The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest Part 31

"Yes, that's the dame. Miss Hannah Morehouse, boss of Looney Land,"

replied Tommie, "and you've got a lot of nerve to trespa.s.s on her territory. She's mighty strict."

"We are going to try it," insisted Grace, whereat Tommie pulled harder than ever on his oars.

They stopped at the Point but everything was quiet there, if the wildest chirping of birds, and fluttering of all feathered creatures be overlooked. Before the human world moves birds seem happiest, and surely wildest, so that on the dewy summer morning, Grace and Cleo stepped onto the Point and into a perfect medley of bird language.

"No one around here," commented Cleo. "Don't let us waste time."

They hurried back to Tommie's boat, just in time to see a launch cut by.

In it was the white duck woman, Miss Hannah Morehouse.

"There she goes," said Tommie, with abroad and noisy grin. "You're in luck."

"And we are glad of it," admitted Cleo, popping into the boat.

"Which side shall we land at?" asked the boat man, as they brushed the sandy sh.o.r.e.

"We don't know," answered Cleo. "Which way do you think is best? We would like to get on a quiet end, not near the cottages, if there are any?" said Grace.

"Don't know much about it," said Tommie. "But I guess the far end is best--over by the Cave of the Winds," he finished, pointing his boat toward the rocky arch on the far side of the little island.

The two scouts stepped cautiously ash.o.r.e. That end of the island was banked with huge rocks that shot up almost straight, forming a natural fort, with the rugged, artistic arch at its base. Under the arch Grace and Cleo felt their way, and their attention was almost immediately arrested by a series of the pasteboard cards, signed "Peter Pan."

"Little Royal's work," said Grace quietly. "Wonder if we shall see him?"

Up from the rocks a sparkling little stream played. Its origin was a spring under a hill, and as it trickled along, in the tender growth of green, the girls felt instinctively the beauty of the little spot so hidden and isolated from the inhabitants of Sea Crest.

"Lovely!" breathed Cleo. "Little Royal could hardly be lonely here."

"Oh, yes, he could," contradicted Grace. "A child wants more than scenery to play with."

They had gone but a short distance in the woods when something was heard thres.h.i.+ng through the bushes.

"It's he," said Cleo, and she secretly hoped no armed caretaker might appear with the child.

A sudden swish, then from under a tangled elderberry bush there emerged a darling little boy. At the sight of the intruders he stood stock still in evident amazement.

"Oh, I knew you would come!" he exclaimed, clapping his little hands in glee. "I knew my letters would reach you! What are your names, fairies?

Please tell me, and are we going right now to Mama?"

"How do you do, little boy," said Cleo. "Are you Royal?"

"Yes, I'm Royal, and I know who you are. I've been expecting you a very long time."

He came forward a little hesitatingly. Grace could not resist rus.h.i.+ng up to him and throwing her arms about the pretty child.

"Oh, you perfectly darling little boy," she exclaimed. "We know who you are, for Kitty has told us," and she hugged him quite indecorously for a fairy.

He was so pretty. His light hair cropped at his ears did not succeed in preventing curls to tangle and his blue eyes were roguish as even a baby boy's should be. With these unerring features his color reflected the outdoor treatment, and his little form evinced unmistakably that quality for which we have no better term than "good breeding."

Cleo stooped to pay her homage, and when Grace released Royal she caught him up.

"Why do you want to go to mama?" she asked. "Where is mama?"

"Oh, far away, and she cannot get back till the Royal comes in. Her boat is Royal too," he said proudly.

"And who takes care of you?" pressed Grace, keeping in mind the prospect of almost any interruptions spoiling this valued confidence.

"Kitty-dear does. There is Hannah, of course, but I don't like her, and I do like Kitty-dear," he said, with a brave echo in his childish voice.

"And where do you live? Where is your house?" Cleo was peering through the trees, but could see no sign of anything like a dwelling.

"Oh, I haven't any house; I must live outdoors. Dr. Grant ordered it, and I must roll in the mud. But I get tired rolling, and there isn't any real mud here, except what Kitty-dear fetches in the boat. Then we make mud pies, and that's fun. But you are going to take me for a boat ride now, aren't you? I have wanted one for such a long time." His voice was wistful, and his blue eyes were fastened on the boat, that through the trees could be seen, rocking on the water's edge, where Tommie waited.

"Where is Kitty?" asked Cleo without answering the appeal for a long delayed boat ride.

"She's busy with Uncle Pete," replied Royal. "Hannah wants lots of things done when she comes, but sometimes she gives Kitty-dear money, then we have cookies, but we never dare tell Hannah, 'cause I'm not allowed cookies," he said with a cute twist of his yellow head. "But you are the fairies who took my letters, aren't you? I knew when they were gone from their letter boxes on the birch trees, that I would surely get an answer! And see, I was right!"

"I think I hear Kitty coming," said Grace. "Yes, here she is."

"Well, I never," called Kitty gleefully. "Look who blew in!"

"h.e.l.lo, Kitty," called back Cleo, delighted to notice the high spirits Kitty flaunted. "We just did blow in from the bay to make a very early call. Hope we haven't interrupted any gardening?" This applied to Kitty's outfit, for she wore blue overalls, and a boy's cap, that looked better on her cropped head than could any other sort of hat, and her bare feet completed a really charming rustic picture.

"Gardening, you said it!" exclaimed Kitty in pardonable slang. "That's what I have to do when 'her nibs' is in town. But thank goodness she's out for the day, and may have to run up to the city" (this in a mocking tone). "I hope she does, and I hope she gets tripped up in the run so she can't get back for a while. What do you think of my little Royal? I call him little Boy Blue, and he calls me Bo Peep, don't we have good times, Roy?"

In answer the small boy rubbed his head against Kitty's overalls, like a fond little kitten.

"We felt we must see you, Kitty," said Cleo seriously, "and we'll have to talk fast, as we left home so early and have to get back. Tommie is in the boat, and he too, must get back to the landing. Kitty, are you all right? and is everything all right?"

"Pretty much," said Kitty with a little wink in Royal's direction. "I'm glad you came and would--you--like to see our lodgings?"

"I'm afraid we can't wait this time," said Grace thinking it would be like Brother Benny to raise a still alarm that Grace had gone to that Looney Land. "But we can come back again soon."

"You are going to take me with you," gleefully announced the boy making a start toward the rocky arch.

"Oh, Roy dear, you wouldn't leave Kitty," protested the little caretaker. "You know we are both going together--"

"But these are my fairies," and tears welled into the saucer blue eyes.

"I can't--can't let them go away!" Two monster tears rolled right into the quivering lips.

Cleo and Grace felt very helpless in this sort of predicament. It was one thing to dive off piers, and fish boys or girls out of the depths, but how to bank a flood of baby tears?

Kitty knew. She took Royal in her arms and attempted to hoist him up a tree.

"Peter Pan," she said severely. "See that cloud floating by! That's our airs.h.i.+p, and very, very soon I promise we shall go to mother's land--in our s.h.i.+p of love. You see, these are the messenger fairies (she did not know what truth she spoke,) and they will soon return," she finished grandly.

Grace and Cleo felt impelled to be fairies, and each raised fluttering arms, saved from comic effect by the love they betrayed in their smiling a.s.sent.