The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat Part 2

"I just can't wait until I get to work," declared Jane McCarthy, her eyes s.h.i.+ning.

"I can wait until I've eaten my breakfast," replied Margery, then flushed as Tommy giggled meaningly.

Readers of the first volume of this series, "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS" will recall the many exciting adventures that befell the five girls and their guardian, Miss Elting, while summering at Camp Wau-Wau, a part of the Camp Girls' organization. The attempts of two mischief-making camp girls to disgrace Harriet in the eyes of the camp, Harriet's brave rescue of her enemies during a severe storm and her generous method of dealing with them aroused the interest and admiration of the reader. The various ludicrous happenings in which Grace Thompson and Jane McCarthy figured prominently also added to this absorbing narrative of outdoor life.

"THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY" relates the adventures of the girls and their guardian on their homeward march from Camp Wau-Wau.

Their meeting with a number of boys on a hike, who styled themselves the Tramp Club, and the subsequent wager made with them by the Meadow-Brook Girls to race them to the town of Meadow-Brook, furnished the theme for the narrative. While following the fortunes of the road the girls met with numerous adventures. The reader will recall their encounter with the tramps, their rescue by Sybarina, the Gipsy, and the night spent in the Gipsy camp where Harriet, disguised as a Gipsy, told the fortune of George Baker the leader of the Tramp Club, and at the same time under the pretense of revealing his past rated him soundly for a trick which he and his band had played upon the girls.

Once back in Meadow-Brook the girls had settled down to a busy winter in high school. Now that summer had come again, accompanied by Miss Elting, they had planned to spend their vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee, aboard a houseboat owned by Miss Elting's brother.

The "Red Rover" in its coat of bright new paint looked really fine that morning. As the girls neared it the odor of fresh paint was borne to their nostrils on the breeze that drifted in from the lake. Full of enthusiasm the girls hurried aboard the boat. There was much to be done, and all were eager to settle their home and to begin the fascinating life that was before them, a life that not one of the girls had ever before enjoyed. The painters came soon after, and began putting on the second coat of paint. The girls, as soon as they had donned ap.r.o.ns and gloves, started to put on the second coat in the interior of the boat.

The windows were on hand, ready to be set in place and everyone went to work with a will.

So rapidly did the girls and Jane's painters work that, by noon, the work, both inside and out, had been completed, including a coat of paint on the floor. The painters were paid off by Jane and dismissed. Jane stepped out on the pier to survey the work.

"Girls, we've forgotten something," she cried. "We must have the name on the side of the boat. The 'Red Rover' you know? I forgot that when the men were here. Can any of you print?"

"I think perhaps I might do it," answered Miss Elting. "But we shall have to wait until the red paint dries. Suppose we sit down and rest for an hour or so?"

"Rest!" shouted Crazy Jane. "There's no rest for the Meadow-Brook Girls.

It's work and trouble and trouble and work all day and all night. Girls, we've got to have a new stove, and we must have a lot of other things, including some curtains and home comforts. Can you help me load the old stove into the car?"

"Not without breaking it, I'm afraid," answered Miss Elting laughingly.

"Then get the axe. We'll smash the old thing. Hey there, you man," Jane shouted at a pa.s.sing farmer. "Want to earn fifty cents? Well, get busy here, and help us move the stove."

With the aid of the farmer they took down the old wood stove and loaded it into the automobile. Next they made a hurried toilet and drove into the village. Most of the afternoon was spent in making purchases. All the bedding had been s.h.i.+pped by freight, as had the folding cots, the cooking utensils and their tent. Harriet proposed that they make the tent into an awning over the upper deck. She thought it would be a pleasant place to sit in the evenings. Her companions agreed with her.

This necessitated calling in a carpenter. He was sent out to the boat to do the work while they were finis.h.i.+ng their shopping.

Among the purchases was an oil stove--Jane had sold the old one--a large quant.i.ty of canned goods, potatoes and other vegetables, all of which they planned to stow in the front of the houseboat under oilcloth. Here also was stowed a huge sea chest that had belonged to Jane's great-grandfather. It was supposed to be water-tight and in this the Meadow-Brook Girls decided to place all their extra clothing. A rag carpet was found that answered very well to cut up into rugs to lay on the floor. The carpenter made a ladder by which to climb to the upper deck. Then there was rope and an anchor, the latter a piece of an old mowing machine; a rowboat, which Jane rented, and heavy green shades at the windows so that they should have greater seclusion; also a cask to hold drinking water.

When the girls finished their work that night Crazy Jane McCarthy had spent quite a sum of money, but the equipment for the "Red Rover" was as nearly complete as they were able to make it. Just before sunset they went out to watch Miss Elting paint the name on the side of the boat. In large, neat letters she painted the name in white. The letters stood out in bold relief against the brilliant red of the boat.

"I propose three cheers for the artist," cried Harriet.

"Wait a minute," called Tommy.

"Well, what is it?" demanded Margery.

"The job ith not finithhed yet. Mith Elting hathn't painted the name on the other thide."

"That is true, but to do so I should have to stand in the water,"

laughed the guardian.

"If you must paint the other side, of course we can turn the boat around," said Harriet. "I think a name on one side will answer our purpose for the present. Later on we can finish the job, if we think best."

"Yes," agreed Jane. "We've done enough for the present. Don't forget that we've got to settle the house in the morning. I want you all to think hard to-night, to see if we have forgotten anything."

"The only thing we have forgotten is our dinner. We haven't had a bite to eat since morning," Margery Brown reminded her friends.

"Margery can't think of anything but thomething to eat," laughed Tommy.

"You mutht learn to eat atmothphere when you're hungry. That ith the way I do."

"I fear you will never grow fat on that sort of diet," laughed the guardian.

"I don't want to get fat, like Buthter," replied Tommy scornfully.

In the meantime Harriet and Jane had drawn away from the others and were engaged in a whispered conversation. Then the two girls got into the rowboat dragged the houseboat out into the lake, a few rods, and anch.o.r.ed it. They did not explain their action. The other girls laughed at them, and Miss Elting questioned them with her eyes but said nothing.

She knew the two girls had some good reason for anchoring the "Red Rover" a little distance from the sh.o.r.e.

Early on the following morning, Jane and Harriet were out, loading the automobile with the supplies that had been delivered at the hotel the previous night. The car was piled high with bundles of various shapes and sizes. There was room for Jane and Harriet in front, but none for their companions elsewhere.

"We will go down to the dock with the stuff," explained Harriet, "then come back in time to take breakfast with you girls. We shan't try to put the supplies on board. We'll just dump them on the pier."

"You can put them on the boat if you want to. I don't care," answered Grace.

"Tommy is trying to get out of working to-day," scoffed Margery.

"I'm not," protested the little lisping girl indignantly. "If I were ath fat ath you, I might. I'll work after breakfatht, but I won't work before breakfatht."

"n.o.body wants you to," flung back Jane, as she started her car ahead.

"We'll do all the before-breakfast work, and we'll have the real appet.i.tes when we get to the food. You watch us."

They watched her skid around a sharp corner and heard her car for some few moments thereafter, but that was all. They were too well used to Crazy Jane McCarthy, by this time, to be surprised at anything she might do or say.

The drive to Johnson's dock was a short one. The two girls made it in a few moments. As they turned into the street that led down to the river they opened their eyes a little wider, but neither spoke. Nor was there a word said until they had driven out on the pier and halted the car.

Then both girls burst out in exclamations of amazement at the same instant.

That which they discovered filled the hearts of the Meadow-Brook Girls with alarm. The "Red Rover" was nowhere in sight. The sh.o.r.e end of the rope, with which it had been secured to the dock when they anch.o.r.ed it out in the lake, was still securely tied to the string piece at the outer side of the dock.

"What is it, darlin'?" questioned Jane, with eyes wide and wondering.

"It looks to me very much as though our 'Red Rover' were at the bottom of the lake, Jane. Oh, what shall we do if she has sunk? Something has been going on here. Something occurred the first day we were here, to excite my suspicion. And now this strange thing has happened. There's the rowboat. Let's go out and look around. Oh, this is too bad, too bad!"

CHAPTER II

CRAZY JANE MAKES A DISCOVERY

"Wait!"

Jane sprang forward, and grasping the rope, lifted it from the water and began hauling in on it. She uttered a shout of joy.

"There's no 'Red Rover' on the other end of this rope, Harriet," she cried.