Books: The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake
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Laura Lee Hope >> The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake
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"Then here we go!" cried Betty, as the other girls shoved off from the
dock, and the Little Captain pushed the automatic starter. With a
throb and a roar the motor took up its staccato song of progress. When
sufficiently away from the dock Betty let in the clutch, and the craft
shot swiftly down the stream.
"Oh, this is glorious!" cried Mollie, as she stood beside Betty, the
wind fanning her cheeks and blowing her hair in a halo about her face.
"Perfect!" echoed Amy. "And even Grace has forgotten to eat a
chocolate for ten minutes."
"Oh, let me alone-- I just want to enjoy this!" exclaimed the
candy-loving maiden. They had been going along for some time, taking
turns steering, saluting other craft by their whistle, and being
saluted in turn.
"Let's go sit down on the stern lockers," proposed Grace after a
while, the lockers being convertible into bunks on occasion. As the
girls went aft, there came from the forward cabin a series of groans.
"What's that?" cried Mollie.
"Some one is in there!" added Grace, clinging to Amy.
Again a groan, and some suppressed laughter.
"There are stowaways aboard!" cried Betty. "Girls, we must put ashore
at once and get an officer!" and she shifted the wheel.
CHAPTER VIII
A HINT OF GHOSTS
"Who can they be?"
"It sounds like more than one!"
"Anyhow, they can't get out!" It was Betty who said this last, Grace
and Mollie having made the foregoing remarks. And Betty had no sooner
detected the presence on the Gem of stowaways than she had pulled shut
the sliding door leading into the trunk cabin, and had slid the hatch
cover forward, fastening both with the hasps.
"They'll stay there until we get an officer," she explained. "Probably
they are tramps!"
"Oh, Betty!" It was a startled trio who cried thus.
"Well, maybe only boys," admitted the Little Captain, as a concession.
"They may have come aboard, intending to go off for a ride in my boat,
and we came just in time. They hid themselves in there. That's what I
think about it."
"And you are exactly right, Betty!" unexpectedly exclaimed a voice
from behind the closed door. "That's exactly how it happened. We're
sorry-- we'll be good!"
"Dot any tandy?" came in childish accents from another of the
stowaways.
The girls looked at one another in surprise. Then a light dawned on
them.
"Don't have us arrested!" pleaded another voice, with laughter in it.
"That's Will!" cried Grace.
"And Frank Haley!" added Amy.
"And Paul!" spoke Mollie. "Little brother, are you in there?"
They listened for the answer.
"Ess, I'se here. Oo dot any tandy?"
"The boys put him up to that," whispered Grace.
Betty slid open the door, and there stood Will and Frank, with Paul
between them. The boys looked sheepish-- the child expectant.
"I ought to put you two in irons," spoke Betty, but with a smile. "I
believe that is what is done with stowaways."
"Couldn't you ship us before the mast?" asked Will, with a chuckle.
"That is the very latest manner of dealing with gentlemen who are
unexpectedly carried off on a cruise."
"Unexpectedly?" asked Grace, with meaning.
"Certainly," went on her brother. "We just happened to come aboard to
look over the boat, Frank and I. Then Paul wandered down here, and
before we knew it we heard you coming. For a joke we hid under the
bunks, and thought to give you a little scare. We didn't think you
were going for a spin, but when you started we just made up our minds
to remain hidden until you got far enough out so you wouldn't want to
turn back. That's what stowaways always do," he concluded.
"I'm glad you do things as they ought to be done," remarked Betty,
swinging the wheel over. She had changed her mind about going ashore
after an officer.
"Dot any tandy?" asked Paul again.
"Do give him some, if you have any," begged Will. "We bribed him with
the promise of some to keep quiet. Surely he has earned it."
"Here," said Grace, impulsively, as she extended some to the tot, who
at once proceeded to get as much outside his face as into his mouth.
Then she added rather sternly: "I don't think this was very nice of
you, Will. Betty didn't invite you aboard."
"Oh, that's all right!" said Betty, good-naturedly. "I'm glad they're
here now-- let them stay. I'm so relieved to find they aren't horrid
tramps. Besides, the motor may not-- mote-- and we'd need help-- We
will make them work their passage."
"Aye, aye, sir!" exclaimed Frank, pulling his front hair,
sailor-fashion. "Shall we holystone the decks, or scrub the lee
scuppers? You have but to command us!" and he bowed exaggeratedly.
"You may steer if you like," said Betty, graciously, and Frank and
Will were both so eager for the coveted privilege that they had to
draw lots to settle who should stand the first "trick."
For Betty's boat was a beauty, and the envy not only of Will and
Frank, but of every other boy in Deepdale. So it is no wonder these
two stowed themselves away for the chance of getting a ride in the
fine craft.
"Let's go down as far as one of the lake islands," suggested Will, who
was now at the wheel, his turn having come.
"Can we get back in time?" asked Betty. "The river is high now, after
the rains, and there's quite a current."
"Oh, the Gem has speed and power enough to do it in style," declared
Frank. "We'll guarantee to get you back in time for supper."
"All right," agreed the captain, who had gone into the cabin with the
other girls.
"And perhaps we can pick out a good place to go camping," added Grace.
The boys directed the course of the boat, while the girls looked after
Paul.
"We must stop at some place where there is a telephone," said Mollie,
"and I'll send word to mamma that Paul is with me. She may be
worried."
"Yes, do," suggested Betty. A little later the girls saw that the boys
were approaching a dock, the main one of a small town just below
Deepdale.
"Where are you going?" asked Grace of her brother.
"Going to tie up for a minute. Frank and I want to make amends for
sneaking aboard, so we thought you'd like some soda. There's a grocery
store here that keeps pretty good stuff."
"Oh, yes, I know Mr. Lagg!" exclaimed Mollie. "Barry Lagg is his name.
He's real quaint and jolly."
"Then let's go ashore for the soda ourselves, and meet him," suggested
Grace. "I am very thirsty. What is Mr. Lagg's special line of
jollity?" she asked Mollie.
"Oh, he makes up little verses as he waits on you. You'll see," was
Mollie's answer. I often stop in for a little something to eat when I
am out rowing. He is a nice old gentleman, very polite, and he has
lots of queer stories to tell."
"Has he dot any tandy?" inquired Paul, eagerly.
"Oh, you dear, of course he has!" cried his sister. "You are getting
as bad as Grace," and she looked at her chum meaningly.
Will skillfully laid the Gem alongside the dock and soon the little
party of young people were trooping up to the store, which was near
the river front.
"Ah, good day to you all-- good day, ladies and gentlemen, every one,
and the little shaver too!" cried Mr. Lagg, with a bow as they entered
his shop.
"What will you please to buy to-day?
If it's coffee or tea, just walk this way,"
And, with this charming couplet Mr. Lagg started toward the rear of
his store, where the aromatic odor of ground coffee indicated that he
had spoken truly.
"We'd like some of your good soda," spoke Will.
"Ha, soda. I don't know that I have anything in the line of soda."
"No soda?" exclaimed Frank.
"I mean I haven't made up any poetry about that. I have about almost
everything else in my store. Let me see-- soda-- soda---- "
He seemed searching for a rhyme.
"Pagoda! Pagoda!" laughed Betty.
"That is it!" exclaimed Mr Lagg. "Thank you for the suggestion. Let me
see, now. How would this do?
"If you wish to drink of Lagg's fine soda,
Just take your seat in a Chinese pagoda!"
"Very good," complimented Will. "We'll dispense with the pagoda if you
will dispense the soda."
"Ha! Good again! You are a punster, I see!"
Mr. Lagg laughed genially, and soon provided the party with bottles of
deliciously cool soda, and straws through which to partake of it,
glasses being voted too prosaic.
There came a protest from Paul, who was sharing the treat.
"I tan't dit no sody!" he cried. "It all bubbles up!"
"No wonder! You are blowing down your straw. Pull up on it, just as if
you were whistling backwards," said Mollie.
"Whistling backwards is a distinctly new way of expressing it,"
commented Frank.
"I dot it!" cried the tot, as the level of his glass began to fall
under his efforts-- successful this time.
Then, having finished that, he fixed his big eyes on Mr. Lagg, and
demanded:
"Oo dot any tandy?"
"Candy!" cried the eccentric store keeper. "Ha, I have a couplet about
that.
"If you would feel both fine and dandy,
Just buy a pound of Lagg's best candy!"
"That is irresistible!" exclaimed Will. "Trot out a pound of the most
select."
"With pleasure," said Mr. Lagg.
Merrily the young people wandered about the store, the girls buying
some notions and trinkets they thought they would need on the trip,
for Mr. Lagg did a general business.
"What are all you folks doing around here?" asked the storekeeper,
when he had waited on some other customers.
"Getting in practice for a cruise," answered Mollie. "Betty, here, is
the proud possessor of a lovely motor boat, and we are going to
Rainbow Lake soon."
"And camp on an island, too," added Amy. "I know I shall love that."
"Any particular island?" asked Mr. Lagg.
"Elm is a nice one," remarked Will "Why don't you girls try that? It
isn't as far as Triangle, and it's nearly as large. It's wilder and
prettier, too."
"Know anything about Elm Island, Mr. Lagg?" asked Frank, as he
inspected some fishing tackle.
"Well, yes, I might say I do," and Mr. Lagg pursed up his lips.
"Is it a good place?"
"Oh, it's good all right, but----" and he hesitated.
"What is the matter?" demanded Betty quickly. She thought she detected
something strange in Mr. Lagg's manner.
"Why, the only thing about it is that it's haunted-- there's a ghost
there," and as he spoke the storekeeper slipped a generous slice of
cheese on a cracker and munched it.
CHAPTER IX
OFF ON THE TRIP
The girls stared blankly at one another. The boys frankly winked at
each other, clearly unbelieving.
"Haunted?" Betty finally gasped.
"A ghost?" echoed Amy, falteringly.
"What-- what kind?" Grace stammered.
"Why, the usual kind, of course," declared Will. "A ghosty ghost, to
be sure. White, with long waving arms, and clanking chains, and all
the accessories."
"Stop it!" commanded his sister. "You'll scare Paul," for the child
was looking at Will strangely.
"Oh, it's white all right," put in Mr. Lagg, "and some of the
fishermen around here did say they heard clanking chains, but I don't
take much stock in them. Tell me," he demanded, helping himself to
another slice of cheese, "tell me why would anything as light as a
ghost-- for they're always supposed to float like an airship, you
know-- tell me why should they want to burden themselves with a lot of
clanking chains-- especially when a ghost is so thin that the chains
would fall right through 'em, anyhow. I don't take no stock in that!"
"But what is this story?" asked Betty. "If we are thinking of camping
on Elm Island, we do not want to be annoyed by some one playing
pranks; do we, girls?"
"I should say not!" chorused the three.
"Well, of course I didn't see it myself," spoke Mr. Lagg, "but Hi
Sneddecker, who stopped there to eat his supper one night when he went
out to set his eel pots-- Hi told me he seen something tall and white
rushing around, and making a terrible noise in the bushes."
"I thought ghosts never made a noise," remarked Grace, languidly. She
was beginning to believe now that it was only a poor attempt at a
joke.
"Hi said this one did," went on Mr. Lagg, being too interested to
quote verses now. "It was him as told me about the clanking chains,"
he went on, "but, as I said, I don't take no stock in that part."
"I guess Hi was telling one of his fish stories," commented Frank.
"Oh, Josh Whiteby seen it, too," said Mr. Lagg. He was enjoying the
sensation he had created.
"Is he reliable?" asked Will.
"Well, he don't owe me as much as some," was the judicious answer.
"Josh says he seen the white thing, but he didn't mention no chains.
It was more like a 'swishing' sound he heard.
"Dot any more tandy?" asked Paul, and the laugh that followed in a
measure relieved the nerves of the girls, for in spite of their almost
entire disbelief in what they had heard, the talk bothered them a
little.
"There are no such things as ghosts!" declared Betty, with excellent
sense. "We are silly to even talk about them. Oh, there is something I
want for my boat," and she pointed to a little brass lantern. "It will
be just fine for going up on deck with," she proceeded. "Of course the
electric lights, run by the storage battery, are all right, but we
need a lantern like that. How much is it, Mr. Lagg?."
"That lantern to you
Will cost-- just two!"
"I'll take it," said Betty, promptly.
"Dollars-- not cents," said the storekeeper, quickly. "I couldn't make
a dollar rhyme in there, somehow or other," he added.
"You might say," spoke Will, "''Twill cost you two dollar, but don't
make a holler.'"
"That isn't my style. My poetry is always correct," said Mr. Lagg,
somewhat stiffly.
The lantern was wrapped up and the young people got ready to go down
to the boat.
"Say, Mr. Lagg," asked Will, lingering a bit behind the others, "just
how much is there in this ghost story, anyhow?"
"Just what I told you," was the answer. "There is something queer on
that island."
"Then the girls will find out what it is!" declared Will, with
conviction. "If they could find the man who lost the five hundred
dollar bill, they're equal to laying the ghost of Elm Island. I'm not
going to worry about them."
"Let's go down a little way farther and have a look at the haunted
island," proposed Grace, when they were again on board the Gem.
"Have we time?" asked Betty.
"Lots," declared Will.
The motor boat was headed for the place. The island was of good size,
well wooded, and the shore was lined with bushes. There were a few
bungalows on it, but the season was not very good this year, and none
of them had been rented. The girls half-planned to hire one to use as
headquarters in case they camped on the island.
"It doesn't look very-- ghostly," said Betty, as she surveyed it from
the cockpit of her craft.
"No, it looks lovely," said Grace.
"Is the ghost going to keep us away?" asked Mollie.
"Never!" cried the Little Captain, vigorously.
"Hurray!" shouted Will, waving the boat's flag that he took from the
after-socket.
They made a turn of the island, and started back up the river for
Deepdale, reaching Mollie's dock without incident.
Busy days followed, for they were getting ready for the cruise. Uncle
Amos went out with Betty and the girls several times to offer advice,
and he declared that they were fast becoming good sailors.
"Of course not good enough for deep water," he made haste to qualify,
"but all right for a river and a lake."
The girls were learning to tell time seaman fashion. Betty fairly
lived aboard her new boat, her mother complained, but the Little
Captain was not selfish-- she invited many of her friends and
acquaintances to take short trips with her. Among the girls she asked
were Alice Jallow and Kittie Rossmore, the two who had acted rather
meanly toward our friends just prior to the walking trip. But Alice
was sincerely sorry for the anonymous letter she had written, giving a
hint of the mystery surrounding Amy Stonington, and the girls had
forgiven her.
Betty's Aunt Kate arrived. She was a middle-aged lady, but as fond of
the great out-doors as the girls themselves. She was to chaperone them
for a time.
The final preparations were made, the sailor suits were pronounced
quite "chicken" by Will-- he meant "chic," of course. Trunks had been
packed, some provisions put aboard, and all was in readiness. Uncle
Amos planned to meet the girls later, and see that all was going well.
The boys were to be given a treat some time after Rainbow Lake was
reached, word to be sent to them of this event.
"All aboard!" cried Betty on the morning of the start. It was a
glorious, sunshiny day, quite warm, but there was a cool breeze on the
river. "All aboard!"
"Oh, I just know I've forgotten something!" declared Grace,
"Your candy?" questioned Mollie.
"No, indeed. Don't be horrid!"
"I'm not. Only I thought---- "
"I'm just tired of thinking!" returned Betty.
"Shall I cast off?" asked Will, who, with Frank, had come down to the
dock to see the girls start.
"Don't you dare!" cried Mollie. "I'm sure I forgot to bring my---- "
She made a hurried search among her belongings. "No, I have it!" and
she sighed in relief. She did not say what it was.
"All aboard!" cried Betty, giving three blasts on the compressed air
whistle.
"Don't forget to send us word," begged Frank. "We want to join you on
the lake."
"We'll remember," promised Betty, with a smile that showed her white,
even teeth.
All was in readiness. Good-byes had been said to relatives and
friends, and Mrs. Billette, holding Paul by the hand, had come down to
the dock to bid farewell to her daughter and chums.
"Have a good time!" she wished them.
A maid hurried up to her, and said something in French.
"Oh, the doctor has come!" exclaimed Mollie's mother. "The doctor who
is to look at Dodo-- the specialist. Oh, I am so glad!"
"Shall I stay, mother?" cried Mollie, making a move as though to come
ashore.
"No, dear; no! Go with your friends. I can send you word. You may call
me by the telephone. Good-bye-- good-bye!"
The Gem slowly dropped down the stream under the influence of the
current and her own power, Betty having throttled down the motor that
the farewell calls might be better heard. Mrs. Billette, waving her
hand, hastened toward the house, the maid taking care of little Paul,
whose last request was:
"Brin' me some tandy!"
CHAPTER X
ADRIFT
"Well, Captain Betty, what are your orders?" asked Amy, as the four
girls, and Aunt Kate, stood grouped in the space aft of the trunk
cabin, Betty being at the wheel, while the Gem moved slowly down the
Argono River.
"Just make yourselves perfectly at home," answered Betty. "This trip
is for fun and pleasure, and, as far as possible, we are to do just as
we please. You don't mind; do you, Aunt Kate?"
"Not in the least, my dear, as long as you don't sink," and the
chaperone smiled indulgently.
"This boat won't sink," declared Betty, with confidence. "It has
water-tight compartments. Uncle Amos had them built purposely."
"It certainly is a beautiful boat-- beautiful," murmured Mollie,
looking about as she pulled and straightened her middy blouse. "And it
was so good of you, Bet, to ask us on this cruise."
"Why, that's what the boat is for-- for one's friends. We are all
shipmates now."
"'Strike up a song, here comes a sailor,'" chanted Grace, rather
indistinctly, for she was, as usual, eating a chocolate.
The girls, standing there on the little depressed deck, their hair
tastefully arranged, topped by natty little caps, with their sailor
suits of blue and white, presented a picture that more than one turned
to look at. The Gem was near the shore, along which ran a
main-traveled highway, and there seemed to be plenty of traffic this
morning. Also, a number of boats were going up or down stream, some
large, some small, and often the occupants turned to take a second
look at the Outdoor Girls.
Certainly they had every appearance of living the life of the open,
for they had been well tanned by the long walk they took, and that
"berry-brown" was being added to now by the summer sun reflecting from
the river.
"Is this as fast as you can go?" asked Mollie, as she looked over the
side and noted that they were not much exceeding the current of the
river.
"Indeed, no! Look!" cried Betty, as she released the throttle control
that connected the gasoline supply with the motor. At once, as when
the accelerator pedal of an auto is pressed, the engine hummed and
throbbed, and a mass of foam appeared at the stern to show the
presence of the whirling propeller.
"That's fine!" cried Grace, as Betty slowed down once more.
"I thought we'd take it easy," the Little Captain went on, "as we
don't want to finish our cruise in one day, or even two. If I drove
the Gem to the limit, we'd be in Rainbow Lake, and out of it, in too
short a time. So I planned to go down the river slowly, stop at noon
and go ashore for our lunch, go on slowly again, and tie up for the
night."
"Then we're going to sleep aboard?" asked Grace.
"Of course! What would be the fun of having bunks if we didn't use
them? Of course we'll sleep here."
"And stand watches-- and all that sort of thing, the way your uncle
told of it being done aboard ships?" Mollie wanted to know.
"There'll be no need of that," declared Betty. "But we can leave a
light burning."
"To scare away sharks?" asked Amy, with a laugh.
"No, but if we didn't some one passing might think the boat deserted
and-- come aboard to take things."
"I hope they don't take us!" cried Mollie. "I'm going to hide my new
bracelet," and she looked at the sparkling trinket on her wrist.
"Amy, want to steer?" asked Grace, after a while, and the girl of
mystery agreed eagerly. But she nearly came to grief within a few
minutes. A canoeist rather rashly crossed the bows of the Gem at no
great distance.
"Port! Port!" cried Betty, suddenly, seeing the danger.
"Which is port-- right or left? I've forgotten!" wailed Amy,
helplessly.
"To the left! To the left!" answered Betty, springing forward. She was
not in time to prevent Amy from turning the wheel to the left, which
had the effect of swinging the boat to the right, and almost directly
toward the canoeist, who shouted in alarm.
But by this time Betty had reached the wheel, and twirled it rapidly.
She was only just in time, and the Gem fairly grazed the canoe, the
wash from the propeller rocking it dangerously.
"We beg your pardon!" called Betty to the young man in the frail
craft.
"That's all right," he said, pleasantly. "It was my own fault."
"Thank you," spoke Amy, gratefully. "Here, Bet, I don't want to steer
any more."
"No, keep the wheel. You may as well learn, and I'll stand by you. No
telling when you may have to steer all alone."
They stopped for lunch in a pretty little grove, and sat and talked
for an hour afterward. Mollie hunted up a telephone and got into
communication with her house. She came back looking rather sober.
"The specialist says Dodo will have to undergo an operation," she
reported. Grace gasped, and the others looked worried.
"It isn't serious," continued Mollie, "and he says she will surely be
better after it. But of course mamma feels dreadful about it."
"I should think so," observed Betty. "They never found out who those
mean autoists were, did they?"
"No," answered Grace, "and we've never gotten a trace of Prince, or
the missing papers. Papa is much worried."
"Well, let's talk about something more pleasant," suggested Betty.
"Shall we start off again?"
"Might as well," agreed Grace. "And as it isn't far to that funny Mr.
Lagg's store, let's stop and---- "
"Get some candy and poetry," sniped Amy, with a laugh.
"I was going to say hairpins, as I need them," spoke Grace, with a
dignity that soon vanished, "but since you suggested chocolates, I'll
get them as well."
They found Mr. Lagg smiling as usual.
"This fine and beautiful sunny day,
what will you have-- oats or hay?"
Thus he greeted the girls, who laughingly declined anything in the
line of fodder.
"Unless you could put some out as a bait for our horse Prince," spoke
Grace. "It's the queerest thing where he can have gone."
"It is strange," admitted the genial storekeeper, who had heard the
story from Will. "But if I hear of him I'll let you know. And, now
what can I do for you?
"I've razors, soap and perfume rare,
To scent the balmy summer air,"
He bowed to the girls in turn.
"How about chewing gum?" asked Betty.
"Oh, would you?" asked Grace, in rather horrified tones.
"Certainly, aboard the boat where no one will see us."
"Gum, gum; chewing gum,
One and two is a small sum,"
Mr. Lagg thus quoted as he opened the showcase.
The girls made several purchases, and were treated to more of the
storekeeper's amusing couplets. Then they started off again, having
inquired for a good place at which to tie up for the night.
Dunkirk, on the western shore, was recommended by Mr. Lagg in a little
rhyme, and then he waved to them from the end of his dock as the Gem
was once more under way.
"Look out for that big steamer," cautioned Betty a little later, to
Grace, who was steering.
"Why, I'm far enough off," answered Grace.
"You never can tell," responded the Little Captain, "for there is
often a strong attraction between vessels on a body of water. Give it
a wide berth, as Uncle Amos would say."
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