Pooh! said Pearl, frankly, I guess your father is running his hotel for money not for sport. And Uncle Phil is going to pay him for all the accommodation we get.
Indeed? returned Trix. You seem to know a lot about our business, Miss Harrod.
Dont you put on any of your high and mighty airs with me, Miss! snapped Pearl. For they dont go down, let me tell you! Didnt Uncle Phil secure rooms for us?
Well he spoke of your coming here. There is Number 10, and 11, and 14; theyre all three double rooms, so you and Ann can have one, Maud and Lulu another, and Carrie and Lucy the third.
But, goodness gracious! there are ten of us! cried Pearl. You know that very well.
Those three rooms, said Trix, with elaborate carelessness, are all your uncle provided.
Why, Uncle Phil must be crazy! Didnt he get a big room for the Kenways?
Humph! said Trix, maliciously. Are they with you, Miss Harrod? Your uncle must have quite overlooked them. All the rooms I know anything about his securing for your party are the three Ive mentioned.
Well, wheres your father
Hes gone fishing, said Trix, promptly, and with a flash of satisfaction in her eyes. He wont be back till late to-night.
Then, wheres the clerk? demanded Pearl, much worried.
Mr. Cheever doesnt know anything about it. I was here when your uncle made his bargain. Nothing was said about those Corner House girls so there! There is no room for them here.
Well! I call that the meanest thing! began Pearl, but Ruth, who had stood close by, interrupted:
Dont let it worry you in the least, Pearl. We have plenty of time to find accommodations before night.
You wont find them here, Miss! snapped Trix.
Nothing would make me remain under this roof for a night, said Ruth, indignantly. My sisters and I have never done you any harm, Trix; quite the contrary, as you would remember had you any gratitude at all. This hotel is not the only place at Pleasant Cove where we can find shelter, I am sure.
Oh, Ruth! dont go! begged Pearl. This mean girl is not telling the truth, I am sure. Youll break up our party, Pearl wailed.
I couldnt stay here now, the oldest Corner House girl declared. I am going to secure a tent for us. I am quite sure we will be comfortable in one. If other people can stand it under canvas, of course we can.
She took Agnes by the hand and they went out of the hotel. Tess and Dot had not come with them, but had been left at the neighbors where they had all spent the night.
Pearl and the other girls could not very well follow them; they were not so independently situated as the Corner House girls. Ruth had a well filled pocket-book, as well as checks from Mr. Howbridge and an introductory letter to the branch bank at Pleasant Cove.
She had been so used to going ahead, and arranging matters for the whole family, during the past three years, that she was not troubled much by this emergency. She was sorry that the pleasant party had to be broken up, that was all. She was not sure that she and her sisters knew any of the campers along the riverside.
There were two men who supplied tents and outfits for those who wished to live under canvas, and so there were two distinct tent colonies, though they were side by side.
One was called Camp Enterprise, and the other Camp Willowbend. The latter was just at the bend of the river, and there were a few willows on the low bluff back of it.
There were not more than a dozen tents erected in either camp as yet, for it was early in the season. The Corner House girls rode quite a mile from the hotel to Willowbend Camp and selected a tent that was already erected.
It was a large wall-tent and it was divided in half by a canvas partition that made a bedroom of one end and a living-room of the front part. In the latter was a small sheetiron cookstove, with a pipe that led the smoke outside of the tent. But there was an oilstove, too, and Ruth decided that they would make arrangements for buying most of their food cooked, so as to reduce the details of housekeeping.
Agnes cheered up at once when she saw the tent-cities. And the smaller girls were delighted with the prospect of living under canvas.
There were four cots in the tent, with sheets and blankets, and apologies for pillows; there was matting laid down on the sand, too, in this bedroom part of the tent.
The remainder of the furnishings consisted of four camp-chairs, a plain deal table, a chest of drawers that contained the chinaware and cooking utensils, and a small icebox. This front apartment had a plank floor, made in sections.
It was a rough enough shelter, and the camping arrangements were crude; nevertheless, the Corner House girls saw nothing but fun ahead of them, and they were as busy as bees all that day getting settled.
There were pleasant people in the other tents of Camp Willowbend, but none of them chanced to be Milton people. There were several girls of ages corresponding to those of the Corner House girls, and the latter were sure they would find these neighbors good sport.