The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea; Or, The Loss of The Lonesome Bar

by Janet Aldridge

  CHAPTER VI

  AT HOME BY THE SEA

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

  "We did," replied Miss Elting. "When you wrote that you would be gladto have us join the camp, I made the arrangements and wrote you thatwe would be here yesterday."

  "I never received the letter."

  "But why do you call thith plathe Camp Wau-Wau?" demanded Grace. "CampWau-Wau ith in the Pocono Woodth, Mrs. Livingthton."

  "Yes, my dear; but a camp may move, may it not? This is the same oldCamp Wau-Wau, but in a different location. This year we concluded tomake our camp by the sea shore, and chose Lonesome Bar for our campingplace."

  "Lonesome Bar!" exclaimed Miss Elting.

  "That explains it. We Were looking for Lonesome Cove."

  "Which we found," chuckled Harriet.

  "We've had the most awful time, and Harriet got drowned," put inMargery Brown.

  "Drowned?"

  "Yeth, thhe did," nodded Tommy eagerly. "And we had thuch a timeundrowning her! Thhe thwallowed a whole ithe pond of water."

  Miss Elting here explained to the Chief Guardian what had happened.Mrs. Livingston was amazed. She gazed curiously at the smilingHarriet.

  "I suppose I should not be surprised at anything Harriet does, butthat you all should have fallen into a pond with your car isincredible. What became of the car?"

  "It's there!" chuckled Jane. "They'll be cutting it out in sectionswhen they take ice from the pond next winter, I reckon. Where can Isend a letter? I must have another car, and that quickly! It'ssomething like hard labor to get in and out of this place! But let'sbe introduced to these nice girls that I see in camp here."

  "You are the same old Jane, aren't you?" answered the Chief Guardian,with an indulgent smile. "I trust your father is well?"

  "He is, thank you, but he'll be wanting to have nervous prostrationwhen he hears about my driving into an old pond. Hello, little girl!Have I seen you before!" questioned Crazy Jane, catching a littlegolden-haired girl by the arm and gazing down into the latter's blueeyes.

  "This is Miss Skinner, from Concord, young ladies," introduced Mrs.Livingston.

  "How do you do, Mith Thkinner," greeted Tommy. "Like mythelf, youaren't fat, are you?"

  "I am not," replied Miss Skinner.

  "Where do we stow our belongings?" asked Miss Elting.

  Mrs. Livingston looked puzzled.

  "Every tent in the camp is full," she replied. "Really, I do not knowwhat I am going to do with you, girls."

  "That is easily answered. We will sleep out-of-doors," proposed Jane."We were out all last night, and in our wet clothing at that."

  "How soon will you have vacancies?" asked Miss Elting.

  "Four girls will be leaving the last of next week, Miss Elting.Others, I don't recall how many, are to go about the middle of theweek following. Until then I fear you will have to shift foryourselves."

  "We can have something to eat, can't we?" interjected Margery, in ahopeful tone.

  "Yeth, Buthter mutht have thomething to eat all the time," averredTommy.

  "There is plenty for all. Now, come and meet our girls. We have a veryfine lot of young women at Camp Wau-Wau this summer, and we think wehave an ideal camp, too. I am so sorry that I did not know you werecoming. I might make room for two of you on the floor in my tent.There isn't a bit of floor space left in any of the other tents."

  "I think we all should prefer sleeping out-of-doors, so long as theweather remains fine," answered Miss Elting.

  "That is just the point. What will you do when it rains?" smiled Mrs.Livingston.

  "I know," spoke up Tommy. "I'll jutht run and jump into the othean andget wet all over, all at onthe; then I won't mind it at all. Do youthee?"

  "I do," replied the Chief Guardian gravely.

  Mrs. Livingston already had begun introducing the Meadow-Brook Girlsto the Camp Girls, most of whom had not been in Camp Wau-Wau when theMeadow-Brook Girls had visited it in the Pocono Woods two seasonsbefore. By the time the introductions had been finished and the campinspected, supper time had arrived. The girls sat down at long tablesin brightly lighted tents and enjoyed a delicious supper. It was thefirst real meal the newcomers had enjoyed in more than a day, and theydid full justice to this one, especially did Margery, though openlyteased by Tommy because of her appetite.

  Mrs. Livingston had been kept thoroughly informed of the progress ofthe Meadow-Brook Girls through her correspondence with Miss Elting, sothat she was fully prepared to bestow the rewards that the girls hadearned. A council fire was called for that evening, at which theachievements of Harriet Burrell and her companions were related to thecamp, and the beads that each, of the five girls had earned werebestowed. Harriet now had quite a string of colored beads, the envy ofevery Camp Girl. Each of the other girls of the Meadow-Brook party hadperformed either heroic or meritorious acts, for which they wererewarded by the gift of beads according to the regulations of theorder. Unfortunately, the now badly damaged trunk that had beencarried at the rear of Jane McCarthy's car contained their ceremonialdresses, so that the Meadow-Brook Girls were unable to appear in theregulation costume; and they also lacked other important equipment,namely, blankets in which to wrap themselves for outdoor sleeping.

  "There is not an extra blanket in camp," said Mrs. Livingston, whenthe situation was explained to the Chief Guardian. "I don't know whatwe shall do. I fear you girls will have to go into town and stay at ahotel."

  "Oh, no. We have slept out-of-doors under worse conditions," declaredHarriet. "Please do not concern yourself over us. We shall get alongvery nicely. Do you happen to have an extra piece of canvas in camp?"

  "There is a side wall that we use for covering our vegetables, such aspotatoes. You may use that if you wish, but I warn you it is not veryclean."

  "We will give it a good dusting. It will answer very nicely to lie onand we'll sleep close together to keep warm. I am not sure but Ishould prefer sleeping out in that way. The Indians many times sleptin the open without covering. I don't see why we shouldn't do thesame."

  "Are there any thnaketh here?" inquired Tommy anxiously.

  "Oh, no," the Chief Guardian replied smilingly.

  "Any bugth?"

  "Naturally, there are some insects; fleas, perhaps, but you don't mindthose."

  "No. My father thayth I hop around like a thand flea at a clam bakemythelf, but if I wath fat I couldn't do that, could I?" asked Tommywith a sidelong glance at Buster.

  Margery, who had been an interested listener to the conversation, nowturned her back, elevating her nose disdainfully. She made no reply toTommy's fling at her. Harriet already had gone to bring the canvas,which was to be their bed for the night. She determined on the morrowto make bough beds for herself and companions, provided any suitableboughs were to be had. The canvas was dragged to a level spot. Janeand Hazel scraped the ground clean and smooth while Harriet wasbeating the canvas to get the dust out of it. This done, the canvaswas spread out on the ground and folded over twice, leaving sufficientof it to cover them after they had taken their positions for thenight.

  Tommy regarded the preparations with mild interest.

  "Who ith going to thleep next to the wall?" she asked.

  "We thought we should place you next to the fold," replied MissElting. "You can't kick the cover off there."

  "And where ith Buthter going to thleep?"

  "In the middle."

  "That ith all right. I don't withh to be too clothe to her. We mightthquabble all night."

  "Now, Tommy, you first," nodded Harriet.

  Tommy took her place on the canvas with great care, gathering herskirts about her, turning around and around as if in search of thesoftest possible place on which to lie.

  "You are thure Buthter ithn't going to thleep near me?" persisted MissTommy.

>   "Yes, yes. Please get in," urged Miss Elting.

  "I jutht wanted to know, that ith all." She lay down, then one by oneher companions took their places on the canvas. Harriet was the lastto turn in. Before doing so she drew the unoccupied half of the canvasover the girls, leaving Tommy at the fold, as had been promised. Therewere no pillows. It was a case of lying stretched out flat or usingone's arm for a pillow. The latter plan was adopted by most of thegirls, though Harriet lay flat on her back after tucking herself in,gazing up at the stars and listening to the surf beating on the shoreas the tide came rolling in. Now and then a roller showed a whiteridge at its top, the white plainly visible even in the darkness, forthe moon had not yet risen.

  The campfire burned low, the camp itself being as silent as ifdeserted. Now and then twitterings in the tree tops might have beenheard; were heard, in fact, by Harriet Burrell, but not heeded, forher gaze was fixed, as it had been for some moments, on two tinyspecks of light far out on the dark sea. One of the specks was green,the other red. They rose and fell in unison, now and then disappearingfor a few seconds, then rising, high in the air, as it appeared. Thetwo lights were the side lights of a boat, red on the port and greenon the starboard, and above them was a single white light at themasthead.

  "According to those lights the boat is heading directly toward thebeach," mused Harriet reflectively. "I wonder if I ought to show alight? No. They know where they are going. Besides, they can see thelight of the campfire. The wind is increasing, too."

  Harriet dozed. She awakened half an hour later and gazed sleepily outto sea. The same lights were there, though they now appeared to bemuch nearer. All of a sudden they blinked out and were seen no more.

  The girl sat up, rubbing her eyes wonderingly.

  "Could they have sunk? No, of course not. How silly of me! The boathas turned about, and the lights are not visible from behind." But shedid not lie down at once. Instead, she rested her chin in the palms ofher hands and gazed dreamily out over the water. A fresh, salty breezewas now blowing in. She could hear the flap, flap of the canvas ofthe tents off in the camp, a thin veil of mist was obscuring thestars, the pound of the surf was growing louder and the swish of thewater on the beach more surly.

  All at once what looked to her to be a huge cloud suddenly loomedclose at hand, then began moving along the beach.

  "Mercy! what is it?" exclaimed the girl under her breath. She creptfrom beneath the canvas and ran down to the beach. "It's a ship! Howclose to the shore they are running, and they have no lights out."

  Harriet watched the vessel for some moments. She saw it swing around along, narrow point of land a short distance to the south of the campand boldly enter a bay. She was unable to make out with anydistinctness what was being done there, but she heard the creak of theboom as it swung over and the rattle of the tackle as the sails camedown, though unable to interpret these sounds. Soon there came a sharpwhistle from human lips, answered by a similar whistle from the shore,then all was quiet.

  Harriet Burrell crept back under the canvas, wondering vaguely whatcould be the meaning of this. She was too sleepy to think much aboutit and soon dropped into a sound sleep, from which she was destined tobe rudely awakened.