The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 29

"I couldn't permit it," was Miss Elting's decisive reply. "Come down.

Jane, will you please start the fire? We will have breakfast."

"Oh, yeth, we haven't had breakfatht yet," piped Tommy.

"Nor have you dried your clothes. Every one of you except Hazel is wet to the skin."

Jane had brought some dry sticks by the time the guide and Harriet returned. Ja.n.u.s got more, realizing the condition of his party, and wis.h.i.+ng to build up a fire that would dry their wet clothing. The girls had no changes of clothing with them. They would be obliged to continue to wear their wet dresses until these had dried.

A hot fire proved a welcome relief. The girls gathered about it, turning frequently in order to give their clothing an opportunity to dry. It was not long before the steam rose from their rapidly drying garments. They laughed and joked over their condition. Miss Elting was more serious. She held a low-voiced conversation with Ja.n.u.s while he was getting the breakfast. Ja.n.u.s insisted that he had not the faintest idea that he had an enemy. At least he knew of no one who would commit the acts that had been committed since the party started out from Compton on their journey through the White Mountains.

The girls' wet clothing was almost dry when they were called to breakfast. This meal was late on this particular morning, for good and sufficient reason, but the girls did not complain about this. What they did complain of was their bedraggled condition. They laid their trouble on this occasion directly at the door of Tommy Thompson. Tommy was undisturbed. She expressed her pleasure, however, that her companions had also received a wetting, and uncharitably hoped they would fall in every time she did.

During breakfast they discussed their situation, finally deciding to push on as soon after the meal as possible. The guide said they would feel dry and warm soon after starting on their way. He thought they would be better off on the move than sitting about the fire. Hazel had now fully recovered from the effects of her fall. Harriet's side still gave her pain, but she, too, felt that the best thing for her would be plenty of exercise.

That forenoon she insisted on carrying Hazel's pack, and did more real work on the trail than any other girl of the party. They were above the timber line, though there was little timber below it, the side of the mountain having been fire-swept long before that. The only green to be seen immediately about them were the blue-berry bushes and similar mountain vegetation that flourished in the crevices of the rocks.

It was early in the afternoon when they emerged on the summit of the mountain and gazed off over its gray top, that, flanked by other domes of the Sandwich range, reminded one of the past ages and the fascinating legends of the Sokokis. The summit was rough and rugged, though devoid of big boulders such as are usually to be found in similar locations.

"You are now three thousand five hundred feet in the air," announced the guide, rather proudly.

"Ith that what maketh Buthter tho uppithh thith afternoon?" questioned Tommy.

"It may be what makes you so light-headed," retorted Margery.

"There! Now, will you be good?" jeered Jane.

"Yeth. That wath a good one. Too bad you don't thay thomething bright every day. Think what a lot more fun we would have, Buthter."

An hour was spent strolling about the summit, looking off at the magnificent scenery which stretched on all sides of them.

A cup of coffee apiece was made and drunk, but fire-making material was so scarce that no attempt was made to cook a meal. About mid-afternoon the party was called to attention and directed to shoulder their packs preparatory to their long tramp down the mountain side to the Shelter, where fresh clothing and food awaited them. They left the summit with regret. Harriet said she would give a great deal to see a sunrise from there.

"Wait for Mt. Was.h.i.+ngton," answered Ja.n.u.s. "I shan't tell you anything about it, but, once you are there, you will be glad you decided to climb it."

Instead of climbing down over the rocks the party took what is known among mountaineers as a "tote trail," a narrow pathway generally used for packing stuff into the mountains on the backs of human beings.

This "tote trail" was a winding trail full of twists and turns and surprises, now appearing to end at some high precipice, then creeping around the corner of a huge jutting rock, but ever dropping and dropping farther and farther away from the summit and nearer to the "Shelter," which was their destination on this occasion.

Twilight was upon them again before they reached the main tourist trail. It was now late in the season. Not a human being had they seen since starting out to climb Mt. Chocorua except for Hazel's discovery of the strange man whom she had caught spying on their camp at the "Slide." The memory of that face still lingered in mind, nor had the incident been forgotten by any member of the party. They wondered what the next surprise would be. They were destined to know within a very short time.

Walking was good by this time and the remaining distance to the "Shelter" was covered at a greater rate of speed. Ja.n.u.s swung to the right, then to the left, and behold, the little hut stood darkly before them!

"Here we are," called the guide cheerily, striding over and throwing open the door.

CHAPTER XIX

THE STORY THE LIGHT TOLD

"Strike a light, if you please," requested the guardian, as Ja.n.u.s stood holding the door of the hut open for his charges to enter.

"You'll have a light directly," returned the guide, applying a lighted match to the hanging lamp with its smoke-dimmed chimney.

"Oh, isn't it nice and cosy in here?" sighed Margery contentedly, dropping down on a bench. Unslinging her heavy pack, she let it fall to the floor.

"What about supper?" was Ja.n.u.s's first question.

"Yeth, that ith what I thay," approved Tommy. "Buthter would thay tho, too, only thhe is afraid I'll teathe her about eating."

"Afraid of you!" exclaimed Margery disgustedly. "Well, I guess not."

During this pa.s.sage at arms Ja.n.u.s was making an industrious hunt for a frying-pan. He opened one of the packs that had been left behind, thrust one hand inside, then paused, a look of astonishment on his honest face, underneath the frown that wrinkled his weather-beaten forehead. For a few seconds the bewildered guide stared stupidly at the object he had taken from the pack. The girls were busy undoing their tote-packs, so they failed to heed what he was doing until his peculiar att.i.tude finally attracted their attention.

Ja.n.u.s thrust his hand in again, but the result was no less discouraging.

"Well, I swum!" he grumbled. "I swum!"

"So you've said before," smiled Hazel.

"Anything wrong?" asked the guardian, glancing up from her own pack, the contents of which were spread out on the floor before her.

The guide "swum" again. Miss Elting paused in her work, turning to him.

"Mr. Januth ith troubled," observed Tommy wisely.

"What is it?" demanded the guardian.

"What is it? It's a rock, Miss."

"What do you mean?"

For answer he held out on the palm of one hand a chunk of granite, the while surveying it ruefully. Miss Elting took and examined the rock, then directed a look of inquiry at Ja.n.u.s.

"I don't understand," she said, with a rising inflection on the last word.

"Well, I swum! no more do I!" he exploded. "Will you look into that pack and see what you find? Maybe I can't see straight this evening.

Maybe I can't."

Harriet ran to the pack he had indicated and peered into it. She uttered an exclamation, loosened the rest of the binding ropes and turned the contents out on the floor of the Shelter. Exclamations of amazement fell from the lips of the Meadow-Brook Girls. Instead of the supplies that had originally been stowed in the pack, a choice a.s.sortment of stones, chunks of granite, small hardheads and pebbles rolled out on the floor. They were speechless for the moment. Ja.n.u.s tugged nervously at his beard, too thoroughly astonished for speech.

"I gueth thomebody hath been throwing thtoneth at uth," observed Tommy Thompson. "I wonder who liketh uth tho much that he wanth to knock our headth off?"

"Open the other packs," directed Miss Elting calmly.

They did so, but with the same results. Each pack was filled with stones, and, in some instances, pieces of wood, parts of limbs of trees, dirt, shale and the like.

"Oh, my stars, what a mess!" cried Crazy Jane.