The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea Part 9

"What shall we do with the rest of our things?" questioned Hazel.

"Make them into packages and hide the lot. You might blaze a tree near the road, in case we forget. All parts of the road hereabouts look very much alike to me. There is a good place for a _cache_ about half way between here and the highway. I should go in a few rods, but any food that is not in cans we had better throw away."

"I don't thee why we can't camp right here," said Grace.

"This is not the place to which we are going," Harriet informed her.

"I don't know where it is, but, sooner or later, we'll arrive there."

"If we are lucky," added Tommy under her breath.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jane and Harriet Hid the Trunk.]

Jane had already started for the road. She was called back by Harriet to take hold of one end of the trunk. Together the two girls lugged this to the place on the path that had been indicated by Miss Elting. By going straight in among the trees a short distance they found rocks, under one of which was a hole hollowed out in former times by water, and which made an excellent place in which to stow their equipment until such time as they might be able to return for it.

Hazel, Margery and Tommy brought the rest of their belongings from the highway, Miss Elting and Hazel what had been left at their camping place, all being neatly packed away in the hollow in the rock. This done, and a mound of small stones built over it, the girls were ready to proceed on their journey.

The afternoon was now well along, so they started off at a brisk pace, led by the guardian. Harriet appeared to have fully recovered from her accident. About an hour later they came in sight of a farmhouse. The guardian directed the girls to sit down and rest while she went up to the house to make some inquiries. When she returned her face was all smiles.

"I know where I am now," she called.

"How far have we to go?" asked Harriet.

"About five miles, they say, but one has to make allowances for distances in the country. It is difficult to find two persons who will agree on the distance to any certain point."

"Five mileth, did you say?" questioned Tommy.

"Yes, dear."

"Thave me!"

"We shall easily make it in two hours. I don't think we can go astray.

So long as we keep within sound of the sea we shall be right. If you are ready, we will move on."

Once more they set out. They had gone on less than an hour when Margery began to cry. Tommy regarded her with disapproving eyes.

Margery declared that she couldn't walk another step. Inquiry by Miss Elting developed the fact that Buster had a blister on her right foot.

This meant another delay. Miss Elting removed the girl's shoe from that foot and treated the blister. Half an hour was lost by this delay, but no one except Tommy Thompson complained. Tommy complained for the sake of saying something. She teased Margery so unmercifully that Miss Elting was obliged to rebuke her, after which Tommy went off by herself and sat pensively down by the roadside until the order to march was given.

The afternoon was waning when once more they came in sight of the sea.

The setting sun had turned the expanse of ocean into a vast plain of shimmering, quivering gold. The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered exclamations of delight when they set eyes on the scene. For a few moments they stood still, gazing and gazing as if it were not possible to get enough of the, to most of them, unusual spectacle.

A full quarter of a mile ahead they observed that the sh.o.r.es a little back were quite heavily wooded, though the trees were small and slender. This particular spot seemed to have attracted Miss Elting's attention to the exclusion of all else. As she looked, a smile overspread her countenance. The girls did not observe it.

"We are nearly there," she called.

"Near the camp?" asked Tommy.

"Yes, the camp, you little tantalizer," chuckled the guardian. "But you will not know what camp until you reach it."

"Oh, yeth I thall. It ith our camp, the Meadow-Brook camp."

"I hear shouts. I do believe they are girls'," cried Crazy Jane. She glanced inquiringly at Miss Elting, but the latter's face now gave no hint as to what was in her mind. "Come on; let's run, girls."

With one accord they started forward at a brisk trot. This brought a wail from the limping Margery.

"Wait for me," she cried. "I--I can't run."

To their surprise Tommy halted, waited for Buster, then, linking an arm within hers, a.s.sisted Margery to trot along and keep up with her companions. Miss Elting gave Grace an appreciative nod and smile, which amply repaid the little girl for her kindly act. They covered the distance to the miniature forest in quick time, impelled by their curiosity, now realizing that they were to meet with the surprise that their guardian had prepared for them. Harriet had a fairly well defined idea as to what was awaiting them, but even she was to be happily surprised.

They reached a point opposite the little forest, when, as they looked toward the sea, visible in spots between the trees, they discovered a row of tents, and in the center of an open s.p.a.ce a flag fluttering from a sapling from which the limbs and foliage had been trimmed.

"It's Camp Wau-Wau!" shouted Crazy Jane. "Come along, darlin's. Let's see what else there is to surprise us."

The girls rushed in among the trees, shouting and laughing. They brought up in the middle of the encampment and halted. A middle-aged, pleasant-faced woman stepped from a tent, gazed at them a moment, then opened her arms, into which the Meadow-Brook Girls rushed, fairly smothering the woman with their affectionate embraces.

CHAPTER VI

AT HOME BY THE SEA

"Oh, my dear Meadow-Brook Girls!" cried the woman. "And I did not know you were coming. Why did you not let me know?" Mrs. Livingston, the Chief Guardian of the Camp Girls, held her young friends off the better to look at them.

"We did," replied Miss Elting. "When you wrote that you would be glad to have us join the camp, I made the arrangements and wrote you that we would be here yesterday."

"I never received the letter."

"But why do you call thith plathe Camp Wau-Wau?" demanded Grace. "Camp Wau-Wau ith in the Pocono Woodth, Mrs. Livingthton."

"Yes, my dear; but a camp may move, may it not? This is the same old Camp Wau-Wau, but in a different location. This year we concluded to make our camp by the sea sh.o.r.e, and chose Lonesome Bar for our camping place."

"Lonesome Bar!" exclaimed Miss Elting.

"That explains it. We Were looking for Lonesome Cove."

"Which we found," chuckled Harriet.

"We've had the most awful time, and Harriet got drowned," put in Margery Brown.

"Drowned?"

"Yeth, thhe did," nodded Tommy eagerly. "And we had thuch a time undrowning her! Thhe thwallowed a whole ithe pond of water."

Miss Elting here explained to the Chief Guardian what had happened.

Mrs. Livingston was amazed. She gazed curiously at the smiling Harriet.

"I suppose I should not be surprised at anything Harriet does, but that you all should have fallen into a pond with your car is incredible. What became of the car?"