THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TAVIA
After a morning spent in anticipation of the good time Jack had
promised (and Jack and his friends did know how to give the girls a
good time) something happened just as they were about to start off to
the woods.
Tavia was missing!
At first the matter was taken as a joke, as it would be quite like
Tavia to run off and hide in the hay loft, or in any other outlandish
place; but when, after all kinds of calls, and a thorough search of
the premises, she failed to be located, there was reasonable alarm
among the campers. The Hays girls from Camp Happy-go-Lucky, had joined
the party that intended going into the deep woods, so they, too, aided
in the search for Tavia.
"I give up," said Jack finally, mopping his forehead, for in spite of
the beautiful bracing air of the mountains, the act of running over
the hill and into the valleys made him perspire.
"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Dorothy, thoroughly alarmed. "I have a
feeling that something has happened to her."
"Don't you worry," Jack suggested. "You will be sure to find out that
Tavia has happened to something. She has a faculty for that sort of
thing. Let us go off on a day's fun. No use spoiling it all on account
of a whim--I am sure it is nothing more."
"She did complain of a headache," Cologne remembered, "and I gave her
a little soda. She may have thought it best to hide with the headache
rather than to worry us about it."
"We haven't tried the brook," suggested pretty Hazel Hays. "I am
always afraid of brooks."
"But Tavia swims like a fish," declared Dorothy. "I would never think
of harm coming to her in the water."
"Let's try, at any rate," agreed Jack, who never opposed Hazel.
"Although, unless that big frog gobbled her up, I cannot imagine any
possible danger."
At this the party set off over the hill to the frog pond. Hazel
trudged along with Jack, Brendon Hays divided his attention between
Dorothy and Cologne, while a very little young man, Claud Miller, by
name, and the midget by reputation, took care of Nathalie Weston, a
visitor at Camp Lucky.
Every one could joke but Dorothy. To her the situation was beyond
that.
"I'll wager we find her up a tree eating apples," lisped Claud. "I
never saw a girl so fond of sweet apples as Miss Tavia. She told me so
herself."
"Told you, you never saw a girl--now Claud! Don't get excited that
way. It's dreadfully hard on your nerves and on your friends."
"But I say, now, Jack----"
"Claud, dear, don't. Save it until we find Tavia, and then say to your
heart's content."
Dorothy had run on ahead and was now looking over the little rustic
bridge into the frog pond. The water was not deep, but there were
plainly footprints along its muddy edge.
"There has been some one here to-day," declared Cologne, "and no one
ever comes on our grounds--away up here at any rate."
"They are the footprints of a man," Jack decided. "Did Tavia, by any
means, know a man who wore boots size ten?"
"The only folks she knew in these parts are the Lamberts," answered
Cologne. "And she did say, even as late as yesterday, that she would
run over to see a rehearsal there--when I wasn't looking."
"Jolly!" exclaimed Claud. "I have been wishing so much for a chance to
know that younger Lamb. She's the very sweetest----"
"Spring lamb?" asked Cologne, teasingly. "Claud, you should never take
spring lamb upon the recommendation of a strange butcher. It might
turn out to be mutton."
This sally caused Claud to laugh so vigorously, that he held his hand
over his watch pocket apprehensively.
Dorothy was looking under the black bridge. The footprints seemed to
turn in beneath the culvert, and then they were lost in the deep, dark
mud.
Not one, except perhaps Cologne, knew the thoughts that stirred
Dorothy so riotously. What if Tavia had gone over to Lamberts, and so
would incur the displeasure of their hostess? Or, if she had met that
queer man? But she could not have done that! Reckless as she was, she
could not be unaware of the danger of doing such a fool-hardy thing as
that!
"I'm going down under that oak tree," declared Hazel, with an arch
glance at Jack. "There's trout in that stream, and it's too late to
go over to Moose Hill, or Deer Hollow which ever it is."
"Neither," replied Jack. "It's Moose on the level. Yes, we may as well
explore Trout Trammel--though I doubt if they'll come up even at the
sight of those fly colors you wear, Hazel."
"Don't you like this suit? Why it's the very thing--all the way from
New York. And just see the navy emblem."
The invitation brought Jack up very close to the sleeve of Hazel's
sailor suit. Yes, he liked that emblem, first rate, and he said so,
once or twice.
"I vote for a trip to the Lambs," voiced the dainty Claud. "If no one
else wants to go I don't mind, in the least, running over and making
inquiries."
"Oh, don't run, Claud;" cautioned Jack. "It's dreadful on your watch
pocket. Just walk over and give my love to the girl who wears the
rainbow around her head. Tell her that I saw her and she will guess
the rest."
"Well, if she happens to be out on the lawn, might I ask her to join
in this girl-hunt?"
"Oh, you're hunting a lot!" exclaimed Cologne in something like
impatience. "Now, Claud, this it no joke! We are out to find our
lively-loving, luckless little friend, Tavia."
"I'm afraid it's useless," sighed Dorothy. "We may just as well
wait--perhaps she will return at lunch time."
But lunch time came, and lunch time went by, without any trace or
track of Tavia being discovered.
Finally Dorothy broke down, and went to her own room. Cologne followed
her, and there, in the secret nook in the big camp farm, the two girls
discussed every possible clause of the case, and tried with heroic
effort to shed some light on the mystery.
"Was it the Lamberts? Or could it be----"
"Oh, she would never go off with a stranger," declared Dorothy over
and over again. "Surely our Tavia has more common sense than that."
"But it is so lonely up here--no," Cologne corrected herself, "you are
right, of course, Dorothy. She will be back--just as soon as she feels
like coming. That's Tavia!"
But they little knew the danger to which the younger girl had
unwittingly exposed herself.
No wonder Tavia could not be found within or without the precincts of
the camp.