CHAPTER 6 HOUSE IN THE MIST

WISPY fog still hung over Silver Beach when Connie and Vevi awoke next morning.

The mist, though, had started to burn off by the time they had finished breakfast. Eagerly they ran next door to see how many Brownies were awake at Oriole Cottage.

“Let’s start for the little ship house right away!” urged Vevi, bursting in upon the group.

However, Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams had made other plans. A picnic had been scheduled at the hotel beach.

Observing Vevi’s disappointment at the announcement, Miss Gordon promised her that later in the day they would try to hike to the cottage.

Quickly the girls made their own beds and helped with the dishes. Before they were through, Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams had the lunches packed.

By the time the Brownies reached the hotel beach the sun was shining quite bravely. Nevertheless, Miss Gordon decided it was a little too cold for comfortable swimming.

“We’ll have our bird session first,” she announced. “Who will make the first report?”

Sunny Davidson wanted to be the first to offer her talk. That was because she had switched from a tern to a gull. She was afraid Connie would get ahead of her if she delayed the report.

“I’m going to tell about the herring gull,” she announced quickly. “He sits on piers, rocks and buoys when he isn’t flying around looking for food. He’s a noisy bird too.”

“We knew all that before,” said Vevi. She was a bit rude because she had wanted to tell about a gull herself.

“Sometimes one sees brown or speckled gulls,” went on Sunny, paying no attention to Vevi. “They’re the young gulls. When they become adults they turn white. Some of them have a little gray, black or blue in their plumage.”

“And did you notice the color of the gull’s legs?” questioned Miss Gordon. “That is most important in identifying a herring gull.”

Sunny had failed to notice the gull’s legs. But at that moment one of the big fat birds flew lazily overhead. “Why, they’re real pale!” Sunny exclaimed. “Sort of flesh colored.”

“That’s exactly right,” approved the Brownie Scout leader. “Your report was excellent, Sunny. I’ll reward you by giving you a few crumbs to toss out on the water.”

Sunny broke up a slice of bread the teacher gave her. She tossed several of the small pieces far out into the waves.

The next instant the Brownies heard a loud “squawk, squawk.” Down dived the big white gull, flapping its wings as it seized the bread.

“Oh, let me throw the next piece!” pleaded Vevi.

Miss Gordon gave her a chunk which she hurled into the waves. This time, not one gull, but two came after the food.

The loud squawking of the birds also brought Raymond Curry, the life guard.

“You’re not supposed to feed the gulls here,” he scolded the children.

“It was my fault for I gave them the bread,” Miss Gordon apologized. “I’m very sorry.”

The Brownies gathered in a semi-circle again to resume their bird talks.

Jane’s turn came next. She told about the tern, describing it as one of the most graceful birds she had ever seen.

“They look like large black-capped swallows,” she told the Brownies. “When they fish, they’re faster than a gull, plunging head-first into the water.”

Jane went on to describe the common type tern as a white bird with an orange-red bill. It was much smaller and thinner than the average gull.

Connie told about the turnstone she and Vevi had seen at the pond. Rosemary gave a long talk on the habits of the spotted sandpiper.

“Now it’s your turn, Vevi,” said Miss Gordon. “What bird will you tell us about?”

Vevi had made no preparation for the talk. She thought very fast.

“I’ll tell about a blackbird,” she announced.

The other Brownies hooted.

“A blackbird isn’t a water bird,” Jane said, flipping her long braids. “I guess you’ve been paying too much attention to turtles and little houses to think of the assignment.”

“No such thing,” Vevi defended herself. “I just didn’t have time, that’s all.”

“It really doesn’t matter,” said Miss Gordon quickly. “Vevi can make her report at our next beach meeting. At any rate, I had planned today to tell you how the ocean got its salt.”

“Vevi’s a tail-ender, all the same,” Jane teased. “I’ll bet she won’t have a report at the next meeting either.”

“You just wait and see!” Vevi retorted.

Miss Gordon began to tell the girls about the ocean. The Atlantic, she said, had more salt than most large bodies of water.

“Rivers are largely responsible,” she went on. “Can anyone guess why?”

No one could answer so Miss Gordon told the girls that each year the rivers carried large quantities of soluble mineral matter to the sea.

“Salt doesn’t dissolve easily. Therefore, each year the amount in the ocean keeps increasing.”

“Some day will the entire ocean be a big bed of salt?” asked Rosemary anxiously.

“No, the rivers never could carry that much,” Miss Gordon smiled.

Jane, who had noticed a jellyfish on the beach that morning, asked the teacher to tell about them.

“Their bodies consist of a jelly-like substance,” Miss Gordon explained. “They have no skeleton. Some types have stinging cells.” “I know because I stepped on one!” cried Connie. “How do they move through the water when they have no legs or fins?”

“By muscular tissue action. Oh, that reminds me! We’re to have a jellyfish hunt this morning.”

Jane looked troubled. “I don’t like jellyfish,” she announced. “I wouldn’t pick up one for anything in the world.”

“Neither would I,” shuddered Sunny. “I’d rather look for sand dollars.”

“Wait until you see our jellyfish,” laughed Miss Gordon.

Now, unknown to the Brownie Scouts, she and Connie’s mother had filled balloons with water, tying them securely with string. The balloons were every color of the rainbow. After Miss Gordon had dropped them into the shallow water, they did gleam like real jellyfish.

“A prize to the Brownie who finds the most jellyfish!” Miss Gordon spurred the girls on.

With shouts of laughter, the Brownies dashed into the water. The waves were tossing the jellyfish about, and it wasn’t easy to find them.

Rosemary got her hands on the first one, a yellow balloon. But when she lifted it out of the water, it slipped from her fingers. A wave swept it toward Jane, who grabbed it and held on.

“It’s my jellyfish!” she cried.

Vevi managed to get a balloon next and then Connie was able to seize one. In getting it though, she pierced the rubber with her fingernail. The water oozed out and she held only a flat piece of rubber.

“Connie’s got an old dead jellyfish!” Sunny Davidson teased. “Does that count, Miss Gordon?”

Before the teacher could answer, the Brownies saw Raymond Curry, the life guard striding down the sand. He looked very grim, as if displeased.

“What goes on here?” he demanded of the children.

“We’re hunting jellyfish,” Jane informed him. “I’m the leader because I just found another! That makes me two!”

“Hunting jellyfish!” the lifeguard retorted. “Littering up the beach, you mean. I don’t allow you to toss wet balloons around. We don’t permit picnics here either.”

Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams had come up by this time. They apologized to the guard, assuring him that they would pick up all the scattered balloons. “We didn’t know about the rule against picnics,” Mrs. Williams added. “We’ve been having them at the cottage beach. Barney Fulsom, the guard there, never objected.”

“Well, Barney doesn’t care if his beach looks like a garbage dump,” the hotel guard replied. “We’re more particular here.”

Miss Gordon, Mrs. Williams and the Brownies thought Raymond Curry was being most unfair. They were willing to obey all the rules. However, they had not scattered balloons or paper plates.

“Mr. Fulsom’s beach is nice,” Vevi said. “It’s as clean as this one!”

Mrs. Williams gave her a quick glance, so Vevi did not say any more. But she and all the other girls were provoked that the hotel guard had spoiled their morning’s fun.

“Who wins the prize?” Jane asked as they began gathering up their belongings.

“I guess you do,” Miss Gordon said. From her beach kit, she removed a curious object and gave it to Jane.

“Oh, it’s a starfish!” Jane cried in delight.

“I found it on the beach this morning,” Miss Gordon said. “If we have a little exhibition of shells and sea animals, you can include it.”

“Oh, I shall!” Jane’s eyes shone. “But after the exhibition, is it mine to keep?”

The Brownie leader assured her that it was.

“Where will we have our exhibition?” Vevi inquired as the girls trudged back to the cottage beach.

“We’ll find a place,” Miss Gordon promised.

Vevi had been thinking about the little ship cottage. She remarked that it would be nice to have the exhibition there.

“I don’t believe you and Connie ever saw such a place!” Jane challenged again.

“We did too!” Vevi retorted. “What’s more, we’ll prove it, if Miss Gordon will let us!”

The girls began to tease the Brownie leader to take them on the promised hike into the hills.

“This morning?” she asked dubiously.

“Just as soon as we’ve eaten our lunch,” Rosemary pleaded.

The teacher allowed herself to be persuaded. At the cottage beach, the children spread out the lunch. After the meal, they carefully gathered up all the paper plates, disposing of them in a trash can.

“I like this beach much better than the one at the hotel,” Vevi announced. “And I like Barney better than Mr. Curry too!”

All the Brownies said they felt the same way.

“I’m sure Mr. Curry doesn’t mean to be unkind,” Mrs. Williams declared. “He’s had trouble with his son, I understand. The boy ran away for a day or so. I believe he came back again though.”

Lunch over, the Brownies dressed in hiking clothes and stout shoes. With Vevi and Connie leading the party, they all set off at a brisk pace along the paved highway.

“Wouldn’t it be dreadful if we couldn’t find the little house again?” Vevi whispered to Connie. “We’d never live it down!”

“Without the mist, everything looks different,” Connie replied uneasily.

Soon the girls came to the dirt road which turned off toward the pond.

Vevi and Connie paused, uncertain which way to go.

“I think we keep on walking straight down the highway,” Connie decided at last.

“Don’t you know?” demanded Jane, who had overheard. “I’m not sure,” Connie admitted. “In the fog, we couldn’t tell where we were walking.”

She and Vevi went on, looking hard along both sides of the road. Tall trees loomed as far ahead as they could see.

“We may as well turn back,” Jane said impatiently. “I guess this proves who was right.”

“We haven’t walked far yet,” Miss Gordon remarked. “Besides, I think I see something that looks like a house set back among the trees on the left hand side of the road.”

“That’s it!” cried Vevi. “The little ship house!”

The Brownies hadn’t believed that the cottage could be real. Now that they saw it was, they became very excited.

With Vevi and Connie leading the way, they all started to run up the gravel path. Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams were hard pressed to keep up with the girls.

“Now who was right?” Vevi demanded of the crestfallen Jane.

“Oh, I guess the cottage is real enough,” Jane admitted grudgingly. “I was only teasing.”

“It looks as if it had come from the pages of a picture book!” declared Sunny. “How wonderful if no one owns it! Then we could use the place for our shell exhibitions.”

“And sleep here overnight,” Connie added. “It has bunks and everything.”

“Wait until you see the inside!” Vevi laughed.

Eager to show the other Brownies, she raced on ahead.

At the entrance, she halted suddenly. The door remained closed as she and Connie had left it the previous afternoon.

But there had been a change.

Across the crack of the door had been placed a metal bar. With a sinking heart, Vevi realized she never would be able to show the Brownies the inside of the cottage. For attached to the metal bar was a huge padlock which had been snapped shut.