THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS
 
 "LOOK! LOOK !" SYLVIA WHISPERED (Page 293)
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 OR 
 
 THE DESERTED BUNGALOW ON 
 SARANAC LAKE 
 
 BY 
 
 GERTRUDE CALVERT HALL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 E. C. CASWELL
 
 COPTKIOHT, 1915, IT 
 
 DODD. MEAD AND COMPANY
 
 PS 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I THE NOWADAYS CLUB ... 1 
 
 II A TELEGRAM 9 
 
 III PREPARATIONS ..... 18 
 
 IV " WATCH YOUR STEP ! " . . . 27 
 V IN SYRACUSE 37 
 
 VI THE MISSING EMERALD ... 44$ 
 
 VII OVERBOARD 53 
 
 VIII THE GOLF BALL .... 65 
 
 IX ONWARD 72 
 
 . X A NIGHT OUT 79 
 
 XI TROUBLE '89 
 
 XII THE MOTOR BOAT . . . .94 
 
 XIII BY THEMSELVES . . . 106 
 
 XIV A DISMAL PROSPECT .... 113 
 XV A LONELY NIGHT . . . .120 
 
 XVI THE LOON 127 
 
 XVII IN CAMP 137 
 
 XVIII CANOEING 145 
 
 XIX THE MASQUERADE . . . .151 
 
 XX THE MYSTIC MOON . . . . 163 
 
 XXI THE MYSTERY DEEPENS . . . 170 
 
 XXH BAD NEWS . 177 
 

 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXIII AT SARANAC . 
 
 XXIV WORRIMENT 
 
 XXV MAKING PLANS 
 
 XXVI A LONELY PLACE . 
 
 XXVII THE DESERTED BUNGALOW 
 
 XXVin MISSING .... 
 
 XXIX A SLEEPLESS NIGHT 
 
 XXX A GENEEAL ALARM 
 
 XXXI THE SEARCH . 
 
 XXXII LOST .... 
 
 XXXIII UNEXPECTED HELP 
 
 XXXIV FOUND .... 
 
 XXXV RECOVERY 
 
 PAGB 
 
 185 
 191 
 199 
 
 207 
 
 223 
 234 
 241 
 249 
 256 
 274 
 281 
 294
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " Look ! Look ! " Sylvia whispered . Frontispiece 
 (Page 293) FACING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " We certainly are doing it in style ! " mur 
 mured Hazel 34 
 
 Sylvia presently found herself whirling through 
 it with a Spaniard who danced wonder 
 fully well 166 
 
 Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits 
 now that they were actually on their way 
 to see Roy 212
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NOWADAYS CLUB 
 
 THE chugging taxicab stopped in front of the apart 
 ment on Central Park, West, and the uniformed door 
 attendant bowed out of it, and into the marble vesti 
 bule, a demure girl with rosy cheeks. 
 
 " Miss Pursell? " she asked, and there was that in 
 her voice which made the elevator boy look a second 
 time ; and he was not unused to seeing pretty girls and 
 hearing them speak. 
 
 " Third floor, miss," he said, with a quick touch of 
 his hand to his much-gold-braided cap. Then, as he 
 clanged the steel-grilled door shut, he favored the 
 hall-man with a distinct wink, which Rose Bancroft 
 did not see. But had she seen it she would, perhaps, 
 have given it little consideration, since it did not con 
 cern her. 
 
 What did concern her was reaching her friend 
 Sylvia Pursell as soon as possible. There were more 
 reasons than one for this, but perhaps the one with 
 which we may now concern ourselves was that Rose 
 had been travelling since early morning, having but 
 just arrived at the Grand Central Terminal from 
 Syracuse. 
 
 Travelling in even the best-portered Pullman, in the
 
 2 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 middle of the " Chicago Special," is very apt to grime 
 one up, especially if the aforesaid one be wearing 
 a particularly light and dainty dress. So Rose, as 
 she was shot upward in the smooth-running elevator, 
 wondered whether the coloured maid at the Grand 
 Central had made sure that there was no cinder dust 
 on the end of her nose. 
 
 " For," reflected Rose to herself, " if there is one 
 thing more than another, that makes a girl lose her 
 smartness and dignity, it is a black spot on the end 
 of her nose." 
 
 And Rose had her special reasons for wanting to 
 look at least " smart " when she reached Sylvia's 
 apartment. I'll tell you why later. She ventured 
 to glance into the bevelled mirror which made up the 
 whole back of the car, but the electric bulb was shaded 
 with a rose-tinted glass, and while it made a very 
 pretty effect, still it was not conducive to illumina 
 tion. 
 
 " I'm almost sure there's a spot," thought Rose, 
 but she dared not raise her veil to make sure. And 
 just then the elevator lad, who had been favouring 
 his solitary passenger with more than one surrepti 
 tious glance, called out, in a most respectful tone of 
 voice, a voice not at all in keeping with his previous 
 facetious wink: 
 
 " Your floor ! Miss Pursell's ! " 
 
 " Thank you," said Rose, quietly, and stepped out. 
 
 A few moments later, Rose having been ushered into 
 a pretty reception hall, and thence to the drawing-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 3 
 
 room, she and Sylvia had their arms around each 
 other, and Sylvia was kissing her friend, regardless 
 of whether or not there was a spot on Rose's face 
 her nose or anywhere else. 
 
 " It was so sweet of you to come down from 
 Syracuse, my dear ! " 
 
 " Nonsense, it was just perfectly lovely of you 
 to ask me. I am so interested ! " 
 
 " I thought you'd be ! Did you have a tiresome 
 trip?" 
 
 " Oh, not especially so. We were a little late, 
 but made it up. Mrs. Blake, mamma's friend, you 
 know, came part way with me." 
 
 " That was nice. Janet, take Miss Bancroft's 
 things, and then tell Perkins we'll have tea in here." 
 
 " Yes, Miss Pursell." 
 
 "Are the other girls here? "asked Rose, as she 
 made sure this time, by a hasty glance in a well- 
 lighted mirror, that there was not a spot on her 
 nose. 
 
 " No, they're coming to-night, I presume. Hazel 
 was away when my telegram reached her, but she 
 left Chicago last night, and ought to be here now. 
 I'm not so sure when Alice will arrive. You know 
 her style." 
 
 " Indeed I do. If she doesn't arrive to-day, next 
 week will do. But are you really going to carry 
 out your plan ? " 
 
 " I most certainly am, my dear ! I don't plan 
 things and then not do them,"
 
 4 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 "Yes. I know, Sylvia, but this going off to the 
 Adironmfcks, all by ourselves ' 
 
 " But we'll not be by ourselves. Aunt Theodora 
 Leigh Brownley will chaperon us, and 
 
 " You didn't leave out any of her name ; did you ? " 
 and Rose laughed a merry laugh, that sounded like 
 the tinkle of ice in a strawberry-tinted pitcher of \ 
 lemonade on a hot day. 
 
 " She rather likes her whole title," answered Sylvia. 
 " But you knew she was going with us ; didn't you ? " 
 
 " I wasn't sure," and Rose turned at the entrance 
 of the butler with the tray of tea things as though 
 she expected to see some one else. 
 
 " Oh, indeed mamma wouldn't consent to my mak 
 ing up the party at all until I had arranged for a 
 chaperon. Of course Aunt Theodora Leigh Brown- 
 ley is rather a handicap in ways, but she is so good, 
 and she doesn't mind sitting up until all hours at a 
 dance." 
 
 " Oh, then we are going to dance ! " and the eyes 
 of Rose glistened, while her breath seemed to come 
 faster between her parted lips. 
 
 " Of course, my dear ! There will be some men up 
 there, I hope! " 
 
 " Oh, won't it be just perfectly all right! " 
 
 " I hope you'll find it so. Let me see you take 
 lemon ? " and Sylvia paused questioningly with a slice 
 held over Rose's cup. 
 
 " Lemon, yes. And two lumps, please." 
 
 The tinkle of silver on eggshell china filled a pause.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 5 
 
 and then the girls looked into each other's eyes. In 
 Rose's was a question she wanted to ask, but hardly 
 dared. Several times it was at her lips, but somehow 
 she forced it back. And when she had made up her 
 mind to ask it there came a ring of the bell. 
 
 " Telephone ? " questioned Rose. 
 
 " No, the entrance hall. I wonder " 
 
 Sylvia paused, listening, and when she heard the 
 unseen caller ask for her she started at the sound of 
 a drawling voice a voice of Southern unctuousness 
 and richness. Then she arose from the little table, so 
 precipitately as almost to overturn it, though Rose 
 saved it in time. 
 
 " Sylvia ! " gasped Rose. " You " 
 
 " It's Alice," was the excuse offered. " Here we 
 are, Alice ! " she went on, and a girl a tall, slender 
 girl, with dark eyes, that sparkled from underneath 
 dark brows, and lighted up a face of pure olive-brown 
 tint fairly swept into the apartment. 
 
 " Alice ! " cried Sylvia, as she kissed her and then 
 passed her on to Rose for a like ceremony. " How 
 ever did you get here ? " 
 
 " Why, yo'all seem surprised," was the retort in 
 that slow, unctuous, Southern voice. " I hope I didn't 
 arrive too early," and Alice Harrow flung, rather 
 than " draped " herself, as Sylvia would have done, 
 into a chair. 
 
 " Early ! It's early for you," commented Rose. 
 
 " I did get here sooner than I expected," Alice 
 went on. " But I made up my mind, if we were to
 
 6 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 carry out the rules of our club, that being ahead of 
 time was better than being late." 
 
 "Good for you!" cried Sylvia. "Tea?" she 
 asked, indicating the little table. 
 
 " Land, no ! It's too hot ! Lemonade if you have 
 it, with a bit of mint crushed in it not too much 
 crushed, and a slice of real lemon floating on top. 
 Then just a suggestion of nutmeg. But if you 
 haven't it, ice water will do as well," and she sud 
 denly switched off, as she saw Rose gazing at her 
 with rather open-mouthed wonder. 
 
 " No, indeed. Janet shall make it at once ! " ex 
 claimed Sylvia. 
 
 "Well, are you surprised to see me?" demanded 
 Alice, a moment later, when the maid had left the 
 room. 
 
 " Surprised isn't the word for it ! " Sylvia said. 
 " We were just talking about you : 
 
 " I wondered why my ears burned ! " laughingly 
 broke in Alice, who seemed unusually bright and 
 crisp for a native of the Southern clime. 
 
 " We were just saying that we feared you would 
 be the last to arrive," went on Sylvia, with a smile. 
 " As it is you have reached here before Baby ! " 
 
 " No ! You don't mean it ! " 
 
 " But I do, my dear ! " 
 
 " To think of besting Hazel Reed ! Oh, that's just 
 splendid. I " 
 
 Alice arose and was about to execute a few steps 
 of a new dance, but, at that moment, the maid came
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 7 
 
 with the elaborately ordered glass of lemonade on a 
 little silver tray, and it was only by the most skilful 
 turn, as though extricating herself and her partner 
 from a crowded corner of the ballroom floor, that 
 Alice saved herself from an accident. 
 
 " Oh, that's delicious ! " she murmured, as she 
 sipped the spiced, icy drink. " Your butler must be 
 a Southerner, Sylvia." 
 
 " We never knew it. But I'm glad you like it. Yes, 
 you are here before Hazel, though she may arrive 
 any minute." 
 
 " And when she comes," said Rose, " the Nowadays 
 Club will have a full membership present. Then, I 
 suppose, Sylvia will condescend to give a more de 
 tailed explanation of the mysterious telegrams she 
 sent us. All I know is that we're going to spend the 
 summer in the Adirondacks." 
 
 " Isn't that enough to know? " asked Alice. " Why 
 seek to force the hands of Fate? " and she reclined 
 lazily in her chair, and languidly closed her eyes. 
 
 She opened them a moment later, however, and a 
 bright, vivacious look came over her dark face. She 
 clapped her hands and cried out : 
 
 " Oh, girls, I must tell you ! It's the greatest sur 
 prise. You know -. Minnie Reynolds, that demure, 
 mouse-like girl that was in our class? " 
 
 " You mean, Cheese? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Yes, that's what we called her she reminded 
 one so of a mouse, and cheese always has that asso 
 ciation for me. Well, Minnie has ' done gone an' got
 
 8 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 he'se'f engaged,' as my old coloured mammy would 
 say." 
 
 " Who's the fellow ? " asked Sylvia. " Any one we 
 know?" 
 
 Alice took a long breath, preparatory to answer 
 ing, but just then the bell rang again. 
 
 " Oh, if that sJiould be Baby ! " murmured Sylvia. 
 
 " It is Baby ! " called out a breezy voice in answer, 
 for the pretty hostess had spoken even as the maid 
 opened the door. " It is Baby ! Who all's in there? " 
 she went on, eagerly, joyously. 
 
 " Hazel Reed ! " murmured Alice. " She'll be furi 
 ous when she finds I'm here ahead of her. She can't 
 call me the late Miss Harrow now." 
 
 " Oh, you're all here ! " gasped the newcomer, as 
 she swept into the room literally swept in, for her 
 dress caught in a light chair that she dragged after 
 her. 
 
 " Hello, girls ! " she went on. " Oh, Sylvia ! Such 
 r. trip. Two accidents; the taxicab driver nearly 
 ran over an old man, I lost my purse found it again 
 though, thank goodness. Mislaid your address and 
 I've been telephoning all over for two mortal hours. 
 But here I am. Kiss me, everybody! Oh, but it's 
 good to see you all again." 
 
 There was a little cyclone of laughter, and then 
 Sylvia, tinkling a spoon against a cup to attract at 
 tention, called out : 
 
 " Girls, the Nowadays Club will come to order ! "
 
 v 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 A TELEGRAM 
 
 HUSHED voices voices that had been exchanging 
 greetings and telling experiences followed the dra 
 matic announcement of Sylvia Pursell. She gazed 
 at her trio of chums, who had seated themselves 
 about the room, in various positions of comfort. 
 
 " Pardon me, Madam President." Alice was on 
 her feet. " But is this a regular meeting, or a special 
 session? I rise to a point of order." 
 
 " I rule that your point of order is not well taken, 
 and for your information I will say that it is a ses 
 sion most extraordinary, for we have to talk over 
 our plans for going to the mountains. That is if 
 you girls are going? " and she looked around at them, 
 pausing at each face in turn. 
 
 " Going ! " echoed Hazel, otherwise known as Baby, 
 on account of her rather diminutive size. But she 
 was a lovely dancer. 
 
 " I should like to see any one try to keep me at 
 home," Hazel went on, with that breezy Chicago 
 manner of hers that always made the boys look at 
 her a second time, first with surprise, and secondly 
 with admiration. And then they kept on looking, as 
 often as they dared. 
 
 9
 
 10 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Indeed we are going," declared Alice. " I have 
 heard so much about those wild and rugged moun 
 tains, and their grand scenery and " 
 
 " The lakes don't forget the lakes ! " interrupted 
 Rose. " I am just dying for a chance in a canoe 
 with " 
 
 " * A book of verses underneath a bough,' " quoted 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " She wants what goes with the book a young 
 man," declared Hazel. 
 
 " I do not! " stormed Rose, blushing so that her 
 cheeks, which usually held a most charming centre- 
 tint, were now suffused with carmine. 
 
 " Oh, of course she doesn't," soothed Alice. " We 
 forgot about Roy, and " 
 
 " Alice Harrow, if you- 
 
 " Don't mind them," advised Sylvia, but at the 
 mention of the name Roy a shadow seemed to pass 
 over her face. " Let's get on with the meeting. The 
 Nowadays Club will kindly come to extraordinary 
 order and we'll talk about this Adirondack trip. I'm 
 so glad you can all go. Now, first of all I want to 
 speak of " 
 
 " Dresses ! What about them ? " broke in Hazel. 
 " I simply must have some new ones." 
 
 " New York is the best place in the world to get 
 them, and in a hurry, too," said Rose. " I was going 
 to have my dressmaker in Syracuse turn me out some, 
 but I decided to wait. We have a week or so ; haven't 
 we, Sylvia? "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 11 
 
 " About that, my dear. And I'm counting on 
 showing you everything worth seeing in Manhattan 
 in that time. You can order your gowns the very 
 newest of the new " 
 
 " Which just perfectly describes our club," mur 
 mured Hazel. 
 
 And since, perhaps, a little description of the club 
 will aid my readers in understanding the object of 
 the four girls, I can find no better opportunity than 
 now of making them acquainted with it. 
 
 Sylvia Pursell, whose home was in New York City ; 
 Rose Bancroft, of Syracuse; Alice Harrow, who 
 came from an old Southern family, whose estate was 
 in the vicinity of Baltimore, and Hazel Reed, of 
 breezy Chicago, had been chums, roommates, class 
 mates and various other sort of mates at the fashion 
 able boarding school of Miss Stevenson. They had 
 " finished " there, which means they had just begun, 
 and during their final year they had formed the 
 " Nowadays Club." 
 
 It was unlike any other organisation, as far as the 
 girls knew. There were no dues, no initiation fees, 
 no set or formal meetings, and no officers. Every one 
 was a president, and whoever cared to do so presided. 
 Usually it was Sylvia, but that was as circumstances 
 dictated. 
 
 The object of the club was expressed in the name. 
 The girls were " up-to-the-minute " damsels, and 
 they were devotees of the nowadays idea. That is, 
 they went in for all that was best of such of the
 
 12 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 newest matters as came to their attention. As Sylvia 
 said: 
 
 " We don't want to get into a rut ! " 
 
 And most assuredly they were not in any danger 
 of doing so. They at least investigated everything 
 new, from the latest dance to the newest motor cars. 
 For the girls were all of well-to-do, not to say 
 wealthy, families. 
 
 They had formed the little club membership 
 strictly restricted to four on the spur of the mo 
 ment, and it had interested them more than they had 
 expected it would. During the dance craze they in 
 vented new steps, some of which were adopted by 
 the dancing class which they attended. If the girls 
 had been in any other position in life than school 
 if, for instance, they had been young business men 
 they would have succeeded admirably in at least inves 
 tigating all the newest fads and fancies, from 
 efficiency and system, to conservation and " turning 
 around on a smaller margin," as the trade papers 
 call it. 
 
 But, as it was, the girls resolved that they would 
 be real " nowadays M girls. Of them it must not be 
 said, " Oh, that's the way they used to do it." Rather 
 the tribute must be paid them that : " Well, that's 
 the way it's being done nowadays, but I suppose in 
 a week or so something new will crop up, and >f 
 
 Well, when it did Sylvia, Rose, Hazel and Alice 
 would not only be ready for it, but waiting impa 
 tiently.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 13 
 
 And so, during their last year in the boarding 
 school, they had formed the little club. It looked for 
 a time, when they had definitely decided on different 
 colleges, that the organisation would die a natural 
 death. But it only goes to show that real, vital 
 things never die. They may change their form, but 
 they never wholly expire. They still exist. 
 
 So it was with the Nowadays Girls. 
 
 Sylvia was to go to Wellesley, Rose to Smith, 
 Alice to Bryn Mawr, and Hazel to Vassar. That 
 much had been decided on, the parents having some 
 thing to say in each case. 
 
 At first, when the girls found they were to be sep 
 arated, there were tears, sighs and protestations. It 
 seemed that they were to go on long journeys to far 
 countries. Then vivacious Sylvia came to the rescue. 
 
 " Look here, girls ! " she declaimed at a session of 
 the club held in her room one night, " this college 
 life is only for four years, and there are vacations. 
 Besides, the long-distance telephone is available. We 
 may be separated in body but we must not be in spirit. 
 We must still be up-to-date to the minute and a few 
 seconds past it. We won't give up our club. It shall 
 be all the stronger. 
 
 " And we must here and now resolve " 
 
 " Hear ! Hear ! " half -grunted Hazel, in imitation 
 of an Englishman, " highly excited," at a banquet. 
 "Hear! Hear!" 
 
 " We must now resolve " 
 
 " Not to cast our ballots ! " broke in Alice.
 
 14 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " This isn't a suffragist meeting," was Rose's re 
 buke. 
 
 " We must resolve," continued Sylvia, whom little 
 could distract, " we must resolve not to give up the 
 spirit we have evolved for ourselves. We will meet 
 and get together whenever we can, after leaving here. 
 We'll have sessions in summer, of course, and spend 
 all our vacations together, if possible. The Christmas 
 Holidays we may except, but the long vacation will 
 give the Nowadays Club even a better chance than 
 we have had here. Now what do you say? Shall we 
 make it a promise? " 
 
 She paused to look at her chums. The idea 
 seemed to fill them with enthusiasm. 
 
 " I'm for it ! " declared Alice. 
 
 " It's perfectly fine ! " exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 " I'm just in love with the idea," Rose said. " I 
 almost cried when I found we were to go to different 
 colleges." 
 
 " But it will be all the better for us," declared 
 Sylvia. " For we can absorb all that is best at each 
 institution, bring it away with us, and pass it on 
 to one another. In that way we will each 
 broaden " 
 
 " I don't want to do any broadening," broke in 
 Alice. " I'm getting too stout as it is. I'll have to 
 pick up a new step in the hesitation waltz, to make 
 it more difficult." 
 
 " I meant broaden our minds," Sylvia said, point 
 edly.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 15 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," assented Alice. " Go on." 
 
 " That's all there is to it," Sylvia said. " We'll 
 just resolve to meet as often as we can, and 
 be real nowadays girls. Separating now is only a 
 preparation for a newer form of life and healthy 
 activity." 
 
 And so it had been decided. The pleasant days 
 at Miss Stevenson's school came to an end in the 
 glories of commencement, with " sweet girl grad 
 uates " galore. This was in late May, for as there 
 were repairs to be made on the buildings the term 
 was somewhat shortened. 
 
 The Nowadays Girls had separated, with no definite 
 plans for the summer until Sylvia evolved those 
 which, as our story opens, brought the four chums 
 together once more Rose from Syracuse, Alice from 
 Baltimore, and Hazel from Chicago, she being the 
 last to arrive, much to her chagrin, for she upheld 
 the liveliness of her own town as against Gotham. 
 
 In brief the plan was this. Sylvia had proposed 
 a tour of the Adirondacks for that summer, and 
 there was an indefinite understanding that at each 
 succeeding vacation other famous American resorts 
 would be visited. But the Adirondacks was to be the 
 beginning. The girls were to go to Fulton Chain, 
 in the lower Adirondacks, and progress as they 
 pleased, and when they pleased, stopping where 
 fancy dictated, until they reached Saranac. 
 
 The four were to be accompanied by Mrs. Theo 
 dora Leigh Brownley, a widow, whose husband had
 
 16 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 been a noted Confederate soldier. A small property 
 brought her in such a meagre income that she was 
 forced to adopt her young-womanhood occupation of 
 teaching school, and she was one of the best-beloved 
 instructresses at Miss Stevenson's establishment. 
 Mrs. Brownley was called " Aunt " not only by cour 
 tesy, but through love, for she was a charming char 
 acter, and the girls were very fond of her, especially 
 our four. So much did they love her that when Sylvia 
 had proposed the Adirondack tour, and a chaperon 
 had been decreed by Mrs. Pursell as absolutely neces 
 sary, Aunt Theodora had been selected. 
 
 Mrs. Brownley had served as such before. In fact 
 she made it a sort of business to escort parties of 
 young ladies from the school on summer outings. She 
 had made several trips to Europe as such a conductor, 
 and while rather grave and dignified, she could very 
 easily adapt herself to circumstances. Then, too, 
 she was very glad of the added income which this 
 chaperoning provided. So every one was satisfied. 
 
 The trip had practically been decided on before 
 Sylvia's friends had reached New York, but after she 
 had summoned them by telegraph, she wanted to make 
 sure that none of them had changed her plans. 
 
 " And I'm glad none of you have," she said, as 
 the maid came in to clear away the tea service, Hazel 
 having been refreshed with a specially-brewed cup. 
 " I think we shall have a lovely summer." 
 
 " I'm positive of it ! " declared Rose, with convic 
 tion. Again she looked around, half expectantly, as
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 17 
 
 a masculine step was heard in the hall. It was only 
 the butler, however. 
 
 " Miss Pursell," he said, in a low voice. 
 
 " Yes, James." 
 
 " A telegram." 
 
 Sylvia caught her breath rather sharply. 
 
 " Did any of you girls wire ? Could it have been 
 delayed and reached here after you? " she asked, as 
 she paused, hand outstretched, to take the telegram 
 from the silver server. 
 
 " I didn't," declared Rose, and the others shook 
 their heads in negation. 
 
 With fingers that trembled Sylvia tore open the 
 yellow envelope. Her eyes rapidly scanned the few 
 typewritten words on the sheet, and once more her 
 breath came in a gasp. 
 
 " No bad news, I hope," said Hazel, as she glided 
 across the room and put her arms about her chum. 
 
 "It it isn't good!" faltered Sylvia. "It's 
 Roy my brother he he's worse ! " 
 
 A startled cry came from Rose, who turned pale, 
 so that only a small tinted spot glowed in either 
 cheek. 
 
 " Roy ill ! " she whispered.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 PREPARATIONS 
 
 SOMETHING like a portentous influence seemed to 
 have fallen suddenly over the little party of girls that 
 had been making so merry but a moment before. 
 Sylvia read the telegram again. 
 
 " Any answer, Miss Pursell? " asked the butler. 
 " I told the boy to wait." 
 
 " No, James. At least not now. I must talk with 
 mother. This came to me I wonder why ? " 
 
 " Perhaps your brother did not want to alarm 
 your mother," suggested Alice. 
 
 " I suppose so but 
 
 " I didn't know Roy was ill," said Rose, and there 
 was that in her tone which showed that she had a 
 good right to know a right that Sylvia seemed to 
 acknowledge, for she answered: 
 
 " We didn't write and tell you, dear, for we kept 
 hoping that it would pass, and that he would be all 
 right. But it hasn't, and oh, dear ! " For a mo 
 ment Sylvia seemed about to give way, and Hazel 
 tightened her clasp about her chum. 
 
 " I I'll be all right in in a moment," said Sylvia. 
 " It was just just the disappointment. I did hope 
 he was going to get along at the sanitarium." 
 
 18
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 19 
 
 " Sanitarium ! " fairly gasped Rose. " Is he has 
 he " 
 
 " It isn't any real disease," Sylvia made haste to 
 say. 
 
 " Why, he didn't even hint anything to me the last 
 time he wrote," said Rose, the colour gradually com 
 ing back to her cheeks. That she and Sylvia's big 
 brother, Roy, corresponded was no secret, since it was 
 generally accepted that they would become engaged 
 some day. Just now the little affair was in that 
 most delightful of all states, one of perfect under 
 standing. 
 
 " No, I fancy he didn't want you to know, my 
 dear," replied Sylvia, gently. " It was, at first, just 
 a breakdown from overwork. You know," she went 
 on to the other girls, " after Roy graduated from 
 Yale he was given a fine position with the Hosmore 
 Chemical Company, here in New York. 
 
 " Roy was just in love with his work, and so en 
 thusiastic. I fear his very enthusiasm told against 
 him, for he had worked hard at college, and really 
 overtrained on the football eleven. But he was get 
 ting along splendidly, until the breakdown came." 
 
 " A breakdown," murmured Rose. " He only 
 wrote me that he was tired, and wanted a rest, but 
 that he would not take it until he had completed his 
 discovery." 
 
 " That's what did it the discovery," sighed Rose. 
 " Roy had some ideas about a new chemical combina 
 tion that was destined to work wonders. It had
 
 20 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 something to do with colouring fabrics, I believe. 
 He told me the details, but I have forgotten."" 
 
 " It was for dyeing silk," explained Rose. " You 
 know since the European war chemicals and dye- 
 stuffs from Germany, the centre of the trade, have 
 been dreadfully hard to get over here. So Roy dis 
 covered a new way of utilising some of the coal-tar 
 products, and he hoped to make a big thing of it." 
 
 " You know more than I do," said Sylvia, but 
 there was not the least hint of sisterly jealousy in 
 her voice. " I believe it was that, though, which Roy 
 was working on. Well, he made his discovery " 
 
 " How nice ! " murmured Alice. 
 
 " No ! It wasn't at all nice ! " and Sylvia's voice 
 took on rather a fierce and indignant tone. " For 
 poor Roy worked so hard over it that he suffered a 
 mental breakdown. It was complete, added to a sort 
 of physical going to pieces, and he couldn't remember 
 the proper chemical combination the one he worked 
 so hard over. It went from his mind completely and 
 was as lost to him as though he had never worked 
 it out during long nights of study. He tried and 
 tried to recall it, and I suppose that did him no 
 good, mentally or physically. Then he gave up, and 
 broke down completely. It was terrible, but we 
 hoped for the best. Then he went away " 
 
 " Went away ? " echoed Rose. 
 
 " Well, rather, he was sent. His firm was very 
 nice to him, granted him a leave of absence and all 
 that, and even sent one of their young men from
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 21 
 
 the office away with Roy. Mother wanted to go her 
 self, but the doctor said she had better not." 
 
 " She must have felt that terribly," commented 
 Hazel. " She was so chummy with Roy, and he with 
 her." 
 
 " Yes," assented Sylvia. " It was terrible. But 
 mamma saw that it was for the best. Papa simply 
 could not leave. His business is so complicated since 
 the war, that he fairly lives at the office. So Roy 
 went off with Harry Montray, and he was more than 
 kind to my brother and all of us." 
 
 " Harry Montray ? " murmured Alice, question- 
 
 " I don't believe you know him," Sylvia said. 
 " He was a Stevens boy, and he and Roy were real 
 chums. I grew to like Harry very much in the short 
 time I knew him. He went away with my brother." 
 
 "But where?" asked Rose. "You haven't told 
 me where yet ? " 
 
 You notice she did not say " us." But the reason 
 is not far to seek. 
 
 " Oh, I thought I mentioned it," said Sylvia. 
 " Pardon me. Roy is at Loneberg Camp, Saranac 
 Lake." 
 
 "Saranac Lake!" cried Rose. "Why, that's 
 where we - " 
 
 " Yes, that's where we are going," Sylvia took up 
 the remark. " That was one reason that made me 
 keep to my original resolution to make the Adiron- 
 dacks our first outing objective. For a time, after
 
 22 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 we tentatively selected that, I was inclined to change 
 to Bar Harbor, or Martha's Vineyard, but when I 
 learned Roy had to go to the mountains for a com 
 plete rest and cure, I was glad I had not made other 
 plans. We can see him there, and we may do him 
 good." 
 
 " I am not so sure that, collectively, we shall help 
 him to improve, as I am that, individually, we may," 
 murmured Alice. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Sylvia, her eyes 
 opening wide. 
 
 " Say, rather, whom do I mean," retorted Alice, 
 nodding at Rose, who was reading the telegram 
 Sylvia had handed her. 
 
 " Why," said Rose, not hearing, or perhaps not 
 heeding, the remark made about herself, " this mes 
 sage is from that Harry Montray." 
 
 " Yes," assented Sylvia. " He is looking after 
 Roy. He promised to wire every day as to how my 
 brother was. Up to now Roy has been very well, 
 considering. He showed little improvement, to be 
 sure, and worrying over the forgotten chemical for 
 mula was not beneficial. But this is the first time we 
 have had really unpleasant news concerning him. I 
 suppose that is why Harry sent the wire to me. I 
 think I must tell mother : 
 
 " Don't ! " interrupted Alice. " At least not yet 
 awhile," she went on. " Your mother will have enough 
 to worry about, with a house full of company, and 
 this will only add to it. As long as it isn't danger-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 23 
 
 ous, and as long as nothing can be done right away, 
 wait until to-morrow to tell her, Sylvia." 
 
 " I wonder if I ought ? " 
 
 " I think so," agreed Rose. " We may have better 
 news to-morrow. If we don't, well, there will be 
 time enough to get up there in a hurry, even if it is 
 necessary." 
 
 " I suppose so," assented Sylvia. " Yes, I'll not 
 say anything to her about it. I must bring her in 
 to meet you. She is anxious to know you all, for 
 she has heard so much about you, and she has only 
 seen your pictures. I'll just keep the unpleasant 
 news from her. I'll see if she is in her room," and 
 Sylvia lost no time in stepping to the private 
 telephone with which the large apartment was 
 equipped. 
 
 " Will this make any change in our plans ? " asked 
 Hazel. " If it does " 
 
 " Not in the least, my dear," answered Sylvia, as 
 she was making the necessary connection, a central 
 being dispensed with. " We may go a bit earlier, that 
 is all." 
 
 " Couldn't we go direct to Saranac Lake ? " asked 
 Rose. 
 
 " We can, if we find it necessary," answered her 
 hostess. " But it will rather spoil our plans, and 
 can do no good, I fear. The doctor said it would 
 take time for Roy to get strong enough physically 
 so that his mental powers would return. But if we 
 get any more disquieting news we will go direct to
 
 24 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Saranac, and not make tours and trips along the 
 route, as I planned. Hello ! " she interrupted, to 
 speak into the telephone. 
 
 Mrs. Pursell was in her room, and said she would 
 be in directly to meet her daughter's girl chums. 
 
 " Hadn't you better tell your butler not to men 
 tion the telegram? " suggested Rose. 
 
 " Perhaps I had," agreed Sylvia, slipping out, but 
 returning in time to present the three girls to her 
 mother. Mrs. Pursell greeted them warmly. 
 
 " You are all just as I pictured you," she said. 
 " Of course I have seen your photographs. But I 
 think I expected Hazel to be just a trifle smaller. I 
 think she isn't such a baby ! " 
 
 " Well, that's what they all call me," sighed Hazel 
 of the brown eyes. " I wear high-heeled shoes, and 
 everything to make me look larger, but I'm in despair 
 of growing taller." 
 
 " Never mind, my dear," Sylvia consoled her, 
 " you are perfectly all right and charming as you 
 are. Mother, you will go with us to-night; will you 
 not?" 
 
 "Where, daughter; to another dance? I think 
 not." 
 
 " No, the theatre. I planned to have the girls see 
 that new Shaw play." 
 
 " Oh, I adore Bernard Shaw ! " exclaimed Alice. 
 " He is so sarcastic when you least expect it. He 
 wakes you up like a dash of cold water in your 
 face."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 25 
 
 " And about as unpleasantly, at times," commented 
 Rose. " I like a different sort of alarm clock." 
 
 " We can pick some other play," Sylvia said. 
 
 " Oh, no indeed ! I like Shaw. It gives you some 
 thing to think about afterward, and that's what we 
 need nowadays." 
 
 " Quite an idea, calling your club that," com 
 mented Mrs. Pursell. " But don't count on me for 
 the theatre, daughter mine. Go and enjoy your 
 selves. Father will be home to dinner, so he tele 
 phoned." 
 
 " That's so nice of him. It's quite a concession 
 on father's part to dine with us these days," Sylvia 
 went on. " So you girls must sufficiently express 
 yourselves as honoured. He'll probably lose I don't 
 know how many thousand dollars by being away from 
 the office for even a little while at least he'll say so, 
 anyhow," and she laughed. 
 
 The girls went to the play, and had supper at 
 Sherry's afterward, Mr. Pursell allowing himself to 
 be made a member of the merry little party, that 
 attracted more than passing glances, for each of the 
 four girls was distractingly pretty. 
 
 " And now to pack and pack and then pack some 
 more," said Sylvia, gaily, the next day. " Oh, I 
 forgot, you girls want to see about gowns. But you 
 won't need such elaborate ones. A couple for dances 
 at the hotels, and the rest well, we're going to rough 
 it, rather than otherwise. Now then " 
 
 The butler knocked and entered.
 
 26 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Excuse me, Miss Pursell," he said, " but you are 
 wanted at the telephone. It's long-distance." 
 
 " Long-distance," faltered Sylvia. At once the 
 same thought came to all the girls Roy up in the 
 Adirondack woods.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 "WATCH YOUR STEP !" 
 
 ROSE caught her breath sharply, as Sylvia swept, 
 with a slithering of her silken skirts, to the extension 
 telephone in the reception hall. And even as she 
 prepared to listen and speak over the wire, the girl 
 had a cautioning thought. 
 
 "You didn't tell mother; did you, James?" she 
 asked, in a whisper. 
 
 " No, Miss Pursell. The message was for you." 
 
 "I know. That's right. Still I thought 
 
 Hello ! " she interrupted herself to speak into the 
 transmitter. " Yes, this is Miss Pursell. Oh, it's you, 
 Mr. Montray. Oh, yes, I " 
 
 The door swung shut, closing Sylvia away from 
 her chums, and they only heard the murmur of her 
 voice as she talked. Rose arose and paced nervously 
 to and from a certain window. She wondered if the 
 message concerned her. 
 
 Presently Sylvia rejoined her friends. There was 
 a glow on her face, a happy glint in her eyes, and 
 something in her whole bearing that told them it was 
 good news, and not bad, even before she spoke. Gaily 
 she cried: 
 
 " Roy is much better ! " 
 27
 
 28 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad ! " breathed Rose, and her com 
 plexion vied with her name. 
 
 " Were you talking to him ? " asked Alice, as she 
 turned an emerald ring on her finger an emerald 
 that caused much wonder among strangers as to 
 where she had obtained it, for it was a most beautiful 
 stone. But, perhaps unromantically enough, a ma 
 ternal aunt had bequeathed it to Alice. 
 
 " No, I wasn't talking to Roy, but to his friend, 
 Harry Montray," replied Sylvia. " He said he knew 
 we would be anxious after the telegram of yesterday, 
 so, as he happened to be near a long-distance tele 
 phone, he called up, instead of telegraphing. He 
 wanted to explain certain things." 
 
 " About Roy? " asked Hazel. 
 
 "Of course, Baby! What else?" Sylvia's eyes 
 opened wide. 
 
 " Oh, I didn't know," and she tried to seem indif 
 ferent. 
 
 " But tell us the news ! " begged Rose. 
 
 " That's so. Don't keep her in suspense," sug 
 gested Alice, as she held the cool emerald against 
 her cheek, as Nero is said to have held one against 
 his eye, perhaps better to see, or, perhaps, to make 
 him more dissatisfied with life by imparting a green 
 tint to the complexions of his flatterers. 
 
 " Yes, Roy is much better," went on his sister. 
 " That little depression of the day before seemed to 
 be but a passing nervous spell." 
 
 " But is he better all well? " asked Hazel.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 29 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed, and he won't be for some time. 
 But he is in no immediate danger. Had he been, 
 either mamma or papa would have gone up at once. 
 What he needs is complete rest and change, and he 
 is getting both. It is only that he cannot make his 
 mind do what he wants it to, and bring back the 
 memory of that forgotten chemical combination. 
 That is what is worrying him, for there is a com 
 paratively large fortune in it, both for himself and 
 for his firm. 
 
 " It is too bad he lost all memory of it, but it may 
 come back to him. Until it does, though, he will 
 worry and fret, and that will retard his recovery, 
 Harry says. But he is growing stronger physically, 
 and in another month or so there may be a big 
 change." 
 
 " That's good," murmured Alice, with a sympa 
 thetic glance at Rose. 
 
 " Perhaps when we go to see him that will at least 
 cheer him up," said Hazel. 
 
 " I am hoping so," Sylvia agreed. " Poor Roy ! 
 he isn't having a very good time. He just loves the 
 woods, to hunt and fish and camp, but I imagine he 
 can't do many of those things now. Taking a rest 
 cure is so " 
 
 " Unrestful," put in Alice, as she caught Hazel 
 by the shoulders and whirled her a*bout, forcing her 
 over toward the piano. " Come ! " she cried. " Away 
 with gloomy thoughts, since Sylvia has had good news ! 
 Let's try that new whirl in the onestep. Don't you
 
 30 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 remember the step backward, then forward, a halt 
 and a whirl this way ! " 
 
 Humming to herself she glided gracefully about 
 the room. 
 
 " Oh, if you want to dance," said Sylvia, " let's 
 go out to the library and take up the rugs. We can 
 start the * canned music,' as Roy calls the phono 
 graph, and have some good practice. But really, 
 though I hate to begin, I ought to be packing ! " 
 and she sighed. 
 
 " And I ought to be shopping ! " added Hazel. 
 " But we've time enough. I am easy to fit, and not 
 fussy. On with the dance. Come, Rose, I'll lead 
 you." 
 
 But Rose rather hung back, and there was a far-off 
 look in her eyes. 
 
 " Are you worried, dear? " asked Sylvia, in a whis 
 per, as Alice and Hazel led the way to the library 
 for dance practice. 
 
 " A little yes." 
 
 Sylvia pressed her chum's hand. 
 
 " Don't be," she said. " I'm sure he will be all 
 right." 
 
 " I hope so. But " 
 
 The music of a catchy onestep floated in to them, 
 and soon the girls were gliding about the unrugged 
 floor. 
 
 " Do the aeroplane," suggested Sylvia. " You 
 know, the one with four steps on one side, four on 
 the other, then the walk-about and "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 31 
 
 " Oh, yes, I just love that. It's so restful! " cried 
 Hazel. 
 
 The merry impromptu dance went on, and then 
 Sylvia bethought herself that she had not given to 
 her mother the good news that had come by tele 
 phone. When she came back, after having done this, 
 the girls were waltzing, Alice with a large vase as 
 a partner, while Hazel had taken Rose. 
 
 " I want to get that * marcel wave ' down more 
 smoothly," explained Alice. " I'm sure they'll be 
 doing that at all the hotels this summer." 
 
 They shopped that afternoon and the next and for 
 several successive days. Rush orders were given 
 dressmakers. The town car was in constant demand 
 for visits to shops, and the apartment looked like 
 " a May morning cyclone," as Sylvia expressed it, 
 for there were gowns and hats on every chair and in 
 every corner. 
 
 " I thought you girls were going to do this thing 
 simply, and rough it in the mountains," said Mr. 
 Pursell, as he " waded through " the filled-up hall 
 one evening. 
 
 " We are, Daddy mine ! " laughingly answered 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " This doesn't look like it." 
 
 " Oh, but you know nowadays, Daddy, it's awfully 
 hard to be simple." 
 
 " Like being good, I suppose," he chuckled. 
 " Well, I'm glad you're going I mean I'm sorry to 
 lose the jolly company of you young ladies," he hast-
 
 32 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 ened to add, " but I'm glad you're going up to see 
 Roy. He needs it. I'd go myself only I can't possi 
 bly leave. What was the report to-day, Sylvia ? " 
 
 " Just about the same. He is fretting a little." 
 
 " Well, perhaps that's a good sign. They say when 
 a sick person frets he's getting better. Now, Sylvia, 
 how about your trip? Have you it all planned out? 
 When does Aunt Theodora-and-all-the-rest-of-it ar 
 rive?" 
 
 " Don't let her hear you say that ! " cautioned his 
 daughter, raising an admonishing finger. " She is 
 very dignified at times, but jolly enough when she 
 wants to be. She'll be with us to-morrow, and we 
 will start two days after that. She may want to do 
 a little shopping in New York, since she won't get to 
 Paris this year." 
 
 " Have you the train schedule ? " asked Mr. Pursell. 
 
 " All complete," replied Sylvia, tapping a bundle 
 of time-tables and railroad folders. " We leave the 
 Grand Central Terminal at 12:25, and we can reach 
 Fulton Chain at 11:05 the next day; that is if we 
 don't stop off anywhere." 
 
 " Were you thinking of that? " asked Mr. Pursell. 
 
 " I wanted them to stop off at Syracuse," put in 
 Rose. 
 
 " And we may," half-promised Sylvia. 
 
 " Do you know any of the University fellows ? " 
 Hazel wanted to know. 
 
 " Of course she does scores of them," declared 
 Sylvia.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 33 
 
 " Then we stop off," decided Alice. " That set 
 tles it ! " and the others laughed at her vehemence. 
 
 Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley arrived, and was 
 made welcome by Mr. and Mrs. Pursell. They made 
 the gentle, dignified Southern lady feel at home at 
 once, and when Mrs. Brownley discovered, wholly by 
 accident, that there was living in the same apartment 
 a member of an old and distinguished family of Fair 
 fax County, Virginia, the little reserve she had shown 
 melted at once. 
 
 " I can be quite reconciled to New York, and even 
 to these semi-barbarous apartment houses, if a Ran 
 dolph can be comfortable here," said Mrs. Brownley. 
 " It is much nicer than I thought." 
 
 Then began a busy time, with the town car working 
 veritably night and day, taking the girls here and 
 there, to fill engagements with dressmakers and mil 
 liners, to shop, attend teas and what not. But 
 slowly the pile of pretty things in the various rooms 
 was reduced. Trunks began to fill, and finally came 
 the day when the Nowadays Club held a last informal 
 meeting in the home of Sylvia. 
 
 " We leave to-morrow," was the announcement of 
 the president pro tern. " Now don't any of you forget 
 anything." 
 
 "Have you the tickets, Sylvia?" asked Mrs. 
 Brownley. 
 
 " Indeed we have, Aunt Theodora." 
 
 " And you have definitely decided to stop off at 
 Syracuse ? "
 
 34 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Yes, Rose wants us to, and we may not get an 
 other chance soon to meet her people." 
 
 " Very well then, my dear, I shall take my after 
 noon nap, something I deprive myself of when school 
 is in session." 
 
 Aunt Theodora Leigh Brownley had a very com 
 fortable habit of indulging in a siesta when acting 
 as chaperon. Perhaps she emulated those paragons 
 of chaperons, the Spanish duennas. 
 
 After a light and rather " flighty " lunch next day, 
 the girls motored to the Grand Central Terminal, and 
 even in that vast extent of station with its marble, 
 its tiles, its hurrying, bustling throngs, its red-capped 
 porters, and its general air of caring for nothing and 
 no one, the girls created no little stir, as they marched 
 in, two by two, with Aunt Theodora in the lead and 
 several porters bringing up the rear with handbags. 
 
 "We certainly are doing it in style!" murmured 
 Hazel, to whom attention was as the breath of life. 
 
 "Of course! Why not?" demanded Alice. 
 " After all, there is no place just like New York for 
 cutting a dash ! " 
 
 " Well, don't cut up too much," advised Hazel. 
 
 Their train was being announced as they entered, 
 and they passed out through the iron-grilled gates to 
 the parlour car, which glowed with many electric 
 lights, for it was dark out on that labyrinth of 
 tracks. 
 
 The porters were tipped most graciously by Aunt 
 Theodora, who received the homage of doffed caps
 
 'WE CERTAINLY ARE DOING IT IN STYLE !" MURMURED 
 HAZEL
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 35 
 
 as only a Southern woman can, and then the girls 
 settled themselves comfortably for a long ride. 
 
 " Well, we are starting," said Sylvia, with a little 
 sigh, as a gentle motion was imparted to the long, 
 heavy train. " We are off to the Adirondacks, girls." 
 
 " And I wonder what we shall find there ? " mur 
 mured Alice. 
 
 " Find ? What do you mean ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know exactly." 
 
 " I hope we find Roy better," voiced Sylvia. 
 
 " So do I," echoed Rose. But she smiled, for the 
 early morning telegram, in the form of a night-letter 
 this time, had brought good news ere they had left for 
 the station. 
 
 But though Rose smiled, somehow, and in a manner 
 for which she could not account, she had a feeling 
 of vague apprehension. And that this apprehension 
 had to do with Roy need not be doubted. It was a 
 feeling as though " something were going to happen," 
 as we often tell ourselves. That was as much of it 
 as Rose could define. 
 
 But she managed to shake off a little of the feeling 
 as the train came out of the gloomy line of tunnel- 
 walls and, beyond One Hundred and Twenty-fifth 
 Street, emerged into the open. True there was not 
 much to see, but it was better than nothing, or the 
 stone walls. 
 
 Hazel went to the end of the swaying car for a 
 drink of water a thirst having been engendered by 
 an indulgence in candy and on her way back a
 
 36 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 sudden swaying of the coach threw her off her 
 balance. 
 
 " Watch your step ! " called out a young man, near 
 whose chair she was struggling. Hazel tried to, but 
 could not, and the next moment she was neatly de 
 posited on the arm of not the young man, but the 
 arm of the chair in which he sat. He put up his hand 
 to Hazel's back to prevent her toppling completely 
 over, murmuring again : 
 
 " Watch your step ! "
 
 CHAPTER V 
 IN SYRACUSE 
 
 " BEG your pardon ! Hope you're not hurt? " 
 
 It was the young man standing before Hazel, and 
 bowing as he assisted her in getting to her feet from 
 her seat on the arm of his chair. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," murmured Hazel, her face 
 suffused with the blushes that she could not keep back. 
 " It was it was " 
 
 " I know, the train ! They run a bit unevenly at 
 times with these electric locomotives. Perfectly ex 
 cusable. Are you sure you're not hurt sprained 
 ankle, or anything like that ? " he asked, anxiously. 
 
 " Of course not," murmured Baby. She could see 
 a changed look come over the young man's face. He 
 had taken her for a little girl, and he had found on 
 looking into her eyes that she could not be so classed, 
 though she was " Baby." 
 
 By this time Aunt Theodora had become aware of 
 the little accident and was walking down the aisle. 
 
 " Is anything " she began. 
 
 " Nothing at all ! " cried Hazel, quickly, and she 
 gently disengaged her hand from the rather too warm 
 and ardent one of the young man. He had taken 
 her hand in assisting her to arise, and he seemed very 
 
 37
 
 38 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 willing to repeat the ceremony. But Hazel knew how 
 to put up the barriers, though she smiled innocently 
 enough at the youth. 
 
 " Why why ! " began Aunt Theodora, and Sylvia 
 began to fear that something unpleasant was about 
 to transpire. But certainly it was not Hazel's fault 
 that a lurch of the train nearly threw her into the 
 grasp of a good-looking young man. And he had 
 behaved very nicely about it, too. All the girls 
 agreed on that point when they talked the matter 
 over among themselves afterward. 
 
 "It's Jack Benton, isn't it?" demanded Aunt 
 Theodora, as she extended her hand to the young 
 man in question. 
 
 Hazel gasped. This was condescension indeed on 
 the part of their chaperon. But, somehow or other, 
 Hazel was very glad. She had evidently " fallen in " 
 with one of Aunt Theodora's acquaintances, and, in 
 spite of her rather conservative ways, Mrs. Brownley 
 was quite cosmopolitan in many respects, and had 
 numerous acquaintances in various queer corners of 
 the earth. 
 
 " I'm Jack Benton yes'm," and he clipped the 
 last word with just the proper accent to prevent it 
 degenerating broadly into " ma'am." 
 
 " You don't know me, but your sister Ruth " 
 
 " Oh, of course Miss Stevenson's school you're 
 Mrs. Brownley I met you at the commencement. 
 But er I didn't know you with your hat on, I sup 
 pose at least, that is I er "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 39 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " murmured Sylvia, trying her best 
 not to laugh, for Jack was certainly embarrassed and 
 making a " mess of it." 
 
 " Is this er your ? " Clearly he was at a 
 
 loss how to classify Hazel. And she, little minx that 
 she was, said not a word to give him an inkling. She 
 might, indeed, have been Mrs. Brownley's daughter 
 or granddaughter. 
 
 " But how could I speak, except to say ' beg par 
 don ! ' when I hadn't been introduced? " Hazel asked 
 the girls afterward. 
 
 " You couldn't of course not with Aunt Theodora 
 there," was the decision of Alice, after a long dis 
 cussion of the point in question, and you may be sure 
 the girls missed nothing in discussing the matter 
 from all its angles. 
 
 " Sylvia Hazel all of you you must remember 
 Ruth Benton," said Mrs. Brownley. " And to think 
 of meeting you here. Is your sister with you? " 
 
 " No, I am travelling alone, though I expect a 
 party of friends to meet me at Albany. Some Yale 
 fellows and I are going on a little trip up-state." 
 
 " How nice ! I'm so glad to meet you again, Jack. 
 These are some of my girls. They know your sister 
 slightly, though they were not in her class. Sylvia 
 Miss Pursell this is Jack Benton Miss Hazel 
 Reed " 
 
 " We have met before," and Jack, of the laughing 
 eyes, smiled at Hazel of the brown orbs. The others 
 were presented.
 
 40 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " I wonder if we are to call him Jack? " murmured 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " I wish you would ! " he said, quickly. 
 
 She blushed vividly not thinking he had heard 
 her. 
 
 " It's so much nicer," he went on. " Please, Mrs. 
 Brownley Aunt Theodora tell them to ! " 
 
 " To what, Jack? " The chaperon had been speak 
 ing to one of the porters about getting her a has 
 sock. 
 
 " Tell them to call me Jack. Let's not be con 
 ventional at least not on this trip. Let's pretend 
 it's a sea-voyage, and that this is a steamer. You 
 know," he went on, speaking to Hazel, but for the 
 benefit of all, " that acquaintances on shipboard don't 
 count for anything that is, I don't mean that I 
 er I mean oh, call me Jack ! " he finished, as the 
 only way out of the tangle. 
 
 " I don't see why they shouldn't," declared Aunt 
 Theodora. " I intend to call you that, as I call your 
 sister Ruth. The young ladies have my permission. 
 Won't you join us in a cup of tea? We had a very 
 early lunch." 
 
 Jack winced a little at the mention of tea. Sylvia 
 could see that, and it became another subject for 
 discussion later. 
 
 " Delighted, I'm sure," he, however, murmured 
 submissively. 
 
 " They're going to put up one of the little tables 
 near our chairs," went on Mrs. Brownley. " You
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 41 
 
 can move down there. The car isn't crowded, and 
 there are some vacant places near us." 
 
 ** Of course," he assented. " Then it's to be Jack 
 and er Hazel? " he ventured, with another 
 laughing-eyed glance at her. 
 
 " I I suppose so," she murmured, though she did 
 not seem much abashed. 
 
 " That's what Chicago will do for one," said Syl 
 via afterward. 
 
 " Oh, it's nothing of the sort ! " cried Hazel, defend 
 ing herself. 
 
 But they all ended by calling him Jack, and he 
 addressed them by their first names. After all they 
 were but girls and a boy. 
 
 " Very nice people," said Mrs. Brownley, in an 
 aside to Sylvia. " I have visited them. Very cultured 
 and all that. Nice to know." 
 
 Sylvia was sure of it, as she glanced at Jack. He 
 was a clean-cut youth, with perfect even and white 
 teeth that made his smile most charming. 
 
 Soon they were merrily gathered about the tea 
 table, sipping the fragrant beverage, and nibbling 
 toast and cakes. The girls had better appetites than 
 Jack Benton evinced, but then they had been so ex 
 cited at the prospect of starting that they had done 
 little justice to the early luncheon Mrs. Pursell had 
 had prepared for them. 
 
 " You certainly have a fine trip ahead of you," 
 Jack said, when the objective of the Nowadays Girls 
 had been revealed to him. " I was up in the Adiron-
 
 48 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 dacks last fall, hunting, and it was delightful then. 
 It must be more so now, with the lakes, the fishing, 
 the boating and all that. Wish I were going along." 
 
 " Yes, it would be nice," murmured Hazel. 
 
 " I suppose you think he'll be there to pick you 
 up every time you stumble on the trail," whispered 
 Alice. 
 
 Hazel did not answer, save by a look. 
 
 At Albany a group of college boys joined Jack. 
 He introduced them to his new friends, and there was 
 a merry party that enlivened the coach for part of the 
 remaining distance. 
 
 The boys left the party at Herkimer, and there was 
 where the girls would have gone on to their trip to 
 the Adirondacks had not they voted to visit Rose at 
 Syracuse. I have spoken of " stopping off " at the 
 Salt City, but it really was a going on, since they 
 would have to come back to get on the railroad line 
 that would take them to Fulton Chain. 
 
 But they were in no haste, and, as Sylvia said, they 
 might not be up that way again, so it was only fair 
 to take advantage of this opportunity of stopping 
 at the home of Rose. 
 
 " I hope I see you all again," Jack Bcnton had 
 said, on leaving the party, but, though he included 
 all, he had looked last at Hazel, and had shaken hands 
 with her finally. 
 
 The girls, naturally, teased her about this after 
 ward. But she only said : 
 
 " I don't care ! He was awfully nice ! "
 
 IN THE ADI-RONDACKS 43 
 
 And that was her only excuse. 
 
 Slowly the train rolled through the streets of 
 Syracuse. Slowly because there were so many grade 
 crossings, and then came a whirling taxicab trip to the 
 home of Rose, where a warm welcome was extended to 
 the Nowadays Girls. 
 
 They remained in Syracuse for a week, paying a 
 visit out to the salt works, where the brine is pumped 
 up from the depths of the earth, spread out in shal 
 low vats to be evaporated, leaving behind the saline 
 crystals which, after being treated, to clarify them, 
 are ready for the market. The girls secured some of 
 the peculiar, brown crystals left in the bottoms of 
 the kettles. Sawed into blocks, they made odd and 
 excellent paper weights. 
 
 It was a round of gaiety in Syracuse, for the Uni 
 versity had not yet closed, and Rose knew many 
 young people. So they had all the dances they wished 
 for, with teas, theatre parties and other like forms of 
 entertainment. 
 
 " And now really for the Adirondacks ! " exclaimed 
 Sylvia, when they were again ready to make a start. 
 She had received word that her brother was doing as 
 well as could be expected, though his fretfulness over 
 his inability to recall the chemical secret was having 
 no very good effect.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE MISSING EMERALD 
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS arrived at Fulton Chain at 
 11 :05 in the morning, and stopped for lunch in a little 
 restaurant before taking the branch train that went 
 to Old Forge. Their trip had been a pleasant one, 
 though a trifle tiresome toward the end. But al 
 ready they were beginning to feel the invigorating 
 mountain air, and it seemed to bring new life to them. 
 
 They had been mounting steadily upward, and 
 now were about eighteen hundred feet above sea level. 
 All about them, save for the little settlements, and the 
 open spaces where the blue-tinted lakes broke the con 
 tinuity, was the vast forest. 
 
 " Oh, can't you just smell the balsam ! " cried 
 Sylvia, as she breathed in deep of the sweetly scented 
 air. 
 
 " They say it makes one sleep," said Rose. " But 
 who would want to sleep up here ? " 
 
 " No one," assented Hazel. " I just want to get 
 out in the woods, or in a boat, and live! " 
 
 " It is glorious ! " declared Alice. " Just per 
 fectly glorious ! " 
 
 From Fulton Chain a little railroad ran the two 
 miles, more or less, to Old Forge. This was a village 
 
 44
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 45 
 
 with a summer population of about two thousand, 
 and it was more up-to-date than the girls had ex 
 pected to find it. The stores were well stocked, and 
 they learned that there was an ever-increasing trade 
 with summer campers and hotel folk. All about the 
 vicinity were many small lakes, the restaurant keeper 
 told the girls, and on the shores were many camping 
 parties. There would be more as the season advanced. 
 
 " What are we going to do when we get to Old 
 Forge? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Well, that's where we can have a choice of doing 
 several things," Sylvia explained. " You know Old 
 Forge is the gateway, so to speak, to eight small 
 lakes, and they are numbered instead of being named. 
 We can go by canoe or guide-boat, through the eight 
 lakes to Raquette, and so on, travelling any way that 
 suits us, to Saranac. What do you say to canoeing 
 and carrying? " 
 
 " The canoeing sounds all right, but what is this 
 carrying ? " asked Hazel. " Is it carrying-on ? " 
 
 " That means you have to carry your canoe," an 
 swered Sylvia, with a laugh. 
 
 " Why can't you ride in it? " 
 
 " Because there isn't any water." 
 
 "But you just said there were eight lakes " 
 
 " I know, but look here ! " Sylvia spread out a 
 railroad map on the now cleared restaurant table. 
 
 " This is how it is," Sylvia explained, for she had 
 made a study of it before proposing the Adirondack 
 trip. " From Old Forge, where we'll go soon, and
 
 46 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 spend the night, we can canoe through the first four 
 lakes, which are in a sort of chain like beads, I sup 
 pose. Or we can go on a steamer, or in a guide- 
 boat?" 
 
 " What's a guide-boat ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " A boat with a guide in it, of course," declared 
 Hazel. 
 
 " Not exactly," explained Sylvia. " It's a sort of 
 boat designed by the guides up here. It's a little safer 
 than a canoe, but almost as light, and you can row 
 it or paddle it, and it will stand pretty rough water." 
 
 " Well, that sounds interesting," observed Alice. 
 " I'm rather inclined to a guide-boat myself." 
 
 " The steamer seems rather attractive," suggested 
 Mrs. Brownley, " but you girls do just as you please. 
 I've been in gondolas on the Grand Canal of Venice, 
 and I'm not going to hold back when it comes to an 
 Adirondack guide-boat ! " 
 
 " Suppose we leave that question until we get to 
 Old Forge, and look the ground or, rather, the 
 water over," suggested Sylvia. 
 
 " Good ! " assented Hazel. 
 
 " It's twelve miles through the first four lakes," 
 went on Sylvia, " and a steamer doesn't seem neces 
 sary. Then, after we get to the end of the fourth 
 lake there is a carry of one mile to the sixth lake." 
 
 " Just what is a carry ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " It's where you have to carry your boat, and 
 everything in it, over dry land, from one body of 
 water to another," said Sylvia.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 47 
 
 " Do they actually carry the boats I mean 
 would we have to? " Hazel wanted to know. 
 
 " We wouldn't. The guides, or boatmen, would do 
 that, and they'd carry all our luggage," Sylvia ex 
 plained. " That's why they use canoes, and very 
 light boats, so they can easily be transported over the 
 land trails. Well, as I said, it's a one-mile carry 
 from the fourth to the sixth lake." 
 
 " My, she's a regular guide-book," mocked Alice. 
 
 " What about the fifth lake? " asked Rose. 
 
 " The carry is around that. It's winding and 
 twisting, and one can make better time going on land. 
 Besides, that little lake may be filled with stumps 
 and alligators for all I know." 
 
 " Alligators ugh ! " exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 <f Nonsense ! No alligators up here," laughed 
 Rose. " This isn't the Everglades of Florida." 
 
 " Go on. What else, Sylvia ? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Well, you canoe, or boat, through lakes six and 
 seven, and then comes another mile carry to lake 
 eight, and when you get to the end of that you're 
 ready to " 
 
 " Have supper and go to bed," finished Hazel, with 
 a laugh. 
 
 " Perhaps," admitted Sylvia. " Anyhow, from the 
 eighth lake to Brown's Tract Inlet, which is the 
 southern end of Raquette, is a carry of a mile and a 
 half." 
 
 " Going up ! " called Alice, in imitation of an ele 
 vator boy.
 
 48 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 "Well, that's the last carry for some time," said 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " Thank goodness ! It makes one tired to think 
 of the poor men carting those boats on their shoul 
 ders," cried Hazel. 
 
 " Well, now we're supposed to be on Raquette 
 Lake," went on Sylvia, " and that is quite a body of 
 water. The book says there are brook trout, lake 
 trout, whitefish and bass in those waters, but I think 
 they're not all in season now." 
 
 " I didn't know fish had seasons, like oysters," mur 
 mured Alice. 
 
 " Oh, indeed they do," Sylvia declared, " and we 
 must be true sporting girls, and observe the game 
 laws, too, if we do any fishing. If we don't, well, we 
 may be arrested, that's all." 
 
 " I'll let the guide do my fishing," murmured Alice, 
 with a look at her slim, white hands, which were 
 set off wonderfully well by the shimmering green 
 emerald. 
 
 " Now that's the programme for the first part of 
 our trip," resumed Sylvia. " We can make the lake 
 journey in a day, if we want to, or we can stop off 
 here and there as suits our fancy. We want to get 
 the best possible fun out of this vacation, so I think 
 it's nice not to have any set schedule, except as to 
 where we are going to spend the night." 
 
 " Yes, it is always best to arrange for that in ad 
 vance," agreed Mrs. Brownley. " I wouldn't want 
 any of you to be sleeping out in an open camp in
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 49 
 
 these woods at night. We must bow to some of the 
 conventions, even if you are Nowadays Girls," she 
 added. 
 
 They telephoned from Fulton Chain to the inn at 
 Old Forge, and managed to engage rooms. On the 
 little short line of railroad they made the trip, ar 
 riving late in the afternoon, and going direct to the 
 hotel. Then, while waiting for supper, they went 
 out to look at the lake, at the end of which is located 
 the quaint and pretty village. 
 
 " Oh, it is just perfect here, just perfect," mur 
 mured Sylvia. " Aren't all you girls glad you 
 came? " 
 
 " Aren't we, though just! " cried Alice. 
 
 " It was sweet of you to think all this out for us," 
 said Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, I'm enjoying it as muoh as you, if not more," 
 was Sylvia's rejoinder. "What's the matter, Rose? 
 Why aren't you talking? " she asked, in lower tones, 
 for Rose was looking silently out over the placid 
 lake. " I imagine we are thinking of the same thing," 
 went on Roy's sister. " Never mind ; we'll see him 
 soon." 
 
 " I hope so," was the low-voiced answer. 
 
 There was to be a public dance at the hotel that 
 night, as a number of summer tourists and campers 
 had arrived on the same train with the girls. Among 
 them were several young men who looked with eager, 
 but perfectly respectful, eyes at the girls. 
 
 " I'm sure they can dance," sighed Hazel, " and
 
 50 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 I do so want a good partner. I wonder if there isn't 
 a public introducer here ! " 
 
 " Hazel Reed ! " gasped Rose. 
 
 " That's perfectly proper nowadays," protested 
 the Chicago girl. " It's done all the while, especially 
 during the summer. I'm going to ask Mrs. Brown- 
 ley." 
 
 Aunt Theodora considered the matter from sev 
 eral angles, and, after a talk with the hotel pro 
 prietor and his wife, decided that the girls might 
 properly meet the young men. They were well 
 known to the hotel-keeper, and many others present, 
 having been at the same camp for a number of years 
 in succession. 
 
 And so with little, delightful flutters of excitement 
 and anticipation, the girls opened their trunks and 
 laid out some simple evening frocks for the dance, 
 which was to be semi-informal. 
 
 " Oh, they're playing that lovely Cecile hesita 
 tion," murmured Hazel, as she and the others 
 " floated " down to the ballroom, the dining-room 
 having been cleared for the occasion. 
 
 The girls found their young men partners no less 
 eager than they themselves, and soon the room pre 
 sented a merry spectacle. It was the first large hop 
 of the season, rather marking the official opening, 
 in a measure, and the music was particularly good, 
 for the musicians were some college boys who had 
 thus started to earn vacation money to help pay 
 their expenses.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 51 
 
 " Oh, isn't it lovely ! " whispered Alice, during an 
 interval in the dance. 
 
 " Perfectly splendid ! " echoed Sylvia. " Have you 
 a good partner? " 
 
 " Oh, he dances like a dream ! " 
 
 " Be careful you don't awaken and find it a night 
 mare." 
 
 " No danger. Oh, look ! He's bringing some one 
 up to introduce him, I do believe. I don't care so 
 much for him," and she indicated the youth, who 
 was approaching with her partner. 
 
 " Allow me," murmured George Watson, with whom 
 Alice had been dancing, and he presented another 
 youth, who at once asked for a dance, and was not 
 refused, as Alice's partner had asked to take out 
 Sylvia for the next fox trot. 
 
 Alice's dislike of her newer acquaintance increased 
 as the dance went on. He was a good dancer, but 
 he talked too much, and asked too many questions, 
 not altogether conventional. And he held Alice's 
 hand in too firm a grasp. She tried to impress her 
 dislike on him without voicing it in so many words, 
 but he would not take a hint. 
 
 " That was fine ! " he exclaimed, as they stood to 
 gether in the middle of the room, and applauded for 
 an encore. " Wasn't it ? " and he looked rather too 
 boldly into her eyes. 
 
 " The music is very nice yes," she assented, a bit 
 coldly. Then the strains began again, and they 
 danced off.
 
 52 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 It was when Alice went with Sylvia to get a glass 
 of lemonade, after the sixth dance, that she made a 
 discovery. 
 
 " Oh, my emerald ring ! " she exclaimed, looking 
 hastily down at the floor. " It's gone it isn't on 
 my finger ! " 
 
 " Are you sure you wore it downstairs ? " asked 
 Sylvia, knowing what a commotion a report of any 
 thing valuable being lost occasions at a hotel, and 
 how much suspicion is cast thereby. 
 
 " Of course I had it. I remember that Mr. Wat 
 son remarked upon it, and when I danced with the 
 feHow he introduced I think his name was Tupson 
 the ring really hurt my hand, he squeezed it so ! " 
 
 "Oh, Alice!" 
 
 " Well, he did ! But my lovely emerald is gone, 
 and it's worth I don't know how much ! I must speak 
 to the proprietor right away." 
 
 " Tell Aunt Theodora first," suggested Sylvia. 
 " But make sure it hasn't slipped off into your glass 
 of lemonade, or fallen into a fold of your dress. 
 Was the ring loose enough to come off easily?," 
 
 " Yes, too easily. My fingers seem to have shrunk, 
 lately. I intended to have the ring made smaller. 
 But now it's gone. Oh, dear ! " and there were traces 
 of tears in her eyes.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 OVERBOARD 
 
 THEKE was a hurried search in the room where the 
 girls then were, a search that extended even to the 
 pitcher of lemonade. But the gleaming emerald was 
 not found. Alice was becoming more and more upset 
 every moment, for, while the ring was hers, it was 
 a very valuable one and she knew her family would 
 be most distressed at its loss. 
 
 " Oh, it must be found ! " the girl cried. 
 
 Her chums were with her now. There was a little 
 lull in the dance, and refreshments were being sought. 
 
 " Whom were you with when you missed it ? " asked 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " I wasn't with any one exactly when I missed it, 
 but I was dancing with that Tupson fellow just be 
 fore," and she related to Hazel and Rose what she 
 had previously told Sylvia. 
 
 " We must tell Aunt Theodora at once," was the 
 decision the three girls reached for Alice, since she 
 was too nervous to decide for herself. 
 
 Mrs. Brownley raised her eyebrows in surprise 
 when told of the circumstance. She did not say, as 
 she well might have done, at least in her own opinion, 
 that Alice should not have worn the ring in the first 
 
 53
 
 54 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 place to a public dance, and in the second, she ought 
 not to have danced with a young fellow to whom she 
 had taken a dislike. 
 
 But that was over and done with. The matter 
 now uppermost was how to recover the jewel, and 
 that at the least cost of embarrassment. 
 
 " You don't dare ask him baldly whether he saw 
 it, or felt it slip from your finger," said Hazel. 
 
 " No-o-o-o," replied Alice, slowly, her eyes roving 
 about the floor as if she might see in some nook or 
 corner the golden circlet with its wonderful green 
 stone. 
 
 " We must speak to the proprietor about it, and 
 have him make an announcement," decided Mrs. 
 Brownley. " He can do that without giving offence 
 to any one. He can say that a valuable ring has 
 been lost dropped, if you like on the dancing 
 floor. No one can be offended at that, not even the 
 servants, and they are very quick to take umbrage 
 at the slightest imputation on their characters." 
 
 " That's very true," agreed Alice. " Yes, an an 
 nouncement of that kind can do no harm. Oh, isn't 
 it horrid ! And there's a lovely onestep starting 
 now," and in spite of her distress she could not re 
 frain from humming some of the airs in the medley 
 the musicians were then playing. 
 
 " You girls stay here, and leave this to me," said 
 Aunt Theodora. " I'll speak to the proprietor," and 
 she went out in her most majestic manner, fairly 
 sweeping her way along.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 55 
 
 The music stopped with a crash, and the dancers 
 out on the waxen floor looked wonderingly one at the 
 other. 
 
 " What is it ? " was on the lips of all. 
 
 The Nowadays Girls looked out from the little 
 room where they had been refreshing themselves with 
 lemonade. They saw the hotel proprietor advance to 
 the middle of the floor, and at once an excited whisper 
 ran around. 
 
 " They think he's going to stop the dancing, be 
 cause well perhaps because it is too ' advanced ' for 
 this wilderness," whispered Hazel. 
 
 " Listen ! " urged Rose. 
 
 The announcement was made, with the request that 
 if the ring were found it be left at the hotel office. 
 Then the music began once more, and the dancing 
 was resumed. 
 
 "Come on, Alice, aren't you going out again?" 
 asked Rose, for Alice sat down in a chair, her face 
 having lost all its brightness. 
 
 " Oh, I don't feel a bit like dancing. I must find 
 my ring ! " 
 
 The other girls were out on the floor now, near 
 the doorway of the little refreshment room. A group 
 of young men, who had been telling their companions 
 what wonderful dancers our friends were, came fairly 
 swarming up to claim partners. Among them was 
 young Tupson, and there was an eager look on his 
 face. 
 
 " I say, Miss Harrow ! " he began, catching sight
 
 56 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 of Alice in spite of her effort to draw back, " whose 
 ring was lost? Not yours, I hope? Not that one 
 with the green stone ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's the one," she answered. She almost 
 hated herself for the ugly suspicion that came un 
 bidden into her mind. 
 
 " Why, I saw that on your finger just before we 
 danced the last encore," he said. " I'm sure you had 
 it on then." 
 
 " Yes, I know I had it," Alice said, " but now it's 
 gone." 
 
 " Oh, I say now, that's too bad ! We fellows will 
 help you look for it. I say Watson, Craig let's 
 organise a searching party ! " 
 
 " We can look while we're dancing ; can't we ? " 
 suggested the youth who had been whirling about 
 with Rose. He liked her style and was anxious for 
 another turn on the excellent floor. 
 
 " It will be best to look when the dancers are off," 
 said Sylvia. " Besides, the ring might be stepped on, 
 and how hard are emeralds, anyhow?" she asked, 
 generally. " Are they as hard as diamonds, so they 
 can be stepped on with impunity ? " 
 
 " Oh, I shouldn't want my ring stepped on ! " 
 gasped Alice. 
 
 " I should say not! " chimed in Tupson, His was 
 not a personality that attracted any of the girls. 
 It was what, slangily, might be called " fresh," yet 
 he seemed anxious to do all he could, and he totally 
 ignored the suspicion that might have attached to
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 57 
 
 him, since he, admittedly, was the last one to be 
 with Alice before the ring was missed. 
 
 " I'll tell you what we ought to do, fellows," he 
 went on. " Ask every one to get off the floor for 
 a while the dancers, musicians, servants, every one. 
 Then we'll organise a committee, get brooms and 
 sweep the place. That ought to find the ring if it's 
 here." 
 
 " That's the idea ! " declared his friend Watson. 
 
 " It would be most excellent, I think," said Mrs. 
 Brownley. " If it can be done " 
 
 " I'll see to it," went on Tupson, who seemed to 
 have plenty of assurance. He hurried over to the 
 proprietor, talked with him a few minutes, and the 
 latter made another announcement. The floor was 
 to be cleared to allow a search for the ring, in order 
 that it might not be stepped on. 
 
 A little later the corps of young fellows, armed 
 with brooms, were carefully going over the dancing- 
 floor, while, from the porch outside, and from ad 
 joining rooms and halls, the dancers watched. 
 
 But the ring was not found, and Alice had much 
 ado to keep from falling the tears that brimmed into 
 her eyes. The dance was resumed, though a little 
 spirit of depression seemed to have settled over it. 
 
 " Aren't you going out again ? " asked Rose of 
 Alice, when the former came to a chair to rest after 
 a rather strenuous fox trot. 
 
 " I wasn't no yes, I am, too ! I'm going to be 
 game! I'm not going to let them see that I care.
 
 58 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 After all, it isn't so much the value of the ring, as 
 the associations connected with it. Mamma will feel 
 dreadfully, of course, but father couldn't bear 
 emeralds. I loved it, though, it was so quaint, 
 and " 
 
 " It matched your hand so well," added Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, I wasn't thinking of tliat," Alice said. 
 
 And she did go out again and dance, not heeding 
 the many eyes that followed her, for it was whispered 
 about that she was the owner of the lost ring, and 
 its value mounted by hundreds (in gossipy dollars) 
 until it was said to be worth a king's ransom. 
 
 Furtive looks were cast at the dancing-floor the 
 rest of the evening, but the emerald was not discov 
 ered, and Alice was again rather in the " dumps " 
 when she and her girl chums went to their rooms. 
 
 " Well, there's one thing sure," decided Sylvia, 
 " we won't go on with our trip to-morrow. I'll cancel 
 that order for canoes and guide-boats. We'll stay 
 here a few days." 
 
 "Why? "asked Rose. 
 
 " Until we see if we can't find Alice's ring," was 
 the answer. " It may come back in some mysterious 
 way. Jewels lost in hotels have a way of doing that 
 if you make fuss enough over them." 
 
 " I was going to say that I would like to stay 
 over," remarked Alice, " but I didn't like to propose 
 it, and keep you all back." 
 
 " It will not be any great hardship," Sylvia said. 
 " It is lovely here, as it is all over the Adirondacks,
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 59 
 
 and we can play golf and canoe here for a day or 
 so, and have all the fun possible. I'll just tell the 
 men we engaged that we have postponed our trip for 
 a week, perhaps less." 
 
 " I'm so sorry," began Alice. 
 
 " You needn't be," Hazel declared. " This is a 
 lovely dancing-floor." 
 
 " And there is a nice golf course not far away," 
 Rose added. " I can keep up my game." 
 
 " Stay, by all means," agreed Mrs. Brownley. 
 " You are out for pleasure, and half of that consists 
 in doing things when you want to, not when you have 
 to. And I do hope you find your ring, Alice." 
 
 The girls were sitting in the private parlour, with 
 which their rooms were all connected, hair down, in 
 comfortable dressing-gowns, discussing a thousand 
 and one things just before retiring for the night, 
 when there came a knock on the door. 
 
 " Who is it? " asked Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " The chambermaid. The lost ring has been 
 found ! " was the reply. 
 
 Electrified, the girls fairly jumped to their feet. 
 
 "My ring found? Where? Oh, where is it?" 
 Alice cried. 
 
 " The proprietor has it down in the office," came 
 from the voice on the other side of the door. 
 
 " Oh I " Alice began. 
 
 " I'll get it," said the chaperon. She had not yet 
 made herself " comfortable," and was soon following 
 the maid down to the main office. There a much-
 
 60 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 relieved proprietor exhibited the wonderful emerald 
 ring. 
 
 " Yes, that is it," Mrs. Brownley said, for she 
 knew Alice's jewel well. " Who had it? " 
 
 " No one, Mrs. Brownley. That is, the one who 
 had it didn't know he had it," and the hotel man 
 smiled. 
 
 " What do you mean, sir? " and the Southern lady 
 rather drew herself up in wounded dignity. 
 
 " Why, it was this way. The young fellow with 
 whom Miss Harrow was dancing wore his trousers 
 turned up at the bottom, in a style the young men 
 affect nowadays. Well, it seems the ring was found 
 in the folded-up part of his trousers. It fell out 
 on the floor when he went to his room, and he brought 
 it here at once." 
 
 " Why, isn't that remarkable ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Brownley. " I have heard of such things, but have 
 never experienced them. But we are very glad to 
 get back the ring." 
 
 " And I'm glad you have it," the hotel man 
 agreed. " I'll sleep better to-night." 
 
 Mrs. Brownley hurried back to the girls, who were 
 anxiously waiting for her, the ring and the explana 
 tion. 
 
 " Did you ever ! " exclaimed Rose. 
 
 " How interesting ! " was Hazel's contribution. 
 
 " Just like a story or a play," added Sylvia. 
 
 " I don't care how or what it was, as long as I 
 have my ring back ! " Alice said. " And I can very
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 61 
 
 well understand how it happened. The ring slipped 
 from my finger and lodged in the gaping, upturned 
 fold of his trousers. It is lucky it didn't fall to the 
 floor, to be stepped on. Oh, I'm so glad you came 
 back to me ! " and she kissed the green stone before 
 she slipped the golden circlet onto her slim finger. 
 
 " Well, don't lose it again, please," begged Aunt 
 Theodora. 
 
 " I won't wear it while we're up here in the woods," 
 Alice promised. 
 
 Young Tupper sought the earliest opportunity 
 next morning to speak to Alice. He described how 
 he had found the ring. 
 
 " And I say ! " he exclaimed, boyishly, eagerly, " I 
 hope you don't think I did it on purpose? " 
 
 "On purpose?" echoed Alice, her cheeks getting 
 warm under his gaze. 
 
 " Yes, for a joke, you know." 
 
 " Oh, certainly not ! " and Alice gave unnecessary 
 emphasis to the words. 
 
 " Then you'll forgive me ? " 
 
 " Of course ! There's really nothing to forgive." 
 
 " Well, I'm glad of that. I say now, I hear you 
 girls are to stay here for some time longer." 
 
 " Well, we were going to, on account of my lost 
 ring, but now it has been found " 
 
 " Oh, don't say that, or I'll be sorry I gave it back 
 to you," he laughed. " But I saw some of the guides, 
 and they told me the men you had engaged to take 
 you through Fulton Chain had been disengaged, and
 
 62 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 had taken another party up. So that meant you 
 would stay, and " 
 
 " I'm not at all sure what we shall do," said Alice, 
 evasively. She wished some of her chums would 
 come along, but Tupson had her alone in one corner 
 of the big veranda. 
 
 " Well, if you do stay, even to-day, won't you let 
 me take you out in my canoe? " he pleaded. " I have 
 a large one. It's perfectly safe." 
 
 " I I'll see," Alice gasped. " Oh, Sylvia ! " she 
 called, pretending she had seen her chum at the hall 
 entrance, and she fled with a rustle of skirts. 
 
 There was a little conference of the Nowadays 
 Girls that morning. Sylvia had carried out her half- 
 formed plan of the night before, and dismissed the 
 boatmen for an indefinite time. So the travellers de 
 cided to remain at least a few days at Old Forge, and 
 see the surrounding country. 
 
 " Then there's no reason why Alice can't have her 
 canoe ride," said Hazel. " We all know how she is 
 pining for one." 
 
 " Baby, if you ! " began the annoyed one. 
 
 " Oh, well, I don't mind admitting that I have an 
 invitation also," drawled Hazel. " Now let's hear 
 from the others." 
 
 It developed that each girl had been asked by her 
 dancing partner of the night before to come for a 
 canoe ride on the first of the six lakes that morning, 
 and, with Mrs. Brownley's consent, they prepared to 
 go.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 63 
 
 It was a glorious day, and when the girls were 
 comfortably seated in the much-cushioned canoes, 
 afloat on the blue waters of the lake, with the forests 
 and low mountains stretching off on either side, it 
 seemed that they had begun to spend a most ideal 
 vacation. 
 
 The canoeists were to keep together in a little 
 flotilla, and proceed up First Lake for a short dis 
 tance, go ashore and have a little lunch. 
 
 "Am I completely forgiven?" asked Tupson, of 
 Alice, as he poised his dripping paddle. 
 
 " Of course," she said, a trifle coldly. She did 
 not want to encourage him too much, even though he 
 was a good dancer. 
 
 The little party indulged in quips and merry jests, 
 shooting them back and forth from canoe to canoe, 
 as they advanced. They were skirting the wooded 
 shore when Sylvia proposed that they cross to the 
 other side, where she had been told there was a spring 
 of refreshing water. 
 
 Headed by the canoe in which were Alice and 
 young Tupson, the little flotilla was paddling diag 
 onally across the body of water, when there came 
 down it a big canoe, propelled by a number of young 
 men, who seemed to be training for some aquatic 
 event. The water bubbled and boiled at the bow of 
 their craft. 
 
 " Look out for them ! " called the youth with 
 Sylvia. " They are regular speed-maniacs ! " 
 
 " Give them plenty of room," urged Hazel.
 
 64 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Just as the big canoe came opposite that contain 
 ing Tupson and Alice, one of the paddles in the 
 racing boat broke. The youth who had been wielding 
 it pitched forward. The canoe slewed to one side, 
 and shooting off its course, headed straight for the 
 craft in which sat Alice. 
 
 " Look out ! " cried many voices. 
 
 Tupson tried desperately to do so, but there was 
 not time. 
 
 An instant later his canoe tipped over, spilling 
 both him and Alice into the lake.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 THE GOLF BALL 
 
 " GIRL overboard ! " 
 
 " Man overboard ! " 
 
 " Back water there ! Around with the boat ! " 
 
 Thus came the cries from the big racing canoe. If 
 the young men in it, through their eager desire for 
 speed, had been the cause of the accident, they were 
 at least willing and ready to do all they could to 
 remedy it. 
 
 And they were in the best position for so doing, 
 since they were nearest the scene. Their big craft 
 glided to the spot where the canoe floated bottom 
 upward, and there came a sharp command from the 
 youth in the bow. 
 
 " Harris Wing get ready to dive ! " he com 
 manded curtly. " The rest of you hold her steady." 
 
 The eight young men in the racing canoe were all 
 in their bathing suits, and in an instant two of them 
 stood poised and ready. 
 
 "There she is! The fellow, too! In you go!" 
 commanded the self-constituted leader. 
 
 Two lithe figures, their arms and legs already 
 bronzed by the early summer sun, went down in clean 
 dives, with hardly a splash. At the same instant 
 
 65
 
 66 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 there were two spots where a commotion in the water 
 showed the presence of Alice and Tupson, coming 
 up after their first immersion. 
 
 Now Alice was a good swimmer in fact all the 
 Nowadays Girls were and she had held her breath 
 as she felt the waters closing over her. And when 
 she struck out and came to the surface she was ready 
 for the next move in the emergency. 
 
 But even a good swimmer is hampered by wet and 
 clinging clothing, particularly a girl or woman, and 
 Alice felt a momentary fear, that passed almost as 
 soon as formed, for she saw a bronze-faced young 
 man striking out to aid her. 
 
 " Put your hand on my shoulder," he advised her, 
 in calm, even tones. 
 
 " Oh, I I can swim all right," Alice assured him. 
 She did not want him to think that she would fran 
 tically clutch him about the neck, or do any of those 
 things that persons, unable to swim, are apt to do 
 when they fall into the water and see a rescuer 
 coming. " I can swim," she repeated, " it is only 
 that my skirts are so wet and clinging." 
 
 " I understand," he said. " You're all right ! " 
 
 "Is he he?" asked Alice, and then she had to 
 turn her face away from a little wave that splashed 
 up at her. The other canoes, with their frightened 
 occupants, were drawing near. 
 
 " Your friend is being taken care of," her res 
 cuer said. " He doesn't seem to be able to swim as 
 well as you."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 67 
 
 " Oh, I do hope you will save him ! " she cried, at 
 the same time thinking how strange it sounded to 
 hear Tupson spoken of as her " friend." 
 
 " He'll be all right. Wing has him safe, and Wing 
 knows how to handle his kind. Now shall we right 
 your canoe, or will you come in ours? " 
 
 " It looks to be easier to get into yours." 
 
 " Yes, it's much larger and steadier. Over this 
 way." 
 
 He guided her, keeping her up by placing one of 
 her hands on his shoulder. Alice could feel the strong, 
 rhythmic ripple of his muscles as he struck out for 
 the big canoe, not far away. 
 
 " Lift her in ! " commanded the youth in the bow. 
 
 " If you don't mind," Alice said, calmly, for she 
 had full control of herself now, " I'll just hold on 
 to the stern and let you paddle over toward the shore. 
 I'm not a bit cold, and it isn't far." 
 
 " Well, just as you like," assented the leader. He 
 divined her reason for not wanting to clamber into 
 a boat, all dripping wet as she was, when the boat 
 was filled with eager-eyed young fellows. 
 
 " Wing has his man guess he had to hit him," 
 some one said. 
 
 Alice, clinging to the stern of the big canoe, saw 
 another bronzed swimmer approaching, supporting 
 on one arm the limp form of her former companion. 
 
 " Oh, I hope he isn't hurt," she gasped, in much 
 anxiety. 
 
 " Don't worry," her own rescuer said. " Wing
 
 68 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 has served as a lifeguard at Atlantic City. He knows 
 what to do." 
 
 Tupson was not much stunned by the blow Wing 
 had been obliged to deal him to prevent the frantic 
 clutch that might have meant a death-hold for both 
 of them. A little later Tupson was hoisted into the 
 big canoe, which was paddled ashore, towing Alice 
 and Harris, who stoutly insisted on remaining near 
 her. 
 
 Very much bedraggled, and not a little embar 
 rassed, Alice was helped on shore near a small 
 summer cottage, the owner of which at once sent his 
 wife to look after the unfortunate one. Alice was 
 taken to the house, her companions following. Tup- 
 son soon recovered, and was not a little ashamed of 
 himself. 
 
 But the fault lay with the broken paddle of the 
 big canoe, and while that was an accident, it might 
 not have occurred had not the boys been speeding 
 in their craft. They expressed their regret and did 
 all they could, bringing ashore the overturned canoe, 
 righting it and putting it in the sun where it would 
 dry. 
 
 Meanwhile Alice was being provided with an outfit 
 of dry garments by the owner of the cottage, and 
 a messenger was despatched to the hotel, not far 
 away, for some of her own clothes. Reassuring word 
 was also sent to Mrs. Brownley, for fear she would 
 hear an exaggerated report of the accident and worry 
 unnecessarily.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 69 
 
 " And now that I'm clothed, and in my right mind, 
 let's continue the trip," suggested Alice. 
 
 "Do you mean it?" asked one of the boys who, 
 with Tupson, formed the escort of the Nowadays 
 Girls. 
 
 " Mean it ? Of course I mean it ! Why not ? I'm 
 all right, and if Mr. Tupson " 
 
 " Oh, I'm game ! " he declared. " I'm ashamed of 
 not behaving better in the water, but I lost my head. 
 I was worried about you," he said to Alice. 
 
 " Thank you," she graciously replied. " Then let's 
 go on." 
 
 Tupson was sufficiently dried out, and the trip was 
 resumed. Fortunately the lunch was not in the over 
 turned canoe, and the impromptu picnic was success 
 fully carried out. 
 
 The little accident provided a fruitful subject for 
 conversation at the hotel that afternoon, when the 
 porch was filled with animated rocking-chairs and 
 their gossipy occupants. The girls were rather the 
 heroines of the occasion, especially Alice, and she was 
 formally waited upon by the eight canoeists, who said 
 they regretted that their desire for speed had caused 
 annoyance to any one. Their apologies were 
 graciously accepted. 
 
 " How much longer are we going to stay here? " 
 asked Rose that night. 
 
 " Getting anxious to get to Saranac ? " questioned 
 Hazel. 
 
 " Well, yes," was the frank answer. " But if
 
 70 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 we are going to stay another day or so, I'm going in 
 for a bit of golf. I can borrow a set of clubs here, 
 and the links are good, though rather small." 
 
 " Have a game, by all means, if you like," assented 
 Sylvia. " We'll make up a foursome, I'll take Rose." 
 
 " How nicely she says it ! " laughed Alice. " Very 
 well, we're not to be frightened; are we, Hazel? Are 
 you in form ? " 
 
 " Oh, we'll accept the challenge. Let's go out and 
 have a look at the course." 
 
 They found it a fairly good one, and a game was 
 soon arranged. 
 
 " My ! Look at those girls ! " exclaimed an elderly 
 lady on the hotel porch, as she saw the four depart 
 ing with caddies at their side, carrying the bags. 
 
 " What's the matter with them? " some one asked. 
 
 " Why, the things they do first they're dancing, 
 then they're canoeing and incidentally upsetting, 
 next they're off golfing. I wouldn't be surprised to 
 see them in an aeroplane next." 
 
 " Nor I," assented her companion. " They cer 
 tainly are up-to-date girls. But they are delightful, 
 and they are real girls, not powdery imitations." 
 
 " Humph ! The cat ! " exclaimed a tall, willowy 
 young lady who overheard this. She kept very much 
 in the shade, and her nose looked as though she had 
 dipped it into a flour barrel and then forgotten to 
 take it out. 
 
 "Fore!" called Rose, who led off in the golf 
 game.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 71 
 
 She grasped her driver firmly, settled herself on 
 the bare, clay-covered tee, and drove off with all her 
 force. 
 
 " Crack ! " went her driver against the white ball. 
 
 " Oh, Rose ! " cried Sylvia. But it was too late. 
 
 Across behind a bunker, toward which Rose drove, 
 a young man walked, and a moment later the girls 
 saw the white golf ball strike him on the head. He 
 fell as if shot, dropping out of sight behind the long, 
 grassy hill that formed a hazard on the links.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 ONWARD 
 
 " OH oh, Rose ! " gasped Hazel. " You you've 
 done it ! " 
 
 " What has she done killed him ? " gasped Alice. 
 
 " Don't say such silly things ! " chided Sylvia. 
 " Come on and see ! " 
 
 She darted forward, the short, golfing skirt she 
 wore being no hindrance to her speed, but quick as 
 Sylvia was, Rose was off ahead of her. She had cast 
 her driver aside, and her face was now rather pale. 
 The caddies followed, giving voice to various ex 
 pressions. 
 
 Rose was first to reach the bunker. She found a 
 very much dazed youth sitting up, holding a cap in 
 one hand, while with the other he was rubbing his 
 head. 
 
 " Oh ! are you hurt ? " Rose gasped, kneeling 
 down beside him. 
 
 " Just a little little knock," he answered, cheer 
 fully as cheerfully as possible under the circum 
 stances. " Who who did it? Oh, it was a golf ball. 
 I see," and he looked at the checkered sphere of white 
 gutta percha that lay in the sand on the far side of 
 the bunker. 
 
 72
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 73 
 
 " I did it," confessed Rose. " I called * fore ! ' but 
 I didn't see you until after I drove off. My friends 
 called to me, but too late. I hope you're not badly 
 hurt? " 
 
 " Hardly at all. My cap is quite thick. But it 
 serves me right, anyhow. I ought not to have crossed 
 the course. Now you girls are even with me," and he 
 started to rise. 
 
 " Even with you ? " repeated Sylvia, as she held 
 out a brown and muscular hand to help him to his 
 feet, for he seemed dizzy and weak. 
 
 " Yes. I'm the chap whose paddle broke in the 
 canoe the time it ran into one that one of you girls 
 was in. You've paid your score ! " and he smiled, 
 grimly. 
 
 " Oh ! As if " began Rose, now blushing to 
 
 match her name. 
 
 " Of course I was only joking," he said, quickly. 
 " Thank you," he went on to Sylvia. " It did knock 
 me out a bit. I thought it was a lightning stroke, 
 though I hadn't seen any clouds before I crossed the 
 links." 
 
 " Oh, are you sure you're all right ? " asked Rose, 
 anxiously, while the circle of caddies stood in an 
 outer ring, grinning sympathetically. 
 
 " Oh, yes, as right as ever," he said, saying noth 
 ing about the ache of his head. " Serves me right 
 for crossing where I'd no business to. I'll go back, 
 and you can go on with your game." 
 
 " Are you sure you're all right? " insisted Sylvia.
 
 74 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 She recognised the youth now as one of the party 
 that owned the big canoe. 
 
 " Positive," he answered, with a cheerfulness he 
 did not altogether feel. " Allow me to restore your 
 golf ball," he went on, picking up the one Rose had 
 driven. " It doesn't seem to be harmed any," he 
 went on, whimsically. " I think you ought to be 
 allowed to take that shot over again. The ball was 
 travelling pretty well when I interfered with it, and 
 I'm sure you would get a better lay than this," and 
 he indicated the sand. 
 
 " Yes, drive over again," suggested Alice. 
 
 The young fellow bowed pleasantly, winked at the 
 caddies and walked back in the direction whence he 
 had come when his course was so suddenly inter 
 rupted. 
 
 " No more crossing of golf courses for me ! " he 
 said, emphatically. 
 
 The girls insisted on Rose taking her drive again, 
 and she went far beyond the bunker. Then the 
 others, in turn, drove off from the tee, and the game 
 was on. 
 
 Never was golf played under more ideal condi 
 tions. True, the girls had played on better and 
 larger links, but this was a new locality for them, 
 and every now and then they would pause to gaze 
 off at the distant mountains, to look down at the 
 little blue lakes or take deep breaths of the balsam- 
 laden air. 
 
 " Oh, it's too nice, almost, to play golf," sighed
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 75 
 
 Sylvia. " I want to be in the woods just in the 
 woods." 
 
 " You'll be in the ditch in a minute, if you don't 
 watch where you're driving," declared Alice. " Come 
 on, play the game." 
 
 The girls were evenly matched, and even the cad 
 dies became interested in the impromptu contest. 
 
 " Say ! " declared one youngster, " they are the 
 real article all right. They sure can swing the 
 clubs ! " 
 
 It was his best and most sincere compliment, and 
 Rose, whose second long, lifting drive had called it 
 forth, smiled in a gratified way. She preferred a 
 tribute such as that to one more or less half-hearted 
 from some older and more sophisticated admirer. 
 
 Sylvia and Rose won by a small margin, much to 
 their delight, especially Rose's, for she was an en 
 thusiast, though the other girls were good players, 
 too. 
 
 " Well, now for some tea, and then we'll freshen 
 up for the dance to-night," suggested Hazel, as she 
 removed her yellow chamois gloves. " I feel just like 
 a dance ! " and she curved and pivoted over the grass. 
 
 " We certainly are having a fine time here," de 
 clared Sylvia, " but we must not forget our plan to 
 go on to Saranac. I know Roy will be anxious to 
 see us, now that he knows we are coming. And I do 
 so want to see him, and know that he is getting 
 better." 
 
 " We all do, my dear," said Alice.
 
 76 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 "There was no word to-day; was there?" asked 
 Rose. 
 
 " No, I told the folks at home to relay the mes 
 sages here every second day, as we could not tell 
 just where we would be. But what do you girls say 
 now to starting on through the Chain to-morrow, or 
 next day ? " 
 
 " Whatever you say," said Hazel. " They told 
 me at the hotel there was good fishing around here, 
 in some of the Fulton Chain lakes, and I'm anxious 
 to try." 
 
 " Let's go fishing before we start on our trip ! " 
 proposed Rose, and Sylvia assented. 
 
 The next day they engaged boats and guides 
 two boats for four of them, and began to try their 
 luck. 
 
 The girls at once won the admiration of the fisher 
 men, for neither Sylvia, Rose, Hazel nor Alice was 
 afraid to bait her own hook, and they could remove 
 the fish once they had landed them. 
 
 " Oh, what luck ! " cried Rose, as she hooked a 
 large lake trout. She played her catch well, and 
 brought him exhausted to the side of the guide-boat, 
 to the envy of her companions. 
 
 But Sylvia was not far behind, with a good-sized 
 bass. The season had opened only a few days before, 
 so that the fish had not been thinned out. 
 
 Alice and Hazel had fair luck also. 
 
 " Well, those girls certainly can do anything ! " 
 declared one of the members of the porch rocking-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 77 
 
 chair brigade as the four came back with strings of 
 fish. " I wonder their folks allow them to rough it 
 in this fashion." 
 
 " Why, they are with that delightful Southern 
 lady," said a companion. " She is chaperoning 
 them." 
 
 " Humph ! I don't call it much chaperoning when 
 she sits on a porch all day reading, and lets the girls 
 go off with the fishermen." 
 
 " The fishermen around here are the finest men you 
 could meet," was the quick answer. " I and several 
 of my friends have been out with them. They are 
 real gentlemen ! " 
 
 " Humph ! " sniffed the other. " They don't look 
 it!" 
 
 There, was a last dance at the hotel, a dance that 
 brought forth many expressions of regret from the 
 young men who had enjoyed the company of the 
 Nowadays Girls. 
 
 "Will you stop here on your way back?" had 
 been an oft-repeated question. 
 
 " Perhaps," Sylvia said, with a smile. 
 
 Once more they were going onward. They en 
 gaged guide-boats and guides and started up the 
 Fulton Chain for Raquette Lake, where they in 
 tended to spend some time. 
 
 " And there we'll get a motor boat," said Sylvia, 
 " and do a bit of exploring." 
 
 " That will be jolly ! " cried Rose. 
 
 With their luggage, they took their places in the
 
 78 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 guide-boats, and the start was made. It is twelve 
 miles from Old Forge to the head of Fourth Lake of 
 the Fulton Chain, where the first carry must be made. 
 They had made an early start, and intended to have 
 lunch in the open at the beginning of the carry, 
 which they reached in due course. 
 
 " All out ! " cried Sylvia, as the boats grounded 
 on the shore. " All out, and get ready for lunch ! "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 A NIGHT OUT 
 
 THREE men had been engaged to take the party of 
 girls and Mrs. Brownley through the Fulton Chain 
 of lakes. As has been said, the journey may be 
 made in a day, enabling one, with proper equipment 
 and by using due speed, to reach Raquette Lake in 
 time for a late dinner. This had been the plan of 
 Sylvia and her friends. 
 
 They had planned to stop for lunch en route and, 
 accordingly, had brought with them materials for a 
 satisfying meal. One of the three men was a camp 
 cook, and to him was entrusted the work of getting 
 the meal ready. The other two men were guides or 
 boatmen in whose craft the trip had thus far been 
 made. 
 
 " Now if you'll get lunch ready we'll be ready for 
 it as soon as we hear you call," Sylvia said to the 
 chef. 
 
 " Are you going away, miss ? " he asked, pausing 
 in the work of taking from the boat various cun 
 ningly stowed-away packages. 
 
 " Just for a stroll in the woods," she told him. 
 
 "Well, don't go too far," he advised her. "If 
 you don't know the trails you might get confused, 
 
 79
 
 80 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 and have trouble findin' your way back. And if 
 you expect to get to Raquette Lake to-night we 
 can't lose much time." 
 
 " Oh, we'll not go far," Rose said. 
 
 " No, indeed ! " chimed in Hazel, as she gave a 
 surreptitious glance into a mirror hidden in the flap 
 of her handbag, and gave her nose an equally secret 
 " dab," though why she should, up in that wilderness, 
 she herself could not have said. 
 
 " Too hungry to go far," added Alice. 
 
 " Why, can one become lost in these woods ? " 
 asked Aunt Theodora. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, lady ! " exclaimed one of the boat 
 men. " I knowed a man who started to walk from 
 one tree to another while he was waitin' for his coffee 
 to boil, but when he got back the coffee pot had 
 melted!" 
 
 " Indeed ! " exclaimed the chaperon, with a lifting 
 of her aristocratic eyebrows. " Did the fire become 
 too hot?" 
 
 " Well, not exactly, lady, but you see the man got 
 lost, and was gone so long that the coffee boiled 
 away and the bottom of the pot melted. I'm only 
 tellin' you that, so you won't go too far." 
 
 " There's no danger," Sylvia said, with a laugh. 
 " We'll keep on the trail. And I think we'll have 
 tea, instead of coffee," she added to the chef, for a 
 tea outfit had been brought along, and one of the 
 men was lighting the alcohol stove which was not 
 only to boil water for the beverage, but also to warm
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 81 
 
 some of the numerous viands. Solid alcohol was used 
 as fuel. 
 
 Indeed the Nowadays Girls had gone carefully into 
 this matter of sojourning in the Adirondacks, and 
 while they expected to spend most of the time at well- 
 known hotels or in camp resorts, they were also pro 
 vided for some life in the open, either in tent or 
 cabin, and they had purchased the very latest in 
 outfits. 
 
 " No smoky wood fires for us, except when we've 
 had our meals and want to sit around it and be 
 romantic," Sylvia had said, and the others had 
 agreed with her. Consequently they had a small 
 camping outfit with them that for compactness and 
 convenience would be difficult to surpass. 
 
 So while the girls and Mrs. Brownley started off 
 to admire the beauty of the woods and the end of 
 Fourth Lake nestling amid the trees, the cook got 
 ready the meal. He was an expert in his line, and 
 after he had set the kettle over the flame of the nickled 
 alcohol stove he found a good place to set the table 
 on the ground, spreading the cloth over a layer of 
 flat balsam branches which gave forth a most ap 
 petising odour. 
 
 The boatmen prepared to set off with the craft 
 on the one-mile carry to Sixth Lake, the fifth, as I 
 have explained, being omitted from the water route 
 in covering the chain, since it was so winding that 
 nearly twice the distance would have had to be cov 
 ered if they kept to the boats.
 
 83 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 There was not a little luggage to be transported, 
 in addition to the boats, and the men would be kept 
 busy. The heavier baggage had been sent on ahead 
 to the town of Raquette Lake, located on the lower 
 end of that body of water, just beyond the point 
 where Brown's Tract Inlet joins it. 
 
 "Oh, did you ever see a more perfect place?" 
 demanded Alice, as she came to a pause in the woods, 
 and gazed about her. 
 
 " It's just grand," agreed Rose. " It makes one 
 just glad to be alive; doesn't it, Baby?" she de 
 manded of her diminutive chum, who was thought 
 fully gazing off into the depths of the forest. 
 
 " What is it? Oh, yes, of course ! " was the rather 
 hasty answer. 
 
 " She hasn't heard a word we've said ! " laughed 
 Alice. " Never mind, Baby. We all know what you 
 are thinking of, at any rate," and playfully she ruf 
 fled the hair of the smaller girl. 
 
 " Oh, don't ! " was the protest. 
 
 "What matter? No one to see you here, Baby, 
 except the boatmen, and they don't count." 
 
 " Oh, but we must always look our best, even be 
 fore servants, my dears," remonstrated Mrs. Brown- 
 ley, gently. That was one rule she insisted on. 
 Negligee had in this lady one of its most deadly 
 enemies. 
 
 " Oh, well, of course, I didn't mean just that," 
 apologised Alice. 
 
 They strolled on through the dense woods that
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 83 
 
 came to the very edge of the trail. Now and then 
 the silence was broken by the crashing down of some 
 old tree, or the fall of a dead branch. Again, birds 
 would give voice to their chirping notes, and the 
 flutter of their wings would be heard. Occasionally, 
 from some lonely and unseen pond, would come the 
 call of the loon, that strange and often solitary bird 
 whose cry has such a weird sound, especially if heard 
 at the dead of night. Again would come the distant 
 voices of boatmen, or of camping parties, en route 
 even as our friends were. 
 
 " And to think," said Sylvia, softly, " that up 
 there," and she pointed to the north, " Roy is in these 
 same woods. I wonder what he is doing? " 
 
 " Getting well and strong, I hope," said Mrs. 
 Brownley, cheerfully. 
 
 " I hope so, too," murmured Rose. 
 
 They returned to the place where they had left 
 their boats to find a simple but perfectly-prepared 
 meal awaiting them. Spread out on the snowy cloth, 
 set off wonderfully well by the border of underlying 
 layer of green balsam boughs, were the viands they 
 had brought. The kettle sang cheerfully on the al 
 cohol stove and there was an omelet, so light that it 
 seemed a breath would flatten it out like a griddle- 
 cake. 
 
 " Just in time, ladies," the chef remarked. " The 
 omelet is all ready to serve." 
 
 Such appetites as the girls brought to the feast ! 
 
 " There won't be much left to take over the carry,"
 
 84 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 observed Sylvia. " Pass the olives, Rose dear. That 
 is, if Alice has left any." 
 
 " Left any ! What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Oh, we all know your fondness." 
 
 " There's an unopened bottle," remarked Hazel. 
 " I had some extra ones put in." 
 
 " Bless you, my dear ! " murmured Alice. " They 
 are so tasty, especially in the woods." 
 
 The luncheon went on amid merry quip and laugh 
 ter. When it was over the men had their meal, and 
 one of them offered to walk on ahead with the girls 
 and Mrs. Brownley, and show them the trail to Sixth 
 Lake. It was quite plain, through the woods, for 
 it was much-travelled, but the guide was not going 
 to risk his reputation by having any of his party 
 stray off into the forest, and have it be said of him 
 that he did not look well after his patrons. 
 
 The chef and the other guide remained behind to 
 bring on the luncheon articles. The boats and bag 
 gage, having been safely transported, awaited the 
 arrival of the girls at Sixth Lake. 
 
 " About what time do you think we shall get to 
 Raquette Lake?" asked Sylvia of the man in her 
 boat, when they were once more under way. 
 
 " We ought to be there about seven o'clock, miss. 
 That is, if nothing happens," and he gave a hasty 
 glance at the sky. 
 
 " If nothing happens ! What do you mean ? " de 
 manded Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " Well, it's nothing to be alarmed about, but I
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 85 
 
 think we're going to have a thunderstorm," he re 
 marked. " That might delay us, for sometimes it 
 rains so hard that it's hard to see where you're row 
 ing, and we may have to stop on shore until it's 
 over." 
 
 " Are there any places to stop ? " asked Sylvia, 
 determined to make provision for the worst, if neces 
 sary/ 
 
 " Oh, yes, there are open camps, and some closed 
 ones where we could put up if we couldn't reach 
 Raquette Lake. But we'll try to get you there. Pull 
 hard, boys," he called to his companion and the chef, 
 who was also taking his " spell " at the oars of the 
 light guide-boats. 
 
 But it was evident to the girls themselves that they 
 were not going to escape the storm. To the low and 
 deep rumblings in the west, there succeeded louder- 
 voiced mutterings of some unseen god of the weather. 
 The black clouds were slashed open now and then 
 by vivid streaks of lightning, rose-tinted and pink, 
 and again of a flashing electric blue-green in colour. 
 
 " We're going to get it ! " murmured one of the 
 men. 
 
 The girls looked anxiously toward the shores of 
 Seventh Lake, on which they then were. The water 
 was about a mile in width here, and they were in the 
 middle. 
 
 " We'd better put in ! " called the leading boat 
 man to the others. " I thought we could make Hen 
 derson's, but we can't ! Lively now ! "
 
 86 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 It became darker and darker. The thunder was 
 coming more and more frequently, and the darkness 
 that had suddenly fallen over the brightness of the 
 day was relieved at intervals by the hissing lightning. 
 
 " Here it comes ! " cried one of the guides. 
 
 An instant later the lake seemed to boil with the 
 violence of the rainfall. The girls and Mrs. Brown- 
 ley, having been warned in time, had put on mackin 
 toshes, but the men scorned anything like that, and 
 did not stop to don any extra garments. 
 
 They pulled desperately for the shore, and reached 
 it in the midst of a driving downpour. 
 
 " Over this way," directed the leading guide, as 
 the boats grated on the shore. " There's a shack 
 around here somewhere." 
 
 He led the way, and a little later they all stood 
 under a rude shelter that was sufficiently water-tight 
 to keep off most of the rain. The things in the boats 
 had been covered with pieces of canvas. 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed Rose as a particularly vivid flash 
 and a crash of thunder came almost together. " That 
 struck near here ! " 
 
 " I guess it did, miss," was the cool answer of the 
 guide called Jimmie. 
 
 " Did it hit a house? " asked Alice. 
 
 " No, some tree I reckon," said the guide who had 
 been addressed as Jake. " Lots of times trees get 
 struck up here. We don't mind it much." 
 
 " Shall we be able to go on? " asked Mrs. Brown- 
 ley, anxiously.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 87 
 
 " Well, if this rain lets up we can, easy, or we 
 could manage to keep goin' in the boats, anyhow, if 
 you didn't mind it," Jake answered. 
 
 " I think it will be better to wait," suggested 
 Sylvia. " I don't like being on the lake in an open 
 boat during a storm." 
 
 " Nor I," added Hazel. 
 
 " But it doesn't seem as though it would ever stop," 
 broke in Alice, dubiously. " It's raining harder than 
 ever." 
 
 "What shall we do if we can't go on?" Rose 
 wanted to know. 
 
 " Well, we'll have to stay here camp out or do 
 something," Sylvia said. " You spoke of a camp, 
 or something, near here? " she went on questioningly 
 to Jimmie. 
 
 " Yes, miss. There's a good cabin not far from 
 here. It's hired out to parties, and it's well fur 
 nished. If that isn't in use you can stay there if 
 you don't want to go on." 
 
 " But what about places to sleep, and things to 
 eat? " asked Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " That's all provided, lady. There's grub that 
 is, food at the cabin, and plenty of beds, such as 
 they are. Not feathers, of course, but " 
 
 " Oh, we don't in the least mind roughing it," put 
 in Sylvia. " In fact, I think it would be rather jolly 
 than otherwise." 
 
 " So do I ! " exclaimed Alice. And as Hazel also 
 joined in, there was toothing for Rose to do but
 
 88 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 agree. And so, as the rain showed no signs of 
 slackening, it was decided to spend the night out in 
 the little cabin, to which the guides offered to lead 
 the party. And a little later they set off through 
 the woods in the downpour.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 TROUBLE 
 
 " WHY, this isn't half bad ! " 
 
 " No, indeed ! I think it's real cosy ! " 
 
 " And what a lovely open fireplace ! " 
 
 " A fire wouldn't be at all out of the way now. 
 I'm thoroughly drenched, girls ! " 
 
 Our four friends thus expressed themselves in turn 
 as they stood in the little log cabin to which the 
 guides had conducted them through the storm. They 
 could hear the rain beating down on the slab roof, 
 hear it pattering on the leaves of the trees that sur 
 rounded the place, and they listened to the sigh of 
 the wind as it lashed itself to fury in a semblance of 
 a hurricane. 
 
 " It's better than I expected, my dears," said Mrs. 
 Brownley, after a quick survey of the small bedrooms 
 opening from the main apartment. 
 
 " Then we'll stay here to-night," decided Sylvia. 
 " That is, if we may? " she added to the guides. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Jimmie, quickly. " You see, we 
 have charge of this place me and my partner. We 
 let it out when any one wants it, and it's lucky it 
 didn't happen to be engaged just now. You can 
 stay here and welcome." 
 
 89
 
 90 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " We'll pay the usual price, of course," said 
 Sylvia, quickly, " and be glad of the opportunity. 
 You spoke of something to eat? " she went on. 
 
 " Yes, I guess it's pretty well stocked with canned 
 stuff. We might catch a few fish, even if it does 
 rain. We can bring up your things from the boats, 
 and the bunks are made up fresh." 
 
 " That's a comfort," sighed the chaperon. " We'll 
 stay here, girls. And be glad of the opportunity. 
 It will be an experience." 
 
 " But won't they worry at the Antlers ? " asked 
 Rose, referring to the hotel where they had engaged 
 rooms for their stay at Raquctte Lake. " They ex 
 pect us, and know we are coming up the lake. If 
 we don't arrive 
 
 " I guess I can manage to telephone 'cm by night 
 fall," put in one of the guides. " I'll tell 'cm you 
 are storm-bound." 
 
 " Then it will be all right," Rose remarked, with 
 a sigh of relief. She really could not bear to think 
 of going on the lake in the storm. 
 
 " I'll make a fire on the hearth," the chef said, 
 and while he busied himself at that the other two 
 guides set off to bring up the baggage from the 
 boats. Mrs. Brownlcy and the girls proceeded to 
 make themselves comfortable, and to wait for the 
 blaze to dry some of their damp garments and their 
 shoes. 
 
 Tramping along the wet and soggy trail, bur 
 dened with the baggage from the boats, the guides
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 91 
 
 came back to the cabin. But it was a more cheerful 
 place than when they had left it, for now a fire was 
 merrily crackling on the hearth, and the faces of 
 the girls and that of Mrs. Brownley had lost much 
 of the worried, nervous look. They were quite con 
 tent to spend the forthcoming night where they 
 were. 
 
 A hasty search through the cabin had revealed a 
 sufficient quantity of food, together with what was 
 left from luncheon, to make an evening meal and 
 breakfast. Then, too, the discovery that the place 
 contained several " cute " little bunks, with inviting 
 sheets and plenty of coverings, added to the feeling 
 of comfort. 
 
 The guides had announced that there was another 
 shanty nearby where they were in the habit of sleep 
 ing when stopping in the woods overnight with a 
 party that occupied the main cabin. They would 
 use the annex on this occasion. 
 
 And so, with supplies from their baggage to draw 
 on, and with the prospect of a meal whenever they 
 wanted it, our friends resigned themselves to the sit 
 uation. And it was not such an unpleasant situation, 
 after all. In fact it was really cosy to listen to the 
 crackle of the fire on the hearth, and contrast it with 
 the patter of the rain outside. 
 
 Clearly it would have been out of the question to 
 have gone on in the storm in open boats. This they 
 all decided when one of the guides went out to find 
 the nearest telephone to communicate with the Ant-
 
 92 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 lers. He managed to discover one after an hour or 
 two. 
 
 By this time an early supper had been served, 
 and the girls and Aunt Theodora prepared to spend 
 the evening as best they could in the cabin, for it 
 was out of the question to do anything else than 
 sit around and talk. 
 
 They found some old magazines, but the lights 
 were none of the best for reading, so they gave that 
 up, and sat in front of the blaze, seeing pictures in 
 the flames, and telling fortunes. 
 
 The guides had retired to their own cabin, not far 
 away, and from it, now and then, could be heard 
 guffaws of laughter which served to relieve the quiet 
 ness of the woods, that was broken, otherwise, by 
 only the patter of the rain. 
 
 It was close to midnight when the girls went to 
 their beds, for they did not feel sleepy, and preferred 
 sitting up to tossing restlessly on the narrow bunks. 
 They occupied three rooms, Rose and Sylvia being 
 in one, Hazel and Alice in another and Mrs. Brownley 
 in the third, all opening from the main apartment, 
 or living room, of the cabin. 
 
 Just who first heard the call and the following rap 
 on the door is uncertain. They all seemed to awaken 
 at the same time, and Sylvia demanded: 
 
 " What is it? Who's there? " 
 
 " What's the matter? " asked Rose, nervously. 
 
 " Some one outside knocking and calling," said 
 Sylvia. " Listen, Rose ! "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 93 
 
 There came a pounding on the door, and a voice 
 called : 
 
 " Open and let us in. We're in trouble ! " 
 
 " Trouble ? " voiced Sylvia, half frightened. 
 
 " Yes, we've lost our way. There are ladies 
 here ! " 
 
 " Oh, do let us in ! " besought a tearful voice that 
 was unmistakably feminine. 
 
 " What what shall we do ? " faltered Rose. 
 
 " Wait a minute ! " came in the calm tones of Mrs. 
 Brownley.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE MOTOR BOAT 
 
 THE chaperon, who had hastily donned a dressing- 
 gown and warm slippers, made her way to the locked 
 and barred door. 
 
 " What is it ? " she turned to ask Sylvia, who, too, 
 had arisen, and hastily garbed herself in whatever 
 was nearest to hand. 
 
 " Some one knocked, and 
 
 She was interrupted by the very thing she was ex 
 plaining a rap on the stout slab door. 
 
 " Is any one here? " a voice demanded. " We see 
 a light, and there is a lady here two ladies and 
 
 " Oh, please let me in ! " begged a half-sobbing 
 voice. " I am wet through, we are lost and 
 and " 
 
 " One moment," Aunt Theodora said, firmly. 
 " Let the ladies advance, and the gentlemen retreat." 
 
 It was as though she had said : " Advance, friend, 
 and give the countersign ! " 
 
 " Henry, you go away," said a voice on the other 
 side of the door. " Suzanne and I will go in." 
 
 " But what is to become of me? " was the answer. 
 " What will Ritz and I do in this wilderness? " 
 
 " We shall settle that later," went on the woman's 
 voice. " Go away. I understand why they do not 
 
 94
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 95 
 
 want you to be in sight when they open the door. 
 There are ladies in there ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " There was a world of comprehension in 
 his exclamation. 
 
 " I'm going to open the door," said Mrs. Brown- 
 ley. " You ladies are welcome to such shelter as we 
 have. How many of you are there? " 
 
 " Two women and two men," a feminine voice 
 answered. 
 
 " The two men will have to go elsewhere. We have 
 only ladies in here," said the chaperon, as she fumbled 
 with the fastenings of the door. Under the watch 
 ing eyes of her own four young ladies, she swung 
 back the door. A gust of rainy wind entered, blow 
 ing ashes from the half-dying fire all about. From 
 the darkness, into the mellow glow of the hearth- 
 blaze and the gleam from the night-light, stepped two 
 women from whom dripped much water. One ap 
 peared to be the mistress, the other a maid, and the 
 former, fairly staggering in, let fall a light valise 
 while, throwing up her arms in a tragic gesture, she 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " Oh, what a honeymoon ! " 
 
 For a moment Mrs. Brownley, and the girls as well, 
 had a wild suspicion that they had admitted a lunatic, 
 for the woman's appearance was sufficiently wild. 
 But a second glance served to show that the dis 
 order of her hair and clothing was due to the storm, 
 against which she had evidently been struggling for 
 some time.
 
 96 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Her companion stepped farther into the light, and 
 Mrs. Brownley quickly closed the door. The maid, 
 for such she evidently was, had a larger valise. She 
 gave a quick glance around, and a smile came to her 
 face, dimpling her rosy cheeks and rippling through 
 her snapping black eyes. 
 
 " Ah, madame ! we are all right now ! " she cried, 
 gaily enough. " Suzanne will look after you, if these 
 gracious ladies will tell us where to find a room. We 
 are safe now, madame ! " 
 
 Once more the other woman no, hardly a woman, 
 for she was but a girl in years and appearance 
 flung her arms wide with rather a stagy effect and 
 again cried out: 
 
 " What a honeymoon ! " 
 
 " Honeymoon ! " echoed Mrs. Brownley. " Do you 
 mean to say you 
 
 " Yes, we are on our honeymoon ! " was the an 
 swer. "Oh, isn't it isn't it just romantic!" and 
 instead of bursting into tears, which might reason 
 ably have been expected, she gave forth a peal of 
 laughter, showing two rows of perfect, white teeth 
 that gleamed against the dark olive tint of her face, 
 her cheeks showing dusky red under the influence of 
 the heat, as she came in from the chilling rain. 
 
 " Did you ever spend the first night of your honey 
 moon tramping through the woods in the rain? " she 
 asked, appealing not only to Mrs. Brownley, but 
 also to the interested girls, now staring at the new 
 comers with various questions in their eyes.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 97 
 
 " 1 never did," said the chaperon, with the accent 
 on the personal pronoun, " and as for my 
 friends " 
 
 " They are not married I understand. But, oh ! 
 You must think we are crazy to come in on you in 
 the middle of the night. Let me explain." 
 
 But before she could do so there came another 
 knock on the door, and a man's voice, an anxious 
 man's voice, demanded: 
 
 "Are you all right, Natalie? Can you remain 
 there for the night? Are you comfortable? " 
 
 " It's my husband ! " she spoke the words with an 
 embarrassed little laugh. " He he " 
 
 " He can stay with the guides, over in the other 
 
 cabin," said Mrs. Brownley. " We can put you and 
 er 
 
 She hesitated. 
 
 " Suzanne is my maid," filled in the bride, Natalie. 
 
 " We can give you a room, you and your maid," 
 went on the chaperon. " And if you are hun 
 gry " 
 
 " I am famished. We've been lost in the woods 
 oh, ever so long ! Bob doesn't know a thing about 
 the woods, nor do I, though he thinks he does because 
 he went camping once," and she laughed merrily, as 
 though it were a great joke all of it, rain included. 
 " So we got lost when he insisted on making the trip 
 up the lakes without a guide," she went on. " He 
 has his man with him the man and Suzanne are 
 engaged," she added, "so you see we are quite a
 
 98 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 wedding party. But, oh, what a way to spend a 
 honeymoon ! " and again she laughed. 
 
 " Isn't she sweet? " whispered Rose to Sylvia. 
 
 " She's a bit hysterical, I think." 
 
 " Oh, Sylvia, how can you? " 
 
 " I mean she's a bunch of nerves, and no wonder, 
 after what she has had to go through," Sylvia re 
 torted. " Poor thing, we must get her warm and 
 dry, and make her some tea. I'll get on some real 
 clothes." 
 
 " So will I." 
 
 Again came the summons at the portal. 
 
 " Are you quite all right, Natalie? " 
 
 " Yes, Bob, dear ! " She whispered the last against 
 the wood of the unsympathetic door, and turned a 
 blushing face to those in the cabin. " I am perfectly 
 all right. It is a charming place. I hope you find 
 as good. You couldn't possibly come in here. It is 
 entirely out of the question ! " and she laughed 
 merrily. 
 
 " I don't mind, sweetheart, as long as you are all 
 right, and have Suzanne with you. I can sleep in 
 the woods." 
 
 " Oh, Bob ! " 
 
 "He won't have to 4 ." said Mrs. Brownley, prac 
 tically. " The guides will look after him and his 
 man. Now then, Miss 
 
 " Mrs. Parson," was the correction. " Since this 
 morning or was it yesterday I've lost track of the 
 time."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 99 
 
 " It's morning now," Alice said, with a glance at 
 her watch. 
 
 " Then it is since yesterday. Oh, but it is so sweet 
 of you to take us in this way ! Bob, you're to go to 
 the guides' tent, or cabin or whatever it is," she called 
 through the door. 
 
 " All right, they're here now, at least some men 
 are calling to me to come to them," Bob said. " I 
 dare say I shall be all right. Good night, dear ! " 
 The last was whispered. 
 
 " Good night," she blew a kiss from the tips of 
 her dainty fingers. " He is such a dear boy ! " she 
 added, but it was not said in the least gushingly. 
 
 " Well, better get on some dry clothes, if you have 
 them," said the chaperon, as outside the cabin could 
 be heard the tramp of feet and the voices of the 
 guides as they took charge of the other wayfarers. 
 " If you haven't " 
 
 " Oh, we have, thank you, plenty. Suzanne ! " 
 
 Mrs. Parson seemed to be used to being waited 
 on, and her maid took from the valise some dry gar 
 ments, and retired with Natalie, as the girls liked 
 to think of her, to the other bedroom. She presently 
 came into the main apartment, clad in a gorgeous 
 Japanese kimono, with heavy gold butterflies and 
 cranes scattered profusely over it. 
 
 " I'll have tea in a minute," Sylvia said, lighting 
 the little alcohol stove. 
 
 " I beg of you to let me do it," Suzanne said. " I 
 am used to this."
 
 100 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Yes, Suzanne will make it," said the bride. 
 " Then I'll tell you all that happened. You must 
 think we are a couple of loons to come to you in 
 this way." 
 
 " Indeed we are refugees ourselves," said Sylvia. 
 " We were caught in the storm on our way to 
 Raquette Lake and had to come here." 
 
 "Oh, are you going to Raquette Lake? That's 
 where we are going to stop at the Antlers ! " 
 
 " So are we ! " chimed in Rose. 
 
 In a moment it was as though they all had known 
 the bride for some time. She was a charming person, 
 democratic, though refined, and she soon sketched 
 for them as much of her history as was necessary 
 to divulge under the circumstances. 
 
 She had been often to the Adirondacks before with 
 her parents and, not wanting the usual honeymoon, 
 had stipulated that after the ceremony she and her 
 young husband should be allowed to slip away to the 
 lake region, where she had spent so many happy 
 years. 
 
 " And it would have been all right but for the 
 rain, and if Bob had been content to take a guide. 
 But he wouldn't," she said. 
 
 " Consequently, when the rain came and we went 
 ashore with the canoe, we lost our bearings. I simply 
 would not go back in the boats, and so we started 
 out through the forest. We carried our luggage, 
 with the help of Suzanne and Ritz, but at last we 
 could go no farther. Then we saw your light and
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 101 
 
 well, here we are ! " she finished, with a pathetic little 
 gesture of her hands. 
 
 " And very welcome," said Mrs. Brownley. " We 
 can all go on together in the morning." 
 
 " Oh, that will be perfectly splendid. I just love 
 company ! " 
 
 " Even on a honeymoon ? " asked Sylvia, with a 
 sly smile. 
 
 " Even on a honeymoon. Bob does, too. He's 
 such a dear boy a regular boy! " and she laughed 
 merrily. Somehow it was good to hear Natalie 
 laugh. 
 
 " The tea is ready," Suzanne said. " Will you 
 not all have some? " she asked, for deftly she had 
 found cups and saucers, the condensed milk and 
 sugar, and set them out. 
 
 " I'll not sleep a wink if I take tea now," Mrs. 
 Brownley said. " There is some malted milk in my 
 bag. I'll just make a hot cup of that and " 
 
 " Permit me, madame ! " interposed the maid. " I 
 shall have the pleasure," and she began making the 
 beverage for the chaperon. 
 
 There came another knock on the door, as the tea 
 was being sipped, and a voice demanded : 
 
 " Are you sure you are all right, Natalie ? " 
 
 " Quite, Bob ! Go away now, that's a dear. Are 
 you provided for ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, we have a bunk and the men are making 
 coffee and frying bacon ! " 
 
 " Ugh ! Bacon at this hour of the morning ! "
 
 102 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 gasped the bride, with a shrug of her pretty shoul 
 ders. " There, Bob, run along," she advised. 
 
 Somehow the girls, their chaperon and the bride, 
 with her maid, got back to their beds, but it is safe 
 to assume that no one slept much more that night. 
 In the morning the rain had ceased, and though the 
 woods were very wet, there was a promise of their 
 speedy drying, for the sun rose bright and warm. 
 
 " Oh, isn't it just glorious ! " cried Natalie, as she 
 stood in the doorway and waved her hand toward 
 the guides' camp. " I wouldn't have missed this ex 
 perience for anything. It is one honeymoon of a 
 thousand ! " 
 
 " I hope she doesn't intend to have that many," 
 remarked Hazel, who was a bit peevish. She could 
 not stand the loss of sleep. It made her cross, as it 
 does some babies. But she was soon herself again. 
 
 Bob and his wife proved the most delightful of 
 acquaintances. He was in fine spirits, even following 
 the rather depressing experience of the night before, 
 and after breakfast it was arranged that the two 
 parties should go on to Raquette Lake together. 
 
 " I'm going to take no more chances of being lost 
 in the woods," said the bridegroom. 
 
 " You learn your first lessons well," observed Mrs. 
 Brownley. 
 
 " Oh, but I didn't in the least mind being lost ! " 
 laughed Natalie. " See what charming friends it 
 brought us, Bob." 
 
 " Indeed I would do it over again if I had the
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 103 
 
 chance," he said, gallantly, bowing to the girls and 
 Aunt Theodora. 
 
 " I like him ! " whispered Rose to Sylvia. 
 
 " You mustn't ! " was the caution. 
 
 " Not enough liking to work harm," was the laugh 
 ing retort. 
 
 Once more they were on their way up Seventh 
 Lake. The carry was successfully made, and then 
 came the trip of a little over a mile on the final 
 body of water in the Fulton Chain. 
 
 A land journey of a mile and a half brought our 
 friends to Brown's Tract Inlet and in due time they 
 were floating on the beautiful waters of Raquette 
 Lake, over which they were rowed to the village itself, 
 at the terminal of the Raquette Lake Railroad. 
 
 The Antlers, about a mile from the railroad sta 
 tion, was soon reached, and there our friends and 
 the bridal party were made doubly welcome, for there 
 had been not a little worriment on the part of some 
 friends of the latter who expected them, but to whom 
 no word could be sent. 
 
 " How long are you going to stay here, my 
 dears? " asked Natalie, who was made almost one of 
 the Nowadays Girls. 
 
 " It is uncertain," Sylvia said. " We are grad 
 ually making our way to Saranac, where my brother 
 is ill." 
 
 " Oh, I am so sorry ! " 
 
 " But he is doing as well as can be expected, so 
 we are not hurryjng."
 
 104 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " I see. You are getting in as many experiences 
 as you can, for that quaint little club of yours. It 
 is such a clever idea, my dears ! Positively I intend 
 to adopt something like it myself when I get back. 
 I am so glad you are going to stay here. Do you 
 golf? 
 
 " They do everything. I've found out all about 
 it ! " interrupted Bob Parson. " They tennis, fish, 
 motor 
 
 "Oh, do you motor?" interrupted Natalie. "I 
 mean boat, of course, for the roads aren't anything 
 to boast of up here. I do wish we could arrange for 
 a motor-boat trip." 
 
 " I think we can," Sylvia said. 
 
 " How ? " asked Alice. " First we've heard about 
 that, El Capitan! " and she stiffly saluted, military 
 fashion. 
 
 " I've just been talking it over with Aunt Theo 
 dora," Sylvia went on. " I saw a lovely motor boat 
 out on the lake and inquired about it. Seems that it 
 was engaged by a party and they had to give it up 
 on account of a change of plan. So it's for hire 
 and I've planned to engage it for a week at least, 
 and two if we want it." 
 
 " Oh, you dear ! " cried Rose. " To think of mo 
 toring for a week on this lovely lake ! " 
 
 " When may we start? " Hazel wanted to know. 
 
 " As soon as we like. Aunt Theodora has prac 
 tically agreed, if we can find a reliable man to take 
 with us."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 105 
 
 " At your service ! " said Mr. Parson, with an ex 
 aggerated bow. 
 
 " Do you know anything about motor boats ? " 
 demanded Natalie, rather suspiciously for a " newly- 
 wed." " The last time I was out with you " 
 
 " De mortuis nil nisi bonum! " he said, softly. 
 
 " Oh ! " gasped Rose, " did some one " 
 
 " The boat died," he replied. " I ran it into a pier 
 and it sank. But I do know something about motors." 
 
 " Oh, it isn't that so much," Sylvia put in ; " I think 
 Aunt Theodora wants a man along just for looks!" 
 
 " Once more, at your service," bowed Mr. Parson. 
 Even Alice, who was, perhaps, hypercritical, admitted 
 that he was good-looking. 
 
 " Then let's make up a motor-boating party," pro 
 posed Natalie. " My husband and I will be charmed 
 to go with you girls. Can you run a boat? Of 
 course you can," she answered her own question 
 promptly. 
 
 " We have," said Hazel, modestly. Indeed all four 
 were experienced in boats as well as in automobiles. 
 
 " Come down and see the Clytie" suggested Sylvia. 
 "She's a beauty!"
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 BY THEMSELVES 
 
 THE motor boat was made fast to a small private 
 dock which stretched out into Raquette Lake. Sit 
 ting in the craft, as the girls and their newly wed 
 friends, the Parson bride and groom, approached, 
 was a man of sour, not to say forbidding counte 
 nance. He was whittling a stick, snipping the curling 
 pieces of wood off with a formidable-looking knife, 
 and letting them fall into the placid waters of the 
 lake, whence they were blown away by little puffs of 
 wind. 
 
 " Who is he? " asked Rose of Sylvia in a whisper 
 as they came to the edge of the dock and looked 
 with longing eyes all four of the Nowadays Girls 
 at the boat. 
 
 " He's the skipper, caretaker, pilot, captain, what 
 ever is the proper title for a man in his capacity on 
 a motor boat." 
 
 " He looks like Charon," murmured Alice. 
 
 " Hush ! He'll hear you, and he's very sensitive," 
 admonished Sylvia. 
 
 " Do you know him? " Hazel wanted to know. 
 
 " I've talked with him. Don't you dare call him 
 Charon, Alice. He'll begin inquiring who Mr. Charon 
 
 106
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 107 
 
 was, and when we explain that he was the dog-faced 
 ferryman of the underworld, why then he'll up and 
 act mean. So don't make such allusions, if you are 
 wise." 
 
 " Charon wasn't dog-faced," announced Hazel. 
 
 " Wasn't he ? At any rate he wasn't a desirable 
 acquaintance for a summer motor-boat cruise, so 
 kindly cease to remember." 
 
 *' In other words forget it ! " exclaimed Rose. 
 
 " What are you girls talking about ? " demanded 
 Natalie, with one of her merry laughs. 
 
 " Oh, just nonsense! " said Sylvia. " But how do 
 you like the boat? " 
 
 " It's a beauty ! " exclaimed Alice, with sparkling 
 eyes. 
 
 " And so complete ! " declared Hazel. " May we 
 really charter her? " 
 
 " I think it can be arranged," Sylvia answered. 
 " We'll go aboard." 
 
 Meanwhile the sour-faced man was stolidly whit 
 tling away on the piece of soft pine wood. He 
 seemed to put a deal of vindictiveness into his cuts 
 and slashes, as though he were taking revenge on some 
 enemy. 
 
 " Good morning," called Mistress Sylvia, with a 
 bright and cheerful smile, while her companions, in 
 cluding the bride and groom, formed a little group 
 back of her. " A beautiful day, isn't it? " 
 
 " For them as likes this weather," was the growled 
 response, and the man never looked up, but went on
 
 108 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 whittling. Rose saw that he was cutting out a dagger 
 prophetic implement, perhaps. 
 
 " Oh, I think it's perfectly delightful," went on 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " You do have such charming days up in the Adi- 
 rondacks," added Alice, determined to do what she 
 could to help Sylvia chase away the gloom from the 
 dour one's countenance, for such, so Alice made a 
 guess, was the intent of her chum. 
 
 " The sunshine is er so r sunshiny ! " said 
 Rose, a bit lamely. 
 
 " And the water is so wet ! " finished Hazel, wifh 
 a frank laugh. 
 
 The man looked up, for the first time, and grunted : 
 
 "Ugh!" 
 
 "How are you this morning, Mr. Wrack?" went 
 on Sylvia. 
 
 " Oh, 'bout as well as I'll ever be, I expect," he 
 said, dismally. " This bright sun hurts my eyes, and 
 I'll be havin' hay-fever soon, I expect, which is one 
 reason why I like rainy days best. The dust from 
 the flowers don't fly so then, and I don't have to 
 sneeze so often. But now, havin' to stay here with 
 this boat until the land knows when, I don't know 
 what will happen," and once more he cut savagely 
 at the bit of wood, making the shavings fly. 
 
 " That's what we came to see you about," said 
 Sylvia, sweetly. " We are thinking of hiring it." 
 
 '* You be ? Good ! " The man seemed to undergo 
 a Jekyll-Hyde transformation. His face lost the sour
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 109 
 
 look, and he straightened up, throwing the half- 
 completed dagger overboard. " I hope you do," he 
 went on. " Since the party that did engage her dis 
 appointed me I haven't known what to turn my hand 
 to. Will you really take her? " 
 
 " If we can come to terms," said Sylvia. " Our 
 chaperon says we may plan a motor-boat trip. I 
 have told her of the Clytie, and now we have come to 
 see about it." 
 
 " Oh, I'll treat you right, lady. I'll treat you 
 right ! " exclaimed Mr. Wrack. He seemed a different 
 person. 
 
 It developed, that he was not the owner of the 
 craft, but had been engaged to pilot it about Raquette 
 Lake for a party of summer visitors, who chartered 
 the boat from the owner, who had engaged Mr. 
 Wrack. But the plans of the party could not be 
 carried out, for a reason that would not interest us, 
 and there was the prospect of the boat's being idle 
 all summer. 
 
 " And I'd have been idle too," Mr. Wrack said, 
 " for it's gettin' late in the season to hire out a motor 
 boat and pilot to any advantage. But if you'll take 
 her and me it won't be so bad. I'll make the price 
 right. Mr. Harrison, who owns the Clytie, left her 
 to me after them other folks backed out." 
 
 Sylvia and her girl chums were very practical if 
 they were girls with the latest ideas in regard to 
 fashion, dances and other amusements. They had 
 liberal allowances, and they knew how to make them
 
 110 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 cover their needs. So it was not long before they 
 had struck a bargain with Mr. Wrack. Aunt Theo 
 dora was again consulted and gave her consent, and 
 it was arranged that they were to have the entire 
 use of the boat for two weeks at least, and longer 
 if they desired. 
 
 The Parsons were included in this bargain, and as 
 they were to remain at Raquette Lake until late fall 
 they had an option on the craft after our friends 
 should have finished with her. 
 
 " And you go with the boat," said Sylvia to the 
 sour-faced man, sour no longer now that he realised 
 he would have employment. He did not even men 
 tion hay-fever, and he looked at the sun occasionally. 
 " What I mean," went on Sylvia, " is that you'll run 
 the boat for us when we want you to, and when we 
 don't, we'll run it ourselves." 
 
 " Can you ? " asked the pilot, doubtingly. 
 
 " Try us and see ! " exclaimed Alice. 
 
 " Let's go for a run in her," suggested Hazel. 
 
 And so they started off. The girls' admiration 
 for the Clytie increased as they made a closer in 
 spection. 
 
 " She certainly is a beauty ! " declared Rose. 
 
 " Indeed, yes ! " agreed Sylvia. " Self-starter, 
 reverse gear, double ignition system, weedless pro 
 peller, electric lights and lots of room." 
 
 " Why, we could sleep here and cook here," added 
 Alice. 
 
 There was a half-cabin, with bunks that made
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 111 
 
 seats during the day. There was also a little alcohol 
 stove and a tiny galley fitted with a small collection 
 of cooking utensils. 
 
 " She was built to allow folks to spend a night 
 or two out in her," said Mr. Wrack, as he sat at the 
 wheel. 
 
 " Let me steer," begged Sylvia, and, having ex 
 plained some of the peculiarities of the lake, and 
 what danger-spots to avoid, the pilot did so. The 
 Clytie was of very light draught, to enable her to 
 go in shallow water. 
 
 By turns the four girls operated the boat around 
 the sunny waters of the lake, running over to Big 
 Island and back again. Mr. Parson also showed 
 that he knew how to handle the craft, but Natalie 
 showed no desire to do so. 
 
 " I'd be sure to turn the wheel the wrong way, and 
 send you all to the bottom," she declared. 
 
 " The bottom isn't far off right here," observed 
 Mr. Wrack. " It's mighty shallow hereabouts." 
 
 The Nowadays Girls proved that they could man 
 age a boat, to the not unexacting requirements 
 of the pilot, after which he " took it easy " and let 
 them do as they liked. They soon mastered the me 
 chanical details. 
 
 A day or so after having chartered the Clytie, 
 during which time Mrs. Brownley had made several 
 trips about the lake, Sylvia proposed that she and 
 her chums, with the Parsons, go for a trip by them 
 selves that is, without Mr. Wrack.
 
 112 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 He was satisfied to allow this, as he realised that 
 the girls were expert enough to look after them 
 selves. So the trip an all-day one, lunch to be 
 taken on Osprey Island was planned. 
 
 But at the last minute Aunt Theodora developed 
 a headache, which, she well knew, would not be bene 
 fited by going out on the water in the sun. 
 
 " Oh, isn't it too bad ! " exclaimed Sylvia. 
 " Then " 
 
 " Yes, you may go, my dears," said their kindly 
 chaperon. " I know you can look after yourselves, 
 and it's broad daylight. There are many craft on 
 the lake, too. Just run along and have a good time. 
 I'll be all right. I'll just lie down and rest." 
 
 And when Sylvia went to call for the Parsons, 
 Natalie had most unaccountably forgotten the en 
 gagement, and she and her husband had gone off 
 together in a canoe. 
 
 " Well, did you ever ! " exclaimed Rose. 
 
 " Let's go by ourselves," suggested Hazel. 
 
 " We could get Mr. Wrack," said Alice, hesi 
 tatingly. 
 
 " No, I told him we wouldn't need him, and he 
 went over to Forked Lake to see some friends. So 
 if we go, we'll have to go by ourselves." 
 
 "Then let's go that way just ourselves!" pro 
 posed Aljce. " We have the boat, the lunch and 
 everything. Let's go, and perhaps we may have an 
 adventure ! "
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A DISMAL PROSPECT 
 
 CHEERFULLY chugging along was the Clytie. I say 
 cheerfully, for the rhythmical sounds of the exhaust, 
 gentle enough in themselves thanks to a good muf 
 fler, were accompanied by snatches of song from one 
 or another of the four girls who variously placed 
 themselves about the craft. Sylvia was at the wheel. 
 Rose lolled on a locker near her, regardless of the 
 sun that was adding a tint of brown to the red in 
 her cheeks. Alice had sought the seclusion of the 
 cabin for a time, to readjust her wind-blown hair, 
 and Hazel was boldly perched well up in the bow, 
 sitting tailor-fashion, like some modern figurehead. 
 She laughed gleefully when spray splashed up from 
 the waves into her face. 
 
 " Oh, it is glorious ! glorious ! " she chanted in 
 time to the throb of the motor. 
 
 "Watch-girl, what of the outlook?" called Alice 
 from the cabin. " Dost see anything of that ad 
 venture yet ? " 
 
 " No," answered Hazel. " I see a canoe with 
 two young men in it approaching, but they don't 
 look at all romantic." 
 
 " Sheer off ! Sheer off, Sylvia ! " ordered Rose, 
 113
 
 114 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " We are dedicated to romance with a big R to-day. 
 Nothing else will tempt us." 
 
 " I'd rather have a sandwich with a big S," said 
 the steers-girl or let us be real feminists and say 
 steersman. 
 
 "You did put the lunch aboard; didn't you?" 
 asked Rose, a " horrible suspicion gnawing at her 
 vitals," as she confessed afterward. 
 
 " It is in the starboard locker," affirmed Sylvia. 
 
 " Right O, my hearty ! " sung out Hazel. " I saw 
 you put it there ! " 
 
 And so they chugged on, now and then saluting 
 some other craft, canoe or guide-boat, and an occa 
 sional motor boat, but the latter were rather few. 
 Steamers plied the waters of Raquette Lake, and 
 they answered the three tooting whistles of our girls 
 in friendly salute. 
 
 " Alice, just look and see if the oil cups are full," 
 begged Sylvia, as they worked successfully through 
 a little swell and wash raised by a passing steamer. 
 " I think the engine is getting too much, judging by 
 the odour of the exhaust. If they're more than half 
 empty screw down the feed a bit." 
 
 " Aye, aye, captain ! " came the nautical return, 
 and presently Alice, who had inspected the engine, 
 carried in a forward compartment, reported that she 
 had refilled the cups, and adjusted them so they 
 would not feed too much lubricant to the cylinders. 
 
 Then she filled a tiny wash basin in the cabin, and 
 washed her hands with violet-scented soap.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 115 
 
 " I can't bear the smell of oil when I'm going to 
 eat," she said, in explanation. 
 
 " But you're not going to eat right away, my 
 dear," said Sylvia. " We aren't going to have lunch 
 until we get to Osprey Island, and that won't be 
 until noon." For they had gone in rather a round 
 about way, passing on the far side of Big Island to 
 make the trip seem more worth while. 
 
 " Oh, well, I'm ready for lunch whenever it's ready 
 for me," Alice said, as she pushed back the skin from 
 the half-moons on her shapely fingers, thus manicur 
 ing them, though they seldom needed it. 
 
 The girls took turns at the wheel, for each one 
 was experienced in this. The Clytie was a perfect 
 boat, and answered her helm well. 
 
 " It would have been nice if Natalie and her hus 
 band had come along," said Rose. " I do enjoy her 
 so much." 
 
 " He's nice, too," added Alice. 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " But it's nice to be by ourselves, once in a while," 
 suggested Sylvia. " I wonder how we are living up 
 to our canons, girls? " she asked. 
 
 " You mean up-to-dateness ? " questioned Hazel. 
 
 " Exactly." 
 
 " Well, I think we can't be found fault with," was 
 the opinion of Hazel. " There is certainly nothing 
 slow about this ! " 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean it that way," said Sylvia, 
 hastily. " Speed isn't everything."
 
 116 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " It is when one is motoring or boating," declared 
 Hazel. 
 
 " A pity we couldn't run our cars up here," put 
 in Alice, for there were automobiles in the family 
 of each of our friends more than one in some cases 
 and the girls were expert drivers. 
 
 " This is no place for cars," affirmed Sylvia. 
 " Perhaps on our outing next season we may go 
 where we can use them." 
 
 " Or to some place where we can have a motor 
 boat of our own," put in Alice. " Wouldn't that be 
 just lovely? To have a craft of our own, and go on 
 a long cruise ! " 
 
 " It would," assented Rose. " But this is very 
 nice, and remember that this is our first outing. Do 
 you intend to do this every year, Sylvia? " she con 
 tinued. 
 
 " If we can, yes. Of course we can't tell what 
 new friends and associations we may meet with when 
 we start in at the different colleges fhis fall, but I 
 think we shall be able to keep to our original plan, 
 and have a * get-together ' session every summer to 
 talk over nowadays matters, and take our part in 
 them." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried Hazel. " No new college friend 
 ship shall lure me away from this, my first love 
 or, rather, my three best loves," and she pointed her 
 finger in turn at each of her chums. 
 
 " Is Saranac Lake like this ? " asked Rose, and 
 immediately she blushed.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 117 
 
 " Oh, look at her ! " cried Alice, tantalisingly. 
 " She can't stop thinking of Roy even now." 
 
 " I don't want to," answered Rose, more coolly 
 than one would think from the way she looked. 
 
 " Good ! " Sylvia complimented her. " Dear Roy ! 
 I do hope he is making progress. I ought to get 
 a letter or telegram to-day. I expect it when we get 
 back." 
 
 " There are three Saranac Lakes," said Hazel, who 
 had apparently been " reading-up " on the subject. 
 " They are Upper, Middle and Lower. But none 
 of them, at least to look at on the map, is as large 
 as this one, though Upper Saranac has a very long 
 shore line, because it is so cut up and twisted. There 
 is about forty miles of shore line here at Raquette." 
 
 " This lake suits me," murmured Alice, in lazy 
 comfort. 
 
 " Oh, but I'm sure we'll find Saranac lovely," Hazel 
 went on. " It's about fifty miles from here, and they 
 say there are more than sixty other lakes and ponds 
 which can be reached by short canoe trips from 
 Saranac, that is, the upper lake, which, of the three, 
 is the one nearest us." 
 
 " It must be pretty wet there," ventured Sylvia. 
 
 " It is, more water than land. I wish we could 
 take the Clytie up there, but I don't suppose we can. 
 Roy would appreciate this." 
 
 " No, it's hardly feasible. We couldn't carry her 
 over land," Sylvia said. 
 
 "Just where is Roy? " asked Hazel.
 
 118 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " At the Loneberg Camp, not far from Saranac 
 Inn. Oh, I am so anxious to see him," his sister 
 went on, " and yet I don't want to get there too 
 soon, for if he is on the verge of recovery the doctor 
 said it might give him a setback to have the sudden 
 joyful surprise of seeing us girls." 
 
 " Yes, we're beautiful enough, collectively, if not 
 individually, to make a well youth faint, to say 
 nothing of an invalid," declared Alice, with dry 
 humour. 
 
 " Well, let's enjoy life while we may," suggested 
 Sylvia. " Poor Roy ! " and she sighed. " I hope he 
 is having a good time." 
 
 But, had she only known it, Roy was having any 
 thing but a pleasant time just then. He was not at 
 all himself. 
 
 Osprey Island was reached in due season, and 
 finding a secluded spot, the girls moored their boat, 
 went ashore and had lunch. Tea was made over 
 the alcohol stove on board, and they sat about in the 
 shadowy woods in delightful picnic fashion. 
 
 " Let's take a run over to Indian Point," sug 
 gested Hazel, when the lunch was over, and they were 
 thinking of starting back toward the hotel. 
 
 " Shall we have time? " asked Sylvia, with a glance 
 at the sun, which was already well down in the west. 
 
 " Oh, it's only about a mile from here," pleaded 
 Hazel, pointing off to the west toward a body of 
 land extending out into the lake, Indian Point being 
 the name given it.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 119 
 
 " Well, all right," assented Sylvia. " We can 
 make a quick run back. Come on, let's start." 
 
 They went ashore at Indian Point, but they lin 
 gered longer than they thought, for the sun was in 
 a glory of red, golden, purple and violet clouds when 
 they went down to where they had left the boat. 
 
 " It will be quite dark when we get back," said 
 Sylvia, " and we have to dress for dinner and the 
 dance." 
 
 " And I'm not going to miss that dance for any 
 thing! " declared Alice. " That tall fellow has a 
 new step in the fox trot that is simply delightful. 
 Let's hurry." 
 
 But that was easier said than done, for when 
 Sylvia stepped into the craft, and confidently shoved 
 over the self-starter, there was only a groaning pro 
 test and the motor did not respond. 
 
 " Oh, I do hope we don't have to start by hand ! " 
 sighed Alice. " It is such a heavy engine." 
 
 " Well, it looks as though we should," said Sylvia, 
 grimly, when, after several trials, the motor still 
 refused to start. Clearly, or, rather, unclearly, 
 something was wrong. It was not a very cheerful 
 prospect. In fact it was most dismal, with night 
 coming on, the girls some distance from their hotel, 
 alone and with a " cranky," not to say unstartable, 
 motor boat.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A LONELY NIGHT 
 
 "CAN'T you make it work?" asked Hazel, when 
 Sylvia had spent some time over the self-starter. 
 
 " I can't," was the answer, and Sylvia tried to 
 keep from her voice any trace of anxiety or peevish 
 ness. But really she was tired and nervous. 
 
 " Let me try," suggested Alice, whp was quite 
 strong. " If I can't make the starter work I can 
 turn the flywheel over by hand." 
 
 The self-starter operated on a storage battery, 
 something like the mechanism of an automobile, but 
 not as easily. But while the starter itself whirred 
 around, the gears meshing in those of the flywheel 
 with which it was connected by a jack shaft, there 
 was no response in the motor itself. 
 
 " There doesn't seem to be a spark," said Sylvia, 
 as she watched the effect of Alice's operations. 
 
 " Yes, there's a spark all right," declared Rose, who 
 had her eyes on one of the patent spark plugs that 
 had an upper chamber in which an auxiliary jump 
 spark could be seen leaping from one platinum point 
 to the other. " The spark is there, but it doesn't 
 seem to fire the charge in the cylinder. Maybe 
 there's no gasoline." 
 
 120
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 " Oh, yes, there is. I tested the tank only a few 
 minutes ago," Sylvia said. 
 
 " Perhaps it's the carburetor," suggested Hazel, 
 after a pause. 
 
 " Don't you dare say that ! " cried Rose. " Once 
 you start to change that adjustment it's all up with 
 us. We'll be here for the night." 
 
 " Don't ! " begged Baby, with an apprehensive 
 glance at the now fast-darkening woods. They were 
 on a lonely part of Indian Point. 
 
 " Oh, we'll get off somehow," Sylvia declared. " I 
 wonder if there are any men about on whom we could 
 call for help. I hate to think of trying to start the 
 motor by hand." 
 
 " And that's what we'll have to do, soon," de 
 clared Alice. " The storage battery is almost run 
 down." 
 
 This was only too true, since they had used much 
 of the energy in trying to make the auxiliary motor 
 of the self-starter do its work. And without the 
 main motor running no more electricity would be 
 available to recharge the storage cells. 
 
 " Well, here goes for a little gymnasium work," 
 Alice said, rolling up her sleeves. 
 
 " I'll see if there's a man, or, perhaps, some camp 
 ers about," volunteered Sylvia, " then I'll come back 
 and take my share." 
 
 Again and again Alice, in the rather cramped 
 quarters in which the motor was housed, tried to 
 start it. But though she could disconnect the self-
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 starter gears, and turn over the flywheel, there was 
 no answering explosion even then. 
 
 " It's the ignition," declared Sylvia, who came 
 back in the gathering twilight to report that she 
 could find no one to help in the comparatively short 
 distance she went away from the others. 
 
 " Maybe it will start on the batteries," suggested 
 Hazel. 
 
 " We've tried that," declared Alice. 
 
 " Well, try again," urged Sylvia. " We must do 
 something. This is a terribly lonesome place, and I, 
 for one, don't want to have to stay here all night ! " 
 
 " I should say not, most decidedly ! " exclaimed 
 Hazel. " I I'll swim back before I'll do that." 
 
 " Well, we certainly won't walk," said Rose, with 
 determination. " We could manage to sleep aboard 
 the Clytie! " she went on. " We could take a stone 
 for an anchor, and shove the boat out in the lake, 
 away from the shore." 
 
 " You seem to have it all thought out," commented 
 Hazel. " Why away from the shore ? " 
 
 " Then no er no snakes could crawl aboard ! " 
 
 " Don't ! " begged Alice, looking up with grimy 
 face and hands from her labor over the motor. She 
 wore gloves, but they did not much protect her, as 
 they were splitting at the seams. 
 
 " Oh, we'll get off some time," Sylvia said. " Here, 
 let me have a try, Alice." 
 
 She took her place at the wheel and worked hard 
 and faithfully. But though the motor coughed,
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 123 
 
 sneezed and gave other evidences of senile decay, 
 there was no healthy " wuff ! " of a genuine ex 
 plosion. 
 
 " There ! That sounded like something ! " cried 
 Rose, suddenly, following a continued whirling about 
 of the flywheel on the part of Sylvia. 
 
 " What sounded like something? " demanded Hazel. 
 
 " As if one of the cylinders had voted to go to 
 work. Let me relieve you, Sylvia." 
 
 " No, if there's a hopeful sign, the best thing to do 
 is to keep on before the cylinder gets cold." 
 
 Again she worked at the motor, and then, to the 
 joy of the girls, it suddenly started off with a suc 
 cession of heavy throbs as though it had intended 
 to do so all the while, but had waited until sufficiently 
 coaxed. 
 
 " There ! " cried Sylvia, in relieved tones as she 
 stretched out on a cushioned locker to ease the pain 
 in her back. " Let her run now until she gets good 
 and warm before throwing in the clutch." 
 
 " What was the matter ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Don't ask me, my dear. I think it was the 
 timer, but I don't want to make any rash assertions 
 for fear some other part of the mechanism will feel 
 slighted and refuse to work until its claims have 
 been recognised. So don't ask me." 
 
 " But it's working now ! " Rose cried. '* We'll get 
 back in time for " 
 
 " The dance ! " finished Alice. " Shall I throw in 
 the clutch now, Sylvia ? "
 
 124 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Yes, we'll take a chance." 
 
 There was a grinding, groaning and squealing 
 sound as the clutch slipped into place. The water 
 under the stern of the boat boiled and bubbled. 
 
 The Clytie started forward and then suddenly 
 brought up with a jerk that jarred the girls. 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed Hazel. 
 
 " What is it? " demanded Rose. 
 
 " It's just as well to loosen the mooring rope when 
 you want to start," said Alice, dryly. " It's rather 
 too much to ask a boat of this size to pull up a big 
 tree by the roots," and she pointed to where the rope 
 from the ring bolt of the forward deck was still tied 
 to a tree on shore. 
 
 " I'll loosen it," offered Sylvia, and the motor was 
 thrown out of gear to enable her to do this. Then, 
 once more they started off, and steered the boat out 
 around the head of Indian Point, for they had gone 
 ashore on the side nearest to Sucker Brook Bay. 
 
 " I do hope it runs all right the rest of the way 
 home," murmured Alice. 
 
 " Hush ! Don't say a word ! Knock wood ! " 
 Hazel advised her, in a mocking whisper. 
 
 It was now dark enough to call for the lighting 
 of the lamps on the craft, and the signal ones, fore 
 and aft, and the red and green ones on either side 
 were set aglow. 
 
 " But we won't light the cabin ones yet," Sylvia 
 decided. 
 
 " Why not ? " demanded Alice. " I want to get
 
 125 
 
 some of the grime off my hands. Otherwise I'll have 
 to wear gloves at the dance, and I despise them on 
 a warm night." 
 
 " We won't light the lights in the cabin until the 
 storage battery has had a chance to pick up some 
 current," Sylvia said. " You can just as well wash 
 in the dark, and we may need current for the self- 
 starter before we get home." 
 
 " I certainly hope not ! " cried Hazel. " We've 
 had trouble enough for one day. We won't get in 
 until after dinner now, and those waiters are so fussy 
 about serving anything after hours." 
 
 " Oh, well, we can tip them," said Sylvia. " I'm 
 afraid we are going to be late, but we are running 
 as fast as we dare in these waters. I don't know 
 them at all." 
 
 They had reached a section of the lake around 
 from Indian Point, and were heading down between 
 the shore and Osprey Island when the motor sud 
 denly ceased humming and throbbing. 
 
 " There ! " cried Sylvia, tragically. 
 
 " Don't say I told you so," begged Alice. 
 
 " Head for shore, quick ! " cried Rose to Hazel, 
 who was steering. 
 
 " Why? " asked the latter. 
 
 " Because we don't want to drift all ovtr the lake, 
 and we have momentum enough to land now. Quick ! 
 Head for shore ! " 
 
 Hazel did so, and the Clytie just managed to poke 
 her nose gently against the bank in the fast-gathering
 
 126 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 darkness. Alice and Sylvia were working frantically 
 to start the motor again, but it would not respond. 
 
 " Well, what are we going to do ? " asked Sylvia, 
 when they had swung broadside to the bank. " It 
 seems we can't get going again." 
 
 "Oh, must we stay here?" demanded Rose, with 
 a glance at the dark and silent woods, while the lonely 
 night settled down all about them.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE LOON 
 
 " WE'LL, stay here long enough to get the motor 
 started again, and then we'll go on," declared Sylvia, 
 with a confidence she did not altogether feel. In 
 spite of her common sense and her " nowadaysness," 
 she felt an almost overpowering sensation of fear. 
 It was as if the darkness were pressing down on her 
 like some black pall a blanket, smothery and 
 choking. 
 
 Yet it was but the ordinary darkness of the woods. 
 But it was an intense blackness, relieved only by the 
 stars, and only a few of them, for the night was 
 somewhat cloudy. 
 
 Those of you who have never been in the woods 
 after dark have no idea how black it can be at night. 
 
 In every city, and in most small towns and villages, 
 there are some lights that burn all night. So that, 
 even if you are not actually at the source of illumina 
 tion, you can see a sort of diffused glow that, in a 
 measure, cuts the blackness. But it is not so in the 
 woods. 
 
 The very darkness of the tree trunks seems to add 
 to the blackness of the night, as though they had 
 absorbed what little light the sun might have left. 
 
 127
 
 128 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 And if, perchance, you come upon a clump of white 
 birches when travelling along a woodland path after 
 night has fallen, they only seem to accentuate the 
 darkness, standing out as they do like attenuated 
 ghosts. 
 
 " Oh, I can't bear it ! " went on Rose, with a little 
 shiver. She cuddled close against Hazel. " I can't 
 bear it!" 
 
 " Don't be silly," was the retort. " The dark can't 
 hurt you." 
 
 " No, but to stay in in those woods ! " and Rose 
 waved an unseen hand at the forest, to the very edge 
 of which the Clytie had drifted with the last of her 
 momentum after the stopping of the motor. 
 
 " We don't have to stay there, we can sleep on the 
 boat and anchor it out in the lake," said Alice. 
 "What are you doing, Sylvia?" she demanded. 
 
 " I'm going to try to start the motor," was the 
 answer. " One of you girls get the boat hook and 
 turn us around. I don't want to collide with the 
 bank." 
 
 " No danger of that," declared Hazel. " She 
 won't start, and if she does wait, I'll throw out the 
 clutch." 
 
 This she did, while Alice took the boat hook, and 
 Sylvia proceeded to operate the self -starter again. 
 The batteries had been recharged somewhat while the 
 motor was going, operating the small dynamo, or 
 magneto, and there was available an electric current 
 for some little time.
 
 129 
 
 Sylvia threw over the operating switch. There was 
 a grinding of gears as the powerful little mechanism 
 operated the propeller shaft, but the motor proper 
 remained mute. Once again there seemed to be 
 trouble with the ignition system, though the spark 
 plugs showed, in the upper chamber where the aux 
 iliary spark-gap was located, that there was current 
 flowing somewhere. 
 
 " But it doesn't reach the ignition chamber and 
 explode the gas," said Sylvia, in disappointed tones, 
 as, again and again, she threw over the self-starter 
 switch. 
 
 " Let it go," advised Hazel. 
 
 "What?" Sylvia cried. 
 
 " I say let it go. Don't try any more. It won't 
 work. The engine needs overhauling, and there's 
 no use wasting all the power in the storage battery. 
 If we do we won't have any for lights, and we don't 
 want to stay here in the dark." 
 
 " Mercy, no ! " exclaimed Rose, shivering again. 
 
 " There are oil lamps," murmured Sylvia, as she 
 looked at the self-starter again, as if she contem 
 plated trying that once more. 
 
 " Oh, but they are so mussy," complained Alice. 
 " Do leave some current in the battery for the incan- 
 descents. It will be something, anyhow, as long as 
 we have to stay here." 
 
 " Oh, do we really have to stay here ? " wailed 
 Rose. " Can't we paddle home? " 
 
 " No oars," said Sylvia, briefly.
 
 130 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 "And just where is home? " asked Alice. "Who 
 knows ? " 
 
 " Why why you can't see anything ! " declared 
 Hazel. " Look ! " 
 
 " What's the use of looking if you can't see any 
 thing? " demanded Sylvia, just the least bit crossly. 
 And no wonder, for she had laboured long over the 
 motor, and fruitlessly. 
 
 " Oh, but we seem to be surrounded by darkness ! " 
 went on Hazel. " There isn't a patch of light any 
 where but up above," and she motioned to one or 
 two faintly-shining stars. 
 
 " We've drifted around some point of land, and 
 we're in a little bay," was the opinion of Alice. 
 " Two ends of land overlap. We can go out the way 
 we came in, if we could only get the boat started." 
 
 " I don't like running in these unknown waters 
 after dark," said Sylvia. 
 
 " But what are we to do, my dear? " asked Rose. 
 " Can we stay here ? " 
 
 "Can we stay anywhere else?" was the instanl 
 question. " We might as well make the best of it, 
 I think, and get comfortable. We have something 
 left to eat, we can make tea or coffee if we brought 
 any with us and there is room to sleep, after a 
 fashion." 
 
 " But not with the boat so near shore," insisted 
 Rose, for the bow of the Clytie was scraping along 
 the wooded bank in response to some slight current 
 of air or water.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 131 
 
 " No, we can anchor out a way," admitted Sylvia. 
 " We'll have to go ashore, though, and get a stone 
 for an anchor." 
 
 " Oh, what will Aunt Theodora think and say? 
 What will the folks at the hotel think? They'll be 
 worried to death, send out a search party for us, 
 rouse the lake. It will be terrible ! " cried Rose, in 
 dismay. 
 
 " No more terrible for them than for us," retorted 
 Sylvia. " This is none of our doing. We'd be only 
 too glad to get back if we could. But we can't make 
 the motor ' mote,' and it would be foolish and risky 
 to get out in the middle of the lake, and be stalled 
 there. We are much better off here." 
 
 " I suppose we could manage to call for help, or 
 make our way to some camp or cottage," suggested 
 Hazel. 
 
 " I'd rather not," Sylvia said, more calmly than 
 she had yet spoken. " If we call for help, the chances 
 are we wouldn't be heard. This seems to be a de 
 serted part of Raquette Lake. Then, too, we'd only 
 strain our voices, and get hysterically nervous if we 
 didn't get an answer." 
 
 " What about shoving the boat along the shore, 
 and close to it, with poles ? " suggested Alice. " We 
 could do that, and perhaps get to some camp that 
 way." 
 
 " We might," assented Sylvia. " But do we want 
 to reach the camp of some men or boys in the middle 
 of the night, all tired out and dishevelled from our
 
 132 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 efforts in poling the boat? I, for one, don't. I pre 
 fer to stay here, in our own boat, where we can lie 
 down in some sort of comfort, at least. We can 
 manage to get enough to eat with what we had left 
 over from lunch. I vote we stay here ! " 
 
 " But what will people say? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " What can they say? I guess it isn't the first 
 time a motor-boat party has been stalled by a balky 
 engine. People can't say anything." 
 
 " I shan't mind it if they do," declared Alice. 
 " Nowadays girls are accorded many more privileges 
 than in former years." 
 
 " Even to staying out all night without a chap 
 eron ? " demanded Rose. 
 
 " When it can't be helped yes ! " said Sylvia, half 
 defiantly. 
 
 " Well, it certainly can't be helped, in this case," 
 declared Alice. 
 
 " Poor Aunt Theodora ! " murmured Hazel. 
 " She will be distracted ! " 
 
 " Nothing of the sort ! " exclaimed Alice, in her 
 most convincing tones. " She knows we can take 
 care of ourselves." 
 
 ' That's what I say," added Sylvia. " She knows 
 we are in a good safe boat. Too safe ! " she added, 
 with a short laugh. " It won't even go, like the old 
 lady's goat in the nursery rhyme. And we are all 
 good swimmers. She may worry a bit at first, but 
 she has had experience with too many schoolgirls' 
 escapades to fret long."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 133 
 
 " This isn't an escapade! " declared Rose. 
 
 "What is it, then?" 
 
 " It will be an experience before we have finished," 
 said Hazel, with a short laugh. 
 
 Somehow the girls could laugh a little now. The 
 feeling of gloom and terror was wearing off. 
 
 " Well, the first thing to do is to go ashore and 
 find a stone for an anchor," said Sylvia, getting 
 practical suddenly. Not that she had not been so 
 before, but this was adapting practicality to new 
 conditions. " We won't need a very heavy one, as 
 there is little wind, and we won't drag much. We 
 want to anchor only a very short way from the 
 shore." 
 
 " What next? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " Next we'll find something to eat, and get com 
 fortable for the night." 
 
 " I never could go to sleep," remonstrated Rose, 
 with a premonitory glance over her shoulder at the 
 blackness that seemed to grow more and more in 
 tense every moment. 
 
 " Well, if you sit up long enough you can go to 
 sleep," suggested Sylvia. " Now I'll light a lan 
 tern, and we'll go ashore for the stone." 
 
 The boat was pushed around with the pole to 
 enable a safe landing to be made. The rope was 
 carried ashore and made fast to a tree branch, to 
 insure the Clytie against drifting off while they were 
 hunting for the rock-anchor. 
 
 Then, with one of the oil lamps, which were used
 
 134 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 for signals in case the electrics gave out, the four 
 girls went ashore. They easily found the proper 
 stone near the water's edge, and making fast the rope 
 to it, pushed the boat out a little way from the 
 bank, and dropped the anchor overboard with a splash 
 that awoke the echoes in that silent place. 
 
 " And now for supper, tea, dinner, breakfast, or 
 whatever w6 choose to call it, J ' suggested Sylvia, who 
 seemed to have taken command of the situation. 
 " What shall it be tea or coffee? We have both," 
 she added, for a hasty search among the lunch 
 baskets had disclosed that fact. 
 
 " Coffee ! " voted Rose. " It will help to keep us 
 awake, and I don't want to close my eyes." 
 
 "Don't be silly!" scoffed Sylvia. "Be a real 
 member of the Nowadays Club ! " 
 
 " All right, I'll try," was the rather faint answer. 
 
 The alcohol stove, which burned the new solid fuel, 
 was set going, and water, in a tiny kettle, was put 
 on to boil. The girls busied themselves setting out 
 the dishes and food on the folding table which was 
 set up in the centre of the cabin, the seats, whicK 
 later would become bunks, being ranged on either 
 side. 
 
 "Now, could anything be more cosy than this?" 
 asked Sylvia, when the kettle was humming. 
 
 " It is nice," assented Hazel. " If only Aunt 
 Theodora knew we were here and all right, I would 
 not worry so " 
 
 Hazel's remarks were interrupted by such a wild,
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 135 
 
 weird cry, bursting out on the silence of the night, 
 echoing and reverberating in the air all about them, 
 that the girls involuntarily uttered screams, and 
 huddled together in the cabin of the boat. 
 
 They stared at each other with fear-lustred eyes, 
 and when Rose dropped a cup, letting it slip from 
 her nerveless fingers so that it crashed into pieces 
 on the cabin floor, it was rather a relief than other 
 wise of the tension. 
 
 Again came that wild, weird cry, something like 
 the laugh of a maniac, or the defiant yell of a mad 
 dened beast. It started with a low cadence, rose to 
 a shrill scream, and died away like the last blast 
 from some siren whistle. 
 
 " What what in the name of mercy was that? " 
 gasped Hazel. 
 
 " Maybe maybe some one calling for us," whis 
 pered Rose. 
 
 " No human being would call that way," Alice 
 .declared, haltingly. 
 
 Again came the cry, eerie and nerve-racking. It 
 seemed to be nearer the boat now. 
 
 " Perhaps campers trying to scare us," stammered 
 Hazel. 
 
 " No one man or boy could yell that way," said 
 Sylvia. " It must be " 
 
 A third time came the cry banshee-like in its 
 weirdness. It was followed by*a splash in the water, 
 seemingly at the very bow of the Clytie. 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed Rose, shrilly.
 
 136 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Be still ! " commanded Sylvia, and she laughed. 
 
 " She she's getting hysterics ! Oh, dear ! " half- 
 moaned Alice. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " and Sylvia was laughing harder than 
 ever. " It's only a loon ! "
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN CAMP 
 
 FOE a moment Sylvia's companions did not respond. 
 They gazed at her as if wondering whether she had 
 really said anything, or as if they did not know 
 whether or not to believe her if she had made any 
 utterance. 
 
 "What what did you say?" asked Rose, at 
 length. 
 
 " That was a loon," Sylvia went on. "A big bird, 
 you know. They are great swimmers and divers, 
 and they have the most awful screech you ever 
 heard." 
 
 " Well, if that was a sample of it, I can well be 
 lieve it ! " said Hazel. 
 
 " Are you sure it was a loon ? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Positive," declared Sylvia. " I knew what it was 
 after I heard the third cry and the splash in the 
 water." 
 
 " It must have been quite near our boat," ven 
 tured Rose. 
 
 " It was," went on Sylvia. " That's what made it 
 sound so weird and terrifying." 
 
 " It sounded like a lost soul," murmured Hazel. 
 " Not that I know what sort of cries are emitted 
 
 137
 
 138 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 by lost souls," she hastened to add, " but that is 
 how I should describe it. I hope the loon doesn't 
 come back and serenade us during the night." 
 
 " Don't you dare suggest such a thing ! " exclaimed 
 Rose. " It was like some one crying out in a horri 
 ble nightmare." 
 
 " I don't believe it will come back," Sylvia de 
 clared. " Sometimes there will be only one loon in 
 a place, but if there are more, one calls to another 
 and they make a terrible racket. I was camping 
 with my father once, and that happened. I was a 
 little girl, but I have never forgotten the loons. 
 This one was probably after a fish. You know they 
 dive into the water, and actually swim under it to 
 get the fish they pursue. They are wonderful swim 
 mers and divers." 
 
 " Well, I hope that one keeps on swimming and 
 diving and that he'll be too busy to do any more 
 yelling this night," said Hazel. " Ugh ! He gave 
 me the shivers." 
 
 " And I broke a cup," added Rose. 
 
 " Never mind, we have enough left for coffee," 
 Sylvia remarked. " I guess the water is boiling now. 
 Pass the sandwiches, girls, and see if there are any 
 olives left." 
 
 " A whole big bottle, of lovely stuffed ones ! " 
 Alice reported, taking it out of a locker. " Where's 
 the corkscrew? " 
 
 It was found, the simple meal was set forth on the 
 table, and the girls gathered around it to eat, but
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 139 
 
 not without little, nervous glances over their shoul 
 ders now and then, at sounds in the nearby woods. 
 
 But gradually this feeling wore off, and the girls 
 were more like themselves. That was one admirable 
 trait of the Nowadays Girls : they could adapt them 
 selves to almost any circumstances. They were very 
 democratic, though that quality was not called for 
 so much in this instance as was good, sound common 
 sense. 
 
 " There, I feel a whole lot better," remarked Sylvia, 
 as she pushed back her plate. 
 
 " So do I," added Hazel. 
 
 " And I'm not nearly so frightened," declared 
 Rose. 
 
 " That's a blessing," Hazel said. 
 
 " Oh, you were just as alarmed as I was, Baby," 
 retorted the Syracuse girl. " But, really, I wouldn't 
 mind hearing that loon call again." 
 
 " Well, 7 certainly would ! " Alice exclaimed. 
 " Don't you dare invite him to call," and they all 
 laughed. 
 
 The girls sat about the cabin, closing the sliding 
 doors for comfort since the night air was chilling. 
 They turned off all but one of the little incandescent 
 lights, so the storage battery would last until morn 
 ing. They left a single lantern burning outside on 
 deck, " to scare away snakes," as Rose jokingly 
 put it. 
 
 In spite of the determination of each one not to 
 go to sleep, Nature was stronger than the will of
 
 140 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 any of the girls, and at times each one felt herself 
 nodding and dozing. 
 
 " I don't care ! " Sylvia finally declared, with a 
 sleepy yawn. " I am going to lie down. We'll all 
 feel better in the morning, and there is nothing in 
 the world to be alarmed about here. Let's * turn 
 in,' as the sailors say." 
 
 After a little hesitation, the other girls did like 
 wise, and soon all four were peacefully slumbering 
 on the seat bunks. 
 
 The rest did make them feel much fresher the next 
 morning. They were awake early, to find the day 
 a most glorious one, and there was coffee enough left 
 for a refreshing cup. 
 
 After that they took turns in trying to start the 
 motor. But the storage battery was used up with 
 out success, nor were their efforts at turning the fly 
 wheel over by hand any more successful. 
 
 " Well, we can pole ourselves along shore, and 
 help will be easy to get in daylight," said Sylvia, 
 cheerfully. " Come on, girls ! " 
 
 They poled their way out of the little bay, where 
 they had spent the night, and gradually worked their 
 boat along the shore. They had not gone far before 
 they heard a hail. It came from a large motor boat, 
 containing several men, who had the look of typical 
 Adirondack guides. 
 
 " I say, be you the lost young ladies ? " was the 
 cry. 
 
 " I think so. We were lost," Sylvia responded.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 141 
 
 " Well, we're lookin' for you," the spokesman went 
 on. " Lot of parties out from the Antlers. What's 
 the matter?" 
 
 " Engine trouble," replied Sylvia, succinctly. 
 
 " I thought Aunt Theodora would start a search 
 for us," remarked Hazel. 
 
 " It's a wonder she didn't come herself," Rose 
 said. 
 
 " We'll give you a tow," went on the man at the 
 wheel of the big motor boat. " We're only one of 
 several searchin' parties. The lady you're with is 
 out, too." 
 
 " I thought so ! " Rose exclaimed. " Dear Aunt 
 Theodora ! Oh, but wasn't it awful of us to stay 
 out all night ! " 
 
 " I don't see how we could help it," Sylvia de 
 clared. " We certainly couldn't walk through the 
 woods at night." 
 
 A little later they were being towed back to the 
 hotel by the searching party, and had related to 
 the kindly guides their experiences. Before they 
 reached the dock another motor boat had sighted 
 them, and came up at full speed. 
 
 " There's Aunt Theodora," called Sylvia. A hand 
 kerchief was vigorously waved, and four others an 
 swered it. 
 
 " Oh, girls, I was much worried about you ! " the 
 guardian said, kissing them all around. " Yet, 
 somehow, I knew you would be all right. However, 
 I organised searching parties, using all the boats
 
 142 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 I could commandeer, and they've been out all night. 
 Didn't you hear them whistling and calling ? " 
 
 " All we heard was the loon," said Hazel. 
 
 Once again they told their story, and a little later 
 they were back at their hotel. 
 
 " Was the dance nice ? " asked Hazel, when she and 
 her chums had changed to fresh garments. 
 
 "They didn't have it," Aunt Theodora said. 
 " Every one was distracted about you, and a num 
 ber of young men declared they would not dance 
 while you were lost. They went out in a boat after 
 you, and they haven't come back yet. I must say 
 it was very nice of them." 
 
 "What? Not coming back?" asked Sylvia. 
 " That isn't a bit nice. We want them to dance with 
 us. Though it was a tribute to shall I say our 
 popularity ? to call off the hop." 
 
 " Hope they have it to-night," murmured Alice. 
 
 The young men returned, rather weary and for 
 lorn, but the news that the lost ones had been found 
 reached them before they arrived at the dock, so they 
 came up singing and rejoicing. 
 
 That night the postponed dance was held. 
 
 " Oh, but weren't you girls frightened to death, 
 staying out all alone that way?" asked Natalie, 
 during an interval between dances. 
 
 " Not after we had gotten used to it," Sylvia said. 
 " It was rather a lark." 
 
 " No, it was a loon! " corrected Alice, with a laugh. 
 
 " Say, little one, I think you're dancing too many
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 143 
 
 dances with one partner," commented Rose, turning 
 to Hazel. 
 
 "How can I help it? He asks me before any of 
 the other fellows have a chance not that I want 
 them, for he dances beautifully," said Hazel, with 
 an assumed innocent air that became her well. 
 
 " Hopeless ! " murmured Sylvia. 
 
 Then the music began a dreamy hesitation. 
 
 So delightful did the Nowadays Girls find their 
 stay at the Antlers that they decided to prolong their 
 visit another week. Sylvia received a message, saying 
 that her brother was doing as well as could be ex 
 pected, and this somewhat cheered her and Rose. 
 
 " And now what do you say to a few days in 
 camp?" asked Mrs. Brownley, when she and her 
 charges had returned one day from a long motor 
 trip. 
 
 " Camp ? " exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 " Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Parson are talking of 
 going off to the woods to live in a tent, near a small 
 lake not far from here, and they asked me if I 
 thought you girls wouldn't like to join them. What 
 shall I say?" 
 
 " Please accept for us," said Sylvia. " That is, if 
 the others agree. It will give us a taste of real wil 
 derness life. So different from hotel existence." 
 
 " But we can't have any dances," objected Alice. 
 
 " Oh, we can get along without them for a little 
 while," Rose said. 
 
 " Well, if you can exist without a onestep, I'm
 
 144 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 sure I can, or a half-and-half, either," declared Alice. 
 " Ho, for the camp ! " 
 
 " Do we have to do our own cooking? " asked 
 Hazel. 
 
 " No, I believe they are going to take a cook 
 along." 
 
 " So much nicer," murmured Sylvia, " though I 
 have cooked in camp, and over an open fire. But I 
 can't say I like it. When do we go, Aunt Theo 
 dora?" 
 
 " In a day or so. I'll go and tell Mrs. Parson you 
 will accept their kind invitation." 
 
 So it was arranged. And a day or so later the 
 little party went over to Shedd Lake, about four 
 miles from Raquette Lake, there to live under canvas 
 for perhaps a week.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CANOEING 
 
 CAMP NATALIE it was named, in honour of the bride, 
 though she blushingly protested. But Sylvia and 
 her chums insisted, and the name was built up in 
 bark letters on a board, and suspended in the little 
 open glade in front of the tents, which faced the blue 
 waters of the lake. 
 
 The camp was a most complete and modern one. 
 A man had been engaged to look after the putting 
 up of the tents, and the arranging of all matters, 
 so that the fun-lovers had really nothing to worry 
 about. And the man had done his work well. 
 
 There were five canvas shelters in all, besides a 
 small additional one near the cook tent, where slept 
 the buxom woman who presided over the dishes, pots 
 and pans. 
 
 A large tent that could be made open to the 
 glorious breezes, or closed in case of stormy weather, 
 served as the dining-room. The cooking was done 
 in another tent, with a real stove, burning coal that 
 was transported to camp in a wagon. For there is 
 nothing more exasperating than to cook over a wood 
 fire. Either it is too hot, or it has expired before 
 the cook is aware of it, and has to be brought hastily 
 
 145
 
 146 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 to life again to the detriment of the viands. So coal 
 solved the problem. 
 
 Then there were three sleeping tents, with ample 
 accommodations and the most modern of cots. In 
 fact it was a most comfortable camp, and the Now 
 adays Girls, as well as Natalie and her husband, 
 pronounced it to be perfect. 
 
 After setting the camp to rights, which was no 
 small task, even though the cook and her husband, 
 a guide, helped, there followed a somewhat lazy 
 period. The girls went for strolls in the balsam- 
 odorous woods, or sat on the shores of the little 
 lake, looking at the view. Sometimes, when Rose 
 was particularly pensive, Hazel or Alice would ask: 
 
 "Can't you stop it?" 
 
 " Stop what? " she would ask, sometimes before she 
 thought. 
 
 " Thinking of Roy." 
 
 " Oh ! " and she would blush rosy red. 
 
 " Well, I don't blame her for thinking of him, if 
 he's as nice as his picture indicates," said Natalie 
 for so all the girls called her. " I shall like him 
 myself!" 
 
 "Oh! "exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 " In a perfectly brotherly way," Natalie added, 
 calmly. " In fact I almost think of him as a brother 
 already." 
 
 " He is awfully nice," declared Alice. " He is such 
 a dear boy, and it was too bad that this trouble had 
 to come to him."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 147 
 
 " I do hope he will get over it," Natalie said. 
 
 " We all trust so," replied his sister. " It means 
 so much to him in his success with that chemical 
 firm. Roy really overworked, trying to solve some 
 chemical problem, and that brought on a breakdown. 
 Only that the doctor thought it best for us to keep 
 away from him a little while, I should be with him 
 now." 
 
 Rose did not say so, but doubtless she, too, wished 
 she could help to minister to Roy. For between the 
 two was a bond of more than mere friendship. And 
 presently Rose went off by herself in the green and 
 silent woods. 
 
 " Poor girl," murmured Natalie. " I know how 
 
 she must feel. Bob was ill once But there, you 
 
 don't want to hear about the troubles of an old 
 married couple ! " and her merry laugh rang out. 
 
 There were glorious days in the woods, at Camp 
 Natalie. The girls went fishing a number of times, 
 and explored little-travelled trails through the forest. 
 But they did not go far enough to get lost, and Mrs. 
 Rachlin was almost as expert in the woods as was 
 her guide-husband. She led forth the little parties, 
 after her work in camp was done, and many were the 
 hidden mysteries of the forest that she laid bare. 
 
 Aunt Theodora, too, enjoyed this life in the 
 open. 
 
 " I think, really," she said, in her precise little 
 way, " that this is more educating than some trips 
 to Europe. One gets so tired of following in the
 
 148 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 beaten paths, even of knowledge. This is positively 
 a revelation." 
 
 " I am so glad it isn't boring you," said Sylvia. 
 
 " Boring me ! My dear, I would never be bored 
 where you girls were ! " 
 
 " Which is very nice for you to say, at any rate," 
 laughed Hazel. 
 
 "Oh, I mean it!" declared "Guardy!" as the 
 girls affectionately called Mrs. Brownley at times. 
 
 " Positively I'm ashamed of my appetite ! " said 
 Hazel, after one meal. " But, really, I never ate 
 anything that tasted so good as the food does here. 
 I think it must be the air." 
 
 " Or the cooking ! " added Alice. 
 
 " The cooking certainly has much to do with it," 
 declared Sylvia. " Mrs. Rachlin gets up some won 
 derful dishes. I really don't see how she does it with 
 the limited means at her disposal." 
 
 " Oh, I'm used to rough cooking," said the person 
 under discussion. " You girls are easy compared to 
 lumbermen, and I've cooked for them when my hus 
 band has been in charge of a gang. They certainly 
 can eat ! " and she shook her head in remembrance. 
 
 The delights of the water added to the pleasure 
 of the girls and their friends at Camp Natalie. They 
 had sent for canoes, which were brought over on a 
 wagon, and one day they set out to explore a small 
 but rather rapid and turbulent stream connected 
 with Shedd Lake. 
 
 The four Nowadays Girls, in two canoes, went off
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 149 
 
 by themselves, for Mrs. Brownley would not trust 
 herself in one of the frail craft, and Natalie and 
 Bob voted for a quiet and rather solitary stroll 
 through the woods. 
 
 " Now do sit quiet, Rose," begged Sylvia, who 
 was in the bow of one craft, while Rose was in the 
 stern. Hazel and Alice were in like positions in 
 another canoe. 
 
 " Sit quiet ! Don't I always ? " Rose demanded. 
 
 " You do except when you see an old stump or 
 floating log and think it's an alligator ! " Sylvia 
 chided. 
 
 " As if she didn't know, by this time, that alli 
 gators are unknown reptiles in the Adirondacks," 
 laughed Alice. 
 
 So they started off in the canoes, threading their 
 way in and out along the winding stream, now float 
 ing lazily under some overhanging boughs, and again 
 moving rapidly down some little stretch where the 
 waters bubbled and foamed over the stones in such 
 a manner as to have that particular section desig 
 nated as " rapids." 
 
 " Look out, girls ! " Sylvia called back to Alice 
 and Hazel, whose canoe had dropped astern. 
 " Here's a bad passage just ahead." 
 
 " All right. We see it ! " answered Hazel. 
 
 " Now do sit steady, Rose ! " pleaded Sylvia. 
 
 " Steady it is ! " Rose answered, plying her paddle 
 carefully. 
 
 Whether she disobeyed the injunction, or whether
 
 150 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 she gave a wrong turn to the broad blade, will never 
 be known, but just as the canoe was in the midst of 
 the swirling water there was a sudden scream from 
 Rose, echoing ones from Hazel and Alice, and the 
 craft containing Sylvia and her chum rolled over, 
 spilling them both out.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE MASQUERADE 
 
 " STEADY ! Back water ! " 
 
 It was Hazel who gave the command, and the mo 
 mentary feeling of panic that had swept over Alice 
 passed. 
 
 " Over that way ! " Hazel went on, nodding to 
 indicate that she meant to steer their canoe toward 
 a bit of still water, an eddy formed under an over 
 hanging bank of the stream. 
 
 " All right ! " was the tense reply of her chum, 
 and a moment later the light craft shot past the 
 rolling overturned one of Sylvia and Rose, and was 
 in quiet water. 
 
 Meanwhile, after the first sudden plunge into the 
 stream a plunge that deprived them of their 
 breath for an instant the two girls who had been 
 spilled out regained control of themselves. 
 
 The Nowadays Girls had the almost invaluable 
 faculty of remaining cool, or quickly becoming cool 
 in emergencies. 
 
 This had been proved in a number of instances in 
 times past, when they had been in no little danger. 
 Once there was an incipient fire at Miss Stevenson's 
 school, and the alarm drill was called for. It re- 
 
 151
 
 152 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 mained for our four friends and a few others, to 
 lead to safety the majority of the school, and for 
 this bravery there had been no small thanks and 
 honour. 
 
 So now, in this time of danger, the two girls who 
 were in a place of safety remained calm and col 
 lected and were ready for rescue work. Fortunately, 
 however, the water of the stream was not deep. It 
 could hardly be so and fuss and foam over the rapids 
 in the way it did. So Rose and Sylvia, after having 
 been rolled over and over a number of times, during 
 which period they clung to the paddles, found them 
 selves in comparatively still water, and struck out 
 for shore. 
 
 It was then that the wisdom of Hazel and Alice 
 showed itself, for they were at the bank, waiting for 
 their companions. There was no need for them to 
 leap in to the rescue, for they saw that Sylvia and 
 Rose were both swimming well, in spite of their wet 
 and clinging garments. Their dresses were light 
 summer ones, which were not much more hampering 
 than bathing suits would have been. And they wore 
 light, rubber-soled boating shoes. 
 
 " Catch hold ! " cried Hazel, flinging to Rose, who 
 was in advance of Sylvia, a long rope they carried 
 in the canoe for mooring purposes. The coils 
 straightened out, and the end of the line fell near the 
 swimming girl. 
 
 " All right ! " Rose answered, as she caught hold, 
 and a moment later she was being pulled toward the
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 153 
 
 bank, suspending her swimming strokes, for she was 
 a little exhausted, not only by her efforts, but by 
 the rolling and tumbling process to which she had 
 been subjected when the canoe upset. 
 
 " We'll be ready for you in a moment, Sylvia ! " 
 called Hazel. 
 
 " Don't worry, I can touch bottom," was the reas 
 suring answer, and, to prove it, Sylvia stood up, a 
 dripping and dishevelled figure, but a smiling one, 
 nevertheless. It took more than a ducking to disturb 
 Sylvia Pursell. 
 
 Rose, who had taken a little different course from 
 that followed by her companion in misfortune, now 
 found herself in water that was not so deep but that 
 she could stand up, which she did, still keeping hold 
 of the rope. 
 
 " Well," said Sylvia, finally, after she had caught 
 her breath, and wrung enough water from her fallen 
 hair so that it ceased to run in little rivulets down 
 her face. "Well!" 
 
 " Most decidedly well ! " exclaimed Alice. " A 
 very wet well indeed! How did it happen? " 
 
 " Don't ask me ask Rose," laughed Sylvia. She 
 could laugh now, though it had seemed serious enough 
 for the moment. 
 
 " It wasn't my fault," her companion asserted, 
 smiling across the water that separated them. Be 
 hind them foamed the little rapid, filling the air 
 with its insistent murmur. 
 
 " I guess we didn't make allowances for the speed
 
 154- THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 and strength of the current," Sylvia said. " It 
 seemed to grip the canoe in a moment." 
 
 "By the way, where is the canoe?" asked Hazel. 
 
 They looked down-stream, and saw their boat ap 
 parently moving by itself over the tops of the low 
 bushes. It was turned upside down and was bob 
 bing about in a most unaccountable manner. 
 
 " Look look at that ! " fairly gasped Alice, from 
 her position on the bank. 
 
 " Why, what does it mean ? " asked Hazel, faintly. 
 
 The four girls watched the canoe with increasing 
 astonishment. It seemed to be moved by spirit hands, 
 gliding, upside down, over the tops of the bushes in 
 a curious undulating fashion. 
 
 " Could it have struck a rock, and bounced out on 
 shore? " asked Rose. 
 
 " If it struck a rock with enough force for that, 
 it would be in pieces, instead of whole, as it seems 
 to be," Sylvia answered. 
 
 " But isn't it remarkable? " murmured Alice. 
 
 " To say the least yes," agreed Rose. 
 
 Then, as the girls watched, the canoe seemed to 
 sink down in the bushes, as a magician causes a cer 
 tain card to appear from the centre of the pack, and 
 to descend again. 
 
 " This must be seen to," Sylvia declared, with 
 energy. " We can't have any white magic like this 
 going on without making an investigation. Come on, 
 Rose." 
 
 She started wading toward shore.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 155 
 
 " Better wait until we pull Rose in, and then we'll 
 fling you the rope," advised Alice. 
 
 " Oh, I don't need the rope, I can walk without 
 that," declared Rose. 
 
 " Better not try," suggested Sylvia. " There may 
 be some deep holes between here and shore. Keep 
 hold of the rope, then I'll use it. And after that 
 we'll see if our canoe has taken unto itself wings 
 and flown away." 
 
 There was no need for the line from shore, as it 
 developed, and soon Rose and Sylvia, after safely 
 wading to the bank, joined their more fortunate com 
 panions. Alice and Hazel made fast their canoe, 
 and Rose and Sylvia wrung as much water as pos 
 sible from their skirts, then all four started toward 
 the place where the canoe had been observed to so 
 oddly nestle amid the underbrush. 
 
 The girls found a fairly good path along the shore, 
 and following this, they turned in and out, as the 
 trail led, bending itself to the curves of the stream, 
 until they suddenly emerged into a small clearing. 
 
 And there, sitting by the canoe, which had been 
 turned in a most favorable position so that the sun 
 might dry it out, was a bronzed young man who was 
 gravely contemplating his wet and dripping legs that 
 were clad in khaki trousers. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Sylvia, faintly, as she saw the 
 young man slowly turn his head in the direction of 
 the sound caused by the girls pushing their way past 
 the bushes that overhung the trail.
 
 156 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " So, that was what made the canoe behave in such 
 a mysterious way ! " murmured Hazel. 
 
 " He must have pulled it out of the water," sug 
 gested Alice. 
 
 Rose stood looking at the young man, saying 
 nothing. 
 
 As for the youth himself, he rose to his feet, thereby 
 disclosing the fact that he was rather tall. He wore 
 no hat, but a half-military salute toward his brown, 
 curling hair made up for what doubtless would have 
 been a deferential removal of his head-gear had he 
 worn any. 
 
 " Are you looking for a lost, strayed or otherwise 
 missing canoe?" he asked, at the same time motion 
 ing toward the one on the grass near him. 
 
 " Yes, that is ours," said Sylvia. " We had an 
 upset in the rapids." 
 
 " I guessed as much," the stranger said. " I was 
 about to go in search of the owners, fearing some 
 accident might have happened, but you have saved 
 me a journey. Perhaps I can be of some assist 
 ance ? " 
 
 " Thank you, I believe we are all right now," 
 Sylvia said. " We held on to our paddles. We 
 
 She started forward, as though to prove her claim 
 to the canoe by exhibiting the paddles, but Rose 
 pulled her back. 
 
 " Don't go ! " came the half-frantic whisper. 
 " You're a sight, and so am I ! Let Hazel and Alice 
 walk ahead. They aren't dripping wet and their hair
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 157 
 
 isn't hanging seven ways for Sunday. Let them 
 go ahead ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Sylvia, comprehendingly. " Yes, 
 I guess you're right, Rose. We don't look exactly 
 presentable." 
 
 The young man had waited inquiringly as this 
 little discussion was in progress, and if he understood 
 the nature of it he gave no sign. 
 
 Concealed by the friendly and effectual screen of 
 bushes the change was made, bringing Alice and 
 Hazel into the vanguard, and letting Sylvia and 
 Rose take up a position in the rear. A hasty glance 
 over the trail they had come showed no enemy at 
 their backs, and they were sufficiently guarded by 
 underbrush on either side of the path to prevent a 
 flank attack. 
 
 " I'll put the canoe back in the stream for you, in 
 a few minutes," the young man went on. "I was 
 letting the water drain out of it. I was fishing just 
 about here," he said, " when I saw it coming down 
 stream. I guessed what had happened and waded 
 out to get it. Then I put it over my head and took 
 it to shore." 
 
 " Oh ! That was what made it look so funny ! " 
 exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 " Funny ? " the young man questioned. 
 
 " We could only see the boat from where we were," 
 explained Alice, " and it looked as though it were 
 floating on top of the bushes, upside down." 
 
 " Oh, I see," he went on, comprehendingly. " You
 
 158 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 couldn't see me because my head was under the canoe, 
 and you couldn't see the rest of me because the 
 bushes formed a screen. Yes, it must have been 
 rather odd." 
 
 " It was," said Sylvia, and she could not restrain 
 a merry laugh. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed the young man, and it seemed 
 as though the laugh had come in answer to some 
 question he asked himself. And the question might 
 have been in regard to the disappearance of the two 
 wet and dripping girls he had first observed, for 
 Alice and Hazel were now in front of Rose and 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " It was very good of you to save the canoe," 
 Hazel said. " It might have been dashed to pieces 
 on the rocks." 
 
 " Oh, it was past the danger spot when I got it," 
 the youth said, with a smile that seemed to illuminate 
 his brown face. " Don't credit me with too much. 
 I just grabbed it as it was floating past." 
 
 " I'm afraid we spoiled your fishing," said Alice, at 
 the same time voicing to her chums a hoarsely whis 
 pered aside to the effect : " Why don't you two do 
 something? Going to leave it all to Hazel and me? " 
 
 " What shall we say? " demanded Rose. 
 
 " Oh, say ' pleased to meet you,' if you can't think 
 of anything else," retorted Alice. 
 
 " Are you sure I can't do anything for you ? " the 
 youth asked, as he prepared to put the canoe over 
 his head and shoulders, in the most approved guide
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 159 
 
 ** carry " position, and start for the water with it. 
 " I'd like to help you." 
 
 " Thank you, we are all right," Alice said. " We 
 are going back to camp." 
 
 " Oh, then you are camping here? " he asked, and 
 Rose said afterward that his voice had a " hopeful " 
 sound. 
 
 " Just for a little while," Hazel answered, waving 
 her hand indefinitely toward the woods. 
 
 " Ah, I see. I'm a camper also," he added, but he 
 gave no further information about himself. 
 
 " If I might suggest," he said, as he shouldered 
 the light canoe, " it might be better for me to take 
 this for you past the rapids. They are rather hard 
 to traverse up-stream, and they are high from the 
 rain. You won't have any trouble once you get past 
 the rough place, however. Let me put the boat in 
 the water for you a little farther up." 
 
 " Oh, that is entirely too much trouble ! " protested 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " No, indeed ! " he said, quickly. " I'm glad to be 
 able to help you." 
 
 The girls turned to go back along the trail they 
 must follow in order to get past the rapids. This 
 turn brought Sylvia and Rose in the rear, and directly 
 behind them was the youth with the canoe. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Rose, as she thought of her 
 dripping garments and dishevelled hair. It was the 
 very thing they had sought to avoid. 
 
 " He can't see us with the canoe over his head,"
 
 160 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 declared Sylvia. " If we change now he'll laugh ! Go 
 
 on! 
 
 i 
 
 And go on they did. 
 
 The other canoe was found safely floating in the 
 deep eddy where it had been moored, and a little 
 later the one that had overturned, now righted and 
 comparatively dry, was put in the stream at a point 
 past the rapids. 
 
 " Now I'll carry the other one there for you, and 
 you won't have much trouble paddling back," the 
 young man said. And in spite of the rather half 
 hearted protests of the girls, this he did. 
 
 By this time the warm sun and the wind had done 
 much toward drying the garments of Sylvia and 
 Rose. And they had managed to put up their hair 
 in some sort of fashion that, though they did not 
 realize it, was wonderfully becoming. 
 
 " Now I think you'll be all right," the young man 
 said, when the four girls, in the two boats, were ready 
 to paddle back. 
 
 " Yes, indeed. And thank you so much ! " said 
 Sylvia, warmly. Her thanks were echoed in a chorus 
 by the others. 
 
 Again with that graceful, half-military salute to 
 ward his bared head, the bronzed youth watched them 
 paddle away. And it was not until they were around 
 the bend of the stream that Alice exclaimed: 
 
 " Oh, we never asked his name ! " 
 
 " Nor told ours ! " added Hazel. 
 
 " Why should we? " demanded Sylvia.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 161 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," was Hazel's slow retort. 
 
 They paddled slowly back to camp, where Mrs. 
 Brownley was not a little exercised over the upset. 
 
 " It was nothing ! " Sylvia said. " We get used 
 to such things nowadays." 
 
 This was really the only little accident that marred 
 the camping outing, and that did not so much mar 
 it as it marked it. Two or three days afterward 
 the girls went canoeing, and successfully passed the 
 rapids. But they saw nothing of the young man. 
 Indeed, though the eyes of all four roved through 
 the woods and along the wilderness trails, not one 
 would admit that she was looking for anything or 
 any one in particular. 
 
 Then came the day when they went back to the 
 Antlers. They had spent a glorious week in the 
 woods. 
 
 As the campers reached the porch, to be made wel 
 come by their hotel friends, they saw a group gath 
 ered about the bulletin board. 
 
 " I wonder what that means ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Let's look," suggested Sylvia. 
 
 They found it was an announcement of a mas 
 querade dance to be given two nights hence. 
 
 " Oh, we simply must go to that ! " cried Hazel. 
 
 " Surely ! " agreed Alice. 
 
 " But what about costumes ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " We'll make our own. Masks will be easy to get, 
 I fancy," Sylvia said. " We'll make inquiries." 
 
 They found that masks of various sorts were easily
 
 162 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 obtainable, and some costumes also, though most of 
 the ladies were going to make their own, out of simple 
 materials. 
 
 Preparations for the masque fete went merrily on, 
 and none took more interest in it than our Nowadays 
 Girls. 
 
 " The usual penny," said Rose, suddenly, one day, 
 as the four sat in Sylvia's room, sewing. Rose 
 looked at Hazel as she thus challenged her. 
 
 "Penny? For what? " 
 
 " Your thoughts, of course. You're in a brown 
 study and the shade doesn't at all match your dress." 
 
 " Oh, I was thinking Hazel stopped sud 
 
 denly. 
 
 " She was thinking of the young man of the 
 woods," declared Sylvia, with a laugh.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE MYSTIC MOON 
 
 SOFTLY the musicians played behind a bank of palms. 
 Softly shone the mystic moon outside, brighter even 
 than the lights of the ballroom, for they had been 
 turned low, since it was not yet the hour to trip 
 the light fantastic. The melody came only in haunt 
 ing strains, a ripple from the piano as the player 
 tried the keys in some snatch of a onestep, the half- 
 sobbing voice of the violin in a haunting, dreamy 
 waltz, the mellow trill of the flute, and the more 
 military sound of the French horn. The musicians 
 were making ready. 
 
 Now and then, through the corridors of the hotel 
 flitted strange figures. Figures whose faces were con 
 cealed by masks. They glided here and there, into 
 rooms and out again. 
 
 And of mysterious import were many whispered 
 messages that floated up and down the corridors. 
 
 " Have you any more powder? " 
 
 Surely a strange " engagement " that needed pow 
 der on a night like that. 
 
 " I want some pins ! " 
 
 " I shall have to take a tuck in it." 
 
 " My slippers will never stay on when I get to 
 dancing ! " 
 
 163
 
 164 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Use a rubber band around your instep. It won't 
 show much ! " 
 
 " Do you think he'll know me ? " 
 
 " Never not in that ! " 
 
 " Oh, but he saw me getting it ! " 
 
 " He thought it was for me. He'll take me for 
 you and 
 
 " Oh, I don't know that I want that ! " 
 
 And so on. 
 
 It was the night of the masquerade, a night full 
 of promises of surprise, a night of mystery, of mystic 
 moonlight. The big hotel was thronged, for invita 
 tions had been general, and from many other camps 
 and places in Raquette Lake had come the merry 
 makers and dancers. 
 
 "Well, are you almost ready?" asked Sylvia, as 
 she slipped into the room of Alice, not wearing her 
 mask, for the Nowadays Girls and Mrs. Brownley 
 had a private hall to themselves. 
 
 " Almost, yes. How do you like my dress? " 
 
 " It's perfect. I never thought you could get such 
 a stunning effect from that calico and creton." 
 
 Alice was a Dresden shepherdess, and a sweet and 
 dainty figure she made. 
 
 " Your own costume is a dream, Sylvia ! " 
 
 " I'm glad it isn't a nightmare," was the laughing 
 retort. Sylvia was attired as Night in a black 
 dress, spangled with stars, and quarter moons. It 
 became her wonderfully well. Her black mask dan 
 gled from her hand. Soon it would be time to don it.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 165 
 
 Rose was a Columbine, in a voluminous clown suit 
 of white with black spots, and a peaked hat, while 
 Baby Reed was Little Miss Muffit. 
 
 The girls hoped they had kept their secrets well, 
 and that none of the hotel guests had discovered 
 the designs of their costumes. Mrs. Brownley was 
 to go just as herself, in common with some of the 
 other matrons of the hotel, who would act as chap 
 erons and patronesses of the dance, which was for a 
 local charity. 
 
 Louder sounded the entrancing music. The strains 
 of it penetrated to the room of our friends, and set 
 their feet to tapping the floor impatiently. 
 
 "Aren't you ready yet, Rose? " asked Sylvia; for 
 they were waiting for some last touches to be put 
 to her dress by one of the chambermaids. 
 
 " Yes coming ! " 
 
 They went out, masked, to the main hall, to find 
 themselves in a gay throng of other maskers, who 
 were attired with more or less historic semblance to 
 represent characters, past, present and future. This 
 was the ladies' dressing floor. The gentlemen were 
 on the one below. 
 
 There were murmurs of " Ohs ! " and " Ahs ! " as 
 Sylvia and her chums came from their rooms. 
 
 " Those are the four girls ! " came in whispers 
 from various corners, with the accent on " the." 
 
 " Where's Natalie? " asked Hazel, in a low voice, 
 of Sylvia. " She wanted to go down with us." 
 
 " She and her husband are going as Jack and Jill,"
 
 166 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 explained Sylvia. " But don't mention it. She 
 doesn't want it known that she is married." 
 
 " Has she taken, off her wedding ring? " Alice 
 asked. 
 
 "Indeed not! Brides don't do that. But she is 
 going to wear gloves. There she is now." 
 
 A charming " Jill " came out of a room and j oined 
 the four girls. 
 
 There sounded a crash of music from the ballroom 
 floor. 
 
 " Oh, come on ! " begged Hazel. " We're missing 
 it." 
 
 As they passed the floor where the gentlemen were 
 costuming, a group passed down the broad staircase. 
 There were clowns, tramps, gallants of the thir 
 teenth century, courtiers, Puritans, aviators, sailors, 
 soldiers and what-not. 
 
 Down the stairs hustled and bustled the mas- 
 queraders, eager to throng into the place whence the 
 music came. It was a hesitation waltz, and Sylvia 
 presently found herself whirling through it with a 
 Spaniard who danced wonderfully well. 
 
 " Do you do the Marcel ? " he asked, looking in 
 tently at her as if to pierce her identity through her 
 mask. 
 
 " Yes," she said, trying to speak unnaturally, for 
 she suspected her partner was a certain young man 
 staying at the Antlers. 
 
 He whirled her about in the pivot, glided first on 
 her right side, and then, after a hesitation, to the
 
 rsl 
 
 SYLVIA PRESENTLY FOUND HERSELF WHIRLING THROUGH 
 IT WITH A SPANIARD WHO DANCED WONDERFULLY WELL
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 167 
 
 left, again whirling into the waltz. She knew this 
 dance perhaps better than any of the newest new ones, 
 and she was not a little gratified when her partner 
 remarked : 
 
 " That was beautifully done. Don't you like it? " 
 
 " Indeed, yes. It is such a change from the plain 
 hesitation." 
 
 They found themselves in a crush, and had to 
 " lame duck " it for a few steps until they found 
 themselves free again. 
 
 " Do you know what that reminds me of? " he 
 asked, as they passed the palm-screened corner where 
 the musicians were playing. 
 
 "What?" she asked. 
 
 " The hesitation. It reminds me of a canoe grace 
 fully overturning in the rapids " 
 
 " What! You? " she cried, astonished. 
 
 " Even so, O Night ! " He spoke dramatically. 
 " I thought I should find you again, but I looked for 
 a Niobe." 
 
 " Why, because I was all water ? " 
 
 " Somewhat, yes. May I have the next dance? " 
 
 " I I am not so sure " 
 
 " You had better be. Come out on the veranda. 
 The moon is glorious." The music had stopped, and 
 as there had already been two encores there would 
 be no more. 
 
 Sylvia, her heart beating rather fast, stepped out 
 of the low windows to the porch whereon were many 
 strolling couples. Sylvia was on her guard. After
 
 168 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 all it might be one of the hotel guests who had heard 
 the story of the upset. 
 
 A figure that Sylvia recognised as that of Alice 
 came up to her, but stopped on seeing her with the 
 Spaniard. 
 
 " Oh ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 "Yes?" asked Sylvia. 
 
 " Nothing now, I'll speak to you later." 
 
 " Oh, I'll leave you," said the Spaniard, quickly. 
 " Remember, I have the new dance, O Night," he said, 
 and with a bow he was gone. 
 
 " Who is it? " asked Alice, in a whisper. 
 
 " The young man who saved our canoe." 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 " So he says." 
 
 " You can't believe a word they say. Did you 
 have a nice dance? " 
 
 "Lovely! And you?" 
 
 " Perfect. I'm engaged for the next one. Are 
 you?" 
 
 " Well, if he insists on claiming it I can hardly 
 say no. And he really does dance beautifully. Have 
 you seen Rose or Hazel ? " 
 
 "Yes, they were enjoying themselves, evidently. 
 I want some pins. Have you any? " 
 
 Alice was supplied, and went to the dressing-room. 
 Sylvia was looking for Hazel or Rose, when the music 
 started up again. She saw a grotesquely attired 
 Dutchman approaching, and wondered if he would 
 ask her to dance.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 169 
 
 He did. 
 
 " This is ours, I believe, O Night," he murmured. 
 
 "Yours? I er I " 
 
 " I am the knight of the overturned canoe, who 
 wore no hat," he said, in a low voice.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 
 
 SYLVIA did not know what to say. There were two 
 explanations possible perhaps more, but two cer 
 tainly. 
 
 One was that the Spaniard had hastily changed 
 his costume, or else that there were two young men 
 who had penetrated her disguise, and were conversant 
 at least with the episode of the overturned canoe. 
 And both explanations were feasible. 
 
 " I er I half promised this dance," murmured 
 Sylvia. " I told " 
 
 " Yes, and I am he whom you told," was the 
 answer. 
 
 " He was a " 
 
 " Yes, I know. But pardon me for pointing out 
 that we are missing part of it," and he led her in 
 through the low window to the ballroom. It was a 
 onestep, and Sylvia could not judge, from the style 
 of her partner's dancing, whether or not he was the 
 same one she had had in the hesitation. 
 
 " I trust you did not take cold," he said, " from 
 your immersion." 
 
 " Oh, no, not at all," Sylvia said. She and her 
 chums had been reasonably sure that the camping 
 
 170
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 171 
 
 accident was known only to a few in the hotel, for it 
 had been made light of, and canoe upsets were far 
 too common to make much fuss over. And yet if this 
 were not the young man who had rescued the canoe 
 he must be some one of the boarders at the Antlers 
 who knew more about the episode than had been 
 given out by the participants. 
 
 " And why did he change his costume, when he 
 practically acknowledged who he was ? " Sylvia asked 
 herself. 
 
 " I hope you did not tire yourself carrying the 
 canoes ? " she remarked, casually, after a period of 
 silence. 
 
 "I? Oh, no. Not in the least. Do you do the 
 aeroplane in this dance ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Shall we ? 
 
 " If you please." 
 
 He swung her into it with ease and grace. Then 
 she was sure from his manner of stepping at her side 
 that this was the same dancer who had been with 
 her in the hesitation. But why had he changed his 
 costume? That was a question which she could not 
 answer. 
 
 The music stopped, but there was at once an in 
 sistent applauding for an encore, which, after a few 
 seconds of waiting, came. 
 
 " Is your camp near here ? " Sylvia asked. 
 
 " Not far away. Is yours ? " 
 
 " No, not now."
 
 172 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Evidently he did not know she was a hotel guest. 
 The mystery deepened. 
 
 " Would it be asking too much to crave the next 
 number ? " he murmured, when the last encore had 
 been danced out. 
 
 " Well, I er I " 
 
 " Oh, not if you are engaged ! " he hastily inter 
 posed. 
 
 Sylvia was not, but she knew there would be no 
 trouble in getting a partner. 
 
 " I shall see you again, anyhow," he said, as he 
 bowed and walked off. Alice, Hazel and Rose found 
 Sylvia standing on the porch in the brilliant moon 
 light. 
 
 " Oh, I had the loveliest dance ! " Rose said, clap 
 ping her hands. " He showed me some new steps. 
 He was dressed as a Spaniard and he was the same 
 fellow who saved our canoe for us." 
 
 " He he was ? " gasped Sylvia. " Do you mean 
 just now? " 
 
 " No, he didn't save our canoe just now. I mean 
 when we were in the rapids." 
 
 " But did you just dance this onestep with him 
 with a Spaniard ? " 
 
 " I certainly did." 
 
 " And did he claim to be the Knight of the Upset 
 Canoe?" 
 
 " No, he didn't claim to be anything of the sort. 
 But I knew from what he said that he was the one. 
 I wonder how he knew me? "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 173 
 
 Sylvia's brain was in a whirl. Who was the Dutch 
 man? 
 
 " Why do you ask? " Rose wanted to know. 
 
 " Oh, nothing in particular. I'll tell you later. 
 Here's a fox trot. I wonder " 
 
 Three young men, as if moved by a common im 
 pulse, came fairly charging down on Alice, Rose and 
 Hazel. The Spaniard was not one of them. 
 
 Sylvia wondered if she was to be left out, for none 
 of the three approached her. 
 
 However, the music had played but a few more 
 measures when Sylvia saw approaching her a masker 
 in the red suit and face-covering of Mephistopheles. 
 She felt a little thrill as it became evident that he 
 meant to claim her as his partner. 
 
 "Aren't you dancing?" he asked, extending his 
 hands in an invitation. 
 
 " Well, I " Sylvia seemed strangely non 
 committal this evening. 
 
 " Then may I have the honour ? I danced with you 
 before, I believe." 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered, as he led her toward the 
 ballroom. 
 
 " Oh, but yes ! " he insisted, with a laugh. " I am 
 perhaps attired for something a little out of my 
 shall we say element," he went on, " but surely 
 you have not forgotten the Knight of the Overturned 
 Canoe? " his voice questioned. 
 
 " You you surely you are not he ! " 
 
 " Even so, O Night ! "
 
 174 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " But you your " 
 
 They were fox-trotting toward the musicians, and 
 as Sylvia was not quite sure of the sequence of the 
 steps in this dance at least with this partner she 
 deferred continuing her remarks until she had found 
 out just how he did it. 
 
 " Here is a new one, perhaps," he said, as they 
 found themselves in a rather secluded corner, secluded 
 for the moment. They had just finished the two-step 
 glide part of the fox trot. " It's a slide forward, 
 a slide back, two counts each, another slide forward, 
 a draw on two counts and a hop on the fourth," he 
 explained. 
 
 He executed it as he spoke, and Sylvia grasped it 
 almost at once. 
 
 "Like it? "he asked. 
 
 " Yes, indeed. It's quite novel. Where did you 
 learn that?" 
 
 " In New York." 
 
 " Oh, you're from there? " 
 
 " When I'm not in the woods, saving canoes." He 
 laughed in a boyish fashion. Sylvia looked into his 
 eyes, but they told her nothing. 
 
 Sylvia glanced around the room. She saw neither 
 the Spaniard nor the Dutchman. Clearly then this 
 must be he who had masqueraded as both. And yet 
 why his triple change of costume? There seemed to 
 be no need of it. 
 
 Sylvia determined to find out about it, but not now. 
 She would not give him the satisfaction of asking too
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 175 
 
 many questions. But she resolved to do a bit of 
 detective work in the interval between this and the 
 next dance. 
 
 The fox trot ended in the tapping accompaniment 
 by the drummer, and the musicians, who had given 
 three encores, refused another. 
 
 " Will you have an ice? " asked Mephistopheles. 
 
 Sylvia assented. There was quite a crush in the 
 refreshment room, but her partner managed to worm 
 his way through, and procured for her a plate of 
 cream and some cakes. 
 
 " If you will excuse me," he murmured, " I will 
 claim the next dance ; if I may? " 
 
 " Are you going to " 
 
 " See some of my friends," he finished for her, not 
 giving her a chance to intimate that he was going to 
 change his costume again. " I see yours approach 
 ing," he added, and Sylvia looked up to note the ap 
 proach of Alice, Hazel and Rose, each with an escort. 
 
 " Oh, you have been provided for," murmured 
 Alice, as she saw Sylvia nibbling a macaroon under 
 her mask, which came only to her lips. 
 
 " Yes, I had Mephistopheles." 
 
 " We saw you," whispered Rose. 
 
 " A lovely dancer," added Hazel. 
 
 " Who is he? " Alice wanted to know. 
 
 Sylvia shook her head, as the three young men, 
 variously disguised, came back with refreshments for 
 the other girls. 
 
 " I had a queer Dutchman for the first half of
 
 176 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 this dance, and then he excused himself and brought 
 up a Spaniard," said Hazel. 
 
 " You you did ! " gasped Sylvia. She was more 
 puzzled than ever, for she had seen neither of her two 
 former partners on the floor. 
 
 " Both dandy dancers," Hazel went on. 
 
 There was a little wait and then another strain 
 of music proclaimed the beginning of another hesita 
 tion. The three young men who had brought the 
 girls to the refreshment room, escorted them back 
 to the dance floor, and with murmured pleas that they 
 must seek other partners, left them. 
 
 Almost at once, however, there bore down on Alice, 
 Hazel and Rose, respectively a Spaniard, a Dutch 
 man and Mephistopheles. 
 
 Sylvia gasped her surprise, but a moment later it 
 was added to, for a thirteenth-century cavalier, with 
 glossy black curls flowing over his lace collar, ap 
 proached, and with a low bow, said : 
 
 " The Knight of the Overturned Canoe craves a 
 dance with thee, O Night ! " 
 
 Sylvia wondered where it would all end, and, almost 
 as if in a dream, she accepted his arm and went out 
 on the floor.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 BAD NEWS 
 
 THE music was entrancing a dreamy waltz was 
 being played. There was the odour of flowers. All 
 about were presumably pretty women and girls 
 presumably, for their masks still hid their faces. 
 Outside the moon shone, still bewitchingly. From be 
 hind the bank of palms, which stirred gently in the 
 night air that swept in through the open windows, 
 came the wailing of the oboe, the shriller crying of 
 the violin, the tinkle of the piano, the bird-like notes 
 of the flute, the mellow call of the French horn all 
 blending together in a strain that, without conscious 
 effort, seemed to move one into the mazy whirl of the 
 waltz. 
 
 Almost before she knew it Sylvia found herself 
 moving about in company with the cavalier, and it 
 was a delightful motion, for, like the other three 
 mysterious Knights of the Canoe, he was an excellent 
 dancer. 
 
 " I have been waiting for this opportunity, O 
 Night," he whispered in Sylvia's little ear that was 
 half hidden by her hair. 
 
 "Yes?" she replied, non-committally. "Do you 
 mean you, or some of your friends ? " 
 
 177
 
 178 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," he answered, 
 feigning ignorance. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do," she said, as she put out her 
 hand to ward off an unskilful couple who were going 
 around the wrong way of the room. 
 
 " Upon my honour 
 
 " Swear not at all, especially in this moonlight ! " 
 she mocked. 
 
 " It is glorious ; isn't it ? " 
 
 " Perfect." 
 
 " Would you rather dance, or go out where we 
 can see " 
 
 " Dance," she said, shortly. She was going to 
 take no chances of any practical, or impractical, 
 jokes being played in the shimmering and inconstant 
 moonlight. 
 
 " The moon will last the music not," he said, 
 softly, and they swept on around the room in a slow, 
 graceful glide. 
 
 Sylvia, as she confessed afterward, was just " dy 
 ing " to ask her cavalier what it all meant the four 
 claimants to the title of Knight of the Overturned 
 Canoe, each of whom had appeared in a different 
 costume. But she refrained. She felt that the mys 
 tery would reveal itself in due season. 
 
 Were there four young men? Was it not the same 
 one all the while, who had changed disguises with his 
 friends, and so managed to claim Sylvia in a different 
 garb each time? She could not be sure. 
 
 Yet there was an indefinable something different in
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 179 
 
 the dancing of each of her four partners. She was 
 almost sure they could not be the same. 
 
 " Are you staying at the Antlers much longer ? " 
 the cavalier asked, as the music came to an end, and 
 the dancers vigorously begged for an encore. 
 
 " I am not sure," she answered. " Why? " 
 
 " Oh, I just wanted to know. There is another 
 dance next week." 
 
 " A masquerade? " 
 
 " No. I wish it were." 
 
 " So that you could hide your identity further? " 
 
 " Don't you know who I am? " he teased. 
 
 " Of course. You are Harry Blair," and she pur 
 posely named at random a certain young man stop 
 ping at the hotel. 
 
 " Right not ! " he laughed. " You don't believe 
 I saved your canoe? " 
 
 " There are too many claimants to the " 
 
 " Honour," he hastily interposed. " Don't hesi 
 tate to say it." 
 
 " Oh, it wasn't that, so much as it was " 
 
 The music cut in on their talk with a blare of drum 
 and trumpet, and once more they were off in the 
 dance. 
 
 "What were you going to say?" he persisted, 
 when there came a lull. 
 
 " Nothing of any consequence." 
 
 And so the small talk went on. There came more 
 numbers, and the cavalier, the Dutchman, Mephis- 
 topheles and the Spaniard danced in turn with Sylvia,
 
 180 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Rose, Hazel and Alice. The other three girls were 
 as puzzled as Sylvia had been. 
 
 " Who can they be ? " asked Hazel, when they were 
 in the dressing-room, just before the signal for un 
 masking was to be given. 
 
 " Haven't the least idea," Sylvia replied. 
 
 " Do you really think they can be one and the 
 same young fellow who helped us with the canoes ? " 
 Rose demanded. " Or is there more than one? " 
 
 " What do you mean? " asked J^flice. 
 
 " Well, they might have changed clothes, and cer 
 tainly one could tell the other enough details so that 
 all would know just what happened that day," Rose 
 insisted. 
 
 " We'll soon know," Sylvia said. " There they are, 
 all four together, and they're looking this way as if 
 they expected us to come out. They're going to give 
 the signal to unmask ! " 
 
 It was on the stroke of twelve, and the trumpeter 
 had come to the edge of the music platform to sound 
 the call that would mean the revealing of identities 
 hitherto hidden. 
 
 " Let's not go out," suggested Rose. 
 
 " The idea ! " Alice cried. " When they're such 
 good dancers? Much better than any of the fellows 
 at the hotel. I wonder who they can be? It's such 
 fun ! " 
 
 Sylvia gazed out of a window into the moonlight, 
 and wondered also. She rather liked the title, 
 " Knight of the Overturned Canoe," but she felt sure
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 181 
 
 that only one was entitled to it and that one, some 
 how or other, she felt was the last partner she had 
 danced with the cavalier. He had rather a master 
 ful way with him. 
 
 The trumpet blared out. There was a moment of 
 silence, then came the taking off of masks, and gasps 
 of astonishment vied with peals of merriment, for 
 there were many surprises. 
 
 Sylvia kept her eyes fixed on the group of four 
 young men, the Dutchman, the Spaniard, Mephis- 
 topheles and the cavalier. They unmasked together, 
 and, in a straight line, like the advance of some guard 
 of soldiers, came toward the Nowadays Girls. 
 
 " Oh, I feel like running away ! " murmured Rose, 
 her cheeks hot with blushes. 
 
 " Don't you dare ! " said Alice. " They all look 
 like nice fellows." 
 
 Sylvia gave a quick glance at the cavalier. Yes, 
 she was right. He was the Knight of the Overturned 
 Canoe, the same bronze-faced youth with crisp, curl 
 ing hair. He smiled at her, showing two rows of 
 white, even teeth. 
 
 Sylvia smiled in welcome. 
 
 The other three were evidently his chums, for there 
 existed, it seemed, a jolly and excellent understand 
 ing among them. In a solid phalanx they advanced 
 toward the girls. 
 
 " Shall we dance with them ? " inquired Alice. 
 
 " Better wait until they ask us," suggested Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, they'll ask us all right," Sylvia said. " Any-
 
 182 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 how, this is a Paul Jones, and we'll naturally have to 
 dance with a lot of strangers. It is perfectly all 
 right, I think." 
 
 " So do I," declared Rose, with a new conviction. 
 
 " She likes that Spaniard," laughed Hazel. 
 
 " He dances beautifully," Rose confessed, blush 
 ing more vividly than ever. 
 
 " May I have the honour ? " asked the cavalier, ad 
 vancing to Sylvia. 
 
 She nodded and smiled. 
 
 " So there was but one real, true knight? " she 
 murmured, when they were dancing. 
 
 " Only one, O Night, and you will find him very 
 true," he whispered, rather earnestly. 
 
 Sylvia laughed, and it seemed to vie with the mellow 
 notes of the flute. 
 
 "What's the joke?" she asked. "I mean, how 
 did you four manage it? " 
 
 " I'll tell you, out in the moonlight, after this 
 dance." 
 
 She rather regretted it when a new figure in the 
 Paul Jones separated him from her. And she was 
 a little impatient for the promised explanation. In 
 due time it came. The dance ended, and the different 
 couples strolled to various resting-places. 
 
 Sylvia noticed that Rose was with the Spaniard, 
 Hazel with the Dutchman and Alice with Mephis- 
 topheles. The three girls followed Sylvia out to the 
 piazza. 
 
 " Well," began the cavalier, " I suppose you girls
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 183 
 
 have been doing all sorts of wondering. We hope 
 you'll forgive the little joke. You see there are really 
 four of us. We have a camp over near Shedd Lake, 
 and I was lucky enough to be on hand that day when 
 your canoe upset," and he nodded at Sylvia and 
 Rose. 
 
 " When I went back and told the boys, guessing 
 that you were stopping at the Antlers, we decided to 
 come to this masquerade, and see if we could not 
 mystify you a bit. I gave my chums all the details 
 of the canoe episode, so they could talk about it as 
 well as I, and we each one, in turn, decided to pretend 
 he was the only and original Knight of the Over 
 turned Canoe. 
 
 " Which we did, to the best of our ability. We 
 hope we are forgiven. If you want proper introduc 
 tions to us " 
 
 He broke off to give the names of himself and his 
 companions. They had friends stopping at the hotel, 
 and very soon the girls were formally presented, 
 Aunt Theodora also meeting the youths, and uncon 
 sciously expressing her satisfaction with them. 
 
 " There goes the music ! " exclaimed Rose, after 
 the refreshments, the four girls having been escorted 
 thereto by the four camping chums. 
 
 " Yes, don't let's miss any of it," said the Spaniard. 
 
 Once more they were dancing. 
 
 " But what I don't understand," said Sylvia, " is 
 why you came last." 
 
 She was speaking to the cavalier the real Knight.
 
 184 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " It was this way, Princess," he said, laughingly. 
 " I could not reach here the same time as did the 
 other fellows, so I made them each promise in turn 
 to dance with you first, and, by an implied engage 
 ment, keep you until I came. I arrived in the nick 
 of time." 
 
 " And at one time I thought there was only one 
 of you, and that you changed your costume after 
 every dance," Sylvia said. " Well, it was an enjoy 
 able surprise." 
 
 " Then you are not angry ? " 
 
 " Of course not ! " 
 
 He was very good-looking, and a fine dancer. 
 Sylvia was only human. 
 
 The masquerade was almost over. Sylvia was 
 walking out on a moonlit path with the cavalier, who 
 was finding out more about her than she imagined 
 she was telling. 
 
 "Sylvia, where are you?" called Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " Here, Aunt Theodora. I'm coming right in. I 
 suppose you'll say it is too damp." 
 
 " No, my dear ! But a telephone message just came 
 for you. I took it, as I could not find you. It was 
 from " 
 
 " My brother ! " gasped Sylvia, and her grasp 
 tightened on the arm of her escort. 
 
 " Yes, it was about your brother," said Mrs. 
 Brownley, in rather solemn tones. " He is not so 
 well. You are to call up on long-distance, my dear."
 
 SYLVIA walked toward the hotel office, where the tele 
 phone booths were located. 
 
 " I am so sorry ! " murmured the cavalier. " If 
 there is anything I can do or my chums don't fail 
 to let us know. We'd be only too glad to help." 
 
 " Thank you," Sylvia said. " I shall be glad to 
 let you know. But I think it will mean that I shall 
 have to go to my brother. He is up at Saranac." 
 
 " I shall be sorry to see you leave," he said, simply. 
 " And I hope you and your friends will return." 
 
 " It is impossible to say, at least for a time," was 
 her answer. " I will say good-night now." 
 
 He understood, and parted from her. 
 
 " Was it anything definite ? " asked Sylvia of Aunt 
 Theodora. 
 
 They were approaching the telephone booths, and 
 Sylvia was a bit nervous. 
 
 " I did not wait for all the details," said the chap 
 eron. " I thought it better to let you talk. Central 
 said the line would be available if you called up within 
 a few minutes, as they are not very busy now." 
 
 " With whom were you speaking? " 
 
 " With that young man who went up with your 
 brother." 
 
 185
 
 186 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Harry Montray? " 
 
 "Yes. He said there was nothing. to be alarmed 
 about, but he thought Roy had gotten to the point 
 where it would be better to see some one from home. 
 Probably the poor fellow is suffering from an attack 
 of good, old-fashioned home-sickness or, rather, bad 
 home-sickness, for it is a dreadful feeling. I have 
 had it abroad, when I felt as though I would give 
 anything just to see an old tin peddler from my home 
 town." 
 
 "^1 know," murmured Sylvia. 
 
 In a few minutes she was in conversation with her 
 brother's friend. She was much reassured to know 
 that, though Roy was not so well as could be hoped 
 for, he was in no sense in danger. It was just 
 that his companion felt, in Roy's present mental state, 
 that it would be better to have some one of his family 
 near him. His physical health was good, but he had 
 not been able to bring to his mind the lost chemical 
 formula. And this preyed on him. 
 
 " I will come up at once," Sylvia said. " We will 
 start in the morning." 
 
 " I will help you make all preparations," Mrs. 
 Brownley remarked. " Will you take the other girls 
 with you? " 
 
 " Of course ; if they want to go." 
 
 " As if we didn't want to go ! " exclaimed Alice, 
 when the matter was mentioned to her and her chums. 
 " Besides, that's what we came up here for. This 
 lingering in pleasant places was no part of our orig-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 187 
 
 inal programme, nice as it is. You want to go ; don't 
 you, Hazel? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " And there's no need to ask Rose," said Alice, but 
 it was not in the least done jokingly. Rose's face 
 precluded anything like that. 
 
 And so the masquerade came to an end rather 
 sadly, and yet Sylvia tried not to let it affect her 
 too much, for she regarded herself in the light of a 
 hostess to her three chums. 
 
 Before the girls retired, a message came to them 
 from the four young men with whom they had danced 
 so much that evening. It was to the effect that the 
 campers expected to remain some time longer at, or 
 near, Raquette Lake, and would be very glad to 
 entertain the young ladies if they returned. 
 
 Sylvia sent back word, expressing the apprecia 
 tion of herself and her chums, but said their plans 
 were not settled, and it was hardly possible that they 
 would come back to Raquette that summer. 
 
 They were to take a morning train, and there was 
 not much of the night left in which to get rest. Sylvia 
 herself had very little sleep, and was up, almost at 
 dawn, packing her trunks. 
 
 They were to go to Saranac Inn, located on Upper 
 Saranac Lake, as Roy's place of sojourn, Loneberg 
 Camp, was located near there. The journey of the 
 girls was to be by rail, though they had hoped to 
 make the trip by canoes and other boats steamers 
 and motor craft.
 
 188 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " But we really haven't time," decided Sylvia. 
 " Perhaps we can come back that way, but it will 
 be better to go by train, I think." 
 
 " Yes," assented Rose. " It's quicker." 
 
 It was rather a surprise to Sylvia and her chums 
 to find, that morning, the four young men who had 
 danced with them waiting on the broad veranda when 
 they came down to go to the station. 
 
 " Why ! " exclaimed Sylvia, blushing rosy-red. 
 " How did you get over from your camp so early? " 
 
 " We haven't been to camp," replied Felton Ware 
 he who had been disguised as the cavalier. 
 
 " Did you stay at the Antlers all night ? " asked 
 Hazel. 
 
 " Yes, we couldn't very well get back to camp," 
 said James Pendleton, who had been the Dutchman. 
 
 " And we thought we might be of some service to 
 you," went on Felton. " Are you sure there isn't 
 anything we can do ? " 
 
 " Thank you, no," Sylvia murmured. " We are 
 used to travelling, you know, and one of our club 
 mottoes is * Do it yourself.' ' 
 
 " What club is that? " he asked, interested at once. 
 
 " The Nowadays Club," answered Alice. " It's 
 real jolly." 
 
 " I can well believe that," agreed Felton. 
 
 The young men insisted on accompanying the girls 
 to the station, carrying their satchels. The trunks 
 had been sent on ahead by an earlier train. 
 
 There were rather prolonged good-byes at the
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 189 
 
 depot, and Sylvia was quite sure she heard Alice and 
 Hazel agreeing to send, from Saranac, at least 
 souvenir postals to their friends. But she was not 
 absolutely sure, and her mind was too fully occupied 
 with thoughts of her ailing brother to allow her to 
 dwell long on what others did and said. 
 
 " Well, here comes the train," said Felton, finally. 
 
 " And I'm glad of it ! " murmured Sylvia, with 
 something like a sigh. 
 
 " What ! " he cried, with simulated surprise. 
 
 " Oh, you know what I mean," she went on. 
 
 " I hope you have no more canoe accidents," said 
 Felton. 
 
 " Well, if I do, I hope I find as nice a knight as 
 you were," she answered, rather daringly. 
 
 " That's awfully nice ! " he exclaimed, with real 
 pleasure in his voice. 
 
 Then the train came in, and there was the usual 
 bustle and hustle getting aboard. Good-byes were 
 said over and over again, and hands, caps and hand 
 kerchiefs were waved until the coaches were out of 
 sight around a bend in the line. 
 
 The four young men walked away, rather down 
 cast, for they had thoroughly enjoyed the company 
 of Sylvia and her chums. 
 
 " Well, old man," said James Pendleton to Felton 
 Ware. 
 
 " Not well ill," he sighed. 
 
 " What's the matter? " laughed a companion. 
 " Hard hit? "
 
 190 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Not at all. Only they were such real, jolly girls. 
 You don't often meet their class up here. The others 
 are too much on dolling-up and talking society mush. 
 I wonder what some of those dolled-up ones would 
 look like if they were rolled out of a canoe into the 
 rapids ; tell me that ! " 
 
 " It's beyond me," was the honest confession. 
 " Never mind. Maybe they'll come back." 
 
 " Let us hope so," was the decision, in which all 
 agreed. 
 
 Meanwhile Sylvia and her chums were speeding as 
 fast as the train could take them to Saranac. They 
 had engaged rooms by telegraph at Saranac Inn, and 
 from there they would start for Roy's camp, which 
 was some miles away. 
 
 " Will you go on to-night ? " asked Rose of Sylvia, 
 as they sat together in the train. 
 
 " It depends on what time we get in. If we arrive 
 early enough I shall, provided we can get back to 
 the Inn at any reasonable hour. I don't want to 
 disturb Roy too late, though." 
 
 " No, it wouldn't be wise." 
 
 But if Sylvia hoped to see her brother that night 
 she was doomed to disappointment. There was a 
 slight accident on the railroad, not involving the 
 train of our friends, however, and it was quite late 
 when they arrived at Saranac. 
 
 " Well, we won't see Roy to-night," Sylvia decided 
 after dinner. " But I'll see if I can get Harry on 
 the 'phone."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 WORRIMENT 
 
 TELEPHONING in the Adirondacks was not such an 
 easy matter as it is in New York, as Sylvia soon dis 
 covered. It developed that when Harry had called 
 her up he had been obliged to go some distance from 
 Loneberg Camp, and Sylvia had neglected to get the 
 number of the station whence he talked to her. 
 
 In consequence, though she made a number of 
 inquiries, she was unable, from Saranac Inn, to get 
 in communication with her brother that night, and 
 was obliged to give over the attempt. 
 
 " Never mind," said Mrs. Brownley. " We will go 
 to them the first thing in the morning. You girls 
 need a rest, anyhow, and it may be better if you don't 
 see Roy, or talk to him or Harry and perhaps cause 
 them both a restless night." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it is for the best," Sylvia agreed, 
 rather wearily. 
 
 She was very tired, for she had danced often and 
 late the night before. She had slept but little and 
 the day's long journey had not been conducive to 
 rest. 
 
 " There's a dance on here to-night," Hazel an 
 nounced, as she came into Sylvia's room after it had 
 
 191
 
 192 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 been definitely settled that Roy could not be com 
 municated with that night. 
 
 " NO dancing for me," declared Rose, with de 
 cision. 
 
 " Nor me," agreed Sylvia. 
 
 "You will all be better off in bed," asserted the 
 chaperon, " and so I officially prescribe that." 
 
 Not that the girls thought seriously of indulging 
 in gaiety on this night. 
 
 Their sleep was not altogether dreamless, though 
 it was heavy enough. But Sylvia had an uneasy con 
 sciousness, half dreamy, of some impending trouble. 
 She could not shake it off even when she awoke and 
 found her room bright with sunlight. She soon dis 
 covered that she was suffering with what was rare 
 for her a headache. 
 
 " I'm afraid my Knight of the Canoe had rather 
 a bad effect on me," she confessed. " I want to look 
 and feel my best when I meet Roy. I think I shall 
 have my breakfast in bed this morning. It's a luxury 
 I don't often indulge myself in." 
 
 Mrs. Brownley was duly surprised when, coming 
 to Sylvia's room a little later, she found her charge 
 partaking of grapefruit, bacon and eggs, and a pot 
 of coffee, comfortably propped up in bed. A deft 
 chambermaid was waiting on Sylvia and serving the 
 meal. 
 
 "Why, my dear, are you ill?" asked the chap 
 eron. 
 
 " This doesn't look like it," Sylvia answered,
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 193 
 
 pointing to the emptied plate. " But my head ached 
 and I decided to rest." 
 
 " Perhaps that was wise," agreed Aunt Theodora. 
 " I must see how my other charges are, though. Do 
 you intend to go see Roy to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed. But I wanted to be at my very 
 best. We have time enough. It isn't such a great 
 way to Loneberg Camp." 
 
 Mrs. Brownley sought Rose, and, again, somewhat 
 to the surprise of the chaperon, she found that young 
 lady also breakfasting in bed. 
 
 " Well, well ! " was her startled greeting. " Are 
 you ill, too ? " 
 
 "Why, is some one else doing this, also?" Rose 
 asked. 
 
 " Sylvia is." 
 
 " And is she " 
 
 " Not ill, no, I'm glad to say. But I suppose you 
 have the same idea in mind looking your best? " 
 
 Rose blushed. 
 
 " We really ought all to have stayed in bed this 
 morning," Mrs. Brownley went on, " and as you 
 dancing girls were cheated out of your beauty sleep 
 there is no reason why you shouldn't make it up now. 
 Rest as long as you like, my dear. We won't start 
 for Roy's camp until after lunch, perhaps." 
 
 " But he may be anxiously expecting Sylvia." 
 
 " Or you. But it can't be helped. If anything 
 were to arise, any sudden need, his friend would 
 doubtless telephone."
 
 194. THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Hazel and Alice were rather more vigorous than 
 either Rose or Sylvia, and went down to the last 
 breakfast. Then they came up to see the " invalids," 
 as they called them. 
 
 " Indeed I'm no more of an invalid than you ! " 
 exclaimed Sylvia, with spirit. " I'm just getting up 
 some reserve strength." 
 
 And, though she did not know it, there was coming 
 a time when she would need all her stored-up energy. 
 
 Inquiry at the hotel office brought out the fact that 
 Loneberg Camp lay about four miles distant from 
 Saranac Inn, near Lake Clear, and that this point 
 could be reached by driving. This mode of convey 
 ance the girls and their chaperon decided on. 
 
 As they learned that the drive would not take long, 
 they decided to defer it until after lunch, provided 
 no messages were received in the meanwhile from Roy 
 or his companion, urging their visit before afternoon. 
 
 " It will do us good to see a little of the lake," 
 Sylvia said. 
 
 Upper Saranac Lake is about eight miles in length, 
 and lies in a most picturesque section, dotted with 
 other lakes and ponds, on which boating of many 
 sorts, from canoeing and motoring to travel in small 
 steamers, may be enjoyed. There was good fishing 
 in the lake, the girls were told. 
 
 " But we can come back and enjoy that after we 
 have seen Roy," decided Rose, and the others agreed 
 with her. 
 
 They spent the morning in going about the hotel
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 195 
 
 and the grounds, venturing out a little way on the 
 lake. It was a region of beauty, and Sylvia's plan 
 of having the Nowadays Club take the first outing 
 in the Adirondacks was voted an unqualified success. 
 
 " Better wait," advised the recipient of the im 
 promptu motion of thanks. " The vacation isn't 
 nearly over yet. You may all be sorry you came." 
 
 Luncheon time came, and as no word was received 
 from Roy or his companion, Sylvia took heart, and 
 began to hope that her brother's indisposition was 
 but a passing one. 
 
 " But it's just as well we came up," she said to 
 her chums. " We intended to, anyhow, and a day 
 or two sooner doesn't make any difference to us. I 
 did intend to make the trip by boat ; for the canoeing 
 is said to be ideal from Raquette Lake on." 
 
 "And we could have very much enjoyed a few 
 more days at the Antlers," Hazel said. " But it is 
 just perfect here. And they are going to have some 
 dances, too. We'll talk about them, though, when 
 we know your brother is better, Sylvia," she hastened 
 to add. 
 
 " Oh, you mustn't let my family affairs put a 
 damper on you girls ! " was the quick comment. " I 
 can't have that ! " 
 
 " Perhaps Roy himself will be well enough to come 
 over to some of the affairs," Rose suggested. " He 
 is a lovely dancer." 
 
 " Well, you ought to know," said Hazel, signifi 
 cantly.
 
 196 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Now, Baby, don't get sarcastic ! " murmured 
 Alice, soothingly. 
 
 But Rose did not seem to mind. 
 
 The drive to Lake Clear was entrancing. It was 
 along a road that led through the forest, where the 
 trees met overhead in an arch of green. The forest 
 was as inviting as the lake had been, and the girls 
 planned, later, to spend a day or so walking along 
 the woodland trails. 
 
 " Roy is so fond of the woods," Sylvia remarked. 
 " When he knew he was to come up here he bright 
 ened up at once, though he was in the depths of 
 despair over losing that chemical secret." 
 
 " Do you think he'll ever discover it again ? " asked 
 Hazel. * 
 
 " I hope so. The doctor said he might if he could 
 have perfect rest." 
 
 " Well, I can't imagine a more perfect place to 
 rest than up here," added Rose. 
 
 " It's a bit lonesome," said Alice, with a glance at 
 the dense woods on either side of the waggon trail. 
 
 " It wouldn't be with the right party," Hazel as 
 serted. 
 
 " Meaning? " questioned Sylvia, with a glance at 
 her chum. 
 
 " Any one you like, my dear." 
 
 " Any one or any ones," declared Rose. " I notice 
 Hazel believes there is at least more companionship 
 in numbers." 
 
 " I'm not a bit worse than you, my dear."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 197 
 
 " Don't let's spoil the day by even that sort of a 
 discussion," Sylvia begged. 
 
 Mrs. Brownley was in front with the driver, and 
 the girls occupied the other two seats of the big 
 carriage. 
 
 It was the height of the Adirondack season, and 
 they saw many evidences of campers and other sum 
 mer folk enjoying themselves. It was a delightful 
 drive, and when Lake Clear was reached they started 
 off on a little side road toward Loneberg Camp. 
 
 Though it was called a camp, it was really a hotel 
 of the smaller kind, with enough comforts and con 
 veniences to make it an ideal place to spend a vaca 
 tion, if one liked solitude, for it was well off in the 
 woods. 
 
 There were not many guests, but some young chaps 
 on the porch looked hopeful as the four pretty girls 
 drove up. There was a noticeable air of life about 
 them, as they " spruced-up." 
 
 " Mr. Montray and Mr. Pursell," repeated the 
 clerk, when Mrs. Brownley had made inquiries at the 
 desk. " Yes, they were here, but they left this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " They left this morning ! " echoed Sylvia, blankly 
 surprised. 
 
 " Yes, miss. It seems Mr. Pursell was expecting 
 friends, and when they did not come he and his com 
 panion left about ten o'clock." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " sighed Sylvia. " And to think that 
 we might have been here if I hadn't well, there's no
 
 198 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 use in lamenting, I suppose. They'll be back shortly, 
 I expect. W.e'11 wait for them." 
 
 " No, miss, I don't think they'll be back to-day,'* 
 the clerk said. 
 
 " Not back to-day ! Where did they go? " 
 
 " I heard Mr. Pursell say they were going to visit 
 friends who have a bungalow on Lower Saranac. 
 Your brother, is he, miss ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, your brother and his friend took some bag 
 gage with them, and I should say they were going to 
 stay a week." 
 
 " A week ! " cried Sylvia. " They said nothing to 
 me about it. Was it was it rather sudden ? " she 
 faltered. 
 
 " Yes, I should say it was," the clerk admitted. 
 
 " And my brother, was he better? " 
 
 " Well, miss, no, to tell you the truth. And I 
 think his friend did not want him to leave this place. 
 But Mr. Pursell insisted, and they went away. How 
 ever, I have a letter for you. Mr. Montray left it 
 to be given to you if you came. Probably that will 
 explain." 
 
 He handed Sylvia a sealed envelope. She took it 
 with a heart that beat faster than usual, and with 
 a vague sense of worriment as if a calamity might 
 happen at any moment. Why had Roy left so sud 
 denly? 
 
 Sylvia did not like it.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 MAKING PLANS 
 
 WHILE her girl friends looked on wonderingly, and 
 while Mrs. Brownley conversed in low tones with the 
 hotel clerk, Sylvia tore open the envelope that had 
 been handed her. It bore her name, but she noted 
 in a flash that it was written in a scrawl, and not in 
 the usually neat, though character-indicating, chi- 
 rography of Harry Montray. For Sylvia had had 
 several letters from him regarding her brother since 
 the trouble had come to him, and she had always ad 
 mired the firm handwriting of the young man who 
 had proved such a friend to Roy. 
 
 " He must have written this in a hurry," was 
 Sylvia's thought as she took from the torn envelope 
 the single sheet of paper. 
 
 And as she glanced at the signature, making sure, 
 first of all, that it was Harry's, the vague sense of 
 foreboding increased. 
 
 Why had Roy left the camp-hotel so suddenly? 
 Why had he not been content to stay at Loneberg 
 until he had recovered? Whence his sudden deter 
 mination to go some distance off and visit friends in 
 a bungalow ? And who were the friends ? " 
 
 These were questions Sylvia hastily asked herself 
 before she read the letter so strangely left for her. 
 
 199
 
 200 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 But perhaps a perusal of it would settle them. She 
 read: 
 
 " DEAR Miss PURSELL. 
 
 " Please excuse the appearance of this note, as I 
 have but a moment to write it in, and must do it 
 when Roy does not see me. I am leaving it with the 
 clerk, in the hope that you will soon come and claim 
 it. 
 
 " I regret to inform you that Roy, after showing 
 every indication of recovery (except for a few re 
 lapses of which I informed you), has taken a sudden 
 turn for the worse to-day the day when he and I 
 expected you. He now insists on going to visit some 
 friends who have a bungalow on the eastern shore 
 of Lower Saranac Lake. Nothing I can say or do 
 will get that notion out of his head. I do not know 
 what to do about it, save humour him. 
 
 " The name of these friends is Russman. Mr. 
 Russman is a German whom, it seems, Roy met while 
 at college, and also later, after he came to our firm. 
 Mr. Russman is a chemist, and Roy has a notion he 
 can help him in recalling the details of the lost 
 formula. I do not know whether that is fancy 
 or fact. At any rate, Roy insists on going to see 
 Mr. Russman, and, of course, I must go with him. 
 
 " We are starting at once, and will drive as best 
 we can across country. The roads are not good, and 
 it would be much better to go by water, up through 
 Middle Saranac, but Roy will not listen to that.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 201 
 
 " I am writing this as he is packing. I will do 
 the best I can for him, but I think it will be wise, 
 when you get this, to come to Mr. Russman's bunga 
 low as soon as you can." 
 
 There followed directions for reaching it. 
 
 " Roy only heard the other day," the letter went 
 on, " of the presence of Mr. Russman in this vicinity, 
 and he at once became more nervous than before. 
 The forgetting of the chemical formula seemed more 
 than ever to prey on his mind. That is why I sent 
 you word that he was not as well as he had been. 
 But perhaps this trip may do him good, especially 
 if it is followed by a visit from you and your friends. 
 If I may, without giving offence, I will say that I 
 think if Miss Rose Bancroft were to come Roy would 
 greatly appreciate it." 
 
 " I must show Rose that," Sylvia mentally re 
 solved. 
 
 " So we are leaving at once," the missive concluded, 
 " and I hope you will follow as soon as you can. 
 But if it is late when you get this, you had better 
 postpone your trip until to-morrow. Come by water, 
 if possible, and come straight to the bungalow. I 
 will be there with Roy. 
 
 " With the best of wishes, I remain, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " HARRY MONTRAY."
 
 202 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Sylvia drew a long breath as she finished the letter. 
 
 " Oh, I hope it isn't bad news ! " exclaimed Hazel. 
 
 " Is there anything we can do ? " asked Alice. 
 
 "Where is Roy?" inquired Rose, unable longer 
 to keep back the question that was fairly burning on 
 her lips. 
 
 " At the Russman bungalow, on Lower Saranac," 
 slowly answered Sylvia. " Oh, dear ! I don't know 
 what to do ! " 
 
 " Tell me all about it, and let me advise you," 
 said Mrs. Brownley. The letter was read to the 
 chaperon and the girls, and Rose was given her own 
 special message. She received it, as may well be 
 imagined, blushingly. 
 
 " I will go to him ! " she exclaimed. " Can we 
 start now, Sylvia? " 
 
 " I'm afraid not," was the answer. " Harry 
 Mr. Montray advises against starting too late. 
 And we certainly would hardly be able to take the 
 road through the wood at this hour." 
 
 " But what can we do ? " asked Alice. 
 
 " I think we had better arrange to stay here for 
 the night, or, better perhaps," said Mrs. Brownley, 
 " go back to Saranac Inn. We can start from there 
 in the morning, hire a motor boat if we can get one, 
 and go through Middle Saranac Lake to Lower, and 
 then on to the bungalow." 
 
 There was a moment of silence while Sylvia and 
 the girls considered this plan. Then Sylvia said: 
 
 " I think that will be the best. It seems hard not
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 to go to Roy at once, but we must consider the best 
 for all of us. It would not do to get lost in the woods. 
 So we will delay our start until morning." 
 
 " And shall we stay here to-night? " asked Rose. 
 
 " I think we had better go back to Saranac," sug 
 gested Mrs. Brownley. " Probably there are not 
 accommodations enough here for all of us, and be 
 sides, if we go to Lower Saranac we may have to 
 stay some time, and will want our luggage." 
 
 " I'm sorry, but I couldn't put you all up," said 
 the clerk of the camp-hotel. " There are, of course, 
 the rooms Mr. Pursell and Mr. Montray had, 
 but" 
 
 " Thank you, we will go back to the Inn, and start 
 from there in the morning," Sylvia decided. " We 
 have no baggage with us." 
 
 Thus it was decided, and the man with the horses 
 was directed to get ready for the return trip. Sylvia 
 and the others of her party had tea at the camp, and 
 the clerk told them more details of the going away of 
 Roy and his friend. Roy had seemed strangely ex 
 cited, the clerk said, at the prospect of going to the 
 Russman bungalow. 
 
 Sylvia could not shake off a morbid fear that some 
 thing would happen nay, that it had already hap 
 pened. But she tried to be brave, and not to inflict 
 her grief on the others. 
 
 However, Rose shared it, though she, too, put on a 
 brave front. But Hazel and Alice must have sus 
 pected, for they were sweetly sympathetic.
 
 204 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Harry Montray had had time only hastily to 
 scribble the note, and leave it with him for Sylvia, 
 the clerk said, and then he had gone off with Roy in 
 a rig they hired to drive through the woods from 
 Lake Clear to Lower Saranac. 
 
 " But I would not advise you ladies to take that 
 route," the young man said. 
 
 " We will not," decided Sylvia. " We'll go by 
 boat." 
 
 They reached Saranac Inn well in time for dinner, 
 and then began their arrangements for making an 
 early morning start for the lower lake and the 
 bungalow. 
 
 " Do you think your brother would be a guest 
 there? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Most likely," Sylvia answered. " You see he and 
 Mr. Russman Professor Russman it really is are 
 great friends. I have often heard Roy speak of him, 
 and he has often visited him at his home in Brooklyn." 
 
 " Well, then it won't be so bad if he goes there 
 and stays," Hazel remarked. " It may even do him 
 good. Who knows but that he may hit upon that 
 formula again ? " 
 
 " Oh, perhaps it will be all right if Roy gets 
 there," his sister said, and there was something in 
 her voice and manner that prompted Rose to ask : 
 
 " Why, Sylvia, don't you think he will get there? " 
 
 " Oh, my dear I don't know please don't ask 
 me. I have such a queer feeling ! " 
 
 " You're all tired out that's what's the matter ! "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 205 
 
 declared Hazel. " You need a good rest. We have 
 been doing too much dancing." 
 
 " No, it isn't that," Sylvia said. 
 
 " Well, whatever it is, you need a rest," added 
 Alice. " You lie down now, and we'll pack your 
 things for you. Not going to take a trunk; are 
 you?" 
 
 " No, only our suit-cases, though we can't tell how 
 long we shall stay." 
 
 " Can we stay at the bungalow? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about that. But if we get 
 up there we can hardly get back the same day, and 
 we'll have to stay somewhere. There are hotels and 
 camps up there, I think. We'll have to arrange to 
 stay." 
 
 " Of course," said Rose. " We don't want to go 
 away as soon as we have arrived." 
 
 " Then, too, I must see about getting a boat," went 
 on Sylvia. 
 
 " I asked about that," Mrs. Brownley said. " The 
 hotel clerk informs me there are several we can hire 
 to take us to Lower Saranac. I have the names of 
 the men who run them. I'll go now to see about 
 them. You must get some rest, Sylvia." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not tired. I must see to the boat my 
 self. This is my affair, in a way." 
 
 " It's the affair of all of us ! " declared Alice. 
 " You can't do everything. I'll go with Aunt Theo 
 dora and see about the boat. You can finish packing 
 and be ready to lie down then. Just leave it to us 1 "
 
 206 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 And poor tired and worried Sylvia was glad enough 
 to do so. 
 
 Mrs. Brownley was eminently practical in arrang 
 ing for the motor boat. She had the choice of sev 
 eral, but, on the advice of Alice, selected a rather 
 small one. 
 
 " The big ones look nicer," Alice said, " but you 
 must remember we have to go through the Saranac 
 River from the middle lake to the upper, and we don't 
 want a boat that draws too much water. Canoes can 
 make the trip all right, but a motor boat of deep 
 draught might not be able to if the water, for any 
 reason, were low. We don't want to be stranded." 
 
 " No, indeed," agreed the chaperon. So the 
 smaller boat, though one sufficiently large, was en 
 gaged. 
 
 " But I'm only at liberty for to-morrow," the pilot 
 informed them. " I'll have to come back with my 
 boat to-morrow night, as another party has engaged 
 her." 
 
 " We only want you to take us up to the Russman 
 bungalow and leave us," said Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 So it was arranged, and the next morning our 
 friends were to start on their trip through the two 
 lakes to reach the bungalow.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 A LONELY PLACE 
 
 FROM Saranac Inn, down through Upper Saranac 
 Lake, to a point where the turn could be made, to go 
 through the middle body of water to the lower, is, 
 perhaps, seven miles. The remainder of the trip, 
 up past Eagle Island in Lower Saranac, and to the 
 point where Professor Russman's bungalow was lo 
 cated, was about ten miles more, so the Nowadays 
 Girls had a motor-boat trip of nearly seventeen miles 
 to make. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, and in waters more 
 open, the journey would have been only a matter of 
 a few hours at most. But from the very start it 
 seemed that Fate was against our friends. 
 
 Not that anything very serious occurred, but a 
 series of small, but annoying, delays ensued from the 
 very beginning. 
 
 In the first place, the girls were so tired, after 
 their trip to Lake Clear, their preparations of the 
 night and their previous exertions, that they all slept 
 late. Even Mrs. Brownley did not arise at her usual 
 time, and the consequence was they all assembled at 
 the very latest breakfast, and looked at one another 
 rather strangely. 
 
 307
 
 208 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " This isn't a very good augury," said Sylvia. 
 " But I was so tired and sleepy." 
 
 " So was I," said Alice. 
 
 " I'm hardly awake yet," confessed Hazel. 
 
 " Nor I," admitted Rose. " But we must hurry." 
 
 They did to the extent of making a hasty break 
 fast. Then it developed that their motor-boat man 
 was not on hand ready for them. They had gotten 
 their luggage together and gone down to the dock, 
 only to see the Balsam, which was the name of the 
 craft they had engaged, tied disconsolately to the 
 float, with her engine partly dismantled. 
 
 "Why, what does this mean?" demanded Sylvia, 
 rather indignantly. 
 
 A small boy was the only person in sight from 
 whom it seemed possible to get any information. He 
 seemed to be there for that purpose, for he asked : 
 
 " Are you the party that's going to Lower 
 Saranac? " 
 
 " Yes," Mrs. Brownley said, " but where is Mr. 
 Wherry? " and she looked around for the man from 
 whom she had engaged the boat. 
 
 " He's sorry, lady," said the boy, and then he 
 seemed overcome with confusion. " He he's 
 
 "Sorry? Sorry for what?" demanded Sylvia, 
 brusquely. 
 
 " He's sorry he can't go." 
 
 " Can't go ! " It was a protesting chorus. 
 
 " No'm. He can't go till he gits his engine fixed. 
 Suthin's the matter of it."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 209 
 
 " Oh ! " and Sylvia uttered a sigh of relief. " Then 
 it isn't anything serious." 
 
 " Huh ! You'd think so if you heard Hank Wherry 
 talk about it. But then he makes a awful fuss over 
 lots of things. He told me to stay here until you 
 folks come and tell you he'd be back as soon as he 
 could. He's gone off to get a bolt, or suthin' t' fix 
 the engine." 
 
 " Oh, then he'll be back soon ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " I don't know how soon. Hank Wherry ain't 
 much on hurryin'." 
 
 " Oh, why didn't I make inquiries about him and 
 his boat before I engaged it ! " exclaimed Mrs. Brown- 
 ley. " Now there isn't another craft we can get, I 
 suppose." 
 
 There was not, it developed, all the others available 
 having gone to fill other engagements. 
 
 " Never mind," said Sylvia. " We have plenty of 
 time. It isn't such a long trip, and even if we don't 
 get there until late afternoon it will be all right. 
 We shall have to remain all night, anyhow ; perhaps 
 longer." 
 
 The boy seemed to want to say something more, 
 but hardly knew how to proceed. 
 
 " Well, what is it? " asked Rose, taking pity on his 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " He he said Hank said, maybe if I stayed here 
 and told you what I did tell you that you that 
 maybe that you'd give me a nickel," the boy 
 stammered.
 
 210 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Of course ! " Sylvia exclaimed, opening her purse. 
 " Here is a quarter for you." 
 
 The boy's face shone with delight at this unex 
 pected windfall of wealth. 
 
 " Do you know where Mr. Wherry went ? " asked 
 Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " No'm, I don't. But maybe I could find him for 
 you," he volunteered, as he partly opened a brown 
 hand and gazed at the shining coin clasped tightly 
 in it. 
 
 " I wish you would," Sylvia said. " Tell him we 
 are in a hurry to make a start. We are late, but he 
 is later." 
 
 " The late Mr. Hank Wherry," murmured Hazel. 
 
 The boy started off, and the girls found a shady 
 place on the little pier to wait for their boatman. 
 The Balsam's engine had been partly dismantled. 
 
 " He'll never be able to start to-day," said Alice. 
 
 " Oh, there isn't so much to do," Sylvia said, 
 gazing with an experienced eye at the machinery. 
 " He's taken out the carburetor. I'd rather have 
 him repair it now than after we get started." 
 
 The other girls agreed with her. 
 
 They were just getting nervously impatient for 
 the return of their boatman, when they descried him 
 hurrying back. 
 
 " Sorry to have kept you waiting," he apologised. 
 " But I was giving the motor a trial run, getting 
 ready for you, when the carburetor began making 
 trouble, and I knew I'd have to have it fixed. But
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 211 
 
 we can run all the better now, and we'll make up for 
 lost time." 
 
 " I hope so," said Mrs. Brownley. " How long 
 will you be now? " 
 
 " Not more than half an hour." 
 
 But again Fate stepped in and disappointed the 
 girls. For Mr. Wherry was over an hour making 
 the adjustments. So it was nearly noon when the 
 start was made from the dock near the Inn. 
 
 " Well, she is making good time," observed Sylvia, 
 as they finally chugged off in the Balsam. 
 
 " Oh, yes, miss. We'll be there in good season 
 now. I'm sorry to have delayed you, but I'll get you 
 there in plenty of time." 
 
 It was the best that could be done under the cir 
 cumstances, and there seemed no help for it. Cer 
 tainly the motor boat was at last running well. The 
 Nowadays Girls knew enough about machinery to 
 decide that. 
 
 " The carburetor has been giving me trouble right 
 along," said the pilot, " and so I put on a new one." 
 
 They were passing through Upper Saranac, and 
 the scene on every hand was one of beauty. The day 
 was a perfect one of warm sunshine, and the waters 
 of the lake sparkled invitingly. In the distance were 
 the cool woods, the unbroken forest stretching away 
 on every side. 
 
 Here and there were other craft containing gay 
 parties of summer visitors. Now and then snatches 
 of song floated across the water.
 
 212 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Sylvia and her chums were all in better spirits now 
 that they were actually on their way to see Roy. 
 But in spite of the sunshine, and the feeling of exhila 
 ration that came from swiftly passing over the water, 
 Sylvia could not shake off a sense of foreboding. 
 
 " It's foolish, I know," she said to herself. " But 
 I feel just as though something were going to happen. 
 Pshaw ! I mustn't worry ! I must be bright and cheer 
 ful for Roy's sake. He'll need cheering up, I think." 
 
 They ate their lunch on the boat, for they had 
 brought a substantial one with them. Sylvia offered 
 to steer while Mr. Wherry ate some of the sand 
 wiches they offered him from their store. 
 
 " No, I'd better keep the wheel," he said. " I can 
 steer with one hand and eat with the other. We'll 
 be in uncertain waters soon." 
 
 This did not tend to reassure the girls, who had 
 been made a little nervous by the delay of the 
 morning. 
 
 " Are we likely to to have trouble? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Oh, well, nothing so much, miss," was the answer. 
 " We may run aground here and there, that's all. 
 But I'll do my best." 
 
 " Well, don't run aground so hard that you can't 
 run off again," begged Sylvia. 
 
 The afternoon was half gone when they started on 
 the passage through Saranac River, connecting the 
 middle lake with the lower body of water. The 
 stream, while perfectly adapted for canoes, was, at 
 this season, because of an unusually dry month, not
 
 SYLVIA AND HER CHUMS WERE ALL IX BETTER SPIRITS NOW 
 THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY OX THEIR WAY TO SEE ROY
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 213 
 
 so good for motor boats. There were certain low 
 places and sandbars. 
 
 " But I guess we'll get over it all right," said Mr. 
 Wherry. " I'll run slow, and " 
 
 The words were fairly jarred out of his mouth, 
 for the boat ran into something and slowed up so 
 suddenly that the engine was almost jarred from the 
 bed-beams. With a quick motion Sylvia leaned over 
 and pulled out the electrical switch, thus stopping the 
 motor. 
 
 " Stuck ! " exclaimed Mr. Wherry. " I didn't think 
 we were near that bar. And we're not ! " he added, 
 with something of triumph in his tone. " There's the 
 one I was looking out for up ahead there. This is 
 a new one that we're fast on." 
 
 That was, however, little consolation for the girls. 
 
 " Can't we get off? " asked Hazel, anxiously. 
 
 The others waited rather apprehensively for an 
 answer. 
 
 " Oh, I reckon I can pole us off," was the reply. 
 
 Mr. Wherry began to remove his shoes and 
 stockings. 
 
 " Is he is he going to swim? " asked Rose. 
 
 " No, I'm only going to wade," he answered for 
 himself. " I reckon if I get out and push I can 
 shove her off. Now if you'll all come in the stern 
 you'll raise her nose out of the mud." 
 
 He climbed over the side into the water. The 
 girls and Mrs. Brownley moved toward the stern, 
 thereby elevating the bow, and after some rather
 
 214 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 strenuous work Mr. Wherry succeeded in freeing the 
 craft from the bar. 
 
 Then they went on again, but the running aground 
 had delayed them, so that the afternoon was fast 
 waning as they emerged into Lower Saranac Lake 
 proper. 
 
 " But now we're all right," the boatman said. 
 " It's good water from now on to the upper end. 
 We'll have no more trouble." 
 
 Nor did they, at least just then. The Balsam 
 chugged on her way serenely, and the girls had hopes 
 of arriving at their destination while there was yet 
 some daylight left. 
 
 But Fate had not yet finished with them. Mr. 
 Wherry, it appeared, was not so well acquainted with 
 the location of the Russman bungalow as he had 
 thought. He went to the wrong landing and, after 
 stopping to make inquiries, started off again. 
 
 It was now dusk. 
 
 " I wish we were there," said Rose, with a nervous, 
 shivery glance over her shoulder. " It's lonesome 
 up here." 
 
 It was indeed, for the dense forest came down to 
 the very edge of the lake, and there were no camps 
 or cottages to be seen. 
 
 " We'll be there in five minutes now," said Mr. 
 Wherry. " It is lonesome, but then some folks like 
 that up here in the Adirondacks." 
 
 The Balsam chugged on, while the darkness seemed 
 to shut down like a pall over everything.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE DESERTED BUNGALOW 
 
 " THERE'S your landing," said Mr. Wherry, sud 
 denly, as he shut off the power and turned the bow of 
 the Balsam toward the shore. 
 
 "Where?" asked Sylvia. 
 
 " Just ahead there, where you see that glimmer 
 of light. I remember the place now. Queer I should 
 forget it. But I was thinking of a party named 
 Roseman that had a bungalow up here last year. I 
 got him mixed up with Russman, and that's why I 
 went to the wrong place. But I'm all right now." 
 
 The mistake he had made, however, had cost them 
 some ten minutes of time. But at last they were at 
 the place, and the girls gave sighs of relief, for it 
 seemed that some of the nervous strain was over. 
 
 " Is the Russman bungalow near the lake? " asked 
 Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " Oh, yes, quite near. You take that path, right 
 where you see the light. That lantern is at the dock. 
 And you go up the hill, and the bungalow is in plain 
 sight. You can't miss it." 
 
 " Are you going right back ? " asked Sylvia of 
 Mr. Wherry. 
 
 " Oh, yes, miss. I have a party to take to Big 
 215
 
 216 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Tupper Lake to-morrow, so I have to go back. If 
 you'll excuse me, I'll just set your things on shore, 
 and I won't get out myself. I'm late as it is, and I 
 don't fancy going past those sandbars after dark. 
 But I've got to do it." 
 
 " Oh, we shall manage very nicely if you set our 
 valises and cases ashore," the chaperon said. " We 
 are used to managing for ourselves." 
 
 She paid Mr. Wherry the price agreed upon as the 
 boat was slowly drifting up to the little wharf. The 
 girls could see the lantern now quite plainly. It was 
 hung near a rustic sign that gave the name of the 
 Russman bungalow. 
 
 A little later they stood on the shore of the lake 
 in the darkness that was illuminated only by the 
 faint gleam of the hanging lantern, and the Balsam 
 was turning around and going back over the course 
 it had come. 
 
 " It's certainly lonesome," shivered Alice, with a 
 nervous glance around. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " exclaimed Sylvia. " With a bun 
 galow so close at hand? You can even see the lights 
 from it," and she pointed to a glow that shone 
 through the trees. 
 
 " Yes, I think that must be the place," said Mrs. 
 Brownley. " I suppose we had better go on up to 
 it." 
 
 " Shall we shout to let them know we are here? " 
 asked Hazel. 
 
 "Oh, no!" exclaimed Sylvia. "They wouldn't
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 217 
 
 know who it was, and it might startle Roy. Just go 
 up quietly." 
 
 " I do hope there is some place where we can stay 
 to-night," said Rose. " Wouldn't it be dreadful if 
 the bungalow should be so filled with guests that 
 there was no place for us ! " 
 
 " Oh, there will be other places," Sylvia replied. 
 " I made inquiries before starting, and was told there 
 were several hotels in this vicinity, at least boarding- 
 houses and camps." 
 
 " But how to find them in the dark ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " We'll manage somehow. We aren't Nowadays 
 Girls for nothing ! " and Sylvia laughed. 
 
 " Well, forward march ! " commanded the chap 
 eron. Each one took her suit-case and started up 
 the path that showed dimly in the gleam of the hang 
 ing lantern. 
 
 " There goes the motor boat," said Alice, turning 
 to gaze at the moving, shimmering light that be 
 tokened that Mr. Wherry was making all speed down 
 Lower Saranac Lake. 
 
 " Yes, we have to stay now, whether we want to 
 or not," added Hazel. 
 
 " Well, we want to stay ! " declared Rose, with 
 positiveness. 
 
 " Of course," assented Sylvia. 
 
 The faint chug-chug of the Balsam came to them 
 as they made their way up the ascending path to 
 ward the gleam of light in the woods which betokened 
 the presence of the bungalow. Gradually the sound
 
 218 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 of the motor became more faint, as the craft went 
 around a bend. Then it died out altogether. 
 
 Suddenly there sounded a loud cry in the tree over 
 the girls' heads. 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed Hazel. 
 
 " A horrid loon ! " gasped Alice. 
 
 " An owl ! " scoffed Sylvia, with a laugh. " When 
 will you girls learn to be nature-lovers? " 
 
 The weird cry of the hooting bird was repeated, 
 but the girls were not so frightened now as they 
 walked on. The glow of light increased as they 
 neared the bungalow, which they could dimly see 
 now, outlined amid the trees. 
 
 " I do hope they ask us to supper," sighed Alice. 
 
 " Of course they will," said Sylvia. " If they 
 don't, we have a good part of our lunch left." 
 
 They were now directly in front of the bungalow, 
 which proved to be one of good size, with a porch all 
 the way around it. . The building stood some dis 
 tance back from the lake, on a little elevation of 
 ground that gave a good view. 
 
 The front and back doors were wide open, which 
 fact was easily ascertained, as broad shafts of light 
 came from each door, cutting a path of yellow mel 
 lowness in the blackness of the woods. They had 
 approached the Russman property at an angle. 
 
 " It's rather an awkward time to come visiting," 
 Sylvia said, as she and her chums, with Mrs. Brown- 
 ley, walked up the front steps. " It is a little too 
 late for dinner and too early for breakfast."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 219 
 
 " We couldn't help it," Alice said. " It was the 
 fault of that motor-boat man. He delayed us." 
 
 They could now look into the living-room of the 
 bungalow. A large hanging lamp gave ample light, 
 and they saw that the apartment was most comfort 
 ably furnished. There were big easy-chairs, window 
 seats draped with Indian blankets and rugs, and a 
 log fire which had died down into glowing embers, 
 for the night was rather chilly. 
 
 Through the living-room a glimpse could be had 
 into the dining-room, over the table of which hung 
 another large lamp, lighted, and casting on the board 
 a mellow illumination. The table was set for several 
 persons, but it appeared the meal had not been 
 begun. 
 
 " We're just in time," whispered Hazel. 
 
 " Hush ! Some one will hear you," cautioned 
 Alice. 
 
 But Sylvia was impressed, almost from the first, 
 by a strange and eerie silence about the place. 
 There was not a sound. Not a voice spoke. There 
 was no laughter. Even the clatter of dishes, always 
 attendant upon mealtime, was absent, and there was 
 no talk from the quarters of the servants, though the 
 light streaming from the rear door would seem to 
 indicate that the kitchen was in use. 
 
 " It is very strange," mused Sylvia. And again 
 a sense of foreboding came to her. Something 
 seemed to hang over her to press upon her heart. 
 She tried in vain to shake it off.
 
 220 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Mrs. Brownley knocked on the door. The sound 
 echoed through the rooms, and they waited ex 
 pectantly for the answer of approaching foot 
 steps. 
 
 But only silence greeted them. 
 
 " Knock again," urged Rose. 
 
 The chaperon did so, but once more the echo was 
 the only answer. 
 
 " That is strange," said Sylvia, voicing aloud 
 the feeling that was overmastering her. " Very 
 strange ! " 
 
 " They don't hear us," murmured Aunt Theodora. 
 
 " Call ! " suggested Hazel. " They may be out in 
 the woods." 
 
 " What ! after dark, and with supper all served ? " 
 asked Alice, incredulously. 
 
 A third time Mrs. Brownley rapped, and then, 
 waiting a few seconds, she called : 
 
 " Is any one here ? " 
 
 There was no reply. 
 
 "Roy!" suddenly called Sylvia. "Roy Pursell! 
 It is I Sylvia!" 
 
 Her voice carried well. In that silent place it 
 seemed to fill and echo through the woods. But no 
 one answered. 
 
 " Let us go in," said Mrs. Brownley. " Some 
 thing may have happened." 
 
 " Oh what? " gasped Rose. 
 
 " I don't know, my dear. But evidently they can 
 not hear us. I am sure they would welcome us if
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 
 
 they could, so let us go in and make our presence 
 known." 
 
 Rather embarrassed, they made their way into the 
 living-room. They took pains to make considerable 
 noise, letting the screen door slam shut, but their 
 intrusion was not challenged. 
 
 " It is very strange," Sylvia observed again. 
 
 They went into the dining-room. And there the 
 strangeness was increased, for there was every evi 
 dence that the family and their guests had at least 
 taken their places at the table, though no one had 
 eaten anything. For napkins were unfolded, and in 
 one or two cases had fallen to the floor. And two 
 chairs were upset, as though the occupants had 
 arisen hastily, and in so doing had overturned the 
 pieces of furniture. The table was slightly disar 
 ranged, too, showing more plainly that it had been 
 left suddenly, and by all the guests. 
 
 " But what does it all mean ? " gasped Sylvia. 
 
 " I can't imagine," answered the chaperon. 
 
 They stood looking at one another, and then gazed 
 about the deserted dining-room. The answer to the 
 puzzle was not plain. 
 
 " Can this be the right place ? " asked Alice. " We 
 may have made a mistake." 
 
 " It is the Russman bungalow, surely enough," 
 Sylvia said. " I have heard Roy describe it several 
 times. And I saw, in the living-room, a suit-case 
 with Mr. Russman's name on it. This is the right 
 place."
 
 222 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " But where is Roy Mr. Montray Mr. Russ- 
 man? Where is every one? " Rose asked, and there 
 was a sob in her voice. 
 
 " I don't know," said Sylvia, simply. 
 
 Mrs. Brownley had penetrated to the kitchen 
 through the butler's pantry. The girls followed her. 
 
 There was no one there. But the fire was burning 
 in the stove, and on it were several dishes of food, 
 being kept warm. On the kitchen table were other 
 dishes ready to serve, but the food in them was cold. 
 
 "Is any one here?" Sylvia cried, raising her 
 voice in a nervous shout. 
 
 No one answered. It was as though a blight had 
 fallen on the deserted bungalow a blight like that 
 of some ancient fable. The occupants of the house 
 in the woods had been made to vanish just as they 
 were about to sit down to the table. 
 
 "Is any one here?" Mrs. Brownley cried, stand 
 ing at the foot of the stairs and directing her voice 
 upward. 
 
 No one answered. 
 
 Once again they walked through the deserted 
 lower rooms, more and more puzzled, and trying to 
 pluck up courage to ascend the stairs. The silence 
 was oppressive. 
 
 " The place is deserted," said Sylvia, in a low 
 voice that, quiet as it was, sounded too loud in that 
 silent place. 
 
 " Deserted ! " whispered Rose. " Then where is 
 Roy?"
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 MISSING 
 
 CLUTCHING at the hearts of the girls there seemed to 
 be an unseen spirit of fear in that deserted bun 
 galow. They all felt it. Even Mrs. Brownley, who 
 was not unduly given to indulging her nerves, seemed 
 to feel the depression. 
 
 " Deserted ! " murmured Sylvia. " Do you really 
 think this bungalow is deserted? " 
 
 " What else can we think? " asked Rose. " There 
 isn't a soul here." 
 
 " But they have been here, and within a few min 
 utes," Hazel argued. Going into the kitchen, she 
 put her hand on the outside of some of the dishes 
 on the stove. " They are not cold yet," she said. 
 " They must have gone out just before we came 
 here." 
 
 " I hope that wasn't the reason," Alice said, 
 grimly enough, but even she did not smile at her joke. 
 
 " They must be somewhere about," Sylvia went on. 
 " They can't have heard us." 
 
 *' We made noise enough," declared Alice. 
 
 " Let's go upstairs," proposed Hazel. 
 
 " In another person's bungalow ! " exclaimed 
 Rose. 
 
 223
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 "What of it?" came from Alice. "We've al 
 ready taken a good many liberties, and a few more 
 won't matter. They may all be upstairs and well, 
 something may have happened. They may be unable 
 to answer us." 
 
 " Something happened ! " gasped Rose. " Don't 
 say that or 
 
 " No, don't make us any more nervous than we 
 are," urged Sylvia. 
 
 " What I meant," Alice explained, " was that they 
 may have gone upstairs, because of some alarm down 
 here, and be afraid to come down. There may be 
 only some ladies and children here with the servants, 
 and they may be hiding up there." 
 
 " You're only making it worse," Sylvia cautioned 
 her, with a glance at timid, shrinking Rose. " Let's 
 go upstairs and see." 
 
 " Oh, but if there should be " Rose began. 
 
 " Look here ! " exclaimed Alice, vigorously, " all 
 I meant was that perhaps one of the children had 
 a fit a nervous crying spell it is rather lonesome 
 up here, you see, and well," she finished, " the 
 family, or what is left of them, may be upstairs. 
 Let's have a look." 
 
 " I think it is the only thing to do," said Mrs. 
 Brownley. " We must satisfy ourselves that there 
 is no one here. Then we shall know what next to 
 do." 
 
 " I wonder what that will be," murmured Hazel. 
 
 The bungalow was well lighted with hanging and
 
 225 
 
 other kerosene lamps. Electricity had not pene 
 trated that far, as yet. There were lights upstairs, 
 for the glow of them could be seen. 
 
 " Come on all together ! " cried Sylvia, taking 
 the lead. At least she was giving an example of 
 boldness under trying circumstances. They all felt 
 the pall of the mystery that seemed to have fallen 
 over the bungalow. 
 
 "Is any one up there?" Sylvia demanded, paus 
 ing halfway up. 
 
 There was no answer. 
 
 " I say ! " exclaimed Alice, who brought up the 
 rear. " Some of us ought to stay down here, I 
 think." 
 
 " Why? " asked Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " Because, if the owners come in unexpectedly, 
 while we are upstairs, and they hear us moving 
 around, knowing they left no one in the place, they 
 may take us for burglars and " 
 
 " That's so," agreed Hazel. " I'll stay with you, 
 Alice." 
 
 " No, it is better that we all go up ! " Mrs. Brown- 
 ley decided. " Come on, girls." 
 
 " I don't believe we'll find a soul up there," Sylvia 
 said, under her breath. But she went on boldly, 
 nevertheless. 
 
 The bungalow was a large one, artistically ar 
 ranged, and the upper floor contained a number of 
 rooms and baths. There was a small third story, 
 where the servants' rooms were located. As the
 
 226 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 place was well lighted it did not take long to make 
 a thorough search. The rooms showed that the 
 members of the household had come down from their 
 rooms after dressing for the dinner which was 
 spread out in readiness for them in the dining-room 
 below. 
 
 But of the occupants of the bungalow there was 
 not a sign, save the mute ones of scattered garments 
 and personal belongings. 
 
 "Where can they be?" wondered Alice. 
 
 " It is as though a plague had fallen upon this 
 place, and they had all fled to escape," ventured 
 Hazel. 
 
 " Oh, I wish you wouldn't say such things ! " ex 
 claimed Rose. 
 
 " Here's Roy's room ! " suddenly cried Sylvia, 
 pausing outside a certain bedroom. 
 
 "Is is he in it?" gasped Rose, clinging to a 
 faint hope. 
 
 " No," and the voice of Sylvia was sad. " His 
 things are here some of the the brushes I gave 
 him," she faltered, as she caught sight of her 
 brother's toilet articles on his dresser. 
 
 " Isn't it puzzling? " Alice said. 
 
 "It's terrifying!" Hazel declared. "It's like 
 something you've read of in a book." 
 
 Mrs. Brownley was going about systematically, 
 looking in every room. It was the height of ill 
 manners, she felt, to thus prowl about another per 
 son's house, but once she had started on that dis-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 227 
 
 agreeable quest she would do it thoroughly. She 
 even penetrated to the servants' quarters, but there 
 was no sign of them. 
 
 The whole bungalow showed every appearance of 
 having been hastily deserted by the whole number 
 of its occupants. With faltering steps the girls and 
 their chaperon descended the stairs. Sylvia paused 
 to turn down a lamp that was smoking. 
 
 " Well, there's only one thing to do," declared 
 Hazel, and she seemed to have arrived at some des 
 perate decision. 
 
 " What is it? " asked Rose. 
 
 " We must hurry down to the lake and call back 
 that man with the motor boat. He must take us 
 back to to some place where there is some one. 
 Hurry ! We must call to him before it is too late." 
 
 " It is too late now," said Alice. " He is far away 
 by this time." 
 
 " I'm not going back ! " declared Sylvia. " Roy 
 is here or he has been here within a few minutes, 
 and I'm going to stay until I find him." 
 
 " Oh, but we can't stay here with with this 
 mystery hanging over us ! " gasped Hazel. " It's so 
 weird and terrifying. I want that man back with 
 his motor boat. At least Tie is human. Come on, 
 Alice, we'll call to him." 
 
 Before the others could stop them the two girls 
 ran down the lamp-lighted path to the edge of the 
 lake. It was not far, and fear and desperation be 
 cause of the strangeness that seemed to hang over
 
 228 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 the deserted bungalow made them forget the fear 
 they would ordinarily have had in plunging through 
 the woods after nightfall. 
 
 " You can't make him hear ! " Sylvia called after 
 them. 
 
 But Hazel and Alice gave her no heed. They 
 raised their shrill voices in a shout after Hank 
 Wherry, who had turned about and departed in the 
 Balsam. 
 
 It seemed a long time since this had occurred, but 
 really it was only a few minutes, for the search of 
 the bungalow, though it took a considerable period 
 of time, as marked by nerves, was not very long in 
 actual measurement. 
 
 " We must make him hear ! " said Hazel, des 
 perately. " Call again, Alice." 
 
 They called and shouted. They flung the name 
 of the man and his boat to the night winds, and min 
 gled that with the appeal for " Help ! " 
 
 But only echoes answered them. 
 
 " Oh, do stop it ! " begged Rose, advancing a little 
 way down the lamp-lit path. " Stop calling ! " 
 
 " Let them go on," advised Mrs. Brownley. " It's 
 better than having them crying hysterically, and if 
 they don't make that Wherry person hear they may 
 attract the attention of those who so strangely de 
 serted the bungalow. Let them call." 
 
 And so Hazel and Alice called, and called again, 
 awakening the echoes of the forest, sending their 
 young voices out over the silent waters of Saranac.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 229 
 
 Now and then an owl hooted, as if in derision, 
 and then would come the weird and nerve-racking 
 screech of some loon, to remind the girls of the other 
 night they had spent alone in the open. But there 
 was no human answer. 
 
 Disconsolately Alice and Hazel rejoined the others. 
 To do them credit neither showed any signs of break 
 ing into hysterical tears. They were Nowadays 
 Girls in every sense of the word. They were too 
 sensible and too healthful to give way easily to their 
 feelings, though certainly this was a very trying 
 time. 
 
 " Well, what are we to do ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Go back to the bungalow," decided Mrs. Brown- 
 ley. " I, for one, am hungry ravenous. This for 
 est air gives one such an appetite." 
 
 " I'm simply starving," Alice confessed. " But 
 what shall we eat ? The remains of our lunch ? " 
 
 " There is a very good meal in readiness up 
 there," the guardian said, waving her hand toward 
 the lit-up bungalow. " All it needs is re-heating." 
 
 " Oh, but would you take that? " gasped Hazel. 
 
 " Why not ? We intend to call, and be the guests 
 of Professor Russman, when we can find him. As 
 Roy Pursell is or was a guest, surely he will re 
 ceive Roy's sister and her friends. Simply because 
 the Russman family is not here to welcome us need 
 not stop us from eating. In fact, I think they will 
 be glad, when they do return, to find that we have 
 made ourselves at home," finished the chaperon.
 
 230 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " If they do return," said Alice, and she could not 
 keep from her voice a tone of gloom. 
 
 " Oh, of course they'll come back ! " declared 
 Sylvia. She spoke almost cheerfully. " I think 
 Aunt Theodora is perfectly right. We'll go up 
 there and eat our dinner. It will make us all feel 
 better, and when it is finished, why, I'm sure the 
 family will come back, and the mystery will be ex 
 plained." 
 
 It did seem a bit odd to make thus free with an 
 other person's house and belongings, not to say food. 
 But the girls cast aside their first scruples, and en 
 tered into the spirit of the affair. 
 
 They laid aside their hats and wraps, and the 
 fire, which had not gone out, was coaxed into more 
 brightness with some dry wood ready in the kitchen. 
 Mrs. Brownley put on a kettle of water to make 
 fresh tea, for that in the pot had stood too long. 
 She also warmed some of the cooling food, for she 
 had been an expert Southern cook in her day. 
 
 " Now draw your chairs up to the table, and we'll 
 begin," was Sylvia's invitation when everything was 
 in readiness. " We do not know to whom we are 
 indebted for this, but we will show due appreciation 
 when we meet the proper persons." 
 
 There was a moment of hesitation, and then they 
 began. And there had been no exaggeration when f 
 appetites had been spoken of. Each one ate heart 
 ily, and gradually, in a measure at least, the feeling 
 of gloom wore off.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 231 
 
 But there was still a sense of oppression, though 
 perhaps not so much that as a feeling that " some 
 thing was going to happen." 
 
 " Well, we shan't starve, at any rate," Sylvia 
 said, still keeping that cheerful note in her voice. 
 " There is enough food here for some time to 
 come." 
 
 She had been out in the kitchen, looking through 
 the pantry. 
 
 " You you don't mean to say we are going to 
 stay here for another meal? " gasped Rose. 
 
 " Stay here ! Why not ? " asked Sylvia. " Where 
 else can we stay? At least until the family, or some 
 of them, return and tell us what has happened and 
 where my brother is. We'll go to a hotel, of course, 
 if there is one around here, but this place isn't as 
 much settled as I supposed. Of course we'll stay 
 here ! " 
 
 "All night?" Hazel wanted to know. 
 
 " If we have to yes. I'm going to have another 
 cup of tea and some more of that delicious plum 
 cake," Sylvia went on. 
 
 Her now calm spirits had an influence on all of 
 them. They finished the meal, and even washed the 
 dishes. The hour was growing late, and once more 
 a little feeling of nervousness oppressed them. 
 
 It was when Alice went out on the porch to look 
 down toward the lake, that she saw that which moved 
 her to exclaim : 
 
 " Girls, here comes some one ! "
 
 232 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Where ? " demanded Sylvia. 
 
 " See ! That light ! " 
 
 A gleam was observed bobbing about in the woods. 
 It flickered here and there, now being obscured by 
 some trees, and again shining clear. 
 
 " Who can it be? " murmured Rose. 
 
 " Hark ! " Hazel cautioned them. 
 
 The murmur of voices came to them women's 
 voices mingling with those of men. 
 
 " Some one is coming at last ! " exclaimed Sylvia, 
 with a sigh of relief. She had kept up nearly as 
 long as she could under the strain. 
 
 Along a woodland path came a party of men and 
 women. Several lanterns could now be seen. 
 
 " It looks like a searching party," said Mrs. 
 Brownley. 
 
 " I wonder if they have come to look for the lost 
 family," Rose proposed. 
 
 Into the gleam of lamplight from the open doors 
 of the bungalow came the men and women. A tall 
 bearded man was in the lead, and at the sight of 
 him Sylvia exclaimed: 
 
 " Professor Russman ! " 
 
 " Ha ! What is that? Who is there? " he asked, 
 shading his eyes with his hand that he might the 
 better see who spoke. "Who is it?" he asked, 
 sharply. 
 
 " It is I Sylvia Pursell. Oh, where is my brother 
 Roy?" she asked, eagerly. "Is he here? Was he 
 here? We came to find him but "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 233 
 
 "You here?" the professor cried. "Roy's sis 
 ter ! This is a strange coincidence." 
 
 "Where is Roy?" his sister demanded. 
 
 " Now please don't get excited," begged Mr. 
 Russman. Perhaps he had had enough of it that 
 night. " It is unfortunate, but your brother is not 
 here. He was with us, but now he is, I regret to 
 say, missing ! " 
 
 " Missing ! " gasped Sylvia. " Has he is he " 
 
 She could not continue, but swayed unsteadily 
 and put out her hands like one groping in the dark.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 A SLEEPLESS NIGHT 
 
 " STEADY, my dear ! " came the calm voice of Mrs. 
 Brownley. " Don't go off now. It will be all 
 right." 
 
 She put her arms about Sylvia, and the pressure, 
 with the calming words, had an effect. With a 
 shudder the girl held herself back from the brink 
 of a faint. 
 
 " But where is Roy ? " she faltered, moistening 
 her dry lips with a tongue scarcely more wet. 
 " What has happened to him? " 
 
 " That we do not know, my dear young lady," 
 said Professor Russman, who had now ascended the 
 steps of his bungalow, followed by his wife and the 
 servants. "Will you not come in?" he asked, 
 courteously " you and your friends," and he in 
 cluded them all with a friendly gesture. 
 
 " We have been in," said Mrs. Brownley, thinking 
 it best that she should make the explanation now. 
 " We took the liberty of getting our supper. We 
 arrived here the place was deserted we could not 
 understand. So we helped ourselves while waiting." 
 
 " And you were perfectly welcome all of you," 
 their host went on. " It is a strange story. If you 
 
 234
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 235 
 
 will come inside I will tell you. Ah, to think of find 
 ing you here when we come back from our unsuc 
 cessful search you of all persons in the world ! " 
 exclaimed the professor, gazing at Sylvia. 
 
 " Your your unsuccessful search," she repeated, 
 wonderingly. " I do not understand." 
 
 " And no wonder," broke in Mrs. Russman. " We 
 cannot understand it ourselves, Sylvia. It is like 
 a dream a nightmare." 
 
 " But is Roy alive? " his sister faltered. 
 
 " Yes, or he was when he rushed out of here an 
 hour or so ago," said the professor, gravely. " You 
 may go on serving the meal," he added to the 
 servants. " My wife will want something and so shall 
 I. Adolph and Mr. Montray may return later." 
 
 " Oh, is Harry here too ? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " Yes, he was helping us in the search." 
 
 "What search?" Sylvia said. She was doing all 
 the questioning, and the others deferred to her, as 
 it was her right. 
 
 " Come inside and I will tell you everything," said 
 the professor. " Will you not have a cup of tea? " 
 
 " We had plenty," Mrs. Brownley repb'ed. " In 
 fact, we made free to help ourselves." 
 
 " I am glad you did," was his friendly retort. 
 " It is no time for ceremony." 
 
 Sylvia knew the scientist and his wife, though not 
 as intimately as did Roy. But they welcomed her as 
 an old friend, and her companions also. Soon they 
 were all seated in the dining-room, and while tht
 
 236 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 maids served the belated meal, explanations were 
 made on both sides. 
 
 " But why did Roy go away if he was here ? " 
 Sylvia asked, when Professor Russman had only 
 begun his remarks. 
 
 " I do not know," he answered, gravely. " Per 
 haps you can explain that. I shall tell you all I 
 know. He came here 
 
 "And you don't know where he is now?" Sylvia 
 asked. She really could not refrain from the inter 
 ruption. 
 
 " He is out there somewhere," said Professor 
 Russman, solemnly, and he waved his hand toward 
 the forest that enclosed the bungalow on three sides. 
 In front was Saranac Lake. 
 
 " Out out there? " faltered Sylvia. 
 
 " But my son Adolph and Roy's friend, Harry 
 Montray, are searching for him," went on the sci 
 entist, with as cheerful a smile as he could summon 
 in the emergency. " Never fear ! They will find 
 him and bring him back to us. It is but a temporary 
 whim. Perhaps born of his trouble. Listen, now, 
 and I will tell you." 
 
 He led the way into the living-room, while the 
 servants cleared the table. Mrs. Russman, who had 
 been made acquainted, as had her husband, with Mrs. 
 Brownley and the others, had made them welcome 
 most hospitably. 
 
 " Roy came to see me with his friend, Harry Mon 
 tray, arriving yesterday," the scientist went on. " I
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 237 
 
 was surprised to see him, as I did not know he was 
 up here, thinking him with the chemical concern. I 
 was greatly surprised when he told me that he had 
 been ill, and had lost a most valuable chemical se 
 cret." 
 
 " Isn't it too bad ! " exclaimed Sylvia. " We all 
 feel so dreadfully about it; Roy losing his health 
 and all that ! " 
 
 " So his friend Harry quietly explained to me," 
 the scientist resumed. " Roy wanted to consult with 
 me about some formulas and I was only too glad to 
 help him. He seemed perfectly rational and at 
 times he surprised me by the grasp he had on the sub 
 ject of coal-tar products. He has made a deep study 
 of them." 
 
 " Perhaps too deep," murmured Sylvia. " That is 
 what caused his breakdown." 
 
 " So I surmised, after I had talked with him a 
 short time," said Mr. Russman. " Well, to make 
 a long story short, we made him welcome here at 
 the bungalow, and told him he and his companion 
 could stay as long as they liked. I even arranged 
 to go over with him some of the chemical combina 
 tions that might lead to his rediscovery of the lost 
 formula. He was seemingly delighted with that." 
 
 Mr. Russman paused for breath. Then, almost 
 for the first time, Sylvia and her friends noticed how 
 exhausted and bedraggled were he and his wife, as 
 well as the servants. 
 
 " Oh, what have you all been doing? " she asked.
 
 238 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " It is unfair of me to keep you talking here when 
 you need rest." 
 
 " No, it is all right. It is only that we are tired 
 from having tried to trace Roy through the woods. 
 I have only a little more to tell. Then we shall rest 
 and resume the search." 
 
 Rose showed her suffering in her face, but she 
 tried to hide it and even smiled wanly as she glanced 
 at Sylvia. 
 
 " I could see that your brother was not in the 
 best of health," went on Professor Russman, 
 " though he had himself pretty well in hand. But 
 the discussion of intricate chemical problems must 
 have been too much for his brain, weakened by his 
 illness. 
 
 " However, matters did not seem to be very bad, 
 and I really had hopes that I might lead his memory 
 along the paths from which it had unwittingly 
 strayed. 
 
 " We were about to sit down to the dinner table, 
 after a most pleasant afternoon, when your brother, 
 I regret to say, Sylvia, was suddenly seized with a 
 sort of delirium. He was not at all like himself, and, 
 before any of us could stop him, he quickly rose from 
 the table and rushed from the place, out into the 
 woods." 
 
 " Without saying a word? " asked Sylvia, her 
 heart beating fast. 
 
 " He merely exclaimed : ' I know where to find it ! 
 I know where to find it ! ' Then he rushed out, with-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 out his hat, arising so hastily that he overturned his 
 chair. 
 
 " Out he rushed, and, for a few seconds, we did 
 not know what to do. It was as though we had all 
 been stricken. Then his friend, Harry, called to us 
 to go after him that Roy was out of his mind, did 
 not know what he was doing, and might come to 
 some harm. 
 
 " Then we, too, servants and all, stopping only 
 to take some lanterns, rushed out after the unfor 
 tunate youth. We left everything as it stood, think 
 ing we should soon return. And well, here we are 
 we failed in our quest." 
 
 And that was the explanation of the deserted 
 bungalow. It was natural enough when the cause 
 was known. 
 
 " And you could not find Roy? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " Not a trace of him," returned Mrs. Russman. 
 
 " But that is not to be wondered at, considering 
 the darkness and the almost impenetrable forest," her 
 husband added. " We were hampered in our search. 
 We shall renew it under more favourable circum 
 stances in the morning." 
 
 " If Roy does not return, by himself, in the mean 
 while," said the professor's wife, hopefully. 
 
 " Oh, of course, yes," he agreed. 
 
 " You say your son, and Roy's friend, are still 
 keeping up the search? " asked Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " Yes," the professor answered. " They went to 
 get some of the professional guides of this neighbour-
 
 240 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 hood, and will institute a general search. They will 
 probably be out all night. They arranged to get 
 something to eat at the house of one of the guides. 
 They both wanted to continue the search, but I felt 
 I must come back to the bungalow. I could not tell 
 what would happen here." 
 
 " It was well for us you did come back," Sylvia 
 said. " We did not know what to think." 
 
 The girls told their story of having come to the 
 Adirondacks, and of their trip, thus far, into the 
 woods. Professor Russman then gave more details 
 of Roy's strange running away. 
 
 " What do you think he meant when he said he 
 knew where to find it ? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " I think he referred to the chemical formula. 
 But he was in a delirium, of course," Mr. Russman 
 said, " and was not responsible for what he said." 
 
 " Oh, I do hope he returns," his sister cried. 
 
 Then began a nerve-racking wait. Some of the 
 girls went to bed, but Sylvia remained up all night, 
 sleepless. Mrs. Brownley sat with her, in her room, 
 and each one started at the slightest sound listen 
 ing hopefully.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 A GENERAL ALARM 
 
 DAWN came, rosy-pale at first, but turning to red, 
 and thrusting back into the depths of the forest the 
 blackness of the night the long night that had 
 seemed like a pall of blackness over the hearts of 
 Sylvia and her friends. 
 
 And with the dawn came hope, renewed hope, as 
 it always does. 
 
 " First, a good breakfast ! " said Professor Russ- 
 man, as he greeted his guests. " A good meal, and 
 we shall be ready to take up the fight of the day. 
 How did you sleep, Sylvia? " 
 
 " Not at all," she said, trying not to speak wearily, 
 and it needed but a glance at her eyes to show how 
 she had spent the night hours in a useless vigil, 
 hoping against hope. 
 
 " Then you will sleep all the better to-night," was 
 his cheerful comment. " We shall have Roy back 
 with us then." 
 
 " I hope so," murmured Rose, but so low that only 
 Sylvia heard her. She pressed her chum's hand 
 under the cover of the tablecloth, for they were then 
 at breakfast. 
 
 The meal did put new heart into them, though 
 341
 
 242 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 Sylvia could not help wondering what fare her brother 
 had, and where he would eat. She looked out of 
 the bungalow window into the dense forest a wood 
 marked here and there by trails along which the 
 search must now be made for the missing young 
 man. 
 
 "What is the first thing to do?" asked Mrs. 
 Brownley, as they pushed back their chairs from the 
 table. The chaperon was one of those efficient women 
 who like things done decently and in order, even 
 when there was such an emergency matter as the 
 search for a lost person. She was a great believer 
 in system, and the new doctrine of efficiency. 
 
 " I think we shall go down to the house of one of 
 the guides, whom Adolph was to see last night," an 
 swered the professor. " Old Sam may have some 
 news. Yes, that is what we shall do first." 
 
 " And after that? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " It all depends. But don't get discouraged, my 
 dear, if we do not have word from your brother at 
 once. He may be in the woods for several days and 
 nights before we find him." 
 
 Sylvia uttered a low cry of protest. 
 
 " Oh, no no ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " But there will be comparatively little danger," 
 Mr. Russman said. " It is the height of summer. 
 It would do no harm to spend several nights in the 
 open. But there are many shelters and open camps 
 in the woods, and your brother is enough of a woods 
 man to build a shelter for himself, is he not ? "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 243 
 
 " Under ordinary circumstances, yes," Sylvia an 
 swered. " But if he is delirious " 
 
 " Which I am convinced he was, or he never would 
 have rushed out the way he did," Mr. Russman said. 
 " It is better to face the worst, and then every little 
 we can remove makes us so much better off. Even 
 a delirious man would be able to realise that he must 
 have shelter. But, even without it, he would suffer 
 little in the woods at this season." 
 
 "There are no wild beasts; are there?" asked 
 Alice. 
 
 " No, young lady. At least, not around here. 
 Deer are the largest animals, but the hunting season 
 is closed, so there is no danger of an accident from 
 guns. 
 
 " Oh, do not worry ! I am sure we shall find Roy 
 all right and that he will not suffer. If we cannot 
 locate him ourselves I will cause a general alarm to 
 be sounded. All the guides, canoemen, campers and 
 cottagers of the vicinity will be glad to join in the 
 search. It is often done up here when a person is 
 lost in the woods." 
 
 "Does that often happen?" asked Rose. 
 
 " Oh, yes, and in nearly every case they are found 
 again. Of course it is easy to get lost, for the trails 
 are confusing to one who does not know them," the 
 professor said. " But we will hope for the best. 
 We, ourselves, followed Roy as far as we could last 
 night, but he eluded us. However, perhaps my son 
 and Harry will have had better success.
 
 344 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Now we will go to Old Sam's house. He is one 
 of the best guides in this region, and Adolph knows 
 him well. He will be able to advise us. Do not be 
 discouraged." 
 
 He spoke hopefully cheerfully and put heart 
 into Sylvia and the others. 
 
 It was an almost tragic turn to the Adirondack 
 outing of the Nowadays Girls. They had been so 
 happy but a comparatively short time before at 
 the dance the masquerade. Would Sylvia, at least, 
 and would Rose ever be so happy again? Or would 
 the shadow of the lost one always hover over them? 
 They feared this, yet they did not like to admit that 
 fear even to themselves. 
 
 Even the loveliness of the woods and the lake, 
 and the entrancing situation of the Russman bun 
 galow, failed to arouse any sense of appreciation in 
 Sylvia and her friends. They looked at it without 
 seeing. They had been extended the warmest hos 
 pitality by Mr. and Mrs. Russman, and made to 
 feel perfectly at home. And Sylvia and her friends 
 were truly grateful. But they could not shake off 
 the feeling of gloom. 
 
 " Shall you let your folks know Roy is missing? " 
 asked Hazel. 
 
 " Not at once," Sylvia replied. " It would only 
 cause them great pain and sorrow, and perhaps un 
 necessarily. We may find him to-day. If we do 
 not, and if he remains unfound after to-night, then, 
 of course, I must let papa know. He would want
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 to engage a posse of men and find him. But we will 
 make the search ourselves first." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried Professor Russman when he 
 heard this. " That is the right spirit ! I am sure 
 we shall have success." 
 
 Leaving the servants and Mrs. Russman in the 
 bungalow, the girls accompanied the professor into 
 the woods, along the forest trail that led to the cabin 
 of Old Sam, a veteran guide. 
 
 Sylvia tried to induce Mrs. Brownley to remain 
 also, but the chaperon insisted on going witK her 
 charges. 
 
 " Your mothers depend on me, and I am not going 
 to desert now," she said, firmly. 
 
 " But it is such a trial for you," objected 
 Sylvia. " It is too much to expect you to tramp 
 through the woods." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! " exclaimed the sturdy lady. 
 " I am not like some modern girls, who can only 
 dance one fox trot an evening. I was brought up 
 to take long walks. And you seem to forget that I 
 have done some mountain climbing in the Alps. If 
 I could stand that, surely I can stand our Adiron 
 dack woods in summer. Now don't talk any more 
 about leaving me behind, for I simply shan't stay. 
 Go along!" 
 
 Professor Russman looked admiringly at the chap 
 eron. His own wife was an accomplished woods- 
 woman, but it was necessary that some one in author 
 ity remain at the bungalow, and she volunteered for
 
 246 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 that waiting service. Roy might wander back, or 
 her son or Harry Montray might return, and they 
 would not know what to expect if only the servants 
 were there to explain matters. 
 
 Our friends had brought their most needed lug 
 gage with them. They had expected to go to some 
 hotel or wood-camp near the Russman bungalow, but 
 though there was one not far off, Mr. Russman 
 would not hear of their leaving him and his wife. 
 There was plenty of room in the bungalow, he in 
 sisted, which was perfectly true, and they would 
 want to be there to hear the first news good or bad. 
 
 But Rose and Sylvia, almost with tears in their 
 eyes, refused to admit the possibility of anything 
 but good tidings. 
 
 From their cases the girls and Mrs. Brownley took 
 stout walking shoes, short skirts of a kind to defy 
 brambles and briars, and with a lunch, a portable 
 coffee outfit, and other necessaries and some medi 
 cines, they fared forth. 
 
 Somehow or other the spirits of all rose as they 
 started off on the search. It was the very fact of 
 doing something, and not sitting in the darkness, 
 waiting, that caused this. The energy of work drove 
 out the bad spirits of inactivity. 
 
 Professor Russman showed Sylvia and the others 
 where Roy had entered the woods as he rushed from 
 the table the night before, when the delirium so 
 unaccountably seized him. It was a well-travelled 
 trail, and of course no special footprints could be
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 247 
 
 seen. Presently this trail branched off into several 
 others, and there was no way of telling which path 
 Roy had followed. 
 
 " But perhaps Old Sam can tell us," Mr. Russ- 
 man said, hopefully. 
 
 Their hopes, however, were doomed to disappoint 
 ment. Sam was at home. He told of the visit of 
 Adolph and Harry and described the plan of pro 
 cedure he had mapped out for them. He had told 
 the two young men to come back if they were unsuc 
 cessful, and then new plans would be made. 
 
 " Well, we will start from your cabin, and make 
 a general search until my son and Harry come 
 back," said the scientist. " We may come upon Roy 
 unexpectedly." 
 
 The search was taken up, but at noon had brought 
 no results. Sam himself had gone off on a little-used 
 trail. He said he would search along that, and also 
 take word to some fellow-guides. 
 
 Our friends ate the lunch they had brought with 
 them, and, after a rest, started forth again. But 
 as the afternoon shadows lengthened, and their shouts 
 and cries, as well as their close scrutiny, had resulted 
 in nothing, discouragement again held them all in its 
 fearsome grip. 
 
 " We had better go no farther," Professor Russ- 
 man said at length, as he noted how near the sun 
 was to setting. " We had better go back." 
 
 " And give up ? " asked Rose. 
 
 " Only for the night. Unacquainted with the
 
 248 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 woods as we are, we might become lost ourselves, 
 and that would be bad. We must go back, and leave 
 what night-searching can be done to the guides and 
 canoemen." 
 
 With heavy hearts they retraced their steps to 
 Old Sam's cabin. They found Adolph and Harry 
 waiting for them. It was the first time Sylvia and 
 her friends had seen Roy's companion since the two 
 had come to the mountains. There was a meeting 
 that was as happy as possible under the circum 
 stances. Harry told more details of Roy's case. 
 
 " He was on the road to recovery when this hap 
 pened," he said, sadly. " Perhaps if I had not al 
 lowed him to make this trip 
 
 " It wasn't your fault at all ! " interrupted Sylvia, 
 quickly. " We must think now of what to do next." 
 
 " Send out a general alarm, I should say," broke 
 in Professor Russman. 
 
 " I think so," agreed his son, and Harry nodded 
 his acquiescence. 
 
 "It's the only thing left," declared Old Sam. 
 " I'll spread the word," and taking down a conch 
 horn from his cabin wall he blew a deep mellow blast, 
 that echoed and echoed again through the forest. 

 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 THE SEARCH 
 
 LONG blasts and short blasts did Old Sam blow on 
 the mellow conch horn as, with his lips pressed. to 
 the opening, he puffed out his cheeks. Now the 
 sound would almost die away, to blare out again 
 with a suddenness that startled the girls. 
 
 "What what does it mean?" faltered Sylvia. 
 
 " It sounds like something I heard when once I 
 was in Scotland," commented Mrs. Brownley. " An 
 old chieftain thus summoned the members of his 
 clan." 
 
 " It's the general alarm," explained Harry. 
 " The guides have a way of signalling to one another 
 that way. They can send all sorts of messages. 
 This one is to summon all who hear the horn to join 
 in a search." 
 
 " How good of them ! " Sylvia said. 
 
 " Do they often gather together this way for a 
 general alarm ? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Occasionally," explained Adolph, who had spent 
 nearly all of his summers in the Adirondacks. " Now 
 and then a hunter will wander away from his camp, 
 or become separated from his party and have to 
 be found in this way." 
 
 249
 
 250 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Are there any who are never found? " questioned 
 Rose, in a low voice, and in an aside to Harry. 
 
 He paused a moment before answering. A look 
 into her face showed how much in earnest she was. 
 Harry decided upon his answer. 
 
 " They always find them," he said, speaking cheer 
 fully. He did not add that sometimes the missing 
 ones were found too late. What was the need of 
 frightening Rose? 
 
 " How long will it be before you and your friends 
 will be ready to start out on the search?" asked 
 Mr. Russman of the old guide. 
 
 " We will start in the morning," he said. " The 
 men will gather here to-night, and I'll tell them 
 what's up. We'll start out as soon as it's light 
 enough to see, and that will be about three o'clock 
 in the morning these days." 
 
 " Can't we do anything? " asked Sylvia. " We 
 want to help, oh, so much ! " 
 
 Old Sam looked at her keenly. He must have 
 understood her feelings. Then Rose broke in with: 
 
 "Oh, please let us do something! It is terrible 
 just to sit and wait!" 
 
 Old Sam nodded his head sagely. 
 
 " Yes, I know," he said, in a low voice. " I had 
 a brother once lost in these woods." 
 
 " Did they find him again ? " asked Hazel, eagerly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, miss. But it was some time, and 
 
 But there ! we'll find this young man, all right ! " and 
 he changed his voice to a more cheerful tone.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 251 
 
 " And may we help? " repeated Sylvia, eagerly. 
 
 " Yes," said Sam. " If I were you I'd not go 
 too far from the bungalow, though. What I mean 
 is that your brother may return unexpectedly. In 
 fact he may not be far from here now, but he may 
 be going around in a sort of circle. If he was as 
 ill as you say he was, he probably wouldn't go very 
 far. 
 
 " But my friends and I will take in all the trails 
 within a circle of ten miles, and you girls had better 
 not go more than three in any direction from the 
 bungalow. Then you won't be lost. We don't want 
 to have to search for two and even more lost per 
 sons," he added, with a smile. 
 
 " Say, Sam," demanded Adolph, with the freedom 
 of an old acquaintance, " can't you furnish us with 
 a guide? One that can pilot us around in the woods 
 near the bungalow. I know the forest pretty well, 
 but I confess I might get lost myself. Suppose you 
 give us a guide and we'll organise a searching party 
 of our own." 
 
 " That's a good idea," Sam said. " I'll do that. 
 Two parties ought to be better than one, just as 
 two heads are better than a single one. Now my 
 advice to you is to go back to your bungalow, and 
 get a good night's rest. We can't do much at night, 
 anyhow, particularly at this stage. Later on, if 
 we have to make a torchlight search we can do it. 
 But there's no need now. Go home and rest. I'll 
 be getting ready for the guides. They'll soon be
 
 252 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 coming in, that is, all that aren't out with summer 
 parties." 
 
 "Will they all I ar that horn?" asked Sylvia, 
 indicating the one Sam had blown. 
 
 " Well, not all, miss. But them as does hear it 
 will blow another of their own, and so on. The word 
 will be passed along." 
 
 " Hark ! " exclaimed Rose. 
 
 From somewhere off in the forest there came the 
 mellow notes of another conch horn. Clear and pleas 
 ant it sounded, and had it not been for the import of 
 the blast, the girls would have enjoyed it, for the 
 tones fell sweetly on the evening air. But now it 
 seemed sadly melancholy. 
 
 "That'll be Jim Judson," said Sam. " He'll 
 make them hear as I couldn't. We'll soon have quite 
 a party here. I'll attend to the rest now, so you 
 folks had better go back to the bungalow and get 
 some sleep." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," said Sylvia, wearily. " It 
 is all we can do until morning." 
 
 " And you will be able to do all the better work in 
 the morning if you rest to-night, my dear," said 
 Mrs. Brownley. " You look quite tired out." 
 
 Indeed Sylvia did look worn out, for she had not 
 slept, and though the girls were sturdy, and accus 
 tomed to long tramps in the woods, they were all 
 tired now. A rest would be a benefit to all of them. 
 
 " Well, let us go back," suggested Mr. Russman. 
 
 " Yes, the sooner we begin to rest the sooner we
 
 253 
 
 shall be able to take up the search," Mrs. Brownley 
 added. 
 
 Rose and Sylvia walked together on the back trail. 
 It was as if they had a common bond of sympathy 
 between them, as indeed they had. They did not say 
 much, partly because they were too tired, and also 
 for the reason that they were doing much thinking. 
 
 " Oh, isn't it just dreadful! " murmured Rose, as 
 they walked along in the gathering twilight. 
 
 " I can't bear it sometimes ! " agreed Sylvia. 
 " To think of his being out there," and she indicated 
 the forest that surrounded them. 
 
 As they walked along they could hear, now and 
 then, the calling of the conch shell, as one guide 
 signalled from his lonely cabin, or camp, to another 
 of his fellows. The sounds came sweetly over the 
 ocean of green trees. 
 
 It cannot be said that any of the party ate with 
 good appetites when the bungalow was reached. But 
 even the food they did take was of benefit to them. 
 Sylvia felt much stronger, and certainly more hope 
 ful after the meal, and so did Rose. 
 
 But she and the others dreaded the long night, 
 when many thoughts would crowd in upon them. 
 A part of the evening was spent in talk with Harry, 
 who told of Roy's condition since he had come to the 
 Adirondacks with him. The lost chemical formula 
 had, it appeared, bothered the patient more than a 
 little. It was really keeping him from getting well. 
 
 " And then came this outbreak," Harry went on.
 
 254 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " It seemed to be the climax. I never saw Roy do 
 anything more suddenly than when he leaped away 
 from the table and rushed out into the woods. And 
 he seemed to disappear as if the very earth had 
 swallowed him up. But we'll find him never fear ! " 
 he exclaimed, as he saw a look of pain pass over the 
 face of Sylvia. " We'll get him back." 
 
 Sylvia and the others slept from very exhaustion, 
 and in Sylvia's case, particularly, the hours of rest 
 in the darkness performed a much-needed service. 
 She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but 
 was saved from it. 
 
 She was awake early much earlier than any of 
 the others and feeling that she could not sleep 
 any more, and that to lie in bed, tossing restlessly 
 about, would only make her more nervous, she arose, 
 took a bath, dressed and went downstairs. Only the 
 servants were about. 
 
 Sylvia went out on the porch. Sitting on a stump 
 somewhat down the path was a man a typical 
 guide. He was idly whittling a stick, the soft, curl 
 ing shavings falling in a heap at his feet. Sylvia 
 guessed who he was. 
 
 " Good morning," she said. 
 
 The guide did not start. It was as if he had seen 
 her come out and had known she was going to speak, 
 though his back was toward the house. 
 
 " Mornin'," he said, in a mellow voice. " Old 
 Sam sent me up here to help with the searchin' 
 party."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 255 
 
 " I'm glad," said Sylvia, eagerly. " It is ray 
 brother who is lost. Oh, tell me! do you think we 
 shaU find him?" 
 
 " Of course, miss. Sartin sure ! " he exclaimed, 
 shutting his knife with a snap and standing up. He 
 was tall and lanky, but he had a good face, and his 
 blue eyes seemed to look right through one. 
 
 There was an early breakfast. The guide, who 
 was known to Mr. Russman and his son, listened 
 carefully to a statement of what had happened, and 
 nodded his head. 
 
 " All right," he said. " We'll try all the trails 
 around here. Now, if you're ready, we'll start. Old 
 Sam and the others are on the search long ago." 
 
 And so they started off once more to find the miss 
 ing one.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 LOST 
 
 PETE WHARTON, the guide who had been sent by 
 Old Sam, looked critically over the little party he 
 was leading into the woods, and along the trails 
 that formed a network for several miles about the 
 Russman bungalow. They did not intend to get 
 more than three miles away from the bungalow in 
 any direction. 
 
 " Well, I reckon we're pretty well equipped," said 
 Pete, as if satisfied with his scrutiny. " We've got 
 plenty of blank cartridges to fire for signals, and 
 we've got whistles and horns. There's enough grub 
 for the lunch, and we've got to come back by dark, 
 anyhow." 
 
 " I've got some of those pocket electric flash 
 lights," explained Harry. 
 
 " Well, maybe they're all right for you folks, but 
 I'd rather have a good oil lantern or a bark torch," 
 the guide said. " Howsomever, maybe we won't need 
 either." 
 
 The man who ran Mr. Russman's motor boat was 
 to go along to carry the lunch basket, which included 
 a coffee pot and a little alcohol stove, for they did 
 not want to wait to build a camp fire. 
 
 256
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 257 
 
 The girls wore their short walking skirts and stout 
 shoes, for the trail was anything but smooth. Each 
 one carried a stick Pete had cut for her. 
 
 Sylvia tried to get Mrs. Brownley to remain at 
 home, but the chaperon stoutly refused to desert. 
 
 " I can walk as well as any of you girls ! " she 
 said, with a smile, " and I want to know, as soon as 
 you do, when Roy is found." 
 
 " Oh, I do hope we find him soon ! " cried Sylvia. 
 " He might become hopelessly lost on these moun 
 tains. Men have done so before and have lost their 
 lives from exposure." 
 
 " Not very often," Harry made haste to say. 
 " And now, when the woods are full of camping and 
 pleasure parties, when every lake and stream has 
 canoeists on it, and when such a large searching party 
 two of them, in fact is out, Roy surely will be 
 found." 
 
 " I wish I had your faith," said Rose, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " You must have it ! " Harry said to her, in a 
 whisper, so that Sylvia would not hear. ** We must 
 all help her to keep up," he urged, and Rose knew 
 well to whom he referred. " If she collapses on our 
 hands we shall have to send for Mr. or Mrs. Pur- 
 sell, and you know what that would mean." 
 
 " Oh, I shouldn't be discouraged, I know," mur 
 mured Rose. " And I'll try not to be. But it is 
 very hard." 
 
 " I understand," said Harry, sympathetically.
 
 358 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " But you needn't be afraid Sylvia will collapse," 
 Rose went on. " She isn't that kind." 
 
 " I didn't think she was, and I don't want you 
 to show the white feather, either." He spoke a trifle 
 sharply, but he had a purpose in it. 
 
 A little red spot burned in either of the formerly 
 pale cheeks of Rose. 
 
 " The white feather ! " she exclaimed. " How dare 
 you suggest such a thing ! I I " 
 
 " There, there," broke in Harry, soothingly. 
 "No need to fly off the handle! I just don't want 
 to put too much on Sylvia. After all, Roy is her 
 brother." 
 
 ** Yes, but he is my " 
 
 Rose stopped short, blushed vividly and turned 
 aside her head. Harry smiled to himself. 
 
 " I thought that would fetch her," he thought. 
 " We shan't have any more trouble from her. She'll 
 keep her nerves together for the sake of Sylvia, and 
 Sylvia will do the same for Rose. That," he added 
 to himself more or less judicially, " is what might be 
 called playing both ends against the middle." Harry 
 was pleased with his tactics. 
 
 Under the direction of Pete Wharton they adopted 
 a systematic plan of search. Pete knew every trail 
 in the woods, and had them in his head as a sort of 
 map. Pete began at a certain place in reference to 
 the " deserted bungalow," as the girls often called 
 the place to themselves, and he said they would follow 
 each trail in turn until they had reached the three-
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 259 
 
 mile limit. In some cases, he added, they might take 
 in a four-mile section. 
 
 They would start back toward the bungalow by 
 another route on reaching their set limit on the trail, 
 and so cover the ground zigzag fashion. 
 
 Now and then, as the party advanced through 
 the dense forest, pierced only by narrow trails, they 
 stopped and shouted Roy's name. Occasionally shots 
 were fired, and horns or whistles sounded. The 
 other party of guides, under the direction of Old 
 Sam, was far enough away to keep the sounds from 
 conflicting, for Sam's party, also, was doubtless call 
 ing and signalling in various ways. 
 
 Sylvia had hopes that it would take only a little 
 searching on the part of her friends to discover Roy. 
 She had a feeling that he would become weary of 
 wandering in the woods all alone, that the delirium 
 would leave him, and that he would be found trying 
 to make his way back to the bungalow. 
 
 " And if he does go back I mean if he wanders 
 back of his own accord, we'll not say anything to him ; 
 shall we?" propounded Rose, as she and the others 
 paused for a moment on the brink of a little hill, 
 while Mrs. Brownley, in the rear, sat on a log to 
 rest. 
 
 " Say anything to him what do you mean ? " de 
 manded Sylvia, who was in advance, and she turned 
 around quickly. " Why shouldn't we say anything 
 to him? Just because he " 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean it that way at all, my dear ! "
 
 260 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 exclaimed Rose quickly, as the red mounted to her 
 cheeks again. " You didn't understand me. I meant 
 that if we didn't find Roy " 
 
 " Oh, we are sure to find him ! " interrupted Hazel. 
 " Don't suggest such dire possibilities, my dear." 
 
 " I didn't exactly mean that, either," hastily pro 
 tested Rose. 
 
 " Give her a chance," suggested Sylvia. " I guess 
 we're all so tired and worried that we are getting on 
 one another's nerves. What do you want to say, 
 Rose? " and she smiled at her chum ; smiled, it is true, 
 but in so wan and mirthless a fashion that the hearts 
 of all ached for her. 
 
 " What I was trying to say," resumed Rose, " was 
 that if Roy did, by some good fortune, make his way 
 back to the bungalow alone, as he is very apt to do, 
 and if we came back from our search and found him 
 there, wouldn't it be better not to say anything to 
 him about his having gone away? " 
 
 " Why, it isn't a secret; is it? " asked Alice. 
 
 " Oh dear ! " half laughed Rose. " I do seem to be 
 very stupid to-day, somehow or other." 
 
 " Perhaps it is we who are stupid," suggested 
 Sylvia. " I think I know what you mean, though. 
 You " 
 
 " No, let me say it for myself," insisted Rose. 
 " Otherwise I shall surely think I am failing in my 
 descriptive powers, and I'll never fit in at college. I 
 mean that it might embarrass Roy to have us men 
 tion that he well, to be frank, that he went off in a
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 261 
 
 fit of delirium. It would be better to ignore it alto 
 gether, I think, and act as if nothing had happened. 
 Just try and talk naturally to him, about the weather, 
 or camping, or " 
 
 " Rose, you're the sweetest girl ! " interrupted 
 Sylvia, putting her arms about her chum. " I never 
 would have thought of that. I'd have gone and 
 blurted out something about how terrible it was for 
 him to run off the way he did, or I'd ask him where 
 he had been hiding, or else worry about his health, 
 and ask a lot of foolish questions. I'm so glad you 
 thought of that ! " 
 
 " Oh, perhaps it would have come to you, also," 
 said Rose, not wanting to take too much credit to 
 herself. " But, really, don't you think that would 
 be the wisest plan ? " 
 
 " Most certainly ! " agreed Alice. " It's always 
 best, when a person is out of his mind Oh, I didn't 
 
 mean ! " and she stopped herself by putting her 
 
 hand over her lips, giving Sylvia a conscience-stricken 
 glance. 
 
 " I don't in the least mind, Alice dear," interrupted 
 the sister of the missing youth. " Roy certainly is out 
 of his mind, only temporarily, I hope we all hope," 
 she added, as she saw Rose about to interpose an 
 objection. " There is no use mincing words," Sylvia 
 went on. " Roy is what might be called mildly 
 insane " 
 
 " Oh! " interjected Rose, with a sort of gesture of 
 denial.
 
 262 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " We might as well meet the issue bravely," in 
 sisted Sylvia, " we can handle it better so." 
 
 " As long as we know it isn't a family defect, and 
 that it only came to Roy as a sort of horrid disease," 
 added Alice. 
 
 Sylvia nodded, gravely, and resumed. 
 
 " So I think it will be well to adopt the plan Rose 
 has suggested and simply act, when we see Roy again, 
 as if nothing had happened. That, I have read, is 
 the best way to treat people who have had anything 
 the matter with their minds. It keeps them from 
 brooding on their troubles, and helps them to recover 
 more quickly. 
 
 " That is what they do in asylums, I believe," she 
 added, after a pause. 
 
 " Oh, don't say that don't use that word," begged 
 Rose. 
 
 " Well, sanitarium, if you like that better," said 
 Sylvia. " But, really, I am not at all sensitive on the 
 subject now. I will admit that, at first, it was a ter 
 rible shock as was this one, of finding that Roy had 
 run away. But I am getting bravely over it. Why 
 should one shun, or try to ignore, or cover up, a dis 
 ease of the mind, when we are so ready to talk about 
 diseases of the body? I have often heard women 
 boast of having been successfully operated on for 
 appendicitis, but if there was the least mention of 
 some mental ailment, even though it be a temporary 
 one, they shrank from it as if it were some dis 
 grace."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 263 
 
 " Of course it isn't a disgrace ! " exclaimed Rose, 
 warmly, coming to the defence of the absent Roy. 
 " You look at it in just the right way, Sylvia; a dis 
 ease of the mind is no different from one of the body, 
 though it may be more distressing. But, as you say, 
 this is only temporary, I'm sure. Roy will soon be 
 with us again, and like himself." 
 
 " And I pray that it may be soon," murmured 
 Sylvia. 
 
 There was a suspicion of tears in her eyes ; nor were 
 those of her chums altogether dry. 
 
 Alice, indeed, saved them all from breaking down 
 completely, by exclaiming: 
 
 " Then it's agreed ! If we get back, and find Roy 
 waiting for us at the bungalow, we'll just be as jolly 
 as we can, and pretend it was all a sort of lark, or 
 game." 
 
 " That's it," said Sylvia. " Of course this is de 
 pendent on finding that Roy's mind is still troubling 
 him when next we see him. He may be altogether 
 over it." 
 
 " For which we shall all hope and pray," said 
 Rose in a low voice. 
 
 " Yes," agreed Hazel. " After all, this may be the 
 best thing in the world for him. I mean," she added 
 quickly, as she caught Sylvia's startled glance, " it 
 may be the crisis, or the turning point, just as a 
 fever is highest before it breaks and the patient gets 
 better." 
 
 " Well, there's nothing like looking on the bright
 
 264 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 side of things," remarked Sylvia, and she tried to 
 infuse cheerfulness and gaiety into her voice, but it 
 was a hard task. 
 
 " They are calling us," said Rose, after a moment's 
 pause, the silence that fell being punctuated by a 
 hail from one of the searching party. 
 
 " Yes, it's Pete, and he's signalling to us," agreed 
 Alice, looking off through the trees. 
 
 " I wonder ' began Sylvia. " No, he hasn't 
 found anything. I guess he's just tired of waiting 
 for us," she added, for the guide, having motioned 
 to the girls to follow, again set off along the trail. 
 "He'd have given the sign if he had discovered any 
 clue." 
 
 For the parties had adopted some simple visual 
 signs, as well as audible ones, that they might signal 
 to one another when some distance apart. And Pete 
 had not given the " found " symbol. 
 
 Talking, speculating, wondering, the girls ad 
 vanced once more, heading down a little wooded glade 
 where the guide could be observed, peering here and 
 there for any sign that would indicate the passage 
 of the missing young man. 
 
 "Anything hopeful?" asked Sylvia, as they came 
 within speaking distance. 
 
 " No, miss, I'm sorry to say it, but that's the 
 truth. It don't look as if he'd passed this way. But 
 there's a lonely sort of trail, a little farther on, and 
 I want to take a look at that." 
 
 "Lonely! What do you mean?" asked Rose.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 265 
 
 " Well, I mean it's one that's seldom travelled, 
 miss, and the young man, being as you might say 
 er sort of " 
 
 " Out of his head, Pete. You needn't mind saying 
 it," put in Sylvia, wishing to put the honest old 
 fellow at his ease. 
 
 " Well, miss, since you're so nice about it out of 
 his head, then. Since he's that way, and partly not 
 responsible for what he does, I thought maybe he 
 might take the lonesome trail from choice, though 
 most folks wouldn't." 
 
 " I see," agreed the sister. 
 
 " That's why I spoke about comin' in here," Pete 
 went on. " It's just possible we'll see some signs if 
 we go in a way." 
 
 He led the way into what soon proved to be a 
 dense patch of wood, almost a swamp in fact, though 
 through it ran a trail that was faintly defined. 
 
 " It doesn't look as if any one had been along here 
 for ages," whispered Alice. 
 
 Somehow it seemed natural to whisper in that eerie 
 place. 
 
 " I told you it was lonesome, miss," answered the 
 guide. " But if you don't want to come " 
 
 " Oh, we wouldn't desert for the world ! " cried 
 Sylvia, quickly. " Go on, Pete, we'll follow." 
 
 And on they went. The way led downward, and 
 as they reached the lowest point, where the water 
 lay in pools, there came a sudden noise in the bushes, 
 to one side of the trail.
 
 266 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Oh ! " screamed Rose, nor was she alone in being 
 alarmed, for the others echoed her cries. 
 
 " What is it? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 A small reddish-coloured animal, with seemingly an 
 unnecessarily large tail, sprang out, was seen for a 
 flash, and then disappeared in the underbrush. 
 
 " A dog ! " cried Alice. " Maybe it is helping in 
 the search one of the guide's dogs ? " and she looked 
 questioningly at Pete. 
 
 " It was a fox," he said, drily. " There's been a 
 den of 'em in here for years. They're harmless." 
 
 The girls breathed more easily, and kept on. But 
 they soon exhausted the possibilities of the lonely 
 trail, and found not a sign that Roy had traversed it. 
 
 " Well, no luck there," said Pete, as they emerged 
 again. " But there's one satisfaction," he went on, 
 looking at Sylvia, " you said your brother was used 
 to the woods ; didn't you? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered. " He would be quite at 
 home in the forest." 
 
 Roy was a woodsman of no small skill, and he had 
 a good sense of direction, which is invaluable to a 
 hunter or forest-lover. Set Roy down in a big wood, 
 and let him once get an idea of the points of the com 
 pass and it would be difficult to lose him. But that, 
 of course, was when he was in normal health. Now, 
 alas, he was not himself. And what had happened 
 to him Sylvia and the others could only surmise. 
 
 But Sylvia's hope that her brother would soon be 
 found was doomed to disappointment. As the hours
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 267 
 
 passed, and as trail after trail was carefully scanned, 
 and no sign of the missing one was found, the spirits 
 of all fell. 
 
 For signs of Roy were looked for, as well as his 
 actual presence. That was the value of having Pete 
 along. He could see things the others would pass 
 by unwittingly. It might be a shred of clothing, 
 caught on some bramble or bush, or a mark in the 
 soft dirt of the trail, a footprint in a bed of moss. 
 
 I say it might be any of those things, but, unfor 
 tunately, it was none of them. 
 
 Harry had been able to describe the kind of shoes 
 Roy wore. They were the same sort that Harry 
 himself had on, heavy, with soles well studded with 
 nails to prevent slipping. If any one with such a 
 pair of shoes had stepped into soft dirt, a mark 
 would have been left that easily would have been 
 recognised. 
 
 But no such marks came to the notice of the guide, 
 and when noon came he shook his head in puzzled 
 fashion. But he took good care not to let Sylvia 
 see him give this indication of discouragement. 
 
 " Oh, shall we ever find him? " Sylvia murmured, 
 as she sank down wearily on a log to rest. 
 
 " Of course we'll find him ! " exclaimed Harry, 
 signalling to Pete to confirm this assertion. 
 
 " Sartin sure, Miss Pursell," said the tall, gaunt, 
 blue-eyed man of the woods. " We haven't struck 
 the most likely trails as yet. We'll hit them after 
 dinner. Now set up, all of you, and have grub
 
 268 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 that is, askin' your pardon, lady, for applyin' sech a 
 common name to victuals," he added, quickly, with 
 a bow in the direction of Mrs. Brownley. 
 
 " That's all right," she assured him heartily, 
 and with a manner that put him at his ease at once. 
 " I've heard many an expression like that from my 
 girls," and she smiled at Sylvia and her chums. 
 
 " We call it * eats,' or * feed,' " Alice volunteered. 
 
 " Oh, I know, my dears ! " said their former 
 teacher. " You can't be in a girls' school as long 
 as I have and be easily shocked. But I think it 
 will do us all good to have some of Pete's ' grub.' 
 I know I am almost famished," and she smiled in 
 the best of good-fellowship. 
 
 The coffee was soon boiling on the alcohol stove, 
 Pete having found a spring of delicious water. Then 
 the " table " was set on a fallen log, and the sand 
 wiches passed around. All ate with better appetites 
 than at any time since the discovery of the " de 
 serted bungalow." 
 
 But, even as she ate, Sylvia would pause now and 
 then to listen, or she would gaze off into the woods 
 as if hoping to see her brother come walking along 
 amid the trees, in his right mind at least, if not 
 clothed. For it could not but have happened that 
 he must be in rather a ragged and dishevelled state 
 now as regards .his garments, if he had tramped 
 much through the dense forest. 
 
 But there came no sign, no sound, and again the 
 party undertook the search, but in somewhat better
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 269 
 
 spirits. That is what food will do for one, even 
 though it may have to be actually forced down. The 
 human body, after all, is material, though the mind 
 has a great control over it. 
 
 They went well up the mountain around Lower 
 Saranac Lake, and even penetrated to the shore of 
 the lake itself, keeping along that for some dis 
 tance. But it was all without avail. 
 
 " Of course," said Pete, slowly, when he noticed 
 the shadow on Sylvia's face deepening, " Old Sam 
 and the others may have had some news of him 
 before this. We won't know that until we get back 
 to the bungalow, though." 
 
 " But to go back we would have to give up the 
 search here," Roy's sister said. " And we can't do 
 that. We'll keep on until dark, and then we'll go 
 to the bungalow, and if we have no good news I hope 
 some will be waiting for us." 
 
 " I hope so," came from Rose, as she stalked on 
 beside Sylvia. 
 
 There were two trails close together at one point, 
 though they separated widely farther on. Sylvia 
 and her three chums, with Mrs. Brownley, were on 
 this, while the guide, with Mr. Russman, his son, 
 Harry and the boatman, were on the other. Just 
 how it happened no one could ever explain, but the 
 girls must have gone farther than they intended, 
 for, of a sudden, they found themselves down in a 
 little glade alone. It was Sylvia who first discov 
 ered it.
 
 270 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Why, girls ! " she cried. " Where are the 
 others?" 
 
 " Just back there a way," declared Alice, reas 
 suringly. 
 
 " We must return to them at once," said the 
 chaperon. " It will never do to be separated." 
 
 They followed the trail back, but when they came 
 to the place where the divergence began there was 
 no sight of the others. For a moment the girls 
 looked wonderingly at each other, and then Sylvia 
 said: 
 
 "We must shout!" 
 
 They did, but they could not be sure they were 
 answered. Certainly some sounds came back to them, 
 but it may have been the echoes. 
 
 " Hark ! " suddenly exclaimed Hazel, when in an 
 other moment there might have been a panic of fear 
 for all of them. " Some one is coming." 
 
 There was a sound of approaching footsteps, and 
 the breaking of underbrush. 
 
 " Oh, if it should be " began Sylvia, hope 
 fully. 
 
 But the light in her eyes died out a moment later, 
 as an elderly man came into view. The girls had 
 never seen him before, but he seemed to be one who 
 lived in the woods. 
 
 " Afternoon, ladies," was his cordial greeting. 
 
 " Oh, are you looking for him? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " For whom, miss ? " He seemed a bit puzzled. 
 
 " My brother. He is lost in these woods has been
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 271 
 
 since last night. We are searching for him with a 
 party, but we took the wrong, trail. However, the 
 others must be near here. But have you seen my 
 brother ? " Quickly she described Roy. 
 
 " By hemlock ! " exclaimed the old man, clapping 
 his hand on his leg. " Say, I wouldn't be surprised 
 if that was him ! " 
 
 "Who? Oh, where? Tell me!" begged Sylvia, 
 in her eagerness catching hold of his arm. 
 
 " Why, about an hour back," said the old man, 
 " I was passing along the Ampersand trail, and on 
 top of Bald Mountain I see a feller outlined against 
 the sky. He didn't have no hat on, and he seemed 
 to be actin' sort of queer. I thought it was one of 
 the campers around here. Some of them is kinder 
 foolish," he added, apologetically. 
 
 " I know go on ! " exclaimed Sylvia. 
 
 " Well, I didn't do nothin'," said the old man. " I 
 just watched this feller a bit, and come on. Now 
 I meet you and " 
 
 " Oh, I'm sure that was Roy ! " Rose cried. 
 " Which way is it to Bald Mountain ? " 
 
 " Right back on this trail a mile or so," and he 
 pointed to the one he had been travelling. 
 
 " Come on ! " cried Sylvia, eagerly. " Come on ! " 
 She hardly paused to thank their informant, but 
 rushed along the trail. Hardly knowing what they 
 were doing, but overcome by the excitement and the 
 hope of finding Roy, the others followed. They did 
 not even think of Mr. Russman, Harry and the
 
 272 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 others. They were intent on getting to Bald Moun 
 tain as fast as they could. 
 
 Excitement gave them strength. Their weariness 
 seemed to vanish magically. Even Mrs. Brownley 
 kept up with the girls, and she was not a young 
 woman. 
 
 The trail was not a plain one, but by this time 
 the girls had become used to following even a faint 
 path through the woods. On and on they fairly 
 rushed. If they thought of the others at all it was 
 to come to the hasty, if incorrect, conclusion that 
 they could easily go back and find them once they 
 had located Roy. 
 
 " How far did he say it was to Bald Mountain? " 
 asked Hazel, when the pace had slackened a little. 
 
 " A mile or so," replied Alice. 
 
 " Well, we've come more than a mile more than 
 two, I should say," Hazel went on. " I say, girls, 
 we'd better pull up a bit, and think of what we're 
 doing." 
 
 " Oh, don't stop ! " begged Sylvia. " We must find 
 him ! " 
 
 " But we must find Bald Mountain first," said 
 Hazel. " And I don't see any signs of it. We 
 seem to be down in a sort of swamp." 
 
 They were, indeed, on low ground, and the trail 
 now turned downward instead of upward. 
 
 " Can it be that we are lost? " cried Rose. She 
 hesitated over the word. 
 
 " Lost ! " gasped Alice. " Oh, it can't be ! "
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 273 
 
 " Keep on a little farther," Sylvia urged. " We 
 may come to the mountain any minute now." 
 
 But the farther they went the more the trail 
 sloped downward. Clearly they had come in the 
 wrong direction. 
 
 " We are lost ! " said Rose at last.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 UNEXPECTED HELP 
 
 FOB. a moment a feeling of panic seemed to overcome 
 not only the girls, but Mrs. Brownley herself. The 
 word " lost " appeared to have a most sinister mean 
 ing under the circumstances. 
 
 For the girls had left their friends, the guide was 
 with Mr. Russman and the others, and they had 
 taken a wrong trail. 
 
 Were they to be lost, even as Roy was lost, and 
 with the prospect of being left out in the woods with 
 night coming on? 
 
 It was a question that each one hesitated to ask 
 herself, and yet it was one that needed to be an 
 swered. 
 
 " Oh, we can't be lost ! " Sylvia said at length. 
 " Here is the path. We haven't strayed from that." 
 
 " Yes, but what good is it to us if we don't know 
 where it leads to? " Alice wanted to know. 
 
 " Oh, but it must lead somewhere," Sylvia in 
 sisted. " If it doesn't lead where we want to go, 
 which, just at present, is Bald Mountain, then we 
 must go back along it until we get on the right trail. 
 That is simple enough." 
 
 " To say ; yes," agreed Hazel. " But is it simple 
 enough to do? " 
 
 274
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 275 
 
 " We'll try, anyhow," Sylvia went on. Somehow 
 she seemed to have recovered her spirits, which had 
 been dampened by the assertion of Rose that they 
 were lost. " All we'll have to do," went on Roy's 
 sister, " is to keep going up instead of descending. 
 We want to get on the heights, where we can get 
 a good view." 
 
 " That sounds reasonable," Mrs. Brownley said. 
 " Suppose we try it ? " and she looked questioningly 
 at her charges. 
 
 " I think we ought to call out before we stir an 
 other step," Rose said. 
 
 " What for? " demanded Sylvia. 
 
 " To see if the others are near here. If they are 
 it will be better to go to them or get them to come 
 to us, and let Pete take us to Bald Mountain. I 
 don't want to risk trying to find it ourselves." 
 
 " Well, perhaps that will be better," Sylvia ad 
 mitted. " We'll call. Mr. Russman and the others 
 can't be very far back. I suppose it was foolish 
 of us to come on without them. But they seemed 
 to be quite near, and I thought they would follow 
 us." 
 
 " I didn't think of anything but of getting to 
 Bald Mountain," asserted Rose. 
 
 " If we had asked that old man he might have 
 guided us," Hazel ventured. 
 
 " It's too late to think of that now," sighed Alice. 
 " We shall have to guide ourselves." 
 
 " And we can do it easily enough," asserted Sylvia,
 
 276 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 with perhaps more conviction than she really felt. 
 " Come on now, let's turn about and go back. And 
 we must hurry, for it is getting late." 
 
 The girls noticed, not without little shivers of ap 
 prehension, that the shadows were lengthening per 
 ceptibly. How far from the bungalow they were 
 they could not estimate. And how far they were 
 from where they had last seen their friends and the 
 guide was equally a matter of mere supposition. 
 
 " Indeed we must hasten," agreed the chaperon. 
 
 She did not speak of her weariness. They were 
 all weary, for they had come the last mile or so at 
 a fast pace, spurred on by the hope of finding Roy 
 on top of the hill, locally called Bald Mountain. 
 
 " We are somewhat like the King of France," said 
 Sylvia, with a laugh, as they started back. " We 
 seem to have marched down the hill, and now we 
 are marching up again." 
 
 " The King of France reversed the process," said 
 Rose. 
 
 " Besides, he had ten thousand men," added Hazel. 
 
 " Just one, in the shape of a guide, would be very 
 welcome now," asserted Alice. 
 
 " Oh, we must learn to depend more on our 
 selves ! " Sylvia exclaimed. " If we are to have 
 Nowadays Club outings every year we must learn 
 not to get lost in the woods." 
 
 " I still refuse to admit that we are lost ! " said 
 Alice. 
 
 " So do I," Sylvia agreed.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 277 
 
 They were in better spirits now, and stepped on 
 with lighter hearts. The trail led slightly upward, 
 and they marveled, now that they were cooler- 
 headed, how they had ever allowed themselves to 
 keep on a downward path, when they knew they were 
 supposed to be going up a mountain trail. But the 
 excitement of the moment accounted for their lack 
 of observation. 
 
 It was not until they reached a place where the 
 trail divided that they came to a halt, and once more 
 they looked at one another, if not exactly with fear 
 in their eyes, at least with shadows of doubt. 
 
 " I didn't notice this before," confessed Sylvia, 
 pointing to the forked paths. 
 
 " Nor I," said Alice. 
 
 " I thought we had come over a straight path 
 from the time we met that old man," was the con 
 tribution of Hazel. 
 
 " We were so excited we didn't know what we 
 were doing," Rose declared. " Now, the question is, 
 which path did we come over? " 
 
 They stood at a place in the woods where three 
 trails met in the shape of a Y. They had come up 
 the right-hand side of the letter. But on their previ 
 ous trip had they been travelling on the main stem, 
 or on the left-hand fork? That was what they could 
 not tell. 
 
 Sylvia bent over close to the ground, as she had 
 seen Pete do several times. But the earth of the 
 trail was hard packed, and she was not expert enough
 
 278 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 to read the " sign " left by their footprints. Indeed 
 she could see none. 
 
 " Well," she said, arising, " I give up ! I don't 
 know which path it was." 
 
 " Let's shut our eyes and pick out one blindly," 
 suggested Alice. 
 
 " Don't be rash," Mrs. Brownley warned them. 
 
 " But what can we do ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " Go along one path for a little way, and see if 
 we can't pick out some natural landmark that we 
 passed coming down," went on the chaperon. " If 
 we can't do that, say within half a mile, we may be 
 pretty sure we are on the wrong trail, and we can 
 walk back and try the other." 
 
 That seemed reasonable to the girls, and they de 
 cided to try that plan. Again hope came to them to 
 drive away their weariness ! But as they looked up 
 and saw the shadows growing longer and longer, and 
 noticed the wood darkening under the pall of ap 
 proaching night, it required all their boldness to put 
 on a brave front. They all tried to be brave for 
 Sylvia's sake, for, after all, was she not suffering 
 more than any of them, save perhaps Rose? 
 
 " Forward! " cried Mrs. Brownley. " Time is too 
 precious to waste standing still." 
 
 As they went along the path they had selected 
 the conviction became an ever-increasing one that 
 it was not the path they had come over at first. 
 They saw a little waterfall they were sure they had 
 not passed before.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 279 
 
 " We're wrong ! " exclaimed Sylvia. " We've got 
 to go back and try over again." 
 
 There was nothing else to do. It was becoming 
 dark so rapidly now that they looked up in alarm, 
 and found the sky becoming rapidly overcast with 
 clouds. 
 
 " We're in for a thunderstorm," declared Rose, in 
 alarm. 
 
 " Well, we're not afraid of lightning," asserted 
 Sylvia. 
 
 " No, but it will make it so much more difficult to 
 travel and find the path," Alice objected. 
 
 " It means we must hurry more than ever," Sylvia 
 said. 
 
 " Suppose we shout here," suggested Sylvia. 
 Their previous calls had been unanswered. 
 
 They raised their shrill voices in shouts again and 
 again, but the only result was to set the echoes 
 reverberating, and to strain their throats. 
 
 " Oh, come on, we'll find the trail ourselves," 
 Sylvia finally said. 
 
 They hastened along, but had not reached the fork 
 in the path when the storm burst. 
 
 There was a series of vivid lightning flashes, the 
 thunder seemed doubly loud out in that wilderness, 
 and then came the drenching rain. 
 
 " Come under this tree ! " urged Rose, darting 
 toward a beech. 
 
 " You may be struck ! " Hazel warned her. 
 
 " Have to take a chance," Rose retorted. " Beech
 
 280 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 trees are the safest, I've heard, and I can't stand 
 out in the rain." 
 
 But the tree was not much shelter, and as the 
 shower showed no indication of slackening, and as 
 the girls were now fairly desperate, they decided to 
 keep on. Their clothes could stand a good deal 
 of rain before becoming wet through, and their shoes 
 were waterproof, so they were not in such desperate 
 plight as might otherwise have been the case. 
 
 But it grew darker and darker, and at last they 
 found themselves stumbling along in the woods, trip 
 ping over fallen trees, banging into trunks and get 
 ting tangled in underbrush. 
 
 " We're off the trail ! " cried Sylvia. " We can't 
 go on. We must stop or we may come to some harm." 
 
 Frightened, they huddled together, while the rain 
 beat down pitilessly. 
 
 " Oh, help ! help ! " suddenly screamed Rose. It 
 was as though she could stand the strain no longer. 
 " Help ! help ! " she cried. " We are lost ! " 
 
 Above the patter of the rain on the leaves, and 
 above the low muttering of thunder a voice answered : 
 
 " Stay where you are. We're coming ! "
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 FOUND 
 
 SILENCE followed this, to the girls at least, mo 
 mentous announcement. That is as much silence as 
 was possible under the circumstances, with the noise 
 of the storm reverberating through the forest. 
 
 " Did did you hear that? " gasped Sylvia, after 
 a pause. 
 
 " Of course," answered Hazel, and she spoke a bit 
 sharply. As if her nerves were near the breaking 
 point. 
 
 " Was it was it a voice? " Sylvia went on, as 
 though she could not quite believe the evidence of 
 her own ears. " Was it a voice, or one of those 
 loons, or owls? " 
 
 " It was a 'voice,'" declared Mrs. Brownley. " I 
 heard it distinctly. It must be some of our party 
 searching for us. You had better call once more, 
 girls. My voice simply refuses to make itself 
 heard." 
 
 " Mr. Russman ! Pete ! Harry ! " called Sylvia. 
 " Where are you? Come to us ! " 
 
 A crashing noise sounded in the underbrush, but 
 it was too dark to see by whom it was made. Now 
 and then a flash of lightning would vividly light up 
 
 281
 
 282 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 the scene, but it was of such brief duration, and 
 produced such a glare, that the girls and their chap 
 eron could really see nothing beyond a black and 
 dripping circle of trees that girt them about. Fol 
 lowing Sylvia's cry, though, there came an answer. 
 
 " Stay where you are ! We're coming. Don't 
 move. There's a bad fall near where you are and 
 you may slip over. Stand still." 
 
 " That doesn't sound like any of our friends ! " 
 exclaimed Alice. 
 
 " No," agreed Hazel. " But it's some one, at all 
 events. And I never was so glad in all my life before 
 to hear a human voice. It may be some of the other 
 guides those of Sam's party." 
 
 " Could it be could it be Roy? " faltered Rose. 
 
 " That isn't Roy's voice," declared Sylvia, with 
 decision. " I only wish it were he ! But he is prob 
 ably too weak to answer in those firm tones." 
 
 " We're coming," the unseen rescuers went on. 
 " Be there in just a few seconds now ! " 
 
 The girls could see lights flashing among the trees 
 and bushes. Lights that were not the vivid glares of 
 the sky-electricity. The storm seemed to be dying 
 out, at least the thunder was not so loud nor the 
 flashes so frequent, but the drizzle of rain still kept 
 up. 
 
 The girls huddled around Mrs. Brownley, wet and 
 rather miserable, yet, aside from the depression 
 caused by the failure to find Roy, there was plenty 
 of spirit and spunk left in each and every one. They
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 283 
 
 were wet, tired and hungry, but they had not given 
 up hope, not even when they knew they were lost. 
 
 " Oh, but to think of the walk back to the bun 
 galow," half groaned Hazel. " Can we make it to 
 night, girls ? " 
 
 " We'll have to ! " insisted Sylvia. 
 
 " And there may be good news of Roy waiting for 
 us," said Rose, eagerly. " That is, if this isn't a 
 party that has already found him." 
 
 " I don't believe they are any of our friends." 
 Sylvia spoke in a low voice. " They would know 
 who we were, and they'd call us by name. And if 
 they had found poor Roy they'd let us know that 
 the first thing." 
 
 " But who can they be ? " asked Alice. 
 
 " We'll know in another moment. Here they 
 are!" 
 
 A number of lights flashed all around. They came 
 from the pocket electric torches without which no 
 camp is now complete. And the tiny glows were in 
 the hands of four young men who crowded up along 
 the dripping trail to face the lost ones. 
 
 " Sorry to have kept you waiting," said the leader, 
 flashing his light in Sylvia's face. " But we didn't 
 expect company, and we had gone to bed. We heard 
 you call and " 
 
 He interrupted himself suddenly to exclaim: 
 
 " Great pines and little fir trees ! It is Night ! 
 Miss Pursell! What in the world are you doing 
 here? " he cried.
 
 284 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! " gasped Roy's sister, weakly. In an 
 instant she had recognised Felton Ware the Knight 
 of the Overturned Canoe the cavalier of the dance. 
 And with him were his three companions who had 
 helped to give the girls such a good time at the 
 hotel. 
 
 " Look here, fellows ! " Felton cried. " Here are 
 our friends the pretty girls." 
 
 He said it shamelessly openly, and none re 
 sented it. The said pretty girls were only too glad 
 to see the boys. 
 
 " Well, if this isn't a go ! " exclaimed Jimmie Pen- 
 dleton. 
 
 " Is it true, or am I dreaming? " Bert Young 
 wanted to know. 
 
 " If I am dreaming, don't wake me up," pleaded 
 Carroll Beach. 
 
 " But I say ! " went on Felton, eagerly. " What 
 are you doing here? Out in the rain at night! 
 Where's your camp? What has happened? You 
 look " 
 
 " Don't mention our looks, young man ! " inter 
 rupted Aunt Theodora. " We know we must be 
 frights. But is there any place around here where 
 we can stay a hotel or boarding-house? We are 
 lost!" 
 
 " Why, come to our tent ! " urged the Knight of 
 the Overturned Canoe, eagerly. " We came up here 
 to camp, but never expected to see you folks again. 
 We have a big extra tent, ready for some more of
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 285 
 
 the fellows we expect next week. You can all fit 
 into that nicely. There are cots in it. We can get 
 you up some kind of a meal. You can't possibly 
 travel through the woods now. Stay with us until 
 morning, please." 
 
 " It sounds most inviting," sighed Sylvia. 
 
 " Welcome to our woodland camp, Princess of the 
 Night," said Felton, whimsically, with a low bow. 
 " I'm sorry we haven't a red velvet carpet to spread 
 to the tent, but truth compe.ls me to state that the 
 trail is so winding that it would take a very large 
 magic carpet to cover it. But what has happened? " 
 he asked. 
 
 Sylvia told him, and her companions told him, 
 singly, in a chorus, by duets, in a trio and then filled 
 in any gaps that were left with a grand ensemble 
 that left nothing unrelated. 
 
 Then the boys led the way back to their camp. A 
 fire in the midst of a circle of tents was dying down, 
 but there was dry wood to pile on, and soon there 
 was a roaring blaze adding heat to its cheerfulness. 
 Coffee was quickly made, food set out, and in the 
 seclusion of a large tent Sylvia and her friends, with 
 Mrs. Brownley, made themselves comfortable. 
 
 " If those young men aren't providential I never 
 saw any persons who were," declared the chaperon, 
 as she sat on the edge of a cot, munching a sand 
 wich from one hand and waving an empty coffee 
 cup with the other, to emphasise her point. 
 
 " They certainly are," agreed Rose.
 
 286 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 The boys did everything possible for their unex 
 pected visitors, and said they would escort them 
 back to the bungalow the first thing in the morning. 
 One of the young men was quite familiar with the 
 woodland trails, having camped in that neighbour 
 hood before. 
 
 " And we'll help you look for your brother," added 
 Felton. " Bald Mountain is not a great way from 
 here. But you certainly took the wrong trail. How 
 ever, we're glad to see you again ! " 
 
 " Well ? " remarked Hazel, in a questioning tone, 
 as she sat on the edge of her cot, after the boys had 
 said " good-night ; " and she looked at the others, the 
 while swinging her stockinged feet to and fro to 
 aid in drying them, for their shoes had been wet 
 through. 
 
 " I don't know that I'd call it well," commented 
 Sylvia, reflectively, " but I suppose we ought to be 
 thankful that none of us is really ill. That's one 
 blessing." 
 
 " Yes," agreed Mrs. Brownley, " that is a blessing. 
 We came out of the predicament very fortunately, I 
 think." 
 
 " And it certainly was a predicament," added Rose, 
 as she went to the flap of the tent to peer out. 
 
 "Looking for anything in particular?" asked 
 Alice. 
 
 "Or any one?" inquired Sylvia, with decided 
 emphasis. 
 
 Rose turned quickly, her cheeks showing redder
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 287 
 
 than ever in the glow of the lantern. Perhaps it was 
 from the excitement of the day, however. 
 
 " I just wanted to see what the boys were doing," 
 she answered. " I believe they are drying our shoes 
 over an oil stove," she went on. " I can just see 
 inside their cooking tent it's open." 
 
 " Gracious ! I hope they don't cook our shoes ! " 
 exclaimed Alice, with a laugh, and a most commend 
 able effort to lend a little gaiety to a situation that 
 was certainly in need of it. " I have read of starving 
 sailors eating their shoe laces. Fortunately my walk 
 ing boots are button ones," she added, with another 
 little laugh. 
 
 " It's only when laces are of some sort of 
 hide that they make soup of them," put in Mrs. 
 Brownley, deciding to do what she could to help 
 remove the load from Sylvia's mind. 
 
 " That's so," chimed in Hazel. " The ordinary 
 cloth shoe lace would not make a very appetising 
 meal. Though I suppose they could boil the tongue 
 of a shoe, and serve it in some sort of an entree" 
 she went on. " And the shoe wouldn't be much the 
 worse after the operation. Look, Rose, since you have 
 undertaken the post of observer, and tell us if the 
 boys are taking the tongues out of our shoes." 
 
 " So they won't talk in their sleep? " demanded 
 Sylvia, rising to the occasion with a joke " alleged," 
 as she designated it afterward ; when they were going 
 over all the points of the momentous time. 
 
 " Aren't we silly ? " demanded Hazel.
 
 288 THE NOWADAY? GIRLS 
 
 "It's just as well to try to be cheerful," said 
 the chaperon. " Nothing is so bad as to lose hope, 
 and while we haven't in the least done that, still it is 
 just as well to try to have a little reserve fund of 
 good-humor to fall back on in times of emergency. 
 Oh, I didn't quite mean that ! " she added, quickly, 
 as she caught a look of alarm on Sylvia's face. 
 
 " It doesn't matter," was the quiet comment of 
 Roy's sister. " It is just as well to recognise the fact 
 that we that I may have to face an emergency." 
 
 She halted and stumbled over the word, but the 
 others knew how hard it must have been for her to 
 speak it. And they all realised what a grim emer 
 gency might confront them. 
 
 But the little cloud soon passed, for Rose brave 
 little Rose rising gallantly to the occasion, ex 
 claimed : 
 
 " Those silly boys ! " 
 
 "What are they up to now?" asked Hazel, for 
 Rose was still at the tent-flap. 
 
 " Why, they're dancing around, holding our shoes, 
 one on each hand, and actually they are waltzing 
 doing the hesitation with the shoes on their hands, 
 held in the air." 
 
 " Really ? " demanded Sylvia, and there was a rush 
 on the part of the three girls to join Rose at the 
 flap. Mrs. Brownley remained sitting with dignity 
 on the edge of a cot. That is with dignity, but with 
 certain reservations, for she had taken off some of 
 her damp garments and she was just then engaged in
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 289 
 
 the process of shuffling her stockinged feet along a 
 strip of carpet in the middle of the tent. 
 
 " It was the only way to bring back the circulation 
 and get them warm," she explained afterward. 
 
 " The hesitation? It's a onestep ! " declared Hazel, 
 as she peered from their tent into the lighted and 
 partly-open one where the boys were engaged in some 
 mysterious rite. 
 
 " Yes, that's what they're doing," she continued, 
 peering over Sylvia's shoulder. " I wonder which 
 one has my shoes ? " 
 
 " As if it made any difference," mocked Alice. 
 
 " Doesn't it. make a difference with whom one 
 dances ? " asked Hazel. 
 
 " If you call that a dance ! " said Alice. 
 
 " It is one by proxy," suggested Sylvia. " Oh, 
 the silly boys ! " 
 
 The Knight of the Overturned Canoe and his chums 
 had offered to dry the water-soaked shoes of their 
 guests. And now the lads were holding the footwear 
 on their hands, over the blaze of their cooking-tent 
 oil stove, and to vary the proceeding, I suppose, now 
 and then one of them would glide off, whistling some 
 merry air, meanwhile waving aloft his hands (on 
 which were the shoes) in a sort of syncopated dance 
 rhythm. 
 
 " Well, they are trying to be cheerful," said Mrs. 
 Brownley, as she came to have a peep. 
 
 " The more credit to them, considering what com 
 pany they have on their hands," said Hazel.
 
 290 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Nothing on their hands but shoes," said Alice, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Besides, they were very glad to meet us," added 
 Rose. 
 
 " They certainly are very nice boys," declared 
 Sylvia. " And, oh, I am so glad they found us ! 
 Think of what we would have done if we had had to 
 stay in the woods all night ! " 
 
 " I never would have stayed," declared Alice. " I 
 simply would have expired then and there." 
 
 " Then it certainly is a good thing the boys found 
 us," Mrs. Brownley remarked. " Now, girls, I don't 
 want to dictate to you, but really, I think you ought 
 to get to bed. We are all cold and damp, and if we 
 get off some of our wet things, and crawl in between 
 the blankets, it may prevent us from taking cold. 
 The sheets are not at all clammy," she went on, as 
 she turned back the covers of her cot, and felt of 
 the linen. " I must say those boys are clever house 
 keepers ! I would not have believed it." 
 
 " Which is praise, indeed, even if it is not from 
 Oh, I never can think of his name ! " cried Alice. 
 
 " Sir Hubert Stanley ? " queried Rose. 
 
 " Yes, that's the one. And so you think the boys 
 I'm going to call them our boys," went on Alice, 
 "are good housekeepers, Aunt Theodora?" 
 
 " Very good indeed for boys," and she thus 
 qualified it. 
 
 " Well, I think we'll take your advice, at any 
 rate," said Sylvia. " I'm beginning to feel chilly."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 
 
 " The boys have stopped their shoe-dance," re 
 ported Rose. "Oh! and one of them is coming this 
 way ! " she cried, as she scurried away from the tent- 
 flap, for the girls, as well as Mrs. Brownley, were not 
 in a presentable condition. 
 
 However, there was no cause for alarm, for when 
 still at a distance from the tent, Bert Young called 
 out: 
 
 " I say, wouldn't you like an oil stove in there, to 
 dry yourselves out ? " 
 
 " Indeed we would," answered Mrs. Brownley. 
 " Please bring it, unlighted, and leave it outside the 
 tent. We'll get it." 
 
 " Sounds like an order for fried oysters," com 
 mented Alice. 
 
 " Right-O ! " came the reply, and a little later a 
 modern oil stove was glowing in the girls' tent. Its 
 warmth was grateful, and they hung some of their 
 garments on chairs near it before getting into the 
 cots. 
 
 They did not go to sleep at once it would have 
 been a physical impossibility under the circumstances 
 so they talked, while Mrs. Brownley kept one eye 
 on the stove, fearing it might smoke or explode, so 
 she said. 
 
 But it was a very well-behaved stove, and, when the 
 tent was comfortably warmed, the flame was turned 
 out, and the wayfarers tried to get a little rest. 
 
 It cannot be said that Sylvia or any of her chums 
 passed a restful or comfortable night. They were
 
 292 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 given the best of the young men's hospitality, but 
 one cannot be wet through in the woods on a lost 
 trail, torn by anxiety regarding a missing loved 
 one, be anxious about those of a party from whom 
 one is separated, and have pleasant dreams. It is 
 too much to expect. 
 
 But the night finally passed, and with it the rain. 
 The sun came up warm, with a promise of soon 
 drying the woods, and after breakfast the party of 
 young men prepared to accompany their guests back 
 to the Russman bungalow. The camp of Felton and 
 his chums, in the locality where the girls found 
 them, had been planned long before they met at the 
 dance, but neither party was aware of the other's 
 intention. 
 
 " But it was the luckiest thing in the world," 
 declared Felton, " that you stopped and called when 
 you did. Look," and he showed Sylvia how the trail 
 they were on when they had come to a halt led dan 
 gerously near a high cliff. Sylvia shuddered when 
 she saw it. 
 
 " When we head back for the bungalow, can't we 
 go by way of Bald Mountain?" asked Sylvia, as 
 they were about to start. " It is barely possible that 
 my poor brother may be there." 
 
 " It is a little longer way," Felton explained, " but 
 of course we can use that route." 
 
 " And we may meet some of the guides, or others 
 on the way," put in Rose, " who will give us good 
 news."
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 293 
 
 " Perhaps," agreed Alice. 
 
 The girls were in better spirits now, though the 
 strain was showing on Sylvia. However, she kept up 
 bravely, and Rose, too, who had her own grief, put 
 it aside to comfort Roy's sister. 
 
 They tramped through the woods, now glorious 
 with sunshine. Finally Bald Mountain loomed before 
 them. They must cross it to get on the trail that led 
 to the Russman bungalow. 
 
 Sylvia and Felton were in the lead, the girl press 
 ing on eagerly, and both of them, as well as every 
 other member of the party, looked closely for any 
 signs of the missing one. Occasionally they would 
 stop and shout, but they neither saw nor heard aught 
 of the other seekers the guides or the Russman 
 party. 
 
 It was near the top of Bald Mountain, when 
 Sylvia, who was a few steps in advance, passed 
 around a turn in the trail. Before her was an over 
 hanging stone, forming a sort of niche in the side 
 of the shaling rock of which the hill was formed. A 
 huddled heap in the niche attracted her attention. 
 
 She caught her breath sharply, and grasped the 
 arm of her companion. 
 
 " Look ! Look ! " Sylvia whispered. 
 
 " It's it's a man," answered Felton. " Can it 
 be " 
 
 " It's Roy ! It's my brother ! " Sylvia cried aloud. 
 "I've found him!"
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 RECOVERY 
 
 SYLVIA was so overcome for the moment, not know 
 ing what might be her further discovery, that she 
 trembled violently, and swayed as though about to 
 fall. Felton put out his arms to catch her, but she 
 fought back the weakness and smiled faintly at him. 
 
 " I I am all right," she assured him. 
 
 "Really?" he asked. Mrs. Brownley came hur 
 rying up. 
 
 " What is it? " she asked. 
 
 " We we have found him," whispered Sylvia. 
 " But I am afraid, oh, I am so afraid " 
 
 She did not finish, but they all knew what she 
 meant. 
 
 Felton said not a word. He walked steadily up to 
 the huddled figure lying under the ledge of rock. 
 The sun was slanting into the niche. 
 
 Sylvia forced herself to follow him, and watched, 
 as if fascinated, while her Knight leaned over the 
 figure of her brother. Felton touched Roy with a 
 tender hand, and then, after a moment a moment 
 of suspense fraught with an agony that made it 
 seem a year, he cried out : 
 
 " He's all right ! He's alive and sleeping ! " 
 294
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 295 
 
 A silent prayer of thankfulness welled up, not 
 only in the heart of Sylvia, but in the hearts of all 
 her friends. 
 
 As they gathered around, Sylvia kneeling on the 
 hard, stone floor of the niche beside her brother, he 
 opened his eyes. And it needed but a glance to show 
 that reason was again on her throne. He looked 
 weak and emaciated and showed the effects of the 
 terrible sufferings through which he had passed, but 
 his eyes no longer glowed with the fire of delirium. 
 
 Roy sat up, gazed about him, but did not seem 
 at all surprised at his condition or location that is, 
 for a moment. He looked at Sylvia recognisingly, 
 and spoke coolly but in a weak voice: 
 
 " Hello, sis ! How's everybody ? " 
 
 Sylvia could not keep a tremor out of her voice 
 as she answered: 
 
 " All well. And you, Roy? " 
 
 " Oh, I I'm feeling better. I " And then 
 
 he seemed to feel the strangeness of his condition, and 
 realise that something unusual had occurred. A 
 great wonder showed in his fever-sunken eyes. He 
 tried to get up, but fell back weakly. Sylvia put 
 her arm under him, as did Felton, and they held 
 Roy up together. 
 
 " Why why what has happened ? " he stam 
 mered. 
 
 "Haven't you any recollection?" Sylvia asked. 
 
 "No. I I !" 
 
 He put his hand up to his head.
 
 296 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 " Take it easy now, old man," said Felton, in a 
 low voice. " Bring up that vacuum Dottle, Carroll," 
 he ordered. " A sip of hot coffee will warm you up, 
 Roy." 
 
 Slowly Roy drank the hot beverage. The wonder 
 in his questioning eyes grew, as he looked at Sylvia 
 and her friends. The party had brought food with 
 them, and Roy was given some sparingly, for it was 
 evident that he was half-starved. Gradually a little 
 strength came back to him. 
 
 " But what does it all mean ? " he asked. " How 
 did I get here? How did you get here, Sylvia? 
 And Rose?" 
 
 He smiled at her, and put out his hand, which she 
 clasped warmly. 
 
 " Look here, old man," said Felton. " I think 
 explanations had better be deferred until you are a 
 little stronger. We'll get some sort of a conveyance, 
 and have you taken to the bungalow. You need a 
 doctor, I'm thinking." 
 
 " Yes," answered Roy, in puzzled fashion. " I 
 seem to remember something about a doctor. I know 
 I went out in the woods to get something, but I don't 
 recall what it was. It rained, and I walked about 
 a thousand miles, I guess. Then I was very tired 
 and I crawled in here. I must have slept the clock 
 around, for it was sunrise when I came here, and it's 
 sunrise again. But I can't understand it all. I feel 
 a lot better up here," and he put his hand to his 
 head.
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 297 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad ! " Sylvia murmured. She was 
 sure her brother was now in his right mind, though 
 very weak. 
 
 It would be a problem to get him back to the 
 bungalow, but the boys helped solve that. They 
 made a litter of some boughs and poles and carried 
 Roy to the nearest road. Then some one went for 
 a waggon, the bottom of which was filled with straw. 
 Roy protested that he could sit up, but Mrs. Brown- 
 ley took charge of him, as she knew something of 
 nursing, and made him lie down. 
 
 " It's a pretty long drill to the Russman bun 
 galow," suggested Felton. " Now there's a pretty 
 good sanitarium, with some doctors our family know, 
 not far from here. Why not take him there? " 
 
 " We will ! " Sylvia quickly decided. Roy made 
 no objection. He smiled up into his sister's face, 
 reached out for the hand of Rose again, and seemed 
 content. 
 
 The sanitarium of which Felton had spoken proved 
 to be just the place for Roy. He needed medical 
 treatment of a different sort from that his ailment 
 had at first called for. The head doctor knew Syl 
 via's " Knight," as she laughingly called him, and 
 the physician promised to give Roy every care and 
 attention. 
 
 Sylvia and Rose arranged to stay at a boarding- 
 house connected with the institution, while Mrs. 
 Brownley, Alice and Hazel would return to the Russ 
 man bungalow, tell the good news, get their own
 
 298 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 belongings, as well as those of Rose and Sylvia, and 
 join them later. 
 
 Felton and his chums would pilot the party to 
 the " deserted bungalow," as it was occasionally 
 called, and then they would return to their own 
 camp. 
 
 These arrangements were carried out. On the 
 way to the bungalow the party met some of the 
 guides who were searching for the lost girls and 
 Mrs. Brownley. The good news was soon spread, 
 and again Old Sam blew the tidings on his conch 
 horn. The search had ended. 
 
 " But, oh ! I wonder if Roy will remember that 
 missing formula, that means so much to him?" said 
 Rose to Sylvia. 
 
 " It will be hard to say," was the answer. " We 
 must not hope for too much." 
 
 Roy's physical improvement was rapid, once he 
 was given the proper care and treatment at the 
 sanitarium. The shock and exposure while wander 
 ing in the woods had restored his mind. He pro 
 gressed every hour, it seemed, now that Sylvia and 
 Rose were with him. Harry Montray was again to 
 take up his quarters with his friend, and soon the 
 party of Nowadays Girls was complete once more, 
 with the addition of Roy and Harry. 
 
 As yet nothing had been said to Roy regarding 
 the missing formula. His memory came back to him, 
 and he recalled everything up to the time of rushing 
 out of the bungalow in a delirium and off into the
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACK^ 299 
 
 woods. What happened to him there, neither he 
 nor any one else could say. 
 
 It was apparent that he had wandered far. What 
 he ate, if anything, no one knew, but unconsciously 
 he may have appropriated food from some camp 
 from which the owners were temporarily absent. 
 And finally he had wandered to Bald Mountain, and 
 fallen into a natural sleep as the fever left him. 
 Luckily he had not been much out in the wet, though 
 heavy dews had drenched him. 
 
 Every day saw a further improvement in the in 
 valid, until at last came a time when he could go 
 out into the woods with his sister and the other 
 girls. 
 
 And then, like a flash from a clear sky, there came 
 to Roy that which he had found and lost the mem 
 ory of the formula. 
 
 They were all walking in the beautiful woods one 
 day when Roy suddenly began sniffing the air, as 
 though some new odour, different from that of 
 balsam and fir, came to him. 
 
 " What is it? " asked Sylvia. 
 
 " That smell what is it ? " he demanded, sharply. 
 
 " Oh, it's a menthol pencil I'm using," said Mrs. 
 Brownley. " I have a slight headache, and that 
 nearly always cures it. It's simply menthol, and per 
 haps 
 
 " That's it ! " cried Roy, interrupting. " That's 
 where the whole trouble is ! The menthol smell brings 
 it all back to me that and the name ! It's methane
 
 300 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 that's what I need to use to complete the formula ! 
 It's methane! That one element slipped from me, 
 and I couldn't recall it to save my life. The mention 
 of menthol brought it back to me, though methane 
 isn't at all like menthol. It was just the smell and 
 the similarity of names." 
 
 " But what does it all mean? " asked Rose, looking 
 bewildered. 
 
 " It means that I have rediscovered the chemical 
 formula I lost ! " Roy cried. " It's complete now. 
 I must write it down before I lose it again." 
 
 He scribbled some chemical symbols on a bit of 
 white birch bark that Sylvia hastily tore from a 
 tree for him, and put it in his pocket. But not 
 before he had looked at it for a moment, murmuring : 
 
 " Ah, there you are ! You shan't get away from 
 me again ! I have the lost formula ! Now I'll show 
 'em what's what ! " 
 
 " Oh, Roy, I am so glad ! " cried Sylvia, her eyes 
 bright with tears tears of joy. 
 
 And Harry Montray rejoiced with his friend over 
 the recovery of the valuable discovery. He insisted 
 on sending a wire to the firm in New York, and Roy 
 received a congratulatory telegram in response. It 
 meant much to the firm, and more perhaps to Roy 
 in the way of honour and wealth. 
 
 And now my little story is drawing to a close. 
 Indeed there is really nothing left to tell. For with 
 Roy's physical and mental recovery, which waxed 
 more perfect every day, all the worriment of Sylvia
 
 IN THE ADIRONDACKS 301 
 
 and Rose, not to mention that of their friends, passed 
 away. 
 
 Then came happy times for the Nowadays Girls 
 and the boys; for the Knight of the Overturned 
 Canoe and his chums came to see them quite often. 
 Indeed, after Roy was able to leave the sanitarium 
 he and Sylvia arranged to open a camp for them 
 selves in the woods, and there entertain their friends. 
 And this was done. 
 
 Canoeing, boating, fishing, long tramps in the 
 woods, pleasant evenings about the camp fire, an 
 occasional dance all this made up the remainder of 
 a happy summer. 
 
 " Well, how did you like my Adirondack outing? " 
 asked Sylvia of her girl chums one day when, regret 
 fully enough, they began to think of returning to 
 the city and preparing for their college careers. 
 
 "It was just perfectly all right, my dear!" said 
 Rose, as she went down the path toward the lake in 
 response to a call from Roy, who was in a canoe. 
 
 " Couldn't have been better ! " declared Hazel. 
 
 " And if I were only sure we would have as 
 scrumptious a time next season I would be perfectly 
 happy," sighed Alice. 
 
 " We shall go somewhere," Sylvia decided. " The 
 Nowadays Club will live for many years. But we 
 have plenty of time to pick out another place before 
 next summer." 
 
 And those of you who care to follow the future 
 fortunes, fun and frolic of our friends may do so
 
 302 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS 
 
 in the next volume of this series, to be called : " The 
 Nowadays Girls on Casco Bay; or, The Treasure 
 Box of Orr's Island." 
 
 The outing was over. By easy stages Sylvia and 
 her chums were returning from the Adirondacks. 
 Once more they stopped at Saranac Inn. It was 
 a night of the dance. Sylvia sat out on a veranda 
 in the shadows. 
 
 " May I have this next waltz? " a voice murmured 
 at her ear. 
 
 " What is it? " she asked. It will be noticed that 
 she did not ask " who." 
 
 " A canoe glide," was the laughing answer. 
 "May I?" 
 
 " You may," said Sylvia. 
 
 And, as she joined her companions in the room 
 where the dreamy music called to willing feet, we will 
 take leave of her and the other Nowadays Girls. 
 
 THE END
 
 THE NEW 
 DOLLAR JUVENILES 
 
 WHY? 
 
 We are publishing the following new series of dollar 
 Juveniles, hoping that the public will support our 
 efforts to give them good stories attractively illustrated 
 at a reasonable price. We trust that this project will 
 meet with general approval. 
 
 THE NOWADAYS GIRLS IN THE 
 
 ADIRONDACKS; or, THE DESERTED 
 BUNGALOW ON SARANAC LAKE 
 
 By GERTRUDE CALVERT HALL 
 An outdoor story for girls 
 
 THE TRAIL BOYS OF THE PLAINS; 
 
 or, THE HUNT FOR THE BIG BUFFALO 
 
 By JAY WINTHROP ALLEN 
 A Western adventure story for boys 
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES IN BELGIUM 
 
 By FRANKLIN T. AMES 
 
 BETWEEN THE LINES IN FRANCE 
 
 By FRANKLIN T. AMES 
 Two boys' adventure stories of the great war
 
 University of California 
 
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 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 
 
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