Chapter XV: Would-Be Cup Winners Break Camp

“Well, P. E., what do you think now?” asked Captain Baker on the first opportunity.

“I think, as I did when you asked me that question some time ago, that the Meadow-Brook team will attract considerable attention by their playing in the Coast Tournament. They may even get a place well up in the list, but so far as winning any of the prizes, I do not believe they are far enough advanced for that. Their progress, during the four weeks we have been at work, is nothing less than marvelous. Sometimes I almost believe they will be fit for a championship match. Then I discover that I’ve been carried away by that confounded Meadow-Brook enthusiasm. It’s as catching as the plague, old chap.”

“Well, we’re all obliged to you for what you’ve done, P. E.”

“My boy, it isn’t Earlington Disbrow who has done it; it is the young women themselves. You can’t make tennis players out of unavailable material. About all I have done, besides giving them some technical points, has been to keep them at work. They would have done that just the same had I been on the other side of the ocean. At times they show excellent form; then again they fall off without any reason that I am able to discover. In two or three years from now we’ll hear from the Meadow-Brook Girls, but I should say it would take all that time to make champions of them, in spite of their unshaken determination to win out.”

“How are you going to pair them off when we get to the tournament?” The Englishman had announced his intention of witnessing all the matches at Newtown.

“That I have not fully decided. I may do it in a way that you won’t approve,” smiled Disbrow.

“You are the doctor, we are the patients,” nodded George. “Well, at any rate, it has been worth the price of admission to have you up here with us, and I shall never forget what you’ve done for us, and for me especially.”

“Chop it, old chap! You jolly well know the shoe is on the other foot. Besides, I’ve had some much needed practice on my own account. I am fit as a fiddle now, ready to take on any matches that may be arranged for me. This has been a great vacation for me.” The speaker expanded his chest, inhaling deeply of the air that was heavy with the odor of the pines.

“Were I to remain up here all summer I think I might gain something of the endurance that those young women possess. It’s wonderful, as I have said before.”

Four weeks had elapsed since the arrival of P. Earlington Disbrow. During that time real work had been done in the camp of the Meadow-Brook Girls. They had practised early and late, and when not actually at practice were listening to words of wisdom, born of the experience of a world champion. Now they possessed a theoretical knowledge of the game that was barely second to that of Disbrow himself. They had learned to serve drop curves, over-head curves, to place the tennis ball almost with the accuracy of rifle fire; they had with varying degrees of success become able to accomplish the difficult _twist service_, so puzzling to the novice, much as would be the well-known curves of the baseball player to one who did not understand them; their foot work had improved, they had been taught to conserve their energies, to leap from the toes in springing to meet a ball—in fact, had been coached in all the little delicate arts of the game that had already made their instructor famous wherever tennis was played.

And now the period of their work in camp had come to an end. Only five days remained before the opening of the tournament at Newtown, where they would either win recognition or suffer humiliating defeat. Harriet still persisted in her belief in herself and her companions. Disbrow did not seek to shake that confidence, being well aware that without it they had better remain out of the contest entirely.

It had been planned that he was to meet them at Newtown three days hence. He wished them to play a set over each of the courts, but they were not to do anything like the hard work they had been doing on the court in the pine woods, nor were they to touch a racquet during the days between then and the time they reported at Newtown. This had been the champion’s strictest injunction to them.

The girls were to go home to arrange their clothing. After no little discussion it had been decided that they were to wear their regular Camp Girl uniforms, minus the beads. These costumes, being especially arranged for freedom of muscular play and comfort, were ideal for the purpose, except that they were of blue serge, while all the other players would be dressed in white. This would mean that the figures of the Meadow-Brook Girls would stand out from all the rest, which might prove a disadvantage when standing before the nets. Harriet understood this well, but she had been determined on the Camp Girl uniform for reasons of her own, which she did not confide to her companions nor to the Tramp Boys.

Jane had been to town and brought her automobile. The camp had been struck by the boys and packed ready for the wagon that was coming from town to take them home. The girls and Mr. Disbrow were to return in Jane’s car, he to go on to Boston that evening. They were holding their last meeting in the old camping place, which, now that they were about to leave, seemed dearer than ever to them. None of that little party would ever forget the weeks spent in that clearing in the pine woods. The summer vacation that had opened so tamely bade fair to close in a giddy whirl of excitement. It had already been full to overflowing with activity and accomplishment.

“Remember, you are to follow out my directions regarding the care of yourselves between now and the time I see you again, young ladies,” reminded Mr. Disbrow.

“I shall be on hand early and look over the practice of the other contestants. I may be able to offer you some suggestions as to what to do or what not to do after I have seen some of the other contestants in action. As for my share in your training, it will be well for you to forget that. From now on you are to be placed upon your own responsibility.”

“You are asking an impossibility,” replied Harriet. “Whatever may follow, we owe you a debt of gratitude that nothing can ever repay, both you and the boys.”

“Go in and win. That will be payment enough,” answered Mr. Disbrow with a light laugh.

“That is what we are going to do,” replied Harriet earnestly.

He did not contradict her. He knew in his own mind that the Meadow-Brook team could not carry off the cup. The most that could be hoped for was one of the smaller prizes. If they stood up under the grilling of the first few games, they would have done remarkably well. He should call that achievement worth while, let alone winning the cup.

About the middle of the forenoon the wagon came up from town and the boys began loading the equipment, after which they were to take up their own camp. The tennis racquets the girls had kept with them. They had chosen their racquets after trying out all weights, Harriet finally choosing a fourteen-ounce racquet, an unusually heavy weight for a woman player. Mr. Disbrow had advised against this heavy weight, but after observing her work with this and then with a lighter one approved her choice. Harriet, though slight, was very strong, and under the practice on the court her wrists had become as pliant as steel.

They placed their smaller belongings in the car and got in, then, with shouts of good-bye to the boys and to the camp, turned their faces homeward.

The news had traveled abroad in Meadow-Brook that the Meadow-Brook Girls were to take part in the Coast Tournament, which entry caused no little interest. It had not been known that the girls played tennis at all. Some little argument had been necessary to gain the permission of the girls’ parents, but Miss Elting had taken the matter in hand, and in the end won their consent. Not only this, but the parents were arranging to go to Newtown to see the tournament.

The plans of the party embraced some unusual features. They were to make camp and live in tents, cooking their own food, living their regular outdoor life just the same as if they were encamped in the woods. Mr. Disbrow approved of this. Any change in their method of living might affect them adversely, and the girls were thankful for his approval.

That afternoon, after the girls had taken their instructor to each of their homes and introduced him to their parents, Disbrow boarded a train for Boston. He had skilfully evaded the direct questions of the parents as to what chances the girls had to win. Tommy’s father was delighted at the opportunity presented to her. Whether or not she won anything, it would be of great benefit to his little daughter, who, from a delicate girl, had developed into a muscular young woman.

True to their promise, the girls did no practising, though in her room at home, using the wall to receive the ball under her light touches, Harriet studied out problems of service. It was not practice, according to her reasoning; it was study. But most of her time was occupied in sewing and in performing her regular duties about the house, which she persisted in doing despite her mother’s protestations.

In the meantime the Tramp Boys had moved, bag and baggage, to Newtown. They not only had taken their own equipment, but that of the Meadow-Brook Girls as well. George, after consultation with Mr. Herrington, would decide on a site for the camp, which, owing to his acquaintance with the manager of the tournament, would be almost any site the captain chose. George was very fortunate in his friends, and he never hesitated to use them, being fully as ready and willing to be used himself whenever he could be of service. Then, again, in the present instance he felt a proprietary interest beyond the ordinary one of friendship. It was his team, as he chose to call it. He had made the entry, he would be responsible for the Meadow-Brook Girls’ appearance on the courts in the tournament. He had no great hopes now of their winning the cup, but he did believe the Meadow-Brook pluck and endurance would land them in a position some little distance from the tail-end of the procession of defeated contestants.

On the third morning the girls were up early, for they were to make an early start for Newtown, nearly three hours’ drive by motor car from their home town. As usual, they were to be accompanied by Miss Elting. No other persons accompanied them. The parents were not to go on until the day the tournament was to open. Their personal belongings and their precious racquets were stowed in the car and in the luggage trunk that was strapped on behind. It was a new car that Jane’s father had purchased for her to take the place of the one lost in the ice pond on that fateful night the year previous, when Harriet had narrowly escaped drowning.

Their departure was a quiet one. The car simply called at the homes of the girls and picked them up as if they were just going out for a pleasure drive. Tommy was the only nervous one in the party. Jane was full of merry chatter, Buster grumbling, as usual, and Harriet silent and thoughtful.

“Well, we’re off for the killing,” announced Jane, after having picked up the last of her passengers and started on her way. “And that’s not saying who it is that’s going to be killed,” she added with a chuckle.