CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A FURNITURE SHOWER
News of the raid on Dandelion Camp traveled swiftly, so that the head ofpolice in Elmertown heard of the posse and the reward offered to capturethe convicts.
He was going down the street after hearing the story and, meeting Mr.Allison, stopped him.
"I suppose the scouts came home this afternoon," he said.
"The scouts! Why, no--why should they?" asked Mr. Allison.
"Is it possible that you have not heard?"
"Heard--heard what? Has anything terrible happened?" cried the frightenedfather.
Now, the policeman knew that no one in Elmertown had heard the story,but he liked to create an effect, so he explained carefully, "Why, twoconvicts got away from State's prison and were hiding on that mountainwhere your girls are camping."
"Good heavens! What happened?"
"Nothing more than their camp was broken up. All the food-stuff andfurniture are gone. The men stole everything and what they could notcarry away, they broke to bits."
"Why--how awful! Where were the scouts when this happened?" asked Mr.Allison, trembling with apprehension.
"Oh, it seems they went to Bluebeard's Cave to celebrate the Fourth, andthere they found an unconscious man who had been beaten almost to deathby the rascals who, after robbing him, took him way back in the Cave andleft him there. But the scouts discovered him, and saved his life."
"Well, now! that is something like it," said the father proudly.
"But it didn't spare their camp. When they got back they foundeverything gone, so they kept right on to Freedom and are staying atMrs. Munson's hotel."
"Why there--they should have come home," said Mr. Allison.
"They couldn't, I s'pose. You see, they would have to be on hand toswear to warrants and everything. We police do things up according tolaw, you know."
"Maybe they'll be home to-day," ventured Mr. Allison.
"Like as not. Well, so long!"
Mr. Allison thanked the officer and hurried to his office. He rang upthe Bentley's house and found Ruth's father at home.
"Say, Bentley, I just met the cop on our beat and he tells me the scoutshad an awful time! Two escaped prisoners were hiding on the mountains,and smashed up the camp. Every bit of food and all the furniture brokento bits. The girls saved a man that the outlaws had beaten to a jelly."
"Good heavens! Were any of the scouts hurt in the fight?"
"No, but I guess they were pretty well frightened,--eh?"
"I should say so! What are we going to do about it--go out and bring themhome?" said Mr. Bentley.
"Oh, the cop told me they were now at a hotel in Freedom, as they had tobe on hand to testify to certain things. I suppose they will be hometo-morrow."
"Let me hear from you if you hear anything new, will you?" asked Mr.Bentley.
"Yes, and you do the same," replied Mr. Allison.
Hardly had both men hung up the receivers before the telephone bell atthe Lee house tinkled. May answered the call. Two men were trying to gether. One said to the other: "Get off of this wire--it's busy."
Then the other replied: "I called the number first--I heard you comein----Now get off, I have to tell this party a very important story."
"Ho! that sounds like Allison's voice--is it you?"
"Yes,--is this Bentley?" asked the other voice.
"Ha, ha, ha! I was just going to tell the Lees about the robbers and thecamp. But you can tell them, if you like."
"All right--hang up and I'll tell them," said Mr. Bentley.
Now, May had heard this conversation and when the men spoke of robbersand camp she trembled with fear. By the time Mr. Bentley had told hisstory, she was so weak that she had to sit down. Finally she managed toget in a word, so she asked:
"But where are the girls? Did anything happen to them?"
"Oh, they are all right! They're stopping at the Freedom Hotel until thepolice can get all their testimony."
"Thank goodness. The furniture can quickly be replaced, but the girls'lives cannot. Now we will have to plan to refurnish their huts," saidMay.
"Refurnish--why! Won't you insist upon their coming home now?" asked Mr.Bentley.
"Why should they come home now, just after they cleared the pests out oftheir vicinity? Of course not!"
"Well, I suppose you are right in one way. But Allison and I expectedthey would come home to-morrow."
"Poor girls! They were having such a wonderful time in camp, too! Iguess I will get Mrs. Vernon's sister to take me to Freedom in themorning to see if there is anything we can do."
"May, I think that is a fine idea. And when you see them give them ourlove and say that we will do anything they say. If they plan to go onwith the camp--all right and well. We will stock them up again."
"All right, Mr. Bentley, I'll call you up when I get back and tell youall they say. Meantime, let Mr. Allison know that I intend running outto see them, will you?"
"Yes, I'll call him up at once, May. Good-by."
So it happened that Mrs. Vernon's sister-in-law and May went to Freedomin the automobile the day following the Fourth, but found the townalmost deserted. Mrs. Munson told them how the scouts led the way up themountainside when the police arrived, and they weren't expected backthat day.
After sitting around and waiting until afternoon, May and Mrs. Vernon'ssister decided to go back. But they left notes with Mrs. Munson for thescouts, as soon as they should return.
That evening May telephoned the Bentleys. After telling the little sheknew about the case, she asked them to come over and discuss a plan shehad thought of. Then the Allisons were asked to run over and meet theothers in planning a relief-party for the scouts.
That evening the whole plan was approved and worked out. May said thatthe sister-in-law had promised to send the factory truck to the house onSaturday at noon, so they need not worry about transporting thedonations to the camp. As that was the only hitch in the entire plan,once it was removed every one was delighted.
That Saturday morning the local papers were full of the story of how afew girl scouts found and captured two desperate outlaws. The story wasso highly embellished that several of the conservative parents in thetown thought it was dreadful to allow girls to go off in the woodswithout a dog or a big brother. What the big brother would have donethat the scouts didn't accomplish is hard to say.
But most of the girls who had been so anxious to be scouts and spend thesummer in camp, now gnashed their teeth in envy. Here were four girlswho had to dig dandelions to earn the money to go away on, now havingthe most wonderful time! They had their names in the paper, and everyone said what brave scouts they were! And, most of all, they were goingto have ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS from the Government as a reward. "Oh, whydid we have to sit at home all summer while these scouts were gettingall the fun?" they wailed.
The three families of the Dandelion Camp Scouts felt very proud of theirgirls when they read the account in the papers, and they felt all themore eager to go to camp with the donations of furniture, and show thegirls how much they appreciated their courage and cleverness incapturing the rascals.
At one o'clock on Saturday the driver pulled his truck up in front ofthe Lee homestead. Just inside the picket fence stood two cane-seatedchairs. The fact that hind-legs were missing was not apparent to acasual observer, but that is why they had been in the loft for severalyears.
The moment the truck was seen to stop, May and her father ran from thehouse, carrying paper bundles piled high in their arms. Eliza followedwith a brass banquet lamp minus a globe. Handing this to the driver, shehurried back for odds and ends of dishes and pans. May made a secondtrip for some pictures in broken frames--also a washtub and old toolsthat had been found in the loft.
The second stop was made at the Bentley's house. Their donationconsisted of a table with three legs; a small wash-stand bureau withbottomless drawers; an old-fashioned towel-rack and a rocker with a verylame back; in fact, the back might be calle
d crippled and helpless. Butthen they added a goodly stock of groceries.
At the Allison's house the driver took on a kitchen table with onedrop-leaf gone and the other hanging by one hinge. A small familyalbum-stand from the parlor of long ago. An old hair-cloth sofa withbroken springs and the filling most gone; a straw mattress and a spiralspring that had not been used for years, so the Allisons thought itmight as well go to the camp as to be left in the attic. Foodstuff wasthe last but not least of this donation.
When the truck reached the Vernons' house, where the sister-in-law waswaiting, many cumbersome and heavy items were added to the collection.By this time the jitney party had been picked up one after another, andnow all arrived at the Vernons' house for the last passenger.
The truck and jitney then started for Dandelion Camp, the happy giverspicturing how delighted the scouts would be to receive the shower offurniture.
At Freedom the surprise party found their girls had gone back to camp,and the injured man with them. Lemuel Saunders was such a personage inthe public eye since the man-hunt on the mountain that he could be seenstrutting up and down Main Street, telling people all about the GreatDeed. Thus it was that the families from Elmertown heard the talefirst-hand--with all its trimmings.
As the truck started up the trail for the camp Mr. Bentley turned to Mr.Lee and Mr. Allison and said: "According to Lemuel, he did the wholetrick. If our girls played so little a part in the capture, why shouldthey have had the reward?"
But further conversation was rendered impossible by the deep ruts wornin the trail by the many wagons that had recently traveled the road.People from Freedom and other villages nearby wanted to see the girlscouts who had shown so much sense as to trap two convicts.
Finally the truck halted, and the jitney traveled on a few hundred feetin advance before it, too, had to stop. Each member of the party thentook a piece of furniture and, carrying the load, started for camp.
The scouts were busy trying to put their camp in order again, when Mrs.Vernon called out, "Some one's coming up the trail."
Ruth ran out to see who it could be, and then exclaimed: "Why, it'sDaddy! He's carrying an old table."
A few yards behind Mr. Bentley came Mr. Allison with the legless chairs.And then followed the chauffeur, staggering under a canopy of thehusk-mattress. A line of visitors came behind him, each burdened withsome piece of old furniture.
The scouts stood speechless at the top of the slope, but gradually thetruth about this "moving brigade" dawned upon Mrs. Vernon. She turnedinstantly to the girls, and said: "Be very grateful, for your peoplehave gone to a great deal of trouble to refurnish your camp."
Mr. Bentley was only too thankful to drop his burden when he reached thescouts; Ruth caught hold of his hand, laughing merrily as she said: "Oh,can you ever stand up straight again, Daddy?"
"I doubt it," returned he, holding the small of his back.
Then the others came up and deposited their donations beside thekitchen-table. As each one sighed and wiped streaming faces, the scoutsdeclared they were the finest families on earth.
"You certainly are very self-sacrificing to bring all this furniture tocamp," added Mrs. Vernon.
"We would have been cold-blooded folks if we hadn't, after hearing howall the rustic furniture was destroyed," said May.
"But we got it all back!" exclaimed Julie, joyously.
"Got it back! I thought those rascals smashed it up," said Mr. Allison.
"No--they just hid it behind bushes and trees; only the grass mats andlittle ornaments were broken up," explained Joan.
"Dear me! Do you mean to say that we brought this load of odds and endsall this way for nothing?" cried Mrs. Bentley.
"Of course not! Now we can entertain company over-night, you see. Withthat mattress and spring we can have two people," declared Julie,looking at her companions for credit of this idea.
"That's so! And we can furnish a regular bedroom with the chairs andtable--and banquet lamp," added Joan.
"But we will have to pin a notice on those chairs so no one will usethem," ventured Betty, doubtfully, looking at the legless objects.
Every one laughed, and Ruth added: "We'll build new legs on to them."
"You'll have to build another hut to hold the furniture," now said Mr.Gilroy.
This attracted all attention to the stranger, and Mrs. Vernon suddenlyflushed crimson, and said: "Oh! What a poor scout hostess I make. Iquite forgot to introduce our guest, Mr. Gilroy." Then the usualceremony took place, midst the laughter of every one, for Mrs. Vernonwas considered to be very particular about social customs.
"Now that all this furniture is here, what shall we do with it?" askedJoan.
"It won't stand dew and weather like our rustic pieces, you know," addedRuth.
"If you scouts will help move the 'shower,' we might pile it back ofHepsy's shed and cover it with a canvas until you have built a hotel,"laughed May.
So, with merriment and strenuous labor, the furniture was neatly stackedup beside the shed until it could be better arranged.
Then every one sat down to listen to the story of the capture of theconvicts. As all the scouts wished to tell the tale at the same time sothat no one understood, the visitors quickly voted that Mrs. Vernon bethe speaker. This was acceptable to the girls, and the Captain began.
She was a good story-teller, and the scenes were graphically describeduntil she reached the part where the Chief stood on the roof of the hut,commanding the fugitives to come out. To make the recital moreimpressive, the Captain threw out her arm, which was supposed to holdthe revolver, when quite unexpectedly the chair she sat in collapsed,and she found herself on the grass.
For a second every one held his or her breath, then laughed heartily atMrs. Vernon's surprised expression. Julie jumped up from the stump whereshe had been sitting and ran over to explain.
"Oh, I am so sorry, Verny! I forgot to tell you that the fore leg ofthis rustic seat was loose. I tied it on with string to make it lookright, but I didn't think any one would use it."
"Good gracious, Jule! Did you think our camp wanted ornamentalfurniture?" demanded Joan, thinking thereby to give a strong hint to thefriends who showered useless articles upon them that day.
This statement caused rather a silence in the visitors, until May said:"I hope you won't find much trouble in repairing the pieces _we_ broughtfor you."
"Oh, we will make some sort of use of them," replied Julie, frankly, assisters will. "We can pull the old stuffing out of that sofa, you know,and use it for bedding for Hepsy, when we run short of dried leaves orgrass."
Every eye turned to look at the old sofa, and Mr. Gilroy had greatdifficulty in keeping his face straight. Finally the erstwhile owner ofthe sofa said: "Horses don't like hair for bedding."
Julie retorted: "Because it makes them dream of what all the tails andmanes come to when they die!"
This caused a laugh, and Joan added: "Anyway, a horse in camp--'speciallya scout horse--can't be choosers about bedding. They are glad to get whatis to be had."
Mr. Lee laughingly replied to this: "I'm glad I'm not a scout horse."
Mrs. Vernon now turned to her sister-in-law and said: "I'm curious tohear what donations you found to bring out?"
"Oh, Pete told me there was a loft full of furniture over the oldstables. So I rummaged and found all I could manage."
"That reminds me, Mrs. Ormsby! We have not added your gifts to thesebecause we could not carry them up the slope. They were too heavy,"explained Mr. Lee.
"My goodness me! More stuff?" exclaimed Ruth.
"Yes, but I think you will be pleased with my donations," said Mrs.Ormsby, apologetically. "I heard how you had to manage with this poorcamp-fire, so I brought a kitchen stove that was stored in the loft. Ialso----" but the lady got no further at that time.
The scouts laughed so that some of them doubled over and rocked back andforth. Even Mrs. Vernon had to laugh at her relative's pity.
"Oh, oh! This is the funniest thi
ng I ever heard!" said she. "Why, mydear Kate, don't you know that half the sport of camping is trying to dowithout modern equipment? Every camper tries to use wood-material onlyfor home, furniture and outfit. What would the founders of the girls'scouts say if they heard we cooked our camp meals on a kitchen range inthe woods!"
"Do you really mean that you do not want it?" asked Mrs. Ormsby.
"Of course not! We have a fine fireplace and oven, so the stove andstove-pipe may as well go back on the truck."
"Maybe you will scorn the walnut bed I brought as a great surprise? Iheard there was a spring and mattress, so I had the bed brought from theloft and moved here on the truck with the other things. But it is somassive and heavy, no one could carry the head and foot boards up thehill. We thought Hepsy could do that," explained Mrs. Ormsby, dubiouslyto be sure, after the reception her other gift had received.
Mrs. Vernon now laughed as heartily as the scouts had done just beforethis. "Oh! That awful bedstead that always took an acre lot to hold it!Where could we put it up? Our huts will never hold one section of it."
"I have a brilliant idea, Mrs. Vernon," now said Mr. Gilroy. "Suppose weput up the bed down there in some secluded nook and then with the springand mattress I can have a wonderful suite of my own for a few nights."
"There! I knew that bed would prove useful!" declared Mrs. Ormsby,sending a look of thanks to Mr. Gilroy.
"Maybe Mr. Gilroy would like the stove, too, to dry out the dampnessfrom the ground where he camps," suggested Julie.
Every one laughed excepting Betty; she took the idea as literal, andsaid: "That might be a good plan for us--to use it in front of thefireplace. You see, we can't burn wood there 'cause it smokes so, butthe stove-pipe can be run right up the flues so all the smoke from thestove will manage to get up where it ought to go."
Another shout of laughter greeted this original proposition, and Mrs.Vernon finally gasped: "If the stove goes in the hut, we will have tostay out!"
"Then I suppose the stove has to go back?" Mrs. Ormsby wanted to know.
"We can sell it in Freedom, I have no doubt, and put the proceeds in thebank for the Adirondack Camp," replied Mrs. Vernon.
"Oh, say, Verny! That's what we can do with all this furniture, can'twe?" cried Julie, eagerly.
But her vivacious suggestion seemed to meet with another strangesilence. Finally Mrs. Vernon broke the embarrassment by saying: "Weought to get dinner, as it is long past the hour."
And Mr. Lee said: "I suppose the food-stock we brought to replenish thelarder will be scorned."
"Oh, no indeed, Daddy! We _need_ things to eat!" said Betty.
As they all sat in a circle on the grass, eating and laughing, Elizamade a bold suggestion.
"Now, I sez we folks seem to be foolish over some things. One of 'em is,we hoard ole furniture and odds and ends that even a Dandelion laughsat! We pays rent fer jes' sech useless trash that we never wants to useagin. Every house-cleanin' time we moves and cleans the rubbish whatcollects moths, an' finally, affer years of savin', we throws it out."
She paused to see what effect this statement had on her audience, andseeing it was politely received, she took another huge bite from thesandwich she held, and, while chewing vigorously, concluded her speech.
"Now, this is what I sez: 'Let's go home and clear out all the rubbagethat clutters our attics, an' give it to the poor, or sell it to arummitch sale such as I hears tell of in Elmertown.'"
"I second that valuable motion!" laughed Mr. Lee.
And the men voted unanimously on the plan, but the ladies were not soeasily persuaded. Mrs. Ormsby quickly added: "All opposed to the motion,say 'Nay.'"
But the scouts and Mrs. Vernon shouted hilariously to drown opposition.There were two or three faint "nays," so the motion was carried, and themen declared that they would see to it that it was fulfilled.