FRIEND OR FOE?
When their launch pulled up to the dock that night, an anxious party
greeted them. Nettie had returned from the city, and upon finding the
cottage deserted had waited a reasonable length of time before
consulting the neighbors. Then she found that the young folks had gone
sailing.
That settled it, for the waters of the bay are never considered too
reliable, and when the girls did not return by ten o'clock Nettie
locked up the cottage and set off for the beach.
Of course, she learned that such a party had gone out, but in what
direction no one along the beach front seemed to know. The upper bay
course was the last thing thought of, and, when Nettie did succeed in
hiring a fisherman to set out and search, he went down the cove
opposite to the course taken by Ed in his motor boat.
In half an hour the fisherman returned, and, as luck would have it, he
brought with him Walter's cap, which had fallen overboard as the youth
started out from the stalled motor boat, and so drifted in the other
direction.
In the rapid time that bad news always flies, the report became
circulated that a sailing party was lost. Hazel and Paul Hastings, two
friends of the motor girls, heard the report at their cottage, and
hurried down to the little wharf, where they found Nettie in the
deepest distress.
Just as Paul was about to set out himself, the launch chugged in, with
the party laughing and singing, Cora playing that same tune, and with
our friends was the little lady from the bungalow, she who had rescued
Walter, and who went with him to the succor of the stranded ones on the
sand bar.
It was a wonderful evening, and when Cora, with Bess, Belle and Miss
Robbins, the new girl, stepped ashore, they evidently did not regret
the length of time spent upon the water.
Miss Robbins, it developed, was a young doctor, stopping up the river
in a bungalow with her mother. Her boat was towed by the launch when
they came in, and, although she wanted to row back, the others would
not listen to such a proposition.
"It won't take half an hour to get to the garage and bring my car right
down here," insisted Walter, "unless you prefer walking up to the
cottage with the young ladies, and I can run over there for you. I
will have you back in your bungalow in ten minutes more."
Miss Robbins was one of those rare young women who always did what was
proposed for her, and she now promptly agreed to go to the cottage, and
there await Walter and his car.
As they entered the little parlor Bess drew Cora aside and demanded:
"How ever did Walter find out that she'd just love to go to the
Berkshires? And he wants to know if she is _homely_ enough to be our
chaperon," she added, with a laugh.
"She is," replied Jack's sister promptly, and in a tone of voice
remarkably decisive for Cora, considering.
"But she's nice," objected Bess.
"Very," confirmed Cora, "and we should conform to the rules--homely,
experienced and wise."
"She's a lot of those," went on Bess, who seemed taken with the idea of
going to the hills with Miss Robbins as chaperon. "Besides, I like
her."
"That's a lot more," said Cora, with a laugh. "I like her, too. It
seems to me almost providential. We are going to the Berkshires, she
wants to go, we can't get a mother to take us, so a young doctor ought
to be the----"
"Very thing," finished Bess, and she joined the others indoors.
"But here is Walter back. How quickly he got around! Looks as if
Walter is very keen on time--this time," and the tooting of the auto
horn outside drew them to the door.
"Walter's privilege," whispered Cora, just as Miss Robbins hurried to
the steps.
"Isn't this splendid," said the stranger, with polite gratitude.
"One would not mind getting shipwrecked often for an auto ride. And
such an evening! or night, I suppose it is now."
"I'll go along," said Cora, realizing that she ought to do so.
"Me, too," said Jack, thinking he should go with Cora.
Bess and Belle would then be alone with Ed. Of course, Nettie was
about, and they might sit on the porch until the others returned. Jack
jumped in with Walter, while Cora and Miss Robbins took the second
seat. The car was not Walter's runabout, but a larger machine from the
garage.
"I'll have to come down in the morning for my boat," said Miss Robbins.
"We've been living on soft clams lately, and I have to go out quite a
way to dig them."
"Do you dig them?" asked Cora.
"Of course, why not? It is muddy and dirty, but it's lots cheaper than
buying them, and then we are sure they are fresh."
"I'll go up in the boat when I fetch the robe back," said Walter, who,
it was plain to be seen, liked the excuse to visit the bungalow on the
rocks. "What time do you clam?"
"Well, I have to call at the fresh-air camp tomorrow. I'll be back
about eleven, and can then get some dug in time for lunch."
"We are bungalowing," spoke Jack. "Why can't we clam, Wallie?"
Walter poked his free elbow into Jack's ribs.
"You can, of course, what's to prevent you," and he gave him such
another hard jab that Jack grabbed the elbow. "But I wouldn't start
tomorrow--it's unlucky to clam on Wednesday," finished Walter.
The girls were too busy talking to notice the boys' conversation, if
the pokes and exclamations might be classified as such.
"Don't you ever sink?" called back Jack to Miss Robbins.
"Oh my, no! I can tell all the safe and unsafe places." And she
laughed merrily.
"It is late for us to bring you home," said Cora. "I hope your mother
won't be frightened at your absence."
"Oh, no, mother has absolute confidence in me," replied Miss Robbins.
"You see, mother and I are chums. We built the bungalow."
"Built it?" echoed Cora.
"Yes, indeed. You must come around in daylight and inspect it.
Poverty may not be a blessing, but it is a pace-setter."
Walter felt this was the very kind of a girl he had dreamed of. She
might not be pretty, but when she tossed the bath robe out to him as he
was virtually washed up at her door, tossed it out while she ran to get
her own wraps to join him in the rescue, he felt instantly that this
girl was a "find." Then, when she spoke of going to the Berkshires, he
was further convinced, and now, when she told of building a
bungalow--what an acquisition such a woman would be!
"Aren't you afraid in the bungalow--just you and your mother in this
lonely place?" asked Cora, as they drew up to the territory that
outlined a camping ground.
"Well we never have been afraid," replied Miss Robbins, "as I am pretty
good with a revolver, but there seems to be some tramps around here
lately. One visited us this morning before breakfast, and mother
remarked he was not at all a pleasant sort of customer."
"We had something like a similar call," said Cora, "only the man didn't
ring the bell--he crawled around the house."
"Mercy! Why didn't the boys chase him?"
"They did, but he was beyond chase when they arrived. That's the one
thing uncertain about boys--their presence when one wants them," and
Cora stepped out of the machine to allow Miss Robbins room to pass.
"There's a light in the window," remarked Jack, as he, too, alighted
from the machine.
"And there's mother! Mother, come out a minute," called Miss Robbins.
"I want to----"
"Daughter!" exclaimed the woman at the little door. "I am almost
frightened to death. What happened? Where's your boat?"
"Why! you frightened, mother? About me?"
"Well, I suppose I should not have been," and the lady smiled as she
stepped within range of the auto lamps. "But that horrid tramp. He
came again!"
"He did! How long ago?"
"Just as you left. I cannot imagine why he should sneak around here at
this hour. He could not have wanted food."
There was no time for introductions. The excitement of Mrs. Robbins
precluded any such formality. All talked just as if they had been well
acquainted.
"We could tell the town officers," suggested Walter. "It is not safe
for women to be alone away up here."
"He wanted to hire a boat, Regina," said the mother, "just as if he
could not get one handy at the pier."
"Shall we hunt for you?" asked Jack. "We are professional burglar
hunters--do it 'most every evening."
"Oh, thank you! but there are no hiding places about our shack. Either
you are in it or out of it, and in one way or the other one is bound to
be in evidence," said Miss Robbins, smiling frankly.
"What did your visitor look like?" inquired Cora.
"He was tall and dark and very stooped," replied Mrs. Robbins.
"Besides this, I noticed he wore boots with his trousers outside, as a
farmer or clammer wears them."
"Oh!" said Cora simply. But she did not add that this description
tallied somewhat with that of the man she had seen about Clover
Cottage. She particularly saw the boots, but many clammers wear them
that way.
"I fancy the girls will be timid to-night," Cora remarked, as they
started back to the cottage.
"Yes, this has been what you might call a portentous evening," agreed
Walter, "and I do declare I think Miss Robbins is--well--nice, to put
it mildly."
"Wallie," said Jack. "I will have an awful time with you, I can see
that. But you are young, boy, very young, and she is already a doctor,
so maybe there is hope--she may be able to cure you."