Ruth Fielding Down East; Or, The Hermit of Beach Plum Point
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CHAPTER V
OFF AT LAST
"The ancients," stated Jennie Stone solemnly, "burned incense upon any andall occasions--red letter days, labor days, celebrating Columbus Day andthe morning after, I presume. But we moderns burn gasoline. And, phew! Ibelieve I should prefer the stale smoke of incense in the unventilatedpyramids of Egypt to this odor of gas. O-o-o-o, Tommy, do let us getstarted!"
"You've started already--in your usual way," he laughed.
This was at Cheslow Station on the arrival of the afternoon up train thathad brought Miss Stone, her Aunt Kate, and the smiling Colonel HenriMarchand to join the automobile touring party which Jennie soon dubbed"the later Pilgrims."
"And that big machine looks much as the _Mayflower_ must have lookedsteering across Cape Cod Bay on that special occasion we read of in sacredand profane history, hung about with four-poster beds and whatnots. In ourneighborhood," the plump girl added, "there is enough decrepit furnituredeclared to have been brought over on the _Mayflower_ to have made a cargofor the _Leviathan_."
"Oh, _ma chere_! you do but stretch the point, eh?" demanded the handsomeHenri Marchand, amazed.
"I assure you----"
"Don't, Heavy," advised Helen. "You will only go farther and do worse. Inmy mind there has always been a suspicion that the _Mayflower_ was sentover here by some shipped knocked-down furniture factory. Miles Standishand Priscilla Mullins and John Alden must have hung on by their eyebrows."
"Their eyebrows--_ma foi_!" gasped Marchand.
"Say, old man," said Tom, laughing, "if you listen to these crazy collegegirls you will have a fine idea of our historical monuments, and so forth.Take everything with a grain of salt--do."
"_Oui, Monsieur!_ But I must have a little pepper, too. I am 'strong,' asyou Americans say, for plentiful seasoning."
"Isn't he cute?" demanded Jenny Stone. "He takes to American slang like abird to the air."
"Poetry barred!" declared Helen.
"Say," Tom remarked aside to the colonel, "you've got all the pepnecessary, sure enough, in Jennie."
"She is one dear!" sighed the Frenchman.
"And she just said you were a bird. You'll have a regular zoo about youyet. Come on. Let's see if we can get this baggage aboard the good ship.It does look a good deal of an ark, doesn't it?"
Although Ruth and Aunt Kate had not joined in this repartee, the girl ofthe Red Mill, as well as their lovely chaperon, enjoyed the fun immensely.Ruth had revived in spirits on meeting her friends. Jennie had flown toher arms at the first greeting, and hugged the girl of the Red Mill withdue regard to the mending shoulder.
"My dear! My dear!" she had cried. "I _dream_ of you lying all so pale andbloody under that window-sill stone. And what I hear of your and Tom'sexperiences coming over----"
"But worse has happened to me since I arrived home," Ruth said woefully.
"No? Impossible!"
"Yes. I have had an irreparable loss," sighed Ruth. "I'll tell you aboutit later."
But for the most part the greetings of the two parties was made up as Tomsaid of "Ohs and Ahs."
"Take it from me," the naughty Tom declared to Marchand, "two girlsseparated for over-night can find more to tell each other about the nextmorning than we could think of if we should meet at the Resurrection!"
The two Cameron cars stood in the station yard, and as the other waitingcars, taxicabs and "flivvers" departed, "the sacred odor of gasoline,"which Jennie had remarked upon, was soon dissipated.
The big touring car was expertly packed with baggage, and had a big hamperon either running-board as well. There was room remaining, however, forthe ladies if they would sit there. But as Tom was to drive the big car heinsisted that Ruth sit with him in the front seat for company. As for hisracing car, he had turned that over to Marchand. It, too, was well laden;but at the start Jennie squeezed in beside her colonel, and the maroonspeeder was at once whisperingly dubbed by the others "the honeymoon car."
"Poor children!" said Aunt Kate in private to the two other girls. "Theycannot marry until the war is over. _That_ my brother is firm upon,although he thinks well of Colonel Henri. And who could help liking him?He is a most lovable boy."
"'Boy!'" repeated Ruth. "And he is one of the most famous spies France hasproduced in this war! And a great actor!"
"But we believe he is not acting when he tells us he loves Jennie," AuntKate said.
"Surely not!" cried Helen.
"He is the soul of honor," Ruth declared. "I trust him as I do--well, Tom.I never had a brother."
"I've always shared Tom with you," pouted Helen.
"So you have, dear," admitted Ruth. "But a girl who has had noreally-truly brother really has missed something. Perhaps good, perhapsbad. But, at least, if you have brothers you understand men better."
"Listen to the wisdom of the owl!" scoffed Helen. "Why, Tommy is only agirl turned inside out. A girl keeps all her best and softest attributesto the fore, while a boy thinks it is more manly to show a pricklysurface--like the burr of a chestnut."
"Listen to them!" exclaimed Aunt Kate, with laughter. "All the wisesayings of the ancient world must be crammed under those pretty caps youwear, along with your hair."
"That is what we get at college," said Helen seriously. "Dear old Ardmore!Ruth! won't you be glad to get back to the grind again?"
"I--don't--know," said her chum slowly. "We have seen so much greaterthings than college. It's going to be rather tame, isn't it?"
But this conversation was all before they were distributed into theirseats and had started. Colonel Marchand was an excellent driver, and hesoon understood clearly the mechanism of the smaller car. Tom gave him thedirections for the first few miles and they pulled out of the yard withMr. Curtis, the station master, and his lame daughter, who now acted astelegraph operator, waving the party good-bye.
They would not go by the way of the Red Mill, for that would take them outof the way they had chosen. The inn they had in mind to stop at on thisfirst night was a long four hours' ride.
"Eastward, Ho!" shouted Tom. "This is to be a voyage of discovery, butdon't discover any punctures or blow-outs this evening."
Then he glanced at Ruth's rather serious face beside him and muttered tohimself:
"And we want to discover principally the smile that Ruth Fielding seems tohave permanently lost!"