Janet Aldridge - The Meadow Brook Girls by the Sea

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"That I will. Come to me, darlin'."

Harriet got to her feet with the assistance of her companion. Jane
then began walking her slowly about. The color gradually returned to
the face of the Meadow-Brook Girl, the gray pallor giving place to a
more healthy glow. She wanted to talk, but Miss Elting said she was
not to do so for the present. Now, Tommy and Margery followed her
about, though without speaking. This walking was continued for the
better part of an hour. In the meantime Miss Elting was considering
what might best be done. She decided to go in search of some one who
would take them to their destination. After a talk with Harriet, and
leaving directions as to what was to be done during her absence, the
guardian set out, walking fast. She realized the necessity of warm
drinks and something to assist in stirring Harriet's circulation. The
Meadow-Brook Girl's escape from drowning had been a narrow one, but no
one realized the necessity for further treatment more than Miss Elting
did.

After a time Harriet insisted on walking without the support of Jane's
arm, but it was a difficult undertaking. Harriet had to bring all the
resolution she possessed to the task of supporting her weakened limbs;
but she managed it, with now and then a rest, leaning against a tree
or a rock. Tommy had found her tongue again, to keep up a running fire
of inconsequential chatter that served its purpose well, assisting
Harriet in keeping her mind from her own troubles.

The guardian returned, after having been absent half an hour. She came
running down the byway, shouting before she appeared in sight of the
party to know if all were well.

"Oh, Harriet, I'm so glad to see you looking better! I have a boy and
a democrat wagon to take us to the real cove. This isn't the place at
all. Lonesome Cove is nearly five miles from here. But look! I've
something that will please you!" exclaimed the guardian.

"What ith it?" demanded Tommy, edging near.

"Coffee!" exclaimed Miss Elting triumphantly.

"But how are we going to cook it?" cried Jane.

"Get the coffee pot. It is in one of the packs that we saved. We have
neither milk nor sugar, but we shan't care about that. I met a boy, as
I have told you. He had been to mill with a grist, and was also taking
some groceries home with him. I secured the coffee by paying double
price for it, but consider it cheap at that. Hazel, you and Margery
will gather some dry wood and make a fire." Jane already had gone to
look for the coffee pot. She found it, after opening one of the wet
packs.

"The fire is laid," announced Hazel, "but we haven't any matches. What
shall we do?"

"Mith Elting hath thome matcheth," answered Tommy.

"How do you know, my dear?" The guardian laughed merrily.

"I thee a box in your pocket."

"You see too much," declared Margery.

"Yes, I bought matches, too." Miss Elting herself applied a match to
the sticks that had been laid for the cook fire. "Harriet, come right
here by the fire and warm yourself."

"Where is the boy?" asked Harriet.

"He will be along in a few minutes. I ran all the way back. He will
drive in and wait until we are ready. I promised him two dollars if he
would take us to our destination."

"Does he know where it is?" questioned Jane.

"He says he does, but--" The guardian flushed and checked herself
abruptly. "I nearly gave my surprise away."

Jane had the water boiling in a few minutes, then quickly made the
coffee. A cup was handed to Harriet. She drank it steaming hot.

"Oh, that tastes good!" she breathed.

"You can feel it all the way down, can't you?" questioned Tommy
solemnly.

"Yes, I can."

"Drink another one, dear," urged the guardian; "it won't keep you
awake. Perhaps, now that you feel better, you will tell us how you
came so near drowning?"

"I did nearly drown, didn't I?"

"You did, as thoroughly as one could and yet live to tell of it,"
replied Miss Elting, her voice husky.

"I had unfastened all the straps save the third one," began Harriet.
"By that time the trunk was standing on end. It was very buoyant. The
idea never occurred to me that there was any danger from the trunk. I
was too much concerned wondering if I shouldn't have to open my mouth,
for my lungs were nearly bursting. Well, I gave the last strap a jerk
and I think the buckle must have pulled off, for the end of the trunk
flew up and hit me on the head."

"But how did you get wedged under the car springs?" interrupted the
guardian. "I found you there."

"I don't know. I don't remember anything that occurred after I was hit
by the trunk until I began to realize that some one was working over
me, and that I wished to be let alone. I was so comfortable that I did
not wish to be disturbed."

"Thave me!" exclaimed Tommy.

"How long did you work over me?"

"More than an hour," replied Miss Elting.

"Then I really was just about drowned, was I not?" questioned Harriet,
her eyes growing large.

"You were."

Harriet Burrell pondered a moment, then lifted a pair of serious brown
eyes to her companions.

"I am glad I had the experience," she said, "but I am sorry I made so
much trouble. I feel all right now, and strong enough for almost
anything. When do we start for the Cove?"

"At once. I hear the boy coming. Do you think you are really ready?"

"I know I am. But I believe I will have another cup of coffee before
we start. Did we rescue all of our equipment?"

"Some of it has been lost, but that doesn't matter so long as we have
you safe and sound, yes, there is the boy. Hoo-e-e-e!" called the
guardian.

"Ye-o-o-w!" answered the boy promptly. They saw him turn into the
byway. The horse he was driving was so thin that every rib stood out
plainly. The democrat wagon was all squeaks and groans, its wheels
being so crooked that the girls thought they were going to come off.

"You must help us to get our things aboard," said Miss Elting. "Will
your wagon hold them all?"

"If it doesn't break down," was the reply.

"Well, some of us can walk."

The boy backed his rickety wagon down near where the belongings of the
Meadow-Brook Girls lay in a tumbled heap. Jane assisted him in loading
the equipment, amazing the country boy by her strength and quickness.

"You going to camp, eh?" he questioned.

"We don't know what we are going to do," replied Jane. "We're likely
to do almost anything that happens to enter our minds as well as some
things that don't enter our minds. Stow that package under the seat
forward; yes, that way. There. Do you think of anything else, Miss
Elting!"

"Nothing except the automobile. I hardly think we shall be able to
take that with us."

"Indeed, no," answered Jane with a broad grin. "We'll let Dad do that.
Who is going to ride?"

"Let's see. Harriet, of course--"

"I can walk," protested Harriet.

"No; you will ride. Margery and Tommy also may ride. Hazel, Jane and I
will walk. It will do us good, for we need exercise this morning,
though I must say that a little breakfast would not come amiss."

"You thay that ith a Democrat wagon?" questioned Tommy.

"Yes, dear. Why do you ask?" answered Miss Elting smilingly.

"I jutht wanted to know. I'll walk, thank you, Mith Elting. You thay
it ith a Democrat wagon?"

"Yes, yes. What of it?"

"I wouldn't ride in a Democrat wagon. My father would dithown me if I
did! If it wath a Republican wagon, now, it would be all right--but a
Democrat wagon--thave me!"

CHAPTER V

THE ROCKY ROAD TO WAU-WAU

"You surely are a loyal little Republican, Tommy. Whether we agree
with you in politics or not, we must respect your loyalty. However, I
think you had better get up and ride," urged Miss Elting.

Tommy shook her head, regarding the democrat wagon with a disapproving
squint. Jane assisted Harriet up over the front wheel, Margery climbed
in on the other side, the boy "pushed on the reins," and the
procession moved slowly toward the main road, with Miss Elting, Jane,
Hazel and Tommy trudging on ahead. Harriet rode only a short distance
before she grew weary of it, and, dropping to the ground, ran on and
joined her companions.

"I shall have nervous prostration if I ride in that wagon," she said.
"Every minute expecting it to collapse isn't any too good for one who
has just been drowned, and whose nerves are on edge."

"Promise me that you will not overtax your strength; that if you feel
yourself getting weary you _will_ get in and ride," answered the
guardian, looking anxiously at Harriet.

"I promise," was Harriet's laughing rejoinder.

The sun by this time was high in the heavens and was blazing down on
them hotly. The warmth felt good, especially to those who still wore
the clothes in which they had spent so much time in the cold water of
the pond. To Harriet it was a grateful relief from the chill that had
followed her accident. Tommy permitted herself to lag behind, and the
moment she was out of ear-shot of her companions she began to quiz the
country boy to learn where he was taking them.

"Lonesome Cove," he replied.

"Where ith that?"

"On the shore."

"On what thhore?"

"The sea shore."

"Oh! Tho we are going to the thea thhore? I thee," reflected Tommy
wisely. "Are there lotth of people there?"

"Isn't nobody there. It's just sea shore, that's all."

Tommy chuckled and nodded to herself as she increased her pace and
joined her party.

"When we get to camp I'm going to take a bath in the thea," she
announced carelessly. Miss Elting regarded her sharply.

"Camp? Sea?" questioned the guardian.

"Yeth. I thaid 'camp' and 'thea.'"

"Where do you think you are going, Grace?"

"Why, to the thea thhore of courthe. But there ithn't anybody there."

"Tommy, you've been spying. I am amazed at you."

"No, I haven't been doing anything of the thort. It ith true, ithn't
it?"

"I shall not tell you a single thing. You are trying to quiz me. That
isn't fair, my dear."

Tommy chuckled and joined Harriet, linking an arm with her and
starting a lively conversation. Harriet, instead of growing weary,
appeared to be getting stronger with the moments. Her step was more
and more springy, and her face had resumed its usual healthy color,
but this was the longest five miles she remembered to have traveled.
The others felt much the same. It must be remembered that they had had
neither supper nor breakfast, except for the cup of coffee that they
had taken before starting out on their tramp. The guardian had hoped
to reach her destination in time for luncheon, when she knew the girls
would have a satisfying meal. However, the hour was near to one
o'clock when finally the boy shouted to them.

They halted and waited for him.

"Lonesome Cove down there, 'bout a quarter of a mile," he informed
them, jerking the butt of his whip in the direction of a thin forest
of spindling pines to the right of the highway. "Ocean right over
there."

"I hear it," cried Harriet. "Doesn't it sound glorious?"

"We thank you. You may unload our equipment and pile it by the side of
the road. We will carry it down to the beach, and again I thank you
very much."

Jane and Hazel assisted in the unloading. They would permit neither
Harriet nor Miss Elting to help. The boy was paid and drove away
whistling. He had made a good deal, and knew very well that the folks
at home would find no fault over his delay when they learned that he
had earned two dollars.

"Now, girls, do you know where you are?" asked the guardian, turning
to her charges.

"Lost in the wilds of New Hampshire," answered Jane dramatically.

"No, not lost. We shall soon be among friends. I promise you a great
surprise when we get down so near the sea that you hear the pounding
of the breakers on the beach."

"I gueth you will be thurprithed, too," ventured Tommy.

"What do you mean, Grace?" demanded Miss Elting.

"I would suggest that we get started," urged Harriet. "I'm hungry. I
want my supper, breakfast and luncheon all in one. You forget that I
am a drowned person."

"We are not likely to forget it," answered the guardian, smiling
faintly. "Yes, we will carry our equipment in. Jane, suppose we break
it into smaller packs, so it can be the more easily carried. I think
we are all ready for a good meal, and that is what we are going to
have very shortly now. You know you always get good meals at Wau-Wau."

"Wau-Wau!" exclaimed the Meadow-Brook Girls in chorus.

"Why, Wau-Wau is in the Pocono Woods," said Harriet. "We are a long
way from there, aren't we?"

"Oh, yes, yes!" The guardian flushed guiltily. "I spoke without
thinking."

No one except Harriet and Tommy gave any special heed to the final
words of the guardian. The others were busy getting ready to move.
They were in something of a hurry for their luncheon. Packs were
divided up among them. Harriet insisted upon carrying one end of the
trunk with Jane, in addition to the pack she had slung over her
shoulder. They finally started down a narrow path that led on down to
the shore, leaving some of their equipment behind to be brought later
on in the afternoon. As they neared the shore the boom of the surf
grew louder and louder.

The girls uttered shouts of delight when finally they staggered out
into the open with their burdens, on a high bluff overlooking the sea.
The sea lay sparkling in the sunlight, while almost at their feet
great white-crested combers were rolling in and breaking against the
sandy bluff. The salt spray dashed up into their faces and the odor of
the salt sea was strong in their nostrils.

"Isn't this glorious?" cried Harriet, with enthusiasm.

"I shouldn't think you'd ever want to see water again after what
occurred this morning," replied Margery Brown.

"Oh, that! I had forgotten all about it. This is different, Buster.
This is the real sea, and it's perfectly wonderful. Isn't it, Miss
Elting?"

The guardian, thus far, had not spoken a word. There was a look of
puzzled surprise on her face.

"What is it, Miss Elting?" questioned Harriet, instantly discovering
that something was wrong.

"I--I thought we should find some others here," replied the guardian
hesitatingly.

"I told you there wath no one here," answered Tommy.

"Whom did you hope to find?" asked Harriet Burrell.

"Some friends of mine. It has been a rocky road to Wau-Wau, and we
haven't reached it yet," muttered the guardian under her breath.

"I don't understand this, girls," she continued. "I fear we have made
a mistake. This isn't the place I thought we were seeking. I must
confess that I am lost. But the real place can not be far away. We
shall have to walk from this on. Are you equal to it?"

"Not till I get thome food," answered Tommy with emphasis. "I'm
famithhed. I want thomething to eat."

"So do I, darlin'," added Crazy Jane. "But I don't see anything
hereabout that looks like food. Do you?"

Margery sat down helplessly. Harriet was smiling. She understood
something of the plans of the guardian now; yet, like her companions,
she was disappointed that the promised meal was not at hand. Miss
Elting recovered her composure quickly.

"We shall have to cook our own dinner, dears," she said. "Harriet, you
sit down in the sun and rest; we will take care of the meal-getting."

"You treat me as though I were an invalid. I am able to do my share of
the work, and to eat my share of the food, as you will see when we get
something cooked."

Jane already had run back toward the road to bring some dry sticks
that she had discovered when coming in. Miss Elting began opening the
packs.

"Oh, this is too bad!" she cried. "We must have left that coffee pot
with the other things out by the road."

"I'll get it." Tommy bounded away. Hazel assisted the guardian in
getting the cooking utensils ready, Margery walked about, getting in
the way, but not accomplishing much of anything else. There were cold
roast beef, butter and plenty of canned goods. The bread that they had
brought with them had been dissolved in the water of the ice pond, as
had the sugar and considerable other food stuff.

Jane came in with an armful of wood and quickly started a fire. Tommy
arrived some moments later with the coffee pot and other utensils.
While all this was going on Harriet was spreading out their belongings
so these might dry out in the sunlight. But the water for the coffee,
secured some distance back, was brackish and poor. They made it do,
however, and as quickly as possible had boiled their coffee and
warmed over the beef and canned beans as well. As for drinking water,
there was none at hand fit for this purpose. Dishes were somewhat
limited, many of theirs having been lost when the automobile went into
the pond. But they were glad enough to do with what they had, and when
Jane sounded the meal call, "Come and get it!" there was not an
instant's hesitation on the part of any member of that little party of
adventurous spirits.

"Now take your time, girls," warned Miss Elting. "We will not gulp our
food down, even if we have a walk before us this afternoon. And we may
have to sleep out-of-doors, but it will not have been the first time
for the Meadow-Brook Girls."

"Ith thith the thurprithe that you were going to give us?" asked Tommy
innocently.

"It is a surprise to me, dear. This isn't the place I thought it was
at all. The joke is that I don't know where the right place is."

"Perhaps, if you would tell us where you wish to go, we might be of
some assistance to you," suggested Jane McCarthy.

"You can't get the secret from me, Jane," answered the guardian
smilingly. "I am going to keep that little secret to myself at all
costs. Don't tease me, for I shall not tell you."

"It hath cotht a good deal already," piped Tommy. "Let me thee. It
hath cotht one automobile, theveral thkirtth, and a girl drowned.
Thome cotht that, eh? Pleathe path the beanth."

"Tommy has a keen appetite for beans this afternoon. Will you please
open another can, Jane?" asked the guardian.

"Certainly. Will you have them cold this time, Tommy?"

"I will not, thank you. My father thayth there ith more real
nourithhment in beanth than there ith in beeftheak. I gueth he knowth.
He wath brought up on a bean farm."

"Then I'll take the beefsteak and never mind the nourishment,"
declared Jane, who was not particularly fond of beans.

"I'd rather have both," said Margery hungrily.

"Of courth you would," teased Tommy. "That ith why you--"

"Oh, say something new," groaned Buster.

Miss Elting permitted them to jest to their hearts' content. The more
they talked the better was she pleased, because it kept them from
eating too rapidly. Their meal finished and the dishes cleaned in salt
water and sand, the guardian gave thought to their next move. But she
was in no haste. The girls were allowed plenty of time to rest and
digest their hearty meal, which they did by sitting in the sand with
the sun beating down on them. After the lapse of an hour she told the
girls to get ready.

"I will say to you frankly that I do not know where I am, though I am
positive we are on the right road. Our destination can not be so very
far from here, and I believe we have ample time to reach it before
dark. However, each of you will put a can of beans in her pocket. We
will take the coffee, our cups and the coffee pot. Thus equipped, we
shall not go hungry in case we are caught out over night. Then, again,
there must be houses somewhere along this road. The first one we see I
shall stop and make inquiries."

"What shall we do with the rest of our things?" questioned Hazel.

"Make them into packages and hide the lot. You might blaze a tree near
the road, in case we forget. All parts of the road hereabouts look
very much alike to me. There is a good place for a _cache_ about half
way between here and the highway. I should go in a few rods, but any
food that is not in cans we had better throw away."

"I don't thee why we can't camp right here," said Grace.

"This is not the place to which we are going," Harriet informed her.
"I don't know where it is, but, sooner or later, we'll arrive there."

"If we are lucky," added Tommy under her breath.

[Illustration: Jane and Harriet Hid the Trunk.]

Jane had already started for the road. She was called back by
Harriet to take hold of one end of the trunk. Together the two girls
lugged this to the place on the path that had been indicated by Miss
Elting. By going straight in among the trees a short distance they
found rocks, under one of which was a hole hollowed out in former
times by water, and which made an excellent place in which to stow
their equipment until such time as they might be able to return for
it.

Hazel, Margery and Tommy brought the rest of their belongings from the
highway, Miss Elting and Hazel what had been left at their camping
place, all being neatly packed away in the hollow in the rock. This
done, and a mound of small stones built over it, the girls were ready
to proceed on their journey.

The afternoon was now well along, so they started off at a brisk pace,
led by the guardian. Harriet appeared to have fully recovered from her
accident. About an hour later they came in sight of a farmhouse. The
guardian directed the girls to sit down and rest while she went up to
the house to make some inquiries. When she returned her face was all
smiles.

"I know where I am now," she called.

"How far have we to go?" asked Harriet.

"About five miles, they say, but one has to make allowances for
distances in the country. It is difficult to find two persons who will
agree on the distance to any certain point."

"Five mileth, did you say?" questioned Tommy.

"Yes, dear."

"Thave me!"

"We shall easily make it in two hours. I don't think we can go astray.
So long as we keep within sound of the sea we shall be right. If you
are ready, we will move on."

Once more they set out. They had gone on less than an hour when
Margery began to cry. Tommy regarded her with disapproving eyes.
Margery declared that she couldn't walk another step. Inquiry by Miss
Elting developed the fact that Buster had a blister on her right foot.
This meant another delay. Miss Elting removed the girl's shoe from
that foot and treated the blister. Half an hour was lost by this
delay, but no one except Tommy Thompson complained. Tommy complained
for the sake of saying something. She teased Margery so unmercifully
that Miss Elting was obliged to rebuke her, after which Tommy went off
by herself and sat pensively down by the roadside until the order to
march was given.

The afternoon was waning when once more they came in sight of the sea.
The setting sun had turned the expanse of ocean into a vast plain of
shimmering, quivering gold. The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered
exclamations of delight when they set eyes on the scene. For a few
moments they stood still, gazing and gazing as if it were not possible
to get enough of the, to most of them, unusual spectacle.

A full quarter of a mile ahead they observed that the shores a little
back were quite heavily wooded, though the trees were small and
slender. This particular spot seemed to have attracted Miss Elting's
attention to the exclusion of all else. As she looked, a smile
overspread her countenance. The girls did not observe it.

"We are nearly there," she called.

"Near the camp?" asked Tommy.

"Yes, the camp, you little tantalizer," chuckled the guardian. "But
you will not know what camp until you reach it."

"Oh, yeth I thall. It ith our camp, the Meadow-Brook camp."

"I hear shouts. I do believe they are girls'," cried Crazy Jane. She
glanced inquiringly at Miss Elting, but the latter's face now gave no
hint as to what was in her mind. "Come on; let's run, girls."

With one accord they started forward at a brisk trot. This brought a
wail from the limping Margery.

"Wait for me," she cried. "I--I can't run."

To their surprise Tommy halted, waited for Buster, then, linking an
arm within hers, assisted Margery to trot along and keep up with her
companions. Miss Elting gave Grace an appreciative nod and smile,
which amply repaid the little girl for her kindly act. They covered
the distance to the miniature forest in quick time, impelled by their
curiosity, now realizing that they were to meet with the surprise that
their guardian had prepared for them. Harriet had a fairly well
defined idea as to what was awaiting them, but even she was to be
happily surprised.

They reached a point opposite the little forest, when, as they looked
toward the sea, visible in spots between the trees, they discovered a
row of tents, and in the center of an open space a flag fluttering
from a sapling from which the limbs and foliage had been trimmed.

"It's Camp Wau-Wau!" shouted Crazy Jane. "Come along, darlin's. Let's
see what else there is to surprise us."

The girls rushed in among the trees, shouting and laughing. They
brought up in the middle of the encampment and halted. A middle-aged,
pleasant-faced woman stepped from a tent, gazed at them a moment,
then opened her arms, into which the Meadow-Brook Girls rushed, fairly
smothering the woman with their affectionate embraces.

CHAPTER VI

AT HOME BY THE SEA

"Oh, my dear Meadow-Brook Girls!" cried the woman. "And I did not know
you were coming. Why did you not let me know?" Mrs. Livingston, the
Chief Guardian of the Camp Girls, held her young friends off the
better to look at them.

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