GIRL VISITORS
After the target practice the cadets of Colby Hall settled down to the
usual routine of the camp. The Rovers and their chums were eagerly
awaiting the arrival of the girls from Clearwater Hall, and they made
arrangements with Captain Dale so that the visitors might be
appropriately entertained.
The girls came in two large touring cars, which had been hired at the
Haven Point garage. The Rovers and their chums were on the lookout for
them, and set up a cheer as soon as they appeared.
"Oh, what a lovely spot for a camp!" exclaimed Ruth Stevenson, as she
leaped to the ground and shook hands with Jack.
The visitors were escorted by Captain Jack to Captain Dale's quarters.
He knew some of the young ladies already, and soon made all of the
crowd feel perfectly at home.
"Your friends will show you around our camp, and if you care to do so
you may have regular mess with our cadets," said the old West Pointer,
smiling.
"Oh, let's have a regular mess dinner by all means!" cried Mary. "I've
always wanted to know how it tasted."
"Grandest soup you ever struck, Mary," said Gif.
"Especially if a pinching bug or a worm chances to drop into it," came
from Andy.
"You horrid boy!" cried Martha. "Jack, you ought to box his ears for
that."
The girls were shown over the camp, and even taken down to the rifle
ranges, in the meantime being told about the very excellent scores
Jack and Fred had made.
It had been arranged that the girls were to be away from Clearwater
Hall for two days. They were to spend one day with the boys at Camp
Barlight and the following day near Camp Huxwell, where Alice Strobell
had an aunt living who had promised to take them all in for the night.
"We'll come over here early in the morning for you boys," said Martha,
"and then all of us can visit Camp Huxwell together. I've already sent
word to dad, and Mary has sent word to Uncle Sam, so they will be on
the lookout for us."
"That will be fine!" cried Jack. "I've been wanting to see that camp
ever since we got here, but, somehow, I couldn't get away to do it."
"And I want to see my dad, too," added Fred enthusiastically.
The twins were likewise eager to see the government camp and their
uncles, but they were somewhat depressed, and could not help but show
it.
"I know what's the matter," whispered Martha to her brother. "They are
thinking about their father. Poor Uncle Tom! What a shame it is that
he couldn't join father and Uncle Sam."
"Well, you know how they arranged it," answered the young captain.
"Somebody had to stay at home to manage the business."
While the Rovers and their chums were showing the girls around the
camp, Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts eyed them enviously.
"I don't see why they are permitted to have girls come here and visit
them," growled the ex-lieutenant.
"Girls are all out of place in a camp like this," added the wholesale
butcher's son. "You can't have the same amount of freedom with those
skirts around."
"I just heard something," put in Codfish, who had come up a moment
before. "The Rovers and those other fellows are going to take the
girls out into the woods for a picnic."
"Where did you get that news?" asked Glutts quickly.
"I heard the cook telling one of his helpers. They are fixing up a
great big bunch of grub for them."
"Huh! some folks have nerve," grumbled Werner. "I suppose he'll let
'em have all the best things there are in camp and we can take what's
left."
"Chopped-up onions, for instance," and Glutts grinned.
"I'll onion them, you see if I don't!" cried Gabe Werner. And then he
suddenly caught his crony by the arm. "Say, I've got an idea! If we
can get away and follow those fellows maybe we can spoil their old
picnic for 'em."
"I get you!" cried Glutts quickly.
"What are you going to do?" questioned Codfish.
"Will you keep your mouth shut if we take you in on this?" demanded
the ex-lieutenant.
"Of course I'll keep my mouth shut."
"All right then, you can come in, Henry. But remember, if you open
your trap on us we'll come down on you like a ton of bricks," added
Gabe.
The matter was talked over for several minutes by Werner and Glutts,
and then Codfish was dispatched to the cook's quarters on an errand.
The girls enjoyed eating the regular mess lunch immensely. Each was
provided by the boys with a new mess kit and instructed into the art
of using the same. They sat at the main table in the mess hall, a
table presided over by Captain Dale himself.
"This is quite an honor, ladies," said the old West Pointer politely.
"It's the first time we have had so many of the opposite sex in any of
our camps."
"It is very lovely of you, Captain Dale, to permit us to come," said
Ruth. "I am sure we all thank you very much for all the courtesies you
have shown us."
"Indeed we do!" came from the others.
"I'm afraid this meal will put a little damper on our picnic,"
remarked Fred. "We should have eaten our lunch out in the woods."
"Don't you worry about that," retorted Andy. "We'll be ready for
another meal after we've tramped about over the rocks and among the
trees for several hours."
The food to be taken along had been placed in three old knapsacks with
which the camp was provided, and these the twins and Spouter placed on
their back when they set off for the woods. All were in high spirits,
and Andy and Randy whistled gaily as they trudged along.
"Let us go up on top of one of the cliffs," suggested Jack, after they
had been tramping for the best part of an hour. "We ought to be able
to get a splendid view of the bay from there."
The others were willing, and about the middle of the afternoon they
reached a high, rocky point, overlooking Barlight Bay and the rolling
Atlantic. It was a clear, sunshiny day, and consequently they could
see for miles in several directions.
"I see a big steamer coming up the coast!" cried Gif presently. "See
the trail of smoke she is leaving behind her?"
"I wonder if those big coastwise steamers are in any danger of the
German submarines?" remarked Martha.
"Oh, I don't believe there are any submarines around here," said
Randy.
"Don't be too sure about that," put in Jack. "Don't forget that the
Huns sent over several of their U-boats before we even got into the
war."
"There may be more German submarines lurking in these waters than we
have any idea of," remarked Spouter. "It is a well-known fact that the
Central Powers have an enormous number of submarines, and that they
have been sent to all the important lanes of travel in the Atlantic
Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea. They have
got the science of building U-boats down exceedingly fine, and they
evidently know exactly how to handle such craft. And not only that,
but they have invented some exceedingly destructive torpedoes, and
likewise some devices----"
"Say, Spouter, have you started to deliver a lecture on German
submarines?" demanded Randy.
"Please remember that we came to camp for the sole purpose of escaping
lectures," added his twin.
"I'm not delivering a lecture," returned Spouter coldly. "I was only
trying to pound into your somewhat bonelike heads a few important
facts. But, of course, the task is rather a useless one, because you
wouldn't be able to assimilate such knowledge even if----"
Spouter's oratory was cut short by a wad of wet leaves which Randy
picked up and hurled at him. Then Andy poked him with a long tree
branch he had picked up, and for a few minutes there was quite a
good-natured pitched battle, the girls looking on with much interest.
"Avast and heave to!" roared Andy, melodramatically. "Over the top and
at 'em! Chew 'em up alive! Don't let 'em cry '_Kamerad_'! Make 'em
yell, 'Have you used Brickbat's Soap!'" And at this there was a shriek
of laughter from the girls.
When the horseplay had finally come to an end, the young folks walked
out on the rocks where they might get a better view of the bay and the
ocean beyond. As was quite natural, the boys and the girls paired off
together, and Jack saw to it that Ruth obtained a seat that was
comfortable. Fred did the same for May, while Spouter and Gif walked
on a short distance further with the two Rover girls.
The knapsacks containing the food had been left on some flat rocks a
short distance to the rear. So that they might not get too warm, the
boys had placed some brushwood over them, along with some wraps which
the girls had brought along.
Although the Rovers and their chums did not know it, they had been
followed into the woods by Werner, Glutts and Stowell, who had
obtained a brief leave of absence from the officer of the day. The
trio had watched the girls and their cadet friends closely, and viewed
the disposal of the knapsacks and the wraps with satisfaction.
"Here is where we get square with them," muttered Gabe. "We'll fix 'em
for putting chopped-up onions in our mess kits!"
"What are you going to do with those onions I got for you?" questioned
Codfish.
"We'll doctor up every bit of their food with 'em," answered Glutts.
"They can have onion sandwiches and onion cake and onion pie galore.
My, but that lunch will be one sweet mess when we get through with
it!" he added gleefully.
"Yes, and I'll tell you another thing we can do," pursued Gabe Werner
maliciously. "We can put some of the chopped-up onions into the
pockets of those girls' coats. That will make 'em all smell fine!"
"Oh, say! do you think you ought to touch the girls' things?"
questioned Codfish timidly.
"Sure! That will give those fellows a job cleaning the mess up,"
answered Gabe heartlessly.
"But we don't want to get caught." Now that the time had arrived to
play the joke on the Rovers and their friends, the sneak of the school
was beginning to tremble.
"Oh, we won't get caught," said Werner. "Come on. They are all out of
sight, and it will be dead easy to turn the trick."