The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea; Or, The Loss of The Lonesome Bar Read online

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  The Sea Lay Sparkling in the Sunlight. _Frontispiece_.]

  The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea

  OR

  The Loss of The Lonesome Bar

  By

  JANET ALDRIDGE

  Author of the Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas, The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country, The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat, The Meadow-Brook Girls in The Hills, The Meadow-Brook Girls on The Tennis Courts

  THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

  Akron, Ohio New York

  Made in U.S.A.

  Copyright MCMXIV

  _By_ THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

  CONTENTS

  I. A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY

  II. WHAT CAME OF A COLD PLUNGE

  III. HARRIET HAS A NARROW ESCAPE

  IV. A QUESTION OF POLITICS

  V. THE ROCKY ROAD TO WAU-WAU

  VI. AT HOME BY THE SEA

  VII. A SUDDEN STORM

  VIII. A NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN NIGHT

  IX. A SURPRISE THAT PROVED A SHOCK

  X. SUMMONED TO THE COUNCIL

  XI. A REWARD WELL EARNED

  XII. MYSTERY ON A SAND BAR

  XIII. A STRANGE PROCEEDING

  XIV. A VISITOR WHO WAS WELCOME

  XV. TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY

  XVI. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

  XVII. WHEN THEIR SHIP CAME IN

  XVIII. FIREWORKS FROM THE MASTHEAD

  XIX. SAILING THE BLUE WATER

  XX. OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND

  XXI. AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK

  XXII. IN THE GRIP OF MIGHTY SEAS

  XXIII. WAGING A DESPERATE BATTLE

  XXIV. CONCLUSION

  CHAPTER I

  A DELIGHTFUL MYSTERY

  "I think we are ready to start, girls." Miss Elting folded the roadmap that she had been studying and placed it in a pocket of her longdust coat. There was a half-smile on her face, a merry twinkle in hereyes.

  "Which way do I drive?" questioned Jane McCarthy.

  "Straight ahead out of the village," answered Miss Elting, theguardian of the party of young girls who were embarking on theirsummer's vacation under somewhat unusual circumstances.

  "It's the first time I ever started for a place without knowing whatthe place was, or where I was going," declared Jane McCarthy,otherwise known as "Crazy Jane."

  "Won't you pleathe tell uth where we are going?" lisped GraceThompson.

  Miss Elting shook her head, with decision.

  "Do my father and mother know where we are going?" persisted Grace.

  "Of course they know, Tommy. The parents of each of you know, and Iknow, and so shall you after you reach your destination. Have youeverything in the car, Jane?"

  "Everything but myself," nodded Jane. The latter's automobile, wellloaded with camping equipment, stood awaiting its passengers. Thelatter were Miss Elting, Jane McCarthy, Harriet Burrell, GraceThompson, Hazel Holland and Margery Brown, the party being otherwiseknown as "The Meadow-Brook Girls." "Get in, girls. We'll shake thedust of Meadow-Brook from our tires before you can count twenty,"continued Jane. "If Crazy Jane were to drive through the town slowlyfolks surely would think something startling had happened to her. Isthere anything you wish to do before we leave, Miss Elting?"

  "Not that I think of at the moment, Jane."

  "Oh, let's say good-bye to our folks," suggested Margery Brown.

  "I have thaid good-bye," answered Grace with finality.

  "We'll give them a farewell blast," chuckled Jane. With that sheclimbed into the car, and, with a honk of the horn, drove down thatstreet and into the next, keeping the horn going almost continually.As they passed the home of each girl the young women gave the yell ofthe Meadow-Brook Girls:

  "Rah, rah, rah, Rah, rah, rah! Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook, Sis, boom, ah!"

  It was shouted in chorus at their homes, and as the car passed thehomes of their friends as well. Hands were waved from windows, hatswere swung in the air by boy friends, while the older people smiledindulgently and nodded to them as the rapidly moving motor car passedthrough the village.

  "I think the town knows all about it now. Suppose we make a start?"suggested Miss Elting.

  "We haven't therenaded the pothtmathter yet," Tommy reminded her.

  "Nor the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker," answeredHarriet Burrell laughingly. "How long a drive have we, Miss Elting?"

  "Four or five hours, ordinarily. Jane undoubtedly will make it in muchless time, if she drives at her usual rate of speed. Straight south,Jane. I will tell you when to change."

  The faces of the girls wore a puzzled expression. They could notimagine where they were going. Miss Elting had made a mystery of thissummer vacation, and not a word had the girls been able to obtain fromher as to where they were to go: whether to tour the country in CrazyJane's automobile, or to go into camp. Tommy declared that it was aperfectly delightful mythtery, and that she didn't care where theywere going, while Margery on the contrary, grumbled incessantly.

  The start had been made late in the afternoon. The day had beencloudy. There were even indications of rain, but the girls did notcare. They were too well inured to the weather to be disturbed bylowering skies and threatening clouds. In the meantime Jane McCarthywas bowling along to the southward, throwing up a cloud of dust,having many narrow escapes from collisions with farmers' wagons andwandering stock. They had been traveling about two hours when theguardian directed their daring driver to turn to the left. The latterdid so, thus heading the car to the eastward.

  "I think I begin to understand," thought Harriet Burrell aloud.

  "What ith it that you underthtand?" demanded Tommy, pricking up herears. "You know where we are going, don't you?"

  "I can make a close guess," replied Harriet, nodding brightly.

  "Oh, tell uth, tell uth," begged Tommy.

  Harriet shook her head.

  "I couldn't think of it. Miss Elting wishes it to be a surprise toyou."

  "Well, won't it be jutht ath much of a thurprithe now ath it will bethome other time?" argued Grace Thompson.

  "Perhaps Harriet just imagines she knows. I do not believe she knowsany more about our destination than do the rest of our party," saidthe guardian. "But why worry about it? You will know when you getthere."

  Jane stopped the car, and, getting out, proceeded to put the curtainsup on one side, Harriet and Hazel doing the same on the opposite side.The storm curtain, with its square of transparent isinglass, was nextset in place to protect the driver from the front, the wind shieldfirst having been turned down out of the way.

  "Now let the rain come," chuckled Jane, after having taken a quicksurvey of their work.

  "Yes; it is nice and cosy in here," answered Miss Elting. "I almostbelieve I should like to sleep in here during a rainstorm."

  "Excuthe me," objected Tommy. "I'd be thure to get crampth in myneck."

  "She would that," answered Jane laughingly, starting the car and amoment later throwing in the high-speed clutch.

  The party was not more than fairly started on the way again when theraindrops began pattering on the leather top of the car.

&nbs
p; "There it comes," cried Jane McCarthy. "Sounds like rain on a tinroof, doesn't it?"

  The downpour rapidly grew heavier, accompanied by lightning andthunder. The flashes were blinding, dazzling Jane's eyes so that shehad difficulty in keeping her car in the road. It was now nearlyevening, and an early darkness had already settled over the landscape.There was little hope of more light, for night would be upon them bythe time the storm had passed. True, there would be a moon behind theclouds, but the latter bade fair to be wholly obscured during theevening.

  Despite the blinding storm that masked the road, and the sharp flashesof lightning that dazzled the eyes of the driver, Crazy Jane McCarthywent on driving ahead at the same rate of speed until Miss Eltingbegged her to go more slowly. Jane reduced the speed of the car,though so slightly as to be scarcely noticeable.

  The guardian smiled but made no further comment. Being shut in as theywere, they would have difficulty in getting out were an accident tobefall them. All at once, however, Jane slowed down with a jolt. Shethen sent the car cautiously ahead, this time driving out on a levelgrass plot at the side of the road. There she shut down, turned offthe power, and, leaning back, yawned audibly.

  "Whoa!" she said wearily.

  "Why, Jane, what is the matter?" cried Miss Elting.

  "Like a sailboat, we can't make much headway without wind. As ithappens, we have no wind on the quarter, as the sailors would say."

  "I don't understand."

  "She means the tires are down," explained Harriet Burrell.

  "Yes. I told Dad those rear tires were leaking, but he declared theywere good for five hundred miles yet."

  "Can't we patch them?" queried Harriet.

  "We can," replied Jane, "but we aren't going to until this rain letsup a little. Please don't ask me to get out and paddle about in thewet, for I'm not going to do anything of the sort." Jane began to huma tune. Her companions settled back comfortably. It was dry and cosyin the car and the travellers felt drowsy. Jane was the only reallywide-awake one. Margery finally uttered a single, loud snore thatawakened the others. The girls uttered a shout and began shakingMargery, who pulled herself sharply together, protesting that shehadn't been asleep for even one little minute.

  "That ith the way thhe alwayth doeth," observed Tommy. "Then thhedenieth it. I'm glad I don't thnore. Ithn't it awful to thnore, MithElting?"

  "Having too much to say is worse," answered Jane pointedly. "The stormhas passed. Let's get out and fix things up. Harriet, will you helpme? Miss Elting, if you will be good enough to engineer thetaking-down of the side curtains and the lowering of the top I shallbe obliged. We shan't need the top. We aren't going to have any morerain to-night, and I want all the light I can get, especially as weare going over strange roads. Have you been this way before?"

  "No, Jane, but I have the road map."

  "Road map!" scoffed the Irish girl. "I followed one once and landed ina ditch!"

  "That ith nothing for Crathy Jane to do," lisped Grace.

  "Right you are, Tommy," answered Jane with a hearty laugh. "Just as Ithought, the tires, the inner tubes, are leaking around the valves. Weshan't be able to do much with them, but I think we can make them holduntil we get in. I'll have some new inner tubes sent out to us. Bythe way, are we going to be where we can send for supplies and havethem delivered?" questioned Jane shrewdly.

  "Oh, I think so," was Miss Elting's evasive answer.

  "Aren't you glad you found out?" chuckled Harriet.

  Jane grinned, but said nothing. The work of patching the two innertubes occupied nearly an hour before the tires were back in place andthe car ready to start. Harriet, in the meantime, had lighted the bigheadlights and the rear light.

  "All aboard for Nowhere!" shouted Jane. The girls again took theirplaces in the car, which started with a jolt. "Is it straight ahead,Miss Elting?"

  "Yes."

  "I hope you know where you're going. I'm sure I don't," remarked Janeunder her breath.

  They had gone but a short distance before the driver discovered thatwhich displeased her very much. The lights on the front of the carwere growing dim. Her companions noticed this at about the same time.

  "The gas is giving out," exclaimed Jane. "Isn't that provoking? Withus it is one continuous round of surprises."

  "What are we going to do?" questioned Margery apprehensively.

  "Just the same as before: keep on going," replied the Irish girl."I've driven without lights before this. I guess I can do it again. Ican see the road and so can you."

  "Please reduce your speed a little," urged Miss Elting. The driver didso, for Jane was not quite so confident of her ability to keep to theroad as she would have had them believe. "There comes some one. Pleasestop; I want to ask him a question."

  A farmer on a horse had ridden out to one side of the road, where hewas holding his mount, the horse being afraid of the car. Miss Eltingasked him how they might reach the Lonesome Cove. The girls were verydeeply interested in this question as well as in the answer to it.They had never heard of Lonesome Cove. So that was to be theirdestination? They nudged each other knowingly. The farmer informedMiss Elting that the Cove was about eight miles farther on.

  "Take your third right hand turn and it'll lead you right down intothe Cove," he said. "It's a pretty lonesome place now," he added.

  "Yes, I understand," replied the guardian hurriedly, "but we know allabout that. Thank you very much. You may drive ahead now, Jane." Janesmiled and started on. "I keep watch of the turns of the road. You payattention to your driving exclusively," added Miss Elting. "And,girls, you keep a sharp lookout, too."

  "Where ith thith Lonethome Cove?" questioned Tommy. "I don't like thethound of the name."

  "You will like it when you get there," answered the guardian. "But Isaid I would not tell you anything about it. Time enough when we reachthere. You shall then see for yourselves. You are going too fast,Jane."

  "I'd like to reach there some time before morning. The road is clearand level. I'm going only twenty miles an hour, as it is. That's justa creeping pace, you know," reassured Jane.

  "Yes, I know," answered the guardian, with a shake of her head. Theycontinued on, but without much conversation, for Jane was busywatching the road, her companions keeping a sharp lookout for theturns. They had already passed two roads that led off to the right.The next, according to their informant, would be the one for them totake to reach the Lonesome Cove.

  "Here is the third turn," announced Jane finally, bringing her car toa stop. The highway on which they had been riding was shaded withsecond-growth trees, as was the intersecting road. The latter wasnarrow; but, from Jane's investigations, she having stepped down toexamine it, it was hard though not well-traveled. "Have you been herebefore, Miss Elting?"

  "No, Jane; I have not. Go ahead and drive carefully, for I hardlythink it a main road."

  "It's a good one, whether it is a main road or not."

  They moved on down the side road, and, gaining confidence as theyprogressed, Jane McCarthy let out a notch at a time until she wastraveling at a fairly high rate of speed. Their way wound in and outamong the small trees and bushes that bordered the road, the latternarrowing little by little until there was barely room for turning outin case they were to meet another vehicle. However, there seemedlittle chance of that. The motor car appeared to be the only vehicleabroad that night.

  The road now was so dark that it was only by glancing up at the topsof the bordering trees, outlined against the sky, that the driver ofthe car was able to keep well in the middle of it. She was strainingher eyes, peering into the darkness ahead.

  "How far?" demanded Jane shortly, never removing her gaze from thetrees and the roadway.

  "We must be near the place. Surely it cannot be far now," answered theguardian. "I thought we should have seen a light before this."

  "We're coming into the open," broke in Jane. "I'm glad of that. Now weneedn't be afraid of running into the trees or the fences, if thereare any along the track. I
can't make out the sides of the road atall. I--"

  A sudden and new sound cut short her words. The girls, realizing thatsomething unusual was occurring, fell suddenly silent. The roadwaybeneath them gave off a hollow sound, as if they were going over abridge. The fringe of trees had fallen away, while all about them waswhat appeared to be a darkened plain or field. Yet strain their eyesas they would, the travelers were unable to distinguish the characterof their surroundings, though Harriet Burrell, with chin elevated, hadbeen sniffing the air suspiciously.

  "I smell water," she cried.

  "Tho do I," lisped Tommy. "But I don't want a drink."

  Jane began to slow down as soon as the new sound had been heard. Thecar was rolling along slowly. For some unaccountable reason the driverput on a little more speed. Then came Jane McCarthy's voice, in aquick, warning shout:

  "Here's trouble. Jump, girls! Jump! We're going in!"

  They did not know what it was that they were going into, but not agirl of them obeyed Jane's command. Margery half-arose from the seat.Hazel pulled her back.

  "Sit still, girls!" commanded Miss Elting. "Stop the car, Jane!"

  The driver shut off and applied the brake. But she was too late. Theautomobile kept on going. The roadway underneath it seemed to bedropping away from them; for a few seconds they experienced thesensation of riding on thin air; then the car lurched heavily forward,and, with a mighty splash, plunged into water. A great sheet of solidwater leaped up and enveloped them.

  "Everyone for herself!" cried Harriet Burrell. "Jump, girls!"

  This time they _did_ essay to jump. Before they could do so, however,they were struggling to free themselves from the sinking car, thewater already over their heads.