CHAPTER II
GRIM SHADOWS OF WAR
"What is that he is yelling?" questioned Mollie.
"He said something about volunteering," returned Betty.
"Volunteering!" came from Mollie, Grace and Amy simultaneously, andin the excitement of the moment, their knitting was completelyforgotten.
And now while the girls are waiting for the boys to come up, let metake just a moment to tell my new readers something concerning thesegirls and the other volumes in this series of books.
The leader of the quartette was Betty Nelson, often called the"Little Captain." Betty was a bright, active girl, who always lovedto do things.
Grace Ford was tall and slender, and a charming conception of youngwomanhood. She had a brother, Will, who at times was rather hasty,and occasionally this would get him into trouble, much to theannoyance of his sister. Grace herself had one failing, if such itcould be called. She was exceedingly fond of chocolates, and wasnever without some of this confection in her possession.
Some years before there had been a mystery concerning Amy Blackford.She had then been known by the name of Stonington, but the mysteryhad been unraveled by the finding of her long lost brother, HenryBlackford. Amy was of a quiet disposition, and more timid than any ofthe others.
The quartette was completed by Mollie Billette, often called "Billy."Mollie was the daughter of a well-to-do widow of French ancestry, andthe girl was a bit French herself in her general make-up.
In our first volume, entitled "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale," theparticulars were given of the organization of a camping and trampclub by the girls, and of how they went on a tour, which broughtthem many adventures.
After this first tour the Outdoor Girls went to Rainbow Lake, andthen took another tour, this time in a motor car. After that, theyhad some glorious days on skates and iceboats while at a winter camp,and then journeyed to Florida, where they took a trip into the wildsof the interior, and participated in many unusual happenings.
Returning from the land of orange groves, the girls next took a tripto Ocean View. Here they had a glorious time bathing, and otherwiseenjoying themselves, and also solved the mystery surrounding a boxthat was found in the sand.
During those strenuous days the girls had made many friends,including Allen Washburn, who was now a young lawyer of Deepdale.Allen had become a particular friend of Betty's, and this friendshipseemed to be thoroughly reciprocal.
Will Ford's particular high-school chum had been Frank Haley, and asa consequence, Frank had been drawn into the circle, along with RoyAnderson, another young man of the town.
These young fellows often went off camping, and usually in thevicinity of where the girls had planned to spend their outing days.
Deepdale was a picturesque city of about fifteen thousand people,located on the Argono river, which, some miles below, emptied intoRainbow Lake. Back of Deepdale was a rich farming country, whichtended to make the town a prosperous one.
Returning from Ocean View, the girls started on a new outing, asrelated in the volume before this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls onPine Island." The girls occupied a bungalow, which had been turnedover for their use by an aunt of Mollie Billette. The boys were in acamp near by.
Quite by accident both girls and boys had stumbled upon a gypsy cave,cleverly hidden in the underbrush, and had afterward succeeded inrounding up the entire gypsy band, incidentally regaining someproperty which had been stolen from the girls.
Now, at the time our story opens, the Outdoor Girls were again atPine Island, in the cottage lent them by "Aunt Elvira"; but times hadchanged, and they were no longer solely upon pleasure bent. Thegrumbling, menacing unrest of war seemed in the very air theybreathed, and from dawn to evening they thought of very little else.
Now at the ringing shout, "I've volunteered," they were on theirfeet, fairly trembling with excitement and eagerness.
"Allen, Allen!" cried Betty, the color flaming into her face. "Oh,I'm so glad! I'm so glad!"
"Gee, he's not the only one," cried a big, strapping lad, FrankHaley, by name, throwing himself upon the steps, and looking up atthe girls triumphantly. "Just because he can run faster than we can,he gets all the credit."
"You, too, Frank?" cried Betty, turning upon him with shining eyes.
"And here comes Roy," put in Mollie. "Did he--"
"You just bet he did," Roy Anderson, red and perspiring, answered forhimself. "Did you ever hear of an Irishman staying out of a fight?I'm aching already to get my hands on Fritz."
"What's the matter with Will?" asked Grace a little anxiously, forthe young fellow coming slowly toward them with downcast eyes andbent head was her brother. "He looks as if he'd lost his lastfriend."
Seven pairs of eyes were immediately focused upon the apparentlydespondent figure, while the boys shifted uneasily and looked vaguelytroubled.
"Hello, folks," Will saluted them, as he sank down upon the lowerstep, and looked out toward the water. "Why the sudden hush?"
For a moment no one spoke. They were all strangely embarrassed bythis unusual attitude of Will's. He had always been so frank andoutspoken. And now--
"Oh, for Pete's sake, say something!" he burst forth at last, lookingup at the silent group defiantly. "You were making enough noisebefore, but the minute I come along, you just stop short and stare. Ididn't know I was so fascinating."
"You're not," said Mollie promptly.
With an impatient grunt, Will stuffed his hands into his pockets andstalked off into the woods.
"Well," said Grace, with a long sigh, "I never saw Will act that waybefore. Now what's the matter?"
"Indigestion, probably," said Allen, trying to pass it off. "He actsjust the way I feel when I have it. Which reminds me that I'm gettingmighty all-fired hungry."
"Well, you don't get anything to eat," said Betty decidedly, "untilyou tell us all about everything, since the day you left here somysteriously to the present time."
"Seems we've got to sing for our supper--or rather, breakfast," saidFrank with a grin. "Go ahead, Allen, but be brief. I want some ofBetty's biscuits."
"Goodness, do you suppose Betty's going to start in and cookbiscuits, now?" cried Mollie. "Why, we just got through our ownbreakfast."
"Well, we didn't," said Roy, nibbling a piece of grass for want ofsomething better. "And you ought to take it as a proof of ourdevotion, that we didn't stop for any. We were too anxious to gethere to tell you our news."
"And blow a little," scoffed Mollie, the irrepressible.
"Oh, for goodness' sake stop talking," entreated Betty, with herhands to her ears. "If the boys want biscuits they shall have them--ifI have to stay up all night to cook some for them. They can haveanything in the house, as far as I'm concerned."
"Hear, hear!" cried the boys in chorus, looking up admiringly at herflushed face.
"If volunteering has that effect," Roy added, "I'm going back and doit all over again."
"You said it," agreed Frank. "Gee, but I'm hungry!"
"Did you say we could have anything we wanted?" Allen was demandingof the Little Captain in an undertone. "No exceptions?"
"None," said Betty, dimpling.
"Then," said Allen deliberately, his eyes fixed steadily upon hersparkling face. "If you please--I'll take--you!"
"Oh," gasped Betty, her eyes falling before the young lawyer's ardentgaze, while the rich color flooded her face. "I said anything--notanybody. Allen, please don't be foolish. They're all looking at us."
"Well, you can't blame 'em," Allen retorted whimsically. "They're notused to seeing two such good-looking people together," he added inbland explanation.
"My, don't we hate ourselves!" said Betty, dimpling again. "But goahead and tell us your adventures," she added, glad to change asubject which was becoming too personal. "No story--no supper, youknow."
"We don't want supper--we want breakfast," interrupted Frank, with agrin. "What have you been saying to her, Allen--to get her datesmixed like that?"
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bsp; "Allen Washburn, are you going to tell that story or are you not?"queried Mollie, in a menacingly quiet tone of voice. "If you're not--"
"Yes, ma'am," said Allen meekly. "Where shall I begin, please?"
"At the beginning," said Grace sarcastically, and reached for hercandy box, grimacing to find it empty.
"Thank you," said Allen courteously. "Well, as you know, we fourhusky braves meandered from the island one bright morning in theearly part of the week to seek our fortune, as it were, in the cityof promise."
"Yes, that's all it does do," Roy put in pessimistically. "Promise!"
"As I was saying," Allen continued, settling himself in a morecomfortable position on the steps, and ignoring the interruption. "Wesauntered off, and straightway looked up a recruiting station."
"Oh!" gasped Amy, hands clasped and eyes shining. "That must havebeen exciting."
"Well, I don't know," said Allen, scratching his head reflectively,"that that part was so exciting, but wait till you hear what happenedafterward. After we found where the recruiting office was, we went tothe hotel we were stopping at, and punished a mighty big breakfast.You see, we figured out that we were going to put our necks into thenoose, as it were, and we wanted something good and big to stand upon."
"Wouldn't your feet do?" asked Betty innocently.
"Heavens, no!" replied Allen, answering the query in solemn earnest,while the girls giggled, and the boys grinned appreciatively. "Wewere so nervous by that time we weren't sure we had any feet."
"All you had to do was to look," murmured Mollie maliciously. "Youcouldn't miss 'em."
Allen looked hurt, got up and sat on his feet.
"If you don't see them, perhaps you'll forget about them," he offeredby way of explanation. "You don't know how sensitive I am on thesubject of feet."
"I couldn't blame you," Mollie was beginning, when Betty broke inwith a little despairing cry for help.
"If we don't stop them," she said, looking appealingly about her, "wewon't get any farther than breakfast. Allen, what did you do next?"
"Next?" queried Allen, stretching his long legs and squinting up atthe sun. "Let me see. Oh yes! Having put down a breakfast that musthave added four pounds to our weight, we sauntered forth once more tomeet our doom. By that time we were so nervous, we almost mistook acafe on the corner for the recruiting station--"
"Hey, speak for yourself, won't you?" queried Roy, adding, as heturned to the girls with a grin, "We had to show Allen a performingmonkey on the street, and get his mind off, before we succeeded inengineering him to the right place."
"Gee, some fellows have a gift," said Allen, regarding Royadmiringly. "If I could tell 'em like that, old man, I'd be SupremeCourt Justice before the month was up.
"Well, as I was saying," he continued, "after much hesitation andside-stepping, we at last succeeded in reaching our destination.After that, it took ten minutes to get up nerve to go in.
"When we had at last tremblingly ascended the stairs, we foundourselves in a large room, with all the windows open and half a dozenwise-looking men, whom we took to be doctors, presiding. There werethree or four other fellows in the room, come like ourselves, to beexamined. Then we were shoved behind a huge screen with half a dozenother huskies--they looked like prize fighters to me--and told totake our clothes off. Then--we were examined."
"Well?" they queried, leaning forward eagerly.
"Well," said Allen, waving his hand in a deprecating gesture, "ofcourse, being the perfect specimens of manhood we are, the committeejumped at us."
"If they'd jumped on you they'd have shown more taste," remarkedMollie unflatteringly.
"But, Allen," put in Grace, who had listened to the recital, with atroubled frown on her forehead, "was Will with you?"
Allen's glance fell and he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.
"No," he said.