WHAT CAME OF A COLD PLUNGE
Five girls and their guardian struggled free from the sinking motor
car and began paddling for the surface. All knowing how to swim, they
instinctively held their breath when they felt the water closing over
them. Fortunately for the Meadow-Brook Girls, the top had been removed
from the car, else all would have been drowned before they could have
extricated themselves. Jane had the most difficulty in getting out.
She was held to her seat by the steering wheel for a few seconds, but
not so much as a thought of fear entered her mind. Crazy Jane went to
work methodically to free herself, which she succeeded in doing a few
seconds after her companions had reached the surface.
"Thave me, oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy Thompson chokingly.
There followed a great splashing, accompanied by shouts and choking
coughs. About this time Jane McCarthy's head appeared above the water.
She took a long, gasping breath, then called out:
"Here we are, darlin's! Is anybody wet?"
"Girls, are you all here?" cried Miss Elting anxiously. "Call your
names."
They did so, and there was relief in every heart when it was found
that not a girl was missing. But they had yet to learn how they
happened to be in the water. The latter was cold as ice, it seemed to
them, and their desire now was to get to shore as quickly as possible.
Which way the shore lay they did not know, but from the looks of the
sky-line it was apparent that they would not be obliged to go far in
either direction to find a landing place.
"Follow me, girls," directed the guardian. "We will get out of here
and talk about our disaster afterward. Harriet, please bring up the
rear. Be sure that no one is left behind."
The splashing ceased, each girl starting forward with her own
particular stroke: Tommy swimming frog-fashion, Margery blowing,
puffing, and groaning, paddling like a four-footed animal.
"Oh, help!" she moaned.
"I'm glad I'm not tho fat ath you are," observed Tommy to the puffing
Margery.
"That will do, Tommy! Buster is quite as well able to take care of
herself as are you. I've touched bottom! Here we are, girls. Oh, I am
so glad!"
"Where ith it? I can't thee the bottom."
"Stop swimming, and you'll feel it," suggested Jane, who, having
reached the shore, waded out of the water and ran, laughing, up the
bank. "My stars, what a mess!"
One by one the others emerged from the cold water and stood shivering
on the beach.
"Wring out your clothes," directed Miss Elting. This, some of them
were already doing. Margery sat down helplessly. Harriet assisted her
to her feet.
"You mustn't do that. You surely will catch cold. Keep moving, dear,"
ordered Harriet.
"I can't. My clothes weigh a ton," protested Margery.
"Buthter thinkth it ith her clotheth that are heavy," jeered Tommy.
"It ithn't your clotheth, Buthter; it'th you."
"Make her stop, Miss Elting. Don't you think I am suffering enough,
without Tommy making me feel any worse?"
"Yes, I do. Tommy, will you please stop annoying Margery?"
"Yeth, Mith Elting, I'll thtop until Buthter getth dry again. But I'm
jutht ath wet at thhe ith, and I'm not croth."
"Girls, we have had a very narrow escape. I dread to think what would
have happened had that automobile top been up. We should give thanks
for our deliverance. But I don't understand how we came to get in
there, or what it is that we did get into," said the guardian.
"I know. It wath water," Tommy informed her. "It wath wet water, too,
and cold water, and--"
A shivering chorus of laughs greeted her words. Some of the girls
began whipping their arms and jumping up and down, for all were very
cold.
"Can't we run?" asked Harriet.
"Yes, if we can decide where the water is, and where it isn't,"
replied Miss Elting. "Suppose we find the road? We can run up and down
that without danger of falling in."
"It is just to the left of us; I can see the opening between the
trees," answered Harriet. She moved in the direction she had
indicated, "Here it is. Come on, girls."
The others picked their way cautiously to her. Harriet started up the
road at a run, followed by the others and accompanied by the "plush,
plush, plush!" of shoes nearly full of water. Tommy sat down.
"What are you doing on the ground?" shrieked Margery, as she stumbled
and fell over her little companion. "Why don't you tell me when you
are going to sit down, so that I won't fall over you?"
"You wouldn't, if you weren't tho fat."
"Tommy!" broke in Miss Elting. The whole party had come to a halt,
following Margery's mishap.
"I beg your pardon, Mith Elting. I forgot. Buthter ithn't dry yet.
What am I doing? Yeth, I'm bailing out my thhoeth. Ugh! How they do
thtick to my feet. Oh, I can't get them on again!" wailed Tommy.
"What a helpless creature you are," answered Harriet laughingly.
"Here, let me help you. There. You see how easy it is when once you
make up your mind that you really can."
"No, I don't thee. It ith too dark. Help me up!"
"Take hold of my hand. Here, Margery, you get on the other side. We
three will run together. Everyone else keep out of our way."
"Yeth, becauthe Buthter ith--" Tommy, remembering her promise, checked
herself. The three started up the road at a brisk trot. Reaching the
main road, Harriet led them about, then began running back toward the
water.
"Look out for the water," warned Jane shrilly, after they had been
going for a few minutes. But her warning came too late. Harriet, Tommy
and Margery had turned to the right after reaching the open. The three
fell in with a splash and a chorus of screams. The water was shallow
and there was no difficulty in getting out, but the girls now were as
wet as before, and shivering more than ever. At this juncture the
guardian took a hand. She directed them to walk up and down the road
in orderly fashion, which they did, shivering, their teeth chattering
and the water dripping from their clothing. Reaching the main highway
the guardian turned out on this, walking her charges a full mile in
the direction they had been following before turning off into the
byway.
"This part of the country appears to be deserted," she said. "I think
we had better return. In the morning we will try to find some one."
"Thave me!" moaned Tommy. "Mutht we thtay here in our wet clotheth all
night?"
"I fear so. What else is there for us to do?"
"But let uth get our dry clotheth and put them on," urged Tommy. The
girls laughed at her.
"Our clothes are down under the water in the car, darlin'," Jane
informed her.
"Of course, they are soaked," reflected Miss Elting.
"I do not think so. The chest on the back of the car is water-proof as
well as dust-proof," said Jane. "If it weren't water-proof the things
in it would get soaked every time there was a driving rainstorm. No;
our other clothing is as dry as toast. You'll see that it is when we
get it."
"Yes, when we do," groaned Margery--"_when_ we do!"
"It might as well be wet," observed the guardian. "We shan't be able
to get it out. Do you think the car is ruined, Jane?"
"It's wet, like ourselves, Miss Elting. I reckon it will take a whole
summer to dry it out thoroughly. I've got to get word to Dad to come
after it."
"What will he say when he learns of the accident, Jane?" questioned
Harriet.
"Say? He will say it served the old car right for being such a fool.
My dad has common sense. He will have another car up here for us just
as soon as he can get one here. By the way, Miss Elting, how much
farther do we have to go?"
"I don't know, Jane. I hope it isn't much farther. How far do you
think we traveled after meeting the man?"
"Five miles, I should say."
"And he told us that the third turn-off would lead us to Lonesome
Cove, did he not?"
"He did, but he made a mistake. This is Wet Cove."
"And a lonesome one, too, even if it isn't _the_ Lonesome one,"
chuckled Harriet.
"Then we cannot be so very far from our destination. I am sure this
isn't the place. We haven't come far enough. Why didn't we think of
that before we turned into this road?"
"If I knew where you wanted to go, I might be better able to answer
that question," reminded Jane. But the guardian was not to be caught
in Crazy Jane's trap, though it was too dark to reveal the quizzical
smile that wrinkled Miss Elting's face.
"I am not sure that I know myself, Jane," was her reply.
"You fully expected to find some one here, did you not?" teased
Harriet. "I might say that you looked to find a number of persons
here?"
"We won't discuss that now. Do you wish to spoil the little surprise
that I have been planning for you?"
"If this is your surprise, I don't think much of it," declared Jane
bluntly.
"Nor can I blame you," agreed Miss Elting. "But this is not the
surprise."
"Maybe if we wait we will fall into thome more pondth," suggested
Grace. "Ith your thurprithe ath wet at thith one wath?"
"I admit your right to tease me, Tommy," laughed the guardian.
"Come on, everybody!" urged Harriet. "We must walk briskly and keep it
up. That will be the only way to keep us from catching cold as a
result of our wetting." Having paused for a moment to discuss their
situation the girls began tramping once more. As the hours dragged
along all became weary and drowsy. Their joints were growing stiff,
too, which condition was not improved by the chill of the night air.
Most active of all the party was little Tommy Thompson, who skipped
along, talking incessantly. Margery was scarcely able to keep up with
the party. Twice she leaned against a tree, closing her eyes, only to
fall to the ground in a heap. Harriet, though nearly as tired and
footsore as her companions, summoned all her will power and trudged
bravely along.
Had the Meadow-Brook Girls not been so well seasoned to hardship,
serious results might have followed their unexpected bath in the chill
waters, followed by their exposure to the searching night wind. But
they were healthy, outdoor girls, as all our readers know. The first
volume of this series, "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS,"
told the story of their first vacation spent in the open, when, as
members of Camp Wau-Wau in the Pocono Woods, they served their
novitiate as Camp Girls, winning many honors and becoming firmly
wedded to life in the woods.
When that camping period came to an end Harriet and her companions, as
related in "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY," set out
on the long walk home, meeting with plenty of adventures and many
laughable happenings. It was during this hike that they became
acquainted with the Tramp Club Boys and entered into a walking contest
against them, which the Meadow-Brook Girls won.
Our readers next met the girls in "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS
AFLOAT," a volume which contained the account of their houseboat
life on Lake Winnepesaukee. It was there that they again outwitted the
Tramp Club, who took their defeat good-naturedly and by way of
retaliation aided the girls in running down a mysterious enemy whose
malicious mischief had caused them repeated annoyance.
Then, as their summer was not yet ended, the Meadow-Brook Girls
accepted an invitation from Jane McCarthy to accompany her on a trip
through the White Mountains, all of which is fully set forth in
"THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS."
It was there that they met with a series of mishaps which they laid at
the door of an ill-favored man who had vainly tried to become their
guide. The disappearance of Janus Grubb, the guide who had been
engaged by Miss Elting during their mountain hike, and the surprising
events that followed made the story of their mountain trip well worth
reading.
And now, once more, we find the Meadow-Brook Girls ready to take the
trail again wherever that trail might lead. At the present moment,
however, it did not look as though Harriet Burrell and her friends
would reach their destination in the immediate future unless it were
nearer at hand than they thought.
Not once during the night did the moon show her face, though about two
o'clock in the morning the clouds thinned, the landscape showing with
more distinctness. The girls, when they walked down to the shore, saw
a sheet of water covering several acres. Leading down to the water was
a pier that extended far out into the little lake or pond, whatever it
might be. Harriet, Jane and Miss Elting walked out to the far end of
the pier.
Harriet pointed to the end of the pier as she stood above it. "It has
broken down," she said.
"No; I think not," answered the guardian. "I think, too, that I
understand what this is. It is an ice pier. Ice is harvested from this
pond and carried up over that sloping platform and so on to the shore
or to conveyances waiting here. But how narrow it is. How ever did you
manage to keep on the pier until you reached the end, Jane, dear?"
"I really don't know, Miss Elting," replied Jane, evidently impressed
with the feat she had accomplished. She leaned over and peered into
the water to see if she could find her car. It was not to be seen.
Dark objects, floating here and there about the surface, showed the
girls where part of their equipment had gone. Harriet was regarding
the dark objects with inquiring eyes.
"I wish we had a boat," said Miss Elting. "We could gather up our
stuff. We can't afford to lose it."
"We don't need a boat. Jane and I will get it out. What do you say,
Jane?" answered Harriet.
"I don't know what you have in mind, darlin', but I'm with you,
whatever it is."
"You and I will go in after the things."
"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Jane. "And in this cold water.
Br-rr-r!"
"No; you must not do that," objected the guardian. "At least not now."
"What is it you folks are planning?" questioned Hazel, who, with Tommy
and Buster, had joined the party at the end of the pier. Jane
explained what Harriet had proposed. Margery's teeth began to chatter
again.
"My--my weak heart won't stand any more," she groaned. "Don't ask me
to go into that horrid, cold water again. _Please_ don't!"
"You won't feel the cold once you are in," urged Harriet.
"No. I didn't feel it the other time, did I?"
"What? Go in thwimming," demanded Tommy. "I wouldn't go in that water
again for a dollar and fifty thentth; no, not for a dollar and
theventy-five thentth." Tommy began backing away, as though fearing
the others might insist and assist her in. Suddenly she uttered a
scream.
"Thave me!" yelled Tommy.
They saw her lurch backward; her feet left the pier; then came a
splash. Tommy Thompson had gone over backward and taken to the water
head first.