The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country.

by Janet Aldridge.

CHAPTER I-A NIGHT OF EXCITEMENT

"Oh, where can Crazy Jane be!" wailed Margery Brown.

"It isn't so much a question of where Jane may be as where we ourselves are, Buster," answered Harriet Burrell, laughingly. "However, if she doesn't come, why, we will make the best of it. This will not be the first time we have spent the night out of doors."

"Are we lost?" gasped Hazel Holland.

"It looks very much as though we had gone astray," replied Miss Elting, who was acting as guardian and chaperon to the Meadow-Brook Girls.

"Oh, thave me!" wailed Grace Thompson, her impish little face appearing to grow several degrees smaller.

"Girls! Please do not become excited," urged the guardian. "There is no cause for alarm. Even if we have lost our way we shall find it again on the morrow. Harriet, you have the map. Suppose we examine it again and see if we can find out where we are. We surely must be near human habitation, and the country is so open that really getting lost is quite impossible."

Harriet Burrell unslung the pack that she carried over her shoulder, then felt about in it until she found that for which she was looking.

She spread the map out on the ground at one side of the road, her companions gathering about and gazing down over her shoulder. Miss Elting sat down beside the map.

"Here! Trace our day's route with the pencil," she said. "This should be Harmon's Valley. That being the case, the village of Harmon should be not more than a mile farther on."

"There is no village anywhere near us, according to the route we have traveled since this morning," answered Harriet.

"Oh, that can't be possible," exclaimed Miss Elting.

"Please look for yourself, Miss Elting," Harriet replied earnestly.

"After leaving Granite Mountain we swung to the left as you will see by the line I have marked."

"Hm-m-m," murmured the guardian as she scanned the map.

"It looks to me very much as though we had taken the wrong valley," said Harriet, as she paused in her scrutiny of the map to glance up at the hills that shut in the valley where they now were. "See! There isn't a town marked on this map anywhere in this valley."

"I believe you are right. In order to get to our stopping place for the night we shall have to cross those hills to the right. How far is it across?"

"Five miles," answered Harriet, after making some brief measurements.

"Five mileth?" wailed Grace. "Oh, thave me!"

"Tommy, will you be quiet?" begged Margery. "You make me nervous. Miss Elting, you aren't going on, to-night, are you? I simply can't walk another mile. My feet are so numb that I can't feel them."

"I can feel mine. They are ath big ath elephantth," declared Tommy.

"What do you say, girls? Shall we go on or make camp for the night?"

questioned the guardian. "Remember, Jane McCarthy is no doubt waiting with her car for us over in the other valley. She will not know where to go if we do not get in touch with her to-night."

Grace, Hazel and Margery begged Miss Elting to go no farther. They already had made ten miles that day, which they declared was quite enough.

"What do you say, Harriet?" asked Miss Elting.

"Of course I am a little footsore, but I could walk another ten miles if necessary. However, the other girls do not wish to go farther, so I vote with them to remain here for the night. But won't Jane be puzzled where to go in the morning!"

"She will find us, my dear," smiled the guardian.

"If you think best I will cross the ridge, after supper, and see if I can find her," suggested Harriet Burrell.

"No. I could not think of permitting you to do that, Harriet. Jane will be sure to wait at the meeting place we agreed upon until noon to-morrow before starting on to the next stopping place."

"But we haven't any plathe to thleep," protested the lisping Tommy. "I can't thleep on the ground, can I?"

"No. You are going to sleep standing up like a horse," answered Margery petulantly.

"No, I'm not. I'm going to lie down jutht like I alwayth do," lisped the little girl.

"Girls, stop your disputing. We have other things to think of," rebuked Harriet. "Let's try to make the best of our unpleasant situation."

Miss Elting, shading her eyes with her hand, gazed inquiringly at the surrounding country. It was barren of buildings except for a large barn and a number of stacks and sheds, some distance away in a field to the west. Still beyond this was a clump of trees and bushes. There was nothing else-no house, no human beings other than themselves in sight.

"Girls, let's investigate that miniature forest over yonder," called the guardian. "It looks as though it might be an excellent place in which to cook supper, provided we are able to find water."

"Supper!" cried the girls in chorus. They realized all at once that they were hungry. With one accord they s.n.a.t.c.hed up their packs, heavy as they were, slung them over their shoulders and laboriously climbed the roadside fence. Tommy caught her foot on the top rail in attempting to jump to the ground on the other side.

"Look out!" warned Miss Elting sharply.

"Thave me!" wailed the lisping Tommy and sprawled on all fours on the other side of the fence, kicking frantically as she fell.

"Are you hurt, dear?" cried Harriet, springing over to her companion.

"Hurt? I gueth I am. Don't you thee, I've thkinned my nothe. Oh, I withh I were home!"

"No, you don't. Think what a lot of fun you are having," comforted Harriet. "There! You are all right now."

"Am I all right?"

"Of course you are."

"All right, if you thay tho," nodded Tommy, gathering up her pack and moving away with Harriet Burrell's arm about her. Miss Elting and the other girls had started for the clump of trees. Arriving, they quickly flung down their packs. The guardian began hunting for water. She found a stream of cold water just inside the clump of trees beyond the field, as she had antic.i.p.ated. The greenness of the foliage about the spot had told her that water was near. In other parts of the valley the leaves were turning. There was a strong suggestion of Autumn in the air, which at night was crisp and bracing, though the days thus far on their long tramp, had been unusually warm for so late in the Fall.

It was Harriet's duty to build the fire. She went about this task at once. There was some difficulty in finding wood that would burn. After searching she found some pieces of old fence rails. These were of pine, and as they were too long for a fire over which to cook food, Harriet got out her hatchet and began to chop them into smaller pieces. It was a hard task to chop through a rail, sharp though the hatchet was. However, within fifteen minutes, the girl had accomplished the task and the fire was burning.

"I am afraid I can't promise a great variety or quant.i.ty of edibles for supper," announced Miss Elting, "though what there is to eat will be appetizing."

"If there is enough, it will answer," Margery declared.

"Enough?" repeated Tommy wisely. "Buthter, you thurely ought to diet-a girl ath thtout ath you are."