Dorothy Dales Camping Days | Page 3

Girl of To-day," we find Dorothy striving bravely to induce Tavia to give up her stagey ways. Every predicament in the story was a "scene" to Tavia, while but for Dorothy's intervention, and gentle determination, these scenes would have been turned into tragedies for the wily Tavia. Then, in the second book, "Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School," Tavia and the young ladies of that institution got into many a "scrape" and, while Dorothy was one of the girls, in the true sense of the word, she managed to discriminate between fun and folly.
But what sacrifices Dorothy was actually capable of making for a friend were more clearly related in "Dorothy Dale's Great Secret," where she shielded Tavia from the consequences of her daring and foolish venture, of running away with a theatrical company. Through two more books of the series, "Dorothy Dale and Her Chums," and "Dorothy Dale's Queer Holidays," we find Dorothy still busy trying to reform Tavia, and while in each of the books there is plenty of other work for Dorothy to attend to, it seems that Tavia is her one perpetual charge. What Tavia thinks fun is not always of the safe sort, and what Dorothy thinks necessary Tavia often thinks may be passed by as some subtle joke. So it will be seen that each of these two interesting characters always has her own particular following, while the friendship between Tavia and Dorothy has withstood every possible test.
So we find the same young ladies in the present story, still indulging in their favorite pastime--getting into and out of mischief.
They had been out riding on an improvised chariot--a hayrick of the old-fashioned kind, like a cradle, filled with the fragrant timothy and redtop, when the accident, narrated in the first chapter, took place.
As Tavia and Dorothy ran after the wagon containing their friends, while the vehicle swayed from side to side in the road, they saw it give a sudden lurch, and almost topple over on the steep embankment which descended to the river.
Dorothy gave a gasp of fear, and Tavia covered her eyes with her hand. The next moment Dorothy saw the driver of the wagon crawling out from a clump of bushes. Guessing that he was not badly hurt, she ran on, for she had halted momentarily when she saw the vehicle sway so dangerously. Together she and Tavia sprang forward, to reach, if possible, before it toppled over, the swaying, bounding wagon.
Whether from an unconquerable spirit of fun, or from motives purely humane, Tavia had snatched up armful after armful of the loose hay, which had been spilled out on the road. In doing this she never halted in her running, but stooped over, like some gleaner in a field, urged on by the approach of night.
"Oh!" cried Dorothy. "If we can only reach them before----"
A figure darted out on the road just ahead of them, and the unexpected move interrupted Dorothy's exclamation.
"Oh, a man!" shouted Tavia, who was somewhat in advance. "Now we--will be--all right!"
Yes, a man had started down the hill after the runaway, but just how or why Tavia was sure that this would make things right, was not clear to Dorothy.
"He can run!" she called, "Can't he, Tavia?"
"Can't he!" replied Tavia. "But I'm not going to let him have all the glory. Here," and she tossed a bundle of hay to Dorothy. "Take it along for the--hospital beds. I'm going--to--run!"
"Going--to!" repeated Dorothy, all out of breath from her own efforts to catch up to the runaway.
But Tavia darted on. The strange man kept well ahead. Dorothy paused one moment from sheer exhaustion. Then she saw the wagon overturn!
The next instant she noted that the stranger had grabbed the horse by the trailing reins.
"Quick!" shrieked Tavia. "The girls may be under the cart!"
With strength gathered from every desperation Dorothy ran on.
She was beside the overturned wagon now, and without uttering a word she crawled in through the upright sticks, down amid the dust and hay.
Three girls, so wound together as to look like one, lay on one side of the wrecked vehicle.
"Dorothy!" gasped Rose-Mary. "Are you safe!"
"Yes, but you--Nita and Edna?" gasped Dorothy, pantingly.
"I think Nita has fainted," replied Rose-Mary. "But Edna is all right. Where is Tavia?"
"Safe," answered Dorothy. "A strange man stopped the runaway. Tavia is helping hold the horse. We must get the traces loose before we can attend to Nita."
She made her way out of the overturned wagon. The traces were unfastened and the horse was free, and the strange man was actually astride the animal.
"Why," exclaimed Dorothy, "that horse will bolt again. You had best make him fast somewhere!"
The stranger looked at her with the air of a Chesterfield.
"By kindness we alone subdue," he said.
Dorothy stared at him. What could he mean?
Tavia seemed to have