by Roy J. Snell
CHAPTER XXII AN EXCITING MORNING
It was not an encouraging situation. Within a few hours the four girlswere to enter upon the most momentous undertaking of their lives,--anundertaking that would require them to be in fit physical condition, withclear heads, alert and supple in limb. And here they sat in a blindingrainstorm with nothing more substantial than their blankets between themand the heavy downpour.
"There will be no game for you girls to-morrow," groaned Margery Brown,dismally.
"If there is a game, we shall play," answered Harriet.
"What shall we do?" cried Jane. "We'll all catch cold!"
"When the rain stops we shall put the tent up again," returned HarrietBurrell. "That question is easily answered, but answering is the easiestpart of it. The worst feature of it is that all our clothes will be outof shape and unfit to wear in the morning."
"We shall have to make the best of it," said the guardian.
"We will iron them in the morning," replied Harriet. "We must, for thesake of our friends, make a half-way decent appearance. You saw how neatand well groomed all the players looked to-day. With our dark clothes itwill be even more difficult to make ourselves presentable."
"I withh the boyth were here," lisped Tommy.
"I don't. We are perfectly able to take care of ourselves. What we mustwish for is the rain to cease."
No signs of its doing so were observable. They sat, dismal and forlorn,wrapped in their blankets, each girl sitting in a puddle of water, forthere was no floor in their tent.
Harriet soon saw that remaining as they were might be attended withserious results. She urged the girls to get up and walk about, whichsuggestion the guardian seconded. Then for the next hour they walked backand forth, keeping well out in the open field, fearing that were they totake refuge under the trees they might be struck by lightning.
About three o'clock in the morning the rain suddenly stopped. Soon afterthat the clouds broke away and the stars came out. The faint light of thecoming day enabled them to see with some distinctness.
"Now for the tent, girls," cried Harriet. "I wish we had a fire or alantern. But we shall have light from the skies soon. Help me spread thetent on the ground and straighten it out, Jane, dear."
While they were doing this the other girls were placing their belongingson higher ground.
"Oh, joy!" shouted Hazel. "All our dresses were in the chest. Who putthem there?"
"I did," answered Tommy. "I have thenthe thometimeth."
A weak cheer greeted this announcement. Their dresses were dry, afterall. Much of their trouble being thus banished the girls' spirits rose,and soon thereafter they were laughing and chattering, unmindful of theirbedraggled and thoroughly uncomfortable condition.
Suddenly Jane McCarthy uttered a cry.
"The ropes are broken--broken right off near the stakes, I should judge,"she called excitedly.
"That is strange," replied Harriet. "The ropes are too strong to break soeasily. The stakes would have pulled up before the ropes would break. Letme see."
Harriet took the end of a guy-rope that Jane extended toward her, andlooked at it closely. She ran to where the tent had been pitched andbegan tugging at a stake, which came up after no little effort on herpart. This stake she carried back to Jane and held it before hercompanion, a piece of the broken rope dangling from it.
"See, Jane?"
"Well, darlin', didn't I tell you? The rope broke off just as I said."
"You are mistaken, Jane, dear."
"Eh, what?" exclaimed Jane. "Then what did happen to it?"
"The rope didn't break off, at least not wholly so. It has been cutnearly in two with a sharp knife. I presume we shall find the other ropesin a similar condition. Whoever did it must have known that a storm wascoming and thought that the first good puff of wind would leave uswithout a roof over our heads. Now, what do you think of that, JaneMcCarthy?"
"The miserable cowards!" raged Jane. "Miss Elting!"
The others of the party were quickly made acquainted with what Harriethad discovered. Then there followed an immediate examination of the otherguy-ropes, all being found partly severed by a knife. The uneven, stringyends showed where the break had come when the wind blew hard enough topart them.
This was a new element of discomfort and mystery.
"I can't understand who would do such a thing," pondered Harriet Burrell.
"The boys wouldn't play that trick on us, would they?" questionedMargery.
"Indeed they would not. This is not fun; this is malice, nothing less,"declared Harriet. "I am afraid we have enemies here, girls, but whoeverthey are we are going to triumph over them to-morrow, even if we have togo to the courts soaked to the skin and out of condition as the result ofour night's experiences."
The light was now strong enough to enable them to make out objects aboutthem quite clearly. They examined the ground. They found the imprint ofboots in the soft turf all around where the tent had stood, but whetherthese had been made by one of the boys or by their midnight visitor theywere unable to say. They were strongly inclined to the opinion that itwas the enemy who had put them in such a plight.
"I don't think we shall put up the tent now," said Miss Elting, afterreflection. "It is now nearly daylight. The boys will be along soon. Theywill set the camp to rights. There go two of them now to put up thedressing tent. Whoo-e-e-e!"
Sam and Dill Dodd halted at the hail. They saw instantly that somethingwas wrong at the Meadow-Brook camp and came over at a trot. The situationwas explained in a few words. Sam started on a run for his own camp toinform George Baker, and in an almost incredibly short time George camein sight with Sam Crocker trailing along a few rods behind him.
The girls had never seen George in a rage before. But his rage took adifferent form from what they might have expected. His face was very paleand his voice was so calm as to be almost gentle. Yet there was a note ofrestraint in it, of enforced control, that told the girls he was laboringunder great excitement.
"Sam, skate back and tell the fellows to get our tent in shape. Tell themthe girls will be along in a few moments," he ordered, and Sam wentobediently.
"But----" protested Harriet.
"You are going to our camp to turn in, all of you. Miss Elting, you willsee that they go to bed and get some rest, won't you?"
"Yes; thank you very much."
"Let me see. The grounds are wet this morning. I do not think the gameswill be called much before eleven o'clock. You may safely sleep untilnine o'clock. That will give you two hours in which to get ready. Ifthere is any change in the time I will have you called earlier or lateras needed, so don't worry one little bit. This ground is too wet for youto sleep on, that is why I am sending you to our camp."
"What are you planning to do, put up our tent?" questioned Miss Elting.
"After the ground dries off, yes. Just now I am going to see JackHerrington, then call on P. E. How do the girls seem to be feeling?"George lowered his voice so that only the guardian might hear.
"In excellent condition, I should say. You know a little wetting doesn'tdisturb them very much. I hope they play the games to-day. The groundswill be wet and somehow I believe our girls will make a better showing onsoft, soggy grounds than on a smooth, hard court."
"I've been thinking of that myself," answered George confidentially."Well, so long for a few hours. I have business on hand this morning,being business manager of the Meadow-Brook team. Sounds important,doesn't it? May not sound so important to-morrow."
George started across the field. His chin was lowered almost to his chestand he was raging inwardly at the indignity put upon the Meadow-BrookGirls. He would see to it that nothing of the sort occurred again. Hecensured himself because he had not thrown a guard about the camp on theevening before the battle. It was too late now for regrets. The one greatquestion now uppermost in the minds of a hundred or more persons besideshimself was, who was going to win the dou
bles?
So far as George Baker was able to judge, the Scott Sisters were slatedfor this victory. Disbrow agreed with him, basing his judgment on what hehad heard of the sisters and what he had seen of the Meadow-Brook Girls.Harriet and her companions, as the reader already knows, were confidentof a great victory. The odds seemed to be heavily against them, however;hard luck certainly was on their side, as the incidents of the night justpast plainly indicated.
Jack Herrington was very angry when he learned what had happened to theambitious girls, but there was nothing he could do except promise to seeto it that the guilty one would be punished, provided he were evercaught, which seemed doubtful. Mr. Disbrow shook his head sadly. He saidthe effects of that wetting might not show until the girls were on thecourt, but that they would surely suffer from it.
The tournament was not to be postponed. It was to be started at teno'clock in the morning, even if the courts were not dry. The sky wasstill overcast and the sun had not yet come out, though the air wassultry and close.
George sent a messenger to the Tramp Boys to have the girls called ateight o'clock and to tell them the games would be called on time. Theactive young man visited the courts, there to stand stroking his chin ashe looked over the battle ground reflectively, consulted the skies,decided in his own mind which would be the favorable end of the courtswith reference to the sun in case his side won the choice of sides. Heconsidered everything, showing that Captain George Baker was along-headed young man well worthy to be the leader of the band of hardylads whose commander he was.
While he was thus engaged, two young women clad in raincoats, their headsenveloped in the hoods of the coats, came out on the field. They appearedto be very much interested in the courts, which they tested by steppingon them, taking note of the slipperiness, the stickiness and otherfeatures of the courts, they shook their heads disapprovingly. Georgedecided that they were players--players, too, who appeared to know theirbusiness. Once they had whispered together while looking at him. He knewthey were speaking of him, which made the young man rather ill at ease.He watched them leave the field. Asking one of the men who had come towork on the courts who these young women were, Captain Baker learned thatthey were the Scott Sisters, which information did not tend to strengthenhis hopes for his team.
There being nothing more to be done, George went back to his own camp,where he knew breakfast would be awaiting him. The other lads had put upthe dressing tent and were now carrying in boards for a floor, the groundbeing too wet to be used as a floor.
It was nearly eight o'clock when the captain reached his camp. He foundthe girls up and dressed. They greeted him brightly, but he thought therewas something forced in their gayety. The captain did not blame them forthis. They were laboring under a great strain--in fact, the greatest theyhad ever experienced.
Before eating breakfast the team took a limbering-up exercise, consistingof forward and backward bends, skipping the rope, a rapid round withhalf-pound dumb bells, wrist exercises with light Indian clubs, and otherexercises calculated to put in condition every muscle in their bodies.They went through their morning work without a hitch, finishing withflushed faces and sparkling eyes.
"Oh, it is good to be alive, even if one had to sit in a puddle of watermost of the night," declared Harriet, as they sat down to breakfast. "Eatsparingly, girls, and chew your food well. That was Mr. Disbrow's advice.We are to have some dry biscuit to nibble if we feel hungry."
Margery and Miss Elting had taken an earlier breakfast and hurried overto the Meadow-Brook camp to gather up the necessary articles for thebattle. These were packed in a chest which the boys carried to thedressing tent, one of them remaining on guard over the stuff. George didnot propose to have their mysterious enemy playing any more tricks.
At nine o'clock they started for the battle ground. The sun had come outbroiling hot, the ground was steaming, the air full of humidity, a mostdepressing condition for those who were to participate in the greattennis match.
"I feel ath though I were going to a funeral," declared Tommy dismally,as they plodded along over the wet turf.