Produced by Al Haines
[Illustration: Cover art]
THE ISLAND CAMP
BY
ETHEL TALBOT
LONDON
THE SHELDON PRESS
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.
NEW YORK AND TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN Co.
Printed in Great Britain.
CHAPTER I
"It'll be an awfully long day," said Robin.
"Yes," said Peter and Jan.
"We'd better _do_ something then," said Robin.
"Yes," said Peter and Jan again.
But it was difficult to know exactly _what_ to do! For to-day was
the day on which the Lennox cousins were to arrive--Dick and Donald,
who had been invited to spend the last weeks of the holidays with the
Vaughans. The Vaughans had been looking forward to this day
immensely, but now it had come at last they felt that they could
hardly get through the hours before their visitors would actually
arrive. There would be "tons of things," as Peter said, "to do
_then_," but there seemed nothing to do to-day.
"Let's go over to the Island," said Robin at last.
The island lay in the middle of the river that flowed at the bottom
of the Vaughans' garden; it was only the work of a few minutes to
pull across to the wooded little place where Brown the gardener had
his cottage, but where, otherwise, the birds had it pretty much to
themselves, as Jan said.
For the Vaughans were tremendously hard workers; Robin was entered
for his first real exam.; Peter and Jan were each head of their forms
at their respective schools, and "meant to keep head." Thus the
Island certainly _was_ left to the birds except in the holidays;
but--a holiday camp was to be one of the tremendous pleasures ahead
when the Lennoxes came.
"For they're Scouts, you see, like us, so they're sure to be keen,"
Robin had said, in appealing to his mother.
"It'll be such awfully good practice," Peter had gone on.
"And, as I'm a Guide----!" Jan had begun.
Mrs. Vaughan had laughed; she was a "jolly good mother for Scouts and
Guides to have," as the boys and girls declared, because "she never
fussed." She trusted them and left them to themselves, so that they
might learn "self-reliance," as she told them. After she had
laughed, however, on this occasion she shook her head. "I have no
objection to your camping out for a night or two," she said. "After
all, Robin camped with his troop last year, and the holiday won't
have done much for him if he can't captain the rest of you over on
the Island, but----"
"Oh, _Mother_!" said Jan, who guessed what was coming.
"Yes, I won't have Jan sleeping out of doors. Pneumonia two years
ago, you remember, Jan? Or perhaps you don't,--you were too small;
but--I _do_! No, Jan may choose either to sleep at home and join the
boys by day, or--" Mrs. Vaughan wrinkled her brow--"perhaps
Gardener's wife, Mrs. Brown, has a spare room. Yes, of course she
has. Now, Jan, would you feel more on the spot and more of a regular
camper if I could arrange for you to sleep in the Island Cottage?"
"Oh, yes." Jan's eyes sparkled with delight.
"And the Lennox boys are Scouts too, so they'll be willing enough,
I've no doubt," went on Mrs. Vaughan. "In fact I mentioned something
of the plan to your aunt, and she seemed very pleased. Well, I think
it can be arranged, but--it would be well to wait for really settled
weather, wouldn't it?"
"The wind's in a good quarter _now_," Peter had said.
That had been yesterday, and the Lennoxes were coming in a few hours.
It had been decided, though, that for a day or two the newcomers
should sleep at the Chase and be introduced to the interests that the
house and garden afforded. "You must remember," as Mrs. Vaughan told
the children, "everything will be new and interesting to them. It is
the first time they have been to the Chase, and the house will mean a
good deal to them as belonging to their mother's family for so many
generations. They may not want to camp out just at once, and----"
"It's queer, isn't it?" said Peter to the others as they made their
way over to the Island, "to think that they've never yet seen the
house, though Father is their uncle, and everything!"
"That's because they've always lived so far north," said Robin,
"though it isn't as though the Chase is as it used to be, _then_--in
the old days I mean. They'll understand that, though; they must have
heard----" he sighed. "It must have been rippingly jolly," he said,
"to live here in the old days."
"It is--_now_," said Jan loyally; but she and Peter knew what Robin
meant. For the Chase had been the home of the Vaughan family for
generations; it was an old rambling place standing in large grounds,
but, ever since the children could remember, most of the house had
been shut up and empty. Stories of the old days when their father
and his sister had been young--before the change of fortunes had come
which had made everything so different--were interesting to hear, if
a little strange to understand.
"I often wonder," said Jan, when they were making their way across to
the Island for another look at the camping ground on which they had
fixed, "exactly what the mystery was."
"I do, too. But Dad never told us. When War's over, and he's back,
perhaps he will. We'll be older," said Robin. "It's--a family
secret, something to do with something that happened. It killed
Grandfather, I believe. He died of a broken heart, or something.
There was lots of money to pay, too, and--the Chase has been pretty
nearly all shut up ever since, but----"
"I think it's strange," said Jan, "and _I_ think it'd be better to
tell us. We might help, you know. Oh, of course I know we all work
frightfully hard at school because we're to bring back the family
fortunes, but there are things I want to know about. There's a gap
in the gallery where a picture's been taken down,--in between the
portraits of Dad and Aunt Agnes when they were children,--Mother
wouldn't tell me why. Not that I'd ask again, but----"
"Perhaps the Lennoxes will know," suggested Peter.
"If they do, I'm not sure that we ought ----" Robin was beginning
when the sound of a horn was heard. It was Mrs. Vaughan's signal to
the children when they were on the Island that they were wanted at
once at home. At its sound the three turned their steps back to the
boat, and in a few minutes Robin and Peter were pulling across. "Oh,
my dears," said their Mother, standing on the opposite bank, her face
quite pale with anxiety, "_such_ an unexpected thing has happened!"