CHAPTER 15 Watchful Waiting

TWO days elapsed before the Brownie Scouts again found time to visit their tree house in the metropolitan park.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vincent had made inquiry at the bank, learning the exact amount of money owed by his sister.

“Unless the sum is promptly paid, everything she owns will be sold at auction,” he informed Miss Gordon. “I am told she not only mortgaged her house, but all her furniture, too.”

The Brownies were eager to see Mrs. Myles at once to ask her if she would accept money from the carpenter.

Miss Gordon, however, held off making the call.

“We will not speak to her of the matter until Mr. Vincent definitely instructs us to present his offer,” she decided. “This is a case in which too much haste might ruin everything.”

Dismissing Mrs. Myles temporarily from their thoughts, the girls hiked once more to their tree house deep in the woods.

“I wonder if Mr. Vincent put a lock on the door for us?” Connie speculated as they reached the big oak tree.

“He’s doing that tomorrow,” Miss Gordon answered. “When I talked with him yesterday, he told me he had been too busy with other work to get around to it.”

“Then I guess we have no surprises in store for today,” Connie said, as she started up the stairway.

Veve had gone on ahead. “Yes, we have too!” she shouted.

In a moment the other Brownies saw what the little girl meant.

A tiny stove had been set up in the playhouse. The pipe was in and everything appeared in readiness for a fire. Beside the stove was a neat pile of wood and kindling.

“Oh, do you suppose Mr. Vincent did this?” Veve cried.

“It’s possible,” admitted Miss Gordon. “He didn’t say a word about it yesterday though when I talked to him about Mrs. Myles.”

“Then maybe he didn’t do it,” said Eileen doubtfully.

“Anyway it’s another wish come true!” laughed Sunny. “Oh, it will be cozy here with a fire.”

“We’ll be able to use our little house much later in the season too,” added Eileen.

The girls were all for building a fire immediately. However, Miss Gordon said it would be necessary first to obtain permission from Mr. Karwhite.

“The park has strict rules about starting fires,” she reminded the girls. “I feel certain it will be all right, but to avoid any possible difficulty, we must ask permission.”

“Let’s do it right away!” urged Veve.

Leaving a few belongings in the tree house, the girls and their leader tramped to the gate house. Mr. Karwhite was not there, but they found him a short distance away, repairing a fence.

“Hello, strangers,” he greeted them, putting aside his tools. “Haven’t seen you for a long while.”

“Two days,” laughed Connie. “While we were away, another splendid surprise arrived at our tree house.”

“No!”

“A little stove,” explained Sunny. “Now we want permission to use it.”

Miss Gordon assured the park superintendent that the stove had been properly installed and appeared very safe.

“The Brownies never will use it except when I am with them,” she added.

“In that case you may use the stove whenever you like,” the park superintendent consented.

“We’d like to know who installed it for us,” Connie said. “Have you seen Mr. Vincent here lately?”

“Not that I recall. He comes and goes occasionally. As I said before, I don’t pay too much attention.”

“It’s certainly queer how that house of ours was built and no one knew about it,” Jane murmured. “I’d like to find out who is responsible for all our nice surprises.”

“Finding out might detract from some of the fun,” suggested Miss Gordon. “Why not enjoy the tree house and not worry too much about our kind benefactor?”

“The work must be done late in the afternoon or maybe at night,” Jane went on thoughtfully. “You know what! I’d like to hide out and watch sometime!”

“Let’s!” proposed Sunny taking up the idea.

Miss Gordon did not encourage the girls in the matter, so the proposal quickly was dropped.

“We’re wasting valuable time,” Veve complained. Always impatient, she was eager to return to the tree house. “Let’s get back and try out our new stove!”

“Race you!” challenged Jane.

Off they ran with the other Brownies in pursuit.

Veve and Jane, having a start of the others, were the first to reach the tree house.

“Say! Someone’s been here while we were away!” exclaimed Veve, pointing to fresh footprints at the base of the oak tree.

“I’ll bet a cent they went up into our tree house too,” Jane said indignantly. “Oh, I’ll be glad when Mr. Vincent gets that lock put on the door. Then we won’t have to worry about anyone breaking in.”

Uneasy lest damage might have been done, the two girls swiftly ascended the stairway. Veve pushed open the door.

A squirrel sat on the table, nibbling at a nut.

“Why, the little scamp!” laughed Veve. “How did he get in here?”

“Through the window.”

“But we didn’t have the window open,” Veve recalled. “It’s chilly in here and we kept it closed all the time.”

“That’s so, we did,” recalled Jane, looking around. “Oh, see what’s happened!”

She pointed to the wood which had been scattered.

“The squirrel didn’t do that!” cried Veve.

“It must have been those mean boys again! They’re somewhere in the park.”

“I wish Mr. Karwhite could catch them at their tricks.”

“So do I,” Jane muttered, starting to pick up the wood.

The other Brownies came trooping up the stairs and were informed what had occurred. By this time the squirrel had scampered away. Running along the balcony rail, he leaped into a tree branch. From there he chattered excitedly.

“Mr. Squirrel is annoyed too!” Rosemary declared. “Oh, I wish we could find those boys.”

“They can’t be far from here,” Veve said.

“Let’s track them down,” proposed Jane. “We’ll arm ourselves with sticks and—”

“No, girls!” Miss Gordon reproved firmly. “That would never do.”

“If we don’t stop them somehow, they’ll keep on wrecking our tree house,” Eileen protested. “How are we going to catch them?”

“I know!” proposed Veve suddenly. “Why don’t we hide out in the bushes and keep watch? They may come sneaking back here.”

“Probably they ran away because they saw us returning,” Jane added, instantly falling in with the idea. “We could pretend to leave the park, but not actually do it.”

The girls now beseeched their leader to consent to the plan.

“We might wait hours to no purpose,” she tried to discourage them.

“I wouldn’t care if I had to stay all night!” Jane announced. “It would be worth it to catch those bad boys.”

The other Brownies said they felt the same way about it.

“Very well,” Miss Gordon finally gave in. “We’ll hide out for awhile. Even if we aren’t successful, it may teach us how to be patient.”

Putting the little house to rights, the Brownies gathered up all of their personal possessions.

When they were ready to leave, they closed the door of the tree house and tacked a sign on the door which read:

“Brownie Scout property. Please do not enter.”

“There!” Veve said in satisfaction as they went down the stairway. “If they deliberately disobey now, they’ll deserve to be arrested!”

The Brownies walked a short distance down the trail. As they came to a dividing path, they saw a group of four boys playing in a nearby pond. The youngsters were tossing stones into the water.

“There they are now!” exclaimed Jane. “I’m sure they’re the ones!”

“We can’t be certain,” Miss Gordon said quietly. “Before we can turn anyone in, they must be caught actually damaging our property. Keep walking girls, and don’t look toward the pond.”

Well aware that they would be watched by the group of boys, the Brownie Scouts continued on the path until they no longer could see the pool.

“We’ll come to another trail a little farther on,” Miss Gordon said. “By taking it we can double back to the tree house without being seen.”

Convinced that the boys would take advantage of their absence to invade the playhouse again, the Brownies hurried as fast as they could.

However, when they reached the oak tree there was no indication anyone had been there.

“We haven’t given them very long,” said Miss Gordon. “Suppose we seek hiding places.”

Each girl found herself a hide-out amid the bushes. Jane and Veve were the closest to the oak tree, sheltered by a heavy screen of branches and leaves.

For a time, it was very exciting to lie in wait. Each time a stick crackled or any unusual sound was heard, the girls waited tensely, certain that the boys were coming. But they never did.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” Jane said presently, shifting her cramped legs. “How long have we been here now?”

“Oh, fifteen or twenty minutes,” Veve replied.

“It seems a couple of hours. I don’t think I want to wait much longer.”

“You were the one who said you wouldn’t mind waiting all night!” Veve reminded her.

“Well, I’m getting tired. Besides, I don’t think they’re coming back. Those boys probably are playing at the pond.”

“You’re too impatient,” Veve chided her. “I’m not going to be the first Brownie to quit. No, sir!”

“Who is quitting?” Jane demanded crossly. “I just said I was tired—that’s all.”

To make the waiting period pass more quickly, the girls watched the birds. They played a game of identifying trees, flowers and plants within their range of vision.

Finally Veve became deeply interested in watching what went on in an ant hill.

“Look at ’em go!” she exclaimed, scraping sand from the top of the mound.

“Quiet, you dope!” warned Jane, punching her hard in the ribs.

Veve listened intently. She could hear light steps on the trail.

“Someone’s coming!”

“Sure,” whispered Jane. “Be quiet. Or do you want to give everything away?”

On the opposite side of the path, Miss Gordon and the Brownies also had heard the sound of shuffling feet through dry leaves. Flattening themselves on the ground, the girls quietly waited.