“No, I know you’re eager to get there early, so go on without me. I have several things which I must do before I leave. If I should decide to go later in the morning, I can probably find someone here at the camp who is driving in.”
“Marshall, you be careful if you plan to fly in any of those planes!” Mrs. Mallow cautioned. “I’ll be uneasy every moment you’re gone.”
“Now, Ma, don’t start worrying,” Marshmallow said impatiently. “Flying is safe enough these days.”
“If the plane is a good one and the pilot knows his stuff,” Dave added with a grin.
After the young men had departed in the old car, Doris helped Mrs. Mallow with the dishes. As she tidied the living room, she tried to think of a pretext for calling on the old miser, for that was the real business which she had in mind.
“Doris, would you mind taking a custard over to Mr. Jay?” Mrs. Mallow called from the kitchen. “It’s just out of the oven and I think he might like it. What Marshall said about him not having enough to eat has worried me.”
“Of course I’ll take it.”
As soon as the dish was wrapped in a paper, she set out through the woods to the cabin. She did not see the miser or his dog anywhere about the premises and so quickened her step, fearing that he might be ill. The cabin door was closed and she rapped firmly upon it. When there was no response, she knocked again, louder than before.
“I wonder if anything Can be the matter?” she thought anxiously.
Again she rapped and then listened intently. She could hear no sound from within. After an instant’s hesitation she turned the knob and gently pushed the door open. One glance about the room disclosed the fact that Mr. Jay was not there. However, she saw that the bed had been made that morning, the floor swept, and the breakfast dishes neatly stacked on the kitchen table.
“He must have taken his dog and gone for a walk,” Doris assured herself.
She was relieved not to find him confined to his bed, yet disappointed that he was gone. Her talk must wait. After placing the custard where he would be certain to see it upon his return, she walked slowly back toward her own cabin. She paused to look hopefully up and down the beach, but Mr. Jay was not in sight. Nor did she find him anywhere about the camp.
“I wonder where he could have gone?” she asked herself thoughtfully. “He usually stays close about the place.”
Kitty was awake when she returned to the cabin, having just finished a belated breakfast. She spoke a trifle hoarsely, but otherwise appeared not to have suffered from the previous day’s adventure.
“Mr. Baker was here while you were away,” Mrs. Mallow told Doris. “The poor man is in a frightful mixup now.”
“What has he forgotten this time?”
“Oh, another mistake about tenants. He rented one cabin to two parties, and as luck had it they both arrived at the same time. He’s trying to straighten it out now, but both claim the cottage which faces the cove.”
“I wonder if he’s going back to Cloudy Cove soon?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Let’s go with him, if he’ll take us, Kitty!” Doris cried impulsively. “We can meet Dave and Marshmallow at the air circus.”
“Suits me. There’s nothing to do around here save swim, and I don’t dare go in the water with this cold.”
The girls rushed off to find Mr. Baker. They hailed him just as he was stepping into his automobile.
“Of course I’ll take you,” he assured them gaily. “Get your bonnets.”
As the three rode toward Cloudy Cove, he told them of the trials which beset the owner of a summer camp. He gave a vivid account of his encounters with the unreasonable tenants, ridiculing himself for the trouble he had caused.
“There’s one thing I never forget,” he chuckled, “and that’s to collect the rent. In fact, I’ve been known to try to collect two times!”
Mr. Baker offered to tclke the girls directly to the fair grounds, where the flying circus was to stage its exhibition, but Kitty had a few knickknacks to purchase, so they asked to be taken to the shopping district.
After Kitty had made her purchases they walked slowly toward the exhibition grounds. The circus was not scheduled to start until afternoon, but two planes could be seen flying high above the fair grounds.
“I wonder if Dave and Marshmallow are up?” Doris murmured. “They’ll be disappointed, if they don’t get a free ride.”
The girls were so absorbed in watching the two airplanes that they nearly ran into a man who was approaching from the opposite direction.
“I beg your pardon,” Doris said quickly, and then laughed. “Why, Mr. Jay! I didn’t recognize you in your new suit!”
“Time I was getting one,” the old miser muttered, obviously pleased that Doris had noticed his improved appearance.
He still wore old shoes and a shapeless hat, but as he removed the latter the girls observed that his hair had been carefully groomed.
“When I found you had gone away this morning, I was somewhat worried,” Doris declared. “You’re feeling all right again?”
“Never felt better in my life.”
The three chatted together for a few minutes, Mr. Jay appearing unusually at ease. Doris told him of the, custard which she had left at his cabin, and he thanked her, though somewhat awkwardly.
“It goes against his grain to accept favors,” Kitty commented, as they walked on again, “and yet he does appreciate everything we do for him. You can tell that.”
They continued toward the exhibition grounds, making it a point to avoid passing the office of the sight-seeing bus company where Ollie Weiser was employed. As they drew near they saw a throng of persons hurrying in the same direction. Several planes could be seen flying overhead, one in particular attracting Doris’s attention.
“Look!” she cried, clutching her chum’s hand. “Is that plane stunting, or what?”
Even as she asked the question it was answered for her. The plane, which was flying low above the earth, seemed to waver in the air, and to the horror of the girls it plunged nose downward. There was a loud crash as it struck the ground and the wings crumpled like so much paper.
“Dave and Marshmallow!” Doris exclaimed tensely. “What if they—”
She could not finish, for the thought was too horrible.
CHAPTER XXI
A Narrow Escape
Catching her chum by the hand, Doris dragged her forward. Swiftly they ran toward the exhibition grounds, each afraid to express the fear that their friends had been injured. Already they could hear the frightened shouts of those who had witnessed the airplane crash.
“Dave and Marshmallow just couldn’t have been up,” Kitty half sobbed. “It would be too terrible!”
“Mrs. Mallow was so sure something would happen,” Doris murmured. “She didn’t want Marshmallow to fly today.”
Other persons were running toward the scene of the accident, but the girls, in their anxiety to learn the worst, outdistanced nearly everyone. They reached the gate all but winded and were forced to slacken their speed. Doris caught sight of a small boy who apparently had been on the grounds for some time, and called to him:
“Was anyone—killed?”
“Don’t know,” the youngster returned, without halting. “Two young men from Baker’s summer camp were up.”
Doris and Kitty exchanged horrified