This girl was dark enough and savage enough looking to be a Gypsy. Ruth scouted the idea that she might be Juniper Wildwood, who had run away with a traveling "medicine man" and his wife.
Nevertheless, Ruth believed that the strange girl must know something about the lost June Wildwood. She had been startled when Rosa's name was mentioned. The Corner House girl was deeply interested in the affair; but at present she did not want to take anybody into her confidence about it--not even Agnes.
The girls did not remain quietly in their seats, by any manner of means. First there was a crowd blocking the aisle in one part of the car, then in another. Agnes was in and out of her seat half a dozen times between stations. The heat and dust was ignored as the girls shouted pleasantries back and forth; the air was vibrant with laughter.
"I'm just as anxious to see the ocean as I can be," declared Lucy Poole who, like the Corner House girls, had never been to Pleasant Cove before.
"Oh, dear me!" scoffed her cousin Carrie. "It's only a big, big pond! Our frog pond at home looks like a piece of the ocean--when it's calm."
The others laughed and Pearl said: "Guess Lucy wants to see Old Ocean in its might, eh? Big storm, whales, great ships----"
"Of course--if there is such a thing," admitted Lucy. "A sea serpent must be an awfully interesting sight."
"There aren't any more," said Pearl. "Father Neptune's all out of stock."
"I guess the sea serpent is something like the _snakes_ alcoholic victims think they see," proposed Carrie.
"Oh, no," proclaimed Agnes. "Here's what I read about the sea serpent:
"'The old sea serpent used to rave And fiercely roam about; He hit a prohibition wave, And that's what knocked him out.'"
"'Perils of the Deep!'" laughed Ruth. "But even if we don't see serpents in the ocean, I expect we'll have plenty of adventures down there at the shore."
The train reached Bloomingsburg about one o'clock, and was immediately shifted to the single-tracked branch line that connected that small city with Pleasant Cove. The speed of the train after leaving Bloomingsburg was not great, for it was often held up for trains coming from the shore to pass.
The adult passengers grew impatient and wearied. There were many complaints, and the babies began to fret and cry. But our friends in the last coach remained in a jolly and--for the most part--kindly mood.