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.