Part 23 (2/2)
”My dear, you did splendidly. Of all this camp of girls you were the only one who found the trail and read it aright. That is trailing for you, Mr. McCarthy. But what could the men have been doing here? I do not like the looks of it at all.”
”They have gone, so we needn't worry,” replied Harriet. ”I forgot to say that there was a boat in here--I think it was the same one--the other night just before the storm. It is my idea that they came in on that occasion to put something ash.o.r.e, but were obliged to get out to sea before the storm broke. They came back on the following night to finish what they had failed to do the first time.”
Mr. McCarthy nodded. So did Mrs. Livingston.
”Remarkable girls, these Meadow-Brook Girls, Mr. McCarthy. However, there is nothing to be done. We shall not be bothered any more, in all probability. Besides, they were not here on our account, so we have no cause to worry.”
”And I've got to walk back to Portsmouth,” groaned Mr. McCarthy. ”I told you, Mrs. Livingston.”
”Perhaps we may catch some farmer who is going in that direction, and who will be willing to give you a lift,” she suggested.
”No; you will have to let me sleep under a tree and hang about to-night. The men are coming down in the morning to get the car out of the pond. They might as well have two jobs as one. How did it happen, Jane?”
For the first time the party of Camp Girls who had gathered about the little group gave their attention to the Meadow-Brook Girls. The latter were now discovered to be much the worse for wear. Their hair was down over their shoulders and their clothes were soiled and torn.
”Got it hard, didn't you?” chuckled Mr. McCarthy.
”Oh, not so much,” replied Jane, repressing a smile.
”You are a thight. You look ath though you had been digging for buried treathure,” declared Tommy.
”How'd it happen?” rumbled Mr. McCarthy.
”It was like this, Daddy, dear. We were running along nicely and easily--just at a comfortable jog, when--”
”How fast?”
”How much time were we making, Harriet?”
”Nearly sixty miles an hour.”
”Yes, I knew it wasn't very fast. Just jogging, Daddy.”
The visitor grunted.
”Something went wrong with the steering gear. I don't know what it was, but the wheel had no effect on the car. You should have seen us.
It was funny, wasn't it, girls, the way that car darted from one side of the road to the other, and we hanging on for dear life? You see, that was all we could do--hang on. Well, the car jumped the ditch, went up the bank on that side of the road, smashed into the iron post of a wire fence, then stood up on end and turned over backward. Did you ever see such a contrary automobile? Where did you buy it, Dad?”
”Didn't buy it. Borrowed it of a man I know up at Portsmouth. It'll cost me only a few thousand to make it right with him, but then Dad's rich; don't you care.”
”I never do,” chuckled Jane. ”Do you?”
”No, I don't, so long as no one gets hurt. How'd you get out? What did you do when the car was stopped by the fence?”
”We just went on over, Dad. You know nothing can stop a Meadow-Brook Girl when she is once well started on a course. We landed on plowed ground on the other side of the fence.”
”Mercy!” exclaimed the Chief Guardian.
”Can anything hurt you, girls?”
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