CHAPTER XVI
THE NUTTING PARTY
To the boy's surprise Bobby, who was usually aloof and liked to teasehim, squeezed his arm surreptitiously.
"You're a dear!" she told him enthusiastically.
"Girls are a queer lot," the dazed youth confided to Bob, as they wentback to their quarters. "Here I handed over my coat to that Norma Guerinand gave her the flower I'd been saving for Bobby, just to pay Bobby backfor being so snippy to me over at school. And she calls me a dear and isnicer to me than she's been in months!"
Bob briefly outlined something of the Guerin history, for Betty had toldhim of the lost treasure in her hurried note, and hinted his belief thatthe girls had very little money in comparison to Shadyside standards.
"Shucks--money isn't anything!" was Tommy's answer to the recital, withthe easy assurance of a person who has never been without a comfortablecompetence. "They're nice girls, and we'll pass the word that the boysare to show them a good time."
As a result, when after the conclusion of the game, the girls and MissAnderson were ushered upstairs into the cozy suite of rooms the cadetsoccupied, Norma and Alice found themselves plied with attentions. MissAnderson poured the hot chocolate and made friends with the shy SydneyCooke, who had been dreading this visit all the afternoon. Indeed hischums had threatened to lock him in the clothes closet in order that theymight be sure of his attendance.
Winifred Marion Brown, in addition to his ability as a checker player,was a good pianist, and he obligingly played for them to dance. The pianobelonged to the Tucker twins. Norma and Alice were "rushed" withpartners, and they quite forgot their clothes in the enjoyment of dancingto irresistible music.
Libbie had brought a book of poems for Timothy Derby, who solemnly loanedher one of his in exchange. This odd pair remained impervious to allcriticisms, and certainly many of those voiced were frank to the point ofpainfulness.
"But their natures can not understand the lyric appeal," said Libbiesadly. Her English teacher moaned over her spelling and rejoiced inher themes.
Finally Miss Anderson insisted they must go, and the bouquet of flowerson the tea table was plucked apart to reveal nine little individualbouquets, one for each guest.
"Good-bye, and thank you for a lovely party," said Miss Anderson gaily.
"Do you know?" blurted Teddy Tucker, "you're my idea of a chaperone! Mostof 'em are such dubs and kill-joys!"
Which tactful speech proved to be the best Teddy could have made.
A week of small pleasures and hard study followed this "glorious Fridayafternoon."
Bobby, for a wonder, remembered her promise of good behavior, and byherculean effort managed to be on the "starred" list for the Saturday setaside for the nutting expedition.
"We'll go after lunch," planned Betty. "Miss Anderson says if we strikeoff toward the woods at the back of the school we ought to come to agrove of hickory nut trees."
The eight girls, ready for their tramp, came in to lunch attired in heavywool skirts and stout shoes and carried their sweaters. Ada Nansenglanced complacently at her own suede pumps and silk stockings.
"It's hard to tell which is really the farmer's daughter to-day," shedrawled. "Perhaps we all ought to assume that uniform out of kindness."
Ada sat at the table directly behind Norma, and not a girl at eithertable could possibly miss the significance of her remarks. Their import,it developed, had been plain to Miss Lacey who, on her way to her owntable, had overheard. Miss Lacey was a quiet, rather drab little woman,misleading in her effacement of self. She knew more about her pupils thanthey often suspected.
"Ada," she said quietly, stopping by the girl, "you may leave the table.If you will persist in acting like a naughty little six year old girl,you must be treated as one."
Ada flounced out of her chair and from the room. Her departure created aripple of curiosity. It was most unusual for a girl to be dismissed fromtable, and had Ada only known it, she had drawn the attention of thewhole school to herself.
Miss Lacey went on to her seat, without a glance at the flushed faces ofNorma and Alice.
"Some day," said Bobby furiously, "I'm going to throw a plate atthat girl!"
"No, you're not," contradicted Betty. "Then Mrs. Eustice would rise upand send you from the room and you'd feel about half the size Ada doesnow. For mercy's sake, don't descend to anybody's level--make 'em come upto fight on yours."
They were all glad to get through the meal and find themselves outdoors.It was a perfect autumn day, warm and hazy, and the red and gold of theleaves showed burnished from the hillside. They tramped rather silentlyat first, and then, as the tense mood wore off, their tongues wereloosened and they chattered like magpies.
"Here's a tree!" shouted Louise and Frances, who were in the lead.
When they had picked all the nuts on the ground, Bobby essayed to climbthe tree. She made rather sad work of the effort, for a shag-barkhickory is not the easiest tree in the world to climb, and after she hadtorn her skirt in two places and mended it with safety pins, she gave upthe attempt.
"Let's walk further," she suggested. "We'll mark our trail as we go likethe Indians."
This idea caught the fancy of the girls, and they marked an elaboratetrail, building little mounds at every turn and leaving odd arrangementsof stones to mark their passing.
"Come on, I'll race you," shouted Bobby suddenly. "I feel just likeexercising."
Betty wondered what she called the scramble through the woods, but she,too, was ready for a run. They set off pellmell, laughing and shouting.
"Look out!" shrieked Betty, stopping so suddenly that Libbie and Louisefell against her. "Look! I almost ran right into it!"
She pointed ahead to where the ground fell away abruptly. A great chasm,like an angry scar, was cut through the earth, and on the side oppositeto the girls a steep hill came down in an uncompromising slant.
"What a dandy hill for coasting!" ejaculated Bobby. "Let's come up herethis winter. We can steer away from this hole."
"That's no hole," said Norma Guerin, in an odd voice. "That's IndianChasm. And it's miles long."
Betty stared at her. She had thought Indian Chasm many miles away.
"I didn't realize we had walked so far," said Norma, apparently readingher thoughts. "But I know I am right. Here are the woods and the steephill, just as grandma has described them a hundred times. This isIndian Chasm."
The girls looked at her curiously. Betty had not told them the story,believing that Alice and Norma should have that sole right. Now Normarapidly sketched the outlines for them and they listened breathlessly,for surely this true story was more thrilling than any piece of fiction,however highly colored.
"I never heard of anything so romantic!" was Libbie's comment.
To which Bobby retorted with cousinly severity:
"Romantic? Where do you see anything romantic in a band of Indiansscalping a peaceful white family?"
"Oh, Bobby!" protested Norma, laughing. "They didn't scalp grandma. Theystole everything she had."
"And is all that stuff down there now?" asked Constance Howard,round-eyed. "Perhaps if we look we can see something."
There was a concerted rush to the chasm's edge, and the eight girlsplumped down flat on their stomachs, determined to see whatever there wasto be seen.
The sides of the earth fell away sharply, down, down. Betty shouted, andthe empty echo of her voice came back to her.
"The ground's so shaly and crumbly," she said thoughtfully, "that itwould be impossible to let a man down with a rope--the earth would cavein and bury him."
"I think I see a diamond," reported Libbie. "Don't you see somethingglittering down there?"
"Can't even see the bottom," said Bobby curtly. "Much less a diamond. Oh,girls, to think of those valuables at the bottom of a chasm like thisand none of us able to think up a way to get 'em out."
"Well, lots of people have tried," said Alice reasonably. "If grown-upmen couldn't salvage 'em for grandma, I g
uess it's nothing to ourdiscredit that we can't get them."
"We might push Libbie in," suggested Bobby wickedly. "Then she could tellus how deep it is."
This had the effect of sending Libbie scurrying away from thedangerous place, and the others followed her more slowly to resume thesearch for nuts.
"I wish we could think of a way, Norma, dear," said Betty.
"Oh, I don't care--not so very much," answered Norma bravely. But thenshe sighed deeply.
Betty Gordon at Boarding School; Or, The Treasure of Indian Chasm Page 16
