The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; Or The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  IN THE HEART OF THE BERKSHIRES

  A crimson automobile was climbing the steep inclines of the BerkshireHills. Now it rose to the crest of a road. Again it dipped into a valley.It looked like a scarlet autumn leaf blown down from one of the giantforest trees that guarded the slopes of the mountains.

  Mollie Thurston stood up in the back of the motor car, waving a longgreen veil.

  "Isn't the scenery just too perfect for words?" she called to Ruth.

  The day was wonderful; the September sun shone warm and golden throughthe shadows of dancing, many-colored leaves. "The Automobile Girls" hadleft summer behind them in Kingsbridge. Three days of traveling foundthem in the early autumn glory of the Berkshire woods.

  Ruth did not answer Mollie's question.

  "My dear child, wake up!" commanded Miss Sallie, leaning over to give herniece a gentle poke with her violet parasol. "Have you grown suddenlydeaf? Can you not hear when you are spoken to?"

  Ruth glanced up from her steering wheel. "Did some one speak to me?" shequeried. "I am so sorry I did not hear. I am afraid I am both deaf anddumb to-day. But we simply must get to our mountain by noon. Driving acar over these mountain roads isn't the easiest task in the world."

  Barbara laughed back over her shoulder at the occupants of the end seatin the car. "Miss Sallie Stuart," she said in solemn tones, "please, letour chauffeur alone! Suppose the dark descends upon us in the woods andyou have 'nary' a place to lay your head!"

  "Then I should immediately find a hotel and ask for a room and a bath,"protested Miss Stuart, who did not favor the idea of the log cabin in thewoods. "Remember, children, you may pretend as hard as you like that weare a thousand miles from civilization; but, unless we are perfectlycomfortable in the woods, I shall take you to the best hotel in Lenox.From there you may do your mountaineering in a respectable way."

  "All the more need for you to hurry, Ruth," whispered Bab in her friend'sear. "I feel sure we shall find the guides and wagons waiting for us atthe foot of the hill. If we get an early enough start up the mountain wecan get fairly settled by night time."

  Ruth nodded with her eyes straight in front of her. She kept her carmoving swiftly ahead.

  "Barbara, it is quite idle to talk to Ruth," broke in Miss Sallie, whohad not heard just what Bab had said. "She is her father's daughter. Onceher mind is made up to accomplish a thing, she will do it or die! So wemight as well resign ourselves to our fate. She will reach 'hermountain,' as she calls it, by noon, even if we have to jump a few ofthese embankments to succeed."

  Miss Sallie was growing tired.

  "Why did I ever allow myself to be brought on such a wild expeditionafter the experiences you girls led me into in Newport!" she said.

  "Now, Miss Sallie!" said Grace Carter gently--Grace was always thepeacemaker--"you know you love these glorious woods as much as we do.Think how jolly things will be when we go down into Lenox after it growstoo cold to stay in camp. Who knows but you will turn out the bestsportsman in the lot? And we shall probably have our guide teach you toshoot before we are through this trip."

  Miss Stuart sniffed indignantly. Then she laughed at the thought of herplump fingers pulling the trigger of a gun. "What is our guide'soutlandish name?" she inquired in milder tones.

  "Naki, and his wife is called Ceally," Grace answered. "You remember Mr.Stuart explained they were originally French Canadians, but they havebeen living in these mountains for a number of years. Because they usedto be guides up in the Canadian forests they don't know any other tradeto follow in these peaceful woods."

  "These woods were by no means always peaceful, my lady Grace!" assertedBab. "You can't even be perfectly sure they are peaceful now. Why," shewent on in thrilling tones, "these hillsides once ran red with the bloodof our ancestors and of the friendly Indian tribes who fought with themagainst the French."

  "Oh, come! come! No more American history!" remarked Mollie. "Beg pardon,but I do object to Bab's school-teacher manner. Did you ever see anythingso lovely as these hills are now? The scenery around here is like theenchanted forests of Arcady."

  "Oh, Miss Sallie, girls, look!" called Grace. From the high crest of ahill "The Automobile Girls" gazed down upon one of the loveliest valleysin the Berkshires. Afar off they could see the narrow Housatonic Riverwinding its way past villages and fields, from the hillsides, which gaveit the Indian name; for Housatonic means "a stream over the mountains."Nestling in the valleys lay a chain of silver lakes.

  Ruth paused an instant. "Over there ahead of us is 'our mountain.' Ithink we can reach it in an hour or so."

  While they were pursuing their journey, another small party was gatheringon the slope of the hill opposite. A long, lean man burned to the colorand texture of leather sat on the front seat of a wagon drawn by twostrong mountain horses. By his side was his wife, almost as thin andbrown; behind them, piled up in the wagon, were trunks, rolls of steamerrugs, kitchen utensils, making altogether as odd an assortment of goodsas if the couple were peddlers.

  Strolling around near them was a younger man, evidently the driver of awell filled grocery wagon. His horse stood patiently cropping the fine,hillside grass. Farther up the roadside a chauffeur nibbled a spear ofmint. He had no car near him, but his costume was unmistakable. Evidentlysomething was in the air. Somebody or something was being waited for.

  Soon after twelve o'clock, there was a whirr along the road. The carthorses raised their ears, and without a motion from their drivers, movedfarther to the right side of the path. Berkshire Hills horses, inwhatever station of life, needed no further notice. An automobile wasapproaching!

  "Here they come!" cried the grocer's boy, jumping back into his wagon.The chauffeur dropped his piece of mint and gazed down the road. Now atleast there was something worth seeing!

  "Hip! hip! hurrah!" "The Automobile Girls" landed with a flourish besidethe wagons. Their laughter woke the sleeping echoes in the hills.

  "Are you Naki and Ceally?" cried Ruth, jumping out of the car and runningforward with her hand extended. "And are these our things you have in thewagon? I am so sorry we are a few minutes late; but these mountain roadstake longer to drive over than I had expected. I hope I haven't kept youwaiting very long."

  "No'm," said the guide, sliding slowly down from his perch on the campingoutfit. He emptied the pipe he had been comfortably smoking. "Timeenough," he answered. Naki was a man of few words.

  The chauffeur had walked over to Ruth's car and was assisting Miss Sallieto descend. "You are to take this car into Lenox, I believe," Miss Stuartbegan. "My niece will explain matters to you more fully. I am told wecannot take the car any further up this side of the hill. Where is thecarriage in which we are to drive?"

  "Oh, Aunt Sallie!" cried Ruth in consternation. "What are we to do? WhenNaki wrote there would be seats in his wagon for those of us who wishedto drive up the hill, I am afraid he meant those seats in front by himand his wife."

  The guide looked perfectly solemn, even when he beheld Miss Sallie'sface. Imagine, if you can, Miss Sallie Stuart, nervous, as she was,perched on top of a rickety wagon! Add the fact that she was to be drivenup an unexplored hillside by the side of the two queer, brown people towhom they were confiding their fates!

  "We don't ride 'longside of you, Miss," explained Naki to Ruth. "I leadsthe horses up and my wife walks by their side. There's room for three ofyou up there on the front seat. It's more comfortable than it looks. Theother two of you had better walk or you can ride in the grocery wagon.The man's coming along behind us with the provisions."

  Miss Sallie had not spoken again. Her expression was that of a martyr.

  "Do you think you can manage, Miss Sallie?" Bab pleaded.

  Ruth was explaining matters to the chauffeur. He was to take the car toLenox. Every afternoon at one o'clock he was to return with it to thisfork in the road and wait for half an hour. If "The Automobile Girls"decided on a trip to one of the nearby towns, they would join him at thisplace; for her
e the good road ended and the trail up the hillside began.The camp was a long way from any town, but an automobile defies distance.

  Miss Stuart looked truly miserable when she saw their car disappear downthe foot of the hill. Then she looked around her carefully. The place wasentirely deserted.

  "Very well," she declared, resignedly. "I suppose there is nothing for meto do but to climb up into that wretched wagon."

  Ruth, Barbara, Grace, Mollie, Naki and his wife all assisted her to mountover the wheel to the seat of honor. Violet cushions were piled back ofher, Grace sat on one side of her, Mollie on the other. Ruth and Barbarawere determined to walk.

  "We are dreadfully tired sitting still, Aunt Sallie," Ruth begged."Please let us follow the wagon!"

  "Certainly, you can walk if you are able. In fact, you have no way toride except in the grocery wagon, where you would probably get mixed upwith the pickles and preserves," responded Miss Stuart. "Walk by allmeans!"

  The cavalcade started.

  "Let's pretend," proposed Bab to Ruth, "that we are starting out on whatthe Indians called 'the long walk.'"

  "Surely, Bab, it's a long walk, all right. But why introduce theIndians?"

  The girls were climbing up the steep path ahead of the wagon. Bablaughed. "Oh, I read somewhere," she explained, "that the Indians used tosell their land that way. Suppose you and I were early settlers, who weretrying to purchase this hillside from the Indians. They would tell us wecould have, for a fixed sum, as much land as we could cover in the 'longwalk.' That would mean that we were to walk along quietly from sunrise tosunset, sitting down occasionally to smoke a pipe of peace, to breakbread, and to drink water. That reminds me, are we ever going to breakbread again? I am starving!"

  But Ruth was not sympathetic at the moment. "It is curious," she replied."These mountains are so full of Indian legends, we shall think, hear anddream of nothing but Indians in the next few weeks. The names of all theplaces around were once Indian. I suppose we shall do almost everythingexcept see an Indian. The last of them has vanished from here. Oh, Bab,do look at Aunt Sallie!"

  Miss Stuart had forgotten her fright. Fortunately, she did not realizehow absurd she appeared.

  "Ruth!" she called from her throne on the wagon seat. "Here is aperfectly good place for our lunch. There is water near and view enough,I am sure. I must be given food before I am taken another step up thesehills. I am famished!"

  The party found a clear space in the woods. In a short time Naki hadbuilt a fire of pine twigs, and Ceally had a giant pot of coffee boilingover it. Its delicious perfume mingled with the fresh mountain air.

  "I declare I haven't been so hungry since I was a girl," Miss Sallieavowed. She was seated on a log, with a sandwich in one hand and a cup ofcoffee on the ground by her. Her hat was on one side of her head, and herpompadour drooped dejectedly, but Miss Sallie was blissfully unconscious.The color in her cheeks shone as fresh and rosy as the tints in thecheeks of any other of "The Automobile Girls."

  Mollie flitted around like the spirit of the woods. Nothing could induceher to keep still. "Do let me get the water," she coaxed the guide. Likea flash she was off and back bearing a heavy bucket. "Here, Ruth," shevolunteered, pouring a stream of water into the tiny silver cup that Ruthalways carried. Ruth was just in time. With a jump to one side, sheescaped, but the splash descended on unsuspecting Bab, who Was nibbling adoughnut.

  In her ardor at playing waitress in the woods Mollie had turned herbucket upside down. Instead of dispensing nectar, this little cup-bearerto "The Automobile Girls" had nearly drowned one of them.

  "It's a blessed thing you are my sister," cried Bab.

  Mollie apologized, dabbing at Bab with her small pocket handkerchief."You can tell me exactly what you think of me. Ruth and Grace might betoo polite. I am so sorry; I was trying to be useful."

  "Go over to the fire, Barbara, and dry your dress," advised Miss Sallie."It is just as well you have on a thick suit. We must learn to expectoccasional mishaps."

  Barbara winked solemnly at Ruth as she arose from the table. Miss Salliewas sure to be in a good humor when she talked in this philosophicalfashion.

  For an hour after luncheon the camping party continued their climb.Finally Ruth and Bab, who were in front, came to a sudden stop. "Hurrah!"they shouted, turning to wave their handkerchiefs to the occupants of thewagon.

  Mollie nearly pitched out of the wagon in her excitement, but Grace andMiss Sallie clutched at her skirts in time.

  "Have we arrived?" Mollie cried. "Oh, do stop the wagon!" The little logcabin in the woods was now plainly in view.

  "It's the gingerbread house, I know it is," exclaimed Grace, making aflying leap over the wheel of the cart. "The logs are the soft, browncolor of good gingerbread, and the little windows must be made of sugarfrosting."

  In a clearing on top of a hillside stood the "hut," as the girlschristened it in an instant. A circle of pine and cedar trees hid it fromsight. All around it were thick woods. Higher hills rose at the back ofit. A roaring brook tumbled down the hillside fifty feet from their cabindoor.

  By nightfall the little house in the woods was made thoroughly livable.The girls hammered and worked, assisted by Naki and his wife. Miss Salliesat by the big fire in the living room and gave directions. Adjoiningthis big room, which ran across one side of the cabin, were two bedrooms.Farther back Naki and Ceally shared a small chamber that connected withthe kitchen.

  Just before supper time Ruth took Miss Sallie by the arm; Grace, Barbaraand Mollie followed them; around and around their new home "TheAutomobile Girls" marched.

  "See your elegance!" said Ruth to her aunt, pointing to a mirror, whichhung by a nail over Miss Sallie's rough pine wood dressing table. Herfavorite toilet articles were already laid out upon it, her wrapper hungover the back of a chair.

  "Most noble lady," continued Ruth, "behold what miracles your willingslaves have performed for your comfort! Everything is here for yourconvenience except your perfumed bath."

  "Don't speak of a bath, child!" cried Miss Sallie, with a real shudder ofhorror. "It is the lack of a proper bathtub that makes this campingbusiness truly awful!"

  "Come, Miss Sallie," called Barbara, quick to change the subject. "I wantyou to see the wonderful sunset." Overhead Miss Sallie beheld a goldenradiance that bathed the hilltop in a wonderful light. In the west thesun was sinking behind a line of blue mountains.

  That evening the girls sat around an open campfire piled high with pinelogs. It was a cool night, and although they were tired, no one wouldsuggest going in to bed. Every now and then Mollie would tumble forwardand awake with a start. She was half listening, half dreaming as Grace'slovely voice floated out through the still night air, singing, while shestrummed idly her guitar:

  "Lovely moon that softly glides, Through the realms where God abides."

  "I wonder," said Mollie to Grace, as she finally followed her into bed,"what wonderful adventures we shall have in this forest? Perhaps we shallawaken a wood nymph and teach her to become a mortal maid. Do you supposeshe would like the change?"