TOMMY HAS A NIGHTMARE
Harriet rousing herself from a sound sleep, did not know where she was for
the moment. Tommy's cries of alarm however, soon brought Harriet to a
realization of her surroundings. The girl bounded from her bed.
"Tommy, oh, Tommy! What is it?"
Tommy fairly flew to what she supposed was the cot of her companion and
threw herself full force upon it. She fell upon a soft body.
"Get off! Get into your own bed. What do you mean by jumping on me?"
demanded an angry voice that Grace even in her great fright, knew at once
did not belong to her companion. "Get out of here!" The words were
accompanied by a violent push. Tommy Thompson was thrown from the cot to
the floor, on which she landed heavily.
"Thave me!" she screamed. "Oh, thave me!"
"You get in here again and I will call the guardian," declared the girl
into whose cot Tommy had thrown herself.
"I heard thomething growl," shivered Tommy.
"It is the supper you ate," suggested Harriet "I don't wonder you heard
growls. You ate more than any of the rest of us."
"She's haunted," suggested the girl on the cot. Then suddenly she
whispered: "Sh-h-h-h!"
A guardian came hurrying into the tent, holding a lantern above her head.
Neither Harriet nor Tommy had seen her before. Tommy sat in the middle of
the floor the picture of woe. Harriet stood near by with a look of deep
concern in her eyes.
"Young ladies, I am amazed," exclaimed the guardian. "Miss Kidder, what is
the meaning of this?"
"I don't know. Patricia had some difficulty with one of these girls," was
the reply.
"She jumped on me," answered Patricia. "I don't know what for, but she
knocked the breath right out of me."
"You are the new girls, are you not?" asked the guardian, turning abruptly
to Harriet and Grace.
"Yes, we are the Meadow-Brook Girls," answered Harriet.
"What appears to be the trouble?"
"Something startled my friend. What was it, Grace, dear?"
"Thome--thomething growled perfectly awful. It wath right by the head of
my bed. It thounded like a wild animal," explained Grace wide-eyed. "Yeth,
and I could hear it'th teeth thnap. It wath going to bite me."
"Nonsense, child. You were dreaming. Did you have a late supper?"
"We ate supper, after midnight," explained Harriet.
"That accounts for it. Get back into bed, at once, girls. I am Miss
Partridge, your guardian."
"I am Harriet Burrell. This is Grace Thompson," introduced Harriet, as she
slipped back into her cot.
"Now that I understand I shall not be alarmed again," said the guardian.
"I trust you will be quiet, Miss Thompson. Remember you are disturbing
others when you permit yourself to raise your voice."
"Yeth'm," answered Tommy. The guardian tucked her into bed, then left the
tent.
"Don't you dare to jump on me again," warned Cora in a low voice.
"She didn't mean to," answered Harriet. "I am sure Grace is sorry that she
disturbed you."
"Yeth. Beg your pardon," said Grace. "But what wath it that growled at
me?"
"I tell you, you're haunted," answered Cora. Tommy snuggled down
trembling. She had begun to believe that she was haunted. After this
interruption the girls slept soundly until late in the night, when all
those in that part of the camp were again aroused by a series of piercing
screams and cries for help. The cries sounded from the tent occupied by
Harriet and Tommy. Not only Miss Partridge, but the Chief Guardian came
running to the scene.
The interior of the tent was in an uproar, but as the guardians neared the
scene they were alarmed to discover that the cries came from without
rather than from within the tent.
Then a further startling discovery was made. A little white clad figure
crouched on the ground a few feet outside the entrance to the tent She was
screaming with terror. Beside her was Harriet Burrell, shaking the
screaming Tommy.
"Stop it! Stop it!" commanded Harriet.
"Yes, please do. You will have the camp in an uproar," commanded Mrs.
Livingston. "Come inside at once. Miss Burrell, will you kindly assist
your friend in? Miss Partridge tells me this young woman raised a
disturbance once before this evening. I fear the late supper was too much
for her. Now, my dear," added the Chief Guardian kindly. "Tell me all
about it."
Tommy sat terror-stricken on the edge of her cot. Patricia Scott and Cora
Kidder likewise were sitting on the edges of their cots. They did not
appear to be frightened. They looked bored and disgusted.
"It wath the motht terrible thing," breathed Grace.
"You must have been dreaming. But tell me, what you think you saw," urged
Mrs. Livingston.
"I didn't think I thaw it. I did thee it," declared Tommy firmly.
"You were dreaming, Tommy. You know you were," said Harriet, but Tommy
shook her head with emphasis.
"It wath a big pink elephant. I thaw him. He walked right in at that door.
Then--then--then--he thtepped up on the cot and walked on me with hith
feet. He wath jutht going to thtep on my face when I cried out."
"Nightmare," smiled Miss Partridge.
"It wath not," protested Grace. "Wait! When I cried out the pink elephant
put hith trunk right around my neck. Look! You'll thee the mark of the
trunk on my neck now."
"Nonsense! There is no mark there, dear," soothed Harriet.
"I gueth I know! It ith my neck. Then the pink elephant lifted me right
up. He wath growling jutht like a bear all the time. Then he carried me
right out doorth and dropped me on the ground. I heard thome thrange
thingth too. I heard feet and wingth in the air. I thaw thome awful
thingth, and----"
"My dear, you have a wonderful imagination," declared Mrs. Livingston,
laughing. "And what is more and worse still, you have eaten too heavily. I
shall see to it that you do not indulge in any late repasts after this."
"Then pleathe tell me, how did I get out doorth?" demanded Tommy
triumphantly. This was something of a poser. Harriet said Grace did not
appear to be fully awake when she reached her little companion.
"What do you know about this?" questioned the guardian, turning to
Patricia Scott.
"Nothing, whatever," replied Patricia.
"Neither do I," answered Cora Kidder. "I was awakened by a great uproar
for the second time to-night. The noise at first sounded right here in the
tent, then when I had sat up on my cot I discovered that it was outside. I
hurried out thinking I might be needed. I found that young woman shaking
the little one. That is all I know about it, Miss Partridge."
"I am sorry that you have been so disturbed," said Mrs. Livingston kindly.
"I do not think Miss Thompson will have any further attacks of nightmare
to-night. If she does, of course we shall have to remove her to some other
tent where she will not disturb any one except possibly a guardian. Now
get back to bed, girls."
The two guardians waited until quiet had once more been restored in the
tent, then retired leaving the girls again in darkness. Tommy was still
trembling, but the keen edge of her fright had worn away.
Harriet lay wide awake for some time. She heard faint whispers being
exchanged between Patricia and Cora. Harriet recalled a swift look that
passed between the two girls when Tommy was telling her exciting story.
"Those girls have had something to do with this," declared Harriet to
herself. "But surely, they were not to blame for Tommy's having had the
nightmare. Tommy had only herself to blame for that. Still, how did she
get outside? That is what I should like to know. I think Miss Patricia
Scott and Miss Cora Kidder could explain something of that if they were to
tell the truth."
Having reached this conclusion, Harriet Burrell went to sleep and slept
until morning without further interruption. She was awakened by the
morning bell. Patricia and Cora had already dressed and gone out. Tommy
was asleep, deaf to the jangling morning bell.
"Tommy, Tommy! Get up," called Harriet. Tommy muttered. Harriet went over
and shook her until she was wide awake. "You have only fifteen minutes to
dress, dear."
"I don't want to dreth. I want to thleep," objected Tommy. Harriet pulled
her out of bed, causing Tommy to sit down heavily on the floor. Muttering
and scolding, Grace dragged herself about wearily and began making her
morning toilet. But she protested with every move she made. Just before
the fifteen minute time allowance had expired, the two girls stepped out
into a glorious forest morning. Great trees towered above them, the forest
birds were raising their voices in a melodious chorus, fresh, pungent
odors from spruce and hemlock trees filled the air and somewhere near at
hand, a stream splashed and rippled musically.
"Glorious!" breathed Harriet. "Oh, isn't it wonderful, Grace, dear?"
Grace Thompson's eyes lighted up appreciatively, then they danced merrily.
All at once, Grace raised her voice shrilly in the yell of the
Meadow-Brook Girls:
"Rah, rah, rah,
Rah, rah, rah!
Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook,
Thithboom ah!"
"Tommy, Tommy, you shouldn't have done that," rebuked Harriet.
Fully a dozen girls sprang from their tents attracted by the new cry; then
they began laughing when they saw Harriet in her torn skirt and had gotten
a good look at Tommy Thompson's impish face.
"Young ladies, do you know what day this is?" reminded one girl who seemed
older than any of the others outside.
"Yeth. It ith the greatetht day I ever thaw and I'm going to yell thome
more after I have my breakfatht," declared Tommy with an emphasis that
left no doubt in their minds as to her intentions.
"No, my dear young woman, this is Sunday," answered the previous speaker.
"You would do well not to forget it, unless you wish for a pleasant little
interview with Mrs. Livingston."
"There! What did I tell you, Tommy?" exclaimed Harriet.
"I don't care. It ith grand and I've got to make a noithe. Why don't they
thtop the birdth from making a noithe on Thunday, too?" retorted Grace as
the two girls walked slowly toward the cook tent with the eyes of the camp
upon them.
"Yes, she is a perfect fright," suddenly declared a voice that Harriet
recognized as belonging to Patricia Scott. "I should not think Mrs.
Livingston would permit her to parade about in that gown."
Harriet's face flushed, but she did not even turn her head. Tommy
fortunately had not caught the words, for which Harriet was thankful. She
knew that Tommy would have resented the remark and made a scene there and
then. The two girls entered the cook tent with some forty other girls
following on slowly behind them.