The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills Part 9

The girls had taken the wet pack from Jim and were dragging it up the bluff. Ja.n.u.s tied this and two other packs on the back of one horse, then began making ready for doing the game with the other animal. By the time he was ready, Jim had returned with still another wet bundle of equipment.

"Our clotheth are in that pack!" wailed Tommy, as she surveyed the bedraggled outfit. "What thhall we do?"

"Keep quiet and go on up to camp," said Margery severely.

"Come, come, girls!" urged Miss Elting, a little irritated. She had not yet quite recovered from the shock of Harriet's disaster. How great a shock this had been her charges had not fully realized.

The heaviest packs were soon loaded on the horses, after which Ja.n.u.s, leading one animal, went ahead to pilot them to the spot chosen for a temporary camp. Nearly half an hour was consumed in finding their way there. The night was dark and many obstacles in the shape of rocks and fallen trees and stumps were found in their path, and the guide's call that they had arrived was the most welcome information the girls had received in all that eventful day's journey.

"Here, Jim, unload these packs while I gather the wood for a fire, so that we can see what we are doing."

"Fire!" scoffed Jim. "Little fire you will see to-night, unless you have some matches. I haven't any. It was a bad job when I took this contract."

"Never mind expressing opinions. I'm responsible for making a fire, and n.o.body is responsible for what's happened to us on the way out here. It is just one of those unforeseen disturbances that come to the best regulated families," said Ja.n.u.s testily.

"I think I can find some wood for the fire," suggested Harriet. "I just stumbled over a dry stick. Here it is. Is there any birch bark here, Mr. Grubb?"

"No, but I'll fire some leaves. I've got plenty of matches," he confided to Harriet. "I didn't tell Jim. It isn't necessary for these fellows to know too much, you know."

"Just between ourselves," chuckled Harriet under her breath.

"Sure. I've got a daughter just your age, and she's almost as good a campaigner as you are, though I reckon this night's doings would have been too much for her. You don't find many such as you and your outfit." Having expressed his opinion, Ja.n.u.s proceeded to his work, and a moment later had a quant.i.ty of dry leaves ablaze.

"Now fetch on your wood. Who says Jan Grubb can't build a fire when there isn't anything to build with?" he boasted. "Easy. Not so much at a time. You'll press it down to the ground so the draft can't get under it, and then your nice little fire will go out. We'll build a roarer, then we can start a smaller one for cooking."

"I won't be sorry to eat a square meal," chuckled Jane.

"Nor I," agreed Margery, "I haven't eaten a square meal for ages."

"Be careful, girls. Don't stand so close to the fire. You will burn your skirts," warned Miss Elting. "You will have holes in them almost before you realize it."

Harriet had left that fire and was laying another. She called to Jane to get the supper things ready for cooking.

"Margery, you and Hazel set the table. If you can't find a dry blanket, simply clear away a place on the ground. We shan't be so particular about our table this evening."

"What about it? Do we stay here all night, or are we to go on?" asked the guide.

"I think we had better make camp for the night," decided Miss Elting.

"I reckon it would be a good idea. I'll make a line and dry out the stuff. It's pretty wet," decided the guide.

Ja.n.u.s drove some stakes that he had cut down. Then, stringing a rope between them, the two proceeded to hang up the wet bedding, which consisted solely of soft, gray army blankets. He took the wet clothing of the girls from the packs, hanging this on the line also, and a few moments later the blankets and the garments were steaming. So was the coffee pot. Bacon was the only other food put over for cooking. The travelers were too hungry to care to wait long for their supper.

It was not long after Harriet and Jane had begun cooking the bacon before they sounded the supper call. No one was late for supper that night, and each sat down tired and travel-stained, but there was not a word of complaint from either men or girls. They made merry over the meal, made light of their misfortunes, and altogether enjoyed themselves fully as well as if their circ.u.mstances had been different.

"What I should like to know is how those things got in the river?"

demanded Ja.n.u.s as the meal neared a close.

For a moment no one spoke. The guide's question was one which no member of the little party was prepared to answer. So many unpleasant events had occurred in such rapid succession that it was difficult to place the cause of this latest disaster.

CHAPTER VII

HORSES GIVE THE ALARM

"Will you tell me where you placed the first packs when you came ash.o.r.e with them?" asked Harriet, turning to the driver.

"Right against the rocks."

"And behind that large boulder?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Oh, I saw where you threw the first pack down. It left the mark of the rope in the soft dirt," explained the girl. "I am not gifted with second sight, but I did see that. What I started to say was that I know how the packs got in the river."

"You know?" asked Miss Elting.

"Yes. They were thrown in."

For a few impressive seconds no one spoke. Ja.n.u.s combed his whiskers with the fingers of one hand. Jim, the driver, sprang to his feet, his face crimson with anger.

"I won't stand for that. Why should I throw the old stuff in the river?" he demanded indignantly.

"I beg your pardon. I did not accuse you of it," said Harriet. "I know you did not. It was some other person who threw the packs into the river."

They gazed at her in amazement.

"Harriet, what _do_ you mean?" cried the guardian.

"If she had lived up here two hundred years ago or so the people would have tied her to a stake and set fire to her," declared Ja.n.u.s, punctuating his declaration with a series of quick, emphatic nods.

"The driver placed the pack behind the boulder and against the rocks,"

said Harriet. "Surely, he knew where he left the things. What is more, I looked while he had gone in search of them, and, as I've already said, saw where he had left the pack. The rest was easy to understand. The packs could not possibly have got into the river unless they had been thrown there."

"But who----" began Jim.

"I don't know. That it was none of our party goes without saying.

Perhaps Mr. Grubb can tell us. Who do you think it could have been, sir?" she asked, turning to the guide.

"I swum! I swum!" muttered the guide.

"It isn't possible!" exploded Jim.

"I reckon Miss--Miss Burrell is right, Jim," agreed the guide. "Either you threw the stuff in, or somebody else did, and we know you didn't, so what's the answer? The young lady has given us the answer, and there you are."

"I'm sorry," pondered Miss Elting. "I was in hopes this journey would be free from unpleasantness, but here we are meeting with difficulties at the very start of it. Have you any enemies who would wish to do you harm, Mr. Grubb?"