the way. Tommy made fun of her
+until they came in sight of the lights in the farm house.
+
+“That’s the old shack that has covered us for nigh onto fifty years,” he
+said, nodding toward the light in the window.
+
+The light and the comfortable looking old farm house made the
+Meadow-Brook Girls almost forget their sodden condition. Mrs. Olney was
+standing on the front porch, gazing down across the field. She
+recognized the squire’s voice, but she was at a loss to understand who
+his companions were.
+
+“Hello, Martha,” he sang out, as he crossed the road with his party.
+
+“That you, Squire?”
+
+“Yep. Me and the girls. Barn all burned down, but I’ve brought the
+leavings. Me and the girls is all right, Martha. But they’re wetter than
+Old Sixty. Poke up the kitchen fire and let them dry their clothing.”
+
+Miss Elting stepped forward and shook hands with Mrs. Olney, briefly
+explaining how they came to be there at that time of the night.
+
+“Female tramps. Got fired from sleepin’ in the squire’s hay barn,”
+chuckled the old man.
+
+Mrs. Olney led the way into the house, where she turned and surveyed her
+callers critically.
+
+“Why, you poor things!” she cried, when she had gotten a good look at
+the Meadow-Brook Girls. “And you sleepin’ in the barn. It’s a shame,”
+she exclaimed, bustling about. “Squire, you tend to that fire yerself.
+I’ll git out some dry clothing for these girls. Then I’ll see about
+making some coffee and getting them something to eat. Come into my
+bedroom, my dears and change your wet clothes.”
+
+“I am afraid that we are putting you to a great deal of trouble,”
+demurred Miss Elting.
+
+“Not a bit of it,” rejoined Mrs. Olney. “Come right along with me.”
+
+Half an hour later, Miss Elting and the Meadow-Brook Girls clothed in
+dressing gowns and wrappers belonging to the hospitable Mrs. Olney sat
+in the big farm house kitchen doing full justice to the luncheon
+provided by the farmer’s wife. After their exciting experiences of the
+night the girls were tired enough to gladly welcome the opportunity of
+sleeping in a real bed, and in spite of their late repast the five
+wayworn travelers slept peacefully, unvisited by nightmares.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV—THE COMING OF CRAZY JANE
+
+
+After bidding good-bye to the hospitable squire and his good wife, next
+morning, the girls started over the fields on their way down the valley
+on the other side of the ridge. Before leaving they had pressed their
+camp dresses and the girls now looked very neat in their dark blue
+uniforms that they had worn at Camp Wau-Wau. They wore also the official
+hat of the Camp Girls, to which organization they belonged. The hat was
+of blue cloth with the letters “C. G.” in white embroidered on the
+front.
+
+About their necks the girls wore a few brightly colored beads which to
+them meant more than precious stones, for each girl had won her beads by
+achievements as a Camp Girl. They hoped to win more on the long tramp
+across country. Harriet and Tommy had won several beads apiece, already,
+by their bravery at the barn fire, though of course the beads had not
+been awarded as yet. That would not be until after Miss Elting had made
+her report to the Chief Guardian at the completion of the trip.
+
+The girls were now well on their way hoping soon to find Jane McCarthy
+and her car awaiting them. It was a five mile tramp over rough and steep
+hills, through woods and ravines. By this time however the Meadow-Brook
+Girls were becoming accustomed to rough traveling. The only one who made
+any really serious complaints was Margery Brown. She was usually in
+distress, but it was observed that the stout girl was beginning to lose
+considerable flesh. Her freckles were more pronounced, however, and her
+face was redder than it ever had been before.
+
+The party, after a trying hike, reached the top of the range of hills
+about eleven o’clock in the morning. A long, sloping meadow stretched
+away from them until it met the highway.
+
+“There is the road,” cried Harriet.
+
+“But Crazy Jane ith nowhere in thight,” observed Tommy solemnly.
+
+“This is where we should have been last night,” nodded Miss Elting. “But
+we should have missed all of our exciting experiences of last night had
+we taken the right trail.”
+
+“Missed them!” exclaimed Margery. “I wish we had. I never shall get over
+thinking about that awful fire and that horrid old Gipsy woman.”
+
+Harriet smiled to herself thinking that it was well that Margery had not
+seen the dark-faced men enter the barn that night.
+
+“Shall we wait, or go on?” questioned Harriet.
+
+Miss Elting decided that they should go on after reaching the highway.
+She told the girls to keep a sharp lookout for “signs.” The sign of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls was a triangle. It might be found chalked on a fence
+or elsewhere by the roadside. An arrow pointing away from the triangle
+indicated the direction in which a Meadow-Brook girl had traveled. An
+arrow pointing straight up indicated, “I will return.” An arrow pointing
+toward the ground meant, “wait here.” A broken arrow, pointing in any
+direction indicated, “danger.”
+
+Reaching the highway the girls scanned the fences. Most of these being
+wire fences there was no space for any of the signs that they had agreed
+upon before starting out on their tramp. Occasionally they halted to
+examine a sign board at the junction of two or more roads, but nowhere
+did they find any trace of Jane and her car. There were not even tire
+tracks in the road. The pedestrians had almost made up their minds that
+Crazy Jane herself had missed her way when Harriet suddenly held up her
+hand.
+
+“I hear the honk of a motor horn,” she said.
+
+“And there’s the sign on that hog pen,” laughed Miss Elting, pointing to
+a pig sty close to where they were standing. “That’s just like Jane. The
+arrow says we are to wait here.”
+
+“A pig pen ith thertainly a nithe plathe to wait,” observed Tommy
+sarcastically.
+
+“We don’t have to wait in the pen, you goose,” jeered Margery.
+
+“Tho I thee,” answered Tommy imperturbably.
+
+“There she comes!” shouted Hazel.
+
+Crazy Jane McCarthy, her blonde hair streaming over her shoulders,
+rounded a bend in the road, the rear wheels of her car skidding nearly
+to the ditch on the outside of the curve. Jane was shouting and waving
+one hand. She brought the car up sliding and leaped to the ground.
+
+“You dears! Where have you been?” she cried, embracing each of the girls
+in turn, not forgetting Miss Elting.
+
+“The question, is where have you been?” laughed the guardian.
+
+“Racing up and down the road looking for you,” returned Jane.
+
+“Where did you sleep?” questioned Harriet.
+
+“At a farm house over in the valley,” chuckled Jane. “Where did you
+sleep?”
+
+“We were in a barn part of the night. Regular tramps, aren’t we,”
+answered Harriet, her eyes sparkling.
+
+“Yeth, and—and the barn burned down,” explained Grace.
+
+“What?”
+
+“Grace is right,” Miss Elting informed Jane. “Lightning struck the barn,
+burning it to the ground. Harriet saved an old Gipsy woman from being
+burned to death. She had been stunned by the bolt of lightning and for
+the time being was paralyzed.”
+
+“Oh, what a shame!” exclaimed Jane. “I always have to be absent when the
+fun is going on. Think of poor me tearing up and down the road, half
+crazy because I’d lost you and you having so much fun all the time,” she
+complained. “Who was the woman you saved, darlin’?” she questioned,
+turning admiring eyes on Harriet Burrell.
+
+“A Gipsy. She called herself Sybarina,” answered Harriet.
+
+“And did the Gipsy tell your fortune, Harriet?”
+
+“Yes, she did,” cried Margery. “She said Harriet was going to be a great
+lady, rich and some other things that I didn’t understand. Then Sybarina
+gave Harriet her blessing.”
+
+“Now, Jane,” said Harriet mischievously. “Tell us about the way you ran
+down the farmer’s calf.”
+
+Jane gazed at Harriet frowningly, then burst into laughter.
+
+“What do you know about that? Who has been telling tales?”
+
+“The farmer said you shaved the hair off the calf’s tail with your car.”
+
+“I was sorry for the calf, but you ought to have seen the farmer wave
+his arms and run after me. He was fairly pulling the hair out of his
+head with rage,” chuckled Crazy Jane. “Well, dears, what have you in
+mind? Want to take a nice ride in the car?”
+
+Harriet shook her head with emphasis.
+
+“When we started on this tramp we agreed that we wouldn’t ride in your
+car at all. I, for one, am going to keep to that agreement.”
+
+“Don’t tempt me,” said Hazel, chancing to catch the merry eye of Jane
+McCarthy.
+
+“We didn’t agree not to eat in the car, did we?” questioned Tommy. “That
+latht gully I fell into gave me an awful appetite.”
+
+“Wait! I’ll set the table,” cried Jane, dashing to the car and unlocking
+the luggage trunk at the rear. From under the rear seat she took a
+board, which she laid across the rear compartment. Over this she spread
+a white cloth and on it began placing a cold luncheon that was
+sufficiently appetizing in looks to excite the poorest appetite. Tommy
+eyed it longingly.
+
+“Get in, girls,” commanded Jane. They made a rush for the car. “I have a
+can of milk in the locker, if the jolting of this old wagon hasn’t
+soured it. You see, I drove rather fast this morning. I wanted to find
+you. I didn’t know what had become of you. Yes; the milk is all right.”
+
+There in Jane’s car by the side of the road they ate their luncheon,
+giving no heed to the curious glances of passers-by.
+
+“Did the farmer really tell you about that calf?” questioned Jane, when
+the girls had nearly finished their meal.
+
+“Yes. It was in his barn we slept until it caught fire,” explained the
+guardian. “He then took us to his home and he and his wife were
+perfectly lovely to us. I wish you had been with us. He is a quaint
+character.”
+
+“If he is anything like his calf, he must be,” observed Crazy Jane. “It
+didn’t know enough to get out of the road when it saw an automobile
+coming at forty-five miles an hour. Where are you going from here?”
+
+“We must consult the map. Are there any good camping places beyond here,
+or were you going so fast you couldn’t see?”
+
+“I never drive so fast that I can’t see,” reproved Jane. “Yes. I know of
+a place, and it’s a fine place for a camp too. It’s called the Willow
+Ponds. It is just far enough back from the road, and there isn’t a house
+in sight.”
+
+“How far is it from here?” asked Hazel.
+
+“Five miles.”
+
+“Five mileth!” repeated Tommy wearily.
+
+“Oh, help!” wailed Margery. “My feet won’t hold out.”
+
+“Then ride with me,” suggested Jane.
+
+“Thank you,” returned Margery, “but I consider walking the lesser of the
+two evils.”
+
+“I fear it will make too short a hike for us, for one day,” reflected
+Miss Elting.
+
+“It will make a ten mile hike,” answered Harriet.
+
+“Yes. But only five miles of walking on the main trail. We shall have
+advanced only five miles. However, perhaps it will be enough for one
+day.”
+
+“That latht gully I fell into gave me an awful appetite,” reiterated
+Tommy apologetically, as she helped herself to another slice of cold
+roast beef.
+
+“Tommy’s appetite doesn’t need that kind of stimulant,” laughed Hazel.
+“Nor does mine. I think I shall have to have another slice of roast
+beef.”
+
+The luncheon ended, the girls reclined on the soft cushions of the car
+for half an hour, after which Harriet and Jane put away the dishes and
+the rest of the food.
+
+“Are we ready to hike?” asked Harriet.
+
+Margery’s face took on a pained expression.
+
+“Oh, I suppose so,” she complained. “The sooner we start the sooner we
+shall get there. Then a long night’s rest in our own tent. Oh, joy, oh,
+joy!”
+
+“It may not be so very joyous, after all,” retorted Miss Elting. “In
+this topsy-turvy bit of country _anything_ may happen, at _any_ moment,
+to keep us awake, or even to banish the wish for sleep.”
+
+“What we need,” said Tommy soberly, “ith a nithe, good-natured dog that
+will bite folkth.”
+
+Miss Elting decided that it was time to start. So shouldering their
+packs the girls moved on.
+
+“I’ll be driving behind you,” said Crazy Jane. “I’ll be pace-maker. If
+you lag I’ll remonstrate by riding over you! How will you like that?”
+
+Miss Elting and Harriet set a good stride. The other girls straggled
+after them, Margery being last of all. Behind them all Jane drove the
+car slowly, the engine making no noise.
+
+“We must walk faster, girls!” cried Miss Elting, looking back. “You,
+especially, Margery. Faster!”
+
+“I couldn’t move any faster,” protested Margery wearily “even if I were
+paid for it.”
+
+Honk! Honk! Honk! sounded an automobile horn behind her. There was a
+whirr of fast-moving wheels.
+
+HONK!
+
+Turning, Margery saw the car bearing down upon her at full speed.
+
+“O-o-o-h!” screamed Margery. Picking up her skirts a trifle she fled
+down the road, while Jane stopped the car just behind her.
+
+“I’m sorry you can’t move fast!” Jane called, teasingly.
+
+Twice after that Crazy Jane forced Margery to quicken her lagging steps
+until at length poor Margery stepped aside, out of the road.
+
+“Not another step for me, Jane McCarthy, unless you keep ahead of the
+whole party,” declared the persecuted Camp Girl.
+
+“Get in and ride,” teased Jane.
+
+“I—I believe I will,” faltered Margery, who was limping now.
+
+“Margery!” exclaimed Harriet rebukingly, “if you ride, then you will
+have to drop out of the hike, and we’ll send you home.”
+
+“I—I think I’ll keep on walking,” Margery decided meekly.
+
+The rest of the journey was accomplished without further complaints from
+either Tommy or Margery. Arriving at a place where they left the road
+and set off across a field, Jane explained that earlier in the day she
+had asked the permission of the owner of the field to camp there. She
+thought it would make an excellent camp site, the ponds being screened
+from the road by a heavy growth of willows, and there was plenty of dry
+wood to be had from the ruins of an old saw mill that stood near the
+ponds. The willows, also, would serve to hide the camp from the gaze of
+curious outsiders, a condition to be desired by young women tramping
+through the country.
+
+The car was driven in among the willows, after which Harriet and Miss
+Elting began hauling the sections of their tent from the rear of the
+car. They went at the pitching of the tent like veterans, and placed the
+sections together, then raised the canvas, staking it down with the
+expertness of circusmen.
+
+Harriet left the final staking-down to Tommy and Margery while she
+gathered the wood for the campfire. Jane and Miss Elting, in the
+meantime had begun getting out the supplies for supper. Two folding
+tables were set up in the tent, covered by fresh table cloths, on which
+were placed the dishes and the silver knives, forks and spoons that Jane
+had brought along. She said silver was none too good for the
+Meadow-Brook Girls. The water in the pond, being from nearby springs,
+was cool and refreshing. The girls decided to take a swim late in the
+evening after their suppers had been well digested.
+
+It was a merry party of happy, brown-faced girls that sat down to the
+evening meal with the cheerful campfire blazing just outside, and the
+cool, fragrant autumn breezes drifting through the tent. Everything was
+charmingly peaceful, but the peace of the night was to be rudely
+disturbed later in the evening, and the girls were to have another
+exciting time of it ere they finally got to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V—CATCHING THE SPECKLED BEAUTIES
+
+
+“Oh, girls, let’s stay here the rest of the fall. Let’s not walk any
+more,” begged Margery.
+
+“Oh, thee the fithh jump!” cried Tommy, pointing to the pond.
+
+“Trout, too. If I only had a rod and line!” exclaimed Harriet.
+
+“You shall have them, darlin’,” answered Jane. “If you want anything you
+don’t see, just ask for it. You’ll find the whole fisherman’s outfit
+strapped under the car—under the left mudguard. What about bait?”
+
+“I think the trout will take flies. That is what they are jumping for,”
+replied Harriet. “Where will I find the flies?”
+
+“In the box under the rear seat.”
+
+“Thay, Harriet!” piped Tommy.
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“Catch me an oythter for breakfatht.”
+
+Harriet paused from jointing Jane’s rod long enough to join in the
+merriment at Tommy’s expense.
+
+“Have you a dusty miller, Jane?” she asked, glancing up with flushed
+face.
+
+“I don’t know whether or not he’s dusty, but there’s an insect in there
+that they call a miller. Dad says it’s a killer. I never saw it show its
+teeth. It’s my opinion that it would be a fool fish that would bite a
+thing like that.”
+
+“You wait and see,” chuckled Harriet, fixing the leader of the fly to
+the silk line, then balancing the rod by its butt, swinging the line
+this way and that through the air to see how the reel worked.
+
+“It will be too late by the time you get ready to fish,” reminded Miss
+Elting.
+
+“It isn’t sunset yet, Miss Elting. There should be good fishing for half
+an hour yet.”
+
+“Well, are you going to fish, or are you going to talk all the time
+during that half hour?” demanded Margery.
+
+For answer Harriet swung the pole above her head. With a swish the dusty
+miller described a long curve in the air, then dived for the water,
+which it took with the faintest possible disturbance.
+
+There followed a swish and a splash. The rod bent until it seemed to the
+spectators as though it would break under the strain. A flashing,
+scintillating body jumped through the air, then plunged down deep into
+the clear waters of the pond.
+
+“A fithh! A fithh!” screamed Tommy. “Harriet hath got a fithh. Oh,
+goodie, goodie, goodie!”
+
+“Pull him in. You’ll lose him!” shouted Margery.
+
+“Now will you look at our Harriet?” cried Crazy Jane, hugging herself
+gleefully, swaying her body from side to side in the ecstasy of her
+delight.
+
+The trout that Harriet Burrell had hooked was a lively fish. It was
+darting and diving with wonderful strength and quickness. The line cut
+the water with a swish, swish, swish that was plainly heard by all.
+
+“Get it, Harriet! Oh, do get it,” begged Hazel, in an agony of
+apprehension lest the trout succeed in freeing itself.
+
+“The real fun of catching a fish is ‘playing’ it, just as Harriet is
+doing,” answered Miss Elting.
+
+Tommy had run out on one of the beams of the old mill race, where she
+was dancing up and down at the imminent risk of a ducking.
+
+“Now, look out, girls,” warned Harriet. “I’m going to try to land him.”
+There was a lively scurrying on the part of the girls. The trout came up
+protesting and fighting every inch of the way. Then Harriet, having
+reeled in the line, pulled the trout in toward the bank.
+
+Unfortunately for Harriet, but fortunately for the fish, Tommy Thompson
+was in the way. The trout slapped her squarely in the face ere Harriet
+had discovered her companion’s location. There was a shrill scream from
+Tommy, a light splash as the trout dropped into the pond, then a mighty
+splash as Tommy, losing her balance, went sprawling into the cold water.
+
+“Oh, I have lost my fish!” wailed Harriet.
+
+“Catch Tommy!” yelled Margery.
+
+Harriet threw down her rod and ran out on the beam where Tommy had been
+standing before the disaster. Tommy was splashing and coughing, making
+frantic efforts to reach shore. Harriet knew the little blonde girl
+could swim, else she would have gone in after her. But Tommy wished to
+attract all the sympathy and attention of her companions in her
+direction, so she kept up a continuous screaming. Harriet reached down
+and gave her a hand.
+
+“How’s the water, Tommy?” questioned Harriet, mischievously.
+
+“Co-o-o-old,” chattered Tommy. “I’m fr-r-r-r-eezing. What did you knock
+me in for?”
+
+“Why, I didn’t realize that you were standing there. Why did you make me
+lose my fish?”
+
+“There, there, girls! Tommy go into the tent at once and take off your
+wet clothing. Put on dry clothes unless you wish to go to bed now.”
+
+“I don’t want to go to bed, I want to watch Harriet catch fithh.”
+
+“Oh, you’ve scared them all out of the pond,” complained Margery.
+
+“I hope you fall in, too, Buthter,” was Tommy’s parting salute, as she
+ran shivering to the tent. Fifteen minutes later, she emerged clad in
+dry clothing and apparently none the worse for her recent wetting.
+
+In the meantime Harriet had returned to her fishing, laughing softly
+over her companion’s mishap and their argument following the plunge.
+There were screams of delight when finally she landed a trout. Nor did
+she stop until the sun dipped behind the western hills and the speckled
+beauties went down into the depths of the stream, or skulked under the
+edge of its banks for the night. The result of the fishing was a dozen
+fine trout, the smallest weighing only a little under a half pound and
+the largest weighing nearly two pounds, according to the guardian’s
+estimate.
+
+Harriet insisted on dressing the fish that night, something she knew
+better how to do than did any of her companions. The fish were then put
+in a pail, the cover tightly fitted and the pail hung in the old mill
+race, where the cold water would flow over the receptacle all night
+long.
+
+“There,” exclaimed Harriet after her work was finished. “We shall have a
+breakfast fit for a king. Now I’m going in bathing. I am so covered with
+dust and grime that I’m ashamed of myself. Come, girls, aren’t you going
+in with me?”
+
+“What! Go into that ice cold water?” demanded Margery. “No, thank you.
+I’ll heat some water and take my bath in the tent.”
+
+“I will go in with you, Harriet,” offered Hazel.
+
+“So will I,” added the guardian. “Come, let’s get ready before the air
+gets colder. Tommy already has had her bath.”
+
+Had they not been inured to cold water and exposure, the experiment
+might have been followed by severe colds if nothing worse. But the
+Meadow-Brook Girls were well seasoned from living out of doors for the
+greater part of the summer and from bathing in the cold stream at Camp
+Wau-Wau. The first plunge into the pond brought gasps and shivers, then
+they splashed about in the water, swimming across the pond and back,
+again and again, while Margery stood on the bank shivering out of pure
+sympathy for them.
+
+“That is what I call great,” cried Harriet, rising dripping to the bank
+after Miss Elting had called to the two girls to come out of the water.
+“I could almost eat another meal after that bath.”
+
+“Tho could I,” piped Tommy, thrusting her head out from the tent flap.
+
+The two girls and the guardian ran laughing to the tent, where, greatly
+refreshed by their cold plunge, they changed their wet bathing suits for
+dry clothing.
+
+Now fresh fuel was piled on the camp fire. The flames blazed high and
+the smoke curled skyward in the still, clear evening air. Harriet and
+Hazel were capering about the fire, holding an impromptu war dance.
+Tommy was standing near one corner of the tent watching the performance,
+when, thinking she had heard a sound behind her, she turned
+apprehensively.
+
+For one horrified moment Tommy Thompson gazed, then with a yell of
+terror sprang for the tent.
+
+“Thave me! Oh, thave me!” she screamed.
+
+“What is it?” cried Harriet and Miss Elting, rushing toward her. Then
+they, too, halted, gazing into the deepening shadows that enveloped the
+rear of the tent. Margery had caught sight of the object that had sent
+Tommy into an agony of terror. Margery had thrown herself headlong into
+the tent screaming wildly. Hazel, Miss Elting and Harriet stood their
+ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI—THE CALL OF THE DANCING BEAR
+
+
+“A bear! A bear! Thave me!” came Tommy’s wailing voice from the interior
+of the tent.
+
+“Be quiet!” commanded Miss Elting.
+
+“It’s on a chain. There are two men with it,” said Harriet somewhat
+unsteadily.
+
+Miss Elting stepped forward to obtain a better view of the two men. She
+saw the swarthy faces of two Italians. One was leading the bear by a
+chain, the other carried a long pole. The animal was a huge, ambling,
+cinnamon bear. He wore a muzzle, and the sight of this gave the woman
+and the two girls a greater sense of security.
+
+“What do you wish here?” demanded the guardian.
+
+“We maka da bear dance,” said the man, with the pole, touching his hat
+politely. “You giva mea twent-five cent I maka da bear dance.”
+
+“We do not wish to see the bear dance. You will please go away, or I
+shall call for assistance to drive you off,” returned Miss Elting
+boldly.
+
+“Oh, let the bear dance. It would be great fun,” urged Hazel.
+
+“Twent-five cent to maka da bear dance.”
+
+At this juncture Margery came timidly out of the tent. Tommy,
+white-faced, ready to run at the slightest sign of alarm, crept out
+after her.
+
+“Will—will he bite?” stammered Margery.
+
+“He will hurt his teeth on the muzzle if he does,” answered Harriet
+Burrell laughingly.
+
+The leader gave a sharp command. The bear rose on its hind feet and
+began pawing the air. It fixed its beady eyes on the face of Tommy
+Thompson. Tommy uttered a little cry and shrank back.
+
+“He lika da littla girl,” grinned the Italian.
+
+“Never mind being personal. If you will keep your distance we will pay
+you a quarter to see the bear dance.” Miss Elting drew a coin from her
+pocket, and stepping forward, without the least hesitation, handed it to
+the man with the pole. “Keep him over on that side of the fire. You two
+men remain over there also. Remember, we are quite well prepared to
+assert our rights if you do not do as you are told. Watch that neither
+of them gets into the tent, Harriet,” she added in a whisper.
+
+Harriet Burrell nodded understandingly. The bear, in response to
+frequent prods of the pole, ambled about, dancing awkwardly, now and
+then uttering a growl of resentment at the treatment he was receiving.
+His master put the animal through its paces. At this juncture, Jane
+McCarthy, who, some time before, had driven off to a farm house in quest
+of milk for breakfast, drove in with a great rattle and honking. At
+first the Italians were for dragging their bear away. But, upon
+discovering that the newcomer was only another young woman, they grinned
+and went on with the performance.
+
+“Hello! what have we here?” cried Jane. “Where did you catch that beast?
+Hey, you men! Didn’t I pass you on the road this afternoon? Yes, I did.
+I recognize your friend, the bear. Better look out for those fellows. I
+don’t like the looks of them,” declared Crazy Jane to Miss Elting in a
+low voice. “I’d a heap sooner trust the bear than the men, and I
+wouldn’t care to turn my back on either for very long at one time.” Then
+turning to the men she said: “Make your bear do his tricks over again. I
+haven’t seen the show, you know.”
+
+“Twent-five cent,” answered the man.
+
+Jane looked at him for a few seconds, then, throwing back her head,
+laughed loudly.
+
+“Twent-five cents, eh? I guess not! Does he dance, or does he not?” she
+demanded.
+
+For answer the man with the pole gave the bear a vicious poke, the other
+led the animal to a small tree, to which he tied him.
+
+“My gracious, are they going to camp here?” gasped Margery.
+
+“Don’t be afraid. We will send them on their way soon enough,” answered
+Harriet in a low voice. “I wouldn’t make them angry, Miss Elting.”
+
+“I don’t intend to.”
+
+“Leave them to me. See here, men, what do you propose to do now?”
+demanded Jane briskly.
+
+“We lika somathing to eat.”
+
+“All right. You shall have somathing. Twent-five cent please,” mimicked
+Crazy Jane, holding out a hand. She was so droll about it that the girls
+burst out laughing.
+
+“Oh, you shouldn’t have done that. See, you have made them angry,”
+whispered Hazel.
+
+“I don’t care if I have. I’ll be getting angry myself, pretty
+soon—maybe.”
+
+[Illustration: “Twent-five Cent, Please,” mimicked Jane.]
+
+“Shall I get something for them, Miss Elting?” questioned Harriet.
+
+The guardian nodded. Harriet ran into the tent, where she quickly
+prepared some roast beef sandwiches. These she carried out and handed to
+the leader of the bear. He divided with his companion. The two men sat
+down by the fire and began eating voraciously.
+
+“You gotta coffee?” asked the leader, his mouth so full of the sandwich
+he was eating that he was barely understandable.
+
+“No. We have no coffee made,” replied Miss Elting. “You will have to get
+along with what you have.”
+
+“You maka coffee. You maka now!”
+
+“What?” cried Crazy Jane belligerently. “You order us to make coffee for
+you, you lazy good-for-nothings? Get out of here before I lose my temper
+with you.”
+
+“Easy, Jane!” warned Miss Elting.
+
+“You no giva coffee, I letta out da bear,” threatened the leader,
+scrambling up and running to the tree where the cinnamon bear was
+secured. The second Italian also had risen to his feet. He was edging
+toward the rear of the tent, evidently thinking that he was not
+observed. But Harriet, though not appearing to notice, was watching him
+narrowly. Tommy and Margery were trembling with fear. Harriet and Jane
+were unafraid. They were getting a little angry, however. Miss Elting
+slipped into the tent and getting her revolver, secreted it in a fold of
+her skirt. Just as she emerged the second Italian ducked in under the
+edge of the tent. The tent had been staked down firmly and as the man
+was somewhat stout he stuck when half way under the side wall.
+
+“Come out of that,” commanded Harriet.
+
+Instead of obeying her the man tried to wriggle in.
+
+“I see I’ve got to attack him from inside the tent,” decided the girl.
+Wheeling about she ran into the tent where, in the light from the
+campfire, she could see the tousled head and rolling black eyes of the
+man underneath the side wall. Without speaking she seized a pail of
+water that stood near the entrance of the tent and dashed it full into
+the man’s face.
+
+“Hurrah for Harriet!” cried Crazy Jane from the tent door, where she
+stood waving her arms now and hopping about gleefully.
+
+Choking and sputtering the man wriggled out from under the tent uttering
+a perfect torrent of abuse in his native tongue. It was about this time
+that Miss Elting discovered that she had forgotten to load the revolver
+before taking it from the tent. Meanwhile the leader had untied the
+chain of the bear and was urging it forward, evidently intending to
+frighten the women.
+
+“You giva me mon. I then-a go way with da bear. You giva me mon,” he
+demanded angrily.
+
+Tommy Thompson, at this juncture, found her courage. Snatching up a
+burning fire brand she charged the man leading the bear. He leaped back
+to avoid the thrust of the fiery club. The bear swung a giant paw at
+her. Tommy hit him over the nose with the firebrand. In the meantime
+Hazel Holland, following Harriet’s example, appeared on the scene with
+another pail of water, which she dashed over the leader and the bear.
+
+Fire and water were a little more than the man or the bear had bargained
+for, so they made haste to get out of the danger zone. Crazy Jane, in
+the meantime pursued them shouting and brandishing a stout stick that
+she had picked up in the field. Jane chased the men all the way to the
+road, with Tommy and her fiery club in close pursuit.
+
+“Oh, those rascals!” cried the guardian, when the girls returned. “And
+that miserable bear! I’ll warrant the three of them got the fright of
+their lives. They won’t bother the Meadow-Brook Girls soon again.”
+
+“I am not so certain of that,” answered Harriet, smiling. “We did give
+them a scare, though. But I’m sorry I had almost to drown that one man.
+He was determined to get into the tent. What do you suppose he wanted?”
+
+“To steal something, of course,” answered Miss Elting.
+
+“And Tommy. Did you see Tommy and her torch, girls? Oh, wasn’t it a
+sight?”
+
+“Yes. And Hazel and Harriet with their pails of water,” chuckled the
+guardian.
+
+“Tommy, dear,” exclaimed Miss Elting, as the little girl sat down beside
+her, flushed and triumphant. “You have earned a bead this evening. I
+think each one of you is entitled to a bright red bead. Now pile on the
+wood, girls, so we shall have plenty of light. I don’t apprehend further
+trouble, but it is well to be prepared.”
+
+“I will see to that,” spoke up Harriet. “I have a plan that will make it
+unnecessary for any one to sit up and keep watch.”
+
+Harriet explained her plan, which met with the approval of the others.
+That plan was destined to fulfill its purpose later in the night, for
+their excitement was not yet ended, and before the dawning of another
+day, the Meadow-Brook Girls were once more to distinguish themselves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII—DISCOVERING MIDNIGHT PROWLERS
+
+
+“Have you a ball of strong twine in your kit, Jane?” asked Harriet. “You
+told me to ask for anything I wanted but did not see.”
+
+“Sure, I have. In the tool box. Wait. I’ll get it for you.”
+
+While Jane went for the twine, Harriet hurried out, returning a few
+moments later with two sticks, each stick being about five feet long.
+Next she got a tin pail and stood the pail bottom-side-up on the sticks.
+Her companions watched her wonderingly.
+
+“What _are_ you trying to do?” demanded Miss Elting.
+
+“Fixing a burglar alarm. You’ll agree that it is all right after I have
+it finished. Now, I want to run this twine all the way around the camp.
+I shall need some round sticks. Help me find some, Tommy. You have sharp
+eyes.”
+
+All hands set out to hunt for the desired sticks. Harriet began
+thrusting them into the soft ground at more or less regular intervals.
+
+When the stakes had been placed loops of string were tied near the tops
+of them, and through these loops was threaded the long twine until the
+camp was entirely surrounded by it. It formed a thread-like barrier that
+seemed too slender a thing to be of much use. One end of the string was
+secured to the two sticks on which the pail had been placed. The slack
+in the string was taken up until the sticks and the pail tilted from the
+wall of the tent at a sharp angle.
+
+“Hurrah!” cried the guardian. “That is a most ingenious contrivance. How
+did you come to think of it?”
+
+“Nethethity ith the mother of invention, tho my father thayth,” spoke up
+Grace.
+
+Harriet nodded approvingly. The others laughed.
+
+“Tommy is becoming quite a philosopher,” averred the guardian. “Aren’t
+you going to give us a demonstration of your invention, Harriet?”
+
+“Very well,” laughed Harriet. “Hazel, will you go out and stumble
+against the string? Don’t you dare to break it for—Oh!”
+
+The two sticks had come down with a crash, the tin pail rattling as it
+rolled over the floor. Tommy screamed and so did Margery.
+
+“There’s your demonstration,” announced Harriet. “Some one is coming. I
+hope it isn’t those Italians again.”
+
+Miss Elting with her loaded revolver, Jane with her club, Harriet armed
+this time with a stout stick, sauntered forth to meet the newcomer. Jane
+had run to the dark side of the tent, thrusting her club across the
+corner ready to use it at the first indication of trouble. To her
+disgust, the farmer from whom she had obtained permission to make camp,
+now appeared on the scene.
+
+“It’s all right, girls. This is the gentleman who let us make camp
+here,” called Jane.
+
+“I just came over to tell you to take care of your fire. If it runs
+it’ll burn off the meadow, it being all fresh seeding there. I wouldn’t
+want to lose it,” hailed their visitor.
+
+“Thank you for calling our attention to it. We are always careful of
+fire,” Miss Elting made reply.
+
+“What was it I fell over when I came in here?” he asked, glancing about
+him. “You certainly look mighty comfortable here.”
+
+The girls looked at each other and giggled.
+
+“It was a little contrivance of one of our young women, so that we might
+be warned of the approach of strangers,” the guardian informed him. “You
+see, it warned us that some one was coming.”
+
+“I guess you can take care of yourselves, all right. Is there anything
+you want? If there is, come over to the house. My wife is curious to see
+this outfit. Maybe she will come over in the morning.”
+
+“Thank you very kindly for your interest,” answered the guardian. “We
+shall be breaking camp early in the morning.”
+
+The farmer left. Harriet nodded to her companions.
+
+“Was the demonstration satisfactory?” she questioned.
+
+“I should say it was,” answered Margery. “It nearly scared me out of my
+wits.”
+
+“I suppose we shall have to mend the string now. The farmer’s big boots
+broke it in two places. However, we needn’t worry about any person
+getting into this camp to-night without giving us warning of his
+approach,” said Harriet. She repaired the broken “burglar alarm,” then
+returning to the tent adjusted the sticks and the pail, placing several
+other pieces of tinware with it. The girls then gathered about the
+campfire, where they chatted, told stories and exchanged experiences
+until a late hour.
+
+Harriet got out the map just before they retired. After consulting with
+Miss Elting for some time, it was decided that they should take a short
+cut across a rugged country, using their compass to guide them, meeting
+Jane some twelve miles further on. She would have to drive more than
+twenty miles to make the point. The girls did not enjoy the highways
+very much. In the first place, the roads were dusty; many curious people
+were to be met with on the roads; then again they thoroughly enjoyed
+breaking new paths through the forests and over fields and hills. Now
+that all the crops had been garnered there was no danger of doing damage
+to the farmers’ fields by tramping across them. Jane was instructed to
+wait for them after driving into the next town for fresh supplies.
+
+“It’s curious that we don’t run across any melon fields. The first one I
+catch sight of I’m going to raid,” she declared.
+
+“No, Jane, you mustn’t do that,” objected the guardian. “What we get we
+must pay for.”
+
+“Certainly,” agreed Jane. “But there isn’t any sport in just walking up
+and paying for melons. It’s a heap more fun to forage for them.”
+
+“But, Jane, think what it means to take an object of value that doesn’t
+belong to you. It is stealing!”
+
+“That’s true. It surely is,” agreed Jane. “I won’t ever mention any such
+thing again.”
+
+“Thank you,” returned Miss Elting with a smile that amply repaid Crazy
+Jane for her decision.
+
+At last all hands began making preparations for bed. Folding cots were
+opened and made up, fresh fuel was heaped on the campfire, then Harriet
+and Miss Elting made a round of the camp to see that all was in shape
+for the night. Jane lighted the big headlights on her car, turning them
+on the darkest part of the camp, after which they drew the flap to the
+tent and began preparing for bed. Half an hour later the camp was
+silent, save for the occasional crackling of the fire. All the dead
+leaves and inflammable stuff had been raked away and the ground dug up
+immediately about the fire to prevent it from spreading. The moon now
+silvered the landscape, and a faint mist was rising from about the
+Willow Ponds, adding to the beauty of the night.
+
+Midnight came, then the silence became more marked than before. About
+one o’clock in the morning two men might have been observed skulking
+about the farther side of the pond nearest to the camp. They took care
+not to come within range of the headlights of Crazy Jane’s motor car.
+Had one looked closely at them the men might have been recognized as the
+same pair that had visited the camp with the bear earlier in the
+evening. What their purpose was in returning could only be surmised.
+
+It might be revenge or robbery. In either event it was bad enough, and
+the Meadow-Brook Girls, sleeping soundly, were blissfully unconscious of
+the danger that menaced them. Their faith in Harriet Burrell’s burglar
+alarm permitted them to sleep without fear.
+
+All at once there was a mighty crash in the tent. As Tommy Thompson
+described it afterwards, “it thounded ath if lightning had thtruck a tin
+thhop.” The tin pail and the other kitchen utensils that had been hung
+on the long sticks in the tent came down with a clatter and a bang. The
+tin pail rolled clear across the tent, landed on Margery Brown, bringing
+from her a scream of terror.
+
+“Quick! Put on your bathrobes!” called Miss Elting. “There is trouble
+here.”
+
+No need to tell them that. The tin pail already had conveyed this
+information to the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+“Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy.
+
+Harriet was the first one to run outside the tent.
+
+“There they are!” she cried, having caught sight of two skulking figures
+near the automobile. “It’s the same Italians. Let’s call for help as
+loudly as we can. Perhaps that will make them take to their heels.”
+
+It had the desired effect. Seeing that the camp was fully aroused the
+intruders fled. Then a daring plan suggested itself to Crazy Jane
+McCarthy. Leaving her companions she started on a run for her car.
+
+“Come back! Where are you going?” cried the guardian.
+
+“I’ll show you, I’ll show them! Just watch and you’ll see more fun than
+a barrel of monkeys eating cayenne pepper.”
+
+Dashing up to the car, she advanced the spark control, and gave the
+crank a quick turn. The car began a sputtering that quickly grew into a
+roar from the exhaust. Crazy Jane leaped in. She was clad in a bathrobe
+that reached to her ankles; her tangle of hair fell about her face and
+shoulders giving her face a wilder and more weird expression than ever.
+
+Jane threw in the high speed lever. The car leaped forward. Harriet
+Burrell, who had divined something of Jane’s purpose, made a running
+leap and landed on the step, grasping one of the cover braces for
+support.
+
+“Jane, Jane! For goodness’ sake, what are you going to do?”
+
+“I’m going to give the rascals the scare of their lives. They haven’t
+had enough. Get in!”
+
+Harriet did so, but only to prevent being thrown off the car. She had
+little desire to participate in the drive that she well knew would be an
+exciting one. Miss Elting was shouting to Jane to come back. Jane did
+not or would not hear. Uttering a shrill little cry of triumph she drove
+the car ahead at a perilous rate of speed. Over the rough field the
+automobile lurched and careened imperiling the safety of its occupants
+and threatening momentarily to upset and wreck the car.
+
+The two men were fleeing across the field. Seeing the car bearing down
+upon them, they began to dodge. The big white eyes of the headlights
+followed them wherever they went. It was maddening. Now the fugitives
+began zig-zagging. So did Crazy Jane. Once she nearly ran them down. The
+Italians sprang out of the way just in time and began running back
+toward the camp. Jane pursued them as soon as she could get the car
+turned about and facing the other way. By this time the men had gotten a
+long start.
+
+“They’re making for the camp, the villains,” breathed Jane.
+
+“It is because they are trying to get out of your way,” answered Harriet
+almost breathlessly. “You will have to head them off.”
+
+“Head them off nothing!” exploded Jane. “Rather will I take their heads
+off, the miserable rascals.”
+
+“Jane, Jane! You mustn’t run them down. You simply _must not_. You might
+kill them. Please, please don’t try to do that, dear!” begged Harriet.
+
+“All right, darlin’. But you’re making me lose a lot of fun. I don’t get
+an opportunity like this every day in the week. They deserve all I can
+give them.”
+
+“You mustn’t harm a human being, no matter how bad he is. There, they
+have turned toward the road.”
+
+“I won’t hurt them,” promised Jane. “I’ll just scare them a little.”
+
+“Oh!” cried Harriet as the car rose on two wheels, nearly turning over.
+“Do be careful!”
+
+“Don’t be afraid. As long as I’ve got two wheels on the ground I’m all
+right. Now if I had only one wheel on the old sod you might worry, but
+you wouldn’t worry for long. See ’em go. They know I’ve got them now!”
+
+Just then the men plunged headlong into a ditch that extended all the
+way across the field. The girls had not discovered it until that moment.
+Jane checked her car just in time to prevent it also from going into the
+ditch.
+
+“There’s a bridge to the right,” Harriet informed her, then was sorry
+she had made the suggestion. Crazy Jane charged the bridge at full
+speed. All four wheels seemed to strike the planking at the same
+instant.
+
+Jane turned sharply. They were now chasing the two men obliquely across
+the field. The men were lagging.
+
+“They’re getting winded,” shouted Crazy Jane triumphantly.
+
+“Please go back now,” begged Harriet “You have frightened them enough.
+They never will trouble us again.”
+
+“Not till I get the wretches on a run down the road. I’ve not finished
+with them yet.”
+
+“They have nearly finished themselves,” answered Harriet. She was no
+longer apprehensive that Jane would injure the men intentionally, though
+Harriet feared that one of them might stumble and be crushed underneath
+the car. Still her pulses were beating high, the color in her cheeks had
+mounted to her forehead. She was entering into the spirit of the wild
+chase almost with the enthusiasm of Crazy Jane herself.
+
+The voices of their companions in the camp no longer reached them. The
+two girls were too far away to hear now, even had the car not been
+making such a din.
+
+The two men were making for the roadside fence, a board structure, which
+in the haze of the damp night, the girls did not see. They had forgotten
+that the fence was there.
+
+All at once the men reached the fence. Grasping the top board they flung
+themselves over, landing heavily on the ground on the other side.
+
+“Look out!” cried Harriet warningly.
+
+“Hold fast!” yelled Jane.
+
+Crash!
+
+The car struck the fence with a mighty crash accompanied by the sound of
+splintering woodwork. The headlights went out, and Jane brought her car
+to a stop in the midst of the wreck at the roadside.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII—CAUGHT IN A MORASS
+
+
+“Well, here we are,” announced Crazy Jane calmly.
+
+“Oh, see those fellows run!” cried Harriet, gaspingly. “There they go!”
+she cried, in almost hysterical amusement, after she had picked herself
+up from the bottom of the car, where the collision had hurled her.
+
+“I’ve a good notion to send the car straight through the fence, and
+chase that pair of skulkers out of the state!” Jane McCarthy proposed
+vindictively.
+
+“Don’t you try to do it,” protested Harriet, now sobered by the
+realization of how reckless her companion might easily become. “Jane,
+_some day_ you’ll really hit some one—that would be awful!”
+
+“But I didn’t half frighten that pair of rascals,” returned Jane.
+
+“If the men weren’t frightened, then they’ll never know fear,” insisted
+Harriet Burrell. “How badly is the car damaged?”
+
+“A blow on the nose, but the nose is not even out of joint,” Jane
+answered coolly.
+
+“Then let us get back to Miss Elting. How she’ll scold!”
+
+Miss Elting did scold when they reached camp with the car. It is to be
+feared, however, that Jane heard but little of the rebuke, for she was
+busy examining the damage done to her beloved car. She found that she
+could put the lamps in condition again. The guard rod in front of the
+radiator was also injured. Jane decided that this could be easily fixed.
+
+“Girls, girls! What do you mean by such actions. Jane, I am amazed at
+you. Harriet, how could you?” Miss Elting rebuked them roundly.
+
+“I—I guess it was impulse,” answered Harriet, her face crimsoning under
+the reproachful words of the guardian. “Please don’t scold us. We drove
+the men off. They will not trouble us again, I am quite sure.”
+
+“But they might have been run down, girls.”
+
+“Served them right if they had, bad luck to them!” retorted Jane
+mischievously. “However, ’all’s well that ends well.’ I’m for bed. What
+do you say?”
+
+“Thay, why didn’t you take me along?” demanded Tommy.
+
+“It was quite bad enough without your assistance,” replied the guardian.
+“Yes, we had better retire at once. Do you wish to put up your burglar
+alarm again, Harriet?”
+
+“I do not think it will be necessary. The men won’t prowl about the camp
+again to-night.”
+
+“No, they won’t,” agreed Jane, laughing uproariously. “They’re running
+yet and they’ll be running as long as their wind holds out. I wonder
+where they left the bear? Wouldn’t it be fun if we could find the bear
+and let him loose?”
+
+“Oh-h-h!” cried Margery. “How can you talk so, Jane?”
+
+“Most certainly not,” rebuked Miss Elting. “You have done quite enough
+as it is, without turning a bear loose on the community. You had better
+all go back to bed. What did you do to your car, Jane?”
+
+“Bumped its nose, that’s all. My only regret is that I didn’t bump it
+against one of the Italians. I shouldn’t have minded giving the bear a
+smash, too. Good night. Sweet dreams, darlin’s!” Jane flounced into the
+tent and throwing off her bathrobe tumbled into bed, where she was soon
+sound asleep. The others did not quiet down quite so quickly. Harriet,
+especially, lay thinking over the experiences of the evening, and each
+time the thought of the pursuit of the Italians by Crazy Jane and her
+motor car occurred to her, Harriet would laugh softly to herself. She
+finally laughed herself to sleep, to be awakened in what seemed but a
+few moments later, by the blowing of a fish horn at the lips of Crazy
+Jane McCarthy. Day had dawned. The sun was just peeping over the eastern
+hills, the campfire was blazing and Miss Elting was getting breakfast.
+
+Harriet quickly drew on her bathing suit, then, running out of the tent,
+plunged into the pond, uttering a little scream as the cold water
+enveloped her. None of the others had the courage to take a cold plunge
+that morning, as the air was rather cool. As for Harriet, she remained
+in the pond until Miss Elting insisted that she come ashore.
+
+Camp was struck immediately after breakfast as the girls wished to make
+as much progress on their journey in the cool of the morning as
+possible. They struck camp with the skill of veterans, and within half
+an hour from the time they began the operation, everything was packed
+and stowed in the car.
+
+“Now, don’t you girls try to play me any more tricks to-day. I’ve got
+the food. If you don’t find Jane, you get no supper. Understand?”
+laughed Jane.
+
+“I’ve got thome bithcuit in my pack,” piped Tommy.
+
+“She won’t have them for long,” laughed Margery. “Tommy will have eaten
+the biscuits before she has gone a mile.”
+
+“Well, I don’t eat tho much that I get fat,” protested Tommy. “I gueth I
+know when to thtop.”
+
+Miss Elting was giving Jane final directions as to when and where to
+look for them, after which the four girls and their guardian, with their
+packs slung over their backs, stout sticks in their hands to assist them
+over rough places and also to frighten away troublesome dogs, started
+out on their journey of ten miles or more. They crossed the road,
+traveled up a hill and headed straight across country. The unmarked
+trail was rough and following it fatigued them considerably during the
+first two miles of their journey.
+
+Shortly after eleven o’clock they came in sight of a remote farm house
+tucked away in a valley. Miss Elting decided to call there to get some
+milk. The woman of the house at first regarded them with suspicion, but
+she soon thawed under Miss Elting’s gentle voice and winning smile.
+
+The milk had not been skimmed. All the old milk had been churned that
+day. There was nothing left but buttermilk, the woman told them.
+
+“Buttermilk!” cried the girls in chorus.
+
+“I jutht love buttermilk!” declared Tommy. “Do you have buttermilk
+cowth? Ithn’t that fine? I’m going to make my father buy me a buttermilk
+cow.”
+
+“Well, I was going to feed that buttermilk to the hogs, but seeing as
+you want it I suppose you may have it,” decided the woman with some
+reluctance. “Do you like it cold?”
+
+The party answered in the affirmative. The housewife lowered a pail of
+buttermilk into the well to cool, the party sitting down under an apple
+tree in the yard to rest themselves in the meantime. Margery lay down
+and went to sleep. Tommy amused herself by tickling Buster’s ear with a
+long, dead stalk of timothy grass. Margery in her sleep thought it a
+fly. She fought the fly for some time, then finally opening her eyes,
+she caught Tommy red handed. Tommy fled into the farm house, where she
+pretended to be much interested in the housewife’s work. She soon won
+her way into the good graces of the woman, and when, finally, the little
+lisping girl emerged from the house she was carrying a tin tray of food.
+
+“Jutht thee what I’ve got,” she cried. “It taketh Tommy Thompthon to get
+thingth to eat.”
+
+There were sandwiches, ginger cookies—great fat brown fellows—and a
+large dish of apple sauce.
+
+“Oh, girls!” cried Margery her eyes glistening at the prospect of a
+feast. “I could die eating that food.”
+
+“Tommy, did you beg for this?” demanded the guardian.
+
+“I gueth not. I jutht athked for it,” returned Tommy calmly. “When you
+want thomething you want, jutht athk for it, and if you don’t get it you
+haven’t wasted anything but your breath.”
+
+“Madam, we are very grateful to you for this kindness, and will pay you
+before leaving,” called Miss Elting to the housewife, who came out at
+this juncture to draw up the bucket of buttermilk from the cool depths
+of the well.
+
+“You’re welcome, I’m sure. I just baked to-day. Hope the cookies are all
+right. They didn’t rise to suit me.”
+
+“They’d have burthted if they’d rithen any more,” observed Tommy. She
+was rebuked by a look from Harriet.
+
+“I hope you like them,” smiled the woman.
+
+“Oh, they are simply delicious,” answered Harriet, with glowing eyes.
+“And that buttermilk! I never drank any that tasted better.”
+
+The party ate their fill of the good things, Margery doing even more
+than her share in disposing of both buttermilk and food. When they had
+finished, the tray was empty. The woman offered to bring them more food,
+but Miss Elting said “no.” She gave the woman fifty cents despite the
+protests of the latter; then, after a brief rest, they started on again,
+first having expressed their thanks to the housewife, who stood in the
+door of her home watching the little party until it had passed out of
+sight.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon the girls halted for another rest
+because of Margery’s complaints that she was feeling ill.
+
+“You ate too much,” declared Harriet. “It doesn’t do to eat so much when
+one is taking exercise as we are.”
+
+“Yeth. Buthter alwayth eatth too much,” averred Tommy wisely.
+
+“Oh!” moaned Margery Brown, sitting down all in a heap. “I can’t walk
+another step to-day.”
+
+“Do you think we should leave her here?” asked Harriet, with solemn face
+but twinkling eyes.
+
+“We shall see how she feels after I have given her something to settle
+her stomach,” answered Miss Elting gravely.
+
+“No, no, no!” wailed Margery. “Don’t leave me. I’ll go. Let me lie still
+and rest myself a little first.”
+
+“You thee Buthter, it doethn’t pay to be tho greedy,” admonished Tommy.
+
+“Will you please make her stop?” begged Buster. “I can’t stand it.”
+
+“Tommy!” rebuked Harriet. “Haven’t you any consideration for Margery?”
+
+“Yeth. Of courthe I have. But thhe doethn’t detherve any thympathy.”
+
+“I’m ashamed of you, Tommy, dear. Wait. You, too, will be ill one of
+these days, then we shall make unpleasant remarks to you,” warned
+Harriet.
+
+Grace Thompson flushed guiltily.
+
+“That ith too bad, Buthter. I didn’t mean to make you feel worthe.
+Honetht I didn’t. I hope you will be better pretty thoon.” Tommy kissed
+her. “There. Ithn’t that better?”
+
+“Yes,” admitted Margery. She already had taken some peppermint drops
+that Miss Elting had administered. After a further rest the girls
+assisted her to her feet and walked her slowly up and down the road. She
+was then permitted to sit down and rest again. Tommy, an expression of
+concern on her impish face, crouched before the now pale-faced Buster,
+munching a hard biscuit.
+
+“Come, girls,” said Miss Elting finally. “It is nearly five o’clock. We
+were to meet Jane at five, and we must have a good two hours’ walk ahead
+of us still. Now that Margery is feeling so ill we shall not be able to
+make nearly as good time as that. I wonder if we hadn’t better find the
+highway and finish the day’s tramp on that?”
+
+Margery protested that they must not change their plans on her account.
+She declared that she could walk as well as any of them.
+
+“Margery will repent her rash assertions before she has gone a mile,”
+laughed Hazel.
+
+“No. I think she will be all right, now,” replied the guardian.
+“Margery, if you find that you are feeling worse, at any time, you must
+be sure to tell me at once. Now, girls, march!”
+
+The little company plodded along. Harriet linked one arm within
+Margery’s. The latter, while feeling much improved, was still a little
+weak and Harriet Burrell’s sturdy arm was appreciated.
+
+About six o’clock they came to a long hill that sloped gently down into
+a valley. The greater part of the valley was covered with trees. It
+appeared to be a dense forest of second growth, the trees not being very
+large. The guardian consulted the map.
+
+“Yes. We are on the right trail. We must keep straight on through the
+woods. According to this map there should be a trail that leads directly
+to the other side of the valley, and when we reach that point we shall
+have finished our day’s journey.”
+
+“I am afraid we are going to be caught in the dark, Miss Elting,” said
+Harriet.
+
+“If we find the trail we do not need to worry about that. We can’t very
+well go astray. I would suggest that, when we get down farther into the
+valley, we spread out and look for the wood trail. The one who first
+discovers it will shout. By taking this open formation we shall be
+saving time. It certainly seems to me that the distance to be covered
+to-day is more than ten miles.”
+
+“It does seem so,” agreed Hazel. “But we have lost considerable time on
+the way.”
+
+They began spreading out when about half way down the hill, calling to
+each other good-naturedly, shouting as they got farther and farther
+away. Tommy discovered the road. She ran out into the field waving her
+arms and crying shrilly to attract the attention of her companions. They
+hurried toward her. The road, as they soon learned, was a mere path and
+one not much frequented at that, as was evidenced by the vegetation that
+grew in the middle of it.
+
+“This looks to me like rather low swampy land,” declared Harriet. “It is
+my idea that we had better stick closely to the path, or we may get into
+trouble.” She did not say definitely what she feared, not wishing to
+needlessly terrorize Margery and Tommy. Miss Elting understood their
+danger, however. She nodded. Harriet started along the trail, leading
+the way, with the guardian following at her heels. They went on in this
+way for half an hour. The forest grew darker as they proceeded, the
+vegetation being thick in there. The day was waning rapidly. It was not
+very long before they were groping their way, rather than finding it by
+sight.
+
+A scream from Margery, who was at the rear, brought them up sharply.
+Then Tommy’s voice was raised in a sharp cry of alarm.
+
+“What is it?” shouted Harriet.
+
+“I’m sinking!” screamed Margery.
+
+Harriet instantly knew the meaning of this. Her worst fears were
+confirmed. They were in the middle of a vast morass that stretched on
+each side of the trail.
+
+“Thave me! Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy.
+
+Both girls were in the mud, but just how deeply Harriet Burrell did not
+know. Now Hazel added her cries to those of Tommy and Margery. She, too,
+had stepped off the path. Harriet could hear Hazel floundering in the
+mire. Miss Elting hurried back to them, regardless of her own safety.
+
+“Be careful!” called Harriet warningly, groping her way to her
+companions who were crying and screaming for help.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX—THE TRAMP CLUB TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+“Look out, Miss Elting,” warned Harriet again. “The girls are in the
+mud.”
+
+“So am I,” cried the guardian in a voice of alarm. “Oh, it’s deep. I’m
+sinking.”
+
+“Stand perfectly still,” advised Harriet. “You will get in deeper if you
+struggle. I’ll see what I can do. I may get in, too.”
+
+“Be quick, Harriet,” urged the guardian. “This is serious. I can’t move
+an inch.”
+
+“I’ll do the best I can. Oh, I wish I had some good sized limbs of trees
+to throw to you. Here’s one. Where are you, Miss Elting?”
+
+“Here. It’s no use. I can’t pull myself out.”
+
+Margery was screaming at the top of her voice. It seemed as though her
+cries must be heard throughout the woods. No amount of urging could
+induce her to be quiet.
+
+“Let her yell. Let her make all the noithe she can. Maybe thomebody will
+hear her,” wailed Tommy.
+
+This was good logic. Miss Elting told Buster to shout as loudly as she
+could. The other girls now added their voices to Buster’s frantic
+screams. Harriet was moving about as rapidly as she dared, but she was
+unable to find any limbs large enough to be of much use to Miss Elting,
+who was nearest to the trail over which they had come. Harriet tried
+another experiment. Breaking down a sapling that grew beside the path
+she thrust this toward the guardian.
+
+“Take hold of it,” she commanded. “Have you got it, Miss Elting?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Give way loosely when I pull. I may be able to pull you out. Don’t
+resist at all.”
+
+“It’s no use, Harriet!” announced the guardian, after several minutes of
+the hardest sort of work on Harriet’s part. “I am getting deeper in the
+mud with every move I make. You will have to think of something else.”
+
+“Girls, stop your screaming for a moment,” called Harriet. “Tell me how
+you are? Are you sinking deeper into the mud or are you remaining about
+the same?”
+
+“Whenever I make the slightest movement I sink in deeper. I’m keeping as
+still as possible,” answered Hazel.
+
+“I’m in almotht up to my waitht,” cried Tommy. “I’m going to be buried
+alive. Oh, thave me!”
+
+“As long as you are able to scream like that you are all right,”
+comforted Harriet. “When you stop yelling I shall begin to believe you
+are in real trouble.”
+
+Harriet now set to work cutting down small saplings with her hatchet.
+These she threw out into the space between Miss Elting and the three
+girls. They were close together, which somewhat simplified the work. The
+Meadow-Brook girl knew that it would take a quantity of the small trees
+and limbs to support her weight, but it was the only course she knew of
+to follow. Fortunately for Harriet she was an athletic girl, possessing
+great strength for one of her age and build. Better still, she possessed
+a courage and will all her own. Then, too, Harriet Burrell was one of
+those doggedly determined persons who never know when they are worsted.
+Her mind was working even more rapidly than were her hands. She had
+succeeded in piling up enough stuff to form a slight support for the
+arms of her companions. She now explained her plan to them.
+
+“I don’t think I shall be able to get you out of the morass without
+taking a long chance of getting in myself,” she began.
+
+“Oh-h-h-h!” cried the girls despairingly. They had relied implicitly on
+Harriet’s resourceful brain to find the means to release them from their
+dangerous predicament.
+
+“Wait until I have finished. You know that I’m not afraid. You know
+better than to think so,” soothed Harriet. “Don’t you see, if I were to
+get caught in the mud, your last hope would be gone? We might all perish
+here before any one found us.”
+
+“You are right as usual, Harriet,” said Miss Elting. She was apparently
+calm. If she were nervous no trace of it was discoverable in her voice.
+“What do you propose to do?”
+
+“I am going to pile some more stuff on what I have already placed there.
+Each of you is to throw out her arms and if possible lock hands across
+the barrier. When one hand gets tired change to the other one. That will
+keep you from sinking down much deeper. The saplings should keep you up,
+though it will be a rather severe strain on your arm.”
+
+“What will you do, Harriet?” asked Miss Elting.
+
+“I am going for help.”
+
+“Oh, don’t leave uth!” wailed Grace.
+
+“Harriet is right,” agreed Hazel. “It is the only thing to do. But which
+way will you go?”
+
+“I will go back the way we came. I believe that if I am careful I shall
+be able to reach solid ground without getting off the trail. A short
+distance from here the ground rises somewhat and is harder. Once I reach
+that I shall be safe.”
+
+“But, Harriet, where will you go for help?”
+
+“I saw the top of some farm buildings to the west of where we were just
+before we entered this horrid place. I think it will be best for me to
+hurry there. I ought to be back in a couple of hours at the outside.”
+
+“Two _hourth_!” mourned Tommy.
+
+“That will be better than staying there all night, won’t it?” demanded
+Harriet.
+
+“I should say it will,” agreed Hazel.
+
+“Then hurry, dear,” urged Miss Elting.
+
+“Is any one of you in pain?” questioned Harriet.
+
+“I think not,” replied Miss Elting. “The ground is too soft to hurt.
+That’s the worst of it. If the ground weren’t so soft and sticky we
+should be able to get out. Do you think you could build a fire before
+you go, Harriet?”
+
+“I wouldn’t dare to do so. Suppose it should spread to the trees about
+you after I had gone? There are cedars and small pine trees in here. The
+foliage of these trees is like tinder.”
+
+“You are right!” exclaimed the guardian. “To build a fire would be the
+height of folly. Hurry, please. We will be here when you come back,” she
+added with a forced laugh.
+
+“Be brave, girls. Remember, we are Meadow-Brook Girls,” said Harriet, as
+with a shouted “good-bye” she started back along the trail on her
+mission. Both arms were outspread so that she might be warned by touch
+when getting too close to the sides of the trail.
+
+“Girls,” began Miss Elting brightly, after Harriet had left them.
+“Harriet reminded us that we are Meadow-Brook Girls. Let’s show that we
+are by giving the Meadow-Brook yell. Now. One, two, three, go!”
+
+  “Meadow-Brook. Meadow-Brook.
+  Rah, rah, rah!
+  Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook,
+  Sis, boom, ah-h-h!”
+
+The girls’ voices grew stronger after the second line. The voices of
+Miss Elting and Tommy Thompson rose above those of the other two. Some
+one laughed. It was Tommy. Her laugh was a trifle hysterical, but it was
+a laugh, and for the moment it relieved the strain somewhat. Miss Elting
+gave them no time to think about themselves.
+
+“Girls. Forty-nine Blue Bottles now,” she cried, then began the chant
+herself, the others joining in promptly.
+
+  “Forty-nine blue bottles were hanging on the wall,
+  Forty-nine blue bottles were hanging on the wall.
+  Take one of the bottles down and there’ll be forty-eight
+      blue bottles a hanging on the wall, a hanging on the
+      wall.”
+
+They continued to chant regardless of aching throats and hoarse voices,
+until every one of those offending blue bottles had been removed from
+the wall.
+
+“Now the Meadow-Brook yell again. It will bring assistance to us if any
+one hears it,” reminded the guardian. They repeated the yell.
+
+“Gracious!” cried Miss Elting.
+
+“Oh, what is it now?” begged Margery, in a frightened voice.
+
+“Why, some malicious person has put all those forty-nine blue bottles
+back on the wall again. What shall we do?”
+
+“I gueth we’ll have to take them off,” lisped Tommy, amid laughter from
+her companions and the guardian as well.
+
+“I can’t,” moaned Margery. She began to choke and cough. “I’ve swallowed
+a bug.”
+
+“Oh, the poor bug. I’m tho thorry for him,” piped Tommy.
+
+“Maybe we can catch him in one of those bottles,” suggested Miss Elting.
+“Come, girls, you aren’t going to desert me now, are you? Already!
+‘Forty-nine blue bottles were hanging on the wall.’”
+
+Once more the girls went over the familiar refrain, ending finally with
+the Meadow-Brook yell. Again and again did they take the bottles from
+the wall, but as often as they removed them invisible hands replaced
+every one of the forty-nine blue bottles in their accustomed position on
+the wall.
+
+For the tenth time the forty-nine blue bottles had been taken down and
+hung up again. The voices of the girls were so hoarse that they could
+barely speak aloud, though they were laughing hysterically as they
+labored with the forty-ninth. They had almost forgotten that they were
+in danger, forgotten their aching bodies, forgotten that Harriet Burrell
+was speeding through the darkness in quest of assistance, when a distant
+but familiar cry reached their ears. It was the long drawn out
+“hoo-e-e-e-e” of the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+Miss Elting heard it first. Her companions were laughing so immoderately
+that they failed to hear it the first time. The guardian’s voice failed
+her. A lump rose in her throat. The strain had been so great that
+several times she found herself on the point of giving way. Now the
+reaction had set in.
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e-e!”
+
+Tommy heard it, and uttered a scream. The call was repeated. This time
+all the girls heard it plainly.
+
+“It’s Harriet, it’s Harriet!” cried Hazel.
+
+“Yes. Rescue is at hand,” replied Miss Elting fervently.
+
+A light twinkled far away through between the trees. It seemed to the
+anxious eyes of the guardian as though it were miles and miles distant.
+She raised her voice in a shout, but the voice was so weak that it
+carried but a short distance.
+
+“Shout, girls!” she begged. “You may be able to make them hear. I can’t.
+My voice has completely left me. Tommy! You can always scream. Do so
+now.”
+
+Tommy let loose a thrilling, penetrating yell. The rescue party heard
+it. They answered with return shouts in male voices.
+
+“That sounds to me like boys’ voices,” cried Miss Elting huskily.
+
+“Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy. “My hair ith all tumbled down, my frock
+ith muddy from top to bottom and my fathe ith thmudged. I’m a thight, I
+know I am. I can’t retheive company to-day. Thend them away, pleathe.”
+
+Some one came running toward them considerably in advance of the light.
+
+“Girls! Girls!” shouted an anxious voice.
+
+“Here!” cried the guardian.
+
+“Thank goodness you’re alive,” answered Harriet Burrell. “I’ve been
+terribly anxious about you. Here—here’s a can of fresh water. I know
+your throats must be dry.”
+
+Reaching forward, Harriet handed the can to the guardian. Miss Elting
+passed it on to Tommy. Each of the girls drank.
+
+“Where are you, folks?” shouted a boyish voice.
+
+“Here. Just ahead of you,” answered Harriet. She had sunk down on the
+trail, her strength gone. A moment later she was on her feet again,
+hurrying down the trail to guide the rescuers to the spot.
+
+A tall young fellow clad in khaki, a campaign hat on his head, rushed
+up. Behind him came half a dozen other young men similarly clad. They
+were bearing fence rails on their shoulders, fairly staggering under the
+weight of their burdens.
+
+“Oh, I’m so glad!” cried Miss Elting, now on the verge of tears after
+the strain. “Who are they, Harriet, my brave girl?”
+
+“We’re the Tramp Club,” answered the first boy. “We’ll introduce
+ourselves after we get you girls out of the morass. You’re in a fine
+mess and you certainly do need help.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X—IN THE HANDS OF THE RESCUERS
+
+
+“Now, keep perfectly quiet. Don’t move an inch. We’ll have you out of it
+in a few moments. Here, Dill, give me the rope. Now the end of a rail.
+The young lady over there with the flaxen hair——”
+
+“It ithn’t flaxen. It ith blonde,” protested Tommy indignantly.
+
+“I stand corrected,” laughed the young man. “Please grab the rope and
+pull on it. I don’t dare throw a rail out there for fear of hitting one
+of you. Being the farthest out, you will be able to pull the rail right
+up to you. Never mind if you do settle down an inch or two. I’ll have
+you out at any rate. Do you understand?”
+
+“Yeth.”
+
+“Then here goes.” The boy tossed a coil of rope so accurately that the
+coil dropped directly over Grace Thompson’s head. She uttered a little
+scream as the rope slipped over her head, then clawed frantically at it.
+“That’s right,” cried her rescuer. “Now pull.”
+
+Tommy pulled desperately drawing the rail towards her, but sinking
+deeper and deeper into the mud until she was nearly up to her armpits.
+The little lisping girl took fresh alarm. She began to cry, “Thave me!”
+
+“Don’t be frightened. Here’s another rail!” encouraged the youth. “We’ve
+got to build up a bridge. Those limbs and saplings you have out there
+will make an excellent foundation. Hurry them up here, Dill! The young
+ladies will grow impatient and refuse to wait for us longer.”
+
+The girls declined to laugh at this pleasantry. They were in too much
+distress. Harriet stood holding a lantern above her head so that the
+boys might see to work to the best advantage. The rails were drawn out
+by Tommy in each instance, assisted by the girls between herself and the
+path. Then the leader set his boys at work felling the largest trees
+they could find along the trail. The lads went at their work with a
+will. As soon as the trees and brush were cut down they were carried
+over and dumped in on the rail and brush foundation, forming a rude
+bridge. The leader then advanced cautiously over it until he reached a
+point near to the guardian and the girls.
+
+“Now we will see what we can do.”
+
+A rope was passed about the waist of the guardian despite her protests
+that the others should be gotten out of the morass first. Three boys
+were put at the shore end of the rope with orders to pull when their
+leader gave the word. He, on his part, took firm hold of Miss Elting
+under the arms, then shouted “now!”
+
+Those on shore began to pull. The leader, at the same time, began to
+lift with all his might, moving the guardian’s shoulders from left to
+right.
+
+“Tell me if the rope hurts you,” gasped the muscular young fellow.
+
+Miss Elting came up so suddenly that her rescuer fell over, narrowly
+escaping a plunge into the morass. The guardian was finally dragged to
+the path. The rescuers then turned their attention to the other girls.
+Their wooden raft was slowly sinking under the weight that had been put
+upon it, but fresh stuff was being constantly piled on it to keep it
+above the mud. One by one the Meadow-Brook Girls were hauled out.
+
+Harriet had helped Miss Elting aside into the shadows, where she
+assisted the guardian in scraping the mud from her clothing. At first
+Miss Elting was barely able to stand. She found herself trembling from
+head to foot now that the strain, mental and physical, was removed.
+
+“Here’s another one!” cried the cheery voice of the leader
+
+“What wonderful boys!” breathed Miss Elting, starting to go to Tommy’s
+assistance.
+
+“Please lie down on the ground and rest, Miss Elting. Don’t try to get
+up until we are ready to start. I can take care of the others as they
+are dragged out,” directed Harriet.
+
+She assisted Tommy to a place beside Miss Elting, the latter insisting
+upon trying to help the unfortunate and humiliated Tommy in her
+distressing condition.
+
+“I withh I had thome clotheth fit to be theen,” complained the little
+girl. “Thith dreth ith a thight.”
+
+“Be thankful that you are alive,” answered Harriet sharply.
+
+“We should have perished, had it not been for you,” answered the
+guardian.
+
+“Considering that I was the only one who didn’t get into the mud, I
+simply had to be the one to go for help. I don’t deserve any credit,”
+flung back Harriet, hurrying over to assist the suffering Buster. After
+Buster, came Hazel, the last to be rescued.
+
+“Have we got them all?” questioned the young man.
+
+“Yes, thank goodness,” answered Harriet.
+
+“We are under great obligations to you, young gentlemen. We are in no
+condition to properly express our appreciation this evening. I hope we
+may have an opportunity to do so in the morning,” said Miss Elting.
+
+“We are very glad to have been able to help you. We needed a little
+exercise,” laughed the young man. “Yes, we shall see you again, but we
+haven’t finished our work yet. What do you say? Shall we fix up some
+litters and carry the young ladies out?”
+
+“I don’t know. We shall see in a few moments. Give them a chance to
+rest. They are completely exhausted.”
+
+“Certainly. We fellows are going on ahead to examine this path. We'll
+return presently.”
+
+The boys trudged off down the trail.
+
+“We shan’t go far,” called back the leader, then strode off after his
+companions. Harriet and Miss Elting made the girls as comfortable and
+presentable as possible, though it was apparent that both girls and
+clothes needed a thorough scrubbing.
+
+“I don’t know how we are going to reach camp,” pondered the guardian,
+while waiting for Grace, Margery and Hazel to rest.
+
+“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” exclaimed Harriet; “Jane met these boys this
+afternoon. Two of them are acquaintances of hers. They are high school
+boys from the town of Proctor. Like ourselves they are out on a long
+tramp, and they are camped right near where we are to camp for the
+night. They assisted Jane to put up the camp and get everything in
+order. Then, when night came, Jane began to grow worried. She declared
+that something had happened to us. One of the boys wanted to know which
+way we were to come and Jane told them.”
+
+“‘Then they have gotten into the swamp and they’re in trouble,’ declared
+one of the boys. It seems that these boys passed through here yesterday,
+and two of them got into the morass in broad daylight. No wonder we
+floundered into it trying to get through there in the dark. Of course
+Jane was wild with anxiety. She said they must help her find us. This
+they were willing and glad to do. They decided to come to this end of
+the swamp and begin their search from the point where we were supposed
+to have entered.”
+
+“Did you meet them?” interrupted Miss Elting.
+
+“Yes. Jane rushed them, in her car, to the nearest point on the road,
+then ran across the field with them to the place where we took the swamp
+trail. I met them just as I came out into the field. Jane was wild with
+delight, then she cried when I told her where you were. She wanted to
+come here with me. I told her to hurry back to camp and prepare hot
+water, get everything ready, then come for us. She will be back long
+before we get out of the swamp I think. The boys told me all that I have
+told you, as we were hurrying in here. It is very fortunate for us that
+we met them,” declared Harriet in a matter-of-fact tone.
+
+“I think you are a very brave and resourceful girl, Harriet. You will
+get some honor beads for this. Girls, shall we sing ‘Forty-nine Blue
+Bottles’ now?” questioned Miss Elting quizzically.
+
+“No!” shouted Tommy, so loudly that the Tramp Club, who had gone a short
+distance down the trail, heard and thought that the girls were calling
+them back.
+
+“Did you call us?” hailed the leader, running back toward the girls.
+
+“No,” returned Miss Elting. “We are all right, thank you.”
+
+The boys continued on down the trail. Half an hour later they returned
+to find the girls somewhat rested and ready to proceed on their journey.
+
+“Do you think you feel strong enough to go on?” asked the leader of the
+Tramp Club solicitously.
+
+“Yes,” replied Miss Elting. “We are anxious to meet Jane and get settled
+for the night. You have not told us yet to whom we are indebted for our
+rescue.”
+
+“My name is George Baker. I’m the captain of the Tramp Club. They’re a
+fine lot of fellows, but full of mischief.”
+
+“As I said before, we haven’t words with which to express our gratitude
+to you for what you have done for us,” said Miss Elting. “Ah! There are
+your friends. Won’t you introduce us to them? I’ll first introduce my
+Meadow-Brook Girls.” Miss Elting introduced the girls to the Tramp Club
+as a body, after which the captain did the same with his friends. The
+names of the members of the club as given by the captain in his
+introduction, were Dill Dodd, Fred Avery, Sam Crocker, Charles Mabie,
+Will Burgess and Davy Dockrill.
+
+“Taken altogether, ladies,” remarked the captain, “we are a choice band
+of ruffians on the road, though sometimes gentlemen when we are at
+home.”
+
+“I disagree with you,” laughed the guardian. “I shall never meet any
+finer gentlemen than I have met to-night.”
+
+The captain doffed his hat. Tommy was regarding him out of the corners
+of her eyes. She seemed about to say something; then, apparently
+changing her mind, smiled impishly to herself and remained silent.
+
+“I told your friend, Miss McCarthy, to set the boys at work getting
+things ready for the ladies when they reached camp,” said the captain.
+“My, but I got some thrills riding out here with Miss McCarthy. We must
+have driven out here at the rate of about a hundred miles an hour. I
+never before rode so fast in my life. Here, fellows, what’s the matter
+with you! This is no marathon. The young ladies can’t hit up that pace
+and keep on their feet. Slow down.”
+
+“We can walk jutht ath fatht ath any boy in bootth,” retorted Tommy
+indignantly.
+
+Captain Baker touched the rim of his hat.
+
+“I’ll argue it out with you some other time, Miss Thompson,” he said.
+
+“Oh!” moaned Margery, staggering a little.
+
+The head tramp immediately sprang to Margery’s assistance. “Let me help
+you,” he insisted, taking Margery by the arm. Miss Elting stepped up on
+the other side of Margery, taking the latter’s free arm.
+
+“Now, you will be all right, dear,” encouraged the guardian.
+
+Harriet, in the meantime, was assisting Tommy along. The boys ahead
+began to sing. In this way the party followed the trail out to the
+field. The girls breathed sighs of relief as they emerged into the open.
+
+Just then, out of the darkness, rushed a figure, throwing itself upon
+Tommy and Harriet.
+
+“Oh, you dear girls!” cried Jane, flinging an arm about the neck of
+each. “I nearly cried my eyes out over you. But, when the boys started
+out to find you, I knew it would be all right. Everything is ready for
+you. Nice warm baths, and there will be a pot of hot coffee for you.
+I’ll whisk you to camp in short order.”
+
+“Never mind the whisking,” spoke up the guardian. “Captain Baker has
+told us about your whisking him out here this evening.”
+
+Jane threw back her head and laughed.
+
+“How about going back? I’ll tell you what, boys. I’ll take the girls and
+one of you, then I’ll come back and get the rest.”
+
+“No thank you, we will walk it,” answered the chief tramp promptly.
+
+“Never,” insisted Jane. “You come with us, young man. I’ll be back here
+in half an hour for the rest of these brave boys.”
+
+The captain declined to desert his men. Jane therefore urged him no
+further. The boys assisted in helping the Meadow-Brook Girls into the
+car, then Jane drove away at a rapid rate. She let the girls out at
+their camp, located in a very pretty and now moonlit valley.
+
+“You’ll find everything ready. I’m going back for those unruly boys,”
+Jane announced, turning her car about and racing back over the road, her
+hair streaming over one shoulder, her eyes sparkling with the excitement
+of it all. The tramps had another lively ride to camp. Jane did not
+spare them. She took an almost savage delight in trying to frighten
+them, but did not succeed very well in this attempt. If they were afraid
+they failed to show it.
+
+On reaching camp the tired wayfarers lost no time in making for their
+tent where hot water for their baths awaited them. By the time Jane
+returned with the members of the Tramp Club the Meadow-Brook Girls, clad
+in dry, fresh clothing, were ready to receive their guests. They
+presented a wholly different appearance, now, and the boys gazed at them
+admiringly.
+
+“Jane, the boys must join us at supper,” declared Miss Elting.
+
+George shook his head.
+
+“There are too many of us. We’ll eat you out of house and home.”
+
+“There’s lots more stuff to eat in the automobile,” declared Jane
+hospitably. “You wait till I unload the real supplies.”
+
+She dragged out a hamper. It was filled with good things to eat, and
+what particularly pleased the boys, was the unexpected invitation to eat
+with their new found friends.
+
+Though the girls were tired and exhausted from their trying experiences
+in the swamp, it proved a happy evening. It was decided to remain in
+camp all next day to rest. Strangely enough Captain Baker announced that
+they too had already concluded that they needed a rest. He said they
+would do some foraging next day, and bring the girls some good things to
+eat to pay them back for what they had eaten and for the exciting ride
+Jane had given them.
+
+Miss Elting smiled knowingly. The tramps appeared to be gentlemanly
+boys, however “full of mischief” they might be.
+
+It was ten o’clock when the Tramp Club said good night and set out for
+their own camp.
+
+“Now, children, go to bed at once,” directed the guardian. “We have had
+excitement enough for one day at least.”
+
+The girls agreed with her, and half an hour later the camp had settled
+down for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI—A CONTEST OF ENDURANCE
+
+
+“Forty-nine blue bottleth were hanging on the wall,” muttered Tommy in
+her sleep, as Miss Elting and Harriet stepped into their tent at eight
+o’clock the next morning, after having finished their inspection of the
+camp. The rest of the Meadow-Brook Girls were still sleeping soundly.
+
+“Poor Tommy,” smiled the guardian.
+
+“What is Tommy muttering about forty-nine blue bottles?” questioned
+Harriet.
+
+The guardian laughed merrily.
+
+“I had the girls say that doggerel about the forty-nine blue bottles
+while we were stuck fast in the mud. You see, I wished to keep their
+minds from their troubles. We repeated the song until we were so hoarse
+we could scarcely speak.”
+
+“I noticed that when I returned, but thought you had all caught cold. So
+it was forty-nine blue bottles that made you so hoarse,” laughed
+Harriet. “I think you deserve the real credit of the rescue. Had you not
+done what you did to keep up the spirits of the girls there might have
+been a different ending,” declared Harriet Burrell with emphasis. She
+kissed the guardian impulsively, than stepping softly, to avoid waking
+her sleeping companions, she made her way outside the tent. Shading her
+eyes and gazing about she finally discovered a brown-clad figure sitting
+on a fence. He evidently was observing the camp, for, when he caught
+sight of Harriet, he waved his hand.
+
+“I’ll wager that’s Captain Baker,” smiled Harriet, waving back to him.
+“He is a peculiar young man. We are under great obligations to them all,
+but those boys think girls are of no account. We are going to clash with
+them. I know we are.”
+
+Harriet poked the fire and built it up until a cloud of smoke was
+ascending skyward. It was not a skilfully made fire, but Harriet had a
+purpose in making a great smudge that morning. She wished to show the
+tramps that the girls had just gotten up and were not yet ready to
+receive company. She had construed Captain Baker’s action in watching
+the camp as being for the purpose of learning when the Meadow-Brook
+outfit was ready to see them. As the girl cast frequent glances across
+the fields she saw the other members of the Tramp Club scattered about
+not far from their own camp, though all of the boys kept a respectful
+distance from the camp occupied by the girls.
+
+Breakfast was out of the way and the camp of the Meadow-Brook Girls put
+to rights by ten o’clock. The travelers felt somewhat lame and stiff
+after their experience in the swamp. Tommy walked with a distinct limp,
+which Harriet accused her of putting on for effect.
+
+“I’m not pretending,” protested Tommy indignantly. “I gueth you would
+walk like I do if you had been fatht in the mud motht all night.”
+
+Harriet laughed good-naturedly.
+
+A halloo out back of the camp cut short any further argument. It was
+Captain Baker with his fellow “tramps.”
+
+“Is it too early in the morning to make our party call?” shouted George.
+
+“No. Come right along,” called Harriet cordially. “We got up rather late
+this morning. Didn’t I see you sitting on the fence off yonder?”
+
+“Yes, I was watching for a woodchuck to come out. Fellows, you’ve all
+met Miss Burrell, I think. And Miss Thompson.”
+
+“Yeth I met them in the thwamp,” lisped Tommy.
+
+Miss Elting came out, her face wearing a radiant smile of welcome for
+the tramps. Their hats were off instantly. She insisted on shaking hands
+with each of the boys in turn.
+
+“I suppose you have had your breakfast?” smiled the guardian.
+
+“Breakfast!” exclaimed Davy Dockrill. “Yes. We men eat our breakfast at
+six o’clock. We aren’t like girls, who take their breakfast in place of
+luncheon.”
+
+“And eat cookies between meals,” laughed Harriet. “How many miles do you
+walk a day?”
+
+“Oh, a lot,” answered George airily.
+
+“How many?” persisted Harriet.
+
+“Well, maybe ten, fifteen, twenty miles, maybe more.”
+
+“I’ll wager that you take a ride now and then,” interjected Tommy.
+
+“We don’t. We walk, I tell you.”
+
+“We aren’t like girls, who have to stop and rest every half mile or so,”
+declared Will Burgess.
+
+“And get stuck in the mud,” laughed Fred Avery.
+
+“That’ll be about all, boys,” reproved Captain Baker, frowning. “I told
+you these boys were full of mischief. But you mustn’t mind them,” he
+added apologetically.
+
+“Oh, we don’t mind them at all,” smiled Harriet.
+
+“When are you going to start out again?”
+
+“Not until some time to-morrow morning,” answered Miss Elting. “We are
+all a little lame and tired to-day.”
+
+The captain nodded gravely.
+
+“Yes; girls can’t stand as much as boys when it comes to hard work like
+a week or so of walking,” he said with an air of conviction.
+
+“Yeth they can,” resented Tommy. “Girlth can walk jutht ath far in a day
+ath boyth can.”
+
+“You’ve got to show us before we can believe that,” declared Davy.
+
+“Very well; we will show you,” answered Harriet quietly. “Name your
+conditions.”
+
+“Do you mean it?” questioned George.
+
+“Of course I mean it.”
+
+“You’re plucky, all right,” he said regarding her admiringly. “But I
+don’t like to have a contest with girls.”
+
+“Why not? Are you afraid of them?” demanded Margery.
+
+The boy flushed.
+
+“No, ma’am. It isn’t manly, that’s all.”
+
+“You mean it wouldn’t be manly to be beaten by girls, eh?” suggested
+Harriet.
+
+“Well, yes, I suppose that’s what I mean.”
+
+“Oh, very well. If you wish to back out, why, of course——”
+
+“Back out? I guess not!” exclaimed Sam. “We’ll walk your heads off, if
+you say the word.”
+
+“Oh, mercy, no,” protested Harriet, laughingly. “I hope you will not do
+anything so terrible as that. You haven’t said what the conditions are
+to be. We must have some rules if we are to have a hiking contest. They
+have rules even in a walking contest, I understand.”
+
+Captain Baker pondered a moment.
+
+“I don’t know about rules. I think it will have to be a go-as-you-please
+contest.”
+
+“We are willing to abide by whatever you say,” replied Harriet.
+
+“Where do you go to-morrow? I mean where do you make your next camp?”
+
+Harriet consulted their map.
+
+“We are going to try to make Hunt’s Corners,” she said, scrutinizing the
+map.
+
+“May I see that map?” asked Davy.
+
+“I don’t think it would be quite fair,” answered Harriet brightly. “You
+see, our route is marked out on the map. Were I to show it to you, you
+would know which way we are going. That would give you an advantage. I
+will show the map to you some other time.”
+
+“Of course it would be unfair. We don’t want to see the map, Davy,”
+rebuked George. “How far is it to Hunt’s Corners?”
+
+“Ten or twelve miles.”
+
+“Don’t let that trouble you, boys. I’ll be on hand with the car and I’ll
+pick up the stragglers,” interjected Jane, joining the group. She had
+been at work cleaning her car. Her face was smudged and her hands
+blackened. “If any of you get tired out I’ll promise to take care of
+you.”
+
+“Thank you,” answered the captain, flushing. His companions laughed at
+him.
+
+“But, Captain,” protested Harriet, “we haven’t decided on anything. Is
+this to be a race for one day, or for all the way home? You go right
+through Meadow-Brook, do you not?”
+
+“Yes. Just as you say. I don’t think you can stand it to race all the
+way home.”
+
+“Perhaps not,” answered Harriet dryly.
+
+“No. The poor, delicate things,” mourned Jane. “Just think how you are
+going to walk them to death. You boys should be ashamed of yourselves.”
+
+“I don’t care if the girls don’t,” laughed George. “Yes. We’ll walk you
+all the way in to Meadow-Brook. The party that gets in first must give
+the other side something. What’ll it be?” asked George.
+
+“I’ll take marthhmallowth for mine,” piped Tommy.
+
+“That’s it. A box of candy for each of you if you win. What do you say,
+fellows?” questioned George, appealing to his companions.
+
+They nodded, smiling acquiescence.
+
+“Suppose we give each of you a handkerchief if you win,” smiled Harriet.
+
+“It’s a go,” declared Captain George.
+
+“Then I propose this. Each party is to go as it chooses. The one that
+gets in first wins,” suggested Harriet.
+
+“Are tricks barred?” demanded Sam.
+
+“I don’t know what you mean by tricks. Strategy isn’t,” returned
+Harriet.
+
+“Whew! That’s a big word,” exclaimed Dill.
+
+“Neither party is to ride, you know,” spoke up George, eyeing them
+suspiciously.
+
+“Certainly not,” answered Harriet. “We shouldn’t do such a dishonest
+thing.”
+
+“I beg your pardon. Of course not. You girls have a car and, perhaps,
+you might think it amusing to work a trick on us.”
+
+“Our Meadow-Brook Girls aren’t that kind, Mr. Baker,” interposed Miss
+Elting severely.
+
+“Ride? You couldn’t drag them into the car,” declared Jane.
+
+“By the way, young men, have you seen anything of two Italians and a
+bear?” asked Miss Elting.
+
+“Yes. We met them two days ago,” answered the captain. “Why?”
+
+“We had some difficulty with them; that’s all.”
+
+“I wish we had known that.” The captain’s lips compressed, a frown
+appearing on his forehead. “What did they do?”
+
+Miss Elting told the boys the whole story. How the boys did laugh when
+the guardian described how Jane had chased the Italians about the field
+with her car!
+
+“We will keep out of the road when you are abroad, Miss McCarthy,” said
+George. “I don’t believe you are a safe person to be allowed on the
+highway.”
+
+“You are right, she isn’t,” nodded Miss Elting. “Well, have you settled
+your plans for the contest?”
+
+“All the plans we can make. We are to walk to Meadow-Brook. Neither
+party should actually walk more than ten hours a day——”
+
+“My goodneth,” interrupted Tommy. “Ten hourth a day. Thave me!”
+
+Captain Baker smiled a superior smile and nodded to his companions.
+
+“Oh, no. We shouldn’t want to wear you out to that extent,” replied
+Harriet mildly.
+
+“In the meantime we wish you to come to supper with us this evening,”
+invited Miss Elting. “We will show you that Meadow-Brook Girls can cook
+as well as walk. We shan’t promise you much of a variety, but there will
+be plenty to eat. That will give you new strength for the coming
+contest,” she added, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
+
+The captain accepted the invitation for his friends. He offered to bring
+over some provisions and some milk. Jane replied that she had arranged
+for the milk, which she was to go after in her car. It was decided that
+the boys need bring nothing with them, there being enough in camp for
+all. The Tramp Club went away, to return at about half past five in the
+afternoon.
+
+The young men had become very much interested in the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+As Captain Baker characterized them, “They aren’t the helpless, fainting
+kind. Those girls know how to take care of themselves. Now, what do you
+think of their fighting off two Italians and a bear? Fellows, we’ve got
+to hike some to beat them! They’ve got something in the back of their
+heads that we don’t know about.”
+
+“Pshaw! We can walk them off the earth,” scoffed Sam.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII—MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UP A TREE
+
+
+Supper, that night, was a jolly affair. Miss Elting decided that, though
+the boys were full of pranks, they were lads well worth knowing. She,
+naturally, was very particular as to the associates of her charges, but
+she approved of the Tramp Club. The boys, even as their captain had
+averred at the first meeting, were “full of mischief.” Despite their
+love of fun however they were straightforward, manly young men.
+
+The party broke up about nine o’clock that evening.
+
+“To-morrow the contest begins,” reminded the captain.
+
+“So it does,” answered Harriet, as though she had overlooked that fact.
+“What time do you start?”
+
+“Oh, I don’t know. What time do you start?”
+
+“After breakfast,” laughed Harriet.
+
+“Ha, ha! That’s another joke,” chuckled Dill.
+
+“It isn’t as yet. Perhaps it may be to-morrow night,” replied Harriet.
+But just how much of a joke it was to be, or on whom, Harriet Burrell at
+that moment did not know. She rather suspected it would be on the Tramp
+Club, but in this conjecture she was wrong.
+
+“Oh, Harriet, why did you ever get us into this?” groaned Margery, after
+the departure of the boys. “Here am I half dead, with swollen feet and
+aching bones, and now I’ve got to enter a race of I don’t know how many
+miles against a lot of athletic boys.”
+
+“As I said before, Margery, you may ride in the car if you prefer.”
+
+“No; I’m going through with this hike if it kills me.”
+
+“That’s the way to talk!” nodded Harriet briskly. “Faint heart never won
+strong race.”
+
+“Have you any plans for fooling the boys, Harriet?” asked Jane.
+
+Harriet shook her head, but, after a gesture of apology, drew Jane
+aside, whispering with her.
+
+“Can you spare us a moment, Miss Elting?” asked Harriet. Soon the three
+were in earnest council.
+
+“I agree,” called Tommy ironically. “What ith it? I’m thtrong for it!”
+
+“It’s going to be hard work,” declared the guardian, “and it’ll be rough
+traveling during the last five miles, but we’ll be there by noon. We
+made no agreement with the boys to stop at any particular place?”
+
+“No, Miss Elting,” Harriet answered.
+
+“Then everybody to bed!” ordered the guardian tersely.
+
+At three the next morning four sleepy girls were tumbled out of bed by a
+barely less drowsy chaperon. But swift, silent work had to be done.
+Harriet put wood on the still glowing coals of the fire, then prepared
+coffee and a light meal.
+
+“Thtop it!” screamed Tommy, when energetic Jane “struck” the tent,
+bringing it down on a pair of heads, the other of which was Margery’s.
+
+Jane McCarthy, heedless of their protests, hustled relentlessly. The
+girls and their guardian ate as best they could, under the
+circumstances. By the time the light breakfast had been eaten all the
+packing had been done, and everything was ready for moving, except the
+dishes and supplies. These were packed by Margery, Hazel and Tommy. At
+four o’clock all was in readiness for the start.
+
+“We are going to travel eastward over the mountains, girls,” explained
+Harriet. “We shall have dense forests to go through and rugged paths to
+follow, but we shall save a number of miles and a great deal of time by
+going that way. We ought to reach Meadow-Brook some hours ahead of the
+boys if they take the road, as I heard Mr. Baker say they would. We
+shall touch the road occasionally, especially after we get over the
+mountains. And you, Jane, must leave a sign on the fence. We will do the
+same. Wherever we touch the highway we will make a sign, also putting
+down the time. Those boys don’t know anything about our secret signs,
+and they mustn’t.”
+
+“Are we all ready?” asked the guardian.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“You had better start your car quietly, Jane,” suggested Miss Elting.
+
+Jane nodded. She understood. The camp of the Tramp Club was not so far
+away but that the boys could hear the motor plainly if they were awake,
+which the girls very much doubted, as the Tramps had confessed that they
+sat up late nights, telling stories, playing Indian war games and
+scouting in the woods.
+
+“Shoulder packs!” commanded Harriet.
+
+A few moments later the four girls with their guardian, after having put
+out the fire, started from the field. They were headed for the highway.
+Jane stood beside her car, waving to them until they were out of sight,
+then she calmly climbed into the vehicle and went to sleep. Crazy Jane
+had a plan of her own.
+
+About five o’clock the camp of the Tramp Club began to show signs of
+life. The captain roused his companions. It had been his intention to
+get out earlier, but he had overslept, as had all of his men. Still, he
+did not consider that there was any necessity for great haste. Of course
+he had not the slightest idea that the Meadow-Brook Girls had broken
+camp at any such early hour.
+
+The boys, while losing no time, made no effort at great haste. It was
+nearly six o’clock when they finished their breakfast and half an hour
+later, before they strapped on their packs and started down the road.
+
+Dill Dodd chuckled triumphantly as he pointed to Jane McCarthy’s
+automobile standing right where it had been since the previous
+afternoon.
+
+“All sleepy heads over there,” nodded Sam. “We could beat that outfit
+and sleep all the time.”
+
+“Wait a minute,” answered George. “I don’t see the tent, do you,
+fellows?”
+
+No one spoke for a moment. Then the leader announced that he was going
+down to the girls’ camp. He returned at a trot after having visited the
+deserted camp and peered into the automobile.
+
+“Well, what is it?” questioned several boys.
+
+“Fellows, we’re stung. They’ve gone!” declared George.
+
+“But—but the automobile is there?”
+
+“Yes, and that Miss McCarthy is curled up like a kitten on the back seat
+sleeping as sweetly as you please. There’s not another girl in camp.”
+
+“Well, what do you know about that?” drawled Davy.
+
+“How long have they been gone, do you think?” asked Will.
+
+“From the feel of the ashes I should say several hours.” George did not
+know that they had smothered the fire with a damp blanket. “That was a
+fine trick to play on us the first day,” growled George. “That’s the
+girl of it.”
+
+“Hold on, Cap. You know Miss Burrell, who seems to be the spokesman for
+the outfit, said strategy wasn’t barred. This isn’t a trick, it’s
+strategy. There’s a difference between tricking and strategy you know.”
+
+“Boys, we’ve _got to_ catch up with them,” declared the captain. “Are we
+going to let a lot of girls get the best of us?”
+
+“No!” shouted the boys in chorus.
+
+“Then hike! Don’t lose your wind at the start. Strike a steady clip, but
+after half an hour hit it up, and keep hitting it up till we catch up
+with them and take the lead once more. This is a fine mess, but we’ll
+soon be out of it with flying colors.”
+
+The Tramp Club walked for two hours without finding any trace of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls. The boys were becoming worried. By this time they
+surely ought to have found the tracks of the girls in the road.
+
+“You don’t think they have taken a short cut, do you?” asked Charlie.
+
+Baker shook his head.
+
+“They couldn’t get over those mountains. No; they have been following
+the side of the road, so we wouldn’t be able to pick up the trail.
+They’re sharp ones. They know something about trailing. That’s plain to
+be seen. Hark! what’s that?”
+
+The honk, honk of an automobile horn was heard in the far distance to
+the rear of them. They listened a moment, then pressed on. It was not an
+unusual happening to be passed by a motor car. They soon realized,
+however, that this one was coming at a much higher rate of speed than
+the statute said was lawful.
+
+A cloud of dust arose a full half mile to the rear of them. As it bore
+down on the boys the dust rose higher and higher.
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e!” yelled a shrill voice from the heart of the dust
+cloud.
+
+“It’s that Miss McCarthy. They call her Crazy Jane,” shouted Dill.
+“Let’s hold her up.”
+
+Bent on mischief, the boys formed a chain across the road with clasped
+hands. On came the car careening from side to side, its horn honking
+hoarsely like the warning of a sentinel crow, its driver uttering her
+shrill “hoo-e-e-e,” her hair standing out almost straight behind her in
+the breeze.
+
+The boys stood firm; the car did not slacken its speed.
+
+“Jump for your lives!” yelled the captain of the tramps. “She’s going to
+run us down!”
+
+A great black object flitted past them just as their ranks opened. There
+was not even time to get out of the road. The most they could do was to
+make an opening large enough—and barely large enough at that—to permit
+the passage of the car, which went roaring past them. A long-drawn
+“hoo-e-e-e,” floated back to them, a choking cloud of dust and sand
+showered over them, sending the boys into severe coughing fits as they
+staggered off to the side of the highway and sat down on the dusty
+grass.
+
+“Well, what do you think of that?” gasped Sam Crocker.
+
+“I think it’s exceedingly lucky for us that we got out of the road when
+we did,” answered Captain George, shaking an angry fist in the direction
+of the disappearing cloud of dust. “Why, she would have run right over
+us.”
+
+“She would,” agreed the boys in chorus.
+
+“But also she wouldn’t. She knew we would get out of the way,” added Sam
+Crocker.
+
+“Come on, fellows. This won’t do,” cried George. “We’ve got to make
+tracks now.” They scrambled to their feet and set out at a fast pace. In
+the meantime Jane McCarthy, chuckling over the scare she had given the
+Tramp Club, was racing along the highway in her mad drive to the
+eastward.
+
+A few miles farther on she stopped the car and after taking a survey of
+the land, got out and made some chalk marks on a fence. Then she drove
+on more leisurely.
+
+While all this was happening the Meadow-Brook Girls were traveling on,
+also at a fast pace. They had gotten over the rugged range of hills
+after having sustained some scratches on their hands and several rents
+in their frocks. They then came out into a corn field. A highway lay
+below them which they would have to cross. On the opposite side of the
+highway lay an apple orchard, the trees standing close together, their
+tops in most instances interlacing.
+
+“I wonder if the boys have passed here?” questioned Hazel, shading her
+eyes and gazing up and down the road.
+
+“No. They must still be a long way back,” answered Harriet.
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls started down the hill, climbing the fence into
+the road. There before them, plainly discernible, were the tracks of an
+automobile.
+
+“Jane went past here not long ago,” decided Margery. “These are her car
+tracks, I am sure.”
+
+“Yes, and there’s a chalk mark on the fence,” said Miss Elting, pointing
+down the road a few rods. They hurried over to examine the sign.
+
+“A broken arrow,” exclaimed Harriet. “That means danger or ‘look out.’
+Now, I wonder what we are to look out for? I don’t see anything
+alarming.”
+
+“I think Jane means to inform us that the boys are not far from here and
+to look out for them,” suggested the guardian.
+
+“Yes, that must be it. Half-past twelve, the signal says, she passed
+here. That is nearly an hour ago. Come, girls, let’s get over that fence
+in a hurry and be off. Once through the orchard, and they can’t see us,”
+urged Harriet Burrell.
+
+“Wait; let’s be certain that we are right,” warned the guardian. She
+took a careful survey about them. Nothing of an alarming nature was to
+be seen. It was just an ordinary country scene, with the sun shining
+down overhead, the air warm and oppressive about them.
+
+“Everything appears to be all right,” she decided finally. “Yes, go
+ahead, girls.” Miss Elting was the first to climb the roadside fence and
+drop down on the other side. She was quickly followed by the four girls
+of her party. “Keep on the alert, girls. If any of you catches sight of
+the boys drop down behind trees and don’t speak.” The guardian had
+entered into the spirit of the contest with an enthusiasm equal to that
+of the girls themselves. “I can’t believe that they have gotten ahead of
+us. It isn’t probable that that was what Jane meant when she marked the
+danger signal on the fence here.”
+
+“Wait,” called Harriet. Springing back over the fence she wrote the
+letters “O. K.” underneath the broken arrow and the triangle. This was
+for the purpose of informing Jane that her message had been read and
+understood in case she were to return that way later on, as she was more
+than likely to do.
+
+This done they started briskly in among the trees of the orchard. They
+had not gone far before Tommy, who was in the lead, uttered a shrill
+little scream of alarm. The girls had started to run toward her when
+they halted abruptly. Just ahead of them stood a great hulking bull with
+head lowered to the ground, his small eyes fixed menacingly on the
+girls. The bull uttered a deep, rumbling bellow.
+
+“Thave me! Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy.
+
+“Run for your lives, girls,” shouted the guardian.
+
+They turned and were about to flee for the road when they came to
+another abrupt stop. To the right and the left of them were two other
+bulls, each with lowered head, pawing the dirt with first one front foot
+then the other.
+
+All at once the girls understood the meaning of Jane’s danger sign. She
+had seen the bulls in passing, and knowing that her companions would
+pass that way, had halted to leave a warning for them.
+
+“Quick! Into the trees!” shouted Miss Elting. She grabbed the trembling
+Tommy and helped her up into a tree, Harriet in the meantime performing
+the same service for Margery and Hazel. Then the guardian and Harriet
+began scrambling up, but ere they had gotten off the ground the bulls
+charged them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII—A SERIOUS PREDICAMENT
+
+
+“Climb! Miss Elting, climb!” begged Harriet.
+
+Margery and Tommy uttered shrill cries of terror.
+
+The guardian reached for the crotch of the tree, just above her head,
+and drew herself up. Harriet leaped into the air, catching hold of an
+overhanging limb. She intended to pull herself free from the ground and
+out of the reach of the angry bulls.
+
+The limb snapped. Apple tree boughs always are treacherous. Harriet
+landed on the ground in a heap. A gasp of horror escaped from the lips
+of the girls in the trees near at hand.
+
+There followed a bellow and a rush from the third bull, which was some
+few yards distant from its fellows. The girls closed their eyes as the
+lowered head and wicked-looking horns seemed to come into contact with
+Harriet Burrell’s body. Miss Elting, strong-nerved as she was, could not
+repress a scream. Margery, utterly terror-stricken, lost her balance,
+and had it not been for Hazel, who threw an arm about her, Margery would
+have fallen from the tree and been at the mercy of the savage bulls.
+
+In the meantime, having heard no scream from Harriet, the girls opened
+their eyes fearfully. They saw Harriet leaping for a higher limb of the
+tree. The head of the bull had crashed against the base of the tree
+where Harriet had been but a second before.
+
+With remarkable presence of mind the girl, when she struck the ground,
+had rolled herself to one side, thus placing the tree between herself
+and her assailant. This gave her a few seconds respite. But in these few
+seconds Harriet gathered her faculties together. Springing to her feet
+she had flung herself straight up into the air, with arms thrown above
+her head to grasp the limb that her quick eyes had noted.
+
+Most girls would have fainted, but Harriet Burrell did not. She was not
+of the fainting kind, as Captain Baker had so truly said a few hours
+before. A few awful seconds of suspense followed.
+
+With feet curled under her, the girl’s hands reached and clasped the
+limb. Then she drew herself up to it; a feat requiring both muscle and
+practice. Once there she lay along the creaking limb of the apple tree
+just out of reach of the tossing horns, gazing down into the bloodshot
+eyes of the ferocious beast. The limb bent perilously. It threatened, at
+any second, to give way beneath her weight.
+
+“Climb higher!” cried Miss Elting, “oh, climb higher!”
+
+“I don’t dare move. The limb may break if I do,” answered Harriet in a
+wholly calm voice.
+
+“Thave me, thave me!” wailed Tommy Thompson weakly.
+
+“What shall we do? Please be careful, Harriet,” begged the guardian in
+an agonized voice.
+
+“I intend to be careful. I haven’t any burning desire to fall on those
+sharp horns. I never saw such a fiendish expression in the eyes of an
+animal.”
+
+The limb creaked warningly. Harriet instantly ceased speaking. Somehow,
+she thought, the muscular effort of speaking must be putting a little
+added weight on the limb.
+
+The bull walked away a few paces. He stopped and began bellowing and
+pawing.
+
+“See if you can’t call him away. I simply don’t dare to move as long as
+he is so near,” said Harriet.
+
+“How shall I call him?” questioned the guardian.
+
+“Flaunt something at him.”
+
+“I haven’t anything to flaunt.”
+
+“Wait till I take off my thkirt,” piped the little lisping girl.
+
+“Be careful that you don’t fall,” warned Harriet.
+
+Tommy quickly stripped off her skirt, then leaning over, swung it back
+and forth. Instantly there was a bellow and a charge from the enraged
+bull. The skirt was whisked from her hands on the sharp horns of the
+furious animal that had charged it.
+
+“Thave me!” cried Tommy. “Oh, thave my thkirt!”
+
+There was reason for alarm in Tommy’s case at that moment. The bull was
+tossing its head to release the skirt that had become impaled upon the
+sharp horns. Presently the skirt fell to the ground. The animal began
+stamping upon and prodding it. Tommy got into action at about the same
+time. Shrieking and protesting, she began pelting the animal with apples
+that she picked from the tree for the purpose. Some of the missiles
+reached their mark. Most of them did not.
+
+“Oh, my thkirt, my thkirt!” wailed the little girl.
+
+“Never mind, you have saved Harriet,” comforted Miss Elting.
+
+Harriet, the instant the bull left her, started to wriggle backwards.
+The limb gave way with a crash, and Harriet plunged to the ground, but
+by skilfully twisting her body she avoided striking on her head. She was
+up like a flash and once more sprang for the tree. This time she did not
+trust to a treacherous limb, but scrambled hastily up the trunk and
+perched herself high and safe in the crotch of the tree a few seconds
+later.
+
+“Gracious! That was a narrow escape,” gasped the guardian. “How do you
+feel?”
+
+“I am all right.” Harriet smiled faintly. Her cheeks were pale and her
+eyes large and bright. There were no other indications that she was
+disturbed at her succession of narrow escapes from the bull. “Poor
+Tommy, you lost your skirt, didn’t you?”
+
+“Ye—eth. Oh, what thhall I do?”
+
+“I guess you will have to finish the day’s hike in your petticoat,”
+answered Miss Elting. “However, from present indications it will be dark
+by the time we get away from here. Besides your petticoat is black and
+will easily pass for an outside skirt.”
+
+“I can’t, I can’t,” wailed the girl. “I won’t go on thith way.”
+
+“Don’t worry, Tommy. You may have my skirt. I don’t mind going without
+it at all. I have a black underskirt, so the absence of my outside skirt
+will hardly be noticed,” answered Harriet.
+
+“I won’t. The naughty old bull. I want my own thkirt.”
+
+“You won’t need it,” said Margery, speaking for the first time since she
+had been overcome with terror.
+
+“Don’t you think they will go away?” questioned Hazel anxiously.
+
+“Not so long as we are up here,” replied Harriet. “I know their kind
+pretty well. I was chased by one at grandfather’s farm two years ago.
+There is only one way to save yourself from them when they are
+angry—that is to keep out of their way. I think——”
+
+“Oh, look! Look, girls!” cried Hazel in a tone of suppressed eagerness.
+
+“Oh, thave me! There they come,” moaned Tommy.
+
+“It’s the Tramp Club as I live,” exclaimed Miss Elting. “Girls, we must
+call to them. It is a humiliating position for us, but we must get out
+of here. They can at least go for the farmer and ask him to drive the
+animals off.”
+
+“Oh, Miss Elting, please don’t call to them,” begged Harriet.
+
+The boys were swinging down the road at a rapid but steady pace. They
+were walking in step, each with a heavy pack on his back, hat brims
+tilted back, a manly looking lot of young men. As they reached a point
+opposite to the lower end of the orchard they began to sing, their
+voices raised in chorus:
+
+  “Forty-nine blue bottles are hanging on the wall,
+  Forty-nine blue bottles are hanging on the wall.
+  Take one of the bottles down and there’ll be forty-eight
+      blue bottles a hanging on the wall, a hanging on
+      the wall.
+  Take one of the bottles down and there’ll be forty-eight
+      blue bottles a hanging on the wall, a hanging on
+      the wall.”
+
+“Oh, help!” moaned Margery Brown.
+
+“Thave me!” wailed Tommy.
+
+Harriet and Miss Elting burst out laughing, but not loudly enough for
+their laughter to reach the Tramp Club, the members of which
+organization were trudging along past the orchard, wholly unconscious of
+the nearness of their friends.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV—HARRIET IS RESOURCEFUL
+
+
+The boys were still removing blue bottles from the wall as they swung on
+out of sight of the girls in the apple trees. Harriet Burrell was
+shaking with laughter.
+
+“That ith right. Laugh!” jeered Tommy. “I gueth it ith funny, but I
+don’t thee it. Maybe I’ll laugh, to-morrow.”
+
+“It is really the most laughable situation I ever heard of,” admitted
+the guardian.
+
+“One side of it, yes,” agreed Harriet. “The other side isn’t so funny.
+We must think of getting out of here. All our plans have come to
+nothing. The boys have passed us. I am afraid we shan’t be able to catch
+up with them again unless we can get a start before long.”
+
+The bulls, attracted by the singing, had turned, now facing the road.
+They regarded the boys menacingly, but the Tramp Club did not see them.
+Now the animals once more turned toward the trees that held the girls.
+The beasts resumed their bellowing and pawing and moved up under the
+trees, tossing their heads, issuing challenge after challenge to the
+girls to come down. But the challenges were not accepted. Harriet
+regarded the beasts frowningly. The other girls gazed at them in terror.
+
+“Now, Harriet Burrell, as you wouldn’t allow me to call the boys, what
+do you propose to do? Remain up in a tree all night?” demanded the
+guardian.
+
+“By no means.”
+
+“I don’t dare thleep up here,” complained Tommy. “What if I thhould fall
+out?”
+
+“You wouldn’t have far to fall,” answered Margery.
+
+“Oh, wouldn’t it be awful,” gasped Hazel, “if we were to fall out of
+these trees?”
+
+“The animals will go to sleep themselves after dark, I am sure. We shall
+be able to get away then,” replied Harriet wisely.
+
+“I believe you are right. I hadn’t thought of that,” nodded Miss Elting.
+“But must we remain in this position all the rest of the day?”
+
+“No, indeed,” replied Harriet. “I had hoped that the owner of these
+animals might come along, but there seems to be no one about. You see,
+in the autumn, the farmers are seldom abroad in the fields unless they
+chance to be plowing, so I think we had better move.”
+
+“What have you in mind, Harriet? I know you have formed some plan to get
+us out of this predicament.”
+
+“Yes, I have. The plan may not work, but it is worth trying. I wish you
+would call the beasts to your tree. I can depend upon you. You will not
+lose your head. You will have to use your own skirt this time, but for
+goodness’ sake, don’t lose it. Some one must be presentable when we get
+to camp.”
+
+“See here, Harriet, I positively forbid your taking any further chances.
+You have had enough narrow escapes to-day as it is.”
+
+“There will be no particular danger for me, Miss Elting. You will be in
+more danger than I shall be when the plan really begins to work. Will
+you call the bulls over to your tree?”
+
+“Yes. But I warn you I shan’t be a party to any more foolishness.”
+
+Harriet made no reply. She scanned the orchard about her, finally fixing
+her eyes upon a tree with low-hanging limbs, situated several rods
+farther down the orchard and away from the road. The girl nodded, as
+though in answer to some question she had asked of herself.
+
+“Now I am ready. I have removed my skirt,” called the guardian. “What
+next?”
+
+“Wait a moment.” Harriet clambered down the tree a little way, placing
+herself in a position where she could jump without loss of time. “Now
+wave your skirt, please.”
+
+Miss Elting leaned down from her position in the tree and began swinging
+her skirt slowly back and forth. The result was immediate and startling.
+With bellows of rage, three savage bulls with lowered heads charged the
+blue skirt. It seems that these animals were not particular as to color.
+Blue was every bit as aggravating as red to them.
+
+Harriet, the instant the beasts began charging, had dropped fearlessly
+to the ground. The bulls had not observed her.
+
+“Harriet!” screamed Margery.
+
+Harriet gave no heed to the cry of alarm. Instead she ran with all speed
+farther down the orchard, casting apprehensive glances over her shoulder
+now and then. A cry of warning from Miss Elting told her that the bulls
+had turned and were charging her. Harriet gave one quick glance over her
+shoulder, then leaped for a tree, up which she clambered with agility.
+She was none too soon, for, by the time she had cleared the trunk, the
+bulls met at the tree with horns clashing. For a moment they turned
+their attention to each other and then backed away and looked up at
+their intended victim.
+
+“Miss Elting!” called the girl.
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“I am going to decoy the bulls as far away from you as possible. When
+you hear me scream you are all to climb down from the trees and run for
+the road fence. I’ll try to hold the ugly beasts here while you are
+making the dash. But run for your life. Don’t you dare to fall down.”
+
+“All of us?” questioned the guardian apprehensively.
+
+“Yes, please.”
+
+“But, Harriet—suppose that we do get safely away—how are you going to
+leave the orchard?”
+
+“I have thought of a way to do it,” Harriet assured the guardian. “The
+danger, now, is in so many of us being here. When I scream the first
+time you are to run. When you get safely over the fence you are to give
+me the signal ‘hoo-e-e-e-e.’ I will know, by that, that you are safe.
+When I give you a second call, after you are in the highway, try to
+attract the attention of the bulls. That will be my chance to make a
+dash for the nearest fence.”
+
+“I don’t like your plan,” objected the guardian. “You are taking too
+great a risk.”
+
+“It is the only way we can get away from here before night,” argued
+Harriet. “Even then, we should find it difficult to escape, for I think
+the beasts would camp right under these trees. They are determined to
+get us. I’m going to fool them. Now, call them!”
+
+The guardian did so. The animals did not show any immediate inclination
+to move. So Miss Elting cautiously got down to the ground. That was all
+that was necessary. The beasts charged her. The guardian lost no time in
+scrambling into the tree. In the meantime Harriet had again dropped to
+the ground and was running at the top of her speed. She was still within
+easy reach of the voices of her companions, though out of their sight.
+
+“Where are they?” she called.
+
+“Right here,” answered the guardian.
+
+“All right. Don’t try to keep them there. I am not afraid.”
+
+“We have no desire to, I assure you, Harriet. But do be careful.”
+
+Harriet was still on the ground. She moved a little farther down through
+the orchard, getting out where the trees were less thick, so as to be
+still within sight of the beasts she was hoping to lure away from the
+trees that held her companions. The bulls did not appear to see her, so
+Harriet stripped off her own skirt and began waving it at them. It was
+several moments later when the bulls discovered her and then they
+started for her without loss of time.
+
+“Run!” screamed Harriet. “Run! Don’t make a sound to attract their
+attention.” She adopted her own advice and started down through an aisle
+of apple trees, her feet scarcely seeming to touch the ground. The girl
+was flaunting her skirt over her head. She heard bellows of rage off
+toward the trees in which her companions were perched. The girl halted.
+A few seconds later she saw the beasts coming. Instead of immediately
+taking to a tree Harriet began running again, still waving the skirt
+high above her head.
+
+Harriet heard Tommy give a little scream. It was quickly suppressed.
+Undoubtedly Miss Elting had sharply rebuked the terrified little girl.
+Harriet did not pause again. This was her last chance to get the bulls
+away from the trees that held her companions. Their safety depended upon
+her doing so. She was determined to succeed, even at the imminent risk
+of losing her own safety. The animals did not seem to be gaining on her,
+but all at once they put on a great burst of speed. Harriet darted
+sideways, then straight ahead again. This time she leaped out into the
+open, flaunting the skirt, tantalizing the ugly beasts, resorting to
+every artifice she could think of to take their attention from Miss
+Elting and the other girls.
+
+Harriet succeeded beyond her expectations. She also succeeded in
+enraging the beasts far more than she had hoped to do.
+
+Now they were getting too close for safety, so Harriet darted in among
+the trees, followed by the three savage, bellowing bulls. She grasped
+the first low-hanging limb that she came to, and swung herself up into a
+tree. A pair of sharp horns caught the end of the skirt, rending it
+nearly to the waist. Harriet clung desperately to the skirt. She did not
+propose to lose it if she could help doing so. Jerking the skirt away
+she climbed higher and, bracing herself, gazed down triumphantly.
+
+“That’s the time I fooled you, didn’t I?” she taunted. Leaning forward
+the girl waved the skirt. She reached down far enough to flaunt the
+skirt full in the face of the nearest animal. He bellowed his rage and
+pawed the dirt. She continued to aggravate him. If she could only keep
+them all there until her companions reached the highway!
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e-e!” sounded the distant, long-drawn call of the Meadow-Brook
+Girls.
+
+“Oh, they’re safe!” cried Harriet joyfully. For a moment she closed her
+eyes and clung panting to the trunk of the tree. After resting a few
+moments she cautiously drew on her skirt and fastened it, three pairs of
+red, evil eyes observing her threateningly. Then she climbed to the
+topmost branches of the apple tree, hoping to get high enough to obtain
+a glimpse of her companions.
+
+“I might have known that a tree with such low boughs would not be high
+enough for that,” she muttered. “But I’ll call.”
+
+Listening she heard the “Hoo-e-e-e!” of Miss Elting again.
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e-e!” answered Harriet Burrell.
+
+In response the others began shouting. The bulls did not appear to be
+interested. One of them lay down.
+
+“My goodness! I do hope they aren’t going to stay here the rest of the
+day,” cried Harriet. “I don’t know what I shall do in that event.”
+
+She now tried Tommy’s plan and began pelting the animal that had lain
+down with apples. It took very little of this sort of treatment to bring
+the beast to his feet. He leaped up with a bellow and began pawing up
+the dirt, sending showers of it over his companions.
+
+Harriet chuckled.
+
+“Now, if only Miss Elting will attract their attention. I think I had
+better try to hide myself and keep quiet.” This she did. She could hear
+the shouts and yells of her companions. They were setting up a great
+racket off there in the road, doing their utmost to draw the attention
+of the animals away from Harriet.
+
+After fully five minutes of this one of the bulls walked off with his
+head in the air. He stood a moment with head still erect, gazing off
+toward the highway. Suddenly he started on a run. The other two bulls
+followed him with their gaze for a few moments, then they, too, started
+away at a moderate trot.
+
+“The plan has worked! It has worked!” cried Harriet in triumph, under
+her breath. “Oh, I do hope they get far enough away. I must crawl down
+so as to be ready for my big spring. This is almost equal to a Spanish
+bull fight, except that I haven’t any barbs to stick into them.”
+
+The girl crept cautiously to the ground. She stood at the foot of the
+tree, shielding her body by its trunk, peering around the tree at the
+running bulls. They were headed straight toward the road fence,
+traveling more rapidly now.
+
+In order to reach the fence at the side of the field, Harriet would be
+obliged to go out into the open, where, if the animals turned, she would
+be sure to be discovered.
+
+A cry from her companions told her that the time for action on her part
+had arrived. Without an instant’s hesitation Harriet Burrell started for
+a fence which stood to the eastward of her place of refuge. A few
+moments later she had cleared the orchard and reached the open field.
+She saw the three bulls pawing the ground by the roadside fence in the
+distance. Her companions were standing in the middle of the road waving
+their skirts at the animals, not daring to get close to the fence.
+
+“Run! Run, Harriet!” screamed Miss Elting.
+
+As though they had understood the meaning of the guardian’s warning, the
+bulls wheeled sharply. They saw the fleeing figure of the Meadow-Brook
+Girl and, leaving Miss Elting and her party, charged straight across the
+field towards Harriet, while the latter was still some distance from the
+fence towards which she was running.
+
+“Run! Oh, run!” came the voice of Miss Elting in a terrified wail.
+“Run!”
+
+Suddenly, Harriet, who had turned to glance over her shoulder to measure
+the distance between herself and her pursuers, stumbled and plunged
+headfirst into a little depression in the ground.
+
+A scream rose from her horrified companions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV—A RACE FOR LIFE
+
+
+“She’ll be killed!” wailed Hazel, covering her eyes to shut out the
+sight.
+
+“Thave her!” screamed Tommy. The little girl sprang forward, scrambled
+over the fence and, had she, too, not fallen would have dashed down the
+field to Harriet Burrell’s assistance, utterly regardless of her own
+peril. The guardian climbed over the fence and had placed a firm grip on
+the little girl before the latter could get to her feet. Miss Elting
+fairly dragged Tommy back to the fence and assisted her over.
+
+“She’s up again!” cried Hazel. “Oh, hurry, hurry!” Her voice rose to a
+piercing wail.
+
+Harriet had gotten to her feet. She cast one frightened look over her
+shoulder, then continued to run towards the fence. They saw that she
+limped a little. Nor was the girl running as fast as before her fall.
+The three bulls had gained considerably during the few seconds that
+Harriet had been down. They were now charging with lowered heads,
+bunched closely together, this time as though determined that their
+victim should not escape them.
+
+Just ahead of her, Harriet had seen a ditch, deep and broad, made for
+the purpose of draining the land. Instantly a plan formed in her active
+mind. She could not hope to win the race for life by running straight
+ahead now that the beasts had gained so much on her.
+
+“She’s tiring! They’ll get her!” moaned Hazel.
+
+“Why didn’t you let me go?” screamed Tommy, beside herself with anxiety.
+
+The guardian did not answer. Her eyes, wide and staring, were following
+every movement of the fleeing girl and the pursuing bulls.
+
+Harriet stopped short, bending over in a crouching position.
+
+“She’s going to try to trick them! Oh, what courage!” breathed Miss
+Elting.
+
+“Look! Thee her now!” shouted Tommy, with a note of triumph in her
+strained voice.
+
+The animals were fairly upon Harriet. When it seemed as though their
+horns were touching her, the girl leaped obliquely into the ditch. They
+saw her run, splashing along in it for a few rods, then spring to the
+bank on the same side from which she had jumped in.
+
+The watchers saw something else too. The bulls, so intent upon reaching
+their victim, had taken no notice of the ditch. Perhaps they had been
+charging with closed eyes, as many bulls do. At any rate the leading
+beast flung himself headlong into the ditch. The others braced
+themselves with their front feet and went sliding into the ditch on top
+of their leader, digging furrows with their hoofs in the soft dirt.
+
+Harriet Burrell’s ruse had been successful. She spoke no word, but a
+glint of triumph flashed into her eyes as she cast a quick glance at the
+floundering animals, then ran straight toward her companions. This time
+there was no limping, no lessening of speed. She had covered less than
+half the distance before two of the animals that had slid into the ditch
+had recovered themselves and began looking about for the prey that had
+eluded them.
+
+The slender figure of the Meadow-Brook girl, they soon discovered, was
+racing across the field. The two bulls clambered out of the ditch and
+charged again. Now that they were in the open field it was a race that
+would go to the fleetest. No tricks would avail Harriet this time. She
+knew that her safety depended on outrunning her pursuers. Had Harriet
+not been an athletic girl she would have succumbed long before. As it
+was she ran at a wonderful rate of speed. The shouts of her companions,
+though heard but faintly, encouraged her, for Harriet’s mind was on her
+work.
+
+The ruse practiced by Harriet had given her the lead in the race. Miss
+Elting, however, saw that the bulls were gaining on the plucky girl.
+
+“Girls,” she said sharply, “remain where you are.” With that she climbed
+to the top of the fence and leaped over into the field. It was her idea
+that even though Harriet did succeed in reaching the fence, the girl
+might not have sufficient vitality left to enable her to climb over it.
+
+Harriet, as she drew near, discovered the guardian on her side of the
+fence and divined the latter’s purpose. The girl motioned for Miss
+Elting to get back. The guardian shook her head and remained where she
+was.
+
+“Go back! Go back! I’m all right,” cried Harriet breathlessly.
+
+The bulls were gaining rapidly. They were now but a few rods behind
+Harriet Burrell. She put on more speed after one last look over her
+shoulder while Tommy and Hazel were shouting their encouragement.
+
+“You will be caught. Quick!” gasped Harriet, as she drew rapidly near to
+the guardian. “Oh, please hurry back to the road!”
+
+Miss Elting did not move. Harriet dashed up beside her and stopped
+short. Miss Elting grasped the girl’s arm. Harriet pulled herself free.
+
+“Not an inch till you get over,” declared the girl.
+
+The guardian glanced at her questioningly, then vaulted the fence.
+Harriet followed her. But ere Harriet had touched the ground on the
+other side, two sharp-horned heads crashed into the fence. Harriet sank
+down at the side of the road breathless and exhausted.
+
+Miss Elting pulled the girl to her feet.
+
+“Throw your shoulders well back and inhale deeply!” she commanded. She
+then led Harriet slowly up and down the road for a few moments.
+Harriet’s heavy respirations soon moderated, and ten minutes later her
+breathing was almost normal.
+
+“I think we had better wait here. Jane will be along looking for us if
+we do not get to our camping place by night. Do you feel exhausted?”
+asked Miss Elting.
+
+“A little weak in the knees, that’s all,” answered Harriet. “I shall be
+ready to move in a few minutes. I don’t want to stay here. We must try
+to catch up with the boys.”
+
+“No. I shall not allow it. Yon have done quite enough for one day—quite
+enough to tire out the strongest man. Do you really think you can stand
+it to walk slowly?”
+
+“Of course I can,” answered Harriet brightly. “See, I still have some
+sprint left in me.” Harriet ran up and down the road, vaulting the fence
+on the opposite side of it.
+
+“You have indeed,” laughed Miss Elting. It was the first laugh that had
+been heard in some time. “You are the most remarkable girl I’ve ever
+known, or ever shall know. Now we had better decide on which way we
+shall go. I think the shorter way will be to skirt the orchard and
+continue on across the fields. We shan’t try the orchard again.”
+
+All the girls agreed with the guardian. They had had quite enough of
+that particular orchard. Following the road for a short distance they
+came to the adjoining field, which they entered and continued on their
+journey. The afternoon was now well advanced. Miss Elting had left a
+mark on the fence to inform Jane of their route, in case she should come
+back to look for them. This with the time of their passing would give
+Jane an idea when to expect them at the place stretched for the camp.
+
+As they proceeded, Harriet’s strength returned to her. By the time they
+had walked two miles from the scene of their recent exciting experiences
+she had fully recovered from her recent exhaustion. Tommy, now that she
+had time to think about herself, was bewailing the loss of her skirt.
+She firmly declared she would not go to camp with only an underskirt on
+and announced her intention of sleeping out in the fields.
+
+Six o’clock had arrived by the time they came out on the crest of a hill
+overlooking the valley in which they hoped to find Jane McCarthy and
+their camp. They scanned the valley eagerly.
+
+“There’s our tent,” cried Hazel, pointing to a clump of trees to the
+left of them. No person was in sight, however. This they thought
+strange.
+
+“I should not be surprised if everybody had gone in search of us,” said
+Miss Elting.
+
+“I hope they don’t find uth,” spoke up Tommy.
+
+“It will be a good opportunity for you to get into camp without being
+seen,” suggested Harriet. “Come, let’s hurry down before some one does
+come.”
+
+In order that their approach might be the more screened, they hurried
+over to a fence along which bushes and small trees grew. Sheltered by
+these they made their way down into the valley. But when they reached
+the road Tommy halted.
+
+“Not another thtep,” she declared stubbornly. No amount of urging would
+induce her to go on. It was decided to leave her there while the rest
+continued on, Harriet promising to return to the little girl with
+another skirt as soon as possible. So Tommy hid in the bushes, peering
+out at the retreating forms of her companions.
+
+A fire was smouldering in the Meadow-Brook camp. As the party of girls
+approached, four boys sprang up. They had been sitting about the fire.
+Their hats were off instantly, and they tried gallantly to force down
+the grins that persisted in appearing on their faces.
+
+“Why, how do you do?” greeted Captain Baker of the Tramp Club.
+
+“Where is Miss McCarthy?” questioned Miss Elting, pretending not to have
+observed the grins.
+
+“She and a couple of the fellows went back to look for you,” spoke up
+Dill Dodd. “The pace was rather swift for you, even if you did get an
+early start, wasn’t it?” he chuckled.
+
+“Yes, the pace was much swifter than you imagine,” answered the guardian
+frigidly.
+
+“It is too bad that Miss McCarthy started out. She may spend a good part
+of the evening searching for you, not knowing that you have reached
+camp,” said the captain.
+
+“She will know,” replied Harriet. “Jane will be back here soon.”
+
+“How will she know?” frowned Davy.
+
+“Oh, they have a wireless telegraph system, you know,” chuckled Sam.
+
+“Yes, that is it! How did you guess it?” smiled Harriet.
+
+“Don’t forget Tommy,” reminded Miss Elting.
+
+Harriet flushed. She had indeed, forgotten all about the little lisping
+girl who was hiding in the bushes. Harriet hurried into the tent.
+
+“That’s right. You are one girl short,” exclaimed George, suddenly
+discovering the absence of Miss Thompson. “Did she fall by the wayside?
+Was the pace too swift for her?”
+
+“Young man, you talk too much,” objected Margery indignantly.
+
+“I know it,” laughed George. “I can’t help it.”
+
+Miss Elting’s face relaxed in a smile.
+
+“Where _is_ Miss Thompson?” questioned Dill.
+
+“Miss Thompson will be here soon,” replied the guardian.
+
+Unnoticed by the boys Harriet slipped away, a bundle under her arm. She
+returned, a quarter of an hour later, accompanied by Tommy clad in her
+outside skirt and at peace with the world. They had barely reached the
+camp before the sound of a motor horn was heard. A few moments afterward
+Crazy Jane came tearing along the road and swung up to the camp.
+
+“Here we are darlin’s,” she cried. “I got your message.”
+
+“Message?” questioned the captain. “Who gave her a message, Fred?”
+
+“Blest if I know,” answered Fred Avery, getting down from the car,
+removing his hat and scratching his head thoughtfully. “Wireless, I
+think.”
+
+“What did I tell you?” nodded Sam.
+
+The captain regarded Fred inquiringly.
+
+“Oh, don’t ask me,” said the latter. “Miss McCarthy got out of her car
+about five miles back, walked to the fence then back to the car. She
+said her friends had passed there about four o’clock in the afternoon
+and were in camp then.”
+
+“Well, what do you know about that?” wondered the captain. “Tell us how
+you did it?”
+
+“A little bird told me,” chuckled Jane. The girls burst into a merry
+peal of laughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI—A TREAT THAT WAS NOT A TREAT
+
+
+“Never mind. We won’t be as mean as you are,” declared Sam, springing
+up. “We will return good for evil.”
+
+“Did you see the three bulls?” interrupted Jane. “I knew you would cross
+that orchard and I was afraid you’d meet them.”
+
+“We did,” answered Miss Elting.
+
+“What’s that?” The captain was interested instantly. “You say you met
+the bulls?”
+
+“Yes. I might as well tell you,” explained Miss Elting. “You think we
+weren’t able to keep the pace we set for ourselves. I don’t want my
+girls to rest under that imputation, for I believe that they can
+completely outdistance you boys. We did meet the three bulls. Yes, they
+treed us. We were all up in apple trees when you boys passed singing
+‘Forty-nine Blue Bottles.’”
+
+Some one laughed. The captain frowned at the boy who had done so.
+
+“You let us pass, and never called us to come to your assistance?” he
+demanded.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“We preferred to get out of our scrape without appealing to our rivals,
+Captain Baker.”
+
+“Whew! That was a fix. How’d you manage it?”
+
+“Through the resourcefulness and courage of Harriet Burrell. Had it not
+been for her we undoubtedly should still be up in the trees in the apple
+orchard.”
+
+“Please tell us about it.”
+
+“Please don’t,” begged Harriet blushingly.
+
+“Now that you have aroused our curiosity, it would be cruel not to tell
+us the whole story,” declared George.
+
+“Yeth. Cruelty to animalth,” nodded Tommy.
+
+Miss Elting, despite Harriet’s protestations, did tell the boys the
+story, giving the full credit for their rescue to Harriet Burrell, to
+whom it belonged. The boys listened in open-mouthed wonder.
+
+“Fellows, we aren’t so much as we think we are,” declared the chief of
+the Tramp Club. “I propose three cheers for Miss Burrell. Now!
+Altogether! One, two, three!”
+
+They gave three rousing cheers in which, Tommy’s shrill voice joined.
+
+“Who’s all right?” demanded the captain at the end of the cheer.
+
+“Miss Burrell’s all right!” yelled the Tramps. “For she’s a jolly good
+fel—low; For she’s a jolly good fellow,” sang the Tramps, as with hands
+on each other’s shoulders they marched through the camp, and out into
+the field on their way to their own camp, a short distance from that of
+the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+Miss Elting was laughing merrily. Harriet’s face was crimson.
+
+“I call that downright mean. They were making fun of me.”
+
+“Why, Harriet! You know they were not,” rebuked Miss Elting. “It was the
+highest compliment those lads could pay.”
+
+“It hath been a day of experientheth, hathn’t it?” Tommy questioned.
+
+Harriet’s face was still flushed as she began to prepare the supper.
+Each member of the party now remembered that she had an appetite. While
+they were getting the meal Jane told them how the boys had gloated over
+having “walked the girls off their feet,” as the tramps expressed it.
+Jane announced triumphantly that she had been more than a match for
+them, which her companions could well believe, for Jane had a sharp
+tongue, besides being the possessor of a fund of Irish wit.
+
+The smoke curling up from the other camp told the girls that the boys
+were busy getting their own supper. While eating, the guardian was
+obliged to go over the story of their experiences for the benefit of
+Jane, who interrupted now and then with humorous questions.
+
+“Are the boys coming over this evening?” asked Margery, after they had
+finished supper and she and Tommy were washing the dishes.
+
+“They did not say,” called Hazel. “It is safe to believe they will. I
+wonder if we can’t get rid of those boys? They make me nervous. It seems
+to me that they are perpetually on the scene whether one wants to see
+them or not.”
+
+“Don’t be hard on the poor Tramp Club, Hazel,” laughed Harriet.
+“Remember you might still be stuck fast in the swamp had they not come
+to the rescue.”
+
+“That’s so,” responded Hazel, with a sigh. “I never thought of that.
+They’re really not so bad after all.”
+
+“I have met worse,” averred Harriet solemnly. Whereupon there was a
+general laugh.
+
+The tramps had gathered the fuel for the Meadow-Brook Girls, stacking it
+up in piles of various lengths. The lads really were trying to make
+themselves useful to the young women. As yet there had been no outward
+evidence of Captain Baker’s assertion that some of them were “full of
+mischief.” The girls had piled the campfire high with wood and gathered
+about it when strains of music were heard.
+
+“Oh, it ith a band, it ith a band,” cried Tommy.
+
+“Coming to serenade us, probably,” announced Margery.
+
+“No. I think it is some one playing on harmonicas,” answered Miss Elting
+after a moment of listening.
+
+“It’s those boys,” groaned Hazel. “What mischief are they up to now?”
+
+“I told you. They are coming over to serenade us. I think the serenade
+must be for Harriet.”
+
+“They are carrying something on their shoulders too,” cried Harriet.
+
+The girls, by this time, had run out to the edge of the camp and in the
+faint twilight were trying to make out what it was that the Tramp Club
+were carrying. As the boys drew nearer, the girls saw that it was a
+burlap sack. Four boys were bearing the sack on their shoulders. It
+appeared to be very heavy.
+
+“Why, boys,” exclaimed Miss Elting. “Are you moving?”
+
+“Yes, Miss Elting,” answered Captain Baker, doffing his hat. “We are
+moving, in a sense. We have come prepared to lay the spoils of our
+forage at the feet of beauty. Boys, dump the bag. You know where.”
+
+One of the boys untied the string by which the mouth of the sack had
+been secured, then the two lads at that end stepped from under.
+Instantly the contents began rolling out at Harriet Burrell’s feet.
+
+“Muskmelons!” gasped the girls.
+
+Great golden and green muskmelons bumped to the ground. Harriet’s face
+was full of color.
+
+“They—they aren’t all for me? Surely, you don’t think I am equal to
+eating all of those?” she gasped.
+
+“They are laid at your feet,” answered George dramatically. “For you and
+your friends.”
+
+“This is splendid,” declared the guardian, her face aglow with pleasure.
+“But we do not deserve so much. You have robbed yourselves. Where did
+you get them?”
+
+“Of a farmer,” replied George promptly.
+
+“You must take most of them for yourselves, boys,” urged Miss Elting.
+“We simply could not eat half of all that lot.”
+
+“No. They are all for you. We have plenty. Besides, you’ll find some of
+them aren’t good, but out of the lot you may be able to get enough for
+breakfast.”
+
+“We can eat all night if nethethary,” announced Tommy. “Maybe we can eat
+them all before we go on to-morrow.”
+
+“One melon apiece will be quite enough for us, my dears,” reproved Miss
+Elting. “Won’t you join us in our feast, boys?”
+
+The young men shook their heads.
+
+“They’re yours,” replied the captain, his eyes on Harriet as he said it.
+“I brought you some salt, too,” he added, drawing a piece of newspaper
+from his pocket. “Perhaps you like salt on your melons.”
+
+“You are very thoughtful,” smiled Miss Elting. “I think we have salt.
+How about it, Jane?”
+
+“We have a whole bag of it.”
+
+“We will take yours, thank you,” smiled Harriet. “It is much finer salt
+than ours.”
+
+“Yes, it’s the salt the farmer over yonder uses to give to his sheep,”
+interjected Sam. “We borrowed some from him.”
+
+Miss Elting laughed a little at this blunt speech.
+
+“You are very funny, boys!” she said. “But we are grateful to you. I
+don’t know how we shall be able to repay you.”
+
+“We have shared your hospitality—your bounteous hospitality,” answered
+the captain. “We wished to make some slight return.”
+
+“What shall we do with what melons are left over?” asked Miss Elting.
+
+“Carry them on with you. You have a car in which to transport your
+stuff.”
+
+“I suppose we had better do that,” mused the guardian. “When we reach
+the next camping place we shall insist on entertaining you at our camp.
+We greatly appreciate this treat.”
+
+“Thank you,” said George Baker, looking somewhat embarrassed.
+
+Shortly afterwards Captain Baker rose from where he had been sitting and
+with an uneasy look on his face announced that they must go. With his
+fellows he hurriedly left the camp, not even taking the melon sack
+along. They were seen no more that night.
+
+The girls noted Baker’s embarrassed manner and thought it strange that
+the boys should have left so abruptly. They were at a loss to understand
+it.
+
+“I am glad they have left the melons, anyway,” declared Harriet.
+
+“Yes, wasn’t that lovely of the boys to bring the fruit to us?” nodded
+Miss Elting. “They are really nice boys. I am rather glad that we met
+them.”
+
+“You may change your mind before we have finished with them,” replied
+Harriet, with an enigmatical smile.
+
+[Illustration: “So I've Caught You at It?”]
+
+“What do you mean, dear?”
+
+“I can’t really explain. But I feel rather than know that those young
+men are ready to play tricks. They’d better not try any of them or we
+shall make them regret that they ever played tricks on the Meadow-Brook
+Girls.”
+
+“Aren’t the melonth delithiouth?” breathed Tommy. She was now eating her
+second melon. The other girls were enjoying theirs equally well.
+
+“Yes,” agreed Miss Elting. “The finest I ever ate. They must have cost
+the boys quite a sum of money, even though melons are cheap in the
+country. I——”
+
+“Thomebody ith coming,” warned Tommy.
+
+“The boys are returning, I presume,” smiled Miss Elting. But instead of
+the boys they were surprised to see a strange man striding into camp. He
+was plainly a farmer. He wore his whiskers long and his trousers were
+tucked in the tops of his boots. His face did not bear a pleasant
+expression.
+
+“So I’ve caught you at it, eh?” he said sarcastically.
+
+“What do you mean?” demanded the guardian rising hastily.
+
+“You know well enough what I mean. In the first place, you are
+trespassing on my premises.”
+
+“We have permission to camp here,” interjected Jane.
+
+“Who gave it?”
+
+“The farmer who owns this land.”
+
+“I happen to own this land, and I haven’t given any tramps permission to
+camp on it.”
+
+“Then some one must have played a trick on me,” declared Crazy Jane.
+“Wait till I get sight of that man again.”
+
+“We are very sorry, sir, but we are wholly innocent of trespassing. We
+are not tramps, either. Of course we are willing to pay you for the
+privilege of camping here to-night. What do you consider a fair price?”
+
+“Wal, I reckon about seventy-five cents will be all right for the
+camping.”
+
+Miss Elting handed the money over to him.
+
+“I am sorry to have put you to all this trouble, but we supposed we had
+permission to stay here over night.”
+
+“Thay,” questioned Tommy. “You are a rich man, aren’t you?”
+
+“No. Why?”
+
+“Well, you thhould be.”
+
+“By the way, ladies, there is another little matter that you’ll have to
+fix up before we go any further.”
+
+The guardian and the girls glanced inquiringly at their mercenary
+visitor.
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+“Them melons,” answered the farmer, indicating the fruit with a nod.
+
+“I don’t understand you, sir.” The guardian was plainly perplexed.
+Harriet was smiling broadly. She thought she understood now.
+
+“The melons you stole from my field.”
+
+“Stole from your field?” gasped Miss Elting.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Sir, you insult us! We have stolen neither melons nor anything else. I
+demand that you leave this camp instantly. We shall not endure such
+accusations.”
+
+“You didn’t steal them, eh?”
+
+“No, we didn’t,” answered Jane, who had stepped forward.
+
+“Then where did you get them?”
+
+The girls looked at one another. No one spoke. None wished to place the
+blame on the Tramp Club. The girls now began to understand the hurried
+departure of Captain Baker and his friends. Miss Elting saw that there
+was only one course to pursue under the circumstances.
+
+“I can’t tell you where we got the melons, sir, but we didn’t steal
+them. How much are the melons worth?”
+
+“Why?” queried the farmer, scenting a bargain.
+
+“We intend to pay for them,” answered Harriet coldly.
+
+“How many melons were there?” asked the farmer, more blandly.
+
+“Two dozen,” Harriet replied.
+
+“That’ll be about four-eighty,” nodded the farmer.
+
+“But that’s——”
+
+“It’s cheaper than the risk of going to jail,” broke in the farmer
+meaningly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII—TRYING OUT THE GIPSY TRAIL
+
+
+The farmer pocketed the money that Miss Elting handed him.
+
+“I’ve my own opinion of you!” flared Crazy Jane.
+
+“Maybe you have,” chuckled the farmer, “but——”
+
+“You’re quite right,” Jane McCarthy taunted. “You wouldn’t feel highly
+complimented if I were to express that opinion!”
+
+“If it’s that kind of an opinion——” muttered the farmer, turning red
+under the coat of tan on his face.
+
+“It’s _worse_!” retorted Crazy Jane incisively.
+
+Muttering under his breath, but failing to speak clearly, the abashed
+farmer turned on his heel, striding away.
+
+The humor of the situation now appealing to them, the girls and their
+guardian began to laugh heartily.
+
+“Harriet, I believe you suspected this all the time,” declared Miss
+Elting finally.
+
+“Those boys looked mischievous. I didn’t know what it was all about, but
+after a while, I confess, I did suspect them. Never mind, I’ll be even
+with them.”
+
+“No, you leave it to me,” interjected Jane.
+
+“I am glad that none of you girls betrayed the boys,” declared Miss
+Elting approvingly. “I would suggest that you say nothing to them when
+we next see them. Let them introduce the subject if it is introduced at
+all. They may betray themselves. Tommy, don’t you lisp a word of it.”
+
+“I don’t lithp,” retorted the little girl indignantly. “I thpeak jutht
+like other folkth.”
+
+“I did not mean it that way, dear,” laughed the guardian. “I meant that
+you shouldn’t mention our experience to any one. Now that we have bought
+and paid for the melons I think we had better stow them in the car.
+Come, let us get ready for bed.”
+
+“Are we to make an early start in the morning?” asked Hazel.
+
+“Yes. We must not delay if we expect to remain in the contest.”
+
+The girls had no intention of giving up the contest. They thought it
+possible that they might have the company of the Tramp Club on the
+morrow, as a good part of the Meadow-Brook course lay over a highway,
+this being the most direct route for the day’s tramping.
+
+Rather to their surprise they discovered no trace of the Tramp Club next
+day. The smoke from the latter’s campfire was no longer visible when the
+girls left their own camp in the morning, nor was there any indication
+on the road that the boys had passed over it. What the girls did not
+know was that the boys had slipped off into a ravine when the word had
+been brought to them that the irate farmer was out looking for the
+people who had visited his melon patch. From there they had moved inland
+and made a new camp. In the morning they took a roundabout course,
+avoiding the highway. It were better to be beaten by the girls that day
+than to be caught by the angry farmer. It was because of this longer
+route that the Meadow-Brook Girls were again able to get ahead of their
+rivals.
+
+The tracks of Jane’s car had long since been obliterated when the party
+neared the end of the day’s journey. This did not trouble them, for a
+certain definite stopping place had been agreed upon, and as was
+customary, when following the highway, the girls now and then dropped a
+handful of grass in the road. Especially was this done when they came to
+forks in the road, so that in case Jane McCarthy returned that way to
+look for them she might see which direction they had taken. In doing
+this, though the girls were unaware of the fact, they were following a
+gipsy practice as old as gipsies themselves. It was the gipsies’ way of
+marking their trail for the benefit of others of their kind who had
+straggled behind.
+
+“I think this is the place,” decided Miss Elting, halting, pointing down
+a narrow lane that extended through a field of stunted bushes and brush.
+The gate that had once shut off this byway from the main road lay broken
+at one side of it and a ridge of grass had grown knee high in the middle
+of the lane. It was a lane that had once led down to a cider mill that
+now lay a heap of ruins.
+
+“It ith thpooky-looking,” observed Tommy.
+
+“Jane is here,” exclaimed Harriet. “I see her car tracks, but I don’t
+see her car.”
+
+“No; the car has come out onto the highway and gone on,” Miss Elting
+declared. “Jane must have driven to the next town to get something. We
+will go down that lane.”
+
+Harriet dropped some grass in the road, marking a trail into the byway
+to notify Jane that they had arrived. They then made their way down the
+lane. The girls were tired and footsore. Walking in the road had been
+more wearisome than tramping over the hills and fields, perhaps because
+the former was less interesting and more monotonous. It was therefore a
+welcome sight when they espied the tent that they called home, even
+though it was a now weather-beaten and dingy-looking piece of canvas.
+But Jane was nowhere in sight. Neither was her car.
+
+“Where can Jane be?” exclaimed Margery.
+
+“Perhaps this will explain matters,” replied Miss Elting, taking down a
+sheet of writing paper that had been pinned to the flap of the tent.
+“Ah! Jane says she has gone on to the town of Granite to meet her
+father, from whom she got a letter this morning. She says she may not be
+back until late, and that we shall find the melons in the bushes to the
+west of the tent.”
+
+“I don’t want any of those old melons,” pouted Margery.
+
+“I do,” retorted Tommy. “I’ll eat all I can get.”
+
+“At least, we have a right to eat them now that we have paid for them,”
+smiled the guardian. “The first thing to do will be to heat some water
+and bathe. We are all very dusty. Tommy, you and Margery take your baths
+first. In the meantime we will build the fire and get the supper going.
+This is going to be a pleasant camp. I wonder if we shall see our
+friends, the boys, this evening?”
+
+“Not if they see us first,” chuckled Harriet. “Oh, what we won’t do to
+them when we get the opportunity.”
+
+“Jane must have had quite a time putting up the tent without
+assistance,” remarked Miss Elting. “She did it very well, too.”
+
+Harriet was making the fire with Hazel’s assistance, Tommy and Margery
+were preparing for their baths. Twilight was upon them before they
+realized it. By that time the supper was cooking, the coffee steaming,
+the savory odor of food filling the air about them. The melons were
+reserved for the dessert. These had ripened and were now soft, sweet and
+delicious.
+
+“Girls, it is worth four dollars and eighty cents to have such melons,
+isn’t it?” smiled the guardian.
+
+“Yes, indeed,” chorused the girls.
+
+“I wonder what has become of the Tramp Club,” mused Harriet.
+
+“You will not see any more of the Tramps for a while,” laughed Hazel.
+“It is a wonder to me that we haven’t seen any real tramps since we have
+been out on this trip. At potato-digging time one usually sees a great
+many of them.”
+
+“We haven’t been on the road much, or perhaps we should have seen more
+of them. That is one advantage in keeping away from the highways. One
+meets few live things in the fields except the birds and occasionally
+sheep and cattle.”
+
+“Not to mention bulls,” finished Harriet laughingly. “Speaking of
+tramps, I believe I just saw one over yonder,” added the girl.
+
+“Are you joking?” questioned the guardian.
+
+For answer Harriet sprang up and ran toward the tent. She did not reach
+it. She halted sharply as a man stepped in front of her. He was a
+typical follower of the road, dirty, unkempt and evil looking.
+
+“What do you want here?” demanded Harriet, with a calmness that she was
+far from feeling.
+
+“Not much. We want some money and something to eat,” leered the
+intruder.
+
+“You will get neither here. What were you doing in that tent? You came
+here to rob us. Go away before we give you something you won’t like.”
+
+Miss Elting and Hazel sprang up, scattering the tin dishes far and wide
+as they ran to Harriet’s assistance, when three other men stepped into
+view from the far side of the tent.
+
+“If you folks will hand out your valuables, and make no racket about it,
+we won’t hurt you,” announced one of the newcomers. “What we want is a
+little help, that’s all. We’re poor fellows in distress. We ain’t the
+kind that rob women. We ask for assistance.”
+
+Miss Elting’s revolver was in the tent where she could not reach it now.
+Had she had it with her she would have assisted the men in a way that
+they would not have liked. What to do under the circumstances she did
+not know. Neither Tommy nor Margery appeared able to do anything. They
+were frightened nearly out of their wits.
+
+“You have a peculiar way of asking for assistance. Had you come to us in
+the proper manner we should have been glad to give you something to eat.
+Now we shall not. Neither have we money for you. I order you to go away
+from here. If you refuse the consequences will be on your own heads. We
+are not quite so defenseless as you might think. Will you go?”
+
+The spokesman laughed. The spirit of the girls appeared to amuse him.
+The fellow had not the least idea that there was any other person about.
+He, with his companions, had seen the Meadow-Brook Girls come into the
+camp alone. Not another person so far as they knew, was within some
+miles of the place. They had watched the camp and waited until dark to
+carry out their plan of robbing the five women.
+
+“Can you get it, do you think, Harriet?” questioned Miss Elting in a low
+tone.
+
+“I’ll try,” she answered. She knew what the guardian meant. “It” meant
+Miss Elting’s revolver. All at once the girl darted past the man who
+stood directly in front of her. She had almost reached the tent, when
+one of the tramps caught hold of her by the shoulder. Harriet was lithe
+and quick. She slipped from his detaining clutch and sprang back. But
+her opportunity was gone. The men partly divining her purpose, had
+quickly blocked the entrance to the tent. The leader nodded to one of
+them to watch Tommy and Margery. Three others directed their attention
+to Miss Elting, Harriet and Hazel. They placed themselves in such
+positions that the girls were hedged in. To try to run would be to fall
+into the clutches of one or another of the three ruffians who were
+guarding them.
+
+One of the men uttered a shrill whistle. Still another tramp came
+running into the camp.
+
+“Turn out the tent in a hurry. Don’t take anything that ain’t good.
+There’s money in there somewhere. Now turn your pockets out, ladies.”
+
+His words were cut short by a long wailing cry uttered by Harriet
+Burrell.
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e-e-e! Help, help!” It was the call of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls, with the warning cry for assistance added.
+
+The man who had made the demand sprang at her. Harriet leaped back. In
+doing so she felt her arms pinioned by a second man. She had forgotten
+for the moment that there were guards behind her. Miss Elting suddenly
+found her arms gripped from behind. She struggled with all her strength.
+So did Harriet. Hazel screamed as she felt her own arms pinioned.
+
+“Herd the other two in the tent, then git all the swag you can find,”
+commanded the spokesman breathlessly, for he was having his hands full
+helping his assistant to hold Miss Elting and the two girls. One grasped
+Tommy and Margery by their arms, and fairly dragging them over, flung
+them into the tent. “Get the stuff! Never mind those two. They’re too
+scared to bother. It’s these that we’ve got to look out for,” he
+directed.
+
+“Hoo-e-e-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e-e-e! Help, help!” screamed Harriet.
+
+“Yell, Hazel!” gasped Harriet.
+
+“I—I can’t! Oh, I can’t!” wailed Hazel.
+
+Tommy found her voice at this juncture and raised it in a piercing
+scream. A moment later a blanket was twisted about her head and she was
+flung into a corner, clawing and kicking. Margery cowered at one side of
+the tent, too frightened to move.
+
+Just then a new note was sounded. From behind the tent rose a shrill cry
+in a voice unfamiliar to either the girls or to the thieving tramps, a
+voice that caused the tramps to release their prisoners and turn to face
+the owner of the voice prepared for trouble.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII—THE QUEEN TAKES A HAND
+
+
+A strange figure stepped into the light of the campfire. It was the
+figure of an old woman, bent with age. Her face was yellow and wrinkled,
+her eyes, black and piercing. She hobbled a few steps toward them, using
+a long stick as though for support.
+
+“Out with you, villains!” she screamed, brandishing the stick
+threateningly. “My curses be upon your vile heads! Rob, would you? You
+shall burn in the fire from the clouds,” she hissed, pointing to the
+spokesman. “And you,” pointing to another, “shall wither in the pit with
+the iron doors, where all evil doers shall come sooner or later. You
+shall perish as you deserve. Sybarina says it. So it shall be. Out with
+you!”
+
+“It’s the Gipsy Queen,” screamed Hazel.
+
+For a moment the tramps stood utterly dumbfounded. They realized that
+the old Gipsy was laying a curse upon them. More or less superstitious,
+they stood in considerable awe of Sybarina and her supposedly
+supernatural powers. The tramp who had pinioned Harriet’s arms behind
+her back involuntarily relaxed his hold. Harriet made a dash for
+freedom. In an instant her captor was at her heels.
+
+“Don’t pay any attention to that old lunatic,” he shouted to his
+companions. “She can’t hurt you. Get the stuff and be quick about it.”
+
+But he had reckoned without his host. Raising her head, Sybarina sent a
+long shrill call echoing across the fields. Even in the excitement of
+the moment Harriet realized that it was a signal. A second later the
+call was answered.
+
+“Skip!” warned the leader of the tramps. “It’s Gipsies. We’ll have the
+whole lot to fight if we don’t light out!”
+
+At this juncture five dark swarthy men came running across the fields.
+With one accord the tramps took to their heels. The Gipsies started in
+pursuit of them, but the tramps had a lead of several yards and fear
+lending wings to their feet, they soon outdistanced their pursuers who
+finally abandoned the chase and returned to where Sybarina stood,
+surrounded by the Meadow-Brook Girls and their guardian.
+
+Harriet sprang eagerly forward to thank their rescuers, but Sybarina
+waved her aside. Turning to the Gipsy men she spoke a few sharp words in
+the Romany tongue. The men nodded, talked among themselves for a moment
+then turned and strolled off in the direction whence they had come.
+
+“Oh, Sybarina!” cried Harriet disappointedly. “Why didn’t you let me
+thank them for chasing those tramps away?”
+
+“I, their queen, have commended them. That is sufficient,” returned
+Sybarina proudly. “They need no thanks for obeying my commands.”
+
+“Then we must thank you doubly,” smiled Harriet, holding out her hand to
+the old Gipsy. “What would we have done if you had not been near?”
+
+“It is well,” replied Sybarina earnestly, taking Harriet’s hand in both
+of hers. “But you must come with Sybarina. You must not stay here alone
+this night. The bad men will return again. But Sybarina’s men will stay
+here and watch for them. You and your kind friends will go with Sybarina
+to her camp.”
+
+“But how did you happen to find us?” questioned Miss Elting.
+
+“Sybarina has eyes. Did those eyes not see the patteran (trail of
+grass)? Did she not read the message of the patteran that all of her
+tribe know? Where did you learn to make the patteran that leads the
+Gipsy toward the land where the sun goes down?”
+
+“She means the grass that we dropped in the road,” explained Harriet.
+
+The old woman nodded.
+
+“The patteran,” she reiterated.
+
+“Why,” laughed Harriet. “We did that so that our friend Jane McCarthy
+would know where we had gone.”
+
+“Then there is Romany in your blood. None but the people of the Romany
+would think of such a thing. Where is the other princess?” questioned
+the queen, glancing about.
+
+“Miss McCarthy has gone to meet her father,” Miss Elting informed the
+old woman. “But we have not thanked you enough for the great service
+that you have done us.”
+
+“It is nothing. Did not the princess save Sybarina’s miserable life? The
+debt is still unpaid. Many summers will come, and many summers will go,
+ere the debt is paid. Sybarina never will live to pay it. Her people
+will remember. The Romany has a long memory, princess. Come, pretty
+ladies, come to the camp of the Gipsy. It is not good that you should
+stay the night here. To-morrow night, yes, but not this night.”
+
+“What do you say, girls?” questioned Miss Elting.
+
+“Spend a night in a Gipsy camp?” asked Harriet.
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“I think that would be fine.”
+
+“But, Sybarina, what of our own camp? Will not the men return and rob
+us?”
+
+“I have told you. Sybarina’s people will be on guard. You need have no
+fear. And when the princess with the fair hair returns, she shall be led
+to the Gipsy camp. Come.”
+
+“Wait please, until we fix our camp and leave a message for Miss
+McCarthy,” said Miss Elting.
+
+So excited were the Meadow-Brook Girls at the prospect of spending a
+night in a Gipsy camp that they almost forgot the thrilling experiences
+through which they had passed. There were few preparations to be made.
+Miss Elting pocketed her revolver, though she had no idea that she would
+need it. She knew that the old Gipsy woman might be trusted; that a
+Gipsy never forgets a favor—nor a wrong. Sybarina felt under deep
+obligations to them for what they had done for her. By inviting them to
+her camp she was conferring upon them the highest possible mark of her
+regard, as the guardian who knew something of the wandering tribes of
+Gipsies was well aware.
+
+The camp was some little distance from where the Meadow-Brook tent was
+pitched. A note for Jane was pinned to the tent flap on the same spot
+where she had pinned hers; then the party set out through the darkness.
+Not a man of the tribe was to be seen. The guardian asked no questions.
+She knew that Sybarina’s word was law and that keen eyes were upon the
+Meadow-Brook camp, that no marauders would be permitted to enter there
+that night. Sybarina led the way as if it were a familiar path, calling
+out now and then to warn the travelers of a root or a stone that lay
+unseen in the path they were following. How she was aware of the
+presence of the obstacles the girls could not imagine.
+
+They came in sight of the dull glow of the Gipsy campfire after a
+quarter of an hour’s walking. Then as they stepped into the circle of
+light, many inquiring eyes were fixed upon them. There were dark-eyed,
+olive-complexioned women of various ages, children clad in bright
+colors, some sitting under wagons eating bread and butter, others
+peering from the gaudily painted wagons, and still others lying asleep
+upon the ground just outside the circle. Horses might have been heard
+munching at the foliage out in the bushes, occasionally neighing or
+stamping. The fire crackled merrily. It was a bright but unfamiliar
+scene to the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+Tommy and Margery were a trifle apprehensive.
+
+“Where are we going to thleep?” questioned Tommy cautiously.
+
+“I don’t know, dear,” returned Miss Elting. “Sybarina will provide a
+place when the time comes. We have our own blankets. I think we may
+sleep out of doors if we wish to do so. But we have a long evening
+before us yet. It is your opportunity to learn something of the life and
+habits of the Gipsies.”
+
+“Thay, Mith Elting do—do you think it thafe to thtay here?” questioned
+Tommy.
+
+“Perfectly so. Much more so than in our own camp this evening.”
+
+Sybarina was brewing the tea with her own hands. Miss Elting stepped
+over to her.
+
+“May I assist you?” she asked.
+
+The Gipsy queen shook her head.
+
+“Sybarina will make the tea for her friends, her good friends, the
+pretty ladies. Sybarina will have other guests this evening.”
+
+“Oh, will you?” questioned the guardian, in a surprised tone.
+
+“Yes. Pretty ladies will come to cross the Gipsy’s palm with silver.
+Sybarina will read the future and the past for them. Sybarina will read
+your future too, but you and your friends need not cross her palm with
+silver. Sybarina is your friend.”
+
+Harriet had been an interested listener to the brief dialogue. She drew
+a little closer.
+
+“I should like to learn to read the past and future, Sybarina. Will you
+teach me?” asked Harriet.
+
+The old woman fixed her piercing eyes upon the eager face before her.
+
+“The princess shall be taught to read the future this very night. The
+stars have said it.”
+
+“I’m afraid I never could learn to read palms in one night,” laughed
+Harriet.
+
+“The stars and the voices of the air will help you. Be not afraid. But
+you must be a Gipsy true.”
+
+“How do you mean?”
+
+“You must be like other Gipsies.”
+
+“Oh! You mean dress like them?”
+
+“Yes. After the tea you shall see.”
+
+Tea was a most formal affair. Sybarina first took a sip from her own cup
+then passed the cup to the others, each girl taking a sip in turn, after
+which cups were served to each member of the party. By this time the
+other members of the tribe appeared to have lost interest in the
+visitors.
+
+“My girls would know something of your people, Sybarina,” suggested Miss
+Elting after the formalities of the tea drinking had been finished and
+the girls had settled down to their own cups of tea.
+
+She regarded her teacup frowningly, as though she were seeking light in
+the amber fluid.
+
+“My daughters,” said the old woman. “It takes many years to earn the
+confidence of a Romany. You have done so in a hour. All are Gorgios to
+the Gipsy.”
+
+“What ith a Gorgio?” piped Tommy.
+
+“Any one not Romany is a Gorgio. Forever has the Gorgio hounded the
+Gipsy. The Gorgio thinks the Gipsy a thief, but the Gipsy is not a
+thief. The Gipsy has little history, my daughters, but the Gipsy dates
+back to antiquity, to the famed Kings of Egypt. He keeps his sacred
+tongue—the Romany. It is his secret language. Through it he can hold
+converse with the Romanys of the world. Ages and ages ago, the Romany
+was called a Jat. That was in far off India. Then came a bad king from
+Persia who stole ten thousand of them to make music for him. There they
+remained until nine hundred years after the Son of Man came, when they
+were taken captive again and held in bondage until at last they
+separated and journeyed to the far places of the world. To-day the Gipsy
+is the only free man who wanders the earth. He pays no tithes, he has no
+cares.”
+
+“But you have a ruler, a head of all the Gipsies, have you not?”
+interjected Miss Elting.
+
+“There is the queen of all,” answered the old woman softly. “She now is
+one hundred years old. She lives in Roumania. Each year are her commands
+received by all her peoples throughout the world. How, I cannot tell
+you. It is a secret of the Romanys. We love, we hate, but not as do the
+Gorgios. But see! The princess has returned. She seeks her friends.”
+
+“You—you mean Miss McCarthy?” questioned Harriet.
+
+The Gipsy nodded gravely.
+
+“Good grathiouth,” exclaimed Tommy. “Thhe’th got eyeth in the top of her
+head. How doeth thhe know that Jane hath come back?”
+
+“I read the message in the teacup,” answered Sybarina. “It is time, fair
+daughter to begin, if you would read the secrets of the stars. Come with
+me and you shall be prepared.”
+
+Harriet rose and followed the old woman to one of the gaudily painted
+wagons, without the slightest hesitancy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX—DELVING INTO THE MYSTERIES
+
+
+“Oh, good gracious! Where are they?” cried Crazy Jane, as she walked
+into the Gipsy camp.
+
+The girls glanced at each other wonderingly. Had not the Gipsy queen
+just told them that Jane had arrived at the Meadow-Brook camp? The
+mystery was too great for them to solve.
+
+“But darlin’s, what does it mean? The Gipsy girl who came for me, said
+you were staying here for the night.”
+
+“We have been invited to be the guests of the tribe for this night,
+Jane. Sybarina is the queen of these Gipsies, you know. She is the one
+we rescued from the burning barn.”
+
+“Of course. Why are you here?”
+
+The guardian explained how they had been attacked by tramps and how the
+Gipsy woman and her companions had come to their rescue.
+
+Jane was amazed, then her face flushed with anger. She wanted to know if
+the Tramp Club had been seen. Miss Elting said they had not.
+
+“But where is my darlin’ Harriet?” questioned Jane, gazing at her
+inquiringly.
+
+“She has gone with the queen into one of the wagons. You will see her
+soon.”
+
+“Won’t it be jolly, Jane, to spend a night in a Gipsy camp?” cried
+Hazel.
+
+“Well, that depends. I’ve heard the tribes weren’t overly clean.”
+
+“Sh-h-h!” warned Miss Elting. “You mustn’t say such things here.
+Remember we are guests.”
+
+“I’m not likely to forget it. Oh, look at that pretty Gipsy girl! What a
+beauty!” cried Jane delightedly.
+
+The Gipsy girl who had emerged from one of the wagons was indeed pretty.
+Her hands were demurely folded, her head lowered, and her eyes veiled by
+drooping lashes, as she moved slowly toward the group. She came to a
+halt directly in front of Crazy Jane.
+
+“Cross my palm with silver and I’ll read your past and your future,”
+invited the pretty Gipsy girl.
+
+Crazy Jane leaned forward regarding the Gipsy girl with keen, searching
+eyes.
+
+“Indeed I will. Yes, darlin’, you can read my future and my past. How
+much silver shall I cross your palm with?”
+
+“What you will, pretty lady.”
+
+Jane placed a shining fifty cent piece on the open palm. Something about
+the palm appeared to interest her very much. Just at this juncture, the
+Gipsy girl chanced to look up. The eyes of the two girls met. Jane
+uttered a whoop and embraced the girl in a bearlike hug.
+
+“If it isn’t my own darlin’ Harriet,” she cried. “But who would have
+thought it. Hurrah for Harriet, the Gipsy!”
+
+“Ah, daughter, she is the true Romany,” interrupted Sybarina, suddenly
+appearing behind Harriet. “None but a true daughter of Romany could have
+said those words so well.” The old woman’s eyes gleamed with pride. Then
+she exclaimed: “I see strangers coming to the camp of the Gipsy! Would
+you have them see you, or would you watch them from the wagons?”
+
+“From the wagons,” chorused the girls.
+
+“The Romany princess, she of the brown eyes, may wander at will. The
+strangers will not think her a Gorgio. She is a true Romany.”
+
+“Thank you, Sybarina, I will go with my friends. Perhaps I may come out
+later,” answered Harriet. She was dressed in Gipsy costume, and her
+face, already dark, had been slightly stained with herbs which the old
+woman had rubbed on both her face and hands.
+
+The young men and women from nearby farms began to stroll into the camp
+to have their fortunes told. With them came several keen-eyed farmers,
+leading horses which they had brought in for a chance at a trade. The
+Gipsy men quickly gathered about the animals, then began the incessant
+talk of the horse trader, the Gipsies being particularly shrewd in that
+line of business. In the meantime Sybarina and several other women of
+the tribe were reading the futures of the giggling country girls. It was
+all very interesting to the girls in the nearby wagon. They were peering
+out from the darkened interior, unseen. Never before had they
+experienced anything so romantic or so picturesque.
+
+Harriet finally wandered out into the field. She attracted attention
+only because of her slender figure and pretty face. She had no fear of
+being recognized, for no one there ever had seen her before.
+
+“Isn’t she a typical Gipsy, though?” chuckled Jane, gazing admiringly at
+Harriet.
+
+“Unless one knew she were not, one couldn’t tell the difference,”
+answered Miss Elting. “Just look at that girl for whom the queen is
+telling a fortune. See how eagerly she drinks in every word. Every word
+is true to her. She believes it all.”
+
+“So does Sybarina,” replied Hazel.
+
+“Yes, I think she does. Do you know, Jane, she told us when you arrived
+at the tent. I think it must have been at the moment when you reached
+there. I can’t imagine how she knew.”
+
+“Maybe she heard the car,” suggested Margery.
+
+“No she didn’t,” declared Jane. “I drove into the camp without making a
+sound. I wanted to give you a surprise. I wonder how she knew I was
+near.”
+
+Neither Jane nor any of her companions had thought of the big headlights
+on the car, the glint of which had flashed on the foliage of a tree near
+the gipsy camp just as Jane was swinging into the byway that led down to
+the Meadow-Brook camp. Perhaps the old gipsy’s keen eyes had caught this
+flash and read it aright. But this the girls were never to know. Their
+attention, just now, was attracted by the sound of loud talking. Voices
+were heard approaching the camp.
+
+“I guess we are going to have quite a party this evening,” said Harriet,
+stepping into the wagon. “Oh, this is simply great! What a pity we
+aren’t all made up to look like Gipsies.”
+
+“Look, girls!” exclaimed the guardian.
+
+They did look, with widening eyes.
+
+“My grathiouth, if it ithn’t thothe Tramp boyth,” breathed Tommy.
+
+“It certainly is the Tramp Club. There’s Captain Baker and Sammy and
+Dill and Davy. Where could they have come from?” wondered Hazel.
+
+“Oh, let’s go out and call to them,” suggested Margery enthusiastically.
+
+“Wait,” warned Harriet. “I have a plan that I think will work to
+perfection. If it does, we’ll have some fun with the Tramp Club this
+evening.”
+
+“What is it, darlin’?”
+
+Harriet whispered in Jane’s ear. Crazy Jane uttered a loud laugh.
+
+“Sh-h-h!” warned the guardian. “You will betray our hiding place to
+those boys.”
+
+“I must get word to Sybarina. I wish she would come over here,” mused
+Harriet.
+
+As though in answer to her wish, Sybarina rose and hobbled toward the
+wagon. She halted at the step without looking up.
+
+“The friends of the pretty ladies are here. What do the pretty ladies
+wish to do?”
+
+“Oh, Sybarina! I want to read the future for that boy yonder on the
+right, the one with the reddish hair. May I? Please let me.”
+
+“It shall be as the Romany girl wishes, but she must be grave, she must
+not make her real self known to the laughing boy.”
+
+“No, no, no! I promise not to betray my identity. But what shall I say?
+I don’t know what to say,” begged Harriet.
+
+“The words will come unbidden to the lips of the Romany girl. Fear not.
+Come.” There was a suspicion of a twinkle in the piercing black eyes as
+Sybarina stretched forth her hand to Harriet Burrell. Harriet’s heart
+thumped violently as she stepped down from the wagon. “If I get a chance
+to read George Baker’s palm I will make him stand as near to the wagon
+as possible, so you girls can hear what I say to him, but don’t you dare
+make a sound.”
+
+“Isn’t she the clever darlin’?” chuckled Crazy Jane.
+
+“Harriet is a very resourceful girl,” answered Hazel admiringly.
+
+“Yes; Harriet has added a good many honor beads to her string during
+this hike,” replied the guardian. “I think, too, that she is going to
+pay those boys the debt that we owe them.”
+
+“Listen!” commanded Jane. Sybarina was speaking.
+
+“Behold before you the Star of the East. Behold one who has come out of
+the East to read the future true. Cross her palm with silver and the
+Oracle will speak, revealing the past and foretelling the future.”
+
+The Gipsy queen had not led Harriet into the bright light. Instead the
+girl, in the fainter light at the outer edge of the circle, stood with
+downcast eyes, hands folded before her.
+
+[Illustration: “Cross My Hand With Silver.”]
+
+“Who shall be the first to hear the future and the past from the Star of
+the East?”
+
+“Say, fellows, now is the time to find out a few things,” laughed
+Captain George Baker. “Here’s where I consult the Star of the East.
+Here, young woman, read my palm. I don’t know anything about this
+fortune-telling business, and I don’t believe in it, but I’m willing to
+take a chance on it. How much does it cost to consult the stars?”
+
+“For a silver quarter I will reveal the past only. Cross my hand with a
+silver dollar and both the past and future shall be as an open book,”
+answered Harriet, speaking in a low tone, disguising her voice as much
+as possible.
+
+George uttered a low whistle.
+
+“A dollar! Whew! Isn’t that pretty high?”
+
+“The stars are higher,” was the curt reply of the Star of the East.
+
+There was an audible giggle from the interior of the nearby wagon.
+Harriet heard it, but Captain Baker was too much interested in the
+prospect of having his fortune told to give heed to the sound.
+
+“Isn’t she the clever darlin’?” reiterated Crazy Jane, restraining
+herself from shouting only by a great effort of will.
+
+“All right. Here’s your money. But, mind you, I’ll expect a lot of
+information for a dollar.”
+
+“The past and future are not measured by silver,” retorted Harriet.
+“That which is past the Oracle has revealed to me. That which is to be,
+I alone can tell. I am but the mouthpiece of the Oracle, but the Oracle
+cannot lie.”
+
+“I’m glad to be assured of hearing the truth, at any rate,” replied
+George flippantly.
+
+“Be at rest. You shall hear the truth,” promised the Star of the East
+dryly. Then taking George’s hand in hers she gravely scrutinized the
+lines of his palm.
+
+“The lines of your hand tell me many things,” she began.
+
+“Then be sure that you tell me all about them. I want my money’s worth,”
+urged the captain.
+
+“The past and future shall be fully revealed to you,” promised the
+supposed Gipsy. Captain George Baker of the Tramp Club then listened to
+a fortune that, though it did not wholly please, amazed him beyond
+measure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX—GETTING EVEN WITH GEORGE
+
+
+“Your hand tells me that you travel not alone,” continued Harriet.
+“Other youths are with you. Together you have journeyed for many days
+along the highway.”
+
+“Well? That’s nothing. Anybody could see that,” jeered George.
+
+“If you would listen to the word of the Oracle, be silent. On your
+journey, maidens have crossed your path. They, too, are wayfarers along
+the trail. You have held out the hand of fellowship to them, but your
+friendship is false and your hearts are full of guile.”
+
+“That’s just where you’re wrong,” interrupted George. “Those girls are
+all right and we like them a lot. I’d like to know how you know so much
+about them.”
+
+“The Gipsy knows many things,” replied Harriet enigmatically. “Your hand
+reveals to her the grievous wrong you have done these trusting maidens.”
+
+“Oh, that’s not so,” contradicted George.
+
+“None can deceive the Oracle,” was the stern answer. “I see here a camp.
+The campfire burns brightly. About it sit the maidens. Look! Six youths
+approach. With them they bear a sack filled with the melons of the
+field. The maidens welcome them with smiles and pleasant words. They
+little know whence came these melons. They little know that before them
+lies the bitter fruit of lawless thievery.”
+
+“Oh, that’s putting it altogether too strong,” expostulated George. “How
+can you tell anything about where those melons came from by the lines of
+my hand?”
+
+“To the Prophet of the Oracle all things are plain,” replied the Star of
+the East. “In the early darkness of the night, ere the moon rose, the
+evildoers stole forth, and robbed the farmer of his melons.”
+
+“This is becoming too personal,” gasped George, mopping his forehead.
+
+“Word was brought to the farmer of this wicked deed and he hurried forth
+to catch the thieves,” continued Harriet. “Long did he search for them.
+Then seeing the camp of the maidens he approached, and finding them
+innocently eating his melons, he poured forth the vials of his wrath
+upon their defenseless heads. He branded them as thieves and demanded
+settlement. They crossed the farmer’s palm with much silver to pay for
+the stolen melons. They were too noble to betray the real thieves.”
+
+Captain George shifted uneasily. “That’s really too bad. I’m sorry they
+got into such a mess,” he muttered. “I wonder what they think of us.”
+
+“Their hearts are filled with shame and sorrow at the deceitfulness of
+those whom they supposed were their friends.”
+
+“But—but the boys didn’t intend to make trouble for the girls,”
+protested the captain. “They thought it would be great fun to forage for
+melons, and at the same time to give the girls a treat.”
+
+The supposed gipsy shook her head slowly.
+
+“It makes no difference what they thought. The deed is done. There is
+only one way in which the wrong can be righted.”
+
+“How can these boys square themselves with the girls?” questioned George
+eagerly.
+
+“I will consult the Oracle.” The Gipsy girl stood with head bent as
+though in deep thought. Then she said solemnly: “If the wicked boys will
+go to those whom they have so cruelly wronged and ask pardon for their
+unmanly behavior perhaps forgiveness may be theirs.”
+
+“I—I guess I’d better,” returned George earnestly. At this juncture a
+smothered giggle from the darkened Gipsy wagon came near breaking up the
+seance. He glanced up suspiciously. Harriet’s face was grave.
+
+“You have chosen wisely. Will you obey the command of the Oracle?”
+
+“Oh, ye—es. I’ll apologize. I’ll do it. It’s wonderful. I never thought
+there was so much to fortune telling.”
+
+“There is more to it than you dream,” answered Harriet Burrell, and with
+much truth on her side. There was indeed more to it than Captain George
+Baker dreamed. In the Gipsy wagon four girls and their guardian were
+making desperate efforts to control their laughter that the sounds of
+their merriment might not be heard by the young man outside.
+
+“Can you answer any question I ask you?” queried George, after thinking
+deeply.
+
+“The Oracle knows all things, if it will but speak,” answered the Gipsy
+girl, leaving an avenue of escape if he should ask her something that
+she was unable to answer.
+
+“Where are the girls now?”
+
+“They are near at hand. Would you see them?”
+
+“No, no. Not to-night,” hastily interposed Captain Baker. “What I wish
+to know is where they are.”
+
+“You would know if they have outwitted you in the race?”
+
+“Yes, yes. But how do you know what I am thinking about?”
+
+“The mouthpiece of the Oracle knows all things,” crooned the fortune
+teller. “No, they have not yet won the race. You shall see them on the
+morrow.”
+
+“Where? Tell me where?”
+
+“A short span of twelve miles hence there is a spring. The spring is
+known as Granite Spring.”
+
+“Yes, yes? Will they be there?” he asked eagerly.
+
+“No, not there,” replied the Gipsy. “But you will find them near at
+hand. Seek and you shall find, but go with humble spirit, else disaster
+may overtake you.”
+
+“Thank you, I’ll do as you say. This is wonderful. I want my friends to
+have their fortunes told by you. You are the right kind. I wonder if you
+can tell me just what these girls are going to do to get ahead of us in
+the race.”
+
+“I will consult the Oracle once more,” replied the fortune teller.
+
+It was fully two minutes before Harriet raised her head. George stood
+eagerly awaiting her answer.
+
+“The Oracle knows but will not say,” replied Harriet coldly. “The Oracle
+is ever fair and just. It will not reveal the plans of the maidens to
+their enemies. The Star of the East is weary. She cannot read the palms
+of your friends. Your way lies yonder. Your companions await you.”
+
+Captain George, very red of face, a sheepish expression in his eyes, got
+up hastily and walked over to his companions who were sitting on the
+ground awaiting him.
+
+“Come on, fellows. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the
+creeps.”
+
+“You seemed mighty interested in what that Gipsy girl had to say. Did
+she tell you anything remarkable?” asked Dill laughingly.
+
+“Did she? I should say she did.”
+
+“Then you did better than the rest of us. That other young Gipsy woman
+didn’t tell me a single thing.”
+
+“The old Gipsy woman gave it to me red hot!” exclaimed Sam. “She told me
+some things I’d just as soon not have heard. She said I was started on
+the road to thievery. Now what do you think of that?”
+
+“That’s nothing,” replied George. “The young one told me all about it.”
+
+“About what?” questioned Davy.
+
+“That melon business.”
+
+“You don’t mean it?”
+
+“Yes, I do. She told me about the whole affair.”
+
+“Well, what do you think of that?” wondered Fred.
+
+“I didn’t think much of it.”
+
+“How do you suppose she found out about it?”
+
+“Don’t ask me,” replied George gloomily. “She said that the Oracle told
+her.”
+
+“You don’t believe such nonsense as that, do you?” asked Davy.
+
+“I don’t know what to think about it. Gipsies are queer folks. They’re
+too mysterious to suit me. I’ve got all I want of them. They know too
+much,” declared the captain. “Why, they can read one’s thoughts.”
+
+In the meantime, Harriet gleefully watched the departure of the boys
+from the camp. There was laughter in her eyes. She turned to the wagon
+where her companions were now giving expression to uncontrolled
+merriment. Few visitors remained in the camp, and these were some
+distance away.
+
+“Well, I think I have evened up matters with that young man,” declared
+Harriet. “What do you say, girls?” she asked, thrusting a laughing face
+into the wagon.
+
+“Oh, Harriet!” gasped Miss Elting. “It was the funniest thing I ever
+heard. And he believed every word of it.”
+
+“Why shouldn’t he? It was the truth. By the way, Miss Elting—I have
+collected one dollar of that four dollars and eighty cents that you paid
+for the melons,” said Harriet, extending a hand in the palm of which lay
+Captain Baker’s silver dollar.
+
+“Oh, no, no,” protested the guardian, drawing back. “I could not think
+of accepting the money.”
+
+“Why not? I can collect the whole amount in a very short time at this
+rate,” laughed Harriet.
+
+“Oh, darlin’! What a girl, what a girl!” laughed Crazy Jane.
+
+“No. You must not keep it. It does not rightfully belong to you.”
+
+“Then if you refuse to accept the money I shall give it to Sybarina.
+She’ll take it. Trust a Gipsy to take everything that is offered.”
+
+Sybarina graciously accepted the money. Her eyes shone as she hobbled
+over to Harriet Burrell and exclaimed earnestly: “I said you were the
+true Romany. Now I know it. Did I not tell you the power to foretell
+both the past and future would come to you unbidden?”
+
+“Yes,” laughed Harriet, “but I happened to know considerable about the
+Tramp Club’s affairs particularly since they visited a certain melon
+patch. Is there any danger of those boys returning to-night?”
+
+Sybarina shook her head. “They have returned to their camp.”
+
+“Where are they camping?”
+
+“On yonder hillside. Even now you can catch the glow of their campfire.
+But you shall see them again and you shall make them red of face for the
+trick which they played on you and your friends, my Romany girls. You
+would outwit them?”
+
+“We are trying to get home ahead of them.”
+
+The old woman nodded.
+
+“The way shall be made clear to you. Sybarina will tell the Romany girl
+how to defeat her rivals, to show them that the Romany tribes know the
+secret bypaths as the birds know the trail to the sunny land when the
+frost is in the air. Come, child. Come, sit by the fire, while Sybarina
+tells you that which shall make the way clear.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI—HARRIET PLANS TO OUTWIT THE TRAMP CLUB
+
+
+A long conversation was held between Harriet and the Gipsy queen, the
+latter drawing a map on the ground with a willow wand to show the girl
+the route that she was to travel after the Meadow-Brook Girls had gone
+on for another day.
+
+Harriet’s eyes were sparkling. She thought she saw a way to outwit the
+Tramp Club. Harriet was chuckling gleefully when she joined her
+companions. She declined to tell them that night, however, just what the
+Gipsy had communicated to her.
+
+“Where shall we sleep to-night?” asked Miss Elting.
+
+“Sybarina says we may have the wagon to sleep in,” answered Harriet.
+“Shall we use it?”
+
+“No. I think I prefer to sleep in the open,” answered the guardian. “It
+is not a cool night. Suppose we roll up in our blankets and sleep by the
+campfire? What do you say, girls?”
+
+“I thay yeth,” spoke up Tommy. “I’ll put my feet againtht the fire; then
+I won’t have cold feet any more.”
+
+They were sound asleep in a few moments after turning in. Even the Gipsy
+dogs that had been barking most of the evening, and the crying babies,
+to whom none of the tribe had given the slightest heed, were now quietly
+asleep. Sybarina watched her guests roll up in their blankets and nodded
+approvingly.
+
+“The true Romany,” she muttered. For a long time the old woman sat by
+the fire, sat until the embers fell together and the sticks began to
+blacken, when she rose and peered into each sleeping face of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls. Sybarina then hobbled to her own wagon and
+disappeared within.
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls awakened next morning with the sun in their eyes.
+Miss Elting sat up and called softly to Harriet. The guardian and
+Harriet rubbed their eyes and blinked dazedly about them. There was
+something strange about their surroundings, but just what that
+strangeness was they for the moment did not know. All at once they
+discovered what had happened. They were absolutely alone, save for their
+sleeping companions.
+
+“Why, they’ve gone!” cried Harriet.
+
+“Gone and we never woke up,” laughed Miss Elting. “How strange.”
+
+“Who hath gone?” mumbled Tommy, sitting up.
+
+“The Gipsies,” answered Harriet.
+
+“They must have left in a great hurry, for some reason,” suggested the
+guardian. “I don’t understand it. Nor do I understand how they managed
+to slip away so quietly.”
+
+The wagon tracks were plainly outlined in the soft earth and the
+remnants of the campfire were there, but that was all. Yet it was not
+all. As Harriet sought to draw on her shoe she felt something hard in
+the toe. Groping in the shoe with her fingers she drew forth a tightly
+wrapped paper. Opening this she found a tiny brass triangle. On it were
+crudely cut several strange characters.
+
+“How curious,” breathed Harriet. “But how did it get in my shoe?” she
+wondered.
+
+“Look on the wrapping paper,” suggested Miss Elting.
+
+Harriet did so. As she looked the puzzled expression on her face gave
+place to a smile.
+
+“It is from Sybarina,” she exclaimed. “This is what she writes: ‘A charm
+for the Romany girl. No harm shall come to her who wears it. Happiness
+and prosperity shall be hers forever and always. It is the Gipsy good
+luck charm. Who knows but that, some day, you may wear it as a queen?
+Farewell until we meet again.’”
+
+“How strange!” murmured Harriet, holding up the trinket that her
+companions might see.
+
+“I wonder if it ith a charm againtht bullth?” piped Tommy.
+
+“I would suggest, girls, that we return to our own camp. It may not be
+there by this time.”
+
+Upon reaching their own camp they were much relieved to find everything
+as it should be. Nothing had been disturbed. But, ere they had finished
+their breakfast, three farmers came striding in to know if anything had
+been seen of the Gipsies.
+
+“They left early this morning,” answered Miss Elting. “Why?”
+
+“Wal, nothing only one of them traded off on me a ring-boned, spavined
+old hoss, which he said was sound. I’ll catch them when they come this
+way again.”
+
+“I think I understand why the Gipsies took such an early departure,”
+said Harriet after the men had gone. “But I do not believe Sybarina had
+anything to do with such dishonest dealing.”
+
+The day’s route was laid out after breakfast. The boys undoubtedly had
+gone on, for nothing was to be seen of their campfire. Miss Elting
+rather thought they would see no more of the Tramp Club after the
+fortune-telling that Harriet had given the chief the night before. But
+with the route that Sybarina had laid out for the girls, the guardian
+believed they could make some time and gain the advantage over the boys.
+
+Camp was hurriedly struck after breakfast. Their route that day lay
+across lots and their camping place was to be on the edge of a forest
+easily accessible to Jane with her motor car. Using government maps, as
+they were doing, they were able to locate every little rise of ground,
+every hollow and almost every clump of bushes along their way. These
+government maps Miss Elting had purchased at a comparatively small cost,
+as any one may do. They are very useful to one who is taking a tramp
+through the country, and the Meadow-Brook Girls found them so.
+
+Jane accompanied her companions out to the highway and followed along
+behind them in her car for the first mile. Then their ways parted, the
+tramping girls to climb a hill, Crazy Jane to follow the highway on to
+the point where she too was to leave the road and make camp for them.
+But there was always a long wait for Jane, so the girl occupied the time
+in driving to the nearest village to make a number of purchases at the
+stores.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII—A COMBIETTA CONCERT
+
+
+Her shopping done Jane lost no time in cranking up her car, hopped in
+and with a wave of her hand swung down the road and went honking through
+the village on the way to the place chosen for the Meadow-Brook Girls’
+camp for that night. Jane had avoided all questions about herself and
+her party, except to say that they were camping. The girl did not
+propose to leave a trail for the Tramp Club if she could avoid it. As
+the girls were nearing the end of their journey it behooved them to
+cloak their movements with secrecy if they hoped to outwit their young
+rivals and win the race, which they were determined to do.
+
+Jane had pitched the tent just within the edge of the woods and had
+started a small cook-fire when the welcome “hoo-e-e-e” of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls first reached her ears. She ran out into the open
+waving her apron and shouting a welcome.
+
+“There she is,” cried Margery.
+
+“Dear old Jane!” exclaimed Hazel. “She has gotten everything ready for
+us and started a fire.”
+
+“I propose three cheers for Jane McCarthy,” cried Harriet. The cheers
+were given in the shrillest tones of the Meadow-Brook Girls. Jane bowed
+in exaggerated fashion at this ovation.
+
+“Have you seen the boys to-day, Jane?” was Harriet’s first question.
+
+“Not a sign of them, the rascals,” replied Jane.
+
+“I imagine that they are at Granite Spring, half a dozen miles back,”
+laughed Harriet.
+
+“What makes you think so?” asked Hazel.
+
+“Because, when I read Captain Baker’s fortune, I told him that our next
+camping place was to be not far from that place. He will make straight
+for Granite Spring, you see if he doesn’t.”
+
+“Then I don’t think we’ll see the lads again this trip,” concluded Jane.
+“But, girls, you’ve got to get busy if you hope to win this contest.
+Three more days of hiking will bring you to Meadow-Brook. If the boys
+once get ahead of you, you can’t expect to catch up with them and win in
+that length of time.”
+
+“We simply must win, Jane,” returned Harriet determinedly.
+
+“Then you’d better begin to think about how you’re going to do it,”
+advised Jane dryly.
+
+“Jane is right,” agreed the guardian. “We must plan to-night. And I
+think we shall have to put in one big day’s walk, perhaps more than
+that. I should first like to know where the boys are. Jane, will you
+make an effort to locate them to-morrow?”
+
+“Yes, indeed, Miss Elting.”
+
+“When we have definite information on that point we ought to be able to
+map out a plan of campaign that will win the contest for us. I believe
+we have gotten ahead of them now and that we shall be able to keep our
+lead.”
+
+“Of course we are going to win,” reiterated Harriet Burrell.
+
+“If it is all settled that we are to win the race, I propose that we
+celebrate to-night,” suggested Jane.
+
+“How?” asked Margery.
+
+“I’ve got a bag of fruit in the car. We’ll make fruit lemonade, then
+we’ll have a combietta concert.”
+
+“What ith a combietta conthert?” interrupted Tommy curiously.
+
+“Wait and see,” teased Jane.
+
+“Now, Jane, be good and tell us about this combietta affair?” coaxed
+Hazel. “What is it?”
+
+“An instrumental concert,” giggled Jane. “I got the musical instruments
+when I was in town doing some shopping. Oh, don’t worry, darlin’s. You
+all know to play them. The first thing to do is to decide upon the tune.
+How about the ‘Marching Through Georgia’ for a starter?”
+
+Jane spread out six squares of thin white paper. She then produced the
+same number of small packages.
+
+“Oh, we’ll wake the squirrels and the chipmunks and the weasles,”
+promised Jane, with a grin of anticipation.
+
+Tommy picked at the wrapping on the end of one of the small packages and
+uttered an exclamation of disappointment.
+
+“It ithn’t a musical inthrument at all,” she declared indignantly. “It
+ith nothing but a common old black comb.”
+
+“That’s just where you’re wrong,” answered Jane. “These combs are new. I
+bought them in the village store this very day. Listen, dears. This is
+the combietta. It makes music through its teeth, and plays any tune you
+call for.”
+
+“Wonderful,” laughed Miss Elting. “There is something very familiar
+about this marvelous musical instrument. Combietta, do you call it,
+Jane?”
+
+“Sure I do. But the name is my own invention. The music is as old as the
+combs themselves and I don’t know how old they are.”
+
+“I remember having made music with combs when I was a girl in short
+frocks,” nodded the guardian. “Play, Jane, and show the girls how to
+make music.”
+
+Crazy Jane folded one of the square slips of paper over the teeth of one
+of the combs, then placed the comb’s teeth between her own.
+
+“Zu—zu—zu-zee-zee-zah,” she breathed through paper and comb, which
+strange sounds were instantly interpreted by Jane’s companions, as “Come
+Back to Erin.”
+
+Each girl with a cry of delight, now snatched up a comb, wrapped it in
+the thin paper and joined enthusiastically in the chorus of “Come Back
+to Erin.” Tommy Thompson, fully as delighted as her companions, leaned
+against a tree making hideous noises on her comb; Miss Elting, sitting
+on a stump, eyes fixed on the foliage far above her, was an enthusiastic
+performer in the combietta concert.
+
+“Now, ‘Marching Through Georgia,’” she cried.
+
+“I can’t play fast enough to play that,” complained Buster.
+
+“Then play anything you like,” answered Harriet, with a merry laugh.
+
+“Yes. Make a noise. You don’t all have to play the same tune. This is a
+celebration,” shouted Jane. “What we want is noise and lots of it to
+celebrate the victory we are going to win.”
+
+And noise there was, a perfect pandemonium of sounds, principally
+inharmonious.
+
+A sudden, startling chorus of yells and a burst of music from the
+forest, brought the girls’ concert to a sudden stop. Lights flashed from
+the bushes near at hand, whirling about them in giddy circles like great
+pinwheels. The Meadow-Brook Girls were surrounded by wildly yelling
+figures, strange flaring lights—and music.
+
+“Indianth!” screamed Tommy. “We’ll all be thcalped. Oh, thave me!” Then
+the little lisping girl ran like a frightened deer, for the protection
+of the Meadow-Brook Girls’ tent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII—THE HARMONICA SERENADE
+
+
+“Oh, what is it?” wailed Margery.
+
+No one was able to answer the question for the moment. It was a
+startling interruption. Even Harriet, though unafraid, could not make up
+her mind what was the meaning of the outbreak.
+
+Now she saw what the lights were. They were flaring torches made from
+cat-tails. Then all at once she recalled that the Tramp Club boys played
+harmonicas. She had heard them play once before.
+
+“Don’t be afraid, girls. It is the boys,” said Harriet in a relieved
+tone.
+
+“The boys?” questioned Miss Elting. Then her face lighted up
+understandingly. “Oh the rascals!” she exclaimed.
+
+The girls now that they knew no danger threatened them stood perfectly
+still, waiting for the concert to come to an end.
+
+“You may come in, boys, when you have finished your concert,” called the
+guardian. “We have enjoyed the serenade very much.”
+
+The music and shouting ceased abruptly. A moment later Captain Baker
+stepped into the camp. His face was flushed, but there was a certain
+sheepishness about him that made Harriet Burrell’s eyes twinkle.
+
+“Why, Captain! We did not look for you this evening,” greeted Miss
+Elting.
+
+“Thought you had given us the slip, did you?” grinned George. “You’ll
+have to get up earlier in the morning, to do that.”
+
+“Oh, won’t you though!” chorused his companions trooping in after their
+captain.
+
+“But how did you find us?” questioned Harriet.
+
+“Easiest thing in the world. We followed Miss McCarthy’s car tracks.”
+
+“Where to?” twinkled Jane.
+
+“All over the country. You surely led us a fine chase. But we found you,
+just the same.”
+
+Tommy now ventured from the tent.
+
+“Thay, you nearly thcared me to death,” she chided. “What do you boyth
+want?”
+
+“Why, Tommy, they came to serenade us,” reproved Miss Elting. “We
+enjoyed the music very much,” she said, turning toward the boys. “If you
+will sit down and play another selection, we will serve refreshments
+afterwards. Jane! Will you get the things ready?”
+
+“Yes. But the boys don’t deserve it. However, so long as we are going to
+win the race we can afford to treat them well,” teased Jane.
+
+The captain smiled a superior smile.
+
+“We could have gone right on to the end of the route to-day without
+stopping, if we had wished to do so. But we didn’t want to take an
+unfair advantage of you.”
+
+“Oh, no. You boys never do take an unfair advantage, do you?” chuckled
+Crazy Jane. Miss Elting gave her a warning glance. The captain did not
+observe it.
+
+“Give them another tune, boys,” George ordered.
+
+“First please extinguish those cat-tail torches,” requested Harriet.
+“You will set the woods on fire, if you are not careful. Everything is
+so dry now that a fire would start very easily.”
+
+The torches were ground out under foot, after which the Tramp Club
+played “Home Sweet Home” on the harmonicas. At a nod from the guardian
+the girls got out their combs and joined in the tune. The woodland
+inhabitants probably never had heard a concert like this. It sent the
+birds hopping from limb to limb in great alarm. Fortunately there were
+no neighbors near at hand, so only the inhabitants of the forest were
+disturbed.
+
+Jane that day had purchased a large chocolate cake at a baker shop in
+the village. She brought this out then disappeared into the tent,
+emerging a few minutes later with a pail of fruit lemonade, while Hazel,
+who had accompanied Jane, followed her, bearing cups and glasses. Miss
+Elting busied herself with cutting the cake and Harriet served the
+lemonade.
+
+“Well, boys, here’s to the candy we’re going to have when we get to our
+journey’s end,” teased Jane McCarthy, raising her glass of lemonade.
+
+“And here,” returned the captain, raising his glass with a flourish, “is
+to those beautiful handkerchiefs that we’re going to wear next to our
+hearts for years and years to come.”
+
+“To the stars that hold our future,” teased Harriet.
+
+The captain paused with the glass of lemonade in his hand. He glanced
+quickly at Harriet Burrell, but the innocent expression on her face told
+him nothing. Miss Elting saw that George had something on his mind. She
+suspected what it was. An amused smile played about the corners of the
+guardian’s mouth. There was a smile in Harriet’s eyes, too, as she
+caught and read the thought in the mind of Miss Elting.
+
+After the cake and lemonade had been disposed of, the party of young
+people chatted for the better part of an hour. Captain Baker, however,
+appeared uneasy. Twice he essayed to speak then checked himself
+abruptly.
+
+“It’s coming now,” whispered Harriet. “He’s trying to think of a way to
+begin.”
+
+Miss Elting nodded.
+
+“I have a confession to make,” began the captain, in an embarrassed
+manner.
+
+“A confession!” exclaimed Harriet in a surprised tone.
+
+“Yes, I have. Oh, it isn’t for myself alone, but for my friends as
+well,” continued the captain doggedly. The other boys exhibited signs of
+uneasiness.
+
+“What about, Mr. Baker?” asked the guardian sweetly.
+
+“It is about those melons.”
+
+“But, my dear boy, you need not apologize for them. They were simply
+delicious. I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed them.” Miss Elting was
+making it as hard for George as possible.
+
+“It—it isn’t that. Oh, what’s the use? I don’t know how to say it. We
+hadn’t any right to give you those melons, Miss Elting.”
+
+“No right? Please explain yourself, Mr. Baker.”
+
+“I’ll tell you all about it. We took those melons from the farmer’s
+field without leave. We didn’t mean to play a mean trick on you, but we
+did. We didn’t think the farmer would accuse you girls of stealing the
+melons. We’re awfully sorry he made such a fuss about it and that you
+had to pay for them. Will you please let us return to you the money that
+you paid him. It was our treat, you know.”
+
+“Hm-m-m! This is a serious matter,” replied the guardian slowly. The
+girls sat with lowered heads so that the boys might not discover the
+laughter in their eyes. “I cannot accept the money for the melons. We
+had better consider the incident closed. It is very manly of you,
+however, to come and tell us about it. But what induced you to do so?”
+
+“I gueth hith conthcience troubled him,” suggested Tommy wisely.
+
+“Yes, I think so. But there was something else,” admitted the boy. “It
+wasn’t wholly conscience. We didn’t realize how very wrong it was
+until——”
+
+“Until the Oracle told you,” nodded Tommy.
+
+“What!” exclaimed George. The eyes of the Tramp Club were fixed on
+Tommy. “What do you mean by that?”
+
+Harriet got up and with crossed hands before her, chin lowered, eyelids
+half veiling her eyes, moved demurely toward the captain.
+
+“Cross my palm with silver and the past and future shall be revealed to
+you,” she mumbled.
+
+George Baker gazed at her, with suspicious, puzzled eyes. All at once he
+sprang up.
+
+“I know you now! I knew I had seen you before, but I couldn’t place you.
+You were the Star of the East!”
+
+“Yes,” admitted Harriet.
+
+“And thhe told your fortune,” chuckled Tommy.
+
+Margery and Hazel giggled. Crazy Jane exclaimed derisively:
+
+“Oh, boys, boys! That’s the time you got your desserts! We paid you back
+with interest!”
+
+“It was a mean trick,” flared George. “We never would have thought it of
+you. It was the meanest trick I ever heard of. I’m sorry I made a fool
+of myself by coming here and apologizing to you.”
+
+“Mr. Baker, don’t lose your temper,” begged Miss Elting, scarcely able
+to control her voice for laughter. “We have evened our score so let’s
+shake hands and be friends.”
+
+“No, thank you. I’m sorry to refuse, but you have made fools of us,”
+retorted George angrily.
+
+“Oh, no. That ith not pothible,” piped Tommy.
+
+“Come on, fellows. We will get out of here before they make us angry,”
+urged Captain Baker, snatching up his hat and starting away.
+
+“Please wait,” begged Miss Elting.
+
+George shook his head.
+
+“What about our compact?” called Harriet.
+
+“We’re going on and win the race. We’ll show you that you aren’t such
+athletes as you think. At least you shan’t make fools of us at that.
+Good night.”
+
+Captain Baker and his friends strode angrily from the camp. They did not
+so much as look back. Perhaps the boys were really not so angry as they
+pretended to be.
+
+“It’s too bad. I didn’t think they would take it that way,” cried
+Harriet. “I surely thought they would be able to take a joke. Well,
+what’s done can’t be undone. There’s nothing more to be done except to
+go on and try to win the race.”
+
+Jane had disappeared. Where she had gone the girls did not know. It was
+some time before she returned and when she did she was excited. Her hair
+was awry and her face flushed.
+
+“Jane, where have you been?” demanded the guardian.
+
+“I’ve been scouting. Girls, those miserable boys are planning to play
+another trick on you. They’re going to start to-night and go on without
+stopping until they get home. What shall we do?”
+
+The girls gazed solemnly into each other’s eyes.
+
+“That seems to settle it,” spoke up Margery finally. “Well, let them
+have the race. Who cares?”
+
+“We all care,” answered Harriet, springing to her feet. “We simply must
+win that race now. Everybody will laugh at us if we don’t, and I just
+couldn’t stand it to see those boys grinning triumphantly at us
+afterwards. I don’t care so much about the others.”
+
+“What would you suggest, Harriet?” inquired Miss Elting.
+
+“Suggest? Why, there is only one thing to suggest. Checkmate them at
+their own game. We’ll start for Meadow-Brook this very night and we’ll
+keep going until we get there. Are you with me, girls?”
+
+“Yes!” shouted the girls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV—CONCLUSION
+
+
+“Not quite so fast, girls,” warned Miss Elting.
+
+They turned toward her questioningly. Their eyes were sparkling, their
+faces flushed.
+
+“What would you suggest, Miss Elting?” asked Harriet.
+
+“Remember, that, if we take the route suggested by the Gipsy, we shall
+have to travel some of the roughest country in the state. Are you equal
+to the hike?”
+
+“Yes!”
+
+“We shall have to walk all night and a good part of the day to-morrow,
+and even then the boys may win the contest. Are you willing to try it?”
+
+“Yes!”
+
+“Then we will make our plans and get started. According to my
+calculations, it will be a twenty mile hike to Meadow-Brook by the way
+we propose to go. The boys will have a good ten miles further to travel
+if they go by way of the road. But having better going they will
+naturally travel much faster than we. Listen! We must travel light, with
+nothing in our packs except just sufficient food to carry us through.
+Jane, you will have to spend the night at the nearest farm house and
+come back for the tent and supplies in the morning. I hardly believe any
+one will disturb them over night. You must go at once or the people of
+the house will have retired. Go quietly.”
+
+Ten minutes later Jane was on her way to the farm house in her car,
+undetected by the members of the Tramp Club.
+
+“Now we will get ready at once. Let us be certain that none of the boys
+are watching. I would suggest that you girls lie down for an hour or so,
+while Harriet and myself get the packs together.”
+
+Hazel obediently led the way into the tent, Margery and Tommy following.
+
+“I can’t thleep. I’m too exthited,” protested Tommy. She and her
+companions did sleep however. They were allowed to rest for two hours.
+When they awakened Harriet informed them that the Tramp Club already had
+started. Half an hour later the girls themselves had taken the trail to
+Meadow-Brook.
+
+The Pathfinders made straight for a blue range of mountains that stood
+out dark and forbidding in the bright moonlight. The girls were full of
+enthusiasm, and would have walked much faster had not their guardian
+insisted on their saving their strength for the more difficult traveling
+after they reached the hills.
+
+It was three o’clock in the morning when finally they dropped down a
+sharp incline into the gloomy depths of a rocky canyon. A trickling
+stream flowed through the canyon and the walls stood high on either
+side, rising sheer for a hundred feet.
+
+“You will have to wade, girls. But I think we are all sufficiently
+hardened so that we shall not suffer more than temporary discomfort from
+getting our feet wet,” said the guardian, with an encouraging smile.
+
+The girls plunged into the brook without hesitation. The water was only
+ankle deep, but the stones on the bottom of the creek were moss-covered
+and slippery. Still, they made good progress, really traveling faster
+than before they had entered the canyon.
+
+At daylight Miss Elting called a halt. She had chosen a place where a
+dry shelf of rock offered a resting place. The girls threw themselves
+down flat on their backs. There was no wood with which to build a fire,
+but Miss Elting produced a small alcohol stove from her pack and made
+coffee. This with biscuits they had brought proved very refreshing. The
+guardian did not permit them to remain on the shelf of rock for a long
+time, fearing that their muscles might become stiffened. Then the
+journey was taken up again. So full of enthusiasm and determination were
+the Meadow-Brook Girls that not one of them offered a word of complaint;
+but when at two o’clock that afternoon, they emerged from the canyon
+into the open country, Tommy and Margery were limping a little.
+
+Beyond in the haze of a distant valley lay Meadow-Brook. The girls eager
+to get to their journey’s end pushed on again. After half an hour’s
+walking, Miss Elting called a halt. She shaded her eyes and gazed off to
+the west. A thin brown line was crawling slowly along the road.
+
+“It’s the boys!” cried Harriet.
+
+“They’re going to win,” groaned Margery.
+
+“They are not. We must run for it.”
+
+“Yes,” agreed Miss Elting. “But don’t get excited. Keep your lips
+tightly closed. Breathe through your nostrils and keep your shoulders
+well back. Don’t keep yourselves rigid, but just trudge along with every
+muscle relaxed. They don’t see us. Ready! Go!”
+
+The girls crossed the field at a trot. It was a good two miles to the
+village. They ran slowly, but steadily. At the end of a mile the
+guardian again ordered a halt, directing the girls to lie down in the
+field flat on their backs. A few moments later they were up and off
+again. They saw the boys a long distance to the rear, still trudging
+doggedly along. And half an hour later the girls stepped from the field
+out into the road. They heard the chug of a motor car. It swept on and
+overtook them. It was Jane. She was howling like a wild Indian.
+
+“They’re coming! They’re coming. Run for it!” she yelled.
+
+By this time the boys had discovered the girls. They, too, began to run.
+The race was on in earnest. Never had those girls run and stumbled and
+lurched along as they did that afternoon. The boys gained slowly. The
+girls were nearing home. Jane was leading the procession, standing up in
+her car, steering as she stood, setting the pace for the Meadow-Brook
+Girls. She was shouting and yelling to keep up their courage, but it was
+an almost killing pace that she was making for them.
+
+The girls staggered over the line that marked the village limits.
+
+“Home!” cried Miss Elting.
+
+“We’ve won!” screamed Jane almost beside herself with joy.
+
+The girls walked unsteadily to one side of the road and sat down
+gasping. They had won the race, but by a slender margin. The boys were
+still forging ahead, running at top speed. They had thrown away their
+packs and were racing into the village in light order. Five minutes
+later a crowd of weary, humiliated boys came hurrying up to where the
+girls sat. They were much more fatigued than were their opponents,
+besides which, they were chagrined beyond words.
+
+“Did we win?” jeered Jane triumphantly.
+
+“Yes. You won,” admitted Captain Baker sourly. “I take off my hat to
+you.” He suited the action to the word. “You beat us at our own game. I
+don’t know how you did it, but you did and that’s all there is about it,
+and we aren’t going to whine. We’ll take our medicine. We’re going to
+stay in town the rest of the day, and we’ll see you later on. Good-bye
+until to-night.”
+
+The girls’ weariness left them almost magically. They hopped into Jane’s
+car and were swiftly whirled home. Later in the afternoon a box of
+marshmallows for each of the girls was delivered to Miss Elting. But the
+fun was not yet ended.
+
+That night the Tramp Club and the Meadow-Brook Girls were the guests of
+Tommy Thompson’s father and mother at dinner. Tommy’s parents, as well
+as the parents of the other girls, were delighted with the splendid
+physical condition of their daughters. Before each girl’s plate at the
+table that stretched the length of the big dining room, was a box of
+marshmallows, before each boy’s plate a handkerchief.
+
+The marshmallow boxes were tied with pink ribbon, the color chosen by
+the Meadow-Brook Girls for their organization.
+
+“On Hallowe’en,” declared Dill Dodd solemnly, “you shall hear from the
+tramps again, and the message will have a bearing on the question of
+melons.”
+
+Nor did Baker’s Tramp Club forget. Surely enough, on Hallowe’en Harriet
+received for herself and her friends two great, ripe, luscious
+watermelons with a most cordially worded note from the boys.
+
+“We must see to it that the Tramp Club never do anything like this
+again,” said Miss Elting, as she and the Meadow-Brook Girls cut up and
+enjoyed the watermelons. “At this season of the year fruit of this kind
+comes only from hot houses and is very expensive. The boys, to show
+their contrition, have mortgaged their pocket money, I fear.”
+
+Soon after their return the Meadow-Brook Girls entered upon the duties
+and pleasures of the new school year. We may be assured also that at the
+proper time, Miss Elting would see to it that the beads which the girls
+had won by their deeds of daring and other achievements during their
+recent trip, would be awarded. But we shall hear from them again.
+
+They had ahead of them many happy days of outdoor life and adventure, as
+will be learned in the next volume of this series, which is published
+under the title, “The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat; Or, The Stormy Cruise
+of the Red Rover.”
+
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+                  HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY’S CATALOGUE OF
+                      The Best and Least Expensive
+                     Books for Real Boys and Girls
+
+Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not plentiful. Many
+stories, too, are so highly improbable as to bring a grin of derision to
+the young reader’s face before he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a
+distinctive brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring the buyer of
+having a book that is up-to-date and fine throughout. No buyer of an
+ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed.
+
+Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any
+bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for
+Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will
+at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the
+ALTEMUS books than of those published by other houses.
+
+            Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books.
+
+      Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price
+
+                         Henry Altemus Company
+                  507-513 Cherry Street, Philadelphia
+
+
+                       The Motor Boat Club Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully
+entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy
+will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series.
+
+    1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or,
+      The Secret of Smugglers’ Island.
+    2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or,
+      The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir.
+    3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or,
+      A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed.
+    4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or,
+      The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.
+    5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or,
+      Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.
+    6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or,
+      A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.
+    7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or,
+      The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                     The Range and Grange Hustlers
+
+                          By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great
+ranches in the West? Any bright boy will “devour” the books of this
+series, once he has made a start with the first volume.
+
+    1 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; Or,
+      The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide.
+    2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS’ GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or,
+      Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers’ Combine.
+    3 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; Or,
+      Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie.
+    4 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; Or,
+      The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                         Submarine Boys Series
+
+                          By VICTOR G. DURHAM
+
+These splendid books for boys and girls deal with life aboard submarine
+torpedo boats, and with the adventures of the young crew, and possess,
+in addition to the author’s surpassing knack of storytelling, a great
+educational value for all young readers.
+
+    1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or,
+      Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.
+    2 THE SUBMARINE BOYS’ TRIAL TRIP; Or,
+      “Making Good” as Young Experts.
+    3 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; Or,
+      The Prize Detail at Annapolis.
+    4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or,
+      Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.
+    5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS’ LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or,
+      The Young Kings of the Deep.
+    6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or,
+      Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.
+    7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or,
+      Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                     The Square Dollar Boys Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The reading boy will be a voter within a few years; these books are
+bound to make him think, and when he casts his vote he will do it more
+intelligently for having read these volumes.
+
+    1 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; Or,
+      Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal.
+    2 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; Or,
+      In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                          Ben Lightbody Series
+
+                            By WALTER BENHAM
+
+    1 BEN LIGHTBODY, SPECIAL; Or,
+      Seizing His First Chance to Make Good.
+    2 BEN LIGHTBODY’S BIGGEST PUZZLE; Or,
+      Running the Double Ghost to Earth.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                         Pony Rider Boys Series
+
+                          By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These tales may be aptly described as those of a new Cooper. In every
+sense they belong to the best class of books for boys and girls.
+
+    1 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; Or,
+      The Secret of the Lost Claim.
+    2 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; Or,
+      The Veiled Riddle of the Plains.
+    3 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; Or,
+      The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail.
+    4 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; Or,
+      The Secret of Ruby Mountain.
+    5 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; Or,
+      Finding a Key to the Desert Maze.
+    6 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; Or,
+      The End of the Silver Trail.
+    7 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or,
+      The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                        The Boys of Steel Series
+
+                           By JAMES R. MEARS
+
+The author has made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes
+laid in the iron and steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of
+some phase of this great industry. The information given is exact and
+truthful; above all, each story is full of adventure and fascination.
+
+    1 THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; Or,
+      Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft.
+    2 THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or,
+      Heading the Diamond Drill Shift.
+    3 THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; Or,
+      Roughing It on the Great Lakes.
+    4 THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; Or,
+      Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                           West Point Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans
+whose doings will inspire all boy readers.
+
+    1 DICK PRESCOTT’S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or,
+      Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.
+    2 DICK PRESCOTT’S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or,
+      Finding the Glory of the Soldier’s Life.
+    3 DICK PRESCOTT’S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or,
+      Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.
+    4 DICK PRESCOTT’S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or,
+      Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                            Annapolis Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in
+these volumes.
+
+    1 DAVE DARRIN’S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or,
+      Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.
+    2 DAVE DARRIN’S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or,
+      Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy “Youngsters.”
+    3 DAVE DARRIN’S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or,
+      Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen.
+    4 DAVE DARRIN’S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or,
+      Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                       The Young Engineers Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys
+Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of
+all the traditions of Dick & Co.
+
+    1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or,
+      At Railroad Building in Earnest.
+    2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or,
+      Laying Tracks on the “Man-Killer” Quicksand.
+    3 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; Or,
+      Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.
+    4 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; Or,
+      Fighting the Mine Swindlers.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                        Boys of the Army Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of
+to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen.
+
+    1 UNCLE SAM’S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or,
+      Two Recruits in the United States Army.
+    2 UNCLE SAM’S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or,
+      Winning Corporal’s Chevrons.
+    3 UNCLE SAM’S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or,
+      Handling Their First Real Commands.
+    4 UNCLE SAM’S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or,
+      Following the Flag Against the Moros.
+
+                   (Other volumes to follow rapidly.)
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                         Battleship Boys Series
+
+                          By FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day’s huge
+drab Dreadnaughts.
+
+    1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or,
+      Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam’s Navy.
+    2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or,
+      Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.
+    3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or,
+      Earning New Ratings in European Seas.
+    4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or,
+      Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.
+
+(Other volumes to follow rapidly.)
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                     The Meadow-Brook Girls Series
+
+                           By JANET ALDRIDGE
+
+Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.
+
+    1 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS; Or,
+      Fun and Frolic in the Summer Camp.
+    2 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY; Or,
+      The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike.
+    3 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; Or,
+      The Stormy Cruise of the Red Rover.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                        High School Boys Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck.
+
+Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating
+volumes.
+
+    1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or,
+      Dick & Co.’s First Year Pranks and Sports.
+    2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or,
+      Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.
+    3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.
+    4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                       Grammar School Boys Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school
+boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy.
+
+    1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Start Things Moving.
+    2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or,
+      Dick & Co. at Winter Sports.
+    3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.
+    4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                   High School Boys’ Vacation Series
+
+                          By H. IRVING HANCOCK
+
+“Give us more Dick Prescott books!”
+
+This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country
+over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers,
+making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and
+the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in
+the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these
+splendid narratives.
+
+    1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ CANOE CLUB; Or,
+      Dick & Co.‘s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.
+    2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or,
+      The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.
+    3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ FISHING TRIP; Or,
+      Dick & Co. in the Wilderness.
+    4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ TRAINING HIKE; Or,
+      Dick & Co. Making Themselves “Hard as Nails.”
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                         The Circus Boys Series
+
+                       By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON
+
+Mr. Darlington’s books breathe forth every phase of an intensely
+interesting and exciting life.
+
+    1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or,
+      Making the Start in the Sawdust Life.
+    2 THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; Or,
+      Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.
+    3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or,
+      Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.
+    4 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; Or,
+      Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                      The High School Girls Series
+
+                     By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.
+
+These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader
+fairly by storm.
+
+    1 GRACE HARLOWE’S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or,
+      The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.
+    2 GRACE HARLOWE’S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or,
+      The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.
+    3 GRACE HARLOWE’S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or,
+      Fast Friends in the Sororities.
+    4 GRACE HARLOWE’S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or,
+      The Parting of the Ways.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+                      The Automobile Girls Series
+
+                          By LAURA DENT CRANE
+
+No girl’s library—no family book-case can be considered at all complete
+unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books.
+
+    1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or,
+      Watching the Summer Parade.
+    2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or,
+      The Ghost of Lost Man’s Trail.
+    3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or,
+      Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow.
+    4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or,
+      Winning Out Against Heavy Odds.
+    5 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; Or,
+      Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies.
+
+               Cloth, Illustrated—Price, per Volume, 50c.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country, by 
+Janet Aldridge
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY ***
+
+***** This file should be named 36391-0.txt or 36391-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/3/9/36391/
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.