Trix Severn had taken her crowd into a forward coach. Her father owning one of the big hotels at the Cove, the railroad company had presented him with a sheaf of chair coupons. So, as Pearl Harrod laughingly said, "Trix's party was as swell as a wet sponge."
"I don't suppose any of that crowd at the Overlook House will talk to _us_," said Pearl. "Just the same, I guess I can show you girls a good time at Spoondrift. Uncle always lets us do just as we like. He's the _dearest_ man."
The train rattled on and on. The alternate pine forests and swamp lands seemed interminable. Now and then they went through a cut, the railroad bisecting a hickory ridge.
But soon there was a change in the air. When the cinders and dust did not sift into the windows, there was a smell of salt marsh. The air seemed suddenly cleaner. At one station where they stopped, a salt creek came in, and there was a dock, and boats, and barrels of clams and fish piled on the platform ready for the next up-train.
"Regular maritime smell----whew!" sighed Carrie Poole, holding her nose delicately.
"Oh! The _whole_ of Pleasant Cove doesn't smell like this, does it?" demanded her cousin.
"Only the old part of it--the old village."
"Well! that's lucky," said Lucy. "If this odor prevailed I should say the place ought to be called _Un_-pleasant Cove."
"How far are we from the jumping-off place?" demanded Agnes. "I'd like to get out and run."
Pearl stooped to look out under one of the drawn shades. "Why!" she said, "there are only two more stops before we reach the Cove station. It's a winding way the railroad follows. But if we got off about here and went right through those woods yonder, we'd reach the Spoondrift bungalow in an hour. I've walked over here to Jumpertown many a time."
"Yes. That's what they called it before the real estate speculators gave it the fancy name of 'Ridgedale Station.'"
At that moment the train suddenly slowed down. The brakes grated upon the wheels and everybody clung to the seats for support. One of the brakemen ran through from the front and the girls clamored to know the cause of the stoppage.
"Bridge down up front," said the railroad employee. "Tide rose last night and loosened the supports. We've got to wait."
