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[Illustration: "There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's
arm in her excitement. "The same two men!"]
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS
ON A HOUSEBOAT
HOW THEY SAILED AWAY
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE
AND WHAT WAS DISCOVERED
BY
GRACE BROOKS HILL
Author of "The Corner House Girls," "The
Corner House Girls Snowbound," etc.
_ILLUSTRATED BY_
_THELMA GOOCH_
NEW YORK
BARSE & HOPKINS
PUBLISHERS
BOOKS FOR GIRLS
By Grace Brooks Hill
The Corner House Girls Series
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT
BARSE & HOPKINS
Publishers, New York
Copyright, 1920,
by Barse & Hopkins
_The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat_
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
I. "What's That?"
II. Neale Has News
III. The Elevator
IV. An Auto Ride
V. The Houseboat
VI. More News
VII. Making Plans
VIII. The Robbery
IX. All Aboard
X. A Stowaway
XI. Overboard
XII. Neale Wonders
XIII. The Trick Mule
XIV. At the Circus
XV. Real News at Last
XVI. Ruth's Alarm
XVII. Up the River
XVIII. The Night Alarm
XIX. On the Lake
XX. Drifting
XXI. The Storm
XXII. On the Island
XXIII. Suspicions
XXIV. Closing In
XXV. The Capture
ILLUSTRATIONS
"There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in the
excitement. "The same two men!" _Frontispiece._
"Get us down!" cried Dot and Tess in a chorus, while Mrs. MacCall stood
beneath them holding out her apron
While Dot and Tess clung to one another, Hank managed to fish up the
"Alice-doll"
"You shouldn't have come here, Aggie!" he cried above the noise of the
storm
THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT
CHAPTER I
"WHAT'S THAT?"
Delicious and appetizing odors filled the kitchen of the old Corner
House. They were wafted even to the attic, were those whiffs and
fragrant zephyrs. Some of them even escaped through the open windows,
causing Uncle Rufus to cease his slow and laborious task of picking up
some papers from the newly cut lawn.
"Dat suah smells mighty good--mighty good!" murmured the old darkey to
himself, as he straightened up by the process of putting one hand to the
small of his back and pressing there, as though a spring needed
adjusting. "Dat suah smells mighty good! Mrs. Mac mus' suah be out-doin'
of herse'f dish yeah mawnin'!"
He turned his wrinkled face toward the Corner House, again sniffing
deeply.
A pleased and satisfied look came over his countenance as the cooking
odors emanating from the kitchen became more pronounced.
"Dey's suah to be some left--dey suah is, 'cause hit's Miss Ruth's
party, an' she's always gen'rus wif de eatin's. She suah is. Dey's suah
to be some left."
He removed his hand from the small of his back, thereby allowing himself
to fall forward again in the proper position for picking up papers, and
went on with his work.
Inside the kitchen, where the odors were even more pronounced, as one
might naturally expect to find them, two girls and a pleasant-faced
woman were busy; though not more so than a fresh-appearing Finnish maid,
who hummed an air full of minor strains as she opened the oven door now
and then, thereby letting out more odors which were piled upon, mingled
with, and otherwise added to those already bringing such a delicious
sensation to Uncle Rufus.
"Aren't you planning too much, Ruth?" asked her sister Agnes, as the
girl addressed carefully placed a wondrously white napkin over a plate
of freshly baked macaroons. "I mean the girls will never eat all this,"
and she waved her hand to include a side table on which were many more
plates, some empty, awaiting their burden from the oven, while others
were covered with white linen like some mysterious receptacles under a
stage magician's serviette.
"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Ruth. "My only worry is that I
shall not have enough."
"Well, for the land's sake! how many do you expect?" demanded Agnes
Kenway.
"Six. But there will be you and me and--"
"Then Mr. Howbridge _is_ coming!" cried Agnes, as if there had been some
question about it, though this was the first time his name had been
mentioned that morning.
"He _may_ come," answered Ruth quietly.
"He _may_! Oh my stars! As if you didn't _know_ he was coming!" retorted
Agnes. "Is it in--er--his official capacity?"
"I asked Mr. Howbridge to come to advise us about forming the society,"
Ruth said. "I thought it best to start right. If we are going to be of
any use as a Civic Betterment Club in Milton we must be on a firm
foundation, and--"
"Hear! Hear!" interrupted Agnes, banging on the table with an agate
mixing spoon, and thereby bringing from a deep pantry the form and face
of Mrs. MacCall, the sturdy Scotch housekeeper.
"Please don't do that!" begged Ruth.
"Hoots! Whut's meanin' wi' the rattlin' an' thumpin'?" demanded Mrs.
MacCall.
"Oh, some nonsense of Agnes'," answered Ruth. "I was just telling her
that I had asked the girls to luncheon, to talk over the new Civic
Betterment Club, and that Mr. Howbridge is coming to advise us how to
get a charter, or incorporate, or whatever is proper and--"
"I was only applauding after the fashion in the English Parliament,"
interrupted Agnes. "They always say 'Hear! Hear!' away down in their
throats."
"Well, they don't bang on tables with granite spoons," retorted Ruth, as
she handed a pie to Linda, the humming Finnish maid, who popped it into
the oven, quickly shutting the door, to allow none of the heat to
escape.
"Hoot! I would not put it past 'em, I would not!" murmured Mrs. MacCall.
"What those English law makers do--I wouldna' put it past them!" and,
shaking her head, she retired into the deep pantry again.
"Well, you're going to have enough of sweets, I should say;" observed
Agnes, "even as fond as Mr. Howbridge is of them. For the land's sake,
aren't you going to stop?" she demanded, as Ruth poured into a dish the
cake batter she had begun to stir as soon as the pie was completed.
"This is the last. You don't need to stay and help me any longer if you
don't want to, dear. Run out and play," urged Ruth sweetly.
"Run out and play! As if I were Dot or Tess! I like that! Why, I was
thinking of asking you to let me join the society!"
"Oh, of course you may, Agnes! I didn't think you'd care for it. Why,
certainly you may join! We want to get as many into it as we can. Do
come to the meeting this afternoon. Mr. Howbridge is going to explain
everything, and I thought we might as well make it a little social
affair. It was very good of you to help me with the baking."
"Oh, I like that. And I believe I will come to the meeting. Now shall we
clean up?"
"I do him," interposed Linda. "I wash him all up," and a sweep of her
muscular arm indicated the pots, pans, dishes and all the odds and ends
left from the rather wholesale baking.
"Oh, I shall be so glad if you will!" exclaimed Ruth. "I want to go over
the parlor and library again. And I wonder what has become of Dot and
Tess. I asked them to get me some wild flowers, but they have been gone
over an hour and--"
The voice of Mrs. MacCall from the deep pantry interrupted.
"Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot!" she called. "Where ha' ye been? Come ye here the
noo, and be for me waukrife minnie."
"What in the world does she mean?" asked Agnes, for sometimes, well
versed as she was in the Scotch of the housekeeper, there were new words
and phrases that needed translating. Especially as it seemed to the
girls that more and more Mrs. MacCall was falling back into her
childhood speech as she grew older--a speech she had dropped during her
younger life except in moments of excitement.
This time, however, it was beyond even the "ken" of Ruth, who rather
prided herself on her Highland knowledge. But Mrs. MacCall herself had
heard the question. Out she came from the pantry, smiling broadly.
"Ye no ken 'waukrife minnie'?" she asked. "Ah, 'tis a pretty little
verse o' Rabbie Burns. I'll call it o'er the noo."
Then she gave them, with all the burring of which her tongue was
capable:
"Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass,
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?
She answered me right saucilie,
An errand for my minnie."
Coming down to earth again, Mrs. MacCall shot back into the pantry and
from an open window in the rear that looked out in the orchard she
called:
"Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot! Come ye here, and be for me the lassies that'll gang
to the store."
"Are Tess and Dot there?" asked Ruth. "I've been wondering where they
had disappeared to."
"They be coming the noo," answered Mrs. MacCall. "Laden in their arms
wi' all sorts of the trash." And then she sang again:
"O fare thee well, my bonnie lass,
O fare thee well, my hinnie!
Thou art a gay an' a bonnie lass,
But thou has a waukrife minnie."
"What in the world is a 'waukrife minnie'?" asked Agnes, but there was
no chance to answer, for in the kitchen, making it more busy than ever,
trooped the two younger members of the Corner House girls
quartette--Tess and Dot.
Their arms were filled with blossoms of the woods and fields, and
without more ado they tossed them to a cleared place on the table,
whence Linda had removed some of the pans and dishes.
"Oh, what a lovely lot of flowers!" cried Ruth. "It's just darling of
you to get them for me. Now do you want to help me put them into vases
in the library?"
Dot shook her head.
"Why not?" asked Ruth gently.
"I promised my Alice-doll to take her down by the brook, and I just have
to do it," answered Dot. "And Tess is going to help me; aren't you,
Tess?" she added.
"Yes," was the answer. "I'm going to take Almira."
"Then you must take her kittens, too!" insisted Dot. "She'll feel bad if
you don't."
"I won't take 'em all--I'll take one kitten," compromised Tess. "There
she is, now!" And Tess darted from the room to pounce on the cat, which
did not seem to mind very much being mauled by the children.
"Will ye gang a'wa' to the store the noo?" asked Mrs. MacCall, with a
warm smile as she came from the pantry. "There's muckle we need an'--"
"I'll go if you give me a cookie," promised Dot.
"So'll I," chimed in Tess, coming in on the tribute. "We can take Almira
and your Alice-doll when we come back," she confided to her sister.
"Yes, I think they'll wait. I know Alice-doll will, but I'm not so sure
about Almira," and Dot seemed rather in doubt. "She may take a notion to
carry her kittens up in the bedroom--"
"Don't dare suggest such a thing!" cried Ruth.
"I'm to have company this afternoon, and if that cat and her kittens
appear on the scene--"
"Oh, I wasn't going to carry them in!" interrupted Dot, with an air of
injured innocence. "They're Almira's kittens, and she can do what she
likes with them, I suppose," she added as an afterthought. "Only I know
that every once in a while she takes a notion to plant them in a new
place. Once Uncle Rufus found them in his rubber boots, and they
scratched him like anything when he put his foot inside."
"Well, if you have to go to the store for Mrs. MacCall you won't have
any time to help me arrange the flowers," observed Ruth, anxious to put
an end to the discussion about the family cat and kittens, for she knew
Dot had a fund of stories concerning them.
"Yes, traipse along now, my bonnie bairns," advised the Scotch
housekeeper, and, bribed by two cookies each, a special good measure on
Saturday, Dot and Tess were soon on their way, or at least it was so
supposed.
Linda was helping Mrs. MacCall clear away the baking utensils, and Ruth
and Agnes were in the parlor and library, tastefully arranging the wild
flowers that Dot and Tess had gathered.
"Isn't Dot queer to cling still to her dolls?" remarked Agnes, as she
stepped back to get the effect of a bunch of red flowers against a dark
brown background in one corner of the room.
"Yes, she is a strange child. And poor Almira! Really I don't see how
that cat stands it here, the way Tess and Dot maul her."
"They aren't as bad as Sammy Pinkney. Actually I caught him yesterday
tying the poor creature to the back of Billy Bumps!"
"Not on the goat's back!" cried Ruth.
"Really, he was. I sent him flying, though!"
"What was his idea?"
"Oh, he said he'd heard Neale tell how, in a circus, a little dog rode
on a pony's back and Sammy didn't see why a cat couldn't ride on a
goat."
"Well, if he put it that way I suppose she could," assented Ruth. "But
Almira seems to take herself very seriously with all those kittens. We
really must get rid of them. Vacation will soon be here, and with Tess
and Dot around the house all day, instead of just Saturdays, I don't
know what we shall do."
"Have you made any vacation plans at all?"
"Not yet, Agnes. I thought I'd wait until I saw Mr. Howbridge at the
club meeting this afternoon."
"What has he to do with our vacation--unless he's going along?"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean that, at all! But the financial question does
enter into it; and as he is our guardian and has charge of our money, I
want to know just how much we can count on spending."
"Why, have we lost any money?"
"Not that I know of. I hope not! But I always have consulted him before
we made any summer plans, and I don't see why we should not now."
"Well, I suppose it's all right," assented Agnes, as she took up another
bunch of flowers. "But I wonder--"
She never finished that sentence. From somewhere, inside or outside the
house, a resounding crash sounded. It shook the walls and floors.
"Oh, my! what's that?" cried Ruth, dropping the blossoms from her hands
and hastening to the hall.