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The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge




There were always some of this wild crowd over at the "Point," and it was
for this reason as well as the very real danger of a collision with a
recklessly driven boat that Betty's father had rather discouraged the
chums going over to that side of the river.

However the day was fine, the water of the river was as calm as a lake and
the Gem flew across the sparkling water like a gull, bringing a
flush of pure excitement and pleasure to the faces of the girls. Danger--
what danger could there be in this staunch little craft, with Betty at the
wheel?

They were half way across the river, now--three quarters. The gay pleasure
craft flaunting up and down the river were becoming more numerous and
Betty slackened speed. Her breath came more quickly and her hands
tightened on the wheel. She could drive a boat as well as any boy, but
here, she knew, was a situation to test her greatest skill.

Craft of all sizes and descriptions seemed to the excited girls to be
piling up about them. Most of the boats were being navigated carefully,
but now and then a small, fast speed-craft would shoot out from behind
another so suddenly that Betty would be forced to swerve sharply to one
side, fairly grazing the stern of the racing boat.

On one of these occasions, when it had seemed impossible to avoid a
collision, Amy called out sharply:

"Oh, Betty, don't you think we had better go back?"

And Betty replied with a queer little laugh:

"Might just as well go ahead as back now. We'll be there in a minute.
Don't worry."

The words were scarcely out of her mouth when two craft running neck and
neck and driven recklessly slipped out from behind a sailboat and drove
directly down upon the Gem. It seemed impossible that the Outdoor
Girls could escape disaster.




Chapter VI

Nearly Wrecked



The girls did not scream. Perhaps they were too frightened or perhaps it
was just natural pluck.

They did jump to their feet though as if with some wild thought of leaping
overboard. But there they remained, staring with fascinated eyes at the
fate that was bearing down upon them.

As for Betty, after one breath-taking minute when all the blood in her
body seemed to rush to her head, she simply sat there and tried in the
second that was given her to think what to do.

Almost automatically, she wrenched the wheel around, nearly capsizing the
boat with the sudden turn. At almost the same second, as though the thing
had been prearranged, the boys in the racing craft swung around in the
opposite direction.

A slight scraping as the side of the Gem slid along the side of the
nearer of the racing craft, and they were safe, with no harm done with the
exception of a little paint scraped from the side of the boat.

It was a moment before the girls could realize what had happened to them.
Then a voice hailed them from the boat alongside. In a glance the girls
perceived that the voice belonged to no other than Percy Falconer himself.

"Hello," called Percy, adding boisterously as he recognized the girls:
"Well, by all that's holy, if it isn't the Outdoor Girls! Thought you
never came over to this side of the river."

"We don't," Betty answered, the hand that still gripped the wheel shaking
nervously now that the danger was over. "And I don't believe we ever will
again, either!"

"I say, your teeth are chattering," cried Percy, looking at Betty in open
admiration. In the old days, Percy had tried hard to win favor in Betty's
eyes, but the latter had always treated him with a good-natured
indifference not unmixed with contempt that had been very hard for the
young dude to bear. During the years he had still admired Betty from afar
and hated Allen Washburn for being the "lucky one." So now he hastened to
make the most of what he thought was an opportunity.

"Come on over to the Point with me and Derby here," indicating the young
fellow in the other racing craft who had drawn his boat up close to them
and was looking on with interest. "We will get you something to steady
your nerves a bit. We had a pretty narrow squeak that time, and it's no
wonder it upset you a little."

He was supposedly addressing all the girls, but his eyes were only for
Betty. As for her, she suddenly had a startlingly clear mental picture of
what her father would think were some one to tell him that his daughter
and her chums had been seen at the "Point" with Percy Falconer and a
friend of his.

In days gone by Percy had been very insipid, his mind entirely on his
clothes; now he had become a sport, and the report was that he caroused
around not a little.

Betty turned to the youth with a decided little shake of her head, though
her eyes were smiling.

"I think we shall have to go right back," she said. "It looks as though it
were going to rain. Thank you just as much," and she began to ease her
motor boat gently away from the other craft.

"Oh, I say," Percy cried, disappointedly and a little angrily, for out of
the corner of his eye he could see that his friend was laughing at him,
"we would only keep you for a moment or two. You needn't be afraid of us.
We won't bite, you know."

"We don't know you well enough to be sure even of that," said Mollie,
coming suddenly and flippantly into the conversation.

But Percy took not the slightest notice of her and, as Betty was slowly
but surely widening the distance between the Gem and his boat, he
leaned forward eagerly.

"Betty, let me see you some time. How about to-morrow night?"

And because Betty was always kind to every one and was sorry for Mollie's
flippant speech, she said, quite unexpectedly, even to herself, "All
right."

Then she turned the Gem around and started for home, conscious that
her chums were gazing at her in speechless amazement.

"Betty!" cried Grace, horrified. "You are never going to let Percy
Falconer come to see you, are you?"

But Betty turned on her irritably. She was tired and nervous and angry at
herself for having anything to do with that conceited dude, Percy
Falconer.

"You heard me say he could come, didn't you?" she said in response to
Grace's incredulous question, Amy's wide-eyed stare, and Mollie's grin.
"And if you are going to ask me why I said so," she added desperately,
"I'm not going to tell you. And if anybody speaks to me before I get back
to the dock, I'll--wreck 'em, that's all."

The girls exchanged glances and wisely decided to change the subject, for
the present at least. For the time they had plenty to do anyway, just
watching out that somebody else did not run into them!

By the time they reached comparatively clear water they were all tired and
they were glad for once when the Gem scraped against the home dock
and the "cruise" was over.

"Well," said Mollie as they climbed on to the dock, "we surely did have
some excitement, but we didn't get what we started out for after all."

"What's that?" asked Grace, as she tied the ribbon round her candy box and
adjusted her hat at a more becoming angle.

"Ice-cream and a drink of ice water," said Mollie ruefully. "I've just
remembered that I am dying of thirst."

"Come on around to my house," Betty invited. Her wrist was lame from
gripping the wheel so hard and she felt it gingerly. "Mother said she
would make a big pitcher of lemonade for us and leave it in the
refrigerator."

"Whew," whistled Mollie, taking Betty's arm and hurrying her forward. "By
any chance did you girls hear what I heard? Me for it, Betty
Nelson."

The girls talked little on their way to Betty's house, but they thought a
good deal. They were tired and disgruntled, and it seemed to them in their
pessimistic mood that everything they had tried to do that day had gone
wrong. And the climax of it all was their meeting--if it could be called a
meeting--with Percy Falconer. Worst of all, Betty was going to allow him
to call!

With something of this in her mind, Mollie glanced sideways at her chum
and, curiosity getting the better of her discretion, ventured to remark
upon it.

"I wonder what Allen will say," she said, "when he learns about Percy."

It was an unfortunate remark, as Betty very soon showed by turning upon
her chum angrily.

"I don't know that Allen has a right to say anything at all about what I
do," she said. "And as I don't intend ever to see Percy Falconer after
to-morrow, I think we had better forget about him. But there," she added,
bringing herself up short and giving Mollie's hand a little conciliatory
squeeze, "I didn't mean to be cross. I'm just kind of mad about the whole
thing--and tired, and hot--"

"I know," said Mollie generously. "I guess we all are--tired and hot, I
mean. We will feel better after we have had something cold to drink."

Betty's mother had left not only the lemonade but some sandwiches of
chopped nuts and cream cheese. Jubilantly the girls carried these
delicacies out on the front porch and proceeded to devour them without
further delay.

As they ate and drank, their ill-humor vanished and they began to feel
once more like their cheerful, optimistic selves. They even began to laugh
a little about the close shave they had had with Percy and his friend.

"It was mighty clever work of yours, Betty, swerving around like that,"
Mollie said reminiscently, as she patted the Little Captain's hand
approvingly. "I'm sure I would have been so scared I'd have gone right
ahead and then there would have been a nasty smash."

"I do hope the folks don't hear about it," worried Grace. "It would only
make them nervous and they might even refuse to let us go out in the
Gem any more."

"I don't see how the folks are going to know anything about it," said Amy
calmly.

"Unless our dear friend Percy blabs it all over town," added Grace.

"I think we ought to tell the folks," Betty spoke up suddenly. "I know
they would rather hear about it from us than from any one else. Hello,"
she broke off, as her eye lighted on a newspaper lying on the table, "this
looks like the evening edition. Maybe it has some news of Allen's
division."

"My, just listen to her," yawned Grace. "Allen's division, indeed. As
though he were the only one we were interested in--"

But her words were cut short by a startled exclamation from Betty.

"Oh, girls, look here!" she cried. "Look at these names. Oh, I hope it
isn't true! I hope it isn't!"




Chapter VII

Bad Tidings Confirmed



"I wish I knew what you were talking about," said Mollie, pausing with a
sandwich half-way to her mouth, while Amy and Grace regarded the Little
Captain with astonishment. "What names? Where?"

But Betty was paying no attention to them. She was reading hastily the
column that had caught her startled attention.

"Listen to this," she said, reading out loud. "Among those who were killed
in the last great Allied offensive are the names of these brave soldiers.
James Browning of Columbus, Ohio--No, that isn't what I mean--Look, here
they are--James Dempsey and Arnold Dempsey, Junior. Girls, do you suppose
--" and she looked at them with widening eyes.

"Arnold Dempsey, Arnold Dempsey," repeated Mollie, searching in her
memory, but Amy interrupted excitedly.

"That was Professor Dempsey's name, wasn't it?" she asked. "Oh, Betty, do
you suppose it could be his son?"

"Why, of course it is his son--how could it be any one else?" cried Grace,
the excitement beginning to communicate itself to her. "Arnold Dempsey,
Junior--and the professor said his sons were over there."

"Didn't it say something about James Dempey, too, Betty?" asked Mollie,
fairly snatching the paper from her chum. "Yes, here it is. Do you suppose
that can be his other son?"

Betty shook her head soberly.

"I don't know," she said. "Of course he didn't tell us the name of his
other son, but it might easily be James. Oh, I hope it isn't so!" she
added, her heart aching for the lonely old man whose one big interest in
life was his boys. "I do hope there has been some mistake."

"I guess we all do," said Amy gently, adding with a sigh: "But I'm afraid
there isn't very much hope of it. The Government is usually right when it
comes to things like that."

"Not always," Mollie retorted quickly. "Look at the time they reported
that Alien was among the missing and he wasn't at all. That is the only
mistake we happen to know about, but I fancy there are plenty of others."

At mention of that dreadful time when she had read Alien's name in the
long list of the missing, Betty experienced again something of the emotion
she had felt at that time.

She saw again in imagination the dark room where she had gone to be by
herself, she heard the thunder of the surf on the rocks outside and the
rumble of the thunder overhead. She saw once more the vision of Alien as
she had seen it then. Allen stretched out cold and dead perhaps on some
shell-ridden battlefield or perhaps, more terrible still, a prisoner in
the hands of the Hun, suffering unspeakable torture--

"But this is not as bad as though the boys were missing," she said
suddenly, speaking her thought aloud. "At least the professor will know
that his sons are dead."

The girls started and looked at Betty queerly.

"I was thinking of Allen," she explained in response to their rather
startled glances, "and the time when we thought he was missing. If this
thing is true about Professor Dempsey's sons I think I shall be able to
sympathize with him, almost better than any of you."

"I guess you will, honey," said Mollie soberly, putting an arm about her
chum. "It was a terrible time for us all--there at Bluff Point. But it was
almost worth the suffering when we found out that Allen was alive and well
and never had been missing at all Do you remember how happy we all were
then?"

"Happy," Betty repeated, shaking off her depression and smiling at the
memory. "I'll say we were the happiest girls on earth--especially after we
recovered the twins. But what," she said, coming back to the present
subject, "are we going to do about Professor Dempsey? We ought to do
something, you know."

"I suppose we ought," said Grace, a little vaguely, "but I'm sure I don't
know just what."

"I think," suggested Amy practically, "that the best thing would be to try
to find out first of all whether these poor boys who were killed are
really Professor Dempsey's sons or not."

"Humph, that sounds all right," observed Mollie. "But has any one here any
suggestion as to just how we will go about it? I'm sure I don't know any
one who is acquainted with Professor Dempsey--or his family either."

"I've got it," said Betty, leaning forward eagerly. "It may not be much of
an idea, but then again it may."

"Speak up, speak up, what's on your mind?" urged Mollie slangily.

"Well," said Betty, "there is Mr. Haig, principal of Deepdale High. He
knows pretty nearly every one at the university where Professor Dempsey
used to teach and he is more than likely to know whether the professor has
any sons and what their names are."

"Yes, that is all right as far as it goes," broke in Mollie impatiently.

"We all know Mr. Haig--" Amy began, but this time it was Grace who
interrupted.

"Yes, we all know him," she said. "But I'd like to know if there is any
one of us--except Betty perhaps--who would have the nerve to go to him and
ask him a question like that--"

"Say, who's telling this story I'd like to know," broke in Betty
impatiently. "I'm not asking any one to go to Mr. Haig with that question
or any other--although I would be perfectly willing to brave the lion in
his den if there were no other way. My plan is this. Dad knows Mr. Haig,
you know--went to school with him--old college chums and all that. I'm
sure that if we asked him real pretty he would go to Mr. Haig and find out
about Professor Dempsey for us."

"Then suppose we find out that Professor Dempsey hasn't any sons by the
name of James and Arnold?" suggested Grace.

"Then we shall be mighty glad we took the trouble to find out and set our
minds at rest," answered Betty soberly.

"And if we find out that they are really his sons, what then?" queried
Grace, and this time Betty looked puzzled and Mollie and Amy completely
beyond their depth.

"Why then," said Betty hesitatingly, "I'm sure I don't just know what we
ought to do. But don't you think," she added, brightening, "that it might
be a good idea to wait until we have found out definite facts before we
try to solve any more problems?"

Rather reluctantly the girls agreed and, after making Betty promise that
she would let them know the very first minute she found out the names of
Arnold Dempsey's sons, they said good-bye and started for home.

Of course Betty had already told her father and mother about Professor
Dempsey and the part he had played in actually saving their lives; so when
she told them that night of what she had read in the paper and begged her
father to help her find out whether the dead soldiers were really Arnold
Dempsey's sons or not, he readily consented to do what he could.

"I'll drop in and see Haig to-morrow," he promised. "I have often heard
him speak of Professor Dempsey as being one of the best professors of
zoölogy up at the university and I am sure I will be able to find out what
you want to know. I hope you have been mistaken in your conclusions, for
it would be a horrible blow to a man to lose both his grown sons at once
and like that. Now run off to bed and tomorrow I may have some news for
you."

With this Betty was forced to be content. She went to bed of course, there
was nothing else to do, but she tossed restlessly all night and what sleep
she got was checkered with horrid dreams and she woke up in the morning
feeling as though she had not been to sleep at all.

The next day was a long one to live through, even though the girls did
keep calling her up at frequent intervals to see if she had any news for
them yet. She became so tired of hearing the telephone bell ring at last
that she stuffed a handkerchief between the bell and the clapper and sat
down to read a novel and while away the time as best she could till her
father came home.

Luckily for her--and him too, perhaps--Mr. Nelson did get home early, and
he was no sooner inside the door than Betty grabbed him by the arm, led
him over to a divan in the corner of the living room, and let loose upon
him a flood of questions.

"Did you see him? What did he say? Why didn't you let me know sooner?"

These and various other queries were hurled at Mr. Nelson so fast that it
is no wonder the poor gentleman appeared slightly bewildered. But knowing
his impetuous young daughter of old, he merely pinched her cheek fondly
and waited for her to give him a chance to speak.

"If you will wait just a moment I will try to tell you about it," he said
at last, mildly.

"There's only one thing I really want to know, Dad," said Betty soberly.
"And that is the name of Professor Dempsey's sons."

Her father shook his head slowly, regretfully.

"I am afraid it is as you have feared, dear," he said. "Professor Dempsey
has two sons--or rather, had--and their names were James and Arnold."

"Oh, Daddy!" Betty was quiet for a minute, letting the full consciousness
of what her father had said sink into her heart. Then her lips trembled
and her eyes filled with tears. "I--I was pretty sure it was true. But,
oh, I was hoping so hard that it wouldn't be!"




Chapter VIII

Premonitions



Betty kept her promise and called up the girls to tell them the news. Like
the Little Captain, they had felt almost sure of the identity of the two
Dempsey boys who had been killed in France, yet the confirmation of their
fears came as a distinct shock.

They waited for a couple of days, undecided what to do, if indeed it was
their place to do anything at all. Vaguely they felt the need of
comforting the queer little professor in his hour of greatest trouble, and
yet they were at a loss to know just how to go about it.

Meanwhile, the occupations that had ordinarily filled their days to
overflowing with fun, seemed dull and uninteresting and they found their
thoughts reverting again and again to the bereaved father in his lonely
little cabin in the woods.

Percy Falconer had called at Betty's house the day after the incident on
the river as had been arranged, and Betty had conceived the plan of having
all her chums there to meet him.

Her hope was that the gay Percy, seeing four, where he had expected only
one, would be overwhelmed with numbers and would flee the premises early--
to return no more.

Her faith in her plan was more than justified. Percy had always been a
little afraid of the Outdoor Girls--Betty in particular--but it is
probable that if he had been able to meet them one at a time, he might
have come off victorious. As it was, he was routed, completely and
ignominiously, leaving the girls to laugh at his discomfiture.

"There, I guess that is the end of that pest," Mollie had said when
she had recovered a little from her mirth. "I imagine we won't see him
around these parts again."

"I hope not," Betty had answered with a satisfied little yawn. "Wasn't he
too funny in that checked suit and awful green necktie? Poor old Percy! I
suppose he can't help it. He probably just grew that way."

She had been comparing him all evening with her splendid, upstanding
Allen, and poor Percy had certainly not gained by the comparison.

The amusing incident served to divert their minds somewhat from the
thought of Professor Dempsey, but the picture of him haunted their minds
so continually day and night that the Outdoor Girls finally decided that
something must be done about it.

"I can't stand it any longer," Betty confided to them one morning when
they stood on Mollie's porch discussing what course of action it would be
best to take. "I have a queer feeling that the poor professor is in
desperate need of friends, and I don't believe I'll be able to sleep
another night until I find out something definite about him."

"Won't he think we are sort of 'butting in'?" asked Grace, hesitating a
little. "He might think we came just out of curiosity."

"I don't think he would," said Mollie. "You know he invited us to come
back some time when we could stay long enough for him to tell us something
about those bugs and butterflies and things he sticks pins into--"

"That's the idea!" exclaimed Betty quickly. "We won't have to tell him we
know anything about his trouble. If he tells us--why, all right, but if he
doesn't, of course we won't try to force a confidence. Anyway," she
finished soberly, "we'll have the satisfaction of knowing we have done our
best for him whether it really helps him any or not."

"And we owe him a very great deal," spoke tip Amy softly. "He really saved
our lives, you know."

So it was settled, and while the other three girls ran home to put on
coats and hats and get ready for the drive, Mollie ran around to the
garage and brought her big car to the front of the house.

She waved good-bye to her mother, who was trying rather wildly to keep
Dodo and Paul from running under the wheels of the car and getting killed,
and purred off down the street in the direction of Betty's house.

When she arrived there she was a little surprised to see that Betty was
backing her fast little roadster down the drive.

To Betty the little car was almost alive, and she talked to it as she
would have to some loved horse or dog. She scrubbed it and scoured it and
shined it so that it always looked like a brand new car.

"Hey, look out!" cried Mollie, for Betty, not noticing her and being a
little worried about the sound of the engine, had backed the small car
down the drive and almost into Mollie's big one. "What kind of driving do
you call that? Do you want to buy me a new mudguard?"

"Oh, pardon me," said Betty, laughing back at her. "You were so small and
insignificant, I came near not seeing you."

"Well, you would have felt me in another minute," grumbled Mollie,
as she shut off the engine and got out of the car. "What's the idea of
your little peanut, anyway? Thought you were going to ride in a regular
car."

"That's why I chose mine," Betty laughed back impishly, still intent on
the sound of the engine.

It was part of their fun to be always throwing insults at each other's car
but the thrusts were invariably good-natured.

Only once had there threatened to be any trouble between the chums on
account of rivalry over the cars. That had been when Mollie had taken
Betty's "dare" to a race and Betty's little roadster had won the day,
racing like a streak of light along the country road and leaving Mollie's
high-powered but more clumsy car far behind.

But Mollie had taken her defeat like the little sport she was--even though
it must be admitted she had been considerably disappointed and taken aback
by her failure--and in her ever since there had been a great respect for
Betty's car.

But now she eyed with impatience the bent figure of the Little Captain as
she still leaned over the wheel, her ear tuned to the purr of the engine.

"For goodness' sake, what's the matter with you?" she cried. "I thought
you were the one who was in a hurry to be off and now look at you--sitting
there like--"

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