“Yep. Me and the girls. Barn all burned down, but I’ve brought the leavings. Me and the girls is all right, Martha. But they’re wetter than Old Sixty. Poke up the kitchen fire and let them dry their clothing.”
Miss Elting stepped forward and shook hands with Mrs. Olney, briefly explaining how they came to be there at that time of the night.
“Female tramps. Got fired from sleepin’ in the squire’s hay barn,” chuckled the old man.
Mrs. Olney led the way into the house, where she turned and surveyed her callers critically.
“Why, you poor things!” she cried, when she had gotten a good look at the Meadow-Brook Girls. “And you sleepin’ in the barn. It’s a shame,” she exclaimed, bustling about. “Squire, you tend to that fire yerself. I’ll git out some dry clothing for these girls. Then I’ll see about making some coffee and getting them something to eat. Come into my bedroom, my dears and change your wet clothes.”
“I am afraid that we are putting you to a great deal of trouble,” demurred Miss Elting.
“Not a bit of it,” rejoined Mrs. Olney. “Come right along with me.”
Half an hour later, Miss Elting and the Meadow-Brook Girls clothed in dressing gowns and wrappers belonging to the hospitable Mrs. Olney sat in the big farm house kitchen doing full justice to the luncheon provided by the farmer’s wife. After their exciting experiences of the night the girls were tired enough to gladly welcome the opportunity of sleeping in a real bed, and in spite of their late repast the five wayworn travelers slept peacefully, unvisited by nightmares.
CHAPTER IV—THE COMING OF CRAZY JANE
After bidding good-bye to the hospitable squire and his good wife, next morning, the girls started over the fields on their way down the valley on the other side of the ridge. Before leaving they had pressed their camp dresses and the girls now looked very neat in their dark blue uniforms that they had worn at Camp Wau-Wau. They wore also the official hat of the Camp Girls, to which organization they belonged. The hat was of blue cloth with the letters “C. G.” in white embroidered on the front.