WHAT I HEARD ON THE TELEPHONE
That station stood all by itself, and it was pitch dark all around. It
reminded me of the Grand Central Station, it was so different. First we
tried the door and it was locked. Then we tried one of the windows and it
opened.
I said, "Do you think it would be all right to climb in?"
"Sure it would," Westy said; "because the window doesn't open into the
ticket agent's room, only into the waiting room. Go ahead."
I didn't see any harm in climbing in, because the window was part open and
there was a sign outside that said "Public Telephone."
"Anyway," Westy said; "if anybody should come and find us here, we could
say we just wanted to 'phone. And we could prove that's all we wanted, too,
by our really getting the number."
First I didn't know what we ought to do, but as long as we didn't have to
break anything open, and as long as all we wanted was to 'phone, I decided
it would be all right.
So we climbed in and I saw there was a booth in the corner. I dropped a
nickel into the 'phone and held the receiver to my ear and waited and
waited and waited and waited. Gee, I waited about as long as three whole
chapters would be.
Then I heard a girl's voice. It said, "Hello, hello."
I said, "I want three, two, one, Bridgeboro, New Jersey, and please hurry
up, because my sister's having a party."
I guess the wire was crossed, the girl was awful excited, and every time I
said hello, she'd say, "Hello, hello, is this you, father?"
I guess she was so rattled, she didn't know who she was talking to.
By this time I was getting kind of sore at the operator, because I wanted
to get my sister the minute of ten o'clock, and she was sort of spoiling
my plan. I had just three more minutes to get her, because Westy lighted
a match and looked at his watch. Then I said, "Hello, hello."
The same voice kept saying, "Hello, hello, is this you, father?"
I said, "No, it isn't. How long does it take to get the operator in this
berg?"
The poor girl was almost crying by now. She said, "I've been trying for an
_age_ to get my father. Won't you _please_ let me get him? I want my
father! Why _don't_ they give me my father?"
Gee whiz, you'd think I had her father in my pocket. I said, "I'm trying to
get my sister, too. If you happen to see her, tell her, will you?"
She said, "Oh dear; it's just _exasperating_. Won't you _please_ get off
the wire. I want Central. Why can't they help me? We're in such a _dreadful
predicament_."
I said, "I guess Central went to the movies or somewhere. I'm a boy scout
and I'm in a dark station somewhere or other near Haverstraw--"
"Oh, isn't that just too _provoking!_" she said. I said, "Oh, it isn't so
bad in here, only it's dark."
"Is there _anything_ I can _do_?" she said; "we're lost on the top of
Eagle's Nest Mountain. Oh, I wonder if you'd be willing to go to Haverstraw
and tell my people--Judge Edwards. It's _dreadful!_ We've been here since
five o'clock. We haven't had a thing to eat and we're nearly perishing. The
boys made a mistake about the trail. Oh, it's _terrible!_ We're frightened
out of our lives. I'll _never, never_ come up this _horrible_ mountain
again!"
I said, "Are the boys scouts?"
She said, "No, they're regular young men and they're _utterly bewildered!"_
I said, "Now I _know_ they're not scouts. But anyway, you don't need to
worry, because we'll come up and get you. Trails are our middle names. You
should worry about Central. But, one thing, I'd like to know how there
happens to be a 'phone up there."
She said, "Oh, you're just a _dear."_ That's just exactly what she
said--honest.
I said, "Mountains aren't horrible. I've met a whole lot of them and
they're all right. Don't you worry. I was trying to get my sister on the
'phone to tell her Many Happy Wishes, because it's her birthday, and she's
having a party. She's just seventeen. We're on a hike."
"Oh, I'm just seventeen, too," she said; "and you're perfectly _wonderful_.
I _know_ you'll save us. We're up here at the fire observation station. If
you'll go to my father and go to the police--"
"We should worry about the police," I said; "the only trail they can follow
is a trail around the block. One of us fellows will go to your father's
house and tell him, and meanwhile, the rest of us will come up there.
Anyway, I'd like to see that observation station. So now maybe you'll calm
down and tell me how to find the mountain road."
"Oh, do you _think_ you _can?"_ she asked.
"Sure, we can," I told her.
Just then somebody must have pulled her away; from the 'phone. Anyway, a
fellow's voice said, "Let me talk to him. What is he? Just a kid?" Then he
said, "Will you please run to Haverstraw and notify Judge Edwards, 22
Terrace Street, that his daughter and three friends are on the top of
Eagle's Nest, and to please have the authorities notified and a party
formed to come here. I will see that you're suitably rewarded."
I said, "I'd be ashamed to have the whole town of Haverstraw coming up
after met and scouts don't accept rewards. We'll send to Haverstraw and
tell Judge Edwards, and then we'll come up and get you. All you have to do
is to sit there and ten riddles till you see us. Which road do you take for
Eagle's Nest?"
Then he said how we should follow the west road from Haverstraw till we got
to a big white house with a windmill in front of it. Pretty soon after we
got past that, he said, we'd come to a cow path that led through the
fields. He said we should follow that till we got into the woods where we'd
see picnic grounds and then we'd find a trail that went up the mountain. He
said other trails branched off from it, so we'd have to be careful. He said
it didn't go right to the top, and I suppose that's why they couldn't find
it coming down.
He said, "Did you ever hit a mountain trail?"
"_Hit_ one?" I said. "We give one a knock-out blow every couple of days. So
long, we'll see you later. Tell that girl not to worry."
Gee whiz, I forgot all about Marjorie.