The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea | Page 9

over. If you can, I
wish you would find the rear end of the car, so I may locate it exactly."
"What have you in mind, darlin'?" asked Jane, with a quick glance at
Harriet.
"I'm going to try to get our clothes. The trunk is strapped and buckled
to the rear end, is it not?"
"Yes."
"Tell me just how those buckles are placed; whether there is also a loop
through which the strap has been run, and all about it."
"How should I know?"
"You put the trunk on, didn't you?"
"Surely, but I can't remember all those things, even if I ever knew
them."
"Jane, you should learn to observe more closely. Most persons are
careless about that." Harriet began swimming toward the shore with
Jane.
"Thay! How long mutht I thtand here in the wet up to my prethiouth
neck?" demanded Grace Thompson. Her feet seemed to be very light.
They persisted in either rising or drifting away from the submerged
automobile top. Tommy kept her hands moving slowly to assist in

maintaining her equilibrium.
"Wait until I return, if you will, please," answered Harriet.
"Thave me! I can't wait. Here I go now!" She slipped off and went
under, but came up sputtering and protesting. Instead of remaining to
mark the sunken car, Tommy swam rapidly to shore. She found Harriet,
Hazel and Jane sitting with feet hanging over the pier talking to Miss
Elting. The four were dripping, but none of them seemed to mind this.
The sun soon would be up, and its rays would dry their clothing and
bring them warmth for the first time since their disaster of the night
before.
"Do be careful," Miss Elting was saying when Tommy swam up, and,
clinging to the pier with one hand, floated listlessly while listening to
what was being said.
"What's the matter, Tommy? Couldn't you stand it any longer?" asked
Harriet.
"My feet got tho light that I couldn't hang on."
"She means her head instead of her feet," corrected Margery.
"I think I had better go after the trunk now," decided Harriet.
"I wish you would let me go with you," urged Jane.
"No; two of us would be in each other's way. You folks had better stay
here and wait. There will be plenty to do after I get the trunk ashore,
provided I do. We must have all our outfit together by sunrise, for we
have a day's work ahead of us. Want to get up, Tommy?"
"Yeth."
Harriet reached down and assisted Grace, dripping, to the pier. Then
she slipped in and swam in a leisurely way to the sunken automobile,
which she located after swimming about for a few moments. The next
thing to do was to find the rear end of the car. This was quickly

accomplished. Harriet took a long breath, then dived swiftly. It seemed
to her companions that she had been gone a long time, when, finally,
the girl's dark head rose dripping from the pond. She shook her head,
took several long breaths, then dived again.
Three times Harriet Burrell repeated this. At last, after a brief dive, they
saw the black trunk leap free to the surface of the pond. The
Meadow-Brook Girls uttered a yell. Harriet had accomplished a task
that would have proved to be too much for the average man. Down
there, underneath the water, crouching under the backward tilting
automobile on the bottom of the pond, she had unbuckled three
stubborn straps, rising to the surface after unbuckling each strap, taking
in a new supply of delicious fresh air, then returning to her task.
Before the Meadow-Brook Girls had finished with their shouting,
cheering and gleeful dancing, the black luggage had drifted some
distance from the spot where it had first appeared. So delighted were
they with the result of Harriet Burrell's efforts that, for the moment, the
others entirely forgot the girl herself. But all at once Miss Elting came
to a realization of the truth. Something was wrong.
"Harriet!" she cried excitedly. It was unusual for the guardian to show
alarm, even though she might feel it. "Where is Harriet?"
The shouting and the cheering ceased instantly.
"Oh, she's just playing a trick on us," scoffed Margery Brown.
Suddenly the keen eyes of Jane McCarthy caught sight of something
that sent her heart leaping. That something was a series of bubbles that
rose to the surface. Jane gazed wide-eyed, neither moving nor speaking,
then suddenly hurled herself into the pond. Two loud splashes followed
her own dive into the water. Tommy and Miss Elting were plunging
ahead with all speed. Jane was the first to reach the scene. She dived,
came up empty-handed, then dived again. Tommy essayed to make a
dive, but did not get