The Girl Scouts at Camp Comalong Part 26

And there was Peg with her Aunt Carrie!

"Oh, do come in," begged Miss Mackin, anxiously. "What has happened?"

"Nothing," replied Peg a trifle cynically, "but we were afraid something might happen to these," she indicated a box she carried and also an armful of what seemed to be rolled cardboard.

Quickly the girls made the night visitors welcome, and with skill acquired from a similar previous experience, they were now preparing to "double bunk."

Miss Ramsdell (Aunt Carrie) sighed deeply and sank down with very evident relief.

"I insisted that Peggie come down to you," she explained. "Ever since we got back from the hills yesterday afternoon, mysterious men have been prowling about our cottages," she explained.

"Perhaps just to frighten us," added Peg. "At the same time these papers are so precious I was very glad to bring them down, if we don't upset you too much?"

"We are simply delighted to have you come," said Corene, sincerely.

"And we never could have induced you to if something like this had not happened."

"But I wanted to come more than you can ever know," said the girl with the wonderful black eyes and the glossy crow-black hair. "You see, I was guarding daddy's treasures. When he went there was no one left but me, and I was to finish his life's work. I have been trying to do it."

Her voice tapered to a whisper, and no one attempted to intrude upon it.

Finally Aunt Carrie, from her grateful quarters, spoke:

"Tell them, dear, about the patent," she said.

"Let us make you comfortable first," suggested Cleo, considerately.

"Here, Peg, this is where we keep our treasures. Do you want to put yours in here?"

She opened a very small door in a packing case that was hidden beneath extra blankets and some clothing.

"That's a splendid hiding place," replied Peg. "One would think it nothing more than a case of supplies. Yes, if I may, I'll put my things in there."

First she lifted in the box, that plainly was heavy; then she placed upon it the roll of stiff paper.

"Oh," she sighed wearily. "I believe if it had not been for s.h.a.g I should have lost these long ago."

"I thought to-night, however," added Aunt Carrie, "that faithful s.h.a.g was in danger of being shot. That is one reason why I urged Peggie to come down."

"Yes, I felt that way too," said the girl. "I heard a sniper's shot long after anyone would have been out hunting."

"Where is s.h.a.g?" asked Julia.

"Just outside our door here," replied Peg. "He won't leave until we do."

"We are glad to have him also," said Miss Mackin. "We have not felt the need of a watchman with Officer Porter around, but to-night----"

"We could not have ventured over the hill except for the officer's escort," said Aunt Carrie. "It was when we heard his whistle we decided to make a dash."

"Yes, we have been having quite a night of it," put in Peg with a girlish laugh. "You should have seen us, like a couple of movie ladies, armed to the teeth and posted behind our strongest door! If we had not been in such serious danger I should have thought it a wonderful joke," and she laughed lightly at the memory.

"Armed to the teeth!" repeated Grace hopefully.

"Yes, indeedy; I had the best and biggest revolver, and auntie held to a shotgun, and when we made sure we were really in danger of being bombed or burglared or something, we just loaded up and stood guard until we heard the officer's whistle. It seemed ages," she finished seriously.

"And haven't you even been to bed?" asked Julia, anxiously.

"Oh, no, indeed. You see, that Leonore began this attack yesterday, after you saw her prowling around," explained Peg. "Her dad claims a right--a business right to what my dad discovered. That's why we have had to act so mysterious and live behind bolted doors," she added.

"One glimpse of dad's drawings would spoil everything for us," she finished.

"That's why!" exclaimed Grace; for in the simple statement had been disclosed the mystery of the hermit life of Peg and her Aunt Carrie.

"Yes, my dear brother, Peggie's father, was confident the machine he invented would bring us great wealth, and besides this he had many land claims about here that he felt would bring valuable ores."

"And _that's_ why you went to the hills so often," burst out Louise.

"We wondered and wondered."

"Yes, that's why," agreed Peg.

"You don't think your robbers would follow you down here?" asked Isabel, not fearfully but rather confidently.

"No, we have covered our tracks," said Peg. "They might see s.h.a.g----"

"Bring him in," begged Cleo, who loved s.h.a.g or any other "nice dog"

right next to her companions.

"There isn't really any danger of them following us," said Peg.

"Besides, we will have a couple of extra watchmen in the woods between now and morning. But I know s.h.a.g will just love to come in."

So it happened the Bobbies had a company of three to billet--when finally Miss Mackin succeeded in inducing everyone "to quiet down and wait until morning" for the telling of the real story of Peg's fight to establish the rights her father had left her to struggle with.

CHAPTER XIX

s.h.a.g: THE ALARM CLOCK

Daylight was just peeking through the little crack in the tent flap when Grace screamed:

"Oh, my! For goodness' sake!" she yelled. "Someone, somebody, something, s.h.a.g wants to kiss my toesies!"

The self starters sat up and looked around--the other groaned.

Yes, there was s.h.a.g trying to make friends with anything that moved, and Grace must have unconsciously moved that foot.

"What do you want, s.h.a.g?" she asked.

The big, bushy tail whisked things around rather perilously in the narrow quarters.

"s.h.a.g is an early riser," said Peg, trying to untangle herself from the things that held her on the rim of a cot. "He wants to run off and see what's going on outdoors." She patted her dog affectionately, then allowed him to run out, off over the hills to his own quarters.