Chapter XX: Seeking a Desperate Revenge

"Lie down!" bellowed Janus.

"Down!" commanded Miss Elting, in the same moment.

Janus moved more quickly than they ever had seen him do before. They did not think him capable of such rapid action.

"Look out below!" he roared, as, with a series of rapid kicks, he sent the burning sticks of the campfire tumbling over the edge into the little ravine below the "Shelter."

"Get out of the light! Come up here as fast as ye can! Into the hut with ye, every one!" Janus sprang from the rock and ran down the path toward Harriet and Jane.

"What's the matter now?" demanded Jane, who did not understand.

"I don't know," answered Harriet, herself a little startled. "I heard a gun fired twice. Can it be that some one is shooting at us? Oh, I hope not. But we must get out of here! Mr. Grubb, is that you?" she called, hearing some one floundering toward them.

"It's Grubb. Get out of that."

"What has happened?" begged Harriet, hurrying to meet the guide, who came on a run to where they stood.

"Enough! Did you hear the shots?"

"Yes."

"Well, one of them snipped the lamp. I'm greased from head to foot. The scoundrel!"

"But--but perhaps they were not intended for you, Mr. Grubb," suggested Jane breathlessly.

"They were intended for me, all right. No mistake about that, young ladies. Now, I want you to get into that shack on the double quick. I haven't a rifle, but I have a revolver that's good enough to take care of anything that gets close enough. Don't make too much noise; there might be another shot."

"I think not, if we do not start any more fires. I have an idea that the shots were intended for you, Mr. Grubb, not for us. If so, the man will not shoot again in the dark, fearing to hit one of us."

"Well, I swum!" grunted the guide.

Harriet's guess seemed very plausible. He led them quickly up the path, and, reaching the top, hurried them into the cabin. Janus got his revolver, and, after loading it, slipped some extra cartridges into a pocket. "I don't want anybody to come out again to-night," he ordered. "You go to sleep, when you get ready, and I'll sit outside to watch for the rascal in case he comes prowling around later."

"Spread your blankets on the floor and sit down," directed Miss Elting. "I don't think we are quite ready for bed yet. We do not know but there may be more shots, though we aren't going to be afraid, are we, girls?"

"No, we are not, Miss Elting. Why should we be? Being afraid doesn't help us one little bit."

So the girls seated themselves on their blankets, and in low tones talked over the series of mysterious occurrences that had marred an otherwise happy journey to the mountains. They wondered what wrong their enemy might feel had been done him to make him thus vengeful. The girls did quite believe that the man of the green goggles, Miss Elting's caller, was either directly or indirectly concerned in the various mysteries, but that was as far as they could go toward a solution.

One by one the campers rolled up in their blankets and went to sleep. Janus held his position in front of the "Shelter" throughout the night, but nothing occurred to disturb the camp until nearly three o'clock in the morning. Then two quick shots, fired seemingly right over their heads, brought the Meadow-Brook Girls out of their sound sleep, uttering little exclamations of alarm. Harriet sprang out through the open door without an instant's hesitation.

"Where is he? What did you shoot at?" she questioned apprehensively, fixing searching eyes upon the guide.

Miss Elting repeated the questions a few seconds later, she having joined Harriet.

The guide stood with revolver still pointed toward the tote-trail, ready to shoot at the slightest movement. In the faint light the two women could see a shadowy something that appeared to be standing beside the trail.

"There! See him? I swum, I don't understand it," muttered the guide. "I fired in the air to scare him."

"Where is it? What do you mean?" questioned the guardian.

"Him! I looked and he wasn't there, then I looked again and there he stood, right where you see him now. Then I shot into the air twice."

Harriet Burrell burst into a merry shout. She laughed and laughed until her companions, taking fresh courage, ran out, demanding to know what was so funny. Tommy declared that she would give almost anything to be able to laugh that way at that particular moment. Neither did Miss Elting understand the meaning of this sudden merriment, but she knew that Harriet had discovered something.

Janus regarded the girl frowningly, all the time keeping one eye on the faintly outlined figure out by the tote-trail.

"Laugh, consarn it!" Mr. Grubb growled, beginning to feel that, in some way, he had made a shining mark of himself, rather than appearing in the role of a hero who had valiantly defended his party of young women.

"What is it, dear?" asked the guardian.

"Don't you know what that is?" queried Harriet.

"No. It looks to me like a man leaning against something," answered Miss Elting.

"Yes, yes," interposed the guide. "When I first shot at it it was standing straight up, then it tilted over against the rocks, and there it is. You get back. I'll go over. If he shoots, you won't be in any danger."

"Oh, nonsense!" exploded Harriet. "Put your pistol down. Don't you dare to point it toward me. I'll lay your intruder."

The girl ran forward, unheeding the warning cries of her companions. She ran straight to the object that, in the uncertain light, so closely resembled a human figure. The girls were begging Harriet to come back. Instead she boldly grasped the object with both hands, and threw it across the trail. A chorus of "Ohs!" greeted this performance. Janus lowered his weapon, his under jaw dropped. He followed Miss Elting, while the girls followed them both at a safe distance, Tommy and Margery ready to take flight at the slightest indication of danger.

"Here he is, Mr. Grubb," cried Harriet.

"Harriet, what is it?" demanded Miss Elting.

"Just a plain, rotting old tree trunk," returned the girl.

"But--but it wasn't there before," stammered the guide.

Again Harriet laughed. Her companions gazed at her admiringly. None, unless it were Jane McCarthy, would have had the courage to go out there as Harriet Burrell had done. They told her so, too, at which Harriet laughed again.

"Let me tell you something," said Harriet. "I'm not a bit braver than you are. As it happened, I knew what that was the instant I saw it. The tree trunk was not standing there when we came into camp last night. Had it been, Mr. Grubb would have seen it. The trunk had fallen across the trail. When I started to go down below to look for our supplies I stumbled over the stick, and to prevent some one else tripping over it, I threw it out of the trail. The stick ended over and stood upright against the rock where you saw it. I presume Mr. Grubb did see it tip to one side. I know, however, that the stick has been there ever since I tossed it out of the trail last night."

"Well, I swum!" muttered Janus sheepishly, "I'm so easy it's a wonder I haven't lost myself."

"No, you were doing your best to protect us," replied Miss Elting. "But I would rather you did not shoot again except in real defence. In other words, don't shoot unless some one shoots at you."

"What am I going to do?" demanded the guide rather crossly. "Sit down and allow some outlaw to rob us at every turn?"

"We know you are ready to defend us," pacified Miss Elting. "What would you advise us to do?"

"Make no further move until morning. When daylight comes we will get up the stuff that has been thrown over there, make up our packs and start for Mt. Washington," returned Janus promptly. "I'll reach a telephone before long and send word to the sheriff about what has occurred. He may be out already on the bridge matter, but he ought to know about this last affair. It will give him a clue as to where the man is."

"But the unknown wretch may follow us," protested the guardian.

"He won't. He's gone into hiding after what has happened. You won't see any more of him. You see, he knows we shall be on the lookout for him, and he won't be taking any chances on it until a day has passed--perhaps about to-morrow night--then he may come back here to see what he can find. I am banking on that, after having thought the matter over. We won't be here, but the sheriff will, if I can get hold of him."

Miss Elting agreed that the guide's plan was as good as could be devised, and promptly directed the girls to return to the hut and, if possible, sleep for the few remaining hours of the night. That morning the girls overslept. By the time they awakened, Janus had gathered together all the supplies and equipment to be found below the hut. Some of the provisions were missing. Nothing that would be likely to be recognized by the owners had been taken by the man who had thrown their stores overboard, so to speak, so they found themselves better off than they had hoped. A real breakfast was eaten that morning, after which packs were lashed and the party lost no time in starting to leave the mountain that had furnished them with so much excitement.

The journey down the trail was not a long one. After reaching the foot of the mountain they were obliged to travel nearly ten miles before reaching a village from whence they would go on by wagon until reaching the point whence they were to be conveyed to Mt. Washington.

That night found them weary and sleepy, but to stay at a hotel which boasted of all modern conveniences was a welcome change to the mountain climbers, who were both footsore and weary. It seemed but a few moments after retiring before they were called to get ready for breakfast and the long ride to the foot of the mountain, up which they were to climb. Their experience on Mt. Washington was to be both novel and exciting.