The Secret of Steeple Rocks
CHAPTER XII
ELIZABETH HAS AN ADVENTURE
It is not to be supposed that Elizabeth Secrest was not having as good atime as the rest of the party, or that her days were altogether spent inthe work and play of the artist. In a delicious rest of mind and bodyshe had quickly gained back her nervous energy. Her camp life soonsettled into a brief routine of daily duties, quickly accomplished withthe help of the other girls, and into a rest and freedom fromresponsibility that she had not known for a long time.
In this place of beautiful views and big spaces, worries seemed small.She often went alone to the beach, to walk up and down, sketch a little,pick up some newly deposited shell, or merely to sit, feasting her eyesupon the apparently limitless sea.
One afternoon Beth was perched upon a rock, near the place where sandgave place to rock and their headland. She was thinking of their loghouse, so soon to go up now. Dalton was expecting the men on thefollowing day. Her back was toward the village and she was not consciousof anyone's approach until she heard herself addressed.
"Pardon me, madam, is this the Ives' headland, and are these what arecalled Steeple Rocks? From appearance I should say that they are fartheron, but my directions pointed here."
Beth looked around to see a young gentleman lifting his neat straw hatand regarding her rather seriously. He looked like any young businessman from the city.
"No, these are not Steeple Rocks. This is the Sea Crest headland," saidBeth, making up the name as she talked. "Steeple Rocks lie around thebay, or across it from here."
"They are those large masses of rocks with the two towers, then."
"Yes. I call them Cathedral Rocks."
"A good name." The young man smiled, looking at sea, rocks and sky,turning away from Beth a little and putting his hands in his pockets,like a boy who has just found a good place to play. Beth said nothing.He looked good, but Beth was not in the habit of making acquaintancewith strange young gentlemen.
"I wonder if you would mind giving me a little information about thisneighborhood. I have just come by boat and rail from New York. I mightadd auto, if one could so denominate the ancient ark in which I wastransported to the village."
Beth laughed at this. "It must have been an ideal ride," she said. "Weknow all about that."
"I wonder if you are not Miss Secrest." Beth's interviewer hitchedhimself up on a projecting rock near her. "I shall not trouble you long,but you may be willing to give me some advice. I can not find adesirable place in the village to stay, that is, a desirable place whichis not already full of tourists or town families.
"I came prepared to camp, but my driver told me that I must getpermission to camp in any of these woods and I was referred to the homeof a man named Bill Somebody. I caught a glimpse of him and I passed thehouse instead of stopping! I thought I would stroll a while first. Forsome reason I was not prejudiced in his favor." A whimsical smile curledaround the newcomer's lips.
"Bill seems to be the village type of ward boss and manager of thegeneral situation. My brother found that out when he had occasion toinquire what sort of protection we might count on here. He found thatthere was none at all aside from such as this man and his friends mightfurnish."
"Indeed. Have you had trouble?"
"Nothing very serious so far, but it is just as well for a stranger toknow about this. It is a funny little village. I have sometimes feltthat I ought to do something for some of the people whom I have seenthere. Some of the women are so hopeless looking. But my brother tellsme to wait until we are better established. We are building a cabin."
"I am sure that this is Miss Secrest, then. My name is Evan Tudor and Ibelong to that great army of aspiring writers that throng New York.While I am writing that best seller, you know, I am on a certainnewspaper, and have another side line at times.
"Down at the dock a while ago I met a young fellow named Carey, who toldme that you owned the first woods up on the heights and that I might askyou for permission to camp there for the night at least."
"Yes." Beth was hesitating. She liked the appearance of the gentlemanlystranger, but would it do to offer him a place to camp in their woods?
"So, if your brother agrees, will you not consent? I make a neat campand I will not set the woods on fire."
Beth looked into the smiling face of the earnest young man and returnedhis smile. He might be a help, indeed, if they needed a friend at anytime. "We are not stingy about our woods," she said, "to any one who iscareful. It is, I know, a fine place, because of the spring and goodwater. We expect some friends to camp with us later on in the summer. Ithink that I shall have to talk with my brother before I can saypositively that you can make a real camp on our place, but surely forto-night we shall not refuse hospitality. Did you say that you have youroutfit ready? We might spare you some things."
"Thank you. You are generous and kind. It is quite a relief to have itsettled temporarily. Where shall I find your brother?"
"He went out with our launch this afternoon, but he may be back at anytime. You will probably want your equipment brought up by the road, noton the trail along the cliff. I can scarcely tell you now where to go,but you may select any spot that you like, if Dal is not there, andsomeone can show you the way to our camp; whoever brings you up willknow the direction. It is toward the cliff, in any event. I will bethere, or at the Eyrie, our little watch tower on the cliff."
"Young Carey may bring my stuff, or get me some one," he said. "I willbe at the camp or the Eyrie in about an hour, I think."
Evan Tudor smiled as he mentioned the Eyrie, for he was thinking thatthe "dove-cote" would be a more suitable place for a pretty, gentle girllike Beth. But people did not always recognize in Beth's soft speech andways of a gentlewoman her real energy and the fire of purpose which madeit possible to do what she did.
Bowing his thanks, Evan Tudor left Beth, treading quickly and surelyclose to the line of swirling foam, where the retreating waters wereleaving the sand more or less closely packed. Beth watched him naturallyenough, as he was the only person on the beach except herself. Hecarried his hat and let the breeze blow his thick brown locks as itwould while he strode along. If the young lawyer at home had seen theinterest in Beth's eyes, he would very probably have refused theopportunity which had just come to him to try an important case, andmight have come to Maine on the next train.
Mr. Tudor was above medium height, slender, active, with a lean,attractive face and a pair of keen gray eyes which were to be employedwith great effect during the next few weeks in the lines of a duty andinterest. Beth followed him with her eyes till he had left the beach forthe village; then she rose to go back to camp. But she had anotherslight interruption before she reached the place where the Secrest partyusually climbed to the trail.
Rarely villagers were to be found on this part of the beach, unless itmight be a few children gathering shells. Now, however, an odd party wasslowly advancing along the shore. Two women with little shawls tied overtheir heads, long, full skirts and big shoes, were behind a few childrenwho were shouting in their delight.
The women were talking together and madly gesticulating as they talked.One of the peculiarly dressed children went too near the water and awave which came in farther than the last one, as waves have a habit ofdoing, drenched the little one's feet. His mother, presumably, jerkedhim away roughly and spanked him soundly.
Beth halted a moment at that and eyed the woman with some disgust. Butthat was an ignorant woman's way of bringing up her family. As Bethpaused, one of the older children saw her and ran to show her a shell,probably attracted by Beth's face. An elfin face, none too clean, lookedup at Beth, speaking a jumble of words in a foreign tongue. Beth shookher head to indicate that she did not understand, but she smiled andpatted the little shoulder. In a moment the motley group stood aroundher.
As Beth had picked up a handful of pretty shells when she first walkedout upon the beach, she divided them impartially among the
children. Themothers began to talk in guttural and foreign words, but Beth replied inEnglish, knowing that it would be useless to try French, the onlyforeign tongue in which she could speak at all.
The women and children laughed, and one little chap spoke proudly,waving his hand around. "'Merica!" he repeated several times.
"Yes, this is America and the United States," Beth added.
The child nodded. He understood that.
Beth turned to the women and inquired, "New York?" But they looked ateach other and obviously did not understand.
Beth tried it again. "Boston?" she asked, for she felt that they musthave come in on some recent immigrant trip. Again the women shook theirheads. If they had docked at either New York or Boston they had notlearned the name of the port.
The older boy who had spoken before was watching Beth closely. He nowpointed out to sea and said, "Ship,--'Merica." Beth nodded, smiled andturned to go, with her inadequate words of farewell. But they understoodthe friendliness in Beth's eyes and responded with more unintelligiblewords from the women and farewell shouts from the children, who wentback to the swirling foam, or as near as they were allowed to go.
More fishermen and their families brought to the village by Bill, Bethsupposed. He must bring them directly from the immigrantships,--or--another thought came to Beth. What if these people had noright to be here! Were they aliens properly coming in under the quotaallowed by the government? Perhaps Bill brought in some of his fishermenillegally. "Poor little kiddies," Beth thought, "this is probably thefirst time that they ever played upon a beach!"
When Beth reached camp, she found that Dalton and the girls had alreadyreturned. "I'm so glad that you are here, Dal," said she, "for I don'tknow but I've done something that I ought not."
"What has the head boss done," grinned Dalton, "that she is willing toconfess to a mere underling?"
"Underling--nothing! You are the protector of this camp."
"Come out, Les, Sairey,--and hear what our sister has to say forherself," Dalton called.
The girls came out from the tent with smiling faces, ready to hear somejoke on Beth. "What's Beth been up to?" queried Sarita. "Has she madefriends with the Count? Promised Bill and Mr. Ives to leave theseshores?"
"Worse," laughed Beth. "I've rented camping space to a dangerouslyhandsome young man. Seriously, Dal, if the young man I met on the beachjust now is as good as he looks, it may not be a bad thing for you tohave him somewhere near us while you build. But I made arrangements onlyfor his camping in our woods to-night. You will have to decide thematter."
"How old is he?" Sarita inquired.
"I'm sure I don't know. He is a writer, from New York, and must havecome here as blandly ignorant of accommodations as we might have been. Ithink that he expected to find a suitable room for a night or two in thevillage. But he has all his camping outfit, I understand. Tom Carey musthave directed him to us, from what he said."
To her interested audience Beth gave the details of her two adventures.Leslie was more interested in the children than in the young man andasked all about the party. "Funny that Bill gets all these newimmigrants," she remarked.
"No, Leslie," said her brother. "You see, Bill ships fish by boat orrail and he can get these people to work for him for next to nothing.You ought to see the shacks they live in. I bet some of them wish thatthey'd never come to 'Merica."
"But at least they have enough to eat, catching fish," said Sarita.
"I doubt it, if they work for Bill."
"Come, children, I must hurry," said Beth. "There is a meal to cook andI promised to meet our boarder at the Eyrie." Beth put on an expressionof great dignity.
"Ha!" exclaimed Dalton. "Do you girls realize what has occurred? Nevercan we leave our sister unchaperoned again!" Dalton linked his arm inBeth's and began to stride around the camp with such long andexaggerated strides that Beth, laughing, had to run to keep up with him.But when she told him that the stranger would really arrive by way ofthe wood, he stopped and more sensibly directed their way into it, whileLeslie and Sarita not understanding what that move meant, waved agoodbye.
"I'll walk with you a little way," said Beth. "Have you seen anything ofPeggy or Jack to-day?"
"Not a thing. Peggy was coming early, too, for I told them that I wastaking a day off before my men came to work on the house and that wewould take out the Sea Crest."
"Probably Mr. Ives has come home. Peggy so cherishes coming here, or soshe says, that she does not risk him forbidding her to come."
"He knows all about it, though. Didn't Peggy relate what he said aboutdisliking the 'intimacy' with us?"
"Yes, but that makes Peggy all the more afraid that he will stop it.Possibly he thinks that he will know what we are doing through her,however, though I can't imagine his getting much out of Peggy unless shewants to tell. Leslie worries about it slightly."
"That is because it is not the sporting thing to accept a man'shospitality when one is opposing him. That is what bothers Les whenPeggy takes her out in his launch or insists on her going around SteepleRocks. After all, the hospitality is extended by Peggy and her mother."
"Certainly, Dal. But Leslie and Sarita are not 'opposing' Mr. Ivesexactly, are they?"
"I am not so sure that their search for the 'secret' of Steeple Rockswill not result in their finding Mr. Ives much concerned in somethingdecidedly out of the way. By the way, the launch put out from thevillage last night, or early this morning. I was awake and I heard it.It had disappeared in a thick fog by the time I reached the rocks."
"Peggy herself seems to think that something is wrong," said Beth,thoughtfully, "but our girls scent a 'mystery' chiefly, and Sarita hopesto find some 'pirate gold.'"
"Much good that would do her if she found it at Steeple Rocks, and theIves have enough wealth as it is."