CHAPTER XIII--THAT NOISE
One after another the girls drifted lazily downstairs to the daintybreakfast Mrs. Floyd had prepared for them.
"I just couldn't bear to get up," confessed Bess, "though I knew it wasa perfectly glorious day outside."
"It is wonderful," declared Cora.
"How do you know? Have you been out?" asked Hazel, with a questioninglook at Cora's negligee.
"Peeped from the window--Jack called to me," explained his sister.
"I was _so_ tired," said Belle. "I thought I never would get enoughsleep. I wouldn't have gotten up if a ghost had called me."
"Jack was a bit disappointed that we didn't call on them for help,"remarked Cora, and she detailed her brother's morning salutation.
"I think it's all perfect nonsense," declared Belle. "Of course I don'tmean you, Cora," she said, "for you only told us what you heard. But Idon't believe a thing will happen."
"I hope nothing unpleasant does," remarked Bess, tucking back arebellious lock of her pretty hair, and glancing at her pink nails whichshe kept, as Jack taunted her, "in a state of faultless repair."
"Did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Floyd, coming in with more coffee.
"Fine," answered Cora. "And please don't think we are going to impose onyou in this way every morning. We came up to help with the work, andwe're going to do it. But this morning----"
"I know, my dear. You girls don't exactly need any beauty sleep," andshe beamed at the four pretty faces that smiled back at her, "but youmust have been tired after your trip. I don't in the least mind."
"You'll find us quite energetic after this," predicted Belle. "That isall but my sister, and you see she is----"
"Belle Robinson! If you talk about me that way I'll--I'll---- Oh! why doyou all poke fun at me?" and Bess seemed quite distressed.
"I won't any more," promised Belle. "She is trying to 'reduce'" sheadded to Mrs. Floyd, "so let her do all the work she wants to. We shan'tstop her."
"What's the program to-day?" asked Hazel, as the girls finished theircoffee. "It is perfectly glorious outside. From my window I can see partof the fall. It's beautiful. I could sit and look at it forever."
"And not want anybody to share the view?" asked Cora, pinching herblushing cheek.
"The witness refuses to answer," mocked Belle. "But we mustn't dawdlehere all day. Let's go and get dressed, and by then----"
There came a knock at the door.
"May we come in?" asked Walter.
"We--want--our--breakfast!" bawled Jack and Paul.
"Mercy no! Don't let them in!" cried Bess, beating a precipitateretreat.
"We--are--coming!" chanted Walter.
"Stay out a minute," ordered Cora. "Don't be afraid, the door's locked,"she added to her companions. "We've just finished," she went on inlouder tones. "Hurry with your breakfasts, and then prepare to give us agood time."
"Your majesty's wishes shall be obeyed," declared Paul, and as the girlswent upstairs to put on more conventional garments, the boys hurried in,bubbling over with good spirits, greeting Mrs. Floyd effusively, andpreparing to devour everything in sight, which not very remarkable feat(for them) they nearly accomplished.
"Did that waterfall bother you?" asked Jack, of his chums.
"Kept me awake a little," admitted Walter. "Sounded a bit like the surfat first, and I dreamed I was down at Crystal Bay again."
"We sure had a swell time down there," said Jack.
"I like the mountains better," confessed Paul. "This place suits me."
"It will be all right," Jack said. "Now then, let's see what's doing."
"Fishing for mine," declared Walter. "That pool below the fall looksgood to me."
The others also voted to try their luck as disciples of Izaak Walton,and presently, with rods and lines, having dug some worms where Mr.Floyd showed them a place, they were patiently waiting on the bank ofthe stream that flowed away from the waterfall.
Camp Surprise was situated amid one of the wildest and most desolateparts of the mountains west of Chelton. It was remarkable, in a way,that such a lonesome place could be found so close to such a number oflarge and thriving towns and villages. But it was this wildness andisolation that gave it the peculiar charm, and which had led the landcompany to establish a number of camps and bungalows in the vicinity.
So rugged and diversified was the scenery, that, with the exception ofthe two bungalows occupied respectively by the boys and girls, no othertwo buildings were in sight of each other. Though not far removed fromone another the dwelling places were off by themselves, giving aseclusion so often demanded by those who go to summer resorts.
At present, as the season had hardly opened, there were no othervisitors at Camp Surprise, though many were expected later in July andAugust. Camp Surprise was not the real name of the place, which wascalled by the development company, Mountain View. But Camp Surprise hadbeen applied because of the queer happenings, as has been intimated,though so far our friends had seen no occasion for such appellation.
The waterfall and the stream which flowed from it divided practically inhalf the area of land owned by the Mountain View Company. Having itsorigin some miles back in the mountains, the stream was augmented bybrooks, creeks and other streams until, on reaching Camp Surprise, ithad become almost a river.
Flowing along peacefully, through green meadows, or down the slope ofsome rocky hill, the river came suddenly to a great cleft in the hills,and down this it plunged in a most beautiful fall, from a height ofabout fifty feet, and perhaps a hundred feet in breadth.
At the foot of the fall was a deep pool, worn in the limestone rocks bythe erosion of the falling water, and there the white foam boiled andbubbled in a miniature whirlpool and rapids until the stream slippedfarther on down the side of the mountain, in a series of littlecascades, in which were, so it was said, many fishes.
The boys had selected as their spot a quiet one, where a sort of eddy,or back-water, made a quiet pool that looked, as Jack said, "like aregular bachelor apartment for fish."
"Keep still! Don't move!" called Belle, as she and her chums, now withall their "war paint on," as Walter hinted, approached the three youngmen.
"What is it--the ghost or the furniture mover?" asked Walter.
"I just want to get a picture," Belle explained, snapping her camera."You look so respectable to what you do ordinarily."
"Just for that you shan't hold my hand!" declared Paul.
"Don't come any nearer," warned Walter. "I think I have a bite. Yes!He's on!" he cried as the tip of his pole bent, and a moment later hehauled out a flashing beauty.
"Oh, I want to catch one!" cried Cora, who was as ardent a lover ofoutdoor sports as any of her boy friends.
"You may take my pole," offered Paul, as Walter unhooked his fish.
"Oh, no, I don't want to deprive you," Cora objected.
"I'll sit near and watch you--have all the fun and let you do the work,"he retorted. And the boys and girls were soon together on the bank.
Luck was fairly good, and presently enough fish had been caught for a"good mess," as Mr. Floyd observed when he came past.
"We'll cook them for you," offered Belle. "Won't we, girls?"
"Do you know how?" asked Jack.
"Listen to him!" mocked Bess.
As Mr. Floyd and his wife had to go to one of the more distantbungalows, to see about some repairs, and as they would be gone most ofthe day, Cora and her chums agreed to be the housekeepers and to let theboys share the lunch with them.
"Which isn't such a concession after all," Jack said, "seeing as how wecaught the fish."
"I caught one myself," Cora declared.
"With Paul's pole, so that doesn't count," retorted her brother quickly.
They had a jolly time at lunch and spent the afternoon roaming about themountainside. The girls took pictures of the fall, which was really abeauty-spot, and some of the prints were afterward enlarged, and theymade most charming pictures.
"There's the hotel," said Paul, as they came out on a ledge of rock, andlooked down in a valley. "That's where I'm going to have some tangotea."
"To-night?" asked Jack. "I'm with you if you go."
"Count me in," added Walter. "I haven't had a good dance, not since----"
"The one with me," cut in Cora, for she and Walter were good partners.
"Right--oh, little one!" he cried. "Shall we all go down to-night?"
The hotel was about a mile from the Mountain View property, and wasquite a well-known hostelry, though the season was not yet in fullswing.
"Some other night," suggested Cora. "We haven't really gotten settledyet, and we don't know what time Mrs. Floyd will come back. Besides, dothey let any others than guests and their friends dance?"
"Oh, I guess so," said Walter. "We'll find out. But if you don't want togo to-night we'll wait."
This was agreed to, and the rest of the day was spent on the part of thegirls in getting their rooms in order, putting away their dresses andarranging for supper, for they were going to do much of their own workin camp, Mrs. Floyd being more of a chaperon and general manager thanhousekeeper or cook.
The boys said they would shift for themselves.
"Aren't you going to get your suppers?" asked Cora of her brother, asshe saw him and his two chums going down the road about five o'clock inthe afternoon.
"Later," he answered. "We're going for the mail now. It gets in aboutthis time, and Walter is expecting a letter."
"No more than you are!" was the quick retort.
"Bring us all one!" called Bess. "Does the mail really come up here?"
It did, twice a day it developed, coming to the little village ofMountain View, which was about a mile from Camp Surprise.
"Maybe there'll be some word about your car, Cora," said her brother.
"That's too good to hope for, Jack."
There was a letter for Cora from her mother, but there was no news ofthe car. And as there were epistles also for Bess, Belle and Hazel, theboys took great credit to themselves for having fulfilled the commandsof the girls.
"And we think we ought to be rewarded, too," said Walter.
"What form ought the reward to take?" Cora asked.
"The form of supper," was the quick answer. "We don't feel like pitchingin and opening a tin of corned beef just now. Feed us to-night, andwe'll rustle the grub for ourselves after this."
"Well, in view of the fact that you've been so nice to us, we will.Shan't we, girls?" asked Cora.
"Yes!" came in an unhesitating chorus; and once more the boys atebounteously with no effort on their part.
Mrs. Floyd and her husband returned about eight o'clock, to find theyoung people playing games in the big living room, and having a jollytime.
They planned an excursion for the next day, to include a stop at thehotel to ask about dance privileges, and then, this having been arrangedfor, good nights were said.
Cora, whose room adjoined that of Belle, was awakened some time in thenight by a touch on her arm.
"Yes! What is it?" she asked, sitting up quickly, and reaching for thelittle electric flashlight she always had under her pillow. "Oh, it'syou," and she revealed Belle's face. "What's the matter--are you ill?"
"No, but listen! Did you hear that--that noise?"