"And now we'll make another attempt to get to Camp Surprise," said Cora, as the anchor was hauled up and the engine set in motion.

"I'm surprised that we didn't get there before," Jack said.

"Oh, what a miserable pun!" groaned Walter.

Good time was made to the junction where Batter Creek flowed into the Chelton river. It was not much of a junction and the creek was so unimportant a stream that Cora and her friends had never thought of going up it.

"But this time we did it in spite of ourselves," said Bess.

"It was only because of the mist and darkness that I made the wrong turn," declared Cora.

They stopped long enough to send rea.s.suring telegrams home, and also one to Mr. and Mrs. Floyd, explaining the delay.

Again they were on their way up the Chelton river, and for a time all seemed to go well. But four miles from their destination, engine trouble developed, and when the cause of it was discovered, it proved to be a break that needed the attention of a machinist.

"We could leave the boat here and go on," Cora said, "but we have made arrangements to have it taken care of at Riverhead, and the man I have engaged won't know what to think if we don't come."

"Oh, let's wait here until it's fixed," suggested Belle. "We want to arrive in style. It won't take long, and to go on we'd have either to hire another boat or go by wagon."

"All right," Cora agreed.

The repairs took longer than they antic.i.p.ated, and it was not until late afternoon that they were able to go on. This time they arrived safely at Riverhead, shortly before dusk, which was the time they should have been there the previous evening.

The man who was to dock the _Corbelbes_ was on hand and took charge of the craft. He also directed the party to the big waiting buckboard, in charge of a driver, that had been sent by Mr. Floyd to meet the girls and boys.

"You're a little late," said the man. "Not that I mind, but we'll have to make a night drive of it."

"We don't care," Cora said, "as long as the roads are safe."

"Oh, they're safe enough."

"What about supper?" asked Jack.

"Mrs. Floyd said she'd have it ready for you," the driver stated.

"I've got some sandwiches and a box of candy," observed Bess.

"Then we won't starve," said Jack.

"May blessing be upon thy head!" intoned Walter.

The driver looked at them in a queer sort of way, as though he did not know altogether how to take them, and he was heard to murmur something about "queer city folks."

The valises and other belongings they had brought along on the motor boat were put in the big wagon, the driver climbed to his seat, and, with the shadows of night falling, they set off up the mountain for Camp Surprise.

"Some buckboard this!" remarked Jack, as he surveyed the vehicle.

"It sure is," responded Walter. "The largest buckboard I ever saw."

CHAPTER XI-IN CAMP SURPRISE

"Isn't it dark!" voiced Belle, nestling against her sister.

"Well, we don't have many electric lights up here," chuckled the driver of the buckboard.

"How do you see the road?" asked Cora, the wagon lurching along over the rocky way, though riding much easier than an ordinary vehicle would have done, for buckboards are made for just this purpose.

"I don't try to see it," the driver said. "I let the horses pick their way. They're like cats, I reckon-can see in the dark."

"What sort of place is this Camp Surprise?" asked Jack, giving Walter, next to whom he sat, a nudge as a signal to play second to his game of questioning. "We'll get some inside information about this business,"

Jack said in an aside to his chum.

"Camp Surprise?" repeated the driver. "Well, it's a mighty nice place, as far as scenery goes-for them as likes scenery," he hastened to add.

"I don't care much for it myself. There's a waterfall, and a little lake, though I don't reckon you could get your boat up to it," and he chuckled. "Yes, folks what come up here always like this neighborhood, and Camp Surprise is one of the best outfits around here. You boys are going to take the small bungalow, I hear."

"Yes," a.s.sented Jack. "If we get there alive!" he said quickly, for the wagon gave such a lurch that Jack, who was on his feet to a.s.sume a more comfortable position, nearly slid out.

"Oh, this isn't anything," the driver said. "That stone must 'a' been put there since I come down this afternoon," and he chuckled again.

"We'll get there alive all right."

"But what I meant was," went on Jack; "what sort of place is our camp?

It has a queer name, you see, and they say-at least we've heard-that queer things go on there. What are they?"

The driver was silent a moment, and then he answered:

"Well, I don't take much stock in them stories myself. I never see anything out of the way happen."

"Oh, don't spoil all the romance that way!" begged Cora. "Aren't there any ghosts?"

"Ghosts! Huh!" the man fairly snorted. "I never see any."

"But about things being taken?" ventured Bess.

"And the furniture being moved?" asked Belle.

"Humph!" and the driver seemed out of patience. "Things will be taken from almost any camp or bungalow if you don't watch 'em. Thieves up here aren't any more virtuous than in the city."

"And didn't you hear anything about chairs and tables being moved about?" asked Cora.

The driver fidgeted in his seat.

"G'lang there!" he called to his horses.

"Didn't you?" persisted Jack's sister.