CHAPTER VI
BETTY WYNDHAM, ACTRESS
With the incoming tide, the "Boojum" had righted herself and was soonunder way. The tremendous rain had ceased as abruptly as it had begunand the sun shone valiantly as if to make up to the little party forthe trick the tide, vassal of the moon, had played on them the pastnight. The winds had churned the water into choppy little waves thatfoamed against the "Boojum's" eager bow.
"I just adore this jerky motion," Jane confided to Frances. "But Iwonder how long I'll adore it. It reminds me of the time I went on ahunt on a Standard-bred trotter. I got there in time to see the dogsnab the poor fox, but I'm here to say I took an oath that that was thelast time I would ride anything but a saddle horse."
"I like this too," agreed Frances. "It's the most exciting sail wehave had yet. We are certainly scooting along. Whee! look at the spraycome flying up over the bowsprit. Let's go and get on the grating. Idon't believe either one of us is going to be sick, 'specially if westay up on deck."
These two were nearly always to be found lying flat on the grating inthe bow when they were sailing. As a concession to Mr. Wing, they hadagreed to hold on to each other with one hand and on to the gratingwith the other.
"Are you two young tars feeling fit still!" Mr. Wing asked them."Ellen and Jack are below looking pretty miserable and, of course, nopower on earth will drag them up in the air. Ellen said that, if shesaw the waves, she knew it would be all over with her."
"Yes, we saw them, when we went below to get extra sweaters. I believeJack would like to come up, but he doesn't want to leave Ellen. Ellenwould be much better off by herself, but she doesn't like to hurtJack's feelings. There is nothing to do with people like that so wemight as well forget them. It won't be so long before we fetchProvincetown and then they will be all right." And Jane dismissed thetragedy of the seasick lovers with a grin.
Mr. Wing had been watching a fast little schooner ahead of them. "Heyyou, Charlie!" he called to the man at the wheel. "You stop talkingto Mabel, and watch what you are about. We are pointing lots higherthan that white schooner. Mabel, you come up here and play with thesekids and Charlie and I will see if we can't overhaul that boat on ournext tack."
Obediently Mabel slid and skidded along the slippery, slanting deck,and sat down with one arm around the mast.
"Daddy is so funny," she said. "We would have got there just asquickly if we had gone on as we were. We are a little off our coursenow, but Daddy likes to use every puff of wind."
"And I am going to as long as I sail a yacht. If I ever get to runninga steamboat or a ferry to Jersey, I might change, but as long as I runthe 'Boojum' she sails."
"Well hush your fuss and run along now. You can sail backward if youwant to," giggled Mabel, who always had the attitude that her fatherwas her kid brother.
"Honestly, Mabel, this is the most wonderful day of all, but then itseems that every day is better than the last," said Jane.
"And won't it be fun to see old Betty Wyndham? We ought to have somekind of Camp Fire party. The only thing that I have against the'Boojum' is that we can't have a camp fire on her."
"But s'pose Betty has got too grown-up to like that sort of thing,"ventured Frances.
Jane shook her head at this. "I had a letter from her just before weleft and she told me that she had just been to a clambake with some ofthe players, and, if she likes that, I know she will like to have aregular old-timer with us."
"She will be surprised to see us. Can't you just see her eyes wideningbehind those big bone glasses?" Mabel stretched her own eyes wide."And look, I can just see the monument to the Pilgrim Fathers now. Wewill be there soon."
"Oh!" Frances sighed. "Much as I want to see Betty I wish this sailwould never end. I get so excited I can hardly stand it and, when thespray lands on me, I want to shout."
"You are just a modern pagan," said Mabel looking at Frances' vividcolor and sparkling eyes, "and a mighty pretty one too."
"Away, thou perfidious flatterer. And me freckled as a guinea egg!Jane, pinch her for me."
"You young'uns get the anchor free. We are going to drop it soon aswe lose our way," called Mr. Wing.
Jane jumped up from her place and took off the ropes that held theanchor, and, balancing it with one hand in a thoroughly professionalmanner, began spitting over the side in the way she had found soridiculous in Breck and Mr. Wing a few days since.
"All the way is lost now," Jane cried in semi-nautical tones that madeBreck smile as he pushed the anchor over the side.
Little fishing boats were moored and anchored all around the "Boojum"and soon men had come up on all the decks after the fashion of sailorsto see what the latest ship looked like.
Jane and Frances were at the davits, letting down the dinghy as Jackand Ellen came up from below, looking as Frances said rather "pale andpellucid."
"Now, gents," began Mabel bouncing up to the little group at thedavits, "we girls are going ashore and see Betty and we are going tohave a regular reunion of the Camp Fire Girls and we don't want any ofyou, much as we love you separately and collectively, to bother us.We'll take the dinghy and spend the night with Betty if there is roomand if there isn't we'll take her to a hotel for, goodness knows,there isn't room on board for another thing."
"And Jane and I are the ablest little seawomen in the bunch so we aregoing to row you and Ellen, Mabel," and Frances steadied the dinghywith a far-reaching foot and leg, while Jane dropped over the side andput in the rowlocks. These two had long since waived the formality ofthe sea-ladder.
"Breck!" called Jane to the sailor, "you put over the sea ladder andwe'll row around to starboard and take on our middle-aged passengers."
"Middle-aged passengers nothing," shrieked Mabel. "You just hold thedinghy steady and we'll get over here. As if I wasn't doing this longbefore you were born!"
"Well, doesn't that prove your middle age?" teased Frances.
"I'd drop this little grip on your head, Captain Kidd, if I wasn'tafraid I'd upset my fellow sufferer, Mabel," announced Ellen, as shehanded the little grip that held their nighties down to Frances. "I amso thoughtful, none of you remembered that you ought to havetoothbrushes and combs if we are going to stay on shore tonight. Howwould you get on in this world without useful me to think abouteverything for you?"
"Be sure to allow enough rope for the drop in the tide," Janecautioned Frances as she made the painter fast to a big iron ring sunkin the dock.
"Plain Jane, now you just hush up. I'd like to know who it was thattied the dinghy at Newport the time we came back from the movies andfound the poor thing standing on its stern with its nose up in theair?"
"Let's go to the post office first, and see if there is any mail forus at general delivery," suggested Ellen. "Then we can set about thesearch for our little pal Betty."
Just as the girls were going into the post office, a hurrying girl raninto them. "Pardon--well of all things!" she cried.
"Why, Betty, what luck. Why didn't you knock us down?"
"What fun to see you again," they all said at once and drew amusedsmiles from the group in the post office.
"Come on to my room. I'm staying with the dearest little old lady inthe world. Several of the other players have rooms with her too andwe tear off a lot of fun when we aren't working," Betty told them asthey went along the street.
"What ducky little houses these are," Jane said to Frances. "But notas charming as Plymouth do you think, Betty?"
"I think that the Greenwich Villagers, who come here for the summer,leave their mark just as they do everywhere. It is really moreattractive in the winter when just the natives themselves are here,"explained Betty.
Soon they were all in Betty's neat room, lolling about on the bed,eating chocolates, and examining Betty's new snapshots and possessionsand exchanging adventures. After Betty had been duly told of the upsetat Plymouth, they all began to plan how they were to hold theirreunion. At last, they decided on a clambake as the best.
The little o
ld lady who owned the house agreed to let them have a roomwith a double bed in it and by doubling up in one room and tripling upin the other they thought they could pass the night ashore.
As soon as the sun set, the five friends trooped down to the beachand, gathering driftwood enough to bake all the clams in the world,started a huge campfire.
"Um, I think baked clams are the most delicious things in the world,"said Jane as she ate her last one.
"Honestly, children, I am just too glad that you came by to see me. Iwas wondering how I was going to get through the summer without seeingat least some of the Camp Fire Girls," Betty smiled at the girls.
"I wish you had time to go for a few days' sail with us. Don't yousuppose you could?" Mabel begged.
"It is dear of you to ask me and you know there is nothing in theworld I would like better, but I really am too busy. You know I amworking particularly hard so I can get to New York to hear Emmelinesing."
"We will see you then at any rate, 'cause we are going to be back intime for that too," and Mabel gave Betty a clammy hug.
"Doesn't that driftwood make the most gorgeously colored flame?" Ellenasked dreamily. "I always wonder about driftwood, what it was beforeit was cast up on the beach."
"It is rather terrible to think how much of it was once ships, and bythe way, would you mind if I said you a piece I ran across the otherday? It isn't exactly cheerful but I like it," and Betty began aweird minor wail in her rich deep voice--
"Whew! what a blood curdler!" interrupted Jane. "Stop it! stop it! Itgives me the creeps."
"Let's save it until a sunny day and have something soothing to go tobed on," suggested Ellen, shivering. "Why don't we end this reunion bysinging some of our own Camp Fire songs?"
The five Camp Fire Girls began their favorite Good Night song:
"Now our Camp Fire fadeth, Now the flame burns low, Now all Camp Fire Maidens To Slumberland must go. May the peace of the lapping water The peace of the still starlight, The peace of the firelit forest Be with us through the night. The peace of our firelit faces Be with us through the night."