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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36833-0.txt b/36833-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94fbf34 --- /dev/null +++ b/36833-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6751 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by Hildegard G. Frey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND STARTED AFTER +THE BULL AT FULL SPEED.] + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + The Camp Fire Girls + At Onoway House + + OR + + The Magic Garden + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + + “The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods,” “The Camp + Fire Girls at School,” “The Camp Fire + Girls Go Motoring.” + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + + Publishers—New York + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + Copyright, 1916 + By A. L. Burt Company + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + + + + +CHAPTER I.—ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +“What a lovely quiet summer we’re going to have, we two,” exclaimed +Migwan to Hinpoha, as they stood looking out of the window of their room +into the garden, filled with rows of young growing things and bordered +by a shallow stony river. Migwan, we remember, had come to spend the +summer on the little farm owned by the Bartletts and earn enough money +to go to college by selling vegetables. The house in the city had been +rented for three months, and her mother, Mrs. Gardiner, and her brother +Tom and sister Betty had come to the country with her. Hinpoha was +temporarily without a home, her aunt being away on her wedding trip with +the Doctor, and she was to stay all summer with Migwan. + +“Yes, it will be lovely,” agreed Hinpoha. “I’ve never lived in such a +quiet place before. And I’ve never had you to myself for so long.” +Migwan replied with a hug, in schoolgirl rapture. She felt a little +closer to Hinpoha than she did to the other Winnebagos. As they stood +there looking out of the window together they heard the honk of an +automobile horn and the sound of a car driving into the yard, and ran +out to see who the guests were. + +“Gladys Evans!” exclaimed Migwan, spying the new comers. “And Nyoda! +Welcome to our city!” + +“Please mum,” said Gladys, making a long face, “could ye take in a poor +lone orphan what’s got no home to her back?” + +“What’s up?” asked Migwan, laughing at Gladys’s tone. + +“Mother and father started for Seattle to-day,” replied Gladys, “and +from there they are going to Alaska, where they will spend the summer. I +hinted that I was a good traveling companion, but they decided that +three was a crowd on this trip, and as I had done so well for myself +last summer they informed me that it was their intention to put me out +to seek my own fortune once more. So, hearing that there were pleasant +country places along this road, one in particular, I am looking for a +place to board for the summer.” + +“Well, of all things!” exclaimed Migwan. “To think that we are to have +you with us this vacation after all, after thinking that you were going +to disport yourself in California! The guest chamber stands ready; ‘will +you walk into my parlor?’ said the Spider to the Fly.” + +At this point “Nyoda,” Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire group, +formally known as Miss Kent, also advanced with a long face, holding her +handkerchief to her eyes. “Could you take in a poor shipwrecked sailor,” +she sobbed, “one whose ship went right down under her feet and left her +nothing to stand on at all?” + +“It might even be arranged,” replied Migwan. “What is your tale of woe, +my ancient mariner?” + +“My cherished landlady’s gone to the Exposition,” said Nyoda, with a +fresh burst of grief, “and I can’t live with her and be her boarder this +summer! It’s a cruel world! And me so young and tender!” + +“Two flies in the guest chamber,” said Migwan, hospitably. “Thomas, my +good man, carry the boarders’ bags up to their room, for I see they have +brought them right with them.” + +“Save the trouble of going back after them,” said Nyoda and Gladys, in +chorus. “We knew you couldn’t refuse to take us in.” + +“If ever a maiden had a look on her face which said, ‘Come, come to this +bosom, my own stricken dear,’” continued Nyoda, “it’s yon poet who is +going to seed.” + +“Going to seed!” exclaimed Migwan, “and this after I have just opened my +hospitable doors to you!” + +“By going to seed, my innocent maid, I only meant to express in a veiled +and delicate way the fact that you were turning into a farmer,” said +Nyoda. + +In spite of the fact that Migwan and Hinpoha had just expressed such +great pleasure at the prospect of being alone together for the summer, +they rejoiced in the arrival of Nyoda and Gladys as only two Winnebagos +could at the thought of having two more of their own circle under the +same roof with them, and their hearts beat high with anticipation of the +coming larks. + +Supper was a merry meal indeed that night, eaten out on the screened-in +back porch. “We are seven!” exclaimed Nyoda, counting noses at the +table. “The mystic number as well as the poetic one. ‘Seven Little +Sisters;’ ‘The Seven Little Kids;’ ‘the seventh son of a seventh son.’ +All mysterious things take place on the seventh of the month, and +something always happens when the clock strikes seven.” As she paused to +take breath the old-fashioned clock in the kitchen slowly struck seven. +The last stroke was still vibrating when there came a ring at the +doorbell. “What did I tell you?” said Nyoda. “Enter the villain.” + +The villain proved to be Sahwah. She looked rather astonished to see +Nyoda and Gladys at the table with the family. “Oh, Migwan,” she said, +“could you possibly take me in for the summer? Mother got a telegram +to-day saying that Aunt Mary, that’s her sister in Pennsylvania, had +fallen down-stairs and broken both her shoulder blades. Mother packed up +and went right away to take care of her and the children. She hasn’t any +idea how long she’ll be gone. Father started for a long business trip +out west this week and Jim is camping with the Boy Scouts. If you have +room——” A shout of laughter interrupted her tale. + +“Always room for one more,” said Migwan. “You’re the third weary pilgrim +to arrive.” + +Sahwah looked at Nyoda and Gladys in astonishment. “You don’t mean that +you’re here for the summer, too?” When she heard that this was the truth +she twinkled with delight. “It’s going to be almost as much fun as going +camping together was last year,” she said, burying her nose in the mug +of milk which Migwan hospitably set before her. + +“What do you call this house by the side of the road?” asked Nyoda after +supper, when they were all sitting on the porch. Mrs. Gardiner sat +placidly rocking herself, undisturbed by the unexpected addition of +three members to her family. This whole summer venture was in Migwan’s +hands, and she washed hers of the whole affair. Tom sat on the top step +of the porch, unnaturally quiet, with the air of a boy lost among a +whole crowd of girls. Betty, fascinated by Nyoda, sat at her feet and +watched her as she talked. + +“It has no name,” said Migwan, in answer to Nyoda’s question. + +“Then we must find one immediately,” said Nyoda. “I refuse to sleep in a +nameless place.” + +“Did the place where you used to live have a name?” asked Hinpoha, +banteringly. + +“It certainly did ‘have a name,’” replied Nyoda, with a twinkle in her +eye. Gladys caught her eye and laughed. She was more in Nyoda’s +confidence than the rest of the girls. + +“What was the name?” asked Betty. + +“It was Peacock Plaza,” said Nyoda, “painted on a gold sign over the +door, where all who read could run.” + +“That wasn’t what you called it,” said Gladys. + +“No, my beloved,” returned Nyoda, “from the character and appearance of +most of the inmates of the Widder Higgins’ establishment, I have been +moved to refer to it as ‘The Rookery.’” + +“Now,” said Gladys sternly, when the laughter over this title had +subsided, “tell the ladies the real reason why you had to seek a new +boarding place so abruptly.” + +“I told you before,” said Nyoda, “that my venturesome landlady went to +the Exposition and left me out in the cold.” + +“That’s not the real reason,” said Gladys, severely. “If you don’t tell +it immediately, I will!” + +“I’ll tell it,” said Nyoda submissively, alarmed at this threat. “You +see, it was this way,” she began in a pained, plaintive voice. “This +Gladys woman over here came up to take supper with me last night—only +she smelled the supper cooking in the kitchen and turned up her nose, +whereupon I was moved with compassion to cook supper for her in my +chafing-dish unbeknownst to the landlady, who has been known to frown on +any attempts to compete with her table d’hôte.” + +“I never!” murmured Gladys. “She invited me to a chafing-dish supper in +the first place.” + +“Well, as I was saying,” continued Nyoda, not heeding this interruption, +“to save her from starvation I dragged out my chafing-dish and made +shrimp wiggle and creamed peas, and we had a dinner fit for a king, if I +do say it as shouldn’t. The crowning glory of the feast was a big onion +which Gladys’s delicate appetite required as a stimulant. All went merry +as a marriage bell until it came to the disposal of that onion after the +feast was over, as there was more than half of it left. We didn’t dare +take it down to the kitchen for fear the Widder would pounce on us for +cooking in our rooms, and even my stout heart quailed at the thought of +sleeping ferninst that fragrant vegetable. Suddenly I had an +inspiration.” Here Nyoda paused dramatically. + +“Yes,” broke in Gladys, impatient at her pause, “and she calmly chucked +it out of the second story window into the street!” + +“All would still have been mild and melodious,” continued Nyoda, in a +solemn tone which enthralled her hearers, “if it hadn’t been for the +fact that the fates had their fingers crossed at me last night. How +otherwise could it have happened that at the exact moment when the onion +descended the old bachelor missionary should have been prancing up the +walk, coming to call on the Widder Higgins? Who but fate could have +brought it about that that onion should bounce first on his hat, then on +his nose, and then on his manly bosom?” + +“And he never waited to see what hit him!” put in Gladys, for whom the +recital was not going fast enough. “He ran as if he thought somebody had +thrown a bomb at him.” + +“And the Widder Higgins was standing behind the lace curtain watching +his approach with maidenly reserve,” resumed Nyoda, “and so had a box +seat view of the tragedy, and the last act of the drama was a moving +one, I can assure you.” + +“Oh, Nyoda,” cried Hinpoha and Sahwah and Migwan, pointing their fingers +at her, “a nice person you are to be Guardian of the Winnebagos! Fine +example you are setting your youthful flock! You need a guardian worse +than any of us!” + +“Do as you like with me,” said Nyoda, covering her face with her hands +in mock shame, whereupon Hinpoha and Migwan and Gladys fell upon her +neck with one accord. + +“But we haven’t named this house yet,” said Nyoda, uncovering her face +and smoothing out her black hair. + +“I thought of a name while you were telling about the onion,” said +Migwan. “It’s Onoway House.” + +“What does that mean?” asked Nyoda. + +“It’s a symbolic word, like Wohelo,” said Migwan. “It’s made from the +words, Only One Way. You see there was only one way of getting that +money to go to college and that was by coming here.” + +“I think that is a very good name,” said Nyoda. “It is clever as well as +pretty. It sounds like the song, ‘Onaway, awake beloved,’ from +Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.” + +“It sounds like the water going over the stones in the river,” said +romantic Hinpoha. + +And so Onoway House was named. + + + + +CHAPTER II.—NEIGHBORS. + + +Onoway House stood on the Centerville Road, on a farm of about four +acres. All of the land was not worked, just the part that was laid out +as a garden and a small orchard of peach trees. The rest was open meadow +running down to the river. It had originally been a much larger farm—Old +Deacon Waterhouse’s place—but after his death it had been divided up and +sold in sections. Onoway House was the original home built by the deacon +when he bought the farm as a young man. It was a very old place, large +and rambling, and full of queer corners and passageways, and a big +echoing cobwebby attic, crowded with old furniture and trunks. The house +had been sold with all its furnishings at the Deacon’s death, and the +old things were still in the rooms when the Bartletts bought it +twenty-five years later. This made it unnecessary for the Gardiners, +when they came, to bring any of their own furniture. The Bartletts had +never lived on the place, hiring a caretaker to work the garden, and it +was the sudden departure of this man that had given Migwan her chance. + +On either side of Onoway House was a farm of much larger proportions. To +the right there stood a big, homelike looking farmhouse painted white, +with porches and vines and a lawn in front running down to the road; on +the left was a smaller house, painted dark red, with a vegetable bed in +front. The garden at Onoway House had been given a good start and the +strawberries and asparagus and sundry other vegetables were ready to +market when Migwan took possession. The Winnebagos looked on the +gardening as a grand lark and pitched in with a will to help Migwan make +her fortune from the ground. + +“Did you ever see anything half so delicate as this little new +pea-vine?” asked Migwan, puttering happily over one of the long beds. + +“Or anything half so indelicate as this plantain bush?” asked Nyoda, +busily grubbing weeds. “‘Scarce reared above the parent earth thy tender +form,’” she quoted, “‘and yet with a root three times as long as the +hair of Claire de Lorme!’” + +“Burns would relish hearing that line of his applied to weeds,” said +Migwan, laughing. “I wonder what he would have written if he had turned +up a plantain weed with his plough instead of a mountain daisy.” + +“He wouldn’t have turned up a plantain weed,” said Nyoda, with a vicious +thrust of the long knife with which she was weeding, “it would have +turned him up.” + +Migwan rose from the ground slowly and painfully. “Oh dear,” she sighed, +“I wonder if Burns ever got as stiff in the joints from close contact +with Nature as I am?” + +“He certainly must have,” observed Nyoda, straining her muscles to +uproot the weedy homesteader, “haven’t you ever heard the slogan, ‘Omega +Oil for Burns?’” + +Migwan laughed as she straightened up and held her aching back. “Earth +gets its price for what earth gives us,” she quoted, with a mixture of +ruefulness and humor. + +“Listen to the poetry floating around on the breeze,” cried Sahwah, +passing them as she ran the wheel hoe up and down between the rows of +plants. + + “Come and trip it as you go + On the light fantastic _hoe_,” + +she sang. “Oh, I say,” she called over her shoulder, “do I have to hoe +up the surface of the river around the watercress, too?” + +“You certainly do,” said Nyoda gravely, “and while you’re at it just +loosen up the air around that air fern of Mrs. Gardiner’s.” Sahwah made +a grimace and trundled off with her wheel hoe. + +“Are you looking for any field hands?” called a cheery voice. The girls +looked up to see a white-haired, pleasant-faced old man of about seventy +years standing in the garden. “My name’s Landsdowne, Farmer Landsdowne,” +he said by way of introduction, with a friendly smile, which included +all the girls at once, “and I’ve come to have a look at the new +caretaker.” + +“I’m the one,” said Migwan, stepping forward. “My name is Gardiner, and +I _am_ a gardener just now.” + +“And are all these your sisters?” asked Farmer Landsdowne, quizzically. +Migwan laughed and introduced the girls in turn. They all liked Farmer +Landsdowne immediately. He walked up and down among the rows of +vegetables, and gave Migwan quantities of advice about soil cultivation, +insects and diseases and various other things pertaining to gardening, +for which she thanked him heartily. “Come over and see us,” he said +hospitably, as he took his departure, “I live there,” and he pointed to +the friendly looking white house on the right of Onoway House. + +“Isn’t he a dear?” said Gladys, when he was gone. “I’m glad he’s our +next door neighbor. What do you suppose the people on the other side are +like?” + +“Red isn’t nearly so pretty as white,” said Hinpoha, squinting at the +bare looking house to the left of them. As they looked a man came along +the edge of the land on which the red house stood. When he reached the +fence which separated the two farms he stood still for a few minutes +looking hard at Onoway House; then, seeing that the girls were looking +in his direction he turned and went back to the house. + +The strawberries were ready to pick the first week that the girls were +at Onoway House, and Migwan had an idea about marketing them. She gave +each picker two baskets with instructions to put only the largest and +finest in one and the medium-sized and small ones in the other. + +“What are you going to take them to town in?” asked Gladys. Although +there was a large barn on the place there were no horses, for Mr. +Mitchell, the last caretaker, had owned his own horse and taken it away +with him when he left. + +“I’ll have to hire one from some of the neighbors,” said Migwan. Mr. +Landsdowne, when interviewed, would have been extremely glad to let them +take a horse and wagon, but this was a busy time and one of his teams +was sick so none could be spared. Feeling considerably more shy than she +had when she went to Mr. Landsdowne, Migwan went over to the red house. +As she went around the path to the back door she heard sounds of loud +talking in a man’s voice, which ceased as she came up on the porch. A +red faced man, (he almost matched the house, thought Migwan) came to the +door. “I am your new neighbor, Elsie Gardiner,” said Migwan, “and I +wonder if I could hire a horse and wagon from you three times a week to +take my vegetables to town.” + +“So you’ve come to live on the place, have you?” said the man. “How long +are you going to stay?” + +“All summer,” replied Migwan. She was not drawn to this man as she was +to Farmer Landsdowne. There was something about him that seemed to repel +her, although she could not have told what it was. + +“Yes, I can let you have a horse and wagon,” he said, after a moment. +“When do you want it?” + +“In about an hour,” said Migwan. + +“I’ll send it over,” said the master of the red house. “My name’s +Smalley, Abner Smalley,” he said, as she took her leave. + +In an hour the horse was at the door. It was brought over by a +pleasant-faced, light-haired lad of about seventeen, who introduced +himself as Calvin Smalley. + +“You don’t look a bit like your father,” said Migwan. + +“That’s not my father,” said Calvin, “that’s my uncle. My father’s dead. +He was Uncle Abner’s brother. I live with Uncle Abner and Aunt Maggie. +But the farm’s really mine,” he said proudly, as though he did not want +anyone to think he was living on charity even though he was an orphan, +“for Grandfather willed it to Father. Uncle Abner’s holding it in trust +for me until I’m of age.” + +There was something so frank and manly about him that the girls liked +him at once. But if Calvin Smalley made such a good impression, the +horse which he had brought over for the girls to drive to town was less +fortunate. He was a hoary, moth-eaten looking creature that might easily +have been the first white horse born west of the Mississippi. In looking +at him you would be left with a lingering doubt in your mind as to +whether he had originally been white or had turned white with age. He +tottered so that each step threatened to be his last The wagon to which +he was fastened with a patched and rotten harness had probably been on +the scene some years before he was born. Migwan was much taken aback +when she inspected him. “I wouldn’t dare attempt to drive that beast all +the way to town,” she thought to herself. “He’d never get beyond the +first bend in the road. And if he did make it he’d go so slowly that my +berries would be out of season before I got to my customers.” + +“Isn’t he rather—old?” she said, aloud. “I’m afraid he isn’t able to +work much.” + +Calvin blushed fiery red and his eyes sought the ground in distress. +“It’s a shame,” he said, fiercely, “to try to hire out such a horse. I +don’t blame you for not wanting it.” Without another word he climbed +into the wagon and urged the feeble horse back to his home pasture. + +“Didn’t you feel sorry for that poor boy?” said Migwan. “He felt ashamed +clear down to his shoes at having to bring that old wreck of a horse +over. I should have died if I had been in his place. He’s such a nice +looking boy, too. I suppose his uncle is one of those stingy, grasping +farmers who work everybody to death on the place. Anybody who plants +vegetables in his front yard must be stingy. That horse probably +couldn’t work on the farm any more so he thought he would make some +money out of it by hiring it to us. He must have thought girls didn’t +know a horse when they saw one. I didn’t exactly fall in love with Mr. +Smalley when I went over. He wasn’t a bit friendly like Mr. Landsdowne.” + +“I foresee where we will have little to do with our neighbors in the Red +House,” said Sahwah. “I’m sorry, because I like to have lots of people +to visit, and like to have them running in at odd times, the way Mr. +Landsdowne appeared.” + +“Let’s not have any hard feelings against Calvin Smalley, though,” said +Migwan. “He isn’t to blame for his uncle’s stinginess. I dare say he +isn’t very happy over there. Let’s have him over as often as we can.” + +“Spoken like a true Winnebago,” said Nyoda, approvingly. + +“But in the meantime,” said Migwan, in perplexity, “what are we going to +do for a horse and wagon to take our things to town?” + +“Why not use our car?” said Gladys. The machine she had come in was +still in the barn at Onoway House. “It’s a good thing I learned to run +the big one—father said I might use it all summer if I would be a good +girl and stay at home when they went out west.” + +“Could we get everything in?” asked Migwan. + +“I think so,” said Gladys, “if we arrange them carefully.” The berries +and asparagus were loaded into the back of the machine and Gladys and +Migwan drove off. + +“What shall we do now, Nyoda?” asked Hinpoha, after the two girls were +gone. + +“I know what I’m going to do,” said Nyoda, moving in the direction of +her bedroom. “Now,” she said, as she threw herself on the bed with a +great yawn and stretch, “if anyone asks you what kind of a farmer I am +you may tell them that I’m a retired one!” Nyoda had been up since four +o’clock that morning, and was unused to such early rising. Hinpoha drew +down the shade to shut out the strong sunlight and tiptoed from the +room. + +Gladys and Migwan stopped first at a large grocery store to inquire the +prices of strawberries and asparagus. The proprietor offered to buy the +whole load, but they would not sell, as they could get more for them by +peddling them at retail prices. Migwan examined the berries in the +store, and mentally fixed her middle grade berries at the same price +with them, and her finest grade ones at three cents higher. + +“I’ve an idea,” said Gladys, “that some of mother’s friends would take +the berries at our own price.” Thus it was that Mrs. Davis, whose +speculations about the financial standing of the Evans family had +resulted in Gladys’s mother giving her such an elaborate party the +winter before, was surprised by a call from Gladys at ten o’clock in the +morning. + +“Ah, good morning, my dear,” she said effusively, seating Gladys in the +parlor, “you have come to spend the day, I hope? Caroline is not up +yet—she was out late last night—but I shall make her get up right away.” + +“Please don’t call Caroline,” said Gladys, “it’s you I came to see.” + +“Oh, yes,” purred Mrs. Davis, “a message from your mother, I see.” + +Gladys came to the point directly. “Have you canned your strawberries +yet, Mrs. Davis?” + +“No,” replied Mrs. Davis, a little puzzled by the question. + +“Would you like to buy some extra fine ones?” continued Gladys. + +“Why, yes, I suppose so,” said Mrs. Davis, “who has any for sale?” + +“I have,” said Gladys, “right out here in the machine.” Mrs. Davis +bought the whole eight quarts of large berries, paying fifteen cents a +quart straight, and ordered another eight quarts as soon as they should +be ripe. She also took two bunches of asparagus. + +“Whatever are you doing, Gladys Evans?” she asked, curiously. “Peddling +berries?” + +Gladys laughed at her evident mystification, and tingled with a desire +to keep her guessing. “We decided that I had better work this summer,” +she said, gravely, “so I am peddling berries for a friend of ours who is +a farmer. We will have to go on a farm ourselves, father said, if things +to eat get much dearer, so I am getting the practice. Wouldn’t you like +to be a regular customer, and have me bring you fresh vegetables and +fruit three times a week all through the summer?” + +“Why, yes,” stammered Mrs. Davis in a daze, “of course, certainly.” + +“All right, then,” said Gladys, “I’ll put you down.” She drove off in +high glee, and Mrs. Davis went into the house with a knowing smile on +her face. So the Evanses were losing money after all, and Gladys was +working this summer instead of traveling. Poor Gladys! She flew +up-stairs to communicate the news to her energetic daughter Caroline who +was just beginning to think about getting up. “I do feel so sorry for +poor Gladys,” she said. “You must be very kind to her whenever you meet +her.” + +The rest of the berries and vegetables were disposed of to other friends +of Gladys’s and Migwan’s, all for topnotch prices, and there were at +least half a dozen names in the little note book when they started +homeward, of people who wanted to be supplied regularly. To some of her +friends Gladys told frankly whose fruit she was selling, and enlisted +their sympathies in the enterprise, while to others, like the Davises +and the Joneses, who were thorough snobs, she could not resist +pretending that she was actually working for a farmer to earn money. She +could not remember when she had enjoyed anything so much as the +expressions on the various faces when she made her little speech at the +door and offered her basket of fruit for inspection. “Wait until I tell +dad about it,” she chuckled to Migwan. + +When they returned to Onoway House they found that during their absence +the girls, with the help of Mr. Landsdowne, had constructed a raft about +seven feet square, which they were setting afloat on the river. “Oh, +what fun!” cried Migwan when she saw it. “We needed another rapid vessel +to go boating in. There’s only one rowboat and we could never all go out +at once. What shall we call it?” + +“Let’s name it the Tortoise,” said Hinpoha, “and call the rowboat the +Hare.” + +“Oh, no,” said Sahwah, “let’s call it the Crab, because it travels sort +of sidewise.” Hinpoha held out for her name and Sahwah would not yield +hers. + +“Contest of arms!” cried Nyoda. “Decide the question by a test of +physical prowess. Whichever one of you can pole the raft straight across +the river and back again without mishap in the shortest time may have +the privilege of naming it. Is that fair?” + +“It is!” cried all the girls. Hinpoha and Sahwah, dressed in their +bathing-suits, prepared for the contest. Hinpoha had the first trial +because she had spoken first. Getting onto the raft and seizing the +stout pole, she pushed off from the shore. It was difficult to keep the +unwieldy craft going toward the opposite bank, because it had a strong +inclination to be carried down-stream with the current. Halfway across +she grounded on a rock and stood marooned. Sahwah watched the moments +tick off on Nyoda’s watch with ill-concealed delight while Hinpoha +pushed and strained on the pole to set the raft free. Finally she leaned +all her weight, which was no small item, on the pole and shoved with her +feet against the raft. It freed itself and glided away under her feet, +leaving her clinging to the pole in the middle of the river, while her +solid footing of a few moments ago swung into the current and floated +off beyond her reach. She looked so comical clinging to the pole, which +was fast losing its upright position under her weight, that the girls +were unable to help her for laughter, and a minute later she plunged +into the river with a mighty splash and swam disgustedly to shore. + +“Our new boat will not be called the TORTOISE, it seems,” said Nyoda. +“Cheer up, Hinpoha, you have made yourself more immortal by the picture +you presented hanging over the water than you would have by naming the +raft. As Hinpoha, the Polehanger, you will have your portrait in the +Winnebago Hall of Fame. Now then, Sahwah, show her how it should be +done.” + +Sahwah, ever more skilful in watercraft than Hinpoha, poled the raft +neatly across the stream to the opposite shore, paused a moment to see +that the feat was properly registered by the judges, and then started +back. Unlike Hinpoha, who forged blindly ahead, she felt carefully with +her pole to locate the points of the rocks and then avoided them. “Here +I come,” she hailed, when she was nearly back to the starting point, “on +my new raft, the CRAB.” Striking a heroic attitude with arms crossed and +one foot out ahead of the other she stepped to the edge of the raft, +when the floating floor tipped under her weight and she lost her balance +and fell head first into the water. The raft, released from her guiding +hand, went off with the current as it had done before. The look of +stupefaction on her face when she came up out of the water was even +funnier than the sight of Hinpoha marooned on the pole. + +“The raft will not be named the CRAB, either, it seems,” said Nyoda. + +“I don’t care what it’s called,” said Sahwah, her temper up, “I’m going +to pole that raft across the river.” + +“So’m I,” said Hinpoha, her eye gleaming with resolution. + +“Let’s do it together,” said Sahwah. + +Thanks to Sahwah’s skill with the pole and Hinpoha’s judicious balancing +of the raft at the right places, they made the trip over and back +without mishap. + +“Two heads are better than one,” said Sahwah, as they landed, “what +neither of us could do alone we can do in combination.” + +“Then why not combine the names?” said Nyoda. “You have each won equal +rights in the contest.” + +“Good idea,” said Sahwah. “We couldn’t find a better one than the +Tortoise-Crab.” So the name was painted across the floor of the raft, +this being the only space big enough. + +Delighted with their new sport, the girls spent the whole evening on the +river, all five Winnebagos and Betty and Tom on the raft at once, +floating down-stream with the current and being towed up again by the +rowboat. It was bright moonlight, and the air was full of romance. At +one place along the riverbank there stood a high rock, grey on the +moonlit side and black on the other. “It reminds me of the Lorelei +Rock,” said Nyoda. + +“Let’s play Lorelei,” said Sahwah. + +“What do you mean?” asked Nyoda. + +“Why,” answered Sahwah, “let Hinpoha climb up on the rock and comb her +hair and sing, and we come along on the raft and listen to her song and +run into the rock and upset. We want to go swimming before we go to bed +anyhow.” + +“I can’t sing,” objected Hinpoha. + +“That doesn’t make any difference,” said Sahwah, “sing anyway.” + +So Hinpoha mounted the moonlit rock and shook her long, red hair down +over her shoulders, combing it out with her sidecomb and singing “Fairy +Moonlight,” while the raft floated lazily down-stream toward the base of +the cliff, its passengers sitting in attitudes of enraptured listening, +and pointing ecstatically to the figure silhouetted against the moon. +Sahwah adroitly steered the raft toward the rock and it struck with a +great jar. It disobligingly kept its balance, however, and refused to +upset. Sahwah deliberately rolled off the edge, tipping it as she did +so, and the rest went off on all sides, giggling and splashing in the +water. Hinpoha on the rock above wrung her hands in mock horror at the +effect of her song. That instant a figure came running at top speed +along the river bank. “I’ll save you, girls,” he shouted, jumping into +the water with all his clothes on. Catching hold of Migwan, who was +hanging on to the raft, he pulled her out of the water and set her on +the shore. It was Calvin Smalley, their neighbor from the Red House. + +“Oh,” gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at him, “I thank you ever so +much, but we’re not really drowning. We upset the raft on purpose.” + +“Upset it on purpose!” said Calvin, in astonishment. + +“Yes,” answered Migwan, “we were playing Lorelei, you know.” + +Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the victims of the upset +were all dressed in bathing-suits, and that they seemed to be very much +at home in the water. “It looked like a dreadful smashup,” he said, “and +I forgot that the river isn’t very deep here. Do you generally play such +quiet games?” + +“Sometimes we play much more quiet ones,” said Sahwah meaningly. + +“It was too bad to frighten you so,” said Nyoda. “We’ll have to warn +spectators the next time we do anything. We’ll have to have a flag that +says ‘Stunt coming; look out for the splash!’ and whoever runs may +read.” At this moment Hinpoha jumped from the rock, out into the middle +of the stream, where it was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and +came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite startled. + +“Say,” he said, looking around at the group of girls who were doing +various astonishing things, “do you belong to the circus?” + +The girls laughed at this inquiry. “Oh, no,” said Migwan, “we are only +Camp Fire Girls.” + +“Camp Fire Girls?” said Calvin. “I’ve heard of them, but I never knew +any. Is that why you call each other by such funny names?” + +“Yes,” answered Migwan, and she told him their names and their meanings. + +“It must be great fun to be a Camp Fire Girl,” said Calvin thoughtfully. + +“Come for a ride on the raft with us,” said Migwan, “we are going back +now. We aren’t going to upset again,” she added reassuringly, “and if we +did you couldn’t get any wetter.” Calvin smiled at the pleasantry, but +said he must be going in. He was on his way home when he saw the raft +upset. The Lorelei Rock was just on the other side of the Smalley farm. +He bade them a friendly good-night, promising to come over to Onoway +House soon, and took his way home across the fields. + +“What a nice boy he is,” said Migwan. “He wasn’t a bit cross when he +found that the joke was on him, as some would have been.” + +Migwan woke up in the night and could not go to sleep again immediately. +As she lay smiling to herself about the fun they had had with the raft +that evening, she heard a sound as of something dropped on the attic +floor above her room, followed by a faint creaking as of someone walking +over bare boards. She clutched Hinpoha’s arm and woke her up. “There’s +someone in the attic,” she whispered. Hinpoha yawned. + +“I don’t hear anything,” she said. + +“There it is again,” said Migwan, “listen.” Again there came a faint +creak, accompanied by a far-away rustle as of crinkling paper. + +“It’s mice,” said Hinpoha, “or maybe rats. They get between the walls +and make noises that way.” + +Migwan breathed a sigh of relief and composed herself to slumber again. +“I suppose these dreadfully old houses are just overrun with things of +that kind,” she said. “But for a moment it did give me a scare.” + + + + +CHAPTER III.—OPHELIA. + + +“They’ve come! They’ve come!” shrieked Migwan, running into the +dining-room where the rest of the family were peacefully finishing their +breakfast. + +“Who’ve come?” said Nyoda, excitedly, “the Mexicans?” + +“The bean weevils,” said Migwan, tragically. “Mr. Landsdowne said to +watch out for them, although they were hardly ever found up north, but +they’re here. He just found a bush with them on.” + +“To arms!” cried Sahwah, springing up. “The Flying Column to the rescue! + + “Forward the Bug Brigade, + Is there a leaf unsprayed?”—— + +Here she tripped over the carpet and her Amazonian shout came to an +abrupt end. + +“Where are the weevils?” she asked, when they had all gathered around +the bean patch. + +“On here,” said Migwan, indicating a hill of beans. + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, in a disappointed tone. + +“Where did you think they were?” asked Migwan. + +“From the noise you were making,” said Sahwah, “I expected to find them +drawn up in battle lines, waiting to charge the garden with fixed +bayonets.” + +“They’ll do just as much damage as if they had bayonets,” remarked +Farmer Landsdowne. + +“Do be cautious in approaching such deadly foes,” said Sahwah in a tone +of mock anxiety, as Migwan came along with the sprayer, “take careful +aim, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” + +“I’ll spray you in a minute if you don’t keep still,” said Migwan. + +“What must it feel like to be a weevil,” said Gladys, musingly, “and be +hunted down remorselessly wherever you went?” + +“Gladys has gone over to the side of the enemy,” said Sahwah, teasingly. +“There is the subject for your next book, Migwan, ‘Won by a Weevil’, by +the author of ‘Enthralled by a Thrip’! It must have been weevils +Tennyson meant when he wrote ‘The Lotus Eaters.’” + +“Battle over?” asked Hinpoha, as Migwan laid down the sprayer. “Then +let’s celebrate the victory. Cheer the bean crop.” To the tune of “We +will, We will Cheer,” they sang, + + “Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, O!” + +“Don’t crow too soon,” said Farmer Landsdowne, picking up his sprayer +preparatory to taking his departure, “there may be twice as many on +to-morrow.” + +“I flatly refuse to worry about to-morrow,” said Nyoda, “‘sufficient +unto the day is the weevil thereof!’” + +Calvin Smalley, working in the vegetable patch in front of the Red +House, heard that cheer and paused in his work to look over at the other +garden. He was wondering what was so funny about gardening. “I wish,” he +sighed, as he turned back to his endless task, “that those girls were my +sisters!” + +Gladys went into town alone when the last of the strawberries were ripe, +for none of the other girls could be spared that day. The squash bugs +had descended on the garden and all hands were required on deck to save +the squash and melon vines from being eaten alive. On the way she passed +Mr. Smalley, driving the identical wreck of a horse he had tried to hire +out to the girls. He had a heavy load of vegetables, and the poor, +broken down creature would hardly move it from the spot. He started +nervously as the machine passed him on the narrow road, and Mr. Smalley +pulled him up sharply and brought the whip down on his back with a heavy +cut. “Ain’t you used to automobiles yet, you stupid brute?” he growled. + +Gladys delivered the eight quarts of extra large berries to Mrs. Davis +first. “Wouldn’t you like to stay in town and have lunch with us and go +to the theatre afterward?” Mrs. Davis said in such a patronizing tone +that Gladys quite started, and then laughed inwardly. + +“I’m sorry, but I haven’t sold all of my berries yet,” she answered +soberly, “and I have to hurry back and help pick bugs.” + +“Pick bugs?” exclaimed Mrs. Davis, in a horrified tone. + +“Yes,” said Gladys, with a relish, “nice juicy, striped bugs that crunch +beautifully when you step on them.” + +“Oh, oh,” said Mrs. Davis, putting her hands over her ears. “Give my +love to your poor, dear mamma,” she said gushingly, when Gladys was +departing. “Tell her she has my fullest sympathy.” As Gladys’s poor, +dear mamma was, at that moment, seated on the observation platform of a +luxurious railway coach, speeding through the mountains of Washington +while Mrs. Davis was obliged to stay in town for the time being, she was +not really in as much need of Mrs. Davis’s sympathy as that lady fondly +imagined. + +Gladys disposed of the remaining berries to other amused or patronizing +friends, and then decided to look up a laundress she knew of and get her +to come out to Onoway House once in a while to do the heavy washing. The +street where the laundress lived was narrow and crowded with children +playing in the middle of the road, and progress was rather slow. One +little girl in particular made Gladys extremely nervous by running +across the street right in front of the machine and daring her to run +over her, shaking her fists at her and making horrible grimaces. She got +across the street once in safety and then started back again. Just then +a small child sprang up from the ground right under the very wheels of +the machine and Gladys turned sharply to one side. The fender struck the +saucy little girl who was daring her to run over her and she rolled +under the car, screaming. Gladys jammed down the emergency brake with a +jerk that almost wrenched the machinery of the automobile asunder. White +as a sheet she jumped out and picked the girl up. In an instant an angry +crowd of women and children had surrounded the machine. “Darn yer!” +cried the child shrilly, shaking a dirty fist in Gladys’s face, while +the other arm hung limp. “I thought yer didn’t dast run into me.” + +“Get into the car,” said Gladys, terrified, “and I’ll take you home.” + +“I dassent go home,” shrieked the child, “Old Grady’ll lick the tar out +of me if I go home without sellin’ me papers.” + +“Then let me take you to the hospital, or somewhere,” said Gladys, +anxious to get away from the threatening crowd. + +“What’s the matter?” asked one voice after another, as the tenements +poured their human contents into the street. + +“Ophelia’s run over,” explained a powerful Irish woman, with a shawl +over her head, who kept her hand on the handle of the car door. “Lady +speedin’ run her down like a dog.” An angry murmur rose from the crowd. +Gladys shook in her shoes and wondered if she dared start the car with +all those children hanging on the front of it. She looked around +helplessly for someone who would help her out of her difficulty. Just +then a policeman turned into the street, attracted by the crowd. + +“Cheese it, de cop!” screamed a ragged gamin, who stood on the step of +the car, and the women and children began to slink into the doorways. +Gladys waited until he came up, and then explained the whole matter and +asked where the nearest hospital was. + +“Can’t blame you for hitting that brat,” said the policeman, “she’s the +terror of drivers for two blocks.” Ophelia stuck out her tongue at him. +Gladys drove her to the hospital where it was discovered that the left +arm was broken below the elbow. Painful as the setting may have been +there was “never a whang out of her,” as the doctor remarked, although +she hung on tightly to Gladys’s white sleeve with her dirty hand. Her +waist was taken off to find the extent of the damage, and Gladys was +frightened to see that the other arm was fearfully bruised and +scratched, and there was a ring of purple and green blotches around her +neck like a collar. + +“She must have been thrown down harder than I thought,” said Gladys to +the nurse. + +“Thrown down nothin’,” answered Ophelia, “Old Grady did that the other +day when I threw a stone through the winder.” And she held up the +mottled arm where all might see. + +“Oh,” said Gladys, with a shudder, “cover it up.” Putting Ophelia into +the machine again she drove back to the scene of the accident and +entered the squalid tenement in which the child said she lived. + +“Won’t Old Grady beat me up though, when she finds I’ve busted me wing,” +said Ophelia, as they mounted the rickety stairs. Hardly had she spoken +when the door at the head of the stairs flew open and a large, +red-faced, coarse-looking woman strode out and shook her fist over the +banisters. + +“I’ll fix ye fer stayin’ out afther I tell ye ter come in, ye little +devil,” she shouted. “I’ll break every bone in yer body. Gimme the money +for the papers first.” + +“Go chase yerself,” said Ophelia, standing still on the stairs with a +spiteful gleam in her eye, “there ain’t no money. I ain’t had time ter +peddle this afternoon.” + +“What yer mean, no money?” screamed the woman. “Just wait till I get me +hands on yer!” + +Gladys shrank back against the wall in terror, then collecting herself +she thrust Ophelia behind her and faced the angry woman. “Ophelia has +had an accident,” she explained. “I ran over her with my machine and +broke her arm.” The woman brushed past her and grabbed Ophelia by the +shoulder. Overcome with fury at the thought that her household drudge +would be of no use to her for several weeks, she boxed her ears again +and again, calling her every name she could think of. Finally she let go +of her with a push that sent Ophelia stumbling down half a dozen stairs. + +“Get out o’ my sight!” she shrieked. “Do yer think I’m going ter house +an’ feed a worthless brat that ain’t doin’ nothin’ fer her keep? Get out +an’ live in the streets yer like ter play in so well!” With a final +exclamation she strode back into the room and slammed the door after +her. Ophelia picked herself up from the step, shaking her one useful +fist at the closed door at the head of the stairs. + +Gladys was inexpressibly shocked at this heartless treatment of an +injured child. “Come—come home with me,” she said faintly. Seated beside +her in the big car, Ophelia ran out her tongue and made faces at the +jeering children who watched her ride away. + +“This is the life!” she exclaimed, as she settled herself comfortably in +the cushioned seat. People in the streets turned to stare at the dirty +little ragamuffin riding beside the daintily gowned young girl, shouting +saucily at the passers-by, or making jeering remarks in a voice audible +above the noise of traffic. + +The girls were all out in front watching for her as Gladys drove up. It +was past supper time and they were wondering what had become of her. +What a chorus of surprised exclamations arose when Ophelia was set down +in their midst! Gladys explained the situation briefly and asked Migwan +if they could not keep her there awhile. Migwan consented hospitably and +went off to find a place for her to sleep, while Gladys proceeded to +wash the accumulated layers of dirt from Ophelia’s face and divest her +of her spotted rags. She came to the table in a kimono of Gladys’s, for +there were no clothes in the house that would fit her. She was nine +years old, she said, but small and thin for her age, with arms and legs +like pipe-stems which fairly made one shiver to look at. She had a +little, pinched, sharp featured face, cunning with the knowledge of the +world gained from her life on the streets, big grey-green eyes filled +with dancing lights, and black hair that tumbled around her face in +tangled curls, which Gladys was not able to smooth out in her hasty +going over before supper. + +Not in the least shy in her new surroundings, nor complaining of +discomfort from the broken arm, she sat at the table and kept up a +cheerful stream of talk, racy with slang and the idiom of the streets. +Hinpoha was instantly dubbed “Firetop.” “Is it red inside of yer head?” +she asked, after gazing steadfastly at Hinpoha’s hair for several +minutes. To all questions about her father and mother she shrugged her +shoulders. “Ain’t never had any,” she replied. “I was born in the Orphan +Asylum. Old Grady got me there.” Here a spasm of rage distorted her face +at the remembrance of Old Grady’s ministrations, followed by a wicked +chuckle when she thought how that tender guardian’s plan for turning her +out homeless into the street had been frustrated by this lucky stroke of +fate. What her last name was she did not know. “I guess I never had +one,” she said cheerfully. “I’m just Ophelia.” Gladys was much +distressed because she would not drink milk. “No,” she said, shoving it +away, “that’s for the babies. Gimme coffee or nothin’.” Disdaining the +aid of fork or spoon, she conveyed her food to her mouth with her +fingers. “Say,” she said, after staring fixedly at Nyoda in a +disconcerting way she had, “are yer teeth false?” + +“Certainly not!” said Nyoda indignantly. “What made you think so?” + +“They’re so white and even,” said Ophelia. “Nobody ever had such teeth +of their own.” + +“Did you bleach yer hair?” she asked next, turning her attention to +Gladys’s pale gold locks. Gladys merely laughed. + +Ophelia waxed more loquacious as she filled up on the good things on the +table. “Did yer husband leave yer?” she inquired sociably of Mrs. +Gardiner. Gladys rose hastily and bore Ophelia away to her room, where a +cot had been set up for her. + +“Three flies in the spider’s parlor,” said Migwan. + +“And one in the ointment, or my prophetic soul has its signals crossed,” +said Nyoda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.—THE MEDICINE LODGE. + + +Nyoda’s prophetic soul proved to be a true prophet, and there were +trying times to follow the establishment of Ophelia at Onoway House. +That very first night Nyoda woke with a strangling sensation to find +Ophelia sitting on her chest. “I want ter sleep in the bed wid yer,” she +said, in answer to Nyoda’s startled inquiry. “I’m afraid ter sleep +alone.” She had been trying to creep in between Nyoda and Gladys and +lost her balance, which accounted for her position when Nyoda woke up. + +“But there’s nothing in the room to hurt you,” Nyoda said, reassuringly. + +“It’s them hop-toads,” she wailed, stopping her ears against the pillow, +“they give me th’ pip with their everlastin’ screechin’. They sound +right under the bed.” Gladys woke up in time to hear her and offered to +take the cot herself and let Ophelia sleep with Nyoda. + +The next morning Gladys made a hurried trip to town to buy Ophelia some +clothes, while Nyoda washed her hair, much to Ophelia’s disgust. The +curls were so matted that it was impossible to comb them out and there +was nothing left to do but cut them short. When all the foreign coloring +matter had been removed and the hair had begun to dry in the warm wind, +Nyoda stopped beside her in bewildered astonishment. On the top of her +head, just about in the center, there was a circular patch of light hair +about three inches in diameter. All the rest was black. “Ophelia,” said +Nyoda, looking her straight in the eyes, “how did you bleach the top of +your hair?” + +“It’s a fib,” said Ophelia, politely, “I never bleached it.” + +“Then somebody did,” said Nyoda. + +“Didn’t neither,” contradicted Ophelia. + +“We’ll see whether they did or not,” said Nyoda, “when the hair grows +out from the roots.” + +Dressed in the pretty clothes Gladys bought for her she was not at all a +bad looking child, but her language and her knowledge of evil absolutely +appalled the dwellers at Onoway House. “Did yer old man beat yer up?” +she asked sympathetically of Mrs. Landsdowne, when that gentle lady came +to call. Mrs. Landsdowne had run into the barn door the day before and +had a bruise on her forehead. + +Ophelia’s sins in the garden were too numerous to chronicle. When set to +weeding she pulled weeds and plants impartially, working such havoc in a +short time that she was forbidden to touch a single growing thing. Her +ignorance of everything pertaining to the country was only equalled by +her curiosity. + +“What would happen to the cow if you didn’t milk her?” she demanded of +Farmer Landsdowne, as she watched him milking one day. “She’d bust, I +suppose,” she went on, answering her own question while Farmer +Landsdowne was scratching his head for a reply. “Say, are yer whiskers +fireproof?” she asked, scrutinizing his white beard with interest. +“Because if they ain’t yer don’t dast smoke that pipe. The Santa Claus +in Lefkovitz’s window told me so. Say, what do you do when they get +dirty?” + +Leaving her alone in the barn for a few moments he heard a mighty +squawking and cackling and hastened to investigate. He found the old +setting hen running distractedly around one of the empty horse stalls, +frantically trying to get out, while Ophelia was holding the big rooster +on the nest with her one hand, in spite of the fact that he was flapping +his wings and pecking at her furiously. “He ought to do some of the +settin’,” she remarked, when taken to task for her act, “he ain’t doin’ +nothin’ fer a livin’.” + +The squash bugs had descended once more, and were making hay of the +squash bed while the sun shone, and the girls worked a whole, long weary +afternoon clearing the vines. As the bugs were picked off they were put +into tin cans to be destroyed. Tired to death and heartily sick of +handling the disagreeable insects the girls quit the job at sundown, +having just about cleared the patch. They gathered in Migwan’s big room +before supper to make some plans for the Winnebago Ceremonial Meeting +which was to be held at Onoway House on the Fourth of July. Ophelia +promptly followed them and demanded admittance. “You can’t come in,” +said Migwan rather crossly, for there were secrets being told which they +did not want her to hear. + +Ophelia wandered off in search of amusement. Mr. Bob had fled at her +approach and was hiding under the porch, and Betty had been admitted to +the council of the Winnebagos, for Migwan and Nyoda had decided at the +beginning of the summer that if there was to be any peace with her she +would have to be a party to all their doings, and as she was to be put +into a Camp Fire Group in the fall she was given this opportunity of +learning to qualify for the various honors by watching the intimate +workings of the Winnebago group. Tom was over at the Landsdowne’s and +Mrs. Gardiner was getting supper and invited Ophelia to stay out of the +kitchen when she came down to see if there was any fun to be had there. +Ophelia had been allowed to help once or twice and had broken so many +dishes with her one-handed way of doing things that Mrs. Gardiner lost +all patience and refused to have her around. + +Strolling out into the garden in her quest for something to do she came +upon the big tin pail containing all the squash bugs, which Migwan +intended taking over to Farmer Landsdowne for disposal. A mischievous +impulse seized her, and taking off the cover she emptied the bugs back +into the bed, where they crawled eagerly back to their interrupted feast +of tender leaves. When the prank was discovered Migwan sank wearily down +beside the patch she had tried so hard to save from destruction. +“Whatever possessed you?” said Nyoda, seizing Ophelia with the firm +determination of boxing her ears. But Ophelia shrank back with such +evident expectation of a blow that Nyoda loosened her hold. + +“Well, ain’t yer goin’ ter punish me?” asked Ophelia, still eyeing her +warily for an unexpected attack, with the attitude of an animal at bay. +To her surprise there were no blows forthcoming, but she was ordered to +pick off all the squash bugs again, and before the job was done she had +plenty of time to regret her rash act. All that beautiful long summer +evening, when the girls were on the front porch playing games and +shouting with laughter, she sat in the squash bed, undoing the mischief +she had done. When bed time came she was told to sleep in the cot by +herself, and Gladys and Nyoda took no notice of her at all, whispering +secrets to each other in bed with never a word to her. The next morning +she was awakened at four o’clock and set to work again, and so missed +the merry breakfast with the family. Gladys had promised to take her to +town in the machine that day, but, of course, this pleasure was +forfeited, as the beetles were not yet all picked off. The family was +all invited over to the Landsdowne’s for supper that night, but by four +o’clock Ophelia realized with a pang of disappointment that she would +not even be through by five. Accustomed as she was to brutal treatment, +this was the worst punishment she had ever experienced, but she realized +that she deserved it and was gamely paying the price without a murmur. +When Migwan came out shortly after four and helped her so that she would +be done in time to go to Farmer Landsdowne’s with the others her +penitence was complete. + +Preparations for the big Fourth of July Council meeting were going +forward apace. It was to be a house party, they decided, and the other +three Winnebagos, Nakwisi, Chapa and Medmangi, were to be invited to +spend the night. Sleeping quarters caused some debate, when Sahwah had a +brilliant idea. “Let’s build a tepee,” she said, “and all sleep on the +ground inside of it with our feet toward the center. Then we can hold +the Council Fire in there and dance a war dance around the fire and make +shadows on the sides to scare the natives.” No sooner said than begun. +The front lawn was chosen as the site of the tepee, as that was the only +spot big enough. Dick, Tom and Mr. Landsdowne set the poles in a circle +to make the supporting framework, and the girls made the covering of +heavy sail cloth, which fitted snugly over the poles and had an opening +in the center of the top, and another one lower down for the entrance. +When done it would easily accommodate fifteen or sixteen persons. An +iron kettle was sunk into the ground in the center of the tepee. This +would hold sticks of wood soaked in kerosene, which is the secret of a +quickly lighted council fire, and also the alcohol and salt mixture +which is an indispensable part of all ghost story telling parties. The +grass around the kettle was pulled up, leaving a ring of bare earth, +which would prevent accident from the fire spreading. + +The whole thing was completed two days before the Fourth. A big sign, +WINNEBAGO MEDICINE LODGE, was hung over the entrance. Underneath it a +sign in smaller letters proclaimed that at the Fourth Sundown of the +Thunder Moon the big medicine man Face-Toward-the-Mountain would “make +medicine” in the lodge for the benefit of the Winnebago tribe and their +paleface friends. The “paleface friends” referred to were Mrs. Gardiner, +Betty and Tom and Ophelia, Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne and Calvin Smalley, +who were invited to see the show. + +“It’s a shame Aunt Phœbe and the Doctor have to miss it,” said Hinpoha. + +It was rumored that a real Indian princess would be present at the +medicine making, i.e., Sahwah in her Indian dress that Mr. Evans had +sent her from Canada, and excitement ran high among the invited guests +as hint after hint trickled out as to the elaborateness of the +ceremonial, which was to eclipse anything yet attempted in that line by +the Winnebagos, which was saying a great deal. Migwan had been seen +doing a great deal of surreptitious writing of late and at bed time the +Winnebagos had taken to congregating in the big, back bedroom and +locking the doors, and soon there would issue forth sounds of much +talking and laughter, so that a really experienced listener would almost +suspect there was a play in process of rehearsal. “Let’s reh—you know,” +said Migwan to Gladys, when the last touches had been put on the tepee, +suddenly cutting her words short and making a hand sign to finish her +sentence. + +“Do you mind if I don’t just now,” answered Gladys, “I have such a bad +headache I think I will lie down for a while. It must have been the sun +glaring on the white canvas.” + +“I have one too,” said Hinpoha, “it must have been the sun. I’ll come +later when Gladys does,” she said to Migwan, with an aggravatingly +mysterious hand sign. + +At supper time Ophelia refused to eat and moped in a manner quite +foreign to her. Her eyes were red and it looked as though she had been +crying. After supper she still sat by herself in a corner of the porch +and made no effort to trap the girls into telling their plans for the +Fourth as she had been doing all day. “Come and play Blind-Man’s-Buff on +the lawn,” called Migwan. Ophelia raised her head and looked at her +listlessly, but made no effort to join in the merry game. + +“Don’t you feel well?” asked Nyoda, noting her languid manner. “Child, +what makes your eyes so red?” she said, turning Ophelia’s face toward +the light. + +“I don’t know,” said Ophelia, wriggling out of her grasp, and putting +her head down on her knee. + +“Come, let me put you to bed,” said Nyoda. “I’m afraid you’re going to +be sick.” In the morning Ophelia’s face was all broken out and Nyoda +groaned when she realized the truth. Ophelia had the measles. All +preparations for the Fourth of July Ceremonial had to be called off, and +the three girls in town telephoned not to come out. The sight of the +tepee and all the plans it suggested called out a wail of despair every +time the girls went out in the yard. On the morning of the Glorious +Fourth Gladys woke to find herself spotted like a leopard. + +“That must be the reason why I had such a fearful headache the other +day,” she said, as she took her place with the other sick one, half +amused and wholly disgusted at herself for having fallen a victim. + +“I had a headache too,” said Hinpoha, in alarm, “I hope I’m not coming +down with them. I’ve had them once.” + +“That doesn’t help much,” said Nyoda, “for I had them three times.” +Hinpoha’s fears were realized, and by night there was a third case +developed. And so, instead of a grand council on the Fourth of July +there was real medicine making at Onoway House. None of the sufferers +were very ill, although they must remain prisoners, and they had such a +jolly time in the “contagious disease ward” that Migwan and Sahwah, who +were finding things rather dull on the outside, wished fervently that +they had taken the measles too. + +As soon as the three invalids were pronounced entirely well there was a +celebration held in honor of the occasion in the tepee. At sundown Nyoda +went around beating on a tin pan covered with a cloth in lieu of a +tom-tom, which was always the signal for the tribe to come together. +Tom, as runner, was dispatched to fetch the Landsdownes and Calvin +Smalley. When the tribe came trooping in answer to the call, followed by +the guests, they were marched in solemn file around the lawn and into +the tepee. Inside there was a fire kindled in the center, with a circle +of ponchos and blankets spread around it on the ground. “Bless my soul, +but this is cozy,” said Farmer Landsdowne, dropping down on a poncho and +stretching himself comfortably. + +“Now, what shall we do?” asked Nyoda, who was mistress of ceremonies, +“play games or tell stories?” + +“Tell stories,” begged Migwan, “we haven’t ‘wound the yarn’ for an age.” + +“All right,” agreed Nyoda, “shall we do it the way several of the Indian +tribes do?” + +“How do they do it?” asked Migwan. + +“Well,” said Nyoda, “there is a tradition among certain tribes that if +anyone refuses to tell a story when he is asked he will grow a tail like +a donkey. Sometimes, however, they do not wait for Nature to perform +this miracle, but fasten a tail themselves onto the one who will not +entertain the crowd when he is bidden, and he must wear it until he +tells a story. Their way of asking one of their number to tell one is to +remark ‘There is a tail to you,’ as a delicate way of expressing the +fate that will be his if he refuses.” + +“Oh, what fun!” cried Sahwah. + +“And now Gladys,” said Nyoda, “‘there is a tail to you.’” + +Gladys placed more wood on the fire, which was burning low, and returned +to her seat on the blanket. “Did I ever tell you,” she began, “about my +Aunt Beatrice? She and my Uncle Lynn were visiting here from the West +with my little cousin Beatrice, who was only six months old. They were +staying in a big hotel downtown. One night they went to a party, leaving +Beatrice in their room at the hotel in the care of her nurse. At the +party there was a fortune teller who amused the guests by reading their +palms. When it came my aunt’s turn the woman said to her, ‘You have had +one child, who is dead.’ Everybody laughed because they knew Aunt +Beatrice had never lost a baby, and little Beatrice was safe and sound +in the hotel that very minute. But it worried my aunt almost to death, +and she couldn’t enjoy herself the rest of the evening. + +“Finally she said to my uncle, ‘I can’t stand it any longer, I must go +home,’ so they left the party just as the guests were sitting down to a +midnight supper, and everybody made fun of her for being such a fussy +young mother. When they got downtown they found the hotel in flames and +the streets blocked for a long distance around. Aunt Beatrice finally +broke through the fire lines and ran right past the firemen who tried to +keep her out, into the burning building, and fought her way up-stairs +through the smoke to her room, where she could hear a baby crying. She +was blind from the smoke and could hardly see where she was going, but +she picked up a rug from the floor, wrapped it around the baby and +carried her out in safety. When she got outside they found it was not +little Beatrice at all that she had saved, it was a strange baby. She +had mistaken the room up-stairs in the smoke and carried out someone +else’s child. The building collapsed right after she came out and no one +could go in any more. Beatrice and her nurse were lost in the fire.” A +murmur of horrified sympathy went around the circle in the tepee. “And,” +continued Gladys, “my Aunt Beatrice has never been herself since. She +can’t bear even to see a baby.” + +“Is that the reason you wouldn’t let me bring Marian Simpson’s baby over +the day she left it with me to take care of?” asked Hinpoha. “I remember +you said your aunt was visiting you.” + +“Yes, that was why,” said Gladys. “And now, Mr. Landsdowne,” she added, +“‘there is a tail to you!’” + +Farmer Landsdowne stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment, and +then a reminiscent smile began to wrinkle the corners of his eyes. +“Would you like to hear a story about the old house?” he asked. + +“You mean Onoway House?” asked Migwan. + +Mr. Landsdowne nodded. “Only it seems strange to be calling it ‘Onoway +House.’ It has always been known as ‘Waterhouse’s Place,’ because old +Deacon Waterhouse built it. Well, like most old houses, there are +different stories told about it, but whether they are true or not, no +one knows. People are so apt to believe anything they want to believe. +Well, I started out to tell you the story about the gas well. But before +I tell you about the gas well I suppose I ought to tell you about the +Deacon’s son. Mind you, the things I am telling you are only what I have +heard from the folks around here; I never knew Deacon Waterhouse. He was +dead and the house empty before the farm was split up, and it wasn’t +until the part that I now own was offered for sale that I ever came into +this neighborhood. Well, to return to the Deacon’s son. They say that +there never was a finer looking young fellow than Charley Waterhouse. He +was a regular prince among the country boys. But he didn’t care a rap +about farming. All he wanted to do was read; that and take the horse and +buggy and drive to town. The old Deacon was terribly disappointed, of +course, for Charley was his only son, and he couldn’t see that the boy +wasn’t cut out to be a farmer. He railed about his love of books and +wouldn’t give him money for schooling. Charley stood it until he was +eighteen and then he ran away, after forging the Deacon’s name to a +check. The folks around here never saw him again. Mrs. Waterhouse died +of a broken heart, they say. They also say,” he added with a twinkle in +his eye, “that she died before she had her attic cleaned, and that her +ghost comes back at night and sets the old furniture straight up there.” +Migwan and Hinpoha exchanged glances. + +“Now about the gas well,” resumed Mr. Landsdowne. “The Deacon was +digging for water on the farm. The old well had dried up during a long, +hot spell and he was bound to go deep enough this time. Down they +went—two, three hundred feet, and still no good water. The ground had +turned into slate and shale. The well digger lit a match down in the +hole when suddenly there was a terrific explosion which caved in the +sides of the well and all the dirt which was piled around the outside +slid in again, completely filling it up. A vein of gas had been struck. +That very day the Deacon received word that his son was in San +Francisco, dying, and wanted to see him. He forgot his anger over +Charley’s disgrace and started west that very night. He never came back. +He stayed in San Francisco a whole year and then died out there. While +he was there he mentioned the gas well to several people, or they say he +did, and that’s how the story got round. But if such a thing did happen, +there was never any trace of it afterward. Personally I do not believe +it ever happened. But superstitious folks around here say they can still +hear the buried well digger striking with his pick against the earth +that covers him.” + +“Two ghosts at Onoway House!” said Nyoda, “we are uncommonly well +supplied,” and the girls shivered and drew near together in mock fear. +Thus, with various stories the evening wore away, until Farmer +Landsdowne, looking at his big, old-fashioned silver watch with a start, +remarked that he should have been in bed an hour ago, whereupon the +company broke up. Calvin Smalley went home reluctantly. That evening +spent by the fire in the tepee had been a sort of wonderland to him, +unused as he was to family festivities of any kind. + +Nyoda lingered after the rest had gone to see that the fire in the tepee +was properly extinguished. As she watched the glowing embers turn black +one by one she became aware of a figure standing in the doorway. The +moonlight fell directly on it and she could see that it was robed in +flowing white, and instead of a face there was a hideous death’s head. +Horribly startled at first she recovered her composure when she +remembered that she was living in a household which were given to +playing jokes on each other. Flinging up her hands in mock terror, she +recited dramatically, + +“Art thou some angel, some devil, or some ghost?” The figure in the +doorway never moved. Nyoda picked up the thick stick with which she had +stirred the fire and rushed upon the ghost as if she intended to beat it +to a pulp. It flung out its arm, covered with the flowing drapery, and +Nyoda dropped her weapon and staggered back against the side of the +tepee, sneezing with terrible violence, her eyes smarting and watering +horribly. When the force of the paroxysm had spent itself and she could +open her eyes again the ghost had vanished. Blind and choking, she made +her way back to the house, intent on finding out who the ghost was, who +had thrown red pepper into her eyes. That it was none of the dwellers at +Onoway House was clear. The girls were already partly undressed, Ophelia +was in bed, and Tom was taking a foot-bath in the kitchen under the +watchful supervision of his mother to see that he got himself clean. A +chorus of indignation rose on every side at the outrage, when Nyoda had +told her tale. + +“Could it have been Calvin Smalley?” somebody asked. But this no one +would believe. The boy was too gentle and manly, and too evidently +delighted with his new neighbors to have done such a dastardly deed. +Then who had dressed up as a ghost and thrown red pepper at Nyoda in the +tepee? + + + + +CHAPTER V.—SAHWAH MAKES A DISCOVERY. + + +As there was no one of their acquaintance whom they could suspect of +being the ghost, the trick was laid at the door of some unknown dweller +along the road with a fondness for horseplay. The girls spent the +morning working quietly in the garden, and in the afternoon they went to +the city in Gladys’s automobile, all but Sahwah, who wanted to work on a +waist she was making. Then, after the automobile was out of sight she +discovered that she did not have the right kind of thread and could not +work on it after all. With the prospect of a whole afternoon to herself, +she decided to take a long walk. The Bartlett farm was not very large +and she was soon at its boundary, and over on the Smalley property. In +contrast to their little orchard and garden and meadow, the Smalley farm +stretched out as far as she could see, with great corn and wheat fields, +and acres of timber land. Somewhere on the place Calvin Smalley was +working, and Sahwah made up her mind to find him and ask him over to +Onoway House that night. But the extent of the Smalley farm was +ninety-seven acres, and it was not so easy to find a person on it when +one had no definite knowledge of that person’s whereabouts. Sahwah +walked and walked and walked, up one field and down another, shading her +eyes with her hand to catch sight of the figure she was looking for. But +Calvin was somewhere near the center of the cornfield, stooping near the +ground, and the high stalks waved over his head and concealed him +completely. Sahwah passed by without discovering him and crossed an open +field that was lying fallow. Beyond this was a strip of marsh land which +was practically impassable. Under ordinary circumstances Sahwah would +have turned back, but being badly in want of something better to do she +tried to cross it. She had seen two boards lying in the field, and +securing these she laid them down on the treacherous mud, and by +standing on one and laying the other down in front of her and then +advancing to that one she actually got across in safety. + +On the other side of the bog she spied a little clump of trees and +headed toward them, for the sun was very hot in the open and the thought +of a rest in the shade was attractive. When she came nearer she saw that +this little copse sheltered a cottage, old and weatherbeaten and +evidently deserted. Weeds grew around it, higher than the steps and the +floor of the porch, and the crumbling chimney, which ran up on the +outside of the house, was covered with a thick growth of Japanese ivy. +“It’s a regular House in the Woods,” said Sahwah to herself, “only there +are no dwarfs. I wonder what it’s like inside,” she went on in her +thoughts. “Maybe we could come here sometime and build a fire—there must +be a fireplace somewhere because there’s a chimney—and have a Ceremonial +Meeting or a picnic. How delightfully private it is!” The trees hid the +house from view until one almost stumbled upon it, and then the marsh +and the broad vacant field stretched between it and the farm, and behind +it was the river, its banks hidden by a thick growth of willows and +alders, so that the cottage was not visible to a person coming along the +river in a boat. There was not a sound to be heard anywhere except the +zig-a-zig of the grasshoppers in the field and the swish of the hidden +water as it flowed over the stones. “A grand place to have a secret +meeting of the Winnebagos,” said Sahwah to herself, “where we wouldn’t +always be interrupted by Ophelia pounding on the door and wanting to +come in. I wonder if it’s open?” + +She stepped up on the porch and tried the door. It was locked. She +peered into the window. The room she saw was absolutely empty. She could +not see whether there was a fireplace or not. She was seized with a +desire to enter that cottage. It was deserted and tumble down and +fascinating. Whoever owned it—if anyone did, for she was not sure +whether it stood on the Smalley property or not—had evidently abandoned +it to the elements. There was no harm at all in trying to get in. She +pushed on the window. It apparently was also locked. But she pushed +again and this time she heard a crack. The rotten wood was splitting +away from the rusty catch. She pushed again and the window slid up. She +stepped over the sill into the room. + +The window was so thick with dirt that the light seemed dim inside. At +one end of the room there was an open fireplace, long unused, with the +mortar falling out between the bricks. There was another door in the +wall opposite the front door, so evidently there was another room +beyond. This door was also locked, but the key was in the lock and it +turned readily under her hand and the door swung open. Sahwah stood +still in surprise. This room was as full of furniture as the other had +been empty. Around all four walls stood cabinets and bookcases, and +besides these there was a couch, a desk, a table and several chairs. The +table was covered with screws, little wheels and the works of clocks, +and before it sat an old man, busily working with them. He had on a +long, shabby grey dressing-gown and a high silk hat on his head. He did +not look up as she opened the door, but went right on working, +apparently oblivious to her presence. She stared at him in amazement for +a moment, and then, remembering her manners, realized that she had +deliberately walked into a gentleman’s room without knocking. + +“I beg your pardon,” she said, in embarrassment, “I didn’t know there +was anyone here.” + +The old man looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. “Come in, +come in,” he said, affably, in a deep voice. Sahwah took a step into the +room. The old man went back to his wheels and rods and took no more +notice of her. + +“What is that you’re making?” asked Sahwah, curiously. + +“It’s a long story,” said the man, taking off his hat, pulling a +handkerchief out of it and putting it back on his head, and then falling +to work again. + +“Must be a genius,” thought Sahwah, “that’s what makes him act so +queerly.” She waited a few minutes in silence and then curiosity got the +better of her. “Is it too long to tell?” she asked. + +“Eh? What’s that?” asked the man, turning toward her. He took off his +hat, put his handkerchief back in again and then put the hat back on his +head. + +“I asked you,” said Sahwah, politely, “if the story of what you are +making is too long to tell.” + +“Not at all, not at all,” said the man, and resumed his work without +another word. + +“How impolite!” thought Sahwah. “To urge me to stay and then refuse to +answer my questions.” Her eyes strayed around the room at the bookcases +and cabinets. Every cabinet was filled with clocks or parts of clocks. +The books as far as she could see were all about machinery. One was a +book of such astounding width of binding that she leaned over to read +the title. The letters were so faded that they were hardly visible. “L,” +she read, “E, F, E——” + +“It’s a machine for saving time,” said the man at the table, so suddenly +that Sahwah jumped. + +“How interesting!” she said. “How does it work?” + +The man fitted a rod into a wheel and apparently forgot her existence. +She sat silent a few minutes more and then decided she had better go +home. She rose softly to her feet. “It’s something like a clock,” said +the man, without looking up from his work. + +“It’s coming after all,” she thought, and sat down again. + +After a silence of about five minutes the man spoke again. “It measures +the time just like any clock,” he explained, “only, as the minutes are +ticked off, they are thrown into a little compartment at the side,—this +thing,” he said, holding up a little metal box. He lapsed into silence +again and after an interval resumed where he had left off. “This +compartment,” he said, “holds just an hour, and when it is full a bell +rings and the compartment opens automatically, throwing the block of +time, carefully wrapped to prevent leakage of seconds, out into this +basket.” He took off his hat, brought out his handkerchief, polished a +bit of glass with it, put it carefully back into the crown and replaced +the hat on his head. + +It suddenly came over Sahwah that her ingenious host was not quite right +in his mind, so rising abruptly she hastened out of the room. The man +took no notice of her departure. She locked the door carefully after +her, and went out by the window whence she had entered the house, +pulling it shut from the outside. She did not undertake to cross the +marsh again, but made a wide detour around it. When she was once more in +the fallow field she looked back, but the house was invisible among the +trees and bushes which surrounded it. As she sped past the rows of +standing corn on her way home, Abner Smalley, bending low among them, +saw her and straightened up with a suspicious look in his eyes. He +glanced in the direction from which she had come. On one side was the +empty field bordered by the marsh and the woody copse, and on the other +was the path from the river which went in the direction of Onoway House. +He breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had come from the direction of +Onoway House, of course. The next day he put his bull to graze in the +empty field before the copse. Then, in different places along the rail +fence which enclosed this field he put signs reading: BEWARE THE BULL. +HE IS UGLY. + +When the girls came back from town Sahwah told her discovery. “Nyoda,” +said Gladys, suddenly, “do you suppose it could have been this man who +threw the pepper at you?” + +“Perhaps,” said Nyoda, and all the girls shuddered at the thought. +Before Sahwah’s discovery they had agreed among themselves to say +nothing about the ghost episode to anyone outside the family, so that +the perpetrator of the joke, if he were one of the farmer boys living +near, would not have the satisfaction of knowing that they were wrought +up about it. In the meantime they would send Tom to get acquainted with +all the boys on the road and try to find out something about it from +them. + +Calvin Smalley was over that evening and something was said about +Sahwah’s adventure of the afternoon. “Calvin,” said Nyoda, directly, +“who is the old man who lives in that house?” + +Calvin looked very much distressed, and frightened too, it must be +admitted. Then he laughed, although to Nyoda his laugh seemed a trifle +forced, and said in his usual straightforward manner, “The man in the +old house among the trees? That is my great uncle Peter, grandfather’s +brother. He was something of an inventer and invented a time clock, but +the patent was stolen by another and he never got the credit for +inventing it. He worried about it until his mind became unbalanced. For +years he has worked around with wheels and things, making strange +contrivances for clocks. He is perfectly harmless and wouldn’t hurt a +fly. He will not live in a house with people and he will not leave the +cottage he lives in even for an hour, he is so afraid something will +happen to his machine while he is away. We don’t like to have people +know that he is there because they would say we ought to send him away, +but Uncle Abner won’t do that because Uncle Peter hates to be with folks +and he might not be allowed to play with his machine in an institution +the way he can here. So as long as he is happy what is the difference? +But you know how country people talk. So would it be asking a great deal +to request you not to say anything about this to anyone, not even the +Landsdownes? If Uncle Abner ever found out you knew he would be very +angry, and would sure think I told you. I don’t see how you ever got in, +anyway; the door is usually kept locked, and to all appearances the +house is empty.” Sahwah looked decidedly uncomfortable as she met the +eyes of several of the girls, but no one mentioned the manner in which +she had gained entrance. Inasmuch as she had pried into this secret she +felt it was no more than right to promise to keep it. + +“All right, we won’t say anything,” she said, reassuringly. All the +others gave an equally solemn promise, and were glad that Ophelia had +heard none of the talk about the matter, for she had been over at the +Landsdowne’s since before Sahwah told her adventure. Little pitchers +have wide mouths as well as big ears. + +The girls all looked at each other when Calvin asserted that his Uncle +Peter never left the house even for an hour. Clearly then, he had not +been the ghost. + +Migwan had bad dreams that night. Just before going to bed she had been +reading a volume of Poe, which is not the most sleep producing +literature known. She dreamed that she was lying awake in her bed, +looking at a big square of moonlight on the floor, when suddenly a black +shadow fell across it, and the figure of a monkey appeared on the +windowsill, stood there a moment and then jumped into the room. +Shuddering with fright she woke up, and could hardly rid herself of the +impression of the dream, it had seemed so real. There was a big square +of moonlight on the floor. “I must have seen it in my sleep,” she +thought, “it’s exactly like the one in my dream.” She lay wondering if +it were possible to see things with your eyes closed, when all of a +sudden her heart began to thump madly. Into the moonlight there was +creeping a black shadow. It remained still for a few seconds, a +grotesque-shaped thing with a long tail, and then something came +hurtling through the window and landed on the floor beside the bed. +Migwan gave a scream that roused the house. Hinpoha, starting up wildly, +jumped from bed and landed squarely on the black specter on the floor. +The form struggled and squirmed and sent forth a long wailing ME-OW-W-W. + +“What is the matter?” cried Nyoda and Gladys and Betty and Sahwah, +running to the rescue. + +“It’s a cat!” said Migwan, faintly. “I thought it was a monkey!” + +“Moral: Don’t read Poe before going to bed,” said Nyoda, while the rest +shouted with laughter at the cause of Migwan’s fright. + +“It must have jumped in from the tree,” said Hinpoha. “I see our screen +has fallen out.” + +There was little sleep in the house the rest of the night. During the +time when the screen was out of the window the room had filled with +mosquitoes, which soon found their way to the rest of the rooms. “If you +offered me the choice of sleeping in a room with a monkey or a swarm of +mosquitoes, I believe I’d take the monkey,” said Nyoda, slapping +viciously. Altogether it was a heavy-eyed group that came down to +breakfast the next morning. + +“What are we going to do to-day?” asked Gladys. + +“The usual thing,” said Migwan, “pull weeds. That is, I am. You girls +don’t need to help all the time. I don’t want you to think of my garden +as merely a lot of weeds to be forever pulled. I want you to remember +only the beautiful part of it.” + +“We don’t mind pulling weeds,” cried the girls, stoutly, “it’s fun when +we all do it together,” and they fell to work with a will. + +“I declare,” said Migwan, “I have become so zealous in the pursuit of +weeds that I mechanically start to pull them along the roadside. I +actually believe that if a weed grew on my grave I’d rise up and +eradicate it. I little thought when I proudly won an honor last summer +for identifying ten different weeds that they’d get to haunting my +dreams the way they do now. Now I know what people mean when they say +‘meaner than pusley.’ It’s the meanest thing I’ve ever dealt with. I cut +off and pull up every trace of it one day and the next day there it is +again, just as flourishing as ever.” + +“I don’t call that meanness,” said Nyoda, “that’s just cheerful +persistence. Think what a success we’d all be in life if we got ahead in +the face of obstacles in that way. If I didn’t already have a perfectly +good symbol I’d take pusley for mine. If it were edible I think I’d use +it as an exclusive article of diet for a time and see if I couldn’t +absorb some of its characteristics.” + +While she was talking Ophelia came along with a frog on a shovel, which +she proceeded to throw over the fence. “Come back with that frog,” said +Migwan, “I need him in my business. Don’t you know that frogs eat the +insects off the plants and we have that many less to kill?” Ophelia was +standing in the strong sunlight, and Nyoda noticed that the circle of +light hair on her head was still golden clear to the roots, although the +ringlets were visibly growing. + +“It must be a freak of Nature,” she concluded, “for it certainly isn’t +bleached.” + +Rest at Onoway House was again doomed to be broken that night. Nyoda had +been peacefully sleeping for some time when she woke up at the touch of +something cold upon her face. She started up and the feeling +disappeared. She went to sleep again, thinking she had been dreaming. +Soon the feeling came again, as of something cold lying on her forehead. +She put up her hand and encountered a cold and knobby object. At her +touch the thing—whatever it was—jumped away. She sprang out of bed and +lit the lamp. The sight that met her eyes as she looked around the room +made her pinch herself to see if she were really awake and not in the +midst of some nightmare. All over the floor, chairs, table, beds, bureau +and wash-stand sat frogs; big frogs, little frogs, medium-sized frogs; +all goggling solemnly at her in the lamplight. She stared open mouthed +at the apparition. Could this be another Plague of Frogs, she asked +herself, such as was visited upon Pharaoh? At her horrified exclamation +Gladys woke up, gave one look around the room and dove under the +bedclothes with a wild yell. To her excited eyes it looked as if there +were a million frogs in the room. + +“What’s the matter?” asked Ophelia, sitting up in bed and staring around +her sleepily. + +“Don’t you see the frogs?” cried Nyoda. + +“Sure I see them,” said Ophelia. “Aren’t you glad I got so many?” + +“Ophelia!” gasped Nyoda, “did you bring those frogs in here?” + +“Betcher I did,” said Ophelia, with pride, “and it took me most all +afternoon to catch the whole sackful, too. What’s wrong?” she asked, as +she saw the expression on Nyoda’s face. “Yer said they’d eat the bugs +and yer made such a fuss about the mosquitoes last night that I brought +the toads to eat them while we slept.” Nyoda dropped limply into a +chair. The inspirations of Ophelia surpassed anything she had ever read +in fiction. + +If anybody has ever tried to catch a roomful of frogs that were not +anxious to be caught they can appreciate the chase that went on at +Onoway House that night. The first faint streaks of dawn were appearing +in the sky before the family finally retired once more. Sufficient to +say that Ophelia never set up another mosquito trap made of frogs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI.—THE WINNEBAGOS SCENT A PLOT. + + +“Where are you going, my pretty maid, and why the step ladder?” said +Nyoda to Migwan one morning. “Have your beans grown up so high over +night that you have to climb a ladder to pick them?” + +“Come and see!” said Migwan, mysteriously. Nyoda followed her to the +front lawn. Migwan set the ladder up beside a dead tree, from which the +branches had been sawn, leaving a slender trunk about seven feet high. +On top of this Migwan proceeded to nail a flat board. + +“Are you going to live on a pillar, like St. Simeon Stylites?” asked +Nyoda, curiously, as Migwan mounted the ladder with a basin of water in +her hand. + +“O come, Nyoda,” said Migwan, “don’t you know a bird bathtub when you +see one?” + +“A bathtub, is it?” said Nyoda. “Now I breathe easily again. But why so +extremely near the earth?” + +Migwan laughed at her chaffing. “You have to put them high up,” she +explained, “or else the cats get the birds when they are bathing. Mr. +Landsdowne told me how to make it.” The other girls wandered out and +inspected the drinking fountain-bathtub. Hinpoha closed one eye and +looked critically at the outfit. + +“Doesn’t it strike you as being a little inharmonious?” she asked. +“Black stump, unfinished wood platform, and blue enamel basin.” + +“Paint the platform and basin dark green,” said Sahwah, the practical. +“There is some green paint down cellar, I saw it. Let me paint it. I can +do that much for the birds, even if I didn’t think of building them a +drinking fountain.” She sped after the paint and soon transformed the +offending articles so that they blended harmoniously with the +surroundings. + +“It’s better now,” said Nyoda, thoughtfully, “but it’s still crude and +unbeautiful. What is wrong?” + +“I know,” said Hinpoha, the artistic one. “It’s too bare. It looks like +a hat without any trimming. What it needs is vines around it.” + +“The very thing!” exclaimed Migwan. “I’ll plant climbing nasturtiums and +train them to go up the pole and wind around the basin, so it will look +like a fountain.” + +“Four heads are better than one,” observed Nyoda, as the seeds were +planted, “when they are all looking in the same direction.” + +Just then a young man came up the path from the road. “May I use your +telephone?” he asked, courteously raising his hat. He spoke with a +slight foreign accent. + +“Certainly you may,” said Migwan, going with him into the house. She +could not help hearing what he said. He called up a number in town and +when he had his connection, said, “This is Larue talking. We are going +to do it on the Centerville Road. There is a river near.” That was all. +He rang off, thanked Migwan politely and walked off down the road. The +incident was forgotten for a time. + +That afternoon Gladys was coming home in the automobile. At the turn in +the road just before you came to Onoway House there was a car stalled. +The driver, a young and pretty woman, was apparently in great perplexity +what to do. “Can I help you?” asked Gladys, stopping her machine. + +“I don’t know what’s the matter,” said the young woman, “but I can’t get +the car started. I’m afraid I’ll have to be towed to a garage. Do you +know of anyone around here who has a team of horses?” + +Gladys looked at the starting apparatus of the other car, but it was a +different make from hers and she knew nothing about it. “Would you like +to have me tow you to our barn?” she asked. “There is a man up the road +who fixes automobiles for a great many people who drive through here and +I could get him to come over.” + +The young woman appeared much relieved. “If you would be so kind it +would be a great favor,” she said, “for I am in haste to-day.” + +Gladys towed the car to the barn at Onoway House and phoned for the car +tinker. The young woman, who introduced herself as Miss Mortimer, was a +very pleasant person indeed, and quite won the hearts of the girls. She +was delighted with Onoway House, both with the name and the house +itself, and asked to be shown all over it, from garret to cellar. “How +near that tree is to the window!” she said, as she looked out of the +attic window into the branches of the big Balm of Gilead tree that grew +beside the house, close to Migwan and Hinpoha’s bedroom. It was much +higher than the house and its branches drooped down on the roof. “How do +you ever move about up here with all this furniture?” asked Miss +Mortimer. + +“Oh,” answered Migwan, “we never come up here.” + +The barn likewise struck the visitor’s fancy, with its big empty lofts, +and she fell absolutely in love with the river. The girls took her for a +ride on the raft, and she amused herself by sounding the depth of the +water with the pole. They could see that she was experienced in handling +boats from the way she steered the raft. The girls were so charmed with +her that they felt a keen regret when the neighborhood tinker announced +that the car was in running shape again. + +“I’ve had a lovely time, girls,” said Miss Mortimer, shaking the hand of +each in farewell. “I can’t thank you enough.” + +“Come and see us again, if you are ever passing this way,” said Migwan, +cordially. + +“You may possibly see me again,” said Miss Mortimer, half to herself, as +she got into her machine and drove away. + +There was no moon that night and the cloud-covered sky hinted at +approaching rain, but Sahwah wanted to go out on the river on the raft, +so Nyoda and Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys went with her. It was too +dark to play any kind of games and the girls were too tired and +breathless from the hot day to sing, so they floated down-stream in lazy +silence, watching the shapeless outlines made against the dull sky by +the trees and bushes along the banks. On the other side of Farmer +Landsdowne’s place there was an abandoned farm. The house had stood +empty for many years, its cheerless windows brooding in the sunlight and +glaring in the moonlight. Just as they did with every other vacant +house, the Winnebagos nicknamed this one the Haunted House, and vied +with each other in describing the queer noises they had heard issuing +from it and the ghosts they had seen walking up and down the porch. As +they passed this place, gliding silently along the river, they were +surprised to see an automobile standing beside the house, at the little +side porch, in the shadow of a row of tall trees. + +“The ghosts are getting prosperous,” whispered Migwan, “they have bought +an automobile to do their nightly wandering in. Pretty soon we can’t say +that ghosts ‘walk’ any more. Ah, here come the ghosts.” + +From the side door of the house came two men, who proceeded to lift +various boxes from under the seats of the car and carry them into the +house. Then they lifted out a small keg, which the girls could not help +noticing they handled with greater care than they had the boxes. The +wind was blowing toward the river, and the girls distinctly heard one +man say to the other, “Be careful now, you know what will happen if we +drop this.” + +“I’m being as careful as I can,” answered the second man. + +After a few seconds the first one spoke again. “When’s Belle coming?” + +“She arrived in town to-day,” said his partner. + +When they had gone into the house this time the machine suddenly drove +away, revealing the presence of a third man at the wheel, whom the girls +had not noticed before this. The two men stayed in the house. + +“What on earth can be happening there?” said Sahwah. + +“It certainly does look suspicious,” said Nyoda. + +They waited there in the shadow of the willows for a long time to see +what would happen next, but nothing did. The house stood blank and +silent and apparently as empty as ever. Not a glimmer of light was +visible anywhere. Sahwah and Nyoda were just on the point of getting +into the rowboat, which had been tied on behind the raft, and towing the +other girls back home, when their ears caught the sound of a faint +splashing, like the sound made by the dipping of an oar. They were +completely hidden from sight either up or down the river, for just at +this point a portion of the bank had caved in, and the water filling up +the hole had made a deep indentation in the shore line, and into this +miniature bay the Tortoise-Crab had been steered. The thick willows +along the bank formed a screen between them and the stream above and +below. But they could look between the branches and see what was coming +up stream, from the direction of the lake. It was a rowboat, containing +two persons. The scudding clouds parted at intervals and the moon shone +through, and by its fitful light they could see that one of these +persons was a woman. When the rowboat was almost directly behind the +house it came to a halt, only a few yards from the place where the +Winnebagos lay concealed. + +“This is the house,” said the man. + +“I told you the water was deep enough up this far,” said the woman, in a +tone of satisfaction. Just then the moon shone out for a brief instant, +and the Winnebagos looked at each other in surprise. The woman, or +rather the girl, in the rowboat was Miss Mortimer, who had been their +guest only that day. The next moment she spoke. “We might as well go +back now. There isn’t anything more we can do. I just wanted to prove to +you that it could be towed up the river this far without danger.” + +“All right, Belle,” replied the man, and at the sound of his voice +Migwan pricked up her ears. There was something vaguely familiar about +it; something which eluded her at the moment. The rowboat turned in the +river and proceeded rapidly down-stream. The Winnebagos returned home, +full of excitement and wonder. + +The barn at Onoway House stood halfway between the house and the river. +As they landed from the raft and were tying it to the post they saw a +man come out of the barn and disappear among the bushes that grew +nearby. It was too dark to see him with any degree of distinctness. +Gladys’s thought leaped immediately to her car, which was left in the +barn. “Somebody’s trying to steal the car!” she cried, and they all +hastened to the barn. The automobile stood undisturbed in its place. +They made a hasty search with lanterns, but as far as they could see, +none of the gardening tools were missing. Satisfied that no damage had +been done, they went into the house. + +“Probably a tramp,” said Mrs. Gardiner, when the facts were told her. +“He evidently thought he would sleep in the barn, and then changed his +mind for some reason or other.” + +Migwan lay awake a long time trying to place the voice of the man in the +rowboat. Just as she was sinking off to sleep it came to her. The voice +she had heard in the darkness had a slightly foreign accent, and was the +voice of the man who had used the telephone that morning. + +Sometime during the night Onoway House was wakened by the sounds of a +terrific thunder storm. The girls flew around shutting windows. After a +few minutes of driving rain against the window panes the sound changed. +It became a sharp clattering. “Hail!” said Sahwah. + +“Oh, my young plants!” cried Migwan. “They will be pounded to pieces.” + +“Cover them with sheets and blankets!” suggested Nyoda. With their +accustomed swiftness of action the Winnebagos snatched up everything in +the house that was available for the purpose and ran out into the +garden, and spread the covers over the beds in a manner which would keep +the tender young plants from being pounded to pieces by the hailstones. +Migwan herself ran down to the farthest bed, which was somewhat +separated from the others. As she raced to save it from destruction she +suddenly ran squarely into someone who was standing in the garden. She +had only time to see that it was a man, when, with a muffled exclamation +of alarm he disappeared into space. Disappeared is the only word for it. +He did not run, he never reached the cover of the bushes; he simply +vanished off the face of the earth. One moment he was and the next +moment he was not. Much excited, Migwan ran back to the others and told +her story, only to be laughed at and told she was seeing things and had +lurking men on the brain. The thing was so queer and uncanny that she +began to wonder herself if she had been fully awake at the time, and if +she might not possibly have dreamed the whole thing. + +The morning dawned fresh and fair after the shower, green and gold with +the sun on the garden, and Migwan’s delight at finding the tender little +plants unharmed, thanks to their timely covering, was inclined to thrust +the mysterious goings-on at the empty house the night before into +secondary place in her mind. But she was not allowed to forget it, for +it was the sole topic of conversation at the breakfast table. Gladys, +with her nose buried in the morning paper, suddenly looked up. “Listen +to this,” she said, and then began to read: “Another dynamite plot +unearthed. Society for the purpose of assassinating men prominent in +affairs and dynamiting large buildings discovered in attempt to blow up +the Court House. An attempt to blow up the new Court House was +frustrated yesterday when George Brown, one of the custodians, saw a man +crouching in the engine room and ordered him out. A search revealed the +fact that dynamite had been placed on the floor and attached to a fuse. +On being arrested the man confessed that he was a member of the famous +Venoti gang, operating in the various large cities. The man is being +held without bail, but the head of the gang, Dante Venoti, is still at +large, and so is his wife, Bella, who aids him in all his activities. No +clue to their whereabouts can be found.” + +“Do you suppose,” said Gladys, laying the paper down, “that those men we +saw last night could belong to that gang? You remember how carefully +they carried the keg into the house, as if it contained some explosive. +They couldn’t have any business there or they wouldn’t have come at +night. And they called the woman in the boat ‘Belle,’ or it might have +been ‘Bella.’” + +“And that man in the boat was the same one who came here and used the +telephone yesterday morning,” said Migwan. “I couldn’t help noticing his +foreign accent. He said, ‘We are going to do it on the Centerville Road. +There is a river near.’ What are they going to do on the Centerville +Road?” + +The garden work was neglected while the girls discussed the matter. “And +the man we saw coming out of the barn when we came home,” said Sahwah, +“he probably had something to do with it, too.” + +“And the man I saw in the garden in the middle of the night,” said +Migwan. + +“If you _did_ see a man,” said Nyoda, somewhat doubtfully. Migwan did +not insist upon her story. What was the use, when she had no proof, and +the thing had been so uncanny? + +They were all moved to real grief over the fact that the delightful Miss +Mortimer should have a hand in such a dark business—in fact, was +undoubtedly the famous Bella Venoti herself. “I can’t believe it,” said +Migwan, “she was so jolly and friendly, and was so charmed with Onoway +House.” + +“I wonder why she wanted to go through it from attic to cellar,” said +Sahwah, shrewdly. “Could she have had some purpose? _Migwan!_” she +cried, jumping up suddenly, “don’t you remember that she said, ‘How near +that tree is to the window’? Could she have been thinking that it would +be easy to climb in there? And when she asked how we ever moved about +with all that furniture up there, you said, ‘We never come up here’! +Don’t you see what we’ve done? We’ve given her a chance to look the +house over and find a place where people could hide if they wanted to, +and as much as told her that they would be safe up here because we never +came up.” + +Consternation reigned at this speech of Sahwah’s. The girls remembered +the incident only too well. “I’ll never be able to trust anyone again,” +said Migwan, near to tears, for she had conceived a great liking for the +young woman she had known as “Miss Mortimer.” + +“Do you remember,” pursued Sahwah, “how she took the pole of the raft +and found out how deep the water was all along, and then afterwards she +said to the man in the boat, ‘I told you it was deep enough.’ Everything +she did at our house was a sort of investigation.” + +“But it was only by accident that she got to Onoway House in the first +place,” said Gladys. “All she did was ask me to tell her where she could +get a team of horses to tow her to a garage. She didn’t know I belonged +to Onoway House. It was I who brought her here, and she only stayed +because we asked her to. It doesn’t look as if she had any serious +intentions of investigating the neighborhood. She said she was in a +hurry to go on.” Migwan brightened visibly at this. She clutched eagerly +at any hope that Miss Mortimer might be innocent after all. + +“How do you know that that breakdown in the road was accidental?” asked +Nyoda. “And how can you be sure that she didn’t know you came from +Onoway House? She may have been looking for a pretense to come here and +you played right into her hands by offering to tow her into the barn.” +Migwan’s hope flickered and went out. + +“And the man in the barn,” said Sahwah, knowingly, “he might have come +to look the automobile over and become familiar with the way the barn +door opened, so he could get into the car and drive away in a hurry if +he wanted to get away.” Taken all in all, there was only one conclusion +the girls could come to, and that was that there was something +suspicious going on in the neighborhood, and it looked very much as if +the Venoti gang were hiding explosives in the empty house and were +planning to bring something else; what it was they could not guess. At +all events, something must be done about it. Nyoda called up the police +in town and told briefly what they had seen and heard, and was told that +plain clothes men would be sent out to watch the empty house. When she +described the man who had called and used the telephone, the police +officer gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +“That description fits Venoti closely,” he said. “He used to have a +mustache, but he could very easily have shaved it off. It’s very +possible that it was he. He’s done that trick before; asked to use +people’s telephones as a means of getting into the house.” + +The girls thrilled at the thought of having seen the famous anarchist so +close. “Hadn’t we better tell the Landsdownes about it?” asked Migwan. +“They are in a better position to watch that house from their windows +than we are.” + +“You’re right,” said Nyoda. “And we ought to tell the Smalleys, too, so +they will be on their guard and ready to help the police if it is +necessary.” + +“I hate to go over there,” said Migwan, “I don’t like Mr. Smalley.” + +“That has nothing to do with it,” said Nyoda, firmly. “The fact that he +is fearfully stingy and grasping has no bearing on this case. He has a +right to know it if his property is in danger.” And she proceeded +forthwith to the Red House. + +Mr. Smalley was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole affair as the +imagination of a houseful of women. “Saw a man running out of your barn, +did you?” he asked, showing some interest in this part of the tale. +“Well now, come to think of it,” he said, “I saw someone sneaking around +ours too, last night. But I didn’t think much of it. That’s happened +before. It’s usually chicken thieves. I keep a big dog in the barn and +they think twice about breaking in after they hear him bark, and you +haven’t any chickens, that’s why nothing was touched.” It was a very +simple explanation of the presence of the man in the barn, but still it +did not satisfy Nyoda. She could not help connecting it in some way with +the occurrences in the vacant house. + +Mr. Landsdowne was very much interested and excited at the story when it +was told to him. “There’s probably a whole lot more to it than we know,” +he said, getting out his rifle and beginning to clean it. “There’s more +going on in this country in the present state of affairs than most +people dream of. You have notified the police? That’s good; I guess +there won’t be many more secret doings in the empty house.” + +As Nyoda and Migwan went home from the Landsdownes they passed a +telegraph pole in the road on which a man was working. Silhouetted +against the sky as he was they could see his actions clearly. He was +holding something to his ear which looked like a receiver, and with the +other hand he was writing something down in a little book. Migwan looked +at him curiously; then she started. “Nyoda,” she said, in a whisper, +“that is the same man who used our telephone. That is Dante Venoti +himself.” As if conscious that they were looking at him, the man on the +pole put down the pencil, and drawing his cap, which had a large visor, +down over his face, he bent his head so they could not get another look +at his features. “That’s the man, all right,” said Migwan. “What do you +suppose he is doing?” + +“It looks,” said Nyoda, judicially, “as if he were tapping the wires for +messages that are expected to pass at this time. Possibly you did not +notice it, but I began to look at that man as soon as we stepped into +the road from Landsdowne’s, and I saw him look at his watch and then +hastily put the receiver to his ear.” + +“Oh, I hope the police from town will come soon,” said Migwan, hopping +nervously up and down in the road. + +“Until they do come we had better keep a close watch on what goes on +around here,” said Nyoda. Accordingly the Winnebagos formed themselves +into a complete spy system. Migwan and Gladys and Betty and Tom took +baskets and picked the raspberries that grew along the road as an excuse +for watching the road and the front of the house, while Nyoda and Sahwah +and Hinpoha took the raft and patrolled the river. As the girls in the +road watched, the man climbed down from the pole, walked leisurely past +them, went up the path to the empty house and seated himself calmly on +the front steps, fanning himself with his hat, apparently an innocent +line man taking a rest from the hot sun at the top of his pole. + +“He’s afraid to go in with us watching him,” whispered Migwan. Just then +a large automobile whirled by, stirring up clouds of dust, which +temporarily blinded the girls. When they looked again toward the house +the “line man” had vanished from the steps. “He’s gone inside!” said +Migwan, when they saw without a doubt that he was nowhere in sight +outdoors. + +Meanwhile the girls on the raft, who had been keeping a sharp lookout +down-stream with a pair of opera glasses, saw something approaching in +the distance which arrested their attention. For a long time they could +not make out what it was—it looked like a shapeless black mass. Then as +they drew nearer they saw what was coming, and an exclamation of +surprise burst from each one. It was a structure like a portable garage +on a raft, towed by a launch. As it drew nearer still they could make +out with the opera glasses that the person at the wheel was a woman, and +that woman was Bella Venoti. + +The hasty arrival of an automobile full of armed men who jumped out in +front of the “vacant” house frightened the girls in the road nearly out +of their wits, until they realized that these were the plain clothes men +from town. After sizing up the house from the outside the men went up +the path to the porch. The girls were watching them with a fascinated +gaze, and no one saw the second automobile that was coming up the road +far in the distance. One of the plain clothes men, who seemed to be the +leader of the group, rapped sharply on the door of the house. There was +no answer. He rapped again. This time the door was flung wide open from +the inside. The girls could see that the man in the doorway was Dante +Venoti. The officer of the law stepped forward. “Your little game is up, +Dante Venoti,” he said, quietly, “and you are under arrest.” + +Dante Venoti looked at him in open-mouthed astonishment. “Vatevaire do +you mean?” he gasped. “I am under arrest? Has ze law stop ze production? +Chambers, Chambers,” he called over his shoulder, “come here queek. Ze +police has stop’ ze production!” + +A tall, lanky, decidedly American looking individual appeared in the +doorway behind him. “What the deuce!” he exclaimed, at the sight of all +the men on the porch. At this moment the second automobile drove up, +followed by a third and a fourth. A large number of men and women +dismounted and ran up the path to the house. + +“Caruthers! Simpson! Jimmy!” shouted Venoti, excitedly to the latest +arrivals, “ze police has stop ze production!” + +“What do you know about it!” exclaimed someone in the crowd of +newcomers, evidently one of those addressed. “Where’s Belle?” + +“She is bringing zeze caboose! Up ze rivaire!” cried the black haired +man, wringing his hands in distress. + +The plain clothes men looked over the band of people that stood around +him. There was nothing about them to indicate their desperate character. +Instead of being Italians as they had expected, they seemed to be mostly +Americans. The leader of the policemen suddenly looked hard at Venoti. +“Say,” he said, “you look like a Dago, but you don’t talk like one. Who +are you, anyway?” + +“I am Felix Larue,” said the black haired man, “I am ze director of ze +Great Western Film Company, and zeze are all my actors. We have rent zis +house and farm for ze production of ze war play ‘Ze Honor of a Soldier.’ +Last night we bring some of ze properties to ze house; zey are very +valuable, and Chambers and Bushbower here zey stay in ze house wiz zem.” + +The plain clothes men looked at each other and started to grin. Migwan +and Gladys, who had joined the company on the porch, suddenly felt +unutterably foolish. “But what were you doing on top of the pole?” +faltered Migwan. + +Mr. Larue turned his eyes toward her. He recognized her as the girl who +had allowed him to use her telephone the day before, and favored her +with a polite bow. “Me,” he said, “I play ze part of ze spy in ze +piece—ze villain. I tap ze wire and get ze message. I was practice for +ze part zis morning.” He turned beseechingly to the policeman who had +questioned him. “Zen you will not stop ze production?” he asked. + +“Heavens, no,” answered the policeman. “We were going to arrest you for +an anarchist, that’s all.” + +The company of actors were dissolving into hysterical laughter, in which +the plain clothes men joined sheepishly. Just then a young woman came +around the house from the back, followed at a short distance by Nyoda, +Sahwah and Hinpoha. Seeing the crowd in front she stopped in surprise. +Larue went to the edge of the porch and called to her reassuringly. +“Come on, Belle,” he called, gaily. When she was up on the porch he took +her by the hand and led her forward. “Permit me to introduce my fellow +conspirator,” he said, in a theatrical manner and with a low bow. “Zis +is Belle Mortimer, ze leading lady of ze Great Western Film Company!” + + + + +CHAPTER VII.—MOVING PICTURES. + + +The Winnebagos looked at each other speechlessly. Belle Mortimer, the +famous motion picture actress, whom they had seen on the screen dozens +of times, and for whom Migwan had long entertained a secret and +devouring adoration! Not Bella Venoti at all! “Did you ever?” gasped +Sahwah. + +“No, I never,” answered the Winnebagos, in chorus. + +Miss Mortimer recognized her hostesses of the day before and greeted +them warmly. “My kind friends from Onoway House,” she called them. The +Winnebagos were embarrassed to death to have to explain how they had +spied on the vacant house and thought the famous Venoti gang was at +work, and were themselves responsible for the presence of the policemen. + +“I never _heard_ of anything so funny,” she said, laughing until the +tears came. “I _never_ heard of anything so funny!” The plain clothes +men departed in their automobile, disappointed at not having made the +grand capture they had expected to. “Would you like to stay with us for +the day and watch us work?” asked Miss Mortimer. + +“Oh, could we?” breathed Migwan. She was in the seventh heaven at the +thought of being with Belle Mortimer so long. Then followed a day of +delirious delight. To begin with, the Winnebagos were introduced to the +whole company, many of whose names were familiar to them. Felix Larue, +having gotten over the fright he had received when he thought the piece +was going to be suppressed by the police for some unaccountable reason, +was all smiles and amiability, and explained anything the girls wanted +to know about. The piece was a very exciting one, full of thrilling +incidents and danger, and the girls were held spellbound at the physical +feats which some of those actors performed. The house on the raft was +explained as the play progressed. It was filled with soldiers and towed +up the river, to all appearances merely a garage being moved by its +owner. But when a dispatch bearer of the enemy, whose family lived in +the house, stopped to see them while he was carrying an important +message, the soldiers rushed out from the garage, sprang ashore, seized +the man along with the message and carried him away in the launch, which +had been cut away from the raft while the capture was being made. Migwan +thought of the tame little plots she had written the winter before and +was filled with envy at the creator of this stirring play. + +It took a whole week to make the film of “The Honor of a Soldier” and in +that time the girls saw a great deal of Miss Mortimer. And one blessed +night she stayed at Onoway House with them, instead of motoring back to +the city with the rest of the company. Just as Migwan was dying of +admiration for her, so she was attracted by this dreamy-eyed girl with +the lofty brow. In a confidential moment Migwan confessed that she had +written several motion picture plays the winter before, all of which had +been rejected. “Do you mind if I see them?” asked Miss Mortimer. Much +embarrassed, Migwan produced the manuscripts, written in the form +outlined in the book she had bought. Miss Mortimer read them over +carefully, while Migwan awaited her verdict with a beating heart. + +“Well?” she asked, when Miss Mortimer had finished reading them. + +“Who told you to put them in this form?” asked Miss Mortimer. + +“I learned it from a book,” answered Migwan. “What do you think of +them?” she asked, impatient for Miss Mortimer’s opinion. + +“The idea in one of them is good, very good,” said Miss Mortimer. “This +one called ‘Jerry’s Sister.’ But you have really spoiled it in the +development. It takes a person familiar with the production of a film to +direct the movements of the actors intelligently. If Mr. Larue, for +example, had developed that piece it would be a very good one. Would you +be willing to sell just the idea, if Mr. Larue thinks he can use it?” + +Migwan had never thought of this before. “Why, yes,” she said, “I +suppose I would. It’s certainly no good to me as it is.” + +“Let me take it to Mr. Larue,” said Miss Mortimer. “I’m sure he will see +the possibilities in it just as I have.” Migwan was in a transport of +delight to think that her idea at least had found favor with Miss +Mortimer. Miss Mortimer was as good as her word and showed the play to +Mr. Larue and he agreed with her that it could be developed into a +side-splitting farce comedy. Migwan was more intoxicated with that first +sale of the labors of her pen than she was at any future successes, +however great. Deeply inspired by this recognition of her talent, she +evolved an exciting plot from the incidents which had just occurred, +namely, the mistaking of the moving picture company for the Venoti gang. +She kept it merely in plot form, not trying to develop it, and Mr. Larue +accepted this one also. After this second success, even though the price +she received for the two plots was not large, the future stretched out +before Migwan like a brilliant rainbow, with a pot of gold under each +end. + +Miss Mortimer soon discovered that the Winnebagos were a group of Camp +Fire Girls, and she immediately had an idea. When “The Honor of a +Soldier” was finished Mr. Larue was going to produce a piece which +called for a larger number of people than the company contained, among +them a group of Camp Fire Girls. He intended hiring a number of “supers” +for this play. “Why not hire the Winnebagos?” said Miss Mortimer. And so +it was arranged. Medmangi and Nakwisi and Chapa, the other three +Winnebagos, were notified to join the ranks, and excitement ran high. To +be in a real moving picture! It is true that they had nothing special to +do, just walk through the scene in one place and sit on the ground in a +circle in another, but there was not a single girl who did not hope that +her conduct on that occasion would lead Mr. Larue into hiring her as a +permanent member of the company. + +Especially Sahwah. The active, strenuous life of a motion picture +actress attracted her more than anything just now. She longed to be in +the public eye and achieve fame by performing thrilling feats. She saw +herself in a thousand different positions of danger, always the heroine. +Now she was diving for a ring dropped into the water from the hand of a +princess; now she was trapped in a burning building; now she was riding +a wild horse. But always she was the idol of the company, and the idol +of the moving picture audiences, and the envy of all other actresses. +She would receive letters from people all over the country and her +picture would be in the papers and in the magazines, and her name would +be featured on the colored posters in front of the theatres. Managers +would quarrel over her and she would be offered a fabulous salary. All +this Sahwah saw in her mind’s eye as the future which was waiting for +her, for since meeting Miss Mortimer she really meant to be a motion +picture actress when she was through school. She felt in her heart that +she could show people a few things when it came to feats of action. She +simply could not wait for the day when the Winnebagos were to be in the +picture. When the play was produced in the city theatres her friends +would recognize her, and Oh joy!—here her thoughts became too gay to +think. + +The play in question was staged, not on the Centerville road, but in one +of the city parks, where there were hills and formal gardens and an +artificial lake, which were necessary settings. The day arrived at last. +News had gone abroad that a motion picture play was to be staged in that +particular park and a curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. +Sahwah felt very splendid and important as she stood in the company of +the actors. She knew that the crowd did not know that she was just in +that one play as a filler-in; to them she was really and truly a member +of this wonderful company—a real moving picture actress. Gazing over the +crowd with an air of indifference, she suddenly saw one face that sent +the blood racing to her head. That was Marie Lanning, the girl whom +Sahwah had defeated so utterly in the basketball game the winter before, +and who had tried such underhand means to put her out of the game. +Sahwah felt that her triumph was complete. Marie was just the kind of +girl who would nearly die of envy to see her rival connected with +anything so conspicuous. + +The picture began; progressed; the time came for the march of the Camp +Fire Girls down the steep hill. Sahwah stood straight as a soldier; the +supreme moment had come. Now Mr. Larue would see that she stood out from +all the other girls in ability to act; that moment was to be the making +of her fortune. She glanced covertly at Marie Lanning. Marie had +recognized her and was staring at her with unbelieving, jealous eyes. +The march began. Sahwah held herself straighter still, if that were +possible, and began the descent. It was hard going because it was so +steep, but she did not let that spoil her upright carriage. She was just +in the middle of the line, which was being led by Nyoda, and could see +that the girls in front of her were getting out of step and breaking the +unity of the line in their efforts to preserve their balance. Not so +Sahwah. She saw Mr. Larue watching her and she knew he was comparing her +with the rest. Her fancy broke loose again and she had a premonition of +her future triumphs. The sight of the camera turned full on her gave her +a sense of elation beyond words. It almost intoxicated her. Halfway down +the hill Sahwah, with her head full of day-dreams, stepped on a loose +stone which turned under her foot, throwing her violently forward. She +fell against Hinpoha, who was in front of her. Hinpoha, utterly +unprepared for this impetus from the rear, lost her balance completely +and crashed into Gladys. Gladys was thrown against Nyoda, and the whole +four of them went down the hill head over heels for all the world like a +row of dominoes. + +Down at the bottom of the hill stood the hero and heroine of the piece, +namely, Miss Mortimer and Chambers, the leading man, and as the +landslide descended it engulfed them and the next moment there was a +heap of players on the ground in a tangled mass. It took some minutes to +extricate them, so mixed up were they. Mr. Larue hastened to the spot +with an exclamation of very excusable impatience. Several dozen feet of +perfectly good film had been spoiled and valuable time wasted. The +players got to their feet again unhurt, and the watching crowd shouted +with laughter. Sahwah was ready to die of chagrin and mortification. She +had spoiled any chances she had ever had of making a favorable +impression on Mr. Larue; but this was the least part of it. There in the +crowd was Marie Lanning laughing herself sick at this fiasco of Sahwah’s +playing. Good-natured Mr. Chambers was trying to soothe the +embarrassment of the Winnebagos and make them laugh by declaring he had +lost his breath when he was knocked over and when he got it back he +found it wasn’t his, but Sahwah refused to be comforted. She had +disgraced herself in the public eye. Breaking away from the group she +ran through the crowd with averted face, in spite of calls to come back, +and kept on running until she had reached the edge of the park and the +street car line. Boarding a car, she went back to Onoway House, wishing +miserably that she had never been born, or had died the winter before in +the coasting accident. Her ambition to be a motion picture actress died +a violent death right then and there. So the march of the Camp Fire +Girls had to be done over again without Sahwah, and was consummated this +time without accident. + +When Sahwah reached Onoway House she wished with all her heart that she +hadn’t come back there. She had done it mechanically, not knowing where +else to go. At the time her only thought had been to get away from the +crowd and from Mr. Larue; now she hated to face the Winnebagos. She was +glad that no one was at home, for Mrs. Gardiner had taken Betty and Tom +and Ophelia to see the play acted. As she went around the back of the +house she came face to face with Mr. Smalley, who was just going up on +the back porch. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see +him, so Sahwah thought, but he was friendly enough and asked if the +Gardiners were at home. When Sahwah said no, he said, “Then possibly +they wouldn’t mind if you gave me what I wanted. I came over to see if +they would lend me their wheel hoe, as mine is broken and will have to +be sent away to be fixed, and I have a big job of hoeing that ought to +be done to-day.” Sahwah knew that Migwan would not refuse to do a +neighborly kindness like that as long as they were not using the tool +themselves, and willingly lent it to him. + +She was still in great distress of mind over the ridiculous incident of +the morning and did not want to see the other girls when they came home. +So taking a pillow and a book, she wandered down the river path to a +quiet shady spot among the willows and spent the afternoon in solitude. +When the other girls returned home Sahwah was nowhere to be found. This +did not greatly surprise them, however, for they were used to her +impetuous nature and knew she was hiding somewhere. Hinpoha and Gladys +were up-stairs removing the dust of the road from their faces and hands +when they heard a stealthy footstep overhead. “She’s hiding in the +attic!” said Hinpoha. + +“She’ll melt up there,” said Gladys, “it must be like an oven. Let’s +coax her down and don’t any of us say a word about the play. She must +feel terrible about it.” + +So it was agreed among the girls that no mention of Sahwah’s mishap +should be made, and Hinpoha went to the foot of the attic stairs and +called up: “Come on down, Sahwah, we’re all going out on the river.” +There was no answer. Hinpoha called again: “Please come, Sahwah, we need +you to steer the raft.” Still no answer. Hinpoha went up softly. She +thought she could persuade Sahwah to come down if none of the others +were around. But when she reached the top of the stairs there was no +sign of Sahwah anywhere. The place was stifling, and Hinpoha gasped for +breath. Sahwah must be hiding among the old furniture. Hinpoha moved +things about, raising clouds of dust that nearly choked her, and calling +to Sahwah. No answer came, and she did not find Sahwah hidden among any +of the things. Gladys came up to see what was going on, followed by +Migwan. + +“She doesn’t seem to be up here after all,” said Hinpoha, pausing to +take breath. “It’s funny; I certainly thought I heard someone up here.” + +“Don’t you remember the time I thought I heard someone up here in the +night and you said it was the noise made by rats or mice?” asked Migwan. +“It was probably that same thing again.” + +“It must have been,” said Hinpoha. + +“Maybe it was the ghost of that Mrs. Waterhouse, who died before she had +her attic cleaned, and comes back to move the furniture,” said Gladys. +In spite of its being daylight an unearthly thrill went through the +veins of the girls. The whole thing was so mysterious and uncanny. + +Migwan was looking around the attic. “Who broke that window?” she asked, +suddenly. The side window, the one near the Balm of Gilead tree, was +shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. + +“It wasn’t broken the day we brought Miss Mortimer up,” said Gladys. “It +must have happened since then.” + +“There must have been someone up here to-day,” said Migwan. “Do you +suppose—” here she stopped. + +“Suppose what?” asked Hinpoha. + +“Do you suppose,” continued Migwan, “that Sahwah was up here and broke +it accidentally and is afraid to show herself on account of it?” + +“Maybe,” said Hinpoha, “but Sahwah’s not the one to try to cover up +anything like that. She’d offer to pay for the damage and it wouldn’t +worry her five minutes.” + +“It may have been broken the night of the storm,” said Nyoda, who had +arrived on the scene. “If I remember rightly, we opened it when Miss +Mortimer was up here, and as it is only held up by a nail and a rope +hanging down from the ceiling, it could easily have been torn loose in +such a wind as that and slammed down against the casement and broken. We +were so excited trying to cover up the plants that we did not hear the +crash, if indeed, we could have heard it in that thunder at all.” + +This seemed such a plausible explanation that the girls accepted it +without question and dismissed the matter from their minds. Descending +from the hot attic they went out on the river on the raft. As it drew +near supper time they feared that Sahwah would stay away and miss her +supper, and they knew that she would have to show herself sometime, so +they determined to have it over with so Sahwah could eat her supper in +peace. On the path along the river they found her handkerchief and knew +that she was somewhere near the water. They called and called, but she +did not answer. “I know what will bring her from her hiding-place,” said +Nyoda. She unfolded her plan and the girls agreed. They poled the raft +back to the landing-place and got on shore. Then they set Ophelia on the +raft all alone and sent it down-stream, telling her to scream at the top +of her voice as if she were frightened. Ophelia obeyed and set up such a +series of ear-splitting shrieks as she floated down the river that it +was hard to believe that she was not in mortal terror. The scheme worked +admirably. Sahwah heard the screams and peered through the bushes to see +what was happening. She saw Ophelia alone on the raft and no one else in +sight, and thought, of course, that she was afraid and ran out to +reassure her. She took hold of the tow line and pulled the raft back to +the landing-place. + +“Whatever made you so scared?” she asked, as Ophelia stepped on terra +firma. + +“Pooh, I wasn’t scared at all,” said Ophelia, grandly. “They told me to +scream so you’d come out.” So Sahwah knew the trick that had been +practised on her, but instead of being pleased to think that the girls +wanted her with them so badly she was more irritated than before. There +was no further use of hiding; she had to go into the house now and eat +her supper with the rest. The meal was not such a trial for her as she +had anticipated, because no one mentioned the subject of moving +pictures, or acted as if anything had happened at all. After supper +Nyoda brought out a magazine showing pictures of the Rocky Mountains and +the girls gave this their strict attention. Nyoda read aloud the +descriptions that went with the pictures. In one place she read: “The +barren aspect of the hillside is due to a landslide which swept +everything before it.” + +At this Migwan’s thoughts went back to the scene on the hillside that +day, when the human landslide was in progress. Now Migwan, in spite of +her serious appearance, had a sense of humor which at times got the +upper hand of her altogether. The memory of those figures rolling down +the hill was too much for her and she dissolved abruptly into hysterical +laughter. She vainly tried to control it and buried her face in her +handkerchief, but it was no use. The harder she tried to stop laughing +the harder she laughed. “Oh,” she gasped, “I never saw anything so funny +as when you rolled against Miss Mortimer and Mr. Chambers and knocked +them off their feet.” + +After Migwan’s hysterical outburst the rest could not restrain their +laughter either, and Sahwah became the butt of all the humorous remarks +that had been accumulating in the minds of the rest. If it had been +anyone else but Migwan who had started them off, Sahwah would possibly +have forgiven that one, but since selling her two plots to Mr. Larue +Migwan had been holding her head pretty high. That Migwan had succeeded +in her end of the motion picture business when she had failed in hers +galled Sahwah to death and she fancied that Migwan was trying to “rub it +in.” + +“I hope everything I do will cause you as much pleasure,” she said +stiffly. “I suppose nothing could make you happier than to see me do +something ridiculous every day.” Sahwah had slipped off her balance +wheel altogether. + +Migwan sobered up when she heard Sahwah’s injured tone. She never +dreamed Sahwah had taken the occurrence so much to heart. It was not her +usual way. “Please don’t be angry, Sahwah,” she said, contritely. “I +just couldn’t help laughing. You know how light headed I am.” + +But Sahwah would have none of her apology. “I’ll leave you folks to have +as much fun over it as you please,” she said coldly, rising and going +up-stairs. + +Migwan was near to tears and would have gone after her, but Nyoda +restrained her. “Let her alone,” she advised, “and she’ll come out of it +all the sooner.” + +Sahwah was herself again in the morning as far as the others were +concerned, but she still treated Migwan somewhat coldly and it was +evident that she had not forgiven her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII.—A CANNING EPISODE. + + +Three times every week Migwan had been making the trip to town with a +machine-load of vegetables, which was disposed of to an ever growing +list of customers. Thanks to the early start the garden had been given +by Mr. Mitchell, and the constant care it received at the hands of +Migwan and her willing helpers, Migwan always managed to bring out her +produce a day or so in advance of most of the other growers in the +neighborhood and so could command a better price at first than she could +have if she had arrived on the scene at flood tide. After every trip +there was a neat little sum to put in the old cocoa can which Migwan +used as a bank until there was enough accumulated to make a real bank +deposit. The asparagus had passed beyond its vegetable days and had +grown up in tall feathery shoots that made a pretty sight as they stood +in a long row against the fence. The new strawberry plants had taken +root and were growing vigorously; the cucumbers were thriving like fat +babies. The squashes and melons were running a race, as Sahwah said, to +see which could hold up the most fruit on their vines; the corn-stalks +stood straight and tall, holding in their arms their firstborn, silky +tassel-capped children, like proud young fathers. + +But it was the tomato bed in which Migwan’s dearest hopes were bound up. +The frames sagged with exhaustion at the task of holding up the weight +of crimsoning globes that hung on the vines. Migwan tended this bed as a +mother broods over a favorite child, fingering over the leaves for +loathsome tomato worms, spraying the plants to keep away diseases, and +cultivating the ground around the roots. All suckers were ruthlessly +snipped off as soon as they grew, so that the entire strength of the +plants could go into the ripening of tomatoes. For it was on that tomato +bed that Migwan’s fortune depended. While the proceeds from the +remainder of the garden were gratifying, they were not great enough to +make up the sum which Migwan needed to go to college, as the vegetables +were not raised in large enough quantities. Migwan carefully estimated +the amount she would realize from the sale of the tomatoes and found +that it would not be large enough, and decided she could make more out +of them by canning them. At Nyoda’s advice the Winnebagos formed +themselves into a Canning Club, which would give them the right to use +the 4H label, which stood for Head, Hand, Health and Heart, and was +recognized by dealers in various places. According to the methods of the +Canning Club they canned the tomatoes in tin cans, with tops neatly +soldered on. After an interview with various hotels and restaurants in +the city Nyoda succeeded in establishing a market for Migwan’s goods, +and the canning went on in earnest. The whole family were pressed into +service, and for days they did nothing but peel from morning until +night. + +“I’m getting to be such an expert peeler,” said Hinpoha, “that I +automatically reach out in my sleep and start to peel Migwan.” + +Nyoda made up a gay little song about the peeling. To the tune of +“Comrades, comrades, ever since we were boys,” she sang, “Peeling, +peeling, ever since 6 A.M.” + +Several places had asked for homemade ketchup and Migwan prepared to +supply the demand. Never did a prize housekeeper, making ketchup for a +county fair, take such pains as Migwan did with hers. She took care to +use only the best spices and the best vinegar; she put in a few peach +leaves from the tree to give it a finer flavor; she stood beside the big +iron preserving kettle and stirred the mixture all the while it was +boiling to be sure that it would not settle and burn. Everyone in the +house had to taste it to be sure it found favor with a number of +critical palates. “Wouldn’t you like to put a few bay leaves into it?” +asked her mother. “There are some in the glass jar in the pantry. They +are all crumbled and broken up fine, but they are still good.” Migwan +put a spoonful of the broken leaves into the ketchup; then she put +another. + +“Oh, I never was so tired,” she sighed, when at last it had boiled long +enough and she shoved it back. + +“Let’s all go out on the river,” proposed Nyoda, “and forget our toil +for awhile.” Sahwah was the last out of the kitchen, having stopped to +drink a glass of water, and while she was drinking her eye roved over +the table and caught sight of half a dozen cloves that had spilled out +of a box. Gathering them up in her hand she dropped them into the +ketchup. Just then Migwan came back for something and the two went out +together. + +“And now for the bottling,” said Migwan, when the supper dishes were put +away, and she set several dozen shining glass bottles on the table. +After she had been dipping up the ketchup for awhile she paused in her +work to sit down for a few moments and count up her expected profits. +“Let’s see,” she said, “forty bottles at fifteen cents a bottle is six +dollars. That isn’t so bad for one day’s work. But I hope I don’t have +many days of such work,” she added. “My back is about broken with +stirring.” About thirty of the bottles were filled and sealed when she +took this little breathing spell. + +“Let me have a taste,” said Hinpoha, eyeing the brown mixture longingly. + +“Help yourself,” said Migwan. Hinpoha took a spoonful. Her face drew up +into the most frightful puckers. Running to the sink she took a hasty +drink of water. “What’s the matter?” said Migwan, viewing her in alarm. +“Did you choke on it?” + +“Taste it!” cried Hinpoha. “It’s as bitter as gall.” + +Migwan took a taste of the ketchup and looked fit to drop. “Whatever is +the matter with it?” she gasped. One after another the girls tasted it +and voiced their mystification. “It couldn’t have spoiled in that short +time,” said Migwan. + +Then she suddenly remembered having seen Sahwah drop something into the +kettle as it stood on the back of the stove. Could it be possible that +Sahwah was seeking revenge for having been made fun of? “Sahwah,” she +gasped, unbelievingly, “did you put anything into the ketchup that made +it bitter?” + +“I did not,” said Sahwah, the indignant color flaming into her face. She +had already forgotten the incident of the cloves. She saw Nyoda and the +other girls look at her in surprise at Migwan’s words. Her temper rose +to the boiling point. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, fiercely. +“You think I did something to the ketchup to get even with Migwan, but I +didn’t, so there. I don’t know any more about it than you do.” + +“I take it all back,” said Migwan, alarmed at the tempest she had set +astir, and bursting into tears buried her head on her arms on the +kitchen table. All that work gone for nothing! + +Sahwah ran from the room in a fearful passion. Nyoda tried to comfort +Migwan. “It’s a lucky thing we found it before the stuff was sold,” she +said, “or your trade would have been ruined.” She and the other girls +threw the ketchup out and washed the bottles. + +“Whatever could have happened to it?” said Gladys, wonderingly. + +Migwan lifted her face. “I want to tell you something, Nyoda,” she said. +“I suppose you wonder why I asked Sahwah if she had put anything in. +Well, when I went back into the kitchen after my hat when we were going +out on the river, Sahwah was there, and she was dropping something into +the kettle.” + +“You don’t mean it?” said Nyoda, incredulously. Nyoda understood +Sahwah’s blind impulses of passion, and she could not help noticing for +the last few days that Sahwah was still nursing her wrath at Migwan for +laughing at her, and she wondered if she could have lost control of +herself for an instant and spoiled the ketchup. + +Meanwhile Sahwah, up-stairs, had cooled down almost as rapidly as she +had flared up, and began to think that she had been a little hasty in +her outburst. She, therefore, descended the back stairs with the idea of +making peace with the family and helping to wash the bottles. But +halfway down the stairs she happened to hear Migwan’s remark and Nyoda’s +answer, and the long silence which followed it. Immediately her fury +mounted again to think that they suspected her of doing such an +underhand trick. “They don’t trust me!” she cried, over and over again +to herself. “They don’t believe what I said; they think I did it and +told a lie about it.” All night she tossed and nursed her sense of +injury and by morning her mind was made up. She would leave this place +where everyone was against her, and where even Nyoda mistrusted her. +That was the most unkind cut of all. + +When she did not appear at the breakfast table the rest began to wonder. +Betty reported that Sahwah had not been in bed when she woke up, which +was late, and she thought she had risen and dressed and gone down-stairs +without disturbing her. There was no sign of her in the garden or on the +river. Both the rowboat and the raft were at the landing-place. There +was an uncomfortable restraint at the breakfast table. Each one was +thinking of something and did not want the others to see it. That thing +was that Sahwah had a guilty conscience and was afraid to face the +girls. Migwan’s eyes filled with tears when she thought how her dear +friend had injured her. A blow delivered by the hand of a friend is so +much worse than one from an enemy. The table was always set the night +before and the plates turned down. + +“What’s this sticking out under Sahwah’s plate?” asked Gladys. It was a +note which she opened and read and then sat down heavily in her chair. +The rest crowded around to see. This was what they read: “As long as you +don’t trust me and think I do underhand things you will probably be glad +to get rid of me altogether. Don’t look for me, for I will never come +back. You may give my place in the Winnebagos to someone else.” It was +signed “Sarah Ann Brewster,” and not the familiar “Sahwah.” + +“Sahwah’s run away!” gasped Migwan in distress, and the girls all ran up +to her room. Her clothes were gone from their hooks and her suit-case +was gone from under the bed. The girls faced each other in +consternation. + +“Do you think she had anything to do with the ketchup, after all?” asked +Gladys, thoughtfully. “It was so unlike her to do anything of that +kind.” + +“Then why did she run away?” asked Migwan, perplexed. + +The morning passed miserably. They missed Sahwah at every turn. Several +times the girls forgot themselves and sang out “O Sahwah!” Nyoda did not +doubt for a moment that Sahwah had gone to her own home, but she thought +it best not to go after her immediately. Sahwah’s hot temper must cool +before she would come to herself. Nyoda was puzzled at her conduct. If +she had nothing to be ashamed of why had she run away? That was the +question which kept coming up in her mind. Nothing went right in the +house or the garden that day. Everyone was out of sorts. Migwan +absent-mindedly pulled up a whole row of choice plants instead of weeds; +Gladys ran the automobile into a tree and bent up the fender; Hinpoha +slammed the door on her finger nail; Nyoda burnt her hand. Ophelia was +just dressed for the afternoon in a clean, starched white dress when she +fell into the river and had to be dressed over again from head to foot. +The whole household was too cross for words. The departure of Sahwah was +the first rupture that had ever occurred in the closely linked ranks of +the Winnebagos and they were all broken up over it. + +When Mrs. Gardiner was cooking beef for supper she told Migwan to get +her some bay leaf to flavor it with. Migwan brought out the glass jar of +crushed leaves. “That’s not the bay leaf,” said her mother, and went to +look for it herself. “Here it is,” she said, bringing another glass jar +down from a higher shelf. + +“Then what’s this?” asked Migwan, indicating the first jar. + +“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said Mrs. Gardiner. “It was in the +pantry when we came.” + +“But this was what I put into the ketchup,” said Migwan. Hastily +unscrewing the top she shook out some of the contents and tasted them. +Her mouth contracted into a fearful pucker. Never in her life had she +tasted anything so bitter. + +“I did it myself,” she said, in a dazed tone. “I spoiled the ketchup +myself.” At her shout the girls came together in the kitchen to hear the +story of the mistaken ingredient. + +“What can that be?” they all asked. Nobody knew. It was some dried herb +that had been left by the former mistress of the house, and a powerful +one. The girls looked at each other blankly. + +“And I accused Sahwah of doing it,” said Migwan, remorsefully. “No +wonder she flared up and left us, I don’t blame her a bit. I wouldn’t +thank anyone for accusing me wrongfully of anything like that.” + +“We’ll have to go after her this very evening,” said Gladys, “and bring +her back.” + +“If she’ll come,” said Hinpoha, knowing Sahwah’s proud spirit. + +“Oh, I’m quite willing to grovel in the dust at her feet,” said Migwan. + +Gladys drove them all into town with her and they sped to the Brewster +house. It was all dark and silent. Sahwah was evidently not there. They +tried the neighbors. They all denied that she had been near the house. +They finally came to this conclusion themselves, for in the light of the +street lamp just in front of the house they could see that the porch was +covered with a month’s accumulation of yellow dust which bore no +footmarks but their own. + +Here was a new problem. They had come expecting to offer profuse +apologies to Sahwah and carry her back with them to Onoway House +rejoicing, and it was a shock to find her gone. The thought of letting +her go on believing that they mistrusted her was intolerable, but how +were they going to clear matters up? Sahwah had no relatives in town, +and, of course, they did not know all her friends, so it would be hard +to find her. That is, if she had ever reached town at all. Something +might have happened to her on the way—Nyoda and Gladys sought each +other’s eyes and each thought of what had happened to them on the way to +Bates Villa. + +With heavy hearts they rode back to Onoway House. The days went by +cheerlessly. A week passed since Sahwah had run away, but no word came +from her. Nyoda interviewed the conductors on the interurban car line to +find out if Sahwah had taken the car into the city. No one remembered a +girl of that description on the day mentioned. Sahwah had only one hat—a +conspicuous red one—and she would not fail to attract attention. +Thoroughly alarmed, Nyoda decided on a course of action. She called up +the various newspapers in town and asked them to print a notice to the +effect that Sahwah had disappeared. If Sahwah were in town she would see +it and knowing that they were worried about her would let them know +where she was. The notice came out in the papers, and a day or two +passed, but there was no word from Sahwah. Nyoda and Gladys made a +hurried trip to town to put the police on the track. Just before they +got to the city limits they had a blowout and were delayed some time +before they could go on. As they waited in the road another machine came +along and the driver stopped and offered assistance. Nyoda recognized a +friend of hers in the machine, a Miss Barnes, teacher in a local +gymnasium. + +“Hello, Miss Kent,” she called, cheerfully, “I haven’t seen you for an +age. Where have you been keeping yourself?” + +“Where have you been keeping yourself?” returned Nyoda. + +“I, Oh, I’m working this summer,” replied Miss Barnes. “I’m just in town +on business. I’m helping to conduct a girls’ summer camp on the lake +shore. I thought possibly you would bring your Camp Fire group out there +this summer. One of your girls is out there now.” + +“Which one?” asked Nyoda, thinking of Chapa and Nakwisi, whom she had +heard talking about going. + +“One by the name of Brewster,” said Miss Barnes, “a regular mermaid in +the water. She has the girls out there standing open-mouthed at her +swimming and diving. Why, what’s the matter?” she asked, as Nyoda gave a +sigh of relief that seemed to come from her boots. + +“Nothing,” replied Nyoda, “only we’ve been scouring the town for that +very girl.” + +“You have?” asked Miss Barnes, with interest. “Would you like to come +out and visit her?” + +“Could I?” asked Nyoda. + +“Certainly,” said Miss Barnes, “come right out with me now. I’m going +back.” + +And so Sahwah’s mysterious disappearance was cleared up. When the +Winnebagos, lined up in the road, saw the automobile approaching, and +that Sahwah was in it, they welcomed her back into their midst with a +rousing Winnebago cheer that warmed her to the heart. All the clouds had +been rolled away by Nyoda’s explanations and this was a triumphant +homecoming. A regular feast was spread for her, and as she ate she +related her adventures since leaving the house early that other morning. +Without forming any plan of where she was going she had walked up the +road in the opposite direction of the car line and then a farmer had +come along on a wagon and given her a lift. He had taken her all the way +to the other car line, three miles below Onoway House. She had come into +the city by this route. She did not want to go home for fear they would +come after her, so she went to the Young Women’s Christian Association. +As she sat in the rest room wondering what she should do next she heard +two girls talking about registering for camp. This seemed to her a +timely suggestion, and she followed them to the registration desk and +registered for two weeks. She went out that same day. When she arrived +there she did such feats in the water that they asked her if she would +not stay all summer and help teach the girls to swim. She said she +would, and so saw a very easy way out of her difficulty. The reason they +had not heard from her when they put the notice in the papers was +because they did not get the city papers in camp. + +Sahwah surveyed the faces around the table with a beaming countenance. +After all, she could only be entirely happy with the Winnebagos. Migwan +and she were once more on the best of terms. + +“But tell us,” said Hinpoha, now that this was safe ground to tread +upon, “what it was you put into the ketchup.” + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, who now remembered all about it, “those were a couple +of cloves that were lying on the table.” + +And so the last bit of mystery was cleared up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX.—OPHELIA DANCES THE SUN DANCE. + + +Among the other books at Onoway House there was a Manual of the +Woodcraft Indians which belonged to Sahwah, and which she was very fond +of quoting and reading to the other girls when they were inclined to +hang back at some of the expeditions she proposed. One night she read +aloud the chapter about “dancing the sun dance,” that is, becoming +sunburned from head to foot without blistering. On a day not long after +this Ophelia might have been seen standing beside the river clad only in +a thin, white slip. Stepping from the bank, she immersed herself in the +water, then stood in the sun, holding out her arms and turning up her +face to its glare. When the blazing August sunlight began to feel +uncomfortably warm on her body she plunged into the cooling flood and +then came up to stand on the bank again. She did this straight through +for two hours, and then began to investigate the result. Her arms were a +beautiful brilliant red, and the length of leg that extended out from +the slip was the same shade. She felt wonderfully pleased, and dipped in +the water again and again to cool off and then returned to the burning +process. When the dinner bell rang she returned to the house, eager to +show her achievement. But she did not feel so enthusiastic now as when +she first beheld her scarlet appearance. Something was wrong. It seemed +as if she were on fire from head to foot. She looked at her arms. They +were no longer such a pretty red; they had swelled up in large, white +blisters. So had her legs. She could hardly see out of her eyes. + +“Ophelia!” gasped the girls, when she came into the house. “What has +happened? Have you been scalded?” + +“I’ve been doing your old Sun Dance,” said Ophelia, painfully. + +Never in all their lives had they seen such a case of sunburn. Every +inch of her body was covered with blisters as big as a hand. The sun had +burned right through the flimsy garment she wore. There was a pattern +around her neck where the embroidery had left its trace. She screamed +every time they tried to touch her. Nyoda worked quickly and deftly and +the luckless sun dancer was wrapped from head to foot in soft linen +bandages until she looked like a mummy. + +Sahwah sought Nyoda in tribulation. “Was it my fault,” she asked, “for +reading her that book? She never would have thought of it if I hadn’t +given her the idea.” + +“No,” answered Nyoda, “it wasn’t your fault. It said emphatically in the +book that the coat of tan should be acquired gradually. You couldn’t +foresee that she would stand in the sun that way. So don’t worry about +it any longer.” + +“Still, I feel in a measure responsible,” said Sahwah, “and I ought to +be the one to take care of her. Let me sleep in the room with her +to-night and get up if she wants anything.” Sahwah’s desire to help was +so sincere that she insisted upon being allowed to do it, and took upon +herself all the care of the sunburned Ophelia, which was no small job, +for the pain from the blisters made her frightfully cross. + +Nyoda was surprised to see Sahwah keeping at it with such persistent +good nature and apparent success, for as a rule she was not a good one +to take care of the sick; she was in too much of a hurry. She would +generally spill the water when she was trying to give a drink to her +patient, or fall over the rug, or drop dishes; and the effect she +produced was irritating rather than soothing. But in this case she +seemed to be making a desperate effort to do things correctly so she +would be allowed to continue, and fetched and carried all the afternoon +in obedience to Ophelia’s whims. She read her stories to while away the +painful hours and when supper time came made her a wonderful egg salad +in the form of a water lily, and cut sandwiches into odd shapes to +beguile her into eating them. When evening came and Ophelia was restless +and could not go to sleep she sang to her in her clear, high voice, +songs of camp and firelight. One by one the Winnebagos drifted in and +joined their voices to hers in a beautifully blended chorus. + +“Gee, that’s what it must be like in heaven,” sighed the child of the +streets, as she listened to them. The Winnebagos smiled tenderly and +sang on until she dropped off to sleep. + +Sahwah slept with one eye open listening for a call from Ophelia. She +heard her stirring restlessly in the night and went over and sat beside +her. “Can’t you sleep?” she asked. + +“No,” complained Ophelia. “Say, will you tell me that story again?” + +Sahwah began, “Once upon a time there was a little girl and she had a +fairy godmother——” + +“What’s a fairy godmother?” interrupted Ophelia. + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, “it’s somebody who looks after you especially and is +very good to you and grants all your wishes, and always comes when +you’re in trouble——” + +“Who’s my fairy godmother?” demanded Ophelia. + +“I don’t know,” said Sahwah. + +“I bet I haven’t got any!” said Ophelia, suspiciously. “I didn’t have a +father and mother like the rest of the kids and I bet I haven’t got any +fairy godmother either.” + +“Oh, yes, you have,” said Sahwah to soothe her, “you have one only you +haven’t seen her yet. Wait and she’ll appear.” But Ophelia lay with her +face to the wall and said no more. “Would you like me to bring you a +drink?” asked Sahwah, a few minutes later. Ophelia replied with a nod +and Sahwah went down to the kitchen. There was no drinking water in +sight and Sahwah hesitated about going out to the well at that time of +the night. Then she remembered that a pail of well water had been taken +down cellar that evening to keep cool. Taking a light she descended the +cellar stairs. When she was nearly to the bottom she heard a subdued +crash, like a basket of something being thrown over, followed by a +series of small bumping sounds. She stood stock still, afraid to move +off the step. + +Then, summoning her voice, she cried, “Who is down there?” No answer +came from the darkness below. After that first crash there was not +another sound. Sahwah was not naturally timid, and her one explanation +for all night noises in a house was rats. Besides, she had started after +water for Ophelia, and she meant to get it. She went down stairs and +looked all around with her light. She soon found the thing which had +made the noise. It was a basket of potatoes which had fallen over and as +the potatoes rolled out on the cement floor they had made those odd +little after noises which had puzzled her. Satisfied that nobody was in +the house she took her pail of water and went up-stairs, glad that she +had not roused the house and brought out a laugh against herself. + +She gave Ophelia the drink, and being feverish she drank it eagerly and +murmured gratefully, “I guess you’re my fairy godmother.” As Sahwah +turned to go to bed Ophelia thrust out a bandaged hand and caught hold +of her gown. “Stay with me,” she said, and Sahwah sat down again beside +the bed until Ophelia fell asleep. Sahwah felt pleased and elated at +being chosen by Ophelia as the one she wanted near her. It was not often +that a child singled Sahwah out from the group as an object of +affection; they usually went to Gladys or Hinpoha. So she responded +quickly to the advances made by Ophelia and thenceforth made a special +pet of her, taking her part on all occasions. + +Soon after Ophelia’s experience with sunburn a rainy spell set in which +lasted a week. Every day they were greeted by grey skies and a steady +downpour, fine for the parched garden, but hard on amusements. They +played card games until they were weary of the sight of a card; they +played every other game they knew until it palled on them, and on the +fifth day of rain they surrounded Nyoda and clamored for something new +to do. Nyoda scratched her head thoughtfully and asked if they would +like to play Thieves’ Market. + +“Play what?” asked Gladys. + +“Thieves’ Market,” said Nyoda. “You know in Mexico there is an +institution known as the Thieves’ Market, where stolen goods are sold to +the public. We will not discuss the moral aspect of the business, but I +thought we could make a game out of it. Let’s each get a hold of some +possession of each one of the others’ without being seen and put a price +on it. The price will not be a money value, of course, but a stunt. The +owner of the article will have first chance at the stunt and if she +fails the thing will go to whoever can buy it. If anyone fails to get a +possession from each one of the rest to add to the collection she can’t +play, and if she is seen by the owner while ‘stealing’ it she will have +to put it back. We’ll hold the Thieves’ Market to-night after supper in +the parlor and I’ll be storekeeper.” + +The Winnebagos, always on the lookout for something novel and +entertaining, seized on the idea with rapture. The rain was forgotten +that afternoon as they scurried around the house trying to seize upon +articles belonging to the others, and at the same time trying valiantly +to guard their own possessions. It was not hard to get Sahwah’s things, +for she had a habit of leaving them lying all over the house. Her red +hat had fallen a victim the first thing; likewise her shoes and tennis +racket. It was harder to get anything away from Nyoda, for she seemed to +be Argus eyed; but providentially she was called to the telephone, and +while she was talking they made their raid. + +When opened, the Thieves’ Market presented such a conglomeration of +articles that at first the girls could only stand and wonder how those +things had ever been taken away from them without their knowing it, for +many of them were possessions which were usually hidden from sight while +the owners fondly believed that their existence was unknown. Migwan gave +a cry of dismay when she beheld her “Autobiography,” which she was +carefully keeping a secret from the rest, out in full view on the table. +“How did you ever find it?” she gasped. “It was folded up in my +clothes.” + +But Migwan’s embarrassment was nothing compared to Nyoda’s when she +caught sight of a certain photograph. She blushed scarlet while the +girls teased her unmercifully. It was a picture of Sherry, the serenader +of the camp the summer before. Until they found the photograph the girls +did not know that Nyoda was corresponding with him. And the prices on +the various things were the funniest of all. The girls had come down +that evening dressed in their middies and bloomers for they had a +suspicion that there would be some acrobatic stunts taking place, and it +was well that they did. To redeem her hat Sahwah had to stand on her +head and to get her bedroom slippers Gladys had to jump through a hoop +from a chair. Hinpoha had to wrestle with Nyoda for the possession of +her paint box, and the price of Betty’s shoes was to throw them over her +shoulder into a basket. At the first throw she knocked a vase off the +table, but luckily it did not break, and she was warned that another +accident would result in her going shoeless. Migwan tremblingly +approached the Autobiography to find out the price. It was “Read one +chapter aloud.” “I won’t do it,” said Migwan, flatly. + +“Next customer,” cried Nyoda, pounding with her hammer. “For the simple +price of reading aloud one chapter I will sell this complete +autobiography of a pious life, profusely illustrated by the author.” +Sahwah hastened up to “buy” the book, but Migwan headed her off in a +hurry and read the first chapter with as good grace as she could, amid +the cheers and applause of the other customers. Sahwah made a grimace +when she had to polish the shoes of everyone present to get her shoe +brush back. + +Thus the various articles in the Thieves’ Market were disposed of amid +much laughter and merry-making, until there remained but one article, a +cold chisel. Nyoda went through the usual formula, offering it for sale, +but no one came to claim it. She redoubled her pleas, but with the same +result. “For the third and last time I offer this great bargain in a +cold chisel for the simple price of jumping over three chairs in +succession,” she said, with a flourish. Nobody appeared to be anxious to +redeem their property. “Whose is it?” she asked, mystified. + +It apparently belonged to no one. “It’s yours, Gladys,” said Sahwah, “I +stole it from you.” + +“Mine?” asked Gladys, in surprise. “I don’t own any chisel. Where did +you get it from?” + +“Out of the automobile,” answered Sahwah. + +“But it doesn’t belong there,” said Gladys. “There’s no chisel among the +tools. You’re joking, you found it somewhere else.” + +“No, really,” said Sahwah, “I found it in the car this afternoon.” + +“Mother,” called Migwan, “were there any tools left in the barn by Mr. +Mitchell?” + +“Nothing but the garden tools,” answered her mother. Tom also denied any +knowledge of the chisel. + +“Girls,” said Nyoda, seriously, “there is something going on here that I +do not understand. First Migwan thought she heard footsteps in the +attic; then a ghost appeared to me in the tepee; one night we saw a man +running out of the barn, and later on that night Migwan claims to have +run into a man in the garden. Soon afterward Hinpoha was sure she heard +footsteps in the attic, and when we went up we found the window broken. +Just a few nights ago a basket of potatoes was mysteriously knocked over +in the cellar in the middle of the night, and now we find a chisel in +the automobile which does not belong to us. It looks for all the world +as if somebody were trying to break into this house, in fact, has broken +in on a number of occasions.” + +Migwan shrieked and covered up her ears. “A mystery!” said Sahwah, +theatrically. “How thrilling!” The interest in the Thieves’ Market died +out before this new and alarming idea. + +“It may be only a remarkable series of co-incidences,” said Nyoda, +seeing the fright of the girls, “but it certainly looks suspicious. That +window may possibly have been broken by the wind during the storm, and +the footsteps may have been rats or Mrs. Waterhouse’s ghost, and the +ghost in the tepee may have been a practical joker, but baskets of +potatoes do not fall over of their own accord in the middle of the night +and cold chisels don’t grow in automobiles. There’s something wrong and +we ought to find out what it is.” + +“Oh, I’ll never go up-stairs alone again,” shuddered Migwan. “Sahwah, +how did you ever dare go down cellar in the dark after you heard that +noise?” And she shivered violently at the very thought. + +“Tom, can you handle a gun?” asked Nyoda. + +“Yes,” answered Tom. + +“I’m going to buy a little automatic pistol to-morrow,” said Nyoda, “and +teach everyone of you girls how to shoot it.” + +“I wonder if we hadn’t better try to get Calvin Smalley to sleep in the +house,” said Migwan. + +“I can take care of you,” said Tom, proudly. Nothing else was talked of +for the remainder of the evening and when bed time came there was a +general reluctance to become separated from the rest of the household. +But, although they listened for footsteps in the attic they heard +nothing, and the night passed away peacefully. + +The next night the ghost became active again. Whether it was the same +one or a different one they did not find out, however, for they did not +see it this time, only heard it. Just about bed time it was, a strange, +weird moaning sound that filled the house and echoed through the big +halls. Whether it proceeded from the basement or the attic they were +unable to make out; it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. +Migwan clung close to her mother and trembled. The sound rang out again, +more weird than before. It was bloodcurdling. Nyoda opened the window +and fired several shots into the air. The moaning sound stopped abruptly +and was heard no more that night, but sleep was out of the question. The +girls were too excited and fearful. The next day Mrs. Gardiner advised +everybody to hide their valuables away. The peaceful life at Onoway +House was broken up. The household lived in momentary expectation of +something happening. “And this is the quiet of the country,” sighed +Migwan, “where I was to grow fat and strong. I’m worn to a frazzle +worrying about this mystery.” + +“So’m I,” said Gladys. + +“And I’m getting thin,” said Hinpoha, which brought out a general laugh. + +“Not so you could notice it,” said Sahwah. Whereupon Hinpoha tried to +smother her with a pillow and the two rolled over on the bed, +struggling. + +As if worrying about a burglar were not enough, Sahwah and Gladys had +another exciting experience one day that week. If we were to stretch a +point and trace things back to their beginnings it was the fault of the +Winnebagos themselves, for if they hadn’t gone horseback riding that +day—— Well, Farmer Landsdowne came over in the morning and said he had a +pair of horses which were not working and if they wanted to go horseback +riding now was their chance. The girls were delighted with the idea and +flew to don bloomers. None of them had ever ridden before and excitement +ran high. Naturally there were no saddles, for Farmer Landsdowne’s +horses were not ridden as a general rule, and the girls had to ride +bareback. + +“It feels like trying to straddle a table,” said Migwan, marveling at +the width of the horse she was on. “My legs aren’t half long enough.” +She clung desperately to his mane as he began to trot and she began to +slide all over him. “He’s so slippery I can’t stick on,” she gasped. The +horse stopped abruptly as she jerked on the reins and she slid off as if +he had been greased, and landed in the soft grass beside the road. + +“Here, let me try,” said Sahwah, impatient for her turn. “He isn’t +either slippery,” she said, when she got on, “he’s bony, horribly bony. +He’s just like knives.” She jolted up and down a few times on his hip +bones and an idea jolted into her head. Getting off she ran into the +house and came out again with a sofa pillow, which she proceeded to tie +on his back. Then she rode in comparative comfort, amid the laughter of +the girls. + +Calvin Smalley, who happened to be working out in front and saw her ride +past, doubled up with laughter over his vegetable bed. “What next?” he +chuckled. “What next?” He was still thinking about this and laughing +over it when he went through the empty field which Sahwah had crossed +the time she had discovered the house among the trees, and where Abner +Smalley now pastured his bull. So absorbed was he in the memory of that +ridiculous pillow tied on the horse that he was not careful in putting +up the bars behind him when he left the field, and later in the +afternoon the bull wandered over in that direction and came through into +the next field. He found the river road and followed it and began to +graze in one of the unploughed fields belonging to Onoway House. + +Sahwah, wearing her big, red hat, was bending low over the ground, +digging up some ferns which grew there, when all of a sudden she heard a +loud snort and looked up to see the bull charging down upon her. She +looked wildly around for a place of safety. Nothing was nearer than the +far-off hedge that surrounded the cultivated garden patch. Not a tree, +not a fence, in sight. Quick as light she bounded off toward the hedge, +although she knew it would be impossible for her to reach it before the +bull would be upon her. + +Gladys, coming along the road in the automobile, heard a shriek and +looked up to see Sahwah tearing across the open field with the bull hard +after her. Without a moment’s hesitation Gladys turned the car into the +field and started after the bull at full speed. She let the car out +every notch and it whizzed dizzily over the hard turf. She sounded the +horn again and again with the hope of attracting the attention of the +bull, but he did not pause. Like lightning she bore down upon him, +passed to one side and slowed down for a second beside Sahwah, who +jumped on the running-board and was borne away to safety. + +“This hum-drum, uneventful life,” said Sahwah, as she sat on the porch +half an hour afterward and tried to catch her breath, while the rest +fanned her with palm leaf fans, “is getting a little too much for me!” + + + + +CHAPTER X.—A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + +After Nyoda had fired the shots out of the window, nothing was heard or +seen of the ghost and the footsteps in the attic ceased. “It’s just as I +thought,” said Nyoda, “someone has been trying to frighten us with a +possible view of robbing the house at some time, thinking that a +houseful of women would be terror-stricken at the ghostly noises, but +when he found we had a gun and could shoot he thought better of the +plan.” Gradually the girls lost their fright, and the odd corners of +Onoway House regained their old charm. They were far too busy with the +canning to think of much else, for the tomatoes were ripening in such +large quantities that it was all they could do to dispose of them. The +4H brand found favor and the market gradually increased, and every week +Migwan had a goodly sum to deposit in the bank after the cost of the tin +cans had been deducted. + +“I have to laugh when I think of that honor in the book,” said Migwan, +“can at least three cans of fruit,” and she pointed to the cans stacked +on the back porch ready to be packed into the automobile and taken to +town. “Why, hello, Calvin,” she said, as Calvin Smalley appeared at the +back door. “Come in.” Calvin came in and sat down. “What’s the matter?” +asked Migwan, for his face had a frightened and distressed look. + +“Uncle Abner has turned me out!” said Calvin. + +“Turned you out!” echoed the girls. “Why?” + +“He showed me a will last night,” said Calvin, “a later one than that +which was found when my grandfather died, which left the farm to him +instead of to my father. He just found it last night when he was +rummaging among grandfather’s old papers. According to that I have been +living on his charity all these years instead of on my own property as I +supposed and now he says he can’t afford to keep me any longer. He +wanted me to sign a paper saying that I would work for him without pay +until I was thirty years old to make up for what I have had all these +years, and when I wouldn’t do it he told me to get out.” + +“How can any man be so mean and stingy!” said Migwan, indignantly. + +“And what do you intend to do now?” asked Mrs. Gardiner. + +“I don’t know,” said Calvin, looking utterly downcast and discouraged. +“I had expected to go through school and then to agricultural college +and be a scientific farmer, but that’s out of the question now. I +haven’t a cent in the world. I could hire out to some of the farmers +around here, I suppose, but you know what that means—they wouldn’t pay +me much because I’m a boy, but they would get a man’s work out of me and +it’s precious little time I’d have for school. I’ve always saved Uncle +Abner the cost of one hired man in return for what he gave me, so I +don’t feel under any obligations to him. I think I’ll give up farming +for a while and go to the city and work. The trouble is I have no +friends there and it might be hard for me to get into a good place.” His +honest eyes were clouded over with perplexity and trouble. + +“My father could probably get you a job in the city,” said Gladys, “if +you can wait until he gets back. He’s out west now.” + +“I tell you what to do,” said kind-hearted Mrs. Gardiner to Calvin, “you +stay here with us until Mr. Evans comes back. You can help the girls in +the garden, and we were wishing not long ago that we had another man in +the house.” + +“You are very kind,” said Calvin, gratefully, “but I don’t want to put +you to any trouble.” + +“No trouble at all,” Mrs. Gardiner assured him, “you can sleep with +Tom.” The girls all expressed pleasure at the prospect of having Calvin +stay at Onoway House and under the spell of their kindly hospitality his +drooping spirits revived. He shook the dust of his uncle’s house from +his feet, feeling no longer an outcast, since he had suddenly found such +kind friends on the other side of the hedge. + +Calvin lived in a perpetual state of wonder at the girls at Onoway +House. They made a frolic out of everything they did and were +continually thinking up new and amazing games to play. Calvin had never +done anything at home all his life but work, and work was a serious +business to him. He never knew before that work was fun. The long, weary +hours of peeling were enlivened with songs made up on the spur of the +moment. Sahwah would look up from the pan over which she was bending, +and sing to the tune of “The Pope”: + + “Our Migwan leads a jolly life, jolly life, + She peels tomatoes with her knife, with her knife, + And puts the pieces in the can, + And leaves the peelings in the pan, (Oh, tra la la).” + +And then they would all start to sing at once, + + “The tomatoes went in one by one, + (There’s one more bushel to peel), + Hinpoha she did cut her thumb, + (There’s one more bushel to peel).” + + “The tomatoes went in two by two, + And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew. + The tomatoes went in three by three, + And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see.” + +etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until it was done. + +“Do you know,” said Migwan, looking up from her peeling, “that it’s +Gladys’s birthday next Friday? We ought to have a celebration.” + +“How about a picnic?” asked Nyoda. “We haven’t had a real one yet. Have +the rest of the Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep in the +tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of July. Then we’ll get a horse +and wagon and drive along the roads until we come to a place beside the +river where we want to stop and cook our dinner and just spend the day +like gypsies.” The girls entered into the plan with enthusiasm, both for +the sake of celebrating Gladys’s birthday and cheering up Calvin, who +had been rather quiet and pensive of late. It was a great disappointment +to him to have to give up his plans for going to college, and his +uncle’s unfriendly treatment of him had cut him to the heart. + +Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the day before the picnic and the +house echoed with the sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos +bubbled over with joy at being all together. The morning of the picnic +was as fine as they could wish, and it was not long before they were +bumping over the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne’s wagons, behind the +very two horses which the girls had ridden the week before. It was a +wagon full. Sahwah sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter +of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her to come to the rescue in +case the horses should run away, which was not at all likely, as it took +constant persuasion to keep them going even at an easy jog trot. Mrs. +Landsdowne, who, with her husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat +beside Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while Calvin Smalley +stayed next to Migwan, as he usually did. She was so quiet and gentle +and kind that he felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the +Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who was beginning to be +inseparable from Sahwah, squeezed herself in between her and Mr. +Landsdowne, and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, took her part and +let her stay, although she was a bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and +Gladys sat at the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the end, +where they could watch the yellow road unwinding like a ribbon beneath +them, while Nyoda sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace. + +“Where are we going?” asked Mrs. Gardiner, as they swung along the road. + +“Oh,” replied Sahwah, “somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere. It’s +lots more romantic to start out without any idea where you’re going and +stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a certain place and +think you have to go there even if you pass nicer places on the road. +Maybe, like Mrs. Wiggs, we’ll end up at a first-class fire.” + +“We undoubtedly will,” said Nyoda, “if we expect to cook any dinner. Do +my eyes deceive me?” she continued, “or is this a fishing-rod under the +straw? It is, it is,” she cried, drawing it out. “Now I know what has +been the matter with me for the past few months, this feeling of sadness +and longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have been pining, +languishing, wasting away with a desire to go fishing. My early life ran +quiet beside a babbling brook, and there I sat and fished trout and +fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will never know repose +until it has gone fishing once more.” + +“Take the rod and welcome, it’s mine,” said Calvin, glad that something +of his should give pleasure to one of his cherished friends. + +In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river they dismounted from the +wagon and scattered in search of firewood, for the fire must be started +the first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda took the +fishing-rod and started for the river. “We’ll never get anything to eat +if we wait until you catch enough fish for dinner,” said Sahwah. + +“Who said I was going to catch enough for dinner?” said Nyoda. “I +wouldn’t be cruel enough to keep you waiting all that time. But I do +want to catch just one for old times’ sake.” She strolled down to the +water’s edge and after a few minutes Mr. Landsdowne joined her. He liked +Nyoda and enjoyed a talk with her. + +“Are you going to play all alone at the picnic?” he asked, as he dropped +down beside her. + +“Alone, but with _unbaited_ zeal,” she quoted, digging around in the +ground with her stick. “Come and help me find a worm.” + +“I’m afraid the Early Bird got them all,” she said plaintively, after a +few moment’s fruitless search. By dint of much digging they finally +unearthed one and baited the hook. Nyoda cast her line and then settled +down to a spell of silent waiting. “I don’t believe there’s a fish in +this old river,” she said impatiently, after fifteen minutes of angling +which brought no results. “Not here, anyway. Let’s go down beyond the +bend where the river widens out into that broad pool. The water is +deeper and quieter there.” They moved on to the new location and Nyoda +tried her luck again. This time success crowned her efforts and she +landed a small fish almost immediately. “What did I tell you?” she +exclaimed, triumphantly. “There’s luck in changing places. Now for +another one.” In a few moments she felt a tug at the line. “It must be a +whale,” she cried, enthusiastically, “it pulls so hard.” + +“It may be caught on a snag,” said Farmer Landsdowne. “Here, let me get +it loose for you, I’m afraid you’ll break that rod,” he said, as the +pole bent ominously in her hands. + +“Spare the rod and spoil the fish,” said Nyoda. + +“What are you doing on my property?” said a harsh voice behind them, +“don’t you see that sign?” + +Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne sprang to their feet in surprise and faced +an irate farmer in blue shirt sleeves. Sure enough, on a tree not very +far from them there was a sign reading, + + NO FISHING IN THIS POND. + +“We didn’t see the sign,” said Nyoda, stammering in her embarrassment, +and crimson to the roots of her hair. + +“We really didn’t,” confirmed Farmer Landsdowne. + +“Well, ye see it now, don’t ye?” pursued the proprietor of the +fish-pond. “Kindly move along.” + +“We have one fish,” said Nyoda, feeling unutterably foolish, “but we’ll +pay you for that. I must have one to take back to the picnic or I don’t +dare show my face.” + +“Ye say ye caught a fish?” shouted the farmer, excitedly. “Holy +mackerel! That was the only one in the pond—I put it in there this +morning—and I’ve rented the fishing of it to a young feller from +Cleveland at twenty-five cents an hour.” + +“But it didn’t take me an hour to catch him,” said Nyoda. “It only took +five minutes. That’ll be about two cents.” But the farmer held out for +his twenty-five cents and Nyoda paid it, laughing to herself at the way +the “feller from Cleveland” had been cheated out of his sport. + +“Don’t ever tell the girls about this,” pleaded Nyoda, as they moved +shamefacedly away. “I’m supposed to be a pattern of conduct, and I’m +always scolding the girls because they don’t use their eyes enough. +They’ll never get over laughing at me if they find it out.” Farmer +Landsdowne promised solemnly that he would not divulge the secret. + +“Did you catch anything?” called Sahwah, as Nyoda returned to the group +under the trees. + +“We certainly did,” replied Nyoda, with a sidelong glance at Farmer +Landsdowne. + +“Listen to this part of father’s last letter,” said Gladys, as they sat +around on the grass eating their dinner. “Juneau, Alaska. + +“We recently saw a group of Camp Fire girls holding a Ceremonial Meeting +on a mountain near Juneau. It fairly made us homesick; it reminded us so +much of the group we used to see in our house. We went up and spoke to +them and they send you this three-petaled flower as a greeting.” + +“To think we have friends all over the country, just because we know the +meaning of the word Wohelo!” said Migwan in an awed tone, as the +Winnebagos crowded around Gladys to see the flower which had come from +far off Alaska, a silent All Hail from kindred spirits. + +Just at this point Ophelia, who was coming a long way with the +coffee-pot in her hand, tripped over a root and sprawled on her face on +the ground, showering everybody near her with coffee. “We have your +title now,” said Nyoda, “it’s Ophelia-Face-in-the-Mud. You’re always +falling that way.” + +“And I know what your name is,” replied Ophelia. + +“What is it?” asked Nyoda, guilelessly. + +“It’s Nyoda-Chased-by-a-Farmer,” said Ophelia. + +Nyoda started and looked guilty. “How did you know that?” she asked, +giving herself away completely. + +“Followed you,” said Ophelia. “I saw you fishin’ where the sign said to +keep out and the man in the blue shirt sleeves chased you out.” + +“Tell us about it,” demanded all the girls, and Nyoda had to tell the +whole story that she wanted to keep a secret. + + “Fishy, fishy in the brook, + But the fishers ‘got the hook,’” + +chanted Sahwah, teasingly. Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne looked sheepish +at the jokes that were thrown at them thick and fast, but they stood it +good-naturedly. + +“A truce!” cried Gladys, coming to the rescue of Nyoda. “Let’s play +charades.” + +“Good!” said Migwan. “You be leader of one side and let Nyoda take the +other. Whichever side gives up first will have to get supper for the +rest.” + +Gladys chose Sahwah, Mrs. Gardiner, Betty, Ophelia, Tom and Calvin. +Nyoda chose Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne, Hinpoha, Migwan, Chapa, Medmangi +and Nakwisi. Gladys’s side went out first and came in without her. + +“Word of three syllables, first syllable,” said Sahwah, who acted as +spokesman. The whole company sat down in a row, striking the most +doleful attitude and groaning as if in pain, and shedding tears into +their handkerchiefs. + +“Most woeful looking crowd I ever saw,” remarked Mr. Landsdowne. + +“Woe!” shouted Nyoda, triumphantly, and the guess was correct. + +The weepers continued their weeping in the second syllable, and then +Gladys appeared, felt of all their pulses and gave each a dose out of a +bottle, whereupon they all straightened up, lost their symptoms of +distress, and capered for joy. + +“Cure,” said Migwan. The players shook their heads. + +“Heal,” shouted Hinpoha, and Gladys acknowledged it. + +In the last syllable Gladys went around and demanded payment for her +services, but in each case was met with a promise to pay at some future +time. + +“Owe,” said Chapa, which was pronounced right. “O heal woe, what’s +that?” she asked. + +“You’re twisted,” said Nyoda, “it’s ‘Wohelo.’ That really was too easy. +Let’s not divide them into syllables after this,” she suggested, “it’s +no contest of wits that way. Let’s act out the word all at once.” The +alteration was accepted with enthusiasm. + +Hinpoha came out alone for her side. “Word of two syllables,” she said. +Taking a blanket she spread it over a bushy weed and tucked the corners +under until it looked not unlike a large stone. Then she retired from +the scene. Soon Nyoda came along and paused in front of the blanket, +which looked like an inviting seat. + +“What a lovely rock to rest on!” she exclaimed, and seated herself upon +it. Of course, it flattened down under her weight and she was borne down +to the ground. + +A moment of silence followed this performance as the guessers racked +their brains for the meaning. “Is it ‘Landsdowne?’” asked Gladys. + +“It might be, but it isn’t,” said Nyoda, laughing. + +“I know,” said Sahwah, starting up, “it’s ‘shamrock.’” + +“You are sharper than I thought,” said Nyoda, rising from her seat. +“Nobody down yet. Now, fire your broadside at us. No word under three +syllables. Anything less would be unworthy of our giant intellects.” + +“Third round!” cried Calvin. + +Sahwah walked down to the water’s edge, holding in her hand a large key. +Leaning over, she moved the key as if it were walking in the water. This +proved a puzzler, and cries of ‘Milwaukee,’ ‘Nebrasky,’ and ‘turnkey’ +were all met with a triumphant shake of the head. + +“It looks as if we would have to give up,” said Hinpoha. + +Just then Nyoda sprang up with a shout. “Why didn’t I think of it +before?” she cried. “It’s ‘Keewaydin,’ key-wade-in. What else could you +expect from Sahwah?” + +“That’s it,” said Sahwah. “You must be a mind reader.” + +“Here’s where we finish you off,” said Nyoda, as her side came out +again. “We’ve taken a word of four syllables this time.” The whole team +advanced in single file, Indian fashion, keeping closely in step. Round +and round they marched, back and forth, never slackening their speed, +until one by one they tumbled to the ground from sheer exhaustion and +stiffened out lifelessly. The guessers looked at each other, puzzled. + +“Do it again,” said Sahwah. The strenuous march was repeated, and the +marchers succumbed as before. Still no light came to the onlookers. +Sahwah whispered something to Gladys. + +“Would you just as soon do it again?” asked Gladys. Again the file wound +round the trees and tumbled to the turf. Nyoda made a triumphant grimace +as no guess was forthcoming. Sahwah’s eyes began to sparkle. + +“Would you please do it once more?” she pleaded. + +“Have mercy on the performers,” groaned Nyoda, but they went through it +again, and this time they were too spent to rise from the ground when +the acting was done. “Do you give up?” called Nyoda. + +“No,” answered Gladys. + +“You have five seconds to produce the answer, then,” said Nyoda. + +“It’s diapason,” said Gladys, “die-a-pacin.” + +“Really!” said Nyoda, falling back in astonishment. + +“We knew it all the while!” cried Sahwah and Gladys. “We just kept you +doing it over and over again because we liked to see you work.” + +The laugh was on Nyoda and her team all the way around. “We do this to +each other!” called Sahwah, using the Indian form of taunt when one has +played a successful trick on another. + +“Tie the villains to a tree, and let them perish of mosquito bites,” +Nyoda commanded in an awful tone. “I’ll get even with you for that, Miss +Sahwah,” she said, darkly, as the other side trooped off to cook up a +new poser. + +“Hadn’t you better stop playing now?” inquired Mrs. Gardiner. “You know +we wanted to get home before dark.” + +“Oh, let’s do one more,” pleaded Migwan. If they had only stopped +playing when Mrs. Gardiner suggested it and gone home early they might +have been in time to prevent the thing which occurred, but they were +bent on seeing one side or the other go down, and Gladys’s side prepared +another charade. + +“We’ve played up to your own game,” said Gladys, who was introducing the +new charade, “and have increased the number to five syllables.” The +actors were Mrs. Gardiner, Betty and Tom Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner was +scolding the children and emphasized her remarks by a sharp pinch on +Tom’s arm. Betty, seeing the maternal hand also extended in her +direction, promptly climbed a tree and sat in safety, while her mother +shook her finger at her and cried warningly, “I’ll attend to you after +awhile.” + +“What on earth?” said Nyoda, scratching her head in perplexity. But +scratch as she might, no answer came, and the rest of her team had +nothing to offer either. After holding out for fully fifteen minutes +they were compelled to give it up. + +“It’s ‘manipulator,’” cried the winning side, in chorus. +“‘Ma-nip-you-later!’” And they stood around to condole while Nyoda’s +side prepared supper. Then it was that Calvin, basely deserting the team +he had helped so far, went over to the side of the enemy and helped +Migwan fetch wood for the fire. Both sides stopped often to jeer at each +other, so it took them twice as long to get the meal ready as it would +have ordinarily. They loitered and sang along the way home, letting the +horses take their time, and it was quite late when they reached Onoway +House. + +The first thing that greeted them was the sight of Mr. Bob, the cocker +spaniel, rolling on the front lawn in great distress, and giving every +sign of being poisoned. They hastily administered an antidote and, after +a time of suspense were confident that the effect of the poison had been +counteracted. So far they had only been in the kitchen, but when the +excitement about the dog was over they moved toward the sitting-room to +rest awhile and drink lemonade before going to bed. When the light was +lit they all stopped in astonishment. In the sitting-room there was an +old-fashioned combination desk and bookcase, the bookcase part set on +top of the desk and reaching nearly to the ceiling. It belonged to the +house, and the desk was closed and locked. Now, however, it stood open, +and all the drawers were pulled out, while the top of the desk and the +floor before it were strewn with papers in great disorder. + +“Burglars!” cried Migwan. “The house has been robbed!” They immediately +looked through the house to see what had been taken. Up-stairs in the +room occupied by the two boys there was a desk similar to the one in the +sitting-room. This had also been broken open and the drawers searched +through, although the disorder of papers was not so great as it was +down-stairs. Half afraid of what they should find, the whole family went +from room to room, but nothing else seemed to have been disturbed, and +as far as they could see nothing had been stolen. The silver in the +sideboard drawer was untouched, but then, this was only plate, and worn +at that. But in full view on the dining-room table lay Sahwah’s +Firemaker Bracelet, which she had laid there a few moments before +starting for the picnic, and then, with her customary forgetfulness, +neglected to pick up again. This was solid silver and worth stealing. +Further than that, she had also forgotten to wear her watch, and it was +still safe in her top bureau drawer. It was a riddle, and as they talked +it over they could only come to one conclusion, and that was that the +burglar had thought there were large sums of money hidden in the two +desks and had passed over the small articles in the hope of getting a +bigger harvest, or else was leaving those other things to the last. He +ransacked the up-stairs desk, having broken the lock, and then went +through the one down-stairs. While looking through the papers in the +sitting-room he had evidently been frightened away by something, for +there was one drawer that had not been disturbed. This also accounted +for the fact that nothing else had been taken. What had frightened him +was probably the barking of the dog, who, although he was on the +outside, had become aware of the presence of someone in the house. He +had fed the dog poison, probably poisoned meat, for they had found a +small piece of meat on the porch. Evidently the poison had begun to act +before Mr. Bob had it all eaten, and he left that piece. But before the +dog was dead the burglar had heard the family returning along the road, +singing, and made his escape. The whole thing must have happened not +long before, for the dog had not had the poison long enough to take +deadly effect. It was then that they regretted having lingered so long +over the game of charades and delayed their homecoming. + +“If we had only been half an hour sooner, we might have found out who it +was,” said Mrs. Gardiner. + +“Thank Heaven we weren’t half an hour later,” said Hinpoha, “or Mr. Bob +would have been dead.” She would have felt worse about losing Mr. Bob +than about having all her possessions stolen. + +“How about sleeping in the tepee to-night?” asked Gladys. There was not +enough room in the house for so many people and the eight Winnebagos had +made their beds in the tepee while the three girls from town were there, +both to solve the question of sleeping quarters and for the fun of the +thing. It was just like camping out to sleep on the ground, all the +eight girls in a circle around the little watch fire in the middle of +the tepee. + +“Oh, I’ll be afraid to,” said Hinpoha. + +“I don’t know but what it would be just as safe as sleeping in the +house,” said Nyoda. “I doubt if anyone would think of people sleeping +out in that thing. It’s a rather novel idea in this neighborhood. And at +any rate there’s nothing out there to steal and consequently nothing to +tempt a thief.” + +So, their fears having vanished, the Winnebagos went to bed in the tepee +just as they had planned. Nyoda took the precaution of putting her +pistol under her pillow. The girls really enjoyed the air of suppressed +excitement. When did youth and high spirits ever fail to respond to the +thrill of danger, either real or fancied? This attempted burglary was +the most exciting thing that had ever happened to most of the girls and +they were getting as much thrill out of it as possible. It amused them +to see Tom and Calvin parading the front lawn armed with bird guns, +swelled up with importance at having to guard a houseful of women. +Instead of hoping that the burglar had been scared away for good they +wished fervently that he would return and give them a chance to shoot. +They would have stayed there all night if Mrs. Gardiner had not ordered +them to bed. + +One by one the girls in the tepee dropped off to slumber, worn out with +the varied events of the day. But Nyoda could not sleep. She had a +throbbing headache from the glare of the sun on the water while she sat +fishing. The little fire, in the center of the bare circle of earth +which prevented it from spreading, died down and subsided to glowing +embers, then one by one these turned black and left the tepee in +darkness. There was not a spark left. Nyoda was sure of this, for she +sat up several times in an effort to make herself comfortable, and when +she took a drink from the pail of well water which stood nearby she +emptied the dipper over the spot where the fire had been, to make doubly +sure. Still sleep would not come. She stared out of the doorway of the +tepee into the darkness. A group of beech trees with their light grey +bark loomed up ghostlike before the door. She began to think of the +ghost which had appeared to her that other night in that very doorway, +and tried to connect the incidents which had taken place afterwards with +that. One thing was sure—someone was getting into Onoway House every few +days. Why nothing was taken was a mystery to her. It seemed to her now +that it was not so much an attempt at burglary as an effort to annoy and +frighten the family. Possibly it was someone who had a grudge against +them—she could not imagine why—and was indulging in these pranks to +satisfy a spite. She thought she saw a glimmer of light on the subject. + +Farmer Landsdowne had once told her that when it became known that Mr. +Mitchell was going to give up the care of the place, several farmers of +the Centerville Road district had applied for the position of caretaker, +but wishing to assist Migwan, the Bartletts had refused their offers and +given the place over to the Winnebagos. That must be it. Someone wanted +that job badly and was wreaking his disappointment on the people who had +kept him from getting it. The more she thought of it the more probable +it seemed. Possibly more than one were involved in the plot. + +Then another thought struck her. Could it be the crazy man who lived +alone in the little house among the trees? Calvin had stated that he +never left the house, but who could account for the inspirations of an +unbalanced mind? That nothing had been taken from the house seemed to +indicate a want of fixed purpose in the mind of the housebreaker—to go +to all that trouble for nothing. This idea also seemed worth +considering. + +As she lay turning these things over in her mind she thought she heard a +stealthy footstep in the grass outside of the tepee. Thinking that the +ghost was coming to pay another visit, she drew the pistol from under +her pillow and turning over, face downward, lay with it pointed toward +the doorway. There would be no outcry when he appeared in the doorway. +The first intimation the ghost would have that he was observed would be +a shot in the leg that would prevent him from running away and would +solve the mystery. In tense silence she waited, one; two; three minutes, +but nothing appeared. Then suddenly she smelled smoke, and turning +around swiftly saw that the side of the tepee toward which she had had +her back was in flames. + +“Fire!” she called at the top of her voice. “Sahwah! Hinpoha! Gladys! +Migwan! Wake up!” And seizing the pail of water she dashed it against +the side of the tepee. The water sizzled as it fell, but the canvas +covering was burning like tinder. Thus rudely awakened the girls sprang +up in alarm. The place was filling with dense smoke, and through it they +groped their way to the opening, dragging out their blankets. Hardly had +the last girl got out when the whole thing was one roaring blaze, which +lit up the scenery a long way around. + +Nyoda, paying no attention to the flames that were mounting skyward from +the burning canvas, looked intently for a lurking figure among the +trees, for she thought it hardly possible that whoever had set the tepee +afire could have gotten outside of the range of light in that short +time. It was possible to see as far as the road on the one side and +across the river on the other. But nowhere was there a man or the shadow +of a man. The folks came running out of Onoway House half dressed and in +terror that the girls had not escaped from the burning tent in time, and +the farmers all the way down the road, seeing the glare, rushed to offer +their assistance, for a fire in the country is a serious thing where +there is no water pressure. Farmer Landsdowne came on a dead run, +carrying a water bucket. Even Abner Smalley appeared in the midst of the +crowd. He gave a scowling look at Calvin, but said nothing, and soon +took his departure when the danger was over, as it was directly, for it +did not take long to reduce that canvas covering to a black mass, and +buckets of water thrown all around on the ground and the trees kept the +fire from spreading. + +For the second time that night the family gathered in the sitting-room +and faced each other over an exciting happening. “I told you if you +built a fire in that tepee you would burn it down,” said Mrs. Gardiner. +“I never felt easy when you had one.” + +“But it didn’t catch fire from our little fire,” declared Nyoda, and +told the events of the night, from the going out of the fire to the +footsteps outside the tepee when the canvas had suddenly blazed up when +she was lying in wait for the ghost with a pistol. The circle of faces +paled with fear as she told her tale. Who could this mysterious visitor +be, who seemed determined to do them some harm? The girls finished the +night in the house, three in a bed, but none of them closed their eyes +to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI.—THE WELL DIGGER’S GHOST. + + +The next morning Mrs. Gardiner sent Mr. Landsdowne to interview the +police force of the township in which the Centerville Road belonged, and +he brought the whole force back with him. He had to bring the whole +force if he brought any for it embraced only one man and he was well +along in years, but he had a uniform and a helmet and a club and a gun, +and presented an imposing appearance as he strutted up and down the +yard, before which an evil doer might be moved to pause. The three girls +from town had departed and Nakwisi had left her spy glass behind in the +excitement, and this was a source of great entertainment to the rural +gendarme. He spent a great deal of time sliding the lens back and forth +to fit his eye and peering up the road into the distance, or looking up +into the air, as if he expected to see the burglar approaching in an +airship. He was very talkative and fond of recounting the captures he +had made single handed, and declared solemnly that the man in this case +was as good as caught already, for no one had ever escaped yet when Dave +Beeman had started out to get him. + +Nyoda, who was fond of seeing her theories worked out, still held to the +idea that the mysterious visitor was someone who wanted the job of +caretaker, and inquired closely of Farmer Landsdowne who the men were +who had applied for the position. When it came down to fact there was +only one who had really wanted the job very badly, although several +others had mentioned the fact that they wouldn’t mind doing it, and that +man had found a similar situation immediately afterward and left the +neighborhood. So her theory did not seem to be inclined to hold water. + +She had another idea, however, and wrote to Mr. Mitchell, asking if he +had ever heard strange noises in the attic while he lived there. Mr. +Mitchell answered and said that not only had he heard strange noises in +the attic, but also in the cellar and in the barn, and that pieces of +furniture had apparently moved themselves in the middle of the night; +and it was on this account that he had left the place, as it made his +wife so nervous she became ill. This fact put a new face on the matter. +The hostility, then, was not directed against themselves personally, but +against the tenants of the house, no matter who they were. But this idea +left them more in the dark than ever, and they lost a good deal of sleep +over it without reaching any solution. + +After a few days of zealous watching, during which time nothing +happened, the police force of Centerville township gave it up as a bad +job and relaxed its vigilance, declaring that the firebug must have +gotten out of the country, for that was the only way he could hope to +escape his eagle eye. “If he was still in the country, I’d a’ had him by +this time”, Dave Beeman asserted confidently. “So as long as he’s gone +that far you don’t need to worry any more.” And he took himself off, +eager to get back to the quiet game of pinochle in Gus Wurlitzer’s +grocery store, which Farmer Landsdowne had interrupted several days ago. + +It was just about this time that Migwan had her biggest order for canned +tomatoes—from a fashionable private sanitarium a few miles distant, and +the rush of canning gradually took their minds off the mysterious +intruder. Migwan, picking her finest and ripest tomatoes to fill this +order, noticed that a number of the vines were drooping and turning +yellow. The half ripe tomatoes were falling to the ground and rotting. +One whole end of the bed seemed to be affected. She looked carefully for +insects and found none. Some of the leaves seemed worse shrivelled than +others. In perplexity she called Mr. Landsdowne over to look at them. He +looked closely at the plants and also seemed puzzled as to the cause of +the mysterious blight. “It isn’t rot,” he said, “because the bed is high +and dry and the plants have never stood in water.” Upon looking closely +he discovered that the affected plants were covered with a fine white +coating. He gave a smothered exclamation. “Do you know what that is?” he +asked. “It’s lime! Somebody has sprayed your plants with a solution of +lime. Are you sure you didn’t do it yourself?” he asked, quizzically. + +Migwan shook her head. “I haven’t sprayed those plants with anything for +a month,” she asserted, “and neither has anyone else in the house.” + +“Somebody outside of the house has done it, then,” said Mr. Landsdowne. + +The work of the mysterious visitor again! It struck dismay into the +breasts of the whole household. They never knew when and where that hand +was going to strike next. And so silently, so mysteriously, without ever +leaving a trace behind! + +There was nothing left to do but dig up the dead plants and throw them +away. Migwan almost stopped breathing when she thought that the rest of +the bed might be treated in the same way, and the source of her revenue +cut off. But why was all this happening? What could anyone possibly have +against the peaceful dwellers at Onoway House? + +A guard was set over the tomato bed both day and night for a week and +the big order for the sanitarium was filled as fast as the tomatoes +ripened. Nothing at all happened during this time and the vigilance was +relaxed. A large dog was turned loose in the garden at night and they +felt secure in his protection. This dog belonged to Calvin Smalley. When +he had left his uncle’s house he had to leave Pointer behind, as he did +not know what else to do with him, but now that the Gardiners were +willing to have him he went over and got him when he knew his uncle was +away from the house, so he would not have to meet him. Pointer was +overjoyed at seeing his young master again and attached himself to the +household at once, and never made the slightest effort to go back to his +old home. He had a deep, heavy bark which could not fail to rouse the +house at once. With the coming of Pointer the girls breathed easily +again. + +One day when Migwan had gone over to see the Landsdownes, Mr. Landsdowne +had given her a treasure for her garden. This was a plant of a rare +species called Titania Gloria, which a friend had brought from Bermuda. +It was a first year growth and so would not bloom until the following +summer. Migwan planted it along the fence beside the mint bed and +treasured it like gold, for the blossom of the Titania Gloria was a +wonderful shade of blue and was considered a prize by fanciers, who paid +high prices for cuttings of the plant. In the excitement over the tepee +and the tomato plants, however, she forgot to tell the other girls about +it, so she was the only one who knew what a precious thing that little +bed of leaves was. + +The weather was so fine that week that Migwan decided to have a garden +party and invite a number of friends from town. Gladys promised to dance +and the boys cleared a circle for her in the grass under the trees, +picking up every stick that lay on the ground. Mrs. Landsdowne, hearing +about the party, offered to make ice cream for them in her freezer. Just +before the guests arrived Migwan and Calvin went over after it. They +took the raft, because they thought that would be the easiest way of +transporting the heavy tub. Migwan rode on the raft and supported the +tub and Calvin walked along the bank and pulled the tow line. His +eagerness to help with the festivity was somewhat pathetic. Never, to +his knowledge, had there been a party at the Smalley House. The way +these girls planned a party out of a clear sky and carried out their +plans without delay was nothing short of marvelous to him. They were +always at their ease with company, while it was a fearful ordeal for him +to meet strangers. He liked to be a part of such doings; but was at a +loss how to act. Migwan, with her fine understanding of things beneath +the surface, saw that this boy was lonesome in the crowd, not knowing +how to mix in and have a glorious time on his own account, and she +always saw to it that his part was mapped out for him in all their +doings. Therefore she chose him to help her bring the ice cream over. + +Calvin, happy at being useful, towed the raft carefully and turned his +head whenever Migwan spoke, so as to give strict attention to her words. +Doing this, he fell over the branch of a tree in the path and jerked the +rope violently. The raft tipped up and both Migwan and the tub of ice +cream went into the river. Migwan climbed out on the bank before Calvin +was up from the ground. He was aghast at what he had done. He had been +so eager to help with the party and now he had spoiled it! That he would +be instantly expelled from Onoway House he was sure, and he felt that he +deserved it. Migwan, at least, would never speak to him again. +Speechless, he turned piteous eyes to where she sat on the bank +dripping. To his surprise she was doubled up with laughter. “What are +you laughing at?” he asked, startled. + +“Because you upset the raft and the ice cream fell into the river!” +giggled Migwan. Calvin gasped. The very thing that was nearly killing +him with chagrin was the cause of her mirth! It was the first time he +had ever seen anyone make light of a calamity. Her mirth was so +contagious that he began to laugh himself. Still laughing, he brought +the tub out of the river and set it on the bank. The water had washed +away the packing of ice, but the lid on the inner can was providentially +tight and the ice cream was unharmed. That little incident crystallized +the friendship between the two. After that he was Migwan’s slave. A girl +who could be thrown into the river without getting vexed was a friend +worth having. Dripping, they returned to the house, where the +preparations for the party were at their height, to be laughed at +immoderately and christened the “Water Babies.” + +To Hinpoha the Artistic had been entrusted the setting of the tables. +Her decorations were water lilies from the river, and when she had +finished it looked as if a feast had been spread for the river nymphs. +Around the edges of the platter she put bunches of bright mint leaves. +Her artistic efforts called out so much praise from the guests that she +was in a continual state of blushing as she waited on the table. + +“What’s the matter with your hand?” asked Migwan, noticing that she was +passing things around left handedly. + +“Nothing,” said Hinpoha, “nothing much. I slipped when I was getting the +lilies and fell on my wrist and it feels lame, that’s all.” + +“Is it sprained?” asked Migwan. + +“Oh, no,” said Hinpoha, “I don’t think so.” + +“It’s all swelled up,” said Migwan, holding up the injured wrist. “Let +me paint it with iodine and tie it up for you.” + +Hinpoha maintained that it was nothing serious, but Migwan insisted. +“Where is the iodine, mother?” she asked. + +“On the pantry shelf,” answered Mrs. Gardiner. Migwan got the bottle and +painted Hinpoha’s wrist before the party could proceed. Hinpoha surveyed +the brown stripe around her arm rather disgustedly. It was for this very +reason that she had said nothing about the wrist before. She did not +want it painted up for the party. It offended her artistic eye and she +would rather suffer in silence. + +While the guests were sitting at the tables Gladys danced on the lawn +for their entertainment. The merry laughter was hushed in surprise and +delight at her fairylike movements. In the silence which reigned at this +time the thing which happened was distinctly heard by everyone. +Apparently from the depths of the earth there came a muffled thud, thud, +as of a pick striking against hard ground. It kept up for a few minutes +and then ceased, to be renewed again after a short interval. The +dwellers at Onoway House looked at each other. Into each mind there +sprang the story of the Deacon’s well, and the words of Farmer +Landsdowne, “_Superstitious folks say you can still hear the buried well +digger striking with his pick against the ground that covers him._” It +was the most mysterious sound, far away and faint, yet seemingly right +under their very feet. Gladys heard it and paused in her dancing. +Pointer and Mr. Bob both heard it and began to bark. In a little while +the thudding noise ceased and was heard no more, and the company were +all left wondering if they could have been the victims of imagination. + +“Maybe it’s somebody down cellar,” said Calvin, and taking Pointer with +him, went down. Tom followed him. But there was no sign of anyone down +there. Pointer ran around with his nose to the ground as if he were +smelling for footsteps, but his tail kept wagging all the while. They +were all familiar footsteps he scented. Nothing was out of place in the +cellar except that a basket of potatoes was thrown over and the potatoes +had rolled out on the cement floor. The boys noticed this without +thinking anything of it. The mystery of the well digger’s ghost remained +unsolved. + +In the cool of the early evening after her guests had departed, Migwan +wandered down into the garden to look at her various plants and flowers. +It occurred to her that she had not paid her Titania Gloria a visit for +several days. But what a sight met her eyes when she reached the spot +where the precious thing had been planted! Not a single bit was left. +The clean cut stalks showed where they had been clipped off close to the +ground. Migwan started up with a cry of dismay which brought the other +girls running to her side. “My Titania Gloria!” gasped Migwan. “Look! +The mysterious visitor has been at work again!” And she told them about +the valuable cuttings that had disappeared so uncannily. + +“We never hear that ghost but what something happens after it!” said +Gladys, in an awestruck tone. The girls peered apprehensively into the +shadows of the tall trees surrounding the garden. + +“What’s up?” asked Hinpoha, joining the group. Migwan pointed to the +devastated bed. “What’s the matter with it?” asked Hinpoha. + +“My Titania Gloria!” said Migwan. “It’s been clipped off at the roots.” + +“Your what?” asked Hinpoha. Migwan explained about the rare plant Farmer +Landsdowne had given her. Hinpoha gave a sudden start and exclamation. +“What did you say it was?” she asked. + +“A Titania Gloria,” answered Migwan. + +“Well, girls, I’m the guilty one, then,” said Hinpoha, “for I cut those +plants off thinking they were mint. That was what I decorated the +platters with this afternoon. Do anything you like with me, Migwan, beat +me, hang me to a tree, put my feet in stocks, or anything, and I’ll make +no resistance.” She was absolutely frozen to the spot when she realized +what she had done. + +Migwan, grieved as she was over the loss of her cherished Titania, yet +had to laugh at the depths of Hinpoha’s mortification. “You old goose!” +she said, putting her arms around her, “don’t take it so to heart! It’s +my fault, not yours at all, because I didn’t tell anyone what that plant +was. And the leaves do look just like mint.” Thus she comforted the +discomfited Hinpoha. + +“Migwan,” said her mother, when they had returned to the house, “where +did you get that iodine with which you painted Hinpoha’s wrist this +afternoon?” + +“On the pantry shelf, just where you told me,” answered Migwan. + +“Well,” said her mother, “I told you wrong. The iodine is up on my +wash-stand.” + +“Then what was in the brown bottle on the pantry shelf?” asked Migwan. +The bottle was produced. + +“Why,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “that’s walnut stain, guaranteed not to wear +off!” + +Then there was a laugh at Migwan’s expense! + + “Old Migwan Hubbard + She went to the cupboard, + To get iodine in a phial, + But she couldn’t read plain, + And brought walnut stain, + And now her poor patient looks vile!” + +chanted Sahwah. + +“You’re even now,” said Gladys, “you’ve each scored a trick.” + +“‘_We do this to each other!_’” said Migwan and Hinpoha in the same +breath, and locked fingers and made a wish according to the time-honored +custom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII.—OPHELIA FINDS A FAIRY GODMOTHER. + + +As the summer progressed, the girls had more than one conference as to +what was to become of Ophelia when they left Onoway House. To let her go +back to her life in the slums was unthinkable. So far, Old Grady had +made no effort to get her back, possibly for the simple reason that she +did not know where the child was. They did not even know whether or not +she had a legal claim on Ophelia. All Ophelia knew about the business +was that Old Grady had taken her from the orphan asylum when she was +seven years old. Where she had lived before she went to the orphan +asylum she could not remember, so she must have been very young when she +came there. They were equally unwilling that she should return to the +asylum. + +“If we could only find someone to adopt her,” said Hinpoha. That would +be the best thing, they all agreed, although there was a lingering doubt +in the mind of each one as to whether anyone would want to adopt +Ophelia. Grammar was to her a totally unnecessary accomplishment, and +the amount of slang she knew was unending. By dint of hard labor they +had succeeded in making her say “you” instead of “yer,” and “to” instead +of “ter,” and discard some of her more violent slang phrases, but she +was still obviously a child of the streets and the tenement, and that +life had left its brand upon her. It showed itself constantly in her +speech. They had better success in teaching her table manners, for with +a child’s gift of imitation she soon fell into the ways of those around +her. + +But having had so much excitement in her short life she still pined for +it. While the life in the country was pleasant in the extreme it was far +too quiet to suit her and she longed to be back in the crowded tenement +where there was something happening every hour out of the twenty-four; +where people woke to life instead of going to bed when darkness fell and +the lamps were lighted; where street cars clanged and wagons rattled and +fire engines rumbled by; where the harsh voices of newsboys rang out +above the loud conversation of the women on the doorsteps and the +wailing of the babies. The zigging of the grasshoppers and the swishing +of the wind in the Balm of Gilead tree and the murmur of the river had +for her a mournful and desolate sound, and she often covered up her ears +so as not to hear it. When she first came to Onoway House she was so +interested in the new life that it kept her busy all day long finding +out new things; but gradually the novelty wore off. At first she had +been as mischievous as a monkey; always up to some prank or other. She +teased Tom and was teased by him in return; she put burrs in Mr. Bob’s +long ears; she climbed trees and threw things down on the heads of +unsuspecting persons underneath; she startled the girls out of their +wits by lying unseen under the couch in the sitting-room and grabbing +their ankles unexpectedly. Always she was doing something, and always +merry and full of life; so that she made the girls feel that they had +done a fine thing by bringing her to Onoway House. + +But of late a change had come over her. She began to droop, and to sit +silent by herself at times. The girls did their best to keep her amused, +but they were very busy with the continual canning, and Betty, who had +more time than the others, did not like her and would not play with her. +So she grew more and more homesick for the big, noisy city and the +playmates of other days. Then had come the time when she was so +sunburned and she had developed the fondness for Sahwah. After that she +was less lonesome, for Sahwah was such a lively person to be attached to +that one had always to be on the lookout for surprises. Sahwah taught +her to swim and dive and ride a bicycle; she had the boys make a swing +for her under the big tree, and Ophelia blossomed once more into +happiness. At Sahwah’s instigation she played more tricks on the other +girls than before. + +But Ophelia was a shrewd little person, and she knew that the summer +would come to a close and the girls would not live together any more. +She often heard them discussing their plans. What was to become of her +then? The happy family life at Onoway House stirred in her a desire to +have a home too, and a mother of her own. She began to grow wistful +again and at times her eyes would have a strange far-away look. The +scandals of the streets which were once the breath of life to her and +which she repeated with such relish, began to lose their charm, and she +developed a taste for fairy tales. “Tell me the story about the fairy +godmother,” she would say to Sahwah, and would listen attentively to the +end. “Are you sure I’ve got one somewhere?” she would ask eagerly. + +“You surely have,” Sahwah would answer, to satisfy her. + +And then, “What _are_ we going to do with Ophelia when the summer is +over?” Sahwah would ask the girls after Ophelia was in bed. And Hinpoha +would think of Aunt Phœbe and knew she would never adopt such a child as +Ophelia was; and Migwan knew that it would be out of the question in her +family; and Sahwah knew that her mother would not let her come and live +with them; and Gladys thought of her delicate mother and sighed. Nyoda +could not make a home for her, because she had none of her own and a +boarding house was no place for a child. + +“It’s a shame,” Sahwah would declare vehemently, “that there aren’t +fathers and mothers enough in this world to go round. Here’s Ophelia +will have to go into an institution more than likely, and grow up +without any especial interest being taken in her, while we have had so +much done for us. It isn’t fair.” + +“There’s something curious about Ophelia,” said Gladys, musingly. “While +she came from the tenements and is as wild and untrained as any little +street gamin, she has the appearance of a child of a much higher class. +Have you ever noticed how small and perfect her hands and feet are? And +what beautiful almond shaped fingernails she has? And what delicate +features? Have you seen how erectly she carries herself, and how +graceful she is when she dances? In spite of her name, I don’t believe +she is Irish; and I don’t think her people could have been low class. +There’s an indefinable something about her which spells quality.” + +“Probably a princess in disguise,” said Sahwah, in a tone of amusement. +“Leave it to Gladys to scent ‘quality.’” + +But the others had noticed the same characteristics in Ophelia and were +inclined to agree with Gladys on the subject. + +“But what about the strange spot of light hair on her head?” asked +Sahwah. “Would you call that a mark of quality?” But to this there was +no answer. They had never seen or heard of anything like it before. Thus +the summer days slipped by and Onoway House continued to shelter two +homeless orphans, neither of whom knew what the future held in store for +them. + +One afternoon when the girls had planned to go for a long walk to the +woods Gladys read in the paper that a balloonist was to make an +ascension over the lake. For some unaccountable reason she took a fancy +that she would like to see the performance. “Oh, Gladys,” said Sahwah, +impatiently, “you’ve seen balloonists before and you’ll see plenty yet; +come with us this afternoon.” But Gladys held out, even while she +wondered to herself why she was so eager to see this not uncommon sight. +Half offended at her, the other girls departed in the direction of the +woods. Gladys climbed high up in the Balm of Gilead tree, from which she +could look over the country for miles around and easily see the lake and +the distant amusement park from which the balloonist was to ascend. + +The newspaper said three o’clock, but evidently the performance was +delayed, for although Gladys was on the lookout since before that time +nothing seemed to be happening. To aid her in seeing she took Nakwisi’s +spy glass up into the tree with her, and while she was waiting for the +parachute spectacle she amused herself by focusing the glass on far away +objects on the land and bringing them right before her eyes, as it +seemed. She could look right into the back door of a distant farm house +and see children playing in the doorway and chickens walking up and down +the steps; she could see the men working in the fields; she could see +the yachts out on the lake and the smoky trail of a freight steamer. +Somewhere in the middle of her range of vision were the gleaming rails +of the car tracks. She looked at them idly; they were like long streaks +of light in the sun. She saw two men, evidently tramps, come out of the +bushes along the road and bend over the rails. Somewhere along that +stretch of track there was a derailing switch and it seemed to Gladys +that it was at this point where the men were. Gladys looked at the pair, +suspiciously, for a second and then decided they were track testers. One +had an iron bar in his hand and he seemed to be turning the switch. +Suddenly the other man pointed up the road and then the two jumped +quickly backward into the bushes. Gladys looked in the direction the man +had pointed. Far off down the track she could see the red body of the +“Limited” approaching at a tremendous rate. The stretch of country past +the Centerville Road was flat and even; the track was perfect and there +was no traffic to block the way, and the cars made great speed along +here. Something told Gladys that the men had had no business at the +switch; that they meant to derail and wreck the Limited. Gladys had +learned to think and act quickly since she had become a Camp Fire Girl, +and scarcely had the idea entered her head that the Limited was in +danger, than she conceived the plan of heading it off. Before the car +reached the switch it must pass the Centerville Road. Being the Limited, +it did not stop there. So Gladys planned to run the automobile down the +Centerville Road and flag the car. She flung herself from the tree in +haste, got the machine out of the barn and started down the road with +wide-open throttle. + +Trees and fences whirled dizzily by, obscured in the cloud of dust she +was raising. Across the stillness of the fields she could hear the +Limited pounding down the track. A hundred yards from the end of the +road the automobile engine snorted, choked and went dead. Without +waiting to investigate the trouble, Gladys jumped out and proceeded on +foot. Could she make it? She could see the red monster through the +trees, rushing along to certain destruction. With an inward prayer for +the speed of Antelope Boy, the Indian runner, she darted forward like an +arrow from the bow. Breathless and spent she came out on the car track +just a moment ahead of the thundering car, and waved the scarlet +Winnebago banner, which she had snatched from the wall on the way out. +With a quick jamming of the emergency brakes that shook the car from end +to end it came to a standstill just beyond the Centerville Road, and +only fifty feet from the switch. + +“What’s the matter?” asked the motorman, coming out. + +“Look at the switch!” panted Gladys, sinking down beside the road, +unable to say more. + +The motorman looked at the switch. “My God,” he said, mopping his +forehead, “if we’d ever run into that thing going at such a rate there +wouldn’t have been anyone left to tell the tale.” + +The passengers were pouring from the car, eager to find out the reason +for the sudden stoppage. “What’s the matter?” was heard on every side. + +“You’ve got that girl to thank,” said the motorman, moving back toward +his vestibule, “that you’re not lying in a heap of kindling wood.” +Gladys, much abashed and still hardly able to breathe, laid her head on +her knee and sobbed from sheer nervousness and relief. + +“Gladys!” suddenly said a voice above the murmurings of the throng of +passengers. + +Gladys raised her head. “Papa!” she cried, staggering to her feet. “Were +you on that car?” + +Another figure detached itself from the crowd and hastened forward. +“Mother!” cried Gladys. “Oh, if I hadn’t been able to stop it—” and at +the horror of the idea her strength deserted her and she slipped quietly +to the ground at her parents’ feet. + +When she came to the car had gone on and she was lying in the grass by +the roadside with her head in her mother’s lap. “Cheer up, you’re all +right,” said her mother a little unsteadily, smiling down at her. Gladys +now became aware of two other figures that were standing in the road. + +“Aunt Beatrice!” she cried. “And Uncle Lynn! What are you doing here?” + +“We all came out to surprise you,” said her father. “We got back from +the West last night; sooner than we expected, and decided we would run +out without any warning and see what kind of farmers you were. The +automobile is being overhauled so we came on the interurban. We didn’t +know it didn’t stop at your road.” + +Then, Gladys suddenly remembered her own disabled car standing in the +road, and they all moved toward it. With a little tinkering it +condescended to run and they were soon at Onoway House, telling the +exciting tale to Mrs. Gardiner, who held up her hands in horror at the +thought of the fate which the newcomers had so narrowly escaped. Aunt +Beatrice, not being strong, was much agitated, and developed a +palpitation of the heart, and had to lie in the hammock on the porch and +be doctored, so Gladys had her hands full until the girls came back. +They were much surprised at the houseful of company and very glad to see +Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who were very good friends of the Winnebagos indeed. +They looked with interest when Aunt Beatrice was introduced, for they +all remembered the tragic story Gladys had told them about the loss of +her baby in the hotel fire. Aunt Beatrice felt well enough to get up +then and acknowledge the introductions with a sweet but infinitely sad +smile that went straight to their hearts, and brought tears to the eyes +of the soft-hearted Hinpoha. + +Ophelia came in last, having loitered on the lawn to play with Pointer +and Mr. Bob. She had taken off her hat and was swinging it around in her +hand when she came up on the porch. “And this is the little sister of +the Winnebagos,” said Nyoda, drawing her forward. Aunt Beatrice looked +down at the dust-streaked little face, with her sad smile, but her eyes +rested there only an instant. She was gazing as if fascinated at the +strange ring of light hair on her head. She became very pale and her +eyes widened until they seemed to be the biggest part of her face. + +“Lynn!” she gasped in a choking voice, “Lynn! Look!” and she sank on the +floor unconscious. “It can’t be! It can’t be!” she kept saying faintly +when they revived her. “Beatrice died in the fire. But Beatrice had that +ring of light hair on her head! It can’t be! But there never were two +such birthmarks!” + +What a hubbub arose when this startling possibility was uttered! +Ophelia, the lost Beatrice? Could it possibly be true? Uncle Lynn lost +no time in finding out. Taking Ophelia with him he hunted up Old Grady. +She knew nothing more save that she had gotten her from an orphan +asylum, which she named. At the asylum he learned what he wanted to +know. The superintendent remembered about Ophelia on account of the +strange ring of light hair. The child had been brought to the +institution when she was about a year old. There was a babies’ +dispensary in connection with the place, and into this a weak, haggard +girl of about eighteen had staggered one day carrying a baby. The baby +was sick and she begged them to make it well. While she sat waiting for +the nurse to look at the baby the girl collapsed. She died in a charity +hospital a few days later. On her death-bed she confessed that she had +run away from a large hotel with the baby which had been left in her +care, intending to hide it and get money from the parents for its +recovery. But she feared this would lead her into trouble and left town +with the child and never troubled the parents as she had intended, and +kept the baby with her until it fell sick, when she had become +frightened and sought the dispensary. She apparently never knew that the +hotel had burned and covered up the traces of her flight. The baby was +kept at the orphan asylum and named Ophelia. Her last name had never +been known. Thence Old Grady had adopted her, but her right could be +taken away from her as it was clear that she was no fit person to have +the child. + +“It’s just like a fairy tale!” said Hinpoha, when it was established +beyond a doubt that the abused street waif Gladys had brought home in +the goodness of her heart was her own cousin. + +“Didn’t I tell you you’d find your fairy godmother if you only waited +long enough?” said Sahwah. And Ophelia, from the depths of her mother’s +arms, nodded rapturously. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII.—A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. + + +“Oh, Gladys, do you have to go home, now that your mother and father are +back?” asked Migwan, anxiously. + +“Not unless you want to, Gladys,” said Mrs. Evans. “If you would rather +stay out here until school opens, you may. Father and I are going to +Boston in a few days, you know.” + +So there was no breaking up of the group before they all went home, with +the exception of Ophelia, or rather Beatrice, as we will have to call +her from now on, for, of course, she was to go with her mother. + +“What must it be like, anyway,” said Hinpoha, “not to have any last name +until you’re nine years old and then be introduced to yourself? To +answer to the name of Ophelia one and ‘Miss Beatrice Palmer’ the next? +It must be rather confusing.” + +Little Beatrice went to Boston with her mother and father and uncle and +aunt and Onoway House missed her rather sorely. Calvin Smalley also got +a measure of happiness out of the restoration of the lost child, for +Uncle Lynn was so beside himself with joy over the event that he was +ready to bestow favors on anyone connected with Onoway House, and +promised to see that Calvin got through school and college. He would +give him a place to work in his office Saturdays and vacations. + +For several days now there had been no sign of the mysterious visitor, +and the well digger’s ghost had also apparently been laid to rest. Then +one morning they woke to the realization that the unseen agency had been +at work again. Pinned on the front door was a piece of paper on which +was scrawled, + + “_If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get out of that + house._” + +“We’ll do no such thing!” said Migwan, with unexpected spirit “I’ve +started out to earn money to go to college by canning tomatoes, and I’m +going to stay here until they’re canned; I don’t care who likes it or +doesn’t.” + +“That’s it, stand up for your rights,” applauded Sahwah. + +“But what possible motive could anyone have for wanting us to get out of +the house?” asked Migwan. Of course, there was no answer to this. + +“Do you suppose the house will be burned down as the tepee was?” asked +Gladys, in rather a scared voice. This suggestion sent a shiver through +them all. + +“We must get the policeman back again to watch,” said Mrs. Gardiner. + +Accordingly, the redoubtable constable was brought on the scene again. + +“Well, well, well,” he said, fingering the mysterious note. “Thought +he’d come back again now that the coast was clear, did he? You notice, +though, that he didn’t make no effort while I was here. You can bet your +life he won’t get busy again while I’m here now. You ladies just rest +easy and go on with your peeling.” + +Scarcely had he finished speaking, when from the bowels of the earth and +apparently under his very feet, there came the strange sound as of blows +being struck on hard earth or stone. The expression on Dave Beeman’s +face was such a mixture of surprise and alarm that the girls could not +keep from laughing, disturbed as they were at the return of the sounds. +“By gum,” said the constable, looking furtively around, “this is +certainly a queer business.” He had heard the story of the well digger’s +ghost and it was very strong in his mind just now. “Maybe it’s just as +well not to meddle,” he said under his breath. + +Off and on through the day they heard the same sounds issuing from the +ground, and at dusk the weird moaning began again. The constable showed +strong signs of wishing himself elsewhere. When darkness fell the noises +ceased and were heard no more that night. But another sort of moaning +had taken its place. This was the wind, which had been blowing strongly +all day, and early in the evening increased to the proportions of a +hurricane. With wise forethought Sahwah and Nyoda brought the raft and +the rowboat up on land. Leaves, small twigs and thick dust filled the +air. Windows rattled ominously; doors slammed with jarring crashes. +Migwan, foreseeing a devastating storm, set all the girls to picking +tomatoes as fast as they could, whether they were ripe or not, to save +them from being dashed to the ground. They could ripen off the vines +later. + +At last the sandstorm drove them into the house, blinded. Then there +came such a wind as none of them had ever experienced. Trees in the yard +broke like matches; the Balm of Gilead roared like an ocean in a +tempest. There was a constant rattle of pebbles and small objects +against the window panes; then one of the windows in the dining-room was +broken by a branch being hurled against it, and let in a miniature +tempest. Papers blew around the room in great confusion. Migwan rolled +the high topped sideboard in front of the broken pane to keep the wind +out of the room. At times it seemed as if the very house must be coming +down on top of their heads, and they stood with frightened faces in the +front hall ready to dash out at a moment’s notice. A crash sounded on +the roof and they thought the time had come, but in a moment they +realized that it was only the chimney falling over. The bricks went +sliding and bumping down the slope of the roof and fell to the ground +over the edge. + +“I pity anybody who’s caught in this out in the open,” said Migwan. “I +believe the wind is strong enough to blow a horse over. I wonder where +Calvin is now.” Calvin had gone to the city with Farmer Landsdowne on +business and intended to remain all night. + +“He’s probably all right if he has reached those friends of the +Landsdownes’,” said Hinpoha. + +“The Smalleys are out, too,” said Sahwah. “I saw them drive past after +dark, going toward town, just before it began to blow so terribly. Oh, +listen! What do you suppose that was?” A crash in the yard told them +that something had happened to the barn. Gladys was in great distress +about the car, and had to be restrained forcibly from running out to see +if it was all right. The wind continued the greater part of the night +and nobody thought of going to bed. By morning it had spent its force. + +Then they looked out on a scene of destruction. The garden was piled +with branches and trunks of trees, and strewn with clothes that had been +hanging on wash-lines somewhere along the road. Up against the porch lay +a wicker chair which they recognized as belonging to a house some +distance away. Everywhere around they could see the corn and wheat lying +flat on the ground, as if trodden by some giant foot. The roof of the +barn had been torn off on one side and reposed on the ground, more or +less shattered. The car was uninjured except that it was covered with a +thick coating of yellow dust. It was well that they had thought to pick +the tomatoes, for the vines and the frames which supported them were +demolished. All the telephone wires were down as far as they could see. + +Calvin was not to return until night, and they felt no great anxiety +about him, but often during the day a disquieting thought came to +Migwan. This was about Uncle Peter, the man who lived in the cottage +among the trees. Suppose something had happened to him? From Sahwah’s +report, the house was very old and frail. She watched the Red House +closely for signs of life, but apparently the Smalleys had not returned. +The doors were shut and there was no smoke coming out of the kitchen +chimney. + +“Nyoda,” said Migwan, finally, “I’m going over and see if that old man +is all right. I can’t rest until I know.” + +“All right,” said Nyoda, “I’m going with you.” Sahwah was over at Mrs. +Landsdowne’s, but they remembered her description of the approach to the +cottage, and made the detour around the field where the bull was and the +marsh beyond it, coming up to the cottage from the other side. It was +still standing, although the big tree beside it had been blown over and +lay across the roof. + +“Would you ever think,” said Migwan, “that there was anyone living in +there? I could pass it a dozen times and swear it was empty, if I didn’t +know about it.” + +“Well,” said Nyoda, the house is still standing, “so I suppose the old +man is all right.” + +“I wonder,” said Migwan. “He may have been frightened sick, and he may +have nothing to eat or drink, now that the Smalleys are kept away. We’d +better have a look. He can’t hurt us. If Sahwah spent the whole +afternoon with him we needn’t be afraid.” + +They tried the door, but, of course, found it locked, and were obliged +to resort to the same means of entrance as Sahwah had employed. They saw +the key in the other door just as Sahwah had and turned it and opened +the door. The old man was sitting by the table in just the position +Sahwah had described. Apparently he was neither frightened nor hurt. He +looked up when he saw them in the doorway and motioned them to come in. +There was nothing extraordinary in his appearance; he was simply an old +man with mild blue eyes. Obeying the same impulse of adventure which had +led Sahwah across the threshold, they stepped in and sat down. The room +was just as Sahwah had told them. The table was littered with wheels and +rods which the old man was fitting together. As they expected, he worked +away without taking any notice of them. + +“Did you mind the storm?” asked Nyoda. + +“Storm?” said the old man. “What storm?” + +“He never noticed it!” said Migwan, in an aside to Nyoda. + +“What are you making?” asked Migwan, wishing to hear from his own lips +the explanation he had given Sahwah. + +After his customary interval he spoke. “It’s a machine that reclaims +wasted moments,” he explained. “Every moment that isn’t made good use of +goes down through this little trap door, and when there are enough to +make an hour they join hands and climb up on the face of the clock +again.” + +Migwan and Nyoda exchanged glances. The ingenious imagination of the old +man surpassed anything they had ever heard. They stayed awhile, amusing +themselves by looking at the books and clocks in the cabinets, and then +rose, intending to slip away quietly when he was absorbed in his work, +as Sahwah had done. A dish of apples standing on one of the cabinets +indicated that he was not without food and their minds were now at rest +about his welfare. But when they moved toward the door he turned and +looked at them. + +“What do you think of it?” he asked. + +By “it” they figured that he meant the machine he was working on. “It’s +a very good one indeed,” said Nyoda, “very interesting.” + +“Do you want to buy the rights?” asked the old man, taking off his hat +and putting it on again. + +“He thinks he’s talking to some capitalist!” whispered Migwan. + +“We’ll talk over the plans first among ourselves and let you know our +decision,” said Nyoda, not knowing what to say and wishing to appear +politely interested. This speech would give them an opportunity to get +away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter drew a sheet of paper from among +those on the table and gravely handed it to her. + +“Here are the plans,” he said. “Take them and look them over and let me +know in a week.” Then he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding +the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the room, followed by Migwan. +They left the house as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout +way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of the remarkable machine away +in her room, intending to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they +saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red House. + +It took the girls most of the day to clear the garden of the rubbish +which had been blown into it and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. +Calvin came back at night safe and relieved the slight anxiety they had +felt about him. As they sat on the porch after supper comparing notes +about the storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that the well +digger’s ghost was at work again. It continued throughout the evening. + +“I’ll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer,” said Migwan. A perpetual +air of uneasiness had fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to +get anything accomplished. How could they settle down to work or play +with that dreadful thud, thud pounding in their ears every little while? +Dave Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to see what damage +had been done and they were again without the protection of the law. + +“Maybe it’s some animal under the ground,” suggested Calvin. “It +certainly couldn’t be a person down there.” This seemed such an +amazingly sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were inclined +to accept it. + +“I suppose imagination does help a lot,” said Migwan, “and if we hadn’t +heard that story about the well digger we would never have thought of a +man with a pickaxe. It’s undoubtedly the movements of an animal we +hear.” + +“But what animal lives underground without any air?” asked Sahwah. + +“There’s probably a hole somewhere, only we haven’t found it,” said +Migwan, who seemed determined to believe the animal theory. + +“But what about the note on the door and the lime on the tomatoes and +the burning of the tepee?” asked Sahwah. “You can’t blame that onto an +animal, can you?” + +“That’s very true,” said Migwan, “but it is likely there is no +connection between the two mysteries. It’s just a coincidence. I for one +am going to be sensible and stop worrying about that noise in the +ground.” And most of them followed Migwan’s example. + +The next morning was such a beautiful one that they could not resist +getting up early and running out of doors before breakfast. “Let’s play +a game of hide-and-seek,” proposed Sahwah. The others agreed readily; +Hinpoha was counted out and had to be “it,” and the others scattered to +hide themselves. One by one Hinpoha discovered and “caught” the players, +or they got “in free.” Calvin startled her nearly out of her wits by +suddenly dropping out of a tree almost on top of her. + +“Are we all in?” asked Migwan, fanning herself with her handkerchief. +She was out of breath from her strenuous run for the goal. + +“All but Sahwah,” said Hinpoha. She started out again to look for her, +turning around every little while to keep a wary eye on the goal lest +Sahwah should spring out from somewhere nearby and reach it before she +did. But Sahwah was evidently hidden at some distance from the goal, and +Hinpoha walked in an ever increasing circle without tempting her out. +The others, tired of waiting for her to be caught, joined in the search +and beat the bushes and hunted through the barn and looked up in the +trees. But no Sahwah did they find. + +Breakfast time neared and Hinpoha called loudly, “In free, Sahwah, +game’s over.” But Sahwah did not emerge from some cleverly concealed +nook as they expected. + +“Maybe she didn’t hear you,” said Migwan. “Let’s all call.” And they all +called, shouting together in perfect unison as they had done on so many +other occasions, making the combined voice carry a great distance. An +echo answered them but that was all. The girls looked at each other +blankly. + +“Do you suppose she’s staying hidden on purpose?” asked Calvin. + +“No,” said Nyoda, emphatically, “I don’t. Sahwah’s had enough experience +with causing us worry by disappearing never to do it on purpose again. +She’s probably stuck somewhere and can’t get out. Do you remember the +time she was shut up in the statue and couldn’t talk? Something of the +kind has occurred again, I don’t doubt. We’ll simply have to search +until we find and release her.” + +They began a systematized search and minutely examined every foot of +ground. Thinking that the barn was the most likely place to get into +something and not get out again, they opened every old chest there and +pried into every corner, and moved every article. They went up-stairs +and looked through the lofts and corners. The roof being partly off, it +was as light as day, and if she had been there anywhere they would +surely have seen her. But there was no sign of her. They looked under +the roof of the barn that lay on the ground, thinking that she might +have crawled under that and become pinned down, but she was not there. + +“Could she have fallen into the river?” asked Calvin. + +“It wouldn’t have done her any harm if she had,” said Hinpoha. “Sahwah’s +more at home in the water than she is on land. It wouldn’t have been +unlike her to jump in and swim around and duck her head under every time +I came near, but then she would have heard us calling for her and come +out.” + +They parted every bush and shrub, and looked closely at the branches of +every tree, half fearing to find her hanging by the hair somewhere. + +“Do you suppose she went up the Balm of Gilead tree and into the attic +window?” asked Migwan. They searched through the attic, and a laborious +search it was, on account of the quantities of furniture and chests to +be moved. They pulled out every drawer and burst open every trunk and +chest, thinking she might have crawled into one and then the lid had +closed with a spring lock. It was fully noon before they were satisfied +that she was not up there. + +“Could she be in the cellar?” asked Hinpoha. Down they went, carrying +lights to look into all the dark corners. But the search was vain. The +girls became extremely frightened. Something told them that Sahwah’s +disappearance was not voluntary. They looked at each other with growing +fear. What had the message on the door said? + + “_If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get out of that + house._” + +Was that a warning of what had happened now? Was it a friendly or a +sinister warning? Migwan was almost beside herself to think that +anything had happened to Sahwah while she was staying with her. The day +dragged along like a nightmare. In the afternoon Calvin had an +inspiration. “Why didn’t I think of it before?” he almost shouted. +“Here’s Pointer; he’s a hunting dog and can follow a trail. We’ll set +him to find Sahwah’s trail.” + +“That’s right,” said Migwan, in relief, “we’ll surely find her now.” + +They gave Pointer a shoe of Sahwah’s and in a moment he had started off +with his nose to the ground. But if they had expected him to lead them +to her hiding-place they were disappointed, for all he did was follow +the trail around the garden between the house and the river. Once he +went down cellar, straining hard at the chain which held him, and they +were sure he would find something they had overlooked in their search, +but the trail ended in front of the fruit cellar. + +“Sahwah came down here early this morning to bring up those melons, +don’t you remember?” said Migwan. “That’s all Pointer has found out.” +They kept Pointer at it for some time, but he never offered to leave the +garden. + +“Are you sure he’s on the trail?” asked Hinpoha, doubtfully. + +“Yes,” said Calvin, “he never whines that way unless he is. That long +howl is the hunting dog’s signal that he’s on the job. When he loses the +trail he runs back and forth uncertainly.” + +“According to that, Sahwah must be very near,” said Gladys. “Are you +sure there isn’t any other place in the house, cellar or barn that she +could have gotten into, Migwan?” + +“Quite sure,” said Migwan, disheartened. “You know yourself the way we +finecombed every foot of space.” + +“There’s another thing that might have made Pointer lose the trail,” +said Nyoda. “Do you remember that he stopped short at the river once? +Well, it is my belief that Sahwah ran down to the river and either fell +or jumped in and swam away. That would destroy the trail, and Sahwah +might be miles away for all we know.” She carefully refrained from +suggesting that anything had happened to Sahwah and she might have gone +under the water and not come up again, but there was a fear tugging at +her heart that Sahwah had dived in and struck her head on something and +gone down. + +But several of the others must have had much the same thought, for +Gladys remarked, without any apparent connection, “_You can see the +bottom almost all the way down the river._” + +And Hinpoha said, “_Those tangled roots of trees in the river are nasty +things to get into._” + +And Calvin set the dog free immediately and untied the rowboat. He and +Nyoda rowed down the river while the rest followed along the banks. The +stream was clear most of the distance and they could see to the bottom. +Here and there were sharp rocks jutting up and casting shadows on the +sunlit bottom, and in places the water had washed the dirt away from the +roots of trees so that they extended out into the river like +many-fingered creatures waiting to seize their prey. But nowhere did +they see what they feared. In the lower part of the river, toward the +mouth, the water was deeper and had been dredged free of all +obstructions, so while it was muddy and they could not see into its +depths they knew that nothing was to be found here. + +Vaguely relieved and yet dreadfully anxious and mystified they returned +to Onoway House. “Do you suppose she was carried away by an automobile +or wagon?” asked Migwan. “Does anyone recall seeing anything of the kind +going by when we started to play?” Nobody did. While they were +discussing this new theory, Pointer, who had been left to run loose +while they were searching the river, came running up to them. With much +wagging of his tail he went to Calvin and laid something at his feet For +a moment they could not make out what it was. Migwan recognized it +first. + +_It was Sahwah’s shoe, completely covered and dripping with black mud._ + +“Where did you find it, Pointer?” asked Calvin. Pointer wagged his tail +in evident satisfaction, but, of course, he could not answer his +master’s question. + +“Is that the shoe Sahwah had on this morning?” asked Nyoda. + +“Yes,” said Hinpoha. “I remember asking her why she wore those shoes +with the red buttons to run around in and she said they were getting +tight and she wanted to wear them out.” + +“Where does that black mud come from around here?” asked Gladys. + +It was Nyoda who guessed the dreadful fact first. All of a sudden she +remembered cleaning her shoes after she had come home from her visit to +Uncle Peter. + +“_The marsh!_” she gasped. “_Sahwah’s caught in the marsh!_ It’s the +same mud. I went to the edge of the marsh the other day to see it and +got some on my shoe.” + +Without stopping to hear more, Calvin dashed off in the direction of his +father’s farm, with Pointer at his heels and Gladys and Nyoda and +Hinpoha and Migwan and Tom and Betty trailing after him as fast as they +could go. Mrs. Gardiner followed a little distance behind. She could not +keep up with them. Calvin tore a flat board from one of the fences as he +ran along and called on the others to do the same thing. A little +farther on he found a rope and took that along. They reached the edge of +the marsh and looked eagerly for the figure of Sahwah imprisoned in the +treacherous ooze. But the green surface smiled up innocently at them. +Not a sign of a struggle, no indentation in the level, no break. To the +unknowing it looked like the smoothest lawn lying like a sheet of +emerald in the sun. But on second glance you saw the water bubbling up +through the grass and then you knew the secret of the greenness. Nowhere +could they see Sahwah. + +Migwan had to force herself to ask the question that was in everybody’s +mind. “Has she gone under?” + +“No,” said Calvin, positively. “It can’t be possible in so short a time. +They say that a horse went down here once long ago, and it took him more +than two days to be covered entirely.” + +After being wrought up to such a pitch of expectancy it was a shock to +find that Sahwah was not in the marsh. _But how had her shoe come to be +covered with marsh mud, and what was it doing off her foot?_ Where had +Pointer found it? + +“Oh, if only dogs could speak!” said Hinpoha. “Pointer, Pointer, where +did you find it?” But Pointer could only wag his tail and bark. + +From where they stood at the edge of the marsh they could see the +cottage among the trees. A look of inquiry passed between Nyoda and +Migwan. Calvin saw the look and understood it. + +“Would you like to look in Uncle Peter’s house?” he asked. His face was +very pale, and Nyoda, watching him keenly, thought she detected a sudden +suspicion and fear in his eyes. He looked apprehensively over his +shoulder at the Red House as they started to skirt the bog. Nyoda +understood that movement. Abner Smalley did not know that they knew +about Uncle Peter, and Calvin had said he would be very angry if he +found it out. Now he would be sure to see them going toward the house. +But this thought did not make Nyoda waver in her determination to search +the cottage. The urgency of the occasion released them from their +promise of secrecy. As Calvin had no key they were obliged to enter by +the window as on former occasions. But the front room was absolutely +blank and bare and they saw the impossibility of anyone’s being hidden +there. It was a tense moment when they opened the door of the inner room +and the girls who had never been there stepped behind the others and +held their breath. Uncle Peter sat at the table just as Nyoda and Migwan +had seen him a day or two before, playing with his rods and wheels. His +mild blue eyes rested in astonishment on the number of people who +thronged the doorway. + +“Come in, ladies,” he said, politely. The room was exactly as it had +been the other day and apparently he had not stirred from his position. +They all felt that Sahwah had not been there and that the old man knew +nothing about the matter. But Calvin spoke to him. + +“Uncle Peter,” he said. The man turned at the name and stared at him but +gave no sign of recognizing him. “Do you know me, Uncle Peter?” said +Calvin. “It’s Calvin, Jim’s boy.” + +The old man smiled vacantly and held out the bit of machinery he was +working on. “It’s a machine for saving time,” he said. “As the minutes +are ticked off——” There was nothing to be gotten out of him, and they +withdrew again. Calvin looked around him fearfully as they returned +through the fields, to see if his uncle had watched him take the girls +to the cottage, but there was no sign of him anywhere, at which he +breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. Tired out with their ceaseless +searching and sick with anxiety, they returned to Onoway House. + +If we were writing an ingeniously intricate detective story the thing to +do would be to wait until Sahwah was discovered by some brilliant piece +of detective work and then have her tell her story, leaving the +explanation of the mystery until the last chapter, and keeping the +reader on the verge of nervous prostration to the end of the piece. But, +as this is only a faithful narrative of actual events, and as Sahwah is +our heroine as much as any of the girls, we know that the reader would +much prefer to follow her adventures with their own eyes, rather than +hear about them later when she tells the story to the wondering +household. And we also think it only fair to say that if Sahwah’s return +had depended on any brilliant detective work on the part of the others +we have very grave doubts as to its ever being accomplished. We will, +then, leave the dwellers at Onoway House to their searching and +theorizing and bewailing, and follow Sahwah from the time they started +to play hide-and-seek and Hinpoha blinded her eyes and began to count +“five, ten, fifteen, twenty.” + +Sahwah ran across the garden toward the house, intending to swing +herself into one of the open cellar windows. Near this window was a +flower bed which Migwan had filled with especially rich black soil. That +morning she had watered the bed and had done it so thoroughly that the +ground was turned into a very soft mud. Sahwah, not looking where she +was going, stepped into this mud and sank in over her shoe top with one +foot. When she had entered the window she stood on the cellar floor and +regarded the muddy shoe disgustedly. Feeling that it was wet through, +she ripped it off and flung it out of the window. It landed back in the +muddy bed and was hidden by the growing plants. Sahwah then proceeded to +hide herself in the fruit cellar. This was a partitioned off place in a +dark corner. She sat among the cupboards and baskets and watched Hinpoha +pass the window several times as she hunted for the players. Once +Hinpoha peered searchingly into the window and Sahwah thought she was on +the verge of being discovered and pressed back in her corner. There was +a basket of potatoes in the way of her getting quite into the corner and +she moved this out. There was also a barrel of vinegar and she slipped +in behind this. As she moved the barrel it dropped back upon her +shoeless foot and it was all she could do to repress a cry of pain as +she stood and held the battered member in her hand. But the pain became +so bad she decided to give up the game and get something to relieve it. +She pushed hard against the barrel to move it out, but this time it +would not move. She pushed harder, bracing her back against the wooden +wall behind her, when, without warning, the wall caved in as if by +magic, and she fell backwards head over heels into inky darkness. The +wall through which she had fallen closed with a bang. + +Sahwah sat up and reached mechanically for the hurt foot. The pain had +increased alarmingly and for a time shut out all other sensations. Then +it abated a little and Sahwah had time to wonder what she had fallen +into. She was sitting on a stone floor, she could make that out. It must +be a room of some kind, she decided, but the darkness was so intense +that she could make nothing out. “There must have been another part to +the cellar behind the fruit cellar, although we never knew it,” thought +Sahwah, “and the back of the fruit cellar was the door.” As soon as she +could stand upon her foot again she moved forward in the direction from +which she thought she had come and searched with her hands for a +doorknob. But her fingers encountered only a smooth wall surface and +after about five minutes of careful feeling she came to the startled +conclusion that there was no such thing. “I must have got turned around +when I tumbled,” she thought, “and am feeling of the wrong wall.” She +accordingly moved forward until her outstretched hands encountered +another hard surface and she repeated the process of looking for a +doorknob. No more success here. “Well, there are four walls to every +room,” thought Sahwah, “and I’ve still got two more trys.” Again she +moved out cautiously and with ever increasing nervousness admitted that +there was no door in that direction. “Now for the fourth side, the right +one at last,” she said to herself. “One, two, three, out goes me!” She +moved quickly in the fourth and last direction. Without warning she ran +hard into something which tripped her up. She felt her head striking +violently against something hard and then she knew no more. + +She woke to a dream consciousness first. She dreamed she was lying in +the soft sand on the lake shore near one of the great stone piers, where +a number of men were at work. They were pounding the stones with great +hammers and the vibrations from the blows shook the beach and went +through her as she lay on the sand. Gradually the sparkling water faded +from her sight; the sky grew dark and night fell, but still the blows +continued to sound on the stone. Just where the dream ended and reality +began she never knew, but, with a rush of consciousness she knew that +she was awake and alive; that everything was dark and that she was lying +on her face in something soft that was like sand and yet not like it. +And the pounding she had heard in her dream was still going on. Thud, +thud, it shook the earth and jarred her so her teeth were on edge. For a +long time she lay and listened without wondering much what it was. Her +head ached with such intensity that it might have been the throbbing of +her temples that was shaking the earth so. After a while that dulled, +but the jarring blows still kept up. With a cessation of the pain came +the power to think and Sahwah remembered the strange noises they had +heard issuing from the ground. It must be the same noise; only it was a +hundred times louder now. It was a sort of clanging thump; like the +sound of steel on stone. Even with all that noise going on Sahwah +slipped off into half consciousness at times. Although there did not +seem to be any doors or windows, she was not suffering for lack of air, +but at the time she was too dazed to notice this and wonder at it. + +She woke with a start from one of these dozes to the realization that +there was a broad streak of light on the floor. Fully conscious now, she +raised her head and looked around. She was lying in a bin filled with +sawdust. When she held up her head her eyes came just to the top of it. +By the light she could see that she was indeed in a sort of sub-cellar. +It must have been older than the other cellar for the floor was made of +great slabs of mouldy stone. Her eyes followed the beam of light and she +saw that a door had been opened into still another cellar beyond. In +this chamber a lantern stood on the floor, whence came the light, and +its ray produced weird and fantastic moving shadows. These shadows came +from a man who was wielding a pickaxe against a spot in the stone wall. +It was this that was causing the jarring blows. Startled almost out of +her senses at seeing a man thus apparently caged up in the sub-cellar of +Onoway House, Sahwah could only lay back with a gasp. She could not +raise her voice to cry out had she been so inclined. + +But fast on the heels of that shock came another. The worker paused in +his exertions to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and stood where +the light of the lantern shone full in his face. Sahwah’s heart gave a +great leap when she recognized Abner Smalley. Abner Smalley in the +hidden sub-cellar of Onoway House, digging a hole in the wall! Sahwah +forgot her own plight in curiosity as to what he was doing. She lay and +watched him fascinated while he resumed his pounding. So he was the +mysterious intruder who had wrought such terror among them! This, then, +was the well digger’s ghost! What could he be searching for in the +cellar of his neighbor’s house? Sahwah dug her feet into the soft +sawdust as she watched the pick rise and fall. She had no idea of the +flight of time. She thought it was only a few minutes since she had +fallen into the sub-cellar. She lay thinking of the expressions on the +faces of the girls when she would tell them her discovery. To think that +she had been the one to solve the mystery! She felt a little +disappointed that the mysterious intruder should have turned out to be +someone they knew. It would have been more in keeping with her idea of +romance to have found a prince shut up in the cellar. + +While she was thinking these thoughts the light suddenly vanished and +she heard the bang of a door shutting. She was in darkness once more. In +a moment she heard footsteps retreating and dying away in the distance. +All was silent again. It took her some moments to collect her thoughts +sufficiently to realize a new and significant fact. _Abner Smalley had +not gone out by the door into the fruit cellar. There must be, then, +another way of egress from the sub-cellar._ Instantly Sahwah made up her +mind to follow him and see how he had gotten out at the other end. Her +feet were imbedded deeply in the sawdust and she became aware of the +fact that her shoeless foot was resting against something with a sharp +edge. She drew it away and then carefully felt with her hands for the +object. She could not see it when she had it but it felt like a metal +box of some kind, possibly tin. She carried it with her and moved toward +the place where she now knew there was a door. She found the handle +easily and opened it. This was the side of the wall toward which she had +moved when she had run into the bin before, and so she did not discover +it. A strong breath of air struck her as she advanced into this chamber. +It was scarcely more than a passage, for by reaching out her arms she +could touch the wall on both sides. She moved cautiously, fearing to +fall again in the dark. She felt the place in the wall where Abner +Smalley had made an indentation with his pick. She was wondering where +this passage led and wishing it would come to an end soon, when she +struck the already sore foot against what must have been the pickaxe set +against the wall and fell on her nose once more. The tin box she carried +was rammed into the pit of her stomach and knocked the breath out of +her, but this time she had not hit her head. + +She lay still for a moment trying to get her breath back. Her eyes were +becoming accustomed to the inky darkness by this time. She looked down +and saw a stone floor beneath her. She turned her head to one side and +saw a stone wall beside her. She turned over altogether and looked +up—and saw the constellation Cassiopea flashing down at her from the +sky. For a moment she could not believe her senses. Of all the strange +sights she had seen nothing had affected her so powerfully as the sight +of that familiar group of stars. What she had expected to see she could +not tell, stone perhaps, but anything except the open sky. She sat up in +a hurry and began to investigate where she was. The wall around her +seemed to be circular and all of a sudden Sahwah had the answer. She was +in the cistern—the old unused cistern which was not a great distance +from the house. This, then, was the opening of the sub-cellar, the way +in which Mr. Smalley had made his escape. There was usually a covering +over the cistern, but he had evidently been in a hurry and left it off. + +The fact that there were stars out took Sahwah’s breath away. It was +night then; had she been in that cellar all day? It was inconceivable, +yet it was undoubtedly true. By the faint glimmer of the stars she could +make out that there were hollows in the stone side of the cistern by +which a person could easily climb out. She lost no time in climbing when +she made this discovery. What a joy it was to be coming up into God’s +outdoors again! As she emerged from the cistern she saw Migwan standing +in the garden beside the back porch. The moon shone full on her as she +stepped out of the hole in the ground and just then Migwan caught sight +of her. The apparition was too much for Migwan and she screamed one +terrified scream after another until the girls came running from all +over to see what fresh calamity had happened. Only seeing Sahwah +standing in their midst and not having seen her appear magically out of +the depths of the ground, they could not understand Migwan’s terror. + +“Stop screaming, Migwan,” said Sahwah, and when Migwan heard her voice +and saw that it was really she, she quieted down and listened while +Sahwah told her tale of adventure since going down into the cellar to +hide. The day had passed so quickly for Sahwah, she having lain +unconscious until late in the afternoon, that she, of course, knew +nothing of their frantic search for her and so could not comprehend why +they made such a fuss over her return. They laughed and cried all at +once and hugged her until she finally protested. + +“What have you brought along as a souvenir of your trip?” asked Nyoda, +who had regained her light-hearted manner now that Sahwah was safely +back. + +Sahwah looked down at the box she held in her hand. “I found it in the +bin of sawdust,” she said. “It was just like playing ‘Fish-pond’ at the +children’s parties. You put your hand in a box of sawdust and draw out a +handsome prize.” And Sahwah laughed, her familiar long drawn-out giggle, +that they had despaired of ever hearing again. She laid the box on the +table. It was of tin, about nine inches long by three inches wide by +three high, with a closely fitting cover. “Shall I open it, Nyoda?” she +asked. + +“I don’t see any harm in doing so,” said Nyoda. Sahwah took off the +cover. There was nothing in the box but a folded piece of paper. She +took it and spread it before them on the table. + +“What is it?” they all cried, crowding around. The first thing that +caught their eye was a slanting line drawn across the paper in heavy +ink. There was some writing beside it, but this was so faded that it +took some studying to make it out. Finally they got it. It read: + +“_Supposed extension of gas vein._” The upper end of the line was marked +“_36 feet west of cistern._” There was a cross at that point also, and +this was marked, “_Place where gas was struck at 300 feet._” + +“The Deacon’s gas well!” they all exclaimed in chorus. It was true, +then. + +“And there was a well digger’s ghost, even if it didn’t turn out to be +the one we expected!” said Migwan. + +That day was never to be forgotten, although the next cleared up the +mystery and brought still another surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, +was once more brought out and this time furnished with information that +nearly caused his eyes to start from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as +everyone supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, breaking +into his neighbor’s house and deliberately trying to dig a hole in the +stone wall. It was the sensation of his career. “Well, I’ll be +jiggered!” he gasped. + +But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner Smalley’s when he was +confronted with the accusation without warning. He turned so pale and +trembled so much that it was useless to deny his guilt. + +“You are guilty, Abney Smalley,” said the constable, in such a solemn +tone that the girls could hardly keep straight faces. “You’d better make +a clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in that house or it +might go hard with you.” + +Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, was a coward when the +odds were against him, and he had always had a wholesome fear of the +law, so at Dave Beeman’s suggestion he decided to “make a clean breast +of it.” We will not weary the reader with all the conversation that took +place, but will simply tell the facts of the story. + +Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on the place yet, the story +of the Deacon’s gas well had come to Abner Smalley’s ears. He heard a +fact connected with it, however, that was not generally known, namely, +that the Deacon had made a record of the place where the gas was found. +Believing that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the house, he +had devised a means of breaking in and searching for it. His first plan +had been to frighten the dwellers in the house and make them believe +there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the place a wide berth +at night and leave him free to ransack the Deacon’s old furniture. He +frightened the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner had the +Mitchells departed than the new caretakers had come; and they were a +much bigger houseful than the others. + +He had tried the same plan with them as he had with the others, namely, +mysterious noises around the place at night. But what had frightened +Mrs. Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new farmers. They shot +off a gun when he was doing his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a +bottle, which had produced that weird moaning sound. He it was who had +dressed up as a ghost and appeared to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the +red pepper into her face when she made as if to attack him with a pole. +It was he whom they had seen coming out of the barn that night, and +later it was he again whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He had +disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. That was the first +time he had been down, and on this occasion he had discovered the +passage leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had heard in the +attic on numerous occasions. He had entered and gone out after dark by +means of the Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. He had +been down cellar that night when Sahwah nearly caught him. He was +looking for the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never found. +He knocked over the basket of potatoes which had mystified them so. He +had been on the point of entering the house that day when Sahwah +suddenly returned from town after he thought the whole family was gone +for the day. When he saw her go off along the river he went in anyway +and was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had escaped +detection by hiding in a large chest. + +The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them go and spent all day +looking through the desks in the house. Finally the dog barked so he +gave him the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. +Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the +cistern. He had stayed there until night, when he had set fire to the +tepee, not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After starting the +blaze he had again sought refuge in the cistern and when the crowd had +gathered, came out in their midst so that his absence from such an +exciting event in the neighborhood would cause no comment among the +farmers. The cistern was in the shadow and everyone was watching the +fire so intently that he was able to emerge unseen. + +He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and written the note which they +found on the door. He had left the chisel in the automobile on one +occasion when he had been hunting through the things in the barn; +forgetting to take it with him when he went out. + +He wanted to get hold of that record secretly and be sure whether the +great vein of gas which the Deacon knew existed was on the property now +owned by the Bartletts or that of the Landsdownes, and then he was going +to buy that property before the owners knew about the gas, as the land +would be worth a fortune if that fact ever became known. He was pretty +sure, after discovering that sub-cellar, that the Deacon had left his +papers down there when he went to California. By pounding on the walls +he had discovered one place which he was sure was hollow. If the stone +that covered the place could be removed by any trick he failed to +discover it and had to resort to digging it out with a pick. This, as we +already know, produced the dull thudding sound underground which had +frightened the household almost out of their wits. The reason he could +prowl around in the yard at night after they had set the dog to watch +was that Pointer knew him and made no disturbance upon seeing him. + +Abner Smalley was marched off triumphantly by Dave Beeman, and was held +on such a complicated charge of house-breaking, arson, assault and +battery, and intimidating peaceful citizens, that it took the combined +efforts of the village to draw it up. Thus ended the great mystery which +had kept Onoway House in more or less of an uproar all summer. + +“I never saw anything like the way we Winnebagos have of falling into +things,” said Sahwah. “Here Mr. Smalley made such elaborate efforts to +find that record, using up more energy and ingenuity than it would take +to dig up the whole farm and hunt for the gas well; and he didn’t find +it in the end; and all I did was drop in on top of it without even +suspecting its existence.” + +“There must be a special destiny that guides us,” said Migwan. “Perhaps +we possess an enchanted goblet, like the ‘Luck of Edenhall,’ only it’s +‘The Luck of the Winnebagos.’” + +“Cheer for the ‘Luck of the Winnebagos,’” said Sahwah, who never lost an +occasion to raise a cheer on any pretext. And at that Sahwah never +dreamed of the extent of the good fortune she had brought the Bartletts +by her lucky tumble. The vein of gas which was struck when they +subsequently drilled proved a sensation even in that notable gas region +and made millionaires of its owners. And the reward which Sahwah +received for finding the record, and that which the others received +“just for living,” as Migwan expressed it—for though they had not found +the sub-cellar themselves it was due to their game that Sahwah had found +it—drove the memory of their fright from their heads. But we are getting +a little ahead of our story. There is one more chapter yet to the Luck +of the Winnebagos before that remarkable summer came to an end. + +After the departure of Abner Smalley things grew so quiet at Onoway +House that Migwan, who had declared before that she would be a wreck if +the excitement did not cease soon, was now complaining that things +seemed flat and she wished the mystery hadn’t been cleared up because it +robbed them of their chief topic of conversation. + +“Well, I’m going to take advantage of the quiet atmosphere and +straighten out my bureau drawers,” said Nyoda. “I haven’t been able to +put my mind to it with all this excitement going on. And they’re a sight +since you girls went rummaging for things for the Thieves’ Market.” In +doing this she came upon that strange creation of Uncle Peter’s brain, +the plan for the “Wasted Minute Saving Machine.” She showed it to the +girls and they examined it wonderingly. + +“What is this on the other side?” asked Migwan. “It’s a will!” she +cried, reading it through. “It says, ‘I, Adam Smalley, give and +bequeathe my farm on the Centerville Road to my son Jim, as Abner has +already had his share in cash.’” + +“Let me see!” cried Calvin. “It’s the latest one!” he shouted, reading +the date. “It’s dated 1902 and the one Uncle Abner found was 1900. The +farm is mine after all! Uncle Peter had this will in his possession and +didn’t know it! How can I thank you girls for what you’ve done for me?” + +“It was all Migwan’s fault,” said Hinpoha. “She insisted upon going to +see whether the old man was all right after the storm.” + +Migwan declared that she had had nothing to do with it; it was the Luck +of the Winnebagos that had given her the inspiration. But Calvin knew +well that in this case the Luck of the Winnebagos was only Migwan’s own +thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV.—GOOD-BYE TO ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +By the first of September Migwan had made enough money from the sale of +canned tomatoes to more than pay her way through college the first year. +“It’s Mother Nature who has been my fairy godmother,” she said to the +girls. “I asked her for the money to go to college and she put her hand +deep into her earth pocket and brought it out for me. It’s like the +magic gardens in the fairy tales where the money grew on the bushes.” + +“What a summer this has been, to be sure,” said Hinpoha, who was in a +reflective mood. They were all sitting in the orchard, busy with various +sorts of handwork. The day was hot and drowsy and the shade of the trees +most inviting. “Migwan and I thought we would have such a quiet time +together, just we two. She was going to write a book and I was going to +illustrate it, when we weren’t working in the garden. And how +differently it all turned out! One by one you other girls came—I’ll +never forget how funny Gladys and Nyoda looked when they came out that +night, and how surprised Sahwah was to find you here when she arrived. +Then Gladys brought Ophelia, I mean Beatrice, and after that we never +had a quiet moment. Then the mystery began and kept up all summer. +Instead of these three months being a quiet rest they’ve been the most +thrilling time of my life.” + +“It seems to have agreed with you, though,” said Sahwah, mischievously, +whereupon there was a general laugh, for Hinpoha, instead of growing +thin with all the worry and excitement, had actually gained five pounds. + +“As much worry as it caused me,” said Migwan, “I’m glad everything +happened as it did. The summer I had looked forward to would have been +horribly dull and uninteresting, but now I feel that I’ve had some real +experiences. I’ve got enough ideas for stories to last for years to +come.” + +“And for moving picture plays,” said Hinpoha. “But,” she added, “if you +go in for that sort of thing seriously, where am I coming in? You know +we made a compact; I was to illustrate everything you wrote, and how am +I going to illustrate moving picture plays?” + +There was a ripple of amusement at her perplexity. “You’ll have to +illustrate them by acting them out,” said Gladys. They all agreed +Hinpoha would make a hit as a motion picture actress, all but Sahwah, +who dropped her eyes to her lap when Migwan began to talk about moving +pictures, and presently went into the house to fetch something she +needed for her work. When she came out again the subject had been +changed and was no longer embarrassing to her. + +“What will the Bartletts say when they hear the peach crop was ruined by +the wind storm?” asked Hinpoha. + +“That’s the only thing about our summer experience that I really +regret,” answered Migwan. “I wrote and told them about it, of course, +when I told them about the gas well, and Mrs. Bartlett said we shouldn’t +worry about it and that we ourselves were a crop of peaches.” + +“The dear thing!” said Gladys. “I should love to see the Bartletts again +some time; they were so friendly to us last summer, and it is all due to +them that we have had such a glorious time this summer.” + +Scarcely had she spoken when an automobile entered the drive and stopped +beside the house. Migwan ran out to see who it was. The next moment she +had her arms around the neck of a pretty little woman. “Oh, Mrs. +Bartlett!” she cried. “Did the fairies bring you? We just made a wish to +see you.” + +Soon the girls were all flocking around the car, shaking hands with Mr. +and Mrs. Bartlett, and making a fuss over little Raymond. How the +Bartletts did sit up in astonishment when all the events of the summer +were told in detail! “Well, you certainly are trumps for sticking it +out,” said Mr. Bartlett, admiringly. “Nobody but a bunch of Camp Fire +Girls would have done it.” At which the Winnebagos glowed with pride. + +Now that the Bartletts had come to stay at Onoway House, Migwan decided +she would go home a week earlier than she had planned, as there was not +enough room for so many people there. Aunt Phœbe and the Doctor were in +town again, so Hinpoha could go home if she wished; and Sahwah’s mother +had also returned. They were a little sorry to break up so abruptly when +they had planned quite a few things for that last week to celebrate the +finishing of the canning, but all agreed that under the circumstances it +was the best thing they could do. + +“I really need a week at home,” said Migwan with a twinkle in her eye, +“to rest up from my vacation. There I’ll get the peace and quiet that I +came here to seek.” Take care, O Migwan, how you talk! Once before you +predicted peace and quiet, and see what happened! + +Before they went, however, they must have one more big time altogether, +Mrs. Bartlett insisted, and she went into town on purpose to bring out +Nakwisi and Chapa and Medmangi. Close behind them came another car which +also stopped at Onoway House, and out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Evans +and Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Lynn and little Beatrice, the latter dressed +up in wonderful new clothes and already subtly changed, but still eager +to romp with the girls and tag after Sahwah. + +“See here,” said Mr. Evans, when they were all talking about going home +the next day, “you girls have been working pretty hard this summer, and +haven’t had a real vacation yet, why don’t you go for an automobile trip +the last week? Gladys has her car; that is, if it came through all the +excitement alive, and mother and I would be willing to let you take the +other one. Go on a run of say a thousand miles or so, and see a few +cities. The change will do you good.” + +“Oh, papa!” cried Gladys, clapping her hands in rapture. “That will be +wonderful!” And the other girls fell in love with the idea on the spot. + +As this was to be their last night at Onoway House nothing was left +undone that would make the occasion a happy one. The evening was fine +and warm and the stars hung in the sky like great jeweled lamps. With +one accord they all sought the garden and the orchard, where Gladys +danced on the grass in the moonlight like a real fairy. Then all the +girls danced together, until Mrs. Evans declared that they looked like +the dancing nymphs in the Corot picture. And Beatrice, who had been +taught those same things during the summer, broke away from her mother +and joined in the dance, as light and graceful as Gladys herself. It was +plain to see that she had the gift which ran in the family, and as her +mother watched her with a thrill of pride her heart overflowed anew in +thankfulness to the girls who had restored her daughter to her. + +“On such a night,” quoted Migwan, looking up at the moon, “Leander swam +the Hellespont——” + +“The river!” cried Sahwah, immediately, “we must go out on the river +once more. Oh, how can I say good-bye to the Tortoise-Crab?” And she +shed imaginary tears into her handkerchief. + +“Let’s go for one more float,” cried all the girls. + +The grown-ups strolled down to the river bank and sat on the grassy +slope, watching with indulgent interest what the girls were going to do +next. They saw them coming far up the river and heard their song as it +was wafted down on the scented breeze. Slowly and majestically the raft +approached, with Sahwah standing up and guiding it with the pole. When +it had come nearer the onlookers saw a romantic spectacle indeed. Gladys +reposed on a bed of flowers and leaves, under a canopy of branches and +vines, a ravishingly lovely Cleopatra. Beside her knelt Antony, +otherwise Migwan, holding out to her a big white water lily. The other +Winnebagos, as slave maidens, sat on the raft and wove flower wreaths or +fanned their lovely mistress with leaf fans. It was the slaves who were +doing the singing and their clear voices rang out with wonderful harmony +on the enchanted air. On they came, past the spot where Sahwah had been +hidden on the afternoon of the moving pictures; past the Lorelei Rock, +where they had held that other pageant which had frightened Calvin so; +past the spot where they lay concealed and watched the strange manœuvers +of the supposed Venoti gang. Each rock and tree along the stream was +pregnant with memories of that eventful summer, and they could hardly +believe that they were saying good-bye to it all. + +Now they were opposite the watchers on the bank and the murmurs of +admiration reached their ears as they floated past. “What lovely +voices——” + +“What wonderful imaginations those girls have——” + +“How beautifully they work together——” + +Calvin looked on in speechless admiration, his eyes for the most part on +Migwan. Never in his life had he regretted anything so much as he did +the fact that these jolly friends of his were going away. He was to stay +on his farm after all and now the prospect suddenly seemed empty. + +The voices of the onlookers blended in the ears of the boaters with the +murmur of the river as it flowed over the stones, and with the sighing +of the wind in the willows as the raft passed on. + +And here let us leave the Winnebagos for a time as we love best to see +them, all together on the water, their voices raised in the wonder song +of youth as they float down the river under the spell of the magic +moonlight. + + THE END. + +The next volume in this series is entitled: The Camp Fire Girls Go +Motoring; or, Along the Road that Leads the Way. + + * * * * * + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories for Camp Fire Girls +endorsed by the officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization. + +PRICE, 40 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, + The Winnebagos go Camping. + +This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a +camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer +than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before +the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding +school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, + The Wohelo Weavers. + +It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives +into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory +doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law of the +Camp Fire is broken it must be recorded in black. How these seven live +wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of Work, +Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their share of +mischief, is told in this story. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, + The Magic Garden. + +Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to +work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The +Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the “goings-on” +at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with laughter. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, + Along the Road That Leads the Way. + +The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The “pinching” of Nyoda, +the fire in the country inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest hare +and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the most exciting the +Winnebagos have ever experienced. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_Splendid Stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls_ + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES; + or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks’ Tour with the Glee Club. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer’s Cruise Through the + Panama Canal. + + * * * * * + +The Mildred Series + +By MARTHA FINLEY + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_A Companion Series to the Famous “Elsie” Books by the Same Author_ + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELANDS + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED’S NEW DAUGHTER + MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED’S BOYS AND GIRLS + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Chum’s Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + BENHURST CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning. + + BERTHA’S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris. + + BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West. By Joy Allison. + + DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row. + + FUSSBUDGET’S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham. + + HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings. + + JOLLY TEN, THE. and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage. + + KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl’s Story of Factory Life. By M. E. Winslow. + + LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder. + + MAJORIBANKS. A Girl’s Story. By Elvirton Wright. + + MISS CHARITY’S HOUSE. By Howe Benning. + + MISS ELLIOT’S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring + Corning. + + MISS MALCOLM’S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow. + + ONE GIRL’S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning. + + PEN’S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright. + + RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne. + + THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Comrade’s Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston. + + ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fanny E. Newberry. + + ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. + Rouse. + + BUBBLES. A Girl’s Story. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + JOYCE’S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MISS ASHTON’S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl’s Story. By Mrs. S. S. + Robbins. + + NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, New York. + + * * * * * + +The AMY E. BLANCHARD Series + +Miss Blanchard has won an enviable reputation as a writer of short +stories for girls. Her books are thoroughly wholesome in every way and +her style is full of charm. The titles described below will be splendid +additions to every girl’s library. + +Handsomely bound in cloth, full library size. + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. Price, 60 cents per volume, postpaid. + +THE GLAD LADY. A spirited account of a remarkably pleasant vacation +spent in an unfrequented part of northern Spain. This summer, which +promised at the outset to be very quiet, proved to be exactly the +opposite. Event follows event in rapid succession and the story ends +with the culmination of at least two happy romances. The story +throughout is interwoven with vivid descriptions of real places and +people of which the general public knows very little. These add greatly +to the reader’s interest. + +WIT’S END. Instilled with life, color and individuality, this story of +true love cannot fail to attract and hold to its happy end the reader’s +eager attention. The word pictures are masterly; while the poise of +narrative and description is marvellously preserved. + +A JOURNEY OF JOY. A charming story of the travels and adventures of two +young American girls, and an elderly companion in Europe. It is not only +well told, but the amount of information contained will make it a very +valuable addition to the library of any girl who anticipates making a +similar trip. Their many pleasant experiences end in the culmination of +two happy romances, all told in the happiest vein. + +TALBOT’S ANGLES. A charming romance of Southern life. Talbot’s Angles is +a beautiful old estate located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The +death of the owner and the ensuing legal troubles render it necessary +for our heroine, the present owner, to leave the place which has been in +her family for hundreds of years and endeavor to earn her own living. +Another claimant for the property appearing on the scene complicates +matters still more. The untangling of this mixed-up condition of affairs +makes an extremely interesting story. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Boy Spies Series + +These stories are based on important historical events, scenes wherein +boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the romance of +history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to picturing the home +life, and accurate in every particular. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. + + A story of the part they took in its defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE DEFENCE OF FORT HENRY. + + A boy’s story of Wheeling Creek in 1777. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. + + A story of two boys at the siege of Boston. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. + + A story of two Ohio boys in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. + + The story of how two boys joined the Continental Army. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. + + The story of two young spies under Commodore Barney. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. + + The story of how the boys assisted the Carolina Patriots to drive + the British from that State. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. + + The story of General Marion and his young spies. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. + + The story of how the spies helped General Lafayette in the + Siege of Yorktown. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. + + The story of how the young spies helped the Continental Army + at Valley Forge. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF FORT GRISWOLD. + + The story of the part they took in its brave defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. + + The story of how the young spies prevented the capture of + General Washington. + By James Otis. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Navy Boys Series + +A series of excellent stories of adventure on sea and land, selected +from the works of popular writers; each volume designed for boys’ +reading. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE NAVY BOYS IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. + + A story of the burning of the British schooner Gaspee in 1772. + By William Pman. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. + + A story of the Whale Boat Navy of 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS AT THE SIEGE OF HAVANA. + + Being the experience of three boys serving under Israel Putnam + in 1772. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS WITH GRANT AT VICKSBURG. + + A boy’s story of the siege of Vicksburg. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. + + A boy’s story of a cruise with the Great Commodore in 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. + + The story of two boys and their adventures in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. + + A boy’s story of privateering in 1780. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. + + A story of three boys who took command of the schooner “The Laughing + Mary,” the first vessel of the American Navy. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. + + The story of a remarkable cruise with the Sloop of War “Providence” + and the Frigate “Alfred.” + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ DARING CAPTURE. + + The story of how the navy boys helped to capture the British Cutter + “Margaretta,” in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. + + The adventures of two Yankee Middies with the first cruise of an + American Squadron in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. + + The adventures of two boys who sailed with the great Admiral in his + discovery of America. + By Frederick A. Ober + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +Volumes By WINN STANDISH + +Handsomely Bound in Cloth + +Full Library Size—Price + +40 cents per Volume, postpaid + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; + or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boyfondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord of +sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER’S CHAMPIONS; + or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been by Chadwick, the Nestor of +American sporting Journalism. + +JACK LORIMER’S HOLIDAYS; + or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy’s hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER’S SUBSTITUTE; + or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; + or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy’s life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Battleships + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser “The Sylph” and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; + or, The Vanishing Submarine. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; + or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; + or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; + or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; + or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS; + or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Army + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By CLAIR W. HAYES + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that +every boy loves. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; + or, With the Italian Army in the Alps. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; + or, The Struggle to Save a Nation. + +THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; + or, Through Lines of Steel. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; + or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; + or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; + or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne + + * * * * * + +The Boy Scouts Series + +By HERBERT CARTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; + or, Caught Between the Hostile Armies. + +In this volume we follow the thrilling adventures of the boys in the +midst of the exciting struggle abroad. + +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; + or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp. + +Startling experiences awaited the comrades when they visited the +Southland. But their knowledge of woodcraft enabled them to overcome all +difficulties. + +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. + +A story of Burgoyne’s defeat in 1777. + +THE BOY SCOUTS’ FIRST CAMP FIRE; + or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol. + +This book brims over with woods lore and the thrilling adventure that +befell the Boy Scouts during their vacation in the wilderness. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; + or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners. + +This story tells of the strange and mysterious adventures that happened +to the Patrol in their trip among the moonshiners of North Carolina. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; + or, Scouting through the Big Game Country. + +The story recites the adventures of the members of the Silver Fox Patrol +with wild animals of the forest trails and the desperate men who had +sought a refuge in this lonely country. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol. + +Thad and his chums have a wonderful experience when they are employed by +the State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens. + +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; + or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot. + +A serious calamity threatens the Silver Fox Patrol. How apparent +disaster is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends, forms the +main theme of the story. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; + or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine. + +The boys’ tour takes them into the wildest region of the great Rocky +Mountains and here they meet with many strange adventures. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; + or, Marooned Among the Game Fish Poachers. + +Thad Brewster and his comrades find themselves in the predicament that +confronted old Robinson Crusoe; only it is on the Great Lakes that they +are wrecked instead of the salty sea. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; + or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood. + +The boys of the Silver Fox Patrol, after successfully braving a terrific +flood, become entangled in a mystery that carries them through many +exciting adventures. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Chums Series + +By WILMER M. ELY + +Price. 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid + +In this series of remarkable stories are described the adventures of two +boys in the great swamps of interior Florida, among the cays off the +Florida coast, and through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live +boys, and their experiences are worth following. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN MYSTERY LAND; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard among the Mexicans. + +THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER; + or, The Boy Partners of the Schooner “Orphan.” + +THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND; + or, Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama Islands. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST; + or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades. + +THE BOY CHUMS’ PERILOUS CRUISE; + or, Searching for Wreckage en the Florida Coast. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO; + or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers. + +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS; + or, The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FLORIDA JUNGLE; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard with the Seminole Indians. + + * * * * * + +The Broncho Rider Boys Series + +By FRANK FOWLER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of thrilling stories for boys, breathing the adventurous spirit +that lives in the wide plains and lofty mountain canoes of the great +West. These tales will delight every lad who loves to read of pleasing +adventure in the open; yet at the same time the most careful parent need +not hesitate to place them in the hands of the boy. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH FUNSTON AT VERA CRUZ; + or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes. + +When trouble breaks out between this country and Mexico, the boys are +eager to join the American troops under General Funston. Their attempts +to reach Vera Cruz are fraught with danger, but after many difficulties, +they manage to reach the trouble zone, where their real adventures +begin. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS AT KEYSTONE RANCH; + or, Three Chums of the Saddle and Lariat. + +In this story the reader makes the acquaintance of three devoted chums. +The book begins in rapid action, and there is “something doing” up to +the very time you lay it down. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS DOWN IN ARIZONA; + or, A Struggle for the Great Copper Lode. + +The Broncho Rider Boys find themselves impelled to make a brave fight +against heavy odds, in order to retain possession of a valuable mine +that is claimed by some of their relatives. They meet with numerous +strange and thrilling perils and every wideawake boy will be pleased to +learn how the boys finally managed to outwit their enemies. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ALONG THE BORDER; + or, The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man. + +Once more the tried and true comrades of camp and trail are in the +saddle. In the strangest possible way they are drawn into a series of +exciting happenings among the Zuni Indians. Certainly no lad will lay +this book down, save with regret. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ON THE WYOMING TRAIL; + or, A Mystery of the Prairie Stampede. + +The three prairie pards finally find a chance to visit the Wyoming ranch +belonging to Adrian, but managed for him by an unscrupulous relative. Of +course, they become entangled in a maze of adventurous doings while in +the Northern cattle country. 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Frey" name="DC.Creator"/> + <meta content="en" name="DC.Language"/> + <meta content="1916" name="DC.Created"/> + <meta name="generator" content="ppgen (1.15) generated Jul 24, 2011 04:07 AM" /> + <title>The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House</title> + <style type="text/css"> + body {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;} + p {margin-top:1ex; margin-bottom:0; text-align:justify;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size:x-small; text-align:right; text-indent:0; + position:absolute; right:2%; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none; + background-color:inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color:silver;} + h1 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + h2 {text-align:left; font-weight:normal;} + h1 {font-size:1.4em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h2 {font-size:1.2em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver; clear:both;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .center {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center;} + .larger {font-size:larger;} + .smaller {font-size:smaller;} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + div.center>:first-child {margin: .5em auto 0 auto;text-align:center;} + div.center p {margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;} + hr.tb {border:none; border-bottom: 1px solid black; margin: 20px auto; width:35%} + hr.hr {border:none; border-bottom: 1px solid silver; margin: 20px auto; width:100%} + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by Hildegard G. Frey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i001' id='i001'></a> +<img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt="GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND STARTED AFTER THE BULL AT FULL SPEED." title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND<br/>STARTED AFTER THE BULL AT FULL SPEED.</span> +</div> +<hr class='hr' /> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>The Camp Fire Girls</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>At Onoway House</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>OR</p> +<p> </p> +<p>The Magic Garden</p> +<p> </p> +<p>By HILDEGARD G. FREY</p> +<p> </p> +<p>AUTHOR OF</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>“The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods,” “The Camp</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Fire Girls at School,” “The Camp Fire</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>Girls Go Motoring.”</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>A. L. BURT COMPANY</p> +<p> </p> +<p>Publishers—New York</p> +</div> +<hr class='hr' /> +<div class='center'> +<p>Copyright, 1916</p> +<p><span class='sc'>By A. L. Burt Company</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE</span></p> +</div> +<hr class='hr' /> +<h1>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE</h1> +<h2>CHAPTER I.—ONOWAY HOUSE.</h2> +<p> +“What a lovely quiet summer we’re going to +have, we two,” exclaimed Migwan to Hinpoha, as +they stood looking out of the window of their room +into the garden, filled with rows of young growing +things and bordered by a shallow stony river. +Migwan, we remember, had come to spend the summer +on the little farm owned by the Bartletts and +earn enough money to go to college by selling vegetables. +The house in the city had been rented for +three months, and her mother, Mrs. Gardiner, and +her brother Tom and sister Betty had come to the +country with her. Hinpoha was temporarily without +a home, her aunt being away on her wedding +trip with the Doctor, and she was to stay all summer +with Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, it will be lovely,” agreed Hinpoha. “I’ve +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span> +never lived in such a quiet place before. And I’ve +never had you to myself for so long.” Migwan replied +with a hug, in schoolgirl rapture. She felt a +little closer to Hinpoha than she did to the other +Winnebagos. As they stood there looking out of +the window together they heard the honk of an automobile +horn and the sound of a car driving into the +yard, and ran out to see who the guests were. +</p> +<p> +“Gladys Evans!” exclaimed Migwan, spying the +new comers. “And Nyoda! Welcome to our +city!” +</p> +<p> +“Please mum,” said Gladys, making a long face, +“could ye take in a poor lone orphan what’s got no +home to her back?” +</p> +<p> +“What’s up?” asked Migwan, laughing at +Gladys’s tone. +</p> +<p> +“Mother and father started for Seattle to-day,” +replied Gladys, “and from there they are going to +Alaska, where they will spend the summer. I hinted +that I was a good traveling companion, but they +decided that three was a crowd on this trip, and as +I had done so well for myself last summer they informed +me that it was their intention to put me out +to seek my own fortune once more. So, hearing +that there were pleasant country places along this +road, one in particular, I am looking for a place to +board for the summer.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, of all things!” exclaimed Migwan. “To +think that we are to have you with us this vacation +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2'></a>2</span> +after all, after thinking that you were going to disport +yourself in California! The guest chamber +stands ready; ‘will you walk into my parlor?’ said +the Spider to the Fly.” +</p> +<p> +At this point “Nyoda,” Guardian of the Winnebago +Camp Fire group, formally known as Miss +Kent, also advanced with a long face, holding her +handkerchief to her eyes. “Could you take in a +poor shipwrecked sailor,” she sobbed, “one whose +ship went right down under her feet and left her +nothing to stand on at all?” +</p> +<p> +“It might even be arranged,” replied Migwan. +“What is your tale of woe, my ancient mariner?” +</p> +<p> +“My cherished landlady’s gone to the Exposition,” +said Nyoda, with a fresh burst of grief, “and +I can’t live with her and be her boarder this summer! +It’s a cruel world! And me so young and +tender!” +</p> +<p> +“Two flies in the guest chamber,” said Migwan, +hospitably. “Thomas, my good man, carry the +boarders’ bags up to their room, for I see they have +brought them right with them.” +</p> +<p> +“Save the trouble of going back after them,” said +Nyoda and Gladys, in chorus. “We knew you +couldn’t refuse to take us in.” +</p> +<p> +“If ever a maiden had a look on her face which +said, ‘Come, come to this bosom, my own stricken +dear,’” continued Nyoda, “it’s yon poet who is +going to seed.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span> +</p> +<p> +“Going to seed!” exclaimed Migwan, “and this +after I have just opened my hospitable doors to +you!” +</p> +<p> +“By going to seed, my innocent maid, I only +meant to express in a veiled and delicate way the +fact that you were turning into a farmer,” said +Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +In spite of the fact that Migwan and Hinpoha had +just expressed such great pleasure at the prospect +of being alone together for the summer, they rejoiced +in the arrival of Nyoda and Gladys as only +two Winnebagos could at the thought of having two +more of their own circle under the same roof with +them, and their hearts beat high with anticipation of +the coming larks. +</p> +<p> +Supper was a merry meal indeed that night, eaten +out on the screened-in back porch. “We are +seven!” exclaimed Nyoda, counting noses at the +table. “The mystic number as well as the poetic +one. ‘Seven Little Sisters;’ ‘The Seven Little +Kids;’ ‘the seventh son of a seventh son.’ All mysterious +things take place on the seventh of the +month, and something always happens when the +clock strikes seven.” As she paused to take breath +the old-fashioned clock in the kitchen slowly struck +seven. The last stroke was still vibrating when +there came a ring at the doorbell. “What did I tell +you?” said Nyoda. “Enter the villain.” +</p> +<p> +The villain proved to be Sahwah. She looked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span> +rather astonished to see Nyoda and Gladys at the +table with the family. “Oh, Migwan,” she said, +“could you possibly take me in for the summer? +Mother got a telegram to-day saying that Aunt +Mary, that’s her sister in Pennsylvania, had fallen +down-stairs and broken both her shoulder blades. +Mother packed up and went right away to take care +of her and the children. She hasn’t any idea how +long she’ll be gone. Father started for a long business +trip out west this week and Jim is camping +with the Boy Scouts. If you have room——” A +shout of laughter interrupted her tale. +</p> +<p> +“Always room for one more,” said Migwan. +“You’re the third weary pilgrim to arrive.” +</p> +<p> +Sahwah looked at Nyoda and Gladys in astonishment. +“You don’t mean that you’re here for the +summer, too?” When she heard that this was the +truth she twinkled with delight. “It’s going to be +almost as much fun as going camping together was +last year,” she said, burying her nose in the mug of +milk which Migwan hospitably set before her. +</p> +<p> +“What do you call this house by the side of the +road?” asked Nyoda after supper, when they were +all sitting on the porch. Mrs. Gardiner sat placidly +rocking herself, undisturbed by the unexpected addition +of three members to her family. This whole +summer venture was in Migwan’s hands, and she +washed hers of the whole affair. Tom sat on the +top step of the porch, unnaturally quiet, with the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span> +air of a boy lost among a whole crowd of girls. +Betty, fascinated by Nyoda, sat at her feet and +watched her as she talked. +</p> +<p> +“It has no name,” said Migwan, in answer to +Nyoda’s question. +</p> +<p> +“Then we must find one immediately,” said +Nyoda. “I refuse to sleep in a nameless place.” +</p> +<p> +“Did the place where you used to live have a +name?” asked Hinpoha, banteringly. +</p> +<p> +“It certainly did ‘have a name,’” replied Nyoda, +with a twinkle in her eye. Gladys caught her eye +and laughed. She was more in Nyoda’s confidence +than the rest of the girls. +</p> +<p> +“What was the name?” asked Betty. +</p> +<p> +“It was Peacock Plaza,” said Nyoda, “painted +on a gold sign over the door, where all who read +could run.” +</p> +<p> +“That wasn’t what you called it,” said Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“No, my beloved,” returned Nyoda, “from the +character and appearance of most of the inmates of +the Widder Higgins’ establishment, I have been +moved to refer to it as ‘The Rookery.’” +</p> +<p> +“Now,” said Gladys sternly, when the laughter +over this title had subsided, “tell the ladies the real +reason why you had to seek a new boarding place +so abruptly.” +</p> +<p> +“I told you before,” said Nyoda, “that my venturesome +landlady went to the Exposition and left +me out in the cold.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span> +</p> +<p> +“That’s not the real reason,” said Gladys, severely. +“If you don’t tell it immediately, I will!” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll tell it,” said Nyoda submissively, alarmed +at this threat. “You see, it was this way,” she began +in a pained, plaintive voice. “This Gladys woman +over here came up to take supper with me last +night—only she smelled the supper cooking in the +kitchen and turned up her nose, whereupon I was +moved with compassion to cook supper for her in +my chafing-dish unbeknownst to the landlady, who +has been known to frown on any attempts to compete +with her table d’hôte.” +</p> +<p> +“I never!” murmured Gladys. “She invited me +to a chafing-dish supper in the first place.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, as I was saying,” continued Nyoda, not +heeding this interruption, “to save her from starvation +I dragged out my chafing-dish and made shrimp +wiggle and creamed peas, and we had a dinner fit +for a king, if I do say it as shouldn’t. The crowning +glory of the feast was a big onion which Gladys’s +delicate appetite required as a stimulant. All went +merry as a marriage bell until it came to the disposal +of that onion after the feast was over, as there +was more than half of it left. We didn’t dare take +it down to the kitchen for fear the Widder would +pounce on us for cooking in our rooms, and even +my stout heart quailed at the thought of sleeping +ferninst that fragrant vegetable. Suddenly I had +an inspiration.” Here Nyoda paused dramatically. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span> +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” broke in Gladys, impatient at her pause, +“and she calmly chucked it out of the second story +window into the street!” +</p> +<p> +“All would still have been mild and melodious,” +continued Nyoda, in a solemn tone which enthralled +her hearers, “if it hadn’t been for the fact that the +fates had their fingers crossed at me last night. +How otherwise could it have happened that at the +exact moment when the onion descended the old +bachelor missionary should have been prancing up +the walk, coming to call on the Widder Higgins? +Who but fate could have brought it about that that +onion should bounce first on his hat, then on his +nose, and then on his manly bosom?” +</p> +<p> +“And he never waited to see what hit him!” put +in Gladys, for whom the recital was not going fast +enough. “He ran as if he thought somebody had +thrown a bomb at him.” +</p> +<p> +“And the Widder Higgins was standing behind +the lace curtain watching his approach with maidenly +reserve,” resumed Nyoda, “and so had a box seat +view of the tragedy, and the last act of the drama +was a moving one, I can assure you.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Nyoda,” cried Hinpoha and Sahwah and +Migwan, pointing their fingers at her, “a nice person +you are to be Guardian of the Winnebagos! +Fine example you are setting your youthful flock! +You need a guardian worse than any of us!” +</p> +<p> +“Do as you like with me,” said Nyoda, covering +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span> +her face with her hands in mock shame, whereupon +Hinpoha and Migwan and Gladys fell upon her neck +with one accord. +</p> +<p> +“But we haven’t named this house yet,” said +Nyoda, uncovering her face and smoothing out her +black hair. +</p> +<p> +“I thought of a name while you were telling +about the onion,” said Migwan. “It’s Onoway +House.” +</p> +<p> +“What does that mean?” asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a symbolic word, like Wohelo,” said Migwan. +“It’s made from the words, Only One Way. +You see there was only one way of getting that +money to go to college and that was by coming +here.” +</p> +<p> +“I think that is a very good name,” said Nyoda. +“It is clever as well as pretty. It sounds like the +song, ‘Onaway, awake beloved,’ from Hiawatha’s +Wedding Feast.” +</p> +<p> +“It sounds like the water going over the stones +in the river,” said romantic Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +And so Onoway House was named. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span>CHAPTER II.—NEIGHBORS.</h2> +<p> +Onoway House stood on the Centerville Road, +on a farm of about four acres. All of the land was +not worked, just the part that was laid out as a +garden and a small orchard of peach trees. The rest +was open meadow running down to the river. It +had originally been a much larger farm—Old +Deacon Waterhouse’s place—but after his death it +had been divided up and sold in sections. Onoway +House was the original home built by the deacon +when he bought the farm as a young man. It was +a very old place, large and rambling, and full of +queer corners and passageways, and a big echoing +cobwebby attic, crowded with old furniture and +trunks. The house had been sold with all its furnishings +at the Deacon’s death, and the old things +were still in the rooms when the Bartletts bought it +twenty-five years later. This made it unnecessary +for the Gardiners, when they came, to bring any +of their own furniture. The Bartletts had never +lived on the place, hiring a caretaker to work the +garden, and it was the sudden departure of this +man that had given Migwan her chance. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span> +</p> +<p> +On either side of Onoway House was a farm of +much larger proportions. To the right there stood +a big, homelike looking farmhouse painted white, +with porches and vines and a lawn in front running +down to the road; on the left was a smaller house, +painted dark red, with a vegetable bed in front. The +garden at Onoway House had been given a good +start and the strawberries and asparagus and sundry +other vegetables were ready to market when Migwan +took possession. The Winnebagos looked on the +gardening as a grand lark and pitched in with a will +to help Migwan make her fortune from the ground. +</p> +<p> +“Did you ever see anything half so delicate as +this little new pea-vine?” asked Migwan, puttering +happily over one of the long beds. +</p> +<p> +“Or anything half so indelicate as this plantain +bush?” asked Nyoda, busily grubbing weeds. +“‘Scarce reared above the parent earth thy tender +form,’” she quoted, “‘and yet with a root three +times as long as the hair of Claire de Lorme!’” +</p> +<p> +“Burns would relish hearing that line of his applied +to weeds,” said Migwan, laughing. “I wonder +what he would have written if he had turned up +a plantain weed with his plough instead of a mountain +daisy.” +</p> +<p> +“He wouldn’t have turned up a plantain weed,” +said Nyoda, with a vicious thrust of the long knife +with which she was weeding, “it would have turned +him up.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span> +</p> +<p> +Migwan rose from the ground slowly and painfully. +“Oh dear,” she sighed, “I wonder if Burns +ever got as stiff in the joints from close contact with +Nature as I am?” +</p> +<p> +“He certainly must have,” observed Nyoda, +straining her muscles to uproot the weedy homesteader, +“haven’t you ever heard the slogan, +‘Omega Oil for Burns?’” +</p> +<p> +Migwan laughed as she straightened up and held +her aching back. “Earth gets its price for what +earth gives us,” she quoted, with a mixture of ruefulness +and humor. +</p> +<p> +“Listen to the poetry floating around on the +breeze,” cried Sahwah, passing them as she ran the +wheel hoe up and down between the rows of plants. +</p> +<p> + “Come and trip it as you go<br /> + On the light fantastic <em>hoe</em>,”<br /> +</p> +<p> +she sang. “Oh, I say,” she called over her shoulder, +“do I have to hoe up the surface of the river +around the watercress, too?” +</p> +<p> +“You certainly do,” said Nyoda gravely, “and +while you’re at it just loosen up the air around that +air fern of Mrs. Gardiner’s.” Sahwah made a grimace +and trundled off with her wheel hoe. +</p> +<p> +“Are you looking for any field hands?” called +a cheery voice. The girls looked up to see a white-haired, +pleasant-faced old man of about seventy +years standing in the garden. “My name’s Landsdowne, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span> +Farmer Landsdowne,” he said by way of introduction, +with a friendly smile, which included all +the girls at once, “and I’ve come to have a look at +the new caretaker.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m the one,” said Migwan, stepping forward. +“My name is Gardiner, and I <em>am</em> a gardener just +now.” +</p> +<p> +“And are all these your sisters?” asked Farmer +Landsdowne, quizzically. Migwan laughed and introduced +the girls in turn. They all liked Farmer +Landsdowne immediately. He walked up and down +among the rows of vegetables, and gave Migwan +quantities of advice about soil cultivation, insects +and diseases and various other things pertaining to +gardening, for which she thanked him heartily. +“Come over and see us,” he said hospitably, as he +took his departure, “I live there,” and he pointed +to the friendly looking white house on the right of +Onoway House. +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t he a dear?” said Gladys, when he was gone. +“I’m glad he’s our next door neighbor. What do +you suppose the people on the other side are like?” +</p> +<p> +“Red isn’t nearly so pretty as white,” said Hinpoha, +squinting at the bare looking house to the left +of them. As they looked a man came along the +edge of the land on which the red house stood. +When he reached the fence which separated the two +farms he stood still for a few minutes looking hard +at Onoway House; then, seeing that the girls were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span> +looking in his direction he turned and went back +to the house. +</p> +<p> +The strawberries were ready to pick the first week +that the girls were at Onoway House, and Migwan +had an idea about marketing them. She gave each +picker two baskets with instructions to put only the +largest and finest in one and the medium-sized and +small ones in the other. +</p> +<p> +“What are you going to take them to town in?” +asked Gladys. Although there was a large barn on +the place there were no horses, for Mr. Mitchell, the +last caretaker, had owned his own horse and taken +it away with him when he left. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have to hire one from some of the neighbors,” +said Migwan. Mr. Landsdowne, when interviewed, +would have been extremely glad to let +them take a horse and wagon, but this was a busy +time and one of his teams was sick so none could +be spared. Feeling considerably more shy than she +had when she went to Mr. Landsdowne, Migwan +went over to the red house. As she went around the +path to the back door she heard sounds of loud talking +in a man’s voice, which ceased as she came up +on the porch. A red faced man, (he almost matched +the house, thought Migwan) came to the door. “I +am your new neighbor, Elsie Gardiner,” said Migwan, +“and I wonder if I could hire a horse and +wagon from you three times a week to take my +vegetables to town.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span> +</p> +<p> +“So you’ve come to live on the place, have you?” +said the man. “How long are you going to stay?” +</p> +<p> +“All summer,” replied Migwan. She was not +drawn to this man as she was to Farmer Landsdowne. +There was something about him that +seemed to repel her, although she could not have +told what it was. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I can let you have a horse and wagon,” he +said, after a moment. “When do you want it?” +</p> +<p> +“In about an hour,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll send it over,” said the master of the red +house. “My name’s Smalley, Abner Smalley,” he +said, as she took her leave. +</p> +<p> +In an hour the horse was at the door. It was +brought over by a pleasant-faced, light-haired lad +of about seventeen, who introduced himself as Calvin +Smalley. +</p> +<p> +“You don’t look a bit like your father,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“That’s not my father,” said Calvin, “that’s my +uncle. My father’s dead. He was Uncle Abner’s +brother. I live with Uncle Abner and Aunt Maggie. +But the farm’s really mine,” he said proudly, as +though he did not want anyone to think he was living +on charity even though he was an orphan, “for +Grandfather willed it to Father. Uncle Abner’s +holding it in trust for me until I’m of age.” +</p> +<p> +There was something so frank and manly about +him that the girls liked him at once. But if Calvin +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span> +Smalley made such a good impression, the horse +which he had brought over for the girls to drive to +town was less fortunate. He was a hoary, moth-eaten +looking creature that might easily have been +the first white horse born west of the Mississippi. +In looking at him you would be left with a lingering +doubt in your mind as to whether he had originally +been white or had turned white with age. He +tottered so that each step threatened to be his last +The wagon to which he was fastened with a patched +and rotten harness had probably been on the scene +some years before he was born. Migwan was much +taken aback when she inspected him. “I wouldn’t +dare attempt to drive that beast all the way to town,” +she thought to herself. “He’d never get beyond the +first bend in the road. And if he did make it he’d +go so slowly that my berries would be out of season +before I got to my customers.” +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t he rather—old?” she said, aloud. “I’m +afraid he isn’t able to work much.” +</p> +<p> +Calvin blushed fiery red and his eyes sought the +ground in distress. “It’s a shame,” he said, fiercely, +“to try to hire out such a horse. I don’t blame you +for not wanting it.” Without another word he +climbed into the wagon and urged the feeble horse +back to his home pasture. +</p> +<p> +“Didn’t you feel sorry for that poor boy?” said +Migwan. “He felt ashamed clear down to his shoes +at having to bring that old wreck of a horse over. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span> +I should have died if I had been in his place. He’s +such a nice looking boy, too. I suppose his uncle is +one of those stingy, grasping farmers who work +everybody to death on the place. Anybody who +plants vegetables in his front yard must be stingy. +That horse probably couldn’t work on the farm any +more so he thought he would make some money out +of it by hiring it to us. He must have thought girls +didn’t know a horse when they saw one. I didn’t +exactly fall in love with Mr. Smalley when I went +over. He wasn’t a bit friendly like Mr. Landsdowne.” +</p> +<p> +“I foresee where we will have little to do with +our neighbors in the Red House,” said Sahwah. +“I’m sorry, because I like to have lots of people to +visit, and like to have them running in at odd times, +the way Mr. Landsdowne appeared.” +</p> +<p> +“Let’s not have any hard feelings against Calvin +Smalley, though,” said Migwan. “He isn’t to +blame for his uncle’s stinginess. I dare say he isn’t +very happy over there. Let’s have him over as often +as we can.” +</p> +<p> +“Spoken like a true Winnebago,” said Nyoda, approvingly. +</p> +<p> +“But in the meantime,” said Migwan, in perplexity, +“what are we going to do for a horse and +wagon to take our things to town?” +</p> +<p> +“Why not use our car?” said Gladys. The machine +she had come in was still in the barn at Onoway House. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span> +“It’s a good thing I learned to run +the big one—father said I might use it all summer +if I would be a good girl and stay at home when +they went out west.” +</p> +<p> +“Could we get everything in?” asked Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“I think so,” said Gladys, “if we arrange them +carefully.” The berries and asparagus were loaded +into the back of the machine and Gladys and Migwan +drove off. +</p> +<p> +“What shall we do now, Nyoda?” asked Hinpoha, +after the two girls were gone. +</p> +<p> +“I know what I’m going to do,” said Nyoda, +moving in the direction of her bedroom. “Now,” +she said, as she threw herself on the bed with a great +yawn and stretch, “if anyone asks you what kind +of a farmer I am you may tell them that I’m a +retired one!” Nyoda had been up since four o’clock +that morning, and was unused to such early rising. +Hinpoha drew down the shade to shut out the strong +sunlight and tiptoed from the room. +</p> +<p> +Gladys and Migwan stopped first at a large grocery +store to inquire the prices of strawberries and +asparagus. The proprietor offered to buy the whole +load, but they would not sell, as they could get more +for them by peddling them at retail prices. Migwan +examined the berries in the store, and mentally +fixed her middle grade berries at the same price +with them, and her finest grade ones at three cents +higher. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span> +</p> +<p> +“I’ve an idea,” said Gladys, “that some of +mother’s friends would take the berries at our own +price.” Thus it was that Mrs. Davis, whose speculations +about the financial standing of the Evans +family had resulted in Gladys’s mother giving her +such an elaborate party the winter before, was surprised +by a call from Gladys at ten o’clock in the +morning. +</p> +<p> +“Ah, good morning, my dear,” she said effusively, +seating Gladys in the parlor, “you have come +to spend the day, I hope? Caroline is not up yet—she +was out late last night—but I shall make her get +up right away.” +</p> +<p> +“Please don’t call Caroline,” said Gladys, “it’s +you I came to see.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes,” purred Mrs. Davis, “a message from +your mother, I see.” +</p> +<p> +Gladys came to the point directly. “Have you +canned your strawberries yet, Mrs. Davis?” +</p> +<p> +“No,” replied Mrs. Davis, a little puzzled by the +question. +</p> +<p> +“Would you like to buy some extra fine ones?” +continued Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“Why, yes, I suppose so,” said Mrs. Davis, “who +has any for sale?” +</p> +<p> +“I have,” said Gladys, “right out here in the +machine.” Mrs. Davis bought the whole eight +quarts of large berries, paying fifteen cents a quart +straight, and ordered another eight quarts as soon +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span> +as they should be ripe. She also took two bunches +of asparagus. +</p> +<p> +“Whatever are you doing, Gladys Evans?” she +asked, curiously. “Peddling berries?” +</p> +<p> +Gladys laughed at her evident mystification, and +tingled with a desire to keep her guessing. “We +decided that I had better work this summer,” she +said, gravely, “so I am peddling berries for a friend +of ours who is a farmer. We will have to go on a +farm ourselves, father said, if things to eat get much +dearer, so I am getting the practice. Wouldn’t you +like to be a regular customer, and have me bring +you fresh vegetables and fruit three times a week +all through the summer?” +</p> +<p> +“Why, yes,” stammered Mrs. Davis in a daze, +“of course, certainly.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, then,” said Gladys, “I’ll put you +down.” She drove off in high glee, and Mrs. Davis +went into the house with a knowing smile on her +face. So the Evanses were losing money after all, +and Gladys was working this summer instead of +traveling. Poor Gladys! She flew up-stairs to communicate +the news to her energetic daughter Caroline +who was just beginning to think about getting +up. “I do feel so sorry for poor Gladys,” she said. +“You must be very kind to her whenever you meet +her.” +</p> +<p> +The rest of the berries and vegetables were disposed +of to other friends of Gladys’s and Migwan’s, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span> +all for topnotch prices, and there were at least half +a dozen names in the little note book when they +started homeward, of people who wanted to be supplied +regularly. To some of her friends Gladys told +frankly whose fruit she was selling, and enlisted +their sympathies in the enterprise, while to others, +like the Davises and the Joneses, who were thorough +snobs, she could not resist pretending that she was +actually working for a farmer to earn money. She +could not remember when she had enjoyed anything +so much as the expressions on the various faces when +she made her little speech at the door and offered +her basket of fruit for inspection. “Wait until I +tell dad about it,” she chuckled to Migwan. +</p> +<p> +When they returned to Onoway House they found +that during their absence the girls, with the help of +Mr. Landsdowne, had constructed a raft about seven +feet square, which they were setting afloat on the +river. “Oh, what fun!” cried Migwan when she +saw it. “We needed another rapid vessel to go boating +in. There’s only one rowboat and we could +never all go out at once. What shall we call it?” +</p> +<p> +“Let’s name it the Tortoise,” said Hinpoha, +“and call the rowboat the Hare.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no,” said Sahwah, “let’s call it the Crab, +because it travels sort of sidewise.” Hinpoha held +out for her name and Sahwah would not yield hers. +</p> +<p> +“Contest of arms!” cried Nyoda. “Decide the +question by a test of physical prowess. Whichever +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span> +one of you can pole the raft straight across the river +and back again without mishap in the shortest time +may have the privilege of naming it. Is that fair?” +</p> +<p> +“It is!” cried all the girls. Hinpoha and Sahwah, +dressed in their bathing-suits, prepared for the +contest. Hinpoha had the first trial because she had +spoken first. Getting onto the raft and seizing the +stout pole, she pushed off from the shore. It +was difficult to keep the unwieldy craft going toward +the opposite bank, because it had a strong +inclination to be carried down-stream with the +current. Halfway across she grounded on a rock +and stood marooned. Sahwah watched the moments +tick off on Nyoda’s watch with ill-concealed +delight while Hinpoha pushed and strained on the +pole to set the raft free. Finally she leaned all her +weight, which was no small item, on the pole and +shoved with her feet against the raft. It freed itself +and glided away under her feet, leaving her clinging +to the pole in the middle of the river, while her +solid footing of a few moments ago swung into the +current and floated off beyond her reach. She +looked so comical clinging to the pole, which was +fast losing its upright position under her weight, +that the girls were unable to help her for laughter, +and a minute later she plunged into the river with a +mighty splash and swam disgustedly to shore. +</p> +<p> +“Our new boat will not be called the TORTOISE, +it seems,” said Nyoda. “Cheer up, Hinpoha, you have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span> +made yourself more immortal by the +picture you presented hanging over the water than +you would have by naming the raft. As Hinpoha, +the Polehanger, you will have your portrait in the +Winnebago Hall of Fame. Now then, Sahwah, +show her how it should be done.” +</p> +<p> +Sahwah, ever more skilful in watercraft than Hinpoha, +poled the raft neatly across the stream to the +opposite shore, paused a moment to see that the feat +was properly registered by the judges, and then +started back. Unlike Hinpoha, who forged blindly +ahead, she felt carefully with her pole to locate the +points of the rocks and then avoided them. “Here +I come,” she hailed, when she was nearly back to the +starting point, “on my new raft, the CRAB.” +Striking a heroic attitude with arms crossed and one +foot out ahead of the other she stepped to the edge +of the raft, when the floating floor tipped under her +weight and she lost her balance and fell head first +into the water. The raft, released from her guiding +hand, went off with the current as it had done before. +The look of stupefaction on her face when +she came up out of the water was even funnier than +the sight of Hinpoha marooned on the pole. +</p> +<p> +“The raft will not be named the CRAB, either, it +seems,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t care what it’s called,” said Sahwah, her +temper up, “I’m going to pole that raft across the +river.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span> +</p> +<p> +“So’m I,” said Hinpoha, her eye gleaming with +resolution. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s do it together,” said Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +Thanks to Sahwah’s skill with the pole and Hinpoha’s +judicious balancing of the raft at the right +places, they made the trip over and back without +mishap. +</p> +<p> +“Two heads are better than one,” said Sahwah, +as they landed, “what neither of us could do alone +we can do in combination.” +</p> +<p> +“Then why not combine the names?” said +Nyoda. “You have each won equal rights in the +contest.” +</p> +<p> +“Good idea,” said Sahwah. “We couldn’t find a +better one than the Tortoise-Crab.” So the name +was painted across the floor of the raft, this being +the only space big enough. +</p> +<p> +Delighted with their new sport, the girls spent the +whole evening on the river, all five Winnebagos +and Betty and Tom on the raft at once, floating +down-stream with the current and being towed up +again by the rowboat. It was bright moonlight, and +the air was full of romance. At one place along the +riverbank there stood a high rock, grey on the moonlit +side and black on the other. “It reminds me of +the Lorelei Rock,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s play Lorelei,” said Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“What do you mean?” asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Why,” answered Sahwah, “let Hinpoha climb +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span> +up on the rock and comb her hair and sing, and we +come along on the raft and listen to her song and +run into the rock and upset. We want to go swimming +before we go to bed anyhow.” +</p> +<p> +“I can’t sing,” objected Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“That doesn’t make any difference,” said Sahwah, +“sing anyway.” +</p> +<p> +So Hinpoha mounted the moonlit rock and +shook her long, red hair down over her shoulders, +combing it out with her sidecomb and singing +“Fairy Moonlight,” while the raft floated lazily +down-stream toward the base of the cliff, its passengers +sitting in attitudes of enraptured listening, +and pointing ecstatically to the figure silhouetted +against the moon. Sahwah adroitly steered the raft +toward the rock and it struck with a great jar. It +disobligingly kept its balance, however, and refused +to upset. Sahwah deliberately rolled off the edge, +tipping it as she did so, and the rest went off on all +sides, giggling and splashing in the water. Hinpoha +on the rock above wrung her hands in mock +horror at the effect of her song. That instant a figure +came running at top speed along the river bank. +“I’ll save you, girls,” he shouted, jumping into the +water with all his clothes on. Catching hold of Migwan, +who was hanging on to the raft, he pulled her +out of the water and set her on the shore. It was +Calvin Smalley, their neighbor from the Red House. +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span> +him, “I thank you ever so much, but we’re not really +drowning. We upset the raft on purpose.” +</p> +<p> +“Upset it on purpose!” said Calvin, in astonishment. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” answered Migwan, “we were playing +Lorelei, you know.” +</p> +<p> +Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the +victims of the upset were all dressed in bathing-suits, +and that they seemed to be very much at home +in the water. “It looked like a dreadful smashup,” +he said, “and I forgot that the river isn’t very deep +here. Do you generally play such quiet games?” +</p> +<p> +“Sometimes we play much more quiet ones,” said +Sahwah meaningly. +</p> +<p> +“It was too bad to frighten you so,” said Nyoda. +“We’ll have to warn spectators the next time we do +anything. We’ll have to have a flag that says ‘Stunt +coming; look out for the splash!’ and whoever runs +may read.” At this moment Hinpoha jumped from +the rock, out into the middle of the stream, where it +was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and +came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite +startled. +</p> +<p> +“Say,” he said, looking around at the group of +girls who were doing various astonishing things, +“do you belong to the circus?” +</p> +<p> +The girls laughed at this inquiry. “Oh, no,” said +Migwan, “we are only Camp Fire Girls.” +</p> +<p> +“Camp Fire Girls?” said Calvin. “I’ve heard +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span> +of them, but I never knew any. Is that why you call +each other by such funny names?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” answered Migwan, and she told him their +names and their meanings. +</p> +<p> +“It must be great fun to be a Camp Fire Girl,” +said Calvin thoughtfully. +</p> +<p> +“Come for a ride on the raft with us,” said Migwan, +“we are going back now. We aren’t going to +upset again,” she added reassuringly, “and if we +did you couldn’t get any wetter.” Calvin smiled at +the pleasantry, but said he must be going in. He +was on his way home when he saw the raft upset. +The Lorelei Rock was just on the other side of the +Smalley farm. He bade them a friendly good-night, +promising to come over to Onoway House soon, and +took his way home across the fields. +</p> +<p> +“What a nice boy he is,” said Migwan. “He +wasn’t a bit cross when he found that the joke was +on him, as some would have been.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan woke up in the night and could not go +to sleep again immediately. As she lay smiling to +herself about the fun they had had with the raft +that evening, she heard a sound as of something +dropped on the attic floor above her room, followed +by a faint creaking as of someone walking over bare +boards. She clutched Hinpoha’s arm and woke her +up. “There’s someone in the attic,” she whispered. +Hinpoha yawned. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t hear anything,” she said. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span> +</p> +<p> +“There it is again,” said Migwan, “listen.” +Again there came a faint creak, accompanied by a +far-away rustle as of crinkling paper. +</p> +<p> +“It’s mice,” said Hinpoha, “or maybe rats. They +get between the walls and make noises that way.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan breathed a sigh of relief and composed +herself to slumber again. “I suppose these dreadfully +old houses are just overrun with things of that +kind,” she said. “But for a moment it did give me +a scare.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span>CHAPTER III.—OPHELIA.</h2> +<p> +“They’ve come! They’ve come!” shrieked Migwan, +running into the dining-room where the rest of +the family were peacefully finishing their breakfast. +</p> +<p> +“Who’ve come?” said Nyoda, excitedly, “the +Mexicans?” +</p> +<p> +“The bean weevils,” said Migwan, tragically. +“Mr. Landsdowne said to watch out for them, although +they were hardly ever found up north, but +they’re here. He just found a bush with them on.” +</p> +<p> +“To arms!” cried Sahwah, springing up. “The +Flying Column to the rescue! +</p> +<p> + “Forward the Bug Brigade,<br /> + Is there a leaf unsprayed?”——<br /> +</p> +<p> +Here she tripped over the carpet and her Amazonian +shout came to an abrupt end. +</p> +<p> +“Where are the weevils?” she asked, when they +had all gathered around the bean patch. +</p> +<p> +“On here,” said Migwan, indicating a hill of +beans. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” said Sahwah, in a disappointed tone. +</p> +<p> +“Where did you think they were?” asked Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“From the noise you were making,” said Sahwah, +“I expected to find them drawn up in battle +lines, waiting to charge the garden with fixed bayonets.” +</p> +<p> +“They’ll do just as much damage as if they had +bayonets,” remarked Farmer Landsdowne. +</p> +<p> +“Do be cautious in approaching such deadly +foes,” said Sahwah in a tone of mock anxiety, as +Migwan came along with the sprayer, “take careful +aim, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their +eyes.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll spray you in a minute if you don’t keep still,” +said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“What must it feel like to be a weevil,” said +Gladys, musingly, “and be hunted down remorselessly +wherever you went?” +</p> +<p> +“Gladys has gone over to the side of the enemy,” +said Sahwah, teasingly. “There is the subject for +your next book, Migwan, ‘Won by a Weevil’, by +the author of ‘Enthralled by a Thrip’! It must +have been weevils Tennyson meant when he wrote +‘The Lotus Eaters.’” +</p> +<p> +“Battle over?” asked Hinpoha, as Migwan laid +down the sprayer. “Then let’s celebrate the victory. +Cheer the bean crop.” To the tune of “We +will, We will Cheer,” they sang, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span> +</p> +<p> + “Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil,<br /> + Weevil cheer our bean crop,<br /> + Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil,<br /> + Weevil cheer our bean crop,<br /> + Weevil cheer our bean crop,<br /> + Weevil cheer our bean crop,<br /> + Weevil cheer our bean crop, O!”<br /> +</p> +<p> +“Don’t crow too soon,” said Farmer Landsdowne, +picking up his sprayer preparatory to taking +his departure, “there may be twice as many on to-morrow.” +</p> +<p> +“I flatly refuse to worry about to-morrow,” said +Nyoda, “‘sufficient unto the day is the weevil +thereof!’” +</p> +<p> +Calvin Smalley, working in the vegetable patch +in front of the Red House, heard that cheer and +paused in his work to look over at the other garden. +He was wondering what was so funny about gardening. +“I wish,” he sighed, as he turned back to +his endless task, “that those girls were my sisters!” +</p> +<p> +Gladys went into town alone when the last of the +strawberries were ripe, for none of the other girls +could be spared that day. The squash bugs had descended +on the garden and all hands were required +on deck to save the squash and melon vines from being +eaten alive. On the way she passed Mr. Smalley, +driving the identical wreck of a horse he had tried +to hire out to the girls. He had a heavy load of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span> +vegetables, and the poor, broken down creature +would hardly move it from the spot. He started +nervously as the machine passed him on the narrow +road, and Mr. Smalley pulled him up sharply and +brought the whip down on his back with a heavy +cut. “Ain’t you used to automobiles yet, you stupid +brute?” he growled. +</p> +<p> +Gladys delivered the eight quarts of extra large +berries to Mrs. Davis first. “Wouldn’t you like to +stay in town and have lunch with us and go to the +theatre afterward?” Mrs. Davis said in such a patronizing +tone that Gladys quite started, and then +laughed inwardly. +</p> +<p> +“I’m sorry, but I haven’t sold all of my berries +yet,” she answered soberly, “and I have to hurry +back and help pick bugs.” +</p> +<p> +“Pick bugs?” exclaimed Mrs. Davis, in a horrified +tone. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Gladys, with a relish, “nice juicy, +striped bugs that crunch beautifully when you step +on them.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh,” said Mrs. Davis, putting her hands +over her ears. “Give my love to your poor, dear +mamma,” she said gushingly, when Gladys was departing. +“Tell her she has my fullest sympathy.” +As Gladys’s poor, dear mamma was, at that moment, +seated on the observation platform of a luxurious +railway coach, speeding through the mountains of +Washington while Mrs. Davis was obliged to stay +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span> +in town for the time being, she was not really in as +much need of Mrs. Davis’s sympathy as that lady +fondly imagined. +</p> +<p> +Gladys disposed of the remaining berries to other +amused or patronizing friends, and then decided to +look up a laundress she knew of and get her to come +out to Onoway House once in a while to do the +heavy washing. The street where the laundress +lived was narrow and crowded with children playing +in the middle of the road, and progress was +rather slow. One little girl in particular made +Gladys extremely nervous by running across the +street right in front of the machine and daring her +to run over her, shaking her fists at her and making +horrible grimaces. She got across the street +once in safety and then started back again. Just +then a small child sprang up from the ground right +under the very wheels of the machine and Gladys +turned sharply to one side. The fender struck the +saucy little girl who was daring her to run over her +and she rolled under the car, screaming. Gladys +jammed down the emergency brake with a jerk that +almost wrenched the machinery of the automobile +asunder. White as a sheet she jumped out and +picked the girl up. In an instant an angry crowd +of women and children had surrounded the machine. +“Darn yer!” cried the child shrilly, shaking +a dirty fist in Gladys’s face, while the other arm +hung limp. “I thought yer didn’t dast run into me.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span> +</p> +<p> +“Get into the car,” said Gladys, terrified, “and +I’ll take you home.” +</p> +<p> +“I dassent go home,” shrieked the child, “Old +Grady’ll lick the tar out of me if I go home without +sellin’ me papers.” +</p> +<p> +“Then let me take you to the hospital, or somewhere,” +said Gladys, anxious to get away from the +threatening crowd. +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked one voice after another, +as the tenements poured their human contents +into the street. +</p> +<p> +“Ophelia’s run over,” explained a powerful Irish +woman, with a shawl over her head, who kept her +hand on the handle of the car door. “Lady speedin’ +run her down like a dog.” An angry murmur rose +from the crowd. Gladys shook in her shoes and +wondered if she dared start the car with all those +children hanging on the front of it. She looked +around helplessly for someone who would help her +out of her difficulty. Just then a policeman turned +into the street, attracted by the crowd. +</p> +<p> +“Cheese it, de cop!” screamed a ragged gamin, +who stood on the step of the car, and the women +and children began to slink into the doorways. +Gladys waited until he came up, and then explained +the whole matter and asked where the nearest hospital +was. +</p> +<p> +“Can’t blame you for hitting that brat,” said the +policeman, “she’s the terror of drivers for two +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span> +blocks.” Ophelia stuck out her tongue at him. +Gladys drove her to the hospital where it was discovered +that the left arm was broken below the elbow. +Painful as the setting may have been there +was “never a whang out of her,” as the doctor remarked, +although she hung on tightly to Gladys’s +white sleeve with her dirty hand. Her waist was +taken off to find the extent of the damage, and +Gladys was frightened to see that the other arm was +fearfully bruised and scratched, and there was a ring +of purple and green blotches around her neck like +a collar. +</p> +<p> +“She must have been thrown down harder than +I thought,” said Gladys to the nurse. +</p> +<p> +“Thrown down nothin’,” answered Ophelia, +“Old Grady did that the other day when I threw +a stone through the winder.” And she held up the +mottled arm where all might see. +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” said Gladys, with a shudder, “cover it up.” +Putting Ophelia into the machine again she drove +back to the scene of the accident and entered the +squalid tenement in which the child said she lived. +</p> +<p> +“Won’t Old Grady beat me up though, when she +finds I’ve busted me wing,” said Ophelia, as they +mounted the rickety stairs. Hardly had she spoken +when the door at the head of the stairs flew open +and a large, red-faced, coarse-looking woman strode +out and shook her fist over the banisters. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll fix ye fer stayin’ out afther I tell ye ter +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span> +come in, ye little devil,” she shouted. “I’ll break +every bone in yer body. Gimme the money for the +papers first.” +</p> +<p> +“Go chase yerself,” said Ophelia, standing still on +the stairs with a spiteful gleam in her eye, “there +ain’t no money. I ain’t had time ter peddle this afternoon.” +</p> +<p> +“What yer mean, no money?” screamed the woman. +“Just wait till I get me hands on yer!” +</p> +<p> +Gladys shrank back against the wall in terror, then +collecting herself she thrust Ophelia behind her and +faced the angry woman. “Ophelia has had an accident,” +she explained. “I ran over her with my +machine and broke her arm.” The woman brushed +past her and grabbed Ophelia by the shoulder. +Overcome with fury at the thought that her household +drudge would be of no use to her for several +weeks, she boxed her ears again and again, calling +her every name she could think of. Finally she let +go of her with a push that sent Ophelia stumbling +down half a dozen stairs. +</p> +<p> +“Get out o’ my sight!” she shrieked. “Do yer +think I’m going ter house an’ feed a worthless brat +that ain’t doin’ nothin’ fer her keep? Get out an’ +live in the streets yer like ter play in so well!” With +a final exclamation she strode back into the room +and slammed the door after her. Ophelia picked +herself up from the step, shaking her one useful fist +at the closed door at the head of the stairs. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span> +</p> +<p> +Gladys was inexpressibly shocked at this heartless +treatment of an injured child. “Come—come home +with me,” she said faintly. Seated beside her in the +big car, Ophelia ran out her tongue and made faces +at the jeering children who watched her ride away. +</p> +<p> +“This is the life!” she exclaimed, as she settled +herself comfortably in the cushioned seat. People +in the streets turned to stare at the dirty little ragamuffin +riding beside the daintily gowned young girl, +shouting saucily at the passers-by, or making jeering +remarks in a voice audible above the noise of +traffic. +</p> +<p> +The girls were all out in front watching for her +as Gladys drove up. It was past supper time and +they were wondering what had become of her. +What a chorus of surprised exclamations arose when +Ophelia was set down in their midst! Gladys explained +the situation briefly and asked Migwan if +they could not keep her there awhile. Migwan consented +hospitably and went off to find a place for +her to sleep, while Gladys proceeded to wash the +accumulated layers of dirt from Ophelia’s face and +divest her of her spotted rags. She came to the table +in a kimono of Gladys’s, for there were no clothes +in the house that would fit her. She was nine years +old, she said, but small and thin for her age, with +arms and legs like pipe-stems which fairly made one +shiver to look at. She had a little, pinched, sharp +featured face, cunning with the knowledge of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span> +world gained from her life on the streets, big grey-green +eyes filled with dancing lights, and black hair +that tumbled around her face in tangled curls, which +Gladys was not able to smooth out in her hasty going +over before supper. +</p> +<p> +Not in the least shy in her new surroundings, nor +complaining of discomfort from the broken arm, +she sat at the table and kept up a cheerful stream +of talk, racy with slang and the idiom of the streets. +Hinpoha was instantly dubbed “Firetop.” “Is it +red inside of yer head?” she asked, after gazing +steadfastly at Hinpoha’s hair for several minutes. +To all questions about her father and mother she +shrugged her shoulders. “Ain’t never had any,” +she replied. “I was born in the Orphan Asylum. +Old Grady got me there.” Here a spasm of rage +distorted her face at the remembrance of Old +Grady’s ministrations, followed by a wicked chuckle +when she thought how that tender guardian’s plan +for turning her out homeless into the street had been +frustrated by this lucky stroke of fate. What her +last name was she did not know. “I guess I never +had one,” she said cheerfully. “I’m just Ophelia.” +Gladys was much distressed because she would not +drink milk. “No,” she said, shoving it away, +“that’s for the babies. Gimme coffee or nothin’.” +Disdaining the aid of fork or spoon, she conveyed +her food to her mouth with her fingers. “Say,” +she said, after staring fixedly at Nyoda in a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span> +disconcerting way she had, “are yer teeth +false?” +</p> +<p> +“Certainly not!” said Nyoda indignantly. +“What made you think so?” +</p> +<p> +“They’re so white and even,” said Ophelia. +“Nobody ever had such teeth of their own.” +</p> +<p> +“Did you bleach yer hair?” she asked next, turning +her attention to Gladys’s pale gold locks. Gladys +merely laughed. +</p> +<p> +Ophelia waxed more loquacious as she filled up on +the good things on the table. “Did yer husband +leave yer?” she inquired sociably of Mrs. Gardiner. +Gladys rose hastily and bore Ophelia away to her +room, where a cot had been set up for her. +</p> +<p> +“Three flies in the spider’s parlor,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“And one in the ointment, or my prophetic soul +has its signals crossed,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span>CHAPTER IV.—THE MEDICINE LODGE.</h2> +<p> +Nyoda’s prophetic soul proved to be a true +prophet, and there were trying times to follow the +establishment of Ophelia at Onoway House. That +very first night Nyoda woke with a strangling sensation +to find Ophelia sitting on her chest. “I want +ter sleep in the bed wid yer,” she said, in answer to +Nyoda’s startled inquiry. “I’m afraid ter sleep +alone.” She had been trying to creep in between +Nyoda and Gladys and lost her balance, which accounted +for her position when Nyoda woke up. +</p> +<p> +“But there’s nothing in the room to hurt you,” +Nyoda said, reassuringly. +</p> +<p> +“It’s them hop-toads,” she wailed, stopping her +ears against the pillow, “they give me th’ pip with +their everlastin’ screechin’. They sound right under +the bed.” Gladys woke up in time to hear her and +offered to take the cot herself and let Ophelia sleep +with Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +The next morning Gladys made a hurried trip to +town to buy Ophelia some clothes, while Nyoda +washed her hair, much to Ophelia’s disgust. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span> +curls were so matted that it was impossible to comb +them out and there was nothing left to do but cut +them short. When all the foreign coloring matter +had been removed and the hair had begun to dry +in the warm wind, Nyoda stopped beside her in bewildered +astonishment. On the top of her head, +just about in the center, there was a circular patch of +light hair about three inches in diameter. All the +rest was black. “Ophelia,” said Nyoda, looking her +straight in the eyes, “how did you bleach the top +of your hair?” +</p> +<p> +“It’s a fib,” said Ophelia, politely, “I never +bleached it.” +</p> +<p> +“Then somebody did,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Didn’t neither,” contradicted Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll see whether they did or not,” said Nyoda, +“when the hair grows out from the roots.” +</p> +<p> +Dressed in the pretty clothes Gladys bought for +her she was not at all a bad looking child, but her +language and her knowledge of evil absolutely appalled +the dwellers at Onoway House. “Did yer +old man beat yer up?” she asked sympathetically of +Mrs. Landsdowne, when that gentle lady came to +call. Mrs. Landsdowne had run into the barn door +the day before and had a bruise on her forehead. +</p> +<p> +Ophelia’s sins in the garden were too numerous to +chronicle. When set to weeding she pulled weeds +and plants impartially, working such havoc in a +short time that she was forbidden to touch a single +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span> +growing thing. Her ignorance of everything pertaining +to the country was only equalled by her curiosity. +</p> +<p> +“What would happen to the cow if you didn’t +milk her?” she demanded of Farmer Landsdowne, +as she watched him milking one day. “She’d bust, +I suppose,” she went on, answering her own question +while Farmer Landsdowne was scratching his +head for a reply. “Say, are yer whiskers fireproof?” +she asked, scrutinizing his white beard +with interest. “Because if they ain’t yer don’t dast +smoke that pipe. The Santa Claus in Lefkovitz’s +window told me so. Say, what do you do when +they get dirty?” +</p> +<p> +Leaving her alone in the barn for a few moments +he heard a mighty squawking and cackling and hastened +to investigate. He found the old setting hen +running distractedly around one of the empty horse +stalls, frantically trying to get out, while Ophelia +was holding the big rooster on the nest with her one +hand, in spite of the fact that he was flapping his +wings and pecking at her furiously. “He ought to +do some of the settin’,” she remarked, when taken to +task for her act, “he ain’t doin’ nothin’ fer a livin’.” +</p> +<p> +The squash bugs had descended once more, and +were making hay of the squash bed while the sun +shone, and the girls worked a whole, long weary afternoon +clearing the vines. As the bugs were picked +off they were put into tin cans to be destroyed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span> +Tired to death and heartily sick of handling the disagreeable +insects the girls quit the job at sundown, +having just about cleared the patch. They gathered +in Migwan’s big room before supper to make some +plans for the Winnebago Ceremonial Meeting which +was to be held at Onoway House on the Fourth of +July. Ophelia promptly followed them and demanded +admittance. “You can’t come in,” said +Migwan rather crossly, for there were secrets being +told which they did not want her to hear. +</p> +<p> +Ophelia wandered off in search of amusement. +Mr. Bob had fled at her approach and was hiding +under the porch, and Betty had been admitted to the +council of the Winnebagos, for Migwan and Nyoda +had decided at the beginning of the summer that +if there was to be any peace with her she would have +to be a party to all their doings, and as she was to +be put into a Camp Fire Group in the fall she was +given this opportunity of learning to qualify for the +various honors by watching the intimate workings +of the Winnebago group. Tom was over at the +Landsdowne’s and Mrs. Gardiner was getting supper +and invited Ophelia to stay out of the kitchen +when she came down to see if there was any fun +to be had there. Ophelia had been allowed to help +once or twice and had broken so many dishes with +her one-handed way of doing things that Mrs. Gardiner +lost all patience and refused to have her +around. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span> +</p> +<p> +Strolling out into the garden in her quest for +something to do she came upon the big tin pail containing +all the squash bugs, which Migwan intended +taking over to Farmer Landsdowne for disposal. A +mischievous impulse seized her, and taking off the +cover she emptied the bugs back into the bed, where +they crawled eagerly back to their interrupted feast +of tender leaves. When the prank was discovered +Migwan sank wearily down beside the patch she had +tried so hard to save from destruction. “Whatever +possessed you?” said Nyoda, seizing Ophelia with +the firm determination of boxing her ears. But +Ophelia shrank back with such evident expectation +of a blow that Nyoda loosened her hold. +</p> +<p> +“Well, ain’t yer goin’ ter punish me?” asked +Ophelia, still eyeing her warily for an unexpected +attack, with the attitude of an animal at bay. To +her surprise there were no blows forthcoming, but +she was ordered to pick off all the squash bugs again, +and before the job was done she had plenty of time +to regret her rash act. All that beautiful long summer +evening, when the girls were on the front porch +playing games and shouting with laughter, she sat +in the squash bed, undoing the mischief she had +done. When bed time came she was told to sleep +in the cot by herself, and Gladys and Nyoda took +no notice of her at all, whispering secrets to each +other in bed with never a word to her. The next +morning she was awakened at four o’clock and set +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span> +to work again, and so missed the merry breakfast +with the family. Gladys had promised to take her +to town in the machine that day, but, of course, this +pleasure was forfeited, as the beetles were not yet +all picked off. The family was all invited over to +the Landsdowne’s for supper that night, but by four +o’clock Ophelia realized with a pang of disappointment +that she would not even be through by five. +Accustomed as she was to brutal treatment, this was +the worst punishment she had ever experienced, but +she realized that she deserved it and was gamely +paying the price without a murmur. When Migwan +came out shortly after four and helped her so +that she would be done in time to go to Farmer +Landsdowne’s with the others her penitence was +complete. +</p> +<p> +Preparations for the big Fourth of July Council +meeting were going forward apace. It was to be a +house party, they decided, and the other three Winnebagos, +Nakwisi, Chapa and Medmangi, were to be +invited to spend the night. Sleeping quarters caused +some debate, when Sahwah had a brilliant idea. +“Let’s build a tepee,” she said, “and all sleep on +the ground inside of it with our feet toward the +center. Then we can hold the Council Fire in there +and dance a war dance around the fire and make +shadows on the sides to scare the natives.” No +sooner said than begun. The front lawn was chosen +as the site of the tepee, as that was the only spot +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span> +big enough. Dick, Tom and Mr. Landsdowne set +the poles in a circle to make the supporting framework, +and the girls made the covering of heavy sail +cloth, which fitted snugly over the poles and had +an opening in the center of the top, and another one +lower down for the entrance. When done it would +easily accommodate fifteen or sixteen persons. An +iron kettle was sunk into the ground in the center of +the tepee. This would hold sticks of wood soaked in +kerosene, which is the secret of a quickly lighted +council fire, and also the alcohol and salt mixture +which is an indispensable part of all ghost story +telling parties. The grass around the kettle was +pulled up, leaving a ring of bare earth, which would +prevent accident from the fire spreading. +</p> +<p> +The whole thing was completed two days before +the Fourth. A big sign, WINNEBAGO MEDICINE +LODGE, was hung over the entrance. Underneath +it a sign in smaller letters proclaimed that +at the Fourth Sundown of the Thunder Moon the +big medicine man Face-Toward-the-Mountain would +“make medicine” in the lodge for the benefit +of the Winnebago tribe and their paleface friends. +The “paleface friends” referred to were Mrs. Gardiner, +Betty and Tom and Ophelia, Mr. and Mrs. +Landsdowne and Calvin Smalley, who were invited +to see the show. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a shame Aunt Phœbe and the Doctor have +to miss it,” said Hinpoha. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span> +</p> +<p> +It was rumored that a real Indian princess would +be present at the medicine making, i.e., Sahwah in +her Indian dress that Mr. Evans had sent her from +Canada, and excitement ran high among the invited +guests as hint after hint trickled out as to the elaborateness +of the ceremonial, which was to eclipse +anything yet attempted in that line by the Winnebagos, +which was saying a great deal. Migwan had +been seen doing a great deal of surreptitious writing +of late and at bed time the Winnebagos had taken +to congregating in the big, back bedroom and locking +the doors, and soon there would issue forth +sounds of much talking and laughter, so that a really +experienced listener would almost suspect there was +a play in process of rehearsal. “Let’s reh—you +know,” said Migwan to Gladys, when the last +touches had been put on the tepee, suddenly cutting +her words short and making a hand sign to finish +her sentence. +</p> +<p> +“Do you mind if I don’t just now,” answered +Gladys, “I have such a bad headache I think I will +lie down for a while. It must have been the sun +glaring on the white canvas.” +</p> +<p> +“I have one too,” said Hinpoha, “it must have +been the sun. I’ll come later when Gladys does,” +she said to Migwan, with an aggravatingly mysterious +hand sign. +</p> +<p> +At supper time Ophelia refused to eat and moped +in a manner quite foreign to her. Her eyes were red +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span> +and it looked as though she had been crying. After +supper she still sat by herself in a corner of the +porch and made no effort to trap the girls into telling +their plans for the Fourth as she had been doing all +day. “Come and play Blind-Man’s-Buff on the +lawn,” called Migwan. Ophelia raised her head and +looked at her listlessly, but made no effort to join +in the merry game. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you feel well?” asked Nyoda, noting her +languid manner. “Child, what makes your eyes so +red?” she said, turning Ophelia’s face toward the +light. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know,” said Ophelia, wriggling out +of her grasp, and putting her head down on her +knee. +</p> +<p> +“Come, let me put you to bed,” said Nyoda. +“I’m afraid you’re going to be sick.” In the morning +Ophelia’s face was all broken out and Nyoda +groaned when she realized the truth. Ophelia had +the measles. All preparations for the Fourth of +July Ceremonial had to be called off, and the three +girls in town telephoned not to come out. The sight +of the tepee and all the plans it suggested called out +a wail of despair every time the girls went out in +the yard. On the morning of the Glorious Fourth +Gladys woke to find herself spotted like a leopard. +</p> +<p> +“That must be the reason why I had such a fearful +headache the other day,” she said, as she took +her place with the other sick one, half amused and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span> +wholly disgusted at herself for having fallen a victim. +</p> +<p> +“I had a headache too,” said Hinpoha, in alarm, +“I hope I’m not coming down with them. I’ve had +them once.” +</p> +<p> +“That doesn’t help much,” said Nyoda, “for I +had them three times.” Hinpoha’s fears were realized, +and by night there was a third case developed. +And so, instead of a grand council on the Fourth +of July there was real medicine making at Onoway +House. None of the sufferers were very ill, although +they must remain prisoners, and they had +such a jolly time in the “contagious disease ward” +that Migwan and Sahwah, who were finding things +rather dull on the outside, wished fervently that they +had taken the measles too. +</p> +<p> +As soon as the three invalids were pronounced entirely +well there was a celebration held in honor of +the occasion in the tepee. At sundown Nyoda went +around beating on a tin pan covered with a cloth +in lieu of a tom-tom, which was always the signal +for the tribe to come together. Tom, as runner, was +dispatched to fetch the Landsdownes and Calvin +Smalley. When the tribe came trooping in answer +to the call, followed by the guests, they were marched +in solemn file around the lawn and into the tepee. +Inside there was a fire kindled in the center, with a +circle of ponchos and blankets spread around it on +the ground. “Bless my soul, but this is cozy,” said +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span> +Farmer Landsdowne, dropping down on a poncho +and stretching himself comfortably. +</p> +<p> +“Now, what shall we do?” asked Nyoda, who +was mistress of ceremonies, “play games or tell +stories?” +</p> +<p> +“Tell stories,” begged Migwan, “we haven’t +‘wound the yarn’ for an age.” +</p> +<p> +“All right,” agreed Nyoda, “shall we do it the +way several of the Indian tribes do?” +</p> +<p> +“How do they do it?” asked Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“Well,” said Nyoda, “there is a tradition among +certain tribes that if anyone refuses to tell a story +when he is asked he will grow a tail like a donkey. +Sometimes, however, they do not wait for Nature to +perform this miracle, but fasten a tail themselves +onto the one who will not entertain the crowd when +he is bidden, and he must wear it until he tells a +story. Their way of asking one of their number +to tell one is to remark ‘There is a tail to you,’ as +a delicate way of expressing the fate that will be his +if he refuses.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, what fun!” cried Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“And now Gladys,” said Nyoda, “‘there is a tail +to you.’” +</p> +<p> +Gladys placed more wood on the fire, which was +burning low, and returned to her seat on the blanket. +“Did I ever tell you,” she began, “about my Aunt +Beatrice? She and my Uncle Lynn were visiting +here from the West with my little cousin Beatrice, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span> +who was only six months old. They were staying +in a big hotel downtown. One night they went to +a party, leaving Beatrice in their room at the hotel +in the care of her nurse. At the party there was a +fortune teller who amused the guests by reading +their palms. When it came my aunt’s turn the woman +said to her, ‘You have had one child, who is +dead.’ Everybody laughed because they knew +Aunt Beatrice had never lost a baby, and little +Beatrice was safe and sound in the hotel that very +minute. But it worried my aunt almost to death, +and she couldn’t enjoy herself the rest of the evening. +</p> +<p> +“Finally she said to my uncle, ‘I can’t stand it +any longer, I must go home,’ so they left the party +just as the guests were sitting down to a midnight +supper, and everybody made fun of her for being +such a fussy young mother. When they got downtown +they found the hotel in flames and the streets +blocked for a long distance around. Aunt Beatrice +finally broke through the fire lines and ran right +past the firemen who tried to keep her out, into the +burning building, and fought her way up-stairs +through the smoke to her room, where she could +hear a baby crying. She was blind from the smoke +and could hardly see where she was going, but she +picked up a rug from the floor, wrapped it around +the baby and carried her out in safety. When she +got outside they found it was not little Beatrice at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span> +all that she had saved, it was a strange baby. She +had mistaken the room up-stairs in the smoke and +carried out someone else’s child. The building collapsed +right after she came out and no one could go +in any more. Beatrice and her nurse were lost in +the fire.” A murmur of horrified sympathy went +around the circle in the tepee. “And,” continued +Gladys, “my Aunt Beatrice has never been herself +since. She can’t bear even to see a baby.” +</p> +<p> +“Is that the reason you wouldn’t let me bring +Marian Simpson’s baby over the day she left it with +me to take care of?” asked Hinpoha. “I remember +you said your aunt was visiting you.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, that was why,” said Gladys. “And now, +Mr. Landsdowne,” she added, “‘there is a tail to +you!’” +</p> +<p> +Farmer Landsdowne stared thoughtfully into the +fire for a moment, and then a reminiscent smile began +to wrinkle the corners of his eyes. “Would +you like to hear a story about the old house?” he +asked. +</p> +<p> +“You mean Onoway House?” asked Migwan. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Landsdowne nodded. “Only it seems +strange to be calling it ‘Onoway House.’ It has always +been known as ‘Waterhouse’s Place,’ because +old Deacon Waterhouse built it. Well, like most old +houses, there are different stories told about it, but +whether they are true or not, no one knows. People +are so apt to believe anything they want to believe. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span> +Well, I started out to tell you the story about the +gas well. But before I tell you about the gas well +I suppose I ought to tell you about the Deacon’s +son. Mind you, the things I am telling you are +only what I have heard from the folks around here; +I never knew Deacon Waterhouse. He was dead +and the house empty before the farm was split up, +and it wasn’t until the part that I now own was +offered for sale that I ever came into this neighborhood. +Well, to return to the Deacon’s son. They +say that there never was a finer looking young fellow +than Charley Waterhouse. He was a regular +prince among the country boys. But he didn’t care +a rap about farming. All he wanted to do was read; +that and take the horse and buggy and drive to +town. The old Deacon was terribly disappointed, +of course, for Charley was his only son, and he +couldn’t see that the boy wasn’t cut out to be a +farmer. He railed about his love of books and +wouldn’t give him money for schooling. Charley +stood it until he was eighteen and then he ran away, +after forging the Deacon’s name to a check. The +folks around here never saw him again. Mrs. +Waterhouse died of a broken heart, they say. They +also say,” he added with a twinkle in his eye, “that +she died before she had her attic cleaned, and that +her ghost comes back at night and sets the old furniture +straight up there.” Migwan and Hinpoha +exchanged glances. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span> +</p> +<p> +“Now about the gas well,” resumed Mr. Landsdowne. +“The Deacon was digging for water on +the farm. The old well had dried up during a long, +hot spell and he was bound to go deep enough this +time. Down they went—two, three hundred feet, +and still no good water. The ground had turned +into slate and shale. The well digger lit a match +down in the hole when suddenly there was a terrific +explosion which caved in the sides of the well and all +the dirt which was piled around the outside slid in +again, completely filling it up. A vein of gas had +been struck. That very day the Deacon received +word that his son was in San Francisco, dying, and +wanted to see him. He forgot his anger over +Charley’s disgrace and started west that very night. +He never came back. He stayed in San Francisco +a whole year and then died out there. While he was +there he mentioned the gas well to several people, or +they say he did, and that’s how the story got round. +But if such a thing did happen, there was never any +trace of it afterward. Personally I do not believe +it ever happened. But superstitious folks around +here say they can still hear the buried well digger +striking with his pick against the earth that covers +him.” +</p> +<p> +“Two ghosts at Onoway House!” said Nyoda, +“we are uncommonly well supplied,” and the girls +shivered and drew near together in mock fear. +Thus, with various stories the evening wore away, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span> +until Farmer Landsdowne, looking at his big, old-fashioned +silver watch with a start, remarked that +he should have been in bed an hour ago, whereupon +the company broke up. Calvin Smalley went home +reluctantly. That evening spent by the fire in the +tepee had been a sort of wonderland to him, unused +as he was to family festivities of any kind. +</p> +<p> +Nyoda lingered after the rest had gone to see +that the fire in the tepee was properly extinguished. +As she watched the glowing embers turn black one +by one she became aware of a figure standing in the +doorway. The moonlight fell directly on it and she +could see that it was robed in flowing white, and +instead of a face there was a hideous death’s head. +Horribly startled at first she recovered her composure +when she remembered that she was living in +a household which were given to playing jokes on +each other. Flinging up her hands in mock terror, +she recited dramatically, +</p> +<p> +“Art thou some angel, some devil, or some ghost?” +The figure in the doorway never moved. Nyoda +picked up the thick stick with which she had stirred +the fire and rushed upon the ghost as if she intended +to beat it to a pulp. It flung out its arm, covered +with the flowing drapery, and Nyoda dropped her +weapon and staggered back against the side of the +tepee, sneezing with terrible violence, her eyes +smarting and watering horribly. When the force +of the paroxysm had spent itself and she could open +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span> +her eyes again the ghost had vanished. Blind and +choking, she made her way back to the house, intent +on finding out who the ghost was, who had thrown +red pepper into her eyes. That it was none of the +dwellers at Onoway House was clear. The girls +were already partly undressed, Ophelia was in bed, +and Tom was taking a foot-bath in the kitchen under +the watchful supervision of his mother to see that +he got himself clean. A chorus of indignation rose +on every side at the outrage, when Nyoda had told +her tale. +</p> +<p> +“Could it have been Calvin Smalley?” somebody +asked. But this no one would believe. The +boy was too gentle and manly, and too evidently +delighted with his new neighbors to have done such +a dastardly deed. Then who had dressed up as a +ghost and thrown red pepper at Nyoda in the tepee? +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span>CHAPTER V.—SAHWAH MAKES A DISCOVERY.</h2> +<p> +As there was no one of their acquaintance whom +they could suspect of being the ghost, the trick was +laid at the door of some unknown dweller along the +road with a fondness for horseplay. The girls spent +the morning working quietly in the garden, and in +the afternoon they went to the city in Gladys’s automobile, +all but Sahwah, who wanted to work on a +waist she was making. Then, after the automobile +was out of sight she discovered that she did not +have the right kind of thread and could not work +on it after all. With the prospect of a whole afternoon +to herself, she decided to take a long walk. +The Bartlett farm was not very large and she was +soon at its boundary, and over on the Smalley property. +In contrast to their little orchard and garden +and meadow, the Smalley farm stretched out as far +as she could see, with great corn and wheat fields, +and acres of timber land. Somewhere on the place +Calvin Smalley was working, and Sahwah made up +her mind to find him and ask him over to Onoway +House that night. But the extent of the Smalley +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span> +farm was ninety-seven acres, and it was not so easy +to find a person on it when one had no definite knowledge +of that person’s whereabouts. Sahwah walked +and walked and walked, up one field and down another, +shading her eyes with her hand to catch sight +of the figure she was looking for. But Calvin was +somewhere near the center of the cornfield, stooping +near the ground, and the high stalks waved over +his head and concealed him completely. Sahwah +passed by without discovering him and crossed an +open field that was lying fallow. Beyond this was +a strip of marsh land which was practically impassable. +Under ordinary circumstances Sahwah +would have turned back, but being badly in want of +something better to do she tried to cross it. She +had seen two boards lying in the field, and securing +these she laid them down on the treacherous mud, +and by standing on one and laying the other down +in front of her and then advancing to that one she +actually got across in safety. +</p> +<p> +On the other side of the bog she spied a little +clump of trees and headed toward them, for the sun +was very hot in the open and the thought of a rest +in the shade was attractive. When she came nearer +she saw that this little copse sheltered a cottage, old +and weatherbeaten and evidently deserted. Weeds +grew around it, higher than the steps and the floor +of the porch, and the crumbling chimney, which ran +up on the outside of the house, was covered with a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span> +thick growth of Japanese ivy. “It’s a regular +House in the Woods,” said Sahwah to herself, +“only there are no dwarfs. I wonder what it’s +like inside,” she went on in her thoughts. “Maybe +we could come here sometime and build a fire—there +must be a fireplace somewhere because there’s a +chimney—and have a Ceremonial Meeting or a picnic. +How delightfully private it is!” The trees +hid the house from view until one almost stumbled +upon it, and then the marsh and the broad vacant +field stretched between it and the farm, and behind +it was the river, its banks hidden by a thick growth +of willows and alders, so that the cottage was not +visible to a person coming along the river in a boat. +There was not a sound to be heard anywhere except +the zig-a-zig of the grasshoppers in the field and +the swish of the hidden water as it flowed over +the stones. “A grand place to have a secret meeting +of the Winnebagos,” said Sahwah to herself, +“where we wouldn’t always be interrupted by +Ophelia pounding on the door and wanting to come +in. I wonder if it’s open?” +</p> +<p> +She stepped up on the porch and tried the door. +It was locked. She peered into the window. The +room she saw was absolutely empty. She could not +see whether there was a fireplace or not. She was +seized with a desire to enter that cottage. It was deserted +and tumble down and fascinating. Whoever +owned it—if anyone did, for she was not sure +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span> +whether it stood on the Smalley property or not—had +evidently abandoned it to the elements. There +was no harm at all in trying to get in. She pushed +on the window. It apparently was also locked. +But she pushed again and this time she heard a +crack. The rotten wood was splitting away from +the rusty catch. She pushed again and the window +slid up. She stepped over the sill into the room. +</p> +<p> +The window was so thick with dirt that the light +seemed dim inside. At one end of the room there +was an open fireplace, long unused, with the mortar +falling out between the bricks. There was another +door in the wall opposite the front door, so evidently +there was another room beyond. This door +was also locked, but the key was in the lock and it +turned readily under her hand and the door swung +open. Sahwah stood still in surprise. This room +was as full of furniture as the other had been empty. +Around all four walls stood cabinets and bookcases, +and besides these there was a couch, a desk, a table +and several chairs. The table was covered with +screws, little wheels and the works of clocks, and +before it sat an old man, busily working with them. +He had on a long, shabby grey dressing-gown and +a high silk hat on his head. He did not look up +as she opened the door, but went right on working, +apparently oblivious to her presence. She stared at +him in amazement for a moment, and then, remembering +her manners, realized that she had deliberately walked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span> +into a gentleman’s room without +knocking. +</p> +<p> +“I beg your pardon,” she said, in embarrassment, +“I didn’t know there was anyone here.” +</p> +<p> +The old man looked up and saw her standing in +the doorway. “Come in, come in,” he said, affably, +in a deep voice. Sahwah took a step into the room. +The old man went back to his wheels and rods and +took no more notice of her. +</p> +<p> +“What is that you’re making?” asked Sahwah, +curiously. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a long story,” said the man, taking off his +hat, pulling a handkerchief out of it and putting it +back on his head, and then falling to work again. +</p> +<p> +“Must be a genius,” thought Sahwah, “that’s +what makes him act so queerly.” She waited a few +minutes in silence and then curiosity got the better +of her. “Is it too long to tell?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“Eh? What’s that?” asked the man, turning toward +her. He took off his hat, put his handkerchief +back in again and then put the hat back on his head. +</p> +<p> +“I asked you,” said Sahwah, politely, “if the +story of what you are making is too long to tell.” +</p> +<p> +“Not at all, not at all,” said the man, and resumed +his work without another word. +</p> +<p> +“How impolite!” thought Sahwah. “To urge +me to stay and then refuse to answer my questions.” +Her eyes strayed around the room at the bookcases +and cabinets. Every cabinet was filled with clocks +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span> +or parts of clocks. The books as far as she could +see were all about machinery. One was a book of +such astounding width of binding that she leaned +over to read the title. The letters were so faded that +they were hardly visible. “L,” she read, “E, F, E——” +</p> +<p> +“It’s a machine for saving time,” said the man +at the table, so suddenly that Sahwah jumped. +</p> +<p> +“How interesting!” she said. “How does it +work?” +</p> +<p> +The man fitted a rod into a wheel and apparently +forgot her existence. She sat silent a few minutes +more and then decided she had better go home. She +rose softly to her feet. “It’s something like a +clock,” said the man, without looking up from his +work. +</p> +<p> +“It’s coming after all,” she thought, and sat down +again. +</p> +<p> +After a silence of about five minutes the man +spoke again. “It measures the time just like any +clock,” he explained, “only, as the minutes are +ticked off, they are thrown into a little compartment +at the side,—this thing,” he said, holding up a little +metal box. He lapsed into silence again and after +an interval resumed where he had left off. “This +compartment,” he said, “holds just an hour, and +when it is full a bell rings and the compartment +opens automatically, throwing the block of time, +carefully wrapped to prevent leakage of seconds, out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span> +into this basket.” He took off his hat, brought out +his handkerchief, polished a bit of glass with it, put +it carefully back into the crown and replaced the +hat on his head. +</p> +<p> +It suddenly came over Sahwah that her ingenious +host was not quite right in his mind, so rising +abruptly she hastened out of the room. The man +took no notice of her departure. She locked the +door carefully after her, and went out by the window +whence she had entered the house, pulling it +shut from the outside. She did not undertake to +cross the marsh again, but made a wide detour +around it. When she was once more in the fallow +field she looked back, but the house was invisible +among the trees and bushes which surrounded it. +As she sped past the rows of standing corn on her +way home, Abner Smalley, bending low among +them, saw her and straightened up with a suspicious +look in his eyes. He glanced in the direction from +which she had come. On one side was the empty +field bordered by the marsh and the woody copse, +and on the other was the path from the river which +went in the direction of Onoway House. He +breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had come from +the direction of Onoway House, of course. The +next day he put his bull to graze in the empty field +before the copse. Then, in different places along +the rail fence which enclosed this field he put signs +reading: BEWARE THE BULL. HE IS UGLY. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span> +</p> +<p> +When the girls came back from town Sahwah +told her discovery. “Nyoda,” said Gladys, suddenly, +“do you suppose it could have been this man +who threw the pepper at you?” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps,” said Nyoda, and all the girls shuddered +at the thought. Before Sahwah’s discovery +they had agreed among themselves to say nothing +about the ghost episode to anyone outside the family, +so that the perpetrator of the joke, if he were +one of the farmer boys living near, would not have +the satisfaction of knowing that they were wrought +up about it. In the meantime they would send Tom +to get acquainted with all the boys on the road and +try to find out something about it from them. +</p> +<p> +Calvin Smalley was over that evening and something +was said about Sahwah’s adventure of the afternoon. +“Calvin,” said Nyoda, directly, “who is +the old man who lives in that house?” +</p> +<p> +Calvin looked very much distressed, and frightened +too, it must be admitted. Then he laughed, +although to Nyoda his laugh seemed a trifle forced, +and said in his usual straightforward manner, “The +man in the old house among the trees? That is my +great uncle Peter, grandfather’s brother. He was +something of an inventer and invented a time clock, +but the patent was stolen by another and he never +got the credit for inventing it. He worried about +it until his mind became unbalanced. For years he +has worked around with wheels and things, making +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span> +strange contrivances for clocks. He is perfectly +harmless and wouldn’t hurt a fly. He will not live +in a house with people and he will not leave the +cottage he lives in even for an hour, he is so afraid +something will happen to his machine while he is +away. We don’t like to have people know that he +is there because they would say we ought to send +him away, but Uncle Abner won’t do that because +Uncle Peter hates to be with folks and he might not +be allowed to play with his machine in an institution +the way he can here. So as long as he is happy +what is the difference? But you know how country +people talk. So would it be asking a great deal to +request you not to say anything about this to anyone, +not even the Landsdownes? If Uncle Abner +ever found out you knew he would be very angry, +and would sure think I told you. I don’t see how +you ever got in, anyway; the door is usually kept +locked, and to all appearances the house is empty.” +Sahwah looked decidedly uncomfortable as she met +the eyes of several of the girls, but no one mentioned +the manner in which she had gained entrance. +Inasmuch as she had pried into this secret she felt +it was no more than right to promise to keep it. +</p> +<p> +“All right, we won’t say anything,” she said, reassuringly. +All the others gave an equally solemn +promise, and were glad that Ophelia had heard none +of the talk about the matter, for she had been over +at the Landsdowne’s since before Sahwah told her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span> +adventure. Little pitchers have wide mouths as well +as big ears. +</p> +<p> +The girls all looked at each other when Calvin asserted +that his Uncle Peter never left the house even +for an hour. Clearly then, he had not been the +ghost. +</p> +<p> +Migwan had bad dreams that night. Just before +going to bed she had been reading a volume of Poe, +which is not the most sleep producing literature +known. She dreamed that she was lying awake in +her bed, looking at a big square of moonlight on the +floor, when suddenly a black shadow fell across it, +and the figure of a monkey appeared on the windowsill, +stood there a moment and then jumped into the +room. Shuddering with fright she woke up, and +could hardly rid herself of the impression of the +dream, it had seemed so real. There was a big +square of moonlight on the floor. “I must have +seen it in my sleep,” she thought, “it’s exactly like +the one in my dream.” She lay wondering if it +were possible to see things with your eyes closed, +when all of a sudden her heart began to thump +madly. Into the moonlight there was creeping a +black shadow. It remained still for a few seconds, +a grotesque-shaped thing with a long tail, and then +something came hurtling through the window and +landed on the floor beside the bed. Migwan gave +a scream that roused the house. Hinpoha, starting +up wildly, jumped from bed and landed squarely +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span> +on the black specter on the floor. The form struggled +and squirmed and sent forth a long wailing +ME-OW-W-W. +</p> +<p> +“What is the matter?” cried Nyoda and Gladys +and Betty and Sahwah, running to the rescue. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a cat!” said Migwan, faintly. “I thought it +was a monkey!” +</p> +<p> +“Moral: Don’t read Poe before going to bed,” +said Nyoda, while the rest shouted with laughter at +the cause of Migwan’s fright. +</p> +<p> +“It must have jumped in from the tree,” said +Hinpoha. “I see our screen has fallen out.” +</p> +<p> +There was little sleep in the house the rest of the +night. During the time when the screen was out +of the window the room had filled with mosquitoes, +which soon found their way to the rest of the rooms. +“If you offered me the choice of sleeping in a room +with a monkey or a swarm of mosquitoes, I believe +I’d take the monkey,” said Nyoda, slapping viciously. +Altogether it was a heavy-eyed group that +came down to breakfast the next morning. +</p> +<p> +“What are we going to do to-day?” asked +Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“The usual thing,” said Migwan, “pull weeds. +That is, I am. You girls don’t need to help all the +time. I don’t want you to think of my garden as +merely a lot of weeds to be forever pulled. I want +you to remember only the beautiful part of it.” +</p> +<p> +“We don’t mind pulling weeds,” cried the girls, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span> +stoutly, “it’s fun when we all do it together,” and +they fell to work with a will. +</p> +<p> +“I declare,” said Migwan, “I have become so +zealous in the pursuit of weeds that I mechanically +start to pull them along the roadside. I actually believe +that if a weed grew on my grave I’d rise up +and eradicate it. I little thought when I proudly +won an honor last summer for identifying ten different +weeds that they’d get to haunting my dreams +the way they do now. Now I know what people +mean when they say ‘meaner than pusley.’ It’s the +meanest thing I’ve ever dealt with. I cut off and +pull up every trace of it one day and the next day +there it is again, just as flourishing as ever.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t call that meanness,” said Nyoda, “that’s +just cheerful persistence. Think what a success +we’d all be in life if we got ahead in the face of +obstacles in that way. If I didn’t already have a +perfectly good symbol I’d take pusley for mine. If +it were edible I think I’d use it as an exclusive article +of diet for a time and see if I couldn’t absorb some +of its characteristics.” +</p> +<p> +While she was talking Ophelia came along with +a frog on a shovel, which she proceeded to throw +over the fence. “Come back with that frog,” said +Migwan, “I need him in my business. Don’t you +know that frogs eat the insects off the plants and +we have that many less to kill?” Ophelia was +standing in the strong sunlight, and Nyoda noticed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span> +that the circle of light hair on her head was still +golden clear to the roots, although the ringlets were +visibly growing. +</p> +<p> +“It must be a freak of Nature,” she concluded, +“for it certainly isn’t bleached.” +</p> +<p> +Rest at Onoway House was again doomed to be +broken that night. Nyoda had been peacefully sleeping +for some time when she woke up at the touch +of something cold upon her face. She started up +and the feeling disappeared. She went to sleep +again, thinking she had been dreaming. Soon the +feeling came again, as of something cold lying on +her forehead. She put up her hand and encountered +a cold and knobby object. At her touch the thing—whatever +it was—jumped away. She sprang out of +bed and lit the lamp. The sight that met her eyes +as she looked around the room made her pinch herself +to see if she were really awake and not in the +midst of some nightmare. All over the floor, chairs, +table, beds, bureau and wash-stand sat frogs; big +frogs, little frogs, medium-sized frogs; all goggling +solemnly at her in the lamplight. She stared open +mouthed at the apparition. Could this be another +Plague of Frogs, she asked herself, such as was +visited upon Pharaoh? At her horrified exclamation +Gladys woke up, gave one look around the +room and dove under the bedclothes with a wild +yell. To her excited eyes it looked as if there were +a million frogs in the room. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span> +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked Ophelia, sitting up +in bed and staring around her sleepily. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you see the frogs?” cried Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Sure I see them,” said Ophelia. “Aren’t you +glad I got so many?” +</p> +<p> +“Ophelia!” gasped Nyoda, “did you bring those +frogs in here?” +</p> +<p> +“Betcher I did,” said Ophelia, with pride, “and +it took me most all afternoon to catch the whole +sackful, too. What’s wrong?” she asked, as she +saw the expression on Nyoda’s face. “Yer said +they’d eat the bugs and yer made such a fuss about +the mosquitoes last night that I brought the toads +to eat them while we slept.” Nyoda dropped limply +into a chair. The inspirations of Ophelia surpassed +anything she had ever read in fiction. +</p> +<p> +If anybody has ever tried to catch a roomful of +frogs that were not anxious to be caught they can +appreciate the chase that went on at Onoway House +that night. The first faint streaks of dawn were +appearing in the sky before the family finally retired +once more. Sufficient to say that Ophelia +never set up another mosquito trap made of frogs. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span>CHAPTER VI.—THE WINNEBAGOS SCENT A PLOT.</h2> +<p> +“Where are you going, my pretty maid, and +why the step ladder?” said Nyoda to Migwan one +morning. “Have your beans grown up so high +over night that you have to climb a ladder to pick +them?” +</p> +<p> +“Come and see!” said Migwan, mysteriously. +Nyoda followed her to the front lawn. Migwan set +the ladder up beside a dead tree, from which the +branches had been sawn, leaving a slender trunk +about seven feet high. On top of this Migwan proceeded +to nail a flat board. +</p> +<p> +“Are you going to live on a pillar, like St. Simeon +Stylites?” asked Nyoda, curiously, as Migwan +mounted the ladder with a basin of water in her +hand. +</p> +<p> +“O come, Nyoda,” said Migwan, “don’t you +know a bird bathtub when you see one?” +</p> +<p> +“A bathtub, is it?” said Nyoda. “Now I +breathe easily again. But why so extremely near +the earth?” +</p> +<p> +Migwan laughed at her chaffing. “You have to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span> +put them high up,” she explained, “or else the cats +get the birds when they are bathing. Mr. Landsdowne +told me how to make it.” The other girls +wandered out and inspected the drinking fountain-bathtub. +Hinpoha closed one eye and looked critically +at the outfit. +</p> +<p> +“Doesn’t it strike you as being a little inharmonious?” +she asked. “Black stump, unfinished wood +platform, and blue enamel basin.” +</p> +<p> +“Paint the platform and basin dark green,” said +Sahwah, the practical. “There is some green paint +down cellar, I saw it. Let me paint it. I can do +that much for the birds, even if I didn’t think of +building them a drinking fountain.” She sped after +the paint and soon transformed the offending articles +so that they blended harmoniously with the surroundings. +</p> +<p> +“It’s better now,” said Nyoda, thoughtfully, “but +it’s still crude and unbeautiful. What is wrong?” +</p> +<p> +“I know,” said Hinpoha, the artistic one. “It’s +too bare. It looks like a hat without any trimming. +What it needs is vines around it.” +</p> +<p> +“The very thing!” exclaimed Migwan. “I’ll +plant climbing nasturtiums and train them to go up +the pole and wind around the basin, so it will look +like a fountain.” +</p> +<p> +“Four heads are better than one,” observed +Nyoda, as the seeds were planted, “when they are +all looking in the same direction.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span> +</p> +<p> +Just then a young man came up the path from +the road. “May I use your telephone?” he asked, +courteously raising his hat. He spoke with a slight +foreign accent. +</p> +<p> +“Certainly you may,” said Migwan, going with +him into the house. She could not help hearing +what he said. He called up a number in town and +when he had his connection, said, “This is Larue +talking. We are going to do it on the Centerville +Road. There is a river near.” That was all. He +rang off, thanked Migwan politely and walked off +down the road. The incident was forgotten for a +time. +</p> +<p> +That afternoon Gladys was coming home in the +automobile. At the turn in the road just before you +came to Onoway House there was a car stalled. The +driver, a young and pretty woman, was apparently +in great perplexity what to do. “Can I help you?” +asked Gladys, stopping her machine. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know what’s the matter,” said the young +woman, “but I can’t get the car started. I’m afraid +I’ll have to be towed to a garage. Do you +know of anyone around here who has a team of +horses?” +</p> +<p> +Gladys looked at the starting apparatus of the +other car, but it was a different make from hers and +she knew nothing about it. “Would you like to +have me tow you to our barn?” she asked. “There +is a man up the road who fixes automobiles for a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span> +great many people who drive through here and I +could get him to come over.” +</p> +<p> +The young woman appeared much relieved. “If +you would be so kind it would be a great favor,” she +said, “for I am in haste to-day.” +</p> +<p> +Gladys towed the car to the barn at Onoway +House and phoned for the car tinker. The young +woman, who introduced herself as Miss Mortimer, +was a very pleasant person indeed, and quite won +the hearts of the girls. She was delighted with Onoway +House, both with the name and the house itself, +and asked to be shown all over it, from garret to +cellar. “How near that tree is to the window!” +she said, as she looked out of the attic window into +the branches of the big Balm of Gilead tree that +grew beside the house, close to Migwan and Hinpoha’s +bedroom. It was much higher than the house +and its branches drooped down on the roof. “How +do you ever move about up here with all this furniture?” +asked Miss Mortimer. +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” answered Migwan, “we never come up +here.” +</p> +<p> +The barn likewise struck the visitor’s fancy, with +its big empty lofts, and she fell absolutely in love +with the river. The girls took her for a ride on +the raft, and she amused herself by sounding the +depth of the water with the pole. They could see +that she was experienced in handling boats from the +way she steered the raft. The girls were so charmed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span> +with her that they felt a keen regret when the neighborhood +tinker announced that the car was in running +shape again. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve had a lovely time, girls,” said Miss Mortimer, +shaking the hand of each in farewell. “I +can’t thank you enough.” +</p> +<p> +“Come and see us again, if you are ever passing +this way,” said Migwan, cordially. +</p> +<p> +“You may possibly see me again,” said Miss Mortimer, +half to herself, as she got into her machine +and drove away. +</p> +<p> +There was no moon that night and the cloud-covered +sky hinted at approaching rain, but Sahwah +wanted to go out on the river on the raft, so Nyoda +and Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys went with +her. It was too dark to play any kind of games and +the girls were too tired and breathless from the hot +day to sing, so they floated down-stream in lazy silence, +watching the shapeless outlines made against +the dull sky by the trees and bushes along the banks. +On the other side of Farmer Landsdowne’s place +there was an abandoned farm. The house had +stood empty for many years, its cheerless windows +brooding in the sunlight and glaring in the moonlight. +Just as they did with every other vacant +house, the Winnebagos nicknamed this one the +Haunted House, and vied with each other in describing +the queer noises they had heard issuing from +it and the ghosts they had seen walking up and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span> +down the porch. As they passed this place, gliding +silently along the river, they were surprised to +see an automobile standing beside the house, at the +little side porch, in the shadow of a row of tall +trees. +</p> +<p> +“The ghosts are getting prosperous,” whispered +Migwan, “they have bought an automobile to do +their nightly wandering in. Pretty soon we can’t +say that ghosts ‘walk’ any more. Ah, here come +the ghosts.” +</p> +<p> +From the side door of the house came two men, +who proceeded to lift various boxes from under the +seats of the car and carry them into the house. +Then they lifted out a small keg, which the girls +could not help noticing they handled with greater +care than they had the boxes. The wind was blowing +toward the river, and the girls distinctly heard +one man say to the other, “Be careful now, you +know what will happen if we drop this.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m being as careful as I can,” answered the +second man. +</p> +<p> +After a few seconds the first one spoke again. +“When’s Belle coming?” +</p> +<p> +“She arrived in town to-day,” said his partner. +</p> +<p> +When they had gone into the house this time the +machine suddenly drove away, revealing the presence +of a third man at the wheel, whom the girls had +not noticed before this. The two men stayed in +the house. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span> +</p> +<p> +“What on earth can be happening there?” said +Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“It certainly does look suspicious,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +They waited there in the shadow of the willows +for a long time to see what would happen next, but +nothing did. The house stood blank and silent and +apparently as empty as ever. Not a glimmer of +light was visible anywhere. Sahwah and Nyoda +were just on the point of getting into the rowboat, +which had been tied on behind the raft, and towing +the other girls back home, when their ears caught +the sound of a faint splashing, like the sound made +by the dipping of an oar. They were completely +hidden from sight either up or down the river, for +just at this point a portion of the bank had caved +in, and the water filling up the hole had made a +deep indentation in the shore line, and into this +miniature bay the Tortoise-Crab had been steered. +The thick willows along the bank formed a screen +between them and the stream above and below. +But they could look between the branches and see +what was coming up stream, from the direction of +the lake. It was a rowboat, containing two persons. +The scudding clouds parted at intervals and the +moon shone through, and by its fitful light they +could see that one of these persons was a woman. +When the rowboat was almost directly behind the +house it came to a halt, only a few yards from the +place where the Winnebagos lay concealed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span> +</p> +<p> +“This is the house,” said the man. +</p> +<p> +“I told you the water was deep enough up this +far,” said the woman, in a tone of satisfaction. +Just then the moon shone out for a brief instant, +and the Winnebagos looked at each other in surprise. +The woman, or rather the girl, in the rowboat +was Miss Mortimer, who had been their guest +only that day. The next moment she spoke. “We +might as well go back now. There isn’t anything +more we can do. I just wanted to prove to you +that it could be towed up the river this far without +danger.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, Belle,” replied the man, and at the +sound of his voice Migwan pricked up her ears. +There was something vaguely familiar about it; +something which eluded her at the moment. The +rowboat turned in the river and proceeded rapidly +down-stream. The Winnebagos returned home, full +of excitement and wonder. +</p> +<p> +The barn at Onoway House stood halfway between +the house and the river. As they landed from +the raft and were tying it to the post they saw a +man come out of the barn and disappear among the +bushes that grew nearby. It was too dark to see +him with any degree of distinctness. Gladys’s +thought leaped immediately to her car, which was +left in the barn. “Somebody’s trying to steal the +car!” she cried, and they all hastened to the barn. +The automobile stood undisturbed in its place. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span> +They made a hasty search with lanterns, but as +far as they could see, none of the gardening tools +were missing. Satisfied that no damage had been +done, they went into the house. +</p> +<p> +“Probably a tramp,” said Mrs. Gardiner, when +the facts were told her. “He evidently thought he +would sleep in the barn, and then changed his mind +for some reason or other.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan lay awake a long time trying to place +the voice of the man in the rowboat. Just as she +was sinking off to sleep it came to her. The voice +she had heard in the darkness had a slightly foreign +accent, and was the voice of the man who had used +the telephone that morning. +</p> +<p> +Sometime during the night Onoway House was +wakened by the sounds of a terrific thunder storm. +The girls flew around shutting windows. After a +few minutes of driving rain against the window panes +the sound changed. It became a sharp clattering. +“Hail!” said Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my young plants!” cried Migwan. “They +will be pounded to pieces.” +</p> +<p> +“Cover them with sheets and blankets!” suggested +Nyoda. With their accustomed swiftness of +action the Winnebagos snatched up everything in the +house that was available for the purpose and ran +out into the garden, and spread the covers over the +beds in a manner which would keep the tender young +plants from being pounded to pieces by the hailstones. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span> +Migwan herself ran down to the farthest +bed, which was somewhat separated from the others. +As she raced to save it from destruction she suddenly +ran squarely into someone who was standing +in the garden. She had only time to see that it was +a man, when, with a muffled exclamation of alarm +he disappeared into space. Disappeared is the only +word for it. He did not run, he never reached the +cover of the bushes; he simply vanished off the face +of the earth. One moment he was and the next moment +he was not. Much excited, Migwan ran back +to the others and told her story, only to be laughed +at and told she was seeing things and had lurking +men on the brain. The thing was so queer and uncanny +that she began to wonder herself if she had +been fully awake at the time, and if she might not +possibly have dreamed the whole thing. +</p> +<p> +The morning dawned fresh and fair after the +shower, green and gold with the sun on the garden, +and Migwan’s delight at finding the tender +little plants unharmed, thanks to their timely covering, +was inclined to thrust the mysterious goings-on +at the empty house the night before into secondary +place in her mind. But she was not allowed to forget +it, for it was the sole topic of conversation at +the breakfast table. Gladys, with her nose buried +in the morning paper, suddenly looked up. “Listen +to this,” she said, and then began to read: “Another +dynamite plot unearthed. Society for the purpose of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span> +assassinating men prominent in affairs and +dynamiting large buildings discovered in attempt to +blow up the Court House. An attempt to blow up +the new Court House was frustrated yesterday +when George Brown, one of the custodians, saw a +man crouching in the engine room and ordered him +out. A search revealed the fact that dynamite had +been placed on the floor and attached to a fuse. On +being arrested the man confessed that he was a +member of the famous Venoti gang, operating in the +various large cities. The man is being held without +bail, but the head of the gang, Dante Venoti, is still +at large, and so is his wife, Bella, who aids him in +all his activities. No clue to their whereabouts can +be found.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose,” said Gladys, laying the paper +down, “that those men we saw last night could belong +to that gang? You remember how carefully +they carried the keg into the house, as if it contained +some explosive. They couldn’t have any business +there or they wouldn’t have come at night. And +they called the woman in the boat ‘Belle,’ or it +might have been ‘Bella.’” +</p> +<p> +“And that man in the boat was the same one who +came here and used the telephone yesterday morning,” +said Migwan. “I couldn’t help noticing his +foreign accent. He said, ‘We are going to do it on +the Centerville Road. There is a river near.’ What +are they going to do on the Centerville Road?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span> +</p> +<p> +The garden work was neglected while the girls +discussed the matter. “And the man we saw coming +out of the barn when we came home,” said Sahwah, +“he probably had something to do with it, +too.” +</p> +<p> +“And the man I saw in the garden in the middle +of the night,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“If you <em>did</em> see a man,” said Nyoda, somewhat +doubtfully. Migwan did not insist upon her story. +What was the use, when she had no proof, and the +thing had been so uncanny? +</p> +<p> +They were all moved to real grief over the fact +that the delightful Miss Mortimer should have a +hand in such a dark business—in fact, was undoubtedly +the famous Bella Venoti herself. “I can’t believe +it,” said Migwan, “she was so jolly and +friendly, and was so charmed with Onoway House.” +</p> +<p> +“I wonder why she wanted to go through it from +attic to cellar,” said Sahwah, shrewdly. “Could +she have had some purpose? <em>Migwan!</em>” she cried, +jumping up suddenly, “don’t you remember that +she said, ‘How near that tree is to the window’? +Could she have been thinking that it would be easy +to climb in there? And when she asked how we ever +moved about with all that furniture up there, you +said, ‘We never come up here’! Don’t you see +what we’ve done? We’ve given her a chance to look +the house over and find a place where people could +hide if they wanted to, and as much as told her that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span> +they would be safe up here because we never came +up.” +</p> +<p> +Consternation reigned at this speech of Sahwah’s. +The girls remembered the incident only too well. +“I’ll never be able to trust anyone again,” said Migwan, +near to tears, for she had conceived a great +liking for the young woman she had known as “Miss +Mortimer.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you remember,” pursued Sahwah, “how she +took the pole of the raft and found out how deep +the water was all along, and then afterwards she +said to the man in the boat, ‘I told you it was deep +enough.’ Everything she did at our house was a +sort of investigation.” +</p> +<p> +“But it was only by accident that she got to Onoway +House in the first place,” said Gladys. “All +she did was ask me to tell her where she could get a +team of horses to tow her to a garage. She didn’t +know I belonged to Onoway House. It was I who +brought her here, and she only stayed because we +asked her to. It doesn’t look as if she had any +serious intentions of investigating the neighborhood. +She said she was in a hurry to go on.” Migwan +brightened visibly at this. She clutched eagerly at +any hope that Miss Mortimer might be innocent +after all. +</p> +<p> +“How do you know that that breakdown in the +road was accidental?” asked Nyoda. “And how +can you be sure that she didn’t know you came from +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span> +Onoway House? She may have been looking for +a pretense to come here and you played right into +her hands by offering to tow her into the barn.” +Migwan’s hope flickered and went out. +</p> +<p> +“And the man in the barn,” said Sahwah, knowingly, +“he might have come to look the automobile +over and become familiar with the way the barn +door opened, so he could get into the car and drive +away in a hurry if he wanted to get away.” Taken +all in all, there was only one conclusion the girls +could come to, and that was that there was something +suspicious going on in the neighborhood, and +it looked very much as if the Venoti gang were +hiding explosives in the empty house and were planning +to bring something else; what it was they +could not guess. At all events, something must be +done about it. Nyoda called up the police in town +and told briefly what they had seen and heard, and +was told that plain clothes men would be sent out +to watch the empty house. When she described the +man who had called and used the telephone, the +police officer gave an exclamation of satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +“That description fits Venoti closely,” he said. +“He used to have a mustache, but he could very +easily have shaved it off. It’s very possible that +it was he. He’s done that trick before; asked to use +people’s telephones as a means of getting into the +house.” +</p> +<p> +The girls thrilled at the thought of having seen +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span> +the famous anarchist so close. “Hadn’t we better +tell the Landsdownes about it?” asked Migwan. +“They are in a better position to watch that house +from their windows than we are.” +</p> +<p> +“You’re right,” said Nyoda. “And we ought to +tell the Smalleys, too, so they will be on their guard +and ready to help the police if it is necessary.” +</p> +<p> +“I hate to go over there,” said Migwan, “I don’t +like Mr. Smalley.” +</p> +<p> +“That has nothing to do with it,” said Nyoda, +firmly. “The fact that he is fearfully stingy and +grasping has no bearing on this case. He has a +right to know it if his property is in danger.” And +she proceeded forthwith to the Red House. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Smalley was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole +affair as the imagination of a houseful of women. +“Saw a man running out of your barn, did you?” +he asked, showing some interest in this part of the +tale. “Well now, come to think of it,” he said, “I +saw someone sneaking around ours too, last night. +But I didn’t think much of it. That’s happened before. +It’s usually chicken thieves. I keep a big dog +in the barn and they think twice about breaking in +after they hear him bark, and you haven’t any +chickens, that’s why nothing was touched.” It was +a very simple explanation of the presence of the +man in the barn, but still it did not satisfy Nyoda. +She could not help connecting it in some way with +the occurrences in the vacant house. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span> +</p> +<p> +Mr. Landsdowne was very much interested and +excited at the story when it was told to him. +“There’s probably a whole lot more to it than we +know,” he said, getting out his rifle and beginning +to clean it. “There’s more going on in this country +in the present state of affairs than most people +dream of. You have notified the police? That’s +good; I guess there won’t be many more secret doings +in the empty house.” +</p> +<p> +As Nyoda and Migwan went home from the +Landsdownes they passed a telegraph pole in the +road on which a man was working. Silhouetted +against the sky as he was they could see his actions +clearly. He was holding something to his ear which +looked like a receiver, and with the other hand he +was writing something down in a little book. Migwan +looked at him curiously; then she started. +“Nyoda,” she said, in a whisper, “that is the same +man who used our telephone. That is Dante Venoti +himself.” As if conscious that they were looking +at him, the man on the pole put down the pencil, +and drawing his cap, which had a large visor, down +over his face, he bent his head so they could not +get another look at his features. “That’s the man, +all right,” said Migwan. “What do you suppose he +is doing?” +</p> +<p> +“It looks,” said Nyoda, judicially, “as if he were +tapping the wires for messages that are expected +to pass at this time. Possibly you did not notice it, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span> +but I began to look at that man as soon as we stepped +into the road from Landsdowne’s, and I saw him +look at his watch and then hastily put the receiver +to his ear.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I hope the police from town will come +soon,” said Migwan, hopping nervously up and +down in the road. +</p> +<p> +“Until they do come we had better keep a close +watch on what goes on around here,” said Nyoda. +Accordingly the Winnebagos formed themselves into +a complete spy system. Migwan and Gladys and +Betty and Tom took baskets and picked the raspberries +that grew along the road as an excuse for +watching the road and the front of the house, while +Nyoda and Sahwah and Hinpoha took the raft and +patrolled the river. As the girls in the road watched, +the man climbed down from the pole, walked leisurely +past them, went up the path to the empty +house and seated himself calmly on the front steps, +fanning himself with his hat, apparently an innocent +line man taking a rest from the hot sun at the +top of his pole. +</p> +<p> +“He’s afraid to go in with us watching him,” +whispered Migwan. Just then a large automobile +whirled by, stirring up clouds of dust, which temporarily +blinded the girls. When they looked again +toward the house the “line man” had vanished from +the steps. “He’s gone inside!” said Migwan, when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span> +they saw without a doubt that he was nowhere in +sight outdoors. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile the girls on the raft, who had been +keeping a sharp lookout down-stream with a pair +of opera glasses, saw something approaching in the +distance which arrested their attention. For a long +time they could not make out what it was—it looked +like a shapeless black mass. Then as they drew +nearer they saw what was coming, and an exclamation +of surprise burst from each one. It was a +structure like a portable garage on a raft, towed by +a launch. As it drew nearer still they could make +out with the opera glasses that the person at the +wheel was a woman, and that woman was Bella +Venoti. +</p> +<p> +The hasty arrival of an automobile full of armed +men who jumped out in front of the “vacant” +house frightened the girls in the road nearly out of +their wits, until they realized that these were the +plain clothes men from town. After sizing up the +house from the outside the men went up the path +to the porch. The girls were watching them with +a fascinated gaze, and no one saw the second automobile +that was coming up the road far in the distance. +One of the plain clothes men, who seemed +to be the leader of the group, rapped sharply on the +door of the house. There was no answer. He +rapped again. This time the door was flung wide +open from the inside. The girls could see that the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span> +man in the doorway was Dante Venoti. The officer +of the law stepped forward. “Your little game +is up, Dante Venoti,” he said, quietly, “and you are +under arrest.” +</p> +<p> +Dante Venoti looked at him in open-mouthed +astonishment. “Vatevaire do you mean?” he +gasped. “I am under arrest? Has ze law stop ze +production? Chambers, Chambers,” he called over +his shoulder, “come here queek. Ze police has +stop’ ze production!” +</p> +<p> +A tall, lanky, decidedly American looking individual +appeared in the doorway behind him. “What +the deuce!” he exclaimed, at the sight of all the men +on the porch. At this moment the second automobile +drove up, followed by a third and a fourth. A +large number of men and women dismounted and +ran up the path to the house. +</p> +<p> +“Caruthers! Simpson! Jimmy!” shouted +Venoti, excitedly to the latest arrivals, “ze police +has stop ze production!” +</p> +<p> +“What do you know about it!” exclaimed someone +in the crowd of newcomers, evidently one of +those addressed. “Where’s Belle?” +</p> +<p> +“She is bringing zeze caboose! Up ze +rivaire!” cried the black haired man, wringing his +hands in distress. +</p> +<p> +The plain clothes men looked over the band of +people that stood around him. There was nothing +about them to indicate their desperate character. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span> +Instead of being Italians as they had expected, they +seemed to be mostly Americans. The leader of the +policemen suddenly looked hard at Venoti. “Say,” +he said, “you look like a Dago, but you don’t talk +like one. Who are you, anyway?” +</p> +<p> +“I am Felix Larue,” said the black haired man, +“I am ze director of ze Great Western Film Company, +and zeze are all my actors. We have rent +zis house and farm for ze production of ze war +play ‘Ze Honor of a Soldier.’ Last night we bring +some of ze properties to ze house; zey are very +valuable, and Chambers and Bushbower here zey +stay in ze house wiz zem.” +</p> +<p> +The plain clothes men looked at each other and +started to grin. Migwan and Gladys, who had +joined the company on the porch, suddenly felt unutterably +foolish. “But what were you doing on +top of the pole?” faltered Migwan. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Larue turned his eyes toward her. He recognized +her as the girl who had allowed him to use +her telephone the day before, and favored her with +a polite bow. “Me,” he said, “I play ze part of +ze spy in ze piece—ze villain. I tap ze wire and get +ze message. I was practice for ze part zis morning.” +He turned beseechingly to the policeman who had +questioned him. “Zen you will not stop ze production?” +he asked. +</p> +<p> +“Heavens, no,” answered the policeman. “We +were going to arrest you for an anarchist, that’s all.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span> +</p> +<p> +The company of actors were dissolving into hysterical +laughter, in which the plain clothes men +joined sheepishly. Just then a young woman came +around the house from the back, followed at a short +distance by Nyoda, Sahwah and Hinpoha. Seeing +the crowd in front she stopped in surprise. Larue +went to the edge of the porch and called to her reassuringly. +“Come on, Belle,” he called, gaily. +When she was up on the porch he took her by the +hand and led her forward. “Permit me to introduce +my fellow conspirator,” he said, in a theatrical +manner and with a low bow. “Zis is Belle Mortimer, +ze leading lady of ze Great Western Film Company!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span>CHAPTER VII.—MOVING PICTURES.</h2> +<p> +The Winnebagos looked at each other speechlessly. +Belle Mortimer, the famous motion picture +actress, whom they had seen on the screen dozens +of times, and for whom Migwan had long entertained +a secret and devouring adoration! Not Bella +Venoti at all! “Did you ever?” gasped Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“No, I never,” answered the Winnebagos, in +chorus. +</p> +<p> +Miss Mortimer recognized her hostesses of the +day before and greeted them warmly. “My kind +friends from Onoway House,” she called them. +The Winnebagos were embarrassed to death to have +to explain how they had spied on the vacant house +and thought the famous Venoti gang was at work, +and were themselves responsible for the presence of +the policemen. +</p> +<p> +“I never <em>heard</em> of anything so funny,” she said, +laughing until the tears came. “I <em>never</em> heard of +anything so funny!” The plain clothes men departed +in their automobile, disappointed at not having made +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span> +the grand capture they had expected to. +“Would you like to stay with us for the day and +watch us work?” asked Miss Mortimer. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, could we?” breathed Migwan. She was in +the seventh heaven at the thought of being with +Belle Mortimer so long. Then followed a day of +delirious delight. To begin with, the Winnebagos +were introduced to the whole company, many of +whose names were familiar to them. Felix Larue, +having gotten over the fright he had received when +he thought the piece was going to be suppressed by +the police for some unaccountable reason, was all +smiles and amiability, and explained anything the +girls wanted to know about. The piece was a very +exciting one, full of thrilling incidents and danger, +and the girls were held spellbound at the physical +feats which some of those actors performed. The +house on the raft was explained as the play progressed. +It was filled with soldiers and towed up +the river, to all appearances merely a garage being +moved by its owner. But when a dispatch bearer +of the enemy, whose family lived in the house, +stopped to see them while he was carrying an important +message, the soldiers rushed out from the +garage, sprang ashore, seized the man along with +the message and carried him away in the launch, +which had been cut away from the raft while the +capture was being made. Migwan thought of the +tame little plots she had written the winter before +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span> +and was filled with envy at the creator of this stirring +play. +</p> +<p> +It took a whole week to make the film of “The +Honor of a Soldier” and in that time the girls saw +a great deal of Miss Mortimer. And one blessed +night she stayed at Onoway House with them, instead +of motoring back to the city with the rest of +the company. Just as Migwan was dying of admiration +for her, so she was attracted by this dreamy-eyed +girl with the lofty brow. In a confidential moment +Migwan confessed that she had written several +motion picture plays the winter before, all of +which had been rejected. “Do you mind if I see +them?” asked Miss Mortimer. Much embarrassed, +Migwan produced the manuscripts, written in the +form outlined in the book she had bought. Miss +Mortimer read them over carefully, while Migwan +awaited her verdict with a beating heart. +</p> +<p> +“Well?” she asked, when Miss Mortimer had +finished reading them. +</p> +<p> +“Who told you to put them in this form?” asked +Miss Mortimer. +</p> +<p> +“I learned it from a book,” answered Migwan. +“What do you think of them?” she asked, impatient +for Miss Mortimer’s opinion. +</p> +<p> +“The idea in one of them is good, very good,” +said Miss Mortimer. “This one called ‘Jerry’s +Sister.’ But you have really spoiled it in the development. +It takes a person familiar with the production of a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span> +film to direct the movements of the +actors intelligently. If Mr. Larue, for example, had +developed that piece it would be a very good one. +Would you be willing to sell just the idea, if Mr. +Larue thinks he can use it?” +</p> +<p> +Migwan had never thought of this before. +“Why, yes,” she said, “I suppose I would. It’s +certainly no good to me as it is.” +</p> +<p> +“Let me take it to Mr. Larue,” said Miss Mortimer. +“I’m sure he will see the possibilities in it +just as I have.” Migwan was in a transport of delight +to think that her idea at least had found favor +with Miss Mortimer. Miss Mortimer was as good +as her word and showed the play to Mr. Larue and +he agreed with her that it could be developed into a +side-splitting farce comedy. Migwan was more intoxicated +with that first sale of the labors of her pen +than she was at any future successes, however great. +Deeply inspired by this recognition of her talent, +she evolved an exciting plot from the incidents which +had just occurred, namely, the mistaking of the +moving picture company for the Venoti gang. She +kept it merely in plot form, not trying to develop +it, and Mr. Larue accepted this one also. After +this second success, even though the price she received +for the two plots was not large, the future +stretched out before Migwan like a brilliant rainbow, +with a pot of gold under each end. +</p> +<p> +Miss Mortimer soon discovered that the Winnebagos +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span> +were a group of Camp Fire Girls, and she +immediately had an idea. When “The Honor of +a Soldier” was finished Mr. Larue was going to +produce a piece which called for a larger number of +people than the company contained, among them a +group of Camp Fire Girls. He intended hiring a +number of “supers” for this play. “Why not hire +the Winnebagos?” said Miss Mortimer. And so +it was arranged. Medmangi and Nakwisi and +Chapa, the other three Winnebagos, were notified +to join the ranks, and excitement ran high. To be +in a real moving picture! It is true that they had +nothing special to do, just walk through the scene +in one place and sit on the ground in a circle in another, +but there was not a single girl who did not +hope that her conduct on that occasion would lead +Mr. Larue into hiring her as a permanent member +of the company. +</p> +<p> +Especially Sahwah. The active, strenuous life of +a motion picture actress attracted her more than anything +just now. She longed to be in the public eye +and achieve fame by performing thrilling feats. +She saw herself in a thousand different positions of +danger, always the heroine. Now she was diving +for a ring dropped into the water from the hand of +a princess; now she was trapped in a burning building; +now she was riding a wild horse. But always +she was the idol of the company, and the idol of the +moving picture audiences, and the envy of all other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span> +actresses. She would receive letters from people +all over the country and her picture would be in the +papers and in the magazines, and her name would +be featured on the colored posters in front of the +theatres. Managers would quarrel over her and she +would be offered a fabulous salary. All this Sahwah +saw in her mind’s eye as the future which was waiting +for her, for since meeting Miss Mortimer she +really meant to be a motion picture actress when she +was through school. She felt in her heart that she +could show people a few things when it came to feats +of action. She simply could not wait for the day +when the Winnebagos were to be in the picture. +When the play was produced in the city theatres her +friends would recognize her, and Oh joy!—here her +thoughts became too gay to think. +</p> +<p> +The play in question was staged, not on the Centerville +road, but in one of the city parks, where +there were hills and formal gardens and an artificial +lake, which were necessary settings. The day arrived +at last. News had gone abroad that a motion +picture play was to be staged in that particular park +and a curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. +Sahwah felt very splendid and important as +she stood in the company of the actors. She knew +that the crowd did not know that she was just in +that one play as a filler-in; to them she was really +and truly a member of this wonderful company—a +real moving picture actress. Gazing over the crowd +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span> +with an air of indifference, she suddenly saw one +face that sent the blood racing to her head. That +was Marie Lanning, the girl whom Sahwah had +defeated so utterly in the basketball game the winter +before, and who had tried such underhand means +to put her out of the game. Sahwah felt that her +triumph was complete. Marie was just the kind +of girl who would nearly die of envy to see her rival +connected with anything so conspicuous. +</p> +<p> +The picture began; progressed; the time came for +the march of the Camp Fire Girls down the steep +hill. Sahwah stood straight as a soldier; the supreme +moment had come. Now Mr. Larue would +see that she stood out from all the other girls in +ability to act; that moment was to be the making of +her fortune. She glanced covertly at Marie Lanning. +Marie had recognized her and was staring at +her with unbelieving, jealous eyes. The march began. +Sahwah held herself straighter still, if that +were possible, and began the descent. It was hard +going because it was so steep, but she did not let +that spoil her upright carriage. She was just in the +middle of the line, which was being led by Nyoda, +and could see that the girls in front of her were getting +out of step and breaking the unity of the line +in their efforts to preserve their balance. Not so +Sahwah. She saw Mr. Larue watching her and she +knew he was comparing her with the rest. Her +fancy broke loose again and she had a premonition +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span> +of her future triumphs. The sight of the camera +turned full on her gave her a sense of elation beyond +words. It almost intoxicated her. Halfway down +the hill Sahwah, with her head full of day-dreams, +stepped on a loose stone which turned under her +foot, throwing her violently forward. She fell +against Hinpoha, who was in front of her. Hinpoha, +utterly unprepared for this impetus from the +rear, lost her balance completely and crashed into +Gladys. Gladys was thrown against Nyoda, and +the whole four of them went down the hill head +over heels for all the world like a row of dominoes. +</p> +<p> +Down at the bottom of the hill stood the hero +and heroine of the piece, namely, Miss Mortimer +and Chambers, the leading man, and as the landslide +descended it engulfed them and the next moment +there was a heap of players on the ground in +a tangled mass. It took some minutes to extricate +them, so mixed up were they. Mr. Larue hastened +to the spot with an exclamation of very excusable +impatience. Several dozen feet of perfectly good +film had been spoiled and valuable time wasted. The +players got to their feet again unhurt, and the +watching crowd shouted with laughter. Sahwah +was ready to die of chagrin and mortification. She +had spoiled any chances she had ever had of making +a favorable impression on Mr. Larue; but this +was the least part of it. There in the crowd was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span> +Marie Lanning laughing herself sick at this fiasco +of Sahwah’s playing. Good-natured Mr. Chambers +was trying to soothe the embarrassment of the Winnebagos +and make them laugh by declaring he had +lost his breath when he was knocked over and when +he got it back he found it wasn’t his, but Sahwah +refused to be comforted. She had disgraced herself +in the public eye. Breaking away from the group +she ran through the crowd with averted face, in +spite of calls to come back, and kept on running until +she had reached the edge of the park and the +street car line. Boarding a car, she went back to +Onoway House, wishing miserably that she had +never been born, or had died the winter before in +the coasting accident. Her ambition to be a motion +picture actress died a violent death right then and +there. So the march of the Camp Fire Girls had +to be done over again without Sahwah, and was consummated +this time without accident. +</p> +<p> +When Sahwah reached Onoway House she wished +with all her heart that she hadn’t come back there. +She had done it mechanically, not knowing where +else to go. At the time her only thought had been +to get away from the crowd and from Mr. Larue; +now she hated to face the Winnebagos. She was +glad that no one was at home, for Mrs. Gardiner +had taken Betty and Tom and Ophelia to see the +play acted. As she went around the back of the +house she came face to face with Mr. Smalley, who +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span> +was just going up on the back porch. He seemed +just as surprised to see her as she was to see him, so +Sahwah thought, but he was friendly enough and +asked if the Gardiners were at home. When Sahwah +said no, he said, “Then possibly they wouldn’t +mind if you gave me what I wanted. I came over +to see if they would lend me their wheel hoe, as +mine is broken and will have to be sent away to be +fixed, and I have a big job of hoeing that ought to +be done to-day.” Sahwah knew that Migwan would +not refuse to do a neighborly kindness like that as +long as they were not using the tool themselves, +and willingly lent it to him. +</p> +<p> +She was still in great distress of mind over the +ridiculous incident of the morning and did not want +to see the other girls when they came home. So +taking a pillow and a book, she wandered down the +river path to a quiet shady spot among the willows +and spent the afternoon in solitude. When the +other girls returned home Sahwah was nowhere to +be found. This did not greatly surprise them, however, +for they were used to her impetuous nature +and knew she was hiding somewhere. Hinpoha and +Gladys were up-stairs removing the dust of the road +from their faces and hands when they heard a +stealthy footstep overhead. “She’s hiding in the +attic!” said Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“She’ll melt up there,” said Gladys, “it must be +like an oven. Let’s coax her down and don’t any +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span> +of us say a word about the play. She must feel terrible +about it.” +</p> +<p> +So it was agreed among the girls that no mention +of Sahwah’s mishap should be made, and Hinpoha +went to the foot of the attic stairs and called +up: “Come on down, Sahwah, we’re all going out +on the river.” There was no answer. Hinpoha +called again: “Please come, Sahwah, we need you +to steer the raft.” Still no answer. Hinpoha went +up softly. She thought she could persuade Sahwah +to come down if none of the others were around. +But when she reached the top of the stairs there was +no sign of Sahwah anywhere. The place was stifling, +and Hinpoha gasped for breath. Sahwah must +be hiding among the old furniture. Hinpoha moved +things about, raising clouds of dust that nearly +choked her, and calling to Sahwah. No answer +came, and she did not find Sahwah hidden among +any of the things. Gladys came up to see what +was going on, followed by Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“She doesn’t seem to be up here after all,” said +Hinpoha, pausing to take breath. “It’s funny; I +certainly thought I heard someone up here.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you remember the time I thought I heard +someone up here in the night and you said it was +the noise made by rats or mice?” asked Migwan. +“It was probably that same thing again.” +</p> +<p> +“It must have been,” said Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe it was the ghost of that Mrs. Waterhouse, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span> +who died before she had her attic cleaned, +and comes back to move the furniture,” said Gladys. +In spite of its being daylight an unearthly thrill went +through the veins of the girls. The whole thing +was so mysterious and uncanny. +</p> +<p> +Migwan was looking around the attic. “Who +broke that window?” she asked, suddenly. The side +window, the one near the Balm of Gilead tree, was +shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. +</p> +<p> +“It wasn’t broken the day we brought Miss Mortimer +up,” said Gladys. “It must have happened +since then.” +</p> +<p> +“There must have been someone up here to-day,” +said Migwan. “Do you suppose—” here she +stopped. +</p> +<p> +“Suppose what?” asked Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose,” continued Migwan, “that +Sahwah was up here and broke it accidentally and is +afraid to show herself on account of it?” +</p> +<p> +“Maybe,” said Hinpoha, “but Sahwah’s not the +one to try to cover up anything like that. She’d +offer to pay for the damage and it wouldn’t worry +her five minutes.” +</p> +<p> +“It may have been broken the night of the storm,” +said Nyoda, who had arrived on the scene. “If I +remember rightly, we opened it when Miss Mortimer +was up here, and as it is only held up by a nail +and a rope hanging down from the ceiling, it could +easily have been torn loose in such a wind as that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span> +and slammed down against the casement and broken. +We were so excited trying to cover up the plants that +we did not hear the crash, if indeed, we could have +heard it in that thunder at all.” +</p> +<p> +This seemed such a plausible explanation that the +girls accepted it without question and dismissed the +matter from their minds. Descending from the hot +attic they went out on the river on the raft. As it +drew near supper time they feared that Sahwah +would stay away and miss her supper, and they +knew that she would have to show herself sometime, +so they determined to have it over with so Sahwah +could eat her supper in peace. On the path along +the river they found her handkerchief and knew +that she was somewhere near the water. They +called and called, but she did not answer. “I know +what will bring her from her hiding-place,” said +Nyoda. She unfolded her plan and the girls agreed. +They poled the raft back to the landing-place and +got on shore. Then they set Ophelia on the raft all +alone and sent it down-stream, telling her to scream +at the top of her voice as if she were frightened. +Ophelia obeyed and set up such a series of ear-splitting +shrieks as she floated down the river that it +was hard to believe that she was not in mortal terror. +The scheme worked admirably. Sahwah heard the +screams and peered through the bushes to see what +was happening. She saw Ophelia alone on the raft +and no one else in sight, and thought, of course, that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span> +she was afraid and ran out to reassure her. She +took hold of the tow line and pulled the raft back to +the landing-place. +</p> +<p> +“Whatever made you so scared?” she asked, as +Ophelia stepped on terra firma. +</p> +<p> +“Pooh, I wasn’t scared at all,” said Ophelia, +grandly. “They told me to scream so you’d come +out.” So Sahwah knew the trick that had been +practised on her, but instead of being pleased to +think that the girls wanted her with them so badly +she was more irritated than before. There was no +further use of hiding; she had to go into the house +now and eat her supper with the rest. The meal was +not such a trial for her as she had anticipated, because +no one mentioned the subject of moving pictures, +or acted as if anything had happened at all. +After supper Nyoda brought out a magazine showing +pictures of the Rocky Mountains and the girls +gave this their strict attention. Nyoda read aloud +the descriptions that went with the pictures. In one +place she read: “The barren aspect of the hillside +is due to a landslide which swept everything before +it.” +</p> +<p> +At this Migwan’s thoughts went back to the scene +on the hillside that day, when the human landslide +was in progress. Now Migwan, in spite of her +serious appearance, had a sense of humor which at +times got the upper hand of her altogether. The +memory of those figures rolling down the hill was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span> +too much for her and she dissolved abruptly into +hysterical laughter. She vainly tried to control it +and buried her face in her handkerchief, but it was +no use. The harder she tried to stop laughing the +harder she laughed. “Oh,” she gasped, “I never +saw anything so funny as when you rolled against +Miss Mortimer and Mr. Chambers and knocked +them off their feet.” +</p> +<p> +After Migwan’s hysterical outburst the rest could +not restrain their laughter either, and Sahwah became +the butt of all the humorous remarks that had +been accumulating in the minds of the rest. If it +had been anyone else but Migwan who had started +them off, Sahwah would possibly have forgiven that +one, but since selling her two plots to Mr. Larue +Migwan had been holding her head pretty high. +That Migwan had succeeded in her end of the motion +picture business when she had failed in hers +galled Sahwah to death and she fancied that Migwan +was trying to “rub it in.” +</p> +<p> +“I hope everything I do will cause you as much +pleasure,” she said stiffly. “I suppose nothing could +make you happier than to see me do something ridiculous +every day.” Sahwah had slipped off her balance +wheel altogether. +</p> +<p> +Migwan sobered up when she heard Sahwah’s injured +tone. She never dreamed Sahwah had taken +the occurrence so much to heart. It was not her +usual way. “Please don’t be angry, Sahwah,” she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span> +said, contritely. “I just couldn’t help laughing. +You know how light headed I am.” +</p> +<p> +But Sahwah would have none of her apology. +“I’ll leave you folks to have as much fun over it +as you please,” she said coldly, rising and going up-stairs. +</p> +<p> +Migwan was near to tears and would have gone +after her, but Nyoda restrained her. “Let her +alone,” she advised, “and she’ll come out of it all +the sooner.” +</p> +<p> +Sahwah was herself again in the morning as far +as the others were concerned, but she still treated +Migwan somewhat coldly and it was evident that +she had not forgiven her. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span>CHAPTER VIII.—A CANNING EPISODE.</h2> +<p> +Three times every week Migwan had been making +the trip to town with a machine-load of vegetables, +which was disposed of to an ever growing +list of customers. Thanks to the early start the +garden had been given by Mr. Mitchell, and the +constant care it received at the hands of Migwan +and her willing helpers, Migwan always managed +to bring out her produce a day or so in advance of +most of the other growers in the neighborhood and +so could command a better price at first than she +could have if she had arrived on the scene at flood +tide. After every trip there was a neat little sum +to put in the old cocoa can which Migwan used as +a bank until there was enough accumulated to make +a real bank deposit. The asparagus had passed beyond +its vegetable days and had grown up in tall +feathery shoots that made a pretty sight as they +stood in a long row against the fence. The new +strawberry plants had taken root and were growing +vigorously; the cucumbers were thriving like +fat babies. The squashes and melons were running +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span> +a race, as Sahwah said, to see which could hold +up the most fruit on their vines; the corn-stalks +stood straight and tall, holding in their arms their +firstborn, silky tassel-capped children, like proud +young fathers. +</p> +<p> +But it was the tomato bed in which Migwan’s +dearest hopes were bound up. The frames sagged +with exhaustion at the task of holding up the weight +of crimsoning globes that hung on the vines. Migwan +tended this bed as a mother broods over a +favorite child, fingering over the leaves for loathsome +tomato worms, spraying the plants to keep +away diseases, and cultivating the ground around +the roots. All suckers were ruthlessly snipped off as +soon as they grew, so that the entire strength of the +plants could go into the ripening of tomatoes. For +it was on that tomato bed that Migwan’s fortune +depended. While the proceeds from the remainder +of the garden were gratifying, they were not great +enough to make up the sum which Migwan needed +to go to college, as the vegetables were not raised +in large enough quantities. Migwan carefully estimated +the amount she would realize from the sale +of the tomatoes and found that it would not be large +enough, and decided she could make more out of +them by canning them. At Nyoda’s advice the Winnebagos +formed themselves into a Canning Club, +which would give them the right to use the 4H +label, which stood for Head, Hand, Health and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span> +Heart, and was recognized by dealers in various +places. According to the methods of the Canning +Club they canned the tomatoes in tin cans, with tops +neatly soldered on. After an interview with various +hotels and restaurants in the city Nyoda succeeded +in establishing a market for Migwan’s goods, +and the canning went on in earnest. The whole +family were pressed into service, and for days they +did nothing but peel from morning until night. +</p> +<p> +“I’m getting to be such an expert peeler,” said +Hinpoha, “that I automatically reach out in my +sleep and start to peel Migwan.” +</p> +<p> +Nyoda made up a gay little song about the peeling. +To the tune of “Comrades, comrades, ever +since we were boys,” she sang, “Peeling, peeling, +ever since 6 A.M.” +</p> +<p> +Several places had asked for homemade ketchup +and Migwan prepared to supply the demand. Never +did a prize housekeeper, making ketchup for a +county fair, take such pains as Migwan did with +hers. She took care to use only the best spices and +the best vinegar; she put in a few peach leaves from +the tree to give it a finer flavor; she stood beside +the big iron preserving kettle and stirred the mixture +all the while it was boiling to be sure that it +would not settle and burn. Everyone in the house +had to taste it to be sure it found favor with a number +of critical palates. “Wouldn’t you like to put +a few bay leaves into it?” asked her mother. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span> +“There are some in the glass jar in the pantry. +They are all crumbled and broken up fine, but they +are still good.” Migwan put a spoonful of the +broken leaves into the ketchup; then she put another. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I never was so tired,” she sighed, when at +last it had boiled long enough and she shoved it +back. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s all go out on the river,” proposed Nyoda, +“and forget our toil for awhile.” Sahwah was the +last out of the kitchen, having stopped to drink a +glass of water, and while she was drinking her eye +roved over the table and caught sight of half a +dozen cloves that had spilled out of a box. Gathering +them up in her hand she dropped them into the +ketchup. Just then Migwan came back for something +and the two went out together. +</p> +<p> +“And now for the bottling,” said Migwan, when +the supper dishes were put away, and she set several +dozen shining glass bottles on the table. After +she had been dipping up the ketchup for awhile she +paused in her work to sit down for a few moments +and count up her expected profits. “Let’s see,” she +said, “forty bottles at fifteen cents a bottle is six +dollars. That isn’t so bad for one day’s work. +But I hope I don’t have many days of such work,” +she added. “My back is about broken with stirring.” +About thirty of the bottles were filled and +sealed when she took this little breathing spell. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span> +</p> +<p> +“Let me have a taste,” said Hinpoha, eyeing the +brown mixture longingly. +</p> +<p> +“Help yourself,” said Migwan. Hinpoha took a +spoonful. Her face drew up into the most frightful +puckers. Running to the sink she took a hasty +drink of water. “What’s the matter?” said Migwan, +viewing her in alarm. “Did you choke on +it?” +</p> +<p> +“Taste it!” cried Hinpoha. “It’s as bitter as +gall.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan took a taste of the ketchup and looked +fit to drop. “Whatever is the matter with it?” she +gasped. One after another the girls tasted it and +voiced their mystification. “It couldn’t have spoiled +in that short time,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +Then she suddenly remembered having seen Sahwah +drop something into the kettle as it stood on +the back of the stove. Could it be possible that +Sahwah was seeking revenge for having been made +fun of? “Sahwah,” she gasped, unbelievingly, +“did you put anything into the ketchup that made +it bitter?” +</p> +<p> +“I did not,” said Sahwah, the indignant color +flaming into her face. She had already forgotten +the incident of the cloves. She saw Nyoda and the +other girls look at her in surprise at Migwan’s +words. Her temper rose to the boiling point. “I +know what you’re thinking,” she said, fiercely. +“You think I did something to the ketchup to get +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span> +even with Migwan, but I didn’t, so there. I don’t +know any more about it than you do.” +</p> +<p> +“I take it all back,” said Migwan, alarmed at the +tempest she had set astir, and bursting into tears +buried her head on her arms on the kitchen table. +All that work gone for nothing! +</p> +<p> +Sahwah ran from the room in a fearful passion. +Nyoda tried to comfort Migwan. “It’s a lucky +thing we found it before the stuff was sold,” she +said, “or your trade would have been ruined.” She +and the other girls threw the ketchup out and +washed the bottles. +</p> +<p> +“Whatever could have happened to it?” said +Gladys, wonderingly. +</p> +<p> +Migwan lifted her face. “I want to tell you +something, Nyoda,” she said. “I suppose you wonder +why I asked Sahwah if she had put anything in. +Well, when I went back into the kitchen after my +hat when we were going out on the river, Sahwah +was there, and she was dropping something into the +kettle.” +</p> +<p> +“You don’t mean it?” said Nyoda, incredulously. +Nyoda understood Sahwah’s blind impulses of passion, +and she could not help noticing for the last few +days that Sahwah was still nursing her wrath at +Migwan for laughing at her, and she wondered if +she could have lost control of herself for an instant +and spoiled the ketchup. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile Sahwah, up-stairs, had cooled down +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span> +almost as rapidly as she had flared up, and began to +think that she had been a little hasty in her outburst. +She, therefore, descended the back stairs with +the idea of making peace with the family and helping +to wash the bottles. But halfway down the +stairs she happened to hear Migwan’s remark and +Nyoda’s answer, and the long silence which followed +it. Immediately her fury mounted again to think +that they suspected her of doing such an underhand +trick. “They don’t trust me!” she cried, over and +over again to herself. “They don’t believe what I +said; they think I did it and told a lie about it.” All +night she tossed and nursed her sense of injury and +by morning her mind was made up. She would +leave this place where everyone was against her, and +where even Nyoda mistrusted her. That was the +most unkind cut of all. +</p> +<p> +When she did not appear at the breakfast table +the rest began to wonder. Betty reported that Sahwah +had not been in bed when she woke up, which +was late, and she thought she had risen and dressed +and gone down-stairs without disturbing her. There +was no sign of her in the garden or on the river. +Both the rowboat and the raft were at the landing-place. +There was an uncomfortable restraint at the +breakfast table. Each one was thinking of something +and did not want the others to see it. That +thing was that Sahwah had a guilty conscience and +was afraid to face the girls. Migwan’s eyes filled +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span> +with tears when she thought how her dear friend +had injured her. A blow delivered by the hand of +a friend is so much worse than one from an enemy. +The table was always set the night before and the +plates turned down. +</p> +<p> +“What’s this sticking out under Sahwah’s +plate?” asked Gladys. It was a note which she +opened and read and then sat down heavily in her +chair. The rest crowded around to see. This was +what they read: “As long as you don’t trust me +and think I do underhand things you will probably +be glad to get rid of me altogether. Don’t look for +me, for I will never come back. You may give my +place in the Winnebagos to someone else.” It was +signed “Sarah Ann Brewster,” and not the familiar +“Sahwah.” +</p> +<p> +“Sahwah’s run away!” gasped Migwan in distress, +and the girls all ran up to her room. Her +clothes were gone from their hooks and her suit-case +was gone from under the bed. The girls faced each +other in consternation. +</p> +<p> +“Do you think she had anything to do with the +ketchup, after all?” asked Gladys, thoughtfully. +“It was so unlike her to do anything of that kind.” +</p> +<p> +“Then why did she run away?” asked Migwan, +perplexed. +</p> +<p> +The morning passed miserably. They missed +Sahwah at every turn. Several times the girls forgot +themselves and sang out “O Sahwah!” Nyoda +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span> +did not doubt for a moment that Sahwah had gone +to her own home, but she thought it best not to go +after her immediately. Sahwah’s hot temper must +cool before she would come to herself. Nyoda was +puzzled at her conduct. If she had nothing to be +ashamed of why had she run away? That was the +question which kept coming up in her mind. Nothing +went right in the house or the garden that day. +Everyone was out of sorts. Migwan absent-mindedly +pulled up a whole row of choice plants instead +of weeds; Gladys ran the automobile into a tree and +bent up the fender; Hinpoha slammed the door on +her finger nail; Nyoda burnt her hand. Ophelia was +just dressed for the afternoon in a clean, starched +white dress when she fell into the river and had +to be dressed over again from head to foot. The +whole household was too cross for words. The departure +of Sahwah was the first rupture that had +ever occurred in the closely linked ranks of the Winnebagos +and they were all broken up over it. +</p> +<p> +When Mrs. Gardiner was cooking beef for supper +she told Migwan to get her some bay leaf to +flavor it with. Migwan brought out the glass jar +of crushed leaves. “That’s not the bay leaf,” said +her mother, and went to look for it herself. “Here +it is,” she said, bringing another glass jar down +from a higher shelf. +</p> +<p> +“Then what’s this?” asked Migwan, indicating +the first jar. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span> +</p> +<p> +“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said Mrs. Gardiner. +“It was in the pantry when we came.” +</p> +<p> +“But this was what I put into the ketchup,” said +Migwan. Hastily unscrewing the top she shook +out some of the contents and tasted them. Her +mouth contracted into a fearful pucker. Never in +her life had she tasted anything so bitter. +</p> +<p> +“I did it myself,” she said, in a dazed tone. “I +spoiled the ketchup myself.” At her shout the girls +came together in the kitchen to hear the story of +the mistaken ingredient. +</p> +<p> +“What can that be?” they all asked. Nobody +knew. It was some dried herb that had been left +by the former mistress of the house, and a powerful +one. The girls looked at each other blankly. +</p> +<p> +“And I accused Sahwah of doing it,” said Migwan, +remorsefully. “No wonder she flared up and +left us, I don’t blame her a bit. I wouldn’t thank +anyone for accusing me wrongfully of anything +like that.” +</p> +<p> +“We’ll have to go after her this very evening,” +said Gladys, “and bring her back.” +</p> +<p> +“If she’ll come,” said Hinpoha, knowing Sahwah’s +proud spirit. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I’m quite willing to grovel in the dust at +her feet,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +Gladys drove them all into town with her and they +sped to the Brewster house. It was all dark and +silent. Sahwah was evidently not there. They tried +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span> +the neighbors. They all denied that she had been +near the house. They finally came to this conclusion +themselves, for in the light of the street lamp +just in front of the house they could see that the +porch was covered with a month’s accumulation of +yellow dust which bore no footmarks but their +own. +</p> +<p> +Here was a new problem. They had come expecting +to offer profuse apologies to Sahwah and +carry her back with them to Onoway House rejoicing, +and it was a shock to find her gone. The +thought of letting her go on believing that they mistrusted +her was intolerable, but how were they going +to clear matters up? Sahwah had no relatives +in town, and, of course, they did not know all her +friends, so it would be hard to find her. That is, +if she had ever reached town at all. Something +might have happened to her on the way—Nyoda and +Gladys sought each other’s eyes and each thought of +what had happened to them on the way to Bates +Villa. +</p> +<p> +With heavy hearts they rode back to Onoway +House. The days went by cheerlessly. A week +passed since Sahwah had run away, but no word +came from her. Nyoda interviewed the conductors +on the interurban car line to find out if Sahwah had +taken the car into the city. No one remembered a +girl of that description on the day mentioned. Sahwah +had only one hat—a conspicuous red one—and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span> +she would not fail to attract attention. Thoroughly +alarmed, Nyoda decided on a course of action. She +called up the various newspapers in town and asked +them to print a notice to the effect that Sahwah had +disappeared. If Sahwah were in town she would +see it and knowing that they were worried about her +would let them know where she was. The notice +came out in the papers, and a day or two passed, +but there was no word from Sahwah. Nyoda and +Gladys made a hurried trip to town to put the +police on the track. Just before they got to the +city limits they had a blowout and were delayed +some time before they could go on. As they waited +in the road another machine came along and the +driver stopped and offered assistance. Nyoda recognized +a friend of hers in the machine, a Miss +Barnes, teacher in a local gymnasium. +</p> +<p> +“Hello, Miss Kent,” she called, cheerfully, “I +haven’t seen you for an age. Where have you been +keeping yourself?” +</p> +<p> +“Where have you been keeping yourself?” returned +Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“I, Oh, I’m working this summer,” replied Miss +Barnes. “I’m just in town on business. I’m helping +to conduct a girls’ summer camp on the lake +shore. I thought possibly you would bring your +Camp Fire group out there this summer. One of +your girls is out there now.” +</p> +<p> +“Which one?” asked Nyoda, thinking of Chapa +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span> +and Nakwisi, whom she had heard talking about +going. +</p> +<p> +“One by the name of Brewster,” said Miss +Barnes, “a regular mermaid in the water. She has +the girls out there standing open-mouthed at her +swimming and diving. Why, what’s the matter?” +she asked, as Nyoda gave a sigh of relief that +seemed to come from her boots. +</p> +<p> +“Nothing,” replied Nyoda, “only we’ve been +scouring the town for that very girl.” +</p> +<p> +“You have?” asked Miss Barnes, with interest. +“Would you like to come out and visit her?” +</p> +<p> +“Could I?” asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Certainly,” said Miss Barnes, “come right out +with me now. I’m going back.” +</p> +<p> +And so Sahwah’s mysterious disappearance was +cleared up. When the Winnebagos, lined up in the +road, saw the automobile approaching, and that Sahwah +was in it, they welcomed her back into their +midst with a rousing Winnebago cheer that warmed +her to the heart. All the clouds had been rolled +away by Nyoda’s explanations and this was a triumphant +homecoming. A regular feast was spread +for her, and as she ate she related her adventures +since leaving the house early that other morning. +Without forming any plan of where she was going +she had walked up the road in the opposite direction +of the car line and then a farmer had come along +on a wagon and given her a lift. He had taken her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span> +all the way to the other car line, three miles below +Onoway House. She had come into the city by this +route. She did not want to go home for fear they +would come after her, so she went to the Young +Women’s Christian Association. As she sat in the +rest room wondering what she should do next she +heard two girls talking about registering for camp. +This seemed to her a timely suggestion, and she followed +them to the registration desk and registered +for two weeks. She went out that same day. When +she arrived there she did such feats in the water +that they asked her if she would not stay all summer +and help teach the girls to swim. She said +she would, and so saw a very easy way out of her +difficulty. The reason they had not heard from her +when they put the notice in the papers was because +they did not get the city papers in camp. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah surveyed the faces around the table with +a beaming countenance. After all, she could only +be entirely happy with the Winnebagos. Migwan +and she were once more on the best of terms. +</p> +<p> +“But tell us,” said Hinpoha, now that this was +safe ground to tread upon, “what it was you put +into the ketchup.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” said Sahwah, who now remembered all +about it, “those were a couple of cloves that were +lying on the table.” +</p> +<p> +And so the last bit of mystery was cleared up. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span>CHAPTER IX.—OPHELIA DANCES THE SUN DANCE.</h2> +<p> +Among the other books at Onoway House there +was a Manual of the Woodcraft Indians which belonged +to Sahwah, and which she was very fond of +quoting and reading to the other girls when they +were inclined to hang back at some of the expeditions +she proposed. One night she read aloud the chapter +about “dancing the sun dance,” that is, becoming +sunburned from head to foot without blistering. +On a day not long after this Ophelia might have been +seen standing beside the river clad only in a thin, +white slip. Stepping from the bank, she immersed +herself in the water, then stood in the sun, holding +out her arms and turning up her face to its glare. +When the blazing August sunlight began to feel uncomfortably +warm on her body she plunged into the +cooling flood and then came up to stand on the bank +again. She did this straight through for two hours, +and then began to investigate the result. Her arms +were a beautiful brilliant red, and the length of +leg that extended out from the slip was the same +shade. She felt wonderfully pleased, and dipped +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span> +in the water again and again to cool off and then +returned to the burning process. When the dinner +bell rang she returned to the house, eager to show +her achievement. But she did not feel so enthusiastic +now as when she first beheld her scarlet appearance. +Something was wrong. It seemed as if +she were on fire from head to foot. She looked at +her arms. They were no longer such a pretty red; +they had swelled up in large, white blisters. So had +her legs. She could hardly see out of her eyes. +</p> +<p> +“Ophelia!” gasped the girls, when she came into +the house. “What has happened? Have you been +scalded?” +</p> +<p> +“I’ve been doing your old Sun Dance,” said +Ophelia, painfully. +</p> +<p> +Never in all their lives had they seen such a case +of sunburn. Every inch of her body was covered +with blisters as big as a hand. The sun had burned +right through the flimsy garment she wore. There +was a pattern around her neck where the embroidery +had left its trace. She screamed every time they +tried to touch her. Nyoda worked quickly and +deftly and the luckless sun dancer was wrapped from +head to foot in soft linen bandages until she looked +like a mummy. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah sought Nyoda in tribulation. “Was it +my fault,” she asked, “for reading her that book? +She never would have thought of it if I hadn’t given +her the idea.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span> +</p> +<p> +“No,” answered Nyoda, “it wasn’t your fault. +It said emphatically in the book that the coat of tan +should be acquired gradually. You couldn’t foresee +that she would stand in the sun that way. So don’t +worry about it any longer.” +</p> +<p> +“Still, I feel in a measure responsible,” said Sahwah, +“and I ought to be the one to take care of +her. Let me sleep in the room with her to-night +and get up if she wants anything.” Sahwah’s desire +to help was so sincere that she insisted upon +being allowed to do it, and took upon herself all the +care of the sunburned Ophelia, which was no small +job, for the pain from the blisters made her frightfully +cross. +</p> +<p> +Nyoda was surprised to see Sahwah keeping at it +with such persistent good nature and apparent success, +for as a rule she was not a good one to take +care of the sick; she was in too much of a hurry. +She would generally spill the water when she was +trying to give a drink to her patient, or fall over +the rug, or drop dishes; and the effect she produced +was irritating rather than soothing. But in this +case she seemed to be making a desperate effort to +do things correctly so she would be allowed to continue, +and fetched and carried all the afternoon in +obedience to Ophelia’s whims. She read her stories +to while away the painful hours and when supper +time came made her a wonderful egg salad in the +form of a water lily, and cut sandwiches into odd +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span> +shapes to beguile her into eating them. When evening +came and Ophelia was restless and could not go +to sleep she sang to her in her clear, high voice, +songs of camp and firelight. One by one the Winnebagos +drifted in and joined their voices to hers in +a beautifully blended chorus. +</p> +<p> +“Gee, that’s what it must be like in heaven,” +sighed the child of the streets, as she listened to +them. The Winnebagos smiled tenderly and sang +on until she dropped off to sleep. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah slept with one eye open listening for a +call from Ophelia. She heard her stirring restlessly +in the night and went over and sat beside her. +“Can’t you sleep?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“No,” complained Ophelia. “Say, will you tell +me that story again?” +</p> +<p> +Sahwah began, “Once upon a time there was a +little girl and she had a fairy godmother——” +</p> +<p> +“What’s a fairy godmother?” interrupted +Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” said Sahwah, “it’s somebody who looks +after you especially and is very good to you and +grants all your wishes, and always comes when +you’re in trouble——” +</p> +<p> +“Who’s my fairy godmother?” demanded +Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know,” said Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“I bet I haven’t got any!” said Ophelia, suspiciously. +“I didn’t have a father and mother like the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span> +rest of the kids and I bet I haven’t got any fairy +godmother either.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes, you have,” said Sahwah to soothe her, +“you have one only you haven’t seen her yet. Wait +and she’ll appear.” But Ophelia lay with her face +to the wall and said no more. “Would you like me +to bring you a drink?” asked Sahwah, a few minutes +later. Ophelia replied with a nod and Sahwah +went down to the kitchen. There was no drinking +water in sight and Sahwah hesitated about going out +to the well at that time of the night. Then she remembered +that a pail of well water had been taken +down cellar that evening to keep cool. Taking a +light she descended the cellar stairs. When she was +nearly to the bottom she heard a subdued crash, like +a basket of something being thrown over, followed +by a series of small bumping sounds. She stood +stock still, afraid to move off the step. +</p> +<p> +Then, summoning her voice, she cried, “Who is +down there?” No answer came from the darkness +below. After that first crash there was not another +sound. Sahwah was not naturally timid, and her +one explanation for all night noises in a house was +rats. Besides, she had started after water for +Ophelia, and she meant to get it. She went down +stairs and looked all around with her light. She +soon found the thing which had made the noise. It +was a basket of potatoes which had fallen over and +as the potatoes rolled out on the cement floor they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span> +had made those odd little after noises which +had puzzled her. Satisfied that nobody was in the +house she took her pail of water and went up-stairs, +glad that she had not roused the house and brought +out a laugh against herself. +</p> +<p> +She gave Ophelia the drink, and being feverish +she drank it eagerly and murmured gratefully, “I +guess you’re my fairy godmother.” As Sahwah +turned to go to bed Ophelia thrust out a bandaged +hand and caught hold of her gown. “Stay with +me,” she said, and Sahwah sat down again beside +the bed until Ophelia fell asleep. Sahwah felt +pleased and elated at being chosen by Ophelia as +the one she wanted near her. It was not often that +a child singled Sahwah out from the group as an +object of affection; they usually went to Gladys or +Hinpoha. So she responded quickly to the advances +made by Ophelia and thenceforth made a special pet +of her, taking her part on all occasions. +</p> +<p> +Soon after Ophelia’s experience with sunburn a +rainy spell set in which lasted a week. Every day +they were greeted by grey skies and a steady downpour, +fine for the parched garden, but hard on +amusements. They played card games until they +were weary of the sight of a card; they played every +other game they knew until it palled on them, and +on the fifth day of rain they surrounded Nyoda +and clamored for something new to do. Nyoda +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span> +scratched her head thoughtfully and asked if they +would like to play Thieves’ Market. +</p> +<p> +“Play what?” asked Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“Thieves’ Market,” said Nyoda. “You know in +Mexico there is an institution known as the Thieves’ +Market, where stolen goods are sold to the public. +We will not discuss the moral aspect of the business, +but I thought we could make a game out of it. +Let’s each get a hold of some possession of each one +of the others’ without being seen and put a price on +it. The price will not be a money value, of course, +but a stunt. The owner of the article will have first +chance at the stunt and if she fails the thing will go +to whoever can buy it. If anyone fails to get a +possession from each one of the rest to add to the +collection she can’t play, and if she is seen by the +owner while ‘stealing’ it she will have to put it +back. We’ll hold the Thieves’ Market to-night after +supper in the parlor and I’ll be storekeeper.” +</p> +<p> +The Winnebagos, always on the lookout for something +novel and entertaining, seized on the idea with +rapture. The rain was forgotten that afternoon +as they scurried around the house trying to seize +upon articles belonging to the others, and at the +same time trying valiantly to guard their own possessions. +It was not hard to get Sahwah’s things, +for she had a habit of leaving them lying all over +the house. Her red hat had fallen a victim the +first thing; likewise her shoes and tennis racket. It +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span> +was harder to get anything away from Nyoda, for +she seemed to be Argus eyed; but providentially +she was called to the telephone, and while she was +talking they made their raid. +</p> +<p> +When opened, the Thieves’ Market presented +such a conglomeration of articles that at first the +girls could only stand and wonder how those things +had ever been taken away from them without their +knowing it, for many of them were possessions +which were usually hidden from sight while the +owners fondly believed that their existence was unknown. +Migwan gave a cry of dismay when she +beheld her “Autobiography,” which she was carefully +keeping a secret from the rest, out in full view +on the table. “How did you ever find it?” she +gasped. “It was folded up in my clothes.” +</p> +<p> +But Migwan’s embarrassment was nothing compared +to Nyoda’s when she caught sight of a certain +photograph. She blushed scarlet while the girls +teased her unmercifully. It was a picture of Sherry, +the serenader of the camp the summer before. Until +they found the photograph the girls did not know +that Nyoda was corresponding with him. And the +prices on the various things were the funniest of all. +The girls had come down that evening dressed in +their middies and bloomers for they had a suspicion +that there would be some acrobatic stunts taking +place, and it was well that they did. To redeem +her hat Sahwah had to stand on her head and to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span> +get her bedroom slippers Gladys had to jump +through a hoop from a chair. Hinpoha had to +wrestle with Nyoda for the possession of her paint +box, and the price of Betty’s shoes was to throw +them over her shoulder into a basket. At the first +throw she knocked a vase off the table, but luckily +it did not break, and she was warned that another +accident would result in her going shoeless. Migwan +tremblingly approached the Autobiography to +find out the price. It was “Read one chapter +aloud.” “I won’t do it,” said Migwan, flatly. +</p> +<p> +“Next customer,” cried Nyoda, pounding with +her hammer. “For the simple price of reading +aloud one chapter I will sell this complete autobiography +of a pious life, profusely illustrated by the +author.” Sahwah hastened up to “buy” the book, +but Migwan headed her off in a hurry and read the +first chapter with as good grace as she could, amid +the cheers and applause of the other customers. +Sahwah made a grimace when she had to polish the +shoes of everyone present to get her shoe brush back. +</p> +<p> +Thus the various articles in the Thieves’ Market +were disposed of amid much laughter and merry-making, +until there remained but one article, a cold +chisel. Nyoda went through the usual formula, offering +it for sale, but no one came to claim it. She +redoubled her pleas, but with the same result. “For +the third and last time I offer this great bargain in +a cold chisel for the simple price of jumping over +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span> +three chairs in succession,” she said, with a flourish. +Nobody appeared to be anxious to redeem their +property. “Whose is it?” she asked, mystified. +</p> +<p> +It apparently belonged to no one. “It’s yours, +Gladys,” said Sahwah, “I stole it from you.” +</p> +<p> +“Mine?” asked Gladys, in surprise. “I don’t +own any chisel. Where did you get it from?” +</p> +<p> +“Out of the automobile,” answered Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“But it doesn’t belong there,” said Gladys. +“There’s no chisel among the tools. You’re joking, +you found it somewhere else.” +</p> +<p> +“No, really,” said Sahwah, “I found it in the +car this afternoon.” +</p> +<p> +“Mother,” called Migwan, “were there any tools +left in the barn by Mr. Mitchell?” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing but the garden tools,” answered her +mother. Tom also denied any knowledge of the +chisel. +</p> +<p> +“Girls,” said Nyoda, seriously, “there is something +going on here that I do not understand. First +Migwan thought she heard footsteps in the attic; +then a ghost appeared to me in the tepee; one night +we saw a man running out of the barn, and later +on that night Migwan claims to have run into a +man in the garden. Soon afterward Hinpoha was +sure she heard footsteps in the attic, and when we +went up we found the window broken. Just a few +nights ago a basket of potatoes was mysteriously +knocked over in the cellar in the middle of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span> +night, and now we find a chisel in the automobile +which does not belong to us. It looks for all the +world as if somebody were trying to break into this +house, in fact, has broken in on a number of occasions.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan shrieked and covered up her ears. “A +mystery!” said Sahwah, theatrically. “How thrilling!” +The interest in the Thieves’ Market died out +before this new and alarming idea. +</p> +<p> +“It may be only a remarkable series of co-incidences,” +said Nyoda, seeing the fright of the girls, +“but it certainly looks suspicious. That window +may possibly have been broken by the wind during +the storm, and the footsteps may have been rats or +Mrs. Waterhouse’s ghost, and the ghost in the tepee +may have been a practical joker, but baskets of potatoes +do not fall over of their own accord in the +middle of the night and cold chisels don’t grow in +automobiles. There’s something wrong and we +ought to find out what it is.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I’ll never go up-stairs alone again,” shuddered +Migwan. “Sahwah, how did you ever dare +go down cellar in the dark after you heard that +noise?” And she shivered violently at the very +thought. +</p> +<p> +“Tom, can you handle a gun?” asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” answered Tom. +</p> +<p> +“I’m going to buy a little automatic pistol to-morrow,” +said Nyoda, “and teach everyone of you +girls how to shoot it.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span> +</p> +<p> +“I wonder if we hadn’t better try to get Calvin +Smalley to sleep in the house,” said Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“I can take care of you,” said Tom, proudly. +Nothing else was talked of for the remainder of the +evening and when bed time came there was a general +reluctance to become separated from the rest of the +household. But, although they listened for footsteps +in the attic they heard nothing, and the night passed +away peacefully. +</p> +<p> +The next night the ghost became active again. +Whether it was the same one or a different one they +did not find out, however, for they did not see it this +time, only heard it. Just about bed time it was, a +strange, weird moaning sound that filled the house +and echoed through the big halls. Whether it proceeded +from the basement or the attic they were unable +to make out; it seemed to come from everywhere +and nowhere. Migwan clung close to her +mother and trembled. The sound rang out again, +more weird than before. It was bloodcurdling. +Nyoda opened the window and fired several shots +into the air. The moaning sound stopped abruptly +and was heard no more that night, but sleep was out +of the question. The girls were too excited and +fearful. The next day Mrs. Gardiner advised everybody +to hide their valuables away. The peaceful life +at Onoway House was broken up. The household +lived in momentary expectation of something happening. +“And this is the quiet of the country,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span> +sighed Migwan, “where I was to grow fat and +strong. I’m worn to a frazzle worrying about this +mystery.” +</p> +<p> +“So’m I,” said Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“And I’m getting thin,” said Hinpoha, which +brought out a general laugh. +</p> +<p> +“Not so you could notice it,” said Sahwah. +Whereupon Hinpoha tried to smother her with a +pillow and the two rolled over on the bed, struggling. +</p> +<p> +As if worrying about a burglar were not enough, +Sahwah and Gladys had another exciting experience +one day that week. If we were to stretch a point +and trace things back to their beginnings it was the +fault of the Winnebagos themselves, for if they +hadn’t gone horseback riding that day—— Well, +Farmer Landsdowne came over in the morning and +said he had a pair of horses which were not working +and if they wanted to go horseback riding now was +their chance. The girls were delighted with the idea +and flew to don bloomers. None of them had ever +ridden before and excitement ran high. Naturally +there were no saddles, for Farmer Landsdowne’s +horses were not ridden as a general rule, and the +girls had to ride bareback. +</p> +<p> +“It feels like trying to straddle a table,” said +Migwan, marveling at the width of the horse she was +on. “My legs aren’t half long enough.” She clung +desperately to his mane as he began to trot and she +began to slide all over him. “He’s so slippery I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span> +can’t stick on,” she gasped. The horse stopped abruptly +as she jerked on the reins and she slid off as +if he had been greased, and landed in the soft grass +beside the road. +</p> +<p> +“Here, let me try,” said Sahwah, impatient for +her turn. “He isn’t either slippery,” she said, when +she got on, “he’s bony, horribly bony. He’s just +like knives.” She jolted up and down a few times +on his hip bones and an idea jolted into her head. +Getting off she ran into the house and came out again +with a sofa pillow, which she proceeded to tie on his +back. Then she rode in comparative comfort, amid +the laughter of the girls. +</p> +<p> +Calvin Smalley, who happened to be working out +in front and saw her ride past, doubled up with +laughter over his vegetable bed. “What next?” he +chuckled. “What next?” He was still thinking +about this and laughing over it when he went +through the empty field which Sahwah had crossed +the time she had discovered the house among the +trees, and where Abner Smalley now pastured his +bull. So absorbed was he in the memory of that +ridiculous pillow tied on the horse that he was not +careful in putting up the bars behind him when he +left the field, and later in the afternoon the bull +wandered over in that direction and came through +into the next field. He found the river road and +followed it and began to graze in one of the unploughed +fields belonging to Onoway House. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span> +</p> +<p> +Sahwah, wearing her big, red hat, was bending +low over the ground, digging up some ferns which +grew there, when all of a sudden she heard a loud +snort and looked up to see the bull charging down +upon her. She looked wildly around for a place of +safety. Nothing was nearer than the far-off hedge +that surrounded the cultivated garden patch. Not a +tree, not a fence, in sight. Quick as light she +bounded off toward the hedge, although she knew +it would be impossible for her to reach it before +the bull would be upon her. +</p> +<p> +Gladys, coming along the road in the automobile, +heard a shriek and looked up to see Sahwah tearing +across the open field with the bull hard after her. +Without a moment’s hesitation Gladys turned the +car into the field and started after the bull at full +speed. She let the car out every notch and it +whizzed dizzily over the hard turf. She sounded +the horn again and again with the hope of attracting +the attention of the bull, but he did not pause. Like +lightning she bore down upon him, passed to one +side and slowed down for a second beside Sahwah, +who jumped on the running-board and was borne +away to safety. +</p> +<p> +“This hum-drum, uneventful life,” said Sahwah, +as she sat on the porch half an hour afterward and +tried to catch her breath, while the rest fanned her +with palm leaf fans, “is getting a little too much +for me!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span>CHAPTER X.—A BIRTHDAY PARTY</h2> +<p> +After Nyoda had fired the shots out of the window, +nothing was heard or seen of the ghost and the +footsteps in the attic ceased. “It’s just as I +thought,” said Nyoda, “someone has been trying +to frighten us with a possible view of robbing the +house at some time, thinking that a houseful of +women would be terror-stricken at the ghostly +noises, but when he found we had a gun and could +shoot he thought better of the plan.” Gradually the +girls lost their fright, and the odd corners of Onoway +House regained their old charm. They were +far too busy with the canning to think of much else, +for the tomatoes were ripening in such large quantities +that it was all they could do to dispose of +them. The 4H brand found favor and the market +gradually increased, and every week Migwan had a +goodly sum to deposit in the bank after the cost of +the tin cans had been deducted. +</p> +<p> +“I have to laugh when I think of that honor in +the book,” said Migwan, “can at least three cans of +fruit,” and she pointed to the cans stacked on the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span> +back porch ready to be packed into the automobile +and taken to town. “Why, hello, Calvin,” she said, +as Calvin Smalley appeared at the back door. +“Come in.” Calvin came in and sat down. +“What’s the matter?” asked Migwan, for his face +had a frightened and distressed look. +</p> +<p> +“Uncle Abner has turned me out!” said Calvin. +</p> +<p> +“Turned you out!” echoed the girls. “Why?” +</p> +<p> +“He showed me a will last night,” said Calvin, +“a later one than that which was found when my +grandfather died, which left the farm to him instead +of to my father. He just found it last night +when he was rummaging among grandfather’s old +papers. According to that I have been living on his +charity all these years instead of on my own property +as I supposed and now he says he can’t afford +to keep me any longer. He wanted me to sign a +paper saying that I would work for him without +pay until I was thirty years old to make up for what +I have had all these years, and when I wouldn’t do +it he told me to get out.” +</p> +<p> +“How can any man be so mean and stingy!” said +Migwan, indignantly. +</p> +<p> +“And what do you intend to do now?” asked +Mrs. Gardiner. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know,” said Calvin, looking utterly +downcast and discouraged. “I had expected to go +through school and then to agricultural college and +be a scientific farmer, but that’s out of the question +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span> +now. I haven’t a cent in the world. I could hire +out to some of the farmers around here, I suppose, +but you know what that means—they wouldn’t pay +me much because I’m a boy, but they would get a +man’s work out of me and it’s precious little time +I’d have for school. I’ve always saved Uncle Abner +the cost of one hired man in return for what he +gave me, so I don’t feel under any obligations to +him. I think I’ll give up farming for a while and +go to the city and work. The trouble is I have no +friends there and it might be hard for me to get into +a good place.” His honest eyes were clouded over +with perplexity and trouble. +</p> +<p> +“My father could probably get you a job in the +city,” said Gladys, “if you can wait until he gets +back. He’s out west now.” +</p> +<p> +“I tell you what to do,” said kind-hearted Mrs. +Gardiner to Calvin, “you stay here with us until +Mr. Evans comes back. You can help the girls in +the garden, and we were wishing not long ago that +we had another man in the house.” +</p> +<p> +“You are very kind,” said Calvin, gratefully, +“but I don’t want to put you to any trouble.” +</p> +<p> +“No trouble at all,” Mrs. Gardiner assured him, +“you can sleep with Tom.” The girls all expressed +pleasure at the prospect of having Calvin stay at +Onoway House and under the spell of their kindly +hospitality his drooping spirits revived. He shook +the dust of his uncle’s house from his feet, feeling +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span> +no longer an outcast, since he had suddenly found +such kind friends on the other side of the hedge. +</p> +<p> +Calvin lived in a perpetual state of wonder at the +girls at Onoway House. They made a frolic out of +everything they did and were continually thinking +up new and amazing games to play. Calvin had +never done anything at home all his life but work, +and work was a serious business to him. He never +knew before that work was fun. The long, weary +hours of peeling were enlivened with songs made up +on the spur of the moment. Sahwah would look up +from the pan over which she was bending, and sing +to the tune of “The Pope”: +</p> +<p> + “Our Migwan leads a jolly life, jolly life,<br /> + She peels tomatoes with her knife, with her knife,<br /> + And puts the pieces in the can,<br /> + And leaves the peelings in the pan, (Oh, tra la la).”<br /> +</p> +<p> +And then they would all start to sing at once, +</p> +<p> + “The tomatoes went in one by one,<br /> + (There’s one more bushel to peel),<br /> + Hinpoha she did cut her thumb,<br /> + (There’s one more bushel to peel).”<br /> + <br/> + “The tomatoes went in two by two,<br /> + And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew.<br /> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span> + The tomatoes went in three by three,<br /> + And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see.”<br /> +</p> +<p> +etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until +it was done. +</p> +<p> +“Do you know,” said Migwan, looking up from +her peeling, “that it’s Gladys’s birthday next Friday? +We ought to have a celebration.” +</p> +<p> +“How about a picnic?” asked Nyoda. “We +haven’t had a real one yet. Have the rest of the +Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep +in the tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of +July. Then we’ll get a horse and wagon and drive +along the roads until we come to a place beside the +river where we want to stop and cook our dinner +and just spend the day like gypsies.” The girls entered +into the plan with enthusiasm, both for the +sake of celebrating Gladys’s birthday and cheering +up Calvin, who had been rather quiet and pensive +of late. It was a great disappointment to him to +have to give up his plans for going to college, and +his uncle’s unfriendly treatment of him had cut him +to the heart. +</p> +<p> +Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the +day before the picnic and the house echoed with the +sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos +bubbled over with joy at being all together. The +morning of the picnic was as fine as they could wish, +and it was not long before they were bumping over +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span> +the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne’s wagons, +behind the very two horses which the girls had ridden +the week before. It was a wagon full. Sahwah +sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter +of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her +to come to the rescue in case the horses should run +away, which was not at all likely, as it took constant +persuasion to keep them going even at an +easy jog trot. Mrs. Landsdowne, who, with her +husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat beside +Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while +Calvin Smalley stayed next to Migwan, as he usually +did. She was so quiet and gentle and kind that he +felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the +Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who +was beginning to be inseparable from Sahwah, +squeezed herself in between her and Mr. Landsdowne, +and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, +took her part and let her stay, although she was a +bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and Gladys sat at +the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the +end, where they could watch the yellow road unwinding +like a ribbon beneath them, while Nyoda +sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace. +</p> +<p> +“Where are we going?” asked Mrs. Gardiner, as +they swung along the road. +</p> +<p> +“Oh,” replied Sahwah, “somewhere, anywhere, +everywhere, nowhere. It’s lots more romantic to +start out without any idea where you’re going and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span> +stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a +certain place and think you have to go there even if +you pass nicer places on the road. Maybe, like Mrs. +Wiggs, we’ll end up at a first-class fire.” +</p> +<p> +“We undoubtedly will,” said Nyoda, “if we expect +to cook any dinner. Do my eyes deceive +me?” she continued, “or is this a fishing-rod under +the straw? It is, it is,” she cried, drawing it out. +“Now I know what has been the matter with me +for the past few months, this feeling of sadness and +longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have +been pining, languishing, wasting away with a desire +to go fishing. My early life ran quiet beside a babbling +brook, and there I sat and fished trout and +fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will +never know repose until it has gone fishing once +more.” +</p> +<p> +“Take the rod and welcome, it’s mine,” said Calvin, +glad that something of his should give pleasure +to one of his cherished friends. +</p> +<p> +In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river +they dismounted from the wagon and scattered in +search of firewood, for the fire must be started the +first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda +took the fishing-rod and started for the river. +“We’ll never get anything to eat if we wait until +you catch enough fish for dinner,” said Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“Who said I was going to catch enough for dinner?” +said Nyoda. “I wouldn’t be cruel enough to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span> +keep you waiting all that time. But I do want to +catch just one for old times’ sake.” She strolled +down to the water’s edge and after a few minutes +Mr. Landsdowne joined her. He liked Nyoda and +enjoyed a talk with her. +</p> +<p> +“Are you going to play all alone at the picnic?” +he asked, as he dropped down beside her. +</p> +<p> +“Alone, but with <em>unbaited</em> zeal,” she quoted, digging +around in the ground with her stick. “Come +and help me find a worm.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m afraid the Early Bird got them all,” she +said plaintively, after a few moment’s fruitless +search. By dint of much digging they finally unearthed +one and baited the hook. Nyoda cast her +line and then settled down to a spell of silent waiting. +“I don’t believe there’s a fish in this old river,” +she said impatiently, after fifteen minutes of angling +which brought no results. “Not here, anyway. +Let’s go down beyond the bend where the river +widens out into that broad pool. The water is +deeper and quieter there.” They moved on to the +new location and Nyoda tried her luck again. This +time success crowned her efforts and she landed a +small fish almost immediately. “What did I tell +you?” she exclaimed, triumphantly. “There’s luck +in changing places. Now for another one.” In a +few moments she felt a tug at the line. “It must +be a whale,” she cried, enthusiastically, “it pulls so +hard.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span> +</p> +<p> +“It may be caught on a snag,” said Farmer +Landsdowne. “Here, let me get it loose for you, +I’m afraid you’ll break that rod,” he said, as the +pole bent ominously in her hands. +</p> +<p> +“Spare the rod and spoil the fish,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“What are you doing on my property?” said a +harsh voice behind them, “don’t you see that sign?” +</p> +<p> +Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne sprang to their +feet in surprise and faced an irate farmer in blue +shirt sleeves. Sure enough, on a tree not very far +from them there was a sign reading, +</p> +<p> + NO FISHING IN THIS POND.<br /> +</p> +<p> +“We didn’t see the sign,” said Nyoda, stammering +in her embarrassment, and crimson to the +roots of her hair. +</p> +<p> +“We really didn’t,” confirmed Farmer Landsdowne. +</p> +<p> +“Well, ye see it now, don’t ye?” pursued the +proprietor of the fish-pond. “Kindly move along.” +</p> +<p> +“We have one fish,” said Nyoda, feeling unutterably +foolish, “but we’ll pay you for that. I must +have one to take back to the picnic or I don’t dare +show my face.” +</p> +<p> +“Ye say ye caught a fish?” shouted the farmer, +excitedly. “Holy mackerel! That was the only +one in the pond—I put it in there this morning—and +I’ve rented the fishing of it to a young feller +from Cleveland at twenty-five cents an hour.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span> +</p> +<p> +“But it didn’t take me an hour to catch him,” +said Nyoda. “It only took five minutes. That’ll +be about two cents.” But the farmer held out for +his twenty-five cents and Nyoda paid it, laughing +to herself at the way the “feller from Cleveland” +had been cheated out of his sport. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t ever tell the girls about this,” pleaded +Nyoda, as they moved shamefacedly away. “I’m +supposed to be a pattern of conduct, and I’m always +scolding the girls because they don’t use their eyes +enough. They’ll never get over laughing at me +if they find it out.” Farmer Landsdowne promised +solemnly that he would not divulge the secret. +</p> +<p> +“Did you catch anything?” called Sahwah, as +Nyoda returned to the group under the trees. +</p> +<p> +“We certainly did,” replied Nyoda, with a sidelong +glance at Farmer Landsdowne. +</p> +<p> +“Listen to this part of father’s last letter,” said +Gladys, as they sat around on the grass eating their +dinner. “Juneau, Alaska. +</p> +<p> +“We recently saw a group of Camp Fire girls +holding a Ceremonial Meeting on a mountain near +Juneau. It fairly made us homesick; it reminded +us so much of the group we used to see in our house. +We went up and spoke to them and they send you +this three-petaled flower as a greeting.” +</p> +<p> +“To think we have friends all over the country, +just because we know the meaning of the word +Wohelo!” said Migwan in an awed tone, as the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span> +Winnebagos crowded around Gladys to see the +flower which had come from far off Alaska, a silent +All Hail from kindred spirits. +</p> +<p> +Just at this point Ophelia, who was coming a long +way with the coffee-pot in her hand, tripped over +a root and sprawled on her face on the ground, +showering everybody near her with coffee. “We +have your title now,” said Nyoda, “it’s Ophelia-Face-in-the-Mud. +You’re always falling that +way.” +</p> +<p> +“And I know what your name is,” replied +Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +“What is it?” asked Nyoda, guilelessly. +</p> +<p> +“It’s Nyoda-Chased-by-a-Farmer,” said Ophelia. +</p> +<p> +Nyoda started and looked guilty. “How did you +know that?” she asked, giving herself away completely. +</p> +<p> +“Followed you,” said Ophelia. “I saw you +fishin’ where the sign said to keep out and the man +in the blue shirt sleeves chased you out.” +</p> +<p> +“Tell us about it,” demanded all the girls, and +Nyoda had to tell the whole story that she wanted +to keep a secret. +</p> +<p> + “Fishy, fishy in the brook,<br /> + But the fishers ‘got the hook,’”<br /> +</p> +<p> +chanted Sahwah, teasingly. Nyoda and Farmer +Landsdowne looked sheepish at the jokes that were +thrown at them thick and fast, but they stood it +good-naturedly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span> +</p> +<p> +“A truce!” cried Gladys, coming to the rescue +of Nyoda. “Let’s play charades.” +</p> +<p> +“Good!” said Migwan. “You be leader of one +side and let Nyoda take the other. Whichever side +gives up first will have to get supper for the rest.” +</p> +<p> +Gladys chose Sahwah, Mrs. Gardiner, Betty, +Ophelia, Tom and Calvin. Nyoda chose Mr. and +Mrs. Landsdowne, Hinpoha, Migwan, Chapa, Medmangi +and Nakwisi. Gladys’s side went out first +and came in without her. +</p> +<p> +“Word of three syllables, first syllable,” said +Sahwah, who acted as spokesman. The whole company +sat down in a row, striking the most doleful +attitude and groaning as if in pain, and shedding +tears into their handkerchiefs. +</p> +<p> +“Most woeful looking crowd I ever saw,” remarked +Mr. Landsdowne. +</p> +<p> +“Woe!” shouted Nyoda, triumphantly, and the +guess was correct. +</p> +<p> +The weepers continued their weeping in the +second syllable, and then Gladys appeared, felt of +all their pulses and gave each a dose out of a bottle, +whereupon they all straightened up, lost their symptoms +of distress, and capered for joy. +</p> +<p> +“Cure,” said Migwan. The players shook their +heads. +</p> +<p> +“Heal,” shouted Hinpoha, and Gladys acknowledged +it. +</p> +<p> +In the last syllable Gladys went around and demanded +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span> +payment for her services, but in each case +was met with a promise to pay at some future time. +</p> +<p> +“Owe,” said Chapa, which was pronounced right. +“O heal woe, what’s that?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“You’re twisted,” said Nyoda, “it’s ‘Wohelo.’ +That really was too easy. Let’s not divide them into +syllables after this,” she suggested, “it’s no contest +of wits that way. Let’s act out the word all at +once.” The alteration was accepted with enthusiasm. +</p> +<p> +Hinpoha came out alone for her side. “Word of +two syllables,” she said. Taking a blanket she +spread it over a bushy weed and tucked the corners +under until it looked not unlike a large stone. Then +she retired from the scene. Soon Nyoda came along +and paused in front of the blanket, which looked like +an inviting seat. +</p> +<p> +“What a lovely rock to rest on!” she exclaimed, +and seated herself upon it. Of course, it flattened +down under her weight and she was borne down to +the ground. +</p> +<p> +A moment of silence followed this performance +as the guessers racked their brains for the meaning. +“Is it ‘Landsdowne?’” asked Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“It might be, but it isn’t,” said Nyoda, laughing. +</p> +<p> +“I know,” said Sahwah, starting up, “it’s ‘shamrock.’” +</p> +<p> +“You are sharper than I thought,” said Nyoda, +rising from her seat. “Nobody down yet. Now, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span> +fire your broadside at us. No word under three +syllables. Anything less would be unworthy of our +giant intellects.” +</p> +<p> +“Third round!” cried Calvin. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah walked down to the water’s edge, holding +in her hand a large key. Leaning over, she +moved the key as if it were walking in the water. +This proved a puzzler, and cries of ‘Milwaukee,’ +‘Nebrasky,’ and ‘turnkey’ were all met with a triumphant +shake of the head. +</p> +<p> +“It looks as if we would have to give up,” said +Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +Just then Nyoda sprang up with a shout. “Why +didn’t I think of it before?” she cried. “It’s ‘Keewaydin,’ +key-wade-in. What else could you expect +from Sahwah?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s it,” said Sahwah. “You must be a mind +reader.” +</p> +<p> +“Here’s where we finish you off,” said Nyoda, as +her side came out again. “We’ve taken a word of +four syllables this time.” The whole team advanced +in single file, Indian fashion, keeping closely in step. +Round and round they marched, back and forth, +never slackening their speed, until one by one they +tumbled to the ground from sheer exhaustion and +stiffened out lifelessly. The guessers looked at each +other, puzzled. +</p> +<p> +“Do it again,” said Sahwah. The strenuous +march was repeated, and the marchers succumbed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span> +as before. Still no light came to the onlookers. +Sahwah whispered something to Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“Would you just as soon do it again?” asked +Gladys. Again the file wound round the trees and +tumbled to the turf. Nyoda made a triumphant +grimace as no guess was forthcoming. Sahwah’s +eyes began to sparkle. +</p> +<p> +“Would you please do it once more?” she +pleaded. +</p> +<p> +“Have mercy on the performers,” groaned +Nyoda, but they went through it again, and this +time they were too spent to rise from the ground +when the acting was done. “Do you give up?” +called Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“No,” answered Gladys. +</p> +<p> +“You have five seconds to produce the answer, +then,” said Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“It’s diapason,” said Gladys, “die-a-pacin.” +</p> +<p> +“Really!” said Nyoda, falling back in astonishment. +</p> +<p> +“We knew it all the while!” cried Sahwah and +Gladys. “We just kept you doing it over and over +again because we liked to see you work.” +</p> +<p> +The laugh was on Nyoda and her team all the way +around. “We do this to each other!” called Sahwah, +using the Indian form of taunt when one has +played a successful trick on another. +</p> +<p> +“Tie the villains to a tree, and let them perish of +mosquito bites,” Nyoda commanded in an awful +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span> +tone. “I’ll get even with you for that, Miss Sahwah,” +she said, darkly, as the other side trooped +off to cook up a new poser. +</p> +<p> +“Hadn’t you better stop playing now?” inquired +Mrs. Gardiner. “You know we wanted to get home +before dark.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, let’s do one more,” pleaded Migwan. If +they had only stopped playing when Mrs. Gardiner +suggested it and gone home early they might have +been in time to prevent the thing which occurred, +but they were bent on seeing one side or the other +go down, and Gladys’s side prepared another charade. +</p> +<p> +“We’ve played up to your own game,” said +Gladys, who was introducing the new charade, “and +have increased the number to five syllables.” The +actors were Mrs. Gardiner, Betty and Tom Gardiner. +Mrs. Gardiner was scolding the children and +emphasized her remarks by a sharp pinch on Tom’s +arm. Betty, seeing the maternal hand also extended +in her direction, promptly climbed a tree and sat +in safety, while her mother shook her finger at her +and cried warningly, “I’ll attend to you after +awhile.” +</p> +<p> +“What on earth?” said Nyoda, scratching her +head in perplexity. But scratch as she might, no +answer came, and the rest of her team had nothing +to offer either. After holding out for fully fifteen +minutes they were compelled to give it up. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span> +</p> +<p> +“It’s ‘manipulator,’” cried the winning side, in +chorus. “‘Ma-nip-you-later!’” And they stood +around to condole while Nyoda’s side prepared +supper. Then it was that Calvin, basely deserting +the team he had helped so far, went over to the side +of the enemy and helped Migwan fetch wood for +the fire. Both sides stopped often to jeer at each +other, so it took them twice as long to get the meal +ready as it would have ordinarily. They loitered +and sang along the way home, letting the horses take +their time, and it was quite late when they reached +Onoway House. +</p> +<p> +The first thing that greeted them was the sight +of Mr. Bob, the cocker spaniel, rolling on the front +lawn in great distress, and giving every sign of being +poisoned. They hastily administered an antidote +and, after a time of suspense were confident +that the effect of the poison had been counteracted. +So far they had only been in the kitchen, but when +the excitement about the dog was over they moved +toward the sitting-room to rest awhile and drink +lemonade before going to bed. When the light was +lit they all stopped in astonishment. In the sitting-room +there was an old-fashioned combination desk +and bookcase, the bookcase part set on top of the +desk and reaching nearly to the ceiling. It belonged +to the house, and the desk was closed and locked. +Now, however, it stood open, and all the drawers +were pulled out, while the top of the desk and the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span> +floor before it were strewn with papers in great disorder. +</p> +<p> +“Burglars!” cried Migwan. “The house has +been robbed!” They immediately looked through +the house to see what had been taken. Up-stairs in +the room occupied by the two boys there was a desk +similar to the one in the sitting-room. This had +also been broken open and the drawers searched +through, although the disorder of papers was not +so great as it was down-stairs. Half afraid of what +they should find, the whole family went from room +to room, but nothing else seemed to have been disturbed, +and as far as they could see nothing had +been stolen. The silver in the sideboard drawer +was untouched, but then, this was only plate, and +worn at that. But in full view on the dining-room +table lay Sahwah’s Firemaker Bracelet, which she +had laid there a few moments before starting for +the picnic, and then, with her customary forgetfulness, +neglected to pick up again. This was solid silver +and worth stealing. Further than that, she had +also forgotten to wear her watch, and it was still +safe in her top bureau drawer. It was a riddle, and +as they talked it over they could only come to one +conclusion, and that was that the burglar had +thought there were large sums of money hidden in +the two desks and had passed over the small articles +in the hope of getting a bigger harvest, or else was +leaving those other things to the last. He ransacked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span> +the up-stairs desk, having broken the lock, +and then went through the one down-stairs. While +looking through the papers in the sitting-room he +had evidently been frightened away by something, +for there was one drawer that had not been disturbed. +This also accounted for the fact that nothing +else had been taken. What had frightened him +was probably the barking of the dog, who, although +he was on the outside, had become aware of the +presence of someone in the house. He had fed the +dog poison, probably poisoned meat, for they had +found a small piece of meat on the porch. Evidently +the poison had begun to act before Mr. Bob had it +all eaten, and he left that piece. But before the dog +was dead the burglar had heard the family returning +along the road, singing, and made his escape. The +whole thing must have happened not long before, +for the dog had not had the poison long enough to +take deadly effect. It was then that they regretted +having lingered so long over the game of charades +and delayed their homecoming. +</p> +<p> +“If we had only been half an hour sooner, we +might have found out who it was,” said Mrs. Gardiner. +</p> +<p> +“Thank Heaven we weren’t half an hour later,” +said Hinpoha, “or Mr. Bob would have been dead.” +She would have felt worse about losing Mr. Bob +than about having all her possessions stolen. +</p> +<p> +“How about sleeping in the tepee to-night?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span> +asked Gladys. There was not enough room in the +house for so many people and the eight Winnebagos +had made their beds in the tepee while the three girls +from town were there, both to solve the question of +sleeping quarters and for the fun of the thing. It +was just like camping out to sleep on the ground, all +the eight girls in a circle around the little watch fire +in the middle of the tepee. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I’ll be afraid to,” said Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know but what it would be just as safe as +sleeping in the house,” said Nyoda. “I doubt if +anyone would think of people sleeping out in that +thing. It’s a rather novel idea in this neighborhood. +And at any rate there’s nothing out there to steal and +consequently nothing to tempt a thief.” +</p> +<p> +So, their fears having vanished, the Winnebagos +went to bed in the tepee just as they had planned. +Nyoda took the precaution of putting her pistol under +her pillow. The girls really enjoyed the air of +suppressed excitement. When did youth and high +spirits ever fail to respond to the thrill of danger, +either real or fancied? This attempted burglary was +the most exciting thing that had ever happened to +most of the girls and they were getting as much +thrill out of it as possible. It amused them to see +Tom and Calvin parading the front lawn armed with +bird guns, swelled up with importance at having to +guard a houseful of women. Instead of hoping that +the burglar had been scared away for good they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span> +wished fervently that he would return and give them +a chance to shoot. They would have stayed there +all night if Mrs. Gardiner had not ordered them to +bed. +</p> +<p> +One by one the girls in the tepee dropped off to +slumber, worn out with the varied events of the day. +But Nyoda could not sleep. She had a throbbing +headache from the glare of the sun on the water +while she sat fishing. The little fire, in the center of +the bare circle of earth which prevented it from +spreading, died down and subsided to glowing embers, +then one by one these turned black and left the +tepee in darkness. There was not a spark left. +Nyoda was sure of this, for she sat up several times +in an effort to make herself comfortable, and when +she took a drink from the pail of well water which +stood nearby she emptied the dipper over the spot +where the fire had been, to make doubly sure. Still +sleep would not come. She stared out of the doorway +of the tepee into the darkness. A group of +beech trees with their light grey bark loomed up +ghostlike before the door. She began to think of +the ghost which had appeared to her that other night +in that very doorway, and tried to connect the incidents +which had taken place afterwards with that. +One thing was sure—someone was getting into +Onoway House every few days. Why nothing was +taken was a mystery to her. It seemed to her now +that it was not so much an attempt at burglary as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span> +an effort to annoy and frighten the family. Possibly +it was someone who had a grudge against them—she +could not imagine why—and was indulging +in these pranks to satisfy a spite. She thought she +saw a glimmer of light on the subject. +</p> +<p> +Farmer Landsdowne had once told her that when +it became known that Mr. Mitchell was going to +give up the care of the place, several farmers of the +Centerville Road district had applied for the position +of caretaker, but wishing to assist Migwan, the Bartletts +had refused their offers and given the place over +to the Winnebagos. That must be it. Someone +wanted that job badly and was wreaking his disappointment +on the people who had kept him from getting +it. The more she thought of it the more probable +it seemed. Possibly more than one were involved +in the plot. +</p> +<p> +Then another thought struck her. Could it be the +crazy man who lived alone in the little house among +the trees? Calvin had stated that he never left the +house, but who could account for the inspirations of +an unbalanced mind? That nothing had been taken +from the house seemed to indicate a want of fixed +purpose in the mind of the housebreaker—to go to +all that trouble for nothing. This idea also seemed +worth considering. +</p> +<p> +As she lay turning these things over in her mind +she thought she heard a stealthy footstep in the grass +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span> +outside of the tepee. Thinking that the ghost was +coming to pay another visit, she drew the pistol from +under her pillow and turning over, face downward, +lay with it pointed toward the doorway. There +would be no outcry when he appeared in the doorway. +The first intimation the ghost would have +that he was observed would be a shot in the leg that +would prevent him from running away and would +solve the mystery. In tense silence she waited, one; +two; three minutes, but nothing appeared. Then +suddenly she smelled smoke, and turning around +swiftly saw that the side of the tepee toward which +she had had her back was in flames. +</p> +<p> +“Fire!” she called at the top of her voice. +“Sahwah! Hinpoha! Gladys! Migwan! Wake +up!” And seizing the pail of water she dashed it +against the side of the tepee. The water sizzled as it +fell, but the canvas covering was burning like tinder. +Thus rudely awakened the girls sprang up in alarm. +The place was filling with dense smoke, and through +it they groped their way to the opening, dragging out +their blankets. Hardly had the last girl got out when +the whole thing was one roaring blaze, which lit up +the scenery a long way around. +</p> +<p> +Nyoda, paying no attention to the flames that +were mounting skyward from the burning canvas, +looked intently for a lurking figure among the trees, +for she thought it hardly possible that whoever had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span> +set the tepee afire could have gotten outside of the +range of light in that short time. It was possible to +see as far as the road on the one side and across the +river on the other. But nowhere was there a man or +the shadow of a man. The folks came running out +of Onoway House half dressed and in terror that +the girls had not escaped from the burning tent in +time, and the farmers all the way down the road, +seeing the glare, rushed to offer their assistance, for +a fire in the country is a serious thing where there is +no water pressure. Farmer Landsdowne came on a +dead run, carrying a water bucket. Even Abner +Smalley appeared in the midst of the crowd. He +gave a scowling look at Calvin, but said nothing, and +soon took his departure when the danger was over, +as it was directly, for it did not take long to reduce +that canvas covering to a black mass, and buckets of +water thrown all around on the ground and the trees +kept the fire from spreading. +</p> +<p> +For the second time that night the family gathered +in the sitting-room and faced each other over an exciting +happening. “I told you if you built a fire in +that tepee you would burn it down,” said Mrs. +Gardiner. “I never felt easy when you had +one.” +</p> +<p> +“But it didn’t catch fire from our little fire,” declared +Nyoda, and told the events of the night, from +the going out of the fire to the footsteps outside the +tepee when the canvas had suddenly blazed up when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span> +she was lying in wait for the ghost with a pistol. +The circle of faces paled with fear as she told her +tale. Who could this mysterious visitor be, who +seemed determined to do them some harm? The +girls finished the night in the house, three in a bed, +but none of them closed their eyes to sleep. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span>CHAPTER XI.—THE WELL DIGGER’S GHOST.</h2> +<p> +The next morning Mrs. Gardiner sent Mr. Landsdowne +to interview the police force of the township +in which the Centerville Road belonged, and he +brought the whole force back with him. He had to +bring the whole force if he brought any for it embraced +only one man and he was well along in +years, but he had a uniform and a helmet and a club +and a gun, and presented an imposing appearance as +he strutted up and down the yard, before which an +evil doer might be moved to pause. The three +girls from town had departed and Nakwisi had left +her spy glass behind in the excitement, and this was +a source of great entertainment to the rural gendarme. +He spent a great deal of time sliding the +lens back and forth to fit his eye and peering up the +road into the distance, or looking up into the air, +as if he expected to see the burglar approaching in +an airship. He was very talkative and fond of recounting +the captures he had made single handed, +and declared solemnly that the man in this case was +as good as caught already, for no one had ever escaped +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span> +yet when Dave Beeman had started out to +get him. +</p> +<p> +Nyoda, who was fond of seeing her theories +worked out, still held to the idea that the mysterious +visitor was someone who wanted the job of caretaker, +and inquired closely of Farmer Landsdowne +who the men were who had applied for the position. +When it came down to fact there was only one who +had really wanted the job very badly, although +several others had mentioned the fact that they +wouldn’t mind doing it, and that man had found a +similar situation immediately afterward and left the +neighborhood. So her theory did not seem to be +inclined to hold water. +</p> +<p> +She had another idea, however, and wrote to Mr. +Mitchell, asking if he had ever heard strange noises +in the attic while he lived there. Mr. Mitchell answered +and said that not only had he heard strange +noises in the attic, but also in the cellar and in the +barn, and that pieces of furniture had apparently +moved themselves in the middle of the night; and +it was on this account that he had left the place, as +it made his wife so nervous she became ill. This +fact put a new face on the matter. The hostility, +then, was not directed against themselves personally, +but against the tenants of the house, no matter who +they were. But this idea left them more in the dark +than ever, and they lost a good deal of sleep over it +without reaching any solution. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span> +</p> +<p> +After a few days of zealous watching, during +which time nothing happened, the police force of +Centerville township gave it up as a bad job and relaxed +its vigilance, declaring that the firebug must +have gotten out of the country, for that was the +only way he could hope to escape his eagle eye. “If +he was still in the country, I’d a’ had him by this +time”, Dave Beeman asserted confidently. “So as +long as he’s gone that far you don’t need to worry +any more.” And he took himself off, eager to get +back to the quiet game of pinochle in Gus Wurlitzer’s +grocery store, which Farmer Landsdowne +had interrupted several days ago. +</p> +<p> +It was just about this time that Migwan had her +biggest order for canned tomatoes—from a fashionable +private sanitarium a few miles distant, and +the rush of canning gradually took their minds off +the mysterious intruder. Migwan, picking her finest +and ripest tomatoes to fill this order, noticed that a +number of the vines were drooping and turning yellow. +The half ripe tomatoes were falling to the +ground and rotting. One whole end of the bed +seemed to be affected. She looked carefully for insects +and found none. Some of the leaves seemed +worse shrivelled than others. In perplexity she +called Mr. Landsdowne over to look at them. He +looked closely at the plants and also seemed puzzled +as to the cause of the mysterious blight. “It isn’t +rot,” he said, “because the bed is high and dry and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span> +the plants have never stood in water.” Upon looking +closely he discovered that the affected plants +were covered with a fine white coating. He gave +a smothered exclamation. “Do you know what +that is?” he asked. “It’s lime! Somebody has +sprayed your plants with a solution of lime. Are +you sure you didn’t do it yourself?” he asked, quizzically. +</p> +<p> +Migwan shook her head. “I haven’t sprayed +those plants with anything for a month,” she asserted, +“and neither has anyone else in the house.” +</p> +<p> +“Somebody outside of the house has done it, +then,” said Mr. Landsdowne. +</p> +<p> +The work of the mysterious visitor again! It +struck dismay into the breasts of the whole household. +They never knew when and where that hand +was going to strike next. And so silently, so mysteriously, +without ever leaving a trace behind! +</p> +<p> +There was nothing left to do but dig up the dead +plants and throw them away. Migwan almost +stopped breathing when she thought that the rest +of the bed might be treated in the same way, and +the source of her revenue cut off. But why was all +this happening? What could anyone possibly +have against the peaceful dwellers at Onoway +House? +</p> +<p> +A guard was set over the tomato bed both day +and night for a week and the big order for the sanitarium +was filled as fast as the tomatoes ripened. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span> +Nothing at all happened during this time and the +vigilance was relaxed. A large dog was turned +loose in the garden at night and they felt secure in +his protection. This dog belonged to Calvin +Smalley. When he had left his uncle’s house he +had to leave Pointer behind, as he did not know +what else to do with him, but now that the Gardiners +were willing to have him he went over and +got him when he knew his uncle was away from the +house, so he would not have to meet him. Pointer +was overjoyed at seeing his young master again and +attached himself to the household at once, and +never made the slightest effort to go back to his +old home. He had a deep, heavy bark which could +not fail to rouse the house at once. With the coming +of Pointer the girls breathed easily again. +</p> +<p> +One day when Migwan had gone over to see the +Landsdownes, Mr. Landsdowne had given her a +treasure for her garden. This was a plant of a rare +species called Titania Gloria, which a friend had +brought from Bermuda. It was a first year growth +and so would not bloom until the following summer. +Migwan planted it along the fence beside the mint +bed and treasured it like gold, for the blossom of +the Titania Gloria was a wonderful shade of blue +and was considered a prize by fanciers, who paid +high prices for cuttings of the plant. In the excitement +over the tepee and the tomato plants, however, +she forgot to tell the other girls about it, so she was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span> +the only one who knew what a precious thing that +little bed of leaves was. +</p> +<p> +The weather was so fine that week that Migwan +decided to have a garden party and invite a number +of friends from town. Gladys promised to dance +and the boys cleared a circle for her in the grass +under the trees, picking up every stick that lay on +the ground. Mrs. Landsdowne, hearing about the +party, offered to make ice cream for them in her +freezer. Just before the guests arrived Migwan +and Calvin went over after it. They took the raft, +because they thought that would be the easiest way +of transporting the heavy tub. Migwan rode on the +raft and supported the tub and Calvin walked along +the bank and pulled the tow line. His eagerness to +help with the festivity was somewhat pathetic. +Never, to his knowledge, had there been a party at +the Smalley House. The way these girls planned +a party out of a clear sky and carried out their plans +without delay was nothing short of marvelous to +him. They were always at their ease with company, +while it was a fearful ordeal for him to meet +strangers. He liked to be a part of such doings; +but was at a loss how to act. Migwan, with her +fine understanding of things beneath the surface, +saw that this boy was lonesome in the crowd, not +knowing how to mix in and have a glorious time +on his own account, and she always saw to it that +his part was mapped out for him in all their doings. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span> +Therefore she chose him to help her bring the ice +cream over. +</p> +<p> +Calvin, happy at being useful, towed the raft carefully +and turned his head whenever Migwan spoke, +so as to give strict attention to her words. Doing +this, he fell over the branch of a tree in the path +and jerked the rope violently. The raft tipped up +and both Migwan and the tub of ice cream went +into the river. Migwan climbed out on the bank +before Calvin was up from the ground. He was +aghast at what he had done. He had been so eager +to help with the party and now he had spoiled it! +That he would be instantly expelled from Onoway +House he was sure, and he felt that he deserved it. +Migwan, at least, would never speak to him again. +Speechless, he turned piteous eyes to where she sat +on the bank dripping. To his surprise she was +doubled up with laughter. “What are you laughing +at?” he asked, startled. +</p> +<p> +“Because you upset the raft and the ice cream +fell into the river!” giggled Migwan. Calvin +gasped. The very thing that was nearly killing him +with chagrin was the cause of her mirth! It was +the first time he had ever seen anyone make light +of a calamity. Her mirth was so contagious that +he began to laugh himself. Still laughing, he +brought the tub out of the river and set it on the +bank. The water had washed away the packing of +ice, but the lid on the inner can was providentially +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span> +tight and the ice cream was unharmed. That little +incident crystallized the friendship between the two. +After that he was Migwan’s slave. A girl who +could be thrown into the river without getting +vexed was a friend worth having. Dripping, they +returned to the house, where the preparations +for the party were at their height, to be laughed +at immoderately and christened the “Water +Babies.” +</p> +<p> +To Hinpoha the Artistic had been entrusted the +setting of the tables. Her decorations were water +lilies from the river, and when she had finished it +looked as if a feast had been spread for the river +nymphs. Around the edges of the platter she put +bunches of bright mint leaves. Her artistic efforts +called out so much praise from the guests that she +was in a continual state of blushing as she waited +on the table. +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter with your hand?” asked +Migwan, noticing that she was passing things +around left handedly. +</p> +<p> +“Nothing,” said Hinpoha, “nothing much. I +slipped when I was getting the lilies and fell on my +wrist and it feels lame, that’s all.” +</p> +<p> +“Is it sprained?” asked Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no,” said Hinpoha, “I don’t think so.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s all swelled up,” said Migwan, holding up +the injured wrist. “Let me paint it with iodine +and tie it up for you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span> +</p> +<p> +Hinpoha maintained that it was nothing serious, +but Migwan insisted. “Where is the iodine, +mother?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“On the pantry shelf,” answered Mrs. Gardiner. +Migwan got the bottle and painted Hinpoha’s wrist +before the party could proceed. Hinpoha surveyed +the brown stripe around her arm rather disgustedly. +It was for this very reason that she had said nothing +about the wrist before. She did not want it painted +up for the party. It offended her artistic eye and +she would rather suffer in silence. +</p> +<p> +While the guests were sitting at the tables Gladys +danced on the lawn for their entertainment. The +merry laughter was hushed in surprise and delight +at her fairylike movements. In the silence which +reigned at this time the thing which happened was +distinctly heard by everyone. Apparently from the +depths of the earth there came a muffled thud, thud, +as of a pick striking against hard ground. It kept +up for a few minutes and then ceased, to be renewed +again after a short interval. The dwellers at Onoway +House looked at each other. Into each mind +there sprang the story of the Deacon’s well, and the +words of Farmer Landsdowne, “<em>Superstitious folks +say you can still hear the buried well digger striking +with his pick against the ground that covers +him.</em>” It was the most mysterious sound, far away +and faint, yet seemingly right under their very feet. +Gladys heard it and paused in her dancing. Pointer +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span> +and Mr. Bob both heard it and began to bark. In a +little while the thudding noise ceased and was heard +no more, and the company were all left wondering +if they could have been the victims of imagination. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe it’s somebody down cellar,” said Calvin, +and taking Pointer with him, went down. Tom +followed him. But there was no sign of anyone +down there. Pointer ran around with his nose to +the ground as if he were smelling for footsteps, +but his tail kept wagging all the while. They were +all familiar footsteps he scented. Nothing was out +of place in the cellar except that a basket of potatoes +was thrown over and the potatoes had rolled out +on the cement floor. The boys noticed this without +thinking anything of it. The mystery of the well +digger’s ghost remained unsolved. +</p> +<p> +In the cool of the early evening after her guests +had departed, Migwan wandered down into the garden +to look at her various plants and flowers. It +occurred to her that she had not paid her Titania +Gloria a visit for several days. But what a sight +met her eyes when she reached the spot where the +precious thing had been planted! Not a single bit +was left. The clean cut stalks showed where they +had been clipped off close to the ground. Migwan +started up with a cry of dismay which brought the +other girls running to her side. “My Titania +Gloria!” gasped Migwan. “Look! The mysterious visitor +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span> +has been at work again!” And she +told them about the valuable cuttings that had disappeared +so uncannily. +</p> +<p> +“We never hear that ghost but what something +happens after it!” said Gladys, in an awestruck +tone. The girls peered apprehensively into the +shadows of the tall trees surrounding the garden. +</p> +<p> +“What’s up?” asked Hinpoha, joining the group. +Migwan pointed to the devastated bed. “What’s +the matter with it?” asked Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“My Titania Gloria!” said Migwan. “It’s been +clipped off at the roots.” +</p> +<p> +“Your what?” asked Hinpoha. Migwan explained +about the rare plant Farmer Landsdowne +had given her. Hinpoha gave a sudden start and +exclamation. “What did you say it was?” she +asked. +</p> +<p> +“A Titania Gloria,” answered Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“Well, girls, I’m the guilty one, then,” said Hinpoha, +“for I cut those plants off thinking they were +mint. That was what I decorated the platters with +this afternoon. Do anything you like with me, Migwan, +beat me, hang me to a tree, put my feet in +stocks, or anything, and I’ll make no resistance.” +She was absolutely frozen to the spot when she +realized what she had done. +</p> +<p> +Migwan, grieved as she was over the loss of her +cherished Titania, yet had to laugh at the depths +of Hinpoha’s mortification. “You old goose!” she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span> +said, putting her arms around her, “don’t take it so +to heart! It’s my fault, not yours at all, because I +didn’t tell anyone what that plant was. And the +leaves do look just like mint.” Thus she comforted +the discomfited Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“Migwan,” said her mother, when they had returned +to the house, “where did you get that iodine +with which you painted Hinpoha’s wrist this afternoon?” +</p> +<p> +“On the pantry shelf, just where you told me,” +answered Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“Well,” said her mother, “I told you wrong. +The iodine is up on my wash-stand.” +</p> +<p> +“Then what was in the brown bottle on the +pantry shelf?” asked Migwan. The bottle was produced. +</p> +<p> +“Why,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “that’s walnut +stain, guaranteed not to wear off!” +</p> +<p> +Then there was a laugh at Migwan’s expense! +</p> +<p> + “Old Migwan Hubbard<br /> + She went to the cupboard,<br /> + To get iodine in a phial,<br /> + But she couldn’t read plain,<br /> + And brought walnut stain,<br /> + And now her poor patient looks vile!”<br /> +</p> +<p> +chanted Sahwah. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span> +</p> +<p> +“You’re even now,” said Gladys, “you’ve each +scored a trick.” +</p> +<p> +“‘<em>We do this to each other!</em>’” said Migwan and +Hinpoha in the same breath, and locked fingers and +made a wish according to the time-honored custom. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span>CHAPTER XII.—OPHELIA FINDS A FAIRY GODMOTHER.</h2> +<p> +As the summer progressed, the girls had more +than one conference as to what was to become of +Ophelia when they left Onoway House. To let her +go back to her life in the slums was unthinkable. +So far, Old Grady had made no effort to get her +back, possibly for the simple reason that she did not +know where the child was. They did not even know +whether or not she had a legal claim on Ophelia. +All Ophelia knew about the business was that Old +Grady had taken her from the orphan asylum when +she was seven years old. Where she had lived before +she went to the orphan asylum she could not +remember, so she must have been very young when +she came there. They were equally unwilling that +she should return to the asylum. +</p> +<p> +“If we could only find someone to adopt her,” +said Hinpoha. That would be the best thing, they +all agreed, although there was a lingering doubt in +the mind of each one as to whether anyone would +want to adopt Ophelia. Grammar was to her a +totally unnecessary accomplishment, and the amount +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span> +of slang she knew was unending. By dint of hard +labor they had succeeded in making her say “you” +instead of “yer,” and “to” instead of “ter,” and +discard some of her more violent slang phrases, but +she was still obviously a child of the streets and +the tenement, and that life had left its brand upon +her. It showed itself constantly in her speech. +They had better success in teaching her table manners, +for with a child’s gift of imitation she soon +fell into the ways of those around her. +</p> +<p> +But having had so much excitement in her short +life she still pined for it. While the life in the +country was pleasant in the extreme it was far too +quiet to suit her and she longed to be back in the +crowded tenement where there was something happening +every hour out of the twenty-four; where +people woke to life instead of going to bed when +darkness fell and the lamps were lighted; where +street cars clanged and wagons rattled and fire engines +rumbled by; where the harsh voices of newsboys +rang out above the loud conversation of the +women on the doorsteps and the wailing of the +babies. The zigging of the grasshoppers and the +swishing of the wind in the Balm of Gilead tree +and the murmur of the river had for her a mournful +and desolate sound, and she often covered up her +ears so as not to hear it. When she first came to +Onoway House she was so interested in the new +life that it kept her busy all day long finding out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span> +new things; but gradually the novelty wore off. At +first she had been as mischievous as a monkey; always +up to some prank or other. She teased Tom +and was teased by him in return; she put burrs in +Mr. Bob’s long ears; she climbed trees and threw +things down on the heads of unsuspecting persons +underneath; she startled the girls out of their wits +by lying unseen under the couch in the sitting-room +and grabbing their ankles unexpectedly. Always +she was doing something, and always merry and +full of life; so that she made the girls feel that they +had done a fine thing by bringing her to Onoway +House. +</p> +<p> +But of late a change had come over her. She +began to droop, and to sit silent by herself at times. +The girls did their best to keep her amused, but they +were very busy with the continual canning, and +Betty, who had more time than the others, did not +like her and would not play with her. So she grew +more and more homesick for the big, noisy city +and the playmates of other days. Then had come +the time when she was so sunburned and she had +developed the fondness for Sahwah. After that she +was less lonesome, for Sahwah was such a lively +person to be attached to that one had always to be +on the lookout for surprises. Sahwah taught her +to swim and dive and ride a bicycle; she had the +boys make a swing for her under the big tree, and +Ophelia blossomed once more into happiness. At +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span> +Sahwah’s instigation she played more tricks on the +other girls than before. +</p> +<p> +But Ophelia was a shrewd little person, and she +knew that the summer would come to a close and +the girls would not live together any more. She +often heard them discussing their plans. What was +to become of her then? The happy family life at +Onoway House stirred in her a desire to have a +home too, and a mother of her own. She began +to grow wistful again and at times her eyes would +have a strange far-away look. The scandals of the +streets which were once the breath of life to her +and which she repeated with such relish, began to +lose their charm, and she developed a taste for fairy +tales. “Tell me the story about the fairy godmother,” +she would say to Sahwah, and would listen +attentively to the end. “Are you sure I’ve got one +somewhere?” she would ask eagerly. +</p> +<p> +“You surely have,” Sahwah would answer, to +satisfy her. +</p> +<p> +And then, “What <em>are</em> we going to do with +Ophelia when the summer is over?” Sahwah would +ask the girls after Ophelia was in bed. And Hinpoha +would think of Aunt Phœbe and knew she +would never adopt such a child as Ophelia was; and +Migwan knew that it would be out of the question +in her family; and Sahwah knew that her mother +would not let her come and live with them; and +Gladys thought of her delicate mother and sighed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span> +Nyoda could not make a home for her, because she +had none of her own and a boarding house was no +place for a child. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a shame,” Sahwah would declare vehemently, +“that there aren’t fathers and mothers +enough in this world to go round. Here’s Ophelia +will have to go into an institution more than likely, +and grow up without any especial interest being +taken in her, while we have had so much done for +us. It isn’t fair.” +</p> +<p> +“There’s something curious about Ophelia,” said +Gladys, musingly. “While she came from the tenements +and is as wild and untrained as any little +street gamin, she has the appearance of a child of +a much higher class. Have you ever noticed how +small and perfect her hands and feet are? And +what beautiful almond shaped fingernails she has? +And what delicate features? Have you seen how +erectly she carries herself, and how graceful she is +when she dances? In spite of her name, I don’t believe +she is Irish; and I don’t think her people could +have been low class. There’s an indefinable something +about her which spells quality.” +</p> +<p> +“Probably a princess in disguise,” said Sahwah, +in a tone of amusement. “Leave it to Gladys to +scent ‘quality.’” +</p> +<p> +But the others had noticed the same characteristics +in Ophelia and were inclined to agree with +Gladys on the subject. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span> +</p> +<p> +“But what about the strange spot of light hair +on her head?” asked Sahwah. “Would you call +that a mark of quality?” But to this there was no +answer. They had never seen or heard of anything +like it before. Thus the summer days slipped by +and Onoway House continued to shelter two homeless +orphans, neither of whom knew what the future +held in store for them. +</p> +<p> +One afternoon when the girls had planned to go +for a long walk to the woods Gladys read in the paper +that a balloonist was to make an ascension over the +lake. For some unaccountable reason she took a +fancy that she would like to see the performance. +“Oh, Gladys,” said Sahwah, impatiently, “you’ve +seen balloonists before and you’ll see plenty yet; +come with us this afternoon.” But Gladys held out, +even while she wondered to herself why she was so +eager to see this not uncommon sight. Half offended +at her, the other girls departed in the direction +of the woods. Gladys climbed high up in the +Balm of Gilead tree, from which she could look over +the country for miles around and easily see the lake +and the distant amusement park from which the +balloonist was to ascend. +</p> +<p> +The newspaper said three o’clock, but evidently +the performance was delayed, for although Gladys +was on the lookout since before that time nothing +seemed to be happening. To aid her in seeing she +took Nakwisi’s spy glass up into the tree with her, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span> +and while she was waiting for the parachute spectacle +she amused herself by focusing the glass on far +away objects on the land and bringing them right +before her eyes, as it seemed. She could look right +into the back door of a distant farm house and see +children playing in the doorway and chickens walking +up and down the steps; she could see the men +working in the fields; she could see the yachts out +on the lake and the smoky trail of a freight steamer. +Somewhere in the middle of her range of vision +were the gleaming rails of the car tracks. She +looked at them idly; they were like long streaks of +light in the sun. She saw two men, evidently +tramps, come out of the bushes along the road and +bend over the rails. Somewhere along that stretch +of track there was a derailing switch and it seemed +to Gladys that it was at this point where the men +were. Gladys looked at the pair, suspiciously, for a +second and then decided they were track testers. +One had an iron bar in his hand and he seemed to +be turning the switch. Suddenly the other man +pointed up the road and then the two jumped +quickly backward into the bushes. Gladys looked in +the direction the man had pointed. Far off down +the track she could see the red body of the +“Limited” approaching at a tremendous rate. The +stretch of country past the Centerville Road was +flat and even; the track was perfect and there was no +traffic to block the way, and the cars made great +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span> +speed along here. Something told Gladys that the +men had had no business at the switch; that they +meant to derail and wreck the Limited. Gladys had +learned to think and act quickly since she had become +a Camp Fire Girl, and scarcely had the idea entered +her head that the Limited was in danger, than she +conceived the plan of heading it off. Before the car +reached the switch it must pass the Centerville Road. +Being the Limited, it did not stop there. So Gladys +planned to run the automobile down the Centerville +Road and flag the car. She flung herself from the +tree in haste, got the machine out of the barn and +started down the road with wide-open throttle. +</p> +<p> +Trees and fences whirled dizzily by, obscured in +the cloud of dust she was raising. Across the stillness +of the fields she could hear the Limited pounding +down the track. A hundred yards from the end +of the road the automobile engine snorted, choked +and went dead. Without waiting to investigate the +trouble, Gladys jumped out and proceeded on foot. +Could she make it? She could see the red monster +through the trees, rushing along to certain destruction. +With an inward prayer for the speed of Antelope +Boy, the Indian runner, she darted forward like +an arrow from the bow. Breathless and spent she +came out on the car track just a moment ahead of +the thundering car, and waved the scarlet Winnebago +banner, which she had snatched from the wall +on the way out. With a quick jamming of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span> +emergency brakes that shook the car from end to +end it came to a standstill just beyond the Centerville +Road, and only fifty feet from the switch. +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked the motorman, coming +out. +</p> +<p> +“Look at the switch!” panted Gladys, sinking +down beside the road, unable to say more. +</p> +<p> +The motorman looked at the switch. “My God,” +he said, mopping his forehead, “if we’d ever run +into that thing going at such a rate there wouldn’t +have been anyone left to tell the tale.” +</p> +<p> +The passengers were pouring from the car, +eager to find out the reason for the sudden stoppage. +“What’s the matter?” was heard on every +side. +</p> +<p> +“You’ve got that girl to thank,” said the motorman, +moving back toward his vestibule, “that you’re +not lying in a heap of kindling wood.” Gladys, much +abashed and still hardly able to breathe, laid her +head on her knee and sobbed from sheer nervousness +and relief. +</p> +<p> +“Gladys!” suddenly said a voice above the murmurings +of the throng of passengers. +</p> +<p> +Gladys raised her head. “Papa!” she cried, staggering +to her feet. “Were you on that car?” +</p> +<p> +Another figure detached itself from the crowd +and hastened forward. “Mother!” cried Gladys. +“Oh, if I hadn’t been able to stop it—” and at the +horror of the idea her strength deserted her and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span> +she slipped quietly to the ground at her parents’ +feet. +</p> +<p> +When she came to the car had gone on and she +was lying in the grass by the roadside with her head +in her mother’s lap. “Cheer up, you’re all right,” +said her mother a little unsteadily, smiling down +at her. Gladys now became aware of two other +figures that were standing in the road. +</p> +<p> +“Aunt Beatrice!” she cried. “And Uncle Lynn! +What are you doing here?” +</p> +<p> +“We all came out to surprise you,” said her +father. “We got back from the West last night; +sooner than we expected, and decided we would run +out without any warning and see what kind of +farmers you were. The automobile is being overhauled +so we came on the interurban. We didn’t +know it didn’t stop at your road.” +</p> +<p> +Then, Gladys suddenly remembered her own disabled +car standing in the road, and they all moved +toward it. With a little tinkering it condescended +to run and they were soon at Onoway House, telling +the exciting tale to Mrs. Gardiner, who held up +her hands in horror at the thought of the fate which +the newcomers had so narrowly escaped. Aunt +Beatrice, not being strong, was much agitated, and +developed a palpitation of the heart, and had to lie +in the hammock on the porch and be doctored, so +Gladys had her hands full until the girls came back. +They were much surprised at the houseful of company +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span> +and very glad to see Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who +were very good friends of the Winnebagos indeed. +They looked with interest when Aunt Beatrice was +introduced, for they all remembered the tragic story +Gladys had told them about the loss of her baby in +the hotel fire. Aunt Beatrice felt well enough to +get up then and acknowledge the introductions with +a sweet but infinitely sad smile that went straight to +their hearts, and brought tears to the eyes of the +soft-hearted Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +Ophelia came in last, having loitered on the lawn +to play with Pointer and Mr. Bob. She had taken +off her hat and was swinging it around in her hand +when she came up on the porch. “And this is the +little sister of the Winnebagos,” said Nyoda, drawing +her forward. Aunt Beatrice looked down at +the dust-streaked little face, with her sad smile, but +her eyes rested there only an instant. She was gazing +as if fascinated at the strange ring of light hair +on her head. She became very pale and her eyes +widened until they seemed to be the biggest part of +her face. +</p> +<p> +“Lynn!” she gasped in a choking voice, +“Lynn! Look!” and she sank on the floor unconscious. +“It can’t be! It can’t be!” she kept saying +faintly when they revived her. “Beatrice died in +the fire. But Beatrice had that ring of light hair +on her head! It can’t be! But there never were +two such birthmarks!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span> +</p> +<p> +What a hubbub arose when this startling possibility +was uttered! Ophelia, the lost Beatrice? +Could it possibly be true? Uncle Lynn lost no time +in finding out. Taking Ophelia with him he hunted +up Old Grady. She knew nothing more save that +she had gotten her from an orphan asylum, which she +named. At the asylum he learned what he wanted +to know. The superintendent remembered about +Ophelia on account of the strange ring of light hair. +The child had been brought to the institution when +she was about a year old. There was a babies’ dispensary +in connection with the place, and into this +a weak, haggard girl of about eighteen had staggered +one day carrying a baby. The baby was sick +and she begged them to make it well. While she +sat waiting for the nurse to look at the baby the +girl collapsed. She died in a charity hospital a few +days later. On her death-bed she confessed that +she had run away from a large hotel with the baby +which had been left in her care, intending to hide +it and get money from the parents for its recovery. +But she feared this would lead her into trouble and +left town with the child and never troubled the +parents as she had intended, and kept the baby with +her until it fell sick, when she had become frightened +and sought the dispensary. She apparently +never knew that the hotel had burned and covered +up the traces of her flight. The baby was kept at +the orphan asylum and named Ophelia. Her last +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span> +name had never been known. Thence Old Grady +had adopted her, but her right could be taken away +from her as it was clear that she was no fit person +to have the child. +</p> +<p> +“It’s just like a fairy tale!” said Hinpoha, when +it was established beyond a doubt that the abused +street waif Gladys had brought home in the goodness +of her heart was her own cousin. +</p> +<p> +“Didn’t I tell you you’d find your fairy godmother +if you only waited long enough?” said Sahwah. +And Ophelia, from the depths of her mother’s +arms, nodded rapturously. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span>CHAPTER XIII.—A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK.</h2> +<p> +“Oh, Gladys, do you have to go home, now that +your mother and father are back?” asked Migwan, +anxiously. +</p> +<p> +“Not unless you want to, Gladys,” said Mrs. +Evans. “If you would rather stay out here until +school opens, you may. Father and I are going to +Boston in a few days, you know.” +</p> +<p> +So there was no breaking up of the group before +they all went home, with the exception of Ophelia, +or rather Beatrice, as we will have to call her from +now on, for, of course, she was to go with her +mother. +</p> +<p> +“What must it be like, anyway,” said Hinpoha, +“not to have any last name until you’re nine years +old and then be introduced to yourself? To answer +to the name of Ophelia one and ‘Miss Beatrice +Palmer’ the next? It must be rather confusing.” +</p> +<p> +Little Beatrice went to Boston with her mother +and father and uncle and aunt and Onoway House +missed her rather sorely. Calvin Smalley also got +a measure of happiness out of the restoration of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span> +lost child, for Uncle Lynn was so beside himself +with joy over the event that he was ready to bestow +favors on anyone connected with Onoway House, +and promised to see that Calvin got through school +and college. He would give him a place to work in +his office Saturdays and vacations. +</p> +<p> +For several days now there had been no sign of +the mysterious visitor, and the well digger’s ghost +had also apparently been laid to rest. Then one +morning they woke to the realization that the unseen +agency had been at work again. Pinned on the +front door was a piece of paper on which was +scrawled, +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 4em;'> +“<em>If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get +out of that house.</em>” +</p> +<p> +“We’ll do no such thing!” said Migwan, with +unexpected spirit “I’ve started out to earn money +to go to college by canning tomatoes, and I’m going +to stay here until they’re canned; I don’t care who +likes it or doesn’t.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s it, stand up for your rights,” applauded +Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“But what possible motive could anyone have +for wanting us to get out of the house?” asked +Migwan. Of course, there was no answer to this. +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose the house will be burned down +as the tepee was?” asked Gladys, in rather a scared +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span> +voice. This suggestion sent a shiver through them +all. +</p> +<p> +“We must get the policeman back again to +watch,” said Mrs. Gardiner. +</p> +<p> +Accordingly, the redoubtable constable was +brought on the scene again. +</p> +<p> +“Well, well, well,” he said, fingering the mysterious +note. “Thought he’d come back again now +that the coast was clear, did he? You notice, +though, that he didn’t make no effort while I was +here. You can bet your life he won’t get busy again +while I’m here now. You ladies just rest easy and +go on with your peeling.” +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had he finished speaking, when from the +bowels of the earth and apparently under his very +feet, there came the strange sound as of blows being +struck on hard earth or stone. The expression on +Dave Beeman’s face was such a mixture of surprise +and alarm that the girls could not keep from laughing, +disturbed as they were at the return of the +sounds. “By gum,” said the constable, looking furtively +around, “this is certainly a queer business.” +He had heard the story of the well digger’s ghost +and it was very strong in his mind just now. +“Maybe it’s just as well not to meddle,” he said +under his breath. +</p> +<p> +Off and on through the day they heard the same +sounds issuing from the ground, and at dusk the +weird moaning began again. The constable showed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span> +strong signs of wishing himself elsewhere. When +darkness fell the noises ceased and were heard no +more that night. But another sort of moaning had +taken its place. This was the wind, which had been +blowing strongly all day, and early in the evening +increased to the proportions of a hurricane. With +wise forethought Sahwah and Nyoda brought the +raft and the rowboat up on land. Leaves, small +twigs and thick dust filled the air. Windows rattled +ominously; doors slammed with jarring crashes. +Migwan, foreseeing a devastating storm, set all the +girls to picking tomatoes as fast as they could, +whether they were ripe or not, to save them from +being dashed to the ground. They could ripen off +the vines later. +</p> +<p> +At last the sandstorm drove them into the house, +blinded. Then there came such a wind as none of +them had ever experienced. Trees in the yard broke +like matches; the Balm of Gilead roared like an +ocean in a tempest. There was a constant rattle of +pebbles and small objects against the window panes; +then one of the windows in the dining-room was +broken by a branch being hurled against it, and let +in a miniature tempest. Papers blew around the +room in great confusion. Migwan rolled the high +topped sideboard in front of the broken pane to keep +the wind out of the room. At times it seemed as +if the very house must be coming down on top of +their heads, and they stood with frightened faces +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span> +in the front hall ready to dash out at a moment’s +notice. A crash sounded on the roof and they +thought the time had come, but in a moment they +realized that it was only the chimney falling over. +The bricks went sliding and bumping down the +slope of the roof and fell to the ground over the +edge. +</p> +<p> +“I pity anybody who’s caught in this out in the +open,” said Migwan. “I believe the wind is strong +enough to blow a horse over. I wonder where Calvin +is now.” Calvin had gone to the city with +Farmer Landsdowne on business and intended to +remain all night. +</p> +<p> +“He’s probably all right if he has reached those +friends of the Landsdownes’,” said Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“The Smalleys are out, too,” said Sahwah. “I +saw them drive past after dark, going toward town, +just before it began to blow so terribly. Oh, listen! +What do you suppose that was?” A crash in the +yard told them that something had happened to the +barn. Gladys was in great distress about the car, +and had to be restrained forcibly from running out +to see if it was all right. The wind continued the +greater part of the night and nobody thought of +going to bed. By morning it had spent its +force. +</p> +<p> +Then they looked out on a scene of destruction. +The garden was piled with branches and trunks +of trees, and strewn with clothes that had been +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span> +hanging on wash-lines somewhere along the road. +Up against the porch lay a wicker chair which they +recognized as belonging to a house some distance +away. Everywhere around they could see the corn +and wheat lying flat on the ground, as if trodden +by some giant foot. The roof of the barn had been +torn off on one side and reposed on the ground, +more or less shattered. The car was uninjured except +that it was covered with a thick coating of yellow +dust. It was well that they had thought to pick +the tomatoes, for the vines and the frames which +supported them were demolished. All the telephone +wires were down as far as they could see. +</p> +<p> +Calvin was not to return until night, and they +felt no great anxiety about him, but often during +the day a disquieting thought came to Migwan. +This was about Uncle Peter, the man who lived in +the cottage among the trees. Suppose something +had happened to him? From Sahwah’s report, the +house was very old and frail. She watched the +Red House closely for signs of life, but apparently +the Smalleys had not returned. The doors were +shut and there was no smoke coming out of the +kitchen chimney. +</p> +<p> +“Nyoda,” said Migwan, finally, “I’m going over +and see if that old man is all right. I can’t rest +until I know.” +</p> +<p> +“All right,” said Nyoda, “I’m going with you.” +Sahwah was over at Mrs. Landsdowne’s, but they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span> +remembered her description of the approach to the +cottage, and made the detour around the field where +the bull was and the marsh beyond it, coming up to +the cottage from the other side. It was still standing, +although the big tree beside it had been blown +over and lay across the roof. +</p> +<p> +“Would you ever think,” said Migwan, “that +there was anyone living in there? I could pass it +a dozen times and swear it was empty, if I didn’t +know about it.” +</p> +<p> +“Well,” said Nyoda, the house is still standing, +“so I suppose the old man is all right.” +</p> +<p> +“I wonder,” said Migwan. “He may have been +frightened sick, and he may have nothing to eat or +drink, now that the Smalleys are kept away. We’d +better have a look. He can’t hurt us. If Sahwah +spent the whole afternoon with him we needn’t be +afraid.” +</p> +<p> +They tried the door, but, of course, found it +locked, and were obliged to resort to the same means +of entrance as Sahwah had employed. They saw the +key in the other door just as Sahwah had and turned +it and opened the door. The old man was sitting +by the table in just the position Sahwah had described. +Apparently he was neither frightened nor +hurt. He looked up when he saw them in the doorway +and motioned them to come in. There was +nothing extraordinary in his appearance; he was +simply an old man with mild blue eyes. Obeying +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span> +the same impulse of adventure which had led Sahwah +across the threshold, they stepped in and sat +down. The room was just as Sahwah had told +them. The table was littered with wheels and rods +which the old man was fitting together. As they +expected, he worked away without taking any notice +of them. +</p> +<p> +“Did you mind the storm?” asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Storm?” said the old man. “What storm?” +</p> +<p> +“He never noticed it!” said Migwan, in an aside +to Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“What are you making?” asked Migwan, wishing +to hear from his own lips the explanation he +had given Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +After his customary interval he spoke. “It’s a +machine that reclaims wasted moments,” he explained. +“Every moment that isn’t made good use +of goes down through this little trap door, and when +there are enough to make an hour they join hands +and climb up on the face of the clock again.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan and Nyoda exchanged glances. The ingenious +imagination of the old man surpassed anything +they had ever heard. They stayed awhile, +amusing themselves by looking at the books and +clocks in the cabinets, and then rose, intending to +slip away quietly when he was absorbed in his work, +as Sahwah had done. A dish of apples standing on +one of the cabinets indicated that he was not without +food and their minds were now at rest about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span> +his welfare. But when they moved toward the door +he turned and looked at them. +</p> +<p> +“What do you think of it?” he asked. +</p> +<p> +By “it” they figured that he meant the machine +he was working on. “It’s a very good one indeed,” +said Nyoda, “very interesting.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you want to buy the rights?” asked the old +man, taking off his hat and putting it on again. +</p> +<p> +“He thinks he’s talking to some capitalist!” +whispered Migwan. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll talk over the plans first among ourselves +and let you know our decision,” said Nyoda, not +knowing what to say and wishing to appear politely +interested. This speech would give them an opportunity +to get away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter +drew a sheet of paper from among those on the +table and gravely handed it to her. +</p> +<p> +“Here are the plans,” he said. “Take them and +look them over and let me know in a week.” Then +he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding +the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the +room, followed by Migwan. They left the house +as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout +way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of +the remarkable machine away in her room, intending +to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they +saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red +House. +</p> +<p> +It took the girls most of the day to clear the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span> +garden of the rubbish which had been blown into it +and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. Calvin +came back at night safe and relieved the slight +anxiety they had felt about him. As they sat on +the porch after supper comparing notes about the +storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that +the well digger’s ghost was at work again. It continued +throughout the evening. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer,” +said Migwan. A perpetual air of uneasiness had +fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to +get anything accomplished. How could they settle +down to work or play with that dreadful thud, thud +pounding in their ears every little while? Dave +Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to +see what damage had been done and they were again +without the protection of the law. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe it’s some animal under the ground,” +suggested Calvin. “It certainly couldn’t be a person +down there.” This seemed such an amazingly +sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were +inclined to accept it. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose imagination does help a lot,” said +Migwan, “and if we hadn’t heard that story about +the well digger we would never have thought of a +man with a pickaxe. It’s undoubtedly the movements +of an animal we hear.” +</p> +<p> +“But what animal lives underground without any +air?” asked Sahwah. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span> +</p> +<p> +“There’s probably a hole somewhere, only we +haven’t found it,” said Migwan, who seemed determined +to believe the animal theory. +</p> +<p> +“But what about the note on the door and the +lime on the tomatoes and the burning of the tepee?” +asked Sahwah. “You can’t blame that onto an animal, +can you?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s very true,” said Migwan, “but it is +likely there is no connection between the two mysteries. +It’s just a coincidence. I for one am going +to be sensible and stop worrying about that noise in +the ground.” And most of them followed Migwan’s +example. +</p> +<p> +The next morning was such a beautiful one that +they could not resist getting up early and running +out of doors before breakfast. “Let’s play a game +of hide-and-seek,” proposed Sahwah. The others +agreed readily; Hinpoha was counted out and had +to be “it,” and the others scattered to hide themselves. +One by one Hinpoha discovered and +“caught” the players, or they got “in free.” Calvin +startled her nearly out of her wits by suddenly +dropping out of a tree almost on top of her. +</p> +<p> +“Are we all in?” asked Migwan, fanning herself +with her handkerchief. She was out of breath +from her strenuous run for the goal. +</p> +<p> +“All but Sahwah,” said Hinpoha. She started +out again to look for her, turning around every +little while to keep a wary eye on the goal lest Sahwah +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span> +should spring out from somewhere nearby and +reach it before she did. But Sahwah was evidently +hidden at some distance from the goal, and Hinpoha +walked in an ever increasing circle without +tempting her out. The others, tired of waiting for +her to be caught, joined in the search and beat the +bushes and hunted through the barn and looked up +in the trees. But no Sahwah did they find. +</p> +<p> +Breakfast time neared and Hinpoha called loudly, +“In free, Sahwah, game’s over.” But Sahwah did +not emerge from some cleverly concealed nook as +they expected. +</p> +<p> +“Maybe she didn’t hear you,” said Migwan. +“Let’s all call.” And they all called, shouting together +in perfect unison as they had done on so +many other occasions, making the combined voice +carry a great distance. An echo answered them but +that was all. The girls looked at each other blankly. +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose she’s staying hidden on purpose?” +asked Calvin. +</p> +<p> +“No,” said Nyoda, emphatically, “I don’t. Sahwah’s +had enough experience with causing us worry +by disappearing never to do it on purpose again. +She’s probably stuck somewhere and can’t get out. +Do you remember the time she was shut up in the +statue and couldn’t talk? Something of the kind +has occurred again, I don’t doubt. We’ll simply +have to search until we find and release her.” +</p> +<p> +They began a systematized search and minutely +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span> +examined every foot of ground. Thinking that the +barn was the most likely place to get into something +and not get out again, they opened every old chest +there and pried into every corner, and moved every +article. They went up-stairs and looked through +the lofts and corners. The roof being partly off, it +was as light as day, and if she had been there anywhere +they would surely have seen her. But there +was no sign of her. They looked under the roof +of the barn that lay on the ground, thinking that +she might have crawled under that and become +pinned down, but she was not there. +</p> +<p> +“Could she have fallen into the river?” asked +Calvin. +</p> +<p> +“It wouldn’t have done her any harm if she had,” +said Hinpoha. “Sahwah’s more at home in the +water than she is on land. It wouldn’t have been +unlike her to jump in and swim around and duck +her head under every time I came near, but then +she would have heard us calling for her and come +out.” +</p> +<p> +They parted every bush and shrub, and looked +closely at the branches of every tree, half fearing +to find her hanging by the hair somewhere. +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose she went up the Balm of Gilead +tree and into the attic window?” asked Migwan. +They searched through the attic, and a laborious +search it was, on account of the quantities of furniture +and chests to be moved. They pulled out every +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span> +drawer and burst open every trunk and chest, thinking +she might have crawled into one and then the +lid had closed with a spring lock. It was fully noon +before they were satisfied that she was not up there. +</p> +<p> +“Could she be in the cellar?” asked Hinpoha. +Down they went, carrying lights to look into all the +dark corners. But the search was vain. The girls +became extremely frightened. Something told them +that Sahwah’s disappearance was not voluntary. +They looked at each other with growing fear. What +had the message on the door said? +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 4em;'> +“<em>If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get +out of that house.</em>” +</p> +<p> +Was that a warning of what had happened now? +Was it a friendly or a sinister warning? Migwan +was almost beside herself to think that anything +had happened to Sahwah while she was staying with +her. The day dragged along like a nightmare. In +the afternoon Calvin had an inspiration. “Why +didn’t I think of it before?” he almost shouted. +“Here’s Pointer; he’s a hunting dog and can follow +a trail. We’ll set him to find Sahwah’s trail.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s right,” said Migwan, in relief, “we’ll +surely find her now.” +</p> +<p> +They gave Pointer a shoe of Sahwah’s and in a +moment he had started off with his nose to the +ground. But if they had expected him to lead them +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span> +to her hiding-place they were disappointed, for all +he did was follow the trail around the garden between +the house and the river. Once he went down +cellar, straining hard at the chain which held him, +and they were sure he would find something they +had overlooked in their search, but the trail ended +in front of the fruit cellar. +</p> +<p> +“Sahwah came down here early this morning to +bring up those melons, don’t you remember?” said +Migwan. “That’s all Pointer has found out.” +They kept Pointer at it for some time, but he never +offered to leave the garden. +</p> +<p> +“Are you sure he’s on the trail?” asked Hinpoha, +doubtfully. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Calvin, “he never whines that way +unless he is. That long howl is the hunting dog’s +signal that he’s on the job. When he loses the +trail he runs back and forth uncertainly.” +</p> +<p> +“According to that, Sahwah must be very near,” +said Gladys. “Are you sure there isn’t any other +place in the house, cellar or barn that she could have +gotten into, Migwan?” +</p> +<p> +“Quite sure,” said Migwan, disheartened. “You +know yourself the way we finecombed every foot +of space.” +</p> +<p> +“There’s another thing that might have made +Pointer lose the trail,” said Nyoda. “Do you remember +that he stopped short at the river once? +Well, it is my belief that Sahwah ran down to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span> +river and either fell or jumped in and swam away. +That would destroy the trail, and Sahwah might be +miles away for all we know.” She carefully refrained +from suggesting that anything had happened +to Sahwah and she might have gone under the water +and not come up again, but there was a fear tugging +at her heart that Sahwah had dived in and struck +her head on something and gone down. +</p> +<p> +But several of the others must have had much the +same thought, for Gladys remarked, without any +apparent connection, “<em>You can see the bottom almost +all the way down the river.</em>” +</p> +<p> +And Hinpoha said, “<em>Those tangled roots of trees +in the river are nasty things to get into.</em>” +</p> +<p> +And Calvin set the dog free immediately and +untied the rowboat. He and Nyoda rowed down +the river while the rest followed along the banks. +The stream was clear most of the distance and they +could see to the bottom. Here and there were sharp +rocks jutting up and casting shadows on the sunlit +bottom, and in places the water had washed the dirt +away from the roots of trees so that they extended +out into the river like many-fingered creatures waiting +to seize their prey. But nowhere did they see +what they feared. In the lower part of the river, +toward the mouth, the water was deeper and had +been dredged free of all obstructions, so while it was +muddy and they could not see into its depths they +knew that nothing was to be found here. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span> +</p> +<p> +Vaguely relieved and yet dreadfully anxious and +mystified they returned to Onoway House. “Do +you suppose she was carried away by an automobile +or wagon?” asked Migwan. “Does anyone recall +seeing anything of the kind going by when we +started to play?” Nobody did. While they were +discussing this new theory, Pointer, who had been +left to run loose while they were searching the river, +came running up to them. With much wagging of +his tail he went to Calvin and laid something at his +feet For a moment they could not make out what +it was. Migwan recognized it first. +</p> +<p> +<em>It was Sahwah’s shoe, completely covered and +dripping with black mud.</em> +</p> +<p> +“Where did you find it, Pointer?” asked Calvin. +Pointer wagged his tail in evident satisfaction, but, +of course, he could not answer his master’s question. +</p> +<p> +“Is that the shoe Sahwah had on this morning?” +asked Nyoda. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Hinpoha. “I remember asking her +why she wore those shoes with the red buttons to +run around in and she said they were getting tight +and she wanted to wear them out.” +</p> +<p> +“Where does that black mud come from around +here?” asked Gladys. +</p> +<p> +It was Nyoda who guessed the dreadful fact first. +All of a sudden she remembered cleaning her shoes +after she had come home from her visit to Uncle +Peter. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span> +</p> +<p> +“<em>The marsh!</em>” she gasped. “<em>Sahwah’s caught +in the marsh!</em> It’s the same mud. I went to the +edge of the marsh the other day to see it and got +some on my shoe.” +</p> +<p> +Without stopping to hear more, Calvin dashed off +in the direction of his father’s farm, with Pointer +at his heels and Gladys and Nyoda and Hinpoha +and Migwan and Tom and Betty trailing after him +as fast as they could go. Mrs. Gardiner followed +a little distance behind. She could not keep up with +them. Calvin tore a flat board from one of the +fences as he ran along and called on the others to +do the same thing. A little farther on he found +a rope and took that along. They reached the edge +of the marsh and looked eagerly for the figure of +Sahwah imprisoned in the treacherous ooze. But +the green surface smiled up innocently at them. +Not a sign of a struggle, no indentation in the level, +no break. To the unknowing it looked like the +smoothest lawn lying like a sheet of emerald in the +sun. But on second glance you saw the water +bubbling up through the grass and then you knew +the secret of the greenness. Nowhere could they see +Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +Migwan had to force herself to ask the question +that was in everybody’s mind. “Has she gone +under?” +</p> +<p> +“No,” said Calvin, positively. “It can’t be possible +in so short a time. They say that a horse went +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205'></a>205</span> +down here once long ago, and it took him more +than two days to be covered entirely.” +</p> +<p> +After being wrought up to such a pitch of expectancy +it was a shock to find that Sahwah was not +in the marsh. <em>But how had her shoe come to be covered +with marsh mud, and what was it doing off +her foot?</em> Where had Pointer found it? +</p> +<p> +“Oh, if only dogs could speak!” said Hinpoha. +“Pointer, Pointer, where did you find it?” But +Pointer could only wag his tail and bark. +</p> +<p> +From where they stood at the edge of the marsh +they could see the cottage among the trees. A look +of inquiry passed between Nyoda and Migwan. +Calvin saw the look and understood it. +</p> +<p> +“Would you like to look in Uncle Peter’s +house?” he asked. His face was very pale, and +Nyoda, watching him keenly, thought she detected +a sudden suspicion and fear in his eyes. He looked +apprehensively over his shoulder at the Red House +as they started to skirt the bog. Nyoda understood +that movement. Abner Smalley did not know that +they knew about Uncle Peter, and Calvin had said +he would be very angry if he found it out. Now he +would be sure to see them going toward the house. +But this thought did not make Nyoda waver in her +determination to search the cottage. The urgency +of the occasion released them from their promise of +secrecy. As Calvin had no key they were obliged to +enter by the window as on former occasions. But +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206'></a>206</span> +the front room was absolutely blank and bare and +they saw the impossibility of anyone’s being hidden +there. It was a tense moment when they opened +the door of the inner room and the girls who had +never been there stepped behind the others and held +their breath. Uncle Peter sat at the table just as +Nyoda and Migwan had seen him a day or two +before, playing with his rods and wheels. His mild +blue eyes rested in astonishment on the number of +people who thronged the doorway. +</p> +<p> +“Come in, ladies,” he said, politely. The room +was exactly as it had been the other day and apparently +he had not stirred from his position. They +all felt that Sahwah had not been there and that +the old man knew nothing about the matter. But +Calvin spoke to him. +</p> +<p> +“Uncle Peter,” he said. The man turned at the +name and stared at him but gave no sign of recognizing +him. “Do you know me, Uncle Peter?” +said Calvin. “It’s Calvin, Jim’s boy.” +</p> +<p> +The old man smiled vacantly and held out the bit +of machinery he was working on. “It’s a machine +for saving time,” he said. “As the minutes are +ticked off——” There was nothing to be gotten +out of him, and they withdrew again. Calvin looked +around him fearfully as they returned through the +fields, to see if his uncle had watched him take the +girls to the cottage, but there was no sign of him +anywhere, at which he breathed an unconscious sigh +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207'></a>207</span> +of relief. Tired out with their ceaseless searching +and sick with anxiety, they returned to Onoway +House. +</p> +<p> +If we were writing an ingeniously intricate detective +story the thing to do would be to wait until +Sahwah was discovered by some brilliant piece of +detective work and then have her tell her story, +leaving the explanation of the mystery until the last +chapter, and keeping the reader on the verge of +nervous prostration to the end of the piece. But, as +this is only a faithful narrative of actual events, and +as Sahwah is our heroine as much as any of the +girls, we know that the reader would much prefer +to follow her adventures with their own eyes, rather +than hear about them later when she tells the story +to the wondering household. And we also think it +only fair to say that if Sahwah’s return had depended +on any brilliant detective work on the part +of the others we have very grave doubts as to its +ever being accomplished. We will, then, leave the +dwellers at Onoway House to their searching and +theorizing and bewailing, and follow Sahwah from +the time they started to play hide-and-seek and Hinpoha +blinded her eyes and began to count “five, +ten, fifteen, twenty.” +</p> +<p> +Sahwah ran across the garden toward the house, +intending to swing herself into one of the open cellar +windows. Near this window was a flower bed +which Migwan had filled with especially rich black +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208'></a>208</span> +soil. That morning she had watered the bed and +had done it so thoroughly that the ground was +turned into a very soft mud. Sahwah, not looking +where she was going, stepped into this mud and +sank in over her shoe top with one foot. When she +had entered the window she stood on the cellar floor +and regarded the muddy shoe disgustedly. Feeling +that it was wet through, she ripped it off and flung +it out of the window. It landed back in the muddy +bed and was hidden by the growing plants. Sahwah +then proceeded to hide herself in the fruit cellar. +This was a partitioned off place in a dark corner. +She sat among the cupboards and baskets and +watched Hinpoha pass the window several times as +she hunted for the players. Once Hinpoha peered +searchingly into the window and Sahwah thought +she was on the verge of being discovered and pressed +back in her corner. There was a basket of potatoes +in the way of her getting quite into the corner and +she moved this out. There was also a barrel of +vinegar and she slipped in behind this. As she +moved the barrel it dropped back upon her shoeless +foot and it was all she could do to repress a cry of +pain as she stood and held the battered member in +her hand. But the pain became so bad she decided +to give up the game and get something to relieve it. +She pushed hard against the barrel to move it out, +but this time it would not move. She pushed harder, +bracing her back against the wooden wall behind +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209'></a>209</span> +her, when, without warning, the wall caved in as if +by magic, and she fell backwards head over heels +into inky darkness. The wall through which she +had fallen closed with a bang. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah sat up and reached mechanically for the +hurt foot. The pain had increased alarmingly and +for a time shut out all other sensations. Then it +abated a little and Sahwah had time to wonder what +she had fallen into. She was sitting on a stone floor, +she could make that out. It must be a room of +some kind, she decided, but the darkness was so intense +that she could make nothing out. “There +must have been another part to the cellar behind the +fruit cellar, although we never knew it,” thought +Sahwah, “and the back of the fruit cellar was the +door.” As soon as she could stand upon her foot +again she moved forward in the direction from +which she thought she had come and searched with +her hands for a doorknob. But her fingers encountered +only a smooth wall surface and after about +five minutes of careful feeling she came to the +startled conclusion that there was no such thing. +“I must have got turned around when I tumbled,” +she thought, “and am feeling of the wrong wall.” +She accordingly moved forward until her outstretched +hands encountered another hard surface +and she repeated the process of looking for a doorknob. +No more success here. “Well, there are +four walls to every room,” thought Sahwah, “and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210'></a>210</span> +I’ve still got two more trys.” Again she moved out +cautiously and with ever increasing nervousness admitted +that there was no door in that direction. +“Now for the fourth side, the right one at last,” she +said to herself. “One, two, three, out goes me!” +She moved quickly in the fourth and last direction. +Without warning she ran hard into something which +tripped her up. She felt her head striking violently +against something hard and then she knew no +more. +</p> +<p> +She woke to a dream consciousness first. She +dreamed she was lying in the soft sand on the lake +shore near one of the great stone piers, where a +number of men were at work. They were pounding +the stones with great hammers and the vibrations +from the blows shook the beach and went through +her as she lay on the sand. Gradually the sparkling +water faded from her sight; the sky grew dark and +night fell, but still the blows continued to sound on +the stone. Just where the dream ended and reality +began she never knew, but, with a rush of consciousness +she knew that she was awake and alive; that +everything was dark and that she was lying on her +face in something soft that was like sand and yet +not like it. And the pounding she had heard in her +dream was still going on. Thud, thud, it shook the +earth and jarred her so her teeth were on edge. For +a long time she lay and listened without wondering +much what it was. Her head ached with such intensity +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211'></a>211</span> +that it might have been the throbbing of her +temples that was shaking the earth so. After a +while that dulled, but the jarring blows still kept up. +With a cessation of the pain came the power to think +and Sahwah remembered the strange noises they +had heard issuing from the ground. It must be the +same noise; only it was a hundred times louder now. +It was a sort of clanging thump; like the sound of +steel on stone. Even with all that noise going on +Sahwah slipped off into half consciousness at times. +Although there did not seem to be any doors or +windows, she was not suffering for lack of air, but +at the time she was too dazed to notice this and +wonder at it. +</p> +<p> +She woke with a start from one of these dozes to +the realization that there was a broad streak of light +on the floor. Fully conscious now, she raised her +head and looked around. She was lying in a bin +filled with sawdust. When she held up her head +her eyes came just to the top of it. By the light +she could see that she was indeed in a sort of sub-cellar. +It must have been older than the other cellar +for the floor was made of great slabs of mouldy +stone. Her eyes followed the beam of light and she +saw that a door had been opened into still another +cellar beyond. In this chamber a lantern stood on +the floor, whence came the light, and its ray produced +weird and fantastic moving shadows. These +shadows came from a man who was wielding a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212'></a>212</span> +pickaxe against a spot in the stone wall. It was this +that was causing the jarring blows. Startled almost +out of her senses at seeing a man thus apparently +caged up in the sub-cellar of Onoway House, Sahwah +could only lay back with a gasp. She could +not raise her voice to cry out had she been so inclined. +</p> +<p> +But fast on the heels of that shock came another. +The worker paused in his exertions to wipe the +perspiration from his brow, and stood where the +light of the lantern shone full in his face. Sahwah’s +heart gave a great leap when she recognized Abner +Smalley. Abner Smalley in the hidden sub-cellar +of Onoway House, digging a hole in the wall! +Sahwah forgot her own plight in curiosity as to +what he was doing. She lay and watched him fascinated +while he resumed his pounding. So he was +the mysterious intruder who had wrought such +terror among them! This, then, was the well digger’s +ghost! What could he be searching for in the +cellar of his neighbor’s house? Sahwah dug her +feet into the soft sawdust as she watched the pick +rise and fall. She had no idea of the flight of time. +She thought it was only a few minutes since she had +fallen into the sub-cellar. She lay thinking of the +expressions on the faces of the girls when she would +tell them her discovery. To think that she had been +the one to solve the mystery! She felt a little disappointed +that the mysterious intruder should have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213'></a>213</span> +turned out to be someone they knew. It would have +been more in keeping with her idea of romance to +have found a prince shut up in the cellar. +</p> +<p> +While she was thinking these thoughts the light +suddenly vanished and she heard the bang of a door +shutting. She was in darkness once more. In a +moment she heard footsteps retreating and dying +away in the distance. All was silent again. It took +her some moments to collect her thoughts sufficiently +to realize a new and significant fact. <em>Abner +Smalley had not gone out by the door into the fruit +cellar. There must be, then, another way of egress +from the sub-cellar.</em> Instantly Sahwah made up her +mind to follow him and see how he had gotten out +at the other end. Her feet were imbedded deeply +in the sawdust and she became aware of the fact +that her shoeless foot was resting against something +with a sharp edge. She drew it away and then carefully +felt with her hands for the object. She could +not see it when she had it but it felt like a metal +box of some kind, possibly tin. She carried it with +her and moved toward the place where she now +knew there was a door. She found the handle easily +and opened it. This was the side of the wall toward +which she had moved when she had run into the bin +before, and so she did not discover it. A strong +breath of air struck her as she advanced into this +chamber. It was scarcely more than a passage, for +by reaching out her arms she could touch the wall +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214'></a>214</span> +on both sides. She moved cautiously, fearing to fall +again in the dark. She felt the place in the wall +where Abner Smalley had made an indentation with +his pick. She was wondering where this passage led +and wishing it would come to an end soon, when she +struck the already sore foot against what must have +been the pickaxe set against the wall and fell on her +nose once more. The tin box she carried was +rammed into the pit of her stomach and knocked +the breath out of her, but this time she had not hit +her head. +</p> +<p> +She lay still for a moment trying to get her breath +back. Her eyes were becoming accustomed to the +inky darkness by this time. She looked down and +saw a stone floor beneath her. She turned her head +to one side and saw a stone wall beside her. She +turned over altogether and looked up—and saw +the constellation Cassiopea flashing down at her +from the sky. For a moment she could not believe +her senses. Of all the strange sights she had seen +nothing had affected her so powerfully as the sight +of that familiar group of stars. What she had expected +to see she could not tell, stone perhaps, but +anything except the open sky. She sat up in a hurry +and began to investigate where she was. The wall +around her seemed to be circular and all of a sudden +Sahwah had the answer. She was in the cistern—the +old unused cistern which was not a great distance +from the house. This, then, was the opening +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215'></a>215</span> +of the sub-cellar, the way in which Mr. Smalley had +made his escape. There was usually a covering over +the cistern, but he had evidently been in a hurry and +left it off. +</p> +<p> +The fact that there were stars out took Sahwah’s +breath away. It was night then; had she been in +that cellar all day? It was inconceivable, yet it was +undoubtedly true. By the faint glimmer of the +stars she could make out that there were hollows +in the stone side of the cistern by which a person +could easily climb out. She lost no time in climbing +when she made this discovery. What a joy it +was to be coming up into God’s outdoors again! As +she emerged from the cistern she saw Migwan +standing in the garden beside the back porch. The +moon shone full on her as she stepped out of the +hole in the ground and just then Migwan caught +sight of her. The apparition was too much for Migwan +and she screamed one terrified scream after +another until the girls came running from all over +to see what fresh calamity had happened. Only +seeing Sahwah standing in their midst and not having +seen her appear magically out of the depths of +the ground, they could not understand Migwan’s +terror. +</p> +<p> +“Stop screaming, Migwan,” said Sahwah, and +when Migwan heard her voice and saw that it was +really she, she quieted down and listened while Sahwah +told her tale of adventure since going down +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216'></a>216</span> +into the cellar to hide. The day had passed so +quickly for Sahwah, she having lain unconscious +until late in the afternoon, that she, of course, knew +nothing of their frantic search for her and so could +not comprehend why they made such a fuss over +her return. They laughed and cried all at once and +hugged her until she finally protested. +</p> +<p> +“What have you brought along as a souvenir of +your trip?” asked Nyoda, who had regained her +light-hearted manner now that Sahwah was safely +back. +</p> +<p> +Sahwah looked down at the box she held in her +hand. “I found it in the bin of sawdust,” she said. +“It was just like playing ‘Fish-pond’ at the children’s +parties. You put your hand in a box of sawdust +and draw out a handsome prize.” And +Sahwah laughed, her familiar long drawn-out +giggle, that they had despaired of ever hearing +again. She laid the box on the table. It was of tin, +about nine inches long by three inches wide by three +high, with a closely fitting cover. “Shall I open it, +Nyoda?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t see any harm in doing so,” said Nyoda. +Sahwah took off the cover. There was nothing in +the box but a folded piece of paper. She took it and +spread it before them on the table. +</p> +<p> +“What is it?” they all cried, crowding around. +The first thing that caught their eye was a slanting +line drawn across the paper in heavy ink. There +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217'></a>217</span> +was some writing beside it, but this was so faded +that it took some studying to make it out. Finally +they got it. It read: +</p> +<p> +“<em>Supposed extension of gas vein.</em>” The upper +end of the line was marked “<em>36 feet west of cistern.</em>” +There was a cross at that point also, and this +was marked, “<em>Place where gas was struck at 300 +feet.</em>” +</p> +<p> +“The Deacon’s gas well!” they all exclaimed in +chorus. It was true, then. +</p> +<p> +“And there was a well digger’s ghost, even if it +didn’t turn out to be the one we expected!” said +Migwan. +</p> +<p> +That day was never to be forgotten, although the +next cleared up the mystery and brought still another +surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, was +once more brought out and this time furnished with +information that nearly caused his eyes to start +from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as everyone +supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, +breaking into his neighbor’s house and deliberately +trying to dig a hole in the stone wall. It was the +sensation of his career. “Well, I’ll be jiggered!” +he gasped. +</p> +<p> +But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner +Smalley’s when he was confronted with the accusation +without warning. He turned so pale and +trembled so much that it was useless to deny his +guilt. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218'></a>218</span> +</p> +<p> +“You are guilty, Abney Smalley,” said the constable, +in such a solemn tone that the girls could +hardly keep straight faces. “You’d better make a +clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in +that house or it might go hard with you.” +</p> +<p> +Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, +was a coward when the odds were against him, +and he had always had a wholesome fear of the law, +so at Dave Beeman’s suggestion he decided to +“make a clean breast of it.” We will not weary +the reader with all the conversation that took place, +but will simply tell the facts of the story. +</p> +<p> +Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on +the place yet, the story of the Deacon’s gas well had +come to Abner Smalley’s ears. He heard a fact +connected with it, however, that was not generally +known, namely, that the Deacon had made a record +of the place where the gas was found. Believing +that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the +house, he had devised a means of breaking in and +searching for it. His first plan had been to frighten +the dwellers in the house and make them believe +there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the +place a wide berth at night and leave him free to +ransack the Deacon’s old furniture. He frightened +the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner +had the Mitchells departed than the new caretakers +had come; and they were a much bigger houseful +than the others. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219'></a>219</span> +</p> +<p> +He had tried the same plan with them as he had +with the others, namely, mysterious noises around +the place at night. But what had frightened Mrs. +Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new +farmers. They shot off a gun when he was doing +his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a bottle, +which had produced that weird moaning sound. He +it was who had dressed up as a ghost and appeared +to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the red pepper into +her face when she made as if to attack him with a +pole. It was he whom they had seen coming out +of the barn that night, and later it was he again +whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He +had disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. +That was the first time he had been down, +and on this occasion he had discovered the passage +leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had +heard in the attic on numerous occasions. He had +entered and gone out after dark by means of the +Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. +He had been down cellar that night when +Sahwah nearly caught him. He was looking for +the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never +found. He knocked over the basket of potatoes +which had mystified them so. He had been on the +point of entering the house that day when Sahwah +suddenly returned from town after he thought the +whole family was gone for the day. When he saw +her go off along the river he went in anyway and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220'></a>220</span> +was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had +escaped detection by hiding in a large chest. +</p> +<p> +The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them +go and spent all day looking through the desks in +the house. Finally the dog barked so he gave him +the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. +Then the family had returned and he had +had a narrow escape into the cistern. He had stayed +there until night, when he had set fire to the tepee, +not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After +starting the blaze he had again sought refuge in the +cistern and when the crowd had gathered, came out +in their midst so that his absence from such an exciting +event in the neighborhood would cause no +comment among the farmers. The cistern was in +the shadow and everyone was watching the fire so +intently that he was able to emerge unseen. +</p> +<p> +He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and +written the note which they found on the door. He +had left the chisel in the automobile on one occasion +when he had been hunting through the things in the +barn; forgetting to take it with him when he went +out. +</p> +<p> +He wanted to get hold of that record secretly and +be sure whether the great vein of gas which the +Deacon knew existed was on the property now +owned by the Bartletts or that of the Landsdownes, +and then he was going to buy that property before +the owners knew about the gas, as the land would +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221'></a>221</span> +be worth a fortune if that fact ever became known. +He was pretty sure, after discovering that sub-cellar, +that the Deacon had left his papers down there when +he went to California. By pounding on the walls he +had discovered one place which he was sure was +hollow. If the stone that covered the place could +be removed by any trick he failed to discover it +and had to resort to digging it out with a pick. +This, as we already know, produced the dull thudding +sound underground which had frightened the +household almost out of their wits. The reason he +could prowl around in the yard at night after they +had set the dog to watch was that Pointer knew him +and made no disturbance upon seeing him. +</p> +<p> +Abner Smalley was marched off triumphantly by +Dave Beeman, and was held on such a complicated +charge of house-breaking, arson, assault and battery, +and intimidating peaceful citizens, that it took the +combined efforts of the village to draw it up. Thus +ended the great mystery which had kept Onoway +House in more or less of an uproar all summer. +</p> +<p> +“I never saw anything like the way we Winnebagos +have of falling into things,” said Sahwah. +“Here Mr. Smalley made such elaborate efforts to +find that record, using up more energy and ingenuity +than it would take to dig up the whole farm and +hunt for the gas well; and he didn’t find it in the +end; and all I did was drop in on top of it without +even suspecting its existence.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222'></a>222</span> +</p> +<p> +“There must be a special destiny that guides us,” +said Migwan. “Perhaps we possess an enchanted +goblet, like the ‘Luck of Edenhall,’ only it’s ‘The +Luck of the Winnebagos.’” +</p> +<p> +“Cheer for the ‘Luck of the Winnebagos,’” said +Sahwah, who never lost an occasion to raise a cheer +on any pretext. And at that Sahwah never dreamed +of the extent of the good fortune she had brought +the Bartletts by her lucky tumble. The vein of gas +which was struck when they subsequently drilled +proved a sensation even in that notable gas region +and made millionaires of its owners. And the reward +which Sahwah received for finding the record, +and that which the others received “just for living,” +as Migwan expressed it—for though they had not +found the sub-cellar themselves it was due to their +game that Sahwah had found it—drove the memory +of their fright from their heads. But we are getting +a little ahead of our story. There is one more +chapter yet to the Luck of the Winnebagos before +that remarkable summer came to an end. +</p> +<p> +After the departure of Abner Smalley things grew +so quiet at Onoway House that Migwan, who had +declared before that she would be a wreck if the +excitement did not cease soon, was now complaining +that things seemed flat and she wished the mystery +hadn’t been cleared up because it robbed them of +their chief topic of conversation. +</p> +<p> +“Well, I’m going to take advantage of the quiet +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223'></a>223</span> +atmosphere and straighten out my bureau drawers,” +said Nyoda. “I haven’t been able to put my mind +to it with all this excitement going on. And they’re +a sight since you girls went rummaging for things +for the Thieves’ Market.” In doing this she came +upon that strange creation of Uncle Peter’s brain, +the plan for the “Wasted Minute Saving Machine.” +She showed it to the girls and they examined it wonderingly. +</p> +<p> +“What is this on the other side?” asked Migwan. +“It’s a will!” she cried, reading it through. “It +says, ‘I, Adam Smalley, give and bequeathe my +farm on the Centerville Road to my son Jim, as +Abner has already had his share in cash.’” +</p> +<p> +“Let me see!” cried Calvin. “It’s the latest +one!” he shouted, reading the date. “It’s dated +1902 and the one Uncle Abner found was 1900. +The farm is mine after all! Uncle Peter had this +will in his possession and didn’t know it! How can +I thank you girls for what you’ve done for me?” +</p> +<p> +“It was all Migwan’s fault,” said Hinpoha. +“She insisted upon going to see whether the old +man was all right after the storm.” +</p> +<p> +Migwan declared that she had had nothing to do +with it; it was the Luck of the Winnebagos that +had given her the inspiration. But Calvin knew +well that in this case the Luck of the Winnebagos +was only Migwan’s own thoughtfulness. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224'></a>224</span>CHAPTER XIV.—GOOD-BYE TO ONOWAY HOUSE.</h2> +<p> +By the first of September Migwan had made +enough money from the sale of canned tomatoes to +more than pay her way through college the first +year. “It’s Mother Nature who has been my fairy +godmother,” she said to the girls. “I asked her +for the money to go to college and she put her hand +deep into her earth pocket and brought it out for +me. It’s like the magic gardens in the fairy tales +where the money grew on the bushes.” +</p> +<p> +“What a summer this has been, to be sure,” said +Hinpoha, who was in a reflective mood. They were +all sitting in the orchard, busy with various sorts +of handwork. The day was hot and drowsy and +the shade of the trees most inviting. “Migwan +and I thought we would have such a quiet time together, +just we two. She was going to write a book +and I was going to illustrate it, when we weren’t +working in the garden. And how differently it all +turned out! One by one you other girls came—I’ll +never forget how funny Gladys and Nyoda +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225'></a>225</span> +looked when they came out that night, and how surprised +Sahwah was to find you here when she arrived. +Then Gladys brought Ophelia, I mean Beatrice, +and after that we never had a quiet moment. +Then the mystery began and kept up all summer. +Instead of these three months being a quiet +rest they’ve been the most thrilling time of my +life.” +</p> +<p> +“It seems to have agreed with you, though,” said +Sahwah, mischievously, whereupon there was a general +laugh, for Hinpoha, instead of growing thin +with all the worry and excitement, had actually +gained five pounds. +</p> +<p> +“As much worry as it caused me,” said Migwan, +“I’m glad everything happened as it did. The summer +I had looked forward to would have been horribly +dull and uninteresting, but now I feel that I’ve +had some real experiences. I’ve got enough ideas +for stories to last for years to come.” +</p> +<p> +“And for moving picture plays,” said Hinpoha. +“But,” she added, “if you go in for that sort of +thing seriously, where am I coming in? You know +we made a compact; I was to illustrate everything +you wrote, and how am I going to illustrate moving +picture plays?” +</p> +<p> +There was a ripple of amusement at her perplexity. +“You’ll have to illustrate them by acting +them out,” said Gladys. They all agreed Hinpoha +would make a hit as a motion picture actress, all but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226'></a>226</span> +Sahwah, who dropped her eyes to her lap when +Migwan began to talk about moving pictures, and +presently went into the house to fetch something she +needed for her work. When she came out again the +subject had been changed and was no longer embarrassing +to her. +</p> +<p> +“What will the Bartletts say when they hear the +peach crop was ruined by the wind storm?” asked +Hinpoha. +</p> +<p> +“That’s the only thing about our summer experience +that I really regret,” answered Migwan. +“I wrote and told them about it, of course, when I +told them about the gas well, and Mrs. Bartlett said +we shouldn’t worry about it and that we ourselves +were a crop of peaches.” +</p> +<p> +“The dear thing!” said Gladys. “I should love +to see the Bartletts again some time; they were so +friendly to us last summer, and it is all due to them +that we have had such a glorious time this summer.” +</p> +<p> +Scarcely had she spoken when an automobile entered +the drive and stopped beside the house. Migwan +ran out to see who it was. The next moment +she had her arms around the neck of a pretty little +woman. “Oh, Mrs. Bartlett!” she cried. “Did +the fairies bring you? We just made a wish to +see you.” +</p> +<p> +Soon the girls were all flocking around the car, +shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett, and making +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227'></a>227</span> +a fuss over little Raymond. How the Bartletts +did sit up in astonishment when all the events of +the summer were told in detail! “Well, you certainly +are trumps for sticking it out,” said Mr. +Bartlett, admiringly. “Nobody but a bunch of +Camp Fire Girls would have done it.” At which +the Winnebagos glowed with pride. +</p> +<p> +Now that the Bartletts had come to stay at Onoway +House, Migwan decided she would go home a +week earlier than she had planned, as there was not +enough room for so many people there. Aunt +Phœbe and the Doctor were in town again, so Hinpoha +could go home if she wished; and Sahwah’s +mother had also returned. They were a little sorry +to break up so abruptly when they had planned quite +a few things for that last week to celebrate the +finishing of the canning, but all agreed that under +the circumstances it was the best thing they could +do. +</p> +<p> +“I really need a week at home,” said Migwan +with a twinkle in her eye, “to rest up from my vacation. +There I’ll get the peace and quiet that I +came here to seek.” Take care, O Migwan, how +you talk! Once before you predicted peace and +quiet, and see what happened! +</p> +<p> +Before they went, however, they must have one +more big time altogether, Mrs. Bartlett insisted, and +she went into town on purpose to bring out Nakwisi +and Chapa and Medmangi. Close behind them came +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228'></a>228</span> +another car which also stopped at Onoway House, +and out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Evans and Aunt +Beatrice and Uncle Lynn and little Beatrice, the +latter dressed up in wonderful new clothes and already +subtly changed, but still eager to romp with +the girls and tag after Sahwah. +</p> +<p> +“See here,” said Mr. Evans, when they were all +talking about going home the next day, “you girls +have been working pretty hard this summer, and +haven’t had a real vacation yet, why don’t you go +for an automobile trip the last week? Gladys has +her car; that is, if it came through all the excitement +alive, and mother and I would be willing to +let you take the other one. Go on a run of say a +thousand miles or so, and see a few cities. The +change will do you good.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, papa!” cried Gladys, clapping her hands in +rapture. “That will be wonderful!” And the +other girls fell in love with the idea on the spot. +</p> +<p> +As this was to be their last night at Onoway +House nothing was left undone that would make +the occasion a happy one. The evening was fine +and warm and the stars hung in the sky like great +jeweled lamps. With one accord they all sought the +garden and the orchard, where Gladys danced on +the grass in the moonlight like a real fairy. Then +all the girls danced together, until Mrs. Evans declared +that they looked like the dancing nymphs in +the Corot picture. And Beatrice, who had been +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229'></a>229</span> +taught those same things during the summer, broke +away from her mother and joined in the dance, as +light and graceful as Gladys herself. It was plain +to see that she had the gift which ran in the family, +and as her mother watched her with a thrill of pride +her heart overflowed anew in thankfulness to the +girls who had restored her daughter to her. +</p> +<p> +“On such a night,” quoted Migwan, looking up +at the moon, “Leander swam the Hellespont——” +</p> +<p> +“The river!” cried Sahwah, immediately, “we +must go out on the river once more. Oh, how can I +say good-bye to the Tortoise-Crab?” And she shed +imaginary tears into her handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s go for one more float,” cried all the +girls. +</p> +<p> +The grown-ups strolled down to the river bank +and sat on the grassy slope, watching with indulgent +interest what the girls were going to do next. They +saw them coming far up the river and heard their +song as it was wafted down on the scented breeze. +Slowly and majestically the raft approached, with +Sahwah standing up and guiding it with the pole. +When it had come nearer the onlookers saw a romantic +spectacle indeed. Gladys reposed on a bed +of flowers and leaves, under a canopy of branches +and vines, a ravishingly lovely Cleopatra. Beside +her knelt Antony, otherwise Migwan, holding out to +her a big white water lily. The other Winnebagos, +as slave maidens, sat on the raft and wove flower +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230'></a>230</span> +wreaths or fanned their lovely mistress with leaf +fans. It was the slaves who were doing the singing +and their clear voices rang out with wonderful +harmony on the enchanted air. On they came, past +the spot where Sahwah had been hidden on the afternoon +of the moving pictures; past the Lorelei +Rock, where they had held that other pageant which +had frightened Calvin so; past the spot where they +lay concealed and watched the strange manœuvers +of the supposed Venoti gang. Each rock and tree +along the stream was pregnant with memories of +that eventful summer, and they could hardly believe +that they were saying good-bye to it all. +</p> +<p> +Now they were opposite the watchers on the bank +and the murmurs of admiration reached their ears +as they floated past. “What lovely voices——” +</p> +<p> +“What wonderful imaginations those girls +have——” +</p> +<p> +“How beautifully they work together——” +</p> +<p> +Calvin looked on in speechless admiration, his +eyes for the most part on Migwan. Never in his +life had he regretted anything so much as he did +the fact that these jolly friends of his were going +away. He was to stay on his farm after all and +now the prospect suddenly seemed empty. +</p> +<p> +The voices of the onlookers blended in the ears of +the boaters with the murmur of the river as it flowed +over the stones, and with the sighing of the wind +in the willows as the raft passed on. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231'></a>231</span> +</p> +<p> +And here let us leave the Winnebagos for a time +as we love best to see them, all together on the +water, their voices raised in the wonder song of +youth as they float down the river under the spell of +the magic moonlight. +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>THE END.</p> +</div> +<p> +The next volume in this series is entitled: The +Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring; or, Along the Road +that Leads the Way. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Camp Fire Girls Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories +for Camp Fire Girls endorsed by the officials of the Camp +Fire Girls Organization. +</p> +<p> +PRICE, 40 CENTS PER VOLUME +</p> +<p> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or,<br /> + The Winnebagos go Camping.<br /> +</p> +<p> +This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a +camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer +than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before +the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding +school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. +</p> +<p> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or,<br /> + The Wohelo Weavers.<br /> +</p> +<p> +It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives +into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory +doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law +of the Camp Fire is broken it must be recorded in black. How these +seven live wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of +Work, Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their +share of mischief, is told in this story. +</p> +<p> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or,<br /> + The Magic Garden.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to +work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The +Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the “goings-on” +at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with +laughter. +</p> +<p> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or,<br /> + Along the Road That Leads the Way.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The “pinching” of +Nyoda, the fire in the country inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest +hare and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the +most exciting the Winnebagos have ever experienced. +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers. +A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT +</p> +<p> +Handsome Cloth Binding +</p> +<p> +Price, 40c. per Volume +</p> +<p> +<em>Splendid Stories of the Adventures +of a Group of Charming Girls</em> +</p> +<p> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES;<br /> + or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue.<br /> + <br/> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS;<br /> + or, A Four Weeks’ Tour with the Glee Club.<br /> + <br/> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS;<br /> + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace.<br /> + <br/> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER;<br /> + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer’s Cruise Through the<br /> + Panama Canal.<br /> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Mildred Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By MARTHA FINLEY +</p> +<p> +Handsome Cloth Binding +</p> +<p> +Price, 40c. per Volume +</p> +<p> +<em>A Companion Series to the Famous “Elsie” Books by the Same Author</em> +</p> +<p> + MILDRED KEITH<br /> + MILDRED AT ROSELANDS<br /> + MILDRED AND ELSIE<br /> + MILDRED’S NEW DAUGHTER<br /> + MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE<br /> + MILDRED AT HOME<br /> + MILDRED’S BOYS AND GIRLS<br /> +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Girl Chum’s Series</span> +</p> +<p> +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. +</p> +<p> +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. +</p> +<p> +A carefully selected series of books for +girls, written by popular authors. These +are charming stories for young girls, well +told and full of interest. Their simplicity, +tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will +please all girl readers. +</p> +<p> +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. +</p> +<p> +PRICE, 60 CENTS. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +BENHURST CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +BERTHA’S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West. By Joy Allison. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +FUSSBUDGET’S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +JOLLY TEN, THE. and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl’s Story of Factory Life. By M. E. Winslow. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MAJORIBANKS. A Girl’s Story. By Elvirton Wright. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MISS CHARITY’S HOUSE. By Howe Benning. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MISS ELLIOT’S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring Corning. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MISS MALCOLM’S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +ONE GIRL’S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +PEN’S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow. +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publishers. +A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Girl Comrade’s Series</span> +</p> +<p> +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. +</p> +<p> +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. +</p> +<p> +A carefully selected series of books for +girls, written by popular authors. These +are charming stories for young girls, well +told and full of interest. Their simplicity, +tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will +please all girl readers. +</p> +<p> +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. +</p> +<p> +PRICE, 60 CENTS. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fanny E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. Rouse. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +BUBBLES. A Girl’s Story. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +JOYCE’S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +MISS ASHTON’S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl’s Story. By Mrs. S. S. Robbins. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of +price by the publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, New York. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The AMY E. BLANCHARD Series</span> +</p> +<p> +Miss Blanchard has won an enviable reputation +as a writer of short stories for girls. Her books are +thoroughly wholesome in every way and her style is full +of charm. The titles described below will be splendid additions to +every girl’s library. +</p> +<p> +Handsomely bound in cloth, full library size. +</p> +<p> +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. Price, 60 cents per volume, postpaid. +</p> +<p> +THE GLAD LADY. A spirited account of a remarkably pleasant +vacation spent in an unfrequented part of northern Spain. This summer, +which promised at the outset to be very quiet, proved to be exactly the +opposite. Event follows event in rapid succession and the story ends with +the culmination of at least two happy romances. The story throughout is +interwoven with vivid descriptions of real places and people of which the +general public knows very little. These add greatly to the reader’s interest. +</p> +<p> +WIT’S END. Instilled with life, color and individuality, this story of +true love cannot fail to attract and hold to its happy end the reader’s eager +attention. The word pictures are masterly; while the poise of narrative and +description is marvellously preserved. +</p> +<p> +A JOURNEY OF JOY. A charming story of the travels and +adventures of two young American girls, and an elderly companion in Europe. +It is not only well told, but the amount of information contained will make it +a very valuable addition to the library of any girl who anticipates making a +similar trip. Their many pleasant experiences end in the culmination of two +happy romances, all told in the happiest vein. +</p> +<p> +TALBOT’S ANGLES. A charming romance of Southern life. +Talbot’s Angles is a beautiful old estate located on the Eastern Shore of +Maryland. The death of the owner and the ensuing legal troubles render it +necessary for our heroine, the present owner, to leave the place which has +been in her family for hundreds of years and endeavor to earn her own living. +Another claimant for the property appearing on the scene complicates matters +still more. The untangling of this mixed-up condition of affairs makes an +extremely interesting story. +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Spies Series</span> +</p> +<p> +These stories are based on important historical +events, scenes wherein boys are prominent +characters being selected. They are the +romance of history, vigorously told, with careful +fidelity to picturing the home life, and accurate +in every particular. +</p> +<p> +Handsome Cloth Bindings +</p> +<p> +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. +</p> +<p> + A story of the part they took in its defence.<br /> + By William P. Chipman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES AT THE DEFENCE OF FORT HENRY. +</p> +<p> + A boy’s story of Wheeling Creek in 1777.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. +</p> +<p> + A story of two boys at the siege of Boston.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES AT THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. +</p> +<p> + A story of two Ohio boys in the War of 1812.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. +</p> +<p> + The story of how two boys joined the Continental Army.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. +</p> +<p> + The story of two young spies under Commodore Barney.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. +</p> +<p> + The story of how the boys assisted the Carolina Patriots to drive<br /> + the British from that State.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. +</p> +<p> + The story of General Marion and his young spies.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. +</p> +<p> + The story of how the spies helped General Lafayette in the<br /> + Siege of Yorktown.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. +</p> +<p> + The story of how the young spies helped the Continental Army<br /> + at Valley Forge.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES OF FORT GRISWOLD. +</p> +<p> + The story of the part they took in its brave defence.<br /> + By William P. Chipman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. +</p> +<p> + The story of how the young spies prevented the capture of<br /> + General Washington.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232'></a>232</span> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Navy Boys Series</span> +</p> +<p> +A series of excellent stories of adventure on +sea and land, selected from the works of popular +writers; each volume designed for boys’ +reading. +</p> +<p> +Handsome Cloth Bindings +</p> +<p> +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. +</p> +<p> + A story of the burning of the British schooner Gaspee in 1772.<br /> + By William Pman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. +</p> +<p> + A story of the Whale Boat Navy of 1776.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS AT THE SIEGE OF HAVANA. +</p> +<p> + Being the experience of three boys serving under Israel Putnam<br /> + in 1772.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS WITH GRANT AT VICKSBURG. +</p> +<p> + A boy’s story of the siege of Vicksburg.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. +</p> +<p> + A boy’s story of a cruise with the Great Commodore in 1776.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. +</p> +<p> + The story of two boys and their adventures in the War of 1812.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. +</p> +<p> + A boy’s story of privateering in 1780.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. +</p> +<p> + A story of three boys who took command of the schooner “The Laughing<br /> + Mary,” the first vessel of the American Navy.<br /> + By James Otis.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. +</p> +<p> + The story of a remarkable cruise with the Sloop of War “Providence”<br /> + and the Frigate “Alfred.”<br /> + By William Chipman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS’ DARING CAPTURE. +</p> +<p> + The story of how the navy boys helped to capture the British Cutter<br /> + “Margaretta,” in 1775.<br /> + By William Chipman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. +</p> +<p> + The adventures of two Yankee Middies with the first cruise of an<br /> + American Squadron in 1775.<br /> + By William Chipman.<br /> +</p> +<p> +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. +</p> +<p> + The adventures of two boys who sailed with the great Admiral in his<br /> + discovery of America.<br /> + By Frederick A. Ober<br /> +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233'></a>233</span> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Jack Lorimer Series</span> +</p> +<p> +Volumes By WINN STANDISH +</p> +<p> +Handsomely Bound in Cloth +</p> +<p> +Full Library Size—Price +</p> +<p> +40 cents per Volume, postpaid +</p> +<p> +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER;<br /> + or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boyfondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord +of sympathy among athletic youths. +</p> +<p> +JACK LORIMER’S CHAMPIONS;<br /> + or, Sports on Land and Lake.<br /> +</p> +<p> +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been by Chadwick, the Nestor of +American sporting Journalism. +</p> +<p> +JACK LORIMER’S HOLIDAYS;<br /> + or, Millvale High in Camp.<br /> +</p> +<p> +It would be well not to put this book into a boy’s hands until the chores +are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. +</p> +<p> +JACK LORIMER’S SUBSTITUTE;<br /> + or, The Acting Captain of the Team.<br /> +</p> +<p> +On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, tobogganing. +There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of action. +</p> +<p> +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN;<br /> + or, From Millvale High to Exmouth.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into +an exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The +book is typical of the American college boy’s life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. +</p> +<p> +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Allies With the Battleships</span> +</p> +<p> +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) +</p> +<p> +By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American +lads, meet each other in an unusual way soon after +the declaration of war. Circumstances place them on +board the British cruiser “The Sylph” and from there +on, they share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. +Ensign Robert L. Drake, the author, is an experienced +naval officer, and he describes admirably the many exciting +adventures of the two boys. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA;<br /> + or, The Vanishing Submarine.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC;<br /> + or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL;<br /> + or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS;<br /> + or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON;<br /> + or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS;<br /> + or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16.<br /> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Allies With the Army</span> +</p> +<p> +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) +</p> +<p> +By CLAIR W. HAYES +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American +lads unable to leave Europe after war is declared. They +meet the soldiers of the Allies, and decide to cast their +lot with them. Their experiences and escapes are many, +and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that every +boy loves. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL;<br /> + or, With the Italian Army in the Alps.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN;<br /> + or, The Struggle to Save a Nation.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE;<br /> + or, Through Lines of Steel.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE;<br /> + or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS;<br /> + or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES;<br /> + or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne<br /> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Scouts Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By HERBERT CARTER +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM;<br /> + or, Caught Between the Hostile Armies.<br /> +</p> +<p> +In this volume we +follow the thrilling adventures of the boys in the midst +of the exciting struggle abroad. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE;<br /> + or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Startling experiences awaited +the comrades when they visited the Southland. But their +knowledge of woodcraft enabled them to overcome all +difficulties. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. +</p> +<p> +A story of Burgoyne’s defeat in 1777. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS’ FIRST CAMP FIRE;<br /> + or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol.<br /> +</p> +<p> +This book brims over with woods +lore and the thrilling adventure that befell the Boy Scouts +during their vacation in the wilderness. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE;<br /> + or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners.<br /> +</p> +<p> +This story tells of the strange +and mysterious adventures that happened to the Patrol in +their trip among the moonshiners of North Carolina. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL;<br /> + or, Scouting through the Big Game Country.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The story recites the adventures +of the members of the Silver Fox Patrol with wild animals +of the forest trails and the desperate men who had sought +a refuge in this lonely country. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS;<br /> + or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Thad and his chums have +a wonderful experience when they are employed by the +State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER;<br /> + or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot.<br /> +</p> +<p> +A serious calamity +threatens the Silver Fox Patrol. How apparent disaster +is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends, +forms the main theme of the story. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES;<br /> + or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The boys’ tour takes them into +the wildest region of the great Rocky Mountains and +here they meet with many strange adventures. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND;<br /> + or, Marooned Among the Game Fish Poachers.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Thad Brewster and his +comrades find themselves in the predicament that confronted +old Robinson Crusoe; only it is on the Great +Lakes that they are wrecked instead of the salty sea. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA;<br /> + or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The boys of the +Silver Fox Patrol, after successfully braving a terrific +flood, become entangled in a mystery that carries them +through many exciting adventures. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Chums Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By WILMER M. ELY +</p> +<p> +Price. 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid +</p> +<p> +In this series of remarkable stories are described the +adventures of two boys in the great swamps of interior +Florida, among the cays off the Florida coast, and +through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live boys, +and their experiences are worth following. +</p> +<p> +THE BOY CHUMS IN MYSTERY LAND;<br /> + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard among the Mexicans.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER;<br /> + or, The Boy Partners of the Schooner “Orphan.”<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND;<br /> + or, Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama Islands.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST;<br /> + or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS’ PERILOUS CRUISE;<br /> + or, Searching for Wreckage en the Florida Coast.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO;<br /> + or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS;<br /> + or, The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet.<br /> + <br/> +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FLORIDA JUNGLE;<br /> + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard with the Seminole Indians.<br /> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Broncho Rider Boys Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By FRANK FOWLER +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +A series of thrilling stories for boys, breathing the adventurous spirit +that lives in the wide plains and lofty mountain canoes of the great West. +These tales will delight every lad who loves to read of pleasing adventure in +the open; yet at the same time the most careful parent need not hesitate to +place them in the hands of the boy. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH FUNSTON AT VERA CRUZ;<br /> + or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes.<br /> +</p> +<p> +When trouble breaks out between this country and Mexico, +the boys are eager to join the American troops under +General Funston. Their attempts to reach Vera Cruz are +fraught with danger, but after many difficulties, they +manage to reach the trouble zone, where their real adventures +begin. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS AT KEYSTONE RANCH;<br /> + or, Three Chums of the Saddle and Lariat.<br /> +</p> +<p> +In this story the reader makes the acquaintance of three +devoted chums. The book begins in rapid action, and +there is “something doing” up to the very time you lay +it down. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS DOWN IN ARIZONA;<br /> + or, A Struggle for the Great Copper Lode.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The Broncho Rider Boys find themselves impelled to make +a brave fight against heavy odds, in order to retain possession +of a valuable mine that is claimed by some of +their relatives. They meet with numerous strange and +thrilling perils and every wideawake boy will be pleased to +learn how the boys finally managed to outwit their +enemies. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ALONG THE BORDER;<br /> + or, The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man.<br /> +</p> +<p> +Once more the tried and true comrades of camp and trail +are in the saddle. In the strangest possible way they are +drawn into a series of exciting happenings among the Zuni +Indians. Certainly no lad will lay this book down, save +with regret. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ON THE WYOMING TRAIL;<br /> + or, A Mystery of the Prairie Stampede.<br /> +</p> +<p> +The three prairie pards finally find a chance to visit the +Wyoming ranch belonging to Adrian, but managed for +him by an unscrupulous relative. Of course, they become +entangled in a maze of adventurous doings while in +the Northern cattle country. How the Broncho Rider +Boys carried themselves through this nerve-testing period +makes intensely interesting reading. +</p> +<p> +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS;<br /> + or, The Smugglers of the Rio Grande.<br /> +</p> +<p> +In this volume, the Broncho Rider Boys get mixed up in +the Mexican troubles, and become acquainted with General +Villa. In their efforts to prevent smuggling across the +border, they naturally make many enemies, but finally +succeed in their mission. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Series</span> +</p> +<p> +By RALPH MARLOW +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +It is doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of +boys ever before appeared in a story than the “Big +Five,” who figure in the pages of these volumes. From +cover to cover the reader will be thrilled and delighted +with the accounts of their many adventures. +</p> +<p> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE;<br /> + or, With the Allies in France.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS AT THE FRONT;<br /> + or, Carrying Dispatches Through Belgium.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS UNDER FIRE;<br /> + or, With the Allies in the War Zone.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS’ SWIFT ROAD CHASE;<br /> + or, Surprising the Bank Robbers.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON FLORIDA TRAILS;<br /> + or, Adventures Among the Saw Palmetto Crackers.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS IN TENNESSEE WILDS;<br /> + or, The Secret of Walnut Ridge.<br /> + <br/> +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS THROUGH BY WIRELESS;<br /> + or, A Strange Message from the Air.<br /> +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>Our Young Aeroplane Scouts Series</span> +</p> +<p> +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) +</p> +<p> +By HORACE PORTER +</p> +<p> +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid +</p> +<p> +A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the +great European war zone. The fascinating life in mid-air +is thrillingly described. The boys have many exciting +adventures, and the narratives of their numerous +escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting +stories. +</p> +<p> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND;<br /> + or, Twin Stars in the London Sky Patrol.<br /> + <br/> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY;<br /> + or, Flying with the War Eagles of the Alps.<br /> + <br/> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM;<br /> + or, Saving the Fortunes of the Trouvilles.<br /> + <br/> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY;<br /> + <br/> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA;<br /> + or, Lost on the Frozen Steppes.<br /> + <br/> +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY;<br /> + or, Bringing the Light to Yusef.<br /> +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by +Hildegard G. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d34381 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #36833 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36833) diff --git a/old/36833-0.txt b/old/36833-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94fbf34 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/36833-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6751 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by Hildegard G. Frey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND STARTED AFTER +THE BULL AT FULL SPEED.] + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + The Camp Fire Girls + At Onoway House + + OR + + The Magic Garden + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + + “The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods,” “The Camp + Fire Girls at School,” “The Camp Fire + Girls Go Motoring.” + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + + Publishers—New York + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + Copyright, 1916 + By A. L. Burt Company + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + + + + +CHAPTER I.—ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +“What a lovely quiet summer we’re going to have, we two,” exclaimed +Migwan to Hinpoha, as they stood looking out of the window of their room +into the garden, filled with rows of young growing things and bordered +by a shallow stony river. Migwan, we remember, had come to spend the +summer on the little farm owned by the Bartletts and earn enough money +to go to college by selling vegetables. The house in the city had been +rented for three months, and her mother, Mrs. Gardiner, and her brother +Tom and sister Betty had come to the country with her. Hinpoha was +temporarily without a home, her aunt being away on her wedding trip with +the Doctor, and she was to stay all summer with Migwan. + +“Yes, it will be lovely,” agreed Hinpoha. “I’ve never lived in such a +quiet place before. And I’ve never had you to myself for so long.” +Migwan replied with a hug, in schoolgirl rapture. She felt a little +closer to Hinpoha than she did to the other Winnebagos. As they stood +there looking out of the window together they heard the honk of an +automobile horn and the sound of a car driving into the yard, and ran +out to see who the guests were. + +“Gladys Evans!” exclaimed Migwan, spying the new comers. “And Nyoda! +Welcome to our city!” + +“Please mum,” said Gladys, making a long face, “could ye take in a poor +lone orphan what’s got no home to her back?” + +“What’s up?” asked Migwan, laughing at Gladys’s tone. + +“Mother and father started for Seattle to-day,” replied Gladys, “and +from there they are going to Alaska, where they will spend the summer. I +hinted that I was a good traveling companion, but they decided that +three was a crowd on this trip, and as I had done so well for myself +last summer they informed me that it was their intention to put me out +to seek my own fortune once more. So, hearing that there were pleasant +country places along this road, one in particular, I am looking for a +place to board for the summer.” + +“Well, of all things!” exclaimed Migwan. “To think that we are to have +you with us this vacation after all, after thinking that you were going +to disport yourself in California! The guest chamber stands ready; ‘will +you walk into my parlor?’ said the Spider to the Fly.” + +At this point “Nyoda,” Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire group, +formally known as Miss Kent, also advanced with a long face, holding her +handkerchief to her eyes. “Could you take in a poor shipwrecked sailor,” +she sobbed, “one whose ship went right down under her feet and left her +nothing to stand on at all?” + +“It might even be arranged,” replied Migwan. “What is your tale of woe, +my ancient mariner?” + +“My cherished landlady’s gone to the Exposition,” said Nyoda, with a +fresh burst of grief, “and I can’t live with her and be her boarder this +summer! It’s a cruel world! And me so young and tender!” + +“Two flies in the guest chamber,” said Migwan, hospitably. “Thomas, my +good man, carry the boarders’ bags up to their room, for I see they have +brought them right with them.” + +“Save the trouble of going back after them,” said Nyoda and Gladys, in +chorus. “We knew you couldn’t refuse to take us in.” + +“If ever a maiden had a look on her face which said, ‘Come, come to this +bosom, my own stricken dear,’” continued Nyoda, “it’s yon poet who is +going to seed.” + +“Going to seed!” exclaimed Migwan, “and this after I have just opened my +hospitable doors to you!” + +“By going to seed, my innocent maid, I only meant to express in a veiled +and delicate way the fact that you were turning into a farmer,” said +Nyoda. + +In spite of the fact that Migwan and Hinpoha had just expressed such +great pleasure at the prospect of being alone together for the summer, +they rejoiced in the arrival of Nyoda and Gladys as only two Winnebagos +could at the thought of having two more of their own circle under the +same roof with them, and their hearts beat high with anticipation of the +coming larks. + +Supper was a merry meal indeed that night, eaten out on the screened-in +back porch. “We are seven!” exclaimed Nyoda, counting noses at the +table. “The mystic number as well as the poetic one. ‘Seven Little +Sisters;’ ‘The Seven Little Kids;’ ‘the seventh son of a seventh son.’ +All mysterious things take place on the seventh of the month, and +something always happens when the clock strikes seven.” As she paused to +take breath the old-fashioned clock in the kitchen slowly struck seven. +The last stroke was still vibrating when there came a ring at the +doorbell. “What did I tell you?” said Nyoda. “Enter the villain.” + +The villain proved to be Sahwah. She looked rather astonished to see +Nyoda and Gladys at the table with the family. “Oh, Migwan,” she said, +“could you possibly take me in for the summer? Mother got a telegram +to-day saying that Aunt Mary, that’s her sister in Pennsylvania, had +fallen down-stairs and broken both her shoulder blades. Mother packed up +and went right away to take care of her and the children. She hasn’t any +idea how long she’ll be gone. Father started for a long business trip +out west this week and Jim is camping with the Boy Scouts. If you have +room——” A shout of laughter interrupted her tale. + +“Always room for one more,” said Migwan. “You’re the third weary pilgrim +to arrive.” + +Sahwah looked at Nyoda and Gladys in astonishment. “You don’t mean that +you’re here for the summer, too?” When she heard that this was the truth +she twinkled with delight. “It’s going to be almost as much fun as going +camping together was last year,” she said, burying her nose in the mug +of milk which Migwan hospitably set before her. + +“What do you call this house by the side of the road?” asked Nyoda after +supper, when they were all sitting on the porch. Mrs. Gardiner sat +placidly rocking herself, undisturbed by the unexpected addition of +three members to her family. This whole summer venture was in Migwan’s +hands, and she washed hers of the whole affair. Tom sat on the top step +of the porch, unnaturally quiet, with the air of a boy lost among a +whole crowd of girls. Betty, fascinated by Nyoda, sat at her feet and +watched her as she talked. + +“It has no name,” said Migwan, in answer to Nyoda’s question. + +“Then we must find one immediately,” said Nyoda. “I refuse to sleep in a +nameless place.” + +“Did the place where you used to live have a name?” asked Hinpoha, +banteringly. + +“It certainly did ‘have a name,’” replied Nyoda, with a twinkle in her +eye. Gladys caught her eye and laughed. She was more in Nyoda’s +confidence than the rest of the girls. + +“What was the name?” asked Betty. + +“It was Peacock Plaza,” said Nyoda, “painted on a gold sign over the +door, where all who read could run.” + +“That wasn’t what you called it,” said Gladys. + +“No, my beloved,” returned Nyoda, “from the character and appearance of +most of the inmates of the Widder Higgins’ establishment, I have been +moved to refer to it as ‘The Rookery.’” + +“Now,” said Gladys sternly, when the laughter over this title had +subsided, “tell the ladies the real reason why you had to seek a new +boarding place so abruptly.” + +“I told you before,” said Nyoda, “that my venturesome landlady went to +the Exposition and left me out in the cold.” + +“That’s not the real reason,” said Gladys, severely. “If you don’t tell +it immediately, I will!” + +“I’ll tell it,” said Nyoda submissively, alarmed at this threat. “You +see, it was this way,” she began in a pained, plaintive voice. “This +Gladys woman over here came up to take supper with me last night—only +she smelled the supper cooking in the kitchen and turned up her nose, +whereupon I was moved with compassion to cook supper for her in my +chafing-dish unbeknownst to the landlady, who has been known to frown on +any attempts to compete with her table d’hôte.” + +“I never!” murmured Gladys. “She invited me to a chafing-dish supper in +the first place.” + +“Well, as I was saying,” continued Nyoda, not heeding this interruption, +“to save her from starvation I dragged out my chafing-dish and made +shrimp wiggle and creamed peas, and we had a dinner fit for a king, if I +do say it as shouldn’t. The crowning glory of the feast was a big onion +which Gladys’s delicate appetite required as a stimulant. All went merry +as a marriage bell until it came to the disposal of that onion after the +feast was over, as there was more than half of it left. We didn’t dare +take it down to the kitchen for fear the Widder would pounce on us for +cooking in our rooms, and even my stout heart quailed at the thought of +sleeping ferninst that fragrant vegetable. Suddenly I had an +inspiration.” Here Nyoda paused dramatically. + +“Yes,” broke in Gladys, impatient at her pause, “and she calmly chucked +it out of the second story window into the street!” + +“All would still have been mild and melodious,” continued Nyoda, in a +solemn tone which enthralled her hearers, “if it hadn’t been for the +fact that the fates had their fingers crossed at me last night. How +otherwise could it have happened that at the exact moment when the onion +descended the old bachelor missionary should have been prancing up the +walk, coming to call on the Widder Higgins? Who but fate could have +brought it about that that onion should bounce first on his hat, then on +his nose, and then on his manly bosom?” + +“And he never waited to see what hit him!” put in Gladys, for whom the +recital was not going fast enough. “He ran as if he thought somebody had +thrown a bomb at him.” + +“And the Widder Higgins was standing behind the lace curtain watching +his approach with maidenly reserve,” resumed Nyoda, “and so had a box +seat view of the tragedy, and the last act of the drama was a moving +one, I can assure you.” + +“Oh, Nyoda,” cried Hinpoha and Sahwah and Migwan, pointing their fingers +at her, “a nice person you are to be Guardian of the Winnebagos! Fine +example you are setting your youthful flock! You need a guardian worse +than any of us!” + +“Do as you like with me,” said Nyoda, covering her face with her hands +in mock shame, whereupon Hinpoha and Migwan and Gladys fell upon her +neck with one accord. + +“But we haven’t named this house yet,” said Nyoda, uncovering her face +and smoothing out her black hair. + +“I thought of a name while you were telling about the onion,” said +Migwan. “It’s Onoway House.” + +“What does that mean?” asked Nyoda. + +“It’s a symbolic word, like Wohelo,” said Migwan. “It’s made from the +words, Only One Way. You see there was only one way of getting that +money to go to college and that was by coming here.” + +“I think that is a very good name,” said Nyoda. “It is clever as well as +pretty. It sounds like the song, ‘Onaway, awake beloved,’ from +Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.” + +“It sounds like the water going over the stones in the river,” said +romantic Hinpoha. + +And so Onoway House was named. + + + + +CHAPTER II.—NEIGHBORS. + + +Onoway House stood on the Centerville Road, on a farm of about four +acres. All of the land was not worked, just the part that was laid out +as a garden and a small orchard of peach trees. The rest was open meadow +running down to the river. It had originally been a much larger farm—Old +Deacon Waterhouse’s place—but after his death it had been divided up and +sold in sections. Onoway House was the original home built by the deacon +when he bought the farm as a young man. It was a very old place, large +and rambling, and full of queer corners and passageways, and a big +echoing cobwebby attic, crowded with old furniture and trunks. The house +had been sold with all its furnishings at the Deacon’s death, and the +old things were still in the rooms when the Bartletts bought it +twenty-five years later. This made it unnecessary for the Gardiners, +when they came, to bring any of their own furniture. The Bartletts had +never lived on the place, hiring a caretaker to work the garden, and it +was the sudden departure of this man that had given Migwan her chance. + +On either side of Onoway House was a farm of much larger proportions. To +the right there stood a big, homelike looking farmhouse painted white, +with porches and vines and a lawn in front running down to the road; on +the left was a smaller house, painted dark red, with a vegetable bed in +front. The garden at Onoway House had been given a good start and the +strawberries and asparagus and sundry other vegetables were ready to +market when Migwan took possession. The Winnebagos looked on the +gardening as a grand lark and pitched in with a will to help Migwan make +her fortune from the ground. + +“Did you ever see anything half so delicate as this little new +pea-vine?” asked Migwan, puttering happily over one of the long beds. + +“Or anything half so indelicate as this plantain bush?” asked Nyoda, +busily grubbing weeds. “‘Scarce reared above the parent earth thy tender +form,’” she quoted, “‘and yet with a root three times as long as the +hair of Claire de Lorme!’” + +“Burns would relish hearing that line of his applied to weeds,” said +Migwan, laughing. “I wonder what he would have written if he had turned +up a plantain weed with his plough instead of a mountain daisy.” + +“He wouldn’t have turned up a plantain weed,” said Nyoda, with a vicious +thrust of the long knife with which she was weeding, “it would have +turned him up.” + +Migwan rose from the ground slowly and painfully. “Oh dear,” she sighed, +“I wonder if Burns ever got as stiff in the joints from close contact +with Nature as I am?” + +“He certainly must have,” observed Nyoda, straining her muscles to +uproot the weedy homesteader, “haven’t you ever heard the slogan, ‘Omega +Oil for Burns?’” + +Migwan laughed as she straightened up and held her aching back. “Earth +gets its price for what earth gives us,” she quoted, with a mixture of +ruefulness and humor. + +“Listen to the poetry floating around on the breeze,” cried Sahwah, +passing them as she ran the wheel hoe up and down between the rows of +plants. + + “Come and trip it as you go + On the light fantastic _hoe_,” + +she sang. “Oh, I say,” she called over her shoulder, “do I have to hoe +up the surface of the river around the watercress, too?” + +“You certainly do,” said Nyoda gravely, “and while you’re at it just +loosen up the air around that air fern of Mrs. Gardiner’s.” Sahwah made +a grimace and trundled off with her wheel hoe. + +“Are you looking for any field hands?” called a cheery voice. The girls +looked up to see a white-haired, pleasant-faced old man of about seventy +years standing in the garden. “My name’s Landsdowne, Farmer Landsdowne,” +he said by way of introduction, with a friendly smile, which included +all the girls at once, “and I’ve come to have a look at the new +caretaker.” + +“I’m the one,” said Migwan, stepping forward. “My name is Gardiner, and +I _am_ a gardener just now.” + +“And are all these your sisters?” asked Farmer Landsdowne, quizzically. +Migwan laughed and introduced the girls in turn. They all liked Farmer +Landsdowne immediately. He walked up and down among the rows of +vegetables, and gave Migwan quantities of advice about soil cultivation, +insects and diseases and various other things pertaining to gardening, +for which she thanked him heartily. “Come over and see us,” he said +hospitably, as he took his departure, “I live there,” and he pointed to +the friendly looking white house on the right of Onoway House. + +“Isn’t he a dear?” said Gladys, when he was gone. “I’m glad he’s our +next door neighbor. What do you suppose the people on the other side are +like?” + +“Red isn’t nearly so pretty as white,” said Hinpoha, squinting at the +bare looking house to the left of them. As they looked a man came along +the edge of the land on which the red house stood. When he reached the +fence which separated the two farms he stood still for a few minutes +looking hard at Onoway House; then, seeing that the girls were looking +in his direction he turned and went back to the house. + +The strawberries were ready to pick the first week that the girls were +at Onoway House, and Migwan had an idea about marketing them. She gave +each picker two baskets with instructions to put only the largest and +finest in one and the medium-sized and small ones in the other. + +“What are you going to take them to town in?” asked Gladys. Although +there was a large barn on the place there were no horses, for Mr. +Mitchell, the last caretaker, had owned his own horse and taken it away +with him when he left. + +“I’ll have to hire one from some of the neighbors,” said Migwan. Mr. +Landsdowne, when interviewed, would have been extremely glad to let them +take a horse and wagon, but this was a busy time and one of his teams +was sick so none could be spared. Feeling considerably more shy than she +had when she went to Mr. Landsdowne, Migwan went over to the red house. +As she went around the path to the back door she heard sounds of loud +talking in a man’s voice, which ceased as she came up on the porch. A +red faced man, (he almost matched the house, thought Migwan) came to the +door. “I am your new neighbor, Elsie Gardiner,” said Migwan, “and I +wonder if I could hire a horse and wagon from you three times a week to +take my vegetables to town.” + +“So you’ve come to live on the place, have you?” said the man. “How long +are you going to stay?” + +“All summer,” replied Migwan. She was not drawn to this man as she was +to Farmer Landsdowne. There was something about him that seemed to repel +her, although she could not have told what it was. + +“Yes, I can let you have a horse and wagon,” he said, after a moment. +“When do you want it?” + +“In about an hour,” said Migwan. + +“I’ll send it over,” said the master of the red house. “My name’s +Smalley, Abner Smalley,” he said, as she took her leave. + +In an hour the horse was at the door. It was brought over by a +pleasant-faced, light-haired lad of about seventeen, who introduced +himself as Calvin Smalley. + +“You don’t look a bit like your father,” said Migwan. + +“That’s not my father,” said Calvin, “that’s my uncle. My father’s dead. +He was Uncle Abner’s brother. I live with Uncle Abner and Aunt Maggie. +But the farm’s really mine,” he said proudly, as though he did not want +anyone to think he was living on charity even though he was an orphan, +“for Grandfather willed it to Father. Uncle Abner’s holding it in trust +for me until I’m of age.” + +There was something so frank and manly about him that the girls liked +him at once. But if Calvin Smalley made such a good impression, the +horse which he had brought over for the girls to drive to town was less +fortunate. He was a hoary, moth-eaten looking creature that might easily +have been the first white horse born west of the Mississippi. In looking +at him you would be left with a lingering doubt in your mind as to +whether he had originally been white or had turned white with age. He +tottered so that each step threatened to be his last The wagon to which +he was fastened with a patched and rotten harness had probably been on +the scene some years before he was born. Migwan was much taken aback +when she inspected him. “I wouldn’t dare attempt to drive that beast all +the way to town,” she thought to herself. “He’d never get beyond the +first bend in the road. And if he did make it he’d go so slowly that my +berries would be out of season before I got to my customers.” + +“Isn’t he rather—old?” she said, aloud. “I’m afraid he isn’t able to +work much.” + +Calvin blushed fiery red and his eyes sought the ground in distress. +“It’s a shame,” he said, fiercely, “to try to hire out such a horse. I +don’t blame you for not wanting it.” Without another word he climbed +into the wagon and urged the feeble horse back to his home pasture. + +“Didn’t you feel sorry for that poor boy?” said Migwan. “He felt ashamed +clear down to his shoes at having to bring that old wreck of a horse +over. I should have died if I had been in his place. He’s such a nice +looking boy, too. I suppose his uncle is one of those stingy, grasping +farmers who work everybody to death on the place. Anybody who plants +vegetables in his front yard must be stingy. That horse probably +couldn’t work on the farm any more so he thought he would make some +money out of it by hiring it to us. He must have thought girls didn’t +know a horse when they saw one. I didn’t exactly fall in love with Mr. +Smalley when I went over. He wasn’t a bit friendly like Mr. Landsdowne.” + +“I foresee where we will have little to do with our neighbors in the Red +House,” said Sahwah. “I’m sorry, because I like to have lots of people +to visit, and like to have them running in at odd times, the way Mr. +Landsdowne appeared.” + +“Let’s not have any hard feelings against Calvin Smalley, though,” said +Migwan. “He isn’t to blame for his uncle’s stinginess. I dare say he +isn’t very happy over there. Let’s have him over as often as we can.” + +“Spoken like a true Winnebago,” said Nyoda, approvingly. + +“But in the meantime,” said Migwan, in perplexity, “what are we going to +do for a horse and wagon to take our things to town?” + +“Why not use our car?” said Gladys. The machine she had come in was +still in the barn at Onoway House. “It’s a good thing I learned to run +the big one—father said I might use it all summer if I would be a good +girl and stay at home when they went out west.” + +“Could we get everything in?” asked Migwan. + +“I think so,” said Gladys, “if we arrange them carefully.” The berries +and asparagus were loaded into the back of the machine and Gladys and +Migwan drove off. + +“What shall we do now, Nyoda?” asked Hinpoha, after the two girls were +gone. + +“I know what I’m going to do,” said Nyoda, moving in the direction of +her bedroom. “Now,” she said, as she threw herself on the bed with a +great yawn and stretch, “if anyone asks you what kind of a farmer I am +you may tell them that I’m a retired one!” Nyoda had been up since four +o’clock that morning, and was unused to such early rising. Hinpoha drew +down the shade to shut out the strong sunlight and tiptoed from the +room. + +Gladys and Migwan stopped first at a large grocery store to inquire the +prices of strawberries and asparagus. The proprietor offered to buy the +whole load, but they would not sell, as they could get more for them by +peddling them at retail prices. Migwan examined the berries in the +store, and mentally fixed her middle grade berries at the same price +with them, and her finest grade ones at three cents higher. + +“I’ve an idea,” said Gladys, “that some of mother’s friends would take +the berries at our own price.” Thus it was that Mrs. Davis, whose +speculations about the financial standing of the Evans family had +resulted in Gladys’s mother giving her such an elaborate party the +winter before, was surprised by a call from Gladys at ten o’clock in the +morning. + +“Ah, good morning, my dear,” she said effusively, seating Gladys in the +parlor, “you have come to spend the day, I hope? Caroline is not up +yet—she was out late last night—but I shall make her get up right away.” + +“Please don’t call Caroline,” said Gladys, “it’s you I came to see.” + +“Oh, yes,” purred Mrs. Davis, “a message from your mother, I see.” + +Gladys came to the point directly. “Have you canned your strawberries +yet, Mrs. Davis?” + +“No,” replied Mrs. Davis, a little puzzled by the question. + +“Would you like to buy some extra fine ones?” continued Gladys. + +“Why, yes, I suppose so,” said Mrs. Davis, “who has any for sale?” + +“I have,” said Gladys, “right out here in the machine.” Mrs. Davis +bought the whole eight quarts of large berries, paying fifteen cents a +quart straight, and ordered another eight quarts as soon as they should +be ripe. She also took two bunches of asparagus. + +“Whatever are you doing, Gladys Evans?” she asked, curiously. “Peddling +berries?” + +Gladys laughed at her evident mystification, and tingled with a desire +to keep her guessing. “We decided that I had better work this summer,” +she said, gravely, “so I am peddling berries for a friend of ours who is +a farmer. We will have to go on a farm ourselves, father said, if things +to eat get much dearer, so I am getting the practice. Wouldn’t you like +to be a regular customer, and have me bring you fresh vegetables and +fruit three times a week all through the summer?” + +“Why, yes,” stammered Mrs. Davis in a daze, “of course, certainly.” + +“All right, then,” said Gladys, “I’ll put you down.” She drove off in +high glee, and Mrs. Davis went into the house with a knowing smile on +her face. So the Evanses were losing money after all, and Gladys was +working this summer instead of traveling. Poor Gladys! She flew +up-stairs to communicate the news to her energetic daughter Caroline who +was just beginning to think about getting up. “I do feel so sorry for +poor Gladys,” she said. “You must be very kind to her whenever you meet +her.” + +The rest of the berries and vegetables were disposed of to other friends +of Gladys’s and Migwan’s, all for topnotch prices, and there were at +least half a dozen names in the little note book when they started +homeward, of people who wanted to be supplied regularly. To some of her +friends Gladys told frankly whose fruit she was selling, and enlisted +their sympathies in the enterprise, while to others, like the Davises +and the Joneses, who were thorough snobs, she could not resist +pretending that she was actually working for a farmer to earn money. She +could not remember when she had enjoyed anything so much as the +expressions on the various faces when she made her little speech at the +door and offered her basket of fruit for inspection. “Wait until I tell +dad about it,” she chuckled to Migwan. + +When they returned to Onoway House they found that during their absence +the girls, with the help of Mr. Landsdowne, had constructed a raft about +seven feet square, which they were setting afloat on the river. “Oh, +what fun!” cried Migwan when she saw it. “We needed another rapid vessel +to go boating in. There’s only one rowboat and we could never all go out +at once. What shall we call it?” + +“Let’s name it the Tortoise,” said Hinpoha, “and call the rowboat the +Hare.” + +“Oh, no,” said Sahwah, “let’s call it the Crab, because it travels sort +of sidewise.” Hinpoha held out for her name and Sahwah would not yield +hers. + +“Contest of arms!” cried Nyoda. “Decide the question by a test of +physical prowess. Whichever one of you can pole the raft straight across +the river and back again without mishap in the shortest time may have +the privilege of naming it. Is that fair?” + +“It is!” cried all the girls. Hinpoha and Sahwah, dressed in their +bathing-suits, prepared for the contest. Hinpoha had the first trial +because she had spoken first. Getting onto the raft and seizing the +stout pole, she pushed off from the shore. It was difficult to keep the +unwieldy craft going toward the opposite bank, because it had a strong +inclination to be carried down-stream with the current. Halfway across +she grounded on a rock and stood marooned. Sahwah watched the moments +tick off on Nyoda’s watch with ill-concealed delight while Hinpoha +pushed and strained on the pole to set the raft free. Finally she leaned +all her weight, which was no small item, on the pole and shoved with her +feet against the raft. It freed itself and glided away under her feet, +leaving her clinging to the pole in the middle of the river, while her +solid footing of a few moments ago swung into the current and floated +off beyond her reach. She looked so comical clinging to the pole, which +was fast losing its upright position under her weight, that the girls +were unable to help her for laughter, and a minute later she plunged +into the river with a mighty splash and swam disgustedly to shore. + +“Our new boat will not be called the TORTOISE, it seems,” said Nyoda. +“Cheer up, Hinpoha, you have made yourself more immortal by the picture +you presented hanging over the water than you would have by naming the +raft. As Hinpoha, the Polehanger, you will have your portrait in the +Winnebago Hall of Fame. Now then, Sahwah, show her how it should be +done.” + +Sahwah, ever more skilful in watercraft than Hinpoha, poled the raft +neatly across the stream to the opposite shore, paused a moment to see +that the feat was properly registered by the judges, and then started +back. Unlike Hinpoha, who forged blindly ahead, she felt carefully with +her pole to locate the points of the rocks and then avoided them. “Here +I come,” she hailed, when she was nearly back to the starting point, “on +my new raft, the CRAB.” Striking a heroic attitude with arms crossed and +one foot out ahead of the other she stepped to the edge of the raft, +when the floating floor tipped under her weight and she lost her balance +and fell head first into the water. The raft, released from her guiding +hand, went off with the current as it had done before. The look of +stupefaction on her face when she came up out of the water was even +funnier than the sight of Hinpoha marooned on the pole. + +“The raft will not be named the CRAB, either, it seems,” said Nyoda. + +“I don’t care what it’s called,” said Sahwah, her temper up, “I’m going +to pole that raft across the river.” + +“So’m I,” said Hinpoha, her eye gleaming with resolution. + +“Let’s do it together,” said Sahwah. + +Thanks to Sahwah’s skill with the pole and Hinpoha’s judicious balancing +of the raft at the right places, they made the trip over and back +without mishap. + +“Two heads are better than one,” said Sahwah, as they landed, “what +neither of us could do alone we can do in combination.” + +“Then why not combine the names?” said Nyoda. “You have each won equal +rights in the contest.” + +“Good idea,” said Sahwah. “We couldn’t find a better one than the +Tortoise-Crab.” So the name was painted across the floor of the raft, +this being the only space big enough. + +Delighted with their new sport, the girls spent the whole evening on the +river, all five Winnebagos and Betty and Tom on the raft at once, +floating down-stream with the current and being towed up again by the +rowboat. It was bright moonlight, and the air was full of romance. At +one place along the riverbank there stood a high rock, grey on the +moonlit side and black on the other. “It reminds me of the Lorelei +Rock,” said Nyoda. + +“Let’s play Lorelei,” said Sahwah. + +“What do you mean?” asked Nyoda. + +“Why,” answered Sahwah, “let Hinpoha climb up on the rock and comb her +hair and sing, and we come along on the raft and listen to her song and +run into the rock and upset. We want to go swimming before we go to bed +anyhow.” + +“I can’t sing,” objected Hinpoha. + +“That doesn’t make any difference,” said Sahwah, “sing anyway.” + +So Hinpoha mounted the moonlit rock and shook her long, red hair down +over her shoulders, combing it out with her sidecomb and singing “Fairy +Moonlight,” while the raft floated lazily down-stream toward the base of +the cliff, its passengers sitting in attitudes of enraptured listening, +and pointing ecstatically to the figure silhouetted against the moon. +Sahwah adroitly steered the raft toward the rock and it struck with a +great jar. It disobligingly kept its balance, however, and refused to +upset. Sahwah deliberately rolled off the edge, tipping it as she did +so, and the rest went off on all sides, giggling and splashing in the +water. Hinpoha on the rock above wrung her hands in mock horror at the +effect of her song. That instant a figure came running at top speed +along the river bank. “I’ll save you, girls,” he shouted, jumping into +the water with all his clothes on. Catching hold of Migwan, who was +hanging on to the raft, he pulled her out of the water and set her on +the shore. It was Calvin Smalley, their neighbor from the Red House. + +“Oh,” gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at him, “I thank you ever so +much, but we’re not really drowning. We upset the raft on purpose.” + +“Upset it on purpose!” said Calvin, in astonishment. + +“Yes,” answered Migwan, “we were playing Lorelei, you know.” + +Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the victims of the upset +were all dressed in bathing-suits, and that they seemed to be very much +at home in the water. “It looked like a dreadful smashup,” he said, “and +I forgot that the river isn’t very deep here. Do you generally play such +quiet games?” + +“Sometimes we play much more quiet ones,” said Sahwah meaningly. + +“It was too bad to frighten you so,” said Nyoda. “We’ll have to warn +spectators the next time we do anything. We’ll have to have a flag that +says ‘Stunt coming; look out for the splash!’ and whoever runs may +read.” At this moment Hinpoha jumped from the rock, out into the middle +of the stream, where it was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and +came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite startled. + +“Say,” he said, looking around at the group of girls who were doing +various astonishing things, “do you belong to the circus?” + +The girls laughed at this inquiry. “Oh, no,” said Migwan, “we are only +Camp Fire Girls.” + +“Camp Fire Girls?” said Calvin. “I’ve heard of them, but I never knew +any. Is that why you call each other by such funny names?” + +“Yes,” answered Migwan, and she told him their names and their meanings. + +“It must be great fun to be a Camp Fire Girl,” said Calvin thoughtfully. + +“Come for a ride on the raft with us,” said Migwan, “we are going back +now. We aren’t going to upset again,” she added reassuringly, “and if we +did you couldn’t get any wetter.” Calvin smiled at the pleasantry, but +said he must be going in. He was on his way home when he saw the raft +upset. The Lorelei Rock was just on the other side of the Smalley farm. +He bade them a friendly good-night, promising to come over to Onoway +House soon, and took his way home across the fields. + +“What a nice boy he is,” said Migwan. “He wasn’t a bit cross when he +found that the joke was on him, as some would have been.” + +Migwan woke up in the night and could not go to sleep again immediately. +As she lay smiling to herself about the fun they had had with the raft +that evening, she heard a sound as of something dropped on the attic +floor above her room, followed by a faint creaking as of someone walking +over bare boards. She clutched Hinpoha’s arm and woke her up. “There’s +someone in the attic,” she whispered. Hinpoha yawned. + +“I don’t hear anything,” she said. + +“There it is again,” said Migwan, “listen.” Again there came a faint +creak, accompanied by a far-away rustle as of crinkling paper. + +“It’s mice,” said Hinpoha, “or maybe rats. They get between the walls +and make noises that way.” + +Migwan breathed a sigh of relief and composed herself to slumber again. +“I suppose these dreadfully old houses are just overrun with things of +that kind,” she said. “But for a moment it did give me a scare.” + + + + +CHAPTER III.—OPHELIA. + + +“They’ve come! They’ve come!” shrieked Migwan, running into the +dining-room where the rest of the family were peacefully finishing their +breakfast. + +“Who’ve come?” said Nyoda, excitedly, “the Mexicans?” + +“The bean weevils,” said Migwan, tragically. “Mr. Landsdowne said to +watch out for them, although they were hardly ever found up north, but +they’re here. He just found a bush with them on.” + +“To arms!” cried Sahwah, springing up. “The Flying Column to the rescue! + + “Forward the Bug Brigade, + Is there a leaf unsprayed?”—— + +Here she tripped over the carpet and her Amazonian shout came to an +abrupt end. + +“Where are the weevils?” she asked, when they had all gathered around +the bean patch. + +“On here,” said Migwan, indicating a hill of beans. + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, in a disappointed tone. + +“Where did you think they were?” asked Migwan. + +“From the noise you were making,” said Sahwah, “I expected to find them +drawn up in battle lines, waiting to charge the garden with fixed +bayonets.” + +“They’ll do just as much damage as if they had bayonets,” remarked +Farmer Landsdowne. + +“Do be cautious in approaching such deadly foes,” said Sahwah in a tone +of mock anxiety, as Migwan came along with the sprayer, “take careful +aim, and don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” + +“I’ll spray you in a minute if you don’t keep still,” said Migwan. + +“What must it feel like to be a weevil,” said Gladys, musingly, “and be +hunted down remorselessly wherever you went?” + +“Gladys has gone over to the side of the enemy,” said Sahwah, teasingly. +“There is the subject for your next book, Migwan, ‘Won by a Weevil’, by +the author of ‘Enthralled by a Thrip’! It must have been weevils +Tennyson meant when he wrote ‘The Lotus Eaters.’” + +“Battle over?” asked Hinpoha, as Migwan laid down the sprayer. “Then +let’s celebrate the victory. Cheer the bean crop.” To the tune of “We +will, We will Cheer,” they sang, + + “Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, O!” + +“Don’t crow too soon,” said Farmer Landsdowne, picking up his sprayer +preparatory to taking his departure, “there may be twice as many on +to-morrow.” + +“I flatly refuse to worry about to-morrow,” said Nyoda, “‘sufficient +unto the day is the weevil thereof!’” + +Calvin Smalley, working in the vegetable patch in front of the Red +House, heard that cheer and paused in his work to look over at the other +garden. He was wondering what was so funny about gardening. “I wish,” he +sighed, as he turned back to his endless task, “that those girls were my +sisters!” + +Gladys went into town alone when the last of the strawberries were ripe, +for none of the other girls could be spared that day. The squash bugs +had descended on the garden and all hands were required on deck to save +the squash and melon vines from being eaten alive. On the way she passed +Mr. Smalley, driving the identical wreck of a horse he had tried to hire +out to the girls. He had a heavy load of vegetables, and the poor, +broken down creature would hardly move it from the spot. He started +nervously as the machine passed him on the narrow road, and Mr. Smalley +pulled him up sharply and brought the whip down on his back with a heavy +cut. “Ain’t you used to automobiles yet, you stupid brute?” he growled. + +Gladys delivered the eight quarts of extra large berries to Mrs. Davis +first. “Wouldn’t you like to stay in town and have lunch with us and go +to the theatre afterward?” Mrs. Davis said in such a patronizing tone +that Gladys quite started, and then laughed inwardly. + +“I’m sorry, but I haven’t sold all of my berries yet,” she answered +soberly, “and I have to hurry back and help pick bugs.” + +“Pick bugs?” exclaimed Mrs. Davis, in a horrified tone. + +“Yes,” said Gladys, with a relish, “nice juicy, striped bugs that crunch +beautifully when you step on them.” + +“Oh, oh,” said Mrs. Davis, putting her hands over her ears. “Give my +love to your poor, dear mamma,” she said gushingly, when Gladys was +departing. “Tell her she has my fullest sympathy.” As Gladys’s poor, +dear mamma was, at that moment, seated on the observation platform of a +luxurious railway coach, speeding through the mountains of Washington +while Mrs. Davis was obliged to stay in town for the time being, she was +not really in as much need of Mrs. Davis’s sympathy as that lady fondly +imagined. + +Gladys disposed of the remaining berries to other amused or patronizing +friends, and then decided to look up a laundress she knew of and get her +to come out to Onoway House once in a while to do the heavy washing. The +street where the laundress lived was narrow and crowded with children +playing in the middle of the road, and progress was rather slow. One +little girl in particular made Gladys extremely nervous by running +across the street right in front of the machine and daring her to run +over her, shaking her fists at her and making horrible grimaces. She got +across the street once in safety and then started back again. Just then +a small child sprang up from the ground right under the very wheels of +the machine and Gladys turned sharply to one side. The fender struck the +saucy little girl who was daring her to run over her and she rolled +under the car, screaming. Gladys jammed down the emergency brake with a +jerk that almost wrenched the machinery of the automobile asunder. White +as a sheet she jumped out and picked the girl up. In an instant an angry +crowd of women and children had surrounded the machine. “Darn yer!” +cried the child shrilly, shaking a dirty fist in Gladys’s face, while +the other arm hung limp. “I thought yer didn’t dast run into me.” + +“Get into the car,” said Gladys, terrified, “and I’ll take you home.” + +“I dassent go home,” shrieked the child, “Old Grady’ll lick the tar out +of me if I go home without sellin’ me papers.” + +“Then let me take you to the hospital, or somewhere,” said Gladys, +anxious to get away from the threatening crowd. + +“What’s the matter?” asked one voice after another, as the tenements +poured their human contents into the street. + +“Ophelia’s run over,” explained a powerful Irish woman, with a shawl +over her head, who kept her hand on the handle of the car door. “Lady +speedin’ run her down like a dog.” An angry murmur rose from the crowd. +Gladys shook in her shoes and wondered if she dared start the car with +all those children hanging on the front of it. She looked around +helplessly for someone who would help her out of her difficulty. Just +then a policeman turned into the street, attracted by the crowd. + +“Cheese it, de cop!” screamed a ragged gamin, who stood on the step of +the car, and the women and children began to slink into the doorways. +Gladys waited until he came up, and then explained the whole matter and +asked where the nearest hospital was. + +“Can’t blame you for hitting that brat,” said the policeman, “she’s the +terror of drivers for two blocks.” Ophelia stuck out her tongue at him. +Gladys drove her to the hospital where it was discovered that the left +arm was broken below the elbow. Painful as the setting may have been +there was “never a whang out of her,” as the doctor remarked, although +she hung on tightly to Gladys’s white sleeve with her dirty hand. Her +waist was taken off to find the extent of the damage, and Gladys was +frightened to see that the other arm was fearfully bruised and +scratched, and there was a ring of purple and green blotches around her +neck like a collar. + +“She must have been thrown down harder than I thought,” said Gladys to +the nurse. + +“Thrown down nothin’,” answered Ophelia, “Old Grady did that the other +day when I threw a stone through the winder.” And she held up the +mottled arm where all might see. + +“Oh,” said Gladys, with a shudder, “cover it up.” Putting Ophelia into +the machine again she drove back to the scene of the accident and +entered the squalid tenement in which the child said she lived. + +“Won’t Old Grady beat me up though, when she finds I’ve busted me wing,” +said Ophelia, as they mounted the rickety stairs. Hardly had she spoken +when the door at the head of the stairs flew open and a large, +red-faced, coarse-looking woman strode out and shook her fist over the +banisters. + +“I’ll fix ye fer stayin’ out afther I tell ye ter come in, ye little +devil,” she shouted. “I’ll break every bone in yer body. Gimme the money +for the papers first.” + +“Go chase yerself,” said Ophelia, standing still on the stairs with a +spiteful gleam in her eye, “there ain’t no money. I ain’t had time ter +peddle this afternoon.” + +“What yer mean, no money?” screamed the woman. “Just wait till I get me +hands on yer!” + +Gladys shrank back against the wall in terror, then collecting herself +she thrust Ophelia behind her and faced the angry woman. “Ophelia has +had an accident,” she explained. “I ran over her with my machine and +broke her arm.” The woman brushed past her and grabbed Ophelia by the +shoulder. Overcome with fury at the thought that her household drudge +would be of no use to her for several weeks, she boxed her ears again +and again, calling her every name she could think of. Finally she let go +of her with a push that sent Ophelia stumbling down half a dozen stairs. + +“Get out o’ my sight!” she shrieked. “Do yer think I’m going ter house +an’ feed a worthless brat that ain’t doin’ nothin’ fer her keep? Get out +an’ live in the streets yer like ter play in so well!” With a final +exclamation she strode back into the room and slammed the door after +her. Ophelia picked herself up from the step, shaking her one useful +fist at the closed door at the head of the stairs. + +Gladys was inexpressibly shocked at this heartless treatment of an +injured child. “Come—come home with me,” she said faintly. Seated beside +her in the big car, Ophelia ran out her tongue and made faces at the +jeering children who watched her ride away. + +“This is the life!” she exclaimed, as she settled herself comfortably in +the cushioned seat. People in the streets turned to stare at the dirty +little ragamuffin riding beside the daintily gowned young girl, shouting +saucily at the passers-by, or making jeering remarks in a voice audible +above the noise of traffic. + +The girls were all out in front watching for her as Gladys drove up. It +was past supper time and they were wondering what had become of her. +What a chorus of surprised exclamations arose when Ophelia was set down +in their midst! Gladys explained the situation briefly and asked Migwan +if they could not keep her there awhile. Migwan consented hospitably and +went off to find a place for her to sleep, while Gladys proceeded to +wash the accumulated layers of dirt from Ophelia’s face and divest her +of her spotted rags. She came to the table in a kimono of Gladys’s, for +there were no clothes in the house that would fit her. She was nine +years old, she said, but small and thin for her age, with arms and legs +like pipe-stems which fairly made one shiver to look at. She had a +little, pinched, sharp featured face, cunning with the knowledge of the +world gained from her life on the streets, big grey-green eyes filled +with dancing lights, and black hair that tumbled around her face in +tangled curls, which Gladys was not able to smooth out in her hasty +going over before supper. + +Not in the least shy in her new surroundings, nor complaining of +discomfort from the broken arm, she sat at the table and kept up a +cheerful stream of talk, racy with slang and the idiom of the streets. +Hinpoha was instantly dubbed “Firetop.” “Is it red inside of yer head?” +she asked, after gazing steadfastly at Hinpoha’s hair for several +minutes. To all questions about her father and mother she shrugged her +shoulders. “Ain’t never had any,” she replied. “I was born in the Orphan +Asylum. Old Grady got me there.” Here a spasm of rage distorted her face +at the remembrance of Old Grady’s ministrations, followed by a wicked +chuckle when she thought how that tender guardian’s plan for turning her +out homeless into the street had been frustrated by this lucky stroke of +fate. What her last name was she did not know. “I guess I never had +one,” she said cheerfully. “I’m just Ophelia.” Gladys was much +distressed because she would not drink milk. “No,” she said, shoving it +away, “that’s for the babies. Gimme coffee or nothin’.” Disdaining the +aid of fork or spoon, she conveyed her food to her mouth with her +fingers. “Say,” she said, after staring fixedly at Nyoda in a +disconcerting way she had, “are yer teeth false?” + +“Certainly not!” said Nyoda indignantly. “What made you think so?” + +“They’re so white and even,” said Ophelia. “Nobody ever had such teeth +of their own.” + +“Did you bleach yer hair?” she asked next, turning her attention to +Gladys’s pale gold locks. Gladys merely laughed. + +Ophelia waxed more loquacious as she filled up on the good things on the +table. “Did yer husband leave yer?” she inquired sociably of Mrs. +Gardiner. Gladys rose hastily and bore Ophelia away to her room, where a +cot had been set up for her. + +“Three flies in the spider’s parlor,” said Migwan. + +“And one in the ointment, or my prophetic soul has its signals crossed,” +said Nyoda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.—THE MEDICINE LODGE. + + +Nyoda’s prophetic soul proved to be a true prophet, and there were +trying times to follow the establishment of Ophelia at Onoway House. +That very first night Nyoda woke with a strangling sensation to find +Ophelia sitting on her chest. “I want ter sleep in the bed wid yer,” she +said, in answer to Nyoda’s startled inquiry. “I’m afraid ter sleep +alone.” She had been trying to creep in between Nyoda and Gladys and +lost her balance, which accounted for her position when Nyoda woke up. + +“But there’s nothing in the room to hurt you,” Nyoda said, reassuringly. + +“It’s them hop-toads,” she wailed, stopping her ears against the pillow, +“they give me th’ pip with their everlastin’ screechin’. They sound +right under the bed.” Gladys woke up in time to hear her and offered to +take the cot herself and let Ophelia sleep with Nyoda. + +The next morning Gladys made a hurried trip to town to buy Ophelia some +clothes, while Nyoda washed her hair, much to Ophelia’s disgust. The +curls were so matted that it was impossible to comb them out and there +was nothing left to do but cut them short. When all the foreign coloring +matter had been removed and the hair had begun to dry in the warm wind, +Nyoda stopped beside her in bewildered astonishment. On the top of her +head, just about in the center, there was a circular patch of light hair +about three inches in diameter. All the rest was black. “Ophelia,” said +Nyoda, looking her straight in the eyes, “how did you bleach the top of +your hair?” + +“It’s a fib,” said Ophelia, politely, “I never bleached it.” + +“Then somebody did,” said Nyoda. + +“Didn’t neither,” contradicted Ophelia. + +“We’ll see whether they did or not,” said Nyoda, “when the hair grows +out from the roots.” + +Dressed in the pretty clothes Gladys bought for her she was not at all a +bad looking child, but her language and her knowledge of evil absolutely +appalled the dwellers at Onoway House. “Did yer old man beat yer up?” +she asked sympathetically of Mrs. Landsdowne, when that gentle lady came +to call. Mrs. Landsdowne had run into the barn door the day before and +had a bruise on her forehead. + +Ophelia’s sins in the garden were too numerous to chronicle. When set to +weeding she pulled weeds and plants impartially, working such havoc in a +short time that she was forbidden to touch a single growing thing. Her +ignorance of everything pertaining to the country was only equalled by +her curiosity. + +“What would happen to the cow if you didn’t milk her?” she demanded of +Farmer Landsdowne, as she watched him milking one day. “She’d bust, I +suppose,” she went on, answering her own question while Farmer +Landsdowne was scratching his head for a reply. “Say, are yer whiskers +fireproof?” she asked, scrutinizing his white beard with interest. +“Because if they ain’t yer don’t dast smoke that pipe. The Santa Claus +in Lefkovitz’s window told me so. Say, what do you do when they get +dirty?” + +Leaving her alone in the barn for a few moments he heard a mighty +squawking and cackling and hastened to investigate. He found the old +setting hen running distractedly around one of the empty horse stalls, +frantically trying to get out, while Ophelia was holding the big rooster +on the nest with her one hand, in spite of the fact that he was flapping +his wings and pecking at her furiously. “He ought to do some of the +settin’,” she remarked, when taken to task for her act, “he ain’t doin’ +nothin’ fer a livin’.” + +The squash bugs had descended once more, and were making hay of the +squash bed while the sun shone, and the girls worked a whole, long weary +afternoon clearing the vines. As the bugs were picked off they were put +into tin cans to be destroyed. Tired to death and heartily sick of +handling the disagreeable insects the girls quit the job at sundown, +having just about cleared the patch. They gathered in Migwan’s big room +before supper to make some plans for the Winnebago Ceremonial Meeting +which was to be held at Onoway House on the Fourth of July. Ophelia +promptly followed them and demanded admittance. “You can’t come in,” +said Migwan rather crossly, for there were secrets being told which they +did not want her to hear. + +Ophelia wandered off in search of amusement. Mr. Bob had fled at her +approach and was hiding under the porch, and Betty had been admitted to +the council of the Winnebagos, for Migwan and Nyoda had decided at the +beginning of the summer that if there was to be any peace with her she +would have to be a party to all their doings, and as she was to be put +into a Camp Fire Group in the fall she was given this opportunity of +learning to qualify for the various honors by watching the intimate +workings of the Winnebago group. Tom was over at the Landsdowne’s and +Mrs. Gardiner was getting supper and invited Ophelia to stay out of the +kitchen when she came down to see if there was any fun to be had there. +Ophelia had been allowed to help once or twice and had broken so many +dishes with her one-handed way of doing things that Mrs. Gardiner lost +all patience and refused to have her around. + +Strolling out into the garden in her quest for something to do she came +upon the big tin pail containing all the squash bugs, which Migwan +intended taking over to Farmer Landsdowne for disposal. A mischievous +impulse seized her, and taking off the cover she emptied the bugs back +into the bed, where they crawled eagerly back to their interrupted feast +of tender leaves. When the prank was discovered Migwan sank wearily down +beside the patch she had tried so hard to save from destruction. +“Whatever possessed you?” said Nyoda, seizing Ophelia with the firm +determination of boxing her ears. But Ophelia shrank back with such +evident expectation of a blow that Nyoda loosened her hold. + +“Well, ain’t yer goin’ ter punish me?” asked Ophelia, still eyeing her +warily for an unexpected attack, with the attitude of an animal at bay. +To her surprise there were no blows forthcoming, but she was ordered to +pick off all the squash bugs again, and before the job was done she had +plenty of time to regret her rash act. All that beautiful long summer +evening, when the girls were on the front porch playing games and +shouting with laughter, she sat in the squash bed, undoing the mischief +she had done. When bed time came she was told to sleep in the cot by +herself, and Gladys and Nyoda took no notice of her at all, whispering +secrets to each other in bed with never a word to her. The next morning +she was awakened at four o’clock and set to work again, and so missed +the merry breakfast with the family. Gladys had promised to take her to +town in the machine that day, but, of course, this pleasure was +forfeited, as the beetles were not yet all picked off. The family was +all invited over to the Landsdowne’s for supper that night, but by four +o’clock Ophelia realized with a pang of disappointment that she would +not even be through by five. Accustomed as she was to brutal treatment, +this was the worst punishment she had ever experienced, but she realized +that she deserved it and was gamely paying the price without a murmur. +When Migwan came out shortly after four and helped her so that she would +be done in time to go to Farmer Landsdowne’s with the others her +penitence was complete. + +Preparations for the big Fourth of July Council meeting were going +forward apace. It was to be a house party, they decided, and the other +three Winnebagos, Nakwisi, Chapa and Medmangi, were to be invited to +spend the night. Sleeping quarters caused some debate, when Sahwah had a +brilliant idea. “Let’s build a tepee,” she said, “and all sleep on the +ground inside of it with our feet toward the center. Then we can hold +the Council Fire in there and dance a war dance around the fire and make +shadows on the sides to scare the natives.” No sooner said than begun. +The front lawn was chosen as the site of the tepee, as that was the only +spot big enough. Dick, Tom and Mr. Landsdowne set the poles in a circle +to make the supporting framework, and the girls made the covering of +heavy sail cloth, which fitted snugly over the poles and had an opening +in the center of the top, and another one lower down for the entrance. +When done it would easily accommodate fifteen or sixteen persons. An +iron kettle was sunk into the ground in the center of the tepee. This +would hold sticks of wood soaked in kerosene, which is the secret of a +quickly lighted council fire, and also the alcohol and salt mixture +which is an indispensable part of all ghost story telling parties. The +grass around the kettle was pulled up, leaving a ring of bare earth, +which would prevent accident from the fire spreading. + +The whole thing was completed two days before the Fourth. A big sign, +WINNEBAGO MEDICINE LODGE, was hung over the entrance. Underneath it a +sign in smaller letters proclaimed that at the Fourth Sundown of the +Thunder Moon the big medicine man Face-Toward-the-Mountain would “make +medicine” in the lodge for the benefit of the Winnebago tribe and their +paleface friends. The “paleface friends” referred to were Mrs. Gardiner, +Betty and Tom and Ophelia, Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne and Calvin Smalley, +who were invited to see the show. + +“It’s a shame Aunt Phœbe and the Doctor have to miss it,” said Hinpoha. + +It was rumored that a real Indian princess would be present at the +medicine making, i.e., Sahwah in her Indian dress that Mr. Evans had +sent her from Canada, and excitement ran high among the invited guests +as hint after hint trickled out as to the elaborateness of the +ceremonial, which was to eclipse anything yet attempted in that line by +the Winnebagos, which was saying a great deal. Migwan had been seen +doing a great deal of surreptitious writing of late and at bed time the +Winnebagos had taken to congregating in the big, back bedroom and +locking the doors, and soon there would issue forth sounds of much +talking and laughter, so that a really experienced listener would almost +suspect there was a play in process of rehearsal. “Let’s reh—you know,” +said Migwan to Gladys, when the last touches had been put on the tepee, +suddenly cutting her words short and making a hand sign to finish her +sentence. + +“Do you mind if I don’t just now,” answered Gladys, “I have such a bad +headache I think I will lie down for a while. It must have been the sun +glaring on the white canvas.” + +“I have one too,” said Hinpoha, “it must have been the sun. I’ll come +later when Gladys does,” she said to Migwan, with an aggravatingly +mysterious hand sign. + +At supper time Ophelia refused to eat and moped in a manner quite +foreign to her. Her eyes were red and it looked as though she had been +crying. After supper she still sat by herself in a corner of the porch +and made no effort to trap the girls into telling their plans for the +Fourth as she had been doing all day. “Come and play Blind-Man’s-Buff on +the lawn,” called Migwan. Ophelia raised her head and looked at her +listlessly, but made no effort to join in the merry game. + +“Don’t you feel well?” asked Nyoda, noting her languid manner. “Child, +what makes your eyes so red?” she said, turning Ophelia’s face toward +the light. + +“I don’t know,” said Ophelia, wriggling out of her grasp, and putting +her head down on her knee. + +“Come, let me put you to bed,” said Nyoda. “I’m afraid you’re going to +be sick.” In the morning Ophelia’s face was all broken out and Nyoda +groaned when she realized the truth. Ophelia had the measles. All +preparations for the Fourth of July Ceremonial had to be called off, and +the three girls in town telephoned not to come out. The sight of the +tepee and all the plans it suggested called out a wail of despair every +time the girls went out in the yard. On the morning of the Glorious +Fourth Gladys woke to find herself spotted like a leopard. + +“That must be the reason why I had such a fearful headache the other +day,” she said, as she took her place with the other sick one, half +amused and wholly disgusted at herself for having fallen a victim. + +“I had a headache too,” said Hinpoha, in alarm, “I hope I’m not coming +down with them. I’ve had them once.” + +“That doesn’t help much,” said Nyoda, “for I had them three times.” +Hinpoha’s fears were realized, and by night there was a third case +developed. And so, instead of a grand council on the Fourth of July +there was real medicine making at Onoway House. None of the sufferers +were very ill, although they must remain prisoners, and they had such a +jolly time in the “contagious disease ward” that Migwan and Sahwah, who +were finding things rather dull on the outside, wished fervently that +they had taken the measles too. + +As soon as the three invalids were pronounced entirely well there was a +celebration held in honor of the occasion in the tepee. At sundown Nyoda +went around beating on a tin pan covered with a cloth in lieu of a +tom-tom, which was always the signal for the tribe to come together. +Tom, as runner, was dispatched to fetch the Landsdownes and Calvin +Smalley. When the tribe came trooping in answer to the call, followed by +the guests, they were marched in solemn file around the lawn and into +the tepee. Inside there was a fire kindled in the center, with a circle +of ponchos and blankets spread around it on the ground. “Bless my soul, +but this is cozy,” said Farmer Landsdowne, dropping down on a poncho and +stretching himself comfortably. + +“Now, what shall we do?” asked Nyoda, who was mistress of ceremonies, +“play games or tell stories?” + +“Tell stories,” begged Migwan, “we haven’t ‘wound the yarn’ for an age.” + +“All right,” agreed Nyoda, “shall we do it the way several of the Indian +tribes do?” + +“How do they do it?” asked Migwan. + +“Well,” said Nyoda, “there is a tradition among certain tribes that if +anyone refuses to tell a story when he is asked he will grow a tail like +a donkey. Sometimes, however, they do not wait for Nature to perform +this miracle, but fasten a tail themselves onto the one who will not +entertain the crowd when he is bidden, and he must wear it until he +tells a story. Their way of asking one of their number to tell one is to +remark ‘There is a tail to you,’ as a delicate way of expressing the +fate that will be his if he refuses.” + +“Oh, what fun!” cried Sahwah. + +“And now Gladys,” said Nyoda, “‘there is a tail to you.’” + +Gladys placed more wood on the fire, which was burning low, and returned +to her seat on the blanket. “Did I ever tell you,” she began, “about my +Aunt Beatrice? She and my Uncle Lynn were visiting here from the West +with my little cousin Beatrice, who was only six months old. They were +staying in a big hotel downtown. One night they went to a party, leaving +Beatrice in their room at the hotel in the care of her nurse. At the +party there was a fortune teller who amused the guests by reading their +palms. When it came my aunt’s turn the woman said to her, ‘You have had +one child, who is dead.’ Everybody laughed because they knew Aunt +Beatrice had never lost a baby, and little Beatrice was safe and sound +in the hotel that very minute. But it worried my aunt almost to death, +and she couldn’t enjoy herself the rest of the evening. + +“Finally she said to my uncle, ‘I can’t stand it any longer, I must go +home,’ so they left the party just as the guests were sitting down to a +midnight supper, and everybody made fun of her for being such a fussy +young mother. When they got downtown they found the hotel in flames and +the streets blocked for a long distance around. Aunt Beatrice finally +broke through the fire lines and ran right past the firemen who tried to +keep her out, into the burning building, and fought her way up-stairs +through the smoke to her room, where she could hear a baby crying. She +was blind from the smoke and could hardly see where she was going, but +she picked up a rug from the floor, wrapped it around the baby and +carried her out in safety. When she got outside they found it was not +little Beatrice at all that she had saved, it was a strange baby. She +had mistaken the room up-stairs in the smoke and carried out someone +else’s child. The building collapsed right after she came out and no one +could go in any more. Beatrice and her nurse were lost in the fire.” A +murmur of horrified sympathy went around the circle in the tepee. “And,” +continued Gladys, “my Aunt Beatrice has never been herself since. She +can’t bear even to see a baby.” + +“Is that the reason you wouldn’t let me bring Marian Simpson’s baby over +the day she left it with me to take care of?” asked Hinpoha. “I remember +you said your aunt was visiting you.” + +“Yes, that was why,” said Gladys. “And now, Mr. Landsdowne,” she added, +“‘there is a tail to you!’” + +Farmer Landsdowne stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment, and +then a reminiscent smile began to wrinkle the corners of his eyes. +“Would you like to hear a story about the old house?” he asked. + +“You mean Onoway House?” asked Migwan. + +Mr. Landsdowne nodded. “Only it seems strange to be calling it ‘Onoway +House.’ It has always been known as ‘Waterhouse’s Place,’ because old +Deacon Waterhouse built it. Well, like most old houses, there are +different stories told about it, but whether they are true or not, no +one knows. People are so apt to believe anything they want to believe. +Well, I started out to tell you the story about the gas well. But before +I tell you about the gas well I suppose I ought to tell you about the +Deacon’s son. Mind you, the things I am telling you are only what I have +heard from the folks around here; I never knew Deacon Waterhouse. He was +dead and the house empty before the farm was split up, and it wasn’t +until the part that I now own was offered for sale that I ever came into +this neighborhood. Well, to return to the Deacon’s son. They say that +there never was a finer looking young fellow than Charley Waterhouse. He +was a regular prince among the country boys. But he didn’t care a rap +about farming. All he wanted to do was read; that and take the horse and +buggy and drive to town. The old Deacon was terribly disappointed, of +course, for Charley was his only son, and he couldn’t see that the boy +wasn’t cut out to be a farmer. He railed about his love of books and +wouldn’t give him money for schooling. Charley stood it until he was +eighteen and then he ran away, after forging the Deacon’s name to a +check. The folks around here never saw him again. Mrs. Waterhouse died +of a broken heart, they say. They also say,” he added with a twinkle in +his eye, “that she died before she had her attic cleaned, and that her +ghost comes back at night and sets the old furniture straight up there.” +Migwan and Hinpoha exchanged glances. + +“Now about the gas well,” resumed Mr. Landsdowne. “The Deacon was +digging for water on the farm. The old well had dried up during a long, +hot spell and he was bound to go deep enough this time. Down they +went—two, three hundred feet, and still no good water. The ground had +turned into slate and shale. The well digger lit a match down in the +hole when suddenly there was a terrific explosion which caved in the +sides of the well and all the dirt which was piled around the outside +slid in again, completely filling it up. A vein of gas had been struck. +That very day the Deacon received word that his son was in San +Francisco, dying, and wanted to see him. He forgot his anger over +Charley’s disgrace and started west that very night. He never came back. +He stayed in San Francisco a whole year and then died out there. While +he was there he mentioned the gas well to several people, or they say he +did, and that’s how the story got round. But if such a thing did happen, +there was never any trace of it afterward. Personally I do not believe +it ever happened. But superstitious folks around here say they can still +hear the buried well digger striking with his pick against the earth +that covers him.” + +“Two ghosts at Onoway House!” said Nyoda, “we are uncommonly well +supplied,” and the girls shivered and drew near together in mock fear. +Thus, with various stories the evening wore away, until Farmer +Landsdowne, looking at his big, old-fashioned silver watch with a start, +remarked that he should have been in bed an hour ago, whereupon the +company broke up. Calvin Smalley went home reluctantly. That evening +spent by the fire in the tepee had been a sort of wonderland to him, +unused as he was to family festivities of any kind. + +Nyoda lingered after the rest had gone to see that the fire in the tepee +was properly extinguished. As she watched the glowing embers turn black +one by one she became aware of a figure standing in the doorway. The +moonlight fell directly on it and she could see that it was robed in +flowing white, and instead of a face there was a hideous death’s head. +Horribly startled at first she recovered her composure when she +remembered that she was living in a household which were given to +playing jokes on each other. Flinging up her hands in mock terror, she +recited dramatically, + +“Art thou some angel, some devil, or some ghost?” The figure in the +doorway never moved. Nyoda picked up the thick stick with which she had +stirred the fire and rushed upon the ghost as if she intended to beat it +to a pulp. It flung out its arm, covered with the flowing drapery, and +Nyoda dropped her weapon and staggered back against the side of the +tepee, sneezing with terrible violence, her eyes smarting and watering +horribly. When the force of the paroxysm had spent itself and she could +open her eyes again the ghost had vanished. Blind and choking, she made +her way back to the house, intent on finding out who the ghost was, who +had thrown red pepper into her eyes. That it was none of the dwellers at +Onoway House was clear. The girls were already partly undressed, Ophelia +was in bed, and Tom was taking a foot-bath in the kitchen under the +watchful supervision of his mother to see that he got himself clean. A +chorus of indignation rose on every side at the outrage, when Nyoda had +told her tale. + +“Could it have been Calvin Smalley?” somebody asked. But this no one +would believe. The boy was too gentle and manly, and too evidently +delighted with his new neighbors to have done such a dastardly deed. +Then who had dressed up as a ghost and thrown red pepper at Nyoda in the +tepee? + + + + +CHAPTER V.—SAHWAH MAKES A DISCOVERY. + + +As there was no one of their acquaintance whom they could suspect of +being the ghost, the trick was laid at the door of some unknown dweller +along the road with a fondness for horseplay. The girls spent the +morning working quietly in the garden, and in the afternoon they went to +the city in Gladys’s automobile, all but Sahwah, who wanted to work on a +waist she was making. Then, after the automobile was out of sight she +discovered that she did not have the right kind of thread and could not +work on it after all. With the prospect of a whole afternoon to herself, +she decided to take a long walk. The Bartlett farm was not very large +and she was soon at its boundary, and over on the Smalley property. In +contrast to their little orchard and garden and meadow, the Smalley farm +stretched out as far as she could see, with great corn and wheat fields, +and acres of timber land. Somewhere on the place Calvin Smalley was +working, and Sahwah made up her mind to find him and ask him over to +Onoway House that night. But the extent of the Smalley farm was +ninety-seven acres, and it was not so easy to find a person on it when +one had no definite knowledge of that person’s whereabouts. Sahwah +walked and walked and walked, up one field and down another, shading her +eyes with her hand to catch sight of the figure she was looking for. But +Calvin was somewhere near the center of the cornfield, stooping near the +ground, and the high stalks waved over his head and concealed him +completely. Sahwah passed by without discovering him and crossed an open +field that was lying fallow. Beyond this was a strip of marsh land which +was practically impassable. Under ordinary circumstances Sahwah would +have turned back, but being badly in want of something better to do she +tried to cross it. She had seen two boards lying in the field, and +securing these she laid them down on the treacherous mud, and by +standing on one and laying the other down in front of her and then +advancing to that one she actually got across in safety. + +On the other side of the bog she spied a little clump of trees and +headed toward them, for the sun was very hot in the open and the thought +of a rest in the shade was attractive. When she came nearer she saw that +this little copse sheltered a cottage, old and weatherbeaten and +evidently deserted. Weeds grew around it, higher than the steps and the +floor of the porch, and the crumbling chimney, which ran up on the +outside of the house, was covered with a thick growth of Japanese ivy. +“It’s a regular House in the Woods,” said Sahwah to herself, “only there +are no dwarfs. I wonder what it’s like inside,” she went on in her +thoughts. “Maybe we could come here sometime and build a fire—there must +be a fireplace somewhere because there’s a chimney—and have a Ceremonial +Meeting or a picnic. How delightfully private it is!” The trees hid the +house from view until one almost stumbled upon it, and then the marsh +and the broad vacant field stretched between it and the farm, and behind +it was the river, its banks hidden by a thick growth of willows and +alders, so that the cottage was not visible to a person coming along the +river in a boat. There was not a sound to be heard anywhere except the +zig-a-zig of the grasshoppers in the field and the swish of the hidden +water as it flowed over the stones. “A grand place to have a secret +meeting of the Winnebagos,” said Sahwah to herself, “where we wouldn’t +always be interrupted by Ophelia pounding on the door and wanting to +come in. I wonder if it’s open?” + +She stepped up on the porch and tried the door. It was locked. She +peered into the window. The room she saw was absolutely empty. She could +not see whether there was a fireplace or not. She was seized with a +desire to enter that cottage. It was deserted and tumble down and +fascinating. Whoever owned it—if anyone did, for she was not sure +whether it stood on the Smalley property or not—had evidently abandoned +it to the elements. There was no harm at all in trying to get in. She +pushed on the window. It apparently was also locked. But she pushed +again and this time she heard a crack. The rotten wood was splitting +away from the rusty catch. She pushed again and the window slid up. She +stepped over the sill into the room. + +The window was so thick with dirt that the light seemed dim inside. At +one end of the room there was an open fireplace, long unused, with the +mortar falling out between the bricks. There was another door in the +wall opposite the front door, so evidently there was another room +beyond. This door was also locked, but the key was in the lock and it +turned readily under her hand and the door swung open. Sahwah stood +still in surprise. This room was as full of furniture as the other had +been empty. Around all four walls stood cabinets and bookcases, and +besides these there was a couch, a desk, a table and several chairs. The +table was covered with screws, little wheels and the works of clocks, +and before it sat an old man, busily working with them. He had on a +long, shabby grey dressing-gown and a high silk hat on his head. He did +not look up as she opened the door, but went right on working, +apparently oblivious to her presence. She stared at him in amazement for +a moment, and then, remembering her manners, realized that she had +deliberately walked into a gentleman’s room without knocking. + +“I beg your pardon,” she said, in embarrassment, “I didn’t know there +was anyone here.” + +The old man looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. “Come in, +come in,” he said, affably, in a deep voice. Sahwah took a step into the +room. The old man went back to his wheels and rods and took no more +notice of her. + +“What is that you’re making?” asked Sahwah, curiously. + +“It’s a long story,” said the man, taking off his hat, pulling a +handkerchief out of it and putting it back on his head, and then falling +to work again. + +“Must be a genius,” thought Sahwah, “that’s what makes him act so +queerly.” She waited a few minutes in silence and then curiosity got the +better of her. “Is it too long to tell?” she asked. + +“Eh? What’s that?” asked the man, turning toward her. He took off his +hat, put his handkerchief back in again and then put the hat back on his +head. + +“I asked you,” said Sahwah, politely, “if the story of what you are +making is too long to tell.” + +“Not at all, not at all,” said the man, and resumed his work without +another word. + +“How impolite!” thought Sahwah. “To urge me to stay and then refuse to +answer my questions.” Her eyes strayed around the room at the bookcases +and cabinets. Every cabinet was filled with clocks or parts of clocks. +The books as far as she could see were all about machinery. One was a +book of such astounding width of binding that she leaned over to read +the title. The letters were so faded that they were hardly visible. “L,” +she read, “E, F, E——” + +“It’s a machine for saving time,” said the man at the table, so suddenly +that Sahwah jumped. + +“How interesting!” she said. “How does it work?” + +The man fitted a rod into a wheel and apparently forgot her existence. +She sat silent a few minutes more and then decided she had better go +home. She rose softly to her feet. “It’s something like a clock,” said +the man, without looking up from his work. + +“It’s coming after all,” she thought, and sat down again. + +After a silence of about five minutes the man spoke again. “It measures +the time just like any clock,” he explained, “only, as the minutes are +ticked off, they are thrown into a little compartment at the side,—this +thing,” he said, holding up a little metal box. He lapsed into silence +again and after an interval resumed where he had left off. “This +compartment,” he said, “holds just an hour, and when it is full a bell +rings and the compartment opens automatically, throwing the block of +time, carefully wrapped to prevent leakage of seconds, out into this +basket.” He took off his hat, brought out his handkerchief, polished a +bit of glass with it, put it carefully back into the crown and replaced +the hat on his head. + +It suddenly came over Sahwah that her ingenious host was not quite right +in his mind, so rising abruptly she hastened out of the room. The man +took no notice of her departure. She locked the door carefully after +her, and went out by the window whence she had entered the house, +pulling it shut from the outside. She did not undertake to cross the +marsh again, but made a wide detour around it. When she was once more in +the fallow field she looked back, but the house was invisible among the +trees and bushes which surrounded it. As she sped past the rows of +standing corn on her way home, Abner Smalley, bending low among them, +saw her and straightened up with a suspicious look in his eyes. He +glanced in the direction from which she had come. On one side was the +empty field bordered by the marsh and the woody copse, and on the other +was the path from the river which went in the direction of Onoway House. +He breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had come from the direction of +Onoway House, of course. The next day he put his bull to graze in the +empty field before the copse. Then, in different places along the rail +fence which enclosed this field he put signs reading: BEWARE THE BULL. +HE IS UGLY. + +When the girls came back from town Sahwah told her discovery. “Nyoda,” +said Gladys, suddenly, “do you suppose it could have been this man who +threw the pepper at you?” + +“Perhaps,” said Nyoda, and all the girls shuddered at the thought. +Before Sahwah’s discovery they had agreed among themselves to say +nothing about the ghost episode to anyone outside the family, so that +the perpetrator of the joke, if he were one of the farmer boys living +near, would not have the satisfaction of knowing that they were wrought +up about it. In the meantime they would send Tom to get acquainted with +all the boys on the road and try to find out something about it from +them. + +Calvin Smalley was over that evening and something was said about +Sahwah’s adventure of the afternoon. “Calvin,” said Nyoda, directly, +“who is the old man who lives in that house?” + +Calvin looked very much distressed, and frightened too, it must be +admitted. Then he laughed, although to Nyoda his laugh seemed a trifle +forced, and said in his usual straightforward manner, “The man in the +old house among the trees? That is my great uncle Peter, grandfather’s +brother. He was something of an inventer and invented a time clock, but +the patent was stolen by another and he never got the credit for +inventing it. He worried about it until his mind became unbalanced. For +years he has worked around with wheels and things, making strange +contrivances for clocks. He is perfectly harmless and wouldn’t hurt a +fly. He will not live in a house with people and he will not leave the +cottage he lives in even for an hour, he is so afraid something will +happen to his machine while he is away. We don’t like to have people +know that he is there because they would say we ought to send him away, +but Uncle Abner won’t do that because Uncle Peter hates to be with folks +and he might not be allowed to play with his machine in an institution +the way he can here. So as long as he is happy what is the difference? +But you know how country people talk. So would it be asking a great deal +to request you not to say anything about this to anyone, not even the +Landsdownes? If Uncle Abner ever found out you knew he would be very +angry, and would sure think I told you. I don’t see how you ever got in, +anyway; the door is usually kept locked, and to all appearances the +house is empty.” Sahwah looked decidedly uncomfortable as she met the +eyes of several of the girls, but no one mentioned the manner in which +she had gained entrance. Inasmuch as she had pried into this secret she +felt it was no more than right to promise to keep it. + +“All right, we won’t say anything,” she said, reassuringly. All the +others gave an equally solemn promise, and were glad that Ophelia had +heard none of the talk about the matter, for she had been over at the +Landsdowne’s since before Sahwah told her adventure. Little pitchers +have wide mouths as well as big ears. + +The girls all looked at each other when Calvin asserted that his Uncle +Peter never left the house even for an hour. Clearly then, he had not +been the ghost. + +Migwan had bad dreams that night. Just before going to bed she had been +reading a volume of Poe, which is not the most sleep producing +literature known. She dreamed that she was lying awake in her bed, +looking at a big square of moonlight on the floor, when suddenly a black +shadow fell across it, and the figure of a monkey appeared on the +windowsill, stood there a moment and then jumped into the room. +Shuddering with fright she woke up, and could hardly rid herself of the +impression of the dream, it had seemed so real. There was a big square +of moonlight on the floor. “I must have seen it in my sleep,” she +thought, “it’s exactly like the one in my dream.” She lay wondering if +it were possible to see things with your eyes closed, when all of a +sudden her heart began to thump madly. Into the moonlight there was +creeping a black shadow. It remained still for a few seconds, a +grotesque-shaped thing with a long tail, and then something came +hurtling through the window and landed on the floor beside the bed. +Migwan gave a scream that roused the house. Hinpoha, starting up wildly, +jumped from bed and landed squarely on the black specter on the floor. +The form struggled and squirmed and sent forth a long wailing ME-OW-W-W. + +“What is the matter?” cried Nyoda and Gladys and Betty and Sahwah, +running to the rescue. + +“It’s a cat!” said Migwan, faintly. “I thought it was a monkey!” + +“Moral: Don’t read Poe before going to bed,” said Nyoda, while the rest +shouted with laughter at the cause of Migwan’s fright. + +“It must have jumped in from the tree,” said Hinpoha. “I see our screen +has fallen out.” + +There was little sleep in the house the rest of the night. During the +time when the screen was out of the window the room had filled with +mosquitoes, which soon found their way to the rest of the rooms. “If you +offered me the choice of sleeping in a room with a monkey or a swarm of +mosquitoes, I believe I’d take the monkey,” said Nyoda, slapping +viciously. Altogether it was a heavy-eyed group that came down to +breakfast the next morning. + +“What are we going to do to-day?” asked Gladys. + +“The usual thing,” said Migwan, “pull weeds. That is, I am. You girls +don’t need to help all the time. I don’t want you to think of my garden +as merely a lot of weeds to be forever pulled. I want you to remember +only the beautiful part of it.” + +“We don’t mind pulling weeds,” cried the girls, stoutly, “it’s fun when +we all do it together,” and they fell to work with a will. + +“I declare,” said Migwan, “I have become so zealous in the pursuit of +weeds that I mechanically start to pull them along the roadside. I +actually believe that if a weed grew on my grave I’d rise up and +eradicate it. I little thought when I proudly won an honor last summer +for identifying ten different weeds that they’d get to haunting my +dreams the way they do now. Now I know what people mean when they say +‘meaner than pusley.’ It’s the meanest thing I’ve ever dealt with. I cut +off and pull up every trace of it one day and the next day there it is +again, just as flourishing as ever.” + +“I don’t call that meanness,” said Nyoda, “that’s just cheerful +persistence. Think what a success we’d all be in life if we got ahead in +the face of obstacles in that way. If I didn’t already have a perfectly +good symbol I’d take pusley for mine. If it were edible I think I’d use +it as an exclusive article of diet for a time and see if I couldn’t +absorb some of its characteristics.” + +While she was talking Ophelia came along with a frog on a shovel, which +she proceeded to throw over the fence. “Come back with that frog,” said +Migwan, “I need him in my business. Don’t you know that frogs eat the +insects off the plants and we have that many less to kill?” Ophelia was +standing in the strong sunlight, and Nyoda noticed that the circle of +light hair on her head was still golden clear to the roots, although the +ringlets were visibly growing. + +“It must be a freak of Nature,” she concluded, “for it certainly isn’t +bleached.” + +Rest at Onoway House was again doomed to be broken that night. Nyoda had +been peacefully sleeping for some time when she woke up at the touch of +something cold upon her face. She started up and the feeling +disappeared. She went to sleep again, thinking she had been dreaming. +Soon the feeling came again, as of something cold lying on her forehead. +She put up her hand and encountered a cold and knobby object. At her +touch the thing—whatever it was—jumped away. She sprang out of bed and +lit the lamp. The sight that met her eyes as she looked around the room +made her pinch herself to see if she were really awake and not in the +midst of some nightmare. All over the floor, chairs, table, beds, bureau +and wash-stand sat frogs; big frogs, little frogs, medium-sized frogs; +all goggling solemnly at her in the lamplight. She stared open mouthed +at the apparition. Could this be another Plague of Frogs, she asked +herself, such as was visited upon Pharaoh? At her horrified exclamation +Gladys woke up, gave one look around the room and dove under the +bedclothes with a wild yell. To her excited eyes it looked as if there +were a million frogs in the room. + +“What’s the matter?” asked Ophelia, sitting up in bed and staring around +her sleepily. + +“Don’t you see the frogs?” cried Nyoda. + +“Sure I see them,” said Ophelia. “Aren’t you glad I got so many?” + +“Ophelia!” gasped Nyoda, “did you bring those frogs in here?” + +“Betcher I did,” said Ophelia, with pride, “and it took me most all +afternoon to catch the whole sackful, too. What’s wrong?” she asked, as +she saw the expression on Nyoda’s face. “Yer said they’d eat the bugs +and yer made such a fuss about the mosquitoes last night that I brought +the toads to eat them while we slept.” Nyoda dropped limply into a +chair. The inspirations of Ophelia surpassed anything she had ever read +in fiction. + +If anybody has ever tried to catch a roomful of frogs that were not +anxious to be caught they can appreciate the chase that went on at +Onoway House that night. The first faint streaks of dawn were appearing +in the sky before the family finally retired once more. Sufficient to +say that Ophelia never set up another mosquito trap made of frogs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI.—THE WINNEBAGOS SCENT A PLOT. + + +“Where are you going, my pretty maid, and why the step ladder?” said +Nyoda to Migwan one morning. “Have your beans grown up so high over +night that you have to climb a ladder to pick them?” + +“Come and see!” said Migwan, mysteriously. Nyoda followed her to the +front lawn. Migwan set the ladder up beside a dead tree, from which the +branches had been sawn, leaving a slender trunk about seven feet high. +On top of this Migwan proceeded to nail a flat board. + +“Are you going to live on a pillar, like St. Simeon Stylites?” asked +Nyoda, curiously, as Migwan mounted the ladder with a basin of water in +her hand. + +“O come, Nyoda,” said Migwan, “don’t you know a bird bathtub when you +see one?” + +“A bathtub, is it?” said Nyoda. “Now I breathe easily again. But why so +extremely near the earth?” + +Migwan laughed at her chaffing. “You have to put them high up,” she +explained, “or else the cats get the birds when they are bathing. Mr. +Landsdowne told me how to make it.” The other girls wandered out and +inspected the drinking fountain-bathtub. Hinpoha closed one eye and +looked critically at the outfit. + +“Doesn’t it strike you as being a little inharmonious?” she asked. +“Black stump, unfinished wood platform, and blue enamel basin.” + +“Paint the platform and basin dark green,” said Sahwah, the practical. +“There is some green paint down cellar, I saw it. Let me paint it. I can +do that much for the birds, even if I didn’t think of building them a +drinking fountain.” She sped after the paint and soon transformed the +offending articles so that they blended harmoniously with the +surroundings. + +“It’s better now,” said Nyoda, thoughtfully, “but it’s still crude and +unbeautiful. What is wrong?” + +“I know,” said Hinpoha, the artistic one. “It’s too bare. It looks like +a hat without any trimming. What it needs is vines around it.” + +“The very thing!” exclaimed Migwan. “I’ll plant climbing nasturtiums and +train them to go up the pole and wind around the basin, so it will look +like a fountain.” + +“Four heads are better than one,” observed Nyoda, as the seeds were +planted, “when they are all looking in the same direction.” + +Just then a young man came up the path from the road. “May I use your +telephone?” he asked, courteously raising his hat. He spoke with a +slight foreign accent. + +“Certainly you may,” said Migwan, going with him into the house. She +could not help hearing what he said. He called up a number in town and +when he had his connection, said, “This is Larue talking. We are going +to do it on the Centerville Road. There is a river near.” That was all. +He rang off, thanked Migwan politely and walked off down the road. The +incident was forgotten for a time. + +That afternoon Gladys was coming home in the automobile. At the turn in +the road just before you came to Onoway House there was a car stalled. +The driver, a young and pretty woman, was apparently in great perplexity +what to do. “Can I help you?” asked Gladys, stopping her machine. + +“I don’t know what’s the matter,” said the young woman, “but I can’t get +the car started. I’m afraid I’ll have to be towed to a garage. Do you +know of anyone around here who has a team of horses?” + +Gladys looked at the starting apparatus of the other car, but it was a +different make from hers and she knew nothing about it. “Would you like +to have me tow you to our barn?” she asked. “There is a man up the road +who fixes automobiles for a great many people who drive through here and +I could get him to come over.” + +The young woman appeared much relieved. “If you would be so kind it +would be a great favor,” she said, “for I am in haste to-day.” + +Gladys towed the car to the barn at Onoway House and phoned for the car +tinker. The young woman, who introduced herself as Miss Mortimer, was a +very pleasant person indeed, and quite won the hearts of the girls. She +was delighted with Onoway House, both with the name and the house +itself, and asked to be shown all over it, from garret to cellar. “How +near that tree is to the window!” she said, as she looked out of the +attic window into the branches of the big Balm of Gilead tree that grew +beside the house, close to Migwan and Hinpoha’s bedroom. It was much +higher than the house and its branches drooped down on the roof. “How do +you ever move about up here with all this furniture?” asked Miss +Mortimer. + +“Oh,” answered Migwan, “we never come up here.” + +The barn likewise struck the visitor’s fancy, with its big empty lofts, +and she fell absolutely in love with the river. The girls took her for a +ride on the raft, and she amused herself by sounding the depth of the +water with the pole. They could see that she was experienced in handling +boats from the way she steered the raft. The girls were so charmed with +her that they felt a keen regret when the neighborhood tinker announced +that the car was in running shape again. + +“I’ve had a lovely time, girls,” said Miss Mortimer, shaking the hand of +each in farewell. “I can’t thank you enough.” + +“Come and see us again, if you are ever passing this way,” said Migwan, +cordially. + +“You may possibly see me again,” said Miss Mortimer, half to herself, as +she got into her machine and drove away. + +There was no moon that night and the cloud-covered sky hinted at +approaching rain, but Sahwah wanted to go out on the river on the raft, +so Nyoda and Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys went with her. It was too +dark to play any kind of games and the girls were too tired and +breathless from the hot day to sing, so they floated down-stream in lazy +silence, watching the shapeless outlines made against the dull sky by +the trees and bushes along the banks. On the other side of Farmer +Landsdowne’s place there was an abandoned farm. The house had stood +empty for many years, its cheerless windows brooding in the sunlight and +glaring in the moonlight. Just as they did with every other vacant +house, the Winnebagos nicknamed this one the Haunted House, and vied +with each other in describing the queer noises they had heard issuing +from it and the ghosts they had seen walking up and down the porch. As +they passed this place, gliding silently along the river, they were +surprised to see an automobile standing beside the house, at the little +side porch, in the shadow of a row of tall trees. + +“The ghosts are getting prosperous,” whispered Migwan, “they have bought +an automobile to do their nightly wandering in. Pretty soon we can’t say +that ghosts ‘walk’ any more. Ah, here come the ghosts.” + +From the side door of the house came two men, who proceeded to lift +various boxes from under the seats of the car and carry them into the +house. Then they lifted out a small keg, which the girls could not help +noticing they handled with greater care than they had the boxes. The +wind was blowing toward the river, and the girls distinctly heard one +man say to the other, “Be careful now, you know what will happen if we +drop this.” + +“I’m being as careful as I can,” answered the second man. + +After a few seconds the first one spoke again. “When’s Belle coming?” + +“She arrived in town to-day,” said his partner. + +When they had gone into the house this time the machine suddenly drove +away, revealing the presence of a third man at the wheel, whom the girls +had not noticed before this. The two men stayed in the house. + +“What on earth can be happening there?” said Sahwah. + +“It certainly does look suspicious,” said Nyoda. + +They waited there in the shadow of the willows for a long time to see +what would happen next, but nothing did. The house stood blank and +silent and apparently as empty as ever. Not a glimmer of light was +visible anywhere. Sahwah and Nyoda were just on the point of getting +into the rowboat, which had been tied on behind the raft, and towing the +other girls back home, when their ears caught the sound of a faint +splashing, like the sound made by the dipping of an oar. They were +completely hidden from sight either up or down the river, for just at +this point a portion of the bank had caved in, and the water filling up +the hole had made a deep indentation in the shore line, and into this +miniature bay the Tortoise-Crab had been steered. The thick willows +along the bank formed a screen between them and the stream above and +below. But they could look between the branches and see what was coming +up stream, from the direction of the lake. It was a rowboat, containing +two persons. The scudding clouds parted at intervals and the moon shone +through, and by its fitful light they could see that one of these +persons was a woman. When the rowboat was almost directly behind the +house it came to a halt, only a few yards from the place where the +Winnebagos lay concealed. + +“This is the house,” said the man. + +“I told you the water was deep enough up this far,” said the woman, in a +tone of satisfaction. Just then the moon shone out for a brief instant, +and the Winnebagos looked at each other in surprise. The woman, or +rather the girl, in the rowboat was Miss Mortimer, who had been their +guest only that day. The next moment she spoke. “We might as well go +back now. There isn’t anything more we can do. I just wanted to prove to +you that it could be towed up the river this far without danger.” + +“All right, Belle,” replied the man, and at the sound of his voice +Migwan pricked up her ears. There was something vaguely familiar about +it; something which eluded her at the moment. The rowboat turned in the +river and proceeded rapidly down-stream. The Winnebagos returned home, +full of excitement and wonder. + +The barn at Onoway House stood halfway between the house and the river. +As they landed from the raft and were tying it to the post they saw a +man come out of the barn and disappear among the bushes that grew +nearby. It was too dark to see him with any degree of distinctness. +Gladys’s thought leaped immediately to her car, which was left in the +barn. “Somebody’s trying to steal the car!” she cried, and they all +hastened to the barn. The automobile stood undisturbed in its place. +They made a hasty search with lanterns, but as far as they could see, +none of the gardening tools were missing. Satisfied that no damage had +been done, they went into the house. + +“Probably a tramp,” said Mrs. Gardiner, when the facts were told her. +“He evidently thought he would sleep in the barn, and then changed his +mind for some reason or other.” + +Migwan lay awake a long time trying to place the voice of the man in the +rowboat. Just as she was sinking off to sleep it came to her. The voice +she had heard in the darkness had a slightly foreign accent, and was the +voice of the man who had used the telephone that morning. + +Sometime during the night Onoway House was wakened by the sounds of a +terrific thunder storm. The girls flew around shutting windows. After a +few minutes of driving rain against the window panes the sound changed. +It became a sharp clattering. “Hail!” said Sahwah. + +“Oh, my young plants!” cried Migwan. “They will be pounded to pieces.” + +“Cover them with sheets and blankets!” suggested Nyoda. With their +accustomed swiftness of action the Winnebagos snatched up everything in +the house that was available for the purpose and ran out into the +garden, and spread the covers over the beds in a manner which would keep +the tender young plants from being pounded to pieces by the hailstones. +Migwan herself ran down to the farthest bed, which was somewhat +separated from the others. As she raced to save it from destruction she +suddenly ran squarely into someone who was standing in the garden. She +had only time to see that it was a man, when, with a muffled exclamation +of alarm he disappeared into space. Disappeared is the only word for it. +He did not run, he never reached the cover of the bushes; he simply +vanished off the face of the earth. One moment he was and the next +moment he was not. Much excited, Migwan ran back to the others and told +her story, only to be laughed at and told she was seeing things and had +lurking men on the brain. The thing was so queer and uncanny that she +began to wonder herself if she had been fully awake at the time, and if +she might not possibly have dreamed the whole thing. + +The morning dawned fresh and fair after the shower, green and gold with +the sun on the garden, and Migwan’s delight at finding the tender little +plants unharmed, thanks to their timely covering, was inclined to thrust +the mysterious goings-on at the empty house the night before into +secondary place in her mind. But she was not allowed to forget it, for +it was the sole topic of conversation at the breakfast table. Gladys, +with her nose buried in the morning paper, suddenly looked up. “Listen +to this,” she said, and then began to read: “Another dynamite plot +unearthed. Society for the purpose of assassinating men prominent in +affairs and dynamiting large buildings discovered in attempt to blow up +the Court House. An attempt to blow up the new Court House was +frustrated yesterday when George Brown, one of the custodians, saw a man +crouching in the engine room and ordered him out. A search revealed the +fact that dynamite had been placed on the floor and attached to a fuse. +On being arrested the man confessed that he was a member of the famous +Venoti gang, operating in the various large cities. The man is being +held without bail, but the head of the gang, Dante Venoti, is still at +large, and so is his wife, Bella, who aids him in all his activities. No +clue to their whereabouts can be found.” + +“Do you suppose,” said Gladys, laying the paper down, “that those men we +saw last night could belong to that gang? You remember how carefully +they carried the keg into the house, as if it contained some explosive. +They couldn’t have any business there or they wouldn’t have come at +night. And they called the woman in the boat ‘Belle,’ or it might have +been ‘Bella.’” + +“And that man in the boat was the same one who came here and used the +telephone yesterday morning,” said Migwan. “I couldn’t help noticing his +foreign accent. He said, ‘We are going to do it on the Centerville Road. +There is a river near.’ What are they going to do on the Centerville +Road?” + +The garden work was neglected while the girls discussed the matter. “And +the man we saw coming out of the barn when we came home,” said Sahwah, +“he probably had something to do with it, too.” + +“And the man I saw in the garden in the middle of the night,” said +Migwan. + +“If you _did_ see a man,” said Nyoda, somewhat doubtfully. Migwan did +not insist upon her story. What was the use, when she had no proof, and +the thing had been so uncanny? + +They were all moved to real grief over the fact that the delightful Miss +Mortimer should have a hand in such a dark business—in fact, was +undoubtedly the famous Bella Venoti herself. “I can’t believe it,” said +Migwan, “she was so jolly and friendly, and was so charmed with Onoway +House.” + +“I wonder why she wanted to go through it from attic to cellar,” said +Sahwah, shrewdly. “Could she have had some purpose? _Migwan!_” she +cried, jumping up suddenly, “don’t you remember that she said, ‘How near +that tree is to the window’? Could she have been thinking that it would +be easy to climb in there? And when she asked how we ever moved about +with all that furniture up there, you said, ‘We never come up here’! +Don’t you see what we’ve done? We’ve given her a chance to look the +house over and find a place where people could hide if they wanted to, +and as much as told her that they would be safe up here because we never +came up.” + +Consternation reigned at this speech of Sahwah’s. The girls remembered +the incident only too well. “I’ll never be able to trust anyone again,” +said Migwan, near to tears, for she had conceived a great liking for the +young woman she had known as “Miss Mortimer.” + +“Do you remember,” pursued Sahwah, “how she took the pole of the raft +and found out how deep the water was all along, and then afterwards she +said to the man in the boat, ‘I told you it was deep enough.’ Everything +she did at our house was a sort of investigation.” + +“But it was only by accident that she got to Onoway House in the first +place,” said Gladys. “All she did was ask me to tell her where she could +get a team of horses to tow her to a garage. She didn’t know I belonged +to Onoway House. It was I who brought her here, and she only stayed +because we asked her to. It doesn’t look as if she had any serious +intentions of investigating the neighborhood. She said she was in a +hurry to go on.” Migwan brightened visibly at this. She clutched eagerly +at any hope that Miss Mortimer might be innocent after all. + +“How do you know that that breakdown in the road was accidental?” asked +Nyoda. “And how can you be sure that she didn’t know you came from +Onoway House? She may have been looking for a pretense to come here and +you played right into her hands by offering to tow her into the barn.” +Migwan’s hope flickered and went out. + +“And the man in the barn,” said Sahwah, knowingly, “he might have come +to look the automobile over and become familiar with the way the barn +door opened, so he could get into the car and drive away in a hurry if +he wanted to get away.” Taken all in all, there was only one conclusion +the girls could come to, and that was that there was something +suspicious going on in the neighborhood, and it looked very much as if +the Venoti gang were hiding explosives in the empty house and were +planning to bring something else; what it was they could not guess. At +all events, something must be done about it. Nyoda called up the police +in town and told briefly what they had seen and heard, and was told that +plain clothes men would be sent out to watch the empty house. When she +described the man who had called and used the telephone, the police +officer gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +“That description fits Venoti closely,” he said. “He used to have a +mustache, but he could very easily have shaved it off. It’s very +possible that it was he. He’s done that trick before; asked to use +people’s telephones as a means of getting into the house.” + +The girls thrilled at the thought of having seen the famous anarchist so +close. “Hadn’t we better tell the Landsdownes about it?” asked Migwan. +“They are in a better position to watch that house from their windows +than we are.” + +“You’re right,” said Nyoda. “And we ought to tell the Smalleys, too, so +they will be on their guard and ready to help the police if it is +necessary.” + +“I hate to go over there,” said Migwan, “I don’t like Mr. Smalley.” + +“That has nothing to do with it,” said Nyoda, firmly. “The fact that he +is fearfully stingy and grasping has no bearing on this case. He has a +right to know it if his property is in danger.” And she proceeded +forthwith to the Red House. + +Mr. Smalley was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole affair as the +imagination of a houseful of women. “Saw a man running out of your barn, +did you?” he asked, showing some interest in this part of the tale. +“Well now, come to think of it,” he said, “I saw someone sneaking around +ours too, last night. But I didn’t think much of it. That’s happened +before. It’s usually chicken thieves. I keep a big dog in the barn and +they think twice about breaking in after they hear him bark, and you +haven’t any chickens, that’s why nothing was touched.” It was a very +simple explanation of the presence of the man in the barn, but still it +did not satisfy Nyoda. She could not help connecting it in some way with +the occurrences in the vacant house. + +Mr. Landsdowne was very much interested and excited at the story when it +was told to him. “There’s probably a whole lot more to it than we know,” +he said, getting out his rifle and beginning to clean it. “There’s more +going on in this country in the present state of affairs than most +people dream of. You have notified the police? That’s good; I guess +there won’t be many more secret doings in the empty house.” + +As Nyoda and Migwan went home from the Landsdownes they passed a +telegraph pole in the road on which a man was working. Silhouetted +against the sky as he was they could see his actions clearly. He was +holding something to his ear which looked like a receiver, and with the +other hand he was writing something down in a little book. Migwan looked +at him curiously; then she started. “Nyoda,” she said, in a whisper, +“that is the same man who used our telephone. That is Dante Venoti +himself.” As if conscious that they were looking at him, the man on the +pole put down the pencil, and drawing his cap, which had a large visor, +down over his face, he bent his head so they could not get another look +at his features. “That’s the man, all right,” said Migwan. “What do you +suppose he is doing?” + +“It looks,” said Nyoda, judicially, “as if he were tapping the wires for +messages that are expected to pass at this time. Possibly you did not +notice it, but I began to look at that man as soon as we stepped into +the road from Landsdowne’s, and I saw him look at his watch and then +hastily put the receiver to his ear.” + +“Oh, I hope the police from town will come soon,” said Migwan, hopping +nervously up and down in the road. + +“Until they do come we had better keep a close watch on what goes on +around here,” said Nyoda. Accordingly the Winnebagos formed themselves +into a complete spy system. Migwan and Gladys and Betty and Tom took +baskets and picked the raspberries that grew along the road as an excuse +for watching the road and the front of the house, while Nyoda and Sahwah +and Hinpoha took the raft and patrolled the river. As the girls in the +road watched, the man climbed down from the pole, walked leisurely past +them, went up the path to the empty house and seated himself calmly on +the front steps, fanning himself with his hat, apparently an innocent +line man taking a rest from the hot sun at the top of his pole. + +“He’s afraid to go in with us watching him,” whispered Migwan. Just then +a large automobile whirled by, stirring up clouds of dust, which +temporarily blinded the girls. When they looked again toward the house +the “line man” had vanished from the steps. “He’s gone inside!” said +Migwan, when they saw without a doubt that he was nowhere in sight +outdoors. + +Meanwhile the girls on the raft, who had been keeping a sharp lookout +down-stream with a pair of opera glasses, saw something approaching in +the distance which arrested their attention. For a long time they could +not make out what it was—it looked like a shapeless black mass. Then as +they drew nearer they saw what was coming, and an exclamation of +surprise burst from each one. It was a structure like a portable garage +on a raft, towed by a launch. As it drew nearer still they could make +out with the opera glasses that the person at the wheel was a woman, and +that woman was Bella Venoti. + +The hasty arrival of an automobile full of armed men who jumped out in +front of the “vacant” house frightened the girls in the road nearly out +of their wits, until they realized that these were the plain clothes men +from town. After sizing up the house from the outside the men went up +the path to the porch. The girls were watching them with a fascinated +gaze, and no one saw the second automobile that was coming up the road +far in the distance. One of the plain clothes men, who seemed to be the +leader of the group, rapped sharply on the door of the house. There was +no answer. He rapped again. This time the door was flung wide open from +the inside. The girls could see that the man in the doorway was Dante +Venoti. The officer of the law stepped forward. “Your little game is up, +Dante Venoti,” he said, quietly, “and you are under arrest.” + +Dante Venoti looked at him in open-mouthed astonishment. “Vatevaire do +you mean?” he gasped. “I am under arrest? Has ze law stop ze production? +Chambers, Chambers,” he called over his shoulder, “come here queek. Ze +police has stop’ ze production!” + +A tall, lanky, decidedly American looking individual appeared in the +doorway behind him. “What the deuce!” he exclaimed, at the sight of all +the men on the porch. At this moment the second automobile drove up, +followed by a third and a fourth. A large number of men and women +dismounted and ran up the path to the house. + +“Caruthers! Simpson! Jimmy!” shouted Venoti, excitedly to the latest +arrivals, “ze police has stop ze production!” + +“What do you know about it!” exclaimed someone in the crowd of +newcomers, evidently one of those addressed. “Where’s Belle?” + +“She is bringing zeze caboose! Up ze rivaire!” cried the black haired +man, wringing his hands in distress. + +The plain clothes men looked over the band of people that stood around +him. There was nothing about them to indicate their desperate character. +Instead of being Italians as they had expected, they seemed to be mostly +Americans. The leader of the policemen suddenly looked hard at Venoti. +“Say,” he said, “you look like a Dago, but you don’t talk like one. Who +are you, anyway?” + +“I am Felix Larue,” said the black haired man, “I am ze director of ze +Great Western Film Company, and zeze are all my actors. We have rent zis +house and farm for ze production of ze war play ‘Ze Honor of a Soldier.’ +Last night we bring some of ze properties to ze house; zey are very +valuable, and Chambers and Bushbower here zey stay in ze house wiz zem.” + +The plain clothes men looked at each other and started to grin. Migwan +and Gladys, who had joined the company on the porch, suddenly felt +unutterably foolish. “But what were you doing on top of the pole?” +faltered Migwan. + +Mr. Larue turned his eyes toward her. He recognized her as the girl who +had allowed him to use her telephone the day before, and favored her +with a polite bow. “Me,” he said, “I play ze part of ze spy in ze +piece—ze villain. I tap ze wire and get ze message. I was practice for +ze part zis morning.” He turned beseechingly to the policeman who had +questioned him. “Zen you will not stop ze production?” he asked. + +“Heavens, no,” answered the policeman. “We were going to arrest you for +an anarchist, that’s all.” + +The company of actors were dissolving into hysterical laughter, in which +the plain clothes men joined sheepishly. Just then a young woman came +around the house from the back, followed at a short distance by Nyoda, +Sahwah and Hinpoha. Seeing the crowd in front she stopped in surprise. +Larue went to the edge of the porch and called to her reassuringly. +“Come on, Belle,” he called, gaily. When she was up on the porch he took +her by the hand and led her forward. “Permit me to introduce my fellow +conspirator,” he said, in a theatrical manner and with a low bow. “Zis +is Belle Mortimer, ze leading lady of ze Great Western Film Company!” + + + + +CHAPTER VII.—MOVING PICTURES. + + +The Winnebagos looked at each other speechlessly. Belle Mortimer, the +famous motion picture actress, whom they had seen on the screen dozens +of times, and for whom Migwan had long entertained a secret and +devouring adoration! Not Bella Venoti at all! “Did you ever?” gasped +Sahwah. + +“No, I never,” answered the Winnebagos, in chorus. + +Miss Mortimer recognized her hostesses of the day before and greeted +them warmly. “My kind friends from Onoway House,” she called them. The +Winnebagos were embarrassed to death to have to explain how they had +spied on the vacant house and thought the famous Venoti gang was at +work, and were themselves responsible for the presence of the policemen. + +“I never _heard_ of anything so funny,” she said, laughing until the +tears came. “I _never_ heard of anything so funny!” The plain clothes +men departed in their automobile, disappointed at not having made the +grand capture they had expected to. “Would you like to stay with us for +the day and watch us work?” asked Miss Mortimer. + +“Oh, could we?” breathed Migwan. She was in the seventh heaven at the +thought of being with Belle Mortimer so long. Then followed a day of +delirious delight. To begin with, the Winnebagos were introduced to the +whole company, many of whose names were familiar to them. Felix Larue, +having gotten over the fright he had received when he thought the piece +was going to be suppressed by the police for some unaccountable reason, +was all smiles and amiability, and explained anything the girls wanted +to know about. The piece was a very exciting one, full of thrilling +incidents and danger, and the girls were held spellbound at the physical +feats which some of those actors performed. The house on the raft was +explained as the play progressed. It was filled with soldiers and towed +up the river, to all appearances merely a garage being moved by its +owner. But when a dispatch bearer of the enemy, whose family lived in +the house, stopped to see them while he was carrying an important +message, the soldiers rushed out from the garage, sprang ashore, seized +the man along with the message and carried him away in the launch, which +had been cut away from the raft while the capture was being made. Migwan +thought of the tame little plots she had written the winter before and +was filled with envy at the creator of this stirring play. + +It took a whole week to make the film of “The Honor of a Soldier” and in +that time the girls saw a great deal of Miss Mortimer. And one blessed +night she stayed at Onoway House with them, instead of motoring back to +the city with the rest of the company. Just as Migwan was dying of +admiration for her, so she was attracted by this dreamy-eyed girl with +the lofty brow. In a confidential moment Migwan confessed that she had +written several motion picture plays the winter before, all of which had +been rejected. “Do you mind if I see them?” asked Miss Mortimer. Much +embarrassed, Migwan produced the manuscripts, written in the form +outlined in the book she had bought. Miss Mortimer read them over +carefully, while Migwan awaited her verdict with a beating heart. + +“Well?” she asked, when Miss Mortimer had finished reading them. + +“Who told you to put them in this form?” asked Miss Mortimer. + +“I learned it from a book,” answered Migwan. “What do you think of +them?” she asked, impatient for Miss Mortimer’s opinion. + +“The idea in one of them is good, very good,” said Miss Mortimer. “This +one called ‘Jerry’s Sister.’ But you have really spoiled it in the +development. It takes a person familiar with the production of a film to +direct the movements of the actors intelligently. If Mr. Larue, for +example, had developed that piece it would be a very good one. Would you +be willing to sell just the idea, if Mr. Larue thinks he can use it?” + +Migwan had never thought of this before. “Why, yes,” she said, “I +suppose I would. It’s certainly no good to me as it is.” + +“Let me take it to Mr. Larue,” said Miss Mortimer. “I’m sure he will see +the possibilities in it just as I have.” Migwan was in a transport of +delight to think that her idea at least had found favor with Miss +Mortimer. Miss Mortimer was as good as her word and showed the play to +Mr. Larue and he agreed with her that it could be developed into a +side-splitting farce comedy. Migwan was more intoxicated with that first +sale of the labors of her pen than she was at any future successes, +however great. Deeply inspired by this recognition of her talent, she +evolved an exciting plot from the incidents which had just occurred, +namely, the mistaking of the moving picture company for the Venoti gang. +She kept it merely in plot form, not trying to develop it, and Mr. Larue +accepted this one also. After this second success, even though the price +she received for the two plots was not large, the future stretched out +before Migwan like a brilliant rainbow, with a pot of gold under each +end. + +Miss Mortimer soon discovered that the Winnebagos were a group of Camp +Fire Girls, and she immediately had an idea. When “The Honor of a +Soldier” was finished Mr. Larue was going to produce a piece which +called for a larger number of people than the company contained, among +them a group of Camp Fire Girls. He intended hiring a number of “supers” +for this play. “Why not hire the Winnebagos?” said Miss Mortimer. And so +it was arranged. Medmangi and Nakwisi and Chapa, the other three +Winnebagos, were notified to join the ranks, and excitement ran high. To +be in a real moving picture! It is true that they had nothing special to +do, just walk through the scene in one place and sit on the ground in a +circle in another, but there was not a single girl who did not hope that +her conduct on that occasion would lead Mr. Larue into hiring her as a +permanent member of the company. + +Especially Sahwah. The active, strenuous life of a motion picture +actress attracted her more than anything just now. She longed to be in +the public eye and achieve fame by performing thrilling feats. She saw +herself in a thousand different positions of danger, always the heroine. +Now she was diving for a ring dropped into the water from the hand of a +princess; now she was trapped in a burning building; now she was riding +a wild horse. But always she was the idol of the company, and the idol +of the moving picture audiences, and the envy of all other actresses. +She would receive letters from people all over the country and her +picture would be in the papers and in the magazines, and her name would +be featured on the colored posters in front of the theatres. Managers +would quarrel over her and she would be offered a fabulous salary. All +this Sahwah saw in her mind’s eye as the future which was waiting for +her, for since meeting Miss Mortimer she really meant to be a motion +picture actress when she was through school. She felt in her heart that +she could show people a few things when it came to feats of action. She +simply could not wait for the day when the Winnebagos were to be in the +picture. When the play was produced in the city theatres her friends +would recognize her, and Oh joy!—here her thoughts became too gay to +think. + +The play in question was staged, not on the Centerville road, but in one +of the city parks, where there were hills and formal gardens and an +artificial lake, which were necessary settings. The day arrived at last. +News had gone abroad that a motion picture play was to be staged in that +particular park and a curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. +Sahwah felt very splendid and important as she stood in the company of +the actors. She knew that the crowd did not know that she was just in +that one play as a filler-in; to them she was really and truly a member +of this wonderful company—a real moving picture actress. Gazing over the +crowd with an air of indifference, she suddenly saw one face that sent +the blood racing to her head. That was Marie Lanning, the girl whom +Sahwah had defeated so utterly in the basketball game the winter before, +and who had tried such underhand means to put her out of the game. +Sahwah felt that her triumph was complete. Marie was just the kind of +girl who would nearly die of envy to see her rival connected with +anything so conspicuous. + +The picture began; progressed; the time came for the march of the Camp +Fire Girls down the steep hill. Sahwah stood straight as a soldier; the +supreme moment had come. Now Mr. Larue would see that she stood out from +all the other girls in ability to act; that moment was to be the making +of her fortune. She glanced covertly at Marie Lanning. Marie had +recognized her and was staring at her with unbelieving, jealous eyes. +The march began. Sahwah held herself straighter still, if that were +possible, and began the descent. It was hard going because it was so +steep, but she did not let that spoil her upright carriage. She was just +in the middle of the line, which was being led by Nyoda, and could see +that the girls in front of her were getting out of step and breaking the +unity of the line in their efforts to preserve their balance. Not so +Sahwah. She saw Mr. Larue watching her and she knew he was comparing her +with the rest. Her fancy broke loose again and she had a premonition of +her future triumphs. The sight of the camera turned full on her gave her +a sense of elation beyond words. It almost intoxicated her. Halfway down +the hill Sahwah, with her head full of day-dreams, stepped on a loose +stone which turned under her foot, throwing her violently forward. She +fell against Hinpoha, who was in front of her. Hinpoha, utterly +unprepared for this impetus from the rear, lost her balance completely +and crashed into Gladys. Gladys was thrown against Nyoda, and the whole +four of them went down the hill head over heels for all the world like a +row of dominoes. + +Down at the bottom of the hill stood the hero and heroine of the piece, +namely, Miss Mortimer and Chambers, the leading man, and as the +landslide descended it engulfed them and the next moment there was a +heap of players on the ground in a tangled mass. It took some minutes to +extricate them, so mixed up were they. Mr. Larue hastened to the spot +with an exclamation of very excusable impatience. Several dozen feet of +perfectly good film had been spoiled and valuable time wasted. The +players got to their feet again unhurt, and the watching crowd shouted +with laughter. Sahwah was ready to die of chagrin and mortification. She +had spoiled any chances she had ever had of making a favorable +impression on Mr. Larue; but this was the least part of it. There in the +crowd was Marie Lanning laughing herself sick at this fiasco of Sahwah’s +playing. Good-natured Mr. Chambers was trying to soothe the +embarrassment of the Winnebagos and make them laugh by declaring he had +lost his breath when he was knocked over and when he got it back he +found it wasn’t his, but Sahwah refused to be comforted. She had +disgraced herself in the public eye. Breaking away from the group she +ran through the crowd with averted face, in spite of calls to come back, +and kept on running until she had reached the edge of the park and the +street car line. Boarding a car, she went back to Onoway House, wishing +miserably that she had never been born, or had died the winter before in +the coasting accident. Her ambition to be a motion picture actress died +a violent death right then and there. So the march of the Camp Fire +Girls had to be done over again without Sahwah, and was consummated this +time without accident. + +When Sahwah reached Onoway House she wished with all her heart that she +hadn’t come back there. She had done it mechanically, not knowing where +else to go. At the time her only thought had been to get away from the +crowd and from Mr. Larue; now she hated to face the Winnebagos. She was +glad that no one was at home, for Mrs. Gardiner had taken Betty and Tom +and Ophelia to see the play acted. As she went around the back of the +house she came face to face with Mr. Smalley, who was just going up on +the back porch. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see +him, so Sahwah thought, but he was friendly enough and asked if the +Gardiners were at home. When Sahwah said no, he said, “Then possibly +they wouldn’t mind if you gave me what I wanted. I came over to see if +they would lend me their wheel hoe, as mine is broken and will have to +be sent away to be fixed, and I have a big job of hoeing that ought to +be done to-day.” Sahwah knew that Migwan would not refuse to do a +neighborly kindness like that as long as they were not using the tool +themselves, and willingly lent it to him. + +She was still in great distress of mind over the ridiculous incident of +the morning and did not want to see the other girls when they came home. +So taking a pillow and a book, she wandered down the river path to a +quiet shady spot among the willows and spent the afternoon in solitude. +When the other girls returned home Sahwah was nowhere to be found. This +did not greatly surprise them, however, for they were used to her +impetuous nature and knew she was hiding somewhere. Hinpoha and Gladys +were up-stairs removing the dust of the road from their faces and hands +when they heard a stealthy footstep overhead. “She’s hiding in the +attic!” said Hinpoha. + +“She’ll melt up there,” said Gladys, “it must be like an oven. Let’s +coax her down and don’t any of us say a word about the play. She must +feel terrible about it.” + +So it was agreed among the girls that no mention of Sahwah’s mishap +should be made, and Hinpoha went to the foot of the attic stairs and +called up: “Come on down, Sahwah, we’re all going out on the river.” +There was no answer. Hinpoha called again: “Please come, Sahwah, we need +you to steer the raft.” Still no answer. Hinpoha went up softly. She +thought she could persuade Sahwah to come down if none of the others +were around. But when she reached the top of the stairs there was no +sign of Sahwah anywhere. The place was stifling, and Hinpoha gasped for +breath. Sahwah must be hiding among the old furniture. Hinpoha moved +things about, raising clouds of dust that nearly choked her, and calling +to Sahwah. No answer came, and she did not find Sahwah hidden among any +of the things. Gladys came up to see what was going on, followed by +Migwan. + +“She doesn’t seem to be up here after all,” said Hinpoha, pausing to +take breath. “It’s funny; I certainly thought I heard someone up here.” + +“Don’t you remember the time I thought I heard someone up here in the +night and you said it was the noise made by rats or mice?” asked Migwan. +“It was probably that same thing again.” + +“It must have been,” said Hinpoha. + +“Maybe it was the ghost of that Mrs. Waterhouse, who died before she had +her attic cleaned, and comes back to move the furniture,” said Gladys. +In spite of its being daylight an unearthly thrill went through the +veins of the girls. The whole thing was so mysterious and uncanny. + +Migwan was looking around the attic. “Who broke that window?” she asked, +suddenly. The side window, the one near the Balm of Gilead tree, was +shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. + +“It wasn’t broken the day we brought Miss Mortimer up,” said Gladys. “It +must have happened since then.” + +“There must have been someone up here to-day,” said Migwan. “Do you +suppose—” here she stopped. + +“Suppose what?” asked Hinpoha. + +“Do you suppose,” continued Migwan, “that Sahwah was up here and broke +it accidentally and is afraid to show herself on account of it?” + +“Maybe,” said Hinpoha, “but Sahwah’s not the one to try to cover up +anything like that. She’d offer to pay for the damage and it wouldn’t +worry her five minutes.” + +“It may have been broken the night of the storm,” said Nyoda, who had +arrived on the scene. “If I remember rightly, we opened it when Miss +Mortimer was up here, and as it is only held up by a nail and a rope +hanging down from the ceiling, it could easily have been torn loose in +such a wind as that and slammed down against the casement and broken. We +were so excited trying to cover up the plants that we did not hear the +crash, if indeed, we could have heard it in that thunder at all.” + +This seemed such a plausible explanation that the girls accepted it +without question and dismissed the matter from their minds. Descending +from the hot attic they went out on the river on the raft. As it drew +near supper time they feared that Sahwah would stay away and miss her +supper, and they knew that she would have to show herself sometime, so +they determined to have it over with so Sahwah could eat her supper in +peace. On the path along the river they found her handkerchief and knew +that she was somewhere near the water. They called and called, but she +did not answer. “I know what will bring her from her hiding-place,” said +Nyoda. She unfolded her plan and the girls agreed. They poled the raft +back to the landing-place and got on shore. Then they set Ophelia on the +raft all alone and sent it down-stream, telling her to scream at the top +of her voice as if she were frightened. Ophelia obeyed and set up such a +series of ear-splitting shrieks as she floated down the river that it +was hard to believe that she was not in mortal terror. The scheme worked +admirably. Sahwah heard the screams and peered through the bushes to see +what was happening. She saw Ophelia alone on the raft and no one else in +sight, and thought, of course, that she was afraid and ran out to +reassure her. She took hold of the tow line and pulled the raft back to +the landing-place. + +“Whatever made you so scared?” she asked, as Ophelia stepped on terra +firma. + +“Pooh, I wasn’t scared at all,” said Ophelia, grandly. “They told me to +scream so you’d come out.” So Sahwah knew the trick that had been +practised on her, but instead of being pleased to think that the girls +wanted her with them so badly she was more irritated than before. There +was no further use of hiding; she had to go into the house now and eat +her supper with the rest. The meal was not such a trial for her as she +had anticipated, because no one mentioned the subject of moving +pictures, or acted as if anything had happened at all. After supper +Nyoda brought out a magazine showing pictures of the Rocky Mountains and +the girls gave this their strict attention. Nyoda read aloud the +descriptions that went with the pictures. In one place she read: “The +barren aspect of the hillside is due to a landslide which swept +everything before it.” + +At this Migwan’s thoughts went back to the scene on the hillside that +day, when the human landslide was in progress. Now Migwan, in spite of +her serious appearance, had a sense of humor which at times got the +upper hand of her altogether. The memory of those figures rolling down +the hill was too much for her and she dissolved abruptly into hysterical +laughter. She vainly tried to control it and buried her face in her +handkerchief, but it was no use. The harder she tried to stop laughing +the harder she laughed. “Oh,” she gasped, “I never saw anything so funny +as when you rolled against Miss Mortimer and Mr. Chambers and knocked +them off their feet.” + +After Migwan’s hysterical outburst the rest could not restrain their +laughter either, and Sahwah became the butt of all the humorous remarks +that had been accumulating in the minds of the rest. If it had been +anyone else but Migwan who had started them off, Sahwah would possibly +have forgiven that one, but since selling her two plots to Mr. Larue +Migwan had been holding her head pretty high. That Migwan had succeeded +in her end of the motion picture business when she had failed in hers +galled Sahwah to death and she fancied that Migwan was trying to “rub it +in.” + +“I hope everything I do will cause you as much pleasure,” she said +stiffly. “I suppose nothing could make you happier than to see me do +something ridiculous every day.” Sahwah had slipped off her balance +wheel altogether. + +Migwan sobered up when she heard Sahwah’s injured tone. She never +dreamed Sahwah had taken the occurrence so much to heart. It was not her +usual way. “Please don’t be angry, Sahwah,” she said, contritely. “I +just couldn’t help laughing. You know how light headed I am.” + +But Sahwah would have none of her apology. “I’ll leave you folks to have +as much fun over it as you please,” she said coldly, rising and going +up-stairs. + +Migwan was near to tears and would have gone after her, but Nyoda +restrained her. “Let her alone,” she advised, “and she’ll come out of it +all the sooner.” + +Sahwah was herself again in the morning as far as the others were +concerned, but she still treated Migwan somewhat coldly and it was +evident that she had not forgiven her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII.—A CANNING EPISODE. + + +Three times every week Migwan had been making the trip to town with a +machine-load of vegetables, which was disposed of to an ever growing +list of customers. Thanks to the early start the garden had been given +by Mr. Mitchell, and the constant care it received at the hands of +Migwan and her willing helpers, Migwan always managed to bring out her +produce a day or so in advance of most of the other growers in the +neighborhood and so could command a better price at first than she could +have if she had arrived on the scene at flood tide. After every trip +there was a neat little sum to put in the old cocoa can which Migwan +used as a bank until there was enough accumulated to make a real bank +deposit. The asparagus had passed beyond its vegetable days and had +grown up in tall feathery shoots that made a pretty sight as they stood +in a long row against the fence. The new strawberry plants had taken +root and were growing vigorously; the cucumbers were thriving like fat +babies. The squashes and melons were running a race, as Sahwah said, to +see which could hold up the most fruit on their vines; the corn-stalks +stood straight and tall, holding in their arms their firstborn, silky +tassel-capped children, like proud young fathers. + +But it was the tomato bed in which Migwan’s dearest hopes were bound up. +The frames sagged with exhaustion at the task of holding up the weight +of crimsoning globes that hung on the vines. Migwan tended this bed as a +mother broods over a favorite child, fingering over the leaves for +loathsome tomato worms, spraying the plants to keep away diseases, and +cultivating the ground around the roots. All suckers were ruthlessly +snipped off as soon as they grew, so that the entire strength of the +plants could go into the ripening of tomatoes. For it was on that tomato +bed that Migwan’s fortune depended. While the proceeds from the +remainder of the garden were gratifying, they were not great enough to +make up the sum which Migwan needed to go to college, as the vegetables +were not raised in large enough quantities. Migwan carefully estimated +the amount she would realize from the sale of the tomatoes and found +that it would not be large enough, and decided she could make more out +of them by canning them. At Nyoda’s advice the Winnebagos formed +themselves into a Canning Club, which would give them the right to use +the 4H label, which stood for Head, Hand, Health and Heart, and was +recognized by dealers in various places. According to the methods of the +Canning Club they canned the tomatoes in tin cans, with tops neatly +soldered on. After an interview with various hotels and restaurants in +the city Nyoda succeeded in establishing a market for Migwan’s goods, +and the canning went on in earnest. The whole family were pressed into +service, and for days they did nothing but peel from morning until +night. + +“I’m getting to be such an expert peeler,” said Hinpoha, “that I +automatically reach out in my sleep and start to peel Migwan.” + +Nyoda made up a gay little song about the peeling. To the tune of +“Comrades, comrades, ever since we were boys,” she sang, “Peeling, +peeling, ever since 6 A.M.” + +Several places had asked for homemade ketchup and Migwan prepared to +supply the demand. Never did a prize housekeeper, making ketchup for a +county fair, take such pains as Migwan did with hers. She took care to +use only the best spices and the best vinegar; she put in a few peach +leaves from the tree to give it a finer flavor; she stood beside the big +iron preserving kettle and stirred the mixture all the while it was +boiling to be sure that it would not settle and burn. Everyone in the +house had to taste it to be sure it found favor with a number of +critical palates. “Wouldn’t you like to put a few bay leaves into it?” +asked her mother. “There are some in the glass jar in the pantry. They +are all crumbled and broken up fine, but they are still good.” Migwan +put a spoonful of the broken leaves into the ketchup; then she put +another. + +“Oh, I never was so tired,” she sighed, when at last it had boiled long +enough and she shoved it back. + +“Let’s all go out on the river,” proposed Nyoda, “and forget our toil +for awhile.” Sahwah was the last out of the kitchen, having stopped to +drink a glass of water, and while she was drinking her eye roved over +the table and caught sight of half a dozen cloves that had spilled out +of a box. Gathering them up in her hand she dropped them into the +ketchup. Just then Migwan came back for something and the two went out +together. + +“And now for the bottling,” said Migwan, when the supper dishes were put +away, and she set several dozen shining glass bottles on the table. +After she had been dipping up the ketchup for awhile she paused in her +work to sit down for a few moments and count up her expected profits. +“Let’s see,” she said, “forty bottles at fifteen cents a bottle is six +dollars. That isn’t so bad for one day’s work. But I hope I don’t have +many days of such work,” she added. “My back is about broken with +stirring.” About thirty of the bottles were filled and sealed when she +took this little breathing spell. + +“Let me have a taste,” said Hinpoha, eyeing the brown mixture longingly. + +“Help yourself,” said Migwan. Hinpoha took a spoonful. Her face drew up +into the most frightful puckers. Running to the sink she took a hasty +drink of water. “What’s the matter?” said Migwan, viewing her in alarm. +“Did you choke on it?” + +“Taste it!” cried Hinpoha. “It’s as bitter as gall.” + +Migwan took a taste of the ketchup and looked fit to drop. “Whatever is +the matter with it?” she gasped. One after another the girls tasted it +and voiced their mystification. “It couldn’t have spoiled in that short +time,” said Migwan. + +Then she suddenly remembered having seen Sahwah drop something into the +kettle as it stood on the back of the stove. Could it be possible that +Sahwah was seeking revenge for having been made fun of? “Sahwah,” she +gasped, unbelievingly, “did you put anything into the ketchup that made +it bitter?” + +“I did not,” said Sahwah, the indignant color flaming into her face. She +had already forgotten the incident of the cloves. She saw Nyoda and the +other girls look at her in surprise at Migwan’s words. Her temper rose +to the boiling point. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, fiercely. +“You think I did something to the ketchup to get even with Migwan, but I +didn’t, so there. I don’t know any more about it than you do.” + +“I take it all back,” said Migwan, alarmed at the tempest she had set +astir, and bursting into tears buried her head on her arms on the +kitchen table. All that work gone for nothing! + +Sahwah ran from the room in a fearful passion. Nyoda tried to comfort +Migwan. “It’s a lucky thing we found it before the stuff was sold,” she +said, “or your trade would have been ruined.” She and the other girls +threw the ketchup out and washed the bottles. + +“Whatever could have happened to it?” said Gladys, wonderingly. + +Migwan lifted her face. “I want to tell you something, Nyoda,” she said. +“I suppose you wonder why I asked Sahwah if she had put anything in. +Well, when I went back into the kitchen after my hat when we were going +out on the river, Sahwah was there, and she was dropping something into +the kettle.” + +“You don’t mean it?” said Nyoda, incredulously. Nyoda understood +Sahwah’s blind impulses of passion, and she could not help noticing for +the last few days that Sahwah was still nursing her wrath at Migwan for +laughing at her, and she wondered if she could have lost control of +herself for an instant and spoiled the ketchup. + +Meanwhile Sahwah, up-stairs, had cooled down almost as rapidly as she +had flared up, and began to think that she had been a little hasty in +her outburst. She, therefore, descended the back stairs with the idea of +making peace with the family and helping to wash the bottles. But +halfway down the stairs she happened to hear Migwan’s remark and Nyoda’s +answer, and the long silence which followed it. Immediately her fury +mounted again to think that they suspected her of doing such an +underhand trick. “They don’t trust me!” she cried, over and over again +to herself. “They don’t believe what I said; they think I did it and +told a lie about it.” All night she tossed and nursed her sense of +injury and by morning her mind was made up. She would leave this place +where everyone was against her, and where even Nyoda mistrusted her. +That was the most unkind cut of all. + +When she did not appear at the breakfast table the rest began to wonder. +Betty reported that Sahwah had not been in bed when she woke up, which +was late, and she thought she had risen and dressed and gone down-stairs +without disturbing her. There was no sign of her in the garden or on the +river. Both the rowboat and the raft were at the landing-place. There +was an uncomfortable restraint at the breakfast table. Each one was +thinking of something and did not want the others to see it. That thing +was that Sahwah had a guilty conscience and was afraid to face the +girls. Migwan’s eyes filled with tears when she thought how her dear +friend had injured her. A blow delivered by the hand of a friend is so +much worse than one from an enemy. The table was always set the night +before and the plates turned down. + +“What’s this sticking out under Sahwah’s plate?” asked Gladys. It was a +note which she opened and read and then sat down heavily in her chair. +The rest crowded around to see. This was what they read: “As long as you +don’t trust me and think I do underhand things you will probably be glad +to get rid of me altogether. Don’t look for me, for I will never come +back. You may give my place in the Winnebagos to someone else.” It was +signed “Sarah Ann Brewster,” and not the familiar “Sahwah.” + +“Sahwah’s run away!” gasped Migwan in distress, and the girls all ran up +to her room. Her clothes were gone from their hooks and her suit-case +was gone from under the bed. The girls faced each other in +consternation. + +“Do you think she had anything to do with the ketchup, after all?” asked +Gladys, thoughtfully. “It was so unlike her to do anything of that +kind.” + +“Then why did she run away?” asked Migwan, perplexed. + +The morning passed miserably. They missed Sahwah at every turn. Several +times the girls forgot themselves and sang out “O Sahwah!” Nyoda did not +doubt for a moment that Sahwah had gone to her own home, but she thought +it best not to go after her immediately. Sahwah’s hot temper must cool +before she would come to herself. Nyoda was puzzled at her conduct. If +she had nothing to be ashamed of why had she run away? That was the +question which kept coming up in her mind. Nothing went right in the +house or the garden that day. Everyone was out of sorts. Migwan +absent-mindedly pulled up a whole row of choice plants instead of weeds; +Gladys ran the automobile into a tree and bent up the fender; Hinpoha +slammed the door on her finger nail; Nyoda burnt her hand. Ophelia was +just dressed for the afternoon in a clean, starched white dress when she +fell into the river and had to be dressed over again from head to foot. +The whole household was too cross for words. The departure of Sahwah was +the first rupture that had ever occurred in the closely linked ranks of +the Winnebagos and they were all broken up over it. + +When Mrs. Gardiner was cooking beef for supper she told Migwan to get +her some bay leaf to flavor it with. Migwan brought out the glass jar of +crushed leaves. “That’s not the bay leaf,” said her mother, and went to +look for it herself. “Here it is,” she said, bringing another glass jar +down from a higher shelf. + +“Then what’s this?” asked Migwan, indicating the first jar. + +“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said Mrs. Gardiner. “It was in the +pantry when we came.” + +“But this was what I put into the ketchup,” said Migwan. Hastily +unscrewing the top she shook out some of the contents and tasted them. +Her mouth contracted into a fearful pucker. Never in her life had she +tasted anything so bitter. + +“I did it myself,” she said, in a dazed tone. “I spoiled the ketchup +myself.” At her shout the girls came together in the kitchen to hear the +story of the mistaken ingredient. + +“What can that be?” they all asked. Nobody knew. It was some dried herb +that had been left by the former mistress of the house, and a powerful +one. The girls looked at each other blankly. + +“And I accused Sahwah of doing it,” said Migwan, remorsefully. “No +wonder she flared up and left us, I don’t blame her a bit. I wouldn’t +thank anyone for accusing me wrongfully of anything like that.” + +“We’ll have to go after her this very evening,” said Gladys, “and bring +her back.” + +“If she’ll come,” said Hinpoha, knowing Sahwah’s proud spirit. + +“Oh, I’m quite willing to grovel in the dust at her feet,” said Migwan. + +Gladys drove them all into town with her and they sped to the Brewster +house. It was all dark and silent. Sahwah was evidently not there. They +tried the neighbors. They all denied that she had been near the house. +They finally came to this conclusion themselves, for in the light of the +street lamp just in front of the house they could see that the porch was +covered with a month’s accumulation of yellow dust which bore no +footmarks but their own. + +Here was a new problem. They had come expecting to offer profuse +apologies to Sahwah and carry her back with them to Onoway House +rejoicing, and it was a shock to find her gone. The thought of letting +her go on believing that they mistrusted her was intolerable, but how +were they going to clear matters up? Sahwah had no relatives in town, +and, of course, they did not know all her friends, so it would be hard +to find her. That is, if she had ever reached town at all. Something +might have happened to her on the way—Nyoda and Gladys sought each +other’s eyes and each thought of what had happened to them on the way to +Bates Villa. + +With heavy hearts they rode back to Onoway House. The days went by +cheerlessly. A week passed since Sahwah had run away, but no word came +from her. Nyoda interviewed the conductors on the interurban car line to +find out if Sahwah had taken the car into the city. No one remembered a +girl of that description on the day mentioned. Sahwah had only one hat—a +conspicuous red one—and she would not fail to attract attention. +Thoroughly alarmed, Nyoda decided on a course of action. She called up +the various newspapers in town and asked them to print a notice to the +effect that Sahwah had disappeared. If Sahwah were in town she would see +it and knowing that they were worried about her would let them know +where she was. The notice came out in the papers, and a day or two +passed, but there was no word from Sahwah. Nyoda and Gladys made a +hurried trip to town to put the police on the track. Just before they +got to the city limits they had a blowout and were delayed some time +before they could go on. As they waited in the road another machine came +along and the driver stopped and offered assistance. Nyoda recognized a +friend of hers in the machine, a Miss Barnes, teacher in a local +gymnasium. + +“Hello, Miss Kent,” she called, cheerfully, “I haven’t seen you for an +age. Where have you been keeping yourself?” + +“Where have you been keeping yourself?” returned Nyoda. + +“I, Oh, I’m working this summer,” replied Miss Barnes. “I’m just in town +on business. I’m helping to conduct a girls’ summer camp on the lake +shore. I thought possibly you would bring your Camp Fire group out there +this summer. One of your girls is out there now.” + +“Which one?” asked Nyoda, thinking of Chapa and Nakwisi, whom she had +heard talking about going. + +“One by the name of Brewster,” said Miss Barnes, “a regular mermaid in +the water. She has the girls out there standing open-mouthed at her +swimming and diving. Why, what’s the matter?” she asked, as Nyoda gave a +sigh of relief that seemed to come from her boots. + +“Nothing,” replied Nyoda, “only we’ve been scouring the town for that +very girl.” + +“You have?” asked Miss Barnes, with interest. “Would you like to come +out and visit her?” + +“Could I?” asked Nyoda. + +“Certainly,” said Miss Barnes, “come right out with me now. I’m going +back.” + +And so Sahwah’s mysterious disappearance was cleared up. When the +Winnebagos, lined up in the road, saw the automobile approaching, and +that Sahwah was in it, they welcomed her back into their midst with a +rousing Winnebago cheer that warmed her to the heart. All the clouds had +been rolled away by Nyoda’s explanations and this was a triumphant +homecoming. A regular feast was spread for her, and as she ate she +related her adventures since leaving the house early that other morning. +Without forming any plan of where she was going she had walked up the +road in the opposite direction of the car line and then a farmer had +come along on a wagon and given her a lift. He had taken her all the way +to the other car line, three miles below Onoway House. She had come into +the city by this route. She did not want to go home for fear they would +come after her, so she went to the Young Women’s Christian Association. +As she sat in the rest room wondering what she should do next she heard +two girls talking about registering for camp. This seemed to her a +timely suggestion, and she followed them to the registration desk and +registered for two weeks. She went out that same day. When she arrived +there she did such feats in the water that they asked her if she would +not stay all summer and help teach the girls to swim. She said she +would, and so saw a very easy way out of her difficulty. The reason they +had not heard from her when they put the notice in the papers was +because they did not get the city papers in camp. + +Sahwah surveyed the faces around the table with a beaming countenance. +After all, she could only be entirely happy with the Winnebagos. Migwan +and she were once more on the best of terms. + +“But tell us,” said Hinpoha, now that this was safe ground to tread +upon, “what it was you put into the ketchup.” + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, who now remembered all about it, “those were a couple +of cloves that were lying on the table.” + +And so the last bit of mystery was cleared up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX.—OPHELIA DANCES THE SUN DANCE. + + +Among the other books at Onoway House there was a Manual of the +Woodcraft Indians which belonged to Sahwah, and which she was very fond +of quoting and reading to the other girls when they were inclined to +hang back at some of the expeditions she proposed. One night she read +aloud the chapter about “dancing the sun dance,” that is, becoming +sunburned from head to foot without blistering. On a day not long after +this Ophelia might have been seen standing beside the river clad only in +a thin, white slip. Stepping from the bank, she immersed herself in the +water, then stood in the sun, holding out her arms and turning up her +face to its glare. When the blazing August sunlight began to feel +uncomfortably warm on her body she plunged into the cooling flood and +then came up to stand on the bank again. She did this straight through +for two hours, and then began to investigate the result. Her arms were a +beautiful brilliant red, and the length of leg that extended out from +the slip was the same shade. She felt wonderfully pleased, and dipped in +the water again and again to cool off and then returned to the burning +process. When the dinner bell rang she returned to the house, eager to +show her achievement. But she did not feel so enthusiastic now as when +she first beheld her scarlet appearance. Something was wrong. It seemed +as if she were on fire from head to foot. She looked at her arms. They +were no longer such a pretty red; they had swelled up in large, white +blisters. So had her legs. She could hardly see out of her eyes. + +“Ophelia!” gasped the girls, when she came into the house. “What has +happened? Have you been scalded?” + +“I’ve been doing your old Sun Dance,” said Ophelia, painfully. + +Never in all their lives had they seen such a case of sunburn. Every +inch of her body was covered with blisters as big as a hand. The sun had +burned right through the flimsy garment she wore. There was a pattern +around her neck where the embroidery had left its trace. She screamed +every time they tried to touch her. Nyoda worked quickly and deftly and +the luckless sun dancer was wrapped from head to foot in soft linen +bandages until she looked like a mummy. + +Sahwah sought Nyoda in tribulation. “Was it my fault,” she asked, “for +reading her that book? She never would have thought of it if I hadn’t +given her the idea.” + +“No,” answered Nyoda, “it wasn’t your fault. It said emphatically in the +book that the coat of tan should be acquired gradually. You couldn’t +foresee that she would stand in the sun that way. So don’t worry about +it any longer.” + +“Still, I feel in a measure responsible,” said Sahwah, “and I ought to +be the one to take care of her. Let me sleep in the room with her +to-night and get up if she wants anything.” Sahwah’s desire to help was +so sincere that she insisted upon being allowed to do it, and took upon +herself all the care of the sunburned Ophelia, which was no small job, +for the pain from the blisters made her frightfully cross. + +Nyoda was surprised to see Sahwah keeping at it with such persistent +good nature and apparent success, for as a rule she was not a good one +to take care of the sick; she was in too much of a hurry. She would +generally spill the water when she was trying to give a drink to her +patient, or fall over the rug, or drop dishes; and the effect she +produced was irritating rather than soothing. But in this case she +seemed to be making a desperate effort to do things correctly so she +would be allowed to continue, and fetched and carried all the afternoon +in obedience to Ophelia’s whims. She read her stories to while away the +painful hours and when supper time came made her a wonderful egg salad +in the form of a water lily, and cut sandwiches into odd shapes to +beguile her into eating them. When evening came and Ophelia was restless +and could not go to sleep she sang to her in her clear, high voice, +songs of camp and firelight. One by one the Winnebagos drifted in and +joined their voices to hers in a beautifully blended chorus. + +“Gee, that’s what it must be like in heaven,” sighed the child of the +streets, as she listened to them. The Winnebagos smiled tenderly and +sang on until she dropped off to sleep. + +Sahwah slept with one eye open listening for a call from Ophelia. She +heard her stirring restlessly in the night and went over and sat beside +her. “Can’t you sleep?” she asked. + +“No,” complained Ophelia. “Say, will you tell me that story again?” + +Sahwah began, “Once upon a time there was a little girl and she had a +fairy godmother——” + +“What’s a fairy godmother?” interrupted Ophelia. + +“Oh,” said Sahwah, “it’s somebody who looks after you especially and is +very good to you and grants all your wishes, and always comes when +you’re in trouble——” + +“Who’s my fairy godmother?” demanded Ophelia. + +“I don’t know,” said Sahwah. + +“I bet I haven’t got any!” said Ophelia, suspiciously. “I didn’t have a +father and mother like the rest of the kids and I bet I haven’t got any +fairy godmother either.” + +“Oh, yes, you have,” said Sahwah to soothe her, “you have one only you +haven’t seen her yet. Wait and she’ll appear.” But Ophelia lay with her +face to the wall and said no more. “Would you like me to bring you a +drink?” asked Sahwah, a few minutes later. Ophelia replied with a nod +and Sahwah went down to the kitchen. There was no drinking water in +sight and Sahwah hesitated about going out to the well at that time of +the night. Then she remembered that a pail of well water had been taken +down cellar that evening to keep cool. Taking a light she descended the +cellar stairs. When she was nearly to the bottom she heard a subdued +crash, like a basket of something being thrown over, followed by a +series of small bumping sounds. She stood stock still, afraid to move +off the step. + +Then, summoning her voice, she cried, “Who is down there?” No answer +came from the darkness below. After that first crash there was not +another sound. Sahwah was not naturally timid, and her one explanation +for all night noises in a house was rats. Besides, she had started after +water for Ophelia, and she meant to get it. She went down stairs and +looked all around with her light. She soon found the thing which had +made the noise. It was a basket of potatoes which had fallen over and as +the potatoes rolled out on the cement floor they had made those odd +little after noises which had puzzled her. Satisfied that nobody was in +the house she took her pail of water and went up-stairs, glad that she +had not roused the house and brought out a laugh against herself. + +She gave Ophelia the drink, and being feverish she drank it eagerly and +murmured gratefully, “I guess you’re my fairy godmother.” As Sahwah +turned to go to bed Ophelia thrust out a bandaged hand and caught hold +of her gown. “Stay with me,” she said, and Sahwah sat down again beside +the bed until Ophelia fell asleep. Sahwah felt pleased and elated at +being chosen by Ophelia as the one she wanted near her. It was not often +that a child singled Sahwah out from the group as an object of +affection; they usually went to Gladys or Hinpoha. So she responded +quickly to the advances made by Ophelia and thenceforth made a special +pet of her, taking her part on all occasions. + +Soon after Ophelia’s experience with sunburn a rainy spell set in which +lasted a week. Every day they were greeted by grey skies and a steady +downpour, fine for the parched garden, but hard on amusements. They +played card games until they were weary of the sight of a card; they +played every other game they knew until it palled on them, and on the +fifth day of rain they surrounded Nyoda and clamored for something new +to do. Nyoda scratched her head thoughtfully and asked if they would +like to play Thieves’ Market. + +“Play what?” asked Gladys. + +“Thieves’ Market,” said Nyoda. “You know in Mexico there is an +institution known as the Thieves’ Market, where stolen goods are sold to +the public. We will not discuss the moral aspect of the business, but I +thought we could make a game out of it. Let’s each get a hold of some +possession of each one of the others’ without being seen and put a price +on it. The price will not be a money value, of course, but a stunt. The +owner of the article will have first chance at the stunt and if she +fails the thing will go to whoever can buy it. If anyone fails to get a +possession from each one of the rest to add to the collection she can’t +play, and if she is seen by the owner while ‘stealing’ it she will have +to put it back. We’ll hold the Thieves’ Market to-night after supper in +the parlor and I’ll be storekeeper.” + +The Winnebagos, always on the lookout for something novel and +entertaining, seized on the idea with rapture. The rain was forgotten +that afternoon as they scurried around the house trying to seize upon +articles belonging to the others, and at the same time trying valiantly +to guard their own possessions. It was not hard to get Sahwah’s things, +for she had a habit of leaving them lying all over the house. Her red +hat had fallen a victim the first thing; likewise her shoes and tennis +racket. It was harder to get anything away from Nyoda, for she seemed to +be Argus eyed; but providentially she was called to the telephone, and +while she was talking they made their raid. + +When opened, the Thieves’ Market presented such a conglomeration of +articles that at first the girls could only stand and wonder how those +things had ever been taken away from them without their knowing it, for +many of them were possessions which were usually hidden from sight while +the owners fondly believed that their existence was unknown. Migwan gave +a cry of dismay when she beheld her “Autobiography,” which she was +carefully keeping a secret from the rest, out in full view on the table. +“How did you ever find it?” she gasped. “It was folded up in my +clothes.” + +But Migwan’s embarrassment was nothing compared to Nyoda’s when she +caught sight of a certain photograph. She blushed scarlet while the +girls teased her unmercifully. It was a picture of Sherry, the serenader +of the camp the summer before. Until they found the photograph the girls +did not know that Nyoda was corresponding with him. And the prices on +the various things were the funniest of all. The girls had come down +that evening dressed in their middies and bloomers for they had a +suspicion that there would be some acrobatic stunts taking place, and it +was well that they did. To redeem her hat Sahwah had to stand on her +head and to get her bedroom slippers Gladys had to jump through a hoop +from a chair. Hinpoha had to wrestle with Nyoda for the possession of +her paint box, and the price of Betty’s shoes was to throw them over her +shoulder into a basket. At the first throw she knocked a vase off the +table, but luckily it did not break, and she was warned that another +accident would result in her going shoeless. Migwan tremblingly +approached the Autobiography to find out the price. It was “Read one +chapter aloud.” “I won’t do it,” said Migwan, flatly. + +“Next customer,” cried Nyoda, pounding with her hammer. “For the simple +price of reading aloud one chapter I will sell this complete +autobiography of a pious life, profusely illustrated by the author.” +Sahwah hastened up to “buy” the book, but Migwan headed her off in a +hurry and read the first chapter with as good grace as she could, amid +the cheers and applause of the other customers. Sahwah made a grimace +when she had to polish the shoes of everyone present to get her shoe +brush back. + +Thus the various articles in the Thieves’ Market were disposed of amid +much laughter and merry-making, until there remained but one article, a +cold chisel. Nyoda went through the usual formula, offering it for sale, +but no one came to claim it. She redoubled her pleas, but with the same +result. “For the third and last time I offer this great bargain in a +cold chisel for the simple price of jumping over three chairs in +succession,” she said, with a flourish. Nobody appeared to be anxious to +redeem their property. “Whose is it?” she asked, mystified. + +It apparently belonged to no one. “It’s yours, Gladys,” said Sahwah, “I +stole it from you.” + +“Mine?” asked Gladys, in surprise. “I don’t own any chisel. Where did +you get it from?” + +“Out of the automobile,” answered Sahwah. + +“But it doesn’t belong there,” said Gladys. “There’s no chisel among the +tools. You’re joking, you found it somewhere else.” + +“No, really,” said Sahwah, “I found it in the car this afternoon.” + +“Mother,” called Migwan, “were there any tools left in the barn by Mr. +Mitchell?” + +“Nothing but the garden tools,” answered her mother. Tom also denied any +knowledge of the chisel. + +“Girls,” said Nyoda, seriously, “there is something going on here that I +do not understand. First Migwan thought she heard footsteps in the +attic; then a ghost appeared to me in the tepee; one night we saw a man +running out of the barn, and later on that night Migwan claims to have +run into a man in the garden. Soon afterward Hinpoha was sure she heard +footsteps in the attic, and when we went up we found the window broken. +Just a few nights ago a basket of potatoes was mysteriously knocked over +in the cellar in the middle of the night, and now we find a chisel in +the automobile which does not belong to us. It looks for all the world +as if somebody were trying to break into this house, in fact, has broken +in on a number of occasions.” + +Migwan shrieked and covered up her ears. “A mystery!” said Sahwah, +theatrically. “How thrilling!” The interest in the Thieves’ Market died +out before this new and alarming idea. + +“It may be only a remarkable series of co-incidences,” said Nyoda, +seeing the fright of the girls, “but it certainly looks suspicious. That +window may possibly have been broken by the wind during the storm, and +the footsteps may have been rats or Mrs. Waterhouse’s ghost, and the +ghost in the tepee may have been a practical joker, but baskets of +potatoes do not fall over of their own accord in the middle of the night +and cold chisels don’t grow in automobiles. There’s something wrong and +we ought to find out what it is.” + +“Oh, I’ll never go up-stairs alone again,” shuddered Migwan. “Sahwah, +how did you ever dare go down cellar in the dark after you heard that +noise?” And she shivered violently at the very thought. + +“Tom, can you handle a gun?” asked Nyoda. + +“Yes,” answered Tom. + +“I’m going to buy a little automatic pistol to-morrow,” said Nyoda, “and +teach everyone of you girls how to shoot it.” + +“I wonder if we hadn’t better try to get Calvin Smalley to sleep in the +house,” said Migwan. + +“I can take care of you,” said Tom, proudly. Nothing else was talked of +for the remainder of the evening and when bed time came there was a +general reluctance to become separated from the rest of the household. +But, although they listened for footsteps in the attic they heard +nothing, and the night passed away peacefully. + +The next night the ghost became active again. Whether it was the same +one or a different one they did not find out, however, for they did not +see it this time, only heard it. Just about bed time it was, a strange, +weird moaning sound that filled the house and echoed through the big +halls. Whether it proceeded from the basement or the attic they were +unable to make out; it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. +Migwan clung close to her mother and trembled. The sound rang out again, +more weird than before. It was bloodcurdling. Nyoda opened the window +and fired several shots into the air. The moaning sound stopped abruptly +and was heard no more that night, but sleep was out of the question. The +girls were too excited and fearful. The next day Mrs. Gardiner advised +everybody to hide their valuables away. The peaceful life at Onoway +House was broken up. The household lived in momentary expectation of +something happening. “And this is the quiet of the country,” sighed +Migwan, “where I was to grow fat and strong. I’m worn to a frazzle +worrying about this mystery.” + +“So’m I,” said Gladys. + +“And I’m getting thin,” said Hinpoha, which brought out a general laugh. + +“Not so you could notice it,” said Sahwah. Whereupon Hinpoha tried to +smother her with a pillow and the two rolled over on the bed, +struggling. + +As if worrying about a burglar were not enough, Sahwah and Gladys had +another exciting experience one day that week. If we were to stretch a +point and trace things back to their beginnings it was the fault of the +Winnebagos themselves, for if they hadn’t gone horseback riding that +day—— Well, Farmer Landsdowne came over in the morning and said he had a +pair of horses which were not working and if they wanted to go horseback +riding now was their chance. The girls were delighted with the idea and +flew to don bloomers. None of them had ever ridden before and excitement +ran high. Naturally there were no saddles, for Farmer Landsdowne’s +horses were not ridden as a general rule, and the girls had to ride +bareback. + +“It feels like trying to straddle a table,” said Migwan, marveling at +the width of the horse she was on. “My legs aren’t half long enough.” +She clung desperately to his mane as he began to trot and she began to +slide all over him. “He’s so slippery I can’t stick on,” she gasped. The +horse stopped abruptly as she jerked on the reins and she slid off as if +he had been greased, and landed in the soft grass beside the road. + +“Here, let me try,” said Sahwah, impatient for her turn. “He isn’t +either slippery,” she said, when she got on, “he’s bony, horribly bony. +He’s just like knives.” She jolted up and down a few times on his hip +bones and an idea jolted into her head. Getting off she ran into the +house and came out again with a sofa pillow, which she proceeded to tie +on his back. Then she rode in comparative comfort, amid the laughter of +the girls. + +Calvin Smalley, who happened to be working out in front and saw her ride +past, doubled up with laughter over his vegetable bed. “What next?” he +chuckled. “What next?” He was still thinking about this and laughing +over it when he went through the empty field which Sahwah had crossed +the time she had discovered the house among the trees, and where Abner +Smalley now pastured his bull. So absorbed was he in the memory of that +ridiculous pillow tied on the horse that he was not careful in putting +up the bars behind him when he left the field, and later in the +afternoon the bull wandered over in that direction and came through into +the next field. He found the river road and followed it and began to +graze in one of the unploughed fields belonging to Onoway House. + +Sahwah, wearing her big, red hat, was bending low over the ground, +digging up some ferns which grew there, when all of a sudden she heard a +loud snort and looked up to see the bull charging down upon her. She +looked wildly around for a place of safety. Nothing was nearer than the +far-off hedge that surrounded the cultivated garden patch. Not a tree, +not a fence, in sight. Quick as light she bounded off toward the hedge, +although she knew it would be impossible for her to reach it before the +bull would be upon her. + +Gladys, coming along the road in the automobile, heard a shriek and +looked up to see Sahwah tearing across the open field with the bull hard +after her. Without a moment’s hesitation Gladys turned the car into the +field and started after the bull at full speed. She let the car out +every notch and it whizzed dizzily over the hard turf. She sounded the +horn again and again with the hope of attracting the attention of the +bull, but he did not pause. Like lightning she bore down upon him, +passed to one side and slowed down for a second beside Sahwah, who +jumped on the running-board and was borne away to safety. + +“This hum-drum, uneventful life,” said Sahwah, as she sat on the porch +half an hour afterward and tried to catch her breath, while the rest +fanned her with palm leaf fans, “is getting a little too much for me!” + + + + +CHAPTER X.—A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + +After Nyoda had fired the shots out of the window, nothing was heard or +seen of the ghost and the footsteps in the attic ceased. “It’s just as I +thought,” said Nyoda, “someone has been trying to frighten us with a +possible view of robbing the house at some time, thinking that a +houseful of women would be terror-stricken at the ghostly noises, but +when he found we had a gun and could shoot he thought better of the +plan.” Gradually the girls lost their fright, and the odd corners of +Onoway House regained their old charm. They were far too busy with the +canning to think of much else, for the tomatoes were ripening in such +large quantities that it was all they could do to dispose of them. The +4H brand found favor and the market gradually increased, and every week +Migwan had a goodly sum to deposit in the bank after the cost of the tin +cans had been deducted. + +“I have to laugh when I think of that honor in the book,” said Migwan, +“can at least three cans of fruit,” and she pointed to the cans stacked +on the back porch ready to be packed into the automobile and taken to +town. “Why, hello, Calvin,” she said, as Calvin Smalley appeared at the +back door. “Come in.” Calvin came in and sat down. “What’s the matter?” +asked Migwan, for his face had a frightened and distressed look. + +“Uncle Abner has turned me out!” said Calvin. + +“Turned you out!” echoed the girls. “Why?” + +“He showed me a will last night,” said Calvin, “a later one than that +which was found when my grandfather died, which left the farm to him +instead of to my father. He just found it last night when he was +rummaging among grandfather’s old papers. According to that I have been +living on his charity all these years instead of on my own property as I +supposed and now he says he can’t afford to keep me any longer. He +wanted me to sign a paper saying that I would work for him without pay +until I was thirty years old to make up for what I have had all these +years, and when I wouldn’t do it he told me to get out.” + +“How can any man be so mean and stingy!” said Migwan, indignantly. + +“And what do you intend to do now?” asked Mrs. Gardiner. + +“I don’t know,” said Calvin, looking utterly downcast and discouraged. +“I had expected to go through school and then to agricultural college +and be a scientific farmer, but that’s out of the question now. I +haven’t a cent in the world. I could hire out to some of the farmers +around here, I suppose, but you know what that means—they wouldn’t pay +me much because I’m a boy, but they would get a man’s work out of me and +it’s precious little time I’d have for school. I’ve always saved Uncle +Abner the cost of one hired man in return for what he gave me, so I +don’t feel under any obligations to him. I think I’ll give up farming +for a while and go to the city and work. The trouble is I have no +friends there and it might be hard for me to get into a good place.” His +honest eyes were clouded over with perplexity and trouble. + +“My father could probably get you a job in the city,” said Gladys, “if +you can wait until he gets back. He’s out west now.” + +“I tell you what to do,” said kind-hearted Mrs. Gardiner to Calvin, “you +stay here with us until Mr. Evans comes back. You can help the girls in +the garden, and we were wishing not long ago that we had another man in +the house.” + +“You are very kind,” said Calvin, gratefully, “but I don’t want to put +you to any trouble.” + +“No trouble at all,” Mrs. Gardiner assured him, “you can sleep with +Tom.” The girls all expressed pleasure at the prospect of having Calvin +stay at Onoway House and under the spell of their kindly hospitality his +drooping spirits revived. He shook the dust of his uncle’s house from +his feet, feeling no longer an outcast, since he had suddenly found such +kind friends on the other side of the hedge. + +Calvin lived in a perpetual state of wonder at the girls at Onoway +House. They made a frolic out of everything they did and were +continually thinking up new and amazing games to play. Calvin had never +done anything at home all his life but work, and work was a serious +business to him. He never knew before that work was fun. The long, weary +hours of peeling were enlivened with songs made up on the spur of the +moment. Sahwah would look up from the pan over which she was bending, +and sing to the tune of “The Pope”: + + “Our Migwan leads a jolly life, jolly life, + She peels tomatoes with her knife, with her knife, + And puts the pieces in the can, + And leaves the peelings in the pan, (Oh, tra la la).” + +And then they would all start to sing at once, + + “The tomatoes went in one by one, + (There’s one more bushel to peel), + Hinpoha she did cut her thumb, + (There’s one more bushel to peel).” + + “The tomatoes went in two by two, + And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew. + The tomatoes went in three by three, + And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see.” + +etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until it was done. + +“Do you know,” said Migwan, looking up from her peeling, “that it’s +Gladys’s birthday next Friday? We ought to have a celebration.” + +“How about a picnic?” asked Nyoda. “We haven’t had a real one yet. Have +the rest of the Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep in the +tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of July. Then we’ll get a horse +and wagon and drive along the roads until we come to a place beside the +river where we want to stop and cook our dinner and just spend the day +like gypsies.” The girls entered into the plan with enthusiasm, both for +the sake of celebrating Gladys’s birthday and cheering up Calvin, who +had been rather quiet and pensive of late. It was a great disappointment +to him to have to give up his plans for going to college, and his +uncle’s unfriendly treatment of him had cut him to the heart. + +Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the day before the picnic and the +house echoed with the sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos +bubbled over with joy at being all together. The morning of the picnic +was as fine as they could wish, and it was not long before they were +bumping over the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne’s wagons, behind the +very two horses which the girls had ridden the week before. It was a +wagon full. Sahwah sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter +of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her to come to the rescue in +case the horses should run away, which was not at all likely, as it took +constant persuasion to keep them going even at an easy jog trot. Mrs. +Landsdowne, who, with her husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat +beside Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while Calvin Smalley +stayed next to Migwan, as he usually did. She was so quiet and gentle +and kind that he felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the +Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who was beginning to be +inseparable from Sahwah, squeezed herself in between her and Mr. +Landsdowne, and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, took her part and +let her stay, although she was a bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and +Gladys sat at the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the end, +where they could watch the yellow road unwinding like a ribbon beneath +them, while Nyoda sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace. + +“Where are we going?” asked Mrs. Gardiner, as they swung along the road. + +“Oh,” replied Sahwah, “somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere. It’s +lots more romantic to start out without any idea where you’re going and +stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a certain place and +think you have to go there even if you pass nicer places on the road. +Maybe, like Mrs. Wiggs, we’ll end up at a first-class fire.” + +“We undoubtedly will,” said Nyoda, “if we expect to cook any dinner. Do +my eyes deceive me?” she continued, “or is this a fishing-rod under the +straw? It is, it is,” she cried, drawing it out. “Now I know what has +been the matter with me for the past few months, this feeling of sadness +and longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have been pining, +languishing, wasting away with a desire to go fishing. My early life ran +quiet beside a babbling brook, and there I sat and fished trout and +fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will never know repose +until it has gone fishing once more.” + +“Take the rod and welcome, it’s mine,” said Calvin, glad that something +of his should give pleasure to one of his cherished friends. + +In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river they dismounted from the +wagon and scattered in search of firewood, for the fire must be started +the first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda took the +fishing-rod and started for the river. “We’ll never get anything to eat +if we wait until you catch enough fish for dinner,” said Sahwah. + +“Who said I was going to catch enough for dinner?” said Nyoda. “I +wouldn’t be cruel enough to keep you waiting all that time. But I do +want to catch just one for old times’ sake.” She strolled down to the +water’s edge and after a few minutes Mr. Landsdowne joined her. He liked +Nyoda and enjoyed a talk with her. + +“Are you going to play all alone at the picnic?” he asked, as he dropped +down beside her. + +“Alone, but with _unbaited_ zeal,” she quoted, digging around in the +ground with her stick. “Come and help me find a worm.” + +“I’m afraid the Early Bird got them all,” she said plaintively, after a +few moment’s fruitless search. By dint of much digging they finally +unearthed one and baited the hook. Nyoda cast her line and then settled +down to a spell of silent waiting. “I don’t believe there’s a fish in +this old river,” she said impatiently, after fifteen minutes of angling +which brought no results. “Not here, anyway. Let’s go down beyond the +bend where the river widens out into that broad pool. The water is +deeper and quieter there.” They moved on to the new location and Nyoda +tried her luck again. This time success crowned her efforts and she +landed a small fish almost immediately. “What did I tell you?” she +exclaimed, triumphantly. “There’s luck in changing places. Now for +another one.” In a few moments she felt a tug at the line. “It must be a +whale,” she cried, enthusiastically, “it pulls so hard.” + +“It may be caught on a snag,” said Farmer Landsdowne. “Here, let me get +it loose for you, I’m afraid you’ll break that rod,” he said, as the +pole bent ominously in her hands. + +“Spare the rod and spoil the fish,” said Nyoda. + +“What are you doing on my property?” said a harsh voice behind them, +“don’t you see that sign?” + +Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne sprang to their feet in surprise and faced +an irate farmer in blue shirt sleeves. Sure enough, on a tree not very +far from them there was a sign reading, + + NO FISHING IN THIS POND. + +“We didn’t see the sign,” said Nyoda, stammering in her embarrassment, +and crimson to the roots of her hair. + +“We really didn’t,” confirmed Farmer Landsdowne. + +“Well, ye see it now, don’t ye?” pursued the proprietor of the +fish-pond. “Kindly move along.” + +“We have one fish,” said Nyoda, feeling unutterably foolish, “but we’ll +pay you for that. I must have one to take back to the picnic or I don’t +dare show my face.” + +“Ye say ye caught a fish?” shouted the farmer, excitedly. “Holy +mackerel! That was the only one in the pond—I put it in there this +morning—and I’ve rented the fishing of it to a young feller from +Cleveland at twenty-five cents an hour.” + +“But it didn’t take me an hour to catch him,” said Nyoda. “It only took +five minutes. That’ll be about two cents.” But the farmer held out for +his twenty-five cents and Nyoda paid it, laughing to herself at the way +the “feller from Cleveland” had been cheated out of his sport. + +“Don’t ever tell the girls about this,” pleaded Nyoda, as they moved +shamefacedly away. “I’m supposed to be a pattern of conduct, and I’m +always scolding the girls because they don’t use their eyes enough. +They’ll never get over laughing at me if they find it out.” Farmer +Landsdowne promised solemnly that he would not divulge the secret. + +“Did you catch anything?” called Sahwah, as Nyoda returned to the group +under the trees. + +“We certainly did,” replied Nyoda, with a sidelong glance at Farmer +Landsdowne. + +“Listen to this part of father’s last letter,” said Gladys, as they sat +around on the grass eating their dinner. “Juneau, Alaska. + +“We recently saw a group of Camp Fire girls holding a Ceremonial Meeting +on a mountain near Juneau. It fairly made us homesick; it reminded us so +much of the group we used to see in our house. We went up and spoke to +them and they send you this three-petaled flower as a greeting.” + +“To think we have friends all over the country, just because we know the +meaning of the word Wohelo!” said Migwan in an awed tone, as the +Winnebagos crowded around Gladys to see the flower which had come from +far off Alaska, a silent All Hail from kindred spirits. + +Just at this point Ophelia, who was coming a long way with the +coffee-pot in her hand, tripped over a root and sprawled on her face on +the ground, showering everybody near her with coffee. “We have your +title now,” said Nyoda, “it’s Ophelia-Face-in-the-Mud. You’re always +falling that way.” + +“And I know what your name is,” replied Ophelia. + +“What is it?” asked Nyoda, guilelessly. + +“It’s Nyoda-Chased-by-a-Farmer,” said Ophelia. + +Nyoda started and looked guilty. “How did you know that?” she asked, +giving herself away completely. + +“Followed you,” said Ophelia. “I saw you fishin’ where the sign said to +keep out and the man in the blue shirt sleeves chased you out.” + +“Tell us about it,” demanded all the girls, and Nyoda had to tell the +whole story that she wanted to keep a secret. + + “Fishy, fishy in the brook, + But the fishers ‘got the hook,’” + +chanted Sahwah, teasingly. Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne looked sheepish +at the jokes that were thrown at them thick and fast, but they stood it +good-naturedly. + +“A truce!” cried Gladys, coming to the rescue of Nyoda. “Let’s play +charades.” + +“Good!” said Migwan. “You be leader of one side and let Nyoda take the +other. Whichever side gives up first will have to get supper for the +rest.” + +Gladys chose Sahwah, Mrs. Gardiner, Betty, Ophelia, Tom and Calvin. +Nyoda chose Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne, Hinpoha, Migwan, Chapa, Medmangi +and Nakwisi. Gladys’s side went out first and came in without her. + +“Word of three syllables, first syllable,” said Sahwah, who acted as +spokesman. The whole company sat down in a row, striking the most +doleful attitude and groaning as if in pain, and shedding tears into +their handkerchiefs. + +“Most woeful looking crowd I ever saw,” remarked Mr. Landsdowne. + +“Woe!” shouted Nyoda, triumphantly, and the guess was correct. + +The weepers continued their weeping in the second syllable, and then +Gladys appeared, felt of all their pulses and gave each a dose out of a +bottle, whereupon they all straightened up, lost their symptoms of +distress, and capered for joy. + +“Cure,” said Migwan. The players shook their heads. + +“Heal,” shouted Hinpoha, and Gladys acknowledged it. + +In the last syllable Gladys went around and demanded payment for her +services, but in each case was met with a promise to pay at some future +time. + +“Owe,” said Chapa, which was pronounced right. “O heal woe, what’s +that?” she asked. + +“You’re twisted,” said Nyoda, “it’s ‘Wohelo.’ That really was too easy. +Let’s not divide them into syllables after this,” she suggested, “it’s +no contest of wits that way. Let’s act out the word all at once.” The +alteration was accepted with enthusiasm. + +Hinpoha came out alone for her side. “Word of two syllables,” she said. +Taking a blanket she spread it over a bushy weed and tucked the corners +under until it looked not unlike a large stone. Then she retired from +the scene. Soon Nyoda came along and paused in front of the blanket, +which looked like an inviting seat. + +“What a lovely rock to rest on!” she exclaimed, and seated herself upon +it. Of course, it flattened down under her weight and she was borne down +to the ground. + +A moment of silence followed this performance as the guessers racked +their brains for the meaning. “Is it ‘Landsdowne?’” asked Gladys. + +“It might be, but it isn’t,” said Nyoda, laughing. + +“I know,” said Sahwah, starting up, “it’s ‘shamrock.’” + +“You are sharper than I thought,” said Nyoda, rising from her seat. +“Nobody down yet. Now, fire your broadside at us. No word under three +syllables. Anything less would be unworthy of our giant intellects.” + +“Third round!” cried Calvin. + +Sahwah walked down to the water’s edge, holding in her hand a large key. +Leaning over, she moved the key as if it were walking in the water. This +proved a puzzler, and cries of ‘Milwaukee,’ ‘Nebrasky,’ and ‘turnkey’ +were all met with a triumphant shake of the head. + +“It looks as if we would have to give up,” said Hinpoha. + +Just then Nyoda sprang up with a shout. “Why didn’t I think of it +before?” she cried. “It’s ‘Keewaydin,’ key-wade-in. What else could you +expect from Sahwah?” + +“That’s it,” said Sahwah. “You must be a mind reader.” + +“Here’s where we finish you off,” said Nyoda, as her side came out +again. “We’ve taken a word of four syllables this time.” The whole team +advanced in single file, Indian fashion, keeping closely in step. Round +and round they marched, back and forth, never slackening their speed, +until one by one they tumbled to the ground from sheer exhaustion and +stiffened out lifelessly. The guessers looked at each other, puzzled. + +“Do it again,” said Sahwah. The strenuous march was repeated, and the +marchers succumbed as before. Still no light came to the onlookers. +Sahwah whispered something to Gladys. + +“Would you just as soon do it again?” asked Gladys. Again the file wound +round the trees and tumbled to the turf. Nyoda made a triumphant grimace +as no guess was forthcoming. Sahwah’s eyes began to sparkle. + +“Would you please do it once more?” she pleaded. + +“Have mercy on the performers,” groaned Nyoda, but they went through it +again, and this time they were too spent to rise from the ground when +the acting was done. “Do you give up?” called Nyoda. + +“No,” answered Gladys. + +“You have five seconds to produce the answer, then,” said Nyoda. + +“It’s diapason,” said Gladys, “die-a-pacin.” + +“Really!” said Nyoda, falling back in astonishment. + +“We knew it all the while!” cried Sahwah and Gladys. “We just kept you +doing it over and over again because we liked to see you work.” + +The laugh was on Nyoda and her team all the way around. “We do this to +each other!” called Sahwah, using the Indian form of taunt when one has +played a successful trick on another. + +“Tie the villains to a tree, and let them perish of mosquito bites,” +Nyoda commanded in an awful tone. “I’ll get even with you for that, Miss +Sahwah,” she said, darkly, as the other side trooped off to cook up a +new poser. + +“Hadn’t you better stop playing now?” inquired Mrs. Gardiner. “You know +we wanted to get home before dark.” + +“Oh, let’s do one more,” pleaded Migwan. If they had only stopped +playing when Mrs. Gardiner suggested it and gone home early they might +have been in time to prevent the thing which occurred, but they were +bent on seeing one side or the other go down, and Gladys’s side prepared +another charade. + +“We’ve played up to your own game,” said Gladys, who was introducing the +new charade, “and have increased the number to five syllables.” The +actors were Mrs. Gardiner, Betty and Tom Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner was +scolding the children and emphasized her remarks by a sharp pinch on +Tom’s arm. Betty, seeing the maternal hand also extended in her +direction, promptly climbed a tree and sat in safety, while her mother +shook her finger at her and cried warningly, “I’ll attend to you after +awhile.” + +“What on earth?” said Nyoda, scratching her head in perplexity. But +scratch as she might, no answer came, and the rest of her team had +nothing to offer either. After holding out for fully fifteen minutes +they were compelled to give it up. + +“It’s ‘manipulator,’” cried the winning side, in chorus. +“‘Ma-nip-you-later!’” And they stood around to condole while Nyoda’s +side prepared supper. Then it was that Calvin, basely deserting the team +he had helped so far, went over to the side of the enemy and helped +Migwan fetch wood for the fire. Both sides stopped often to jeer at each +other, so it took them twice as long to get the meal ready as it would +have ordinarily. They loitered and sang along the way home, letting the +horses take their time, and it was quite late when they reached Onoway +House. + +The first thing that greeted them was the sight of Mr. Bob, the cocker +spaniel, rolling on the front lawn in great distress, and giving every +sign of being poisoned. They hastily administered an antidote and, after +a time of suspense were confident that the effect of the poison had been +counteracted. So far they had only been in the kitchen, but when the +excitement about the dog was over they moved toward the sitting-room to +rest awhile and drink lemonade before going to bed. When the light was +lit they all stopped in astonishment. In the sitting-room there was an +old-fashioned combination desk and bookcase, the bookcase part set on +top of the desk and reaching nearly to the ceiling. It belonged to the +house, and the desk was closed and locked. Now, however, it stood open, +and all the drawers were pulled out, while the top of the desk and the +floor before it were strewn with papers in great disorder. + +“Burglars!” cried Migwan. “The house has been robbed!” They immediately +looked through the house to see what had been taken. Up-stairs in the +room occupied by the two boys there was a desk similar to the one in the +sitting-room. This had also been broken open and the drawers searched +through, although the disorder of papers was not so great as it was +down-stairs. Half afraid of what they should find, the whole family went +from room to room, but nothing else seemed to have been disturbed, and +as far as they could see nothing had been stolen. The silver in the +sideboard drawer was untouched, but then, this was only plate, and worn +at that. But in full view on the dining-room table lay Sahwah’s +Firemaker Bracelet, which she had laid there a few moments before +starting for the picnic, and then, with her customary forgetfulness, +neglected to pick up again. This was solid silver and worth stealing. +Further than that, she had also forgotten to wear her watch, and it was +still safe in her top bureau drawer. It was a riddle, and as they talked +it over they could only come to one conclusion, and that was that the +burglar had thought there were large sums of money hidden in the two +desks and had passed over the small articles in the hope of getting a +bigger harvest, or else was leaving those other things to the last. He +ransacked the up-stairs desk, having broken the lock, and then went +through the one down-stairs. While looking through the papers in the +sitting-room he had evidently been frightened away by something, for +there was one drawer that had not been disturbed. This also accounted +for the fact that nothing else had been taken. What had frightened him +was probably the barking of the dog, who, although he was on the +outside, had become aware of the presence of someone in the house. He +had fed the dog poison, probably poisoned meat, for they had found a +small piece of meat on the porch. Evidently the poison had begun to act +before Mr. Bob had it all eaten, and he left that piece. But before the +dog was dead the burglar had heard the family returning along the road, +singing, and made his escape. The whole thing must have happened not +long before, for the dog had not had the poison long enough to take +deadly effect. It was then that they regretted having lingered so long +over the game of charades and delayed their homecoming. + +“If we had only been half an hour sooner, we might have found out who it +was,” said Mrs. Gardiner. + +“Thank Heaven we weren’t half an hour later,” said Hinpoha, “or Mr. Bob +would have been dead.” She would have felt worse about losing Mr. Bob +than about having all her possessions stolen. + +“How about sleeping in the tepee to-night?” asked Gladys. There was not +enough room in the house for so many people and the eight Winnebagos had +made their beds in the tepee while the three girls from town were there, +both to solve the question of sleeping quarters and for the fun of the +thing. It was just like camping out to sleep on the ground, all the +eight girls in a circle around the little watch fire in the middle of +the tepee. + +“Oh, I’ll be afraid to,” said Hinpoha. + +“I don’t know but what it would be just as safe as sleeping in the +house,” said Nyoda. “I doubt if anyone would think of people sleeping +out in that thing. It’s a rather novel idea in this neighborhood. And at +any rate there’s nothing out there to steal and consequently nothing to +tempt a thief.” + +So, their fears having vanished, the Winnebagos went to bed in the tepee +just as they had planned. Nyoda took the precaution of putting her +pistol under her pillow. The girls really enjoyed the air of suppressed +excitement. When did youth and high spirits ever fail to respond to the +thrill of danger, either real or fancied? This attempted burglary was +the most exciting thing that had ever happened to most of the girls and +they were getting as much thrill out of it as possible. It amused them +to see Tom and Calvin parading the front lawn armed with bird guns, +swelled up with importance at having to guard a houseful of women. +Instead of hoping that the burglar had been scared away for good they +wished fervently that he would return and give them a chance to shoot. +They would have stayed there all night if Mrs. Gardiner had not ordered +them to bed. + +One by one the girls in the tepee dropped off to slumber, worn out with +the varied events of the day. But Nyoda could not sleep. She had a +throbbing headache from the glare of the sun on the water while she sat +fishing. The little fire, in the center of the bare circle of earth +which prevented it from spreading, died down and subsided to glowing +embers, then one by one these turned black and left the tepee in +darkness. There was not a spark left. Nyoda was sure of this, for she +sat up several times in an effort to make herself comfortable, and when +she took a drink from the pail of well water which stood nearby she +emptied the dipper over the spot where the fire had been, to make doubly +sure. Still sleep would not come. She stared out of the doorway of the +tepee into the darkness. A group of beech trees with their light grey +bark loomed up ghostlike before the door. She began to think of the +ghost which had appeared to her that other night in that very doorway, +and tried to connect the incidents which had taken place afterwards with +that. One thing was sure—someone was getting into Onoway House every few +days. Why nothing was taken was a mystery to her. It seemed to her now +that it was not so much an attempt at burglary as an effort to annoy and +frighten the family. Possibly it was someone who had a grudge against +them—she could not imagine why—and was indulging in these pranks to +satisfy a spite. She thought she saw a glimmer of light on the subject. + +Farmer Landsdowne had once told her that when it became known that Mr. +Mitchell was going to give up the care of the place, several farmers of +the Centerville Road district had applied for the position of caretaker, +but wishing to assist Migwan, the Bartletts had refused their offers and +given the place over to the Winnebagos. That must be it. Someone wanted +that job badly and was wreaking his disappointment on the people who had +kept him from getting it. The more she thought of it the more probable +it seemed. Possibly more than one were involved in the plot. + +Then another thought struck her. Could it be the crazy man who lived +alone in the little house among the trees? Calvin had stated that he +never left the house, but who could account for the inspirations of an +unbalanced mind? That nothing had been taken from the house seemed to +indicate a want of fixed purpose in the mind of the housebreaker—to go +to all that trouble for nothing. This idea also seemed worth +considering. + +As she lay turning these things over in her mind she thought she heard a +stealthy footstep in the grass outside of the tepee. Thinking that the +ghost was coming to pay another visit, she drew the pistol from under +her pillow and turning over, face downward, lay with it pointed toward +the doorway. There would be no outcry when he appeared in the doorway. +The first intimation the ghost would have that he was observed would be +a shot in the leg that would prevent him from running away and would +solve the mystery. In tense silence she waited, one; two; three minutes, +but nothing appeared. Then suddenly she smelled smoke, and turning +around swiftly saw that the side of the tepee toward which she had had +her back was in flames. + +“Fire!” she called at the top of her voice. “Sahwah! Hinpoha! Gladys! +Migwan! Wake up!” And seizing the pail of water she dashed it against +the side of the tepee. The water sizzled as it fell, but the canvas +covering was burning like tinder. Thus rudely awakened the girls sprang +up in alarm. The place was filling with dense smoke, and through it they +groped their way to the opening, dragging out their blankets. Hardly had +the last girl got out when the whole thing was one roaring blaze, which +lit up the scenery a long way around. + +Nyoda, paying no attention to the flames that were mounting skyward from +the burning canvas, looked intently for a lurking figure among the +trees, for she thought it hardly possible that whoever had set the tepee +afire could have gotten outside of the range of light in that short +time. It was possible to see as far as the road on the one side and +across the river on the other. But nowhere was there a man or the shadow +of a man. The folks came running out of Onoway House half dressed and in +terror that the girls had not escaped from the burning tent in time, and +the farmers all the way down the road, seeing the glare, rushed to offer +their assistance, for a fire in the country is a serious thing where +there is no water pressure. Farmer Landsdowne came on a dead run, +carrying a water bucket. Even Abner Smalley appeared in the midst of the +crowd. He gave a scowling look at Calvin, but said nothing, and soon +took his departure when the danger was over, as it was directly, for it +did not take long to reduce that canvas covering to a black mass, and +buckets of water thrown all around on the ground and the trees kept the +fire from spreading. + +For the second time that night the family gathered in the sitting-room +and faced each other over an exciting happening. “I told you if you +built a fire in that tepee you would burn it down,” said Mrs. Gardiner. +“I never felt easy when you had one.” + +“But it didn’t catch fire from our little fire,” declared Nyoda, and +told the events of the night, from the going out of the fire to the +footsteps outside the tepee when the canvas had suddenly blazed up when +she was lying in wait for the ghost with a pistol. The circle of faces +paled with fear as she told her tale. Who could this mysterious visitor +be, who seemed determined to do them some harm? The girls finished the +night in the house, three in a bed, but none of them closed their eyes +to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI.—THE WELL DIGGER’S GHOST. + + +The next morning Mrs. Gardiner sent Mr. Landsdowne to interview the +police force of the township in which the Centerville Road belonged, and +he brought the whole force back with him. He had to bring the whole +force if he brought any for it embraced only one man and he was well +along in years, but he had a uniform and a helmet and a club and a gun, +and presented an imposing appearance as he strutted up and down the +yard, before which an evil doer might be moved to pause. The three girls +from town had departed and Nakwisi had left her spy glass behind in the +excitement, and this was a source of great entertainment to the rural +gendarme. He spent a great deal of time sliding the lens back and forth +to fit his eye and peering up the road into the distance, or looking up +into the air, as if he expected to see the burglar approaching in an +airship. He was very talkative and fond of recounting the captures he +had made single handed, and declared solemnly that the man in this case +was as good as caught already, for no one had ever escaped yet when Dave +Beeman had started out to get him. + +Nyoda, who was fond of seeing her theories worked out, still held to the +idea that the mysterious visitor was someone who wanted the job of +caretaker, and inquired closely of Farmer Landsdowne who the men were +who had applied for the position. When it came down to fact there was +only one who had really wanted the job very badly, although several +others had mentioned the fact that they wouldn’t mind doing it, and that +man had found a similar situation immediately afterward and left the +neighborhood. So her theory did not seem to be inclined to hold water. + +She had another idea, however, and wrote to Mr. Mitchell, asking if he +had ever heard strange noises in the attic while he lived there. Mr. +Mitchell answered and said that not only had he heard strange noises in +the attic, but also in the cellar and in the barn, and that pieces of +furniture had apparently moved themselves in the middle of the night; +and it was on this account that he had left the place, as it made his +wife so nervous she became ill. This fact put a new face on the matter. +The hostility, then, was not directed against themselves personally, but +against the tenants of the house, no matter who they were. But this idea +left them more in the dark than ever, and they lost a good deal of sleep +over it without reaching any solution. + +After a few days of zealous watching, during which time nothing +happened, the police force of Centerville township gave it up as a bad +job and relaxed its vigilance, declaring that the firebug must have +gotten out of the country, for that was the only way he could hope to +escape his eagle eye. “If he was still in the country, I’d a’ had him by +this time”, Dave Beeman asserted confidently. “So as long as he’s gone +that far you don’t need to worry any more.” And he took himself off, +eager to get back to the quiet game of pinochle in Gus Wurlitzer’s +grocery store, which Farmer Landsdowne had interrupted several days ago. + +It was just about this time that Migwan had her biggest order for canned +tomatoes—from a fashionable private sanitarium a few miles distant, and +the rush of canning gradually took their minds off the mysterious +intruder. Migwan, picking her finest and ripest tomatoes to fill this +order, noticed that a number of the vines were drooping and turning +yellow. The half ripe tomatoes were falling to the ground and rotting. +One whole end of the bed seemed to be affected. She looked carefully for +insects and found none. Some of the leaves seemed worse shrivelled than +others. In perplexity she called Mr. Landsdowne over to look at them. He +looked closely at the plants and also seemed puzzled as to the cause of +the mysterious blight. “It isn’t rot,” he said, “because the bed is high +and dry and the plants have never stood in water.” Upon looking closely +he discovered that the affected plants were covered with a fine white +coating. He gave a smothered exclamation. “Do you know what that is?” he +asked. “It’s lime! Somebody has sprayed your plants with a solution of +lime. Are you sure you didn’t do it yourself?” he asked, quizzically. + +Migwan shook her head. “I haven’t sprayed those plants with anything for +a month,” she asserted, “and neither has anyone else in the house.” + +“Somebody outside of the house has done it, then,” said Mr. Landsdowne. + +The work of the mysterious visitor again! It struck dismay into the +breasts of the whole household. They never knew when and where that hand +was going to strike next. And so silently, so mysteriously, without ever +leaving a trace behind! + +There was nothing left to do but dig up the dead plants and throw them +away. Migwan almost stopped breathing when she thought that the rest of +the bed might be treated in the same way, and the source of her revenue +cut off. But why was all this happening? What could anyone possibly have +against the peaceful dwellers at Onoway House? + +A guard was set over the tomato bed both day and night for a week and +the big order for the sanitarium was filled as fast as the tomatoes +ripened. Nothing at all happened during this time and the vigilance was +relaxed. A large dog was turned loose in the garden at night and they +felt secure in his protection. This dog belonged to Calvin Smalley. When +he had left his uncle’s house he had to leave Pointer behind, as he did +not know what else to do with him, but now that the Gardiners were +willing to have him he went over and got him when he knew his uncle was +away from the house, so he would not have to meet him. Pointer was +overjoyed at seeing his young master again and attached himself to the +household at once, and never made the slightest effort to go back to his +old home. He had a deep, heavy bark which could not fail to rouse the +house at once. With the coming of Pointer the girls breathed easily +again. + +One day when Migwan had gone over to see the Landsdownes, Mr. Landsdowne +had given her a treasure for her garden. This was a plant of a rare +species called Titania Gloria, which a friend had brought from Bermuda. +It was a first year growth and so would not bloom until the following +summer. Migwan planted it along the fence beside the mint bed and +treasured it like gold, for the blossom of the Titania Gloria was a +wonderful shade of blue and was considered a prize by fanciers, who paid +high prices for cuttings of the plant. In the excitement over the tepee +and the tomato plants, however, she forgot to tell the other girls about +it, so she was the only one who knew what a precious thing that little +bed of leaves was. + +The weather was so fine that week that Migwan decided to have a garden +party and invite a number of friends from town. Gladys promised to dance +and the boys cleared a circle for her in the grass under the trees, +picking up every stick that lay on the ground. Mrs. Landsdowne, hearing +about the party, offered to make ice cream for them in her freezer. Just +before the guests arrived Migwan and Calvin went over after it. They +took the raft, because they thought that would be the easiest way of +transporting the heavy tub. Migwan rode on the raft and supported the +tub and Calvin walked along the bank and pulled the tow line. His +eagerness to help with the festivity was somewhat pathetic. Never, to +his knowledge, had there been a party at the Smalley House. The way +these girls planned a party out of a clear sky and carried out their +plans without delay was nothing short of marvelous to him. They were +always at their ease with company, while it was a fearful ordeal for him +to meet strangers. He liked to be a part of such doings; but was at a +loss how to act. Migwan, with her fine understanding of things beneath +the surface, saw that this boy was lonesome in the crowd, not knowing +how to mix in and have a glorious time on his own account, and she +always saw to it that his part was mapped out for him in all their +doings. Therefore she chose him to help her bring the ice cream over. + +Calvin, happy at being useful, towed the raft carefully and turned his +head whenever Migwan spoke, so as to give strict attention to her words. +Doing this, he fell over the branch of a tree in the path and jerked the +rope violently. The raft tipped up and both Migwan and the tub of ice +cream went into the river. Migwan climbed out on the bank before Calvin +was up from the ground. He was aghast at what he had done. He had been +so eager to help with the party and now he had spoiled it! That he would +be instantly expelled from Onoway House he was sure, and he felt that he +deserved it. Migwan, at least, would never speak to him again. +Speechless, he turned piteous eyes to where she sat on the bank +dripping. To his surprise she was doubled up with laughter. “What are +you laughing at?” he asked, startled. + +“Because you upset the raft and the ice cream fell into the river!” +giggled Migwan. Calvin gasped. The very thing that was nearly killing +him with chagrin was the cause of her mirth! It was the first time he +had ever seen anyone make light of a calamity. Her mirth was so +contagious that he began to laugh himself. Still laughing, he brought +the tub out of the river and set it on the bank. The water had washed +away the packing of ice, but the lid on the inner can was providentially +tight and the ice cream was unharmed. That little incident crystallized +the friendship between the two. After that he was Migwan’s slave. A girl +who could be thrown into the river without getting vexed was a friend +worth having. Dripping, they returned to the house, where the +preparations for the party were at their height, to be laughed at +immoderately and christened the “Water Babies.” + +To Hinpoha the Artistic had been entrusted the setting of the tables. +Her decorations were water lilies from the river, and when she had +finished it looked as if a feast had been spread for the river nymphs. +Around the edges of the platter she put bunches of bright mint leaves. +Her artistic efforts called out so much praise from the guests that she +was in a continual state of blushing as she waited on the table. + +“What’s the matter with your hand?” asked Migwan, noticing that she was +passing things around left handedly. + +“Nothing,” said Hinpoha, “nothing much. I slipped when I was getting the +lilies and fell on my wrist and it feels lame, that’s all.” + +“Is it sprained?” asked Migwan. + +“Oh, no,” said Hinpoha, “I don’t think so.” + +“It’s all swelled up,” said Migwan, holding up the injured wrist. “Let +me paint it with iodine and tie it up for you.” + +Hinpoha maintained that it was nothing serious, but Migwan insisted. +“Where is the iodine, mother?” she asked. + +“On the pantry shelf,” answered Mrs. Gardiner. Migwan got the bottle and +painted Hinpoha’s wrist before the party could proceed. Hinpoha surveyed +the brown stripe around her arm rather disgustedly. It was for this very +reason that she had said nothing about the wrist before. She did not +want it painted up for the party. It offended her artistic eye and she +would rather suffer in silence. + +While the guests were sitting at the tables Gladys danced on the lawn +for their entertainment. The merry laughter was hushed in surprise and +delight at her fairylike movements. In the silence which reigned at this +time the thing which happened was distinctly heard by everyone. +Apparently from the depths of the earth there came a muffled thud, thud, +as of a pick striking against hard ground. It kept up for a few minutes +and then ceased, to be renewed again after a short interval. The +dwellers at Onoway House looked at each other. Into each mind there +sprang the story of the Deacon’s well, and the words of Farmer +Landsdowne, “_Superstitious folks say you can still hear the buried well +digger striking with his pick against the ground that covers him._” It +was the most mysterious sound, far away and faint, yet seemingly right +under their very feet. Gladys heard it and paused in her dancing. +Pointer and Mr. Bob both heard it and began to bark. In a little while +the thudding noise ceased and was heard no more, and the company were +all left wondering if they could have been the victims of imagination. + +“Maybe it’s somebody down cellar,” said Calvin, and taking Pointer with +him, went down. Tom followed him. But there was no sign of anyone down +there. Pointer ran around with his nose to the ground as if he were +smelling for footsteps, but his tail kept wagging all the while. They +were all familiar footsteps he scented. Nothing was out of place in the +cellar except that a basket of potatoes was thrown over and the potatoes +had rolled out on the cement floor. The boys noticed this without +thinking anything of it. The mystery of the well digger’s ghost remained +unsolved. + +In the cool of the early evening after her guests had departed, Migwan +wandered down into the garden to look at her various plants and flowers. +It occurred to her that she had not paid her Titania Gloria a visit for +several days. But what a sight met her eyes when she reached the spot +where the precious thing had been planted! Not a single bit was left. +The clean cut stalks showed where they had been clipped off close to the +ground. Migwan started up with a cry of dismay which brought the other +girls running to her side. “My Titania Gloria!” gasped Migwan. “Look! +The mysterious visitor has been at work again!” And she told them about +the valuable cuttings that had disappeared so uncannily. + +“We never hear that ghost but what something happens after it!” said +Gladys, in an awestruck tone. The girls peered apprehensively into the +shadows of the tall trees surrounding the garden. + +“What’s up?” asked Hinpoha, joining the group. Migwan pointed to the +devastated bed. “What’s the matter with it?” asked Hinpoha. + +“My Titania Gloria!” said Migwan. “It’s been clipped off at the roots.” + +“Your what?” asked Hinpoha. Migwan explained about the rare plant Farmer +Landsdowne had given her. Hinpoha gave a sudden start and exclamation. +“What did you say it was?” she asked. + +“A Titania Gloria,” answered Migwan. + +“Well, girls, I’m the guilty one, then,” said Hinpoha, “for I cut those +plants off thinking they were mint. That was what I decorated the +platters with this afternoon. Do anything you like with me, Migwan, beat +me, hang me to a tree, put my feet in stocks, or anything, and I’ll make +no resistance.” She was absolutely frozen to the spot when she realized +what she had done. + +Migwan, grieved as she was over the loss of her cherished Titania, yet +had to laugh at the depths of Hinpoha’s mortification. “You old goose!” +she said, putting her arms around her, “don’t take it so to heart! It’s +my fault, not yours at all, because I didn’t tell anyone what that plant +was. And the leaves do look just like mint.” Thus she comforted the +discomfited Hinpoha. + +“Migwan,” said her mother, when they had returned to the house, “where +did you get that iodine with which you painted Hinpoha’s wrist this +afternoon?” + +“On the pantry shelf, just where you told me,” answered Migwan. + +“Well,” said her mother, “I told you wrong. The iodine is up on my +wash-stand.” + +“Then what was in the brown bottle on the pantry shelf?” asked Migwan. +The bottle was produced. + +“Why,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “that’s walnut stain, guaranteed not to wear +off!” + +Then there was a laugh at Migwan’s expense! + + “Old Migwan Hubbard + She went to the cupboard, + To get iodine in a phial, + But she couldn’t read plain, + And brought walnut stain, + And now her poor patient looks vile!” + +chanted Sahwah. + +“You’re even now,” said Gladys, “you’ve each scored a trick.” + +“‘_We do this to each other!_’” said Migwan and Hinpoha in the same +breath, and locked fingers and made a wish according to the time-honored +custom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII.—OPHELIA FINDS A FAIRY GODMOTHER. + + +As the summer progressed, the girls had more than one conference as to +what was to become of Ophelia when they left Onoway House. To let her go +back to her life in the slums was unthinkable. So far, Old Grady had +made no effort to get her back, possibly for the simple reason that she +did not know where the child was. They did not even know whether or not +she had a legal claim on Ophelia. All Ophelia knew about the business +was that Old Grady had taken her from the orphan asylum when she was +seven years old. Where she had lived before she went to the orphan +asylum she could not remember, so she must have been very young when she +came there. They were equally unwilling that she should return to the +asylum. + +“If we could only find someone to adopt her,” said Hinpoha. That would +be the best thing, they all agreed, although there was a lingering doubt +in the mind of each one as to whether anyone would want to adopt +Ophelia. Grammar was to her a totally unnecessary accomplishment, and +the amount of slang she knew was unending. By dint of hard labor they +had succeeded in making her say “you” instead of “yer,” and “to” instead +of “ter,” and discard some of her more violent slang phrases, but she +was still obviously a child of the streets and the tenement, and that +life had left its brand upon her. It showed itself constantly in her +speech. They had better success in teaching her table manners, for with +a child’s gift of imitation she soon fell into the ways of those around +her. + +But having had so much excitement in her short life she still pined for +it. While the life in the country was pleasant in the extreme it was far +too quiet to suit her and she longed to be back in the crowded tenement +where there was something happening every hour out of the twenty-four; +where people woke to life instead of going to bed when darkness fell and +the lamps were lighted; where street cars clanged and wagons rattled and +fire engines rumbled by; where the harsh voices of newsboys rang out +above the loud conversation of the women on the doorsteps and the +wailing of the babies. The zigging of the grasshoppers and the swishing +of the wind in the Balm of Gilead tree and the murmur of the river had +for her a mournful and desolate sound, and she often covered up her ears +so as not to hear it. When she first came to Onoway House she was so +interested in the new life that it kept her busy all day long finding +out new things; but gradually the novelty wore off. At first she had +been as mischievous as a monkey; always up to some prank or other. She +teased Tom and was teased by him in return; she put burrs in Mr. Bob’s +long ears; she climbed trees and threw things down on the heads of +unsuspecting persons underneath; she startled the girls out of their +wits by lying unseen under the couch in the sitting-room and grabbing +their ankles unexpectedly. Always she was doing something, and always +merry and full of life; so that she made the girls feel that they had +done a fine thing by bringing her to Onoway House. + +But of late a change had come over her. She began to droop, and to sit +silent by herself at times. The girls did their best to keep her amused, +but they were very busy with the continual canning, and Betty, who had +more time than the others, did not like her and would not play with her. +So she grew more and more homesick for the big, noisy city and the +playmates of other days. Then had come the time when she was so +sunburned and she had developed the fondness for Sahwah. After that she +was less lonesome, for Sahwah was such a lively person to be attached to +that one had always to be on the lookout for surprises. Sahwah taught +her to swim and dive and ride a bicycle; she had the boys make a swing +for her under the big tree, and Ophelia blossomed once more into +happiness. At Sahwah’s instigation she played more tricks on the other +girls than before. + +But Ophelia was a shrewd little person, and she knew that the summer +would come to a close and the girls would not live together any more. +She often heard them discussing their plans. What was to become of her +then? The happy family life at Onoway House stirred in her a desire to +have a home too, and a mother of her own. She began to grow wistful +again and at times her eyes would have a strange far-away look. The +scandals of the streets which were once the breath of life to her and +which she repeated with such relish, began to lose their charm, and she +developed a taste for fairy tales. “Tell me the story about the fairy +godmother,” she would say to Sahwah, and would listen attentively to the +end. “Are you sure I’ve got one somewhere?” she would ask eagerly. + +“You surely have,” Sahwah would answer, to satisfy her. + +And then, “What _are_ we going to do with Ophelia when the summer is +over?” Sahwah would ask the girls after Ophelia was in bed. And Hinpoha +would think of Aunt Phœbe and knew she would never adopt such a child as +Ophelia was; and Migwan knew that it would be out of the question in her +family; and Sahwah knew that her mother would not let her come and live +with them; and Gladys thought of her delicate mother and sighed. Nyoda +could not make a home for her, because she had none of her own and a +boarding house was no place for a child. + +“It’s a shame,” Sahwah would declare vehemently, “that there aren’t +fathers and mothers enough in this world to go round. Here’s Ophelia +will have to go into an institution more than likely, and grow up +without any especial interest being taken in her, while we have had so +much done for us. It isn’t fair.” + +“There’s something curious about Ophelia,” said Gladys, musingly. “While +she came from the tenements and is as wild and untrained as any little +street gamin, she has the appearance of a child of a much higher class. +Have you ever noticed how small and perfect her hands and feet are? And +what beautiful almond shaped fingernails she has? And what delicate +features? Have you seen how erectly she carries herself, and how +graceful she is when she dances? In spite of her name, I don’t believe +she is Irish; and I don’t think her people could have been low class. +There’s an indefinable something about her which spells quality.” + +“Probably a princess in disguise,” said Sahwah, in a tone of amusement. +“Leave it to Gladys to scent ‘quality.’” + +But the others had noticed the same characteristics in Ophelia and were +inclined to agree with Gladys on the subject. + +“But what about the strange spot of light hair on her head?” asked +Sahwah. “Would you call that a mark of quality?” But to this there was +no answer. They had never seen or heard of anything like it before. Thus +the summer days slipped by and Onoway House continued to shelter two +homeless orphans, neither of whom knew what the future held in store for +them. + +One afternoon when the girls had planned to go for a long walk to the +woods Gladys read in the paper that a balloonist was to make an +ascension over the lake. For some unaccountable reason she took a fancy +that she would like to see the performance. “Oh, Gladys,” said Sahwah, +impatiently, “you’ve seen balloonists before and you’ll see plenty yet; +come with us this afternoon.” But Gladys held out, even while she +wondered to herself why she was so eager to see this not uncommon sight. +Half offended at her, the other girls departed in the direction of the +woods. Gladys climbed high up in the Balm of Gilead tree, from which she +could look over the country for miles around and easily see the lake and +the distant amusement park from which the balloonist was to ascend. + +The newspaper said three o’clock, but evidently the performance was +delayed, for although Gladys was on the lookout since before that time +nothing seemed to be happening. To aid her in seeing she took Nakwisi’s +spy glass up into the tree with her, and while she was waiting for the +parachute spectacle she amused herself by focusing the glass on far away +objects on the land and bringing them right before her eyes, as it +seemed. She could look right into the back door of a distant farm house +and see children playing in the doorway and chickens walking up and down +the steps; she could see the men working in the fields; she could see +the yachts out on the lake and the smoky trail of a freight steamer. +Somewhere in the middle of her range of vision were the gleaming rails +of the car tracks. She looked at them idly; they were like long streaks +of light in the sun. She saw two men, evidently tramps, come out of the +bushes along the road and bend over the rails. Somewhere along that +stretch of track there was a derailing switch and it seemed to Gladys +that it was at this point where the men were. Gladys looked at the pair, +suspiciously, for a second and then decided they were track testers. One +had an iron bar in his hand and he seemed to be turning the switch. +Suddenly the other man pointed up the road and then the two jumped +quickly backward into the bushes. Gladys looked in the direction the man +had pointed. Far off down the track she could see the red body of the +“Limited” approaching at a tremendous rate. The stretch of country past +the Centerville Road was flat and even; the track was perfect and there +was no traffic to block the way, and the cars made great speed along +here. Something told Gladys that the men had had no business at the +switch; that they meant to derail and wreck the Limited. Gladys had +learned to think and act quickly since she had become a Camp Fire Girl, +and scarcely had the idea entered her head that the Limited was in +danger, than she conceived the plan of heading it off. Before the car +reached the switch it must pass the Centerville Road. Being the Limited, +it did not stop there. So Gladys planned to run the automobile down the +Centerville Road and flag the car. She flung herself from the tree in +haste, got the machine out of the barn and started down the road with +wide-open throttle. + +Trees and fences whirled dizzily by, obscured in the cloud of dust she +was raising. Across the stillness of the fields she could hear the +Limited pounding down the track. A hundred yards from the end of the +road the automobile engine snorted, choked and went dead. Without +waiting to investigate the trouble, Gladys jumped out and proceeded on +foot. Could she make it? She could see the red monster through the +trees, rushing along to certain destruction. With an inward prayer for +the speed of Antelope Boy, the Indian runner, she darted forward like an +arrow from the bow. Breathless and spent she came out on the car track +just a moment ahead of the thundering car, and waved the scarlet +Winnebago banner, which she had snatched from the wall on the way out. +With a quick jamming of the emergency brakes that shook the car from end +to end it came to a standstill just beyond the Centerville Road, and +only fifty feet from the switch. + +“What’s the matter?” asked the motorman, coming out. + +“Look at the switch!” panted Gladys, sinking down beside the road, +unable to say more. + +The motorman looked at the switch. “My God,” he said, mopping his +forehead, “if we’d ever run into that thing going at such a rate there +wouldn’t have been anyone left to tell the tale.” + +The passengers were pouring from the car, eager to find out the reason +for the sudden stoppage. “What’s the matter?” was heard on every side. + +“You’ve got that girl to thank,” said the motorman, moving back toward +his vestibule, “that you’re not lying in a heap of kindling wood.” +Gladys, much abashed and still hardly able to breathe, laid her head on +her knee and sobbed from sheer nervousness and relief. + +“Gladys!” suddenly said a voice above the murmurings of the throng of +passengers. + +Gladys raised her head. “Papa!” she cried, staggering to her feet. “Were +you on that car?” + +Another figure detached itself from the crowd and hastened forward. +“Mother!” cried Gladys. “Oh, if I hadn’t been able to stop it—” and at +the horror of the idea her strength deserted her and she slipped quietly +to the ground at her parents’ feet. + +When she came to the car had gone on and she was lying in the grass by +the roadside with her head in her mother’s lap. “Cheer up, you’re all +right,” said her mother a little unsteadily, smiling down at her. Gladys +now became aware of two other figures that were standing in the road. + +“Aunt Beatrice!” she cried. “And Uncle Lynn! What are you doing here?” + +“We all came out to surprise you,” said her father. “We got back from +the West last night; sooner than we expected, and decided we would run +out without any warning and see what kind of farmers you were. The +automobile is being overhauled so we came on the interurban. We didn’t +know it didn’t stop at your road.” + +Then, Gladys suddenly remembered her own disabled car standing in the +road, and they all moved toward it. With a little tinkering it +condescended to run and they were soon at Onoway House, telling the +exciting tale to Mrs. Gardiner, who held up her hands in horror at the +thought of the fate which the newcomers had so narrowly escaped. Aunt +Beatrice, not being strong, was much agitated, and developed a +palpitation of the heart, and had to lie in the hammock on the porch and +be doctored, so Gladys had her hands full until the girls came back. +They were much surprised at the houseful of company and very glad to see +Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who were very good friends of the Winnebagos indeed. +They looked with interest when Aunt Beatrice was introduced, for they +all remembered the tragic story Gladys had told them about the loss of +her baby in the hotel fire. Aunt Beatrice felt well enough to get up +then and acknowledge the introductions with a sweet but infinitely sad +smile that went straight to their hearts, and brought tears to the eyes +of the soft-hearted Hinpoha. + +Ophelia came in last, having loitered on the lawn to play with Pointer +and Mr. Bob. She had taken off her hat and was swinging it around in her +hand when she came up on the porch. “And this is the little sister of +the Winnebagos,” said Nyoda, drawing her forward. Aunt Beatrice looked +down at the dust-streaked little face, with her sad smile, but her eyes +rested there only an instant. She was gazing as if fascinated at the +strange ring of light hair on her head. She became very pale and her +eyes widened until they seemed to be the biggest part of her face. + +“Lynn!” she gasped in a choking voice, “Lynn! Look!” and she sank on the +floor unconscious. “It can’t be! It can’t be!” she kept saying faintly +when they revived her. “Beatrice died in the fire. But Beatrice had that +ring of light hair on her head! It can’t be! But there never were two +such birthmarks!” + +What a hubbub arose when this startling possibility was uttered! +Ophelia, the lost Beatrice? Could it possibly be true? Uncle Lynn lost +no time in finding out. Taking Ophelia with him he hunted up Old Grady. +She knew nothing more save that she had gotten her from an orphan +asylum, which she named. At the asylum he learned what he wanted to +know. The superintendent remembered about Ophelia on account of the +strange ring of light hair. The child had been brought to the +institution when she was about a year old. There was a babies’ +dispensary in connection with the place, and into this a weak, haggard +girl of about eighteen had staggered one day carrying a baby. The baby +was sick and she begged them to make it well. While she sat waiting for +the nurse to look at the baby the girl collapsed. She died in a charity +hospital a few days later. On her death-bed she confessed that she had +run away from a large hotel with the baby which had been left in her +care, intending to hide it and get money from the parents for its +recovery. But she feared this would lead her into trouble and left town +with the child and never troubled the parents as she had intended, and +kept the baby with her until it fell sick, when she had become +frightened and sought the dispensary. She apparently never knew that the +hotel had burned and covered up the traces of her flight. The baby was +kept at the orphan asylum and named Ophelia. Her last name had never +been known. Thence Old Grady had adopted her, but her right could be +taken away from her as it was clear that she was no fit person to have +the child. + +“It’s just like a fairy tale!” said Hinpoha, when it was established +beyond a doubt that the abused street waif Gladys had brought home in +the goodness of her heart was her own cousin. + +“Didn’t I tell you you’d find your fairy godmother if you only waited +long enough?” said Sahwah. And Ophelia, from the depths of her mother’s +arms, nodded rapturously. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII.—A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. + + +“Oh, Gladys, do you have to go home, now that your mother and father are +back?” asked Migwan, anxiously. + +“Not unless you want to, Gladys,” said Mrs. Evans. “If you would rather +stay out here until school opens, you may. Father and I are going to +Boston in a few days, you know.” + +So there was no breaking up of the group before they all went home, with +the exception of Ophelia, or rather Beatrice, as we will have to call +her from now on, for, of course, she was to go with her mother. + +“What must it be like, anyway,” said Hinpoha, “not to have any last name +until you’re nine years old and then be introduced to yourself? To +answer to the name of Ophelia one and ‘Miss Beatrice Palmer’ the next? +It must be rather confusing.” + +Little Beatrice went to Boston with her mother and father and uncle and +aunt and Onoway House missed her rather sorely. Calvin Smalley also got +a measure of happiness out of the restoration of the lost child, for +Uncle Lynn was so beside himself with joy over the event that he was +ready to bestow favors on anyone connected with Onoway House, and +promised to see that Calvin got through school and college. He would +give him a place to work in his office Saturdays and vacations. + +For several days now there had been no sign of the mysterious visitor, +and the well digger’s ghost had also apparently been laid to rest. Then +one morning they woke to the realization that the unseen agency had been +at work again. Pinned on the front door was a piece of paper on which +was scrawled, + + “_If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get out of that + house._” + +“We’ll do no such thing!” said Migwan, with unexpected spirit “I’ve +started out to earn money to go to college by canning tomatoes, and I’m +going to stay here until they’re canned; I don’t care who likes it or +doesn’t.” + +“That’s it, stand up for your rights,” applauded Sahwah. + +“But what possible motive could anyone have for wanting us to get out of +the house?” asked Migwan. Of course, there was no answer to this. + +“Do you suppose the house will be burned down as the tepee was?” asked +Gladys, in rather a scared voice. This suggestion sent a shiver through +them all. + +“We must get the policeman back again to watch,” said Mrs. Gardiner. + +Accordingly, the redoubtable constable was brought on the scene again. + +“Well, well, well,” he said, fingering the mysterious note. “Thought +he’d come back again now that the coast was clear, did he? You notice, +though, that he didn’t make no effort while I was here. You can bet your +life he won’t get busy again while I’m here now. You ladies just rest +easy and go on with your peeling.” + +Scarcely had he finished speaking, when from the bowels of the earth and +apparently under his very feet, there came the strange sound as of blows +being struck on hard earth or stone. The expression on Dave Beeman’s +face was such a mixture of surprise and alarm that the girls could not +keep from laughing, disturbed as they were at the return of the sounds. +“By gum,” said the constable, looking furtively around, “this is +certainly a queer business.” He had heard the story of the well digger’s +ghost and it was very strong in his mind just now. “Maybe it’s just as +well not to meddle,” he said under his breath. + +Off and on through the day they heard the same sounds issuing from the +ground, and at dusk the weird moaning began again. The constable showed +strong signs of wishing himself elsewhere. When darkness fell the noises +ceased and were heard no more that night. But another sort of moaning +had taken its place. This was the wind, which had been blowing strongly +all day, and early in the evening increased to the proportions of a +hurricane. With wise forethought Sahwah and Nyoda brought the raft and +the rowboat up on land. Leaves, small twigs and thick dust filled the +air. Windows rattled ominously; doors slammed with jarring crashes. +Migwan, foreseeing a devastating storm, set all the girls to picking +tomatoes as fast as they could, whether they were ripe or not, to save +them from being dashed to the ground. They could ripen off the vines +later. + +At last the sandstorm drove them into the house, blinded. Then there +came such a wind as none of them had ever experienced. Trees in the yard +broke like matches; the Balm of Gilead roared like an ocean in a +tempest. There was a constant rattle of pebbles and small objects +against the window panes; then one of the windows in the dining-room was +broken by a branch being hurled against it, and let in a miniature +tempest. Papers blew around the room in great confusion. Migwan rolled +the high topped sideboard in front of the broken pane to keep the wind +out of the room. At times it seemed as if the very house must be coming +down on top of their heads, and they stood with frightened faces in the +front hall ready to dash out at a moment’s notice. A crash sounded on +the roof and they thought the time had come, but in a moment they +realized that it was only the chimney falling over. The bricks went +sliding and bumping down the slope of the roof and fell to the ground +over the edge. + +“I pity anybody who’s caught in this out in the open,” said Migwan. “I +believe the wind is strong enough to blow a horse over. I wonder where +Calvin is now.” Calvin had gone to the city with Farmer Landsdowne on +business and intended to remain all night. + +“He’s probably all right if he has reached those friends of the +Landsdownes’,” said Hinpoha. + +“The Smalleys are out, too,” said Sahwah. “I saw them drive past after +dark, going toward town, just before it began to blow so terribly. Oh, +listen! What do you suppose that was?” A crash in the yard told them +that something had happened to the barn. Gladys was in great distress +about the car, and had to be restrained forcibly from running out to see +if it was all right. The wind continued the greater part of the night +and nobody thought of going to bed. By morning it had spent its force. + +Then they looked out on a scene of destruction. The garden was piled +with branches and trunks of trees, and strewn with clothes that had been +hanging on wash-lines somewhere along the road. Up against the porch lay +a wicker chair which they recognized as belonging to a house some +distance away. Everywhere around they could see the corn and wheat lying +flat on the ground, as if trodden by some giant foot. The roof of the +barn had been torn off on one side and reposed on the ground, more or +less shattered. The car was uninjured except that it was covered with a +thick coating of yellow dust. It was well that they had thought to pick +the tomatoes, for the vines and the frames which supported them were +demolished. All the telephone wires were down as far as they could see. + +Calvin was not to return until night, and they felt no great anxiety +about him, but often during the day a disquieting thought came to +Migwan. This was about Uncle Peter, the man who lived in the cottage +among the trees. Suppose something had happened to him? From Sahwah’s +report, the house was very old and frail. She watched the Red House +closely for signs of life, but apparently the Smalleys had not returned. +The doors were shut and there was no smoke coming out of the kitchen +chimney. + +“Nyoda,” said Migwan, finally, “I’m going over and see if that old man +is all right. I can’t rest until I know.” + +“All right,” said Nyoda, “I’m going with you.” Sahwah was over at Mrs. +Landsdowne’s, but they remembered her description of the approach to the +cottage, and made the detour around the field where the bull was and the +marsh beyond it, coming up to the cottage from the other side. It was +still standing, although the big tree beside it had been blown over and +lay across the roof. + +“Would you ever think,” said Migwan, “that there was anyone living in +there? I could pass it a dozen times and swear it was empty, if I didn’t +know about it.” + +“Well,” said Nyoda, the house is still standing, “so I suppose the old +man is all right.” + +“I wonder,” said Migwan. “He may have been frightened sick, and he may +have nothing to eat or drink, now that the Smalleys are kept away. We’d +better have a look. He can’t hurt us. If Sahwah spent the whole +afternoon with him we needn’t be afraid.” + +They tried the door, but, of course, found it locked, and were obliged +to resort to the same means of entrance as Sahwah had employed. They saw +the key in the other door just as Sahwah had and turned it and opened +the door. The old man was sitting by the table in just the position +Sahwah had described. Apparently he was neither frightened nor hurt. He +looked up when he saw them in the doorway and motioned them to come in. +There was nothing extraordinary in his appearance; he was simply an old +man with mild blue eyes. Obeying the same impulse of adventure which had +led Sahwah across the threshold, they stepped in and sat down. The room +was just as Sahwah had told them. The table was littered with wheels and +rods which the old man was fitting together. As they expected, he worked +away without taking any notice of them. + +“Did you mind the storm?” asked Nyoda. + +“Storm?” said the old man. “What storm?” + +“He never noticed it!” said Migwan, in an aside to Nyoda. + +“What are you making?” asked Migwan, wishing to hear from his own lips +the explanation he had given Sahwah. + +After his customary interval he spoke. “It’s a machine that reclaims +wasted moments,” he explained. “Every moment that isn’t made good use of +goes down through this little trap door, and when there are enough to +make an hour they join hands and climb up on the face of the clock +again.” + +Migwan and Nyoda exchanged glances. The ingenious imagination of the old +man surpassed anything they had ever heard. They stayed awhile, amusing +themselves by looking at the books and clocks in the cabinets, and then +rose, intending to slip away quietly when he was absorbed in his work, +as Sahwah had done. A dish of apples standing on one of the cabinets +indicated that he was not without food and their minds were now at rest +about his welfare. But when they moved toward the door he turned and +looked at them. + +“What do you think of it?” he asked. + +By “it” they figured that he meant the machine he was working on. “It’s +a very good one indeed,” said Nyoda, “very interesting.” + +“Do you want to buy the rights?” asked the old man, taking off his hat +and putting it on again. + +“He thinks he’s talking to some capitalist!” whispered Migwan. + +“We’ll talk over the plans first among ourselves and let you know our +decision,” said Nyoda, not knowing what to say and wishing to appear +politely interested. This speech would give them an opportunity to get +away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter drew a sheet of paper from among +those on the table and gravely handed it to her. + +“Here are the plans,” he said. “Take them and look them over and let me +know in a week.” Then he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding +the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the room, followed by Migwan. +They left the house as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout +way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of the remarkable machine away +in her room, intending to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they +saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red House. + +It took the girls most of the day to clear the garden of the rubbish +which had been blown into it and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. +Calvin came back at night safe and relieved the slight anxiety they had +felt about him. As they sat on the porch after supper comparing notes +about the storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that the well +digger’s ghost was at work again. It continued throughout the evening. + +“I’ll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer,” said Migwan. A perpetual +air of uneasiness had fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to +get anything accomplished. How could they settle down to work or play +with that dreadful thud, thud pounding in their ears every little while? +Dave Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to see what damage +had been done and they were again without the protection of the law. + +“Maybe it’s some animal under the ground,” suggested Calvin. “It +certainly couldn’t be a person down there.” This seemed such an +amazingly sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were inclined +to accept it. + +“I suppose imagination does help a lot,” said Migwan, “and if we hadn’t +heard that story about the well digger we would never have thought of a +man with a pickaxe. It’s undoubtedly the movements of an animal we +hear.” + +“But what animal lives underground without any air?” asked Sahwah. + +“There’s probably a hole somewhere, only we haven’t found it,” said +Migwan, who seemed determined to believe the animal theory. + +“But what about the note on the door and the lime on the tomatoes and +the burning of the tepee?” asked Sahwah. “You can’t blame that onto an +animal, can you?” + +“That’s very true,” said Migwan, “but it is likely there is no +connection between the two mysteries. It’s just a coincidence. I for one +am going to be sensible and stop worrying about that noise in the +ground.” And most of them followed Migwan’s example. + +The next morning was such a beautiful one that they could not resist +getting up early and running out of doors before breakfast. “Let’s play +a game of hide-and-seek,” proposed Sahwah. The others agreed readily; +Hinpoha was counted out and had to be “it,” and the others scattered to +hide themselves. One by one Hinpoha discovered and “caught” the players, +or they got “in free.” Calvin startled her nearly out of her wits by +suddenly dropping out of a tree almost on top of her. + +“Are we all in?” asked Migwan, fanning herself with her handkerchief. +She was out of breath from her strenuous run for the goal. + +“All but Sahwah,” said Hinpoha. She started out again to look for her, +turning around every little while to keep a wary eye on the goal lest +Sahwah should spring out from somewhere nearby and reach it before she +did. But Sahwah was evidently hidden at some distance from the goal, and +Hinpoha walked in an ever increasing circle without tempting her out. +The others, tired of waiting for her to be caught, joined in the search +and beat the bushes and hunted through the barn and looked up in the +trees. But no Sahwah did they find. + +Breakfast time neared and Hinpoha called loudly, “In free, Sahwah, +game’s over.” But Sahwah did not emerge from some cleverly concealed +nook as they expected. + +“Maybe she didn’t hear you,” said Migwan. “Let’s all call.” And they all +called, shouting together in perfect unison as they had done on so many +other occasions, making the combined voice carry a great distance. An +echo answered them but that was all. The girls looked at each other +blankly. + +“Do you suppose she’s staying hidden on purpose?” asked Calvin. + +“No,” said Nyoda, emphatically, “I don’t. Sahwah’s had enough experience +with causing us worry by disappearing never to do it on purpose again. +She’s probably stuck somewhere and can’t get out. Do you remember the +time she was shut up in the statue and couldn’t talk? Something of the +kind has occurred again, I don’t doubt. We’ll simply have to search +until we find and release her.” + +They began a systematized search and minutely examined every foot of +ground. Thinking that the barn was the most likely place to get into +something and not get out again, they opened every old chest there and +pried into every corner, and moved every article. They went up-stairs +and looked through the lofts and corners. The roof being partly off, it +was as light as day, and if she had been there anywhere they would +surely have seen her. But there was no sign of her. They looked under +the roof of the barn that lay on the ground, thinking that she might +have crawled under that and become pinned down, but she was not there. + +“Could she have fallen into the river?” asked Calvin. + +“It wouldn’t have done her any harm if she had,” said Hinpoha. “Sahwah’s +more at home in the water than she is on land. It wouldn’t have been +unlike her to jump in and swim around and duck her head under every time +I came near, but then she would have heard us calling for her and come +out.” + +They parted every bush and shrub, and looked closely at the branches of +every tree, half fearing to find her hanging by the hair somewhere. + +“Do you suppose she went up the Balm of Gilead tree and into the attic +window?” asked Migwan. They searched through the attic, and a laborious +search it was, on account of the quantities of furniture and chests to +be moved. They pulled out every drawer and burst open every trunk and +chest, thinking she might have crawled into one and then the lid had +closed with a spring lock. It was fully noon before they were satisfied +that she was not up there. + +“Could she be in the cellar?” asked Hinpoha. Down they went, carrying +lights to look into all the dark corners. But the search was vain. The +girls became extremely frightened. Something told them that Sahwah’s +disappearance was not voluntary. They looked at each other with growing +fear. What had the message on the door said? + + “_If you folks know what’s good for you you’ll get out of that + house._” + +Was that a warning of what had happened now? Was it a friendly or a +sinister warning? Migwan was almost beside herself to think that +anything had happened to Sahwah while she was staying with her. The day +dragged along like a nightmare. In the afternoon Calvin had an +inspiration. “Why didn’t I think of it before?” he almost shouted. +“Here’s Pointer; he’s a hunting dog and can follow a trail. We’ll set +him to find Sahwah’s trail.” + +“That’s right,” said Migwan, in relief, “we’ll surely find her now.” + +They gave Pointer a shoe of Sahwah’s and in a moment he had started off +with his nose to the ground. But if they had expected him to lead them +to her hiding-place they were disappointed, for all he did was follow +the trail around the garden between the house and the river. Once he +went down cellar, straining hard at the chain which held him, and they +were sure he would find something they had overlooked in their search, +but the trail ended in front of the fruit cellar. + +“Sahwah came down here early this morning to bring up those melons, +don’t you remember?” said Migwan. “That’s all Pointer has found out.” +They kept Pointer at it for some time, but he never offered to leave the +garden. + +“Are you sure he’s on the trail?” asked Hinpoha, doubtfully. + +“Yes,” said Calvin, “he never whines that way unless he is. That long +howl is the hunting dog’s signal that he’s on the job. When he loses the +trail he runs back and forth uncertainly.” + +“According to that, Sahwah must be very near,” said Gladys. “Are you +sure there isn’t any other place in the house, cellar or barn that she +could have gotten into, Migwan?” + +“Quite sure,” said Migwan, disheartened. “You know yourself the way we +finecombed every foot of space.” + +“There’s another thing that might have made Pointer lose the trail,” +said Nyoda. “Do you remember that he stopped short at the river once? +Well, it is my belief that Sahwah ran down to the river and either fell +or jumped in and swam away. That would destroy the trail, and Sahwah +might be miles away for all we know.” She carefully refrained from +suggesting that anything had happened to Sahwah and she might have gone +under the water and not come up again, but there was a fear tugging at +her heart that Sahwah had dived in and struck her head on something and +gone down. + +But several of the others must have had much the same thought, for +Gladys remarked, without any apparent connection, “_You can see the +bottom almost all the way down the river._” + +And Hinpoha said, “_Those tangled roots of trees in the river are nasty +things to get into._” + +And Calvin set the dog free immediately and untied the rowboat. He and +Nyoda rowed down the river while the rest followed along the banks. The +stream was clear most of the distance and they could see to the bottom. +Here and there were sharp rocks jutting up and casting shadows on the +sunlit bottom, and in places the water had washed the dirt away from the +roots of trees so that they extended out into the river like +many-fingered creatures waiting to seize their prey. But nowhere did +they see what they feared. In the lower part of the river, toward the +mouth, the water was deeper and had been dredged free of all +obstructions, so while it was muddy and they could not see into its +depths they knew that nothing was to be found here. + +Vaguely relieved and yet dreadfully anxious and mystified they returned +to Onoway House. “Do you suppose she was carried away by an automobile +or wagon?” asked Migwan. “Does anyone recall seeing anything of the kind +going by when we started to play?” Nobody did. While they were +discussing this new theory, Pointer, who had been left to run loose +while they were searching the river, came running up to them. With much +wagging of his tail he went to Calvin and laid something at his feet For +a moment they could not make out what it was. Migwan recognized it +first. + +_It was Sahwah’s shoe, completely covered and dripping with black mud._ + +“Where did you find it, Pointer?” asked Calvin. Pointer wagged his tail +in evident satisfaction, but, of course, he could not answer his +master’s question. + +“Is that the shoe Sahwah had on this morning?” asked Nyoda. + +“Yes,” said Hinpoha. “I remember asking her why she wore those shoes +with the red buttons to run around in and she said they were getting +tight and she wanted to wear them out.” + +“Where does that black mud come from around here?” asked Gladys. + +It was Nyoda who guessed the dreadful fact first. All of a sudden she +remembered cleaning her shoes after she had come home from her visit to +Uncle Peter. + +“_The marsh!_” she gasped. “_Sahwah’s caught in the marsh!_ It’s the +same mud. I went to the edge of the marsh the other day to see it and +got some on my shoe.” + +Without stopping to hear more, Calvin dashed off in the direction of his +father’s farm, with Pointer at his heels and Gladys and Nyoda and +Hinpoha and Migwan and Tom and Betty trailing after him as fast as they +could go. Mrs. Gardiner followed a little distance behind. She could not +keep up with them. Calvin tore a flat board from one of the fences as he +ran along and called on the others to do the same thing. A little +farther on he found a rope and took that along. They reached the edge of +the marsh and looked eagerly for the figure of Sahwah imprisoned in the +treacherous ooze. But the green surface smiled up innocently at them. +Not a sign of a struggle, no indentation in the level, no break. To the +unknowing it looked like the smoothest lawn lying like a sheet of +emerald in the sun. But on second glance you saw the water bubbling up +through the grass and then you knew the secret of the greenness. Nowhere +could they see Sahwah. + +Migwan had to force herself to ask the question that was in everybody’s +mind. “Has she gone under?” + +“No,” said Calvin, positively. “It can’t be possible in so short a time. +They say that a horse went down here once long ago, and it took him more +than two days to be covered entirely.” + +After being wrought up to such a pitch of expectancy it was a shock to +find that Sahwah was not in the marsh. _But how had her shoe come to be +covered with marsh mud, and what was it doing off her foot?_ Where had +Pointer found it? + +“Oh, if only dogs could speak!” said Hinpoha. “Pointer, Pointer, where +did you find it?” But Pointer could only wag his tail and bark. + +From where they stood at the edge of the marsh they could see the +cottage among the trees. A look of inquiry passed between Nyoda and +Migwan. Calvin saw the look and understood it. + +“Would you like to look in Uncle Peter’s house?” he asked. His face was +very pale, and Nyoda, watching him keenly, thought she detected a sudden +suspicion and fear in his eyes. He looked apprehensively over his +shoulder at the Red House as they started to skirt the bog. Nyoda +understood that movement. Abner Smalley did not know that they knew +about Uncle Peter, and Calvin had said he would be very angry if he +found it out. Now he would be sure to see them going toward the house. +But this thought did not make Nyoda waver in her determination to search +the cottage. The urgency of the occasion released them from their +promise of secrecy. As Calvin had no key they were obliged to enter by +the window as on former occasions. But the front room was absolutely +blank and bare and they saw the impossibility of anyone’s being hidden +there. It was a tense moment when they opened the door of the inner room +and the girls who had never been there stepped behind the others and +held their breath. Uncle Peter sat at the table just as Nyoda and Migwan +had seen him a day or two before, playing with his rods and wheels. His +mild blue eyes rested in astonishment on the number of people who +thronged the doorway. + +“Come in, ladies,” he said, politely. The room was exactly as it had +been the other day and apparently he had not stirred from his position. +They all felt that Sahwah had not been there and that the old man knew +nothing about the matter. But Calvin spoke to him. + +“Uncle Peter,” he said. The man turned at the name and stared at him but +gave no sign of recognizing him. “Do you know me, Uncle Peter?” said +Calvin. “It’s Calvin, Jim’s boy.” + +The old man smiled vacantly and held out the bit of machinery he was +working on. “It’s a machine for saving time,” he said. “As the minutes +are ticked off——” There was nothing to be gotten out of him, and they +withdrew again. Calvin looked around him fearfully as they returned +through the fields, to see if his uncle had watched him take the girls +to the cottage, but there was no sign of him anywhere, at which he +breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. Tired out with their ceaseless +searching and sick with anxiety, they returned to Onoway House. + +If we were writing an ingeniously intricate detective story the thing to +do would be to wait until Sahwah was discovered by some brilliant piece +of detective work and then have her tell her story, leaving the +explanation of the mystery until the last chapter, and keeping the +reader on the verge of nervous prostration to the end of the piece. But, +as this is only a faithful narrative of actual events, and as Sahwah is +our heroine as much as any of the girls, we know that the reader would +much prefer to follow her adventures with their own eyes, rather than +hear about them later when she tells the story to the wondering +household. And we also think it only fair to say that if Sahwah’s return +had depended on any brilliant detective work on the part of the others +we have very grave doubts as to its ever being accomplished. We will, +then, leave the dwellers at Onoway House to their searching and +theorizing and bewailing, and follow Sahwah from the time they started +to play hide-and-seek and Hinpoha blinded her eyes and began to count +“five, ten, fifteen, twenty.” + +Sahwah ran across the garden toward the house, intending to swing +herself into one of the open cellar windows. Near this window was a +flower bed which Migwan had filled with especially rich black soil. That +morning she had watered the bed and had done it so thoroughly that the +ground was turned into a very soft mud. Sahwah, not looking where she +was going, stepped into this mud and sank in over her shoe top with one +foot. When she had entered the window she stood on the cellar floor and +regarded the muddy shoe disgustedly. Feeling that it was wet through, +she ripped it off and flung it out of the window. It landed back in the +muddy bed and was hidden by the growing plants. Sahwah then proceeded to +hide herself in the fruit cellar. This was a partitioned off place in a +dark corner. She sat among the cupboards and baskets and watched Hinpoha +pass the window several times as she hunted for the players. Once +Hinpoha peered searchingly into the window and Sahwah thought she was on +the verge of being discovered and pressed back in her corner. There was +a basket of potatoes in the way of her getting quite into the corner and +she moved this out. There was also a barrel of vinegar and she slipped +in behind this. As she moved the barrel it dropped back upon her +shoeless foot and it was all she could do to repress a cry of pain as +she stood and held the battered member in her hand. But the pain became +so bad she decided to give up the game and get something to relieve it. +She pushed hard against the barrel to move it out, but this time it +would not move. She pushed harder, bracing her back against the wooden +wall behind her, when, without warning, the wall caved in as if by +magic, and she fell backwards head over heels into inky darkness. The +wall through which she had fallen closed with a bang. + +Sahwah sat up and reached mechanically for the hurt foot. The pain had +increased alarmingly and for a time shut out all other sensations. Then +it abated a little and Sahwah had time to wonder what she had fallen +into. She was sitting on a stone floor, she could make that out. It must +be a room of some kind, she decided, but the darkness was so intense +that she could make nothing out. “There must have been another part to +the cellar behind the fruit cellar, although we never knew it,” thought +Sahwah, “and the back of the fruit cellar was the door.” As soon as she +could stand upon her foot again she moved forward in the direction from +which she thought she had come and searched with her hands for a +doorknob. But her fingers encountered only a smooth wall surface and +after about five minutes of careful feeling she came to the startled +conclusion that there was no such thing. “I must have got turned around +when I tumbled,” she thought, “and am feeling of the wrong wall.” She +accordingly moved forward until her outstretched hands encountered +another hard surface and she repeated the process of looking for a +doorknob. No more success here. “Well, there are four walls to every +room,” thought Sahwah, “and I’ve still got two more trys.” Again she +moved out cautiously and with ever increasing nervousness admitted that +there was no door in that direction. “Now for the fourth side, the right +one at last,” she said to herself. “One, two, three, out goes me!” She +moved quickly in the fourth and last direction. Without warning she ran +hard into something which tripped her up. She felt her head striking +violently against something hard and then she knew no more. + +She woke to a dream consciousness first. She dreamed she was lying in +the soft sand on the lake shore near one of the great stone piers, where +a number of men were at work. They were pounding the stones with great +hammers and the vibrations from the blows shook the beach and went +through her as she lay on the sand. Gradually the sparkling water faded +from her sight; the sky grew dark and night fell, but still the blows +continued to sound on the stone. Just where the dream ended and reality +began she never knew, but, with a rush of consciousness she knew that +she was awake and alive; that everything was dark and that she was lying +on her face in something soft that was like sand and yet not like it. +And the pounding she had heard in her dream was still going on. Thud, +thud, it shook the earth and jarred her so her teeth were on edge. For a +long time she lay and listened without wondering much what it was. Her +head ached with such intensity that it might have been the throbbing of +her temples that was shaking the earth so. After a while that dulled, +but the jarring blows still kept up. With a cessation of the pain came +the power to think and Sahwah remembered the strange noises they had +heard issuing from the ground. It must be the same noise; only it was a +hundred times louder now. It was a sort of clanging thump; like the +sound of steel on stone. Even with all that noise going on Sahwah +slipped off into half consciousness at times. Although there did not +seem to be any doors or windows, she was not suffering for lack of air, +but at the time she was too dazed to notice this and wonder at it. + +She woke with a start from one of these dozes to the realization that +there was a broad streak of light on the floor. Fully conscious now, she +raised her head and looked around. She was lying in a bin filled with +sawdust. When she held up her head her eyes came just to the top of it. +By the light she could see that she was indeed in a sort of sub-cellar. +It must have been older than the other cellar for the floor was made of +great slabs of mouldy stone. Her eyes followed the beam of light and she +saw that a door had been opened into still another cellar beyond. In +this chamber a lantern stood on the floor, whence came the light, and +its ray produced weird and fantastic moving shadows. These shadows came +from a man who was wielding a pickaxe against a spot in the stone wall. +It was this that was causing the jarring blows. Startled almost out of +her senses at seeing a man thus apparently caged up in the sub-cellar of +Onoway House, Sahwah could only lay back with a gasp. She could not +raise her voice to cry out had she been so inclined. + +But fast on the heels of that shock came another. The worker paused in +his exertions to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and stood where +the light of the lantern shone full in his face. Sahwah’s heart gave a +great leap when she recognized Abner Smalley. Abner Smalley in the +hidden sub-cellar of Onoway House, digging a hole in the wall! Sahwah +forgot her own plight in curiosity as to what he was doing. She lay and +watched him fascinated while he resumed his pounding. So he was the +mysterious intruder who had wrought such terror among them! This, then, +was the well digger’s ghost! What could he be searching for in the +cellar of his neighbor’s house? Sahwah dug her feet into the soft +sawdust as she watched the pick rise and fall. She had no idea of the +flight of time. She thought it was only a few minutes since she had +fallen into the sub-cellar. She lay thinking of the expressions on the +faces of the girls when she would tell them her discovery. To think that +she had been the one to solve the mystery! She felt a little +disappointed that the mysterious intruder should have turned out to be +someone they knew. It would have been more in keeping with her idea of +romance to have found a prince shut up in the cellar. + +While she was thinking these thoughts the light suddenly vanished and +she heard the bang of a door shutting. She was in darkness once more. In +a moment she heard footsteps retreating and dying away in the distance. +All was silent again. It took her some moments to collect her thoughts +sufficiently to realize a new and significant fact. _Abner Smalley had +not gone out by the door into the fruit cellar. There must be, then, +another way of egress from the sub-cellar._ Instantly Sahwah made up her +mind to follow him and see how he had gotten out at the other end. Her +feet were imbedded deeply in the sawdust and she became aware of the +fact that her shoeless foot was resting against something with a sharp +edge. She drew it away and then carefully felt with her hands for the +object. She could not see it when she had it but it felt like a metal +box of some kind, possibly tin. She carried it with her and moved toward +the place where she now knew there was a door. She found the handle +easily and opened it. This was the side of the wall toward which she had +moved when she had run into the bin before, and so she did not discover +it. A strong breath of air struck her as she advanced into this chamber. +It was scarcely more than a passage, for by reaching out her arms she +could touch the wall on both sides. She moved cautiously, fearing to +fall again in the dark. She felt the place in the wall where Abner +Smalley had made an indentation with his pick. She was wondering where +this passage led and wishing it would come to an end soon, when she +struck the already sore foot against what must have been the pickaxe set +against the wall and fell on her nose once more. The tin box she carried +was rammed into the pit of her stomach and knocked the breath out of +her, but this time she had not hit her head. + +She lay still for a moment trying to get her breath back. Her eyes were +becoming accustomed to the inky darkness by this time. She looked down +and saw a stone floor beneath her. She turned her head to one side and +saw a stone wall beside her. She turned over altogether and looked +up—and saw the constellation Cassiopea flashing down at her from the +sky. For a moment she could not believe her senses. Of all the strange +sights she had seen nothing had affected her so powerfully as the sight +of that familiar group of stars. What she had expected to see she could +not tell, stone perhaps, but anything except the open sky. She sat up in +a hurry and began to investigate where she was. The wall around her +seemed to be circular and all of a sudden Sahwah had the answer. She was +in the cistern—the old unused cistern which was not a great distance +from the house. This, then, was the opening of the sub-cellar, the way +in which Mr. Smalley had made his escape. There was usually a covering +over the cistern, but he had evidently been in a hurry and left it off. + +The fact that there were stars out took Sahwah’s breath away. It was +night then; had she been in that cellar all day? It was inconceivable, +yet it was undoubtedly true. By the faint glimmer of the stars she could +make out that there were hollows in the stone side of the cistern by +which a person could easily climb out. She lost no time in climbing when +she made this discovery. What a joy it was to be coming up into God’s +outdoors again! As she emerged from the cistern she saw Migwan standing +in the garden beside the back porch. The moon shone full on her as she +stepped out of the hole in the ground and just then Migwan caught sight +of her. The apparition was too much for Migwan and she screamed one +terrified scream after another until the girls came running from all +over to see what fresh calamity had happened. Only seeing Sahwah +standing in their midst and not having seen her appear magically out of +the depths of the ground, they could not understand Migwan’s terror. + +“Stop screaming, Migwan,” said Sahwah, and when Migwan heard her voice +and saw that it was really she, she quieted down and listened while +Sahwah told her tale of adventure since going down into the cellar to +hide. The day had passed so quickly for Sahwah, she having lain +unconscious until late in the afternoon, that she, of course, knew +nothing of their frantic search for her and so could not comprehend why +they made such a fuss over her return. They laughed and cried all at +once and hugged her until she finally protested. + +“What have you brought along as a souvenir of your trip?” asked Nyoda, +who had regained her light-hearted manner now that Sahwah was safely +back. + +Sahwah looked down at the box she held in her hand. “I found it in the +bin of sawdust,” she said. “It was just like playing ‘Fish-pond’ at the +children’s parties. You put your hand in a box of sawdust and draw out a +handsome prize.” And Sahwah laughed, her familiar long drawn-out giggle, +that they had despaired of ever hearing again. She laid the box on the +table. It was of tin, about nine inches long by three inches wide by +three high, with a closely fitting cover. “Shall I open it, Nyoda?” she +asked. + +“I don’t see any harm in doing so,” said Nyoda. Sahwah took off the +cover. There was nothing in the box but a folded piece of paper. She +took it and spread it before them on the table. + +“What is it?” they all cried, crowding around. The first thing that +caught their eye was a slanting line drawn across the paper in heavy +ink. There was some writing beside it, but this was so faded that it +took some studying to make it out. Finally they got it. It read: + +“_Supposed extension of gas vein._” The upper end of the line was marked +“_36 feet west of cistern._” There was a cross at that point also, and +this was marked, “_Place where gas was struck at 300 feet._” + +“The Deacon’s gas well!” they all exclaimed in chorus. It was true, +then. + +“And there was a well digger’s ghost, even if it didn’t turn out to be +the one we expected!” said Migwan. + +That day was never to be forgotten, although the next cleared up the +mystery and brought still another surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, +was once more brought out and this time furnished with information that +nearly caused his eyes to start from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as +everyone supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, breaking +into his neighbor’s house and deliberately trying to dig a hole in the +stone wall. It was the sensation of his career. “Well, I’ll be +jiggered!” he gasped. + +But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner Smalley’s when he was +confronted with the accusation without warning. He turned so pale and +trembled so much that it was useless to deny his guilt. + +“You are guilty, Abney Smalley,” said the constable, in such a solemn +tone that the girls could hardly keep straight faces. “You’d better make +a clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in that house or it +might go hard with you.” + +Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, was a coward when the +odds were against him, and he had always had a wholesome fear of the +law, so at Dave Beeman’s suggestion he decided to “make a clean breast +of it.” We will not weary the reader with all the conversation that took +place, but will simply tell the facts of the story. + +Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on the place yet, the story +of the Deacon’s gas well had come to Abner Smalley’s ears. He heard a +fact connected with it, however, that was not generally known, namely, +that the Deacon had made a record of the place where the gas was found. +Believing that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the house, he +had devised a means of breaking in and searching for it. His first plan +had been to frighten the dwellers in the house and make them believe +there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the place a wide berth +at night and leave him free to ransack the Deacon’s old furniture. He +frightened the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner had the +Mitchells departed than the new caretakers had come; and they were a +much bigger houseful than the others. + +He had tried the same plan with them as he had with the others, namely, +mysterious noises around the place at night. But what had frightened +Mrs. Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new farmers. They shot +off a gun when he was doing his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a +bottle, which had produced that weird moaning sound. He it was who had +dressed up as a ghost and appeared to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the +red pepper into her face when she made as if to attack him with a pole. +It was he whom they had seen coming out of the barn that night, and +later it was he again whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He had +disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. That was the first +time he had been down, and on this occasion he had discovered the +passage leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had heard in the +attic on numerous occasions. He had entered and gone out after dark by +means of the Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. He had +been down cellar that night when Sahwah nearly caught him. He was +looking for the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never found. +He knocked over the basket of potatoes which had mystified them so. He +had been on the point of entering the house that day when Sahwah +suddenly returned from town after he thought the whole family was gone +for the day. When he saw her go off along the river he went in anyway +and was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had escaped +detection by hiding in a large chest. + +The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them go and spent all day +looking through the desks in the house. Finally the dog barked so he +gave him the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. +Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the +cistern. He had stayed there until night, when he had set fire to the +tepee, not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After starting the +blaze he had again sought refuge in the cistern and when the crowd had +gathered, came out in their midst so that his absence from such an +exciting event in the neighborhood would cause no comment among the +farmers. The cistern was in the shadow and everyone was watching the +fire so intently that he was able to emerge unseen. + +He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and written the note which they +found on the door. He had left the chisel in the automobile on one +occasion when he had been hunting through the things in the barn; +forgetting to take it with him when he went out. + +He wanted to get hold of that record secretly and be sure whether the +great vein of gas which the Deacon knew existed was on the property now +owned by the Bartletts or that of the Landsdownes, and then he was going +to buy that property before the owners knew about the gas, as the land +would be worth a fortune if that fact ever became known. He was pretty +sure, after discovering that sub-cellar, that the Deacon had left his +papers down there when he went to California. By pounding on the walls +he had discovered one place which he was sure was hollow. If the stone +that covered the place could be removed by any trick he failed to +discover it and had to resort to digging it out with a pick. This, as we +already know, produced the dull thudding sound underground which had +frightened the household almost out of their wits. The reason he could +prowl around in the yard at night after they had set the dog to watch +was that Pointer knew him and made no disturbance upon seeing him. + +Abner Smalley was marched off triumphantly by Dave Beeman, and was held +on such a complicated charge of house-breaking, arson, assault and +battery, and intimidating peaceful citizens, that it took the combined +efforts of the village to draw it up. Thus ended the great mystery which +had kept Onoway House in more or less of an uproar all summer. + +“I never saw anything like the way we Winnebagos have of falling into +things,” said Sahwah. “Here Mr. Smalley made such elaborate efforts to +find that record, using up more energy and ingenuity than it would take +to dig up the whole farm and hunt for the gas well; and he didn’t find +it in the end; and all I did was drop in on top of it without even +suspecting its existence.” + +“There must be a special destiny that guides us,” said Migwan. “Perhaps +we possess an enchanted goblet, like the ‘Luck of Edenhall,’ only it’s +‘The Luck of the Winnebagos.’” + +“Cheer for the ‘Luck of the Winnebagos,’” said Sahwah, who never lost an +occasion to raise a cheer on any pretext. And at that Sahwah never +dreamed of the extent of the good fortune she had brought the Bartletts +by her lucky tumble. The vein of gas which was struck when they +subsequently drilled proved a sensation even in that notable gas region +and made millionaires of its owners. And the reward which Sahwah +received for finding the record, and that which the others received +“just for living,” as Migwan expressed it—for though they had not found +the sub-cellar themselves it was due to their game that Sahwah had found +it—drove the memory of their fright from their heads. But we are getting +a little ahead of our story. There is one more chapter yet to the Luck +of the Winnebagos before that remarkable summer came to an end. + +After the departure of Abner Smalley things grew so quiet at Onoway +House that Migwan, who had declared before that she would be a wreck if +the excitement did not cease soon, was now complaining that things +seemed flat and she wished the mystery hadn’t been cleared up because it +robbed them of their chief topic of conversation. + +“Well, I’m going to take advantage of the quiet atmosphere and +straighten out my bureau drawers,” said Nyoda. “I haven’t been able to +put my mind to it with all this excitement going on. And they’re a sight +since you girls went rummaging for things for the Thieves’ Market.” In +doing this she came upon that strange creation of Uncle Peter’s brain, +the plan for the “Wasted Minute Saving Machine.” She showed it to the +girls and they examined it wonderingly. + +“What is this on the other side?” asked Migwan. “It’s a will!” she +cried, reading it through. “It says, ‘I, Adam Smalley, give and +bequeathe my farm on the Centerville Road to my son Jim, as Abner has +already had his share in cash.’” + +“Let me see!” cried Calvin. “It’s the latest one!” he shouted, reading +the date. “It’s dated 1902 and the one Uncle Abner found was 1900. The +farm is mine after all! Uncle Peter had this will in his possession and +didn’t know it! How can I thank you girls for what you’ve done for me?” + +“It was all Migwan’s fault,” said Hinpoha. “She insisted upon going to +see whether the old man was all right after the storm.” + +Migwan declared that she had had nothing to do with it; it was the Luck +of the Winnebagos that had given her the inspiration. But Calvin knew +well that in this case the Luck of the Winnebagos was only Migwan’s own +thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV.—GOOD-BYE TO ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +By the first of September Migwan had made enough money from the sale of +canned tomatoes to more than pay her way through college the first year. +“It’s Mother Nature who has been my fairy godmother,” she said to the +girls. “I asked her for the money to go to college and she put her hand +deep into her earth pocket and brought it out for me. It’s like the +magic gardens in the fairy tales where the money grew on the bushes.” + +“What a summer this has been, to be sure,” said Hinpoha, who was in a +reflective mood. They were all sitting in the orchard, busy with various +sorts of handwork. The day was hot and drowsy and the shade of the trees +most inviting. “Migwan and I thought we would have such a quiet time +together, just we two. She was going to write a book and I was going to +illustrate it, when we weren’t working in the garden. And how +differently it all turned out! One by one you other girls came—I’ll +never forget how funny Gladys and Nyoda looked when they came out that +night, and how surprised Sahwah was to find you here when she arrived. +Then Gladys brought Ophelia, I mean Beatrice, and after that we never +had a quiet moment. Then the mystery began and kept up all summer. +Instead of these three months being a quiet rest they’ve been the most +thrilling time of my life.” + +“It seems to have agreed with you, though,” said Sahwah, mischievously, +whereupon there was a general laugh, for Hinpoha, instead of growing +thin with all the worry and excitement, had actually gained five pounds. + +“As much worry as it caused me,” said Migwan, “I’m glad everything +happened as it did. The summer I had looked forward to would have been +horribly dull and uninteresting, but now I feel that I’ve had some real +experiences. I’ve got enough ideas for stories to last for years to +come.” + +“And for moving picture plays,” said Hinpoha. “But,” she added, “if you +go in for that sort of thing seriously, where am I coming in? You know +we made a compact; I was to illustrate everything you wrote, and how am +I going to illustrate moving picture plays?” + +There was a ripple of amusement at her perplexity. “You’ll have to +illustrate them by acting them out,” said Gladys. They all agreed +Hinpoha would make a hit as a motion picture actress, all but Sahwah, +who dropped her eyes to her lap when Migwan began to talk about moving +pictures, and presently went into the house to fetch something she +needed for her work. When she came out again the subject had been +changed and was no longer embarrassing to her. + +“What will the Bartletts say when they hear the peach crop was ruined by +the wind storm?” asked Hinpoha. + +“That’s the only thing about our summer experience that I really +regret,” answered Migwan. “I wrote and told them about it, of course, +when I told them about the gas well, and Mrs. Bartlett said we shouldn’t +worry about it and that we ourselves were a crop of peaches.” + +“The dear thing!” said Gladys. “I should love to see the Bartletts again +some time; they were so friendly to us last summer, and it is all due to +them that we have had such a glorious time this summer.” + +Scarcely had she spoken when an automobile entered the drive and stopped +beside the house. Migwan ran out to see who it was. The next moment she +had her arms around the neck of a pretty little woman. “Oh, Mrs. +Bartlett!” she cried. “Did the fairies bring you? We just made a wish to +see you.” + +Soon the girls were all flocking around the car, shaking hands with Mr. +and Mrs. Bartlett, and making a fuss over little Raymond. How the +Bartletts did sit up in astonishment when all the events of the summer +were told in detail! “Well, you certainly are trumps for sticking it +out,” said Mr. Bartlett, admiringly. “Nobody but a bunch of Camp Fire +Girls would have done it.” At which the Winnebagos glowed with pride. + +Now that the Bartletts had come to stay at Onoway House, Migwan decided +she would go home a week earlier than she had planned, as there was not +enough room for so many people there. Aunt Phœbe and the Doctor were in +town again, so Hinpoha could go home if she wished; and Sahwah’s mother +had also returned. They were a little sorry to break up so abruptly when +they had planned quite a few things for that last week to celebrate the +finishing of the canning, but all agreed that under the circumstances it +was the best thing they could do. + +“I really need a week at home,” said Migwan with a twinkle in her eye, +“to rest up from my vacation. There I’ll get the peace and quiet that I +came here to seek.” Take care, O Migwan, how you talk! Once before you +predicted peace and quiet, and see what happened! + +Before they went, however, they must have one more big time altogether, +Mrs. Bartlett insisted, and she went into town on purpose to bring out +Nakwisi and Chapa and Medmangi. Close behind them came another car which +also stopped at Onoway House, and out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Evans +and Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Lynn and little Beatrice, the latter dressed +up in wonderful new clothes and already subtly changed, but still eager +to romp with the girls and tag after Sahwah. + +“See here,” said Mr. Evans, when they were all talking about going home +the next day, “you girls have been working pretty hard this summer, and +haven’t had a real vacation yet, why don’t you go for an automobile trip +the last week? Gladys has her car; that is, if it came through all the +excitement alive, and mother and I would be willing to let you take the +other one. Go on a run of say a thousand miles or so, and see a few +cities. The change will do you good.” + +“Oh, papa!” cried Gladys, clapping her hands in rapture. “That will be +wonderful!” And the other girls fell in love with the idea on the spot. + +As this was to be their last night at Onoway House nothing was left +undone that would make the occasion a happy one. The evening was fine +and warm and the stars hung in the sky like great jeweled lamps. With +one accord they all sought the garden and the orchard, where Gladys +danced on the grass in the moonlight like a real fairy. Then all the +girls danced together, until Mrs. Evans declared that they looked like +the dancing nymphs in the Corot picture. And Beatrice, who had been +taught those same things during the summer, broke away from her mother +and joined in the dance, as light and graceful as Gladys herself. It was +plain to see that she had the gift which ran in the family, and as her +mother watched her with a thrill of pride her heart overflowed anew in +thankfulness to the girls who had restored her daughter to her. + +“On such a night,” quoted Migwan, looking up at the moon, “Leander swam +the Hellespont——” + +“The river!” cried Sahwah, immediately, “we must go out on the river +once more. Oh, how can I say good-bye to the Tortoise-Crab?” And she +shed imaginary tears into her handkerchief. + +“Let’s go for one more float,” cried all the girls. + +The grown-ups strolled down to the river bank and sat on the grassy +slope, watching with indulgent interest what the girls were going to do +next. They saw them coming far up the river and heard their song as it +was wafted down on the scented breeze. Slowly and majestically the raft +approached, with Sahwah standing up and guiding it with the pole. When +it had come nearer the onlookers saw a romantic spectacle indeed. Gladys +reposed on a bed of flowers and leaves, under a canopy of branches and +vines, a ravishingly lovely Cleopatra. Beside her knelt Antony, +otherwise Migwan, holding out to her a big white water lily. The other +Winnebagos, as slave maidens, sat on the raft and wove flower wreaths or +fanned their lovely mistress with leaf fans. It was the slaves who were +doing the singing and their clear voices rang out with wonderful harmony +on the enchanted air. On they came, past the spot where Sahwah had been +hidden on the afternoon of the moving pictures; past the Lorelei Rock, +where they had held that other pageant which had frightened Calvin so; +past the spot where they lay concealed and watched the strange manœuvers +of the supposed Venoti gang. Each rock and tree along the stream was +pregnant with memories of that eventful summer, and they could hardly +believe that they were saying good-bye to it all. + +Now they were opposite the watchers on the bank and the murmurs of +admiration reached their ears as they floated past. “What lovely +voices——” + +“What wonderful imaginations those girls have——” + +“How beautifully they work together——” + +Calvin looked on in speechless admiration, his eyes for the most part on +Migwan. Never in his life had he regretted anything so much as he did +the fact that these jolly friends of his were going away. He was to stay +on his farm after all and now the prospect suddenly seemed empty. + +The voices of the onlookers blended in the ears of the boaters with the +murmur of the river as it flowed over the stones, and with the sighing +of the wind in the willows as the raft passed on. + +And here let us leave the Winnebagos for a time as we love best to see +them, all together on the water, their voices raised in the wonder song +of youth as they float down the river under the spell of the magic +moonlight. + + THE END. + +The next volume in this series is entitled: The Camp Fire Girls Go +Motoring; or, Along the Road that Leads the Way. + + * * * * * + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories for Camp Fire Girls +endorsed by the officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization. + +PRICE, 40 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, + The Winnebagos go Camping. + +This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a +camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer +than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before +the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding +school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, + The Wohelo Weavers. + +It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives +into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory +doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law of the +Camp Fire is broken it must be recorded in black. How these seven live +wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of Work, +Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their share of +mischief, is told in this story. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, + The Magic Garden. + +Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to +work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The +Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the “goings-on” +at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with laughter. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, + Along the Road That Leads the Way. + +The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The “pinching” of Nyoda, +the fire in the country inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest hare +and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the most exciting the +Winnebagos have ever experienced. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_Splendid Stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls_ + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES; + or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks’ Tour with the Glee Club. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer’s Cruise Through the + Panama Canal. + + * * * * * + +The Mildred Series + +By MARTHA FINLEY + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_A Companion Series to the Famous “Elsie” Books by the Same Author_ + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELANDS + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED’S NEW DAUGHTER + MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED’S BOYS AND GIRLS + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Chum’s Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + BENHURST CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning. + + BERTHA’S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris. + + BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West. By Joy Allison. + + DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row. + + FUSSBUDGET’S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham. + + HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings. + + JOLLY TEN, THE. and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage. + + KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl’s Story of Factory Life. By M. E. Winslow. + + LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder. + + MAJORIBANKS. A Girl’s Story. By Elvirton Wright. + + MISS CHARITY’S HOUSE. By Howe Benning. + + MISS ELLIOT’S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring + Corning. + + MISS MALCOLM’S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow. + + ONE GIRL’S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning. + + PEN’S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright. + + RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne. + + THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Comrade’s Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston. + + ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fanny E. Newberry. + + ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. + Rouse. + + BUBBLES. A Girl’s Story. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + JOYCE’S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MISS ASHTON’S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl’s Story. By Mrs. S. S. + Robbins. + + NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, New York. + + * * * * * + +The AMY E. BLANCHARD Series + +Miss Blanchard has won an enviable reputation as a writer of short +stories for girls. Her books are thoroughly wholesome in every way and +her style is full of charm. The titles described below will be splendid +additions to every girl’s library. + +Handsomely bound in cloth, full library size. + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. Price, 60 cents per volume, postpaid. + +THE GLAD LADY. A spirited account of a remarkably pleasant vacation +spent in an unfrequented part of northern Spain. This summer, which +promised at the outset to be very quiet, proved to be exactly the +opposite. Event follows event in rapid succession and the story ends +with the culmination of at least two happy romances. The story +throughout is interwoven with vivid descriptions of real places and +people of which the general public knows very little. These add greatly +to the reader’s interest. + +WIT’S END. Instilled with life, color and individuality, this story of +true love cannot fail to attract and hold to its happy end the reader’s +eager attention. The word pictures are masterly; while the poise of +narrative and description is marvellously preserved. + +A JOURNEY OF JOY. A charming story of the travels and adventures of two +young American girls, and an elderly companion in Europe. It is not only +well told, but the amount of information contained will make it a very +valuable addition to the library of any girl who anticipates making a +similar trip. Their many pleasant experiences end in the culmination of +two happy romances, all told in the happiest vein. + +TALBOT’S ANGLES. A charming romance of Southern life. Talbot’s Angles is +a beautiful old estate located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The +death of the owner and the ensuing legal troubles render it necessary +for our heroine, the present owner, to leave the place which has been in +her family for hundreds of years and endeavor to earn her own living. +Another claimant for the property appearing on the scene complicates +matters still more. The untangling of this mixed-up condition of affairs +makes an extremely interesting story. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Boy Spies Series + +These stories are based on important historical events, scenes wherein +boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the romance of +history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to picturing the home +life, and accurate in every particular. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. + + A story of the part they took in its defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE DEFENCE OF FORT HENRY. + + A boy’s story of Wheeling Creek in 1777. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. + + A story of two boys at the siege of Boston. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. + + A story of two Ohio boys in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. + + The story of how two boys joined the Continental Army. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. + + The story of two young spies under Commodore Barney. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. + + The story of how the boys assisted the Carolina Patriots to drive + the British from that State. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. + + The story of General Marion and his young spies. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. + + The story of how the spies helped General Lafayette in the + Siege of Yorktown. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. + + The story of how the young spies helped the Continental Army + at Valley Forge. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF FORT GRISWOLD. + + The story of the part they took in its brave defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. + + The story of how the young spies prevented the capture of + General Washington. + By James Otis. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Navy Boys Series + +A series of excellent stories of adventure on sea and land, selected +from the works of popular writers; each volume designed for boys’ +reading. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE NAVY BOYS IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. + + A story of the burning of the British schooner Gaspee in 1772. + By William Pman. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. + + A story of the Whale Boat Navy of 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS AT THE SIEGE OF HAVANA. + + Being the experience of three boys serving under Israel Putnam + in 1772. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS WITH GRANT AT VICKSBURG. + + A boy’s story of the siege of Vicksburg. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. + + A boy’s story of a cruise with the Great Commodore in 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. + + The story of two boys and their adventures in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. + + A boy’s story of privateering in 1780. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. + + A story of three boys who took command of the schooner “The Laughing + Mary,” the first vessel of the American Navy. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. + + The story of a remarkable cruise with the Sloop of War “Providence” + and the Frigate “Alfred.” + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ DARING CAPTURE. + + The story of how the navy boys helped to capture the British Cutter + “Margaretta,” in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. + + The adventures of two Yankee Middies with the first cruise of an + American Squadron in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS’ CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. + + The adventures of two boys who sailed with the great Admiral in his + discovery of America. + By Frederick A. Ober + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +Volumes By WINN STANDISH + +Handsomely Bound in Cloth + +Full Library Size—Price + +40 cents per Volume, postpaid + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; + or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boyfondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord of +sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER’S CHAMPIONS; + or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been by Chadwick, the Nestor of +American sporting Journalism. + +JACK LORIMER’S HOLIDAYS; + or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy’s hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER’S SUBSTITUTE; + or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; + or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy’s life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Battleships + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser “The Sylph” and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; + or, The Vanishing Submarine. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; + or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; + or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; + or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; + or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS; + or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Army + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By CLAIR W. HAYES + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that +every boy loves. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; + or, With the Italian Army in the Alps. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; + or, The Struggle to Save a Nation. + +THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; + or, Through Lines of Steel. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; + or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; + or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; + or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne + + * * * * * + +The Boy Scouts Series + +By HERBERT CARTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; + or, Caught Between the Hostile Armies. + +In this volume we follow the thrilling adventures of the boys in the +midst of the exciting struggle abroad. + +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; + or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp. + +Startling experiences awaited the comrades when they visited the +Southland. But their knowledge of woodcraft enabled them to overcome all +difficulties. + +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. + +A story of Burgoyne’s defeat in 1777. + +THE BOY SCOUTS’ FIRST CAMP FIRE; + or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol. + +This book brims over with woods lore and the thrilling adventure that +befell the Boy Scouts during their vacation in the wilderness. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; + or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners. + +This story tells of the strange and mysterious adventures that happened +to the Patrol in their trip among the moonshiners of North Carolina. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; + or, Scouting through the Big Game Country. + +The story recites the adventures of the members of the Silver Fox Patrol +with wild animals of the forest trails and the desperate men who had +sought a refuge in this lonely country. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol. + +Thad and his chums have a wonderful experience when they are employed by +the State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens. + +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; + or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot. + +A serious calamity threatens the Silver Fox Patrol. How apparent +disaster is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends, forms the +main theme of the story. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; + or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine. + +The boys’ tour takes them into the wildest region of the great Rocky +Mountains and here they meet with many strange adventures. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; + or, Marooned Among the Game Fish Poachers. + +Thad Brewster and his comrades find themselves in the predicament that +confronted old Robinson Crusoe; only it is on the Great Lakes that they +are wrecked instead of the salty sea. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; + or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood. + +The boys of the Silver Fox Patrol, after successfully braving a terrific +flood, become entangled in a mystery that carries them through many +exciting adventures. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Chums Series + +By WILMER M. ELY + +Price. 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid + +In this series of remarkable stories are described the adventures of two +boys in the great swamps of interior Florida, among the cays off the +Florida coast, and through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live +boys, and their experiences are worth following. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN MYSTERY LAND; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard among the Mexicans. + +THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER; + or, The Boy Partners of the Schooner “Orphan.” + +THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND; + or, Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama Islands. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST; + or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades. + +THE BOY CHUMS’ PERILOUS CRUISE; + or, Searching for Wreckage en the Florida Coast. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO; + or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers. + +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS; + or, The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FLORIDA JUNGLE; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard with the Seminole Indians. + + * * * * * + +The Broncho Rider Boys Series + +By FRANK FOWLER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of thrilling stories for boys, breathing the adventurous spirit +that lives in the wide plains and lofty mountain canoes of the great +West. These tales will delight every lad who loves to read of pleasing +adventure in the open; yet at the same time the most careful parent need +not hesitate to place them in the hands of the boy. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH FUNSTON AT VERA CRUZ; + or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes. + +When trouble breaks out between this country and Mexico, the boys are +eager to join the American troops under General Funston. Their attempts +to reach Vera Cruz are fraught with danger, but after many difficulties, +they manage to reach the trouble zone, where their real adventures +begin. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS AT KEYSTONE RANCH; + or, Three Chums of the Saddle and Lariat. + +In this story the reader makes the acquaintance of three devoted chums. +The book begins in rapid action, and there is “something doing” up to +the very time you lay it down. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS DOWN IN ARIZONA; + or, A Struggle for the Great Copper Lode. + +The Broncho Rider Boys find themselves impelled to make a brave fight +against heavy odds, in order to retain possession of a valuable mine +that is claimed by some of their relatives. They meet with numerous +strange and thrilling perils and every wideawake boy will be pleased to +learn how the boys finally managed to outwit their enemies. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ALONG THE BORDER; + or, The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man. + +Once more the tried and true comrades of camp and trail are in the +saddle. In the strangest possible way they are drawn into a series of +exciting happenings among the Zuni Indians. Certainly no lad will lay +this book down, save with regret. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ON THE WYOMING TRAIL; + or, A Mystery of the Prairie Stampede. + +The three prairie pards finally find a chance to visit the Wyoming ranch +belonging to Adrian, but managed for him by an unscrupulous relative. Of +course, they become entangled in a maze of adventurous doings while in +the Northern cattle country. How the Broncho Rider Boys carried +themselves through this nerve-testing period makes intensely interesting +reading. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS; + or, The Smugglers of the Rio Grande. + +In this volume, the Broncho Rider Boys get mixed up in the Mexican +troubles, and become acquainted with General Villa. In their efforts to +prevent smuggling across the border, they naturally make many enemies, +but finally succeed in their mission. + + * * * * * + +The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Series + +By RALPH MARLOW + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +It is doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of boys ever before +appeared in a story than the “Big Five,” who figure in the pages of +these volumes. From cover to cover the reader will be thrilled and +delighted with the accounts of their many adventures. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE; + or, With the Allies in France. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS AT THE FRONT; + or, Carrying Dispatches Through Belgium. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS UNDER FIRE; + or, With the Allies in the War Zone. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS’ SWIFT ROAD CHASE; + or, Surprising the Bank Robbers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON FLORIDA TRAILS; + or, Adventures Among the Saw Palmetto Crackers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS IN TENNESSEE WILDS; + or, The Secret of Walnut Ridge. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS THROUGH BY WIRELESS; + or, A Strange Message from the Air. + + * * * * * + +Our Young Aeroplane Scouts Series + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By HORACE PORTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the great European +war zone. The fascinating life in mid-air is thrillingly described. The +boys have many exciting adventures, and the narratives of their numerous +escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting stories. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND; + or, Twin Stars in the London Sky Patrol. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY; + or, Flying with the War Eagles of the Alps. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM; + or, Saving the Fortunes of the Trouvilles. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY; + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA; + or, Lost on the Frozen Steppes. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY; + or, Bringing the Light to Yusef. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by +Hildegard G. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND STARTED AFTER +THE BULL AT FULL SPEED.] + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + The Camp Fire Girls + At Onoway House + + OR + + The Magic Garden + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + + "The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods," "The Camp + Fire Girls at School," "The Camp Fire + Girls Go Motoring." + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + + Publishers--New York + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + Copyright, 1916 + By A. L. Burt Company + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + + + + +CHAPTER I.--ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +"What a lovely quiet summer we're going to have, we two," exclaimed +Migwan to Hinpoha, as they stood looking out of the window of their room +into the garden, filled with rows of young growing things and bordered +by a shallow stony river. Migwan, we remember, had come to spend the +summer on the little farm owned by the Bartletts and earn enough money +to go to college by selling vegetables. The house in the city had been +rented for three months, and her mother, Mrs. Gardiner, and her brother +Tom and sister Betty had come to the country with her. Hinpoha was +temporarily without a home, her aunt being away on her wedding trip with +the Doctor, and she was to stay all summer with Migwan. + +"Yes, it will be lovely," agreed Hinpoha. "I've never lived in such a +quiet place before. And I've never had you to myself for so long." +Migwan replied with a hug, in schoolgirl rapture. She felt a little +closer to Hinpoha than she did to the other Winnebagos. As they stood +there looking out of the window together they heard the honk of an +automobile horn and the sound of a car driving into the yard, and ran +out to see who the guests were. + +"Gladys Evans!" exclaimed Migwan, spying the new comers. "And Nyoda! +Welcome to our city!" + +"Please mum," said Gladys, making a long face, "could ye take in a poor +lone orphan what's got no home to her back?" + +"What's up?" asked Migwan, laughing at Gladys's tone. + +"Mother and father started for Seattle to-day," replied Gladys, "and +from there they are going to Alaska, where they will spend the summer. I +hinted that I was a good traveling companion, but they decided that +three was a crowd on this trip, and as I had done so well for myself +last summer they informed me that it was their intention to put me out +to seek my own fortune once more. So, hearing that there were pleasant +country places along this road, one in particular, I am looking for a +place to board for the summer." + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Migwan. "To think that we are to have +you with us this vacation after all, after thinking that you were going +to disport yourself in California! The guest chamber stands ready; 'will +you walk into my parlor?' said the Spider to the Fly." + +At this point "Nyoda," Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire group, +formally known as Miss Kent, also advanced with a long face, holding her +handkerchief to her eyes. "Could you take in a poor shipwrecked sailor," +she sobbed, "one whose ship went right down under her feet and left her +nothing to stand on at all?" + +"It might even be arranged," replied Migwan. "What is your tale of woe, +my ancient mariner?" + +"My cherished landlady's gone to the Exposition," said Nyoda, with a +fresh burst of grief, "and I can't live with her and be her boarder this +summer! It's a cruel world! And me so young and tender!" + +"Two flies in the guest chamber," said Migwan, hospitably. "Thomas, my +good man, carry the boarders' bags up to their room, for I see they have +brought them right with them." + +"Save the trouble of going back after them," said Nyoda and Gladys, in +chorus. "We knew you couldn't refuse to take us in." + +"If ever a maiden had a look on her face which said, 'Come, come to this +bosom, my own stricken dear,'" continued Nyoda, "it's yon poet who is +going to seed." + +"Going to seed!" exclaimed Migwan, "and this after I have just opened my +hospitable doors to you!" + +"By going to seed, my innocent maid, I only meant to express in a veiled +and delicate way the fact that you were turning into a farmer," said +Nyoda. + +In spite of the fact that Migwan and Hinpoha had just expressed such +great pleasure at the prospect of being alone together for the summer, +they rejoiced in the arrival of Nyoda and Gladys as only two Winnebagos +could at the thought of having two more of their own circle under the +same roof with them, and their hearts beat high with anticipation of the +coming larks. + +Supper was a merry meal indeed that night, eaten out on the screened-in +back porch. "We are seven!" exclaimed Nyoda, counting noses at the +table. "The mystic number as well as the poetic one. 'Seven Little +Sisters;' 'The Seven Little Kids;' 'the seventh son of a seventh son.' +All mysterious things take place on the seventh of the month, and +something always happens when the clock strikes seven." As she paused to +take breath the old-fashioned clock in the kitchen slowly struck seven. +The last stroke was still vibrating when there came a ring at the +doorbell. "What did I tell you?" said Nyoda. "Enter the villain." + +The villain proved to be Sahwah. She looked rather astonished to see +Nyoda and Gladys at the table with the family. "Oh, Migwan," she said, +"could you possibly take me in for the summer? Mother got a telegram +to-day saying that Aunt Mary, that's her sister in Pennsylvania, had +fallen down-stairs and broken both her shoulder blades. Mother packed up +and went right away to take care of her and the children. She hasn't any +idea how long she'll be gone. Father started for a long business trip +out west this week and Jim is camping with the Boy Scouts. If you have +room----" A shout of laughter interrupted her tale. + +"Always room for one more," said Migwan. "You're the third weary pilgrim +to arrive." + +Sahwah looked at Nyoda and Gladys in astonishment. "You don't mean that +you're here for the summer, too?" When she heard that this was the truth +she twinkled with delight. "It's going to be almost as much fun as going +camping together was last year," she said, burying her nose in the mug +of milk which Migwan hospitably set before her. + +"What do you call this house by the side of the road?" asked Nyoda after +supper, when they were all sitting on the porch. Mrs. Gardiner sat +placidly rocking herself, undisturbed by the unexpected addition of +three members to her family. This whole summer venture was in Migwan's +hands, and she washed hers of the whole affair. Tom sat on the top step +of the porch, unnaturally quiet, with the air of a boy lost among a +whole crowd of girls. Betty, fascinated by Nyoda, sat at her feet and +watched her as she talked. + +"It has no name," said Migwan, in answer to Nyoda's question. + +"Then we must find one immediately," said Nyoda. "I refuse to sleep in a +nameless place." + +"Did the place where you used to live have a name?" asked Hinpoha, +banteringly. + +"It certainly did 'have a name,'" replied Nyoda, with a twinkle in her +eye. Gladys caught her eye and laughed. She was more in Nyoda's +confidence than the rest of the girls. + +"What was the name?" asked Betty. + +"It was Peacock Plaza," said Nyoda, "painted on a gold sign over the +door, where all who read could run." + +"That wasn't what you called it," said Gladys. + +"No, my beloved," returned Nyoda, "from the character and appearance of +most of the inmates of the Widder Higgins' establishment, I have been +moved to refer to it as 'The Rookery.'" + +"Now," said Gladys sternly, when the laughter over this title had +subsided, "tell the ladies the real reason why you had to seek a new +boarding place so abruptly." + +"I told you before," said Nyoda, "that my venturesome landlady went to +the Exposition and left me out in the cold." + +"That's not the real reason," said Gladys, severely. "If you don't tell +it immediately, I will!" + +"I'll tell it," said Nyoda submissively, alarmed at this threat. "You +see, it was this way," she began in a pained, plaintive voice. "This +Gladys woman over here came up to take supper with me last night--only +she smelled the supper cooking in the kitchen and turned up her nose, +whereupon I was moved with compassion to cook supper for her in my +chafing-dish unbeknownst to the landlady, who has been known to frown on +any attempts to compete with her table d'hôte." + +"I never!" murmured Gladys. "She invited me to a chafing-dish supper in +the first place." + +"Well, as I was saying," continued Nyoda, not heeding this interruption, +"to save her from starvation I dragged out my chafing-dish and made +shrimp wiggle and creamed peas, and we had a dinner fit for a king, if I +do say it as shouldn't. The crowning glory of the feast was a big onion +which Gladys's delicate appetite required as a stimulant. All went merry +as a marriage bell until it came to the disposal of that onion after the +feast was over, as there was more than half of it left. We didn't dare +take it down to the kitchen for fear the Widder would pounce on us for +cooking in our rooms, and even my stout heart quailed at the thought of +sleeping ferninst that fragrant vegetable. Suddenly I had an +inspiration." Here Nyoda paused dramatically. + +"Yes," broke in Gladys, impatient at her pause, "and she calmly chucked +it out of the second story window into the street!" + +"All would still have been mild and melodious," continued Nyoda, in a +solemn tone which enthralled her hearers, "if it hadn't been for the +fact that the fates had their fingers crossed at me last night. How +otherwise could it have happened that at the exact moment when the onion +descended the old bachelor missionary should have been prancing up the +walk, coming to call on the Widder Higgins? Who but fate could have +brought it about that that onion should bounce first on his hat, then on +his nose, and then on his manly bosom?" + +"And he never waited to see what hit him!" put in Gladys, for whom the +recital was not going fast enough. "He ran as if he thought somebody had +thrown a bomb at him." + +"And the Widder Higgins was standing behind the lace curtain watching +his approach with maidenly reserve," resumed Nyoda, "and so had a box +seat view of the tragedy, and the last act of the drama was a moving +one, I can assure you." + +"Oh, Nyoda," cried Hinpoha and Sahwah and Migwan, pointing their fingers +at her, "a nice person you are to be Guardian of the Winnebagos! Fine +example you are setting your youthful flock! You need a guardian worse +than any of us!" + +"Do as you like with me," said Nyoda, covering her face with her hands +in mock shame, whereupon Hinpoha and Migwan and Gladys fell upon her +neck with one accord. + +"But we haven't named this house yet," said Nyoda, uncovering her face +and smoothing out her black hair. + +"I thought of a name while you were telling about the onion," said +Migwan. "It's Onoway House." + +"What does that mean?" asked Nyoda. + +"It's a symbolic word, like Wohelo," said Migwan. "It's made from the +words, Only One Way. You see there was only one way of getting that +money to go to college and that was by coming here." + +"I think that is a very good name," said Nyoda. "It is clever as well as +pretty. It sounds like the song, 'Onaway, awake beloved,' from +Hiawatha's Wedding Feast." + +"It sounds like the water going over the stones in the river," said +romantic Hinpoha. + +And so Onoway House was named. + + + + +CHAPTER II.--NEIGHBORS. + + +Onoway House stood on the Centerville Road, on a farm of about four +acres. All of the land was not worked, just the part that was laid out +as a garden and a small orchard of peach trees. The rest was open meadow +running down to the river. It had originally been a much larger farm--Old +Deacon Waterhouse's place--but after his death it had been divided up and +sold in sections. Onoway House was the original home built by the deacon +when he bought the farm as a young man. It was a very old place, large +and rambling, and full of queer corners and passageways, and a big +echoing cobwebby attic, crowded with old furniture and trunks. The house +had been sold with all its furnishings at the Deacon's death, and the +old things were still in the rooms when the Bartletts bought it +twenty-five years later. This made it unnecessary for the Gardiners, +when they came, to bring any of their own furniture. The Bartletts had +never lived on the place, hiring a caretaker to work the garden, and it +was the sudden departure of this man that had given Migwan her chance. + +On either side of Onoway House was a farm of much larger proportions. To +the right there stood a big, homelike looking farmhouse painted white, +with porches and vines and a lawn in front running down to the road; on +the left was a smaller house, painted dark red, with a vegetable bed in +front. The garden at Onoway House had been given a good start and the +strawberries and asparagus and sundry other vegetables were ready to +market when Migwan took possession. The Winnebagos looked on the +gardening as a grand lark and pitched in with a will to help Migwan make +her fortune from the ground. + +"Did you ever see anything half so delicate as this little new +pea-vine?" asked Migwan, puttering happily over one of the long beds. + +"Or anything half so indelicate as this plantain bush?" asked Nyoda, +busily grubbing weeds. "'Scarce reared above the parent earth thy tender +form,'" she quoted, "'and yet with a root three times as long as the +hair of Claire de Lorme!'" + +"Burns would relish hearing that line of his applied to weeds," said +Migwan, laughing. "I wonder what he would have written if he had turned +up a plantain weed with his plough instead of a mountain daisy." + +"He wouldn't have turned up a plantain weed," said Nyoda, with a vicious +thrust of the long knife with which she was weeding, "it would have +turned him up." + +Migwan rose from the ground slowly and painfully. "Oh dear," she sighed, +"I wonder if Burns ever got as stiff in the joints from close contact +with Nature as I am?" + +"He certainly must have," observed Nyoda, straining her muscles to +uproot the weedy homesteader, "haven't you ever heard the slogan, 'Omega +Oil for Burns?'" + +Migwan laughed as she straightened up and held her aching back. "Earth +gets its price for what earth gives us," she quoted, with a mixture of +ruefulness and humor. + +"Listen to the poetry floating around on the breeze," cried Sahwah, +passing them as she ran the wheel hoe up and down between the rows of +plants. + + "Come and trip it as you go + On the light fantastic _hoe_," + +she sang. "Oh, I say," she called over her shoulder, "do I have to hoe +up the surface of the river around the watercress, too?" + +"You certainly do," said Nyoda gravely, "and while you're at it just +loosen up the air around that air fern of Mrs. Gardiner's." Sahwah made +a grimace and trundled off with her wheel hoe. + +"Are you looking for any field hands?" called a cheery voice. The girls +looked up to see a white-haired, pleasant-faced old man of about seventy +years standing in the garden. "My name's Landsdowne, Farmer Landsdowne," +he said by way of introduction, with a friendly smile, which included +all the girls at once, "and I've come to have a look at the new +caretaker." + +"I'm the one," said Migwan, stepping forward. "My name is Gardiner, and +I _am_ a gardener just now." + +"And are all these your sisters?" asked Farmer Landsdowne, quizzically. +Migwan laughed and introduced the girls in turn. They all liked Farmer +Landsdowne immediately. He walked up and down among the rows of +vegetables, and gave Migwan quantities of advice about soil cultivation, +insects and diseases and various other things pertaining to gardening, +for which she thanked him heartily. "Come over and see us," he said +hospitably, as he took his departure, "I live there," and he pointed to +the friendly looking white house on the right of Onoway House. + +"Isn't he a dear?" said Gladys, when he was gone. "I'm glad he's our +next door neighbor. What do you suppose the people on the other side are +like?" + +"Red isn't nearly so pretty as white," said Hinpoha, squinting at the +bare looking house to the left of them. As they looked a man came along +the edge of the land on which the red house stood. When he reached the +fence which separated the two farms he stood still for a few minutes +looking hard at Onoway House; then, seeing that the girls were looking +in his direction he turned and went back to the house. + +The strawberries were ready to pick the first week that the girls were +at Onoway House, and Migwan had an idea about marketing them. She gave +each picker two baskets with instructions to put only the largest and +finest in one and the medium-sized and small ones in the other. + +"What are you going to take them to town in?" asked Gladys. Although +there was a large barn on the place there were no horses, for Mr. +Mitchell, the last caretaker, had owned his own horse and taken it away +with him when he left. + +"I'll have to hire one from some of the neighbors," said Migwan. Mr. +Landsdowne, when interviewed, would have been extremely glad to let them +take a horse and wagon, but this was a busy time and one of his teams +was sick so none could be spared. Feeling considerably more shy than she +had when she went to Mr. Landsdowne, Migwan went over to the red house. +As she went around the path to the back door she heard sounds of loud +talking in a man's voice, which ceased as she came up on the porch. A +red faced man, (he almost matched the house, thought Migwan) came to the +door. "I am your new neighbor, Elsie Gardiner," said Migwan, "and I +wonder if I could hire a horse and wagon from you three times a week to +take my vegetables to town." + +"So you've come to live on the place, have you?" said the man. "How long +are you going to stay?" + +"All summer," replied Migwan. She was not drawn to this man as she was +to Farmer Landsdowne. There was something about him that seemed to repel +her, although she could not have told what it was. + +"Yes, I can let you have a horse and wagon," he said, after a moment. +"When do you want it?" + +"In about an hour," said Migwan. + +"I'll send it over," said the master of the red house. "My name's +Smalley, Abner Smalley," he said, as she took her leave. + +In an hour the horse was at the door. It was brought over by a +pleasant-faced, light-haired lad of about seventeen, who introduced +himself as Calvin Smalley. + +"You don't look a bit like your father," said Migwan. + +"That's not my father," said Calvin, "that's my uncle. My father's dead. +He was Uncle Abner's brother. I live with Uncle Abner and Aunt Maggie. +But the farm's really mine," he said proudly, as though he did not want +anyone to think he was living on charity even though he was an orphan, +"for Grandfather willed it to Father. Uncle Abner's holding it in trust +for me until I'm of age." + +There was something so frank and manly about him that the girls liked +him at once. But if Calvin Smalley made such a good impression, the +horse which he had brought over for the girls to drive to town was less +fortunate. He was a hoary, moth-eaten looking creature that might easily +have been the first white horse born west of the Mississippi. In looking +at him you would be left with a lingering doubt in your mind as to +whether he had originally been white or had turned white with age. He +tottered so that each step threatened to be his last The wagon to which +he was fastened with a patched and rotten harness had probably been on +the scene some years before he was born. Migwan was much taken aback +when she inspected him. "I wouldn't dare attempt to drive that beast all +the way to town," she thought to herself. "He'd never get beyond the +first bend in the road. And if he did make it he'd go so slowly that my +berries would be out of season before I got to my customers." + +"Isn't he rather--old?" she said, aloud. "I'm afraid he isn't able to +work much." + +Calvin blushed fiery red and his eyes sought the ground in distress. +"It's a shame," he said, fiercely, "to try to hire out such a horse. I +don't blame you for not wanting it." Without another word he climbed +into the wagon and urged the feeble horse back to his home pasture. + +"Didn't you feel sorry for that poor boy?" said Migwan. "He felt ashamed +clear down to his shoes at having to bring that old wreck of a horse +over. I should have died if I had been in his place. He's such a nice +looking boy, too. I suppose his uncle is one of those stingy, grasping +farmers who work everybody to death on the place. Anybody who plants +vegetables in his front yard must be stingy. That horse probably +couldn't work on the farm any more so he thought he would make some +money out of it by hiring it to us. He must have thought girls didn't +know a horse when they saw one. I didn't exactly fall in love with Mr. +Smalley when I went over. He wasn't a bit friendly like Mr. Landsdowne." + +"I foresee where we will have little to do with our neighbors in the Red +House," said Sahwah. "I'm sorry, because I like to have lots of people +to visit, and like to have them running in at odd times, the way Mr. +Landsdowne appeared." + +"Let's not have any hard feelings against Calvin Smalley, though," said +Migwan. "He isn't to blame for his uncle's stinginess. I dare say he +isn't very happy over there. Let's have him over as often as we can." + +"Spoken like a true Winnebago," said Nyoda, approvingly. + +"But in the meantime," said Migwan, in perplexity, "what are we going to +do for a horse and wagon to take our things to town?" + +"Why not use our car?" said Gladys. The machine she had come in was +still in the barn at Onoway House. "It's a good thing I learned to run +the big one--father said I might use it all summer if I would be a good +girl and stay at home when they went out west." + +"Could we get everything in?" asked Migwan. + +"I think so," said Gladys, "if we arrange them carefully." The berries +and asparagus were loaded into the back of the machine and Gladys and +Migwan drove off. + +"What shall we do now, Nyoda?" asked Hinpoha, after the two girls were +gone. + +"I know what I'm going to do," said Nyoda, moving in the direction of +her bedroom. "Now," she said, as she threw herself on the bed with a +great yawn and stretch, "if anyone asks you what kind of a farmer I am +you may tell them that I'm a retired one!" Nyoda had been up since four +o'clock that morning, and was unused to such early rising. Hinpoha drew +down the shade to shut out the strong sunlight and tiptoed from the +room. + +Gladys and Migwan stopped first at a large grocery store to inquire the +prices of strawberries and asparagus. The proprietor offered to buy the +whole load, but they would not sell, as they could get more for them by +peddling them at retail prices. Migwan examined the berries in the +store, and mentally fixed her middle grade berries at the same price +with them, and her finest grade ones at three cents higher. + +"I've an idea," said Gladys, "that some of mother's friends would take +the berries at our own price." Thus it was that Mrs. Davis, whose +speculations about the financial standing of the Evans family had +resulted in Gladys's mother giving her such an elaborate party the +winter before, was surprised by a call from Gladys at ten o'clock in the +morning. + +"Ah, good morning, my dear," she said effusively, seating Gladys in the +parlor, "you have come to spend the day, I hope? Caroline is not up +yet--she was out late last night--but I shall make her get up right away." + +"Please don't call Caroline," said Gladys, "it's you I came to see." + +"Oh, yes," purred Mrs. Davis, "a message from your mother, I see." + +Gladys came to the point directly. "Have you canned your strawberries +yet, Mrs. Davis?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Davis, a little puzzled by the question. + +"Would you like to buy some extra fine ones?" continued Gladys. + +"Why, yes, I suppose so," said Mrs. Davis, "who has any for sale?" + +"I have," said Gladys, "right out here in the machine." Mrs. Davis +bought the whole eight quarts of large berries, paying fifteen cents a +quart straight, and ordered another eight quarts as soon as they should +be ripe. She also took two bunches of asparagus. + +"Whatever are you doing, Gladys Evans?" she asked, curiously. "Peddling +berries?" + +Gladys laughed at her evident mystification, and tingled with a desire +to keep her guessing. "We decided that I had better work this summer," +she said, gravely, "so I am peddling berries for a friend of ours who is +a farmer. We will have to go on a farm ourselves, father said, if things +to eat get much dearer, so I am getting the practice. Wouldn't you like +to be a regular customer, and have me bring you fresh vegetables and +fruit three times a week all through the summer?" + +"Why, yes," stammered Mrs. Davis in a daze, "of course, certainly." + +"All right, then," said Gladys, "I'll put you down." She drove off in +high glee, and Mrs. Davis went into the house with a knowing smile on +her face. So the Evanses were losing money after all, and Gladys was +working this summer instead of traveling. Poor Gladys! She flew +up-stairs to communicate the news to her energetic daughter Caroline who +was just beginning to think about getting up. "I do feel so sorry for +poor Gladys," she said. "You must be very kind to her whenever you meet +her." + +The rest of the berries and vegetables were disposed of to other friends +of Gladys's and Migwan's, all for topnotch prices, and there were at +least half a dozen names in the little note book when they started +homeward, of people who wanted to be supplied regularly. To some of her +friends Gladys told frankly whose fruit she was selling, and enlisted +their sympathies in the enterprise, while to others, like the Davises +and the Joneses, who were thorough snobs, she could not resist +pretending that she was actually working for a farmer to earn money. She +could not remember when she had enjoyed anything so much as the +expressions on the various faces when she made her little speech at the +door and offered her basket of fruit for inspection. "Wait until I tell +dad about it," she chuckled to Migwan. + +When they returned to Onoway House they found that during their absence +the girls, with the help of Mr. Landsdowne, had constructed a raft about +seven feet square, which they were setting afloat on the river. "Oh, +what fun!" cried Migwan when she saw it. "We needed another rapid vessel +to go boating in. There's only one rowboat and we could never all go out +at once. What shall we call it?" + +"Let's name it the Tortoise," said Hinpoha, "and call the rowboat the +Hare." + +"Oh, no," said Sahwah, "let's call it the Crab, because it travels sort +of sidewise." Hinpoha held out for her name and Sahwah would not yield +hers. + +"Contest of arms!" cried Nyoda. "Decide the question by a test of +physical prowess. Whichever one of you can pole the raft straight across +the river and back again without mishap in the shortest time may have +the privilege of naming it. Is that fair?" + +"It is!" cried all the girls. Hinpoha and Sahwah, dressed in their +bathing-suits, prepared for the contest. Hinpoha had the first trial +because she had spoken first. Getting onto the raft and seizing the +stout pole, she pushed off from the shore. It was difficult to keep the +unwieldy craft going toward the opposite bank, because it had a strong +inclination to be carried down-stream with the current. Halfway across +she grounded on a rock and stood marooned. Sahwah watched the moments +tick off on Nyoda's watch with ill-concealed delight while Hinpoha +pushed and strained on the pole to set the raft free. Finally she leaned +all her weight, which was no small item, on the pole and shoved with her +feet against the raft. It freed itself and glided away under her feet, +leaving her clinging to the pole in the middle of the river, while her +solid footing of a few moments ago swung into the current and floated +off beyond her reach. She looked so comical clinging to the pole, which +was fast losing its upright position under her weight, that the girls +were unable to help her for laughter, and a minute later she plunged +into the river with a mighty splash and swam disgustedly to shore. + +"Our new boat will not be called the TORTOISE, it seems," said Nyoda. +"Cheer up, Hinpoha, you have made yourself more immortal by the picture +you presented hanging over the water than you would have by naming the +raft. As Hinpoha, the Polehanger, you will have your portrait in the +Winnebago Hall of Fame. Now then, Sahwah, show her how it should be +done." + +Sahwah, ever more skilful in watercraft than Hinpoha, poled the raft +neatly across the stream to the opposite shore, paused a moment to see +that the feat was properly registered by the judges, and then started +back. Unlike Hinpoha, who forged blindly ahead, she felt carefully with +her pole to locate the points of the rocks and then avoided them. "Here +I come," she hailed, when she was nearly back to the starting point, "on +my new raft, the CRAB." Striking a heroic attitude with arms crossed and +one foot out ahead of the other she stepped to the edge of the raft, +when the floating floor tipped under her weight and she lost her balance +and fell head first into the water. The raft, released from her guiding +hand, went off with the current as it had done before. The look of +stupefaction on her face when she came up out of the water was even +funnier than the sight of Hinpoha marooned on the pole. + +"The raft will not be named the CRAB, either, it seems," said Nyoda. + +"I don't care what it's called," said Sahwah, her temper up, "I'm going +to pole that raft across the river." + +"So'm I," said Hinpoha, her eye gleaming with resolution. + +"Let's do it together," said Sahwah. + +Thanks to Sahwah's skill with the pole and Hinpoha's judicious balancing +of the raft at the right places, they made the trip over and back +without mishap. + +"Two heads are better than one," said Sahwah, as they landed, "what +neither of us could do alone we can do in combination." + +"Then why not combine the names?" said Nyoda. "You have each won equal +rights in the contest." + +"Good idea," said Sahwah. "We couldn't find a better one than the +Tortoise-Crab." So the name was painted across the floor of the raft, +this being the only space big enough. + +Delighted with their new sport, the girls spent the whole evening on the +river, all five Winnebagos and Betty and Tom on the raft at once, +floating down-stream with the current and being towed up again by the +rowboat. It was bright moonlight, and the air was full of romance. At +one place along the riverbank there stood a high rock, grey on the +moonlit side and black on the other. "It reminds me of the Lorelei +Rock," said Nyoda. + +"Let's play Lorelei," said Sahwah. + +"What do you mean?" asked Nyoda. + +"Why," answered Sahwah, "let Hinpoha climb up on the rock and comb her +hair and sing, and we come along on the raft and listen to her song and +run into the rock and upset. We want to go swimming before we go to bed +anyhow." + +"I can't sing," objected Hinpoha. + +"That doesn't make any difference," said Sahwah, "sing anyway." + +So Hinpoha mounted the moonlit rock and shook her long, red hair down +over her shoulders, combing it out with her sidecomb and singing "Fairy +Moonlight," while the raft floated lazily down-stream toward the base of +the cliff, its passengers sitting in attitudes of enraptured listening, +and pointing ecstatically to the figure silhouetted against the moon. +Sahwah adroitly steered the raft toward the rock and it struck with a +great jar. It disobligingly kept its balance, however, and refused to +upset. Sahwah deliberately rolled off the edge, tipping it as she did +so, and the rest went off on all sides, giggling and splashing in the +water. Hinpoha on the rock above wrung her hands in mock horror at the +effect of her song. That instant a figure came running at top speed +along the river bank. "I'll save you, girls," he shouted, jumping into +the water with all his clothes on. Catching hold of Migwan, who was +hanging on to the raft, he pulled her out of the water and set her on +the shore. It was Calvin Smalley, their neighbor from the Red House. + +"Oh," gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at him, "I thank you ever so +much, but we're not really drowning. We upset the raft on purpose." + +"Upset it on purpose!" said Calvin, in astonishment. + +"Yes," answered Migwan, "we were playing Lorelei, you know." + +Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the victims of the upset +were all dressed in bathing-suits, and that they seemed to be very much +at home in the water. "It looked like a dreadful smashup," he said, "and +I forgot that the river isn't very deep here. Do you generally play such +quiet games?" + +"Sometimes we play much more quiet ones," said Sahwah meaningly. + +"It was too bad to frighten you so," said Nyoda. "We'll have to warn +spectators the next time we do anything. We'll have to have a flag that +says 'Stunt coming; look out for the splash!' and whoever runs may +read." At this moment Hinpoha jumped from the rock, out into the middle +of the stream, where it was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and +came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite startled. + +"Say," he said, looking around at the group of girls who were doing +various astonishing things, "do you belong to the circus?" + +The girls laughed at this inquiry. "Oh, no," said Migwan, "we are only +Camp Fire Girls." + +"Camp Fire Girls?" said Calvin. "I've heard of them, but I never knew +any. Is that why you call each other by such funny names?" + +"Yes," answered Migwan, and she told him their names and their meanings. + +"It must be great fun to be a Camp Fire Girl," said Calvin thoughtfully. + +"Come for a ride on the raft with us," said Migwan, "we are going back +now. We aren't going to upset again," she added reassuringly, "and if we +did you couldn't get any wetter." Calvin smiled at the pleasantry, but +said he must be going in. He was on his way home when he saw the raft +upset. The Lorelei Rock was just on the other side of the Smalley farm. +He bade them a friendly good-night, promising to come over to Onoway +House soon, and took his way home across the fields. + +"What a nice boy he is," said Migwan. "He wasn't a bit cross when he +found that the joke was on him, as some would have been." + +Migwan woke up in the night and could not go to sleep again immediately. +As she lay smiling to herself about the fun they had had with the raft +that evening, she heard a sound as of something dropped on the attic +floor above her room, followed by a faint creaking as of someone walking +over bare boards. She clutched Hinpoha's arm and woke her up. "There's +someone in the attic," she whispered. Hinpoha yawned. + +"I don't hear anything," she said. + +"There it is again," said Migwan, "listen." Again there came a faint +creak, accompanied by a far-away rustle as of crinkling paper. + +"It's mice," said Hinpoha, "or maybe rats. They get between the walls +and make noises that way." + +Migwan breathed a sigh of relief and composed herself to slumber again. +"I suppose these dreadfully old houses are just overrun with things of +that kind," she said. "But for a moment it did give me a scare." + + + + +CHAPTER III.--OPHELIA. + + +"They've come! They've come!" shrieked Migwan, running into the +dining-room where the rest of the family were peacefully finishing their +breakfast. + +"Who've come?" said Nyoda, excitedly, "the Mexicans?" + +"The bean weevils," said Migwan, tragically. "Mr. Landsdowne said to +watch out for them, although they were hardly ever found up north, but +they're here. He just found a bush with them on." + +"To arms!" cried Sahwah, springing up. "The Flying Column to the rescue! + + "Forward the Bug Brigade, + Is there a leaf unsprayed?"---- + +Here she tripped over the carpet and her Amazonian shout came to an +abrupt end. + +"Where are the weevils?" she asked, when they had all gathered around +the bean patch. + +"On here," said Migwan, indicating a hill of beans. + +"Oh," said Sahwah, in a disappointed tone. + +"Where did you think they were?" asked Migwan. + +"From the noise you were making," said Sahwah, "I expected to find them +drawn up in battle lines, waiting to charge the garden with fixed +bayonets." + +"They'll do just as much damage as if they had bayonets," remarked +Farmer Landsdowne. + +"Do be cautious in approaching such deadly foes," said Sahwah in a tone +of mock anxiety, as Migwan came along with the sprayer, "take careful +aim, and don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." + +"I'll spray you in a minute if you don't keep still," said Migwan. + +"What must it feel like to be a weevil," said Gladys, musingly, "and be +hunted down remorselessly wherever you went?" + +"Gladys has gone over to the side of the enemy," said Sahwah, teasingly. +"There is the subject for your next book, Migwan, 'Won by a Weevil', by +the author of 'Enthralled by a Thrip'! It must have been weevils +Tennyson meant when he wrote 'The Lotus Eaters.'" + +"Battle over?" asked Hinpoha, as Migwan laid down the sprayer. "Then +let's celebrate the victory. Cheer the bean crop." To the tune of "We +will, We will Cheer," they sang, + + "Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, O!" + +"Don't crow too soon," said Farmer Landsdowne, picking up his sprayer +preparatory to taking his departure, "there may be twice as many on +to-morrow." + +"I flatly refuse to worry about to-morrow," said Nyoda, "'sufficient +unto the day is the weevil thereof!'" + +Calvin Smalley, working in the vegetable patch in front of the Red +House, heard that cheer and paused in his work to look over at the other +garden. He was wondering what was so funny about gardening. "I wish," he +sighed, as he turned back to his endless task, "that those girls were my +sisters!" + +Gladys went into town alone when the last of the strawberries were ripe, +for none of the other girls could be spared that day. The squash bugs +had descended on the garden and all hands were required on deck to save +the squash and melon vines from being eaten alive. On the way she passed +Mr. Smalley, driving the identical wreck of a horse he had tried to hire +out to the girls. He had a heavy load of vegetables, and the poor, +broken down creature would hardly move it from the spot. He started +nervously as the machine passed him on the narrow road, and Mr. Smalley +pulled him up sharply and brought the whip down on his back with a heavy +cut. "Ain't you used to automobiles yet, you stupid brute?" he growled. + +Gladys delivered the eight quarts of extra large berries to Mrs. Davis +first. "Wouldn't you like to stay in town and have lunch with us and go +to the theatre afterward?" Mrs. Davis said in such a patronizing tone +that Gladys quite started, and then laughed inwardly. + +"I'm sorry, but I haven't sold all of my berries yet," she answered +soberly, "and I have to hurry back and help pick bugs." + +"Pick bugs?" exclaimed Mrs. Davis, in a horrified tone. + +"Yes," said Gladys, with a relish, "nice juicy, striped bugs that crunch +beautifully when you step on them." + +"Oh, oh," said Mrs. Davis, putting her hands over her ears. "Give my +love to your poor, dear mamma," she said gushingly, when Gladys was +departing. "Tell her she has my fullest sympathy." As Gladys's poor, +dear mamma was, at that moment, seated on the observation platform of a +luxurious railway coach, speeding through the mountains of Washington +while Mrs. Davis was obliged to stay in town for the time being, she was +not really in as much need of Mrs. Davis's sympathy as that lady fondly +imagined. + +Gladys disposed of the remaining berries to other amused or patronizing +friends, and then decided to look up a laundress she knew of and get her +to come out to Onoway House once in a while to do the heavy washing. The +street where the laundress lived was narrow and crowded with children +playing in the middle of the road, and progress was rather slow. One +little girl in particular made Gladys extremely nervous by running +across the street right in front of the machine and daring her to run +over her, shaking her fists at her and making horrible grimaces. She got +across the street once in safety and then started back again. Just then +a small child sprang up from the ground right under the very wheels of +the machine and Gladys turned sharply to one side. The fender struck the +saucy little girl who was daring her to run over her and she rolled +under the car, screaming. Gladys jammed down the emergency brake with a +jerk that almost wrenched the machinery of the automobile asunder. White +as a sheet she jumped out and picked the girl up. In an instant an angry +crowd of women and children had surrounded the machine. "Darn yer!" +cried the child shrilly, shaking a dirty fist in Gladys's face, while +the other arm hung limp. "I thought yer didn't dast run into me." + +"Get into the car," said Gladys, terrified, "and I'll take you home." + +"I dassent go home," shrieked the child, "Old Grady'll lick the tar out +of me if I go home without sellin' me papers." + +"Then let me take you to the hospital, or somewhere," said Gladys, +anxious to get away from the threatening crowd. + +"What's the matter?" asked one voice after another, as the tenements +poured their human contents into the street. + +"Ophelia's run over," explained a powerful Irish woman, with a shawl +over her head, who kept her hand on the handle of the car door. "Lady +speedin' run her down like a dog." An angry murmur rose from the crowd. +Gladys shook in her shoes and wondered if she dared start the car with +all those children hanging on the front of it. She looked around +helplessly for someone who would help her out of her difficulty. Just +then a policeman turned into the street, attracted by the crowd. + +"Cheese it, de cop!" screamed a ragged gamin, who stood on the step of +the car, and the women and children began to slink into the doorways. +Gladys waited until he came up, and then explained the whole matter and +asked where the nearest hospital was. + +"Can't blame you for hitting that brat," said the policeman, "she's the +terror of drivers for two blocks." Ophelia stuck out her tongue at him. +Gladys drove her to the hospital where it was discovered that the left +arm was broken below the elbow. Painful as the setting may have been +there was "never a whang out of her," as the doctor remarked, although +she hung on tightly to Gladys's white sleeve with her dirty hand. Her +waist was taken off to find the extent of the damage, and Gladys was +frightened to see that the other arm was fearfully bruised and +scratched, and there was a ring of purple and green blotches around her +neck like a collar. + +"She must have been thrown down harder than I thought," said Gladys to +the nurse. + +"Thrown down nothin'," answered Ophelia, "Old Grady did that the other +day when I threw a stone through the winder." And she held up the +mottled arm where all might see. + +"Oh," said Gladys, with a shudder, "cover it up." Putting Ophelia into +the machine again she drove back to the scene of the accident and +entered the squalid tenement in which the child said she lived. + +"Won't Old Grady beat me up though, when she finds I've busted me wing," +said Ophelia, as they mounted the rickety stairs. Hardly had she spoken +when the door at the head of the stairs flew open and a large, +red-faced, coarse-looking woman strode out and shook her fist over the +banisters. + +"I'll fix ye fer stayin' out afther I tell ye ter come in, ye little +devil," she shouted. "I'll break every bone in yer body. Gimme the money +for the papers first." + +"Go chase yerself," said Ophelia, standing still on the stairs with a +spiteful gleam in her eye, "there ain't no money. I ain't had time ter +peddle this afternoon." + +"What yer mean, no money?" screamed the woman. "Just wait till I get me +hands on yer!" + +Gladys shrank back against the wall in terror, then collecting herself +she thrust Ophelia behind her and faced the angry woman. "Ophelia has +had an accident," she explained. "I ran over her with my machine and +broke her arm." The woman brushed past her and grabbed Ophelia by the +shoulder. Overcome with fury at the thought that her household drudge +would be of no use to her for several weeks, she boxed her ears again +and again, calling her every name she could think of. Finally she let go +of her with a push that sent Ophelia stumbling down half a dozen stairs. + +"Get out o' my sight!" she shrieked. "Do yer think I'm going ter house +an' feed a worthless brat that ain't doin' nothin' fer her keep? Get out +an' live in the streets yer like ter play in so well!" With a final +exclamation she strode back into the room and slammed the door after +her. Ophelia picked herself up from the step, shaking her one useful +fist at the closed door at the head of the stairs. + +Gladys was inexpressibly shocked at this heartless treatment of an +injured child. "Come--come home with me," she said faintly. Seated beside +her in the big car, Ophelia ran out her tongue and made faces at the +jeering children who watched her ride away. + +"This is the life!" she exclaimed, as she settled herself comfortably in +the cushioned seat. People in the streets turned to stare at the dirty +little ragamuffin riding beside the daintily gowned young girl, shouting +saucily at the passers-by, or making jeering remarks in a voice audible +above the noise of traffic. + +The girls were all out in front watching for her as Gladys drove up. It +was past supper time and they were wondering what had become of her. +What a chorus of surprised exclamations arose when Ophelia was set down +in their midst! Gladys explained the situation briefly and asked Migwan +if they could not keep her there awhile. Migwan consented hospitably and +went off to find a place for her to sleep, while Gladys proceeded to +wash the accumulated layers of dirt from Ophelia's face and divest her +of her spotted rags. She came to the table in a kimono of Gladys's, for +there were no clothes in the house that would fit her. She was nine +years old, she said, but small and thin for her age, with arms and legs +like pipe-stems which fairly made one shiver to look at. She had a +little, pinched, sharp featured face, cunning with the knowledge of the +world gained from her life on the streets, big grey-green eyes filled +with dancing lights, and black hair that tumbled around her face in +tangled curls, which Gladys was not able to smooth out in her hasty +going over before supper. + +Not in the least shy in her new surroundings, nor complaining of +discomfort from the broken arm, she sat at the table and kept up a +cheerful stream of talk, racy with slang and the idiom of the streets. +Hinpoha was instantly dubbed "Firetop." "Is it red inside of yer head?" +she asked, after gazing steadfastly at Hinpoha's hair for several +minutes. To all questions about her father and mother she shrugged her +shoulders. "Ain't never had any," she replied. "I was born in the Orphan +Asylum. Old Grady got me there." Here a spasm of rage distorted her face +at the remembrance of Old Grady's ministrations, followed by a wicked +chuckle when she thought how that tender guardian's plan for turning her +out homeless into the street had been frustrated by this lucky stroke of +fate. What her last name was she did not know. "I guess I never had +one," she said cheerfully. "I'm just Ophelia." Gladys was much +distressed because she would not drink milk. "No," she said, shoving it +away, "that's for the babies. Gimme coffee or nothin'." Disdaining the +aid of fork or spoon, she conveyed her food to her mouth with her +fingers. "Say," she said, after staring fixedly at Nyoda in a +disconcerting way she had, "are yer teeth false?" + +"Certainly not!" said Nyoda indignantly. "What made you think so?" + +"They're so white and even," said Ophelia. "Nobody ever had such teeth +of their own." + +"Did you bleach yer hair?" she asked next, turning her attention to +Gladys's pale gold locks. Gladys merely laughed. + +Ophelia waxed more loquacious as she filled up on the good things on the +table. "Did yer husband leave yer?" she inquired sociably of Mrs. +Gardiner. Gladys rose hastily and bore Ophelia away to her room, where a +cot had been set up for her. + +"Three flies in the spider's parlor," said Migwan. + +"And one in the ointment, or my prophetic soul has its signals crossed," +said Nyoda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--THE MEDICINE LODGE. + + +Nyoda's prophetic soul proved to be a true prophet, and there were +trying times to follow the establishment of Ophelia at Onoway House. +That very first night Nyoda woke with a strangling sensation to find +Ophelia sitting on her chest. "I want ter sleep in the bed wid yer," she +said, in answer to Nyoda's startled inquiry. "I'm afraid ter sleep +alone." She had been trying to creep in between Nyoda and Gladys and +lost her balance, which accounted for her position when Nyoda woke up. + +"But there's nothing in the room to hurt you," Nyoda said, reassuringly. + +"It's them hop-toads," she wailed, stopping her ears against the pillow, +"they give me th' pip with their everlastin' screechin'. They sound +right under the bed." Gladys woke up in time to hear her and offered to +take the cot herself and let Ophelia sleep with Nyoda. + +The next morning Gladys made a hurried trip to town to buy Ophelia some +clothes, while Nyoda washed her hair, much to Ophelia's disgust. The +curls were so matted that it was impossible to comb them out and there +was nothing left to do but cut them short. When all the foreign coloring +matter had been removed and the hair had begun to dry in the warm wind, +Nyoda stopped beside her in bewildered astonishment. On the top of her +head, just about in the center, there was a circular patch of light hair +about three inches in diameter. All the rest was black. "Ophelia," said +Nyoda, looking her straight in the eyes, "how did you bleach the top of +your hair?" + +"It's a fib," said Ophelia, politely, "I never bleached it." + +"Then somebody did," said Nyoda. + +"Didn't neither," contradicted Ophelia. + +"We'll see whether they did or not," said Nyoda, "when the hair grows +out from the roots." + +Dressed in the pretty clothes Gladys bought for her she was not at all a +bad looking child, but her language and her knowledge of evil absolutely +appalled the dwellers at Onoway House. "Did yer old man beat yer up?" +she asked sympathetically of Mrs. Landsdowne, when that gentle lady came +to call. Mrs. Landsdowne had run into the barn door the day before and +had a bruise on her forehead. + +Ophelia's sins in the garden were too numerous to chronicle. When set to +weeding she pulled weeds and plants impartially, working such havoc in a +short time that she was forbidden to touch a single growing thing. Her +ignorance of everything pertaining to the country was only equalled by +her curiosity. + +"What would happen to the cow if you didn't milk her?" she demanded of +Farmer Landsdowne, as she watched him milking one day. "She'd bust, I +suppose," she went on, answering her own question while Farmer +Landsdowne was scratching his head for a reply. "Say, are yer whiskers +fireproof?" she asked, scrutinizing his white beard with interest. +"Because if they ain't yer don't dast smoke that pipe. The Santa Claus +in Lefkovitz's window told me so. Say, what do you do when they get +dirty?" + +Leaving her alone in the barn for a few moments he heard a mighty +squawking and cackling and hastened to investigate. He found the old +setting hen running distractedly around one of the empty horse stalls, +frantically trying to get out, while Ophelia was holding the big rooster +on the nest with her one hand, in spite of the fact that he was flapping +his wings and pecking at her furiously. "He ought to do some of the +settin'," she remarked, when taken to task for her act, "he ain't doin' +nothin' fer a livin'." + +The squash bugs had descended once more, and were making hay of the +squash bed while the sun shone, and the girls worked a whole, long weary +afternoon clearing the vines. As the bugs were picked off they were put +into tin cans to be destroyed. Tired to death and heartily sick of +handling the disagreeable insects the girls quit the job at sundown, +having just about cleared the patch. They gathered in Migwan's big room +before supper to make some plans for the Winnebago Ceremonial Meeting +which was to be held at Onoway House on the Fourth of July. Ophelia +promptly followed them and demanded admittance. "You can't come in," +said Migwan rather crossly, for there were secrets being told which they +did not want her to hear. + +Ophelia wandered off in search of amusement. Mr. Bob had fled at her +approach and was hiding under the porch, and Betty had been admitted to +the council of the Winnebagos, for Migwan and Nyoda had decided at the +beginning of the summer that if there was to be any peace with her she +would have to be a party to all their doings, and as she was to be put +into a Camp Fire Group in the fall she was given this opportunity of +learning to qualify for the various honors by watching the intimate +workings of the Winnebago group. Tom was over at the Landsdowne's and +Mrs. Gardiner was getting supper and invited Ophelia to stay out of the +kitchen when she came down to see if there was any fun to be had there. +Ophelia had been allowed to help once or twice and had broken so many +dishes with her one-handed way of doing things that Mrs. Gardiner lost +all patience and refused to have her around. + +Strolling out into the garden in her quest for something to do she came +upon the big tin pail containing all the squash bugs, which Migwan +intended taking over to Farmer Landsdowne for disposal. A mischievous +impulse seized her, and taking off the cover she emptied the bugs back +into the bed, where they crawled eagerly back to their interrupted feast +of tender leaves. When the prank was discovered Migwan sank wearily down +beside the patch she had tried so hard to save from destruction. +"Whatever possessed you?" said Nyoda, seizing Ophelia with the firm +determination of boxing her ears. But Ophelia shrank back with such +evident expectation of a blow that Nyoda loosened her hold. + +"Well, ain't yer goin' ter punish me?" asked Ophelia, still eyeing her +warily for an unexpected attack, with the attitude of an animal at bay. +To her surprise there were no blows forthcoming, but she was ordered to +pick off all the squash bugs again, and before the job was done she had +plenty of time to regret her rash act. All that beautiful long summer +evening, when the girls were on the front porch playing games and +shouting with laughter, she sat in the squash bed, undoing the mischief +she had done. When bed time came she was told to sleep in the cot by +herself, and Gladys and Nyoda took no notice of her at all, whispering +secrets to each other in bed with never a word to her. The next morning +she was awakened at four o'clock and set to work again, and so missed +the merry breakfast with the family. Gladys had promised to take her to +town in the machine that day, but, of course, this pleasure was +forfeited, as the beetles were not yet all picked off. The family was +all invited over to the Landsdowne's for supper that night, but by four +o'clock Ophelia realized with a pang of disappointment that she would +not even be through by five. Accustomed as she was to brutal treatment, +this was the worst punishment she had ever experienced, but she realized +that she deserved it and was gamely paying the price without a murmur. +When Migwan came out shortly after four and helped her so that she would +be done in time to go to Farmer Landsdowne's with the others her +penitence was complete. + +Preparations for the big Fourth of July Council meeting were going +forward apace. It was to be a house party, they decided, and the other +three Winnebagos, Nakwisi, Chapa and Medmangi, were to be invited to +spend the night. Sleeping quarters caused some debate, when Sahwah had a +brilliant idea. "Let's build a tepee," she said, "and all sleep on the +ground inside of it with our feet toward the center. Then we can hold +the Council Fire in there and dance a war dance around the fire and make +shadows on the sides to scare the natives." No sooner said than begun. +The front lawn was chosen as the site of the tepee, as that was the only +spot big enough. Dick, Tom and Mr. Landsdowne set the poles in a circle +to make the supporting framework, and the girls made the covering of +heavy sail cloth, which fitted snugly over the poles and had an opening +in the center of the top, and another one lower down for the entrance. +When done it would easily accommodate fifteen or sixteen persons. An +iron kettle was sunk into the ground in the center of the tepee. This +would hold sticks of wood soaked in kerosene, which is the secret of a +quickly lighted council fire, and also the alcohol and salt mixture +which is an indispensable part of all ghost story telling parties. The +grass around the kettle was pulled up, leaving a ring of bare earth, +which would prevent accident from the fire spreading. + +The whole thing was completed two days before the Fourth. A big sign, +WINNEBAGO MEDICINE LODGE, was hung over the entrance. Underneath it a +sign in smaller letters proclaimed that at the Fourth Sundown of the +Thunder Moon the big medicine man Face-Toward-the-Mountain would "make +medicine" in the lodge for the benefit of the Winnebago tribe and their +paleface friends. The "paleface friends" referred to were Mrs. Gardiner, +Betty and Tom and Ophelia, Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne and Calvin Smalley, +who were invited to see the show. + +"It's a shame Aunt Phoebe and the Doctor have to miss it," said Hinpoha. + +It was rumored that a real Indian princess would be present at the +medicine making, i.e., Sahwah in her Indian dress that Mr. Evans had +sent her from Canada, and excitement ran high among the invited guests +as hint after hint trickled out as to the elaborateness of the +ceremonial, which was to eclipse anything yet attempted in that line by +the Winnebagos, which was saying a great deal. Migwan had been seen +doing a great deal of surreptitious writing of late and at bed time the +Winnebagos had taken to congregating in the big, back bedroom and +locking the doors, and soon there would issue forth sounds of much +talking and laughter, so that a really experienced listener would almost +suspect there was a play in process of rehearsal. "Let's reh--you know," +said Migwan to Gladys, when the last touches had been put on the tepee, +suddenly cutting her words short and making a hand sign to finish her +sentence. + +"Do you mind if I don't just now," answered Gladys, "I have such a bad +headache I think I will lie down for a while. It must have been the sun +glaring on the white canvas." + +"I have one too," said Hinpoha, "it must have been the sun. I'll come +later when Gladys does," she said to Migwan, with an aggravatingly +mysterious hand sign. + +At supper time Ophelia refused to eat and moped in a manner quite +foreign to her. Her eyes were red and it looked as though she had been +crying. After supper she still sat by herself in a corner of the porch +and made no effort to trap the girls into telling their plans for the +Fourth as she had been doing all day. "Come and play Blind-Man's-Buff on +the lawn," called Migwan. Ophelia raised her head and looked at her +listlessly, but made no effort to join in the merry game. + +"Don't you feel well?" asked Nyoda, noting her languid manner. "Child, +what makes your eyes so red?" she said, turning Ophelia's face toward +the light. + +"I don't know," said Ophelia, wriggling out of her grasp, and putting +her head down on her knee. + +"Come, let me put you to bed," said Nyoda. "I'm afraid you're going to +be sick." In the morning Ophelia's face was all broken out and Nyoda +groaned when she realized the truth. Ophelia had the measles. All +preparations for the Fourth of July Ceremonial had to be called off, and +the three girls in town telephoned not to come out. The sight of the +tepee and all the plans it suggested called out a wail of despair every +time the girls went out in the yard. On the morning of the Glorious +Fourth Gladys woke to find herself spotted like a leopard. + +"That must be the reason why I had such a fearful headache the other +day," she said, as she took her place with the other sick one, half +amused and wholly disgusted at herself for having fallen a victim. + +"I had a headache too," said Hinpoha, in alarm, "I hope I'm not coming +down with them. I've had them once." + +"That doesn't help much," said Nyoda, "for I had them three times." +Hinpoha's fears were realized, and by night there was a third case +developed. And so, instead of a grand council on the Fourth of July +there was real medicine making at Onoway House. None of the sufferers +were very ill, although they must remain prisoners, and they had such a +jolly time in the "contagious disease ward" that Migwan and Sahwah, who +were finding things rather dull on the outside, wished fervently that +they had taken the measles too. + +As soon as the three invalids were pronounced entirely well there was a +celebration held in honor of the occasion in the tepee. At sundown Nyoda +went around beating on a tin pan covered with a cloth in lieu of a +tom-tom, which was always the signal for the tribe to come together. +Tom, as runner, was dispatched to fetch the Landsdownes and Calvin +Smalley. When the tribe came trooping in answer to the call, followed by +the guests, they were marched in solemn file around the lawn and into +the tepee. Inside there was a fire kindled in the center, with a circle +of ponchos and blankets spread around it on the ground. "Bless my soul, +but this is cozy," said Farmer Landsdowne, dropping down on a poncho and +stretching himself comfortably. + +"Now, what shall we do?" asked Nyoda, who was mistress of ceremonies, +"play games or tell stories?" + +"Tell stories," begged Migwan, "we haven't 'wound the yarn' for an age." + +"All right," agreed Nyoda, "shall we do it the way several of the Indian +tribes do?" + +"How do they do it?" asked Migwan. + +"Well," said Nyoda, "there is a tradition among certain tribes that if +anyone refuses to tell a story when he is asked he will grow a tail like +a donkey. Sometimes, however, they do not wait for Nature to perform +this miracle, but fasten a tail themselves onto the one who will not +entertain the crowd when he is bidden, and he must wear it until he +tells a story. Their way of asking one of their number to tell one is to +remark 'There is a tail to you,' as a delicate way of expressing the +fate that will be his if he refuses." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Sahwah. + +"And now Gladys," said Nyoda, "'there is a tail to you.'" + +Gladys placed more wood on the fire, which was burning low, and returned +to her seat on the blanket. "Did I ever tell you," she began, "about my +Aunt Beatrice? She and my Uncle Lynn were visiting here from the West +with my little cousin Beatrice, who was only six months old. They were +staying in a big hotel downtown. One night they went to a party, leaving +Beatrice in their room at the hotel in the care of her nurse. At the +party there was a fortune teller who amused the guests by reading their +palms. When it came my aunt's turn the woman said to her, 'You have had +one child, who is dead.' Everybody laughed because they knew Aunt +Beatrice had never lost a baby, and little Beatrice was safe and sound +in the hotel that very minute. But it worried my aunt almost to death, +and she couldn't enjoy herself the rest of the evening. + +"Finally she said to my uncle, 'I can't stand it any longer, I must go +home,' so they left the party just as the guests were sitting down to a +midnight supper, and everybody made fun of her for being such a fussy +young mother. When they got downtown they found the hotel in flames and +the streets blocked for a long distance around. Aunt Beatrice finally +broke through the fire lines and ran right past the firemen who tried to +keep her out, into the burning building, and fought her way up-stairs +through the smoke to her room, where she could hear a baby crying. She +was blind from the smoke and could hardly see where she was going, but +she picked up a rug from the floor, wrapped it around the baby and +carried her out in safety. When she got outside they found it was not +little Beatrice at all that she had saved, it was a strange baby. She +had mistaken the room up-stairs in the smoke and carried out someone +else's child. The building collapsed right after she came out and no one +could go in any more. Beatrice and her nurse were lost in the fire." A +murmur of horrified sympathy went around the circle in the tepee. "And," +continued Gladys, "my Aunt Beatrice has never been herself since. She +can't bear even to see a baby." + +"Is that the reason you wouldn't let me bring Marian Simpson's baby over +the day she left it with me to take care of?" asked Hinpoha. "I remember +you said your aunt was visiting you." + +"Yes, that was why," said Gladys. "And now, Mr. Landsdowne," she added, +"'there is a tail to you!'" + +Farmer Landsdowne stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment, and +then a reminiscent smile began to wrinkle the corners of his eyes. +"Would you like to hear a story about the old house?" he asked. + +"You mean Onoway House?" asked Migwan. + +Mr. Landsdowne nodded. "Only it seems strange to be calling it 'Onoway +House.' It has always been known as 'Waterhouse's Place,' because old +Deacon Waterhouse built it. Well, like most old houses, there are +different stories told about it, but whether they are true or not, no +one knows. People are so apt to believe anything they want to believe. +Well, I started out to tell you the story about the gas well. But before +I tell you about the gas well I suppose I ought to tell you about the +Deacon's son. Mind you, the things I am telling you are only what I have +heard from the folks around here; I never knew Deacon Waterhouse. He was +dead and the house empty before the farm was split up, and it wasn't +until the part that I now own was offered for sale that I ever came into +this neighborhood. Well, to return to the Deacon's son. They say that +there never was a finer looking young fellow than Charley Waterhouse. He +was a regular prince among the country boys. But he didn't care a rap +about farming. All he wanted to do was read; that and take the horse and +buggy and drive to town. The old Deacon was terribly disappointed, of +course, for Charley was his only son, and he couldn't see that the boy +wasn't cut out to be a farmer. He railed about his love of books and +wouldn't give him money for schooling. Charley stood it until he was +eighteen and then he ran away, after forging the Deacon's name to a +check. The folks around here never saw him again. Mrs. Waterhouse died +of a broken heart, they say. They also say," he added with a twinkle in +his eye, "that she died before she had her attic cleaned, and that her +ghost comes back at night and sets the old furniture straight up there." +Migwan and Hinpoha exchanged glances. + +"Now about the gas well," resumed Mr. Landsdowne. "The Deacon was +digging for water on the farm. The old well had dried up during a long, +hot spell and he was bound to go deep enough this time. Down they +went--two, three hundred feet, and still no good water. The ground had +turned into slate and shale. The well digger lit a match down in the +hole when suddenly there was a terrific explosion which caved in the +sides of the well and all the dirt which was piled around the outside +slid in again, completely filling it up. A vein of gas had been struck. +That very day the Deacon received word that his son was in San +Francisco, dying, and wanted to see him. He forgot his anger over +Charley's disgrace and started west that very night. He never came back. +He stayed in San Francisco a whole year and then died out there. While +he was there he mentioned the gas well to several people, or they say he +did, and that's how the story got round. But if such a thing did happen, +there was never any trace of it afterward. Personally I do not believe +it ever happened. But superstitious folks around here say they can still +hear the buried well digger striking with his pick against the earth +that covers him." + +"Two ghosts at Onoway House!" said Nyoda, "we are uncommonly well +supplied," and the girls shivered and drew near together in mock fear. +Thus, with various stories the evening wore away, until Farmer +Landsdowne, looking at his big, old-fashioned silver watch with a start, +remarked that he should have been in bed an hour ago, whereupon the +company broke up. Calvin Smalley went home reluctantly. That evening +spent by the fire in the tepee had been a sort of wonderland to him, +unused as he was to family festivities of any kind. + +Nyoda lingered after the rest had gone to see that the fire in the tepee +was properly extinguished. As she watched the glowing embers turn black +one by one she became aware of a figure standing in the doorway. The +moonlight fell directly on it and she could see that it was robed in +flowing white, and instead of a face there was a hideous death's head. +Horribly startled at first she recovered her composure when she +remembered that she was living in a household which were given to +playing jokes on each other. Flinging up her hands in mock terror, she +recited dramatically, + +"Art thou some angel, some devil, or some ghost?" The figure in the +doorway never moved. Nyoda picked up the thick stick with which she had +stirred the fire and rushed upon the ghost as if she intended to beat it +to a pulp. It flung out its arm, covered with the flowing drapery, and +Nyoda dropped her weapon and staggered back against the side of the +tepee, sneezing with terrible violence, her eyes smarting and watering +horribly. When the force of the paroxysm had spent itself and she could +open her eyes again the ghost had vanished. Blind and choking, she made +her way back to the house, intent on finding out who the ghost was, who +had thrown red pepper into her eyes. That it was none of the dwellers at +Onoway House was clear. The girls were already partly undressed, Ophelia +was in bed, and Tom was taking a foot-bath in the kitchen under the +watchful supervision of his mother to see that he got himself clean. A +chorus of indignation rose on every side at the outrage, when Nyoda had +told her tale. + +"Could it have been Calvin Smalley?" somebody asked. But this no one +would believe. The boy was too gentle and manly, and too evidently +delighted with his new neighbors to have done such a dastardly deed. +Then who had dressed up as a ghost and thrown red pepper at Nyoda in the +tepee? + + + + +CHAPTER V.--SAHWAH MAKES A DISCOVERY. + + +As there was no one of their acquaintance whom they could suspect of +being the ghost, the trick was laid at the door of some unknown dweller +along the road with a fondness for horseplay. The girls spent the +morning working quietly in the garden, and in the afternoon they went to +the city in Gladys's automobile, all but Sahwah, who wanted to work on a +waist she was making. Then, after the automobile was out of sight she +discovered that she did not have the right kind of thread and could not +work on it after all. With the prospect of a whole afternoon to herself, +she decided to take a long walk. The Bartlett farm was not very large +and she was soon at its boundary, and over on the Smalley property. In +contrast to their little orchard and garden and meadow, the Smalley farm +stretched out as far as she could see, with great corn and wheat fields, +and acres of timber land. Somewhere on the place Calvin Smalley was +working, and Sahwah made up her mind to find him and ask him over to +Onoway House that night. But the extent of the Smalley farm was +ninety-seven acres, and it was not so easy to find a person on it when +one had no definite knowledge of that person's whereabouts. Sahwah +walked and walked and walked, up one field and down another, shading her +eyes with her hand to catch sight of the figure she was looking for. But +Calvin was somewhere near the center of the cornfield, stooping near the +ground, and the high stalks waved over his head and concealed him +completely. Sahwah passed by without discovering him and crossed an open +field that was lying fallow. Beyond this was a strip of marsh land which +was practically impassable. Under ordinary circumstances Sahwah would +have turned back, but being badly in want of something better to do she +tried to cross it. She had seen two boards lying in the field, and +securing these she laid them down on the treacherous mud, and by +standing on one and laying the other down in front of her and then +advancing to that one she actually got across in safety. + +On the other side of the bog she spied a little clump of trees and +headed toward them, for the sun was very hot in the open and the thought +of a rest in the shade was attractive. When she came nearer she saw that +this little copse sheltered a cottage, old and weatherbeaten and +evidently deserted. Weeds grew around it, higher than the steps and the +floor of the porch, and the crumbling chimney, which ran up on the +outside of the house, was covered with a thick growth of Japanese ivy. +"It's a regular House in the Woods," said Sahwah to herself, "only there +are no dwarfs. I wonder what it's like inside," she went on in her +thoughts. "Maybe we could come here sometime and build a fire--there must +be a fireplace somewhere because there's a chimney--and have a Ceremonial +Meeting or a picnic. How delightfully private it is!" The trees hid the +house from view until one almost stumbled upon it, and then the marsh +and the broad vacant field stretched between it and the farm, and behind +it was the river, its banks hidden by a thick growth of willows and +alders, so that the cottage was not visible to a person coming along the +river in a boat. There was not a sound to be heard anywhere except the +zig-a-zig of the grasshoppers in the field and the swish of the hidden +water as it flowed over the stones. "A grand place to have a secret +meeting of the Winnebagos," said Sahwah to herself, "where we wouldn't +always be interrupted by Ophelia pounding on the door and wanting to +come in. I wonder if it's open?" + +She stepped up on the porch and tried the door. It was locked. She +peered into the window. The room she saw was absolutely empty. She could +not see whether there was a fireplace or not. She was seized with a +desire to enter that cottage. It was deserted and tumble down and +fascinating. Whoever owned it--if anyone did, for she was not sure +whether it stood on the Smalley property or not--had evidently abandoned +it to the elements. There was no harm at all in trying to get in. She +pushed on the window. It apparently was also locked. But she pushed +again and this time she heard a crack. The rotten wood was splitting +away from the rusty catch. She pushed again and the window slid up. She +stepped over the sill into the room. + +The window was so thick with dirt that the light seemed dim inside. At +one end of the room there was an open fireplace, long unused, with the +mortar falling out between the bricks. There was another door in the +wall opposite the front door, so evidently there was another room +beyond. This door was also locked, but the key was in the lock and it +turned readily under her hand and the door swung open. Sahwah stood +still in surprise. This room was as full of furniture as the other had +been empty. Around all four walls stood cabinets and bookcases, and +besides these there was a couch, a desk, a table and several chairs. The +table was covered with screws, little wheels and the works of clocks, +and before it sat an old man, busily working with them. He had on a +long, shabby grey dressing-gown and a high silk hat on his head. He did +not look up as she opened the door, but went right on working, +apparently oblivious to her presence. She stared at him in amazement for +a moment, and then, remembering her manners, realized that she had +deliberately walked into a gentleman's room without knocking. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, in embarrassment, "I didn't know there +was anyone here." + +The old man looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. "Come in, +come in," he said, affably, in a deep voice. Sahwah took a step into the +room. The old man went back to his wheels and rods and took no more +notice of her. + +"What is that you're making?" asked Sahwah, curiously. + +"It's a long story," said the man, taking off his hat, pulling a +handkerchief out of it and putting it back on his head, and then falling +to work again. + +"Must be a genius," thought Sahwah, "that's what makes him act so +queerly." She waited a few minutes in silence and then curiosity got the +better of her. "Is it too long to tell?" she asked. + +"Eh? What's that?" asked the man, turning toward her. He took off his +hat, put his handkerchief back in again and then put the hat back on his +head. + +"I asked you," said Sahwah, politely, "if the story of what you are +making is too long to tell." + +"Not at all, not at all," said the man, and resumed his work without +another word. + +"How impolite!" thought Sahwah. "To urge me to stay and then refuse to +answer my questions." Her eyes strayed around the room at the bookcases +and cabinets. Every cabinet was filled with clocks or parts of clocks. +The books as far as she could see were all about machinery. One was a +book of such astounding width of binding that she leaned over to read +the title. The letters were so faded that they were hardly visible. "L," +she read, "E, F, E----" + +"It's a machine for saving time," said the man at the table, so suddenly +that Sahwah jumped. + +"How interesting!" she said. "How does it work?" + +The man fitted a rod into a wheel and apparently forgot her existence. +She sat silent a few minutes more and then decided she had better go +home. She rose softly to her feet. "It's something like a clock," said +the man, without looking up from his work. + +"It's coming after all," she thought, and sat down again. + +After a silence of about five minutes the man spoke again. "It measures +the time just like any clock," he explained, "only, as the minutes are +ticked off, they are thrown into a little compartment at the side,--this +thing," he said, holding up a little metal box. He lapsed into silence +again and after an interval resumed where he had left off. "This +compartment," he said, "holds just an hour, and when it is full a bell +rings and the compartment opens automatically, throwing the block of +time, carefully wrapped to prevent leakage of seconds, out into this +basket." He took off his hat, brought out his handkerchief, polished a +bit of glass with it, put it carefully back into the crown and replaced +the hat on his head. + +It suddenly came over Sahwah that her ingenious host was not quite right +in his mind, so rising abruptly she hastened out of the room. The man +took no notice of her departure. She locked the door carefully after +her, and went out by the window whence she had entered the house, +pulling it shut from the outside. She did not undertake to cross the +marsh again, but made a wide detour around it. When she was once more in +the fallow field she looked back, but the house was invisible among the +trees and bushes which surrounded it. As she sped past the rows of +standing corn on her way home, Abner Smalley, bending low among them, +saw her and straightened up with a suspicious look in his eyes. He +glanced in the direction from which she had come. On one side was the +empty field bordered by the marsh and the woody copse, and on the other +was the path from the river which went in the direction of Onoway House. +He breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had come from the direction of +Onoway House, of course. The next day he put his bull to graze in the +empty field before the copse. Then, in different places along the rail +fence which enclosed this field he put signs reading: BEWARE THE BULL. +HE IS UGLY. + +When the girls came back from town Sahwah told her discovery. "Nyoda," +said Gladys, suddenly, "do you suppose it could have been this man who +threw the pepper at you?" + +"Perhaps," said Nyoda, and all the girls shuddered at the thought. +Before Sahwah's discovery they had agreed among themselves to say +nothing about the ghost episode to anyone outside the family, so that +the perpetrator of the joke, if he were one of the farmer boys living +near, would not have the satisfaction of knowing that they were wrought +up about it. In the meantime they would send Tom to get acquainted with +all the boys on the road and try to find out something about it from +them. + +Calvin Smalley was over that evening and something was said about +Sahwah's adventure of the afternoon. "Calvin," said Nyoda, directly, +"who is the old man who lives in that house?" + +Calvin looked very much distressed, and frightened too, it must be +admitted. Then he laughed, although to Nyoda his laugh seemed a trifle +forced, and said in his usual straightforward manner, "The man in the +old house among the trees? That is my great uncle Peter, grandfather's +brother. He was something of an inventer and invented a time clock, but +the patent was stolen by another and he never got the credit for +inventing it. He worried about it until his mind became unbalanced. For +years he has worked around with wheels and things, making strange +contrivances for clocks. He is perfectly harmless and wouldn't hurt a +fly. He will not live in a house with people and he will not leave the +cottage he lives in even for an hour, he is so afraid something will +happen to his machine while he is away. We don't like to have people +know that he is there because they would say we ought to send him away, +but Uncle Abner won't do that because Uncle Peter hates to be with folks +and he might not be allowed to play with his machine in an institution +the way he can here. So as long as he is happy what is the difference? +But you know how country people talk. So would it be asking a great deal +to request you not to say anything about this to anyone, not even the +Landsdownes? If Uncle Abner ever found out you knew he would be very +angry, and would sure think I told you. I don't see how you ever got in, +anyway; the door is usually kept locked, and to all appearances the +house is empty." Sahwah looked decidedly uncomfortable as she met the +eyes of several of the girls, but no one mentioned the manner in which +she had gained entrance. Inasmuch as she had pried into this secret she +felt it was no more than right to promise to keep it. + +"All right, we won't say anything," she said, reassuringly. All the +others gave an equally solemn promise, and were glad that Ophelia had +heard none of the talk about the matter, for she had been over at the +Landsdowne's since before Sahwah told her adventure. Little pitchers +have wide mouths as well as big ears. + +The girls all looked at each other when Calvin asserted that his Uncle +Peter never left the house even for an hour. Clearly then, he had not +been the ghost. + +Migwan had bad dreams that night. Just before going to bed she had been +reading a volume of Poe, which is not the most sleep producing +literature known. She dreamed that she was lying awake in her bed, +looking at a big square of moonlight on the floor, when suddenly a black +shadow fell across it, and the figure of a monkey appeared on the +windowsill, stood there a moment and then jumped into the room. +Shuddering with fright she woke up, and could hardly rid herself of the +impression of the dream, it had seemed so real. There was a big square +of moonlight on the floor. "I must have seen it in my sleep," she +thought, "it's exactly like the one in my dream." She lay wondering if +it were possible to see things with your eyes closed, when all of a +sudden her heart began to thump madly. Into the moonlight there was +creeping a black shadow. It remained still for a few seconds, a +grotesque-shaped thing with a long tail, and then something came +hurtling through the window and landed on the floor beside the bed. +Migwan gave a scream that roused the house. Hinpoha, starting up wildly, +jumped from bed and landed squarely on the black specter on the floor. +The form struggled and squirmed and sent forth a long wailing ME-OW-W-W. + +"What is the matter?" cried Nyoda and Gladys and Betty and Sahwah, +running to the rescue. + +"It's a cat!" said Migwan, faintly. "I thought it was a monkey!" + +"Moral: Don't read Poe before going to bed," said Nyoda, while the rest +shouted with laughter at the cause of Migwan's fright. + +"It must have jumped in from the tree," said Hinpoha. "I see our screen +has fallen out." + +There was little sleep in the house the rest of the night. During the +time when the screen was out of the window the room had filled with +mosquitoes, which soon found their way to the rest of the rooms. "If you +offered me the choice of sleeping in a room with a monkey or a swarm of +mosquitoes, I believe I'd take the monkey," said Nyoda, slapping +viciously. Altogether it was a heavy-eyed group that came down to +breakfast the next morning. + +"What are we going to do to-day?" asked Gladys. + +"The usual thing," said Migwan, "pull weeds. That is, I am. You girls +don't need to help all the time. I don't want you to think of my garden +as merely a lot of weeds to be forever pulled. I want you to remember +only the beautiful part of it." + +"We don't mind pulling weeds," cried the girls, stoutly, "it's fun when +we all do it together," and they fell to work with a will. + +"I declare," said Migwan, "I have become so zealous in the pursuit of +weeds that I mechanically start to pull them along the roadside. I +actually believe that if a weed grew on my grave I'd rise up and +eradicate it. I little thought when I proudly won an honor last summer +for identifying ten different weeds that they'd get to haunting my +dreams the way they do now. Now I know what people mean when they say +'meaner than pusley.' It's the meanest thing I've ever dealt with. I cut +off and pull up every trace of it one day and the next day there it is +again, just as flourishing as ever." + +"I don't call that meanness," said Nyoda, "that's just cheerful +persistence. Think what a success we'd all be in life if we got ahead in +the face of obstacles in that way. If I didn't already have a perfectly +good symbol I'd take pusley for mine. If it were edible I think I'd use +it as an exclusive article of diet for a time and see if I couldn't +absorb some of its characteristics." + +While she was talking Ophelia came along with a frog on a shovel, which +she proceeded to throw over the fence. "Come back with that frog," said +Migwan, "I need him in my business. Don't you know that frogs eat the +insects off the plants and we have that many less to kill?" Ophelia was +standing in the strong sunlight, and Nyoda noticed that the circle of +light hair on her head was still golden clear to the roots, although the +ringlets were visibly growing. + +"It must be a freak of Nature," she concluded, "for it certainly isn't +bleached." + +Rest at Onoway House was again doomed to be broken that night. Nyoda had +been peacefully sleeping for some time when she woke up at the touch of +something cold upon her face. She started up and the feeling +disappeared. She went to sleep again, thinking she had been dreaming. +Soon the feeling came again, as of something cold lying on her forehead. +She put up her hand and encountered a cold and knobby object. At her +touch the thing--whatever it was--jumped away. She sprang out of bed and +lit the lamp. The sight that met her eyes as she looked around the room +made her pinch herself to see if she were really awake and not in the +midst of some nightmare. All over the floor, chairs, table, beds, bureau +and wash-stand sat frogs; big frogs, little frogs, medium-sized frogs; +all goggling solemnly at her in the lamplight. She stared open mouthed +at the apparition. Could this be another Plague of Frogs, she asked +herself, such as was visited upon Pharaoh? At her horrified exclamation +Gladys woke up, gave one look around the room and dove under the +bedclothes with a wild yell. To her excited eyes it looked as if there +were a million frogs in the room. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ophelia, sitting up in bed and staring around +her sleepily. + +"Don't you see the frogs?" cried Nyoda. + +"Sure I see them," said Ophelia. "Aren't you glad I got so many?" + +"Ophelia!" gasped Nyoda, "did you bring those frogs in here?" + +"Betcher I did," said Ophelia, with pride, "and it took me most all +afternoon to catch the whole sackful, too. What's wrong?" she asked, as +she saw the expression on Nyoda's face. "Yer said they'd eat the bugs +and yer made such a fuss about the mosquitoes last night that I brought +the toads to eat them while we slept." Nyoda dropped limply into a +chair. The inspirations of Ophelia surpassed anything she had ever read +in fiction. + +If anybody has ever tried to catch a roomful of frogs that were not +anxious to be caught they can appreciate the chase that went on at +Onoway House that night. The first faint streaks of dawn were appearing +in the sky before the family finally retired once more. Sufficient to +say that Ophelia never set up another mosquito trap made of frogs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI.--THE WINNEBAGOS SCENT A PLOT. + + +"Where are you going, my pretty maid, and why the step ladder?" said +Nyoda to Migwan one morning. "Have your beans grown up so high over +night that you have to climb a ladder to pick them?" + +"Come and see!" said Migwan, mysteriously. Nyoda followed her to the +front lawn. Migwan set the ladder up beside a dead tree, from which the +branches had been sawn, leaving a slender trunk about seven feet high. +On top of this Migwan proceeded to nail a flat board. + +"Are you going to live on a pillar, like St. Simeon Stylites?" asked +Nyoda, curiously, as Migwan mounted the ladder with a basin of water in +her hand. + +"O come, Nyoda," said Migwan, "don't you know a bird bathtub when you +see one?" + +"A bathtub, is it?" said Nyoda. "Now I breathe easily again. But why so +extremely near the earth?" + +Migwan laughed at her chaffing. "You have to put them high up," she +explained, "or else the cats get the birds when they are bathing. Mr. +Landsdowne told me how to make it." The other girls wandered out and +inspected the drinking fountain-bathtub. Hinpoha closed one eye and +looked critically at the outfit. + +"Doesn't it strike you as being a little inharmonious?" she asked. +"Black stump, unfinished wood platform, and blue enamel basin." + +"Paint the platform and basin dark green," said Sahwah, the practical. +"There is some green paint down cellar, I saw it. Let me paint it. I can +do that much for the birds, even if I didn't think of building them a +drinking fountain." She sped after the paint and soon transformed the +offending articles so that they blended harmoniously with the +surroundings. + +"It's better now," said Nyoda, thoughtfully, "but it's still crude and +unbeautiful. What is wrong?" + +"I know," said Hinpoha, the artistic one. "It's too bare. It looks like +a hat without any trimming. What it needs is vines around it." + +"The very thing!" exclaimed Migwan. "I'll plant climbing nasturtiums and +train them to go up the pole and wind around the basin, so it will look +like a fountain." + +"Four heads are better than one," observed Nyoda, as the seeds were +planted, "when they are all looking in the same direction." + +Just then a young man came up the path from the road. "May I use your +telephone?" he asked, courteously raising his hat. He spoke with a +slight foreign accent. + +"Certainly you may," said Migwan, going with him into the house. She +could not help hearing what he said. He called up a number in town and +when he had his connection, said, "This is Larue talking. We are going +to do it on the Centerville Road. There is a river near." That was all. +He rang off, thanked Migwan politely and walked off down the road. The +incident was forgotten for a time. + +That afternoon Gladys was coming home in the automobile. At the turn in +the road just before you came to Onoway House there was a car stalled. +The driver, a young and pretty woman, was apparently in great perplexity +what to do. "Can I help you?" asked Gladys, stopping her machine. + +"I don't know what's the matter," said the young woman, "but I can't get +the car started. I'm afraid I'll have to be towed to a garage. Do you +know of anyone around here who has a team of horses?" + +Gladys looked at the starting apparatus of the other car, but it was a +different make from hers and she knew nothing about it. "Would you like +to have me tow you to our barn?" she asked. "There is a man up the road +who fixes automobiles for a great many people who drive through here and +I could get him to come over." + +The young woman appeared much relieved. "If you would be so kind it +would be a great favor," she said, "for I am in haste to-day." + +Gladys towed the car to the barn at Onoway House and phoned for the car +tinker. The young woman, who introduced herself as Miss Mortimer, was a +very pleasant person indeed, and quite won the hearts of the girls. She +was delighted with Onoway House, both with the name and the house +itself, and asked to be shown all over it, from garret to cellar. "How +near that tree is to the window!" she said, as she looked out of the +attic window into the branches of the big Balm of Gilead tree that grew +beside the house, close to Migwan and Hinpoha's bedroom. It was much +higher than the house and its branches drooped down on the roof. "How do +you ever move about up here with all this furniture?" asked Miss +Mortimer. + +"Oh," answered Migwan, "we never come up here." + +The barn likewise struck the visitor's fancy, with its big empty lofts, +and she fell absolutely in love with the river. The girls took her for a +ride on the raft, and she amused herself by sounding the depth of the +water with the pole. They could see that she was experienced in handling +boats from the way she steered the raft. The girls were so charmed with +her that they felt a keen regret when the neighborhood tinker announced +that the car was in running shape again. + +"I've had a lovely time, girls," said Miss Mortimer, shaking the hand of +each in farewell. "I can't thank you enough." + +"Come and see us again, if you are ever passing this way," said Migwan, +cordially. + +"You may possibly see me again," said Miss Mortimer, half to herself, as +she got into her machine and drove away. + +There was no moon that night and the cloud-covered sky hinted at +approaching rain, but Sahwah wanted to go out on the river on the raft, +so Nyoda and Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys went with her. It was too +dark to play any kind of games and the girls were too tired and +breathless from the hot day to sing, so they floated down-stream in lazy +silence, watching the shapeless outlines made against the dull sky by +the trees and bushes along the banks. On the other side of Farmer +Landsdowne's place there was an abandoned farm. The house had stood +empty for many years, its cheerless windows brooding in the sunlight and +glaring in the moonlight. Just as they did with every other vacant +house, the Winnebagos nicknamed this one the Haunted House, and vied +with each other in describing the queer noises they had heard issuing +from it and the ghosts they had seen walking up and down the porch. As +they passed this place, gliding silently along the river, they were +surprised to see an automobile standing beside the house, at the little +side porch, in the shadow of a row of tall trees. + +"The ghosts are getting prosperous," whispered Migwan, "they have bought +an automobile to do their nightly wandering in. Pretty soon we can't say +that ghosts 'walk' any more. Ah, here come the ghosts." + +From the side door of the house came two men, who proceeded to lift +various boxes from under the seats of the car and carry them into the +house. Then they lifted out a small keg, which the girls could not help +noticing they handled with greater care than they had the boxes. The +wind was blowing toward the river, and the girls distinctly heard one +man say to the other, "Be careful now, you know what will happen if we +drop this." + +"I'm being as careful as I can," answered the second man. + +After a few seconds the first one spoke again. "When's Belle coming?" + +"She arrived in town to-day," said his partner. + +When they had gone into the house this time the machine suddenly drove +away, revealing the presence of a third man at the wheel, whom the girls +had not noticed before this. The two men stayed in the house. + +"What on earth can be happening there?" said Sahwah. + +"It certainly does look suspicious," said Nyoda. + +They waited there in the shadow of the willows for a long time to see +what would happen next, but nothing did. The house stood blank and +silent and apparently as empty as ever. Not a glimmer of light was +visible anywhere. Sahwah and Nyoda were just on the point of getting +into the rowboat, which had been tied on behind the raft, and towing the +other girls back home, when their ears caught the sound of a faint +splashing, like the sound made by the dipping of an oar. They were +completely hidden from sight either up or down the river, for just at +this point a portion of the bank had caved in, and the water filling up +the hole had made a deep indentation in the shore line, and into this +miniature bay the Tortoise-Crab had been steered. The thick willows +along the bank formed a screen between them and the stream above and +below. But they could look between the branches and see what was coming +up stream, from the direction of the lake. It was a rowboat, containing +two persons. The scudding clouds parted at intervals and the moon shone +through, and by its fitful light they could see that one of these +persons was a woman. When the rowboat was almost directly behind the +house it came to a halt, only a few yards from the place where the +Winnebagos lay concealed. + +"This is the house," said the man. + +"I told you the water was deep enough up this far," said the woman, in a +tone of satisfaction. Just then the moon shone out for a brief instant, +and the Winnebagos looked at each other in surprise. The woman, or +rather the girl, in the rowboat was Miss Mortimer, who had been their +guest only that day. The next moment she spoke. "We might as well go +back now. There isn't anything more we can do. I just wanted to prove to +you that it could be towed up the river this far without danger." + +"All right, Belle," replied the man, and at the sound of his voice +Migwan pricked up her ears. There was something vaguely familiar about +it; something which eluded her at the moment. The rowboat turned in the +river and proceeded rapidly down-stream. The Winnebagos returned home, +full of excitement and wonder. + +The barn at Onoway House stood halfway between the house and the river. +As they landed from the raft and were tying it to the post they saw a +man come out of the barn and disappear among the bushes that grew +nearby. It was too dark to see him with any degree of distinctness. +Gladys's thought leaped immediately to her car, which was left in the +barn. "Somebody's trying to steal the car!" she cried, and they all +hastened to the barn. The automobile stood undisturbed in its place. +They made a hasty search with lanterns, but as far as they could see, +none of the gardening tools were missing. Satisfied that no damage had +been done, they went into the house. + +"Probably a tramp," said Mrs. Gardiner, when the facts were told her. +"He evidently thought he would sleep in the barn, and then changed his +mind for some reason or other." + +Migwan lay awake a long time trying to place the voice of the man in the +rowboat. Just as she was sinking off to sleep it came to her. The voice +she had heard in the darkness had a slightly foreign accent, and was the +voice of the man who had used the telephone that morning. + +Sometime during the night Onoway House was wakened by the sounds of a +terrific thunder storm. The girls flew around shutting windows. After a +few minutes of driving rain against the window panes the sound changed. +It became a sharp clattering. "Hail!" said Sahwah. + +"Oh, my young plants!" cried Migwan. "They will be pounded to pieces." + +"Cover them with sheets and blankets!" suggested Nyoda. With their +accustomed swiftness of action the Winnebagos snatched up everything in +the house that was available for the purpose and ran out into the +garden, and spread the covers over the beds in a manner which would keep +the tender young plants from being pounded to pieces by the hailstones. +Migwan herself ran down to the farthest bed, which was somewhat +separated from the others. As she raced to save it from destruction she +suddenly ran squarely into someone who was standing in the garden. She +had only time to see that it was a man, when, with a muffled exclamation +of alarm he disappeared into space. Disappeared is the only word for it. +He did not run, he never reached the cover of the bushes; he simply +vanished off the face of the earth. One moment he was and the next +moment he was not. Much excited, Migwan ran back to the others and told +her story, only to be laughed at and told she was seeing things and had +lurking men on the brain. The thing was so queer and uncanny that she +began to wonder herself if she had been fully awake at the time, and if +she might not possibly have dreamed the whole thing. + +The morning dawned fresh and fair after the shower, green and gold with +the sun on the garden, and Migwan's delight at finding the tender little +plants unharmed, thanks to their timely covering, was inclined to thrust +the mysterious goings-on at the empty house the night before into +secondary place in her mind. But she was not allowed to forget it, for +it was the sole topic of conversation at the breakfast table. Gladys, +with her nose buried in the morning paper, suddenly looked up. "Listen +to this," she said, and then began to read: "Another dynamite plot +unearthed. Society for the purpose of assassinating men prominent in +affairs and dynamiting large buildings discovered in attempt to blow up +the Court House. An attempt to blow up the new Court House was +frustrated yesterday when George Brown, one of the custodians, saw a man +crouching in the engine room and ordered him out. A search revealed the +fact that dynamite had been placed on the floor and attached to a fuse. +On being arrested the man confessed that he was a member of the famous +Venoti gang, operating in the various large cities. The man is being +held without bail, but the head of the gang, Dante Venoti, is still at +large, and so is his wife, Bella, who aids him in all his activities. No +clue to their whereabouts can be found." + +"Do you suppose," said Gladys, laying the paper down, "that those men we +saw last night could belong to that gang? You remember how carefully +they carried the keg into the house, as if it contained some explosive. +They couldn't have any business there or they wouldn't have come at +night. And they called the woman in the boat 'Belle,' or it might have +been 'Bella.'" + +"And that man in the boat was the same one who came here and used the +telephone yesterday morning," said Migwan. "I couldn't help noticing his +foreign accent. He said, 'We are going to do it on the Centerville Road. +There is a river near.' What are they going to do on the Centerville +Road?" + +The garden work was neglected while the girls discussed the matter. "And +the man we saw coming out of the barn when we came home," said Sahwah, +"he probably had something to do with it, too." + +"And the man I saw in the garden in the middle of the night," said +Migwan. + +"If you _did_ see a man," said Nyoda, somewhat doubtfully. Migwan did +not insist upon her story. What was the use, when she had no proof, and +the thing had been so uncanny? + +They were all moved to real grief over the fact that the delightful Miss +Mortimer should have a hand in such a dark business--in fact, was +undoubtedly the famous Bella Venoti herself. "I can't believe it," said +Migwan, "she was so jolly and friendly, and was so charmed with Onoway +House." + +"I wonder why she wanted to go through it from attic to cellar," said +Sahwah, shrewdly. "Could she have had some purpose? _Migwan!_" she +cried, jumping up suddenly, "don't you remember that she said, 'How near +that tree is to the window'? Could she have been thinking that it would +be easy to climb in there? And when she asked how we ever moved about +with all that furniture up there, you said, 'We never come up here'! +Don't you see what we've done? We've given her a chance to look the +house over and find a place where people could hide if they wanted to, +and as much as told her that they would be safe up here because we never +came up." + +Consternation reigned at this speech of Sahwah's. The girls remembered +the incident only too well. "I'll never be able to trust anyone again," +said Migwan, near to tears, for she had conceived a great liking for the +young woman she had known as "Miss Mortimer." + +"Do you remember," pursued Sahwah, "how she took the pole of the raft +and found out how deep the water was all along, and then afterwards she +said to the man in the boat, 'I told you it was deep enough.' Everything +she did at our house was a sort of investigation." + +"But it was only by accident that she got to Onoway House in the first +place," said Gladys. "All she did was ask me to tell her where she could +get a team of horses to tow her to a garage. She didn't know I belonged +to Onoway House. It was I who brought her here, and she only stayed +because we asked her to. It doesn't look as if she had any serious +intentions of investigating the neighborhood. She said she was in a +hurry to go on." Migwan brightened visibly at this. She clutched eagerly +at any hope that Miss Mortimer might be innocent after all. + +"How do you know that that breakdown in the road was accidental?" asked +Nyoda. "And how can you be sure that she didn't know you came from +Onoway House? She may have been looking for a pretense to come here and +you played right into her hands by offering to tow her into the barn." +Migwan's hope flickered and went out. + +"And the man in the barn," said Sahwah, knowingly, "he might have come +to look the automobile over and become familiar with the way the barn +door opened, so he could get into the car and drive away in a hurry if +he wanted to get away." Taken all in all, there was only one conclusion +the girls could come to, and that was that there was something +suspicious going on in the neighborhood, and it looked very much as if +the Venoti gang were hiding explosives in the empty house and were +planning to bring something else; what it was they could not guess. At +all events, something must be done about it. Nyoda called up the police +in town and told briefly what they had seen and heard, and was told that +plain clothes men would be sent out to watch the empty house. When she +described the man who had called and used the telephone, the police +officer gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +"That description fits Venoti closely," he said. "He used to have a +mustache, but he could very easily have shaved it off. It's very +possible that it was he. He's done that trick before; asked to use +people's telephones as a means of getting into the house." + +The girls thrilled at the thought of having seen the famous anarchist so +close. "Hadn't we better tell the Landsdownes about it?" asked Migwan. +"They are in a better position to watch that house from their windows +than we are." + +"You're right," said Nyoda. "And we ought to tell the Smalleys, too, so +they will be on their guard and ready to help the police if it is +necessary." + +"I hate to go over there," said Migwan, "I don't like Mr. Smalley." + +"That has nothing to do with it," said Nyoda, firmly. "The fact that he +is fearfully stingy and grasping has no bearing on this case. He has a +right to know it if his property is in danger." And she proceeded +forthwith to the Red House. + +Mr. Smalley was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole affair as the +imagination of a houseful of women. "Saw a man running out of your barn, +did you?" he asked, showing some interest in this part of the tale. +"Well now, come to think of it," he said, "I saw someone sneaking around +ours too, last night. But I didn't think much of it. That's happened +before. It's usually chicken thieves. I keep a big dog in the barn and +they think twice about breaking in after they hear him bark, and you +haven't any chickens, that's why nothing was touched." It was a very +simple explanation of the presence of the man in the barn, but still it +did not satisfy Nyoda. She could not help connecting it in some way with +the occurrences in the vacant house. + +Mr. Landsdowne was very much interested and excited at the story when it +was told to him. "There's probably a whole lot more to it than we know," +he said, getting out his rifle and beginning to clean it. "There's more +going on in this country in the present state of affairs than most +people dream of. You have notified the police? That's good; I guess +there won't be many more secret doings in the empty house." + +As Nyoda and Migwan went home from the Landsdownes they passed a +telegraph pole in the road on which a man was working. Silhouetted +against the sky as he was they could see his actions clearly. He was +holding something to his ear which looked like a receiver, and with the +other hand he was writing something down in a little book. Migwan looked +at him curiously; then she started. "Nyoda," she said, in a whisper, +"that is the same man who used our telephone. That is Dante Venoti +himself." As if conscious that they were looking at him, the man on the +pole put down the pencil, and drawing his cap, which had a large visor, +down over his face, he bent his head so they could not get another look +at his features. "That's the man, all right," said Migwan. "What do you +suppose he is doing?" + +"It looks," said Nyoda, judicially, "as if he were tapping the wires for +messages that are expected to pass at this time. Possibly you did not +notice it, but I began to look at that man as soon as we stepped into +the road from Landsdowne's, and I saw him look at his watch and then +hastily put the receiver to his ear." + +"Oh, I hope the police from town will come soon," said Migwan, hopping +nervously up and down in the road. + +"Until they do come we had better keep a close watch on what goes on +around here," said Nyoda. Accordingly the Winnebagos formed themselves +into a complete spy system. Migwan and Gladys and Betty and Tom took +baskets and picked the raspberries that grew along the road as an excuse +for watching the road and the front of the house, while Nyoda and Sahwah +and Hinpoha took the raft and patrolled the river. As the girls in the +road watched, the man climbed down from the pole, walked leisurely past +them, went up the path to the empty house and seated himself calmly on +the front steps, fanning himself with his hat, apparently an innocent +line man taking a rest from the hot sun at the top of his pole. + +"He's afraid to go in with us watching him," whispered Migwan. Just then +a large automobile whirled by, stirring up clouds of dust, which +temporarily blinded the girls. When they looked again toward the house +the "line man" had vanished from the steps. "He's gone inside!" said +Migwan, when they saw without a doubt that he was nowhere in sight +outdoors. + +Meanwhile the girls on the raft, who had been keeping a sharp lookout +down-stream with a pair of opera glasses, saw something approaching in +the distance which arrested their attention. For a long time they could +not make out what it was--it looked like a shapeless black mass. Then as +they drew nearer they saw what was coming, and an exclamation of +surprise burst from each one. It was a structure like a portable garage +on a raft, towed by a launch. As it drew nearer still they could make +out with the opera glasses that the person at the wheel was a woman, and +that woman was Bella Venoti. + +The hasty arrival of an automobile full of armed men who jumped out in +front of the "vacant" house frightened the girls in the road nearly out +of their wits, until they realized that these were the plain clothes men +from town. After sizing up the house from the outside the men went up +the path to the porch. The girls were watching them with a fascinated +gaze, and no one saw the second automobile that was coming up the road +far in the distance. One of the plain clothes men, who seemed to be the +leader of the group, rapped sharply on the door of the house. There was +no answer. He rapped again. This time the door was flung wide open from +the inside. The girls could see that the man in the doorway was Dante +Venoti. The officer of the law stepped forward. "Your little game is up, +Dante Venoti," he said, quietly, "and you are under arrest." + +Dante Venoti looked at him in open-mouthed astonishment. "Vatevaire do +you mean?" he gasped. "I am under arrest? Has ze law stop ze production? +Chambers, Chambers," he called over his shoulder, "come here queek. Ze +police has stop' ze production!" + +A tall, lanky, decidedly American looking individual appeared in the +doorway behind him. "What the deuce!" he exclaimed, at the sight of all +the men on the porch. At this moment the second automobile drove up, +followed by a third and a fourth. A large number of men and women +dismounted and ran up the path to the house. + +"Caruthers! Simpson! Jimmy!" shouted Venoti, excitedly to the latest +arrivals, "ze police has stop ze production!" + +"What do you know about it!" exclaimed someone in the crowd of +newcomers, evidently one of those addressed. "Where's Belle?" + +"She is bringing zeze caboose! Up ze rivaire!" cried the black haired +man, wringing his hands in distress. + +The plain clothes men looked over the band of people that stood around +him. There was nothing about them to indicate their desperate character. +Instead of being Italians as they had expected, they seemed to be mostly +Americans. The leader of the policemen suddenly looked hard at Venoti. +"Say," he said, "you look like a Dago, but you don't talk like one. Who +are you, anyway?" + +"I am Felix Larue," said the black haired man, "I am ze director of ze +Great Western Film Company, and zeze are all my actors. We have rent zis +house and farm for ze production of ze war play 'Ze Honor of a Soldier.' +Last night we bring some of ze properties to ze house; zey are very +valuable, and Chambers and Bushbower here zey stay in ze house wiz zem." + +The plain clothes men looked at each other and started to grin. Migwan +and Gladys, who had joined the company on the porch, suddenly felt +unutterably foolish. "But what were you doing on top of the pole?" +faltered Migwan. + +Mr. Larue turned his eyes toward her. He recognized her as the girl who +had allowed him to use her telephone the day before, and favored her +with a polite bow. "Me," he said, "I play ze part of ze spy in ze +piece--ze villain. I tap ze wire and get ze message. I was practice for +ze part zis morning." He turned beseechingly to the policeman who had +questioned him. "Zen you will not stop ze production?" he asked. + +"Heavens, no," answered the policeman. "We were going to arrest you for +an anarchist, that's all." + +The company of actors were dissolving into hysterical laughter, in which +the plain clothes men joined sheepishly. Just then a young woman came +around the house from the back, followed at a short distance by Nyoda, +Sahwah and Hinpoha. Seeing the crowd in front she stopped in surprise. +Larue went to the edge of the porch and called to her reassuringly. +"Come on, Belle," he called, gaily. When she was up on the porch he took +her by the hand and led her forward. "Permit me to introduce my fellow +conspirator," he said, in a theatrical manner and with a low bow. "Zis +is Belle Mortimer, ze leading lady of ze Great Western Film Company!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII.--MOVING PICTURES. + + +The Winnebagos looked at each other speechlessly. Belle Mortimer, the +famous motion picture actress, whom they had seen on the screen dozens +of times, and for whom Migwan had long entertained a secret and +devouring adoration! Not Bella Venoti at all! "Did you ever?" gasped +Sahwah. + +"No, I never," answered the Winnebagos, in chorus. + +Miss Mortimer recognized her hostesses of the day before and greeted +them warmly. "My kind friends from Onoway House," she called them. The +Winnebagos were embarrassed to death to have to explain how they had +spied on the vacant house and thought the famous Venoti gang was at +work, and were themselves responsible for the presence of the policemen. + +"I never _heard_ of anything so funny," she said, laughing until the +tears came. "I _never_ heard of anything so funny!" The plain clothes +men departed in their automobile, disappointed at not having made the +grand capture they had expected to. "Would you like to stay with us for +the day and watch us work?" asked Miss Mortimer. + +"Oh, could we?" breathed Migwan. She was in the seventh heaven at the +thought of being with Belle Mortimer so long. Then followed a day of +delirious delight. To begin with, the Winnebagos were introduced to the +whole company, many of whose names were familiar to them. Felix Larue, +having gotten over the fright he had received when he thought the piece +was going to be suppressed by the police for some unaccountable reason, +was all smiles and amiability, and explained anything the girls wanted +to know about. The piece was a very exciting one, full of thrilling +incidents and danger, and the girls were held spellbound at the physical +feats which some of those actors performed. The house on the raft was +explained as the play progressed. It was filled with soldiers and towed +up the river, to all appearances merely a garage being moved by its +owner. But when a dispatch bearer of the enemy, whose family lived in +the house, stopped to see them while he was carrying an important +message, the soldiers rushed out from the garage, sprang ashore, seized +the man along with the message and carried him away in the launch, which +had been cut away from the raft while the capture was being made. Migwan +thought of the tame little plots she had written the winter before and +was filled with envy at the creator of this stirring play. + +It took a whole week to make the film of "The Honor of a Soldier" and in +that time the girls saw a great deal of Miss Mortimer. And one blessed +night she stayed at Onoway House with them, instead of motoring back to +the city with the rest of the company. Just as Migwan was dying of +admiration for her, so she was attracted by this dreamy-eyed girl with +the lofty brow. In a confidential moment Migwan confessed that she had +written several motion picture plays the winter before, all of which had +been rejected. "Do you mind if I see them?" asked Miss Mortimer. Much +embarrassed, Migwan produced the manuscripts, written in the form +outlined in the book she had bought. Miss Mortimer read them over +carefully, while Migwan awaited her verdict with a beating heart. + +"Well?" she asked, when Miss Mortimer had finished reading them. + +"Who told you to put them in this form?" asked Miss Mortimer. + +"I learned it from a book," answered Migwan. "What do you think of +them?" she asked, impatient for Miss Mortimer's opinion. + +"The idea in one of them is good, very good," said Miss Mortimer. "This +one called 'Jerry's Sister.' But you have really spoiled it in the +development. It takes a person familiar with the production of a film to +direct the movements of the actors intelligently. If Mr. Larue, for +example, had developed that piece it would be a very good one. Would you +be willing to sell just the idea, if Mr. Larue thinks he can use it?" + +Migwan had never thought of this before. "Why, yes," she said, "I +suppose I would. It's certainly no good to me as it is." + +"Let me take it to Mr. Larue," said Miss Mortimer. "I'm sure he will see +the possibilities in it just as I have." Migwan was in a transport of +delight to think that her idea at least had found favor with Miss +Mortimer. Miss Mortimer was as good as her word and showed the play to +Mr. Larue and he agreed with her that it could be developed into a +side-splitting farce comedy. Migwan was more intoxicated with that first +sale of the labors of her pen than she was at any future successes, +however great. Deeply inspired by this recognition of her talent, she +evolved an exciting plot from the incidents which had just occurred, +namely, the mistaking of the moving picture company for the Venoti gang. +She kept it merely in plot form, not trying to develop it, and Mr. Larue +accepted this one also. After this second success, even though the price +she received for the two plots was not large, the future stretched out +before Migwan like a brilliant rainbow, with a pot of gold under each +end. + +Miss Mortimer soon discovered that the Winnebagos were a group of Camp +Fire Girls, and she immediately had an idea. When "The Honor of a +Soldier" was finished Mr. Larue was going to produce a piece which +called for a larger number of people than the company contained, among +them a group of Camp Fire Girls. He intended hiring a number of "supers" +for this play. "Why not hire the Winnebagos?" said Miss Mortimer. And so +it was arranged. Medmangi and Nakwisi and Chapa, the other three +Winnebagos, were notified to join the ranks, and excitement ran high. To +be in a real moving picture! It is true that they had nothing special to +do, just walk through the scene in one place and sit on the ground in a +circle in another, but there was not a single girl who did not hope that +her conduct on that occasion would lead Mr. Larue into hiring her as a +permanent member of the company. + +Especially Sahwah. The active, strenuous life of a motion picture +actress attracted her more than anything just now. She longed to be in +the public eye and achieve fame by performing thrilling feats. She saw +herself in a thousand different positions of danger, always the heroine. +Now she was diving for a ring dropped into the water from the hand of a +princess; now she was trapped in a burning building; now she was riding +a wild horse. But always she was the idol of the company, and the idol +of the moving picture audiences, and the envy of all other actresses. +She would receive letters from people all over the country and her +picture would be in the papers and in the magazines, and her name would +be featured on the colored posters in front of the theatres. Managers +would quarrel over her and she would be offered a fabulous salary. All +this Sahwah saw in her mind's eye as the future which was waiting for +her, for since meeting Miss Mortimer she really meant to be a motion +picture actress when she was through school. She felt in her heart that +she could show people a few things when it came to feats of action. She +simply could not wait for the day when the Winnebagos were to be in the +picture. When the play was produced in the city theatres her friends +would recognize her, and Oh joy!--here her thoughts became too gay to +think. + +The play in question was staged, not on the Centerville road, but in one +of the city parks, where there were hills and formal gardens and an +artificial lake, which were necessary settings. The day arrived at last. +News had gone abroad that a motion picture play was to be staged in that +particular park and a curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. +Sahwah felt very splendid and important as she stood in the company of +the actors. She knew that the crowd did not know that she was just in +that one play as a filler-in; to them she was really and truly a member +of this wonderful company--a real moving picture actress. Gazing over the +crowd with an air of indifference, she suddenly saw one face that sent +the blood racing to her head. That was Marie Lanning, the girl whom +Sahwah had defeated so utterly in the basketball game the winter before, +and who had tried such underhand means to put her out of the game. +Sahwah felt that her triumph was complete. Marie was just the kind of +girl who would nearly die of envy to see her rival connected with +anything so conspicuous. + +The picture began; progressed; the time came for the march of the Camp +Fire Girls down the steep hill. Sahwah stood straight as a soldier; the +supreme moment had come. Now Mr. Larue would see that she stood out from +all the other girls in ability to act; that moment was to be the making +of her fortune. She glanced covertly at Marie Lanning. Marie had +recognized her and was staring at her with unbelieving, jealous eyes. +The march began. Sahwah held herself straighter still, if that were +possible, and began the descent. It was hard going because it was so +steep, but she did not let that spoil her upright carriage. She was just +in the middle of the line, which was being led by Nyoda, and could see +that the girls in front of her were getting out of step and breaking the +unity of the line in their efforts to preserve their balance. Not so +Sahwah. She saw Mr. Larue watching her and she knew he was comparing her +with the rest. Her fancy broke loose again and she had a premonition of +her future triumphs. The sight of the camera turned full on her gave her +a sense of elation beyond words. It almost intoxicated her. Halfway down +the hill Sahwah, with her head full of day-dreams, stepped on a loose +stone which turned under her foot, throwing her violently forward. She +fell against Hinpoha, who was in front of her. Hinpoha, utterly +unprepared for this impetus from the rear, lost her balance completely +and crashed into Gladys. Gladys was thrown against Nyoda, and the whole +four of them went down the hill head over heels for all the world like a +row of dominoes. + +Down at the bottom of the hill stood the hero and heroine of the piece, +namely, Miss Mortimer and Chambers, the leading man, and as the +landslide descended it engulfed them and the next moment there was a +heap of players on the ground in a tangled mass. It took some minutes to +extricate them, so mixed up were they. Mr. Larue hastened to the spot +with an exclamation of very excusable impatience. Several dozen feet of +perfectly good film had been spoiled and valuable time wasted. The +players got to their feet again unhurt, and the watching crowd shouted +with laughter. Sahwah was ready to die of chagrin and mortification. She +had spoiled any chances she had ever had of making a favorable +impression on Mr. Larue; but this was the least part of it. There in the +crowd was Marie Lanning laughing herself sick at this fiasco of Sahwah's +playing. Good-natured Mr. Chambers was trying to soothe the +embarrassment of the Winnebagos and make them laugh by declaring he had +lost his breath when he was knocked over and when he got it back he +found it wasn't his, but Sahwah refused to be comforted. She had +disgraced herself in the public eye. Breaking away from the group she +ran through the crowd with averted face, in spite of calls to come back, +and kept on running until she had reached the edge of the park and the +street car line. Boarding a car, she went back to Onoway House, wishing +miserably that she had never been born, or had died the winter before in +the coasting accident. Her ambition to be a motion picture actress died +a violent death right then and there. So the march of the Camp Fire +Girls had to be done over again without Sahwah, and was consummated this +time without accident. + +When Sahwah reached Onoway House she wished with all her heart that she +hadn't come back there. She had done it mechanically, not knowing where +else to go. At the time her only thought had been to get away from the +crowd and from Mr. Larue; now she hated to face the Winnebagos. She was +glad that no one was at home, for Mrs. Gardiner had taken Betty and Tom +and Ophelia to see the play acted. As she went around the back of the +house she came face to face with Mr. Smalley, who was just going up on +the back porch. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see +him, so Sahwah thought, but he was friendly enough and asked if the +Gardiners were at home. When Sahwah said no, he said, "Then possibly +they wouldn't mind if you gave me what I wanted. I came over to see if +they would lend me their wheel hoe, as mine is broken and will have to +be sent away to be fixed, and I have a big job of hoeing that ought to +be done to-day." Sahwah knew that Migwan would not refuse to do a +neighborly kindness like that as long as they were not using the tool +themselves, and willingly lent it to him. + +She was still in great distress of mind over the ridiculous incident of +the morning and did not want to see the other girls when they came home. +So taking a pillow and a book, she wandered down the river path to a +quiet shady spot among the willows and spent the afternoon in solitude. +When the other girls returned home Sahwah was nowhere to be found. This +did not greatly surprise them, however, for they were used to her +impetuous nature and knew she was hiding somewhere. Hinpoha and Gladys +were up-stairs removing the dust of the road from their faces and hands +when they heard a stealthy footstep overhead. "She's hiding in the +attic!" said Hinpoha. + +"She'll melt up there," said Gladys, "it must be like an oven. Let's +coax her down and don't any of us say a word about the play. She must +feel terrible about it." + +So it was agreed among the girls that no mention of Sahwah's mishap +should be made, and Hinpoha went to the foot of the attic stairs and +called up: "Come on down, Sahwah, we're all going out on the river." +There was no answer. Hinpoha called again: "Please come, Sahwah, we need +you to steer the raft." Still no answer. Hinpoha went up softly. She +thought she could persuade Sahwah to come down if none of the others +were around. But when she reached the top of the stairs there was no +sign of Sahwah anywhere. The place was stifling, and Hinpoha gasped for +breath. Sahwah must be hiding among the old furniture. Hinpoha moved +things about, raising clouds of dust that nearly choked her, and calling +to Sahwah. No answer came, and she did not find Sahwah hidden among any +of the things. Gladys came up to see what was going on, followed by +Migwan. + +"She doesn't seem to be up here after all," said Hinpoha, pausing to +take breath. "It's funny; I certainly thought I heard someone up here." + +"Don't you remember the time I thought I heard someone up here in the +night and you said it was the noise made by rats or mice?" asked Migwan. +"It was probably that same thing again." + +"It must have been," said Hinpoha. + +"Maybe it was the ghost of that Mrs. Waterhouse, who died before she had +her attic cleaned, and comes back to move the furniture," said Gladys. +In spite of its being daylight an unearthly thrill went through the +veins of the girls. The whole thing was so mysterious and uncanny. + +Migwan was looking around the attic. "Who broke that window?" she asked, +suddenly. The side window, the one near the Balm of Gilead tree, was +shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. + +"It wasn't broken the day we brought Miss Mortimer up," said Gladys. "It +must have happened since then." + +"There must have been someone up here to-day," said Migwan. "Do you +suppose--" here she stopped. + +"Suppose what?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Do you suppose," continued Migwan, "that Sahwah was up here and broke +it accidentally and is afraid to show herself on account of it?" + +"Maybe," said Hinpoha, "but Sahwah's not the one to try to cover up +anything like that. She'd offer to pay for the damage and it wouldn't +worry her five minutes." + +"It may have been broken the night of the storm," said Nyoda, who had +arrived on the scene. "If I remember rightly, we opened it when Miss +Mortimer was up here, and as it is only held up by a nail and a rope +hanging down from the ceiling, it could easily have been torn loose in +such a wind as that and slammed down against the casement and broken. We +were so excited trying to cover up the plants that we did not hear the +crash, if indeed, we could have heard it in that thunder at all." + +This seemed such a plausible explanation that the girls accepted it +without question and dismissed the matter from their minds. Descending +from the hot attic they went out on the river on the raft. As it drew +near supper time they feared that Sahwah would stay away and miss her +supper, and they knew that she would have to show herself sometime, so +they determined to have it over with so Sahwah could eat her supper in +peace. On the path along the river they found her handkerchief and knew +that she was somewhere near the water. They called and called, but she +did not answer. "I know what will bring her from her hiding-place," said +Nyoda. She unfolded her plan and the girls agreed. They poled the raft +back to the landing-place and got on shore. Then they set Ophelia on the +raft all alone and sent it down-stream, telling her to scream at the top +of her voice as if she were frightened. Ophelia obeyed and set up such a +series of ear-splitting shrieks as she floated down the river that it +was hard to believe that she was not in mortal terror. The scheme worked +admirably. Sahwah heard the screams and peered through the bushes to see +what was happening. She saw Ophelia alone on the raft and no one else in +sight, and thought, of course, that she was afraid and ran out to +reassure her. She took hold of the tow line and pulled the raft back to +the landing-place. + +"Whatever made you so scared?" she asked, as Ophelia stepped on terra +firma. + +"Pooh, I wasn't scared at all," said Ophelia, grandly. "They told me to +scream so you'd come out." So Sahwah knew the trick that had been +practised on her, but instead of being pleased to think that the girls +wanted her with them so badly she was more irritated than before. There +was no further use of hiding; she had to go into the house now and eat +her supper with the rest. The meal was not such a trial for her as she +had anticipated, because no one mentioned the subject of moving +pictures, or acted as if anything had happened at all. After supper +Nyoda brought out a magazine showing pictures of the Rocky Mountains and +the girls gave this their strict attention. Nyoda read aloud the +descriptions that went with the pictures. In one place she read: "The +barren aspect of the hillside is due to a landslide which swept +everything before it." + +At this Migwan's thoughts went back to the scene on the hillside that +day, when the human landslide was in progress. Now Migwan, in spite of +her serious appearance, had a sense of humor which at times got the +upper hand of her altogether. The memory of those figures rolling down +the hill was too much for her and she dissolved abruptly into hysterical +laughter. She vainly tried to control it and buried her face in her +handkerchief, but it was no use. The harder she tried to stop laughing +the harder she laughed. "Oh," she gasped, "I never saw anything so funny +as when you rolled against Miss Mortimer and Mr. Chambers and knocked +them off their feet." + +After Migwan's hysterical outburst the rest could not restrain their +laughter either, and Sahwah became the butt of all the humorous remarks +that had been accumulating in the minds of the rest. If it had been +anyone else but Migwan who had started them off, Sahwah would possibly +have forgiven that one, but since selling her two plots to Mr. Larue +Migwan had been holding her head pretty high. That Migwan had succeeded +in her end of the motion picture business when she had failed in hers +galled Sahwah to death and she fancied that Migwan was trying to "rub it +in." + +"I hope everything I do will cause you as much pleasure," she said +stiffly. "I suppose nothing could make you happier than to see me do +something ridiculous every day." Sahwah had slipped off her balance +wheel altogether. + +Migwan sobered up when she heard Sahwah's injured tone. She never +dreamed Sahwah had taken the occurrence so much to heart. It was not her +usual way. "Please don't be angry, Sahwah," she said, contritely. "I +just couldn't help laughing. You know how light headed I am." + +But Sahwah would have none of her apology. "I'll leave you folks to have +as much fun over it as you please," she said coldly, rising and going +up-stairs. + +Migwan was near to tears and would have gone after her, but Nyoda +restrained her. "Let her alone," she advised, "and she'll come out of it +all the sooner." + +Sahwah was herself again in the morning as far as the others were +concerned, but she still treated Migwan somewhat coldly and it was +evident that she had not forgiven her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII.--A CANNING EPISODE. + + +Three times every week Migwan had been making the trip to town with a +machine-load of vegetables, which was disposed of to an ever growing +list of customers. Thanks to the early start the garden had been given +by Mr. Mitchell, and the constant care it received at the hands of +Migwan and her willing helpers, Migwan always managed to bring out her +produce a day or so in advance of most of the other growers in the +neighborhood and so could command a better price at first than she could +have if she had arrived on the scene at flood tide. After every trip +there was a neat little sum to put in the old cocoa can which Migwan +used as a bank until there was enough accumulated to make a real bank +deposit. The asparagus had passed beyond its vegetable days and had +grown up in tall feathery shoots that made a pretty sight as they stood +in a long row against the fence. The new strawberry plants had taken +root and were growing vigorously; the cucumbers were thriving like fat +babies. The squashes and melons were running a race, as Sahwah said, to +see which could hold up the most fruit on their vines; the corn-stalks +stood straight and tall, holding in their arms their firstborn, silky +tassel-capped children, like proud young fathers. + +But it was the tomato bed in which Migwan's dearest hopes were bound up. +The frames sagged with exhaustion at the task of holding up the weight +of crimsoning globes that hung on the vines. Migwan tended this bed as a +mother broods over a favorite child, fingering over the leaves for +loathsome tomato worms, spraying the plants to keep away diseases, and +cultivating the ground around the roots. All suckers were ruthlessly +snipped off as soon as they grew, so that the entire strength of the +plants could go into the ripening of tomatoes. For it was on that tomato +bed that Migwan's fortune depended. While the proceeds from the +remainder of the garden were gratifying, they were not great enough to +make up the sum which Migwan needed to go to college, as the vegetables +were not raised in large enough quantities. Migwan carefully estimated +the amount she would realize from the sale of the tomatoes and found +that it would not be large enough, and decided she could make more out +of them by canning them. At Nyoda's advice the Winnebagos formed +themselves into a Canning Club, which would give them the right to use +the 4H label, which stood for Head, Hand, Health and Heart, and was +recognized by dealers in various places. According to the methods of the +Canning Club they canned the tomatoes in tin cans, with tops neatly +soldered on. After an interview with various hotels and restaurants in +the city Nyoda succeeded in establishing a market for Migwan's goods, +and the canning went on in earnest. The whole family were pressed into +service, and for days they did nothing but peel from morning until +night. + +"I'm getting to be such an expert peeler," said Hinpoha, "that I +automatically reach out in my sleep and start to peel Migwan." + +Nyoda made up a gay little song about the peeling. To the tune of +"Comrades, comrades, ever since we were boys," she sang, "Peeling, +peeling, ever since 6 A.M." + +Several places had asked for homemade ketchup and Migwan prepared to +supply the demand. Never did a prize housekeeper, making ketchup for a +county fair, take such pains as Migwan did with hers. She took care to +use only the best spices and the best vinegar; she put in a few peach +leaves from the tree to give it a finer flavor; she stood beside the big +iron preserving kettle and stirred the mixture all the while it was +boiling to be sure that it would not settle and burn. Everyone in the +house had to taste it to be sure it found favor with a number of +critical palates. "Wouldn't you like to put a few bay leaves into it?" +asked her mother. "There are some in the glass jar in the pantry. They +are all crumbled and broken up fine, but they are still good." Migwan +put a spoonful of the broken leaves into the ketchup; then she put +another. + +"Oh, I never was so tired," she sighed, when at last it had boiled long +enough and she shoved it back. + +"Let's all go out on the river," proposed Nyoda, "and forget our toil +for awhile." Sahwah was the last out of the kitchen, having stopped to +drink a glass of water, and while she was drinking her eye roved over +the table and caught sight of half a dozen cloves that had spilled out +of a box. Gathering them up in her hand she dropped them into the +ketchup. Just then Migwan came back for something and the two went out +together. + +"And now for the bottling," said Migwan, when the supper dishes were put +away, and she set several dozen shining glass bottles on the table. +After she had been dipping up the ketchup for awhile she paused in her +work to sit down for a few moments and count up her expected profits. +"Let's see," she said, "forty bottles at fifteen cents a bottle is six +dollars. That isn't so bad for one day's work. But I hope I don't have +many days of such work," she added. "My back is about broken with +stirring." About thirty of the bottles were filled and sealed when she +took this little breathing spell. + +"Let me have a taste," said Hinpoha, eyeing the brown mixture longingly. + +"Help yourself," said Migwan. Hinpoha took a spoonful. Her face drew up +into the most frightful puckers. Running to the sink she took a hasty +drink of water. "What's the matter?" said Migwan, viewing her in alarm. +"Did you choke on it?" + +"Taste it!" cried Hinpoha. "It's as bitter as gall." + +Migwan took a taste of the ketchup and looked fit to drop. "Whatever is +the matter with it?" she gasped. One after another the girls tasted it +and voiced their mystification. "It couldn't have spoiled in that short +time," said Migwan. + +Then she suddenly remembered having seen Sahwah drop something into the +kettle as it stood on the back of the stove. Could it be possible that +Sahwah was seeking revenge for having been made fun of? "Sahwah," she +gasped, unbelievingly, "did you put anything into the ketchup that made +it bitter?" + +"I did not," said Sahwah, the indignant color flaming into her face. She +had already forgotten the incident of the cloves. She saw Nyoda and the +other girls look at her in surprise at Migwan's words. Her temper rose +to the boiling point. "I know what you're thinking," she said, fiercely. +"You think I did something to the ketchup to get even with Migwan, but I +didn't, so there. I don't know any more about it than you do." + +"I take it all back," said Migwan, alarmed at the tempest she had set +astir, and bursting into tears buried her head on her arms on the +kitchen table. All that work gone for nothing! + +Sahwah ran from the room in a fearful passion. Nyoda tried to comfort +Migwan. "It's a lucky thing we found it before the stuff was sold," she +said, "or your trade would have been ruined." She and the other girls +threw the ketchup out and washed the bottles. + +"Whatever could have happened to it?" said Gladys, wonderingly. + +Migwan lifted her face. "I want to tell you something, Nyoda," she said. +"I suppose you wonder why I asked Sahwah if she had put anything in. +Well, when I went back into the kitchen after my hat when we were going +out on the river, Sahwah was there, and she was dropping something into +the kettle." + +"You don't mean it?" said Nyoda, incredulously. Nyoda understood +Sahwah's blind impulses of passion, and she could not help noticing for +the last few days that Sahwah was still nursing her wrath at Migwan for +laughing at her, and she wondered if she could have lost control of +herself for an instant and spoiled the ketchup. + +Meanwhile Sahwah, up-stairs, had cooled down almost as rapidly as she +had flared up, and began to think that she had been a little hasty in +her outburst. She, therefore, descended the back stairs with the idea of +making peace with the family and helping to wash the bottles. But +halfway down the stairs she happened to hear Migwan's remark and Nyoda's +answer, and the long silence which followed it. Immediately her fury +mounted again to think that they suspected her of doing such an +underhand trick. "They don't trust me!" she cried, over and over again +to herself. "They don't believe what I said; they think I did it and +told a lie about it." All night she tossed and nursed her sense of +injury and by morning her mind was made up. She would leave this place +where everyone was against her, and where even Nyoda mistrusted her. +That was the most unkind cut of all. + +When she did not appear at the breakfast table the rest began to wonder. +Betty reported that Sahwah had not been in bed when she woke up, which +was late, and she thought she had risen and dressed and gone down-stairs +without disturbing her. There was no sign of her in the garden or on the +river. Both the rowboat and the raft were at the landing-place. There +was an uncomfortable restraint at the breakfast table. Each one was +thinking of something and did not want the others to see it. That thing +was that Sahwah had a guilty conscience and was afraid to face the +girls. Migwan's eyes filled with tears when she thought how her dear +friend had injured her. A blow delivered by the hand of a friend is so +much worse than one from an enemy. The table was always set the night +before and the plates turned down. + +"What's this sticking out under Sahwah's plate?" asked Gladys. It was a +note which she opened and read and then sat down heavily in her chair. +The rest crowded around to see. This was what they read: "As long as you +don't trust me and think I do underhand things you will probably be glad +to get rid of me altogether. Don't look for me, for I will never come +back. You may give my place in the Winnebagos to someone else." It was +signed "Sarah Ann Brewster," and not the familiar "Sahwah." + +"Sahwah's run away!" gasped Migwan in distress, and the girls all ran up +to her room. Her clothes were gone from their hooks and her suit-case +was gone from under the bed. The girls faced each other in +consternation. + +"Do you think she had anything to do with the ketchup, after all?" asked +Gladys, thoughtfully. "It was so unlike her to do anything of that +kind." + +"Then why did she run away?" asked Migwan, perplexed. + +The morning passed miserably. They missed Sahwah at every turn. Several +times the girls forgot themselves and sang out "O Sahwah!" Nyoda did not +doubt for a moment that Sahwah had gone to her own home, but she thought +it best not to go after her immediately. Sahwah's hot temper must cool +before she would come to herself. Nyoda was puzzled at her conduct. If +she had nothing to be ashamed of why had she run away? That was the +question which kept coming up in her mind. Nothing went right in the +house or the garden that day. Everyone was out of sorts. Migwan +absent-mindedly pulled up a whole row of choice plants instead of weeds; +Gladys ran the automobile into a tree and bent up the fender; Hinpoha +slammed the door on her finger nail; Nyoda burnt her hand. Ophelia was +just dressed for the afternoon in a clean, starched white dress when she +fell into the river and had to be dressed over again from head to foot. +The whole household was too cross for words. The departure of Sahwah was +the first rupture that had ever occurred in the closely linked ranks of +the Winnebagos and they were all broken up over it. + +When Mrs. Gardiner was cooking beef for supper she told Migwan to get +her some bay leaf to flavor it with. Migwan brought out the glass jar of +crushed leaves. "That's not the bay leaf," said her mother, and went to +look for it herself. "Here it is," she said, bringing another glass jar +down from a higher shelf. + +"Then what's this?" asked Migwan, indicating the first jar. + +"I haven't the slightest idea," said Mrs. Gardiner. "It was in the +pantry when we came." + +"But this was what I put into the ketchup," said Migwan. Hastily +unscrewing the top she shook out some of the contents and tasted them. +Her mouth contracted into a fearful pucker. Never in her life had she +tasted anything so bitter. + +"I did it myself," she said, in a dazed tone. "I spoiled the ketchup +myself." At her shout the girls came together in the kitchen to hear the +story of the mistaken ingredient. + +"What can that be?" they all asked. Nobody knew. It was some dried herb +that had been left by the former mistress of the house, and a powerful +one. The girls looked at each other blankly. + +"And I accused Sahwah of doing it," said Migwan, remorsefully. "No +wonder she flared up and left us, I don't blame her a bit. I wouldn't +thank anyone for accusing me wrongfully of anything like that." + +"We'll have to go after her this very evening," said Gladys, "and bring +her back." + +"If she'll come," said Hinpoha, knowing Sahwah's proud spirit. + +"Oh, I'm quite willing to grovel in the dust at her feet," said Migwan. + +Gladys drove them all into town with her and they sped to the Brewster +house. It was all dark and silent. Sahwah was evidently not there. They +tried the neighbors. They all denied that she had been near the house. +They finally came to this conclusion themselves, for in the light of the +street lamp just in front of the house they could see that the porch was +covered with a month's accumulation of yellow dust which bore no +footmarks but their own. + +Here was a new problem. They had come expecting to offer profuse +apologies to Sahwah and carry her back with them to Onoway House +rejoicing, and it was a shock to find her gone. The thought of letting +her go on believing that they mistrusted her was intolerable, but how +were they going to clear matters up? Sahwah had no relatives in town, +and, of course, they did not know all her friends, so it would be hard +to find her. That is, if she had ever reached town at all. Something +might have happened to her on the way--Nyoda and Gladys sought each +other's eyes and each thought of what had happened to them on the way to +Bates Villa. + +With heavy hearts they rode back to Onoway House. The days went by +cheerlessly. A week passed since Sahwah had run away, but no word came +from her. Nyoda interviewed the conductors on the interurban car line to +find out if Sahwah had taken the car into the city. No one remembered a +girl of that description on the day mentioned. Sahwah had only one hat--a +conspicuous red one--and she would not fail to attract attention. +Thoroughly alarmed, Nyoda decided on a course of action. She called up +the various newspapers in town and asked them to print a notice to the +effect that Sahwah had disappeared. If Sahwah were in town she would see +it and knowing that they were worried about her would let them know +where she was. The notice came out in the papers, and a day or two +passed, but there was no word from Sahwah. Nyoda and Gladys made a +hurried trip to town to put the police on the track. Just before they +got to the city limits they had a blowout and were delayed some time +before they could go on. As they waited in the road another machine came +along and the driver stopped and offered assistance. Nyoda recognized a +friend of hers in the machine, a Miss Barnes, teacher in a local +gymnasium. + +"Hello, Miss Kent," she called, cheerfully, "I haven't seen you for an +age. Where have you been keeping yourself?" + +"Where have you been keeping yourself?" returned Nyoda. + +"I, Oh, I'm working this summer," replied Miss Barnes. "I'm just in town +on business. I'm helping to conduct a girls' summer camp on the lake +shore. I thought possibly you would bring your Camp Fire group out there +this summer. One of your girls is out there now." + +"Which one?" asked Nyoda, thinking of Chapa and Nakwisi, whom she had +heard talking about going. + +"One by the name of Brewster," said Miss Barnes, "a regular mermaid in +the water. She has the girls out there standing open-mouthed at her +swimming and diving. Why, what's the matter?" she asked, as Nyoda gave a +sigh of relief that seemed to come from her boots. + +"Nothing," replied Nyoda, "only we've been scouring the town for that +very girl." + +"You have?" asked Miss Barnes, with interest. "Would you like to come +out and visit her?" + +"Could I?" asked Nyoda. + +"Certainly," said Miss Barnes, "come right out with me now. I'm going +back." + +And so Sahwah's mysterious disappearance was cleared up. When the +Winnebagos, lined up in the road, saw the automobile approaching, and +that Sahwah was in it, they welcomed her back into their midst with a +rousing Winnebago cheer that warmed her to the heart. All the clouds had +been rolled away by Nyoda's explanations and this was a triumphant +homecoming. A regular feast was spread for her, and as she ate she +related her adventures since leaving the house early that other morning. +Without forming any plan of where she was going she had walked up the +road in the opposite direction of the car line and then a farmer had +come along on a wagon and given her a lift. He had taken her all the way +to the other car line, three miles below Onoway House. She had come into +the city by this route. She did not want to go home for fear they would +come after her, so she went to the Young Women's Christian Association. +As she sat in the rest room wondering what she should do next she heard +two girls talking about registering for camp. This seemed to her a +timely suggestion, and she followed them to the registration desk and +registered for two weeks. She went out that same day. When she arrived +there she did such feats in the water that they asked her if she would +not stay all summer and help teach the girls to swim. She said she +would, and so saw a very easy way out of her difficulty. The reason they +had not heard from her when they put the notice in the papers was +because they did not get the city papers in camp. + +Sahwah surveyed the faces around the table with a beaming countenance. +After all, she could only be entirely happy with the Winnebagos. Migwan +and she were once more on the best of terms. + +"But tell us," said Hinpoha, now that this was safe ground to tread +upon, "what it was you put into the ketchup." + +"Oh," said Sahwah, who now remembered all about it, "those were a couple +of cloves that were lying on the table." + +And so the last bit of mystery was cleared up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX.--OPHELIA DANCES THE SUN DANCE. + + +Among the other books at Onoway House there was a Manual of the +Woodcraft Indians which belonged to Sahwah, and which she was very fond +of quoting and reading to the other girls when they were inclined to +hang back at some of the expeditions she proposed. One night she read +aloud the chapter about "dancing the sun dance," that is, becoming +sunburned from head to foot without blistering. On a day not long after +this Ophelia might have been seen standing beside the river clad only in +a thin, white slip. Stepping from the bank, she immersed herself in the +water, then stood in the sun, holding out her arms and turning up her +face to its glare. When the blazing August sunlight began to feel +uncomfortably warm on her body she plunged into the cooling flood and +then came up to stand on the bank again. She did this straight through +for two hours, and then began to investigate the result. Her arms were a +beautiful brilliant red, and the length of leg that extended out from +the slip was the same shade. She felt wonderfully pleased, and dipped in +the water again and again to cool off and then returned to the burning +process. When the dinner bell rang she returned to the house, eager to +show her achievement. But she did not feel so enthusiastic now as when +she first beheld her scarlet appearance. Something was wrong. It seemed +as if she were on fire from head to foot. She looked at her arms. They +were no longer such a pretty red; they had swelled up in large, white +blisters. So had her legs. She could hardly see out of her eyes. + +"Ophelia!" gasped the girls, when she came into the house. "What has +happened? Have you been scalded?" + +"I've been doing your old Sun Dance," said Ophelia, painfully. + +Never in all their lives had they seen such a case of sunburn. Every +inch of her body was covered with blisters as big as a hand. The sun had +burned right through the flimsy garment she wore. There was a pattern +around her neck where the embroidery had left its trace. She screamed +every time they tried to touch her. Nyoda worked quickly and deftly and +the luckless sun dancer was wrapped from head to foot in soft linen +bandages until she looked like a mummy. + +Sahwah sought Nyoda in tribulation. "Was it my fault," she asked, "for +reading her that book? She never would have thought of it if I hadn't +given her the idea." + +"No," answered Nyoda, "it wasn't your fault. It said emphatically in the +book that the coat of tan should be acquired gradually. You couldn't +foresee that she would stand in the sun that way. So don't worry about +it any longer." + +"Still, I feel in a measure responsible," said Sahwah, "and I ought to +be the one to take care of her. Let me sleep in the room with her +to-night and get up if she wants anything." Sahwah's desire to help was +so sincere that she insisted upon being allowed to do it, and took upon +herself all the care of the sunburned Ophelia, which was no small job, +for the pain from the blisters made her frightfully cross. + +Nyoda was surprised to see Sahwah keeping at it with such persistent +good nature and apparent success, for as a rule she was not a good one +to take care of the sick; she was in too much of a hurry. She would +generally spill the water when she was trying to give a drink to her +patient, or fall over the rug, or drop dishes; and the effect she +produced was irritating rather than soothing. But in this case she +seemed to be making a desperate effort to do things correctly so she +would be allowed to continue, and fetched and carried all the afternoon +in obedience to Ophelia's whims. She read her stories to while away the +painful hours and when supper time came made her a wonderful egg salad +in the form of a water lily, and cut sandwiches into odd shapes to +beguile her into eating them. When evening came and Ophelia was restless +and could not go to sleep she sang to her in her clear, high voice, +songs of camp and firelight. One by one the Winnebagos drifted in and +joined their voices to hers in a beautifully blended chorus. + +"Gee, that's what it must be like in heaven," sighed the child of the +streets, as she listened to them. The Winnebagos smiled tenderly and +sang on until she dropped off to sleep. + +Sahwah slept with one eye open listening for a call from Ophelia. She +heard her stirring restlessly in the night and went over and sat beside +her. "Can't you sleep?" she asked. + +"No," complained Ophelia. "Say, will you tell me that story again?" + +Sahwah began, "Once upon a time there was a little girl and she had a +fairy godmother----" + +"What's a fairy godmother?" interrupted Ophelia. + +"Oh," said Sahwah, "it's somebody who looks after you especially and is +very good to you and grants all your wishes, and always comes when +you're in trouble----" + +"Who's my fairy godmother?" demanded Ophelia. + +"I don't know," said Sahwah. + +"I bet I haven't got any!" said Ophelia, suspiciously. "I didn't have a +father and mother like the rest of the kids and I bet I haven't got any +fairy godmother either." + +"Oh, yes, you have," said Sahwah to soothe her, "you have one only you +haven't seen her yet. Wait and she'll appear." But Ophelia lay with her +face to the wall and said no more. "Would you like me to bring you a +drink?" asked Sahwah, a few minutes later. Ophelia replied with a nod +and Sahwah went down to the kitchen. There was no drinking water in +sight and Sahwah hesitated about going out to the well at that time of +the night. Then she remembered that a pail of well water had been taken +down cellar that evening to keep cool. Taking a light she descended the +cellar stairs. When she was nearly to the bottom she heard a subdued +crash, like a basket of something being thrown over, followed by a +series of small bumping sounds. She stood stock still, afraid to move +off the step. + +Then, summoning her voice, she cried, "Who is down there?" No answer +came from the darkness below. After that first crash there was not +another sound. Sahwah was not naturally timid, and her one explanation +for all night noises in a house was rats. Besides, she had started after +water for Ophelia, and she meant to get it. She went down stairs and +looked all around with her light. She soon found the thing which had +made the noise. It was a basket of potatoes which had fallen over and as +the potatoes rolled out on the cement floor they had made those odd +little after noises which had puzzled her. Satisfied that nobody was in +the house she took her pail of water and went up-stairs, glad that she +had not roused the house and brought out a laugh against herself. + +She gave Ophelia the drink, and being feverish she drank it eagerly and +murmured gratefully, "I guess you're my fairy godmother." As Sahwah +turned to go to bed Ophelia thrust out a bandaged hand and caught hold +of her gown. "Stay with me," she said, and Sahwah sat down again beside +the bed until Ophelia fell asleep. Sahwah felt pleased and elated at +being chosen by Ophelia as the one she wanted near her. It was not often +that a child singled Sahwah out from the group as an object of +affection; they usually went to Gladys or Hinpoha. So she responded +quickly to the advances made by Ophelia and thenceforth made a special +pet of her, taking her part on all occasions. + +Soon after Ophelia's experience with sunburn a rainy spell set in which +lasted a week. Every day they were greeted by grey skies and a steady +downpour, fine for the parched garden, but hard on amusements. They +played card games until they were weary of the sight of a card; they +played every other game they knew until it palled on them, and on the +fifth day of rain they surrounded Nyoda and clamored for something new +to do. Nyoda scratched her head thoughtfully and asked if they would +like to play Thieves' Market. + +"Play what?" asked Gladys. + +"Thieves' Market," said Nyoda. "You know in Mexico there is an +institution known as the Thieves' Market, where stolen goods are sold to +the public. We will not discuss the moral aspect of the business, but I +thought we could make a game out of it. Let's each get a hold of some +possession of each one of the others' without being seen and put a price +on it. The price will not be a money value, of course, but a stunt. The +owner of the article will have first chance at the stunt and if she +fails the thing will go to whoever can buy it. If anyone fails to get a +possession from each one of the rest to add to the collection she can't +play, and if she is seen by the owner while 'stealing' it she will have +to put it back. We'll hold the Thieves' Market to-night after supper in +the parlor and I'll be storekeeper." + +The Winnebagos, always on the lookout for something novel and +entertaining, seized on the idea with rapture. The rain was forgotten +that afternoon as they scurried around the house trying to seize upon +articles belonging to the others, and at the same time trying valiantly +to guard their own possessions. It was not hard to get Sahwah's things, +for she had a habit of leaving them lying all over the house. Her red +hat had fallen a victim the first thing; likewise her shoes and tennis +racket. It was harder to get anything away from Nyoda, for she seemed to +be Argus eyed; but providentially she was called to the telephone, and +while she was talking they made their raid. + +When opened, the Thieves' Market presented such a conglomeration of +articles that at first the girls could only stand and wonder how those +things had ever been taken away from them without their knowing it, for +many of them were possessions which were usually hidden from sight while +the owners fondly believed that their existence was unknown. Migwan gave +a cry of dismay when she beheld her "Autobiography," which she was +carefully keeping a secret from the rest, out in full view on the table. +"How did you ever find it?" she gasped. "It was folded up in my +clothes." + +But Migwan's embarrassment was nothing compared to Nyoda's when she +caught sight of a certain photograph. She blushed scarlet while the +girls teased her unmercifully. It was a picture of Sherry, the serenader +of the camp the summer before. Until they found the photograph the girls +did not know that Nyoda was corresponding with him. And the prices on +the various things were the funniest of all. The girls had come down +that evening dressed in their middies and bloomers for they had a +suspicion that there would be some acrobatic stunts taking place, and it +was well that they did. To redeem her hat Sahwah had to stand on her +head and to get her bedroom slippers Gladys had to jump through a hoop +from a chair. Hinpoha had to wrestle with Nyoda for the possession of +her paint box, and the price of Betty's shoes was to throw them over her +shoulder into a basket. At the first throw she knocked a vase off the +table, but luckily it did not break, and she was warned that another +accident would result in her going shoeless. Migwan tremblingly +approached the Autobiography to find out the price. It was "Read one +chapter aloud." "I won't do it," said Migwan, flatly. + +"Next customer," cried Nyoda, pounding with her hammer. "For the simple +price of reading aloud one chapter I will sell this complete +autobiography of a pious life, profusely illustrated by the author." +Sahwah hastened up to "buy" the book, but Migwan headed her off in a +hurry and read the first chapter with as good grace as she could, amid +the cheers and applause of the other customers. Sahwah made a grimace +when she had to polish the shoes of everyone present to get her shoe +brush back. + +Thus the various articles in the Thieves' Market were disposed of amid +much laughter and merry-making, until there remained but one article, a +cold chisel. Nyoda went through the usual formula, offering it for sale, +but no one came to claim it. She redoubled her pleas, but with the same +result. "For the third and last time I offer this great bargain in a +cold chisel for the simple price of jumping over three chairs in +succession," she said, with a flourish. Nobody appeared to be anxious to +redeem their property. "Whose is it?" she asked, mystified. + +It apparently belonged to no one. "It's yours, Gladys," said Sahwah, "I +stole it from you." + +"Mine?" asked Gladys, in surprise. "I don't own any chisel. Where did +you get it from?" + +"Out of the automobile," answered Sahwah. + +"But it doesn't belong there," said Gladys. "There's no chisel among the +tools. You're joking, you found it somewhere else." + +"No, really," said Sahwah, "I found it in the car this afternoon." + +"Mother," called Migwan, "were there any tools left in the barn by Mr. +Mitchell?" + +"Nothing but the garden tools," answered her mother. Tom also denied any +knowledge of the chisel. + +"Girls," said Nyoda, seriously, "there is something going on here that I +do not understand. First Migwan thought she heard footsteps in the +attic; then a ghost appeared to me in the tepee; one night we saw a man +running out of the barn, and later on that night Migwan claims to have +run into a man in the garden. Soon afterward Hinpoha was sure she heard +footsteps in the attic, and when we went up we found the window broken. +Just a few nights ago a basket of potatoes was mysteriously knocked over +in the cellar in the middle of the night, and now we find a chisel in +the automobile which does not belong to us. It looks for all the world +as if somebody were trying to break into this house, in fact, has broken +in on a number of occasions." + +Migwan shrieked and covered up her ears. "A mystery!" said Sahwah, +theatrically. "How thrilling!" The interest in the Thieves' Market died +out before this new and alarming idea. + +"It may be only a remarkable series of co-incidences," said Nyoda, +seeing the fright of the girls, "but it certainly looks suspicious. That +window may possibly have been broken by the wind during the storm, and +the footsteps may have been rats or Mrs. Waterhouse's ghost, and the +ghost in the tepee may have been a practical joker, but baskets of +potatoes do not fall over of their own accord in the middle of the night +and cold chisels don't grow in automobiles. There's something wrong and +we ought to find out what it is." + +"Oh, I'll never go up-stairs alone again," shuddered Migwan. "Sahwah, +how did you ever dare go down cellar in the dark after you heard that +noise?" And she shivered violently at the very thought. + +"Tom, can you handle a gun?" asked Nyoda. + +"Yes," answered Tom. + +"I'm going to buy a little automatic pistol to-morrow," said Nyoda, "and +teach everyone of you girls how to shoot it." + +"I wonder if we hadn't better try to get Calvin Smalley to sleep in the +house," said Migwan. + +"I can take care of you," said Tom, proudly. Nothing else was talked of +for the remainder of the evening and when bed time came there was a +general reluctance to become separated from the rest of the household. +But, although they listened for footsteps in the attic they heard +nothing, and the night passed away peacefully. + +The next night the ghost became active again. Whether it was the same +one or a different one they did not find out, however, for they did not +see it this time, only heard it. Just about bed time it was, a strange, +weird moaning sound that filled the house and echoed through the big +halls. Whether it proceeded from the basement or the attic they were +unable to make out; it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. +Migwan clung close to her mother and trembled. The sound rang out again, +more weird than before. It was bloodcurdling. Nyoda opened the window +and fired several shots into the air. The moaning sound stopped abruptly +and was heard no more that night, but sleep was out of the question. The +girls were too excited and fearful. The next day Mrs. Gardiner advised +everybody to hide their valuables away. The peaceful life at Onoway +House was broken up. The household lived in momentary expectation of +something happening. "And this is the quiet of the country," sighed +Migwan, "where I was to grow fat and strong. I'm worn to a frazzle +worrying about this mystery." + +"So'm I," said Gladys. + +"And I'm getting thin," said Hinpoha, which brought out a general laugh. + +"Not so you could notice it," said Sahwah. Whereupon Hinpoha tried to +smother her with a pillow and the two rolled over on the bed, +struggling. + +As if worrying about a burglar were not enough, Sahwah and Gladys had +another exciting experience one day that week. If we were to stretch a +point and trace things back to their beginnings it was the fault of the +Winnebagos themselves, for if they hadn't gone horseback riding that +day---- Well, Farmer Landsdowne came over in the morning and said he had a +pair of horses which were not working and if they wanted to go horseback +riding now was their chance. The girls were delighted with the idea and +flew to don bloomers. None of them had ever ridden before and excitement +ran high. Naturally there were no saddles, for Farmer Landsdowne's +horses were not ridden as a general rule, and the girls had to ride +bareback. + +"It feels like trying to straddle a table," said Migwan, marveling at +the width of the horse she was on. "My legs aren't half long enough." +She clung desperately to his mane as he began to trot and she began to +slide all over him. "He's so slippery I can't stick on," she gasped. The +horse stopped abruptly as she jerked on the reins and she slid off as if +he had been greased, and landed in the soft grass beside the road. + +"Here, let me try," said Sahwah, impatient for her turn. "He isn't +either slippery," she said, when she got on, "he's bony, horribly bony. +He's just like knives." She jolted up and down a few times on his hip +bones and an idea jolted into her head. Getting off she ran into the +house and came out again with a sofa pillow, which she proceeded to tie +on his back. Then she rode in comparative comfort, amid the laughter of +the girls. + +Calvin Smalley, who happened to be working out in front and saw her ride +past, doubled up with laughter over his vegetable bed. "What next?" he +chuckled. "What next?" He was still thinking about this and laughing +over it when he went through the empty field which Sahwah had crossed +the time she had discovered the house among the trees, and where Abner +Smalley now pastured his bull. So absorbed was he in the memory of that +ridiculous pillow tied on the horse that he was not careful in putting +up the bars behind him when he left the field, and later in the +afternoon the bull wandered over in that direction and came through into +the next field. He found the river road and followed it and began to +graze in one of the unploughed fields belonging to Onoway House. + +Sahwah, wearing her big, red hat, was bending low over the ground, +digging up some ferns which grew there, when all of a sudden she heard a +loud snort and looked up to see the bull charging down upon her. She +looked wildly around for a place of safety. Nothing was nearer than the +far-off hedge that surrounded the cultivated garden patch. Not a tree, +not a fence, in sight. Quick as light she bounded off toward the hedge, +although she knew it would be impossible for her to reach it before the +bull would be upon her. + +Gladys, coming along the road in the automobile, heard a shriek and +looked up to see Sahwah tearing across the open field with the bull hard +after her. Without a moment's hesitation Gladys turned the car into the +field and started after the bull at full speed. She let the car out +every notch and it whizzed dizzily over the hard turf. She sounded the +horn again and again with the hope of attracting the attention of the +bull, but he did not pause. Like lightning she bore down upon him, +passed to one side and slowed down for a second beside Sahwah, who +jumped on the running-board and was borne away to safety. + +"This hum-drum, uneventful life," said Sahwah, as she sat on the porch +half an hour afterward and tried to catch her breath, while the rest +fanned her with palm leaf fans, "is getting a little too much for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER X.--A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + +After Nyoda had fired the shots out of the window, nothing was heard or +seen of the ghost and the footsteps in the attic ceased. "It's just as I +thought," said Nyoda, "someone has been trying to frighten us with a +possible view of robbing the house at some time, thinking that a +houseful of women would be terror-stricken at the ghostly noises, but +when he found we had a gun and could shoot he thought better of the +plan." Gradually the girls lost their fright, and the odd corners of +Onoway House regained their old charm. They were far too busy with the +canning to think of much else, for the tomatoes were ripening in such +large quantities that it was all they could do to dispose of them. The +4H brand found favor and the market gradually increased, and every week +Migwan had a goodly sum to deposit in the bank after the cost of the tin +cans had been deducted. + +"I have to laugh when I think of that honor in the book," said Migwan, +"can at least three cans of fruit," and she pointed to the cans stacked +on the back porch ready to be packed into the automobile and taken to +town. "Why, hello, Calvin," she said, as Calvin Smalley appeared at the +back door. "Come in." Calvin came in and sat down. "What's the matter?" +asked Migwan, for his face had a frightened and distressed look. + +"Uncle Abner has turned me out!" said Calvin. + +"Turned you out!" echoed the girls. "Why?" + +"He showed me a will last night," said Calvin, "a later one than that +which was found when my grandfather died, which left the farm to him +instead of to my father. He just found it last night when he was +rummaging among grandfather's old papers. According to that I have been +living on his charity all these years instead of on my own property as I +supposed and now he says he can't afford to keep me any longer. He +wanted me to sign a paper saying that I would work for him without pay +until I was thirty years old to make up for what I have had all these +years, and when I wouldn't do it he told me to get out." + +"How can any man be so mean and stingy!" said Migwan, indignantly. + +"And what do you intend to do now?" asked Mrs. Gardiner. + +"I don't know," said Calvin, looking utterly downcast and discouraged. +"I had expected to go through school and then to agricultural college +and be a scientific farmer, but that's out of the question now. I +haven't a cent in the world. I could hire out to some of the farmers +around here, I suppose, but you know what that means--they wouldn't pay +me much because I'm a boy, but they would get a man's work out of me and +it's precious little time I'd have for school. I've always saved Uncle +Abner the cost of one hired man in return for what he gave me, so I +don't feel under any obligations to him. I think I'll give up farming +for a while and go to the city and work. The trouble is I have no +friends there and it might be hard for me to get into a good place." His +honest eyes were clouded over with perplexity and trouble. + +"My father could probably get you a job in the city," said Gladys, "if +you can wait until he gets back. He's out west now." + +"I tell you what to do," said kind-hearted Mrs. Gardiner to Calvin, "you +stay here with us until Mr. Evans comes back. You can help the girls in +the garden, and we were wishing not long ago that we had another man in +the house." + +"You are very kind," said Calvin, gratefully, "but I don't want to put +you to any trouble." + +"No trouble at all," Mrs. Gardiner assured him, "you can sleep with +Tom." The girls all expressed pleasure at the prospect of having Calvin +stay at Onoway House and under the spell of their kindly hospitality his +drooping spirits revived. He shook the dust of his uncle's house from +his feet, feeling no longer an outcast, since he had suddenly found such +kind friends on the other side of the hedge. + +Calvin lived in a perpetual state of wonder at the girls at Onoway +House. They made a frolic out of everything they did and were +continually thinking up new and amazing games to play. Calvin had never +done anything at home all his life but work, and work was a serious +business to him. He never knew before that work was fun. The long, weary +hours of peeling were enlivened with songs made up on the spur of the +moment. Sahwah would look up from the pan over which she was bending, +and sing to the tune of "The Pope": + + "Our Migwan leads a jolly life, jolly life, + She peels tomatoes with her knife, with her knife, + And puts the pieces in the can, + And leaves the peelings in the pan, (Oh, tra la la)." + +And then they would all start to sing at once, + + "The tomatoes went in one by one, + (There's one more bushel to peel), + Hinpoha she did cut her thumb, + (There's one more bushel to peel)." + + "The tomatoes went in two by two, + And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew. + The tomatoes went in three by three, + And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see." + +etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until it was done. + +"Do you know," said Migwan, looking up from her peeling, "that it's +Gladys's birthday next Friday? We ought to have a celebration." + +"How about a picnic?" asked Nyoda. "We haven't had a real one yet. Have +the rest of the Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep in the +tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of July. Then we'll get a horse +and wagon and drive along the roads until we come to a place beside the +river where we want to stop and cook our dinner and just spend the day +like gypsies." The girls entered into the plan with enthusiasm, both for +the sake of celebrating Gladys's birthday and cheering up Calvin, who +had been rather quiet and pensive of late. It was a great disappointment +to him to have to give up his plans for going to college, and his +uncle's unfriendly treatment of him had cut him to the heart. + +Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the day before the picnic and the +house echoed with the sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos +bubbled over with joy at being all together. The morning of the picnic +was as fine as they could wish, and it was not long before they were +bumping over the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne's wagons, behind the +very two horses which the girls had ridden the week before. It was a +wagon full. Sahwah sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter +of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her to come to the rescue in +case the horses should run away, which was not at all likely, as it took +constant persuasion to keep them going even at an easy jog trot. Mrs. +Landsdowne, who, with her husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat +beside Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while Calvin Smalley +stayed next to Migwan, as he usually did. She was so quiet and gentle +and kind that he felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the +Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who was beginning to be +inseparable from Sahwah, squeezed herself in between her and Mr. +Landsdowne, and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, took her part and +let her stay, although she was a bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and +Gladys sat at the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the end, +where they could watch the yellow road unwinding like a ribbon beneath +them, while Nyoda sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace. + +"Where are we going?" asked Mrs. Gardiner, as they swung along the road. + +"Oh," replied Sahwah, "somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere. It's +lots more romantic to start out without any idea where you're going and +stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a certain place and +think you have to go there even if you pass nicer places on the road. +Maybe, like Mrs. Wiggs, we'll end up at a first-class fire." + +"We undoubtedly will," said Nyoda, "if we expect to cook any dinner. Do +my eyes deceive me?" she continued, "or is this a fishing-rod under the +straw? It is, it is," she cried, drawing it out. "Now I know what has +been the matter with me for the past few months, this feeling of sadness +and longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have been pining, +languishing, wasting away with a desire to go fishing. My early life ran +quiet beside a babbling brook, and there I sat and fished trout and +fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will never know repose +until it has gone fishing once more." + +"Take the rod and welcome, it's mine," said Calvin, glad that something +of his should give pleasure to one of his cherished friends. + +In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river they dismounted from the +wagon and scattered in search of firewood, for the fire must be started +the first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda took the +fishing-rod and started for the river. "We'll never get anything to eat +if we wait until you catch enough fish for dinner," said Sahwah. + +"Who said I was going to catch enough for dinner?" said Nyoda. "I +wouldn't be cruel enough to keep you waiting all that time. But I do +want to catch just one for old times' sake." She strolled down to the +water's edge and after a few minutes Mr. Landsdowne joined her. He liked +Nyoda and enjoyed a talk with her. + +"Are you going to play all alone at the picnic?" he asked, as he dropped +down beside her. + +"Alone, but with _unbaited_ zeal," she quoted, digging around in the +ground with her stick. "Come and help me find a worm." + +"I'm afraid the Early Bird got them all," she said plaintively, after a +few moment's fruitless search. By dint of much digging they finally +unearthed one and baited the hook. Nyoda cast her line and then settled +down to a spell of silent waiting. "I don't believe there's a fish in +this old river," she said impatiently, after fifteen minutes of angling +which brought no results. "Not here, anyway. Let's go down beyond the +bend where the river widens out into that broad pool. The water is +deeper and quieter there." They moved on to the new location and Nyoda +tried her luck again. This time success crowned her efforts and she +landed a small fish almost immediately. "What did I tell you?" she +exclaimed, triumphantly. "There's luck in changing places. Now for +another one." In a few moments she felt a tug at the line. "It must be a +whale," she cried, enthusiastically, "it pulls so hard." + +"It may be caught on a snag," said Farmer Landsdowne. "Here, let me get +it loose for you, I'm afraid you'll break that rod," he said, as the +pole bent ominously in her hands. + +"Spare the rod and spoil the fish," said Nyoda. + +"What are you doing on my property?" said a harsh voice behind them, +"don't you see that sign?" + +Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne sprang to their feet in surprise and faced +an irate farmer in blue shirt sleeves. Sure enough, on a tree not very +far from them there was a sign reading, + + NO FISHING IN THIS POND. + +"We didn't see the sign," said Nyoda, stammering in her embarrassment, +and crimson to the roots of her hair. + +"We really didn't," confirmed Farmer Landsdowne. + +"Well, ye see it now, don't ye?" pursued the proprietor of the +fish-pond. "Kindly move along." + +"We have one fish," said Nyoda, feeling unutterably foolish, "but we'll +pay you for that. I must have one to take back to the picnic or I don't +dare show my face." + +"Ye say ye caught a fish?" shouted the farmer, excitedly. "Holy +mackerel! That was the only one in the pond--I put it in there this +morning--and I've rented the fishing of it to a young feller from +Cleveland at twenty-five cents an hour." + +"But it didn't take me an hour to catch him," said Nyoda. "It only took +five minutes. That'll be about two cents." But the farmer held out for +his twenty-five cents and Nyoda paid it, laughing to herself at the way +the "feller from Cleveland" had been cheated out of his sport. + +"Don't ever tell the girls about this," pleaded Nyoda, as they moved +shamefacedly away. "I'm supposed to be a pattern of conduct, and I'm +always scolding the girls because they don't use their eyes enough. +They'll never get over laughing at me if they find it out." Farmer +Landsdowne promised solemnly that he would not divulge the secret. + +"Did you catch anything?" called Sahwah, as Nyoda returned to the group +under the trees. + +"We certainly did," replied Nyoda, with a sidelong glance at Farmer +Landsdowne. + +"Listen to this part of father's last letter," said Gladys, as they sat +around on the grass eating their dinner. "Juneau, Alaska. + +"We recently saw a group of Camp Fire girls holding a Ceremonial Meeting +on a mountain near Juneau. It fairly made us homesick; it reminded us so +much of the group we used to see in our house. We went up and spoke to +them and they send you this three-petaled flower as a greeting." + +"To think we have friends all over the country, just because we know the +meaning of the word Wohelo!" said Migwan in an awed tone, as the +Winnebagos crowded around Gladys to see the flower which had come from +far off Alaska, a silent All Hail from kindred spirits. + +Just at this point Ophelia, who was coming a long way with the +coffee-pot in her hand, tripped over a root and sprawled on her face on +the ground, showering everybody near her with coffee. "We have your +title now," said Nyoda, "it's Ophelia-Face-in-the-Mud. You're always +falling that way." + +"And I know what your name is," replied Ophelia. + +"What is it?" asked Nyoda, guilelessly. + +"It's Nyoda-Chased-by-a-Farmer," said Ophelia. + +Nyoda started and looked guilty. "How did you know that?" she asked, +giving herself away completely. + +"Followed you," said Ophelia. "I saw you fishin' where the sign said to +keep out and the man in the blue shirt sleeves chased you out." + +"Tell us about it," demanded all the girls, and Nyoda had to tell the +whole story that she wanted to keep a secret. + + "Fishy, fishy in the brook, + But the fishers 'got the hook,'" + +chanted Sahwah, teasingly. Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne looked sheepish +at the jokes that were thrown at them thick and fast, but they stood it +good-naturedly. + +"A truce!" cried Gladys, coming to the rescue of Nyoda. "Let's play +charades." + +"Good!" said Migwan. "You be leader of one side and let Nyoda take the +other. Whichever side gives up first will have to get supper for the +rest." + +Gladys chose Sahwah, Mrs. Gardiner, Betty, Ophelia, Tom and Calvin. +Nyoda chose Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne, Hinpoha, Migwan, Chapa, Medmangi +and Nakwisi. Gladys's side went out first and came in without her. + +"Word of three syllables, first syllable," said Sahwah, who acted as +spokesman. The whole company sat down in a row, striking the most +doleful attitude and groaning as if in pain, and shedding tears into +their handkerchiefs. + +"Most woeful looking crowd I ever saw," remarked Mr. Landsdowne. + +"Woe!" shouted Nyoda, triumphantly, and the guess was correct. + +The weepers continued their weeping in the second syllable, and then +Gladys appeared, felt of all their pulses and gave each a dose out of a +bottle, whereupon they all straightened up, lost their symptoms of +distress, and capered for joy. + +"Cure," said Migwan. The players shook their heads. + +"Heal," shouted Hinpoha, and Gladys acknowledged it. + +In the last syllable Gladys went around and demanded payment for her +services, but in each case was met with a promise to pay at some future +time. + +"Owe," said Chapa, which was pronounced right. "O heal woe, what's +that?" she asked. + +"You're twisted," said Nyoda, "it's 'Wohelo.' That really was too easy. +Let's not divide them into syllables after this," she suggested, "it's +no contest of wits that way. Let's act out the word all at once." The +alteration was accepted with enthusiasm. + +Hinpoha came out alone for her side. "Word of two syllables," she said. +Taking a blanket she spread it over a bushy weed and tucked the corners +under until it looked not unlike a large stone. Then she retired from +the scene. Soon Nyoda came along and paused in front of the blanket, +which looked like an inviting seat. + +"What a lovely rock to rest on!" she exclaimed, and seated herself upon +it. Of course, it flattened down under her weight and she was borne down +to the ground. + +A moment of silence followed this performance as the guessers racked +their brains for the meaning. "Is it 'Landsdowne?'" asked Gladys. + +"It might be, but it isn't," said Nyoda, laughing. + +"I know," said Sahwah, starting up, "it's 'shamrock.'" + +"You are sharper than I thought," said Nyoda, rising from her seat. +"Nobody down yet. Now, fire your broadside at us. No word under three +syllables. Anything less would be unworthy of our giant intellects." + +"Third round!" cried Calvin. + +Sahwah walked down to the water's edge, holding in her hand a large key. +Leaning over, she moved the key as if it were walking in the water. This +proved a puzzler, and cries of 'Milwaukee,' 'Nebrasky,' and 'turnkey' +were all met with a triumphant shake of the head. + +"It looks as if we would have to give up," said Hinpoha. + +Just then Nyoda sprang up with a shout. "Why didn't I think of it +before?" she cried. "It's 'Keewaydin,' key-wade-in. What else could you +expect from Sahwah?" + +"That's it," said Sahwah. "You must be a mind reader." + +"Here's where we finish you off," said Nyoda, as her side came out +again. "We've taken a word of four syllables this time." The whole team +advanced in single file, Indian fashion, keeping closely in step. Round +and round they marched, back and forth, never slackening their speed, +until one by one they tumbled to the ground from sheer exhaustion and +stiffened out lifelessly. The guessers looked at each other, puzzled. + +"Do it again," said Sahwah. The strenuous march was repeated, and the +marchers succumbed as before. Still no light came to the onlookers. +Sahwah whispered something to Gladys. + +"Would you just as soon do it again?" asked Gladys. Again the file wound +round the trees and tumbled to the turf. Nyoda made a triumphant grimace +as no guess was forthcoming. Sahwah's eyes began to sparkle. + +"Would you please do it once more?" she pleaded. + +"Have mercy on the performers," groaned Nyoda, but they went through it +again, and this time they were too spent to rise from the ground when +the acting was done. "Do you give up?" called Nyoda. + +"No," answered Gladys. + +"You have five seconds to produce the answer, then," said Nyoda. + +"It's diapason," said Gladys, "die-a-pacin." + +"Really!" said Nyoda, falling back in astonishment. + +"We knew it all the while!" cried Sahwah and Gladys. "We just kept you +doing it over and over again because we liked to see you work." + +The laugh was on Nyoda and her team all the way around. "We do this to +each other!" called Sahwah, using the Indian form of taunt when one has +played a successful trick on another. + +"Tie the villains to a tree, and let them perish of mosquito bites," +Nyoda commanded in an awful tone. "I'll get even with you for that, Miss +Sahwah," she said, darkly, as the other side trooped off to cook up a +new poser. + +"Hadn't you better stop playing now?" inquired Mrs. Gardiner. "You know +we wanted to get home before dark." + +"Oh, let's do one more," pleaded Migwan. If they had only stopped +playing when Mrs. Gardiner suggested it and gone home early they might +have been in time to prevent the thing which occurred, but they were +bent on seeing one side or the other go down, and Gladys's side prepared +another charade. + +"We've played up to your own game," said Gladys, who was introducing the +new charade, "and have increased the number to five syllables." The +actors were Mrs. Gardiner, Betty and Tom Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner was +scolding the children and emphasized her remarks by a sharp pinch on +Tom's arm. Betty, seeing the maternal hand also extended in her +direction, promptly climbed a tree and sat in safety, while her mother +shook her finger at her and cried warningly, "I'll attend to you after +awhile." + +"What on earth?" said Nyoda, scratching her head in perplexity. But +scratch as she might, no answer came, and the rest of her team had +nothing to offer either. After holding out for fully fifteen minutes +they were compelled to give it up. + +"It's 'manipulator,'" cried the winning side, in chorus. +"'Ma-nip-you-later!'" And they stood around to condole while Nyoda's +side prepared supper. Then it was that Calvin, basely deserting the team +he had helped so far, went over to the side of the enemy and helped +Migwan fetch wood for the fire. Both sides stopped often to jeer at each +other, so it took them twice as long to get the meal ready as it would +have ordinarily. They loitered and sang along the way home, letting the +horses take their time, and it was quite late when they reached Onoway +House. + +The first thing that greeted them was the sight of Mr. Bob, the cocker +spaniel, rolling on the front lawn in great distress, and giving every +sign of being poisoned. They hastily administered an antidote and, after +a time of suspense were confident that the effect of the poison had been +counteracted. So far they had only been in the kitchen, but when the +excitement about the dog was over they moved toward the sitting-room to +rest awhile and drink lemonade before going to bed. When the light was +lit they all stopped in astonishment. In the sitting-room there was an +old-fashioned combination desk and bookcase, the bookcase part set on +top of the desk and reaching nearly to the ceiling. It belonged to the +house, and the desk was closed and locked. Now, however, it stood open, +and all the drawers were pulled out, while the top of the desk and the +floor before it were strewn with papers in great disorder. + +"Burglars!" cried Migwan. "The house has been robbed!" They immediately +looked through the house to see what had been taken. Up-stairs in the +room occupied by the two boys there was a desk similar to the one in the +sitting-room. This had also been broken open and the drawers searched +through, although the disorder of papers was not so great as it was +down-stairs. Half afraid of what they should find, the whole family went +from room to room, but nothing else seemed to have been disturbed, and +as far as they could see nothing had been stolen. The silver in the +sideboard drawer was untouched, but then, this was only plate, and worn +at that. But in full view on the dining-room table lay Sahwah's +Firemaker Bracelet, which she had laid there a few moments before +starting for the picnic, and then, with her customary forgetfulness, +neglected to pick up again. This was solid silver and worth stealing. +Further than that, she had also forgotten to wear her watch, and it was +still safe in her top bureau drawer. It was a riddle, and as they talked +it over they could only come to one conclusion, and that was that the +burglar had thought there were large sums of money hidden in the two +desks and had passed over the small articles in the hope of getting a +bigger harvest, or else was leaving those other things to the last. He +ransacked the up-stairs desk, having broken the lock, and then went +through the one down-stairs. While looking through the papers in the +sitting-room he had evidently been frightened away by something, for +there was one drawer that had not been disturbed. This also accounted +for the fact that nothing else had been taken. What had frightened him +was probably the barking of the dog, who, although he was on the +outside, had become aware of the presence of someone in the house. He +had fed the dog poison, probably poisoned meat, for they had found a +small piece of meat on the porch. Evidently the poison had begun to act +before Mr. Bob had it all eaten, and he left that piece. But before the +dog was dead the burglar had heard the family returning along the road, +singing, and made his escape. The whole thing must have happened not +long before, for the dog had not had the poison long enough to take +deadly effect. It was then that they regretted having lingered so long +over the game of charades and delayed their homecoming. + +"If we had only been half an hour sooner, we might have found out who it +was," said Mrs. Gardiner. + +"Thank Heaven we weren't half an hour later," said Hinpoha, "or Mr. Bob +would have been dead." She would have felt worse about losing Mr. Bob +than about having all her possessions stolen. + +"How about sleeping in the tepee to-night?" asked Gladys. There was not +enough room in the house for so many people and the eight Winnebagos had +made their beds in the tepee while the three girls from town were there, +both to solve the question of sleeping quarters and for the fun of the +thing. It was just like camping out to sleep on the ground, all the +eight girls in a circle around the little watch fire in the middle of +the tepee. + +"Oh, I'll be afraid to," said Hinpoha. + +"I don't know but what it would be just as safe as sleeping in the +house," said Nyoda. "I doubt if anyone would think of people sleeping +out in that thing. It's a rather novel idea in this neighborhood. And at +any rate there's nothing out there to steal and consequently nothing to +tempt a thief." + +So, their fears having vanished, the Winnebagos went to bed in the tepee +just as they had planned. Nyoda took the precaution of putting her +pistol under her pillow. The girls really enjoyed the air of suppressed +excitement. When did youth and high spirits ever fail to respond to the +thrill of danger, either real or fancied? This attempted burglary was +the most exciting thing that had ever happened to most of the girls and +they were getting as much thrill out of it as possible. It amused them +to see Tom and Calvin parading the front lawn armed with bird guns, +swelled up with importance at having to guard a houseful of women. +Instead of hoping that the burglar had been scared away for good they +wished fervently that he would return and give them a chance to shoot. +They would have stayed there all night if Mrs. Gardiner had not ordered +them to bed. + +One by one the girls in the tepee dropped off to slumber, worn out with +the varied events of the day. But Nyoda could not sleep. She had a +throbbing headache from the glare of the sun on the water while she sat +fishing. The little fire, in the center of the bare circle of earth +which prevented it from spreading, died down and subsided to glowing +embers, then one by one these turned black and left the tepee in +darkness. There was not a spark left. Nyoda was sure of this, for she +sat up several times in an effort to make herself comfortable, and when +she took a drink from the pail of well water which stood nearby she +emptied the dipper over the spot where the fire had been, to make doubly +sure. Still sleep would not come. She stared out of the doorway of the +tepee into the darkness. A group of beech trees with their light grey +bark loomed up ghostlike before the door. She began to think of the +ghost which had appeared to her that other night in that very doorway, +and tried to connect the incidents which had taken place afterwards with +that. One thing was sure--someone was getting into Onoway House every few +days. Why nothing was taken was a mystery to her. It seemed to her now +that it was not so much an attempt at burglary as an effort to annoy and +frighten the family. Possibly it was someone who had a grudge against +them--she could not imagine why--and was indulging in these pranks to +satisfy a spite. She thought she saw a glimmer of light on the subject. + +Farmer Landsdowne had once told her that when it became known that Mr. +Mitchell was going to give up the care of the place, several farmers of +the Centerville Road district had applied for the position of caretaker, +but wishing to assist Migwan, the Bartletts had refused their offers and +given the place over to the Winnebagos. That must be it. Someone wanted +that job badly and was wreaking his disappointment on the people who had +kept him from getting it. The more she thought of it the more probable +it seemed. Possibly more than one were involved in the plot. + +Then another thought struck her. Could it be the crazy man who lived +alone in the little house among the trees? Calvin had stated that he +never left the house, but who could account for the inspirations of an +unbalanced mind? That nothing had been taken from the house seemed to +indicate a want of fixed purpose in the mind of the housebreaker--to go +to all that trouble for nothing. This idea also seemed worth +considering. + +As she lay turning these things over in her mind she thought she heard a +stealthy footstep in the grass outside of the tepee. Thinking that the +ghost was coming to pay another visit, she drew the pistol from under +her pillow and turning over, face downward, lay with it pointed toward +the doorway. There would be no outcry when he appeared in the doorway. +The first intimation the ghost would have that he was observed would be +a shot in the leg that would prevent him from running away and would +solve the mystery. In tense silence she waited, one; two; three minutes, +but nothing appeared. Then suddenly she smelled smoke, and turning +around swiftly saw that the side of the tepee toward which she had had +her back was in flames. + +"Fire!" she called at the top of her voice. "Sahwah! Hinpoha! Gladys! +Migwan! Wake up!" And seizing the pail of water she dashed it against +the side of the tepee. The water sizzled as it fell, but the canvas +covering was burning like tinder. Thus rudely awakened the girls sprang +up in alarm. The place was filling with dense smoke, and through it they +groped their way to the opening, dragging out their blankets. Hardly had +the last girl got out when the whole thing was one roaring blaze, which +lit up the scenery a long way around. + +Nyoda, paying no attention to the flames that were mounting skyward from +the burning canvas, looked intently for a lurking figure among the +trees, for she thought it hardly possible that whoever had set the tepee +afire could have gotten outside of the range of light in that short +time. It was possible to see as far as the road on the one side and +across the river on the other. But nowhere was there a man or the shadow +of a man. The folks came running out of Onoway House half dressed and in +terror that the girls had not escaped from the burning tent in time, and +the farmers all the way down the road, seeing the glare, rushed to offer +their assistance, for a fire in the country is a serious thing where +there is no water pressure. Farmer Landsdowne came on a dead run, +carrying a water bucket. Even Abner Smalley appeared in the midst of the +crowd. He gave a scowling look at Calvin, but said nothing, and soon +took his departure when the danger was over, as it was directly, for it +did not take long to reduce that canvas covering to a black mass, and +buckets of water thrown all around on the ground and the trees kept the +fire from spreading. + +For the second time that night the family gathered in the sitting-room +and faced each other over an exciting happening. "I told you if you +built a fire in that tepee you would burn it down," said Mrs. Gardiner. +"I never felt easy when you had one." + +"But it didn't catch fire from our little fire," declared Nyoda, and +told the events of the night, from the going out of the fire to the +footsteps outside the tepee when the canvas had suddenly blazed up when +she was lying in wait for the ghost with a pistol. The circle of faces +paled with fear as she told her tale. Who could this mysterious visitor +be, who seemed determined to do them some harm? The girls finished the +night in the house, three in a bed, but none of them closed their eyes +to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI.--THE WELL DIGGER'S GHOST. + + +The next morning Mrs. Gardiner sent Mr. Landsdowne to interview the +police force of the township in which the Centerville Road belonged, and +he brought the whole force back with him. He had to bring the whole +force if he brought any for it embraced only one man and he was well +along in years, but he had a uniform and a helmet and a club and a gun, +and presented an imposing appearance as he strutted up and down the +yard, before which an evil doer might be moved to pause. The three girls +from town had departed and Nakwisi had left her spy glass behind in the +excitement, and this was a source of great entertainment to the rural +gendarme. He spent a great deal of time sliding the lens back and forth +to fit his eye and peering up the road into the distance, or looking up +into the air, as if he expected to see the burglar approaching in an +airship. He was very talkative and fond of recounting the captures he +had made single handed, and declared solemnly that the man in this case +was as good as caught already, for no one had ever escaped yet when Dave +Beeman had started out to get him. + +Nyoda, who was fond of seeing her theories worked out, still held to the +idea that the mysterious visitor was someone who wanted the job of +caretaker, and inquired closely of Farmer Landsdowne who the men were +who had applied for the position. When it came down to fact there was +only one who had really wanted the job very badly, although several +others had mentioned the fact that they wouldn't mind doing it, and that +man had found a similar situation immediately afterward and left the +neighborhood. So her theory did not seem to be inclined to hold water. + +She had another idea, however, and wrote to Mr. Mitchell, asking if he +had ever heard strange noises in the attic while he lived there. Mr. +Mitchell answered and said that not only had he heard strange noises in +the attic, but also in the cellar and in the barn, and that pieces of +furniture had apparently moved themselves in the middle of the night; +and it was on this account that he had left the place, as it made his +wife so nervous she became ill. This fact put a new face on the matter. +The hostility, then, was not directed against themselves personally, but +against the tenants of the house, no matter who they were. But this idea +left them more in the dark than ever, and they lost a good deal of sleep +over it without reaching any solution. + +After a few days of zealous watching, during which time nothing +happened, the police force of Centerville township gave it up as a bad +job and relaxed its vigilance, declaring that the firebug must have +gotten out of the country, for that was the only way he could hope to +escape his eagle eye. "If he was still in the country, I'd a' had him by +this time", Dave Beeman asserted confidently. "So as long as he's gone +that far you don't need to worry any more." And he took himself off, +eager to get back to the quiet game of pinochle in Gus Wurlitzer's +grocery store, which Farmer Landsdowne had interrupted several days ago. + +It was just about this time that Migwan had her biggest order for canned +tomatoes--from a fashionable private sanitarium a few miles distant, and +the rush of canning gradually took their minds off the mysterious +intruder. Migwan, picking her finest and ripest tomatoes to fill this +order, noticed that a number of the vines were drooping and turning +yellow. The half ripe tomatoes were falling to the ground and rotting. +One whole end of the bed seemed to be affected. She looked carefully for +insects and found none. Some of the leaves seemed worse shrivelled than +others. In perplexity she called Mr. Landsdowne over to look at them. He +looked closely at the plants and also seemed puzzled as to the cause of +the mysterious blight. "It isn't rot," he said, "because the bed is high +and dry and the plants have never stood in water." Upon looking closely +he discovered that the affected plants were covered with a fine white +coating. He gave a smothered exclamation. "Do you know what that is?" he +asked. "It's lime! Somebody has sprayed your plants with a solution of +lime. Are you sure you didn't do it yourself?" he asked, quizzically. + +Migwan shook her head. "I haven't sprayed those plants with anything for +a month," she asserted, "and neither has anyone else in the house." + +"Somebody outside of the house has done it, then," said Mr. Landsdowne. + +The work of the mysterious visitor again! It struck dismay into the +breasts of the whole household. They never knew when and where that hand +was going to strike next. And so silently, so mysteriously, without ever +leaving a trace behind! + +There was nothing left to do but dig up the dead plants and throw them +away. Migwan almost stopped breathing when she thought that the rest of +the bed might be treated in the same way, and the source of her revenue +cut off. But why was all this happening? What could anyone possibly have +against the peaceful dwellers at Onoway House? + +A guard was set over the tomato bed both day and night for a week and +the big order for the sanitarium was filled as fast as the tomatoes +ripened. Nothing at all happened during this time and the vigilance was +relaxed. A large dog was turned loose in the garden at night and they +felt secure in his protection. This dog belonged to Calvin Smalley. When +he had left his uncle's house he had to leave Pointer behind, as he did +not know what else to do with him, but now that the Gardiners were +willing to have him he went over and got him when he knew his uncle was +away from the house, so he would not have to meet him. Pointer was +overjoyed at seeing his young master again and attached himself to the +household at once, and never made the slightest effort to go back to his +old home. He had a deep, heavy bark which could not fail to rouse the +house at once. With the coming of Pointer the girls breathed easily +again. + +One day when Migwan had gone over to see the Landsdownes, Mr. Landsdowne +had given her a treasure for her garden. This was a plant of a rare +species called Titania Gloria, which a friend had brought from Bermuda. +It was a first year growth and so would not bloom until the following +summer. Migwan planted it along the fence beside the mint bed and +treasured it like gold, for the blossom of the Titania Gloria was a +wonderful shade of blue and was considered a prize by fanciers, who paid +high prices for cuttings of the plant. In the excitement over the tepee +and the tomato plants, however, she forgot to tell the other girls about +it, so she was the only one who knew what a precious thing that little +bed of leaves was. + +The weather was so fine that week that Migwan decided to have a garden +party and invite a number of friends from town. Gladys promised to dance +and the boys cleared a circle for her in the grass under the trees, +picking up every stick that lay on the ground. Mrs. Landsdowne, hearing +about the party, offered to make ice cream for them in her freezer. Just +before the guests arrived Migwan and Calvin went over after it. They +took the raft, because they thought that would be the easiest way of +transporting the heavy tub. Migwan rode on the raft and supported the +tub and Calvin walked along the bank and pulled the tow line. His +eagerness to help with the festivity was somewhat pathetic. Never, to +his knowledge, had there been a party at the Smalley House. The way +these girls planned a party out of a clear sky and carried out their +plans without delay was nothing short of marvelous to him. They were +always at their ease with company, while it was a fearful ordeal for him +to meet strangers. He liked to be a part of such doings; but was at a +loss how to act. Migwan, with her fine understanding of things beneath +the surface, saw that this boy was lonesome in the crowd, not knowing +how to mix in and have a glorious time on his own account, and she +always saw to it that his part was mapped out for him in all their +doings. Therefore she chose him to help her bring the ice cream over. + +Calvin, happy at being useful, towed the raft carefully and turned his +head whenever Migwan spoke, so as to give strict attention to her words. +Doing this, he fell over the branch of a tree in the path and jerked the +rope violently. The raft tipped up and both Migwan and the tub of ice +cream went into the river. Migwan climbed out on the bank before Calvin +was up from the ground. He was aghast at what he had done. He had been +so eager to help with the party and now he had spoiled it! That he would +be instantly expelled from Onoway House he was sure, and he felt that he +deserved it. Migwan, at least, would never speak to him again. +Speechless, he turned piteous eyes to where she sat on the bank +dripping. To his surprise she was doubled up with laughter. "What are +you laughing at?" he asked, startled. + +"Because you upset the raft and the ice cream fell into the river!" +giggled Migwan. Calvin gasped. The very thing that was nearly killing +him with chagrin was the cause of her mirth! It was the first time he +had ever seen anyone make light of a calamity. Her mirth was so +contagious that he began to laugh himself. Still laughing, he brought +the tub out of the river and set it on the bank. The water had washed +away the packing of ice, but the lid on the inner can was providentially +tight and the ice cream was unharmed. That little incident crystallized +the friendship between the two. After that he was Migwan's slave. A girl +who could be thrown into the river without getting vexed was a friend +worth having. Dripping, they returned to the house, where the +preparations for the party were at their height, to be laughed at +immoderately and christened the "Water Babies." + +To Hinpoha the Artistic had been entrusted the setting of the tables. +Her decorations were water lilies from the river, and when she had +finished it looked as if a feast had been spread for the river nymphs. +Around the edges of the platter she put bunches of bright mint leaves. +Her artistic efforts called out so much praise from the guests that she +was in a continual state of blushing as she waited on the table. + +"What's the matter with your hand?" asked Migwan, noticing that she was +passing things around left handedly. + +"Nothing," said Hinpoha, "nothing much. I slipped when I was getting the +lilies and fell on my wrist and it feels lame, that's all." + +"Is it sprained?" asked Migwan. + +"Oh, no," said Hinpoha, "I don't think so." + +"It's all swelled up," said Migwan, holding up the injured wrist. "Let +me paint it with iodine and tie it up for you." + +Hinpoha maintained that it was nothing serious, but Migwan insisted. +"Where is the iodine, mother?" she asked. + +"On the pantry shelf," answered Mrs. Gardiner. Migwan got the bottle and +painted Hinpoha's wrist before the party could proceed. Hinpoha surveyed +the brown stripe around her arm rather disgustedly. It was for this very +reason that she had said nothing about the wrist before. She did not +want it painted up for the party. It offended her artistic eye and she +would rather suffer in silence. + +While the guests were sitting at the tables Gladys danced on the lawn +for their entertainment. The merry laughter was hushed in surprise and +delight at her fairylike movements. In the silence which reigned at this +time the thing which happened was distinctly heard by everyone. +Apparently from the depths of the earth there came a muffled thud, thud, +as of a pick striking against hard ground. It kept up for a few minutes +and then ceased, to be renewed again after a short interval. The +dwellers at Onoway House looked at each other. Into each mind there +sprang the story of the Deacon's well, and the words of Farmer +Landsdowne, "_Superstitious folks say you can still hear the buried well +digger striking with his pick against the ground that covers him._" It +was the most mysterious sound, far away and faint, yet seemingly right +under their very feet. Gladys heard it and paused in her dancing. +Pointer and Mr. Bob both heard it and began to bark. In a little while +the thudding noise ceased and was heard no more, and the company were +all left wondering if they could have been the victims of imagination. + +"Maybe it's somebody down cellar," said Calvin, and taking Pointer with +him, went down. Tom followed him. But there was no sign of anyone down +there. Pointer ran around with his nose to the ground as if he were +smelling for footsteps, but his tail kept wagging all the while. They +were all familiar footsteps he scented. Nothing was out of place in the +cellar except that a basket of potatoes was thrown over and the potatoes +had rolled out on the cement floor. The boys noticed this without +thinking anything of it. The mystery of the well digger's ghost remained +unsolved. + +In the cool of the early evening after her guests had departed, Migwan +wandered down into the garden to look at her various plants and flowers. +It occurred to her that she had not paid her Titania Gloria a visit for +several days. But what a sight met her eyes when she reached the spot +where the precious thing had been planted! Not a single bit was left. +The clean cut stalks showed where they had been clipped off close to the +ground. Migwan started up with a cry of dismay which brought the other +girls running to her side. "My Titania Gloria!" gasped Migwan. "Look! +The mysterious visitor has been at work again!" And she told them about +the valuable cuttings that had disappeared so uncannily. + +"We never hear that ghost but what something happens after it!" said +Gladys, in an awestruck tone. The girls peered apprehensively into the +shadows of the tall trees surrounding the garden. + +"What's up?" asked Hinpoha, joining the group. Migwan pointed to the +devastated bed. "What's the matter with it?" asked Hinpoha. + +"My Titania Gloria!" said Migwan. "It's been clipped off at the roots." + +"Your what?" asked Hinpoha. Migwan explained about the rare plant Farmer +Landsdowne had given her. Hinpoha gave a sudden start and exclamation. +"What did you say it was?" she asked. + +"A Titania Gloria," answered Migwan. + +"Well, girls, I'm the guilty one, then," said Hinpoha, "for I cut those +plants off thinking they were mint. That was what I decorated the +platters with this afternoon. Do anything you like with me, Migwan, beat +me, hang me to a tree, put my feet in stocks, or anything, and I'll make +no resistance." She was absolutely frozen to the spot when she realized +what she had done. + +Migwan, grieved as she was over the loss of her cherished Titania, yet +had to laugh at the depths of Hinpoha's mortification. "You old goose!" +she said, putting her arms around her, "don't take it so to heart! It's +my fault, not yours at all, because I didn't tell anyone what that plant +was. And the leaves do look just like mint." Thus she comforted the +discomfited Hinpoha. + +"Migwan," said her mother, when they had returned to the house, "where +did you get that iodine with which you painted Hinpoha's wrist this +afternoon?" + +"On the pantry shelf, just where you told me," answered Migwan. + +"Well," said her mother, "I told you wrong. The iodine is up on my +wash-stand." + +"Then what was in the brown bottle on the pantry shelf?" asked Migwan. +The bottle was produced. + +"Why," said Mrs. Gardiner, "that's walnut stain, guaranteed not to wear +off!" + +Then there was a laugh at Migwan's expense! + + "Old Migwan Hubbard + She went to the cupboard, + To get iodine in a phial, + But she couldn't read plain, + And brought walnut stain, + And now her poor patient looks vile!" + +chanted Sahwah. + +"You're even now," said Gladys, "you've each scored a trick." + +"'_We do this to each other!_'" said Migwan and Hinpoha in the same +breath, and locked fingers and made a wish according to the time-honored +custom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII.--OPHELIA FINDS A FAIRY GODMOTHER. + + +As the summer progressed, the girls had more than one conference as to +what was to become of Ophelia when they left Onoway House. To let her go +back to her life in the slums was unthinkable. So far, Old Grady had +made no effort to get her back, possibly for the simple reason that she +did not know where the child was. They did not even know whether or not +she had a legal claim on Ophelia. All Ophelia knew about the business +was that Old Grady had taken her from the orphan asylum when she was +seven years old. Where she had lived before she went to the orphan +asylum she could not remember, so she must have been very young when she +came there. They were equally unwilling that she should return to the +asylum. + +"If we could only find someone to adopt her," said Hinpoha. That would +be the best thing, they all agreed, although there was a lingering doubt +in the mind of each one as to whether anyone would want to adopt +Ophelia. Grammar was to her a totally unnecessary accomplishment, and +the amount of slang she knew was unending. By dint of hard labor they +had succeeded in making her say "you" instead of "yer," and "to" instead +of "ter," and discard some of her more violent slang phrases, but she +was still obviously a child of the streets and the tenement, and that +life had left its brand upon her. It showed itself constantly in her +speech. They had better success in teaching her table manners, for with +a child's gift of imitation she soon fell into the ways of those around +her. + +But having had so much excitement in her short life she still pined for +it. While the life in the country was pleasant in the extreme it was far +too quiet to suit her and she longed to be back in the crowded tenement +where there was something happening every hour out of the twenty-four; +where people woke to life instead of going to bed when darkness fell and +the lamps were lighted; where street cars clanged and wagons rattled and +fire engines rumbled by; where the harsh voices of newsboys rang out +above the loud conversation of the women on the doorsteps and the +wailing of the babies. The zigging of the grasshoppers and the swishing +of the wind in the Balm of Gilead tree and the murmur of the river had +for her a mournful and desolate sound, and she often covered up her ears +so as not to hear it. When she first came to Onoway House she was so +interested in the new life that it kept her busy all day long finding +out new things; but gradually the novelty wore off. At first she had +been as mischievous as a monkey; always up to some prank or other. She +teased Tom and was teased by him in return; she put burrs in Mr. Bob's +long ears; she climbed trees and threw things down on the heads of +unsuspecting persons underneath; she startled the girls out of their +wits by lying unseen under the couch in the sitting-room and grabbing +their ankles unexpectedly. Always she was doing something, and always +merry and full of life; so that she made the girls feel that they had +done a fine thing by bringing her to Onoway House. + +But of late a change had come over her. She began to droop, and to sit +silent by herself at times. The girls did their best to keep her amused, +but they were very busy with the continual canning, and Betty, who had +more time than the others, did not like her and would not play with her. +So she grew more and more homesick for the big, noisy city and the +playmates of other days. Then had come the time when she was so +sunburned and she had developed the fondness for Sahwah. After that she +was less lonesome, for Sahwah was such a lively person to be attached to +that one had always to be on the lookout for surprises. Sahwah taught +her to swim and dive and ride a bicycle; she had the boys make a swing +for her under the big tree, and Ophelia blossomed once more into +happiness. At Sahwah's instigation she played more tricks on the other +girls than before. + +But Ophelia was a shrewd little person, and she knew that the summer +would come to a close and the girls would not live together any more. +She often heard them discussing their plans. What was to become of her +then? The happy family life at Onoway House stirred in her a desire to +have a home too, and a mother of her own. She began to grow wistful +again and at times her eyes would have a strange far-away look. The +scandals of the streets which were once the breath of life to her and +which she repeated with such relish, began to lose their charm, and she +developed a taste for fairy tales. "Tell me the story about the fairy +godmother," she would say to Sahwah, and would listen attentively to the +end. "Are you sure I've got one somewhere?" she would ask eagerly. + +"You surely have," Sahwah would answer, to satisfy her. + +And then, "What _are_ we going to do with Ophelia when the summer is +over?" Sahwah would ask the girls after Ophelia was in bed. And Hinpoha +would think of Aunt Phoebe and knew she would never adopt such a child as +Ophelia was; and Migwan knew that it would be out of the question in her +family; and Sahwah knew that her mother would not let her come and live +with them; and Gladys thought of her delicate mother and sighed. Nyoda +could not make a home for her, because she had none of her own and a +boarding house was no place for a child. + +"It's a shame," Sahwah would declare vehemently, "that there aren't +fathers and mothers enough in this world to go round. Here's Ophelia +will have to go into an institution more than likely, and grow up +without any especial interest being taken in her, while we have had so +much done for us. It isn't fair." + +"There's something curious about Ophelia," said Gladys, musingly. "While +she came from the tenements and is as wild and untrained as any little +street gamin, she has the appearance of a child of a much higher class. +Have you ever noticed how small and perfect her hands and feet are? And +what beautiful almond shaped fingernails she has? And what delicate +features? Have you seen how erectly she carries herself, and how +graceful she is when she dances? In spite of her name, I don't believe +she is Irish; and I don't think her people could have been low class. +There's an indefinable something about her which spells quality." + +"Probably a princess in disguise," said Sahwah, in a tone of amusement. +"Leave it to Gladys to scent 'quality.'" + +But the others had noticed the same characteristics in Ophelia and were +inclined to agree with Gladys on the subject. + +"But what about the strange spot of light hair on her head?" asked +Sahwah. "Would you call that a mark of quality?" But to this there was +no answer. They had never seen or heard of anything like it before. Thus +the summer days slipped by and Onoway House continued to shelter two +homeless orphans, neither of whom knew what the future held in store for +them. + +One afternoon when the girls had planned to go for a long walk to the +woods Gladys read in the paper that a balloonist was to make an +ascension over the lake. For some unaccountable reason she took a fancy +that she would like to see the performance. "Oh, Gladys," said Sahwah, +impatiently, "you've seen balloonists before and you'll see plenty yet; +come with us this afternoon." But Gladys held out, even while she +wondered to herself why she was so eager to see this not uncommon sight. +Half offended at her, the other girls departed in the direction of the +woods. Gladys climbed high up in the Balm of Gilead tree, from which she +could look over the country for miles around and easily see the lake and +the distant amusement park from which the balloonist was to ascend. + +The newspaper said three o'clock, but evidently the performance was +delayed, for although Gladys was on the lookout since before that time +nothing seemed to be happening. To aid her in seeing she took Nakwisi's +spy glass up into the tree with her, and while she was waiting for the +parachute spectacle she amused herself by focusing the glass on far away +objects on the land and bringing them right before her eyes, as it +seemed. She could look right into the back door of a distant farm house +and see children playing in the doorway and chickens walking up and down +the steps; she could see the men working in the fields; she could see +the yachts out on the lake and the smoky trail of a freight steamer. +Somewhere in the middle of her range of vision were the gleaming rails +of the car tracks. She looked at them idly; they were like long streaks +of light in the sun. She saw two men, evidently tramps, come out of the +bushes along the road and bend over the rails. Somewhere along that +stretch of track there was a derailing switch and it seemed to Gladys +that it was at this point where the men were. Gladys looked at the pair, +suspiciously, for a second and then decided they were track testers. One +had an iron bar in his hand and he seemed to be turning the switch. +Suddenly the other man pointed up the road and then the two jumped +quickly backward into the bushes. Gladys looked in the direction the man +had pointed. Far off down the track she could see the red body of the +"Limited" approaching at a tremendous rate. The stretch of country past +the Centerville Road was flat and even; the track was perfect and there +was no traffic to block the way, and the cars made great speed along +here. Something told Gladys that the men had had no business at the +switch; that they meant to derail and wreck the Limited. Gladys had +learned to think and act quickly since she had become a Camp Fire Girl, +and scarcely had the idea entered her head that the Limited was in +danger, than she conceived the plan of heading it off. Before the car +reached the switch it must pass the Centerville Road. Being the Limited, +it did not stop there. So Gladys planned to run the automobile down the +Centerville Road and flag the car. She flung herself from the tree in +haste, got the machine out of the barn and started down the road with +wide-open throttle. + +Trees and fences whirled dizzily by, obscured in the cloud of dust she +was raising. Across the stillness of the fields she could hear the +Limited pounding down the track. A hundred yards from the end of the +road the automobile engine snorted, choked and went dead. Without +waiting to investigate the trouble, Gladys jumped out and proceeded on +foot. Could she make it? She could see the red monster through the +trees, rushing along to certain destruction. With an inward prayer for +the speed of Antelope Boy, the Indian runner, she darted forward like an +arrow from the bow. Breathless and spent she came out on the car track +just a moment ahead of the thundering car, and waved the scarlet +Winnebago banner, which she had snatched from the wall on the way out. +With a quick jamming of the emergency brakes that shook the car from end +to end it came to a standstill just beyond the Centerville Road, and +only fifty feet from the switch. + +"What's the matter?" asked the motorman, coming out. + +"Look at the switch!" panted Gladys, sinking down beside the road, +unable to say more. + +The motorman looked at the switch. "My God," he said, mopping his +forehead, "if we'd ever run into that thing going at such a rate there +wouldn't have been anyone left to tell the tale." + +The passengers were pouring from the car, eager to find out the reason +for the sudden stoppage. "What's the matter?" was heard on every side. + +"You've got that girl to thank," said the motorman, moving back toward +his vestibule, "that you're not lying in a heap of kindling wood." +Gladys, much abashed and still hardly able to breathe, laid her head on +her knee and sobbed from sheer nervousness and relief. + +"Gladys!" suddenly said a voice above the murmurings of the throng of +passengers. + +Gladys raised her head. "Papa!" she cried, staggering to her feet. "Were +you on that car?" + +Another figure detached itself from the crowd and hastened forward. +"Mother!" cried Gladys. "Oh, if I hadn't been able to stop it--" and at +the horror of the idea her strength deserted her and she slipped quietly +to the ground at her parents' feet. + +When she came to the car had gone on and she was lying in the grass by +the roadside with her head in her mother's lap. "Cheer up, you're all +right," said her mother a little unsteadily, smiling down at her. Gladys +now became aware of two other figures that were standing in the road. + +"Aunt Beatrice!" she cried. "And Uncle Lynn! What are you doing here?" + +"We all came out to surprise you," said her father. "We got back from +the West last night; sooner than we expected, and decided we would run +out without any warning and see what kind of farmers you were. The +automobile is being overhauled so we came on the interurban. We didn't +know it didn't stop at your road." + +Then, Gladys suddenly remembered her own disabled car standing in the +road, and they all moved toward it. With a little tinkering it +condescended to run and they were soon at Onoway House, telling the +exciting tale to Mrs. Gardiner, who held up her hands in horror at the +thought of the fate which the newcomers had so narrowly escaped. Aunt +Beatrice, not being strong, was much agitated, and developed a +palpitation of the heart, and had to lie in the hammock on the porch and +be doctored, so Gladys had her hands full until the girls came back. +They were much surprised at the houseful of company and very glad to see +Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who were very good friends of the Winnebagos indeed. +They looked with interest when Aunt Beatrice was introduced, for they +all remembered the tragic story Gladys had told them about the loss of +her baby in the hotel fire. Aunt Beatrice felt well enough to get up +then and acknowledge the introductions with a sweet but infinitely sad +smile that went straight to their hearts, and brought tears to the eyes +of the soft-hearted Hinpoha. + +Ophelia came in last, having loitered on the lawn to play with Pointer +and Mr. Bob. She had taken off her hat and was swinging it around in her +hand when she came up on the porch. "And this is the little sister of +the Winnebagos," said Nyoda, drawing her forward. Aunt Beatrice looked +down at the dust-streaked little face, with her sad smile, but her eyes +rested there only an instant. She was gazing as if fascinated at the +strange ring of light hair on her head. She became very pale and her +eyes widened until they seemed to be the biggest part of her face. + +"Lynn!" she gasped in a choking voice, "Lynn! Look!" and she sank on the +floor unconscious. "It can't be! It can't be!" she kept saying faintly +when they revived her. "Beatrice died in the fire. But Beatrice had that +ring of light hair on her head! It can't be! But there never were two +such birthmarks!" + +What a hubbub arose when this startling possibility was uttered! +Ophelia, the lost Beatrice? Could it possibly be true? Uncle Lynn lost +no time in finding out. Taking Ophelia with him he hunted up Old Grady. +She knew nothing more save that she had gotten her from an orphan +asylum, which she named. At the asylum he learned what he wanted to +know. The superintendent remembered about Ophelia on account of the +strange ring of light hair. The child had been brought to the +institution when she was about a year old. There was a babies' +dispensary in connection with the place, and into this a weak, haggard +girl of about eighteen had staggered one day carrying a baby. The baby +was sick and she begged them to make it well. While she sat waiting for +the nurse to look at the baby the girl collapsed. She died in a charity +hospital a few days later. On her death-bed she confessed that she had +run away from a large hotel with the baby which had been left in her +care, intending to hide it and get money from the parents for its +recovery. But she feared this would lead her into trouble and left town +with the child and never troubled the parents as she had intended, and +kept the baby with her until it fell sick, when she had become +frightened and sought the dispensary. She apparently never knew that the +hotel had burned and covered up the traces of her flight. The baby was +kept at the orphan asylum and named Ophelia. Her last name had never +been known. Thence Old Grady had adopted her, but her right could be +taken away from her as it was clear that she was no fit person to have +the child. + +"It's just like a fairy tale!" said Hinpoha, when it was established +beyond a doubt that the abused street waif Gladys had brought home in +the goodness of her heart was her own cousin. + +"Didn't I tell you you'd find your fairy godmother if you only waited +long enough?" said Sahwah. And Ophelia, from the depths of her mother's +arms, nodded rapturously. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII.--A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. + + +"Oh, Gladys, do you have to go home, now that your mother and father are +back?" asked Migwan, anxiously. + +"Not unless you want to, Gladys," said Mrs. Evans. "If you would rather +stay out here until school opens, you may. Father and I are going to +Boston in a few days, you know." + +So there was no breaking up of the group before they all went home, with +the exception of Ophelia, or rather Beatrice, as we will have to call +her from now on, for, of course, she was to go with her mother. + +"What must it be like, anyway," said Hinpoha, "not to have any last name +until you're nine years old and then be introduced to yourself? To +answer to the name of Ophelia one and 'Miss Beatrice Palmer' the next? +It must be rather confusing." + +Little Beatrice went to Boston with her mother and father and uncle and +aunt and Onoway House missed her rather sorely. Calvin Smalley also got +a measure of happiness out of the restoration of the lost child, for +Uncle Lynn was so beside himself with joy over the event that he was +ready to bestow favors on anyone connected with Onoway House, and +promised to see that Calvin got through school and college. He would +give him a place to work in his office Saturdays and vacations. + +For several days now there had been no sign of the mysterious visitor, +and the well digger's ghost had also apparently been laid to rest. Then +one morning they woke to the realization that the unseen agency had been +at work again. Pinned on the front door was a piece of paper on which +was scrawled, + + "_If you folks know what's good for you you'll get out of that + house._" + +"We'll do no such thing!" said Migwan, with unexpected spirit "I've +started out to earn money to go to college by canning tomatoes, and I'm +going to stay here until they're canned; I don't care who likes it or +doesn't." + +"That's it, stand up for your rights," applauded Sahwah. + +"But what possible motive could anyone have for wanting us to get out of +the house?" asked Migwan. Of course, there was no answer to this. + +"Do you suppose the house will be burned down as the tepee was?" asked +Gladys, in rather a scared voice. This suggestion sent a shiver through +them all. + +"We must get the policeman back again to watch," said Mrs. Gardiner. + +Accordingly, the redoubtable constable was brought on the scene again. + +"Well, well, well," he said, fingering the mysterious note. "Thought +he'd come back again now that the coast was clear, did he? You notice, +though, that he didn't make no effort while I was here. You can bet your +life he won't get busy again while I'm here now. You ladies just rest +easy and go on with your peeling." + +Scarcely had he finished speaking, when from the bowels of the earth and +apparently under his very feet, there came the strange sound as of blows +being struck on hard earth or stone. The expression on Dave Beeman's +face was such a mixture of surprise and alarm that the girls could not +keep from laughing, disturbed as they were at the return of the sounds. +"By gum," said the constable, looking furtively around, "this is +certainly a queer business." He had heard the story of the well digger's +ghost and it was very strong in his mind just now. "Maybe it's just as +well not to meddle," he said under his breath. + +Off and on through the day they heard the same sounds issuing from the +ground, and at dusk the weird moaning began again. The constable showed +strong signs of wishing himself elsewhere. When darkness fell the noises +ceased and were heard no more that night. But another sort of moaning +had taken its place. This was the wind, which had been blowing strongly +all day, and early in the evening increased to the proportions of a +hurricane. With wise forethought Sahwah and Nyoda brought the raft and +the rowboat up on land. Leaves, small twigs and thick dust filled the +air. Windows rattled ominously; doors slammed with jarring crashes. +Migwan, foreseeing a devastating storm, set all the girls to picking +tomatoes as fast as they could, whether they were ripe or not, to save +them from being dashed to the ground. They could ripen off the vines +later. + +At last the sandstorm drove them into the house, blinded. Then there +came such a wind as none of them had ever experienced. Trees in the yard +broke like matches; the Balm of Gilead roared like an ocean in a +tempest. There was a constant rattle of pebbles and small objects +against the window panes; then one of the windows in the dining-room was +broken by a branch being hurled against it, and let in a miniature +tempest. Papers blew around the room in great confusion. Migwan rolled +the high topped sideboard in front of the broken pane to keep the wind +out of the room. At times it seemed as if the very house must be coming +down on top of their heads, and they stood with frightened faces in the +front hall ready to dash out at a moment's notice. A crash sounded on +the roof and they thought the time had come, but in a moment they +realized that it was only the chimney falling over. The bricks went +sliding and bumping down the slope of the roof and fell to the ground +over the edge. + +"I pity anybody who's caught in this out in the open," said Migwan. "I +believe the wind is strong enough to blow a horse over. I wonder where +Calvin is now." Calvin had gone to the city with Farmer Landsdowne on +business and intended to remain all night. + +"He's probably all right if he has reached those friends of the +Landsdownes'," said Hinpoha. + +"The Smalleys are out, too," said Sahwah. "I saw them drive past after +dark, going toward town, just before it began to blow so terribly. Oh, +listen! What do you suppose that was?" A crash in the yard told them +that something had happened to the barn. Gladys was in great distress +about the car, and had to be restrained forcibly from running out to see +if it was all right. The wind continued the greater part of the night +and nobody thought of going to bed. By morning it had spent its force. + +Then they looked out on a scene of destruction. The garden was piled +with branches and trunks of trees, and strewn with clothes that had been +hanging on wash-lines somewhere along the road. Up against the porch lay +a wicker chair which they recognized as belonging to a house some +distance away. Everywhere around they could see the corn and wheat lying +flat on the ground, as if trodden by some giant foot. The roof of the +barn had been torn off on one side and reposed on the ground, more or +less shattered. The car was uninjured except that it was covered with a +thick coating of yellow dust. It was well that they had thought to pick +the tomatoes, for the vines and the frames which supported them were +demolished. All the telephone wires were down as far as they could see. + +Calvin was not to return until night, and they felt no great anxiety +about him, but often during the day a disquieting thought came to +Migwan. This was about Uncle Peter, the man who lived in the cottage +among the trees. Suppose something had happened to him? From Sahwah's +report, the house was very old and frail. She watched the Red House +closely for signs of life, but apparently the Smalleys had not returned. +The doors were shut and there was no smoke coming out of the kitchen +chimney. + +"Nyoda," said Migwan, finally, "I'm going over and see if that old man +is all right. I can't rest until I know." + +"All right," said Nyoda, "I'm going with you." Sahwah was over at Mrs. +Landsdowne's, but they remembered her description of the approach to the +cottage, and made the detour around the field where the bull was and the +marsh beyond it, coming up to the cottage from the other side. It was +still standing, although the big tree beside it had been blown over and +lay across the roof. + +"Would you ever think," said Migwan, "that there was anyone living in +there? I could pass it a dozen times and swear it was empty, if I didn't +know about it." + +"Well," said Nyoda, the house is still standing, "so I suppose the old +man is all right." + +"I wonder," said Migwan. "He may have been frightened sick, and he may +have nothing to eat or drink, now that the Smalleys are kept away. We'd +better have a look. He can't hurt us. If Sahwah spent the whole +afternoon with him we needn't be afraid." + +They tried the door, but, of course, found it locked, and were obliged +to resort to the same means of entrance as Sahwah had employed. They saw +the key in the other door just as Sahwah had and turned it and opened +the door. The old man was sitting by the table in just the position +Sahwah had described. Apparently he was neither frightened nor hurt. He +looked up when he saw them in the doorway and motioned them to come in. +There was nothing extraordinary in his appearance; he was simply an old +man with mild blue eyes. Obeying the same impulse of adventure which had +led Sahwah across the threshold, they stepped in and sat down. The room +was just as Sahwah had told them. The table was littered with wheels and +rods which the old man was fitting together. As they expected, he worked +away without taking any notice of them. + +"Did you mind the storm?" asked Nyoda. + +"Storm?" said the old man. "What storm?" + +"He never noticed it!" said Migwan, in an aside to Nyoda. + +"What are you making?" asked Migwan, wishing to hear from his own lips +the explanation he had given Sahwah. + +After his customary interval he spoke. "It's a machine that reclaims +wasted moments," he explained. "Every moment that isn't made good use of +goes down through this little trap door, and when there are enough to +make an hour they join hands and climb up on the face of the clock +again." + +Migwan and Nyoda exchanged glances. The ingenious imagination of the old +man surpassed anything they had ever heard. They stayed awhile, amusing +themselves by looking at the books and clocks in the cabinets, and then +rose, intending to slip away quietly when he was absorbed in his work, +as Sahwah had done. A dish of apples standing on one of the cabinets +indicated that he was not without food and their minds were now at rest +about his welfare. But when they moved toward the door he turned and +looked at them. + +"What do you think of it?" he asked. + +By "it" they figured that he meant the machine he was working on. "It's +a very good one indeed," said Nyoda, "very interesting." + +"Do you want to buy the rights?" asked the old man, taking off his hat +and putting it on again. + +"He thinks he's talking to some capitalist!" whispered Migwan. + +"We'll talk over the plans first among ourselves and let you know our +decision," said Nyoda, not knowing what to say and wishing to appear +politely interested. This speech would give them an opportunity to get +away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter drew a sheet of paper from among +those on the table and gravely handed it to her. + +"Here are the plans," he said. "Take them and look them over and let me +know in a week." Then he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding +the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the room, followed by Migwan. +They left the house as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout +way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of the remarkable machine away +in her room, intending to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they +saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red House. + +It took the girls most of the day to clear the garden of the rubbish +which had been blown into it and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. +Calvin came back at night safe and relieved the slight anxiety they had +felt about him. As they sat on the porch after supper comparing notes +about the storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that the well +digger's ghost was at work again. It continued throughout the evening. + +"I'll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer," said Migwan. A perpetual +air of uneasiness had fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to +get anything accomplished. How could they settle down to work or play +with that dreadful thud, thud pounding in their ears every little while? +Dave Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to see what damage +had been done and they were again without the protection of the law. + +"Maybe it's some animal under the ground," suggested Calvin. "It +certainly couldn't be a person down there." This seemed such an +amazingly sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were inclined +to accept it. + +"I suppose imagination does help a lot," said Migwan, "and if we hadn't +heard that story about the well digger we would never have thought of a +man with a pickaxe. It's undoubtedly the movements of an animal we +hear." + +"But what animal lives underground without any air?" asked Sahwah. + +"There's probably a hole somewhere, only we haven't found it," said +Migwan, who seemed determined to believe the animal theory. + +"But what about the note on the door and the lime on the tomatoes and +the burning of the tepee?" asked Sahwah. "You can't blame that onto an +animal, can you?" + +"That's very true," said Migwan, "but it is likely there is no +connection between the two mysteries. It's just a coincidence. I for one +am going to be sensible and stop worrying about that noise in the +ground." And most of them followed Migwan's example. + +The next morning was such a beautiful one that they could not resist +getting up early and running out of doors before breakfast. "Let's play +a game of hide-and-seek," proposed Sahwah. The others agreed readily; +Hinpoha was counted out and had to be "it," and the others scattered to +hide themselves. One by one Hinpoha discovered and "caught" the players, +or they got "in free." Calvin startled her nearly out of her wits by +suddenly dropping out of a tree almost on top of her. + +"Are we all in?" asked Migwan, fanning herself with her handkerchief. +She was out of breath from her strenuous run for the goal. + +"All but Sahwah," said Hinpoha. She started out again to look for her, +turning around every little while to keep a wary eye on the goal lest +Sahwah should spring out from somewhere nearby and reach it before she +did. But Sahwah was evidently hidden at some distance from the goal, and +Hinpoha walked in an ever increasing circle without tempting her out. +The others, tired of waiting for her to be caught, joined in the search +and beat the bushes and hunted through the barn and looked up in the +trees. But no Sahwah did they find. + +Breakfast time neared and Hinpoha called loudly, "In free, Sahwah, +game's over." But Sahwah did not emerge from some cleverly concealed +nook as they expected. + +"Maybe she didn't hear you," said Migwan. "Let's all call." And they all +called, shouting together in perfect unison as they had done on so many +other occasions, making the combined voice carry a great distance. An +echo answered them but that was all. The girls looked at each other +blankly. + +"Do you suppose she's staying hidden on purpose?" asked Calvin. + +"No," said Nyoda, emphatically, "I don't. Sahwah's had enough experience +with causing us worry by disappearing never to do it on purpose again. +She's probably stuck somewhere and can't get out. Do you remember the +time she was shut up in the statue and couldn't talk? Something of the +kind has occurred again, I don't doubt. We'll simply have to search +until we find and release her." + +They began a systematized search and minutely examined every foot of +ground. Thinking that the barn was the most likely place to get into +something and not get out again, they opened every old chest there and +pried into every corner, and moved every article. They went up-stairs +and looked through the lofts and corners. The roof being partly off, it +was as light as day, and if she had been there anywhere they would +surely have seen her. But there was no sign of her. They looked under +the roof of the barn that lay on the ground, thinking that she might +have crawled under that and become pinned down, but she was not there. + +"Could she have fallen into the river?" asked Calvin. + +"It wouldn't have done her any harm if she had," said Hinpoha. "Sahwah's +more at home in the water than she is on land. It wouldn't have been +unlike her to jump in and swim around and duck her head under every time +I came near, but then she would have heard us calling for her and come +out." + +They parted every bush and shrub, and looked closely at the branches of +every tree, half fearing to find her hanging by the hair somewhere. + +"Do you suppose she went up the Balm of Gilead tree and into the attic +window?" asked Migwan. They searched through the attic, and a laborious +search it was, on account of the quantities of furniture and chests to +be moved. They pulled out every drawer and burst open every trunk and +chest, thinking she might have crawled into one and then the lid had +closed with a spring lock. It was fully noon before they were satisfied +that she was not up there. + +"Could she be in the cellar?" asked Hinpoha. Down they went, carrying +lights to look into all the dark corners. But the search was vain. The +girls became extremely frightened. Something told them that Sahwah's +disappearance was not voluntary. They looked at each other with growing +fear. What had the message on the door said? + + "_If you folks know what's good for you you'll get out of that + house._" + +Was that a warning of what had happened now? Was it a friendly or a +sinister warning? Migwan was almost beside herself to think that +anything had happened to Sahwah while she was staying with her. The day +dragged along like a nightmare. In the afternoon Calvin had an +inspiration. "Why didn't I think of it before?" he almost shouted. +"Here's Pointer; he's a hunting dog and can follow a trail. We'll set +him to find Sahwah's trail." + +"That's right," said Migwan, in relief, "we'll surely find her now." + +They gave Pointer a shoe of Sahwah's and in a moment he had started off +with his nose to the ground. But if they had expected him to lead them +to her hiding-place they were disappointed, for all he did was follow +the trail around the garden between the house and the river. Once he +went down cellar, straining hard at the chain which held him, and they +were sure he would find something they had overlooked in their search, +but the trail ended in front of the fruit cellar. + +"Sahwah came down here early this morning to bring up those melons, +don't you remember?" said Migwan. "That's all Pointer has found out." +They kept Pointer at it for some time, but he never offered to leave the +garden. + +"Are you sure he's on the trail?" asked Hinpoha, doubtfully. + +"Yes," said Calvin, "he never whines that way unless he is. That long +howl is the hunting dog's signal that he's on the job. When he loses the +trail he runs back and forth uncertainly." + +"According to that, Sahwah must be very near," said Gladys. "Are you +sure there isn't any other place in the house, cellar or barn that she +could have gotten into, Migwan?" + +"Quite sure," said Migwan, disheartened. "You know yourself the way we +finecombed every foot of space." + +"There's another thing that might have made Pointer lose the trail," +said Nyoda. "Do you remember that he stopped short at the river once? +Well, it is my belief that Sahwah ran down to the river and either fell +or jumped in and swam away. That would destroy the trail, and Sahwah +might be miles away for all we know." She carefully refrained from +suggesting that anything had happened to Sahwah and she might have gone +under the water and not come up again, but there was a fear tugging at +her heart that Sahwah had dived in and struck her head on something and +gone down. + +But several of the others must have had much the same thought, for +Gladys remarked, without any apparent connection, "_You can see the +bottom almost all the way down the river._" + +And Hinpoha said, "_Those tangled roots of trees in the river are nasty +things to get into._" + +And Calvin set the dog free immediately and untied the rowboat. He and +Nyoda rowed down the river while the rest followed along the banks. The +stream was clear most of the distance and they could see to the bottom. +Here and there were sharp rocks jutting up and casting shadows on the +sunlit bottom, and in places the water had washed the dirt away from the +roots of trees so that they extended out into the river like +many-fingered creatures waiting to seize their prey. But nowhere did +they see what they feared. In the lower part of the river, toward the +mouth, the water was deeper and had been dredged free of all +obstructions, so while it was muddy and they could not see into its +depths they knew that nothing was to be found here. + +Vaguely relieved and yet dreadfully anxious and mystified they returned +to Onoway House. "Do you suppose she was carried away by an automobile +or wagon?" asked Migwan. "Does anyone recall seeing anything of the kind +going by when we started to play?" Nobody did. While they were +discussing this new theory, Pointer, who had been left to run loose +while they were searching the river, came running up to them. With much +wagging of his tail he went to Calvin and laid something at his feet For +a moment they could not make out what it was. Migwan recognized it +first. + +_It was Sahwah's shoe, completely covered and dripping with black mud._ + +"Where did you find it, Pointer?" asked Calvin. Pointer wagged his tail +in evident satisfaction, but, of course, he could not answer his +master's question. + +"Is that the shoe Sahwah had on this morning?" asked Nyoda. + +"Yes," said Hinpoha. "I remember asking her why she wore those shoes +with the red buttons to run around in and she said they were getting +tight and she wanted to wear them out." + +"Where does that black mud come from around here?" asked Gladys. + +It was Nyoda who guessed the dreadful fact first. All of a sudden she +remembered cleaning her shoes after she had come home from her visit to +Uncle Peter. + +"_The marsh!_" she gasped. "_Sahwah's caught in the marsh!_ It's the +same mud. I went to the edge of the marsh the other day to see it and +got some on my shoe." + +Without stopping to hear more, Calvin dashed off in the direction of his +father's farm, with Pointer at his heels and Gladys and Nyoda and +Hinpoha and Migwan and Tom and Betty trailing after him as fast as they +could go. Mrs. Gardiner followed a little distance behind. She could not +keep up with them. Calvin tore a flat board from one of the fences as he +ran along and called on the others to do the same thing. A little +farther on he found a rope and took that along. They reached the edge of +the marsh and looked eagerly for the figure of Sahwah imprisoned in the +treacherous ooze. But the green surface smiled up innocently at them. +Not a sign of a struggle, no indentation in the level, no break. To the +unknowing it looked like the smoothest lawn lying like a sheet of +emerald in the sun. But on second glance you saw the water bubbling up +through the grass and then you knew the secret of the greenness. Nowhere +could they see Sahwah. + +Migwan had to force herself to ask the question that was in everybody's +mind. "Has she gone under?" + +"No," said Calvin, positively. "It can't be possible in so short a time. +They say that a horse went down here once long ago, and it took him more +than two days to be covered entirely." + +After being wrought up to such a pitch of expectancy it was a shock to +find that Sahwah was not in the marsh. _But how had her shoe come to be +covered with marsh mud, and what was it doing off her foot?_ Where had +Pointer found it? + +"Oh, if only dogs could speak!" said Hinpoha. "Pointer, Pointer, where +did you find it?" But Pointer could only wag his tail and bark. + +From where they stood at the edge of the marsh they could see the +cottage among the trees. A look of inquiry passed between Nyoda and +Migwan. Calvin saw the look and understood it. + +"Would you like to look in Uncle Peter's house?" he asked. His face was +very pale, and Nyoda, watching him keenly, thought she detected a sudden +suspicion and fear in his eyes. He looked apprehensively over his +shoulder at the Red House as they started to skirt the bog. Nyoda +understood that movement. Abner Smalley did not know that they knew +about Uncle Peter, and Calvin had said he would be very angry if he +found it out. Now he would be sure to see them going toward the house. +But this thought did not make Nyoda waver in her determination to search +the cottage. The urgency of the occasion released them from their +promise of secrecy. As Calvin had no key they were obliged to enter by +the window as on former occasions. But the front room was absolutely +blank and bare and they saw the impossibility of anyone's being hidden +there. It was a tense moment when they opened the door of the inner room +and the girls who had never been there stepped behind the others and +held their breath. Uncle Peter sat at the table just as Nyoda and Migwan +had seen him a day or two before, playing with his rods and wheels. His +mild blue eyes rested in astonishment on the number of people who +thronged the doorway. + +"Come in, ladies," he said, politely. The room was exactly as it had +been the other day and apparently he had not stirred from his position. +They all felt that Sahwah had not been there and that the old man knew +nothing about the matter. But Calvin spoke to him. + +"Uncle Peter," he said. The man turned at the name and stared at him but +gave no sign of recognizing him. "Do you know me, Uncle Peter?" said +Calvin. "It's Calvin, Jim's boy." + +The old man smiled vacantly and held out the bit of machinery he was +working on. "It's a machine for saving time," he said. "As the minutes +are ticked off----" There was nothing to be gotten out of him, and they +withdrew again. Calvin looked around him fearfully as they returned +through the fields, to see if his uncle had watched him take the girls +to the cottage, but there was no sign of him anywhere, at which he +breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. Tired out with their ceaseless +searching and sick with anxiety, they returned to Onoway House. + +If we were writing an ingeniously intricate detective story the thing to +do would be to wait until Sahwah was discovered by some brilliant piece +of detective work and then have her tell her story, leaving the +explanation of the mystery until the last chapter, and keeping the +reader on the verge of nervous prostration to the end of the piece. But, +as this is only a faithful narrative of actual events, and as Sahwah is +our heroine as much as any of the girls, we know that the reader would +much prefer to follow her adventures with their own eyes, rather than +hear about them later when she tells the story to the wondering +household. And we also think it only fair to say that if Sahwah's return +had depended on any brilliant detective work on the part of the others +we have very grave doubts as to its ever being accomplished. We will, +then, leave the dwellers at Onoway House to their searching and +theorizing and bewailing, and follow Sahwah from the time they started +to play hide-and-seek and Hinpoha blinded her eyes and began to count +"five, ten, fifteen, twenty." + +Sahwah ran across the garden toward the house, intending to swing +herself into one of the open cellar windows. Near this window was a +flower bed which Migwan had filled with especially rich black soil. That +morning she had watered the bed and had done it so thoroughly that the +ground was turned into a very soft mud. Sahwah, not looking where she +was going, stepped into this mud and sank in over her shoe top with one +foot. When she had entered the window she stood on the cellar floor and +regarded the muddy shoe disgustedly. Feeling that it was wet through, +she ripped it off and flung it out of the window. It landed back in the +muddy bed and was hidden by the growing plants. Sahwah then proceeded to +hide herself in the fruit cellar. This was a partitioned off place in a +dark corner. She sat among the cupboards and baskets and watched Hinpoha +pass the window several times as she hunted for the players. Once +Hinpoha peered searchingly into the window and Sahwah thought she was on +the verge of being discovered and pressed back in her corner. There was +a basket of potatoes in the way of her getting quite into the corner and +she moved this out. There was also a barrel of vinegar and she slipped +in behind this. As she moved the barrel it dropped back upon her +shoeless foot and it was all she could do to repress a cry of pain as +she stood and held the battered member in her hand. But the pain became +so bad she decided to give up the game and get something to relieve it. +She pushed hard against the barrel to move it out, but this time it +would not move. She pushed harder, bracing her back against the wooden +wall behind her, when, without warning, the wall caved in as if by +magic, and she fell backwards head over heels into inky darkness. The +wall through which she had fallen closed with a bang. + +Sahwah sat up and reached mechanically for the hurt foot. The pain had +increased alarmingly and for a time shut out all other sensations. Then +it abated a little and Sahwah had time to wonder what she had fallen +into. She was sitting on a stone floor, she could make that out. It must +be a room of some kind, she decided, but the darkness was so intense +that she could make nothing out. "There must have been another part to +the cellar behind the fruit cellar, although we never knew it," thought +Sahwah, "and the back of the fruit cellar was the door." As soon as she +could stand upon her foot again she moved forward in the direction from +which she thought she had come and searched with her hands for a +doorknob. But her fingers encountered only a smooth wall surface and +after about five minutes of careful feeling she came to the startled +conclusion that there was no such thing. "I must have got turned around +when I tumbled," she thought, "and am feeling of the wrong wall." She +accordingly moved forward until her outstretched hands encountered +another hard surface and she repeated the process of looking for a +doorknob. No more success here. "Well, there are four walls to every +room," thought Sahwah, "and I've still got two more trys." Again she +moved out cautiously and with ever increasing nervousness admitted that +there was no door in that direction. "Now for the fourth side, the right +one at last," she said to herself. "One, two, three, out goes me!" She +moved quickly in the fourth and last direction. Without warning she ran +hard into something which tripped her up. She felt her head striking +violently against something hard and then she knew no more. + +She woke to a dream consciousness first. She dreamed she was lying in +the soft sand on the lake shore near one of the great stone piers, where +a number of men were at work. They were pounding the stones with great +hammers and the vibrations from the blows shook the beach and went +through her as she lay on the sand. Gradually the sparkling water faded +from her sight; the sky grew dark and night fell, but still the blows +continued to sound on the stone. Just where the dream ended and reality +began she never knew, but, with a rush of consciousness she knew that +she was awake and alive; that everything was dark and that she was lying +on her face in something soft that was like sand and yet not like it. +And the pounding she had heard in her dream was still going on. Thud, +thud, it shook the earth and jarred her so her teeth were on edge. For a +long time she lay and listened without wondering much what it was. Her +head ached with such intensity that it might have been the throbbing of +her temples that was shaking the earth so. After a while that dulled, +but the jarring blows still kept up. With a cessation of the pain came +the power to think and Sahwah remembered the strange noises they had +heard issuing from the ground. It must be the same noise; only it was a +hundred times louder now. It was a sort of clanging thump; like the +sound of steel on stone. Even with all that noise going on Sahwah +slipped off into half consciousness at times. Although there did not +seem to be any doors or windows, she was not suffering for lack of air, +but at the time she was too dazed to notice this and wonder at it. + +She woke with a start from one of these dozes to the realization that +there was a broad streak of light on the floor. Fully conscious now, she +raised her head and looked around. She was lying in a bin filled with +sawdust. When she held up her head her eyes came just to the top of it. +By the light she could see that she was indeed in a sort of sub-cellar. +It must have been older than the other cellar for the floor was made of +great slabs of mouldy stone. Her eyes followed the beam of light and she +saw that a door had been opened into still another cellar beyond. In +this chamber a lantern stood on the floor, whence came the light, and +its ray produced weird and fantastic moving shadows. These shadows came +from a man who was wielding a pickaxe against a spot in the stone wall. +It was this that was causing the jarring blows. Startled almost out of +her senses at seeing a man thus apparently caged up in the sub-cellar of +Onoway House, Sahwah could only lay back with a gasp. She could not +raise her voice to cry out had she been so inclined. + +But fast on the heels of that shock came another. The worker paused in +his exertions to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and stood where +the light of the lantern shone full in his face. Sahwah's heart gave a +great leap when she recognized Abner Smalley. Abner Smalley in the +hidden sub-cellar of Onoway House, digging a hole in the wall! Sahwah +forgot her own plight in curiosity as to what he was doing. She lay and +watched him fascinated while he resumed his pounding. So he was the +mysterious intruder who had wrought such terror among them! This, then, +was the well digger's ghost! What could he be searching for in the +cellar of his neighbor's house? Sahwah dug her feet into the soft +sawdust as she watched the pick rise and fall. She had no idea of the +flight of time. She thought it was only a few minutes since she had +fallen into the sub-cellar. She lay thinking of the expressions on the +faces of the girls when she would tell them her discovery. To think that +she had been the one to solve the mystery! She felt a little +disappointed that the mysterious intruder should have turned out to be +someone they knew. It would have been more in keeping with her idea of +romance to have found a prince shut up in the cellar. + +While she was thinking these thoughts the light suddenly vanished and +she heard the bang of a door shutting. She was in darkness once more. In +a moment she heard footsteps retreating and dying away in the distance. +All was silent again. It took her some moments to collect her thoughts +sufficiently to realize a new and significant fact. _Abner Smalley had +not gone out by the door into the fruit cellar. There must be, then, +another way of egress from the sub-cellar._ Instantly Sahwah made up her +mind to follow him and see how he had gotten out at the other end. Her +feet were imbedded deeply in the sawdust and she became aware of the +fact that her shoeless foot was resting against something with a sharp +edge. She drew it away and then carefully felt with her hands for the +object. She could not see it when she had it but it felt like a metal +box of some kind, possibly tin. She carried it with her and moved toward +the place where she now knew there was a door. She found the handle +easily and opened it. This was the side of the wall toward which she had +moved when she had run into the bin before, and so she did not discover +it. A strong breath of air struck her as she advanced into this chamber. +It was scarcely more than a passage, for by reaching out her arms she +could touch the wall on both sides. She moved cautiously, fearing to +fall again in the dark. She felt the place in the wall where Abner +Smalley had made an indentation with his pick. She was wondering where +this passage led and wishing it would come to an end soon, when she +struck the already sore foot against what must have been the pickaxe set +against the wall and fell on her nose once more. The tin box she carried +was rammed into the pit of her stomach and knocked the breath out of +her, but this time she had not hit her head. + +She lay still for a moment trying to get her breath back. Her eyes were +becoming accustomed to the inky darkness by this time. She looked down +and saw a stone floor beneath her. She turned her head to one side and +saw a stone wall beside her. She turned over altogether and looked +up--and saw the constellation Cassiopea flashing down at her from the +sky. For a moment she could not believe her senses. Of all the strange +sights she had seen nothing had affected her so powerfully as the sight +of that familiar group of stars. What she had expected to see she could +not tell, stone perhaps, but anything except the open sky. She sat up in +a hurry and began to investigate where she was. The wall around her +seemed to be circular and all of a sudden Sahwah had the answer. She was +in the cistern--the old unused cistern which was not a great distance +from the house. This, then, was the opening of the sub-cellar, the way +in which Mr. Smalley had made his escape. There was usually a covering +over the cistern, but he had evidently been in a hurry and left it off. + +The fact that there were stars out took Sahwah's breath away. It was +night then; had she been in that cellar all day? It was inconceivable, +yet it was undoubtedly true. By the faint glimmer of the stars she could +make out that there were hollows in the stone side of the cistern by +which a person could easily climb out. She lost no time in climbing when +she made this discovery. What a joy it was to be coming up into God's +outdoors again! As she emerged from the cistern she saw Migwan standing +in the garden beside the back porch. The moon shone full on her as she +stepped out of the hole in the ground and just then Migwan caught sight +of her. The apparition was too much for Migwan and she screamed one +terrified scream after another until the girls came running from all +over to see what fresh calamity had happened. Only seeing Sahwah +standing in their midst and not having seen her appear magically out of +the depths of the ground, they could not understand Migwan's terror. + +"Stop screaming, Migwan," said Sahwah, and when Migwan heard her voice +and saw that it was really she, she quieted down and listened while +Sahwah told her tale of adventure since going down into the cellar to +hide. The day had passed so quickly for Sahwah, she having lain +unconscious until late in the afternoon, that she, of course, knew +nothing of their frantic search for her and so could not comprehend why +they made such a fuss over her return. They laughed and cried all at +once and hugged her until she finally protested. + +"What have you brought along as a souvenir of your trip?" asked Nyoda, +who had regained her light-hearted manner now that Sahwah was safely +back. + +Sahwah looked down at the box she held in her hand. "I found it in the +bin of sawdust," she said. "It was just like playing 'Fish-pond' at the +children's parties. You put your hand in a box of sawdust and draw out a +handsome prize." And Sahwah laughed, her familiar long drawn-out giggle, +that they had despaired of ever hearing again. She laid the box on the +table. It was of tin, about nine inches long by three inches wide by +three high, with a closely fitting cover. "Shall I open it, Nyoda?" she +asked. + +"I don't see any harm in doing so," said Nyoda. Sahwah took off the +cover. There was nothing in the box but a folded piece of paper. She +took it and spread it before them on the table. + +"What is it?" they all cried, crowding around. The first thing that +caught their eye was a slanting line drawn across the paper in heavy +ink. There was some writing beside it, but this was so faded that it +took some studying to make it out. Finally they got it. It read: + +"_Supposed extension of gas vein._" The upper end of the line was marked +"_36 feet west of cistern._" There was a cross at that point also, and +this was marked, "_Place where gas was struck at 300 feet._" + +"The Deacon's gas well!" they all exclaimed in chorus. It was true, +then. + +"And there was a well digger's ghost, even if it didn't turn out to be +the one we expected!" said Migwan. + +That day was never to be forgotten, although the next cleared up the +mystery and brought still another surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, +was once more brought out and this time furnished with information that +nearly caused his eyes to start from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as +everyone supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, breaking +into his neighbor's house and deliberately trying to dig a hole in the +stone wall. It was the sensation of his career. "Well, I'll be +jiggered!" he gasped. + +But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner Smalley's when he was +confronted with the accusation without warning. He turned so pale and +trembled so much that it was useless to deny his guilt. + +"You are guilty, Abney Smalley," said the constable, in such a solemn +tone that the girls could hardly keep straight faces. "You'd better make +a clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in that house or it +might go hard with you." + +Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, was a coward when the +odds were against him, and he had always had a wholesome fear of the +law, so at Dave Beeman's suggestion he decided to "make a clean breast +of it." We will not weary the reader with all the conversation that took +place, but will simply tell the facts of the story. + +Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on the place yet, the story +of the Deacon's gas well had come to Abner Smalley's ears. He heard a +fact connected with it, however, that was not generally known, namely, +that the Deacon had made a record of the place where the gas was found. +Believing that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the house, he +had devised a means of breaking in and searching for it. His first plan +had been to frighten the dwellers in the house and make them believe +there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the place a wide berth +at night and leave him free to ransack the Deacon's old furniture. He +frightened the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner had the +Mitchells departed than the new caretakers had come; and they were a +much bigger houseful than the others. + +He had tried the same plan with them as he had with the others, namely, +mysterious noises around the place at night. But what had frightened +Mrs. Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new farmers. They shot +off a gun when he was doing his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a +bottle, which had produced that weird moaning sound. He it was who had +dressed up as a ghost and appeared to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the +red pepper into her face when she made as if to attack him with a pole. +It was he whom they had seen coming out of the barn that night, and +later it was he again whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He had +disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. That was the first +time he had been down, and on this occasion he had discovered the +passage leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had heard in the +attic on numerous occasions. He had entered and gone out after dark by +means of the Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. He had +been down cellar that night when Sahwah nearly caught him. He was +looking for the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never found. +He knocked over the basket of potatoes which had mystified them so. He +had been on the point of entering the house that day when Sahwah +suddenly returned from town after he thought the whole family was gone +for the day. When he saw her go off along the river he went in anyway +and was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had escaped +detection by hiding in a large chest. + +The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them go and spent all day +looking through the desks in the house. Finally the dog barked so he +gave him the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. +Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the +cistern. He had stayed there until night, when he had set fire to the +tepee, not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After starting the +blaze he had again sought refuge in the cistern and when the crowd had +gathered, came out in their midst so that his absence from such an +exciting event in the neighborhood would cause no comment among the +farmers. The cistern was in the shadow and everyone was watching the +fire so intently that he was able to emerge unseen. + +He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and written the note which they +found on the door. He had left the chisel in the automobile on one +occasion when he had been hunting through the things in the barn; +forgetting to take it with him when he went out. + +He wanted to get hold of that record secretly and be sure whether the +great vein of gas which the Deacon knew existed was on the property now +owned by the Bartletts or that of the Landsdownes, and then he was going +to buy that property before the owners knew about the gas, as the land +would be worth a fortune if that fact ever became known. He was pretty +sure, after discovering that sub-cellar, that the Deacon had left his +papers down there when he went to California. By pounding on the walls +he had discovered one place which he was sure was hollow. If the stone +that covered the place could be removed by any trick he failed to +discover it and had to resort to digging it out with a pick. This, as we +already know, produced the dull thudding sound underground which had +frightened the household almost out of their wits. The reason he could +prowl around in the yard at night after they had set the dog to watch +was that Pointer knew him and made no disturbance upon seeing him. + +Abner Smalley was marched off triumphantly by Dave Beeman, and was held +on such a complicated charge of house-breaking, arson, assault and +battery, and intimidating peaceful citizens, that it took the combined +efforts of the village to draw it up. Thus ended the great mystery which +had kept Onoway House in more or less of an uproar all summer. + +"I never saw anything like the way we Winnebagos have of falling into +things," said Sahwah. "Here Mr. Smalley made such elaborate efforts to +find that record, using up more energy and ingenuity than it would take +to dig up the whole farm and hunt for the gas well; and he didn't find +it in the end; and all I did was drop in on top of it without even +suspecting its existence." + +"There must be a special destiny that guides us," said Migwan. "Perhaps +we possess an enchanted goblet, like the 'Luck of Edenhall,' only it's +'The Luck of the Winnebagos.'" + +"Cheer for the 'Luck of the Winnebagos,'" said Sahwah, who never lost an +occasion to raise a cheer on any pretext. And at that Sahwah never +dreamed of the extent of the good fortune she had brought the Bartletts +by her lucky tumble. The vein of gas which was struck when they +subsequently drilled proved a sensation even in that notable gas region +and made millionaires of its owners. And the reward which Sahwah +received for finding the record, and that which the others received +"just for living," as Migwan expressed it--for though they had not found +the sub-cellar themselves it was due to their game that Sahwah had found +it--drove the memory of their fright from their heads. But we are getting +a little ahead of our story. There is one more chapter yet to the Luck +of the Winnebagos before that remarkable summer came to an end. + +After the departure of Abner Smalley things grew so quiet at Onoway +House that Migwan, who had declared before that she would be a wreck if +the excitement did not cease soon, was now complaining that things +seemed flat and she wished the mystery hadn't been cleared up because it +robbed them of their chief topic of conversation. + +"Well, I'm going to take advantage of the quiet atmosphere and +straighten out my bureau drawers," said Nyoda. "I haven't been able to +put my mind to it with all this excitement going on. And they're a sight +since you girls went rummaging for things for the Thieves' Market." In +doing this she came upon that strange creation of Uncle Peter's brain, +the plan for the "Wasted Minute Saving Machine." She showed it to the +girls and they examined it wonderingly. + +"What is this on the other side?" asked Migwan. "It's a will!" she +cried, reading it through. "It says, 'I, Adam Smalley, give and +bequeathe my farm on the Centerville Road to my son Jim, as Abner has +already had his share in cash.'" + +"Let me see!" cried Calvin. "It's the latest one!" he shouted, reading +the date. "It's dated 1902 and the one Uncle Abner found was 1900. The +farm is mine after all! Uncle Peter had this will in his possession and +didn't know it! How can I thank you girls for what you've done for me?" + +"It was all Migwan's fault," said Hinpoha. "She insisted upon going to +see whether the old man was all right after the storm." + +Migwan declared that she had had nothing to do with it; it was the Luck +of the Winnebagos that had given her the inspiration. But Calvin knew +well that in this case the Luck of the Winnebagos was only Migwan's own +thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV.--GOOD-BYE TO ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +By the first of September Migwan had made enough money from the sale of +canned tomatoes to more than pay her way through college the first year. +"It's Mother Nature who has been my fairy godmother," she said to the +girls. "I asked her for the money to go to college and she put her hand +deep into her earth pocket and brought it out for me. It's like the +magic gardens in the fairy tales where the money grew on the bushes." + +"What a summer this has been, to be sure," said Hinpoha, who was in a +reflective mood. They were all sitting in the orchard, busy with various +sorts of handwork. The day was hot and drowsy and the shade of the trees +most inviting. "Migwan and I thought we would have such a quiet time +together, just we two. She was going to write a book and I was going to +illustrate it, when we weren't working in the garden. And how +differently it all turned out! One by one you other girls came--I'll +never forget how funny Gladys and Nyoda looked when they came out that +night, and how surprised Sahwah was to find you here when she arrived. +Then Gladys brought Ophelia, I mean Beatrice, and after that we never +had a quiet moment. Then the mystery began and kept up all summer. +Instead of these three months being a quiet rest they've been the most +thrilling time of my life." + +"It seems to have agreed with you, though," said Sahwah, mischievously, +whereupon there was a general laugh, for Hinpoha, instead of growing +thin with all the worry and excitement, had actually gained five pounds. + +"As much worry as it caused me," said Migwan, "I'm glad everything +happened as it did. The summer I had looked forward to would have been +horribly dull and uninteresting, but now I feel that I've had some real +experiences. I've got enough ideas for stories to last for years to +come." + +"And for moving picture plays," said Hinpoha. "But," she added, "if you +go in for that sort of thing seriously, where am I coming in? You know +we made a compact; I was to illustrate everything you wrote, and how am +I going to illustrate moving picture plays?" + +There was a ripple of amusement at her perplexity. "You'll have to +illustrate them by acting them out," said Gladys. They all agreed +Hinpoha would make a hit as a motion picture actress, all but Sahwah, +who dropped her eyes to her lap when Migwan began to talk about moving +pictures, and presently went into the house to fetch something she +needed for her work. When she came out again the subject had been +changed and was no longer embarrassing to her. + +"What will the Bartletts say when they hear the peach crop was ruined by +the wind storm?" asked Hinpoha. + +"That's the only thing about our summer experience that I really +regret," answered Migwan. "I wrote and told them about it, of course, +when I told them about the gas well, and Mrs. Bartlett said we shouldn't +worry about it and that we ourselves were a crop of peaches." + +"The dear thing!" said Gladys. "I should love to see the Bartletts again +some time; they were so friendly to us last summer, and it is all due to +them that we have had such a glorious time this summer." + +Scarcely had she spoken when an automobile entered the drive and stopped +beside the house. Migwan ran out to see who it was. The next moment she +had her arms around the neck of a pretty little woman. "Oh, Mrs. +Bartlett!" she cried. "Did the fairies bring you? We just made a wish to +see you." + +Soon the girls were all flocking around the car, shaking hands with Mr. +and Mrs. Bartlett, and making a fuss over little Raymond. How the +Bartletts did sit up in astonishment when all the events of the summer +were told in detail! "Well, you certainly are trumps for sticking it +out," said Mr. Bartlett, admiringly. "Nobody but a bunch of Camp Fire +Girls would have done it." At which the Winnebagos glowed with pride. + +Now that the Bartletts had come to stay at Onoway House, Migwan decided +she would go home a week earlier than she had planned, as there was not +enough room for so many people there. Aunt Phoebe and the Doctor were in +town again, so Hinpoha could go home if she wished; and Sahwah's mother +had also returned. They were a little sorry to break up so abruptly when +they had planned quite a few things for that last week to celebrate the +finishing of the canning, but all agreed that under the circumstances it +was the best thing they could do. + +"I really need a week at home," said Migwan with a twinkle in her eye, +"to rest up from my vacation. There I'll get the peace and quiet that I +came here to seek." Take care, O Migwan, how you talk! Once before you +predicted peace and quiet, and see what happened! + +Before they went, however, they must have one more big time altogether, +Mrs. Bartlett insisted, and she went into town on purpose to bring out +Nakwisi and Chapa and Medmangi. Close behind them came another car which +also stopped at Onoway House, and out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Evans +and Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Lynn and little Beatrice, the latter dressed +up in wonderful new clothes and already subtly changed, but still eager +to romp with the girls and tag after Sahwah. + +"See here," said Mr. Evans, when they were all talking about going home +the next day, "you girls have been working pretty hard this summer, and +haven't had a real vacation yet, why don't you go for an automobile trip +the last week? Gladys has her car; that is, if it came through all the +excitement alive, and mother and I would be willing to let you take the +other one. Go on a run of say a thousand miles or so, and see a few +cities. The change will do you good." + +"Oh, papa!" cried Gladys, clapping her hands in rapture. "That will be +wonderful!" And the other girls fell in love with the idea on the spot. + +As this was to be their last night at Onoway House nothing was left +undone that would make the occasion a happy one. The evening was fine +and warm and the stars hung in the sky like great jeweled lamps. With +one accord they all sought the garden and the orchard, where Gladys +danced on the grass in the moonlight like a real fairy. Then all the +girls danced together, until Mrs. Evans declared that they looked like +the dancing nymphs in the Corot picture. And Beatrice, who had been +taught those same things during the summer, broke away from her mother +and joined in the dance, as light and graceful as Gladys herself. It was +plain to see that she had the gift which ran in the family, and as her +mother watched her with a thrill of pride her heart overflowed anew in +thankfulness to the girls who had restored her daughter to her. + +"On such a night," quoted Migwan, looking up at the moon, "Leander swam +the Hellespont----" + +"The river!" cried Sahwah, immediately, "we must go out on the river +once more. Oh, how can I say good-bye to the Tortoise-Crab?" And she +shed imaginary tears into her handkerchief. + +"Let's go for one more float," cried all the girls. + +The grown-ups strolled down to the river bank and sat on the grassy +slope, watching with indulgent interest what the girls were going to do +next. They saw them coming far up the river and heard their song as it +was wafted down on the scented breeze. Slowly and majestically the raft +approached, with Sahwah standing up and guiding it with the pole. When +it had come nearer the onlookers saw a romantic spectacle indeed. Gladys +reposed on a bed of flowers and leaves, under a canopy of branches and +vines, a ravishingly lovely Cleopatra. Beside her knelt Antony, +otherwise Migwan, holding out to her a big white water lily. The other +Winnebagos, as slave maidens, sat on the raft and wove flower wreaths or +fanned their lovely mistress with leaf fans. It was the slaves who were +doing the singing and their clear voices rang out with wonderful harmony +on the enchanted air. On they came, past the spot where Sahwah had been +hidden on the afternoon of the moving pictures; past the Lorelei Rock, +where they had held that other pageant which had frightened Calvin so; +past the spot where they lay concealed and watched the strange manoeuvers +of the supposed Venoti gang. Each rock and tree along the stream was +pregnant with memories of that eventful summer, and they could hardly +believe that they were saying good-bye to it all. + +Now they were opposite the watchers on the bank and the murmurs of +admiration reached their ears as they floated past. "What lovely +voices----" + +"What wonderful imaginations those girls have----" + +"How beautifully they work together----" + +Calvin looked on in speechless admiration, his eyes for the most part on +Migwan. Never in his life had he regretted anything so much as he did +the fact that these jolly friends of his were going away. He was to stay +on his farm after all and now the prospect suddenly seemed empty. + +The voices of the onlookers blended in the ears of the boaters with the +murmur of the river as it flowed over the stones, and with the sighing +of the wind in the willows as the raft passed on. + +And here let us leave the Winnebagos for a time as we love best to see +them, all together on the water, their voices raised in the wonder song +of youth as they float down the river under the spell of the magic +moonlight. + + THE END. + +The next volume in this series is entitled: The Camp Fire Girls Go +Motoring; or, Along the Road that Leads the Way. + + * * * * * + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories for Camp Fire Girls +endorsed by the officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization. + +PRICE, 40 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, + The Winnebagos go Camping. + +This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a +camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer +than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before +the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding +school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, + The Wohelo Weavers. + +It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives +into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory +doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law of the +Camp Fire is broken it must be recorded in black. How these seven live +wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of Work, +Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their share of +mischief, is told in this story. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, + The Magic Garden. + +Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to +work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The +Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the "goings-on" +at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with laughter. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, + Along the Road That Leads the Way. + +The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The "pinching" of Nyoda, +the fire in the country inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest hare +and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the most exciting the +Winnebagos have ever experienced. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_Splendid Stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls_ + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES; + or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks' Tour with the Glee Club. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer's Cruise Through the + Panama Canal. + + * * * * * + +The Mildred Series + +By MARTHA FINLEY + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_A Companion Series to the Famous "Elsie" Books by the Same Author_ + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELANDS + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER + MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Chum's Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + BENHURST CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning. + + BERTHA'S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris. + + BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West. By Joy Allison. + + DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row. + + FUSSBUDGET'S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham. + + HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings. + + JOLLY TEN, THE. and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage. + + KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl's Story of Factory Life. By M. E. Winslow. + + LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder. + + MAJORIBANKS. A Girl's Story. By Elvirton Wright. + + MISS CHARITY'S HOUSE. By Howe Benning. + + MISS ELLIOT'S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring + Corning. + + MISS MALCOLM'S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow. + + ONE GIRL'S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning. + + PEN'S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright. + + RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne. + + THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Comrade's Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston. + + ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fanny E. Newberry. + + ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. + Rouse. + + BUBBLES. A Girl's Story. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + JOYCE'S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MISS ASHTON'S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl's Story. By Mrs. S. S. + Robbins. + + NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, New York. + + * * * * * + +The AMY E. BLANCHARD Series + +Miss Blanchard has won an enviable reputation as a writer of short +stories for girls. Her books are thoroughly wholesome in every way and +her style is full of charm. The titles described below will be splendid +additions to every girl's library. + +Handsomely bound in cloth, full library size. + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. Price, 60 cents per volume, postpaid. + +THE GLAD LADY. A spirited account of a remarkably pleasant vacation +spent in an unfrequented part of northern Spain. This summer, which +promised at the outset to be very quiet, proved to be exactly the +opposite. Event follows event in rapid succession and the story ends +with the culmination of at least two happy romances. The story +throughout is interwoven with vivid descriptions of real places and +people of which the general public knows very little. These add greatly +to the reader's interest. + +WIT'S END. Instilled with life, color and individuality, this story of +true love cannot fail to attract and hold to its happy end the reader's +eager attention. The word pictures are masterly; while the poise of +narrative and description is marvellously preserved. + +A JOURNEY OF JOY. A charming story of the travels and adventures of two +young American girls, and an elderly companion in Europe. It is not only +well told, but the amount of information contained will make it a very +valuable addition to the library of any girl who anticipates making a +similar trip. Their many pleasant experiences end in the culmination of +two happy romances, all told in the happiest vein. + +TALBOT'S ANGLES. A charming romance of Southern life. Talbot's Angles is +a beautiful old estate located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The +death of the owner and the ensuing legal troubles render it necessary +for our heroine, the present owner, to leave the place which has been in +her family for hundreds of years and endeavor to earn her own living. +Another claimant for the property appearing on the scene complicates +matters still more. The untangling of this mixed-up condition of affairs +makes an extremely interesting story. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Boy Spies Series + +These stories are based on important historical events, scenes wherein +boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the romance of +history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to picturing the home +life, and accurate in every particular. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. + + A story of the part they took in its defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE DEFENCE OF FORT HENRY. + + A boy's story of Wheeling Creek in 1777. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. + + A story of two boys at the siege of Boston. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. + + A story of two Ohio boys in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. + + The story of how two boys joined the Continental Army. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. + + The story of two young spies under Commodore Barney. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. + + The story of how the boys assisted the Carolina Patriots to drive + the British from that State. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. + + The story of General Marion and his young spies. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. + + The story of how the spies helped General Lafayette in the + Siege of Yorktown. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. + + The story of how the young spies helped the Continental Army + at Valley Forge. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF FORT GRISWOLD. + + The story of the part they took in its brave defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. + + The story of how the young spies prevented the capture of + General Washington. + By James Otis. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Navy Boys Series + +A series of excellent stories of adventure on sea and land, selected +from the works of popular writers; each volume designed for boys' +reading. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE NAVY BOYS IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. + + A story of the burning of the British schooner Gaspee in 1772. + By William Pman. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. + + A story of the Whale Boat Navy of 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS AT THE SIEGE OF HAVANA. + + Being the experience of three boys serving under Israel Putnam + in 1772. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS WITH GRANT AT VICKSBURG. + + A boy's story of the siege of Vicksburg. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. + + A boy's story of a cruise with the Great Commodore in 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. + + The story of two boys and their adventures in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. + + A boy's story of privateering in 1780. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. + + A story of three boys who took command of the schooner "The Laughing + Mary," the first vessel of the American Navy. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. + + The story of a remarkable cruise with the Sloop of War "Providence" + and the Frigate "Alfred." + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' DARING CAPTURE. + + The story of how the navy boys helped to capture the British Cutter + "Margaretta," in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. + + The adventures of two Yankee Middies with the first cruise of an + American Squadron in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. + + The adventures of two boys who sailed with the great Admiral in his + discovery of America. + By Frederick A. Ober + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +Volumes By WINN STANDISH + +Handsomely Bound in Cloth + +Full Library Size--Price + +40 cents per Volume, postpaid + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; + or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boyfondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord of +sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS; + or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been by Chadwick, the Nestor of +American sporting Journalism. + +JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS; + or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy's hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE; + or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; + or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy's life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Battleships + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser "The Sylph" and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; + or, The Vanishing Submarine. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; + or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; + or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; + or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; + or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS; + or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Army + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By CLAIR W. HAYES + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that +every boy loves. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; + or, With the Italian Army in the Alps. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; + or, The Struggle to Save a Nation. + +THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; + or, Through Lines of Steel. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; + or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; + or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; + or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne + + * * * * * + +The Boy Scouts Series + +By HERBERT CARTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; + or, Caught Between the Hostile Armies. + +In this volume we follow the thrilling adventures of the boys in the +midst of the exciting struggle abroad. + +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; + or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp. + +Startling experiences awaited the comrades when they visited the +Southland. But their knowledge of woodcraft enabled them to overcome all +difficulties. + +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. + +A story of Burgoyne's defeat in 1777. + +THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMP FIRE; + or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol. + +This book brims over with woods lore and the thrilling adventure that +befell the Boy Scouts during their vacation in the wilderness. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; + or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners. + +This story tells of the strange and mysterious adventures that happened +to the Patrol in their trip among the moonshiners of North Carolina. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; + or, Scouting through the Big Game Country. + +The story recites the adventures of the members of the Silver Fox Patrol +with wild animals of the forest trails and the desperate men who had +sought a refuge in this lonely country. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol. + +Thad and his chums have a wonderful experience when they are employed by +the State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens. + +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; + or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot. + +A serious calamity threatens the Silver Fox Patrol. How apparent +disaster is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends, forms the +main theme of the story. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; + or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine. + +The boys' tour takes them into the wildest region of the great Rocky +Mountains and here they meet with many strange adventures. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; + or, Marooned Among the Game Fish Poachers. + +Thad Brewster and his comrades find themselves in the predicament that +confronted old Robinson Crusoe; only it is on the Great Lakes that they +are wrecked instead of the salty sea. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; + or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood. + +The boys of the Silver Fox Patrol, after successfully braving a terrific +flood, become entangled in a mystery that carries them through many +exciting adventures. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Chums Series + +By WILMER M. ELY + +Price. 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid + +In this series of remarkable stories are described the adventures of two +boys in the great swamps of interior Florida, among the cays off the +Florida coast, and through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live +boys, and their experiences are worth following. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN MYSTERY LAND; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard among the Mexicans. + +THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER; + or, The Boy Partners of the Schooner "Orphan." + +THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND; + or, Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama Islands. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST; + or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades. + +THE BOY CHUMS' PERILOUS CRUISE; + or, Searching for Wreckage en the Florida Coast. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO; + or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers. + +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS; + or, The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FLORIDA JUNGLE; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard with the Seminole Indians. + + * * * * * + +The Broncho Rider Boys Series + +By FRANK FOWLER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of thrilling stories for boys, breathing the adventurous spirit +that lives in the wide plains and lofty mountain canoes of the great +West. These tales will delight every lad who loves to read of pleasing +adventure in the open; yet at the same time the most careful parent need +not hesitate to place them in the hands of the boy. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH FUNSTON AT VERA CRUZ; + or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes. + +When trouble breaks out between this country and Mexico, the boys are +eager to join the American troops under General Funston. Their attempts +to reach Vera Cruz are fraught with danger, but after many difficulties, +they manage to reach the trouble zone, where their real adventures +begin. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS AT KEYSTONE RANCH; + or, Three Chums of the Saddle and Lariat. + +In this story the reader makes the acquaintance of three devoted chums. +The book begins in rapid action, and there is "something doing" up to +the very time you lay it down. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS DOWN IN ARIZONA; + or, A Struggle for the Great Copper Lode. + +The Broncho Rider Boys find themselves impelled to make a brave fight +against heavy odds, in order to retain possession of a valuable mine +that is claimed by some of their relatives. They meet with numerous +strange and thrilling perils and every wideawake boy will be pleased to +learn how the boys finally managed to outwit their enemies. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ALONG THE BORDER; + or, The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man. + +Once more the tried and true comrades of camp and trail are in the +saddle. In the strangest possible way they are drawn into a series of +exciting happenings among the Zuni Indians. Certainly no lad will lay +this book down, save with regret. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ON THE WYOMING TRAIL; + or, A Mystery of the Prairie Stampede. + +The three prairie pards finally find a chance to visit the Wyoming ranch +belonging to Adrian, but managed for him by an unscrupulous relative. Of +course, they become entangled in a maze of adventurous doings while in +the Northern cattle country. How the Broncho Rider Boys carried +themselves through this nerve-testing period makes intensely interesting +reading. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS; + or, The Smugglers of the Rio Grande. + +In this volume, the Broncho Rider Boys get mixed up in the Mexican +troubles, and become acquainted with General Villa. In their efforts to +prevent smuggling across the border, they naturally make many enemies, +but finally succeed in their mission. + + * * * * * + +The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Series + +By RALPH MARLOW + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +It is doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of boys ever before +appeared in a story than the "Big Five," who figure in the pages of +these volumes. From cover to cover the reader will be thrilled and +delighted with the accounts of their many adventures. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE; + or, With the Allies in France. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS AT THE FRONT; + or, Carrying Dispatches Through Belgium. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS UNDER FIRE; + or, With the Allies in the War Zone. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS' SWIFT ROAD CHASE; + or, Surprising the Bank Robbers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON FLORIDA TRAILS; + or, Adventures Among the Saw Palmetto Crackers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS IN TENNESSEE WILDS; + or, The Secret of Walnut Ridge. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS THROUGH BY WIRELESS; + or, A Strange Message from the Air. + + * * * * * + +Our Young Aeroplane Scouts Series + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By HORACE PORTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the great European +war zone. The fascinating life in mid-air is thrillingly described. The +boys have many exciting adventures, and the narratives of their numerous +escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting stories. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND; + or, Twin Stars in the London Sky Patrol. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY; + or, Flying with the War Eagles of the Alps. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM; + or, Saving the Fortunes of the Trouvilles. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY; + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA; + or, Lost on the Frozen Steppes. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY; + or, Bringing the Light to Yusef. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by +Hildegard G. Frey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 36833-8.txt or 36833-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/3/36833/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/36833-8.zip b/old/36833-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a07e91d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/36833-8.zip diff --git a/old/36833-h.zip b/old/36833-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d4a9b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/36833-h.zip diff --git a/old/36833.txt b/old/36833.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94f06e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/36833.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6751 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by Hildegard G. Frey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36833] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Roger Frank, Dave Morgan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: GLADYS TURNED THE CAR INTO THE FIELD AND STARTED AFTER +THE BULL AT FULL SPEED.] + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + The Camp Fire Girls + At Onoway House + + OR + + The Magic Garden + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + + "The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods," "The Camp + Fire Girls at School," "The Camp Fire + Girls Go Motoring." + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + + Publishers--New York + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + Copyright, 1916 + By A. L. Burt Company + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + +- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + + + + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE + + + + +CHAPTER I.--ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +"What a lovely quiet summer we're going to have, we two," exclaimed +Migwan to Hinpoha, as they stood looking out of the window of their room +into the garden, filled with rows of young growing things and bordered +by a shallow stony river. Migwan, we remember, had come to spend the +summer on the little farm owned by the Bartletts and earn enough money +to go to college by selling vegetables. The house in the city had been +rented for three months, and her mother, Mrs. Gardiner, and her brother +Tom and sister Betty had come to the country with her. Hinpoha was +temporarily without a home, her aunt being away on her wedding trip with +the Doctor, and she was to stay all summer with Migwan. + +"Yes, it will be lovely," agreed Hinpoha. "I've never lived in such a +quiet place before. And I've never had you to myself for so long." +Migwan replied with a hug, in schoolgirl rapture. She felt a little +closer to Hinpoha than she did to the other Winnebagos. As they stood +there looking out of the window together they heard the honk of an +automobile horn and the sound of a car driving into the yard, and ran +out to see who the guests were. + +"Gladys Evans!" exclaimed Migwan, spying the new comers. "And Nyoda! +Welcome to our city!" + +"Please mum," said Gladys, making a long face, "could ye take in a poor +lone orphan what's got no home to her back?" + +"What's up?" asked Migwan, laughing at Gladys's tone. + +"Mother and father started for Seattle to-day," replied Gladys, "and +from there they are going to Alaska, where they will spend the summer. I +hinted that I was a good traveling companion, but they decided that +three was a crowd on this trip, and as I had done so well for myself +last summer they informed me that it was their intention to put me out +to seek my own fortune once more. So, hearing that there were pleasant +country places along this road, one in particular, I am looking for a +place to board for the summer." + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Migwan. "To think that we are to have +you with us this vacation after all, after thinking that you were going +to disport yourself in California! The guest chamber stands ready; 'will +you walk into my parlor?' said the Spider to the Fly." + +At this point "Nyoda," Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire group, +formally known as Miss Kent, also advanced with a long face, holding her +handkerchief to her eyes. "Could you take in a poor shipwrecked sailor," +she sobbed, "one whose ship went right down under her feet and left her +nothing to stand on at all?" + +"It might even be arranged," replied Migwan. "What is your tale of woe, +my ancient mariner?" + +"My cherished landlady's gone to the Exposition," said Nyoda, with a +fresh burst of grief, "and I can't live with her and be her boarder this +summer! It's a cruel world! And me so young and tender!" + +"Two flies in the guest chamber," said Migwan, hospitably. "Thomas, my +good man, carry the boarders' bags up to their room, for I see they have +brought them right with them." + +"Save the trouble of going back after them," said Nyoda and Gladys, in +chorus. "We knew you couldn't refuse to take us in." + +"If ever a maiden had a look on her face which said, 'Come, come to this +bosom, my own stricken dear,'" continued Nyoda, "it's yon poet who is +going to seed." + +"Going to seed!" exclaimed Migwan, "and this after I have just opened my +hospitable doors to you!" + +"By going to seed, my innocent maid, I only meant to express in a veiled +and delicate way the fact that you were turning into a farmer," said +Nyoda. + +In spite of the fact that Migwan and Hinpoha had just expressed such +great pleasure at the prospect of being alone together for the summer, +they rejoiced in the arrival of Nyoda and Gladys as only two Winnebagos +could at the thought of having two more of their own circle under the +same roof with them, and their hearts beat high with anticipation of the +coming larks. + +Supper was a merry meal indeed that night, eaten out on the screened-in +back porch. "We are seven!" exclaimed Nyoda, counting noses at the +table. "The mystic number as well as the poetic one. 'Seven Little +Sisters;' 'The Seven Little Kids;' 'the seventh son of a seventh son.' +All mysterious things take place on the seventh of the month, and +something always happens when the clock strikes seven." As she paused to +take breath the old-fashioned clock in the kitchen slowly struck seven. +The last stroke was still vibrating when there came a ring at the +doorbell. "What did I tell you?" said Nyoda. "Enter the villain." + +The villain proved to be Sahwah. She looked rather astonished to see +Nyoda and Gladys at the table with the family. "Oh, Migwan," she said, +"could you possibly take me in for the summer? Mother got a telegram +to-day saying that Aunt Mary, that's her sister in Pennsylvania, had +fallen down-stairs and broken both her shoulder blades. Mother packed up +and went right away to take care of her and the children. She hasn't any +idea how long she'll be gone. Father started for a long business trip +out west this week and Jim is camping with the Boy Scouts. If you have +room----" A shout of laughter interrupted her tale. + +"Always room for one more," said Migwan. "You're the third weary pilgrim +to arrive." + +Sahwah looked at Nyoda and Gladys in astonishment. "You don't mean that +you're here for the summer, too?" When she heard that this was the truth +she twinkled with delight. "It's going to be almost as much fun as going +camping together was last year," she said, burying her nose in the mug +of milk which Migwan hospitably set before her. + +"What do you call this house by the side of the road?" asked Nyoda after +supper, when they were all sitting on the porch. Mrs. Gardiner sat +placidly rocking herself, undisturbed by the unexpected addition of +three members to her family. This whole summer venture was in Migwan's +hands, and she washed hers of the whole affair. Tom sat on the top step +of the porch, unnaturally quiet, with the air of a boy lost among a +whole crowd of girls. Betty, fascinated by Nyoda, sat at her feet and +watched her as she talked. + +"It has no name," said Migwan, in answer to Nyoda's question. + +"Then we must find one immediately," said Nyoda. "I refuse to sleep in a +nameless place." + +"Did the place where you used to live have a name?" asked Hinpoha, +banteringly. + +"It certainly did 'have a name,'" replied Nyoda, with a twinkle in her +eye. Gladys caught her eye and laughed. She was more in Nyoda's +confidence than the rest of the girls. + +"What was the name?" asked Betty. + +"It was Peacock Plaza," said Nyoda, "painted on a gold sign over the +door, where all who read could run." + +"That wasn't what you called it," said Gladys. + +"No, my beloved," returned Nyoda, "from the character and appearance of +most of the inmates of the Widder Higgins' establishment, I have been +moved to refer to it as 'The Rookery.'" + +"Now," said Gladys sternly, when the laughter over this title had +subsided, "tell the ladies the real reason why you had to seek a new +boarding place so abruptly." + +"I told you before," said Nyoda, "that my venturesome landlady went to +the Exposition and left me out in the cold." + +"That's not the real reason," said Gladys, severely. "If you don't tell +it immediately, I will!" + +"I'll tell it," said Nyoda submissively, alarmed at this threat. "You +see, it was this way," she began in a pained, plaintive voice. "This +Gladys woman over here came up to take supper with me last night--only +she smelled the supper cooking in the kitchen and turned up her nose, +whereupon I was moved with compassion to cook supper for her in my +chafing-dish unbeknownst to the landlady, who has been known to frown on +any attempts to compete with her table d'hote." + +"I never!" murmured Gladys. "She invited me to a chafing-dish supper in +the first place." + +"Well, as I was saying," continued Nyoda, not heeding this interruption, +"to save her from starvation I dragged out my chafing-dish and made +shrimp wiggle and creamed peas, and we had a dinner fit for a king, if I +do say it as shouldn't. The crowning glory of the feast was a big onion +which Gladys's delicate appetite required as a stimulant. All went merry +as a marriage bell until it came to the disposal of that onion after the +feast was over, as there was more than half of it left. We didn't dare +take it down to the kitchen for fear the Widder would pounce on us for +cooking in our rooms, and even my stout heart quailed at the thought of +sleeping ferninst that fragrant vegetable. Suddenly I had an +inspiration." Here Nyoda paused dramatically. + +"Yes," broke in Gladys, impatient at her pause, "and she calmly chucked +it out of the second story window into the street!" + +"All would still have been mild and melodious," continued Nyoda, in a +solemn tone which enthralled her hearers, "if it hadn't been for the +fact that the fates had their fingers crossed at me last night. How +otherwise could it have happened that at the exact moment when the onion +descended the old bachelor missionary should have been prancing up the +walk, coming to call on the Widder Higgins? Who but fate could have +brought it about that that onion should bounce first on his hat, then on +his nose, and then on his manly bosom?" + +"And he never waited to see what hit him!" put in Gladys, for whom the +recital was not going fast enough. "He ran as if he thought somebody had +thrown a bomb at him." + +"And the Widder Higgins was standing behind the lace curtain watching +his approach with maidenly reserve," resumed Nyoda, "and so had a box +seat view of the tragedy, and the last act of the drama was a moving +one, I can assure you." + +"Oh, Nyoda," cried Hinpoha and Sahwah and Migwan, pointing their fingers +at her, "a nice person you are to be Guardian of the Winnebagos! Fine +example you are setting your youthful flock! You need a guardian worse +than any of us!" + +"Do as you like with me," said Nyoda, covering her face with her hands +in mock shame, whereupon Hinpoha and Migwan and Gladys fell upon her +neck with one accord. + +"But we haven't named this house yet," said Nyoda, uncovering her face +and smoothing out her black hair. + +"I thought of a name while you were telling about the onion," said +Migwan. "It's Onoway House." + +"What does that mean?" asked Nyoda. + +"It's a symbolic word, like Wohelo," said Migwan. "It's made from the +words, Only One Way. You see there was only one way of getting that +money to go to college and that was by coming here." + +"I think that is a very good name," said Nyoda. "It is clever as well as +pretty. It sounds like the song, 'Onaway, awake beloved,' from +Hiawatha's Wedding Feast." + +"It sounds like the water going over the stones in the river," said +romantic Hinpoha. + +And so Onoway House was named. + + + + +CHAPTER II.--NEIGHBORS. + + +Onoway House stood on the Centerville Road, on a farm of about four +acres. All of the land was not worked, just the part that was laid out +as a garden and a small orchard of peach trees. The rest was open meadow +running down to the river. It had originally been a much larger farm--Old +Deacon Waterhouse's place--but after his death it had been divided up and +sold in sections. Onoway House was the original home built by the deacon +when he bought the farm as a young man. It was a very old place, large +and rambling, and full of queer corners and passageways, and a big +echoing cobwebby attic, crowded with old furniture and trunks. The house +had been sold with all its furnishings at the Deacon's death, and the +old things were still in the rooms when the Bartletts bought it +twenty-five years later. This made it unnecessary for the Gardiners, +when they came, to bring any of their own furniture. The Bartletts had +never lived on the place, hiring a caretaker to work the garden, and it +was the sudden departure of this man that had given Migwan her chance. + +On either side of Onoway House was a farm of much larger proportions. To +the right there stood a big, homelike looking farmhouse painted white, +with porches and vines and a lawn in front running down to the road; on +the left was a smaller house, painted dark red, with a vegetable bed in +front. The garden at Onoway House had been given a good start and the +strawberries and asparagus and sundry other vegetables were ready to +market when Migwan took possession. The Winnebagos looked on the +gardening as a grand lark and pitched in with a will to help Migwan make +her fortune from the ground. + +"Did you ever see anything half so delicate as this little new +pea-vine?" asked Migwan, puttering happily over one of the long beds. + +"Or anything half so indelicate as this plantain bush?" asked Nyoda, +busily grubbing weeds. "'Scarce reared above the parent earth thy tender +form,'" she quoted, "'and yet with a root three times as long as the +hair of Claire de Lorme!'" + +"Burns would relish hearing that line of his applied to weeds," said +Migwan, laughing. "I wonder what he would have written if he had turned +up a plantain weed with his plough instead of a mountain daisy." + +"He wouldn't have turned up a plantain weed," said Nyoda, with a vicious +thrust of the long knife with which she was weeding, "it would have +turned him up." + +Migwan rose from the ground slowly and painfully. "Oh dear," she sighed, +"I wonder if Burns ever got as stiff in the joints from close contact +with Nature as I am?" + +"He certainly must have," observed Nyoda, straining her muscles to +uproot the weedy homesteader, "haven't you ever heard the slogan, 'Omega +Oil for Burns?'" + +Migwan laughed as she straightened up and held her aching back. "Earth +gets its price for what earth gives us," she quoted, with a mixture of +ruefulness and humor. + +"Listen to the poetry floating around on the breeze," cried Sahwah, +passing them as she ran the wheel hoe up and down between the rows of +plants. + + "Come and trip it as you go + On the light fantastic _hoe_," + +she sang. "Oh, I say," she called over her shoulder, "do I have to hoe +up the surface of the river around the watercress, too?" + +"You certainly do," said Nyoda gravely, "and while you're at it just +loosen up the air around that air fern of Mrs. Gardiner's." Sahwah made +a grimace and trundled off with her wheel hoe. + +"Are you looking for any field hands?" called a cheery voice. The girls +looked up to see a white-haired, pleasant-faced old man of about seventy +years standing in the garden. "My name's Landsdowne, Farmer Landsdowne," +he said by way of introduction, with a friendly smile, which included +all the girls at once, "and I've come to have a look at the new +caretaker." + +"I'm the one," said Migwan, stepping forward. "My name is Gardiner, and +I _am_ a gardener just now." + +"And are all these your sisters?" asked Farmer Landsdowne, quizzically. +Migwan laughed and introduced the girls in turn. They all liked Farmer +Landsdowne immediately. He walked up and down among the rows of +vegetables, and gave Migwan quantities of advice about soil cultivation, +insects and diseases and various other things pertaining to gardening, +for which she thanked him heartily. "Come over and see us," he said +hospitably, as he took his departure, "I live there," and he pointed to +the friendly looking white house on the right of Onoway House. + +"Isn't he a dear?" said Gladys, when he was gone. "I'm glad he's our +next door neighbor. What do you suppose the people on the other side are +like?" + +"Red isn't nearly so pretty as white," said Hinpoha, squinting at the +bare looking house to the left of them. As they looked a man came along +the edge of the land on which the red house stood. When he reached the +fence which separated the two farms he stood still for a few minutes +looking hard at Onoway House; then, seeing that the girls were looking +in his direction he turned and went back to the house. + +The strawberries were ready to pick the first week that the girls were +at Onoway House, and Migwan had an idea about marketing them. She gave +each picker two baskets with instructions to put only the largest and +finest in one and the medium-sized and small ones in the other. + +"What are you going to take them to town in?" asked Gladys. Although +there was a large barn on the place there were no horses, for Mr. +Mitchell, the last caretaker, had owned his own horse and taken it away +with him when he left. + +"I'll have to hire one from some of the neighbors," said Migwan. Mr. +Landsdowne, when interviewed, would have been extremely glad to let them +take a horse and wagon, but this was a busy time and one of his teams +was sick so none could be spared. Feeling considerably more shy than she +had when she went to Mr. Landsdowne, Migwan went over to the red house. +As she went around the path to the back door she heard sounds of loud +talking in a man's voice, which ceased as she came up on the porch. A +red faced man, (he almost matched the house, thought Migwan) came to the +door. "I am your new neighbor, Elsie Gardiner," said Migwan, "and I +wonder if I could hire a horse and wagon from you three times a week to +take my vegetables to town." + +"So you've come to live on the place, have you?" said the man. "How long +are you going to stay?" + +"All summer," replied Migwan. She was not drawn to this man as she was +to Farmer Landsdowne. There was something about him that seemed to repel +her, although she could not have told what it was. + +"Yes, I can let you have a horse and wagon," he said, after a moment. +"When do you want it?" + +"In about an hour," said Migwan. + +"I'll send it over," said the master of the red house. "My name's +Smalley, Abner Smalley," he said, as she took her leave. + +In an hour the horse was at the door. It was brought over by a +pleasant-faced, light-haired lad of about seventeen, who introduced +himself as Calvin Smalley. + +"You don't look a bit like your father," said Migwan. + +"That's not my father," said Calvin, "that's my uncle. My father's dead. +He was Uncle Abner's brother. I live with Uncle Abner and Aunt Maggie. +But the farm's really mine," he said proudly, as though he did not want +anyone to think he was living on charity even though he was an orphan, +"for Grandfather willed it to Father. Uncle Abner's holding it in trust +for me until I'm of age." + +There was something so frank and manly about him that the girls liked +him at once. But if Calvin Smalley made such a good impression, the +horse which he had brought over for the girls to drive to town was less +fortunate. He was a hoary, moth-eaten looking creature that might easily +have been the first white horse born west of the Mississippi. In looking +at him you would be left with a lingering doubt in your mind as to +whether he had originally been white or had turned white with age. He +tottered so that each step threatened to be his last The wagon to which +he was fastened with a patched and rotten harness had probably been on +the scene some years before he was born. Migwan was much taken aback +when she inspected him. "I wouldn't dare attempt to drive that beast all +the way to town," she thought to herself. "He'd never get beyond the +first bend in the road. And if he did make it he'd go so slowly that my +berries would be out of season before I got to my customers." + +"Isn't he rather--old?" she said, aloud. "I'm afraid he isn't able to +work much." + +Calvin blushed fiery red and his eyes sought the ground in distress. +"It's a shame," he said, fiercely, "to try to hire out such a horse. I +don't blame you for not wanting it." Without another word he climbed +into the wagon and urged the feeble horse back to his home pasture. + +"Didn't you feel sorry for that poor boy?" said Migwan. "He felt ashamed +clear down to his shoes at having to bring that old wreck of a horse +over. I should have died if I had been in his place. He's such a nice +looking boy, too. I suppose his uncle is one of those stingy, grasping +farmers who work everybody to death on the place. Anybody who plants +vegetables in his front yard must be stingy. That horse probably +couldn't work on the farm any more so he thought he would make some +money out of it by hiring it to us. He must have thought girls didn't +know a horse when they saw one. I didn't exactly fall in love with Mr. +Smalley when I went over. He wasn't a bit friendly like Mr. Landsdowne." + +"I foresee where we will have little to do with our neighbors in the Red +House," said Sahwah. "I'm sorry, because I like to have lots of people +to visit, and like to have them running in at odd times, the way Mr. +Landsdowne appeared." + +"Let's not have any hard feelings against Calvin Smalley, though," said +Migwan. "He isn't to blame for his uncle's stinginess. I dare say he +isn't very happy over there. Let's have him over as often as we can." + +"Spoken like a true Winnebago," said Nyoda, approvingly. + +"But in the meantime," said Migwan, in perplexity, "what are we going to +do for a horse and wagon to take our things to town?" + +"Why not use our car?" said Gladys. The machine she had come in was +still in the barn at Onoway House. "It's a good thing I learned to run +the big one--father said I might use it all summer if I would be a good +girl and stay at home when they went out west." + +"Could we get everything in?" asked Migwan. + +"I think so," said Gladys, "if we arrange them carefully." The berries +and asparagus were loaded into the back of the machine and Gladys and +Migwan drove off. + +"What shall we do now, Nyoda?" asked Hinpoha, after the two girls were +gone. + +"I know what I'm going to do," said Nyoda, moving in the direction of +her bedroom. "Now," she said, as she threw herself on the bed with a +great yawn and stretch, "if anyone asks you what kind of a farmer I am +you may tell them that I'm a retired one!" Nyoda had been up since four +o'clock that morning, and was unused to such early rising. Hinpoha drew +down the shade to shut out the strong sunlight and tiptoed from the +room. + +Gladys and Migwan stopped first at a large grocery store to inquire the +prices of strawberries and asparagus. The proprietor offered to buy the +whole load, but they would not sell, as they could get more for them by +peddling them at retail prices. Migwan examined the berries in the +store, and mentally fixed her middle grade berries at the same price +with them, and her finest grade ones at three cents higher. + +"I've an idea," said Gladys, "that some of mother's friends would take +the berries at our own price." Thus it was that Mrs. Davis, whose +speculations about the financial standing of the Evans family had +resulted in Gladys's mother giving her such an elaborate party the +winter before, was surprised by a call from Gladys at ten o'clock in the +morning. + +"Ah, good morning, my dear," she said effusively, seating Gladys in the +parlor, "you have come to spend the day, I hope? Caroline is not up +yet--she was out late last night--but I shall make her get up right away." + +"Please don't call Caroline," said Gladys, "it's you I came to see." + +"Oh, yes," purred Mrs. Davis, "a message from your mother, I see." + +Gladys came to the point directly. "Have you canned your strawberries +yet, Mrs. Davis?" + +"No," replied Mrs. Davis, a little puzzled by the question. + +"Would you like to buy some extra fine ones?" continued Gladys. + +"Why, yes, I suppose so," said Mrs. Davis, "who has any for sale?" + +"I have," said Gladys, "right out here in the machine." Mrs. Davis +bought the whole eight quarts of large berries, paying fifteen cents a +quart straight, and ordered another eight quarts as soon as they should +be ripe. She also took two bunches of asparagus. + +"Whatever are you doing, Gladys Evans?" she asked, curiously. "Peddling +berries?" + +Gladys laughed at her evident mystification, and tingled with a desire +to keep her guessing. "We decided that I had better work this summer," +she said, gravely, "so I am peddling berries for a friend of ours who is +a farmer. We will have to go on a farm ourselves, father said, if things +to eat get much dearer, so I am getting the practice. Wouldn't you like +to be a regular customer, and have me bring you fresh vegetables and +fruit three times a week all through the summer?" + +"Why, yes," stammered Mrs. Davis in a daze, "of course, certainly." + +"All right, then," said Gladys, "I'll put you down." She drove off in +high glee, and Mrs. Davis went into the house with a knowing smile on +her face. So the Evanses were losing money after all, and Gladys was +working this summer instead of traveling. Poor Gladys! She flew +up-stairs to communicate the news to her energetic daughter Caroline who +was just beginning to think about getting up. "I do feel so sorry for +poor Gladys," she said. "You must be very kind to her whenever you meet +her." + +The rest of the berries and vegetables were disposed of to other friends +of Gladys's and Migwan's, all for topnotch prices, and there were at +least half a dozen names in the little note book when they started +homeward, of people who wanted to be supplied regularly. To some of her +friends Gladys told frankly whose fruit she was selling, and enlisted +their sympathies in the enterprise, while to others, like the Davises +and the Joneses, who were thorough snobs, she could not resist +pretending that she was actually working for a farmer to earn money. She +could not remember when she had enjoyed anything so much as the +expressions on the various faces when she made her little speech at the +door and offered her basket of fruit for inspection. "Wait until I tell +dad about it," she chuckled to Migwan. + +When they returned to Onoway House they found that during their absence +the girls, with the help of Mr. Landsdowne, had constructed a raft about +seven feet square, which they were setting afloat on the river. "Oh, +what fun!" cried Migwan when she saw it. "We needed another rapid vessel +to go boating in. There's only one rowboat and we could never all go out +at once. What shall we call it?" + +"Let's name it the Tortoise," said Hinpoha, "and call the rowboat the +Hare." + +"Oh, no," said Sahwah, "let's call it the Crab, because it travels sort +of sidewise." Hinpoha held out for her name and Sahwah would not yield +hers. + +"Contest of arms!" cried Nyoda. "Decide the question by a test of +physical prowess. Whichever one of you can pole the raft straight across +the river and back again without mishap in the shortest time may have +the privilege of naming it. Is that fair?" + +"It is!" cried all the girls. Hinpoha and Sahwah, dressed in their +bathing-suits, prepared for the contest. Hinpoha had the first trial +because she had spoken first. Getting onto the raft and seizing the +stout pole, she pushed off from the shore. It was difficult to keep the +unwieldy craft going toward the opposite bank, because it had a strong +inclination to be carried down-stream with the current. Halfway across +she grounded on a rock and stood marooned. Sahwah watched the moments +tick off on Nyoda's watch with ill-concealed delight while Hinpoha +pushed and strained on the pole to set the raft free. Finally she leaned +all her weight, which was no small item, on the pole and shoved with her +feet against the raft. It freed itself and glided away under her feet, +leaving her clinging to the pole in the middle of the river, while her +solid footing of a few moments ago swung into the current and floated +off beyond her reach. She looked so comical clinging to the pole, which +was fast losing its upright position under her weight, that the girls +were unable to help her for laughter, and a minute later she plunged +into the river with a mighty splash and swam disgustedly to shore. + +"Our new boat will not be called the TORTOISE, it seems," said Nyoda. +"Cheer up, Hinpoha, you have made yourself more immortal by the picture +you presented hanging over the water than you would have by naming the +raft. As Hinpoha, the Polehanger, you will have your portrait in the +Winnebago Hall of Fame. Now then, Sahwah, show her how it should be +done." + +Sahwah, ever more skilful in watercraft than Hinpoha, poled the raft +neatly across the stream to the opposite shore, paused a moment to see +that the feat was properly registered by the judges, and then started +back. Unlike Hinpoha, who forged blindly ahead, she felt carefully with +her pole to locate the points of the rocks and then avoided them. "Here +I come," she hailed, when she was nearly back to the starting point, "on +my new raft, the CRAB." Striking a heroic attitude with arms crossed and +one foot out ahead of the other she stepped to the edge of the raft, +when the floating floor tipped under her weight and she lost her balance +and fell head first into the water. The raft, released from her guiding +hand, went off with the current as it had done before. The look of +stupefaction on her face when she came up out of the water was even +funnier than the sight of Hinpoha marooned on the pole. + +"The raft will not be named the CRAB, either, it seems," said Nyoda. + +"I don't care what it's called," said Sahwah, her temper up, "I'm going +to pole that raft across the river." + +"So'm I," said Hinpoha, her eye gleaming with resolution. + +"Let's do it together," said Sahwah. + +Thanks to Sahwah's skill with the pole and Hinpoha's judicious balancing +of the raft at the right places, they made the trip over and back +without mishap. + +"Two heads are better than one," said Sahwah, as they landed, "what +neither of us could do alone we can do in combination." + +"Then why not combine the names?" said Nyoda. "You have each won equal +rights in the contest." + +"Good idea," said Sahwah. "We couldn't find a better one than the +Tortoise-Crab." So the name was painted across the floor of the raft, +this being the only space big enough. + +Delighted with their new sport, the girls spent the whole evening on the +river, all five Winnebagos and Betty and Tom on the raft at once, +floating down-stream with the current and being towed up again by the +rowboat. It was bright moonlight, and the air was full of romance. At +one place along the riverbank there stood a high rock, grey on the +moonlit side and black on the other. "It reminds me of the Lorelei +Rock," said Nyoda. + +"Let's play Lorelei," said Sahwah. + +"What do you mean?" asked Nyoda. + +"Why," answered Sahwah, "let Hinpoha climb up on the rock and comb her +hair and sing, and we come along on the raft and listen to her song and +run into the rock and upset. We want to go swimming before we go to bed +anyhow." + +"I can't sing," objected Hinpoha. + +"That doesn't make any difference," said Sahwah, "sing anyway." + +So Hinpoha mounted the moonlit rock and shook her long, red hair down +over her shoulders, combing it out with her sidecomb and singing "Fairy +Moonlight," while the raft floated lazily down-stream toward the base of +the cliff, its passengers sitting in attitudes of enraptured listening, +and pointing ecstatically to the figure silhouetted against the moon. +Sahwah adroitly steered the raft toward the rock and it struck with a +great jar. It disobligingly kept its balance, however, and refused to +upset. Sahwah deliberately rolled off the edge, tipping it as she did +so, and the rest went off on all sides, giggling and splashing in the +water. Hinpoha on the rock above wrung her hands in mock horror at the +effect of her song. That instant a figure came running at top speed +along the river bank. "I'll save you, girls," he shouted, jumping into +the water with all his clothes on. Catching hold of Migwan, who was +hanging on to the raft, he pulled her out of the water and set her on +the shore. It was Calvin Smalley, their neighbor from the Red House. + +"Oh," gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at him, "I thank you ever so +much, but we're not really drowning. We upset the raft on purpose." + +"Upset it on purpose!" said Calvin, in astonishment. + +"Yes," answered Migwan, "we were playing Lorelei, you know." + +Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the victims of the upset +were all dressed in bathing-suits, and that they seemed to be very much +at home in the water. "It looked like a dreadful smashup," he said, "and +I forgot that the river isn't very deep here. Do you generally play such +quiet games?" + +"Sometimes we play much more quiet ones," said Sahwah meaningly. + +"It was too bad to frighten you so," said Nyoda. "We'll have to warn +spectators the next time we do anything. We'll have to have a flag that +says 'Stunt coming; look out for the splash!' and whoever runs may +read." At this moment Hinpoha jumped from the rock, out into the middle +of the stream, where it was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and +came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite startled. + +"Say," he said, looking around at the group of girls who were doing +various astonishing things, "do you belong to the circus?" + +The girls laughed at this inquiry. "Oh, no," said Migwan, "we are only +Camp Fire Girls." + +"Camp Fire Girls?" said Calvin. "I've heard of them, but I never knew +any. Is that why you call each other by such funny names?" + +"Yes," answered Migwan, and she told him their names and their meanings. + +"It must be great fun to be a Camp Fire Girl," said Calvin thoughtfully. + +"Come for a ride on the raft with us," said Migwan, "we are going back +now. We aren't going to upset again," she added reassuringly, "and if we +did you couldn't get any wetter." Calvin smiled at the pleasantry, but +said he must be going in. He was on his way home when he saw the raft +upset. The Lorelei Rock was just on the other side of the Smalley farm. +He bade them a friendly good-night, promising to come over to Onoway +House soon, and took his way home across the fields. + +"What a nice boy he is," said Migwan. "He wasn't a bit cross when he +found that the joke was on him, as some would have been." + +Migwan woke up in the night and could not go to sleep again immediately. +As she lay smiling to herself about the fun they had had with the raft +that evening, she heard a sound as of something dropped on the attic +floor above her room, followed by a faint creaking as of someone walking +over bare boards. She clutched Hinpoha's arm and woke her up. "There's +someone in the attic," she whispered. Hinpoha yawned. + +"I don't hear anything," she said. + +"There it is again," said Migwan, "listen." Again there came a faint +creak, accompanied by a far-away rustle as of crinkling paper. + +"It's mice," said Hinpoha, "or maybe rats. They get between the walls +and make noises that way." + +Migwan breathed a sigh of relief and composed herself to slumber again. +"I suppose these dreadfully old houses are just overrun with things of +that kind," she said. "But for a moment it did give me a scare." + + + + +CHAPTER III.--OPHELIA. + + +"They've come! They've come!" shrieked Migwan, running into the +dining-room where the rest of the family were peacefully finishing their +breakfast. + +"Who've come?" said Nyoda, excitedly, "the Mexicans?" + +"The bean weevils," said Migwan, tragically. "Mr. Landsdowne said to +watch out for them, although they were hardly ever found up north, but +they're here. He just found a bush with them on." + +"To arms!" cried Sahwah, springing up. "The Flying Column to the rescue! + + "Forward the Bug Brigade, + Is there a leaf unsprayed?"---- + +Here she tripped over the carpet and her Amazonian shout came to an +abrupt end. + +"Where are the weevils?" she asked, when they had all gathered around +the bean patch. + +"On here," said Migwan, indicating a hill of beans. + +"Oh," said Sahwah, in a disappointed tone. + +"Where did you think they were?" asked Migwan. + +"From the noise you were making," said Sahwah, "I expected to find them +drawn up in battle lines, waiting to charge the garden with fixed +bayonets." + +"They'll do just as much damage as if they had bayonets," remarked +Farmer Landsdowne. + +"Do be cautious in approaching such deadly foes," said Sahwah in a tone +of mock anxiety, as Migwan came along with the sprayer, "take careful +aim, and don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." + +"I'll spray you in a minute if you don't keep still," said Migwan. + +"What must it feel like to be a weevil," said Gladys, musingly, "and be +hunted down remorselessly wherever you went?" + +"Gladys has gone over to the side of the enemy," said Sahwah, teasingly. +"There is the subject for your next book, Migwan, 'Won by a Weevil', by +the author of 'Enthralled by a Thrip'! It must have been weevils +Tennyson meant when he wrote 'The Lotus Eaters.'" + +"Battle over?" asked Hinpoha, as Migwan laid down the sprayer. "Then +let's celebrate the victory. Cheer the bean crop." To the tune of "We +will, We will Cheer," they sang, + + "Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil, weevil, weevil, weevil, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, + Weevil cheer our bean crop, O!" + +"Don't crow too soon," said Farmer Landsdowne, picking up his sprayer +preparatory to taking his departure, "there may be twice as many on +to-morrow." + +"I flatly refuse to worry about to-morrow," said Nyoda, "'sufficient +unto the day is the weevil thereof!'" + +Calvin Smalley, working in the vegetable patch in front of the Red +House, heard that cheer and paused in his work to look over at the other +garden. He was wondering what was so funny about gardening. "I wish," he +sighed, as he turned back to his endless task, "that those girls were my +sisters!" + +Gladys went into town alone when the last of the strawberries were ripe, +for none of the other girls could be spared that day. The squash bugs +had descended on the garden and all hands were required on deck to save +the squash and melon vines from being eaten alive. On the way she passed +Mr. Smalley, driving the identical wreck of a horse he had tried to hire +out to the girls. He had a heavy load of vegetables, and the poor, +broken down creature would hardly move it from the spot. He started +nervously as the machine passed him on the narrow road, and Mr. Smalley +pulled him up sharply and brought the whip down on his back with a heavy +cut. "Ain't you used to automobiles yet, you stupid brute?" he growled. + +Gladys delivered the eight quarts of extra large berries to Mrs. Davis +first. "Wouldn't you like to stay in town and have lunch with us and go +to the theatre afterward?" Mrs. Davis said in such a patronizing tone +that Gladys quite started, and then laughed inwardly. + +"I'm sorry, but I haven't sold all of my berries yet," she answered +soberly, "and I have to hurry back and help pick bugs." + +"Pick bugs?" exclaimed Mrs. Davis, in a horrified tone. + +"Yes," said Gladys, with a relish, "nice juicy, striped bugs that crunch +beautifully when you step on them." + +"Oh, oh," said Mrs. Davis, putting her hands over her ears. "Give my +love to your poor, dear mamma," she said gushingly, when Gladys was +departing. "Tell her she has my fullest sympathy." As Gladys's poor, +dear mamma was, at that moment, seated on the observation platform of a +luxurious railway coach, speeding through the mountains of Washington +while Mrs. Davis was obliged to stay in town for the time being, she was +not really in as much need of Mrs. Davis's sympathy as that lady fondly +imagined. + +Gladys disposed of the remaining berries to other amused or patronizing +friends, and then decided to look up a laundress she knew of and get her +to come out to Onoway House once in a while to do the heavy washing. The +street where the laundress lived was narrow and crowded with children +playing in the middle of the road, and progress was rather slow. One +little girl in particular made Gladys extremely nervous by running +across the street right in front of the machine and daring her to run +over her, shaking her fists at her and making horrible grimaces. She got +across the street once in safety and then started back again. Just then +a small child sprang up from the ground right under the very wheels of +the machine and Gladys turned sharply to one side. The fender struck the +saucy little girl who was daring her to run over her and she rolled +under the car, screaming. Gladys jammed down the emergency brake with a +jerk that almost wrenched the machinery of the automobile asunder. White +as a sheet she jumped out and picked the girl up. In an instant an angry +crowd of women and children had surrounded the machine. "Darn yer!" +cried the child shrilly, shaking a dirty fist in Gladys's face, while +the other arm hung limp. "I thought yer didn't dast run into me." + +"Get into the car," said Gladys, terrified, "and I'll take you home." + +"I dassent go home," shrieked the child, "Old Grady'll lick the tar out +of me if I go home without sellin' me papers." + +"Then let me take you to the hospital, or somewhere," said Gladys, +anxious to get away from the threatening crowd. + +"What's the matter?" asked one voice after another, as the tenements +poured their human contents into the street. + +"Ophelia's run over," explained a powerful Irish woman, with a shawl +over her head, who kept her hand on the handle of the car door. "Lady +speedin' run her down like a dog." An angry murmur rose from the crowd. +Gladys shook in her shoes and wondered if she dared start the car with +all those children hanging on the front of it. She looked around +helplessly for someone who would help her out of her difficulty. Just +then a policeman turned into the street, attracted by the crowd. + +"Cheese it, de cop!" screamed a ragged gamin, who stood on the step of +the car, and the women and children began to slink into the doorways. +Gladys waited until he came up, and then explained the whole matter and +asked where the nearest hospital was. + +"Can't blame you for hitting that brat," said the policeman, "she's the +terror of drivers for two blocks." Ophelia stuck out her tongue at him. +Gladys drove her to the hospital where it was discovered that the left +arm was broken below the elbow. Painful as the setting may have been +there was "never a whang out of her," as the doctor remarked, although +she hung on tightly to Gladys's white sleeve with her dirty hand. Her +waist was taken off to find the extent of the damage, and Gladys was +frightened to see that the other arm was fearfully bruised and +scratched, and there was a ring of purple and green blotches around her +neck like a collar. + +"She must have been thrown down harder than I thought," said Gladys to +the nurse. + +"Thrown down nothin'," answered Ophelia, "Old Grady did that the other +day when I threw a stone through the winder." And she held up the +mottled arm where all might see. + +"Oh," said Gladys, with a shudder, "cover it up." Putting Ophelia into +the machine again she drove back to the scene of the accident and +entered the squalid tenement in which the child said she lived. + +"Won't Old Grady beat me up though, when she finds I've busted me wing," +said Ophelia, as they mounted the rickety stairs. Hardly had she spoken +when the door at the head of the stairs flew open and a large, +red-faced, coarse-looking woman strode out and shook her fist over the +banisters. + +"I'll fix ye fer stayin' out afther I tell ye ter come in, ye little +devil," she shouted. "I'll break every bone in yer body. Gimme the money +for the papers first." + +"Go chase yerself," said Ophelia, standing still on the stairs with a +spiteful gleam in her eye, "there ain't no money. I ain't had time ter +peddle this afternoon." + +"What yer mean, no money?" screamed the woman. "Just wait till I get me +hands on yer!" + +Gladys shrank back against the wall in terror, then collecting herself +she thrust Ophelia behind her and faced the angry woman. "Ophelia has +had an accident," she explained. "I ran over her with my machine and +broke her arm." The woman brushed past her and grabbed Ophelia by the +shoulder. Overcome with fury at the thought that her household drudge +would be of no use to her for several weeks, she boxed her ears again +and again, calling her every name she could think of. Finally she let go +of her with a push that sent Ophelia stumbling down half a dozen stairs. + +"Get out o' my sight!" she shrieked. "Do yer think I'm going ter house +an' feed a worthless brat that ain't doin' nothin' fer her keep? Get out +an' live in the streets yer like ter play in so well!" With a final +exclamation she strode back into the room and slammed the door after +her. Ophelia picked herself up from the step, shaking her one useful +fist at the closed door at the head of the stairs. + +Gladys was inexpressibly shocked at this heartless treatment of an +injured child. "Come--come home with me," she said faintly. Seated beside +her in the big car, Ophelia ran out her tongue and made faces at the +jeering children who watched her ride away. + +"This is the life!" she exclaimed, as she settled herself comfortably in +the cushioned seat. People in the streets turned to stare at the dirty +little ragamuffin riding beside the daintily gowned young girl, shouting +saucily at the passers-by, or making jeering remarks in a voice audible +above the noise of traffic. + +The girls were all out in front watching for her as Gladys drove up. It +was past supper time and they were wondering what had become of her. +What a chorus of surprised exclamations arose when Ophelia was set down +in their midst! Gladys explained the situation briefly and asked Migwan +if they could not keep her there awhile. Migwan consented hospitably and +went off to find a place for her to sleep, while Gladys proceeded to +wash the accumulated layers of dirt from Ophelia's face and divest her +of her spotted rags. She came to the table in a kimono of Gladys's, for +there were no clothes in the house that would fit her. She was nine +years old, she said, but small and thin for her age, with arms and legs +like pipe-stems which fairly made one shiver to look at. She had a +little, pinched, sharp featured face, cunning with the knowledge of the +world gained from her life on the streets, big grey-green eyes filled +with dancing lights, and black hair that tumbled around her face in +tangled curls, which Gladys was not able to smooth out in her hasty +going over before supper. + +Not in the least shy in her new surroundings, nor complaining of +discomfort from the broken arm, she sat at the table and kept up a +cheerful stream of talk, racy with slang and the idiom of the streets. +Hinpoha was instantly dubbed "Firetop." "Is it red inside of yer head?" +she asked, after gazing steadfastly at Hinpoha's hair for several +minutes. To all questions about her father and mother she shrugged her +shoulders. "Ain't never had any," she replied. "I was born in the Orphan +Asylum. Old Grady got me there." Here a spasm of rage distorted her face +at the remembrance of Old Grady's ministrations, followed by a wicked +chuckle when she thought how that tender guardian's plan for turning her +out homeless into the street had been frustrated by this lucky stroke of +fate. What her last name was she did not know. "I guess I never had +one," she said cheerfully. "I'm just Ophelia." Gladys was much +distressed because she would not drink milk. "No," she said, shoving it +away, "that's for the babies. Gimme coffee or nothin'." Disdaining the +aid of fork or spoon, she conveyed her food to her mouth with her +fingers. "Say," she said, after staring fixedly at Nyoda in a +disconcerting way she had, "are yer teeth false?" + +"Certainly not!" said Nyoda indignantly. "What made you think so?" + +"They're so white and even," said Ophelia. "Nobody ever had such teeth +of their own." + +"Did you bleach yer hair?" she asked next, turning her attention to +Gladys's pale gold locks. Gladys merely laughed. + +Ophelia waxed more loquacious as she filled up on the good things on the +table. "Did yer husband leave yer?" she inquired sociably of Mrs. +Gardiner. Gladys rose hastily and bore Ophelia away to her room, where a +cot had been set up for her. + +"Three flies in the spider's parlor," said Migwan. + +"And one in the ointment, or my prophetic soul has its signals crossed," +said Nyoda. + + + + +CHAPTER IV.--THE MEDICINE LODGE. + + +Nyoda's prophetic soul proved to be a true prophet, and there were +trying times to follow the establishment of Ophelia at Onoway House. +That very first night Nyoda woke with a strangling sensation to find +Ophelia sitting on her chest. "I want ter sleep in the bed wid yer," she +said, in answer to Nyoda's startled inquiry. "I'm afraid ter sleep +alone." She had been trying to creep in between Nyoda and Gladys and +lost her balance, which accounted for her position when Nyoda woke up. + +"But there's nothing in the room to hurt you," Nyoda said, reassuringly. + +"It's them hop-toads," she wailed, stopping her ears against the pillow, +"they give me th' pip with their everlastin' screechin'. They sound +right under the bed." Gladys woke up in time to hear her and offered to +take the cot herself and let Ophelia sleep with Nyoda. + +The next morning Gladys made a hurried trip to town to buy Ophelia some +clothes, while Nyoda washed her hair, much to Ophelia's disgust. The +curls were so matted that it was impossible to comb them out and there +was nothing left to do but cut them short. When all the foreign coloring +matter had been removed and the hair had begun to dry in the warm wind, +Nyoda stopped beside her in bewildered astonishment. On the top of her +head, just about in the center, there was a circular patch of light hair +about three inches in diameter. All the rest was black. "Ophelia," said +Nyoda, looking her straight in the eyes, "how did you bleach the top of +your hair?" + +"It's a fib," said Ophelia, politely, "I never bleached it." + +"Then somebody did," said Nyoda. + +"Didn't neither," contradicted Ophelia. + +"We'll see whether they did or not," said Nyoda, "when the hair grows +out from the roots." + +Dressed in the pretty clothes Gladys bought for her she was not at all a +bad looking child, but her language and her knowledge of evil absolutely +appalled the dwellers at Onoway House. "Did yer old man beat yer up?" +she asked sympathetically of Mrs. Landsdowne, when that gentle lady came +to call. Mrs. Landsdowne had run into the barn door the day before and +had a bruise on her forehead. + +Ophelia's sins in the garden were too numerous to chronicle. When set to +weeding she pulled weeds and plants impartially, working such havoc in a +short time that she was forbidden to touch a single growing thing. Her +ignorance of everything pertaining to the country was only equalled by +her curiosity. + +"What would happen to the cow if you didn't milk her?" she demanded of +Farmer Landsdowne, as she watched him milking one day. "She'd bust, I +suppose," she went on, answering her own question while Farmer +Landsdowne was scratching his head for a reply. "Say, are yer whiskers +fireproof?" she asked, scrutinizing his white beard with interest. +"Because if they ain't yer don't dast smoke that pipe. The Santa Claus +in Lefkovitz's window told me so. Say, what do you do when they get +dirty?" + +Leaving her alone in the barn for a few moments he heard a mighty +squawking and cackling and hastened to investigate. He found the old +setting hen running distractedly around one of the empty horse stalls, +frantically trying to get out, while Ophelia was holding the big rooster +on the nest with her one hand, in spite of the fact that he was flapping +his wings and pecking at her furiously. "He ought to do some of the +settin'," she remarked, when taken to task for her act, "he ain't doin' +nothin' fer a livin'." + +The squash bugs had descended once more, and were making hay of the +squash bed while the sun shone, and the girls worked a whole, long weary +afternoon clearing the vines. As the bugs were picked off they were put +into tin cans to be destroyed. Tired to death and heartily sick of +handling the disagreeable insects the girls quit the job at sundown, +having just about cleared the patch. They gathered in Migwan's big room +before supper to make some plans for the Winnebago Ceremonial Meeting +which was to be held at Onoway House on the Fourth of July. Ophelia +promptly followed them and demanded admittance. "You can't come in," +said Migwan rather crossly, for there were secrets being told which they +did not want her to hear. + +Ophelia wandered off in search of amusement. Mr. Bob had fled at her +approach and was hiding under the porch, and Betty had been admitted to +the council of the Winnebagos, for Migwan and Nyoda had decided at the +beginning of the summer that if there was to be any peace with her she +would have to be a party to all their doings, and as she was to be put +into a Camp Fire Group in the fall she was given this opportunity of +learning to qualify for the various honors by watching the intimate +workings of the Winnebago group. Tom was over at the Landsdowne's and +Mrs. Gardiner was getting supper and invited Ophelia to stay out of the +kitchen when she came down to see if there was any fun to be had there. +Ophelia had been allowed to help once or twice and had broken so many +dishes with her one-handed way of doing things that Mrs. Gardiner lost +all patience and refused to have her around. + +Strolling out into the garden in her quest for something to do she came +upon the big tin pail containing all the squash bugs, which Migwan +intended taking over to Farmer Landsdowne for disposal. A mischievous +impulse seized her, and taking off the cover she emptied the bugs back +into the bed, where they crawled eagerly back to their interrupted feast +of tender leaves. When the prank was discovered Migwan sank wearily down +beside the patch she had tried so hard to save from destruction. +"Whatever possessed you?" said Nyoda, seizing Ophelia with the firm +determination of boxing her ears. But Ophelia shrank back with such +evident expectation of a blow that Nyoda loosened her hold. + +"Well, ain't yer goin' ter punish me?" asked Ophelia, still eyeing her +warily for an unexpected attack, with the attitude of an animal at bay. +To her surprise there were no blows forthcoming, but she was ordered to +pick off all the squash bugs again, and before the job was done she had +plenty of time to regret her rash act. All that beautiful long summer +evening, when the girls were on the front porch playing games and +shouting with laughter, she sat in the squash bed, undoing the mischief +she had done. When bed time came she was told to sleep in the cot by +herself, and Gladys and Nyoda took no notice of her at all, whispering +secrets to each other in bed with never a word to her. The next morning +she was awakened at four o'clock and set to work again, and so missed +the merry breakfast with the family. Gladys had promised to take her to +town in the machine that day, but, of course, this pleasure was +forfeited, as the beetles were not yet all picked off. The family was +all invited over to the Landsdowne's for supper that night, but by four +o'clock Ophelia realized with a pang of disappointment that she would +not even be through by five. Accustomed as she was to brutal treatment, +this was the worst punishment she had ever experienced, but she realized +that she deserved it and was gamely paying the price without a murmur. +When Migwan came out shortly after four and helped her so that she would +be done in time to go to Farmer Landsdowne's with the others her +penitence was complete. + +Preparations for the big Fourth of July Council meeting were going +forward apace. It was to be a house party, they decided, and the other +three Winnebagos, Nakwisi, Chapa and Medmangi, were to be invited to +spend the night. Sleeping quarters caused some debate, when Sahwah had a +brilliant idea. "Let's build a tepee," she said, "and all sleep on the +ground inside of it with our feet toward the center. Then we can hold +the Council Fire in there and dance a war dance around the fire and make +shadows on the sides to scare the natives." No sooner said than begun. +The front lawn was chosen as the site of the tepee, as that was the only +spot big enough. Dick, Tom and Mr. Landsdowne set the poles in a circle +to make the supporting framework, and the girls made the covering of +heavy sail cloth, which fitted snugly over the poles and had an opening +in the center of the top, and another one lower down for the entrance. +When done it would easily accommodate fifteen or sixteen persons. An +iron kettle was sunk into the ground in the center of the tepee. This +would hold sticks of wood soaked in kerosene, which is the secret of a +quickly lighted council fire, and also the alcohol and salt mixture +which is an indispensable part of all ghost story telling parties. The +grass around the kettle was pulled up, leaving a ring of bare earth, +which would prevent accident from the fire spreading. + +The whole thing was completed two days before the Fourth. A big sign, +WINNEBAGO MEDICINE LODGE, was hung over the entrance. Underneath it a +sign in smaller letters proclaimed that at the Fourth Sundown of the +Thunder Moon the big medicine man Face-Toward-the-Mountain would "make +medicine" in the lodge for the benefit of the Winnebago tribe and their +paleface friends. The "paleface friends" referred to were Mrs. Gardiner, +Betty and Tom and Ophelia, Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne and Calvin Smalley, +who were invited to see the show. + +"It's a shame Aunt Phoebe and the Doctor have to miss it," said Hinpoha. + +It was rumored that a real Indian princess would be present at the +medicine making, i.e., Sahwah in her Indian dress that Mr. Evans had +sent her from Canada, and excitement ran high among the invited guests +as hint after hint trickled out as to the elaborateness of the +ceremonial, which was to eclipse anything yet attempted in that line by +the Winnebagos, which was saying a great deal. Migwan had been seen +doing a great deal of surreptitious writing of late and at bed time the +Winnebagos had taken to congregating in the big, back bedroom and +locking the doors, and soon there would issue forth sounds of much +talking and laughter, so that a really experienced listener would almost +suspect there was a play in process of rehearsal. "Let's reh--you know," +said Migwan to Gladys, when the last touches had been put on the tepee, +suddenly cutting her words short and making a hand sign to finish her +sentence. + +"Do you mind if I don't just now," answered Gladys, "I have such a bad +headache I think I will lie down for a while. It must have been the sun +glaring on the white canvas." + +"I have one too," said Hinpoha, "it must have been the sun. I'll come +later when Gladys does," she said to Migwan, with an aggravatingly +mysterious hand sign. + +At supper time Ophelia refused to eat and moped in a manner quite +foreign to her. Her eyes were red and it looked as though she had been +crying. After supper she still sat by herself in a corner of the porch +and made no effort to trap the girls into telling their plans for the +Fourth as she had been doing all day. "Come and play Blind-Man's-Buff on +the lawn," called Migwan. Ophelia raised her head and looked at her +listlessly, but made no effort to join in the merry game. + +"Don't you feel well?" asked Nyoda, noting her languid manner. "Child, +what makes your eyes so red?" she said, turning Ophelia's face toward +the light. + +"I don't know," said Ophelia, wriggling out of her grasp, and putting +her head down on her knee. + +"Come, let me put you to bed," said Nyoda. "I'm afraid you're going to +be sick." In the morning Ophelia's face was all broken out and Nyoda +groaned when she realized the truth. Ophelia had the measles. All +preparations for the Fourth of July Ceremonial had to be called off, and +the three girls in town telephoned not to come out. The sight of the +tepee and all the plans it suggested called out a wail of despair every +time the girls went out in the yard. On the morning of the Glorious +Fourth Gladys woke to find herself spotted like a leopard. + +"That must be the reason why I had such a fearful headache the other +day," she said, as she took her place with the other sick one, half +amused and wholly disgusted at herself for having fallen a victim. + +"I had a headache too," said Hinpoha, in alarm, "I hope I'm not coming +down with them. I've had them once." + +"That doesn't help much," said Nyoda, "for I had them three times." +Hinpoha's fears were realized, and by night there was a third case +developed. And so, instead of a grand council on the Fourth of July +there was real medicine making at Onoway House. None of the sufferers +were very ill, although they must remain prisoners, and they had such a +jolly time in the "contagious disease ward" that Migwan and Sahwah, who +were finding things rather dull on the outside, wished fervently that +they had taken the measles too. + +As soon as the three invalids were pronounced entirely well there was a +celebration held in honor of the occasion in the tepee. At sundown Nyoda +went around beating on a tin pan covered with a cloth in lieu of a +tom-tom, which was always the signal for the tribe to come together. +Tom, as runner, was dispatched to fetch the Landsdownes and Calvin +Smalley. When the tribe came trooping in answer to the call, followed by +the guests, they were marched in solemn file around the lawn and into +the tepee. Inside there was a fire kindled in the center, with a circle +of ponchos and blankets spread around it on the ground. "Bless my soul, +but this is cozy," said Farmer Landsdowne, dropping down on a poncho and +stretching himself comfortably. + +"Now, what shall we do?" asked Nyoda, who was mistress of ceremonies, +"play games or tell stories?" + +"Tell stories," begged Migwan, "we haven't 'wound the yarn' for an age." + +"All right," agreed Nyoda, "shall we do it the way several of the Indian +tribes do?" + +"How do they do it?" asked Migwan. + +"Well," said Nyoda, "there is a tradition among certain tribes that if +anyone refuses to tell a story when he is asked he will grow a tail like +a donkey. Sometimes, however, they do not wait for Nature to perform +this miracle, but fasten a tail themselves onto the one who will not +entertain the crowd when he is bidden, and he must wear it until he +tells a story. Their way of asking one of their number to tell one is to +remark 'There is a tail to you,' as a delicate way of expressing the +fate that will be his if he refuses." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried Sahwah. + +"And now Gladys," said Nyoda, "'there is a tail to you.'" + +Gladys placed more wood on the fire, which was burning low, and returned +to her seat on the blanket. "Did I ever tell you," she began, "about my +Aunt Beatrice? She and my Uncle Lynn were visiting here from the West +with my little cousin Beatrice, who was only six months old. They were +staying in a big hotel downtown. One night they went to a party, leaving +Beatrice in their room at the hotel in the care of her nurse. At the +party there was a fortune teller who amused the guests by reading their +palms. When it came my aunt's turn the woman said to her, 'You have had +one child, who is dead.' Everybody laughed because they knew Aunt +Beatrice had never lost a baby, and little Beatrice was safe and sound +in the hotel that very minute. But it worried my aunt almost to death, +and she couldn't enjoy herself the rest of the evening. + +"Finally she said to my uncle, 'I can't stand it any longer, I must go +home,' so they left the party just as the guests were sitting down to a +midnight supper, and everybody made fun of her for being such a fussy +young mother. When they got downtown they found the hotel in flames and +the streets blocked for a long distance around. Aunt Beatrice finally +broke through the fire lines and ran right past the firemen who tried to +keep her out, into the burning building, and fought her way up-stairs +through the smoke to her room, where she could hear a baby crying. She +was blind from the smoke and could hardly see where she was going, but +she picked up a rug from the floor, wrapped it around the baby and +carried her out in safety. When she got outside they found it was not +little Beatrice at all that she had saved, it was a strange baby. She +had mistaken the room up-stairs in the smoke and carried out someone +else's child. The building collapsed right after she came out and no one +could go in any more. Beatrice and her nurse were lost in the fire." A +murmur of horrified sympathy went around the circle in the tepee. "And," +continued Gladys, "my Aunt Beatrice has never been herself since. She +can't bear even to see a baby." + +"Is that the reason you wouldn't let me bring Marian Simpson's baby over +the day she left it with me to take care of?" asked Hinpoha. "I remember +you said your aunt was visiting you." + +"Yes, that was why," said Gladys. "And now, Mr. Landsdowne," she added, +"'there is a tail to you!'" + +Farmer Landsdowne stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment, and +then a reminiscent smile began to wrinkle the corners of his eyes. +"Would you like to hear a story about the old house?" he asked. + +"You mean Onoway House?" asked Migwan. + +Mr. Landsdowne nodded. "Only it seems strange to be calling it 'Onoway +House.' It has always been known as 'Waterhouse's Place,' because old +Deacon Waterhouse built it. Well, like most old houses, there are +different stories told about it, but whether they are true or not, no +one knows. People are so apt to believe anything they want to believe. +Well, I started out to tell you the story about the gas well. But before +I tell you about the gas well I suppose I ought to tell you about the +Deacon's son. Mind you, the things I am telling you are only what I have +heard from the folks around here; I never knew Deacon Waterhouse. He was +dead and the house empty before the farm was split up, and it wasn't +until the part that I now own was offered for sale that I ever came into +this neighborhood. Well, to return to the Deacon's son. They say that +there never was a finer looking young fellow than Charley Waterhouse. He +was a regular prince among the country boys. But he didn't care a rap +about farming. All he wanted to do was read; that and take the horse and +buggy and drive to town. The old Deacon was terribly disappointed, of +course, for Charley was his only son, and he couldn't see that the boy +wasn't cut out to be a farmer. He railed about his love of books and +wouldn't give him money for schooling. Charley stood it until he was +eighteen and then he ran away, after forging the Deacon's name to a +check. The folks around here never saw him again. Mrs. Waterhouse died +of a broken heart, they say. They also say," he added with a twinkle in +his eye, "that she died before she had her attic cleaned, and that her +ghost comes back at night and sets the old furniture straight up there." +Migwan and Hinpoha exchanged glances. + +"Now about the gas well," resumed Mr. Landsdowne. "The Deacon was +digging for water on the farm. The old well had dried up during a long, +hot spell and he was bound to go deep enough this time. Down they +went--two, three hundred feet, and still no good water. The ground had +turned into slate and shale. The well digger lit a match down in the +hole when suddenly there was a terrific explosion which caved in the +sides of the well and all the dirt which was piled around the outside +slid in again, completely filling it up. A vein of gas had been struck. +That very day the Deacon received word that his son was in San +Francisco, dying, and wanted to see him. He forgot his anger over +Charley's disgrace and started west that very night. He never came back. +He stayed in San Francisco a whole year and then died out there. While +he was there he mentioned the gas well to several people, or they say he +did, and that's how the story got round. But if such a thing did happen, +there was never any trace of it afterward. Personally I do not believe +it ever happened. But superstitious folks around here say they can still +hear the buried well digger striking with his pick against the earth +that covers him." + +"Two ghosts at Onoway House!" said Nyoda, "we are uncommonly well +supplied," and the girls shivered and drew near together in mock fear. +Thus, with various stories the evening wore away, until Farmer +Landsdowne, looking at his big, old-fashioned silver watch with a start, +remarked that he should have been in bed an hour ago, whereupon the +company broke up. Calvin Smalley went home reluctantly. That evening +spent by the fire in the tepee had been a sort of wonderland to him, +unused as he was to family festivities of any kind. + +Nyoda lingered after the rest had gone to see that the fire in the tepee +was properly extinguished. As she watched the glowing embers turn black +one by one she became aware of a figure standing in the doorway. The +moonlight fell directly on it and she could see that it was robed in +flowing white, and instead of a face there was a hideous death's head. +Horribly startled at first she recovered her composure when she +remembered that she was living in a household which were given to +playing jokes on each other. Flinging up her hands in mock terror, she +recited dramatically, + +"Art thou some angel, some devil, or some ghost?" The figure in the +doorway never moved. Nyoda picked up the thick stick with which she had +stirred the fire and rushed upon the ghost as if she intended to beat it +to a pulp. It flung out its arm, covered with the flowing drapery, and +Nyoda dropped her weapon and staggered back against the side of the +tepee, sneezing with terrible violence, her eyes smarting and watering +horribly. When the force of the paroxysm had spent itself and she could +open her eyes again the ghost had vanished. Blind and choking, she made +her way back to the house, intent on finding out who the ghost was, who +had thrown red pepper into her eyes. That it was none of the dwellers at +Onoway House was clear. The girls were already partly undressed, Ophelia +was in bed, and Tom was taking a foot-bath in the kitchen under the +watchful supervision of his mother to see that he got himself clean. A +chorus of indignation rose on every side at the outrage, when Nyoda had +told her tale. + +"Could it have been Calvin Smalley?" somebody asked. But this no one +would believe. The boy was too gentle and manly, and too evidently +delighted with his new neighbors to have done such a dastardly deed. +Then who had dressed up as a ghost and thrown red pepper at Nyoda in the +tepee? + + + + +CHAPTER V.--SAHWAH MAKES A DISCOVERY. + + +As there was no one of their acquaintance whom they could suspect of +being the ghost, the trick was laid at the door of some unknown dweller +along the road with a fondness for horseplay. The girls spent the +morning working quietly in the garden, and in the afternoon they went to +the city in Gladys's automobile, all but Sahwah, who wanted to work on a +waist she was making. Then, after the automobile was out of sight she +discovered that she did not have the right kind of thread and could not +work on it after all. With the prospect of a whole afternoon to herself, +she decided to take a long walk. The Bartlett farm was not very large +and she was soon at its boundary, and over on the Smalley property. In +contrast to their little orchard and garden and meadow, the Smalley farm +stretched out as far as she could see, with great corn and wheat fields, +and acres of timber land. Somewhere on the place Calvin Smalley was +working, and Sahwah made up her mind to find him and ask him over to +Onoway House that night. But the extent of the Smalley farm was +ninety-seven acres, and it was not so easy to find a person on it when +one had no definite knowledge of that person's whereabouts. Sahwah +walked and walked and walked, up one field and down another, shading her +eyes with her hand to catch sight of the figure she was looking for. But +Calvin was somewhere near the center of the cornfield, stooping near the +ground, and the high stalks waved over his head and concealed him +completely. Sahwah passed by without discovering him and crossed an open +field that was lying fallow. Beyond this was a strip of marsh land which +was practically impassable. Under ordinary circumstances Sahwah would +have turned back, but being badly in want of something better to do she +tried to cross it. She had seen two boards lying in the field, and +securing these she laid them down on the treacherous mud, and by +standing on one and laying the other down in front of her and then +advancing to that one she actually got across in safety. + +On the other side of the bog she spied a little clump of trees and +headed toward them, for the sun was very hot in the open and the thought +of a rest in the shade was attractive. When she came nearer she saw that +this little copse sheltered a cottage, old and weatherbeaten and +evidently deserted. Weeds grew around it, higher than the steps and the +floor of the porch, and the crumbling chimney, which ran up on the +outside of the house, was covered with a thick growth of Japanese ivy. +"It's a regular House in the Woods," said Sahwah to herself, "only there +are no dwarfs. I wonder what it's like inside," she went on in her +thoughts. "Maybe we could come here sometime and build a fire--there must +be a fireplace somewhere because there's a chimney--and have a Ceremonial +Meeting or a picnic. How delightfully private it is!" The trees hid the +house from view until one almost stumbled upon it, and then the marsh +and the broad vacant field stretched between it and the farm, and behind +it was the river, its banks hidden by a thick growth of willows and +alders, so that the cottage was not visible to a person coming along the +river in a boat. There was not a sound to be heard anywhere except the +zig-a-zig of the grasshoppers in the field and the swish of the hidden +water as it flowed over the stones. "A grand place to have a secret +meeting of the Winnebagos," said Sahwah to herself, "where we wouldn't +always be interrupted by Ophelia pounding on the door and wanting to +come in. I wonder if it's open?" + +She stepped up on the porch and tried the door. It was locked. She +peered into the window. The room she saw was absolutely empty. She could +not see whether there was a fireplace or not. She was seized with a +desire to enter that cottage. It was deserted and tumble down and +fascinating. Whoever owned it--if anyone did, for she was not sure +whether it stood on the Smalley property or not--had evidently abandoned +it to the elements. There was no harm at all in trying to get in. She +pushed on the window. It apparently was also locked. But she pushed +again and this time she heard a crack. The rotten wood was splitting +away from the rusty catch. She pushed again and the window slid up. She +stepped over the sill into the room. + +The window was so thick with dirt that the light seemed dim inside. At +one end of the room there was an open fireplace, long unused, with the +mortar falling out between the bricks. There was another door in the +wall opposite the front door, so evidently there was another room +beyond. This door was also locked, but the key was in the lock and it +turned readily under her hand and the door swung open. Sahwah stood +still in surprise. This room was as full of furniture as the other had +been empty. Around all four walls stood cabinets and bookcases, and +besides these there was a couch, a desk, a table and several chairs. The +table was covered with screws, little wheels and the works of clocks, +and before it sat an old man, busily working with them. He had on a +long, shabby grey dressing-gown and a high silk hat on his head. He did +not look up as she opened the door, but went right on working, +apparently oblivious to her presence. She stared at him in amazement for +a moment, and then, remembering her manners, realized that she had +deliberately walked into a gentleman's room without knocking. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, in embarrassment, "I didn't know there +was anyone here." + +The old man looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. "Come in, +come in," he said, affably, in a deep voice. Sahwah took a step into the +room. The old man went back to his wheels and rods and took no more +notice of her. + +"What is that you're making?" asked Sahwah, curiously. + +"It's a long story," said the man, taking off his hat, pulling a +handkerchief out of it and putting it back on his head, and then falling +to work again. + +"Must be a genius," thought Sahwah, "that's what makes him act so +queerly." She waited a few minutes in silence and then curiosity got the +better of her. "Is it too long to tell?" she asked. + +"Eh? What's that?" asked the man, turning toward her. He took off his +hat, put his handkerchief back in again and then put the hat back on his +head. + +"I asked you," said Sahwah, politely, "if the story of what you are +making is too long to tell." + +"Not at all, not at all," said the man, and resumed his work without +another word. + +"How impolite!" thought Sahwah. "To urge me to stay and then refuse to +answer my questions." Her eyes strayed around the room at the bookcases +and cabinets. Every cabinet was filled with clocks or parts of clocks. +The books as far as she could see were all about machinery. One was a +book of such astounding width of binding that she leaned over to read +the title. The letters were so faded that they were hardly visible. "L," +she read, "E, F, E----" + +"It's a machine for saving time," said the man at the table, so suddenly +that Sahwah jumped. + +"How interesting!" she said. "How does it work?" + +The man fitted a rod into a wheel and apparently forgot her existence. +She sat silent a few minutes more and then decided she had better go +home. She rose softly to her feet. "It's something like a clock," said +the man, without looking up from his work. + +"It's coming after all," she thought, and sat down again. + +After a silence of about five minutes the man spoke again. "It measures +the time just like any clock," he explained, "only, as the minutes are +ticked off, they are thrown into a little compartment at the side,--this +thing," he said, holding up a little metal box. He lapsed into silence +again and after an interval resumed where he had left off. "This +compartment," he said, "holds just an hour, and when it is full a bell +rings and the compartment opens automatically, throwing the block of +time, carefully wrapped to prevent leakage of seconds, out into this +basket." He took off his hat, brought out his handkerchief, polished a +bit of glass with it, put it carefully back into the crown and replaced +the hat on his head. + +It suddenly came over Sahwah that her ingenious host was not quite right +in his mind, so rising abruptly she hastened out of the room. The man +took no notice of her departure. She locked the door carefully after +her, and went out by the window whence she had entered the house, +pulling it shut from the outside. She did not undertake to cross the +marsh again, but made a wide detour around it. When she was once more in +the fallow field she looked back, but the house was invisible among the +trees and bushes which surrounded it. As she sped past the rows of +standing corn on her way home, Abner Smalley, bending low among them, +saw her and straightened up with a suspicious look in his eyes. He +glanced in the direction from which she had come. On one side was the +empty field bordered by the marsh and the woody copse, and on the other +was the path from the river which went in the direction of Onoway House. +He breathed a sigh of relief. The girl had come from the direction of +Onoway House, of course. The next day he put his bull to graze in the +empty field before the copse. Then, in different places along the rail +fence which enclosed this field he put signs reading: BEWARE THE BULL. +HE IS UGLY. + +When the girls came back from town Sahwah told her discovery. "Nyoda," +said Gladys, suddenly, "do you suppose it could have been this man who +threw the pepper at you?" + +"Perhaps," said Nyoda, and all the girls shuddered at the thought. +Before Sahwah's discovery they had agreed among themselves to say +nothing about the ghost episode to anyone outside the family, so that +the perpetrator of the joke, if he were one of the farmer boys living +near, would not have the satisfaction of knowing that they were wrought +up about it. In the meantime they would send Tom to get acquainted with +all the boys on the road and try to find out something about it from +them. + +Calvin Smalley was over that evening and something was said about +Sahwah's adventure of the afternoon. "Calvin," said Nyoda, directly, +"who is the old man who lives in that house?" + +Calvin looked very much distressed, and frightened too, it must be +admitted. Then he laughed, although to Nyoda his laugh seemed a trifle +forced, and said in his usual straightforward manner, "The man in the +old house among the trees? That is my great uncle Peter, grandfather's +brother. He was something of an inventer and invented a time clock, but +the patent was stolen by another and he never got the credit for +inventing it. He worried about it until his mind became unbalanced. For +years he has worked around with wheels and things, making strange +contrivances for clocks. He is perfectly harmless and wouldn't hurt a +fly. He will not live in a house with people and he will not leave the +cottage he lives in even for an hour, he is so afraid something will +happen to his machine while he is away. We don't like to have people +know that he is there because they would say we ought to send him away, +but Uncle Abner won't do that because Uncle Peter hates to be with folks +and he might not be allowed to play with his machine in an institution +the way he can here. So as long as he is happy what is the difference? +But you know how country people talk. So would it be asking a great deal +to request you not to say anything about this to anyone, not even the +Landsdownes? If Uncle Abner ever found out you knew he would be very +angry, and would sure think I told you. I don't see how you ever got in, +anyway; the door is usually kept locked, and to all appearances the +house is empty." Sahwah looked decidedly uncomfortable as she met the +eyes of several of the girls, but no one mentioned the manner in which +she had gained entrance. Inasmuch as she had pried into this secret she +felt it was no more than right to promise to keep it. + +"All right, we won't say anything," she said, reassuringly. All the +others gave an equally solemn promise, and were glad that Ophelia had +heard none of the talk about the matter, for she had been over at the +Landsdowne's since before Sahwah told her adventure. Little pitchers +have wide mouths as well as big ears. + +The girls all looked at each other when Calvin asserted that his Uncle +Peter never left the house even for an hour. Clearly then, he had not +been the ghost. + +Migwan had bad dreams that night. Just before going to bed she had been +reading a volume of Poe, which is not the most sleep producing +literature known. She dreamed that she was lying awake in her bed, +looking at a big square of moonlight on the floor, when suddenly a black +shadow fell across it, and the figure of a monkey appeared on the +windowsill, stood there a moment and then jumped into the room. +Shuddering with fright she woke up, and could hardly rid herself of the +impression of the dream, it had seemed so real. There was a big square +of moonlight on the floor. "I must have seen it in my sleep," she +thought, "it's exactly like the one in my dream." She lay wondering if +it were possible to see things with your eyes closed, when all of a +sudden her heart began to thump madly. Into the moonlight there was +creeping a black shadow. It remained still for a few seconds, a +grotesque-shaped thing with a long tail, and then something came +hurtling through the window and landed on the floor beside the bed. +Migwan gave a scream that roused the house. Hinpoha, starting up wildly, +jumped from bed and landed squarely on the black specter on the floor. +The form struggled and squirmed and sent forth a long wailing ME-OW-W-W. + +"What is the matter?" cried Nyoda and Gladys and Betty and Sahwah, +running to the rescue. + +"It's a cat!" said Migwan, faintly. "I thought it was a monkey!" + +"Moral: Don't read Poe before going to bed," said Nyoda, while the rest +shouted with laughter at the cause of Migwan's fright. + +"It must have jumped in from the tree," said Hinpoha. "I see our screen +has fallen out." + +There was little sleep in the house the rest of the night. During the +time when the screen was out of the window the room had filled with +mosquitoes, which soon found their way to the rest of the rooms. "If you +offered me the choice of sleeping in a room with a monkey or a swarm of +mosquitoes, I believe I'd take the monkey," said Nyoda, slapping +viciously. Altogether it was a heavy-eyed group that came down to +breakfast the next morning. + +"What are we going to do to-day?" asked Gladys. + +"The usual thing," said Migwan, "pull weeds. That is, I am. You girls +don't need to help all the time. I don't want you to think of my garden +as merely a lot of weeds to be forever pulled. I want you to remember +only the beautiful part of it." + +"We don't mind pulling weeds," cried the girls, stoutly, "it's fun when +we all do it together," and they fell to work with a will. + +"I declare," said Migwan, "I have become so zealous in the pursuit of +weeds that I mechanically start to pull them along the roadside. I +actually believe that if a weed grew on my grave I'd rise up and +eradicate it. I little thought when I proudly won an honor last summer +for identifying ten different weeds that they'd get to haunting my +dreams the way they do now. Now I know what people mean when they say +'meaner than pusley.' It's the meanest thing I've ever dealt with. I cut +off and pull up every trace of it one day and the next day there it is +again, just as flourishing as ever." + +"I don't call that meanness," said Nyoda, "that's just cheerful +persistence. Think what a success we'd all be in life if we got ahead in +the face of obstacles in that way. If I didn't already have a perfectly +good symbol I'd take pusley for mine. If it were edible I think I'd use +it as an exclusive article of diet for a time and see if I couldn't +absorb some of its characteristics." + +While she was talking Ophelia came along with a frog on a shovel, which +she proceeded to throw over the fence. "Come back with that frog," said +Migwan, "I need him in my business. Don't you know that frogs eat the +insects off the plants and we have that many less to kill?" Ophelia was +standing in the strong sunlight, and Nyoda noticed that the circle of +light hair on her head was still golden clear to the roots, although the +ringlets were visibly growing. + +"It must be a freak of Nature," she concluded, "for it certainly isn't +bleached." + +Rest at Onoway House was again doomed to be broken that night. Nyoda had +been peacefully sleeping for some time when she woke up at the touch of +something cold upon her face. She started up and the feeling +disappeared. She went to sleep again, thinking she had been dreaming. +Soon the feeling came again, as of something cold lying on her forehead. +She put up her hand and encountered a cold and knobby object. At her +touch the thing--whatever it was--jumped away. She sprang out of bed and +lit the lamp. The sight that met her eyes as she looked around the room +made her pinch herself to see if she were really awake and not in the +midst of some nightmare. All over the floor, chairs, table, beds, bureau +and wash-stand sat frogs; big frogs, little frogs, medium-sized frogs; +all goggling solemnly at her in the lamplight. She stared open mouthed +at the apparition. Could this be another Plague of Frogs, she asked +herself, such as was visited upon Pharaoh? At her horrified exclamation +Gladys woke up, gave one look around the room and dove under the +bedclothes with a wild yell. To her excited eyes it looked as if there +were a million frogs in the room. + +"What's the matter?" asked Ophelia, sitting up in bed and staring around +her sleepily. + +"Don't you see the frogs?" cried Nyoda. + +"Sure I see them," said Ophelia. "Aren't you glad I got so many?" + +"Ophelia!" gasped Nyoda, "did you bring those frogs in here?" + +"Betcher I did," said Ophelia, with pride, "and it took me most all +afternoon to catch the whole sackful, too. What's wrong?" she asked, as +she saw the expression on Nyoda's face. "Yer said they'd eat the bugs +and yer made such a fuss about the mosquitoes last night that I brought +the toads to eat them while we slept." Nyoda dropped limply into a +chair. The inspirations of Ophelia surpassed anything she had ever read +in fiction. + +If anybody has ever tried to catch a roomful of frogs that were not +anxious to be caught they can appreciate the chase that went on at +Onoway House that night. The first faint streaks of dawn were appearing +in the sky before the family finally retired once more. Sufficient to +say that Ophelia never set up another mosquito trap made of frogs. + + + + +CHAPTER VI.--THE WINNEBAGOS SCENT A PLOT. + + +"Where are you going, my pretty maid, and why the step ladder?" said +Nyoda to Migwan one morning. "Have your beans grown up so high over +night that you have to climb a ladder to pick them?" + +"Come and see!" said Migwan, mysteriously. Nyoda followed her to the +front lawn. Migwan set the ladder up beside a dead tree, from which the +branches had been sawn, leaving a slender trunk about seven feet high. +On top of this Migwan proceeded to nail a flat board. + +"Are you going to live on a pillar, like St. Simeon Stylites?" asked +Nyoda, curiously, as Migwan mounted the ladder with a basin of water in +her hand. + +"O come, Nyoda," said Migwan, "don't you know a bird bathtub when you +see one?" + +"A bathtub, is it?" said Nyoda. "Now I breathe easily again. But why so +extremely near the earth?" + +Migwan laughed at her chaffing. "You have to put them high up," she +explained, "or else the cats get the birds when they are bathing. Mr. +Landsdowne told me how to make it." The other girls wandered out and +inspected the drinking fountain-bathtub. Hinpoha closed one eye and +looked critically at the outfit. + +"Doesn't it strike you as being a little inharmonious?" she asked. +"Black stump, unfinished wood platform, and blue enamel basin." + +"Paint the platform and basin dark green," said Sahwah, the practical. +"There is some green paint down cellar, I saw it. Let me paint it. I can +do that much for the birds, even if I didn't think of building them a +drinking fountain." She sped after the paint and soon transformed the +offending articles so that they blended harmoniously with the +surroundings. + +"It's better now," said Nyoda, thoughtfully, "but it's still crude and +unbeautiful. What is wrong?" + +"I know," said Hinpoha, the artistic one. "It's too bare. It looks like +a hat without any trimming. What it needs is vines around it." + +"The very thing!" exclaimed Migwan. "I'll plant climbing nasturtiums and +train them to go up the pole and wind around the basin, so it will look +like a fountain." + +"Four heads are better than one," observed Nyoda, as the seeds were +planted, "when they are all looking in the same direction." + +Just then a young man came up the path from the road. "May I use your +telephone?" he asked, courteously raising his hat. He spoke with a +slight foreign accent. + +"Certainly you may," said Migwan, going with him into the house. She +could not help hearing what he said. He called up a number in town and +when he had his connection, said, "This is Larue talking. We are going +to do it on the Centerville Road. There is a river near." That was all. +He rang off, thanked Migwan politely and walked off down the road. The +incident was forgotten for a time. + +That afternoon Gladys was coming home in the automobile. At the turn in +the road just before you came to Onoway House there was a car stalled. +The driver, a young and pretty woman, was apparently in great perplexity +what to do. "Can I help you?" asked Gladys, stopping her machine. + +"I don't know what's the matter," said the young woman, "but I can't get +the car started. I'm afraid I'll have to be towed to a garage. Do you +know of anyone around here who has a team of horses?" + +Gladys looked at the starting apparatus of the other car, but it was a +different make from hers and she knew nothing about it. "Would you like +to have me tow you to our barn?" she asked. "There is a man up the road +who fixes automobiles for a great many people who drive through here and +I could get him to come over." + +The young woman appeared much relieved. "If you would be so kind it +would be a great favor," she said, "for I am in haste to-day." + +Gladys towed the car to the barn at Onoway House and phoned for the car +tinker. The young woman, who introduced herself as Miss Mortimer, was a +very pleasant person indeed, and quite won the hearts of the girls. She +was delighted with Onoway House, both with the name and the house +itself, and asked to be shown all over it, from garret to cellar. "How +near that tree is to the window!" she said, as she looked out of the +attic window into the branches of the big Balm of Gilead tree that grew +beside the house, close to Migwan and Hinpoha's bedroom. It was much +higher than the house and its branches drooped down on the roof. "How do +you ever move about up here with all this furniture?" asked Miss +Mortimer. + +"Oh," answered Migwan, "we never come up here." + +The barn likewise struck the visitor's fancy, with its big empty lofts, +and she fell absolutely in love with the river. The girls took her for a +ride on the raft, and she amused herself by sounding the depth of the +water with the pole. They could see that she was experienced in handling +boats from the way she steered the raft. The girls were so charmed with +her that they felt a keen regret when the neighborhood tinker announced +that the car was in running shape again. + +"I've had a lovely time, girls," said Miss Mortimer, shaking the hand of +each in farewell. "I can't thank you enough." + +"Come and see us again, if you are ever passing this way," said Migwan, +cordially. + +"You may possibly see me again," said Miss Mortimer, half to herself, as +she got into her machine and drove away. + +There was no moon that night and the cloud-covered sky hinted at +approaching rain, but Sahwah wanted to go out on the river on the raft, +so Nyoda and Migwan and Hinpoha and Gladys went with her. It was too +dark to play any kind of games and the girls were too tired and +breathless from the hot day to sing, so they floated down-stream in lazy +silence, watching the shapeless outlines made against the dull sky by +the trees and bushes along the banks. On the other side of Farmer +Landsdowne's place there was an abandoned farm. The house had stood +empty for many years, its cheerless windows brooding in the sunlight and +glaring in the moonlight. Just as they did with every other vacant +house, the Winnebagos nicknamed this one the Haunted House, and vied +with each other in describing the queer noises they had heard issuing +from it and the ghosts they had seen walking up and down the porch. As +they passed this place, gliding silently along the river, they were +surprised to see an automobile standing beside the house, at the little +side porch, in the shadow of a row of tall trees. + +"The ghosts are getting prosperous," whispered Migwan, "they have bought +an automobile to do their nightly wandering in. Pretty soon we can't say +that ghosts 'walk' any more. Ah, here come the ghosts." + +From the side door of the house came two men, who proceeded to lift +various boxes from under the seats of the car and carry them into the +house. Then they lifted out a small keg, which the girls could not help +noticing they handled with greater care than they had the boxes. The +wind was blowing toward the river, and the girls distinctly heard one +man say to the other, "Be careful now, you know what will happen if we +drop this." + +"I'm being as careful as I can," answered the second man. + +After a few seconds the first one spoke again. "When's Belle coming?" + +"She arrived in town to-day," said his partner. + +When they had gone into the house this time the machine suddenly drove +away, revealing the presence of a third man at the wheel, whom the girls +had not noticed before this. The two men stayed in the house. + +"What on earth can be happening there?" said Sahwah. + +"It certainly does look suspicious," said Nyoda. + +They waited there in the shadow of the willows for a long time to see +what would happen next, but nothing did. The house stood blank and +silent and apparently as empty as ever. Not a glimmer of light was +visible anywhere. Sahwah and Nyoda were just on the point of getting +into the rowboat, which had been tied on behind the raft, and towing the +other girls back home, when their ears caught the sound of a faint +splashing, like the sound made by the dipping of an oar. They were +completely hidden from sight either up or down the river, for just at +this point a portion of the bank had caved in, and the water filling up +the hole had made a deep indentation in the shore line, and into this +miniature bay the Tortoise-Crab had been steered. The thick willows +along the bank formed a screen between them and the stream above and +below. But they could look between the branches and see what was coming +up stream, from the direction of the lake. It was a rowboat, containing +two persons. The scudding clouds parted at intervals and the moon shone +through, and by its fitful light they could see that one of these +persons was a woman. When the rowboat was almost directly behind the +house it came to a halt, only a few yards from the place where the +Winnebagos lay concealed. + +"This is the house," said the man. + +"I told you the water was deep enough up this far," said the woman, in a +tone of satisfaction. Just then the moon shone out for a brief instant, +and the Winnebagos looked at each other in surprise. The woman, or +rather the girl, in the rowboat was Miss Mortimer, who had been their +guest only that day. The next moment she spoke. "We might as well go +back now. There isn't anything more we can do. I just wanted to prove to +you that it could be towed up the river this far without danger." + +"All right, Belle," replied the man, and at the sound of his voice +Migwan pricked up her ears. There was something vaguely familiar about +it; something which eluded her at the moment. The rowboat turned in the +river and proceeded rapidly down-stream. The Winnebagos returned home, +full of excitement and wonder. + +The barn at Onoway House stood halfway between the house and the river. +As they landed from the raft and were tying it to the post they saw a +man come out of the barn and disappear among the bushes that grew +nearby. It was too dark to see him with any degree of distinctness. +Gladys's thought leaped immediately to her car, which was left in the +barn. "Somebody's trying to steal the car!" she cried, and they all +hastened to the barn. The automobile stood undisturbed in its place. +They made a hasty search with lanterns, but as far as they could see, +none of the gardening tools were missing. Satisfied that no damage had +been done, they went into the house. + +"Probably a tramp," said Mrs. Gardiner, when the facts were told her. +"He evidently thought he would sleep in the barn, and then changed his +mind for some reason or other." + +Migwan lay awake a long time trying to place the voice of the man in the +rowboat. Just as she was sinking off to sleep it came to her. The voice +she had heard in the darkness had a slightly foreign accent, and was the +voice of the man who had used the telephone that morning. + +Sometime during the night Onoway House was wakened by the sounds of a +terrific thunder storm. The girls flew around shutting windows. After a +few minutes of driving rain against the window panes the sound changed. +It became a sharp clattering. "Hail!" said Sahwah. + +"Oh, my young plants!" cried Migwan. "They will be pounded to pieces." + +"Cover them with sheets and blankets!" suggested Nyoda. With their +accustomed swiftness of action the Winnebagos snatched up everything in +the house that was available for the purpose and ran out into the +garden, and spread the covers over the beds in a manner which would keep +the tender young plants from being pounded to pieces by the hailstones. +Migwan herself ran down to the farthest bed, which was somewhat +separated from the others. As she raced to save it from destruction she +suddenly ran squarely into someone who was standing in the garden. She +had only time to see that it was a man, when, with a muffled exclamation +of alarm he disappeared into space. Disappeared is the only word for it. +He did not run, he never reached the cover of the bushes; he simply +vanished off the face of the earth. One moment he was and the next +moment he was not. Much excited, Migwan ran back to the others and told +her story, only to be laughed at and told she was seeing things and had +lurking men on the brain. The thing was so queer and uncanny that she +began to wonder herself if she had been fully awake at the time, and if +she might not possibly have dreamed the whole thing. + +The morning dawned fresh and fair after the shower, green and gold with +the sun on the garden, and Migwan's delight at finding the tender little +plants unharmed, thanks to their timely covering, was inclined to thrust +the mysterious goings-on at the empty house the night before into +secondary place in her mind. But she was not allowed to forget it, for +it was the sole topic of conversation at the breakfast table. Gladys, +with her nose buried in the morning paper, suddenly looked up. "Listen +to this," she said, and then began to read: "Another dynamite plot +unearthed. Society for the purpose of assassinating men prominent in +affairs and dynamiting large buildings discovered in attempt to blow up +the Court House. An attempt to blow up the new Court House was +frustrated yesterday when George Brown, one of the custodians, saw a man +crouching in the engine room and ordered him out. A search revealed the +fact that dynamite had been placed on the floor and attached to a fuse. +On being arrested the man confessed that he was a member of the famous +Venoti gang, operating in the various large cities. The man is being +held without bail, but the head of the gang, Dante Venoti, is still at +large, and so is his wife, Bella, who aids him in all his activities. No +clue to their whereabouts can be found." + +"Do you suppose," said Gladys, laying the paper down, "that those men we +saw last night could belong to that gang? You remember how carefully +they carried the keg into the house, as if it contained some explosive. +They couldn't have any business there or they wouldn't have come at +night. And they called the woman in the boat 'Belle,' or it might have +been 'Bella.'" + +"And that man in the boat was the same one who came here and used the +telephone yesterday morning," said Migwan. "I couldn't help noticing his +foreign accent. He said, 'We are going to do it on the Centerville Road. +There is a river near.' What are they going to do on the Centerville +Road?" + +The garden work was neglected while the girls discussed the matter. "And +the man we saw coming out of the barn when we came home," said Sahwah, +"he probably had something to do with it, too." + +"And the man I saw in the garden in the middle of the night," said +Migwan. + +"If you _did_ see a man," said Nyoda, somewhat doubtfully. Migwan did +not insist upon her story. What was the use, when she had no proof, and +the thing had been so uncanny? + +They were all moved to real grief over the fact that the delightful Miss +Mortimer should have a hand in such a dark business--in fact, was +undoubtedly the famous Bella Venoti herself. "I can't believe it," said +Migwan, "she was so jolly and friendly, and was so charmed with Onoway +House." + +"I wonder why she wanted to go through it from attic to cellar," said +Sahwah, shrewdly. "Could she have had some purpose? _Migwan!_" she +cried, jumping up suddenly, "don't you remember that she said, 'How near +that tree is to the window'? Could she have been thinking that it would +be easy to climb in there? And when she asked how we ever moved about +with all that furniture up there, you said, 'We never come up here'! +Don't you see what we've done? We've given her a chance to look the +house over and find a place where people could hide if they wanted to, +and as much as told her that they would be safe up here because we never +came up." + +Consternation reigned at this speech of Sahwah's. The girls remembered +the incident only too well. "I'll never be able to trust anyone again," +said Migwan, near to tears, for she had conceived a great liking for the +young woman she had known as "Miss Mortimer." + +"Do you remember," pursued Sahwah, "how she took the pole of the raft +and found out how deep the water was all along, and then afterwards she +said to the man in the boat, 'I told you it was deep enough.' Everything +she did at our house was a sort of investigation." + +"But it was only by accident that she got to Onoway House in the first +place," said Gladys. "All she did was ask me to tell her where she could +get a team of horses to tow her to a garage. She didn't know I belonged +to Onoway House. It was I who brought her here, and she only stayed +because we asked her to. It doesn't look as if she had any serious +intentions of investigating the neighborhood. She said she was in a +hurry to go on." Migwan brightened visibly at this. She clutched eagerly +at any hope that Miss Mortimer might be innocent after all. + +"How do you know that that breakdown in the road was accidental?" asked +Nyoda. "And how can you be sure that she didn't know you came from +Onoway House? She may have been looking for a pretense to come here and +you played right into her hands by offering to tow her into the barn." +Migwan's hope flickered and went out. + +"And the man in the barn," said Sahwah, knowingly, "he might have come +to look the automobile over and become familiar with the way the barn +door opened, so he could get into the car and drive away in a hurry if +he wanted to get away." Taken all in all, there was only one conclusion +the girls could come to, and that was that there was something +suspicious going on in the neighborhood, and it looked very much as if +the Venoti gang were hiding explosives in the empty house and were +planning to bring something else; what it was they could not guess. At +all events, something must be done about it. Nyoda called up the police +in town and told briefly what they had seen and heard, and was told that +plain clothes men would be sent out to watch the empty house. When she +described the man who had called and used the telephone, the police +officer gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +"That description fits Venoti closely," he said. "He used to have a +mustache, but he could very easily have shaved it off. It's very +possible that it was he. He's done that trick before; asked to use +people's telephones as a means of getting into the house." + +The girls thrilled at the thought of having seen the famous anarchist so +close. "Hadn't we better tell the Landsdownes about it?" asked Migwan. +"They are in a better position to watch that house from their windows +than we are." + +"You're right," said Nyoda. "And we ought to tell the Smalleys, too, so +they will be on their guard and ready to help the police if it is +necessary." + +"I hate to go over there," said Migwan, "I don't like Mr. Smalley." + +"That has nothing to do with it," said Nyoda, firmly. "The fact that he +is fearfully stingy and grasping has no bearing on this case. He has a +right to know it if his property is in danger." And she proceeded +forthwith to the Red House. + +Mr. Smalley was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole affair as the +imagination of a houseful of women. "Saw a man running out of your barn, +did you?" he asked, showing some interest in this part of the tale. +"Well now, come to think of it," he said, "I saw someone sneaking around +ours too, last night. But I didn't think much of it. That's happened +before. It's usually chicken thieves. I keep a big dog in the barn and +they think twice about breaking in after they hear him bark, and you +haven't any chickens, that's why nothing was touched." It was a very +simple explanation of the presence of the man in the barn, but still it +did not satisfy Nyoda. She could not help connecting it in some way with +the occurrences in the vacant house. + +Mr. Landsdowne was very much interested and excited at the story when it +was told to him. "There's probably a whole lot more to it than we know," +he said, getting out his rifle and beginning to clean it. "There's more +going on in this country in the present state of affairs than most +people dream of. You have notified the police? That's good; I guess +there won't be many more secret doings in the empty house." + +As Nyoda and Migwan went home from the Landsdownes they passed a +telegraph pole in the road on which a man was working. Silhouetted +against the sky as he was they could see his actions clearly. He was +holding something to his ear which looked like a receiver, and with the +other hand he was writing something down in a little book. Migwan looked +at him curiously; then she started. "Nyoda," she said, in a whisper, +"that is the same man who used our telephone. That is Dante Venoti +himself." As if conscious that they were looking at him, the man on the +pole put down the pencil, and drawing his cap, which had a large visor, +down over his face, he bent his head so they could not get another look +at his features. "That's the man, all right," said Migwan. "What do you +suppose he is doing?" + +"It looks," said Nyoda, judicially, "as if he were tapping the wires for +messages that are expected to pass at this time. Possibly you did not +notice it, but I began to look at that man as soon as we stepped into +the road from Landsdowne's, and I saw him look at his watch and then +hastily put the receiver to his ear." + +"Oh, I hope the police from town will come soon," said Migwan, hopping +nervously up and down in the road. + +"Until they do come we had better keep a close watch on what goes on +around here," said Nyoda. Accordingly the Winnebagos formed themselves +into a complete spy system. Migwan and Gladys and Betty and Tom took +baskets and picked the raspberries that grew along the road as an excuse +for watching the road and the front of the house, while Nyoda and Sahwah +and Hinpoha took the raft and patrolled the river. As the girls in the +road watched, the man climbed down from the pole, walked leisurely past +them, went up the path to the empty house and seated himself calmly on +the front steps, fanning himself with his hat, apparently an innocent +line man taking a rest from the hot sun at the top of his pole. + +"He's afraid to go in with us watching him," whispered Migwan. Just then +a large automobile whirled by, stirring up clouds of dust, which +temporarily blinded the girls. When they looked again toward the house +the "line man" had vanished from the steps. "He's gone inside!" said +Migwan, when they saw without a doubt that he was nowhere in sight +outdoors. + +Meanwhile the girls on the raft, who had been keeping a sharp lookout +down-stream with a pair of opera glasses, saw something approaching in +the distance which arrested their attention. For a long time they could +not make out what it was--it looked like a shapeless black mass. Then as +they drew nearer they saw what was coming, and an exclamation of +surprise burst from each one. It was a structure like a portable garage +on a raft, towed by a launch. As it drew nearer still they could make +out with the opera glasses that the person at the wheel was a woman, and +that woman was Bella Venoti. + +The hasty arrival of an automobile full of armed men who jumped out in +front of the "vacant" house frightened the girls in the road nearly out +of their wits, until they realized that these were the plain clothes men +from town. After sizing up the house from the outside the men went up +the path to the porch. The girls were watching them with a fascinated +gaze, and no one saw the second automobile that was coming up the road +far in the distance. One of the plain clothes men, who seemed to be the +leader of the group, rapped sharply on the door of the house. There was +no answer. He rapped again. This time the door was flung wide open from +the inside. The girls could see that the man in the doorway was Dante +Venoti. The officer of the law stepped forward. "Your little game is up, +Dante Venoti," he said, quietly, "and you are under arrest." + +Dante Venoti looked at him in open-mouthed astonishment. "Vatevaire do +you mean?" he gasped. "I am under arrest? Has ze law stop ze production? +Chambers, Chambers," he called over his shoulder, "come here queek. Ze +police has stop' ze production!" + +A tall, lanky, decidedly American looking individual appeared in the +doorway behind him. "What the deuce!" he exclaimed, at the sight of all +the men on the porch. At this moment the second automobile drove up, +followed by a third and a fourth. A large number of men and women +dismounted and ran up the path to the house. + +"Caruthers! Simpson! Jimmy!" shouted Venoti, excitedly to the latest +arrivals, "ze police has stop ze production!" + +"What do you know about it!" exclaimed someone in the crowd of +newcomers, evidently one of those addressed. "Where's Belle?" + +"She is bringing zeze caboose! Up ze rivaire!" cried the black haired +man, wringing his hands in distress. + +The plain clothes men looked over the band of people that stood around +him. There was nothing about them to indicate their desperate character. +Instead of being Italians as they had expected, they seemed to be mostly +Americans. The leader of the policemen suddenly looked hard at Venoti. +"Say," he said, "you look like a Dago, but you don't talk like one. Who +are you, anyway?" + +"I am Felix Larue," said the black haired man, "I am ze director of ze +Great Western Film Company, and zeze are all my actors. We have rent zis +house and farm for ze production of ze war play 'Ze Honor of a Soldier.' +Last night we bring some of ze properties to ze house; zey are very +valuable, and Chambers and Bushbower here zey stay in ze house wiz zem." + +The plain clothes men looked at each other and started to grin. Migwan +and Gladys, who had joined the company on the porch, suddenly felt +unutterably foolish. "But what were you doing on top of the pole?" +faltered Migwan. + +Mr. Larue turned his eyes toward her. He recognized her as the girl who +had allowed him to use her telephone the day before, and favored her +with a polite bow. "Me," he said, "I play ze part of ze spy in ze +piece--ze villain. I tap ze wire and get ze message. I was practice for +ze part zis morning." He turned beseechingly to the policeman who had +questioned him. "Zen you will not stop ze production?" he asked. + +"Heavens, no," answered the policeman. "We were going to arrest you for +an anarchist, that's all." + +The company of actors were dissolving into hysterical laughter, in which +the plain clothes men joined sheepishly. Just then a young woman came +around the house from the back, followed at a short distance by Nyoda, +Sahwah and Hinpoha. Seeing the crowd in front she stopped in surprise. +Larue went to the edge of the porch and called to her reassuringly. +"Come on, Belle," he called, gaily. When she was up on the porch he took +her by the hand and led her forward. "Permit me to introduce my fellow +conspirator," he said, in a theatrical manner and with a low bow. "Zis +is Belle Mortimer, ze leading lady of ze Great Western Film Company!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII.--MOVING PICTURES. + + +The Winnebagos looked at each other speechlessly. Belle Mortimer, the +famous motion picture actress, whom they had seen on the screen dozens +of times, and for whom Migwan had long entertained a secret and +devouring adoration! Not Bella Venoti at all! "Did you ever?" gasped +Sahwah. + +"No, I never," answered the Winnebagos, in chorus. + +Miss Mortimer recognized her hostesses of the day before and greeted +them warmly. "My kind friends from Onoway House," she called them. The +Winnebagos were embarrassed to death to have to explain how they had +spied on the vacant house and thought the famous Venoti gang was at +work, and were themselves responsible for the presence of the policemen. + +"I never _heard_ of anything so funny," she said, laughing until the +tears came. "I _never_ heard of anything so funny!" The plain clothes +men departed in their automobile, disappointed at not having made the +grand capture they had expected to. "Would you like to stay with us for +the day and watch us work?" asked Miss Mortimer. + +"Oh, could we?" breathed Migwan. She was in the seventh heaven at the +thought of being with Belle Mortimer so long. Then followed a day of +delirious delight. To begin with, the Winnebagos were introduced to the +whole company, many of whose names were familiar to them. Felix Larue, +having gotten over the fright he had received when he thought the piece +was going to be suppressed by the police for some unaccountable reason, +was all smiles and amiability, and explained anything the girls wanted +to know about. The piece was a very exciting one, full of thrilling +incidents and danger, and the girls were held spellbound at the physical +feats which some of those actors performed. The house on the raft was +explained as the play progressed. It was filled with soldiers and towed +up the river, to all appearances merely a garage being moved by its +owner. But when a dispatch bearer of the enemy, whose family lived in +the house, stopped to see them while he was carrying an important +message, the soldiers rushed out from the garage, sprang ashore, seized +the man along with the message and carried him away in the launch, which +had been cut away from the raft while the capture was being made. Migwan +thought of the tame little plots she had written the winter before and +was filled with envy at the creator of this stirring play. + +It took a whole week to make the film of "The Honor of a Soldier" and in +that time the girls saw a great deal of Miss Mortimer. And one blessed +night she stayed at Onoway House with them, instead of motoring back to +the city with the rest of the company. Just as Migwan was dying of +admiration for her, so she was attracted by this dreamy-eyed girl with +the lofty brow. In a confidential moment Migwan confessed that she had +written several motion picture plays the winter before, all of which had +been rejected. "Do you mind if I see them?" asked Miss Mortimer. Much +embarrassed, Migwan produced the manuscripts, written in the form +outlined in the book she had bought. Miss Mortimer read them over +carefully, while Migwan awaited her verdict with a beating heart. + +"Well?" she asked, when Miss Mortimer had finished reading them. + +"Who told you to put them in this form?" asked Miss Mortimer. + +"I learned it from a book," answered Migwan. "What do you think of +them?" she asked, impatient for Miss Mortimer's opinion. + +"The idea in one of them is good, very good," said Miss Mortimer. "This +one called 'Jerry's Sister.' But you have really spoiled it in the +development. It takes a person familiar with the production of a film to +direct the movements of the actors intelligently. If Mr. Larue, for +example, had developed that piece it would be a very good one. Would you +be willing to sell just the idea, if Mr. Larue thinks he can use it?" + +Migwan had never thought of this before. "Why, yes," she said, "I +suppose I would. It's certainly no good to me as it is." + +"Let me take it to Mr. Larue," said Miss Mortimer. "I'm sure he will see +the possibilities in it just as I have." Migwan was in a transport of +delight to think that her idea at least had found favor with Miss +Mortimer. Miss Mortimer was as good as her word and showed the play to +Mr. Larue and he agreed with her that it could be developed into a +side-splitting farce comedy. Migwan was more intoxicated with that first +sale of the labors of her pen than she was at any future successes, +however great. Deeply inspired by this recognition of her talent, she +evolved an exciting plot from the incidents which had just occurred, +namely, the mistaking of the moving picture company for the Venoti gang. +She kept it merely in plot form, not trying to develop it, and Mr. Larue +accepted this one also. After this second success, even though the price +she received for the two plots was not large, the future stretched out +before Migwan like a brilliant rainbow, with a pot of gold under each +end. + +Miss Mortimer soon discovered that the Winnebagos were a group of Camp +Fire Girls, and she immediately had an idea. When "The Honor of a +Soldier" was finished Mr. Larue was going to produce a piece which +called for a larger number of people than the company contained, among +them a group of Camp Fire Girls. He intended hiring a number of "supers" +for this play. "Why not hire the Winnebagos?" said Miss Mortimer. And so +it was arranged. Medmangi and Nakwisi and Chapa, the other three +Winnebagos, were notified to join the ranks, and excitement ran high. To +be in a real moving picture! It is true that they had nothing special to +do, just walk through the scene in one place and sit on the ground in a +circle in another, but there was not a single girl who did not hope that +her conduct on that occasion would lead Mr. Larue into hiring her as a +permanent member of the company. + +Especially Sahwah. The active, strenuous life of a motion picture +actress attracted her more than anything just now. She longed to be in +the public eye and achieve fame by performing thrilling feats. She saw +herself in a thousand different positions of danger, always the heroine. +Now she was diving for a ring dropped into the water from the hand of a +princess; now she was trapped in a burning building; now she was riding +a wild horse. But always she was the idol of the company, and the idol +of the moving picture audiences, and the envy of all other actresses. +She would receive letters from people all over the country and her +picture would be in the papers and in the magazines, and her name would +be featured on the colored posters in front of the theatres. Managers +would quarrel over her and she would be offered a fabulous salary. All +this Sahwah saw in her mind's eye as the future which was waiting for +her, for since meeting Miss Mortimer she really meant to be a motion +picture actress when she was through school. She felt in her heart that +she could show people a few things when it came to feats of action. She +simply could not wait for the day when the Winnebagos were to be in the +picture. When the play was produced in the city theatres her friends +would recognize her, and Oh joy!--here her thoughts became too gay to +think. + +The play in question was staged, not on the Centerville road, but in one +of the city parks, where there were hills and formal gardens and an +artificial lake, which were necessary settings. The day arrived at last. +News had gone abroad that a motion picture play was to be staged in that +particular park and a curious crowd gathered to watch the proceedings. +Sahwah felt very splendid and important as she stood in the company of +the actors. She knew that the crowd did not know that she was just in +that one play as a filler-in; to them she was really and truly a member +of this wonderful company--a real moving picture actress. Gazing over the +crowd with an air of indifference, she suddenly saw one face that sent +the blood racing to her head. That was Marie Lanning, the girl whom +Sahwah had defeated so utterly in the basketball game the winter before, +and who had tried such underhand means to put her out of the game. +Sahwah felt that her triumph was complete. Marie was just the kind of +girl who would nearly die of envy to see her rival connected with +anything so conspicuous. + +The picture began; progressed; the time came for the march of the Camp +Fire Girls down the steep hill. Sahwah stood straight as a soldier; the +supreme moment had come. Now Mr. Larue would see that she stood out from +all the other girls in ability to act; that moment was to be the making +of her fortune. She glanced covertly at Marie Lanning. Marie had +recognized her and was staring at her with unbelieving, jealous eyes. +The march began. Sahwah held herself straighter still, if that were +possible, and began the descent. It was hard going because it was so +steep, but she did not let that spoil her upright carriage. She was just +in the middle of the line, which was being led by Nyoda, and could see +that the girls in front of her were getting out of step and breaking the +unity of the line in their efforts to preserve their balance. Not so +Sahwah. She saw Mr. Larue watching her and she knew he was comparing her +with the rest. Her fancy broke loose again and she had a premonition of +her future triumphs. The sight of the camera turned full on her gave her +a sense of elation beyond words. It almost intoxicated her. Halfway down +the hill Sahwah, with her head full of day-dreams, stepped on a loose +stone which turned under her foot, throwing her violently forward. She +fell against Hinpoha, who was in front of her. Hinpoha, utterly +unprepared for this impetus from the rear, lost her balance completely +and crashed into Gladys. Gladys was thrown against Nyoda, and the whole +four of them went down the hill head over heels for all the world like a +row of dominoes. + +Down at the bottom of the hill stood the hero and heroine of the piece, +namely, Miss Mortimer and Chambers, the leading man, and as the +landslide descended it engulfed them and the next moment there was a +heap of players on the ground in a tangled mass. It took some minutes to +extricate them, so mixed up were they. Mr. Larue hastened to the spot +with an exclamation of very excusable impatience. Several dozen feet of +perfectly good film had been spoiled and valuable time wasted. The +players got to their feet again unhurt, and the watching crowd shouted +with laughter. Sahwah was ready to die of chagrin and mortification. She +had spoiled any chances she had ever had of making a favorable +impression on Mr. Larue; but this was the least part of it. There in the +crowd was Marie Lanning laughing herself sick at this fiasco of Sahwah's +playing. Good-natured Mr. Chambers was trying to soothe the +embarrassment of the Winnebagos and make them laugh by declaring he had +lost his breath when he was knocked over and when he got it back he +found it wasn't his, but Sahwah refused to be comforted. She had +disgraced herself in the public eye. Breaking away from the group she +ran through the crowd with averted face, in spite of calls to come back, +and kept on running until she had reached the edge of the park and the +street car line. Boarding a car, she went back to Onoway House, wishing +miserably that she had never been born, or had died the winter before in +the coasting accident. Her ambition to be a motion picture actress died +a violent death right then and there. So the march of the Camp Fire +Girls had to be done over again without Sahwah, and was consummated this +time without accident. + +When Sahwah reached Onoway House she wished with all her heart that she +hadn't come back there. She had done it mechanically, not knowing where +else to go. At the time her only thought had been to get away from the +crowd and from Mr. Larue; now she hated to face the Winnebagos. She was +glad that no one was at home, for Mrs. Gardiner had taken Betty and Tom +and Ophelia to see the play acted. As she went around the back of the +house she came face to face with Mr. Smalley, who was just going up on +the back porch. He seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see +him, so Sahwah thought, but he was friendly enough and asked if the +Gardiners were at home. When Sahwah said no, he said, "Then possibly +they wouldn't mind if you gave me what I wanted. I came over to see if +they would lend me their wheel hoe, as mine is broken and will have to +be sent away to be fixed, and I have a big job of hoeing that ought to +be done to-day." Sahwah knew that Migwan would not refuse to do a +neighborly kindness like that as long as they were not using the tool +themselves, and willingly lent it to him. + +She was still in great distress of mind over the ridiculous incident of +the morning and did not want to see the other girls when they came home. +So taking a pillow and a book, she wandered down the river path to a +quiet shady spot among the willows and spent the afternoon in solitude. +When the other girls returned home Sahwah was nowhere to be found. This +did not greatly surprise them, however, for they were used to her +impetuous nature and knew she was hiding somewhere. Hinpoha and Gladys +were up-stairs removing the dust of the road from their faces and hands +when they heard a stealthy footstep overhead. "She's hiding in the +attic!" said Hinpoha. + +"She'll melt up there," said Gladys, "it must be like an oven. Let's +coax her down and don't any of us say a word about the play. She must +feel terrible about it." + +So it was agreed among the girls that no mention of Sahwah's mishap +should be made, and Hinpoha went to the foot of the attic stairs and +called up: "Come on down, Sahwah, we're all going out on the river." +There was no answer. Hinpoha called again: "Please come, Sahwah, we need +you to steer the raft." Still no answer. Hinpoha went up softly. She +thought she could persuade Sahwah to come down if none of the others +were around. But when she reached the top of the stairs there was no +sign of Sahwah anywhere. The place was stifling, and Hinpoha gasped for +breath. Sahwah must be hiding among the old furniture. Hinpoha moved +things about, raising clouds of dust that nearly choked her, and calling +to Sahwah. No answer came, and she did not find Sahwah hidden among any +of the things. Gladys came up to see what was going on, followed by +Migwan. + +"She doesn't seem to be up here after all," said Hinpoha, pausing to +take breath. "It's funny; I certainly thought I heard someone up here." + +"Don't you remember the time I thought I heard someone up here in the +night and you said it was the noise made by rats or mice?" asked Migwan. +"It was probably that same thing again." + +"It must have been," said Hinpoha. + +"Maybe it was the ghost of that Mrs. Waterhouse, who died before she had +her attic cleaned, and comes back to move the furniture," said Gladys. +In spite of its being daylight an unearthly thrill went through the +veins of the girls. The whole thing was so mysterious and uncanny. + +Migwan was looking around the attic. "Who broke that window?" she asked, +suddenly. The side window, the one near the Balm of Gilead tree, was +shattered and lay in pieces on the floor. + +"It wasn't broken the day we brought Miss Mortimer up," said Gladys. "It +must have happened since then." + +"There must have been someone up here to-day," said Migwan. "Do you +suppose--" here she stopped. + +"Suppose what?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Do you suppose," continued Migwan, "that Sahwah was up here and broke +it accidentally and is afraid to show herself on account of it?" + +"Maybe," said Hinpoha, "but Sahwah's not the one to try to cover up +anything like that. She'd offer to pay for the damage and it wouldn't +worry her five minutes." + +"It may have been broken the night of the storm," said Nyoda, who had +arrived on the scene. "If I remember rightly, we opened it when Miss +Mortimer was up here, and as it is only held up by a nail and a rope +hanging down from the ceiling, it could easily have been torn loose in +such a wind as that and slammed down against the casement and broken. We +were so excited trying to cover up the plants that we did not hear the +crash, if indeed, we could have heard it in that thunder at all." + +This seemed such a plausible explanation that the girls accepted it +without question and dismissed the matter from their minds. Descending +from the hot attic they went out on the river on the raft. As it drew +near supper time they feared that Sahwah would stay away and miss her +supper, and they knew that she would have to show herself sometime, so +they determined to have it over with so Sahwah could eat her supper in +peace. On the path along the river they found her handkerchief and knew +that she was somewhere near the water. They called and called, but she +did not answer. "I know what will bring her from her hiding-place," said +Nyoda. She unfolded her plan and the girls agreed. They poled the raft +back to the landing-place and got on shore. Then they set Ophelia on the +raft all alone and sent it down-stream, telling her to scream at the top +of her voice as if she were frightened. Ophelia obeyed and set up such a +series of ear-splitting shrieks as she floated down the river that it +was hard to believe that she was not in mortal terror. The scheme worked +admirably. Sahwah heard the screams and peered through the bushes to see +what was happening. She saw Ophelia alone on the raft and no one else in +sight, and thought, of course, that she was afraid and ran out to +reassure her. She took hold of the tow line and pulled the raft back to +the landing-place. + +"Whatever made you so scared?" she asked, as Ophelia stepped on terra +firma. + +"Pooh, I wasn't scared at all," said Ophelia, grandly. "They told me to +scream so you'd come out." So Sahwah knew the trick that had been +practised on her, but instead of being pleased to think that the girls +wanted her with them so badly she was more irritated than before. There +was no further use of hiding; she had to go into the house now and eat +her supper with the rest. The meal was not such a trial for her as she +had anticipated, because no one mentioned the subject of moving +pictures, or acted as if anything had happened at all. After supper +Nyoda brought out a magazine showing pictures of the Rocky Mountains and +the girls gave this their strict attention. Nyoda read aloud the +descriptions that went with the pictures. In one place she read: "The +barren aspect of the hillside is due to a landslide which swept +everything before it." + +At this Migwan's thoughts went back to the scene on the hillside that +day, when the human landslide was in progress. Now Migwan, in spite of +her serious appearance, had a sense of humor which at times got the +upper hand of her altogether. The memory of those figures rolling down +the hill was too much for her and she dissolved abruptly into hysterical +laughter. She vainly tried to control it and buried her face in her +handkerchief, but it was no use. The harder she tried to stop laughing +the harder she laughed. "Oh," she gasped, "I never saw anything so funny +as when you rolled against Miss Mortimer and Mr. Chambers and knocked +them off their feet." + +After Migwan's hysterical outburst the rest could not restrain their +laughter either, and Sahwah became the butt of all the humorous remarks +that had been accumulating in the minds of the rest. If it had been +anyone else but Migwan who had started them off, Sahwah would possibly +have forgiven that one, but since selling her two plots to Mr. Larue +Migwan had been holding her head pretty high. That Migwan had succeeded +in her end of the motion picture business when she had failed in hers +galled Sahwah to death and she fancied that Migwan was trying to "rub it +in." + +"I hope everything I do will cause you as much pleasure," she said +stiffly. "I suppose nothing could make you happier than to see me do +something ridiculous every day." Sahwah had slipped off her balance +wheel altogether. + +Migwan sobered up when she heard Sahwah's injured tone. She never +dreamed Sahwah had taken the occurrence so much to heart. It was not her +usual way. "Please don't be angry, Sahwah," she said, contritely. "I +just couldn't help laughing. You know how light headed I am." + +But Sahwah would have none of her apology. "I'll leave you folks to have +as much fun over it as you please," she said coldly, rising and going +up-stairs. + +Migwan was near to tears and would have gone after her, but Nyoda +restrained her. "Let her alone," she advised, "and she'll come out of it +all the sooner." + +Sahwah was herself again in the morning as far as the others were +concerned, but she still treated Migwan somewhat coldly and it was +evident that she had not forgiven her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII.--A CANNING EPISODE. + + +Three times every week Migwan had been making the trip to town with a +machine-load of vegetables, which was disposed of to an ever growing +list of customers. Thanks to the early start the garden had been given +by Mr. Mitchell, and the constant care it received at the hands of +Migwan and her willing helpers, Migwan always managed to bring out her +produce a day or so in advance of most of the other growers in the +neighborhood and so could command a better price at first than she could +have if she had arrived on the scene at flood tide. After every trip +there was a neat little sum to put in the old cocoa can which Migwan +used as a bank until there was enough accumulated to make a real bank +deposit. The asparagus had passed beyond its vegetable days and had +grown up in tall feathery shoots that made a pretty sight as they stood +in a long row against the fence. The new strawberry plants had taken +root and were growing vigorously; the cucumbers were thriving like fat +babies. The squashes and melons were running a race, as Sahwah said, to +see which could hold up the most fruit on their vines; the corn-stalks +stood straight and tall, holding in their arms their firstborn, silky +tassel-capped children, like proud young fathers. + +But it was the tomato bed in which Migwan's dearest hopes were bound up. +The frames sagged with exhaustion at the task of holding up the weight +of crimsoning globes that hung on the vines. Migwan tended this bed as a +mother broods over a favorite child, fingering over the leaves for +loathsome tomato worms, spraying the plants to keep away diseases, and +cultivating the ground around the roots. All suckers were ruthlessly +snipped off as soon as they grew, so that the entire strength of the +plants could go into the ripening of tomatoes. For it was on that tomato +bed that Migwan's fortune depended. While the proceeds from the +remainder of the garden were gratifying, they were not great enough to +make up the sum which Migwan needed to go to college, as the vegetables +were not raised in large enough quantities. Migwan carefully estimated +the amount she would realize from the sale of the tomatoes and found +that it would not be large enough, and decided she could make more out +of them by canning them. At Nyoda's advice the Winnebagos formed +themselves into a Canning Club, which would give them the right to use +the 4H label, which stood for Head, Hand, Health and Heart, and was +recognized by dealers in various places. According to the methods of the +Canning Club they canned the tomatoes in tin cans, with tops neatly +soldered on. After an interview with various hotels and restaurants in +the city Nyoda succeeded in establishing a market for Migwan's goods, +and the canning went on in earnest. The whole family were pressed into +service, and for days they did nothing but peel from morning until +night. + +"I'm getting to be such an expert peeler," said Hinpoha, "that I +automatically reach out in my sleep and start to peel Migwan." + +Nyoda made up a gay little song about the peeling. To the tune of +"Comrades, comrades, ever since we were boys," she sang, "Peeling, +peeling, ever since 6 A.M." + +Several places had asked for homemade ketchup and Migwan prepared to +supply the demand. Never did a prize housekeeper, making ketchup for a +county fair, take such pains as Migwan did with hers. She took care to +use only the best spices and the best vinegar; she put in a few peach +leaves from the tree to give it a finer flavor; she stood beside the big +iron preserving kettle and stirred the mixture all the while it was +boiling to be sure that it would not settle and burn. Everyone in the +house had to taste it to be sure it found favor with a number of +critical palates. "Wouldn't you like to put a few bay leaves into it?" +asked her mother. "There are some in the glass jar in the pantry. They +are all crumbled and broken up fine, but they are still good." Migwan +put a spoonful of the broken leaves into the ketchup; then she put +another. + +"Oh, I never was so tired," she sighed, when at last it had boiled long +enough and she shoved it back. + +"Let's all go out on the river," proposed Nyoda, "and forget our toil +for awhile." Sahwah was the last out of the kitchen, having stopped to +drink a glass of water, and while she was drinking her eye roved over +the table and caught sight of half a dozen cloves that had spilled out +of a box. Gathering them up in her hand she dropped them into the +ketchup. Just then Migwan came back for something and the two went out +together. + +"And now for the bottling," said Migwan, when the supper dishes were put +away, and she set several dozen shining glass bottles on the table. +After she had been dipping up the ketchup for awhile she paused in her +work to sit down for a few moments and count up her expected profits. +"Let's see," she said, "forty bottles at fifteen cents a bottle is six +dollars. That isn't so bad for one day's work. But I hope I don't have +many days of such work," she added. "My back is about broken with +stirring." About thirty of the bottles were filled and sealed when she +took this little breathing spell. + +"Let me have a taste," said Hinpoha, eyeing the brown mixture longingly. + +"Help yourself," said Migwan. Hinpoha took a spoonful. Her face drew up +into the most frightful puckers. Running to the sink she took a hasty +drink of water. "What's the matter?" said Migwan, viewing her in alarm. +"Did you choke on it?" + +"Taste it!" cried Hinpoha. "It's as bitter as gall." + +Migwan took a taste of the ketchup and looked fit to drop. "Whatever is +the matter with it?" she gasped. One after another the girls tasted it +and voiced their mystification. "It couldn't have spoiled in that short +time," said Migwan. + +Then she suddenly remembered having seen Sahwah drop something into the +kettle as it stood on the back of the stove. Could it be possible that +Sahwah was seeking revenge for having been made fun of? "Sahwah," she +gasped, unbelievingly, "did you put anything into the ketchup that made +it bitter?" + +"I did not," said Sahwah, the indignant color flaming into her face. She +had already forgotten the incident of the cloves. She saw Nyoda and the +other girls look at her in surprise at Migwan's words. Her temper rose +to the boiling point. "I know what you're thinking," she said, fiercely. +"You think I did something to the ketchup to get even with Migwan, but I +didn't, so there. I don't know any more about it than you do." + +"I take it all back," said Migwan, alarmed at the tempest she had set +astir, and bursting into tears buried her head on her arms on the +kitchen table. All that work gone for nothing! + +Sahwah ran from the room in a fearful passion. Nyoda tried to comfort +Migwan. "It's a lucky thing we found it before the stuff was sold," she +said, "or your trade would have been ruined." She and the other girls +threw the ketchup out and washed the bottles. + +"Whatever could have happened to it?" said Gladys, wonderingly. + +Migwan lifted her face. "I want to tell you something, Nyoda," she said. +"I suppose you wonder why I asked Sahwah if she had put anything in. +Well, when I went back into the kitchen after my hat when we were going +out on the river, Sahwah was there, and she was dropping something into +the kettle." + +"You don't mean it?" said Nyoda, incredulously. Nyoda understood +Sahwah's blind impulses of passion, and she could not help noticing for +the last few days that Sahwah was still nursing her wrath at Migwan for +laughing at her, and she wondered if she could have lost control of +herself for an instant and spoiled the ketchup. + +Meanwhile Sahwah, up-stairs, had cooled down almost as rapidly as she +had flared up, and began to think that she had been a little hasty in +her outburst. She, therefore, descended the back stairs with the idea of +making peace with the family and helping to wash the bottles. But +halfway down the stairs she happened to hear Migwan's remark and Nyoda's +answer, and the long silence which followed it. Immediately her fury +mounted again to think that they suspected her of doing such an +underhand trick. "They don't trust me!" she cried, over and over again +to herself. "They don't believe what I said; they think I did it and +told a lie about it." All night she tossed and nursed her sense of +injury and by morning her mind was made up. She would leave this place +where everyone was against her, and where even Nyoda mistrusted her. +That was the most unkind cut of all. + +When she did not appear at the breakfast table the rest began to wonder. +Betty reported that Sahwah had not been in bed when she woke up, which +was late, and she thought she had risen and dressed and gone down-stairs +without disturbing her. There was no sign of her in the garden or on the +river. Both the rowboat and the raft were at the landing-place. There +was an uncomfortable restraint at the breakfast table. Each one was +thinking of something and did not want the others to see it. That thing +was that Sahwah had a guilty conscience and was afraid to face the +girls. Migwan's eyes filled with tears when she thought how her dear +friend had injured her. A blow delivered by the hand of a friend is so +much worse than one from an enemy. The table was always set the night +before and the plates turned down. + +"What's this sticking out under Sahwah's plate?" asked Gladys. It was a +note which she opened and read and then sat down heavily in her chair. +The rest crowded around to see. This was what they read: "As long as you +don't trust me and think I do underhand things you will probably be glad +to get rid of me altogether. Don't look for me, for I will never come +back. You may give my place in the Winnebagos to someone else." It was +signed "Sarah Ann Brewster," and not the familiar "Sahwah." + +"Sahwah's run away!" gasped Migwan in distress, and the girls all ran up +to her room. Her clothes were gone from their hooks and her suit-case +was gone from under the bed. The girls faced each other in +consternation. + +"Do you think she had anything to do with the ketchup, after all?" asked +Gladys, thoughtfully. "It was so unlike her to do anything of that +kind." + +"Then why did she run away?" asked Migwan, perplexed. + +The morning passed miserably. They missed Sahwah at every turn. Several +times the girls forgot themselves and sang out "O Sahwah!" Nyoda did not +doubt for a moment that Sahwah had gone to her own home, but she thought +it best not to go after her immediately. Sahwah's hot temper must cool +before she would come to herself. Nyoda was puzzled at her conduct. If +she had nothing to be ashamed of why had she run away? That was the +question which kept coming up in her mind. Nothing went right in the +house or the garden that day. Everyone was out of sorts. Migwan +absent-mindedly pulled up a whole row of choice plants instead of weeds; +Gladys ran the automobile into a tree and bent up the fender; Hinpoha +slammed the door on her finger nail; Nyoda burnt her hand. Ophelia was +just dressed for the afternoon in a clean, starched white dress when she +fell into the river and had to be dressed over again from head to foot. +The whole household was too cross for words. The departure of Sahwah was +the first rupture that had ever occurred in the closely linked ranks of +the Winnebagos and they were all broken up over it. + +When Mrs. Gardiner was cooking beef for supper she told Migwan to get +her some bay leaf to flavor it with. Migwan brought out the glass jar of +crushed leaves. "That's not the bay leaf," said her mother, and went to +look for it herself. "Here it is," she said, bringing another glass jar +down from a higher shelf. + +"Then what's this?" asked Migwan, indicating the first jar. + +"I haven't the slightest idea," said Mrs. Gardiner. "It was in the +pantry when we came." + +"But this was what I put into the ketchup," said Migwan. Hastily +unscrewing the top she shook out some of the contents and tasted them. +Her mouth contracted into a fearful pucker. Never in her life had she +tasted anything so bitter. + +"I did it myself," she said, in a dazed tone. "I spoiled the ketchup +myself." At her shout the girls came together in the kitchen to hear the +story of the mistaken ingredient. + +"What can that be?" they all asked. Nobody knew. It was some dried herb +that had been left by the former mistress of the house, and a powerful +one. The girls looked at each other blankly. + +"And I accused Sahwah of doing it," said Migwan, remorsefully. "No +wonder she flared up and left us, I don't blame her a bit. I wouldn't +thank anyone for accusing me wrongfully of anything like that." + +"We'll have to go after her this very evening," said Gladys, "and bring +her back." + +"If she'll come," said Hinpoha, knowing Sahwah's proud spirit. + +"Oh, I'm quite willing to grovel in the dust at her feet," said Migwan. + +Gladys drove them all into town with her and they sped to the Brewster +house. It was all dark and silent. Sahwah was evidently not there. They +tried the neighbors. They all denied that she had been near the house. +They finally came to this conclusion themselves, for in the light of the +street lamp just in front of the house they could see that the porch was +covered with a month's accumulation of yellow dust which bore no +footmarks but their own. + +Here was a new problem. They had come expecting to offer profuse +apologies to Sahwah and carry her back with them to Onoway House +rejoicing, and it was a shock to find her gone. The thought of letting +her go on believing that they mistrusted her was intolerable, but how +were they going to clear matters up? Sahwah had no relatives in town, +and, of course, they did not know all her friends, so it would be hard +to find her. That is, if she had ever reached town at all. Something +might have happened to her on the way--Nyoda and Gladys sought each +other's eyes and each thought of what had happened to them on the way to +Bates Villa. + +With heavy hearts they rode back to Onoway House. The days went by +cheerlessly. A week passed since Sahwah had run away, but no word came +from her. Nyoda interviewed the conductors on the interurban car line to +find out if Sahwah had taken the car into the city. No one remembered a +girl of that description on the day mentioned. Sahwah had only one hat--a +conspicuous red one--and she would not fail to attract attention. +Thoroughly alarmed, Nyoda decided on a course of action. She called up +the various newspapers in town and asked them to print a notice to the +effect that Sahwah had disappeared. If Sahwah were in town she would see +it and knowing that they were worried about her would let them know +where she was. The notice came out in the papers, and a day or two +passed, but there was no word from Sahwah. Nyoda and Gladys made a +hurried trip to town to put the police on the track. Just before they +got to the city limits they had a blowout and were delayed some time +before they could go on. As they waited in the road another machine came +along and the driver stopped and offered assistance. Nyoda recognized a +friend of hers in the machine, a Miss Barnes, teacher in a local +gymnasium. + +"Hello, Miss Kent," she called, cheerfully, "I haven't seen you for an +age. Where have you been keeping yourself?" + +"Where have you been keeping yourself?" returned Nyoda. + +"I, Oh, I'm working this summer," replied Miss Barnes. "I'm just in town +on business. I'm helping to conduct a girls' summer camp on the lake +shore. I thought possibly you would bring your Camp Fire group out there +this summer. One of your girls is out there now." + +"Which one?" asked Nyoda, thinking of Chapa and Nakwisi, whom she had +heard talking about going. + +"One by the name of Brewster," said Miss Barnes, "a regular mermaid in +the water. She has the girls out there standing open-mouthed at her +swimming and diving. Why, what's the matter?" she asked, as Nyoda gave a +sigh of relief that seemed to come from her boots. + +"Nothing," replied Nyoda, "only we've been scouring the town for that +very girl." + +"You have?" asked Miss Barnes, with interest. "Would you like to come +out and visit her?" + +"Could I?" asked Nyoda. + +"Certainly," said Miss Barnes, "come right out with me now. I'm going +back." + +And so Sahwah's mysterious disappearance was cleared up. When the +Winnebagos, lined up in the road, saw the automobile approaching, and +that Sahwah was in it, they welcomed her back into their midst with a +rousing Winnebago cheer that warmed her to the heart. All the clouds had +been rolled away by Nyoda's explanations and this was a triumphant +homecoming. A regular feast was spread for her, and as she ate she +related her adventures since leaving the house early that other morning. +Without forming any plan of where she was going she had walked up the +road in the opposite direction of the car line and then a farmer had +come along on a wagon and given her a lift. He had taken her all the way +to the other car line, three miles below Onoway House. She had come into +the city by this route. She did not want to go home for fear they would +come after her, so she went to the Young Women's Christian Association. +As she sat in the rest room wondering what she should do next she heard +two girls talking about registering for camp. This seemed to her a +timely suggestion, and she followed them to the registration desk and +registered for two weeks. She went out that same day. When she arrived +there she did such feats in the water that they asked her if she would +not stay all summer and help teach the girls to swim. She said she +would, and so saw a very easy way out of her difficulty. The reason they +had not heard from her when they put the notice in the papers was +because they did not get the city papers in camp. + +Sahwah surveyed the faces around the table with a beaming countenance. +After all, she could only be entirely happy with the Winnebagos. Migwan +and she were once more on the best of terms. + +"But tell us," said Hinpoha, now that this was safe ground to tread +upon, "what it was you put into the ketchup." + +"Oh," said Sahwah, who now remembered all about it, "those were a couple +of cloves that were lying on the table." + +And so the last bit of mystery was cleared up. + + + + +CHAPTER IX.--OPHELIA DANCES THE SUN DANCE. + + +Among the other books at Onoway House there was a Manual of the +Woodcraft Indians which belonged to Sahwah, and which she was very fond +of quoting and reading to the other girls when they were inclined to +hang back at some of the expeditions she proposed. One night she read +aloud the chapter about "dancing the sun dance," that is, becoming +sunburned from head to foot without blistering. On a day not long after +this Ophelia might have been seen standing beside the river clad only in +a thin, white slip. Stepping from the bank, she immersed herself in the +water, then stood in the sun, holding out her arms and turning up her +face to its glare. When the blazing August sunlight began to feel +uncomfortably warm on her body she plunged into the cooling flood and +then came up to stand on the bank again. She did this straight through +for two hours, and then began to investigate the result. Her arms were a +beautiful brilliant red, and the length of leg that extended out from +the slip was the same shade. She felt wonderfully pleased, and dipped in +the water again and again to cool off and then returned to the burning +process. When the dinner bell rang she returned to the house, eager to +show her achievement. But she did not feel so enthusiastic now as when +she first beheld her scarlet appearance. Something was wrong. It seemed +as if she were on fire from head to foot. She looked at her arms. They +were no longer such a pretty red; they had swelled up in large, white +blisters. So had her legs. She could hardly see out of her eyes. + +"Ophelia!" gasped the girls, when she came into the house. "What has +happened? Have you been scalded?" + +"I've been doing your old Sun Dance," said Ophelia, painfully. + +Never in all their lives had they seen such a case of sunburn. Every +inch of her body was covered with blisters as big as a hand. The sun had +burned right through the flimsy garment she wore. There was a pattern +around her neck where the embroidery had left its trace. She screamed +every time they tried to touch her. Nyoda worked quickly and deftly and +the luckless sun dancer was wrapped from head to foot in soft linen +bandages until she looked like a mummy. + +Sahwah sought Nyoda in tribulation. "Was it my fault," she asked, "for +reading her that book? She never would have thought of it if I hadn't +given her the idea." + +"No," answered Nyoda, "it wasn't your fault. It said emphatically in the +book that the coat of tan should be acquired gradually. You couldn't +foresee that she would stand in the sun that way. So don't worry about +it any longer." + +"Still, I feel in a measure responsible," said Sahwah, "and I ought to +be the one to take care of her. Let me sleep in the room with her +to-night and get up if she wants anything." Sahwah's desire to help was +so sincere that she insisted upon being allowed to do it, and took upon +herself all the care of the sunburned Ophelia, which was no small job, +for the pain from the blisters made her frightfully cross. + +Nyoda was surprised to see Sahwah keeping at it with such persistent +good nature and apparent success, for as a rule she was not a good one +to take care of the sick; she was in too much of a hurry. She would +generally spill the water when she was trying to give a drink to her +patient, or fall over the rug, or drop dishes; and the effect she +produced was irritating rather than soothing. But in this case she +seemed to be making a desperate effort to do things correctly so she +would be allowed to continue, and fetched and carried all the afternoon +in obedience to Ophelia's whims. She read her stories to while away the +painful hours and when supper time came made her a wonderful egg salad +in the form of a water lily, and cut sandwiches into odd shapes to +beguile her into eating them. When evening came and Ophelia was restless +and could not go to sleep she sang to her in her clear, high voice, +songs of camp and firelight. One by one the Winnebagos drifted in and +joined their voices to hers in a beautifully blended chorus. + +"Gee, that's what it must be like in heaven," sighed the child of the +streets, as she listened to them. The Winnebagos smiled tenderly and +sang on until she dropped off to sleep. + +Sahwah slept with one eye open listening for a call from Ophelia. She +heard her stirring restlessly in the night and went over and sat beside +her. "Can't you sleep?" she asked. + +"No," complained Ophelia. "Say, will you tell me that story again?" + +Sahwah began, "Once upon a time there was a little girl and she had a +fairy godmother----" + +"What's a fairy godmother?" interrupted Ophelia. + +"Oh," said Sahwah, "it's somebody who looks after you especially and is +very good to you and grants all your wishes, and always comes when +you're in trouble----" + +"Who's my fairy godmother?" demanded Ophelia. + +"I don't know," said Sahwah. + +"I bet I haven't got any!" said Ophelia, suspiciously. "I didn't have a +father and mother like the rest of the kids and I bet I haven't got any +fairy godmother either." + +"Oh, yes, you have," said Sahwah to soothe her, "you have one only you +haven't seen her yet. Wait and she'll appear." But Ophelia lay with her +face to the wall and said no more. "Would you like me to bring you a +drink?" asked Sahwah, a few minutes later. Ophelia replied with a nod +and Sahwah went down to the kitchen. There was no drinking water in +sight and Sahwah hesitated about going out to the well at that time of +the night. Then she remembered that a pail of well water had been taken +down cellar that evening to keep cool. Taking a light she descended the +cellar stairs. When she was nearly to the bottom she heard a subdued +crash, like a basket of something being thrown over, followed by a +series of small bumping sounds. She stood stock still, afraid to move +off the step. + +Then, summoning her voice, she cried, "Who is down there?" No answer +came from the darkness below. After that first crash there was not +another sound. Sahwah was not naturally timid, and her one explanation +for all night noises in a house was rats. Besides, she had started after +water for Ophelia, and she meant to get it. She went down stairs and +looked all around with her light. She soon found the thing which had +made the noise. It was a basket of potatoes which had fallen over and as +the potatoes rolled out on the cement floor they had made those odd +little after noises which had puzzled her. Satisfied that nobody was in +the house she took her pail of water and went up-stairs, glad that she +had not roused the house and brought out a laugh against herself. + +She gave Ophelia the drink, and being feverish she drank it eagerly and +murmured gratefully, "I guess you're my fairy godmother." As Sahwah +turned to go to bed Ophelia thrust out a bandaged hand and caught hold +of her gown. "Stay with me," she said, and Sahwah sat down again beside +the bed until Ophelia fell asleep. Sahwah felt pleased and elated at +being chosen by Ophelia as the one she wanted near her. It was not often +that a child singled Sahwah out from the group as an object of +affection; they usually went to Gladys or Hinpoha. So she responded +quickly to the advances made by Ophelia and thenceforth made a special +pet of her, taking her part on all occasions. + +Soon after Ophelia's experience with sunburn a rainy spell set in which +lasted a week. Every day they were greeted by grey skies and a steady +downpour, fine for the parched garden, but hard on amusements. They +played card games until they were weary of the sight of a card; they +played every other game they knew until it palled on them, and on the +fifth day of rain they surrounded Nyoda and clamored for something new +to do. Nyoda scratched her head thoughtfully and asked if they would +like to play Thieves' Market. + +"Play what?" asked Gladys. + +"Thieves' Market," said Nyoda. "You know in Mexico there is an +institution known as the Thieves' Market, where stolen goods are sold to +the public. We will not discuss the moral aspect of the business, but I +thought we could make a game out of it. Let's each get a hold of some +possession of each one of the others' without being seen and put a price +on it. The price will not be a money value, of course, but a stunt. The +owner of the article will have first chance at the stunt and if she +fails the thing will go to whoever can buy it. If anyone fails to get a +possession from each one of the rest to add to the collection she can't +play, and if she is seen by the owner while 'stealing' it she will have +to put it back. We'll hold the Thieves' Market to-night after supper in +the parlor and I'll be storekeeper." + +The Winnebagos, always on the lookout for something novel and +entertaining, seized on the idea with rapture. The rain was forgotten +that afternoon as they scurried around the house trying to seize upon +articles belonging to the others, and at the same time trying valiantly +to guard their own possessions. It was not hard to get Sahwah's things, +for she had a habit of leaving them lying all over the house. Her red +hat had fallen a victim the first thing; likewise her shoes and tennis +racket. It was harder to get anything away from Nyoda, for she seemed to +be Argus eyed; but providentially she was called to the telephone, and +while she was talking they made their raid. + +When opened, the Thieves' Market presented such a conglomeration of +articles that at first the girls could only stand and wonder how those +things had ever been taken away from them without their knowing it, for +many of them were possessions which were usually hidden from sight while +the owners fondly believed that their existence was unknown. Migwan gave +a cry of dismay when she beheld her "Autobiography," which she was +carefully keeping a secret from the rest, out in full view on the table. +"How did you ever find it?" she gasped. "It was folded up in my +clothes." + +But Migwan's embarrassment was nothing compared to Nyoda's when she +caught sight of a certain photograph. She blushed scarlet while the +girls teased her unmercifully. It was a picture of Sherry, the serenader +of the camp the summer before. Until they found the photograph the girls +did not know that Nyoda was corresponding with him. And the prices on +the various things were the funniest of all. The girls had come down +that evening dressed in their middies and bloomers for they had a +suspicion that there would be some acrobatic stunts taking place, and it +was well that they did. To redeem her hat Sahwah had to stand on her +head and to get her bedroom slippers Gladys had to jump through a hoop +from a chair. Hinpoha had to wrestle with Nyoda for the possession of +her paint box, and the price of Betty's shoes was to throw them over her +shoulder into a basket. At the first throw she knocked a vase off the +table, but luckily it did not break, and she was warned that another +accident would result in her going shoeless. Migwan tremblingly +approached the Autobiography to find out the price. It was "Read one +chapter aloud." "I won't do it," said Migwan, flatly. + +"Next customer," cried Nyoda, pounding with her hammer. "For the simple +price of reading aloud one chapter I will sell this complete +autobiography of a pious life, profusely illustrated by the author." +Sahwah hastened up to "buy" the book, but Migwan headed her off in a +hurry and read the first chapter with as good grace as she could, amid +the cheers and applause of the other customers. Sahwah made a grimace +when she had to polish the shoes of everyone present to get her shoe +brush back. + +Thus the various articles in the Thieves' Market were disposed of amid +much laughter and merry-making, until there remained but one article, a +cold chisel. Nyoda went through the usual formula, offering it for sale, +but no one came to claim it. She redoubled her pleas, but with the same +result. "For the third and last time I offer this great bargain in a +cold chisel for the simple price of jumping over three chairs in +succession," she said, with a flourish. Nobody appeared to be anxious to +redeem their property. "Whose is it?" she asked, mystified. + +It apparently belonged to no one. "It's yours, Gladys," said Sahwah, "I +stole it from you." + +"Mine?" asked Gladys, in surprise. "I don't own any chisel. Where did +you get it from?" + +"Out of the automobile," answered Sahwah. + +"But it doesn't belong there," said Gladys. "There's no chisel among the +tools. You're joking, you found it somewhere else." + +"No, really," said Sahwah, "I found it in the car this afternoon." + +"Mother," called Migwan, "were there any tools left in the barn by Mr. +Mitchell?" + +"Nothing but the garden tools," answered her mother. Tom also denied any +knowledge of the chisel. + +"Girls," said Nyoda, seriously, "there is something going on here that I +do not understand. First Migwan thought she heard footsteps in the +attic; then a ghost appeared to me in the tepee; one night we saw a man +running out of the barn, and later on that night Migwan claims to have +run into a man in the garden. Soon afterward Hinpoha was sure she heard +footsteps in the attic, and when we went up we found the window broken. +Just a few nights ago a basket of potatoes was mysteriously knocked over +in the cellar in the middle of the night, and now we find a chisel in +the automobile which does not belong to us. It looks for all the world +as if somebody were trying to break into this house, in fact, has broken +in on a number of occasions." + +Migwan shrieked and covered up her ears. "A mystery!" said Sahwah, +theatrically. "How thrilling!" The interest in the Thieves' Market died +out before this new and alarming idea. + +"It may be only a remarkable series of co-incidences," said Nyoda, +seeing the fright of the girls, "but it certainly looks suspicious. That +window may possibly have been broken by the wind during the storm, and +the footsteps may have been rats or Mrs. Waterhouse's ghost, and the +ghost in the tepee may have been a practical joker, but baskets of +potatoes do not fall over of their own accord in the middle of the night +and cold chisels don't grow in automobiles. There's something wrong and +we ought to find out what it is." + +"Oh, I'll never go up-stairs alone again," shuddered Migwan. "Sahwah, +how did you ever dare go down cellar in the dark after you heard that +noise?" And she shivered violently at the very thought. + +"Tom, can you handle a gun?" asked Nyoda. + +"Yes," answered Tom. + +"I'm going to buy a little automatic pistol to-morrow," said Nyoda, "and +teach everyone of you girls how to shoot it." + +"I wonder if we hadn't better try to get Calvin Smalley to sleep in the +house," said Migwan. + +"I can take care of you," said Tom, proudly. Nothing else was talked of +for the remainder of the evening and when bed time came there was a +general reluctance to become separated from the rest of the household. +But, although they listened for footsteps in the attic they heard +nothing, and the night passed away peacefully. + +The next night the ghost became active again. Whether it was the same +one or a different one they did not find out, however, for they did not +see it this time, only heard it. Just about bed time it was, a strange, +weird moaning sound that filled the house and echoed through the big +halls. Whether it proceeded from the basement or the attic they were +unable to make out; it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. +Migwan clung close to her mother and trembled. The sound rang out again, +more weird than before. It was bloodcurdling. Nyoda opened the window +and fired several shots into the air. The moaning sound stopped abruptly +and was heard no more that night, but sleep was out of the question. The +girls were too excited and fearful. The next day Mrs. Gardiner advised +everybody to hide their valuables away. The peaceful life at Onoway +House was broken up. The household lived in momentary expectation of +something happening. "And this is the quiet of the country," sighed +Migwan, "where I was to grow fat and strong. I'm worn to a frazzle +worrying about this mystery." + +"So'm I," said Gladys. + +"And I'm getting thin," said Hinpoha, which brought out a general laugh. + +"Not so you could notice it," said Sahwah. Whereupon Hinpoha tried to +smother her with a pillow and the two rolled over on the bed, +struggling. + +As if worrying about a burglar were not enough, Sahwah and Gladys had +another exciting experience one day that week. If we were to stretch a +point and trace things back to their beginnings it was the fault of the +Winnebagos themselves, for if they hadn't gone horseback riding that +day---- Well, Farmer Landsdowne came over in the morning and said he had a +pair of horses which were not working and if they wanted to go horseback +riding now was their chance. The girls were delighted with the idea and +flew to don bloomers. None of them had ever ridden before and excitement +ran high. Naturally there were no saddles, for Farmer Landsdowne's +horses were not ridden as a general rule, and the girls had to ride +bareback. + +"It feels like trying to straddle a table," said Migwan, marveling at +the width of the horse she was on. "My legs aren't half long enough." +She clung desperately to his mane as he began to trot and she began to +slide all over him. "He's so slippery I can't stick on," she gasped. The +horse stopped abruptly as she jerked on the reins and she slid off as if +he had been greased, and landed in the soft grass beside the road. + +"Here, let me try," said Sahwah, impatient for her turn. "He isn't +either slippery," she said, when she got on, "he's bony, horribly bony. +He's just like knives." She jolted up and down a few times on his hip +bones and an idea jolted into her head. Getting off she ran into the +house and came out again with a sofa pillow, which she proceeded to tie +on his back. Then she rode in comparative comfort, amid the laughter of +the girls. + +Calvin Smalley, who happened to be working out in front and saw her ride +past, doubled up with laughter over his vegetable bed. "What next?" he +chuckled. "What next?" He was still thinking about this and laughing +over it when he went through the empty field which Sahwah had crossed +the time she had discovered the house among the trees, and where Abner +Smalley now pastured his bull. So absorbed was he in the memory of that +ridiculous pillow tied on the horse that he was not careful in putting +up the bars behind him when he left the field, and later in the +afternoon the bull wandered over in that direction and came through into +the next field. He found the river road and followed it and began to +graze in one of the unploughed fields belonging to Onoway House. + +Sahwah, wearing her big, red hat, was bending low over the ground, +digging up some ferns which grew there, when all of a sudden she heard a +loud snort and looked up to see the bull charging down upon her. She +looked wildly around for a place of safety. Nothing was nearer than the +far-off hedge that surrounded the cultivated garden patch. Not a tree, +not a fence, in sight. Quick as light she bounded off toward the hedge, +although she knew it would be impossible for her to reach it before the +bull would be upon her. + +Gladys, coming along the road in the automobile, heard a shriek and +looked up to see Sahwah tearing across the open field with the bull hard +after her. Without a moment's hesitation Gladys turned the car into the +field and started after the bull at full speed. She let the car out +every notch and it whizzed dizzily over the hard turf. She sounded the +horn again and again with the hope of attracting the attention of the +bull, but he did not pause. Like lightning she bore down upon him, +passed to one side and slowed down for a second beside Sahwah, who +jumped on the running-board and was borne away to safety. + +"This hum-drum, uneventful life," said Sahwah, as she sat on the porch +half an hour afterward and tried to catch her breath, while the rest +fanned her with palm leaf fans, "is getting a little too much for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER X.--A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + +After Nyoda had fired the shots out of the window, nothing was heard or +seen of the ghost and the footsteps in the attic ceased. "It's just as I +thought," said Nyoda, "someone has been trying to frighten us with a +possible view of robbing the house at some time, thinking that a +houseful of women would be terror-stricken at the ghostly noises, but +when he found we had a gun and could shoot he thought better of the +plan." Gradually the girls lost their fright, and the odd corners of +Onoway House regained their old charm. They were far too busy with the +canning to think of much else, for the tomatoes were ripening in such +large quantities that it was all they could do to dispose of them. The +4H brand found favor and the market gradually increased, and every week +Migwan had a goodly sum to deposit in the bank after the cost of the tin +cans had been deducted. + +"I have to laugh when I think of that honor in the book," said Migwan, +"can at least three cans of fruit," and she pointed to the cans stacked +on the back porch ready to be packed into the automobile and taken to +town. "Why, hello, Calvin," she said, as Calvin Smalley appeared at the +back door. "Come in." Calvin came in and sat down. "What's the matter?" +asked Migwan, for his face had a frightened and distressed look. + +"Uncle Abner has turned me out!" said Calvin. + +"Turned you out!" echoed the girls. "Why?" + +"He showed me a will last night," said Calvin, "a later one than that +which was found when my grandfather died, which left the farm to him +instead of to my father. He just found it last night when he was +rummaging among grandfather's old papers. According to that I have been +living on his charity all these years instead of on my own property as I +supposed and now he says he can't afford to keep me any longer. He +wanted me to sign a paper saying that I would work for him without pay +until I was thirty years old to make up for what I have had all these +years, and when I wouldn't do it he told me to get out." + +"How can any man be so mean and stingy!" said Migwan, indignantly. + +"And what do you intend to do now?" asked Mrs. Gardiner. + +"I don't know," said Calvin, looking utterly downcast and discouraged. +"I had expected to go through school and then to agricultural college +and be a scientific farmer, but that's out of the question now. I +haven't a cent in the world. I could hire out to some of the farmers +around here, I suppose, but you know what that means--they wouldn't pay +me much because I'm a boy, but they would get a man's work out of me and +it's precious little time I'd have for school. I've always saved Uncle +Abner the cost of one hired man in return for what he gave me, so I +don't feel under any obligations to him. I think I'll give up farming +for a while and go to the city and work. The trouble is I have no +friends there and it might be hard for me to get into a good place." His +honest eyes were clouded over with perplexity and trouble. + +"My father could probably get you a job in the city," said Gladys, "if +you can wait until he gets back. He's out west now." + +"I tell you what to do," said kind-hearted Mrs. Gardiner to Calvin, "you +stay here with us until Mr. Evans comes back. You can help the girls in +the garden, and we were wishing not long ago that we had another man in +the house." + +"You are very kind," said Calvin, gratefully, "but I don't want to put +you to any trouble." + +"No trouble at all," Mrs. Gardiner assured him, "you can sleep with +Tom." The girls all expressed pleasure at the prospect of having Calvin +stay at Onoway House and under the spell of their kindly hospitality his +drooping spirits revived. He shook the dust of his uncle's house from +his feet, feeling no longer an outcast, since he had suddenly found such +kind friends on the other side of the hedge. + +Calvin lived in a perpetual state of wonder at the girls at Onoway +House. They made a frolic out of everything they did and were +continually thinking up new and amazing games to play. Calvin had never +done anything at home all his life but work, and work was a serious +business to him. He never knew before that work was fun. The long, weary +hours of peeling were enlivened with songs made up on the spur of the +moment. Sahwah would look up from the pan over which she was bending, +and sing to the tune of "The Pope": + + "Our Migwan leads a jolly life, jolly life, + She peels tomatoes with her knife, with her knife, + And puts the pieces in the can, + And leaves the peelings in the pan, (Oh, tra la la)." + +And then they would all start to sing at once, + + "The tomatoes went in one by one, + (There's one more bushel to peel), + Hinpoha she did cut her thumb, + (There's one more bushel to peel)." + + "The tomatoes went in two by two, + And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew. + The tomatoes went in three by three, + And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see." + +etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until it was done. + +"Do you know," said Migwan, looking up from her peeling, "that it's +Gladys's birthday next Friday? We ought to have a celebration." + +"How about a picnic?" asked Nyoda. "We haven't had a real one yet. Have +the rest of the Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep in the +tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of July. Then we'll get a horse +and wagon and drive along the roads until we come to a place beside the +river where we want to stop and cook our dinner and just spend the day +like gypsies." The girls entered into the plan with enthusiasm, both for +the sake of celebrating Gladys's birthday and cheering up Calvin, who +had been rather quiet and pensive of late. It was a great disappointment +to him to have to give up his plans for going to college, and his +uncle's unfriendly treatment of him had cut him to the heart. + +Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the day before the picnic and the +house echoed with the sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos +bubbled over with joy at being all together. The morning of the picnic +was as fine as they could wish, and it was not long before they were +bumping over the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne's wagons, behind the +very two horses which the girls had ridden the week before. It was a +wagon full. Sahwah sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter +of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her to come to the rescue in +case the horses should run away, which was not at all likely, as it took +constant persuasion to keep them going even at an easy jog trot. Mrs. +Landsdowne, who, with her husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat +beside Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while Calvin Smalley +stayed next to Migwan, as he usually did. She was so quiet and gentle +and kind that he felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the +Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who was beginning to be +inseparable from Sahwah, squeezed herself in between her and Mr. +Landsdowne, and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, took her part and +let her stay, although she was a bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and +Gladys sat at the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the end, +where they could watch the yellow road unwinding like a ribbon beneath +them, while Nyoda sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace. + +"Where are we going?" asked Mrs. Gardiner, as they swung along the road. + +"Oh," replied Sahwah, "somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere. It's +lots more romantic to start out without any idea where you're going and +stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a certain place and +think you have to go there even if you pass nicer places on the road. +Maybe, like Mrs. Wiggs, we'll end up at a first-class fire." + +"We undoubtedly will," said Nyoda, "if we expect to cook any dinner. Do +my eyes deceive me?" she continued, "or is this a fishing-rod under the +straw? It is, it is," she cried, drawing it out. "Now I know what has +been the matter with me for the past few months, this feeling of sadness +and longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have been pining, +languishing, wasting away with a desire to go fishing. My early life ran +quiet beside a babbling brook, and there I sat and fished trout and +fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will never know repose +until it has gone fishing once more." + +"Take the rod and welcome, it's mine," said Calvin, glad that something +of his should give pleasure to one of his cherished friends. + +In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river they dismounted from the +wagon and scattered in search of firewood, for the fire must be started +the first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda took the +fishing-rod and started for the river. "We'll never get anything to eat +if we wait until you catch enough fish for dinner," said Sahwah. + +"Who said I was going to catch enough for dinner?" said Nyoda. "I +wouldn't be cruel enough to keep you waiting all that time. But I do +want to catch just one for old times' sake." She strolled down to the +water's edge and after a few minutes Mr. Landsdowne joined her. He liked +Nyoda and enjoyed a talk with her. + +"Are you going to play all alone at the picnic?" he asked, as he dropped +down beside her. + +"Alone, but with _unbaited_ zeal," she quoted, digging around in the +ground with her stick. "Come and help me find a worm." + +"I'm afraid the Early Bird got them all," she said plaintively, after a +few moment's fruitless search. By dint of much digging they finally +unearthed one and baited the hook. Nyoda cast her line and then settled +down to a spell of silent waiting. "I don't believe there's a fish in +this old river," she said impatiently, after fifteen minutes of angling +which brought no results. "Not here, anyway. Let's go down beyond the +bend where the river widens out into that broad pool. The water is +deeper and quieter there." They moved on to the new location and Nyoda +tried her luck again. This time success crowned her efforts and she +landed a small fish almost immediately. "What did I tell you?" she +exclaimed, triumphantly. "There's luck in changing places. Now for +another one." In a few moments she felt a tug at the line. "It must be a +whale," she cried, enthusiastically, "it pulls so hard." + +"It may be caught on a snag," said Farmer Landsdowne. "Here, let me get +it loose for you, I'm afraid you'll break that rod," he said, as the +pole bent ominously in her hands. + +"Spare the rod and spoil the fish," said Nyoda. + +"What are you doing on my property?" said a harsh voice behind them, +"don't you see that sign?" + +Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne sprang to their feet in surprise and faced +an irate farmer in blue shirt sleeves. Sure enough, on a tree not very +far from them there was a sign reading, + + NO FISHING IN THIS POND. + +"We didn't see the sign," said Nyoda, stammering in her embarrassment, +and crimson to the roots of her hair. + +"We really didn't," confirmed Farmer Landsdowne. + +"Well, ye see it now, don't ye?" pursued the proprietor of the +fish-pond. "Kindly move along." + +"We have one fish," said Nyoda, feeling unutterably foolish, "but we'll +pay you for that. I must have one to take back to the picnic or I don't +dare show my face." + +"Ye say ye caught a fish?" shouted the farmer, excitedly. "Holy +mackerel! That was the only one in the pond--I put it in there this +morning--and I've rented the fishing of it to a young feller from +Cleveland at twenty-five cents an hour." + +"But it didn't take me an hour to catch him," said Nyoda. "It only took +five minutes. That'll be about two cents." But the farmer held out for +his twenty-five cents and Nyoda paid it, laughing to herself at the way +the "feller from Cleveland" had been cheated out of his sport. + +"Don't ever tell the girls about this," pleaded Nyoda, as they moved +shamefacedly away. "I'm supposed to be a pattern of conduct, and I'm +always scolding the girls because they don't use their eyes enough. +They'll never get over laughing at me if they find it out." Farmer +Landsdowne promised solemnly that he would not divulge the secret. + +"Did you catch anything?" called Sahwah, as Nyoda returned to the group +under the trees. + +"We certainly did," replied Nyoda, with a sidelong glance at Farmer +Landsdowne. + +"Listen to this part of father's last letter," said Gladys, as they sat +around on the grass eating their dinner. "Juneau, Alaska. + +"We recently saw a group of Camp Fire girls holding a Ceremonial Meeting +on a mountain near Juneau. It fairly made us homesick; it reminded us so +much of the group we used to see in our house. We went up and spoke to +them and they send you this three-petaled flower as a greeting." + +"To think we have friends all over the country, just because we know the +meaning of the word Wohelo!" said Migwan in an awed tone, as the +Winnebagos crowded around Gladys to see the flower which had come from +far off Alaska, a silent All Hail from kindred spirits. + +Just at this point Ophelia, who was coming a long way with the +coffee-pot in her hand, tripped over a root and sprawled on her face on +the ground, showering everybody near her with coffee. "We have your +title now," said Nyoda, "it's Ophelia-Face-in-the-Mud. You're always +falling that way." + +"And I know what your name is," replied Ophelia. + +"What is it?" asked Nyoda, guilelessly. + +"It's Nyoda-Chased-by-a-Farmer," said Ophelia. + +Nyoda started and looked guilty. "How did you know that?" she asked, +giving herself away completely. + +"Followed you," said Ophelia. "I saw you fishin' where the sign said to +keep out and the man in the blue shirt sleeves chased you out." + +"Tell us about it," demanded all the girls, and Nyoda had to tell the +whole story that she wanted to keep a secret. + + "Fishy, fishy in the brook, + But the fishers 'got the hook,'" + +chanted Sahwah, teasingly. Nyoda and Farmer Landsdowne looked sheepish +at the jokes that were thrown at them thick and fast, but they stood it +good-naturedly. + +"A truce!" cried Gladys, coming to the rescue of Nyoda. "Let's play +charades." + +"Good!" said Migwan. "You be leader of one side and let Nyoda take the +other. Whichever side gives up first will have to get supper for the +rest." + +Gladys chose Sahwah, Mrs. Gardiner, Betty, Ophelia, Tom and Calvin. +Nyoda chose Mr. and Mrs. Landsdowne, Hinpoha, Migwan, Chapa, Medmangi +and Nakwisi. Gladys's side went out first and came in without her. + +"Word of three syllables, first syllable," said Sahwah, who acted as +spokesman. The whole company sat down in a row, striking the most +doleful attitude and groaning as if in pain, and shedding tears into +their handkerchiefs. + +"Most woeful looking crowd I ever saw," remarked Mr. Landsdowne. + +"Woe!" shouted Nyoda, triumphantly, and the guess was correct. + +The weepers continued their weeping in the second syllable, and then +Gladys appeared, felt of all their pulses and gave each a dose out of a +bottle, whereupon they all straightened up, lost their symptoms of +distress, and capered for joy. + +"Cure," said Migwan. The players shook their heads. + +"Heal," shouted Hinpoha, and Gladys acknowledged it. + +In the last syllable Gladys went around and demanded payment for her +services, but in each case was met with a promise to pay at some future +time. + +"Owe," said Chapa, which was pronounced right. "O heal woe, what's +that?" she asked. + +"You're twisted," said Nyoda, "it's 'Wohelo.' That really was too easy. +Let's not divide them into syllables after this," she suggested, "it's +no contest of wits that way. Let's act out the word all at once." The +alteration was accepted with enthusiasm. + +Hinpoha came out alone for her side. "Word of two syllables," she said. +Taking a blanket she spread it over a bushy weed and tucked the corners +under until it looked not unlike a large stone. Then she retired from +the scene. Soon Nyoda came along and paused in front of the blanket, +which looked like an inviting seat. + +"What a lovely rock to rest on!" she exclaimed, and seated herself upon +it. Of course, it flattened down under her weight and she was borne down +to the ground. + +A moment of silence followed this performance as the guessers racked +their brains for the meaning. "Is it 'Landsdowne?'" asked Gladys. + +"It might be, but it isn't," said Nyoda, laughing. + +"I know," said Sahwah, starting up, "it's 'shamrock.'" + +"You are sharper than I thought," said Nyoda, rising from her seat. +"Nobody down yet. Now, fire your broadside at us. No word under three +syllables. Anything less would be unworthy of our giant intellects." + +"Third round!" cried Calvin. + +Sahwah walked down to the water's edge, holding in her hand a large key. +Leaning over, she moved the key as if it were walking in the water. This +proved a puzzler, and cries of 'Milwaukee,' 'Nebrasky,' and 'turnkey' +were all met with a triumphant shake of the head. + +"It looks as if we would have to give up," said Hinpoha. + +Just then Nyoda sprang up with a shout. "Why didn't I think of it +before?" she cried. "It's 'Keewaydin,' key-wade-in. What else could you +expect from Sahwah?" + +"That's it," said Sahwah. "You must be a mind reader." + +"Here's where we finish you off," said Nyoda, as her side came out +again. "We've taken a word of four syllables this time." The whole team +advanced in single file, Indian fashion, keeping closely in step. Round +and round they marched, back and forth, never slackening their speed, +until one by one they tumbled to the ground from sheer exhaustion and +stiffened out lifelessly. The guessers looked at each other, puzzled. + +"Do it again," said Sahwah. The strenuous march was repeated, and the +marchers succumbed as before. Still no light came to the onlookers. +Sahwah whispered something to Gladys. + +"Would you just as soon do it again?" asked Gladys. Again the file wound +round the trees and tumbled to the turf. Nyoda made a triumphant grimace +as no guess was forthcoming. Sahwah's eyes began to sparkle. + +"Would you please do it once more?" she pleaded. + +"Have mercy on the performers," groaned Nyoda, but they went through it +again, and this time they were too spent to rise from the ground when +the acting was done. "Do you give up?" called Nyoda. + +"No," answered Gladys. + +"You have five seconds to produce the answer, then," said Nyoda. + +"It's diapason," said Gladys, "die-a-pacin." + +"Really!" said Nyoda, falling back in astonishment. + +"We knew it all the while!" cried Sahwah and Gladys. "We just kept you +doing it over and over again because we liked to see you work." + +The laugh was on Nyoda and her team all the way around. "We do this to +each other!" called Sahwah, using the Indian form of taunt when one has +played a successful trick on another. + +"Tie the villains to a tree, and let them perish of mosquito bites," +Nyoda commanded in an awful tone. "I'll get even with you for that, Miss +Sahwah," she said, darkly, as the other side trooped off to cook up a +new poser. + +"Hadn't you better stop playing now?" inquired Mrs. Gardiner. "You know +we wanted to get home before dark." + +"Oh, let's do one more," pleaded Migwan. If they had only stopped +playing when Mrs. Gardiner suggested it and gone home early they might +have been in time to prevent the thing which occurred, but they were +bent on seeing one side or the other go down, and Gladys's side prepared +another charade. + +"We've played up to your own game," said Gladys, who was introducing the +new charade, "and have increased the number to five syllables." The +actors were Mrs. Gardiner, Betty and Tom Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner was +scolding the children and emphasized her remarks by a sharp pinch on +Tom's arm. Betty, seeing the maternal hand also extended in her +direction, promptly climbed a tree and sat in safety, while her mother +shook her finger at her and cried warningly, "I'll attend to you after +awhile." + +"What on earth?" said Nyoda, scratching her head in perplexity. But +scratch as she might, no answer came, and the rest of her team had +nothing to offer either. After holding out for fully fifteen minutes +they were compelled to give it up. + +"It's 'manipulator,'" cried the winning side, in chorus. +"'Ma-nip-you-later!'" And they stood around to condole while Nyoda's +side prepared supper. Then it was that Calvin, basely deserting the team +he had helped so far, went over to the side of the enemy and helped +Migwan fetch wood for the fire. Both sides stopped often to jeer at each +other, so it took them twice as long to get the meal ready as it would +have ordinarily. They loitered and sang along the way home, letting the +horses take their time, and it was quite late when they reached Onoway +House. + +The first thing that greeted them was the sight of Mr. Bob, the cocker +spaniel, rolling on the front lawn in great distress, and giving every +sign of being poisoned. They hastily administered an antidote and, after +a time of suspense were confident that the effect of the poison had been +counteracted. So far they had only been in the kitchen, but when the +excitement about the dog was over they moved toward the sitting-room to +rest awhile and drink lemonade before going to bed. When the light was +lit they all stopped in astonishment. In the sitting-room there was an +old-fashioned combination desk and bookcase, the bookcase part set on +top of the desk and reaching nearly to the ceiling. It belonged to the +house, and the desk was closed and locked. Now, however, it stood open, +and all the drawers were pulled out, while the top of the desk and the +floor before it were strewn with papers in great disorder. + +"Burglars!" cried Migwan. "The house has been robbed!" They immediately +looked through the house to see what had been taken. Up-stairs in the +room occupied by the two boys there was a desk similar to the one in the +sitting-room. This had also been broken open and the drawers searched +through, although the disorder of papers was not so great as it was +down-stairs. Half afraid of what they should find, the whole family went +from room to room, but nothing else seemed to have been disturbed, and +as far as they could see nothing had been stolen. The silver in the +sideboard drawer was untouched, but then, this was only plate, and worn +at that. But in full view on the dining-room table lay Sahwah's +Firemaker Bracelet, which she had laid there a few moments before +starting for the picnic, and then, with her customary forgetfulness, +neglected to pick up again. This was solid silver and worth stealing. +Further than that, she had also forgotten to wear her watch, and it was +still safe in her top bureau drawer. It was a riddle, and as they talked +it over they could only come to one conclusion, and that was that the +burglar had thought there were large sums of money hidden in the two +desks and had passed over the small articles in the hope of getting a +bigger harvest, or else was leaving those other things to the last. He +ransacked the up-stairs desk, having broken the lock, and then went +through the one down-stairs. While looking through the papers in the +sitting-room he had evidently been frightened away by something, for +there was one drawer that had not been disturbed. This also accounted +for the fact that nothing else had been taken. What had frightened him +was probably the barking of the dog, who, although he was on the +outside, had become aware of the presence of someone in the house. He +had fed the dog poison, probably poisoned meat, for they had found a +small piece of meat on the porch. Evidently the poison had begun to act +before Mr. Bob had it all eaten, and he left that piece. But before the +dog was dead the burglar had heard the family returning along the road, +singing, and made his escape. The whole thing must have happened not +long before, for the dog had not had the poison long enough to take +deadly effect. It was then that they regretted having lingered so long +over the game of charades and delayed their homecoming. + +"If we had only been half an hour sooner, we might have found out who it +was," said Mrs. Gardiner. + +"Thank Heaven we weren't half an hour later," said Hinpoha, "or Mr. Bob +would have been dead." She would have felt worse about losing Mr. Bob +than about having all her possessions stolen. + +"How about sleeping in the tepee to-night?" asked Gladys. There was not +enough room in the house for so many people and the eight Winnebagos had +made their beds in the tepee while the three girls from town were there, +both to solve the question of sleeping quarters and for the fun of the +thing. It was just like camping out to sleep on the ground, all the +eight girls in a circle around the little watch fire in the middle of +the tepee. + +"Oh, I'll be afraid to," said Hinpoha. + +"I don't know but what it would be just as safe as sleeping in the +house," said Nyoda. "I doubt if anyone would think of people sleeping +out in that thing. It's a rather novel idea in this neighborhood. And at +any rate there's nothing out there to steal and consequently nothing to +tempt a thief." + +So, their fears having vanished, the Winnebagos went to bed in the tepee +just as they had planned. Nyoda took the precaution of putting her +pistol under her pillow. The girls really enjoyed the air of suppressed +excitement. When did youth and high spirits ever fail to respond to the +thrill of danger, either real or fancied? This attempted burglary was +the most exciting thing that had ever happened to most of the girls and +they were getting as much thrill out of it as possible. It amused them +to see Tom and Calvin parading the front lawn armed with bird guns, +swelled up with importance at having to guard a houseful of women. +Instead of hoping that the burglar had been scared away for good they +wished fervently that he would return and give them a chance to shoot. +They would have stayed there all night if Mrs. Gardiner had not ordered +them to bed. + +One by one the girls in the tepee dropped off to slumber, worn out with +the varied events of the day. But Nyoda could not sleep. She had a +throbbing headache from the glare of the sun on the water while she sat +fishing. The little fire, in the center of the bare circle of earth +which prevented it from spreading, died down and subsided to glowing +embers, then one by one these turned black and left the tepee in +darkness. There was not a spark left. Nyoda was sure of this, for she +sat up several times in an effort to make herself comfortable, and when +she took a drink from the pail of well water which stood nearby she +emptied the dipper over the spot where the fire had been, to make doubly +sure. Still sleep would not come. She stared out of the doorway of the +tepee into the darkness. A group of beech trees with their light grey +bark loomed up ghostlike before the door. She began to think of the +ghost which had appeared to her that other night in that very doorway, +and tried to connect the incidents which had taken place afterwards with +that. One thing was sure--someone was getting into Onoway House every few +days. Why nothing was taken was a mystery to her. It seemed to her now +that it was not so much an attempt at burglary as an effort to annoy and +frighten the family. Possibly it was someone who had a grudge against +them--she could not imagine why--and was indulging in these pranks to +satisfy a spite. She thought she saw a glimmer of light on the subject. + +Farmer Landsdowne had once told her that when it became known that Mr. +Mitchell was going to give up the care of the place, several farmers of +the Centerville Road district had applied for the position of caretaker, +but wishing to assist Migwan, the Bartletts had refused their offers and +given the place over to the Winnebagos. That must be it. Someone wanted +that job badly and was wreaking his disappointment on the people who had +kept him from getting it. The more she thought of it the more probable +it seemed. Possibly more than one were involved in the plot. + +Then another thought struck her. Could it be the crazy man who lived +alone in the little house among the trees? Calvin had stated that he +never left the house, but who could account for the inspirations of an +unbalanced mind? That nothing had been taken from the house seemed to +indicate a want of fixed purpose in the mind of the housebreaker--to go +to all that trouble for nothing. This idea also seemed worth +considering. + +As she lay turning these things over in her mind she thought she heard a +stealthy footstep in the grass outside of the tepee. Thinking that the +ghost was coming to pay another visit, she drew the pistol from under +her pillow and turning over, face downward, lay with it pointed toward +the doorway. There would be no outcry when he appeared in the doorway. +The first intimation the ghost would have that he was observed would be +a shot in the leg that would prevent him from running away and would +solve the mystery. In tense silence she waited, one; two; three minutes, +but nothing appeared. Then suddenly she smelled smoke, and turning +around swiftly saw that the side of the tepee toward which she had had +her back was in flames. + +"Fire!" she called at the top of her voice. "Sahwah! Hinpoha! Gladys! +Migwan! Wake up!" And seizing the pail of water she dashed it against +the side of the tepee. The water sizzled as it fell, but the canvas +covering was burning like tinder. Thus rudely awakened the girls sprang +up in alarm. The place was filling with dense smoke, and through it they +groped their way to the opening, dragging out their blankets. Hardly had +the last girl got out when the whole thing was one roaring blaze, which +lit up the scenery a long way around. + +Nyoda, paying no attention to the flames that were mounting skyward from +the burning canvas, looked intently for a lurking figure among the +trees, for she thought it hardly possible that whoever had set the tepee +afire could have gotten outside of the range of light in that short +time. It was possible to see as far as the road on the one side and +across the river on the other. But nowhere was there a man or the shadow +of a man. The folks came running out of Onoway House half dressed and in +terror that the girls had not escaped from the burning tent in time, and +the farmers all the way down the road, seeing the glare, rushed to offer +their assistance, for a fire in the country is a serious thing where +there is no water pressure. Farmer Landsdowne came on a dead run, +carrying a water bucket. Even Abner Smalley appeared in the midst of the +crowd. He gave a scowling look at Calvin, but said nothing, and soon +took his departure when the danger was over, as it was directly, for it +did not take long to reduce that canvas covering to a black mass, and +buckets of water thrown all around on the ground and the trees kept the +fire from spreading. + +For the second time that night the family gathered in the sitting-room +and faced each other over an exciting happening. "I told you if you +built a fire in that tepee you would burn it down," said Mrs. Gardiner. +"I never felt easy when you had one." + +"But it didn't catch fire from our little fire," declared Nyoda, and +told the events of the night, from the going out of the fire to the +footsteps outside the tepee when the canvas had suddenly blazed up when +she was lying in wait for the ghost with a pistol. The circle of faces +paled with fear as she told her tale. Who could this mysterious visitor +be, who seemed determined to do them some harm? The girls finished the +night in the house, three in a bed, but none of them closed their eyes +to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI.--THE WELL DIGGER'S GHOST. + + +The next morning Mrs. Gardiner sent Mr. Landsdowne to interview the +police force of the township in which the Centerville Road belonged, and +he brought the whole force back with him. He had to bring the whole +force if he brought any for it embraced only one man and he was well +along in years, but he had a uniform and a helmet and a club and a gun, +and presented an imposing appearance as he strutted up and down the +yard, before which an evil doer might be moved to pause. The three girls +from town had departed and Nakwisi had left her spy glass behind in the +excitement, and this was a source of great entertainment to the rural +gendarme. He spent a great deal of time sliding the lens back and forth +to fit his eye and peering up the road into the distance, or looking up +into the air, as if he expected to see the burglar approaching in an +airship. He was very talkative and fond of recounting the captures he +had made single handed, and declared solemnly that the man in this case +was as good as caught already, for no one had ever escaped yet when Dave +Beeman had started out to get him. + +Nyoda, who was fond of seeing her theories worked out, still held to the +idea that the mysterious visitor was someone who wanted the job of +caretaker, and inquired closely of Farmer Landsdowne who the men were +who had applied for the position. When it came down to fact there was +only one who had really wanted the job very badly, although several +others had mentioned the fact that they wouldn't mind doing it, and that +man had found a similar situation immediately afterward and left the +neighborhood. So her theory did not seem to be inclined to hold water. + +She had another idea, however, and wrote to Mr. Mitchell, asking if he +had ever heard strange noises in the attic while he lived there. Mr. +Mitchell answered and said that not only had he heard strange noises in +the attic, but also in the cellar and in the barn, and that pieces of +furniture had apparently moved themselves in the middle of the night; +and it was on this account that he had left the place, as it made his +wife so nervous she became ill. This fact put a new face on the matter. +The hostility, then, was not directed against themselves personally, but +against the tenants of the house, no matter who they were. But this idea +left them more in the dark than ever, and they lost a good deal of sleep +over it without reaching any solution. + +After a few days of zealous watching, during which time nothing +happened, the police force of Centerville township gave it up as a bad +job and relaxed its vigilance, declaring that the firebug must have +gotten out of the country, for that was the only way he could hope to +escape his eagle eye. "If he was still in the country, I'd a' had him by +this time", Dave Beeman asserted confidently. "So as long as he's gone +that far you don't need to worry any more." And he took himself off, +eager to get back to the quiet game of pinochle in Gus Wurlitzer's +grocery store, which Farmer Landsdowne had interrupted several days ago. + +It was just about this time that Migwan had her biggest order for canned +tomatoes--from a fashionable private sanitarium a few miles distant, and +the rush of canning gradually took their minds off the mysterious +intruder. Migwan, picking her finest and ripest tomatoes to fill this +order, noticed that a number of the vines were drooping and turning +yellow. The half ripe tomatoes were falling to the ground and rotting. +One whole end of the bed seemed to be affected. She looked carefully for +insects and found none. Some of the leaves seemed worse shrivelled than +others. In perplexity she called Mr. Landsdowne over to look at them. He +looked closely at the plants and also seemed puzzled as to the cause of +the mysterious blight. "It isn't rot," he said, "because the bed is high +and dry and the plants have never stood in water." Upon looking closely +he discovered that the affected plants were covered with a fine white +coating. He gave a smothered exclamation. "Do you know what that is?" he +asked. "It's lime! Somebody has sprayed your plants with a solution of +lime. Are you sure you didn't do it yourself?" he asked, quizzically. + +Migwan shook her head. "I haven't sprayed those plants with anything for +a month," she asserted, "and neither has anyone else in the house." + +"Somebody outside of the house has done it, then," said Mr. Landsdowne. + +The work of the mysterious visitor again! It struck dismay into the +breasts of the whole household. They never knew when and where that hand +was going to strike next. And so silently, so mysteriously, without ever +leaving a trace behind! + +There was nothing left to do but dig up the dead plants and throw them +away. Migwan almost stopped breathing when she thought that the rest of +the bed might be treated in the same way, and the source of her revenue +cut off. But why was all this happening? What could anyone possibly have +against the peaceful dwellers at Onoway House? + +A guard was set over the tomato bed both day and night for a week and +the big order for the sanitarium was filled as fast as the tomatoes +ripened. Nothing at all happened during this time and the vigilance was +relaxed. A large dog was turned loose in the garden at night and they +felt secure in his protection. This dog belonged to Calvin Smalley. When +he had left his uncle's house he had to leave Pointer behind, as he did +not know what else to do with him, but now that the Gardiners were +willing to have him he went over and got him when he knew his uncle was +away from the house, so he would not have to meet him. Pointer was +overjoyed at seeing his young master again and attached himself to the +household at once, and never made the slightest effort to go back to his +old home. He had a deep, heavy bark which could not fail to rouse the +house at once. With the coming of Pointer the girls breathed easily +again. + +One day when Migwan had gone over to see the Landsdownes, Mr. Landsdowne +had given her a treasure for her garden. This was a plant of a rare +species called Titania Gloria, which a friend had brought from Bermuda. +It was a first year growth and so would not bloom until the following +summer. Migwan planted it along the fence beside the mint bed and +treasured it like gold, for the blossom of the Titania Gloria was a +wonderful shade of blue and was considered a prize by fanciers, who paid +high prices for cuttings of the plant. In the excitement over the tepee +and the tomato plants, however, she forgot to tell the other girls about +it, so she was the only one who knew what a precious thing that little +bed of leaves was. + +The weather was so fine that week that Migwan decided to have a garden +party and invite a number of friends from town. Gladys promised to dance +and the boys cleared a circle for her in the grass under the trees, +picking up every stick that lay on the ground. Mrs. Landsdowne, hearing +about the party, offered to make ice cream for them in her freezer. Just +before the guests arrived Migwan and Calvin went over after it. They +took the raft, because they thought that would be the easiest way of +transporting the heavy tub. Migwan rode on the raft and supported the +tub and Calvin walked along the bank and pulled the tow line. His +eagerness to help with the festivity was somewhat pathetic. Never, to +his knowledge, had there been a party at the Smalley House. The way +these girls planned a party out of a clear sky and carried out their +plans without delay was nothing short of marvelous to him. They were +always at their ease with company, while it was a fearful ordeal for him +to meet strangers. He liked to be a part of such doings; but was at a +loss how to act. Migwan, with her fine understanding of things beneath +the surface, saw that this boy was lonesome in the crowd, not knowing +how to mix in and have a glorious time on his own account, and she +always saw to it that his part was mapped out for him in all their +doings. Therefore she chose him to help her bring the ice cream over. + +Calvin, happy at being useful, towed the raft carefully and turned his +head whenever Migwan spoke, so as to give strict attention to her words. +Doing this, he fell over the branch of a tree in the path and jerked the +rope violently. The raft tipped up and both Migwan and the tub of ice +cream went into the river. Migwan climbed out on the bank before Calvin +was up from the ground. He was aghast at what he had done. He had been +so eager to help with the party and now he had spoiled it! That he would +be instantly expelled from Onoway House he was sure, and he felt that he +deserved it. Migwan, at least, would never speak to him again. +Speechless, he turned piteous eyes to where she sat on the bank +dripping. To his surprise she was doubled up with laughter. "What are +you laughing at?" he asked, startled. + +"Because you upset the raft and the ice cream fell into the river!" +giggled Migwan. Calvin gasped. The very thing that was nearly killing +him with chagrin was the cause of her mirth! It was the first time he +had ever seen anyone make light of a calamity. Her mirth was so +contagious that he began to laugh himself. Still laughing, he brought +the tub out of the river and set it on the bank. The water had washed +away the packing of ice, but the lid on the inner can was providentially +tight and the ice cream was unharmed. That little incident crystallized +the friendship between the two. After that he was Migwan's slave. A girl +who could be thrown into the river without getting vexed was a friend +worth having. Dripping, they returned to the house, where the +preparations for the party were at their height, to be laughed at +immoderately and christened the "Water Babies." + +To Hinpoha the Artistic had been entrusted the setting of the tables. +Her decorations were water lilies from the river, and when she had +finished it looked as if a feast had been spread for the river nymphs. +Around the edges of the platter she put bunches of bright mint leaves. +Her artistic efforts called out so much praise from the guests that she +was in a continual state of blushing as she waited on the table. + +"What's the matter with your hand?" asked Migwan, noticing that she was +passing things around left handedly. + +"Nothing," said Hinpoha, "nothing much. I slipped when I was getting the +lilies and fell on my wrist and it feels lame, that's all." + +"Is it sprained?" asked Migwan. + +"Oh, no," said Hinpoha, "I don't think so." + +"It's all swelled up," said Migwan, holding up the injured wrist. "Let +me paint it with iodine and tie it up for you." + +Hinpoha maintained that it was nothing serious, but Migwan insisted. +"Where is the iodine, mother?" she asked. + +"On the pantry shelf," answered Mrs. Gardiner. Migwan got the bottle and +painted Hinpoha's wrist before the party could proceed. Hinpoha surveyed +the brown stripe around her arm rather disgustedly. It was for this very +reason that she had said nothing about the wrist before. She did not +want it painted up for the party. It offended her artistic eye and she +would rather suffer in silence. + +While the guests were sitting at the tables Gladys danced on the lawn +for their entertainment. The merry laughter was hushed in surprise and +delight at her fairylike movements. In the silence which reigned at this +time the thing which happened was distinctly heard by everyone. +Apparently from the depths of the earth there came a muffled thud, thud, +as of a pick striking against hard ground. It kept up for a few minutes +and then ceased, to be renewed again after a short interval. The +dwellers at Onoway House looked at each other. Into each mind there +sprang the story of the Deacon's well, and the words of Farmer +Landsdowne, "_Superstitious folks say you can still hear the buried well +digger striking with his pick against the ground that covers him._" It +was the most mysterious sound, far away and faint, yet seemingly right +under their very feet. Gladys heard it and paused in her dancing. +Pointer and Mr. Bob both heard it and began to bark. In a little while +the thudding noise ceased and was heard no more, and the company were +all left wondering if they could have been the victims of imagination. + +"Maybe it's somebody down cellar," said Calvin, and taking Pointer with +him, went down. Tom followed him. But there was no sign of anyone down +there. Pointer ran around with his nose to the ground as if he were +smelling for footsteps, but his tail kept wagging all the while. They +were all familiar footsteps he scented. Nothing was out of place in the +cellar except that a basket of potatoes was thrown over and the potatoes +had rolled out on the cement floor. The boys noticed this without +thinking anything of it. The mystery of the well digger's ghost remained +unsolved. + +In the cool of the early evening after her guests had departed, Migwan +wandered down into the garden to look at her various plants and flowers. +It occurred to her that she had not paid her Titania Gloria a visit for +several days. But what a sight met her eyes when she reached the spot +where the precious thing had been planted! Not a single bit was left. +The clean cut stalks showed where they had been clipped off close to the +ground. Migwan started up with a cry of dismay which brought the other +girls running to her side. "My Titania Gloria!" gasped Migwan. "Look! +The mysterious visitor has been at work again!" And she told them about +the valuable cuttings that had disappeared so uncannily. + +"We never hear that ghost but what something happens after it!" said +Gladys, in an awestruck tone. The girls peered apprehensively into the +shadows of the tall trees surrounding the garden. + +"What's up?" asked Hinpoha, joining the group. Migwan pointed to the +devastated bed. "What's the matter with it?" asked Hinpoha. + +"My Titania Gloria!" said Migwan. "It's been clipped off at the roots." + +"Your what?" asked Hinpoha. Migwan explained about the rare plant Farmer +Landsdowne had given her. Hinpoha gave a sudden start and exclamation. +"What did you say it was?" she asked. + +"A Titania Gloria," answered Migwan. + +"Well, girls, I'm the guilty one, then," said Hinpoha, "for I cut those +plants off thinking they were mint. That was what I decorated the +platters with this afternoon. Do anything you like with me, Migwan, beat +me, hang me to a tree, put my feet in stocks, or anything, and I'll make +no resistance." She was absolutely frozen to the spot when she realized +what she had done. + +Migwan, grieved as she was over the loss of her cherished Titania, yet +had to laugh at the depths of Hinpoha's mortification. "You old goose!" +she said, putting her arms around her, "don't take it so to heart! It's +my fault, not yours at all, because I didn't tell anyone what that plant +was. And the leaves do look just like mint." Thus she comforted the +discomfited Hinpoha. + +"Migwan," said her mother, when they had returned to the house, "where +did you get that iodine with which you painted Hinpoha's wrist this +afternoon?" + +"On the pantry shelf, just where you told me," answered Migwan. + +"Well," said her mother, "I told you wrong. The iodine is up on my +wash-stand." + +"Then what was in the brown bottle on the pantry shelf?" asked Migwan. +The bottle was produced. + +"Why," said Mrs. Gardiner, "that's walnut stain, guaranteed not to wear +off!" + +Then there was a laugh at Migwan's expense! + + "Old Migwan Hubbard + She went to the cupboard, + To get iodine in a phial, + But she couldn't read plain, + And brought walnut stain, + And now her poor patient looks vile!" + +chanted Sahwah. + +"You're even now," said Gladys, "you've each scored a trick." + +"'_We do this to each other!_'" said Migwan and Hinpoha in the same +breath, and locked fingers and made a wish according to the time-honored +custom. + + + + +CHAPTER XII.--OPHELIA FINDS A FAIRY GODMOTHER. + + +As the summer progressed, the girls had more than one conference as to +what was to become of Ophelia when they left Onoway House. To let her go +back to her life in the slums was unthinkable. So far, Old Grady had +made no effort to get her back, possibly for the simple reason that she +did not know where the child was. They did not even know whether or not +she had a legal claim on Ophelia. All Ophelia knew about the business +was that Old Grady had taken her from the orphan asylum when she was +seven years old. Where she had lived before she went to the orphan +asylum she could not remember, so she must have been very young when she +came there. They were equally unwilling that she should return to the +asylum. + +"If we could only find someone to adopt her," said Hinpoha. That would +be the best thing, they all agreed, although there was a lingering doubt +in the mind of each one as to whether anyone would want to adopt +Ophelia. Grammar was to her a totally unnecessary accomplishment, and +the amount of slang she knew was unending. By dint of hard labor they +had succeeded in making her say "you" instead of "yer," and "to" instead +of "ter," and discard some of her more violent slang phrases, but she +was still obviously a child of the streets and the tenement, and that +life had left its brand upon her. It showed itself constantly in her +speech. They had better success in teaching her table manners, for with +a child's gift of imitation she soon fell into the ways of those around +her. + +But having had so much excitement in her short life she still pined for +it. While the life in the country was pleasant in the extreme it was far +too quiet to suit her and she longed to be back in the crowded tenement +where there was something happening every hour out of the twenty-four; +where people woke to life instead of going to bed when darkness fell and +the lamps were lighted; where street cars clanged and wagons rattled and +fire engines rumbled by; where the harsh voices of newsboys rang out +above the loud conversation of the women on the doorsteps and the +wailing of the babies. The zigging of the grasshoppers and the swishing +of the wind in the Balm of Gilead tree and the murmur of the river had +for her a mournful and desolate sound, and she often covered up her ears +so as not to hear it. When she first came to Onoway House she was so +interested in the new life that it kept her busy all day long finding +out new things; but gradually the novelty wore off. At first she had +been as mischievous as a monkey; always up to some prank or other. She +teased Tom and was teased by him in return; she put burrs in Mr. Bob's +long ears; she climbed trees and threw things down on the heads of +unsuspecting persons underneath; she startled the girls out of their +wits by lying unseen under the couch in the sitting-room and grabbing +their ankles unexpectedly. Always she was doing something, and always +merry and full of life; so that she made the girls feel that they had +done a fine thing by bringing her to Onoway House. + +But of late a change had come over her. She began to droop, and to sit +silent by herself at times. The girls did their best to keep her amused, +but they were very busy with the continual canning, and Betty, who had +more time than the others, did not like her and would not play with her. +So she grew more and more homesick for the big, noisy city and the +playmates of other days. Then had come the time when she was so +sunburned and she had developed the fondness for Sahwah. After that she +was less lonesome, for Sahwah was such a lively person to be attached to +that one had always to be on the lookout for surprises. Sahwah taught +her to swim and dive and ride a bicycle; she had the boys make a swing +for her under the big tree, and Ophelia blossomed once more into +happiness. At Sahwah's instigation she played more tricks on the other +girls than before. + +But Ophelia was a shrewd little person, and she knew that the summer +would come to a close and the girls would not live together any more. +She often heard them discussing their plans. What was to become of her +then? The happy family life at Onoway House stirred in her a desire to +have a home too, and a mother of her own. She began to grow wistful +again and at times her eyes would have a strange far-away look. The +scandals of the streets which were once the breath of life to her and +which she repeated with such relish, began to lose their charm, and she +developed a taste for fairy tales. "Tell me the story about the fairy +godmother," she would say to Sahwah, and would listen attentively to the +end. "Are you sure I've got one somewhere?" she would ask eagerly. + +"You surely have," Sahwah would answer, to satisfy her. + +And then, "What _are_ we going to do with Ophelia when the summer is +over?" Sahwah would ask the girls after Ophelia was in bed. And Hinpoha +would think of Aunt Phoebe and knew she would never adopt such a child as +Ophelia was; and Migwan knew that it would be out of the question in her +family; and Sahwah knew that her mother would not let her come and live +with them; and Gladys thought of her delicate mother and sighed. Nyoda +could not make a home for her, because she had none of her own and a +boarding house was no place for a child. + +"It's a shame," Sahwah would declare vehemently, "that there aren't +fathers and mothers enough in this world to go round. Here's Ophelia +will have to go into an institution more than likely, and grow up +without any especial interest being taken in her, while we have had so +much done for us. It isn't fair." + +"There's something curious about Ophelia," said Gladys, musingly. "While +she came from the tenements and is as wild and untrained as any little +street gamin, she has the appearance of a child of a much higher class. +Have you ever noticed how small and perfect her hands and feet are? And +what beautiful almond shaped fingernails she has? And what delicate +features? Have you seen how erectly she carries herself, and how +graceful she is when she dances? In spite of her name, I don't believe +she is Irish; and I don't think her people could have been low class. +There's an indefinable something about her which spells quality." + +"Probably a princess in disguise," said Sahwah, in a tone of amusement. +"Leave it to Gladys to scent 'quality.'" + +But the others had noticed the same characteristics in Ophelia and were +inclined to agree with Gladys on the subject. + +"But what about the strange spot of light hair on her head?" asked +Sahwah. "Would you call that a mark of quality?" But to this there was +no answer. They had never seen or heard of anything like it before. Thus +the summer days slipped by and Onoway House continued to shelter two +homeless orphans, neither of whom knew what the future held in store for +them. + +One afternoon when the girls had planned to go for a long walk to the +woods Gladys read in the paper that a balloonist was to make an +ascension over the lake. For some unaccountable reason she took a fancy +that she would like to see the performance. "Oh, Gladys," said Sahwah, +impatiently, "you've seen balloonists before and you'll see plenty yet; +come with us this afternoon." But Gladys held out, even while she +wondered to herself why she was so eager to see this not uncommon sight. +Half offended at her, the other girls departed in the direction of the +woods. Gladys climbed high up in the Balm of Gilead tree, from which she +could look over the country for miles around and easily see the lake and +the distant amusement park from which the balloonist was to ascend. + +The newspaper said three o'clock, but evidently the performance was +delayed, for although Gladys was on the lookout since before that time +nothing seemed to be happening. To aid her in seeing she took Nakwisi's +spy glass up into the tree with her, and while she was waiting for the +parachute spectacle she amused herself by focusing the glass on far away +objects on the land and bringing them right before her eyes, as it +seemed. She could look right into the back door of a distant farm house +and see children playing in the doorway and chickens walking up and down +the steps; she could see the men working in the fields; she could see +the yachts out on the lake and the smoky trail of a freight steamer. +Somewhere in the middle of her range of vision were the gleaming rails +of the car tracks. She looked at them idly; they were like long streaks +of light in the sun. She saw two men, evidently tramps, come out of the +bushes along the road and bend over the rails. Somewhere along that +stretch of track there was a derailing switch and it seemed to Gladys +that it was at this point where the men were. Gladys looked at the pair, +suspiciously, for a second and then decided they were track testers. One +had an iron bar in his hand and he seemed to be turning the switch. +Suddenly the other man pointed up the road and then the two jumped +quickly backward into the bushes. Gladys looked in the direction the man +had pointed. Far off down the track she could see the red body of the +"Limited" approaching at a tremendous rate. The stretch of country past +the Centerville Road was flat and even; the track was perfect and there +was no traffic to block the way, and the cars made great speed along +here. Something told Gladys that the men had had no business at the +switch; that they meant to derail and wreck the Limited. Gladys had +learned to think and act quickly since she had become a Camp Fire Girl, +and scarcely had the idea entered her head that the Limited was in +danger, than she conceived the plan of heading it off. Before the car +reached the switch it must pass the Centerville Road. Being the Limited, +it did not stop there. So Gladys planned to run the automobile down the +Centerville Road and flag the car. She flung herself from the tree in +haste, got the machine out of the barn and started down the road with +wide-open throttle. + +Trees and fences whirled dizzily by, obscured in the cloud of dust she +was raising. Across the stillness of the fields she could hear the +Limited pounding down the track. A hundred yards from the end of the +road the automobile engine snorted, choked and went dead. Without +waiting to investigate the trouble, Gladys jumped out and proceeded on +foot. Could she make it? She could see the red monster through the +trees, rushing along to certain destruction. With an inward prayer for +the speed of Antelope Boy, the Indian runner, she darted forward like an +arrow from the bow. Breathless and spent she came out on the car track +just a moment ahead of the thundering car, and waved the scarlet +Winnebago banner, which she had snatched from the wall on the way out. +With a quick jamming of the emergency brakes that shook the car from end +to end it came to a standstill just beyond the Centerville Road, and +only fifty feet from the switch. + +"What's the matter?" asked the motorman, coming out. + +"Look at the switch!" panted Gladys, sinking down beside the road, +unable to say more. + +The motorman looked at the switch. "My God," he said, mopping his +forehead, "if we'd ever run into that thing going at such a rate there +wouldn't have been anyone left to tell the tale." + +The passengers were pouring from the car, eager to find out the reason +for the sudden stoppage. "What's the matter?" was heard on every side. + +"You've got that girl to thank," said the motorman, moving back toward +his vestibule, "that you're not lying in a heap of kindling wood." +Gladys, much abashed and still hardly able to breathe, laid her head on +her knee and sobbed from sheer nervousness and relief. + +"Gladys!" suddenly said a voice above the murmurings of the throng of +passengers. + +Gladys raised her head. "Papa!" she cried, staggering to her feet. "Were +you on that car?" + +Another figure detached itself from the crowd and hastened forward. +"Mother!" cried Gladys. "Oh, if I hadn't been able to stop it--" and at +the horror of the idea her strength deserted her and she slipped quietly +to the ground at her parents' feet. + +When she came to the car had gone on and she was lying in the grass by +the roadside with her head in her mother's lap. "Cheer up, you're all +right," said her mother a little unsteadily, smiling down at her. Gladys +now became aware of two other figures that were standing in the road. + +"Aunt Beatrice!" she cried. "And Uncle Lynn! What are you doing here?" + +"We all came out to surprise you," said her father. "We got back from +the West last night; sooner than we expected, and decided we would run +out without any warning and see what kind of farmers you were. The +automobile is being overhauled so we came on the interurban. We didn't +know it didn't stop at your road." + +Then, Gladys suddenly remembered her own disabled car standing in the +road, and they all moved toward it. With a little tinkering it +condescended to run and they were soon at Onoway House, telling the +exciting tale to Mrs. Gardiner, who held up her hands in horror at the +thought of the fate which the newcomers had so narrowly escaped. Aunt +Beatrice, not being strong, was much agitated, and developed a +palpitation of the heart, and had to lie in the hammock on the porch and +be doctored, so Gladys had her hands full until the girls came back. +They were much surprised at the houseful of company and very glad to see +Mr. and Mrs. Evans, who were very good friends of the Winnebagos indeed. +They looked with interest when Aunt Beatrice was introduced, for they +all remembered the tragic story Gladys had told them about the loss of +her baby in the hotel fire. Aunt Beatrice felt well enough to get up +then and acknowledge the introductions with a sweet but infinitely sad +smile that went straight to their hearts, and brought tears to the eyes +of the soft-hearted Hinpoha. + +Ophelia came in last, having loitered on the lawn to play with Pointer +and Mr. Bob. She had taken off her hat and was swinging it around in her +hand when she came up on the porch. "And this is the little sister of +the Winnebagos," said Nyoda, drawing her forward. Aunt Beatrice looked +down at the dust-streaked little face, with her sad smile, but her eyes +rested there only an instant. She was gazing as if fascinated at the +strange ring of light hair on her head. She became very pale and her +eyes widened until they seemed to be the biggest part of her face. + +"Lynn!" she gasped in a choking voice, "Lynn! Look!" and she sank on the +floor unconscious. "It can't be! It can't be!" she kept saying faintly +when they revived her. "Beatrice died in the fire. But Beatrice had that +ring of light hair on her head! It can't be! But there never were two +such birthmarks!" + +What a hubbub arose when this startling possibility was uttered! +Ophelia, the lost Beatrice? Could it possibly be true? Uncle Lynn lost +no time in finding out. Taking Ophelia with him he hunted up Old Grady. +She knew nothing more save that she had gotten her from an orphan +asylum, which she named. At the asylum he learned what he wanted to +know. The superintendent remembered about Ophelia on account of the +strange ring of light hair. The child had been brought to the +institution when she was about a year old. There was a babies' +dispensary in connection with the place, and into this a weak, haggard +girl of about eighteen had staggered one day carrying a baby. The baby +was sick and she begged them to make it well. While she sat waiting for +the nurse to look at the baby the girl collapsed. She died in a charity +hospital a few days later. On her death-bed she confessed that she had +run away from a large hotel with the baby which had been left in her +care, intending to hide it and get money from the parents for its +recovery. But she feared this would lead her into trouble and left town +with the child and never troubled the parents as she had intended, and +kept the baby with her until it fell sick, when she had become +frightened and sought the dispensary. She apparently never knew that the +hotel had burned and covered up the traces of her flight. The baby was +kept at the orphan asylum and named Ophelia. Her last name had never +been known. Thence Old Grady had adopted her, but her right could be +taken away from her as it was clear that she was no fit person to have +the child. + +"It's just like a fairy tale!" said Hinpoha, when it was established +beyond a doubt that the abused street waif Gladys had brought home in +the goodness of her heart was her own cousin. + +"Didn't I tell you you'd find your fairy godmother if you only waited +long enough?" said Sahwah. And Ophelia, from the depths of her mother's +arms, nodded rapturously. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII.--A GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. + + +"Oh, Gladys, do you have to go home, now that your mother and father are +back?" asked Migwan, anxiously. + +"Not unless you want to, Gladys," said Mrs. Evans. "If you would rather +stay out here until school opens, you may. Father and I are going to +Boston in a few days, you know." + +So there was no breaking up of the group before they all went home, with +the exception of Ophelia, or rather Beatrice, as we will have to call +her from now on, for, of course, she was to go with her mother. + +"What must it be like, anyway," said Hinpoha, "not to have any last name +until you're nine years old and then be introduced to yourself? To +answer to the name of Ophelia one and 'Miss Beatrice Palmer' the next? +It must be rather confusing." + +Little Beatrice went to Boston with her mother and father and uncle and +aunt and Onoway House missed her rather sorely. Calvin Smalley also got +a measure of happiness out of the restoration of the lost child, for +Uncle Lynn was so beside himself with joy over the event that he was +ready to bestow favors on anyone connected with Onoway House, and +promised to see that Calvin got through school and college. He would +give him a place to work in his office Saturdays and vacations. + +For several days now there had been no sign of the mysterious visitor, +and the well digger's ghost had also apparently been laid to rest. Then +one morning they woke to the realization that the unseen agency had been +at work again. Pinned on the front door was a piece of paper on which +was scrawled, + + "_If you folks know what's good for you you'll get out of that + house._" + +"We'll do no such thing!" said Migwan, with unexpected spirit "I've +started out to earn money to go to college by canning tomatoes, and I'm +going to stay here until they're canned; I don't care who likes it or +doesn't." + +"That's it, stand up for your rights," applauded Sahwah. + +"But what possible motive could anyone have for wanting us to get out of +the house?" asked Migwan. Of course, there was no answer to this. + +"Do you suppose the house will be burned down as the tepee was?" asked +Gladys, in rather a scared voice. This suggestion sent a shiver through +them all. + +"We must get the policeman back again to watch," said Mrs. Gardiner. + +Accordingly, the redoubtable constable was brought on the scene again. + +"Well, well, well," he said, fingering the mysterious note. "Thought +he'd come back again now that the coast was clear, did he? You notice, +though, that he didn't make no effort while I was here. You can bet your +life he won't get busy again while I'm here now. You ladies just rest +easy and go on with your peeling." + +Scarcely had he finished speaking, when from the bowels of the earth and +apparently under his very feet, there came the strange sound as of blows +being struck on hard earth or stone. The expression on Dave Beeman's +face was such a mixture of surprise and alarm that the girls could not +keep from laughing, disturbed as they were at the return of the sounds. +"By gum," said the constable, looking furtively around, "this is +certainly a queer business." He had heard the story of the well digger's +ghost and it was very strong in his mind just now. "Maybe it's just as +well not to meddle," he said under his breath. + +Off and on through the day they heard the same sounds issuing from the +ground, and at dusk the weird moaning began again. The constable showed +strong signs of wishing himself elsewhere. When darkness fell the noises +ceased and were heard no more that night. But another sort of moaning +had taken its place. This was the wind, which had been blowing strongly +all day, and early in the evening increased to the proportions of a +hurricane. With wise forethought Sahwah and Nyoda brought the raft and +the rowboat up on land. Leaves, small twigs and thick dust filled the +air. Windows rattled ominously; doors slammed with jarring crashes. +Migwan, foreseeing a devastating storm, set all the girls to picking +tomatoes as fast as they could, whether they were ripe or not, to save +them from being dashed to the ground. They could ripen off the vines +later. + +At last the sandstorm drove them into the house, blinded. Then there +came such a wind as none of them had ever experienced. Trees in the yard +broke like matches; the Balm of Gilead roared like an ocean in a +tempest. There was a constant rattle of pebbles and small objects +against the window panes; then one of the windows in the dining-room was +broken by a branch being hurled against it, and let in a miniature +tempest. Papers blew around the room in great confusion. Migwan rolled +the high topped sideboard in front of the broken pane to keep the wind +out of the room. At times it seemed as if the very house must be coming +down on top of their heads, and they stood with frightened faces in the +front hall ready to dash out at a moment's notice. A crash sounded on +the roof and they thought the time had come, but in a moment they +realized that it was only the chimney falling over. The bricks went +sliding and bumping down the slope of the roof and fell to the ground +over the edge. + +"I pity anybody who's caught in this out in the open," said Migwan. "I +believe the wind is strong enough to blow a horse over. I wonder where +Calvin is now." Calvin had gone to the city with Farmer Landsdowne on +business and intended to remain all night. + +"He's probably all right if he has reached those friends of the +Landsdownes'," said Hinpoha. + +"The Smalleys are out, too," said Sahwah. "I saw them drive past after +dark, going toward town, just before it began to blow so terribly. Oh, +listen! What do you suppose that was?" A crash in the yard told them +that something had happened to the barn. Gladys was in great distress +about the car, and had to be restrained forcibly from running out to see +if it was all right. The wind continued the greater part of the night +and nobody thought of going to bed. By morning it had spent its force. + +Then they looked out on a scene of destruction. The garden was piled +with branches and trunks of trees, and strewn with clothes that had been +hanging on wash-lines somewhere along the road. Up against the porch lay +a wicker chair which they recognized as belonging to a house some +distance away. Everywhere around they could see the corn and wheat lying +flat on the ground, as if trodden by some giant foot. The roof of the +barn had been torn off on one side and reposed on the ground, more or +less shattered. The car was uninjured except that it was covered with a +thick coating of yellow dust. It was well that they had thought to pick +the tomatoes, for the vines and the frames which supported them were +demolished. All the telephone wires were down as far as they could see. + +Calvin was not to return until night, and they felt no great anxiety +about him, but often during the day a disquieting thought came to +Migwan. This was about Uncle Peter, the man who lived in the cottage +among the trees. Suppose something had happened to him? From Sahwah's +report, the house was very old and frail. She watched the Red House +closely for signs of life, but apparently the Smalleys had not returned. +The doors were shut and there was no smoke coming out of the kitchen +chimney. + +"Nyoda," said Migwan, finally, "I'm going over and see if that old man +is all right. I can't rest until I know." + +"All right," said Nyoda, "I'm going with you." Sahwah was over at Mrs. +Landsdowne's, but they remembered her description of the approach to the +cottage, and made the detour around the field where the bull was and the +marsh beyond it, coming up to the cottage from the other side. It was +still standing, although the big tree beside it had been blown over and +lay across the roof. + +"Would you ever think," said Migwan, "that there was anyone living in +there? I could pass it a dozen times and swear it was empty, if I didn't +know about it." + +"Well," said Nyoda, the house is still standing, "so I suppose the old +man is all right." + +"I wonder," said Migwan. "He may have been frightened sick, and he may +have nothing to eat or drink, now that the Smalleys are kept away. We'd +better have a look. He can't hurt us. If Sahwah spent the whole +afternoon with him we needn't be afraid." + +They tried the door, but, of course, found it locked, and were obliged +to resort to the same means of entrance as Sahwah had employed. They saw +the key in the other door just as Sahwah had and turned it and opened +the door. The old man was sitting by the table in just the position +Sahwah had described. Apparently he was neither frightened nor hurt. He +looked up when he saw them in the doorway and motioned them to come in. +There was nothing extraordinary in his appearance; he was simply an old +man with mild blue eyes. Obeying the same impulse of adventure which had +led Sahwah across the threshold, they stepped in and sat down. The room +was just as Sahwah had told them. The table was littered with wheels and +rods which the old man was fitting together. As they expected, he worked +away without taking any notice of them. + +"Did you mind the storm?" asked Nyoda. + +"Storm?" said the old man. "What storm?" + +"He never noticed it!" said Migwan, in an aside to Nyoda. + +"What are you making?" asked Migwan, wishing to hear from his own lips +the explanation he had given Sahwah. + +After his customary interval he spoke. "It's a machine that reclaims +wasted moments," he explained. "Every moment that isn't made good use of +goes down through this little trap door, and when there are enough to +make an hour they join hands and climb up on the face of the clock +again." + +Migwan and Nyoda exchanged glances. The ingenious imagination of the old +man surpassed anything they had ever heard. They stayed awhile, amusing +themselves by looking at the books and clocks in the cabinets, and then +rose, intending to slip away quietly when he was absorbed in his work, +as Sahwah had done. A dish of apples standing on one of the cabinets +indicated that he was not without food and their minds were now at rest +about his welfare. But when they moved toward the door he turned and +looked at them. + +"What do you think of it?" he asked. + +By "it" they figured that he meant the machine he was working on. "It's +a very good one indeed," said Nyoda, "very interesting." + +"Do you want to buy the rights?" asked the old man, taking off his hat +and putting it on again. + +"He thinks he's talking to some capitalist!" whispered Migwan. + +"We'll talk over the plans first among ourselves and let you know our +decision," said Nyoda, not knowing what to say and wishing to appear +politely interested. This speech would give them an opportunity to get +away. But to her surprise Uncle Peter drew a sheet of paper from among +those on the table and gravely handed it to her. + +"Here are the plans," he said. "Take them and look them over and let me +know in a week." Then he fell to work and forgot their presence. Holding +the paper in her hands Nyoda walked out of the room, followed by Migwan. +They left the house as they had entered it and returned by a roundabout +way to Onoway House. Nyoda put the plans of the remarkable machine away +in her room, intending to keep it as a curiosity. Soon afterward they +saw the Smalleys driving into the yard of the Red House. + +It took the girls most of the day to clear the garden of the rubbish +which had been blown into it and tie up the prostrate plants on sticks. +Calvin came back at night safe and relieved the slight anxiety they had +felt about him. As they sat on the porch after supper comparing notes +about the storm they heard the muffled sounds which told that the well +digger's ghost was at work again. It continued throughout the evening. + +"I'll be a wreck if this keeps up much longer," said Migwan. A perpetual +air of uneasiness had fallen on Onoway House and it was impossible to +get anything accomplished. How could they settle down to work or play +with that dreadful thud, thud pounding in their ears every little while? +Dave Beeman had taken himself home after the storm to see what damage +had been done and they were again without the protection of the law. + +"Maybe it's some animal under the ground," suggested Calvin. "It +certainly couldn't be a person down there." This seemed such an +amazingly sensible solution of the mystery that the girls were inclined +to accept it. + +"I suppose imagination does help a lot," said Migwan, "and if we hadn't +heard that story about the well digger we would never have thought of a +man with a pickaxe. It's undoubtedly the movements of an animal we +hear." + +"But what animal lives underground without any air?" asked Sahwah. + +"There's probably a hole somewhere, only we haven't found it," said +Migwan, who seemed determined to believe the animal theory. + +"But what about the note on the door and the lime on the tomatoes and +the burning of the tepee?" asked Sahwah. "You can't blame that onto an +animal, can you?" + +"That's very true," said Migwan, "but it is likely there is no +connection between the two mysteries. It's just a coincidence. I for one +am going to be sensible and stop worrying about that noise in the +ground." And most of them followed Migwan's example. + +The next morning was such a beautiful one that they could not resist +getting up early and running out of doors before breakfast. "Let's play +a game of hide-and-seek," proposed Sahwah. The others agreed readily; +Hinpoha was counted out and had to be "it," and the others scattered to +hide themselves. One by one Hinpoha discovered and "caught" the players, +or they got "in free." Calvin startled her nearly out of her wits by +suddenly dropping out of a tree almost on top of her. + +"Are we all in?" asked Migwan, fanning herself with her handkerchief. +She was out of breath from her strenuous run for the goal. + +"All but Sahwah," said Hinpoha. She started out again to look for her, +turning around every little while to keep a wary eye on the goal lest +Sahwah should spring out from somewhere nearby and reach it before she +did. But Sahwah was evidently hidden at some distance from the goal, and +Hinpoha walked in an ever increasing circle without tempting her out. +The others, tired of waiting for her to be caught, joined in the search +and beat the bushes and hunted through the barn and looked up in the +trees. But no Sahwah did they find. + +Breakfast time neared and Hinpoha called loudly, "In free, Sahwah, +game's over." But Sahwah did not emerge from some cleverly concealed +nook as they expected. + +"Maybe she didn't hear you," said Migwan. "Let's all call." And they all +called, shouting together in perfect unison as they had done on so many +other occasions, making the combined voice carry a great distance. An +echo answered them but that was all. The girls looked at each other +blankly. + +"Do you suppose she's staying hidden on purpose?" asked Calvin. + +"No," said Nyoda, emphatically, "I don't. Sahwah's had enough experience +with causing us worry by disappearing never to do it on purpose again. +She's probably stuck somewhere and can't get out. Do you remember the +time she was shut up in the statue and couldn't talk? Something of the +kind has occurred again, I don't doubt. We'll simply have to search +until we find and release her." + +They began a systematized search and minutely examined every foot of +ground. Thinking that the barn was the most likely place to get into +something and not get out again, they opened every old chest there and +pried into every corner, and moved every article. They went up-stairs +and looked through the lofts and corners. The roof being partly off, it +was as light as day, and if she had been there anywhere they would +surely have seen her. But there was no sign of her. They looked under +the roof of the barn that lay on the ground, thinking that she might +have crawled under that and become pinned down, but she was not there. + +"Could she have fallen into the river?" asked Calvin. + +"It wouldn't have done her any harm if she had," said Hinpoha. "Sahwah's +more at home in the water than she is on land. It wouldn't have been +unlike her to jump in and swim around and duck her head under every time +I came near, but then she would have heard us calling for her and come +out." + +They parted every bush and shrub, and looked closely at the branches of +every tree, half fearing to find her hanging by the hair somewhere. + +"Do you suppose she went up the Balm of Gilead tree and into the attic +window?" asked Migwan. They searched through the attic, and a laborious +search it was, on account of the quantities of furniture and chests to +be moved. They pulled out every drawer and burst open every trunk and +chest, thinking she might have crawled into one and then the lid had +closed with a spring lock. It was fully noon before they were satisfied +that she was not up there. + +"Could she be in the cellar?" asked Hinpoha. Down they went, carrying +lights to look into all the dark corners. But the search was vain. The +girls became extremely frightened. Something told them that Sahwah's +disappearance was not voluntary. They looked at each other with growing +fear. What had the message on the door said? + + "_If you folks know what's good for you you'll get out of that + house._" + +Was that a warning of what had happened now? Was it a friendly or a +sinister warning? Migwan was almost beside herself to think that +anything had happened to Sahwah while she was staying with her. The day +dragged along like a nightmare. In the afternoon Calvin had an +inspiration. "Why didn't I think of it before?" he almost shouted. +"Here's Pointer; he's a hunting dog and can follow a trail. We'll set +him to find Sahwah's trail." + +"That's right," said Migwan, in relief, "we'll surely find her now." + +They gave Pointer a shoe of Sahwah's and in a moment he had started off +with his nose to the ground. But if they had expected him to lead them +to her hiding-place they were disappointed, for all he did was follow +the trail around the garden between the house and the river. Once he +went down cellar, straining hard at the chain which held him, and they +were sure he would find something they had overlooked in their search, +but the trail ended in front of the fruit cellar. + +"Sahwah came down here early this morning to bring up those melons, +don't you remember?" said Migwan. "That's all Pointer has found out." +They kept Pointer at it for some time, but he never offered to leave the +garden. + +"Are you sure he's on the trail?" asked Hinpoha, doubtfully. + +"Yes," said Calvin, "he never whines that way unless he is. That long +howl is the hunting dog's signal that he's on the job. When he loses the +trail he runs back and forth uncertainly." + +"According to that, Sahwah must be very near," said Gladys. "Are you +sure there isn't any other place in the house, cellar or barn that she +could have gotten into, Migwan?" + +"Quite sure," said Migwan, disheartened. "You know yourself the way we +finecombed every foot of space." + +"There's another thing that might have made Pointer lose the trail," +said Nyoda. "Do you remember that he stopped short at the river once? +Well, it is my belief that Sahwah ran down to the river and either fell +or jumped in and swam away. That would destroy the trail, and Sahwah +might be miles away for all we know." She carefully refrained from +suggesting that anything had happened to Sahwah and she might have gone +under the water and not come up again, but there was a fear tugging at +her heart that Sahwah had dived in and struck her head on something and +gone down. + +But several of the others must have had much the same thought, for +Gladys remarked, without any apparent connection, "_You can see the +bottom almost all the way down the river._" + +And Hinpoha said, "_Those tangled roots of trees in the river are nasty +things to get into._" + +And Calvin set the dog free immediately and untied the rowboat. He and +Nyoda rowed down the river while the rest followed along the banks. The +stream was clear most of the distance and they could see to the bottom. +Here and there were sharp rocks jutting up and casting shadows on the +sunlit bottom, and in places the water had washed the dirt away from the +roots of trees so that they extended out into the river like +many-fingered creatures waiting to seize their prey. But nowhere did +they see what they feared. In the lower part of the river, toward the +mouth, the water was deeper and had been dredged free of all +obstructions, so while it was muddy and they could not see into its +depths they knew that nothing was to be found here. + +Vaguely relieved and yet dreadfully anxious and mystified they returned +to Onoway House. "Do you suppose she was carried away by an automobile +or wagon?" asked Migwan. "Does anyone recall seeing anything of the kind +going by when we started to play?" Nobody did. While they were +discussing this new theory, Pointer, who had been left to run loose +while they were searching the river, came running up to them. With much +wagging of his tail he went to Calvin and laid something at his feet For +a moment they could not make out what it was. Migwan recognized it +first. + +_It was Sahwah's shoe, completely covered and dripping with black mud._ + +"Where did you find it, Pointer?" asked Calvin. Pointer wagged his tail +in evident satisfaction, but, of course, he could not answer his +master's question. + +"Is that the shoe Sahwah had on this morning?" asked Nyoda. + +"Yes," said Hinpoha. "I remember asking her why she wore those shoes +with the red buttons to run around in and she said they were getting +tight and she wanted to wear them out." + +"Where does that black mud come from around here?" asked Gladys. + +It was Nyoda who guessed the dreadful fact first. All of a sudden she +remembered cleaning her shoes after she had come home from her visit to +Uncle Peter. + +"_The marsh!_" she gasped. "_Sahwah's caught in the marsh!_ It's the +same mud. I went to the edge of the marsh the other day to see it and +got some on my shoe." + +Without stopping to hear more, Calvin dashed off in the direction of his +father's farm, with Pointer at his heels and Gladys and Nyoda and +Hinpoha and Migwan and Tom and Betty trailing after him as fast as they +could go. Mrs. Gardiner followed a little distance behind. She could not +keep up with them. Calvin tore a flat board from one of the fences as he +ran along and called on the others to do the same thing. A little +farther on he found a rope and took that along. They reached the edge of +the marsh and looked eagerly for the figure of Sahwah imprisoned in the +treacherous ooze. But the green surface smiled up innocently at them. +Not a sign of a struggle, no indentation in the level, no break. To the +unknowing it looked like the smoothest lawn lying like a sheet of +emerald in the sun. But on second glance you saw the water bubbling up +through the grass and then you knew the secret of the greenness. Nowhere +could they see Sahwah. + +Migwan had to force herself to ask the question that was in everybody's +mind. "Has she gone under?" + +"No," said Calvin, positively. "It can't be possible in so short a time. +They say that a horse went down here once long ago, and it took him more +than two days to be covered entirely." + +After being wrought up to such a pitch of expectancy it was a shock to +find that Sahwah was not in the marsh. _But how had her shoe come to be +covered with marsh mud, and what was it doing off her foot?_ Where had +Pointer found it? + +"Oh, if only dogs could speak!" said Hinpoha. "Pointer, Pointer, where +did you find it?" But Pointer could only wag his tail and bark. + +From where they stood at the edge of the marsh they could see the +cottage among the trees. A look of inquiry passed between Nyoda and +Migwan. Calvin saw the look and understood it. + +"Would you like to look in Uncle Peter's house?" he asked. His face was +very pale, and Nyoda, watching him keenly, thought she detected a sudden +suspicion and fear in his eyes. He looked apprehensively over his +shoulder at the Red House as they started to skirt the bog. Nyoda +understood that movement. Abner Smalley did not know that they knew +about Uncle Peter, and Calvin had said he would be very angry if he +found it out. Now he would be sure to see them going toward the house. +But this thought did not make Nyoda waver in her determination to search +the cottage. The urgency of the occasion released them from their +promise of secrecy. As Calvin had no key they were obliged to enter by +the window as on former occasions. But the front room was absolutely +blank and bare and they saw the impossibility of anyone's being hidden +there. It was a tense moment when they opened the door of the inner room +and the girls who had never been there stepped behind the others and +held their breath. Uncle Peter sat at the table just as Nyoda and Migwan +had seen him a day or two before, playing with his rods and wheels. His +mild blue eyes rested in astonishment on the number of people who +thronged the doorway. + +"Come in, ladies," he said, politely. The room was exactly as it had +been the other day and apparently he had not stirred from his position. +They all felt that Sahwah had not been there and that the old man knew +nothing about the matter. But Calvin spoke to him. + +"Uncle Peter," he said. The man turned at the name and stared at him but +gave no sign of recognizing him. "Do you know me, Uncle Peter?" said +Calvin. "It's Calvin, Jim's boy." + +The old man smiled vacantly and held out the bit of machinery he was +working on. "It's a machine for saving time," he said. "As the minutes +are ticked off----" There was nothing to be gotten out of him, and they +withdrew again. Calvin looked around him fearfully as they returned +through the fields, to see if his uncle had watched him take the girls +to the cottage, but there was no sign of him anywhere, at which he +breathed an unconscious sigh of relief. Tired out with their ceaseless +searching and sick with anxiety, they returned to Onoway House. + +If we were writing an ingeniously intricate detective story the thing to +do would be to wait until Sahwah was discovered by some brilliant piece +of detective work and then have her tell her story, leaving the +explanation of the mystery until the last chapter, and keeping the +reader on the verge of nervous prostration to the end of the piece. But, +as this is only a faithful narrative of actual events, and as Sahwah is +our heroine as much as any of the girls, we know that the reader would +much prefer to follow her adventures with their own eyes, rather than +hear about them later when she tells the story to the wondering +household. And we also think it only fair to say that if Sahwah's return +had depended on any brilliant detective work on the part of the others +we have very grave doubts as to its ever being accomplished. We will, +then, leave the dwellers at Onoway House to their searching and +theorizing and bewailing, and follow Sahwah from the time they started +to play hide-and-seek and Hinpoha blinded her eyes and began to count +"five, ten, fifteen, twenty." + +Sahwah ran across the garden toward the house, intending to swing +herself into one of the open cellar windows. Near this window was a +flower bed which Migwan had filled with especially rich black soil. That +morning she had watered the bed and had done it so thoroughly that the +ground was turned into a very soft mud. Sahwah, not looking where she +was going, stepped into this mud and sank in over her shoe top with one +foot. When she had entered the window she stood on the cellar floor and +regarded the muddy shoe disgustedly. Feeling that it was wet through, +she ripped it off and flung it out of the window. It landed back in the +muddy bed and was hidden by the growing plants. Sahwah then proceeded to +hide herself in the fruit cellar. This was a partitioned off place in a +dark corner. She sat among the cupboards and baskets and watched Hinpoha +pass the window several times as she hunted for the players. Once +Hinpoha peered searchingly into the window and Sahwah thought she was on +the verge of being discovered and pressed back in her corner. There was +a basket of potatoes in the way of her getting quite into the corner and +she moved this out. There was also a barrel of vinegar and she slipped +in behind this. As she moved the barrel it dropped back upon her +shoeless foot and it was all she could do to repress a cry of pain as +she stood and held the battered member in her hand. But the pain became +so bad she decided to give up the game and get something to relieve it. +She pushed hard against the barrel to move it out, but this time it +would not move. She pushed harder, bracing her back against the wooden +wall behind her, when, without warning, the wall caved in as if by +magic, and she fell backwards head over heels into inky darkness. The +wall through which she had fallen closed with a bang. + +Sahwah sat up and reached mechanically for the hurt foot. The pain had +increased alarmingly and for a time shut out all other sensations. Then +it abated a little and Sahwah had time to wonder what she had fallen +into. She was sitting on a stone floor, she could make that out. It must +be a room of some kind, she decided, but the darkness was so intense +that she could make nothing out. "There must have been another part to +the cellar behind the fruit cellar, although we never knew it," thought +Sahwah, "and the back of the fruit cellar was the door." As soon as she +could stand upon her foot again she moved forward in the direction from +which she thought she had come and searched with her hands for a +doorknob. But her fingers encountered only a smooth wall surface and +after about five minutes of careful feeling she came to the startled +conclusion that there was no such thing. "I must have got turned around +when I tumbled," she thought, "and am feeling of the wrong wall." She +accordingly moved forward until her outstretched hands encountered +another hard surface and she repeated the process of looking for a +doorknob. No more success here. "Well, there are four walls to every +room," thought Sahwah, "and I've still got two more trys." Again she +moved out cautiously and with ever increasing nervousness admitted that +there was no door in that direction. "Now for the fourth side, the right +one at last," she said to herself. "One, two, three, out goes me!" She +moved quickly in the fourth and last direction. Without warning she ran +hard into something which tripped her up. She felt her head striking +violently against something hard and then she knew no more. + +She woke to a dream consciousness first. She dreamed she was lying in +the soft sand on the lake shore near one of the great stone piers, where +a number of men were at work. They were pounding the stones with great +hammers and the vibrations from the blows shook the beach and went +through her as she lay on the sand. Gradually the sparkling water faded +from her sight; the sky grew dark and night fell, but still the blows +continued to sound on the stone. Just where the dream ended and reality +began she never knew, but, with a rush of consciousness she knew that +she was awake and alive; that everything was dark and that she was lying +on her face in something soft that was like sand and yet not like it. +And the pounding she had heard in her dream was still going on. Thud, +thud, it shook the earth and jarred her so her teeth were on edge. For a +long time she lay and listened without wondering much what it was. Her +head ached with such intensity that it might have been the throbbing of +her temples that was shaking the earth so. After a while that dulled, +but the jarring blows still kept up. With a cessation of the pain came +the power to think and Sahwah remembered the strange noises they had +heard issuing from the ground. It must be the same noise; only it was a +hundred times louder now. It was a sort of clanging thump; like the +sound of steel on stone. Even with all that noise going on Sahwah +slipped off into half consciousness at times. Although there did not +seem to be any doors or windows, she was not suffering for lack of air, +but at the time she was too dazed to notice this and wonder at it. + +She woke with a start from one of these dozes to the realization that +there was a broad streak of light on the floor. Fully conscious now, she +raised her head and looked around. She was lying in a bin filled with +sawdust. When she held up her head her eyes came just to the top of it. +By the light she could see that she was indeed in a sort of sub-cellar. +It must have been older than the other cellar for the floor was made of +great slabs of mouldy stone. Her eyes followed the beam of light and she +saw that a door had been opened into still another cellar beyond. In +this chamber a lantern stood on the floor, whence came the light, and +its ray produced weird and fantastic moving shadows. These shadows came +from a man who was wielding a pickaxe against a spot in the stone wall. +It was this that was causing the jarring blows. Startled almost out of +her senses at seeing a man thus apparently caged up in the sub-cellar of +Onoway House, Sahwah could only lay back with a gasp. She could not +raise her voice to cry out had she been so inclined. + +But fast on the heels of that shock came another. The worker paused in +his exertions to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and stood where +the light of the lantern shone full in his face. Sahwah's heart gave a +great leap when she recognized Abner Smalley. Abner Smalley in the +hidden sub-cellar of Onoway House, digging a hole in the wall! Sahwah +forgot her own plight in curiosity as to what he was doing. She lay and +watched him fascinated while he resumed his pounding. So he was the +mysterious intruder who had wrought such terror among them! This, then, +was the well digger's ghost! What could he be searching for in the +cellar of his neighbor's house? Sahwah dug her feet into the soft +sawdust as she watched the pick rise and fall. She had no idea of the +flight of time. She thought it was only a few minutes since she had +fallen into the sub-cellar. She lay thinking of the expressions on the +faces of the girls when she would tell them her discovery. To think that +she had been the one to solve the mystery! She felt a little +disappointed that the mysterious intruder should have turned out to be +someone they knew. It would have been more in keeping with her idea of +romance to have found a prince shut up in the cellar. + +While she was thinking these thoughts the light suddenly vanished and +she heard the bang of a door shutting. She was in darkness once more. In +a moment she heard footsteps retreating and dying away in the distance. +All was silent again. It took her some moments to collect her thoughts +sufficiently to realize a new and significant fact. _Abner Smalley had +not gone out by the door into the fruit cellar. There must be, then, +another way of egress from the sub-cellar._ Instantly Sahwah made up her +mind to follow him and see how he had gotten out at the other end. Her +feet were imbedded deeply in the sawdust and she became aware of the +fact that her shoeless foot was resting against something with a sharp +edge. She drew it away and then carefully felt with her hands for the +object. She could not see it when she had it but it felt like a metal +box of some kind, possibly tin. She carried it with her and moved toward +the place where she now knew there was a door. She found the handle +easily and opened it. This was the side of the wall toward which she had +moved when she had run into the bin before, and so she did not discover +it. A strong breath of air struck her as she advanced into this chamber. +It was scarcely more than a passage, for by reaching out her arms she +could touch the wall on both sides. She moved cautiously, fearing to +fall again in the dark. She felt the place in the wall where Abner +Smalley had made an indentation with his pick. She was wondering where +this passage led and wishing it would come to an end soon, when she +struck the already sore foot against what must have been the pickaxe set +against the wall and fell on her nose once more. The tin box she carried +was rammed into the pit of her stomach and knocked the breath out of +her, but this time she had not hit her head. + +She lay still for a moment trying to get her breath back. Her eyes were +becoming accustomed to the inky darkness by this time. She looked down +and saw a stone floor beneath her. She turned her head to one side and +saw a stone wall beside her. She turned over altogether and looked +up--and saw the constellation Cassiopea flashing down at her from the +sky. For a moment she could not believe her senses. Of all the strange +sights she had seen nothing had affected her so powerfully as the sight +of that familiar group of stars. What she had expected to see she could +not tell, stone perhaps, but anything except the open sky. She sat up in +a hurry and began to investigate where she was. The wall around her +seemed to be circular and all of a sudden Sahwah had the answer. She was +in the cistern--the old unused cistern which was not a great distance +from the house. This, then, was the opening of the sub-cellar, the way +in which Mr. Smalley had made his escape. There was usually a covering +over the cistern, but he had evidently been in a hurry and left it off. + +The fact that there were stars out took Sahwah's breath away. It was +night then; had she been in that cellar all day? It was inconceivable, +yet it was undoubtedly true. By the faint glimmer of the stars she could +make out that there were hollows in the stone side of the cistern by +which a person could easily climb out. She lost no time in climbing when +she made this discovery. What a joy it was to be coming up into God's +outdoors again! As she emerged from the cistern she saw Migwan standing +in the garden beside the back porch. The moon shone full on her as she +stepped out of the hole in the ground and just then Migwan caught sight +of her. The apparition was too much for Migwan and she screamed one +terrified scream after another until the girls came running from all +over to see what fresh calamity had happened. Only seeing Sahwah +standing in their midst and not having seen her appear magically out of +the depths of the ground, they could not understand Migwan's terror. + +"Stop screaming, Migwan," said Sahwah, and when Migwan heard her voice +and saw that it was really she, she quieted down and listened while +Sahwah told her tale of adventure since going down into the cellar to +hide. The day had passed so quickly for Sahwah, she having lain +unconscious until late in the afternoon, that she, of course, knew +nothing of their frantic search for her and so could not comprehend why +they made such a fuss over her return. They laughed and cried all at +once and hugged her until she finally protested. + +"What have you brought along as a souvenir of your trip?" asked Nyoda, +who had regained her light-hearted manner now that Sahwah was safely +back. + +Sahwah looked down at the box she held in her hand. "I found it in the +bin of sawdust," she said. "It was just like playing 'Fish-pond' at the +children's parties. You put your hand in a box of sawdust and draw out a +handsome prize." And Sahwah laughed, her familiar long drawn-out giggle, +that they had despaired of ever hearing again. She laid the box on the +table. It was of tin, about nine inches long by three inches wide by +three high, with a closely fitting cover. "Shall I open it, Nyoda?" she +asked. + +"I don't see any harm in doing so," said Nyoda. Sahwah took off the +cover. There was nothing in the box but a folded piece of paper. She +took it and spread it before them on the table. + +"What is it?" they all cried, crowding around. The first thing that +caught their eye was a slanting line drawn across the paper in heavy +ink. There was some writing beside it, but this was so faded that it +took some studying to make it out. Finally they got it. It read: + +"_Supposed extension of gas vein._" The upper end of the line was marked +"_36 feet west of cistern._" There was a cross at that point also, and +this was marked, "_Place where gas was struck at 300 feet._" + +"The Deacon's gas well!" they all exclaimed in chorus. It was true, +then. + +"And there was a well digger's ghost, even if it didn't turn out to be +the one we expected!" said Migwan. + +That day was never to be forgotten, although the next cleared up the +mystery and brought still another surprise. Dave Beeman, the constable, +was once more brought out and this time furnished with information that +nearly caused his eyes to start from his head. Abner Smalley, the (as +everyone supposed) respectable citizen of Centerville Road, breaking +into his neighbor's house and deliberately trying to dig a hole in the +stone wall. It was the sensation of his career. "Well, I'll be +jiggered!" he gasped. + +But his surprise was nothing compared to Abner Smalley's when he was +confronted with the accusation without warning. He turned so pale and +trembled so much that it was useless to deny his guilt. + +"You are guilty, Abney Smalley," said the constable, in such a solemn +tone that the girls could hardly keep straight faces. "You'd better make +a clean breast of it and tell what you were doing in that house or it +might go hard with you." + +Abner Smalley, although he was a bully by nature, was a coward when the +odds were against him, and he had always had a wholesome fear of the +law, so at Dave Beeman's suggestion he decided to "make a clean breast +of it." We will not weary the reader with all the conversation that took +place, but will simply tell the facts of the story. + +Some time ago, while the old caretaker lived on the place yet, the story +of the Deacon's gas well had come to Abner Smalley's ears. He heard a +fact connected with it, however, that was not generally known, namely, +that the Deacon had made a record of the place where the gas was found. +Believing that the Deacon had left it hidden somewhere in the house, he +had devised a means of breaking in and searching for it. His first plan +had been to frighten the dwellers in the house and make them believe +there was a ghost in the attic so they would give the place a wide berth +at night and leave him free to ransack the Deacon's old furniture. He +frightened the Mitchells so that they moved. But no sooner had the +Mitchells departed than the new caretakers had come; and they were a +much bigger houseful than the others. + +He had tried the same plan with them as he had with the others, namely, +mysterious noises around the place at night. But what had frightened +Mrs. Mitchell into moving had no effect on these new farmers. They shot +off a gun when he was doing his best ghost stunt, namely, blowing into a +bottle, which had produced that weird moaning sound. He it was who had +dressed up as a ghost and appeared to Nyoda in the tepee; throwing the +red pepper into her face when she made as if to attack him with a pole. +It was he whom they had seen coming out of the barn that night, and +later it was he again whom Migwan had seen during the hail storm. He had +disappeared so utterly by jumping down the cistern. That was the first +time he had been down, and on this occasion he had discovered the +passage leading to the sub-cellar. It was he the girls had heard in the +attic on numerous occasions. He had entered and gone out after dark by +means of the Balm of Gilead tree. One time he broke the window. He had +been down cellar that night when Sahwah nearly caught him. He was +looking for the other entrance to the sub-cellar, which he never found. +He knocked over the basket of potatoes which had mystified them so. He +had been on the point of entering the house that day when Sahwah +suddenly returned from town after he thought the whole family was gone +for the day. When he saw her go off along the river he went in anyway +and was nearly caught in the attic by the girls. He had escaped +detection by hiding in a large chest. + +The day they had gone for the picnic he saw them go and spent all day +looking through the desks in the house. Finally the dog barked so he +gave him the poisoned meat he had brought along to use if necessary. +Then the family had returned and he had had a narrow escape into the +cistern. He had stayed there until night, when he had set fire to the +tepee, not knowing that anyone was sleeping in it. After starting the +blaze he had again sought refuge in the cistern and when the crowd had +gathered, came out in their midst so that his absence from such an +exciting event in the neighborhood would cause no comment among the +farmers. The cistern was in the shadow and everyone was watching the +fire so intently that he was able to emerge unseen. + +He had sprayed the tomatoes with lime and written the note which they +found on the door. He had left the chisel in the automobile on one +occasion when he had been hunting through the things in the barn; +forgetting to take it with him when he went out. + +He wanted to get hold of that record secretly and be sure whether the +great vein of gas which the Deacon knew existed was on the property now +owned by the Bartletts or that of the Landsdownes, and then he was going +to buy that property before the owners knew about the gas, as the land +would be worth a fortune if that fact ever became known. He was pretty +sure, after discovering that sub-cellar, that the Deacon had left his +papers down there when he went to California. By pounding on the walls +he had discovered one place which he was sure was hollow. If the stone +that covered the place could be removed by any trick he failed to +discover it and had to resort to digging it out with a pick. This, as we +already know, produced the dull thudding sound underground which had +frightened the household almost out of their wits. The reason he could +prowl around in the yard at night after they had set the dog to watch +was that Pointer knew him and made no disturbance upon seeing him. + +Abner Smalley was marched off triumphantly by Dave Beeman, and was held +on such a complicated charge of house-breaking, arson, assault and +battery, and intimidating peaceful citizens, that it took the combined +efforts of the village to draw it up. Thus ended the great mystery which +had kept Onoway House in more or less of an uproar all summer. + +"I never saw anything like the way we Winnebagos have of falling into +things," said Sahwah. "Here Mr. Smalley made such elaborate efforts to +find that record, using up more energy and ingenuity than it would take +to dig up the whole farm and hunt for the gas well; and he didn't find +it in the end; and all I did was drop in on top of it without even +suspecting its existence." + +"There must be a special destiny that guides us," said Migwan. "Perhaps +we possess an enchanted goblet, like the 'Luck of Edenhall,' only it's +'The Luck of the Winnebagos.'" + +"Cheer for the 'Luck of the Winnebagos,'" said Sahwah, who never lost an +occasion to raise a cheer on any pretext. And at that Sahwah never +dreamed of the extent of the good fortune she had brought the Bartletts +by her lucky tumble. The vein of gas which was struck when they +subsequently drilled proved a sensation even in that notable gas region +and made millionaires of its owners. And the reward which Sahwah +received for finding the record, and that which the others received +"just for living," as Migwan expressed it--for though they had not found +the sub-cellar themselves it was due to their game that Sahwah had found +it--drove the memory of their fright from their heads. But we are getting +a little ahead of our story. There is one more chapter yet to the Luck +of the Winnebagos before that remarkable summer came to an end. + +After the departure of Abner Smalley things grew so quiet at Onoway +House that Migwan, who had declared before that she would be a wreck if +the excitement did not cease soon, was now complaining that things +seemed flat and she wished the mystery hadn't been cleared up because it +robbed them of their chief topic of conversation. + +"Well, I'm going to take advantage of the quiet atmosphere and +straighten out my bureau drawers," said Nyoda. "I haven't been able to +put my mind to it with all this excitement going on. And they're a sight +since you girls went rummaging for things for the Thieves' Market." In +doing this she came upon that strange creation of Uncle Peter's brain, +the plan for the "Wasted Minute Saving Machine." She showed it to the +girls and they examined it wonderingly. + +"What is this on the other side?" asked Migwan. "It's a will!" she +cried, reading it through. "It says, 'I, Adam Smalley, give and +bequeathe my farm on the Centerville Road to my son Jim, as Abner has +already had his share in cash.'" + +"Let me see!" cried Calvin. "It's the latest one!" he shouted, reading +the date. "It's dated 1902 and the one Uncle Abner found was 1900. The +farm is mine after all! Uncle Peter had this will in his possession and +didn't know it! How can I thank you girls for what you've done for me?" + +"It was all Migwan's fault," said Hinpoha. "She insisted upon going to +see whether the old man was all right after the storm." + +Migwan declared that she had had nothing to do with it; it was the Luck +of the Winnebagos that had given her the inspiration. But Calvin knew +well that in this case the Luck of the Winnebagos was only Migwan's own +thoughtfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV.--GOOD-BYE TO ONOWAY HOUSE. + + +By the first of September Migwan had made enough money from the sale of +canned tomatoes to more than pay her way through college the first year. +"It's Mother Nature who has been my fairy godmother," she said to the +girls. "I asked her for the money to go to college and she put her hand +deep into her earth pocket and brought it out for me. It's like the +magic gardens in the fairy tales where the money grew on the bushes." + +"What a summer this has been, to be sure," said Hinpoha, who was in a +reflective mood. They were all sitting in the orchard, busy with various +sorts of handwork. The day was hot and drowsy and the shade of the trees +most inviting. "Migwan and I thought we would have such a quiet time +together, just we two. She was going to write a book and I was going to +illustrate it, when we weren't working in the garden. And how +differently it all turned out! One by one you other girls came--I'll +never forget how funny Gladys and Nyoda looked when they came out that +night, and how surprised Sahwah was to find you here when she arrived. +Then Gladys brought Ophelia, I mean Beatrice, and after that we never +had a quiet moment. Then the mystery began and kept up all summer. +Instead of these three months being a quiet rest they've been the most +thrilling time of my life." + +"It seems to have agreed with you, though," said Sahwah, mischievously, +whereupon there was a general laugh, for Hinpoha, instead of growing +thin with all the worry and excitement, had actually gained five pounds. + +"As much worry as it caused me," said Migwan, "I'm glad everything +happened as it did. The summer I had looked forward to would have been +horribly dull and uninteresting, but now I feel that I've had some real +experiences. I've got enough ideas for stories to last for years to +come." + +"And for moving picture plays," said Hinpoha. "But," she added, "if you +go in for that sort of thing seriously, where am I coming in? You know +we made a compact; I was to illustrate everything you wrote, and how am +I going to illustrate moving picture plays?" + +There was a ripple of amusement at her perplexity. "You'll have to +illustrate them by acting them out," said Gladys. They all agreed +Hinpoha would make a hit as a motion picture actress, all but Sahwah, +who dropped her eyes to her lap when Migwan began to talk about moving +pictures, and presently went into the house to fetch something she +needed for her work. When she came out again the subject had been +changed and was no longer embarrassing to her. + +"What will the Bartletts say when they hear the peach crop was ruined by +the wind storm?" asked Hinpoha. + +"That's the only thing about our summer experience that I really +regret," answered Migwan. "I wrote and told them about it, of course, +when I told them about the gas well, and Mrs. Bartlett said we shouldn't +worry about it and that we ourselves were a crop of peaches." + +"The dear thing!" said Gladys. "I should love to see the Bartletts again +some time; they were so friendly to us last summer, and it is all due to +them that we have had such a glorious time this summer." + +Scarcely had she spoken when an automobile entered the drive and stopped +beside the house. Migwan ran out to see who it was. The next moment she +had her arms around the neck of a pretty little woman. "Oh, Mrs. +Bartlett!" she cried. "Did the fairies bring you? We just made a wish to +see you." + +Soon the girls were all flocking around the car, shaking hands with Mr. +and Mrs. Bartlett, and making a fuss over little Raymond. How the +Bartletts did sit up in astonishment when all the events of the summer +were told in detail! "Well, you certainly are trumps for sticking it +out," said Mr. Bartlett, admiringly. "Nobody but a bunch of Camp Fire +Girls would have done it." At which the Winnebagos glowed with pride. + +Now that the Bartletts had come to stay at Onoway House, Migwan decided +she would go home a week earlier than she had planned, as there was not +enough room for so many people there. Aunt Phoebe and the Doctor were in +town again, so Hinpoha could go home if she wished; and Sahwah's mother +had also returned. They were a little sorry to break up so abruptly when +they had planned quite a few things for that last week to celebrate the +finishing of the canning, but all agreed that under the circumstances it +was the best thing they could do. + +"I really need a week at home," said Migwan with a twinkle in her eye, +"to rest up from my vacation. There I'll get the peace and quiet that I +came here to seek." Take care, O Migwan, how you talk! Once before you +predicted peace and quiet, and see what happened! + +Before they went, however, they must have one more big time altogether, +Mrs. Bartlett insisted, and she went into town on purpose to bring out +Nakwisi and Chapa and Medmangi. Close behind them came another car which +also stopped at Onoway House, and out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Evans +and Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Lynn and little Beatrice, the latter dressed +up in wonderful new clothes and already subtly changed, but still eager +to romp with the girls and tag after Sahwah. + +"See here," said Mr. Evans, when they were all talking about going home +the next day, "you girls have been working pretty hard this summer, and +haven't had a real vacation yet, why don't you go for an automobile trip +the last week? Gladys has her car; that is, if it came through all the +excitement alive, and mother and I would be willing to let you take the +other one. Go on a run of say a thousand miles or so, and see a few +cities. The change will do you good." + +"Oh, papa!" cried Gladys, clapping her hands in rapture. "That will be +wonderful!" And the other girls fell in love with the idea on the spot. + +As this was to be their last night at Onoway House nothing was left +undone that would make the occasion a happy one. The evening was fine +and warm and the stars hung in the sky like great jeweled lamps. With +one accord they all sought the garden and the orchard, where Gladys +danced on the grass in the moonlight like a real fairy. Then all the +girls danced together, until Mrs. Evans declared that they looked like +the dancing nymphs in the Corot picture. And Beatrice, who had been +taught those same things during the summer, broke away from her mother +and joined in the dance, as light and graceful as Gladys herself. It was +plain to see that she had the gift which ran in the family, and as her +mother watched her with a thrill of pride her heart overflowed anew in +thankfulness to the girls who had restored her daughter to her. + +"On such a night," quoted Migwan, looking up at the moon, "Leander swam +the Hellespont----" + +"The river!" cried Sahwah, immediately, "we must go out on the river +once more. Oh, how can I say good-bye to the Tortoise-Crab?" And she +shed imaginary tears into her handkerchief. + +"Let's go for one more float," cried all the girls. + +The grown-ups strolled down to the river bank and sat on the grassy +slope, watching with indulgent interest what the girls were going to do +next. They saw them coming far up the river and heard their song as it +was wafted down on the scented breeze. Slowly and majestically the raft +approached, with Sahwah standing up and guiding it with the pole. When +it had come nearer the onlookers saw a romantic spectacle indeed. Gladys +reposed on a bed of flowers and leaves, under a canopy of branches and +vines, a ravishingly lovely Cleopatra. Beside her knelt Antony, +otherwise Migwan, holding out to her a big white water lily. The other +Winnebagos, as slave maidens, sat on the raft and wove flower wreaths or +fanned their lovely mistress with leaf fans. It was the slaves who were +doing the singing and their clear voices rang out with wonderful harmony +on the enchanted air. On they came, past the spot where Sahwah had been +hidden on the afternoon of the moving pictures; past the Lorelei Rock, +where they had held that other pageant which had frightened Calvin so; +past the spot where they lay concealed and watched the strange manoeuvers +of the supposed Venoti gang. Each rock and tree along the stream was +pregnant with memories of that eventful summer, and they could hardly +believe that they were saying good-bye to it all. + +Now they were opposite the watchers on the bank and the murmurs of +admiration reached their ears as they floated past. "What lovely +voices----" + +"What wonderful imaginations those girls have----" + +"How beautifully they work together----" + +Calvin looked on in speechless admiration, his eyes for the most part on +Migwan. Never in his life had he regretted anything so much as he did +the fact that these jolly friends of his were going away. He was to stay +on his farm after all and now the prospect suddenly seemed empty. + +The voices of the onlookers blended in the ears of the boaters with the +murmur of the river as it flowed over the stones, and with the sighing +of the wind in the willows as the raft passed on. + +And here let us leave the Winnebagos for a time as we love best to see +them, all together on the water, their voices raised in the wonder song +of youth as they float down the river under the spell of the magic +moonlight. + + THE END. + +The next volume in this series is entitled: The Camp Fire Girls Go +Motoring; or, Along the Road that Leads the Way. + + * * * * * + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY. The only series of stories for Camp Fire Girls +endorsed by the officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization. + +PRICE, 40 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, + The Winnebagos go Camping. + +This lively Camp Fire group and their Guardian go back to Nature in a +camp in the wilds of Maine and pile up more adventures in one summer +than they have had in all their previous vacations put together. Before +the summer is over they have transformed Gladys, the frivolous boarding +school girl, into a genuine Winnebago. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, + The Wohelo Weavers. + +It is the custom of the Winnebagos to weave the events of their lives +into symbolic bead bands, instead of keeping a diary. All commendatory +doings are worked out in bright colors, but every time the Law of the +Camp Fire is broken it must be recorded in black. How these seven live +wire girls strive to infuse into their school life the spirit of Work, +Health and Love and yet manage to get into more than their share of +mischief, is told in this story. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, + The Magic Garden. + +Migwan is determined to go to college, and not being strong enough to +work indoors earns the money by raising fruits and vegetables. The +Winnebagos all turn a hand to help the cause along and the "goings-on" +at Onoway House that summer make the foundations shake with laughter. + +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, + Along the Road That Leads the Way. + +The Winnebagos take a thousand mile auto trip. The "pinching" of Nyoda, +the fire in the country inn, the runaway girl and the dead-earnest hare +and hound chase combine to make these three weeks the most exciting the +Winnebagos have ever experienced. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +By CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_Splendid Stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls_ + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES; + or, Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks' Tour with the Glee Club. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summer's Cruise Through the + Panama Canal. + + * * * * * + +The Mildred Series + +By MARTHA FINLEY + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +Price, 40c. per Volume + +_A Companion Series to the Famous "Elsie" Books by the Same Author_ + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELANDS + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER + MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Chum's Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + BENHURST CLUB, THE. By Howe Benning. + + BERTHA'S SUMMER BOARDERS. By Linnie S. Harris. + + BILLOW PRAIRIE. A Story of Life in the Great West. By Joy Allison. + + DUXBERRY DOINGS. A New England Story. By Caroline B. Le Row. + + FUSSBUDGET'S FOLKS. A Story For Young Girls. By Anna F. Burnham. + + HAPPY DISCIPLINE, A. By Elizabeth Cummings. + + JOLLY TEN, THE. and Their Year of Stories. By Agnes Carr Sage. + + KATIE ROBERTSON. A Girl's Story of Factory Life. By M. E. Winslow. + + LONELY HILL. A Story For Girls. By M. L. Thornton-Wilder. + + MAJORIBANKS. A Girl's Story. By Elvirton Wright. + + MISS CHARITY'S HOUSE. By Howe Benning. + + MISS ELLIOT'S GIRLS. A Story For Young Girls. By Mary Spring + Corning. + + MISS MALCOLM'S TEN. A Story For Girls. By Margaret E. Winslow. + + ONE GIRL'S WAY OUT. By Howe Benning. + + PEN'S VENTURE. By Elvirton Wright. + + RUTH PRENTICE. A Story For Girls. By Marion Thorne. + + THREE YEARS AT GLENWOOD. A Story of School Life. By M. E. Winslow. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Girl Comrade's Series + +ALL AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +ALL COPYRIGHT STORIES. + +A carefully selected series of books for girls, written by popular +authors. These are charming stories for young girls, well told and full +of interest. Their simplicity, tenderness, healthy, interesting motives, +vigorous action, and character painting will please all girl readers. + +HANDSOME CLOTH BINDING. + +PRICE, 60 CENTS. + + A BACHELOR MAID AND HER BROTHER. By I. T. Thurston. + + ALL ABOARD. A Story For Girls. By Fanny E. Newberry. + + ALMOST A GENIUS. A Story For Girls. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + ANNICE WYNKOOP, Artist. Story of a Country Girl. By Adelaide L. + Rouse. + + BUBBLES. A Girl's Story. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + COMRADES. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + DEANE GIRLS, THE. A Home Story. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + HELEN BEATON, COLLEGE WOMAN. By Adelaide L. Rouse. + + JOYCE'S INVESTMENTS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MELLICENT RAYMOND. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + MISS ASHTON'S NEW PUPIL. A School Girl's Story. By Mrs. S. S. + Robbins. + + NOT FOR PROFIT. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + ODD ONE, THE. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + + SARA, A PRINCESS. A Story For Girls. By Fannie E. Newberry. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, New York. + + * * * * * + +The AMY E. BLANCHARD Series + +Miss Blanchard has won an enviable reputation as a writer of short +stories for girls. Her books are thoroughly wholesome in every way and +her style is full of charm. The titles described below will be splendid +additions to every girl's library. + +Handsomely bound in cloth, full library size. + +Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. Price, 60 cents per volume, postpaid. + +THE GLAD LADY. A spirited account of a remarkably pleasant vacation +spent in an unfrequented part of northern Spain. This summer, which +promised at the outset to be very quiet, proved to be exactly the +opposite. Event follows event in rapid succession and the story ends +with the culmination of at least two happy romances. The story +throughout is interwoven with vivid descriptions of real places and +people of which the general public knows very little. These add greatly +to the reader's interest. + +WIT'S END. Instilled with life, color and individuality, this story of +true love cannot fail to attract and hold to its happy end the reader's +eager attention. The word pictures are masterly; while the poise of +narrative and description is marvellously preserved. + +A JOURNEY OF JOY. A charming story of the travels and adventures of two +young American girls, and an elderly companion in Europe. It is not only +well told, but the amount of information contained will make it a very +valuable addition to the library of any girl who anticipates making a +similar trip. Their many pleasant experiences end in the culmination of +two happy romances, all told in the happiest vein. + +TALBOT'S ANGLES. A charming romance of Southern life. Talbot's Angles is +a beautiful old estate located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The +death of the owner and the ensuing legal troubles render it necessary +for our heroine, the present owner, to leave the place which has been in +her family for hundreds of years and endeavor to earn her own living. +Another claimant for the property appearing on the scene complicates +matters still more. The untangling of this mixed-up condition of affairs +makes an extremely interesting story. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Boy Spies Series + +These stories are based on important historical events, scenes wherein +boys are prominent characters being selected. They are the romance of +history, vigorously told, with careful fidelity to picturing the home +life, and accurate in every particular. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. + + A story of the part they took in its defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE DEFENCE OF FORT HENRY. + + A boy's story of Wheeling Creek in 1777. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. + + A story of two boys at the siege of Boston. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT THE SIEGE OF DETROIT. + + A story of two Ohio boys in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH LAFAYETTE. + + The story of how two boys joined the Continental Army. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. + + The story of two young spies under Commodore Barney. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE REGULATORS. + + The story of how the boys assisted the Carolina Patriots to drive + the British from that State. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES WITH THE SWAMP FOX. + + The story of General Marion and his young spies. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES AT YORKTOWN. + + The story of how the spies helped General Lafayette in the + Siege of Yorktown. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF PHILADELPHIA. + + The story of how the young spies helped the Continental Army + at Valley Forge. + By James Otis. + +THE BOY SPIES OF FORT GRISWOLD. + + The story of the part they took in its brave defence. + By William P. Chipman. + +THE BOY SPIES OF OLD NEW YORK. + + The story of how the young spies prevented the capture of + General Washington. + By James Otis. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Navy Boys Series + +A series of excellent stories of adventure on sea and land, selected +from the works of popular writers; each volume designed for boys' +reading. + +Handsome Cloth Bindings + +PRICE, 60 CENTS PER VOLUME + +THE NAVY BOYS IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY. + + A story of the burning of the British schooner Gaspee in 1772. + By William Pman. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LONG ISLAND SOUND. + + A story of the Whale Boat Navy of 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS AT THE SIEGE OF HAVANA. + + Being the experience of three boys serving under Israel Putnam + in 1772. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS WITH GRANT AT VICKSBURG. + + A boy's story of the siege of Vicksburg. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH PAUL JONES. + + A boy's story of a cruise with the Great Commodore in 1776. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS ON LAKE ONTARIO. + + The story of two boys and their adventures in the War of 1812. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE ON THE PICKERING. + + A boy's story of privateering in 1780. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN NEW YORK BAY. + + A story of three boys who took command of the schooner "The Laughing + Mary," the first vessel of the American Navy. + By James Otis. + +THE NAVY BOYS IN THE TRACK OF THE ENEMY. + + The story of a remarkable cruise with the Sloop of War "Providence" + and the Frigate "Alfred." + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' DARING CAPTURE. + + The story of how the navy boys helped to capture the British Cutter + "Margaretta," in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS. + + The adventures of two Yankee Middies with the first cruise of an + American Squadron in 1775. + By William Chipman. + +THE NAVY BOYS' CRUISE WITH COLUMBUS. + + The adventures of two boys who sailed with the great Admiral in his + discovery of America. + By Frederick A. Ober + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York + + * * * * * + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +Volumes By WINN STANDISH + +Handsomely Bound in Cloth + +Full Library Size--Price + +40 cents per Volume, postpaid + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; + or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boyfondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a chord of +sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS; + or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been by Chadwick, the Nestor of +American sporting Journalism. + +JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS; + or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy's hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE; + or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, the book takes up football, wrestling, +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; + or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy's life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean, honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +publishers. A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23d Street, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Battleships + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser "The Sylph" and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; + or, The Vanishing Submarine. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; + or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; + or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet. + +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; + or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; + or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS; + or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Allies With the Army + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By CLAIR W. HAYES + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that +every boy loves. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; + or, With the Italian Army in the Alps. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; + or, The Struggle to Save a Nation. + +THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; + or, Through Lines of Steel. + +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; + or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne. + +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; + or, A Wild Dash over the Carpathians. + +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; + or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne + + * * * * * + +The Boy Scouts Series + +By HERBERT CARTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; + or, Caught Between the Hostile Armies. + +In this volume we follow the thrilling adventures of the boys in the +midst of the exciting struggle abroad. + +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; + or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp. + +Startling experiences awaited the comrades when they visited the +Southland. But their knowledge of woodcraft enabled them to overcome all +difficulties. + +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. + +A story of Burgoyne's defeat in 1777. + +THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMP FIRE; + or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol. + +This book brims over with woods lore and the thrilling adventure that +befell the Boy Scouts during their vacation in the wilderness. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; + or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners. + +This story tells of the strange and mysterious adventures that happened +to the Patrol in their trip among the moonshiners of North Carolina. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; + or, Scouting through the Big Game Country. + +The story recites the adventures of the members of the Silver Fox Patrol +with wild animals of the forest trails and the desperate men who had +sought a refuge in this lonely country. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol. + +Thad and his chums have a wonderful experience when they are employed by +the State of Maine to act as Fire Wardens. + +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; + or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot. + +A serious calamity threatens the Silver Fox Patrol. How apparent +disaster is bravely met and overcome by Thad and his friends, forms the +main theme of the story. + +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; + or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine. + +The boys' tour takes them into the wildest region of the great Rocky +Mountains and here they meet with many strange adventures. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; + or, Marooned Among the Game Fish Poachers. + +Thad Brewster and his comrades find themselves in the predicament that +confronted old Robinson Crusoe; only it is on the Great Lakes that they +are wrecked instead of the salty sea. + +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; + or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood. + +The boys of the Silver Fox Patrol, after successfully braving a terrific +flood, become entangled in a mystery that carries them through many +exciting adventures. + + * * * * * + +The Boy Chums Series + +By WILMER M. ELY + +Price. 40 Cents per Volume. Postpaid + +In this series of remarkable stories are described the adventures of two +boys in the great swamps of interior Florida, among the cays off the +Florida coast, and through the Bahama Islands. These are real, live +boys, and their experiences are worth following. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN MYSTERY LAND; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard among the Mexicans. + +THE BOY CHUMS ON INDIAN RIVER; + or, The Boy Partners of the Schooner "Orphan." + +THE BOY CHUMS ON HAUNTED ISLAND; + or, Hunting for Pearls in the Bahama Islands. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FOREST; + or, Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades. + +THE BOY CHUMS' PERILOUS CRUISE; + or, Searching for Wreckage en the Florida Coast. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO; + or, A Dangerous Cruise with the Greek Spongers. + +THE BOY CHUMS CRUISING IN FLORIDA WATERS; + or, The Perils and Dangers of the Fishing Fleet. + +THE BOY CHUMS IN THE FLORIDA JUNGLE; + or, Charlie West and Walter Hazard with the Seminole Indians. + + * * * * * + +The Broncho Rider Boys Series + +By FRANK FOWLER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of thrilling stories for boys, breathing the adventurous spirit +that lives in the wide plains and lofty mountain canoes of the great +West. These tales will delight every lad who loves to read of pleasing +adventure in the open; yet at the same time the most careful parent need +not hesitate to place them in the hands of the boy. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH FUNSTON AT VERA CRUZ; + or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes. + +When trouble breaks out between this country and Mexico, the boys are +eager to join the American troops under General Funston. Their attempts +to reach Vera Cruz are fraught with danger, but after many difficulties, +they manage to reach the trouble zone, where their real adventures +begin. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS AT KEYSTONE RANCH; + or, Three Chums of the Saddle and Lariat. + +In this story the reader makes the acquaintance of three devoted chums. +The book begins in rapid action, and there is "something doing" up to +the very time you lay it down. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS DOWN IN ARIZONA; + or, A Struggle for the Great Copper Lode. + +The Broncho Rider Boys find themselves impelled to make a brave fight +against heavy odds, in order to retain possession of a valuable mine +that is claimed by some of their relatives. They meet with numerous +strange and thrilling perils and every wideawake boy will be pleased to +learn how the boys finally managed to outwit their enemies. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ALONG THE BORDER; + or, The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man. + +Once more the tried and true comrades of camp and trail are in the +saddle. In the strangest possible way they are drawn into a series of +exciting happenings among the Zuni Indians. Certainly no lad will lay +this book down, save with regret. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS ON THE WYOMING TRAIL; + or, A Mystery of the Prairie Stampede. + +The three prairie pards finally find a chance to visit the Wyoming ranch +belonging to Adrian, but managed for him by an unscrupulous relative. Of +course, they become entangled in a maze of adventurous doings while in +the Northern cattle country. How the Broncho Rider Boys carried +themselves through this nerve-testing period makes intensely interesting +reading. + +THE BRONCHO RIDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS; + or, The Smugglers of the Rio Grande. + +In this volume, the Broncho Rider Boys get mixed up in the Mexican +troubles, and become acquainted with General Villa. In their efforts to +prevent smuggling across the border, they naturally make many enemies, +but finally succeed in their mission. + + * * * * * + +The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Series + +By RALPH MARLOW + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +It is doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of boys ever before +appeared in a story than the "Big Five," who figure in the pages of +these volumes. From cover to cover the reader will be thrilled and +delighted with the accounts of their many adventures. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE; + or, With the Allies in France. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS AT THE FRONT; + or, Carrying Dispatches Through Belgium. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS UNDER FIRE; + or, With the Allies in the War Zone. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS' SWIFT ROAD CHASE; + or, Surprising the Bank Robbers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON FLORIDA TRAILS; + or, Adventures Among the Saw Palmetto Crackers. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS IN TENNESSEE WILDS; + or, The Secret of Walnut Ridge. + +THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS THROUGH BY WIRELESS; + or, A Strange Message from the Air. + + * * * * * + +Our Young Aeroplane Scouts Series + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +By HORACE PORTER + +Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid + +A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the great European +war zone. The fascinating life in mid-air is thrillingly described. The +boys have many exciting adventures, and the narratives of their numerous +escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting stories. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND; + or, Twin Stars in the London Sky Patrol. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY; + or, Flying with the War Eagles of the Alps. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM; + or, Saving the Fortunes of the Trouvilles. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY; + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA; + or, Lost on the Frozen Steppes. + +OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY; + or, Bringing the Light to Yusef. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House, by +Hildegard G. 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