The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea; Or, The Loss of The Lonesome Bar

by Janet Aldridge

  CHAPTER VII

  A SUDDEN STORM

  The canvas that covered the sleeping Meadow-Brook Girls was suddenlylifted from them, then whipped back with a force that nearly knockedthe breath out of some of them.

  A chorus of yells greeted the giant slap of the canvas, and a bevy ofgirls rolled and scrambled out of the way.

  "Hold it down, or we shall lose it," cried Harriet, her voice barelyheard in the roar of the wind. But no one of the party seemed inclinedto act as an anchor for the canvas, which was rolled, then whisked outof sight.

  "There, now you have done it!" shouted Crazy Jane McCarthy. "We sleepon the ground for the rest of the night!" A gust of wind had thrownJane off her balance and knocked her down.

  "Take hold of a tree," advised Harriet.

  "I can't get to one," wailed Margery. "I can't walk."

  "Creep," suggested Tommy shrilly.

  "Yes, we must seek cover. I fear there will be rain soon," added MissElting. "This is an awful blow. I can feel the spray from the ocean."

  "Will the ocean come up here?" questioned Margery apprehensively.

  "No. Don't be foolish," answered Harriet. "But we shall get wet, allthe same."

  Half walking, half crawling, the Meadow-Brook Girls crept farther backamong the small trees, through which the wind was shrieking andhowling. They saw the campfire lifted from the ground and sent flyingthrough the air, leaving a trail of starry sparks in its wake.

  "There go the tents!" cried Miss Elting.

  A medley of shouts and cries of alarm followed hard upon theguardian's words. A gust more severe than any that had preceded it,and of longer duration, had rooted up the weakened tent stakes orbroken the guy ropes. A whole street of tents tipped over backward,leaving their occupants scrambling from their cots, now in the openair.

  "Girls, see if you can lend the Wau-Wau girls assistance," commandedMiss Elting. "Hurry!"

  About all that was necessary to get to the distressed campers was tolet go of the trees to which the Meadow-Brook Girls had been clinging.The wind did the rest, and they brought up in confused heaps near andbeyond the uncovered tents. Cots had been overturned by the suddenheavy squall, blankets and equipment blown away. The cook tent wasdown and the contents apparently a wreck.

  "Cling to the trees! Never mind saving anything now!" cried Mrs.Livingston, whose tent had shared the same fate as those of hercharges. "Take care of yourselves first. The squall is blowing itselfout. It will soon pass."

  Almost before the words were uttered, the gale subsided. A sudden hushfell over the camp. "There!" called Mrs. Livingston. "What did I tellyou? Now, hurry and get the things together. Never mind sorting outyour belongings. We must get some cover over us as soon as possible,for we are going to have rain."

  The rain began in a spattering of heavy drops. The thunder of the surfwas becoming louder and louder, for the sea had been lashed into foamybillows by the brief, though heavy, blow. The waves were now mountingthe bluff back of the beach, leaving a white coating of creamy foamover a considerable part of the ground below the camp.

  "Do you think it ith going to rain?" questioned Tommy.

  "It is, my dear," answered Mrs. Livingston. "You had better prepareyourself for it."

  "Yeth, I think tho, too. I think I will. I told the girlth what Iwould do. Here goeth." Tommy turned and ran toward the beach at fullspeed.

  "Come back, Tommy! Where are you going!" called Miss Elting.

  "I'm going to fool the rain. I'm going to get wet before the raincometh."

  "Maybe she is going to do as she said--jump into the ocean," suggestedMargery Brown.

  Harriet suddenly dropped the piece of canvas at which she had beentugging, and started after Tommy, who had already headed for thebluff, and was running with all her might, apparently to get into thewater before the rain came down hard enough to soak her. The littlelisping girl had no intention of getting into the water, knowing fullwell that by standing on the edge of the bluff a moment she could geta drenching that would be perfectly satisfactory so far as a thoroughwetting was concerned. But even in this Harriet Burrell saw danger.

  "Don't go near the edge, Tommy!" she shouted.

  Tommy Thompson merely waved her hand and continued on. Nor did shehalt until she had reached the edge of the bluff, having waded throughthe white foam with which the ground had been covered. She stoodthere, faintly outlined in the night, and with both hands thrownabove her head as if she were about to dive, uttered a shrill littleyell.

  "Stop! Come back!" begged Harriet.

  "I'm going to take a thwim," replied Tommy.

  A great, dark roller came thundering in. It leaped up into the air,hovered an instant, then descended in an overwhelming flood right overthe shivering figure of the little Meadow-Brook Girl standing on theedge of the bluff. Harriet had reached the scene just in time to getthe full force of the downpour. Neither girl could speak, both werechoking, when suddenly the ground gave way beneath their feet and theyfelt themselves slipping down and down until it seemed to Harriet asif they were going to the very bottom of the sea.

  Now they were lifted from their feet. They were no longer slippingdownward. Instead, they were being carried up and up until they werefree from the choking pressure of the water, and once more werebreathing the free, though misty, salt air of the sea.

  "Oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy.

  "I'll try. I don't know. We have been carried out to sea by a recedingwave. The bank gave way. Oh, what a foolish girl you are! Swim! Swimwith all your might! We shall have to fight hard. We may not be ableto save ourselves as it is. Swim toward the shore!"

  "Whi--ch way ith the thhore?" wailed Tommy.

  "I don't know. I can't see. I think it must be that way." She placed afirm grip on Tommy's shoulder, turning the smaller girl about, headingher toward what Harriet Burrell believed to be the shore. She wonderedwhy she could see no light over there, having forgotten that thecampfire had been blown away in the squall.

  The two girls now began to swim with all their might. It seemed tothem, in their anxiety, as if they had been swimming for hours.Harriet finally ceased swimming and lay floating with a slightmovement of her arms.

  "What ith it?" questioned Grace.

  "I don't know."

  "But you thee thomething, don't you?"

  "That is the worst of it. I do not. Look sharp. Can you make outanything that looks like the shore?"

  "I thee a light! I thee a light!" cried Tommy delightedly.

  "Yes; I see it now. That must be on the shore. We have been going inthe wrong direction. Swim with all your might!"

  For a few moments they did swim, strongly and with long overhandstrokes, Tommy and Harriet keeping close together, Harriet everwatchful that a swell did not carry her little companion from her.They had made considerable progress, but still the shore seemed tohave disappeared from view. The light that Tommy had discovered hadgone out. At least, it was no longer to be seen. Harriet stoppedswimming, and, raising herself as high as possible out of the water,again and again took quick surveys of their surroundings. The seaswere heavier and less broken where they now were. Slowly it dawnedupon Harriet Burrell that they were in deep water. She raised hervoice in a long-drawn shout. Both listened. No sound save the swish ofthe water about them was to be heard. The wind had not come up again,but a fresh, salty breeze was blowing over them, chilling the girls,sending shivers through their slender bodies.

  "Oh, what thhall we do?" sobbed Grace. "What can we do to thaveourthelveth?"

  "I don't know, Tommy. About all we can do is to keep up our courageand wait for daylight. We must keep moving as well as we can, or weshall get so cold that we shall perish."

  "Wait until daylight? Oh, thave me! I thall die--I thurely thall.Thave me, Harriet!"

  "Keep up your courage, darling. We are far from being goners yet, butwe have before us a night that will call for all the courage wepossess. Now pull yourself together and be a brave little girl."

  "I don't want t
o be brave; I want to go home," wailed Grace.

  "So do I, and we shall go as soon as we are able to see where homeis," answered Harriet, forcing a laugh.

  "Then why don't you go?"

  "I can't."

  "I'm going." Tommy began to swim. Harriet propelled herself up to hercompanion and grasped her by an arm.

  "Tommy, you _must_ obey me! You don't know where you are going. Youmay be swimming out to sea for all you know. Be a good girl and saveyour strength. The night may become lighter later on, then we shallmanage to reach the shore somehow."

  "But why don't you go now?"

  "Because I don't know where the shore is, dearie. We are lost, just asmuch lost as if we were in the middle of the Atlantic," answeredHarriet solemnly.