diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-05-13 17:21:03 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-05-13 17:21:03 -0700 |
| commit | 6890010314048e789c8a4c2638f8cc8c74d34b31 (patch) | |
| tree | 6a5f1487c8b50de49b1d5096452d3562dee97478 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-0.txt | 9282 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/76084-h.htm | 9473 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 701674 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 98974 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/images/illus2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 86474 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/images/illus3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 98491 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 76084-h/images/illus4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 96007 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 18772 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/76084-0.txt b/76084-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..821aaa4 --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9282 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76084 *** + + + + + + THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS + + OR THE DESERTED BUNGALOW ON SARANAC LAKE + + By GERTRUDE CALVERT HALL + + ILLUSTRATED BY + E. C. CASWELL + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + PUBLISHERS + + COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + + + + + CONTENTS + + + I THE NOWADAYS CLUB + + II A TELEGRAM + + III PREPARATIONS + + IV "WATCH YOUR STEP!" + + V IN SYRACUSE + + VI THE MISSING EMERALD + + VII OVERBOARD + + VIII THE GOLF BALL + + IX ONWARD + + X A NIGHT OUT + + XI TROUBLE + + XII THE MOTOR BOAT + + XIII BY THEMSELVES + + XIV A DISMAL PROSPECT + + XV A LONELY NIGHT + + XVI THE LOON + + XVII IN CAMP + + XVIII CANOEING + + XIX THE MASQUERADE + + XX THE MYSTIC MOON + + XXI THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + XXII BAD NEWS + + XXIII AT SARANAC + + XXIV WORRIMENT + + XXV MAKING PLANS + + XXVI A LONELY PLACE + + XXVII THE DESERTED BUNGALOW + + XXVIII MISSING + + XXIX A SLEEPLESS NIGHT + + XXX A GENERAL ALARM + + XXXI THE SEARCH + + XXXII LOST + + XXXIII UNEXPECTED HELP + + XXXIV FOUND + + XXXV RECOVERY + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"We certainly are doing it in style!" murmured Hazel. + +Sylvia presently found herself whirling through it with a Spaniard who +danced wonderfully well. + +Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits now that they were +actually on their way to see Roy. + +"Look! Look!" Sylvia whispered. + + + + + THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS + + + + + CHAPTER I + + THE NOWADAYS CLUB + + +The chugging taxicab stopped in front of the apartment on Central Park, +West, and the uniformed door attendant bowed out of it, and into the +marble vestibule, a demure girl with rosy cheeks. + +"Miss Pursell?" she asked, and there was that in her voice which made +the elevator boy look a second time; and he was not unused to seeing +pretty girls and hearing them speak. + +"Third floor, miss," he said, with a quick touch of his hand to his +much-gold-braided cap. Then, as he clanged the steel-grilled door shut, +he favored the hall-man with a distinct wink, which Rose Bancroft did +not see. But had she seen it she would, perhaps, have given it little +consideration, since it did not concern her. + +What did concern her was reaching her friend Sylvia Pursell as soon +as possible. There were more reasons than one for this, but perhaps +the one with which we may now concern ourselves was that Rose had been +travelling since early morning, having but just arrived at the Grand +Central Terminal from Syracuse. + +Travelling in even the best-portered Pullman, in the middle of the +"Chicago Special," is very apt to grime one up, especially if the +aforesaid one be wearing a particularly light and dainty dress. So +Rose, as she was shot upward in the smooth-running elevator, wondered +whether the coloured maid at the Grand Central had made sure that there +was no cinder dust on the end of her nose. + +"For," reflected Rose to herself, "if there is one thing more than +another, that makes a girl lose her smartness and dignity, it is a +black spot on the end of her nose." + +And Rose had her special reasons for wanting to look at least "smart" +when she reached Sylvia's apartment. I'll tell you why later. She +ventured to glance into the bevelled mirror which made up the whole +back of the car, but the electric bulb was shaded with a rose-tinted +glass, and while it made a very pretty effect, still it was not +conducive to illumination. + +"I'm almost sure there's a spot," thought Rose, but she dared not +raise her veil to make sure. And just then the elevator lad, who had +been favouring his solitary passenger with more than one surreptitious +glance, called out, in a most respectful tone of voice, a voice not at +all in keeping with his previous facetious wink: + +"Your floor! Miss Pursell's!" + +"Thank you," said Rose, quietly, and stepped out. + +A few moments later, Rose having been ushered into a pretty reception +hall, and thence to the drawing-room, she and Sylvia had their arms +around each other, and Sylvia was kissing her friend, regardless of +whether or not there was a spot on Rose's face--her nose or anywhere +else. + +"It was so sweet of you to come down from Syracuse, my dear!" + +"Nonsense, it was just perfectly lovely of you to ask me. I am _so_ +interested!" + +"I thought you'd be! Did you have a tiresome trip?" + +"Oh, not especially so. We were a little late, but made it up. Mrs. +Blake, mamma's friend, you know, came part way with me." + +"That was nice. Janet, take Miss Bancroft's things, and then tell +Perkins we'll have tea in here." + +"Yes, Miss Pursell." + +"Are the other girls here?" asked Rose, as she made sure this time, by +a hasty glance in a well-lighted mirror, that there was _not_ a spot on +her nose. + +"No, they're coming to-night, I presume. Hazel was away when my +telegram reached her, but she left Chicago last night, and ought to be +here now. I'm not so sure when Alice will arrive. You know her style." + +"Indeed I do. If she doesn't arrive to-day, next week will do. But are +you really going to carry out your plan?" + +"I most certainly _am_, my dear! I don't plan things and then not do +them." + +"Yes, I know, Sylvia, but this going off to the Adirondacks, all by +ourselves----" + +"But we'll not be by ourselves. Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley will +chaperon us, and----" + +"You didn't leave out any of her name; did you?" and Rose laughed a +merry laugh, that sounded like the tinkle of ice in a strawberry-tinted +pitcher of lemonade on a hot day. + +"She rather likes her whole title," answered Sylvia. "But you knew she +was going with us; didn't you?" + +"I wasn't sure," and Rose turned at the entrance of the butler with the +tray of tea things as though she expected to see some one else. + +"Oh, indeed mamma wouldn't consent to my making up the party at all +until I had arranged for a chaperon. Of course Aunt Theodora Leigh +Brownley is rather a handicap in ways, but she _is_ so good, and she +doesn't mind sitting up until all hours at a dance." + +"Oh, then we _are_ going to dance!" and the eyes of Rose glistened, +while her breath seemed to come faster between her parted lips. + +"Of course, my dear! There will be some men up there, I _hope_!" + +"Oh, won't it be just perfectly all right!" + +"I hope you'll find it so. Let me see--you take lemon?" and Sylvia +paused questioningly with a slice held over Rose's cup. + +"Lemon, yes. And two lumps, please." + +The tinkle of silver on eggshell china filled a pause, and then the +girls looked into each other's eyes. In Rose's was a question she +wanted to ask, but hardly dared. Several times it was at her lips, but +somehow she forced it back. And when she had made up her mind to ask it +there came a ring of the bell. + +"Telephone?" questioned Rose. + +"No, the entrance hall. I wonder----" + +Sylvia paused, listening, and when she heard the unseen caller ask for +her she started at the sound of a drawling voice--a voice of Southern +unctuousness and richness. Then she arose from the little table, so +precipitately as almost to overturn it, though Rose saved it in time. + +"Sylvia!" gasped Rose. "You----" + +"It's Alice," was the excuse offered. "Here we are, Alice!" she went +on, and a girl--a tall, slender girl, with dark eyes, that sparkled +from underneath dark brows, and lighted up a face of pure olive-brown +tint--fairly swept into the apartment. + +"Alice!" cried Sylvia, as she kissed her and then passed her on to Rose +for a like ceremony. "How ever did you get here?" + +"Why, yo'all seem surprised," was the retort in that slow, unctuous, +Southern voice. "I hope I didn't arrive too early," and Alice Harrow +flung, rather than "draped" herself, as Sylvia would have done, into a +chair. + +"Early! It's early for _you_," commented Rose. + +"I did get here sooner than I expected," Alice went on. "But I made up +my mind, if we were to carry out the rules of our club, that being +ahead of time was better than being late." + +"Good for you!" cried Sylvia. "Tea?" she asked, indicating the little +table. + +"Land, no! It's too hot! Lemonade if you have it, with a bit of mint +crushed in it--not too much crushed, and a slice of real lemon floating +on top. Then just a suggestion of nutmeg. But if you haven't it, ice +water will do as well," and she suddenly switched off, as she saw Rose +gazing at her with rather open-mouthed wonder. + +"No, indeed. Janet shall make it at once!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Well, are you surprised to see me?" demanded Alice, a moment later, +when the maid had left the room. + +"Surprised isn't the word for it!" Sylvia said. "We were just talking +about you----" + +"I wondered why my ears burned!" laughingly broke in Alice, who seemed +unusually bright and crisp for a native of the Southern clime. + +"We were just saying that we feared you would be the last to arrive," +went on Sylvia, with a smile. "As it is you have reached here before +Baby!" + +"No! You don't mean it!" + +"But I do, my dear!" + +"To think of besting Hazel Reed! Oh, that's just splendid. I----" + +Alice arose and was about to execute a few steps of a new dance, but, +at that moment, the maid came with the elaborately ordered glass of +lemonade on a little silver tray, and it was only by the most skilful +turn, as though extricating herself and her partner from a crowded +corner of the ballroom floor, that Alice saved herself from an accident. + +"Oh, that's delicious!" she murmured, as she sipped the spiced, icy +drink. "Your butler must be a Southerner, Sylvia." + +"We never knew it. But I'm glad you like it. Yes, you are here before +Hazel, though she may arrive any minute." + +"And when she comes," said Rose, "the Nowadays Club will have a full +membership present. Then, I suppose, Sylvia will condescend to give a +more detailed explanation of the mysterious telegrams she sent us. All +I know is that we're going to spend the summer in the Adirondacks." + +"Isn't that enough to know?" asked Alice. "Why seek to force the hands +of Fate?" and she reclined lazily in her chair, and languidly closed +her eyes. + +She opened them a moment later, however, and a bright, vivacious look +came over her dark face. She clapped her hands and cried out: + +"Oh, girls, I _must_ tell you! It's the greatest surprise. You know +Minnie Reynolds, that demure, mouse-like girl that was in our class?" + +"You mean, Cheese?" asked Rose. + +"Yes, that's what we called her--she reminded one so of a mouse, and +cheese always has that association for me. Well, Minnie has 'done gone +an' got he'se'f engaged,' as my old coloured mammy would say." + +"Who's the fellow?" asked Sylvia. "Any one we know?" + +Alice took a long breath, preparatory to answering, but just then the +bell rang again. + +"Oh, if that _should_ be Baby!" murmured Sylvia. + +"It _is_ Baby!" called out a breezy voice in answer, for the pretty +hostess had spoken even as the maid opened the door. "It _is_ Baby! Who +all's in there?" she went on, eagerly, joyously. + +"Hazel Reed!" murmured Alice. "She'll be _furious_ when she finds I'm +here ahead of her. She can't call me the late Miss Harrow now." + +"Oh, you're _all_ here!" gasped the newcomer, as she swept into the +room--literally swept in, for her dress caught in a light chair that +she dragged after her. + +"Hello, girls!" she went on. "Oh, Sylvia! _Such_ a trip. Two accidents; +the taxicab driver nearly ran over an old man, I lost my purse--found +it again though, thank goodness. Mislaid your address and I've been +telephoning all over for two mortal hours. But here I am. Kiss me, +_everybody_! Oh, but it's good to see you all again." + +There was a little cyclone of laughter, and then Sylvia, tinkling a +spoon against a cup to attract attention, called out: + +"Girls, the Nowadays Club will come to order!" + + + + + CHAPTER II + + A TELEGRAM + + +Hushed voices--voices that had been exchanging greetings and telling +experiences--followed the dramatic announcement of Sylvia Pursell. She +gazed at her trio of chums, who had seated themselves about the room, +in various positions of comfort. + +"Pardon me, Madam President." Alice was on her feet. "But is this a +regular meeting, or a special session? I rise to a point of order." + +"I rule that your point of order is not well taken, and for your +information I will say that it is a session _most extraordinary_, for +we have to talk over our plans for going to the mountains. That is if +you girls _are_ going?" and she looked around at them, pausing at each +face in turn. + +"Going!" echoed Hazel, otherwise known as Baby, on account of her +rather diminutive size. But she was a lovely dancer. + +"I should like to see any one try to keep _me_ at home," Hazel went +on, with that breezy Chicago manner of hers that always made the boys +look at her a second time, first with surprise, and secondly with +admiration. And then they kept on looking, as often as they dared. + +"Indeed we are going," declared Alice. "I have heard so much about +those wild and rugged mountains, and their grand scenery and----" + +"The lakes--don't forget the lakes!" interrupted Rose. "I am just dying +for a chance in a canoe with----" + +"'A book of verses underneath a bough,'" quoted Sylvia. + +"She wants what goes with the book--a young man," declared Hazel. + +"I do _not_!" stormed Rose, blushing so that her cheeks, which usually +held a most charming centre-tint, were now suffused with carmine. + +"Oh, of course she doesn't," soothed Alice. "We forgot about Roy, +and----" + +"Alice Harrow, if you----" + +"Don't mind them," advised Sylvia, but at the mention of the name Roy +a shadow seemed to pass over her face. "Let's get on with the meeting. +The Nowadays Club will kindly come to extraordinary order and we'll +talk about this Adirondack trip. I'm so glad you can all go. Now, first +of all I want to speak of----" + +"Dresses! What about them?" broke in Hazel. "I simply _must_ have some +new ones." + +"New York is the best place in the world to get them, and in a hurry, +too," said Rose. "I was going to have my dressmaker in Syracuse turn +me out some, but I decided to wait. We have a week or so; haven't we, +Sylvia?" + +"About that, my dear. And I'm counting on showing you everything worth +seeing in Manhattan in that time. You can order your gowns--the very +newest of the new----" + +"Which just perfectly describes our club," murmured Hazel. + +And since, perhaps, a little description of the club will aid my +readers in understanding the object of the four girls, I can find no +better opportunity than now of making them acquainted with it. + +Sylvia Pursell, whose home was in New York City; Rose Bancroft, of +Syracuse; Alice Harrow, who came from an old Southern family, whose +estate was in the vicinity of Baltimore, and Hazel Reed, of breezy +Chicago, had been chums, roommates, classmates and various other sort +of mates at the fashionable boarding school of Miss Stevenson. They had +"finished" there, which means they had just begun, and during their +final year they had formed the "Nowadays Club." + +It was unlike any other organisation, as far as the girls knew. There +were no dues, no initiation fees, no set or formal meetings, and +no officers. Every one was a president, and whoever cared to do so +presided. Usually it was Sylvia, but that was as circumstances dictated. + +The object of the club was expressed in the name. The girls were +"up-to-the-minute" damsels, and they were devotees of the nowadays +idea. That is, they went in for all that was best of such of the +newest matters as came to their attention. As Sylvia said: + +"We don't want to get into a rut!" + +And most assuredly they were not in any danger of doing so. They at +least investigated everything new, from the latest dance to the newest +motor cars. For the girls were all of well-to-do, not to say wealthy, +families. + +They had formed the little club--membership strictly restricted to +four--on the spur of the moment, and it had interested them more than +they had expected it would. During the dance craze they invented new +steps, some of which were adopted by the dancing class which they +attended. If the girls had been in any other position in life than +school--if, for instance, they had been young business men--they would +have succeeded admirably in at least investigating all the newest fads +and fancies, from efficiency and system, to conservation and "turning +around on a smaller margin," as the trade papers call it. + +But, as it was, the girls resolved that they would be real "nowadays" +girls. Of them it must not be said, "Oh, that's the way they used to do +it." Rather the tribute must be paid them that: "Well, that's the way +it's being done nowadays, but I suppose in a week or so something new +will crop up, and----" + +Well, when it did Sylvia, Rose, Hazel and Alice would not only be ready +for it, but waiting impatiently. + +And so, during their last year in the boarding school, they had formed +the little club. It looked for a time, when they had definitely decided +on different colleges, that the organisation would die a natural death. +But it only goes to show that real, vital things never die. They may +change their form, but they never wholly expire. They still exist. + +So it was with the Nowadays Girls. + +Sylvia was to go to Wellesley, Rose to Smith, Alice to Bryn Mawr, and +Hazel to Vassar. That much had been decided on, the parents having +something to say in each case. + +At first, when the girls found they were to be separated, there were +tears, sighs and protestations. It seemed that they were to go on long +journeys to far countries. Then vivacious Sylvia came to the rescue. + +"Look here, girls!" she declaimed at a session of the club held in her +room one night, "this college life is only for four years, and there +are vacations. Besides, the long-distance telephone is available. We +may be separated in body but we must not be in spirit. We must still be +up-to-date--to the minute and a few seconds past it. We won't give up +our club. It shall be all the stronger. + +"And we must here and now resolve----" + +"Hear! Hear!" half-grunted Hazel, in imitation of an Englishman, +"highly excited," at a banquet. "Hear! Hear!" + +"We must now resolve----" + +"Not to cast our ballots!" broke in Alice. + +"This isn't a suffragist meeting," was Rose's rebuke. + +"We must resolve," continued Sylvia, whom little could distract, "we +must resolve not to give up the spirit we have evolved for ourselves. +We will meet and get together whenever we can, after leaving here. +We'll have sessions in summer, of course, and spend all our vacations +together, if possible. The Christmas Holidays we may except, but the +long vacation will give the Nowadays Club even a better chance than we +have had here. Now what do you say? Shall we make it a promise?" + +She paused to look at her chums. The idea seemed to fill them with +enthusiasm. + +"I'm for it!" declared Alice. + +"It's perfectly fine!" exclaimed Hazel. + +"I'm just in love with the idea," Rose said. "I almost cried when I +found we were to go to different colleges." + +"But it will be all the better for us," declared Sylvia. "For we can +absorb all that is best at each institution, bring it away with us, and +pass it on to one another. In that way we will each broaden----" + +"I don't want to do any _broadening_," broke in Alice. "I'm getting +too stout as it is. I'll have to pick up a new step in the hesitation +waltz, to make it more difficult." + +"I meant broaden our _minds_," Sylvia said, pointedly. + +"Oh, that's all right," assented Alice. "Go on." + +"That's all there is to it," Sylvia said. "We'll just resolve to meet +as often as we can, and be real nowadays girls. Separating now is only +a preparation for a newer form of life and healthy activity." + +And so it had been decided. The pleasant days at Miss Stevenson's +school came to an end in the glories of commencement, with "sweet girl +graduates" galore. This was in late May, for as there were repairs to +be made on the buildings the term was somewhat shortened. + +The Nowadays Girls had separated, with no definite plans for the summer +until Sylvia evolved those which, as our story opens, brought the four +chums together once more--Rose from Syracuse, Alice from Baltimore, and +Hazel from Chicago, she being the last to arrive, much to her chagrin, +for she upheld the liveliness of her own town as against Gotham. + +In brief the plan was this. Sylvia had proposed a tour of the +Adirondacks for that summer, and there was an indefinite understanding +that at each succeeding vacation other famous American resorts would be +visited. But the Adirondacks was to be the beginning. The girls were +to go to Fulton Chain, in the lower Adirondacks, and progress as they +pleased, and when they pleased, stopping where fancy dictated, until +they reached Saranac. + +The four were to be accompanied by Mrs. Theodora Leigh Brownley, a +widow, whose husband had been a noted Confederate soldier. A small +property brought her in such a meagre income that she was forced +to adopt her young-womanhood occupation of teaching school, and +she was one of the best-beloved instructresses at Miss Stevenson's +establishment. Mrs. Brownley was called "Aunt" not only by courtesy, +but through love, for she was a charming character, and the girls were +very fond of her, especially our four. So much did they love her that +when Sylvia had proposed the Adirondack tour, and a chaperon had been +decreed by Mrs. Pursell as absolutely necessary, Aunt Theodora had been +selected. + +Mrs. Brownley had served as such before. In fact she made it a sort of +business to escort parties of young ladies from the school on summer +outings. She had made several trips to Europe as such a conductor, and +while rather grave and dignified, she could very easily adapt herself +to circumstances. Then, too, she was very glad of the added income +which this chaperoning provided. So every one was satisfied. + +The trip had practically been decided on before Sylvia's friends had +reached New York, but after she had summoned them by telegraph, she +wanted to make sure that none of them had changed her plans. + +"And I'm glad none of you have," she said, as the maid came in to +clear away the tea service, Hazel having been refreshed with a +specially-brewed cup. "I think we shall have a lovely summer." + +"I'm positive of it!" declared Rose, with conviction. Again she looked +around, half expectantly, as a masculine step was heard in the hall. +It was only the butler, however. + +"Miss Pursell," he said, in a low voice. + +"Yes, James." + +"A telegram." + +Sylvia caught her breath rather sharply. + +"Did any of you girls wire? Could it have been delayed and reached here +after you?" she asked, as she paused, hand outstretched, to take the +telegram from the silver server. + +"I didn't," declared Rose, and the others shook their heads in negation. + +With fingers that trembled Sylvia tore open the yellow envelope. Her +eyes rapidly scanned the few typewritten words on the sheet, and once +more her breath came in a gasp. + +"No bad news, I hope," said Hazel, as she glided across the room and +put her arms about her chum. + +"It--it isn't--good!" faltered Sylvia. "It's Roy--my brother--he--he's +worse!" + +A startled cry came from Rose, who turned pale, so that only a small +tinted spot glowed in either cheek. + +"Roy--ill!" she whispered. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + PREPARATIONS + + +Something like a portentous influence seemed to have fallen suddenly +over the little party of girls that had been making so merry but a +moment before. Sylvia read the telegram again. + +"Any answer, Miss Pursell?" asked the butler. "I told the boy to wait." + +"No, James. At least not now. I must talk with mother. This came to +me--I wonder why?" + +"Perhaps your brother did not want to alarm your mother," suggested +Alice. + +"I suppose so--but----" + +"I didn't know Roy was ill," said Rose, and there was that in her tone +which showed that she had a good right to know--a right that Sylvia +seemed to acknowledge, for she answered: + +"We didn't write and tell you, dear, for we kept hoping that it would +pass, and that he would be all right. But it hasn't, and--oh, dear!" +For a moment Sylvia seemed about to give way, and Hazel tightened her +clasp about her chum. + +"I--I'll be all right in--in a moment," said Sylvia. "It was just--just +the disappointment. I did hope he was going to get along at the +sanitarium." + +"Sanitarium!" fairly gasped Rose. "Is he--has he----" + +"It isn't any real disease," Sylvia made haste to say. + +"Why, he didn't even hint anything to me the last time he wrote," said +Rose, the colour gradually coming back to her cheeks. That she and +Sylvia's big brother, Roy, corresponded was no secret, since it was +generally accepted that they would become engaged some day. Just now +the little affair was in that most delightful of all states, one of +perfect understanding. + +"No, I fancy he didn't want you to know, my dear," replied Sylvia, +gently. "It was, at first, just a breakdown from overwork. You know," +she went on to the other girls, "after Roy graduated from Yale he was +given a fine position with the Hosmore Chemical Company, here in New +York. + +"Roy was just in love with his work, and so enthusiastic. I fear his +very enthusiasm told against him, for he had worked hard at college, +and really overtrained on the football eleven. But he was getting along +splendidly, until the breakdown came." + +"A breakdown," murmured Rose. "He only wrote me that he was tired, and +wanted a rest, but that he would not take it until he had completed his +discovery." + +"That's what did it--the discovery," sighed Rose. "Roy had some ideas +about a new chemical combination that was destined to work wonders. It +had something to do with colouring fabrics, I believe. He told me the +details, but I have forgotten." + +"It was for dyeing silk," explained Rose. "You know since the European +war chemicals and dye-stuffs from Germany, the centre of the trade, +have been dreadfully hard to get over here. So Roy discovered a new way +of utilising some of the coal-tar products, and he hoped to make a big +thing of it." + +"You know more than I do," said Sylvia, but there was not the least +hint of sisterly jealousy in her voice. "I believe it was that, though, +which Roy was working on. Well, he made his discovery----" + +"How nice!" murmured Alice. + +"No! It wasn't at all nice!" and Sylvia's voice took on rather a +fierce and indignant tone. "For poor Roy worked so hard over it that +he suffered a mental breakdown. It was complete, added to a sort of +physical going to pieces, and he couldn't remember the proper chemical +combination--the one he worked so hard over. It went from his mind +completely and was as lost to him as though he had never worked it out +during long nights of study. He tried and tried to recall it, and I +suppose that did him no good, mentally or physically. Then he gave up, +and broke down completely. It was terrible, but we hoped for the best. +Then he went away----" + +"Went away?" echoed Rose. + +"Well, rather, he was sent. His firm was very nice to him, granted him +a leave of absence and all that, and even sent one of their young men +from the office away with Roy. Mother wanted to go herself, but the +doctor said she had better not." + +"She must have felt that terribly," commented Hazel. "She was so chummy +with Roy, and he with her." + +"Yes," assented Sylvia. "It was terrible. But mamma saw that it was for +the best. Papa simply could not leave. His business is so complicated +since the war, that he fairly lives at the office. So Roy went off with +Harry Montray, and he was more than kind to my brother and all of us." + +"Harry Montray?" murmured Alice, questioningly. + +"I don't believe you know him," Sylvia said. "He was a Stevens boy, and +he and Roy were real chums. I grew to like Harry very much in the short +time I knew him. He went away with my brother." + +"But where?" asked Rose. "You haven't told me where yet?" + +You notice she did not say "us." But the reason is not far to seek. + +"Oh, I thought I mentioned it," said Sylvia. "Pardon me. Roy is at +Loneberg Camp, Saranac Lake." + +"Saranac Lake!" cried Rose. "Why, that's where we----" + +"Yes, that's where we are going," Sylvia took up the remark. "That +was one reason that made me keep to my original resolution to make +the Adirondacks our first outing objective. For a time, after we +tentatively selected that, I was inclined to change to Bar Harbor, or +Martha's Vineyard, but when I learned Roy had to go to the mountains +for a complete rest and cure, I was glad I had not made other plans. We +can see him there, and we may do him good." + +"I am not so sure that, collectively, we shall help him to improve, as +I am that, _individually_, we may," murmured Alice. + +"What do you mean?" asked Sylvia, her eyes opening wide. + +"Say, rather, _whom_ do I mean," retorted Alice, nodding at Rose, who +was reading the telegram Sylvia had handed her. + +"Why," said Rose, not hearing, or perhaps not heeding, the remark made +about herself, "this message is from that Harry Montray." + +"Yes," assented Sylvia. "He is looking after Roy. He promised to wire +every day as to how my brother was. Up to now Roy has been very well, +considering. He showed little improvement, to be sure, and worrying +over the forgotten chemical formula was not beneficial. But this is the +first time we have had really unpleasant news concerning him. I suppose +that is why Harry sent the wire to me. I think I must tell mother----" + +"Don't!" interrupted Alice. "At least not yet awhile," she went on. +"Your mother will have enough to worry about, with a house full of +company, and this will only add to it. As long as it isn't dangerous, +and as long as nothing can be done right away, wait until to-morrow to +tell her, Sylvia." + +"I wonder if I ought?" + +"I think so," agreed Rose. "We may have better news to-morrow. If we +don't, well, there will be time enough to get up there in a hurry, even +if it is necessary." + +"I suppose so," assented Sylvia. "Yes, I'll not say anything to her +about it. I must bring her in to meet you. She is anxious to know you +all, for she has heard so much about you, and she has only seen your +pictures. I'll just keep the unpleasant news from her. I'll see if she +is in her room," and Sylvia lost no time in stepping to the private +telephone with which the large apartment was equipped. + +"Will this make any change in our plans?" asked Hazel. "If it does----" + +"Not in the least, my dear," answered Sylvia, as she was making the +necessary connection, a central being dispensed with. "We may go a bit +earlier, that is all." + +"Couldn't we go direct to Saranac Lake?" asked Rose. + +"We can, if we find it necessary," answered her hostess. "But it will +rather spoil our plans, and can do no good, I fear. The doctor said +it would take time for Roy to get strong enough physically so that +his mental powers would return. But if we get any more disquieting +news we will go direct to Saranac, and not make tours and trips along +the route, as I planned. Hello!" she interrupted, to speak into the +telephone. + +Mrs. Pursell was in her room, and said she would be in directly to meet +her daughter's girl chums. + +"Hadn't you better tell your butler not to mention the telegram?" +suggested Rose. + +"Perhaps I had," agreed Sylvia, slipping out, but returning in time to +present the three girls to her mother. Mrs. Pursell greeted them warmly. + +"You are all just as I pictured you," she said. "Of course I have seen +your photographs. But I think I expected Hazel to be just a trifle +smaller. I think she isn't such a baby!" + +"Well, that's what they all call me," sighed Hazel of the brown eyes. +"I wear high-heeled shoes, and everything to make me look larger, but +I'm in despair of growing taller." + +"Never mind, my dear," Sylvia consoled her, "you are perfectly all +right and charming as you are. Mother, you will go with us to-night; +will you not?" + +"Where, daughter; to another dance? I think not." + +"No, the theatre. I planned to have the girls see that new Shaw play." + +"Oh, I adore Bernard Shaw!" exclaimed Alice. "He is so sarcastic when +you least expect it. He wakes you up--like a dash of cold water in your +face." + +"And about as unpleasantly, at times," commented Rose. "I like a +different sort of alarm clock." + +"We can pick some other play," Sylvia said. + +"Oh, no indeed! I like Shaw. It gives you something to think about +afterward, and that's what we need nowadays." + +"Quite an idea, calling your club that," commented Mrs. Pursell. +"But don't count on me for the theatre, daughter mine. Go and enjoy +yourselves. Father will be home to dinner, so he telephoned." + +"That's so nice of him. It's quite a concession on father's part +to dine with us these days," Sylvia went on. "So you girls must +sufficiently express yourselves as honoured. He'll probably lose I +don't know how many thousand dollars by being away from the office for +even a little while--at least he'll say so, anyhow," and she laughed. + +The girls went to the play, and had supper at Sherry's afterward, Mr. +Pursell allowing himself to be made a member of the merry little party, +that attracted more than passing glances, for each of the four girls +was distractingly pretty. + +"And now to pack and pack and then pack some more," said Sylvia, gaily, +the next day. "Oh, I forgot, you girls want to see about gowns. But you +won't need such elaborate ones. A couple for dances at the hotels, and +the rest--well, we're going to rough it, rather than otherwise. Now +then----" + +The butler knocked and entered. + +"Excuse me, Miss Pursell," he said, "but you are wanted at the +telephone. It's long-distance." + +"Long-distance," faltered Sylvia. At once the same thought came to all +the girls--Roy--up in the Adirondack woods. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + "WATCH YOUR STEP!" + + +Rose caught her breath sharply, as Sylvia swept, with a slithering of +her silken skirts, to the extension telephone in the reception hall. +And even as she prepared to listen and speak over the wire, the girl +had a cautioning thought. + +"You didn't tell mother; did you, James?" she asked, in a whisper. + +"No, Miss Pursell. The message was for you." + +"I know. That's right. Still I thought----Hello!" she interrupted +herself to speak into the transmitter. "Yes, this is Miss Pursell. Oh, +it's you, Mr. Montray. Oh, yes, I----" + +The door swung shut, closing Sylvia away from her chums, and they only +heard the murmur of her voice as she talked. Rose arose and paced +nervously to and from a certain window. She wondered if the message +concerned her. + +Presently Sylvia rejoined her friends. There was a glow on her face, a +happy glint in her eyes, and something in her whole bearing that told +them it was good news, and not bad, even before she spoke. Gaily she +cried: + +"Roy is much better!" + +"Oh, I'm _so_ glad!" breathed Rose, and her complexion vied with her +name. + +"Were you talking to him?" asked Alice, as she turned an emerald ring +on her finger--an emerald that caused much wonder among strangers as +to where she had obtained it, for it was a most beautiful stone. But, +perhaps unromantically enough, a maternal aunt had bequeathed it to +Alice. + +"No, I wasn't talking to Roy, but to his friend, Harry Montray," +replied Sylvia. "He said he knew we would be anxious after the telegram +of yesterday, so, as he happened to be near a long-distance telephone, +he called up, instead of telegraphing. He wanted to explain certain +things." + +"About Roy?" asked Hazel. + +"Of course, Baby! What else?" Sylvia's eyes opened wide. + +"Oh, I didn't know," and she tried to seem indifferent. + +"But tell us the news!" begged Rose. + +"That's so. Don't keep her in suspense," suggested Alice, as she held +the cool emerald against her cheek, as Nero is said to have held one +against his eye, perhaps better to see, or, perhaps, to make him more +dissatisfied with life by imparting a green tint to the complexions of +his flatterers. + +"Yes, Roy is much better," went on his sister. "That little depression +of the day before seemed to be but a passing nervous spell." + +"But is he better--all well?" asked Hazel. + +"Oh, no, indeed, and he won't be for some time. But he is in no +immediate danger. Had he been, either mamma or papa would have gone up +at once. What he needs is complete rest and change, and he is getting +both. It is only that he cannot make his mind do what he wants it to, +and bring back the memory of that forgotten chemical combination. That +is what is worrying him, for there is a comparatively large fortune in +it, both for himself and for his firm. + +"It is too bad he lost all memory of it, but it may come back to him. +Until it does, though, he will worry and fret, and that will retard his +recovery, Harry says. But he is growing stronger physically, and in +another month or so there may be a big change." + +"That's good," murmured Alice, with a sympathetic glance at Rose. + +"Perhaps when we go to see him that will at least cheer him up," said +Hazel. + +"I am hoping so," Sylvia agreed. "Poor Roy! he isn't having a very good +time. He just loves the woods, to hunt and fish and camp, but I imagine +he can't do many of those things now. Taking a rest cure is so----" + +"Unrestful," put in Alice, as she caught Hazel by the shoulders and +whirled her about, forcing her over toward the piano. "Come!" she +cried. "Away with gloomy thoughts, since Sylvia has had good news! +Let's try that new whirl in the onestep. Don't you remember--the step +backward, then forward, a halt and a whirl--this way!" + +Humming to herself she glided gracefully about the room. + +"Oh, if you want to dance," said Sylvia, "let's go out to the library +and take up the rugs. We can start the 'canned music,' as Roy calls the +phonograph, and have some good practice. But really, though I hate to +begin, I ought to be packing!" and she sighed. + +"And I ought to be shopping!" added Hazel. "But we've time enough. I am +easy to fit, and not fussy. On with the dance. Come, Rose, I'll lead +you." + +But Rose rather hung back, and there was a far-off look in her eyes. + +"Are you worried, dear?" asked Sylvia, in a whisper, as Alice and Hazel +led the way to the library for dance practice. + +"A little--yes." + +Sylvia pressed her chum's hand. + +"Don't be," she said. "I'm sure he will be all right." + +"I hope so. But----" + +The music of a catchy onestep floated in to them, and soon the girls +were gliding about the unrugged floor. + +"Do the aëroplane," suggested Sylvia. "You know, the one with four +steps on one side, four on the other, then the walk-about and----" + +"Oh, yes, I just love that. It's so restful!" cried Hazel. + +The merry impromptu dance went on, and then Sylvia bethought herself +that she had not given to her mother the good news that had come by +telephone. When she came back, after having done this, the girls were +waltzing, Alice with a large vase as a partner, while Hazel had taken +Rose. + +"I want to get that 'marcel wave' down more smoothly," explained Alice. +"I'm sure they'll be doing that at all the hotels this summer." + +They shopped that afternoon and the next and for several successive +days. Rush orders were given dressmakers. The town car was in constant +demand for visits to shops, and the apartment looked like "a May +morning cyclone," as Sylvia expressed it, for there were gowns and hats +on every chair and in every corner. + +"I thought you girls were going to do this thing simply, and rough +it in the mountains," said Mr. Pursell, as he "waded through" the +filled-up hall one evening. + +"We are, Daddy mine!" laughingly answered Sylvia. + +"This doesn't look like it." + +"Oh, but you know nowadays, Daddy, it's awfully hard to be simple." + +"Like being good, I suppose," he chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you're +going--I mean I'm sorry to lose the jolly company of you young ladies," +he hastened to add, "but I'm glad you're going up to see Roy. He needs +it. I'd go myself only I can't possibly leave. What was the report +to-day, Sylvia?" + +"Just about the same. He is fretting a little." + +"Well, perhaps that's a good sign. They say when a sick person frets +he's getting better. Now, Sylvia, how about your trip? Have you it all +planned out? When does Aunt Theodora-and-all-the-rest-of-it arrive?" + +"Don't let her hear you say that!" cautioned his daughter, raising an +admonishing finger. "She is very dignified at times, but jolly enough +when she wants to be. She'll be with us to-morrow, and we will start +two days after that. She may want to do a little shopping in New York, +since she won't get to Paris this year." + +"Have you the train schedule?" asked Mr. Pursell. + +"All complete," replied Sylvia, tapping a bundle of time-tables and +railroad folders. "We leave the Grand Central Terminal at 12:25, and we +can reach Fulton Chain at 11:05 the next day; that is if we don't stop +off anywhere." + +"Were you thinking of that?" asked Mr. Pursell. + +"I wanted them to stop off at Syracuse," put in Rose. + +"And we may," half-promised Sylvia. + +"Do you know any of the University fellows?" Hazel wanted to know. + +"Of course she does--scores of them," declared Sylvia. + +"Then we stop off," decided Alice. "That settles it!" and the others +laughed at her vehemence. + +Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley arrived, and was made welcome by Mr. and +Mrs. Pursell. They made the gentle, dignified Southern lady feel at +home at once, and when Mrs. Brownley discovered, wholly by accident, +that there was living in the same apartment a member of an old and +distinguished family of Fairfax County, Virginia, the little reserve +she had shown melted at once. + +"I can be quite reconciled to New York, and even to these +semi-barbarous apartment houses, if a Randolph can be comfortable +here," said Mrs. Brownley. "It is much nicer than I thought." + +Then began a busy time, with the town car working veritably night +and day, taking the girls here and there, to fill engagements with +dressmakers and milliners, to shop, attend teas and what-not. But +slowly the pile of pretty things in the various rooms was reduced. +Trunks began to fill, and finally came the day when the Nowadays Club +held a last informal meeting in the home of Sylvia. + +"We leave to-morrow," was the announcement of the president _pro tem_. +"Now don't any of you forget anything." + +"Have you the tickets, Sylvia?" asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"Indeed we have, Aunt Theodora." + +"And you have definitely decided to stop off at Syracuse?" + +"Yes, Rose wants us to, and we may not get another chance soon to meet +her people." + +"Very well then, my dear, I shall take my afternoon nap, something I +deprive myself of when school is in session." + +Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley had a very comfortable habit of indulging +in a siesta when acting as chaperon. Perhaps she emulated those +paragons of chaperons, the Spanish _duennas_. + +After a light and rather "flighty" lunch next day, the girls motored +to the Grand Central Terminal, and even in that vast extent of station +with its marble, its tiles, its hurrying, bustling throngs, its +red-capped porters, and its general air of caring for nothing and no +one, the girls created no little stir, as they marched in, two by two, +with Aunt Theodora in the lead and several porters bringing up the rear +with handbags. + +"We certainly are doing it in style!" murmured Hazel, to whom attention +was as the breath of life. + +[Illustration: "WE CERTAINLY ARE DOING IT IN STYLE!" MURMURED HAZEL.] + +"Of course! Why not?" demanded Alice. "After all, there is no place +just like New York for cutting a dash!" + +"Well, don't cut up too much," advised Hazel. + +Their train was being announced as they entered, and they passed out +through the iron-grilled gates to the parlour car, which glowed with +many electric lights, for it was dark out on that labyrinth of tracks. + +The porters were tipped most graciously by Aunt Theodora, who received +the homage of doffed caps as only a Southern woman can, and then the +girls settled themselves comfortably for a long ride. + +"Well, we are starting," said Sylvia, with a little sigh, as a gentle +motion was imparted to the long, heavy train. "We are off to the +Adirondacks, girls." + +"And I wonder what we shall find there?" murmured Alice. + +"Find? What do you mean?" asked Hazel. + +"Oh, I don't know--exactly." + +"I hope we find Roy better," voiced Sylvia. + +"So do I," echoed Rose. But she smiled, for the early morning telegram, +in the form of a night-letter this time, had brought good news ere they +had left for the station. + +But though Rose smiled, somehow, and in a manner for which she could +not account, she had a feeling of vague apprehension. And that this +apprehension had to do with Roy need not be doubted. It was a feeling +as though "something were going to happen," as we often tell ourselves. +That was as much of it as Rose could define. + +But she managed to shake off a little of the feeling as the train came +out of the gloomy line of tunnel-walls and, beyond One Hundred and +Twenty-fifth Street, emerged into the open. True there was not much to +see, but it was better than nothing, or the stone walls. + +Hazel went to the end of the swaying car for a drink of water--a thirst +having been engendered by an indulgence in candy--and on her way back +a sudden swaying of the coach threw her off her balance. + +"Watch your step!" called out a young man, near whose chair she was +struggling. Hazel tried to, but could not, and the next moment she was +neatly deposited on the arm of--not the young man, but the arm of the +chair in which he sat. He put up his hand to Hazel's back to prevent +her toppling completely over, murmuring again: + +"Watch your step!" + + + + + CHAPTER V + + IN SYRACUSE + + +"Beg your pardon! Hope you're not hurt?" + +It was the young man standing before Hazel, and bowing as he assisted +her in getting to her feet from her seat on the arm of his chair. + +"I beg--_your_ pardon," murmured Hazel, her face suffused with the +blushes that she could not keep back. "It was--it was----" + +"I know, the train! They run a bit unevenly at times with these +electric locomotives. Perfectly excusable. Are you sure you're not +hurt--sprained ankle, or anything like that?" he asked, anxiously. + +"Of course not," murmured Baby. She could see a changed look come over +the young man's face. He had taken her for a little girl, and he had +found on looking into her eyes that she could not be so classed, though +she was "Baby." + +By this time Aunt Theodora had become aware of the little accident and +was walking down the aisle. + +"Is anything----" she began. + +"Nothing at all!" cried Hazel, quickly, and she gently disengaged her +hand from the rather too warm and ardent one of the young man. He had +taken her hand in assisting her to arise, and he seemed very willing +to repeat the ceremony. But Hazel knew how to put up the barriers, +though she smiled innocently enough at the youth. + +"Why--why!" began Aunt Theodora, and Sylvia began to fear that +something unpleasant was about to transpire. But certainly it was not +Hazel's fault that a lurch of the train nearly threw her into the grasp +of a good-looking young man. And he had behaved very nicely about it, +too. All the girls agreed on that point when they talked the matter +over among themselves afterward. + +"It's Jack Benton, isn't it?" demanded Aunt Theodora, as she extended +her hand to the young man in question. + +Hazel gasped. This was condescension indeed on the part of their +chaperon. But, somehow or other, Hazel was very glad. She had evidently +"fallen in" with one of Aunt Theodora's acquaintances, and, in spite of +her rather conservative ways, Mrs. Brownley was quite cosmopolitan in +many respects, and had numerous acquaintances in various queer corners +of the earth. + +"I'm Jack Benton--yes'm," and he clipped the last word with just the +proper accent to prevent it degenerating broadly into "ma'am." + +"You don't know me, but your sister Ruth----" + +"Oh, of course--Miss Stevenson's school--you're Mrs. Brownley--I met +you at the commencement. But--er--I didn't know you with your hat on, I +suppose--at least, that is--I--er----" + +"Poor fellow!" murmured Sylvia, trying her best not to laugh, for Jack +was certainly embarrassed and making a "mess of it." + +"Is this--er--your----?" Clearly he was at a loss how to classify +Hazel. And she, little minx that she was, said not a word to give him +an inkling. She might, indeed, have been Mrs. Brownley's daughter or +granddaughter. + +"But how could I speak, except to say 'beg pardon!' when I hadn't been +introduced?" Hazel asked the girls afterward. + +"You couldn't of course--not with Aunt Theodora there," was the +decision of Alice, after a long discussion of the point in question, +and you may be sure the girls missed nothing in discussing the matter +from all its angles. + +"Sylvia--Hazel--all of you--you must remember Ruth Benton," said Mrs. +Brownley. "And to think of meeting you here. Is your sister with you?" + +"No, I am travelling alone, though I expect a party of friends to +meet me at Albany. Some Yale fellows and I are going on a little trip +up-state." + +"How nice! I'm so glad to meet you again, Jack. These are some of my +girls. They know your sister slightly, though they were not in her +class. Sylvia--Miss Pursell--this is Jack Benton--Miss Hazel Reed----" + +"We have met before," and Jack, of the laughing eyes, smiled at Hazel +of the brown orbs. The others were presented. + +"I wonder if we are to call him Jack?" murmured Sylvia. + +"I wish you would!" he said, quickly. + +She blushed vividly--not thinking he had heard her. + +"It's so much nicer," he went on. "Please, Mrs. Brownley--Aunt +Theodora--tell them to!" + +"To what, Jack?" The chaperon had been speaking to one of the porters +about getting her a hassock. + +"Tell them to call me Jack. Let's not be conventional--at least not on +this trip. Let's pretend it's a sea-voyage, and that this is a steamer. +You know," he went on, speaking to Hazel, but for the benefit of all, +"that acquaintances on shipboard don't count for anything--that is, I +don't mean that--I--er--I mean--oh, call me Jack!" he finished, as the +only way out of the tangle. + +"I don't see why they shouldn't," declared Aunt Theodora. "I intend +to call you that, as I call your sister Ruth. The young ladies have +my permission. Won't you join us in a cup of tea? We had a very early +lunch." + +Jack winced a little at the mention of tea. Sylvia could see that, and +it became another subject for discussion later. + +"Delighted, I'm sure," he, however, murmured submissively. + +"They're going to put up one of the little tables near our chairs," +went on Mrs. Brownley. "You can move down there. The car isn't +crowded, and there are some vacant places near us." + +"Of course," he assented. "Then it's to be Jack--and--er--Hazel?" he +ventured, with another laughing-eyed glance at her. + +"I--I suppose so," she murmured, though she did not seem much abashed. + +"That's what Chicago will do for one," said Sylvia afterward. + +"Oh, it's nothing of the sort!" cried Hazel, defending herself. + +But they all ended by calling him Jack, and he addressed them by their +first names. After all they were but girls and a boy. + +"Very nice people," said Mrs. Brownley, in an aside to Sylvia. "I have +visited them. Very cultured and all that. Nice to know." + +Sylvia was sure of it, as she glanced at Jack. He was a clean-cut +youth, with perfect even and white teeth that made his smile most +charming. + +Soon they were merrily gathered about the tea table, sipping the +fragrant beverage, and nibbling toast and cakes. The girls had better +appetites than Jack Benton evinced, but then they had been so excited +at the prospect of starting that they had done little justice to the +early luncheon Mrs. Pursell had had prepared for them. + +"You certainly have a fine trip ahead of you," Jack said, when the +objective of the Nowadays Girls had been revealed to him. "I was up in +the Adirondacks last fall, hunting, and it was delightful then. It +must be more so now, with the lakes, the fishing, the boating and all +that. Wish I were going along." + +"Yes, it would be nice," murmured Hazel. + +"I suppose you think he'll be there to pick you up every time you +stumble on the trail," whispered Alice. + +Hazel did not answer, save by a look. + +At Albany a group of college boys joined Jack. He introduced them to +his new friends, and there was a merry party that enlivened the coach +for part of the remaining distance. + +The boys left the party at Herkimer, and there was where the girls +would have gone on to their trip to the Adirondacks had not they voted +to visit Rose at Syracuse. I have spoken of "stopping off" at the Salt +City, but it really was a going on, since they would have to come back +to get on the railroad line that would take them to Fulton Chain. + +But they were in no haste, and, as Sylvia said, they might not be +up that way again, so it was only fair to take advantage of this +opportunity of stopping at the home of Rose. + +"I hope I see you all again," Jack Benton had said, on leaving the +party, but, though he included all, he had looked last at Hazel, and +had shaken hands with her finally. + +The girls, naturally, teased her about this afterward. But she only +said: + +"I don't care! He was awfully nice!" + +And that was her only excuse. + +Slowly the train rolled through the streets of Syracuse. Slowly because +there were so many grade crossings, and then came a whirling taxicab +trip to the home of Rose, where a warm welcome was extended to the +Nowadays Girls. + +They remained in Syracuse for a week, paying a visit out to the salt +works, where the brine is pumped up from the depths of the earth, +spread out in shallow vats to be evaporated, leaving behind the saline +crystals which, after being treated, to clarify them, are ready for the +market. The girls secured some of the peculiar, brown crystals left +in the bottoms of the kettles. Sawed into blocks, they made odd and +excellent paper weights. + +It was a round of gaiety in Syracuse, for the University had not yet +closed, and Rose knew many young people. So they had all the dances +they wished for, with teas, theatre parties and other like forms of +entertainment. + +"And now really for the Adirondacks!" exclaimed Sylvia, when they were +again ready to make a start. She had received word that her brother was +doing as well as could be expected, though his fretfulness over his +inability to recall the chemical secret was having no very good effect. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE MISSING EMERALD + + +The Nowadays Girls arrived at Fulton Chain at 11:05 in the morning, and +stopped for lunch in a little restaurant before taking the branch train +that went to Old Forge. Their trip had been a pleasant one, though a +trifle tiresome toward the end. But already they were beginning to feel +the invigorating mountain air, and it seemed to bring new life to them. + +They had been mounting steadily upward, and now were about eighteen +hundred feet above sea level. All about them, save for the little +settlements, and the open spaces where the blue-tinted lakes broke the +continuity, was the vast forest. + +"Oh, can't you just smell the balsam!" cried Sylvia, as she breathed in +deep of the sweetly scented air. + +"They say it makes one sleep," said Rose. "But who would want to sleep +up here?" + +"No one," assented Hazel. "I just want to get out in the woods, or in a +boat, and _live_!" + +"It is glorious!" declared Alice. "Just perfectly glorious!" + +From Fulton Chain a little railroad ran the two miles, more or less, to +Old Forge. This was a village with a summer population of about two +thousand, and it was more up-to-date than the girls had expected to +find it. The stores were well stocked, and they learned that there was +an ever-increasing trade with summer campers and hotel folk. All about +the vicinity were many small lakes, the restaurant keeper told the +girls, and on the shores were many camping parties. There would be more +as the season advanced. + +"What are we going to do when we get to Old Forge?" asked Rose. + +"Well, that's where we can have a choice of doing several things," +Sylvia explained. "You know Old Forge is the gateway, so to speak, to +eight small lakes, and they are numbered instead of being named. We can +go by canoe or guide-boat, through the eight lakes to Raquette, and so +on, travelling any way that suits us, to Saranac. What do you say to +canoeing and carrying?" + +"The canoeing sounds all right, but what is this carrying?" asked +Hazel. "Is it carrying-on?" + +"That means you have to carry your canoe," answered Sylvia, with a +laugh. + +"Why can't you ride in it?" + +"Because there isn't any water." + +"But you just said there were eight lakes----" + +"I know, but look here!" Sylvia spread out a railroad map on the now +cleared restaurant table. + +"This is how it is," Sylvia explained, for she had made a study of it +before proposing the Adirondack trip. "From Old Forge, where we'll go +soon, and spend the night, we can canoe through the first four lakes, +which are in a sort of chain--like beads, I suppose. Or we can go on a +steamer, or in a guide-boat." + +"What's a guide-boat?" asked Rose. + +"A boat with a guide in it, of course," declared Hazel. + +"Not exactly," explained Sylvia. "It's a sort of boat designed by the +guides up here. It's a little safer than a canoe, but almost as light, +and you can row it or paddle it, and it will stand pretty rough water." + +"Well, that sounds interesting," observed Alice. "I'm rather inclined +to a guide-boat myself." + +"The steamer seems rather attractive," suggested Mrs. Brownley, "but +you girls do just as you please. I've been in gondolas on the Grand +Canal of Venice, and I'm not going to hold back when it comes to an +Adirondack guide-boat!" + +"Suppose we leave that question until we get to Old Forge, and look the +ground--or, rather, the water--over," suggested Sylvia. + +"Good!" assented Hazel. + +"It's twelve miles through the first four lakes," went on Sylvia, "and +a steamer doesn't seem necessary. Then, after we get to the end of the +fourth lake there is a carry of one mile to the sixth lake." + +"Just what is a carry?" asked Rose. + +"It's where you have to carry your boat, and everything in it, over dry +land, from one body of water to another," said Sylvia. + +"Do they actually carry the boats--I mean--would _we_ have to?" Hazel +wanted to know. + +"We wouldn't. The guides, or boatmen, would do that, and they'd carry +all our luggage," Sylvia explained. "That's why they use canoes, and +very light boats, so they can easily be transported over the land +trails. Well, as I said, it's a one-mile carry from the fourth to the +sixth lake." + +"My, she's a regular guide-book," mocked Alice. + +"What about the fifth lake?" asked Rose. + +"The carry is around that. It's winding and twisting, and one can make +better time going on land. Besides, that little lake may be filled with +stumps--and alligators--for all I know." + +"Alligators--ugh!" exclaimed Hazel. + +"Nonsense! No alligators up here," laughed Rose. "This isn't the +Everglades of Florida." + +"Go on. What else, Sylvia?" asked Alice. + +"Well, you canoe, or boat, through lakes six and seven, and then comes +another mile carry to lake eight, and when you get to the end of that +you're ready to----" + +"Have supper and go to bed," finished Hazel, with a laugh. + +"Perhaps," admitted Sylvia. "Anyhow, from the eighth lake to Brown's +Tract Inlet, which is the southern end of Raquette, is a carry of a +mile and a half." + +"Going up!" called Alice, in imitation of an elevator boy. + +"Well, that's the last carry for some time," said Sylvia. + +"Thank goodness! It makes one tired to think of the poor men carting +those boats on their shoulders," cried Hazel. + +"Well, now we're supposed to be on Raquette Lake," went on Sylvia, "and +that is quite a body of water. The book says there are brook trout, +lake trout, whitefish and bass in those waters, but I think they're not +all in season now." + +"I didn't know fish had seasons, like oysters," murmured Alice. + +"Oh, indeed they do," Sylvia declared, "and we must be true sporting +girls, and observe the game laws, too, if we do any fishing. If we +don't, well, we may be arrested, that's all." + +"I'll let the guide do my fishing," murmured Alice, with a look at +her slim, white hands, which were set off wonderfully well by the +shimmering green emerald. + +"Now that's the programme for the first part of our trip," resumed +Sylvia. "We can make the lake journey in a day, if we want to, or we +can stop off here and there as suits our fancy. We want to get the best +possible fun out of this vacation, so I think it's nice not to have any +set schedule, except as to where we are going to spend the night." + +"Yes, it is always best to arrange for that in advance," agreed Mrs. +Brownley. "I wouldn't want any of you to be sleeping out in an open +camp in these woods at night. We must bow to some of the conventions, +even if you are Nowadays Girls," she added. + +They telephoned from Fulton Chain to the inn at Old Forge, and managed +to engage rooms. On the little short line of railroad they made the +trip, arriving late in the afternoon, and going direct to the hotel. +Then, while waiting for supper, they went out to look at the lake, at +the end of which is located the quaint and pretty village. + +"Oh, it is just perfect here, just perfect," murmured Sylvia. "Aren't +all you girls glad you came?" + +"Aren't we, though--just!" cried Alice. + +"It was sweet of you to think all this out for us," said Hazel. + +"Oh, I'm enjoying it as much as you, if not more," was Sylvia's +rejoinder. "What's the matter, Rose? Why aren't you talking?" she +asked, in lower tones, for Rose was looking silently out over the +placid lake. "I imagine we are thinking of the same thing," went on +Roy's sister. "Never mind; we'll see him soon." + +"I hope so," was the low-voiced answer. + +There was to be a public dance at the hotel that night, as a number +of summer tourists and campers had arrived on the same train with the +girls. Among them were several young men who looked with eager, but +perfectly respectful, eyes at the girls. + +"I'm sure they can dance," sighed Hazel, "and I do so want a good +partner. I wonder if there isn't a public introducer here!" + +"Hazel Reed!" gasped Rose. + +"That's perfectly proper nowadays," protested the Chicago girl. "It's +done all the while, especially during the summer. I'm going to ask Mrs. +Brownley." + +Aunt Theodora considered the matter from several angles, and, after +a talk with the hotel proprietor and his wife, decided that the +girls might properly meet the young men. They were well known to the +hotel-keeper, and many others present, having been at the same camp for +a number of years in succession. + +And so with little, delightful flutters of excitement and anticipation, +the girls opened their trunks and laid out some simple evening frocks +for the dance, which was to be semi-informal. + +"Oh, they're playing that lovely Cecile hesitation," murmured Hazel, +as she and the others "floated" down to the ballroom, the dining-room +having been cleared for the occasion. + +The girls found their young men partners no less eager than they +themselves, and soon the room presented a merry spectacle. It was the +first large hop of the season, rather marking the official opening, in +a measure, and the music was particularly good, for the musicians were +some college boys who had thus started to earn vacation money to help +pay their expenses. + +"Oh, isn't it lovely!" whispered Alice, during an interval in the dance. + +"Perfectly splendid!" echoed Sylvia. "Have you a good partner?" + +"Oh, he dances like a dream!" + +"Be careful you don't awaken and find it a nightmare." + +"No danger. Oh, look! He's bringing some one up to introduce him, I do +believe. I don't care so much for him," and she indicated the youth, +who was approaching with her partner. + +"Allow me," murmured George Watson, with whom Alice had been dancing, +and he presented another youth, who at once asked for a dance, and was +not refused, as Alice's partner had asked to take out Sylvia for the +next fox trot. + +Alice's dislike of her newer acquaintance increased as the dance went +on. He was a good dancer, but he talked too much, and asked too many +questions, not altogether conventional. And he held Alice's hand in too +firm a grasp. She tried to impress her dislike on him without voicing +it in so many words, but he would not take a hint. + +"That was fine!" he exclaimed, as they stood together in the middle +of the room, and applauded for an encore. "Wasn't it?" and he looked +rather too boldly into her eyes. + +"The music is very nice--yes," she assented, a bit coldly. Then the +strains began again, and they danced off. + +It was when Alice went with Sylvia to get a glass of lemonade, after +the sixth dance, that she made a discovery. + +"Oh, my emerald ring!" she exclaimed, looking hastily down at the +floor. "It's gone--it isn't on my finger!" + +"Are you sure you wore it downstairs?" asked Sylvia, knowing what a +commotion a report of anything valuable being lost occasions at a +hotel, and how much suspicion is cast thereby. + +"Of course I had it. I remember that Mr. Watson remarked upon it, and +when I danced with the fellow he introduced--I think his name was +Tupson--the ring really hurt my hand, he squeezed it so!" + +"Oh, Alice!" + +"Well, he did! But my lovely emerald is gone, and it's worth I don't +know how much! I must speak to the proprietor right away." + +"Tell Aunt Theodora first," suggested Sylvia. "But make sure it hasn't +slipped off into your glass of lemonade, or fallen into a fold of your +dress. Was the ring loose enough to come off easily?" + +"Yes, too easily. My fingers seem to have shrunk, lately. I intended +to have the ring made smaller. But now it's gone. Oh, dear!" and there +were traces of tears in her eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + OVERBOARD + + +There was a hurried search in the room where the girls then were, a +search that extended even to the pitcher of lemonade. But the gleaming +emerald was not found. Alice was becoming more and more upset every +moment, for, while the ring was hers, it was a very valuable one and +she knew her family would be most distressed at its loss. + +"Oh, it must be found!" the girl cried. + +Her chums were with her now. There was a little lull in the dance, and +refreshments were being sought. + +"Whom were you with when you missed it?" asked Sylvia. + +"I wasn't with any one exactly when I missed it, but I was dancing with +that Tupson fellow just before," and she related to Hazel and Rose what +she had previously told Sylvia. + +"We must tell Aunt Theodora at once," was the decision the three girls +reached for Alice, since she was too nervous to decide for herself. + +Mrs. Brownley raised her eyebrows in surprise when told of the +circumstance. She did not say, as she well might have done, at least in +her own opinion, that Alice should not have worn the ring in the first +place to a public dance, and in the second, she ought not to have +danced with a young fellow to whom she had taken a dislike. + +But that was over and done with. The matter now uppermost was how to +recover the jewel, and that at the least cost of embarrassment. + +"You don't dare ask him baldly whether he saw it, or felt it slip from +your finger," said Hazel. + +"No-o-o-o," replied Alice, slowly, her eyes roving about the floor as +if she might see in some nook or corner the golden circlet with its +wonderful green stone. + +"We must speak to the proprietor about it, and have him make an +announcement," decided Mrs. Brownley. "He can do that without +giving offence to any one. He can say that a valuable ring has been +lost--dropped, if you like--on the dancing-floor. No one can be +offended at that, not even the servants, and they are very quick to +take umbrage at the slightest imputation on their characters." + +"That's very true," agreed Alice. "Yes, an announcement of that kind +can do no harm. Oh, isn't it horrid! And there's a lovely onestep +starting now," and in spite of her distress she could not refrain from +humming some of the airs in the medley the musicians were then playing. + +"You girls stay here, and leave this to me," said Aunt Theodora. "I'll +speak to the proprietor," and she went out in her most majestic manner, +fairly sweeping her way along. + +The music stopped with a crash, and the dancers out on the waxen floor +looked wonderingly one at the other. + +"What is it?" was on the lips of all. + +The Nowadays Girls looked out from the little room where they had been +refreshing themselves with lemonade. They saw the hotel proprietor +advance to the middle of the floor, and at once an excited whisper ran +around. + +"They think he's going to stop the dancing, because--well perhaps +because it is too 'advanced' for this wilderness," whispered Hazel. + +"Listen!" urged Rose. + +The announcement was made, with the request that if the ring were found +it be left at the hotel office. Then the music began once more, and the +dancing was resumed. + +"Come on, Alice, aren't you going out again?" asked Rose, for Alice sat +down in a chair, her face having lost all its brightness. + +"Oh, I don't feel a bit like dancing. I must find my ring!" + +The other girls were out on the floor now, near the doorway of the +little refreshment room. A group of young men, who had been telling +their companions what wonderful dancers our friends were, came fairly +swarming up to claim partners. Among them was young Tupson, and there +was an eager look on his face. + +"I say, Miss Harrow!" he began, catching sight of Alice in spite of +her effort to draw back, "whose ring was lost? Not yours, I hope? Not +that one with the green stone?" + +"Yes, that's the one," she answered. She almost hated herself for the +ugly suspicion that came unbidden into her mind. + +"Why, I saw that on your finger just before we danced the last encore," +he said. "I'm sure you had it on then." + +"Yes, I know I had it," Alice said, "but now it's gone." + +"Oh, I say now, that's too bad! We fellows will help you look for it. I +say Watson, Craig--let's organise a searching party!" + +"We can look while we're dancing; can't we?" suggested the youth who +had been whirling about with Rose. He liked her style and was anxious +for another turn on the excellent floor. + +"It will be best to look when the dancers are off," said Sylvia. +"Besides, the ring might be stepped on, and how hard are emeralds, +anyhow?" she asked, generally. "Are they as hard as diamonds, so they +can be stepped on with impunity?" + +"Oh, I shouldn't want my ring stepped on!" gasped Alice. + +"I should say _not_!" chimed in Tupson. His was not a personality that +attracted any of the girls. It was what, slangily, might be called +"fresh," yet he seemed anxious to do all he could, and he totally +ignored the suspicion that might have attached to him, since he, +admittedly, was the last one to be with Alice before the ring was +missed. + +"I'll tell you what we ought to do, fellows," he went on. "Ask every +one to get off the floor for a while--the dancers, musicians, servants, +every one. Then we'll organise a committee, get brooms and sweep the +place. That ought to find the ring if it's here." + +"That's the idea!" declared his friend Watson. + +"It would be most excellent, I think," said Mrs. Brownley. "If it can +be done----" + +"I'll see to it," went on Tupson, who seemed to have plenty of +assurance. He hurried over to the proprietor, talked with him a few +minutes, and the latter made another announcement. The floor was to be +cleared to allow a search for the ring, in order that it might not be +stepped on. + +A little later the corps of young fellows, armed with brooms, were +carefully going over the dancing-floor, while, from the porch outside, +and from adjoining rooms and halls, the dancers watched. + +But the ring was not found, and Alice had much ado to keep from falling +the tears that brimmed into her eyes. The dance was resumed, though a +little spirit of depression seemed to have settled over it. + +"Aren't you going out again?" asked Rose of Alice, when the former came +to a chair to rest after a rather strenuous fox trot. + +"I wasn't--no--yes, I am, too! I'm going to be game! I'm not going +to let them see that I care. After all, it isn't so much the value +of the ring, as the associations connected with it. Mamma will feel +dreadfully, of course, but father couldn't bear emeralds. I loved it, +though, it was so quaint, and----" + +"It matched your hand so well," added Hazel. + +"Oh, I wasn't thinking of that," Alice said. + +And she did go out again and dance, not heeding the many eyes that +followed her, for it was whispered about that she was the owner of the +lost ring, and its value mounted by hundreds (in gossipy dollars) until +it was said to be worth a king's ransom. + +Furtive looks were cast at the dancing-floor the rest of the evening, +but the emerald was not discovered, and Alice was again rather in the +"dumps" when she and her girl chums went to their rooms. + +"Well, there's one thing sure," decided Sylvia, "we won't go on with +our trip to-morrow. I'll cancel that order for canoes and guide-boats. +We'll stay here a few days." + +"Why?" asked Rose. + +"Until we see if we can't find Alice's ring," was the answer. "It may +come back in some mysterious way. Jewels lost in hotels have a way of +doing that if you make fuss enough over them." + +"I was going to say that I would like to stay over," remarked Alice, +"but I didn't like to propose it, and keep you all back." + +"It will not be any great hardship," Sylvia said. "It is lovely here, +as it is all over the Adirondacks, and we can play golf and canoe here +for a day or so, and have all the fun possible. I'll just tell the men +we engaged that we have postponed our trip for a week, perhaps less." + +"I'm so sorry," began Alice. + +"You needn't be," Hazel declared. "This is a lovely dancing-floor." + +"And there is a nice golf course not far away," Rose added. "I can keep +up my game." + +"Stay, by all means," agreed Mrs. Brownley. "You are out for pleasure, +and half of that consists in doing things when you want to, not when +you have to. And I do hope you find your ring, Alice." + +The girls were sitting in the private parlour, with which their +rooms were all connected, hair down, in comfortable dressing-gowns, +discussing a thousand and one things just before retiring for the +night, when there came a knock on the door. + +"Who is it?" asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"The chambermaid. The lost ring has been found!" was the reply. + +Electrified, the girls fairly jumped to their feet. + +"My ring found? Where? Oh, where is it?" Alice cried. + +"The proprietor has it down in the office," came from the voice on the +other side of the door. + +"Oh--I----" Alice began. + +"I'll get it," said the chaperon. She had not yet made herself +"comfortable," and was soon following the maid down to the main office. +There a much-relieved proprietor exhibited the wonderful emerald ring. + +"Yes, that is it," Mrs. Brownley said, for she knew Alice's jewel well. +"Who had it?" + +"No one, Mrs. Brownley. That is, the one who had it didn't know he had +it," and the hotel man smiled. + +"What do you mean, sir?" and the Southern lady rather drew herself up +in wounded dignity. + +"Why, it was this way. The young fellow with whom Miss Harrow was +dancing wore his trousers turned up at the bottom, in a style the young +men affect nowadays. Well, it seems the ring was found in the folded-up +part of his trousers. It fell out on the floor when he went to his +room, and he brought it here at once." + +"Why, isn't that remarkable!" exclaimed Mrs. Brownley. "I have heard of +such things, but have never experienced them. But we are very glad to +get back the ring." + +"And I'm glad you have it," the hotel man agreed. "I'll sleep better +to-night." + +Mrs. Brownley hurried back to the girls, who were anxiously waiting for +her, the ring and the explanation. + +"Did you ever!" exclaimed Rose. + +"How interesting!" was Hazel's contribution. + +"Just like a story or a play," added Sylvia. + +"I don't care how or what it was, as long as I have my ring back!" +Alice said. "And I can very well understand how it happened. The ring +slipped from my finger and lodged in the gaping, upturned fold of his +trousers. It is lucky it didn't fall to the floor, to be stepped on. +Oh, I'm _so_ glad you came back to me!" and she kissed the green stone +before she slipped the golden circlet onto her slim finger. + +"Well, don't lose it again, please," begged Aunt Theodora. + +"I won't wear it while we're up here in the woods," Alice promised. + +Young Tupper sought the earliest opportunity next morning to speak to +Alice. He described how he had found the ring. + +"And I say!" he exclaimed, boyishly, eagerly, "I hope you don't think I +did it on purpose?" + +"On purpose?" echoed Alice, her cheeks getting warm under his gaze. + +"Yes, for a joke, you know." + +"Oh, certainly not!" and Alice gave unnecessary emphasis to the words. + +"Then you'll forgive me?" + +"Of course! There's really nothing to forgive." + +"Well, I'm glad of that. I say now, I hear you girls are to stay here +for some time longer." + +"Well, we were going to, on account of my lost ring, but now it has +been found----" + +"Oh, don't say that, or I'll be sorry I gave it back to you," he +laughed. "But I saw some of the guides, and they told me the men you +had engaged to take you through Fulton Chain had been disengaged, and +had taken another party up. So that meant you would stay, and----" + +"I'm not at all sure what we shall do," said Alice, evasively. She +wished some of her chums would come along, but Tupson had her alone in +one corner of the big veranda. + +"Well, if you do stay, even to-day, won't you let me take you out in my +canoe?" he pleaded. "I have a large one. It's perfectly safe." + +"I--I'll see," Alice gasped. "Oh, Sylvia!" she called, pretending she +had seen her chum at the hall entrance, and she fled with a rustle of +skirts. + +There was a little conference of the Nowadays Girls that morning. +Sylvia had carried out her half-formed plan of the night before, and +dismissed the boatmen for an indefinite time. So the travellers decided +to remain at least a few days at Old Forge, and see the surrounding +country. + +"Then there's no reason why Alice can't have her canoe ride," said +Hazel. "We all know how she is pining for one." + +"Baby, if you----!" began the annoyed one. + +"Oh, well, I don't mind admitting that I have an invitation also," +drawled Hazel. "Now let's hear from the others." + +It developed that each girl had been asked by her dancing partner of +the night before to come for a canoe ride on the first of the six lakes +that morning, and, with Mrs. Brownley's consent, they prepared to go. + +It was a glorious day, and when the girls were comfortably seated in +the much-cushioned canoes, afloat on the blue waters of the lake, with +the forests and low mountains stretching off on either side, it seemed +that they had begun to spend a most ideal vacation. + +The canoeists were to keep together in a little flotilla, and proceed +up First Lake for a short distance, go ashore and have a little lunch. + +"Am I completely forgiven?" asked Tupson, of Alice, as he poised his +dripping paddle. + +"Of course," she said, a trifle coldly. She did not want to encourage +him too much, even though he was a good dancer. + +The little party indulged in quips and merry jests, shooting them back +and forth from canoe to canoe, as they advanced. They were skirting the +wooded shore when Sylvia proposed that they cross to the other side, +where she had been told there was a spring of refreshing water. + +Headed by the canoe in which were Alice and young Tupson, the little +flotilla was paddling diagonally across the body of water, when there +came down it a big canoe, propelled by a number of young men, who +seemed to be training for some aquatic event. The water bubbled and +boiled at the bow of their craft. + +"Look out for them!" called the youth with Sylvia. "They are regular +speed-maniacs!" + +"Give them plenty of room," urged Hazel. + +Just as the big canoe came opposite that containing Tupson and Alice, +one of the paddles in the racing boat broke. The youth who had been +wielding it pitched forward. The canoe slewed to one side, and shooting +off its course, headed straight for the craft in which sat Alice. + +"Look out!" cried many voices. + +Tupson tried desperately to do so, but there was not time. + +An instant later his canoe tipped over, spilling both him and Alice +into the lake. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE GOLF BALL + + +"Girl overboard!" + +"Man overboard!" + +"Back water there! Around with the boat!" + +Thus came the cries from the big racing canoe. If the young men in +it, through their eager desire for speed, had been the cause of the +accident, they were at least willing and ready to do all they could to +remedy it. + +And they were in the best position for so doing, since they were +nearest the scene. Their big craft glided to the spot where the canoe +floated bottom upward, and there came a sharp command from the youth in +the bow. + +"Harris--Wing--get ready to dive!" he commanded curtly. "The rest of +you hold her steady." + +The eight young men in the racing canoe were all in their bathing +suits, and in an instant two of them stood poised and ready. + +"There she is! The fellow, too! In you go!" commanded the +self-constituted leader. + +Two lithe figures, their arms and legs already bronzed by the early +summer sun, went down in clean dives, with hardly a splash. At the same +instant there were two spots where a commotion in the water showed the +presence of Alice and Tupson, coming up after their first immersion. + +Now Alice was a good swimmer--in fact all the Nowadays Girls were--and +she had held her breath as she felt the waters closing over her. And +when she struck out and came to the surface she was ready for the next +move in the emergency. + +But even a good swimmer is hampered by wet and clinging clothing, +particularly a girl or woman, and Alice felt a momentary fear, that +passed almost as soon as formed, for she saw a bronze-faced young man +striking out to aid her. + +"Put your hand on my shoulder," he advised her, in calm, even tones. + +"Oh, I--I can swim all right," Alice assured him. She did not want him +to think that she would frantically clutch him about the neck, or do +any of those things that persons, unable to swim, are apt to do when +they fall into the water and see a rescuer coming. "I can swim," she +repeated, "it is only that my skirts are so wet and clinging." + +"I understand," he said. "You're all right!" + +"Is he--he?" asked Alice, and then she had to turn her face away from +a little wave that splashed up at her. The other canoes, with their +frightened occupants, were drawing near. + +"Your friend is being taken care of," her rescuer said. "He doesn't +seem to be able to swim as well as you." + +"Oh, I do hope you will save him!" she cried, at the same time thinking +how strange it sounded to hear Tupson spoken of as her "friend." + +"He'll be all right. Wing has him safe, and Wing knows how to handle +his kind. Now shall we right your canoe, or will you come in ours?" + +"It looks to be easier to get into yours." + +"Yes, it's much larger and steadier. Over this way." + +He guided her, keeping her up by placing one of her hands on his +shoulder. Alice could feel the strong, rhythmic ripple of his muscles +as he struck out for the big canoe, not far away. + +"Lift her in!" commanded the youth in the bow. + +"If you don't mind," Alice said, calmly, for she had full control of +herself now, "I'll just hold on to the stern and let you paddle over +toward the shore. I'm not a bit cold, and it isn't far." + +"Well, just as you like," assented the leader. He divined her reason +for not wanting to clamber into a boat, all dripping wet as she was, +when the boat was filled with eager-eyed young fellows. + +"Wing has his man--guess he had to hit him," some one said. + +Alice, clinging to the stern of the big canoe, saw another bronzed +swimmer approaching, supporting on one arm the limp form of her former +companion. + +"Oh, I hope he isn't hurt," she gasped, in much anxiety. + +"Don't worry," her own rescuer said. "Wing has served as a lifeguard +at Atlantic City. He knows what to do." + +Tupson was not much stunned by the blow Wing had been obliged to deal +him to prevent the frantic clutch that might have meant a death-hold +for both of them. A little later Tupson was hoisted into the big canoe, +which was paddled ashore, towing Alice and Harris, who stoutly insisted +on remaining near her. + +Very much bedraggled, and not a little embarrassed, Alice was helped on +shore near a small summer cottage, the owner of which at once sent his +wife to look after the unfortunate one. Alice was taken to the house, +her companions following. Tupson soon recovered, and was not a little +ashamed of himself. + +But the fault lay with the broken paddle of the big canoe, and while +that was an accident, it might not have occurred had not the boys been +speeding in their craft. They expressed their regret and did all they +could, bringing ashore the overturned canoe, righting it and putting it +in the sun where it would dry. + +Meanwhile Alice was being provided with an outfit of dry garments by +the owner of the cottage, and a messenger was despatched to the hotel, +not far away, for some of her own clothes. Reassuring word was also +sent to Mrs. Brownley, for fear she would hear an exaggerated report of +the accident and worry unnecessarily. + +"And now that I'm clothed, and in my right mind, let's continue the +trip," suggested Alice. + +"Do you mean it?" asked one of the boys who, with Tupson, formed the +escort of the Nowadays Girls. + +"Mean it? Of course I mean it! Why not? I'm all right, and if Mr. +Tupson----" + +"Oh, I'm game!" he declared. "I'm ashamed of not behaving better in the +water, but I lost my head. I was worried about you," he said to Alice. + +"Thank you," she graciously replied. "Then let's go on." + +Tupson was sufficiently dried out, and the trip was resumed. +Fortunately the lunch was not in the overturned canoe, and the +impromptu picnic was successfully carried out. + +The little accident provided a fruitful subject for conversation at +the hotel that afternoon, when the porch was filled with animated +rocking-chairs and their gossipy occupants. The girls were rather +the heroines of the occasion, especially Alice, and she was formally +waited upon by the eight canoeists, who said they regretted that their +desire for speed had caused annoyance to any one. Their apologies were +graciously accepted. + +"How much longer are we going to stay here?" asked Rose that night. + +"Getting anxious to get to Saranac?" questioned Hazel. + +"Well,--yes," was the frank answer. "But if we are going to stay +another day or so, I'm going in for a bit of golf. I can borrow a set +of clubs here, and the links are good, though rather small." + +"Have a game, by all means, if you like," assented Sylvia. "We'll make +up a foursome. I'll take Rose." + +"How nicely she says it!" laughed Alice. "Very well, we're not to be +frightened; are we, Hazel? Are you in form?" + +"Oh, we'll accept the challenge. Let's go out and have a look at the +course." + +They found it a fairly good one, and a game was soon arranged. + +"My! Look at those girls!" exclaimed an elderly lady on the hotel +porch, as she saw the four departing with caddies at their side, +carrying the bags. + +"What's the matter with them?" some one asked. + +"Why, the things they do--first they're dancing, then they're +canoeing--and incidentally upsetting, next they're off golfing. I +wouldn't be surprised to see them in an aëroplane next." + +"Nor I," assented her companion. "They certainly are up-to-date +girls. But they are delightful, and they are real girls, not powdery +imitations." + +"Humph! The cat!" exclaimed a tall, willowy young lady who overheard +this. She kept very much in the shade, and her nose looked as though +she had dipped it into a flour barrel and then forgotten to take it out. + +"Fore!" called Rose, who led off in the golf game. + +She grasped her driver firmly, settled herself on the bare, +clay-covered tee, and drove off with all her force. + +"Crack!" went her driver against the white ball. + +"Oh, Rose!" cried Sylvia. But it was too late. + +Across behind a bunker, toward which Rose drove, a young man walked, +and a moment later the girls saw the white golf ball strike him on the +head. He fell as if shot, dropping out of sight behind the long, grassy +hill that formed a hazard on the links. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + ONWARD + + +"Oh--oh, Rose!" gasped Hazel. "You--you've done it!" + +"What has she done--killed him?" gasped Alice. + +"Don't say such silly things!" chided Sylvia. "Come on and see!" + +She darted forward, the short, golfing skirt she wore being no +hindrance to her speed, but quick as Sylvia was, Rose was off ahead of +her. She had cast her driver aside, and her face was now rather pale. +The caddies followed, giving voice to various expressions. + +Rose was first to reach the bunker. She found a very much dazed youth +sitting up, holding a cap in one hand, while with the other he was +rubbing his head. + +"Oh! are you--hurt?" Rose gasped, kneeling down beside him. + +"Just a little--little knock," he answered, cheerfully--as cheerfully +as possible under the circumstances. "Who--who did it? Oh, it was a +golf ball. I see," and he looked at the checkered sphere of white gutta +percha that lay in the sand on the far side of the bunker. + +"I did it," confessed Rose. "I called 'fore!' but I didn't see you +until after I drove off. My friends called to me, but too late. I hope +you're not badly hurt?" + +"Hardly at all. My cap is quite thick. But it serves me right, anyhow. +I ought not to have crossed the course. Now you girls are even with +me," and he started to rise. + +"Even with you?" repeated Sylvia, as she held out a brown and muscular +hand to help him to his feet, for he seemed dizzy and weak. + +"Yes. I'm the chap whose paddle broke in the canoe the time it ran +into one that one of you girls was in. You've paid your score!" and he +smiled, grimly. + +"Oh! As if----" began Rose, now blushing to match her name. + +"Of course I was only joking," he said, quickly. "Thank you," he went +on to Sylvia. "It did knock me out a bit. I thought it was a lightning +stroke, though I hadn't seen any clouds before I crossed the links." + +"Oh, are you sure you're all right?" asked Rose, anxiously, while the +circle of caddies stood in an outer ring, grinning sympathetically. + +"Oh, yes, as right as ever," he said, saying nothing about the ache of +his head. "Serves me right for crossing where I'd no business to. I'll +go back, and you can go on with your game." + +"Are you sure you're all right?" insisted Sylvia. She recognised the +youth now as one of the party that owned the big canoe. + +"Positive," he answered, with a cheerfulness he did not altogether +feel. "Allow me to restore your golf ball," he went on, picking up the +one Rose had driven. "It doesn't seem to be harmed any," he went on, +whimsically. "I think you ought to be allowed to take that shot over +again. The ball was travelling pretty well when I interfered with it, +and I'm sure you would get a better lay than this," and he indicated +the sand. + +"Yes, drive over again," suggested Alice. + +The young fellow bowed pleasantly, winked at the caddies and walked +back in the direction whence he had come when his course was so +suddenly interrupted. + +"No more crossing of golf courses for me!" he said, emphatically. + +The girls insisted on Rose taking her drive again, and she went far +beyond the bunker. Then the others, in turn, drove off from the tee, +and the game was on. + +Never was golf played under more ideal conditions. True, the girls +had played on better and larger links, but this was a new locality +for them, and every now and then they would pause to gaze off at the +distant mountains, to look down at the little blue lakes or take deep +breaths of the balsam-laden air. + +"Oh, it's too nice, almost, to play golf," sighed Sylvia. "I want to +be in the woods--just in the woods." + +"You'll be in the ditch in a minute, if you don't watch where you're +driving," declared Alice. "Come on, play the game." + +The girls were evenly matched, and even the caddies became interested +in the impromptu contest. + +"Say!" declared one youngster, "they are the real article all right. +They sure can swing the clubs!" + +It was his best and most sincere compliment, and Rose, whose second +long, lifting drive had called it forth, smiled in a gratified way. She +preferred a tribute such as that to one more or less half-hearted from +some older and more sophisticated admirer. + +Sylvia and Rose won by a small margin, much to their delight, +especially Rose's, for she was an enthusiast, though the other girls +were good players, too. + +"Well, now for some tea, and then we'll freshen up for the dance +to-night," suggested Hazel, as she removed her yellow chamois gloves. +"I feel just like a dance!" and she curved and pivoted over the grass. + +"We certainly are having a fine time here," declared Sylvia, "but +we must not forget our plan to go on to Saranac. I know Roy will be +anxious to see us, now that he knows we are coming. And I do so want to +see him, and know that he is getting better." + +"We all do, my dear," said Alice. + +"There was no word to-day; was there?" asked Rose. + +"No, I told the folks at home to relay the messages here every second +day, as we could not tell just where we would be. But what do you girls +say now to starting on through the Chain to-morrow, or next day?" + +"Whatever you say," said Hazel. "They told me at the hotel there was +good fishing around here, in some of the Fulton Chain lakes, and I'm +anxious to try." + +"Let's go fishing before we start on our trip!" proposed Rose, and +Sylvia assented. + +The next day they engaged boats and guides--two boats for four of them, +and began to try their luck. + +The girls at once won the admiration of the fishermen, for neither +Sylvia, Rose, Hazel nor Alice was afraid to bait her own hook, and they +could remove the fish once they had landed them. + +"Oh, what luck!" cried Rose, as she hooked a large lake trout. She +played her catch well, and brought him exhausted to the side of the +guide-boat, to the envy of her companions. + +But Sylvia was not far behind, with a good-sized bass. The season had +opened only a few days before, so that the fish had not been thinned +out. + +Alice and Hazel had fair luck also. + +"Well, those girls certainly can do anything!" declared one of the +members of the porch rocking-chair brigade as the four came back with +strings of fish. "I wonder their folks allow them to rough it in this +fashion." + +"Why, they are with that delightful Southern lady," said a companion. +"She is chaperoning them." + +"Humph! I don't call it much chaperoning when she sits on a porch all +day reading, and lets the girls go off with the fishermen." + +"The fishermen around here are the finest men you could meet," was the +quick answer. "I and several of my friends have been out with them. +They are real gentlemen!" + +"Humph!" sniffed the other. "They don't look it!" + +There was a last dance at the hotel, a dance that brought forth many +expressions of regret from the young men who had enjoyed the company of +the Nowadays Girls. + +"Will you stop here on your way back?" had been an oft-repeated +question. + +"Perhaps," Sylvia said, with a smile. + +Once more they were going onward. They engaged guide-boats and guides +and started up the Fulton Chain for Raquette Lake, where they intended +to spend some time. + +"And there we'll get a motor boat," said Sylvia, "and do a bit of +exploring." + +"That will be jolly!" cried Rose. + +With their luggage, they took their places in the guide-boats, and the +start was made. It is twelve miles from Old Forge to the head of Fourth +Lake of the Fulton Chain, where the first carry must be made. They had +made an early start, and intended to have lunch in the open at the +beginning of the carry, which they reached in due course. + +"All out!" cried Sylvia, as the boats grounded on the shore. "All out, +and get ready for lunch!" + + + + + CHAPTER X + + A NIGHT OUT + + +Three men had been engaged to take the party of girls and Mrs. Brownley +through the Fulton Chain of lakes. As has been said, the journey may +be made in a day, enabling one, with proper equipment and by using due +speed, to reach Raquette Lake in time for a late dinner. This had been +the plan of Sylvia and her friends. + +They had planned to stop for lunch _en route_ and, accordingly, had +brought with them materials for a satisfying meal. One of the three men +was a camp cook, and to him was entrusted the work of getting the meal +ready. The other two men were guides or boatmen in whose craft the trip +had thus far been made. + +"Now if you'll get lunch ready we'll be ready for it as soon as we hear +you call," Sylvia said to the chef. + +"Are you going away, miss?" he asked, pausing in the work of taking +from the boat various cunningly stowed-away packages. + +"Just for a stroll in the woods," she told him. + +"Well, don't go too far," he advised her. "If you don't know the trails +you might get confused, and have trouble findin' your way back. And if +you expect to get to Raquette Lake to-night we can't lose much time." + +"Oh, we'll not go far," Rose said. + +"No, indeed!" chimed in Hazel, as she gave a surreptitious glance +into a mirror hidden in the flap of her handbag, and gave her nose an +equally secret "dab," though why she should, up in that wilderness, she +herself could not have said. + +"Too hungry to go far," added Alice. + +"Why, can one become lost in these woods?" asked Aunt Theodora. + +"Yes, indeed, lady!" exclaimed one of the boatmen. "I knowed a man who +started to walk from one tree to another while he was waitin' for his +coffee to boil, but when he got back the coffee pot had melted!" + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the chaperon, with a lifting of her aristocratic +eyebrows. "Did the fire become too hot?" + +"Well, not exactly, lady, but you see the man got lost, and was gone so +long that the coffee boiled away and the bottom of the pot melted. I'm +only tellin' you that, so you won't go too far." + +"There's no danger," Sylvia said, with a laugh. "We'll keep on the +trail. And I think we'll have tea, instead of coffee," she added to the +chef, for a tea outfit had been brought along, and one of the men was +lighting the alcohol stove which was not only to boil water for the +beverage, but also to warm some of the numerous viands. Solid alcohol +was used as fuel. + +Indeed the Nowadays Girls had gone carefully into this matter of +sojourning in the Adirondacks, and while they expected to spend most +of the time at well-known hotels or in camp resorts, they were also +provided for some life in the open, either in tent or cabin, and they +had purchased the very latest in outfits. + +"No smoky wood fires for us, except when we've had our meals and want +to sit around it and be romantic," Sylvia had said, and the others had +agreed with her. Consequently they had a small camping outfit with them +that for compactness and convenience would be difficult to surpass. + +So while the girls and Mrs. Brownley started off to admire the beauty +of the woods and the end of Fourth Lake nestling amid the trees, the +cook got ready the meal. He was an expert in his line, and after he had +set the kettle over the flame of the nickled alcohol stove he found a +good place to set the table on the ground, spreading the cloth over a +layer of flat balsam branches which gave forth a most appetising odour. + +The boatmen prepared to set off with the craft on the one-mile carry +to Sixth Lake, the fifth, as I have explained, being omitted from the +water route in covering the chain, since it was so winding that nearly +twice the distance would have had to be covered if they kept to the +boats. + +There was not a little luggage to be transported, in addition to the +boats, and the men would be kept busy. The heavier baggage had been +sent on ahead to the town of Raquette Lake, located on the lower end +of that body of water, just beyond the point where Brown's Tract Inlet +joins it. + +"Oh, did you ever see a more perfect place?" demanded Alice, as she +came to a pause in the woods, and gazed about her. + +"It's just grand," agreed Rose. "It makes one just glad to be alive; +doesn't it, Baby?" she demanded of her diminutive chum, who was +thoughtfully gazing off into the depths of the forest. + +"What is it? Oh, yes, of course!" was the rather hasty answer. + +"She hasn't heard a word we've said!" laughed Alice. "Never mind, Baby. +We all know what _you_ are thinking of, at any rate," and playfully she +ruffled the hair of the smaller girl. + +"Oh, don't!" was the protest. + +"What matter? No one to see you here, Baby, except the boatmen, and +they don't count." + +"Oh, but we must always look our best, even before servants, my dears," +remonstrated Mrs. Brownley, gently. That was one rule she insisted on. +Négligée had in this lady one of its most deadly enemies. + +"Oh, well, of course, I didn't mean just that," apologised Alice. + +They strolled on through the dense woods that came to the very edge of +the trail. Now and then the silence was broken by the crashing down of +some old tree, or the fall of a dead branch. Again, birds would give +voice to their chirping notes, and the flutter of their wings would be +heard. Occasionally, from some lonely and unseen pond, would come the +call of the loon, that strange and often solitary bird whose cry has +such a weird sound, especially if heard at the dead of night. Again +would come the distant voices of boatmen, or of camping parties, _en +route_ even as our friends were. + +"And to think," said Sylvia, softly, "that up there," and she pointed +to the north, "Roy is in these same woods. I wonder what he is doing?" + +"Getting well and strong, I hope," said Mrs. Brownley, cheerfully. + +"I hope so, too," murmured Rose. + +They returned to the place where they had left their boats to find a +simple but perfectly-prepared meal awaiting them. Spread out on the +snowy cloth, set off wonderfully well by the border of underlying layer +of green balsam boughs, were the viands they had brought. The kettle +sang cheerfully on the alcohol stove and there was an omelet, so light +that it seemed a breath would flatten it out like a griddle-cake. + +"Just in time, ladies," the chef remarked. "The omelet is all ready to +serve." + +Such appetites as the girls brought to the feast! + +"There won't be much left to take over the carry," observed Sylvia. +"Pass the olives, Rose dear. That is, if Alice has left any." + +"Left any! What do you mean?" + +"Oh, we all know your fondness." + +"There's an unopened bottle," remarked Hazel. "I had some extra ones +put in." + +"Bless you, my dear!" murmured Alice. "They are so tasty, especially in +the woods." + +The luncheon went on amid merry quip and laughter. When it was over +the men had their meal, and one of them offered to walk on ahead with +the girls and Mrs. Brownley, and show them the trail to Sixth Lake. It +was quite plain, through the woods, for it was much-travelled, but the +guide was not going to risk his reputation by having any of his party +stray off into the forest, and have it be said of him that he did not +look well after his patrons. + +The chef and the other guide remained behind to bring on the luncheon +articles. The boats and baggage, having been safely transported, +awaited the arrival of the girls at Sixth Lake. + +"About what time do you think we shall get to Raquette Lake?" asked +Sylvia of the man in her boat, when they were once more under way. + +"We ought to be there about seven o'clock, miss. That is, if nothing +happens," and he gave a hasty glance at the sky. + +"If nothing happens! What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Brownley. + +"Well, it's nothing to be alarmed about, but I think we're going to +have a thunderstorm," he remarked. "That might delay us, for sometimes +it rains so hard that it's hard to see where you're rowing, and we may +have to stop on shore until it's over." + +"Are there any places to stop?" asked Sylvia, determined to make +provision for the worst, if necessary. + +"Oh, yes, there are open camps, and some closed ones where we could put +up if we couldn't reach Raquette Lake. But we'll try to get you there. +Pull hard, boys," he called to his companion and the chef, who was also +taking his "spell" at the oars of the light guide-boats. + +But it was evident to the girls themselves that they were not going +to escape the storm. To the low and deep rumblings in the west, there +succeeded louder-voiced mutterings of some unseen god of the weather. +The black clouds were slashed open now and then by vivid streaks of +lightning, rose-tinted and pink, and again of a flashing electric +blue-green in colour. + +"We're going to get it!" murmured one of the men. + +The girls looked anxiously toward the shores of Seventh Lake, on which +they then were. The water was about a mile in width here, and they were +in the middle. + +"We'd better put in!" called the leading boatman to the others. "I +thought we could make Henderson's, but we can't! Lively now!" + +It became darker and darker. The thunder was coming more and more +frequently, and the darkness that had suddenly fallen over the +brightness of the day was relieved at intervals by the hissing +lightning. + +"Here it comes!" cried one of the guides. + +An instant later the lake seemed to boil with the violence of the +rainfall. The girls and Mrs. Brownley, having been warned in time, had +put on mackintoshes, but the men scorned anything like that, and did +not stop to don any extra garments. + +They pulled desperately for the shore, and reached it in the midst of a +driving downpour. + +"Over this way," directed the leading guide, as the boats grated on the +shore. "There's a shack around here somewhere." + +He led the way, and a little later they all stood under a rude shelter +that was sufficiently water-tight to keep off most of the rain. The +things in the boats had been covered with pieces of canvas. + +"Oh!" screamed Rose as a particularly vivid flash and a crash of +thunder came almost together. "That struck near here!" + +"I guess it did, miss," was the cool answer of the guide called Jimmie. + +"Did it hit a house?" asked Alice. + +"No, some tree I reckon," said the guide who had been addressed as +Jake. "Lots of times trees get struck up here. We don't mind it much." + +"Shall we be able to go on?" asked Mrs. Brownley, anxiously. + +"Well, if this rain lets up we can, easy, or we could manage to keep +goin' in the boats, anyhow, if you didn't mind it," Jake answered. + +"I think it will be better to wait," suggested Sylvia. "I don't like +being on the lake in an open boat during a storm." + +"Nor I," added Hazel. + +"But it doesn't seem as though it would ever stop," broke in Alice, +dubiously. "It's raining harder than ever." + +"What shall we do if we can't go on?" Rose wanted to know. + +"Well, we'll have to stay here--camp out or do something," Sylvia +said. "You spoke of a camp, or something, near here?" she went on +questioningly to Jimmie. + +"Yes, miss. There's a good cabin not far from here. It's hired out to +parties, and it's well furnished. If that isn't in use you can stay +there if you don't want to go on." + +"But what about places to sleep, and things to eat?" asked Mrs. +Brownley. + +"That's all provided, lady. There's grub--that is, food--at the cabin, +and plenty of beds, such as they are. Not feathers, of course, but----" + +"Oh, we don't in the least mind roughing it," put in Sylvia. "In fact, +I think it would be rather jolly than otherwise." + +"So do I!" exclaimed Alice. And as Hazel also joined in, there was +nothing for Rose to do but agree. And so, as the rain showed no signs +of slackening, it was decided to spend the night out in the little +cabin, to which the guides offered to lead the party. And a little +later they set off through the woods in the downpour. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + TROUBLE + + +"Why, this isn't half bad!" + +"No, indeed! I think it's real cosy!" + +"And what a lovely open fireplace!" + +"A fire wouldn't be at all out of the way now. I'm thoroughly drenched, +girls!" + +Our four friends thus expressed themselves in turn as they stood in the +little log cabin to which the guides had conducted them through the +storm. They could hear the rain beating down on the slab roof, hear it +pattering on the leaves of the trees that surrounded the place, and +they listened to the sigh of the wind as it lashed itself to fury in a +semblance of a hurricane. + +"It's better than I expected, my dears," said Mrs. Brownley, after a +quick survey of the small bedrooms opening from the main apartment. + +"Then we'll stay here to-night," decided Sylvia. "That is, if we may?" +she added to the guides. + +"Oh, yes," said Jimmie, quickly. "You see, we have charge of this +place--me and my partner. We let it out when any one wants it, and it's +lucky it didn't happen to be engaged just now. You can stay here and +welcome." + +"We'll pay the usual price, of course," said Sylvia, quickly, "and be +glad of the opportunity. You spoke of something to eat?" she went on. + +"Yes, I guess it's pretty well stocked with canned stuff. We might +catch a few fish, even if it does rain. We can bring up your things +from the boats, and the bunks are made up fresh." + +"That's a comfort," sighed the chaperon. "We'll stay here, girls. And +be glad of the opportunity. It will be an experience." + +"But won't they worry at the Antlers?" asked Rose, referring to the +hotel where they had engaged rooms for their stay at Raquette Lake. +"They expect us, and know we are coming up the lake. If we don't +arrive----" + +"I guess I can manage to telephone 'em by nightfall," put in one of the +guides. "I'll tell 'em you are storm-bound." + +"Then it will be all right," Rose remarked, with a sigh of relief. She +really could not bear to think of going on the lake in the storm. + +"I'll make a fire on the hearth," the chef said, and while he busied +himself at that the other two guides set off to bring up the baggage +from the boats. Mrs. Brownley and the girls proceeded to make +themselves comfortable, and to wait for the blaze to dry some of their +damp garments and their shoes. + +Tramping along the wet and soggy trail, burdened with the baggage +from the boats, the guides came back to the cabin. But it was a more +cheerful place than when they had left it, for now a fire was merrily +crackling on the hearth, and the faces of the girls and that of Mrs. +Brownley had lost much of the worried, nervous look. They were quite +content to spend the forthcoming night where they were. + +A hasty search through the cabin had revealed a sufficient quantity of +food, together with what was left from luncheon, to make an evening +meal and breakfast. Then, too, the discovery that the place contained +several "cute" little bunks, with inviting sheets and plenty of +coverings, added to the feeling of comfort. + +The guides had announced that there was another shanty nearby where +they were in the habit of sleeping when stopping in the woods overnight +with a party that occupied the main cabin. They would use the annex on +this occasion. + +And so, with supplies from their baggage to draw on, and with the +prospect of a meal whenever they wanted it, our friends resigned +themselves to the situation. And it was not such an unpleasant +situation, after all. In fact it was really cosy to listen to the +crackle of the fire on the hearth, and contrast it with the patter of +the rain outside. + +Clearly it would have been out of the question to have gone on in the +storm in open boats. This they all decided when one of the guides went +out to find the nearest telephone to communicate with the Antlers. He +managed to discover one after an hour or two. + +By this time an early supper had been served, and the girls and Aunt +Theodora prepared to spend the evening as best they could in the cabin, +for it was out of the question to do anything else than sit around and +talk. + +They found some old magazines, but the lights were none of the best for +reading, so they gave that up, and sat in front of the blaze, seeing +pictures in the flames, and telling fortunes. + +The guides had retired to their own cabin, not far away, and from +it, now and then, could be heard guffaws of laughter which served to +relieve the quietness of the woods, that was broken, otherwise, by only +the patter of the rain. + +It was close to midnight when the girls went to their beds, for they +did not feel sleepy, and preferred sitting up to tossing restlessly on +the narrow bunks. They occupied three rooms, Rose and Sylvia being in +one, Hazel and Alice in another and Mrs. Brownley in the third, all +opening from the main apartment, or living-room, of the cabin. + +Just who first heard the call and the following rap on the door is +uncertain. They all seemed to awaken at the same time, and Sylvia +demanded: + +"What is it? Who's there?" + +"What's the matter?" asked Rose, nervously. + +"Some one outside knocking and calling," said Sylvia. "Listen, Rose!" + +There came a pounding on the door, and a voice called: + +"Open and let us in. We're in trouble!" + +"Trouble?" voiced Sylvia, half frightened. + +"Yes, we've lost our way. There are ladies here!" + +"Oh, do let us in!" besought a tearful voice that was unmistakably +feminine. + +"What--what shall we do?" faltered Rose. + +"Wait a minute!" came in the calm tones of Mrs. Brownley. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + THE MOTOR BOAT + + +The chaperon, who had hastily donned a dressing-gown and warm slippers, +made her way to the locked and barred door. + +"What is it?" she turned to ask Sylvia, who, too, had arisen, and +hastily garbed herself in whatever was nearest to hand. + +"Some one knocked, and----" + +She was interrupted by the very thing she was explaining--a rap on the +stout slab door. + +"Is any one here?" a voice demanded. "We see a light, and there is a +lady here--two ladies and----" + +"Oh, please let me in!" begged a half-sobbing voice. "I am wet through, +we are lost and--and----" + +"One moment," Aunt Theodora said, firmly. "Let the ladies advance, and +the gentlemen retreat." + +It was as though she had said: "Advance, friend, and give the +countersign!" + +"Henry, you go away," said a voice on the other side of the door. +"Suzanne and I will go in." + +"But what is to become of me?" was the answer. "What will Ritz and I do +in this wilderness?" + +"We shall settle that later," went on the woman's voice. "Go away. I +understand why they do not want you to be in sight when they open the +door. There are ladies in there!" + +"Oh!" There was a world of comprehension in his exclamation. + +"I'm going to open the door," said Mrs. Brownley. "You ladies are +welcome to such shelter as we have. How many of you are there?" + +"Two women and two men," a feminine voice answered. + +"The two men will have to go elsewhere. We have only ladies in here," +said the chaperon, as she fumbled with the fastenings of the door. +Under the watching eyes of her own four young ladies, she swung +back the door. A gust of rainy wind entered, blowing ashes from the +half-dying fire all about. From the darkness, into the mellow glow of +the hearth-blaze and the gleam from the night-light, stepped two women +from whom dripped much water. One appeared to be the mistress, the +other a maid, and the former, fairly staggering in, let fall a light +valise while, throwing up her arms in a tragic gesture, she exclaimed: + +"Oh, what a honeymoon!" + +For a moment Mrs. Brownley, and the girls as well, had a wild suspicion +that they had admitted a lunatic, for the woman's appearance was +sufficiently wild. But a second glance served to show that the disorder +of her hair and clothing was due to the storm, against which she had +evidently been struggling for some time. + +Her companion stepped farther into the light, and Mrs. Brownley quickly +closed the door. The maid, for such she evidently was, had a larger +valise. She gave a quick glance around, and a smile came to her face, +dimpling her rosy cheeks and rippling through her snapping black eyes. + +"Ah, madame! we are all right now!" she cried, gaily enough. "Suzanne +will look after you, if these gracious ladies will tell us where to +find a room. We are safe now, madame!" + +Once more the other woman--no, hardly a woman, for she was but a girl +in years and appearance--flung her arms wide with rather a stagy effect +and again cried out: + +"What a honeymoon!" + +"Honeymoon!" echoed Mrs. Brownley. "Do you mean to say you----" + +"Yes, we are on our honeymoon!" was the answer. "Oh, isn't it--isn't +it just--romantic!" and instead of bursting into tears, which might +reasonably have been expected, she gave forth a peal of laughter, +showing two rows of perfect, white teeth that gleamed against the +dark olive tint of her face, her cheeks showing dusky red under the +influence of the heat, as she came in from the chilling rain. + +"Did you ever spend the first night of your honeymoon tramping through +the woods in the rain?" she asked, appealing not only to Mrs. Brownley, +but also to the interested girls, now staring at the newcomers with +various questions in their eyes. + +"I never did," said the chaperon, with the accent on the personal +pronoun, "and as for my friends----" + +"They are not married--I understand. But, oh! You must think we are +crazy to come in on you in the middle of the night. Let me explain." + +But before she could do so there came another knock on the door, and a +man's voice, an anxious man's voice, demanded: + +"Are you all right, Natalie? Can you remain there for the night? Are +you comfortable?" + +"It's my husband!" she spoke the words with an embarrassed little +laugh. "He--he----" + +"He can stay with the guides, over in the other cabin," said Mrs. +Brownley. "We can put you and--er----" + +She hesitated. + +"Suzanne is my maid," filled in the bride, Natalie. + +"We can give you a room, you and your maid," went on the chaperon. "And +if you are hungry----" + +"I am--famished. We've been lost in the woods--oh, ever so long! Bob +doesn't know a thing about the woods, nor do I, though he thinks he +does because he went camping once," and she laughed merrily, as though +it were a great joke--all of it, rain included. "So we got lost when he +insisted on making the trip up the lakes without a guide," she went on. +"He has his man with him--the man and Suzanne are engaged," she added, +"so you see we are quite a wedding party. But, oh, what a way to spend +a honeymoon!" and again she laughed. + +"Isn't she sweet?" whispered Rose to Sylvia. + +"She's a bit hysterical, I think." + +"Oh, Sylvia, how can you?" + +"I mean she's a bunch of nerves, and no wonder, after what she has had +to go through," Sylvia retorted. "Poor thing, we must get her warm and +dry, and make her some tea. I'll get on some real clothes." + +"So will I." + +Again came the summons at the portal. + +"Are you quite all right, Natalie?" + +"Yes, Bob, dear!" She whispered the last against the wood of the +unsympathetic door, and turned a blushing face to those in the cabin. +"I am perfectly all right. It is a charming place. I hope you find as +good. You couldn't possibly come in here. It is entirely--out--of--the +question!" and she laughed merrily. + +"I don't mind, sweetheart, as long as you are all right, and have +Suzanne with you. I can sleep in the woods." + +"Oh, Bob!" + +"He won't have to!" said Mrs. Brownley, practically. "The guides will +look after him and his man. Now then, Miss----" + +"Mrs. Parson," was the correction. "Since this morning--or was it +yesterday--I've lost track of the time." + +"It's morning now," Alice said, with a glance at her watch. + +"Then it is since yesterday. Oh, but it is so sweet of you to take +us in this way! Bob, you're to go to the guides' tent, or cabin or +whatever it is," she called through the door. + +"All right, they're here now, at least some men are calling to me to +come to them," Bob said. "I dare say I shall be all right. Good night, +dear!" The last was whispered. + +"Good night," she blew a kiss from the tips of her dainty fingers. "He +_is_ such a dear boy!" she added, but it was not said in the least +gushingly. + +"Well, better get on some dry clothes, if you have them," said the +chaperon, as outside the cabin could be heard the tramp of feet and the +voices of the guides as they took charge of the other wayfarers. "If +you haven't----" + +"Oh, we have, thank you, plenty. Suzanne!" + +Mrs. Parson seemed to be used to being waited on, and her maid took +from the valise some dry garments, and retired with Natalie, as the +girls liked to think of her, to the other bedroom. She presently came +into the main apartment, clad in a gorgeous Japanese kimono, with heavy +gold butterflies and cranes scattered profusely over it. + +"I'll have tea in a minute," Sylvia said, lighting the little alcohol +stove. + +"I beg of you to let me do it," Suzanne said. "I am used to this." + +"Yes, Suzanne will make it," said the bride. "Then I'll tell you all +that happened. You must think we are a couple of loons to come to you +in this way." + +"Indeed we are refugees ourselves," said Sylvia. "We were caught in the +storm on our way to Raquette Lake and had to come here." + +"Oh, are you going to Raquette Lake? That's where we are going to +stop--at the Antlers!" + +"So are we!" chimed in Rose. + +In a moment it was as though they all had known the bride for some +time. She was a charming person, democratic, though refined, and she +soon sketched for them as much of her history as was necessary to +divulge under the circumstances. + +She had been often to the Adirondacks before with her parents and, not +wanting the usual honeymoon, had stipulated that after the ceremony +she and her young husband should be allowed to slip away to the lake +region, where she had spent so many happy years. + +"And it would have been all right but for the rain, and if Bob had been +content to take a guide. But he wouldn't," she said. + +"Consequently, when the rain came and we went ashore with the canoe, +we lost our bearings. I simply would not go back in the boats, and so +we started out through the forest. We carried our luggage, with the +help of Suzanne and Ritz, but at last we could go no farther. Then we +saw your light and--well, here we are!" she finished, with a pathetic +little gesture of her hands. + +"And very welcome," said Mrs. Brownley. "We can all go on together in +the morning." + +"Oh, that will be perfectly splendid. I just love company!" + +"Even on a honeymoon?" asked Sylvia, with a sly smile. + +"Even on a honeymoon. Bob does, too. He's _such_ a dear boy--a regular +_boy_!" and she laughed merrily. Somehow it was good to hear Natalie +laugh. + +"The tea is ready," Suzanne said. "Will you not all have some?" she +asked, for deftly she had found cups and saucers, the condensed milk +and sugar, and set them out. + +"I'll not sleep a wink if I take tea now," Mrs. Brownley said. "There +is some malted milk in my bag. I'll just make a hot cup of that and----" + +"Permit me, madame!" interposed the maid. "I shall have the pleasure," +and she began making the beverage for the chaperon. + +There came another knock on the door, as the tea was being sipped, and +a voice demanded: + +"Are you sure you are all right, Natalie?" + +"Quite, Bob! Go away now, that's a dear. Are you provided for?" + +"Oh, yes, we have a bunk and the men are making coffee and frying +bacon!" + +"Ugh! Bacon at this hour of the morning!" gasped the bride, with a +shrug of her pretty shoulders. "There, Bob, run along," she advised. + +Somehow the girls, their chaperon and the bride, with her maid, got +back to their beds, but it is safe to assume that no one slept much +more that night. In the morning the rain had ceased, and though the +woods were very wet, there was a promise of their speedy drying, for +the sun rose bright and warm. + +"Oh, isn't it just glorious!" cried Natalie, as she stood in the +doorway and waved her hand toward the guides' camp. "I wouldn't have +missed this experience for anything. It is one honeymoon of a thousand!" + +"I hope she doesn't intend to have that many," remarked Hazel, who +was a bit peevish. She could not stand the loss of sleep. It made her +cross, as it does some babies. But she was soon herself again. + +Bob and his wife proved the most delightful of acquaintances. He was in +fine spirits, even following the rather depressing experience of the +night before, and after breakfast it was arranged that the two parties +should go on to Raquette Lake together. + +"I'm going to take no more chances of being lost in the woods," said +the bridegroom. + +"You learn your first lessons well," observed Mrs. Brownley. + +"Oh, but I didn't in the least mind being lost!" laughed Natalie. "See +what charming friends it brought us, Bob." + +"Indeed I would do it over again if I had the chance," he said, +gallantly, bowing to the girls and Aunt Theodora. + +"I like him!" whispered Rose to Sylvia. + +"You mustn't!" was the caution. + +"Not enough liking to work harm," was the laughing retort. + +Once more they were on their way up Seventh Lake. The carry was +successfully made, and then came the trip of a little over a mile on +the final body of water in the Fulton Chain. + +A land journey of a mile and a half brought our friends to Brown's +Tract Inlet and in due time they were floating on the beautiful waters +of Raquette Lake, over which they were rowed to the village itself, at +the terminal of the Raquette Lake Railroad. + +The Antlers, about a mile from the railroad station, was soon reached, +and there our friends and the bridal party were made doubly welcome, +for there had been not a little worriment on the part of some friends +of the latter who expected them, but to whom no word could be sent. + +"How long are you going to stay here, my dears?" asked Natalie, who was +made almost one of the Nowadays Girls. + +"It is uncertain," Sylvia said. "We are gradually making our way to +Saranac, where my brother is ill." + +"Oh, I am so sorry!" + +"But he is doing as well as can be expected, so we are not hurrying." + +"I see. You are getting in as many experiences as you can, for that +quaint little club of yours. It is such a clever idea, my dears! +Positively I intend to adopt something like it myself when I get back. +I am so glad you are going to stay here. Do you golf?" + +"They do everything. I've found out all about it!" interrupted Bob +Parson. "They tennis, fish, motor----" + +"Oh, do you motor?" interrupted Natalie. "I mean boat, of course, for +the roads aren't anything to boast of up here. I do wish we could +arrange for a motor-boat trip." + +"I think we can," Sylvia said. + +"How?" asked Alice. "First we've heard about that, _El Capitan_!" and +she stiffly saluted, military fashion. + +"I've just been talking it over with Aunt Theodora," Sylvia went on. "I +saw a lovely motor boat out on the lake and inquired about it. Seems +that it was engaged by a party and they had to give it up on account of +a change of plan. So it's for hire and I've planned to engage it for a +week at least, and two if we want it." + +"Oh, you dear!" cried Rose. "To think of motoring for a week on this +lovely lake!" + +"When may we start?" Hazel wanted to know. + +"As soon as we like. Aunt Theodora has practically agreed, if we can +find a reliable man to take with us." + +"At your service!" said Mr. Parson, with an exaggerated bow. + +"Do you know anything about motor boats?" demanded Natalie, rather +suspiciously for a "newlywed." "The last time I was out with you----" + +"_De mortuis nil nisi bonum!_" he said, softly. + +"Oh!" gasped Rose, "did some one----" + +"The _boat_ died," he replied. "I ran it into a pier and it sank. But I +do know something about motors." + +"Oh, it isn't _that_ so much," Sylvia put in; "I think Aunt Theodora +wants a man along just for looks!" + +"Once more, at your service," bowed Mr. Parson. Even Alice, who was, +perhaps, hypercritical, admitted that he was good-looking. + +"Then let's make up a motor-boating party," proposed Natalie. "My +husband and I will be charmed to go with you girls. Can you run a boat? +Of course you can," she answered her own question promptly. + +"We have," said Hazel, modestly. Indeed all four were experienced in +boats as well as in automobiles. + +"Come down and see the _Clytie_," suggested Sylvia. "She's a beauty!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + BY THEMSELVES + + +The motor boat was made fast to a small private dock which stretched +out into Raquette Lake. Sitting in the craft, as the girls and their +newly wed friends, the Parson bride and groom, approached, was a man +of sour, not to say forbidding countenance. He was whittling a stick, +snipping the curling pieces of wood off with a formidable-looking +knife, and letting them fall into the placid waters of the lake, whence +they were blown away by little puffs of wind. + +"Who is he?" asked Rose of Sylvia in a whisper as they came to the edge +of the dock and looked with longing eyes--all four of the Nowadays +Girls--at the boat. + +"He's the skipper, caretaker, pilot, captain, whatever is the proper +title for a man in his capacity on a motor boat." + +"He looks like Charon," murmured Alice. + +"Hush! He'll hear you, and he's very sensitive," admonished Sylvia. + +"Do you know him?" Hazel wanted to know. + +"I've talked with him. Don't you dare call him Charon, Alice. He'll +begin inquiring who Mr. Charon was, and when we explain that he was +the dog-faced ferryman of the underworld, why then he'll up and act +mean. So don't make such allusions, if you are wise." + +"Charon wasn't dog-faced," announced Hazel. + +"Wasn't he? At any rate he wasn't a desirable acquaintance for a summer +motor-boat cruise, so kindly cease to remember." + +"In other words--forget it!" exclaimed Rose. + +"What _are_ you girls talking about?" demanded Natalie, with one of her +merry laughs. + +"Oh, just nonsense!" said Sylvia. "But how do you like the boat?" + +"It's a beauty!" exclaimed Alice, with sparkling eyes. + +"And so complete!" declared Hazel. "May we really charter her?" + +"I think it can be arranged," Sylvia answered. "We'll go aboard." + +Meanwhile the sour-faced man was stolidly whittling away on the piece +of soft pine wood. He seemed to put a deal of vindictiveness into his +cuts and slashes, as though he were taking revenge on some enemy. + +"Good morning," called Mistress Sylvia, with a bright and cheerful +smile, while her companions, including the bride and groom, formed a +little group back of her. "A beautiful day, isn't it?" + +"For them as likes this weather," was the growled response, and the man +never looked up, but went on whittling. Rose saw that he was cutting +out a dagger--prophetic implement, perhaps. + +"Oh, I think it's perfectly delightful," went on Sylvia. + +"You do have such charming days up in the Adirondacks," added Alice, +determined to do what she could to help Sylvia chase away the gloom +from the dour one's countenance, for such, so Alice made a guess, was +the intent of her chum. + +"The sunshine is--er--so--er--sunshiny!" said Rose, a bit lamely. + +"And the water is so wet!" finished Hazel, with a frank laugh. + +The man looked up, for the first time, and grunted: + +"Ugh!" + +"How are you this morning, Mr. Wrack?" went on Sylvia. + +"Oh, 'bout as well as I'll ever be, I expect," he said, dismally. +"This bright sun hurts my eyes, and I'll be havin' hay-fever soon, I +expect, which is one reason why I like rainy days best. The dust from +the flowers don't fly so then, and I don't have to sneeze so often. But +now, havin' to stay here with this boat until the land knows when, I +don't know what will happen," and once more he cut savagely at the bit +of wood, making the shavings fly. + +"That's what we came to see you about," said Sylvia, sweetly. "We are +thinking of hiring it." + +"You be? Good!" The man seemed to undergo a Jekyll-Hyde transformation. +His face lost the sour look, and he straightened up, throwing the +half-completed dagger overboard. "I hope you do," he went on. "Since +the party that did engage her disappointed me I haven't known what to +turn my hand to. Will you really take her?" + +"If we can come to terms," said Sylvia. "Our chaperon says we may plan +a motor-boat trip. I have told her of the _Clytie_, and now we have +come to see about it." + +"Oh, I'll treat you right, lady. I'll treat you right!" exclaimed Mr. +Wrack. He seemed a different person. + +It developed that he was not the owner of the craft, but had been +engaged to pilot it about Raquette Lake for a party of summer visitors, +who chartered the boat from the owner, who had engaged Mr. Wrack. But +the plans of the party could not be carried out, for a reason that +would not interest us, and there was the prospect of the boat's being +idle all summer. + +"And I'd have been idle too," Mr. Wrack said, "for it's gettin' late in +the season to hire out a motor boat and pilot to any advantage. But if +you'll take her and me it won't be so bad. I'll make the price right. +Mr. Harrison, who owns the _Clytie_, left her to me after them other +folks backed out." + +Sylvia and her girl chums were very practical if they were girls with +the latest ideas in regard to fashion, dances and other amusements. +They had liberal allowances, and they knew how to make them cover +their needs. So it was not long before they had struck a bargain with +Mr. Wrack. Aunt Theodora was again consulted and gave her consent, and +it was arranged that they were to have the entire use of the boat for +two weeks at least, and longer if they desired. + +The Parsons were included in this bargain, and as they were to remain +at Raquette Lake until late fall they had an option on the craft after +our friends should have finished with her. + +"And you go with the boat," said Sylvia to the sour-faced man, sour +no longer now that he realised he would have employment. He did not +even mention hay-fever, and he looked at the sun occasionally. "What I +mean," went on Sylvia, "is that you'll run the boat for us when we want +you to, and when we don't, we'll run it ourselves." + +"Can you?" asked the pilot, doubtingly. + +"Try us and see!" exclaimed Alice. + +"Let's go for a run in her," suggested Hazel. + +And so they started off. The girls' admiration for the _Clytie_ +increased as they made a closer inspection. + +"She certainly is a beauty!" declared Rose. + +"Indeed, yes!" agreed Sylvia. "Self-starter, reverse gear, double +ignition system, weedless propeller, electric lights and lots of room." + +"Why, we could sleep here and cook here," added Alice. + +There was a half-cabin, with bunks that made seats during the day. +There was also a little alcohol stove and a tiny galley fitted with a +small collection of cooking utensils. + +"She was built to allow folks to spend a night or two out in her," said +Mr. Wrack, as he sat at the wheel. + +"Let me steer," begged Sylvia, and, having explained some of the +peculiarities of the lake, and what danger-spots to avoid, the pilot +did so. The _Clytie_ was of very light draught, to enable her to go in +shallow water. + +By turns the four girls operated the boat around the sunny waters of +the lake, running over to Big Island and back again. Mr. Parson also +showed that he knew how to handle the craft, but Natalie showed no +desire to do so. + +"I'd be sure to turn the wheel the wrong way, and send you all to the +bottom," she declared. + +"The bottom isn't far off right here," observed Mr. Wrack. "It's mighty +shallow hereabouts." + +The Nowadays Girls proved that they could manage a boat, to the not +unexacting requirements of the pilot, after which he "took it easy" and +let them do as they liked. They soon mastered the mechanical details. + +A day or so after having chartered the _Clytie_, during which time Mrs. +Brownley had made several trips about the lake, Sylvia proposed that +she and her chums, with the Parsons, go for a trip by themselves--that +is, without Mr. Wrack. + +He was satisfied to allow this, as he realised that the girls were +expert enough to look after themselves. So the trip--an all-day one, +lunch to be taken on Osprey Island--was planned. + +But at the last minute Aunt Theodora developed a headache, which, she +well knew, would not be benefited by going out on the water in the sun. + +"Oh, isn't it too bad!" exclaimed Sylvia. "Then----" + +"Yes, you may go, my dears," said their kindly chaperon. "I know you +can look after yourselves, and it's broad daylight. There are many +craft on the lake, too. Just run along and have a good time. I'll be +all right. I'll just lie down and rest." + +And when Sylvia went to call for the Parsons, Natalie had most +unaccountably forgotten the engagement, and she and her husband had +gone off together in a canoe. + +"Well, did you ever!" exclaimed Rose. + +"Let's go by ourselves," suggested Hazel. + +"We could get Mr. Wrack," said Alice, hesitatingly. + +"No, I told him we wouldn't need him, and he went over to Forked Lake +to see some friends. So if we go, we'll have to go by ourselves." + +"Then let's go that way--just ourselves!" proposed Alice. "We have the +boat, the lunch and everything. Let's go, and perhaps we may have an +adventure!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + A DISMAL PROSPECT + + +Cheerfully chugging along was the _Clytie_. I say cheerfully, for the +rhythmical sounds of the exhaust, gentle enough in themselves thanks +to a good muffler, were accompanied by snatches of song from one or +another of the four girls who variously placed themselves about the +craft. Sylvia was at the wheel. Rose lolled on a locker near her, +regardless of the sun that was adding a tint of brown to the red in +her cheeks. Alice had sought the seclusion of the cabin for a time, +to readjust her wind-blown hair, and Hazel was boldly perched well up +in the bow, sitting tailor-fashion, like some modern figurehead. She +laughed gleefully when spray splashed up from the waves into her face. + +"Oh, it is glorious! glorious!" she chanted in time to the throb of the +motor. + +"Watch-girl, what of the outlook?" called Alice from the cabin. "Dost +see anything of that adventure yet?" + +"No," answered Hazel. "I see a canoe with two young men in it +approaching, but they don't look at all romantic." + +"Sheer off! Sheer off, Sylvia!" ordered Rose. "We are dedicated to +romance with a big R to-day. Nothing else will tempt us." + +"I'd rather have a sandwich with a big S," said the steers-girl--or let +us be real feminists and say steersman. + +"You did put the lunch aboard; didn't you?" asked Rose, a "horrible +suspicion gnawing at her vitals," as she confessed afterward. + +"It is in the starboard locker," affirmed Sylvia. + +"Right-O, my hearty!" sung out Hazel. "I saw you put it there!" + +And so they chugged on, now and then saluting some other craft, canoe +or guide-boat, and an occasional motor boat, but the latter were rather +few. Steamers plied the waters of Raquette Lake, and they answered the +three tooting whistles of our girls in friendly salute. + +"Alice, just look and see if the oil cups are full," begged Sylvia, as +they worked successfully through a little swell and wash raised by a +passing steamer. "I think the engine is getting too much, judging by +the odour of the exhaust. If they're more than half empty screw down +the feed a bit." + +"Aye, aye, captain!" came the nautical return, and presently Alice, who +had inspected the engine, carried in a forward compartment, reported +that she had refilled the cups, and adjusted them so they would not +feed too much lubricant to the cylinders. + +Then she filled a tiny wash basin in the cabin, and washed her hands +with violet-scented soap. + +"I can't bear the smell of oil when I'm going to eat," she said, in +explanation. + +"But you're not going to eat right away, my dear," said Sylvia. "We +aren't going to have lunch until we get to Osprey Island, and that +won't be until noon." For they had gone in rather a round-about way, +passing on the far side of Big Island to make the trip seem more worth +while. + +"Oh, well, I'm ready for lunch whenever it's ready for me," Alice said, +as she pushed back the skin from the half-moons on her shapely fingers, +thus manicuring them, though they seldom needed it. + +The girls took turns at the wheel, for each one was experienced in +this. The _Clytie_ was a perfect boat, and answered her helm well. + +"It would have been nice if Natalie and her husband had come along," +said Rose. "I do enjoy her so much." + +"He's nice, too," added Alice. + +"Of course." + +"But it's nice to be by ourselves, once in a while," suggested Sylvia. +"I wonder how we are living up to our canons, girls?" she asked. + +"You mean--up-to-dateness?" questioned Hazel. + +"Exactly." + +"Well, I think we can't be found fault with," was the opinion of Hazel. +"There is certainly nothing slow about this!" + +"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," said Sylvia, hastily. "Speed isn't +everything." + +"It is when one is motoring or boating," declared Hazel. + +"A pity we couldn't run our cars up here," put in Alice, for there were +automobiles in the family of each of our friends--more than one in some +cases--and the girls were expert drivers. + +"This is no place for cars," affirmed Sylvia. "Perhaps on our outing +next season we may go where we can use them." + +"Or to some place where we can have a motor boat of our own," put in +Alice. "Wouldn't that be just lovely? To have a craft of our own, and +go on a long cruise!" + +"It would," assented Rose. "But this is very nice, and remember that +this is our first outing. Do you intend to do this every year, Sylvia?" +she continued. + +"If we can, yes. Of course we can't tell what new friends and +associations we may meet with when we start in at the different +colleges this fall, but I think we shall be able to keep to our +original plan, and have a 'get-together' session every summer to talk +over nowadays matters, and take our part in them." + +"Bravo!" cried Hazel. "No new college friendship shall lure me away +from this, my first love--or, rather, my three best loves," and she +pointed her finger in turn at each of her chums. + +"Is Saranac Lake like this?" asked Rose, and immediately she blushed. + +"Oh, look at her!" cried Alice, tantalisingly. "She can't stop thinking +of Roy even now." + +"I don't want to," answered Rose, more coolly than one would think from +the way she looked. + +"Good!" Sylvia complimented her. "Dear Roy! I do hope he is making +progress. I ought to get a letter or telegram to-day. I expect it when +we get back." + +"There are three Saranac Lakes," said Hazel, who had apparently been +"reading-up" on the subject. "They are Upper, Middle and Lower. But +none of them, at least to look at on the map, is as large as this one, +though Upper Saranac has a very long shore line, because it is so +cut up and twisted. There is about forty miles of shore line here at +Raquette." + +"This lake suits me," murmured Alice, in lazy comfort. + +"Oh, but I'm sure we'll find Saranac lovely," Hazel went on. "It's +about fifty miles from here, and they say there are more than sixty +other lakes and ponds which can be reached by short canoe trips from +Saranac, that is, the upper lake, which, of the three, is the one +nearest us." + +"It must be pretty wet there," ventured Sylvia. + +"It is, more water than land. I wish we could take the _Clytie_ up +there, but I don't suppose we can. Roy would appreciate this." + +"No, it's hardly feasible. We couldn't carry her over land," Sylvia +said. + +"Just where is Roy?" asked Hazel. + +"At the Loneberg Camp, not far from Saranac Inn. Oh, I am so anxious to +see him," his sister went on, "and yet I don't want to get there too +soon, for if he is on the verge of recovery the doctor said it might +give him a setback to have the sudden joyful surprise of seeing us +girls." + +"Yes, we're beautiful enough, collectively, if not individually, to +make a well youth faint, to say nothing of an invalid," declared Alice, +with dry humour. + +"Well, let's enjoy life while we may," suggested Sylvia. "Poor Roy!" +and she sighed. "I hope he is having a good time." + +But, had she only known it, Roy was having anything but a pleasant time +just then. He was not at all himself. + +Osprey Island was reached in due season, and finding a secluded spot, +the girls moored their boat, went ashore and had lunch. Tea was made +over the alcohol stove on board, and they sat about in the shadowy +woods in delightful picnic fashion. + +"Let's take a run over to Indian Point," suggested Hazel, when the +lunch was over, and they were thinking of starting back toward the +hotel. + +"Shall we have time?" asked Sylvia, with a glance at the sun, which was +already well down in the west. + +"Oh, it's only about a mile from here," pleaded Hazel, pointing off +to the west toward a body of land extending out into the lake, Indian +Point being the name given it. + +"Well, all right," assented Sylvia. "We can make a quick run back. Come +on, let's start." + +They went ashore at Indian Point, but they lingered longer than they +thought, for the sun was in a glory of red, golden, purple and violet +clouds when they went down to where they had left the boat. + +"It will be quite dark when we get back," said Sylvia, "and we have to +dress for dinner and the dance." + +"And I'm not going to miss that dance for _anything_!" declared Alice. +"That tall fellow has a new step in the fox trot that is simply +delightful. Let's hurry." + +But that was easier said than done, for when Sylvia stepped into the +craft, and confidently shoved over the self-starter, there was only a +groaning protest and the motor did not respond. + +"Oh, I do hope we don't have to start by hand!" sighed Alice. "It is +such a heavy engine." + +"Well, it looks as though we should," said Sylvia, grimly, when, after +several trials, the motor still refused to start. Clearly, or, rather, +unclearly, something was wrong. It was not a very cheerful prospect. In +fact it was most dismal, with night coming on, the girls some distance +from their hotel, alone and with a "cranky," not to say unstartable, +motor boat. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + A LONELY NIGHT + + +"Can't you make it work?" asked Hazel, when Sylvia had spent some time +over the self-starter. + +"I can't," was the answer, and Sylvia tried to keep from her voice any +trace of anxiety or peevishness. But really she was tired and nervous. + +"Let me try," suggested Alice, who was quite strong. "If I can't make +the starter work I can turn the flywheel over by hand." + +The self-starter operated on a storage battery, something like the +mechanism of an automobile, but not as easily. But while the starter +itself whirred around, the gears meshing in those of the flywheel with +which it was connected by a jack shaft, there was no response in the +motor itself. + +"There doesn't seem to be a spark," said Sylvia, as she watched the +effect of Alice's operations. + +"Yes, there's a spark all right," declared Rose, who had her eyes on +one of the patent spark plugs that had an upper chamber in which an +auxiliary jump spark could be seen leaping from one platinum point to +the other. "The spark is there, but it doesn't seem to fire the charge +in the cylinder. Maybe there's no gasoline." + +"Oh, yes, there is. I tested the tank only a few minutes ago," Sylvia +said. + +"Perhaps it's the carburetor," suggested Hazel, after a pause. + +"Don't you dare say that!" cried Rose. "Once you start to change that +adjustment it's all up with us. We'll be here for the night." + +"Don't!" begged Baby, with an apprehensive glance at the now +fast-darkening woods. They were on a lonely part of Indian Point. + +"Oh, we'll get off somehow," Sylvia declared. "I wonder if there are +any men about on whom we could call for help. I hate to think of trying +to start the motor by hand." + +"And that's what we'll have to do, soon," declared Alice. "The storage +battery is almost run down." + +This was only too true, since they had used much of the energy in +trying to make the auxiliary motor of the self-starter do its work. And +without the main motor running no more electricity would be available +to recharge the storage cells. + +"Well, here goes for a little gymnasium work," Alice said, rolling up +her sleeves. + +"I'll see if there's a man, or, perhaps, some campers about," +volunteered Sylvia, "then I'll come back and take my share." + +Again and again Alice, in the rather cramped quarters in which the +motor was housed, tried to start it. But though she could disconnect +the self-starter gears, and turn over the flywheel, there was no +answering explosion even then. + +"It's the ignition," declared Sylvia, who came back in the gathering +twilight to report that she could find no one to help in the +comparatively short distance she went away from the others. + +"Maybe it will start on the batteries," suggested Hazel. + +"We've tried that," declared Alice. + +"Well, try again," urged Sylvia. "We must do something. This is a +terribly lonesome place, and I, for one, don't want to have to stay +here all night!" + +"I should say not, most decidedly!" exclaimed Hazel. "I--I'll _swim_ +back before I'll do that." + +"Well, we certainly won't walk," said Rose, with determination. "We +_could_ manage to sleep aboard the _Clytie_!" she went on. "We could +take a stone for an anchor, and shove the boat out in the lake, away +from the shore." + +"You seem to have it all thought out," commented Hazel. "Why away from +the shore?" + +"Then no--er--no snakes could crawl aboard!" + +"Don't!" begged Alice, looking up with grimy face and hands from her +labor over the motor. She wore gloves, but they did not much protect +her, as they were splitting at the seams. + +"Oh, we'll get off some time," Sylvia said. "Here, let me have a try, +Alice." + +She took her place at the wheel and worked hard and faithfully. But +though the motor coughed, sneezed and gave other evidences of senile +decay, there was no healthy "wuff!" of a genuine explosion. + +"There! That sounded like something!" cried Rose, suddenly, following a +continued whirling about of the flywheel on the part of Sylvia. + +"What sounded like something?" demanded Hazel. + +"As if one of the cylinders had voted to go to work. Let me relieve +you, Sylvia." + +"No, if there's a hopeful sign, the best thing to do is to keep on +before the cylinder gets cold." + +Again she worked at the motor, and then, to the joy of the girls, it +suddenly started off with a succession of heavy throbs as though it +had intended to do so all the while, but had waited until sufficiently +coaxed. + +"There!" cried Sylvia, in relieved tones as she stretched out on a +cushioned locker to ease the pain in her back. "Let her run now until +she gets good and warm before throwing in the clutch." + +"What was the matter?" asked Rose. + +"Don't ask me, my dear. I think it was the timer, but I don't want to +make any rash assertions for fear some other part of the mechanism will +feel slighted and refuse to work until its claims have been recognised. +So don't ask me." + +"But it's working now!" Rose cried. "We'll get back in time for----" + +"The dance!" finished Alice. "Shall I throw in the clutch now, Sylvia?" + +"Yes, we'll take a chance." + +There was a grinding, groaning and squealing sound as the clutch +slipped into place. The water under the stern of the boat boiled and +bubbled. + +The _Clytie_ started forward and then suddenly brought up with a jerk +that jarred the girls. + +"Oh!" screamed Hazel. + +"What is it?" demanded Rose. + +"It's just as well to loosen the mooring rope when you want to start," +said Alice, dryly. "It's rather too much to ask a boat of this size to +pull up a big tree by the roots," and she pointed to where the rope +from the ring bolt of the forward deck was still tied to a tree on +shore. + +"I'll loosen it," offered Sylvia, and the motor was thrown out of gear +to enable her to do this. Then, once more they started off, and steered +the boat out around the head of Indian Point, for they had gone ashore +on the side nearest to Sucker Brook Bay. + +"I do hope it runs all right the rest of the way home," murmured Alice. + +"Hush! Don't say a word! Knock wood!" Hazel advised her, in a mocking +whisper. + +It was now dark enough to call for the lighting of the lamps on the +craft, and the signal ones, fore and aft, and the red and green ones on +either side were set aglow. + +"But we won't light the cabin ones yet," Sylvia decided. + +"Why not?" demanded Alice. "I want to get some of the grime off my +hands. Otherwise I'll have to wear gloves at the dance, and I despise +them on a warm night." + +"We won't light the lights in the cabin until the storage battery has +had a chance to pick up some current," Sylvia said. "You can just as +well wash in the dark, and we may need current for the self-starter +before we get home." + +"I certainly hope not!" cried Hazel. "We've had trouble enough for one +day. We won't get in until after dinner now, and those waiters are so +fussy about serving anything after hours." + +"Oh, well, we can tip them," said Sylvia. "I'm afraid we are going to +be late, but we are running as fast as we dare in these waters. I don't +know them at all." + +They had reached a section of the lake around from Indian Point, and +were heading down between the shore and Osprey Island when the motor +suddenly ceased humming and throbbing. + +"There!" cried Sylvia, tragically. + +"Don't say I told you so," begged Alice. + +"Head for shore, quick!" cried Rose to Hazel, who was steering. + +"Why?" asked the latter. + +"Because we don't want to drift all over the lake, and we have momentum +enough to land now. Quick! Head for shore!" + +Hazel did so, and the _Clytie_ just managed to poke her nose gently +against the bank in the fast-gathering darkness. Alice and Sylvia were +working frantically to start the motor again, but it would not respond. + +"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Sylvia, when they had swung +broadside to the bank. "It seems we can't get going again." + +"Oh, must we stay here?" demanded Rose, with a glance at the dark and +silent woods, while the lonely night settled down all about them. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE LOON + + +"We'll stay here long enough to get the motor started again, and then +we'll go on," declared Sylvia, with a confidence she did not altogether +feel. In spite of her common sense and her "nowadaysness," she felt an +almost overpowering sensation of fear. It was as if the darkness were +pressing down on her like some black pall--a blanket, smothery and +choking. + +Yet it was but the ordinary darkness of the woods. But it was an +intense blackness, relieved only by the stars, and only a few of them, +for the night was somewhat cloudy. + +Those of you who have never been in the woods after dark have no idea +how black it can be at night. + +In every city, and in most small towns and villages, there are some +lights that burn all night. So that, even if you are not actually at +the source of illumination, you can see a sort of diffused glow that, +in a measure, cuts the blackness. But it is not so in the woods. + +The very darkness of the tree trunks seems to add to the blackness of +the night, as though they had absorbed what little light the sun might +have left. And if, perchance, you come upon a clump of white birches +when travelling along a woodland path after night has fallen, they +only seem to accentuate the darkness, standing out as they do like +attenuated ghosts. + +"Oh, I can't bear it!" went on Rose, with a little shiver. She cuddled +close against Hazel. "I can't bear it!" + +"Don't be silly," was the retort. "The dark can't hurt you." + +"No, but to stay in--in those woods!" and Rose waved an unseen hand at +the forest, to the very edge of which the _Clytie_ had drifted with the +last of her momentum after the stopping of the motor. + +"We don't have to stay there, we can sleep on the boat and anchor +it out in the lake," said Alice. "What are you doing, Sylvia?" she +demanded. + +"I'm going to try to start the motor," was the answer. "One of you +girls get the boat hook and turn us around. I don't want to collide +with the bank." + +"No danger of that," declared Hazel. "She won't start, and if she +does--wait, I'll throw out the clutch." + +This she did, while Alice took the boat hook, and Sylvia proceeded +to operate the self-starter again. The batteries had been recharged +somewhat while the motor was going, operating the small dynamo, or +magneto, and there was available an electric current for some little +time. + +Sylvia threw over the operating switch. There was a grinding of gears +as the powerful little mechanism operated the propeller shaft, but +the motor proper remained mute. Once again there seemed to be trouble +with the ignition system, though the spark plugs showed, in the upper +chamber where the auxiliary spark-gap was located, that there was +current flowing somewhere. + +"But it doesn't reach the ignition chamber and explode the gas," said +Sylvia, in disappointed tones, as, again and again, she threw over the +self-starter switch. + +"Let it go," advised Hazel. + +"What?" Sylvia cried. + +"I say let it go. Don't try any more. It won't work. The engine needs +overhauling, and there's no use wasting all the power in the storage +battery. If we do we won't have any for lights, and we don't want to +stay here in the dark." + +"Mercy, no!" exclaimed Rose, shivering again. + +"There are oil lamps," murmured Sylvia, as she looked at the +self-starter again, as if she contemplated trying that once more. + +"Oh, but they are so mussy," complained Alice. "Do leave some current +in the battery for the incandescents. It will be something, anyhow, as +long as we have to stay here." + +"Oh, do we _really_ have to stay here?" wailed Rose. "Can't we paddle +home?" + +"No oars," said Sylvia, briefly. + +"And just where is home?" asked Alice. "Who knows?" + +"Why--why--you can't see anything!" declared Hazel. "Look!" + +"What's the use of looking if you can't see anything?" demanded Sylvia, +just the least bit crossly. And no wonder, for she had laboured long +over the motor, and fruitlessly. + +"Oh, but we seem to be surrounded by darkness!" went on Hazel. "There +isn't a patch of light anywhere but up above," and she motioned to one +or two faintly-shining stars. + +"We've drifted around some point of land, and we're in a little bay," +was the opinion of Alice. "Two ends of land overlap. We can go out the +way we came in, if we could only get the boat started." + +"I don't like running in these unknown waters after dark," said Sylvia. + +"But what are we to do, my dear?" asked Rose. "Can we stay here?" + +"Can we stay anywhere else?" was the instant question. "We might +as well make the best of it, I think, and get comfortable. We have +something left to eat, we can make tea--or coffee if we brought any +with us--and there is room to sleep, after a fashion." + +"But not with the boat so near shore," insisted Rose, for the bow of +the _Clytie_ was scraping along the wooded bank in response to some +slight current of air or water. + +"No, we can anchor out a way," admitted Sylvia. "We'll have to go +ashore, though, and get a stone for an anchor." + +"Oh, what will Aunt Theodora think and say? What will the folks at the +hotel think? They'll be worried to death, send out a search party for +us, rouse the lake. It will be terrible!" cried Rose, in dismay. + +"No more terrible for them than for us," retorted Sylvia. "This is none +of our doing. We'd be only too glad to get back if we could. But we +can't make the motor 'mote,' and it would be foolish and risky to get +out in the middle of the lake, and be stalled there. We are much better +off here." + +"I suppose we could manage to call for help, or make our way to some +camp or cottage," suggested Hazel. + +"I'd rather not," Sylvia said, more calmly than she had yet spoken. "If +we call for help, the chances are we wouldn't be heard. This seems to +be a deserted part of Raquette Lake. Then, too, we'd only strain our +voices, and get hysterically nervous if we didn't get an answer." + +"What about shoving the boat along the shore, and close to it, with +poles?" suggested Alice. "We could do that, and perhaps get to some +camp that way." + +"We might," assented Sylvia. "But do we want to reach the camp of some +men or boys in the middle of the night, all tired out and dishevelled +from our efforts in poling the boat? I, for one, don't. I prefer to +stay here, in our own boat, where we can lie down in some sort of +comfort, at least. We can manage to get enough to eat with what we had +left over from lunch. I vote we stay here!" + +"But what will people say?" asked Hazel. + +"What can they say? I guess it isn't the first time a motor-boat party +has been stalled by a balky engine. People can't say anything." + +"I shan't mind it if they do," declared Alice. "Nowadays girls are +accorded many more privileges than in former years." + +"Even to staying out all night without a chaperon?" demanded Rose. + +"When it can't be helped--yes!" said Sylvia, half defiantly. + +"Well, it certainly can't be helped, in this case," declared Alice. + +"Poor Aunt Theodora!" murmured Hazel. "She will be distracted!" + +"Nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Alice, in her most convincing tones. +"She knows we can take care of ourselves." + +"That's what I say," added Sylvia. "She knows we are in a good safe +boat. Too safe!" she added, with a short laugh. "It won't even go, like +the old lady's goat in the nursery rhyme. And we are all good swimmers. +She may worry a bit at first, but she has had experience with too many +schoolgirls' escapades to fret long." + +"This isn't an _escapade_!" declared Rose. + +"What is it, then?" + +"It will be an _experience_ before we have finished," said Hazel, with +a short laugh. + +Somehow the girls could laugh a little now. The feeling of gloom and +terror was wearing off. + +"Well, the first thing to do is to go ashore and find a stone for an +anchor," said Sylvia, getting practical suddenly. Not that she had not +been so before, but this was adapting practicality to new conditions. +"We won't need a very heavy one, as there is little wind, and we won't +drag much. We want to anchor only a very short way from the shore." + +"What next?" asked Hazel. + +"Next we'll find something to eat, and get comfortable for the night." + +"I never could go to sleep," remonstrated Rose, with a premonitory +glance over her shoulder at the blackness that seemed to grow more and +more intense every moment. + +"Well, if you sit up long enough you can go to sleep," suggested +Sylvia. "Now I'll light a lantern, and we'll go ashore for the stone." + +The boat was pushed around with the pole to enable a safe landing to be +made. The rope was carried ashore and made fast to a tree branch, to +insure the _Clytie_ against drifting off while they were hunting for +the rock-anchor. + +Then, with one of the oil lamps, which were used for signals in case +the electrics gave out, the four girls went ashore. They easily found +the proper stone near the water's edge, and making fast the rope to it, +pushed the boat out a little way from the bank, and dropped the anchor +overboard with a splash that awoke the echoes in that silent place. + +"And now for supper, tea, dinner, breakfast, or whatever we choose to +call it," suggested Sylvia, who seemed to have taken command of the +situation. "What shall it be--tea or coffee? We have both," she added, +for a hasty search among the lunch baskets had disclosed that fact. + +"Coffee!" voted Rose. "It will help to keep us awake, and I don't want +to close my eyes." + +"Don't be silly!" scoffed Sylvia. "Be a real member of the Nowadays +Club!" + +"All right, I'll try," was the rather faint answer. + +The alcohol stove, which burned the new solid fuel, was set going, +and water, in a tiny kettle, was put on to boil. The girls busied +themselves setting out the dishes and food on the folding table which +was set up in the centre of the cabin, the seats, which later would +become bunks, being ranged on either side. + +"Now, could anything be more cosy than this?" asked Sylvia, when the +kettle was humming. + +"It _is_ nice," assented Hazel. "If only Aunt Theodora knew we were +here and all right, I would not worry so----" + +Hazel's remarks were interrupted by such a wild, weird cry, bursting +out on the silence of the night, echoing and reverberating in the air +all about them, that the girls involuntarily uttered screams, and +huddled together in the cabin of the boat. + +They stared at each other with fear-lustred eyes, and when Rose dropped +a cup, letting it slip from her nerveless fingers so that it crashed +into pieces on the cabin floor, it was rather a relief than otherwise +of the tension. + +Again came that wild, weird cry, something like the laugh of a maniac, +or the defiant yell of a maddened beast. It started with a low cadence, +rose to a shrill scream, and died away like the last blast from some +siren whistle. + +"What--what in the name of mercy was that?" gasped Hazel. + +"Maybe--maybe some one--calling for us," whispered Rose. + +"No human being would call that way," Alice declared, haltingly. + +Again came the cry, eerie and nerve-racking. It seemed to be nearer the +boat now. + +"Perhaps campers trying to scare us," stammered Hazel. + +"No one--man or boy--could yell that way," said Sylvia. "It must be----" + +A third time came the cry--banshee-like in its weirdness. It was +followed by a splash in the water, seemingly at the very bow of the +_Clytie_. + +"Oh!" screamed Rose, shrilly. + +"Be still!" commanded Sylvia, and she laughed. + +"She--she's getting--hysterics! Oh, dear!" half-moaned Alice. + +"Nonsense!" and Sylvia was laughing harder than ever. "It's only a +loon!" + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + IN CAMP + + +For a moment Sylvia's companions did not respond. They gazed at her as +if wondering whether she had really said anything, or as if they did +not know whether or not to believe her if she had made any utterance. + +"What--what did you say?" asked Rose, at length. + +"That was a loon," Sylvia went on. "A big bird, you know. They are +great swimmers and divers, and they have the most awful screech you +ever heard." + +"Well, if _that_ was a sample of it, I can well believe it!" said Hazel. + +"Are you sure it was a loon?" asked Alice. + +"Positive," declared Sylvia. "I knew what it was after I heard the +third cry and the splash in the water." + +"It must have been quite near our boat," ventured Rose. + +"It was," went on Sylvia. "That's what made it sound so weird and +terrifying." + +"It sounded like a lost soul," murmured Hazel. "Not that I know what +sort of cries are emitted by lost souls," she hastened to add, "but +that is how I should describe it. I hope the loon doesn't come back and +serenade us during the night." + +"Don't you _dare_ suggest such a thing!" exclaimed Rose. "It was like +some one crying out in a horrible nightmare." + +"I don't believe it will come back," Sylvia declared. "Sometimes there +will be only one loon in a place, but if there are more, one calls +to another and they make a terrible racket. I was camping with my +father once, and that happened. I was a little girl, but I have never +forgotten the loons. This one was probably after a fish. You know they +dive into the water, and actually swim under it to get the fish they +pursue. They are wonderful swimmers and divers." + +"Well, I hope that one keeps on swimming and diving and that he'll be +too busy to do any more yelling this night," said Hazel. "Ugh! He gave +me the shivers." + +"And I broke a cup," added Rose. + +"Never mind, we have enough left for coffee," Sylvia remarked. "I guess +the water is boiling now. Pass the sandwiches, girls, and see if there +are any olives left." + +"A whole big bottle, of lovely stuffed ones!" Alice reported, taking it +out of a locker. "Where's the corkscrew?" + +It was found, the simple meal was set forth on the table, and the girls +gathered around it to eat, but not without little, nervous glances +over their shoulders now and then, at sounds in the nearby woods. + +But gradually this feeling wore off, and the girls were more like +themselves. That was one admirable trait of the Nowadays Girls: they +could adapt themselves to almost any circumstances. They were very +democratic, though that quality was not called for so much in this +instance as was good, sound common sense. + +"There, I feel a whole lot better," remarked Sylvia, as she pushed back +her plate. + +"So do I," added Hazel. + +"And I'm not nearly so frightened," declared Rose. + +"That's a blessing," Hazel said. + +"Oh, you were just as alarmed as I was, Baby," retorted the Syracuse +girl. "But, really, I wouldn't mind hearing that loon call again." + +"Well, _I_ certainly would!" Alice exclaimed. "Don't you _dare_ invite +him to call," and they all laughed. + +The girls sat about the cabin, closing the sliding doors for comfort +since the night air was chilling. They turned off all but one of the +little incandescent lights, so the storage battery would last until +morning. They left a single lantern burning outside on deck, "to scare +away snakes," as Rose jokingly put it. + +In spite of the determination of each one not to go to sleep, Nature +was stronger than the will of any of the girls, and at times each one +felt herself nodding and dozing. + +"I don't care!" Sylvia finally declared, with a sleepy yawn. "I am +going to lie down. We'll all feel better in the morning, and there is +nothing in the world to be alarmed about here. Let's 'turn in,' as the +sailors say." + +After a little hesitation, the other girls did likewise, and soon all +four were peacefully slumbering on the seat bunks. + +The rest did make them feel much fresher the next morning. They were +awake early, to find the day a most glorious one, and there was coffee +enough left for a refreshing cup. + +After that they took turns in trying to start the motor. But the +storage battery was used up without success, nor were their efforts at +turning the flywheel over by hand any more successful. + +"Well, we can pole ourselves along shore, and help will be easy to get +in daylight," said Sylvia, cheerfully. "Come on, girls!" + +They poled their way out of the little bay, where they had spent the +night, and gradually worked their boat along the shore. They had not +gone far before they heard a hail. It came from a large motor boat, +containing several men, who had the look of typical Adirondack guides. + +"I say, be you the lost young ladies?" was the cry. + +"I think so. We _were_ lost," Sylvia responded. + +"Well, we're lookin' for you," the spokesman went on. "Lot of parties +out from the Antlers. What's the matter?" + +"Engine trouble," replied Sylvia, succinctly. + +"I thought Aunt Theodora would start a search for us," remarked Hazel. + +"It's a wonder she didn't come herself," Rose said. + +"We'll give you a tow," went on the man at the wheel of the big motor +boat. "We're only one of several searchin' parties. The lady you're +with is out, too." + +"I thought so!" Rose exclaimed. "Dear Aunt Theodora! Oh, but wasn't it +awful of us to stay out all night!" + +"I don't see how we could help it," Sylvia declared. "We certainly +couldn't walk through the woods at night." + +A little later they were being towed back to the hotel by the searching +party, and had related to the kindly guides their experiences. Before +they reached the dock another motor boat had sighted them, and came up +at full speed. + +"There's Aunt Theodora," called Sylvia. A handkerchief was vigorously +waved, and four others answered it. + +"Oh, girls, I was _much_ worried about you!" the guardian said, kissing +them all around. "Yet, somehow, I knew you would be all right. However, +I organised searching parties, using all the boats I could commandeer, +and they've been out all night. Didn't you hear them whistling and +calling?" + +"All we heard was the loon," said Hazel. + +Once again they told their story, and a little later they were back at +their hotel. + +"Was the dance nice?" asked Hazel, when she and her chums had changed +to fresh garments. + +"They didn't have it," Aunt Theodora said. "Every one was distracted +about you, and a number of young men declared they would not dance +while you were lost. They went out in a boat after you, and they +haven't come back yet. I must say it was very nice of them." + +"What? Not coming back?" asked Sylvia. "That isn't a bit nice. We want +them to dance with us. Though it was a tribute to--shall I say our +popularity?--to call off the hop." + +"Hope they have it to-night," murmured Alice. + +The young men returned, rather weary and forlorn, but the news that the +lost ones had been found reached them before they arrived at the dock, +so they came up singing and rejoicing. + +That night the postponed dance was held. + +"Oh, but weren't you girls frightened to death, staying out all alone +that way?" asked Natalie, during an interval between dances. + +"Not after we had gotten used to it," Sylvia said. "It was rather a +lark." + +"No, it was a _loon_!" corrected Alice, with a laugh. + +"Say, little one, I think you're dancing too many dances with one +partner," commented Rose, turning to Hazel. + +"How can I help it? He asks me before any of the other fellows have a +chance--not that I want them, for he dances beautifully," said Hazel, +with an assumed innocent air that became her well. + +"Hopeless!" murmured Sylvia. + +Then the music began a dreamy hesitation. + +So delightful did the Nowadays Girls find their stay at the Antlers +that they decided to prolong their visit another week. Sylvia received +a message, saying that her brother was doing as well as could be +expected, and this somewhat cheered her and Rose. + +"And now what do you say to a few days in camp?" asked Mrs. Brownley, +when she and her charges had returned one day from a long motor trip. + +"Camp?" exclaimed Hazel. + +"Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Parson are talking of going off to the woods to live +in a tent, near a small lake not far from here, and they asked me if I +thought you girls wouldn't like to join them. What shall I say?" + +"Please accept for us," said Sylvia. "That is, if the others agree. It +will give us a taste of real wilderness life. So different from hotel +existence." + +"But we can't have any dances," objected Alice. + +"Oh, we can get along without them for a little while," Rose said. + +"Well, if you can exist without a onestep, I'm sure I can, or a +half-and-half, either," declared Alice. "Ho, for the camp!" + +"Do we have to do our own cooking?" asked Hazel. + +"No, I believe they are going to take a cook along." + +"So much nicer," murmured Sylvia, "though I have cooked in camp, and +over an open fire. But I can't say I like it. When do we go, Aunt +Theodora?" + +"In a day or so. I'll go and tell Mrs. Parson you will accept their +kind invitation." + +So it was arranged. And a day or so later the little party went over to +Shedd Lake, about four miles from Raquette Lake, there to live under +canvas for perhaps a week. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + CANOEING + + +Camp Natalie it was named, in honour of the bride, though she +blushingly protested. But Sylvia and her chums insisted, and the name +was built up in bark letters on a board, and suspended in the little +open glade in front of the tents, which faced the blue waters of the +lake. + +The camp was a most complete and modern one. A man had been engaged +to look after the putting up of the tents, and the arranging of all +matters, so that the fun-lovers had really nothing to worry about. And +the man had done his work well. + +There were five canvas shelters in all, besides a small additional one +near the cook tent, where slept the buxom woman who presided over the +dishes, pots and pans. + +A large tent that could be made open to the glorious breezes, or closed +in case of stormy weather, served as the dining-room. The cooking +was done in another tent, with a real stove, burning coal that was +transported to camp in a wagon. For there is nothing more exasperating +than to cook over a wood fire. Either it is too hot, or it has expired +before the cook is aware of it, and has to be brought hastily to life +again to the detriment of the viands. So coal solved the problem. + +Then there were three sleeping tents, with ample accommodations and the +most modern of cots. In fact it was a most comfortable camp, and the +Nowadays Girls, as well as Natalie and her husband, pronounced it to be +perfect. + +After setting the camp to rights, which was no small task, even though +the cook and her husband, a guide, helped, there followed a somewhat +lazy period. The girls went for strolls in the balsam-odorous woods, or +sat on the shores of the little lake, looking at the view. Sometimes, +when Rose was particularly pensive, Hazel or Alice would ask: + +"Can't you stop it?" + +"Stop what?" she would ask, sometimes before she thought. + +"Thinking of Roy." + +"Oh!" and she would blush rosy-red. + +"Well, I don't blame her for thinking of him, if he's as nice as his +picture indicates," said Natalie--for so all the girls called her. "I +shall like him myself!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Hazel. + +"In a perfectly brotherly way," Natalie added, calmly. "In fact I +almost think of him as a brother already." + +"He _is_ awfully nice," declared Alice. "He is such a dear boy, and it +was too bad that this trouble had to come to him." + +"I do hope he will get over it," Natalie said. + +"We all trust so," replied his sister. "It means so much to him in his +success with that chemical firm. Roy really overworked, trying to solve +some chemical problem, and that brought on a breakdown. Only that the +doctor thought it best for us to keep away from him a little while, I +should be with him now." + +Rose did not say so, but doubtless she, too, wished she could help +to minister to Roy. For between the two was a bond of more than mere +friendship. And presently Rose went off by herself in the green and +silent woods. + +"Poor girl," murmured Natalie. "I know how she must feel. Bob was ill +once----But there, you don't want to hear about the troubles of an old +married couple!" and her merry laugh rang out. + +There were glorious days in the woods, at Camp Natalie. The girls went +fishing a number of times, and explored little-travelled trails through +the forest. But they did not go far enough to get lost, and Mrs. +Rachlin was almost as expert in the woods as was her guide-husband. She +led forth the little parties, after her work in camp was done, and many +were the hidden mysteries of the forest that she laid bare. + +Aunt Theodora, too, enjoyed this life in the open. + +"I think, really," she said, in her precise little way, "that this +is more educating than some trips to Europe. One gets so tired of +following in the beaten paths, even of knowledge. This is positively a +revelation." + +"I am so glad it isn't boring you," said Sylvia. + +"Boring me! My dear, I would never be bored where you girls were!" + +"Which is very nice for you to say, at any rate," laughed Hazel. + +"Oh, I mean it!" declared "Guardy!" as the girls affectionately called +Mrs. Brownley at times. + +"Positively I'm ashamed of my appetite!" said Hazel, after one meal. +"But, really, I never ate anything that tasted so good as the food does +here. I think it must be the air." + +"Or the cooking!" added Alice. + +"The cooking certainly has much to do with it," declared Sylvia. "Mrs. +Rachlin gets up some wonderful dishes. I really don't see how she does +it with the limited means at her disposal." + +"Oh, I'm used to rough cooking," said the person under discussion. "You +girls are easy compared to lumbermen, and I've cooked for them when my +husband has been in charge of a gang. They certainly can eat!" and she +shook her head in remembrance. + +The delights of the water added to the pleasure of the girls and their +friends at Camp Natalie. They had sent for canoes, which were brought +over on a wagon, and one day they set out to explore a small but rather +rapid and turbulent stream connected with Shedd Lake. + +The four Nowadays Girls, in two canoes, went off by themselves, for +Mrs. Brownley would not trust herself in one of the frail craft, and +Natalie and Bob voted for a quiet and rather solitary stroll through +the woods. + +"Now do sit quiet, Rose," begged Sylvia, who was in the bow of one +craft, while Rose was in the stern. Hazel and Alice were in like +positions in another canoe. + +"Sit quiet! Don't I always?" Rose demanded. + +"You do except when you see an old stump or floating log and think it's +an alligator!" Sylvia chided. + +"As if she didn't know, by this time, that alligators are unknown +reptiles in the Adirondacks," laughed Alice. + +So they started off in the canoes, threading their way in and out along +the winding stream, now floating lazily under some overhanging boughs, +and again moving rapidly down some little stretch where the waters +bubbled and foamed over the stones in such a manner as to have that +particular section designated as "rapids." + +"Look out, girls!" Sylvia called back to Alice and Hazel, whose canoe +had dropped astern. "Here's a bad passage just ahead." + +"All right. We see it!" answered Hazel. + +"Now do sit steady, Rose!" pleaded Sylvia. + +"Steady it is!" Rose answered, plying her paddle carefully. + +Whether she disobeyed the injunction, or whether she gave a wrong turn +to the broad blade, will never be known, but just as the canoe was in +the midst of the swirling water there was a sudden scream from Rose, +echoing ones from Hazel and Alice, and the craft containing Sylvia and +her chum rolled over, spilling them both out. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE MASQUERADE + + +"Steady! Back water!" + +It was Hazel who gave the command, and the momentary feeling of panic +that had swept over Alice passed. + +"Over that way!" Hazel went on, nodding to indicate that she meant to +steer their canoe toward a bit of still water, an eddy formed under an +overhanging bank of the stream. + +"All right!" was the tense reply of her chum, and a moment later the +light craft shot past the rolling overturned one of Sylvia and Rose, +and was in quiet water. + +Meanwhile, after the first sudden plunge into the stream--a plunge that +deprived them of their breath for an instant--the two girls who had +been spilled out regained control of themselves. + +The Nowadays Girls had the almost invaluable faculty of remaining cool, +or quickly becoming cool in emergencies. + +This had been proved in a number of instances in times past, when they +had been in no little danger. Once there was an incipient fire at Miss +Stevenson's school, and the alarm drill was called for. It remained +for our four friends and a few others, to lead to safety the majority +of the school, and for this bravery there had been no small thanks and +honour. + +So now, in this time of danger, the two girls who were in a place of +safety remained calm and collected and were ready for rescue work. +Fortunately, however, the water of the stream was not deep. It could +hardly be so and fuss and foam over the rapids in the way it did. So +Rose and Sylvia, after having been rolled over and over a number of +times, during which period they clung to the paddles, found themselves +in comparatively still water, and struck out for shore. + +It was then that the wisdom of Hazel and Alice showed itself, for they +were at the bank, waiting for their companions. There was no need for +them to leap in to the rescue, for they saw that Sylvia and Rose were +both swimming well, in spite of their wet and clinging garments. Their +dresses were light summer ones, which were not much more hampering +than bathing suits would have been. And they wore light, rubber-soled +boating shoes. + +"Catch hold!" cried Hazel, flinging to Rose, who was in advance of +Sylvia, a long rope they carried in the canoe for mooring purposes. The +coils straightened out, and the end of the line fell near the swimming +girl. + +"All right!" Rose answered, as she caught hold, and a moment later she +was being pulled toward the bank, suspending her swimming strokes, for +she was a little exhausted, not only by her efforts, but by the rolling +and tumbling process to which she had been subjected when the canoe +upset. + +"We'll be ready for you in a moment, Sylvia!" called Hazel. + +"Don't worry, I can touch bottom," was the reassuring answer, and, +to prove it, Sylvia stood up, a dripping and dishevelled figure, but +a smiling one, nevertheless. It took more than a ducking to disturb +Sylvia Pursell. + +Rose, who had taken a little different course from that followed by her +companion in misfortune, now found herself in water that was not so +deep but that she could stand up, which she did, still keeping hold of +the rope. + +"Well," said Sylvia, finally, after she had caught her breath, and +wrung enough water from her fallen hair so that it ceased to run in +little rivulets down her face. "Well!" + +"Most decidedly--well!" exclaimed Alice. "A very wet well indeed! How +did it happen?" + +"Don't ask me--ask Rose," laughed Sylvia. She could laugh now, though +it had seemed serious enough for the moment. + +"It wasn't my fault," her companion asserted, smiling across the water +that separated them. Behind them foamed the little rapid, filling the +air with its insistent murmur. + +"I guess we didn't make allowances for the speed and strength of the +current," Sylvia said. "It seemed to grip the canoe in a moment." + +"By the way, where is the canoe?" asked Hazel. + +They looked down-stream, and saw their boat apparently moving by itself +over the tops of the low bushes. It was turned upside down and was +bobbing about in a most unaccountable manner. + +"Look--look at that!" fairly gasped Alice, from her position on the +bank. + +"Why, what does it mean?" asked Hazel, faintly. + +The four girls watched the canoe with increasing astonishment. It +seemed to be moved by spirit hands, gliding, upside down, over the tops +of the bushes in a curious undulating fashion. + +"Could it have struck a rock, and bounced out on shore?" asked Rose. + +"If it struck a rock with enough force for that, it would be in pieces, +instead of whole, as it seems to be," Sylvia answered. + +"But isn't it remarkable?" murmured Alice. + +"To say the least--yes," agreed Rose. + +Then, as the girls watched, the canoe seemed to sink down in the +bushes, as a magician causes a certain card to appear from the centre +of the pack, and to descend again. + +"This must be seen to," Sylvia declared, with energy. "We can't have +any white magic like this going on without making an investigation. +Come on, Rose." + +She started wading toward shore. + +"Better wait until we pull Rose in, and then we'll fling you the rope," +advised Alice. + +"Oh, I don't need the rope, I can walk without that," declared Rose. + +"Better not try," suggested Sylvia. "There may be some deep holes +between here and shore. Keep hold of the rope, then I'll use it. And +after that we'll see if our canoe has taken unto itself wings and flown +away." + +There was no need for the line from shore, as it developed, and soon +Rose and Sylvia, after safely wading to the bank, joined their more +fortunate companions. Alice and Hazel made fast their canoe, and Rose +and Sylvia wrung as much water as possible from their skirts, then all +four started toward the place where the canoe had been observed to so +oddly nestle amid the underbrush. + +The girls found a fairly good path along the shore, and following this, +they turned in and out, as the trail led, bending itself to the curves +of the stream, until they suddenly emerged into a small clearing. + +And there, sitting by the canoe, which had been turned in a most +favorable position so that the sun might dry it out, was a bronzed +young man who was gravely contemplating his wet and dripping legs that +were clad in khaki trousers. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Sylvia, faintly, as she saw the young man slowly turn +his head in the direction of the sound caused by the girls pushing +their way past the bushes that overhung the trail. + +"So, _that_ was what made the canoe behave in such a mysterious way!" +murmured Hazel. + +"He must have pulled it out of the water," suggested Alice. + +Rose stood looking at the young man, saying nothing. + +As for the youth himself, he rose to his feet, thereby disclosing the +fact that he was rather tall. He wore no hat, but a half-military +salute toward his brown, curling hair made up for what doubtless would +have been a deferential removal of his head-gear had he worn any. + +"Are you looking for a lost, strayed or otherwise missing canoe?" he +asked, at the same time motioning toward the one on the grass near him. + +"Yes, that is ours," said Sylvia. "We had an upset in the rapids." + +"I guessed as much," the stranger said. "I was about to go in search +of the owners, fearing some accident might have happened, but you have +saved me a journey. Perhaps I can be of some assistance?" + +"Thank you, I believe we are all right now," Sylvia said. "We held on +to our paddles. We----" + +She started forward, as though to prove her claim to the canoe by +exhibiting the paddles, but Rose pulled her back. + +"Don't go!" came the half-frantic whisper. "You're a sight, and so am +I! Let Hazel and Alice walk ahead. They aren't dripping wet and their +hair isn't hanging seven ways for Sunday. Let them go ahead!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Sylvia, comprehendingly. "Yes, I guess you're right, +Rose. We don't look exactly presentable." + +The young man had waited inquiringly as this little discussion was in +progress, and if he understood the nature of it he gave no sign. + +Concealed by the friendly and effectual screen of bushes the change +was made, bringing Alice and Hazel into the vanguard, and letting +Sylvia and Rose take up a position in the rear. A hasty glance over +the trail they had come showed no enemy at their backs, and they were +sufficiently guarded by underbrush on either side of the path to +prevent a flank attack. + +"I'll put the canoe back in the stream for you, in a few minutes," the +young man went on. "I was letting the water drain out of it. I was +fishing just about here," he said, "when I saw it coming down-stream. I +guessed what had happened and waded out to get it. Then I put it over +my head and took it to shore." + +"Oh! That was what made it look so funny!" exclaimed Hazel. + +"Funny?" the young man questioned. + +"We could only see the boat from where we were," explained Alice, "and +it looked as though it were floating on top of the bushes, upside down." + +"Oh, I see," he went on, comprehendingly. "You couldn't see me because +my head was under the canoe, and you couldn't see the rest of me +because the bushes formed a screen. Yes, it must have been rather odd." + +"It was," said Sylvia, and she could not restrain a merry laugh. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the young man, and it seemed as though the laugh had +come in answer to some question he asked himself. And the question +might have been in regard to the disappearance of the two wet and +dripping girls he had first observed, for Alice and Hazel were now in +front of Rose and Sylvia. + +"It was very good of you to save the canoe," Hazel said. "It might have +been dashed to pieces on the rocks." + +"Oh, it was past the danger spot when I got it," the youth said, with a +smile that seemed to illuminate his brown face. "Don't credit me with +too much. I just grabbed it as it was floating past." + +"I'm afraid we spoiled your fishing," said Alice, at the same time +voicing to her chums a hoarsely whispered aside to the effect: "Why +don't you two do something? Going to leave it all to Hazel and me?" + +"What shall we say?" demanded Rose. + +"Oh, say 'pleased to meet you,' if you can't think of anything else," +retorted Alice. + +"Are you sure I can't do anything for you?" the youth asked, as he +prepared to put the canoe over his head and shoulders, in the most +approved guide "carry" position, and start for the water with it. "I'd +like to help you." + +"Thank you, we are all right," Alice said. "We are going back to camp." + +"Oh, then you are camping here?" he asked, and Rose said afterward that +his voice had a "hopeful" sound. + +"Just for a little while," Hazel answered, waving her hand indefinitely +toward the woods. + +"Ah, I see. I'm a camper also," he added, but he gave no further +information about himself. + +"If I might suggest," he said, as he shouldered the light canoe, "it +might be better for me to take this for you past the rapids. They are +rather hard to traverse up-stream, and they are high from the rain. You +won't have any trouble once you get past the rough place, however. Let +me put the boat in the water for you a little farther up." + +"Oh, that is entirely too much trouble!" protested Sylvia. + +"No, indeed!" he said, quickly. "I'm glad to be able to help you." + +The girls turned to go back along the trail they must follow in order +to get past the rapids. This turn brought Sylvia and Rose in the rear, +and directly behind them was the youth with the canoe. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Rose, as she thought of her dripping garments and +dishevelled hair. It was the very thing they had sought to avoid. + +"He can't see us with the canoe over his head," declared Sylvia. "If +we change now he'll laugh! Go on!" + +And go on they did. + +The other canoe was found safely floating in the deep eddy where it +had been moored, and a little later the one that had overturned, now +righted and comparatively dry, was put in the stream at a point past +the rapids. + +"Now I'll carry the other one there for you, and you won't have much +trouble paddling back," the young man said. And in spite of the rather +half-hearted protests of the girls, this he did. + +By this time the warm sun and the wind had done much toward drying +the garments of Sylvia and Rose. And they had managed to put up their +hair in some sort of fashion that, though they did not realize it, was +wonderfully becoming. + +"Now I think you'll be all right," the young man said, when the four +girls, in the two boats, were ready to paddle back. + +"Yes, indeed. And thank you _so_ much!" said Sylvia, warmly. Her thanks +were echoed in a chorus by the others. + +Again with that graceful, half-military salute toward his bared head, +the bronzed youth watched them paddle away. And it was not until they +were around the bend of the stream that Alice exclaimed: + +"Oh, we never asked his name!" + +"Nor told ours!" added Hazel. + +"Why should we?" demanded Sylvia. + +"Oh, I don't know," was Hazel's slow retort. + +They paddled slowly back to camp, where Mrs. Brownley was not a little +exercised over the upset. + +"It was nothing!" Sylvia said. "We get used to such things nowadays." + +This was really the only little accident that marred the camping +outing, and that did not so much mar it as it marked it. Two or three +days afterward the girls went canoeing, and successfully passed the +rapids. But they saw nothing of the young man. Indeed, though the eyes +of all four roved through the woods and along the wilderness trails, +not one would admit that she was looking for anything or any one in +particular. + +Then came the day when they went back to the Antlers. They had spent a +glorious week in the woods. + +As the campers reached the porch, to be made welcome by their hotel +friends, they saw a group gathered about the bulletin board. + +"I wonder what that means?" asked Rose. + +"Let's look," suggested Sylvia. + +They found it was an announcement of a masquerade dance to be given two +nights hence. + +"Oh, we simply must go to that!" cried Hazel. + +"Surely!" agreed Alice. + +"But what about costumes?" asked Rose. + +"We'll make our own. Masks will be easy to get, I fancy," Sylvia said. +"We'll make inquiries." + +They found that masks of various sorts were easily obtainable, and +some costumes also, though most of the ladies were going to make their +own, out of simple materials. + +Preparations for the masque fête went merrily on, and none took more +interest in it than our Nowadays Girls. + +"The usual penny," said Rose, suddenly, one day, as the four sat in +Sylvia's room, sewing. Rose looked at Hazel as she thus challenged her. + +"Penny? For what?" + +"Your thoughts, of course. You're in a brown study and the shade +doesn't at all match your dress." + +"Oh, I was thinking----" Hazel stopped suddenly. + +"She was thinking of the young man of the woods," declared Sylvia, with +a laugh. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + THE MYSTIC MOON + + +Softly the musicians played behind a bank of palms. Softly shone the +mystic moon outside, brighter even than the lights of the ballroom, +for they had been turned low, since it was not yet the hour to trip +the light fantastic. The melody came only in haunting strains, a +ripple from the piano as the player tried the keys in some snatch of +a onestep, the half-sobbing voice of the violin in a haunting, dreamy +waltz, the mellow trill of the flute, and the more military sound of +the French horn. The musicians were making ready. + +Now and then, through the corridors of the hotel flitted strange +figures. Figures whose faces were concealed by masks. They glided here +and there, into rooms and out again. + +And of mysterious import were many whispered messages that floated up +and down the corridors. + +"Have you any more powder?" + +Surely a strange "engagement" that needed powder on a night like that. + +"I want some pins!" + +"I shall have to take a tuck in it." + +"My slippers will never stay on when I get to dancing!" + +"Use a rubber band around your instep. It won't show much!" + +"Do you think he'll know me?" + +"Never--not in that!" + +"Oh, but he saw me getting it!" + +"He thought it was for me. He'll take me for you and----" + +"Oh, I don't know that I want that!" + +And so on. + +It was the night of the masquerade, a night full of promises of +surprise, a night of mystery, of mystic moonlight. The big hotel was +thronged, for invitations had been general, and from many other camps +and places in Raquette Lake had come the merry-makers and dancers. + +"Well, are you almost ready?" asked Sylvia, as she slipped into the +room of Alice, not wearing her mask, for the Nowadays Girls and Mrs. +Brownley had a private hall to themselves. + +"Almost, yes. How do you like my dress?" + +"It's perfect. I never thought you could get such a stunning effect +from that calico and creton." + +Alice was a Dresden shepherdess, and a sweet and dainty figure she made. + +"Your own costume is a dream, Sylvia!" + +"I'm glad it isn't a nightmare," was the laughing retort. Sylvia was +attired as Night in a black dress, spangled with stars, and quarter +moons. It became her wonderfully well. Her black mask dangled from her +hand. Soon it would be time to don it. + +Rose was a Columbine, in a voluminous clown suit of white with black +spots, and a peaked hat, while Baby Reed was Little Miss Muffett. + +The girls hoped they had kept their secrets well, and that none of +the hotel guests had discovered the designs of their costumes. Mrs. +Brownley was to go just as herself, in common with some of the other +matrons of the hotel, who would act as chaperons and patronesses of the +dance, which was for a local charity. + +Louder sounded the entrancing music. The strains of it penetrated +to the room of our friends, and set their feet to tapping the floor +impatiently. + +"Aren't you ready yet, Rose?" asked Sylvia; for they were waiting for +some last touches to be put to her dress by one of the chambermaids. + +"Yes--coming!" + +They went out, masked, to the main hall, to find themselves in a gay +throng of other maskers, who were attired with more or less historic +semblance to represent characters, past, present and future. This was +the ladies' dressing floor. The gentlemen were on the one below. + +There were murmurs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" as Sylvia and her chums came +from their rooms. + +"Those are the four girls!" came in whispers from various corners, with +the accent on "the." + +"Where's Natalie?" asked Hazel, in a low voice, of Sylvia. "She wanted +to go down with us." + +"She and her husband are going as Jack and Jill," explained Sylvia. +"But don't mention it. She doesn't want it known that she is married." + +"Has she taken off her wedding ring?" Alice asked. + +"Indeed not! Brides don't do that. But she is going to wear gloves. +There she is now." + +A charming "Jill" came out of a room and joined the four girls. + +There sounded a crash of music from the ballroom floor. + +"Oh, come on!" begged Hazel. "We're missing it." + +As they passed the floor where the gentlemen were costuming, a group +passed down the broad staircase. There were clowns, tramps, gallants +of the thirteenth century, courtiers, Puritans, aviators, sailors, +soldiers and what-not. + +Down the stairs hustled and bustled the masqueraders, eager to throng +into the place whence the music came. It was a hesitation waltz, and +Sylvia presently found herself whirling through it with a Spaniard who +danced wonderfully well. + +[Illustration: SYLVIA PRESENTLY FOUND HERSELF WHIRLING THROUGH IT WITH +A SPANIARD WHO DANCED WONDERFULLY WELL.] + +"Do you do the Marcel?" he asked, looking intently at her as if to +pierce her identity through her mask. + +"Yes," she said, trying to speak unnaturally, for she suspected her +partner was a certain young man staying at the Antlers. + +He whirled her about in the pivot, glided first on her right side, +and then, after a hesitation, to the left, again whirling into the +waltz. She knew this dance perhaps better than any of the newest new +ones, and she was not a little gratified when her partner remarked: + +"That was beautifully done. Don't you like it?" + +"Indeed, yes. It is such a change from the plain hesitation." + +They found themselves in a crush, and had to "lame duck" it for a few +steps until they found themselves free again. + +"Do you know what that reminds me of?" he asked, as they passed the +palm-screened corner where the musicians were playing. + +"What?" she asked. + +"The hesitation. It reminds me of a canoe gracefully overturning in the +rapids----" + +"What! You?" she cried, astonished. + +"Even so, O Night!" He spoke dramatically. "I thought I should find you +again, but I looked for a Niobe." + +"Why, because I was all water?" + +"Somewhat, yes. May I have the next dance?" + +"I--I am not so sure----" + +"You had better be. Come out on the veranda. The moon is glorious." +The music had stopped, and as there had already been two encores there +would be no more. + +Sylvia, her heart beating rather fast, stepped out of the low windows +to the porch whereon were many strolling couples. Sylvia was on her +guard. After all it might be one of the hotel guests who had heard the +story of the upset. + +A figure that Sylvia recognised as that of Alice came up to her, but +stopped on seeing her with the Spaniard. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes?" asked Sylvia. + +"Nothing now, I'll speak to you later." + +"Oh, I'll leave you," said the Spaniard, quickly. "Remember, I have the +new dance, O Night," he said, and with a bow he was gone. + +"Who is it?" asked Alice, in a whisper. + +"The young man who saved our canoe." + +"Really?" + +"So he says." + +"You can't believe a word they say. Did you have a nice dance?" + +"Lovely! And you?" + +"Perfect. I'm engaged for the next one. Are you?" + +"Well, if he insists on claiming it I can hardly say no. And he really +_does_ dance beautifully. Have you seen Rose or Hazel?" + +"Yes, they were enjoying themselves, evidently. I want some pins. Have +you any?" + +Alice was supplied, and went to the dressing-room. Sylvia was looking +for Hazel or Rose, when the music started up again. She saw a +grotesquely attired Dutchman approaching, and wondered if he would ask +her to dance. + +He did. + +"This is ours, I believe, O Night," he murmured. + +"Yours? I--er--I----" + +"I am the knight of the overturned canoe, who wore no hat," he said, in +a low voice. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + +Sylvia did not know what to say. There were two explanations +possible--perhaps more, but two certainly. + +One was that the Spaniard had hastily changed his costume, or else that +there were two young men who had penetrated her disguise, and were +conversant at least with the episode of the overturned canoe. And both +explanations were feasible. + +"I--er--I half promised this dance," murmured Sylvia. "I told----" + +"Yes, and I am he whom you told," was the answer. + +"He was a----" + +"Yes, I know. But pardon me for pointing out that we are missing part +of it," and he led her in through the low window to the ballroom. +It was a onestep, and Sylvia could not judge, from the style of her +partner's dancing, whether or not he was the same one she had had in +the hesitation. + +"I trust you did not take cold," he said, "from your immersion." + +"Oh, no, not at all," Sylvia said. She and her chums had been +reasonably sure that the camping accident was known only to a few in +the hotel, for it had been made light of, and canoe upsets were far too +common to make much fuss over. And yet if this were not the young man +who had rescued the canoe he must be some one of the boarders at the +Antlers who knew more about the episode than had been given out by the +participants. + +"And why did he change his costume, when he practically acknowledged +who he was?" Sylvia asked herself. + +"I hope you did not tire yourself carrying the canoes?" she remarked, +casually, after a period of silence. + +"I? Oh, no. Not in the least. Do you do the aëroplane in this dance?" + +"Yes." + +"Shall we----?" + +"If you please." + +He swung her into it with ease and grace. Then she was sure from his +manner of stepping at her side that this was the same dancer who had +been with her in the hesitation. But why had he changed his costume? +That was a question which she could not answer. + +The music stopped, but there was at once an insistent applauding for an +encore, which, after a few seconds of waiting, came. + +"Is your camp near here?" Sylvia asked. + +"Not far away. Is yours?" + +"No, not now." + +Evidently he did not know she was a hotel guest. The mystery deepened. + +"Would it be asking too much to crave the next number?" he murmured, +when the last encore had been danced out. + +"Well, I--er--I----" + +"Oh, not if you are engaged!" he hastily interposed. + +Sylvia was not, but she knew there would be no trouble in getting a +partner. + +"I shall see you again, anyhow," he said, as he bowed and walked +off. Alice, Hazel and Rose found Sylvia standing on the porch in the +brilliant moonlight. + +"Oh, I had the loveliest dance!" Rose said, clapping her hands. "He +showed me some new steps. He was dressed as a Spaniard and he was the +same fellow who saved our canoe for us." + +"He--he was?" gasped Sylvia. "Do you mean just now?" + +"No, he didn't save our canoe just now. I mean when we were in the +rapids." + +"But did you just dance this onestep with him--with a Spaniard?" + +"I certainly did." + +"And did he claim to be the Knight of the Upset Canoe?" + +"No, he didn't claim to be anything of the sort. But I knew from what +he said that he was the one. I wonder how he knew me?" + +Sylvia's brain was in a whirl. Who was the Dutchman? + +"Why do you ask?" Rose wanted to know. + +"Oh, nothing in particular. I'll tell you later. Here's a fox trot. I +wonder----" + +Three young men, as if moved by a common impulse, came fairly charging +down on Alice, Rose and Hazel. The Spaniard was not one of them. + +Sylvia wondered if she was to be left out, for none of the three +approached her. + +However, the music had played but a few more measures when Sylvia +saw approaching her a masker in the red suit and face-covering of +Mephistopheles. She felt a little thrill as it became evident that he +meant to claim her as his partner. + +"Aren't you dancing?" he asked, extending his hands in an invitation. + +"Well, I----" Sylvia seemed strangely noncommittal this evening. + +"Then may I have the honour? I danced with you before, I believe." + +"Oh, no," she answered, as he led her toward the ballroom. + +"Oh, but yes!" he insisted, with a laugh. "I am perhaps attired for +something a little out of my--shall we say--element," he went on, "but +surely you have not forgotten the Knight of the Overturned Canoe?" his +voice questioned. + +"You--you--surely you are not he!" + +"Even so, O Night!" + +"But you--your----" + +They were fox-trotting toward the musicians, and as Sylvia was not +quite sure of the sequence of the steps in this dance--at least with +this partner--she deferred continuing her remarks until she had found +out just how he did it. + +"Here is a new one, perhaps," he said, as they found themselves in a +rather secluded corner, secluded for the moment. They had just finished +the two-step glide part of the fox trot. "It's a slide forward, a slide +back, two counts each, another slide forward, a draw on two counts and +a hop on the fourth," he explained. + +He executed it as he spoke, and Sylvia grasped it almost at once. + +"Like it?" he asked. + +"Yes, indeed. It's quite novel. Where did you learn that?" + +"In New York." + +"Oh, you're from there?" + +"When I'm not in the woods, saving canoes." He laughed in a boyish +fashion. Sylvia looked into his eyes, but they told her nothing. + +Sylvia glanced around the room. She saw neither the Spaniard nor the +Dutchman. Clearly then this must be he who had masqueraded as both. And +yet why his triple change of costume? There seemed to be no need of it. + +Sylvia determined to find out about it, but not now. She would not give +him the satisfaction of asking too many questions. But she resolved to +do a bit of detective work in the interval between this and the next +dance. + +The fox trot ended in the tapping accompaniment by the drummer, and the +musicians, who had given three encores, refused another. + +"Will you have an ice?" asked Mephistopheles. + +Sylvia assented. There was quite a crush in the refreshment room, but +her partner managed to worm his way through, and procured for her a +plate of cream and some cakes. + +"If you will excuse me," he murmured, "I will claim the next dance; if +I may?" + +"Are you going to----" + +"See some of my friends," he finished for her, not giving her a chance +to intimate that he was going to change his costume again. "I see yours +approaching," he added, and Sylvia looked up to note the approach of +Alice, Hazel and Rose, each with an escort. + +"Oh, you have been provided for," murmured Alice, as she saw Sylvia +nibbling a macaroon under her mask, which came only to her lips. + +"Yes, I had Mephistopheles." + +"We saw you," whispered Rose. + +"A lovely dancer," added Hazel. + +"Who is he?" Alice wanted to know. + +Sylvia shook her head, as the three young men, variously disguised, +came back with refreshments for the other girls. + +"I had a queer Dutchman for the first half of this dance, and then he +excused himself and brought up a Spaniard," said Hazel. + +"You--you did!" gasped Sylvia. She was more puzzled than ever, for she +had seen neither of her two former partners on the floor. + +"Both dandy dancers," Hazel went on. + +There was a little wait and then another strain of music proclaimed the +beginning of another hesitation. The three young men who had brought +the girls to the refreshment room, escorted them back to the dance +floor, and with murmured pleas that they must seek other partners, left +them. + +Almost at once, however, there bore down on Alice, Hazel and Rose, +respectively a Spaniard, a Dutchman and Mephistopheles. + +Sylvia gasped her surprise, but a moment later it was added to, for a +thirteenth-century cavalier, with glossy black curls flowing over his +lace collar, approached, and with a low bow, said: + +"The Knight of the Overturned Canoe craves a dance with thee, O Night!" + +Sylvia wondered where it would all end, and, almost as if in a dream, +she accepted his arm and went out on the floor. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + BAD NEWS + + +The music was entrancing--a dreamy waltz was being played. There was +the odour of flowers. All about were presumably pretty women and +girls--presumably, for their masks still hid their faces. Outside the +moon shone, still bewitchingly. From behind the bank of palms, which +stirred gently in the night air that swept in through the open windows, +came the wailing of the oboe, the shriller crying of the violin, the +tinkle of the piano, the bird-like notes of the flute, the mellow call +of the French horn--all blending together in a strain that, without +conscious effort, seemed to move one into the mazy whirl of the waltz. + +Almost before she knew it Sylvia found herself moving about in company +with the cavalier, and it was a delightful motion, for, like the other +three mysterious Knights of the Canoe, he was an excellent dancer. + +"I have been waiting for this opportunity, O Night," he whispered in +Sylvia's little ear that was half hidden by her hair. + +"Yes?" she replied, non-committaly. "Do you mean you, or some of your +friends?" + +"I don't know what you mean," he answered, feigning ignorance. + +"Oh, yes, you do," she said, as she put out her hand to ward off an +unskilful couple who were going around the wrong way of the room. + +"Upon my honour----" + +"Swear not at all, especially in this moonlight!" she mocked. + +"It is glorious; isn't it?" + +"Perfect." + +"Would you rather dance, or go out where we can see----" + +"Dance," she said, shortly. She was going to take no chances of any +practical, or impractical, jokes being played in the shimmering and +inconstant moonlight. + +"The moon will last--the music not," he said, softly, and they swept on +around the room in a slow, graceful glide. + +Sylvia, as she confessed afterward, was just "dying" to ask her +cavalier what it all meant--the four claimants to the title of Knight +of the Overturned Canoe, each of whom had appeared in a different +costume. But she refrained. She felt that the mystery would reveal +itself in due season. + +Were there four young men? Was it not the same one all the while, who +had changed disguises with his friends, and so managed to claim Sylvia +in a different garb each time? She could not be sure. + +Yet there was an indefinable something different in the dancing of +each of her four partners. She was almost sure they could not be the +same. + +"Are you staying at the Antlers much longer?" the cavalier asked, as +the music came to an end, and the dancers vigorously begged for an +encore. + +"I am not sure," she answered. "Why?" + +"Oh, I just wanted to know. There is another dance next week." + +"A masquerade?" + +"No. I wish it were." + +"So that you could hide your identity further?" + +"Don't you know who I am?" he teased. + +"Of course. You are Harry Blair," and she purposely named at random a +certain young man stopping at the hotel. + +"Right--not!" he laughed. "You don't believe I saved your canoe?" + +"There are too many claimants to the----" + +"Honour," he hastily interposed. "Don't hesitate to say it." + +"Oh, it wasn't that, so much as it was----" + +The music cut in on their talk with a blare of drum and trumpet, and +once more they were off in the dance. + +"What were you going to say?" he persisted, when there came a lull. + +"Nothing of any consequence." + +And so the small talk went on. There came more numbers, and the +cavalier, the Dutchman, Mephistopheles and the Spaniard danced in turn +with Sylvia, Rose, Hazel and Alice. The other three girls were as +puzzled as Sylvia had been. + +"Who can they be?" asked Hazel, when they were in the dressing-room, +just before the signal for unmasking was to be given. + +"Haven't the least idea," Sylvia replied. + +"Do you really think they can be one and the same young fellow who +helped us with the canoes?" Rose demanded. "Or is there more than one?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Alice. + +"Well, they might have changed clothes, and certainly one could tell +the other enough details so that all would know just what happened that +day," Rose insisted. + +"We'll soon know," Sylvia said. "There they are, all four together, and +they're looking this way as if they expected us to come out. They're +going to give the signal to unmask!" + +It was on the stroke of twelve, and the trumpeter had come to the edge +of the music platform to sound the call that would mean the revealing +of identities hitherto hidden. + +"Let's not go out," suggested Rose. + +"The idea!" Alice cried. "When they're such good dancers? Much better +than any of the fellows at the hotel. I wonder who they can be? It's +such fun!" + +Sylvia gazed out of a window into the moonlight, and wondered also. She +rather liked the title, "Knight of the Overturned Canoe," but she felt +sure that only one was entitled to it--and that one, somehow or other, +she felt was the last partner she had danced with--the cavalier. He had +rather a masterful way with him. + +The trumpet blared out. There was a moment of silence, then came the +taking off of masks, and gasps of astonishment vied with peals of +merriment, for there were many surprises. + +Sylvia kept her eyes fixed on the group of four young men, the +Dutchman, the Spaniard, Mephistopheles and the cavalier. They unmasked +together, and, in a straight line, like the advance of some guard of +soldiers, came toward the Nowadays Girls. + +"Oh, I feel like--running away!" murmured Rose, her cheeks hot with +blushes. + +"Don't you dare!" said Alice. "They all look like nice fellows." + +Sylvia gave a quick glance at the cavalier. Yes, she was right. He was +the Knight of the Overturned Canoe, the same bronze-faced youth with +crisp, curling hair. He smiled at her, showing two rows of white, even +teeth. + +Sylvia smiled in welcome. + +The other three were evidently his chums, for there existed, it seemed, +a jolly and excellent understanding among them. In a solid phalanx they +advanced toward the girls. + +"Shall we dance with them?" inquired Alice. + +"Better wait until they ask us," suggested Hazel. + +"Oh, they'll _ask_ us all right," Sylvia said. "Anyhow, this is a Paul +Jones, and we'll naturally have to dance with a lot of strangers. It is +perfectly all right, I think." + +"So do I," declared Rose, with a new conviction. + +"She likes that Spaniard," laughed Hazel. + +"He dances beautifully," Rose confessed, blushing more vividly than +ever. + +"May I have the honour?" asked the cavalier, advancing to Sylvia. + +She nodded and smiled. + +"So there was but one real, true knight?" she murmured, when they were +dancing. + +"Only one, O Night, and you will find him very true," he whispered, +rather earnestly. + +Sylvia laughed, and it seemed to vie with the mellow notes of the flute. + +"What's the joke?" she asked. "I mean, how did you four manage it?" + +"I'll tell you, out in the moonlight, after this dance." + +She rather regretted it when a new figure in the Paul Jones separated +him from her. And she was a little impatient for the promised +explanation. In due time it came. The dance ended, and the different +couples strolled to various resting-places. + +Sylvia noticed that Rose was with the Spaniard, Hazel with the Dutchman +and Alice with Mephistopheles. The three girls followed Sylvia out to +the piazza. + +"Well," began the cavalier, "I suppose you girls have been doing all +sorts of wondering. We hope you'll forgive the little joke. You see +there are really four of us. We have a camp over near Shedd Lake, and I +was lucky enough to be on hand that day when your canoe upset," and he +nodded at Sylvia and Rose. + +"When I went back and told the boys, guessing that you were stopping at +the Antlers, we decided to come to this masquerade, and see if we could +not mystify you a bit. I gave my chums all the details of the canoe +episode, so they could talk about it as well as I, and we each one, in +turn, decided to pretend he was the only and original Knight of the +Overturned Canoe. + +"Which we did, to the best of our ability. We hope we are forgiven. If +you want proper introductions to us----" + +He broke off to give the names of himself and his companions. They had +friends stopping at the hotel, and very soon the girls were formally +presented, Aunt Theodora also meeting the youths, and unconsciously +expressing her satisfaction with them. + +"There goes the music!" exclaimed Rose, after the refreshments, the +four girls having been escorted thereto by the four camping chums. + +"Yes, don't let's miss any of it," said the Spaniard. + +Once more they were dancing. + +"But what I don't understand," said Sylvia, "is why you came last." + +She was speaking to the cavalier--the real Knight. + +"It was this way, Princess," he said, laughingly. "I could not reach +here the same time as did the other fellows, so I made them each +promise in turn to dance with you first, and, by an implied engagement, +keep you until I came. I arrived in the nick of time." + +"And at one time I thought there was only one of you, and that you +changed your costume after every dance," Sylvia said. "Well, it was an +enjoyable surprise." + +"Then you are not angry?" + +"Of course not!" + +He was very good-looking, and a fine dancer. Sylvia was only human. + +The masquerade was almost over. Sylvia was walking out on a moonlit +path with the cavalier, who was finding out more about her than she +imagined she was telling. + +"Sylvia, where are you?" called Mrs. Brownley. + +"Here, Aunt Theodora. I'm coming right in. I suppose you'll say it is +too damp." + +"No, my dear! But a telephone message just came for you. I took it, as +I could not find you. It was from----" + +"My brother!" gasped Sylvia, and her grasp tightened on the arm of her +escort. + +"Yes, it was about your brother," said Mrs. Brownley, in rather solemn +tones. "He is not so well. You are to call up on long-distance, my +dear." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + AT SARANAC + + +Sylvia walked toward the hotel office, where the telephone booths were +located. + +"I am so sorry!" murmured the cavalier. "If there is anything I can +do--or my chums--don't fail to let us know. We'd be only too glad to +help." + +"Thank you," Sylvia said. "I shall be glad to let you know. But I +think it will mean that I shall have to go to my brother. He is up at +Saranac." + +"I shall be sorry to see you leave," he said, simply. + +"And I hope you and your friends will return." + +"It is impossible to say, at least for a time," was her answer. "I will +say good-night now." + +He understood, and parted from her. + +"Was it anything definite?" asked Sylvia of Aunt Theodora. + +They were approaching the telephone booths, and Sylvia was a bit +nervous. + +"I did not wait for all the details," said the chaperon. "I thought it +better to let you talk. Central said the line would be available if you +called up within a few minutes, as they are not very busy now." + +"With whom were you speaking?" + +"With that young man who went up with your brother." + +"Harry Montray?" + +"Yes. He said there was nothing to be alarmed about, but he thought Roy +had gotten to the point where it would be better to see some one from +home. Probably the poor fellow is suffering from an attack of good, +old-fashioned home-sickness--or, rather, bad home-sickness, for it _is_ +a dreadful feeling. I have had it abroad, when I felt as though I would +give anything just to see an old tin peddler from my home town." + +"I know," murmured Sylvia. + +In a few minutes she was in conversation with her brother's friend. She +was much reassured to know that, though Roy was not so well as could be +hoped for, he was in no sense in danger. It was just that his companion +felt, in Roy's present mental state, that it would be better to have +some one of his family near him. His physical health was good, but he +had not been able to bring to his mind the lost chemical formula. And +this preyed on him. + +"I will come up at once," Sylvia said. "We will start in the morning." + +"I will help you make all preparations," Mrs. Brownley remarked. "Will +you take the other girls with you?" + +"Of course; if they want to go." + +"As if we didn't want to go!" exclaimed Alice, when the matter was +mentioned to her and her chums. "Besides, that's what we came up here +for. This lingering in pleasant places was no part of our original +programme, nice as it is. You want to go; don't you, Hazel?" + +"Certainly." + +"And there's no need to ask Rose," said Alice, but it was not in the +least done jokingly. Rose's face precluded anything like that. + +And so the masquerade came to an end rather sadly, and yet Sylvia tried +not to let it affect her too much, for she regarded herself in the +light of a hostess to her three chums. + +Before the girls retired, a message came to them from the four young +men with whom they had danced so much that evening. It was to the +effect that the campers expected to remain some time longer at, or +near, Raquette Lake, and would be very glad to entertain the young +ladies if they returned. + +Sylvia sent back word, expressing the appreciation of herself and +her chums, but said their plans were not settled, and it was hardly +possible that they would come back to Raquette that summer. + +They were to take a morning train, and there was not much of the night +left in which to get rest. Sylvia herself had very little sleep, and +was up, almost at dawn, packing her trunks. + +They were to go to Saranac Inn, located on Upper Saranac Lake, as Roy's +place of sojourn, Loneberg Camp, was located near there. The journey of +the girls was to be by rail, though they had hoped to make the trip by +canoes and other boats--steamers and motor craft. + +"But we really haven't time," decided Sylvia. "Perhaps we can come back +that way, but it will be better to go by train, I think." + +"Yes," assented Rose. "It's quicker." + +It was rather a surprise to Sylvia and her chums to find, that morning, +the four young men who had danced with them waiting on the broad +veranda when they came down to go to the station. + +"Why!" exclaimed Sylvia, blushing rosy-red. "How did you get over from +your camp so early?" + +"We haven't been to camp," replied Felton Ware--he who had been +disguised as the cavalier. + +"Did you stay at the Antlers all night?" asked Hazel. + +"Yes, we couldn't very well get back to camp," said James Pendleton, +who had been the Dutchman. + +"And we thought we might be of some service to you," went on Felton. +"Are you sure there isn't anything we can do?" + +"Thank you, no," Sylvia murmured. "We are used to travelling, you know, +and one of our club mottoes is 'Do it yourself.'" + +"What club is that?" he asked, interested at once. + +"The Nowadays Club," answered Alice. "It's real jolly." + +"I can well believe that," agreed Felton. + +The young men insisted on accompanying the girls to the station, +carrying their satchels. The trunks had been sent on ahead by an +earlier train. + +There were rather prolonged good-byes at the depot, and Sylvia was +quite sure she heard Alice and Hazel agreeing to send, from Saranac, +at least souvenir postals to their friends. But she was not absolutely +sure, and her mind was too fully occupied with thoughts of her ailing +brother to allow her to dwell long on what others did and said. + +"Well, here comes the train," said Felton, finally. + +"And I'm glad of it!" murmured Sylvia, with something like a sigh. + +"What!" he cried, with simulated surprise. + +"Oh, you know what I mean," she went on. + +"I hope you have no more canoe accidents," said Felton. + +"Well, if I do, I hope I find as nice a knight as you were," she +answered, rather daringly. + +"That's awfully nice!" he exclaimed, with real pleasure in his voice. + +Then the train came in, and there was the usual bustle and hustle +getting aboard. Good-byes were said over and over again, and hands, +caps and handkerchiefs were waved until the coaches were out of sight +around a bend in the line. + +The four young men walked away, rather downcast, for they had +thoroughly enjoyed the company of Sylvia and her chums. + +"Well, old man," said James Pendleton to Felton Ware. + +"Not well--ill," he sighed. + +"What's the matter?" laughed a companion. "Hard hit?" + +"Not at all. Only they were such real, jolly girls. You don't often +meet their class up here. The others are too much on dolling-up and +talking society mush. I wonder what some of those dolled-up ones would +look like if they were rolled out of a canoe into the rapids; tell me +that!" + +"It's beyond me," was the honest confession. "Never mind. Maybe they'll +come back." + +"Let us hope so," was the decision, in which all agreed. + +Meanwhile Sylvia and her chums were speeding as fast as the train could +take them to Saranac. They had engaged rooms by telegraph at Saranac +Inn, and from there they would start for Roy's camp, which was some +miles away. + +"Will you go on to-night?" asked Rose of Sylvia, as they sat together +in the train. + +"It depends on what time we get in. If we arrive early enough I shall, +provided we can get back to the Inn at any reasonable hour. I don't +want to disturb Roy too late, though." + +"No, it wouldn't be wise." + +But if Sylvia hoped to see her brother that night she was doomed to +disappointment. There was a slight accident on the railroad, not +involving the train of our friends, however, and it was quite late when +they arrived at Saranac. + +"Well, we won't see Roy to-night," Sylvia decided after dinner. "But +I'll see if I can get Harry on the 'phone." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + WORRIMENT + + +Telephoning in the Adirondacks was not such an easy matter as it is in +New York, as Sylvia soon discovered. It developed that when Harry had +called her up he had been obliged to go some distance from Loneberg +Camp, and Sylvia had neglected to get the number of the station whence +he talked to her. + +In consequence, though she made a number of inquiries, she was unable, +from Saranac Inn, to get in communication with her brother that night, +and was obliged to give over the attempt. + +"Never mind," said Mrs. Brownley. "We will go to them the first thing +in the morning. You girls need a rest, anyhow, and it may be better if +you don't see Roy, or talk to him or Harry and perhaps cause them both +a restless night." + +"Yes, I suppose it is for the best," Sylvia agreed, rather wearily. + +She was very tired, for she had danced often and late the night before. +She had slept but little and the day's long journey had not been +conducive to rest. + +"There's a dance on here to-night," Hazel announced, as she came into +Sylvia's room after it had been definitely settled that Roy could not +be communicated with that night. + +"No dancing for me," declared Rose, with decision. + +"Nor me," agreed Sylvia. + +"You will all be better off in bed," asserted the chaperon, "and so I +officially prescribe that." + +Not that the girls thought seriously of indulging in gaiety on this +night. + +Their sleep was not altogether dreamless, though it was heavy enough. +But Sylvia had an uneasy consciousness, half dreamy, of some impending +trouble. She could not shake it off even when she awoke and found her +room bright with sunlight. She soon discovered that she was suffering +with what was rare for her--a headache. + +"I'm afraid my Knight of the Canoe had rather a bad effect on me," she +confessed. "I want to look and feel my best when I meet Roy. I think +I shall have my breakfast in bed this morning. It's a luxury I don't +often indulge myself in." + +Mrs. Brownley was duly surprised when, coming to Sylvia's room a little +later, she found her charge partaking of grapefruit, bacon and eggs, +and a pot of coffee, comfortably propped up in bed. A deft chambermaid +was waiting on Sylvia and serving the meal. + +"Why, my dear, are you ill?" asked the chaperon. + +"This doesn't look like it," Sylvia answered, pointing to the emptied +plate. "But my head ached and I decided to rest." + +"Perhaps that was wise," agreed Aunt Theodora. "I must see how my other +charges are, though. Do you intend to go see Roy to-day?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed. But I wanted to be at my very best. We have time +enough. It isn't such a great way to Loneberg Camp." + +Mrs. Brownley sought Rose, and, again, somewhat to the surprise of the +chaperon, she found that young lady also breakfasting in bed. + +"Well, well!" was her startled greeting. "Are you ill, too?" + +"Why, is some one else doing this, also?" Rose asked. + +"Sylvia is." + +"And is she----" + +"Not ill, no, I'm glad to say. But I suppose you have the same idea in +mind--looking your best?" + +Rose blushed. + +"We really ought all to have stayed in bed this morning," Mrs. Brownley +went on, "and as you dancing girls were cheated out of your beauty +sleep there is no reason why you shouldn't make it up now. Rest as long +as you like, my dear. We won't start for Roy's camp until after lunch, +perhaps." + +"But he may be anxiously expecting--Sylvia." + +"Or--you. But it can't be helped. If anything were to arise, any sudden +need, his friend would doubtless telephone." + +Hazel and Alice were rather more vigorous than either Rose or Sylvia, +and went down to the last breakfast. Then they came up to see the +"invalids," as they called them. + +"Indeed I'm no more of an invalid than you!" exclaimed Sylvia, with +spirit. "I'm just getting up some reserve strength." + +And, though she did not know it, there was coming a time when she would +need all her stored-up energy. + +Inquiry at the hotel office brought out the fact that Loneberg Camp lay +about four miles distant from Saranac Inn, near Lake Clear, and that +this point could be reached by driving. This mode of conveyance the +girls and their chaperon decided on. + +As they learned that the drive would not take long, they decided to +defer it until after lunch, provided no messages were received in +the meanwhile from Roy or his companion, urging their visit before +afternoon. + +"It will do us good to see a little of the lake," Sylvia said. + +Upper Saranac Lake is about eight miles in length, and lies in a most +picturesque section, dotted with other lakes and ponds, on which +boating of many sorts, from canoeing and motoring to travel in small +steamers, may be enjoyed. There was good fishing in the lake, the girls +were told. + +"But we can come back and enjoy that after we have seen Roy," decided +Rose, and the others agreed with her. + +They spent the morning in going about the hotel and the grounds, +venturing out a little way on the lake. It was a region of beauty, and +Sylvia's plan of having the Nowadays Club take the first outing in the +Adirondacks was voted an unqualified success. + +"Better wait," advised the recipient of the impromptu motion of thanks. +"The vacation isn't nearly over yet. You may all be sorry you came." + +Luncheon time came, and as no word was received from Roy or his +companion, Sylvia took heart, and began to hope that her brother's +indisposition was but a passing one. + +"But it's just as well we came up," she said to her chums. "We intended +to, anyhow, and a day or two sooner doesn't make any difference to us. +I did intend to make the trip by boat; for the canoeing is said to be +ideal from Raquette Lake on." + +"And we could have very much enjoyed a few more days at the Antlers," +Hazel said. "But it is just perfect here. And they are going to have +some dances, too. We'll talk about them, though, when we know your +brother is better, Sylvia," she hastened to add. + +"Oh, you mustn't let my family affairs put a damper on you girls!" was +the quick comment. "I can't have that!" + +"Perhaps Roy himself will be well enough to come over to some of the +affairs," Rose suggested. "He is a lovely dancer." + +"Well, you ought to know," said Hazel, significantly. + +"Now, Baby, don't get sarcastic!" murmured Alice, soothingly. + +But Rose did not seem to mind. + +The drive to Lake Clear was entrancing. It was along a road that led +through the forest, where the trees met overhead in an arch of green. +The forest was as inviting as the lake had been, and the girls planned, +later, to spend a day or so walking along the woodland trails. + +"Roy is so fond of the woods," Sylvia remarked. "When he knew he was to +come up here he brightened up at once, though he was in the depths of +despair over losing that chemical secret." + +"Do you think he'll ever discover it again?" asked Hazel. + +"I hope so. The doctor said he might if he could have perfect rest." + +"Well, I can't imagine a more perfect place to rest than up here," +added Rose. + +"It's a bit lonesome," said Alice, with a glance at the dense woods on +either side of the waggon trail. + +"It wouldn't be with the right party," Hazel asserted. + +"Meaning?" questioned Sylvia, with a glance at her chum. + +"Any one you like, my dear." + +"Any one or any ones," declared Rose. "I notice Hazel believes there is +at least more companionship in numbers." + +"I'm not a bit worse than you, my dear." + +"Don't let's spoil the day by even that sort of a discussion," Sylvia +begged. + +Mrs. Brownley was in front with the driver, and the girls occupied the +other two seats of the big carriage. + +It was the height of the Adirondack season, and they saw many evidences +of campers and other summer folk enjoying themselves. It was a +delightful drive, and when Lake Clear was reached they started off on a +little side road toward Loneberg Camp. + +Though it was called a camp, it was really a hotel of the smaller kind, +with enough comforts and conveniences to make it an ideal place to +spend a vacation, if one liked solitude, for it was well off in the +woods. + +There were not many guests, but some young chaps on the porch looked +hopeful as the four pretty girls drove up. There was a noticeable air +of life about them, as they "spruced-up." + +"Mr. Montray and Mr. Pursell," repeated the clerk, when Mrs. Brownley +had made inquiries at the desk. "Yes, they were here, but they left +this morning." + +"They left this morning!" echoed Sylvia, blankly surprised. + +"Yes, miss. It seems Mr. Pursell was expecting friends, and when they +did not come he and his companion left about ten o'clock." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Sylvia. "And to think that we might have been here +if I hadn't--well, there's no use in lamenting, I suppose. They'll be +back shortly, I expect. We'll wait for them." + +"No, miss, I don't think they'll be back to-day," the clerk said. + +"Not back to-day! Where did they go?" + +"I heard Mr. Pursell say they were going to visit friends who have a +bungalow on Lower Saranac. Your brother, is he, miss?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, your brother and his friend took some baggage with them, and I +should say they were going to stay a week." + +"A week!" cried Sylvia. "They said nothing to me about it. Was it--was +it rather sudden?" she faltered. + +"Yes, I should say it was," the clerk admitted. + +"And my brother, was he better?" + +"Well, miss, no, to tell you the truth. And I think his friend did not +want him to leave this place. But Mr. Pursell insisted, and they went +away. However, I have a letter for you. Mr. Montray left it to be given +to you if you came. Probably that will explain." + +He handed Sylvia a sealed envelope. She took it with a heart that beat +faster than usual, and with a vague sense of worriment as if a calamity +might happen at any moment. Why had Roy left so suddenly? + +Sylvia did not like it. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV + + MAKING PLANS + + +While her girl friends looked on wonderingly, and while Mrs. Brownley +conversed in low tones with the hotel clerk, Sylvia tore open the +envelope that had been handed her. It bore her name, but she noted +in a flash that it was written in a scrawl, and not in the usually +neat, though character-indicating, chirography of Harry Montray. For +Sylvia had had several letters from him regarding her brother since +the trouble had come to him, and she had always admired the firm +handwriting of the young man who had proved such a friend to Roy. + +"He must have written this in a hurry," was Sylvia's thought as she +took from the torn envelope the single sheet of paper. + +And as she glanced at the signature, making sure, first of all, that it +was Harry's, the vague sense of foreboding increased. + +Why had Roy left the camp-hotel so suddenly? Why had he not been +content to stay at Loneberg until he had recovered? Whence his sudden +determination to go some distance off and visit friends in a bungalow? +And who were the friends? + +These were questions Sylvia hastily asked herself before she read the +letter so strangely left for her. But perhaps a perusal of it would +settle them. She read: + + "DEAR MISS PURSELL. + + "Please excuse the appearance of this note, as I have but a moment + to write it in, and must do it when Roy does not see me. I am + leaving it with the clerk, in the hope that you will soon come and + claim it. + + "I regret to inform you that Roy, after showing every indication + of recovery (except for a few relapses of which I informed you), + has taken a sudden turn for the worse to-day--the day when he and + I expected you. He now insists on going to visit some friends who + have a bungalow on the eastern shore of Lower Saranac Lake. Nothing + I can say or do will get that notion out of his head. I do not know + what to do about it, save humour him. + + "The name of these friends is Russman. Mr. Russman is a German + whom, it seems, Roy met while at college, and also later, after he + came to our firm. Mr. Russman is a chemist, and Roy has a notion + he can help him in recalling the details of the lost formula. I do + not know whether that is fancy or fact. At any rate, Roy insists on + going to see Mr. Russman, and, of course, I must go with him. + + "We are starting at once, and will drive as best we can across + country. The roads are not good, and it would be much better to go + by water, up through Middle Saranac, but Roy will not listen to + that. + + "I am writing this as he is packing. I will do the best I can for + him, but I think it will be wise, when you get this, to come to Mr. + Russman's bungalow as soon as you can." + +There followed directions for reaching it. + + "Roy only heard the other day," the letter went on, "of the + presence of Mr. Russman in this vicinity, and he at once became + more nervous than before. The forgetting of the chemical formula + seemed more than ever to prey on his mind. That is why I sent you + word that he was not as well as he had been. But perhaps this trip + may do him good, especially if it is followed by a visit from you + and your friends. If I may, without giving offence, I will say + that I think if Miss Rose Bancroft were to come Roy would greatly + appreciate it." + +"I must show Rose that," Sylvia mentally resolved. + + "So we are leaving at once," the missive concluded, "and I hope + you will follow as soon as you can. But if it is late when you get + this, you had better postpone your trip until to-morrow. Come by + water, if possible, and come straight to the bungalow. I will be + there with Roy. + + "With the best of wishes, I remain, + + "Yours faithfully, + + "HARRY MONTRAY." + +Sylvia drew a long breath as she finished the letter. + +"Oh, I hope it isn't bad news!" exclaimed Hazel. + +"Is there anything we can do?" asked Alice. + +"Where is Roy?" inquired Rose, unable longer to keep back the question +that was fairly burning on her lips. + +"At the Russman bungalow, on Lower Saranac," slowly answered Sylvia. +"Oh, dear! I don't know what to do!" + +"Tell me all about it, and let me advise you," said Mrs. Brownley. +The letter was read to the chaperon and the girls, and Rose was given +her own special message. She received it, as may well be imagined, +blushingly. + +"I will go to him!" she exclaimed. "Can we start now, Sylvia?" + +"I'm afraid not," was the answer. "Harry--Mr. Montray--advises against +starting too late. And we certainly would hardly be able to take the +road through the wood at this hour." + +"But what can we do?" asked Alice. + +"I think we had better arrange to stay here for the night, or, better +perhaps," said Mrs. Brownley, "go back to Saranac Inn. We can start +from there in the morning, hire a motor boat if we can get one, and go +through Middle Saranac Lake to Lower, and then on to the bungalow." + +There was a moment of silence while Sylvia and the girls considered +this plan. Then Sylvia said: + +"I think that will be the best. It seems hard not to go to Roy at +once, but we must consider the best for all of us. It would not do to +get lost in the woods. So we will delay our start until morning." + +"And shall we stay here to-night?" asked Rose. + +"I think we had better go back to Saranac," suggested Mrs. Brownley. +"Probably there are not accommodations enough here for all of us, and +besides, if we go to Lower Saranac we may have to stay some time, and +will want our luggage." + +"I'm sorry, but I couldn't put you all up," said the clerk of the +camp-hotel. "There are, of course, the rooms Mr. Pursell and Mr. +Montray had, but----" + +"Thank you, we will go back to the Inn, and start from there in the +morning," Sylvia decided. "We have no baggage with us." + +Thus it was decided, and the man with the horses was directed to get +ready for the return trip. Sylvia and the others of her party had tea +at the camp, and the clerk told them more details of the going away of +Roy and his friend. Roy had seemed strangely excited, the clerk said, +at the prospect of going to the Russman bungalow. + +Sylvia could not shake off a morbid fear that something would +happen--nay, that it had already happened. But she tried to be brave, +and not to inflict her grief on the others. + +However, Rose shared it, though she, too, put on a brave front. But +Hazel and Alice must have suspected, for they were sweetly sympathetic. + +Harry Montray had had time only hastily to scribble the note, and leave +it with him for Sylvia, the clerk said, and then he had gone off with +Roy in a rig they hired to drive through the woods from Lake Clear to +Lower Saranac. + +"But I would not advise you ladies to take that route," the young man +said. + +"We will not," decided Sylvia. "We'll go by boat." + +They reached Saranac Inn well in time for dinner, and then began their +arrangements for making an early morning start for the lower lake and +the bungalow. + +"Do you think your brother would be a guest there?" asked Alice. + +"Most likely," Sylvia answered. "You see he and Mr. Russman--Professor +Russman it really is--are great friends. I have often heard Roy speak +of him, and he has often visited him at his home in Brooklyn." + +"Well, then it won't be so bad if he goes there and stays," Hazel +remarked. "It may even do him good. Who knows but that he may hit upon +that formula again?" + +"Oh, perhaps it will be all right--if Roy gets there," his sister said, +and there was something in her voice and manner that prompted Rose to +ask: + +"Why, Sylvia, don't you think he _will_ get there?" + +"Oh, my dear--I don't know--please don't ask me. I have such a queer +feeling!" + +"You're all tired out--that's what's the matter!" declared Hazel. "You +need a good rest. We have been doing too much dancing." + +"No, it isn't that," Sylvia said. + +"Well, whatever it is, you need a rest," added Alice. "You lie down +now, and we'll pack your things for you. Not going to take a trunk; are +you?" + +"No, only our suit-cases, though we can't tell how long we shall stay." + +"Can we stay at the bungalow?" asked Hazel. + +"Oh, I don't know about that. But if we get up there we can hardly get +back the same day, and we'll have to stay somewhere. There are hotels +and camps up there, I think. We'll have to arrange to stay." + +"Of course," said Rose. "We don't want to go away as soon as we have +arrived." + +"Then, too, I must see about getting a boat," went on Sylvia. + +"I asked about that," Mrs. Brownley said. "The hotel clerk informs +me there are several we can hire to take us to Lower Saranac. I have +the names of the men who run them. I'll go now to see about them. You +_must_ get some rest, Sylvia." + +"Oh, I'm not tired. I must see to the boat myself. This is my affair, +in a way." + +"It's the affair of _all_ of us!" declared Alice. "You can't do +everything. I'll go with Aunt Theodora and see about the boat. You can +finish packing and be ready to lie down then. Just leave it to us!" + +And poor tired and worried Sylvia was glad enough to do so. + +Mrs. Brownley was eminently practical in arranging for the motor boat. +She had the choice of several, but, on the advice of Alice, selected a +rather small one. + +"The big ones look nicer," Alice said, "but you must remember we have +to go through the Saranac River from the middle lake to the upper, and +we don't want a boat that draws too much water. Canoes can make the +trip all right, but a motor boat of deep draught might not be able to +if the water, for any reason, were low. We don't want to be stranded." + +"No, indeed," agreed the chaperon. So the smaller boat, though one +sufficiently large, was engaged. + +"But I'm only at liberty for to-morrow," the pilot informed them. "I'll +have to come back with my boat to-morrow night, as another party has +engaged her." + +"We only want you to take us up to the Russman bungalow and leave us," +said Mrs. Brownley. + +So it was arranged, and the next morning our friends were to start on +their trip through the two lakes to reach the bungalow. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI + + A LONELY PLACE + + +From Saranac Inn, down through Upper Saranac Lake, to a point where +the turn could be made, to go through the middle body of water to +the lower, is, perhaps, seven miles. The remainder of the trip, up +past Eagle Island in Lower Saranac, and to the point where Professor +Russman's bungalow was located, was about ten miles more, so the +Nowadays Girls had a motor-boat trip of nearly seventeen miles to make. + +Under ordinary circumstances, and in waters more open, the journey +would have been only a matter of a few hours at most. But from the very +start it seemed that Fate was against our friends. + +Not that anything very serious occurred, but a series of small, but +annoying, delays ensued from the very beginning. + +In the first place, the girls were so tired, after their trip to Lake +Clear, their preparations of the night and their previous exertions, +that they all slept late. Even Mrs. Brownley did not arise at her usual +time, and the consequence was they all assembled at the very latest +breakfast, and looked at one another rather strangely. + +"This isn't a very good augury," said Sylvia. "But I was _so_ tired and +sleepy." + +"So was I," said Alice. + +"I'm hardly awake yet," confessed Hazel. + +"Nor I," admitted Rose. "But we must hurry." + +They did--to the extent of making a hasty breakfast. Then it developed +that their motor-boat man was not on hand ready for them. They had +gotten their luggage together and gone down to the dock, only to see +the _Balsam_, which was the name of the craft they had engaged, tied +disconsolately to the float, with her engine partly dismantled. + +"Why, what does this mean?" demanded Sylvia, rather indignantly. + +A small boy was the only person in sight from whom it seemed possible +to get any information. He seemed to be there for that purpose, for he +asked: + +"Are you the party that's going to Lower Saranac?" + +"Yes," Mrs. Brownley said, "but where is Mr. Wherry?" and she looked +around for the man from whom she had engaged the boat. + +"He's sorry, lady," said the boy, and then he seemed overcome with +confusion. "He--he's----" + +"Sorry? Sorry for what?" demanded Sylvia, brusquely. + +"He's sorry he can't go." + +"Can't go!" It was a protesting chorus. + +"No'm. He can't go till he gits his engine fixed. Suthin's the matter +of it." + +"Oh!" and Sylvia uttered a sigh of relief. "Then it isn't anything +serious." + +"Huh! You'd think so if you heard Hank Wherry talk about it. But then +he makes a awful fuss over lots of things. He told me to stay here +until you folks come and tell you he'd be back as soon as he could. +He's gone off to get a bolt, or suthin' t' fix the engine." + +"Oh, then he'll be back soon?" asked Hazel. + +"I don't know how soon. Hank Wherry ain't much on hurryin'." + +"Oh, why didn't I make inquiries about him and his boat before I +engaged it!" exclaimed Mrs. Brownley. "Now there isn't another craft we +can get, I suppose." + +There was not, it developed, all the others available having gone to +fill other engagements. + +"Never mind," said Sylvia. "We have plenty of time. It isn't such a +long trip, and even if we don't get there until late afternoon it +will be all right. We shall have to remain all night, anyhow; perhaps +longer." + +The boy seemed to want to say something more, but hardly knew how to +proceed. + +"Well, what is it?" asked Rose, taking pity on his embarrassment. + +"He--he said--Hank said, maybe if I stayed here and told you what I did +tell you that you--that maybe--that you'd give me a nickel," the boy +stammered. + +"Of course!" Sylvia exclaimed, opening her purse. "Here is a quarter +for you." + +The boy's face shone with delight at this unexpected windfall of wealth. + +"Do you know where Mr. Wherry went?" asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"No'm, I don't. But maybe I could find him for you," he volunteered, +as he partly opened a brown hand and gazed at the shining coin clasped +tightly in it. + +"I wish you would," Sylvia said. "Tell him we are in a hurry to make a +start. We are late, but he is later." + +"The late Mr. Hank Wherry," murmured Hazel. + +The boy started off, and the girls found a shady place on the little +pier to wait for their boatman. The _Balsam's_ engine had been partly +dismantled. + +"He'll never be able to start to-day," said Alice. + +"Oh, there isn't so much to do," Sylvia said, gazing with an +experienced eye at the machinery. "He's taken out the carburetor. I'd +rather have him repair it now than after we get started." + +The other girls agreed with her. + +They were just getting nervously impatient for the return of their +boatman, when they descried him hurrying back. + +"Sorry to have kept you waiting," he apologised. "But I was giving the +motor a trial run, getting ready for you, when the carburetor began +making trouble, and I knew I'd have to have it fixed. But we can run +all the better now, and we'll make up for lost time." + +"I hope so," said Mrs. Brownley. "How long will you be now?" + +"Not more than half an hour." + +But again Fate stepped in and disappointed the girls. For Mr. Wherry +was over an hour making the adjustments. So it was nearly noon when the +start was made from the dock near the Inn. + +"Well, she is making good time," observed Sylvia, as they finally +chugged off in the _Balsam_. + +"Oh, yes, miss. We'll be there in good season now. I'm sorry to have +delayed you, but I'll get you there in plenty of time." + +It was the best that could be done under the circumstances, and there +seemed no help for it. Certainly the motor boat was at last running +well. The Nowadays Girls knew enough about machinery to decide that. + +"The carburetor has been giving me trouble right along," said the +pilot, "and so I put on a new one." + +They were passing through Upper Saranac, and the scene on every hand +was one of beauty. The day was a perfect one of warm sunshine, and the +waters of the lake sparkled invitingly. In the distance were the cool +woods, the unbroken forest stretching away on every side. + +Here and there were other craft containing gay parties of summer +visitors. Now and then snatches of song floated across the water. + +Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits now that they were +actually on their way to see Roy. But in spite of the sunshine, and the +feeling of exhilaration that came from swiftly passing over the water, +Sylvia could not shake off a sense of foreboding. + +[Illustration: SYLVIA AND HER CHUMS WERE ALL IN BETTER SPIRITS NOW THAT +THEY WERE ACTUALLY ON THEIR WAY TO SEE ROY.] + +"It's foolish, I know," she said to herself. "But I feel just as though +something were going to happen. Pshaw! I mustn't worry! I must be +bright and cheerful for Roy's sake. He'll need cheering up, I think." + +They ate their lunch on the boat, for they had brought a substantial +one with them. Sylvia offered to steer while Mr. Wherry ate some of the +sandwiches they offered him from their store. + +"No, I'd better keep the wheel," he said. "I can steer with one hand +and eat with the other. We'll be in uncertain waters soon." + +This did not tend to reassure the girls, who had been made a little +nervous by the delay of the morning. + +"Are we likely to--to have trouble?" asked Alice. + +"Oh, well, nothing so much, miss," was the answer. "We may run aground +here and there, that's all. But I'll do my best." + +"Well, don't run aground so hard that you can't run off again," begged +Sylvia. + +The afternoon was half gone when they started on the passage through +Saranac River, connecting the middle lake with the lower body of water. +The stream, while perfectly adapted for canoes, was, at this season, +because of an unusually dry month, not so good for motor boats. +There were certain low places and sandbars. + +"But I guess we'll get over it all right," said Mr. Wherry. "I'll run +slow, and----" + +The words were fairly jarred out of his mouth, for the boat ran into +something and slowed up so suddenly that the engine was almost jarred +from the bed-beams. With a quick motion Sylvia leaned over and pulled +out the electrical switch, thus stopping the motor. + +"Stuck!" exclaimed Mr. Wherry. "I didn't think we were near that bar. +And we're not!" he added, with something of triumph in his tone. +"There's the one I was looking out for up ahead there. This is a new +one that we're fast on." + +That was, however, little consolation for the girls. + +"Can't we get off?" asked Hazel, anxiously. + +The others waited rather apprehensively for an answer. + +"Oh, I reckon I can pole us off," was the reply. + +Mr. Wherry began to remove his shoes and stockings. + +"Is he--is he going to swim?" asked Rose. + +"No, I'm only going to wade," he answered for himself. "I reckon if I +get out and push I can shove her off. Now if you'll all come in the +stern you'll raise her nose out of the mud." + +He climbed over the side into the water. The girls and Mrs. Brownley +moved toward the stern, thereby elevating the bow, and after some +rather strenuous work Mr. Wherry succeeded in freeing the craft from +the bar. + +Then they went on again, but the running aground had delayed them, so +that the afternoon was fast waning as they emerged into Lower Saranac +Lake proper. + +"But now we're all right," the boatman said. "It's good water from now +on to the upper end. We'll have no more trouble." + +Nor did they, at least just then. The _Balsam_ chugged on her way +serenely, and the girls had hopes of arriving at their destination +while there was yet some daylight left. + +But Fate had not yet finished with them. Mr. Wherry, it appeared, was +not so well acquainted with the location of the Russman bungalow as he +had thought. He went to the wrong landing and, after stopping to make +inquiries, started off again. + +It was now dusk. + +"I wish we were there," said Rose, with a nervous, shivery glance over +her shoulder. "It's lonesome up here." + +It was indeed, for the dense forest came down to the very edge of the +lake, and there were no camps or cottages to be seen. + +"We'll be there in five minutes now," said Mr. Wherry. "It is lonesome, +but then some folks like that up here in the Adirondacks." + +The _Balsam_ chugged on, while the darkness seemed to shut down like a +pall over everything. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII + + THE DESERTED BUNGALOW + + +"There's your landing," said Mr. Wherry, suddenly, as he shut off the +power and turned the bow of the _Balsam_ toward the shore. + +"Where?" asked Sylvia. + +"Just ahead there, where you see that glimmer of light. I remember the +place now. Queer I should forget it. But I was thinking of a party +named _Roseman_ that had a bungalow up here last year. I got him mixed +up with _Russman_, and that's why I went to the wrong place. But I'm +all right now." + +The mistake he had made, however, had cost them some ten minutes of +time. But at last they were at the place, and the girls gave sighs of +relief, for it seemed that some of the nervous strain was over. + +"Is the Russman bungalow near the lake?" asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"Oh, yes, quite near. You take that path, right where you see the +light. That lantern is at the dock. And you go up the hill, and the +bungalow is in plain sight. You can't miss it." + +"Are you going right back?" asked Sylvia of Mr. Wherry. + +"Oh, yes, miss. I have a party to take to Big Tupper Lake to-morrow, +so I have to go back. If you'll excuse me, I'll just set your things on +shore, and I won't get out myself. I'm late as it is, and I don't fancy +going past those sandbars after dark. But I've got to do it." + +"Oh, we shall manage very nicely if you set our valises and cases +ashore," the chaperon said. "We are used to managing for ourselves." + +She paid Mr. Wherry the price agreed upon as the boat was slowly +drifting up to the little wharf. The girls could see the lantern now +quite plainly. It was hung near a rustic sign that gave the name of the +Russman bungalow. + +A little later they stood on the shore of the lake in the darkness that +was illuminated only by the faint gleam of the hanging lantern, and the +_Balsam_ was turning around and going back over the course it had come. + +"It's certainly lonesome," shivered Alice, with a nervous glance around. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sylvia. "With a bungalow so close at hand? You +can even see the lights from it," and she pointed to a glow that shone +through the trees. + +"Yes, I think that must be the place," said Mrs. Brownley. "I suppose +we had better go on up to it." + +"Shall we shout to let them know we are here?" asked Hazel. + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sylvia. "They wouldn't know who it was, and it +might startle Roy. Just go up quietly." + +"I do hope there is some place where we can stay to-night," said Rose. +"Wouldn't it be dreadful if the bungalow should be so filled with +guests that there was no place for us!" + +"Oh, there will be other places," Sylvia replied. "I made inquiries +before starting, and was told there were several hotels in this +vicinity, at least boarding-houses and camps." + +"But how to find them in the dark?" asked Hazel. + +"We'll manage somehow. We aren't Nowadays Girls for nothing!" and +Sylvia laughed. + +"Well, forward--march!" commanded the chaperon. Each one took her +suit-case and started up the path that showed dimly in the gleam of the +hanging lantern. + +"There goes the motor boat," said Alice, turning to gaze at the moving, +shimmering light that betokened that Mr. Wherry was making all speed +down Lower Saranac Lake. + +"Yes, we _have_ to stay now, whether we want to or not," added Hazel. + +"Well, we _want_ to stay!" declared Rose, with positiveness. + +"Of course," assented Sylvia. + +The faint chug-chug of the _Balsam_ came to them as they made their +way up the ascending path toward the gleam of light in the woods which +betokened the presence of the bungalow. Gradually the sound of the +motor became more faint, as the craft went around a bend. Then it died +out altogether. + +Suddenly there sounded a loud cry in the tree over the girls' heads. + +"Oh!" screamed Hazel. + +"A horrid loon!" gasped Alice. + +"An owl!" scoffed Sylvia, with a laugh. "When _will_ you girls learn to +be nature-lovers?" + +The weird cry of the hooting bird was repeated, but the girls were not +so frightened now as they walked on. The glow of light increased as +they neared the bungalow, which they could dimly see now, outlined amid +the trees. + +"I do hope they ask us to supper," sighed Alice. + +"Of course they will," said Sylvia. "If they don't, we have a good part +of our lunch left." + +They were now directly in front of the bungalow, which proved to be one +of good size, with a porch all the way around it. The building stood +some distance back from the lake, on a little elevation of ground that +gave a good view. + +The front and back doors were wide open, which fact was easily +ascertained, as broad shafts of light came from each door, cutting +a path of yellow mellowness in the blackness of the woods. They had +approached the Russman property at an angle. + +"It's rather an awkward time to come visiting," Sylvia said, as she +and her chums, with Mrs. Brownley, walked up the front steps. "It is a +little too late for dinner and too early for breakfast." + +"We couldn't help it," Alice said. "It was the fault of that motor-boat +man. He delayed us." + +They could now look into the living-room of the bungalow. A large +hanging lamp gave ample light, and they saw that the apartment was most +comfortably furnished. There were big easy-chairs, window seats draped +with Indian blankets and rugs, and a log fire which had died down into +glowing embers, for the night was rather chilly. + +Through the living-room a glimpse could be had into the dining-room, +over the table of which hung another large lamp, lighted, and casting +on the board a mellow illumination. The table was set for several +persons, but it appeared the meal had not been begun. + +"We're just in time," whispered Hazel. + +"Hush! Some one will hear you," cautioned Alice. + +But Sylvia was impressed, almost from the first, by a strange and eerie +silence about the place. There was not a sound. Not a voice spoke. +There was no laughter. Even the clatter of dishes, always attendant +upon mealtime, was absent, and there was no talk from the quarters of +the servants, though the light streaming from the rear door would seem +to indicate that the kitchen was in use. + +"It is very strange," mused Sylvia. And again a sense of foreboding +came to her. Something seemed to hang over her--to press upon her +heart. She tried in vain to shake it off. + +Mrs. Brownley knocked on the door. The sound echoed through the rooms, +and they waited expectantly for the answer of approaching footsteps. + +But only silence greeted them. + +"Knock again," urged Rose. + +The chaperon did so, but once more the echo was the only answer. + +"That is strange," said Sylvia, voicing aloud the feeling that was +overmastering her. "Very strange!" + +"They don't hear us," murmured Aunt Theodora. + +"Call!" suggested Hazel. "They may be out in the woods." + +"What! after dark, and with supper all served?" asked Alice, +incredulously. + +A third time Mrs. Brownley rapped, and then, waiting a few seconds, she +called: + +"Is any one here?" + +There was no reply. + +"Roy!" suddenly called Sylvia. "Roy Pursell! It is I--Sylvia!" + +Her voice carried well. In that silent place it seemed to fill and echo +through the woods. But no one answered. + +"Let us go in," said Mrs. Brownley. "Something may have happened." + +"Oh--what?" gasped Rose. + +"I don't know, my dear. But evidently they cannot hear us. I am sure +they would welcome us if they could, so let us go in and make our +presence known." + +Rather embarrassed, they made their way into the living-room. They took +pains to make considerable noise, letting the screen door slam shut, +but their intrusion was not challenged. + +"It is very strange," Sylvia observed again. + +They went into the dining-room. And there the strangeness was +increased, for there was every evidence that the family and their +guests had at least taken their places at the table, though no one had +eaten anything. For napkins were unfolded, and in one or two cases +had fallen to the floor. And two chairs were upset, as though the +occupants had arisen hastily, and in so doing had overturned the pieces +of furniture. The table was slightly disarranged, too, showing more +plainly that it had been left suddenly, and by all the guests. + +"But what does it all mean?" gasped Sylvia. + +"I can't imagine," answered the chaperon. + +They stood looking at one another, and then gazed about the deserted +dining-room. The answer to the puzzle was not plain. + +"Can this be the right place?" asked Alice. "We may have made a +mistake." + +"It is the Russman bungalow, surely enough," Sylvia said. "I have +heard Roy describe it several times. And I saw, in the living-room, a +suit-case with Mr. Russman's name on it. This is the right place." + +"But where is Roy--Mr. Montray--Mr. Russman? Where is--every one?" Rose +asked, and there was a sob in her voice. + +"I don't know," said Sylvia, simply. + +Mrs. Brownley had penetrated to the kitchen through the butler's +pantry. The girls followed her. + +There was no one there. But the fire was burning in the stove, and on +it were several dishes of food, being kept warm. On the kitchen table +were other dishes ready to serve, but the food in them was cold. + +"Is any one here?" Sylvia cried, raising her voice in a nervous shout. + +No one answered. It was as though a blight had fallen on the deserted +bungalow--a blight like that of some ancient fable. The occupants of +the house in the woods had been made to vanish just as they were about +to sit down to the table. + +"Is any one here?" Mrs. Brownley cried, standing at the foot of the +stairs and directing her voice upward. + +No one answered. + +Once again they walked through the deserted lower rooms, more and more +puzzled, and trying to pluck up courage to ascend the stairs. The +silence was oppressive. + +"The place is deserted," said Sylvia, in a low voice that, quiet as it +was, sounded too loud in that silent place. + +"Deserted!" whispered Rose. "Then where is Roy?" + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII + + MISSING + + +Clutching at the hearts of the girls there seemed to be an unseen +spirit of fear in that deserted bungalow. They all felt it. Even Mrs. +Brownley, who was not unduly given to indulging her nerves, seemed to +feel the depression. + +"Deserted!" murmured Sylvia. "Do you really think this bungalow is +deserted?" + +"What else can we think?" asked Rose. "There isn't a soul here." + +"But they have been here, and within a few minutes," Hazel argued. +Going into the kitchen, she put her hand on the outside of some of the +dishes on the stove. "They are not cold yet," she said. "They must have +gone out just before we came here." + +"I hope that wasn't the reason," Alice said, grimly enough, but even +she did not smile at her joke. + +"They must be somewhere about," Sylvia went on. "They can't have heard +us." + +"We made noise enough," declared Alice. + +"Let's go upstairs," proposed Hazel. + +"In another person's bungalow!" exclaimed Rose. + +"What of it?" came from Alice. "We've already taken a good many +liberties, and a few more won't matter. They may all be upstairs +and--well, something may have happened. They may be unable to answer +us." + +"Something happened!" gasped Rose. "Don't say that or----" + +"No, don't make us any more nervous than we are," urged Sylvia. + +"What I meant," Alice explained, "was that they may have gone upstairs, +because of some alarm down here, and be afraid to come down. There may +be only some ladies and children here with the servants, and they may +be hiding up there." + +"You're only making it worse," Sylvia cautioned her, with a glance at +timid, shrinking Rose. "Let's go upstairs and see." + +"Oh, but if there should be----" Rose began. + +"Look here!" exclaimed Alice, vigorously, "all I meant was that perhaps +one of the children had a fit--a nervous crying spell--it is rather +lonesome up here, you see, and--well," she finished, "the family, or +what is left of them, may be upstairs. Let's have a look." + +"I think it is the only thing to do," said Mrs. Brownley. "We must +satisfy ourselves that there is no one here. Then we shall know what +next to do." + +"I wonder what that will be," murmured Hazel. + +The bungalow was well lighted with hanging and other kerosene lamps. +Electricity had not penetrated that far, as yet. There were lights +upstairs, for the glow of them could be seen. + +"Come on--all together!" cried Sylvia, taking the lead. At least she +was giving an example of boldness under trying circumstances. They +all felt the pall of the mystery that seemed to have fallen over the +bungalow. + +"Is any one up there?" Sylvia demanded, pausing halfway up. + +There was no answer. + +"I say!" exclaimed Alice, who brought up the rear. "Some of us ought to +stay down here, I think." + +"Why?" asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"Because, if the owners come in unexpectedly, while we are upstairs, +and they hear us moving around, knowing they left no one in the place, +they may take us for burglars and----" + +"That's so," agreed Hazel. "I'll stay with you, Alice." + +"No, it is better that we all go up!" Mrs. Brownley decided. "Come on, +girls." + +"I don't believe we'll find a soul up there," Sylvia said, under her +breath. But she went on boldly, nevertheless. + +The bungalow was a large one, artistically arranged, and the upper +floor contained a number of rooms and baths. There was a small third +story, where the servants' rooms were located. As the place was well +lighted it did not take long to make a thorough search. The rooms +showed that the members of the household had come down from their rooms +after dressing for the dinner which was spread out in readiness for +them in the dining-room below. + +But of the occupants of the bungalow there was not a sign, save the +mute ones of scattered garments and personal belongings. + +"Where can they be?" wondered Alice. + +"It is as though a plague had fallen upon this place, and they had all +fled to escape," ventured Hazel. + +"Oh, I wish you wouldn't say such things!" exclaimed Rose. + +"Here's Roy's room!" suddenly cried Sylvia, pausing outside a certain +bedroom. + +"Is--is he in it?" gasped Rose, clinging to a faint hope. + +"No," and the voice of Sylvia was sad. "His things are here--some of +the--the brushes I gave him," she faltered, as she caught sight of her +brother's toilet articles on his dresser. + +"Isn't it puzzling?" Alice said. + +"It's _terrifying_!" Hazel declared. "It's like something you've read +of in a book." + +Mrs. Brownley was going about systematically, looking in every room. It +was the height of ill manners, she felt, to thus prowl about another +person's house, but once she had started on that disagreeable quest +she would do it thoroughly. She even penetrated to the servants' +quarters, but there was no sign of them. + +The whole bungalow showed every appearance of having been hastily +deserted by the whole number of its occupants. With faltering steps the +girls and their chaperon descended the stairs. Sylvia paused to turn +down a lamp that was smoking. + +"Well, there's only one thing to do," declared Hazel, and she seemed to +have arrived at some desperate decision. + +"What is it?" asked Rose. + +"We must hurry down to the lake and call back that man with the motor +boat. He must take us back to--to some place where there _is_ some one. +Hurry! We must call to him before it is too late." + +"It is too late now," said Alice. "He is far away by this time." + +"I'm not going back!" declared Sylvia. "Roy is here--or he has been +here within a few minutes, and I'm going to stay until I find him." + +"Oh, but we can't stay here--with--with this mystery hanging over us!" +gasped Hazel. "It's so weird and terrifying. I want that man back with +his motor boat. At least _he_ is human. Come on, Alice, we'll call to +him." + +Before the others could stop them the two girls ran down the +lamp-lighted path to the edge of the lake. It was not far, and fear and +desperation because of the strangeness that seemed to hang over the +deserted bungalow made them forget the fear they would ordinarily have +had in plunging through the woods after nightfall. + +"You can't make him hear!" Sylvia called after them. + +But Hazel and Alice gave her no heed. They raised their shrill voices +in a shout after Hank Wherry, who had turned about and departed in the +_Balsam_. + +It seemed a long time since this had occurred, but really it was +only a few minutes, for the search of the bungalow, though it took a +considerable period of time, as marked by nerves, was not very long in +actual measurement. + +"We _must_ make him hear!" said Hazel, desperately. "Call again, Alice." + +They called and shouted. They flung the name of the man and his boat to +the night winds, and mingled that with the appeal for "Help!" + +But only echoes answered them. + +"Oh, do stop it!" begged Rose, advancing a little way down the lamp-lit +path. "Stop calling!" + +"Let them go on," advised Mrs. Brownley. "It's better than having them +crying hysterically, and if they don't make that Wherry person hear +they may attract the attention of those who so strangely deserted the +bungalow. Let them call." + +And so Hazel and Alice called, and called again, awakening the echoes +of the forest, sending their young voices out over the silent waters of +Saranac. + +Now and then an owl hooted, as if in derision, and then would come +the weird and nerve-racking screech of some loon, to remind the girls +of the other night they had spent alone in the open. But there was no +human answer. + +Disconsolately Alice and Hazel rejoined the others. To do them credit +neither showed any signs of breaking into hysterical tears. They were +Nowadays Girls in every sense of the word. They were too sensible and +too healthful to give way easily to their feelings, though certainly +this was a very trying time. + +"Well, what are we to do?" asked Rose. + +"Go back to the bungalow," decided Mrs. Brownley. "I, for one, am +hungry--ravenous. This forest air gives one such an appetite." + +"I'm simply starving," Alice confessed. "But what shall we eat? The +remains of our lunch?" + +"There is a very good meal in readiness up there," the guardian +said, waving her hand toward the lit-up bungalow. "All it needs is +re-heating." + +"Oh, but would you take _that_?" gasped Hazel. + +"Why not? We intend to call, and be the guests of Professor Russman, +when we can find him. As Roy Pursell is--or was--a guest, surely he +will receive Roy's sister and her friends. Simply because the Russman +family is not here to welcome us need not stop us from eating. In fact, +I think they will be glad, when they do return, to find that we have +made ourselves at home," finished the chaperon. + +"If they _do_ return," said Alice, and she could not keep from her +voice a tone of gloom. + +"Oh, of course they'll come back!" declared Sylvia. She spoke almost +cheerfully. "I think Aunt Theodora is perfectly right. We'll go up +there and eat our dinner. It will make us all feel better, and when it +is finished, why, I'm sure the family will come back, and the mystery +will be explained." + +It did seem a bit odd to make thus free with another person's house +and belongings, not to say food. But the girls cast aside their first +scruples, and entered into the spirit of the affair. + +They laid aside their hats and wraps, and the fire, which had not gone +out, was coaxed into more brightness with some dry wood ready in the +kitchen. Mrs. Brownley put on a kettle of water to make fresh tea, for +that in the pot had stood too long. She also warmed some of the cooling +food, for she had been an expert Southern cook in her day. + +"Now draw your chairs up to the table, and we'll begin," was Sylvia's +invitation when everything was in readiness. "We do not know to whom we +are indebted for this, but we will show due appreciation when we meet +the proper persons." + +There was a moment of hesitation, and then they began. And there had +been no exaggeration when appetites had been spoken of. Each one ate +heartily, and gradually, in a measure at least, the feeling of gloom +wore off. + +But there was still a sense of oppression, though perhaps not so much +that as a feeling that "something was going to happen." + +"Well, we shan't starve, at any rate," Sylvia said, still keeping that +cheerful note in her voice. "There is enough food here for some time to +come." + +She had been out in the kitchen, looking through the pantry. + +"You--you don't mean to say we are going to stay here for another +meal?" gasped Rose. + +"Stay here! Why not?" asked Sylvia. "Where else can we stay? At least +until the family, or some of them, return and tell us what has happened +and where my brother is. We'll go to a hotel, of course, if there is +one around here, but this place isn't as much settled as I supposed. Of +course we'll stay here!" + +"All night?" Hazel wanted to know. + +"If we have to--yes. I'm going to have another cup of tea and some more +of that delicious plum cake," Sylvia went on. + +Her now calm spirits had an influence on all of them. They finished the +meal, and even washed the dishes. The hour was growing late, and once +more a little feeling of nervousness oppressed them. + +It was when Alice went out on the porch to look down toward the lake, +that she saw that which moved her to exclaim: + +"Girls, here comes some one!" + +"Where?" demanded Sylvia. + +"See! That light!" + +A gleam was observed bobbing about in the woods. It flickered here and +there, now being obscured by some trees, and again shining clear. + +"Who can it be?" murmured Rose. + +"Hark!" Hazel cautioned them. + +The murmur of voices came to them--women's voices mingling with those +of men. + +"Some one is coming at last!" exclaimed Sylvia, with a sigh of relief. +She had kept up nearly as long as she could under the strain. + +Along a woodland path came a party of men and women. Several lanterns +could now be seen. + +"It looks like a searching party," said Mrs. Brownley. + +"I wonder if they have come to look for the lost family," Rose proposed. + +Into the gleam of lamplight from the open doors of the bungalow came +the men and women. A tall bearded man was in the lead, and at the sight +of him Sylvia exclaimed: + +"Professor Russman!" + +"Ha! What is that? Who is there?" he asked, shading his eyes with his +hand that he might the better see who spoke. "Who is it?" he asked, +sharply. + +"It is I--Sylvia Pursell. Oh, where is my brother Roy?" she asked, +eagerly. "Is he here? Was he here? We came to find him but----" + +"You--here?" the professor cried. "Roy's sister! This is a strange +coincidence." + +"Where is Roy?" his sister demanded. + +"Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. Russman. Perhaps he had had +enough of it that night. "It is unfortunate, but your brother is not +here. He was with us, but now he is, I regret to say, missing!" + +"Missing!" gasped Sylvia. "Has he--is he----" + +She could not continue, but swayed unsteadily and put out her hands +like one groping in the dark. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX + + A SLEEPLESS NIGHT + + +"Steady, my dear!" came the calm voice of Mrs. Brownley. "Don't go off +now. It will be all right." + +She put her arms about Sylvia, and the pressure, with the calming +words, had an effect. With a shudder the girl held herself back from +the brink of a faint. + +"But where is Roy?" she faltered, moistening her dry lips with a tongue +scarcely more wet. "What has happened to him?" + +"That we do not know, my dear young lady," said Professor Russman, who +had now ascended the steps of his bungalow, followed by his wife and +the servants. "Will you not come in?" he asked, courteously--"you and +your friends," and he included them all with a friendly gesture. + +"We have been in," said Mrs. Brownley, thinking it best that she should +make the explanation now. "We took the liberty of getting our supper. +We arrived here--the place was deserted--we could not understand. So we +helped ourselves while waiting." + +"And you were perfectly welcome--all of you," their host went on. "It +is a strange story. If you will come inside I will tell you. Ah, to +think of finding you here when we come back from our unsuccessful +search--you of all persons in the world!" exclaimed the professor, +gazing at Sylvia. + +"Your--your unsuccessful search," she repeated, wonderingly. "I do not +understand." + +"And no wonder," broke in Mrs. Russman. "We cannot understand it +ourselves, Sylvia. It is like a dream--a nightmare." + +"But is Roy--alive?" his sister faltered. + +"Yes, or he was when he rushed out of here an hour or so ago," said the +professor, gravely. "You may go on serving the meal," he added to the +servants. "My wife will want something and so shall I. Adolph and Mr. +Montray may return later." + +"Oh, is Harry here too?" asked Sylvia. + +"Yes, he was helping us in the search." + +"What search?" Sylvia said. She was doing all the questioning, and the +others deferred to her, as it was her right. + +"Come inside and I will tell you everything," said the professor. "Will +you not have a cup of tea?" + +"We had plenty," Mrs. Brownley replied. "In fact, we made free to help +ourselves." + +"I am glad you did," was his friendly retort. "It is no time for +ceremony." + +Sylvia knew the scientist and his wife, though not as intimately as did +Roy. But they welcomed her as an old friend, and her companions also. +Soon they were all seated in the dining-room, and while the maids +served the belated meal, explanations were made on both sides. + +"But why did Roy go away if he was here?" Sylvia asked, when Professor +Russman had only begun his remarks. + +"I do not know," he answered, gravely. "Perhaps you can explain that. I +shall tell you all I know. He came here----" + +"And you don't know where he is now?" Sylvia asked. She really could +not refrain from the interruption. + +"He is out there--somewhere," said Professor Russman, solemnly, and he +waved his hand toward the forest that enclosed the bungalow on three +sides. In front was Saranac Lake. + +"Out--out there?" faltered Sylvia. + +"But my son Adolph and Roy's friend, Harry Montray, are searching for +him," went on the scientist, with as cheerful a smile as he could +summon in the emergency. "Never fear! They will find him and bring him +back to us. It is but a temporary whim. Perhaps born of his trouble. +Listen, now, and I will tell you." + +He led the way into the living-room, while the servants cleared +the table. Mrs. Russman, who had been made acquainted, as had her +husband, with Mrs. Brownley and the others, had made them welcome most +hospitably. + +"Roy came to see me with his friend, Harry Montray, arriving +yesterday," the scientist went on. "I was surprised to see him, as I +did not know he was up here, thinking him with the chemical concern. +I was greatly surprised when he told me that he had been ill, and had +lost a most valuable chemical secret." + +"Isn't it too bad!" exclaimed Sylvia. "We all feel so dreadfully about +it; Roy losing his health and all that!" + +"So his friend Harry quietly explained to me," the scientist resumed. +"Roy wanted to consult with me about some formulas and I was only +too glad to help him. He seemed perfectly rational and at times he +surprised me by the grasp he had on the subject of coal-tar products. +He has made a deep study of them." + +"Perhaps too deep," murmured Sylvia. "That is what caused his +breakdown." + +"So I surmised, after I had talked with him a short time," said Mr. +Russman. "Well, to make a long story short, we made him welcome here at +the bungalow, and told him he and his companion could stay as long as +they liked. I even arranged to go over with him some of the chemical +combinations that might lead to his rediscovery of the lost formula. He +was seemingly delighted with that." + +Mr. Russman paused for breath. Then, almost for the first time, Sylvia +and her friends noticed how exhausted and bedraggled were he and his +wife, as well as the servants. + +"Oh, what have you all been doing?" she asked. "It is unfair of me to +keep you talking here when you need rest." + +"No, it is all right. It is only that we are tired from having tried to +trace Roy through the woods. I have only a little more to tell. Then we +shall rest and resume the search." + +Rose showed her suffering in her face, but she tried to hide it and +even smiled wanly as she glanced at Sylvia. + +"I could see that your brother was not in the best of health," went on +Professor Russman, "though he had himself pretty well in hand. But the +discussion of intricate chemical problems must have been too much for +his brain, weakened by his illness. + +"However, matters did not seem to be very bad, and I really had +hopes that I might lead his memory along the paths from which it had +unwittingly strayed. + +"We were about to sit down to the dinner table, after a most pleasant +afternoon, when your brother, I regret to say, Sylvia, was suddenly +seized with a sort of delirium. He was not at all like himself, and, +before any of us could stop him, he quickly rose from the table and +rushed from the place, out into the woods." + +"Without saying a word?" asked Sylvia, her heart beating fast. + +"He merely exclaimed: 'I know where to find it! I know where to find +it!' Then he rushed out, without his hat, arising so hastily that he +overturned his chair. + +"Out he rushed, and, for a few seconds, we did not know what to do. It +was as though we had all been stricken. Then his friend, Harry, called +to us to go after him--that Roy was out of his mind, did not know what +he was doing, and might come to some harm. + +"Then we, too, servants and all, stopping only to take some lanterns, +rushed out after the unfortunate youth. We left everything as it stood, +thinking we should soon return. And--well, here we are--we failed in +our quest." + +And that was the explanation of the deserted bungalow. It was natural +enough when the cause was known. + +"And you could not find Roy?" asked Sylvia. + +"Not a trace of him," returned Mrs. Russman. + +"But that is not to be wondered at, considering the darkness and the +almost impenetrable forest," her husband added. "We were hampered in +our search. We shall renew it under more favourable circumstances in +the morning." + +"If Roy does not return, by himself, in the meanwhile," said the +professor's wife, hopefully. + +"Oh, of course, yes," he agreed. + +"You say your son, and Roy's friend, are still keeping up the search?" +asked Mrs. Brownley. + +"Yes," the professor answered. "They went to get some of the +professional guides of this neighbourhood, and will institute a +general search. They will probably be out all night. They arranged +to get something to eat at the house of one of the guides. They both +wanted to continue the search, but I felt I must come back to the +bungalow. I could not tell what would happen here." + +"It was well for us you did come back," Sylvia said. "We did not know +what to think." + +The girls told their story of having come to the Adirondacks, and of +their trip, thus far, into the woods. Professor Russman then gave more +details of Roy's strange running away. + +"What do you think he meant when he said he knew where to find it?" +asked Sylvia. + +"I think he referred to the chemical formula. But he was in a delirium, +of course," Mr. Russman said, "and was not responsible for what he +said." + +"Oh, I do hope he returns," his sister cried. + +Then began a nerve-racking wait. Some of the girls went to bed, but +Sylvia remained up all night, sleepless. Mrs. Brownley sat with her, +in her room, and each one started at the slightest sound--listening +hopefully. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX + + A GENERAL ALARM + + +Dawn came, rosy-pale at first, but turning to red, and thrusting back +into the depths of the forest the blackness of the night--the long +night that had seemed like a pall of blackness over the hearts of +Sylvia and her friends. + +And with the dawn came hope, renewed hope, as it always does. + +"First, a good breakfast!" said Professor Russman, as he greeted his +guests. "A good meal, and we shall be ready to take up the fight of the +day. How did you sleep, Sylvia?" + +"Not at all," she said, trying not to speak wearily, and it needed but +a glance at her eyes to show how she had spent the night hours--in a +useless vigil, hoping against hope. + +"Then you will sleep all the better to-night," was his cheerful +comment. "We shall have Roy back with us then." + +"I hope so," murmured Rose, but so low that only Sylvia heard her. She +pressed her chum's hand under the cover of the tablecloth, for they +were then at breakfast. + +The meal did put new heart into them, though Sylvia could not help +wondering what fare her brother had, and where he would eat. She looked +out of the bungalow window into the dense forest--a wood marked here +and there by trails along which the search must now be made for the +missing young man. + +"What is the first thing to do?" asked Mrs. Brownley, as they pushed +back their chairs from the table. The chaperon was one of those +efficient women who like things done decently and in order, even when +there was such an emergency matter as the search for a lost person. She +was a great believer in system, and the new doctrine of efficiency. + +"I think we shall go down to the house of one of the guides, whom +Adolph was to see last night," answered the professor. "Old Sam may +have some news. Yes, that is what we shall do first." + +"And after that?" asked Sylvia. + +"It all depends. But don't get discouraged, my dear, if we do not have +word from your brother at once. He may be in the woods for several days +and nights before we find him." + +Sylvia uttered a low cry of protest. + +"Oh, no--no!" she exclaimed. + +"But there will be comparatively little danger," Mr. Russman said. "It +is the height of summer. It would do no harm to spend several nights in +the open. But there are many shelters and open camps in the woods, and +your brother is enough of a woodsman to build a shelter for himself, is +he not?" + +"Under ordinary circumstances, yes," Sylvia answered. "But if he is +delirious----" + +"Which I am convinced he was, or he never would have rushed out the +way he did," Mr. Russman said. "It is better to face the worst, and +then every little we can remove makes us so much better off. Even a +delirious man would be able to realise that he must have shelter. But, +even without it, he would suffer little in the woods at this season." + +"There are no wild beasts; are there?" asked Alice. + +"No, young lady. At least, not around here. Deer are the largest +animals, but the hunting season is closed, so there is no danger of an +accident from guns. + +"Oh, do not worry! I am sure we shall find Roy all right and that he +will not suffer. If we cannot locate him ourselves I will cause a +general alarm to be sounded. All the guides, canoemen, campers and +cottagers of the vicinity will be glad to join in the search. It is +often done up here when a person is lost in the woods." + +"Does that often happen?" asked Rose. + +"Oh, yes, and in nearly every case they are found again. Of course it +is easy to get lost, for the trails are confusing to one who does not +know them," the professor said. "But we will hope for the best. We, +ourselves, followed Roy as far as we could last night, but he eluded +us. However, perhaps my son and Harry will have had better success. + +"Now we will go to Old Sam's house. He is one of the best guides in +this region, and Adolph knows him well. He will be able to advise us. +Do not be discouraged." + +He spoke hopefully--cheerfully--and put heart into Sylvia and the +others. + +It was an almost tragic turn to the Adirondack outing of the Nowadays +Girls. They had been so happy but a comparatively short time before--at +the dance--the masquerade. Would Sylvia, at least, and would Rose ever +be so happy again? Or would the shadow of the lost one always hover +over them? They feared this, yet they did not like to admit that fear +even to themselves. + +Even the loveliness of the woods and the lake, and the entrancing +situation of the Russman bungalow, failed to arouse any sense of +appreciation in Sylvia and her friends. They looked at it without +seeing. They had been extended the warmest hospitality by Mr. and Mrs. +Russman, and made to feel perfectly at home. And Sylvia and her friends +were truly grateful. But they could not shake off the feeling of gloom. + +"Shall you let your folks know Roy is missing?" asked Hazel. + +"Not at once," Sylvia replied. "It would only cause them great pain and +sorrow, and perhaps unnecessarily. We may find him to-day. If we do +not, and if he remains unfound after to-night, then, of course, I must +let papa know. He would want to engage a posse of men and find him. +But we will make the search ourselves first." + +"Bravo!" cried Professor Russman when he heard this. "That is the right +spirit! I am sure we shall have success." + +Leaving the servants and Mrs. Russman in the bungalow, the girls +accompanied the professor into the woods, along the forest trail that +led to the cabin of Old Sam, a veteran guide. + +Sylvia tried to induce Mrs. Brownley to remain also, but the chaperon +insisted on going with her charges. + +"Your mothers depend on me, and I am not going to desert now," she +said, firmly. + +"But it is such a trial for you," objected Sylvia. "It is too much to +expect you to tramp through the woods." + +"Stuff and nonsense!" exclaimed the sturdy lady. "I am not like some +modern girls, who can only dance one fox trot an evening. I was brought +up to take long walks. And you seem to forget that I have done some +mountain climbing in the Alps. If I could stand that, surely I can +stand our Adirondack woods in summer. Now don't talk any more about +leaving me behind, for I simply shan't stay. Go along!" + +Professor Russman looked admiringly at the chaperon. His own wife was +an accomplished woods-woman, but it was necessary that some one in +authority remain at the bungalow, and she volunteered for that waiting +service. Roy might wander back, or her son or Harry Montray might +return, and they would not know what to expect if only the servants +were there to explain matters. + +Our friends had brought their most needed luggage with them. They had +expected to go to some hotel or wood-camp near the Russman bungalow, +but though there was one not far off, Mr. Russman would not hear +of their leaving him and his wife. There was plenty of room in the +bungalow, he insisted, which was perfectly true, and they would want to +be there to hear the first news--good or bad. + +But Rose and Sylvia, almost with tears in their eyes, refused to admit +the possibility of anything but good tidings. + +From their cases the girls and Mrs. Brownley took stout walking shoes, +short skirts of a kind to defy brambles and briars, and with a lunch, a +portable coffee outfit, and other necessaries and some medicines, they +fared forth. + +Somehow or other the spirits of all rose as they started off on the +search. It was the very fact of doing something, and not sitting in the +darkness, waiting, that caused this. The energy of work drove out the +bad spirits of inactivity. + +Professor Russman showed Sylvia and the others where Roy had entered +the woods as he rushed from the table the night before, when the +delirium so unaccountably seized him. It was a well-travelled trail, +and of course no special footprints could be seen. Presently this +trail branched off into several others, and there was no way of telling +which path Roy had followed. + +"But perhaps Old Sam can tell us," Mr. Russman said, hopefully. + +Their hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment. Sam was at home. +He told of the visit of Adolph and Harry and described the plan of +procedure he had mapped out for them. He had told the two young men to +come back if they were unsuccessful, and then new plans would be made. + +"Well, we will start from your cabin, and make a general search until +my son and Harry come back," said the scientist. "We may come upon Roy +unexpectedly." + +The search was taken up, but at noon had brought no results. Sam +himself had gone off on a little-used trail. He said he would search +along that, and also take word to some fellow-guides. + +Our friends ate the lunch they had brought with them, and, after a +rest, started forth again. But as the afternoon shadows lengthened, and +their shouts and cries, as well as their close scrutiny, had resulted +in nothing, discouragement again held them all in its fearsome grip. + +"We had better go no farther," Professor Russman said at length, as he +noted how near the sun was to setting. "We had better go back." + +"And give up?" asked Rose. + +"Only for the night. Unacquainted with the woods as we are, we might +become lost ourselves, and that would be bad. We must go back, and +leave what night-searching can be done to the guides and canoemen." + +With heavy hearts they retraced their steps to Old Sam's cabin. They +found Adolph and Harry waiting for them. It was the first time Sylvia +and her friends had seen Roy's companion since the two had come to the +mountains. There was a meeting that was as happy as possible under the +circumstances. Harry told more details of Roy's case. + +"He was on the road to recovery when this happened," he said, sadly. +"Perhaps if I had not allowed him to make this trip----" + +"It wasn't your fault at all!" interrupted Sylvia, quickly. "We must +think now of what to do next." + +"Send out a general alarm, I should say," broke in Professor Russman. + +"I think so," agreed his son, and Harry nodded his acquiescence. + +"It's the only thing left," declared Old Sam. "I'll spread the word," +and taking down a conch horn from his cabin wall he blew a deep mellow +blast, that echoed and echoed again through the forest. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI + + THE SEARCH + + +Long blasts and short blasts did Old Sam blow on the mellow conch horn +as, with his lips pressed to the opening, he puffed out his cheeks. Now +the sound would almost die away, to blare out again with a suddenness +that startled the girls. + +"What--what does it mean?" faltered Sylvia. + +"It sounds like something I heard when once I was in Scotland," +commented Mrs. Brownley. "An old chieftain thus summoned the members of +his clan." + +"It's the general alarm," explained Harry. "The guides have a way +of signalling to one another that way. They can send all sorts of +messages. This one is to summon all who hear the horn to join in a +search." + +"How good of them!" Sylvia said. + +"Do they often gather together this way for a general alarm?" asked +Alice. + +"Occasionally," explained Adolph, who had spent nearly all of his +summers in the Adirondacks. "Now and then a hunter will wander away +from his camp, or become separated from his party and have to be found +in this way." + +"Are there any who are never found?" questioned Rose, in a low voice, +and in an aside to Harry. + +He paused a moment before answering. A look into her face showed how +much in earnest she was. Harry decided upon his answer. + +"They always find them," he said, speaking cheerfully. He did not add +that sometimes the missing ones were found too late. What was the need +of frightening Rose? + +"How long will it be before you and your friends will be ready to start +out on the search?" asked Mr. Russman of the old guide. + +"We will start in the morning," he said. "The men will gather here +to-night, and I'll tell them what's up. We'll start out as soon as +it's light enough to see, and that will be about three o'clock in the +morning these days." + +"Can't we do anything?" asked Sylvia. "We want to help, oh, so much!" + +Old Sam looked at her keenly. He must have understood her feelings. +Then Rose broke in with: + +"Oh, _please_ let us do something! It is terrible just to sit and wait!" + +Old Sam nodded his head sagely. + +"Yes, I know," he said, in a low voice. "I had a brother once lost in +these woods." + +"Did they find him again?" asked Hazel, eagerly. + +"Oh, yes, miss. But it was some time, and----But there! we'll find +_this_ young man, all right!" and he changed his voice to a more +cheerful tone. + +"And may we help?" repeated Sylvia, eagerly. + +"Yes," said Sam. "If I were you I'd not go too far from the bungalow, +though. What I mean is that your brother may return unexpectedly. In +fact he may not be far from here now, but he may be going around in +a sort of circle. If he was as ill as you say he was, he probably +wouldn't go very far. + +"But my friends and I will take in all the trails within a circle of +ten miles, and you girls had better not go more than three in any +direction from the bungalow. Then you won't be lost. We don't want to +have to search for two and even more lost persons," he added, with a +smile. + +"Say, Sam," demanded Adolph, with the freedom of an old acquaintance, +"can't you furnish us with a guide? One that can pilot us around in the +woods near the bungalow. I know the forest pretty well, but I confess I +might get lost myself. Suppose you give us a guide and we'll organise a +searching party of our own." + +"That's a good idea," Sam said. "I'll do that. Two parties ought to be +better than one, just as two heads are better than a single one. Now my +advice to you is to go back to your bungalow, and get a good night's +rest. We can't do much at night, anyhow, particularly at this stage. +Later on, if we have to make a torchlight search we can do it. But +there's no need now. Go home and rest. I'll be getting ready for the +guides. They'll soon be coming in, that is, all that aren't out with +summer parties." + +"Will they all hear that horn?" asked Sylvia, indicating the one Sam +had blown. + +"Well, not all, miss. But them as does hear it will blow another of +their own, and so on. The word will be passed along." + +"Hark!" exclaimed Rose. + +From somewhere off in the forest there came the mellow notes of another +conch horn. Clear and pleasant it sounded, and had it not been for the +import of the blast, the girls would have enjoyed it, for the tones +fell sweetly on the evening air. But now it seemed sadly melancholy. + +"That'll be Jim Judson," said Sam. "He'll make them hear as I couldn't. +We'll soon have quite a party here. I'll attend to the rest now, so you +folks had better go back to the bungalow and get some sleep." + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Sylvia, wearily. "It is all we can do until +morning." + +"And you will be able to do all the better work in the morning if you +rest to-night, my dear," said Mrs. Brownley. "You look quite tired out." + +Indeed Sylvia did look worn out, for she had not slept, and though the +girls were sturdy, and accustomed to long tramps in the woods, they +were all tired now. A rest would be a benefit to all of them. + +"Well, let us go back," suggested Mr. Russman. + +"Yes, the sooner we begin to rest the sooner we shall be able to take +up the search," Mrs. Brownley added. + +Rose and Sylvia walked together on the back trail. It was as if they +had a common bond of sympathy between them, as indeed they had. They +did not say much, partly because they were too tired, and also for the +reason that they were doing much thinking. + +"Oh, isn't it just dreadful!" murmured Rose, as they walked along in +the gathering twilight. + +"I can't bear it--sometimes!" agreed Sylvia. "To think of his being out +there," and she indicated the forest that surrounded them. + +As they walked along they could hear, now and then, the calling of the +conch shell, as one guide signalled from his lonely cabin, or camp, to +another of his fellows. The sounds came sweetly over the ocean of green +trees. + +It cannot be said that any of the party ate with good appetites when +the bungalow was reached. But even the food they did take was of +benefit to them. Sylvia felt much stronger, and certainly more hopeful +after the meal, and so did Rose. + +But she and the others dreaded the long night, when many thoughts would +crowd in upon them. A part of the evening was spent in talk with Harry, +who told of Roy's condition since he had come to the Adirondacks with +him. The lost chemical formula had, it appeared, bothered the patient +more than a little. It was really keeping him from getting well. + +"And then came this outbreak," Harry went on. "It seemed to be the +climax. I never saw Roy do anything more suddenly than when he leaped +away from the table and rushed out into the woods. And he seemed to +disappear as if the very earth had swallowed him up. But we'll find +him--never fear!" he exclaimed, as he saw a look of pain pass over the +face of Sylvia. "We'll get him back." + +Sylvia and the others slept from very exhaustion, and in Sylvia's case, +particularly, the hours of rest in the darkness performed a much-needed +service. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but was saved +from it. + +She was awake early--much earlier than any of the others--and feeling +that she could not sleep any more, and that to lie in bed, tossing +restlessly about, would only make her more nervous, she arose, took a +bath, dressed and went downstairs. Only the servants were about. + +Sylvia went out on the porch. Sitting on a stump somewhat down the path +was a man--a typical guide. He was idly whittling a stick, the soft, +curling shavings falling in a heap at his feet. Sylvia guessed who he +was. + +"Good morning," she said. + +The guide did not start. It was as if he had seen her come out and had +known she was going to speak, though his back was toward the house. + +"Mornin'," he said, in a mellow voice. "Old Sam sent me up here to help +with the searchin' party." + +"I'm glad," said Sylvia, eagerly. "It is my brother who is lost. Oh, +tell me! do you think we shall find him?" + +"Of course, miss. Sartin sure!" he exclaimed, shutting his knife with +a snap and standing up. He was tall and lanky, but he had a good face, +and his blue eyes seemed to look right through one. + +There was an early breakfast. The guide, who was known to Mr. Russman +and his son, listened carefully to a statement of what had happened, +and nodded his head. + +"All right," he said. "We'll try all the trails around here. Now, if +you're ready, we'll start. Old Sam and the others are on the search +long ago." + +And so they started off once more to find the missing one. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII + + LOST + + +Pete Wharton, the guide who had been sent by Old Sam, looked critically +over the little party he was leading into the woods, and along the +trails that formed a network for several miles about the Russman +bungalow. They did not intend to get more than three miles away from +the bungalow in any direction. + +"Well, I reckon we're pretty well equipped," said Pete, as if satisfied +with his scrutiny. "We've got plenty of blank cartridges to fire for +signals, and we've got whistles and horns. There's enough grub for the +lunch, and we've got to come back by dark, anyhow." + +"I've got some of those pocket electric flashlights," explained Harry. + +"Well, maybe they're all right for you folks, but I'd rather have a +good oil lantern or a bark torch," the guide said. "Howsomever, maybe +we won't need either." + +The man who ran Mr. Russman's motor boat was to go along to carry the +lunch basket, which included a coffee pot and a little alcohol stove, +for they did not want to wait to build a camp fire. + +The girls wore their short walking skirts and stout shoes, for the +trail was anything but smooth. Each one carried a stick Pete had cut +for her. + +Sylvia tried to get Mrs. Brownley to remain at home, but the chaperon +stoutly refused to desert. + +"I can walk as well as any of you girls!" she said, with a smile, "and +I want to know, as soon as you do, when Roy is found." + +"Oh, I do hope we find him soon!" cried Sylvia. "He might become +hopelessly lost on these mountains. Men have done so before and have +lost their lives from exposure." + +"Not very often," Harry made haste to say. "And now, when the woods are +full of camping and pleasure parties, when every lake and stream has +canoeists on it, and when such a large searching party--two of them, in +fact--is out, Roy surely will be found." + +"I wish I had your faith," said Rose, in a low voice. + +"You _must_ have it!" Harry said to her, in a whisper, so that Sylvia +would not hear. "We must all help her to keep up," he urged, and Rose +knew well to whom he referred. "If she collapses on our hands we shall +have to send for Mr. or Mrs. Pursell, and you know what that would +mean." + +"Oh, I shouldn't be discouraged, I know," murmured Rose. "And I'll try +not to be. But it _is_ very hard." + +"I understand," said Harry, sympathetically. + +"But you needn't be afraid Sylvia will collapse," Rose went on. "She +isn't that kind." + +"I didn't think she was, and I don't want you to show the white +feather, either." He spoke a trifle sharply, but he had a purpose in it. + +A little red spot burned in either of the formerly pale cheeks of Rose. + +"The white feather!" she exclaimed. "How dare you suggest such a thing! +I--I----" + +"There, there," broke in Harry, soothingly. "No need to fly off the +handle! I just don't want to put too much on Sylvia. After all, Roy is +_her_ brother." + +"Yes, but he is my----" + +Rose stopped short, blushed vividly and turned aside her head. Harry +smiled to himself. + +"I thought that would fetch her," he thought. "We shan't have any +more trouble from her. She'll keep her nerves together for the sake +of Sylvia, and Sylvia will do the same for Rose. That," he added to +himself more or less judicially, "is what might be called playing both +ends against the middle." Harry was pleased with his tactics. + +Under the direction of Pete Wharton they adopted a systematic plan of +search. Pete knew every trail in the woods, and had them in his head +as a sort of map. Pete began at a certain place in reference to the +"deserted bungalow," as the girls often called the place to themselves, +and he said they would follow each trail in turn until they had reached +the three-mile limit. In some cases, he added, they might take in a +four-mile section. + +They would start back toward the bungalow by another route on reaching +their set limit on the trail, and so cover the ground zigzag fashion. + +Now and then, as the party advanced through the dense forest, +pierced only by narrow trails, they stopped and shouted Roy's name. +Occasionally shots were fired, and horns or whistles sounded. The other +party of guides, under the direction of Old Sam, was far enough away to +keep the sounds from conflicting, for Sam's party, also, was doubtless +calling and signalling in various ways. + +Sylvia had hopes that it would take only a little searching on the part +of her friends to discover Roy. She had a feeling that he would become +weary of wandering in the woods all alone, that the delirium would +leave him, and that he would be found trying to make his way back to +the bungalow. + +"And if he does go back--I mean if he wanders back of his own accord, +we'll not say anything to him; shall we?" propounded Rose, as she and +the others paused for a moment on the brink of a little hill, while +Mrs. Brownley, in the rear, sat on a log to rest. + +"Say anything to him--what do you mean?" demanded Sylvia, who was in +advance, and she turned around quickly. "Why shouldn't we say anything +to him? Just because he----" + +"Oh, I didn't mean it that way at all, my dear!" exclaimed Rose +quickly, as the red mounted to her cheeks again. "You didn't understand +me. I meant that if we didn't find Roy----" + +"Oh, we are sure to find him!" interrupted Hazel. "Don't suggest such +dire possibilities, my dear." + +"I didn't exactly mean that, either," hastily protested Rose. + +"Give her a chance," suggested Sylvia. "I guess we're all so tired and +worried that we are getting on one another's nerves. What do you want +to say, Rose?" and she smiled at her chum; smiled, it is true, but in +so wan and mirthless a fashion that the hearts of all ached for her. + +"What I was trying to say," resumed Rose, "was that if Roy did, by some +good fortune, make his way back to the bungalow alone, as he is very +apt to do, and if we came back from our search and found him there, +wouldn't it be better not to say anything to him about his having gone +away?" + +"Why, it isn't a secret; is it?" asked Alice. + +"Oh dear!" half laughed Rose. "I do seem to be very stupid to-day, +somehow or other." + +"Perhaps it is we who are stupid," suggested Sylvia. "I think I know +what you mean, though. You----" + +"No, let me say it for myself," insisted Rose. "Otherwise I shall +surely think I am failing in my descriptive powers, and I'll never fit +in at college. I mean that it might embarrass Roy to have us mention +that he--well, to be frank, that he went off in a fit of delirium. It +would be better to ignore it altogether, I think, and act as if nothing +had happened. Just try and talk naturally to him, about the weather, or +camping, or----" + +"Rose, you're the sweetest girl!" interrupted Sylvia, putting her arms +about her chum. "I never would have thought of that. I'd have gone and +blurted out something about how terrible it was for him to run off the +way he did, or I'd ask him where he had been hiding, or else worry +about his health, and ask a lot of foolish questions. I'm so glad you +thought of that!" + +"Oh, perhaps it would have come to you, also," said Rose, not wanting +to take too much credit to herself. "But, really, don't you think that +would be the wisest plan?" + +"Most certainly!" agreed Alice. "It's always best, when a person is out +of his mind--Oh, I didn't mean----!" and she stopped herself by putting +her hand over her lips, giving Sylvia a conscience-stricken glance. + +"I don't in the least mind, Alice dear," interrupted the sister of the +missing youth. "Roy certainly is out of his mind, only temporarily, I +hope--we all hope," she added, as she saw Rose about to interpose an +objection. "There is no use mincing words," Sylvia went on. "Roy is +what might be called mildly insane----" + +"Oh!" interjected Rose, with a sort of gesture of denial. + +"We might as well meet the issue bravely," insisted Sylvia, "we can +handle it better so." + +"As long as we know it isn't a family defect, and that it only came to +Roy as a sort of horrid disease," added Alice. + +Sylvia nodded, gravely, and resumed. + +"So I think it will be well to adopt the plan Rose has suggested and +simply act, when we see Roy again, as if nothing had happened. That, I +have read, is the best way to treat people who have had anything the +matter with their minds. It keeps them from brooding on their troubles, +and helps them to recover more quickly. + +"That is what they do in asylums, I believe," she added, after a pause. + +"Oh, don't say that--don't use that word," begged Rose. + +"Well, sanitarium, if you like that better," said Sylvia. "But, really, +I am not at all sensitive on the subject now. I will admit that, at +first, it was a terrible shock--as was this one, of finding that Roy +had run away. But I am getting bravely over it. Why should one shun, or +try to ignore, or cover up, a disease of the mind, when we are so ready +to talk about diseases of the body? I have often heard women boast of +having been successfully operated on for appendicitis, but if there was +the least mention of some mental ailment, even though it be a temporary +one, they shrank from it as if it were some disgrace." + +"Of course it isn't a disgrace!" exclaimed Rose, warmly, coming to +the defence of the absent Roy. "You look at it in just the right way, +Sylvia; a disease of the mind is no different from one of the body, +though it may be more distressing. But, as you say, this is only +temporary, I'm sure. Roy will soon be with us again, and like himself." + +"And I pray that it may be soon," murmured Sylvia. + +There was a suspicion of tears in her eyes; nor were those of her chums +altogether dry. + +Alice, indeed, saved them all from breaking down completely, by +exclaiming: + +"Then it's agreed! If we get back, and find Roy waiting for us at the +bungalow, we'll just be as jolly as we can, and pretend it was all a +sort of lark, or game." + +"That's it," said Sylvia. "Of course this is dependent on finding that +Roy's mind is still troubling him when next we see him. He may be +altogether over it." + +"For which we shall all hope and pray," said Rose in a low voice. + +"Yes," agreed Hazel. "After all, this may be the best thing in the +world for him. I mean," she added quickly, as she caught Sylvia's +startled glance, "it may be the crisis, or the turning point, just as a +fever is highest before it breaks and the patient gets better." + +"Well, there's nothing like looking on the bright side of things," +remarked Sylvia, and she tried to infuse cheerfulness and gaiety into +her voice, but it was a hard task. + +"They are calling us," said Rose, after a moment's pause, the silence +that fell being punctuated by a hail from one of the searching party. + +"Yes, it's Pete, and he's signalling to us," agreed Alice, looking off +through the trees. + +"I wonder----" began Sylvia. "No, he hasn't found anything. I guess +he's just tired of waiting for us," she added, for the guide, having +motioned to the girls to follow, again set off along the trail. "He'd +have given the sign if he had discovered any clue." + +For the parties had adopted some simple visual signs, as well as +audible ones, that they might signal to one another when some distance +apart. And Pete had not given the "found" symbol. + +Talking, speculating, wondering, the girls advanced once more, heading +down a little wooded glade where the guide could be observed, peering +here and there for any sign that would indicate the passage of the +missing young man. + +"Anything hopeful?" asked Sylvia, as they came within speaking distance. + +"No, miss, I'm sorry to say it, but that's the truth. It don't look as +if he'd passed this way. But there's a lonely sort of trail, a little +farther on, and I want to take a look at that." + +"Lonely! What do you mean?" asked Rose. + +"Well, I mean it's one that's seldom travelled, miss, and the young +man, being as you might say--er--sort of----" + +"Out of his head, Pete. You needn't mind saying it," put in Sylvia, +wishing to put the honest old fellow at his ease. + +"Well, miss, since you're so nice about it--out of his head, then. +Since he's that way, and partly not responsible for what he does, I +thought maybe he might take the lonesome trail from choice, though most +folks wouldn't." + +"I see," agreed the sister. + +"That's why I spoke about comin' in here," Pete went on. "It's just +possible we'll see some signs if we go in a way." + +He led the way into what soon proved to be a dense patch of wood, +almost a swamp in fact, though through it ran a trail that was faintly +defined. + +"It doesn't look as if any one had been along here for ages," whispered +Alice. + +Somehow it seemed natural to whisper in that eerie place. + +"I told you it was lonesome, miss," answered the guide. "But if you +don't want to come----" + +"Oh, we wouldn't desert for the world!" cried Sylvia, quickly. "Go on, +Pete, we'll follow." + +And on they went. The way led downward, and as they reached the lowest +point, where the water lay in pools, there came a sudden noise in the +bushes, to one side of the trail. + +"Oh!" screamed Rose, nor was she alone in being alarmed, for the others +echoed her cries. + +"What is it?" asked Sylvia. + +A small reddish-coloured animal, with seemingly an unnecessarily large +tail, sprang out, was seen for a flash, and then disappeared in the +underbrush. + +"A dog!" cried Alice. "Maybe it is helping in the search--one of the +guide's dogs?" and she looked questioningly at Pete. + +"It was a fox," he said, drily. "There's been a den of 'em in here for +years. They're harmless." + +The girls breathed more easily, and kept on. But they soon exhausted +the possibilities of the lonely trail, and found not a sign that Roy +had traversed it. + +"Well, no luck there," said Pete, as they emerged again. "But there's +one satisfaction," he went on, looking at Sylvia, "you said your +brother was used to the woods; didn't you?" + +"Yes," she answered. "He would be quite at home in the forest." + +Roy was a woodsman of no small skill, and he had a good sense of +direction, which is invaluable to a hunter or forest-lover. Set Roy +down in a big wood, and let him once get an idea of the points of the +compass and it would be difficult to lose him. But that, of course, was +when he was in normal health. Now, alas, he was not himself. And what +had happened to him Sylvia and the others could only surmise. + +But Sylvia's hope that her brother would soon be found was doomed +to disappointment. As the hours passed, and as trail after trail +was carefully scanned, and no sign of the missing one was found, the +spirits of all fell. + +For signs of Roy were looked for, as well as his actual presence. That +was the value of having Pete along. He could see things the others +would pass by unwittingly. It might be a shred of clothing, caught +on some bramble or bush, or a mark in the soft dirt of the trail, a +footprint in a bed of moss. + +I say it _might_ be any of those things, but, unfortunately, it was +none of them. + +Harry had been able to describe the kind of shoes Roy wore. They were +the same sort that Harry himself had on, heavy, with soles well studded +with nails to prevent slipping. If any one with such a pair of shoes +had stepped into soft dirt, a mark would have been left that easily +would have been recognised. + +But no such marks came to the notice of the guide, and when noon came +he shook his head in puzzled fashion. But he took good care not to let +Sylvia see him give this indication of discouragement. + +"Oh, shall we ever find him?" Sylvia murmured, as she sank down wearily +on a log to rest. + +"Of course we'll find him!" exclaimed Harry, signalling to Pete to +confirm this assertion. + +"Sartin sure, Miss Pursell," said the tall, gaunt, blue-eyed man of the +woods. "We haven't struck the most likely trails as yet. We'll hit them +after dinner. Now set up, all of you, and have grub--that is, askin' +your pardon, lady, for applyin' sech a common name to victuals," he +added, quickly, with a bow in the direction of Mrs. Brownley. + +"That's all right," she assured him heartily, and with a manner that +put him at his ease at once. "I've heard many an expression like that +from my girls," and she smiled at Sylvia and her chums. + +"We call it 'eats,' or 'feed,'" Alice volunteered. + +"Oh, I know, my dears!" said their former teacher. "You can't be in a +girls' school as long as I have and be easily shocked. But I think it +will do us all good to have some of Pete's 'grub.' I know I am almost +famished," and she smiled in the best of good-fellowship. + +The coffee was soon boiling on the alcohol stove, Pete having found a +spring of delicious water. Then the "table" was set on a fallen log, +and the sandwiches passed around. All ate with better appetites than at +any time since the discovery of the "deserted bungalow." + +But, even as she ate, Sylvia would pause now and then to listen, or +she would gaze off into the woods as if hoping to see her brother +come walking along amid the trees, in his right mind at least, if not +clothed. For it could not but have happened that he must be in rather +a ragged and dishevelled state now as regards his garments, if he had +tramped much through the dense forest. + +But there came no sign, no sound, and again the party undertook the +search, but in somewhat better spirits. That is what food will do for +one, even though it may have to be actually forced down. The human +body, after all, is material, though the mind has a great control over +it. + +They went well up the mountain around Lower Saranac Lake, and even +penetrated to the shore of the lake itself, keeping along that for some +distance. But it was all without avail. + +"Of course," said Pete, slowly, when he noticed the shadow on Sylvia's +face deepening, "Old Sam and the others may have had some news of him +before this. We won't know that until we get back to the bungalow, +though." + +"But to go back we would have to give up the search here," Roy's sister +said. "And we can't do that. We'll keep on until dark, and then we'll +go to the bungalow, and if we have no good news I hope some will be +waiting for us." + +"I hope so," came from Rose, as she stalked on beside Sylvia. + +There were two trails close together at one point, though they +separated widely farther on. Sylvia and her three chums, with Mrs. +Brownley, were on this, while the guide, with Mr. Russman, his son, +Harry and the boatman, were on the other. Just how it happened no one +could ever explain, but the girls must have gone farther than they +intended, for, of a sudden, they found themselves down in a little +glade alone. It was Sylvia who first discovered it. + +"Why, girls!" she cried. "Where are the others?" + +"Just back there a way," declared Alice, reassuringly. + +"We must return to them at once," said the chaperon. "It will never do +to be separated." + +They followed the trail back, but when they came to the place where the +divergence began there was no sight of the others. For a moment the +girls looked wonderingly at each other, and then Sylvia said: + +"We must shout!" + +They did, but they could not be sure they were answered. Certainly some +sounds came back to them, but it may have been the echoes. + +"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Hazel, when in another moment there might +have been a panic of fear for all of them. "Some one is coming." + +There was a sound of approaching footsteps, and the breaking of +underbrush. + +"Oh, if it should be----" began Sylvia, hopefully. + +But the light in her eyes died out a moment later, as an elderly man +came into view. The girls had never seen him before, but he seemed to +be one who lived in the woods. + +"Afternoon, ladies," was his cordial greeting. + +"Oh, are you looking for--him?" asked Sylvia. + +"For whom, miss?" He seemed a bit puzzled. + +"My brother. He is lost in these woods--has been since last night. +We are searching for him with a party, but we took the wrong trail. +However, the others must be near here. But have you seen my brother?" +Quickly she described Roy. + +"By hemlock!" exclaimed the old man, clapping his hand on his leg. +"Say, I wouldn't be surprised if that _was_ him!" + +"Who? Oh, where? Tell me!" begged Sylvia, in her eagerness catching +hold of his arm. + +"Why, about an hour back," said the old man, "I was passing along the +Ampersand trail, and on top of Bald Mountain I see a feller outlined +against the sky. He didn't have no hat on, and he seemed to be actin' +sort of queer. I thought it was one of the campers around here. Some of +them is kinder foolish," he added, apologetically. + +"I know--go on!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Well, I didn't do nothin'," said the old man. "I just watched this +feller a bit, and come on. Now I meet you and----" + +"Oh, I'm sure that was Roy!" Rose cried. "Which way is it to Bald +Mountain?" + +"Right back on this trail a mile or so," and he pointed to the one he +had been travelling. + +"Come on!" cried Sylvia, eagerly. "Come on!" She hardly paused to thank +their informant, but rushed along the trail. Hardly knowing what they +were doing, but overcome by the excitement and the hope of finding Roy, +the others followed. They did not even think of Mr. Russman, Harry and +the others. They were intent on getting to Bald Mountain as fast as +they could. + +Excitement gave them strength. Their weariness seemed to vanish +magically. Even Mrs. Brownley kept up with the girls, and she was not a +young woman. + +The trail was not a plain one, but by this time the girls had become +used to following even a faint path through the woods. On and on they +fairly rushed. If they thought of the others at all it was to come to +the hasty, if incorrect, conclusion that they could easily go back and +find them once they had located Roy. + +"How far did he say it was to Bald Mountain?" asked Hazel, when the +pace had slackened a little. + +"A mile or so," replied Alice. + +"Well, we've come more than a mile--more than two, I should say," Hazel +went on. "I say, girls, we'd better pull up a bit, and think of what +we're doing." + +"Oh, don't stop!" begged Sylvia. "We _must_ find him!" + +"But we must find Bald Mountain first," said Hazel. "And I don't see +any signs of it. We seem to be down in a sort of swamp." + +They were, indeed, on low ground, and the trail now turned downward +instead of upward. + +"Can it be that we are--lost?" cried Rose. She hesitated over the word. + +"Lost!" gasped Alice. "Oh, it can't be!" + +"Keep on a little farther," Sylvia urged. "We may come to the mountain +any minute now." + +But the farther they went the more the trail sloped downward. Clearly +they had come in the wrong direction. + +"We are lost!" said Rose at last. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII + + UNEXPECTED HELP + + +For a moment a feeling of panic seemed to overcome not only the girls, +but Mrs. Brownley herself. The word "lost" appeared to have a most +sinister meaning under the circumstances. + +For the girls had left their friends, the guide was with Mr. Russman +and the others, and they had taken a wrong trail. + +Were they to be lost, even as Roy was lost, and with the prospect of +being left out in the woods with night coming on? + +It was a question that each one hesitated to ask herself, and yet it +was one that needed to be answered. + +"Oh, we can't be lost!" Sylvia said at length. "Here is the path. We +haven't strayed from that." + +"Yes, but what good is it to us if we don't know where it leads to?" +Alice wanted to know. + +"Oh, but it _must_ lead somewhere," Sylvia insisted. "If it doesn't +lead where we want to go, which, just at present, is Bald Mountain, +then we must go back along it until we get on the right trail. That is +simple enough." + +"To say; yes," agreed Hazel. "But is it simple enough to do?" + +"We'll try, anyhow," Sylvia went on. Somehow she seemed to have +recovered her spirits, which had been dampened by the assertion of Rose +that they were lost. "All we'll have to do," went on Roy's sister, "is +to keep going up instead of descending. We want to get on the heights, +where we can get a good view." + +"That sounds reasonable," Mrs. Brownley said. "Suppose we try it?" and +she looked questioningly at her charges. + +"I think we ought to call out before we stir another step," Rose said. + +"What for?" demanded Sylvia. + +"To see if the others are near here. If they are it will be better to +go to them or get them to come to us, and let Pete take us to Bald +Mountain. I don't want to risk trying to find it ourselves." + +"Well, perhaps that will be better," Sylvia admitted. "We'll call. Mr. +Russman and the others can't be very far back. I suppose it was foolish +of us to come on without them. But they seemed to be quite near, and I +thought they would follow us." + +"I didn't think of anything but of getting to Bald Mountain," asserted +Rose. + +"If we had asked that old man he might have guided us," Hazel ventured. + +"It's too late to think of that now," sighed Alice. "We shall have to +guide ourselves." + +"And we can do it easily enough," asserted Sylvia, with perhaps more +conviction than she really felt. "Come on now, let's turn about and go +back. And we must hurry, for it is getting late." + +The girls noticed, not without little shivers of apprehension, that the +shadows were lengthening perceptibly. How far from the bungalow they +were they could not estimate. And how far they were from where they +had last seen their friends and the guide was equally a matter of mere +supposition. + +"Indeed we must hasten," agreed the chaperon. + +She did not speak of her weariness. They were all weary, for they had +come the last mile or so at a fast pace, spurred on by the hope of +finding Roy on top of the hill, locally called Bald Mountain. + +"We are somewhat like the King of France," said Sylvia, with a laugh, +as they started back. "We seem to have marched down the hill, and now +we are marching up again." + +"The King of France reversed the process," said Rose. + +"Besides, he had ten thousand men," added Hazel. + +"Just one, in the shape of a guide, would be very welcome now," +asserted Alice. + +"Oh, we must learn to depend more on ourselves!" Sylvia exclaimed. "If +we are to have Nowadays Club outings every year we must learn not to +get lost in the woods." + +"I still refuse to admit that we are lost!" said Alice. + +"So do I," Sylvia agreed. + +They were in better spirits now, and stepped on with lighter hearts. +The trail led slightly upward, and they marveled, now that they were +cooler-headed, how they had ever allowed themselves to keep on a +downward path, when they knew they were supposed to be going up a +mountain trail. But the excitement of the moment accounted for their +lack of observation. + +It was not until they reached a place where the trail divided that +they came to a halt, and once more they looked at one another, if not +exactly with fear in their eyes, at least with shadows of doubt. + +"I didn't notice this before," confessed Sylvia, pointing to the forked +paths. + +"Nor I," said Alice. + +"I thought we had come over a straight path from the time we met that +old man," was the contribution of Hazel. + +"We were so excited we didn't know what we were doing," Rose declared. +"Now, the question is, which path did we come over?" + +They stood at a place in the woods where three trails met in the shape +of a Y. They had come up the right-hand side of the letter. But on +their previous trip had they been travelling on the main stem, or on +the left-hand fork? That was what they could not tell. + +Sylvia bent over close to the ground, as she had seen Pete do several +times. But the earth of the trail was hard packed, and she was not +expert enough to read the "sign" left by their footprints. Indeed she +could see none. + +"Well," she said, arising, "I give up! I don't know which path it was." + +"Let's shut our eyes and pick out one blindly," suggested Alice. + +"Don't be rash," Mrs. Brownley warned them. + +"But what can we do?" asked Hazel. + +"Go along one path for a little way, and see if we can't pick out some +natural landmark that we passed coming down," went on the chaperon. "If +we can't do that, say within half a mile, we may be pretty sure we are +on the wrong trail, and we can walk back and try the other." + +That seemed reasonable to the girls, and they decided to try that plan. +Again hope came to them to drive away their weariness! But as they +looked up and saw the shadows growing longer and longer, and noticed +the wood darkening under the pall of approaching night, it required all +their boldness to put on a brave front. They all tried to be brave for +Sylvia's sake, for, after all, was she not suffering more than any of +them, save perhaps Rose? + +"Forward!" cried Mrs. Brownley. "Time is too precious to waste standing +still." + +As they went along the path they had selected the conviction became +an ever-increasing one that it was not the path they had come over at +first. They saw a little waterfall they were sure they had not passed +before. + +"We're wrong!" exclaimed Sylvia. "We've got to go back and try over +again." + +There was nothing else to do. It was becoming dark so rapidly now that +they looked up in alarm, and found the sky becoming rapidly overcast +with clouds. + +"We're in for a thunderstorm," declared Rose, in alarm. + +"Well, we're not afraid of lightning," asserted Sylvia. + +"No, but it will make it so much more difficult to travel and find the +path," Alice objected. + +"It means we must hurry more than ever," Sylvia said. + +"Suppose we shout here," suggested Sylvia. Their previous calls had +been unanswered. + +They raised their shrill voices in shouts again and again, but the only +result was to set the echoes reverberating, and to strain their throats. + +"Oh, come on, we'll find the trail ourselves," Sylvia finally said. + +They hastened along, but had not reached the fork in the path when the +storm burst. + +There was a series of vivid lightning flashes, the thunder seemed +doubly loud out in that wilderness, and then came the drenching rain. + +"Come under this tree!" urged Rose, darting toward a beech. + +"You may be struck!" Hazel warned her. + +"Have to take a chance," Rose retorted. "Beech trees are the safest, +I've heard, and I can't stand out in the rain." + +But the tree was not much shelter, and as the shower showed no +indication of slackening, and as the girls were now fairly desperate, +they decided to keep on. Their clothes could stand a good deal of rain +before becoming wet through, and their shoes were waterproof, so they +were not in such desperate plight as might otherwise have been the case. + +But it grew darker and darker, and at last they found themselves +stumbling along in the woods, tripping over fallen trees, banging into +trunks and getting tangled in underbrush. + +"We're off the trail!" cried Sylvia. "We can't go on. We must stop or +we may come to some harm." + +Frightened, they huddled together, while the rain beat down pitilessly. + +"Oh, help! help!" suddenly screamed Rose. It was as though she could +stand the strain no longer. "Help! help!" she cried. "We are lost!" + +Above the patter of the rain on the leaves, and above the low muttering +of thunder a voice answered: + +"Stay where you are. We're coming!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV + + FOUND + + +Silence followed this, to the girls at least, momentous announcement. +That is as much silence as was possible under the circumstances, with +the noise of the storm reverberating through the forest. + +"Did--did you hear that?" gasped Sylvia, after a pause. + +"Of course," answered Hazel, and she spoke a bit sharply, as if her +nerves were near the breaking point. + +"Was it--was it a voice?" Sylvia went on, as though she could not quite +believe the evidence of her own ears. "Was it a voice, or one of those +loons, or owls?" + +"It was a _voice_," declared Mrs. Brownley. "I heard it distinctly. It +must be some of our party searching for us. You had better call once +more, girls. My voice simply refuses to make itself heard." + +"Mr. Russman! Pete! Harry!" called Sylvia. "Where are you? Come to us!" + +A crashing noise sounded in the underbrush, but it was too dark to see +by whom it was made. Now and then a flash of lightning would vividly +light up the scene, but it was of such brief duration, and produced +such a glare, that the girls and their chaperon could really see +nothing beyond a black and dripping circle of trees that girt them +about. Following Sylvia's cry, though, there came an answer. + +"Stay where you are! We're coming. Don't move. There's a bad fall near +where you are and you may slip over. Stand still." + +"That doesn't sound like any of our friends!" exclaimed Alice. + +"No," agreed Hazel. "But it's some one, at all events. And I never was +so glad in all my life before to hear a human voice. It may be some of +the other guides--those of Sam's party." + +"Could it be--could it be--Roy?" faltered Rose. + +"That isn't Roy's voice," declared Sylvia, with decision. "I only wish +it were he! But he is probably too weak to answer in those firm tones." + +"We're coming," the unseen rescuers went on. "Be there in just a few +seconds now!" + +The girls could see lights flashing among the trees and bushes. Lights +that were not the vivid glares of the sky-electricity. The storm seemed +to be dying out, at least the thunder was not so loud nor the flashes +so frequent, but the drizzle of rain still kept up. + +The girls huddled around Mrs. Brownley, wet and rather miserable, yet, +aside from the depression caused by the failure to find Roy, there was +plenty of spirit and spunk left in each and every one. They were wet, +tired and hungry, but they had not given up hope, not even when they +knew they were lost. + +"Oh, but to think of the walk back to the bungalow," half groaned +Hazel. "Can we make it to-night, girls?" + +"We'll _have_ to!" insisted Sylvia. + +"And there may be good news of Roy waiting for us," said Rose, eagerly. +"That is, if this isn't a party that has already found him." + +"I don't believe they are any of our friends." Sylvia spoke in a low +voice. "They would know who we were, and they'd call us by name. And if +they had found poor Roy they'd let us know that the first thing." + +"But who can they be?" asked Alice. + +"We'll know in another moment. Here they are!" + +A number of lights flashed all around. They came from the pocket +electric torches without which no camp is now complete. And the tiny +glows were in the hands of four young men who crowded up along the +dripping trail to face the lost ones. + +"Sorry to have kept you waiting," said the leader, flashing his light +in Sylvia's face. "But we didn't expect company, and we had gone to +bed. We heard you call and----" + +He interrupted himself suddenly to exclaim: + +"Great pines and little fir trees! It is Night! Miss Pursell! What in +the world are you doing here?" he cried. + +"Oh! oh!" gasped Roy's sister, weakly. In an instant she had recognised +Felton Ware--the Knight of the Overturned Canoe--the cavalier of the +dance. And with him were his three companions who had helped to give +the girls such a good time at the hotel. + +"Look here, fellows!" Felton cried. "Here are our friends--the pretty +girls." + +He said it--shamelessly--openly, and none resented it. The said pretty +girls were only too glad to see the boys. + +"Well, if this isn't a go!" exclaimed Jimmie Pendleton. + +"Is it true, or am I dreaming?" Bert Young wanted to know. + +"If I am dreaming, don't wake me up," pleaded Carroll Beach. + +"But I say!" went on Felton, eagerly. "What are you doing here? Out in +the rain at night! Where's your camp? What has happened? You look----" + +"Don't mention our looks, young man!" interrupted Aunt Theodora. "We +know we must be frights. But is there any place around here where we +can stay--a hotel or boarding-house? We are lost!" + +"Why, come to our tent!" urged the Knight of the Overturned Canoe, +eagerly. "We came up here to camp, but never expected to see you folks +again. We have a big extra tent, ready for some more of the fellows we +expect next week. You can all fit into that nicely. There are cots in +it. We can get you up some kind of a meal. You can't possibly travel +through the woods now. Stay with us until morning, please." + +"It sounds most inviting," sighed Sylvia. + +"Welcome to our woodland camp, Princess of the Night," said Felton, +whimsically, with a low bow. "I'm sorry we haven't a red velvet carpet +to spread to the tent, but truth compels me to state that the trail is +so winding that it would take a very large magic carpet to cover it. +But what has happened?" he asked. + +Sylvia told him, and her companions told him, singly, in a chorus, by +duets, in a trio and then filled in any gaps that were left with a +grand ensemble that left nothing unrelated. + +Then the boys led the way back to their camp. A fire in the midst of a +circle of tents was dying down, but there was dry wood to pile on, and +soon there was a roaring blaze adding heat to its cheerfulness. Coffee +was quickly made, food set out, and in the seclusion of a large tent +Sylvia and her friends, with Mrs. Brownley, made themselves comfortable. + +"If those young men aren't providential I never saw any persons who +were," declared the chaperon, as she sat on the edge of a cot, munching +a sandwich from one hand and waving an empty coffee cup with the other, +to emphasise her point. + +"They certainly are," agreed Rose. + +The boys did everything possible for their unexpected visitors, and +said they would escort them back to the bungalow the first thing in +the morning. One of the young men was quite familiar with the woodland +trails, having camped in that neighbourhood before. + +"And we'll help you look for your brother," added Felton. "Bald +Mountain is not a great way from here. But you certainly took the wrong +trail. However, we're glad to see you again!" + +"Well?" remarked Hazel, in a questioning tone, as she sat on the edge +of her cot, after the boys had said "good-night;" and she looked at the +others, the while swinging her stockinged feet to and fro to aid in +drying them, for their shoes had been wet through. + +"I don't know that I'd call it well," commented Sylvia, reflectively, +"but I suppose we ought to be thankful that none of us is really ill. +That's one blessing." + +"Yes," agreed Mrs. Brownley, "that is a blessing. We came out of the +predicament very fortunately, I think." + +"And it certainly was a predicament," added Rose, as she went to the +flap of the tent to peer out. + +"Looking for anything in particular?" asked Alice. + +"Or any one?" inquired Sylvia, with decided emphasis. + +Rose turned quickly, her cheeks showing redder than ever in the glow +of the lantern. Perhaps it was from the excitement of the day, however. + +"I just wanted to see what the boys were doing," she answered. "I +believe they are drying our shoes over an oil stove," she went on. "I +can just see inside their cooking-tent--it's open." + +"Gracious! I hope they don't cook our shoes!" exclaimed Alice, with +a laugh, and a most commendable effort to lend a little gaiety to a +situation that was certainly in need of it. "I have read of starving +sailors eating their shoe laces. Fortunately my walking boots are +button ones," she added, with another little laugh. + +"It's only when laces are of some sort of hide that they make soup of +them," put in Mrs. Brownley, deciding to do what she could to help +remove the load from Sylvia's mind. + +"That's so," chimed in Hazel. "The ordinary cloth shoe lace would not +make a very appetising meal. Though I suppose they could boil the +tongue of a shoe, and serve it in some sort of an _entrée_," she went +on. "And the shoe wouldn't be much the worse after the operation. Look, +Rose, since you have undertaken the post of observer, and tell us if +the boys are taking the tongues out of our shoes." + +"So they won't talk in their sleep?" demanded Sylvia, rising to the +occasion with a joke--"alleged," as she designated it afterward; when +they were going over all the points of the momentous time. + +"Aren't we silly?" demanded Hazel. + +"It's just as well to try to be cheerful," said the chaperon. "Nothing +is so bad as to lose hope, and while we haven't in the least done +that, still it is just as well to try to have a little reserve fund +of good-humor to fall back on in times of emergency. Oh, I didn't +quite mean that!" she added, quickly, as she caught a look of alarm on +Sylvia's face. + +"It doesn't matter," was the quiet comment of Roy's sister. "It is +just as well to recognise the fact that we--that I--may have to face +an--emergency." + +She halted and stumbled over the word, but the others knew how hard it +must have been for her to speak it. And they all realised what a grim +emergency might confront them. + +But the little cloud soon passed, for Rose--brave little Rose--rising +gallantly to the occasion, exclaimed: + +"Those silly boys!" + +"What are they up to now?" asked Hazel, for Rose was still at the +tent-flap. + +"Why, they're dancing around, holding our shoes, one on each hand, and +actually they are waltzing--doing the hesitation with the shoes on +their hands, held in the air." + +"Really?" demanded Sylvia, and there was a rush on the part of the +three girls to join Rose at the flap. Mrs. Brownley remained sitting +with dignity on the edge of a cot. That is with dignity, but with +certain reservations, for she had taken off some of her damp garments +and she was just then engaged in the process of shuffling her +stockinged feet along a strip of carpet in the middle of the tent. + +"It was the only way to bring back the circulation and get them warm," +she explained afterward. + +"The hesitation? It's a onestep!" declared Hazel, as she peered from +their tent into the lighted and partly-open one where the boys were +engaged in some mysterious rite. + +"Yes, that's what they're doing," she continued, peering over Sylvia's +shoulder. "I wonder which one has my shoes?" + +"As if it made any difference," mocked Alice. + +"Doesn't it make a difference with whom one dances?" asked Hazel. + +"If you call that a dance!" said Alice. + +"It is one--by proxy," suggested Sylvia. "Oh, the silly boys!" + +The Knight of the Overturned Canoe and his chums had offered to dry +the water-soaked shoes of their guests. And now the lads were holding +the footwear on their hands, over the blaze of their cooking-tent oil +stove, and to vary the proceeding, I suppose, now and then one of them +would glide off, whistling some merry air, meanwhile waving aloft his +hands (on which were the shoes) in a sort of syncopated dance rhythm. + +"Well, they are trying to be cheerful," said Mrs. Brownley, as she came +to have a peep. + +"The more credit to them, considering what company they have on their +hands," said Hazel. + +"Nothing on their hands but shoes," said Alice, laughing. + +"Besides, they were very glad to meet us," added Rose. + +"They certainly are very nice boys," declared Sylvia. "And, oh, I am so +glad they found us! Think of what we would have done if we had had to +stay in the woods all night!" + +"I never would have stayed," declared Alice. "I simply would have +expired then and there." + +"Then it certainly is a good thing the boys found us," Mrs. Brownley +remarked. "Now, girls, I don't want to dictate to you, but really, I +think you ought to get to bed. We are all cold and damp, and if we get +off some of our wet things, and crawl in between the blankets, it may +prevent us from taking cold. The sheets are not at all clammy," she +went on, as she turned back the covers of her cot, and felt of the +linen. "I must say those boys are clever housekeepers! I would not have +believed it." + +"Which is praise, indeed, even if it is not from--Oh, I never can think +of his name!" cried Alice. + +"Sir Hubert Stanley?" queried Rose. + +"Yes, that's the one. And so you think the boys--I'm going to call them +our boys," went on Alice, "are good housekeepers, Aunt Theodora?" + +"Very good indeed--for boys," and she thus qualified it. + +"Well, I think we'll take your advice, at any rate," said Sylvia. "I'm +beginning to feel chilly." + +"The boys have stopped their shoe-dance," reported Rose. "Oh! and one +of them is coming this way!" she cried, as she scurried away from the +tent-flap, for the girls, as well as Mrs. Brownley, were not in a +presentable condition. + +However, there was no cause for alarm, for when still at a distance +from the tent, Bert Young called out: + +"I say, wouldn't you like an oil stove in there, to dry yourselves out?" + +"Indeed we would," answered Mrs. Brownley. "Please bring it, unlighted, +and leave it outside the tent. We'll get it." + +"Sounds like an order for fried oysters," commented Alice. + +"Right-O!" came the reply, and a little later a modern oil stove was +glowing in the girls' tent. Its warmth was grateful, and they hung some +of their garments on chairs near it before getting into the cots. + +They did not go to sleep at once--it would have been a physical +impossibility under the circumstances--so they talked, while Mrs. +Brownley kept one eye on the stove, fearing it might smoke or explode, +so she said. + +But it was a very well-behaved stove, and, when the tent was +comfortably warmed, the flame was turned out, and the wayfarers tried +to get a little rest. + +It cannot be said that Sylvia or any of her chums passed a restful +or comfortable night. They were given the best of the young men's +hospitality, but one cannot be wet through in the woods on a lost +trail, torn by anxiety regarding a missing loved one, be anxious about +those of a party from whom one is separated, and have pleasant dreams. +It is too much to expect. + +But the night finally passed, and with it the rain. The sun came up +warm, with a promise of soon drying the woods, and after breakfast +the party of young men prepared to accompany their guests back to the +Russman bungalow. The camp of Felton and his chums, in the locality +where the girls found them, had been planned long before they met at +the dance, but neither party was aware of the other's intention. + +"But it was the luckiest thing in the world," declared Felton, "that +you stopped and called when you did. Look," and he showed Sylvia how +the trail they were on when they had come to a halt led dangerously +near a high cliff. Sylvia shuddered when she saw it. + +"When we head back for the bungalow, can't we go by way of Bald +Mountain?" asked Sylvia, as they were about to start. "It is barely +possible that my poor brother may be there." + +"It is a little longer way," Felton explained, "but of course we can +use that route." + +"And we may meet some of the guides, or others on the way," put in +Rose, "who will give us good news." + +"Perhaps," agreed Alice. + +The girls were in better spirits now, though the strain was showing on +Sylvia. However, she kept up bravely, and Rose, too, who had her own +grief, put it aside to comfort Roy's sister. + +They tramped through the woods, now glorious with sunshine. Finally +Bald Mountain loomed before them. They must cross it to get on the +trail that led to the Russman bungalow. + +Sylvia and Felton were in the lead, the girl pressing on eagerly, +and both of them, as well as every other member of the party, looked +closely for any signs of the missing one. Occasionally they would +stop and shout, but they neither saw nor heard aught of the other +seekers--the guides or the Russman party. + +It was near the top of Bald Mountain, when Sylvia, who was a few +steps in advance, passed around a turn in the trail. Before her was +an overhanging stone, forming a sort of niche in the side of the +shaling rock of which the hill was formed. A huddled heap in the niche +attracted her attention. + +She caught her breath sharply, and grasped the arm of her companion. + +"Look! Look!" Sylvia whispered. + +[Illustration: "LOOK! LOOK!" SYLVIA WHISPERED.] + +"It's--it's a man," answered Felton. "Can it be----" + +"It's Roy! It's my brother!" Sylvia cried aloud. "I've found him!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV + + RECOVERY + + +Sylvia was so overcome for the moment, not knowing what might be her +further discovery, that she trembled violently, and swayed as though +about to fall. Felton put out his arms to catch her, but she fought +back the weakness and smiled faintly at him. + +"I--I am all right," she assured him. + +"Really?" he asked. Mrs. Brownley came hurrying up. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"We--we have found him," whispered Sylvia. "But I am afraid, oh, I am +so afraid----" + +She did not finish, but they all knew what she meant. + +Felton said not a word. He walked steadily up to the huddled figure +lying under the ledge of rock. The sun was slanting into the niche. + +Sylvia forced herself to follow him, and watched, as if fascinated, +while her Knight leaned over the figure of her brother. Felton +touched Roy with a tender hand, and then, after a moment--a moment of +suspense--fraught with an agony that made it seem a year, he cried out: + +"He's all right! He's alive--and sleeping!" + +A silent prayer of thankfulness welled up, not only in the heart of +Sylvia, but in the hearts of all her friends. + +As they gathered around, Sylvia kneeling on the hard, stone floor of +the niche beside her brother, he opened his eyes. And it needed but a +glance to show that reason was again on her throne. He looked weak and +emaciated and showed the effects of the terrible sufferings through +which he had passed, but his eyes no longer glowed with the fire of +delirium. + +Roy sat up, gazed about him, but did not seem at all surprised at his +condition or location--that is, for a moment. He looked at Sylvia +recognisingly, and spoke coolly but in a weak voice: + +"Hello, sis! How's everybody?" + +Sylvia could not keep a tremor out of her voice as she answered: + +"All well. And you, Roy?" + +"Oh, I--I'm feeling better. I----" And then he seemed to feel the +strangeness of his condition, and realise that something unusual had +occurred. A great wonder showed in his fever-sunken eyes. He tried to +get up, but fell back weakly. Sylvia put her arm under him, as did +Felton, and they held Roy up together. + +"Why--why--what has happened?" he stammered. + +"Haven't you any recollection?" Sylvia asked. + +"No. I--I----!" + +He put his hand up to his head. + +"Take it easy now, old man," said Felton, in a low voice. "Bring up +that vacuum bottle, Carroll," he ordered. "A sip of hot coffee will +warm you up, Roy." + +Slowly Roy drank the hot beverage. The wonder in his questioning eyes +grew, as he looked at Sylvia and her friends. The party had brought +food with them, and Roy was given some sparingly, for it was evident +that he was half-starved. Gradually a little strength came back to him. + +"But what does it all mean?" he asked. "How did I get here? How did you +get here, Sylvia? And Rose?" + +He smiled at her, and put out his hand, which she clasped warmly. + +"Look here, old man," said Felton. "I think explanations had better +be deferred until you are a little stronger. We'll get some sort of a +conveyance, and have you taken to the bungalow. You need a doctor, I'm +thinking." + +"Yes," answered Roy, in puzzled fashion. "I seem to remember something +about a doctor. I know I went out in the woods to get something, but +I don't recall what it was. It rained, and I walked about a thousand +miles, I guess. Then I was very tired and I crawled in here. I must +have slept the clock around, for it was sunrise when I came here, +and it's sunrise again. But I can't understand it all. I feel a lot +better--up here," and he put his hand to his head. + +"Oh, I am _so_ glad!" Sylvia murmured. She was sure her brother was now +in his right mind, though very weak. + +It would be a problem to get him back to the bungalow, but the boys +helped solve that. They made a litter of some boughs and poles and +carried Roy to the nearest road. Then some one went for a waggon, the +bottom of which was filled with straw. Roy protested that he could sit +up, but Mrs. Brownley took charge of him, as she knew something of +nursing, and made him lie down. + +"It's a pretty long drill to the Russman bungalow," suggested Felton. +"Now there's a pretty good sanitarium, with some doctors our family +know, not far from here. Why not take him there?" + +"We will!" Sylvia quickly decided. Roy made no objection. He smiled up +into his sister's face, reached out for the hand of Rose again, and +seemed content. + +The sanitarium of which Felton had spoken proved to be just the place +for Roy. He needed medical treatment of a different sort from that +his ailment had at first called for. The head doctor knew Sylvia's +"Knight," as she laughingly called him, and the physician promised to +give Roy every care and attention. + +Sylvia and Rose arranged to stay at a boarding-house connected with the +institution, while Mrs. Brownley, Alice and Hazel would return to the +Russman bungalow, tell the good news, get their own belongings, as +well as those of Rose and Sylvia, and join them later. + +Felton and his chums would pilot the party to the "deserted bungalow," +as it was occasionally called, and then they would return to their own +camp. + +These arrangements were carried out. On the way to the bungalow the +party met some of the guides who were searching for the lost girls and +Mrs. Brownley. The good news was soon spread, and again Old Sam blew +the tidings on his conch horn. The search had ended. + +"But, oh! I wonder if Roy will remember that missing formula, that +means so much to him?" said Rose to Sylvia. + +"It will be hard to say," was the answer. "We must not hope for too +much." + +Roy's physical improvement was rapid, once he was given the proper care +and treatment at the sanitarium. The shock and exposure while wandering +in the woods had restored his mind. He progressed every hour, it +seemed, now that Sylvia and Rose were with him. Harry Montray was again +to take up his quarters with his friend, and soon the party of Nowadays +Girls was complete once more, with the addition of Roy and Harry. + +As yet nothing had been said to Roy regarding the missing formula. His +memory came back to him, and he recalled everything up to the time of +rushing out of the bungalow in a delirium and off into the woods. What +happened to him there, neither he nor any one else could say. + +It was apparent that he had wandered far. What he ate, if anything, no +one knew, but unconsciously he may have appropriated food from some +camp from which the owners were temporarily absent. And finally he had +wandered to Bald Mountain, and fallen into a natural sleep as the fever +left him. Luckily he had not been much out in the wet, though heavy +dews had drenched him. + +Every day saw a further improvement in the invalid, until at last came +a time when he could go out into the woods with his sister and the +other girls. + +And then, like a flash from a clear sky, there came to Roy that which +he had found and lost--the memory of the formula. + +They were all walking in the beautiful woods one day when Roy suddenly +began sniffing the air, as though some new odour, different from that +of balsam and fir, came to him. + +"What is it?" asked Sylvia. + +"That smell--what is it?" he demanded, sharply. + +"Oh, it's a menthol pencil I'm using," said Mrs. Brownley. "I have a +slight headache, and that nearly always cures it. It's simply menthol, +and perhaps----" + +"That's it!" cried Roy, interrupting. "That's where the whole trouble +is! The menthol smell brings it all back to me--that and the name! +It's methane--that's what I need to use to complete the formula! It's +methane! That one element slipped from me, and I couldn't recall it +to save my life. The mention of menthol brought it back to me, though +methane isn't at all like menthol. It was just the smell and the +similarity of names." + +"But what does it all mean?" asked Rose, looking bewildered. + +"It means that I have rediscovered the chemical formula I lost!" Roy +cried. "It's complete now. I must write it down before I lose it again." + +He scribbled some chemical symbols on a bit of white birch bark that +Sylvia hastily tore from a tree for him, and put it in his pocket. But +not before he had looked at it for a moment, murmuring: + +"Ah, there you are! You shan't get away from me again! I have the lost +formula! Now I'll show 'em what's what!" + +"Oh, Roy, I am so glad!" cried Sylvia, her eyes bright with +tears--tears of joy. + +And Harry Montray rejoiced with his friend over the recovery of the +valuable discovery. He insisted on sending a wire to the firm in New +York, and Roy received a congratulatory telegram in response. It meant +much to the firm, and more perhaps to Roy in the way of honour and +wealth. + +And now my little story is drawing to a close. Indeed there is really +nothing left to tell. For with Roy's physical and mental recovery, +which waxed more perfect every day, all the worriment of Sylvia and +Rose, not to mention that of their friends, passed away. + +Then came happy times for the Nowadays Girls and the boys; for the +Knight of the Overturned Canoe and his chums came to see them quite +often. Indeed, after Roy was able to leave the sanitarium he and +Sylvia arranged to open a camp for themselves in the woods, and there +entertain their friends. And this was done. + +Canoeing, boating, fishing, long tramps in the woods, pleasant evenings +about the camp fire, an occasional dance--all this made up the +remainder of a happy summer. + +"Well, how did you like my Adirondack outing?" asked Sylvia of her +girl chums one day when, regretfully enough, they began to think of +returning to the city and preparing for their college careers. + +"It was just perfectly all right, my dear!" said Rose, as she went down +the path toward the lake in response to a call from Roy, who was in a +canoe. + +"Couldn't have been better!" declared Hazel. + +"And if I were only sure we would have as scrumptious a time next +season I would be perfectly happy," sighed Alice. + +"We shall go somewhere," Sylvia decided. "The Nowadays Club will live +for many years. But we have plenty of time to pick out another place +before next summer." + +And those of you who care to follow the future fortunes, fun and frolic +of our friends may do so in the next volume of this series, to be +called: "The Nowadays Girls on Casco Bay; or, The Treasure Box of Orr's +Island." + +The outing was over. By easy stages Sylvia and her chums were returning +from the Adirondacks. Once more they stopped at Saranac Inn. It was a +night of the dance. Sylvia sat out on a veranda in the shadows. + +"May I have this next waltz?" a voice murmured at her ear. + +"What is it?" she asked. It will be noticed that she did not ask "who." + +"A canoe glide," was the laughing answer. "May I?" + +"You may," said Sylvia. + +And, as she joined her companions in the room where the dreamy music +called to willing feet, we will take leave of her and the other +Nowadays Girls. + + + THE END + + * * * * * + + + THE NEW DOLLAR JUVENILES + + WHY? + + +We are publishing the following new series of dollar Juveniles, hoping +that the public will support our efforts to give them _good stories_ +attractively illustrated at a reasonable price. We trust that this +project will meet with general approval. + + + THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS; + or, THE DESERTED BUNGALOW ON SARANAC LAKE + + By GERTRUDE CALVERT HALL + + An outdoor story for girls + + + THE TRAIL BOYS OF THE PLAINS; + or, THE HUNT FOR THE BIG BUFFALO + + By JAY WINTHROP ALLEN + + A Western adventure story for boys + + + BETWEEN THE LINES IN BELGIUM + + By FRANKLIN T. AMES + + + BETWEEN THE LINES IN FRANCE + + By FRANKLIN T. AMES + + Two boys' adventure stories of the great war + + + _For Sale at All Booksellers_ + + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76084 *** diff --git a/76084-h/76084-h.htm b/76084-h/76084-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e0ddd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/76084-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9473 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Nowadays Girls in the Adirondacks | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +x-ebookmaker-drop {display: none;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap { font-variant:small-caps; } + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.caption p +{ + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + margin: 0.25em 0; + font-weight: bold; +} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +div.titlepage { + text-align: center; + page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; +} + +div.titlepage p { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; + margin-top: 3em; +} + +.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph1 { font-size: x-large; margin: .83em auto; } + +.ph2 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph2 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } + +.ph3 { text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; } +.ph3 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76084 ***</div> + +<div class="titlepage"> + +<h1>THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS</h1> + +<h2>OR THE DESERTED BUNGALOW ON SARANAC LAKE</h2> + +<p class="ph1">By GERTRUDE CALVERT HALL</p> + +<p>ILLUSTRATED BY<br> +E. C. CASWELL</p> + +<p>NEW YORK<br> +DODD, MEAD & COMPANY<br> +PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1915, by</span><br> +DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">The Nowadays Club</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">A Telegram</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Preparations</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">"<span class="smcap">Watch Your Step!</span>"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">In Syracuse</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">The Missing Emerald</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">Overboard</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">The Golf Ball</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Onward</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">A Night Out</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">Trouble</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">The Motor Boat</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">By Themselves</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">A Dismal Prospect</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">A Lonely Night</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">The Loon</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">In Camp</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Canoeing</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><span class="smcap">The Masquerade</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><span class="smcap">The Mystic Moon</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><span class="smcap">The Mystery Deepens</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><span class="smcap">Bad News</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><span class="smcap">At Saranac</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><span class="smcap">Worriment</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><span class="smcap">Making Plans</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXVI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><span class="smcap">A Lonely Place</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXVII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><span class="smcap">The Deserted Bungalow</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><span class="smcap">Missing</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXIX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><span class="smcap">A Sleepless Night</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXX.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><span class="smcap">A General Alarm</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXXI.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><span class="smcap">The Search</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXXII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><span class="smcap">Lost</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXXIII.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><span class="smcap">Unexpected Help</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXXIV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><span class="smcap">Found</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdr">XXXV.</td> <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><span class="smcap">Recovery</span></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table> +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus1">"We certainly are doing it in style!" murmured Hazel.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus2">Sylvia presently found herself whirling through it with a Spaniard who +danced wonderfully well.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus3">Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits now that they were +actually on their way to see Roy.</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><a href="#illus4">"Look! Look!" Sylvia whispered.</a></td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap"> + +<h2>THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS</h2> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE NOWADAYS CLUB</h3> + + +<p>The chugging taxicab stopped in front of the apartment on Central Park, +West, and the uniformed door attendant bowed out of it, and into the +marble vestibule, a demure girl with rosy cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Miss Pursell?" she asked, and there was that in her voice which made +the elevator boy look a second time; and he was not unused to seeing +pretty girls and hearing them speak.</p> + +<p>"Third floor, miss," he said, with a quick touch of his hand to his +much-gold-braided cap. Then, as he clanged the steel-grilled door shut, +he favored the hall-man with a distinct wink, which Rose Bancroft did +not see. But had she seen it she would, perhaps, have given it little +consideration, since it did not concern her.</p> + +<p>What did concern her was reaching her friend Sylvia Pursell as soon +as possible. There were more reasons than one for this, but perhaps +the one with which we may now concern ourselves was that Rose had been +travelling since early morning, having but just arrived at the Grand +Central Terminal from Syracuse.</p> + +<p>Travelling in even the best-portered Pullman, in the middle of the +"Chicago Special," is very apt to grime one up, especially if the +aforesaid one be wearing a particularly light and dainty dress. So +Rose, as she was shot upward in the smooth-running elevator, wondered +whether the coloured maid at the Grand Central had made sure that there +was no cinder dust on the end of her nose.</p> + +<p>"For," reflected Rose to herself, "if there is one thing more than +another, that makes a girl lose her smartness and dignity, it is a +black spot on the end of her nose."</p> + +<p>And Rose had her special reasons for wanting to look at least "smart" +when she reached Sylvia's apartment. I'll tell you why later. She +ventured to glance into the bevelled mirror which made up the whole +back of the car, but the electric bulb was shaded with a rose-tinted +glass, and while it made a very pretty effect, still it was not +conducive to illumination.</p> + +<p>"I'm almost sure there's a spot," thought Rose, but she dared not +raise her veil to make sure. And just then the elevator lad, who had +been favouring his solitary passenger with more than one surreptitious +glance, called out, in a most respectful tone of voice, a voice not at +all in keeping with his previous facetious wink:</p> + +<p>"Your floor! Miss Pursell's!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Rose, quietly, and stepped out.</p> + +<p>A few moments later, Rose having been ushered into a pretty reception +hall, and thence to the drawing-room, she and Sylvia had their arms +around each other, and Sylvia was kissing her friend, regardless of +whether or not there was a spot on Rose's face—her nose or anywhere +else.</p> + +<p>"It was so sweet of you to come down from Syracuse, my dear!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, it was just perfectly lovely of you to ask me. I am <i>so</i> +interested!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd be! Did you have a tiresome trip?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not especially so. We were a little late, but made it up. Mrs. +Blake, mamma's friend, you know, came part way with me."</p> + +<p>"That was nice. Janet, take Miss Bancroft's things, and then tell +Perkins we'll have tea in here."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Pursell."</p> + +<p>"Are the other girls here?" asked Rose, as she made sure this time, by +a hasty glance in a well-lighted mirror, that there was <i>not</i> a spot on +her nose.</p> + +<p>"No, they're coming to-night, I presume. Hazel was away when my +telegram reached her, but she left Chicago last night, and ought to be +here now. I'm not so sure when Alice will arrive. You know her style."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do. If she doesn't arrive to-day, next week will do. But are +you really going to carry out your plan?"</p> + +<p>"I most certainly <i>am</i>, my dear! I don't plan things and then not do +them."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, Sylvia, but this going off to the Adirondacks, all by +ourselves——"</p> + +<p>"But we'll not be by ourselves. Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley will +chaperon us, and——"</p> + +<p>"You didn't leave out any of her name; did you?" and Rose laughed a +merry laugh, that sounded like the tinkle of ice in a strawberry-tinted +pitcher of lemonade on a hot day.</p> + +<p>"She rather likes her whole title," answered Sylvia. "But you knew she +was going with us; didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I wasn't sure," and Rose turned at the entrance of the butler with the +tray of tea things as though she expected to see some one else.</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed mamma wouldn't consent to my making up the party at all +until I had arranged for a chaperon. Of course Aunt Theodora Leigh +Brownley is rather a handicap in ways, but she <i>is</i> so good, and she +doesn't mind sitting up until all hours at a dance."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then we <i>are</i> going to dance!" and the eyes of Rose glistened, +while her breath seemed to come faster between her parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Of course, my dear! There will be some men up there, I <i>hope</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't it be just perfectly all right!"</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll find it so. Let me see—you take lemon?" and Sylvia +paused questioningly with a slice held over Rose's cup.</p> + +<p>"Lemon, yes. And two lumps, please."</p> + +<p>The tinkle of silver on eggshell china filled a pause, and then the +girls looked into each other's eyes. In Rose's was a question she +wanted to ask, but hardly dared. Several times it was at her lips, but +somehow she forced it back. And when she had made up her mind to ask it +there came a ring of the bell.</p> + +<p>"Telephone?" questioned Rose.</p> + +<p>"No, the entrance hall. I wonder——"</p> + +<p>Sylvia paused, listening, and when she heard the unseen caller ask for +her she started at the sound of a drawling voice—a voice of Southern +unctuousness and richness. Then she arose from the little table, so +precipitately as almost to overturn it, though Rose saved it in time.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia!" gasped Rose. "You——"</p> + +<p>"It's Alice," was the excuse offered. "Here we are, Alice!" she went +on, and a girl—a tall, slender girl, with dark eyes, that sparkled +from underneath dark brows, and lighted up a face of pure olive-brown +tint—fairly swept into the apartment.</p> + +<p>"Alice!" cried Sylvia, as she kissed her and then passed her on to Rose +for a like ceremony. "How ever did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yo'all seem surprised," was the retort in that slow, unctuous, +Southern voice. "I hope I didn't arrive too early," and Alice Harrow +flung, rather than "draped" herself, as Sylvia would have done, into a +chair.</p> + +<p>"Early! It's early for <i>you</i>," commented Rose.</p> + +<p>"I did get here sooner than I expected," Alice went on. "But I made up +my mind, if we were to carry out the rules of our club, that being +ahead of time was better than being late."</p> + +<p>"Good for you!" cried Sylvia. "Tea?" she asked, indicating the little +table.</p> + +<p>"Land, no! It's too hot! Lemonade if you have it, with a bit of mint +crushed in it—not too much crushed, and a slice of real lemon floating +on top. Then just a suggestion of nutmeg. But if you haven't it, ice +water will do as well," and she suddenly switched off, as she saw Rose +gazing at her with rather open-mouthed wonder.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. Janet shall make it at once!" exclaimed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Well, are you surprised to see me?" demanded Alice, a moment later, +when the maid had left the room.</p> + +<p>"Surprised isn't the word for it!" Sylvia said. "We were just talking +about you——"</p> + +<p>"I wondered why my ears burned!" laughingly broke in Alice, who seemed +unusually bright and crisp for a native of the Southern clime.</p> + +<p>"We were just saying that we feared you would be the last to arrive," +went on Sylvia, with a smile. "As it is you have reached here before +Baby!"</p> + +<p>"No! You don't mean it!"</p> + +<p>"But I do, my dear!"</p> + +<p>"To think of besting Hazel Reed! Oh, that's just splendid. I——"</p> + +<p>Alice arose and was about to execute a few steps of a new dance, but, +at that moment, the maid came with the elaborately ordered glass of +lemonade on a little silver tray, and it was only by the most skilful +turn, as though extricating herself and her partner from a crowded +corner of the ballroom floor, that Alice saved herself from an accident.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's delicious!" she murmured, as she sipped the spiced, icy +drink. "Your butler must be a Southerner, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"We never knew it. But I'm glad you like it. Yes, you are here before +Hazel, though she may arrive any minute."</p> + +<p>"And when she comes," said Rose, "the Nowadays Club will have a full +membership present. Then, I suppose, Sylvia will condescend to give a +more detailed explanation of the mysterious telegrams she sent us. All +I know is that we're going to spend the summer in the Adirondacks."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that enough to know?" asked Alice. "Why seek to force the hands +of Fate?" and she reclined lazily in her chair, and languidly closed +her eyes.</p> + +<p>She opened them a moment later, however, and a bright, vivacious look +came over her dark face. She clapped her hands and cried out:</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, I <i>must</i> tell you! It's the greatest surprise. You know +Minnie Reynolds, that demure, mouse-like girl that was in our class?"</p> + +<p>"You mean, Cheese?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what we called her—she reminded one so of a mouse, and +cheese always has that association for me. Well, Minnie has 'done gone +an' got he'se'f engaged,' as my old coloured mammy would say."</p> + +<p>"Who's the fellow?" asked Sylvia. "Any one we know?"</p> + +<p>Alice took a long breath, preparatory to answering, but just then the +bell rang again.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if that <i>should</i> be Baby!" murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> Baby!" called out a breezy voice in answer, for the pretty +hostess had spoken even as the maid opened the door. "It <i>is</i> Baby! Who +all's in there?" she went on, eagerly, joyously.</p> + +<p>"Hazel Reed!" murmured Alice. "She'll be <i>furious</i> when she finds I'm +here ahead of her. She can't call me the late Miss Harrow now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're <i>all</i> here!" gasped the newcomer, as she swept into the +room—literally swept in, for her dress caught in a light chair that +she dragged after her.</p> + +<p>"Hello, girls!" she went on. "Oh, Sylvia! <i>Such</i> a trip. Two accidents; +the taxicab driver nearly ran over an old man, I lost my purse—found +it again though, thank goodness. Mislaid your address and I've been +telephoning all over for two mortal hours. But here I am. Kiss me, +<i>everybody</i>! Oh, but it's good to see you all again."</p> + +<p>There was a little cyclone of laughter, and then Sylvia, tinkling a +spoon against a cup to attract attention, called out:</p> + +<p>"Girls, the Nowadays Club will come to order!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A TELEGRAM</h3> + + +<p>Hushed voices—voices that had been exchanging greetings and telling +experiences—followed the dramatic announcement of Sylvia Pursell. She +gazed at her trio of chums, who had seated themselves about the room, +in various positions of comfort.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Madam President." Alice was on her feet. "But is this a +regular meeting, or a special session? I rise to a point of order."</p> + +<p>"I rule that your point of order is not well taken, and for your +information I will say that it is a session <i>most extraordinary</i>, for +we have to talk over our plans for going to the mountains. That is if +you girls <i>are</i> going?" and she looked around at them, pausing at each +face in turn.</p> + +<p>"Going!" echoed Hazel, otherwise known as Baby, on account of her +rather diminutive size. But she was a lovely dancer.</p> + +<p>"I should like to see any one try to keep <i>me</i> at home," Hazel went +on, with that breezy Chicago manner of hers that always made the boys +look at her a second time, first with surprise, and secondly with +admiration. And then they kept on looking, as often as they dared.</p> + +<p>"Indeed we are going," declared Alice. "I have heard so much about +those wild and rugged mountains, and their grand scenery and——"</p> + +<p>"The lakes—don't forget the lakes!" interrupted Rose. "I am just dying +for a chance in a canoe with——"</p> + +<p>"'A book of verses underneath a bough,'" quoted Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"She wants what goes with the book—a young man," declared Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I do <i>not</i>!" stormed Rose, blushing so that her cheeks, which usually +held a most charming centre-tint, were now suffused with carmine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course she doesn't," soothed Alice. "We forgot about Roy, +and——"</p> + +<p>"Alice Harrow, if you——"</p> + +<p>"Don't mind them," advised Sylvia, but at the mention of the name Roy +a shadow seemed to pass over her face. "Let's get on with the meeting. +The Nowadays Club will kindly come to extraordinary order and we'll +talk about this Adirondack trip. I'm so glad you can all go. Now, first +of all I want to speak of——"</p> + +<p>"Dresses! What about them?" broke in Hazel. "I simply <i>must</i> have some +new ones."</p> + +<p>"New York is the best place in the world to get them, and in a hurry, +too," said Rose. "I was going to have my dressmaker in Syracuse turn +me out some, but I decided to wait. We have a week or so; haven't we, +Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"About that, my dear. And I'm counting on showing you everything worth +seeing in Manhattan in that time. You can order your gowns—the very +newest of the new——"</p> + +<p>"Which just perfectly describes our club," murmured Hazel.</p> + +<p>And since, perhaps, a little description of the club will aid my +readers in understanding the object of the four girls, I can find no +better opportunity than now of making them acquainted with it.</p> + +<p>Sylvia Pursell, whose home was in New York City; Rose Bancroft, of +Syracuse; Alice Harrow, who came from an old Southern family, whose +estate was in the vicinity of Baltimore, and Hazel Reed, of breezy +Chicago, had been chums, roommates, classmates and various other sort +of mates at the fashionable boarding school of Miss Stevenson. They had +"finished" there, which means they had just begun, and during their +final year they had formed the "Nowadays Club."</p> + +<p>It was unlike any other organisation, as far as the girls knew. There +were no dues, no initiation fees, no set or formal meetings, and +no officers. Every one was a president, and whoever cared to do so +presided. Usually it was Sylvia, but that was as circumstances dictated.</p> + +<p>The object of the club was expressed in the name. The girls were +"up-to-the-minute" damsels, and they were devotees of the nowadays +idea. That is, they went in for all that was best of such of the +newest matters as came to their attention. As Sylvia said:</p> + +<p>"We don't want to get into a rut!"</p> + +<p>And most assuredly they were not in any danger of doing so. They at +least investigated everything new, from the latest dance to the newest +motor cars. For the girls were all of well-to-do, not to say wealthy, +families.</p> + +<p>They had formed the little club—membership strictly restricted to +four—on the spur of the moment, and it had interested them more than +they had expected it would. During the dance craze they invented new +steps, some of which were adopted by the dancing class which they +attended. If the girls had been in any other position in life than +school—if, for instance, they had been young business men—they would +have succeeded admirably in at least investigating all the newest fads +and fancies, from efficiency and system, to conservation and "turning +around on a smaller margin," as the trade papers call it.</p> + +<p>But, as it was, the girls resolved that they would be real "nowadays" +girls. Of them it must not be said, "Oh, that's the way they used to do +it." Rather the tribute must be paid them that: "Well, that's the way +it's being done nowadays, but I suppose in a week or so something new +will crop up, and——"</p> + +<p>Well, when it did Sylvia, Rose, Hazel and Alice would not only be ready +for it, but waiting impatiently.</p> + +<p>And so, during their last year in the boarding school, they had formed +the little club. It looked for a time, when they had definitely decided +on different colleges, that the organisation would die a natural death. +But it only goes to show that real, vital things never die. They may +change their form, but they never wholly expire. They still exist.</p> + +<p>So it was with the Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was to go to Wellesley, Rose to Smith, Alice to Bryn Mawr, and +Hazel to Vassar. That much had been decided on, the parents having +something to say in each case.</p> + +<p>At first, when the girls found they were to be separated, there were +tears, sighs and protestations. It seemed that they were to go on long +journeys to far countries. Then vivacious Sylvia came to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Look here, girls!" she declaimed at a session of the club held in her +room one night, "this college life is only for four years, and there +are vacations. Besides, the long-distance telephone is available. We +may be separated in body but we must not be in spirit. We must still be +up-to-date—to the minute and a few seconds past it. We won't give up +our club. It shall be all the stronger.</p> + +<p>"And we must here and now resolve——"</p> + +<p>"Hear! Hear!" half-grunted Hazel, in imitation of an Englishman, +"highly excited," at a banquet. "Hear! Hear!"</p> + +<p>"We must now resolve——"</p> + +<p>"Not to cast our ballots!" broke in Alice.</p> + +<p>"This isn't a suffragist meeting," was Rose's rebuke.</p> + +<p>"We must resolve," continued Sylvia, whom little could distract, "we +must resolve not to give up the spirit we have evolved for ourselves. +We will meet and get together whenever we can, after leaving here. +We'll have sessions in summer, of course, and spend all our vacations +together, if possible. The Christmas Holidays we may except, but the +long vacation will give the Nowadays Club even a better chance than we +have had here. Now what do you say? Shall we make it a promise?"</p> + +<p>She paused to look at her chums. The idea seemed to fill them with +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"I'm for it!" declared Alice.</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly fine!" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I'm just in love with the idea," Rose said. "I almost cried when I +found we were to go to different colleges."</p> + +<p>"But it will be all the better for us," declared Sylvia. "For we can +absorb all that is best at each institution, bring it away with us, and +pass it on to one another. In that way we will each broaden——"</p> + +<p>"I don't want to do any <i>broadening</i>," broke in Alice. "I'm getting +too stout as it is. I'll have to pick up a new step in the hesitation +waltz, to make it more difficult."</p> + +<p>"I meant broaden our <i>minds</i>," Sylvia said, pointedly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," assented Alice. "Go on."</p> + +<p>"That's all there is to it," Sylvia said. "We'll just resolve to meet +as often as we can, and be real nowadays girls. Separating now is only +a preparation for a newer form of life and healthy activity."</p> + +<p>And so it had been decided. The pleasant days at Miss Stevenson's +school came to an end in the glories of commencement, with "sweet girl +graduates" galore. This was in late May, for as there were repairs to +be made on the buildings the term was somewhat shortened.</p> + +<p>The Nowadays Girls had separated, with no definite plans for the summer +until Sylvia evolved those which, as our story opens, brought the four +chums together once more—Rose from Syracuse, Alice from Baltimore, and +Hazel from Chicago, she being the last to arrive, much to her chagrin, +for she upheld the liveliness of her own town as against Gotham.</p> + +<p>In brief the plan was this. Sylvia had proposed a tour of the +Adirondacks for that summer, and there was an indefinite understanding +that at each succeeding vacation other famous American resorts would be +visited. But the Adirondacks was to be the beginning. The girls were +to go to Fulton Chain, in the lower Adirondacks, and progress as they +pleased, and when they pleased, stopping where fancy dictated, until +they reached Saranac.</p> + +<p>The four were to be accompanied by Mrs. Theodora Leigh Brownley, a +widow, whose husband had been a noted Confederate soldier. A small +property brought her in such a meagre income that she was forced +to adopt her young-womanhood occupation of teaching school, and +she was one of the best-beloved instructresses at Miss Stevenson's +establishment. Mrs. Brownley was called "Aunt" not only by courtesy, +but through love, for she was a charming character, and the girls were +very fond of her, especially our four. So much did they love her that +when Sylvia had proposed the Adirondack tour, and a chaperon had been +decreed by Mrs. Pursell as absolutely necessary, Aunt Theodora had been +selected.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley had served as such before. In fact she made it a sort of +business to escort parties of young ladies from the school on summer +outings. She had made several trips to Europe as such a conductor, and +while rather grave and dignified, she could very easily adapt herself +to circumstances. Then, too, she was very glad of the added income +which this chaperoning provided. So every one was satisfied.</p> + +<p>The trip had practically been decided on before Sylvia's friends had +reached New York, but after she had summoned them by telegraph, she +wanted to make sure that none of them had changed her plans.</p> + +<p>"And I'm glad none of you have," she said, as the maid came in to +clear away the tea service, Hazel having been refreshed with a +specially-brewed cup. "I think we shall have a lovely summer."</p> + +<p>"I'm positive of it!" declared Rose, with conviction. Again she looked +around, half expectantly, as a masculine step was heard in the hall. +It was only the butler, however.</p> + +<p>"Miss Pursell," he said, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes, James."</p> + +<p>"A telegram."</p> + +<p>Sylvia caught her breath rather sharply.</p> + +<p>"Did any of you girls wire? Could it have been delayed and reached here +after you?" she asked, as she paused, hand outstretched, to take the +telegram from the silver server.</p> + +<p>"I didn't," declared Rose, and the others shook their heads in negation.</p> + +<p>With fingers that trembled Sylvia tore open the yellow envelope. Her +eyes rapidly scanned the few typewritten words on the sheet, and once +more her breath came in a gasp.</p> + +<p>"No bad news, I hope," said Hazel, as she glided across the room and +put her arms about her chum.</p> + +<p>"It—it isn't—good!" faltered Sylvia. "It's Roy—my brother—he—he's +worse!"</p> + +<p>A startled cry came from Rose, who turned pale, so that only a small +tinted spot glowed in either cheek.</p> + +<p>"Roy—ill!" she whispered.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h2> +</div> + +<h3>PREPARATIONS</h3> + + +<p>Something like a portentous influence seemed to have fallen suddenly +over the little party of girls that had been making so merry but a +moment before. Sylvia read the telegram again.</p> + +<p>"Any answer, Miss Pursell?" asked the butler. "I told the boy to wait."</p> + +<p>"No, James. At least not now. I must talk with mother. This came to +me—I wonder why?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps your brother did not want to alarm your mother," suggested +Alice.</p> + +<p>"I suppose so—but——"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know Roy was ill," said Rose, and there was that in her tone +which showed that she had a good right to know—a right that Sylvia +seemed to acknowledge, for she answered:</p> + +<p>"We didn't write and tell you, dear, for we kept hoping that it would +pass, and that he would be all right. But it hasn't, and—oh, dear!" +For a moment Sylvia seemed about to give way, and Hazel tightened her +clasp about her chum.</p> + +<p>"I—I'll be all right in—in a moment," said Sylvia. "It was just—just +the disappointment. I did hope he was going to get along at the +sanitarium."</p> + +<p>"Sanitarium!" fairly gasped Rose. "Is he—has he——"</p> + +<p>"It isn't any real disease," Sylvia made haste to say.</p> + +<p>"Why, he didn't even hint anything to me the last time he wrote," said +Rose, the colour gradually coming back to her cheeks. That she and +Sylvia's big brother, Roy, corresponded was no secret, since it was +generally accepted that they would become engaged some day. Just now +the little affair was in that most delightful of all states, one of +perfect understanding.</p> + +<p>"No, I fancy he didn't want you to know, my dear," replied Sylvia, +gently. "It was, at first, just a breakdown from overwork. You know," +she went on to the other girls, "after Roy graduated from Yale he was +given a fine position with the Hosmore Chemical Company, here in New +York.</p> + +<p>"Roy was just in love with his work, and so enthusiastic. I fear his +very enthusiasm told against him, for he had worked hard at college, +and really overtrained on the football eleven. But he was getting along +splendidly, until the breakdown came."</p> + +<p>"A breakdown," murmured Rose. "He only wrote me that he was tired, and +wanted a rest, but that he would not take it until he had completed his +discovery."</p> + +<p>"That's what did it—the discovery," sighed Rose. "Roy had some ideas +about a new chemical combination that was destined to work wonders. It +had something to do with colouring fabrics, I believe. He told me the +details, but I have forgotten."</p> + +<p>"It was for dyeing silk," explained Rose. "You know since the European +war chemicals and dye-stuffs from Germany, the centre of the trade, +have been dreadfully hard to get over here. So Roy discovered a new way +of utilising some of the coal-tar products, and he hoped to make a big +thing of it."</p> + +<p>"You know more than I do," said Sylvia, but there was not the least +hint of sisterly jealousy in her voice. "I believe it was that, though, +which Roy was working on. Well, he made his discovery——"</p> + +<p>"How nice!" murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"No! It wasn't at all nice!" and Sylvia's voice took on rather a +fierce and indignant tone. "For poor Roy worked so hard over it that +he suffered a mental breakdown. It was complete, added to a sort of +physical going to pieces, and he couldn't remember the proper chemical +combination—the one he worked so hard over. It went from his mind +completely and was as lost to him as though he had never worked it out +during long nights of study. He tried and tried to recall it, and I +suppose that did him no good, mentally or physically. Then he gave up, +and broke down completely. It was terrible, but we hoped for the best. +Then he went away——"</p> + +<p>"Went away?" echoed Rose.</p> + +<p>"Well, rather, he was sent. His firm was very nice to him, granted him +a leave of absence and all that, and even sent one of their young men +from the office away with Roy. Mother wanted to go herself, but the +doctor said she had better not."</p> + +<p>"She must have felt that terribly," commented Hazel. "She was so chummy +with Roy, and he with her."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Sylvia. "It was terrible. But mamma saw that it was for +the best. Papa simply could not leave. His business is so complicated +since the war, that he fairly lives at the office. So Roy went off with +Harry Montray, and he was more than kind to my brother and all of us."</p> + +<p>"Harry Montray?" murmured Alice, questioningly.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you know him," Sylvia said. "He was a Stevens boy, and +he and Roy were real chums. I grew to like Harry very much in the short +time I knew him. He went away with my brother."</p> + +<p>"But where?" asked Rose. "You haven't told me where yet?"</p> + +<p>You notice she did not say "us." But the reason is not far to seek.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I thought I mentioned it," said Sylvia. "Pardon me. Roy is at +Loneberg Camp, Saranac Lake."</p> + +<p>"Saranac Lake!" cried Rose. "Why, that's where we——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's where we are going," Sylvia took up the remark. "That +was one reason that made me keep to my original resolution to make +the Adirondacks our first outing objective. For a time, after we +tentatively selected that, I was inclined to change to Bar Harbor, or +Martha's Vineyard, but when I learned Roy had to go to the mountains +for a complete rest and cure, I was glad I had not made other plans. We +can see him there, and we may do him good."</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure that, collectively, we shall help him to improve, as +I am that, <i>individually</i>, we may," murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Sylvia, her eyes opening wide.</p> + +<p>"Say, rather, <i>whom</i> do I mean," retorted Alice, nodding at Rose, who +was reading the telegram Sylvia had handed her.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Rose, not hearing, or perhaps not heeding, the remark made +about herself, "this message is from that Harry Montray."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Sylvia. "He is looking after Roy. He promised to wire +every day as to how my brother was. Up to now Roy has been very well, +considering. He showed little improvement, to be sure, and worrying +over the forgotten chemical formula was not beneficial. But this is the +first time we have had really unpleasant news concerning him. I suppose +that is why Harry sent the wire to me. I think I must tell mother——"</p> + +<p>"Don't!" interrupted Alice. "At least not yet awhile," she went on. +"Your mother will have enough to worry about, with a house full of +company, and this will only add to it. As long as it isn't dangerous, +and as long as nothing can be done right away, wait until to-morrow to +tell her, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I ought?"</p> + +<p>"I think so," agreed Rose. "We may have better news to-morrow. If we +don't, well, there will be time enough to get up there in a hurry, even +if it is necessary."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," assented Sylvia. "Yes, I'll not say anything to her +about it. I must bring her in to meet you. She is anxious to know you +all, for she has heard so much about you, and she has only seen your +pictures. I'll just keep the unpleasant news from her. I'll see if she +is in her room," and Sylvia lost no time in stepping to the private +telephone with which the large apartment was equipped.</p> + +<p>"Will this make any change in our plans?" asked Hazel. "If it does——"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least, my dear," answered Sylvia, as she was making the +necessary connection, a central being dispensed with. "We may go a bit +earlier, that is all."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we go direct to Saranac Lake?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"We can, if we find it necessary," answered her hostess. "But it will +rather spoil our plans, and can do no good, I fear. The doctor said +it would take time for Roy to get strong enough physically so that +his mental powers would return. But if we get any more disquieting +news we will go direct to Saranac, and not make tours and trips along +the route, as I planned. Hello!" she interrupted, to speak into the +telephone.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pursell was in her room, and said she would be in directly to meet +her daughter's girl chums.</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better tell your butler not to mention the telegram?" +suggested Rose.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I had," agreed Sylvia, slipping out, but returning in time to +present the three girls to her mother. Mrs. Pursell greeted them warmly.</p> + +<p>"You are all just as I pictured you," she said. "Of course I have seen +your photographs. But I think I expected Hazel to be just a trifle +smaller. I think she isn't such a baby!"</p> + +<p>"Well, that's what they all call me," sighed Hazel of the brown eyes. +"I wear high-heeled shoes, and everything to make me look larger, but +I'm in despair of growing taller."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, my dear," Sylvia consoled her, "you are perfectly all +right and charming as you are. Mother, you will go with us to-night; +will you not?"</p> + +<p>"Where, daughter; to another dance? I think not."</p> + +<p>"No, the theatre. I planned to have the girls see that new Shaw play."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I adore Bernard Shaw!" exclaimed Alice. "He is so sarcastic when +you least expect it. He wakes you up—like a dash of cold water in your +face."</p> + +<p>"And about as unpleasantly, at times," commented Rose. "I like a +different sort of alarm clock."</p> + +<p>"We can pick some other play," Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no indeed! I like Shaw. It gives you something to think about +afterward, and that's what we need nowadays."</p> + +<p>"Quite an idea, calling your club that," commented Mrs. Pursell. +"But don't count on me for the theatre, daughter mine. Go and enjoy +yourselves. Father will be home to dinner, so he telephoned."</p> + +<p>"That's so nice of him. It's quite a concession on father's part +to dine with us these days," Sylvia went on. "So you girls must +sufficiently express yourselves as honoured. He'll probably lose I +don't know how many thousand dollars by being away from the office for +even a little while—at least he'll say so, anyhow," and she laughed.</p> + +<p>The girls went to the play, and had supper at Sherry's afterward, Mr. +Pursell allowing himself to be made a member of the merry little party, +that attracted more than passing glances, for each of the four girls +was distractingly pretty.</p> + +<p>"And now to pack and pack and then pack some more," said Sylvia, gaily, +the next day. "Oh, I forgot, you girls want to see about gowns. But you +won't need such elaborate ones. A couple for dances at the hotels, and +the rest—well, we're going to rough it, rather than otherwise. Now +then——"</p> + +<p>The butler knocked and entered.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Miss Pursell," he said, "but you are wanted at the +telephone. It's long-distance."</p> + +<p>"Long-distance," faltered Sylvia. At once the same thought came to all +the girls—Roy—up in the Adirondack woods.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>"WATCH YOUR STEP!"</h3> + + +<p>Rose caught her breath sharply, as Sylvia swept, with a slithering of +her silken skirts, to the extension telephone in the reception hall. +And even as she prepared to listen and speak over the wire, the girl +had a cautioning thought.</p> + +<p>"You didn't tell mother; did you, James?" she asked, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Pursell. The message was for you."</p> + +<p>"I know. That's right. Still I thought——Hello!" she interrupted +herself to speak into the transmitter. "Yes, this is Miss Pursell. Oh, +it's you, Mr. Montray. Oh, yes, I——"</p> + +<p>The door swung shut, closing Sylvia away from her chums, and they only +heard the murmur of her voice as she talked. Rose arose and paced +nervously to and from a certain window. She wondered if the message +concerned her.</p> + +<p>Presently Sylvia rejoined her friends. There was a glow on her face, a +happy glint in her eyes, and something in her whole bearing that told +them it was good news, and not bad, even before she spoke. Gaily she +cried:</p> + +<p>"Roy is much better!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm <i>so</i> glad!" breathed Rose, and her complexion vied with her +name.</p> + +<p>"Were you talking to him?" asked Alice, as she turned an emerald ring +on her finger—an emerald that caused much wonder among strangers as +to where she had obtained it, for it was a most beautiful stone. But, +perhaps unromantically enough, a maternal aunt had bequeathed it to +Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, I wasn't talking to Roy, but to his friend, Harry Montray," +replied Sylvia. "He said he knew we would be anxious after the telegram +of yesterday, so, as he happened to be near a long-distance telephone, +he called up, instead of telegraphing. He wanted to explain certain +things."</p> + +<p>"About Roy?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Baby! What else?" Sylvia's eyes opened wide.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't know," and she tried to seem indifferent.</p> + +<p>"But tell us the news!" begged Rose.</p> + +<p>"That's so. Don't keep her in suspense," suggested Alice, as she held +the cool emerald against her cheek, as Nero is said to have held one +against his eye, perhaps better to see, or, perhaps, to make him more +dissatisfied with life by imparting a green tint to the complexions of +his flatterers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Roy is much better," went on his sister. "That little depression +of the day before seemed to be but a passing nervous spell."</p> + +<p>"But is he better—all well?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed, and he won't be for some time. But he is in no +immediate danger. Had he been, either mamma or papa would have gone up +at once. What he needs is complete rest and change, and he is getting +both. It is only that he cannot make his mind do what he wants it to, +and bring back the memory of that forgotten chemical combination. That +is what is worrying him, for there is a comparatively large fortune in +it, both for himself and for his firm.</p> + +<p>"It is too bad he lost all memory of it, but it may come back to him. +Until it does, though, he will worry and fret, and that will retard his +recovery, Harry says. But he is growing stronger physically, and in +another month or so there may be a big change."</p> + +<p>"That's good," murmured Alice, with a sympathetic glance at Rose.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps when we go to see him that will at least cheer him up," said +Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I am hoping so," Sylvia agreed. "Poor Roy! he isn't having a very good +time. He just loves the woods, to hunt and fish and camp, but I imagine +he can't do many of those things now. Taking a rest cure is so——"</p> + +<p>"Unrestful," put in Alice, as she caught Hazel by the shoulders and +whirled her about, forcing her over toward the piano. "Come!" she +cried. "Away with gloomy thoughts, since Sylvia has had good news! +Let's try that new whirl in the onestep. Don't you remember—the step +backward, then forward, a halt and a whirl—this way!"</p> + +<p>Humming to herself she glided gracefully about the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you want to dance," said Sylvia, "let's go out to the library +and take up the rugs. We can start the 'canned music,' as Roy calls the +phonograph, and have some good practice. But really, though I hate to +begin, I ought to be packing!" and she sighed.</p> + +<p>"And I ought to be shopping!" added Hazel. "But we've time enough. I am +easy to fit, and not fussy. On with the dance. Come, Rose, I'll lead +you."</p> + +<p>But Rose rather hung back, and there was a far-off look in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Are you worried, dear?" asked Sylvia, in a whisper, as Alice and Hazel +led the way to the library for dance practice.</p> + +<p>"A little—yes."</p> + +<p>Sylvia pressed her chum's hand.</p> + +<p>"Don't be," she said. "I'm sure he will be all right."</p> + +<p>"I hope so. But——"</p> + +<p>The music of a catchy onestep floated in to them, and soon the girls +were gliding about the unrugged floor.</p> + +<p>"Do the aëroplane," suggested Sylvia. "You know, the one with four +steps on one side, four on the other, then the walk-about and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I just love that. It's so restful!" cried Hazel.</p> + +<p>The merry impromptu dance went on, and then Sylvia bethought herself +that she had not given to her mother the good news that had come by +telephone. When she came back, after having done this, the girls were +waltzing, Alice with a large vase as a partner, while Hazel had taken +Rose.</p> + +<p>"I want to get that 'marcel wave' down more smoothly," explained Alice. +"I'm sure they'll be doing that at all the hotels this summer."</p> + +<p>They shopped that afternoon and the next and for several successive +days. Rush orders were given dressmakers. The town car was in constant +demand for visits to shops, and the apartment looked like "a May +morning cyclone," as Sylvia expressed it, for there were gowns and hats +on every chair and in every corner.</p> + +<p>"I thought you girls were going to do this thing simply, and rough +it in the mountains," said Mr. Pursell, as he "waded through" the +filled-up hall one evening.</p> + +<p>"We are, Daddy mine!" laughingly answered Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"This doesn't look like it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you know nowadays, Daddy, it's awfully hard to be simple."</p> + +<p>"Like being good, I suppose," he chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you're +going—I mean I'm sorry to lose the jolly company of you young ladies," +he hastened to add, "but I'm glad you're going up to see Roy. He needs +it. I'd go myself only I can't possibly leave. What was the report +to-day, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"Just about the same. He is fretting a little."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps that's a good sign. They say when a sick person frets +he's getting better. Now, Sylvia, how about your trip? Have you it all +planned out? When does Aunt Theodora-and-all-the-rest-of-it arrive?"</p> + +<p>"Don't let her hear you say that!" cautioned his daughter, raising an +admonishing finger. "She is very dignified at times, but jolly enough +when she wants to be. She'll be with us to-morrow, and we will start +two days after that. She may want to do a little shopping in New York, +since she won't get to Paris this year."</p> + +<p>"Have you the train schedule?" asked Mr. Pursell.</p> + +<p>"All complete," replied Sylvia, tapping a bundle of time-tables and +railroad folders. "We leave the Grand Central Terminal at 12:25, and we +can reach Fulton Chain at 11:05 the next day; that is if we don't stop +off anywhere."</p> + +<p>"Were you thinking of that?" asked Mr. Pursell.</p> + +<p>"I wanted them to stop off at Syracuse," put in Rose.</p> + +<p>"And we may," half-promised Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Do you know any of the University fellows?" Hazel wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"Of course she does—scores of them," declared Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Then we stop off," decided Alice. "That settles it!" and the others +laughed at her vehemence.</p> + +<p>Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley arrived, and was made welcome by Mr. and +Mrs. Pursell. They made the gentle, dignified Southern lady feel at +home at once, and when Mrs. Brownley discovered, wholly by accident, +that there was living in the same apartment a member of an old and +distinguished family of Fairfax County, Virginia, the little reserve +she had shown melted at once.</p> + +<p>"I can be quite reconciled to New York, and even to these +semi-barbarous apartment houses, if a Randolph can be comfortable +here," said Mrs. Brownley. "It is much nicer than I thought."</p> + +<p>Then began a busy time, with the town car working veritably night +and day, taking the girls here and there, to fill engagements with +dressmakers and milliners, to shop, attend teas and what-not. But +slowly the pile of pretty things in the various rooms was reduced. +Trunks began to fill, and finally came the day when the Nowadays Club +held a last informal meeting in the home of Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"We leave to-morrow," was the announcement of the president <i>pro tem</i>. +"Now don't any of you forget anything."</p> + +<p>"Have you the tickets, Sylvia?" asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Indeed we have, Aunt Theodora."</p> + +<p>"And you have definitely decided to stop off at Syracuse?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Rose wants us to, and we may not get another chance soon to meet +her people."</p> + +<p>"Very well then, my dear, I shall take my afternoon nap, something I +deprive myself of when school is in session."</p> + +<p>Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley had a very comfortable habit of indulging +in a siesta when acting as chaperon. Perhaps she emulated those +paragons of chaperons, the Spanish <i>duennas</i>.</p> + +<p>After a light and rather "flighty" lunch next day, the girls motored +to the Grand Central Terminal, and even in that vast extent of station +with its marble, its tiles, its hurrying, bustling throngs, its +red-capped porters, and its general air of caring for nothing and no +one, the girls created no little stir, as they marched in, two by two, +with Aunt Theodora in the lead and several porters bringing up the rear +with handbags.</p> + +<p>"We certainly are doing it in style!" murmured Hazel, to whom attention +was as the breath of life.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="" id="illus1"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"WE CERTAINLY ARE DOING IT IN STYLE!" MURMURED HAZEL.</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>"Of course! Why not?" demanded Alice. "After all, there is no place +just like New York for cutting a dash!"</p> + +<p>"Well, don't cut up too much," advised Hazel.</p> + +<p>Their train was being announced as they entered, and they passed out +through the iron-grilled gates to the parlour car, which glowed with +many electric lights, for it was dark out on that labyrinth of tracks.</p> + +<p>The porters were tipped most graciously by Aunt Theodora, who received +the homage of doffed caps as only a Southern woman can, and then the +girls settled themselves comfortably for a long ride.</p> + +<p>"Well, we are starting," said Sylvia, with a little sigh, as a gentle +motion was imparted to the long, heavy train. "We are off to the +Adirondacks, girls."</p> + +<p>"And I wonder what we shall find there?" murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"Find? What do you mean?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know—exactly."</p> + +<p>"I hope we find Roy better," voiced Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"So do I," echoed Rose. But she smiled, for the early morning telegram, +in the form of a night-letter this time, had brought good news ere they +had left for the station.</p> + +<p>But though Rose smiled, somehow, and in a manner for which she could +not account, she had a feeling of vague apprehension. And that this +apprehension had to do with Roy need not be doubted. It was a feeling +as though "something were going to happen," as we often tell ourselves. +That was as much of it as Rose could define.</p> + +<p>But she managed to shake off a little of the feeling as the train came +out of the gloomy line of tunnel-walls and, beyond One Hundred and +Twenty-fifth Street, emerged into the open. True there was not much to +see, but it was better than nothing, or the stone walls.</p> + +<p>Hazel went to the end of the swaying car for a drink of water—a thirst +having been engendered by an indulgence in candy—and on her way back +a sudden swaying of the coach threw her off her balance.</p> + +<p>"Watch your step!" called out a young man, near whose chair she was +struggling. Hazel tried to, but could not, and the next moment she was +neatly deposited on the arm of—not the young man, but the arm of the +chair in which he sat. He put up his hand to Hazel's back to prevent +her toppling completely over, murmuring again:</p> + +<p>"Watch your step!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h2> +</div> + +<h3>IN SYRACUSE</h3> + + +<p>"Beg your pardon! Hope you're not hurt?"</p> + +<p>It was the young man standing before Hazel, and bowing as he assisted +her in getting to her feet from her seat on the arm of his chair.</p> + +<p>"I beg—<i>your</i> pardon," murmured Hazel, her face suffused with the +blushes that she could not keep back. "It was—it was——"</p> + +<p>"I know, the train! They run a bit unevenly at times with these +electric locomotives. Perfectly excusable. Are you sure you're not +hurt—sprained ankle, or anything like that?" he asked, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," murmured Baby. She could see a changed look come over +the young man's face. He had taken her for a little girl, and he had +found on looking into her eyes that she could not be so classed, though +she was "Baby."</p> + +<p>By this time Aunt Theodora had become aware of the little accident and +was walking down the aisle.</p> + +<p>"Is anything——" she began.</p> + +<p>"Nothing at all!" cried Hazel, quickly, and she gently disengaged her +hand from the rather too warm and ardent one of the young man. He had +taken her hand in assisting her to arise, and he seemed very willing +to repeat the ceremony. But Hazel knew how to put up the barriers, +though she smiled innocently enough at the youth.</p> + +<p>"Why—why!" began Aunt Theodora, and Sylvia began to fear that +something unpleasant was about to transpire. But certainly it was not +Hazel's fault that a lurch of the train nearly threw her into the grasp +of a good-looking young man. And he had behaved very nicely about it, +too. All the girls agreed on that point when they talked the matter +over among themselves afterward.</p> + +<p>"It's Jack Benton, isn't it?" demanded Aunt Theodora, as she extended +her hand to the young man in question.</p> + +<p>Hazel gasped. This was condescension indeed on the part of their +chaperon. But, somehow or other, Hazel was very glad. She had evidently +"fallen in" with one of Aunt Theodora's acquaintances, and, in spite of +her rather conservative ways, Mrs. Brownley was quite cosmopolitan in +many respects, and had numerous acquaintances in various queer corners +of the earth.</p> + +<p>"I'm Jack Benton—yes'm," and he clipped the last word with just the +proper accent to prevent it degenerating broadly into "ma'am."</p> + +<p>"You don't know me, but your sister Ruth——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course—Miss Stevenson's school—you're Mrs. Brownley—I met +you at the commencement. But—er—I didn't know you with your hat on, I +suppose—at least, that is—I—er——"</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow!" murmured Sylvia, trying her best not to laugh, for Jack +was certainly embarrassed and making a "mess of it."</p> + +<p>"Is this—er—your——?" Clearly he was at a loss how to classify +Hazel. And she, little minx that she was, said not a word to give him +an inkling. She might, indeed, have been Mrs. Brownley's daughter or +granddaughter.</p> + +<p>"But how could I speak, except to say 'beg pardon!' when I hadn't been +introduced?" Hazel asked the girls afterward.</p> + +<p>"You couldn't of course—not with Aunt Theodora there," was the +decision of Alice, after a long discussion of the point in question, +and you may be sure the girls missed nothing in discussing the matter +from all its angles.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia—Hazel—all of you—you must remember Ruth Benton," said Mrs. +Brownley. "And to think of meeting you here. Is your sister with you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I am travelling alone, though I expect a party of friends to +meet me at Albany. Some Yale fellows and I are going on a little trip +up-state."</p> + +<p>"How nice! I'm so glad to meet you again, Jack. These are some of my +girls. They know your sister slightly, though they were not in her +class. Sylvia—Miss Pursell—this is Jack Benton—Miss Hazel Reed——"</p> + +<p>"We have met before," and Jack, of the laughing eyes, smiled at Hazel +of the brown orbs. The others were presented.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if we are to call him Jack?" murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would!" he said, quickly.</p> + +<p>She blushed vividly—not thinking he had heard her.</p> + +<p>"It's so much nicer," he went on. "Please, Mrs. Brownley—Aunt +Theodora—tell them to!"</p> + +<p>"To what, Jack?" The chaperon had been speaking to one of the porters +about getting her a hassock.</p> + +<p>"Tell them to call me Jack. Let's not be conventional—at least not on +this trip. Let's pretend it's a sea-voyage, and that this is a steamer. +You know," he went on, speaking to Hazel, but for the benefit of all, +"that acquaintances on shipboard don't count for anything—that is, I +don't mean that—I—er—I mean—oh, call me Jack!" he finished, as the +only way out of the tangle.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why they shouldn't," declared Aunt Theodora. "I intend +to call you that, as I call your sister Ruth. The young ladies have +my permission. Won't you join us in a cup of tea? We had a very early +lunch."</p> + +<p>Jack winced a little at the mention of tea. Sylvia could see that, and +it became another subject for discussion later.</p> + +<p>"Delighted, I'm sure," he, however, murmured submissively.</p> + +<p>"They're going to put up one of the little tables near our chairs," +went on Mrs. Brownley. "You can move down there. The car isn't +crowded, and there are some vacant places near us."</p> + +<p>"Of course," he assented. "Then it's to be Jack—and—er—Hazel?" he +ventured, with another laughing-eyed glance at her.</p> + +<p>"I—I suppose so," she murmured, though she did not seem much abashed.</p> + +<p>"That's what Chicago will do for one," said Sylvia afterward.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing of the sort!" cried Hazel, defending herself.</p> + +<p>But they all ended by calling him Jack, and he addressed them by their +first names. After all they were but girls and a boy.</p> + +<p>"Very nice people," said Mrs. Brownley, in an aside to Sylvia. "I have +visited them. Very cultured and all that. Nice to know."</p> + +<p>Sylvia was sure of it, as she glanced at Jack. He was a clean-cut +youth, with perfect even and white teeth that made his smile most +charming.</p> + +<p>Soon they were merrily gathered about the tea table, sipping the +fragrant beverage, and nibbling toast and cakes. The girls had better +appetites than Jack Benton evinced, but then they had been so excited +at the prospect of starting that they had done little justice to the +early luncheon Mrs. Pursell had had prepared for them.</p> + +<p>"You certainly have a fine trip ahead of you," Jack said, when the +objective of the Nowadays Girls had been revealed to him. "I was up in +the Adirondacks last fall, hunting, and it was delightful then. It +must be more so now, with the lakes, the fishing, the boating and all +that. Wish I were going along."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it would be nice," murmured Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you think he'll be there to pick you up every time you +stumble on the trail," whispered Alice.</p> + +<p>Hazel did not answer, save by a look.</p> + +<p>At Albany a group of college boys joined Jack. He introduced them to +his new friends, and there was a merry party that enlivened the coach +for part of the remaining distance.</p> + +<p>The boys left the party at Herkimer, and there was where the girls +would have gone on to their trip to the Adirondacks had not they voted +to visit Rose at Syracuse. I have spoken of "stopping off" at the Salt +City, but it really was a going on, since they would have to come back +to get on the railroad line that would take them to Fulton Chain.</p> + +<p>But they were in no haste, and, as Sylvia said, they might not be +up that way again, so it was only fair to take advantage of this +opportunity of stopping at the home of Rose.</p> + +<p>"I hope I see you all again," Jack Benton had said, on leaving the +party, but, though he included all, he had looked last at Hazel, and +had shaken hands with her finally.</p> + +<p>The girls, naturally, teased her about this afterward. But she only +said:</p> + +<p>"I don't care! He was awfully nice!"</p> + +<p>And that was her only excuse.</p> + +<p>Slowly the train rolled through the streets of Syracuse. Slowly because +there were so many grade crossings, and then came a whirling taxicab +trip to the home of Rose, where a warm welcome was extended to the +Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>They remained in Syracuse for a week, paying a visit out to the salt +works, where the brine is pumped up from the depths of the earth, +spread out in shallow vats to be evaporated, leaving behind the saline +crystals which, after being treated, to clarify them, are ready for the +market. The girls secured some of the peculiar, brown crystals left +in the bottoms of the kettles. Sawed into blocks, they made odd and +excellent paper weights.</p> + +<p>It was a round of gaiety in Syracuse, for the University had not yet +closed, and Rose knew many young people. So they had all the dances +they wished for, with teas, theatre parties and other like forms of +entertainment.</p> + +<p>"And now really for the Adirondacks!" exclaimed Sylvia, when they were +again ready to make a start. She had received word that her brother was +doing as well as could be expected, though his fretfulness over his +inability to recall the chemical secret was having no very good effect.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE MISSING EMERALD</h3> + + +<p>The Nowadays Girls arrived at Fulton Chain at 11:05 in the morning, and +stopped for lunch in a little restaurant before taking the branch train +that went to Old Forge. Their trip had been a pleasant one, though a +trifle tiresome toward the end. But already they were beginning to feel +the invigorating mountain air, and it seemed to bring new life to them.</p> + +<p>They had been mounting steadily upward, and now were about eighteen +hundred feet above sea level. All about them, save for the little +settlements, and the open spaces where the blue-tinted lakes broke the +continuity, was the vast forest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, can't you just smell the balsam!" cried Sylvia, as she breathed in +deep of the sweetly scented air.</p> + +<p>"They say it makes one sleep," said Rose. "But who would want to sleep +up here?"</p> + +<p>"No one," assented Hazel. "I just want to get out in the woods, or in a +boat, and <i>live</i>!"</p> + +<p>"It is glorious!" declared Alice. "Just perfectly glorious!"</p> + +<p>From Fulton Chain a little railroad ran the two miles, more or less, to +Old Forge. This was a village with a summer population of about two +thousand, and it was more up-to-date than the girls had expected to +find it. The stores were well stocked, and they learned that there was +an ever-increasing trade with summer campers and hotel folk. All about +the vicinity were many small lakes, the restaurant keeper told the +girls, and on the shores were many camping parties. There would be more +as the season advanced.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do when we get to Old Forge?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's where we can have a choice of doing several things," +Sylvia explained. "You know Old Forge is the gateway, so to speak, to +eight small lakes, and they are numbered instead of being named. We can +go by canoe or guide-boat, through the eight lakes to Raquette, and so +on, travelling any way that suits us, to Saranac. What do you say to +canoeing and carrying?"</p> + +<p>"The canoeing sounds all right, but what is this carrying?" asked +Hazel. "Is it carrying-on?"</p> + +<p>"That means you have to carry your canoe," answered Sylvia, with a +laugh.</p> + +<p>"Why can't you ride in it?"</p> + +<p>"Because there isn't any water."</p> + +<p>"But you just said there were eight lakes——"</p> + +<p>"I know, but look here!" Sylvia spread out a railroad map on the now +cleared restaurant table.</p> + +<p>"This is how it is," Sylvia explained, for she had made a study of it +before proposing the Adirondack trip. "From Old Forge, where we'll go +soon, and spend the night, we can canoe through the first four lakes, +which are in a sort of chain—like beads, I suppose. Or we can go on a +steamer, or in a guide-boat."</p> + +<p>"What's a guide-boat?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"A boat with a guide in it, of course," declared Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Not exactly," explained Sylvia. "It's a sort of boat designed by the +guides up here. It's a little safer than a canoe, but almost as light, +and you can row it or paddle it, and it will stand pretty rough water."</p> + +<p>"Well, that sounds interesting," observed Alice. "I'm rather inclined +to a guide-boat myself."</p> + +<p>"The steamer seems rather attractive," suggested Mrs. Brownley, "but +you girls do just as you please. I've been in gondolas on the Grand +Canal of Venice, and I'm not going to hold back when it comes to an +Adirondack guide-boat!"</p> + +<p>"Suppose we leave that question until we get to Old Forge, and look the +ground—or, rather, the water—over," suggested Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Good!" assented Hazel.</p> + +<p>"It's twelve miles through the first four lakes," went on Sylvia, "and +a steamer doesn't seem necessary. Then, after we get to the end of the +fourth lake there is a carry of one mile to the sixth lake."</p> + +<p>"Just what is a carry?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"It's where you have to carry your boat, and everything in it, over dry +land, from one body of water to another," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Do they actually carry the boats—I mean—would <i>we</i> have to?" Hazel +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"We wouldn't. The guides, or boatmen, would do that, and they'd carry +all our luggage," Sylvia explained. "That's why they use canoes, and +very light boats, so they can easily be transported over the land +trails. Well, as I said, it's a one-mile carry from the fourth to the +sixth lake."</p> + +<p>"My, she's a regular guide-book," mocked Alice.</p> + +<p>"What about the fifth lake?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"The carry is around that. It's winding and twisting, and one can make +better time going on land. Besides, that little lake may be filled with +stumps—and alligators—for all I know."</p> + +<p>"Alligators—ugh!" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! No alligators up here," laughed Rose. "This isn't the +Everglades of Florida."</p> + +<p>"Go on. What else, Sylvia?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Well, you canoe, or boat, through lakes six and seven, and then comes +another mile carry to lake eight, and when you get to the end of that +you're ready to——"</p> + +<p>"Have supper and go to bed," finished Hazel, with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," admitted Sylvia. "Anyhow, from the eighth lake to Brown's +Tract Inlet, which is the southern end of Raquette, is a carry of a +mile and a half."</p> + +<p>"Going up!" called Alice, in imitation of an elevator boy.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's the last carry for some time," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness! It makes one tired to think of the poor men carting +those boats on their shoulders," cried Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Well, now we're supposed to be on Raquette Lake," went on Sylvia, "and +that is quite a body of water. The book says there are brook trout, +lake trout, whitefish and bass in those waters, but I think they're not +all in season now."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know fish had seasons, like oysters," murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed they do," Sylvia declared, "and we must be true sporting +girls, and observe the game laws, too, if we do any fishing. If we +don't, well, we may be arrested, that's all."</p> + +<p>"I'll let the guide do my fishing," murmured Alice, with a look at +her slim, white hands, which were set off wonderfully well by the +shimmering green emerald.</p> + +<p>"Now that's the programme for the first part of our trip," resumed +Sylvia. "We can make the lake journey in a day, if we want to, or we +can stop off here and there as suits our fancy. We want to get the best +possible fun out of this vacation, so I think it's nice not to have any +set schedule, except as to where we are going to spend the night."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is always best to arrange for that in advance," agreed Mrs. +Brownley. "I wouldn't want any of you to be sleeping out in an open +camp in these woods at night. We must bow to some of the conventions, +even if you are Nowadays Girls," she added.</p> + +<p>They telephoned from Fulton Chain to the inn at Old Forge, and managed +to engage rooms. On the little short line of railroad they made the +trip, arriving late in the afternoon, and going direct to the hotel. +Then, while waiting for supper, they went out to look at the lake, at +the end of which is located the quaint and pretty village.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is just perfect here, just perfect," murmured Sylvia. "Aren't +all you girls glad you came?"</p> + +<p>"Aren't we, though—just!" cried Alice.</p> + +<p>"It was sweet of you to think all this out for us," said Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm enjoying it as much as you, if not more," was Sylvia's +rejoinder. "What's the matter, Rose? Why aren't you talking?" she +asked, in lower tones, for Rose was looking silently out over the +placid lake. "I imagine we are thinking of the same thing," went on +Roy's sister. "Never mind; we'll see him soon."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," was the low-voiced answer.</p> + +<p>There was to be a public dance at the hotel that night, as a number +of summer tourists and campers had arrived on the same train with the +girls. Among them were several young men who looked with eager, but +perfectly respectful, eyes at the girls.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure they can dance," sighed Hazel, "and I do so want a good +partner. I wonder if there isn't a public introducer here!"</p> + +<p>"Hazel Reed!" gasped Rose.</p> + +<p>"That's perfectly proper nowadays," protested the Chicago girl. "It's +done all the while, especially during the summer. I'm going to ask Mrs. +Brownley."</p> + +<p>Aunt Theodora considered the matter from several angles, and, after +a talk with the hotel proprietor and his wife, decided that the +girls might properly meet the young men. They were well known to the +hotel-keeper, and many others present, having been at the same camp for +a number of years in succession.</p> + +<p>And so with little, delightful flutters of excitement and anticipation, +the girls opened their trunks and laid out some simple evening frocks +for the dance, which was to be semi-informal.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're playing that lovely Cecile hesitation," murmured Hazel, +as she and the others "floated" down to the ballroom, the dining-room +having been cleared for the occasion.</p> + +<p>The girls found their young men partners no less eager than they +themselves, and soon the room presented a merry spectacle. It was the +first large hop of the season, rather marking the official opening, in +a measure, and the music was particularly good, for the musicians were +some college boys who had thus started to earn vacation money to help +pay their expenses.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it lovely!" whispered Alice, during an interval in the dance.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly splendid!" echoed Sylvia. "Have you a good partner?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he dances like a dream!"</p> + +<p>"Be careful you don't awaken and find it a nightmare."</p> + +<p>"No danger. Oh, look! He's bringing some one up to introduce him, I do +believe. I don't care so much for him," and she indicated the youth, +who was approaching with her partner.</p> + +<p>"Allow me," murmured George Watson, with whom Alice had been dancing, +and he presented another youth, who at once asked for a dance, and was +not refused, as Alice's partner had asked to take out Sylvia for the +next fox trot.</p> + +<p>Alice's dislike of her newer acquaintance increased as the dance went +on. He was a good dancer, but he talked too much, and asked too many +questions, not altogether conventional. And he held Alice's hand in too +firm a grasp. She tried to impress her dislike on him without voicing +it in so many words, but he would not take a hint.</p> + +<p>"That was fine!" he exclaimed, as they stood together in the middle +of the room, and applauded for an encore. "Wasn't it?" and he looked +rather too boldly into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"The music is very nice—yes," she assented, a bit coldly. Then the +strains began again, and they danced off.</p> + +<p>It was when Alice went with Sylvia to get a glass of lemonade, after +the sixth dance, that she made a discovery.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my emerald ring!" she exclaimed, looking hastily down at the +floor. "It's gone—it isn't on my finger!"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you wore it downstairs?" asked Sylvia, knowing what a +commotion a report of anything valuable being lost occasions at a +hotel, and how much suspicion is cast thereby.</p> + +<p>"Of course I had it. I remember that Mr. Watson remarked upon it, and +when I danced with the fellow he introduced—I think his name was +Tupson—the ring really hurt my hand, he squeezed it so!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Alice!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he did! But my lovely emerald is gone, and it's worth I don't +know how much! I must speak to the proprietor right away."</p> + +<p>"Tell Aunt Theodora first," suggested Sylvia. "But make sure it hasn't +slipped off into your glass of lemonade, or fallen into a fold of your +dress. Was the ring loose enough to come off easily?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, too easily. My fingers seem to have shrunk, lately. I intended +to have the ring made smaller. But now it's gone. Oh, dear!" and there +were traces of tears in her eyes.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>OVERBOARD</h3> + + +<p>There was a hurried search in the room where the girls then were, a +search that extended even to the pitcher of lemonade. But the gleaming +emerald was not found. Alice was becoming more and more upset every +moment, for, while the ring was hers, it was a very valuable one and +she knew her family would be most distressed at its loss.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it must be found!" the girl cried.</p> + +<p>Her chums were with her now. There was a little lull in the dance, and +refreshments were being sought.</p> + +<p>"Whom were you with when you missed it?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't with any one exactly when I missed it, but I was dancing with +that Tupson fellow just before," and she related to Hazel and Rose what +she had previously told Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"We must tell Aunt Theodora at once," was the decision the three girls +reached for Alice, since she was too nervous to decide for herself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley raised her eyebrows in surprise when told of the +circumstance. She did not say, as she well might have done, at least in +her own opinion, that Alice should not have worn the ring in the first +place to a public dance, and in the second, she ought not to have +danced with a young fellow to whom she had taken a dislike.</p> + +<p>But that was over and done with. The matter now uppermost was how to +recover the jewel, and that at the least cost of embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"You don't dare ask him baldly whether he saw it, or felt it slip from +your finger," said Hazel.</p> + +<p>"No-o-o-o," replied Alice, slowly, her eyes roving about the floor as +if she might see in some nook or corner the golden circlet with its +wonderful green stone.</p> + +<p>"We must speak to the proprietor about it, and have him make an +announcement," decided Mrs. Brownley. "He can do that without +giving offence to any one. He can say that a valuable ring has been +lost—dropped, if you like—on the dancing-floor. No one can be +offended at that, not even the servants, and they are very quick to +take umbrage at the slightest imputation on their characters."</p> + +<p>"That's very true," agreed Alice. "Yes, an announcement of that kind +can do no harm. Oh, isn't it horrid! And there's a lovely onestep +starting now," and in spite of her distress she could not refrain from +humming some of the airs in the medley the musicians were then playing.</p> + +<p>"You girls stay here, and leave this to me," said Aunt Theodora. "I'll +speak to the proprietor," and she went out in her most majestic manner, +fairly sweeping her way along.</p> + +<p>The music stopped with a crash, and the dancers out on the waxen floor +looked wonderingly one at the other.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" was on the lips of all.</p> + +<p>The Nowadays Girls looked out from the little room where they had been +refreshing themselves with lemonade. They saw the hotel proprietor +advance to the middle of the floor, and at once an excited whisper ran +around.</p> + +<p>"They think he's going to stop the dancing, because—well perhaps +because it is too 'advanced' for this wilderness," whispered Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" urged Rose.</p> + +<p>The announcement was made, with the request that if the ring were found +it be left at the hotel office. Then the music began once more, and the +dancing was resumed.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Alice, aren't you going out again?" asked Rose, for Alice sat +down in a chair, her face having lost all its brightness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't feel a bit like dancing. I must find my ring!"</p> + +<p>The other girls were out on the floor now, near the doorway of the +little refreshment room. A group of young men, who had been telling +their companions what wonderful dancers our friends were, came fairly +swarming up to claim partners. Among them was young Tupson, and there +was an eager look on his face.</p> + +<p>"I say, Miss Harrow!" he began, catching sight of Alice in spite of +her effort to draw back, "whose ring was lost? Not yours, I hope? Not +that one with the green stone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the one," she answered. She almost hated herself for the +ugly suspicion that came unbidden into her mind.</p> + +<p>"Why, I saw that on your finger just before we danced the last encore," +he said. "I'm sure you had it on then."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know I had it," Alice said, "but now it's gone."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say now, that's too bad! We fellows will help you look for it. I +say Watson, Craig—let's organise a searching party!"</p> + +<p>"We can look while we're dancing; can't we?" suggested the youth who +had been whirling about with Rose. He liked her style and was anxious +for another turn on the excellent floor.</p> + +<p>"It will be best to look when the dancers are off," said Sylvia. +"Besides, the ring might be stepped on, and how hard are emeralds, +anyhow?" she asked, generally. "Are they as hard as diamonds, so they +can be stepped on with impunity?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shouldn't want my ring stepped on!" gasped Alice.</p> + +<p>"I should say <i>not</i>!" chimed in Tupson. His was not a personality that +attracted any of the girls. It was what, slangily, might be called +"fresh," yet he seemed anxious to do all he could, and he totally +ignored the suspicion that might have attached to him, since he, +admittedly, was the last one to be with Alice before the ring was +missed.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what we ought to do, fellows," he went on. "Ask every +one to get off the floor for a while—the dancers, musicians, servants, +every one. Then we'll organise a committee, get brooms and sweep the +place. That ought to find the ring if it's here."</p> + +<p>"That's the idea!" declared his friend Watson.</p> + +<p>"It would be most excellent, I think," said Mrs. Brownley. "If it can +be done——"</p> + +<p>"I'll see to it," went on Tupson, who seemed to have plenty of +assurance. He hurried over to the proprietor, talked with him a few +minutes, and the latter made another announcement. The floor was to be +cleared to allow a search for the ring, in order that it might not be +stepped on.</p> + +<p>A little later the corps of young fellows, armed with brooms, were +carefully going over the dancing-floor, while, from the porch outside, +and from adjoining rooms and halls, the dancers watched.</p> + +<p>But the ring was not found, and Alice had much ado to keep from falling +the tears that brimmed into her eyes. The dance was resumed, though a +little spirit of depression seemed to have settled over it.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going out again?" asked Rose of Alice, when the former came +to a chair to rest after a rather strenuous fox trot.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't—no—yes, I am, too! I'm going to be game! I'm not going +to let them see that I care. After all, it isn't so much the value +of the ring, as the associations connected with it. Mamma will feel +dreadfully, of course, but father couldn't bear emeralds. I loved it, +though, it was so quaint, and——"</p> + +<p>"It matched your hand so well," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wasn't thinking of that," Alice said.</p> + +<p>And she did go out again and dance, not heeding the many eyes that +followed her, for it was whispered about that she was the owner of the +lost ring, and its value mounted by hundreds (in gossipy dollars) until +it was said to be worth a king's ransom.</p> + +<p>Furtive looks were cast at the dancing-floor the rest of the evening, +but the emerald was not discovered, and Alice was again rather in the +"dumps" when she and her girl chums went to their rooms.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's one thing sure," decided Sylvia, "we won't go on with +our trip to-morrow. I'll cancel that order for canoes and guide-boats. +We'll stay here a few days."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Until we see if we can't find Alice's ring," was the answer. "It may +come back in some mysterious way. Jewels lost in hotels have a way of +doing that if you make fuss enough over them."</p> + +<p>"I was going to say that I would like to stay over," remarked Alice, +"but I didn't like to propose it, and keep you all back."</p> + +<p>"It will not be any great hardship," Sylvia said. "It is lovely here, +as it is all over the Adirondacks, and we can play golf and canoe here +for a day or so, and have all the fun possible. I'll just tell the men +we engaged that we have postponed our trip for a week, perhaps less."</p> + +<p>"I'm so sorry," began Alice.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be," Hazel declared. "This is a lovely dancing-floor."</p> + +<p>"And there is a nice golf course not far away," Rose added. "I can keep +up my game."</p> + +<p>"Stay, by all means," agreed Mrs. Brownley. "You are out for pleasure, +and half of that consists in doing things when you want to, not when +you have to. And I do hope you find your ring, Alice."</p> + +<p>The girls were sitting in the private parlour, with which their +rooms were all connected, hair down, in comfortable dressing-gowns, +discussing a thousand and one things just before retiring for the +night, when there came a knock on the door.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"The chambermaid. The lost ring has been found!" was the reply.</p> + +<p>Electrified, the girls fairly jumped to their feet.</p> + +<p>"My ring found? Where? Oh, where is it?" Alice cried.</p> + +<p>"The proprietor has it down in the office," came from the voice on the +other side of the door.</p> + +<p>"Oh—I——" Alice began.</p> + +<p>"I'll get it," said the chaperon. She had not yet made herself +"comfortable," and was soon following the maid down to the main office. +There a much-relieved proprietor exhibited the wonderful emerald ring.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is it," Mrs. Brownley said, for she knew Alice's jewel well. +"Who had it?"</p> + +<p>"No one, Mrs. Brownley. That is, the one who had it didn't know he had +it," and the hotel man smiled.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, sir?" and the Southern lady rather drew herself up +in wounded dignity.</p> + +<p>"Why, it was this way. The young fellow with whom Miss Harrow was +dancing wore his trousers turned up at the bottom, in a style the young +men affect nowadays. Well, it seems the ring was found in the folded-up +part of his trousers. It fell out on the floor when he went to his +room, and he brought it here at once."</p> + +<p>"Why, isn't that remarkable!" exclaimed Mrs. Brownley. "I have heard of +such things, but have never experienced them. But we are very glad to +get back the ring."</p> + +<p>"And I'm glad you have it," the hotel man agreed. "I'll sleep better +to-night."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley hurried back to the girls, who were anxiously waiting for +her, the ring and the explanation.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>"How interesting!" was Hazel's contribution.</p> + +<p>"Just like a story or a play," added Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I don't care how or what it was, as long as I have my ring back!" +Alice said. "And I can very well understand how it happened. The ring +slipped from my finger and lodged in the gaping, upturned fold of his +trousers. It is lucky it didn't fall to the floor, to be stepped on. +Oh, I'm <i>so</i> glad you came back to me!" and she kissed the green stone +before she slipped the golden circlet onto her slim finger.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't lose it again, please," begged Aunt Theodora.</p> + +<p>"I won't wear it while we're up here in the woods," Alice promised.</p> + +<p>Young Tupper sought the earliest opportunity next morning to speak to +Alice. He described how he had found the ring.</p> + +<p>"And I say!" he exclaimed, boyishly, eagerly, "I hope you don't think I +did it on purpose?"</p> + +<p>"On purpose?" echoed Alice, her cheeks getting warm under his gaze.</p> + +<p>"Yes, for a joke, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly not!" and Alice gave unnecessary emphasis to the words.</p> + +<p>"Then you'll forgive me?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! There's really nothing to forgive."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad of that. I say now, I hear you girls are to stay here +for some time longer."</p> + +<p>"Well, we were going to, on account of my lost ring, but now it has +been found——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't say that, or I'll be sorry I gave it back to you," he +laughed. "But I saw some of the guides, and they told me the men you +had engaged to take you through Fulton Chain had been disengaged, and +had taken another party up. So that meant you would stay, and——"</p> + +<p>"I'm not at all sure what we shall do," said Alice, evasively. She +wished some of her chums would come along, but Tupson had her alone in +one corner of the big veranda.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you do stay, even to-day, won't you let me take you out in my +canoe?" he pleaded. "I have a large one. It's perfectly safe."</p> + +<p>"I—I'll see," Alice gasped. "Oh, Sylvia!" she called, pretending she +had seen her chum at the hall entrance, and she fled with a rustle of +skirts.</p> + +<p>There was a little conference of the Nowadays Girls that morning. +Sylvia had carried out her half-formed plan of the night before, and +dismissed the boatmen for an indefinite time. So the travellers decided +to remain at least a few days at Old Forge, and see the surrounding +country.</p> + +<p>"Then there's no reason why Alice can't have her canoe ride," said +Hazel. "We all know how she is pining for one."</p> + +<p>"Baby, if you——!" began the annoyed one.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I don't mind admitting that I have an invitation also," +drawled Hazel. "Now let's hear from the others."</p> + +<p>It developed that each girl had been asked by her dancing partner of +the night before to come for a canoe ride on the first of the six lakes +that morning, and, with Mrs. Brownley's consent, they prepared to go.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious day, and when the girls were comfortably seated in +the much-cushioned canoes, afloat on the blue waters of the lake, with +the forests and low mountains stretching off on either side, it seemed +that they had begun to spend a most ideal vacation.</p> + +<p>The canoeists were to keep together in a little flotilla, and proceed +up First Lake for a short distance, go ashore and have a little lunch.</p> + +<p>"Am I completely forgiven?" asked Tupson, of Alice, as he poised his +dripping paddle.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she said, a trifle coldly. She did not want to encourage +him too much, even though he was a good dancer.</p> + +<p>The little party indulged in quips and merry jests, shooting them back +and forth from canoe to canoe, as they advanced. They were skirting the +wooded shore when Sylvia proposed that they cross to the other side, +where she had been told there was a spring of refreshing water.</p> + +<p>Headed by the canoe in which were Alice and young Tupson, the little +flotilla was paddling diagonally across the body of water, when there +came down it a big canoe, propelled by a number of young men, who +seemed to be training for some aquatic event. The water bubbled and +boiled at the bow of their craft.</p> + +<p>"Look out for them!" called the youth with Sylvia. "They are regular +speed-maniacs!"</p> + +<p>"Give them plenty of room," urged Hazel.</p> + +<p>Just as the big canoe came opposite that containing Tupson and Alice, +one of the paddles in the racing boat broke. The youth who had been +wielding it pitched forward. The canoe slewed to one side, and shooting +off its course, headed straight for the craft in which sat Alice.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" cried many voices.</p> + +<p>Tupson tried desperately to do so, but there was not time.</p> + +<p>An instant later his canoe tipped over, spilling both him and Alice +into the lake.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE GOLF BALL</h3> + + +<p>"Girl overboard!"</p> + +<p>"Man overboard!"</p> + +<p>"Back water there! Around with the boat!"</p> + +<p>Thus came the cries from the big racing canoe. If the young men in +it, through their eager desire for speed, had been the cause of the +accident, they were at least willing and ready to do all they could to +remedy it.</p> + +<p>And they were in the best position for so doing, since they were +nearest the scene. Their big craft glided to the spot where the canoe +floated bottom upward, and there came a sharp command from the youth in +the bow.</p> + +<p>"Harris—Wing—get ready to dive!" he commanded curtly. "The rest of +you hold her steady."</p> + +<p>The eight young men in the racing canoe were all in their bathing +suits, and in an instant two of them stood poised and ready.</p> + +<p>"There she is! The fellow, too! In you go!" commanded the +self-constituted leader.</p> + +<p>Two lithe figures, their arms and legs already bronzed by the early +summer sun, went down in clean dives, with hardly a splash. At the same +instant there were two spots where a commotion in the water showed the +presence of Alice and Tupson, coming up after their first immersion.</p> + +<p>Now Alice was a good swimmer—in fact all the Nowadays Girls were—and +she had held her breath as she felt the waters closing over her. And +when she struck out and came to the surface she was ready for the next +move in the emergency.</p> + +<p>But even a good swimmer is hampered by wet and clinging clothing, +particularly a girl or woman, and Alice felt a momentary fear, that +passed almost as soon as formed, for she saw a bronze-faced young man +striking out to aid her.</p> + +<p>"Put your hand on my shoulder," he advised her, in calm, even tones.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I—I can swim all right," Alice assured him. She did not want him +to think that she would frantically clutch him about the neck, or do +any of those things that persons, unable to swim, are apt to do when +they fall into the water and see a rescuer coming. "I can swim," she +repeated, "it is only that my skirts are so wet and clinging."</p> + +<p>"I understand," he said. "You're all right!"</p> + +<p>"Is he—he?" asked Alice, and then she had to turn her face away from +a little wave that splashed up at her. The other canoes, with their +frightened occupants, were drawing near.</p> + +<p>"Your friend is being taken care of," her rescuer said. "He doesn't +seem to be able to swim as well as you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do hope you will save him!" she cried, at the same time thinking +how strange it sounded to hear Tupson spoken of as her "friend."</p> + +<p>"He'll be all right. Wing has him safe, and Wing knows how to handle +his kind. Now shall we right your canoe, or will you come in ours?"</p> + +<p>"It looks to be easier to get into yours."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's much larger and steadier. Over this way."</p> + +<p>He guided her, keeping her up by placing one of her hands on his +shoulder. Alice could feel the strong, rhythmic ripple of his muscles +as he struck out for the big canoe, not far away.</p> + +<p>"Lift her in!" commanded the youth in the bow.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind," Alice said, calmly, for she had full control of +herself now, "I'll just hold on to the stern and let you paddle over +toward the shore. I'm not a bit cold, and it isn't far."</p> + +<p>"Well, just as you like," assented the leader. He divined her reason +for not wanting to clamber into a boat, all dripping wet as she was, +when the boat was filled with eager-eyed young fellows.</p> + +<p>"Wing has his man—guess he had to hit him," some one said.</p> + +<p>Alice, clinging to the stern of the big canoe, saw another bronzed +swimmer approaching, supporting on one arm the limp form of her former +companion.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope he isn't hurt," she gasped, in much anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," her own rescuer said. "Wing has served as a lifeguard +at Atlantic City. He knows what to do."</p> + +<p>Tupson was not much stunned by the blow Wing had been obliged to deal +him to prevent the frantic clutch that might have meant a death-hold +for both of them. A little later Tupson was hoisted into the big canoe, +which was paddled ashore, towing Alice and Harris, who stoutly insisted +on remaining near her.</p> + +<p>Very much bedraggled, and not a little embarrassed, Alice was helped on +shore near a small summer cottage, the owner of which at once sent his +wife to look after the unfortunate one. Alice was taken to the house, +her companions following. Tupson soon recovered, and was not a little +ashamed of himself.</p> + +<p>But the fault lay with the broken paddle of the big canoe, and while +that was an accident, it might not have occurred had not the boys been +speeding in their craft. They expressed their regret and did all they +could, bringing ashore the overturned canoe, righting it and putting it +in the sun where it would dry.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Alice was being provided with an outfit of dry garments by +the owner of the cottage, and a messenger was despatched to the hotel, +not far away, for some of her own clothes. Reassuring word was also +sent to Mrs. Brownley, for fear she would hear an exaggerated report of +the accident and worry unnecessarily.</p> + +<p>"And now that I'm clothed, and in my right mind, let's continue the +trip," suggested Alice.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean it?" asked one of the boys who, with Tupson, formed the +escort of the Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>"Mean it? Of course I mean it! Why not? I'm all right, and if Mr. +Tupson——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm game!" he declared. "I'm ashamed of not behaving better in the +water, but I lost my head. I was worried about you," he said to Alice.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she graciously replied. "Then let's go on."</p> + +<p>Tupson was sufficiently dried out, and the trip was resumed. +Fortunately the lunch was not in the overturned canoe, and the +impromptu picnic was successfully carried out.</p> + +<p>The little accident provided a fruitful subject for conversation at +the hotel that afternoon, when the porch was filled with animated +rocking-chairs and their gossipy occupants. The girls were rather +the heroines of the occasion, especially Alice, and she was formally +waited upon by the eight canoeists, who said they regretted that their +desire for speed had caused annoyance to any one. Their apologies were +graciously accepted.</p> + +<p>"How much longer are we going to stay here?" asked Rose that night.</p> + +<p>"Getting anxious to get to Saranac?" questioned Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Well,—yes," was the frank answer. "But if we are going to stay +another day or so, I'm going in for a bit of golf. I can borrow a set +of clubs here, and the links are good, though rather small."</p> + +<p>"Have a game, by all means, if you like," assented Sylvia. "We'll make +up a foursome. I'll take Rose."</p> + +<p>"How nicely she says it!" laughed Alice. "Very well, we're not to be +frightened; are we, Hazel? Are you in form?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll accept the challenge. Let's go out and have a look at the +course."</p> + +<p>They found it a fairly good one, and a game was soon arranged.</p> + +<p>"My! Look at those girls!" exclaimed an elderly lady on the hotel +porch, as she saw the four departing with caddies at their side, +carrying the bags.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with them?" some one asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, the things they do—first they're dancing, then they're +canoeing—and incidentally upsetting, next they're off golfing. I +wouldn't be surprised to see them in an aëroplane next."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," assented her companion. "They certainly are up-to-date +girls. But they are delightful, and they are real girls, not powdery +imitations."</p> + +<p>"Humph! The cat!" exclaimed a tall, willowy young lady who overheard +this. She kept very much in the shade, and her nose looked as though +she had dipped it into a flour barrel and then forgotten to take it out.</p> + +<p>"Fore!" called Rose, who led off in the golf game.</p> + +<p>She grasped her driver firmly, settled herself on the bare, +clay-covered tee, and drove off with all her force.</p> + +<p>"Crack!" went her driver against the white ball.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rose!" cried Sylvia. But it was too late.</p> + +<p>Across behind a bunker, toward which Rose drove, a young man walked, +and a moment later the girls saw the white golf ball strike him on the +head. He fell as if shot, dropping out of sight behind the long, grassy +hill that formed a hazard on the links.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</h2> +</div> + +<h3>ONWARD</h3> + + +<p>"Oh—oh, Rose!" gasped Hazel. "You—you've done it!"</p> + +<p>"What has she done—killed him?" gasped Alice.</p> + +<p>"Don't say such silly things!" chided Sylvia. "Come on and see!"</p> + +<p>She darted forward, the short, golfing skirt she wore being no +hindrance to her speed, but quick as Sylvia was, Rose was off ahead of +her. She had cast her driver aside, and her face was now rather pale. +The caddies followed, giving voice to various expressions.</p> + +<p>Rose was first to reach the bunker. She found a very much dazed youth +sitting up, holding a cap in one hand, while with the other he was +rubbing his head.</p> + +<p>"Oh! are you—hurt?" Rose gasped, kneeling down beside him.</p> + +<p>"Just a little—little knock," he answered, cheerfully—as cheerfully +as possible under the circumstances. "Who—who did it? Oh, it was a +golf ball. I see," and he looked at the checkered sphere of white gutta +percha that lay in the sand on the far side of the bunker.</p> + +<p>"I did it," confessed Rose. "I called 'fore!' but I didn't see you +until after I drove off. My friends called to me, but too late. I hope +you're not badly hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly at all. My cap is quite thick. But it serves me right, anyhow. +I ought not to have crossed the course. Now you girls are even with +me," and he started to rise.</p> + +<p>"Even with you?" repeated Sylvia, as she held out a brown and muscular +hand to help him to his feet, for he seemed dizzy and weak.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I'm the chap whose paddle broke in the canoe the time it ran +into one that one of you girls was in. You've paid your score!" and he +smiled, grimly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! As if——" began Rose, now blushing to match her name.</p> + +<p>"Of course I was only joking," he said, quickly. "Thank you," he went +on to Sylvia. "It did knock me out a bit. I thought it was a lightning +stroke, though I hadn't seen any clouds before I crossed the links."</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you sure you're all right?" asked Rose, anxiously, while the +circle of caddies stood in an outer ring, grinning sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, as right as ever," he said, saying nothing about the ache of +his head. "Serves me right for crossing where I'd no business to. I'll +go back, and you can go on with your game."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you're all right?" insisted Sylvia. She recognised the +youth now as one of the party that owned the big canoe.</p> + +<p>"Positive," he answered, with a cheerfulness he did not altogether +feel. "Allow me to restore your golf ball," he went on, picking up the +one Rose had driven. "It doesn't seem to be harmed any," he went on, +whimsically. "I think you ought to be allowed to take that shot over +again. The ball was travelling pretty well when I interfered with it, +and I'm sure you would get a better lay than this," and he indicated +the sand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, drive over again," suggested Alice.</p> + +<p>The young fellow bowed pleasantly, winked at the caddies and walked +back in the direction whence he had come when his course was so +suddenly interrupted.</p> + +<p>"No more crossing of golf courses for me!" he said, emphatically.</p> + +<p>The girls insisted on Rose taking her drive again, and she went far +beyond the bunker. Then the others, in turn, drove off from the tee, +and the game was on.</p> + +<p>Never was golf played under more ideal conditions. True, the girls +had played on better and larger links, but this was a new locality +for them, and every now and then they would pause to gaze off at the +distant mountains, to look down at the little blue lakes or take deep +breaths of the balsam-laden air.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's too nice, almost, to play golf," sighed Sylvia. "I want to +be in the woods—just in the woods."</p> + +<p>"You'll be in the ditch in a minute, if you don't watch where you're +driving," declared Alice. "Come on, play the game."</p> + +<p>The girls were evenly matched, and even the caddies became interested +in the impromptu contest.</p> + +<p>"Say!" declared one youngster, "they are the real article all right. +They sure can swing the clubs!"</p> + +<p>It was his best and most sincere compliment, and Rose, whose second +long, lifting drive had called it forth, smiled in a gratified way. She +preferred a tribute such as that to one more or less half-hearted from +some older and more sophisticated admirer.</p> + +<p>Sylvia and Rose won by a small margin, much to their delight, +especially Rose's, for she was an enthusiast, though the other girls +were good players, too.</p> + +<p>"Well, now for some tea, and then we'll freshen up for the dance +to-night," suggested Hazel, as she removed her yellow chamois gloves. +"I feel just like a dance!" and she curved and pivoted over the grass.</p> + +<p>"We certainly are having a fine time here," declared Sylvia, "but +we must not forget our plan to go on to Saranac. I know Roy will be +anxious to see us, now that he knows we are coming. And I do so want to +see him, and know that he is getting better."</p> + +<p>"We all do, my dear," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"There was no word to-day; was there?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"No, I told the folks at home to relay the messages here every second +day, as we could not tell just where we would be. But what do you girls +say now to starting on through the Chain to-morrow, or next day?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever you say," said Hazel. "They told me at the hotel there was +good fishing around here, in some of the Fulton Chain lakes, and I'm +anxious to try."</p> + +<p>"Let's go fishing before we start on our trip!" proposed Rose, and +Sylvia assented.</p> + +<p>The next day they engaged boats and guides—two boats for four of them, +and began to try their luck.</p> + +<p>The girls at once won the admiration of the fishermen, for neither +Sylvia, Rose, Hazel nor Alice was afraid to bait her own hook, and they +could remove the fish once they had landed them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what luck!" cried Rose, as she hooked a large lake trout. She +played her catch well, and brought him exhausted to the side of the +guide-boat, to the envy of her companions.</p> + +<p>But Sylvia was not far behind, with a good-sized bass. The season had +opened only a few days before, so that the fish had not been thinned +out.</p> + +<p>Alice and Hazel had fair luck also.</p> + +<p>"Well, those girls certainly can do anything!" declared one of the +members of the porch rocking-chair brigade as the four came back with +strings of fish. "I wonder their folks allow them to rough it in this +fashion."</p> + +<p>"Why, they are with that delightful Southern lady," said a companion. +"She is chaperoning them."</p> + +<p>"Humph! I don't call it much chaperoning when she sits on a porch all +day reading, and lets the girls go off with the fishermen."</p> + +<p>"The fishermen around here are the finest men you could meet," was the +quick answer. "I and several of my friends have been out with them. +They are real gentlemen!"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" sniffed the other. "They don't look it!"</p> + +<p>There was a last dance at the hotel, a dance that brought forth many +expressions of regret from the young men who had enjoyed the company of +the Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>"Will you stop here on your way back?" had been an oft-repeated +question.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," Sylvia said, with a smile.</p> + +<p>Once more they were going onward. They engaged guide-boats and guides +and started up the Fulton Chain for Raquette Lake, where they intended +to spend some time.</p> + +<p>"And there we'll get a motor boat," said Sylvia, "and do a bit of +exploring."</p> + +<p>"That will be jolly!" cried Rose.</p> + +<p>With their luggage, they took their places in the guide-boats, and the +start was made. It is twelve miles from Old Forge to the head of Fourth +Lake of the Fulton Chain, where the first carry must be made. They had +made an early start, and intended to have lunch in the open at the +beginning of the carry, which they reached in due course.</p> + +<p>"All out!" cried Sylvia, as the boats grounded on the shore. "All out, +and get ready for lunch!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A NIGHT OUT</h3> + + +<p>Three men had been engaged to take the party of girls and Mrs. Brownley +through the Fulton Chain of lakes. As has been said, the journey may +be made in a day, enabling one, with proper equipment and by using due +speed, to reach Raquette Lake in time for a late dinner. This had been +the plan of Sylvia and her friends.</p> + +<p>They had planned to stop for lunch <i>en route</i> and, accordingly, had +brought with them materials for a satisfying meal. One of the three men +was a camp cook, and to him was entrusted the work of getting the meal +ready. The other two men were guides or boatmen in whose craft the trip +had thus far been made.</p> + +<p>"Now if you'll get lunch ready we'll be ready for it as soon as we hear +you call," Sylvia said to the chef.</p> + +<p>"Are you going away, miss?" he asked, pausing in the work of taking +from the boat various cunningly stowed-away packages.</p> + +<p>"Just for a stroll in the woods," she told him.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't go too far," he advised her. "If you don't know the trails +you might get confused, and have trouble findin' your way back. And if +you expect to get to Raquette Lake to-night we can't lose much time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll not go far," Rose said.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" chimed in Hazel, as she gave a surreptitious glance +into a mirror hidden in the flap of her handbag, and gave her nose an +equally secret "dab," though why she should, up in that wilderness, she +herself could not have said.</p> + +<p>"Too hungry to go far," added Alice.</p> + +<p>"Why, can one become lost in these woods?" asked Aunt Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, lady!" exclaimed one of the boatmen. "I knowed a man who +started to walk from one tree to another while he was waitin' for his +coffee to boil, but when he got back the coffee pot had melted!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" exclaimed the chaperon, with a lifting of her aristocratic +eyebrows. "Did the fire become too hot?"</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly, lady, but you see the man got lost, and was gone so +long that the coffee boiled away and the bottom of the pot melted. I'm +only tellin' you that, so you won't go too far."</p> + +<p>"There's no danger," Sylvia said, with a laugh. "We'll keep on the +trail. And I think we'll have tea, instead of coffee," she added to the +chef, for a tea outfit had been brought along, and one of the men was +lighting the alcohol stove which was not only to boil water for the +beverage, but also to warm some of the numerous viands. Solid alcohol +was used as fuel.</p> + +<p>Indeed the Nowadays Girls had gone carefully into this matter of +sojourning in the Adirondacks, and while they expected to spend most +of the time at well-known hotels or in camp resorts, they were also +provided for some life in the open, either in tent or cabin, and they +had purchased the very latest in outfits.</p> + +<p>"No smoky wood fires for us, except when we've had our meals and want +to sit around it and be romantic," Sylvia had said, and the others had +agreed with her. Consequently they had a small camping outfit with them +that for compactness and convenience would be difficult to surpass.</p> + +<p>So while the girls and Mrs. Brownley started off to admire the beauty +of the woods and the end of Fourth Lake nestling amid the trees, the +cook got ready the meal. He was an expert in his line, and after he had +set the kettle over the flame of the nickled alcohol stove he found a +good place to set the table on the ground, spreading the cloth over a +layer of flat balsam branches which gave forth a most appetising odour.</p> + +<p>The boatmen prepared to set off with the craft on the one-mile carry +to Sixth Lake, the fifth, as I have explained, being omitted from the +water route in covering the chain, since it was so winding that nearly +twice the distance would have had to be covered if they kept to the +boats.</p> + +<p>There was not a little luggage to be transported, in addition to the +boats, and the men would be kept busy. The heavier baggage had been +sent on ahead to the town of Raquette Lake, located on the lower end +of that body of water, just beyond the point where Brown's Tract Inlet +joins it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, did you ever see a more perfect place?" demanded Alice, as she +came to a pause in the woods, and gazed about her.</p> + +<p>"It's just grand," agreed Rose. "It makes one just glad to be alive; +doesn't it, Baby?" she demanded of her diminutive chum, who was +thoughtfully gazing off into the depths of the forest.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Oh, yes, of course!" was the rather hasty answer.</p> + +<p>"She hasn't heard a word we've said!" laughed Alice. "Never mind, Baby. +We all know what <i>you</i> are thinking of, at any rate," and playfully she +ruffled the hair of the smaller girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" was the protest.</p> + +<p>"What matter? No one to see you here, Baby, except the boatmen, and +they don't count."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we must always look our best, even before servants, my dears," +remonstrated Mrs. Brownley, gently. That was one rule she insisted on. +Négligée had in this lady one of its most deadly enemies.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, of course, I didn't mean just that," apologised Alice.</p> + +<p>They strolled on through the dense woods that came to the very edge of +the trail. Now and then the silence was broken by the crashing down of +some old tree, or the fall of a dead branch. Again, birds would give +voice to their chirping notes, and the flutter of their wings would be +heard. Occasionally, from some lonely and unseen pond, would come the +call of the loon, that strange and often solitary bird whose cry has +such a weird sound, especially if heard at the dead of night. Again +would come the distant voices of boatmen, or of camping parties, <i>en +route</i> even as our friends were.</p> + +<p>"And to think," said Sylvia, softly, "that up there," and she pointed +to the north, "Roy is in these same woods. I wonder what he is doing?"</p> + +<p>"Getting well and strong, I hope," said Mrs. Brownley, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"I hope so, too," murmured Rose.</p> + +<p>They returned to the place where they had left their boats to find a +simple but perfectly-prepared meal awaiting them. Spread out on the +snowy cloth, set off wonderfully well by the border of underlying layer +of green balsam boughs, were the viands they had brought. The kettle +sang cheerfully on the alcohol stove and there was an omelet, so light +that it seemed a breath would flatten it out like a griddle-cake.</p> + +<p>"Just in time, ladies," the chef remarked. "The omelet is all ready to +serve."</p> + +<p>Such appetites as the girls brought to the feast!</p> + +<p>"There won't be much left to take over the carry," observed Sylvia. +"Pass the olives, Rose dear. That is, if Alice has left any."</p> + +<p>"Left any! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we all know your fondness."</p> + +<p>"There's an unopened bottle," remarked Hazel. "I had some extra ones +put in."</p> + +<p>"Bless you, my dear!" murmured Alice. "They are so tasty, especially in +the woods."</p> + +<p>The luncheon went on amid merry quip and laughter. When it was over +the men had their meal, and one of them offered to walk on ahead with +the girls and Mrs. Brownley, and show them the trail to Sixth Lake. It +was quite plain, through the woods, for it was much-travelled, but the +guide was not going to risk his reputation by having any of his party +stray off into the forest, and have it be said of him that he did not +look well after his patrons.</p> + +<p>The chef and the other guide remained behind to bring on the luncheon +articles. The boats and baggage, having been safely transported, +awaited the arrival of the girls at Sixth Lake.</p> + +<p>"About what time do you think we shall get to Raquette Lake?" asked +Sylvia of the man in her boat, when they were once more under way.</p> + +<p>"We ought to be there about seven o'clock, miss. That is, if nothing +happens," and he gave a hasty glance at the sky.</p> + +<p>"If nothing happens! What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's nothing to be alarmed about, but I think we're going to +have a thunderstorm," he remarked. "That might delay us, for sometimes +it rains so hard that it's hard to see where you're rowing, and we may +have to stop on shore until it's over."</p> + +<p>"Are there any places to stop?" asked Sylvia, determined to make +provision for the worst, if necessary.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, there are open camps, and some closed ones where we could put +up if we couldn't reach Raquette Lake. But we'll try to get you there. +Pull hard, boys," he called to his companion and the chef, who was also +taking his "spell" at the oars of the light guide-boats.</p> + +<p>But it was evident to the girls themselves that they were not going +to escape the storm. To the low and deep rumblings in the west, there +succeeded louder-voiced mutterings of some unseen god of the weather. +The black clouds were slashed open now and then by vivid streaks of +lightning, rose-tinted and pink, and again of a flashing electric +blue-green in colour.</p> + +<p>"We're going to get it!" murmured one of the men.</p> + +<p>The girls looked anxiously toward the shores of Seventh Lake, on which +they then were. The water was about a mile in width here, and they were +in the middle.</p> + +<p>"We'd better put in!" called the leading boatman to the others. "I +thought we could make Henderson's, but we can't! Lively now!"</p> + +<p>It became darker and darker. The thunder was coming more and more +frequently, and the darkness that had suddenly fallen over the +brightness of the day was relieved at intervals by the hissing +lightning.</p> + +<p>"Here it comes!" cried one of the guides.</p> + +<p>An instant later the lake seemed to boil with the violence of the +rainfall. The girls and Mrs. Brownley, having been warned in time, had +put on mackintoshes, but the men scorned anything like that, and did +not stop to don any extra garments.</p> + +<p>They pulled desperately for the shore, and reached it in the midst of a +driving downpour.</p> + +<p>"Over this way," directed the leading guide, as the boats grated on the +shore. "There's a shack around here somewhere."</p> + +<p>He led the way, and a little later they all stood under a rude shelter +that was sufficiently water-tight to keep off most of the rain. The +things in the boats had been covered with pieces of canvas.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Rose as a particularly vivid flash and a crash of +thunder came almost together. "That struck near here!"</p> + +<p>"I guess it did, miss," was the cool answer of the guide called Jimmie.</p> + +<p>"Did it hit a house?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, some tree I reckon," said the guide who had been addressed as +Jake. "Lots of times trees get struck up here. We don't mind it much."</p> + +<p>"Shall we be able to go on?" asked Mrs. Brownley, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Well, if this rain lets up we can, easy, or we could manage to keep +goin' in the boats, anyhow, if you didn't mind it," Jake answered.</p> + +<p>"I think it will be better to wait," suggested Sylvia. "I don't like +being on the lake in an open boat during a storm."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"But it doesn't seem as though it would ever stop," broke in Alice, +dubiously. "It's raining harder than ever."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do if we can't go on?" Rose wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll have to stay here—camp out or do something," Sylvia +said. "You spoke of a camp, or something, near here?" she went on +questioningly to Jimmie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss. There's a good cabin not far from here. It's hired out to +parties, and it's well furnished. If that isn't in use you can stay +there if you don't want to go on."</p> + +<p>"But what about places to sleep, and things to eat?" asked Mrs. +Brownley.</p> + +<p>"That's all provided, lady. There's grub—that is, food—at the cabin, +and plenty of beds, such as they are. Not feathers, of course, but——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we don't in the least mind roughing it," put in Sylvia. "In fact, +I think it would be rather jolly than otherwise."</p> + +<p>"So do I!" exclaimed Alice. And as Hazel also joined in, there was +nothing for Rose to do but agree. And so, as the rain showed no signs +of slackening, it was decided to spend the night out in the little +cabin, to which the guides offered to lead the party. And a little +later they set off through the woods in the downpour.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>TROUBLE</h3> + + +<p>"Why, this isn't half bad!"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed! I think it's real cosy!"</p> + +<p>"And what a lovely open fireplace!"</p> + +<p>"A fire wouldn't be at all out of the way now. I'm thoroughly drenched, +girls!"</p> + +<p>Our four friends thus expressed themselves in turn as they stood in the +little log cabin to which the guides had conducted them through the +storm. They could hear the rain beating down on the slab roof, hear it +pattering on the leaves of the trees that surrounded the place, and +they listened to the sigh of the wind as it lashed itself to fury in a +semblance of a hurricane.</p> + +<p>"It's better than I expected, my dears," said Mrs. Brownley, after a +quick survey of the small bedrooms opening from the main apartment.</p> + +<p>"Then we'll stay here to-night," decided Sylvia. "That is, if we may?" +she added to the guides.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Jimmie, quickly. "You see, we have charge of this +place—me and my partner. We let it out when any one wants it, and it's +lucky it didn't happen to be engaged just now. You can stay here and +welcome."</p> + +<p>"We'll pay the usual price, of course," said Sylvia, quickly, "and be +glad of the opportunity. You spoke of something to eat?" she went on.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess it's pretty well stocked with canned stuff. We might +catch a few fish, even if it does rain. We can bring up your things +from the boats, and the bunks are made up fresh."</p> + +<p>"That's a comfort," sighed the chaperon. "We'll stay here, girls. And +be glad of the opportunity. It will be an experience."</p> + +<p>"But won't they worry at the Antlers?" asked Rose, referring to the +hotel where they had engaged rooms for their stay at Raquette Lake. +"They expect us, and know we are coming up the lake. If we don't +arrive——"</p> + +<p>"I guess I can manage to telephone 'em by nightfall," put in one of the +guides. "I'll tell 'em you are storm-bound."</p> + +<p>"Then it will be all right," Rose remarked, with a sigh of relief. She +really could not bear to think of going on the lake in the storm.</p> + +<p>"I'll make a fire on the hearth," the chef said, and while he busied +himself at that the other two guides set off to bring up the baggage +from the boats. Mrs. Brownley and the girls proceeded to make +themselves comfortable, and to wait for the blaze to dry some of their +damp garments and their shoes.</p> + +<p>Tramping along the wet and soggy trail, burdened with the baggage +from the boats, the guides came back to the cabin. But it was a more +cheerful place than when they had left it, for now a fire was merrily +crackling on the hearth, and the faces of the girls and that of Mrs. +Brownley had lost much of the worried, nervous look. They were quite +content to spend the forthcoming night where they were.</p> + +<p>A hasty search through the cabin had revealed a sufficient quantity of +food, together with what was left from luncheon, to make an evening +meal and breakfast. Then, too, the discovery that the place contained +several "cute" little bunks, with inviting sheets and plenty of +coverings, added to the feeling of comfort.</p> + +<p>The guides had announced that there was another shanty nearby where +they were in the habit of sleeping when stopping in the woods overnight +with a party that occupied the main cabin. They would use the annex on +this occasion.</p> + +<p>And so, with supplies from their baggage to draw on, and with the +prospect of a meal whenever they wanted it, our friends resigned +themselves to the situation. And it was not such an unpleasant +situation, after all. In fact it was really cosy to listen to the +crackle of the fire on the hearth, and contrast it with the patter of +the rain outside.</p> + +<p>Clearly it would have been out of the question to have gone on in the +storm in open boats. This they all decided when one of the guides went +out to find the nearest telephone to communicate with the Antlers. He +managed to discover one after an hour or two.</p> + +<p>By this time an early supper had been served, and the girls and Aunt +Theodora prepared to spend the evening as best they could in the cabin, +for it was out of the question to do anything else than sit around and +talk.</p> + +<p>They found some old magazines, but the lights were none of the best for +reading, so they gave that up, and sat in front of the blaze, seeing +pictures in the flames, and telling fortunes.</p> + +<p>The guides had retired to their own cabin, not far away, and from +it, now and then, could be heard guffaws of laughter which served to +relieve the quietness of the woods, that was broken, otherwise, by only +the patter of the rain.</p> + +<p>It was close to midnight when the girls went to their beds, for they +did not feel sleepy, and preferred sitting up to tossing restlessly on +the narrow bunks. They occupied three rooms, Rose and Sylvia being in +one, Hazel and Alice in another and Mrs. Brownley in the third, all +opening from the main apartment, or living-room, of the cabin.</p> + +<p>Just who first heard the call and the following rap on the door is +uncertain. They all seemed to awaken at the same time, and Sylvia +demanded:</p> + +<p>"What is it? Who's there?"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Rose, nervously.</p> + +<p>"Some one outside knocking and calling," said Sylvia. "Listen, Rose!"</p> + +<p>There came a pounding on the door, and a voice called:</p> + +<p>"Open and let us in. We're in trouble!"</p> + +<p>"Trouble?" voiced Sylvia, half frightened.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we've lost our way. There are ladies here!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do let us in!" besought a tearful voice that was unmistakably +feminine.</p> + +<p>"What—what shall we do?" faltered Rose.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" came in the calm tones of Mrs. Brownley.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE MOTOR BOAT</h3> + + +<p>The chaperon, who had hastily donned a dressing-gown and warm slippers, +made her way to the locked and barred door.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she turned to ask Sylvia, who, too, had arisen, and +hastily garbed herself in whatever was nearest to hand.</p> + +<p>"Some one knocked, and——"</p> + +<p>She was interrupted by the very thing she was explaining—a rap on the +stout slab door.</p> + +<p>"Is any one here?" a voice demanded. "We see a light, and there is a +lady here—two ladies and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please let me in!" begged a half-sobbing voice. "I am wet through, +we are lost and—and——"</p> + +<p>"One moment," Aunt Theodora said, firmly. "Let the ladies advance, and +the gentlemen retreat."</p> + +<p>It was as though she had said: "Advance, friend, and give the +countersign!"</p> + +<p>"Henry, you go away," said a voice on the other side of the door. +"Suzanne and I will go in."</p> + +<p>"But what is to become of me?" was the answer. "What will Ritz and I do +in this wilderness?"</p> + +<p>"We shall settle that later," went on the woman's voice. "Go away. I +understand why they do not want you to be in sight when they open the +door. There are ladies in there!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" There was a world of comprehension in his exclamation.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to open the door," said Mrs. Brownley. "You ladies are +welcome to such shelter as we have. How many of you are there?"</p> + +<p>"Two women and two men," a feminine voice answered.</p> + +<p>"The two men will have to go elsewhere. We have only ladies in here," +said the chaperon, as she fumbled with the fastenings of the door. +Under the watching eyes of her own four young ladies, she swung +back the door. A gust of rainy wind entered, blowing ashes from the +half-dying fire all about. From the darkness, into the mellow glow of +the hearth-blaze and the gleam from the night-light, stepped two women +from whom dripped much water. One appeared to be the mistress, the +other a maid, and the former, fairly staggering in, let fall a light +valise while, throwing up her arms in a tragic gesture, she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a honeymoon!"</p> + +<p>For a moment Mrs. Brownley, and the girls as well, had a wild suspicion +that they had admitted a lunatic, for the woman's appearance was +sufficiently wild. But a second glance served to show that the disorder +of her hair and clothing was due to the storm, against which she had +evidently been struggling for some time.</p> + +<p>Her companion stepped farther into the light, and Mrs. Brownley quickly +closed the door. The maid, for such she evidently was, had a larger +valise. She gave a quick glance around, and a smile came to her face, +dimpling her rosy cheeks and rippling through her snapping black eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ah, madame! we are all right now!" she cried, gaily enough. "Suzanne +will look after you, if these gracious ladies will tell us where to +find a room. We are safe now, madame!"</p> + +<p>Once more the other woman—no, hardly a woman, for she was but a girl +in years and appearance—flung her arms wide with rather a stagy effect +and again cried out:</p> + +<p>"What a honeymoon!"</p> + +<p>"Honeymoon!" echoed Mrs. Brownley. "Do you mean to say you——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are on our honeymoon!" was the answer. "Oh, isn't it—isn't +it just—romantic!" and instead of bursting into tears, which might +reasonably have been expected, she gave forth a peal of laughter, +showing two rows of perfect, white teeth that gleamed against the +dark olive tint of her face, her cheeks showing dusky red under the +influence of the heat, as she came in from the chilling rain.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever spend the first night of your honeymoon tramping through +the woods in the rain?" she asked, appealing not only to Mrs. Brownley, +but also to the interested girls, now staring at the newcomers with +various questions in their eyes.</p> + +<p>"I never did," said the chaperon, with the accent on the personal +pronoun, "and as for my friends——"</p> + +<p>"They are not married—I understand. But, oh! You must think we are +crazy to come in on you in the middle of the night. Let me explain."</p> + +<p>But before she could do so there came another knock on the door, and a +man's voice, an anxious man's voice, demanded:</p> + +<p>"Are you all right, Natalie? Can you remain there for the night? Are +you comfortable?"</p> + +<p>"It's my husband!" she spoke the words with an embarrassed little +laugh. "He—he——"</p> + +<p>"He can stay with the guides, over in the other cabin," said Mrs. +Brownley. "We can put you and—er——"</p> + +<p>She hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Suzanne is my maid," filled in the bride, Natalie.</p> + +<p>"We can give you a room, you and your maid," went on the chaperon. "And +if you are hungry——"</p> + +<p>"I am—famished. We've been lost in the woods—oh, ever so long! Bob +doesn't know a thing about the woods, nor do I, though he thinks he +does because he went camping once," and she laughed merrily, as though +it were a great joke—all of it, rain included. "So we got lost when he +insisted on making the trip up the lakes without a guide," she went on. +"He has his man with him—the man and Suzanne are engaged," she added, +"so you see we are quite a wedding party. But, oh, what a way to spend +a honeymoon!" and again she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Isn't she sweet?" whispered Rose to Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"She's a bit hysterical, I think."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sylvia, how can you?"</p> + +<p>"I mean she's a bunch of nerves, and no wonder, after what she has had +to go through," Sylvia retorted. "Poor thing, we must get her warm and +dry, and make her some tea. I'll get on some real clothes."</p> + +<p>"So will I."</p> + +<p>Again came the summons at the portal.</p> + +<p>"Are you quite all right, Natalie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Bob, dear!" She whispered the last against the wood of the +unsympathetic door, and turned a blushing face to those in the cabin. +"I am perfectly all right. It is a charming place. I hope you find as +good. You couldn't possibly come in here. It is entirely—out—of—the +question!" and she laughed merrily.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind, sweetheart, as long as you are all right, and have +Suzanne with you. I can sleep in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bob!"</p> + +<p>"He won't have to!" said Mrs. Brownley, practically. "The guides will +look after him and his man. Now then, Miss——"</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Parson," was the correction. "Since this morning—or was it +yesterday—I've lost track of the time."</p> + +<p>"It's morning now," Alice said, with a glance at her watch.</p> + +<p>"Then it is since yesterday. Oh, but it is so sweet of you to take +us in this way! Bob, you're to go to the guides' tent, or cabin or +whatever it is," she called through the door.</p> + +<p>"All right, they're here now, at least some men are calling to me to +come to them," Bob said. "I dare say I shall be all right. Good night, +dear!" The last was whispered.</p> + +<p>"Good night," she blew a kiss from the tips of her dainty fingers. "He +<i>is</i> such a dear boy!" she added, but it was not said in the least +gushingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, better get on some dry clothes, if you have them," said the +chaperon, as outside the cabin could be heard the tramp of feet and the +voices of the guides as they took charge of the other wayfarers. "If +you haven't——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we have, thank you, plenty. Suzanne!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parson seemed to be used to being waited on, and her maid took +from the valise some dry garments, and retired with Natalie, as the +girls liked to think of her, to the other bedroom. She presently came +into the main apartment, clad in a gorgeous Japanese kimono, with heavy +gold butterflies and cranes scattered profusely over it.</p> + +<p>"I'll have tea in a minute," Sylvia said, lighting the little alcohol +stove.</p> + +<p>"I beg of you to let me do it," Suzanne said. "I am used to this."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Suzanne will make it," said the bride. "Then I'll tell you all +that happened. You must think we are a couple of loons to come to you +in this way."</p> + +<p>"Indeed we are refugees ourselves," said Sylvia. "We were caught in the +storm on our way to Raquette Lake and had to come here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you going to Raquette Lake? That's where we are going to +stop—at the Antlers!"</p> + +<p>"So are we!" chimed in Rose.</p> + +<p>In a moment it was as though they all had known the bride for some +time. She was a charming person, democratic, though refined, and she +soon sketched for them as much of her history as was necessary to +divulge under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>She had been often to the Adirondacks before with her parents and, not +wanting the usual honeymoon, had stipulated that after the ceremony +she and her young husband should be allowed to slip away to the lake +region, where she had spent so many happy years.</p> + +<p>"And it would have been all right but for the rain, and if Bob had been +content to take a guide. But he wouldn't," she said.</p> + +<p>"Consequently, when the rain came and we went ashore with the canoe, +we lost our bearings. I simply would not go back in the boats, and so +we started out through the forest. We carried our luggage, with the +help of Suzanne and Ritz, but at last we could go no farther. Then we +saw your light and—well, here we are!" she finished, with a pathetic +little gesture of her hands.</p> + +<p>"And very welcome," said Mrs. Brownley. "We can all go on together in +the morning."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that will be perfectly splendid. I just love company!"</p> + +<p>"Even on a honeymoon?" asked Sylvia, with a sly smile.</p> + +<p>"Even on a honeymoon. Bob does, too. He's <i>such</i> a dear boy—a regular +<i>boy</i>!" and she laughed merrily. Somehow it was good to hear Natalie +laugh.</p> + +<p>"The tea is ready," Suzanne said. "Will you not all have some?" she +asked, for deftly she had found cups and saucers, the condensed milk +and sugar, and set them out.</p> + +<p>"I'll not sleep a wink if I take tea now," Mrs. Brownley said. "There +is some malted milk in my bag. I'll just make a hot cup of that and——"</p> + +<p>"Permit me, madame!" interposed the maid. "I shall have the pleasure," +and she began making the beverage for the chaperon.</p> + +<p>There came another knock on the door, as the tea was being sipped, and +a voice demanded:</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you are all right, Natalie?"</p> + +<p>"Quite, Bob! Go away now, that's a dear. Are you provided for?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, we have a bunk and the men are making coffee and frying +bacon!"</p> + +<p>"Ugh! Bacon at this hour of the morning!" gasped the bride, with a +shrug of her pretty shoulders. "There, Bob, run along," she advised.</p> + +<p>Somehow the girls, their chaperon and the bride, with her maid, got +back to their beds, but it is safe to assume that no one slept much +more that night. In the morning the rain had ceased, and though the +woods were very wet, there was a promise of their speedy drying, for +the sun rose bright and warm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it just glorious!" cried Natalie, as she stood in the +doorway and waved her hand toward the guides' camp. "I wouldn't have +missed this experience for anything. It is one honeymoon of a thousand!"</p> + +<p>"I hope she doesn't intend to have that many," remarked Hazel, who +was a bit peevish. She could not stand the loss of sleep. It made her +cross, as it does some babies. But she was soon herself again.</p> + +<p>Bob and his wife proved the most delightful of acquaintances. He was in +fine spirits, even following the rather depressing experience of the +night before, and after breakfast it was arranged that the two parties +should go on to Raquette Lake together.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to take no more chances of being lost in the woods," said +the bridegroom.</p> + +<p>"You learn your first lessons well," observed Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I didn't in the least mind being lost!" laughed Natalie. "See +what charming friends it brought us, Bob."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I would do it over again if I had the chance," he said, +gallantly, bowing to the girls and Aunt Theodora.</p> + +<p>"I like him!" whispered Rose to Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't!" was the caution.</p> + +<p>"Not enough liking to work harm," was the laughing retort.</p> + +<p>Once more they were on their way up Seventh Lake. The carry was +successfully made, and then came the trip of a little over a mile on +the final body of water in the Fulton Chain.</p> + +<p>A land journey of a mile and a half brought our friends to Brown's +Tract Inlet and in due time they were floating on the beautiful waters +of Raquette Lake, over which they were rowed to the village itself, at +the terminal of the Raquette Lake Railroad.</p> + +<p>The Antlers, about a mile from the railroad station, was soon reached, +and there our friends and the bridal party were made doubly welcome, +for there had been not a little worriment on the part of some friends +of the latter who expected them, but to whom no word could be sent.</p> + +<p>"How long are you going to stay here, my dears?" asked Natalie, who was +made almost one of the Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>"It is uncertain," Sylvia said. "We are gradually making our way to +Saranac, where my brother is ill."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so sorry!"</p> + +<p>"But he is doing as well as can be expected, so we are not hurrying."</p> + +<p>"I see. You are getting in as many experiences as you can, for that +quaint little club of yours. It is such a clever idea, my dears! +Positively I intend to adopt something like it myself when I get back. +I am so glad you are going to stay here. Do you golf?"</p> + +<p>"They do everything. I've found out all about it!" interrupted Bob +Parson. "They tennis, fish, motor——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you motor?" interrupted Natalie. "I mean boat, of course, for +the roads aren't anything to boast of up here. I do wish we could +arrange for a motor-boat trip."</p> + +<p>"I think we can," Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>"How?" asked Alice. "First we've heard about that, <i>El Capitan</i>!" and +she stiffly saluted, military fashion.</p> + +<p>"I've just been talking it over with Aunt Theodora," Sylvia went on. "I +saw a lovely motor boat out on the lake and inquired about it. Seems +that it was engaged by a party and they had to give it up on account of +a change of plan. So it's for hire and I've planned to engage it for a +week at least, and two if we want it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you dear!" cried Rose. "To think of motoring for a week on this +lovely lake!"</p> + +<p>"When may we start?" Hazel wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"As soon as we like. Aunt Theodora has practically agreed, if we can +find a reliable man to take with us."</p> + +<p>"At your service!" said Mr. Parson, with an exaggerated bow.</p> + +<p>"Do you know anything about motor boats?" demanded Natalie, rather +suspiciously for a "newlywed." "The last time I was out with you——"</p> + +<p>"<i>De mortuis nil nisi bonum!</i>" he said, softly.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped Rose, "did some one——"</p> + +<p>"The <i>boat</i> died," he replied. "I ran it into a pier and it sank. But I +do know something about motors."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't <i>that</i> so much," Sylvia put in; "I think Aunt Theodora +wants a man along just for looks!"</p> + +<p>"Once more, at your service," bowed Mr. Parson. Even Alice, who was, +perhaps, hypercritical, admitted that he was good-looking.</p> + +<p>"Then let's make up a motor-boating party," proposed Natalie. "My +husband and I will be charmed to go with you girls. Can you run a boat? +Of course you can," she answered her own question promptly.</p> + +<p>"We have," said Hazel, modestly. Indeed all four were experienced in +boats as well as in automobiles.</p> + +<p>"Come down and see the <i>Clytie</i>," suggested Sylvia. "She's a beauty!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>BY THEMSELVES</h3> + + +<p>The motor boat was made fast to a small private dock which stretched +out into Raquette Lake. Sitting in the craft, as the girls and their +newly wed friends, the Parson bride and groom, approached, was a man +of sour, not to say forbidding countenance. He was whittling a stick, +snipping the curling pieces of wood off with a formidable-looking +knife, and letting them fall into the placid waters of the lake, whence +they were blown away by little puffs of wind.</p> + +<p>"Who is he?" asked Rose of Sylvia in a whisper as they came to the edge +of the dock and looked with longing eyes—all four of the Nowadays +Girls—at the boat.</p> + +<p>"He's the skipper, caretaker, pilot, captain, whatever is the proper +title for a man in his capacity on a motor boat."</p> + +<p>"He looks like Charon," murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"Hush! He'll hear you, and he's very sensitive," admonished Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?" Hazel wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"I've talked with him. Don't you dare call him Charon, Alice. He'll +begin inquiring who Mr. Charon was, and when we explain that he was +the dog-faced ferryman of the underworld, why then he'll up and act +mean. So don't make such allusions, if you are wise."</p> + +<p>"Charon wasn't dog-faced," announced Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't he? At any rate he wasn't a desirable acquaintance for a summer +motor-boat cruise, so kindly cease to remember."</p> + +<p>"In other words—forget it!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> you girls talking about?" demanded Natalie, with one of her +merry laughs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, just nonsense!" said Sylvia. "But how do you like the boat?"</p> + +<p>"It's a beauty!" exclaimed Alice, with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>"And so complete!" declared Hazel. "May we really charter her?"</p> + +<p>"I think it can be arranged," Sylvia answered. "We'll go aboard."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the sour-faced man was stolidly whittling away on the piece +of soft pine wood. He seemed to put a deal of vindictiveness into his +cuts and slashes, as though he were taking revenge on some enemy.</p> + +<p>"Good morning," called Mistress Sylvia, with a bright and cheerful +smile, while her companions, including the bride and groom, formed a +little group back of her. "A beautiful day, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"For them as likes this weather," was the growled response, and the man +never looked up, but went on whittling. Rose saw that he was cutting +out a dagger—prophetic implement, perhaps.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think it's perfectly delightful," went on Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"You do have such charming days up in the Adirondacks," added Alice, +determined to do what she could to help Sylvia chase away the gloom +from the dour one's countenance, for such, so Alice made a guess, was +the intent of her chum.</p> + +<p>"The sunshine is—er—so—er—sunshiny!" said Rose, a bit lamely.</p> + +<p>"And the water is so wet!" finished Hazel, with a frank laugh.</p> + +<p>The man looked up, for the first time, and grunted:</p> + +<p>"Ugh!"</p> + +<p>"How are you this morning, Mr. Wrack?" went on Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, 'bout as well as I'll ever be, I expect," he said, dismally. +"This bright sun hurts my eyes, and I'll be havin' hay-fever soon, I +expect, which is one reason why I like rainy days best. The dust from +the flowers don't fly so then, and I don't have to sneeze so often. But +now, havin' to stay here with this boat until the land knows when, I +don't know what will happen," and once more he cut savagely at the bit +of wood, making the shavings fly.</p> + +<p>"That's what we came to see you about," said Sylvia, sweetly. "We are +thinking of hiring it."</p> + +<p>"You be? Good!" The man seemed to undergo a Jekyll-Hyde transformation. +His face lost the sour look, and he straightened up, throwing the +half-completed dagger overboard. "I hope you do," he went on. "Since +the party that did engage her disappointed me I haven't known what to +turn my hand to. Will you really take her?"</p> + +<p>"If we can come to terms," said Sylvia. "Our chaperon says we may plan +a motor-boat trip. I have told her of the <i>Clytie</i>, and now we have +come to see about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll treat you right, lady. I'll treat you right!" exclaimed Mr. +Wrack. He seemed a different person.</p> + +<p>It developed that he was not the owner of the craft, but had been +engaged to pilot it about Raquette Lake for a party of summer visitors, +who chartered the boat from the owner, who had engaged Mr. Wrack. But +the plans of the party could not be carried out, for a reason that +would not interest us, and there was the prospect of the boat's being +idle all summer.</p> + +<p>"And I'd have been idle too," Mr. Wrack said, "for it's gettin' late in +the season to hire out a motor boat and pilot to any advantage. But if +you'll take her and me it won't be so bad. I'll make the price right. +Mr. Harrison, who owns the <i>Clytie</i>, left her to me after them other +folks backed out."</p> + +<p>Sylvia and her girl chums were very practical if they were girls with +the latest ideas in regard to fashion, dances and other amusements. +They had liberal allowances, and they knew how to make them cover +their needs. So it was not long before they had struck a bargain with +Mr. Wrack. Aunt Theodora was again consulted and gave her consent, and +it was arranged that they were to have the entire use of the boat for +two weeks at least, and longer if they desired.</p> + +<p>The Parsons were included in this bargain, and as they were to remain +at Raquette Lake until late fall they had an option on the craft after +our friends should have finished with her.</p> + +<p>"And you go with the boat," said Sylvia to the sour-faced man, sour +no longer now that he realised he would have employment. He did not +even mention hay-fever, and he looked at the sun occasionally. "What I +mean," went on Sylvia, "is that you'll run the boat for us when we want +you to, and when we don't, we'll run it ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Can you?" asked the pilot, doubtingly.</p> + +<p>"Try us and see!" exclaimed Alice.</p> + +<p>"Let's go for a run in her," suggested Hazel.</p> + +<p>And so they started off. The girls' admiration for the <i>Clytie</i> +increased as they made a closer inspection.</p> + +<p>"She certainly is a beauty!" declared Rose.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes!" agreed Sylvia. "Self-starter, reverse gear, double +ignition system, weedless propeller, electric lights and lots of room."</p> + +<p>"Why, we could sleep here and cook here," added Alice.</p> + +<p>There was a half-cabin, with bunks that made seats during the day. +There was also a little alcohol stove and a tiny galley fitted with a +small collection of cooking utensils.</p> + +<p>"She was built to allow folks to spend a night or two out in her," said +Mr. Wrack, as he sat at the wheel.</p> + +<p>"Let me steer," begged Sylvia, and, having explained some of the +peculiarities of the lake, and what danger-spots to avoid, the pilot +did so. The <i>Clytie</i> was of very light draught, to enable her to go in +shallow water.</p> + +<p>By turns the four girls operated the boat around the sunny waters of +the lake, running over to Big Island and back again. Mr. Parson also +showed that he knew how to handle the craft, but Natalie showed no +desire to do so.</p> + +<p>"I'd be sure to turn the wheel the wrong way, and send you all to the +bottom," she declared.</p> + +<p>"The bottom isn't far off right here," observed Mr. Wrack. "It's mighty +shallow hereabouts."</p> + +<p>The Nowadays Girls proved that they could manage a boat, to the not +unexacting requirements of the pilot, after which he "took it easy" and +let them do as they liked. They soon mastered the mechanical details.</p> + +<p>A day or so after having chartered the <i>Clytie</i>, during which time Mrs. +Brownley had made several trips about the lake, Sylvia proposed that +she and her chums, with the Parsons, go for a trip by themselves—that +is, without Mr. Wrack.</p> + +<p>He was satisfied to allow this, as he realised that the girls were +expert enough to look after themselves. So the trip—an all-day one, +lunch to be taken on Osprey Island—was planned.</p> + +<p>But at the last minute Aunt Theodora developed a headache, which, she +well knew, would not be benefited by going out on the water in the sun.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it too bad!" exclaimed Sylvia. "Then——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you may go, my dears," said their kindly chaperon. "I know you +can look after yourselves, and it's broad daylight. There are many +craft on the lake, too. Just run along and have a good time. I'll be +all right. I'll just lie down and rest."</p> + +<p>And when Sylvia went to call for the Parsons, Natalie had most +unaccountably forgotten the engagement, and she and her husband had +gone off together in a canoe.</p> + +<p>"Well, did you ever!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>"Let's go by ourselves," suggested Hazel.</p> + +<p>"We could get Mr. Wrack," said Alice, hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"No, I told him we wouldn't need him, and he went over to Forked Lake +to see some friends. So if we go, we'll have to go by ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Then let's go that way—just ourselves!" proposed Alice. "We have the +boat, the lunch and everything. Let's go, and perhaps we may have an +adventure!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A DISMAL PROSPECT</h3> + + +<p>Cheerfully chugging along was the <i>Clytie</i>. I say cheerfully, for the +rhythmical sounds of the exhaust, gentle enough in themselves thanks +to a good muffler, were accompanied by snatches of song from one or +another of the four girls who variously placed themselves about the +craft. Sylvia was at the wheel. Rose lolled on a locker near her, +regardless of the sun that was adding a tint of brown to the red in +her cheeks. Alice had sought the seclusion of the cabin for a time, +to readjust her wind-blown hair, and Hazel was boldly perched well up +in the bow, sitting tailor-fashion, like some modern figurehead. She +laughed gleefully when spray splashed up from the waves into her face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is glorious! glorious!" she chanted in time to the throb of the +motor.</p> + +<p>"Watch-girl, what of the outlook?" called Alice from the cabin. "Dost +see anything of that adventure yet?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Hazel. "I see a canoe with two young men in it +approaching, but they don't look at all romantic."</p> + +<p>"Sheer off! Sheer off, Sylvia!" ordered Rose. "We are dedicated to +romance with a big R to-day. Nothing else will tempt us."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather have a sandwich with a big S," said the steers-girl—or let +us be real feminists and say steersman.</p> + +<p>"You did put the lunch aboard; didn't you?" asked Rose, a "horrible +suspicion gnawing at her vitals," as she confessed afterward.</p> + +<p>"It is in the starboard locker," affirmed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Right-O, my hearty!" sung out Hazel. "I saw you put it there!"</p> + +<p>And so they chugged on, now and then saluting some other craft, canoe +or guide-boat, and an occasional motor boat, but the latter were rather +few. Steamers plied the waters of Raquette Lake, and they answered the +three tooting whistles of our girls in friendly salute.</p> + +<p>"Alice, just look and see if the oil cups are full," begged Sylvia, as +they worked successfully through a little swell and wash raised by a +passing steamer. "I think the engine is getting too much, judging by +the odour of the exhaust. If they're more than half empty screw down +the feed a bit."</p> + +<p>"Aye, aye, captain!" came the nautical return, and presently Alice, who +had inspected the engine, carried in a forward compartment, reported +that she had refilled the cups, and adjusted them so they would not +feed too much lubricant to the cylinders.</p> + +<p>Then she filled a tiny wash basin in the cabin, and washed her hands +with violet-scented soap.</p> + +<p>"I can't bear the smell of oil when I'm going to eat," she said, in +explanation.</p> + +<p>"But you're not going to eat right away, my dear," said Sylvia. "We +aren't going to have lunch until we get to Osprey Island, and that +won't be until noon." For they had gone in rather a round-about way, +passing on the far side of Big Island to make the trip seem more worth +while.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, I'm ready for lunch whenever it's ready for me," Alice said, +as she pushed back the skin from the half-moons on her shapely fingers, +thus manicuring them, though they seldom needed it.</p> + +<p>The girls took turns at the wheel, for each one was experienced in +this. The <i>Clytie</i> was a perfect boat, and answered her helm well.</p> + +<p>"It would have been nice if Natalie and her husband had come along," +said Rose. "I do enjoy her so much."</p> + +<p>"He's nice, too," added Alice.</p> + +<p>"Of course."</p> + +<p>"But it's nice to be by ourselves, once in a while," suggested Sylvia. +"I wonder how we are living up to our canons, girls?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"You mean—up-to-dateness?" questioned Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Exactly."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think we can't be found fault with," was the opinion of Hazel. +"There is certainly nothing slow about this!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," said Sylvia, hastily. "Speed isn't +everything."</p> + +<p>"It is when one is motoring or boating," declared Hazel.</p> + +<p>"A pity we couldn't run our cars up here," put in Alice, for there were +automobiles in the family of each of our friends—more than one in some +cases—and the girls were expert drivers.</p> + +<p>"This is no place for cars," affirmed Sylvia. "Perhaps on our outing +next season we may go where we can use them."</p> + +<p>"Or to some place where we can have a motor boat of our own," put in +Alice. "Wouldn't that be just lovely? To have a craft of our own, and +go on a long cruise!"</p> + +<p>"It would," assented Rose. "But this is very nice, and remember that +this is our first outing. Do you intend to do this every year, Sylvia?" +she continued.</p> + +<p>"If we can, yes. Of course we can't tell what new friends and +associations we may meet with when we start in at the different +colleges this fall, but I think we shall be able to keep to our +original plan, and have a 'get-together' session every summer to talk +over nowadays matters, and take our part in them."</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried Hazel. "No new college friendship shall lure me away +from this, my first love—or, rather, my three best loves," and she +pointed her finger in turn at each of her chums.</p> + +<p>"Is Saranac Lake like this?" asked Rose, and immediately she blushed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at her!" cried Alice, tantalisingly. "She can't stop thinking +of Roy even now."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to," answered Rose, more coolly than one would think from +the way she looked.</p> + +<p>"Good!" Sylvia complimented her. "Dear Roy! I do hope he is making +progress. I ought to get a letter or telegram to-day. I expect it when +we get back."</p> + +<p>"There are three Saranac Lakes," said Hazel, who had apparently been +"reading-up" on the subject. "They are Upper, Middle and Lower. But +none of them, at least to look at on the map, is as large as this one, +though Upper Saranac has a very long shore line, because it is so +cut up and twisted. There is about forty miles of shore line here at +Raquette."</p> + +<p>"This lake suits me," murmured Alice, in lazy comfort.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I'm sure we'll find Saranac lovely," Hazel went on. "It's +about fifty miles from here, and they say there are more than sixty +other lakes and ponds which can be reached by short canoe trips from +Saranac, that is, the upper lake, which, of the three, is the one +nearest us."</p> + +<p>"It must be pretty wet there," ventured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It is, more water than land. I wish we could take the <i>Clytie</i> up +there, but I don't suppose we can. Roy would appreciate this."</p> + +<p>"No, it's hardly feasible. We couldn't carry her over land," Sylvia +said.</p> + +<p>"Just where is Roy?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"At the Loneberg Camp, not far from Saranac Inn. Oh, I am so anxious to +see him," his sister went on, "and yet I don't want to get there too +soon, for if he is on the verge of recovery the doctor said it might +give him a setback to have the sudden joyful surprise of seeing us +girls."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we're beautiful enough, collectively, if not individually, to +make a well youth faint, to say nothing of an invalid," declared Alice, +with dry humour.</p> + +<p>"Well, let's enjoy life while we may," suggested Sylvia. "Poor Roy!" +and she sighed. "I hope he is having a good time."</p> + +<p>But, had she only known it, Roy was having anything but a pleasant time +just then. He was not at all himself.</p> + +<p>Osprey Island was reached in due season, and finding a secluded spot, +the girls moored their boat, went ashore and had lunch. Tea was made +over the alcohol stove on board, and they sat about in the shadowy +woods in delightful picnic fashion.</p> + +<p>"Let's take a run over to Indian Point," suggested Hazel, when the +lunch was over, and they were thinking of starting back toward the +hotel.</p> + +<p>"Shall we have time?" asked Sylvia, with a glance at the sun, which was +already well down in the west.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's only about a mile from here," pleaded Hazel, pointing off +to the west toward a body of land extending out into the lake, Indian +Point being the name given it.</p> + +<p>"Well, all right," assented Sylvia. "We can make a quick run back. Come +on, let's start."</p> + +<p>They went ashore at Indian Point, but they lingered longer than they +thought, for the sun was in a glory of red, golden, purple and violet +clouds when they went down to where they had left the boat.</p> + +<p>"It will be quite dark when we get back," said Sylvia, "and we have to +dress for dinner and the dance."</p> + +<p>"And I'm not going to miss that dance for <i>anything</i>!" declared Alice. +"That tall fellow has a new step in the fox trot that is simply +delightful. Let's hurry."</p> + +<p>But that was easier said than done, for when Sylvia stepped into the +craft, and confidently shoved over the self-starter, there was only a +groaning protest and the motor did not respond.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do hope we don't have to start by hand!" sighed Alice. "It is +such a heavy engine."</p> + +<p>"Well, it looks as though we should," said Sylvia, grimly, when, after +several trials, the motor still refused to start. Clearly, or, rather, +unclearly, something was wrong. It was not a very cheerful prospect. In +fact it was most dismal, with night coming on, the girls some distance +from their hotel, alone and with a "cranky," not to say unstartable, +motor boat.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A LONELY NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>"Can't you make it work?" asked Hazel, when Sylvia had spent some time +over the self-starter.</p> + +<p>"I can't," was the answer, and Sylvia tried to keep from her voice any +trace of anxiety or peevishness. But really she was tired and nervous.</p> + +<p>"Let me try," suggested Alice, who was quite strong. "If I can't make +the starter work I can turn the flywheel over by hand."</p> + +<p>The self-starter operated on a storage battery, something like the +mechanism of an automobile, but not as easily. But while the starter +itself whirred around, the gears meshing in those of the flywheel with +which it was connected by a jack shaft, there was no response in the +motor itself.</p> + +<p>"There doesn't seem to be a spark," said Sylvia, as she watched the +effect of Alice's operations.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there's a spark all right," declared Rose, who had her eyes on +one of the patent spark plugs that had an upper chamber in which an +auxiliary jump spark could be seen leaping from one platinum point to +the other. "The spark is there, but it doesn't seem to fire the charge +in the cylinder. Maybe there's no gasoline."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, there is. I tested the tank only a few minutes ago," Sylvia +said.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it's the carburetor," suggested Hazel, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare say that!" cried Rose. "Once you start to change that +adjustment it's all up with us. We'll be here for the night."</p> + +<p>"Don't!" begged Baby, with an apprehensive glance at the now +fast-darkening woods. They were on a lonely part of Indian Point.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll get off somehow," Sylvia declared. "I wonder if there are +any men about on whom we could call for help. I hate to think of trying +to start the motor by hand."</p> + +<p>"And that's what we'll have to do, soon," declared Alice. "The storage +battery is almost run down."</p> + +<p>This was only too true, since they had used much of the energy in +trying to make the auxiliary motor of the self-starter do its work. And +without the main motor running no more electricity would be available +to recharge the storage cells.</p> + +<p>"Well, here goes for a little gymnasium work," Alice said, rolling up +her sleeves.</p> + +<p>"I'll see if there's a man, or, perhaps, some campers about," +volunteered Sylvia, "then I'll come back and take my share."</p> + +<p>Again and again Alice, in the rather cramped quarters in which the +motor was housed, tried to start it. But though she could disconnect +the self-starter gears, and turn over the flywheel, there was no +answering explosion even then.</p> + +<p>"It's the ignition," declared Sylvia, who came back in the gathering +twilight to report that she could find no one to help in the +comparatively short distance she went away from the others.</p> + +<p>"Maybe it will start on the batteries," suggested Hazel.</p> + +<p>"We've tried that," declared Alice.</p> + +<p>"Well, try again," urged Sylvia. "We must do something. This is a +terribly lonesome place, and I, for one, don't want to have to stay +here all night!"</p> + +<p>"I should say not, most decidedly!" exclaimed Hazel. "I—I'll <i>swim</i> +back before I'll do that."</p> + +<p>"Well, we certainly won't walk," said Rose, with determination. "We +<i>could</i> manage to sleep aboard the <i>Clytie</i>!" she went on. "We could +take a stone for an anchor, and shove the boat out in the lake, away +from the shore."</p> + +<p>"You seem to have it all thought out," commented Hazel. "Why away from +the shore?"</p> + +<p>"Then no—er—no snakes could crawl aboard!"</p> + +<p>"Don't!" begged Alice, looking up with grimy face and hands from her +labor over the motor. She wore gloves, but they did not much protect +her, as they were splitting at the seams.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll get off some time," Sylvia said. "Here, let me have a try, +Alice."</p> + +<p>She took her place at the wheel and worked hard and faithfully. But +though the motor coughed, sneezed and gave other evidences of senile +decay, there was no healthy "wuff!" of a genuine explosion.</p> + +<p>"There! That sounded like something!" cried Rose, suddenly, following a +continued whirling about of the flywheel on the part of Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"What sounded like something?" demanded Hazel.</p> + +<p>"As if one of the cylinders had voted to go to work. Let me relieve +you, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"No, if there's a hopeful sign, the best thing to do is to keep on +before the cylinder gets cold."</p> + +<p>Again she worked at the motor, and then, to the joy of the girls, it +suddenly started off with a succession of heavy throbs as though it +had intended to do so all the while, but had waited until sufficiently +coaxed.</p> + +<p>"There!" cried Sylvia, in relieved tones as she stretched out on a +cushioned locker to ease the pain in her back. "Let her run now until +she gets good and warm before throwing in the clutch."</p> + +<p>"What was the matter?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me, my dear. I think it was the timer, but I don't want to +make any rash assertions for fear some other part of the mechanism will +feel slighted and refuse to work until its claims have been recognised. +So don't ask me."</p> + +<p>"But it's working now!" Rose cried. "We'll get back in time for——"</p> + +<p>"The dance!" finished Alice. "Shall I throw in the clutch now, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we'll take a chance."</p> + +<p>There was a grinding, groaning and squealing sound as the clutch +slipped into place. The water under the stern of the boat boiled and +bubbled.</p> + +<p>The <i>Clytie</i> started forward and then suddenly brought up with a jerk +that jarred the girls.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" demanded Rose.</p> + +<p>"It's just as well to loosen the mooring rope when you want to start," +said Alice, dryly. "It's rather too much to ask a boat of this size to +pull up a big tree by the roots," and she pointed to where the rope +from the ring bolt of the forward deck was still tied to a tree on +shore.</p> + +<p>"I'll loosen it," offered Sylvia, and the motor was thrown out of gear +to enable her to do this. Then, once more they started off, and steered +the boat out around the head of Indian Point, for they had gone ashore +on the side nearest to Sucker Brook Bay.</p> + +<p>"I do hope it runs all right the rest of the way home," murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"Hush! Don't say a word! Knock wood!" Hazel advised her, in a mocking +whisper.</p> + +<p>It was now dark enough to call for the lighting of the lamps on the +craft, and the signal ones, fore and aft, and the red and green ones on +either side were set aglow.</p> + +<p>"But we won't light the cabin ones yet," Sylvia decided.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" demanded Alice. "I want to get some of the grime off my +hands. Otherwise I'll have to wear gloves at the dance, and I despise +them on a warm night."</p> + +<p>"We won't light the lights in the cabin until the storage battery has +had a chance to pick up some current," Sylvia said. "You can just as +well wash in the dark, and we may need current for the self-starter +before we get home."</p> + +<p>"I certainly hope not!" cried Hazel. "We've had trouble enough for one +day. We won't get in until after dinner now, and those waiters are so +fussy about serving anything after hours."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, we can tip them," said Sylvia. "I'm afraid we are going to +be late, but we are running as fast as we dare in these waters. I don't +know them at all."</p> + +<p>They had reached a section of the lake around from Indian Point, and +were heading down between the shore and Osprey Island when the motor +suddenly ceased humming and throbbing.</p> + +<p>"There!" cried Sylvia, tragically.</p> + +<p>"Don't say I told you so," begged Alice.</p> + +<p>"Head for shore, quick!" cried Rose to Hazel, who was steering.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked the latter.</p> + +<p>"Because we don't want to drift all over the lake, and we have momentum +enough to land now. Quick! Head for shore!"</p> + +<p>Hazel did so, and the <i>Clytie</i> just managed to poke her nose gently +against the bank in the fast-gathering darkness. Alice and Sylvia were +working frantically to start the motor again, but it would not respond.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Sylvia, when they had swung +broadside to the bank. "It seems we can't get going again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, must we stay here?" demanded Rose, with a glance at the dark and +silent woods, while the lonely night settled down all about them.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE LOON</h3> + + +<p>"We'll stay here long enough to get the motor started again, and then +we'll go on," declared Sylvia, with a confidence she did not altogether +feel. In spite of her common sense and her "nowadaysness," she felt an +almost overpowering sensation of fear. It was as if the darkness were +pressing down on her like some black pall—a blanket, smothery and +choking.</p> + +<p>Yet it was but the ordinary darkness of the woods. But it was an +intense blackness, relieved only by the stars, and only a few of them, +for the night was somewhat cloudy.</p> + +<p>Those of you who have never been in the woods after dark have no idea +how black it can be at night.</p> + +<p>In every city, and in most small towns and villages, there are some +lights that burn all night. So that, even if you are not actually at +the source of illumination, you can see a sort of diffused glow that, +in a measure, cuts the blackness. But it is not so in the woods.</p> + +<p>The very darkness of the tree trunks seems to add to the blackness of +the night, as though they had absorbed what little light the sun might +have left. And if, perchance, you come upon a clump of white birches +when travelling along a woodland path after night has fallen, they +only seem to accentuate the darkness, standing out as they do like +attenuated ghosts.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't bear it!" went on Rose, with a little shiver. She cuddled +close against Hazel. "I can't bear it!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly," was the retort. "The dark can't hurt you."</p> + +<p>"No, but to stay in—in those woods!" and Rose waved an unseen hand at +the forest, to the very edge of which the <i>Clytie</i> had drifted with the +last of her momentum after the stopping of the motor.</p> + +<p>"We don't have to stay there, we can sleep on the boat and anchor +it out in the lake," said Alice. "What are you doing, Sylvia?" she +demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try to start the motor," was the answer. "One of you +girls get the boat hook and turn us around. I don't want to collide +with the bank."</p> + +<p>"No danger of that," declared Hazel. "She won't start, and if she +does—wait, I'll throw out the clutch."</p> + +<p>This she did, while Alice took the boat hook, and Sylvia proceeded +to operate the self-starter again. The batteries had been recharged +somewhat while the motor was going, operating the small dynamo, or +magneto, and there was available an electric current for some little +time.</p> + +<p>Sylvia threw over the operating switch. There was a grinding of gears +as the powerful little mechanism operated the propeller shaft, but +the motor proper remained mute. Once again there seemed to be trouble +with the ignition system, though the spark plugs showed, in the upper +chamber where the auxiliary spark-gap was located, that there was +current flowing somewhere.</p> + +<p>"But it doesn't reach the ignition chamber and explode the gas," said +Sylvia, in disappointed tones, as, again and again, she threw over the +self-starter switch.</p> + +<p>"Let it go," advised Hazel.</p> + +<p>"What?" Sylvia cried.</p> + +<p>"I say let it go. Don't try any more. It won't work. The engine needs +overhauling, and there's no use wasting all the power in the storage +battery. If we do we won't have any for lights, and we don't want to +stay here in the dark."</p> + +<p>"Mercy, no!" exclaimed Rose, shivering again.</p> + +<p>"There are oil lamps," murmured Sylvia, as she looked at the +self-starter again, as if she contemplated trying that once more.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they are so mussy," complained Alice. "Do leave some current +in the battery for the incandescents. It will be something, anyhow, as +long as we have to stay here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do we <i>really</i> have to stay here?" wailed Rose. "Can't we paddle +home?"</p> + +<p>"No oars," said Sylvia, briefly.</p> + +<p>"And just where is home?" asked Alice. "Who knows?"</p> + +<p>"Why—why—you can't see anything!" declared Hazel. "Look!"</p> + +<p>"What's the use of looking if you can't see anything?" demanded Sylvia, +just the least bit crossly. And no wonder, for she had laboured long +over the motor, and fruitlessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we seem to be surrounded by darkness!" went on Hazel. "There +isn't a patch of light anywhere but up above," and she motioned to one +or two faintly-shining stars.</p> + +<p>"We've drifted around some point of land, and we're in a little bay," +was the opinion of Alice. "Two ends of land overlap. We can go out the +way we came in, if we could only get the boat started."</p> + +<p>"I don't like running in these unknown waters after dark," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"But what are we to do, my dear?" asked Rose. "Can we stay here?"</p> + +<p>"Can we stay anywhere else?" was the instant question. "We might +as well make the best of it, I think, and get comfortable. We have +something left to eat, we can make tea—or coffee if we brought any +with us—and there is room to sleep, after a fashion."</p> + +<p>"But not with the boat so near shore," insisted Rose, for the bow of +the <i>Clytie</i> was scraping along the wooded bank in response to some +slight current of air or water.</p> + +<p>"No, we can anchor out a way," admitted Sylvia. "We'll have to go +ashore, though, and get a stone for an anchor."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what will Aunt Theodora think and say? What will the folks at the +hotel think? They'll be worried to death, send out a search party for +us, rouse the lake. It will be terrible!" cried Rose, in dismay.</p> + +<p>"No more terrible for them than for us," retorted Sylvia. "This is none +of our doing. We'd be only too glad to get back if we could. But we +can't make the motor 'mote,' and it would be foolish and risky to get +out in the middle of the lake, and be stalled there. We are much better +off here."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we could manage to call for help, or make our way to some +camp or cottage," suggested Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not," Sylvia said, more calmly than she had yet spoken. "If +we call for help, the chances are we wouldn't be heard. This seems to +be a deserted part of Raquette Lake. Then, too, we'd only strain our +voices, and get hysterically nervous if we didn't get an answer."</p> + +<p>"What about shoving the boat along the shore, and close to it, with +poles?" suggested Alice. "We could do that, and perhaps get to some +camp that way."</p> + +<p>"We might," assented Sylvia. "But do we want to reach the camp of some +men or boys in the middle of the night, all tired out and dishevelled +from our efforts in poling the boat? I, for one, don't. I prefer to +stay here, in our own boat, where we can lie down in some sort of +comfort, at least. We can manage to get enough to eat with what we had +left over from lunch. I vote we stay here!"</p> + +<p>"But what will people say?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"What can they say? I guess it isn't the first time a motor-boat party +has been stalled by a balky engine. People can't say anything."</p> + +<p>"I shan't mind it if they do," declared Alice. "Nowadays girls are +accorded many more privileges than in former years."</p> + +<p>"Even to staying out all night without a chaperon?" demanded Rose.</p> + +<p>"When it can't be helped—yes!" said Sylvia, half defiantly.</p> + +<p>"Well, it certainly can't be helped, in this case," declared Alice.</p> + +<p>"Poor Aunt Theodora!" murmured Hazel. "She will be distracted!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the sort!" exclaimed Alice, in her most convincing tones. +"She knows we can take care of ourselves."</p> + +<p>"That's what I say," added Sylvia. "She knows we are in a good safe +boat. Too safe!" she added, with a short laugh. "It won't even go, like +the old lady's goat in the nursery rhyme. And we are all good swimmers. +She may worry a bit at first, but she has had experience with too many +schoolgirls' escapades to fret long."</p> + +<p>"This isn't an <i>escapade</i>!" declared Rose.</p> + +<p>"What is it, then?"</p> + +<p>"It will be an <i>experience</i> before we have finished," said Hazel, with +a short laugh.</p> + +<p>Somehow the girls could laugh a little now. The feeling of gloom and +terror was wearing off.</p> + +<p>"Well, the first thing to do is to go ashore and find a stone for an +anchor," said Sylvia, getting practical suddenly. Not that she had not +been so before, but this was adapting practicality to new conditions. +"We won't need a very heavy one, as there is little wind, and we won't +drag much. We want to anchor only a very short way from the shore."</p> + +<p>"What next?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Next we'll find something to eat, and get comfortable for the night."</p> + +<p>"I never could go to sleep," remonstrated Rose, with a premonitory +glance over her shoulder at the blackness that seemed to grow more and +more intense every moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you sit up long enough you can go to sleep," suggested +Sylvia. "Now I'll light a lantern, and we'll go ashore for the stone."</p> + +<p>The boat was pushed around with the pole to enable a safe landing to be +made. The rope was carried ashore and made fast to a tree branch, to +insure the <i>Clytie</i> against drifting off while they were hunting for +the rock-anchor.</p> + +<p>Then, with one of the oil lamps, which were used for signals in case +the electrics gave out, the four girls went ashore. They easily found +the proper stone near the water's edge, and making fast the rope to it, +pushed the boat out a little way from the bank, and dropped the anchor +overboard with a splash that awoke the echoes in that silent place.</p> + +<p>"And now for supper, tea, dinner, breakfast, or whatever we choose to +call it," suggested Sylvia, who seemed to have taken command of the +situation. "What shall it be—tea or coffee? We have both," she added, +for a hasty search among the lunch baskets had disclosed that fact.</p> + +<p>"Coffee!" voted Rose. "It will help to keep us awake, and I don't want +to close my eyes."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly!" scoffed Sylvia. "Be a real member of the Nowadays +Club!"</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll try," was the rather faint answer.</p> + +<p>The alcohol stove, which burned the new solid fuel, was set going, +and water, in a tiny kettle, was put on to boil. The girls busied +themselves setting out the dishes and food on the folding table which +was set up in the centre of the cabin, the seats, which later would +become bunks, being ranged on either side.</p> + +<p>"Now, could anything be more cosy than this?" asked Sylvia, when the +kettle was humming.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> nice," assented Hazel. "If only Aunt Theodora knew we were +here and all right, I would not worry so——"</p> + +<p>Hazel's remarks were interrupted by such a wild, weird cry, bursting +out on the silence of the night, echoing and reverberating in the air +all about them, that the girls involuntarily uttered screams, and +huddled together in the cabin of the boat.</p> + +<p>They stared at each other with fear-lustred eyes, and when Rose dropped +a cup, letting it slip from her nerveless fingers so that it crashed +into pieces on the cabin floor, it was rather a relief than otherwise +of the tension.</p> + +<p>Again came that wild, weird cry, something like the laugh of a maniac, +or the defiant yell of a maddened beast. It started with a low cadence, +rose to a shrill scream, and died away like the last blast from some +siren whistle.</p> + +<p>"What—what in the name of mercy was that?" gasped Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Maybe—maybe some one—calling for us," whispered Rose.</p> + +<p>"No human being would call that way," Alice declared, haltingly.</p> + +<p>Again came the cry, eerie and nerve-racking. It seemed to be nearer the +boat now.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps campers trying to scare us," stammered Hazel.</p> + +<p>"No one—man or boy—could yell that way," said Sylvia. "It must be——"</p> + +<p>A third time came the cry—banshee-like in its weirdness. It was +followed by a splash in the water, seemingly at the very bow of the +<i>Clytie</i>.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Rose, shrilly.</p> + +<p>"Be still!" commanded Sylvia, and she laughed.</p> + +<p>"She—she's getting—hysterics! Oh, dear!" half-moaned Alice.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" and Sylvia was laughing harder than ever. "It's only a +loon!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>IN CAMP</h3> + + +<p>For a moment Sylvia's companions did not respond. They gazed at her as +if wondering whether she had really said anything, or as if they did +not know whether or not to believe her if she had made any utterance.</p> + +<p>"What—what did you say?" asked Rose, at length.</p> + +<p>"That was a loon," Sylvia went on. "A big bird, you know. They are +great swimmers and divers, and they have the most awful screech you +ever heard."</p> + +<p>"Well, if <i>that</i> was a sample of it, I can well believe it!" said Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure it was a loon?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Positive," declared Sylvia. "I knew what it was after I heard the +third cry and the splash in the water."</p> + +<p>"It must have been quite near our boat," ventured Rose.</p> + +<p>"It was," went on Sylvia. "That's what made it sound so weird and +terrifying."</p> + +<p>"It sounded like a lost soul," murmured Hazel. "Not that I know what +sort of cries are emitted by lost souls," she hastened to add, "but +that is how I should describe it. I hope the loon doesn't come back and +serenade us during the night."</p> + +<p>"Don't you <i>dare</i> suggest such a thing!" exclaimed Rose. "It was like +some one crying out in a horrible nightmare."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it will come back," Sylvia declared. "Sometimes there +will be only one loon in a place, but if there are more, one calls +to another and they make a terrible racket. I was camping with my +father once, and that happened. I was a little girl, but I have never +forgotten the loons. This one was probably after a fish. You know they +dive into the water, and actually swim under it to get the fish they +pursue. They are wonderful swimmers and divers."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope that one keeps on swimming and diving and that he'll be +too busy to do any more yelling this night," said Hazel. "Ugh! He gave +me the shivers."</p> + +<p>"And I broke a cup," added Rose.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, we have enough left for coffee," Sylvia remarked. "I guess +the water is boiling now. Pass the sandwiches, girls, and see if there +are any olives left."</p> + +<p>"A whole big bottle, of lovely stuffed ones!" Alice reported, taking it +out of a locker. "Where's the corkscrew?"</p> + +<p>It was found, the simple meal was set forth on the table, and the girls +gathered around it to eat, but not without little, nervous glances +over their shoulders now and then, at sounds in the nearby woods.</p> + +<p>But gradually this feeling wore off, and the girls were more like +themselves. That was one admirable trait of the Nowadays Girls: they +could adapt themselves to almost any circumstances. They were very +democratic, though that quality was not called for so much in this +instance as was good, sound common sense.</p> + +<p>"There, I feel a whole lot better," remarked Sylvia, as she pushed back +her plate.</p> + +<p>"So do I," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"And I'm not nearly so frightened," declared Rose.</p> + +<p>"That's a blessing," Hazel said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you were just as alarmed as I was, Baby," retorted the Syracuse +girl. "But, really, I wouldn't mind hearing that loon call again."</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>I</i> certainly would!" Alice exclaimed. "Don't you <i>dare</i> invite +him to call," and they all laughed.</p> + +<p>The girls sat about the cabin, closing the sliding doors for comfort +since the night air was chilling. They turned off all but one of the +little incandescent lights, so the storage battery would last until +morning. They left a single lantern burning outside on deck, "to scare +away snakes," as Rose jokingly put it.</p> + +<p>In spite of the determination of each one not to go to sleep, Nature +was stronger than the will of any of the girls, and at times each one +felt herself nodding and dozing.</p> + +<p>"I don't care!" Sylvia finally declared, with a sleepy yawn. "I am +going to lie down. We'll all feel better in the morning, and there is +nothing in the world to be alarmed about here. Let's 'turn in,' as the +sailors say."</p> + +<p>After a little hesitation, the other girls did likewise, and soon all +four were peacefully slumbering on the seat bunks.</p> + +<p>The rest did make them feel much fresher the next morning. They were +awake early, to find the day a most glorious one, and there was coffee +enough left for a refreshing cup.</p> + +<p>After that they took turns in trying to start the motor. But the +storage battery was used up without success, nor were their efforts at +turning the flywheel over by hand any more successful.</p> + +<p>"Well, we can pole ourselves along shore, and help will be easy to get +in daylight," said Sylvia, cheerfully. "Come on, girls!"</p> + +<p>They poled their way out of the little bay, where they had spent the +night, and gradually worked their boat along the shore. They had not +gone far before they heard a hail. It came from a large motor boat, +containing several men, who had the look of typical Adirondack guides.</p> + +<p>"I say, be you the lost young ladies?" was the cry.</p> + +<p>"I think so. We <i>were</i> lost," Sylvia responded.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're lookin' for you," the spokesman went on. "Lot of parties +out from the Antlers. What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Engine trouble," replied Sylvia, succinctly.</p> + +<p>"I thought Aunt Theodora would start a search for us," remarked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"It's a wonder she didn't come herself," Rose said.</p> + +<p>"We'll give you a tow," went on the man at the wheel of the big motor +boat. "We're only one of several searchin' parties. The lady you're +with is out, too."</p> + +<p>"I thought so!" Rose exclaimed. "Dear Aunt Theodora! Oh, but wasn't it +awful of us to stay out all night!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see how we could help it," Sylvia declared. "We certainly +couldn't walk through the woods at night."</p> + +<p>A little later they were being towed back to the hotel by the searching +party, and had related to the kindly guides their experiences. Before +they reached the dock another motor boat had sighted them, and came up +at full speed.</p> + +<p>"There's Aunt Theodora," called Sylvia. A handkerchief was vigorously +waved, and four others answered it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, I was <i>much</i> worried about you!" the guardian said, kissing +them all around. "Yet, somehow, I knew you would be all right. However, +I organised searching parties, using all the boats I could commandeer, +and they've been out all night. Didn't you hear them whistling and +calling?"</p> + +<p>"All we heard was the loon," said Hazel.</p> + +<p>Once again they told their story, and a little later they were back at +their hotel.</p> + +<p>"Was the dance nice?" asked Hazel, when she and her chums had changed +to fresh garments.</p> + +<p>"They didn't have it," Aunt Theodora said. "Every one was distracted +about you, and a number of young men declared they would not dance +while you were lost. They went out in a boat after you, and they +haven't come back yet. I must say it was very nice of them."</p> + +<p>"What? Not coming back?" asked Sylvia. "That isn't a bit nice. We want +them to dance with us. Though it was a tribute to—shall I say our +popularity?—to call off the hop."</p> + +<p>"Hope they have it to-night," murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>The young men returned, rather weary and forlorn, but the news that the +lost ones had been found reached them before they arrived at the dock, +so they came up singing and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>That night the postponed dance was held.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but weren't you girls frightened to death, staying out all alone +that way?" asked Natalie, during an interval between dances.</p> + +<p>"Not after we had gotten used to it," Sylvia said. "It was rather a +lark."</p> + +<p>"No, it was a <i>loon</i>!" corrected Alice, with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"Say, little one, I think you're dancing too many dances with one +partner," commented Rose, turning to Hazel.</p> + +<p>"How can I help it? He asks me before any of the other fellows have a +chance—not that I want them, for he dances beautifully," said Hazel, +with an assumed innocent air that became her well.</p> + +<p>"Hopeless!" murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Then the music began a dreamy hesitation.</p> + +<p>So delightful did the Nowadays Girls find their stay at the Antlers +that they decided to prolong their visit another week. Sylvia received +a message, saying that her brother was doing as well as could be +expected, and this somewhat cheered her and Rose.</p> + +<p>"And now what do you say to a few days in camp?" asked Mrs. Brownley, +when she and her charges had returned one day from a long motor trip.</p> + +<p>"Camp?" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Parson are talking of going off to the woods to live +in a tent, near a small lake not far from here, and they asked me if I +thought you girls wouldn't like to join them. What shall I say?"</p> + +<p>"Please accept for us," said Sylvia. "That is, if the others agree. It +will give us a taste of real wilderness life. So different from hotel +existence."</p> + +<p>"But we can't have any dances," objected Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can get along without them for a little while," Rose said.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you can exist without a onestep, I'm sure I can, or a +half-and-half, either," declared Alice. "Ho, for the camp!"</p> + +<p>"Do we have to do our own cooking?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"No, I believe they are going to take a cook along."</p> + +<p>"So much nicer," murmured Sylvia, "though I have cooked in camp, and +over an open fire. But I can't say I like it. When do we go, Aunt +Theodora?"</p> + +<p>"In a day or so. I'll go and tell Mrs. Parson you will accept their +kind invitation."</p> + +<p>So it was arranged. And a day or so later the little party went over to +Shedd Lake, about four miles from Raquette Lake, there to live under +canvas for perhaps a week.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>CANOEING</h3> + + +<p>Camp Natalie it was named, in honour of the bride, though she +blushingly protested. But Sylvia and her chums insisted, and the name +was built up in bark letters on a board, and suspended in the little +open glade in front of the tents, which faced the blue waters of the +lake.</p> + +<p>The camp was a most complete and modern one. A man had been engaged +to look after the putting up of the tents, and the arranging of all +matters, so that the fun-lovers had really nothing to worry about. And +the man had done his work well.</p> + +<p>There were five canvas shelters in all, besides a small additional one +near the cook tent, where slept the buxom woman who presided over the +dishes, pots and pans.</p> + +<p>A large tent that could be made open to the glorious breezes, or closed +in case of stormy weather, served as the dining-room. The cooking +was done in another tent, with a real stove, burning coal that was +transported to camp in a wagon. For there is nothing more exasperating +than to cook over a wood fire. Either it is too hot, or it has expired +before the cook is aware of it, and has to be brought hastily to life +again to the detriment of the viands. So coal solved the problem.</p> + +<p>Then there were three sleeping tents, with ample accommodations and the +most modern of cots. In fact it was a most comfortable camp, and the +Nowadays Girls, as well as Natalie and her husband, pronounced it to be +perfect.</p> + +<p>After setting the camp to rights, which was no small task, even though +the cook and her husband, a guide, helped, there followed a somewhat +lazy period. The girls went for strolls in the balsam-odorous woods, or +sat on the shores of the little lake, looking at the view. Sometimes, +when Rose was particularly pensive, Hazel or Alice would ask:</p> + +<p>"Can't you stop it?"</p> + +<p>"Stop what?" she would ask, sometimes before she thought.</p> + +<p>"Thinking of Roy."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" and she would blush rosy-red.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't blame her for thinking of him, if he's as nice as his +picture indicates," said Natalie—for so all the girls called her. "I +shall like him myself!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"In a perfectly brotherly way," Natalie added, calmly. "In fact I +almost think of him as a brother already."</p> + +<p>"He <i>is</i> awfully nice," declared Alice. "He is such a dear boy, and it +was too bad that this trouble had to come to him."</p> + +<p>"I do hope he will get over it," Natalie said.</p> + +<p>"We all trust so," replied his sister. "It means so much to him in his +success with that chemical firm. Roy really overworked, trying to solve +some chemical problem, and that brought on a breakdown. Only that the +doctor thought it best for us to keep away from him a little while, I +should be with him now."</p> + +<p>Rose did not say so, but doubtless she, too, wished she could help +to minister to Roy. For between the two was a bond of more than mere +friendship. And presently Rose went off by herself in the green and +silent woods.</p> + +<p>"Poor girl," murmured Natalie. "I know how she must feel. Bob was ill +once——But there, you don't want to hear about the troubles of an old +married couple!" and her merry laugh rang out.</p> + +<p>There were glorious days in the woods, at Camp Natalie. The girls went +fishing a number of times, and explored little-travelled trails through +the forest. But they did not go far enough to get lost, and Mrs. +Rachlin was almost as expert in the woods as was her guide-husband. She +led forth the little parties, after her work in camp was done, and many +were the hidden mysteries of the forest that she laid bare.</p> + +<p>Aunt Theodora, too, enjoyed this life in the open.</p> + +<p>"I think, really," she said, in her precise little way, "that this +is more educating than some trips to Europe. One gets so tired of +following in the beaten paths, even of knowledge. This is positively a +revelation."</p> + +<p>"I am so glad it isn't boring you," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Boring me! My dear, I would never be bored where you girls were!"</p> + +<p>"Which is very nice for you to say, at any rate," laughed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I mean it!" declared "Guardy!" as the girls affectionately called +Mrs. Brownley at times.</p> + +<p>"Positively I'm ashamed of my appetite!" said Hazel, after one meal. +"But, really, I never ate anything that tasted so good as the food does +here. I think it must be the air."</p> + +<p>"Or the cooking!" added Alice.</p> + +<p>"The cooking certainly has much to do with it," declared Sylvia. "Mrs. +Rachlin gets up some wonderful dishes. I really don't see how she does +it with the limited means at her disposal."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm used to rough cooking," said the person under discussion. "You +girls are easy compared to lumbermen, and I've cooked for them when my +husband has been in charge of a gang. They certainly can eat!" and she +shook her head in remembrance.</p> + +<p>The delights of the water added to the pleasure of the girls and their +friends at Camp Natalie. They had sent for canoes, which were brought +over on a wagon, and one day they set out to explore a small but rather +rapid and turbulent stream connected with Shedd Lake.</p> + +<p>The four Nowadays Girls, in two canoes, went off by themselves, for +Mrs. Brownley would not trust herself in one of the frail craft, and +Natalie and Bob voted for a quiet and rather solitary stroll through +the woods.</p> + +<p>"Now do sit quiet, Rose," begged Sylvia, who was in the bow of one +craft, while Rose was in the stern. Hazel and Alice were in like +positions in another canoe.</p> + +<p>"Sit quiet! Don't I always?" Rose demanded.</p> + +<p>"You do except when you see an old stump or floating log and think it's +an alligator!" Sylvia chided.</p> + +<p>"As if she didn't know, by this time, that alligators are unknown +reptiles in the Adirondacks," laughed Alice.</p> + +<p>So they started off in the canoes, threading their way in and out along +the winding stream, now floating lazily under some overhanging boughs, +and again moving rapidly down some little stretch where the waters +bubbled and foamed over the stones in such a manner as to have that +particular section designated as "rapids."</p> + +<p>"Look out, girls!" Sylvia called back to Alice and Hazel, whose canoe +had dropped astern. "Here's a bad passage just ahead."</p> + +<p>"All right. We see it!" answered Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Now do sit steady, Rose!" pleaded Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Steady it is!" Rose answered, plying her paddle carefully.</p> + +<p>Whether she disobeyed the injunction, or whether she gave a wrong turn +to the broad blade, will never be known, but just as the canoe was in +the midst of the swirling water there was a sudden scream from Rose, +echoing ones from Hazel and Alice, and the craft containing Sylvia and +her chum rolled over, spilling them both out.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE MASQUERADE</h3> + + +<p>"Steady! Back water!"</p> + +<p>It was Hazel who gave the command, and the momentary feeling of panic +that had swept over Alice passed.</p> + +<p>"Over that way!" Hazel went on, nodding to indicate that she meant to +steer their canoe toward a bit of still water, an eddy formed under an +overhanging bank of the stream.</p> + +<p>"All right!" was the tense reply of her chum, and a moment later the +light craft shot past the rolling overturned one of Sylvia and Rose, +and was in quiet water.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, after the first sudden plunge into the stream—a plunge that +deprived them of their breath for an instant—the two girls who had +been spilled out regained control of themselves.</p> + +<p>The Nowadays Girls had the almost invaluable faculty of remaining cool, +or quickly becoming cool in emergencies.</p> + +<p>This had been proved in a number of instances in times past, when they +had been in no little danger. Once there was an incipient fire at Miss +Stevenson's school, and the alarm drill was called for. It remained +for our four friends and a few others, to lead to safety the majority +of the school, and for this bravery there had been no small thanks and +honour.</p> + +<p>So now, in this time of danger, the two girls who were in a place of +safety remained calm and collected and were ready for rescue work. +Fortunately, however, the water of the stream was not deep. It could +hardly be so and fuss and foam over the rapids in the way it did. So +Rose and Sylvia, after having been rolled over and over a number of +times, during which period they clung to the paddles, found themselves +in comparatively still water, and struck out for shore.</p> + +<p>It was then that the wisdom of Hazel and Alice showed itself, for they +were at the bank, waiting for their companions. There was no need for +them to leap in to the rescue, for they saw that Sylvia and Rose were +both swimming well, in spite of their wet and clinging garments. Their +dresses were light summer ones, which were not much more hampering +than bathing suits would have been. And they wore light, rubber-soled +boating shoes.</p> + +<p>"Catch hold!" cried Hazel, flinging to Rose, who was in advance of +Sylvia, a long rope they carried in the canoe for mooring purposes. The +coils straightened out, and the end of the line fell near the swimming +girl.</p> + +<p>"All right!" Rose answered, as she caught hold, and a moment later she +was being pulled toward the bank, suspending her swimming strokes, for +she was a little exhausted, not only by her efforts, but by the rolling +and tumbling process to which she had been subjected when the canoe +upset.</p> + +<p>"We'll be ready for you in a moment, Sylvia!" called Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, I can touch bottom," was the reassuring answer, and, +to prove it, Sylvia stood up, a dripping and dishevelled figure, but +a smiling one, nevertheless. It took more than a ducking to disturb +Sylvia Pursell.</p> + +<p>Rose, who had taken a little different course from that followed by her +companion in misfortune, now found herself in water that was not so +deep but that she could stand up, which she did, still keeping hold of +the rope.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Sylvia, finally, after she had caught her breath, and +wrung enough water from her fallen hair so that it ceased to run in +little rivulets down her face. "Well!"</p> + +<p>"Most decidedly—well!" exclaimed Alice. "A very wet well indeed! How +did it happen?"</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me—ask Rose," laughed Sylvia. She could laugh now, though +it had seemed serious enough for the moment.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't my fault," her companion asserted, smiling across the water +that separated them. Behind them foamed the little rapid, filling the +air with its insistent murmur.</p> + +<p>"I guess we didn't make allowances for the speed and strength of the +current," Sylvia said. "It seemed to grip the canoe in a moment."</p> + +<p>"By the way, where is the canoe?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>They looked down-stream, and saw their boat apparently moving by itself +over the tops of the low bushes. It was turned upside down and was +bobbing about in a most unaccountable manner.</p> + +<p>"Look—look at that!" fairly gasped Alice, from her position on the +bank.</p> + +<p>"Why, what does it mean?" asked Hazel, faintly.</p> + +<p>The four girls watched the canoe with increasing astonishment. It +seemed to be moved by spirit hands, gliding, upside down, over the tops +of the bushes in a curious undulating fashion.</p> + +<p>"Could it have struck a rock, and bounced out on shore?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"If it struck a rock with enough force for that, it would be in pieces, +instead of whole, as it seems to be," Sylvia answered.</p> + +<p>"But isn't it remarkable?" murmured Alice.</p> + +<p>"To say the least—yes," agreed Rose.</p> + +<p>Then, as the girls watched, the canoe seemed to sink down in the +bushes, as a magician causes a certain card to appear from the centre +of the pack, and to descend again.</p> + +<p>"This must be seen to," Sylvia declared, with energy. "We can't have +any white magic like this going on without making an investigation. +Come on, Rose."</p> + +<p>She started wading toward shore.</p> + +<p>"Better wait until we pull Rose in, and then we'll fling you the rope," +advised Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't need the rope, I can walk without that," declared Rose.</p> + +<p>"Better not try," suggested Sylvia. "There may be some deep holes +between here and shore. Keep hold of the rope, then I'll use it. And +after that we'll see if our canoe has taken unto itself wings and flown +away."</p> + +<p>There was no need for the line from shore, as it developed, and soon +Rose and Sylvia, after safely wading to the bank, joined their more +fortunate companions. Alice and Hazel made fast their canoe, and Rose +and Sylvia wrung as much water as possible from their skirts, then all +four started toward the place where the canoe had been observed to so +oddly nestle amid the underbrush.</p> + +<p>The girls found a fairly good path along the shore, and following this, +they turned in and out, as the trail led, bending itself to the curves +of the stream, until they suddenly emerged into a small clearing.</p> + +<p>And there, sitting by the canoe, which had been turned in a most +favorable position so that the sun might dry it out, was a bronzed +young man who was gravely contemplating his wet and dripping legs that +were clad in khaki trousers.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Sylvia, faintly, as she saw the young man slowly turn +his head in the direction of the sound caused by the girls pushing +their way past the bushes that overhung the trail.</p> + +<p>"So, <i>that</i> was what made the canoe behave in such a mysterious way!" +murmured Hazel.</p> + +<p>"He must have pulled it out of the water," suggested Alice.</p> + +<p>Rose stood looking at the young man, saying nothing.</p> + +<p>As for the youth himself, he rose to his feet, thereby disclosing the +fact that he was rather tall. He wore no hat, but a half-military +salute toward his brown, curling hair made up for what doubtless would +have been a deferential removal of his head-gear had he worn any.</p> + +<p>"Are you looking for a lost, strayed or otherwise missing canoe?" he +asked, at the same time motioning toward the one on the grass near him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is ours," said Sylvia. "We had an upset in the rapids."</p> + +<p>"I guessed as much," the stranger said. "I was about to go in search +of the owners, fearing some accident might have happened, but you have +saved me a journey. Perhaps I can be of some assistance?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, I believe we are all right now," Sylvia said. "We held on +to our paddles. We——"</p> + +<p>She started forward, as though to prove her claim to the canoe by +exhibiting the paddles, but Rose pulled her back.</p> + +<p>"Don't go!" came the half-frantic whisper. "You're a sight, and so am +I! Let Hazel and Alice walk ahead. They aren't dripping wet and their +hair isn't hanging seven ways for Sunday. Let them go ahead!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Sylvia, comprehendingly. "Yes, I guess you're right, +Rose. We don't look exactly presentable."</p> + +<p>The young man had waited inquiringly as this little discussion was in +progress, and if he understood the nature of it he gave no sign.</p> + +<p>Concealed by the friendly and effectual screen of bushes the change +was made, bringing Alice and Hazel into the vanguard, and letting +Sylvia and Rose take up a position in the rear. A hasty glance over +the trail they had come showed no enemy at their backs, and they were +sufficiently guarded by underbrush on either side of the path to +prevent a flank attack.</p> + +<p>"I'll put the canoe back in the stream for you, in a few minutes," the +young man went on. "I was letting the water drain out of it. I was +fishing just about here," he said, "when I saw it coming down-stream. I +guessed what had happened and waded out to get it. Then I put it over +my head and took it to shore."</p> + +<p>"Oh! That was what made it look so funny!" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Funny?" the young man questioned.</p> + +<p>"We could only see the boat from where we were," explained Alice, "and +it looked as though it were floating on top of the bushes, upside down."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see," he went on, comprehendingly. "You couldn't see me because +my head was under the canoe, and you couldn't see the rest of me +because the bushes formed a screen. Yes, it must have been rather odd."</p> + +<p>"It was," said Sylvia, and she could not restrain a merry laugh.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed the young man, and it seemed as though the laugh had +come in answer to some question he asked himself. And the question +might have been in regard to the disappearance of the two wet and +dripping girls he had first observed, for Alice and Hazel were now in +front of Rose and Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It was very good of you to save the canoe," Hazel said. "It might have +been dashed to pieces on the rocks."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was past the danger spot when I got it," the youth said, with a +smile that seemed to illuminate his brown face. "Don't credit me with +too much. I just grabbed it as it was floating past."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we spoiled your fishing," said Alice, at the same time +voicing to her chums a hoarsely whispered aside to the effect: "Why +don't you two do something? Going to leave it all to Hazel and me?"</p> + +<p>"What shall we say?" demanded Rose.</p> + +<p>"Oh, say 'pleased to meet you,' if you can't think of anything else," +retorted Alice.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure I can't do anything for you?" the youth asked, as he +prepared to put the canoe over his head and shoulders, in the most +approved guide "carry" position, and start for the water with it. "I'd +like to help you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, we are all right," Alice said. "We are going back to camp."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then you are camping here?" he asked, and Rose said afterward that +his voice had a "hopeful" sound.</p> + +<p>"Just for a little while," Hazel answered, waving her hand indefinitely +toward the woods.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see. I'm a camper also," he added, but he gave no further +information about himself.</p> + +<p>"If I might suggest," he said, as he shouldered the light canoe, "it +might be better for me to take this for you past the rapids. They are +rather hard to traverse up-stream, and they are high from the rain. You +won't have any trouble once you get past the rough place, however. Let +me put the boat in the water for you a little farther up."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is entirely too much trouble!" protested Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" he said, quickly. "I'm glad to be able to help you."</p> + +<p>The girls turned to go back along the trail they must follow in order +to get past the rapids. This turn brought Sylvia and Rose in the rear, +and directly behind them was the youth with the canoe.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Rose, as she thought of her dripping garments and +dishevelled hair. It was the very thing they had sought to avoid.</p> + +<p>"He can't see us with the canoe over his head," declared Sylvia. "If +we change now he'll laugh! Go on!"</p> + +<p>And go on they did.</p> + +<p>The other canoe was found safely floating in the deep eddy where it +had been moored, and a little later the one that had overturned, now +righted and comparatively dry, was put in the stream at a point past +the rapids.</p> + +<p>"Now I'll carry the other one there for you, and you won't have much +trouble paddling back," the young man said. And in spite of the rather +half-hearted protests of the girls, this he did.</p> + +<p>By this time the warm sun and the wind had done much toward drying +the garments of Sylvia and Rose. And they had managed to put up their +hair in some sort of fashion that, though they did not realize it, was +wonderfully becoming.</p> + +<p>"Now I think you'll be all right," the young man said, when the four +girls, in the two boats, were ready to paddle back.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. And thank you <i>so</i> much!" said Sylvia, warmly. Her thanks +were echoed in a chorus by the others.</p> + +<p>Again with that graceful, half-military salute toward his bared head, +the bronzed youth watched them paddle away. And it was not until they +were around the bend of the stream that Alice exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Oh, we never asked his name!"</p> + +<p>"Nor told ours!" added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Why should we?" demanded Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," was Hazel's slow retort.</p> + +<p>They paddled slowly back to camp, where Mrs. Brownley was not a little +exercised over the upset.</p> + +<p>"It was nothing!" Sylvia said. "We get used to such things nowadays."</p> + +<p>This was really the only little accident that marred the camping +outing, and that did not so much mar it as it marked it. Two or three +days afterward the girls went canoeing, and successfully passed the +rapids. But they saw nothing of the young man. Indeed, though the eyes +of all four roved through the woods and along the wilderness trails, +not one would admit that she was looking for anything or any one in +particular.</p> + +<p>Then came the day when they went back to the Antlers. They had spent a +glorious week in the woods.</p> + +<p>As the campers reached the porch, to be made welcome by their hotel +friends, they saw a group gathered about the bulletin board.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what that means?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Let's look," suggested Sylvia.</p> + +<p>They found it was an announcement of a masquerade dance to be given two +nights hence.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we simply must go to that!" cried Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Surely!" agreed Alice.</p> + +<p>"But what about costumes?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"We'll make our own. Masks will be easy to get, I fancy," Sylvia said. +"We'll make inquiries."</p> + +<p>They found that masks of various sorts were easily obtainable, and +some costumes also, though most of the ladies were going to make their +own, out of simple materials.</p> + +<p>Preparations for the masque fête went merrily on, and none took more +interest in it than our Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>"The usual penny," said Rose, suddenly, one day, as the four sat in +Sylvia's room, sewing. Rose looked at Hazel as she thus challenged her.</p> + +<p>"Penny? For what?"</p> + +<p>"Your thoughts, of course. You're in a brown study and the shade +doesn't at all match your dress."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was thinking——" Hazel stopped suddenly.</p> + +<p>"She was thinking of the young man of the woods," declared Sylvia, with +a laugh.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE MYSTIC MOON</h3> + + +<p>Softly the musicians played behind a bank of palms. Softly shone the +mystic moon outside, brighter even than the lights of the ballroom, +for they had been turned low, since it was not yet the hour to trip +the light fantastic. The melody came only in haunting strains, a +ripple from the piano as the player tried the keys in some snatch of +a onestep, the half-sobbing voice of the violin in a haunting, dreamy +waltz, the mellow trill of the flute, and the more military sound of +the French horn. The musicians were making ready.</p> + +<p>Now and then, through the corridors of the hotel flitted strange +figures. Figures whose faces were concealed by masks. They glided here +and there, into rooms and out again.</p> + +<p>And of mysterious import were many whispered messages that floated up +and down the corridors.</p> + +<p>"Have you any more powder?"</p> + +<p>Surely a strange "engagement" that needed powder on a night like that.</p> + +<p>"I want some pins!"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to take a tuck in it."</p> + +<p>"My slippers will never stay on when I get to dancing!"</p> + +<p>"Use a rubber band around your instep. It won't show much!"</p> + +<p>"Do you think he'll know me?"</p> + +<p>"Never—not in that!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but he saw me getting it!"</p> + +<p>"He thought it was for me. He'll take me for you and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know that I want that!"</p> + +<p>And so on.</p> + +<p>It was the night of the masquerade, a night full of promises of +surprise, a night of mystery, of mystic moonlight. The big hotel was +thronged, for invitations had been general, and from many other camps +and places in Raquette Lake had come the merry-makers and dancers.</p> + +<p>"Well, are you almost ready?" asked Sylvia, as she slipped into the +room of Alice, not wearing her mask, for the Nowadays Girls and Mrs. +Brownley had a private hall to themselves.</p> + +<p>"Almost, yes. How do you like my dress?"</p> + +<p>"It's perfect. I never thought you could get such a stunning effect +from that calico and creton."</p> + +<p>Alice was a Dresden shepherdess, and a sweet and dainty figure she made.</p> + +<p>"Your own costume is a dream, Sylvia!"</p> + +<p>"I'm glad it isn't a nightmare," was the laughing retort. Sylvia was +attired as Night in a black dress, spangled with stars, and quarter +moons. It became her wonderfully well. Her black mask dangled from her +hand. Soon it would be time to don it.</p> + +<p>Rose was a Columbine, in a voluminous clown suit of white with black +spots, and a peaked hat, while Baby Reed was Little Miss Muffett.</p> + +<p>The girls hoped they had kept their secrets well, and that none of +the hotel guests had discovered the designs of their costumes. Mrs. +Brownley was to go just as herself, in common with some of the other +matrons of the hotel, who would act as chaperons and patronesses of the +dance, which was for a local charity.</p> + +<p>Louder sounded the entrancing music. The strains of it penetrated +to the room of our friends, and set their feet to tapping the floor +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you ready yet, Rose?" asked Sylvia; for they were waiting for +some last touches to be put to her dress by one of the chambermaids.</p> + +<p>"Yes—coming!"</p> + +<p>They went out, masked, to the main hall, to find themselves in a gay +throng of other maskers, who were attired with more or less historic +semblance to represent characters, past, present and future. This was +the ladies' dressing floor. The gentlemen were on the one below.</p> + +<p>There were murmurs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" as Sylvia and her chums came +from their rooms.</p> + +<p>"Those are the four girls!" came in whispers from various corners, with +the accent on "the."</p> + +<p>"Where's Natalie?" asked Hazel, in a low voice, of Sylvia. "She wanted +to go down with us."</p> + +<p>"She and her husband are going as Jack and Jill," explained Sylvia. +"But don't mention it. She doesn't want it known that she is married."</p> + +<p>"Has she taken off her wedding ring?" Alice asked.</p> + +<p>"Indeed not! Brides don't do that. But she is going to wear gloves. +There she is now."</p> + +<p>A charming "Jill" came out of a room and joined the four girls.</p> + +<p>There sounded a crash of music from the ballroom floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on!" begged Hazel. "We're missing it."</p> + +<p>As they passed the floor where the gentlemen were costuming, a group +passed down the broad staircase. There were clowns, tramps, gallants +of the thirteenth century, courtiers, Puritans, aviators, sailors, +soldiers and what-not.</p> + +<p>Down the stairs hustled and bustled the masqueraders, eager to throng +into the place whence the music came. It was a hesitation waltz, and +Sylvia presently found herself whirling through it with a Spaniard who +danced wonderfully well.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="" id="illus2"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>SYLVIA PRESENTLY FOUND HERSELF WHIRLING THROUGH IT WITH A SPANIARD WHO DANCED WONDERFULLY WELL.</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<p>"Do you do the Marcel?" he asked, looking intently at her as if to +pierce her identity through her mask.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, trying to speak unnaturally, for she suspected her +partner was a certain young man staying at the Antlers.</p> + +<p>He whirled her about in the pivot, glided first on her right side, +and then, after a hesitation, to the left, again whirling into the +waltz. She knew this dance perhaps better than any of the newest new +ones, and she was not a little gratified when her partner remarked:</p> + +<p>"That was beautifully done. Don't you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes. It is such a change from the plain hesitation."</p> + +<p>They found themselves in a crush, and had to "lame duck" it for a few +steps until they found themselves free again.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what that reminds me of?" he asked, as they passed the +palm-screened corner where the musicians were playing.</p> + +<p>"What?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"The hesitation. It reminds me of a canoe gracefully overturning in the +rapids——"</p> + +<p>"What! You?" she cried, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Even so, O Night!" He spoke dramatically. "I thought I should find you +again, but I looked for a Niobe."</p> + +<p>"Why, because I was all water?"</p> + +<p>"Somewhat, yes. May I have the next dance?"</p> + +<p>"I—I am not so sure——"</p> + +<p>"You had better be. Come out on the veranda. The moon is glorious." +The music had stopped, and as there had already been two encores there +would be no more.</p> + +<p>Sylvia, her heart beating rather fast, stepped out of the low windows +to the porch whereon were many strolling couples. Sylvia was on her +guard. After all it might be one of the hotel guests who had heard the +story of the upset.</p> + +<p>A figure that Sylvia recognised as that of Alice came up to her, but +stopped on seeing her with the Spaniard.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Nothing now, I'll speak to you later."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll leave you," said the Spaniard, quickly. "Remember, I have the +new dance, O Night," he said, and with a bow he was gone.</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" asked Alice, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"The young man who saved our canoe."</p> + +<p>"Really?"</p> + +<p>"So he says."</p> + +<p>"You can't believe a word they say. Did you have a nice dance?"</p> + +<p>"Lovely! And you?"</p> + +<p>"Perfect. I'm engaged for the next one. Are you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if he insists on claiming it I can hardly say no. And he really +<i>does</i> dance beautifully. Have you seen Rose or Hazel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they were enjoying themselves, evidently. I want some pins. Have +you any?"</p> + +<p>Alice was supplied, and went to the dressing-room. Sylvia was looking +for Hazel or Rose, when the music started up again. She saw a +grotesquely attired Dutchman approaching, and wondered if he would ask +her to dance.</p> + +<p>He did.</p> + +<p>"This is ours, I believe, O Night," he murmured.</p> + +<p>"Yours? I—er—I——"</p> + +<p>"I am the knight of the overturned canoe, who wore no hat," he said, in +a low voice.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE MYSTERY DEEPENS</h3> + + +<p>Sylvia did not know what to say. There were two explanations +possible—perhaps more, but two certainly.</p> + +<p>One was that the Spaniard had hastily changed his costume, or else that +there were two young men who had penetrated her disguise, and were +conversant at least with the episode of the overturned canoe. And both +explanations were feasible.</p> + +<p>"I—er—I half promised this dance," murmured Sylvia. "I told——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I am he whom you told," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"He was a——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know. But pardon me for pointing out that we are missing part +of it," and he led her in through the low window to the ballroom. +It was a onestep, and Sylvia could not judge, from the style of her +partner's dancing, whether or not he was the same one she had had in +the hesitation.</p> + +<p>"I trust you did not take cold," he said, "from your immersion."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not at all," Sylvia said. She and her chums had been +reasonably sure that the camping accident was known only to a few in +the hotel, for it had been made light of, and canoe upsets were far too +common to make much fuss over. And yet if this were not the young man +who had rescued the canoe he must be some one of the boarders at the +Antlers who knew more about the episode than had been given out by the +participants.</p> + +<p>"And why did he change his costume, when he practically acknowledged +who he was?" Sylvia asked herself.</p> + +<p>"I hope you did not tire yourself carrying the canoes?" she remarked, +casually, after a period of silence.</p> + +<p>"I? Oh, no. Not in the least. Do you do the aëroplane in this dance?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Shall we——?"</p> + +<p>"If you please."</p> + +<p>He swung her into it with ease and grace. Then she was sure from his +manner of stepping at her side that this was the same dancer who had +been with her in the hesitation. But why had he changed his costume? +That was a question which she could not answer.</p> + +<p>The music stopped, but there was at once an insistent applauding for an +encore, which, after a few seconds of waiting, came.</p> + +<p>"Is your camp near here?" Sylvia asked.</p> + +<p>"Not far away. Is yours?"</p> + +<p>"No, not now."</p> + +<p>Evidently he did not know she was a hotel guest. The mystery deepened.</p> + +<p>"Would it be asking too much to crave the next number?" he murmured, +when the last encore had been danced out.</p> + +<p>"Well, I—er—I——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not if you are engaged!" he hastily interposed.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was not, but she knew there would be no trouble in getting a +partner.</p> + +<p>"I shall see you again, anyhow," he said, as he bowed and walked +off. Alice, Hazel and Rose found Sylvia standing on the porch in the +brilliant moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I had the loveliest dance!" Rose said, clapping her hands. "He +showed me some new steps. He was dressed as a Spaniard and he was the +same fellow who saved our canoe for us."</p> + +<p>"He—he was?" gasped Sylvia. "Do you mean just now?"</p> + +<p>"No, he didn't save our canoe just now. I mean when we were in the +rapids."</p> + +<p>"But did you just dance this onestep with him—with a Spaniard?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did."</p> + +<p>"And did he claim to be the Knight of the Upset Canoe?"</p> + +<p>"No, he didn't claim to be anything of the sort. But I knew from what +he said that he was the one. I wonder how he knew me?"</p> + +<p>Sylvia's brain was in a whirl. Who was the Dutchman?</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask?" Rose wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing in particular. I'll tell you later. Here's a fox trot. I +wonder——"</p> + +<p>Three young men, as if moved by a common impulse, came fairly charging +down on Alice, Rose and Hazel. The Spaniard was not one of them.</p> + +<p>Sylvia wondered if she was to be left out, for none of the three +approached her.</p> + +<p>However, the music had played but a few more measures when Sylvia +saw approaching her a masker in the red suit and face-covering of +Mephistopheles. She felt a little thrill as it became evident that he +meant to claim her as his partner.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you dancing?" he asked, extending his hands in an invitation.</p> + +<p>"Well, I——" Sylvia seemed strangely noncommittal this evening.</p> + +<p>"Then may I have the honour? I danced with you before, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," she answered, as he led her toward the ballroom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but yes!" he insisted, with a laugh. "I am perhaps attired for +something a little out of my—shall we say—element," he went on, "but +surely you have not forgotten the Knight of the Overturned Canoe?" his +voice questioned.</p> + +<p>"You—you—surely you are not he!"</p> + +<p>"Even so, O Night!"</p> + +<p>"But you—your——"</p> + +<p>They were fox-trotting toward the musicians, and as Sylvia was not +quite sure of the sequence of the steps in this dance—at least with +this partner—she deferred continuing her remarks until she had found +out just how he did it.</p> + +<p>"Here is a new one, perhaps," he said, as they found themselves in a +rather secluded corner, secluded for the moment. They had just finished +the two-step glide part of the fox trot. "It's a slide forward, a slide +back, two counts each, another slide forward, a draw on two counts and +a hop on the fourth," he explained.</p> + +<p>He executed it as he spoke, and Sylvia grasped it almost at once.</p> + +<p>"Like it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. It's quite novel. Where did you learn that?"</p> + +<p>"In New York."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're from there?"</p> + +<p>"When I'm not in the woods, saving canoes." He laughed in a boyish +fashion. Sylvia looked into his eyes, but they told her nothing.</p> + +<p>Sylvia glanced around the room. She saw neither the Spaniard nor the +Dutchman. Clearly then this must be he who had masqueraded as both. And +yet why his triple change of costume? There seemed to be no need of it.</p> + +<p>Sylvia determined to find out about it, but not now. She would not give +him the satisfaction of asking too many questions. But she resolved to +do a bit of detective work in the interval between this and the next +dance.</p> + +<p>The fox trot ended in the tapping accompaniment by the drummer, and the +musicians, who had given three encores, refused another.</p> + +<p>"Will you have an ice?" asked Mephistopheles.</p> + +<p>Sylvia assented. There was quite a crush in the refreshment room, but +her partner managed to worm his way through, and procured for her a +plate of cream and some cakes.</p> + +<p>"If you will excuse me," he murmured, "I will claim the next dance; if +I may?"</p> + +<p>"Are you going to——"</p> + +<p>"See some of my friends," he finished for her, not giving her a chance +to intimate that he was going to change his costume again. "I see yours +approaching," he added, and Sylvia looked up to note the approach of +Alice, Hazel and Rose, each with an escort.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have been provided for," murmured Alice, as she saw Sylvia +nibbling a macaroon under her mask, which came only to her lips.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had Mephistopheles."</p> + +<p>"We saw you," whispered Rose.</p> + +<p>"A lovely dancer," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Who is he?" Alice wanted to know.</p> + +<p>Sylvia shook her head, as the three young men, variously disguised, +came back with refreshments for the other girls.</p> + +<p>"I had a queer Dutchman for the first half of this dance, and then he +excused himself and brought up a Spaniard," said Hazel.</p> + +<p>"You—you did!" gasped Sylvia. She was more puzzled than ever, for she +had seen neither of her two former partners on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Both dandy dancers," Hazel went on.</p> + +<p>There was a little wait and then another strain of music proclaimed the +beginning of another hesitation. The three young men who had brought +the girls to the refreshment room, escorted them back to the dance +floor, and with murmured pleas that they must seek other partners, left +them.</p> + +<p>Almost at once, however, there bore down on Alice, Hazel and Rose, +respectively a Spaniard, a Dutchman and Mephistopheles.</p> + +<p>Sylvia gasped her surprise, but a moment later it was added to, for a +thirteenth-century cavalier, with glossy black curls flowing over his +lace collar, approached, and with a low bow, said:</p> + +<p>"The Knight of the Overturned Canoe craves a dance with thee, O Night!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia wondered where it would all end, and, almost as if in a dream, +she accepted his arm and went out on the floor.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>BAD NEWS</h3> + + +<p>The music was entrancing—a dreamy waltz was being played. There was +the odour of flowers. All about were presumably pretty women and +girls—presumably, for their masks still hid their faces. Outside the +moon shone, still bewitchingly. From behind the bank of palms, which +stirred gently in the night air that swept in through the open windows, +came the wailing of the oboe, the shriller crying of the violin, the +tinkle of the piano, the bird-like notes of the flute, the mellow call +of the French horn—all blending together in a strain that, without +conscious effort, seemed to move one into the mazy whirl of the waltz.</p> + +<p>Almost before she knew it Sylvia found herself moving about in company +with the cavalier, and it was a delightful motion, for, like the other +three mysterious Knights of the Canoe, he was an excellent dancer.</p> + +<p>"I have been waiting for this opportunity, O Night," he whispered in +Sylvia's little ear that was half hidden by her hair.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" she replied, non-committaly. "Do you mean you, or some of your +friends?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean," he answered, feigning ignorance.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you do," she said, as she put out her hand to ward off an +unskilful couple who were going around the wrong way of the room.</p> + +<p>"Upon my honour——"</p> + +<p>"Swear not at all, especially in this moonlight!" she mocked.</p> + +<p>"It is glorious; isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Perfect."</p> + +<p>"Would you rather dance, or go out where we can see——"</p> + +<p>"Dance," she said, shortly. She was going to take no chances of any +practical, or impractical, jokes being played in the shimmering and +inconstant moonlight.</p> + +<p>"The moon will last—the music not," he said, softly, and they swept on +around the room in a slow, graceful glide.</p> + +<p>Sylvia, as she confessed afterward, was just "dying" to ask her +cavalier what it all meant—the four claimants to the title of Knight +of the Overturned Canoe, each of whom had appeared in a different +costume. But she refrained. She felt that the mystery would reveal +itself in due season.</p> + +<p>Were there four young men? Was it not the same one all the while, who +had changed disguises with his friends, and so managed to claim Sylvia +in a different garb each time? She could not be sure.</p> + +<p>Yet there was an indefinable something different in the dancing of +each of her four partners. She was almost sure they could not be the +same.</p> + +<p>"Are you staying at the Antlers much longer?" the cavalier asked, as +the music came to an end, and the dancers vigorously begged for an +encore.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure," she answered. "Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I just wanted to know. There is another dance next week."</p> + +<p>"A masquerade?"</p> + +<p>"No. I wish it were."</p> + +<p>"So that you could hide your identity further?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you know who I am?" he teased.</p> + +<p>"Of course. You are Harry Blair," and she purposely named at random a +certain young man stopping at the hotel.</p> + +<p>"Right—not!" he laughed. "You don't believe I saved your canoe?"</p> + +<p>"There are too many claimants to the——"</p> + +<p>"Honour," he hastily interposed. "Don't hesitate to say it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it wasn't that, so much as it was——"</p> + +<p>The music cut in on their talk with a blare of drum and trumpet, and +once more they were off in the dance.</p> + +<p>"What were you going to say?" he persisted, when there came a lull.</p> + +<p>"Nothing of any consequence."</p> + +<p>And so the small talk went on. There came more numbers, and the +cavalier, the Dutchman, Mephistopheles and the Spaniard danced in turn +with Sylvia, Rose, Hazel and Alice. The other three girls were as +puzzled as Sylvia had been.</p> + +<p>"Who can they be?" asked Hazel, when they were in the dressing-room, +just before the signal for unmasking was to be given.</p> + +<p>"Haven't the least idea," Sylvia replied.</p> + +<p>"Do you really think they can be one and the same young fellow who +helped us with the canoes?" Rose demanded. "Or is there more than one?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Well, they might have changed clothes, and certainly one could tell +the other enough details so that all would know just what happened that +day," Rose insisted.</p> + +<p>"We'll soon know," Sylvia said. "There they are, all four together, and +they're looking this way as if they expected us to come out. They're +going to give the signal to unmask!"</p> + +<p>It was on the stroke of twelve, and the trumpeter had come to the edge +of the music platform to sound the call that would mean the revealing +of identities hitherto hidden.</p> + +<p>"Let's not go out," suggested Rose.</p> + +<p>"The idea!" Alice cried. "When they're such good dancers? Much better +than any of the fellows at the hotel. I wonder who they can be? It's +such fun!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia gazed out of a window into the moonlight, and wondered also. She +rather liked the title, "Knight of the Overturned Canoe," but she felt +sure that only one was entitled to it—and that one, somehow or other, +she felt was the last partner she had danced with—the cavalier. He had +rather a masterful way with him.</p> + +<p>The trumpet blared out. There was a moment of silence, then came the +taking off of masks, and gasps of astonishment vied with peals of +merriment, for there were many surprises.</p> + +<p>Sylvia kept her eyes fixed on the group of four young men, the +Dutchman, the Spaniard, Mephistopheles and the cavalier. They unmasked +together, and, in a straight line, like the advance of some guard of +soldiers, came toward the Nowadays Girls.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I feel like—running away!" murmured Rose, her cheeks hot with +blushes.</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare!" said Alice. "They all look like nice fellows."</p> + +<p>Sylvia gave a quick glance at the cavalier. Yes, she was right. He was +the Knight of the Overturned Canoe, the same bronze-faced youth with +crisp, curling hair. He smiled at her, showing two rows of white, even +teeth.</p> + +<p>Sylvia smiled in welcome.</p> + +<p>The other three were evidently his chums, for there existed, it seemed, +a jolly and excellent understanding among them. In a solid phalanx they +advanced toward the girls.</p> + +<p>"Shall we dance with them?" inquired Alice.</p> + +<p>"Better wait until they ask us," suggested Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll <i>ask</i> us all right," Sylvia said. "Anyhow, this is a Paul +Jones, and we'll naturally have to dance with a lot of strangers. It is +perfectly all right, I think."</p> + +<p>"So do I," declared Rose, with a new conviction.</p> + +<p>"She likes that Spaniard," laughed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"He dances beautifully," Rose confessed, blushing more vividly than +ever.</p> + +<p>"May I have the honour?" asked the cavalier, advancing to Sylvia.</p> + +<p>She nodded and smiled.</p> + +<p>"So there was but one real, true knight?" she murmured, when they were +dancing.</p> + +<p>"Only one, O Night, and you will find him very true," he whispered, +rather earnestly.</p> + +<p>Sylvia laughed, and it seemed to vie with the mellow notes of the flute.</p> + +<p>"What's the joke?" she asked. "I mean, how did you four manage it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you, out in the moonlight, after this dance."</p> + +<p>She rather regretted it when a new figure in the Paul Jones separated +him from her. And she was a little impatient for the promised +explanation. In due time it came. The dance ended, and the different +couples strolled to various resting-places.</p> + +<p>Sylvia noticed that Rose was with the Spaniard, Hazel with the Dutchman +and Alice with Mephistopheles. The three girls followed Sylvia out to +the piazza.</p> + +<p>"Well," began the cavalier, "I suppose you girls have been doing all +sorts of wondering. We hope you'll forgive the little joke. You see +there are really four of us. We have a camp over near Shedd Lake, and I +was lucky enough to be on hand that day when your canoe upset," and he +nodded at Sylvia and Rose.</p> + +<p>"When I went back and told the boys, guessing that you were stopping at +the Antlers, we decided to come to this masquerade, and see if we could +not mystify you a bit. I gave my chums all the details of the canoe +episode, so they could talk about it as well as I, and we each one, in +turn, decided to pretend he was the only and original Knight of the +Overturned Canoe.</p> + +<p>"Which we did, to the best of our ability. We hope we are forgiven. If +you want proper introductions to us——"</p> + +<p>He broke off to give the names of himself and his companions. They had +friends stopping at the hotel, and very soon the girls were formally +presented, Aunt Theodora also meeting the youths, and unconsciously +expressing her satisfaction with them.</p> + +<p>"There goes the music!" exclaimed Rose, after the refreshments, the +four girls having been escorted thereto by the four camping chums.</p> + +<p>"Yes, don't let's miss any of it," said the Spaniard.</p> + +<p>Once more they were dancing.</p> + +<p>"But what I don't understand," said Sylvia, "is why you came last."</p> + +<p>She was speaking to the cavalier—the real Knight.</p> + +<p>"It was this way, Princess," he said, laughingly. "I could not reach +here the same time as did the other fellows, so I made them each +promise in turn to dance with you first, and, by an implied engagement, +keep you until I came. I arrived in the nick of time."</p> + +<p>"And at one time I thought there was only one of you, and that you +changed your costume after every dance," Sylvia said. "Well, it was an +enjoyable surprise."</p> + +<p>"Then you are not angry?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not!"</p> + +<p>He was very good-looking, and a fine dancer. Sylvia was only human.</p> + +<p>The masquerade was almost over. Sylvia was walking out on a moonlit +path with the cavalier, who was finding out more about her than she +imagined she was telling.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia, where are you?" called Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Here, Aunt Theodora. I'm coming right in. I suppose you'll say it is +too damp."</p> + +<p>"No, my dear! But a telephone message just came for you. I took it, as +I could not find you. It was from——"</p> + +<p>"My brother!" gasped Sylvia, and her grasp tightened on the arm of her +escort.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was about your brother," said Mrs. Brownley, in rather solemn +tones. "He is not so well. You are to call up on long-distance, my +dear."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>AT SARANAC</h3> + + +<p>Sylvia walked toward the hotel office, where the telephone booths were +located.</p> + +<p>"I am so sorry!" murmured the cavalier. "If there is anything I can +do—or my chums—don't fail to let us know. We'd be only too glad to +help."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," Sylvia said. "I shall be glad to let you know. But I +think it will mean that I shall have to go to my brother. He is up at +Saranac."</p> + +<p>"I shall be sorry to see you leave," he said, simply.</p> + +<p>"And I hope you and your friends will return."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to say, at least for a time," was her answer. "I will +say good-night now."</p> + +<p>He understood, and parted from her.</p> + +<p>"Was it anything definite?" asked Sylvia of Aunt Theodora.</p> + +<p>They were approaching the telephone booths, and Sylvia was a bit +nervous.</p> + +<p>"I did not wait for all the details," said the chaperon. "I thought it +better to let you talk. Central said the line would be available if you +called up within a few minutes, as they are not very busy now."</p> + +<p>"With whom were you speaking?"</p> + +<p>"With that young man who went up with your brother."</p> + +<p>"Harry Montray?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He said there was nothing to be alarmed about, but he thought Roy +had gotten to the point where it would be better to see some one from +home. Probably the poor fellow is suffering from an attack of good, +old-fashioned home-sickness—or, rather, bad home-sickness, for it <i>is</i> +a dreadful feeling. I have had it abroad, when I felt as though I would +give anything just to see an old tin peddler from my home town."</p> + +<p>"I know," murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes she was in conversation with her brother's friend. She +was much reassured to know that, though Roy was not so well as could be +hoped for, he was in no sense in danger. It was just that his companion +felt, in Roy's present mental state, that it would be better to have +some one of his family near him. His physical health was good, but he +had not been able to bring to his mind the lost chemical formula. And +this preyed on him.</p> + +<p>"I will come up at once," Sylvia said. "We will start in the morning."</p> + +<p>"I will help you make all preparations," Mrs. Brownley remarked. "Will +you take the other girls with you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; if they want to go."</p> + +<p>"As if we didn't want to go!" exclaimed Alice, when the matter was +mentioned to her and her chums. "Besides, that's what we came up here +for. This lingering in pleasant places was no part of our original +programme, nice as it is. You want to go; don't you, Hazel?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly."</p> + +<p>"And there's no need to ask Rose," said Alice, but it was not in the +least done jokingly. Rose's face precluded anything like that.</p> + +<p>And so the masquerade came to an end rather sadly, and yet Sylvia tried +not to let it affect her too much, for she regarded herself in the +light of a hostess to her three chums.</p> + +<p>Before the girls retired, a message came to them from the four young +men with whom they had danced so much that evening. It was to the +effect that the campers expected to remain some time longer at, or +near, Raquette Lake, and would be very glad to entertain the young +ladies if they returned.</p> + +<p>Sylvia sent back word, expressing the appreciation of herself and +her chums, but said their plans were not settled, and it was hardly +possible that they would come back to Raquette that summer.</p> + +<p>They were to take a morning train, and there was not much of the night +left in which to get rest. Sylvia herself had very little sleep, and +was up, almost at dawn, packing her trunks.</p> + +<p>They were to go to Saranac Inn, located on Upper Saranac Lake, as Roy's +place of sojourn, Loneberg Camp, was located near there. The journey of +the girls was to be by rail, though they had hoped to make the trip by +canoes and other boats—steamers and motor craft.</p> + +<p>"But we really haven't time," decided Sylvia. "Perhaps we can come back +that way, but it will be better to go by train, I think."</p> + +<p>"Yes," assented Rose. "It's quicker."</p> + +<p>It was rather a surprise to Sylvia and her chums to find, that morning, +the four young men who had danced with them waiting on the broad +veranda when they came down to go to the station.</p> + +<p>"Why!" exclaimed Sylvia, blushing rosy-red. "How did you get over from +your camp so early?"</p> + +<p>"We haven't been to camp," replied Felton Ware—he who had been +disguised as the cavalier.</p> + +<p>"Did you stay at the Antlers all night?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we couldn't very well get back to camp," said James Pendleton, +who had been the Dutchman.</p> + +<p>"And we thought we might be of some service to you," went on Felton. +"Are you sure there isn't anything we can do?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no," Sylvia murmured. "We are used to travelling, you know, +and one of our club mottoes is 'Do it yourself.'"</p> + +<p>"What club is that?" he asked, interested at once.</p> + +<p>"The Nowadays Club," answered Alice. "It's real jolly."</p> + +<p>"I can well believe that," agreed Felton.</p> + +<p>The young men insisted on accompanying the girls to the station, +carrying their satchels. The trunks had been sent on ahead by an +earlier train.</p> + +<p>There were rather prolonged good-byes at the depot, and Sylvia was +quite sure she heard Alice and Hazel agreeing to send, from Saranac, +at least souvenir postals to their friends. But she was not absolutely +sure, and her mind was too fully occupied with thoughts of her ailing +brother to allow her to dwell long on what others did and said.</p> + +<p>"Well, here comes the train," said Felton, finally.</p> + +<p>"And I'm glad of it!" murmured Sylvia, with something like a sigh.</p> + +<p>"What!" he cried, with simulated surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you know what I mean," she went on.</p> + +<p>"I hope you have no more canoe accidents," said Felton.</p> + +<p>"Well, if I do, I hope I find as nice a knight as you were," she +answered, rather daringly.</p> + +<p>"That's awfully nice!" he exclaimed, with real pleasure in his voice.</p> + +<p>Then the train came in, and there was the usual bustle and hustle +getting aboard. Good-byes were said over and over again, and hands, +caps and handkerchiefs were waved until the coaches were out of sight +around a bend in the line.</p> + +<p>The four young men walked away, rather downcast, for they had +thoroughly enjoyed the company of Sylvia and her chums.</p> + +<p>"Well, old man," said James Pendleton to Felton Ware.</p> + +<p>"Not well—ill," he sighed.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" laughed a companion. "Hard hit?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Only they were such real, jolly girls. You don't often +meet their class up here. The others are too much on dolling-up and +talking society mush. I wonder what some of those dolled-up ones would +look like if they were rolled out of a canoe into the rapids; tell me +that!"</p> + +<p>"It's beyond me," was the honest confession. "Never mind. Maybe they'll +come back."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope so," was the decision, in which all agreed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Sylvia and her chums were speeding as fast as the train could +take them to Saranac. They had engaged rooms by telegraph at Saranac +Inn, and from there they would start for Roy's camp, which was some +miles away.</p> + +<p>"Will you go on to-night?" asked Rose of Sylvia, as they sat together +in the train.</p> + +<p>"It depends on what time we get in. If we arrive early enough I shall, +provided we can get back to the Inn at any reasonable hour. I don't +want to disturb Roy too late, though."</p> + +<p>"No, it wouldn't be wise."</p> + +<p>But if Sylvia hoped to see her brother that night she was doomed to +disappointment. There was a slight accident on the railroad, not +involving the train of our friends, however, and it was quite late when +they arrived at Saranac.</p> + +<p>"Well, we won't see Roy to-night," Sylvia decided after dinner. "But +I'll see if I can get Harry on the 'phone."</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>WORRIMENT</h3> + + +<p>Telephoning in the Adirondacks was not such an easy matter as it is in +New York, as Sylvia soon discovered. It developed that when Harry had +called her up he had been obliged to go some distance from Loneberg +Camp, and Sylvia had neglected to get the number of the station whence +he talked to her.</p> + +<p>In consequence, though she made a number of inquiries, she was unable, +from Saranac Inn, to get in communication with her brother that night, +and was obliged to give over the attempt.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Mrs. Brownley. "We will go to them the first thing +in the morning. You girls need a rest, anyhow, and it may be better if +you don't see Roy, or talk to him or Harry and perhaps cause them both +a restless night."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose it is for the best," Sylvia agreed, rather wearily.</p> + +<p>She was very tired, for she had danced often and late the night before. +She had slept but little and the day's long journey had not been +conducive to rest.</p> + +<p>"There's a dance on here to-night," Hazel announced, as she came into +Sylvia's room after it had been definitely settled that Roy could not +be communicated with that night.</p> + +<p>"No dancing for me," declared Rose, with decision.</p> + +<p>"Nor me," agreed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"You will all be better off in bed," asserted the chaperon, "and so I +officially prescribe that."</p> + +<p>Not that the girls thought seriously of indulging in gaiety on this +night.</p> + +<p>Their sleep was not altogether dreamless, though it was heavy enough. +But Sylvia had an uneasy consciousness, half dreamy, of some impending +trouble. She could not shake it off even when she awoke and found her +room bright with sunlight. She soon discovered that she was suffering +with what was rare for her—a headache.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid my Knight of the Canoe had rather a bad effect on me," she +confessed. "I want to look and feel my best when I meet Roy. I think +I shall have my breakfast in bed this morning. It's a luxury I don't +often indulge myself in."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley was duly surprised when, coming to Sylvia's room a little +later, she found her charge partaking of grapefruit, bacon and eggs, +and a pot of coffee, comfortably propped up in bed. A deft chambermaid +was waiting on Sylvia and serving the meal.</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, are you ill?" asked the chaperon.</p> + +<p>"This doesn't look like it," Sylvia answered, pointing to the emptied +plate. "But my head ached and I decided to rest."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps that was wise," agreed Aunt Theodora. "I must see how my other +charges are, though. Do you intend to go see Roy to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed. But I wanted to be at my very best. We have time +enough. It isn't such a great way to Loneberg Camp."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley sought Rose, and, again, somewhat to the surprise of the +chaperon, she found that young lady also breakfasting in bed.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" was her startled greeting. "Are you ill, too?"</p> + +<p>"Why, is some one else doing this, also?" Rose asked.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia is."</p> + +<p>"And is she——"</p> + +<p>"Not ill, no, I'm glad to say. But I suppose you have the same idea in +mind—looking your best?"</p> + +<p>Rose blushed.</p> + +<p>"We really ought all to have stayed in bed this morning," Mrs. Brownley +went on, "and as you dancing girls were cheated out of your beauty +sleep there is no reason why you shouldn't make it up now. Rest as long +as you like, my dear. We won't start for Roy's camp until after lunch, +perhaps."</p> + +<p>"But he may be anxiously expecting—Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"Or—you. But it can't be helped. If anything were to arise, any sudden +need, his friend would doubtless telephone."</p> + +<p>Hazel and Alice were rather more vigorous than either Rose or Sylvia, +and went down to the last breakfast. Then they came up to see the +"invalids," as they called them.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I'm no more of an invalid than you!" exclaimed Sylvia, with +spirit. "I'm just getting up some reserve strength."</p> + +<p>And, though she did not know it, there was coming a time when she would +need all her stored-up energy.</p> + +<p>Inquiry at the hotel office brought out the fact that Loneberg Camp lay +about four miles distant from Saranac Inn, near Lake Clear, and that +this point could be reached by driving. This mode of conveyance the +girls and their chaperon decided on.</p> + +<p>As they learned that the drive would not take long, they decided to +defer it until after lunch, provided no messages were received in +the meanwhile from Roy or his companion, urging their visit before +afternoon.</p> + +<p>"It will do us good to see a little of the lake," Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>Upper Saranac Lake is about eight miles in length, and lies in a most +picturesque section, dotted with other lakes and ponds, on which +boating of many sorts, from canoeing and motoring to travel in small +steamers, may be enjoyed. There was good fishing in the lake, the girls +were told.</p> + +<p>"But we can come back and enjoy that after we have seen Roy," decided +Rose, and the others agreed with her.</p> + +<p>They spent the morning in going about the hotel and the grounds, +venturing out a little way on the lake. It was a region of beauty, and +Sylvia's plan of having the Nowadays Club take the first outing in the +Adirondacks was voted an unqualified success.</p> + +<p>"Better wait," advised the recipient of the impromptu motion of thanks. +"The vacation isn't nearly over yet. You may all be sorry you came."</p> + +<p>Luncheon time came, and as no word was received from Roy or his +companion, Sylvia took heart, and began to hope that her brother's +indisposition was but a passing one.</p> + +<p>"But it's just as well we came up," she said to her chums. "We intended +to, anyhow, and a day or two sooner doesn't make any difference to us. +I did intend to make the trip by boat; for the canoeing is said to be +ideal from Raquette Lake on."</p> + +<p>"And we could have very much enjoyed a few more days at the Antlers," +Hazel said. "But it is just perfect here. And they are going to have +some dances, too. We'll talk about them, though, when we know your +brother is better, Sylvia," she hastened to add.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you mustn't let my family affairs put a damper on you girls!" was +the quick comment. "I can't have that!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Roy himself will be well enough to come over to some of the +affairs," Rose suggested. "He is a lovely dancer."</p> + +<p>"Well, you ought to know," said Hazel, significantly.</p> + +<p>"Now, Baby, don't get sarcastic!" murmured Alice, soothingly.</p> + +<p>But Rose did not seem to mind.</p> + +<p>The drive to Lake Clear was entrancing. It was along a road that led +through the forest, where the trees met overhead in an arch of green. +The forest was as inviting as the lake had been, and the girls planned, +later, to spend a day or so walking along the woodland trails.</p> + +<p>"Roy is so fond of the woods," Sylvia remarked. "When he knew he was to +come up here he brightened up at once, though he was in the depths of +despair over losing that chemical secret."</p> + +<p>"Do you think he'll ever discover it again?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I hope so. The doctor said he might if he could have perfect rest."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't imagine a more perfect place to rest than up here," +added Rose.</p> + +<p>"It's a bit lonesome," said Alice, with a glance at the dense woods on +either side of the waggon trail.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be with the right party," Hazel asserted.</p> + +<p>"Meaning?" questioned Sylvia, with a glance at her chum.</p> + +<p>"Any one you like, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Any one or any ones," declared Rose. "I notice Hazel believes there is +at least more companionship in numbers."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a bit worse than you, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Don't let's spoil the day by even that sort of a discussion," Sylvia +begged.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley was in front with the driver, and the girls occupied the +other two seats of the big carriage.</p> + +<p>It was the height of the Adirondack season, and they saw many evidences +of campers and other summer folk enjoying themselves. It was a +delightful drive, and when Lake Clear was reached they started off on a +little side road toward Loneberg Camp.</p> + +<p>Though it was called a camp, it was really a hotel of the smaller kind, +with enough comforts and conveniences to make it an ideal place to +spend a vacation, if one liked solitude, for it was well off in the +woods.</p> + +<p>There were not many guests, but some young chaps on the porch looked +hopeful as the four pretty girls drove up. There was a noticeable air +of life about them, as they "spruced-up."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Montray and Mr. Pursell," repeated the clerk, when Mrs. Brownley +had made inquiries at the desk. "Yes, they were here, but they left +this morning."</p> + +<p>"They left this morning!" echoed Sylvia, blankly surprised.</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss. It seems Mr. Pursell was expecting friends, and when they +did not come he and his companion left about ten o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed Sylvia. "And to think that we might have been here +if I hadn't—well, there's no use in lamenting, I suppose. They'll be +back shortly, I expect. We'll wait for them."</p> + +<p>"No, miss, I don't think they'll be back to-day," the clerk said.</p> + +<p>"Not back to-day! Where did they go?"</p> + +<p>"I heard Mr. Pursell say they were going to visit friends who have a +bungalow on Lower Saranac. Your brother, is he, miss?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, your brother and his friend took some baggage with them, and I +should say they were going to stay a week."</p> + +<p>"A week!" cried Sylvia. "They said nothing to me about it. Was it—was +it rather sudden?" she faltered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should say it was," the clerk admitted.</p> + +<p>"And my brother, was he better?"</p> + +<p>"Well, miss, no, to tell you the truth. And I think his friend did not +want him to leave this place. But Mr. Pursell insisted, and they went +away. However, I have a letter for you. Mr. Montray left it to be given +to you if you came. Probably that will explain."</p> + +<p>He handed Sylvia a sealed envelope. She took it with a heart that beat +faster than usual, and with a vague sense of worriment as if a calamity +might happen at any moment. Why had Roy left so suddenly?</p> + +<p>Sylvia did not like it.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>MAKING PLANS</h3> + + +<p>While her girl friends looked on wonderingly, and while Mrs. Brownley +conversed in low tones with the hotel clerk, Sylvia tore open the +envelope that had been handed her. It bore her name, but she noted +in a flash that it was written in a scrawl, and not in the usually +neat, though character-indicating, chirography of Harry Montray. For +Sylvia had had several letters from him regarding her brother since +the trouble had come to him, and she had always admired the firm +handwriting of the young man who had proved such a friend to Roy.</p> + +<p>"He must have written this in a hurry," was Sylvia's thought as she +took from the torn envelope the single sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>And as she glanced at the signature, making sure, first of all, that it +was Harry's, the vague sense of foreboding increased.</p> + +<p>Why had Roy left the camp-hotel so suddenly? Why had he not been +content to stay at Loneberg until he had recovered? Whence his sudden +determination to go some distance off and visit friends in a bungalow? +And who were the friends?</p> + +<p>These were questions Sylvia hastily asked herself before she read the +letter so strangely left for her. But perhaps a perusal of it would +settle them. She read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Pursell.</span></p> + +<p>"Please excuse the appearance of this note, as I have but a moment to +write it in, and must do it when Roy does not see me. I am leaving it +with the clerk, in the hope that you will soon come and claim it.</p> + +<p>"I regret to inform you that Roy, after showing every indication +of recovery (except for a few relapses of which I informed you), +has taken a sudden turn for the worse to-day—the day when he and I +expected you. He now insists on going to visit some friends who have a +bungalow on the eastern shore of Lower Saranac Lake. Nothing I can say +or do will get that notion out of his head. I do not know what to do +about it, save humour him.</p> + +<p>"The name of these friends is Russman. Mr. Russman is a German whom, +it seems, Roy met while at college, and also later, after he came +to our firm. Mr. Russman is a chemist, and Roy has a notion he can +help him in recalling the details of the lost formula. I do not know +whether that is fancy or fact. At any rate, Roy insists on going to +see Mr. Russman, and, of course, I must go with him.</p> + +<p>"We are starting at once, and will drive as best we can across +country. The roads are not good, and it would be much better to go by +water, up through Middle Saranac, but Roy will not listen to that.</p> + +<p>"I am writing this as he is packing. I will do the best I can for +him, but I think it will be wise, when you get this, to come to Mr. +Russman's bungalow as soon as you can."</p> +</div> + +<p>There followed directions for reaching it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"Roy only heard the other day," the letter went on, "of the presence +of Mr. Russman in this vicinity, and he at once became more nervous +than before. The forgetting of the chemical formula seemed more than +ever to prey on his mind. That is why I sent you word that he was +not as well as he had been. But perhaps this trip may do him good, +especially if it is followed by a visit from you and your friends. If +I may, without giving offence, I will say that I think if Miss Rose +Bancroft were to come Roy would greatly appreciate it."</p> +</div> + +<p>"I must show Rose that," Sylvia mentally resolved.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>"So we are leaving at once," the missive concluded, "and I hope you +will follow as soon as you can. But if it is late when you get this, +you had better postpone your trip until to-morrow. Come by water, if +possible, and come straight to the bungalow. I will be there with Roy.</p> + +<p>"With the best of wishes, I remain,</p> + +<p class="ph3">"Yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="ph3">"<span class="smcap">Harry Montray</span>."</p> +</div> + +<p>Sylvia drew a long breath as she finished the letter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope it isn't bad news!" exclaimed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything we can do?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Where is Roy?" inquired Rose, unable longer to keep back the question +that was fairly burning on her lips.</p> + +<p>"At the Russman bungalow, on Lower Saranac," slowly answered Sylvia. +"Oh, dear! I don't know what to do!"</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it, and let me advise you," said Mrs. Brownley. +The letter was read to the chaperon and the girls, and Rose was given +her own special message. She received it, as may well be imagined, +blushingly.</p> + +<p>"I will go to him!" she exclaimed. "Can we start now, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not," was the answer. "Harry—Mr. Montray—advises against +starting too late. And we certainly would hardly be able to take the +road through the wood at this hour."</p> + +<p>"But what can we do?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better arrange to stay here for the night, or, better +perhaps," said Mrs. Brownley, "go back to Saranac Inn. We can start +from there in the morning, hire a motor boat if we can get one, and go +through Middle Saranac Lake to Lower, and then on to the bungalow."</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence while Sylvia and the girls considered +this plan. Then Sylvia said:</p> + +<p>"I think that will be the best. It seems hard not to go to Roy at +once, but we must consider the best for all of us. It would not do to +get lost in the woods. So we will delay our start until morning."</p> + +<p>"And shall we stay here to-night?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"I think we had better go back to Saranac," suggested Mrs. Brownley. +"Probably there are not accommodations enough here for all of us, and +besides, if we go to Lower Saranac we may have to stay some time, and +will want our luggage."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but I couldn't put you all up," said the clerk of the +camp-hotel. "There are, of course, the rooms Mr. Pursell and Mr. +Montray had, but——"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, we will go back to the Inn, and start from there in the +morning," Sylvia decided. "We have no baggage with us."</p> + +<p>Thus it was decided, and the man with the horses was directed to get +ready for the return trip. Sylvia and the others of her party had tea +at the camp, and the clerk told them more details of the going away of +Roy and his friend. Roy had seemed strangely excited, the clerk said, +at the prospect of going to the Russman bungalow.</p> + +<p>Sylvia could not shake off a morbid fear that something would +happen—nay, that it had already happened. But she tried to be brave, +and not to inflict her grief on the others.</p> + +<p>However, Rose shared it, though she, too, put on a brave front. But +Hazel and Alice must have suspected, for they were sweetly sympathetic.</p> + +<p>Harry Montray had had time only hastily to scribble the note, and leave +it with him for Sylvia, the clerk said, and then he had gone off with +Roy in a rig they hired to drive through the woods from Lake Clear to +Lower Saranac.</p> + +<p>"But I would not advise you ladies to take that route," the young man +said.</p> + +<p>"We will not," decided Sylvia. "We'll go by boat."</p> + +<p>They reached Saranac Inn well in time for dinner, and then began their +arrangements for making an early morning start for the lower lake and +the bungalow.</p> + +<p>"Do you think your brother would be a guest there?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Most likely," Sylvia answered. "You see he and Mr. Russman—Professor +Russman it really is—are great friends. I have often heard Roy speak +of him, and he has often visited him at his home in Brooklyn."</p> + +<p>"Well, then it won't be so bad if he goes there and stays," Hazel +remarked. "It may even do him good. Who knows but that he may hit upon +that formula again?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, perhaps it will be all right—if Roy gets there," his sister said, +and there was something in her voice and manner that prompted Rose to +ask:</p> + +<p>"Why, Sylvia, don't you think he <i>will</i> get there?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear—I don't know—please don't ask me. I have such a queer +feeling!"</p> + +<p>"You're all tired out—that's what's the matter!" declared Hazel. "You +need a good rest. We have been doing too much dancing."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't that," Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>"Well, whatever it is, you need a rest," added Alice. "You lie down +now, and we'll pack your things for you. Not going to take a trunk; are +you?"</p> + +<p>"No, only our suit-cases, though we can't tell how long we shall stay."</p> + +<p>"Can we stay at the bungalow?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know about that. But if we get up there we can hardly get +back the same day, and we'll have to stay somewhere. There are hotels +and camps up there, I think. We'll have to arrange to stay."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Rose. "We don't want to go away as soon as we have +arrived."</p> + +<p>"Then, too, I must see about getting a boat," went on Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I asked about that," Mrs. Brownley said. "The hotel clerk informs +me there are several we can hire to take us to Lower Saranac. I have +the names of the men who run them. I'll go now to see about them. You +<i>must</i> get some rest, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not tired. I must see to the boat myself. This is my affair, +in a way."</p> + +<p>"It's the affair of <i>all</i> of us!" declared Alice. "You can't do +everything. I'll go with Aunt Theodora and see about the boat. You can +finish packing and be ready to lie down then. Just leave it to us!"</p> + +<p>And poor tired and worried Sylvia was glad enough to do so.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley was eminently practical in arranging for the motor boat. +She had the choice of several, but, on the advice of Alice, selected a +rather small one.</p> + +<p>"The big ones look nicer," Alice said, "but you must remember we have +to go through the Saranac River from the middle lake to the upper, and +we don't want a boat that draws too much water. Canoes can make the +trip all right, but a motor boat of deep draught might not be able to +if the water, for any reason, were low. We don't want to be stranded."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," agreed the chaperon. So the smaller boat, though one +sufficiently large, was engaged.</p> + +<p>"But I'm only at liberty for to-morrow," the pilot informed them. "I'll +have to come back with my boat to-morrow night, as another party has +engaged her."</p> + +<p>"We only want you to take us up to the Russman bungalow and leave us," +said Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>So it was arranged, and the next morning our friends were to start on +their trip through the two lakes to reach the bungalow.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A LONELY PLACE</h3> + + +<p>From Saranac Inn, down through Upper Saranac Lake, to a point where +the turn could be made, to go through the middle body of water to +the lower, is, perhaps, seven miles. The remainder of the trip, up +past Eagle Island in Lower Saranac, and to the point where Professor +Russman's bungalow was located, was about ten miles more, so the +Nowadays Girls had a motor-boat trip of nearly seventeen miles to make.</p> + +<p>Under ordinary circumstances, and in waters more open, the journey +would have been only a matter of a few hours at most. But from the very +start it seemed that Fate was against our friends.</p> + +<p>Not that anything very serious occurred, but a series of small, but +annoying, delays ensued from the very beginning.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the girls were so tired, after their trip to Lake +Clear, their preparations of the night and their previous exertions, +that they all slept late. Even Mrs. Brownley did not arise at her usual +time, and the consequence was they all assembled at the very latest +breakfast, and looked at one another rather strangely.</p> + +<p>"This isn't a very good augury," said Sylvia. "But I was <i>so</i> tired and +sleepy."</p> + +<p>"So was I," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"I'm hardly awake yet," confessed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Nor I," admitted Rose. "But we must hurry."</p> + +<p>They did—to the extent of making a hasty breakfast. Then it developed +that their motor-boat man was not on hand ready for them. They had +gotten their luggage together and gone down to the dock, only to see +the <i>Balsam</i>, which was the name of the craft they had engaged, tied +disconsolately to the float, with her engine partly dismantled.</p> + +<p>"Why, what does this mean?" demanded Sylvia, rather indignantly.</p> + +<p>A small boy was the only person in sight from whom it seemed possible +to get any information. He seemed to be there for that purpose, for he +asked:</p> + +<p>"Are you the party that's going to Lower Saranac?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Mrs. Brownley said, "but where is Mr. Wherry?" and she looked +around for the man from whom she had engaged the boat.</p> + +<p>"He's sorry, lady," said the boy, and then he seemed overcome with +confusion. "He—he's——"</p> + +<p>"Sorry? Sorry for what?" demanded Sylvia, brusquely.</p> + +<p>"He's sorry he can't go."</p> + +<p>"Can't go!" It was a protesting chorus.</p> + +<p>"No'm. He can't go till he gits his engine fixed. Suthin's the matter +of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" and Sylvia uttered a sigh of relief. "Then it isn't anything +serious."</p> + +<p>"Huh! You'd think so if you heard Hank Wherry talk about it. But then +he makes a awful fuss over lots of things. He told me to stay here +until you folks come and tell you he'd be back as soon as he could. +He's gone off to get a bolt, or suthin' t' fix the engine."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then he'll be back soon?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how soon. Hank Wherry ain't much on hurryin'."</p> + +<p>"Oh, why didn't I make inquiries about him and his boat before I +engaged it!" exclaimed Mrs. Brownley. "Now there isn't another craft we +can get, I suppose."</p> + +<p>There was not, it developed, all the others available having gone to +fill other engagements.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Sylvia. "We have plenty of time. It isn't such a +long trip, and even if we don't get there until late afternoon it +will be all right. We shall have to remain all night, anyhow; perhaps +longer."</p> + +<p>The boy seemed to want to say something more, but hardly knew how to +proceed.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" asked Rose, taking pity on his embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"He—he said—Hank said, maybe if I stayed here and told you what I did +tell you that you—that maybe—that you'd give me a nickel," the boy +stammered.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" Sylvia exclaimed, opening her purse. "Here is a quarter +for you."</p> + +<p>The boy's face shone with delight at this unexpected windfall of wealth.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where Mr. Wherry went?" asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"No'm, I don't. But maybe I could find him for you," he volunteered, +as he partly opened a brown hand and gazed at the shining coin clasped +tightly in it.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would," Sylvia said. "Tell him we are in a hurry to make a +start. We are late, but he is later."</p> + +<p>"The late Mr. Hank Wherry," murmured Hazel.</p> + +<p>The boy started off, and the girls found a shady place on the little +pier to wait for their boatman. The <i>Balsam's</i> engine had been partly +dismantled.</p> + +<p>"He'll never be able to start to-day," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there isn't so much to do," Sylvia said, gazing with an +experienced eye at the machinery. "He's taken out the carburetor. I'd +rather have him repair it now than after we get started."</p> + +<p>The other girls agreed with her.</p> + +<p>They were just getting nervously impatient for the return of their +boatman, when they descried him hurrying back.</p> + +<p>"Sorry to have kept you waiting," he apologised. "But I was giving the +motor a trial run, getting ready for you, when the carburetor began +making trouble, and I knew I'd have to have it fixed. But we can run +all the better now, and we'll make up for lost time."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said Mrs. Brownley. "How long will you be now?"</p> + +<p>"Not more than half an hour."</p> + +<p>But again Fate stepped in and disappointed the girls. For Mr. Wherry +was over an hour making the adjustments. So it was nearly noon when the +start was made from the dock near the Inn.</p> + +<p>"Well, she is making good time," observed Sylvia, as they finally +chugged off in the <i>Balsam</i>.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, miss. We'll be there in good season now. I'm sorry to have +delayed you, but I'll get you there in plenty of time."</p> + +<p>It was the best that could be done under the circumstances, and there +seemed no help for it. Certainly the motor boat was at last running +well. The Nowadays Girls knew enough about machinery to decide that.</p> + +<p>"The carburetor has been giving me trouble right along," said the +pilot, "and so I put on a new one."</p> + +<p>They were passing through Upper Saranac, and the scene on every hand +was one of beauty. The day was a perfect one of warm sunshine, and the +waters of the lake sparkled invitingly. In the distance were the cool +woods, the unbroken forest stretching away on every side.</p> + +<p>Here and there were other craft containing gay parties of summer +visitors. Now and then snatches of song floated across the water.</p> + +<p>Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits now that they were +actually on their way to see Roy. But in spite of the sunshine, and the +feeling of exhilaration that came from swiftly passing over the water, +Sylvia could not shake off a sense of foreboding.</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt="" id="illus3"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>SYLVIA AND HER CHUMS WERE ALL IN BETTER SPIRITS NOW THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY ON THEIR WAY TO SEE ROY.</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<p>"It's foolish, I know," she said to herself. "But I feel just as though +something were going to happen. Pshaw! I mustn't worry! I must be +bright and cheerful for Roy's sake. He'll need cheering up, I think."</p> + +<p>They ate their lunch on the boat, for they had brought a substantial +one with them. Sylvia offered to steer while Mr. Wherry ate some of the +sandwiches they offered him from their store.</p> + +<p>"No, I'd better keep the wheel," he said. "I can steer with one hand +and eat with the other. We'll be in uncertain waters soon."</p> + +<p>This did not tend to reassure the girls, who had been made a little +nervous by the delay of the morning.</p> + +<p>"Are we likely to—to have trouble?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, nothing so much, miss," was the answer. "We may run aground +here and there, that's all. But I'll do my best."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't run aground so hard that you can't run off again," begged +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was half gone when they started on the passage through +Saranac River, connecting the middle lake with the lower body of water. +The stream, while perfectly adapted for canoes, was, at this season, +because of an unusually dry month, not so good for motor boats. +There were certain low places and sandbars.</p> + +<p>"But I guess we'll get over it all right," said Mr. Wherry. "I'll run +slow, and——"</p> + +<p>The words were fairly jarred out of his mouth, for the boat ran into +something and slowed up so suddenly that the engine was almost jarred +from the bed-beams. With a quick motion Sylvia leaned over and pulled +out the electrical switch, thus stopping the motor.</p> + +<p>"Stuck!" exclaimed Mr. Wherry. "I didn't think we were near that bar. +And we're not!" he added, with something of triumph in his tone. +"There's the one I was looking out for up ahead there. This is a new +one that we're fast on."</p> + +<p>That was, however, little consolation for the girls.</p> + +<p>"Can't we get off?" asked Hazel, anxiously.</p> + +<p>The others waited rather apprehensively for an answer.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I reckon I can pole us off," was the reply.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wherry began to remove his shoes and stockings.</p> + +<p>"Is he—is he going to swim?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm only going to wade," he answered for himself. "I reckon if I +get out and push I can shove her off. Now if you'll all come in the +stern you'll raise her nose out of the mud."</p> + +<p>He climbed over the side into the water. The girls and Mrs. Brownley +moved toward the stern, thereby elevating the bow, and after some +rather strenuous work Mr. Wherry succeeded in freeing the craft from +the bar.</p> + +<p>Then they went on again, but the running aground had delayed them, so +that the afternoon was fast waning as they emerged into Lower Saranac +Lake proper.</p> + +<p>"But now we're all right," the boatman said. "It's good water from now +on to the upper end. We'll have no more trouble."</p> + +<p>Nor did they, at least just then. The <i>Balsam</i> chugged on her way +serenely, and the girls had hopes of arriving at their destination +while there was yet some daylight left.</p> + +<p>But Fate had not yet finished with them. Mr. Wherry, it appeared, was +not so well acquainted with the location of the Russman bungalow as he +had thought. He went to the wrong landing and, after stopping to make +inquiries, started off again.</p> + +<p>It was now dusk.</p> + +<p>"I wish we were there," said Rose, with a nervous, shivery glance over +her shoulder. "It's lonesome up here."</p> + +<p>It was indeed, for the dense forest came down to the very edge of the +lake, and there were no camps or cottages to be seen.</p> + +<p>"We'll be there in five minutes now," said Mr. Wherry. "It is lonesome, +but then some folks like that up here in the Adirondacks."</p> + +<p>The <i>Balsam</i> chugged on, while the darkness seemed to shut down like a +pall over everything.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE DESERTED BUNGALOW</h3> + + +<p>"There's your landing," said Mr. Wherry, suddenly, as he shut off the +power and turned the bow of the <i>Balsam</i> toward the shore.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Just ahead there, where you see that glimmer of light. I remember the +place now. Queer I should forget it. But I was thinking of a party +named <i>Roseman</i> that had a bungalow up here last year. I got him mixed +up with <i>Russman</i>, and that's why I went to the wrong place. But I'm +all right now."</p> + +<p>The mistake he had made, however, had cost them some ten minutes of +time. But at last they were at the place, and the girls gave sighs of +relief, for it seemed that some of the nervous strain was over.</p> + +<p>"Is the Russman bungalow near the lake?" asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, quite near. You take that path, right where you see the +light. That lantern is at the dock. And you go up the hill, and the +bungalow is in plain sight. You can't miss it."</p> + +<p>"Are you going right back?" asked Sylvia of Mr. Wherry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, miss. I have a party to take to Big Tupper Lake to-morrow, +so I have to go back. If you'll excuse me, I'll just set your things on +shore, and I won't get out myself. I'm late as it is, and I don't fancy +going past those sandbars after dark. But I've got to do it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we shall manage very nicely if you set our valises and cases +ashore," the chaperon said. "We are used to managing for ourselves."</p> + +<p>She paid Mr. Wherry the price agreed upon as the boat was slowly +drifting up to the little wharf. The girls could see the lantern now +quite plainly. It was hung near a rustic sign that gave the name of the +Russman bungalow.</p> + +<p>A little later they stood on the shore of the lake in the darkness that +was illuminated only by the faint gleam of the hanging lantern, and the +<i>Balsam</i> was turning around and going back over the course it had come.</p> + +<p>"It's certainly lonesome," shivered Alice, with a nervous glance around.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed Sylvia. "With a bungalow so close at hand? You +can even see the lights from it," and she pointed to a glow that shone +through the trees.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think that must be the place," said Mrs. Brownley. "I suppose +we had better go on up to it."</p> + +<p>"Shall we shout to let them know we are here?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sylvia. "They wouldn't know who it was, and it +might startle Roy. Just go up quietly."</p> + +<p>"I do hope there is some place where we can stay to-night," said Rose. +"Wouldn't it be dreadful if the bungalow should be so filled with +guests that there was no place for us!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there will be other places," Sylvia replied. "I made inquiries +before starting, and was told there were several hotels in this +vicinity, at least boarding-houses and camps."</p> + +<p>"But how to find them in the dark?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"We'll manage somehow. We aren't Nowadays Girls for nothing!" and +Sylvia laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well, forward—march!" commanded the chaperon. Each one took her +suit-case and started up the path that showed dimly in the gleam of the +hanging lantern.</p> + +<p>"There goes the motor boat," said Alice, turning to gaze at the moving, +shimmering light that betokened that Mr. Wherry was making all speed +down Lower Saranac Lake.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we <i>have</i> to stay now, whether we want to or not," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Well, we <i>want</i> to stay!" declared Rose, with positiveness.</p> + +<p>"Of course," assented Sylvia.</p> + +<p>The faint chug-chug of the <i>Balsam</i> came to them as they made their +way up the ascending path toward the gleam of light in the woods which +betokened the presence of the bungalow. Gradually the sound of the +motor became more faint, as the craft went around a bend. Then it died +out altogether.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there sounded a loud cry in the tree over the girls' heads.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"A horrid loon!" gasped Alice.</p> + +<p>"An owl!" scoffed Sylvia, with a laugh. "When <i>will</i> you girls learn to +be nature-lovers?"</p> + +<p>The weird cry of the hooting bird was repeated, but the girls were not +so frightened now as they walked on. The glow of light increased as +they neared the bungalow, which they could dimly see now, outlined amid +the trees.</p> + +<p>"I do hope they ask us to supper," sighed Alice.</p> + +<p>"Of course they will," said Sylvia. "If they don't, we have a good part +of our lunch left."</p> + +<p>They were now directly in front of the bungalow, which proved to be one +of good size, with a porch all the way around it. The building stood +some distance back from the lake, on a little elevation of ground that +gave a good view.</p> + +<p>The front and back doors were wide open, which fact was easily +ascertained, as broad shafts of light came from each door, cutting +a path of yellow mellowness in the blackness of the woods. They had +approached the Russman property at an angle.</p> + +<p>"It's rather an awkward time to come visiting," Sylvia said, as she +and her chums, with Mrs. Brownley, walked up the front steps. "It is a +little too late for dinner and too early for breakfast."</p> + +<p>"We couldn't help it," Alice said. "It was the fault of that motor-boat +man. He delayed us."</p> + +<p>They could now look into the living-room of the bungalow. A large +hanging lamp gave ample light, and they saw that the apartment was most +comfortably furnished. There were big easy-chairs, window seats draped +with Indian blankets and rugs, and a log fire which had died down into +glowing embers, for the night was rather chilly.</p> + +<p>Through the living-room a glimpse could be had into the dining-room, +over the table of which hung another large lamp, lighted, and casting +on the board a mellow illumination. The table was set for several +persons, but it appeared the meal had not been begun.</p> + +<p>"We're just in time," whispered Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Hush! Some one will hear you," cautioned Alice.</p> + +<p>But Sylvia was impressed, almost from the first, by a strange and eerie +silence about the place. There was not a sound. Not a voice spoke. +There was no laughter. Even the clatter of dishes, always attendant +upon mealtime, was absent, and there was no talk from the quarters of +the servants, though the light streaming from the rear door would seem +to indicate that the kitchen was in use.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange," mused Sylvia. And again a sense of foreboding +came to her. Something seemed to hang over her—to press upon her +heart. She tried in vain to shake it off.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley knocked on the door. The sound echoed through the rooms, +and they waited expectantly for the answer of approaching footsteps.</p> + +<p>But only silence greeted them.</p> + +<p>"Knock again," urged Rose.</p> + +<p>The chaperon did so, but once more the echo was the only answer.</p> + +<p>"That is strange," said Sylvia, voicing aloud the feeling that was +overmastering her. "Very strange!"</p> + +<p>"They don't hear us," murmured Aunt Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Call!" suggested Hazel. "They may be out in the woods."</p> + +<p>"What! after dark, and with supper all served?" asked Alice, +incredulously.</p> + +<p>A third time Mrs. Brownley rapped, and then, waiting a few seconds, she +called:</p> + +<p>"Is any one here?"</p> + +<p>There was no reply.</p> + +<p>"Roy!" suddenly called Sylvia. "Roy Pursell! It is I—Sylvia!"</p> + +<p>Her voice carried well. In that silent place it seemed to fill and echo +through the woods. But no one answered.</p> + +<p>"Let us go in," said Mrs. Brownley. "Something may have happened."</p> + +<p>"Oh—what?" gasped Rose.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, my dear. But evidently they cannot hear us. I am sure +they would welcome us if they could, so let us go in and make our +presence known."</p> + +<p>Rather embarrassed, they made their way into the living-room. They took +pains to make considerable noise, letting the screen door slam shut, +but their intrusion was not challenged.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange," Sylvia observed again.</p> + +<p>They went into the dining-room. And there the strangeness was +increased, for there was every evidence that the family and their +guests had at least taken their places at the table, though no one had +eaten anything. For napkins were unfolded, and in one or two cases +had fallen to the floor. And two chairs were upset, as though the +occupants had arisen hastily, and in so doing had overturned the pieces +of furniture. The table was slightly disarranged, too, showing more +plainly that it had been left suddenly, and by all the guests.</p> + +<p>"But what does it all mean?" gasped Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine," answered the chaperon.</p> + +<p>They stood looking at one another, and then gazed about the deserted +dining-room. The answer to the puzzle was not plain.</p> + +<p>"Can this be the right place?" asked Alice. "We may have made a +mistake."</p> + +<p>"It is the Russman bungalow, surely enough," Sylvia said. "I have +heard Roy describe it several times. And I saw, in the living-room, a +suit-case with Mr. Russman's name on it. This is the right place."</p> + +<p>"But where is Roy—Mr. Montray—Mr. Russman? Where is—every one?" Rose +asked, and there was a sob in her voice.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Sylvia, simply.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley had penetrated to the kitchen through the butler's +pantry. The girls followed her.</p> + +<p>There was no one there. But the fire was burning in the stove, and on +it were several dishes of food, being kept warm. On the kitchen table +were other dishes ready to serve, but the food in them was cold.</p> + +<p>"Is any one here?" Sylvia cried, raising her voice in a nervous shout.</p> + +<p>No one answered. It was as though a blight had fallen on the deserted +bungalow—a blight like that of some ancient fable. The occupants of +the house in the woods had been made to vanish just as they were about +to sit down to the table.</p> + +<p>"Is any one here?" Mrs. Brownley cried, standing at the foot of the +stairs and directing her voice upward.</p> + +<p>No one answered.</p> + +<p>Once again they walked through the deserted lower rooms, more and more +puzzled, and trying to pluck up courage to ascend the stairs. The +silence was oppressive.</p> + +<p>"The place is deserted," said Sylvia, in a low voice that, quiet as it +was, sounded too loud in that silent place.</p> + +<p>"Deserted!" whispered Rose. "Then where is Roy?"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>MISSING</h3> + + +<p>Clutching at the hearts of the girls there seemed to be an unseen +spirit of fear in that deserted bungalow. They all felt it. Even Mrs. +Brownley, who was not unduly given to indulging her nerves, seemed to +feel the depression.</p> + +<p>"Deserted!" murmured Sylvia. "Do you really think this bungalow is +deserted?"</p> + +<p>"What else can we think?" asked Rose. "There isn't a soul here."</p> + +<p>"But they have been here, and within a few minutes," Hazel argued. +Going into the kitchen, she put her hand on the outside of some of the +dishes on the stove. "They are not cold yet," she said. "They must have +gone out just before we came here."</p> + +<p>"I hope that wasn't the reason," Alice said, grimly enough, but even +she did not smile at her joke.</p> + +<p>"They must be somewhere about," Sylvia went on. "They can't have heard +us."</p> + +<p>"We made noise enough," declared Alice.</p> + +<p>"Let's go upstairs," proposed Hazel.</p> + +<p>"In another person's bungalow!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>"What of it?" came from Alice. "We've already taken a good many +liberties, and a few more won't matter. They may all be upstairs +and—well, something may have happened. They may be unable to answer +us."</p> + +<p>"Something happened!" gasped Rose. "Don't say that or——"</p> + +<p>"No, don't make us any more nervous than we are," urged Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"What I meant," Alice explained, "was that they may have gone upstairs, +because of some alarm down here, and be afraid to come down. There may +be only some ladies and children here with the servants, and they may +be hiding up there."</p> + +<p>"You're only making it worse," Sylvia cautioned her, with a glance at +timid, shrinking Rose. "Let's go upstairs and see."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but if there should be——" Rose began.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" exclaimed Alice, vigorously, "all I meant was that perhaps +one of the children had a fit—a nervous crying spell—it is rather +lonesome up here, you see, and—well," she finished, "the family, or +what is left of them, may be upstairs. Let's have a look."</p> + +<p>"I think it is the only thing to do," said Mrs. Brownley. "We must +satisfy ourselves that there is no one here. Then we shall know what +next to do."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what that will be," murmured Hazel.</p> + +<p>The bungalow was well lighted with hanging and other kerosene lamps. +Electricity had not penetrated that far, as yet. There were lights +upstairs, for the glow of them could be seen.</p> + +<p>"Come on—all together!" cried Sylvia, taking the lead. At least she +was giving an example of boldness under trying circumstances. They +all felt the pall of the mystery that seemed to have fallen over the +bungalow.</p> + +<p>"Is any one up there?" Sylvia demanded, pausing halfway up.</p> + +<p>There was no answer.</p> + +<p>"I say!" exclaimed Alice, who brought up the rear. "Some of us ought to +stay down here, I think."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Because, if the owners come in unexpectedly, while we are upstairs, +and they hear us moving around, knowing they left no one in the place, +they may take us for burglars and——"</p> + +<p>"That's so," agreed Hazel. "I'll stay with you, Alice."</p> + +<p>"No, it is better that we all go up!" Mrs. Brownley decided. "Come on, +girls."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe we'll find a soul up there," Sylvia said, under her +breath. But she went on boldly, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>The bungalow was a large one, artistically arranged, and the upper +floor contained a number of rooms and baths. There was a small third +story, where the servants' rooms were located. As the place was well +lighted it did not take long to make a thorough search. The rooms +showed that the members of the household had come down from their rooms +after dressing for the dinner which was spread out in readiness for +them in the dining-room below.</p> + +<p>But of the occupants of the bungalow there was not a sign, save the +mute ones of scattered garments and personal belongings.</p> + +<p>"Where can they be?" wondered Alice.</p> + +<p>"It is as though a plague had fallen upon this place, and they had all +fled to escape," ventured Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish you wouldn't say such things!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>"Here's Roy's room!" suddenly cried Sylvia, pausing outside a certain +bedroom.</p> + +<p>"Is—is he in it?" gasped Rose, clinging to a faint hope.</p> + +<p>"No," and the voice of Sylvia was sad. "His things are here—some of +the—the brushes I gave him," she faltered, as she caught sight of her +brother's toilet articles on his dresser.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it puzzling?" Alice said.</p> + +<p>"It's <i>terrifying</i>!" Hazel declared. "It's like something you've read +of in a book."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brownley was going about systematically, looking in every room. It +was the height of ill manners, she felt, to thus prowl about another +person's house, but once she had started on that disagreeable quest +she would do it thoroughly. She even penetrated to the servants' +quarters, but there was no sign of them.</p> + +<p>The whole bungalow showed every appearance of having been hastily +deserted by the whole number of its occupants. With faltering steps the +girls and their chaperon descended the stairs. Sylvia paused to turn +down a lamp that was smoking.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's only one thing to do," declared Hazel, and she seemed to +have arrived at some desperate decision.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"We must hurry down to the lake and call back that man with the motor +boat. He must take us back to—to some place where there <i>is</i> some one. +Hurry! We must call to him before it is too late."</p> + +<p>"It is too late now," said Alice. "He is far away by this time."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going back!" declared Sylvia. "Roy is here—or he has been +here within a few minutes, and I'm going to stay until I find him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we can't stay here—with—with this mystery hanging over us!" +gasped Hazel. "It's so weird and terrifying. I want that man back with +his motor boat. At least <i>he</i> is human. Come on, Alice, we'll call to +him."</p> + +<p>Before the others could stop them the two girls ran down the +lamp-lighted path to the edge of the lake. It was not far, and fear and +desperation because of the strangeness that seemed to hang over the +deserted bungalow made them forget the fear they would ordinarily have +had in plunging through the woods after nightfall.</p> + +<p>"You can't make him hear!" Sylvia called after them.</p> + +<p>But Hazel and Alice gave her no heed. They raised their shrill voices +in a shout after Hank Wherry, who had turned about and departed in the +<i>Balsam</i>.</p> + +<p>It seemed a long time since this had occurred, but really it was +only a few minutes, for the search of the bungalow, though it took a +considerable period of time, as marked by nerves, was not very long in +actual measurement.</p> + +<p>"We <i>must</i> make him hear!" said Hazel, desperately. "Call again, Alice."</p> + +<p>They called and shouted. They flung the name of the man and his boat to +the night winds, and mingled that with the appeal for "Help!"</p> + +<p>But only echoes answered them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do stop it!" begged Rose, advancing a little way down the lamp-lit +path. "Stop calling!"</p> + +<p>"Let them go on," advised Mrs. Brownley. "It's better than having them +crying hysterically, and if they don't make that Wherry person hear +they may attract the attention of those who so strangely deserted the +bungalow. Let them call."</p> + +<p>And so Hazel and Alice called, and called again, awakening the echoes +of the forest, sending their young voices out over the silent waters of +Saranac.</p> + +<p>Now and then an owl hooted, as if in derision, and then would come +the weird and nerve-racking screech of some loon, to remind the girls +of the other night they had spent alone in the open. But there was no +human answer.</p> + +<p>Disconsolately Alice and Hazel rejoined the others. To do them credit +neither showed any signs of breaking into hysterical tears. They were +Nowadays Girls in every sense of the word. They were too sensible and +too healthful to give way easily to their feelings, though certainly +this was a very trying time.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are we to do?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Go back to the bungalow," decided Mrs. Brownley. "I, for one, am +hungry—ravenous. This forest air gives one such an appetite."</p> + +<p>"I'm simply starving," Alice confessed. "But what shall we eat? The +remains of our lunch?"</p> + +<p>"There is a very good meal in readiness up there," the guardian +said, waving her hand toward the lit-up bungalow. "All it needs is +re-heating."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but would you take <i>that</i>?" gasped Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Why not? We intend to call, and be the guests of Professor Russman, +when we can find him. As Roy Pursell is—or was—a guest, surely he +will receive Roy's sister and her friends. Simply because the Russman +family is not here to welcome us need not stop us from eating. In fact, +I think they will be glad, when they do return, to find that we have +made ourselves at home," finished the chaperon.</p> + +<p>"If they <i>do</i> return," said Alice, and she could not keep from her +voice a tone of gloom.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course they'll come back!" declared Sylvia. She spoke almost +cheerfully. "I think Aunt Theodora is perfectly right. We'll go up +there and eat our dinner. It will make us all feel better, and when it +is finished, why, I'm sure the family will come back, and the mystery +will be explained."</p> + +<p>It did seem a bit odd to make thus free with another person's house +and belongings, not to say food. But the girls cast aside their first +scruples, and entered into the spirit of the affair.</p> + +<p>They laid aside their hats and wraps, and the fire, which had not gone +out, was coaxed into more brightness with some dry wood ready in the +kitchen. Mrs. Brownley put on a kettle of water to make fresh tea, for +that in the pot had stood too long. She also warmed some of the cooling +food, for she had been an expert Southern cook in her day.</p> + +<p>"Now draw your chairs up to the table, and we'll begin," was Sylvia's +invitation when everything was in readiness. "We do not know to whom we +are indebted for this, but we will show due appreciation when we meet +the proper persons."</p> + +<p>There was a moment of hesitation, and then they began. And there had +been no exaggeration when appetites had been spoken of. Each one ate +heartily, and gradually, in a measure at least, the feeling of gloom +wore off.</p> + +<p>But there was still a sense of oppression, though perhaps not so much +that as a feeling that "something was going to happen."</p> + +<p>"Well, we shan't starve, at any rate," Sylvia said, still keeping that +cheerful note in her voice. "There is enough food here for some time to +come."</p> + +<p>She had been out in the kitchen, looking through the pantry.</p> + +<p>"You—you don't mean to say we are going to stay here for another +meal?" gasped Rose.</p> + +<p>"Stay here! Why not?" asked Sylvia. "Where else can we stay? At least +until the family, or some of them, return and tell us what has happened +and where my brother is. We'll go to a hotel, of course, if there is +one around here, but this place isn't as much settled as I supposed. Of +course we'll stay here!"</p> + +<p>"All night?" Hazel wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"If we have to—yes. I'm going to have another cup of tea and some more +of that delicious plum cake," Sylvia went on.</p> + +<p>Her now calm spirits had an influence on all of them. They finished the +meal, and even washed the dishes. The hour was growing late, and once +more a little feeling of nervousness oppressed them.</p> + +<p>It was when Alice went out on the porch to look down toward the lake, +that she saw that which moved her to exclaim:</p> + +<p>"Girls, here comes some one!"</p> + +<p>"Where?" demanded Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"See! That light!"</p> + +<p>A gleam was observed bobbing about in the woods. It flickered here and +there, now being obscured by some trees, and again shining clear.</p> + +<p>"Who can it be?" murmured Rose.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" Hazel cautioned them.</p> + +<p>The murmur of voices came to them—women's voices mingling with those +of men.</p> + +<p>"Some one is coming at last!" exclaimed Sylvia, with a sigh of relief. +She had kept up nearly as long as she could under the strain.</p> + +<p>Along a woodland path came a party of men and women. Several lanterns +could now be seen.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a searching party," said Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if they have come to look for the lost family," Rose proposed.</p> + +<p>Into the gleam of lamplight from the open doors of the bungalow came +the men and women. A tall bearded man was in the lead, and at the sight +of him Sylvia exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Professor Russman!"</p> + +<p>"Ha! What is that? Who is there?" he asked, shading his eyes with his +hand that he might the better see who spoke. "Who is it?" he asked, +sharply.</p> + +<p>"It is I—Sylvia Pursell. Oh, where is my brother Roy?" she asked, +eagerly. "Is he here? Was he here? We came to find him but——"</p> + +<p>"You—here?" the professor cried. "Roy's sister! This is a strange +coincidence."</p> + +<p>"Where is Roy?" his sister demanded.</p> + +<p>"Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. Russman. Perhaps he had had +enough of it that night. "It is unfortunate, but your brother is not +here. He was with us, but now he is, I regret to say, missing!"</p> + +<p>"Missing!" gasped Sylvia. "Has he—is he——"</p> + +<p>She could not continue, but swayed unsteadily and put out her hands +like one groping in the dark.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A SLEEPLESS NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>"Steady, my dear!" came the calm voice of Mrs. Brownley. "Don't go off +now. It will be all right."</p> + +<p>She put her arms about Sylvia, and the pressure, with the calming +words, had an effect. With a shudder the girl held herself back from +the brink of a faint.</p> + +<p>"But where is Roy?" she faltered, moistening her dry lips with a tongue +scarcely more wet. "What has happened to him?"</p> + +<p>"That we do not know, my dear young lady," said Professor Russman, who +had now ascended the steps of his bungalow, followed by his wife and +the servants. "Will you not come in?" he asked, courteously—"you and +your friends," and he included them all with a friendly gesture.</p> + +<p>"We have been in," said Mrs. Brownley, thinking it best that she should +make the explanation now. "We took the liberty of getting our supper. +We arrived here—the place was deserted—we could not understand. So we +helped ourselves while waiting."</p> + +<p>"And you were perfectly welcome—all of you," their host went on. "It +is a strange story. If you will come inside I will tell you. Ah, to +think of finding you here when we come back from our unsuccessful +search—you of all persons in the world!" exclaimed the professor, +gazing at Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Your—your unsuccessful search," she repeated, wonderingly. "I do not +understand."</p> + +<p>"And no wonder," broke in Mrs. Russman. "We cannot understand it +ourselves, Sylvia. It is like a dream—a nightmare."</p> + +<p>"But is Roy—alive?" his sister faltered.</p> + +<p>"Yes, or he was when he rushed out of here an hour or so ago," said the +professor, gravely. "You may go on serving the meal," he added to the +servants. "My wife will want something and so shall I. Adolph and Mr. +Montray may return later."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is Harry here too?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he was helping us in the search."</p> + +<p>"What search?" Sylvia said. She was doing all the questioning, and the +others deferred to her, as it was her right.</p> + +<p>"Come inside and I will tell you everything," said the professor. "Will +you not have a cup of tea?"</p> + +<p>"We had plenty," Mrs. Brownley replied. "In fact, we made free to help +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you did," was his friendly retort. "It is no time for +ceremony."</p> + +<p>Sylvia knew the scientist and his wife, though not as intimately as did +Roy. But they welcomed her as an old friend, and her companions also. +Soon they were all seated in the dining-room, and while the maids +served the belated meal, explanations were made on both sides.</p> + +<p>"But why did Roy go away if he was here?" Sylvia asked, when Professor +Russman had only begun his remarks.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," he answered, gravely. "Perhaps you can explain that. I +shall tell you all I know. He came here——"</p> + +<p>"And you don't know where he is now?" Sylvia asked. She really could +not refrain from the interruption.</p> + +<p>"He is out there—somewhere," said Professor Russman, solemnly, and he +waved his hand toward the forest that enclosed the bungalow on three +sides. In front was Saranac Lake.</p> + +<p>"Out—out there?" faltered Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"But my son Adolph and Roy's friend, Harry Montray, are searching for +him," went on the scientist, with as cheerful a smile as he could +summon in the emergency. "Never fear! They will find him and bring him +back to us. It is but a temporary whim. Perhaps born of his trouble. +Listen, now, and I will tell you."</p> + +<p>He led the way into the living-room, while the servants cleared +the table. Mrs. Russman, who had been made acquainted, as had her +husband, with Mrs. Brownley and the others, had made them welcome most +hospitably.</p> + +<p>"Roy came to see me with his friend, Harry Montray, arriving +yesterday," the scientist went on. "I was surprised to see him, as I +did not know he was up here, thinking him with the chemical concern. +I was greatly surprised when he told me that he had been ill, and had +lost a most valuable chemical secret."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it too bad!" exclaimed Sylvia. "We all feel so dreadfully about +it; Roy losing his health and all that!"</p> + +<p>"So his friend Harry quietly explained to me," the scientist resumed. +"Roy wanted to consult with me about some formulas and I was only +too glad to help him. He seemed perfectly rational and at times he +surprised me by the grasp he had on the subject of coal-tar products. +He has made a deep study of them."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps too deep," murmured Sylvia. "That is what caused his +breakdown."</p> + +<p>"So I surmised, after I had talked with him a short time," said Mr. +Russman. "Well, to make a long story short, we made him welcome here at +the bungalow, and told him he and his companion could stay as long as +they liked. I even arranged to go over with him some of the chemical +combinations that might lead to his rediscovery of the lost formula. He +was seemingly delighted with that."</p> + +<p>Mr. Russman paused for breath. Then, almost for the first time, Sylvia +and her friends noticed how exhausted and bedraggled were he and his +wife, as well as the servants.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what have you all been doing?" she asked. "It is unfair of me to +keep you talking here when you need rest."</p> + +<p>"No, it is all right. It is only that we are tired from having tried to +trace Roy through the woods. I have only a little more to tell. Then we +shall rest and resume the search."</p> + +<p>Rose showed her suffering in her face, but she tried to hide it and +even smiled wanly as she glanced at Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I could see that your brother was not in the best of health," went on +Professor Russman, "though he had himself pretty well in hand. But the +discussion of intricate chemical problems must have been too much for +his brain, weakened by his illness.</p> + +<p>"However, matters did not seem to be very bad, and I really had +hopes that I might lead his memory along the paths from which it had +unwittingly strayed.</p> + +<p>"We were about to sit down to the dinner table, after a most pleasant +afternoon, when your brother, I regret to say, Sylvia, was suddenly +seized with a sort of delirium. He was not at all like himself, and, +before any of us could stop him, he quickly rose from the table and +rushed from the place, out into the woods."</p> + +<p>"Without saying a word?" asked Sylvia, her heart beating fast.</p> + +<p>"He merely exclaimed: 'I know where to find it! I know where to find +it!' Then he rushed out, without his hat, arising so hastily that he +overturned his chair.</p> + +<p>"Out he rushed, and, for a few seconds, we did not know what to do. It +was as though we had all been stricken. Then his friend, Harry, called +to us to go after him—that Roy was out of his mind, did not know what +he was doing, and might come to some harm.</p> + +<p>"Then we, too, servants and all, stopping only to take some lanterns, +rushed out after the unfortunate youth. We left everything as it stood, +thinking we should soon return. And—well, here we are—we failed in +our quest."</p> + +<p>And that was the explanation of the deserted bungalow. It was natural +enough when the cause was known.</p> + +<p>"And you could not find Roy?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Not a trace of him," returned Mrs. Russman.</p> + +<p>"But that is not to be wondered at, considering the darkness and the +almost impenetrable forest," her husband added. "We were hampered in +our search. We shall renew it under more favourable circumstances in +the morning."</p> + +<p>"If Roy does not return, by himself, in the meanwhile," said the +professor's wife, hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, yes," he agreed.</p> + +<p>"You say your son, and Roy's friend, are still keeping up the search?" +asked Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"Yes," the professor answered. "They went to get some of the +professional guides of this neighbourhood, and will institute a +general search. They will probably be out all night. They arranged +to get something to eat at the house of one of the guides. They both +wanted to continue the search, but I felt I must come back to the +bungalow. I could not tell what would happen here."</p> + +<p>"It was well for us you did come back," Sylvia said. "We did not know +what to think."</p> + +<p>The girls told their story of having come to the Adirondacks, and of +their trip, thus far, into the woods. Professor Russman then gave more +details of Roy's strange running away.</p> + +<p>"What do you think he meant when he said he knew where to find it?" +asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I think he referred to the chemical formula. But he was in a delirium, +of course," Mr. Russman said, "and was not responsible for what he +said."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do hope he returns," his sister cried.</p> + +<p>Then began a nerve-racking wait. Some of the girls went to bed, but +Sylvia remained up all night, sleepless. Mrs. Brownley sat with her, +in her room, and each one started at the slightest sound—listening +hopefully.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX</h2> +</div> + +<h3>A GENERAL ALARM</h3> + + +<p>Dawn came, rosy-pale at first, but turning to red, and thrusting back +into the depths of the forest the blackness of the night—the long +night that had seemed like a pall of blackness over the hearts of +Sylvia and her friends.</p> + +<p>And with the dawn came hope, renewed hope, as it always does.</p> + +<p>"First, a good breakfast!" said Professor Russman, as he greeted his +guests. "A good meal, and we shall be ready to take up the fight of the +day. How did you sleep, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," she said, trying not to speak wearily, and it needed but +a glance at her eyes to show how she had spent the night hours—in a +useless vigil, hoping against hope.</p> + +<p>"Then you will sleep all the better to-night," was his cheerful +comment. "We shall have Roy back with us then."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," murmured Rose, but so low that only Sylvia heard her. She +pressed her chum's hand under the cover of the tablecloth, for they +were then at breakfast.</p> + +<p>The meal did put new heart into them, though Sylvia could not help +wondering what fare her brother had, and where he would eat. She looked +out of the bungalow window into the dense forest—a wood marked here +and there by trails along which the search must now be made for the +missing young man.</p> + +<p>"What is the first thing to do?" asked Mrs. Brownley, as they pushed +back their chairs from the table. The chaperon was one of those +efficient women who like things done decently and in order, even when +there was such an emergency matter as the search for a lost person. She +was a great believer in system, and the new doctrine of efficiency.</p> + +<p>"I think we shall go down to the house of one of the guides, whom +Adolph was to see last night," answered the professor. "Old Sam may +have some news. Yes, that is what we shall do first."</p> + +<p>"And after that?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It all depends. But don't get discouraged, my dear, if we do not have +word from your brother at once. He may be in the woods for several days +and nights before we find him."</p> + +<p>Sylvia uttered a low cry of protest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no—no!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"But there will be comparatively little danger," Mr. Russman said. "It +is the height of summer. It would do no harm to spend several nights in +the open. But there are many shelters and open camps in the woods, and +your brother is enough of a woodsman to build a shelter for himself, is +he not?"</p> + +<p>"Under ordinary circumstances, yes," Sylvia answered. "But if he is +delirious——"</p> + +<p>"Which I am convinced he was, or he never would have rushed out the +way he did," Mr. Russman said. "It is better to face the worst, and +then every little we can remove makes us so much better off. Even a +delirious man would be able to realise that he must have shelter. But, +even without it, he would suffer little in the woods at this season."</p> + +<p>"There are no wild beasts; are there?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"No, young lady. At least, not around here. Deer are the largest +animals, but the hunting season is closed, so there is no danger of an +accident from guns.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not worry! I am sure we shall find Roy all right and that he +will not suffer. If we cannot locate him ourselves I will cause a +general alarm to be sounded. All the guides, canoemen, campers and +cottagers of the vicinity will be glad to join in the search. It is +often done up here when a person is lost in the woods."</p> + +<p>"Does that often happen?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, and in nearly every case they are found again. Of course it +is easy to get lost, for the trails are confusing to one who does not +know them," the professor said. "But we will hope for the best. We, +ourselves, followed Roy as far as we could last night, but he eluded +us. However, perhaps my son and Harry will have had better success.</p> + +<p>"Now we will go to Old Sam's house. He is one of the best guides in +this region, and Adolph knows him well. He will be able to advise us. +Do not be discouraged."</p> + +<p>He spoke hopefully—cheerfully—and put heart into Sylvia and the +others.</p> + +<p>It was an almost tragic turn to the Adirondack outing of the Nowadays +Girls. They had been so happy but a comparatively short time before—at +the dance—the masquerade. Would Sylvia, at least, and would Rose ever +be so happy again? Or would the shadow of the lost one always hover +over them? They feared this, yet they did not like to admit that fear +even to themselves.</p> + +<p>Even the loveliness of the woods and the lake, and the entrancing +situation of the Russman bungalow, failed to arouse any sense of +appreciation in Sylvia and her friends. They looked at it without +seeing. They had been extended the warmest hospitality by Mr. and Mrs. +Russman, and made to feel perfectly at home. And Sylvia and her friends +were truly grateful. But they could not shake off the feeling of gloom.</p> + +<p>"Shall you let your folks know Roy is missing?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Not at once," Sylvia replied. "It would only cause them great pain and +sorrow, and perhaps unnecessarily. We may find him to-day. If we do +not, and if he remains unfound after to-night, then, of course, I must +let papa know. He would want to engage a posse of men and find him. +But we will make the search ourselves first."</p> + +<p>"Bravo!" cried Professor Russman when he heard this. "That is the right +spirit! I am sure we shall have success."</p> + +<p>Leaving the servants and Mrs. Russman in the bungalow, the girls +accompanied the professor into the woods, along the forest trail that +led to the cabin of Old Sam, a veteran guide.</p> + +<p>Sylvia tried to induce Mrs. Brownley to remain also, but the chaperon +insisted on going with her charges.</p> + +<p>"Your mothers depend on me, and I am not going to desert now," she +said, firmly.</p> + +<p>"But it is such a trial for you," objected Sylvia. "It is too much to +expect you to tramp through the woods."</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense!" exclaimed the sturdy lady. "I am not like some +modern girls, who can only dance one fox trot an evening. I was brought +up to take long walks. And you seem to forget that I have done some +mountain climbing in the Alps. If I could stand that, surely I can +stand our Adirondack woods in summer. Now don't talk any more about +leaving me behind, for I simply shan't stay. Go along!"</p> + +<p>Professor Russman looked admiringly at the chaperon. His own wife was +an accomplished woods-woman, but it was necessary that some one in +authority remain at the bungalow, and she volunteered for that waiting +service. Roy might wander back, or her son or Harry Montray might +return, and they would not know what to expect if only the servants +were there to explain matters.</p> + +<p>Our friends had brought their most needed luggage with them. They had +expected to go to some hotel or wood-camp near the Russman bungalow, +but though there was one not far off, Mr. Russman would not hear +of their leaving him and his wife. There was plenty of room in the +bungalow, he insisted, which was perfectly true, and they would want to +be there to hear the first news—good or bad.</p> + +<p>But Rose and Sylvia, almost with tears in their eyes, refused to admit +the possibility of anything but good tidings.</p> + +<p>From their cases the girls and Mrs. Brownley took stout walking shoes, +short skirts of a kind to defy brambles and briars, and with a lunch, a +portable coffee outfit, and other necessaries and some medicines, they +fared forth.</p> + +<p>Somehow or other the spirits of all rose as they started off on the +search. It was the very fact of doing something, and not sitting in the +darkness, waiting, that caused this. The energy of work drove out the +bad spirits of inactivity.</p> + +<p>Professor Russman showed Sylvia and the others where Roy had entered +the woods as he rushed from the table the night before, when the +delirium so unaccountably seized him. It was a well-travelled trail, +and of course no special footprints could be seen. Presently this +trail branched off into several others, and there was no way of telling +which path Roy had followed.</p> + +<p>"But perhaps Old Sam can tell us," Mr. Russman said, hopefully.</p> + +<p>Their hopes, however, were doomed to disappointment. Sam was at home. +He told of the visit of Adolph and Harry and described the plan of +procedure he had mapped out for them. He had told the two young men to +come back if they were unsuccessful, and then new plans would be made.</p> + +<p>"Well, we will start from your cabin, and make a general search until +my son and Harry come back," said the scientist. "We may come upon Roy +unexpectedly."</p> + +<p>The search was taken up, but at noon had brought no results. Sam +himself had gone off on a little-used trail. He said he would search +along that, and also take word to some fellow-guides.</p> + +<p>Our friends ate the lunch they had brought with them, and, after a +rest, started forth again. But as the afternoon shadows lengthened, and +their shouts and cries, as well as their close scrutiny, had resulted +in nothing, discouragement again held them all in its fearsome grip.</p> + +<p>"We had better go no farther," Professor Russman said at length, as he +noted how near the sun was to setting. "We had better go back."</p> + +<p>"And give up?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Only for the night. Unacquainted with the woods as we are, we might +become lost ourselves, and that would be bad. We must go back, and +leave what night-searching can be done to the guides and canoemen."</p> + +<p>With heavy hearts they retraced their steps to Old Sam's cabin. They +found Adolph and Harry waiting for them. It was the first time Sylvia +and her friends had seen Roy's companion since the two had come to the +mountains. There was a meeting that was as happy as possible under the +circumstances. Harry told more details of Roy's case.</p> + +<p>"He was on the road to recovery when this happened," he said, sadly. +"Perhaps if I had not allowed him to make this trip——"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't your fault at all!" interrupted Sylvia, quickly. "We must +think now of what to do next."</p> + +<p>"Send out a general alarm, I should say," broke in Professor Russman.</p> + +<p>"I think so," agreed his son, and Harry nodded his acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"It's the only thing left," declared Old Sam. "I'll spread the word," +and taking down a conch horn from his cabin wall he blew a deep mellow +blast, that echoed and echoed again through the forest.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI</h2> +</div> + +<h3>THE SEARCH</h3> + + +<p>Long blasts and short blasts did Old Sam blow on the mellow conch horn +as, with his lips pressed to the opening, he puffed out his cheeks. Now +the sound would almost die away, to blare out again with a suddenness +that startled the girls.</p> + +<p>"What—what does it mean?" faltered Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It sounds like something I heard when once I was in Scotland," +commented Mrs. Brownley. "An old chieftain thus summoned the members of +his clan."</p> + +<p>"It's the general alarm," explained Harry. "The guides have a way +of signalling to one another that way. They can send all sorts of +messages. This one is to summon all who hear the horn to join in a +search."</p> + +<p>"How good of them!" Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>"Do they often gather together this way for a general alarm?" asked +Alice.</p> + +<p>"Occasionally," explained Adolph, who had spent nearly all of his +summers in the Adirondacks. "Now and then a hunter will wander away +from his camp, or become separated from his party and have to be found +in this way."</p> + +<p>"Are there any who are never found?" questioned Rose, in a low voice, +and in an aside to Harry.</p> + +<p>He paused a moment before answering. A look into her face showed how +much in earnest she was. Harry decided upon his answer.</p> + +<p>"They always find them," he said, speaking cheerfully. He did not add +that sometimes the missing ones were found too late. What was the need +of frightening Rose?</p> + +<p>"How long will it be before you and your friends will be ready to start +out on the search?" asked Mr. Russman of the old guide.</p> + +<p>"We will start in the morning," he said. "The men will gather here +to-night, and I'll tell them what's up. We'll start out as soon as +it's light enough to see, and that will be about three o'clock in the +morning these days."</p> + +<p>"Can't we do anything?" asked Sylvia. "We want to help, oh, so much!"</p> + +<p>Old Sam looked at her keenly. He must have understood her feelings. +Then Rose broke in with:</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>please</i> let us do something! It is terrible just to sit and wait!"</p> + +<p>Old Sam nodded his head sagely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," he said, in a low voice. "I had a brother once lost in +these woods."</p> + +<p>"Did they find him again?" asked Hazel, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, miss. But it was some time, and——But there! we'll find +<i>this</i> young man, all right!" and he changed his voice to a more +cheerful tone.</p> + +<p>"And may we help?" repeated Sylvia, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sam. "If I were you I'd not go too far from the bungalow, +though. What I mean is that your brother may return unexpectedly. In +fact he may not be far from here now, but he may be going around in +a sort of circle. If he was as ill as you say he was, he probably +wouldn't go very far.</p> + +<p>"But my friends and I will take in all the trails within a circle of +ten miles, and you girls had better not go more than three in any +direction from the bungalow. Then you won't be lost. We don't want to +have to search for two and even more lost persons," he added, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>"Say, Sam," demanded Adolph, with the freedom of an old acquaintance, +"can't you furnish us with a guide? One that can pilot us around in the +woods near the bungalow. I know the forest pretty well, but I confess I +might get lost myself. Suppose you give us a guide and we'll organise a +searching party of our own."</p> + +<p>"That's a good idea," Sam said. "I'll do that. Two parties ought to be +better than one, just as two heads are better than a single one. Now my +advice to you is to go back to your bungalow, and get a good night's +rest. We can't do much at night, anyhow, particularly at this stage. +Later on, if we have to make a torchlight search we can do it. But +there's no need now. Go home and rest. I'll be getting ready for the +guides. They'll soon be coming in, that is, all that aren't out with +summer parties."</p> + +<p>"Will they all hear that horn?" asked Sylvia, indicating the one Sam +had blown.</p> + +<p>"Well, not all, miss. But them as does hear it will blow another of +their own, and so on. The word will be passed along."</p> + +<p>"Hark!" exclaimed Rose.</p> + +<p>From somewhere off in the forest there came the mellow notes of another +conch horn. Clear and pleasant it sounded, and had it not been for the +import of the blast, the girls would have enjoyed it, for the tones +fell sweetly on the evening air. But now it seemed sadly melancholy.</p> + +<p>"That'll be Jim Judson," said Sam. "He'll make them hear as I couldn't. +We'll soon have quite a party here. I'll attend to the rest now, so you +folks had better go back to the bungalow and get some sleep."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so," said Sylvia, wearily. "It is all we can do until +morning."</p> + +<p>"And you will be able to do all the better work in the morning if you +rest to-night, my dear," said Mrs. Brownley. "You look quite tired out."</p> + +<p>Indeed Sylvia did look worn out, for she had not slept, and though the +girls were sturdy, and accustomed to long tramps in the woods, they +were all tired now. A rest would be a benefit to all of them.</p> + +<p>"Well, let us go back," suggested Mr. Russman.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the sooner we begin to rest the sooner we shall be able to take +up the search," Mrs. Brownley added.</p> + +<p>Rose and Sylvia walked together on the back trail. It was as if they +had a common bond of sympathy between them, as indeed they had. They +did not say much, partly because they were too tired, and also for the +reason that they were doing much thinking.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it just dreadful!" murmured Rose, as they walked along in +the gathering twilight.</p> + +<p>"I can't bear it—sometimes!" agreed Sylvia. "To think of his being out +there," and she indicated the forest that surrounded them.</p> + +<p>As they walked along they could hear, now and then, the calling of the +conch shell, as one guide signalled from his lonely cabin, or camp, to +another of his fellows. The sounds came sweetly over the ocean of green +trees.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said that any of the party ate with good appetites when +the bungalow was reached. But even the food they did take was of +benefit to them. Sylvia felt much stronger, and certainly more hopeful +after the meal, and so did Rose.</p> + +<p>But she and the others dreaded the long night, when many thoughts would +crowd in upon them. A part of the evening was spent in talk with Harry, +who told of Roy's condition since he had come to the Adirondacks with +him. The lost chemical formula had, it appeared, bothered the patient +more than a little. It was really keeping him from getting well.</p> + +<p>"And then came this outbreak," Harry went on. "It seemed to be the +climax. I never saw Roy do anything more suddenly than when he leaped +away from the table and rushed out into the woods. And he seemed to +disappear as if the very earth had swallowed him up. But we'll find +him—never fear!" he exclaimed, as he saw a look of pain pass over the +face of Sylvia. "We'll get him back."</p> + +<p>Sylvia and the others slept from very exhaustion, and in Sylvia's case, +particularly, the hours of rest in the darkness performed a much-needed +service. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but was saved +from it.</p> + +<p>She was awake early—much earlier than any of the others—and feeling +that she could not sleep any more, and that to lie in bed, tossing +restlessly about, would only make her more nervous, she arose, took a +bath, dressed and went downstairs. Only the servants were about.</p> + +<p>Sylvia went out on the porch. Sitting on a stump somewhat down the path +was a man—a typical guide. He was idly whittling a stick, the soft, +curling shavings falling in a heap at his feet. Sylvia guessed who he +was.</p> + +<p>"Good morning," she said.</p> + +<p>The guide did not start. It was as if he had seen her come out and had +known she was going to speak, though his back was toward the house.</p> + +<p>"Mornin'," he said, in a mellow voice. "Old Sam sent me up here to help +with the searchin' party."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," said Sylvia, eagerly. "It is my brother who is lost. Oh, +tell me! do you think we shall find him?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, miss. Sartin sure!" he exclaimed, shutting his knife with +a snap and standing up. He was tall and lanky, but he had a good face, +and his blue eyes seemed to look right through one.</p> + +<p>There was an early breakfast. The guide, who was known to Mr. Russman +and his son, listened carefully to a statement of what had happened, +and nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said. "We'll try all the trails around here. Now, if +you're ready, we'll start. Old Sam and the others are on the search +long ago."</p> + +<p>And so they started off once more to find the missing one.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>LOST</h3> + + +<p>Pete Wharton, the guide who had been sent by Old Sam, looked critically +over the little party he was leading into the woods, and along the +trails that formed a network for several miles about the Russman +bungalow. They did not intend to get more than three miles away from +the bungalow in any direction.</p> + +<p>"Well, I reckon we're pretty well equipped," said Pete, as if satisfied +with his scrutiny. "We've got plenty of blank cartridges to fire for +signals, and we've got whistles and horns. There's enough grub for the +lunch, and we've got to come back by dark, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"I've got some of those pocket electric flashlights," explained Harry.</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe they're all right for you folks, but I'd rather have a +good oil lantern or a bark torch," the guide said. "Howsomever, maybe +we won't need either."</p> + +<p>The man who ran Mr. Russman's motor boat was to go along to carry the +lunch basket, which included a coffee pot and a little alcohol stove, +for they did not want to wait to build a camp fire.</p> + +<p>The girls wore their short walking skirts and stout shoes, for the +trail was anything but smooth. Each one carried a stick Pete had cut +for her.</p> + +<p>Sylvia tried to get Mrs. Brownley to remain at home, but the chaperon +stoutly refused to desert.</p> + +<p>"I can walk as well as any of you girls!" she said, with a smile, "and +I want to know, as soon as you do, when Roy is found."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do hope we find him soon!" cried Sylvia. "He might become +hopelessly lost on these mountains. Men have done so before and have +lost their lives from exposure."</p> + +<p>"Not very often," Harry made haste to say. "And now, when the woods are +full of camping and pleasure parties, when every lake and stream has +canoeists on it, and when such a large searching party—two of them, in +fact—is out, Roy surely will be found."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had your faith," said Rose, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"You <i>must</i> have it!" Harry said to her, in a whisper, so that Sylvia +would not hear. "We must all help her to keep up," he urged, and Rose +knew well to whom he referred. "If she collapses on our hands we shall +have to send for Mr. or Mrs. Pursell, and you know what that would +mean."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shouldn't be discouraged, I know," murmured Rose. "And I'll try +not to be. But it <i>is</i> very hard."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Harry, sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"But you needn't be afraid Sylvia will collapse," Rose went on. "She +isn't that kind."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think she was, and I don't want you to show the white +feather, either." He spoke a trifle sharply, but he had a purpose in it.</p> + +<p>A little red spot burned in either of the formerly pale cheeks of Rose.</p> + +<p>"The white feather!" she exclaimed. "How dare you suggest such a thing! +I—I——"</p> + +<p>"There, there," broke in Harry, soothingly. "No need to fly off the +handle! I just don't want to put too much on Sylvia. After all, Roy is +<i>her</i> brother."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he is my——"</p> + +<p>Rose stopped short, blushed vividly and turned aside her head. Harry +smiled to himself.</p> + +<p>"I thought that would fetch her," he thought. "We shan't have any +more trouble from her. She'll keep her nerves together for the sake +of Sylvia, and Sylvia will do the same for Rose. That," he added to +himself more or less judicially, "is what might be called playing both +ends against the middle." Harry was pleased with his tactics.</p> + +<p>Under the direction of Pete Wharton they adopted a systematic plan of +search. Pete knew every trail in the woods, and had them in his head +as a sort of map. Pete began at a certain place in reference to the +"deserted bungalow," as the girls often called the place to themselves, +and he said they would follow each trail in turn until they had reached +the three-mile limit. In some cases, he added, they might take in a +four-mile section.</p> + +<p>They would start back toward the bungalow by another route on reaching +their set limit on the trail, and so cover the ground zigzag fashion.</p> + +<p>Now and then, as the party advanced through the dense forest, +pierced only by narrow trails, they stopped and shouted Roy's name. +Occasionally shots were fired, and horns or whistles sounded. The other +party of guides, under the direction of Old Sam, was far enough away to +keep the sounds from conflicting, for Sam's party, also, was doubtless +calling and signalling in various ways.</p> + +<p>Sylvia had hopes that it would take only a little searching on the part +of her friends to discover Roy. She had a feeling that he would become +weary of wandering in the woods all alone, that the delirium would +leave him, and that he would be found trying to make his way back to +the bungalow.</p> + +<p>"And if he does go back—I mean if he wanders back of his own accord, +we'll not say anything to him; shall we?" propounded Rose, as she and +the others paused for a moment on the brink of a little hill, while +Mrs. Brownley, in the rear, sat on a log to rest.</p> + +<p>"Say anything to him—what do you mean?" demanded Sylvia, who was in +advance, and she turned around quickly. "Why shouldn't we say anything +to him? Just because he——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't mean it that way at all, my dear!" exclaimed Rose +quickly, as the red mounted to her cheeks again. "You didn't understand +me. I meant that if we didn't find Roy——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we are sure to find him!" interrupted Hazel. "Don't suggest such +dire possibilities, my dear."</p> + +<p>"I didn't exactly mean that, either," hastily protested Rose.</p> + +<p>"Give her a chance," suggested Sylvia. "I guess we're all so tired and +worried that we are getting on one another's nerves. What do you want +to say, Rose?" and she smiled at her chum; smiled, it is true, but in +so wan and mirthless a fashion that the hearts of all ached for her.</p> + +<p>"What I was trying to say," resumed Rose, "was that if Roy did, by some +good fortune, make his way back to the bungalow alone, as he is very +apt to do, and if we came back from our search and found him there, +wouldn't it be better not to say anything to him about his having gone +away?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it isn't a secret; is it?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" half laughed Rose. "I do seem to be very stupid to-day, +somehow or other."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is we who are stupid," suggested Sylvia. "I think I know +what you mean, though. You——"</p> + +<p>"No, let me say it for myself," insisted Rose. "Otherwise I shall +surely think I am failing in my descriptive powers, and I'll never fit +in at college. I mean that it might embarrass Roy to have us mention +that he—well, to be frank, that he went off in a fit of delirium. It +would be better to ignore it altogether, I think, and act as if nothing +had happened. Just try and talk naturally to him, about the weather, or +camping, or——"</p> + +<p>"Rose, you're the sweetest girl!" interrupted Sylvia, putting her arms +about her chum. "I never would have thought of that. I'd have gone and +blurted out something about how terrible it was for him to run off the +way he did, or I'd ask him where he had been hiding, or else worry +about his health, and ask a lot of foolish questions. I'm so glad you +thought of that!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, perhaps it would have come to you, also," said Rose, not wanting +to take too much credit to herself. "But, really, don't you think that +would be the wisest plan?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly!" agreed Alice. "It's always best, when a person is out +of his mind—Oh, I didn't mean——!" and she stopped herself by putting +her hand over her lips, giving Sylvia a conscience-stricken glance.</p> + +<p>"I don't in the least mind, Alice dear," interrupted the sister of the +missing youth. "Roy certainly is out of his mind, only temporarily, I +hope—we all hope," she added, as she saw Rose about to interpose an +objection. "There is no use mincing words," Sylvia went on. "Roy is +what might be called mildly insane——"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" interjected Rose, with a sort of gesture of denial.</p> + +<p>"We might as well meet the issue bravely," insisted Sylvia, "we can +handle it better so."</p> + +<p>"As long as we know it isn't a family defect, and that it only came to +Roy as a sort of horrid disease," added Alice.</p> + +<p>Sylvia nodded, gravely, and resumed.</p> + +<p>"So I think it will be well to adopt the plan Rose has suggested and +simply act, when we see Roy again, as if nothing had happened. That, I +have read, is the best way to treat people who have had anything the +matter with their minds. It keeps them from brooding on their troubles, +and helps them to recover more quickly.</p> + +<p>"That is what they do in asylums, I believe," she added, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't say that—don't use that word," begged Rose.</p> + +<p>"Well, sanitarium, if you like that better," said Sylvia. "But, really, +I am not at all sensitive on the subject now. I will admit that, at +first, it was a terrible shock—as was this one, of finding that Roy +had run away. But I am getting bravely over it. Why should one shun, or +try to ignore, or cover up, a disease of the mind, when we are so ready +to talk about diseases of the body? I have often heard women boast of +having been successfully operated on for appendicitis, but if there was +the least mention of some mental ailment, even though it be a temporary +one, they shrank from it as if it were some disgrace."</p> + +<p>"Of course it isn't a disgrace!" exclaimed Rose, warmly, coming to +the defence of the absent Roy. "You look at it in just the right way, +Sylvia; a disease of the mind is no different from one of the body, +though it may be more distressing. But, as you say, this is only +temporary, I'm sure. Roy will soon be with us again, and like himself."</p> + +<p>"And I pray that it may be soon," murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>There was a suspicion of tears in her eyes; nor were those of her chums +altogether dry.</p> + +<p>Alice, indeed, saved them all from breaking down completely, by +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Then it's agreed! If we get back, and find Roy waiting for us at the +bungalow, we'll just be as jolly as we can, and pretend it was all a +sort of lark, or game."</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Sylvia. "Of course this is dependent on finding that +Roy's mind is still troubling him when next we see him. He may be +altogether over it."</p> + +<p>"For which we shall all hope and pray," said Rose in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Hazel. "After all, this may be the best thing in the +world for him. I mean," she added quickly, as she caught Sylvia's +startled glance, "it may be the crisis, or the turning point, just as a +fever is highest before it breaks and the patient gets better."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing like looking on the bright side of things," +remarked Sylvia, and she tried to infuse cheerfulness and gaiety into +her voice, but it was a hard task.</p> + +<p>"They are calling us," said Rose, after a moment's pause, the silence +that fell being punctuated by a hail from one of the searching party.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's Pete, and he's signalling to us," agreed Alice, looking off +through the trees.</p> + +<p>"I wonder——" began Sylvia. "No, he hasn't found anything. I guess +he's just tired of waiting for us," she added, for the guide, having +motioned to the girls to follow, again set off along the trail. "He'd +have given the sign if he had discovered any clue."</p> + +<p>For the parties had adopted some simple visual signs, as well as +audible ones, that they might signal to one another when some distance +apart. And Pete had not given the "found" symbol.</p> + +<p>Talking, speculating, wondering, the girls advanced once more, heading +down a little wooded glade where the guide could be observed, peering +here and there for any sign that would indicate the passage of the +missing young man.</p> + +<p>"Anything hopeful?" asked Sylvia, as they came within speaking distance.</p> + +<p>"No, miss, I'm sorry to say it, but that's the truth. It don't look as +if he'd passed this way. But there's a lonely sort of trail, a little +farther on, and I want to take a look at that."</p> + +<p>"Lonely! What do you mean?" asked Rose.</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean it's one that's seldom travelled, miss, and the young +man, being as you might say—er—sort of——"</p> + +<p>"Out of his head, Pete. You needn't mind saying it," put in Sylvia, +wishing to put the honest old fellow at his ease.</p> + +<p>"Well, miss, since you're so nice about it—out of his head, then. +Since he's that way, and partly not responsible for what he does, I +thought maybe he might take the lonesome trail from choice, though most +folks wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"I see," agreed the sister.</p> + +<p>"That's why I spoke about comin' in here," Pete went on. "It's just +possible we'll see some signs if we go in a way."</p> + +<p>He led the way into what soon proved to be a dense patch of wood, +almost a swamp in fact, though through it ran a trail that was faintly +defined.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't look as if any one had been along here for ages," whispered +Alice.</p> + +<p>Somehow it seemed natural to whisper in that eerie place.</p> + +<p>"I told you it was lonesome, miss," answered the guide. "But if you +don't want to come——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we wouldn't desert for the world!" cried Sylvia, quickly. "Go on, +Pete, we'll follow."</p> + +<p>And on they went. The way led downward, and as they reached the lowest +point, where the water lay in pools, there came a sudden noise in the +bushes, to one side of the trail.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Rose, nor was she alone in being alarmed, for the others +echoed her cries.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>A small reddish-coloured animal, with seemingly an unnecessarily large +tail, sprang out, was seen for a flash, and then disappeared in the +underbrush.</p> + +<p>"A dog!" cried Alice. "Maybe it is helping in the search—one of the +guide's dogs?" and she looked questioningly at Pete.</p> + +<p>"It was a fox," he said, drily. "There's been a den of 'em in here for +years. They're harmless."</p> + +<p>The girls breathed more easily, and kept on. But they soon exhausted +the possibilities of the lonely trail, and found not a sign that Roy +had traversed it.</p> + +<p>"Well, no luck there," said Pete, as they emerged again. "But there's +one satisfaction," he went on, looking at Sylvia, "you said your +brother was used to the woods; didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered. "He would be quite at home in the forest."</p> + +<p>Roy was a woodsman of no small skill, and he had a good sense of +direction, which is invaluable to a hunter or forest-lover. Set Roy +down in a big wood, and let him once get an idea of the points of the +compass and it would be difficult to lose him. But that, of course, was +when he was in normal health. Now, alas, he was not himself. And what +had happened to him Sylvia and the others could only surmise.</p> + +<p>But Sylvia's hope that her brother would soon be found was doomed +to disappointment. As the hours passed, and as trail after trail +was carefully scanned, and no sign of the missing one was found, the +spirits of all fell.</p> + +<p>For signs of Roy were looked for, as well as his actual presence. That +was the value of having Pete along. He could see things the others +would pass by unwittingly. It might be a shred of clothing, caught +on some bramble or bush, or a mark in the soft dirt of the trail, a +footprint in a bed of moss.</p> + +<p>I say it <i>might</i> be any of those things, but, unfortunately, it was +none of them.</p> + +<p>Harry had been able to describe the kind of shoes Roy wore. They were +the same sort that Harry himself had on, heavy, with soles well studded +with nails to prevent slipping. If any one with such a pair of shoes +had stepped into soft dirt, a mark would have been left that easily +would have been recognised.</p> + +<p>But no such marks came to the notice of the guide, and when noon came +he shook his head in puzzled fashion. But he took good care not to let +Sylvia see him give this indication of discouragement.</p> + +<p>"Oh, shall we ever find him?" Sylvia murmured, as she sank down wearily +on a log to rest.</p> + +<p>"Of course we'll find him!" exclaimed Harry, signalling to Pete to +confirm this assertion.</p> + +<p>"Sartin sure, Miss Pursell," said the tall, gaunt, blue-eyed man of the +woods. "We haven't struck the most likely trails as yet. We'll hit them +after dinner. Now set up, all of you, and have grub—that is, askin' +your pardon, lady, for applyin' sech a common name to victuals," he +added, quickly, with a bow in the direction of Mrs. Brownley.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," she assured him heartily, and with a manner that +put him at his ease at once. "I've heard many an expression like that +from my girls," and she smiled at Sylvia and her chums.</p> + +<p>"We call it 'eats,' or 'feed,'" Alice volunteered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know, my dears!" said their former teacher. "You can't be in a +girls' school as long as I have and be easily shocked. But I think it +will do us all good to have some of Pete's 'grub.' I know I am almost +famished," and she smiled in the best of good-fellowship.</p> + +<p>The coffee was soon boiling on the alcohol stove, Pete having found a +spring of delicious water. Then the "table" was set on a fallen log, +and the sandwiches passed around. All ate with better appetites than at +any time since the discovery of the "deserted bungalow."</p> + +<p>But, even as she ate, Sylvia would pause now and then to listen, or +she would gaze off into the woods as if hoping to see her brother +come walking along amid the trees, in his right mind at least, if not +clothed. For it could not but have happened that he must be in rather +a ragged and dishevelled state now as regards his garments, if he had +tramped much through the dense forest.</p> + +<p>But there came no sign, no sound, and again the party undertook the +search, but in somewhat better spirits. That is what food will do for +one, even though it may have to be actually forced down. The human +body, after all, is material, though the mind has a great control over +it.</p> + +<p>They went well up the mountain around Lower Saranac Lake, and even +penetrated to the shore of the lake itself, keeping along that for some +distance. But it was all without avail.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Pete, slowly, when he noticed the shadow on Sylvia's +face deepening, "Old Sam and the others may have had some news of him +before this. We won't know that until we get back to the bungalow, +though."</p> + +<p>"But to go back we would have to give up the search here," Roy's sister +said. "And we can't do that. We'll keep on until dark, and then we'll +go to the bungalow, and if we have no good news I hope some will be +waiting for us."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," came from Rose, as she stalked on beside Sylvia.</p> + +<p>There were two trails close together at one point, though they +separated widely farther on. Sylvia and her three chums, with Mrs. +Brownley, were on this, while the guide, with Mr. Russman, his son, +Harry and the boatman, were on the other. Just how it happened no one +could ever explain, but the girls must have gone farther than they +intended, for, of a sudden, they found themselves down in a little +glade alone. It was Sylvia who first discovered it.</p> + +<p>"Why, girls!" she cried. "Where are the others?"</p> + +<p>"Just back there a way," declared Alice, reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"We must return to them at once," said the chaperon. "It will never do +to be separated."</p> + +<p>They followed the trail back, but when they came to the place where the +divergence began there was no sight of the others. For a moment the +girls looked wonderingly at each other, and then Sylvia said:</p> + +<p>"We must shout!"</p> + +<p>They did, but they could not be sure they were answered. Certainly some +sounds came back to them, but it may have been the echoes.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" suddenly exclaimed Hazel, when in another moment there might +have been a panic of fear for all of them. "Some one is coming."</p> + +<p>There was a sound of approaching footsteps, and the breaking of +underbrush.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if it should be——" began Sylvia, hopefully.</p> + +<p>But the light in her eyes died out a moment later, as an elderly man +came into view. The girls had never seen him before, but he seemed to +be one who lived in the woods.</p> + +<p>"Afternoon, ladies," was his cordial greeting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you looking for—him?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"For whom, miss?" He seemed a bit puzzled.</p> + +<p>"My brother. He is lost in these woods—has been since last night. +We are searching for him with a party, but we took the wrong trail. +However, the others must be near here. But have you seen my brother?" +Quickly she described Roy.</p> + +<p>"By hemlock!" exclaimed the old man, clapping his hand on his leg. +"Say, I wouldn't be surprised if that <i>was</i> him!"</p> + +<p>"Who? Oh, where? Tell me!" begged Sylvia, in her eagerness catching +hold of his arm.</p> + +<p>"Why, about an hour back," said the old man, "I was passing along the +Ampersand trail, and on top of Bald Mountain I see a feller outlined +against the sky. He didn't have no hat on, and he seemed to be actin' +sort of queer. I thought it was one of the campers around here. Some of +them is kinder foolish," he added, apologetically.</p> + +<p>"I know—go on!" exclaimed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't do nothin'," said the old man. "I just watched this +feller a bit, and come on. Now I meet you and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm sure that was Roy!" Rose cried. "Which way is it to Bald +Mountain?"</p> + +<p>"Right back on this trail a mile or so," and he pointed to the one he +had been travelling.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" cried Sylvia, eagerly. "Come on!" She hardly paused to thank +their informant, but rushed along the trail. Hardly knowing what they +were doing, but overcome by the excitement and the hope of finding Roy, +the others followed. They did not even think of Mr. Russman, Harry and +the others. They were intent on getting to Bald Mountain as fast as +they could.</p> + +<p>Excitement gave them strength. Their weariness seemed to vanish +magically. Even Mrs. Brownley kept up with the girls, and she was not a +young woman.</p> + +<p>The trail was not a plain one, but by this time the girls had become +used to following even a faint path through the woods. On and on they +fairly rushed. If they thought of the others at all it was to come to +the hasty, if incorrect, conclusion that they could easily go back and +find them once they had located Roy.</p> + +<p>"How far did he say it was to Bald Mountain?" asked Hazel, when the +pace had slackened a little.</p> + +<p>"A mile or so," replied Alice.</p> + +<p>"Well, we've come more than a mile—more than two, I should say," Hazel +went on. "I say, girls, we'd better pull up a bit, and think of what +we're doing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't stop!" begged Sylvia. "We <i>must</i> find him!"</p> + +<p>"But we must find Bald Mountain first," said Hazel. "And I don't see +any signs of it. We seem to be down in a sort of swamp."</p> + +<p>They were, indeed, on low ground, and the trail now turned downward +instead of upward.</p> + +<p>"Can it be that we are—lost?" cried Rose. She hesitated over the word.</p> + +<p>"Lost!" gasped Alice. "Oh, it can't be!"</p> + +<p>"Keep on a little farther," Sylvia urged. "We may come to the mountain +any minute now."</p> + +<p>But the farther they went the more the trail sloped downward. Clearly +they had come in the wrong direction.</p> + +<p>"We are lost!" said Rose at last.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> +</div> + +<h3>UNEXPECTED HELP</h3> + + +<p>For a moment a feeling of panic seemed to overcome not only the girls, +but Mrs. Brownley herself. The word "lost" appeared to have a most +sinister meaning under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>For the girls had left their friends, the guide was with Mr. Russman +and the others, and they had taken a wrong trail.</p> + +<p>Were they to be lost, even as Roy was lost, and with the prospect of +being left out in the woods with night coming on?</p> + +<p>It was a question that each one hesitated to ask herself, and yet it +was one that needed to be answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can't be lost!" Sylvia said at length. "Here is the path. We +haven't strayed from that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but what good is it to us if we don't know where it leads to?" +Alice wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it <i>must</i> lead somewhere," Sylvia insisted. "If it doesn't +lead where we want to go, which, just at present, is Bald Mountain, +then we must go back along it until we get on the right trail. That is +simple enough."</p> + +<p>"To say; yes," agreed Hazel. "But is it simple enough to do?"</p> + +<p>"We'll try, anyhow," Sylvia went on. Somehow she seemed to have +recovered her spirits, which had been dampened by the assertion of Rose +that they were lost. "All we'll have to do," went on Roy's sister, "is +to keep going up instead of descending. We want to get on the heights, +where we can get a good view."</p> + +<p>"That sounds reasonable," Mrs. Brownley said. "Suppose we try it?" and +she looked questioningly at her charges.</p> + +<p>"I think we ought to call out before we stir another step," Rose said.</p> + +<p>"What for?" demanded Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"To see if the others are near here. If they are it will be better to +go to them or get them to come to us, and let Pete take us to Bald +Mountain. I don't want to risk trying to find it ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps that will be better," Sylvia admitted. "We'll call. Mr. +Russman and the others can't be very far back. I suppose it was foolish +of us to come on without them. But they seemed to be quite near, and I +thought they would follow us."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think of anything but of getting to Bald Mountain," asserted +Rose.</p> + +<p>"If we had asked that old man he might have guided us," Hazel ventured.</p> + +<p>"It's too late to think of that now," sighed Alice. "We shall have to +guide ourselves."</p> + +<p>"And we can do it easily enough," asserted Sylvia, with perhaps more +conviction than she really felt. "Come on now, let's turn about and go +back. And we must hurry, for it is getting late."</p> + +<p>The girls noticed, not without little shivers of apprehension, that the +shadows were lengthening perceptibly. How far from the bungalow they +were they could not estimate. And how far they were from where they +had last seen their friends and the guide was equally a matter of mere +supposition.</p> + +<p>"Indeed we must hasten," agreed the chaperon.</p> + +<p>She did not speak of her weariness. They were all weary, for they had +come the last mile or so at a fast pace, spurred on by the hope of +finding Roy on top of the hill, locally called Bald Mountain.</p> + +<p>"We are somewhat like the King of France," said Sylvia, with a laugh, +as they started back. "We seem to have marched down the hill, and now +we are marching up again."</p> + +<p>"The King of France reversed the process," said Rose.</p> + +<p>"Besides, he had ten thousand men," added Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Just one, in the shape of a guide, would be very welcome now," +asserted Alice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we must learn to depend more on ourselves!" Sylvia exclaimed. "If +we are to have Nowadays Club outings every year we must learn not to +get lost in the woods."</p> + +<p>"I still refuse to admit that we are lost!" said Alice.</p> + +<p>"So do I," Sylvia agreed.</p> + +<p>They were in better spirits now, and stepped on with lighter hearts. +The trail led slightly upward, and they marveled, now that they were +cooler-headed, how they had ever allowed themselves to keep on a +downward path, when they knew they were supposed to be going up a +mountain trail. But the excitement of the moment accounted for their +lack of observation.</p> + +<p>It was not until they reached a place where the trail divided that +they came to a halt, and once more they looked at one another, if not +exactly with fear in their eyes, at least with shadows of doubt.</p> + +<p>"I didn't notice this before," confessed Sylvia, pointing to the forked +paths.</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said Alice.</p> + +<p>"I thought we had come over a straight path from the time we met that +old man," was the contribution of Hazel.</p> + +<p>"We were so excited we didn't know what we were doing," Rose declared. +"Now, the question is, which path did we come over?"</p> + +<p>They stood at a place in the woods where three trails met in the shape +of a Y. They had come up the right-hand side of the letter. But on +their previous trip had they been travelling on the main stem, or on +the left-hand fork? That was what they could not tell.</p> + +<p>Sylvia bent over close to the ground, as she had seen Pete do several +times. But the earth of the trail was hard packed, and she was not +expert enough to read the "sign" left by their footprints. Indeed she +could see none.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, arising, "I give up! I don't know which path it was."</p> + +<p>"Let's shut our eyes and pick out one blindly," suggested Alice.</p> + +<p>"Don't be rash," Mrs. Brownley warned them.</p> + +<p>"But what can we do?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Go along one path for a little way, and see if we can't pick out some +natural landmark that we passed coming down," went on the chaperon. "If +we can't do that, say within half a mile, we may be pretty sure we are +on the wrong trail, and we can walk back and try the other."</p> + +<p>That seemed reasonable to the girls, and they decided to try that plan. +Again hope came to them to drive away their weariness! But as they +looked up and saw the shadows growing longer and longer, and noticed +the wood darkening under the pall of approaching night, it required all +their boldness to put on a brave front. They all tried to be brave for +Sylvia's sake, for, after all, was she not suffering more than any of +them, save perhaps Rose?</p> + +<p>"Forward!" cried Mrs. Brownley. "Time is too precious to waste standing +still."</p> + +<p>As they went along the path they had selected the conviction became +an ever-increasing one that it was not the path they had come over at +first. They saw a little waterfall they were sure they had not passed +before.</p> + +<p>"We're wrong!" exclaimed Sylvia. "We've got to go back and try over +again."</p> + +<p>There was nothing else to do. It was becoming dark so rapidly now that +they looked up in alarm, and found the sky becoming rapidly overcast +with clouds.</p> + +<p>"We're in for a thunderstorm," declared Rose, in alarm.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're not afraid of lightning," asserted Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"No, but it will make it so much more difficult to travel and find the +path," Alice objected.</p> + +<p>"It means we must hurry more than ever," Sylvia said.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we shout here," suggested Sylvia. Their previous calls had +been unanswered.</p> + +<p>They raised their shrill voices in shouts again and again, but the only +result was to set the echoes reverberating, and to strain their throats.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on, we'll find the trail ourselves," Sylvia finally said.</p> + +<p>They hastened along, but had not reached the fork in the path when the +storm burst.</p> + +<p>There was a series of vivid lightning flashes, the thunder seemed +doubly loud out in that wilderness, and then came the drenching rain.</p> + +<p>"Come under this tree!" urged Rose, darting toward a beech.</p> + +<p>"You may be struck!" Hazel warned her.</p> + +<p>"Have to take a chance," Rose retorted. "Beech trees are the safest, +I've heard, and I can't stand out in the rain."</p> + +<p>But the tree was not much shelter, and as the shower showed no +indication of slackening, and as the girls were now fairly desperate, +they decided to keep on. Their clothes could stand a good deal of rain +before becoming wet through, and their shoes were waterproof, so they +were not in such desperate plight as might otherwise have been the case.</p> + +<p>But it grew darker and darker, and at last they found themselves +stumbling along in the woods, tripping over fallen trees, banging into +trunks and getting tangled in underbrush.</p> + +<p>"We're off the trail!" cried Sylvia. "We can't go on. We must stop or +we may come to some harm."</p> + +<p>Frightened, they huddled together, while the rain beat down pitilessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, help! help!" suddenly screamed Rose. It was as though she could +stand the strain no longer. "Help! help!" she cried. "We are lost!"</p> + +<p>Above the patter of the rain on the leaves, and above the low muttering +of thunder a voice answered:</p> + +<p>"Stay where you are. We're coming!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>FOUND</h3> + + +<p>Silence followed this, to the girls at least, momentous announcement. +That is as much silence as was possible under the circumstances, with +the noise of the storm reverberating through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Did—did you hear that?" gasped Sylvia, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Of course," answered Hazel, and she spoke a bit sharply, as if her +nerves were near the breaking point.</p> + +<p>"Was it—was it a voice?" Sylvia went on, as though she could not quite +believe the evidence of her own ears. "Was it a voice, or one of those +loons, or owls?"</p> + +<p>"It was a <i>voice</i>," declared Mrs. Brownley. "I heard it distinctly. It +must be some of our party searching for us. You had better call once +more, girls. My voice simply refuses to make itself heard."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Russman! Pete! Harry!" called Sylvia. "Where are you? Come to us!"</p> + +<p>A crashing noise sounded in the underbrush, but it was too dark to see +by whom it was made. Now and then a flash of lightning would vividly +light up the scene, but it was of such brief duration, and produced +such a glare, that the girls and their chaperon could really see +nothing beyond a black and dripping circle of trees that girt them +about. Following Sylvia's cry, though, there came an answer.</p> + +<p>"Stay where you are! We're coming. Don't move. There's a bad fall near +where you are and you may slip over. Stand still."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't sound like any of our friends!" exclaimed Alice.</p> + +<p>"No," agreed Hazel. "But it's some one, at all events. And I never was +so glad in all my life before to hear a human voice. It may be some of +the other guides—those of Sam's party."</p> + +<p>"Could it be—could it be—Roy?" faltered Rose.</p> + +<p>"That isn't Roy's voice," declared Sylvia, with decision. "I only wish +it were he! But he is probably too weak to answer in those firm tones."</p> + +<p>"We're coming," the unseen rescuers went on. "Be there in just a few +seconds now!"</p> + +<p>The girls could see lights flashing among the trees and bushes. Lights +that were not the vivid glares of the sky-electricity. The storm seemed +to be dying out, at least the thunder was not so loud nor the flashes +so frequent, but the drizzle of rain still kept up.</p> + +<p>The girls huddled around Mrs. Brownley, wet and rather miserable, yet, +aside from the depression caused by the failure to find Roy, there was +plenty of spirit and spunk left in each and every one. They were wet, +tired and hungry, but they had not given up hope, not even when they +knew they were lost.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but to think of the walk back to the bungalow," half groaned +Hazel. "Can we make it to-night, girls?"</p> + +<p>"We'll <i>have</i> to!" insisted Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"And there may be good news of Roy waiting for us," said Rose, eagerly. +"That is, if this isn't a party that has already found him."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they are any of our friends." Sylvia spoke in a low +voice. "They would know who we were, and they'd call us by name. And if +they had found poor Roy they'd let us know that the first thing."</p> + +<p>"But who can they be?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"We'll know in another moment. Here they are!"</p> + +<p>A number of lights flashed all around. They came from the pocket +electric torches without which no camp is now complete. And the tiny +glows were in the hands of four young men who crowded up along the +dripping trail to face the lost ones.</p> + +<p>"Sorry to have kept you waiting," said the leader, flashing his light +in Sylvia's face. "But we didn't expect company, and we had gone to +bed. We heard you call and——"</p> + +<p>He interrupted himself suddenly to exclaim:</p> + +<p>"Great pines and little fir trees! It is Night! Miss Pursell! What in +the world are you doing here?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" gasped Roy's sister, weakly. In an instant she had recognised +Felton Ware—the Knight of the Overturned Canoe—the cavalier of the +dance. And with him were his three companions who had helped to give +the girls such a good time at the hotel.</p> + +<p>"Look here, fellows!" Felton cried. "Here are our friends—the pretty +girls."</p> + +<p>He said it—shamelessly—openly, and none resented it. The said pretty +girls were only too glad to see the boys.</p> + +<p>"Well, if this isn't a go!" exclaimed Jimmie Pendleton.</p> + +<p>"Is it true, or am I dreaming?" Bert Young wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"If I am dreaming, don't wake me up," pleaded Carroll Beach.</p> + +<p>"But I say!" went on Felton, eagerly. "What are you doing here? Out in +the rain at night! Where's your camp? What has happened? You look——"</p> + +<p>"Don't mention our looks, young man!" interrupted Aunt Theodora. "We +know we must be frights. But is there any place around here where we +can stay—a hotel or boarding-house? We are lost!"</p> + +<p>"Why, come to our tent!" urged the Knight of the Overturned Canoe, +eagerly. "We came up here to camp, but never expected to see you folks +again. We have a big extra tent, ready for some more of the fellows we +expect next week. You can all fit into that nicely. There are cots in +it. We can get you up some kind of a meal. You can't possibly travel +through the woods now. Stay with us until morning, please."</p> + +<p>"It sounds most inviting," sighed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Welcome to our woodland camp, Princess of the Night," said Felton, +whimsically, with a low bow. "I'm sorry we haven't a red velvet carpet +to spread to the tent, but truth compels me to state that the trail is +so winding that it would take a very large magic carpet to cover it. +But what has happened?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Sylvia told him, and her companions told him, singly, in a chorus, by +duets, in a trio and then filled in any gaps that were left with a +grand ensemble that left nothing unrelated.</p> + +<p>Then the boys led the way back to their camp. A fire in the midst of a +circle of tents was dying down, but there was dry wood to pile on, and +soon there was a roaring blaze adding heat to its cheerfulness. Coffee +was quickly made, food set out, and in the seclusion of a large tent +Sylvia and her friends, with Mrs. Brownley, made themselves comfortable.</p> + +<p>"If those young men aren't providential I never saw any persons who +were," declared the chaperon, as she sat on the edge of a cot, munching +a sandwich from one hand and waving an empty coffee cup with the other, +to emphasise her point.</p> + +<p>"They certainly are," agreed Rose.</p> + +<p>The boys did everything possible for their unexpected visitors, and +said they would escort them back to the bungalow the first thing in +the morning. One of the young men was quite familiar with the woodland +trails, having camped in that neighbourhood before.</p> + +<p>"And we'll help you look for your brother," added Felton. "Bald +Mountain is not a great way from here. But you certainly took the wrong +trail. However, we're glad to see you again!"</p> + +<p>"Well?" remarked Hazel, in a questioning tone, as she sat on the edge +of her cot, after the boys had said "good-night;" and she looked at the +others, the while swinging her stockinged feet to and fro to aid in +drying them, for their shoes had been wet through.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I'd call it well," commented Sylvia, reflectively, +"but I suppose we ought to be thankful that none of us is really ill. +That's one blessing."</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Mrs. Brownley, "that is a blessing. We came out of the +predicament very fortunately, I think."</p> + +<p>"And it certainly was a predicament," added Rose, as she went to the +flap of the tent to peer out.</p> + +<p>"Looking for anything in particular?" asked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Or any one?" inquired Sylvia, with decided emphasis.</p> + +<p>Rose turned quickly, her cheeks showing redder than ever in the glow +of the lantern. Perhaps it was from the excitement of the day, however.</p> + +<p>"I just wanted to see what the boys were doing," she answered. "I +believe they are drying our shoes over an oil stove," she went on. "I +can just see inside their cooking-tent—it's open."</p> + +<p>"Gracious! I hope they don't cook our shoes!" exclaimed Alice, with +a laugh, and a most commendable effort to lend a little gaiety to a +situation that was certainly in need of it. "I have read of starving +sailors eating their shoe laces. Fortunately my walking boots are +button ones," she added, with another little laugh.</p> + +<p>"It's only when laces are of some sort of hide that they make soup of +them," put in Mrs. Brownley, deciding to do what she could to help +remove the load from Sylvia's mind.</p> + +<p>"That's so," chimed in Hazel. "The ordinary cloth shoe lace would not +make a very appetising meal. Though I suppose they could boil the +tongue of a shoe, and serve it in some sort of an <i>entrée</i>," she went +on. "And the shoe wouldn't be much the worse after the operation. Look, +Rose, since you have undertaken the post of observer, and tell us if +the boys are taking the tongues out of our shoes."</p> + +<p>"So they won't talk in their sleep?" demanded Sylvia, rising to the +occasion with a joke—"alleged," as she designated it afterward; when +they were going over all the points of the momentous time.</p> + +<p>"Aren't we silly?" demanded Hazel.</p> + +<p>"It's just as well to try to be cheerful," said the chaperon. "Nothing +is so bad as to lose hope, and while we haven't in the least done +that, still it is just as well to try to have a little reserve fund +of good-humor to fall back on in times of emergency. Oh, I didn't +quite mean that!" she added, quickly, as she caught a look of alarm on +Sylvia's face.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter," was the quiet comment of Roy's sister. "It is +just as well to recognise the fact that we—that I—may have to face +an—emergency."</p> + +<p>She halted and stumbled over the word, but the others knew how hard it +must have been for her to speak it. And they all realised what a grim +emergency might confront them.</p> + +<p>But the little cloud soon passed, for Rose—brave little Rose—rising +gallantly to the occasion, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Those silly boys!"</p> + +<p>"What are they up to now?" asked Hazel, for Rose was still at the +tent-flap.</p> + +<p>"Why, they're dancing around, holding our shoes, one on each hand, and +actually they are waltzing—doing the hesitation with the shoes on +their hands, held in the air."</p> + +<p>"Really?" demanded Sylvia, and there was a rush on the part of the +three girls to join Rose at the flap. Mrs. Brownley remained sitting +with dignity on the edge of a cot. That is with dignity, but with +certain reservations, for she had taken off some of her damp garments +and she was just then engaged in the process of shuffling her +stockinged feet along a strip of carpet in the middle of the tent.</p> + +<p>"It was the only way to bring back the circulation and get them warm," +she explained afterward.</p> + +<p>"The hesitation? It's a onestep!" declared Hazel, as she peered from +their tent into the lighted and partly-open one where the boys were +engaged in some mysterious rite.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what they're doing," she continued, peering over Sylvia's +shoulder. "I wonder which one has my shoes?"</p> + +<p>"As if it made any difference," mocked Alice.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it make a difference with whom one dances?" asked Hazel.</p> + +<p>"If you call that a dance!" said Alice.</p> + +<p>"It is one—by proxy," suggested Sylvia. "Oh, the silly boys!"</p> + +<p>The Knight of the Overturned Canoe and his chums had offered to dry +the water-soaked shoes of their guests. And now the lads were holding +the footwear on their hands, over the blaze of their cooking-tent oil +stove, and to vary the proceeding, I suppose, now and then one of them +would glide off, whistling some merry air, meanwhile waving aloft his +hands (on which were the shoes) in a sort of syncopated dance rhythm.</p> + +<p>"Well, they are trying to be cheerful," said Mrs. Brownley, as she came +to have a peep.</p> + +<p>"The more credit to them, considering what company they have on their +hands," said Hazel.</p> + +<p>"Nothing on their hands but shoes," said Alice, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Besides, they were very glad to meet us," added Rose.</p> + +<p>"They certainly are very nice boys," declared Sylvia. "And, oh, I am so +glad they found us! Think of what we would have done if we had had to +stay in the woods all night!"</p> + +<p>"I never would have stayed," declared Alice. "I simply would have +expired then and there."</p> + +<p>"Then it certainly is a good thing the boys found us," Mrs. Brownley +remarked. "Now, girls, I don't want to dictate to you, but really, I +think you ought to get to bed. We are all cold and damp, and if we get +off some of our wet things, and crawl in between the blankets, it may +prevent us from taking cold. The sheets are not at all clammy," she +went on, as she turned back the covers of her cot, and felt of the +linen. "I must say those boys are clever housekeepers! I would not have +believed it."</p> + +<p>"Which is praise, indeed, even if it is not from—Oh, I never can think +of his name!" cried Alice.</p> + +<p>"Sir Hubert Stanley?" queried Rose.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the one. And so you think the boys—I'm going to call them +our boys," went on Alice, "are good housekeepers, Aunt Theodora?"</p> + +<p>"Very good indeed—for boys," and she thus qualified it.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think we'll take your advice, at any rate," said Sylvia. "I'm +beginning to feel chilly."</p> + +<p>"The boys have stopped their shoe-dance," reported Rose. "Oh! and one +of them is coming this way!" she cried, as she scurried away from the +tent-flap, for the girls, as well as Mrs. Brownley, were not in a +presentable condition.</p> + +<p>However, there was no cause for alarm, for when still at a distance +from the tent, Bert Young called out:</p> + +<p>"I say, wouldn't you like an oil stove in there, to dry yourselves out?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed we would," answered Mrs. Brownley. "Please bring it, unlighted, +and leave it outside the tent. We'll get it."</p> + +<p>"Sounds like an order for fried oysters," commented Alice.</p> + +<p>"Right-O!" came the reply, and a little later a modern oil stove was +glowing in the girls' tent. Its warmth was grateful, and they hung some +of their garments on chairs near it before getting into the cots.</p> + +<p>They did not go to sleep at once—it would have been a physical +impossibility under the circumstances—so they talked, while Mrs. +Brownley kept one eye on the stove, fearing it might smoke or explode, +so she said.</p> + +<p>But it was a very well-behaved stove, and, when the tent was +comfortably warmed, the flame was turned out, and the wayfarers tried +to get a little rest.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said that Sylvia or any of her chums passed a restful +or comfortable night. They were given the best of the young men's +hospitality, but one cannot be wet through in the woods on a lost +trail, torn by anxiety regarding a missing loved one, be anxious about +those of a party from whom one is separated, and have pleasant dreams. +It is too much to expect.</p> + +<p>But the night finally passed, and with it the rain. The sun came up +warm, with a promise of soon drying the woods, and after breakfast +the party of young men prepared to accompany their guests back to the +Russman bungalow. The camp of Felton and his chums, in the locality +where the girls found them, had been planned long before they met at +the dance, but neither party was aware of the other's intention.</p> + +<p>"But it was the luckiest thing in the world," declared Felton, "that +you stopped and called when you did. Look," and he showed Sylvia how +the trail they were on when they had come to a halt led dangerously +near a high cliff. Sylvia shuddered when she saw it.</p> + +<p>"When we head back for the bungalow, can't we go by way of Bald +Mountain?" asked Sylvia, as they were about to start. "It is barely +possible that my poor brother may be there."</p> + +<p>"It is a little longer way," Felton explained, "but of course we can +use that route."</p> + +<p>"And we may meet some of the guides, or others on the way," put in +Rose, "who will give us good news."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," agreed Alice.</p> + +<p>The girls were in better spirits now, though the strain was showing on +Sylvia. However, she kept up bravely, and Rose, too, who had her own +grief, put it aside to comfort Roy's sister.</p> + +<p>They tramped through the woods, now glorious with sunshine. Finally +Bald Mountain loomed before them. They must cross it to get on the +trail that led to the Russman bungalow.</p> + +<p>Sylvia and Felton were in the lead, the girl pressing on eagerly, +and both of them, as well as every other member of the party, looked +closely for any signs of the missing one. Occasionally they would +stop and shout, but they neither saw nor heard aught of the other +seekers—the guides or the Russman party.</p> + +<p>It was near the top of Bald Mountain, when Sylvia, who was a few +steps in advance, passed around a turn in the trail. Before her was +an overhanging stone, forming a sort of niche in the side of the +shaling rock of which the hill was formed. A huddled heap in the niche +attracted her attention.</p> + +<p>She caught her breath sharply, and grasped the arm of her companion.</p> + +<p>[Illustration: ]</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt="" id="illus4"> + <div class="caption"> + <p>"LOOK! LOOK!" SYLVIA WHISPERED.</p> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<p>"It's—it's a man," answered Felton. "Can it be——"</p> + +<p>"It's Roy! It's my brother!" Sylvia cried aloud. "I've found him!"</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV</h2> +</div> + +<h3>RECOVERY</h3> + + +<p>Sylvia was so overcome for the moment, not knowing what might be her +further discovery, that she trembled violently, and swayed as though +about to fall. Felton put out his arms to catch her, but she fought +back the weakness and smiled faintly at him.</p> + +<p>"I—I am all right," she assured him.</p> + +<p>"Really?" he asked. Mrs. Brownley came hurrying up.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"We—we have found him," whispered Sylvia. "But I am afraid, oh, I am +so afraid——"</p> + +<p>She did not finish, but they all knew what she meant.</p> + +<p>Felton said not a word. He walked steadily up to the huddled figure +lying under the ledge of rock. The sun was slanting into the niche.</p> + +<p>Sylvia forced herself to follow him, and watched, as if fascinated, +while her Knight leaned over the figure of her brother. Felton +touched Roy with a tender hand, and then, after a moment—a moment of +suspense—fraught with an agony that made it seem a year, he cried out:</p> + +<p>"He's all right! He's alive—and sleeping!"</p> + +<p>A silent prayer of thankfulness welled up, not only in the heart of +Sylvia, but in the hearts of all her friends.</p> + +<p>As they gathered around, Sylvia kneeling on the hard, stone floor of +the niche beside her brother, he opened his eyes. And it needed but a +glance to show that reason was again on her throne. He looked weak and +emaciated and showed the effects of the terrible sufferings through +which he had passed, but his eyes no longer glowed with the fire of +delirium.</p> + +<p>Roy sat up, gazed about him, but did not seem at all surprised at his +condition or location—that is, for a moment. He looked at Sylvia +recognisingly, and spoke coolly but in a weak voice:</p> + +<p>"Hello, sis! How's everybody?"</p> + +<p>Sylvia could not keep a tremor out of her voice as she answered:</p> + +<p>"All well. And you, Roy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I—I'm feeling better. I——" And then he seemed to feel the +strangeness of his condition, and realise that something unusual had +occurred. A great wonder showed in his fever-sunken eyes. He tried to +get up, but fell back weakly. Sylvia put her arm under him, as did +Felton, and they held Roy up together.</p> + +<p>"Why—why—what has happened?" he stammered.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you any recollection?" Sylvia asked.</p> + +<p>"No. I—I——!"</p> + +<p>He put his hand up to his head.</p> + +<p>"Take it easy now, old man," said Felton, in a low voice. "Bring up +that vacuum bottle, Carroll," he ordered. "A sip of hot coffee will +warm you up, Roy."</p> + +<p>Slowly Roy drank the hot beverage. The wonder in his questioning eyes +grew, as he looked at Sylvia and her friends. The party had brought +food with them, and Roy was given some sparingly, for it was evident +that he was half-starved. Gradually a little strength came back to him.</p> + +<p>"But what does it all mean?" he asked. "How did I get here? How did you +get here, Sylvia? And Rose?"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her, and put out his hand, which she clasped warmly.</p> + +<p>"Look here, old man," said Felton. "I think explanations had better +be deferred until you are a little stronger. We'll get some sort of a +conveyance, and have you taken to the bungalow. You need a doctor, I'm +thinking."</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Roy, in puzzled fashion. "I seem to remember something +about a doctor. I know I went out in the woods to get something, but +I don't recall what it was. It rained, and I walked about a thousand +miles, I guess. Then I was very tired and I crawled in here. I must +have slept the clock around, for it was sunrise when I came here, +and it's sunrise again. But I can't understand it all. I feel a lot +better—up here," and he put his hand to his head.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am <i>so</i> glad!" Sylvia murmured. She was sure her brother was now +in his right mind, though very weak.</p> + +<p>It would be a problem to get him back to the bungalow, but the boys +helped solve that. They made a litter of some boughs and poles and +carried Roy to the nearest road. Then some one went for a waggon, the +bottom of which was filled with straw. Roy protested that he could sit +up, but Mrs. Brownley took charge of him, as she knew something of +nursing, and made him lie down.</p> + +<p>"It's a pretty long drill to the Russman bungalow," suggested Felton. +"Now there's a pretty good sanitarium, with some doctors our family +know, not far from here. Why not take him there?"</p> + +<p>"We will!" Sylvia quickly decided. Roy made no objection. He smiled up +into his sister's face, reached out for the hand of Rose again, and +seemed content.</p> + +<p>The sanitarium of which Felton had spoken proved to be just the place +for Roy. He needed medical treatment of a different sort from that +his ailment had at first called for. The head doctor knew Sylvia's +"Knight," as she laughingly called him, and the physician promised to +give Roy every care and attention.</p> + +<p>Sylvia and Rose arranged to stay at a boarding-house connected with the +institution, while Mrs. Brownley, Alice and Hazel would return to the +Russman bungalow, tell the good news, get their own belongings, as +well as those of Rose and Sylvia, and join them later.</p> + +<p>Felton and his chums would pilot the party to the "deserted bungalow," +as it was occasionally called, and then they would return to their own +camp.</p> + +<p>These arrangements were carried out. On the way to the bungalow the +party met some of the guides who were searching for the lost girls and +Mrs. Brownley. The good news was soon spread, and again Old Sam blew +the tidings on his conch horn. The search had ended.</p> + +<p>"But, oh! I wonder if Roy will remember that missing formula, that +means so much to him?" said Rose to Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"It will be hard to say," was the answer. "We must not hope for too +much."</p> + +<p>Roy's physical improvement was rapid, once he was given the proper care +and treatment at the sanitarium. The shock and exposure while wandering +in the woods had restored his mind. He progressed every hour, it +seemed, now that Sylvia and Rose were with him. Harry Montray was again +to take up his quarters with his friend, and soon the party of Nowadays +Girls was complete once more, with the addition of Roy and Harry.</p> + +<p>As yet nothing had been said to Roy regarding the missing formula. His +memory came back to him, and he recalled everything up to the time of +rushing out of the bungalow in a delirium and off into the woods. What +happened to him there, neither he nor any one else could say.</p> + +<p>It was apparent that he had wandered far. What he ate, if anything, no +one knew, but unconsciously he may have appropriated food from some +camp from which the owners were temporarily absent. And finally he had +wandered to Bald Mountain, and fallen into a natural sleep as the fever +left him. Luckily he had not been much out in the wet, though heavy +dews had drenched him.</p> + +<p>Every day saw a further improvement in the invalid, until at last came +a time when he could go out into the woods with his sister and the +other girls.</p> + +<p>And then, like a flash from a clear sky, there came to Roy that which +he had found and lost—the memory of the formula.</p> + +<p>They were all walking in the beautiful woods one day when Roy suddenly +began sniffing the air, as though some new odour, different from that +of balsam and fir, came to him.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"That smell—what is it?" he demanded, sharply.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a menthol pencil I'm using," said Mrs. Brownley. "I have a +slight headache, and that nearly always cures it. It's simply menthol, +and perhaps——"</p> + +<p>"That's it!" cried Roy, interrupting. "That's where the whole trouble +is! The menthol smell brings it all back to me—that and the name! +It's methane—that's what I need to use to complete the formula! It's +methane! That one element slipped from me, and I couldn't recall it +to save my life. The mention of menthol brought it back to me, though +methane isn't at all like menthol. It was just the smell and the +similarity of names."</p> + +<p>"But what does it all mean?" asked Rose, looking bewildered.</p> + +<p>"It means that I have rediscovered the chemical formula I lost!" Roy +cried. "It's complete now. I must write it down before I lose it again."</p> + +<p>He scribbled some chemical symbols on a bit of white birch bark that +Sylvia hastily tore from a tree for him, and put it in his pocket. But +not before he had looked at it for a moment, murmuring:</p> + +<p>"Ah, there you are! You shan't get away from me again! I have the lost +formula! Now I'll show 'em what's what!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Roy, I am so glad!" cried Sylvia, her eyes bright with +tears—tears of joy.</p> + +<p>And Harry Montray rejoiced with his friend over the recovery of the +valuable discovery. He insisted on sending a wire to the firm in New +York, and Roy received a congratulatory telegram in response. It meant +much to the firm, and more perhaps to Roy in the way of honour and +wealth.</p> + +<p>And now my little story is drawing to a close. Indeed there is really +nothing left to tell. For with Roy's physical and mental recovery, +which waxed more perfect every day, all the worriment of Sylvia and +Rose, not to mention that of their friends, passed away.</p> + +<p>Then came happy times for the Nowadays Girls and the boys; for the +Knight of the Overturned Canoe and his chums came to see them quite +often. Indeed, after Roy was able to leave the sanitarium he and +Sylvia arranged to open a camp for themselves in the woods, and there +entertain their friends. And this was done.</p> + +<p>Canoeing, boating, fishing, long tramps in the woods, pleasant evenings +about the camp fire, an occasional dance—all this made up the +remainder of a happy summer.</p> + +<p>"Well, how did you like my Adirondack outing?" asked Sylvia of her +girl chums one day when, regretfully enough, they began to think of +returning to the city and preparing for their college careers.</p> + +<p>"It was just perfectly all right, my dear!" said Rose, as she went down +the path toward the lake in response to a call from Roy, who was in a +canoe.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't have been better!" declared Hazel.</p> + +<p>"And if I were only sure we would have as scrumptious a time next +season I would be perfectly happy," sighed Alice.</p> + +<p>"We shall go somewhere," Sylvia decided. "The Nowadays Club will live +for many years. But we have plenty of time to pick out another place +before next summer."</p> + +<p>And those of you who care to follow the future fortunes, fun and frolic +of our friends may do so in the next volume of this series, to be +called: "The Nowadays Girls on Casco Bay; or, The Treasure Box of Orr's +Island."</p> + +<p>The outing was over. By easy stages Sylvia and her chums were returning +from the Adirondacks. Once more they stopped at Saranac Inn. It was a +night of the dance. Sylvia sat out on a veranda in the shadows.</p> + +<p>"May I have this next waltz?" a voice murmured at her ear.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked. It will be noticed that she did not ask "who."</p> + +<p>"A canoe glide," was the laughing answer. "May I?"</p> + +<p>"You may," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>And, as she joined her companions in the room where the dreamy music +called to willing feet, we will take leave of her and the other +Nowadays Girls.</p> + + +<p class="ph2">THE END</p> + +<hr class="chap"> + + +<h2>THE NEW DOLLAR JUVENILES</h2> + +<p class="ph2">WHY?</p> + + +<p>We are publishing the following new series of dollar Juveniles, hoping +that the public will support our efforts to give them <i>good stories</i> +attractively illustrated at a reasonable price. We trust that this +project will meet with general approval.</p> + + +<p class="ph2">THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE ADIRONDACKS;<br> or, THE DESERTED BUNGALOW ON +SARANAC LAKE</p> + +<p class="ph2">By <span class="smcap">Gertrude Calvert Hall</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">An outdoor story for girls</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="ph2">THE TRAIL BOYS OF THE PLAINS;<br> or, THE HUNT FOR THE BIG BUFFALO</p> + +<p class="ph2">By <span class="smcap">Jay Winthrop Allen</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">A Western adventure story for boys</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="ph2">BETWEEN THE LINES IN BELGIUM</p> + +<p class="ph2">By <span class="smcap">Franklin T. Ames</span></p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="ph2">BETWEEN THE LINES IN FRANCE</p> + +<p class="ph2">By <span class="smcap">Franklin T. Ames</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">Two boys' adventure stories of the great war</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="ph2"><i>For Sale at All Booksellers</i></p> + +<p class="ph2">DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY</p> + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76084 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76084-h/images/cover.jpg b/76084-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a647ad --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/76084-h/images/illus1.jpg b/76084-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc1156c --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/images/illus1.jpg diff --git a/76084-h/images/illus2.jpg b/76084-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65c6302 --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/images/illus2.jpg diff --git a/76084-h/images/illus3.jpg b/76084-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c5a702 --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/images/illus3.jpg diff --git a/76084-h/images/illus4.jpg b/76084-h/images/illus4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6604cf --- /dev/null +++ b/76084-h/images/illus4.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this book outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d896aab --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +book #76084 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76084) |
