SLUMBERS RUDELY DISTURBED
"Miss Burrell, are you going to sleep outside to-night?" It was the first
time Patricia Scott had addressed Harriet in some days.
"Yes, if the weather remains clear," returned Harriet.
"I should like to occupy the other cot in your tent. I wish to be near my
friend."
It will be remembered that since the night of the storm, Harriet had been
sleeping in a small A tent, in which there were but two cots--one of them
occupied by Cora.
"You may occupy it as long as you wish, Miss Scott," replied Harriet
cordially. "I shall be out here for five nights at least and perhaps
longer unless a storm should come up. If it does storm I'll run in and
bunk on the floor."
"Thank you." Patricia turned away with a gleam of satisfaction in her
eyes that Harriet Burrell did not see. Harriet remained a few moments to
finish making her bed so that she need not return to her bunk until the
hour for "lights out" had arrived. Patricia had gone to the cook tent
before Harriet started for there. Harriet thrust her head into her tent to
see if Cora were there. She saw the girl lying on the cot wearing a
kimono.
"Aren't you coming to dinner?" inquired Harriet.
"No, I don't feel very well, thank you," answered Cora Kidder
indifferently.
"Shall I bring you something to eat!"
"No, thank you. You are very kind."
Harriet noted that the girl's cheeks were flushed and her eyes very bright
and her first thought was that Cora had a fever. At the dinner table
Patricia reported that Cora was not feeling well and that she would not be
in to dinner. Mrs. Livingston thoughtfully inquired whether the young
woman wished a tray of food carried to her tent.
"I offered to take her something, but she said she did not care for
anything to eat," spoke up Harriet.
Patricia shot a peculiar look at her, but Harriet chanced to be looking
toward Mrs. Livingston at the moment.
Immediately after dinner Mrs. Livingston hurried over to Cora's tent to
see if the girl needed attention. Cora said she was not ill, but just a
little nervous after the excitement through which she had passed.
"Then get a good rest, my dear," urged Mrs. Livingston. "You may take late
sleep leave to-morrow morning if you wish. Miss Scott may bring you a
tray. You need not get out of bed."
Cora, muttered some unintelligible word of thanks to the Chief Guardian
who immediately left the tent to attend to other duties. Instead of making
the announcement that she had promised for the dinner hour, Mrs.
Livingston later in the evening visited the campfire about which the
greater part of the camp had assembled and there she told the girls what
she had to say. It was in reference to what had occurred on the previous
evening.
"I take pleasure, young ladies," she said, "in informing you that for
heroic conduct in the face of great peril, Miss Harriet Burrell has been
awarded five honors. She will add five more beads to her string
to-morrow."
Harriet blushed.
"How much doeth thhe get for the thoup?" interjected Tommy, which sent the
girls into screams of merriment.
Mrs. Livingston smiled tolerantly.
"And our new Camp Girl, Miss Jane McCarthy for distinguished services,
which also undoubtedly saved four girls from serious even if not fatal
results, also will increase her string of beads by five."
"What, five wooden beads all in a bunch!" demanded Jane.
"Yes."
"Hurrah! I'd rather have them than a rope of pearls and I'm just daffy
over those things. I've got a string of them at home that would make your
head whirl, Mrs. Livingston. Come over to Meadow-Brook and I'll show them
to you."
"Miss McCarthy, try to choose your words more carefully. Slang also should
be avoided."
"Slang? Why I cut out slang two years ago," exclaimed the girl, earnestly.
It was not long afterwards that the girls began moving toward their
sleeping quarters. Jane accompanied Harriet with a hand resting gently on
her shoulder, both girls pausing at the entrance to the tent, the interior
of which was in darkness. Patricia already was in bed, an early hour for
her to retire, Harriet thought. Cora appeared to be sleeping, too, though
there was no sound of breathing from her cot.
Harriet undressed, keeping very quiet so as not to awaken the sleepers,
then putting on her wrapper and her slippers ran out to her bed of pine
boughs and tucked herself in.
"Oh, this is heavenly!" breathed Harriet.
The Meadow-Brook girl did not know when she went to sleep. Slumber stole
over her unawares. Her sudden awakening however was both startling and
abrupt.
Without moving, Harriet lay still, though a thrill had run through her.
She knew the reason for that thrill. A distinct growl had brought her
wide-awake.
"Mercy! What is it?" she breathed, looking from side to side without
making a movement that would cause the slightest sound.
A faint scratching noise to the right of her attracted her attention in
that direction. The shadows were deep on that side. Harriet at first was
able to make out nothing there, but she knew something was at work close
by and believed it to be some sort of an animal. Most girls would have
screamed under similar conditions. Harriet Burrell did not. She lay
perfectly still listening, with every faculty on the alert.
The scratching stopped instantly she had moved a little to get a better
view of the spot where she had heard the noise. Now came heavy breathing.
"What can it be?" whispered the girl. "I--I wish I had my shoes on--no I
don't, I shouldn't ran if I had. But I'll see if I can Blip my slippers on
in case I do have to run," she decided wisely.
The first movement toward putting on the slippers, which lay on the cot
within easy reach of her hand, caused a commotion in the shadows. There
was a sudden movement, a half growl, then silence.
Harriet lay absolutely motionless. Her breathing was scarcely perceptible.
Some animal lurched out of the shadows and for a moment stood with ears
pricked up. It was almost between the girl and the campfire.
"Oh, pshaw! It's a big dog," she said aloud. She did not stop to consider
that it would be rather unusual to find a dog prowling about their camp so
far from all human habitation. Her words, however, appeared to have a most
startling effect on the "dog." The animal suddenly gathered itself into a
ball and leaped swiftly away, halting not more than twenty feet from where
Harriet Burrell lay. Then she saw that which sent a fresh thrill through
her.
The animal was now standing squarely between herself and the campfire,
giving the girl a clear outline view of it. She saw with wide-open eyes
that it was not a dog.
"A bear!" she gasped.
Harriet uttered a shrill scream that was heard all over the camp. It was
not exactly a cry of fear. Rather was it intended to arouse the camp. The
scream served the purpose. It aroused the camp. Likewise did it arouse Mr.
Bruin. The bear started away at first at a swift amble which had increased
to a gallop by the time Harriet had drawn on her slippers and leaped from
the cot.
Without thought of fear the girl ran stumbling along after the galloping
beast. Guardians and girls were rushing from the tents on all sides,
crying out to know what had happened. They saw Harriet running, before
they caught sight of the strange beast that was making such strenuous
efforts to get away. When they did catch sight of Mr. Bruin as he dashed
past the fire, there was a chorus of shrieks that not only awakened Jasper
whose tent was some distance further to the north than the last tent of
the row occupied by the girls, but brought him out without his boots on.
Jasper was no coward. He was more afraid of the Camp Girls than of any
animal that inhabited the Pocono Woods. Armed with an axe Jasper, his
whiskers standing out almost at right angles to his body, charged on the
camp. He had no idea what had occurred, but he knew it must be something
very serious to cause the frightful uproar that now came from all sides.
Harriet continued right on. The bear, seeing the girls ahead of him, and
being frightened by their screams, turned tail and took the back trail. By
that time Harriet had reached the fire. She snatched up a burning brand.
She was upon the bear before it realized its peril. Harriet seeing it so
close to her thought the bear was chasing her. She struck out with the
burning fagot with all the force of a muscular arm. The burning stick hit
the bear on the nose.
A frightful howl of pain followed. Harriet leaped back amazed at her own
courage. Perhaps some of it was impulse. She decided next day that it must
have been that. Then a new sound reached her ears.
"Oh, mercy on us! Trouble, trouble!" yelled Crazy Jane. With one rung from
a broken chair that Jane had picked up and tucked under her cot for
emergencies, she came charging down the street just in time to see Harriet
give Mr. Bruin the rap on the nose. It was then she uttered the
exclamation that Harriet heard.
Jane was rushing toward the bear from the rear, while Harriet was also
attacking it from the rear, while Jasper stood some distance from the
nearest girl, which in this case was Crazy Jane. Guardians were crying out
to Harriet and Jane to run. They did run, toward the intruder, rather than
away from the beast. Bruin became confused. He was a young bear. An older
or more wary animal might not have ventured into the camp where it knew
there were human beings as this bear's scent surely must have told it.
Perhaps it scented something good to eat. It was in a panic at the present
moment and went into a worse one after a rap from the hard wood chair rung
in the hands of Crazy Jane McCarthy. Jane was doing a great deal of
shouting, too. The two girls continued to chase the beast around the
campfire. Jasper was bearing down on them, having discovered where the
trouble lay.
"Run, you kids! It's a b'ar!" he yelled. "No, hold him till I git thar."
"Yes, we'll hold him," flung back Jane.
Just at this moment Harriet struck the bear's hip with the torch. There
was a sizzle of hair. Uttering a terrifying growl of fright Bruin suddenly
straightened out and took the direct trail for the stream.
"Hold him! I told ye to hold him!" roared Jasper.
"Oh, listen to the man!" gasped Jane.
Jasper seeing that the beast was going to cross the stream, ran on an
oblique line hoping to head the animal off. In his excitement he hurled
his axe through the air, the tool falling short of its mark by several
yards.
Harriet Burrell was still on the trail, her slippers left behind her, her
bare feet scarcely touching the ground.
"Look out for the creek!" shouted Jasper.
Harriet in her excitement did not heed what he was saying. The bear, after
a brief hesitation on the bank before jumping, landed in the creek with a
splash. Then a few seconds later there came a second splash. Harriet
uttered a little cry of alarm as she felt herself going into the creek and
cried out again when the cold water enveloped her.
By this time the bear was scrambling up the opposite bank. A few seconds
later he was leaping into the depths of the forest, his back humped,
looking in the half light like a great round black ball.
Jane hearing the splashes knew instantly what had occurred to both the
bear and Harriet. She also knew that she was going to land in the creek,
too. With quick presence of mind Crazy Jane threw herself on her back and
went slipping and sliding into the stream feet first. She landed with a
splash, and sat down heavily on the bottom of the stream.