Janet Aldridge - The Meadow Brook Girls by the Sea

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"And a lonesome one, too, even if it isn't _the_ Lonesome one,"
chuckled Harriet.

"Then we cannot be so very far from our destination. I am sure this
isn't the place. We haven't come far enough. Why didn't we think of
that before we turned into this road?"

"If I knew where you wanted to go, I might be better able to answer
that question," reminded Jane. But the guardian was not to be caught
in Crazy Jane's trap, though it was too dark to reveal the quizzical
smile that wrinkled Miss Elting's face.

"I am not sure that I know myself, Jane," was her reply.

"You fully expected to find some one here, did you not?" teased
Harriet. "I might say that you looked to find a number of persons
here?"

"We won't discuss that now. Do you wish to spoil the little surprise
that I have been planning for you?"

"If this is your surprise, I don't think much of it," declared Jane
bluntly.

"Nor can I blame you," agreed Miss Elting. "But this is not the
surprise."

"Maybe if we wait we will fall into thome more pondth," suggested
Grace. "Ith your thurprithe ath wet at thith one wath?"

"I admit your right to tease me, Tommy," laughed the guardian.

"Come on, everybody!" urged Harriet. "We must walk briskly and keep it
up. That will be the only way to keep us from catching cold as a
result of our wetting." Having paused for a moment to discuss their
situation the girls began tramping once more. As the hours dragged
along all became weary and drowsy. Their joints were growing stiff,
too, which condition was not improved by the chill of the night air.
Most active of all the party was little Tommy Thompson, who skipped
along, talking incessantly. Margery was scarcely able to keep up with
the party. Twice she leaned against a tree, closing her eyes, only to
fall to the ground in a heap. Harriet, though nearly as tired and
footsore as her companions, summoned all her will power and trudged
bravely along.

Had the Meadow-Brook Girls not been so well seasoned to hardship,
serious results might have followed their unexpected bath in the chill
waters, followed by their exposure to the searching night wind. But
they were healthy, outdoor girls, as all our readers know. The first
volume of this series, "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS,"
told the story of their first vacation spent in the open, when, as
members of Camp Wau-Wau in the Pocono Woods, they served their
novitiate as Camp Girls, winning many honors and becoming firmly
wedded to life in the woods.

When that camping period came to an end Harriet and her companions, as
related in "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY," set out
on the long walk home, meeting with plenty of adventures and many
laughable happenings. It was during this hike that they became
acquainted with the Tramp Club Boys and entered into a walking contest
against them, which the Meadow-Brook Girls won.

Our readers next met the girls in "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS
AFLOAT," a volume which contained the account of their houseboat
life on Lake Winnepesaukee. It was there that they again outwitted the
Tramp Club, who took their defeat good-naturedly and by way of
retaliation aided the girls in running down a mysterious enemy whose
malicious mischief had caused them repeated annoyance.

Then, as their summer was not yet ended, the Meadow-Brook Girls
accepted an invitation from Jane McCarthy to accompany her on a trip
through the White Mountains, all of which is fully set forth in
"THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS."

It was there that they met with a series of mishaps which they laid at
the door of an ill-favored man who had vainly tried to become their
guide. The disappearance of Janus Grubb, the guide who had been
engaged by Miss Elting during their mountain hike, and the surprising
events that followed made the story of their mountain trip well worth
reading.

And now, once more, we find the Meadow-Brook Girls ready to take the
trail again wherever that trail might lead. At the present moment,
however, it did not look as though Harriet Burrell and her friends
would reach their destination in the immediate future unless it were
nearer at hand than they thought.

Not once during the night did the moon show her face, though about two
o'clock in the morning the clouds thinned, the landscape showing with
more distinctness. The girls, when they walked down to the shore, saw
a sheet of water covering several acres. Leading down to the water was
a pier that extended far out into the little lake or pond, whatever it
might be. Harriet, Jane and Miss Elting walked out to the far end of
the pier.

Harriet pointed to the end of the pier as she stood above it. "It has
broken down," she said.

"No; I think not," answered the guardian. "I think, too, that I
understand what this is. It is an ice pier. Ice is harvested from this
pond and carried up over that sloping platform and so on to the shore
or to conveyances waiting here. But how narrow it is. How ever did you
manage to keep on the pier until you reached the end, Jane, dear?"

"I really don't know, Miss Elting," replied Jane, evidently impressed
with the feat she had accomplished. She leaned over and peered into
the water to see if she could find her car. It was not to be seen.
Dark objects, floating here and there about the surface, showed the
girls where part of their equipment had gone. Harriet was regarding
the dark objects with inquiring eyes.

"I wish we had a boat," said Miss Elting. "We could gather up our
stuff. We can't afford to lose it."

"We don't need a boat. Jane and I will get it out. What do you say,
Jane?" answered Harriet.

"I don't know what you have in mind, darlin', but I'm with you,
whatever it is."

"You and I will go in after the things."

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Jane. "And in this cold water.
Br-rr-r!"

"No; you must not do that," objected the guardian. "At least not now."

"What is it you folks are planning?" questioned Hazel, who, with Tommy
and Buster, had joined the party at the end of the pier. Jane
explained what Harriet had proposed. Margery's teeth began to chatter
again.

"My--my weak heart won't stand any more," she groaned. "Don't ask me
to go into that horrid, cold water again. _Please_ don't!"

"You won't feel the cold once you are in," urged Harriet.

"No. I didn't feel it the other time, did I?"

"What? Go in thwimming," demanded Tommy. "I wouldn't go in that water
again for a dollar and fifty thentth; no, not for a dollar and
theventy-five thentth." Tommy began backing away, as though fearing
the others might insist and assist her in. Suddenly she uttered a
scream.

"Thave me!" yelled Tommy.

They saw her lurch backward; her feet left the pier; then came a
splash. Tommy Thompson had gone over backward and taken to the water
head first.

CHAPTER III

HARRIET HAS A NARROW ESCAPE

"Thave me! Oh, thave me!"

Tommy had turned over and righted herself before rising to the
surface. When she did appear she was within a foot or so of the pier.
Her little blonde head popped up from under the water all of a sudden,
and in that instant she opened her mouth in a wail for help. Tommy's
companions were fairly hysterical with merriment. Tommy yelled again,
begging them to "thave" her.

"I'll save ye, darlin'," cried Jane, throwing herself down and
fastening a hand lightly in Tommy's hair, whereat the little girl
screamed more lustily than before. "Lend a hand here, my hearties. The
darlin' wants to be saved. We'll save her, won't we?" Jane shouted in
great glee.

"Of course we will," answered Harriet. She leaned over the edge of the
pier, Jane raising the little girl until the latter's shoulders were
above water; Harriet got hold of her dress and worked her hand along
until she had grasped Tommy by the ankles.

"Let go!" yelled Tommy.

She meant for Harriet to release her feet, but instead Jane McCarthy
released her hold on Tommy's shoulders. The next second Tommy Thompson
was standing on her head in the pond with Harriet Burrell jouncing her
up and down, trying to get her out of the water, but taking more time
about it, so it seemed, than was really necessary. Every time Tommy's
head was drawn free of the water she uttered a choking yell. There was
no telling how long the nonsense might have continued, had not Miss
Elting thrust Harriet aside, resulting in Tommy's falling into the
water and having to be rescued again. Tommy was weeping when finally
they dragged her to the pier and wrung the water out of her clothing.

"Now, don't you wish you were _fat_?" jeered Margery. "If you had
been, they couldn't have lifted you and you wouldn't have fallen in
again."

"Fat like you? Never! I'd die firtht," replied Tommy. "But I may ath
it ith. I'm freething, Mith Elting."

"Get up and go ashore. Hazel, will you please see that Grace doesn't
sit down on the cold ground?"

Hazel Holland led the protesting Tommy along the pier to the shore,
where she walked the little girl up and down as fast as she could be
induced to move, which, after all, was not much faster than an
ordinarily slow walk. The others of the party remained out at the end,
walking back and forth and waiting until the coming of the dawn, so
that they might see to that for which they had planned by daylight.

At the first suggestion of dawn, Harriet plunged into the pond without
a word of warning to her companions and began gathering up and pushing
bundles of equipment toward the shore. Jane and Hazel were not far
behind her. Then Miss Elting, not to be outdone by her charges,
plunged in after them. Margery, shivering, turned her back on them and
walked shoreward.

"'Fraid cat! 'fraid cat!" taunted Tommy, when she saw Margery coming.

"I'm no more afraid than you are. You're afraid to go into the water.
The only way you can go in is to fall in or be pushed!"

"Am I? Ith that tho? Well, I'll thhow you whether I am afraid of the
water. I dare you to follow me." Tommy fairly flew down the pier;
then, leaping up into the air, jumped far out, taking a clean
feet-first dive into the pond, uttering a shrill little yell just
before disappearing under the surface. But all at once she stood up,
and, by raising her chin a little, was able to keep her head above
water.

"Hello there, Tommy, what are you standing on?" called Harriet,
puffing and blowing as she pushed a canvas-bound pack along ahead of
her.

"I don't know. I gueth it mutht be the automobile top. It ith nithe
and thpringy."

"Please stay there until I get back. I wish to look it over. If you
can, I wish you would find the rear end of the car, so I may locate it
exactly."

"What have you in mind, darlin'?" asked Jane, with a quick glance at
Harriet.

"I'm going to try to get our clothes. The trunk is strapped and
buckled to the rear end, is it not?"

"Yes."

"Tell me just how those buckles are placed; whether there is also a
loop through which the strap has been run, and all about it."

"How should I know?"

"You put the trunk on, didn't you?"

"Surely, but I can't remember all those things, even if I ever knew
them."

"Jane, you should learn to observe more closely. Most persons are
careless about that." Harriet began swimming toward the shore with
Jane.

"Thay! How long mutht I thtand here in the wet up to my prethiouth
neck?" demanded Grace Thompson. Her feet seemed to be very light. They
persisted in either rising or drifting away from the submerged
automobile top. Tommy kept her hands moving slowly to assist in
maintaining her equilibrium.

"Wait until I return, if you will, please," answered Harriet.

"Thave me! I can't wait. Here I go _now_!" She slipped off and went
under, but came up sputtering and protesting. Instead of remaining to
mark the sunken car, Tommy swam rapidly to shore. She found Harriet,
Hazel and Jane sitting with feet hanging over the pier talking to
Miss Elting. The four were dripping, but none of them seemed to mind
this. The sun soon would be up, and its rays would dry their clothing
and bring them warmth for the first time since their disaster of the
night before.

"Do be careful," Miss Elting was saying when Tommy swam up, and,
clinging to the pier with one hand, floated listlessly while listening
to what was being said.

"What's the matter, Tommy? Couldn't you stand it any longer?" asked
Harriet.

"My feet got tho light that I couldn't hang on."

"She means her head instead of her feet," corrected Margery.

"I think I had better go after the trunk now," decided Harriet.

"I wish you would let me go with you," urged Jane.

"No; two of us would be in each other's way. You folks had better stay
here and wait. There will be plenty to do after I get the trunk
ashore, provided I do. We must have all our outfit together by
sunrise, for we have a day's work ahead of us. Want to get up, Tommy?"

"Yeth."

Harriet reached down and assisted Grace, dripping, to the pier. Then
she slipped in and swam in a leisurely way to the sunken automobile,
which she located after swimming about for a few moments. The next
thing to do was to find the rear end of the car. This was quickly
accomplished. Harriet took a long breath, then dived swiftly. It
seemed to her companions that she had been gone a long time, when,
finally, the girl's dark head rose dripping from the pond. She shook
her head, took several long breaths, then dived again.

Three times Harriet Burrell repeated this. At last, after a brief
dive, they saw the black trunk leap free to the surface of the pond.
The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered a yell. Harriet had accomplished a task
that would have proved to be too much for the average man. Down there,
underneath the water, crouching under the backward tilting automobile
on the bottom of the pond, she had unbuckled three stubborn straps,
rising to the surface after unbuckling each strap, taking in a new
supply of delicious fresh air, then returning to her task.

Before the Meadow-Brook Girls had finished with their shouting,
cheering and gleeful dancing, the black luggage had drifted some
distance from the spot where it had first appeared. So delighted were
they with the result of Harriet Burrell's efforts that, for the
moment, the others entirely forgot the girl herself. But all at once
Miss Elting came to a realization of the truth. Something was wrong.

"Harriet!" she cried excitedly. It was unusual for the guardian to
show alarm, even though she might feel it. "Where is Harriet?"

The shouting and the cheering ceased instantly.

"Oh, she's just playing a trick on us," scoffed Margery Brown.

Suddenly the keen eyes of Jane McCarthy caught sight of something that
sent her heart leaping. That something was a series of bubbles that
rose to the surface. Jane gazed wide-eyed, neither moving nor
speaking, then suddenly hurled herself into the pond. Two loud
splashes followed her own dive into the water. Tommy and Miss Elting
were plunging ahead with all speed. Jane was the first to reach the
scene. She dived, came up empty-handed, then dived again. Tommy
essayed to make a dive, but did not get in deep enough to fully cover
her back. Miss Elting made an error in her calculations, as Jane had
done on the first dive, missing the sunken automobile by several feet.

Now Hazel sprang into the water and swam to them as fast as she knew
how to propel herself. Jane shot out of the water and waved both arms
frantically above her head.

"Spread out!" she cried in a strained, frightened voice.

"Did--didn't you find her?" gasped Miss Elting.

"No."

Jane was gone again, leaving a wake that reached all the way to the
beach, so violent had been her floundering dive.

Tommy, who had raised her head from the water a short distance from
where the guardian was paddling, uttered a scream.

"There thhe ith!" she cried; "there she ith! Right down there. Come in
a hurry. She ith under the car. I could thee her plainly. Oh, I'm tho
thcared!" Tommy began paddling for the shore with all speed.

Miss Elting did not answer. Instead, she took a long dive. About this
time Jane came up. Hazel, who was making for the spot where the
guardian had disappeared, pointed to it. Jane understood. It took her
but a few seconds to reach the center of the rippling circle left by
the guardian; then Crazy Jane's feet kicked the air a couple of times.
She had taken an almost perpendicular dive. But it seemed that she had
not been under water more than a second or two when she lunged to the
surface. A few feet from her Miss Elting appeared, threw herself over
on her back and lay gasping for breath.

"She'th got her!" screamed Tommy. "Harriet ith dead!"

Gazing out over the pond she saw Jane swimming swiftly toward shore,
dragging the apparently lifeless body of Harriet Burrell. Miss Elting
and Hazel were closing up on Jane rapidly. Reaching her side a moment
later, the guardian took one of Harriet's arms and assisted in towing
her in.

Tommy remembered afterward having been fascinated by the expressions
in their faces. She stared and stared. The faces of the two women were
white and haggard. Still farther back she saw only Hazel's eyes. They
were so large that Tommy was scarcely able to credit their belonging
to Hazel. Had Tommy known it, her own face was more pale and haggard
at that moment than those of her companions.

Jane dragged Harriet ashore; then Miss Elting grasped the unconscious
girl almost roughly, flung her over on her stomach and began applying
"first aid to the drowned."

"Ith--ith she dead?" gasped Tommy.

"She's drowned, darlin'," answered Crazy Jane McCarthy abruptly.

CHAPTER IV

A QUESTION OF POLITICS

"Lay her over on her back!"

Jane obeyed Miss Elting's command promptly. The guardian, using her
wet handkerchief, cleared Harriet's mouth by keeping the tongue down
to admit the air.

"Work her arms back and forth. We must set up artificial respiration,"
she directed.

Jane, without any apparent excitement, began a steady movement of the
patient's arms, bringing them together above the head, then down to
the sides. She continued this as steadily as if she were not face to
face with a great tragedy. She did not yet know whether or not it were
a tragedy; but, if appearances went for anything, it was. In the
meantime the guardian had glanced over her shoulder at the pond. She
saw the trunk slowly drifting in.

"Get it and open it, Hazel," she commanded.

"I haven't a key."

"Break it open with a stone. Never mind a key."

Hazel ran out into the water until she was up to her neck, then she
swam out. Reaching the floating trunk, she got behind it and began
pushing it shoreward. Margery and Tommy stood watching the
proceedings in speechless horror. Hazel got the trunk ashore, when,
following the guardian's directions, she broke the lock open with a
stone.

"It's open," she cried.

"Are the things inside very wet?"

"No; they are just as dry as they can be."

"Good. Are Harriet's clothes there?"

"I think so. Shall I take them out?"

"Not just yet. I will tell you if they are needed."

Hazel understood what was in the mind of the guardian. Were Harriet
Burrell not to recover, the dry clothing would not be needed.
Nevertheless, Hazel piled the contents of the trunk on the ground,
then replaced it, leaving Harriet's belongings at the top of the pile,
so that they would be ready at hand in case of need. In the meantime
Crazy Jane and Miss Elting persisted in their efforts to resuscitate
the unconscious girl. Though no sign of returning life rewarded their
labor, they continued without a second's halting. Half an hour had
passed. That was lengthened to an hour, then suddenly Jane stopped,
leaned over and peered into the pale face of Harriet.

"I see a little color returning!" she cried in a shrill voice.
"Hurrah! Harriet's alive!"

"You don't thay?" exclaimed Tommy.

"Keep her arms going! Don't stop for a single second," commanded Miss
Elting. "Hazel, take off Harriet's shoes. Beat the bottoms of her
feet. Oh, if we had something warm to put her in. Margery, you get out
Harriet's clothing from the trunk."

"I--I can't," answered Buster in a weak voice.

"Buthter ith too nervouth. I'll get them," offered Tommy. She did,
too. Now that she had something to do, she went about it as calmly as
though she had had no previous fear. "Are thethe what you want, Mith
Elting?" she asked.

"Yes; bring them here. She is breathing. Faster, Jane, faster!"

"Don't pull her armth out by the roootth," warned Tommy. The guardian
made no reply. It was a critical moment and Harriet Burrell's life
hung on a very slender thread. Return to consciousness was so slow as
to seem like no recovery at all. The spot of red that had appeared in
either cheek faded and disappeared. Miss Elting's heart sank when she
noted the change in the face of the unconscious girl. Jane saw it,
too, but made no comment.

Tommy, having taken the clothes from the trunk, now very methodically
piled them up near at hand, so that the guardian might reach them
without shifting her position materially. Then the little girl stood
with hands clasped before her, her eyes squinting, her face twisted
into what Jane afterward said was a really hard knot.

Two tiny spots of red once more appeared in each cheek of Harriet's
white face.

"Shall I move her arms faster?" asked Jane.

Miss Elting shook her head. "Keep on as you are. I don't quite
understand, but she is alive. Of that I am positive."

For fully fifteen minutes after that the two young women worked in
silence. They noted joyfully that the tiny spots of color in Harriet's
cheeks were growing. The spots were now as large as a twenty-five-cent
piece. Miss Elting motioned for Jane to cease the arm movements, then
she laid an ear over Harriet's heart.

"Keep it up," she cried, straightening suddenly. "We are going to save
her." Margery, who had drawn slowly near, turned abruptly, walked away
and sat down heavily. Jane's under lip trembled ever so little, but
she showed no other sign of emotion, and methodically continued at her
work.

"Now, as soon as we can get the breath of life into her body, we must
strip off those wet clothes and bundle her into something dry. We
shall be taking a great chance in undressing her in the open air, but
the fact that Harriet is in such splendid condition should go a long
way toward pulling her through. I wish we had a blanket to wrap her
in. However, we shall have to do with what we have."

Jane kept steadily at her work, her eyes fixed on the face of the
patient. She made no reply to Miss Elting's words. Tommy, however,
tilted her head to one side reflectively. Then she turned it ever so
little, regarding the broken trunk as if trying to make up her mind
whether or not she should hold it responsible for the disaster. After
a few moments of staring at the trunk she sidled over to it, and,
stooping down, began rummaging through its contents. From the trunk
she finally drew forth a long flannel nightgown. This she carried over
and gravely spread out on the pile of clothing that she had previously
placed near Miss Elting. The guardian's eyes lighted appreciatively.

"Thank you, dear. That is splendid," she said, flashing a smile at
Tommy. "You are very resourceful. I am proud of you."

"You're welcome," answered Grace with a grimace. "Ith there anything
elthe that I can do?"

Miss Elting shook her head. The smile had left her face; all her
faculties were again centered on the work in hand. Shortly after that
the two workers were gratified to note a quiver of the eyelids of the
patient. This was followed by a slight rising and falling of the
chest, and a few moments later Harriet Burrell opened her eyes, closed
them wearily and turned over on her face. Crazy Jane promptly turned
her on her back, and none too gently at that.

"Plea--se let me alone. I'm all right," murmured Harriet.

"Help me carry her out yonder under the trees," ordered the guardian.
"There will be less breeze there."

"I'll carry her, Miss Elting." Jane picked Harriet up, and, throwing
the girl over her shoulder, staggered off into the bushes with her
burden. Harriet was heavy, but Jane McCarthy's fine strength was equal
to her task. Miss Elting had gathered up the clothing and followed.
Tommy started to accompany her, but the guardian motioned her back.

"Jane and I will attend to her," she said. Tommy pouted and strolled
over to Margery.

"Is--is Harriet going to die?" wailed Margery.

"No, Buthter, she ithn't."

Margery turned anxiously away. By the time the guardian reached the
spot where Jane had put Harriet down, the latter had fully recovered
consciousness; but she was shivering, her lips were blue and her face
gray and haggard except for the two faint spots of color that had
first indicated her return to consciousness.

"Hold her up while I strip off her waist," commanded Miss Elting.
Harriet protested that she was able to stand alone, but just the same
Jane supported her. It was the work of but a few moments to strip off
the cold, wet garments and put on dry ones, including the flannel
nightgown.

"Let me lie down a little while," begged Harriet weakly.

"No; you must walk. Jane, will you keep her going?"

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