The Girl Scouts at Camp Comalong Part 18

"Yes, there's Julia calling; come along," finished Louise.

Racing back they stumbled over another danger sign. It was almost hidden in some underbrush, and without stick or precaution Cleo gaily kicked it over, emitting a triumphant "whoo--pee" as she did so.

"Guess they grow up here," she told her companion. "Quite a crop of them."

"They would be splendid to stick up around the camp 'eats box,'"

suggested Louise. "I wish I had brought one along."

"Grand idea, and we could put one up in front of our new supply of cake," Cleo added. "I need something like that to protect mine, for the prize chocolate layer is going down very rapidly."

There was no time to tell Julia of their adventure. The horses were reclaimed from their pasture, and presently all were mounted again and going on a gentle little trot down the rather steep incline.

Where two paths forked and the road was barely wide enough even to be called single, they drew rein to wait for some other riders whose horses could be heard but not seen through the trees.

Presently a familiar pony pranced around the curve and on it--sat Peg.

"Oh, there's Peg!" exclaimed all three Scouts.

"h.e.l.lo, Peg!" they called cheerily. They were, indeed, delighted to meet her on the road.

"Hel--lo!" she answered. There was no joy in her voice, however, although she pulled the blue roan up short--she glanced backward, then the girls saw she was looking for another rider.

Mrs. Broadbent realized the time allowed the Scouts with their horses was almost up, so she urged her little company to hurry along. Rather slowly they obeyed, and the second rider was beside Peg now and it proved to be her aunt, Miss Ramsdell.

"Aunt Carrie on horseback!" said one girl to another. They were naturally surprised to see the rather elderly and white haired woman mounted. But she sat well, and looked well, although her habit was of the full divided skirt pattern, and she sat sidewise as women did twenty years ago.

"Have a nice ride?" Peg called after them when there could be no possibility of more intimate conversation.

"Lovely!" called back the Scouts.

"Why don't you come around?" shouted Cleo.

"Busy!" floated back the answer.

"She looks it," Louise remarked, when again they rode slowly, trying to prolong the minutes.

"Doesn't she? I wonder what keeps her so busy?" This was Julia's query.

"Well, we can't spy, that's a sure thing," reasoned Cleo, "but I wouldn't mind knowing what brings her out riding all the time."

"Perhaps she teaches riding over at some of the millionaire places,"

surmised Julia, always p.r.o.ne to be on the safe side.

"Too young," returned Cleo. "Fancy Weasy teaching someone how to mount!"

"As if I couldn't!"

"Certainly you could, Weasy, but would you? That's the question. Peg would be about as patient as a chipmunk at giving instructions. And she seems too practical to go riding so often just for a good time,"

reasoned Cleo.

Campers and "bungalowers" still moving and removing to overcome the difficulties thrust upon them by the night's storm were now tramping along the country road, lugging, it seemed, everything from bedding to ballast, and among the fugitives the riders met a number with whom they were acquainted.

Hailing to these and offering words of sympathy precluded further private conversation, so Peg and her riding proclivities were forgotten for the time.

"I'll take you to your cottages," offered Mrs. Broadbent. "These horses will trail along obediently when I lead with Baldy."

This offer was eagerly accepted, for the plan would eliminate a walk from the riding school, and when all had patted their horses and promised another ride very soon, the afternoon's particular delight remained only in its joyous memories.

"I would rather ride than do any other single thing," declared Cleo, watching her pretty horse canter off riderless.

"I love it too," agreed Louise. "But do you know we have to get back to camp? And I have a suitcase to carry. There's the car! Goody! We'll all have a ride back."

"Rides and more rides," mused Julia. "I'll be ready in a jiff."

In Cozy Colony all three girls claimed their home ties, and the cottages were grouped in one prettily wooded territory, where trees were only sacrificed to make room for a cottage or garage, and where the rustic beauty of the lake resort was otherwise carefully preserved.

In the "jiff" specified by Julia the girls again appeared, their linen riding habits exchanged for fresh Scout uniforms, and while Louise lugged a suitcase Julia carried a laundry bag, and Cleo was armed with a rather miscellaneous collection of appurtenances.

Five minutes later they were in camp gushing over the wonderful ride.

"And I took a cake over to Peg," Grace was forced to interrupt to make known.

Then it was that Peg again became the pivot of their interest and speculation.

CHAPTER XIV

THE ALGONQUIN EPISODE

"We were so surprised to see her aunt along with her," Julia was recounting. "They seem awfully chummy, don't they?"

"Yes, it is plain to see they are not--just ordinary folks," added Cleo. "But even at that I don't see why she should be so standoffish."

"I hope she likes my cake. I left it under a turned upside box, put a couple of big stones on it and told s.h.a.g not to let anyone touch it,"

Grace explained.

"Suppose she wouldn't care to accept a cake? She said something that night around the campfire, about not accepting things she couldn't return." This was Cleo's contribution.

"If she doesn't like my cake she can easily return that," Grace was very emphatic now, "and then perhaps we will desist. No use trying to make friends with folks who insist on snubbing us."

"But she hasn't snubbed us yet," Louise reminded the first speaker.

"Oh, no, I know that. I was only saying if she _didn't_ take the cake."

"No danger of anyone giving up that lovely mound of sweetness. I wish you saved that, Grace, and gave away the marshmallow; I just love tutti-frutti," declared Cleo.