The Corner House Girls Under Canvas

by Grace Brooks Hill

  CHAPTER X

  SOME EXCITEMENT

  "But _why_ 'Spoondrift'?" demanded Lucy. "What does it mean?"

  "'Spoondrift' is the spray from the tops of the waves," explainedPearl. "We think the name is awfully pretty."

  "And so is the bungalow--and the Cove," sighed Ruth.

  "And we're going to have a scrumptious time here!" declared Agnes.

  Tess and Dot were frankly sleepy, and Lucy begged the privilege ofseeing them to bed.

  "That's real kind of you, I'm sure, Lute," said Agnes.

  "Don't you praise her," sniffed Carrie. "I know Lute. She's sleepy,herself. You won't see her downstairs again to-night."

  "I don't care," yawned Lucy Poole, following Tess and Dot. "I sleep soslowly that it takes a long time for me to get a good night's rest."

  "Well! of all things!" ejaculated Carrie, as her cousin departed,following the two smaller girls. "What do you know about _that_?"

  "Almost as stupid as the inhabitants of London," chuckled Agnes.

  "What do you mean by that, Ag?" demanded Ann Presby. "The people ofLondon aren't any more stupid than those of other cities, are they?"

  "I don't know," returned Agnes; "but the book says 'the population ofLondon is very dense.'"

  "Fine! fine!" cried Carrie Poole, laughing. "Oh! these 'literal' folk.You know, my Grandfather Poole has an awfully bald head. He wastelling us once that in some famous battle of the Civil War in whichhe took part, his head was grazed by a bullet. My little brother Jimmystared at his head thoughtfully for a minute, and then he said:

  "'My, Grandpa, there's not much grazing up there now, is there?'"

  These stories began the evening. Everybody had some story or joke torelate, and finally the girls began to guess riddles. Somebodypropounded the old one about the wind: "What is it that goes allaround the house and yet makes no tracks?" and Agnes had a new answerfor it:

  "Germs!" she shouted. "You know, Miss Georgiana gave us a lectureabout them, and I bet we're just surrounded by deadly bacilli rightnow."

  "Those aren't germs--they're mosquitos, Ag!" laughed Pearl, slappingvigorously at one of the pests. "Pleasant Cove isn't entirely freefrom them."

  "And they are presenting their bills pretty lively, too," yawned Ruth."The bedrooms are screened. I believe we'd all better seek the havenof bed unless we want to be splotchy to-morrow from mosquito bites."

  In the morning the older girls divided the housework between them, andso got it all done in short order. The baggage had come up from thestation the evening before, and they unpacked.

  Then they set forth to explore the fishing port, as well as the moremodern part of Pleasant Cove.

  As they brisked along the walk past Mr. Terrence Severn's OverlookHouse, they spied Trix and her party on the big veranda. The girlshailed each other back and forth; only Trix and the Corner House girlsdid not speak.

  "We can't speak to her if she won't speak to us," said Ruth to Agnes."Now, never you mind, Aggie. She'll get over her tantrum in time."

  The party from Spoondrift bungalow got back in season to get luncheon;after which they rested and then bathed. It was the Corner Housegirls' first experience of salt water bathing and they all enjoyedit--even Dot.

  "It _does_ make you suck in your breath awfully hard when the waveslap upon you," she confessed. "But there was the Alice-doll sitting onthe shore watching me, and so I couldn't let her see that I was_afraid_!"

  Ruth, more than the other girls, aided Pearl in looking afterhousekeeping affairs. It was she who discovered the broken lamp in thefront hall.

  The bungalow was lighted by oil-lamps, and they used candles in thebed chambers; while there was a marvelous "blue-flame" kerosene rangein the kitchen.

  Not all of the girls understood the handling of kerosene lamps, andPearl told a funny story about her own little sister who had neverseen any lights but gas or electric.

  "When she came down here to Uncle Phil's bungalow for the first time,she was all excited about the lamps. She told mamma that 'Uncle Philhad his 'lectricity in a lamp right on the supper table. It's a queerkind of a light, for they fill it with water out of a can.'"

  The hanging lamp in the front hall was set inside a melon-shapedglobe. Finding that, as Ruth pointed out, it could not be used, Pearlmade another trip to the village before teatime and in the local"department store" bought another lamp.

  "I am afraid you ought not to use that lamp, Pearl," Ruth said, whenshe saw that the chimney was not tall enough to stick out of the topof the globe.

  "Pooh! why not? Guess it's just as good as the old chimney was," saidPearl.

  "Seems to me Mrs. MacCall says that chimneys should always be tallenough to come up through the globe. I don't know just why----"

  "Oh, pshaw!" interrupted Pearl. "It's all right, I fancy."

  Neither girl had recourse to "applied physics." Had she done so shecould easily have discovered just _why_ it was unwise to use a lampwith a short chimney inside such a shaped globe as that hanging inchains in the front hall of the bungalow.

  Ruth forgot the matter. It was Pearl herself who lit the hall lampthat evening. As before, they sat on the porch and played games andsang or told stories, all the long, bright evening.

  Tess and Dot had gone to bed at half after eight. It was an hour laterthat Lucy suddenly said:

  "I smell smoke."

  "It isn't Mr. Harrod," said Ann. "He's gone down to the Casino."

  "It isn't tobacco smoke I smell," declared Lucy, springing up.

  "Oh, Lute!" shrieked Agnes. "Look at the door!"

  A cloud of black, thick smoke was belching out of the front hall uponthe veranda. One of the other girls shrieked "Fire!"

  Those next few minutes were terribly exciting for all hands at theSpoondrift bungalow. A single glance into the hall showed Ruth Kenwaythat the hanging lamp had burst, and the place was all ablaze.

  There was but one stairway, and the children were in one of thelow-ceilinged rooms above. Tess and Dot could only be reached byclimbing up the long, sloping roof of the bungalow, and getting in atthe chamber window.

  While some of the girls ran for water--which was useless in thequantity they could bring from the kitchen tap in pots and pans--andothers ran screaming along the street for help, Ruth "shinnied" rightup one of the piazza pillars and squirmed out upon the shingled roof.

  She tore her dress, and hurt her knees and hands; but she did notthink of this havoc at the moment. She got to the window of the roomin which her sisters slept, and screamed for Tess and Dot, but intheir first sleep the smaller girls were completely "dead to theworld."

  There was the screen to be reckoned with before the oldest CornerHouse girl could enter. It was set into the window from the inside,and she could neither lift the window-sash nor stir the screen. So shebeat the tough wire in with her fists, and they bled and hurt herdreadfully! Nevertheless, she got through, falling into the room justas the stifling smoke from below began to pour in around the bedroomdoor.

  "Tess! Dot! Hurry up! Get up!" she shrieked, shaking them both.

  Tess aroused, whimpering. Ruth seized Dot bodily, flung a blanketaround her, and put her out of the window upon the roof. Then shedragged Tess to the window and made her climb out after her sister.

  "Oh, oh!" gasped Tess, alive at last to the cause of the excitement."Save the Alice-doll, Ruthie. Save Dot's Alice-doll!"

  And Ruth actually went back, groping through the gathering smoke, forthe doll. With it she scrambled out upon the shingles.

  By that time the street was noisy with shouting people. Mr. Harrodcame with a fire extinguisher and attacked the flames. Other men cameand helped the girls down from the roof.

  Agnes had fainted when she realized the danger her sisters were in.Some of the other girls were quite hysterical. Neighbors took them allin for the night.

  It was quite an hour before the fire was completely out. Then theSpoondrift bungalow certainly was in a mess.

  "It will take carpenters and pai
nters a fortnight and more to repairthe damage," said Mr. Harrod the next morning. "Luckily none of yourguests lost their clothing, Pearl; but you will all have to go to thehotel to finish your visit to Pleasant Cove."

  Ruth actually went back, groping through the gatheringsmoke, for the doll. With it she scrambled out upon the shingles.]