CHAPTER XVIII

GREAT EXCITEMENT

Mr. Richard Gordon was, as Betty and Bob often declared, the very best uncle that ever lived!  One good thing about him they thought was that he never “fussed.”

“He isn’t always wondering what you are going to do next and telling you not to,” explained Bob to Ida Bellethorne as the party started out from Mountain Camp.  “Not like a woman, oh, no!”

“Hush, bad boy!” cried Bobby.  “What do you mean, throwing slurs at women?”

“You know even if Mrs. Canary had seen us start off she would have given us a dozen orders before we got out of earshot.  And she’s a mighty nice woman, too.  Almost as nice as your mother, Bobby,” finished Bob.

“Bob doesn’t like chaperons,” giggled Betty.

“Nor me,” said Tommy Tucker, sticking close to Bobby Littell as he always did when Roberta would let him.  “Uncle Dick suits me as a chaperon every time.”

Uncle Dick had let the party troop away on their snowshoes without advising them when to return or asking where they were going, and presently Betty and Bob formed a sudden plan about their hike.

From one of the men working about the camp Bob had got directions regarding the nearest way to Candace Farm.  Ida longed to go there.  It was but seven miles away in a direct line, and now, when Betty spoke of going there, Bob said that, with the aid of his compass, he knew he could find it without difficulty.

“We didn’t mention it to Uncle Dick, but he won’t be bothered about it,” said Bob.  “We’ve got all day.  We can tell him where we have been when we get back, which will be just the same.”

“Will it, Bob?” the girl asked doubtfully.  “But of course there is nothing really wrong in going.”

“I—­should—­say—­not!” exploded Bob.  “I’m sure it will be all right with Uncle Dick, Betty.  Remember how he let us roam and explore in Oklahoma?”

The others in the party were not troubled by doubts in the least.  They went hurrying through the snow with shouts and laughter; and if any forest animals were astir that day they must have been frightened by the noise the party made scrambling along on snowshoes.  Not one of them but fell at times—­and the very “twistiest” kind of falls!  But nobody was hurt; although at one point Bobby fell flat on her back at the verge of a steep descent and there was no stopping her until she plunged into a deep drift at the bottom.

Tommy kicked off his snowshoes and ran down to haul her out while the others, seeing that she was unhurt, shouted their glee.  Bobby was not often in a fix that she could not get out of by her own exertions.  Being such an energetic and independent girl, she would not often accept help of her boy friends, especially of Tommy who hovered around her like a moth around a candle.

But when she had lost her snowshoes she found the soft snow so much deeper than she expected at the bottom of that hill that she was glad indeed to accept Tommy’s aid.  He dragged her out of the drift and set her upright.  Even then she found that she could not climb up again by herself to where her friends were enjoying her discomfiture.