TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
"She's found the buried treasure!" screamed Buster.
The girls uttered a cheer. Harriet regarded Tommy's excited face
inquiringly.
"You really have found it?"
"Yeth, yeth."
"Where is the treasure?"
"I don't know. How thhould I know?"
"But you said you had found it," interposed the Chief Guardian.
"No, I thaid I had found the trail. Of courthe, I haven't found the
treathure. But I've found thomething, and--"
"What did you find? Come, tell us," urged Harriet.
Controlling herself somewhat, Tommy glanced triumphantly at the
expectant faces about her.
"There wath a man at thith camp latht night."
"What?" The girls asked the question at the top of their voices.
"There were two men here latht night," persisted Grace.
"Please explain what you mean, Grace," commanded the Chief Guardian.
"You say there were two men here last night. How do you know?"
"I found the markth of their feet--in the thand. But that wathn't all
I found. There wath a boat here, too--a boat. Now, what do you think
of that?"
"Try to be more explicit, Grace," urged Miss Elting. "Tell us what you
have discovered, without beating about the bush so long."
"There wathn't any buthh to beat about. It wath right on the thand.
Don't you underthtand?"
Miss Elting sat down. "Tell it your own way, then. We are simply
wasting time in trying to hurry you," she said.
"Yeth. Well, it wath thith way. I wath looking for the treathure trail
that Harriet told uth about at breakfatht thith morning, though I
don't thee how thhe thhould know anything about it. My footthepth led
me--led me, you understand? No, it wath my feet, not my footthtepth,
that led me--right along the thhore of the ocean. And what do you
thuppose I found?"
"An oyster shell," suggested Margery.
"No, not that. I found where a boat had been drawn up on the thhore
and then thhoved out again. It had been drawn up on the thand. Then
there were trackth about the place, trackth of heavy bootth, and a
mark in the thand where thomething heavy had been put down. It looked
like a box. I gueth it wath. The men had taken the box between them
and carried it up and down the thhore ath far ath I could thee. You
know, the tide wathhed the marks out near down to the thea."
"What did they do with the box, dearie?" interrupted Harriet.
"That I have not yet dethided. I thhall find out about that later.
Well, after a time, it theemth, they took the box up the thandy beach
and into the woodth, but by that time it wath tho dark that I couldn't
thee any more footprintth and couldn't tell what they did with the
box."
"Marvelous," muttered Buster. "Excruciatingly marvelous!"
"Is this a fairy story?" demanded Mrs. Livingston.
"Ask Harriet," suggested Crazy Jane. "I think she knows more about it
than Tommy does. Don't you, Harriet?"
"What makes you think that, Jane?" questioned Harriet mischievously.
"Ask me, darlin'."
"I have, dear."
Jane stepped over and whispered in Harriet's ear, the others regarding
the proceeding with puzzled expressions on their faces. Harriet's
face broke out into a ripple of smiles.
"I am caught red-handed," she said. "It seems that I am not the only
light sleeper in the Meadow-Brook camp. Jane chanced to observe
something that I did last night. She has known it all along. She
hinted at it this morning, and I suspected that she knew more than she
had told us."
"But, my dear, we are all in the dark," reminded the Chief Guardian.
"Won't you be good enough to explain this mystery? Surely you can do
so in a way that will make it clear to us. Two men, a box and a boat
and goodness knows what else, here on this lonely part of the coast."
"I was suddenly awakened last night," began Harriet without
preliminary remarks. "A boat sailed into the bay close to shore and
came to anchor. Then a small boat put off. Two men were in it. They
came ashore with a heavy box, started down the bar, then back to the
beach after I had met and stopped them. Tommy has told you the truth
about their further movements."
"Wait a moment. You stopped them, you say?" questioned Mrs.
Livingston.
"Yes. I didn't want them to get near the cabin and disturb our party.
According to their story they had made a mistake. They had some
supplies for a friend of theirs who was on a fishing trip somewhere
up the coast."
"You believed that to be the case, then?"
"No, Mrs. Livingston, I did not, because, instead of going up the
beach after I had turned them back, they went the other way,
eventually turning in among the trees, where they remained for some
time. I did not see them again until they fell over me later--"
"What!" The guardian was more amazed than before.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I followed them to see what they were
going to do. I didn't find out, but they found me, though they were
not aware of it." Harriet explained how she had lain down on the
ground and how one of the two men had stumbled over her feet without
discovering her presence. Exclamations of amazement greeted this part
of the story.
"What became of them after that?" asked Miss Elting.
"They shoved off their rowboat, rowed out to the sailboat, which
quickly weighed anchor and put out to sea. That is all I know about
it. You see, Tommy was right."
Mrs. Livingston turned to Tommy.
"My dear, you did splendidly. Of all this camp of girls you were the
only one who found the trail and read it aright. That is trailing for
you, Mr. McCarthy. But what could the men have been doing here? I do
not like the looks of it at all."
"They have gone, so we needn't worry," replied Harriet. "I forgot to
say that there was a boat in here--I think it was the same one--the
other night just before the storm. It is my idea that they came in on
that occasion to put something ashore, but were obliged to get out to
sea before the storm broke. They came back on the following night to
finish what they had failed to do the first time."
Mr. McCarthy nodded. So did Mrs. Livingston.
"Remarkable girls, these Meadow-Brook Girls, Mr. McCarthy. However,
there is nothing to be done. We shall not be bothered any more, in all
probability. Besides, they were not here on our account, so we have no
cause to worry."
"And I've got to walk back to Portsmouth," groaned Mr. McCarthy. "I
told you, Mrs. Livingston."
"Perhaps we may catch some farmer who is going in that direction, and
who will be willing to give you a lift," she suggested.
"No; you will have to let me sleep under a tree and hang about
to-night. The men are coming down in the morning to get the car out of
the pond. They might as well have two jobs as one. How did it happen,
Jane?"
For the first time the party of Camp Girls who had gathered about the
little group gave their attention to the Meadow-Brook Girls. The
latter were now discovered to be much the worse for wear. Their hair
was down over their shoulders and their clothes were soiled and torn.
"Got it hard, didn't you?" chuckled Mr. McCarthy.
"Oh, not so much," replied Jane, repressing a smile.
"You are a thight. You look ath though you had been digging for buried
treathure," declared Tommy.
"How'd it happen?" rumbled Mr. McCarthy.
"It was like this, Daddy, dear. We were running along nicely and
easily--just at a comfortable jog, when--"
"How fast?"
"How much time were we making, Harriet?"
"Nearly sixty miles an hour."
"Yes, I knew it wasn't very fast. Just jogging, Daddy."
The visitor grunted.
"Something went wrong with the steering gear. I don't know what it
was, but the wheel had no effect on the car. You should have seen us.
It was funny, wasn't it, girls, the way that car darted from one side
of the road to the other, and we hanging on for dear life? You see,
that was all we could do--hang on. Well, the car jumped the ditch,
went up the bank on that side of the road, smashed into the iron post
of a wire fence, then stood up on end and turned over backward. Did
you ever see such a contrary automobile? Where did you buy it, Dad?"
"Didn't buy it. Borrowed it of a man I know up at Portsmouth. It'll
cost me only a few thousand to make it right with him, but then Dad's
rich; don't you care."
"I never do," chuckled Jane. "Do you?"
"No, I don't, so long as no one gets hurt. How'd you get out? What did
you do when the car was stopped by the fence?"
"We just went on over, Dad. You know nothing can stop a Meadow-Brook
Girl when she is once well started on a course. We landed on plowed
ground on the other side of the fence."
"Mercy!" exclaimed the Chief Guardian.
"Can anything hurt you, girls?"
"I hope not," answered Harriet. "This was a little sudden, but we
didn't mind it so very much, did we, Miss Elting?"
"I don't know who you mean by 'we,' but please do not include me in
this particular 'we.' I am not over the shock of that plunge yet, nor
do I expect to be for some hours to come. I fear the car is ruined,
Mr. McCarthy. I hope you will not send another one down here for Jane,
if you will pardon my saying so." This from Miss Elting.
"That's all right, Miss Elting. I am not going to send another car at
present. Perhaps when you young folks are ready to go home I may send
a car for you, but I may give you a driver. For the present I've got
something else in my mind. I had to wait until I asked Mrs. Livingston
about it before I put it through. She thinks it will be fine. She will
tell you all about it at dinner to-day."
"There goes the dinner horn now," announced the guardian of the
Meadow-Brook Girls. "Girls, you are not presentable. Hurry and get
ready for dinner. We mustn't be late to-day, of all days."
It was really marvelous that the girls were able to work such a
transformation in themselves in so short a time. In the few moments
that had been left to them they had rearranged their hair, brushed the
dirt of the plowed field from their clothing and washed their faces
and hands. It was really a jolly dinner, too, for the good-natured
guest kept them all laughing with his humorous stories and odd
remarks. He was so much like his daughter Jane that they had no need
to be reminded of the relationship.
"This has been a day of excitement, hasn't it?" remarked one of the
guardians to Miss Elting. "Buried treasure, automobile wrecks,
visitors, mysterious strangers. Gracious me! what are the Camp Girls
coming to?"
"I don't know. Did Mr. McCarthy say what the surprise is that he has
in store for the girls? I thought perhaps he might have said something
about it during our absence on that automobile ride."
"Not that I heard. He undoubtedly told Mrs. Livingston. There, she is
speaking now," added the guardian.
Mrs. Livingston had risen and rapped on the table with a knife for
attention.
"Our guest and good friend, Mr. McCarthy, wishes to make an
announcement," she said, then sat down.
Jane's father got up, his face very red, his forehead glistening with
beads of perspiration.
"Your guest and good friend most emphatically _does not_ wish to make
an announcement," declared the visitor. "But it is up to him to do so
because he wishes to please that fine woman, your Chief Guardian--is
that what you call yourself, Mrs. Livingston? I get all mixed up with
various names and titles. It's as bad as attending a reception of the
royal family, judging from what I've heard."
Mrs. Livingston nodded, smiling good-naturedly.
"Well, girls, you know I've got to do something to furnish that mad-cap
daughter of mine with a variety of means of ending her life and those
of her friends. She has exhausted everything thus far. However, this
is a perfectly safe proposition, this one that I have planned for you
and her, and I don't think any of you can get into serious difficulty
through it."
"Don't keep us in suspense, Dad! Tommy will suffocate if you don't
tell us now. She has been holding her breath ever since you began
speaking," cried Jane.
A ripple of laughter ran along both sides of the table, but quickly
subsided when Mr. McCarthy again began speaking.
"Very good, if you must know. But--I say, Mrs. Livingston, I think we
won't tell them until to-morrow. As I think it over, I guess I won't
tell them after all. They'll know all about it when it gets here.
That's all." Mr. McCarthy sat down, wiping his forehead and looking
vastly relieved.
A chorus of "Ohs!" greeted the announcement. "Please, please tell us,
oh, do," they begged, but the visitor shook his head.
"I think, Mr. McCarthy, that I had better tell them if you do not wish
to. They will be too much upset otherwise," said the Chief Guardian.
"Have I your permission?"
He nodded.
"As you wish. They've got me so flustered that I couldn't say another
word to them."
"Very good. Listen, girls, and I will tell you," said the Chief
Guardian.