no one tried to stop phrosy in her threatened flight. in fact, the impulse of them all was toward flight, and they followed that impulse.
“something fell on the roof!” cried amy, starting to open the door and shrinking back against it as another clap of thunder reverberated through the forest.
“open the door!” cried jessie, impatiently, as she pushed amy aside.
“yes, we had better get outside,” put in miss alling, trying to keep calm. “for all we know, the roof may come down on top of us.”
the door flew open with a bang and a tremendous gust of wind fairly blew them against the opposite wall.
“what a gale!” gasped nell. “we’ll never be able to get out there!”
“i am going!” declared jessie, and with lowered head dashed into the open. the other girls, gathering courage from her example, followed, and brought up short at the sight that met their eyes.
a giant tree, half dead at the top, had been struck by the lightning and uprooted. in its fall the outermost branches had brushed the roof of the lodge.
“lucky it did not fall across the roof,” said amy, shivering. “that would have meant good-bye lodge for fair.”
“struck pretty close to us, at that,” said nell. “lucky you cut that in-wire, jess.”
“better get inside again,” said miss alling. “we shall be soaked in a moment.”
for the rain had begun in earnest, coming down in a swishing torrent that drove them on a run for the shelter of the lodge. and there they stayed until the storm blew itself out.
so quickly did the time pass after the departure of the boys for gibbonsville that it was the second day before the girls began to feel anxious about them.
they were just beginning to imagine all kinds of dreadful things that might have happened to them when burd and fol returned, in darry’s roadster, but not with darry.
upon relentless questioning burd admitted that darry had lingered in gibbonsville.
“you see, it was this way,” burd tried to explain, as the girls showered him with questions. “we were not able to find out anything satisfactory about this girl of mystery who saddled you with an unpassable five-dollar bill, amy, and so, when we got discouraged and said we were coming back before we had missed all the fun, darry said we would have to go back without him.”
“but you shouldn’t have let him do anything so perfectly ridiculous!” said amy, vexed. “there were two of you to one. couldn’t you have made him come back with you?”
burd chuckled.
“if you have ever tried to make your brother do anything he didn’t want to do, you know how easy it is,” he remarked. “i would just about as soon try to teach a wild elephant to dance. nothing doing! when darry acts like that the one thing to do is to give him his head.”
“but he must have been terribly interested in—that girl—to do a thing like this,” said jessie, slowly, and burd looked at her queerly. he seemed about to speak, but changed his mind.
“if you ask me,” said fol, “i think he was just plain off his head.”
“and you didn’t catch sight of that awful girl?” asked amy.
“we didn’t,” replied burd, with just the faintest possible emphasis on the we.
“then my five dollars is gone forever unless darry succeeds in getting it back for me!”
“i haven’t the least idea it is the five-dollar bill darry is worrying about,” said burd, significantly, and thereafter not all amy’s bribes or threats could bring from him an explanation of the cryptic sentence.
it was some hours later that burd took jessie by the arm and drew her aside from the others.
“see here, jess,” he said. “i don’t like the way darry is acting, at all.”
“what do you mean?” queried jessie, all her fears of the morning once more active.
“he hasn’t been like himself——”
“i have noticed that,” broke in the girl, impatiently. “you have something special you want to tell me about darry, burd. please don’t keep me waiting.”
burd hesitated.
“i am telling you this,” he said, at last, “because you are level-headed and not apt to go off the handle like amy. jessie, i have reason to believe that darry saw that girl when we were in gibbonsville.”
“what makes you think that?” asked jessie, faintly. suddenly the world seemed all upside down.
“he managed to dodge away from fol and me when we weren’t looking,” burd answered, stirring up some loose stones with his foot and looking extremely uncomfortable. “and later on when we were looking for him we came suddenly around a corner and saw him talking with some one. his companion dodged out of sight when she saw us, but fol and i saw that it was a girl, and, from the description you gave of her, it seemed pretty sure that she was the same one you and amy are after.”
“what did darry say when he knew you had seen him? did he—explain?” asked jessie, slowly.
“there is the most peculiar part of it,” burd answered reluctantly. “he not only refused to explain but acted as though angry and was unpleasant about the whole thing. accused us of trying to spy on him and of several other crimes that were farthest from our minds. he even went so far as to say that we had ‘spoiled it all.’”
“what did he mean by that?” asked jessie, puzzled and speaking more to herself than to burd.
“that is what i would give a good deal to find out,” returned burd, ruefully, then adding, with a chuckle: “you should have heard him when, in an evil moment, fol asked him for an explanation. near chewed fol’s head off.”
jessie shook her head slowly. the situation was even more mysterious than she had thought it, and with each of burd’s startling revelations she became more hopelessly bewildered.
“did he say when he was coming back?” she asked, after a long reflective pause. again burd shook his head.
“he wouldn’t tell us anything,” he said, adding with a frown: “i don’t mind admitting to you he got me pretty sore.”
jessie smiled slightly and murmured that she “didn’t wonder.”
“i don’t know what we can do about it,” she added, after a moment, as they turned and started back toward the others. “i am sure darry has good reasons for acting as he does, and when he comes to explain everything to us we shall see that he could not have acted differently.”
but in spite of her brave words she was troubled, and, partly to get darry and his strange behavior out of her mind and partly to give herself something absorbing to do, she suggested that they “listen in” on a concert.
all the rest of that afternoon and evening the girls and boys and miss alling spent at the radio. toward evening they had the luck to tune in on the airway of the forest ranger station.
some one at the station was giving a talk on the prevention of forest fires by radio, and they listened with interest.
“i suppose they wouldn’t stage a little forest fire for us,” said amy at the end of the talk, removing the phones and rubbing her head where they had pressed. “it would be great fun to see one.”
“it would be more fun not to!” said burd, decidedly. “that station isn’t far from here. what do you girls say to taking a run over there, soon?”
“we say ‘yes,’” was the enthusiastic response from all.
“the sooner the better,” added jessie.
darry came back the next day, but he positively refused to give any reason for his prolonged stay in gibbonsville. after two or three attempts even his sister gave up questioning him, and amy was persistent.
“might just as well try to get information from a wooden idol,” amy said disgustedly to jessie. “i think that girl must have thrown a spell over him.”
“then i should certainly like to remove it,” returned jessie, moodily. “he isn’t one bit like the old darry.”
“who isn’t?”
they turned, startled, to see darry himself looking down at them and laughing. he had climbed into the branches of a huge old gnarled oak that threw its shade before the lodge and now sat dangling his legs in solid comfort. he had even taken a book up with him for company.
“well, of all things! reading on a day like this!” cried amy. “can’t you think of anything better to do with your time, darry drew?”
“if you could suggest something sufficiently enticing,” said darry, with a grin, “i might be lured down from this leafy bower. you don’t know how comfortable it is up here, really,” he said, with a sigh, as he realized that his peaceful solitude must come to an end.
“hear the man!” laughed nell, who had come up just in time to hear his last words. “his eagerness to be with us is flattering!”
“far be it from me to be ungallant to the ladies,” said darry, dropping to the ground and bowing low before them. “i am at your service, fair ones. command me!”
“hey, don’t be too reckless, darry,” warned burd, as he and fol joined the group. “they may ask you to repair their radio or start a forest fire or something. i know them!”
“as if we couldn’t take care of our radio by ourselves,” said jessie, scornfully.
“a little forest fire might furnish some excitement,” added amy brightly. “we would need only a very little one, you know.”
“and what fun to see the forest rangers at work!” exclaimed nell.
“now, what did i tell you?” demanded burd.
“i have an idea worth two of that,” cried jessie gayly. “i have been wanting to suggest it ever since we came up here. how about a canoe race?”
“pretty fine,” applauded fol. “we will take three canoes, a girl and a fellow in each boat——”
“oh, no! that wouldn’t be any fun,” jessie protested. “my idea was for nell and amy and me to race you three boys.”
the boys stared at them for a moment and then burst into loud guffaws of amusement.
“we certainly like your nerve,” remarked burd, indulgently, not annoyed in the least by the indignant glances from three pairs of feminine eyes. “how much handicap would you like? a mile? or would a half mile do?”
“you think you are smart, don’t you?” retorted amy. “we will race you fair and square from the start, and——”
“beat you, too,” finished jessie, decidedly.
“all right,” chuckled darry, heading down toward the dock. “honors are even, and the best man—best girl—wins!”
with much merriment they selected the canoes that were to be used in the contest. the girls chose the green craft as being the one they were most used to and, “just to make the color scheme good,” burd said, the boys chose the crimson.
after some good-natured squabbling it was decided that jessie and nell do the paddling while amy should furnish the “ballast.” the latter yielded to this arrangement only after it had been pointed out to her that nell was stronger than she and that jessie was the most skilful of the three in the handling and steering of the boat.
“i may be an important part of this race,” was amy’s final protest. “but i can’t see it myself.”
the boys had long since decided that darry and burd would do the paddling, fol not having had as much experience in the art as had the two older boys.
“we will race from this dock to the big pier,” suggested darry, when all other questions were settled.
they agreed, and at the snappy command “go!” from darry, started off right gallantly for the pier. the pier was the only one of its kind along lake towako and received the incoming excursion steamers from points farther down the lake. there was a stream connecting this body with lake monenset upon which new melford was situated. in this way it would have been possible to travel all the way from new melford to forest lodge by water—though the girls and boys unanimously agreed that the motor trip had been much more thrilling.
now, as the paddles bit deep into the glassy surface of the water, jessie and nell put all their strength into the stroke. the canoe shot forward swiftly, but, alas, the boys shot ahead more swiftly still!
before they had gone a hundred yards the boys were hopelessly in the lead, and burd raised a victorious paddle to wave at them tauntingly.
that gesture proved to be his undoing. the handle of the paddle, slippery with water, slid from his careless grasp and drifted lazily beyond his reach.
“he has lost his paddle! he has lost his paddle!” chanted amy, bouncing up and down in the canoe and threatening to upset them at every bounce. “go it, girls; go it! we’ve got ’em at our mercy!”
“i am not so sure of that,” giggled jessie, but she leaned still harder on the paddle and nell responded nobly to the call for “full steam ahead.”
laughing so they could hardly paddle, the girls passed the boys, who were still fishing for the paddle.
as the girls went by, burd made one more grab for it, nearly upsetting the canoe as he did so. he caught the paddle, but the effort had half turned the canoe about, and by the time it was started in the right direction again the girls had almost reached the pier.
the result was a winning of the race with a whole boat-length to spare.
“look!” cried jessie, as the boys, looking a little sheepish, came up to them. “isn’t that a steamer coming in?”
“to be sure it is,” said nell, with interest. “suppose we wait and see who is on it.”
“ah, that is just a stall to get out of giving us our revenge,” declared burd, grinning. “dare you to race us back to the dock.”
“perhaps burd could hang onto his paddle this time, if he tried hard,” said darry, sarcastically.
but jessie, with a laugh, shook her head.
“that wasn’t the bargain,” she reminded them. “the course of the race was from dock to pier, and we won it.”
“you shouldn’t have dropped that paddle, burd,” said fol, with a worried expression. “really you shouldn’t! we shall never hear the end of this.”
“oh, hush, and let’s watch this boat,” said nell, with an eager eye on the approaching steamer. “looks like a big one, and—just see—her decks are crowded with people.”
“better keep on this side of the pier and draw in a little toward shore,” darry suggested. “otherwise the swells from that craft might affect us unpleasantly.”
they followed his suggestion and drew in toward shore. the steamer came rapidly closer, slowed as it neared its destination and slipped up to the pier.
with interest, the girls watched as the steamer disgorged its crowds upon the dock.
most of these people—girls and women in gay-colored sports clothes and men and boys in natty white flannels—landed just long enough to eat lunch and get a glimpse of the picturesque forest. then back again by the steamer to new melford.
suddenly, with a hysterical giggle and a clutch on jessie’s arm, amy pointed to some one in the crowd.
“do my eyes deceive me?” she cried. “or is that belle ringold?”
“what!” cried darry, starting up, a hunted look on his face. “tell me you are mistaken, amy—quick!”
“would that i could, but i cannot,” returned amy mournfully.
jessie and nell now discovered with dismay that belle was accompanied by her boon companion, sally moon.
“merciful heaven, let’s get out of this!” cried burd. “let’s go home!”
“for once, burd, you have said something with some sense to it,” darry declared, as with strong quick strokes he headed the canoe about and started back toward forest lodge, the girls in their wake.
they made the trip back to the dock in record time. the boys beat the girls, but they refrained from taunting them with the fact. they were too much occupied congratulating themselves over the fortunate escape from belle and sally.
but to their chagrin, a few hours later that afternoon they found these same two girls camped before the door of the lodge, quite evidently on the watch for them. aunt emma had been talking to belle and sally, and the radio girls chuckled at the look on their chaperone’s face.
the young folks had been for a tramp in the woods and had come back, talkative and happy—to this. belle and sally were seated in a pony cart, and belle held the reins negligently over an exceedingly wide-awake and alert looking pony.
“oh, so here you are!” called out the girl, as jessie and darry, leading the party, came in sight. “you were gone so long we began to think you were never coming back!”
belle spoke gayly and with seeming cordiality. however, the girls were not deceived by this attitude. it was assumed, they knew, so that sally and belle might ingratiate themselves with the boys. it seemed probable that their sole motive in visiting forest lodge was the prospect of speaking to darry and burd again.
“would that we had stayed a little longer,” said darry, in a mournful undertone to jessie, and the latter shot him a mischievous glance.
belle caught her look, and it did little to increase her good temper.
“well, aren’t you even going to say hello?” she asked pettishly. “i must say you are not very polite!”
“sorry, belle, i am sure,” said jessie coolly. “of course we did not know you were here or we would not have stayed away so long. won’t you come in for a little while?”
belle ignored this question and turned eagerly to darry.
“we are staying with a friend of ours for a day or two,” she said. “she is a sort of cousin of mine and she owns a beautiful cottage about a mile from here. if we like it here,” she added, smiling coyly at the harassed darry, “we might stay longer.”
“is that a threat or a promise?” murmured the impish amy, and unfortunately belle heard her.
the girl’s face flamed red and she turned upon amy furiously.
“if you want to know, i wasn’t speaking to you,” she flared.
“and if you want to know, i wasn’t speaking to you, either,” returned amy coolly. jessie put an urgent hand upon her chum’s arm.
“don’t answer her,” she whispered. “can’t you see she is just spoiling for a fight?”
sally had buttonholed the uncomfortable burd and belle was speaking to darry in a coaxing tone.
“we are having a party to-night, and we would like you boys to come. you can come, too, if you want to,” she flung carelessly to the three girls.
amy started to speak, but jessie held her back. she saw darry smile and thought him quite capable of coping with the situation.
“we are very sorry,” he said courteously. “but we have an engagement with the girls to listen in to a big radio concert this evening.”
“you can come too, if you like,” drawled amy, in such perfect imitation of belle’s own condescending tones that the others were convulsed.
in sudden fury belle brought the whip in her hand down upon the pony’s back. the little animal snorted, jumped, and began to run.
“look out,” cried jessie, wildly. “he is headed straight for the dock!”
