“I feel,” said Tommy, after he had gone, “jutht ath though I were going to jail to-morrow. Thuppothe—thuppothe a girl thhould defeat me and I thhould throw my racquet at her and hit her on the nothe—would they thend me to jail for that?”
“Tommy!” exclaimed Harriet, “how can you say such a thing?”
“I can thay it all right. What I want to know ith may I do it, if I want to?”
“You most certainly may not,” answered Miss Elting sternly.
“Then I won’t,” decided the little girl.
“I should say you won’t,” returned Harriet, breaking out into a merry peal of laughter.
The boys remained in the camp for an hour after the departure of Mr. Disbrow, when they, too, prepared to go to their own camp. George promised that the boys would be over early. In the meantime the dressing tent would be pitched and made ready for them, so that the girls might go directly to their dressing tent from their camp. There they could rest until they were called for their turn, all of which George would attend to personally, removing any necessity for worry about arrangements.
The boys bade their friends good night, shaking hands with each girl and the guardian before leaving, then strode away in the darkness. The girls retired very shortly after the departure of the boys. All were weary, nor did they feel much like talking that evening. Miss Elting kissed each of them good night, and within fifteen minutes every Meadow-Brook girl was sound asleep. Healthy minds and healthy bodies had much to do with this.
Late that night, well past midnight, Harriet was awakened by the sound of thunder. As she opened her eyes a vivid flash of lightning caused her to close them again sharply. She got up quietly and secured the tent flap, then crawled back under her blanket. The rain was not long in coming. A heavy shower fell. She wondered if this would prevent the game on the morrow, but she was too sleepy to dwell long on the thought, and dropped into a doze a moment later.
The awakening from that doze was a sudden one. The wind was blowing and the rain causing a great commotion in the foliage of the trees, when all at once one side of the tent tilted up. The whole stretch of canvas was suddenly lifted from them and hurled against a tree trunk, about which the wet canvas wrapped itself.