CHAPTER VI--OFF TO CAMP
"Really, were they bogus tickets?" asked Cora after a pause.
"And wouldn't they let you in?" Bess cried.
"How could they tell they were counterfeits?" was Belle's question.
"'Cause some one else had our seats, or the seats our tickets calledfor," said Miss Magin, the manager of the tea room. "This is how it was.I got all ready to go--it was my day off, you know, and I had a newdress. Had my nails manicured and went to a hair dresser, for I wantedto look nice. My friend is some swell dresser himself, and you know howit is. You want to be a credit when a person goes to the trouble to takeyou out."
"I know," Cora murmured.
"Well, I did look nice, if I do say it myself," went on Miss Magin, "andI was quite pleased when I handed my friend back a dollar.
"'What's this for?' he asked me.
"'What I saved on the tickets,' I told him, and I mentioned how I'dbought two from the fellows who were here trying to sell some railroadtransportation as well. My friend was quite pleased, of course, for hehas to work hard for his money. 'This'll do to help get a lunch afterthe show,' he said, and I was glad.
"Well, we got to the opera house all right, but they wouldn't let us in.That is, they wouldn't give us the seats our coupons called for. We didget in, but when we went to the seats there was a couple already inthem.
"My friend thought the usher had made a mistake, and there was a mix-upfor a while. Then the usher got the other couple's coupons and they werethe same number as ours. They called the manager, and he said ourtickets were counterfeit.
"First my friend wouldn't believe it, but the manager showed by theother tickets taken in that ours were different. The print was the same,and so was the color of the pasteboard, but it was stiffer than theregular tickets. There was no way out of it. We had been cheated, and sohad some other people who had bought tickets from those fellows. Therewas quite a disturbance."
"It's too bad!" exclaimed Cora. "Then you didn't see the opera afterall?"
"Oh, sure I did!" exclaimed Miss Magin. "My friend wouldn't see medisappointed. He bought other tickets, though they weren't as good asthe ones I had--or thought I had."
"And they really were counterfeit?" repeated Bess.
"Yes, but cleverly done. It was only the quality of the paper, orpasteboard, that showed," went on the tea room manager. "If we hadgotten there first we might have had our seats without any trouble,though of course when the folks came in that had the real tickets itwould have been found out, I s'pose."
"And you say others also bought the bogus tickets?" Cora asked.
"Yes, quite a few. Got them from the same fellows, too, who told thesame story about being hard up for cash, and wanting to sell the ticketsthey'd purchased."
"Were they the same young men?" asked Belle.
"The descriptions were the same as the two who were here, and who musthave taken your auto, Miss Kimball. When I found out our tickets wereworthless I told the manager about your car, though of course he hadheard of it from reading the paper. Oh! I just wish I could have themarrested!"
"So do I," agreed Cora.
"Could they find out where the tickets were printed?" asked Bess.
"Not just by looking at them," answered Miss Magin. "The bogus oneslooked for all the world like the real ones, even to the company's namethat was printed on them. But the opera house manager kept those myfriend and I turned in and said he'd make an investigation. Say! I feltpretty cheap when it turned out I'd bought bogus tickets with myfriend's money."
"Oh! you couldn't help it," Cora said, her chums murmuring theiragreement.
"Well, I meant all right," Miss Magin went on, "but I cost my friendmore than if I hadn't a' been so soft-hearted wanting to help out thosefellows who told a hard-luck story."
"They'll be caught some day," declared Bess. "Printing bogus theatricaltickets isn't easily done. Care has to be used, and sooner or laterthose fellows will be arrested."
"The sooner the better," said Cora. "I want my car back."
The girls and the manager talked for some little time longer about thehappenings of the night before. Presently a man alighted from a taxicab,or rather, one of the town's few jitney cars, and entered the tea room.He looked rather sharply at our friends--at least so Cora thought--and,taking a seat at a table not far away, ordered a cup of coffee and asandwich.
He spoke casually to the waitress, and as Miss Magin, as was her custom,walked up to see if the service was satisfactory, he spoke also to herpleasantly, and she replied.
"Was it one of the young ladies here who recently purchased some bogustheatre tickets?" the man asked, after some casual remarks.
"I hope you haven't any more to sell!" retorted the manager, a bitsharply.
"No. I am a detective sent out by the agency which prints theatretickets for many shows. This isn't the first time we have had trouble,and I want, if possible, to get on the track of the persons responsible.Do you mind telling me all you can of this?"
Of course Miss Magin was only too glad to do so, and, incidentally, shementioned the loss of Cora's automobile. Naturally that brought ourfriends into the conversation, and the detective, who introduced himselfas Mr. Boswell, went over to the girls' table. He spoke of having beenfor some time unsuccessfully on the trail of the bogus ticket sellers.
"Taking automobiles is a new line for their activities, though," saidMr. Boswell. "This may make it easier to catch them."
"Of course," suggested Cora, "we are not altogether certain that thesame persons who sold Miss Magin the tickets took my auto."
"Very likely they were," declared the detective. "They probably realizedthat they had done all the illegitimate business possible in thisneighborhood, and they wanted to get as far away as they could beforethe fact about the tickets became known. An auto offered the simplestmeans."
"I should have locked the ignition switch," said Cora. "I usually dowhen I get out. But we thought we would stay only a little while, so Ididn't do it this time."
"Too bad," said Mr. Boswell. "If I get on the track of your car, MissKimball, I'll let you know."
He made a memorandum of the description of the two men as furnished byMiss Magin, and took his departure, promising to let Cora hear from himin case anything developed.
"More of the mystery," remarked Bess, as she and the others were ontheir way back in the automobile. "What with this and what may happen atCamp Surprise, I can see we are in for a busy summer."
And busy enough the girls were during the next week. There were trunksto pack, messages to send to the caretakers at the camp, dresses to havefinished in time, and many odds and ends to be looked after beforeleaving for so long a time.
"There's a nice dancing pavilion not far away," Cora told her chums."And of course there'll be one or two formal affairs at a neighboringhotel."
Hazel Hastings had come on to be Cora's guest and was staying at theKimball house. She was the same sweet girl as before, though a littleolder, and not quite so timid as she had been.
Paul was the same jolly chap, quite engrossed in his automobilebusiness, but not so much so that he could not enjoy the little outingin prospect.
"I've sent a description of your car, with the number of it, the numberof the engine and other identifying marks, to all the second handdealers," he told Cora. "If it's offered for sale to any one in thedealers' association I'll hear of it and there's a chance that we'll getit back for you.
"Of course there are some 'outlaw dealers' who do not belong to theassociation, and who might take a chance on buying a stolen car," saidthe young automobile agent. "But we can't help that. I think we'll getyour machine sooner or later."
Cora was grateful for Paul's efforts, but she had about given up hope.The police had secured no clews, and, though they professed to beactive, there really was little for them to do.
The motor boat had been overhauled and put in shape for the trip up theChelton river. Though the craft offered accommodations for s
leeping onboard they did not plan to use the berths on this occasion. They were tomake an early start and reach Riverhead, the end of navigation on theChelton, early in the afternoon. From Riverhead they would go to CampSurprise in wagons of the buckboard type, made with wooden slats forsprings, very comfortable to ride in over rough roads.
The boys were to go with the girls, Jack and his sister acting aschaperons for the others until camp was reached, when Mr. and Mrs. Floydwould perform this office.
Light baggage would be taken with them on the boat, the trunks beingsent on ahead.
"And we'll take lunch along, of course," Bess said.
"Of course," echoed her sister. "We don't want to go hungry any morethan do you."
The day of departure came at last. Bess and Belle were early at Cora'shouse, and found her, Jack, Paul and Hazel busy making the finalpreparations.
The valises and bundles were carried down to the motor boat, good-byeswere said over and over again, various cautions were given by Mrs.Kimball and Mrs. Robinson, and then Cora, standing at the wheel of thecraft, steered out into the middle of the pretty stream.
"Off for Camp Surprise!" she cried gaily.