The Merriweather Girls and the Mystery of the Queen's Fan

CHAPTER V
ACROSS THE HUDSON

Before saying goodnight to her chums, Bet had made a plan for them to come back early on Monday for another picnic.

"When we get to studying, we just drop swimming and everything else."

"I'll be most afraid to swim in a big river like the Hudson," said Kit with a shiver. "I learned to swim in a water hole in Indian Creek, and it wasn't much more than just deep enough to cover me."

"You'll love the Hudson!" declared Joy. "At high tide it's great!"

"I didn't know that a river had a tide."

"Close to the sea they do. The Hudson has, as you'll soon learn. It has a tide and even a good strong undertow in places. – Well, you just have to know the Hudson to appreciate all its fine points," Bet exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Be sure and bring your camera, Miss Fixit, and take that picture of the queen's fan. I'll be home all morning." Because Shirley was always tinkering with her camera, the Colonel had playfully given her the name of Miss Fixit.

So the girls had agreed to come early and have a long day at the beach that belonged to the Merriweather estate.

"I don't hear any invitations for us to come along. Don't you think boys enjoy picnics as well as girls?" protested Bob Evans.

"Boys spoil all the fun," said Joy contemptuously, but with mischief in her eyes.

"No, they don't, Joy!" Bet disagreed. "Sometimes they are very useful. – To build picnic fires and keep them going."

"Oh, yes, you're always glad to make use of us. But you never invite us to any of your good times. Never!"

"If big brothers wouldn't tease so much, they might get invited once in a while," laughed Joy as she looked up at her tall brother, who had always been her protector and hero as long as she could remember.

"Do come," shouted Bet as they got into the car. "Even if we didn't think to invite you, we'll be mighty glad to see you when you get there." As she turned and linked her arm in her father's, she little dreamed that her last remark would be remembered by all four girls as a strange prophecy.

The girls saw each other only for a moment at church the next day. Bet left immediately after the service, as the Colonel was expecting guests for dinner. She gave her friends a smile, a wave of the hand and a funny pantomime which they understood. They were to be at the Manor the next morning, early.

And early it was. Bet had been up for hours but Colonel Baxter had not finished his breakfast when the girls came in like shafts of sunlight through shutters.

Shirley was loaded down with two cameras and a tripod, her face glowing with the pleasure she felt in being able to do a favor for Bet's father.

Shirley was the only one of the group whose parents were not well off financially. She was the oldest of four children and lived in a small house on the main street of the village. She had done all sorts of odd jobs in order to earn her longed-for cameras, and had studied them well.

Sometimes when the girls talked of the future when they would go to college, Shirley's face became clouded, for her father's poor health made it impossible for him to be steadily employed. Shirley's chances of college seemed very slim. The Colonel often called upon Shirley to take pictures of Bet on the grounds of the estate, as an excuse to give the girl a chance to earn a few dollars.

"Do hurry, Dad, and finish your breakfast! We're anxious to be off. Couldn't the pictures wait?"

"No, Bet, I want to take them now," replied Shirley. "You can go along if you want to and I'll come later."

"We'll wait," answered Bet cheerfully.

The Colonel rose and saluted, "I am at your service!"

Shirley arranged the lighting like an expert and took several poses of the little fan against a background of black velvet, placing it in different degrees of light. The other girls were not particularly interested. Shirley's hobby was all right, when she took pictures of them, but just now they were impatient to be off.

Then Shirley had to waste more time showing the Colonel about the latest self-photography attachment that she had recently bought.

"I got tired always being left out of the group. And the other girls can't take pictures to suit me."

"Is this the same idea that is used in photographing wild animals?" asked Colonel Baxter.

"It's the same principle, but a little wire or spring is touched by the animal and this releases the shutter and for night pictures sets off a flash powder as well. I'm going to get one of those attachments by winter time, as the camera company has offered a prize for wild animal pictures."

"Aw, come on, Shirley," called Joy. "You're an old slow poke. You finished that picture long ago."

But Shirley delayed still longer to put her large camera carefully away. The small one she tucked under her arm to take with her to the river.

It was Kit's first trip to the little beach belonging to Bet's father. The bath house with its tiny dressing rooms pleased her immensely. "Imagine," she exclaimed, "building a house to dress and undress in. A clump of mesquite bushes always served my purpose."

Kit could not pretend to be other than she was. Fearing that these girls, whose homes were so elegant, might look down upon her, she had planned to keep her affairs to herself, but whenever anything unusual came up, she was startled by the contrast and blurted out the queer makeshifts that they had in her crude home in the desert.

She had no need to fear. The girls were as interested in Kit's description of her home life as they were in the exploits of the cowboys that she loved to talk about.

"I'd just love to eat out under a cotton-wood tree by the stream. That must be a lovely way to live," exclaimed Bet.

"I don't think you'd enjoy it for long, after what you're used to. You'd want to get back to all that lovely glassware and beautiful dishes. You'd miss your Manor."

"Of course I'd miss the Manor if I was away from it, but I'd love the other, too, I know I would."

They had just come in sight of the broad Hudson and Kit stopped short to gaze upon that wide flow of water.

"And oh, look at that lovely boat out there! Whose is it?"

"That's Dad's motor boat. I'm not allowed to run it, although I know I could just as well as not. Dad seems to think I'm still a baby and a girl baby at that."

They had reached the beach and Bet was opening the door of the boat house as she spoke and when Kit saw the little green canoe, she was speechless. She looked at it with glowing eyes.

"Isn't it a dear? It's mine!" said Bet.

"Can you go out with it whenever you want to?"

"Yes, any time."

"I've never been in a boat in my life!" Kit's breath came in excited little gasps. "Could we go out in it today?"

"Never had a boat ride!" exclaimed Joy. "How funny! What did you do with yourself?"

"Well, mostly I rode Powder, my cowpony. That was fun. Horseback riding is great sport!"

"You're the lucky one! I've never had a horseback ride in my life."

"What!" cried Kit. "Never had a horseback ride? How funny!"

And everybody laughed, for what was a common-place happening for one was in the nature of an adventure for the other.

"After lunch we'll go out in the canoe!" declared Bet. "I'll be mighty proud to give you your first boat ride."

Kit looked at the brightly-painted little canoe many times before the lunch was finished and Bet declared herself ready to go.

The egg sandwiches and stuffed olives were eaten without much thought by Kit. Apple turnovers and fudge slipped down as if she were in a dream, for Kit's mind was racing ahead to the thrill of getting out on the Hudson in a boat.

The girls helped Bet to drag the canoe out of the boat house and to the edge of the water. Joy and Shirley decided not to go. Shirley was trying to get some good pictures of the gulls today and Joy wasn't in the mood.

"Anyway," laughed Joy, "in a canoe, two is company, three's a crowd. Trot along and enjoy yourselves."

Kit took her place in the boat and Bet shoved it off the sandy beach with her paddle, and in a moment Kit felt it bobbing on the water. Living up to its name, "The Arrow," it shot gracefully out to the stream, guided by Bet's capable hands.

Kit held on to both sides of the boat at first. She felt quivery and half frightened.

Bet was using the paddle vigorously. She wore no hat and her blond hair was tousled as usual. It seemed impossible for Bet to keep her unruly locks in order at any time, but now as the breeze ruffled it, she looked like some half-wild elfin creature.

She was tall for her age but slender and her pink and white coloring gave her an appearance of frailty, but when she used her paddle, Kit was fascinated to watch the swelling of the muscles of her arms. She seemed made of springs as she plied the paddle first at one side then the other, with quick, sure, strokes.

"Have you ever been across the Hudson?" asked Kit. "Across the Hudson! Doesn't that sound romantic? It's a long way, isn't it?"

"Only about a mile, I think."

"And have you ever paddled over there?"

"Heaps of times! We've been everywhere on this river. We used to go out and get in the wash of the river steamers. That was lots of fun. Once we almost got upset and Dad made me promise I'd never do that again."

"Well, if you don't mind, Bet, you can dispense with all the extra thrills today. For this is giving me heart trouble as it is."

"Why, what's the matter? You're not frightened, are you?"

"Of course I'm frightened. Scared stiff!"

Bet stopped paddling to laugh at her friend. "Kit Patten, you're the funniest girl I've ever seen."

Then with long sweeping strokes, The Arrow shot out into the channel, sending sparkling drops into the air as it cut its way through the current.

Kit's brown eyes were shining with excitement and the sense of danger that she imagined was there. "Why, Bet Baxter, this is the most thrilling thing I've ever done in my life. It's more fun than horseback riding. It's a perfect day. It was good of you to take me."

The canoe was now headed toward the beach, having reached the quieter waters of the farther shore, and as soon as the boat touched the sand, Bet sprang out and with practised hand drew the bow up on the beach.

"Here you are, Kit. Now you've been across the Hudson. It's not often a person has a chance to have her wishes granted so quickly."

"Isn't it wonderful!" gasped Kit. "I've never had such a gorgeous time in my life."

The girls stretched themselves out on the sand for a few minutes.

"Doesn't Lynnwood look beautiful over there? And just see how very romantic the Manor is from here."

"I think we'd better start back at once," exclaimed Bet suddenly. "It's getting cloudy over that way again, and as we've had a thunder storm every day for a week, we may have another this afternoon."

They lost no time in getting into the boat, for already there was a distant peal of thunder. It was miles and miles away, but Bet didn't intend to take chances. Her hand worked in a steady rhythm that sent the boat ahead like a flat stone skimming the water.

But as they reached the middle of the river, the wind struck them suddenly and with violence. It seemed to the girls as if the canoe had been lifted and turned over. Kit gave a little cry of terror, but Bet's look of reproach was sufficient. At a signal from Bet, the girl slid to the bottom of the boat, and remained still.

The storm was upon them. A fierce wind shook the little craft as if a hand had clutched it.

Bet kept the bow of the boat head-on to the heavy rollers that threatened to capsize it. The quiet river had suddenly become a regular sea, choppy and vicious, and Bet strained at the paddle, her face white and tense.

Kit crouched in the bottom of the boat. She was anxious to help but did not know what to do. During a little lull she cried: "Oh, Bet, can't I help? You must be tired. Let me try to paddle, I think I can."

"No," screamed Bet to make herself heard. "Just keep still and don't even speak to me. I need every breath to work with."

The boat tossed and plunged. "It acts like a bucking horse when they put on a saddle for the first time," thought Kit. The bow of the canoe was lifted straight up and then lowered on a wave. For a second it rested only to meet another swell.

Sometimes Bet raised her eyes and looked anxiously down the river. The squall was coming straight toward them; travelling with the wind, it was racing over the water.

The little boat rolled and plunged as the blinding sheet of rain enveloped it, shutting out for a moment the shore on both sides of the river.

Spray broke over the sides and soaked the girls to the skin.

"There's a can there, Kit. Try to keep the water baled out." It was all she could do to make Kit hear, even when she screamed with all her might.

Bet's arms were aching, her eyes strained with the nerve tension and the strength that she was giving out to keep the boat from being engulfed.

While Kit would have gladly relieved her, she had never handled a paddle in her life and now was not the time to experiment.

"It can't be far now," muttered Bet between her clenched teeth. It seemed to the girl that she had been paddling for hours.

Bet spoke again: "Scream for help, Kit! Someone may hear, but it's not likely. Scream anyway!"

And Kit shouted until she was hoarse but the wind stopped the sound. Even Bet, close beside her, could hardly hear and made a sign for her to stop.

"If I can only get across the channel," thought Bet, as she struggled to keep the canoe balanced.

But all her efforts seemed not to send the canoe ahead even a foot. Buffeted by the angry waves, it was all she could do to keep it afloat.

"Hold on to it, Bet! That's it! Keep it up!" cried Kit. "I think I see a boat coming!"

For a brief moment darkness settled down upon Bet. Her head swam. Her strength was about gone.

There was a violent jar on the canoe that brought her back to her senses. If they were to be saved, she must keep on.

Another wave dashed over them, and Kit's arm was kept busy scooping up the water and throwing it back to the river. Never had she worked so desperately in her life.

At intervals she glanced up at Bet, but the girl's white face was no comfort to her.

Her eyes searched the river again. "It is a boat, Bet! Help is coming!" and as another dash of water struck them she screamed: "Hold it, Bet! Don't let go!"

CHAPTER VI
THE RESCUE

After the canoe had started on its voyage that was to prove so terrifying to the girls, Joy had stretched herself at full length in the sand preparing for a lazy afternoon. She was content just to let the sand sift through her fingers. Mostly she liked to dance or sing, but today she was too indolent. Shirley busied herself as usual, directing her camera this time toward some gulls that flew above her head.

"Now I'm going to fix the camera ready to get a good snap of the girls in the canoe. Kit wants one to send to her mother."

"I do believe they've gone clear over to the other side, haven't they, Shirley?" said Joy jumping to her feet.

"There they are, they look like a little speck over there."

But as soon as they saw the first sign of a storm, they grew restless. "I do wish those girls would get back! It's not safe to be out in a canoe in any kind of a storm."

The cloud grew bigger and bigger and was turning black and menacing. A storm was coming. "I know what I'm going to do," declared Joy. "That rain isn't far off. I'm going for help before it's needed."

Just what she intended to do, she hardly knew. She had made no plan. She would go to the Manor and tell Uncle Nat.

A few rods up the path she met Bob Evans and Phil Gordon.

"Here we are!" Bob shouted. "We've come without an invitation from you, Joy Evans. Where's the eats? We're starved."

"Bet said she'd be glad to see us," laughed Phil, pretending displeasure with Joy.

"Oh Bob, quick!" cried Joy. "Do something! Bet and Kit are out in the canoe, just started back from the other side. It looks terribly mean, I think there is going to be a bad storm."

"Oh you needn't worry if Bet is paddling. You can trust her. She can paddle a canoe better than any man. I wouldn't be afraid for her even in a storm," said Phil unconcernedly. "Anyway I don't think it will amount to anything!"

"You're wrong, Phil," exclaimed Bob as they neared the beach. "That cloud certainly looks like a storm." The first gust of wind struck them.

"It's coming, all right!" Phil looked anxiously toward the canoe. "And when it comes it's going to be a hum-dinger!"

"Let's get the motor boat into action," cried Bob. "If it blows up a nasty squall, Kit may get panicky. You can trust Bet in a tight place, but Kit is a new-comer."

"Can Kit swim?" asked Phil.

"A little," answered Shirley, "But I know she could never get along in rough water."

"Do hurry boys, we're terribly worried," urged Joy.

The boys were wearing bathing suits under their clothes and it only took a moment for them to strip.

To add to the distress of the girls, Smiley Jim had arrived and was racing up and down the sand barking in a long-drawn-out, mournful howl toward the river. Shirley caught him by the collar.

"That's no way to do, Smiley. You can't help Bet that way! Quiet down!" The dog was trembling in every limb. He'd ceased his howling when the boys started out into the water.

With long-reaching arm strokes they cut the waves and sped toward the launch that was moored a short distance from the shore.

It took only a few minutes to start the motor and as it headed toward the channel, Phil said, "There they are, they're all right."

Then the rain came up the river as if it were a great grey curtain shutting out the river and shore.

"Hurry Bob!" shouted Phil. "They're gone."

A moment later, he called again: "No, there they are. Go down stream a little Bob, the current is running so strong that Bet can't keep it on a straight course."

"We'll never get them in this storm!" groaned Bob, as the rain again shut out the sight of the canoe. Drifting downward with the current, they worked outward toward the middle of the river.

A flash of lightning pierced the grey sheet.

"I see them, Bob! Straight ahead!"

The canoe rose on a huge wave, seemed to stand on end, then disappeared.

"They're gone!" Phil closed his eyes to shut out the sight that he feared he might have to see, two struggling figures in the water.

And at that same moment Bet thought that the canoe would never right itself. Yet she held on, stubbornly. Her arms ached and every move was agony. At times she thought that all her strength was gone and that she would have to give up.

Help was coming! But would she be able to hold out until that boat came? She was doing things mechanically now, without thought, and instinct seemed to guide her to do the right thing.

"I think I see some one, Bet. Hold on for dear life! We'll win yet! – There they are. Someone is coming, Bet!"

Bet did not raise her eyes from her work. She heard Kit's assurance that help was near and for a second she felt faint again and giddy.

Even when she could hear the chug-chug of the motor, she realized that it was not going to be an easy job to be transferred from the canoe. There was still greater danger ahead than anything they had yet experienced. The approach of the launch in the rough sea would almost surely upset the canoe. The boys realized that too. They slowed up and circled the boat, gradually coming closer. It took all of Bet's strength to hold it.

Phil knew that to try to swim toward them would be foolish in the storm. Then an idea came to him. He spoke to Bob and he brought the launch near the canoe again.

Kit was bailing water for all she was worth, but keeping her eyes on the motor boat at the same time. Then as the boat came near she saw something flung toward her, something that the mountain girl understood and knew how to handle. A rope! With quick practiced reach, she caught it.

"Put it around your waist, Kit. They can never tow us in this storm." Bet's teeth were chattering now.

Kit quickly made a loop and fastened it around Bet's waist. "Now Bet, you're safe," she cried. "And I'll hold on to you."

The motor boat had drifted away from them but again Bob brought it alongside. Another rope was flung toward them, but the wind sent it flying backward.

"If I could only have jumped for it!" thought Kit, but she knew that any movement might mean destruction.

Four times Phil threw the rope before Kit caught it and fastened it about herself.

Bet, knowing that they were safe, may have relaxed her efforts, or perhaps the very end of her strength had been reached. The canoe took a wave side-on and turned completely over.

Kit struggled, gulped and swallowed as the cold water covered her and she felt herself being drawn toward the boat. But Bet did not remember anything of the plunge.

They were still in danger, for it needed Bob and Phil to raise the two girls over the side of the launch, and it looked at times as if the motorboat would be swallowed up. The little canoe was left, to be tossed about on the waves.

When the motor again purred and the boat had headed toward the shore, the two girls were in the bottom of the launch. Bet lay there deathly white and showed no sign of life. Kit was sobbing and shaking and was no possible help to the boy, who was trying to revive the still figure of the plucky girl.

The wind subsided as quickly as it had come and by the time the motor reached the dock, the storm was over. Phil lifted Bet in his arms and carried her to the sand. Uncle Nat and Auntie Gibbs had been called and were there to help.

"Get her to the house at once," exclaimed Uncle Nat, as he half carried Kit ashore. She was trembling so violently that she could not stand. "I telephoned Dr. Snow what was happening and he said he would come at once."

Auntie Gibbs stood there wringing her hands and calling on Bet to speak to her. Smiley Jim snuggled up to the still form of Bet and howled furiously when she did not call to him.

Phil and Bob carried Bet up the hill to the Manor. At the door they met Dr. Snow, who without a word began working over the unconscious girl.

"She'll be all right!" He finally spoke to Auntie Gibbs who was almost beside herself with fear. "I don't think she's swallowed much water. It's probably exhaustion more than anything else. Better get her to bed."

A stimulant injected in Bet's arm soon brought her back to life, and when Auntie Gibbs had wrapped her in blankets and given her a hot drink, the blood began to circulate once more and she smiled up at the old housekeeper.

"Don't worry, Auntie Gibbs, I'm tough!"

And strange to say it was Kit and not Bet who was the more seriously affected by the accident.

As Doctor Snow relaxed his efforts over Bet, Shirley touched him on the arm. "Come and see Kit, Doctor. She's sick. Terribly sick, I'm afraid. She wouldn't let me come any sooner until she knew that Bet was better."

The doctor hastened after Shirley and found Kit shaking with chills.

"Get a bed ready in a hurry," commanded the doctor and as Auntie Gibbs flew up stairs, he said:

"Help me here, Phil. We'll carry her right up."

Kit tried to speak but her voice was only a wheezing rasp and ended in a groan.

When Mrs. Stacey arrived, having been called by Shirley, she was anxious to get Kit to the hospital, but the doctor refused to have her moved. "Everything depends on keeping her quiet and warm during the next few hours."

At six o'clock when Colonel Baxter arrived, he rushed into the house like a man whose reason had left him. He had heard of the accident and had been told that Bet was dying, if not already dead.

"Bet! Oh Bet!" he moaned. His face was deadly white. "Bet! Where is she?"

Shirley was at his side in a moment. "Bet is all right, Colonel Baxter. She's sound asleep now and seems comfortable. It's Kit we're worried about."

Colonel Baxter's face looked relieved for a second, then he realized that if anything happened to Kit some other father would feel as he felt on that ride from the station.

He slipped into Bet's room and looked at her for a moment as if to assure himself that she was safe, then went to Kit. The doctor was alone at the bedside.

"Will she live, Doctor?" he asked, his voice trembling with emotion.

"It will be a hard pull tonight to keep this from developing into pneumonia. She's strong and ought to pull through – but one never can tell. She's a sick girl."

Mrs. Stacey spoke:

"I do not see how I can impose on you in this way, Colonel Baxter. I feel as if we should get the child to the hospital."

"Please don't say that, Mrs. Stacey. Consider the Manor your home and Kit's until she is perfectly well again. Get the best nurse you know of, Doctor."

"She will need watching every hour tonight if we are to prevent a serious illness. I will remain here, and I've already called up a good nurse."

In the morning Kit was resting quietly. The terrible wheezing had ceased and the fever was coming down.

In her delirium, Kit had cried, "Help, help!" until Bet, awakened by her cries, wrapped herself up and crept into the room.

"Go back to bed," ordered the doctor. "You'll be sick next."

"No, I won't, Doctor Snow. Kit needs me, I must help her. Please let me speak to her. I'm sure I can quiet her."

Bet knelt by the bed and clasped Kit's hand. "Listen Kit," she said quietly but firmly. "This is Bet; I'm all right. We're both safe at home."

Kit started up, "No, no. Bet is drowned! I saw her so white."

"Kit dear, listen to me. This is Bet. I'm right here beside you!" Bet repeated the sentence over and over until at last the sick brain seemed to grasp the idea and the girl quieted down, and even slept for a few minutes.

"She'll be all right now," the doctor announced to Colonel Baxter, who had come in to inquire how Kit was. "And you'd better get your daughter back to bed. She's been under a strain and needs rest."

The Colonel lifted Bet tenderly in his arms and carried her to her room.

"Sit by me, Dad, I'm frightened," she sighed. "It's so comfortable to have you. I want to hold on to you, then I don't think about that storm."

The Colonel took the little hand in his and held it until she finally relaxed and fell asleep. Not until the lines of strain had left her face, to be replaced by a peaceful expression, did he go back to his own room.

Even then he could not sleep. The details of the storm were pictured in his mind and kept him awake. Adding horror upon horror, he tossed from side to side.

"What if Bet had been drowned!"

Again and again he arose and tiptoed into Bet's room to make sure that she was resting, and that he still had her! Without Bet, life would be unbearable!