The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat

  Produced by Roger Frank and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  "There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge'sarm in her excitement. "The same two men!"]

  THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLSON A HOUSEBOAT

  HOW THEY SAILED AWAY WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE AND WHAT WAS DISCOVERED

  BY

  GRACE BROOKS HILL

  Author of "The Corner House Girls," "TheCorner House Girls Snowbound," etc.

  _ILLUSTRATED BY_

  _THELMA GOOCH_

  NEW YORK

  BARSE & HOPKINS

  PUBLISHERS

  BOOKS FOR GIRLS

  By Grace Brooks Hill

  The Corner House Girls Series

  12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.

  THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLSTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOLTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVASTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAYTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FINDTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOURTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UPTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUNDTHE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT

  BARSE & HOPKINS

  Publishers, New York

  Copyright, 1920,by Barse & Hopkins

  _The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat_

  Printed in U. S. A.

  CONTENTS

  I. "What's That?"II. Neale Has NewsIII. The ElevatorIV. An Auto RideV. The HouseboatVI. More NewsVII. Making PlansVIII. The RobberyIX. All AboardX. A StowawayXI. OverboardXII. Neale WondersXIII. The Trick MuleXIV. At the CircusXV. Real News at LastXVI. Ruth's AlarmXVII. Up the RiverXVIII. The Night AlarmXIX. On the LakeXX. DriftingXXI. The StormXXII. On the IslandXXIII. SuspicionsXXIV. Closing InXXV. The Capture

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  "There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in theexcitement. "The same two men!" _Frontispiece._

  "Get us down!" cried Dot and Tess in a chorus, while Mrs. MacCall stoodbeneath them holding out her apron

  While Dot and Tess clung to one another, Hank managed to fish up the"Alice-doll"

  "You shouldn't have come here, Aggie!" he cried above the noise of thestorm

  THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT

  CHAPTER I

  "WHAT'S THAT?"

  Delicious and appetizing odors filled the kitchen of the old CornerHouse. They were wafted even to the attic, were those whiffs andfragrant zephyrs. Some of them even escaped through the open windows,causing Uncle Rufus to cease his slow and laborious task of picking upsome papers from the newly cut lawn.

  "Dat suah smells mighty good--mighty good!" murmured the old darkey tohimself, as he straightened up by the process of putting one hand to thesmall of his back and pressing there, as though a spring neededadjusting. "Dat suah smells mighty good! Mrs. Mac mus' suah be out-doin'of herse'f dish yeah mawnin'!"

  He turned his wrinkled face toward the Corner House, again sniffingdeeply.

  A pleased and satisfied look came over his countenance as the cookingodors emanating from the kitchen became more pronounced.

  "Dey's suah to be some left--dey suah is, 'cause hit's Miss Ruth'sparty, an' she's always gen'rus wif de eatin's. She suah is. Dey's suahto be some left."

  He removed his hand from the small of his back, thereby allowing himselfto fall forward again in the proper position for picking up papers, andwent on with his work.

  Inside the kitchen, where the odors were even more pronounced, as onemight naturally expect to find them, two girls and a pleasant-facedwoman were busy; though not more so than a fresh-appearing Finnish maid,who hummed an air full of minor strains as she opened the oven door nowand then, thereby letting out more odors which were piled upon, mingledwith, and otherwise added to those already bringing such a delicioussensation to Uncle Rufus.

  "Aren't you planning too much, Ruth?" asked her sister Agnes, as thegirl addressed carefully placed a wondrously white napkin over a plateof freshly baked macaroons. "I mean the girls will never eat all this,"and she waved her hand to include a side table on which were many moreplates, some empty, awaiting their burden from the oven, while otherswere covered with white linen like some mysterious receptacles under astage magician's serviette.

  "Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Ruth. "My only worry is that Ishall not have enough."

  "Well, for the land's sake! how many do you expect?" demanded AgnesKenway.

  "Six. But there will be you and me and--"

  "Then Mr. Howbridge _is_ coming!" cried Agnes, as if there had been somequestion about it, though this was the first time his name had beenmentioned that morning.

  "He _may_ come," answered Ruth quietly.

  "He _may_! Oh my stars! As if you didn't _know_ he was coming!" retortedAgnes. "Is it in--er--his official capacity?"

  "I asked Mr. Howbridge to come to advise us about forming the society,"Ruth said. "I thought it best to start right. If we are going to be ofany use as a Civic Betterment Club in Milton we must be on a firmfoundation, and--"

  "Hear! Hear!" interrupted Agnes, banging on the table with an agatemixing spoon, and thereby bringing from a deep pantry the form and faceof Mrs. MacCall, the sturdy Scotch housekeeper.

  "Please don't do that!" begged Ruth.

  "Hoots! Whut's meanin' wi' the rattlin' an' thumpin'?" demanded Mrs.MacCall.

  "Oh, some nonsense of Agnes'," answered Ruth. "I was just telling herthat I had asked the girls to luncheon, to talk over the new CivicBetterment Club, and that Mr. Howbridge is coming to advise us how toget a charter, or incorporate, or whatever is proper and--"

  "I was only applauding after the fashion in the English Parliament,"interrupted Agnes. "They always say 'Hear! Hear!' away down in theirthroats."

  "Well, they don't bang on tables with granite spoons," retorted Ruth, asshe handed a pie to Linda, the humming Finnish maid, who popped it intothe oven, quickly shutting the door, to allow none of the heat toescape.

  "Hoot! I would not put it past 'em, I would not!" murmured Mrs. MacCall."What those English law makers do--I wouldna' put it past them!" and,shaking her head, she retired into the deep pantry again.

  "Well, you're going to have enough of sweets, I should say;" observedAgnes, "even as fond as Mr. Howbridge is of them. For the land's sake,aren't you going to stop?" she demanded, as Ruth poured into a dish thecake batter she had begun to stir as soon as the pie was completed.

  "This is the last. You don't need to stay and help me any longer if youdon't want to, dear. Run out and play," urged Ruth sweetly.

  "Run out and play! As if I were Dot or Tess! I like that! Why, I wasthinking of asking you to let me join the society!"

  "Oh, of course you may, Agnes! I didn't think you'd care for it. Why,certainly you may join! We want to get as many into it as we can. Docome to the meeting this afternoon. Mr. Howbridge is going to explaineverything, and I thought we might as well make it a little socialaffair. It was very good of you to help me with the baking."

  "Oh, I like that. And I believe I will come to the meeting. Now shall weclean up?"

  "I do him," interposed Linda. "I wash him all up," and a sweep of hermuscular arm indicated the pots, pans, dishes and all the odds and endsleft from the rather wholesale baking.

  "Oh, I shall be so glad if you will!" exclaimed Ruth. "I want to go overthe parlor and library again. And I wonder what has become of Dot andTess. I asked them to get me some wild flowers, but they have been goneover an hour and--"

  The voice of Mrs. MacCall from the deep pantry interrupted.

  "Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot!" she called. "Where ha' ye been? Come ye here thenoo, and be for me waukrife minnie."

  "What in the world does she mean?" asked Agnes, for sometimes, wellversed as she was in the Scotch of the housekeeper, there were new wordsand phra
ses that needed translating. Especially as it seemed to thegirls that more and more Mrs. MacCall was falling back into herchildhood speech as she grew older--a speech she had dropped during heryounger life except in moments of excitement.

  This time, however, it was beyond even the "ken" of Ruth, who ratherprided herself on her Highland knowledge. But Mrs. MacCall herself hadheard the question. Out she came from the pantry, smiling broadly.

  "Ye no ken 'waukrife minnie'?" she asked. "Ah, 'tis a pretty littleverse o' Rabbie Burns. I'll call it o'er the noo."

  Then she gave them, with all the burring of which her tongue wascapable:

  "Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass, Whare are you gaun, my hinnie? She answered me right saucilie, An errand for my minnie."

  Coming down to earth again, Mrs. MacCall shot back into the pantry andfrom an open window in the rear that looked out in the orchard shecalled:

  "Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot! Come ye here, and be for me the lassies that'll gangto the store."

  "Are Tess and Dot there?" asked Ruth. "I've been wondering where theyhad disappeared to."

  "They be coming the noo," answered Mrs. MacCall. "Laden in their armswi' all sorts of the trash." And then she sang again:

  "O fare thee well, my bonnie lass, O fare thee well, my hinnie! Thou art a gay an' a bonnie lass, But thou has a waukrife minnie."

  "What in the world is a 'waukrife minnie'?" asked Agnes, but there wasno chance to answer, for in the kitchen, making it more busy than ever,trooped the two younger members of the Corner House girlsquartette--Tess and Dot.

  Their arms were filled with blossoms of the woods and fields, andwithout more ado they tossed them to a cleared place on the table,whence Linda had removed some of the pans and dishes.

  "Oh, what a lovely lot of flowers!" cried Ruth. "It's just darling ofyou to get them for me. Now do you want to help me put them into vasesin the library?"

  Dot shook her head.

  "Why not?" asked Ruth gently.

  "I promised my Alice-doll to take her down by the brook, and I just haveto do it," answered Dot. "And Tess is going to help me; aren't you,Tess?" she added.

  "Yes," was the answer. "I'm going to take Almira."

  "Then you must take her kittens, too!" insisted Dot. "She'll feel bad ifyou don't."

  "I won't take 'em all--I'll take one kitten," compromised Tess. "Thereshe is, now!" And Tess darted from the room to pounce on the cat, whichdid not seem to mind very much being mauled by the children.

  "Will ye gang a'wa' to the store the noo?" asked Mrs. MacCall, with awarm smile as she came from the pantry. "There's muckle we need an'--"

  "I'll go if you give me a cookie," promised Dot.

  "So'll I," chimed in Tess, coming in on the tribute. "We can take Almiraand your Alice-doll when we come back," she confided to her sister.

  "Yes, I think they'll wait. I know Alice-doll will, but I'm not so sureabout Almira," and Dot seemed rather in doubt. "She may take a notion tocarry her kittens up in the bedroom--"

  "Don't dare suggest such a thing!" cried Ruth.

  "I'm to have company this afternoon, and if that cat and her kittensappear on the scene--"

  "Oh, I wasn't going to carry them in!" interrupted Dot, with an air ofinjured innocence. "They're Almira's kittens, and she can do what shelikes with them, I suppose," she added as an afterthought. "Only I knowthat every once in a while she takes a notion to plant them in a newplace. Once Uncle Rufus found them in his rubber boots, and theyscratched him like anything when he put his foot inside."

  "Well, if you have to go to the store for Mrs. MacCall you won't haveany time to help me arrange the flowers," observed Ruth, anxious to putan end to the discussion about the family cat and kittens, for she knewDot had a fund of stories concerning them.

  "Yes, traipse along now, my bonnie bairns," advised the Scotchhousekeeper, and, bribed by two cookies each, a special good measure onSaturday, Dot and Tess were soon on their way, or at least it was sosupposed.

  Linda was helping Mrs. MacCall clear away the baking utensils, and Ruthand Agnes were in the parlor and library, tastefully arranging the wildflowers that Dot and Tess had gathered.

  "Isn't Dot queer to cling still to her dolls?" remarked Agnes, as shestepped back to get the effect of a bunch of red flowers against a darkbrown background in one corner of the room.

  "Yes, she is a strange child. And poor Almira! Really I don't see howthat cat stands it here, the way Tess and Dot maul her."

  "They aren't as bad as Sammy Pinkney. Actually I caught him yesterdaytying the poor creature to the back of Billy Bumps!"

  "Not on the goat's back!" cried Ruth.

  "Really, he was. I sent him flying, though!"

  "What was his idea?"

  "Oh, he said he'd heard Neale tell how, in a circus, a little dog rodeon a pony's back and Sammy didn't see why a cat couldn't ride on agoat."

  "Well, if he put it that way I suppose she could," assented Ruth. "ButAlmira seems to take herself very seriously with all those kittens. Wereally must get rid of them. Vacation will soon be here, and with Tessand Dot around the house all day, instead of just Saturdays, I don'tknow what we shall do."

  "Have you made any vacation plans at all?"

  "Not yet, Agnes. I thought I'd wait until I saw Mr. Howbridge at theclub meeting this afternoon."

  "What has he to do with our vacation--unless he's going along?"

  "Oh, no, I didn't mean that, at all! But the financial question doesenter into it; and as he is our guardian and has charge of our money, Iwant to know just how much we can count on spending."

  "Why, have we lost any money?"

  "Not that I know of. I hope not! But I always have consulted him beforewe made any summer plans, and I don't see why we should not now."

  "Well, I suppose it's all right," assented Agnes, as she took up anotherbunch of flowers. "But I wonder--"

  She never finished that sentence. From somewhere, inside or outside thehouse, a resounding crash sounded. It shook the walls and floors.

  "Oh, my! what's that?" cried Ruth, dropping the blossoms from her handsand hastening to the hall.