Janet Aldridge - The Meadow Brook Girls by the Sea

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[Illustration: The Sea Lay Sparkling in the Sunlight. _Frontispiece_.]

The Meadow-Brook
Girls by the Sea

OR

The Loss of The Lonesome Bar

By

JANET ALDRIDGE

Author of the Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas, The Meadow-Brook
Girls Across Country, The Meadow-Brook Girls
Afloat, The Meadow-Brook Girls in The Hills,
The Meadow-Brook Girls on The
Tennis Courts

THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

Akron, Ohio New York

Made in U.S.A.

Copyright MCMXIV

_By_ THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

CONTENTS

I. A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY

II. WHAT CAME OF A COLD PLUNGE

III. HARRIET HAS A NARROW ESCAPE

IV. A QUESTION OF POLITICS

V. THE ROCKY ROAD TO WAU-WAU

VI. AT HOME BY THE SEA

VII. A SUDDEN STORM

VIII. A NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN NIGHT

IX. A SURPRISE THAT PROVED A SHOCK

X. SUMMONED TO THE COUNCIL

XI. A REWARD WELL EARNED

XII. MYSTERY ON A SAND BAR

XIII. A STRANGE PROCEEDING

XIV. A VISITOR WHO WAS WELCOME

XV. TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY

XVI. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

XVII. WHEN THEIR SHIP CAME IN

XVIII. FIREWORKS FROM THE MASTHEAD

XIX. SAILING THE BLUE WATER

XX. OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND

XXI. AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK

XXII. IN THE GRIP OF MIGHTY SEAS

XXIII. WAGING A DESPERATE BATTLE

XXIV. CONCLUSION

CHAPTER I

A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY

"I think we are ready to start, girls." Miss Elting folded the road
map that she had been studying and placed it in a pocket of her long
dust coat. There was a half-smile on her face, a merry twinkle in her
eyes.

"Which way do I drive?" questioned Jane McCarthy.

"Straight ahead out of the village," answered Miss Elting, the
guardian of the party of young girls who were embarking on their
summer's vacation under somewhat unusual circumstances.

"It's the first time I ever started for a place without knowing what
the place was, or where I was going," declared Jane McCarthy,
otherwise known as "Crazy Jane."

"Won't you pleathe tell uth where we are going?" lisped Grace
Thompson.

Miss Elting shook her head, with decision.

"Do my father and mother know where we are going?" persisted Grace.

"Of course they know, Tommy. The parents of each of you know, and I
know, and so shall you after you reach your destination. Have you
everything in the car, Jane?"

"Everything but myself," nodded Jane. The latter's automobile, well
loaded with camping equipment, stood awaiting its passengers. The
latter were Miss Elting, Jane McCarthy, Harriet Burrell, Grace
Thompson, Hazel Holland and Margery Brown, the party being otherwise
known as "The Meadow-Brook Girls." "Get in, girls. We'll shake the
dust of Meadow-Brook from our tires before you can count twenty,"
continued Jane. "If Crazy Jane were to drive through the town slowly
folks surely would think something startling had happened to her. Is
there anything you wish to do before we leave, Miss Elting?"

"Not that I think of at the moment, Jane."

"Oh, let's say good-bye to our folks," suggested Margery Brown.

"I have thaid good-bye," answered Grace with finality.

"We'll give them a farewell blast," chuckled Jane. With that she
climbed into the car, and, with a honk of the horn, drove down that
street and into the next, keeping the horn going almost continually.
As they passed the home of each girl the young women gave the yell of
the Meadow-Brook Girls:

"Rah, rah, rah,
Rah, rah, rah!
Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook,
Sis, boom, ah!"

It was shouted in chorus at their homes, and as the car passed the
homes of their friends as well. Hands were waved from windows, hats
were swung in the air by boy friends, while the older people smiled
indulgently and nodded to them as the rapidly moving motor car passed
through the village.

"I think the town knows all about it now. Suppose we make a start?"
suggested Miss Elting.

"We haven't therenaded the pothtmathter yet," Tommy reminded her.

"Nor the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker," answered
Harriet Burrell laughingly. "How long a drive have we, Miss Elting?"

"Four or five hours, ordinarily. Jane undoubtedly will make it in much
less time, if she drives at her usual rate of speed. Straight south,
Jane. I will tell you when to change."

The faces of the girls wore a puzzled expression. They could not
imagine where they were going. Miss Elting had made a mystery of this
summer vacation, and not a word had the girls been able to obtain from
her as to where they were to go: whether to tour the country in Crazy
Jane's automobile, or to go into camp. Tommy declared that it was a
perfectly delightful mythtery, and that she didn't care where they
were going, while Margery on the contrary, grumbled incessantly.

The start had been made late in the afternoon. The day had been
cloudy. There were even indications of rain, but the girls did not
care. They were too well inured to the weather to be disturbed by
lowering skies and threatening clouds. In the meantime Jane McCarthy
was bowling along to the southward, throwing up a cloud of dust,
having many narrow escapes from collisions with farmers' wagons and
wandering stock. They had been traveling about two hours when the
guardian directed their daring driver to turn to the left. The latter
did so, thus heading the car to the eastward.

"I think I begin to understand," thought Harriet Burrell aloud.

"What ith it that you underthtand?" demanded Tommy, pricking up her
ears. "You know where we are going, don't you?"

"I can make a close guess," replied Harriet, nodding brightly.

"Oh, tell uth, tell uth," begged Tommy.

Harriet shook her head.

"I couldn't think of it. Miss Elting wishes it to be a surprise to
you."

"Well, won't it be jutht ath much of a thurprithe now ath it will be
thome other time?" argued Grace Thompson.

"Perhaps Harriet just imagines she knows. I do not believe she knows
any more about our destination than do the rest of our party," said
the guardian. "But why worry about it? You will know when you get
there."

Jane stopped the car, and, getting out, proceeded to put the curtains
up on one side, Harriet and Hazel doing the same on the opposite side.
The storm curtain, with its square of transparent isinglass, was next
set in place to protect the driver from the front, the wind shield
first having been turned down out of the way.

"Now let the rain come," chuckled Jane, after having taken a quick
survey of their work.

"Yes; it is nice and cosy in here," answered Miss Elting. "I almost
believe I should like to sleep in here during a rainstorm."

"Excuthe me," objected Tommy. "I'd be thure to get crampth in my
neck."

"She would that," answered Jane laughingly, starting the car and a
moment later throwing in the high-speed clutch.

The party was not more than fairly started on the way again when the
raindrops began pattering on the leather top of the car.

"There it comes," cried Jane McCarthy. "Sounds like rain on a tin
roof, doesn't it?"

The downpour rapidly grew heavier, accompanied by lightning and
thunder. The flashes were blinding, dazzling Jane's eyes so that she
had difficulty in keeping her car in the road. It was now nearly
evening, and an early darkness had already settled over the landscape.
There was little hope of more light, for night would be upon them by
the time the storm had passed. True, there would be a moon behind the
clouds, but the latter bade fair to be wholly obscured during the
evening.

Despite the blinding storm that masked the road, and the sharp flashes
of lightning that dazzled the eyes of the driver, Crazy Jane McCarthy
went on driving ahead at the same rate of speed until Miss Elting
begged her to go more slowly. Jane reduced the speed of the car,
though so slightly as to be scarcely noticeable.

The guardian smiled but made no further comment. Being shut in as they
were, they would have difficulty in getting out were an accident to
befall them. All at once, however, Jane slowed down with a jolt. She
then sent the car cautiously ahead, this time driving out on a level
grass plot at the side of the road. There she shut down, turned off
the power, and, leaning back, yawned audibly.

"Whoa!" she said wearily.

"Why, Jane, what is the matter?" cried Miss Elting.

"Like a sailboat, we can't make much headway without wind. As it
happens, we have no wind on the quarter, as the sailors would say."

"I don't understand."

"She means the tires are down," explained Harriet Burrell.

"Yes. I told Dad those rear tires were leaking, but he declared they
were good for five hundred miles yet."

"Can't we patch them?" queried Harriet.

"We can," replied Jane, "but we aren't going to until this rain lets
up a little. Please don't ask me to get out and paddle about in the
wet, for I'm not going to do anything of the sort." Jane began to hum
a tune. Her companions settled back comfortably. It was dry and cosy
in the car and the travellers felt drowsy. Jane was the only really
wide-awake one. Margery finally uttered a single, loud snore that
awakened the others. The girls uttered a shout and began shaking
Margery, who pulled herself sharply together, protesting that she
hadn't been asleep for even one little minute.

"That ith the way thhe alwayth doeth," observed Tommy. "Then thhe
denieth it. I'm glad I don't thnore. Ithn't it awful to thnore, Mith
Elting?"

"Having too much to say is worse," answered Jane pointedly. "The storm
has passed. Let's get out and fix things up. Harriet, will you help
me? Miss Elting, if you will be good enough to engineer the
taking-down of the side curtains and the lowering of the top I shall
be obliged. We shan't need the top. We aren't going to have any more
rain to-night, and I want all the light I can get, especially as we
are going over strange roads. Have you been this way before?"

"No, Jane, but I have the road map."

"Road map!" scoffed the Irish girl. "I followed one once and landed in
a ditch!"

"That ith nothing for Crathy Jane to do," lisped Grace.

"Right you are, Tommy," answered Jane with a hearty laugh. "Just as I
thought, the tires, the inner tubes, are leaking around the valves. We
shan't be able to do much with them, but I think we can make them hold
until we get in. I'll have some new inner tubes sent out to us. By
the way, are we going to be where we can send for supplies and have
them delivered?" questioned Jane shrewdly.

"Oh, I think so," was Miss Elting's evasive answer.

"Aren't you glad you found out?" chuckled Harriet.

Jane grinned, but said nothing. The work of patching the two inner
tubes occupied nearly an hour before the tires were back in place and
the car ready to start. Harriet, in the meantime, had lighted the big
headlights and the rear light.

"All aboard for Nowhere!" shouted Jane. The girls again took their
places in the car, which started with a jolt. "Is it straight ahead,
Miss Elting?"

"Yes."

"I hope you know where you're going. I'm sure I don't," remarked Jane
under her breath.

They had gone but a short distance before the driver discovered that
which displeased her very much. The lights on the front of the car
were growing dim. Her companions noticed this at about the same time.

"The gas is giving out," exclaimed Jane. "Isn't that provoking? With
us it is one continuous round of surprises."

"What are we going to do?" questioned Margery apprehensively.

"Just the same as before: keep on going," replied the Irish girl.
"I've driven without lights before this. I guess I can do it again. I
can see the road and so can you."

"Please reduce your speed a little," urged Miss Elting. The driver did
so, for Jane was not quite so confident of her ability to keep to the
road as she would have had them believe. "There comes some one. Please
stop; I want to ask him a question."

A farmer on a horse had ridden out to one side of the road, where he
was holding his mount, the horse being afraid of the car. Miss Elting
asked him how they might reach the Lonesome Cove. The girls were very
deeply interested in this question as well as in the answer to it.
They had never heard of Lonesome Cove. So that was to be their
destination? They nudged each other knowingly. The farmer informed
Miss Elting that the Cove was about eight miles farther on.

"Take your third right hand turn and it'll lead you right down into
the Cove," he said. "It's a pretty lonesome place now," he added.

"Yes, I understand," replied the guardian hurriedly, "but we know all
about that. Thank you very much. You may drive ahead now, Jane." Jane
smiled and started on. "I keep watch of the turns of the road. You pay
attention to your driving exclusively," added Miss Elting. "And,
girls, you keep a sharp lookout, too."

"Where ith thith Lonethome Cove?" questioned Tommy. "I don't like the
thound of the name."

"You will like it when you get there," answered the guardian. "But I
said I would not tell you anything about it. Time enough when we reach
there. You shall then see for yourselves. You are going too fast,
Jane."

"I'd like to reach there some time before morning. The road is clear
and level. I'm going only twenty miles an hour, as it is. That's just
a creeping pace, you know," reassured Jane.

"Yes, I know," answered the guardian, with a shake of her head. They
continued on, but without much conversation, for Jane was busy
watching the road, her companions keeping a sharp lookout for the
turns. They had already passed two roads that led off to the right.
The next, according to their informant, would be the one for them to
take to reach the Lonesome Cove.

"Here is the third turn," announced Jane finally, bringing her car to
a stop. The highway on which they had been riding was shaded with
second-growth trees, as was the intersecting road. The latter was
narrow; but, from Jane's investigations, she having stepped down to
examine it, it was hard though not well-traveled. "Have you been here
before, Miss Elting?"

"No, Jane; I have not. Go ahead and drive carefully, for I hardly
think it a main road."

"It's a good one, whether it is a main road or not."

They moved on down the side road, and, gaining confidence as they
progressed, Jane McCarthy let out a notch at a time until she was
traveling at a fairly high rate of speed. Their way wound in and out
among the small trees and bushes that bordered the road, the latter
narrowing little by little until there was barely room for turning out
in case they were to meet another vehicle. However, there seemed
little chance of that. The motor car appeared to be the only vehicle
abroad that night.

The road now was so dark that it was only by glancing up at the tops
of the bordering trees, outlined against the sky, that the driver of
the car was able to keep well in the middle of it. She was straining
her eyes, peering into the darkness ahead.

"How far?" demanded Jane shortly, never removing her gaze from the
trees and the roadway.

"We must be near the place. Surely it cannot be far now," answered the
guardian. "I thought we should have seen a light before this."

"We're coming into the open," broke in Jane. "I'm glad of that. Now we
needn't be afraid of running into the trees or the fences, if there
are any along the track. I can't make out the sides of the road at
all. I--"

A sudden and new sound cut short her words. The girls, realizing that
something unusual was occurring, fell suddenly silent. The roadway
beneath them gave off a hollow sound, as if they were going over a
bridge. The fringe of trees had fallen away, while all about them was
what appeared to be a darkened plain or field. Yet strain their eyes
as they would, the travelers were unable to distinguish the character
of their surroundings, though Harriet Burrell, with chin elevated, had
been sniffing the air suspiciously.

"I smell water," she cried.

"Tho do I," lisped Tommy. "But I don't want a drink."

Jane began to slow down as soon as the new sound had been heard. The
car was rolling along slowly. For some unaccountable reason the driver
put on a little more speed. Then came Jane McCarthy's voice, in a
quick, warning shout:

"Here's trouble. Jump, girls! Jump! We're going in!"

They did not know what it was that they were going into, but not a
girl of them obeyed Jane's command. Margery half-arose from the seat.
Hazel pulled her back.

"Sit still, girls!" commanded Miss Elting. "Stop the car, Jane!"

The driver shut off and applied the brake. But she was too late. The
automobile kept on going. The roadway underneath it seemed to be
dropping away from them; for a few seconds they experienced the
sensation of riding on thin air; then the car lurched heavily forward,
and, with a mighty splash, plunged into water. A great sheet of solid
water leaped up and enveloped them.

"Everyone for herself!" cried Harriet Burrell. "Jump, girls!"

This time they _did_ essay to jump. Before they could do so, however,
they were struggling to free themselves from the sinking car, the
water already over their heads.

CHAPTER II

WHAT CAME OF A COLD PLUNGE

Five girls and their guardian struggled free from the sinking motor
car and began paddling for the surface. All knowing how to swim, they
instinctively held their breath when they felt the water closing over
them. Fortunately for the Meadow-Brook Girls, the top had been removed
from the car, else all would have been drowned before they could have
extricated themselves. Jane had the most difficulty in getting out.
She was held to her seat by the steering wheel for a few seconds, but
not so much as a thought of fear entered her mind. Crazy Jane went to
work methodically to free herself, which she succeeded in doing a few
seconds after her companions had reached the surface.

"Thave me, oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy Thompson chokingly.

There followed a great splashing, accompanied by shouts and choking
coughs. About this time Jane McCarthy's head appeared above the water.
She took a long, gasping breath, then called out:

"Here we are, darlin's! Is anybody wet?"

"Girls, are you all here?" cried Miss Elting anxiously. "Call your
names."

They did so, and there was relief in every heart when it was found
that not a girl was missing. But they had yet to learn how they
happened to be in the water. The latter was cold as ice, it seemed to
them, and their desire now was to get to shore as quickly as possible.
Which way the shore lay they did not know, but from the looks of the
sky-line it was apparent that they would not be obliged to go far in
either direction to find a landing place.

"Follow me, girls," directed the guardian. "We will get out of here
and talk about our disaster afterward. Harriet, please bring up the
rear. Be sure that no one is left behind."

The splashing ceased, each girl starting forward with her own
particular stroke: Tommy swimming frog-fashion, Margery blowing,
puffing, and groaning, paddling like a four-footed animal.

"Oh, help!" she moaned.

"I'm glad I'm not tho fat ath you are," observed Tommy to the puffing
Margery.

"That will do, Tommy! Buster is quite as well able to take care of
herself as are you. I've touched bottom! Here we are, girls. Oh, I am
so glad!"

"Where ith it? I can't thee the bottom."

"Stop swimming, and you'll feel it," suggested Jane, who, having
reached the shore, waded out of the water and ran, laughing, up the
bank. "My stars, what a mess!"

One by one the others emerged from the cold water and stood shivering
on the beach.

"Wring out your clothes," directed Miss Elting. This, some of them
were already doing. Margery sat down helplessly. Harriet assisted her
to her feet.

"You mustn't do that. You surely will catch cold. Keep moving, dear,"
ordered Harriet.

"I can't. My clothes weigh a ton," protested Margery.

"Buthter thinkth it ith her clotheth that are heavy," jeered Tommy.
"It ithn't your clotheth, Buthter; it'th you."

"Make her stop, Miss Elting. Don't you think I am suffering enough,
without Tommy making me feel any worse?"

"Yes, I do. Tommy, will you please stop annoying Margery?"

"Yeth, Mith Elting, I'll thtop until Buthter getth dry again. But I'm
jutht ath wet at thhe ith, and I'm not croth."

"Girls, we have had a very narrow escape. I dread to think what would
have happened had that automobile top been up. We should give thanks
for our deliverance. But I don't understand how we came to get in
there, or what it is that we did get into," said the guardian.

"I know. It wath water," Tommy informed her. "It wath wet water, too,
and cold water, and--"

A shivering chorus of laughs greeted her words. Some of the girls
began whipping their arms and jumping up and down, for all were very
cold.

"Can't we run?" asked Harriet.

"Yes, if we can decide where the water is, and where it isn't,"
replied Miss Elting. "Suppose we find the road? We can run up and down
that without danger of falling in."

"It is just to the left of us; I can see the opening between the
trees," answered Harriet. She moved in the direction she had
indicated, "Here it is. Come on, girls."

The others picked their way cautiously to her. Harriet started up the
road at a run, followed by the others and accompanied by the "plush,
plush, plush!" of shoes nearly full of water. Tommy sat down.

"What are you doing on the ground?" shrieked Margery, as she stumbled
and fell over her little companion. "Why don't you tell me when you
are going to sit down, so that I won't fall over you?"

"You wouldn't, if you weren't tho fat."

"Tommy!" broke in Miss Elting. The whole party had come to a halt,
following Margery's mishap.

"I beg your pardon, Mith Elting. I forgot. Buthter ithn't dry yet.
What am I doing? Yeth, I'm bailing out my thhoeth. Ugh! How they do
thtick to my feet. Oh, I can't get them on again!" wailed Tommy.

"What a helpless creature you are," answered Harriet laughingly.
"Here, let me help you. There. You see how easy it is when once you
make up your mind that you really can."

"No, I don't thee. It ith too dark. Help me up!"

"Take hold of my hand. Here, Margery, you get on the other side. We
three will run together. Everyone else keep out of our way."

"Yeth, becauthe Buthter ith--" Tommy, remembering her promise, checked
herself. The three started up the road at a brisk trot. Reaching the
main road, Harriet led them about, then began running back toward the
water.

"Look out for the water," warned Jane shrilly, after they had been
going for a few minutes. But her warning came too late. Harriet, Tommy
and Margery had turned to the right after reaching the open. The three
fell in with a splash and a chorus of screams. The water was shallow
and there was no difficulty in getting out, but the girls now were as
wet as before, and shivering more than ever. At this juncture the
guardian took a hand. She directed them to walk up and down the road
in orderly fashion, which they did, shivering, their teeth chattering
and the water dripping from their clothing. Reaching the main highway
the guardian turned out on this, walking her charges a full mile in
the direction they had been following before turning off into the
byway.

"This part of the country appears to be deserted," she said. "I think
we had better return. In the morning we will try to find some one."

"Thave me!" moaned Tommy. "Mutht we thtay here in our wet clotheth all
night?"

"I fear so. What else is there for us to do?"

"But let uth get our dry clotheth and put them on," urged Tommy. The
girls laughed at her.

"Our clothes are down under the water in the car, darlin'," Jane
informed her.

"Of course, they are soaked," reflected Miss Elting.

"I do not think so. The chest on the back of the car is water-proof as
well as dust-proof," said Jane. "If it weren't water-proof the things
in it would get soaked every time there was a driving rainstorm. No;
our other clothing is as dry as toast. You'll see that it is when we
get it."

"Yes, when we do," groaned Margery--"_when_ we do!"

"It might as well be wet," observed the guardian. "We shan't be able
to get it out. Do you think the car is ruined, Jane?"

"It's wet, like ourselves, Miss Elting. I reckon it will take a whole
summer to dry it out thoroughly. I've got to get word to Dad to come
after it."

"What will he say when he learns of the accident, Jane?" questioned
Harriet.

"Say? He will say it served the old car right for being such a fool.
My dad has common sense. He will have another car up here for us just
as soon as he can get one here. By the way, Miss Elting, how much
farther do we have to go?"

"I don't know, Jane. I hope it isn't much farther. How far do you
think we traveled after meeting the man?"

"Five miles, I should say."

"And he told us that the third turn-off would lead us to Lonesome
Cove, did he not?"

"He did, but he made a mistake. This is Wet Cove."

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