The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise Part 19

There came a knock at the door.

"May we come in?" asked Walter.

"We-want-our-breakfast!" bawled Jack and Paul.

"Mercy no! Don't let them in!" cried Bess, beating a precipitate retreat.

"We-are-coming!" chanted Walter.

"Stay out a minute," ordered Cora. "Don't be afraid, the door's locked,"

she added to her companions. "We've just finished," she went on in louder tones. "Hurry with your breakfasts, and then prepare to give us a good time."

"Your majesty's wishes shall be obeyed," declared Paul, and as the girls went upstairs to put on more conventional garments, the boys hurried in, bubbling over with good spirits, greeting Mrs. Floyd effusively, and preparing to devour everything in sight, which not very remarkable feat (for them) they nearly accomplished.

"Did that waterfall bother you?" asked Jack, of his chums.

"Kept me awake a little," admitted Walter. "Sounded a bit like the surf at first, and I dreamed I was down at Crystal Bay again."

"We sure had a swell time down there," said Jack.

"I like the mountains better," confessed Paul. "This place suits me."

"It will be all right," Jack said. "Now then, let's see what's doing."

"Fis.h.i.+ng for mine," declared Walter. "That pool below the fall looks good to me."

The others also voted to try their luck as disciples of Izaak Walton, and presently, with rods and lines, having dug some worms where Mr.

Floyd showed them a place, they were patiently waiting on the bank of the stream that flowed away from the waterfall.

Camp Surprise was situated amid one of the wildest and most desolate parts of the mountains west of Chelton. It was remarkable, in a way, that such a lonesome place could be found so close to such a number of large and thriving towns and villages. But it was this wildness and isolation that gave it the peculiar charm, and which had led the land company to establish a number of camps and bungalows in the vicinity.

So rugged and diversified was the scenery, that, with the exception of the two bungalows occupied respectively by the boys and girls, no other two buildings were in sight of each other. Though not far removed from one another the dwelling places were off by themselves, giving a seclusion so often demanded by those who go to summer resorts.

At present, as the season had hardly opened, there were no other visitors at Camp Surprise, though many were expected later in July and August. Camp Surprise was not the real name of the place, which was called by the development company, Mountain View. But Camp Surprise had been applied because of the queer happenings, as has been intimated, though so far our friends had seen no occasion for such appellation.

The waterfall and the stream which flowed from it divided practically in half the area of land owned by the Mountain View Company. Having its origin some miles back in the mountains, the stream was augmented by brooks, creeks and other streams until, on reaching Camp Surprise, it had become almost a river.

Flowing along peacefully, through green meadows, or down the slope of some rocky hill, the river came suddenly to a great cleft in the hills, and down this it plunged in a most beautiful fall, from a height of about fifty feet, and perhaps a hundred feet in breadth.

At the foot of the fall was a deep pool, worn in the limestone rocks by the erosion of the falling water, and there the white foam boiled and bubbled in a miniature whirlpool and rapids until the stream slipped farther on down the side of the mountain, in a series of little cascades, in which were, so it was said, many fishes.

The boys had selected as their spot a quiet one, where a sort of eddy, or back-water, made a quiet pool that looked, as Jack said, "like a regular bachelor apartment for fish."

"Keep still! Don't move!" called Belle, as she and her chums, now with all their "war paint on," as Walter hinted, approached the three young men.

"What is it-the ghost or the furniture mover?" asked Walter.

"I just want to get a picture," Belle explained, snapping her camera.

"You look so respectable to what you do ordinarily."

"Just for that you shan't hold my hand!" declared Paul.

"Don't come any nearer," warned Walter. "I think I have a bite. Yes!

He's on!" he cried as the tip of his pole bent, and a moment later he hauled out a flas.h.i.+ng beauty.

"Oh, I want to catch one!" cried Cora, who was as ardent a lover of outdoor sports as any of her boy friends.

"You may take my pole," offered Paul, as Walter unhooked his fish.

"Oh, no, I don't want to deprive you," Cora objected.

"I'll sit near and watch you-have all the fun and let you do the work,"

he retorted. And the boys and girls were soon together on the bank.

Luck was fairly good, and presently enough fish had been caught for a "good mess," as Mr. Floyd observed when he came past.

"We'll cook them for you," offered Belle. "Won't we, girls?"

"Do you know how?" asked Jack.

"Listen to him!" mocked Bess.

As Mr. Floyd and his wife had to go to one of the more distant bungalows, to see about some repairs, and as they would be gone most of the day, Cora and her chums agreed to be the housekeepers and to let the boys share the lunch with them.

"Which isn't such a concession after all," Jack said, "seeing as how we caught the fish."

"I caught one myself," Cora declared.

"With Paul's pole, so that doesn't count," retorted her brother quickly.

They had a jolly time at lunch and spent the afternoon roaming about the mountainside. The girls took pictures of the fall, which was really a beauty-spot, and some of the prints were afterward enlarged, and they made most charming pictures.

"There's the hotel," said Paul, as they came out on a ledge of rock, and looked down in a valley. "That's where I'm going to have some tango tea."

"To-night?" asked Jack. "I'm with you if you go."

"Count me in," added Walter. "I haven't had a good dance, not since--"

"The one with me," cut in Cora, for she and Walter were good partners.

"Right-oh, little one!" he cried. "Shall we all go down to-night?"

The hotel was about a mile from the Mountain View property, and was quite a well-known hostelry, though the season was not yet in full swing.

"Some other night," suggested Cora. "We haven't really gotten settled yet, and we don't know what time Mrs. Floyd will come back. Besides, do they let any others than guests and their friends dance?"

"Oh, I guess so," said Walter. "We'll find out. But if you don't want to go to-night we'll wait."

This was agreed to, and the rest of the day was spent on the part of the girls in getting their rooms in order, putting away their dresses and arranging for supper, for they were going to do much of their own work in camp, Mrs. Floyd being more of a chaperon and general manager than housekeeper or cook.