CHAPTER XII
THE CALM
A more delightful scene than Crystal Bay presented, two hours afterthe squall, could scarcely be imagined. To the motor girls it wasparticularly effective, as may easily be imagined. Coming back aroundthe island the _Dixie_ picked up the lost canoe, so this left nothingto be worried over in the record of adventure.
"How do you feel, Lottie?" Cora asked, when all had landed safely andstood looking over the waters that could be so deceptive.
"Oh, I am all right, really," answered Lottie, a little ashamed thatshe should have allowed herself to give way.
"But be careful," cautioned Cora. "Take it easy for the rest of theday, at least. It doesn't do to try too much."
"Grandmother!" Lottie answered, with an affectionate squeeze of Cora'sarm. "What about you? Who did all the engineering in the storm? Andwho is still 'on deck' giving orders?"
"Oh, I am strong," replied Cora, though strong as she was the last fewhours had told in the paler tint of her cheeks.
The return of the storm-stricken ones attracted crowds of bungalowersand campers to the beach; for, of course, craft of all sorts had beencaught in the gale. The center of interest, however, was the_Chelton_, for that boat had already gained a reputation at CrystalBay.
Not one person came in from the bay in dry clothes; in fact, many weredrenched, and naturally the girls showed the effects of the storm moreconspicuously than did the boys. Bess happened to be the one "who gotthe worst of it," among the motor girls--perhaps because there wasmore of her for the waves to hit.
"You are certainly a beauty," commented Belle, who had been morefortunate in dodging the water. "You look like a swimming lesson inthe first stage."
"I feel as if I needed artificial respiration," replied Bess,good-humoredly, "but I want to forget it all--all but this. Isn't thiswonderful?"
"Almost enough to make up for the danger," Belle returned. "But wasn'tFreda splendid? What good training she must have had to be able tomanage that boat. No one else except Cora could have done it, and shewas unfamiliar with the tricks of the bay. I do feel so sorry forFreda and her mother!" This last was said with a wistful sigh, for allthe members of the Mote were now much attached to the motherly Mrs.Lewis.
"Cora must have known those men were going to put the 'for sale' signon the cottage, when she hurried so to get Freda and her mother overto our place the other night," went on Bess. "I knew there wassomething more important than merely taking care of us."
"Oh, of course, that's just like Cora. Fancy Mrs. Lewis never hearinga word about it. If she had been in the house when they tacked thatsign on----"
"It must be perfectly awful to lose everything that way; to feel it isall an injustice, yet not to be able to prove one's own claim," saidBelle. "Tricky business men are worse to watch than spiteful girls,and we always thought _they_ were about all that we could handle.There's Ted and Jean. Just look at their boat!"
Among the last of the storm-bound ones to "enter port" were Ted andJean, members of "Camp All Alone." They certainly presented a sorryspectacle, as they came up to the dock.
"How do you feel?" asked Lottie, who was down near the water's edge,in spite of Cora's admonition.
"I feel like playing a spaghetti obligato on a big hot bowl of soup,"replied Jean. "That would be the song to reach my heart."
"The sun is clucking, girls," announced Walter. "She may set at anytime. Is there aught to eat at the Mote? Let us thither. We intendedto go to the store before tea."
"After giving you your lunch!" exclaimed Cora, in surprise.
"But, don't you see, that is why we didn't get to the store. You arereally liable for our suppers. Don't you think so, fellows?" he asked.
"Not only liable, but accountable," added Ed. "Of course we will gohome and dress. I wonder what on earth the squall did to headquarters?"he asked, suddenly realizing that the camp had had need of securemoorings during the last two hours.
"Let's look," suggested Dray, who had now moored the _Dixie_ securely,while Jack and Cora had attended to the _Chelton_.
"Oh, you ought to see your tent," sang out a little fellow, who worelittle beside a shirt and bathing trunks. He had been out in thesquall and had, very likely, enjoyed it immensely.
"What's the matter with it?" inquired Jack.
"Oh, it's all flippy-floppy," replied the urchin. "But some lady sawit goin' and she tied it back to the stakes."
"Some lady?" repeated Jack.
"Mrs. Lewis, likely," suggested Cora. "I hope she did not go out inthat down-pour to tie the tents."
"I rather hope she did," admitted her brother. "I had some things inthat tent not warranted rainproof. Hey, fellows!" he called to theother members of Camp Couldn't. "Hurry up. Our tent was struck, theysay."
At the word the crowd from the beach ran helter-skelter through thewoods toward the camp colony. Surely there was enough excitementaround Crystal Bay that afternoon to last for some time, and there wasevery prospect now of new adventures developing.
"Any tents down?" asked Dainty, as he puffed along.
"Thinking of spilled grub?" queried Walter. "Nothing doing. We have asalvage corps department to our housewives' league, you know, and theyare bound to protect the members from bandits. So you may just runalong and see what is going on at the Cattle."
The storm had played havoc in the woods. Pine branches had scratcheddeep furrows in the white sand paths, beautiful bushes of bloomingmountain laurel and mountain pinks were shorn of every bloom, and thewild roses were scattered like pink butterflies on the catch leaves ofshrubs.
The first camp to be met by the boys was Camp Hyphen. This was quite apretentious establishment with a smaller tent adjunct. The adjunctstood for the hyphen, and it now lay in a heap like a discarded potatosack, its store of supplies settled uncertainly in nearby bushes.
"My, and they had just joined the League," wailed Jack. "I suppose wewill all have to put up for the reinforcements."
"We are not an insurance company," Ed objected. "Why should we makegood for a storm?"
"Because we have a calamity clause. You had better look up your rulesand regulations, young man. The last time I saw them they were pastedwith a daub of good family flour on our back door."
"Thank goodness the rain will have suspended our constitution," Edreplied. "That back door never could have gone dry through thetorrent. Don't you remember how the small showers doused it?"
"We do," Walter answered, "and as we have the only written rules, thatsame fact of the back door may stand us in well."
"Pikers!" Jack called them with a laugh. "But will you observe theHys! They are going to rebuild!"
A hyphenated name seemed the worst of luck for this camp, for therewas no strong pole or cast iron bar to hold the two tents together,and the "hy" was merely a strip of ground that gave extra play to thewind. The smaller tent was now being dragged from the bed of wet sandinto which it had partly buried itself, and the campers werestruggling heroically to get it back to its pegs.
"Too bad!" called Walter, sympathetically.
"Worse than that," replied one fellow, who looked as if he might havebeen shipwrecked.
"But we are insured--in the league, you know," shouted another memberof the demolished camp. "We are coming up for supper."
"You are?" returned Dray. "Say, fellows," to his own camp company,"the best thing we can do is to take what stuff we find left and hideup at the Mote. Those fellows will come down on us and won't believeabout the washed-away constitution. Who on earth put that indemnityclause in, anyhow?"
"Oh, Clem did. He's studying engineering, and I suppose he is lonesomefor his math. We ought to make him pay the assessment. But I agreewith Dray," continued Walter. "We ought to 'beat it' up to the Mote,quick. There are other tents flopping around, and everybody will begood and hungry, you can be sure."
"Queer how old Denny made for his shack as soon as we got in," Edremarked. "I wonder if he thought that would be demolished?"
"N
o, not likely," Jack said, "but the old fellow was pretty wet andplayed out. He's plucky, all right, and I don't believe we would be inyet but for him and Freda. But he is old, just the same, and only hispluck keeps him up to it. I would like to have been more decent tohim, but he won't give one a chance. We must fix it up some way,though."
"We sure must," agreed the others.
"There's another," announced Jack, as a perfectly flat tent almostblocked their way. This was evidently deserted, for not a boy was tobe seen, either lamenting or trying to right the canvas.
"Funny," commented Ed. "They must have gone to the hotel."
"Hotel!" exclaimed Jack. "Why, they borrowed a pint of our kerosenethis morning. They may have gone to jail."
"Let's run," suggested Ed. "This funeral march is getting on mynerves. Besides, I am anxious to see the Couldn't."
In a few minutes the boys sighted their own tent. It looked all right.
"Thank goodness!" breathed Dray, fervently. "I really couldn't standany more nerve-racking experiences."
"We look intact," said Walter. "I wonder if my dress suit is stillunwrinkled."
"Your overalls?" asked Jack, mimicking Walter's tone of voice. "Oh, Iam sure they are perfectly all right, for I saw them in the wood boxjust before we left."
"Brute!" responded Walter. "But I say! What's that? We are inhabited!"
Sounds of voices issued from inside the tent. Jack dashed ahead andraised the flap.
"Robbers! Thieves! Police!" he yelled, then he had to dodge something.
"We are here for our rights," sang out a strong voice. "We demand ourinsurance!"
"Seems to me the demand is rather violent," replied Ed, as theCouldn'ts saw what was going on. The entire tent was filled with boysfrom the wrecked camps, and they were making away with practicallyeverything in the line of eatables they could lay their hands on.
"Clear out!" ordered Dray, "or we will call the police. What sort ofway is this to keep law and order?"
"The only way," replied Hal, a boy from the "Mist." "We couldn't evenkeep up in starvation, but with something to sustain us we might beable to keep the law. As a matter of fact, it was civic pride thatcompelled us to come in here and eat."
There was no help for it now, the Couldn'ts had been robbed. Eventheir party paper napkins were being made into balls.
"Isn't it awful!" moaned Jack, falling into the one dry spot on thesandy floor. "And we were the real benefactors of this ranch. That'sthe way goodness is repaid in this hard, cruel world."
Nobody noticed the sermon--everyone was too busy looking for food.Finally Walter and Ed, after a private conference with Dray and Jack,decided to give to the unfortunates all the food they possessed, "inorder to avert worse damage to their property."
"But we are dining out," Ed put in, "and it's only fair that youshould take the provender home. We want to wash our little faces, youknow. We dine with ladies."
"Oh, we will pay it all back," declared Clem, who was scooping upempty boxes in the hope of being agreeably disappointed in theircontents as compared with their weight.
"Yes--you--will!" mocked Jack, "when we can skate on the sand of thedesert. But hustle. There's not another scrap around. Land that oilcan, Ted. It's empty."
After considerable urging, ordering and coaxing, the Couldn'ts ridthemselves of their uninvited guests, and were once again inpossession of their own tents.
"Did the girls invite us?" asked Dray. "I hate to intrude."
"They did not," replied Jack, "and we are not going to intrude. We arejust going over to thank Mrs. Lewis for saving this camp fromdestruction. She hammered down those stakes. Look at them!" heordered. "Ed, did you ever wield a hammer as truthfully as that?"