CAPTAIN GEORGE MAKES A FIND
"Well, well, if it isn't the Meadow-Brook Girls."
"It's Captain George Baker," cried Harriet, really overjoyed to meet
their old friend whom, last season, they had beaten in a cross country
contest of endurance and cleverness.
The girls left the boat and ran down to the shore to welcome the
newcomers. The boys were calling their welcome before they had fairly
landed. With Captain Baker were his friends Dill Dodd and Sam Crocker,
and two other lads, whom Captain Baker introduced as Larry Goheen and
Billy Gordon.
"Where are the rest of the tramps?" asked Miss Elting laughingly,
hurrying down to the beach to greet the boys.
"In camp about two miles below here."
"I believe we have met Mr. Gordon and Mr. Goheen before," said the
guardian. "They were good enough to give us a tow."
"Yes," answered George. "They told us about that. Somehow, I half
suspected it to be you folks. After the storm of last night I wondered
how the houseboat with its crew of girls had fared, so we set out to
look for you this morning. We found you. Well, you are in a mess, aren't
you?"
"Harriet and Jane were bailing water out of the boat nearly all night,
Captain Baker," Miss Elting informed him.
"You certainly must have had a bad night," returned George Baker
sympathetically.
The guardian related briefly the experience of the night.
"Once more I take off my hat to you," said Captain Baker admiringly.
"And I take off my coat too. Fellows, all off with your coats! There's
work to be done here. How is your boat?"
At this juncture Billy Gordon, who had been looking about the deck of
the houseboat, stepped ashore.
"I don't think the hull is damaged at all. One door is smashed in and
things are pretty well soaked up. If you will permit it, we fellows will
clean up. There's a ton or more of sand and gravel in the after cockpit.
Have you a shovel?"
The girls shook their heads.
"We have a dutht pan," Tommy answered.
"We will use that and a pail, if you have one."
The lads started for the boat, having discarded their coats.
"Oh, by the way, have you any matches?" asked Harriet. "We need some
coffee this morning, but we have nothing with which to build a fire."
"Sam, you make a fire."
"The oil stove may work," suggested Miss Elting. They tried it, but
there was still too much water in the tanks, so Sam built a fire on
shore, and shortly after Harriet and Jane were busily engaged in getting
breakfast, while the boys worked steadily in the houseboat. Finding
nails, saw and hammer, they patched up the broken door and hung it back
in place. Then they removed all the supplies that had been left aboard
and began cleaning up. They bailed the remaining water out, also
shoveling out the gravel and the sand, after which they scrubbed the
floor and the walls to a height of about three feet from the floor,
where the water had left a dark line on the white woodwork.
An hour after the visiting boys had begun their work the cabin was ready
for occupancy again, but the quilts, sheets and blankets were still wet.
A larger fire was built. The boys rigged a clothes line about the
campfire and assisted the girls to hang up the wet bedding. By this time
the lads were hungry. They readily accepted the invitation of the
Meadow-Brook Girls to sit down with them to breakfast. The table and
chairs had been brought ashore, and there in the cove, with the trees
and bushes for a background, the Meadow-Brook Girls and the Tramp Club
sat down to breakfast. There was plenty of good cheer, though the faces
of the girls were pale, and Harriet and Jane looked particularly tired.
"I'll tell you what you must do," declared Captain George during
breakfast. "When you wish to shift your position, let us know, and we'll
tow you about. Did your rope break?"
Harriet confessed that she had not looked. The captain said he would
look into the matter after breakfast. The first thing to be done, after
getting the equipment back on board, would be to tow the "Red Rover" off
the shore. To do this they arranged to pass a rope to the launch, the
launch to pull ahead while some of the boys pushed on the houseboat.
In the meantime, while waiting for the equipment to dry out, George and
his friend, Billy Gordon, who owned the launch, took Harriet and Jane to
town, where Jane wished to go to renew some of their supplies, as well
as to purchase a couple of flatirons with which to press their wet
clothing that had hung in the cabin when the deluge came.
During the trip George had drawn out the story of their previous
disaster when they had drifted ashore, though Harriet refrained from
mentioning the fact that their anchor rope had been cut on that
occasion. From George's questions it was plain that he suspected
something was wrong, though Harriet failed to gratify his suspicions by
direct answers to direct questions.
George explained, during the trip to the town, that the Tramp Club had
been invited by Billy Gordon, who owned the launch, to spend a few weeks
with him on the lake. He was to furnish the launch for their cruises,
while the boys supplied the camp equipment. Billy knew the lake and they
knew how to camp, and now that they had renewed acquaintance with their
old rivals, the Meadow-Brook Girls, the Tramp Club were glad they had
accepted Gordon's invitation.
The trip to town was quickly made, and the two girls completed their
purchases with little loss of time, and were back on board the launch
within an hour from the time they had started.
"Now," said George, after they had started on their return voyage, "is
there any place you wish to go?"
"I want as soon as possible to get back to the boat and discuss with the
girls what is to be done," answered Harriet.
"Well, can we help you? Is there anywhere you wish us to tow your
houseboat?"
"Let me see," pondered Captain Burrell, "I think I should like to get
out of that cove. We haven't made any plans."
"Then suppose we tow you over in front of our camp? We'll be handy,
then, in case you need us again."
Harriet shook her head.
"I don't think that would be best. You see, we wish to go it alone. We
don't wish to have to depend upon any one."
"You don't have to do so. You are able to take care of yourselves. I'd
back the Meadow-Brook Girls against the world," declared George,
confidently, which aroused a laugh from the other occupants of the boat.
"We helped you this morning, did we not?"
"Indeed, you did."
"But they would have gotten out of the scrape without us," nodded Billy.
"Surely we would," chuckled Crazy Jane. "We always do get out of our
scrapes, somehow. But we thank you just the same."
"Indeed, we do," agreed Harriet earnestly. "I was about to say, when you
asked me if there were any place we wished to go, that we do wish to go
over to the other side of the lake some day soon, and--"
"Any time," interrupted Billy. "I'll take you over to-day, if you say
the word."
Harriet shook her head.
"Boys, we've got business on hand to-day," said Jane briskly. "There is
plenty to be done. It will take us two days to get well settled again.
You will look us up occasionally, I am sure. We can then let you know
where and when we wish to go, can't we?"
"Surely you can," agreed George enthusiastically. "But I'm sorry you
won't come to anchor near our camp."
Harriet told him they should be moving frequently; that they hoped to be
able to make a complete circuit of the lake before they had finished
their vacation. George said that the boys, too, were going to move their
camp now and then. He told the girls the Tramp Club had planned to spend
a week on one of the islands in the lake, and that they would so arrange
the time as to do so when the Meadow-Brook party was in that vicinity.
By the time they had reached the cove where the "Red Rover" lay the boys
who had remained behind had gotten nearly all the belongings aboard.
Miss Elting and the girls were helping them, Tommy taking it upon
herself to "boss" the whole job.
As soon as the motor boat party had landed, Harriet said she must look
for the anchor rope, which had not been seen that morning.
"I'll do that," offered Larry Goheen. "You ought to make it secure, so
that the boat can't get away," he added.
"I thought I secured it last night. I made a stout loop and slipped it
over the cleat on the deck. I don't see how the boat could have gotten
away unless the rope broke, which it undoubtedly did."
George said he would see about that. The rowboat had drifted ashore
unharmed. Captain George launched the boat and rowed out, paddling about
until finally they saw him stop and raise the end of a rope from the
water.
"Bring the launch out here, Bill," he called. "Yes, I've found it, and
I've found something else too. There's been some crooked work here!"
"What do you mean?" called Harriet.
"I'll tell you when I come in. I've made a find, all right!"
The captain had indeed made a find--one that more than confirmed the
suspicions he had formed earlier in the morning.