The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure

  Produced by Al Haines

  [Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

  The Merriweather Girls

  IN

  QUEST OF TREASURE

  BY

  LIZETTE M. EDHOLM

  AUTHOR OF

  "THE MERRIWEATHER GIRLS" SERIES

  THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING COMPANY

  CHICAGO

  COPYRIGHT 1932 BY

  LIZETTE M. EDHOLM

  Made in U. S. A.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER

  I On Their Way II A Street Leading to the Capitol III The Wash-Out IV The Desert V A Solitary Explorer VI Casa Grande VII The Map of Mystery VIII Kit's Home Folks IX Lost Canyon X The Professor's Job XI Staking a Claim XII Double Dealing XIII The "Orphan Annie" Claim XIV Treasure Trove XV A Spy XVI Missing XVII Indian Trading XVIII The Old Chief's Daughter Walks XIX A Brass Bound Chest XX "Compliments of Kie Wicks"

  In Quest of Treasure

  CHAPTER I

  _ON THEIR WAY_

  The four Merriweather Girls were assembled at the railroad stationwhere the long string of Pullman coaches stood ready. The girls werestarting on a vacation trip to the southwest.

  "What's the matter, now, Joy Evans? Why all the tears?" Bet Baxter,her blond hair in disarray, caught the girl by the shoulders and gaveher a rough but affectionate shake.

  "Oh, let her alone, Bet," laughed Shirley Williams. "That's Joy'sgood-bye. She likes to weep when she goes away."

  "But why?" insisted Bet, her blue eyes serious for a moment. "We'vebeen planning on this western trip all winter. We've thought ofnothing but Arizona for months. Tell me why you are crying?"

  "Because I feel like it, Bet Baxter," snapped Joy. "It's so thrillingto be going away for a long trip, and when it comes to the luxury of aprivate car, why it's twice as thrilly." Joy choked as a laugh and asob got mixed up together. Then making an elaborate but not verypolite grimace at her chum, she disappeared into the car that was tocarry her and her chums westward.

  "There, she's herself again," laughed Bet. "That face indicates thatJoy is happy."

  Bet was glowing with excitement. It was her first long trip away fromher home in Lynnwood on the Hudson, and the promise of a summer ofadventure in the Arizona mountains was almost too good to be true. Orso it seemed to the girl.

  Her one regret was that her father was not coming with her. From theobservation car she was calling her farewell messages to him as hestood on the platform of the station. Bet was his only child and theresponsibility of looking after her and trying to make up for the lossof her mother, was sometimes a heavy burden on Colonel Baxter. Therewas an anxious look in his face now, although he knew that his daughterwould be well taken care of by Judge Breckenridge and his wife, who hadinvited Bet and her chums to be their guests for the summer.

  Anyone but an over-anxious parent would have felt confident that BetBaxter could look out for herself under any circumstances. Herstraight young body had poise and assurance of power and she had aresourcefulness of mind that made her a leader among her friends.

  Bet was nearer to real tears than she would have admitted to any one.Back there was her father, the very best chum she had, and to be goingaway where she could not see him every week-end made a strange catch inher breath.

  Shirley realized what Bet was experiencing and stepping to her side,called gaily to the Colonel.

  "Hold that pose, Colonel. I'm going to take a picture of you."

  Wherever one saw Shirley, they usually saw a camera for she rarely letit out of her hands during a trip, and now as the shutter clicked shesaid to Bet: "That's the third picture I've taken of him. You'll havethose to look at."

  "Thanks, Shirley, that's good of you. And I shouldn't feel sofrightfully homesick for Dad may come out to see us in a few weeks."

  "Oh, won't that be great," exclaimed Shirley. "He is just like one ofthe boys."

  "Doesn't it seem strange not to have the boys here to bid us good-bye.It's never happened before."

  The boys were Bob Evans, Joy's brother, and his chum, Phil Gordon,favorites with the girls and always included in their activities whenboys were wanted at all. The week before, the girls had waved themgood-bye as they started on an auto trip with Paul Breckenridge.

  The girls missed their parting nonsense. It didn't seem like goingaway at all, without the boys to keep up the fun.

  As the train began to move, Bet smiled bravely back at her father andwaved until a curving road carried them out of sight of the station.

  Only then did she answer the insistent calls of the girls inside thecar.

  "Bet Baxter, do come here and see this," cried Enid Breckenridge, alarge blond girl whose serious face told of trouble lived through thathad been too heavy for her young shoulders. Her gray-blue eyes weresad.

  Bet was about to speak to Enid when the other chum, a tall dark-eyedgirl, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her across the room.

  "Look at this, Bet!" Kit Patten exclaimed. "You're missing everything!"

  But Bet stood stock still and gazed about her in surprise. This wasnot a bit like an ordinary train. It gave the impression of a veryhomey living room in a small house, with its shaded reading lamps andthe easy chairs that invited one to their soft depths.

  "Isn't it wonderful?" breathed Bet with a happy sigh. "I'd love to sitright there and watch the scenery go by."

  But that was only the impulse of a moment. There were too many thingsto see in this marvelous train. And Kit was demanding her attentionfrom one side and Enid Breckenridge from the other.

  Kit won, and opening a door, displayed a small bedroom beautifullyarranged and furnished.

  "Isn't it just too lovely for anything?" asked Kit as she heard Bet'sgasp of astonishment.

  "I didn't know trains were ever fixed up this way," Bet was taking inall the delightful details of the room. "I always thought it was alower berth if you were lucky and an upper one if you were out of luck.Why this is just like a lovely little playhouse. Who will sleep here?"

  "This is for mother," said Enid. "She gets the best room."

  "Of course she does," assented Bet. "But where do _we_ get put awayfor the night?"

  "In here!" Kit suddenly opened a door and at Bet's look of surpriseshe went on: "You didn't know there was a door there, did you? It'salmost like magic."

  And magic it seemed to the girls as they wandered from one thing toanother. The electrical appliances in the dressing room!

  "Why, girls, we don't know what half of them are for," laughed Bet.

  "We'll have to have a maid to show us how to get dressed here." And asKit spoke a trim little colored maid appeared as if she had heard acall.

  "Is everything all right?" she asked looking at Enid.

  Bet had always taken the lead and was chief spokesman. She was aboutto answer when she remembered that Enid was hostess. "Here's whereI'll have to take second place," thought Bet. But in her heart she wasglad to see Enid in the position of hostess. Her life had been full oftragedy. Stolen from her wealthy parents, she had not known a home orfriends until the previous year when she had been rescued by the chumson Campers' Trail.

  The car in which the girls were travelling belonged to Enid's father,and the girl was glad to show her friends around the place.

  "Here's one compartment with two beds, and opposite is one with threebeds," said Enid. "How will we divide up?"

  "As usual, I guess, you and Kit and I in one and Shirley and Joy in theother."

  When th
e maid had left, Enid laughingly pushed Kit into a chair infront of the dressing table. "Sit still now, while I curl your hair!"she directed.

  The other girls joined the laugh, for Kit's hair was a mass of darkringlets that clung close to her head. Bet Baxter, with her straight,blond hair always envied Kit those curls, while her own unruly lockswere flying out at all angles.

  "But do come and see what I discovered," said Enid at last, pulling Betby the sleeve. "It's a darling little dining room! Why it's--it's..."And Enid stopped because in all her experience she could find nothingto compare with the tiny room which glittered with crystal and silver.

  "I do believe that lunch is getting ready," said Joy Evans. "And letme tell you, it can't come too soon to suit me. I'm starved."

  "As usual," laughed Shirley. "You're always hungry, Joy. And it's sonice you can eat _everything_! And still you're thin!" Shirley wasinclined to plumpness and had to choose her food more carefully thanthe others.

  As they turned toward the salon once more, Bet dropped into an easychair and picked up a book.

  "Oh, Bet, don't get interested in a story yet! You'll have heaps oftime to read before we get to Arizona. Come on, let's see if we canpeek into the kitchen. To my way of thinking, that's the mostimportant room on the train," laughed Joy.

  "That's what we'd expect you to think, Joy," teased Shirley.

  Enid rose and motioned the girls to follow her toward the kitchencompartment, then gave a shrug of disgust as she noticed a sign on thedoor, "Private."

  "Why, the idea," pouted Bet Baxter. "Right on our own car, too! Idon't think we ought to stand for it." Then a spirit of mischiefovercame Bet. She tiptoed toward the door and shoved it open, bouncinginto the room without even looking. The girls watched to see whatwould happen.

  Plenty happened, for at that moment Sam Wilkins, the huge colored cook,was bringing in a large tray of ice water. There was a loud crash.Two glasses fell to the floor, and the man himself almost lost hisbalance.

  Sam's usual smile faded. "Ain't you seen that sign, nohow?" hedemanded pointing a long, black finger at the word "Private."

  "Why how stupid of me!" Bet tried to look innocent. "Was that there_all_ the time? Imagine me not seeing it!" There was remorse in hervoice but a merry twinkle in her eyes that did not escape Sam.

  "Maybe you can't read yet," he said, frowning.

  Bet bestowed on him one of her compelling smiles. "I'm very sorry,"she said with her sweetest accent. "I'll promise never to come in hereagain--that is unless you want me to see your darling kitchen. I knowI'd just love it."

  Sam's white teeth showed in a broad smile. After that, he was willingto do anything for Bet Baxter. He ushered her into his kitchen as ifshe were a queen.

  When Bet came back triumphantly to the drawing room a few minuteslater, Enid greeted her with a shake of her head:

  "You certainly have a way with you, Bet Baxter. No one can resist you,no one!"

  "What about Edith Whalen?" Bet reminded her.

  "Oh, that girl!" said Enid contemptuously.

  "Every rule has to have one exception. She doesn't count at all."

  "Speaking of Edith, I wonder where she is this summer?" asked Kit.

  "Why spoil a perfectly good day by speaking of Edith at all. She'sjust nothing in my young life. She belongs to the dim and distantpast. A summer of real happiness is before us!" exclaimed Bet.

  "Huh! That's just what you said last year when we went to Campers'Trail, and see what happened! Edith was there and managed to make ourlives miserable for a month and more," Joy reminded her with shrug ofher dainty shoulders.

  "Well, there is one thing sure, girls," laughed Kit Patten. "She willnot be in Lost Canyon. So you are safe in planning on a happy summer."

  "Now if we can only persuade Bet not to find any problems to solve, wewill have a heavenly time." Shirley had been working hard during thewinter. She was the level headed, business girl. She was always readyfor a good time, but if she were asked to choose, it would be a quietone with no great excitement. But Shirley always took things as theycame and enjoyed herself.

  Joy Evans was different. Her impatience often made her miss the goodtime that was right at hand. Now she was looking forward to hervacation in the Arizona mountains on Judge Breckenridge's ranch.

  "Oh, I'm so glad we're off. I can hardly wait until I see the cowboys.I think they must be marvelous!"

  "Joy, do try to use a little bit of sense. There's nothing remarkableabout a cowboy," Kit Patten, the mountain girl, replied. For Kit hadlived most of her life in Arizona at the head of Lost Canyon, and asluck would have it, only about half a mile from the ranch belonging toJudge Breckenridge.

  Kit had been away from her home for two years and at present was allexcited about seeing her father and mother.

  "What are you looking forward to, Enid?" asked Shirley. "Joy wants tosee the cowboys, I want to rest and Kit wants to see Dad and Ma Patten."

  "I want to see what my western home is like. It's so good to have ahome, girls," Enid replied, and the girls gave her a tender smile,remembering the experiences on Campers' Trail.

  "And I suppose Bet wants some wild adventure," teased Joy. "Problemsto solve, great deeds to be done!"

  "Oh, I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll be a cowgirl and learn to ride likeKit, and rope a steer like her friend, Seedy Saunders. There are heapsof things I'd like to do. I'd like to meet a western bad man that youread about."

  "If you want that, Bet, you'll have to go to the movies. Western badmen are a thing of the past," Kit answered decidedly. "In the earlydays, Lost Canyon was a wild place but now it's the most peaceful spotin the world."

  "Just my luck!" pouted Bet. "I did want to catch a western bad man,single handed, and turn him over to justice."

  The girls laughed. They were each looking forward to somethingdifferent, some particular plan or desire of her own, as far apart asthey could possibly be, yet these five girls had bound themselvestogether, one for all and all for one.

  Two summers ago, Bet Baxter, Joy Evans and Shirley Williams had firstmet Kit Patten, the homesick western girl. They had formed a littleclub that took its name from Colonel Baxter's estate, MerriweatherManor, a delightful old mansion on the Hudson with its romantic storyof Revolutionary days when Lady Betty Merriweather reigned in itsstately rooms. Her story inspired the girls to find adventure in lifeand to be true to their highest ideals.

  In the story The Merriweather Girls and The Mystery of the Queen's Fan,these four girls solved the problem of the stolen fan. They had tensemoments when it seemed as if they had failed, but they held on and wonout.

  The next year a new member was added to their club. In TheMerriweather Girls, On Campers' Trail, they found Enid, then known asTilly, The Waif of the Woods. The girls with quick thinking, daringand devotion were able to discover the girl's parents, and as a proofof their gratitude, Judge Breckenridge and his wife had invited them onthis lovely vacation trip to Arizona.

  Suddenly the train gave a little jerk and Bet looked up quickly to seeEnid Breckenridge staring at her. Each knew that the other had beenlooking back for a moment and being thankful that they had met and werenow journeying together for a summer of happiness.

  At that moment Sam's grinning face appeared at the door with theannouncement that lunch was ready. Enid jumped to her feet andhastened to help her invalid mother to the table. Years of anxiety andworry over her daughter's disappearance had broken her health.Strength was coming back slowly and it was hoped that a summer in thesouthwest would complete her recovery.

  With the judge on one side and Enid on the other, the frail invalidwalked the few feet to the table. Her face was aglow with happiness.Virginia Breckenridge was still young and the white hair onlyemphasized the youthful lines of her face. She did not appear mucholder than the group of girls who surrounded her at the table.

  "Isn't this wonderful!" cried Bet in her enthusiastic way, waving herhand toward the
passing landscape. "I could keep on like this forever."

  "So could I," laughed Joy. "But when do we get to Washington?"

  "Not until four o'clock! Why all the hurry?" Shirley was enjoying herday of travel. When the train stopped at stations she was all readywith her camera in case some interesting bit presented itself. Shirleywas in her glory. Colonel Baxter's parting gift to her had been a newcamera and plenty of films, so Shirley felt that she could takepictures to her heart's content.

  "We've got a good cook," whispered Joy across the table to her hostess."I don't know what he calls this mixture, but it's wonderful!" Joy'sface was expressive and Sam noticed her approval of his lunch so duringthe remainder of the trip it was to Joy he turned if he wanted to makesure that any dish was appreciated.

  And while the girls did not find the time dragging, they were ready andwaiting when the train pulled into the station at Washington. Theywere shunted about for a few minutes and finally stopped on a sidetrack where the car would remain while they were in the Capital.

  As Bet emerged from the station she gave a little scream of delight."There it is, girls!" she cried. "The dome of the Capitol! At last myeyes have really seen it!"

  "Wait a minute till I get a picture of it," said Shirley. "I might notget such a good view again."

  "That view isn't worth taking," interrupted Mrs. Breckenridge. "You'dbetter wait. That dome is visible from all parts of the city. It'swasting a film to take it here."

  "Oh, girls, I can hardly wait until I see everything. TheCongressional Library, the....."

  "The place where the money is made! That's what I want to see. I hopethey'll be making thousand dollar bills. I think that would be fun,"sang out Joy as the Judge helped her into the taxi.

  When they reached the hotel steps, Shirley was thankful that she hadnot wasted her film on the other view of the Capitol. In the haze ofthe late afternoon, the dome looked like a huge bubble.

  "There's your picture, Shirley," gasped Bet. "And see, the street infront of us leads right up to the Capitol."

  The girls followed the Judge rather unwillingly into the hotel. Theywere anxious not to miss any of the sights of the city and it seemed awaste of time to go indoors.

  "Come on Bet, don't be so slow," called Kit from the doorway.

  "This is so nice I'd like to look at it forever," she said with a sigh.The girls laughed for Bet was always wishing things to last forever.

  Mrs. Breckenridge had not stood the trip as well as they had expected.She seemed completely tired out and Enid refused to leave her.

  "You go along and have a good time," Enid proposed to the girls, butwithout their friend they felt they could not enjoy anything, so ashort walk was all they saw of Washington that evening.

  They retired early, for even youth gets weary with excitement and newscenes. The girls were glad to get into bed.

  "We'll have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow, if we want to seeeverything we plan on seeing," said Bet as she snuggled down.

  Within half an hour they were all asleep.

  When Bet opened her eyes it was daylight and she felt ready for thestrenuous day ahead. She scrambled out of bed, gave Kit a shake andthen ran across the hall to see if Shirley and Joy were up.

  Shirley was still sleeping. But Joy was not there.

  "Why, she's up and dressed! Her clothes are gone!" exclaimed Bet invexed tones. "I think she might have wakened us."

  Dressing quickly they went down stairs to find Joy.

  The lounging rooms and halls and the foyer were empty at this hour. Noone had seen Joy or knew anything about her.

  She had simply disappeared.