“I expect her to come over yere,” he explained, “probably for milk, or butter, or something. And if she does, you invite her into the kitchen, and I’ll bolt the doors. Get an upstairs room ready, and of course I’ll continue to occupy the barn as long as the gals stay. There will be no scandal, no danger; you can assure yourself o’ that. All I want is the money. And remember--if we get it, it’s half yours!”
Not long afterwards, he pumped himself a bucket of water, put his car into an unoccupied part of the barn, and crept up to his straw bed. Though the floor was hard, Harold slept well; he was having a great adventure; and best of all, he was going to make it possible for Ruth to win her heart’s desire.
When the Girl Scouts finished their ice-cream, they sat for a few minutes in the little drug store at Rikers, waiting for Ruth to return from her errand.
“She certainly is a devoted daughter,” remarked Alice, as she directed, with a spluttering, over-worked pen, a souvenir postal to her mother. “I never would think of sending a telegram!”
“Ruth’s an only child,” explained Lily; “and it makes a difference, I can tell you.”
“But you didn’t send your parents a telegram, Lil!” put in Marjorie.
“No--they’re away, somewhere. But I do write often.”
Tired of waiting for Ruth, the girls started toward the inn, and met her almost at the steps. They were glad of the opportunity to go to bed early that they might make a good start in the morning.
“And today’s Thursday,” remarked Miss Phillips, as they left the inn before seven o’clock the following morning. “I think we ought to make it by Saturday night. I sent a postal announcing our arrival for then, anyhow.”
“And to whom did you announce it?” asked Ruth, hoping to catch her captain unawares and cause her to give away the secret. But Miss Phillips only smiled knowingly.
“This is the earliest start we have made yet,” she said; “but then we had no breakfast to cook, or tents to take down.”
The girls paddled steadily all day. At last they came in sight of the big mill which Miss Phillips had designated as their camping spot. Ruth, however, was less interested in that than in the farm near by; for, sure enough, it was there, only instead of being opposite the mill, it was on the same side of the stream, a little farther down.