CHAPTER XVII
CAUGHT IN THE STORM
The Shadyside gymnasium was equipped with a fine pool, and it was theschool's boast that every girl learned to swim during her first term.Perhaps the proximity of the lake and the lure of the small fleet ofcanoes and rowboats tied up at the wharf had something to do with thesuccess of the swimming classes. No girl who could not swim was permittedon the lake, alone or with a companion.
Betty and her chums awaited their final tests eagerly--so excited thelast day or two they could scarcely keep their minds on their books orsit in patience through a recitation--and passed them with flying colors.Constance Howard was an excellent swimmer, and it was the sight of herpaddling gracefully about the lake on sunny Saturday afternoons thatspurred the seven who could not swim on to greater effort.
"Come on," cried Betty gaily, taking the gymnasium steps two at a time."Come, girls--this afternoon we go rowing. I've my 'stiffcut,' as Mr.Peabody used to call it, and we've all passed. Oh, it's cloudy!"
She looked at the sky disappointedly. When they had gone into the pool anhour before the sun had been shining brightly, but now the gray cloudswere thick overhead and the air was chilly.
"Who cares for the weather?" said Bobby scornfully. "Guess it will takemore than a little rain to stop me! I've been crazy to take a row-boatout for three weeks."
"Perhaps it will clear," contributed the optimistic Louise.
But after lunch the sky was still overcast.
"Don't be silly--it won't rain," urged Bobby, as her chums demurred."Next Saturday it may be too cold. Oh, come on, girls."
Thus incited, they went down to the wharf and made their choice of boats.Norma and Alice wanted to take out a canoe, and they offered to paddlefor Libbie, who seemed disinclined to exercise. Betty had wondered onceor twice if the girl were ill, for she seemed very nervous, jumped if adoor slammed or some one spoke to her suddenly, and in the morning lookedas if she had not slept well.
Betty and Bobby selected a flat-bottomed row-boat and for passenger theytook Frances, who offered to help row if they became tired.
Louise and Constance chose another canoe.
They headed north, and once out in the center of the lake, paddledand rowed steadily. Betty's rowing experience was limited, but Bobbywas proud of her "stroke," and soon taught her chum the secret ofhandling the oars.
"Ship ahoy!" shouted Bobby presently.
Libbie jumped and looked ahead anxiously.
"It's only the boys," she said dully.
An eight-oared rowing shell shot down to them, and the freckled-facedcoxswain, Gilbert Lane, one of the boys the girls had met at Bob andTommy's "party," grinned cheerfully.
"Where you going?" he asked, resting a friendly hand on therowboat's rim.
Bobby described an arc with her oar that incidentally showered thequestioner with shining water drops.
"We're out for adventure," she answered airily.
"Just got our swimming certificates to-day," volunteered Betty.
Bob flashed her a congratulatory smile.
"Race you to the end of the lake?" suggested Tommy Tucker.
Bobby regarded him with magnificent scorn.
"As if eight of you couldn't beat two!" she said significantly. "I neverheard such talk! Why you'd have a walk!" she added.
The boys shouted with laughter.
"You're a poet, Bobby," declared Tommy. "Tennyson had nothing onyou--had he, Libbie?"
Libbie turned her dark eyes on him and frowned a little.
"I wasn't listening," she said indifferently.
"Well, anyway, row up to the end of the lake, will you?" suggestedGilbert. "With drill night ahead of us, we want a little brightness toremember the day by."
Canoes, rowboat and shell swept on up the lake, and when the scrubbypines that bordered the narrow peak of the north shore were in sight,Bobby glanced back over her shoulder at Betty.
"You're spattering me," she complained.
"I thinks it's beginning to rain," said Betty mildly, and even as shespoke, Louise called to them:
"Girls, it's beginning to pour!"
A sudden blast of wind struck them, blowing the rain against their backs.
"Keep on rowing!" shouted Bob's voice. "We'll have to land and walk back.You girls can never beat back against this storm. We're almost to theshore now."
A few minutes more and the boats touched shore. The boys were out in aninstant and helped the girls to land.
"We'll carry up the boats--don't you think that is best, Tommy?" shoutedBob. "If we carry them up high enough and leave them, they will beperfectly safe."
The wind and the rain made shouting necessary if one's voice were tocarry above the storm. The boys lifted the light boats and carried theminto the woods, turning them over so that the keels were up.
"Now the question is," said Bob, who seemed by common consent to havebeen elected leader, "shall we walk along the shore and get drenched, ortake a chance of finding our way through the woods?"
To their astonishment, Libbie burst into a fit of hysterical weeping.
"Don't go through the woods," she begged, her teeth chattering. "We'llfall into that awful Indian Chasm."
Bobby's heart reproached her for her thoughtless joke and she put an armaround her cousin.
"Libbie, you never thought I was serious about pushing you into thechasm, did you?" she asked anxiously. "Is that what has been making youact so queerly ever since? I was only fooling."
So, thought Betty, Bobby, too, had noticed Libbie's unnatural behavior.
"Oh, it isn't that," sobbed Libbie. "I can't explain--but if we gothrough the woods, I'm sure I shall go crazy."
"Well, then, that settles it," said Bob comfortably. "Better to bedrowned than to go crazy. Can you turn up your sweater collars, girls? Iwish we'd brought some raincoats along."
Splashing and stumbling, they followed Bob down to the shore and beganthe weary walk that would lead them back to the school. After fifteenminutes' steady walking they came to a dense undergrowth that wasimpossible to penetrate.
"No use, we'll have to make a cut through the woods," announced Bob. "Upthis way and over, ought to bring us out right."
He was so cheerful and patient that the tired, rain-soaked girls couldnot do otherwise than follow his example. Libbie was crying silently, butthe others tramped along cheerfully, singing, at Betty's suggestion, oldcollege and school songs.
"Look here, Bob," said Tommy Tucker in an undertone, "I don't think we'regoing in the right direction. Don't you say it would be better to takethe girls to that deserted cabin we found the other day and leave themthere while we explore a bit? They're getting soaked through, and LibbieLittell is fixing to have hysterics. Leave a couple of the boys with 'em,so they won't be afraid, and then we'll locate the right trail and take'em over it home in a hurry."
This suggestion sounded like good, common-sense to Bob, and he said so.
"Betty could walk ten miles and be all right," he declared proudly, "andI think Bobby is good for a hike, too. But Frances Martin can't see whenthe rain gets on her glasses, and, as you say, something is the matterwith Libbie. So let's make for the cabin, quick."
The Salsette boys had explored the woods pretty thoroughly, and on arecent expedition Bob and his chums had stumbled on an old one-roomcabin, buried deep in the woods and evidently unoccupied for years. Itwas not far from the end of the lake, and toward it they now led thegirls, explaining as they went what they intended to do.
"We'll be all right," said Betty at once. "I think if Libbie can sit downand rest she'll feel better, too. And if you all want to go and hunt forthe trail, you needn't worry about us."
"Oh, Sydney and I intend to stay," Gilbert Lane assured her quickly. (Theboys had settled that among themselves.) "We'll be handy in case anyIndians or the like come after you."
Betty gave him a warning glance, for Libbie looked frightened. Surelysomething was wrong with the girl!
The cabin door wa
s open and the interior was comparatively dry. There wasno furniture, but three or four old packing boxes furnished the girlswith seats. Bob and five of his friends disappeared, whistling. Gilbertand Sydney were investigating the ramshackle fireplace to see what theprospects were for starting a fire when a shriek from Libbie brought themto their feet.
"A ghost!" cried the girl. "A ghost! Over there in the corner!"
Frances Martin gave a cry, and Betty and Bobby went white. Even Gilbertafterward confessed that his scalp prickled when a figure stepped forwardfrom a narrow closet against the wall.
"Ugh! Howdy!" he grunted, and they saw that he was a very old and verydirty Indian.
"Rain," he said slowly, pointing to the door. "Stop soon now. Goget supper."
He shuffled over the doorsill and at the edge he turned.
"Howdy!" he said, apparently with some vague idea of farewell."Much rain!"
Petrified, they watched him hobble away through the woods.