“I never heard of going to a summer camp in the winter time,” declared Carrie. “You’ll probably freeze, and it will serve you right.”
But the minute she reached school she told Mattie Helms and Joe Anderson, and in less than an hour every girl and boy in the school knew where the Riddle Club intended to spend Thanksgiving.
The six members hurried home as soon as school was dismissed. They were to leave at half-past three, and there was still some packing to be done. Mrs. Williamson had set her heart on taking a full Thanksgiving dinner, and there were enough cooking utensils left at the camp, safely packed in strong, dry boxes, to cook it properly. The last thing Mr. Marley had ordered done before leaving the island in the summer, was to have Mr. Mains bring a load of firewood and stack it under a shelter. He had foreseen that they might wish to visit the camp in winter.
Each member of the club was to take a flannel sleeping bag, a hot water bottle, a pair of blankets, and rubber boots. Even the girls in River Bend owned rubber boots, for they wore them to school during the winter storms. Mr. Williamson said they would be taken for gypsies if any one saw the back of the car, for comfortables and blankets were piled high around the suitcases and the one sled that Fred had insisted must go.
“I ought to be thankful, I suppose, that you don’t each clamor to take a sled,” said Mr. Williamson, good-naturedly. “No, Artie, positively no ice skates allowed. It won’t be cold enough for that. It may snow, but even if the lake froze over, it wouldn’t be thick enough to bear you so early in the season.”
So the skates were left out, and that gave room enough—so Mrs. Williamson always declared—to put the six children in.
Jess and Ward were upstairs, getting into their heavy sweaters, and Mr. Williamson was backing the heavily loaded car out of the garage, when they heard Mrs. Pepper shrieking.
“Catch him! Catch him! There he goes!” they heard her cry.
Then came the sharp tinkle of broken glass.
“What’s the matter?” cried Ward, running for the stairs and down them as fast as he could go, Jess at his heels.