Chapter XVIII: Real Surprises

"They aren't going to stop," observed Paul, as he ran along beside Jack, watching the fleeing men.

"No, and that makes me suspicious. Why should those men run away just because we hailed them? They don't know us--that is, they haven't any reason to suppose we represent the girl whose auto was taken. They have never seen us."

"And they didn't have a chance to get a good look at Cora and the other girls, even supposing they are the thieves who took the auto. According to what Belle says, the men didn't once look around as they got into the car and drove off.

"Though they must have been hanging around the Spinning Wheel for some time to have disposed of the tickets," said Walter. "They might have seen the three girls, and again recognized them as they came along now."

"Possibly, but not probably," declared Jack. "They are either tramps, who have been sleeping in the barn and think we own this place and have come to drive them out, or they are the auto thieves, and naturally would run."

"I'm inclined to the tramp theory," declared Paul. "They don't look like knights of the roads, though."

"I guess we won't have much further sight of them," commented Jack. "They're almost at the woods, and going strong."

The men, indeed, were distancing the boys, running fast with never a backward glance.

"Give 'em another hail!" cried Paul. "All together. Tell 'em we only want to ask the way from them. Now yell!"

The three lads united their voices in a loud shout, but it had no effect, and, a moment later, the two fleeing men plunged in among the trees.

"Shall we follow?" asked Paul, bringing his run down to a walk.

"Hardly worth while," commented Jack. "We'd never find them in the woods."

"Besides, we don't want to leave the girls alone," added Paul.

"They are evidently determined not to be left alone," commented Jack with a smile. "There they come after us."

Cora and her chums were advancing across the weed-grown field that lay between the house and the woods, and over which the unsuccessful chase had taken place.

"Come on, we'll give it up," Walter said, as he started back to meet the girls.

"We didn't like to stay there all alone," confessed Cora.

"So we observe," remarked Jack.

"You didn't get them?" questioned Cora.

"They wouldn't even hesitate," laughed Walter. "Now for an inspection of the barn and house."

"Are you going in?" asked Hazel.

"Why not? We may find some valuable evidence that will put us on the track of Cora's auto. We may even find some hermit living in the house who can put us on the right road. Let's try the barn first, though, as it was from there the men came."

The girls would not go in, but Walter and Jack did, leaving Paul to stay with his sister and her friends.

"Just keep your eyes open, Paul," suggested Jack. "Those fellows may come back while Wally and I are inside."

"Trust me," observed Hazel's brother.

But Jack and Walter found little to repay them for their inspection of the barn. It was a dilapidated building, almost tumbling down in fact, and contained nothing save some wisps of hay and straw. In one corner, though, was a pile of old feed bags, arranged as a rude bed.

"Tramps been sleeping here," observed Walter. "Maybe those two men."

"Maybe," agreed Jack.

But that was all they could gather, and they came out.

"Now for the house," suggested Walter.

"There's some sort of lane over there, leading to the cow shed," said Cora. "Suppose you look in that building."

"Might as well," agreed Jack. And it was in approaching the smaller farm building through the grass-grown lane that they made a discovery.

"There's been an auto in here!" cried Paul, as he saw some depressions in the ground. "An auto has been driven in here and out again. I can see two sets of wheel marks plainly."

"Did one tire have a vulcanized patch on?" Cora asked eagerly. "Mine had."

"The marks aren't plain enough to decide that," said Paul. "If there were dust or dirt here I could tell, but grass and weeds don't take a good enough impression. The auto was put in the shed, evidently."

That proved to be a good guess, for the marks of the big-tired wheels went up to the shed, which was roomy enough for a car.

"Yes, one's been in here!" cried Jack, as he swung open the door. "See the tire marks on the boards."

"Was it mine?" asked Cora, eagerly. But again the impression left was too faint to show the vulcanized patch.

"Maybe some autoists, caught out in a storm, put in here," suggested Walter. "We mustn't build up too hopeful a theory on a slender basis of fact."

Traces of the automobile wheels were lost a short distance down the lane, and none appeared in the road which ran in front of the house--near which the highway did not seem to be much traveled.

"And now for the house itself," said Jack. "Come on, boys!"

"And girls, too!" exclaimed Cora. "We're not going to be left outside."

They entered the old farmhouse, calling aloud to ascertain if in some distant room there might not be an occupant. But their voices were answered only by echoes, with which their footsteps mingled.

The house was typical of many another deserted farm residence, of which there are many throughout New England.

Windows were void of glass, doors hung uncertainly on one hinge, moldy wall-paper drooped down from the ceiling like unlovely Spanish moss, and in many of the rooms the dampness and rain had loosened the plaster which had fallen.

There were some old boxes, a broken chair or two, and a moldy horsehair settee that, in bygone days, must have graced the closed-up parlor, opened only for marriages or deaths. Or, perchance, on its glossy and slippery surface, lovers had sat long ago.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Cora, with a little shudder. "Come on out. It gives me the creeps in here."

"Yes, I guess there's nothing to gain by staying," Jack remarked. "Nobody home, and there's no use wasting time."

"I wish we were home," said Belle.

"And I. At least, back in camp," added her sister.

As they went from the house they saw out in the road a man driving a horse attached to a farm wagon.

"Oh, there's something human at last!" cried Cora. "Wait, please, we want to ask you something!" she called impulsively.

But the man had already stopped of his own accord, and a look of surprise came over his face as he saw the party of young folks come out of the abandoned house.

"Can you tell us the way to Mountain View?" asked Jack.

"Yes, I'm going that way myself," the man answered. "At least within a mile of it. Want to ride?"

"Oh, do we!" exclaimed Bess with such a sigh of relief that the others laughed.

"Pile in," invited the farmer. "You aren't thinking of buying the old Mellish place; are you?"

"Is that what this is called?" asked Walter.

"Yes. Zeb Mellish used to own it, but he went crazy and hung himself and nobody's lived here since; 'ceptin' maybe tramps."

"Yes, we saw two run away from the barn as we came up," stated Jack.

"Humph!" commented the farmer. "I'll have to speak to the constable about 'em. Too many of us have been losin' chickens lately. I suspected it was tramps. Which way'd they go?"

The boys told; also narrating the details of their little picnic and of their becoming lost.

"Well, that ain't surprisin', considerin' how th' cow paths in the woods twist to and fro," commented the farmer, who gave his name as Anthony Wale. "So you're from one of the bungalows in the Mountain View property; eh?"

"Yes, Camp Surprise," said Cora.

The man seemed to start, and looked sharply at Cora.

"Camp Surprise; eh!" he exclaimed.

"Know anything about it?" asked Walter. "We have been expecting to be surprised, but haven't been, so far."

"I know they tell queer stories about it," said Mr. Ware, "but that's all I do know. Maybe the surprise party hasn't started yet."

"Well, if it's bound to happen, I wish it would get over and done with," said Cora. "It's awfully good of you to give us a lift this way."

"Glad to do it," said Mr. Ware. "There's room on the seat with me for two of you gals--at least the thinnest ones--not meanin' anything against you," and he looked at Bess, half smiling.

"Oh, I'm used to it now," she declared. "You can't hurt my feelings. I'll be glad to sit on one of the boxes."

The wagon contained several crates, and these were utilized as seats, Hazel and Belle, as the "thinnest gals," sitting on the seat with Mr. Ware.

He drove them to within a half mile of their own camp and they were soon at the bungalow, just as Mr. and Mrs. Floyd were getting anxious about their charges, and were talking of going in search of them.

"What happened to you?" Mrs. Floyd inquired.

"Lost," explained Jack, sententiously.

The adventures of the day were gone over again at a joint supper, the boys being invited in by the girls.

"You aren't doing any housekeeping at all," Cora complained to Jack, afterward.

"What's the use when you girls are such good cooks?" he asked with a laugh. "We're thinking of hiring a chef, anyhow, and then we'll reciprocate and give you a good feed."

A trip down the mountain stream to where it widened into a lake was the plan for the next day, and an early start was made, Mrs. Floyd and her husband stating that they had to go to town to do some shopping, and would not be back before night. They started before the young folks left, and the girls locked their bungalow as they came out.

Nothing of moment occurred on the trip to the little lake, if the fact that Jack fell in up to his knees, while trying to get some pond lilies for Hazel be excepted.

"Well, I wonder if anything happened while we were away?" asked Cora of Walter, as they neared their camp on the return trip.

"Why do you suggest that?" he queried.

"Oh, I don't just know. I have a funny sort of feeling 'in my bones,' as mother used to say."

Cora had the key and opened the door. The boys were coming in, as they usually did, and stood waiting for the girls to enter.

As Jack's sister threw back the door she gave one look in the living room, and exclaimed:

"It's here!"

"What?" asked Walter, quickly.

"The surprise! Look!"