Page 21 of The Carter Girls


  CHAPTER XXI.

  WHERE IS BOBBY?

  "Where is Bobby, Helen?" asked Douglas, coming into the tent where Helenwas having an enforced invalidism. She had promised Dr. Wright to bequiet until he returned to camp, which he was planning to do in a week.

  "I want to make you glad to see me and if my coming means you are nolonger in durance vile I know I shall be welcome," he had said when hetold her good-by after a little more pulse taking.

  "We shall always be glad to have you," she had replied impersonally. Hedid think she might have used a singular pronoun but he was grateful toher for any small scrap of politeness. As for Helen, it was difficultfor her to get over a certain sharpness of manner she had up to thistime carefully kept for the young physician. When she had fooled herselfinto thinking she hated him there had been times when she had forgottento be rude in spite of her intentions and now, when she meant to be mildand gentle, sometimes the old habit of studied disagreeableness got thebetter of her. That long week of enforced idleness had chastened herspirit wonderfully. She was so gentle that Douglas sometimes thoughtmaybe she was ill. The rattler seemed to have extracted the poison fromher system, rather than injected it.

  "Only one more day!" she was thinking when Douglas came in. Dr. Wrightwas expected on the morrow and then she could be up and doing once more.There were absolutely no ill effects from the wound and that tiny excusefor a bandage had wholly disappeared. It seemed foolish to be nursing upherself like this, but then she had promised and Helen Carter neverbroke her word.

  "Bobby, you say? Why, he must have gone with Josh."

  "No, Josh was to go a long way for some chickens and I thought Bobbywould get too tired."

  "Maybe Lewis took him to the station with him."

  "Of course! I hear the goat chugging up the mountain now. I'll go see."

  But no Bobby!

  The mountain goat was laden with packages and two previous boarders whocould not wait for the week-end to return to camp. No one had seen Bobbyfor hours and hours it developed on investigation.

  "He done pestered the life out'n me all mornin'," declared Oscar, "an'I done tol' him go fin' Susan and worry her some."

  "Yes, an' I sint him back to you."

  "Well, he ain't never come."

  "He came to me for a story," confessed Nan, "but I was so interested inmy book I couldn't stop. I'm so sorry."

  "He wanted to go with Lil and me but we didn't want him tagging on," andLucy looked ready to weep.

  "He came to me and wanted me to build a log cabin out of sticks but Ihad my accounts to go over," groaned Douglas. "I sent him to Helen butshe hasn't seen him."

  "Well, he is around somewhere," comforted Lewis.

  "Sure!" declared Bill. "All hands turn out and hunt."

  The sisters all felt guilty consciences for not having looked aftertheir little brother, all but Helen, who was the only one who had notseen him.

  "I was the only one who had time for him and I am the only one he didn'tcome to," she cried. "If I only hadn't promised Dr. Wright to stay stilluntil he got here! I know I could find Bobby."

  "But, honey, there are lots of hunters and you must do what the doctortold you," begged Douglas.

  "Oh, I'll mind him all right--that is unless Bobby stays lost too longand then I'll have to get up and break my word if I lose my immortalsoul in the act."

  Staying still while the hue and cry for her dear little brother wasgoing on was about the hardest job Helen Carter ever undertook. Sheimagined all sorts of terrible things. Maybe gypsies had stolen him.Maybe a rattlesnake had bitten him and he was even now dying from it.Maybe he had fallen down the mountain side and had dashed his brains outon some boulder. Worse than anything he might be lost forever, wanderingover the mountains trying to find his way home, crying and calling,scared almost to death, tired and hungry, dying finally of starvationand exposure.

  Taking Bill's advice, all hands turned out to hunt for the lost boy. Infive minutes Helen was the only person left in camp, even Miss ElizabethSomerville and the newly arrived boarders joining in the search. Therewere many paths leading from camp and up and down these the crowdscattered.

  Dear little Bobby! No one thought him a nuisance now. Nan and Gwen madetheir way to Aunt Mandy's cabin, thinking perhaps he had gone there insearch of Josh. Aunt Mandy came out with kindly words of discouragementand gruesome tales of a child her mother told her of who wandered offand never was found.

  "That there Bobby looks like a angel anyhow. Children like him is hardto raise. We uns is been a tellin' of Gwen and Josh that Bobby is toopurty for a boy. He looks to we uns more like a gal angel." Gwen triedto stop her but the old woman went on until Nan was almost in tears. Ifshe had not been so distressed she would have found this amusing, butwith Bobby gone for hours a sense of humor did not help much.

  "Oh, Gwen! Where can he be?"

  "Let's keep on down this path for a while. He and Josh often go thisway."

  "If Josh would only come! I know he could find him."

  "He will be found soon, I am sure. His little legs cannot carry him veryfar and I am sure he would not get out of the trails. He may be back atcamp now. You turn back and let me follow this trail for a mile or so.You are tired, I know."

  "No, indeed, I'm not; if I were it would serve me right. If only I hadstopped and told him a story! I am so selfish when I get steeped in abook. What will Mother say if Bobby is lost?"

  "Oh, but I am sure we will find him."

  The girls wandered on, stopping every now and then to call to the lostchild. Sometimes they would be answered by an echo and then would stopand listen and call again.

  Douglas got in the car with Lewis, who whisked her down the mountainside to the station.

  "Maybe he has carried out his threat of running away. He is alwayssaying he is going back to Richmond when he gets tired of the camp,which he does occasionally when he has nothing to occupy him. If I hadonly stopped adding up expenses and built the log cabin for him! I haveneglected him, I am sure--and what will Father and Mother say? I wish Ihad let him go with Josh. He always takes such good care of him."

  "We are going to find him, Douglas, I feel sure. Why, the little shavercould not walk very far."

  He was not at the station and no one had seen him. Old Abner Dean cameout of his store and actually seemed to feel some concern for the boy.He was a hard old man but not hard enough to resist the charm of Bobby'seyes.

  "He could not have come to the station without some one seeing him, andnow I am going to take you home. He may be found by this time and if heis not I'll start out again. There is no use in your going," said Lewis,feeling very sorry for the distracted sister and very uneasy himself inspite of his repeated assurances to Douglas that the little shaver wasall right wherever he might be.

  "First let's go down this road a little way. He might have turned offbefore he got to the station. He knows that this is the road Josephusand Josh took this morning."

  "All right! Anywhere that there is a chance of finding him!"

  Lucy and Lil with Frank and his friend Skeeter, went over the mountain.Lucy and Lil were feeling very much cut up that they had refused to letpoor little Bobby tag along earlier in the day.

  "I should have taken him with me," wailed Lucy. "Maybe I can never takecare of him again. S'pose wild cats get him."

  "But they wouldn't attack in daylight," declared Frank.

  "But we might not find him before dark and wolves and snakes and wildcats and all kinds of things might get him. I promised Mother I'd begood to him, too." Lucy was sniffing dismally and Lil joined her friendin her demonstration of woe.

  They came to the reservoir where Bobby loved to play and was not allowedto come alone. It was not deep but then a little child does not needmuch water to drown in.

  "It is so clear that if he is in the bottom we can see him, that's onecomfort," suggested Skeeter, but the rest of them could not extract muchjoy from the fact.

  "I am scared to look in!" exclaimed
Lucy, hiding her eyes.

  "Nothing in there but a bullfrog," reassured Frank, so they left thereservoir and climbed on up the mountain.

  Susan and Oscar took the path around the mountain. The two devotedservants were so deeply concerned about their darling Bobby, veryprecious now that he was lost, that they felt there was no way toexpress their concern but by quarreling with each other.

  "Whin I sint him to you, why'n you keep keer er him?" grumbled Oscar.

  "Wherefore you didn't keep keer er him yo' se'f?"

  "I ain't no nuss!"

  "Me neither! I done hi'ed out fur a housemaid. I is demeanin' of myrightful oaths to be adoin' what I is. If the haid of our sassietyshould git wind of all the occupations I is a occupying I ain't got adoubt she would read me out in meetin'."

  "Well, nobody ain't a goin' to blow 'bout what wuck you does butyo'se'f. I can't see but what you keeps to yo' vows well enough. Iflookin' after chillums aint 'ooman's wuck I lak to know what is."

  Every now and then they stopped their wrangling to shout for the lostboy.

  "Bo--oob--by! You, Bo--oob--by! I got some ca--an--dy fur yer," calledSusan.

  "'Andyfuryer!" came back from the next mountain.

  "Thar he is!" declared Oscar.

  "Thar he is much! That there is what Miss Nan calls a ego. It's somekind er a beast I reckon what mocks folks. Sounds lak hants ter me. Idone dream of trouble last night anyhow. I dream I was a gittin'married--"

  "That would sho' be trouble to the groom," chuckled Oscar.

  "My dream book says that dreamin' of marriage is sho sign er death. Ireckon our little Bobby is dead by this time. Out here cold and starvedin the mountings."

  "Well, he done et a good breakfast this mornin' and ain't starved yitas 'tain't time ter dish up dinner yit. An' if he is cold I'd lak terknow whar he done foun' a cool spot. I sho is a sweatin' myse'f."

  "Go 'long, you ole nigger! You ain't got no feelin'."

  "I's got as much feelin' as you is but I's got enough ter worry 'boutwithout makin' up troubles. I want ter find that there Bobby an' I feelturrible bad 'bout his a gittin' lost but I ain't agoin' ter trouble myhaid about his bein' cold and hongry whin the sun is a shinin' down onmy back as hot as a mustard plarster an' I done see the boy put away twofull batches of waffles with enough scrambled eggs to feed a wholefambly. His appletite done pick up wonderful sense we been a campin'out."

  Miss Elizabeth Somerville had to help in the search, too, although BillTinsley tried to persuade her that he and Tillie Wingo could do her partand she had better go back to the pavilion, but go she would down therocky path.

  "'Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod ofcorrection shall drive it far from him,'" she declaimed grimly. "If Ihad my way I should give that child a good whipping when he is found. Heknows perfectly well he should not have gone off without asking."

  The search kept up for more than an hour and still no sign of littleBobby. Even the most cheerfully sanguine of the campers began to feeldubious. Helen lay on her cot in an agony of suspense. The search partyhad none of them returned. She began to fear that the worst might havehappened to her beloved little brother. If she could only get up andhelp! She regretted the promise she had made Dr. Wright. How could shestay still until the next day? She knew she could find Bobby if any onecould. Did he not love her best of all the sisters? How strange that hehad not come to her when Douglas sent him! She would have told himstories and amused him.

  "Maybe he did come while I was taking that little nap," she thought. "Itwas only for a moment that I dozed off and usually he is quick enoughto awaken any one who is sleeping." The truth of the matter was thatBobby was loath to have anybody sleep. He was famous as a waker.

  "There is a car! I hear it coming up the mountain. I do hope it isDouglas and she has got him."

  She waited what seemed hours but was in reality but a minute.

  "Douglas!" she called. "Lewis! Somebody! Have you found him?" Her voicerang out very loud in the empty camp.

  "May I come in?" Dr. Wright's voice just outside her tent.

  "Oh, Dr. Wright! Bobby is lost! May I get up and help hunt? I'm so gladyou have come!"

  "So am I. I was called to Charlottesville in consultation and came on uphere for a visit. Tell me about Bobby."

  "He's been lost for hours and hours. Everybody is out hunting and Ipromised I'd stay here until you came, but oh, Dr. Wright, it has beenhard to keep my word."

  "You poor little girl! But you mustn't worry, Bobby can take care ofhimself anywhere he happens to be."

  "You bet I can!" came from under Helen's cot and then a tousled sleepylittle figure followed the voice.

  "Oh, Bobby, Bobby!" cried Helen, hugging the little wretch close in herarms. "Didn't you know we were nearly scared to death about you?"

  "Nope! How's I to know? I drap off to sleep, I reckon. I was so tired ergettin' driv from one to the tother all mornin' that I got so sleepy Icouldn't stay awake. When I got driv to you by Douglas and found yousnoozin' I jes' crawled in under your bed and must a snoozed somemyself."

  "To think of his being right here all the time! Please go tell the resthe is found. Tell them I found him."

  "Yes, tell 'em Helen is wuth mor'n all of them put together. She kin domore findin' of things lyin' up in the bed than all the crowd can ahuntin' all over the mountain."

  Bobby soon became the center of attraction. Everybody had to give him ahug and everybody was sorry they had "driv" him off. Douglas promisedhim an Indian outfit; Nan promised to tell him all the stories she knew;Lucy invited him to tag along with her whenever he wanted to; LewisSomerville gave him a new knife if he promised never to use it unlessJosh was with him to pick up the pieces he cut off himself; Susanimmediately put on some molasses to cook for an always welcome candypulling; Oscar gave him an especial invitation to a chicken picking hewas to hold that afternoon.

  Helen was allowed to get up by the cautious young doctor since the snakebite was entirely gone. Her manner to him was so gentle he could nothelp feeling that he himself, as well as a physician who was releasingher, was welcome to the camp.

  * * * * *

  During this visit Dr. Wright found much food for thought--serious andotherwise. As he watched the Carter girls, happily active in their dailytasks, bravely puzzling over their problems in economy, unselfishlyentertaining their week-end guests, he contrasted their life on the sideof the mountain in Albemarle with the sheltered existence they hadknown--and marveled and rejoiced.

  The summer was doing wonderful things for all the members of the campingparty. Miss Somerville had seen a sunrise and had waxed enthusiasticover it. Susan had learned to sleep with her windows open and to realizethat some of her dreams were indicative of what had happened rather thanwhat was going to happen. Namely! a fearful dream she had had of freshmeat did not mean sure death, as the dream book said, but that she hadeaten too much beefsteak the night before. Oscar had learned that therewas a lot of good in po' whites when once they began to wash. Josh, inturn, had learned the value of cold water on character as well as hide.

  Lewis Somerville and his chum, Bill, had learned the power of honesttoil to assuage the mental anguish they had had to contend with becauseof their interrupted careers. They were planning for the future insteadof looking back and regretting the past. Bobby was learning more thanany of the party. He had learned how to find a bee tree and where thesparrow hawk nests; he had learned how to skin up any tree he could gethis arms around and how to slide down without barking his shins; he hadlearned how to scrooch up his toes when the path was stony and not hurthis feet walking in briars. Josh was his tutor and had even taught himwhen to say we uns and you allses. Josephus had learned where to go forlump sugar, and whenever Helen appeared, the old mule limped after her,putting his head on one side and singing like a canary bird; at least,that was what Nan said he did.

  So even Josephus could be numbered among those who had benefited by thehealth
ful, unselfish, out-of-door life on the mountain side. Lucy,perhaps, of all the Carter girls, had changed the least under the newinfluences. Her attitude toward the world in general and Helen inparticular remained about the same: she was adoring and belligerent,imitative and rebellious, as variable as a weather vane in March.

  The fact that Helen had been bitten by a snake was carefully kept fromLucy for fear she would go do likewise. She tried very hard to stay inbed one day with a would-be sprained ankle, but the delights of themountains were too alluring. She hobbled out of bed before the day wasover and by evening was fox trotting with Skeeter, who, by the way, hadanswered Frank Maury's letter in person by return mail.

  But if Lucy took the business end of the summer venture lightly,Douglas, Helen and Nan shouldered its responsibilities seriously andgloried in its success. Their enthusiasm did not wane nor did theirdetermination falter: their father should not be burdened by debts onhis home-coming.

  How they clung to their purpose and how they met the remainingexperiences of the summer, their friends may discover, if they will, in"The Carter Girls' Week-End Camp."

  THE END.

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  Transcriber's Note

  In this text-version italics has been indicated with _italics_. Smallcapitals has been changed to all capitals.

  A few obvious printer's errors have been corrected. Otherwise theoriginal has been preserved, including inconsistencies in spelling,hyphenation or accentuation.

 
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