Part 5

By the time they came back with the napkins the luncheon was all packed and the three ladies, hatted and ready to go, were sitting on the front porch waiting, so there was no more temptation to peek into the kitchen. In about five minutes the big seven-passenger car that was to take them on the trip, drove up and they all piled in.

“Should we take wraps?” asked Mrs. Merrill at the last minute.

“Wraps!” laughed Mrs. Berry; “look at the sun! We’ll have sunshine all day if I’m any weather guesser.”

Alice, being the oldest girl, sat on the front seat with the driver; Mary Jane and Ellen had the two folding seats in the back and the three ladies had the long back seat to themselves.

“And don’t put your feet into the lunch,” warned Alice, as she leaned back and saw that the precious basket was right between the two little girls.

“Hump!” grunted Mary Jane, “think we want stepped-on lunch? We’re just as particular about the basket as any older body, we are!”

First they drove across the bridge toward the ocean; then they turned and started down the long wide beach.

“We’ll go along here this way for miles and miles,” said the driver to Alice, “and if you watch you’ll see queer things on the beach.”

“Queer things?” questioned Alice; “what kind of things?”

Before the driver had a chance to answer he spied something he wanted the girls to see and with a skid and a whirl he brought the car to a sudden stop right down by the edge of the waves.

“There,” he said, pointing to a lump of something that lay on the sand, “that’s what I mean. I’ll get it for you.” He jumped out of the car, picked up the messy looking thing and handed it to Alice. “It’s a jelly fish,” he explained; “there are lots of them washed up on the beach here. See, this is the way it sails on the water.”

The girls looked at the thing in open eyed amazement. They couldn’t realize that that queer looking mess that looked all the world like spoiled gelatine, could have been a creature sailing on the water.

“You just wait,” laughed the driver; “I’ll show you some out in the water before we turn off this beach.” He kept his word, too. About a half mile farther down the beach he spied a live jelly fish riding the waves. When the girls saw _that_ they thought first he must be joking them for it looked quite a bit like a sail boat some child had made and which had tipped over and blown out to sea. But when he stopped the car they could see plainly that it was just such a creature as he had shown them before.

“They certainly do have queer folks down at this place,” said Mary Jane, “queerer folks than live up at my home, I’m sure of that!”

Soon they turned off of the beach and went back across a bridge to a great orange orchard Aunt Sue wanted Ellen to see. The owner of the orchard was expecting them and he himself took them out to where oranges were being picked and then to the packing room where the golden fruit was scrubbed and sorted and packed. Mary Jane like the sorting the best of all.

“It’s just like a marble game,” she exclaimed excitedly as she watched the fruit come rolling down the trough. “See! That little one goes in there and the middle sized one goes in _there_ and the great big orange goes way down to the end. Let’s stay and watch some more.”

“Not this time,” replied Mrs. Merrill regretfully; “if we are to have a picnic we must be on our way because it’s nearly noon now.”

The orchard man loaded the girls with oranges and tangerines for their lunch and urged them to come again some time. They sped along the hard shell road, passed inlet after inlet where the water from the ocean, rising now with the turn of the tide, came close up to the road; and finally they turned in at a clean, pretty woods and the car came to a standstill.

“This _is_ a nice place,” said Mrs. Merrill to Mrs. Berry, “and we’re certainly glad you brought us along to your party. Girls, I’ll race you to that oak tree!”

The girls, each one, had intended to suggest eating lunch the very first minute they got out of the car; but they couldn’t let a challenge like that go by. Off they raced, Alice leading easily as they neared the great tree which was the goal.

“Let’s give her a handicap,” Mrs. Merrill said, as they measured up how very much Alice had beaten; “she’s so old she needs one.” So they made Alice stand five feet behind as they raced back and then the race came out exactly a tie.

“I say the winners get a luncheon for a prize,” suggested Mrs. Merrill, laughingly; “I think that’s safe when we all won, don’t you?”

While they had been racing, Mrs. Berry and her friend had spread the white table cloth and had unpacked most of the tempting food, so each girl dropped down by the nearest napkin and prepared to be served. No wonder the ladies had wanted to keep that lunch basket for a surprise--it was a meal fit for a king and each hungry eater was loud in the praises of kind Mrs. Trudy who had given them such a feast. There was fried chicken, each piece frilled with white paper and rolled up by itself; and sandwiches and rolls and jelly and olives and pickles and salad and cake and, oh, just everything good a person could think of. And last of all the real surprise--a can of fine ice cream which not one had guessed was tucked in under the back seat; no one, that is, but the driver, whom Mrs. Trudy had let into the secret.

After lunch was over the girls gathered moss and shells and acorns; they played games and had such a good time that no one even thought of home or the sky or weather or anything like that till suddenly Mrs. Merrill noticed that the sun wasn’t shining.

“We should have brought wraps after all!” exclaimed Mrs. Berry in dismay, “but who’d have guessed that this fine day would end in a rain. Come quick, girlies, we’ll have to bustle our things into the car in a jiffy and make for home. I know these southern storms and this starts out like a bad one.”

Even as she spoke the sky grew suddenly blacker and a great flash of lightning lit up the woods with a weird light.

“I never saw anything so sudden!” cried Mrs. Merrill; “look! There’s a drop of rain now! Hadn’t we better put up the curtains on the car before we start? It would be a bad thing for us to get wet so far from home.”

The three ladies helped and the girls held curtains from the inside so the job didn’t take very long. But even that little time made a great difference. The great drops of water came faster and faster and the driver got soaked when he jumped out to lock the gate that led from woods to road.

“There’s no one on the road, driver,” said Aunt Sue, as they started north, “so let her out. The roads are good and we can get home through the woods if you drive fast so as to make it before the roads get too soaked.”

On they dashed; past bridges, woods, gullies and inlets. They were taking the inside road as that would get them home quicker than the beach road they had used coming down. The girls thought it was a lark to sit cuddled up safe and dry in the car while the lightning flashed and the rain beat upon the leather roof over their heads.

On they went, past more woods and orchards and creeks, all the time having near them on one side or the other the wide stretches of water that now, at high tide, came up so close to the road. The shell road made fine driving but no one, not even the driver who was used to that country, realized how very slick the road might be in such a storm. On, and on, through the lightning that lit up the dark shadows of the groves they raced past.

And then a sudden whirl--a slip--a splash! The car had skidded from the road into the bay and stood hub deep in a vast inlet of water.

WALKING THE PLANK

For a minute all seven folks in that car were too amazed to speak; then, suddenly every one began to talk at once.

“Will we sail out to sea?” asked Mary Jane.

“Driver, do you know when the tide is high?” from Mrs. Merrill.

“Of course, there’ll be no one along this road while the storm lasts!” cried Mrs. Berry.

“Will we just sit here and drown?” exclaimed Ellen.

“I guess I’ll swim ashore!” laughed Alice, who thought the experience a lark it was so unusual.

And as they talked the lightning flashed and sparkled; the thunder roared deafeningly and the rain on the car and on the water around them made so much noise they had to yell to make each other hear.

Suddenly Mrs. Merrill happened to think of time. She glanced at her watch and exclaimed, “It’s four o’clock! If I recall rightly from yesterday on the beach that’s nearly high tide. If that’s the case the water won’t get any higher.”

“What’s tide?” asked Mary Jane.

“It’s the rising and falling of the water, dear,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Twice a day the water spreads out a few feet over the land and twice a day it goes back. Some other time I’ll tell you more about it. If the water doesn’t come up much deeper here we’ll not be in any real danger and I think we’d better sit still till the storm goes over. Surely such a hard storm will not last long.”

So they tried to settle themselves comfortably for a long wait. But it wasn’t easy. The roar of the thunder and the water and the weird light from the storm’s bright flashes made them all uneasy. They played twenty questions and they counted the seconds on Mrs. Merrill’s watch between the lightning and the thunder. But nothing seemed very interesting.

“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested Mrs. Berry, “let’s talk about where we are going and what we plan to see before we go back up north. That will be fun.”

And it was. Mrs. Merrill said she and the girls planned to go back to Jacksonville in a day or two where they hoped to meet Mr. Merrill.

“You don’t mean to tell me,” exclaimed Mrs. Berry, “that these girls are going home without a ride up the Ocklawaha? That seems a shame!”

“The Ocklawaha?” questioned Mrs. Merrill; “I don’t believe I know that trip.”

“Then you surely must take it,” said Mrs. Berry; “the girls will love riding on that great, queer boat through the wild forests where they can see alligators and snakes and turtles and orange groves and Indian battle fields and everything, right close at hand. When we get home I’ll show you the folders.”

“Do they have really truly alligators growing outside a fence?” asked Mary Jane, her eyes big with wonder.

“Do they?” answered Mrs. Berry vigorously; “you just wait and see! Alligators along the banks and in the water and right near the boat.”

“Ugh!” exclaimed Mary Jane, as a sudden thought struck her; “are there any here?”

“I hope not,” said Mrs. Berry with a shiver; “no, girls, I was just joking,” she added as she saw the three girls glance fearfully at the water; “alligators like jungles and heavy vegetation. They would never come up so near a road--you may be sure of that.”

“Listen!” exclaimed Alice suddenly; “wasn’t that thunder farther away?”

The driver loosened the front curtain and peered out. Yes, the storm was going away, that was plain to see. The thunder was getting fainter every minute, the lightning was only a glow and the rain had nearly stopped.

“I do believe it’s going away as quickly as it came,” said Aunt Sue hopefully. “What time is it now anyway?”

“Five o’clock,” replied Mrs. Merrill; “how’s the tide, driver?”

“Going down,” he answered; “see? It’s below the running board a-ready. I guess I’ll see if I can start her up.” He pressed the button on his starter and the wheels of the auto began to spin but the car didn’t move an inch. “Just as I was afraid!” he muttered; “stuck in the mud. I’ll wade to shore and walk down the road till I come to a house where I can get help to pull us out. I reckon you’ll all be safe enough.” He pulled off his shoes and socks, waded to shore and set off up the road. By this time the rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through the clouds, so sitting in a car out in the water seemed much less dismal.

He hadn’t been gone more than fifteen minutes before an auto pulled up in front of the stranded car and out jumped the driver and two men. “I met ’em up the road,” their driver explained, “and we’ve brought a plank and a rope.”

“Yes, we’ll soon have you all out and a-riding home,” said one of the men.

First they laid the great long plank from the road to the running board of the car. Then Mrs. Merrill, who had been loosening the curtains, stepped out to walk to shore.

“Better let the little lady go first to see if it’s all right,” suggested the driver. “Here, Alice, your mother can hold you to start and I’ll meet you to finish.”

So Alice climbed out and holding tightly to her mother’s out-stretched hand, started the scary looking walk to shore. The plank did tip and sway, but the men stood on the shore end so it would not slip and she made the journey safely.

“That wasn’t hard a bit!” exclaimed Alice; “I’d like to do it again!”

“One at a time, please, one at a time,” laughed the driver. “You’ll be playing pirate first thing you know--I remember I used to read about walking the plank in pirate books, though goodness knows it wasn’t anything like this! Who’s coming next?”

Mrs. Merrill lifted Mary Jane out and set her on the plank; then she walked close behind and held onto the little girl’s shoulders as they slowly crept to shore. Mrs. Berry came next with Ellen held in front of her the same way and last of all Aunt Sue. Then the men waded out, tied the heavy rope onto the car, fastened it onto their own machine and with a great tugging and pulling and jerking the car was pulled loose from the river bed and dragged up onto the road.

“There you are!” exclaimed one of the men, “all ready to drive. Now, young man,” he said to the driver, “suppose you see if your engine’s damaged and then we’ll be going.” While the driver inspected his engine Mrs. Merrill paid the two men for their trouble so that when the engine was found to be unharmed they started home at once. The water had drained off the hard shell roads very quickly and the drive home was not half so unpleasant as might have been expected.

In a very short time they came to a stop in front of their own hotel. “Well, I surely am glad to be back!” exclaimed Mrs. Merrill.

“And we surely are glad to have you here safe and sound!” cried good Mrs. Trudy coming out to greet them. “We’ve all been anxious about you. Did the storm hit your way?”

“Did it?” answered Mrs. Merrill; “ask the girls!”

The three girls began talking at once and it was a wonder Mrs. Trudy could hear a thing.

“I just knew something had happened when you were so late,” she said when the girls stopped for breath. “And you must be starved--did you know it’s after seven? I saved some hot dinner for you so run right in and eat it.”

Other guests had long finished eating but they followed the little party into the dining room and listened to the story of the exciting experience. But after dinner was eaten and the story had been told and re-told till every one had heard it many a time, the girls found they were tired and nobody, for a wonder, objected when Mrs. Merrill suggested going to their rooms.

“Oh dear,” said Mrs. Trudy, suddenly, “where did he put that box? Tom had something for you, Mary Jane, and he was so particular you should have it first thing when you came home but for the life of me I don’t know where it is!” She hunted around diligently for a minute or two and then said, “Well, he must have taken it off with him. You’d better get to bed, little lady, so you can get up early in the morning and see what it is.”

“Can’t you tell?” coaxed Mary Jane.

“Tell!” exclaimed Mrs. Trudy. “I should say I couldn’t! Tom will tell you himself because it’s his. He comes early you know, so you may come down the first minute you are dressed and I’ll wager he’ll be looking for you.”

“Won’t you even _hint_?” asked Mary Jane as she started up the stairs.

“Well,” laughed Mrs. Trudy, “I might tell you that it’s alive and it’s red or brown or green or yellow--I don’t know which just at this minute--if that’s any help to you.”

“I guess I might as well go to bed,” said Mary Jane after she had thought hard for a minute, “’cause that doesn’t help a bit. I guess I’ll just have to go to bed and get up in the morning, I guess I will.”

CATCHING THE BOAT

When Mary Jane went down stairs the next morning she spied a queer looking box with holes cut in the sides lying on the big table in the office.

“Now I wonder if that’s it?” she thought. “And I wonder if I can look at it now.”

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wonder long. Tom was sitting in a corner reading the paper while waiting for her and as soon as he heard her whisper he bobbed up and said good morning.

“Look what I’ve got for you!” he exclaimed as he gave her the box. “No,” he added as he saw she hesitated about taking the cover off, “you don’t need to be afraid. I think he’s too sleepy to run away. Look and see what it is.”

Mary Jane carefully lifted off the cover and there inside, nestled down on the grass, was a tiny little creature, about three inches long, with bead-like black eyes and a tail fully as long as his body.

“What is it?” cried Mary Jane; “it looks like a baby alligator only they’re brown.”

“Yes, it does look something like that,” agreed Tom, “but it isn’t an alligator. It’s a chameleon.”

“A chameleon?” repeated Mary Jane; “what’s a chameleon?”

Alice came running down the stairs just in time to hear what Mary Jane said. “I know,” she cried eagerly, “it’s a creature that changes its color.”

“But this doesn’t change any color,” said Mary Jane skeptically; “this’n green.”

“Yes,” said Tom, “because it’s on green grass. You just wait and I’ll show you.” He picked up the little creature by its tail and, holding it gently, laid it on the brown table cover. To the girls’ amazement the brilliant green color faded and like magic the creature before them was all of brown.

“Oh!” exclaimed Mary Jane, in an awe-struck voice; “what makes it do it?”

“They say,” replied Tom, “that it’s got a set of air cells that catch the color of whatever the creature’s on. But I don’t believe they really for sure certain know what _does_ do it.”

“But that’s not yellow!” said Mary Jane, remembering that Mrs. Trudy had said three colors.

“Of course not,” laughed Tom, “because the table cover’s brown. Here, you put it on Alice’s yellow dress and see what happens.”

Very gingerly, Mary Jane picked up the little creature and laid it in Alice’s lap. And sure enough! Like magic again the chameleon changed its color--this time a golden yellow that was streaked a bit with brown at the sides--made it look utterly unlike the green animal Mary Jane had first seen in the box.

“I think that’s the wonderfulest thing I ever saw,” she exclaimed. “I’m just going to change it around all day and see what it does.”

Fortunately Mrs. Merrill had made no special plans for that day. She thought that if they were to take the boat trip so recommended to them, the girls had better have a day of rest and quiet play before they set off. So Mary Jane had plenty of time to play with her chameleon to her heart’s content. Later in the morning, Tom found one for Alice too and they made a nest for them out in the fern box on the big front porch.

There were things to do besides play with the chameleons too. The yard was full of squirrels which would eat out of the girls’ hands. And back of the house a beautifully shaded canal proved to be the home of many sorts and sizes of turtles. So interesting did the girls find their play that they didn’t care to leave it even for a walk up town when Mrs. Merrill decided that she would go up and get the boat tickets for to-morrow.

The first thing Mary Jane heard the next morning was her mother’s voice saying, “Alice! Mary Jane! Do wake up quickly! We’ve over slept and the train goes in an hour and a half. Lucky I packed up the trunk and all your shells last night for we’ll have to fly now.”

The girls tumbled out of bed in a jiffy. They had talked with folks in the hotel the evening before about the Ocklawaha River trip and they were eager to take it. So it needed no urging to get them tubbed and dressed and down to the dining room in short order.

“You’ve plenty of time,” said Mrs. Trudy reassuringly; “your trunk will go right now--I’ll tend to that and Tom is ready to drive you to the station, so take your time at breakfast. The train doesn’t go till nine, you know.”

Later Mrs. Merrill had looked over her mail and the girls had said good-by to all their new friends and were just getting into the station bus when the telephone rang. “Train’s an hour late,” said Mrs. Trudy as she hung up the receiver, “aren’t you glad you did not rush more?”

“But will that give us plenty of time to make the boat?” asked Mrs. Merrill; “let’s see--two hours for the trip and the boat goes at twelve forty-five. Yes, that ought to be plenty of time. Girls, you may run out and take a last look at your chameleons if you like.” That was welcome permission. Of course they had wanted to take the chameleons home with them but Mrs. Merrill thought it wasn’t possible as they were stopping so many places en route. But it was fun to hunt them up and play a few minutes with their changing colors.

As the minutes went by Mrs. Merrill became uneasy and a second telephone message bringing news that the train was an hour and a half late confirmed her suspicion that they might have trouble making connections.

“I think I’ll phone the agency where I got the tickets,” she said finally. “Perhaps they will wire and have the boat held for us.” The ticket lady was most reassuring and was certain that the boat would wait so Mrs. Merrill felt comforted. But it was eleven o’clock when the train finally came and it lost more time all the way up.

“Girls,” said Mrs. Merrill, as they neared their station at half past one, “get your bags and camera ready for a dash. If I see a car anywhere around the station I’ll take it in a jiffy and we’ll drive as fast as possible for that boat. I have an uneasy feeling that they won’t wait this long for us and I don’t want to lose a minute’s time.”

They stepped off the train the instant it stopped and Mrs. Merrill ran toward a small car that, with chugging engine and waiting driver, stood near by.

“Will you take us to the boat?” she cried eagerly.

“Sure, lady,” said the driver cheerfully; “pile right in.”

Grabbing the luggage the girls carried, a small bag and Alice’s camera, Mrs. Merrill tossed it with her own bag into the back, pushed the girls in and, jumping in herself, slammed the door behind her. And that same instant a man who evidently had been up at the front of the train jumped in the front seat by the driver, and with a lurch the car dashed away.

“The boat, you know,” said Mrs. Merrill as soon as she got her breath; “we want the Ocklawaha boat.”

“Sure, lady,” said the man, “we’ll make it.” He waved a yellow telegram before her, but with the jolting of the car and the rush of the wind, Mrs. Merrill couldn’t tell what it said nor could she hear the rest of his words.

“Well, no use getting excited,” she said, sitting back where she could brace herself better. “Evidently they wired to meet us here and that certainly was thoughtful. Hang on to the seat there, Mary Jane, or you’ll bounce out, child,” she added quickly as an extra big lurch of the car threatened to toss Mary Jane out over the side.

On they dashed through the noon sunshine: past houses and streets and out into the open country. And no sign of a boat landing anywhere.

“Something’s wrong, I know,” said Mrs. Merrill with concern. “I know we’ve been at least four miles and the boat landing was only two miles from the station. They’ve got to stop and tell me where they are going.” She braced herself firmly and then reached front and shouted to the driver.

“Stop! Stop right here! I told you I want to go to the boat landing and you’re not taking us in that direction.”