A Dear Little Girl's Summer Holidays Part 10

Edna turned slowly and went forward to meet Louis who had crossed the lawn and was nearly up to them. "Hallo," said he.

"Hallo," returned Edna rather dejectedly. "The girls say they are going to play with the dolls out in the summer house; I don't suppose you want to play with them."

"With dolls? Not I. If that's what they are going to do you and I can go down to the beach and build a sandcastle or go fishing or something."

"Oh, not fishing," replied Edna quickly. Her tender heart could never stand that. "I'd just as lief build castles though." She followed Louis down to the beach and for a while they played quite contentedly.

After a while Louis tired of castles and proposed that they go further along. "I know where there is a cave," he said. "We can play at being robbers, or smugglers."

"How far is it?" asked Edna.

"Oh, not very far." Louis waved his hand toward the point which curved beyond them. "It's just down that way."

They set off together along the beach, but though they climbed over great boulders and scrambled around scraggy roots of trees the place was ever beyond them.

"I think it is awfully far," said Edna at last.

"Oh, it can't be far now; the boys told me it was this side of the point."

"Oh, but I thought you knew just where it was."

"So I do. Didn't the boys tell me?" Louis spoke with such a.s.surance that Edna followed on and was presently relieved to hear him say:

"Look there. What did I tell you?"

Sure enough just ahead of them was a hollowed place in the bank which might easily be called a cave. The bank was quite high just here and stretched down almost to the sea so there was but a small stretch of sand in front of the cave. The children clambered into the shelter to rest, but Louis was not content to sit still for long.

"I'm going out to explore," he said. "You sit here till I come back. I won't stay long."

He was as good as his word for in a few minutes he returned. "Guess what," he began. "There's a boat out there. I'm going to borrow it and then we can pretend you are a female smuggler or you can be a robber maid and will rescue me to rob me. No, I'd rather have it the other way. I'll be the robber and will find you in this sea cave with a h.o.a.rd of jewels that were left with you after a shipwreck. I'll go get the boat and row in."

"Oh, Louis, indeed you'd better not," said Edna in fear lest he be too foolhardy.

"But I'm not going out to sea really. The boat is just round the little bend the other side of us. I don't mean to steal it. I'll take it back when we get through playing."

"Please don't, Louis. I'm so afraid you will upset or something, besides I don't think you ought to take the boat even for a little while. Suppose the owner should come and want it."

"Oh, no, he won't." Louis was always very ready to believe things were going to happen just to suit him. "Isn't that just like a girl to get all worked up over a little thing like that? Why, I rowed ever so far the other day, and this is only a few yards."

"But suppose, just suppose the boat should leak. It may be an old one."

"I'll examine it first. You don't have to come, you know. All you have to do is to be the robber maid, no, I mean the ship-wrecked one. You might be gathering some pebbles for make-believe jewels. You can hide them in that corner and I will discover them. You must be asleep when I come."

Seeing no persuasion was of any avail, Edna watched Louis go off and then set herself to work to gather pebbles. This was rather a pleasant amus.e.m.e.nt, and she soon had a nice little pile of those which were either milky white, which showed some faint color, or which shone with spots of mica or quartz. Her jewels in order, she began to think it high time to be expecting the robber, so she lay down on the sand to compose herself in pretended slumber.

She lay there for some time, and being tired could almost have dropped off into a real sleep, only that she felt anxious about her cousin.

Why didn't he come? "Perhaps he is fishing, or maybe he is talking to the man that owns the boat. The man might have come up and he might be angry with Louis for meddling. I think I'll go and peep."

She crawled out of the cave surprised to find the strip of beach much narrower than she remembered it. Really there was no beach to speak of now, for just as she was venturing out a wave came curling up to her very feet. She retreated, a good deal alarmed. The cave was high enough for her to stand upright, but was not very deep. She stood for a moment watching the water at the entrance. It didn't come so far in the next time, but still it was quite far enough to cause alarm. Suppose the tide were rising and it should come up, up into the very furthest corner of the cave. The thought filled her with terror, and gave sudden purpose to her movements. She would flee while there was yet time. She dashed out, unheeding the water through which she splashed, and which came over her ankles. Her main thought was to climb up the bank and get beyond any possibility of the tide's over-taking her. Scrambling, falling, clutching at the bayberry bushes which fastened themselves securely into the soil, she managed at last to reach the top. From here she believed she could see up and down the coast. But all at once it was made evident to her that she could not see, for a chill grey fog had crept in, and was enveloping land and sea. Strain her eyes as she would there was no house visible, neither was there sign of Louis nor the boat.

CHAPTER VI

IN THE FOG

For a moment Edna stood still bewildered, then she ran a little way along the bank calling "Louis! Louis!" terrified at receiving no answer. The bank which here reached its greatest height, sloped gently down on the north side, and curved away from the sea, leaving a tiny cove in which Louis had seen the boat. There might be another cave on that side. Edna resolved to go down and investigate.

The going down was much easier than the coming up, for at some distance away the sh.o.r.e was nearly level with the bank, and one had but to walk to reach it, no scrambling necessary. The gra.s.s, short and stubbly, was strung with fine mist and at each step Edna grew wetter and wetter, but she did not heed this, for her whole thought was centered upon Louis, and she was imagining all sorts of things. Perhaps he had drifted away in the boat far out of sight. Perhaps the boat's owner had seen him and had borne him off to be locked up for meddling with another's property.

Perhaps he was really out there now on the water, hidden by the fog, and was trying to row ash.o.r.e.

She reached the beach at last. The tide was coming in higher and higher, and was sweeping around the point where the cave was, rushing in and out with a great noise. Edna shuddered as she thought; suppose she had not been able to get away before now and had been hemmed in on both sides by the waves. Once in a while the fog lifted slightly, and she strained her eyes for a sight of the boat. Once she was sure she saw it, but a second view disclosed a lobsterman coming in from hauling his lobster-pots. He rowed steadily, but pa.s.sed by too far out for the little girl to attract his attention. It had grown very damp and chilly, and the east wind cut like a knife. The child's clothing was wet through and her teeth chattered as she faced the sea. She was not quite sure where she was, for she had never walked so far along the sh.o.r.e, but had reached different places by way of the road. Moreover, the fog hid all landmarks, and there was not even a fisherman's hut to guide her.

At last she made up her mind that it was useless to stand there and concluded that she would best turn away from the sh.o.r.e and try to find the road. She went up the bank again by the easier way and then turned at right angles, stumbling through the stubbly gra.s.s and over hummocks.

She thought she was going in a straight line, but she was really zig-zagging across the field and bearing toward the north instead of the south.

Suddenly she saw through the veil of mist, a small building ahead. "It must be a fisherman's hut," she told herself. "Perhaps it belongs to the man who owns the boat. I'll go there and see." This gave her a new impetus and she hurried on, and presently was surprised to see that it was not a fisherman's house at all, but a small bungalow, set with back to a grove of trees and facing a small strip of beach. "Why," exclaimed Edna, delightedly, "if it isn't the little bungalow where Miss Eloise lives. Well, I am surprised. I hadn't an idea I was anywhere near it."

On she went with better heart. Here were friends close at hand who could advise and comfort her. She reached the door and lifted the little bra.s.s knocker. The door was opened to her by Miss Newman.

"Why, Edna Conway, what in the world brought you over here by yourself?" was Miss Newman's surprised greeting. "Why, the child is drenched to the skin. Come right in to the fire." She ushered her into the tiny living-room where a cheerful fire was blazing on the hearth.

Before this Miss Eloise was sitting. "It is Edna, Ellie," said her sister, "and the child is soaking wet. My dear child, why did you come out in this fog wearing that flimsy gingham? And no rubbers, no coat?

What were you thinking of?"

This was too much for Edna and her lip quivered, the tears filled her eyes and she stood forlornly without saying a word.

"You poor little dear," said Miss Eloise, who was watching her. "You shall not scold her, sister. You do not know what accident may have happened. Come over here, darling child, and tell me all about it."

The effect of Miss Eloise's sympathy finished what Miss Newman's censure began and Edna burst into tears, sobbing out. "It--it was all--all nice and bright when we came away from the--the house, and--and I d--didn't know there was going to--to be any fog."

"Of course you didn't," said Miss Eloise soothingly. "What did I tell you, sister? Go on, dear, and tell us how it all happened."

"Louis and I went to find the cave, and it was ever so far." Edna drew a long breath but checked her tears. The fire was very comforting and Miss Eloise was a tower of refuge. "Then he went off to get a boat and was coming back to the cave. I was going to be a shipwrecked maiden with jewels and he was a bold robber, but--but he didn't come, and the tide--the tide--" Here she broke down into a second fit of weeping.

"There, there, don't try to tell any more just yet. You see," she said to her sister, "the child is all wrought up. There is no knowing what she may have been through. She ought to have some dry shoes and stockings, sister, and she'd better take off that soaking frock. That little blue flannel kimono of mine will be just the thing."

So Miss Newman went off to bring back the dry things, helped Edna off with the wet frock and on with the dry shoes and stockings, and by that time she had become calmer. The shoes were not very much too big, and the kimono was not much too long, for Miss Eloise was a tiny creature.

"Now do you think you could tell us the rest," said Miss Newman taking example from her sister and speaking very gently.

"I'll try," said Edna more at her ease. "I waited ever so long for Louis to come, and he didn't. I was inside the cave, you know, and I was pretending to be asleep, and when I knew it was too much of a long time I thought I would go out and find Louis, and then I saw the fog and the tide was coming in just as fast. I was so scared, for I knew it might come all the way up into the cave, and so I just tore out as hard as I could. It was up real high, for it splashed 'way over my feet. I had to scramble up the bank for the water was coming up all over the beach and there wasn't any other way. When I got to the top I saw that I could get down very easily on the other side. There was a little cove there, a tiny little one, and I guessed that was where Louis saw the boat, but the boat wasn't there and I called and called but n.o.body answered. Then I went down as far as I dared but I couldn't find Louis.

Oh, Miss Eloise, I am so afraid he is drowned."

Both ladies looked very grave, for there seemed likelihood of this being the case. Edna's tears began to flow again, and she buried her head in Miss Eloise's lap.

"Poor little girl, you have had a sorry time of it," said Miss Eloise, gently caressing the child's head. "What do you think had better be done, sister?"

Miss Newman sat thoughtfully looking into the fire for a few minutes before she answered, then she said: "I think I'd better go up to the Duncan's. They have a telephone, you know, and can let Mrs. Ramsey know where Edna is. She will be worried, I am sure. Then we can telephone to the hotel and find out if Louis is there. We need not necessarily alarm his mother, but if he is not there I will get Rudolph Duncan to go out and inquire about whose boat that was which Louis saw by the cave, and we may discover something that way. Rudolph will like to go, for he has his sou'wester and rubber boots, while as for me I am used to going out in all sorts of weather. I will not be gone any longer than I can help, and--why Edna, you have not had any dinner. Of course you haven't."