“Come on in, the water’s fine,” sang that young lady, as she tossed a glove toward the dresser and missed. “I’ll do that thing in just a minute, Ruthie. But first I must roam about this palatial room so that I may fully appreciate all its beauties and conveniences.”
“Now you’re making fun,” laughed Ruth, as she scrubbed her cheeks to a healthy red glow. “You mustn’t expect all the conveniences and luxuries of home at Knockout Point.”
“One oughtn’t to expect much at Knockout Point,” said Helen, with a chuckle. “Sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t it, Ruthie? Knockout Inn at Knockout Point! Lucky if we get off without a knockout blow as well.”
“Oh, you’re horrid!” Ruth reproached her. “If anybody gets a knockout blow it will be Knockout Point. I can tell you that!”
“All right, Ruthie, if you say so,” said Helen, throwing a kiss toward her chum. “I’ve come to believe that sometimes, most generally, you mean just what you say!”
When they were rested and refreshed the two girls decided to go on a short tour of exploration. They had promised to meet Chess and Tom outside the inn, but they were consumed with a great curiosity to see the interior of this unusual place first.
The house followed the very simplest style of architecture within as without. There was one long hall running the full length of the building, with rooms opening off both sides of it.
On one side were the sleeping apartments, on the other, the living quarters. These the girls sauntered through and found them, with the exception of the large living room, as bare and as guiltless of ornament as the sleeping rooms.
There was a big dining room with two long rough-hewn tables, stretching from end to end of it. With the exception of the tables and chairs the room held no furniture save a huge, old-fashioned sideboard that must have been a hundred years old.
“Wonder how that got here,” said Helen, pointing to this last curiosity. “I bet that thing is worth real money.”