The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills | Page 2

when he suddenly started and peered more keenly.
That which had attracted his attention was a stoop-shouldered man. The
fellow wore a soft hat, the brim of which was slightly turned up in front,
but his face was well masked by a huge pair of green automobile
goggles.
"Well, I swum!" ejaculated the postmaster. "If I didn't know the feller
was in jail up at Concord, I'd say that was Big Charlie. Hm-m-m. No.
This one is too stooped for Charlie. Charlie's six foot two in his socks. I
wonder who this fellow is?"
Even then the mail train was whistling, and the postmaster began
bustling about preparing to receive the evening mail, always an event
for him as well as for the villagers, who ordinarily flocked into the
office, hoping to catch sight of a familiar handwriting or hear a name
mentioned that would give them foundation for a bit of gossip.
It was while he was thus engaged that five young girls and a young
woman some years their senior got down from a coach to the railway
platform, where they stood gazing expectantly about them. The young
women were dressed in tasteful blue serge suits, with hats of the same
material, a sort of uniform, the villagers decided, and, had not the
station platform been too dark, the eager spectators would have seen
that the faces of the visitors were tanned almost to swarthiness.
"Shall I ask some one if Mr. Janus Grubb is here?" questioned one of
the girls.
"No, wait a moment, Harriet," answered the young woman in charge of

the party, "I will ask. Surely the guide should be here to meet us, since
Miss McCarthy's father had arranged for it."
"You are looking for a guide, Miss?" questioned a voice at her side.
Miss Elting, the guardian of the party, glanced up inquiringly. She
looked into a face of which she could see but little. The most marked
feature of the face was a pair of huge green automobile goggles. These
gave to the face, which she observed wore a peculiar pallor, a sinister
effect, caused no doubt by the goggles.
"We are looking for Mr. Janus Grubb. Are you he?" she asked sharply.
The man nodded.
"This way," he said in a hurried voice.
"Come, girls," urged the guardian; "I thought Mr. Grubb would not fail
us."
"And a funny looking person he is," scoffed Jane McCarthy. Her
companions, Hazel Holland, Margery Brown and Grace Thompson,
giggled. Harriet Burrell plucked the sleeve of the guardian's light coat.
"I wouldn't go with him, Miss Elting," she urged.
"Why not, dear?"
"I don't like his looks. Make him take off his glasses. There is
something peculiar about him."
"This way, please!" the guide's voice took on a tone of command. They
had nearly reached the upper end of the platform when he issued his
peremptory order. Just then a shout was heard to the rear of them. A
man came running toward them.
"Hey, there!" he called. The girls halted. "Are you the Meadow-Brook
Gals?"
"Yes, sir," answered Miss Elting, brightly.

"Well, I'm mighty glad to know about it. 'Pears as if you didn't know
where you was going."
"And who are you, sir?" demanded the guardian.
"I'm the guide, Janus Grubb."
"Will you listen to the man!" chuckled Jane.
Harriet nodded with satisfaction.
"Janus Grubb? Why, sir, I don't understand. We have already met Mr.
Grubb," cried Miss Elting.
"Somebody is crazy," muttered Jane, "I think the man with the green
goggles is the lunatic."
"Show me the man who said he was myself," roared the newcomer.
Miss Elting turned to point out the man who had been piloting them
along the platform. She uttered a little exclamation. The man with the
goggles was nowhere in sight. "Why, where did Mr. Grubb go?" she
exclaimed.
"I'm Janus Grubb and I'd like to see the man who says I'm not," shouted
the guide indignantly, forgetting that he was addressing a woman.
"Please come to the station agent with me. If he identifies you, I am
satisfied," declared Miss Elting with dignity, looking disapprovingly at
the excited man. She moved back toward the station, followed by her
charges, and a moment later the railroad agent had identified Janus to
her entire satisfaction.
The girls giggled. There was something funny about their having been
deceived so easily, but Miss Elting did not regard matters in that light.
"Can you tell me who the man with the goggles is"? she demanded,
turning to the real guide after the identification had been made.
"If I knew him there'd be trouble," threatened Janus. "What kind of a

looking feller was he?"
Harriet answered, giving a very excellent description of the man with
the goggles.
"Don't know him," said Janus, stroking his whiskers