Chapter XII: Disappointment

"Well, well! Glad to see you!" called a small, grizzled, but cheerful-faced man, as he came out to the buckboard. "Got here all right did you?"

"This is Mr. Floyd," explained the driver.

"Yes, we're here," said Cora. "Sorry to be so late, but we had engine trouble and----"

"Don't make no manner of difference at all. We're used to seeing people come early and late. I'll help set your things inside. Here comes Mrs. Floyd."

"Is that them?" asked a woman's voice. "The Kimball party?"

"They're here," her husband answered while the boys helped the girls down from the wagon, and the driver and Mr. Floyd looked after the baggage.

"Glad to see you all!" went on Mrs. Floyd, who was the same genial sort of personage as her husband. "I was afraid you'd give us another disappointment, and not get here."

"Oh, we're here," affirmed Cora, "and we're sorry to give you so much trouble by being late."

"No trouble at all!" the chaperon assured them. "Come right in. Supper is all ready and----"

"Whoop!"

"Supper is my middle name!"

"Lead us to it!"

Thus in turn cried Jack, Walter and Paul.

Mrs. Floyd looked a bit startled as she stood revealed in the light of a lamp, the illumination streaming out of the door of a big bungalow.

"It's only the boys," explained Cora.

"Only!" accented Bess with a resigned expression.

"Jack!" chided Cora. "Why don't you behave? Hazel, say something to your brother, you and I have more responsibility than the twins."

Hazel did not know what to say, and the girls could not help laughing, in spite of themselves at the antics of Jack and his two chums.

"Welcome to Camp Surprise," said Mrs. Floyd as the girls followed her into the house, or rather, bungalow, for it was of that style of architecture, and was but a story and a half high. The boys followed the girls, Mr. Floyd and the driver bringing up the rear with the valises.

"Do we eat with the family, or at second table?" Jack demanded.

"You shan't eat with us if you don't behave," his sister threatened him. "Do quiet down, boys. Mrs. Floyd may not like----"

"Oh, don't worry about _me_, Miss Kimball," the chaperon hastened to say. "I've raised a family, and I know what _boys_ are."

"If she doesn't she'll find out before those three leave," observed Belle.

The buckboard rattled off in the darkness and the young people were thus thrown on their own responsibilities as far as getting away from the place was concerned, for it was near no railroad.

"Isn't he afraid to go home alone?" asked Belle.

"Who?" inquired Mr. Floyd.

"That driver; Mr. Dobson I think he said his name was."

"Afraid? Him? I guess not!" exclaimed the caretaker. "What's there to be afraid of?"

"The dark woods," said Belle. "Cora and I thought----"

"Belle, dear, don't you think we'd better see to our baggage?" interrupted Cora with a sharp glance at her chum. She raised her eyebrows meaningly.

"Oh, yes, I suppose we had. Of course he, being a big man, wouldn't have anything to be afraid of," she concluded, nodding in the direction of Mr. Dobson.

"But there's nothing here to be afraid of," insisted Mr. Floyd. "Leastways, nothing you can put your hand on, though----"

"Harry," said Mrs. Floyd, and it seemed as though there was a caution in her voice, "I think I'll have to ask you to bring in some more wood. I want a hot fire to finish supper."

"All right," he answered, and went out.

"Now if you young ladies want to freshen up you'll have time before I get the meal on the table," went on the chaperon. "The boys can go with my husband and they'll be shown where they are to stay. Their bungalow is just across on the other side of the mountain stream. I don't know just what arrangements you made about the meals for the young men, Miss Kimball----"

"Oh, they're to shift for themselves," said Jack's sister. "They are so uncertain, going and coming, that no earthly mortal could tell when to feed them. They were to have supper with us to-night, and perhaps breakfast in the morning, my mother said. But after that they'll look after things themselves. They'd rather, anyhow."

"Sure," assented Jack, while the others nodded assent. "We can't be positive when we'll be on hand."

The boys followed Mr. Floyd, while Cora and her chums looked about the bungalow before going to their rooms, where their trunks had been carried, having arrived safely the day before.

The main floor of the bungalow consisted of one big living room, with three smaller rooms opening off from it. These could be used as sitting rooms or bed rooms, folding bunks making beds at night. The living room, as also an alcove dining room, was simply but tastefully furnished, with rustic furniture. At one end was a big stone fireplace, though it was so warm now that no blaze was needed.

A broad stairway gave access to the upper story and here the bedrooms were. Though the rooms there were not high-ceilinged they had such large windows that plenty of air was assured. There were two bath rooms, a spring up in the hills filling a tank on the roof so that a supply of running water was to be had.

The bedrooms each contained a white iron bed and just enough furniture to make a simple life agreeable. There was a touch of daintiness, mingled with utility, and the girls were delighted with their apartments.

Soap and water, with a mere suggestion of talcum powder, wonderfully refreshed the four, and they were ready for the appetizing meal, odors of which were wafted up from the kitchen.

This was in a separate part of the bungalow, and the quarters of the caretaker and his wife were in a building connecting with the bungalow by a covered passageway.

"There come the boys back!" exclaimed Hazel, giving a hasty glance in a mirror, as she floated out of Cora's room, having come in to borrow some hairpins.

"Yes, you can hear them before you see them," agreed Jack's sister. "I hope Mrs. Floyd has enough for them to eat."

"And for us, too. I'm hungry, Cora. But she looked like a good cook."

"Mother said she was. Well, are you ready to go down?" she called to Bess and Belle.

"Whenever you are," answered the plump twin.

They found the boys waiting for them in the dining room, which opened off the living room at the rear, and a supper which met the most exacting requirements of Jack and his chums was soon on the table.

"How do you like your quarters?" asked Cora of her brother.

"Couldn't be better. Not that we'll be in them much, though. We'll be over here or out-of-doors most of the time."

"You can't live here," Cora warned him.

"Oh, you'll be glad enough to have us when the ghost begins to walk," prophesied Walter.

"Has anything really strange happened here, Mrs. Floyd?" asked Cora, determined to get at the bottom of the matter.

"Well, I suppose you must have heard the stories about Camp Surprise," answered the chaperon. "It would be strange if you had not. And I must admit that there have been little happenings here that I can't explain."

"Such as----," hinted Bess.

"Oh, disturbances in the bungalow when we weren't here. Misplaced furniture, and once some silver was taken. But that might be the work of tramps. I don't set much store by that. However, don't let it worry you. I don't believe anything will happen while you're here."

"I hope it does," Jack said. "We're going to lay the ghost."

Talk went on during the meal and toward the close Jack said:

"This sure is a fine place! You ought to see the waterfall."

"Is it nice?" asked Cora. They could hear the roar of it as they sat at table.

"It's great! I'm going to take some pictures of it," said Walter. "And the way to our bungalow is over a bridge just made for lovers to stand on and look down into the water."

"As long as they don't _fall_ down into the water they'll be all right," commented Paul. "But it sure is nice. Our shack is just across the stream."

"We'll be all ready to respond to the first alarm, girls," promised Walter, as the boys left the main bungalow later in the evening to repair to their own. "If the tables begin dancing, or the chairs do a jig, call us."

"It's a little far to shout," said Cora. "We'll have to put up some sort of telephone from one bungalow to the other."

It must be admitted that the girls were a little nervous when they went to bed that night. Tales of queer happenings, not easily explicable, are apt to get on the nerves of the best of us. But the young people were tired from their journey and lack of restful sleep the night before, so they had hopes of a good rest.

Cora was awakened by a shout under her window.

"I say! Sis! Cora! Stick out your head!" cried Jack.

Slipping on a robe Cora went to the casement.

"Go on away, Jack!" she ordered. "Let the girls sleep."

"Sleep? Why, it's nine o'clock," he said. "Say, did the ghost walk?"

Cora yawned.

"Not even a creep," she said. "I didn't hear a sound."

"Well, if that isn't poor luck!" exclaimed Jack in disappointed tones. "There we go and stay awake half the night, expecting a summons to capture a spirit, and nothing happens. Camp Surprise! Where's the surprise come in, I wonder."

But there was plenty of time, as Jack soon learned.