THE TRAMP CLUB RECEIVES A SHOCK
“Quit joking. I mean what I say,” commanded Captain Baker somewhat
testily. “Of course I know you girls play tennis as well as you do
everything else. Knowing this, I hadn’t the least hesitancy in entering
you for the tournament. I told Jack Herrington all about you. He insisted
on my making the entry right there and then. You see, he had heard of the
Meadow-Brook Girls. He knew almost as much about their accomplishments as
I did myself. He said that was just the kind of entries they wished for
the Atlantic Coast Tennis Tournament. I was mighty glad he said that, for
I really wanted you girls to go in and win the cup, so I made the entry
in Miss Harriet’s name per George Baker as representative. There are girl
teams entered from all along the coast and they are cracker-jacks, too,
but they aren’t in the same class with you girls, either in tennis or
anything else. Now, isn’t that great?” Captain George’s face was flushed
and his eyes were sparkling.
“Great?” answered Harriet slowly. “I told you none of us ever had played
a game of tennis in her life, and I meant it. Some of us have knocked the
ball about a little with the racquets, but not one of us ever has played
a game. Why, we know absolutely nothing about tennis.”
“What? You—you mean to say—you mean you are in earnest—you aren’t joking
with me?”
“I was never more serious in my life, George,” replied Harriet gravely.
Captain George Baker looked as he felt—thunderstruck—while his
companions’ faces reflected his consternation. George groaned dismally.
“But we’ve entered you. You must go through with it,” he expostulated.
Harriet shook her head.
“It is out of the question, George. Miss Elting plays, I believe. Let her
take the entry for us.”
“She isn’t eligible,” objected George. “This entry is for girls not more
than eighteen years old. Of course you will play,” he added with a more
hopeful note in his tone. “I know well enough that you play, and play
superbly. No girls who are such clever girls, out-of-doors as well as in,
could help playing tennis. Besides, you will have to do it now. I tell
you I’ve entered you.”
“No, George. I am sorry, but you will have to withdraw our entry,
explaining to Mr. Herrington that we don’t play and that you were led
into the making of the entry by his urging.”
“The papers have printed the entries,” shouted George. “And they’ve told
all about you,” he added in a tone of misery.
“Show them what the papers printed, George,” urged Dill.
Captain George drew a wrinkled piece of newspaper from his blouse pocket
and flattened it out on one knee with the palms of his hands. He regarded
the paper ruefully, then handed it to Dodd.
“You read it, Dill. My voice is going back on me. I must have yelled
myself hoarse this morning. It’s all about you, girls. You will see that
you’ve got to go through with this business, no matter what happens.”
“Ahem!” exclaimed Dodd. “Are you ready for the question? The question is
to play or not to play. This is an item in the ‘Newtown Register’ and, as
you will observe, was written with a complete knowledge of all the
facts.”
“Read it. Don’t waste so much time talking,” cried Sam.
“The item is as follows,” said Dill. “That is, I shall read only that
part relating to you girls and your entry. What it says about the other
entries, of course, will be of no interest to you just now. Later on it
may. I quote from the ‘Register’: ‘Not the least interesting among the
entries for the Atlantic Coast Tennis Tournament is that of the
Meadow-Brook Girls of Meadow-Brook, New Hampshire. This is not, strictly
speaking, a tennis club. The young women who form this organization have
become known to the public by reason of numerous vacation tours which
they have made on foot and by automobile throughout the State. Their
thorough athletic training, coupled with their proficiency in outdoor
sports, will make them formidable contestants. We shall welcome them to
the Coast Tournament and hope to have them with us as long as they remain
eligible for the classes offered here.’ Then follows the family history
of each of you girls,” added Dill mischievously.
“My grathiouth, you don’t thay tho!” exclaimed Tommy. “Won’t my father be
ath mad ath a hatter! He thayth young girlth thhould be theen but not
heard.”
“Here’s another from the ‘Gazette,’” announced George, passing a second
slip to his companion.
“‘Great interest is being manifested in the entry of the well known
organization who call themselves the Meadow-Brook Girls,’” read Dill.
“‘Their coming is awaited with deep interest by the summer visitors as
well as the regular residents of Newtown, who are justly proud of old New
Hampshire’s girls.’”
“I fear you have involved yourself and us in a scrape, Captain George,”
said Miss Elting. “I know something about tennis, and have played a few
games. I know, too, that long practice is necessary even to play an
ordinary game of it. But even in my case, I can’t say that I know enough
about the game to instruct any one else. You must go to Mr. Herrington
and tell him frankly that the entry was made under a misapprehension, and
that it must be withdrawn.”
“What, after all thothe complimentth?” demanded Tommy. “Never! I’ll play
the whole tournament mythelf firtht.”
“No, George,” insisted the guardian, “it isn’t possible. You must cancel
the entry. My girls do not play tennis, and that is all there is about
it. I am, of course, ineligible, much as I should like to keep up the
reputation of the Meadow-Brook Girls. We are very sorry to disappoint
you.”
“George will have to go to Newtown and tell Herrington all about it,”
declared Dill. “We have made fools of ourselves, but through no fault of
the girls. We should have found out whether or not they played the game
before entering them in the tournament.”
“I didn’t think for a minute that it could be possible they didn’t play.
I didn’t suppose there was anything they couldn’t do, and I’m half
inclined to believe they are fooling us now,” declared George. “I——”
His voice trailed off into an unintelligible mumble as he observed the
troubled eyes of Harriet Burrell fixed upon him. “Oh, shoot the whole
business!” he exploded.
Billy Burgess had in the meantime beckoned to Sam. The two boys slunk out
of camp and a few moments later were observed staggering back, bearing
some heavy burden between them. The girls could not imagine what the boys
were bringing into camp. George knew, however. He started up, his face
flushing angrily.
“Take it away!” he yelled. “We don’t want it. What are you fellows trying
to do, make a bigger fool of me than I am already?” he demanded.
“That would be impossible,” laughed Sam.
“For mercy’s sake, what have you there?” cried Miss Elting.
“The makings,” answered Dill. “And it was an unlucky day for us, when we
bought them, wasn’t it, Captain George Baker?”
“You’d better drag that thing out of here,” roared George, now thoroughly
angry. “Am I the captain of this club or not?”
“Don’t take it away, boys. We want to know what it is. Is this bundle a
mystery, another of your great surprises?” demanded Jane McCarthy.
“This is the treat that was to be,” Dill informed them. “Of course, it
isn’t a treat now, it’s just a sad reminder of what might have been, but
we thought you might like to have a look. You’ll see what you have missed
and we shall shed tears, George shedding crocodile tears. If you wish to
know how a crocodile weeps, just observe the eyes of our noble captain.
George, prepare to weep.”
“Oh, keep quiet!” growled George Baker. “I’ll trounce you if you keep on.
Are you going to take that thing away?”
“Not until our very good friends, the Meadow-Brook Girls, have had an
opportunity to see it and learn what a chance to distinguish themselves
they have missed.”
“You have aroused our curiosity,” said the guardian laughingly. “You
simply must let us into this new secret. Such boys! I never saw your
like! I’ll confess that I am as curious as any of my girls. What have you
there?”
“The makings, I said,” answered Dill Dodd—“the making of world champions
and championesses.”
“I don’t understand,” answered Miss Elting, glancing from one to another
of the boys. The latter were now smiling broadly, all save Captain Baker
himself, whose face was gloomy, his gaze fixed morosely on the ground.
Sam Crocker drew a knife from his pocket, opened it and felt the edge of
the blade with aggravating deliberateness, then suddenly cut the heavy
twine that held the bundle together.
The bundle sprang open. The two lads grabbed the contents and quickly
spread them out over the ground in front of the girls’ tent. The
Meadow-Brooks were silent for a few seconds; then broke out into
exclamations of delight.
“Just look!” cried Margery shrilly.
“Oh, you boys, you boys!” exclaimed the guardian, her eyes glowing with
an excitement and pleasure that she made no effort to conceal. “How
really unkind we have been to you.”