IN CAMP ON THE BATTLE FIELD
Newtown, as already mentioned, was a summer resort. There were many fine
summer homes, excellent bathing, a limited number of hotels, and a large
population of fashionable summer visitors.
This year the tournament had excited more than ordinary interest because
arranged wholly for women. Not a man was to take part in any event,
though most of the teams were managed by relatives or family friends.
That it was to be a bitter fight was evident from the activity of the
preparations and the care with which the various minor officials had been
chosen. A very large attendance was promised and it was believed that
some future champions would be developed from the contest. This, as a
matter of fact, was the fond hope of Jack Herrington, the manager, who
had arranged this unusual tournament. One team from which much was
expected was a club of girls from the summer colony, fashionable young
women who had spent some years playing tennis.
This latter club consisted of four girls, just as did the Meadow-Brook
entry. One pair was entered as “The Fifth Avenues,” the other as “The
Riversides.” All their practising had been done on the private court
belonging to one of the girls, so that no one outside of the few on the
inside really knew what they were doing. Then there were other clubs from
various parts of the State. One team from Portsmouth, the Scott Sisters,
were known to be among the most expert tennis players in the ranks of the
younger players, and among those who claimed to know, it was believed
that the Scott Sisters were sure winners, provided the Fifth Avenues and
the Riversides did not carry off the cup. There was just enough mystery
in the entries of the latter to cause a great deal of speculation and
arouse keen interest.
Jane McCarthy and her passengers arrived in Newtown at eleven o’clock in
the forenoon of the day on which they had left home. Their arrival
attracted no attention, for the girls were unknown to the residents of
Newtown. Jane did not know where to go. Harriet called a halt and soon
learned where the office of the manager was. They repaired there at once,
only to find that he was out on the tennis field. They were directed how
to get there and drove away in search of it.
The tennis field was located on the outskirts of the town in an open
field. The nets were not yet in place, but men were working on the
courts, packing these down with hand rollers in some instances, in others
chalking out the lines, taking measurements, working on the covered stand
where seats were held at high prices for such spectators as wished to be
under cover and out of the direct rays of the sun. The girls were
directed to the manager. They waited while Harriet went over to speak to
him.
“So you are one of the Meadow-Brook Girls, eh?” he exclaimed, extending a
cordial hand. “George Baker has told me all about you. You look as though
you could give a good account of yourself.”
“Thank you.”
“Where are your friends?”
“In Miss McCarthy’s car yonder. We drove over from Meadow-Brook this
morning. Do you know whether Mr. Baker has made our camp or not?”
“He has,” answered Herrington, regarding the brown-faced young woman
keenly, pleased both with her manner and her apparently splendid
condition.
“Will you kindly direct me to it?”
“With pleasure, Miss Burrell. The camp is pitched just within the edge of
those trees at the far side of the field yonder,” pointing to a grove.
“You are the only contestants who, so far as I am aware, are camping out.
Baker tells me that you prefer it. I consider it an excellent idea,
provided the weather is good.”
“Oh, we do not mind bad weather. We are quite well used to all kinds,”
answered Harriet, her face lighting up in a happy smile. “Are any of the
other players here?”
“None of those from out of town so far as I know. Some of them may be
staying with friends. None has reported to me. I should like to meet your
companions if you have no objection.”
“They will be glad to know you,” answered Harriet, turning back toward
the car, with Mr. Herrington walking beside her. The manager was
presented to Miss Elting and each of the Meadow-Brook Girls in turn. He
said he knew Grace Thompson’s father quite well and that he also knew Mr.
McCarthy by reputation.
“I thought I was the only member of our family who had a reputation,”
blurted out Jane. “Between myself and the motor car pretty nearly every
one in our part of the State has met disaster. Is that our camp over
yonder?”
“Yes,” answered Herrington, with an amused smile.
“May I drive the car over?”
“You may. But please go around the outside edge of the field so as not to
cut up the turf near the courts. We have spent some weeks on these
grounds, and are naturally very careful of them.”
“It is a very beautiful field,” remarked the guardian admiringly. “I see
there are no nets up. When will you stretch them?”
“Any time you may wish after to-day. I suppose you have reference to
practice?”
“Yes.”
“All shall have opportunity to accustom themselves to the various courts,
for until the drawings I cannot say what teams will play on certain
courts. The singles are to be played off first. We are reserving the
doubles until the last because there is greater interest in these, and by
holding them until the last we shall hold the attendance as well. You see
there is a business side to this tournament, a side that is not wholly
unselfish.”
“Of course,” agreed Miss Elting. “Have you many entries?”
“In the doubles? Yes, there are twenty entries. I imagine there will not
be quite so many as that on the second day of the double events,” added
Mr. Herrington. “George Baker has been scouting for news; he is a regular
sleuth. He will tell you all about it. You will find him at the camp; his
own camp is farther back in the woods. And, by the way, I have given him
permission to pitch a dressing tent just beyond the last court on that
side. He will not do that until just before the doubles are called. Any
of the other players who desire it may have the same privilege. I hadn’t
thought of it until Baker suggested the idea, which is a good one. Next
year we shall do this ourselves. I hope you may be with us then.”
“It is quite likely that we shall,” answered Harriet.
“Then you are quite confident of the result this year?”
“We are going to do our best,” replied Harriet Burrell modestly. “We are
new at the game. Five weeks ago we practically knew nothing of the game.
What we have done has been done within that time.”
“I wish you luck, my dear young ladies, but you will find yourselves in
pretty hot company for girls of your limited experience at the nets. Most
of the contestants have been playing for years at home, though very few
of them, I believe, have ever participated in a public match.”
“I am glad to hear it,” said the Meadow-Brook Girl with a smile. This was
good news to Harriet Burrell and she stowed it away in her mind for
future consideration.
“Mr. Baker tells me that Earlington Disbrow is a friend of yours and that
he is coming down here from Boston to-morrow.”
“Yes, Mr. Disbrow has been good enough to take an interest in our work,”
answered Miss Elting innocently. “We shall be glad to see an old
acquaintance again.”
Mr. Herrington bowed low, expressing his pleasure at having met so
renowned a party as the Meadow-Brooks, and, requesting that they call
upon him for anything in his power to grant, returned to his supervision
of the courts.
As they neared the edge of the wood the tents began to stand out more
plainly. These were just within the edge of the grove. Out in the field a
short distance from the edge of the grove they saw a number of khaki-clad
boys at work. So busy were the latter that up to this time they had
failed to observe the approach of the motor car.
Jane blew her horn. The boys heard and recognized the sound.
“It’s the Meadow-Brooks!” shouted George Baker. “Give ’em a cheer,
fellows. Hurrah!”
The boys tossed their hats in the air and whooped so loudly that the men
at work on the courts at the opposite end of the field paused in their
work to look and listen. The Meadow-Brook Girls answered with their club
yell, the car came to a stop in front of the boys and the girls hopped
out. Hand-shaking was the order of the day for the next few minutes,
during which the girls were overwhelmed with questions.
“Fit as fiddles all around,” declared George after a critical look into
the smiling face of each girl. “Miss Brown is the only soft one in the
party.”
“I’m not soft,” flung back Margery indignantly. “I’d have you know that.
You ought to know it without my telling you.”
“Don’t get angry over it, Miss Margery,” answered George laughingly. “I
didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. What I meant was that you were not in
the pink of condition like the other girls. They have been in training
for some weeks, you know, so you could not be expected to come up to
them.”
Buster, somewhat mollified, smiled and sat down. The girls glanced about
them inquiringly.
“What are you boys doing here?” demanded the guardian, glancing curiously
about her.
“Oh, Miss Elting, they are making a practice court,” cried Harriet.
“Why, boys, you shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble. The games come
on the day after to-morrow and we shall have very little use for a court.
Then, again, you have peeled off the sod. Why couldn’t we have practised
on a grass court for the short time?” asked the guardian. “Of course we
appreciate this, just as we do everything you have done for us, but you
have done altogether too much.”
“In the first place,” replied George, “all you will wish to do on the
courts out there is to warm up, to limber up. You will wish to practise
some of your fancy strokes, which you can do here without any one
observing you. We shall see to that. We shall stand guard and not let any
one near the court while you girls are at work. The reason we peeled the
sod is that you will play on a hard court in the contest. To play on a
grass court here for practice might undo all you have accomplished thus
far with regard to foot work. I know P. E. would agree with me in that.”
“Hathn’t George got a head to be proud of?” demanded Tommy. “I withh I
had a head like hith, only much more beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Captain George bowed with great ceremony, as though deeply
appreciative of this rather doubtful compliment.
“You do think of everything, George,” remarked Harriet. “You are right,
too. This court will be of no little assistance to us for the finishing
touches. I have some new strokes that I have thought out, strokes that I
should like to try without any one’s observing me. Come, let’s look at
the tents.”
There were two of these, one for Miss Elting, the other for the girls.
The boys had given the guardian one of their small camping tents. The
girls uttered exclamations of surprise when they entered the tent.
Everything was arranged with as much taste as they themselves could have
shown. In addition to this the interiors of the two tents were decorated
with cedar boughs that the lads had gathered by the wayside on their way
to Newtown. On the two end poles crossed tennis racquets had been
fastened with a tennis ball in the crotch formed by each pair of
racquets. In the center of the girls’ tent was a small folding table
covered with a scarf that George had borrowed from his mother, and on the
center of the table stood a pitcher filled with roses.
“Oh, you boys, you boys!” exclaimed Miss Elting, her eyes shining
happily. In her own tent she found a similar condition.
The girls looked their deep appreciation rather than expressing it in
mere words.
“I am going to put up a dressing tent for you before the games,” said
George.
“Yes, Mr. Herrington told us,” answered Harriet.
“Oh, then you’ve met Jack? There won’t be much in the tent but a few
blankets and a cot. You will appreciate that tent when you have a rest
between sets. We shall have water there for bathing your faces to help
you cool off. I think we are in for some roasting weather.”
“Anybody would think this was a prize fight that was about to be fought,”
declared Sam abruptly. George fixed him with a rebuking glance.
“I see a great deal is expected of us,” replied Harriet seriously. “If we
do not do our best, we are unworthy of such friendship. But, George, you
know what I promised you before we even began to practise—that we are
going to win. I repeat that statement now, and I mean every word of it.”
“That is the talk,” said George, but inwardly he groaned. He knew in his
own mind that it was beyond the power of Harriet and her fellow-players
to carry off the cup. “You don’t want to practise to-day, do you?”
“Perhaps late in the afternoon,” answered Harriet.
“Then I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested Dill enthusiastically.
“Let’s all go down to the beach for a swim in the surf.”
“Fine! Come on, darlin’s,” cried Jane.
“Oh, yeth, let’th go,” urged Tommy.
“I do not think it would be wise,” answered Harriet reflectively. “I
should dearly love a swim, but I do not think it prudent. We might catch
a little cold or stiffen our muscles or something of the sort. We have
too much at stake to take any chances. I for one shall not go in the surf
and I hope none of you girls will.”
“Harriet is right,” answered George approvingly.
“Yes, she is,” agreed Miss Elting. “But you haven’t told us the news. Mr.
Herrington said you knew a lot about what had been going on here.”
George’s face took on a more serious expression.
“I’ve turned up a few facts,” he said.
“I suppose it is all settled as to who is going to win the championship
cup?” said Harriet with a smile.
He nodded.
“That’s what they say. They say that the championship lies between the
Scott Sisters and the two pairs known as the Fifth Avenues and the
Riversides.”
“Have you seen them play?” asked Harriet.
“No. But I got hold of a fellow I know who has seen them play a number of
times. He says they are wonders, regular Indians with the racquets. I’ve
got Charlie Mabie scouting now. He will bring back the news.”
“I hope you will not do anything that isn’t quite right, George,” said
Miss Elting deprecatingly.
The captain shook his head.
“No. You’ll find they will be doing the same thing here, or trying to.
They will get a hard bump if they do,” he added under his breath. “But
you do want to look alive for those Scott Sisters. From all I can learn,
they are regular professionals, and those who have seen them play in
other matches say they are mighty tricky players.”
“You mean dishonest?” questioned Harriet.
“Well, you might call it that. I mean they would be if they could get
away with it. But even so, a player sometimes can turn a trick that isn’t
fair and not be caught at it, or else is able to convince the umpire that
she didn’t do anything unfair.”
“Nothing of the sort will be done by this team,” declared Harriet Burrell
firmly. “But though we shall play fairly, we shall go in prepared to
fight to the bitter end, to fight every inch of the way until either we
drive our opponents off the court or are driven off of it ourselves.”
“Hurrah! That’s certainly the real hero talk,” shouted Sam.
“Will you please keep still,” admonished George. “I was about to say that
I haven’t learned anything of interest about the other teams entered for
the doubles. In fact, not much of anything is known here. All of them
will be here to-morrow. Perhaps Herrington told you that the singles are
to be played off first. Some of the girls in those are to play in the
doubles also. You ought to be able to get pointers by watching them play
in the singles, learning their tricks and so on.”
“That will be helpful,” agreed Harriet.
“What do you wish to do now, sit down and rest?” questioned the captain.
“We must go back to town and get our food supplies,” answered the
guardian. “Will you come with us, George?”
“Yes, thank you. I was going to propose that you go over to town with me.
There’s something there that I want to show you. Oh, you’ll be delighted
when you see it.”