keineth, a little tired after the strain of the tennis match, thought it much more fun to watch the others. billy had gone into the paddling races, and no one but mr. lee and keineth knew that it was because keineth had begged him--and he had won and keineth had been the first to examine the wrist watch he had received as an award. and on friday the entire family waited eagerly near the eighteenth green of the golf course for barbara and carol day to play up in the final game for the golf championship!
keineth and peggy held hands tightly in their excitement.
"oh, i can tell by barb's walk she's ahead," peggy cried as the two players, their caddies and a small gallery, appeared around the corner of the wood that screened the seventeenth green.
"she was two down at the turn and carol was playing par golf," someone volunteered. "what does down at the turn mean?" whispered keineth.
"the turn's at the end of the ninth hole and a-l-a-s, down means barb was behind. pooh, she always plays better when she's down!"
a man had just returned from the fifteenth tee.
"they were dormie at the sixteenth," the girls heard him say.
"what queer words they do use in golf! i thought dormie was a window!"
"oh, ken," giggled peggy, "you mean dormer and it's dormie when one player is just as many holes ahead as there are more holes to play. good gracious!" her face fell, "that means that barbara will have to win these three holes and she always slices on the eighteenth!"
"she won't this time, peggy! that girl's like steel in a match!" a man nearby broke in.
"she's driving first!" billy cried. "oh, look--look--look! p-e-ach-y!"
breathlessly they watched the two players advance toward the green. barbara had outdriven her opponent but she topped her second. carol day, playing a brassie, put her ball well up. barbara recovered on her third shot, carried the bunker which guarded the green twenty yards from it, and laid her ball on the edge of the green. carol's third caught the top of the bunker, shot into the air and dropped back into the sand pit!
"oh-h!" breathed peggy delightedly into keineth's ear. she knew it was the worst bunker on the course.
but difficulties only made carol day play the better. she studied the shot for several moments while barbara and the gallery watched with tense interest. then they saw her lift her niblick slowly, her head bent; a cloud of sand raised, the ball cleared the bunker's top, dropped upon the green, rolled a few feet and rested within an easy putt of the cup!
the gallery applauded. it was a splendid shot, one of the kind that ought to win a match for its player. even keineth cried out in generous praise of the play.
peggy gripped keineth's hand so hard that it hurt.
"steady, steady, there, barb," mr. lee muttered. barbara walked slowly to her ball. her eyes were lowered, she did not glance at the familiar faces about the green. her next shot demanded the utmost skill, care and steadiness she could command. of them all she was the coolest. she must run down her putt to win the match!
peggy suddenly shut her eyes that she could not see what happened. the others saw barbara, with an easy movement, line her putt. the ball rolled slowly over the clipped turf, dead straight to the hole--closer, closer, hung for one fraction of a second on the rim of the cup and then with a thud that was like music, dropped in! barbara was the champion of the women players of the club!
"why, it almost made me sick." peggy confided to keineth afterwards. "i will be a wreck when this week is over! and oh, if i can only win the life-saving medal to-morrow! think of it, four prizes in the lee family! there will be no living with us. i don't care a straw for the cups they give--it's that little bit of a bronze medal i want there's going to be a man here from washington to give it to the winner--one of the volunteer life-saving association. and that medal's got to go right here," and defiantly she struck her hand against her breast.
"i just can't wait," keineth sighed in a tragic manner.
"the last day is most fun of all," peggy explained.
"how can we ever settle down into calm living?"
"huh--fast enough! i've got to begin reviewing english. i have a condition to make up."
"and i want to work on my music," cried keineth, suddenly conscience-smitten.
"mother says that to-morrow night we'll wind up with a supper on the beach. it's lots jollier than the dinner dance at the club and we're too young to go to that, anyway. barb could go if she wanted to, but she'd rather have the fun at the beach. we fry bacon and roast corn and mother makes cocoa and then we sing. oh, dear, won't it be awful to grow old and not do those things?"
together they sighed mightily at such a prospect!
for the last day of the sports week there was a program of fun that began immediately after breakfast and lasted through the day. all the club members gathered on the beach where gaily-decorated booths had been built. from these lemonade and sandwiches were served continuously. the motor boats, canoes and skiffs, their flags flying, made bright splashes of color against the green water. stakes, topped with flags, marked the course for the swimming races. the judges were taken out on one of the larger motor boats.
keineth had never seen anything quite like it. to her it seemed like a chapter from some story and a story strange and exciting!
the committee had arranged games and races for the very little youngsters so that during the morning the beach front was astir with them--bright-eyed, bobbed-haired, starched little girls and tanned, bare-legged boys, trying vainly to elude the watchful care of the mothers and nurse-girls, who made a background for the pretty scene.
the life-saving contest followed the swimming races. four others besides peggy had entered: molly sawyer, helen downer, mary freeman and gladys day.
keineth had never watched a contest of this sort before. she cried out in alarm when she saw a man, fully dressed, at a signal totter off the deck of the judges' motor boat. someone next to her laughed.
"that's just pretend--he's an expert swimmer! it's mary freeman's turn! watch her!"
keineth saw mary detach herself from a small group, rush into the water tearing off her blouse as she did so. then something went wrong--mary seemed to make no headway toward the man, the judges blew a whistle, the man who had jumped overboard climbed back into the boat; there was some laughter which others quickly frowned down.
peggy had drawn last place in the contest. when keineth saw the others fail, one after another, she glanced at peggy with nervous anxiety. but peggy stood, outwardly calm, the picture of confidence, her eyes fastened upon the judges' boat, waiting for her signal.
another man fell overboard; to keineth he looked like a giant! she saw peggy spring forward--in a flash her blouse was off and she had thrown it backward over her head. she was swimming and keineth knew that as she swam she was unbuttoning and kicking off her shoes and her skirt. an encouraging shout went up as she moved rapidly forward, her head under water, first one straight, strong arm, then the other, shooting out and ahead!
off at a little distance the judges' boat was chugging. from the beach the spectators, breathless, could see a struggle in the water. then, where for a moment there had been nothing visible, they saw peggy's head; saw her making for shore swimming on her back with strong leg strokes, one arm encircling the man's head, her grip holding his chin and nostrils out of water and pinioning his arms so that his struggles could not drag her down.
a shout went up from the beach front--louder and louder; the motor boats blew their sirens. keineth ran to the water's edge that she might be the first to greet the proud young swimmer.
willing hands helped peggy pull the rescued man upon the sand where, the water dripping from her shoulders, peggy gave "first aid." after several moments, marked by a big, sunburned man whom keineth learned afterwards was the man from washington, the victim was pronounced saved, rose to his feet and was the first to shake peggy's hand!
"why, it was so real that it seemed awful funny to see him just get up like that," keineth giggled afterwards, when she had a moment alone with her peggy.
"well--it wasn't any easy thing to bring him in! why, he struggled just as much as though he was really drowning! but, oh, ken--ken, i've won my medal!"
later the children went back to the house to prepare the picnic. they trooped up the rood, an excited group; keineth and peggy in advance.
as they came nearer to overlook a strange sight met their eyes. they stopped short.
for there on the gravel drive, its high-powered engine snorting and puffing, a rigid, uniformed figure at the wheel, stood aunt josephine's bright yellow car!
