CHAPTER VIII--THE HAUNTED POOL
To be awakened early in the morning by the songs of birds andinnumerable woodland sounds, and find one's self in the very center of aforest, is no common experience. To the girls, as they looked up throughthe leafy canopies, and then across the green aisles formed by treesthat looked as if they might have stood there since the beginning oftime--it was all very wonderful.
"How beautiful this is!" exclaimed each one, as she opened her eyes uponthe wooded scene.
"Girls," cried Ruth, "I wouldn't have missed this for worlds! No wonderZerlina hates to live in a house in the summer time. Isn't this fun?Shall we go over there and wash our faces in that little brook!"
Off they scampered, a curious procession for the deep woods, each with aburden of toilet articles, soaps and sponges, wash rags, mirrors andbrushes.
"Well," exclaimed Miss Sallie Stuart as she knelt beside the stream anddipped her hands into its cool depths, "I never expected to come tothis; but it is very refreshing, nevertheless."
"This is Nature's bathtub, auntie, dear. We should be thankful to haveit so near. I suppose that is the reason the Gypsies chose this spot tocamp in," said Ruth.
"My dear child," replied her aunt, "I know very little about the Gypsyrace; but I do know one thing: that a Gypsy never took advantage of anykind of a bathtub, wooden, tin, porcelain or Nature's."
The girls all laughed joyously.
The fright of the day before had not left a very deep impression. Sleepand a feeling of safety had almost effaced it.
Presently they were back at the tent making tea and boiling eggssupplied by Granny Ann from the Gypsy larder. Ruth wanted to build afire, but they decided that the ground was too dry to risk it. TheGypsies had dug a small trench all around their camp fire. If they hadnot, those splendid old woods would have been in serious danger ofburning, explained Barbara, who had been reading a great deal in thepapers about forest fires.
It was arranged, after breakfast, that one of the men should ride overwith a note to Major Ten Eyck's, asking the major to send for them atonce, and also to dispatch his chauffeur to mend the slashed tires.
The Gypsy camp had been astir long before the automobilists arose, andthe men were now sitting at their ease around the clearing, smokingsilently, while Granny Ann and two other women were moving about thetents, "cleaning up," as Ruth expressed it.
"They have a lovely chance to learn housework," said Grace. "But they doseem to air their bedclothes. Look at all those red comforts hanging onthe bushes."
"It's easier to air them than to make up the beds," observed Mollie."All you have to do in the morning, is to hang your blanket on a hickorylimb, and when you go to bed, snatch it off the limb and wrap up in itfor the night."
"Do you suppose they sleep in their clothes?" pondered Barbara.
"Why, of course they do," replied Ruth. "You don't for a moment imaginethey would ever go to the trouble of undressing, only to dress again inthe morning?"
"Girls, girls," remonstrated Miss Sallie, "we must not forget that weare accepting their hospitality. Besides, here comes that young womanwith the voice."
"Let's take Zerlina as a guide, and go for a walk," cried Ruth. "I'm sofull of life and spirits this morning that I couldn't possibly sit downlike those lazy men over there, who seem to have nothing to do but smokeand talk. Auntie, dear, will you go, or shall we fix you a comfortableseat with the cushions under this tree and leave you to read your book?"
"I certainly have no idea of going for a walk," replied Miss Stuart,"after what I've been through with these last two days. Nor do I wantyou to go far, either, or I shall be terribly uneasy."
But Miss Sallie was not really uneasy. It was one of those enchantingmornings when the mind is not troubled with unpleasant feelings. Perhapsthe Gypsies had bewitched her. At any rate she sat back comfortablyamong the cushions and rugs, with her writing tablet, the new magazinesand the latest novel all close at hand, and watched the girls until theydisappeared down the leafy aisles of the forest. How charming theirvoices sounded in the distance! How sweet was the sound of their younglaughter! Miss Stuart closed her eyes contentedly. The spell of theplace was upon her, and she fell asleep before she had opened a singlemagazine or cut one leaf of the new novel.
In the meantime, the four girls, led by Zerlina and her dog, werefollowing the little stream in its capricious windings through theforest.
A squirrel darted in front of them with a flash of gray and jumped tothe limb of a tree.
Zerlina made a sign for the girls to be silent. Then speaking to her dogin her own language, he sat down immediately on his haunches and nevermoved a muscle until she spoke to him again. She walked slowly towardthe tree, where the squirrel sat watching them uneasily. A few feet offshe paused and gave a shrill, peculiar whistle. The squirrel pricked uphis ears and cocked his head on one side. Zerlina whistled again andheld out her hand. The charm was complete. Down the limb he crept untilhe reached the ground, paused again, surveyed the scene with his littleblack eyes, and with one leap, settled himself on her shoulder.
"Oh!" cried the impulsive Ruth and the spell was broken.
Away scampered the frightened little animal.
"How wonderful!" exclaimed the others as they gathered around Zerlina,who held herself with a sort of proud reserve as they plied her withquestions.
"It is because I have lived in the woods so much of the time," sheexplained. "One makes friends with animals when one has no otherfriends."
"Zerlina," said Ruth, "let me be your friend."
"Thank you," replied the girl simply, "but perhaps we shall not meetagain. You will be going away in a little while."
"You must come and sing for us at Major Ten Eyck's," said Ruth, "andthen we shall see if we cannot meet again."
They were walking in single file, now, along the stream. Mollie wasgathering ferns which grew in profusion on the bank. Barbara, who wasbehind the others, had stopped to look at a bird's nest that had fallento the ground and shattered the little blue eggs it had held.
As she knelt on the ground, something impelled her to look over hershoulder. At first Bab saw only the green depths of the forest, but in amoment her eyes had found what had attracted them. Stifling a cry sherose to her feet. What she had seen was gone in an instant, so quicklythat she wondered if she had not been dreaming. Peering at her throughthe leaves of parted branches she had seen a face, a very strange, oldface, as white as death. It was the face of an old person, she feltinstinctively, but the eyes had something childlike in their expressionof wonder and surprise.
When it was gone, Barbara felt almost as if she had seen a ghost. Sheleaned over and dipped her hands into the stream to quiet her throbbingveins.
"Truly this wood is full of mysteries," she thought to herself as sheturned to follow the others. But she decided not to say anything aboutit. They had had enough frights lately, and she was determined not toadd another to the list.
By this time the girls had reached a lovely little pool set like amirror in a mossy frame. On one side the bank had flattened out and wascarpeted with luxuriant, close-cropped grass, almost as smooth as thelawn of a city park. The trees had crowded themselves to the very edgeof the greensward. They closed up on the strip of lawn like a wall andstretched their branches over it, as if to shield it from the sun.
"Did you ever see anything so sweet in all your life?" cried Ruth, asshe flung herself on the turf.
"Never!" agreed the others with enthusiasm, following her example.
"This pool is supposed to be haunted," said Zerlina, and Bab started,remembering the face she had just seen.
"Haunted by what, Zerlina?" she asked.
"It is not known," replied the Gypsy girl, mysteriously; "but onmoonlight nights some one is often seen sitting on this bank."
"What some one--a man or a woman?" persisted Bab.
"It is not known," repeated Zerlina. "But it has been seen,nevertheless. Besides," she continued, "this is supposed to be t
hemeeting-place of fairies. Though people do not believe in fairies inthis country."
"I do," declared Mollie, and the other girls laughed light-heartedly.
"And," went on Zerlina, "the deer who live in this wood come here tograze and drink water from the pool."
"Now, that I can believe," said Ruth.
"Well, it is an enchanted spot," cried Mollie. "It must be. Look atZerlina's dog."
The shepherd dog had taken his tail in his mouth and was circlingslowly. The girls watched him breathlessly as he turned faster andfaster. Once he fell into the stream, but he never stopped and continuedto circle so rapidly, as he clambered out, that he lost all sense ofdirection and waltzed over the girls' laps, staining their dresses withhis wet feet, while they laughed until the tears rolled down theircheeks, and the woods rang with the merry sound.
At a word from the Gypsy girl the dog stopped and stretched himselfexhausted, on the ground.
"Zerlina, you must have bewitched that animal," cried Ruth. "But wasn'tit beautiful? If we had been lying down he would have waltzed right overour faces."
"Girls," proposed Grace, after they had recovered from the exhibition ofthe waltzing dog, "let's go in wading."
"What a great idea, Grace!" cried Ruth. In a jiffy they had their shoesand stockings piled together on the bank and had slipped into the littlepool of clear, running water.
Zerlina watched them from the bank. Perhaps Miss Sallie was right, andwater had no charms for this Gypsy child.
As they clung to each other, giving little shrieks of pleasure andmaking a great splashing, Mollie exclaimed suddenly:
"Look, look! Here comes a man!"
Sure enough there was a man emerging from the trees on the other side ofthe stream. The girls scampered excitedly out of the water, giggling, asgirls will do, and sat in a row on the bank, tailor-fashion, hidingtheir wet feet under their skirts.
By this time the stranger had come up to the pool and stood gazing inamazement at the party of young women.
"Well, for the love of Mike!" he exclaimed.
It was Jimmie Butler, one of the major's house party.
Then he caught sight of the pyramid of shoes and stockings; his facebroke into a smile and he laughed so contagiously that everybody joinedin. Once more the enchanted pool was given over to merriment.
"Where on earth did you come from?" demanded Ruth.
"And where have you been?" he echoed.
Whereupon everybody talked at once, until all the adventures had beenrelated.
"And you're actually alive, after all these hairbreadth escapes, andable to amuse yourselves in this simple fashion?" gasped Jimmie Butler."Ladies, putting all joking aside, permit me to compliment you on youramazing nerve. I don't think I ever met a really brave woman before, andto be introduced to five at once! Why, I feel as if I were at a meetingof suffragettes!"
"But how did you happen to be here?" repeated Ruth.
"Oh, I'm just out for a morning stroll," he replied. "I came to see thehaunted pool."
"Just take another little stroll, for five minutes, until we get on ourshoes and stockings. Then we'll all go back to our home of canvas," saidRuth.
By the time they had reached the encampment Bab had almost forgottenabout the strange face she had seen, and they were all talking happilytogether about Ten Eyck Hall, which, according to Jimmie Butler, was thefinest old house in that part of the country.
In the meantime the major himself had arrived in his automobile, whilethe boys had ridden over on horseback. When the others came up, theyfound the chauffeur busily engaged in repairing the tires of Ruth'sautomobile. Miss Stuart and Major Ten Eyck were deep in conversation,while the Gypsies stood about in groups, looking at the strangersindifferently.
"Miss Ruth," said the major, after greetings had been exchanged, "if youcan run this machine, suppose we start at once and leave my chauffeur tofollow with yours. You ladies must be very hungry. We will have an earlyluncheon."
The girls said good-bye to the Gypsies and thanked them graciously. Ruthhad tried to compensate Granny Ann, but the old woman had haughtilyrefused to accept a cent.
"A Gypsy takes nothing from his guest," she said, and Ruth was obligedto let the matter drop. However, she made the old Gypsy promise to bringher granddaughter over to see them very soon, and as they disappeareddown the road, they saw Zerlina leaning against a tree, watching themwistfully.
At last, the journey which had been so full of peril and adventure wasended, and "The Automobile Girls" arrived safely at Ten Eyck Hall.