Chapter XXI
CASTAWAYS
The next day was the last day of examinations. It marked the end of alltheir four high school years. Carol did her best in history class andshe had the secret conviction when the bell dismissed them that she haddone pretty well. Of course she wouldn't know until their papers weremarked, but she was sure she had passed. The other girls, too, werepretty confident now of having no more difficulties with high schoolstudies.
"If you hadn't been so patient I wouldn't have passed," Gale declared toMiss Relso that afternoon when she was the last one to leave the Englishclass.
"I'm glad you passed, Gale," the teacher said, "and I want to wish youlots of success in college."
"I'll probably need a lot of good wishes," Gale confessed. "I knowcollege will be more difficult than high school has been."
"If you do your work as you have done here you won't have any trouble,"Miss Relso assured her. "To what college are you going, Gale?"
"Briarhurst," Gale said.
"Indeed!" Miss Relso murmured in a pleased tone; she had graduated fromthere.
Gale greeted this news eagerly. "Then perhaps you can help me," shesaid. "The girls and I want to make arrangements for our rooms, but wedon't know the dormitories or anything. Or will all that be taken careof for us? Will the registrar assign our dormitories?"
"It would be nice if you could get into the Omega Chi Sorority house,"the teacher mused.
"Is that your sorority?" Gale asked, indicating the pin the teacherwore.
It seemed at that Gale struck a responsive note for the teacher launchedinto vivid details of her days at the Sorority house. Right then andthere Gale decided she would rather stay at the Sorority building thananywhere else. The teacher's description of the rooms, the friendshipthat sprang up between the girls, all delighted her. Gale made up hermind to write to the Omega Chi Sorority that very night. Unknown to herthe teacher at the same moment decided to write in the girls' behalf.
The sun was setting but it would not be dark for a long while yet, whenGale ran lightly down the wide stone steps of the high school building.Boys and girls lounged on the corner, strolled slowly homeward, or madetheir way to the tennis courts in back of the building. Gale answeredtheir hails with smiles and a wave of her hand but she did not linger.She suspected and earnestly hoped that there would be a fat letter fromBrent awaiting her when she reached home. She was not disappointed.There was a letter whose thickness delighted her and also some snapshotstaken by Stubby of Brent in his flying togs and near his pet plane.
Gale propped the pictures upright upon her dressing table and curled upon the window seat to read the closely written pages of his letter. Sheread it through twice before she finally restored it to the waitingenvelope.
She knew the other girls were waiting at the Kopper Kettle for her, butshe couldn't bring herself to bestir herself from her dreams. She couldlook out and down on the lawn and street beyond. The trees had once moreassumed their gay lovely summer colors. The scent of flowers was heavy.
Gale's eyes were dreamy and there was a half smile on her face. Ifsomeone had spoken to her then she wouldn't have heard. She was milesaway, alternately dreaming of a tall young man who spent much of histime in the sky, and the college days that were to come. She wondered ifshe would like the girls at Briarhurst. She wondered if she would farewell in her studies. She wondered if, with the enlargements of theirinterests and new friends, the Adventure Girls would ultimately bebroken up.
The jangle of the telephone sent her scampering downstairs to answer.
"Say, aren't you ever coming?" Carol's impatient voice demanded.
"Right away!" Gale declared and true to her word snatched up her tennisracquet and departed forthwith.
After their impromptu meeting at the Kopper Kettle the girls were toplay tennis until dinner time. They all had their tennis racquets, thatis all but Phyllis. When she appeared, even after Gale, the others notedthe lack of the important equipment if she was to play with them.
"You can't play!" Janet cried in disappointment.
"No," Phyllis said briefly, seating herself beside Valerie, "I can'tplay and what is more--I won't be going to college with you."
"What's that?" Carol demanded. "Do you mean to say that after allthis----"
"What I mean to say is that since you are going to Stonecliff my Aunthas decided to send me to Briarhurst. Whichever one you go to I shallprobably go to the other. Now when I want to go to Stonecliff----"
"You can just keep on wanting," Madge said delightedly, "because wearen't going there."
Phyllis looked at the smiling faces about her in bewilderment. "But youall said----"
"What we said was said for your Aunt's especial benefit," Carolexplained. "Remember I said we would have to use strategy in bringingyour Aunt around to our way of thinking? She still doesn't think as wedo, but nevertheless we accomplished what we set out to do."
"I don't understand," Phyllis murmured. "First you were going toBriarhurst, now you aren't----"
"You see," Carol went on obligingly, "last night when we were at yourhouse Janet and I saw, in the mirror, your Aunt standing behind us inthe doorway. She thought we hadn't seen her and that is exactly what wewanted her to think. We put our plan into action then. We said what wedid because we knew your Aunt was listening."
Janet made a wry face. "We also knew how she felt about us going withyou. She didn't want to send you to the college we were going to."
"So you said you were going to Stonecliff to make her change her mindabout me," Phyllis said happily. "Well, it worked. I'm off forBriarhurst the first week in September."
"Miss Relso was telling me about the Omega Chi Sorority house atBriarhurst," Gale put in, "and from what she says it will be wonderfulif we could get into the sorority and live there. I'm going to writethem tonight."
"The Omega what?" Carol asked again. "Would it be safe to sleep in ahouse with that name?"
"The house isn't called that," Gale laughed. "That is the Greek name ofthe sorority."
"Carol wouldn't appreciate that," Janet put in. "Well, are we going toplay tennis or aren't we?"
"We are!" declared Valerie and Madge in the same breath.
However, Gale at the last minute decided she didn't want to play tennis.She walked up the hill to Phyllis' home with her and there they talkedfor a while until Phyllis had to go in. Then Gale went slowly down toher home again.
She was seated on the porch, lazily swinging to and fro, watching nightdarken the world slowly and relentlessly when a tennis ball was thrownat her. It was aimed perfectly and hit her squarely but without hurting.She sat up with a jerk.
"Bruce Latimer! Come out of there!"
Bruce cautiously poked his head around the honeysuckle trellis andgrinned.
"Top of the evenin' to ye, my fine Miss."
"Where did you get the brogue?" she demanded laughingly.
"Came over to see if you would care for a ride in the motor boat on thisswell night."
"I'd love it," she declared. "Let's go!"
"Ah, a girl of action," Bruce laughed. "You astonish me. Take it easy,"he pleaded as Gale, bouncing his tennis ball ahead of her, ran beforehim to the street.
"Slow poke," she teased.
If Bruce was, he belied the name then and did his best to retrieve hisball but Gale eluded him with the agility of long practice. When theyarrived at the spot where Bruce's boat was tied to the makeshift pierthey were both breathless and laughing.
It took but a moment before they were in the boat with the motor puttingamicably.
Bruce ran his boat to the edge of the bay, to the little inlet where thesea and the quiet inner waters joined. The waves rocked the little boatgently, the air was cool and the night star-studded.
"We better do something or I'll fall asleep," Gale declared. "It is toopeaceful here. Isn't the moonlight glorious?"
"Mmm." Bruce started the motor.
r /> "Let's go to the island," Gale proposed. "We will officially open it forthe summer."
The prow of the boat cut through the water like a giant knife sending alight spray back over the two occupants. Twice Bruce circled the bay,the thrill of speed and wind exciting them. Finally he drew up to theisland and they went ashore.
Quite a while passed as they strolled along the beach. They sat for atime on a box that had been washed up on the shore by the waves andwatched clouds slowly darken the moon. Wind whispered with increasingvolume in the tops of the trees, occasionally an owl hooted from hispost in the darkness.
Gale sighed audibly and thought of Brent far away in Washington. It wason such a night as this they had gone strolling in the garden at theCountry Club. There would never be another night as wonderful as that,she was sure. If only Brent wasn't so far away!
From Brent her thoughts went again to the college days that were soclose. Only a little more than two months and she would be taking thetrain for Briarhurst. She had always dreamed of college some day, but itseemed unbelievable that those days should actually be here.
"We better go back, Gale, it looks like a storm," Bruce's voice recalledher to the present.
The moon was darkly hidden. Trees were swaying with the wind of a suddenapproaching storm. In the east thunder rumbled heavily; a flash oflightning illuminated the dark waters of the bay.
"Righto!" Gale agreed immediately.
They set off swiftly, going through the thick growth of trees as a shortcut to the opposite shore where they had left the motor boat. Progresswas impeded somewhat by the brush and trees which were abundantly thick.In the midst of the woods there was an ear-splitting clap of thunder. Aflash of flame and one of the giants of the forest tottered.
Bruce snatched Gale out of danger and they hovered trembling while thetree crashed safely to one side of them, its branches sweeping leavesand brush from its neighbors.
"That was close!" Bruce whistled expressively. "We've got to run for it,Gale." He took her hand in his and they ran forward. "The island is noplace to be caught in a thunderstorm--there are too many trees."
They reached the shore just as the rain started coming down in torrents.They ran along the beach to where the motor boat had been.
"Gone!" Gale gasped.
The placid waters of the bay were now tossing waves stirred with thestorm and current from the ocean. The motor boat had been drawn from theshore and was now afloat far out of reach.
"What'll we do?" Gale wanted to know. "We can't stay here. Suppose weuse the canoe to get to shore."
"We wouldn't make it," Bruce declared instantly. "The canoe would becapsized before we were half way across."
Behind them trees creaked as they were bent in the force of the wind.The boy and girl were nearly swept from their feet as a sudden gust ofwind and rain drenched them.
"I won't stay here," Gale said. "We might as well try to make it in thecanoe as stay here and get drenched--besides being hit with a fallingtree."
"We couldn't take the canoe over those waters," Bruce said again. "Tellyou what, you wait in the club house--I'll take the canoe and try toreach the motor boat. I won't have to go far, we can see it adrift outthere, and it will be safer crossing in the motor boat."
"If you go, I go," Gale said stubbornly. "I'll hold the canoe aboutwhile you climb onto the motor boat."
Bruce started to argue but it was of no avail. Gale was quite firm inher determination to accompany him. Bruce brought the canoe down to thewater's edge and held it steady while Gale climbed into it. The canoetossed about like a paper cup.
"We won't make it," Bruce said shaking his head. "We won't even stayright side up until we reach the motor boat."
"We can try," Gale insisted. "Get in."
Tremulously the two trusted the small, fragile boat to the fury of thebay waters. Waves rocked them, more than once the canoe hovered on theverge of going over. Their paddles were as naught against the blackwater. Neither spoke. Gale took an oar and between them they tried tosteer the canoe to the dark outline of the motor boat. Every time theysent the boat forward a stroke the waves hurled them back. The strugglelasted scarcely any time at all. Like a paper bag the canoe crumpled,tossing them into the water.
Gale came to the surface spluttering in protest at the mouthful of watershe had swallowed. In the darkness she looked about for Bruce. He cameup to the right of her.
"Make for the shore," he cried. "The island!"
They had completely lost sight of the motor boat and the mainland wastoo far away to dream of swimming there. The waves tossed them aboutlike playthings. Both were excellent swimmers but their training waslost in the swirl of the stormy waters. They were pitched ahead, draggeddown, and finally tossed up on the shore weak and breathless.
"Castaways on a desert island!" Gale grumbled as they entered the clubhouse. "I hope the place isn't smashed under a tree."
"I believe the thunder and lightning will let up in a little while,"Bruce declared, on his knees coaxing a flame into life in the darkfireplace.
"That feels good!" Gale shivered, holding her hands out to the blaze,after wrapping herself in a blanket. "How are we going to get home?"
"I don't think we will--tonight," Bruce said, frowning. "No one knowswhere we are for one thing. I'll sleep in the canoe house on the cottonight and you can have the bunk in here. Pleasant dreams!" and he wasgone. He knew the struggle in the water had tired Gale and it was bestto let her rest.
Gale listened to the whine of the wind and the slashing of rain againstthe frail walls of the club house and shivered. She was afraid, but shewouldn't call Bruce. She remembered vividly the second when the earthhad seemed torn apart when the tree was struck by lightning. Suppose oneof the tall trees about the club house should fall? She and Bruce wouldbe crushed by the weight of the walls and roof! Such thoughts werehorrible and she endeavored to thrust them from her.
She was beginning to feel deliciously warm and cozy. Gale curled up onthe bunk and watched the fire in the fireplace and listened to the rain.The rain was a lulling accompaniment to the crackling of the logs andbefore she knew it she was asleep.
Gale had no inkling of when the rain stopped. The next morning when sheawakened and sat up the sun was streaming in through the open door andbirds were chirping outside.
"Bruce!" Gale called, but there was no answer.
She looked into the adjoining canoe house, but it was empty. Outside shelooked about. The beach was empty as far as she could see.
"Bruce!" she called again.
"Here!"
It was his voice right enough but she could not see him.
"Where are you?"
A twig fell at her feet and she looked up. Bruce was perched in thetopmost branches of a sturdy tree. He had a vividly colored Indianblanket in his hand.
"What on earth----" Gale began in amazement.
"Going to be a hermit," he laughed.
"What's the idea?"
"People on the mainland," he answered. "They are looking at something--Ibelieve it is our motor boat--must be a wreck. I've been waving theblanket so they can see it and come and rescue us. I want my breakfast."
Once more Bruce waved his gayly-colored flag, so furiously he nearlytoppled from his perch.
"Do they see it?" Gale inquired anxiously.
"They won't even look over this way," he said.
"Keep trying," she urged.
On the shore Carol and Janet with David and Peter were bending over theruins of the canoe. Farther along the shore Janet called attention toBruce's motor boat lying on its side, half filled with water.
"Do you suppose----" Carol couldn't finish her thought.
"What could have happened to them?" Janet murmured fearfully.
"If they were on the bay in the storm last night," David said, "it ishard to tell what might have happened."
"Both boats wrecked--it looks bad," Peter commented.
"Poor Gale," Carol whispered in a low voice. "And Bruce-
---"
Carol and Janet had called for Gale on their way to school that morning.Upon learning that Gale had not been home all night they were preparingto rush out and tell the other girls when they met Peter and David withnews of the wrecked boat. They all came down to the shore to make sureit was Bruce's boat. Their fears were confirmed and now they were at aloss what to do. People had been known to drown in the bay--especiallyduring a storm like the one of last night.
David and Peter hauled the canoe farther up the beach.
"It is the one from the club house all right," David declared. "I wonderhow it got over here?"
"Look," Carol murmured, "do you see something moving on the island?"
"You are seeing things," Janet declared.
"I mean--look in that tree right opposite from us. I can just faintlysee something--looks like a flag being waved."
"Perhaps it is Gale and Bruce," Janet said excitedly. "Get a boat. We'llgo over and find out."
David departed to find a friend who could lend him a motor boat. Thefifteen minutes it took him were interminable for those waiting.
When the boat put out from the mainland Bruce half slid, half climbeddown from the tree and together he and Gale went down to the beach toawait their rescuers.
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