We have been left all alone suddenly--our housekeeper says she received a hurried call to go back to her family in the city. I don't question the call, I know how often and faithfully they follow maids who find a country place lonely; but the fact is we girls do not fancy staying alone to-night."

"Why, of course not," replied Mrs. Lewis, briskly. "You must have some older person with you."

It was plain, now that the girls had become accustomed to the lights, that Freda and her mother had both been crying. Their eyes were red and their cheeks swollen. Freda saw that the girls observed this.

"Yes, we have been weeping," she said, with an attempt at a smile. "It seems as though we have new troubles daily."

"I am so sorry," Cora returned. "I wish we could help you."

"I am sure you have done so," replied Mrs. Lewis. "Freda has great hopes that you girls will do for us what perhaps lawyers might not be able to do." She hesitated and Freda went on:

"Those horrid men from the land company were here again this afternoon. They say we have no right even to this little cottage."

"No right here!" exclaimed Cora. "I believe they are just trying to get you to leave the place so that they can go on with their plans without being watched."

"I never thought of that," replied Mrs. Lewis, as though the idea was novel to her. "Then, indeed, they will have more trouble than brow-beating to get us to leave Crystal Bay."

"I must hurry with my errand," said Cora. "I came to see if it would be possible for you and Freda to lock up and come over with us to-night. I am afraid those land sharks have our little place marked, too, for they have been loitering around all day. I don't want to tell the boys. They are hasty and so apt to resent any intrusion that would worry us."

"Why should the men bother you?" asked Mrs. Lewis.

"I suppose because they know that Freda is a friend of ours," replied Cora. "But don't worry about them bothering us, all we want is to be able to meet them fairly. Of course if they knew we were alone at night they might be mean enough to frighten us, and some of the girls are rather timid."

"Indeed, we will lock up at once," declared Mrs. Lewis, "and go right over with you. We have not many treasures now to be afraid of losing."

"Oh, that is splendid!" Cora cried. Freda immediately went about fastening the windows and seeing to the general locking up, while Mrs.

Lewis hurried up stairs to pack a small bag. It seemed as though they were ready almost instantly, much to the relief of Bess, who kept wondering if the boys would remain at the bungalow with the girls until her own and Cora's return.

"Now we are off," said Mrs. Lewis, looking back at her home with a wistful sigh. She seemed to have a premonition that leaving it meant more than appeared at the moment.

Freda walked with Bess while Mrs. Lewis and Cora kept close behind them. They had not more than reached the turn that led to the direct path when shouts and laughter were heard.

"There are the girls," Bess exclaimed. "They are looking for us."

The surmise was correct, for directly the answer came back to the familiar camp call.

"Here we are!" cried Cora. "On the pine path."

"Oh!" gasped Belle. "We have had the greatest fright! Where have you been?"

"Making a call," replied Cora, calmly. "What was your fright?"

"Come along and I'll tell you," Belle replied. Then she saw Freda and Mrs. Lewis.

"We have brought protectors," Cora said. "Mrs. Lewis and Freda are going to spend the night with us."

"Oh, splendid!" exclaimed Marita. "I was so afraid we would have to stay alone."

"Where are the boys?" Cora asked.

"Someone from the beach came up and said Dray's boat was loose, and of course, they had to all go at once to tie it up."

"Better than to let it drift," Cora said, "but I am sorry if you were timid."

"Oh, we were not," declared Belle, stoutly. "Only we distinctly heard someone on the back porch."

"At our ice box!" gasped Cora.

"Oh, we never thought of that!" exclaimed Belle.

"Then likely we will be without breakfast," responded Cora. "But here we are. Who has the key?"

Belle opened the door. "The light is out!" she whispered. "Cora," she said, aside, "I left it burning!"

CHAPTER IX

A MERRY TIME

"Yes, I say it's a shame!" cried Jack, indignantly.

"Perfectly awful," confirmed Dray.

"Our meeting is at nine," announced Walter, "and when I went on the soup shift, I did not agree to do the waiting. That's not my part."

Ed tucked an end of white mosquito netting in his belt, draped it jauntily, and appeared ready to do the "waiting." Walter was frying bacon and eggs on the oil stove. Jack threw dishes at the oilcloth-covered table in imitation of a game of quoits, and he rarely missed the mark. They were about to have breakfast, and in spite of the difficulties encountered in the way of modern improvements omitted in the arrangement of Camp Couldn't (the camp got that name for a million reasons), the boys were having a fine time.

"That coffee will be cold," protested Dray, "and my doctor says cold coffee is slow poison. I prefer my poison quick." The joke about Dray's doctor was that Dray never knew a doctor other than the medical inspector at school. He had such astonishingly good health that they used the idea of sickness in reference to him as a "counter irritant."

"But this stove is a trifle small," said Walter. "What do you say we buy that one from Camp Cattle? It's a peach."

"If the Cattle crowd have a good stove they won't sell it," replied Jack. "You will likely find a second-hand flue in it, or a rubber hose leader. Those boys are brilliant. If we need a new stove let it be from Duke's, with a cast-iron guarantee."

"Right-o," seconded Dray. "The cast-iron is always useful about a camp. But I say, what about the racket at the Mote last night? That sister of yours, Jack, is wasting her talents. She ought to be chief of a detective bureau."

"Cora is all right," Jack returned, proudly. "And while we are on the subject, and not to brag, of course, I might say that some of the other girls are in the same cla.s.s. First few years they came out to the woods I used to be rather doubtful, but now we often find that the maids can take care of the masters; don't we, Wallie? More of that odor, please. I wonder why bacon turns all to odor when it's cooked up!"

"There are only two more pieces of odor left," complained Walter, "and I'd like the smell myself."

"Oh, all right. I have had more than enough." Jack waved a disdainful hand loftily. "I believe, as it is, I should be more careful what I eat."

A huge, very hard bun, the sort found only in bakeries near Summer resorts, hit Jack squarely in the face. Without any comment he caught it, cut it in half, and with a tin spoon plastered it with b.u.t.ter.

Then he put "the lid on it," and tried to get it between his teeth. It was heroic exercise, but Jack had been trained at a reputable college, and had learned to eat what he wanted.

"But those duffers, the land men," continued Dray, "what are they after the girls for? I had an idea one of them must be trying to claim relationship with the fair Freda. He kept so close to her when she was out after Denny."