THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE
[Illustration: “DON’T MOVE, JESS. I AM COMING UP.”]
THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE
OR
The Strange Hut in the Swamp
BY
MARGARET PENROSE
AUTHOR OF “THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN,” “THE RADIO
GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND,” “DOROTHY DALE
SERIES,” “MOTOR GIRLS SERIES,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
BOOKS FOR GIRLS
By MARGARET PENROSE
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
RADIO GIRLS SERIES
THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN
THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM
THE RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND
THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE
DOROTHY DALE SERIES
DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY
DOROTHY DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL
DOROTHY DALE’S GREAT SECRET
DOROTHY DALE AND HER CHUMS
DOROTHY DALE’S QUEER HOLIDAYS
DOROTHY DALE’S CAMPING DAYS
DOROTHY DALE’S SCHOOL RIVALS
DOROTHY DALE IN THE CITY
DOROTHY DALE’S PROMISE
DOROTHY DALE IN THE WEST
DOROTHY DALE’S STRANGE DISCOVERY
DOROTHY DALE’S ENGAGEMENT
DOROTHY DALE TO THE RESCUE
MOTOR GIRLS SERIES
THE MOTOR GIRLS
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR
THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH
THE MOTOR GIRLS THROUGH NEW ENGLAND
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CEDAR LAKE
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CRYSTAL BAY
THE MOTOR GIRLS ON WATERS BLUE
THE MOTOR GIRLS AT CAMP SURPRISE
THE MOTOR GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
Publishers New York
Copyright, 1924, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
The Radio Girls at Forest Lodge
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
I. Great Expectations
II. The Counterfeit Bill
III. Henrietta
IV. An Accusation
V. To the Rescue
VI. The Start
VII. The Wrecked Bridge
VIII. Risky Business
IX. On the Hunt
X. Ghosts
XI. Phrosy
XII. Queer Actions
XIII. The Race
XIV. In the Mud
XV. Lost in the Woods
XVI. From the Swamp
XVII. Payment of a Debt
XVIII. Alarmed
XIX. In Danger
XX. The Fire
XXI. A Terrible Battle
XXII. The Escape
XXIII. Suspicion
XXIV. Imprisoned
XXV. A Capture by Radio
THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE
CHAPTER I
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
“I don’t know much about your Aunt Emma, Burd, but I am quite certain I
shall adore her.”
Burd Alling, pudgy and good-natured, looked at Amy Drew and slowly
grinned.
“Good for you, Amy,” he said, returning to his plate of ice cream with
renewed vigor. “People either hate Aunt Emma or love her. I am glad you
have decided on the latter.”
“She must be a strange sort of person, your Aunt Emma,” said Jessie
Norwood, the third of the little party seated around the table at the
Dainties Shop. “I like people who have positive characters.”
“Oh, Aunt Em is positive enough, if that is what you like,” chuckled
Burd. “The worst thing about her is that she doesn’t seem to approve of
that characteristic in others.”
“You say this Aunt Emma of yours owns this place called Forest Lodge?”
Jessie interrupted eagerly. “Where is it, Burd?”
“In a forest, I suppose,” murmured Amy Drew.
“How bright you are,” scoffed Burd. “Forest Lodge is on Lake Towako,
about forty miles from New Melford,” he added to Jessie. “Aunt Em wants
to spend a week or two up in the woods, and she was bemoaning the fact,
by letter, that she had no one to go with her. I mean, no ladies. Of
course, I’m already booked to go.”
“How about us?” interposed Amy, smiling her sweetest. “Wouldn’t we do?”
“Would you like to?” cried Burd, his face lighting up over the idea.
“Amy, how could you propose such a thing!” interposed Jessie, demurely.
“Don’t you know you practically asked for an invitation?”
“Leave out the practically and you will have it,” returned Amy,
unabashed. “Besides, didn’t you hear Burd say his poor dear aunt would
be lonely away up there in the woods by herself? Be charitable, Jessie!
Be charitable.”
“But, say, if you girls really think you would like to go, I know Aunt
Em will be more than glad to have you,” said Burd. “She will greet you
as gifts from heaven.”
“Well, Jess may look like an angel, but I am sure I don’t,” remarked
Amy, paying fond attention to the remaining portion of her George
Washington sundae. “Never mind the compliments, Burd. Tell us more about
your aunt.”
“Do you think Nell Stanley could go too?” broke in Jessie, eagerly. The
prospect of a two weeks’ added vacation at Forest Lodge was becoming
alluring.
“Sure thing! The more the merrier,” Burd answered, heartily. He finished
his ice cream and motioned to Nick, the clerk, to bring more George
Washington sundaes. “She is a jolly old soul and never is happy unless
completely surrounded by young folks.”
“Oh, is she so very old?” asked Amy.
“We-ell, not so old as to be exactly decrepit,” said Burd, judicially,
though his eyes were merry. “She can still hop around pretty lively when
occasion requires. But I will not tell you another word,” he added, his
round face as severe as so habitually merry a countenance could ever
become. “Whatever else you learn about the lady, you will have to learn
from her personally. I refuse to give away a blood relative.”
“But, Burd, all this is so very wonderful!” cried Jessie. “I never dared
hope we would have another chance for fun this summer before school
opens.”
“Oh, Jess, remind me not,” commanded Amy, with a groan. “As Miss Seymour
would say, ‘Why intrude so gloomy a thought upon this joyous hour?’”
The Miss Seymour of whom Amy spoke was a teacher of English in the high
school which Jessie and Amy and their friend, Nell Stanley, attended.
The Radio Girls had returned from a wonderful vacation on Station Island
only a few days before this story opens. And now had come this
possibility of spending the short remainder of their school vacation at
a typical hunting lodge in the heart of a forest. Small wonder that with
this alluring prospect before them they could not bear the mention just
then of school and studies, for to their eager minds the possibility of
the visit looked like certainty.
“Have you told Darry yet?” Jessie asked, and Burd favored her with a
look that was almost pitying. Darry, or Darrington Drew, to give him the
benefit of his full name, was Amy’s brother and Burd Alling’s closest
chum. The two boys, though utterly unlike in looks and disposition, were
inseparable.
“Sure, I’ve told Darry,” he said, in reply to Jessie’s question. “His
enthusiasm over the project knows no bounds. Says it has been his
lifelong ambition to get in close contact with the forest rangers and
study their methods of fighting forest fires.”
“Oh, do they have fires up there, too?” queried Amy.
“Wherever there is a forest, there are bound to be fires once in a
while,” Burd informed her, from the heights of his superior wisdom.
Darry and Burd, being in college, were several years older than the high
school girls, and it was seldom that they missed an opportunity to
impress that fact upon Jessie and Amy. “That’s where the forest rangers
come in. And, believe me, sometimes they have their work cut out for
them, too.”
“Oh, Burd, please tell me more about it,” begged Jessie.
“I can’t tell you much,” replied Burd, modestly, “because I don’t know a
great deal about the work of the forest rangers—nothing, in fact, except
what I have read. But I know there is one thing that will interest you
girls mightily.”
“Bet you another George Washington sundae I know what it is,” said Amy,
quickly, and when Burd laughingly took her up she pronounced the one
word “Radio!” with proud emphasis.
“Oh, I know,” broke in Jessie, before Burd could speak. “I heard Daddy
Norwood talking about it one night to Momsey, and it was awfully
interesting, even though at that time I was not particularly interested
in radio. They use it—radio, I mean—fighting fires and things, don’t
they?”
“Especially things,” agreed Burd, with a grin. Then, becoming suddenly
conscious of the check at his elbow, he looked up and found Nick’s
worried gaze upon him. The Dainties Shop was filling up and their table
was needed.
The girls took in the situation at a glance and rose laughingly while
Burd went over to settle with Nick, much to the relief of the latter.
Burd seemed to be having some trouble getting his change, and while they
waited for him outside the door of the Dainties Shop the girls gayly
discussed this new prospect.
“I am dreadfully anxious to meet Aunt Emma,” Amy was saying when she
felt a slight touch on her arm and turned sharply about.
A tall, slender girl was standing there, and on her face was a dead
white pallor that amazed and shocked the robust girls.
She was holding toward them a five-dollar bill and Amy, the
irrepressible, laughed suddenly as her gaze fell upon it.
“Thanks, so much,” she murmured; “but I don’t happen to need it just
now.”
“Oh, Amy, hush!” cried Jessie, as she saw the mouth of the strange girl
set in a thin straight line and her eyes grow hostile.
“I wanted to ask you if you would change this for me,” said the stranger
in a colorless voice that matched the pallor of her face. “But if you
don’t care to——”
She turned away, but Jessie caught her quickly by the sleeve.
“Oh, wait a minute, please,” she said. “I am sure I can change the bill
for you.”
She fumbled in her bag, but Amy, instantly regretting her flippant
speech, found the money first in her own small bag and handed it with an
apologetic smile to the girl.
“I’m sorry I was rude,” she said. “I didn’t understand.”
This apology meant a great deal, coming, as it did, from Amy, but the
tall, pale girl seemed scarcely to notice. She accepted the five
one-dollar bills, giving her own five-dollar note in exchange. Amy
stuffed the bill in her pocket, and with a muttered word of thanks the
stranger turned and walked off swiftly. She did not turn back, and in
another moment a street corner hid her from view.
“I must say she isn’t very polite,” grumbled Amy, as Burd joined them.
“After humbling my perfectly good pride in the dust and everything.
Imagine me apologizing!”
“If I had not seen it I certainly would not have believed it,” agreed
Jessie, cheerfully, and Amy shot her an injured look.
“You mean heard it,” she corrected frigidly. “If I cared to be unkind,
my dear, I might remind you that an apology can never be seen!”
Burd went with them as far as the Norwood place in Roselawn. There he
left them, intimating that he and Darry had important business in town
and would not see them till later.
“Make it as much later as you like,” Amy told him cheerfully. “We shan’t
pine away and die in your absence.”
As a matter of fact, the girls were far too busy for the remainder of
that afternoon to give the boys more than a passing thought. They
chattered like magpies of the possible trip to Forest Lodge while, with
skilful fingers, they overhauled the radio set which Jessie and Amy
themselves had set up in the pretty and spacious living room of Jessie’s
own suite of rooms in the Norwood house. Jessie had brought a new
detector from town and was bent upon trying the effect of it upon her
set without delay.
“We must be ready for the special radio concert to-night,” Jessie
reminded her, when Amy protested against the “hard labor” her friend
imposed. “It wouldn’t do to miss it, and you know this detector is
working badly.”
Mrs. Norwood, known fondly to her daughter, and to most of her
daughter’s intimate friends as well, as “Momsey,” was away from home
that afternoon—a matter of great regret to Jessie, who had hoped to talk
over with her at once the invitation for Forest Lodge and ask her
consent to the project.
It was late before she returned, and by that time the girls had “jacked
up” the radio set until it was working perfectly. They fell upon Mrs.
Norwood simultaneously, bombarding her with facts and questions until
Mrs. Norwood laughed in helpless bewilderment and begged them to begin
all over again from the beginning and “go slowly.” This they did, and
had hardly finished when the telephone bell rang.
“Miss Alling would like to speak to you, Mrs. Norwood,” announced the
maid, coming into the room.
The girls could hardly wait for the telephone conversation to come to an
end, and, in their eagerness, did no more than stutter their questions
when Mrs. Norwood returned, a smile on her face.
They were overjoyed to find Mrs. Norwood pleasantly willing to give her
consent to the Forest Lodge project, especially now that Emma Alling had
given them her personal invitation to accompany her. It seemed that at
some former time Mrs. Norwood and Miss Alling had worked together in
some benefit scheme, and Mrs. Norwood had been strongly attracted to the
rather eccentric but good-hearted woman.
“All of which is very lucky for us,” remarked the irrepressible Amy.
“Though I must say,” Mrs. Norwood added, with a smile, “I don’t
particularly envy Emma Alling her present undertaking!”
Jessie’s eyes twinkled as she said reproachfully: “Don’t you think that
is rather hard on us, Momsey?”
Amy hastened home to gain permission to make the visit at Forest Lodge,
but was persuaded without much difficulty to return for dinner, and as
soon as the meal was over, the girls ran up to Jessie’s room to “listen
in” on the special concert that was scheduled for that evening.
They tuned the set to the wave length of the broadcasting station of the
Stratford Electric Company and almost immediately heard a man’s voice
speaking. The first words were sufficiently unusual to catch and hold
their attention.
“Before proceeding with the program, we wish to make a special
announcement,” said the voice. “There is positive evidence that a
counterfeit five-dollar bill is in circulation in this locality. The
bill has a small v-shaped notch in one corner of it and the marking on
the under side is indistinct. We wish all who hear this announcement
to-night to be on the lookout for the counterfeit money, so that any one
finding it in his possession may report it to the authorities.” That was
all.
The girls removed their head phones and stared at each other intently
for a moment. It was evident that they were both thinking of the same
thing. That five-dollar bill which the strange girl had asked Amy to
change that afternoon!
Amy reached for her purse and opened it.
“If that girl wished a counterfeit five-dollar bill on me,” she
declared, “I will pursue her to the ends of the earth and get it back.”
“Quick! Let me see that bill,” urged Jessie.
Together, heads almost touching, they examined the greenback which had
come so strangely into their possession. To their inexperienced eyes
there was nothing wrong with the marking. Then Jessie suddenly uttered
an exclamation. She pointed to a tiny, v-shaped notch in one corner of
it.
“Amy, it is, it must be, one of the counterfeits!” she breathed.