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

by Janet Aldridge

  CHAPTER XVI

  TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

  "She's found the buried treasure!" screamed Buster.

  The girls uttered a cheer. Harriet regarded Tommy's excited faceinquiringly.

  "You really have found it?"

  "Yeth, yeth."

  "Where is the treasure?"

  "I don't know. How thhould I know?"

  "But you said you had found it," interposed the Chief Guardian.

  "No, I thaid I had found the trail. Of courthe, I haven't found thetreathure. But I've found thomething, and--"

  "What did you find? Come, tell us," urged Harriet.

  Controlling herself somewhat, Tommy glanced triumphantly at theexpectant faces about her.

  "There wath a man at thith camp latht night."

  "What?" The girls asked the question at the top of their voices.

  "There were two men here latht night," persisted Grace.

  "Please explain what you mean, Grace," commanded the Chief Guardian."You say there were two men here last night. How do you know?"

  "I found the markth of their feet--in the thand. But that wathn't allI found. There wath a boat here, too--a boat. Now, what do you thinkof that?"

  "Try to be more explicit, Grace," urged Miss Elting. "Tell us what youhave discovered, without beating about the bush so long."

  "There wathn't any buthh to beat about. It wath right on the thand.Don't you underthtand?"

  Miss Elting sat down. "Tell it your own way, then. We are simplywasting time in trying to hurry you," she said.

  "Yeth. Well, it wath thith way. I wath looking for the treathure trailthat Harriet told uth about at breakfatht thith morning, though Idon't thee how thhe thhould know anything about it. My footthepth ledme--led me, you understand? No, it wath my feet, not my footthtepth,that led me--right along the thhore of the ocean. And what do youthuppose I found?"

  "An oyster shell," suggested Margery.

  "No, not that. I found where a boat had been drawn up on the thhoreand then thhoved out again. It had been drawn up on the thand. Thenthere were trackth about the place, trackth of heavy bootth, and amark in the thand where thomething heavy had been put down. It lookedlike a box. I gueth it wath. The men had taken the box between themand carried it up and down the thhore ath far ath I could thee. Youknow, the tide wathhed the marks out near down to the thea."

  "What did they do with the box, dearie?" interrupted Harriet.

  "That I have not yet dethided. I thhall find out about that later.Well, after a time, it theemth, they took the box up the thandy beachand into the woodth, but by that time it wath tho dark that I couldn'tthee any more footprintth and couldn't tell what they did with thebox."

  "Marvelous," muttered Buster. "Excruciatingly marvelous!"

  "Is this a fairy story?" demanded Mrs. Livingston.

  "Ask Harriet," suggested Crazy Jane. "I think she knows more about itthan Tommy does. Don't you, Harriet?"

  "What makes you think that, Jane?" questioned Harriet mischievously.

  "Ask me, darlin'."

  "I have, dear."

  Jane stepped over and whispered in Harriet's ear, the others regardingthe proceeding with puzzled expressions on their faces. Harriet'sface broke out into a ripple of smiles.

  "I am caught red-handed," she said. "It seems that I am not the onlylight sleeper in the Meadow-Brook camp. Jane chanced to observesomething that I did last night. She has known it all along. Shehinted at it this morning, and I suspected that she knew more than shehad told us."

  "But, my dear, we are all in the dark," reminded the Chief Guardian."Won't you be good enough to explain this mystery? Surely you can doso in a way that will make it clear to us. Two men, a box and a boatand goodness knows what else, here on this lonely part of the coast."

  "I was suddenly awakened last night," began Harriet withoutpreliminary remarks. "A boat sailed into the bay close to shore andcame to anchor. Then a small boat put off. Two men were in it. Theycame ashore with a heavy box, started down the bar, then back to thebeach after I had met and stopped them. Tommy has told you the truthabout their further movements."

  "Wait a moment. You stopped them, you say?" questioned Mrs.Livingston.

  "Yes. I didn't want them to get near the cabin and disturb our party.According to their story they had made a mistake. They had somesupplies for a friend of theirs who was on a fishing trip somewhereup the coast."

  "You believed that to be the case, then?"

  "No, Mrs. Livingston, I did not, because, instead of going up thebeach after I had turned them back, they went the other way,eventually turning in among the trees, where they remained for sometime. I did not see them again until they fell over me later--"

  "What!" The guardian was more amazed than before.

  "Oh, I forgot to tell you that I followed them to see what they weregoing to do. I didn't find out, but they found me, though they werenot aware of it." Harriet explained how she had lain down on theground and how one of the two men had stumbled over her feet withoutdiscovering her presence. Exclamations of amazement greeted this partof the story.

  "What became of them after that?" asked Miss Elting.

  "They shoved off their rowboat, rowed out to the sailboat, whichquickly weighed anchor and put out to sea. That is all I know aboutit. You see, Tommy was right."

  Mrs. Livingston turned to Tommy.

  "My dear, you did splendidly. Of all this camp of girls you were theonly one who found the trail and read it aright. That is trailing foryou, Mr. McCarthy. But what could the men have been doing here? I donot like the looks of it at all."

  "They have gone, so we needn't worry," replied Harriet. "I forgot tosay that there was a boat in here--I think it was the same one--theother night just before the storm. It is my idea that they came in onthat occasion to put something ashore, but were obliged to get out tosea before the storm broke. They came back on the following night tofinish what they had failed to do the first time."

  Mr. McCarthy nodded. So did Mrs. Livingston.

  "Remarkable girls, these Meadow-Brook Girls, Mr. McCarthy. However,there is nothing to be done. We shall not be bothered any more, in allprobability. Besides, they were not here on our account, so we have nocause to worry."

  "And I've got to walk back to Portsmouth," groaned Mr. McCarthy. "Itold you, Mrs. Livingston."

  "Perhaps we may catch some farmer who is going in that direction, andwho will be willing to give you a lift," she suggested.

  "No; you will have to let me sleep under a tree and hang aboutto-night. The men are coming down in the morning to get the car out ofthe pond. They might as well have two jobs as one. How did it happen,Jane?"

  For the first time the party of Camp Girls who had gathered about thelittle group gave their attention to the Meadow-Brook Girls. Thelatter were now discovered to be much the worse for wear. Their hairwas down over their shoulders and their clothes were soiled and torn.

  "Got it hard, didn't you?" chuckled Mr. McCarthy.

  "Oh, not so much," replied Jane, repressing a smile.

  "You are a thight. You look ath though you had been digging for buriedtreathure," declared Tommy.

  "How'd it happen?" rumbled Mr. McCarthy.

  "It was like this, Daddy, dear. We were running along nicely andeasily--just at a comfortable jog, when--"

  "How fast?"

  "How much time were we making, Harriet?"

  "Nearly sixty miles an hour."

  "Yes, I knew it wasn't very fast. Just jogging, Daddy."

  The visitor grunted.

  "Something went wrong with the steering gear. I don't know what itwas, but the wheel had no effect on the car. You should have seen us.It was funny, wasn't it, girls, the way that car darted from one sideof the road to the other, and we hanging on for dear life? You see,that was all we could do--hang on. Well, the car jumped the ditch,went up the bank on that side of the road, smashed into the iron postof a wire fence, then stood up on end and turned over backward. Didyou ever see such a contrar
y automobile? Where did you buy it, Dad?"

  "Didn't buy it. Borrowed it of a man I know up at Portsmouth. It'llcost me only a few thousand to make it right with him, but then Dad'srich; don't you care."

  "I never do," chuckled Jane. "Do you?"

  "No, I don't, so long as no one gets hurt. How'd you get out? What didyou do when the car was stopped by the fence?"

  "We just went on over, Dad. You know nothing can stop a Meadow-BrookGirl when she is once well started on a course. We landed on plowedground on the other side of the fence."

  "Mercy!" exclaimed the Chief Guardian.

  "Can anything hurt you, girls?"

  "I hope not," answered Harriet. "This was a little sudden, but wedidn't mind it so very much, did we, Miss Elting?"

  "I don't know who you mean by 'we,' but please do not include me inthis particular 'we.' I am not over the shock of that plunge yet, nordo I expect to be for some hours to come. I fear the car is ruined,Mr. McCarthy. I hope you will not send another one down here for Jane,if you will pardon my saying so." This from Miss Elting.

  "That's all right, Miss Elting. I am not going to send another car atpresent. Perhaps when you young folks are ready to go home I may senda car for you, but I may give you a driver. For the present I've gotsomething else in my mind. I had to wait until I asked Mrs. Livingstonabout it before I put it through. She thinks it will be fine. She willtell you all about it at dinner to-day."

  "There goes the dinner horn now," announced the guardian of theMeadow-Brook Girls. "Girls, you are not presentable. Hurry and getready for dinner. We mustn't be late to-day, of all days."

  It was really marvelous that the girls were able to work such atransformation in themselves in so short a time. In the few momentsthat had been left to them they had rearranged their hair, brushed thedirt of the plowed field from their clothing and washed their facesand hands. It was really a jolly dinner, too, for the good-naturedguest kept them all laughing with his humorous stories and oddremarks. He was so much like his daughter Jane that they had no needto be reminded of the relationship.

  "This has been a day of excitement, hasn't it?" remarked one of theguardians to Miss Elting. "Buried treasure, automobile wrecks,visitors, mysterious strangers. Gracious me! what are the Camp Girlscoming to?"

  "I don't know. Did Mr. McCarthy say what the surprise is that he hasin store for the girls? I thought perhaps he might have said somethingabout it during our absence on that automobile ride."

  "Not that I heard. He undoubtedly told Mrs. Livingston. There, she isspeaking now," added the guardian.

  Mrs. Livingston had risen and rapped on the table with a knife forattention.

  "Our guest and good friend, Mr. McCarthy, wishes to make anannouncement," she said, then sat down.

  Jane's father got up, his face very red, his forehead glistening withbeads of perspiration.

  "Your guest and good friend most emphatically _does not_ wish to makean announcement," declared the visitor. "But it is up to him to do sobecause he wishes to please that fine woman, your Chief Guardian--isthat what you call yourself, Mrs. Livingston? I get all mixed up withvarious names and titles. It's as bad as attending a reception of theroyal family, judging from what I've heard."

  Mrs. Livingston nodded, smiling good-naturedly.

  "Well, girls, you know I've got to do something to furnish that mad-capdaughter of mine with a variety of means of ending her life and thoseof her friends. She has exhausted everything thus far. However, thisis a perfectly safe proposition, this one that I have planned for youand her, and I don't think any of you can get into serious difficultythrough it."

  "Don't keep us in suspense, Dad! Tommy will suffocate if you don'ttell us now. She has been holding her breath ever since you beganspeaking," cried Jane.

  A ripple of laughter ran along both sides of the table, but quicklysubsided when Mr. McCarthy again began speaking.

  "Very good, if you must know. But--I say, Mrs. Livingston, I think wewon't tell them until to-morrow. As I think it over, I guess I won'ttell them after all. They'll know all about it when it gets here.That's all." Mr. McCarthy sat down, wiping his forehead and lookingvastly relieved.

  A chorus of "Ohs!" greeted the announcement. "Please, please tell us,oh, do," they begged, but the visitor shook his head.

  "I think, Mr. McCarthy, that I had better tell them if you do not wishto. They will be too much upset otherwise," said the Chief Guardian."Have I your permission?"

  He nodded.

  "As you wish. They've got me so flustered that I couldn't say anotherword to them."

  "Very good. Listen, girls, and I will tell you," said the ChiefGuardian.