The Outdoor Girls in Army Service | Page 4

reciprocal.
Will Ford's particular high-school chum had been Frank Haley, and as a
consequence, Frank had been drawn into the circle, along with Roy
Anderson, another young man of the town.
These young fellows often went off camping, and usually in the
vicinity of where the girls had planned to spend their outing days.
Deepdale was a picturesque city of about fifteen thousand people,
located on the Argono river, which, some miles below, emptied into
Rainbow Lake. Back of Deepdale was a rich farming country, which
tended to make the town a prosperous one.
Returning from Ocean View, the girls started on a new outing, as
related in the volume before this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls on Pine
Island." The girls occupied a bungalow, which had been turned over for
their use by an aunt of Mollie Billette. The boys were in a camp near
by.
Quite by accident both girls and boys had stumbled upon a gypsy cave,
cleverly hidden in the underbrush, and had afterward succeeded in
rounding up the entire gypsy band, incidentally regaining some
property which had been stolen from the girls.
Now, at the time our story opens, the Outdoor Girls were again at Pine
Island, in the cottage lent them by "Aunt Elvira"; but times had
changed, and they were no longer solely upon pleasure bent. The
grumbling, menacing unrest of war seemed in the very air they
breathed, and from dawn to evening they thought of very little else.

Now at the ringing shout, "I've volunteered," they were on their feet,
fairly trembling with excitement and eagerness.
"Allen, Allen!" cried Betty, the color flaming into her face. "Oh, I'm so
glad! I'm so glad!"
"Gee, he's not the only one," cried a big, strapping lad, Frank Haley, by
name, throwing himself upon the steps, and looking up at the girls
triumphantly. "Just because he can run faster than we can, he gets all
the credit."
"You, too, Frank?" cried Betty, turning upon him with shining eyes.
"And here comes Roy," put in Mollie. "Did he--"
"You just bet he did," Roy Anderson, red and perspiring, answered for
himself. "Did you ever hear of an Irishman staying out of a fight? I'm
aching already to get my hands on Fritz."
"What's the matter with Will?" asked Grace a little anxiously, for the
young fellow coming slowly toward them with downcast eyes and bent
head was her brother. "He looks as if he'd lost his last friend."
Seven pairs of eyes were immediately focused upon the apparently
despondent figure, while the boys shifted uneasily and looked vaguely
troubled.
"Hello, folks," Will saluted them, as he sank down upon the lower step,
and looked out toward the water. "Why the sudden hush?"
For a moment no one spoke. They were all strangely embarrassed by
this unusual attitude of Will's. He had always been so frank and
outspoken. And now--
"Oh, for Pete's sake, say something!" he burst forth at last, looking up
at the silent group defiantly. "You were making enough noise before,
but the minute I come along, you just stop short and stare. I didn't know
I was so fascinating."

"You're not," said Mollie promptly.
With an impatient grunt, Will stuffed his hands into his pockets and
stalked off into the woods.
"Well," said Grace, with a long sigh, "I never saw Will act that way
before. Now what's the matter?"
"Indigestion, probably," said Allen, trying to pass it off. "He acts just
the way I feel when I have it. Which reminds me that I'm getting
mighty all-fired hungry."
"Well, you don't get anything to eat," said Betty decidedly, "until you
tell us all about everything, since the day you left here so mysteriously
to the present time."
"Seems we've got to sing for our supper--or rather, breakfast," said
Frank with a grin. "Go ahead, Allen, but be brief. I want some of
Betty's biscuits."
"Goodness, do you suppose Betty's going to start in and cook biscuits,
now?" cried Mollie. "Why, we just got through our own breakfast."
"Well, we didn't," said Roy, nibbling a piece of grass for want of
something better. "And you ought to take it as a proof of our devotion,
that we didn't stop for any. We were too anxious to get here to tell you
our news."
"And blow a little," scoffed Mollie, the irrepressible.
"Oh, for goodness' sake stop talking," entreated Betty, with her hands
to her ears. "If the boys want biscuits they shall have them-- if I have to
stay up all night to cook some for them. They can have anything in the
house, as far as I'm concerned."
"Hear, hear!" cried the boys in chorus, looking up admiringly at her
flushed face.
"If volunteering has that effect," Roy added, "I'm going back and do