Project Gutenberg's The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country, by Janet Aldridge This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike Author: Janet Aldridge Release Date: June 12, 2011 [EBook #36391] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY *** Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net The Girls Made Camp and Ate Supper. The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country OR The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike By JANET ALDRIDGE Author of The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas, The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat, etc. Illustrated PHILADELPHIA HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY Copyright, 1913, by Howard E. Altemus CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A Night of Excitement 7 II. The Red Eye in the Dark 30 III. A Blessing and a Threat 39 IV. The Coming of Crazy Jane 50 V. Catching the Speckled Beauties 62 VI. The Call of the Dancing Bear 69 VII. Discovering Midnight Prowlers 79 VIII. Caught in a Morass 90 IX. The Tramp Club to the Rescue 102 X. In the Hands of the Rescuers 112 XI. A Contest of Endurance 124 XII. Meadow-Brook Girls up a Tree 134 XIII. A Serious Predicament 146 XIV. Harriet Is Resourceful 152 XV. A Race for Life 163 XVI. A Treat That Was Not a Treat 173 XVII. Trying out the Gipsy Trail 186 XVIII. The Queen Takes a Hand 196 XIX. Delving Into the Mysteries 206 XX. Getting Even With George 217 XXI. Harriet Plans to Outwit the Tramp Club 225 XXII. A Combietta Concert 230 XXIII. The Harmonica Serenade 236 XXIV. Conclusion 244 The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country CHAPTER I—A NIGHT OF EXCITEMENT “Oh, where can Crazy Jane be!” wailed Margery Brown. “It isn’t so much a question of where Jane may be as where we ourselves are, Buster,” answered Harriet Burrell, laughingly. “However, if she doesn’t come, why, we will make the best of it. This will not be the first time we have spent the night out of doors.” “Are we lost?” gasped Hazel Holland. “It looks very much as though we had gone astray,” replied Miss Elting, who was acting as guardian and chaperon to the Meadow-Brook Girls. “Oh, thave me!” wailed Grace Thompson, her impish little face appearing to grow several degrees smaller. “Girls! Please do not become excited,” urged the guardian. “There is no cause for alarm. Even if we have lost our way we shall find it again on the morrow. Harriet, you have the map. Suppose we examine it again and see if we can find out where we are. We surely must be near human habitation, and the country is so open that really getting lost is quite impossible.” Harriet Burrell unslung the pack that she carried over her shoulder, then felt about in it until she found that for which she was looking. She spread the map out on the ground at one side of the road, her companions gathering about and gazing down over her shoulder. Miss Elting sat down beside the map. 7 8 “Here! Trace our day’s route with the pencil,” she said. “This should be Harmon’s Valley. That being the case, the village of Harmon should be not more than a mile farther on.” “There is no village anywhere near us, according to the route we have traveled since this morning,” answered Harriet. “Oh, that can’t be possible,” exclaimed Miss Elting. “Please look for yourself, Miss Elting,” Harriet replied earnestly. “After leaving Granite Mountain we swung to the left as you will see by the line I have marked.” “Hm-m-m,” murmured the guardian as she scanned the map. “It looks to me very much as though we had taken the wrong valley,” said Harriet, as she paused in her scrutiny of the map to glance up at the hills that shut in the valley where they now were. “See! There isn’t a town marked on this map anywhere in this valley.” “I believe you are right. In order to get to our stopping place for the night we shall have to cross those hills to the right. How far is it across?” “Five miles,” answered Harriet, after making some brief measurements. “Five mileth?” wailed Grace. “Oh, thave me!” “Tommy, will you be quiet?” begged Margery. “You make me nervous. Miss Elting, you aren’t going on, to-night, are you? I simply can’t walk another mile. My feet are so numb that I can’t feel them.” “I can feel mine. They are ath big ath elephantth,” declared Tommy. “What do you say, girls? Shall we go on or make camp for the night?” questioned the guardian. “Remember, Jane McCarthy is no doubt waiting with her car for us over in the other valley. She will not know where to go if we do not get in touch with her to-night.” Grace, Hazel and Margery begged Miss Elting to go no farther. They already had made ten miles that day, which they declared was quite enough. “What do you say, Harriet?” asked Miss Elting. “Of course I am a little footsore, but I could walk another ten miles if necessary. However, the other girls do not wish to go farther, so I vote with them to remain here for the night. But won’t Jane be puzzled where to go in the morning!” “She will find us, my dear,” smiled the guardian. “If you think best I will cross the ridge, after supper, and see if I can find her,” suggested Harriet Burrell. “No. I could not think of permitting you to do that, Harriet. Jane will be sure to wait at the meeting place we agreed upon until noon to-morrow before starting on to the next stopping place.” “But we haven’t any plathe to thleep,” protested the lisping Tommy. “I can’t thleep on the ground, can I?” “No. You are going to sleep standing up like a horse,” answered Margery petulantly. “No, I’m not. I’m going to lie down jutht like I alwayth do,” lisped the little girl. “Girls, stop your disputing. We have other things to think of,” rebuked Harriet. “Let’s try to make the best of our unpleasant situation.” Miss Elting, shading her eyes with her hand, gazed inquiringly at the surrounding country. It was barren of buildings except for a large barn and a number of stacks and sheds, some distance away in a field to the west. Still beyond this was a clump of trees and bushes. There was nothing else—no house, no human beings other than themselves in sight. “Girls, let’s investigate that miniature forest over yonder,” called the guardian. “It looks as though it might be an excellent place in which to cook supper, provided we are able to find water.” “Supper!” cried the girls in chorus. They realized all at once that they were hungry. With one accord they snatched up their packs, heavy as they were, slung them over their shoulders and laboriously climbed the roadside fence. Tommy caught her foot on the top rail in attempting to jump to the ground on the other side. “Look out!” warned Miss Elting sharply. “Thave me!” wailed the lisping Tommy and sprawled on all fours on the other side of the fence, kicking frantically as she fell. “Are you hurt, dear?” cried Harriet, springing over to her companion. “Hurt? I gueth I am. Don’t you thee, I’ve thkinned my nothe. Oh, I withh I were home!” “No, you don’t. Think what a lot of fun you are having,” comforted Harriet. “There! You are all right now.” “Am I all right?” “Of course you are.” “All right, if you thay tho,” nodded Tommy, gathering up her pack and moving away with Harriet Burrell’s arm about her. Miss Elting and the other girls had started for the clump of trees. Arriving, they quickly flung down their packs. The guardian began hunting for water. She found a stream of cold water just inside the clump of trees beyond the field, as she had anticipated. The greenness of the foliage about the spot had told her that water was near. In other parts of the valley the leaves were turning. There was a strong suggestion of Autumn in the air, which at night was crisp and bracing, though the days thus far on their long tramp, had been unusually warm for so late in the Fall. It was Harriet’s duty to build the fire. She went about this task at once. There was some difficulty in finding wood that would burn. After searching she found some pieces of old fence rails. These were of pine, and as they were too long for 9 10 11 12 13 a fire over which to cook food, Harriet got out her hatchet and began to chop them into smaller pieces. It was a hard task to chop through a rail, sharp though the hatchet was. However, within fifteen minutes, the girl had accomplished the task and the fire was burning. “I am afraid I can’t promise a great variety or quantity of edibles for supper,” announced Miss Elting, “though what there is to eat will be appetizing.” “If there is enough, it will answer,” Margery declared. “Enough?” repeated Tommy wisely. “Buthter, you thurely ought to diet—a girl ath thtout ath you are.” “I think I’ve heard you remark something of the sort before,” sighed Margery wearily. “I wish you would forget that I weigh—well, never mind how much! The subject is a distressing one. I’m almost too hungry to-night to think of anything except eating.” Tommy’s mischievous glance roved about, resting first on Harriet, who with flushed face was bending over the fire, then on Miss Elting, who was slicing bacon. In addition to the bacon there was to be coffee, supplemented by a few biscuits. There was nothing very hearty about that repast for healthy girls who had tramped for hours under a warm September sun. Still, there were no complaints, save as Tommy and Margery had voiced their disgust with their present life. Though none of these young women could guess it, they were destined, before morning, to encounter enough excitement to make them all wish they had never started on this long walk from Camp Wau-Wau, where they had spent the summer, to their homes in Meadow-Brook. Surely the Meadow-Brook Girls need no introduction to the readers of this series who will recall how, under the chaperonage of Miss Elting, the four girls had gone to the summer camp in the Pocono Woods, where, somehow, each day of their life had grown increasingly exciting. All of the things that happened to Harriet and her friends at that time are set forth in the first volume of this series, under the title of “The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas.” While in the summer camp the Meadow-Brook Girls had passed through many varied and exciting experiences. The mischievous initiation of Harriet Burrell and Grace Thompson by the older girls, the arrival in the camp of Jane McCarthy, known to her friends as “Crazy Jane” and the series of lively happenings that followed her coming; the nocturnal visit of a bear, and Harriet’s spirited chase of the animal were incidents that contributed to the interest of the narrative. Harriet’s brave rescue of her companions during a severe storm and her subsequent generous treatment of the two Camp Girls, Patricia Scott and Cora Kidder, who had plotted against her, won for her the warm admiration of her associates at Camp Wau-Wau. When it had come time to leave the camp in the great forest it had been agreed by the Meadow-Brook Girls and their guardian that, instead of returning by train they would walk all the way home, disdaining any “lifts” or other helps that prevented them from making their way strictly on foot. So endeared had “Crazy Jane” McCarthy become to them all during her stay in camp that she had been voted as one of their number. Crazy Jane, however, would hear of but little walking. She sent for her automobile, a present from her father, and insisted on using this in “scouting” and in carrying the tent and provisions for the Pathfinders, as the Meadow-Brook Girls now elected to call themselves. Each night Jane would meet the girls at a place agreed upon in advance. Then the tent would be pitched at some distance from the highway, and there the girls would spend the night. But now, on the third day, the Meadow-Brook Girls had failed to meet their supply car. What they were to do for the night, Miss Elting did not know. Her first move was to see to the preparation of the little food that they had with them. Jane McCarthy, with a full purse and a wealthy, indulgent father, had claimed the right of being purveyor of food on that long journey. The speed at which that young woman traveled permitted of her foraging far and wide. Whereever she went she was likely to be remembered, for it was her reckless driving that had given her the name of “Crazy Jane.” Yet this light-hearted, impulsive girl had wonderful control of her machine. With all her reckless driving she had never yet injured any one, though her friends often remonstrated with her for her haphazard style of running her car. Supper finished, Margery and Hazel were left to attend to the dishes, and to put them in the packs, which were ordinary hunters’ bags, made to strap over the shoulders. “After you have finished the work, girls,” directed Miss Elting, “be sure to extinguish the last spark of the fire. Harriet, will you come with me?” “Thay, where are you going?” cried Grace. “Pleathe don’t go away and leave uth here alone. It ith going to be dark, pretty thoon.” “Don’t you want a place to sleep?” smiled the guardian. “Yeth, but it’th getting dark,” Tommy insisted. “All the more reason for finding sleeping quarters,” smiled Miss Elting. “Are you thinking of trying the barns?” asked Harriet, as she and the guardian stepped away. “Yes. I don’t see anything else to do.” “We’re going to have a storm,” Harriet went on thoughtfully, “so of course we shall do well to secure more shelter than we could get by making a brush lean-to.” “I don’t believe we are in the least danger of being disturbed in the barn,” the guardian continued. “I don’t imagine there are any other human beings within several miles of this place. This is certainly a very lonesome bit of country. It is the first day since we have been out that we haven’t met some one. That may be because we have kept away from the roads to-day. We haven’t been on a highway more than an hour all day long.” 14 15 16 17 “This is what I like,” answered Harriet. “I just love to strike out across country and blaze new trails. It’s ever so much more interesting. But, Miss Elting, are you certain there is no one about?” The guardian halted sharply and faced her companion. She knew Harriet Burrell too well not to understand that the girl’s question was significant. “What is it?” she asked. “I saw some one not far from camp when we were eating our supper,” was Harriet’s quiet announcement. “You are sure of that?” “Yes; it was just beyond the woods there. At first I thought it a fence post; then all at once the post moved. I saw it was a person.” “What was the person doing, Harriet?” “The person appeared to be watching us. I also discovered something else. The person was a woman.” Miss Elting threw back her head and laughed merrily. “I don’t think we need to be very much alarmed at that. So long as it wasn’t a tramp you saw, we won’t disturb ourselves.” “She was a strange looking creature,” continued Harriet. “I couldn’t make her out very well. All at once she disappeared in the most mysterious fashion. You said something. I glanced up, then back to the place where the woman had been standing and she had gone. It happened in less than half a dozen seconds. She would have to be a pretty lively person to get out of sight in that time, wouldn’t she, Miss Elting?” The guardian nodded. They had now reached the big barn. Like its surroundings, it was deserted so far as they were able to observe. Miss Elting wished to examine the place while there was still light, so they hurried in, the doors being wide open. The scent of hay was strong on the air as they entered. There were little heaps of hay on the barn floor, and on either side in the mows the hay was piled up high. Ladders led up to the top of the mows from the barn floor. “This looks nice and comfy, doesn’t it?” smiled the guardian. “The best sort of bedroom,” agreed Harriet. “I hope there are no mice here?” “Mice? Gracious! I hope not, too. I think we can do no better than to climb the ladder to the top of one of the mows, roll up in our blankets and go to sleep. Which bedroom will you take, the north or the south?” “I think I should prefer the room on the south side. One is more likely to get the morning sun there,” answered Harriet gravely. Miss Elting laughed. “Thank you. I hadn’t thought of it in that light. The south side bedroom will be best for the Meadow-Brook Girls. I know Jane McCarthy would enjoy this sort of camping out. As it is, she will have to sleep at a farm house to-night. She will never be able to find us here. Suppose you climb the ladder and see how the land lies.” “You mean the hay,” chuckled Harriet, running up the ladder with agility. “Oh, it is fine up here, and just as warm as can be. Won’t it be splendid to sleep on the hay?” she called down, peering over the edge of the mow. After gazing over the mows for some moments Harriet finally descended to the floor. Next she and Miss Elting made a survey of the yard back of the barn. The yard was surrounded by empty sheds and great stacks of hay and straw. It was evident that the owners intended to winter considerable stock in this remote place. “Well, what do you think of it, Harriet?” inquired Miss Elting. “Glorious! It is as clean and sweet here as in our own bedrooms at home. I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll run back and get the girls,” said Harriet. Miss Elting nodded acquiescence and Harriet hurried across the field, the teacher remaining at the barn to investigate the place further while Harriet went for her companions. This she did, and decided that they were most fortunate in finding so comfortable a place in which to spend the night. Half an hour later she heard them coming. Tommy’s chatter sounded louder than the conversation of all the rest of the party. Twilight had settled over the interior of the barn by the time the girls came trooping in. “Br-r-r-r! This place looks spooky,” cried Margery. “We aren’t going to stay in here all night, are we, Miss Elting?” “Yes, Margery. You are not afraid of the dark, are you?” “No-o-o. But——” “There is nothing to alarm you. As we are all rather tired, I propose that we go upstairs and get to bed at once. I am sorry we shall not be able to get our baths this evening. This hotel isn’t provided with bath tubs. By the way. There are matches in our packs, so we will leave them below. One of the first things a Camp Girl learns, you know, is to be careful of fire both indoors and out. Strap your blanket rolls over your shoulders. You know it is quite a climb to your bedrooms.” “Up there is where we sleep,” Harriet informed them. The top of the mow was not discernible from the barn floor now. “What! Away up there?” demanded Margery. “How do we get up?” “We shall have to climb the ladder,” answered Miss Elting. Margery groaned. “I’m glad it’s dark. If it were daylight I know I should fall,” declared Hazel. “Let me go first. I don’t want to stand here and think about what is before me. If I stop to think I’ll never have the courage to climb.” 18 19 20 21 22 “Don’t look down,” cautioned the guardian. “There. That’s fine.” Hazel was going up rapidly. Margery, with many a groan, next essayed the climb. Harriet was directly behind her. Margery had not gone far before the wisdom of Harriet’s action became apparent. A wail from Margery brought a chorus of “ohs!” from her companions. “I can’t go another step,” gasped Margery. “I’m going to fall. Catch me somebody.” “Margery, keep on climbing. I’m right below you here. Go on,” urged Harriet. “Oh, I—I can’t. I’m dizzy.” “Buthter ith theathick,” observed Tommy from the barn floor. Harriet began lightly, tapping Buster with a switch that she had brought with her. “Oh! Ouch! Stop it! I tell you stop it!” howled Margery. “Climb!” Margery did climb. She went up the ladder faster than she ever had climbed before, wailing and threatening every foot of the way. Tommy was delightedly dancing about on the barn floor during all this time, uttering a perfect volley of unintelligible lisps and jeering cries. Margery reached the top of the ladder and flung herself panting on the hay. “Be careful not to come too near the edge,” warned Harriet, hurriedly clambering down. Buster made no reply. She was too much out of breath to say a word. “Now, let’s see what you can do, Tommy. See if you can do any better,” chuckled Harriet. “You jutht thee me climb. I’ll thhow you. I gueth I know how to climb. Buthter ith too fat to climb a ladder. Don’t you hit me. I’ll kick you if you do,” was her parting admonition as she began running up the ladder. Rather to the amazement of her companions, Grace made the climb to the haymow without the least difficulty. Only once did her foot slip from a rung of the ladder. Grace recovered it with no more than a smothered little exclamation. “You next, Miss Elting,” nodded Harriet. “I will wait until you get up. I wish to look after the packs first. What would we do were we to lose them? We shouldn’t have a thing to eat for breakfast, and goodness knows when we will reach a store to purchase food.” It was not long afterwards that the party of young women were fussing about in the hay, making their beds for the night. This consisted in leveling off the hay and spreading their blankets. Some little time was occupied in working out the uneven spots, but after a time they lay down with piled-up hay for pillows, and rolled themselves in their blankets. The girls went to sleep almost at once. Miss Elting, however, remained awake until her charges had finally settled down, as she supposed, for the night. She was just about to doze off when she was awakened by a scream and a commotion at one end of the mow. The guardian sprang up in alarm. “For mercy’s sake! What is it?” she cried. “Oh, thave me!” wailed Tommy. Miss Elting and Harriet groped their way to Grace. “I got a bug in my ear. Yeth I did. It bit me. I won’t thtay here another minute. I’ll——” “I’ll go out doors and sleep,” declared Margery in disgust. “The idea of being kept awake all night by that crazy girl.” “Margery!” rebuked the guardian. “Now, Tommy, you must lie down and go to sleep. This will not do at all.” “I will drag my blanket over and keep her company, Miss Elting,” offered Harriet. “Perhaps she did get bitten. I felt some sort of insect crawling over my face a moment ago. There now, Tommy, you just snuggle down and forget all about it.” “I don’t like bugth,” complained Tommy, somewhat mollified. A few moments later she was sound asleep. Harriet, after making sure that Grace was slumbering, once more permitted herself to doze off. She had been asleep but a few moments when a wild scream of terror awakened them all. Harriet felt the blanket jerked violently from her and heard a floundering and threshing on all sides that filled her with alarm. Stretching out her hand she found that Tommy was no longer beside her. Tommy’s voice rose in a loud wail of terror. “Oh, Tommy!” cried Harriet. “Girls, girls! What is the matter?” exclaimed Miss Elting. “A mouthe, a mouthe!” shrieked Tommy. “This isn’t a hay barn, it’s a lunatic asylum,” scoffed Margery. “Oh, mercy! Help, help!” she shrieked. The mouse had found Margery too. In the darkness of the haymow the Meadow-Brook Girls were now floundering about in great alarm. Out of the disorder Miss Elting quickly brought order. She spoke sharply to Tommy, insisted that Margery should return to her blanket and commanded the girls to make no further disturbance. “The idea that Meadow-Brook Girls should be so timid,” she rebuked. “Harriet, I am glad to know that you are not.” “I—I think I should have screamed too if a mouse had—how do you know it was a mouse, Tommy?” “It ran right over my fathe. I gueth I know what it wath. I gueth I will thleep thanding up. May I, Miss Elting?” “If you prefer to do so. I am going back to bed. I must insist on the others doing the same, or at least keeping quiet. We shall be in no shape to go on with our journey in the morning at this rate.” Tommy decided that she, too, would lie down and soon their regular breathing told the guardian that most, if not all, of the Meadow-Brook Girls were sound asleep. Harriet, however, now that she had been awakened, found it difficult to go to sleep again. She lay staring up into the darkness for some time. 23 24 25 26 A sound down on the barn floor put her instantly on the alert. At first she thought some farm animal had wandered into the barn; then the distinct sound of human footsteps, reached her ears. Harriet Burrell listened intently, as yet unafraid. She crawled cautiously to the edge of the mow and peered over. A human form was faintly outlined down there. The figure was groping along the edge of the mow and muttering. The listener was unable to make out the words. At last the intruder uttered a sharp little exclamation of satisfaction, then began to climb the ladder on the opposite side of the barn floor. “It’s a woman!” gasped Harriet. “Who can it be, and what does she want here?” With straining ears and closed eyes the Meadow-Brook girl listened. She heard the woman reach the top of the ladder and step off into the hay. A few moments later Harriet heard her mumbling at the far side of the mow, over near the opposite end of the hay barn. “How strange!” muttered the girl. A low, distant rumble of thunder attracted her attention in another direction. A moment later a faint flash of lightning dispelled the gloom a little. “The storm is coming. I hope the girls won’t wake up.” The darkness now seemed to be more intense than before. Harriet was unable to distinguish one object from another. She crawled back toward her bed and was about to wrap herself in her blanket again when a second time she heard footsteps on the barn floor. This time she scrambled back to the edge more hastily than before. At first she thought the woman had climbed down and was going away from the mow. The girl leaned far over. She could see no one this time, but she plainly heard some one climbing up the opposite ladder again. Harriet wondered if it were tramps; then she recalled that the first visitor, being a woman, would be unlikely to be a tramp. “It must be some one seeking shelter from the coming storm,” Harriet finally decided, now wondering if it would not be advisable to wake up Miss Elting. Upon second thought the girl decided not to do so. Instead, she leaned farther out over the edge of the mow and peered down anxiously. A flash of lightning, more brilliant than the first, lighted up the barn from end to end. By the light of the flash Harriet Burrell saw that which set her nerves to tingling and caused her to utter a suppressed gasp. Below her on the barn floor stood a man. He was swarthy; his coal black hair hung down in long, glistening locks. His eyes, large and very black were gazing right up into the girl’s face. She shrank back trembling. “Oh!” gasped the Meadow-Brook girl. “Oh! He saw me. Oh, what shall I do!” The man began climbing the ladder on her side of the barn. Harriet could hear him plainly. She began crawling back into the mow on her hands and knees. Her first inclination, on reaching her blanket, was to burrow under the hay so as to be out of sight. But it occurred to her that her companions would still be in plain sight were another flash of lightning to illumine the mow. Harriet promptly decided to lie still and await developments. She knew that Miss Elting carried a revolver, and that the guardian was proficient in its use. This thought gave Harriet comfort. Besides, what was there to fear? To add to the excitement a second man entered the barn at this juncture. But instead of climbing up after the other man he took the opposite ladder up which the woman had gone a few moments before. The man on the girls’ side was rapidly nearing the top. Harriet lay trembling, hoping there would be no more lightning. Suddenly a brilliant flash lighted up the barn from end to end. It revealed the man clinging to the ladder, his head on a level with the top of the mow, glancing over it keenly, searchingly. Harriet’s left hand stole toward Miss Elting who lay within easy reach. It was Harriet’s intention to awaken her as quietly as possible as soon as the light died away. But ere her hand descended on Miss Elting’s arm, something occurred that made this move on Harriet Burrell’s part, unnecessary. CHAPTER II—THE RED EYE IN THE DARK There was an ominous snapping sound; then the rung of the ladder gave way and the man fell backward to the floor. “Oh! He has fallen!” gasped Harriet, in dismay, as she scrambled hastily toward the edge of the mow. “He must be seriously injured.” “What ith that noithe?” demanded Grace. “Sh-h-h!” warned Harriet softly. Nothing more was heard from Grace for the time being. She had dropped to sleep again. Fortunately none of the others had been awakened by the racket, but Harriet’s heart was beating rapidly. She leaned over the edge of the mow. What the next flash of lightning revealed relieved her anxiety somewhat. She saw the man get up and rub his back. She saw, too, that he had fallen on a heap of hay, the latter undoubtedly having saved him from severe injury. A moment later he limped across the floor and began climbing up the ladder on the other side of the barn. “Thank goodness!” muttered Harriet. “I hope no more of them come in here to-night. I shall scream if they do. I know I shall.” The man threw himself, grumbling, on the hay; silence once more settled over the barn so far as the occupants were concerned. The thunder was now growing louder, the lightning flashes became more frequent. Harriet, however, felt no particular alarm. She was unafraid of thunder storms, and gave no thought to the fact that barns are more frequently 27 28 29 30 31 struck by lightning than are dwelling houses. By this time her companions had begun to stir restlessly. Miss Elting sat up. “Harriet, is that you?” she asked in a low tone. “Yes.” “What are you doing?” “Just looking about a little,” replied Harriet in a whisper, not deeming it advisable to alarm the guardian by telling her what she had just discovered. “How long has it been storming?” asked the guardian. “Only a little while. I do not believe it is going to amount to anything. I hope this old barn doesn’t leak.” “No, I do not believe it will. There is too much valuable hay here. The owner undoubtedly has seen to it that the roof is sound. Are you going to try to sleep?” “Yes.” Harriet lay down, but she did not sleep. The memory of the old woman and the two men over in the other mow, banished all thought of sleep from her mind. She did not know whether the woman knew the men were there or not. Perhaps they might belong to the same party. However, there had been no conversation between them and while the two men were near the outer edge of the mow, the woman was at the far end of the barn as nearly as Harriet was able to determine. Soon after that, rain drops began to patter on the barn roof. Then it began to rain heavily. Harriet nestled deeper into the blanket and lay listening. There was no sound from their neighbors on the other side. At last the listening girl closed her eyes. No sooner had she done so than she opened them again. A flash of lightning, more brilliant than any she had yet seen, was playing along the rafters of the barn. The thunder followed the flash just as Harriet threw an arm over her eyes to shut out the light. It was not a particularly heavy clap of thunder, just a quick, sharp report. Above the report a shrill scream of terror rang out. Then all was silent. Instantly every one of the Meadow-Brook Girls sat up wide awake. “What—what is it?” cried Margery. “Girls! Girls! are you all right?” called the guardian. “Oh, what ith it? Did the barn fall down?” wailed Tommy in great alarm. “What has happened?” questioned Hazel Holland excitedly. Harriet did not speak. She was listening to what the others of her party had not noticed, a sudden sound of voices in the other mow, and the hasty clambering down the ladder of the two men she had seen go to the opposite mow. At least she believed it to be the two men. Evidently they had become alarmed, either by the lightning, the scream of the woman, or by the cries of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They ran out of the barn, making no attempt to go quietly. Once on the outside she heard one of them shout. “I heard thome one!” exclaimed Tommy. “So did I,” agreed Hazel. “I thought I, too, heard some one cry out,” said Miss Elting. “Perhaps it was a night bird fleeing from the storm.” “It was no night bird, Miss Elting,” said Harriet in a low tone. “Did you hear that scream? Some one is in trouble. There is a woman on the other side of the mow. What shall we do?” “A woman?” “Yes, yes. She climbed up to the mow a long time ago. Oh, look, look!” A tiny red eye had suddenly appeared at the far end of the hay barn. It appeared to have risen out of the hay at the extreme end of the opposite mow. The girls gazed at it in silence. They did not understand the meaning of the strange dull red spot. Even Harriet was for the moment, puzzled. Then all at once she understood. “Quick! Get down to the floor! Don’t waste a minute! Miss Elting please look after the girls. There’s a rung on the ladder broken. Watch that no one falls. I’m going.” “Harriet! Harriet! What do you mean?” “The woman! I must get her. I may want you to help me. If I call you, come at once. Oh, I must hurry, Miss Elting.” “Thee! That red eye ith getting bigger,” cried Tommy. “It is fire, Miss Elting,” whispered Harriet. “The barn is on fire. The last bolt of lightning must have set fire to the hay. Don’t tell the girls now, but get them down to the barn floor as quickly as possible. There is going to be an awful fire.” Harriet bounded toward the ladder. “Harriet! Don’t go. I will go,” shouted the guardian. “I know where she is,” cried Harriet, swinging herself to the ladder using care not to lose her footing on the broken rung. “The broken rung is the fifth one down,” she called. Grasping the sides of the ladder she permitted herself to slide all the way to the bottom, wholly unconscious of the fact that the skin was being scraped from the palms of her hands. Reaching the barn floor the girl dashed across it to the opposite side. A few precious seconds were lost in groping for the ladder there. She found it, ran up with the speed of a squirrel, then went stumbling and falling across the mow 32 33 34 35 toward the red eye that was now growing into a great red glare. “Where are you?” she cried, raising her voice to a high pitch. There was no response from her side. From the other mow came the answer from Margery, who did not understand: “We’re here.” The red eye was now lighting up the far end of the mow so that Harriet was able to see much more clearly. Little piles of hay formed deceiving shadows. She ran first to one, then to another, in this way losing precious seconds. All at once the girl caught sight of a dark object lying on the hay. She ran toward it. It was the huddled form of an old woman, her eyes wide and staring. Harriet feared she was dead. The fire had already crept perilously near to the woman. The flames at one point had communicated with the roof and were eating their way through it. The girls on the other mow now realized that the barn was on fire. A chorus of wails reached Harriet. But she knew her companions were in good hands, that Miss Elting would get them out safely. Harriet grasped the old woman under the arms and began dragging her toward the edge of the mow. “I’ve got her!” she screamed. “Come and help me as soon as you can, Miss Elting. Get the girls down and make them go outside. You will have to hurry. The roof may fall in. Make a rope of the blankets. We shall have to lower her to the ground. She is helpless.” “I’ll be with you in a moment,” called the calm, confident voice of the guardian. Miss Elting was always to be depended upon in an emergency. She had gotten the other girls safely down before Harriet had called out to her, thinking that Harriet might need her undivided assistance in rescuing the woman from her perilous position. “Outdoors, girls, every one of you,” she commanded. “Don’t you dare come near the barn! Harriet is rescuing some one from the other mow. I am going to help her. Leave the blankets, but take the packs with you.” She gave the protesting Tommy a push toward the door. Hazel grasped Grace by the arm and hurried her out of the barn. Margery needed no assistance. She was in as great a hurry to leave the barn as Miss Elting was to have her do so. The guardian climbed the ladder as rapidly as possible, after having knotted the five blankets into a kind of rope. She tested each knot with her full strength; then being satisfied that the rope would stand a heavy strain, she began climbing the ladder holding one end of the blanket rope. At the top of the ladder the heat was suffocating, the smoke blinding. Harriet was coughing and choking. She was on the verge of collapse, having inhaled a great deal of smoke. “Will—will it reach?” Miss Elting gasped. “I think so.” “Ti—ie it under her arms. Go below to catch her if she falls. I’ll let her down,” promised Harriet. “Get down yourself as fast as you can,” commanded the guardian. Harriet did not move. She buried her head in her skirt and crouched down close to the edge of the mow in an effort to get some fresh air, but without very great success. “Now go, please,” urged Harriet. “You are strong enough to catch her if the rope breaks. I’m not. I know how to handle it at this end. Hurry, Miss Elting. We haven’t a second to lose.” Miss Elting hesitated, glanced quickly at her companion, then started down the ladder. Harriet took a quick turn of the rope about a beam. Without the least hesitation, she slid the unconscious woman over the edge of the mow feet first. The girl prayed fervently that the rope might hold. It did. Little by little, though as rapidly as she dared, the girl lowered her burden. Sparks were flying all about her. She stood enveloped in a cloud of smoke, but not for an instant did the girl give thought to her own perilous position. “I’ve got her,” screamed Miss Elting. “Come down. Be quick, oh do be quick.” Harriet’s fingers released the rope. She staggered toward the ladder groping blindly for it. Reaching it she sank down choking. “Can you make it?” called the guardian. “Yes,” was the faint reply. “Get—get her out.” Miss Elting seeing that Harriet was coming down the ladder, hastily dragged the unconscious woman out into the open air. The way seemed endless to the descending girl. About half way down her fingers relaxed. Harriet fell, landing heavily in a heap on the barn floor. She lay where she had fallen, with the flames crackling overhead as they leaped across the intervening space and began devouring the mow on the opposite side. CHAPTER III—A BLESSING AND A THREAT From end to end of the great hay barn the roof was now wrapped in flames. Now the stacks at the rear began blazing. The entire building was doomed to destruction. In the meantime, Miss Elting, having dragged the woman to a point of safety, was working to revive her. So engrossed was she that, for the moment, all thought of Harriet Burrell escaped her until she was reminded of Harriet by Tommy. “Where ith Harriet?” piped Tommy. “Harriet? Oh!” gasped the guardian. 36 37 38 39 Tommy understood without further explanation and darted toward the barn, with Miss Elting running after her to bring her back. But there was no stopping Tommy when once she had started to carry out a resolve. She ran to the barn on winged feet and plunged into the dense cloud of smoke that issued from the burning barn. The little girl had no idea what she would do when she got there, and perhaps she might have been injured before Miss Elting reached her, had Tommy not fallen accidently over Harriet. The latter was unconscious from the smoke she had inhaled. Tommy grabbed her by the arms and began dragging her out. The little girl had gotten to the door with her burden as Miss Elting reached the scene. “Brave Tommy!” cried the guardian. “You shall have a whole string of Camp Girls’ beads for this. Let Harriet lie where she is for the present. Place her on her back so the rain may beat in her face. She will be all right in a few moments.” Miss Elting did not know that Harriet had fallen, and that it was not only the smoke but the shock of the fall as well that had overcome her. “But, thuppothe the barn fallth down!” exclaimed Tommy. “Yes, you are right. We must get her farther away.” Together they carried Harriet out to the place where the old woman lay. When they reached there the old woman was sitting up looking about her in a dazed manner. Shouts and cries off toward the highway told the little company that men were hastening to the scene of the fire. Harriet became conscious in a short time, but she had frequent coughing spells for some minutes. “That ith right. Cough up all the thmoke,” suggested Tommy wisely. “You’ll feel better after you get the thmoke out of your thythtem. I know, for I thwallowed a lot of thmoke once.” The men ran past the party of women, shouting and gesticulating. There were a dozen of them. Others could be heard approaching the scene of the fire. Harriet, as soon as she was able to talk, and the coughing spells became less frequent, went over to the woman she had rescued. The swarthy complexion, straight black hair, and piercing black eyes of the woman were the same characteristics that Harriet had observed in the man who had fallen from the ladder. “Do you feel better?” questioned Harriet, smiling a little. The old woman nodded, her eyes never leaving the face of her questioner for an instant. “You have this young woman to thank for being alive,” Miss Elting informed the old woman, stepping up to her and nodding toward Harriet. “You saved me, eh?” questioned the stranger, looking searchingly at the girl. Harriet did not reply, but Miss Elting answered for her. “You saved Sybarina from fire from the skies?” insisted the woman. “She means the lightning,” suggested Hazel. “Yes, she did,” repeated Miss Elting. “She climbed the ladder to the hay loft and let you down with blankets tied together. Our blankets are there yet.” “Oh, I forgot them,” cried Harriet. “How thoughtless of me! Now we shall have nothing to sleep in.” “Never mind the blankets. We have others in the car.” “You saved Sybarina?” repeated the old woman, staggering to her feet. She had been temporarily paralyzed from the electric bolt, and was as yet barely able to stand on her feet. “Please don’t mention it,” urged Harriet, flushing. The old woman seized Harriet’s hand and gazed deeply into it by the light of the burning barn. As she gazed she swayed her body from side to side with quick, nervous movements. “Ah! Sybarina sees that which pleases her,” crooned the old woman. “She sees a noble girl whom the fires from the skies cannot frighten. And she sees more. She sees wealth and happiness and a great future for her who fears not the fire from above. Sybarina gives you her blessing.” A heavy hand was laid on the old woman’s shoulder. “Here, you Gipsy woman. Were you sleeping in that barn?” demanded a gruff voice. “I met two Gipsy men running across the fields to the west as I came down,” answered another male voice. “The Gipsies are camped about a mile and a half from here. I think we ought to arrest the old woman, don’t you, Squire?” “Sybarina was asleep in the barn,” admitted the Gipsy woman. “And you set the barn on fire, too,” declared the squire. “I’ll have to arrest you.” “She didn’t set the barn on fire, sir,” defended Harriet Burrell. “The fires from the skies made the barn burn,” announced the Gipsy woman. “Who are you?” demanded the man, turning sharply to Harriet. “I suppose you will tell me you weren’t sleeping in my barn?” “On the contrary, we were,” interjected Miss Elting. “Then I arrest the whole parcel of you.” “Thave me!” wailed Tommy Thompson. “We didn’t thet your old barn on fire. We were jutht thleeping there, that wath all.” “You will all stay here till I get through with this fire; then I’ll hold court on you and if you don’t answer to suit me I’ll have you all over to the county seat to-morrow.” 40 41 42 43 44 “No one set your barn on fire, sir,” declared Harriet, with emphasis. “The barn was struck by lightning.” “Did you see it?” “I can’t say that I saw the lightning strike, but I saw the flash, then saw the fire start up directly afterwards. I heard this woman scream and we hurried to her rescue. She was unconscious. The bolt had nearly killed her. That proves that it was lightning, not matches, that set your barn on fire.” “What were you doing in my barn?” “Thleeping with the mithe and the bugth,” volunteered Tommy. “Who be you? You ain’t Gipsies?” “No. We are from Meadow-Brook, and we are walking home from the Pocono Woods, where we have been spending the summer in camp,” Miss Elting informed the man. “So, that’s it, hey?” “Yes, sir. A young woman friend of ours usually meets us at night. She has our equipment in her automobile, but we took the wrong trail to-day, and have lost her. She is over in the other valley waiting for us, I think.” “Is she a crazy woman with light hair that streams over her shoulders, and does she drive her car as though she was running a race?” “From your description I think you must have met Miss McCarthy,” answered the guardian, smiling a little. “Have you seen her to-day?” “I should say I had. She nigh killed a calf of mine this afternoon. I’d just like to get my grip on her once. I’d make her answer to the law.” “Was your calf in the road, sir?” questioned Harriet. “Yes. What of it?” “I don’t believe the law would do anything to Miss McCarthy in that case. Of course I am sorry for the calf,” said Harriet. “Oh, the calf ain’t hurt. Jest lost a little hair off her tail, shaved off as close as ye could do it with a razor. But that don’t matter. It’s the barn and nigh onto a hundred tons of hay gone up in smoke that bothers me. I wisht I was sure you was telling the truth. If I thought you weren’t I’d have you all in the lock-up afore morning.” “Are—are there any mithe in the lock-up?” questioned Tommy apprehensively. “Eh? Stacks all gone, too?” This in answer to a word from a farmer who came from the rear of the burning barn. “Well, let ’em go. There’ll be another crop of hay next year. Mebby the price’ll be better then.” The loss of his barn did not appear to trouble the “Squire” greatly. All the time he was talking he was regarding the women out of the corners of his eyes. He saw that they were drenched through and through. Tommy and Margery were shivering. He decided that they were persons of some consequence, even if they had been sleeping in his barn. His reflections were interrupted by Miss Elting. “Can you tell me which way the young woman and the car went?” “Can I? I guess I can. She went east. The calf could tell ye, too, if she could talk, but she wouldn’t say it quite so easy like as I’m tellin’ you now.” “Jane was looking for us,” nodded Miss Elting. “She must have reasoned that we had gotten into this valley by mistake.” “Where you going to stay the rest of the night?” questioned the squire gruffly. “I am afraid we shall have to stay out in the rain if we don’t succeed in finding another barn,” laughed the guardian. “My girls are pretty well used to roughing it, though they never before passed quite such a night as this has been. Do you know of a farm house nearby where we may get lodgings? We are perfectly willing to sleep on the floor in the kitchen, provided we can have the room to dry out our clothes, and we shall be glad and willing to pay for the trouble.” “You may come home with me,” answered the man, after a brief hesitation. “What is your name, sir?” questioned Miss Elting. “Squire Olney, Miss. You see I ain’t a squire by appointment. The neighbors jest call me that because I settle their difficulties. I’ve got more land in this township than all the rest of them put together. That’s why I ain’t takin’ the burnin’ of the barn to heart so much as you think I ought to,” he added, with a broad smile. “Have you a family at home?” questioned Miss Elting. “My wife and I are alone. Children all married.” “How far is it from here to your home, sir?” “About a mile right over the hill. What do you say?” “We will go with you. We thank you for your kindness. I am very sorry, indeed, that you have lost your barn and your hay,” said the guardian in a sympathetic tone. The squire leaned toward her. “I ain’t lost anything,” he said, with a wink. “Insured. Insured plumb up to the muzzle, and then some more. Boys, I’m going home to show the ladies the way. You can have all the hay that’s left. I want the ashes for fertilizer. Ashes is good for the cut worms in the cabbage patch. Come on, ladies.” 45 46 47 48 Squire Olney nodded to them and started away. He halted sharply. “Where’s that old Gipsy woman? She ain’t included in the invitation.” “Why, she has gone,” exclaimed Hazel. “I didn’t see her go. Did you, Harriet?” Harriet Burrell shook her head. She was puzzled at the mysterious disappearance of Sybarina, who had given her rescuer her blessing, then so strangely slipped away. The walk over the hill did not add to the comfort of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They splashed through deep puddles of water in the little hollows, slipped and stumbled over bare clay spots, fell over stones and roots until they were not only soaked to the skin, but badly bruised as well. Margery wailed and groaned all the way. Tommy made fun of her...