The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp Read online

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  The Outdoor GirlsIn a Winter Camp

  OR

  GLORIOUS DAYS ON SKATESAND ICE BOATS

  BYLAURA LEE HOPE

  AUTHOR OF "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOWLAKE," "THE BOBBSEY TWINS," "THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE," ETC.

  _ILLUSTRATED_

  NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS

  Made in the United States of America

  =BOOKS FOR GIRLS=

  BY LAURA LEE HOPE

  * * * * *

  =THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=

  THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA

  =THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS=

  For Little Men and Women

  THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE

  * * * * *

  GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK

  COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP.

  * * * * *

  THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP

  "SLOW DOWN--DON'T RUN INTO ANYTHING!" BEGGED BETTY.

  _The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp._ _Frontispiece_ (_Page 106._)]

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I DANGER 1 II A FINE CHANCE 14 III THE COMPLICATIONS 24 IV MR. BLACKFORD'S CLUE 30 V UNPLEASANT NEWS 40 VI PREPARATIONS 47 VII OFF FOR CAMP 57 VIII A SPILL 66 IX GETTING SETTLED 74 X WARNED OFF 81 XI THE RIVALS 88 XII IN A BIG STORM 99 XIII THE MISSING PIECE 107 XIV AN ICE BOAT RACE 116 XV IN A TRAP 125 XVI TROUBLE 131 XVII A SNOW FIGHT 140 XVIII THE AUTO ICE BOAT 146 XIX MAROONED 153 XX TO THE RESCUE 160 XXI A HELPING HAND 166 XXII THE OLD LUMBERMAN 178 XXIII REVELATIONS 183 XXIV THE LYNX 191 XXV CHRISTMAS JOYS 203

  THE OUTDOOR GIRLSIN A WINTER CAMP

  CHAPTER I

  DANGER

  "How cold it is!" exclaimed Grace Ford, wrapping closer about her a furneck-piece, and plunging her gloved hands deeper into the pockets of hermaroon sweater. "I had no idea it was so chilling!"

  "Nonsense!" cried Betty Nelson, her cheeks aglow. "Skate about, andyou'll soon be warm enough. Isn't it glorious, Mollie?"

  "Surely, and the ice is perfect. Come on Grace, and we'll see who'll befirst to the bend!" and Mollie, her dark eyes dancing under the spell ofthe day, circled about the almost shivering Grace, doing a gliding waltzon skates.

  "I don't want to race!" protested the tall, slim girl who had complainedabout the weather.

  "Oh, but you must!" insisted Betty. "Come, we'll have a short, sharpone, and then you'll feel so warm you'll wonder you ever said it waschilly."

  "I wish I had brought along that vacuum bottle of hot chocolate, as Iintended," murmured Grace, reflectively.

  "Nobody stopped you!" exclaimed Mollie, a trifle sharply. Of late shehad had less and less patience with the "confectionery-failing" ofGrace, as she termed it.

  "Yes, you did!" declared the cold one. "You and Bet were in such a rushI didn't have time. I wish I hadn't come skating," and Grace permittedas much of a frown to gather on her pretty face as she ever indulgedherself in--for Grace, be it known, was just a trifle vain, anddesperately afraid of a wrinkle.

  "Oh, well, come on and skate!" invited Betty. "Amy and I will race youand Mollie, Grace. That will--make us all feel better," for the LittleCaptain, as she was often called, saw just the shadow of a cloudgathering over the two chums, who seldom, or never, quarreled.

  "Does Amy want to?" asked Grace, glancing at a quiet girl who wasadjusting her skates. Amy was always quiet, but of late her chums hadnoted that she was more than usually so. And they guessed, rightly, thatit had to do with the mystery surrounding her identity, which mysteryAmy had almost given up hope of solving.

  "Yes, I'll race," said Amy gently, and she smiled. Amy was alwayswilling to oblige, and she did not often consult her own personalfeelings.

  Something like a look of disappointment passed over the countenance ofGrace. Seeing it Mollie laughed.

  "Grace was hoping Amy would say no, so she could get out of it!" criedvivacious Mollie. "That's the time you didn't say the right thing, Amy."

  "Oh, well, if nothing but a race will satisfy you, I suppose I must,"and Grace gave in "gracefully." "I'm nearly perished standing still,anyhow, and skating can't make me much worse."

  "It will be all the better," insisted Betty. "Now we'll race in thisfashion--team work to count. Amy and I in one team, you and Grace in theother, Mollie. Whichever member of the team gets to the bend first willwin. You see," Betty explained, "one of a team might fall, or turn herankle, or get tired, and then the other could keep on. It's like a relayrace."

  "Oh, well, if I have to--I suppose I have to," and Grace said this withsuch a doleful sigh that the others laughed heartily, even quiet Amyjoining.

  "On your marks!" cried Betty. "Let's show that we are worthy of ournames--true Outdoor Girls."

  "Show who?" asked Grace looking around.

  "Well, here comes your brother Will, for one, and I think Allen Washburnand Frank Haley are with him," spoke Betty, shading her eyes with herhands, and gazing off across the sparkling surface of the frozen ArgonoRiver.

  "Can't you see Percy Falconer?" asked Mollie mischievously, referring toa certain foppish lad, who seemed to have a great fondness for theLittle Captain.

  "If there was any snow here I'd wash your face!" cried Betty, her cheeksflaming more than before--for, be it known, she did not reciprocate thefeeling that "burned in Percy's manly bosom," to quote the ratherjeering remarks of Grace.

  "I'd rather Allen would do it," murmured Mollie. "That is, if you willlet him, Betty."

  "Let him? Why shouldn't I?" demanded Betty rather sharply, but sheturned her head away, and bit her lips.

  "Oh, nothing, only the other night, when you and he went on such a longwalk down the road, I thought perhaps you might have come to someunderstanding----"

  "Mollie Billette, if you don't stop----!" began Betty, and then theapproach of three young men on their ringing skates forced her toconclude rather quickly.

  "Hello, girls," greeted Will Ford, the brother of the willowy Grace,"what's doing?" Will was just the opposite of his sister, being rathershort and chunky.

  "We're going to have a race," said Betty quickly, perhaps to forestallany resumption of the embarrassing conversation, now that the subject ofit was present.

  "A race!" exclaimed Allen, a rising young lawyer. "May we join in?"

  "This is strictly a ladies' relay race," explained Mollie. "You may bejudges, or starters and offer the prizes, though, if you like."

  "And the prizes----?" suggested Frank, who was Will's special chum.

  "Hot chocolates when we go back to town," said Betty quickly. "I knowGrace will agree."

  "Indeed I will," the latter said. "I don't care how much fun you make
ofme, but I am cold, and--and----"

  "Us 'ikes tandy--don't us!" interrupted Will, mimicking the little twinbrother and sister of Mollie, whose penchant for sweets was onlyequalled by the longing of Grace.

  "Easy," said Betty softly. "Well, if we're going to race, let's do it.Boys, you see fair play. It's to be down to the bend and back."

  "No, not back!" declared Amy. "I can't do as much as that at top speed."

  "Well, then, just to the bend," agreed Betty, indicating a spot wherethe river made a turn, about a mile away.

  "We'll skate along," suggested Allen. "It is a bit chilly, and theexercise will be good for us. Get ready girls. I'm sorry we haven't apistol to fire."

  "This will do!" exclaimed Will, producing a paper bag. "It _had_chocolates in," he added with a sly look at his sister.

  "Oh!" she cried.

  "Nothing doing!" he added quickly if slangily. "Nothing but crumbs," andhe proceeded to empty them into his mouth, and then blew up the bag."When I burst it--go!" he called.

  The sharp report of the exploding bag echoed on the keen, wintry air,and the four girls glided off on their skates. Mollie and Betty, the twobest skaters, rather hung back, letting the more unskillful Amy andGrace lead the way. The boys skated together in the rear.

  "When are you going to spurt?" called Will, as he saw that the pace wasnot increasing much.

  "Time enough," replied Betty, narrowly watching her rival, Mollie.

  "That isn't skating!" declared Frank with a laugh. "You girls are onlycreeping."

  But at that instant Grace, at a signal from Mollie, darted ahead, andthen the race began in earnest, for Amy, at a nod from the LittleCaptain did likewise, and then Mollie and Betty, holding themselves inreadiness for the burst of speed that would take place at the finish,came after.

  "Now they're off!" cried Will. "A pound of chocolates to the winner!"

  Three-quarters of the way to the bend Amy showed signs of fatigue.Betty, noting it, called to her:

  "I'll take it now."

  "So will I!" agreed Mollie, and Grace, gliding to one side, allowed herpartner to take the lead.

  "Now they're off!" cried Will again.

  "Thank goodness, I'm warm, anyhow!" remarked Grace, a rosy glowreplacing the former paleness of her cheeks.

  Leaving Amy and Grace to follow on more leisurely, the youths rushed upto see the finish of the race. It was close, but by unanimous decisionthey awarded the contest to Betty.

  "Oh, I'm so glad you won, anyhow!" declared Mollie with fine spirit."You earned it, Betty dear, but I thought I was going to beat you, untilthe very end."

  "Yes, and you might have, only your left skate was loose," said Betty."I noticed it. Suppose we try it over?"

  "Indeed not! My skate did loosen," spoke Mollie, "but I wasn't going tosay anything about it. You won fairly Betty, and I'm too exhausted totry again. Now if the boys will----"

  "Oh, we'll fulfill our part of the program!" declared Will promptly."Come on back to the village whenever you like, and order what you wish.Or we can go on to the store of the poetical Mr. Lagg if you prefer."

  "It's too far," protested Grace, who, with Amy, had come up now."Besides he doesn't serve hot chocolate."

  "Then thou shalt have thy hot chocolate, sister mine!" cried Will,rubbing her ears.

  "Oh, stop it!" she begged. "You hurt dreadfully, Will!"

  "That's the way to make them warm," and he got back out of the way intime to avoid having his own ears soundly boxed.

  Slowly the young people skated back. There were a number of others onthe ice now, and soon our friends were in the midst of quite a throng.

  "Here come Alice Jallow and Kittie Rossmore," murmured Mollie. "I hopethey don't tag along after us."

  "They're likely to," said Grace. "Though since that last little troublethey haven't been as unpleasant as they used to be."

  The boys circled away from Betty and her chums momentarily, and the twogirls referred to came skating past. They bowed rather coldly, and then,an acquaintance of theirs joining them, they stopped to chat with thelatter. Mollie's skate again becoming loosened, she halted to adjust it,her friends waiting for her. It was thus that they overheard what AliceJallow was saying to Margaret Black, the girl who had just come up.

  "Yes," Alice spoke, "she gives herself as many airs as if she wassomebody, instead of a nobody."

  "A nobody?" repeated Margaret, wonderingly, "why----"

  "Yes, indeed! She isn't even sure her name is Stonington, and as for Mr.and Mrs. Stonington being her uncle and aunt as she says, why, I heardthe other day that there is doubt of that even. She and her chums thinkthemselves high and mighty, but we wouldn't go with anybody that didn'tknow who they were!"

  "But I thought there was something about a flood in the West----"

  "Oh, yes, that's the story she gave out, but I, for one don't believeit. She's a nobody, and that's all there is to it!"

  Then Alice, leaving her bitter words echoing on the wintry air, whichcarried them clearly to poor Amy, skated off. Perhaps Alice had notmeant that she should be overheard, but such was the case. She did nottake the trouble to look and see if the one to whom she referred waswithin hearing distance.

  At the first intimation of what was coming Betty had started off, as didthe other girls. Mollie seemed to have a notion of rushing over to Aliceand the others, but Grace, by a gesture, warned her not to.

  Poor Amy's eyes filled with tears. She turned aside and Betty made asthough to skate after her, intending to offer words of sympathy, butthis time Mollie shook her head.

  "Perhaps she had better be alone for a little while," she whispered."Sometimes that is the best way to pass it off. Oh, but that AliceJallow is a--cat!"

  No one disagreed with Mollie this time.

  Tears blinded the eyes of poor Amy. She skated on out of the crowd,toward a part of the frozen river where there were no merry-makers. Shedid not want to look on pleasure now, for her heart ached from thebitter words she had overheard--words, she realized, that might be buttoo true.

  Blindly she skated on, not heeding, and scarcely caring where she went.Her only desire was to get away where she could be by herself, to thinkit out--to try and devise a way of setting at rest all the rumors abouther. For the rumors had grown apace of late, and from a source she couldnot determine. It might be that what she had just heard was a clue.

  Amy had thought of appealing to Mr. and Mrs. Stonington, with whom shelived, and who, for many years she had regarded as father and mother.Then, a few months back, she had learned that they were but uncle andaunt. Now it seemed that she was to lose even this relationship. It wasa bitter blow, especially to one so young in years.

  To briefly mention the mystery of Amy, I might say that she was pickedup when an infant, afloat on a raft in a flood in a western city. Pinnedto her baby dress was an envelope containing the name of Mr. Stoningtonof Deepdale. He had been telegraphed for, and took charge of theinfant.

  It was supposed that the mother of the baby was a distant relative ofMrs. Stonington, for the latter had a cousin who resided in the westerncity. It was believed that, finding herself about to perish, the motherdid what she could to insure the salvation of her child, and pinned anote to her dress so that relatives would look after her if the baby wassaved.

  But only the envelope was found, together with an old and torn diarythat gave no tangible clue.

  And this was the mystery of Amy's life. As I have said, after living foryears in the belief that Mr. and Mrs. Stonington were her parents, theyhad told her the truth. Now it seemed that there was to be anotherchange.

  "Oh, but why must it be so?" mourned poor Amy. "Why can't I be likeother girls?"

  The tears rushed to her eyes. She could not see, and she skated rapidlyon, only wanting to get away.

  She heard the ringing of steel runners behind her, but would not turn.Then a voice--a boy's voice--called:

  "Look out! Look out where you're going, Amy! The ice is thin up there,and you're g
oing right toward an air-hole! There's danger! Look out!"

  If Amy heard she gave no sign nor heed. On she skated, and then thevoice behind her called in startled tones:

  "What do you mean? Amy, turn! Turn back before it is too late! You'll bedrowned!"

  The skater behind fairly rushed forward, for he had seen what thetear-blinded girl had not--black water showing through a hole in theice. And Amy was headed directly for this opening.