CHAPTER IV
GRACE SURPRISES HER CHUMS
"I'm not a pig," cried Grace, striving to look dignified, which is arather difficult procedure when one is being hugged by three pairs ofarms at once. "I don't care how many times you spit me, whatever thatis, Mollie, but you shan't call me a pig."
"Of course she shan't," said Betty soothingly. "If she does it again,we'll try our hand at this spitting business--"
"Goodness, sounds like a cat fight," chuckled Grace, but Mollieunceremoniously shook her into attention.
"Grace, behave and tell us," she ordered.
"What?" asked Grace aggravatingly, but added hastily as Mollie againraised the knitting needle at a threatening angle: "All right, if you'lljust give me space enough to breathe I'll do any little thing you ask."
With that the three jumped from the swing so suddenly that Grace, theonly occupant left, bounced into the air and landed with a thump on thecushions.
They laughed and drew up three chairs in a semi-circle in front of herto make escape impossible. Then three pairs of merry eyes focusedcommandingly upon her.
"I didn't know it myself till last night," she said in response to thetacit order. "Then it was patriotic Aunt Mary who proposed it."
"Proposed what?" they cried.
"Well, that's what I'm going to tell you if you give me half a chance.She said she felt as if she owed something to us girls for having stoodso loyally behind Uncle Sam, and had decided to offer us her cottage atBluff Point to use as long as we wanted it."
"Bluff Point!" cried Betty, while her eyes began to sparkle. "Why Grace!isn't that the place you were telling us about--"
"Where the quaint little house stands on a bluff--" added Amy eagerly.
"Overlooking a sparkling white beach that leads down to the ocean?" wenton Betty.
"The very same," nodded Grace, and they heaved a sigh of pure excitementand happiness.
"Isn't it wonderful," cried Mollie joyfully, "how somebody is alwaysdoing something to make us happy?"
"Yes, but when I said that to Aunt Mary last night she smiled and lookedwise--you know how sweet she is--and said that that was the wayhappiness always came to us--by helping others to be happy."
"But we haven't done anything to make anybody happy--particularly thatis," said Mollie wondering.
"I said that too," nodded Grace. "But she only went on smiling, and Irealized she must have meant our work at the Hostess House."
"It's strange how everybody persists in calling it work and giving us somuch credit when it was all such fun," said Betty. "But girls," sheadded, laughing breathlessly, "the great fact is that we are going tohave another adventure in the open. The very thought of it makes me wantto roll in the buttercups."
"Goodness, there's one open in the back meadow," suggested Mollie. "Youcan roll in it, if you want to."
"Well, I don't--I want a whole patch of them!" cried Betty, while therest laughed at Mollie's picture. "My, I feel younger already."
"Well of course you need to," drawled Grace, adding with a fond glanceat the glowing Little Captain: "You look so terribly like a dried-upancient, dear."
"But when shall we start?" cried Mollie, coming back to theall-absorbing topic at hand. "Goodness, I'd like to throw a few clothesin a suitcase and start right away--quick--this minute--I can't wait!"
"Do you think it's catching?" asked Grace, anxiously.
"From the way I feel I should say it was already caught," twinkledBetty, adding eagerly: "How long do you suppose we will have to wait,Grace? Did your Aunt Mary say when we could have the cottage?"
"As soon as we want it," replied Grace, looking surprised. "Didn't Itell you?"
"No you didn't," mimicked Mollie, adding as she sprang to her feetimpatiently: "I'd like to know what we're waiting for anyway! Why don'twe get started?"
"Now I know she's crazy," cried Betty, seizing her chum and pulling herdown upon the arm of her chair. "Why we haven't decided anything yet."
"What is there to decide?" cried Mollie, trying to be patient andlooking like a martyr.
"Why we don't even know how we're going to get there yet," explainedBetty soothingly.
"In the automobile, of course," cried Mollie, jumping up again.
"Oh, can we?" cried Grace, forgetting to be languid and bouncing eagerlyin the swing. "Mollie, that would be wonderful."
"Why of course we'll go in the car!" it was Mollie's turn to looksurprised. "What did you think we were going to do--walk?"
"There are railroads, you know," Grace reminded her, relapsing intoirony. "And as to walking--well, we did that too before you got yourcar, Mollie."
"Yes, and got sore feet," added Mollie.
"Well, now that we've decided not to go on the railroad or walk," Amybroke in unexpectedly, "I really don't see what we are waiting for."
"My goodness, there's another lunatic," cried Grace, lookingdespairingly at the Little Captain, whose eyes twinkled merrily. "Whatdo you expect us to do--go just as we are?"
"No, but we can throw some things into a suitcase--"
"How long do you suppose it will take us to get there?" asked the LittleCaptain, coming to Grace's rescue.
"Why, even in Mollie's car it will take two days," said Grace, turningto Betty with the relief of one who at last had a sane person to reckonwith. "Mollie and Amy evidently expect to make it in a couple ofhours."
"Oh well, I didn't know it was so far away," murmured Mollie, somewhattaken aback. "Of course, then, we can't go until to-morrow."
The girls laughed merrily, and Betty hugged her.
"We might," chuckled the latter, "even be forced to wait till day afterto-morrow."
"I won't do it!" cried Mollie, jumping up again. "There's no reason inthe world why we can't start to-morrow."
"But, Mollie dear," insisted Betty mildly, "we haven't even asked ourfolks whether we may go or not--"
"As if we didn't know what they will say," broke in Mollie, but Bettywent on without heeding her.
"And we must have a chaperone, you know."
"Oh, I suppose so," sighed Mollie sinking down in her chair resignedly,"but it's horribly tiresome. I want to go now."
"You sound like Dodo with her candies," remarked Grace, amiably helpingherself to a luscious milk chocolate filled with nuts. "Have one,Mollie--it may make you feel better."
"It won't, but I will," said Mollie rather enigmatically, reaching out ahand for the proffered sweet. "Thank you, dear."
"But whom shall we have for a chaperone?" cried Amy impatiently. "I'malmost as bad as Mollie--I can hardly wait till to-morrow."
"Why," said Grace, nibbling daintily, "I thought maybe you girlswouldn't mind if I asked mother to go with us."
"Mind!" echoed Betty, while the others looked at her in surprise. "Whyof course we'd love to have her! You know that. But I never imagined shewould care to go, she is so interested in Red Cross work and herclubs--"
"That's just it," said Grace, sitting up quickly. "She's entirely wornout with work and worry about Will, and I thought a little vacation withus girls would help her out wonderfully. I'm not sure she will go--Ihaven't asked her yet."
"Well, let's," cried Betty impulsively, jumping to her feet. "She simplycan't refuse if we all ask her at once."
"Now you're saying something!" cried Mollie fervently, albeit slangily,as she flung her arm about the Little Captain and dragged her down thesteps. "Action is what we need--action, and plenty of it."
The girls fairly ran the short distance from Mollie's home to Grace's,and the people they met on the way, greeted them heartily, musing as heor she turned to go on: "There's probably something interesting in theair--the Outdoor Girls always look like that when they have some newadventure in tow." For Deepdale was very proud and fond of its OutdoorGirls.
Mrs. Ford was just coming down the stairs dressed to go out when thequartette burst in upon her. She did look very tired and worn, as Gracehad said, but the smile that lighted her face at sight of the girls
madeher appear ten years younger.
"Mother," said Grace, taking one of her mother's carefully gloved handsin her own and leading her gently but firmly into the library, "we havesomething very important to say to you."
"Will it take long?" queried Mrs. Ford, smiling at the other girls overher shoulder. "Because, if it will, I'm very much afraid I can't wait.I'm a little late now."
"That," said Grace decidedly, as her mother sank into a chair and theother girls grouped themselves about her, "is exactly what we have cometo talk about. We think you need a little vacation."
"Vacation!" cried the lady, half rising from her chair. "Why, my dear!how can I take a vacation when my hands are so full of work now that Iam--"
"You don't have to take it," Grace interrupted argumentatively, "we'lljust give it to you."
Mrs. Ford laughed helplessly and regarded the eager young faces withamusement.
"Out with it, girls," she commanded. "I know you are plotting someterrible thing. What do you intend to do, kidnap me?"
"No, we're keeping that for a last resort," returned Betty, and Mrs.Ford laughed outright at the confession.
"We want," explained Grace, speaking fast for fear of being interrupted,"to have you go with us to Bluff Point. We need a chaperone, you know."
"I've no doubt of it," retorted her mother, laughing, adding, withanother anxious glance at the clock: "But I'm afraid you will have toget someone else, Honey. If I were free, I should like nothing better,but you see how rushed I am--"
"But you're terribly tired, Mother, you know you are," said Grace withunusual gentleness, adding diplomatically: "What good will you be to theRed Cross or to anyone else, I'd like to know, if you let yourself getsick?"
"But I'm not sick," protested her mother, then added with a suddenlonging as the wild solitude of Bluff Point rose before her eyessuggesting utter peace and quiet, a chance to rest tired nerves andgather strength for the last great drive:
"You're right, I am tired, terribly tired," and the lines of wearinessreturning to her face. "I'd love it, girls, but there's my work!"
It took the girls about five minutes of the hardest work they had everdone in their lives. But they did what they had set out to do. At theend of that time Mrs. Ford consented to start with them whenever theywere ready.
"Day after to-morrow?" asked Mollie, her eyes shining.
"I don't know why not," said Mrs. Ford, then sprang to her feet with acry of dismay. "Girls, I completely forgot to telephone the Red Cross.What will they think of me?"
The Outdoor Girls at Bluff Point; Or a Wreck and a Rescue Page 5
