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[Illustration: The Girls Made Camp and Ate Supper.]
The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country
OR
The Young Pathfinders on a Summer Hike
By
JANET ALDRIDGE
Author of The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas,
The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat, etc.
Illustrated
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
Copyright, 1913, by
Howard E. Altemus
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Night of Excitement 7
II. The Red Eye in the Dark 30
III. A Blessing and a Threat 39
IV. The Coming of Crazy Jane 50
V. Catching the Speckled Beauties 62
VI. The Call of the Dancing Bear 69
VII. Discovering Midnight Prowlers 79
VIII. Caught in a Morass 90
IX. The Tramp Club to the Rescue 102
X. In the Hands of the Rescuers 112
XI. A Contest of Endurance 124
XII. Meadow-Brook Girls up a Tree 134
XIII. A Serious Predicament 146
XIV. Harriet Is Resourceful 152
XV. A Race for Life 163
XVI. A Treat That Was Not a Treat 173
XVII. Trying out the Gipsy Trail 186
XVIII. The Queen Takes a Hand 196
XIX. Delving Into the Mysteries 206
XX. Getting Even With George 217
XXI. Harriet Plans to Outwit the Tramp Club 225
XXII. A Combietta Concert 230
XXIII. The Harmonica Serenade 236
XXIV. Conclusion 244
THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY
CHAPTER I--A NIGHT OF EXCITEMENT
"Oh, where can Crazy Jane be!" wailed Margery Brown.
"It isn't so much a question of where Jane may be as where we ourselves
are, Buster," answered Harriet Burrell, laughingly. "However, if she
doesn't come, why, we will make the best of it. This will not be the
first time we have spent the night out of doors."
"Are we lost?" gasped Hazel Holland.
"It looks very much as though we had gone astray," replied Miss Elting,
who was acting as guardian and chaperon to the Meadow-Brook Girls.
"Oh, thave me!" wailed Grace Thompson, her impish little face appearing
to grow several degrees smaller.
"Girls! Please do not become excited," urged the guardian. "There is no
cause for alarm. Even if we have lost our way we shall find it again on
the morrow. Harriet, you have the map. Suppose we examine it again and
see if we can find out where we are. We surely must be near human
habitation, and the country is so open that really getting lost is quite
impossible."
Harriet Burrell unslung the pack that she carried over her shoulder,
then felt about in it until she found that for which she was looking.
She spread the map out on the ground at one side of the road, her
companions gathering about and gazing down over her shoulder. Miss
Elting sat down beside the map.
"Here! Trace our day's route with the pencil," she said. "This should be
Harmon's Valley. That being the case, the village of Harmon should be
not more than a mile farther on."
"There is no village anywhere near us, according to the route we have
traveled since this morning," answered Harriet.
"Oh, that can't be possible," exclaimed Miss Elting.
"Please look for yourself, Miss Elting," Harriet replied earnestly.
"After leaving Granite Mountain we swung to the left as you will see by
the line I have marked."
"Hm-m-m," murmured the guardian as she scanned the map.
"It looks to me very much as though we had taken the wrong valley," said
Harriet, as she paused in her scrutiny of the map to glance up at the
hills that shut in the valley where they now were. "See! There isn't a
town marked on this map anywhere in this valley."
"I believe you are right. In order to get to our stopping place for the
night we shall have to cross those hills to the right. How far is it
across?"
"Five miles," answered Harriet, after making some brief measurements.
"Five mileth?" wailed Grace. "Oh, thave me!"
"Tommy, will you be quiet?" begged Margery. "You make me nervous. Miss
Elting, you aren't going on, to-night, are you? I simply can't walk
another mile. My feet are so numb that I can't feel them."
"I can feel mine. They are ath big ath elephantth," declared Tommy.
"What do you say, girls? Shall we go on or make camp for the night?"
questioned the guardian. "Remember, Jane McCarthy is no doubt waiting
with her car for us over in the other valley. She will not know where to
go if we do not get in touch with her to-night."
Grace, Hazel and Margery begged Miss Elting to go no farther. They
already had made ten miles that day, which they declared was quite
enough.
"What do you say, Harriet?" asked Miss Elting.
"Of course I am a little footsore, but I could walk another ten miles if
necessary. However, the other girls do not wish to go farther, so I vote
with them to remain here for the night. But won't Jane be puzzled where
to go in the morning!"
"She will find us, my dear," smiled the guardian.
"If you think best I will cross the ridge, after supper, and see if I
can find her," suggested Harriet Burrell.
"No. I could not think of permitting you to do that, Harriet. Jane will
be sure to wait at the meeting place we agreed upon until noon to-morrow
before starting on to the next stopping place."
"But we haven't any plathe to thleep," protested the lisping Tommy. "I
can't thleep on the ground, can I?"
"No. You are going to sleep standing up like a horse," answered Margery
petulantly.
"No, I'm not. I'm going to lie down jutht like I alwayth do," lisped the
little girl.
"Girls, stop your disputing. We have other things to think of," rebuked
Harriet. "Let's try to make the best of our unpleasant situation."
Miss Elting, shading her eyes with her hand, gazed inquiringly at the
surrounding country. It was barren of buildings except for a large barn
and a number of stacks and sheds, some distance away in a field to the
west. Still beyond this was a clump of trees and bushes. There was
nothing else--no house, no human beings other than themselves in sight.
"Girls, let's investigate that miniature forest over yonder," called the
guardian. "It looks as though it might be an excellent place in which to
cook supper, provided we are able to find water."
"Supper!" cried the girls in chorus. They realized all at once that they
were hungry. With one accord they snatched up their packs, heavy as they
were, slung them over their shoulders and laboriously climbed the
roadside fence. Tommy caught her foot on the top rail in attempting to
jump to the ground on the other side.
"Look out!" warned Miss Elting sharply.
"Thave me!" wailed the lisping Tommy and sprawled on all fours on the
other side of the fence, kicking frantically as she fell.
"Are you hurt, dear?" cried Harriet, springing over to her companion.
"Hurt? I gueth I am. Don't you thee, I've thkinned my nothe. Oh, I withh
I were home!"
"No, you don't. Think what a lot of fun you are having," comforted
Harriet. "There! You are all right now."
"Am I all right?"
"Of course you are."
"All right, if you thay tho," nodded Tommy, gathering up her pack and
moving away with Harriet Burrell's arm about her. Miss Elting and the
other girls had started for the clump of trees. Arriving, they quickly
flung down their packs. The guardian began hunting for water. She found
a stream of cold water just inside the clump of trees beyond the field,
as she had anticipated. The greenness of the foliage about the spot had
told her that water was near. In other parts of the valley the leaves
were turning. There was a strong suggestion of Autumn in the air, which
at night was crisp and bracing, though the days thus far on their long
tramp, had been unusually warm for so late in the Fall.
It was Harriet's duty to build the fire. She went about this task at
once. There was some difficulty in finding wood that would burn. After
searching she found some pieces of old fence rails. These were of pine,
and as they were too long for a fire over which to cook food, Harriet
got out her hatchet and began to chop them into smaller pieces. It was a
hard task to chop through a rail, sharp though the hatchet was. However,
within fifteen minutes, the girl had accomplished the task and the fire
was burning.
"I am afraid I can't promise a great variety or quantity of edibles for
supper," announced Miss Elting, "though what there is to eat will be
appetizing."
"If there is enough, it will answer," Margery declared.
"Enough?" repeated Tommy wisely. "Buthter, you thurely ought to diet--a
girl ath thtout ath you are."
"I think I've heard you remark something of the sort before," sighed
Margery wearily. "I wish you would forget that I weigh--well, never mind
how much! The subject is a distressing one. I'm almost too hungry
to-night to think of anything except eating."
Tommy's mischievous glance roved about, resting first on Harriet, who
with flushed face was bending over the fire, then on Miss Elting, who
was slicing bacon. In addition to the bacon there was to be coffee,
supplemented by a few biscuits. There was nothing very hearty about that
repast for healthy girls who had tramped for hours under a warm
September sun. Still, there were no complaints, save as Tommy and
Margery had voiced their disgust with their present life.
Though none of these young women could guess it, they were destined,
before morning, to encounter enough excitement to make them all wish
they had never started on this long walk from Camp Wau-Wau, where they
had spent the summer, to their homes in Meadow-Brook.
Surely the Meadow-Brook Girls need no introduction to the readers of
this series who will recall how, under the chaperonage of Miss Elting,
the four girls had gone to the summer camp in the Pocono Woods, where,
somehow, each day of their life had grown increasingly exciting. All of
the things that happened to Harriet and her friends at that time are set
forth in the first volume of this series, under the title of "The
Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas." While in the summer camp the
Meadow-Brook Girls had passed through many varied and exciting
experiences. The mischievous initiation of Harriet Burrell and Grace
Thompson by the older girls, the arrival in the camp of Jane McCarthy,
known to her friends as "Crazy Jane" and the series of lively happenings
that followed her coming; the nocturnal visit of a bear, and Harriet's
spirited chase of the animal were incidents that contributed to the
interest of the narrative.
Harriet's brave rescue of her companions during a severe storm and her
subsequent generous treatment of the two Camp Girls, Patricia Scott and
Cora Kidder, who had plotted against her, won for her the warm
admiration of her associates at Camp Wau-Wau.
When it had come time to leave the camp in the great forest it had been
agreed by the Meadow-Brook Girls and their guardian that, instead of
returning by train they would walk all the way home, disdaining any
"lifts" or other helps that prevented them from making their way
strictly on foot.
So endeared had "Crazy Jane" McCarthy become to them all during her stay
in camp that she had been voted as one of their number. Crazy Jane,
however, would hear of but little walking. She sent for her automobile,
a present from her father, and insisted on using this in "scouting" and
in carrying the tent and provisions for the Pathfinders, as the
Meadow-Brook Girls now elected to call themselves.
Each night Jane would meet the girls at a place agreed upon in advance.
Then the tent would be pitched at some distance from the highway, and
there the girls would spend the night. But now, on the third day, the
Meadow-Brook Girls had failed to meet their supply car. What they were
to do for the night, Miss Elting did not know. Her first move was to see
to the preparation of the little food that they had with them.
Jane McCarthy, with a full purse and a wealthy, indulgent father, had
claimed the right of being purveyor of food on that long journey. The
speed at which that young woman traveled permitted of her foraging far
and wide. Whereever she went she was likely to be remembered, for it was
her reckless driving that had given her the name of "Crazy Jane." Yet
this light-hearted, impulsive girl had wonderful control of her machine.
With all her reckless driving she had never yet injured any one, though
her friends often remonstrated with her for her haphazard style of
running her car.
Supper finished, Margery and Hazel were left to attend to the dishes,
and to put them in the packs, which were ordinary hunters' bags, made to
strap over the shoulders.
"After you have finished the work, girls," directed Miss Elting, "be
sure to extinguish the last spark of the fire. Harriet, will you come
with me?"
"Thay, where are you going?" cried Grace. "Pleathe don't go away and
leave uth here alone. It ith going to be dark, pretty thoon."
"Don't you want a place to sleep?" smiled the guardian.
"Yeth, but it'th getting dark," Tommy insisted.
"All the more reason for finding sleeping quarters," smiled Miss Elting.
"Are you thinking of trying the barns?" asked Harriet, as she and the
guardian stepped away.
"Yes. I don't see anything else to do."
"We're going to have a storm," Harriet went on thoughtfully, "so of
course we shall do well to secure more shelter than we could get by
making a brush lean-to."
"I don't believe we are in the least danger of being disturbed in the
barn," the guardian continued. "I don't imagine there are any other
human beings within several miles of this place. This is certainly a
very lonesome bit of country. It is the first day since we have been out
that we haven't met some one. That may be because we have kept away from
the roads to-day. We haven't been on a highway more than an hour all day
long."
"This is what I like," answered Harriet. "I just love to strike out
across country and blaze new trails. It's ever so much more interesting.
But, Miss Elting, are you certain there is no one about?"
The guardian halted sharply and faced her companion. She knew Harriet
Burrell too well not to understand that the girl's question was
significant.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I saw some one not far from camp when we were eating our supper," was
Harriet's quiet announcement.
"You are sure of that?"
"Yes; it was just beyond the woods there. At first I thought it a fence
post; then all at once the post moved. I saw it was a person."
"What was the person doing, Harriet?"
"The person appeared to be watching us. I also discovered something
else. The person was a _woman_."
Miss Elting threw back her head and laughed merrily.
"I don't think we need to be very much alarmed at that. So long as it
wasn't a tramp you saw, we won't disturb ourselves."
"She was a strange looking creature," continued Harriet. "I couldn't
make her out very well. All at once she disappeared in the most
mysterious fashion. You said something. I glanced up, then back to the
place where the woman had been standing and she had gone. It happened in
less than half a dozen seconds. She would have to be a pretty lively
person to get out of sight in that time, wouldn't she, Miss Elting?"
The guardian nodded. They had now reached the big barn. Like its
surroundings, it was deserted so far as they were able to observe. Miss
Elting wished to examine the place while there was still light, so they
hurried in, the doors being wide open. The scent of hay was strong on
the air as they entered. There were little heaps of hay on the barn
floor, and on either side in the mows the hay was piled up high. Ladders
led up to the top of the mows from the barn floor.
"This looks nice and comfy, doesn't it?" smiled the guardian.
"The best sort of bedroom," agreed Harriet. "I hope there are no mice
here?"
"Mice? Gracious! I hope not, too. I think we can do no better than to
climb the ladder to the top of one of the mows, roll up in our blankets
and go to sleep. Which bedroom will you take, the north or the south?"
"I think I should prefer the room on the south side. One is more likely
to get the morning sun there," answered Harriet gravely.
Miss Elting laughed.
"Thank you. I hadn't thought of it in that light. The south side bedroom
will be best for the Meadow-Brook Girls. I know Jane McCarthy would
enjoy this sort of camping out. As it is, she will have to sleep at a
farm house to-night. She will never be able to find us here. Suppose you
climb the ladder and see how the land lies."
"You mean the hay," chuckled Harriet, running up the ladder with
agility. "Oh, it is fine up here, and just as warm as can be. Won't it
be splendid to sleep on the hay?" she called down, peering over the edge
of the mow.
After gazing over the mows for some moments Harriet finally descended to
the floor. Next she and Miss Elting made a survey of the yard back of
the barn. The yard was surrounded by empty sheds and great stacks of hay
and straw. It was evident that the owners intended to winter
considerable stock in this remote place.
"Well, what do you think of it, Harriet?" inquired Miss Elting.
"Glorious! It is as clean and sweet here as in our own bedrooms at home.
I'll tell you what I will do. I'll run back and get the girls," said
Harriet.
Miss Elting nodded acquiescence and Harriet hurried across the field,
the teacher remaining at the barn to investigate the place further while
Harriet went for her companions. This she did, and decided that they
were most fortunate in finding so comfortable a place in which to spend
the night.
Half an hour later she heard them coming. Tommy's chatter sounded louder
than the conversation of all the rest of the party. Twilight had settled
over the interior of the barn by the time the girls came trooping in.
"Br-r-r-r! This place looks spooky," cried Margery. "We aren't going to
stay in here all night, are we, Miss Elting?"
"Yes, Margery. You are not afraid of the dark, are you?"
"No-o-o. But----"
"There is nothing to alarm you. As we are all rather tired, I propose
that we go upstairs and get to bed at once. I am sorry we shall not be
able to get our baths this evening. This hotel isn't provided with bath
tubs. By the way. There are matches in our packs, so we will leave them
below. One of the first things a Camp Girl learns, you know, is to be
careful of fire both indoors and out. Strap your blanket rolls over your
shoulders. You know it is quite a climb to your bedrooms."
"Up there is where we sleep," Harriet informed them. The top of the mow
was not discernible from the barn floor now.
"What! Away up there?" demanded Margery. "How do we get up?"
"We shall have to climb the ladder," answered Miss Elting.
Margery groaned.
"I'm glad it's dark. If it were daylight I know I should fall," declared
Hazel. "Let me go first. I don't want to stand here and think about what
is before me. If I stop to think I'll never have the courage to climb."
"Don't look down," cautioned the guardian. "There. That's fine."
Hazel was going up rapidly. Margery, with many a groan, next essayed the
climb. Harriet was directly behind her. Margery had not gone far before
the wisdom of Harriet's action became apparent. A wail from Margery
brought a chorus of "ohs!" from her companions.
"I can't go another step," gasped Margery. "I'm going to fall. Catch me
somebody."
"Margery, keep on climbing. I'm right below you here. Go on," urged
Harriet.
"Oh, I--I can't. I'm dizzy."
"Buthter ith theathick," observed Tommy from the barn floor. Harriet
began lightly, tapping Buster with a switch that she had brought with
her.
"Oh! Ouch! Stop it! I tell you stop it!" howled Margery.
"Climb!"
Margery _did_ climb. She went up the ladder faster than she ever had
climbed before, wailing and threatening every foot of the way. Tommy was
delightedly dancing about on the barn floor during all this time,
uttering a perfect volley of unintelligible lisps and jeering cries.
Margery reached the top of the ladder and flung herself panting on the
hay.
"Be careful not to come too near the edge," warned Harriet, hurriedly
clambering down. Buster made no reply. She was too much out of breath to
say a word. "Now, let's see what _you_ can do, Tommy. See if you can do
any better," chuckled Harriet.
"You jutht thee me climb. I'll thhow you. I gueth I know how to climb.
Buthter ith too fat to climb a ladder. Don't you hit me. I'll kick you
if you do," was her parting admonition as she began running up the
ladder. Rather to the amazement of her companions, Grace made the climb
to the haymow without the least difficulty. Only once did her foot slip
from a rung of the ladder. Grace recovered it with no more than a
smothered little exclamation.
"You next, Miss Elting," nodded Harriet.
"I will wait until you get up. I wish to look after the packs first.
What would we do were we to lose them? We shouldn't have a thing to eat
for breakfast, and goodness knows when we will reach a store to purchase
food."
It was not long afterwards that the party of young women were fussing
about in the hay, making their beds for the night. This consisted in
leveling off the hay and spreading their blankets. Some little time was
occupied in working out the uneven spots, but after a time they lay down
with piled-up hay for pillows, and rolled themselves in their blankets.
The girls went to sleep almost at once. Miss Elting, however, remained
awake until her charges had finally settled down, as she supposed, for
the night. She was just about to doze off when she was awakened by a
scream and a commotion at one end of the mow. The guardian sprang up in
alarm.
"For mercy's sake! What is it?" she cried.
"Oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy.
Miss Elting and Harriet groped their way to Grace.
"I got a bug in my ear. Yeth I did. It bit me. I won't thtay here
another minute. I'll----"
"I'll go out doors and sleep," declared Margery in disgust. "The idea of
being kept awake all night by that crazy girl."
"Margery!" rebuked the guardian. "Now, Tommy, you must lie down and go
to sleep. This will not do at all."
"I will drag my blanket over and keep her company, Miss Elting," offered
Harriet. "Perhaps she did get bitten. I felt some sort of insect
crawling over my face a moment ago. There now, Tommy, you just snuggle
down and forget all about it."
"I don't like bugth," complained Tommy, somewhat mollified. A few
moments later she was sound asleep. Harriet, after making sure that
Grace was slumbering, once more permitted herself to doze off. She had
been asleep but a few moments when a wild scream of terror awakened them
all. Harriet felt the blanket jerked violently from her and heard a
floundering and threshing on all sides that filled her with alarm.
Stretching out her hand she found that Tommy was no longer beside her.
Tommy's voice rose in a loud wail of terror.
"Oh, Tommy!" cried Harriet.
"Girls, girls! What _is_ the matter?" exclaimed Miss Elting.
"A mouthe, a mouthe!" shrieked Tommy.
"This isn't a hay barn, it's a lunatic asylum," scoffed Margery. "Oh,
mercy! Help, help!" she shrieked. The mouse had found Margery too. In
the darkness of the haymow the Meadow-Brook Girls were now floundering
about in great alarm. Out of the disorder Miss Elting quickly brought
order. She spoke sharply to Tommy, insisted that Margery should return
to her blanket and commanded the girls to make no further disturbance.
"The idea that Meadow-Brook Girls should be so timid," she rebuked.
"Harriet, I am glad to know that you are not."
"I--I think I should have screamed too if a mouse had--how do you know it
was a mouse, Tommy?"
"It ran right over my fathe. I gueth I know what it wath. I gueth I will
thleep thanding up. May I, Miss Elting?"
"If you prefer to do so. I am going back to bed. I must insist on the
others doing the same, or at least keeping quiet. We shall be in no
shape to go on with our journey in the morning at this rate."
Tommy decided that she, too, would lie down and soon their regular
breathing told the guardian that most, if not all, of the Meadow-Brook
Girls were sound asleep. Harriet, however, now that she had been
awakened, found it difficult to go to sleep again. She lay staring up
into the darkness for some time.
A sound down on the barn floor put her instantly on the alert. At first
she thought some farm animal had wandered into the barn; then the
distinct sound of human footsteps, reached her ears.
Harriet Burrell listened intently, as yet unafraid. She crawled
cautiously to the edge of the mow and peered over. A human form was
faintly outlined down there. The figure was groping along the edge of
the mow and muttering. The listener was unable to make out the words. At
last the intruder uttered a sharp little exclamation of satisfaction,
then began to climb the ladder on the opposite side of the barn floor.
"It's a woman!" gasped Harriet. "Who can it be, and what does she want
here?" With straining ears and closed eyes the Meadow-Brook girl
listened. She heard the woman reach the top of the ladder and step off
into the hay. A few moments later Harriet heard her mumbling at the far
side of the mow, over near the opposite end of the hay barn. "How
strange!" muttered the girl.
A low, distant rumble of thunder attracted her attention in another
direction. A moment later a faint flash of lightning dispelled the gloom
a little.
"The storm is coming. I hope the girls won't wake up." The darkness now
seemed to be more intense than before. Harriet was unable to distinguish
one object from another. She crawled back toward her bed and was about
to wrap herself in her blanket again when a second time she heard
footsteps on the barn floor. This time she scrambled back to the edge
more hastily than before. At first she thought the woman had climbed
down and was going away from the mow. The girl leaned far over. She
could see no one this time, but she plainly heard some one climbing up
the opposite ladder again. Harriet wondered if it were tramps; then she
recalled that the first visitor, being a woman, would be unlikely to be
a tramp.
"It must be some one seeking shelter from the coming storm," Harriet
finally decided, now wondering if it would not be advisable to wake up
Miss Elting. Upon second thought the girl decided not to do so. Instead,
she leaned farther out over the edge of the mow and peered down
anxiously.
A flash of lightning, more brilliant than the first, lighted up the barn
from end to end. By the light of the flash Harriet Burrell saw that
which set her nerves to tingling and caused her to utter a suppressed
gasp.
Below her on the barn floor stood a man. He was swarthy; his coal black
hair hung down in long, glistening locks. His eyes, large and very black
were gazing right up into the girl's face. She shrank back trembling.
"Oh!" gasped the Meadow-Brook girl. "Oh! He saw me. Oh, what shall I
do!"
The man began climbing the ladder on her side of the barn. Harriet could
hear him plainly. She began crawling back into the mow on her hands and
knees. Her first inclination, on reaching her blanket, was to burrow
under the hay so as to be out of sight. But it occurred to her that her
companions would still be in plain sight were another flash of lightning
to illumine the mow. Harriet promptly decided to lie still and await
developments. She knew that Miss Elting carried a revolver, and that the
guardian was proficient in its use. This thought gave Harriet comfort.
Besides, what was there to fear?
To add to the excitement a second man entered the barn at this juncture.
But instead of climbing up after the other man he took the opposite
ladder up which the woman had gone a few moments before. The man on the
girls' side was rapidly nearing the top. Harriet lay trembling, hoping
there would be no more lightning. Suddenly a brilliant flash lighted up
the barn from end to end. It revealed the man clinging to the ladder,
his head on a level with the top of the mow, glancing over it keenly,
searchingly. Harriet's left hand stole toward Miss Elting who lay within
easy reach. It was Harriet's intention to awaken her as quietly as
possible as soon as the light died away. But ere her hand descended on
Miss Elting's arm, something occurred that made this move on Harriet
Burrell's part, unnecessary.