The Quest of Happy Hearts | Page 6

and put a warning finger to her lips.
"Don't be silly, Janey; don't you see Don and Harry ahead? We'll play that we are all going on a quest, and they will be our knights--there's nothing to fear."
Janey's face brightened, and Beth and Alice, thinking only of the good time ahead, danced merrily along the way.
"Wouldn't it be fun, if we found a little cabin, in the heart of the forest?" Don turned toward Harry to help with the basket of lunch, that he had been carrying since they left.
Harry's eyes began to sparkle.
"Maybe we will; I, for one, am out on a real adventure."
"We're leaving the mystery of the tower room behind--" Janey paused, remembering that it was Aunt Janice's secret, after all, of which she spoke; yet she had not been able to shake off her nervous feelings, even though Nora had laughed at her fears!
"I read a story once called, 'The Adventure of the Happy Heart.'"
"What a pretty title, Nora--tell us about it."
"The Happy Heart stood for anyone who tried to make someone, who was lonely, glad, every day or whenever the opportunity arose, on the road of life, as they adventured along its path."
"What a lovely idea!" Janey cried. "Where did you find the story?"
"In our Sunday school library; it all ended with the heart that started out to bring gladness into other lives along the way; because every happy heart in turn, made another happy, and the one who started it, was full to overflowing with joy, all of her days!"
"Let's try and find someone today on our adventure."
"There's no time like the present," Don stepped back, and pointed mysteriously through an opening in the trees ahead, that revealed at the end of a winding footpath, a real log--cabin!
"Oh," gasped Janey, turning to catch Beth and Alice's hands--"maybe it's a gypsy hut!"
"Don't be a goose-girl," laughed Don, "whoever heard of a gypsy settling down in one place; they are a wandering tribe."
"We'll be the scouts and go ahead and bring back a report."
Harry and Don started forward--
"Brave knights of old--" Nora said softly, as the two disappeared down the trail, toward the unknown, in the shape of a small cabin at the end!
"Well, this may be our chance to begin on our quest for happy hearts," Nora, her eyes following the boys, spoke again.
"I like adventuring for happy hearts, don't you?"
"So do I--"
"And I--"
"And I!"
"I believe Aunt Janice was the first one on our chain."
"I believe you are right, Janey--" and Nora smiled around on the group--"we shall count her as the first link of joy on our quest of adventuring for happy hearts!"
"Lovely!" exclaimed Janey--"I wonder who will be the next?"
"I wonder, too--" Nora replied, as they watched the retreating "knights" disappearing down the shadowy forest trail!

CHAPTER VI
MARTY AND JERRY
Don and Harry, starting down the trail, had cautioned the girls to wait where they were, until they received the signal to come and join them, or otherwise.
"It may be just a deserted cabin that belongs to Aunt Janice, and that we can claim if she's willing--" then the boys had hastened on deeper into the forest.
"Suppose--" Harry began, "that we find that the log cabin, so hidden away, has something to do with the secret of the tower room!"
"Then we won't investigate, because Aunt Janice doesn't seem to want us to know."
In another moment, as they came nearer the hut, voices could be heard speaking inside, and a dog began to bark furiously.
"Be quiet, 'Gem'--down--down--who's there?"
The boys, waiting a few feet away, replied, "Harry and Donald Meredith; we were just exploring and thought we'd come up and see if anyone was occupying the cabin, but your dog sounds mean."
The door had opened by this time, while a boy, holding "Gem" by the collar, appeared.
"Oh, 'Gem' is our protector, you see. Marty and I are alone at night sometimes, when Grandfather's away foresting; you are from the Castle then?"
"We're visiting our Aunt Janice; she gave us a basket of lunch and said we might have a day of exploration."
"Then, we were also to gather greens and wild ferns, for a party that she is giving for us later."
"How nice!" a bright-eyed girl had joined her brother at the door.
She nudged him quickly as a reminder.
"Why don't you ask them in, Jerry?"
The boy smiled--"This is Marty, my sister--and she's wondering if you won't come in--see, 'Gem' is quite friendly now, since he sees that you are also friends!"
Don and Harry stooped to pat the small dog, capering around at their feet.
"Thanks--" they both replied, "but we left Nora, Janey--Beth and Alice, behind; they were waiting for us to make a discovery here."
The small girl clapped her hands impulsively.
"Girls--" she cried, "there are girls too, Jerry!"
Jerry looked as pleased as his sister--"Go and bring them along, Marty--they may