CHAPTER IV
A Night Out
"JEAN," queried Mr. Black, when the four rather disheveled youngstershad scrambled up the bank, "have you girls seen anything of a boat?"
"No," replied Jean.
"Have you been on the shore all the time?"
"Every minute."
"I didn't _see_ a boat," offered Henrietta, "but about half an hourago--or perhaps an hour--I heard something that made a noise like this:'chug-chug, chuggity-chug, chug-chug-chuggity-chug'"--Henrietta gave avery fair imitation of a naptha launch.
"I heard it, too," admitted Margery.
"That was the boat," said Mr. Blank, scanning the forsaken lakeanxiously. "It's Hillitt's fish-tug and it goes down to Lakeville atsundown every day when the weather's fair. The tug runs to Bear Bay. Iexpected to go home on that boat; but, unfortunately, I went to sleepand didn't wake up in time to signal her."
"She was very far out," volunteered Jean. "You couldn't have seen herfrom here--I looked in every direction when I heard that noise, but Icouldn't see what was making it."
"_I_ thought," confessed Marjory, "that it was some sort of an animalbreathing queerly--I didn't exactly like it."
"Evidently," said Mr. Black, "that boat stayed a long way fromshore--sound carries a great distance over water. Anyway, that eases myconscience a little. I ought not to have fallen asleep, but I didn'tsuspect that it was so late. You see, girls, our time is all off.Goodness only knows how long it took us to get here; and I'm sure Idon't know whether it was one, two, or three when we ate our dinner.Now, what do you think that big, golden sun's doing--over there behindthose trees?"
"I think," said Henrietta, eying it, sagely, "that it's either goingdown or coming up. And I _know_ it can't be time for it to come up."
"And it can't possibly be time," protested Mabel, "for it to go down."
"I fear it is," said Mr. Black. "I ought never to have taken that nap."
"Peter," demanded Mrs. Crane, suddenly joining the group, "how are weever going to get home?"
"Sarah," replied Mr. Black, with one of his sweet, whimsical smiles,"I'm blest if I know."
"But, Peter, it's too far to walk; and the Whale----"
"But, Sarah, I fully intended to go home by boat. I was told that thatboat passed here every day. Well, it has passed, hasn't it?"
"Yes," admitted Mrs. Crane, dryly, "it _passed_ all right."
"When the Whale broke down," continued Mr. Black, soothingly, "I saidto myself, 'Never mind, old chap, there's Hillitt's launch--we'll hailthat and ride home.'"
"And when you assured us that you knew of a safe and easy way to gethome, you were depending on that boat!"
"Sarah, don't rebuke me. I was. But, having committed that fatal error,I'm willing to atone for it. Hi there, girls! We'll all have to workfor our living for the next hour or so. You see, good people, we'llprobably have to stay here all night unless somebody sees our fire onthe shore. Jean, I'm going to take you and Henrietta to the Whale soyou can help me rob him of his lanterns and cushions. Sarah, I wantyou and the girls to take this hatchet, my knife, the bread-knife, andanything else that is sharp, and cut as many balsam boughs as you canfrom that grove of evergreens over there--I want a whole wagon load.Bettie, you can sit here on this log and fill these two hamper-coverswith chips--we'll need a lot of firewood."
Presently Mr. Black and his two companions were back with all thecomforts that could be stripped from the Whale. Dropping them nearthe baskets of wood and the growing pile of evergreen boughs, he wentdown to the beach, to select several tall poles from the half-burieddriftwood that past storms had heaped behind the numerous big logsframing the upper edge of the beach.
Having dug holes with a sharp stick, Mr. Black planted the poles in anupright position; and the sand, fortunately, held them firmly. Morepoles were fastened securely across the top; luckily Jean rememberedseeing a tangle of buckskin thongs hanging in the birch-bark wigwam;Mr. Black appropriated those. Along the beach were many odd lengths oflumber cast up by a long series of storms; these, too, were tied to thepoles or securely braced against them; for the castaways had no nails.
The tablecloth--fortunately a generous one as to size--was fastenedon top for a roof. This curious shack, when completed, was six feetwide by about seventeen feet long. Three sides were inclosed, but thefourth, the long side facing the south, was left open.
"We'll build a fire outside," said Mr. Black, "to keep our toes warm."
The entire floor space inside the shack was covered with balsam boughs.Mr. Black showed the girls how to make them stand upright like a forestof tiny trees--the twigs were about fourteen inches long.
"It'll be almost like a mattress and springs," assured he, "when youhave it finished. The Whale has provided three light dust-covers andthree fairly heavy robes--we'll use those for bedding."
"But," objected Marjory, who was not at all sure that she was going tolike the queer bed that Mr. Black was making, "we haven't any pillows."
"I guess," teased Mr. Black, "you'll have to use your shoes--campersalways do."
"The woods are full of pillows," assured Bettie, who was helping withthe balsam twigs. "There's running pine on the ground under the trees,a lot of nice green moss on the logs, all sorts of big, soft ferns; andwhole bushels of leaves on the trees."
"That's right," commented Mr. Black. "Suppose you girls gather aboutseven pillows--good big ones because the stuff will pack down--off thenearest pillow-tree; and I'll see if I can't find another wide board ortwo."
"Where," asked thoughtful Jean, "do all the pieces of lumber come from?"
"There's a sawmill at Big Bear Harbor, some fifteen miles north ofhere. I suppose a good many boards get lost through careless handling.None of this is first-class lumber, however. This plank, you see, isfull of knot-holes. This one is hemlock and has two long splits in it."
"I guess there's a shingle-mill somewhere, too," said Bettie. "Mabelpicked up a whole basketful of pieces of brand-new shingles."
"Sarah," said Mr. Black, turning to his sister, who still seemed ratherstunned at the idea of spending a night in the woods, "you'd better fixsome supper for us before it gets too dark. Now that we have a house tolive in, we must have regular meals."
"What's that lean-to at the side for?" asked Mrs. Crane, pointing tothe row of boards that rested against one end of the shack, forming atriangular space about four feet wide by six feet long.
"For me and the provisions," explained Mr. Black. "I never _did_ likesleeping seven in a bed. And, in case it should rain, we must keep ourfood dry."
"It's lucky," said Mrs. Crane, touching a match to the neat fire thatshe had laid, "that we all brought more of everything to eat than weneeded. And I'm glad I brought my old gray shawl; it's as warm as ablanket."
"If it turns cold," said Mr. Black, "we'll build a big fire justoutside the open end of our house. But I think it's going to be acomfortably warm night---- There, I've got that plank fastened at lastand our palatial home is finished. And bless me! Here comes the pillowbrigade with all its petticoats turned into pillow-cases; and thebrigade all giggling. They're certainly a happy lot, Sarah."
"Mine's for Mr. Black," shouted Mabel.
"Mine's for Mrs. Crane," shrieked Marjory.
"And mine," said extravagant Henrietta, dropping to her knees beforeBettie, and proffering her lace-trimmed burden, "is for the LadyBettina, with the devotion of her humblest slave."
"I guess," said Mr. Black, eying the roof of his house, ruefully, "thatwe'll have to eat without a tablecloth. Sarah, how's that supper?"
"Just about ready," said Mrs. Crane, stirring the cocoa with a long,clean stick. "The water will boil in a moment or two and Jean iscutting the bread."
The sun, red and glorious at the last, had gone down; but, while thecampers, seated in a circle about the two dish-towels that Mrs. Cranehad spread for a cloth, were eating their ample and delicious meal, thesky was so wonderful and the lake so marvelous with its calm surfacetouched ligh
tly to burnished copper, that the castaways all but forgotthat they were castaways, until Mr. Black brought them back to earth.
"There's only one thing that troubles me," said he, "and that's themothers and grandmothers and Aunty Janes that we left in Lakeville."
"Yes," agreed Mrs. Crane, pouring a second cup of cocoa for Bettie,"they're sure to worry. No matter how far we've gone in the Whale,we've always been home by bedtime."
"And I can't recall," said Mr. Black, running his fingers through histhick, iron-gray hair, "that I told a single soul exactly where I wasgoing."
"And none of the rest of us _knew_," retorted his sister. "I've said,a great many times, that your fondness for surprising us would get usinto trouble some day, and it _has_."
"But it's pretty _nice_ trouble," offered Bettie, the peacemaker. "Ofcourse all our grown-ups will worry, because grown-ups always do,anyway. But I'm sure they'll remember that you've never lost any of usyet, or starved us, or let us freeze."
"Granny will think," assured Henrietta, giggling at the thought,"that we're staying at a hotel, waiting for repairs on the Whale.She _always_ thinks of hotels as a safe refuge for the homeless--shecouldn't imagine a spot _without_ a convenient hotel."
"Well, if nothing rescues us to-night," promised Mr. Black, "I'll walkto Barclay's Point at six to-morrow morning and hail that fish-boat. Itleaves Lakeville six times a week at daybreak."
Their meal ended, the castaways sat in a circle about the big driftwoodfire that Mr. Black built on the beach. Even Ambrosial Delight enjoyedthe unusual evening. He ran round and round the group, just at theedge of the darkness, chasing nocturnal insects or the shadows cast bythe flickering firelight; and once, greatly to his own surprise and tothe campers' amusement, he leaped from a jutting log into the smooth,glassy lake. After that surprising experience, he was willing to liecuddled in Henrietta's lap.
When it became evident that nobody could stay awake any longer, Mrs.Crane tucked all her little charges--even to the kitten--away for thenight.
"I'm so sleepy," yawned Mabel, "that I could sleep on cobblestones."
"We'll leave a big place for you, Mrs. Crane," promised Jean,thoughtfully, "and we'll remember not to lean too hard against thewalls."
"Ugh!" exclaimed Marjory, "isn't it queer without sheets!"
"This bed feels good to _me_," murmured Bettie, drowsily.
"Not a word more from anybody," said Mr. Black, who had donned hisfur automobile coat and was crawling like a big shaggy bear into histriangular den. "It's time all honest people were asleep."
"I just wish," murmured Mrs. Crane, stretching herself luxuriously uponher fragrant balsam bed, "that all those mothers could see how safe andcomfortable we are. They'll surely worry."
"They surely will," agreed Mr. Black, drowsily, "for it's an unheard-ofthing, in Lakeville, for a picnic to stay out all night. It's acalamity, but it can't be helped."
And then, never guessing that to a certain about-to-be-shipwrecked boytheir going home at the proper time would have proved a far greatercalamity, the castaways closed their eyes.