diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-0.txt | 6868 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 138404 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-8.txt | 6870 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 137302 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 270448 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-h/38934-h.htm | 8062 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 57276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-h/images/fire.png | bin | 0 -> 7377 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934-h/images/front.jpg | bin | 0 -> 57559 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934.txt | 6870 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38934.zip | bin | 0 -> 137276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
14 files changed, 28686 insertions, 0 deletions
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/38934-0.txt b/38934-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7ce359 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6868 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, 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' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: February 20, 2012 [EBook #38934] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Camp Fire Girls’ + Larks and Pranks + + + OR + The House of the Open Door + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + The Camp Fire Girls Series + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + Publishers New York + + + + + THE + Camp Fire Girls Series + + A Series of Stories for Camp Fire Girls Endorsed by + the Officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization + + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + + The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods + or, The Winnebago’s Go Camping + + The Camp Fire Girls at School + or, The Wohelo Weavers + + The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + + The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way + + The Camp Fire Girls’ Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + + The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen’s Isle + or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars + + The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit + or, Over The Top With the Winnebago’s + + The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery + or, The Christmas Adventures at Carver House + + The Camp Fire Girls at Camp Keewaydin + or, Down Paddles + + + Copyright, 1917 + By A. L. Burt Company + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS’ LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS’ + LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE HOUSE OF THE OPEN DOOR + + +It was the crisp chill of an early October evening; in the still air the +dead leaves came rustling down with a soft sound like whispers, while the +crickets chirped a cheery welcome from the waiting earth. Over the +treetops a big yellow hunter’s moon was rising; its comical face grinning +good-naturedly. It looked down on the dark outlines of a large barn +standing in the shadow of a tall tree and the grin widened perceptibly. +Evidently something was happening on earth. + +A dark form stole softly up the long drive leading to the barn and paused +before the door. Through the silence there rose the whistling wail of the +whippoorwill, repeated three times, and ending abruptly in the squall of +a catbird. From within the blackness of the barn came an echo of the +whippoorwill’s call, followed by a much more cheerful note—the carol of +the bluebird. Then a clear voice called from inside, “Who goes there?” + +“A friend,” came the reply. + +“Stand and give the countersign,” commanded the voice inside. + +“Other Council Fires were here before,” responded the newcomer. + +“Advance and give the Inner Password,” said the invisible sentinel. + +The figure passed through the dark entrance and came to a halt just +inside, crying, “Kolah Olowan!” + +“Mount!” commanded the voice above, and the stranger lost no time in +obeying the invitation. Scrambling up the ladder fastened to the wall +which did duty as a staircase, she thrust aside the curtain at the top +and stepped out into the lighted upper chamber. + +Anyone seeing that dark and deserted looking building from the outside +would never guess how bright and cheerful was that upper room within. A +wood fire roared in a cobblestone fireplace, its gleam lighting up walls +hung with leather skins and gay Indian blankets and festooned with sprays +of bittersweet. Several more Indian blankets were spread out on the floor +in lieu of rugs, while from the rafters were suspended woven baskets and +pieces of pottery. Ranged around the sides of the chamber, where the +sloping roof met the floor, were four beds, all different, and only one +indicating that the dwellers in that secret lodge were civilized persons. +The first was a neat cot bed with blankets tucked in smoothly all around, +and a dust cover folded up at the foot; the second was an “Indian bed” +made of pine branches, dried ferns and sweet grasses, piled several feet +high and ingeniously confined by woven reeds and pliant twigs. The scent +of the sweet grasses, mingled with the aromatic odor of the pine, filled +the room with a dreamy fragrance that seemed like a charm to lure down +the Sleep Manitou. The third was a pile of bearskins and the fourth was +another kind of Indian bed, made of smooth round willow rods tied +together with ropes and laid across two poles fastened into the wall. + +No windows were visible, as these had been covered with skins. Except for +the camp bed, the wide hearthstone and one other detail it might have +been the lodge of some Indian Chief of olden time. That other detail was +a green felt pennant stretched across the chimney above the stone shelf +of the fireplace, bearing in clean-cut English letters the word +WINNEBAGO. Most of our readers have probably guessed the truth before +this—the Indian lodge we have been describing is the meeting place of the +Winnebago Camp Fire Girls and the solitary visitor who uttered the +plaintive cry of the whippoorwill with its grotesque ending in a cat call +is none other than our old friend, Sahwah the Sunfish. + +“O Nyoda, such larks!” cried Sahwah, skipping across the room and +bestowing a hasty embrace on the sentinel guarding the fire, whom the +reader has doubtless suspected of being Miss Kent, the Guardian of the +Winnebago group. + +Nyoda laughingly shook herself free and smoothed out the Ceremonial dress +she held in her hand, which had become sadly crumpled during the process +of Sahwah’s bear hug. “What mischief are you into this time?” she asked +fondly, smiling down into Sahwah’s dancing eyes. + +Sahwah went into a gale of giggles before she could explain. “You know +Gladys was going to drive all of us girls down in the Glow-worm +to-night,” she said, controlling her laughter with an effort, “and she +telephoned Hinpoha while I was there to dinner that she was over at Mrs. +Varden’s, the dressmaker’s, having a fit, and the Glow-worm was standing +out in front of the house, so we should gather up the other girls and get +into the car and wait for her to come out, to save her the time of going +around after the girls, for her fit threatened to be a lengthy one. So +Hinpoha started out after Medmangi and Nakwisi and I went back home after +these apples, which I’d forgotten to take along to Hinpoha’s. When I got +to the corner of the street along came Gladys in the Glow-worm and said +she had an errand to do for her mother in a hurry and we had better come +straight out here without her and she would come later. I hurried over to +Mrs. Varden’s house to tell the girls, but when I got nearly there I saw +a black car standing out in front and Hinpoha and Nakwisi and Medmangi +sitting in it as cool as cucumbers, thinking they were in the Glow-worm. +I recognized the car as belonging to that horribly bashful son of Mrs. +Varden’s, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to let the girls sit in it +until he came out. So I stole back up the street, keeping in the shadow +of the trees so the girls wouldn’t see me, and came out here. Oh, won’t +there be a situation though, when ‘Dolly’ Varden comes out and finds his +nice bachelor car full of bold, bad girls!” + +The picture was too much for Sahwah, and she rolled on the bed shrieking +with laughter, in which Nyoda joined heartily. “I wonder how long it will +be before they come,” said Sahwah, rising from the bed and wiping her +eyes. “What shall we do to pass away the time?” + +“If I were you,” advised Nyoda, “I would spend it searching a nice safe +retreat to which you can fly when they come and find out you didn’t tell +them.” + +Hardly had she spoken the words when there floated up from below the +familiar cry of the whippoorwill, followed successively by the long, +eerie laugh of the loon, the blithe whistle of the quail and the song of +the robin. “There they are!” exclaimed Sahwah in mock terror. “Where +shall I hide? Oh, I have it, I’ll get inside of that pile of bearskins +and listen while they tell their tale of woe to you and then I’ll hop out +and laugh at them.” Quick as a flash she jumped into the bearskin bed and +pulled the skins over her so that she was entirely concealed. + +With a great deal of chattering and giggling the three arrivals were +mounting the ladder. “Keep on going, Hinpoha!” exclaimed Nakwisi, “you’re +stepping on my hand.” + +“Keep on going yourself,” retorted Hinpoha, “you haven’t a pie in your +hand.” Just at that moment her foot slipped and she clutched wildly at +the ladder for support. + +“There goes the pie!” shrieked someone, as it described a circle in the +air and landed with a thud. Hinpoha wrung her hands in grief, for her +mouth was already watering for that crisp pastry. + +Medmangi walked over to view the remains. “It isn’t hurt a mite,” she +said calmly, picking it up and dusting it off. “Fortunately it landed +right side up in the tin.” + +“O Nyoda,” cried Hinpoha, beaming once more now that the feast of pie was +assured, “we had the most fun getting here! Gladys told us the Glow-worm +was standing out in front of the Varden’s house and we should get in and +wait for her, and we saw a car and got in. Pretty soon out came young Mr. +Varden, got into the front seat without looking to the right or left and +drove off. We thought of course he was driving Gladys’ car away and we +all three shrieked at him at once. He pretty nearly dropped dead when he +heard us, and stopped the car so suddenly we all flew out of the seat. +But he was perfectly grand about it when we found out our mistake. He +told us Gladys had gone home fifteen minutes before, but he would be +perfectly delighted to drive us where we wanted to go. And so he brought +us out,” she finished with a dramatic flourish, and sat down heavily on +top of the bearskin bed where Sahwah lay hidden. Immediately there was an +upheaval and a grotesque animal sprang from the bed, an animal which had +the skin of a bear and two red stockinged legs which capered wildly about +while their owner shrieked piercingly, “She sat on my breathing apparatus +and I won’t be able to talk for a week!” + +“You _are_ talking, you goose,” said Hinpoha, calmly seating herself +again after poking the bed to see if it were further inhabited. + +“You missed it, Sahwah, by going home,” she continued. “Too bad you +weren’t along to share the fun.” + +Sahwah’s expression was funny to behold when she learned how the joke had +turned out, for it was not on the girls after all, but on herself, for +she had walked all the way to the lodge by herself. She looked rather +silly as she caught Nyoda’s eye, but while Nyoda twinkled mischievously +at her Sahwah knew that she would never give her away. But of course when +Gladys arrived a few minutes later and heard the story, Sahwah’s part in +it came out and she had to stand the gibes of the others because her joke +had turned round on herself, until Nyoda called the beginning of the +Ceremonial and peace was restored. + +One name has been dropped from the Count Book of the Winnebagos since +last we heard the roll called, and to another there is no reply, although +it is always called. Early in the fall Chapa the Chipmunk moved to a +distant city, and so for the first time the close circle of the +Winnebagos was broken. Then shortly afterward Migwan went away to college +and her departure caused a fresh bereavement. Though Migwan had been of +such a very quiet nature, her influence had been widely felt, and the +girls missed her more and more as the days went on. Hinpoha, especially, +was almost inconsolable, for she and Migwan had always stood a little +closer together than the rest of the girls. This was the first Ceremonial +Meeting without the two and it seemed very strange indeed to omit Chapa’s +name from the roll, and when Migwan’s name was called and was followed by +silence, Hinpoha sniffed audibly and wiped her eyes. + +“Sister, this is a very solemn occasion,” said Sahwah the irrepressible, +in such a forced tone of sorrow that it was impossible not to laugh at +her. + +“That’s right,” said Nyoda. “It won’t do for us to pull long faces. We +have vowed to ‘be happy’ you know. Think how much worse off Chapa is +alone in a strange city. Come, be cheerful and tell what kind deeds you +have seen done today. You begin, Sahwah.” + +Sahwah took hold of her toes with her hands and tilted back and forth on +the floor as she spoke. “Sally Jones did me a great service yesterday in +composition class. You know Sally Jones—the one they call the +Blunderbuss. Well, you know what a pig I am when it comes to writing +composition. I never wrote one yet that I didn’t get a blot on. Last week +when I handed mine in Miss Snively said that if there was a blot on my +paper this week she would mark me zero for the month. So yesterday when +we had to write one in class I took the utmost care and got it all done +spotlessly and was just signing my name when Anna Green behind me tried +to pick a thread off my collar and laid her fishy cold hand against my +neck. I jumped and wriggled and the result was a beautiful blot on my +composition. There wasn’t time to copy it over because it was almost the +end of the hour, so I resigned myself to a nice fat cipher on my report +card this month. Then Miss Snively sent Sally around to collect the +papers and when she came to my desk she leaned across it in such an +awkward way that she upset my inkwell all over my composition and my one +small blot was completely hidden by the deluge. Miss Snively graciously +requested me to do it over in rest hour, which I did, and handed it in in +perfect shape. Upsetting that inkwell was the kindest thing anybody ever +did for me.” + +There was a moment of laughter at Sahwah’s tale of kindness and then +quiet fell on the group again. “Tell us a story, Nyoda,” begged Hinpoha, +breaking the silence, “we’re getting low in our minds again.” + +“Yes, do,” begged the others. + +Nyoda sat silent a moment staring thoughtfully into the fire. Her hands +were clasped around her knees and the light shone on the diamond ring +which now encircled the fourth finger of her left hand—the only thing +which made the girls realize that their amazing adventures of the first +week in September had been a reality and not a dream. + +“In a village in eastern Hungary,” began Nyoda, “there lived a girl about +your age. Her father was a very wealthy man, and lived on a great estate. +Veronica—that was the girl’s name—was the only child, and had everything +that her heart desired. The thing she loved to do the best was ride +horse-back and she had a beautiful horse for her very own. She showed +great talent on the violin and had the best masters. Veronica grew to be +seventeen as happy as a girl could be, with an indulgent father and a +beautiful, sweet mother. Then a dreadful thing happened. War was declared +in the country and the village where they lived was taken by the enemy. +Her father was killed, their home was burned and her mother died. +Veronica, with the rest of the people in the village, ran away toward the +mountains when the village burned. But Veronica became separated from her +friends and fell, and could not get up again, for her leg was broken. She +lay there a long time, and gave herself up for lost, when she heard a +whinny beside her and there was her pet horse, who had been following her +all the way. She managed to swing herself up on his back and he galloped +away to the safety of the mountains. They found their way across the +border into another country where some kind people took care of the +orphan girl. The faithful horse fell after he had brought her to safety +and hurt himself so badly that he had to be shot. The people who took +care of Veronica sent her across the ocean to her aunt and uncle. So, sad +and lonesome, she came to this country to be an American.” + +Here Nyoda paused for breath, and Hinpoha burst out quickly, “Oh, how I +wish this had happened in our time and that poor lonely girl had come to +this city and we had met her and made her happy. Wouldn’t we be kind to +her, though, if we had a chance?” + +Nyoda proceeded quietly. “All this _has_ happened in your time, and this +lonesome girl _has_ come to our city, and you are going to have a chance +to be kind to her often.” + +“Nyoda!” shrieked all the girls at once. “You mean she lives in our city, +and you actually know her?” “Where does she live?” “When will we see +her?” “What is her whole name?” “How old did you say she was?” + +“Have mercy!” exclaimed Nyoda, putting her hands over her ears. “I can +only answer ten questions at once. Veronica’s uncle is Mr. Lehar, the +conductor of the Temple Theatre orchestra. I live next door to them, you +know, and am well acquainted with Mrs. Lehar. She told me about Veronica +some time ago and last week she went to New York to get her. I +immediately asked her to allow her niece to join the Winnebago group, if +you girls were willing to take her, that she might not be lonely here. +Will you take her in, girls?” + +“We certainly will!” cried Gladys and Hinpoha in a breath, and Sahwah +sprang to her feet exclaiming vehemently, “Well, I guess so!” + +“When is she coming?” they wanted to know next. + +“I’ll bring her to the next meeting,” promised Nyoda, “and I want you +girls to—” + +What it was she wanted them to do they never found out, for just at that +minute there was a terrific thump on the floor below followed by the +hurried clatter of heavy footsteps, then the scraping of feet on the +ladder, a great waving and billowing of the curtain at the top and then +it was wrenched aside, and into the Council Chamber there burst the +fattest boy they had ever seen. His great cheeks hung down over his +collar; his eyes were nearly buried. His face was purple from violent +exertion and he sat limply against the bearskin bed, panting heavily. The +girls stared open-mouthed at the intruder. Before they had recovered +sufficiently from their astonishment to utter a single word, the barn +below was filled with the noise of many footsteps and the shouting of +many voices, and the next minute the sacred Council Chamber of the +Winnebagos was filled to overflowing with boys. + +At the sight of the lighted chamber and the girls in Indian costumes the +intruders stopped and stared in speechless surprise. Then with one accord +seven hats were snatched from as many heads and seven voices exclaimed as +one, “Beg pardon, we didn’t know anyone was here.” + +It was so funny to hear them all saying the same thing at once that the +Winnebagos could not help laughing aloud. The confusion of the boys was +so painful that the girls actually felt sorry for them. + +“There are only _seven_ of you,” said Sahwah, as usual breaking the +silence first. “I thought at first there were _hundreds_.” + +Here one of the boys found his voice to speak. He was a tall boy with +curly brown hair and nice eyes, and his face was suffused with blushes of +embarrassment. “Sorry to disturb you girls,” he said soberly, but with a +twinkle in his eye. “We were chasing _him_”—and he pointed to the fat boy +still puffing away for dear life on the floor—“and we couldn’t see any +light from the outside and we didn’t know anybody was up here and when +Slim ran in we just followed him. We’ll go right away again, and let you +go on with your meeting.” + +Nyoda looked from one face to the other—nice refined boys they were, she +decided, and it would do no hurt to show them courtesy. “You needn’t be +in such a great hurry to go,” she said cordially. “You may at least stay +until you have recovered your breath.” And she looked quizzically at the +fat boy leaning against the bearskins who did not seem ever to be going +to breathe again. + +He tried to show his appreciation of her hospitality by getting up and +making a bow, which threw him into such an advanced stage of +breathlessness that he sank down again directly and had to be fanned. +This caused another general laugh and the boys and girls rubbed elbows so +closely trying to revive him that all feeling of embarrassment vanished +and it suddenly seemed as if they were old friends, in spite of the fact +that none of them knew the others’ names. Nyoda came to herself with a +start. + +“Excuse us, boys,” she said, “for not introducing ourselves. I am Miss +Kent, Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, and these are the +Winnebagos,” and she named them in order. “We were having a rather +doleful time when you arrived. You broke up the spell of gloom and we are +deeply grateful.” + +The tall boy spoke again, this time smiling broadly. “We’re the ones who +ought to apologize for not introducing ourselves,” he said in a pleasant +voice, “since we have caused so much disturbance. We’re the Sandwich +Club,” he continued, including all the boys in a sweeping gesture of his +hand. “We go to Carnegie Mechanic. That’s Slim over there,” he said, +pointing to the fat one, while all the girls laughed. “His real name’s +Lewis Carlton, but it’s so long since anyone has called him that that +he’s forgotten what it is himself. We chase him all over the country to +reduce him, but sometimes he gives us the slip and hides and it takes us +so long to find him that in the meantime he gains more than he lost while +we were chasing him.” + +The girls fairly shouted at this and Slim doubled up a cushion-like fist +and declared in a choking voice that if the fellows didn’t leave him in +peace he’d sit down on them some day and that would be the end of them. +The tall boy who was doing the introducing smiled sweetly at Slim and +went on with the introductions. + +“This one,” he said, indicating an extremely thin, hungry-looking, +gaunt-featured lad with sombre brown eyes and a grave mouth, “is Bill +Pitt. ‘Bottomless Pitt,’ we call him, because it’s impossible to fill him +up. You girls have heard of the Sheep Eaters?” he asked suddenly, looking +from one to the other. + +“Yes,” chorused the Winnebagos, not wishing to appear ignorant, but not +sure whether the Sheep Eaters were beasts of prey or persons overfond of +mutton. + +“Well,” continued the spokesman, pointing to the “Bottomless Pitt,” “he’s +a Pie Eater, he is. He eats ’em whole.” + +Hinpoha’s glance strayed nervously to the shelf where the apple pie stood +awaiting the end of the Ceremonial Meeting. The tall boy’s eyes followed +here and his teeth showed in a wide smile, as he seemed to read her +thoughts. Hinpoha blushed fiery red and dropped her eyes. But he looked +away again immediately and did not increase her embarrassment. + +“This,” he said, drawing forward a spidery little fellow with red hair +and freckles all over his face, “is Munson K. McKee, called for short, +Monkey, and those,” indicating the other three, “are Dan Porter, Peter +Jenkins and Harry Raymond. We seven boys have always gone together, so we +decided to form a club, and we all like sandwiches so well that we named +ourselves the Sandwich Club. There, now you know all about us.” + +“But you haven’t told us _your_ name,” said the Winnebagos, who were +beginning to like the spokesman very much, and were anxiously waiting to +hear him introduce himself. + +“Haven’t I?” he asked. “That’s right, I haven’t. My name,” he said +solemnly, but with that suggestion of a twinkle in his eye again, “is +Cicero St. John—and the fellows _don’t_ call me Cissy for short.” Here +the corners of his mouth twitched as at some humorous memory. + +“You bet they don’t call him Cissy!” put in the Bottomless Pitt. + +Hinpoha’s eyes met Gladys’ in comical dismay. How could anyone in their +right senses name a boy—an American boy—Cicero! The St. John part sounded +very fine, but that awful Cicero! + +“How do you keep them from calling you—Cissy?” ventured Sahwah. + +“He licked the tar out of them!” spoke up the Monkey. “And he dumped one +fellow overboard out in the lake when he tried it. Everybody calls him +‘Cap’ now, because he’s captain of the football team.” + +“Indeed,” murmured the Winnebagos, looking at Cicero St. John with fresh +interest and great respect, for all the world loves a football player. + +And then the boys wanted to know all about the Winnebagos, and thought +their symbolic names and “queer duds” even funnier than the girls had +considered theirs. But they all voiced their unqualified approval of the +Camp Fire Girls when they heard that the Ceremonial Meeting was to be +topped off with a feast of apple pie, doughnuts and cider, and did not +need to be asked more than once to stay, and share the feast. + +“Say, this is a peach of a meeting place,” said the Captain with his +mouth full. “How did you happen to get it, and whoever thought of putting +a fireplace upstairs in a barn?” + +“We got it as the result of a sort of wager,” explained Hinpoha. “Gladys’ +father promised that if we could go on an automobile trip all by +ourselves without once telegraphing to him for aid he would build us a +Lodge to hold our meetings in, and we did and so he did.” + +“‘So _they_ did, and _he_ did, and the bears did,’” quoted Nyoda +teasingly. + +Hinpoha laughed and went on. “He owned this empty barn out here in the +field and he turned it over to us. But we just had to have a fireplace or +it wouldn’t have been a regular Camp Fire Lodge, so he built this +splendid chimney. We have named the Lodge ‘The House of the Open Door,’ +or the ‘Open Door Lodge,’ to signify hospitality. Mr. Evans wanted to +build a fine stairway, too, but we wouldn’t have it. It’s lots more fun +to climb the ladder.” + +“Why don’t you use the ground floor?” asked Slim, who could never see the +sense of exerting one’s self needlessly. + +“It’s much cosier up here,” replied Hinpoha. “We have these adorable +peaks and gables to hang things on. Besides, we wanted to leave the big +floor downstairs clear for dancing.” + +“Dancing? Do you dance?” cried the boys, pricking up their ears. + +“We surely do,” replied the girls. “Would you like to come down and try?” + +Down the ladder they went in a hurry, Slim being pushed from above and +pulled from below, and landing on the floor in his usual breathless +state. A few lanterns were hung around the walls and the big door opened +wide to let in the bright rays of the full moon and the place was nearly +as light as day. Nyoda played her banjo and the twelve pairs of feet +shuffled merrily to the lively strains. As there were only five girls, +Slim and Peter Jenkins were left without partners and consoled themselves +by dancing together. Peter came just to Slim’s shoulder and weighed +ninety-five pounds against Slim’s two hundred and thirty, and the result +was so ludicrous that the rest could hardly dance for laughing. It was +like a monkey dancing with an elephant. Slim took mincing little steps +and looked down at his partner with a simpering, languishing expression, +while Peter strained heroically to encircle his fair one’s waist with his +arm. Rocking back and forth in exaggerated rhythm, Slim tripped over a +board and fell with a great crash, pinning his gallant partner under him. +The rest flew to the rescue and propped Peter up against the wall, +fanning him vigorously. + +“He’ll recover,” pronounced the Captain, after a thorough going over of +his bones, “but he’ll never be the same again.” + +“All is over between us,” said Slim, wringing his hands in mock despair. +“Miss Kent, won’t _you_ dance with me?” + +“It’s time we were going home,” said Nyoda calmly. “Come, girls.” + +“Go home!” echoed the Captain. “I thought you lived here.” + +“But how about all the beds upstairs?” asked the Captain. + +“Oh,” explained Nyoda, “we all constructed different kinds of beds to win +honors, and left them there in case we might want to stay some time.” + +“It’s a pretty fine clubhouse, I’ll say,” remarked the Bottomless Pitt in +a tone of envy. “I wish we Sandwiches had one like it. We have no place +to call our own.” + +Hinpoha’s thoughts leaped to the Fire Song, the words of which hung +beside the fireplace up above: + + “_Whose house is bare and dark and cold,_ + _Whose house is cold,_ + _This is his own._” + +She spoke impulsively. “Oh, Nyoda, couldn’t we let them use the ground +floor to hold their meeting in?” + +A cheer burst from the seven boys’ lips. “Hooray! May we, Miss Kent?” + +Nyoda was silent and looked at the boys with a troubled expression, and +her glance as it rested on Hinpoha held a reproof. There was an awkward +silence. Then the Captain spoke up. + +“I understand what you mean, Miss Kent,” he said simply and +straightforwardly. “You don’t know anything about us and of course you +wouldn’t want to share your club house with us on such short +acquaintance. We wouldn’t think much of you if you did. It was all right +of course for you to ask us to stay and dance with the girls this one +evening when you were here with us, but that doesn’t mean that you’re +willing to adopt us. But we like you girls first rate, and want to know +you better if you will let us. You can go to any of the teachers at +Carnegie Mechanic and find out all you want to know about us. Pitt’s +father is Math teacher there and my father is Dr. Cicero St. John. It was +simply great of you to offer to let us come here and hold our meetings, +and if you’ll still keep the offer open after you have investigated us to +your satisfaction we’ll be mighty grateful and will promise not to bother +you upstairs.” + +The boy’s face was so open and manly that it was impossible not to +believe in him then and there. Nyoda smiled into his earnest face. “All +right, Captain,” she said, “we’ll agree to put you on probation, and if +you stand the test we’ll consider the matter of sharing the Open Door +Lodge.” + +The Captain smiled back at her and held out his hand. “You’re a peach and +I like you,” he said emphatically, and the two were sworn friends from +that moment on. + + + + + CHAPTER II + VERONICA + + +At four o’clock one afternoon some few days later Hinpoha and Sahwah, +breathless from hurrying, ran up the steps of the house where Nyoda lived +and rang the bell. The other Winnebagos were already assembled when they +entered, and Nyoda was not there. + +“Where’s Nyoda?” demanded Sahwah. + +“Sh, she’s gone over to get—_her_,” answered Gladys, smoothing out the +folds of her pretty new pleated dress with one hand and tucking in a +stray lock with the other. + +“What did you say ‘sh’ for?” demanded Sahwah curiously. “There’s no one +sleeping, is there?” + +“I don’t know why I said it,” answered Gladys, rumpling up the hair she +had just tidied, “I’m so excited about meeting Veronica that I don’t know +what I’m doing. I just can’t sit still.” And she jumped up from her chair +and began to pace nervously up and down the room. + +“Doesn’t it remind you of the time we stood on the dock at Loon Lake and +waited for Gladys to make her first appearance?” said Hinpoha to Sahwah. +“Don’t you remember how we wondered what she would be like and you and +Migwah nearly fought over whose affinity she was going to be?” + +“Did you really, girls?” said Gladys, pausing in her walk. “And was I as +nice as you hoped I’d be?” + +Footsteps on the porch saved Hinpoha from having to reply and Gladys +hurried to her chair and seated herself properly. A moment later Nyoda +entered the room with a young girl beside her whom she led into the +center of the group. + +“Girls,” she said, with one hand on the stranger’s shoulder, “this is our +new member, Veronica Lehar.” + +All eyes centered on the newcomer. She was a small, slender girl with +short curly black hair, olive complexion, bright red lips and a straight, +finely modeled nose. She wore a dark red velvet dress which suited her +complexion wonderfully, and fell in soft folds about her lithe form. She +was as straight as an arrow and as graceful as a deer. From the crown of +her finely poised head to her little fur-topped boots she was an +aristocrat. The simple Winnebagos were abashed before her. Never had they +met such a high-born little lady. There was an air about her which they +could never acquire if they lived a hundred years. They felt like +peasants in the presence of a queen. But they forgot her aristocratic air +when they looked into her eyes. Large and dark and velvety as a pansy, +but so sad it almost broke your heart to look into them. All the sympathy +which the girls had worked up for her since hearing her story came back +in a rush and they surrounded her with cordial greetings and expressions +of welcome. Veronica held her violin, which she had brought over with +her, under one arm while she shook hands politely with all the girls. She +answered all their pretty speeches in a friendly manner, but she never +once smiled, and her eyes had a look as if her thoughts were not there in +the room at all, but back in the far country across the ocean. Although +she had an accent she spoke a beautiful English, in fact, she used far +better language than the majority of American schoolgirls, and more than +once the girls felt embarrassed when they had forgotten themselves so far +as to utter a slang phrase. + +Conversation soon languished, for Veronica did not seem inclined to talk, +so Nyoda started the girls singing camp songs to amuse her, and led the +talk around to the Winnebagos’ doings which she was now to take part in. +Of course the new lodge was the main topic of conversation with the +Winnebagos and they waxed so enthusiastic over its splendors that +Veronica exclaimed with some show of warmth, “Oh, I must see it soon!” +Then she added, “Tell me what I must do to become a Camp Fire Girl like +yourselves.” + +“You must have a symbolic name,” answered Gladys eagerly, anxious to be +the one to explain things to Veronica, “and a Ceremonial dress, and learn +the songs, and know the Camp Fire Girls’ Desire, and the Winnebago +passwords and oh, lots of delightful things.” + +“What are they, the Winnebago passwords, and what are they for?” asked +Veronica. + +“Well,” answered Gladys, “you know what a password is, don’t you? Well, +we have passwords to admit us into the Lodge on Ceremonial night. But +before I tell you about the passwords I must tell you about the signal +calls, for they come first in order. You see, the general signal of the +Winnebagos is the call of the whippoorwill, like this”—and she +illustrated her words with a clear call. “You repeat that three times and +at the end of it you must give your own individual bird call. We all have +different ones. Mine is the robin, like this. Nyoda’s is the bluebird; +Hinpoha’s the loon; Medmangi’s is the owl; Nakwisi’s the meadowlark and +Sahwah’s the catbird.” + +“Whatever made you take such a hideous screech for your call, Sahwah?” +interrupted Hinpoha. “There are lots of nicer bird calls than that of the +catbird.” + +“I don’t care, I wanted the catbird,” returned Sahwah. “It suits my +individuality, as my dear friend, Miss Snively, would say. I am the ‘cat +that walks by himself and all places are alike to me!’” + +“Be a catbird as much as you like,” said Gladys pacifically, “as long as +you don’t eat us poor bird-birds. But to go back to the passwords. You +see, Nyoda is Guardian of the Fire, and she always goes up to the Lodge +room first on Ceremonial night. If any of us get there ahead of her we +have to stay out until she comes. Then we announce our coming by giving +the call of the whippoorwill and she knows one of the Winnebagos is +below; and she knows which one it is by the individual bird call. So she +calls out ‘Who goes there?’ and we answer ‘A friend.’ When she says, +‘Stand and give the countersign,’ we have to say, ‘Other Council Fires +were here before.’” + +“What does that mean, ‘Other Council Fires were here before?’” asked +Veronica. + +The girls looked at one another. “What does it mean?” asked Gladys. + +“I don’t know,” said Sahwah. + +“I don’t know,” said Hinpoha. + +“You insisted on our having it, Sahwah,” said Gladys. “Why did you choose +it if you didn’t know what it meant?” + +“Oh,” explained Sahwah lightly, “I saw it written over the door of one of +the historical buildings at the Exposition, and it sounded as if it might +mean something grand, so I chose it. You girls were all delighted with +it, so that’s proof it’s a good catch-word.” + +“It is a good countersign,” said Nyoda, “although I confess I can’t tell +wherein the charm lies.” + +“Well, to proceed,” said Gladys, “after you have given the countersign +you will be asked to give the Inner Pass Word, and then you must say +‘Kolah Olowan.’ That means ‘Song Friend.’ You know we pride ourselves on +being a singing group, that is, we have a great many songs that we sing +together, and I think our dearest friends are those we sing with. So we +Winnebagos call each other ‘Song Friends,’ or friends bound together by +the power of our familiar songs. That’s why we chose bird notes for our +personal symbols. The birds are the original Song Friends. What bird are +you going to choose for your own, Veronica?” + +Veronica’s sad eyes stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment. Then +they filled with a smouldering light. “I shall be the gull that flies +over the sea,” she said in a low voice, “because some day I am going to +fly over the sea to my dear home.” + +“We were all nearly ready to cry when she said that,” wrote Gladys to +Migwan, “only Nyoda popped up then and asked Hinpoha and Sahwah to sing +‘The Owl and the Pussycat,’ and they climbed on the sofa for the +beautiful pea-green boat—you know what a beautiful pea-green it is—and +for a small guitar Nyoda gave Sahwah a little pasteboard fiddle that +produced three notes when you turned a crank, and the whole thing was so +ridiculous that we laughed until our sides ached.” + +After the Owl and the Pussycat had sung themselves over the back of the +sofa and down on the floor with a thump Nyoda made tea in her new +electric teapot and passed platefuls of thin sandwiches, and Sahwah upset +her cup into her lap demonstrating how perfectly she could balance it on +her knee and had to stand before the fire to dry her skirt. + +“You brought your violin along; won’t you play for us?” asked Nyoda of +Veronica when the excitement over Sahwah’s mishap had subsided. + +In graceful compliance with Nyoda’s request, and without waiting to be +urged, Veronica took her violin from its case, settled it under her chin +with a movement that was a caress, and drew the bow across the strings. +With the first note teacups and sandwiches were forgotten and the girls +sat in a spellbound circle, while Sahwah stopped mopping her skirt with +her handkerchief and the wet spot dried and scorched unheeded. Such a +witching melody as rose from the strings—now light as a fairy dancing on +a bubble, now hurrying like the brook over its pebbles, now sighing like +the wind in a rose tree, now slow and stately like the curtseying of a +grande dame in the movements of a court dance. When it came to an end the +girls sat breathless, too dazed to applaud. + +“Play some more!” begged Gladys in a whisper. It seemed like a +desecration to talk. + +Veronica played on, now fast, now slow, now sad and now gay, and finally +whirled into a wild gypsy dance that set the blood tingling in her +hearers’ veins as the swift measures followed on each other’s heels, +until they could see in their mind’s eye the leaping figures of the +dancers in their bright costumes. Faster, faster, flashed the bow on the +magic strings and Veronica’s whole soul was in her eyes as she played the +familiar strains of her homeland. Her lips parted in a flashing smile and +one foot tapped the carpet in time to the music. + +Suddenly a string snapped with a discordant crash. Veronica came to +herself with a start. The light left her eyes and she stood staring into +the fire with a sad, bitter expression. + + + + + CHAPTER III + AN UNINVITED GUEST + + +Rain fell in torrents on the roof of the hospitable House of the Open +Door, and the wind howled dismally around its friendly gables. Inside the +“lofty loft” of the Winnebagos the fire shone brightly on the hearth and +the rafters rang with merriment. Sahwah had a new hobby, and was riding +it to death. This was a Hawaiian guitar, known as a “ukelele,” from which +she was producing a series of hair-raising noises. + +“Sounds like a cat in its last agony,” remarked Hinpoha. + +“Well, that just suits me,” replied Sahwah, undisturbed, drawing a long +shivering wail from the strings. “I am the cat that walks by himself——” + +“And all racket is alike to you,” finished Hinpoha. “Who’s getting supper +tonight, Nyoda? I’m nearly starving.” + +“I appointed Gladys and Veronica,” answered Nyoda. “The combination of +blonde and brunette ought to produce something pretty good.” + +Gladys promptly laid down the bit of leather in which she was cutting a +pattern and moved toward the “kitchen end” of the Lodge. “Come on, +Veronica,” she said, “let’s make a carload of scones for these hungry +wolves.” + +Veronica looked up at her without moving. On her face was an expression +of surprise; almost amazement. “What, _I_ cook?” she asked scornfully. +“That is for servants to do!” + +Then it was the Winnebagos’ turn to look amazed. Sahwah dropped her +instrument on the floor with a clatter, and the rest sat silent, not +knowing what to say to Veronica. Nyoda bridged over the embarrassing +situation as best she could. “I’ll be cook tonight,” she said quietly. As +she moved about helping Gladys she thought and thought how this new +problem must be met. “It’s the fault of her training,” she told herself, +“and she really isn’t a snob at heart. She’ll be all right when she has +been with the girls awhile and watched them. It won’t do to insist on her +doing the things she considers beneath her. She must be made to want to +do them first. But we’ll make a real Winnebago of her in time!” And her +eyes strayed thoughtfully over to the corner of the hearth where Veronica +sat, a little apart from the rest, her brooding eyes on the fire, her +sensitive lip twisting into involuntary shivers of disgust when Sahwah +produced a particularly ear-splitting yowl. + +“Hear and attend and listen, everybody,” said Nyoda when the buttered +scones had been reduced to crumbs. “I have been doing some important +research work lately and am now ready to present the result of my +investigations.” + +“What are you talking about?” asked Hinpoha curiously. + +“Two weeks ago tonight,” continued Nyoda, “our meeting was broken up by a +band of young braves bearing the appetizing title of ‘The Sandwich Club,’ +who implored us to let them come and play with us in our Lodge and be +lodgers—kindly overlook the pun; it was quite unintentional—providing we +weighed them in the balance and found them not wanting.” + +“Is there any scale on which ‘Slim’ would be found wanting?” giggled +Sahwah, + +“I have spent the last two weeks obtaining information,” resumed Nyoda, +“which I am happy to report is of a highly satisfactory nature. So, all +things considered, and in spite of the informality of the request, I +humbly recommend that the aforesaid braves be allowed to lodge in the +bottom half of our Lodge at any and all times they may so desire. I might +add that I have already obtained the consent of our Bountiful Benefactor, +Gladys’ papa. All in favor of letting in the Sandwich Club say ‘Aye.’” + +There was a perfect shout of “Ayes,” followed by a ringing cheer. + +“When are they going to take possession?” Sahwah wanted to know. + +“I’m to tell them tomorrow what your decision was,” replied Nyoda. “It +being Saturday, I suppose they will be down in a body to fix up according +to their own ideas.” + +“What will the interior of a Sandwich Club look like, I wonder?” said +Gladys. + +“Hark, what was that noise?” asked Nyoda abruptly. The girls listened +intently. From the lower floor of the barn there came a thumping noise, +followed by a subdued crash. + +“Somebody’s in the barn,” said Hinpoha in a frightened whisper. + +The sound came again, thump, thump, and a noise as of a box being shoved +aside. “It’s a burglar!” said Sahwah, and Nakwisi gave a frightened +squeak which Sahwah stifled with a sofa cushion. + +“There’s nothing in here to steal,” said Nyoda. “Perhaps it’s a tramp.” +Again came the noise from below. Leaving the curtain drawn over the +opening, Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called down, “Who’s +there?” There was no answer but another thump. “We have a gun,” said +Nyoda coolly, taking Sahwah’s little rifle down from the wall, “and if +you put one foot on the ladder I’ll shoot.” Still no answer. + +“I’m going down to investigate,” said Nyoda. “This is growing uncanny.” + +“Don’t go down,” begged the girls, clinging to her, “something dreadful +will happen to you.” + +“If you go I’m going with you,” declared Sahwah when Nyoda appeared +determined to rush into the jaws of danger. Nyoda threw aside the curtain +and flashed her bug light on the floor below. Nothing was visible within +the radius of the light, but over in the far corner where the old horse +stall was something was moving and thumping about and a sound like a +groan came from the darkness. + +“Somebody’s hurt,” said Nyoda, hastening down the ladder. “Bring a +lantern with you, Sahwah.” + +Together they moved toward the corner while the girls above crowded +around the opening and watched in breathless suspense. The light revealed +a small donkey lying on the floor of the stall. He was kicking out with +his hind feet against the partition wall and it was this sound that had +frightened the girls above. At Sahwah’s shout the others came hurrying +down to behold the find. The donkey made no effort to rise and looked at +the faces around him with an imploring look in his eyes as if to say, +“Help me, I’m in trouble.” + +“What’s the matter, old chap?” asked Nyoda, kneeling down beside him. The +donkey answered with a distressed bray that was more like a groan and +pawed the air with his front feet, which seemed to be fastened together +in some manner. Nyoda turned the lantern around so the light fell +directly on him and then they saw what the matter was. A length of barbed +wire had become tangled around his front legs, binding them together, and +his frantic efforts to get it off had resulted in its becoming deeply +imbedded in the flesh, lacerating it badly. The girls shuddered when they +saw it and drew back. + +“This won’t do, girls,” said Nyoda firmly; “we’ve got to get that wire +off the poor animal’s leg. Medmangi, have you the nerve to do it? I’m +afraid I can’t.” + +“His hind legs would have to be tied together first, so he can’t kick,” +said Medmangi. The girls looked at each other and all drew back. All but +Veronica. She came forward quietly and took the rope which the others +were afraid to use and skilfully slipped a noose over the tiny heels and +fastened them down to a ring in the floor. + +“I have done it before, when a horse was sick,” she explained in response +to the girls’ expressions of amazement at the neat performance. The +girls’ liking for her, which had suffered a sudden chill at the cooking +episode, warmed again, and they were inclined to overlook that now that +she had stepped so neatly into the breach when they were helpless. + +Then Medmangi, the Medicine Man Girl who was going to be a doctor, and +had no horror of surgery, bent calmly to her task while the others held +the lantern for her. Quickly and skilfully she worked, removing the cruel +points as gently as possible. Then she washed the wounds with an +antiseptic solution from the First Aid Cabinet upstairs and bound them up +with clean bandages. Then Veronica took the rope from the donkey’s hind +legs and he struggled to his feet, plainly delighted to find his front +legs in working order again in spite of the pain. He looked at the girls +with a dog-like devotion in his intelligent eyes and when Medmangi patted +him soothingly he laid his head on her shoulder affectionately. “My first +lover—a donkey!” she said laughingly. + +“Poor little mule,” said Hinpoha, stroking him from the other side. “He +knew the right place to come to all right. ‘Whose house is bare and dark +and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own,’” she quoted +dramatically. “We certainly have succeeded in creating the right +atmosphere of hospitality if even a lonely donkey can feel it and come +straight to our ‘Open Portals!’” + +“Now that he has come,” said Nyoda, rather puzzled, “the question is what +to do with him. If he goes wandering off again he’ll have those bandages +off in no time—he probably will anyhow—and his legs will get so sore he +will have to be shot. He undoubtedly belongs to somebody—very likely some +children’s pet—and I think we had better keep him right here in the barn +until we find the owner. The boys will have to postpone their taking +possession in favor of the other donkey if his presence interferes with +their activities.” Here the “other donkey” leaned against the wall in +such a pathetic attitude, as if his weight were too much for his sore +legs, that if they had had any intentions of turning him out into the +rain they would have speedily relented. + +“It’s a good thing this old stall is still here,” said Gladys. “There +isn’t any straw, but there is a box of excelsior and we can spread that +out and cover it with a blanket and make him a soft bed. We can give him +water tonight and bring food in the morning.” + +“And I’ll telephone the Sandwiches about him,” said Nyoda, “so if they +are coming over tomorrow they won’t turn him out.” + +But that telephone message was unnecessary, for at that moment a number +of dark figures appeared in the doorway and after a moment of hesitation, +entered. + +“Why, here are the Sandwiches,” exclaimed Nyoda cordially, advancing with +extended hand. “We were just talking about you. Speaking of angels—you +know the rest.” + +“We were just going by,” said the Captain (it was likely that they were +“just going by” that out of the way place in the rain!) “and saw your +light now you’ve left the windows uncovered, and thought we’d just step +in and inquire our fate. We just couldn’t wait until tomorrow,” he +finished in a boyish outburst. “Is it going to be the Open Door for us?” + +“Bless you, yes,” said Nyoda, smiling reassuringly at this manly lad who +was already her favorite, “there wasn’t a dissenting vote in the jury +box. We——” but the remainder of her sentence was drowned in an +ear-splitting cheer that was decidedly less musical than the Winnebago +cheers, but none the less hearty. + +“Pedigrees satisfactory, and all that?” inquired the Captain. + +“Perfect,” answered Nyoda with twinkling eyes. “I’ve dug up more facts +about you than you know yourselves. So,” she added demurely, “if you’re +still minded to ‘know us better,’ as you flatteringly remarked on the +occasion of our first meeting, why, we’re perfectly willing to be known. + +“But you can’t take immediate possession of your club room because we’ve +rented it temporarily to another don—another fellow,” she said +mischievously, turning the light of the lantern away from the stall where +the donkey was. The boys’ eager faces fell a trifle. + +“Of course,” they answered politely, “that’s your privilege.” + +“He’s a very nice chap,” pursued Nyoda, with a warning glance at the +girls behind her, who were stuffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths +in an effort not to laugh. + +“Yes,” assented the boys without enthusiasm. + +“Is it anyone we know?” asked the Captain politely, trying to make +conversation after a moment of silence. + +“Maybe you do know him,” answered Nyoda. “He’s here tonight. Would you +like to meet him?” + +She led the way to the stall and turned the light on the donkey. There +was a moment of surprised silence, followed by a perfect explosion of +laughter. “Where’d you get the donkey with the trousers on?” squeaked +Slim in his high thin voice. In the dim light of the lantern the bandages +on the donkey’s front legs looked like a pair of trousers. Then the +girls, after their laugh was out, explained about the visitor who had +come to them from out of the vast, and the Sandwiches declared that they +did not in the least mind sharing their club room with a needy donkey, +and offered to relieve the girls of the entire care of him, besides +trying to find the owner. + +They were as good as their word about taking care of him, but the weeks +slipped by and no amount of advertising produced anything in the shape of +an owner. + +“We’ll have to adopt him,” the Winnebagos decided. “A Camp Fire Donkey +sounds thrilling to me,” said Sahwah. “Think of all the fun we’ll have +with him. As long as the boys don’t mind, we can keep him right here in +the stall.” + +“What shall we name him?” asked Gladys. + +“Call him ‘Wohelo,’” advised Hinpoha. “It was the spirit of Wohelo that +led him to us. From now on he’ll be a symbolic donkey.” + +“But where do we come in on this?” inquired the Captain. “We take care of +him and he lives in our house.” + +“That’s right,” said Hinpoha. “Then let’s call him ‘Sandwich-Wohelo,’ +contracted to ‘Sandhelo.’” And “Sandhelo” he was until the end of the +chapter. His sore legs became very stiff until they were healed and he +hobbled painfully when he walked at all, which was very seldom. But the +scratches healed at last and the day came when Medmangi took off the +bandages for good, and led him around the barn for exercise. + +Then an amazing thing happened. Sahwah was upstairs in the Lodge, amusing +herself with a mouth organ she had just discovered in the depths of her +bed. But she had no sooner blown half a dozen notes when Sandhelo jerked +up his head, pulling the bridle out of Medmangi’s hands, and rose up on +his hind legs. Then he walked on his hind legs over to a box, climbed up +on it and sat there with his feet in the air, like a dog sitting up. +Medmangi screamed and brought the Winnebagos flying from all directions, +to behold the marvel in open-mouthed astonishment. + +“He’s a trick mule!” shouted Sahwah, tumbling down the ladder in her +excitement and never stopping to pick herself up. “Now I know where he +came from. He was with that dog and pony show that was in town a few +weeks ago. He must have strayed from the show and got left behind. Hats +off to the newest member of the Winnebago group! We certainly do have a +way of attracting all the best talent in town to our ranks!” + + + + + CHAPTER IV + A SANDEBAGO CIRCUS + + +Just how it started nobody ever knew—it may have been Sandhelo’s turning +out to be a trick mule, or it may have been because Slim was fat and +would make such a beautiful clown, besides being fine for a sideshow—but +before they knew it the Winnebagos and the Sandwich Club were hard at +work getting up a circus. The Sandwiches had taken possession of their +half of the Open Door Lodge and had converted it into a gymnasium. They +had built it on purpose to reduce Slim, they carefully explained to their +friends, and regularly put him through a course of exercises strenuous +enough to reduce a hippopotamus to an antelope in three weeks, but at the +end of that time he had gained just five pounds, so the Sandwiches +declared their efforts to be love’s labor lost and left him in peace. + +Sandhelo was becoming a well-known and conspicuous figure in the streets. +Hitched to an old pony cart of Gladys’, with bells jingling around his +neck and ribbons flying from his harness, he never failed to attract a +crowd of children. He had all the vagaries of the artistic temperament, +some of which caused his drivers no little inconvenience. For one thing, +he would not go at all unless he heard music, and it was no small +accomplishment to drive with one hand and play a mouth organ with the +other if you happened to be alone in the cart. And then, if he happened +to pass anything unusual in the street he had a way of sitting back on +his haunches and holding up his front feet and looking at them. As he +invariably sat down unexpectedly, the cart would go on and bump into him +and the shock would throw the driver from her seat, besides making a +great mess of the harness. Several times he had done this in the middle +of a busy crossing and held up traffic in both directions, while motormen +fumed and policemen threatened, and Sahwah (it usually was Sahwah, +because she drove him more than the others) played her sweetest on the +mouth organ in an effort to make him go on. Nothing would make him move +until his curiosity was satisfied and then he would dash off like an +arrow from the bow for half a block, after which he would slow down and +look over his shoulder to see how his driver was getting on. There was +always such a look of anxious solicitude in his eye on these occasions +that it was impossible to be angry with him and he continued to exercise +his temperament without reproof. + +After half a dozen of these free shows Sahwah declared that such an +ability to draw a crowd was worth money, and they had better give a real +show and charge admissions. + +The big space in front of the Open Door Lodge was an ideal place for the +ring. Seating arrangements for the audience gave them some anxiety at +first. + +“We ought to have a grand stand,” said the Captain, who had been chosen +Ringmaster. + +“Well, we can’t build one,” said the Bottomless Pit. “The audience will +have to stand through the performance, and that’ll be a grand stand, all +right.” + +“Innovation in circuses,” said Nyoda. “Have the audience stand and the +circus sit down. Like the picture of the bride standing while the groom +sprawls at ease in the photographer’s gilt chair.” + +“I think I can get a lot of chairs from a man who rents them out,” said +the Captain. “He lets people have them for nothing if it’s a charitable +enterprise.” + +“Do you call a circus a charitable enterprise?” asked Nyoda. + +“Well, ours will be,” said the Captain. “We’re doing it to make money so +we can buy the new apparatus for the gym, which will surely make Slim +thin, and that surely is charity.” + +Upstairs in the Lodge the six Winnebagos were all seated on the bearskin +bed having a lively argument as to who should drive Slim in the Chair-iot +Race. The Chair-iot Race was a grand inspiration of Sahwah’s, who was +keen on features in the circus line. Once, on a rummage, through Gladys’ +attic, they had found six horsehair covered chairs furnished with +excellent china castors, which caused the chairs to roll with enchanting +speed. Sahwah now thought of the chairs and conceived the brilliant idea +of harnessing a Sandwich to each one, seat a Winnebago in the chair, and +race six abreast down the long cement walk from the barn to the road. The +idea was hailed with delight until the Winnebagos began comparing the +merits of the prospective steeds, and nobody wanted to be the one to +drive Slim and go lumbering along like an ice-wagon in the rear of the +others. + +“It’s too bad the Captain had to be Ringmaster and can’t take part in the +show,” sighed Hinpoha. “Then there’d be enough without Slim.” + +“We wouldn’t dare leave him out, anyway,” said Gladys. “It would hurt his +feelings. So we’ll just have to draw lots for him, and whoever gets him +will have to make the best of it, that’s all.” So they drew slips of +paper from a hat and Hinpoha drew Slim, just as she had feared right +along. Sahwah drew the Monkey, which suited her down to the ground, for +he was a famous sprinter, and she lost no time getting the girls to ask +the boys whose names they had drawn in that secret ballot upstairs to be +their steeds in the race. Slim’s face lighted up with such a delighted +smile when Hinpoha apparently chose him for her own that her heart smote +her when she thought how this choice had been thrust upon her. Slim was +already beginning to learn the bitter truth that nobody loves a fat man. +Nyoda and the Captain plotted the circus parade and it was a triumph of +ingenuity. The advance bills which they scattered broadcast among their +friends announced that the parade would embrace “Five ferocious animals +from the Other Side of Nowhere, these animals being respectively The +Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster, and The +Salmonkey. + +Other numbers on the program were as follows: + + Ivan Awfulitch, world’s greatest magician; royal entertainer to the + King of Spain. Was banished to Siberia; escaped and swam to America; + has now opened up a complete line of magic. One day only. + + Mr. Skygack, from Mars, in a special song feature entitled the + Mars-y-lays. + + La Zingara, the bareback rider. + + Sandhelo, the famous trick mule. As intelligent as two men and a school + teacher. + + Mr. Avoirdupois Slim, fattest man on earth. Will sit on a toothpick. + + Mr. E. Lastic, Inja rubber man. + + Archibald Dimples the better baby. + + Chair-iot Race. Feat never attemped before on any stage. + + Monkey, the Aerial Gymnast, in the sensational dupe-the-dupes. + + Twenty Other Great Features + + + ALL CHILDREN WILL GET A FREE RIDE ON SANDELHO, + THE FAMOUS TRICK MULE, AFTER + THE PERFORMANCE + + +Bottomless Pitt owned a little hand-printing press and printed wonderful +tickets to be sold at five cents apiece, which Gladys declared were worth +the money as souvenirs, with the circus thrown in extra. + +“What are you making, a circus tent?” asked Gladys, dropping into the +Lodge, where Nyoda sat stitching together great lengths of red and white +striped material. + +“No; only a clown suit for Slim,” laughed Nyoda. “Gracious, how much it +does take!” + +“It reminds me of the riddle: ‘If it takes thirty yards of cloth to make +a shirtwaist for an elephant, etc.,’” said Gladys. “Poor Slim! You would +have died to see him practice his clown stunt with Sandhelo. You know the +boys built him a tiny red cart with two big wheels, and when he sat down +in it, it tilted way over backward and the shafts stuck up in the air and +pulled poor little Sandhelo right up off his feet, and there he dangled, +pawing for dear life. But, whatever are you making, Hinpoha?” she +finished, examining the thing which Hinpoha was working on and which +resembled nothing in the universe. + +“This is Peter’s costume,” answered Hinpoha; “he’s the hind leg of the +Kangarooster, you know. By the way, Nyoda, has a Kangarooster one hump or +two?” + +“None at all,” answered Nyoda hastily. “The humps are on the ‘Cam’ part +of the Camelk. That reminds me, have we something to stuff the humps +with?” + +“Take excelsior,” advised Gladys. “Dear me, who’s screeching like that +downstairs?” + +They all crowded down the ladder at the sound of a lusty yell from below +and found Sahwah hanging head downward from a heavy hook in the wall. She +had improved a moment’s leisure to climb up to the top of the window with +a spray of bittersweet to see how it would look, and in descending had +caught her skirt on the hook and lost her footing. The skirt tore through +until the stout serge hem was reached and that offered successful +resistance, and Sahwah hung, as Nyoda remarked, like a lamb on the spit. + +“I got an idea hanging upside down,” were the first words she gasped as +they restored her to the perpendicular and revived her with peanuts. + +“It’s the only way you ever would get an idea,” said Hinpoha. + +“Is that so?” returned Sahwah, with spirit “Who thought up the Chair-iot +Race, I’d like to know?” + +“Stop bickering and tell us your idea,” said Nyoda. + +“Why, it’s this,” said Sahwah. “Sell hot cocoa with marshmallows in it +after the show. Everybody’ll be cold sitting around. We can make almost +as much money that way as with the circus.” + +“A lake of hot cocoa with an island of marshmallows in it is my dream of +heaven,” said Hinpoha, clasping her hands in ecstasy. “Sahwah, you’re a +genius. I yield the palm to you without a struggle. You have a ‘head in +your mind,’ as absent-minded old Fuzzytop used to say. There’s nothing in +the whole world that’ll separate a nickel from its owner like a cup of +hot cocoa with a marshmallow floating in it on a cold day.” + +“Another innovation,” said Nyoda. “We’ll have that instead of circus +lemonade. See to getting the supplies, will you, Sahwah dear? I have so +many details to look after now that I simply cannot be responsible for +another thing, or my head will burst and out will come everything that’s +safely packed in now. Come in, Captain. What’s on your mind?” + +“Slim,” said the Captain, with a look of comical despair, as he sat down +among the girls. “I’m afraid he won’t do for a Better Baby. He’s smashed +three perambulators and a high chair and we can’t get any more. And the +biggest size white dress we could buy in the store won’t go half-way +around him.” + +Nyoda knitted her brows. “We simply have to have a Better Baby,” she +affirmed. “It’s one of the best features. We’ll drape cheesecloth around +him for a dress and he can play on a quilt on the floor—I mean the +ground—instead of being taken for a ride by his nurse in a perambulator.” + +“Poor Slim!” said Hinpoha. “How many more things are going to be wished +on him? I’m afraid his ‘gall will be divided into three parts,’ too!” + +“That would have been a very clever thing for you to say,” remarked the +Captain, “if it had been original, but it wasn’t. They spring that over +at our school, too. Slim isn’t doing any more than the rest of us at +that. Only he’s so conspicuous that everything he does seems like a lot +more than it really is.” + +“How are the tickets going?” asked Sahwah. + +“We’ve sold over a hundred,” announced the Captain with pride. “We’re +famous people, we are.” + +“Speak for yourself,” said Sahwah. “It isn’t we who are the attraction, +though—it’s Sandhelo. I rode him through the streets and sold nearly +fifty tickets to the children that followed us. They’re all attracted by +the promise of a free ride after the show.” + +“It’ll probably take all evening to give them the ride, and we’ll never +get to that jubilation spread we’re going to have after the show, but we +have to make our word good,” said Nyoda. + +“Put them on four at once and we’ll get done somehow,” said Sahwah. + +Hinpoha laid down her sewing and stretched her arms above her head. “I +never knew circuses were such a pile of work,” she sighed. + + “‘Wohelo means work,’ + So dig like a Turk,” + +chanted Sahwah. + +“I move we all go to the ‘movies’ tonight and see ‘If I Were King,’” +continued Hinpoha. + +“Can’t,” said Nyoda briefly, checking up on her fingers the things she +still had to do. “I still have to evolve a tail for the Salmonkey and a +frontispiece for the Camelk, make four banners, rehearse the living +statuary, make a bonnet for the Better Baby, teach the Crabbit how to hop +and crawl at the same time and make a costume for the bareback rider.” + +“I’d come and help you,” said Sahwah, “but we’re going to have a test in +Latin tomorrow and I have to cram tonight. I’ll just have time to +practice with the band.” + +“A test in time saves nine,” murmured Hinpoha. “What are the Sandwiches +doing now?” + +“Erecting the flying trapeze,” answered Sahwah, looking out of the +window. “Captain is hanging by his eyebrow to the top of a pole and +Bottomless Pitt is standing below, waiting to catch him when he falls.” + +The Captain caught her eye, as she leaned over the sill and shouted: + + “All right below, + O Wohelo, + Now _please_ go mix some pancake dough!” + +“All right,” called Sahwah cheerily. “You’ll soon smell something +doughing!” + +Nyoda and Gladys went home on an errand, and Hinpoha, worn out with her +arduous labors with the needle, stretched out on the bearskin bed and +fell sound asleep in the warmth of the fire. Sahwah puttered about +collecting the ingredients for flapjacks to make a treat for the boys, +who had worked like Trojans ever since school was out. The wood in the +fireplace had burned down to lovely glowing embers, and she laid the +toaster on top of them to act as a rest for the frying-pan. The Captain, +tying ropes into the branches of the big tree just outside of the window, +looked in and admired the scene. Hinpoha, with her marvellous red curls +falling around her face in the light of the fire, looked like a sleeping +princess in a fairy tale, and Sahwah, holding her dish of batter in one +hand and skilfully putting grease into the pan with the other, was a +cheery little housewife indeed. Through the half-open window he could +hear her singing “A Warrior Bold.” + +A moment he looked in, filled with whole-souled admiration for these +many-sided girls who were his new friends, and then without warning +something happened inside. The panful of sizzling fat suddenly burst into +a sheet of flame that left the confines of the fireplace and seemed to +leap all around Sahwah. A burning spark shot out and fell into a pile of +cheesecloth lying on the floor at the far side of the room, and it blazed +up instantly, the flames enveloping the sleeping Hinpoha. It took less +than a moment for the Captain to spring down from the tree, run into the +barn and up the ladder. But it was too late for him to do anything. In +the twinkling of an eye Sahwah had seized the burning cheesecloth and +flung it into the fireplace, thrown a bearskin rug over Hinpoha and now +stood calmly pouring sand from a bucket on top of the burning fat in the +pan. And all the while she was doing it she had never stopped singing! +The Captain stood still in his amazement and listened idly to the words: + + “So what care I, though death be nigh? + I’ll live for love or die——” + +A hoarse sound made her turn around and she saw the Captain standing +beside her with face pale as ashes. The dreadful sight he had seen from +the tree when the room seemed filled with flame was still in his mind. + +“How did you manage to keep so cool and do everything so quickly?” he +asked in amazement. + +Sahwah laughed at his expression of astonishment. “That’s not the first +fire I’ve put out,” she said calmly. “We always keep both water and sand +on hand whenever we have an open fire, to prevent serious accidents. +Having the cheesecloth go up at the same time rather complicated matters, +but I got it into the fireplace without any trouble. I don’t know what +made the fat in the pan take fire; it’s never done that before up here. +But don’t worry; I’ll get your flapjacks made, all right.” + +The Captain looked at her with more admiration than ever. “Most girls +would have been in a faint by that time, and have had to be doused with +smelling salts,” he told the Sandwiches later, “instead of coolly +promising you your flapjacks anyway and apologizing for the delay!” + +“Your hands are burned!” he exclaimed in concern, as he saw Sahwah +looking ruefully at her blackened fingers. “Let me do something for +them.” + +“Nothing serious,” said Sahwah, turning them down so he could not see the +blistered palms. + +“They are, too!” persisted the Captain. “Have you any oil handy?” + +“In the First Aid box over there,” said Sahwah. “It’s in that bottle +labeled A Burned Child Dreads the Fire.” + +The Captain returned with cotton and gauze and the oil and proceeded to +bandage the scorched hands that had been so quick to avert disaster. + +“Won’t Hinpoha be furious when she wakes up and finds her costume that +she worked so hard on all burned up?” she said, as he wound the bandages +under her direction. “I hated to throw it into the fire, but it had to be +done.” + +“She’d better not be furious,” returned the Captain. “She’s got you to +thank that she didn’t burn up herself. She had a close call that time, +and if you hadn’t snatched that burning rag off her and covered her with +a rug I’d hate to think what would have happened. I tell you it’s great +to be able to do the right thing at the right time. A lot of people talk +about what they would do in an emergency, but very few of them ever do +it.” + +“Well,” returned Sahwah coolly, holding up her hands and inspecting the +bandages with a critical eye, “there is an emergency before us right now. +Suppose you stop talking and get busy and fry those pancakes for the +boys. They’re dying of starvation outside.” + +The Captain started, blushed and looked at her keenly to see if she were +making fun of him, and then fell to work without a word finishing +Sahwah’s interrupted labor. + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE ARRIVAL OF KATHERINE + + +Preparations were completed and the day for the presentation of the +greatest show on earth had arrived. It was crisply cool, but clear and +sunshiny, as the last Saturday in beloved October should be; and not too +cold to sit still and witness an out-of-doors performance. Tickets had +sold with such gratifying readiness that a second edition had been +necessary, and the Committee on Seating Arrangements was nearly in +despair over providing enough seats. + +“It’s no use,” declared Bottomless Pitt, “we’ve done the best we could +and half of them will still have to stand. It’ll be a case of ‘first +come, first served.’” + +Sahwah and Hinpoha, their arms filled with bundles of “props,” which they +had spent the morning in collecting, sank wearily down at a table in the +“Neapolitan” soda dispensary and ordered their favorite sundaes. “Now, +are you perfectly sure we have everything?” asked Hinpoha, between +spoonfuls. + +“There’s the Better Baby’s rattle,” recounted Sahwah, identifying her +parcels by feeling of them, “the Magician’s natural hair a foot long, the +china eggs he finds in the lady’s handbag, the bareback rider’s spangles, +and—O Hinpoha!” she cried in dismay, dropping her spoon on the tile floor +with a great clatter, “we forgot the red, white and blue cockade for +Sandhelo. I’ll have to go back to Nelson’s and get it. Dear me, it’s +eleven o’clock now and we still have to go out home and dress. And the +marshmallows have to be bought yet; that’s another thing I promised Nyoda +I’d see about. Won’t you please get them, Hinpoha, while I run up to +Nelson’s? There’s a dear. Get them at Raymond’s—theirs are the freshest; +and then you had better go right on home without waiting for me. It will +take me a little longer, but I’ll hurry as fast as I can. And please tell +Nyoda that I didn’t forget the marshmallows this time; I just turned the +responsibility over to you.” And Sahwah gathered up her bundles and +retraced her steps toward the big up-town store, while Hinpoha took her +way to Raymond’s. Five pounds of marshmallows make a pretty big box, and +Hinpoha had several other parcels to carry. She had them all laid out on +the counter with an eye to tying some of them together to facilitate +transportation when a voice suddenly called out: “Dorothy! Dorothy +Bradford!” She turned and saw Miss Parker, one of the teachers at +Washington High, at the other end of the counter. “Come and meet my +cousin,” said Miss Parker, and brought forward a young girl she had with +her. “This is Katherine Adams,” said Miss Parker. “Katherine, I would +like you to meet one of my pupils, Dorothy Bradford.” + +Hinpoha acknowledged the introduction cordially, but it was all she could +do to suppress a smile at Katherine’s appearance. She was an extremely +tall, lanky girl, narrow chested and stoop shouldered, with scanty +straw-colored hair drawn into a tight knot at the back of her neck, and +pale, near-sighted eyes peering through glasses. She wore a long +drab-colored coat, cut as severely plain as a man’s, and a narrow-brimmed +felt sailor hat. She wore no gloves and her hands were large and bony. +Her shoes—Hinpoha looked twice in her astonishment to make sure—yes, +there was no mistake, the shoes she had on were not mates! One was a +cloth-top button and the other a heavy laced walking boot. Miss Parker +followed Hinpoha’s surprised glance and looked distressed. But Katherine +was not at all disconcerted when she discovered the discrepancy in her +footgear. + +“That’s what you get for interrupting me in the middle of my dressing,” +she said coolly. “Now, I’ve forgotten which pair I intended to wear.” She +had an odd, husky voice, that made everything she said sound funny. + +Miss Parker seemed rather anxious that her cousin should make a good +impression on Hinpoha. Katherine was from Spencer, Arkansas, she +explained, and had gone as far in school as she could out there and had +now come east to stay with her cousin and take the last year in high +school. Hinpoha promised to introduce her around to the girls in the +class, with her eyes on the clock all the while and her mind on the +performance she should be helping to prepare that minute instead of +standing there talking. + +“Won’t you come to our circus this afternoon?” she said politely, fishing +among the small “props” in her handbag. “Here’s a ticket. It’s going to +be in the big field at the corner of May and ——th streets. Come into the +barn if you come and I’ll introduce you to some of my friends.” + +Miss Parker and her caricature of a cousin finally departed, and Hinpoha +hastily gathered up her bundles. Something about the package of +marshmallows struck her as unfamiliar, and she examined it in +consternation. It certainly was not her package, though like it in shape. +Somebody had taken hers by mistake. She looked around the store and was +just in time to see her box being carried out the front door under the +arm of a woman. Hinpoha gathered her packages into her arms hit and miss +and rushed after her. But impeded as she was she got stuck in the +revolving door and was delayed a full minute before she escaped to the +sidewalk. She was just in time to see the object of her pursuit board a +car at the corner. Before Hinpoha could reach the corner the car had +started. Hinpoha stamped her foot with vexation, mostly directed toward +Miss Parker and her freak cousin for taking her attention away from her +belongings. Then she considered. The car the woman had boarded must make +a loop and come out a block below and it would be possible to catch it +there. Hinpoha puffed along the sidewalk at a great rate, worming her way +through the Saturday noon crowds and colliding with people right and +left. She reached the corner just as the car did and made a mad dash over +the pavement, dodging in among wagons and automobiles at dire peril of +life and limb. She scrambled aboard and landed sprawling on the back +platform, while her bundles scattered over the floor in every direction. +Breathless and embarrassed, she gathered them up and entered the car just +in time to see the lady carrying her box of marshmallows get out of the +front door. Hinpoha made a wild dash for the rear exit, but the door was +closed and the car already in motion. She rang the bell frantically, at +the same time following the woman with her eyes to see in which direction +she went. The car finally released her two blocks up street, and then +began the mad chase back again. Poor Hinpoha was never built for speed; +her breath gave out and she developed an agonizing pain in her side. Her +bundles weighed her down and her hat flopped into her eyes. Chugging +along thus she ran smartly into someone and again her packages covered +the sidewalk. + +“Oh, excuse me!” she gasped, struggling to get her hat back on her head. +“I couldn’t see where I was going. _Why, Captain_——” For it was none +other than he with whom she had collided. + +“Pretty well loaded down, aren’t you?” said the Captain, stooping to pick +up the litter on the sidewalk. + +“Never mind them,” said Hinpoha hastily, “go after _her_.” + +“Go after _her_?” repeated the Captain in a tone of bewilderment. + +Hinpoha pointed speechlessly up the street and then with a mighty effort +regained a speck of her breath and panted “Lady—blue coat—plush +collar—our marshmallows—left this—Raymond’s—go get them,” and, shoving +the stranger’s package into his hands, she indicated with waving arms +that he was to pursue the lady in question and regain the club’s +property. The Captain started off obediently, though her explanation was +not yet clear in his mind, but the truth flashed over him when he +presently overtook a lady that fitted the description just turning into +the door of Raymond’s store with a large package under her arm, and he +soon made his errand known and recovered the marshmallows. She was just +in the act of returning them to Raymond’s, having discovered her mistake. + +Hinpoha was out in front when the Captain emerged from the store, and she +surrendered her bundles to him gratefully, saying with a breathless sigh, +“Boys _are_ useful to have around once in a while, after all.” + +“Only once in a while?” asked the Captain. + +“Well, maybe twice in a while, then,” said Hinpoha graciously. + +Hinpoha arrived on the scene of action so late that there was no time to +press her for explanations; she was summarily hustled out of her street +clothes and into her orchestra costume. The audience was arriving in +crowds and the Sandwiches, who were detailed as ticket takers, had much +to do to keep legions of small boys from climbing the fence and seeing +the show without the formality of buying a ticket. + +The Grand Parade, “including every single member of the entire show,” was +scheduled to start promptly at two. The parade was necessarily held in +sections, as all hands were needed for each section. The clock in a +neighboring steeple had not finished chiming the hour when there was an +unearthly blare of trumpets and crashing of drums, and the band issued +from the entrance of the Open Door Lodge. Nyoda led the band and made a +stunning drum major in a fur hat a foot high, made out of a muff. The +members of the band were dressed as Spanish troubadours in costumes of +blinding scarlet, with their instruments hung around their neck by +ribbons. They marched around the ring at a lively pace, playing the music +of a popular football song, which made the audience cheer wildly, for it +was largely composed of students from the two great rival schools, +Washington High and Carnegie Mechanic. In the wake of the troubadours +stumbled an enormously fat clown in a suit half red and half white, +blowing up a rubber bladder, which emitted a plaintive squawk. Loud +applause greeted every move the clown made and when he accidentally +stumbled into a hole and measured his length on the ground the small boys +shrieked in ecstasy. + +The band made a stately and melodious exit in the House of the Open Door +and once inside broke ranks in haste to prepare for the second section of +the parade—the procession of the animals. This was a much more +complicated matter than the band had been, but it had been so well +rehearsed that the crowd, who were being amused by the antics of the +clown, had not time to grow impatient before they were ready. Shrieks of +delight went up at the appearance of the five ferocious animals from +Nowhere—The Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster and +The Salmonkey, and they had to go around the ring five times before being +allowed to retire. The parade being such an unqualified success, it is +needless to say that the circus proper went even better. The actors had +all worked themselves up into the right mood for it. + +The magician gave more entertainment than he had counted on, for the +mice, which he had concealed in his pocket ready to produce from under +the folded handkerchief, bit him before their turn in the show came, and +the beholders were startled to see the magician suddenly spring into the +air, uttering a wild yell and, thrusting his hand into his hip pocket, +throw the cause of the disturbance half-way across the ring. The Fattest +Man on Earth, who was Slim, with the addition of several pillows fore and +aft, mounted the small stage and laboriously sat on a toothpick, breaking +down the stage in the process; and the Inja Rubber Man did such amazing +contortions that the audience began to hold their breath for fear he +would never come untangled again. + +When it happened to be her turn to go out in one of the numbers Hinpoha +looked the audience over to see if Katherine Adams had come in response +to her invitation, but she did not see her. But, while looking for +Katherine, her eye was caught by a strange figure, the like of which she +had never seen before. She was a woman, old and bent, and dressed in such +old-fashioned clothes that she looked like a caricature out of a funny +page. She had on a tight green basque, which flared out below the waist +in a ripple and a very full red skirt, held out in a ridiculous curve by +that atrocity of bygone days known as a “bustle.” She was climbing +stiffly up and down among the spectators trying to sell papers which she +was crying in a shrill voice. As she went up and down among the benches +she held up her skirt in her hand, disclosing purple stockings and +enormous flapping slippers. Wherever she went she was followed by a +ripple of laughter; the audience seemed to be getting as much fun out of +her as they were out of the show. Hinpoha told Nyoda about it when she +was in the barn again and Nyoda asked all the players not to do anything +to drive her away, as she was no doubt trying to make an honest living by +selling papers wherever there was a crowd, and she was adding an +unexpected touch to the circus to amuse the audience. + +The bareback rider proved a real sensation. Up to that time the numbers +had merely been in the nature of stunts—clever and original and highly +diverting, and yet something which any group of young people could +produce. But here was something different. Veronica was so dark that in +her costume she looked like a real gypsy, and as she was not yet well +known she was not recognized. She came in riding a beautiful black horse +that belonged to Mr. Evans, and, after galloping around the ring several +times and making him rear up on his hind legs until the audience thought +she must slide off, she set him to leaping obstacles, keeping her seat +all the while with amazing ease. There was a touch of realism in her act, +too, which made the audience tingle for a while. In their eagerness to +see the horse and the daring rider the children down in the front row had +pressed forward until they were fairly under the ropes. Without warning a +little girl lost her balance and fell out into the ring, rolling right +into the path of the galloping horse. An exclamation of horror went up +from the crowd, and many covered their eyes with their hands. The others, +gazing as if fascinated, saw the horse in obedience to a quick command +leap into the air with all four feet and come down several feet beyond +the little form on the ground. Shouts rose up from every side and cheers +for the skilful horsewoman who had been able to avert a tragedy when it +was too late to turn aside. But Veronica sat unmoved, a graceful statue +on the beautiful horse, looking out over the audience with brooding eyes +that saw them not. + +Of course the _piece de resistance_ of the whole show was the trick mule, +Sandhelo. He had been the most widely advertised feature and had been the +means of selling the most tickets. The small boys came lured by the +promise of a free ride after the show and could hardly wait for that time +to come. His appearance in the ring was hailed with tumultuous applause. +Led by the clown, who played the mouth organ constantly to assure his +continuous locomotion, he did his tricks over and over again, lying down +as if dead when Slim played “John Brown’s Body,” and springing to his +feet with a lively bray when he played “Yankee Doodle”; and sitting up on +the table and waving his fore feet at the audience while he tossed a lump +of sugar on his nose. + +Then the clown tried to ride him and fell off, first on one side and then +the other, and after several vain attempts offered a quarter to anyone in +the audience who would come out and ride him around the ring. As the +players along knew that Sandhelo would only go to music, they anticipated +no little fun from this business. Sandhelo was perfectly safe to ride—he +was as gentle as a kitten—but his refusal to stir when commanded made him +appear a very balky mule indeed, and there was no response to Slim’s +invitation for somebody to come out and ride him. Even the small boys, +who were eager to ride him, preferred to wait until the show was over +before making the trial. + +“Don’t all come at once,” appealed Slim in derision. “One at a time, +please. Who’ll ride the famous trick mule, Sandhelo, around the ring and +win the handsome prize of twenty-five cents, a whole quarter of a +dollar?” Still no volunteers. Sandhelo yawned and looked bored to death. +Slim stretched out his hands to the audience imploringly. + +Suddenly there was a commotion at one end of the seats and down from the +top of the picnic tables, where the raised seats were, there climbed the +little old woman who had gone around selling papers. “I’ll ride him for +twenty-five cents,” she cackled in her high shrill voice. And she hobbled +across the ring to where Sandhelo stood. The players were ready to hug +themselves with joy. Here was a real circus-y touch they had not counted +on. + +“Aren’t you afraid she’ll get hurt?” whispered Hinpoha to Nyoda. + +“No danger,” returned Nyoda. “Sandhelo won’t go a step without the mouth +organ.” + +The little old woman, her back bent almost double, shuffled over and +grasped Sandhelo, not by the bridle, but by the cockade on his head. Then +she suddenly straightened up and a gasp of astonishment went around the +circle. She was taller than the tallest of them. Without assistance from +anyone she climbed on Sandhelo’s back and sat with her face toward his +tail. The audience, suspecting that it was a “put-up job,” and this was +another stunt, roared its appreciation, but the players looked at each +other in utter bewilderment. Who was this strange character? + +Sandhelo was a very small donkey, standing no higher than a Shetland +pony, and when the old lady was seated on his back her feet dragged on +the ground. Calmly crossing them underneath his body, she gave his tail a +smart jerk, accompanied by the shrill command, “Giddap!” Sandhelo, +mortified to death at the undignified position of his rider, had but one +idea in his mind—to escape from the gibing crowd and hide his head in his +stable. Around the ring he flew as fast as his tiny legs would carry him, +the old woman sticking to him like a burr, her bonnet strings flying in +the wind, her big slippers flapping against his sides, and her shrill +voice urging him on to greater speed. The act brought down the house and +a whole row of folding camp chairs collapsed under the strain of the +applause. + +Beside himself with rage and shame, Sandhelo bolted into the barn and +carried his strange rider into the midst of the company of players. +Sliding off his back, she looked around the ring of curious faces before +her with little twinkling gray eyes. Then she held out her hand +suggestively. “Where’s the quarter I git fer ridin’ the mule?” she asked. +Something in her voice awakened a memory in Hinpoha’s mind. In a +twinkling she was carried back to the incident at Raymond’s that noon +when Miss Parker stopped to present her cousin from the west. Surely +there never were two such voices! At the same time Hinpoha noticed that +the old woman’s gray hair was sliding back on her head, and a long wisp +of yellowish hair was hanging out underneath. She stared at the curious +figure in growing wonder, and the woman stared back at her with a knowing +grin that became wider every moment. Then with a quick movement the old +woman snatched off a gray wig, mopped a damp handkerchief over her face, +produced a pair of glasses from some pocket in the wide skirt, and stood +before them the same awkward, ungainly creature that Hinpoha had met that +noon. It was Katherine Adams, Miss Parker’s cousin. + +Such a babel there was when Hinpoha recognized the strange comedian and +presented her to the others! The waiting audience was completely +forgotten as they listened fascinated while Katherine explained how she +had come “by special invitation” to the circus and had decided that +people who had “pep” enough to get up a circus were worth knowing, and +the best way to get acquainted with the players was to be in the show +herself. So she had joined the company without the formality of being +asked. + +“You’re appointed assistant clown for the remainder of the circus,” said +Nyoda. + +“And you’re invited to the spread upstairs afterwards,” said Hinpoha. + +“It’s time for the Chair-iot Race,” said the Captain warningly, and the +players returned to their duties with a guilty start. The new comedian +proved such a diversion and put the regular clown up to so many tricks +that he would never have thought of by himself, that the audience refused +to go home when the big show was over, and called for encore after +encore. + +“Let’s get her to sell cocoa,” suggested Gladys; “they’ll buy from her +when they wouldn’t from us.” + +So Katherine, who up until a few hours ago had never heard of the +Winnebagos and Sandwiches, did more for them in the way of dispensing +cups of cocoa at five cents a cup than they were able to do for +themselves. She made such inimitably droll speeches in her efforts to +advertise her wares that the audience crowded around her just to hear her +talk, and bought and bought until the huge kettles were empty and the +paper box till was full. The small boys crowded around the Ringmaster, +demanding their ride on the trick mule, and, tearing himself away from +the fascinating orator, he betook himself to the barn, followed by the +whole string of would-be riders. But when he arrived there the stall was +empty and Sandhelo was nowhere to be found. Loud chorus of disappointment +from the small boys. The Captain turned their interest in Sandhelo to +account by enlisting them in the search for him, but it was vain. Nowhere +could they find a trace of him. His shame at the indignity heaped upon +him that afternoon had been too great. Finding his stall left open in the +excitement he had escaped and wandered off while the attention of +everyone was riveted on the antics of the new comedian, and hid his head +among new scenes and faces. The small boys finally gave up and went home, +partly consoled by the assurance that if Sandhelo ever turned up again +the promised ride would still be theirs, and the players, rather +exhausted, but exulting over the success of the performance, gathered in +the Winnebago room of the Open Door Lodge for the jollification spread. + +Katherine Adams was the lioness of the evening. Begged for a speech, she +obligingly mounted the table and held a discourse that left her hearers +limp with merriment. What she said was sidesplitting enough, but her +gestures, her expression and her voice were beyond description. She spoke +in a lazy southern drawl, mixed up with a nasal twang, and the peculiarly +veiled, husky quality of her voice gave it a sound the like of which was +never heard before. She still wore the big flapping slippers and had much +ado to keep them on when she climbed on the table with the mincing air of +a young miss making an elocution lesson. She planted her feet carefully, +heels together and toes apart, taking several minutes in the operation, +and then surveyed them with a silly smirk of satisfaction that was +convulsing. When her discourse became a little heated the feet suddenly +flew around and toed in until both heels and toes were in a straight +line. At the ripple of laughter which this called forth she looked down +at her feet with a sad, pained expression and carefully set them right +again. A few moments later she again waxed eloquent and again the feet +turned, seemingly of themselves, and this time her toes pointed outward +until toes and heels were all one straight line. The shrieks of delight +made her look down again, with that same puzzled, pained expression, and +again she set them right in an affected manner. + +When the speech was over the boys and girls begged her to do it again, +and kept her speechifying until she declared she had no voice left to +whisper. “You know I have to be very careful of my voice,” she said in a +tone of confiding simplicity. “It’s so sweet that I’m afraid of cracking +it all the time.” + +Katherine was too good to be true. “Just like a character out of a book,” +the delighted Winnebagos whispered to one another. Before the evening was +over they had unanimously decided to urge—not merely invite, mind you, +but urge—her to become a Winnebago. Katherine was delighted with the idea +and accepted the invitation with another convulsing speech. It seemed +incredible to the girls that they had met her just that afternoon. It +seemed as if they had known her always. She fitted into their group like +a thumb on a hand. She was plied with slumgullion and every other +delicacy, and her health was drunk in numerous cups of cocoa. The +continual flow of banter which the Winnebagos usually kept up among +themselves was hushed, and everyone was willing to put the soft pedal on +her own speech if only Katherine would talk some more. She told +fascinating things about her life on a big stock farm out in Arkansas. + +“Are there any Indians around there?” asked Veronica, whose ideas of the +American Far West were rather hazy and romantic. + +“Indians!” said Katherine. “I should say there were! They’re something +terrible. Why, you don’t dare hang your clothes on the line, because the +Indians will shoot them full of arrows! And then,” she continued, as she +saw Veronica’s eyes becoming saucerlike, “there are all kind of wild +animals out there, too. We can’t keep milk standing around in the pantry +because the wildcats come in and drink it up, and the bears shed their +hair all over the carpet! Why, one day I came in from the yard and there +was a rattlesnake curled up on the piano stool!” + +The Winnebagos and the Sandwiches doubled up with merriment at her awful +“yarns,” but Veronica believed every word of it. + +“O Katherine, you awful thing, I’m in love with you,” cried Hinpoha, in +rather mixed metaphor, and drew her down on the bearskin bed beside her. +“Goodness, Veronica, don’t look so excited. All the Indians there are in +this country now are on reservations, and they’re entirely peaceable. You +mustn’t believe a word she says.” + +The jollification supper ended in a hilarious Virginia Reel, which hardly +anyone could dance for laughing at Katherine’s big slippers, as she +shuffled up and down the line. + +“What a day this has been,” sighed Hinpoha to Gladys, with whom she was +spending the night, as she sank down on the bed with all her clothes on. +“We’ve made enough money to equip the Sandwiches’ gym be-yoo-tifully; +we’ve made Veronica famous as a horsewoman; we’ve lost our trick mule and +gained a new member for the Winnebagos. In the classic words of our +gallant Captain, I think that’s ‘going some.’” + + + + + CHAPTER VI + A MORAL OBLIGATION + + +Katherine’s entry into High School life was a complete success—one of +those rare, astonishing successes that happen about once in a decade. The +regular members of the class, who have been together since the beginning, +will by constant effort have attained a fair measure of popularity by the +fourth year, when suddenly a personality will appear out of the vast and +seize and hold the center of the stage. Katherine’s spectacular exploit +at the Sandebago Circus was heralded far and wide, and when she entered +school the following Monday morning she found herself already famous. +Everywhere she was pointed out as “the girl who had ridden the donkey,” +“the girl with the funny voice,” “the girl who made the screaming +speeches.” Teachers agreed unanimously that she was the most erratically +brilliant student they had ever had in their classes—when she could +remember to turn her work in. Her compositions were read out in class and +brought down the house. When she rose to recite you could hear a pin +drop. It was an open secret that the two English teachers had drawn lots +to see who would get her, and not a few pupils suddenly discovered +conflicts in their recitations and got themselves changed into the class +where Katherine was. + +Her absent-mindedness soon became proverbial. Odd shoes—gloves of two +different colors—hat on hind side before, or somebody else’s hat +altogether—these were everyday occurrences. Her friends told with +chuckles how she had climbed one flight of stairs too many on her way to +Math class and walked into a Freshman English class, her mind busy +working out the solution of a problem in geometry. When some other +Katherine was called upon to recite she rose solemnly and, going to the +board, gave a masterly demonstration of a knotty theorem in solid +geometry, and then marched out with the class, serenely unconscious of +her mistake, oblivious to the laughter of the class and the amusement of +the teacher, who let her go on without interruption to see how far she +would go. Her bewilderment when asked by the regular geometry teacher to +explain why she had cut class that morning was comical. + +Possessing neither beauty, style, pretty clothes, nor all the dozen other +things that make the ordinary girl popular, her very unusualness gave her +a distinction, and inside of two weeks she was the best-known girl in the +whole school. To be counted as one of her friends was an honor, and to be +able to say, “Katherine told me this,” or, “Katherine did this up at our +house,” was to incite the envy of less favored ones. The Uranians, the +most exclusive and select girl’s society in the school, voted her in as a +member because they must have all the prominent girls, although they +generally scorned both worth and brains, if clothed in poor garments, and +great was their chagrin to find that their disdained rivals, the clever +and democratic Dramatic Club, had held a special meeting and taken her in +the afternoon before. Urania had not noticed that Katherine had been +wearing the Dramatic Club pin a whole day because she had stuck it over a +hole in her stocking which she did not have time to mend. + +How the Winnebagos exulted because Hinpoha had been polite enough to +invite her to the circus and she had consequently landed in their bosom +the first thing! No other group of girls would ever know her as +intimately as they would. The Camp Fire idea appealed to her from the +start. The Open Door Lodge was a paradise for her. The ladder stairs were +a constant source of delight. + +“One would think you had never climbed a ladder before,” said Hinpoha, +watching curiously as Katherine climbed up and down and up again just for +the fun of the thing. Katherine draped her feet around a rung to support +herself and sat on the top bar. + +“I never did,” she said simply. + +“Never climbed a ladder!” said Hinpoha incredulously. “Why, where did you +live?” + +“In Arkansas,” answered Katherine significantly. “Do you know,” she went +on, “that until I came east I had never seen a flight of stairs? _I had +never seen a flight of stairs!_” she repeated, as Hinpoha and the other +girls in the Lodge gasped unbelievingly. “We lived in a one-story house, +the floor level with the ground, so you just walked in from the outside +without going up steps. The house was in the middle of a big farm, as +level and flat as this floor. I rode ten miles to school and that was +built just like our house. Oh, of course I knew there were such things as +stairs, because I had seen them in pictures, but until I came here I had +never seen any.” + +“But didn’t you see any when you went traveling?” asked Hinpoha, still +incredulous. + +“Never went traveling,” returned Katherine. “It took considerable +hustling to stay right where we were. One year the locusts ate up +everything, down to the clothes on the line, and we couldn’t get enough +feed to fatten the stock; the next year there were prairie fires that +licked the earth as clean as a plate; one year the cattle all died of +disease, and so on. It wasn’t until this year that we came out ahead +enough to send me here to school.” + +And when the girls heard what a hard time she had had they adored her +more than ever because she could be so funny when she had had so little +to be funny about. + +Another thing that charmed her beyond measure was the color of the autumn +leaves. The Winnebagos could hardly pull her past a tree. “There was only +one tree in sight on our farm,” she would tell them, “and that wasn’t +green like the trees are in the east; it was just a dusty, greenish gray. +And the leaves didn’t turn colors in the fall; they just withered up and +dropped off. Oh-h-h, look at that one over there—isn’t it just too +gorgeous for words?” + +When we said that both teachers and pupils regarded Katherine as too good +to be true, we should have made one exception. That exception was Miss +Snively, the Senior Oratory teacher. Most of the teachers were liked by +some scholars and disliked by some, according to disposition or +circumstance; but all pupils agreed heartily that they did not like Miss +Snively. She was neither old nor bad looking; in fact, she was rather +handsome when you saw her for the first time, but she was so bitingly +sarcastic that her classes stood in fear and trembling of being singled +out for some poisoned shaft. Sarcasm and ridicule are the most deadly +weapons to use against boys and girls of the high school age. They are +not old enough to know how to come back, and can only nurse the smart and +writhe impotently. And of all classes to have a sarcastic teacher, Senior +Oratory is the worst. It is bad enough to stand up and make a speech with +appropriate gestures before a sympathetic teacher who corrects +diplomatically and never, never laughs, but to have one who eyes you +coldly all the while and then gets up and does it the way you did, only +ten times worse—more buckets of tears had been shed over Senior Oratory +than all other subjects put together. + +When Katherine entered the class Miss Snively took immediate exception to +her voice. Miss Snively’s particular hobby was Woman’s Voice. Hers was +high and artificially sweet—it fairly oozed syrup—and she did her level +best to make her girl pupils imitate it. So when Katherine began reading +in her husky nasal drawl, Miss Snively promptly read the piece after her, +imitating her voice as best she could, and then looked around the room +for the laughter of the pupils which would complete Katherine’s +mortification. But nobody laughed. They all sympathized with Katherine. +They had been in her shoes themselves. The blood mounted to Katherine’s +temples when she realized that Miss Snively was deliberately making fun +of her, and a hurt look came into her eyes. She was sensitive about her +voice, even if she did get endless fun out of it. When Miss Snively +handed her the book again and bade her in sarcastic tones to read further +for the edification of the class, Katherine sat silent. To her horror she +found there was a lump in her throat and she would most likely break down +utterly if she tried to say a word. She did not mean to be stubborn—she +was only waiting for control of her voice, for she was too proud to let +Miss Snively see how badly she felt. So she sat silent, miserably +twisting her handkerchief in her hands. + +“Go back to your session room,” said Miss Snively sharply, who boasted of +her summary measures with her scholars. So Katherine left the room in +disgrace. From that time on there was a marked antagonism between those +two. Miss Snively lost no chance to make Katherine ridiculous in class, +and, while Katherine had too much respect for teachers to openly defy +her, she “took off” her affected manners to delighted audiences outside +of class, and Miss Snively knew it and was powerless to stop it. But, +outside of her skirmishes with Miss Snively, Katherine’s progress through +school was a triumphal march. + +In every school, and Washington High was no exception, there will be +found various elements—some good and some bad. Color rushes, which had +given an annual vent to the mysterious feeling of hostility which always +exists between junior and senior classes, had been abolished. But the +feeling still existed, and manifested itself in various skirmishes. The +year before, when the juniors gave their annual dance, the seniors +carried away the refreshments. On the night of the senior dance the +lights refused to work, and, of course, the juniors were at the bottom of +the mystery. The principal, thinking rightly that pranks of this kind +reflected little credit on his school, wrathfully declared that if any of +the seniors attempted to spoil the juniors’ party this year there would +be trouble. But there were certain lawless spirits in the senior class +who still thought pranks of that nature funny, and it was not long before +plans were hatching as merrily as before. It was all very vague, what was +going to be done and who was going to do it, but it was in the air, and +everybody who was up on school affairs knew there was a storm brewing. + +The first definite news came to the Winnebagos through Katherine. “I’ve +been asked to a select party,” she announced one night up in the Open +Door Lodge, spreading her bony hands out before the blazing log on the +hearth. “It’s something like the Boston Tea Party,” she went on. + +“Must be going to be quite an affair,” said Gladys, who was stirring +fudge over the fire. “May we inquire where?” + +“Oh, girls,” said Katherine, with a serious face, “do you know what’s in +the wind? The Seniors are to put a lot of live mice through the windows +in the middle of the Junior dance.” + +“The Seniors?” exclaimed Hinpoha and Gladys in one breath. “What +Seniors?” + +“Oh, Charlie Hughes and Eddie Myers and that bunch. You know the half +dozen that go around together and call themselves the Clan? Well, those. +They were mixed up in the business last year.” Although Katherine was a +newcomer in the school she was already well versed in its history. + +“How did you find it out?” asked Hinpoha. + +“Cora Burton told me.” Cora was one of Katherine’s devoted admirers and +tried hard to be chummy with her, although Katherine did not care for her +in the least. “Cora’s a particular friend of Charlie Hughes, and she and +some other girls are going along to see the fun. But she couldn’t keep it +secret and told me today and asked if I wanted to go along.” + +“Oh, Katherine, you’re not going?” said Sahwah anxiously. + +The disgusted expression on Katherine’s face was answer enough. + +“Hadn’t we better tell some of the teachers?” asked Gladys, pausing in +her stirring. “I wish Nyoda were here.” Miss Kent had been called out of +town on account of the death of an aunt and would be away until after the +party. + +“We ought to, I think,” said Hinpoha. + +Katherine stood up beside the fireplace, and resting one elbow on the +shelf humped her shoulders in her favorite attitude and began to speak. +“Girls,” she said, “this Junior-Senior business is going to be an awful +mess, and the result will be that somebody will be expelled or not +permitted to graduate. Students are going to take sides in the affair and +there will be no end of hard feelings. I for one don’t care to play the +rôle of informer. So far we Winnebagos have kept entirely out of anything +of this kind and wish we could get along without having any connection +with this.” + +“But the teachers would never tell who told them,” said Hinpoha. + +“The teachers wouldn’t,” answered Katherine, “but Cora Burton would. And +then maybe someone would say that I had been in the thing to start with +and then grew afraid and told on the others. You know how those stories +grow. Stay out of it altogether, say I, and avoid publicity.” + +“But don’t you think it’s our duty to try and stop such horrid pranks?” +asked Hinpoha doubtfully. + +“I certainly do,” said Katherine, “and if we were the only ones who +suspected anything it would be different. But all the teachers know that +something is going to happen and they will be on the lookout. And the +Juniors know it also, and they will be on their guard. I doubt very much +if those mice ever get into the room, even if we keep silent.” + +And the Winnebagos, remembering Hinpoha’s sad experience the year before, +decided that it was perhaps better after all to keep out of the affair +altogether. + +“I thought you’d see it my way after you’d considered all sides,” said +Katherine, reaching out her long fingers and taking three pieces of fudge +off the plate where it was cooling, “but that isn’t what I wanted to talk +about tonight. It’s Cora Burton that bothers me. She isn’t a bad sort of +girl, and I can’t see why she should want to get mixed up in that sort of +thing, especially when there’s bound to be trouble later. If she were to +be seen with those boys Friday night it would go hard with her. I suppose +she thinks she’s right in the swim being connected with a prank, because +she isn’t very popular otherwise. The other girls that are in it aren’t +ladylike and it’s not much use getting after them, but Cora’s different, +somehow. I wish something could be done about it.” And she crunched a +piece of fudge between her teeth with violence. + +“We might get up a show that night and each one bring a friend, and you +could invite Cora,” suggested Sahwah. “Counter attraction, you know.” + +The suggestion was voted a good one and promptly acted upon. But Cora +declined Katherine’s cordial invitation. “What’s to be done now?” asked +Katherine of the hastily called meeting of the Winnebagos. “Our counter +attraction didn’t work.” + +“Girls,” said Gladys solemnly, “I believe it’s our duty to keep Cora away +from that business somehow. If we were smart enough we’d find a way. I +don’t believe we ought to let the matter drop and say if she wants to get +into trouble let her do it, it’s none of our affair. It _is_ our affair, +because we’re pledged to Give Service, and it would be doing Cora a great +service to keep her out of this. If she’s weak and we’re strong we must +hold her out of water. You remember what Dr. Harper said at the lecture +about saving people from themselves. Well, I think we ought to save Cora +from herself.” + +The phrase, “Save Cora from herself,” sounded very fine to the ears of +the Winnebagos, and they decided that Cora must be saved from herself at +all costs. But how? + +“I think I can manage it,” said Katherine, who had been buried deep in +thought all the while the last discussion was going on. “It’ll be quite +an undertaking, but the end justifies the means.” + +“Tell us,” begged the girls. + +“Why, it’s this,” said Katherine. “I shall tell Cora that I’ve changed my +mind and want to go with her Friday night and will meet her on the corner +of her street at eight o’clock. When I’ve met her I’ll tell her that I +left my purse up here and ask her to come along till I get it. You know +she doesn’t live very far from here. Once up here we’ll keep her safely +all evening. Oh, I know that holding people against their will isn’t one +of the rules of polite society, but in her case I think we’re justified. +She’ll thank us for it before very long. And we’ll try to make it +pleasant for her. We’ll give the show just as we intended and have a +spread and her captivity won’t seem long.” + +As there seemed no other way out of the difficulty, Katherine’s plan was +accepted. + +“It’s working fine,” she confided to the Winnebagos the next day. “Cora +was tickled to pieces because I wanted to go with her. She agreed to meet +me on the corner, as I suggested, and we’re both going to wear green +veils so we won’t be recognized so easily. Hoop la!” and she did a double +shuffle with her toes turned in down the aisle of the empty class room +where the girls had gathered. + +On Friday night the Winnebagos met early in the House of the Open Door. +Mrs. Evans, Gladys’ mother, was acting as leader tonight in the absence +of Nyoda. She had been let into the secret about Cora and under the +circumstances thought that their action was right. Cora lived with an old +uncle, who was stone deaf and didn’t care a rap what she did, so there +was no use talking to her folks about it. Several girl friends of the +Winnebagos were present, all having raptures over the decorations of the +Lodge, and watching with interest the waving curtain in the corner, +behind which Sahwah was making herself up as a Topsy for their +entertainment later on. Gladys was making sandwiches in another corner +and lamenting because the bread knife was broken half off, and was +accusing Sahwah of prying bricks apart with it, when stealthy footsteps +sounded on the walk below, together with the noise of the door being +pushed back quietly. Gladys heard it and started nervously. She was +beginning to feel rather embarrassed at the thought of meeting Cora +Burton, and wondered just how it would come out, anyway. She wished it +were safely over. + +Katherine and her prisoner seemed a long time in reaching the foot of the +ladder. Did Cora suspect something, perhaps, and was refusing to mount? +Gladys strained her ears to listen and thought she heard a smothered +giggle from below, but she could not be sure. The next minute the lights +flashed below and the patent signal knock of the Sandwiches sounded on +the wall. + +“Here come the boys!” cried Hinpoha, hastening to answer the signal with +a series of mystic thumps on the wall with the poker. + +Then the Captain’s voice sounded at the foot of the ladder. “How many of +you are up there?” + +“Five,” answered Hinpoha, “and three guests.” + +“Is Miss Kent there?” + +“No.” + +“What are you doing?” + +“We’re going to have a show. Want to come up?” + +“Well, maybe, later,” answered the Captain. “Won’t you come down a +minute? We’ve got something to show you.” And again Gladys thought she +heard a smothered giggle from below stairs. + +The girls trooped down the ladder, Sahwah running out with her face +blackened and her hair in tiny pigtails, to see what the excitement was +about. All seven of the Sandwiches stood there with sparkling eyes and +prenaturally solemn faces. On the floor stood a good-sized box. + +“What’s in the box?” asked Sahwah. + +“Oh, nothing,” answered the Captain, trying to speak indifferently. + +“There is too, something,” said Sahwah, looking critically at the express +tags fastened to it. “Oh, I know what is is,” she cried, suddenly jumping +up and clapping her hands in glee. “Your uncle in Boston has sent you the +electric motor he promised you!” + +The Captain tried to look indifferent and failed utterly. His lips would +twitch into a smile in spite of all he could do. + +“Do open it and let us see it,” said Hinpoha, and all the girls crowded +closely around. + +“You may have the honor, Miss Brewster,” said the Captain, bowing +formally to Sahwah. The nails had been drawn and all Sahwah had to do was +lift off the cover of the box, which she did with a great flourish. The +next moment the girls sprang back in dismay and scattered wildly. The box +was full of live mice, which jumped out and ran in all directions. +Screaming at the tops of their voices the girls fled toward the ladder +and crowded up as fast as they could go. Sahwah jumped for the swinging +rings, which hung from the ceiling of the barn, and dangled safely in +mid-air, making horrible faces at the Captain, at which he laughed +uproariously. Sahwah and the Captain were always playing tricks on each +other and this time she had to admit that he had scored heavily. So the +Captain jeered and Sahwah vowed vengeance and the other Sandwiches stood +around and laughed until their sides ached, for Sahwah, with blackened +face and Topsy braids, hanging in the rings and sputtering, was the +funniest sight imaginable. + +“Joke’s over now, boys,” said the Captain, when the mice had run around +the barn for several minutes. “We’ve had enough of a good thing. Let’s +catch them and put them back into the box.” + +The girls above sat around the ladder opening and watched the +proceedings. + +“Wherever did you get so many mice, boys?” asked Mrs. Evans. + +“We found them,” said the Captain, “all boxed up, just like this, They +were right out in the middle of that field over there. We were on the way +over here and saw the box and looked in. When we saw what it was we +thought we could play a joke on the girls. So we brought them along. +Looks as though someone had fixed them that way for a joke. Probably were +going to send them by express. They were in an express box, although it +was not nailed shut.” + +The girls began to look at one another significantly. The same thought +came into all their minds at once. Were not these the mice that were to +attend the Junior party? + +“The joke is on the Seniors, after all,” said Hinpoha. + +“What do you mean?” asked the boys. “The joke is on the Seniors?” + +“Shall we tell them?” asked Hinpoha. + +“I don’t see any harm now,” said Gladys. “The scheme has collapsed like a +pricked balloon.” + +And they told the Sandwiches what they knew about the plot of the Senior +boys to interrupt the Junior party. + +“Wasn’t such a bad idea to try to play a joke on you girls after all, was +it?” said the Captain. “Because if we hadn’t done it we wouldn’t have +nipped their little scheme in the bud. We’ll play lots more jokes on +them, won’t we, Slim? Don’t you girls think you ought to invite us up to +supper to celebrate?” + +“Not until the last mouse is back in the box,” said Gladys firmly. + +The boys worked hard to catch them again and the girls sat above and +cheered their efforts, and in the middle of it in came Katherine and her +companion, swathed in green veils. There was such an uproar in the barn +that Cora never noticed that Katherine locked the door and put the key in +her pocket. Cora gave a great start at the sight of the mice, which was +not all from fright, and the girls could not help enjoying the situation. +What must be her thoughts by this time? But Cora, obeying the natural +impulse of women at the sight of mice, fled up the ladder with Katherine. +If she thought it odd that the barn was full of girls and boys when she +had gained the impression that it was empty and dark, she made no sign, +but stood still with her veil over her face. With all those horrible +creatures running around the floor downstairs she made no move to escape. + +“Won’t you take off your things?” asked Katherine, beginning gently to +break the news to Cora that she was to stay for the evening. Without +demur Cora unfastened her coat and slid it off and then took off her hat +and veil. The girls stood as if turned to stone. The person who stood +before them was not Cora Burton. It was Miss Snively. _It was Miss +Snively!_ + +She looked around her with a sneering smile and a snapping light in her +eyes. “You may think it was a master stroke on your part to lure me here +and lock me in so I could not join the conspirators and thus find out who +they were,” she said with biting emphasis. “But you shall pay dearly for +this, my young friends. I know who you all are—you needn’t try to hide +behinds the others, Gladys Evans—and the information I shall be able to +give Mr. Jackson tonight is what he has been trying to find out for a +long time. Katherine Adams, you are the ringleader of this affair, as we +might have expected. I know all about the plan to put the mice into the +dance hall, and while the boys downstairs who are getting them ready are +not the ones I should have expected to be doing it, it is just like you +to get strange boys to do it for you, hoping to get away unsuspected. But +it didn’t work, I am happy to say. You are very clever, Miss Adams, but +not clever enough. I overheard you asking Cora Burton to meet you on the +corner this evening. I took the liberty of being there first. I thought I +had deceived you perfectly, not knowing that you were bringing me right +into the mouse’s nest, so to speak.” + +She paused for breath and looked around her with an expression of relish +at the consternation visible on the faces before her. For Katherine was +staring at her with startled, unbelieving eyes; Gladys was clutching her +mother’s arm in a frightened manner; Hinpoha had sunk weakly down on the +bearskin bed, and Sahwah stood with her mouth open and the perspiration +running down her face in black streaks, and the others were dumb with +astonishment. The boys, not knowing just what was going on, but guessing +that something was the matter, stood by the ladder opening, silently +taking in the scene. The girls looked helplessly into each other’s eyes. +Somebody must speak and explain. They all looked at Katherine. + +“But we aren’t mixed up in the House Party at all, Miss Snively,” she +said earnestly. “We heard about it, and I found out that Cora Burton was +going to be in it and I tried to make her stay home and she refused, so +we girls decided we would take action to take her out of it by luring her +up here and keeping her until the thing was over. That’s why I asked Cora +to meet me on the corner, and I really thought you were Cora all the +while. You imitated her squeaky voice to perfection.” + +As Katherine was telling her perfectly truthful story she had a dreadful +feeling that it didn’t sound plausible at all. Under Miss Snively’s cold +eye nothing seemed real. + +“Likely story!” said Miss Snively sneeringly. “And how does it happen +that if you wanted to bring Cora out of temptation you should take her to +the place where the mice were being boxed up ready to be taken to the +party?” All the girls looked so disconcerted. Those dreadful mice did +complicate matters so! They would have given anything if Nyoda had been +there then. + +The Captain was beginning to take in the situation. He came forward +frankly. “It’s our fault about the mice,” he said, looking Miss Snively +straight in the eye. “We found them in a field near here all boxed up and +thought it would be a good joke on the girls to bring them over here and +let them out. We don’t know anything about your squabbles at Washington +High, except what little the girls here have told us; we’re all from +Carnegie Mechanic. And we know the girls didn’t have a hand in it, +because they were giving a show here to-night.” + +His story was backed up by all the other boys, and then Mrs. Evans got in +a word and declared that Katherine was telling the whole truth about +Cora, and Miss Snively was forced, however ungraciously, to admit that +she had been mistaken in her suspicions. + +“If she’d been a man I’d have made her eat her words,” declared Slim +wrathfully, after Miss Snively had departed from the scene. + +Mrs. Evans and Gladys, with perfect courtesy, offered to drive her home +in their car, and for the present oil was poured on the troubled waters. + +Katherine sat hunched gloomily before the fire and held-forth to the +Winnebagos. “I don’t know whether the joke’s on her or on us,” she said +pessimistically; “but one thing I’m sure of, and that is, that never, +never, as long as I live, will I ever again try to save a girl from +herself.” + +And the Winnebagos wearily agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + AN ADVENTURE IN PHILANTHROPY + + +Katherine became officially a member of the Winnebago Camp Fire Group at +the first Ceremonial after the circus, with the Fire Name of Iagoonah, +the Story Maker. The name itself was an accident and the manner of its +bestowing is cherished in the chronicles of the Winnebagos as one of the +group’s best jokes. Just about the time Katherine was to be installed as +a Winnebago, word was received that the Chief Guardian of the city was +going to be present at the meeting and would take charge of the +Ceremonial. Katherine had chosen the name, “Prairie Dandelion,” because +she came from the plains, and because her hair was so fly-away. During +the supper which preceded the Ceremonial meeting Katherine made such +funny speeches and told such outrageous yarns about her life in the West +that Nyoda said jestingly: “Your name ought to be Iagoo, the Marvellous +Story Teller.” And the others began calling her Iagoo in fun. The Chief +Guardian heard them calling her Iagoo and supposed that was the Camp Fire +name she wished to take. So, when she was receiving Katherine into the +ranks, she said: “Your name is Iagoo, isn’t it?” + +Katherine, sobered and almost voiceless from the solemnity of the +occasion, mumbled half-inarticulately, “Iagoo? Nah!” + +And before anyone knew what had happened she had been officially +installed as _Iagoonah_! The joke was so good that the name stuck, and +Katherine was known to the Winnebago Circle as Iagoonah to the end of the +chapter, although they did consent to change the interpretation to Story +Maker instead of Story Teller as being more dignified and not so +suggestive. + +Katherine was one of the most enthusiastic Camp Fire Girls that ever +lived, and her inspirations led the girls into more activities and +adventures than they had ever dreamed of before. It was Katherine who +started the Philanthropic Idea. They had been talking about the different +things Camp Fire Girls could do together for the good of the community. + +“Girls,” said Katherine, standing in her favorite attitude beside the +fireplace, with her toes turned in and her elbow on the shelf, “I don’t +believe we’re doing all we ought. We’re having a royal good time among +ourselves and learning no end of things to our own advantage, but what +are we doing for others? Nothing, that I can see.” + +“We gave a Thanksgiving basket to Katie, the laundress,” said Hinpoha, +“and we collected a barrel of clothes for the Shimky’s when their house +burned down, and we gave a benefit performance to pay little Jane +Goldman’s expenses in the hospital, and we send toys and scrapbooks to +the Sunshine Nursery every Christmas.” + +“And I earned three dollars and gave it to the Red Cross,” said Sahwah. +“Don’t you call that doing something for other people? We haven’t meant +to be selfish, I’m sure. By the way, Katherine, your elbow’s in the +fudge.” + +Katherine shoved the dish away absently and returned to her subject. +“Yes,” she admitted, “the Winnebagos have done a great deal that way, but +it’s all been _giving_ something. We haven’t _done_ anything. It’s easy +enough to pack a basket and hand it to someone, and collect a lot of old +clothes from people who are anxious to get rid of them anyway, or pay the +bill for somebody else to do something. But I think we ought to do +something ourselves—give up our own time and put our own touch into it.” + +“What do you mean we should do?” asked Gladys, hunting through the dish +for a piece of fudge that had not been demolished by Katherine’s elbow. + +“Well, there’s the Foreign Settlement,” said Katherine. “I’m sure we +could find something to do there. It’s a grand and noble thing to show +the foreigners how to live better.” And she launched into such an +eloquent plea in behalf of the poor overburdened washerwomen who had to +neglect their babies while they went to work that the girls wiped their +eyes and declared it was a cruel world and things weren’t fairly divided, +and surely they must do what they could to lighten the burdens of their +sisters in the Settlement. + +“What will we do, and when will we do it?” asked Hinpoha, all on fire to +get the noble work started. + +“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” answered Katherine. “We ought to go out into the +Settlement and see what’s to be done. We’ll make a survey, sort of, and +then we’ll step in and see where we’re needed most.” + +Nyoda, appealed to for advice, told them to go ahead. She liked the idea +of their trying to find out for themselves what needed a helping hand. +She could not go with them to the Settlement on Saturday morning, but it +was all right for them to go by themselves in daylight. + +So, full of a generous desire to help somebody else, the Winnebagos +followed Katherine’s lead toward the Settlement the next day. The +Settlement, as it was called, embraced some three or four square miles of +land adjacent to several large factories. In it dwelt some few thousand +Slovaks, Poles and Bohemians, packed like sardines in narrow quarters. +The Settlement had its own churches, stores, schools, theaters, dance +halls and amusement gardens, and looked more like an old world city than +a section of a great American Metropolis, with its queer houses and signs +in every language but English. The girls wandered up and down the narrow +dirty streets, filled with chickens and children, and tried to decide +what they should do first. They met the village baker, carrying a +washbasket full of enormous round loaves of rye bread without a sign of a +wrapping. He was going from house to house, delivering the loaves, and if +no one came to the door he laid the loaf on the doorstep and went on. + +Before one house, which had a small front yard, between twenty and +twenty-five men were lounging on the steps, on the two benches and +against the fence. “What do you suppose all those men are doing in front +of that house?” whispered Hinpoha curiously. + +Just then a woman came from the house carrying in her hand a huge iron +frying-pan full of pancakes. She passed it around and each man took a +pancake in his hand and ate it where he stood. + +“They’re having their dinner!” exclaimed Gladys. “It’s just a little past +noon. That’s one way of disposing of the dishwashing problem. I’ll store +up that idea for use the next time it’s my turn to cook supper at a +meeting. What a large family that woman has, though. I wonder if they are +all her husbands?” + +“Gracious no,” said Katherine. “These people aren’t poly—poly—you know +what I mean, even if they are foreigners. Those men are boarders. Every +family has some. Let’s go into that big house over there and ask if there +are any babies the mothers would like to leave with us while they go +washing.” + +They picked their way across the muddy road toward a large building which +opened right on to the sidewalk. The hall door stood open and they went +in. There were more than a dozen doors leading from the hall on the first +floor. “Gracious, what a number of people live here!” said Gladys, +putting her arm through Katherine’s. + +While they stood there, trying to make up their minds at which door to +knock, one was opened and a barefooted woman came out, carrying a pan of +dishwater, which she threw out on the sidewalk. At the same time another +door opened and out came another woman, who stopped short when she saw +the first one, and began to talk in a harsh foreign tongue. The second +woman replied angrily and the girls could see that they were quarreling. +Before long they were shaking fists in front of each other’s noses and +shouting at the tops of their voices. Doors everywhere flew open and the +hall was soon filled with excited women who took sides with one or the +other and shook fists at each other while the girls huddled under the +stairway, expecting to be set upon and beaten. The quarrel was waxing +more violent, when the girls spied a door at the end of a hallway which +had been opened to let in some of the shouting women. As quickly and as +quietly as they could they darted down this passageway and out of the +door which brought them into the back yard of the place. Terrified, they +fled up the street and stood on the corner, discouraged and irresolute. +Hinpoha was for going home right away. But Katherine talked her out of +it. + +“Let’s go up to the Neighborhood Mission on the hill and ask them for +something to do,” suggested Katherine, when the rest inquired what they +should do next. So they turned their footsteps toward the white building +at the end of the street. + +“If you really want to do something,” said the mission worker to whom +they explained their errand, “come down here next Saturday morning and +help take care of the children that are left with us. Two of the nurses +will be away and we will be short-handed.” + +The Winnebagos were charmed with the idea. “Oh, may we each take one home +for the day?” begged Katherine, “if we promise to bring them back all +right?” + +Permission was granted for the next Saturday and Katherine was jubilant +over the good beginning of their work. “I thought it best that we each +take one home and take care of it by ourselves,” she explained. “We’ll +have such fun telling experiences and comparing notes afterward.” + +Promptly at nine o’clock the next Saturday morning the four Winnebagos, +Katherine, Gladys, Hinpoha and Sahwah, presented themselves at the +Neighborhood Mission and drove away ten minutes later in Gladys’ +automobile, each with a youngster in tow. + +At eight that night there was a lively experience meeting in the House of +the Open Door. “Oh, girls, you never saw such a dirty baby as the one I +had,” cried Gladys, with a little shiver of disgust at the remembrance. + +“It couldn’t have been any worse than the one I had,” broke in Hinpoha. + +“But I gave him a bath,” said Gladys, with a satisfied air, “and put all +new clothes on him, and he was as sweet as a rose when I took him home.” + +“Mine beat them all,” said Katherine, when she was able to get in a word +edgewise. “He had a little fur tail of some kind tied around his neck on +a string. I suppose it was meant for a ‘pacifier,’ for he was sucking it +all the while.” + +“Why, mine had one of those on, too,” said Gladys. + +“So did mine,” said Hinpoha. + +“There must have been a million germs on it,” continued Katherine. “I +took it off and burned it up.” + +“So did I,” said Gladys. + +“So did I,” echoed Hinpoha. + +After all things were talked over the Winnebagos decided that they had +done pretty good work that day in cleaning up the dirty babies and +unanimously voted to take them again the next Saturday. + +When they arrived at the Neighborhood Mission the next Saturday morning +they were met on the walk by half a dozen excited women with +handkerchiefs on their heads, who formed a circle around them, shouting +in a foreign tongue and making fierce gestures. + +“What is the matter? What are they saying?” gasped Hinpoha in terror to +Katherine, struggling to pull away from the hand that was clutching her +coat lapel. + +“I don’t know,” answered Katherine, completely at sea and vainly trying +to understand the gibberish that was being uttered by the brown-skinned +woman dancing up and down before her. + +A startled group of workers ran from the Mission to see what the trouble +was, and, forcing themselves through the circle, drew the frightened +girls inside the fence of the Mission. Then from the group of women +outside there arose a voice in broken English, demanding angrily: “Where +is the charm that hung on the neck of my Stefan? The charm to keep away +the fever and the sore eyes? I give you my boy to watch, you steal away +the charm. Give it back! Give it back!” Here the angry shouting and +gesticulating began again and threatening hands were waved over the +fence. + +“What does she mean?” asked Hinpoha. “What charm?” + +“We didn’t steal any charms,” said Katherine indignantly. “We didn’t take +a thing off the babies except some dirty old rabbits’ tails that were +full of germs. We burned them up, and a good thing it was, too.” + +Here the angry shouts of the women gave way to wails of despair. “They +burned the rabbits’ tails!” groaned one woman, who could talk English, +lifting her hands heavenward, “the rabbits’ tails that the Wonder Woman +tied about their necks on Easter Sunday! Now Stefan will get the fever +and the sore eyes and the teeth will not come through!” And she beat her +breast in despair. Then her anger blazed forth again and she fell to +berating the girls in her own language, and the other women fell in with +her until there was a perfect hubbub. The workers at the Mission hustled +the girls inside the building and the women finally departed, shaking +fists at the Mission and raging at all the dwellers. + +“It was nothing but a dirty old rabbit’s tail,” declared Hinpoha +tearfully, as the shaken Winnebagos hastened homeward. “I hate +foreigners! I guess we’ll never try to do anything for them again.” + +“Oh, yes, we will,” answered Katherine optimistically; “we’ll learn not +to make mistakes in time.” + +“Look at that donkey over there,” said Sahwah. “Doesn’t he remind you of +Sandhelo?” + +“Poor old Sandhelo,” mourned Hinpoha. “I wonder what became of him? We +certainly had fun with him, even if he never would go unless he heard +music.” + +“Seems to be characteristic of the donkey tribe not to want to go,” +observed Katherine. “That one over there is balking, too. Doesn’t the +fellow that’s trying to drive him look like a pirate, though? I wouldn’t +go for him either, if I were a donkey.” + +“O look!” cried Sahwah in amazement, and they all stopped still. + +A small boy was coming down the street blowing lustily on a wheezy horn, +and as soon as the donkey heard it he wheeled around, facing the music, +pricked up his ears, uttered a squeal of rapture and rose up on his hind +legs, almost upsetting the queer little cart to which he was harnessed. + +“Katherine! I do believe it _is_ Sandhelo,” cried Sahwah, excitedly +gripping Katherine’s arm. + +The man sprang from the cart and seizing the donkey by the bit brought +him down to earth with a rough pull that almost jerked his head off, +shouting abuse at him in a foreign tongue. The little boy, frightened at +the uproar, ran away, taking his music with him. The man got into the +cart again and tried to drive away. The donkey refused to move. The man +began to beat him unmercifully. + +“Oh, girls, we must do something to stop him!” cried Hinpoha, hopping up +and down in distress. + +“Here, you, stop that!” shouted Katherine, running forward and waving her +muff at him threateningly. “I’ll have the law on you!” The man either did +not understand, or did not care, for he paid not the slightest heed to +her words. “Stop it, stop it, I say!” she commanded, stamping her foot +angrily and wildly wishing she were a man, that she might beat this bully +even as he was beating the poor little beast. + +The man looked at her and grinned derisively. “Who says so?” he growled. + +“I say so!” said a voice behind Katherine, and she turned to see the +Captain standing beside her. “You stop beating that donkey or I’ll punch +your head.” He put his fingers to his lips and uttered a long shrill +whistle which the girls recognized as the call of the Sandwiches, and the +next minute the other boys came running up the side street, Bottomless +Pitt, Monkey, Dan, Peter and Harry, with Slim trailing along in the rear, +puffing violently in his efforts to keep up with the rest. They +surrounded the cart threateningly and the man sulkily left off beating +the donkey. + +Sahwah went forward and stroked the little animal’s head and then she +uttered a triumphant cry. + +“It _is_ Sandhelo!” she exclaimed. “Here’s part of his red, white and +blue cockade still sticking in his hair.” + +“That’s our donkey,” cried all the girls and boys, pressing close around. +“Where did you get him?” + +“He is not,” declared the man angrily. “I raise him myself since he was +young.” + +“That is not true,” said Sahwah shrewdly. “If you had had him very long +you would know how to make him go. It seems to me that this is the first +time you’ve ever tried to drive him.” + +“He is mine, he is mine,” declared the man. “I know how to make him go. +He always go for me.” + +“Then make him go,” said Sahwah coolly. + +The man tried to urge the donkey forward, but in vain. + +“Now, _we’ll_ show you how to make him go,” said Sahwah. “Where’s that +boy with the horn?” She ran up the street a distance and found the boy +seated on a doorstep and bribed him with a few pennies to let her take +the horn. Then, walking along ahead of Sandhelo she played a half dozen +lively notes, such as had sent him flying round the circus ring. No +sooner had she started than he started at a great rate. When she stopped +he stopped. + +“It’s Sandhelo without mistake,” they all cried, and the last doubt +vanished when he came up alongside of Sahwah and laid his head on her +shoulder the way he always had done. + +“He belongs to us,” said the Captain, looking the man in the eye, “and +you’ll have to give him up.” + +The man shifted his gaze. “I give him to you for five dollar,” he +muttered. “I pay so much for him.” + +“Not much,” said the Captain. “Nobody sold you a donkey for five dollars +and you can’t get that much out of us. Now you either give him to us or +we’ll report it to the police.” The man protested loudly, but he was +evidently thinking all the while that a donkey that only went when he +heard music was not such a good bargain after all, even if he did get it +by the simple and inexpensive method of finding it in his dooryard and +tying it up. So, after growling some more that they were robbing him, he +suffered Sandhelo to be unharnessed from the cart and led away in triumph +in the wake of the horn. + +“Well, our charitable enterprise didn’t turn out so badly, after all,” +said Katherine, when Sandhelo was once more established in his cozy stall +in the House of the Open Door. “If it hadn’t been for that fuss about the +babies we wouldn’t have been on the street in time to see Sandhelo. And +if we hadn’t wanted to help those people there wouldn’t have been any +fuss. It does really seem that virtue is its own reward and one good turn +deserves another. Let’s do it some more.” + +And as usual the others agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + A SELECT SLEEPING PARTY + + +“Gracious, Katherine, what is the matter with your fingers?” asked Gladys +curiously, as Katherine came into the room with all five fingers on her +right hand tied up. + +“Oh,” replied Katherine cheerfully, “I burned one, cut one, pounded one +with a hammer and slammed the door on one, and that left only one good +one, so I tied that up, too, for safe-keeping and only take it out when I +want to use it. It’s a good thing I don’t need my hand to sing carols +with, or I would be out of the running. Are we all here?” + +“All but Veronica,” answered Nyoda, “and Sahwah—and Sahwah will be here +presently. By the way, where is Veronica?” + +“She’s over at the theater where her uncle is orchestra director,” +answered Gladys. “She goes over there almost every Saturday afternoon. I +believe she plays sometimes when one of the regular violinists is +absent.” + +Veronica, it must be confessed, was a great puzzle to the Winnebagos. Try +as they might, they could never get her to enter into their work and fun +with any degree of vim. She always sat aloof, her brooding eyes staring +off into space. Not that they loved her any the less—they were too +genuinely sorry for her—but they never seemed to be able to break down +the barrier between them and her. They constantly stood abashed before +her aristocratic airs. When the friends went together to get ice cream +Veronica had a way of flinging a dollar bill down on the table and +bidding the waitress keep the change that made the others feel cheap +somehow, although they knew it was useless extravagance. When a poor +woman came to the door one day, just as she was going out, and asked if +she had any old clothes to give away she promptly took off her expensive +furs and gave them to her. + +The girls were mightily impressed by this act until Nyoda talked it over +with them and made them see that the gift was entirely inappropriate. So +while they admired her to distraction and each one secretly hoped that +Veronica would single her out as a special friend, they had to admit that +as yet they had not made much headway. + +“If Sahwah doesn’t come in five minutes, we’ll have to start without +her,” said Hinpoha, walking impatiently to the window. “Carol practice +begins at two and it’s half-past one now.” + +Just then the telephone rang. “It’s Sahwah,” reported Hinpoha, upon +answering, “and she says she’s got a real charity case for us to look +into—some old woman—and she’s down at Sahwah’s house now and we should +all come down. She says it’s the saddest thing she ever heard. What shall +we do, girls, shall we go?” + +“Of course,” said Katherine promptly. + +“What about carol practice?” asked Gladys. “Won’t it make us dreadfully +late?” + +“We’ll just have to be late, then,” said Katherine, jabbing her hatpins +in swiftly. “Come on.” + +Sahwah met them at the door with an unusually solemn countenance. “You’re +a load of bricks to come, girls,” she said, “but I knew you would. Come +right upstairs. In here,” she said, pausing before the door of her room. +“Maybe you’d better go in one at a time. You go first, Hinpoha.” + +Hinpoha, feeling queer, passed in. The next minute those outside heard a +great shout. “Migwan! My Migwan! When did you come? We thought you +weren’t coming for two whole days yet. Sahwah, you wretch, how could you +get us so worked up?” + +The others burst in and smothered Migwan in embraces while Katherine +stood looking on curiously, until Gladys remembered her manners. “This is +our Katherine,” she said, drawing her forward, “that we have all written +you about. Make a speech, Katherine, to show her how you do it!” + +And Katherine obligingly complied and Migwan laughed extravagantly and +was soon sitting on the bed beside her with her arm locked in hers, and +talking to her as if she had known her all her life instead of only five +minutes. That was the effect Katherine had on everybody. + +Then they dragged Migwan out to the House of the Open Door and introduced +her to the Sandwiches, who were playing basket ball in their half of the +barn. The Sandwiches began to plan a Christmas barn dance in her honor on +the spot, and nobody thought of carol practice again until it was too +late to go. Migwan had to explain how she got through with her work at +college two days earlier than she had expected and came home to surprise +them. She went to see Sahwah first and Sahwah worked the little stratagem +which brought them all down to her house in such a hurry. Each one +insisted upon Migwan’s going home with her to spend the night, but she +could not be enticed away from her own home. “I guess you’d want to stay +at home, too, if you hadn’t seen your mother for three months.” But she +promised to attend a select sleeping party some night up in the House of +the Open Door, which Sahwah had just “germed.” + +“There’s a loose shingle on the roof and the snow comes in a little,” +said Hinpoha regretfully. “It really ought to be fixed.” + +“Never mind the shingle,” cried the others. “When did the Winnebagos ever +balk at a snowflake or two on their beds?” + +The barn dance was a grand success in spite of the fact that Slim fell +down the ladder in his excitement and sprained all the portions of his +anatomy that he needed most for dancing, besides demolishing a frosted +cake in the tumble. + +“Too bad you can’t dance,” said the Captain sympathetically, when Slim’s +ankles had been strapped with plaster and he had been comfortably settled +on a pile of bearskins brought down from the bed upstairs. “But you don’t +need to waste your time. You can be musician and play the banjo while the +rest of us dance.” + +“But I can’t play the banjo,” objected Slim. + +“Play anyway,” commanded the Captain. “Here, I’ll teach you a couple of +tunes that you can play with one finger that we can do most of the dances +to.” So Slim learned to play the banjo under pressure and picked +banefully away while the rest whirled about on the floor. Sometimes he +got his tunes or his time so badly mixed that it was impossible to dance +and then the Captain would make him sing and beat time with a hatchet on +the floor. Finally Nyoda took pity on him and took over the banjo, +producing such lively strains and keeping the dancers going at such a mad +pace that they sank down breathless one by one, and a series of loud +thumps from Sandhelo’s stall told them that he was also capering to the +music and nearly battering his stall down in the process. + +The boys went home reluctantly at eleven o’clock and the girls climbed +the ladder to the joys of the “select sleeping party.” This was the first +time any of them had stayed all night in the House of the Open Door. +“Covers were laid for nine,” as Katherine wrote in the Count Book. Nyoda +had her camp bed, Sahwah had her pile of bearskins, Gladys her Indian Bed +and Nakwisi her willow bed. Migwan was invited to share them all and +chose the bearskins. Katherine had brought a couch hammock, which she +declared surpassed them all in comfort. The rest of the girls played John +Kempo for the privilege of sleeping with Nyoda, and Veronica got it, and +the other two spread their blankets on mattresses on the floor. The +fireplace was filled with glowing hard coals, which would keep all night, +and the Lodge was as warm as toast, so the snowflakes which drifted in +through the hole in the roof were never noticed. Of course they talked +half the night, for there was so much to tell Migwan and so much she had +to tell them it seemed they never would get it all told. But finally the +conversation was punctuated by steadily lengthening yawns, and then +trailed off into silence. + +Nyoda was awakened by the touch of a cold hand on her face. “What is it?” +she asked, sitting up. + +“It’s I—Migwan,” said the figure standing beside her. “Do you know where +Sahwah is?” + +“Isn’t she in bed with you?” asked Nyoda, still in a low tone of voice, +so as not to disturb the other girls. + +“No, she isn’t,” whispered Migwan. “I woke up a minute ago and felt +around for her and she wasn’t there. I called and asked where she was and +there was no answer.” + +Nyoda got up and lit a candle, and looked carefully around the room. All +the other girls were sound asleep in their beds; Sahwah’s clothes lay on +a chair, but there was no sign of Sahwah. “She can’t be under the bed,” +said Migwan, “because this bed has no ‘under.’” + +Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called: “Sahwah, are you down +there?” No answer. All was dark and silent below. When it was evident +that Sahwah was not in the barn, Nyoda roused all the sleepers +unceremoniously. + +“What’s the matter? What’s happened?” they all cried sleepily. There was +a great uproar when Sahwah’s disappearance became known. “Where could she +have gone without her clothes?” they all asked. + +“Do you think she was dragged from her bed, Nyoda?” asked Hinpoha +anxiously, filled with the wildest fears. + +“No, I don’t,” answered Nyoda promptly, suddenly remembering certain +facts in Sahwah’s history. “I think she’s walking in her sleep again. She +always does when she gets excited. She’s probably gotten out of the barn +and is wandering around somewhere and we must find her and bring her in +without delay. This is altogether too cold a night to be promenading +without a coat on.” She had dressed herself fully while she was talking +and the others followed suit with all speed. + +The barn door was carefully closed, but the big inside bolt was +unfastened and they knew by that that Sahwah was outside somewhere. The +wind had swept the snow off the drive and there was not a footprint to be +seen. They spent some time looking all around the barn and up on the roof +and then concluded that she must have gone down the drive, because, if +she had gone anywhere else, there would be footprints. The snow in the +road had been so packed down by passing vehicles that a person walking +would leave no trace. + +“Where can she be?” exclaimed Nyoda anxiously after a fruitless search of +some ten minutes. + +“Do you think she could have climbed a tree?” asked Hinpoha. + +“And be roosting on a branch?” asked Katherine, and they all had to laugh +in spite of their concern. + +“Well, you never can tell what Sahwah will do next,” returned Hinpoha, +“especially in her sleep. You haven’t known her as long as we have. Once +in camp she climbed to the top of the diving tower and jumped off. So I +guess climbing a tree wouldn’t be impossible for her.” + +“Hark, girls,” said Nyoda, bending her head in a listening attitude. +“Don’t you hear music?” The others listened, but could hear nothing. +“When that breath of wind came in this direction I thought I heard it,” +said Nyoda. “There it is, again.” This time they all heard it, faint and +far, a soft strain of music, but what kind of music or whence it came +they could not make out. + +“It came with the wind,” said Nyoda, “so we must walk against the wind +and see if we can find it.” Heading into the wind they walked up the +road. They shivered as they walked and the snow crunched under their +feet. The very moonlight seemed cold as it touched them and the stars +glistened like splintered icicles. Verily, it was a cold night to be +sleepwalking. The music began to sound more clearly now, and at a turn in +the road they stopped still in amazement at the sight before their eyes. +There in the road just ahead of them ambled Sandhelo, and by his side +walked Sahwah, dressed in her troubadour costume, the red cloak flying +out in the breeze. She held her mouth organ to her lips, and the drawing +of her breath in and out of it was producing the strains of music which +the girls had followed. As they suspected, she was sound asleep. They +hurried forward to waken Sahwah, and she turned around and faced them. +Her eyes were wide open in the moonlight. A moment she looked at them and +then turned suddenly and swung herself onto Sandhelo’s back. At her touch +on his bridle Sandhelo started and then began running down the road as +fast as he could. Sahwah woke up, gave one shriek of fright, and then +mechanically dug her knees into his sides and hung on. Sandhelo did not +have his regular harness on, only his bridle, and she was riding bareback +in this strange adventure. The girls pursued as fast as they could, +shouting at the top of their voices, but of course they were soon left +behind. Far ahead of them in the moonlit road they saw Sandhelo stop +suddenly and slide his rider over his head into a snowdrift and then sit +down on his haunches beside her like a dog. Sahwah had emerged from her +drift and was shaking the snow off when the others came up. “What’s the +matter?” she asked in a bewildered tone. “How did I get out here?” + +“Home first, explanations afterward,” said Nyoda, wrapping her in the +bear rug she had brought with her. And they made Sahwah run every step of +the way back to the Lodge, and swallow quarts of hot lemonade before they +would tell her a single thing. + +Migwan insisted on tying Sahwah’s foot to the post of Nyoda’s bed for the +rest of the night to insure her being there in the morning. They had just +gotten quieted down when the ropes of Katherine’s hammock broke and down +she came with a resounding crash. + +Morning found them heavy-eyed and full of yawns, but to all inquirers +they stoutly maintained that the select sleeping party had been the best +ever. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE CANDLE IN THE WINDOW + + +“What’s all this about singing carols?” asked Migwan. “Everywhere I go +the talk is all of carols, carols, carols. And the air is full of ‘God +Rest You, Merry Gentlemen,’ and similar melodies.” + +“It’s the Music Club League,” explained Gladys. “They have revived the +old custom of going through the streets on Christmas Eve with lanterns +and singing carols, and are training the boys and girls all over the city +to sing them. People who are interested in the work of the Music Club +League and wish to give a gift of money for its support will put a candle +in their windows and we will stop outside and sing carols for them. Isn’t +it a pretty idea?” + +“Beautiful,” said Migwan. “I wish I might have attended the rehearsals so +I could go around with you.” + +“We’ll teach you the carols,” said Gladys eagerly, “and I’ll explain to +Miss Jones and I know she’ll let you be in our group. We’ve been given +one of the best districts in the city—Garfield Avenue, from the Cathedral +to the Park, where all the rich people live—and we expect to bring in +more money than any other group. There was great rivalry among the groups +for that district, and Miss Jones tested and tested us to see which sang +the best. I nearly passed away from surprise when she decided in favor of +our group. Oh, won’t it be glorious, though, stopping before all those +fine houses?” and Gladys and Hinpoha, unable to keep still any longer, +got up and began to dance. + +“That isn’t the best part of it, though,” said Sahwah. “All the carolers +are invited to the Music League’s clubhouse after the singing is over for +an oyster supper and a frolic. And the troupe of midgets that are playing +in the Mansfield Theater this week are coming and will give a real Punch +and Judy show. Hurrah for the Music Club League! Hurrah for carols! +Hurrah for Christmas!” + +“I smell something burning,” said Gladys, sniffing the air suspiciously. + +“It’s probably something that has been spilled on the stove,” said +Katherine serenely. They were all up at Katherine’s house. + +“Here are the carols we are going to sing,” said Gladys, pulling Migwan +toward the piano. “We might as well begin at once.” + +“Do you really think Miss Jones will let me do it?” asked Migwan rather +doubtfully. + +“I’m sure she will,” said Gladys, “if we all——Katherine, there _is_ +something burning; it smells like cloth.” And she rushed off +unceremoniously to investigate. The kitchen was full of smoke when she +reached it, proceeding from the ironing board, where Katherine had left +the electric iron standing without being turned off. + +“You ought to have a leather medal, Katherine,” scolded Hinpoha, +switching off the current and setting the smoking board outside the back +door, while Katherine stood idly by with such a look of pained surprise +on her face that the others went into gales of laughter. + +“I can’t get used to these self-starting, big city flat-irons, nohow,” +she drawled mildly in self-defense. “Back where I come from the irons +cool off when you leave them by themselves; here they start heatin’ up.” +Katherine always left off her g’s when she spoke earnestly. + +“Katherine, you’re hopeless,” said Hinpoha with a sigh, and then she +added affectionately, “that’s why we love you so.” + +“There’s Slim outside with his big bob-sled,” said Sahwah, looking out of +the window. “He promised to take us all coasting down College Hill this +afternoon. Come on.” And they trooped out. + +Nyoda took a few round trips on the bob with the girls, and then, having +other things to do, walked home by herself through the early winter +twilight. A few blocks from her home she saw Veronica walking along just +ahead of her. By her side walked a young man whom Nyoda recognized as +Alex Tobin, one of the violins in the Temple Theater Orchestra. He was +talking animatedly and earnestly to her, his white teeth showing often in +a smile beneath his small black moustache. Veronica was listening eagerly +with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. As Nyoda drew near she heard +Veronica say: “Oh, a chance to study with him would be the greatest +happiness of my life, but uncle would never allow it. Never!” + +And Alex Tobin answered: “Does it have to depend upon your uncle’s +permission? You have money in your own right, have you not?” + +And then Veronica noticed that Nyoda was behind her and turned and spoke +and Alex Tobin took his departure down the cross street. Nyoda looked +after him thoughtfully. She was not fond of Alex Tobin, although she knew +him only very slightly. He was a young Pole, and quite handsome, but +there was something about his eyes that made a keen observer dislike him. + +“I was at the rehearsal of the Symphony Orchestra this afternoon,” said +Veronica, with more animation than Nyoda had ever seen her display. “You +know uncle plays this year and he lets me go along and listen, that I may +benefit from the director’s criticisms.” + +“Does Mr. Tobin play in the Symphony Orchestra, too?” asked Nyoda idly. + +“Yes,” answered Veronica. “He’s a wonderful player; and so kind to me. He +takes such an interest in my playing. He says I will play at concerts in +time.” + +“I don’t doubt it in the least,” said Nyoda heartily. “But you mustn’t +study music to the exclusion of everything else. You are growing quite +thin. You must stay out of doors more and romp with the girls. You are +missing all the coasting and skating. ‘Hold on to Health,’ you know.” + +“Yes, of course,” murmured Veronica absently, and fell silent, as if she +were day-dreaming. + + +“The Midgets are going to give Punch and Judy dolls to the carol singers +as souvenirs of the occasion,” announced Sahwah, as the Winnebagos +assembled before starting out for the singing on Christmas Eve. “Won’t +they be jolly to put up in our rooms?” + +“And did you know that Jeffry, the famous bird imitator, was going to be +there and give some of his wonderful bird calls?” asked Gladys. “Migwan, +you’re in luck, being home this week to take in all the good things.” + +“The frolic afterwards is going to be as much fun as the carol singing,” +said Hinpoha. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything. And the group that brings +in the most money is going to get a prize,” she added, “and have its +picture in the Sunday paper. Oh, I do hope we’ll get the most! We must +sing our very best.” + +“Oh, what a glorious night!” they all cried, as they passed out into the +sparkling snow. + +“Oh, but I’m glad I’m a carol singer,” said Katherine, and slipped and +sat down on her lantern in her enthusiasm. + +“Have you time to walk over to Division Street with me before we go to +Mrs. Salisbury’s?” asked Gladys, as they went down the street. Mrs. +Salisbury was the lady who had gathered together the band of carolers to +which the Winnebagos belonged, and they were all to meet at her house. + +“It’s early yet,” said Hinpoha, “we ought to have time. Come on.” + +So they all went with Gladys to deliver a Christmas parcel to a poor +family whom Gladys’ mother had taken under her wing. Along the big +avenues through which they walked candles were already glimmering in +windows in friendly invitation to the coming singers. But there were no +candles in the windows on Division Street. The houses were all poor +little one-story ones, with never a wreath or a bit of decoration +anywhere to show that it was Christmas. The very lamp-posts burned dimly +with a discouraged air. The girls delivered their bundle and hastened +back up the dark street. + +“Let’s stop a minute and sing the songs through once more so Migwan will +be sure of them,” suggested Hinpoha. “We wanted to before we left the +house, you know, and then we forgot it.” + +So they stood still before a bleak, empty looking house, and sang through +all the songs they were to sing with the group that night on Garfield +Avenue. + + * * * * * * + +In a bare little room in the shabbiest house on Division Street a young +girl lay in bed day after day, staring wistfully through the flawed +window pane at the dingy row of houses opposite. She suffered from hip +disease and could not walk, and a frail little mother cleaned offices to +support them both. Living was cruelly high and there was no thought of +spending anything for Christmas. Martha dreaded its coming, for she could +remember other days when Christmas had been very different. Besides, +Martha was very lonely. She and her mother were strangers in town, having +come only six months before, and in all that time not a soul had come to +see them. And because Martha felt so lonely and so left out of the busy, +happy world, the treatment for which she had come to the city was doing +her no good, and she was not improving at all. And her mother saw the +trouble and sorrowed, but did not know how to mend the matter. Martha +read in books about the good times girls had together and longed with all +her soul to be part of such frolics, until it seemed that she could not +bear her loneliness any longer. + +Her mother often brought home newspapers from the offices and in them +Martha read about the groups of boys and girls who were going through the +streets on Christmas Eve singing carols before the houses where the +candles shone in the windows. + +“How I wish I could hear those carols sung!” she sighed enviously. “How +wonderful it must be to be rich and live in a fine house and put a candle +in the window to make the singers stop outside! And I must always stay in +the darkness, and miss all the fun! Oh, Mother, it isn’t fair!” + +The sad-eyed little mother cast about in her mind for some way to amuse +her lonely daughter this dreary Christmas Eve. “Let us pretend that we +are rich and great,” she said soothingly, “and play that we are putting a +lighted candle in our window and listening to the fine songs of the +singers below and giving them large sums of money for their good cause.” + +“What good would it do to play it?” asked Martha. “We would have to +imagine it all. We haven’t even a candle!” + +“Let’s play it, anyway,” coaxed her mother. “What color candle shall we +use tonight?” + +“A red one, with gold designs on it, and a cut glass candlestick,” said +Martha, playing the game to please her mother. + +So they pretended to set a shining glass candlestick holding a red and +gold candle on the window sill. “Now we must wait awhile in our elegant +parlor for the singers to come,” said her mother, playing the game with +spirit. + +Then a wonderful thing happened. There was a sound of footsteps in the +creaking snow outside, footsteps that came to a halt beneath the window, +and then the air was filled with joyous, ringing melody: + + “God rest you, merry gentlemen, + Let nothing you may dismay, + For Jesus Christ our Savior + Was born this happy day!” + +Martha and her mother looked at each other with faces suddenly grown +pale, and listened with unbelieving ears. The song changed as the singers +swung into the measures of a new carol. Surely these were human voices +and not a band of fairies! The mother crept silently to the window and +looked out. + + * * * * * * + +When the last note of the songs had died away the door of the dark house +opened and a woman came out on the steps. “Thank you a thousand times for +the singing,” she said. “Won’t you come in where my daughter can see you? +She won’t believe you are real. She is so sick and lonesome. Please do.” + +The Winnebagos started in surprise and looked at each other somewhat +doubtfully. They had not been aware that they were singing to an +audience. It was getting near the time when they should be meeting the +rest of the group. But this was Christmas Eve and here was a girl sick +and lonesome—— + +“Let’s go in for a minute,” said Gladys and Hinpoha together. They went +in, singing as they went, and swinging their little lighted lanterns. + +Martha’s mother lit the one pale little gas flame, for they had been +sitting in the dark before, and by its light the girls saw the shabby +room and the wan girl lying on the bed. So amazed was Martha at the +sudden appearance of the carolers out of the night that she forgot to be +shy, and before she knew it she had told them all about the Christmas Eve +game she and her mother had been playing and how they had set the +imaginary candle in the window. And all of the six months’ loneliness was +in that little tale, and the girls as they listened became afflicted with +a queer weakness of the eyes that made them turn their faces away from +the light. Over on the lighted avenue the twinkling candles beckoned in +the gleaming windows of the most beautiful homes in the city; still +farther on the revellers at the singers’ party stretched out gay hands to +them; but over it all each one seemed to see the words of the Fire Law +written in letters made of Christmas stars: + + ——“Whose house is bare and dark and cold——” + +Mysterious communications and hand signs flew back and forth between the +Winnebagos. Like magic Gladys and Hinpoha slid out of the door and like +magic they returned a few minutes later, loaded down with bundles. As the +enchanted forests rise in the fairy tales, so the room was swiftly +transformed and began to blossom in green and red. Garlands and wreaths +hung from the head and the foot of the bed, and from the gas-jet. Riotous +little bells swung from the doorways; sprigs of holly and gorgeous +poinsettias framed the cheap pictures; bright candles in cheerful red +shades burned on the table. + +Other bundles when opened revealed the “makings” of the grandest spread +the Winnebagos had ever had. The Lonesome House was turned into the Home +of Joyous Spirits. Gladys poked up the fire and made her most tempting +Shrimp Wiggle; Sahwah made the best pan of fudge she had ever made; +Katherine made cocoa, and the rest spread sandwiches with delicious +“Wohelo Special” chicken salad, and cut up cake and dished ice cream. +Then there followed such a joyous feast as Martha had never conceived in +her rosiest dreams. Healths were drunk in cocoa, side-splitting toasts +proposed by the witty toastmistress, Migwan, and songs sung that made the +roof ring. Gladys did her prettiest dances; Sahwah and Hinpoha did their +famous stunt of the goat that ate the two red shirts right off the line, +and Katherine gave her very funniest speech—the one about Wimmen’s +Rights—three times; once voluntarily and twice more by special request. +Martha laughed until she could laugh no more, and applauded every number +enthusiastically, her usually pale cheeks glowing red with excitement and +her eyes shining like stars. It was late when they left her, promising to +come again soon, and slipping into her hands various packages containing +gifts of things every girl loves, which Gladys had hastily bought when +she had slipped out to get the supplies. Among them was a beautifully +intricate puzzle which would keep her interested for months to come. + +Thus it was that the candle which was never lit guided the feet of the +Song Friends to the Dark House, and gave into their tending yet another +fire. Reports of the gay party at the Music League Club House came to the +Winnebagos from all sides, and loud expressions of regret that they had +missed it. And the group they were to have sung with brought in by far +the most money, carrying off the prize and getting its picture in the +Sunday paper—and the Winnebagos were not in it. + +But over on Division Street a wonderful new look had come into the face +of a sad-eyed girl—a look of happiness and ambition, and the Winnebagos, +having seen that look, were content. + + + + + CHAPTER X + A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT + + +January closed with its immemorial thaw and February drew near in a mist +of speculation as to whether it would come in like a lion or a lamb. But +whatever may have been the state of the weather outside when the new +month arrived, the Winnebago barometer registered a tempest in a teapot. +It was Katherine who was responsible for that particular barometric +activity. That is, it was she who attached the fuse to the bomb and set +the match to it. All the bomb did was blow up. + +The Winnebagos were all over at Katherine’s one Friday afternoon after +school, painting a buffalo robe that was to hang on the wall in the Open +Door Lodge and cover an unsightly board. Veronica was in one of her rare +cheerful moods and played gay tunes on her violin while the other girls +worked. She was gradually thawing toward the girls, although she was +still very conservative in her friendships. She was most friendly toward +Gladys and Hinpoha, the two girls who came from the best family. She was +not particularly drawn to merry, tomboyish Sahwah, because she was not +musical, although they got along. Thus also it was with Medmangi and +Nakwisi. But from the first Katherine Adams had seemed to rub her the +wrong way. Big, clumsy, awkward Katherine, uncultured and hopelessly +plebeian! She always managed to step on Veronica’s dainty shoes or sit on +her cherished violin or spill cocoa on her dress. And her flyaway +appearance constantly jarred on Veronica’s artistic nature. And that +ridiculous, unmusical voice! + +Looking only at these defects, Veronica failed to appreciate the +wonderful magnetism of Katherine’s personality and the unfailing good +nature which made her a boon companion any hour out of the twenty-four +whatever the weather might be. Not being American-born, Veronica believed +firmly in class distinctions, and to her Katherine was a peasant and thus +an inferior. + +However, to the others it seemed that the strangeness between them and +Veronica was wearing away, and this afternoon they felt closer to her +than they ever had before. She even asked, actually _asked_, to be shown +how to make “slumgullion”—she who a few months before had scornfully +maintained that cooking was for servants and not for ladies. “She’s +getting there!” whispered Gladys to Hinpoha, with a delighted squeeze. +Spirits ran high and before long everybody felt they must dance or burst. + +“It’s too bad we haven’t Nyoda’s old banjo over here,” said Sahwah. “Then +some of the rest of us could play and Veronica could dance.” + +“I’ll go over and get it,” said Katherine obligingly. So she went over to +Nyoda’s house and got the banjo, and it was on this errand that her feet +became entangled in the fuse that led to the bomb. On the doorstep of the +house next to Nyoda’s, the house where Veronica dwelt, there sat a snowy +white poodle, fresh from a bath and rivalling in purity a field of virgin +snow. This was Fifi, Veronica’s French poodle, who had come to her as a +Christmas gift, and whose pedigree was considerably longer than he was. +Fifi did not share his young mistress’s ideas as to the unfitness of the +peasantry for association with the high born, and took a decided fancy to +Katherine at first sight. Just how much he was influenced by half a sugar +cookie, which she held out to him over the fence, it is impossible to +say, but when Katherine turned out of Nyoda’s yard and went up the +street, Fifi was at her heels and refused to be shooed home. + +“Well, come along, then, if you want to,” she said good-naturedly. “I +suppose you’re lonesome with all your folks gone and want some improvin’ +company, like us. A great hostess I’d be, if I turned down a dog that +wanted to come to my At Home Day.” + +The January thaw was still in progress, although it was the first of +February, and the streets were lakes of slush and mud. Katherine did not +mind mud in the least and stepped cheerfully into the puddles. Fifi did +likewise. By the time they arrived at the house the comparison of the +field of virgin snow no longer held good. Even Katherine hesitated about +admitting him. + +Veronica shrieked when she saw him and did not share his delight at the +unexpected meeting. “Oh-oh-oh!” she exclaimed in dismay. “He is to go to +the Dog Show tonight. Katie spent all morning washing and combing him. +How did he ever get out? She must have left the door open. And then you +had to coax him over here, and now look at him!” After a hasty glance the +rest decided they would rather not look at him. + +“Well,” said Katherine, much taken aback, but still mistress of the +situation, “I’ll just give him a nice bath and carry him home and +everything will be all right. Go on dancing, girls, there’s the banjo; +Fifi and I will entertain ourselves in the basement.” + +She set the squirming lump of mud into one of the wash tubs and let warm +water run over him from a faucet for a few minutes to remove the clods. +Then she set to work in earnest. She hesitated for some time about what +kind of soap to use and finally decided that dog’s hair was the same as +camel’s hair; camel’s hair was wool; and therefore, according to the most +familiar problem in the whole geometry, Fifi was all wool and needed Wool +Soap. Now the mud through which Fifi and Katherine had come was the +yellow clayey kind that sticketh closer than a brother, and Wool Soap was +not designed especially to dissolve it. After three scrubbings and +rinsings Fifi was still a muddy, yellowish gray, and there was no hope +that he would dry into a field of virgin white as a yellow popcorn kernel +bursts into snowy blossom. + +Katherine was discouraged. Then she suddenly remembered something. +“Clothes always come out yellow if you wash them in just soap,” she said +triumphantly to herself. “It’s the bluing that makes them white. Fifi +needs bluing!” + +But a thorough search of the laundry room failed to reveal any bluing. +“Shucks!” exclaimed Katherine in vexation. “We’re out of it. I heard Aunt +Anna mention it this morning. And the stores are closed this afternoon. +What will I do? I don’t dare produce Fifi unless he’s all white and +nice.” Then it was that Katherine’s mighty genius set to work. A less +resourceful person would have been at a standstill when confronted with +such a difficulty; a genius makes a way when there is none. In one +respect Katherine was an equal of the gods—what she wished and did not +have she created. She wished bluing; she must have it; so she calmly set +about making it. Katherine took chemistry and knew that iodine, applied +to starch, will turn it blue. There was iodine in the house and there was +starch. The pucker vanished from her brow. A far-sighted person would +have foreseen other results from the mixture beside the chemical action +of the iodine on the starch. But Katherine was not a far-sighted person. +She was a genius. It is said that geniuses, entirely absorbed in one +idea, often forget the most commonplace fact altogether. Thus it was that +Katherine, filled with the idea that starch turns blue when mixed with +iodine, forgot the original purpose for which starch was invented. And +Katherine had used flat-iron starch, the kind that gets stiff without +boiling. It turned blue—a beautiful bright purple blue—and she immersed +Fifi again and again. Katherine had to admit that he looked dreadfully +blue when he emerged from the final dip, but serene in the belief that he +would dry pure white like the clothes did, she rolled him up in a piece +of carpet and set him in a wash basket beside the furnace to dry. Then +she went upstairs and joined the dancers, announcing with a sigh of +relief that Fifi was clean once more and could come up as soon as he was +dry. + +Having been told that Fifi was clean, they naturally looked for a white +dog, and it was not their fault that they did not recognize the creature +that slunk into their midst in the middle of the revels. As an Animal +from Nowhere he would have taken the prize over the head of the famous +Salmonkey. His hair was pasted flat to his sides in long, stringy waves, +giving him a queer, corrugated effect. His head was a dirty, yellowish +white, for, in keeping his eyes out of the blue bath, Katherine had held +his whole head out; and the rest of him was a bright purplish blue. With +his excited red tongue hanging out in front he looked like a dilapidated +remnant of the American flag. The girls shrieked and fled before him. +Katherine sank weakly down on the couch and viewed him in consternation. + +“Whatever did you do to him?” wailed Veronica, when informed that this +was actually Fifi and not some freak animal from the Zoo. + +“I wanted to blue him to make him nice and silvery white,” explained +Katherine ruefully, “and there wasn’t any bluing, so I made some with +iodine and starch. I thought he would come out all nice and fluffy, but +instead of that he got—all—stiff!” + +The Winnebagos burst out into a wild peal of laughter that made the +windows rattle. They were simply helpless, and laughed until they sank +limply on each other’s shoulders. The simplicity of Katherine’s +inspirations was nothing short of sublime. + +Gaining a measure of control over themselves, they became aware that +Veronica was standing before them with eyes flashing lightning, in such a +passion as they had never seen any girl display. Holding her translated +pet in her arms, she stamped her foot and almost hissed at Katherine: +“Don’t you ever come near me again, you—you great big kangaroo from out +of the west! + +“And the rest of you are just as bad,” she cried, blazing at them +collectively. “You think it’s funny. I wish I had never met you, and from +this day I am no more a Camp Fire Girl! I am through with you!” And +before they could collect their wits to reply she had rushed out of the +house like a whirlwind. + +Completely sobered by the result of her act, Katherine called herself one +name after another and proposed the most extravagant things in the nature +of penance. She and Nyoda talked it over a long time, and Nyoda made her +see how a habit of doing things without thinking of the consequences led +to more trouble than deliberately planned evil did, and she promised +faithfully that this was the last rash act she would ever perform. + +“Now that Veronica has had time to think it over and see the funny side, +and realize that Fifi is not hurt, I think you may go over and present +your sincere apologies and make your peace with Veronica,” said Nyoda. +And Katherine, humble as the dust, set forth. + +But Veronica would have none of her peace offerings. She received her +apology coldly, and declared she would never come back into the ranks of +the Winnebagos. Then did Katherine go to Nyoda and offer to resign from +the group if that would bring Veronica back. “She has a better right to +be in it than I,” she said. “She was in it first.” + +But Nyoda would not consent to that at all. “The whole thing isn’t worth +such heroic measures,” she declared. “I’ll talk to Veronica myself.” + +And she did, with no better results than Katherine. Veronica would not be +appeased, even now that Fifi was white once more, and had suffered no +evil effects from his bluing. Veronica declared that Katherine was low +class, and not fit for her to associate with. And she wouldn’t forgive +the others for laughing. So Nyoda had to go back and report her failure +to the other girls. And sadly they realized that their hope of making +Veronica into a Winnebago had evaporated. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + A WINTER HIKE + + +A long cherished wish of the Winnebagos came true that winter, for they +all got snowshoes for Christmas. So did the Sandwiches. They brought them +down to the Open Door Lodge to show to the girls. “See what we’ve got,” +said the Captain, with a slightly superior air as becomes the owner of a +pair of snowshoes in the presence of a mere girl. + +“Wait until you see ours,” returned the girls merrily, producing their +“slush walkers,” as Katherine had dubbed them. + +“You didn’t all get them, did you?” asked the Sandwiches, in comical +surprise. It was hard for them to realize that the Winnebagos were as +adept at outdoor sports as they were. + +“We surely did,” answered Sahwah. “What good would it do us for some to +have them and some not? We always travel together.” + +The Captain had Hinpoha’s in his hand and was examining them critically. +“You girls haven’t the right kind of harness on your snowshoes,” he said, +with the air of an expert. “Straps like yours, that buckle over the toes +and around the heel are ‘tenderfoot’ harness. They don’t give enough to +your motions and you are likely to freeze your feet. See our bindings. +They are made of lamp wicking and calfskin thongs. By putting your foot +on the shoe so that your toes come just under the bridle and binding it +fast with the wick, making a half-hitch on each side and tying a knot at +the back of your shoe you can make a fastening that will hold tightly as +long as you want it too, but will permit you to free your foot with a +single twist in an emergency.” + +“Did you learn all that down at Tech?” asked Hinpoha, with just a touch +of sarcasm. It seemed to her that the Captain was trying to show off his +knowledge. + +“He won’t admit that we know as much as they do about some things,” she +was saying to herself. “They couldn’t get ahead of us by getting +snowshoes, so now they must claim that theirs are right and ours are +wrong. Ours are more expensive, that’s the whole trouble.” + +“My uncle told me about it,” said the Captain earnestly. “He’s been up +north and he knows all about snowshoes. Wait a minute, and I’ll show you +what I mean.” He bound his snowshoes on his feet in the approved fashion, +and then, by stepping on one shoe with the other foot, skilfully wriggled +his toe free without injuring the binding. “You couldn’t do that if it +were buckled,” he said simply, turning to Nyoda for approval. + +“You’re right,” said Nyoda. “We never thought of that side of it before. +Don’t you think, girls, we’d better change ours?” They all agreed, all +except Hinpoha. For some odd reason she still fancied that the Captain +was crowing over her, and she was determined to show him that his opinion +meant nothing to her. + +“I like the straps much better,” she declared. “And the buckles look so +pretty flashing in the sunlight. Much prettier than your old lamp wicks. +They’ll be dirty in no time.” And they could not induce her to change the +bindings. + +Followed days of learning how to run on snowshoes. It was not so very +difficult, after all, not nearly so hard as the skiing Sahwah had tried +the winter before. There were tumbles, of course, when they struck +unexpected snags, but the snow was soft and no one was hurt. Hinpoha was +glad she didn’t change her smart buckle binding for the wicking-thong +affair of the others, because hers looked much nicer, and there was no +occasion for getting out of them suddenly. The first day everybody +returned home full of enthusiasm for the new sport. Sahwah in particular +was so anxious for the morrow to come when she could be at it again, that +she could hardly go to sleep. But when she woke up in the morning she +felt a strange disinclination to get up. Her limbs ached so fiercely that +she could hardly stand. Her muscles were so cramped and sore that she was +ready to shriek with the pain. She limped stiffly into the class room +half an hour late, to see Gladys going in just ahead of her, traveling +with a sidewise motion like a crab, and stumbling as though her feet were +made of wood. Poor Hinpoha never appeared in school at all that day. +“What’s the matter with us?” they groaned, dropping into Nyoda’s class +room at lunch hour. “We’re ruined for life.” Nyoda could not conceal a +smile of amusement. “I knew you’d get it,” she said, with gentle +raillery. “That’s why I advised you not to stay out more than fifteen +minutes the first day. But you were bound to stick to it all afternoon.” + +“What did you know we’d get?” they asked in tones of concern. “Are we +lamed for life?” + +“Hardly as bad as that,” laughed Nyoda. “I have good hopes of your +ultimate recovery. You have what the French call ‘mal de racquette’—the +snowshoe sickness. You use a different set of muscles when snowshoeing +than you do ordinarily, and these muscles become very stiff and sore. All +you need is a little limbering oil. Little Sisters of the Snow, you are +learning by experience!” + +It was fully a week before either the Winnebagos or Sandwiches went +snowshoeing again, although they made excellent excuses. Neither group +would admit to the other that they had become stiff, and would not limp +for worlds when in the sight of the others, although it nearly killed +them to walk naturally. Nevertheless, they understood each other +perfectly. + +In February came a three days’ snow storm that covered the earth with a +blanket several feet thick, and a slight thaw followed by a zero snap +produced an excellent crust. The Winnebagos were having a solemn +ceremonial meeting in the Open Door Lodge when without warning there was +a sound of scrambling up the ladder and the Captain burst in among them. + +“Oh, I say,” he shouted, and then stopped suddenly as he became aware +that the girls were engaged in singing some kind of a motion song. +“Excuse me,” he stammered in confusion, “I didn’t know you were having a +pow-wow. I heard you singing up here and thought you were just having a +good time.” + +“What news can you be bringing that made you burst in on us in such a +fashion?” said Nyoda sternly, but with a twinkle in her eye. “Speak sir, +the queen commands.” + +The Captain seemed ready to burst with his message and fired his words +like bullets from an automatic pistol. “My Uncle Theodore’s here, you +know, the one I said had been up north, and he knows a dandy place in the +country where there are some log cabins and he wants us all to go down +there on our snowshoes for a winter hike and stay three days over the +Washington’s Birthday holiday. Oh, please, can you girls come?” + +“But——” began Nyoda. + +“Oh, I forgot,” went on the Captain, “my aunt’s here, too, and she’s just +as good on snowshoes as Uncle Theodore is, and she’s going along, too, +and will see that you girls don’t take cold or anything. Please say +you’ll come.” + +There never was such sport as a winter hike. The preliminaries were +arranged with much reassuring of parents and relatives; buying of +all-wool clothing and blankets; selecting of cooking utensils and what +the boys elegantly referred to as “grub.” “Uncle Theodore” was a real +woodsman, who had spent most of his life in lumber camps; bluff, hale and +hearty; a man to whom you would be perfectly willing to entrust your life +after the first meeting. “Aunt Clara” was a little round dumpling of a +woman, who radiated smiles like sunshine, and declared the Winnebagos +were the handiest girls she had ever seen. It was their skilful way of +packing supplies that called forth this praise. + +Food and blankets were sent down by automobile a day ahead, so that the +hikers would have to carry nothing but their cameras and notebooks. The +morning of Washington’s Birthday found them all assembled on the station +platform, for they were to go by cars to a certain town down state and +from there to strike across the open country on their snowshoes. + +“What are you going to do with the torpedo?” shouted the Captain, as Slim +appeared carrying a strange looking package. + +Slim smiled mysteriously. “Shoot rabbits,” he replied evasively. + +“It isn’t a torpedo,” said quick-witted Sahwah, after one look at the +package. “It’s a thermos bottle.” + +A chorus of derision went up. “Better Baby has to have his bottle!” “Oh, +Slim! Are you afraid you’ll starve before we get our dinner?” “What’s in +it, Slim, let’s see!” + +Slim turned fiery red and shot a dark look at Sahwah. + +“It’s hot chocolate, I know,” continued his red-cheeked tormentor. “Slim +has to have a dose every hour or he feels faint.” Sahwah had long ago +discovered Slim’s pet weakness. + +“Where’s Katherine?” said somebody suddenly. + +“Why, isn’t she here?” said Nyoda, counting over the group. “I thought I +saw her here.” + +“She hasn’t come yet,” declared Hinpoha and Gladys. + +“Oh, I hope she hasn’t had an absent-minded fit and forgotten this is +Washington’s Birthday,” said Sahwah, clasping her hands in distress. + +Uncle Teddy pulled out his watch. “It’s too late to go and look for her,” +he said, “just five minutes until train time.” + +Consternation reigned in the group. The Captain gallantly offered to miss +the train and hunt her up, but the others would not hear of it. Hasty +telephoning to her house brought the news that Katherine had left half an +hour ago for the station. + +“Then she’ll be here,” said Nyoda, eyeing the clock nervously. “If she +doesn’t make it she’ll have to miss it, that’s all.” There were times +when she would have liked to shake Katherine for her unbusiness-like +ways. + +But eight twenty-five came and no Katherine. The long train pulled in and +Uncle Teddy swung them all aboard, and with a great cheering and waving +of snowshoes they were off. Other passengers looked with interest at the +lively group that occupied one whole end of the car, singing, laughing, +shouting nonsense at one another. + +“Time for the Better Baby to have his bottle!” said the Bottomless Pitt, +gaining possession of the thermos bottle. He unscrewed the lid and held +it to Slim’s lips, making him drink willy-nilly. It was hot chocolate, as +Sahwah had guessed. Slim choked and sputtered and had to be patted on the +back. + +“Do behave, children,” said Nyoda, as the fun threatened to block the +aisle, “that magazine man can’t get through.” + +The man stood in the midst of the scufflers, patiently trying to cry his +wares above the din. + +“Buy a maggyzine,” he chanted. “All the latest maggyzines!” + + “Good ones for the ladies, + Bad ones for the gents; + All the latest maggyzines + For fifteen cents!” + +Amused, they stopped talking to listen to his ridiculous singsong. + +“Buy a maggyzine, lady?” he said, holding one out to Nyoda. On the last +sentence his voice cracked in three directions and leaped up the scale a +full octave, so the word “lady” was uttered in a high falsetto squeak. + +“Katherine!” exclaimed Nyoda, seizing the magazine seller by the arm in +amazement. + +“At yer service, mum,” replied that worthy, with a low bow. + +Then, amid the hubbub that ensued she calmly proceeded to remove the +fuzzy little black mustache that had adorned her upper lip, took off the +fur cap that had covered her hair and threw back the long ulster that +covered her from neck to heels, and stood smiling wickedly at them. + +“Katherine, you awful, awful, wonderful, wonderful girl, how did you +manage to do it?” gasped Gladys, breathless with astonishment. + +“And when did you get on the train?” cried Hinpoha in the same breath. +“You didn’t get on with us.” + +“I got into the wrong street car this morning,” replied Katherine, +producing her glasses from her sweater pocket and polishing them on the +end of her muffler, “and got carried east instead of west. When I found +it out there wasn’t time to come back to the Union Station, so I went on +out to the Lakeside Station and go on the train there. I had planned to +be waiting for you on the step when we got into the Union, but on the way +out I met a magazine seller and had an inspiration. I bribed him to let +me take his cap and books and coat for ten minutes. The mustache I had +with me. I thought it might be useful in case I should be called up to +perform a ‘stunt’ at Lonesome Creek. The rest you already know, as they +say in the novels.” She tossed the borrowed plumage into an empty seat +and settled herself beside Slim. + +“By the way,” she said quizzically, looking at the boys, “what was it I +heard you declaring a while ago, that no girl could masquerade as a boy +and really fool a boy?” + +“Pooh, you didn’t really fool us,” said Slim. + +“Oh, no, I didn’t,” jeered Katherine. + +“Well, we’d have found you out before long,” said the Captain. + +“Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn’t,” said Katherine. “The only thing +I noticed you doing was looking with envy at my little mustache.” + +The Captain blushed furiously and the rest shouted with laughter. + +“Anyway, Nyoda knew me first,” she continued, “and that shows that girls +are smarter than boys. I can just see us being fooled by one of you +dressed as a girl.” + +“I bet I could do it,” said the Captain. + +“Maybe _you_ could, Cicero,” said Hinpoha sweetly. Relations between her +and the Captain were somewhat strained these days, but how it began or +what it was all about, no one could tell. + +The Captain turned angrily at the taunting use of his name. He knew it +was meant to imply that he was “Cissy” enough to pass off for a girl. “So +you think I’m a Cissy, do you?” he said hotly. If Hinpoha had been a boy +there would have been a scuffle right there, but as it was he was +helpless. + +“Tell them how you trailed the fox up in Ontario, father,” interrupted +Aunt Clara hastily, and Uncle Teddy began a thrilling tale of adventure +in the backwoods that held them spellbound until they reached their +station. + +“Now for the long white trail!” cried Uncle Teddy cheerily, when all +snowshoes were adjusted to their owners’ satisfaction. “Nine o’clock and +all’s well! Catertown and dinner at twelve o’clock, ten miles due south +as the crow flies! Here, Captain, you be the first pathfinder. Here is a +map of the way we are to take. You may be leader until you get us off the +track, and then we’ll let one of the girls try her hand. Forward, march!” + +Whole new worlds lie before the hiker on snowshoes. All the ugliness in +Nature is concealed by the soft white mantle of snow, like a scratched +and stained old table covered with a spotless cloth, and everything is +glistening and wonderful and beautiful. The snowshoes are seven league +boots in very truth. On them you go right over stumps and fences and +hummocks and stones and little hollows. You do not need to keep to the +road or to the beaten track. Dame Frost, like Sir Walter Raleigh, has +spread her mantle over the unpleasant places and over it you may pass in +safety. + +“Where are we now?” asked the Bottomless Pitt. + +“Casey’s Woods,” replied the Captain, referring to his map. + +“Oh,” cried Sahwah, “don’t you remember how we wanted to come here to a +picnic once in the summer, but we couldn’t go into the woods at all, +because the mosquitoes were just terrible? Why didn’t we ever think of +holding a picnic in the winter? There are no ants to crawl into your +shoes and no spiders to get into your cocoa.” + +“And no poison ivy,” said Gladys. “Why, winter is the very best time to +hold a picnic!” + +And they made up a hiking song to the tune of “Marching Through Georgia,” +and sang it until the woods echoed: + + “Hurrah, hurrah, said the possum to the ’coon, + Hurrah, hurrah, what makes you come so soon? + We started in the morning, and we’ll get there before noon, + As we go hiking on our snowshoes!” + +“Doesn’t Aunt Clara look just like a Teddy Bear in that brown fur coat?” +whispered Gladys to Sahwah. Aunt Clara was nearly as broad as she was +long, and, wrapped in furs as she was, seemed rounder yet. + +“Halt!” cried Uncle Teddy, as the company came out on the edge of a deep +ravine. “Oh, I say, Captain, what’s this? It doesn’t seem to me I +included this in my order.” + +Much confused, the Captain spread his road map on a log and set the +compass on it, trying to find out where he had gone wrong. “Shucks,” he +said disgustedly, after a moment’s study. “We should have gone at right +angles to that hundred-foot pine tree instead of in a line with it. +Everybody back up—I mean, right about face. Shucks!” And he handed the +map and the compass to Sahwah with as good grace as he could and took the +end of the line, as became an officer who had been reduced to the ranks. + +Sahwah led them back to the pine tree and in the right direction from it, +as indicated on the map, and they soon came to the bridge which spanned +the gorge a mile below the spot where the Captain had reached it. Detour +and all they reached Catertown at twelve o’clock, where their ravenous +appetites worked fearful havoc with the good dinner set before them. +Uncle Teddy insisted upon having Slim’s thermos bottle filled with milk, +to guard against his getting faint on the way, although Slim blushed and +protested. Ten more miles to make in the afternoon. But to these +practised hikers the distance before and behind them seemed nothing +wonderful and they declared the going was so good on snowshoes that they +could keep on forever. Sahwah followed the map accurately, and brought +them out at the right crossroads at the end of five miles, where she +relinquished her office as pathfinder to Bottomless Pitt, who was next in +line. It had been decided en route that five miles should be the length +of any leader’s service. + +“Honorable discharge,” said Uncle Teddy, patting Sahwah on the head. +“I’ll wager there aren’t many girls who could have done that.” + +“All of us could,” answered Sahwah, eager to sing the praises of the +group as a whole. + +The Captain said nothing. He felt that he had disgraced the Sandwiches by +letting a girl get ahead of him. It did not help him any to note that +Hinpoha was looking at him and evidently thinking the same thing. The +Captain was very sore at heart. He liked and admired Hinpoha more than +any of the other Winnebagos, and they had always been the best of friends +until suddenly, for some reason which he could not explain, she had +turned against him. And she had done the one thing to him that he could +never forgive. She had called him “Cicero.” All was over between them. +Winter hikes weren’t such a lot of fun after all, he told himself. + +“Hi, look at the rabbit,” shouted Pitt, pointing out an inquisitive bunny +that sat upon his haunches under a tree, “to see the parade go by.” + +“Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him,” cried Sahwah, dancing up and down and +trying to focus her camera on him. + +“Who’s hurting him?” said the Captain. “We haven’t anything to hurt him +with, unless Slim steps on him.” Sahwah clicked her camera and at the +click Br’er Bunny vanished into space. + +“Let’s see what kind of tracks he made,” said Sahwah, and they all +willingly detoured a trifle to examine the footprints in the snow. + +“There are some others beside his,” said Bottomless Pitt. “What kind of +an animal is that, Uncle Teddy?” + +Uncle Teddy examined the tracks and nodded his head with a satisfied air. +“You boys ought to know those tracks,” he said provokingly. “What kind of +scouts are you, anyway? Here, Captain, quit your scowling like a +thundercloud and tell us what animal has been taking a walk. I certainly +have taught you enough about woodcraft to know that.” + +The Captain looked at the tracks closely. “I think it’s a ’coon,” he said +finally. + +“Think so!” scoffed Uncle Teddy. “Don’t you know so? Pitt, what do you +say?” + +“Looks like a ’coon to me,” answered Pitt. + +“And what do you say, Redbird?” asked Uncle Teddy, pulling Sahwah’s hair. + +“There’s where you boys have us beaten,” said Sahwah frankly. “We never +have had a chance to learn animal tracks.” + +“I’m sure it’s a ’coon,” said the Captain, his spirits rising with the +chance to crow over the girls. + +“All right, if you’re sure of it, we’ll follow the trail awhile and see +where he is,” said Uncle Teddy. “But you always want to be sure of what +you see, after you’ve learned it once. A good woodsman always fixes a +thing in his mind so he’ll know it the next time he sees it.” + +“I’m sure it’s a ’coon,” repeated the Captain. “May we follow the trail +awhile?” Eagerly they trotted along beside the footprints in the snow, +impatient to have a sight of the animal. This was a new sport to the +Winnebagos and they were greatly excited about it. The Captain had +forgotten his low spirits and was in the lead now. + +“I say, the fellow that spies him first ought to be pathfinder for the +rest of the way,” he said. + +“What does a ’coon look like?” panted Sahwah, trying to keep up with him. + +“He has a short, thick, striped tail,” said the Captain, “and a—— Oh, +goodness gracious! Oh, Methuselah’s great grandmother!” For just then the +wind began to blow strongly from the direction in which they were going, +carrying with it an unmistakable odor. With one accord they took to their +heels. + +“O Uncle Teddy,” said the Captain, furious at himself, “you knew what it +was all the while! Why didn’t you tell us?” + +“Well,” said Uncle Teddy dryly, “you were so blooming sure it was a ’coon +that I couldn’t contradict you very well without being impolite. ‘There’s +nothing like being dead sure,’ I says to myself. And I knew you would +never be satisfied until you had found out for yourself.” + +The Captain, permanently abashed, retired to the rear of the line and +ventured no more opinions about anything they saw, and took not the +slightest interest when Hinpoha discovered a rare little moosewood maple +and identified it by its beautiful green bark. + +“Last lap!” shouted Pitt, consulting the map for the hundred and fortieth +time. “Turn east by the twin oaks and approach the camp from the rear! +Company, forward march!” + +“There are the cabins now,” cried the Monkey, throwing his cap into the +air. “Maybe I won’t sit down and hold my feet up, though!” + +“Maybe you won’t jump around and get some firewood, though!” remarked +Uncle Teddy. “End of the hike, messmates,” he shouted, executing a droll +dance on his snowshoes and waving his long arms like windmills. “All +together, now, three cheers and a tiger for the end of the hike!” And +they gave them with a will. + +The place where they were to spend that night and the next was an +abandoned sugar camp. It had once been a fine grove of trees, but so many +had been killed by the boring worms that it was no longer profitable. Two +cabins remained standing and were used on and off by hunters during the +season. + +“Oh-h-h, ours is a real log cabin,” cried Sahwah, dancing around in +ecstasy when quarters had been assigned. “It’s lots nicer than the old +board shack the boys are going to have. I’ll feel just like Abraham +Lincoln to-night, only so much more elegant, because Abraham Lincoln had +to split his own rails, and we can sit at ease and let the boys tote our +wood for us.” + +“But—where are the beds?” cried Hinpoha, in perplexity, as they went +inside. + +“Why, _those_,” said Aunt Clara, pointing to some bin-like things ranged +in a double tier along one wall. “Those are our bunks.” + +“Bunks!” echoed the girls in rather a dismayed tone. “We didn’t think +we’d have to sleep in bunks. We expected camp beds, at least.” + +“They’re quite comfortable,” said Aunt Clara reassuringly, “when they’re +filled with clean straw. Our blankets are in that big box and we’d better +get our beds made the first thing, so we can roll into them as soon as we +get tired.” She bustled around, smoothing out the straw in the bunks with +a practised hand and showing the girls how to fold their blankets to the +best advantage. “Be sure you have just as much under you as over you,” +she advised them again and again. “Camping in winter is a very different +proposition from sleeping out in summer.” + +Now that the girls had gotten used to the idea of the bunks, they began +to think it was a jolly good lark to sleep in them. “If bunks it must be, +bunks it is,” said Katherine, in a lugubrious tone that sent them all +into gales of laughter, “but I never thought I’d live to see the day!” + +“Me for the upper berth,” said Sahwah, standing on a table to accomplish +the spreading of her blankets. It was not long before they were all +singing: + + “Oh, we’re bunking tonight on the side of the wall, + Give us a ladder, please, + We’ve slept in many beds, both hard and soft, + But never in bunks like these!” + + “Bunking tonight, + Bunking tonight, + Bunking on the side of the wall!” + +And they raised such a din with the chorus that the boys came streaming +over to see what the fun was about and to inquire casually if supper +wasn’t nearly ready. + +“Goodness, no,” answered Nyoda; “we’ve just got our beds made. Go +overpower Slim, if you are hungry, and take his bottle away from him. By +the way, which cabin is to be honored by the smell of the cooking?” + +“The log cabin is the largest,” said Uncle Teddy, “and it has both the +fireplace and the little stove. The other is just a sleeping cabin. I +guess the honor is yours. All aboard for the dining car! Where’s that +canned soup? Bring in the wood, boys, and make a cooking fire in the +stove. You know what a cooking fire is, I suppose. Everybody get to work. +Too many cooks can’t spoil this broth.” + +They flew around, getting in each other’s way dreadfully, but under Uncle +Teddy’s and Aunt Clara’s able management they did contrive to accomplish +the things they were trying to do, and in less than no time the supper +was steaming on the table. + +“Maybe I won’t do anything to that soup and that creamed fish!” sighed +Slim, his face beaming at the sight of the banquet spread before him. + +“Maybe it won’t do anything to him!” said Katherine in an aside to +Sahwah. “I got a whole teaspoonful of Hinpoha’s old talcum powder in the +cream sauce before I discovered it wasn’t flour, and then it was too late +to take it out again.” + +“Never mind,” Sahwah giggled back, “it’s so hot you can’t taste it, and +it won’t last long enough to get cold. Your secret is safe in our +stomachs!” + +The paper plates made a grand glare in the fireplace after supper was +over and in its light Katherine and Slim gave a Punch and Judy show until +Slim showed symptoms of bursting from want of breath, whereupon the play +came to an end and it was discovered that Bottomless Pitt had fallen +asleep in a corner. + +“Hide his shoes!” suggested the Monkey, and promptly took them off and +tied them by strings to a tack in the ceiling. + +“Let’s enchant him altogether,” said the gifted Katherine, and fastened +the little mustache to his lip. Then they stuck his head full of paper +curls and powdered his face with flour. The effect when he woke up was +all they had hoped for. They had set a small wall mirror on the floor +beside him, so he got the full benefit of his altered appearance on his +first glance around. Uttering a startled yell, he sprang to his feet, +looking wildly around. Brought to himself by the laughter on all sides, +he shook his fist fiercely at Slim and the Captain, declaring that he +would make the fellow who did that eat soap. As Katherine was the +“fellow” in question this only increased the merriment at his expense. +Slim leaned against the wall so helpless from laughter that he didn’t +even resist when Pitt climbed on his shoulders to haul down his shoes, +but went on chuckling violently until he sagged to one side and down came +both boys in a heap, shoes, tack and all. + +“I wish you boys would go home,” said Katherine primly. “You’re +altogether too rough for us little girls to play with. I think it’s +horrid and nasty to play tricks on people when they’re asleep.” From her +gently shocked and disapproving expression you never would have guessed +that she was the one who had started it all. + +“Come on home, fellows, we’re invited out,” said Uncle Teddy, with a +pretended injured air. “It’s time we little gentlemen were in the hay—I +mean the straw. Come on, Pitt, never mind looking for the tack; Mother +will find it when she gets up in her stocking feet to see if she locked +the door!” With which shot he retired in haste through the doorway and +over to the other cabin, and just in time, for Aunt Clara sent a snowball +flying after him that fell short by a bare inch. + +Then she closed and barred the door, fixed the fire with hardwood which +would last the rest of the night, plastered adhesive strips over the +various blisters which the Winnebago feet had acquired on the long march, +and tucked them all in warmly with a motherly pat and a goodnight kiss. +After a twenty-mile walk in the open air a hard plank would be a +comfortable resting place, and the straw filled and blanket padded bunks +were far from the hard plank class. For the first time in the history of +Winnebago sleeping parties there was strictly “nothing doing” after they +were tucked in. Most of them fell asleep during the process of tucking. + +Thus it was that when the first thump came at the door nobody stirred. A +second thump followed like a blow from a battering ram. Aunt Clara sat +up. + +“Who’s there?” she called. No answer save a series of blows and thumps +that threatened to break the door down. The rest were awake by this time, +trembling in their beds. + +“Theodore, is that you?” shrieked Aunt Clara above the noise. “What do +you want?” Again came a shower of blows, as if somebody were trying to +force their way in with an axe. This time the bars gave way and the door +swung inward. There was a loud bellowing, roaring sound, which seemed to +their startled ears like a deep-throated whistle, and into the cabin +there walked a cow. The girls shrieked and disappeared under the +bed-clothes, for to their excited fancy she looked like a wild animal. + +“Shoo, get out!” shouted Aunt Clara, throwing her slipper with neat aim +into the cow’s face. Bossy looked reproachfully at her and walked farther +into the cabin, standing close beside the row of bunks. + +Katherine raised her head from the blanket to see what was going on and +looked right into the open mouth of the creature as it stood over her. +“Murder! It’s going to eat me up!” she shrieked, diving under the covers +with a prolonged howl. + +By this time Aunt Clara had found the whistle with which she always +summoned her husband when she needed him and blew a long, shrill blast. A +few minutes later Uncle Teddy appeared at the door, with a string of +startled boys running out of their cabin behind him, and at a word of +command from him, accompanied by several emphatic pokes and proddings, +Mrs. Bossy meekly turned and walked out through the doorway, which was +considerably the worse for her entrance. She had probably strayed from +the nearest farmhouse and was suffering from the intense cold. Attracted +by the light streaming from the little window of the cabin she had come +to find shelter, and when nobody answered her first gentle knocks with +her horns, she had taken matters into her own hands and become +housebreaker. She was stabled in a lean-to shelter for the rest of the +night and made comfortable with straw and a blanket. + +“Isn’t it funny how all the suffering critters come to our hospitable +door for shelter?” said Katherine at the breakfast table. “Just like +Sandhelo. He came of his own accord, also.” + +“They must know that we keep the Fire Law,” answered Hinpoha. “‘Whose +house is bare and dark and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own’!” + +“Isn’t it strange that she came to our door, and not to the boys’,” said +Gladys. “They had a light shining, too, but her footprints show that she +came past their door to stop at ours.” + +“That’s because she was a lady,” replied Uncle Teddy, helping himself to +his fifth slice of fried bacon, “and no lady would come bustling into a +gentleman’s apartment like that. Hurry up and get your chores done, you +housekeepers and wood-gatherers, and let’s go out and make a snow man.” + +“Let’s make a totem-pole,” suggested Katherine, when they were all out +playing in the snow. “It’s lots more epic than making a snow man.” + +“You mean a ‘snowtem pole,’” observed Uncle Teddy. + +So they set to work and made a marvellous totem-pole, higher than the +cabin, with figures carved into its sides such as were never on land or +sea. Then Uncle Teddy and the boys, who had done less carving on their +sections and consequently were finished first, set up a barber pole on +the other side of the doorway, containing the stripes with a crimson of +their own concocting, which was a secret, but which involved several +trips to the kitchen and the food supply box. All this time the Captain +had never spoken one word to Hinpoha. Whenever he would have relented +under the spell of the jolly larks they were having, something whispered +to him, “She called me Cicero! I won’t stand that from anyone!” + +“Who’s ripe for a trifling sprint of five miles this afternoon?” asked +Uncle Teddy at the dinner table, taking three scones at once from the +plate. + +“I! I! I!” cried a chorus of voices, and a dozen hands waved frantically +above the table. + +“Have you any special place in mind?” asked Aunt Clara, pretending not to +see Uncle Teddy stealing yet another buttered scone from her plate. + +“Well,” said Uncle Teddy, “I happen to know that there’s a real sugar +camp in action somewhere about here, and I think five miles covers it, +there and back. It might not be the worst idea in the world to look in +and see how they are getting on. I dare say most of these folks here have +never seen maple syrup outside of a can.” + +A sigh of delight ran around the table. “Hurry up, everybody, and put +everything you have left into your mouths, so I can collect the plates,” +said Sahwah, impatient to start at once. + +But when the time came to start Hinpoha had developed such a dizzy +headache that going along was out of the question. “It’s nothing +serious,” she stoutly maintained, in reply to anxious inquiries. “Too +much noise, that’s all. We might call it ‘Mal de racket’!” She would not +hear of any of them staying at home with her, however, although Aunt +Clara and Nyoda both insisted. “Go on, all of you,” she begged, pressing +her hand to her throbbing temples. “It would make it so much worse if I +thought I had kept you away from the fun. All I want is to lie down +quietly. I’ll be perfectly all right here. If I feel better soon I’ll +follow your tracks and either catch up with you or meet you there and +come back home with you. Please go.” And so insistent was she that they +went without her. + +“Be sure you lock the door carefully,” called Aunt Clara. + +“And be sure you put out a sign, NO COWS ADMITTED,” said Sahwah. And +laughing they set out, leaving her tucked in her bunk. With the cessation +of the noise that had almost lifted the roof of the cabin during the +dinner hour, the headache gradually disappeared, and in an hour Hinpoha +was herself again. Swiftly buckling on her snowshoes she ran out into the +stinging air, which seemed like a cool hand laid on her forehead. + +She found the trail of the others easily, for the crust was slightly +dented in by every step. The way led through a thick strip of woods. +Hinpoha noticed that there were many tracks of animals here and wished +with all her heart that she knew what they were. “It would be such a +grand thing to say to the folks at home, ‘I followed the trail of a +’coon,’ and be sure it was a ’coon,” she said to herself, and then +laughed aloud at the ridiculous mistake of the Captain. Then she stood +still in delight, for just before her a dark, furry body was slipping +along over the snow. “I believe that really is one,” she said to herself +joyfully. “I can’t catch him, of course, but maybe he’ll run up a +tree—people always talk about ’coons being treed—and then I can see what +he looks like.” And she sped after the little animal, who took alarm at +her first step and disappeared between the trunks of the trees. + +Hinpoha looked for him for a while and then realized it was a hopeless +search and with a sigh turned to resume her own way through the woods. +Then she stopped in dismay. The broad trail she had been following so +easily had vanished from the earth! The only marks on the white ground +were those of her own snowshoes. “Of course,” she said, coming to herself +with a shake, “I got off the trail when I followed that ’coon. I’ll +follow my own tracks back.” But her own tracks led her round and round in +a circle, in and out among the tree trunks, and did not end up in what +she sought. It took her some minutes to realize that she was actually +lost in the woods. Then, of course, the first thing she did was to go +into a panic, and run wildly back and forth. “Come, this will never do,” +she told herself severely, standing still. “I must stop and think before +I do anything else. Let me see, what was it Migwan did the time she was +lost up in the Maine woods? She sat down on the ground and wrote poetry, +and waited until we came and found her! I can’t write poetry, that’s out +of the question, and I can’t sit on the ground, either, it’s too cold. +I’ll have to stand up and wait.” But that proved a dreary amusement. It +was getting bitterly cold, and a strong wind whistled through the bare +branches till it made her flesh creep. To make things worse, an early +twilight was setting in and the light was rapidly fading. To keep from +taking cold she walked up and down bravely among the trees, growing more +terrified every minute. She tried to sing, to call, to shout, to make her +voice carry across the snow, but it was lost in the moaning of the wind. +Her feet grew numb with the cold and she stamped them vigorously to start +up the blood. The crust broke through, and down she went through several +feet of snow to her waist. She braced herself with her hands and tried to +draw her feet out, but they went through also and she floundered with her +face in the icy snowflakes. Then with a growing sense of horror she +realized what had happened. The ends of her snowshoes had become firmly +wedged under the roots of a tree, and she was unable to pull them out. +And her feet, tightly bound to the snowshoes by the pretty straps and +buckles, were trapped. She struggled furiously, and only sank deeper in +the snow. + + +As the “syrup party,” as they called themselves, were just ready to cool +off the bit of boiled sap that had been given them to taste, the Captain +suddenly sprang to his feet and smote his forehead. “Daggers and dirks!” +he exclaimed, “I left my sweater hanging right in front of the fire when +we came away—you remember it got all wet in the snowball fight this +morning—and I bet it’s scorched to cinders by this time. Do you folks +mind if I go back to the cabin in a hurry? I got that sweater for +Christmas and I hate to lose it so soon. I’m all right, uncle, I can find +the way, even if it is getting dark. Don’t hurry yourselves. Give my +share of the syrup to Slim. He’s getting thin.” And adjusting his +snowshoes with a skilled “jiffy twist,” he was off down the trail. + +Now the Captain, although he had been mistaken about the tracks the day +before, was nevertheless an observant lad, and when he came to the place +where Hinpoha had left the trail, he noticed the marks going off in +another direction and stood still and looked at them. He knew that they +most likely belonged to Hinpoha, and he knew also that she had not +arrived at the sugar camp and he had not met her on the trail coming +home, so, putting two and two together, he decided that she must be in +the woods somewhere. A mean little instinct whispered to him to go on his +way and let her be wherever she was, and get a good fright until the rest +found her; then his better nature rose to the top and he decided to hunt +her up and show her the trail to meet the others. + +“Glory, she certainly did mess up the trail some,” he said to himself, as +he followed the marks which wandered up and down and doubled back on +themselves and crisscrossed everywhere. It was slow going, for the +darkness was hiding the footprints and he had to bend down to the ground +to see them clearly. He almost stepped on her at last when he did find +her. She was numb from the cold and very nearly asleep and he thought she +was dead. The imprisoned snowshoes held her down and he could not pull +her out of the snow at first. Finally he suspected what had happened and +dug down in and loosened the buckles. It took a good deal of working +after she was freed to get life back into the numb feet and ankles, but +it was accomplished at last and Hinpoha was ready to walk home. + +Then a moment of embarrassment fell between them. Hinpoha flushed and +looked uncomfortable. “I’m sorry I called you Cicero,” she said, with a +sneeze between every word. “You aren’t a Cissy at all. You’re a hero!” +And then for no reason at all, except that the afternoon’s strenuous +adventure had unstrung her nerves, she burst into tears. + +“Here,” said the Captain, entirely light-hearted again, and holding up +the little bucket he had carried away from the sugar camp, “cry into the +pail. Evaporate the water. Save the salt. It’s worth money.” + +And Hinpoha giggled foolishly and dried her tears and raced back to the +cabin as fast as she could go, to stave off pneumonia on her arrival with +hot blankets and steaming drinks. + +“He _is_ a hero,” she murmured dreamily to Gladys, who hovered around her +like an anxious grandmother, after the others were satisfied that she was +all right, and had set to work getting supper; “he never once said, ‘I +told you so’!” + + + + + CHAPTER XII + HINPOHA’S ROMANCE + + +An indistinct murmur floated down from the Winnebago room of the Open +Door Lodge, punctuated by little squeals and exclamations. The firelight +shown on four tense faces, and four pairs of eyes were riveted on the two +figures in the center of the group who were engaged in a very singular +occupation. Balanced between two stiffly outstretched and quivering right +forefingers hung a key, and suspended from it by a string was a +black-covered book, supposed to be set apart from all secular uses. In a +breathless undertone Hinpoha—for she was the owner of one of the +aforesaid fingers—was chanting a passage of scripture designed for a +widely different application. A strained hush was followed by another +outbreak of exclamations. “Look, it’s turning! It began to turn the +minute she said, ‘Turn, my beloved.’ What letter did it turn on, ’Poha?” + +“D,” replied Hinpoha, in a solemn whisper. + +“D,” repeated the chorus, “what does that stand for?” + +“Daniel,” supplied Sahwah promptly. + +“His name’s going to be Daniel,” chanted the chorus. “Now try for the +last name.” + +Again the mystic rite was performed. At “I” the Bible trembled with a +premonitory movement. “It’s turning!” whispered the chorus in an awed +tone. “No, it isn’t either; it’s still again.” After that one tremor the +soothsaying volume remained bafflingly motionless through the recitation +of the mysteries which accompanied the letter J. K likewise began +uneventfully. But no sooner had Hinpoha uttered the fateful words, “Turn, +my beloved,” when with a suddenness that scared them half out of their +wits the key turned sharply in the supporting fingers, twisted itself +free and fell to the floor with an emphatic bang. + +“It’s K,” cried Hinpoha, covering her face with her hands. “What names +begin with K?” + +“King,” said Gladys. + +“Knight,” suggested Katherine. + +“All the noble names,” said Nakwisi dreamily. + +“Mrs. Daniel King,” said Sahwah experimentally, whereupon Hinpoha hid her +face in the bearskin rug. + +“You try it, Katherine,” said Gladys. “I’ll hold the key with you.” + +“Oh, I’m afraid to try it,” said Katherine, hanging back and looking +uncomfortable. “It’s no use, anyway; nobody’d have me for a gift.” + +“It always tells the truth,” said the blushing Hinpoha. “You know Miss +Vining, Clara Morrison’s old maid aunt? Well, Clara persuaded her to try +it and it wouldn’t turn for her at all, and they went through the +alphabet three times in succession.” + +With a skeptical expression Katherine suffered herself to be placed on +the box covered with an old piece of tapestry displaying a threadbare +figure of the three fates, which was the seat of those engaged in the +mysteries. “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” she recited jerkily, +keeping her eyes glued to the key. “He feedeth upon a row of lilies——” + +“It’s ‘He feedeth upon the lilies,’ just ‘the lilies’; the ‘row’ part +comes later,” interrupted Gladys in a sharp whisper. + +“He feedeth upon the lilies, just the lilies, the row part——” repeated +Katherine dutifully. + +“No, no; it’s all wrong,” said Gladys impatiently. “Begin again.” + +“My beloved is mine——” + +“Katherine! Oh-h-h-h Katherine! Are you up there?” the voice of Slim +suddenly called from below. + +The girls all started guiltily and fell into confusion. “Sh! Hide the +Bible, quick!” cried Hinpoha in a sibilant whisper, darting forward and +snatching it from Katherine’s hand and concealing it under the bear rug. + +“What are you girls doing up there?” came from below. + +“Oh, nothing,” floated down the illuminating reply from above. + +If Nyoda had not been so completely engrossed in her private affairs just +at this time she would have noticed the subtle undercurrent which seemed +to have caught hold of the toes of the entire feminine half of the senior +class at Washington High. It was not the Winnebagos only. In fact, they +had caught it from the others. Every class has its epidemic, be it +tonsillitis, friendship link bracelets or Knox hats. This year it was +fortune telling. Where the mystic rite described above originated nobody +could exactly tell, but in less than a week every girl in the class had +been initiated into the secret, and was busy discovering what her future +initials were to be. The performance was always carried on behind locked +doors or in places otherwise secure from adult eyes, and was often +interrupted right at the most exciting point by approaching footsteps, +but questions as to how the innocent maids had been improving the shining +hour invariably brought out the reply, “Oh, we weren’t doing +_anything_—much.” Missing keys and books of family worship led to +embarrassing questions once in a while, but somehow the situation was +always bridged over and parents and teachers never really did find out +what the fascinating something was that drew their young friends off into +groups by themselves from which they emerged to day dream instead of +getting their lessons and to make mysterious references to certain +initials. + +The book and key oracle reigned supreme for several weeks and then gave +place to the horoscope. For ten cents in stamps a certain seer dwelling +in a remote town in Oregon offered to “cast” the principal events, past, +present and future, in the lives of all young lady correspondents. It was +not long before intimate heads were bent over scraps of paper comparing +horoscopes. Hinpoha’s was acknowledged by all to be the gem of the +collection. + +“You have a brilliant future before you,” it read. “You will have a +romantic love affair and will marry your first lover. He is a great +scholar who will afterwards become president. You will meet him when you +are very young.” Then followed a dozen lines more of brilliant prophecy. +The special friends of Hinpoha, who had been allowed to peep at her +fortune, Gladys, Sahwah, Katherine, Nakwisi and Medmangi, and one or two +others, who had fore-gathered ostensibly to rehearse a school song, sat +back and regarded their fortunate friend with awe. None of their fortunes +had contained anything so dazzling. + +“You’re going to be the President’s wife!” murmured Sahwah. “You won’t +forget us, will you?” + +“Never!” declared Hinpoha magnanimously, stealing a sly glance into the +mirror. + +“I hope you won’t be ashamed of me when I’m married and come calling at +the White House,” said Katherine, rather dolefully. “All I drew was a +farmer.” + +“I only got an automobile manufacturer,” echoed Gladys. + +“That’s what comes of having red hair,” said Sahwah enviously. “Her +fortune said he would be drawn to her by her beautiful tresses.” + +When Hinpoha was preparing for bed that night she stood fully an hour +before the mirror and regarded her shining curls. Up until now she had +never paid much attention to them except when the boys called her redhead +and pretended to light matches on her head, and then she wished with all +her heart, like the little girl in the song, that she had been “born a +blonde.” Now for the first time her hair appeared beautiful to her. She +arranged the curls this way and that, piling them on her head and letting +them fall over her white shoulders. And all night she dreamed of standing +up in a carriage and bowing graciously to cheering multitudes and +clasping in her arms the forms of her girlhood friends who were among the +crowd. + +The horoscopes had their day and gave way to something still more +exciting, something so secret that at first it could not be mentioned in +words, but was only alluded to by mysterious references. + +“Marjorie King went,” said Gladys to Hinpoha, “and she won’t tell a thing +she found out, but she says it was the grandest thing.” + +“I don’t believe it’s worth fifty cents,” said Sahwah skeptically. +“Anyhow, I haven’t that much to spend.” + +“You don’t ever dare tell anybody, they say, not a soul,” reported Gladys +later. “If you do, the nice things won’t happen and the bad ones surely +will.” + +“She’s the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter,” observed Hinpoha in +an awe-stricken tone. “Did you ever hear of anything so wonderful?” + +“Are _you_?” asked Sahwah anxiously, of Hinpoha. + +This last question was entirely unrelated to the preceding statement +concerning the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter. It was part of the +cryptic jargon employed in the discussion of a momentous question. + +“I don’t know,” answered Hinpoha uncertainly. “Would you?” + +“Oh, do,” begged Gladys, “and then if you find out something nice we’ll +go in after you. Oh, I forgot, you can’t tell us anything.” + +“Would your mother mind if you did?” asked Hinpoha, hesitating on the +brink. + +“She really wouldn’t mind, but she’d think it awfully silly,” answered +Gladys, “so I don’t believe I’ll tell her.” + +“You might find out the whole name,” said Sahwah, looking at Hinpoha. + +“And just when it’s going to happen,” finished Gladys. + +Hinpoha suddenly made up her mind. “I believe I will,” she said, looking +at Sahwah. + +Where Hinpoha’s thoughts were the next day in school nobody knew, but +they were certainly not on her lessons. She failed signally in every +class. + +“And what were the initials of the great poet, Longfellow?” cooed Miss +Snively, in her honeydrip voice. + +The word “initials” penetrated Hinpoha’s wandering mind. “D. K.,” she +murmured dreamily. + +“Indeed?” purred Miss Snively. “Can it be that I have been misinformed?” +But today sarcasm was lost on Hinpoha. + +After school was out a select group, half of which seemed to be hanging +back and being coaxed on by the other half, walked ten blocks to an +unfamiliar car line and transferred to a cross-town line. There was a +much more direct route to their destination, but that laid them open to +the risk of meeting friends and relatives who might casually inquire +whither they were bound. Just wherein lay the crime in what they were +doing, no one could have told, nor why it should be kept such a dark +secret, but singly and collectively they would have died rather than +reveal the nature of the latest epidemic. + +By devious ways they reached the end of their journey and stood +irresolute on the sidewalk before a house which bore a plate on the door +announcing that that same roof sheltered the object of their desire. + +“Shall we all go in together?” whispered Gladys. There was no need of +whispering, for no one was within earshot, but with one accord they +lowered their voices. They went up the steps and held another +consultation. “You ring the bell,” said Gladys. + +“No, you ring it,” said Hinpoha. Thus encouraged, Hinpoha pushed the +button, the door swung inward and they passed through. An hour later they +stood on the corner again, waiting for the car to take them home. + +“Did she say anything about—about——” inquired Gladys. + +Hinpoha clapped her hand over her mouth and made inarticulate sounds +beneath it, but her eyes were sparkling, as they never sparkled before. + +“Excuse me,” gasped Gladys; “I forgot you mustn’t tell.” + +“Can’t you give us a hint?” begged Sahwah, who had gone along for moral +support. + +Hinpoha shook her head and retained her finger on her lips to stop any +leaks. + +“Well, it couldn’t have been any nicer than mine,” said Gladys, with an +air of satisfaction. “Mine was just splendid. Maybe yours +wasn’t—favorable?” she added, stricken with a sudden doubt as to the +superiority of Hinpoha’s future. + +“It was, too!” declared Hinpoha. “If you took all the nice things out of +ten fortunes it wouldn’t be as nice as mine!” + +Gladys looked unconvinced. “Well, we’ll wait a year or two until they +begin to come true, and then we’ll see which had the nicer,” she +remarked. + +Hinpoha laughed outright. “I don’t have to wait a year or two before mine +comes true,” she announced triumphantly. “It’s coming true in the very +near future. I’m going to meet a light-haired young man and he’s going to +admire my hair and fall in love with me, so there! Is yours any nicer +than that?” + +“Oh, you told,” cried Sahwah. “Now it won’t come true.” + +Hinpoha stopped in dismay. “Well, Gladys made me,” she wailed. “If she +hadn’t said hers was better——” The car came along then and a truce was +patched up. Such a delicate subject could not be discussed openly in the +street-car, even to quarrel about it. + +But if Hinpoha spent a bad night mourning because she had broken the +spell of her good fortune, the next day sent all doubts flying to the +winds. The week before the bald-headed teacher of the literature class +had occasioned a bad break in the routine of the course by +inconsiderately dying of pneumonia in the middle of the term. For several +days thereafter the grief of the class was tempered by the fact that +there were no recitations. But on the day after Gladys and Hinpoha, with +Sahwah and Katherine as chaperones, had visited the Seventh Daughter of a +Seventh Daughter, an announcement appeared on the session room blackboard +to the effect that literature recitations would be resumed that morning. +As they filed into the literature class room they were greeted by the +sight of the new teacher standing beside the desk. + +“Boys and girls,” said the principal, who was doing the honors, “this is +Mr. David Knoblock, who will have charge of this class in the future.” +And he hurried out. + +“David Knoblock!” whispered the wit of the class to his neighbor. +“Knoblock, No Block, see?” And a titter ran through the class. + +“David Knoblock!” said Katherine to herself. “He looks as though his name +might be Percy Pimpernell.” + +“David Knoblock!” repeated Hinpoha to herself, and sat mute before the +workings of fate. David Knoblock. D. K. The Car of Destiny had stopped +before her door and from it had alighted the fair-haired stranger! + +Standing before the class in the glory of his yellow hair, pale, +sprouting mustache, blue eyes and pink cheeks, Mr. Knoblock seemed to +them a composite of Adonis, Paris and Apollo Belvidere, whose mythical +charms had been impressed upon them by the late lamented instructor. + +“What has the class been reading, Miss—ah—Miss Katherine?” he inquired, +consulting the class roll. + +“Tennyson, Mr. Knoblock,” answered Katherine briefly. + +“_Professor_ Knoblock, if you please,” he corrected gently. “Ah, yes; +Tennyson.” And turning the pages of his book with a manicured finger, he +found the place and began to read aloud, glancing up at one or another of +his girl pupils from time to time. More and more often that glance rested +on Hinpoha, for with the sun shining through the window on her hair she +was the most vivid spot of color in the room. Finally he did not take his +eyes away at all, and, looking her straight in the face, he read in +sentimental tones: + + “Queen of the rosebud garden of girls, + Come hither, the dances are done, + In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, + Queen, lily and rose, in one; + Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, + To the flowers, and be their sun.” + +In the blaze of that glance Hinpoha’s romantic heart melted like a lump +of wax. The room swam in a rose-colored mist. The great thing that she +had read about in books had happened to her; she was in love! It was not +long before the whole school knew about the affair. Whenever there was a +sentimental passage in the book Professor Knoblock looked at Hinpoha and +at her alone. He often detained her a moment after class to inquire if +that last paragraph had been entirely clear to her; he thought she had +looked not quite satisfied with his explanation. As he roomed in the next +street to her home he generally met her on the corner in the morning and +walked to school with her. Certain sour-dispositioned damsels in the +class, who had made eyes at the new Lochinvar in vain, made sneering +remarks about a girl who had so few boy friends in the class that she had +to ogle a teacher; others sighed enviously when they looked at her +woman’s crown of glory and realized their handicap; the Winnebagos +regarded the whole thing as the workings of fate, pure and simple, for +was it not even as the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter had +predicted? + +As for Hinpoha herself, she was too transported to care what anyone else +thought about it. She was surrounded by a rarified atmosphere and the +voices of earth troubled her not. Just now she sat blushing deeply and +crushing in her hand a note which had appeared mysteriously between the +pages of her _Selections from the Standard English Poets_. It was written +in Mr. Knoblock’s slanting backhand, and read: + + +“My Dear Miss Bradford: + +“Never have I seen such glorious hair as yours. I cannot take my eyes +from it while you are in the room, and it haunts me by night. May I ask a +great favor of you—that you grant me one lock, one small lock, as a +keepsake? I fear you will be too modest to make this gift in person, and +all I ask is that you slip it into the dictionary on my desk.” + + +The signature was a long ornamental K, with a running vine entwined about +its upright stroke. + +Hinpoha scarcely raised her eyes above the level of her book during the +whole recitation. She sat nervously toying with a long perfect curl that +hung down over her shoulder. Toward the close of the recitation period +she came out of her abstraction and touched the boy in front of her on +the shoulder. “Lend me your penknife,” she whispered in answer to his +look of inquiry. The Senior Literature Class occupied the last hour of +the day, and as Mr. Knoblock had no session room, the passing of the +class left the room empty. On this day Mr. Knoblock left the room with +the class on the stroke of the bell, and the boys and girls, trooping out +in a hurry to get home, did not notice that Hinpoha loitered. She glanced +around nervously, satisfied herself that she was unobserved and then +darted toward the dictionary on Mr. Knoblock’s desk. Going out of the +door a minute later she ran violently into Katherine, who had carried out +her inkwell instead of her English book, and was coming back to replace +it. Katherine looked at her curiously. + +“Excuse me,” said Hinpoha in a flustered tone, “I really didn’t see you. +I was thinking about something.” + +Hinpoha looked at Mr. Knoblock with an air of expectancy when she entered +the room the next morning, looking for some sign of gratitude for the +lock of hair, but he said, “Good morning, Miss Bradford,” in his usual +tone and made no further remarks. But before the hour was over he took +occasion to borrow her book for a moment, and directly after he returned +it a note fell from its pages into her lap. With starry eyes she unfolded +it and read: + + “O Morning Star that smilest in the blue, + O star, my morning dream hath proven true, + Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me.” + +The lines were from “Gareth and Lynette.” The universe turned into song. +It was getting altogether too much for Hinpoha to hold and that afternoon +before the fire in the Open Door Lodge she revealed the progress of her +romance to the other Winnebagos. + +“Did you really give him a lock of your hair?” asked Gladys. + +Hinpoha nodded. “Just a tiny curl. It doesn’t show much at all where I +cut it out.” + +“Collecting locks of hair doesn’t mean so terribly much,” said Katherine +dryly. “I read about a boy once who begged a lock of hair from every girl +he met and then had his sister embroider a sofa cushion with them. And +another one used them for paint brushes.” + +“Oh, but this is—different,” said Hinpoha with lofty pity. It had just +dawned on her that Katherine was jealous. The same miracle that had +dropped the scales from her eyes and revealed to her the fact that she +was beautiful had also made her realize that Katherine was hopelessly +plain. + +“And then the verse he wrote afterward,” said Gladys, hastening to uphold +Hinpoha. “That proves he is in earnest. And, anyway, it must be true. +Didn’t all the fortunes say he was fair and his initials were D. K., and +he was a great scholar, and would be president, and he would fall in love +with Hinpoha’s hair?” And Katherine had to admit that whatsoever was +written in the stars was written. + +It mattered little to any of them, Hinpoha least of all, that Professor +Knoblock had thus far said nothing openly upon the subject to Hinpoha. + +“Isn’t his bashfulness adorable?” cooed Gladys. “He’s too shy to express +himself face to face with her; he puts all his—his passion into writing.” + +“Won’t those notes be lovely to read over together when you’re old?” said +Sahwah, also stricken with a sentimental fit. But at the mere mention of +such a thing Hinpoha fled with burning cheeks. + +“Hello, Red,” said a cheerful voice in her ear, as she went dreaming down +the street one day. “Where have you been keeping yourself for the last +few weeks? You haven’t been down in the gym once.” + +“Hello, Captain,” she said sweetly. (How young he was, she was thinking. +How hopelessly kiddish beside the manly form of Professor Knoblock!) + +“Say, you must have your tin ear on today,” remarked the Captain +jovially. “I had to call you three times before you answered.” + +“I was thinking,” said Hinpoha, and blushed. + +“Must have been an awful hard think,” remarked the Captain, stooping to +throw a stone at a cat. (He’s nothing but a kid, thought Hinpoha for the +second time.) + +It was on this occasion that the Captain, happily believing all was well +between himself and Hinpoha, invited her to go to the Senior dance at +Washington High with him. + +“I’m awfully sorry, Captain,” she said kindly, “but I’m going +with—someone else.” + +“Who?” asked the Captain blankly. The “bid” for that party had cost the +Captain just a dollar and a half, as he was not a member of the class, +and he had made the investment for the sake of going with Hinpoha and no +one else. So he repeated in a startled tone, “Who?” + +“Oh, someone,” answered Hinpoha tantalizingly, and with that he had to be +content. To herself she was saying, “How foolish it would be to promise +to go with the Captain and then not be able to accept when—when _he_ asks +me.” For word had gone round the school that all the faculty were going +to honor the Senior Dance with their presence, and whom else would +Professor Knoblock ask but herself? + +But of all things to happen just at this time, the very next day Hinpoha +came down with the mumps, or rather the mump, for only one side of her +throat was affected. The first half she had had in childhood. + +“That horrid mump stayed away on purpose before,” she wailed, “and waited +all these years to jump out on me just at this time. And my new party +dress is too sweet for anything, and my gilt slippers—oh-oh-oh-oh was +there ever such a disappointment?” Gladys and Sahwah and Katherine, who +had all had theirs “on both sides” and were therefore allowed to call, +were consumed with sympathy, and were loud in their efforts to console +the stricken mumpee. + +“Has _he_ come to see you?” ventured Gladys. + +Hinpoha shook her head, which was a somewhat painful process. + +“Of course he can’t come,” said Sahwah, “he probably hasn’t had them.” + +Katherine’s expression seemed to say that a really brave knight wouldn’t +hesitate to expose himself to any danger for the sake of seeing his lady, +seeing which Hinpoha croaked hoarsely, “They probably wouldn’t let him +come,” the “they” in this case presumably referring to the school +authorities. + +“I saw him down in Forester’s this noon when I was ordering the flowers +for mother’s birthday,” said Gladys, and they all sighed. + +Just then the doorbell rang and Gladys, who was sent to answer it, +returned with a long box in her hand addressed to “Miss Dorothy +Bradford.” + +“From Foresters,” said Sahwah breathlessly. + +“Flowers!” said Gladys. “Hurry and open them.” + +The box disclosed a dozen, long-stemmed pink roses. “Oh! Ah!” echoed the +four in unison. + +“From—him?” asked Gladys. + +“There’s no card in the box,” said Hinpoha, vainly searching. + +“They must be from him,” said Gladys decidedly. “Wasn’t he in Forester’s +this morning? And it seemed to me I heard him asking for pink roses.” + +Hinpoha put the flowers in a tall vase and regarded them with rapture. +They were the first flowers ever sent to her by a man. In them she found +comfort for having to miss the dance. + +“Was he there?” she inquired falteringly of Gladys, the day after the +party. + +Gladys answered in the affirmative. “Did—did any of you dance with him?” +Hinpoha wanted to know further. + +Gladys shook her head. “I saw him dancing once or twice with Miss +Snively,” she said. “I don’t believe he stayed very long. He disappeared +before it was half over.” + +Hinpoha was satisfied. He had not enjoyed himself without her. “Wasn’t it +noble of him to dance with Miss Snively?” she said enthusiastically. “No +one else would, I’m sure.” + +At Commencement time the year before an old Washington High graduate, who +had attained fame and fortune since his school days, presented the school +with funds to build a swimming pool. Work had progressed during the year +and now the pool was completed and about to be dedicated. An elaborate +pageant was being prepared for the occasion. Mermaids and water nymphs +were to gambol about in the green, glassy depths and lie on the painted +coral reefs; Neptune was to rise from the deep with his trident; a +garland bedecked barge was to bear a queen and her attendants; and then +after the pageant there were to be swimming races, an exhibition of +diving and then a stunt contest. + +The Winnebagos, being experienced swimmers, were very much in the show. +Sahwah had invented a brand new and difficult dive, which she had +christened Mammy Moon; Hinpoha had learned the amazing trick of sitting +down in the water and clasping her hands around her knees; Gladys could +swim the entire length of the pool with the leg stroke only, holding a +parasol over her head with her hands, thus giving the impression that she +was taking a stroll on a sunshiny day. Katherine, alas, could not swim. +The largest body of water she had seen at home had been the cistern, and +most of the time it was low tide in that. But this did not prevent her +from thinking up new and ludicrous stunts for the others to do. It was +she who invented the “Kite-tail” stunt, which was one of the signal +successes on the night of the pageant. In this one of the senior boys, +who was a very powerful swimmer, swam ahead with a rope tied around his +waist, to which another performer clung. Behind this second one four or +five more boys were strung out like the tail of a kite, each one holding +on to the heels of the one ahead, and all towed by the first swimmer. + +The great night arrived and the building which housed the pool was +crowded to the doors. The Senior girls and boys had spent hours +decorating the hall with festoons of greens and potted palms and ferns, +so that it looked like the depths of a forest in the center of which the +pool glittered like a magic spring. Cries of admiration rose from the +audience all around. Hinpoha, who in the first part of the performance +was a mermaid, with water lilies plaited in her shining hair, saw only +one face in the crowd, and that was Professor Knoblock, as he leaned over +the polished brass rail and looked at her, and looked, and looked, and +looked. Only that day Hinpoha, filled with the spirit of romance, had +slipped a note into the dictionary on his desk, at the beginning of the +letter “L,” the place where she had put the lock of hair, thanking +Professor Knoblock for the flowers. An hour later, in sudden terror that +he would not find it there and someone else would, she had gone to remove +it. But it had vanished, and in its place was another verse from Gareth +and Lynette: + + “O birds that warble to the morning sky, + O birds that warble as the day goes by, + Sing sweetly; twice my love hath smiled on me.” + +The opening of the pool was a success in every way. The nymphs nymphed, +and the mermaids wagged their spangled tails to the delight and wonder of +the spectators, and the royal barge swept up and down to the strains of +stately music. Then the pageant retired, the islands folded up their +tents and vanished, and the swimmers went behind the scenes to prepare +for the races and the stunts. To bridge over this interval, Hinpoha had +been left in the pool all alone to amuse the crowd by floating on a +barrel and trying to balance a tray on her head as she bobbed up and +down. The crowd shouted with laughter and cheered her wildly. All but +one. With arms crossed triumphantly over her breast and tray steady on +her head, Hinpoha looked up to see Miss Snively standing by the edge +regarding her with a coldly sarcastic expression. It was as if she said +in words, “Only such a flathead as you could balance a tray on it.” But +the great happiness that surged inside of Hinpoha made her charitable and +forgiving toward all the world, and she sent a sweet and friendly smile +into Miss Snively’s face. But that marble-hearted lady looked away. The +next minute there was a slip, a shriek, the flash of a silk dress, and a +splash, and Miss Snively had disappeared beneath the surface at the deep +end of the pool. Hurling the tray into space Hinpoha made a magnificent +plunge for distance toward the spot where Miss Snively had gone down. +Simultaneously with her plunge there was another movement in the crowd, +and Professor Knoblock, stripping off his coat, jumped over the rail into +the pool. Hinpoha reached Miss Snively first, just as the blue silk +appeared on the surface, and, evading her wildly clutching hand, managed +to hold her head above water while she struck out for the rail toward the +hands that were stretched down to her everywhere. Then she became aware +of another figure struggling at her side. Professor Knoblock had come up +after his plunge, struck out blindly and then suddenly doubled up and +gone down again. Thrusting Miss Snively hastily toward the helping hands, +Hinpoha turned and rescued her professor, who had miscalculated his leap +and struck his head on the side of the pool. The whole business had not +taken two minutes since the first alarm, but Hinpoha was the heroine of +the hour. She was cheered and praised and petted and patted on the head +and exclaimed over until she was quite bewildered. Her heart was thumping +until it deafened her. She had saved her lover’s life, and, bashful as he +was, she knew that now he must speak. It would not happen tonight. They +had rushed him home in a taxicab. But tomorrow—— + +Somehow she managed to finish her part in the program and drink fruit +punch in the gymnasium afterward. While she stood in a corner cooling her +burning cheeks at an open window somebody came and stood beside her. +Hinpoha turned and faced the Captain, and listened absent-mindedly to his +words of praise. Then one sentence he said caught her attention. “Say,” +he said bashfully, “how did you like the flowers?” + +“What flowers?” asked Hinpoha wonderingly. + +“The roses—pink ones—I sent you when you had the mumps.” + +Hinpoha stared at him blankly, unbelievingly. No, no, it could not be +true, the roses had come from her light-haired professor. “Did _you_ send +them?” she asked in a tone in which no one could have detected any degree +of appreciation for the favor. + +“Wasn’t there any card in the box?” asked the Captain. “I gave one to Mr. +Forester to put in.” + +“No,” answered Hinpoha, with a gulp, “there wasn’t; and I +thought—somebody else sent them.” + +“Didn’t you like them?” asked the Captain, feeling in the air that +something was wrong somewhere. “Don’t you like roses?” + +Hinpoha pulled herself together with an effort. Tears of disappointment +were standing in her eyes. “Ye-es,” she answered politely, but without +enthusiasm, “they were lovely; perfectly lovely.” And she ran hurriedly +out of the corner, leaving the Captain staring after her in bewilderment. + +“I don’t believe he sent them to me at all!” she told herself in the +solitude of her own room that night. “The horrid thing found out that I +got them and told me that just to tease me. Anyway, it doesn’t make a +particle of difference about Professor Knoblock.” And she fell asleep +whispering to herself with bated breath, “Tomorrow!” + +She walked to school with lagging steps the next morning. Now that the +great hour was at hand she was filled with a desire to flee. Then she +heard footsteps behind her, and, glancing out of the corner of her eye, +saw the professor approaching. With a wildly beating heart she walked on, +her face straight to the front. He was coming. He was overtaking her. Now +he was upon her. With a great effort she turned her head to look at him, +her lips parted in a tremulous smile. Professor Knoblock raised his hat +stiffly, nodded frigidly and passed on without a word, leaving Hinpoha +staring after him stunned. Unseeingly she stumbled on to school. One +question was racing back and forth in her mind like a shuttle in a +loom—what was the meaning of it? Classes recited around her in school; +she heard them as in a dream. Professor Knoblock did not look at her as +she entered the Literature class room; he was taking two of the boys +sharply to task for never being able to recite. Hinpoha sat with her eyes +fixed on her book. Professor Knoblock was evidently ill-humored this +morning, though apparently none the worse for his mishap the evening +before. He was dealing out zero marks right and left if the recitations +did not go like clock-work. And as was only to be expected the morning +after such an elaborate affair as the dedication of a swimming pool, +clock-work recitations were very few and far between. + +The professor finally lost all patience. “Take your books,” he commanded, +“open and study the lesson the remainder of the hour, and the first one I +see dawdling or whispering will be sent back to the session room.” +Hinpoha’s eyes followed the lines on the page, but she could not have +told what she was reading. The question was still beating back and forth +in her mind. + +“Lend me your pencil,” whispered her neighbor. Mechanically she held it +out to him and when he took it he thrust a stick of gum into her hand. He +was still in a festive mood. Professor Knoblock caught the movement. At +the same moment another pair in the back of the room began giggling about +something. + +“You two are out of order!” shouted the professor. “Leave the room!” All +eyes were turned toward the two in the back. + +“I mean you, George Hancock, and you, Dorothy Bradford,” said the +Professor severely. Hinpoha turned pleading, unbelieving eyes on him. +“Leave the room,” he repeated with rising anger, “go back to your session +room!” And with the world rocking under her feet, Hinpoha went. + +As the pupils came back from their respective classes that noon there was +a sensation in the air. Groups of girls stood around whispering to one +another and exclaiming. “Did you ever hear anything like it?” rose on all +sides. “Who would ever dream of her getting——” + +Hinpoha, dumb and miserable, sat apart, until some one dragged her into +the center of a group. “Have you heard the news?” + +“No,” she answered dully. + +“Miss Snively’s engaged!” announced a young lady, in the same tone she +would have said: “The sky has fallen!” + +“She is!” said Hinpoha. “To whom?” + +“Professor Knoblock!” continued the speaker. “They’ve been engaged a long +time—but it just leaked out yesterday in a teachers’ meeting. That’s why +he came here to teach.” + +“But the notes he wrote me,” moaned Hinpoha to the Winnebagos, who had +gathered for an indignation meeting that afternoon. “And the curl I gave +him—— Oh-oh-oh!” and she hid her face in her hands and groaned. + +Katherine had been poking about in a corner of the room during the +preliminary wail. She now came forward carrying a box in her hand which +she laid on Hinpoha’s knee. + +“What’s this?” asked Hinpoha. + +“Open it and see,” advised Katherine. + +Hinpoha complied and there fell into her lap a long, curling, red ringlet +and a piece of paper written over in Hinpoha’s hand. + +“I have a confession to make,” said Katherine, striking a dramatic +attitude. “I put that note into your book asking for the lock of hair, +and watched until you put it into the dictionary. Then I took it out +after you left the room. I wrote the notes that followed to keep the ball +rolling. I don’t believe Professor Knoblock knows a thing about his great +romance with you.” + +“You did it!” cried Hinpoha blankly, turning fiercely upon Katherine. +“You made such a fool out of me that I’ll never be able to show my face +again as long as I live. You—you——” sobs choked her and cut off all +utterance. + +“But the flowers,” gasped Gladys, “who sent them?” + +“Captain did, the mean old thing!” sobbed Hinpoha. + +“But the Key, and the Horoscope, and the Fortune Teller,” continued +Gladys, “they all said he would be the one. I don’t see how it could have +come out any other way.” + +Katherine rose from her knees and rapped on the table for attention. +“Girls,” she said seriously, “I suppose you think it was a very unkind +and low-down sort of joke I played on Hinpoha, getting her all worked up +like that with those notes, and under ordinary circumstances it would +have been. But isn’t there a saying somewhere ‘that awfully sick people +need awfully strong medicine,’ or something to that effect? Here you all +were gone completely loony—excuse the expression, but it’s just what you +were—gone perfectly loony about this fortune-telling business. You did it +so much that I actually believe you began to think it was true. Then that +fool fortune-teller told Hinpoha about the light-haired man that was +coming into her life soon, and when the new professor arrived you all +thought he was the one. I just happened to find out soon after he came +that he was engaged to Miss Snively. I knew if I told you then you +wouldn’t believe it, so I waited until it came out. But I was afraid +Hinpoha would do something really silly before she got through, and +decided to take a hand in the game myself. When I wrote that note about +the hair I was sure she would see through it and come to her senses. The +fact that she swallowed it shows how far out of her right mind she was. I +never believed she would put a lock of hair into the dictionary. But when +she seemed to take it all for gospel truth I couldn’t resist the +temptation to go on and have some more fun.” + +“But—his handwriting,” said Hinpoha faintly. + +“Easiest thing in the world to imitate,” said Katherine, saying nothing +about the weary hours it had taken her to accomplish that feat. “And I +signed my own initial, ‘K.,’ which was certainly not taking the +professor’s name in vain. I never told a soul, so there’s nobody to crow +over you. You stand just exactly where you did at first with the +professor.” + +“But,” said Gladys, still not satisfied, “why did he always look at +Hinpoha when he read the sentimental passages?” + +“Because he’s built that way,” answered Katherine scornfully. “There are +plenty of men who will make eyes at every pretty girl they see, whether +they have any right to or not. Besides I heard him tell one of the other +teachers once that your red hair reminded him of the hair that belonged +to a dear friend he ‘lost in youth.’” + +After hearing Katherine’s clean-cut and sensible version of the affair +the whole thing seemed unutterably ridiculous and one by one they began +to think that she was right, and had played the part of the friend +instead of the mischief-maker, in shocking Hinpoha back into common +sense. Hinpoha advanced shakily and held out her hand. “I thank you, +Katherine,” she said, “for ‘saving me from myself’!” And Katherine seized +her hand in a crushing grip, and soon they were hugging each other, and +their friendship, instead of being shaken to its foundations, was +cemented more strongly. + +“I think he’s horrid,” said Gladys, “and if I were you, Hinpoha, I’d +never look at him again—the way he treated you this morning, after you +had taken the trouble to fish him out of the pool last night. He’s an +ungrateful wretch, and doesn’t deserve to be rescued.” + +Katherine was looking at them with a queer expression. “There’s something +else I suppose I ought to tell you,” she said, “although I wasn’t going +to at first. But now he’s acted so you really ought to know. Miss +Snively’s falling into the pool wasn’t exactly an accident.” + +“Did he push her in?” asked Gladys in a horrified tone. + +“Goodness, no,” said Katherine. Then she added: “Yes, in a way he did, +too, for he was responsible for her falling in. You know what a dub the +boys all think him; they never call him anything but ‘that mutt,’ or +‘that cissy.’ He couldn’t help seeing it, and it bothered him that he +wasn’t a hero in their eyes. Besides,” she continued shrewdly, “if he was +thinking of getting married he probably was looking for promotion, and he +never would get it as long as he couldn’t control the boys. So he +complained to Miss Snively about it and she obligingly offered to fall +into the pool and have him rescue her, and so make a hero out of him +overnight. I heard them planning it yesterday; they were on one side of a +big pile of greens waiting to go up and I was on the other. She was to do +it during the intermission when no one was in the pool. They didn’t seem +to know that you were going to be in then. But she did it anyway, +thinking that the professor would reach her first. But you were too quick +for them. That’s why he’s so furious with you; you kept him from being a +hero, and got all the praise he expected to get. Then when he bumped his +head on the side of the tank and had to be rescued himself, it put the +finishing touch to the tragedy.” + +“Gee!” exclaimed Hinpoha and Sahwah and Gladys and the other two girls, +all in a breath. In moments of great emotional stress refined language +seems an utter failure as a vehicle of expression. Slang is the only +thing that adequately expresses the feelings. They said it again, +intentionally and emphatically—“_Gee!_” + +“What a foolish thing to do,” said Sahwah, when they had all recovered +somewhat, “falling into the pool to give a man a chance to be a hero. She +might have been drowned.” + +“She didn’t run such an awful risk,” observed Katherine, the all-knowing. +“She’s a good swimmer herself; I’ve heard people say so.” + +And again the girls sought relief in the expression not sanctioned by the +grammar. + +“Going to the Lodge?” said the Captain’s voice in Hinpoha’s ear a few +days later, as she swung along the street. The Captain’s manner was +decidedly diffident. He was not at all sure how she would treat him this +time. + +Hinpoha nodded companionably. “I’m going to practice with the handball,” +she said energetically. “Come on, I’ll race you across the field.” + +“That was great, wasn’t it?” she cried laughingly, as she stopped before +the door, breathless, with her hair flying around her face. + +“Say, give us a curl, will you?” begged the Captain, tugging at one that +hung over the collar of her coat. + +“Don’t be silly, Captain,” she said reprovingly. “You know I hate people +who are sentimental.” + +Hinpoha’s romance was a thing of the past. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + RANDALL’S ISLAND + + +“I can’t help it, it simply won’t roll!” exclaimed Katherine in despair. +“I’ve tugged and tugged until my fingernails are all broken, and it just +naturally won’t turn over!” And Katherine sat down with a discouraged +thud and fanned herself with a hair-brush. + +“Well, we’ll ‘just naturally’ have to stop and see what’s the matter with +it,” said Nyoda soothingly. The Winnebagos were having a contest in +poncho rolling to be in practice for the coming summer’s camping trips. +The aim of each one just now was to accomplish this in two minutes. Two +minutes to spread out a poncho, two blankets and enough clothes for an +overnight trip, roll it up into a neat stove-pipe, bend it into a tidy +horseshoe and fasten the ends together with a rope tied in square knots. + +The record was held by Medmangi, quiet, neat Medmangi, who, while the +others were working like mad, had serenely completed her task in a minute +and three-quarters. + +“She’s a regular phenomenay, that woman,” said Sahwah, who had thought +she was doing wonders when she straightened up at the end of two minutes +exactly. “She must have four hands, or else she packed with her feet. But +what else could you expect of a girl who’s going to be a doctor?” + +Poor Katherine, alas, made no time at all that could be recorded in +Nyoda’s book. It was only her second attempt at poncho rolling, but it is +doubtful whether it would have been any different if it had been her +hundred and second. She simply was not built for order and speediness. At +the end of ten minutes she still sat beside her pile of belongings, the +poncho askew, the blankets askew on it and hanging over the edge, the +extra middy bundled up into a wrinkled lump and the small articles +sliding off on all sides. She had begun to roll it from the wrong end, +and after one or two turns it absolutely refused to go any farther, in +spite of forceful attempts. + +“Here, spread your things out properly, and then it will go,” said Nyoda +patiently, picking up the blankets. Out rolled the object which had +obstructed the wheels of progress—an umbrella, which had been tucked +under the blankets lengthwise of the roll. “No wonder it wouldn’t roll!” +exclaimed Nyoda, laughing aloud. “Did you expect the umbrella to bend +round and round like a hose? Whatever would you want an umbrella for, +anyway?” + +“For rain,” answered Katherine with touching simplicity. Nyoda and the +other Winnebagos doubled up in silent mirth. Katherine’s inspirations +invariably left them without power of comment. + +“Katherine, you’re _positively_ hopeless,” sighed Gladys affectionately. +“The only safe way is to divide your things up among the other ponchos; +yours would never arrive at a journey’s end, anyhow.” + +“Oh, if I had only been born neat instead of handsome!” said Katherine +plaintively, and then joined heartily in the irresistible laughter that +followed. + +“Hush, girls!” said Nyoda. “There’s somebody down at the door. Don’t you +hear somebody rapping?” + +Hinpoha, who was nearest the window, peeped down. “It’s a whole bunch of +girls,” she reported in an excited whisper. “All strangers. I don’t know +any of them. What can they want?” + +“Want to see us, probably,” said matter-of-fact Sahwah. “Isn’t somebody +going down to let them in?” + +“The way this place looks!” sighed Nyoda, looking at the floor strewn +with the contents of Katherine’s poncho. “Gladys, you and Hinpoha go down +and let them in and detain them downstairs until the rest of us can put +this room in order. It’s a disgrace to the Winnebagos.” + +Gladys and Hinpoha descended the ladder and threw open the door. +“Welcome,” they cried, “whoever you are! Welcome to the House of the Open +Door!” + +The six strange girls came in. One who was tall and thin and had hair +almost as red as Hinpoha’s, stepped forward. “We are members of the +San-Clu Camp Fire,” she said. “We have heard quite a bit about you +Winnebagos and thought we would come and call. Is this your famous +Lodge?” + +“It certainly is,” said Gladys hospitably. “We are delighted to become +acquainted with you. Make yourselves at home. This gymnasium outfit +belongs to a club of boys who share our Lodge, and over there is +Sandhelo’s stall. Sandhelo is our pet donkey; you must see him right +away.” She led the girls to the stall and kept them there telling about +Sandhelo’s exploits until she was sure from the sounds above that the +room was in order. Then she invited them to ascend the ladder. + +“The San-Clu Camp Fire have come visiting,” she announced, as she stepped +out on the floor. + +“All Hail to the San-Clu Camp Fire from the Winnebagos,” chanted the +hostess ceremoniously, and seven pairs of hands performed the fire sign. + +“San-Clu returns All Hail,” responded the guests with no less ceremony. + +The newcomers were shown the beauties of the Winnebago Lodge, and it +seemed they would never get done exclaiming over the rugs and skins and +pottery, and most of all, the beds. + +“They aren’t so terribly hard to make,” the Winnebagos assured them +modestly, but at the same time glowing with a feeling of superiority. The +San-Clu girls were plainly older than the Winnebagos; they all wore +dresses down to their ankles and seemed quite grown up, almost enough to +be guardians themselves; yet they did not appear to have won nearly so +many honors as the younger Winnebagos. + +During the tour of inspection Nyoda and Gladys held a whispered +consultation in one end of the room. “Nothing here to make a spread +with,” said Gladys. “I’ll have to hurry out and get something.” + +“Do,” said Nyoda. Gladys nudged Hinpoha and drew her down the ladder and +together they sped after canned shrimp and condensed milk. + +“Now, if you’ll excuse us a minute,” said Nyoda to the San-Clus, “we’ll +retire behind our curtains and prepare to do the stunt with which we +always inflict company. Come, girls,” she added in a whisper, “the Battle +of Blenheim.” And the players retired to array themselves in the +necessary sheets. + +Five minutes later the curtains were shoved aside, and the players stood +before the audience. They looked in bewilderment. For seated where they +had left the San-Clu Camp Fire Girls were the Captain, Bottomless Pitt, +the Monkey, Dan Porter, Peter Jenkins and Harry Raymond. The girls had +vanished. + +“Why, when did you come in, boys?” asked Nyoda in surprise. “And where +are the girls?” + +“What girls?” asked the Captain. + +“Why, the San-Clu Camp Fire girls,” said Nyoda, “who were visiting us.” + +“Here they are,” said the six boys, rising and speaking together. “We are +the ‘San-Clu’ Camp Fire Girls. ‘San-Clu’—short for Sandwich Club! +Ho-ho-ho, Katherine! You’d know us in a minute with girls’ clothes on, +would you!” And from under the rugs and furniture they drew the dresses, +hats, gloves and wigs which the late San-Clus had worn a-calling. +“Oh-h-h, Katherine, we do this to each other!” + +The girls sat staring, speechless for a minute, unable to believe that +there really had been no girls there. But the evidence was before their +eyes and it could not be doubted. And they were far too game not to see +that the joke was on them, and laughed just as heartily over it as the +boys did. + +“We’ll have to have the spread, anyhow, for your benefit,” said Nyoda, +taking up the cans of supplies that Hinpoha and Gladys had just brought +in. “You carried that off too splendidly not to be rewarded. We +congratulate you on your ability to act, and confess that we were +completely taken in. Where’s Slim?” + +“We left him behind the fence,” said the Captain, with a start of +recollection. “We didn’t dare let him come in with us, because you’d have +recognized him right away.” + +“Figures never lie, especially stout ones,” laughed Nyoda. “Go and bring +him to the spread.” + +“Are you folks going on a trip?” inquired the Monkey, with his mouth full +of Shrimp Wiggle and his eyes on the ponchos piled in the corner. + +“We are, next Saturday,” answered Sahwah. “We were just practicing +rolling the ponchos today. Saturday we’re going to take the steamer +across the lake to Rock Island. Some friends of Nyoda’s have a cottage +there, but they haven’t gone up yet and they said we might stay in it all +night if we wanted to. We’re coming home on the boat Sunday night.” + +“Are you going by yourselves?” asked Slim, leaning across the table and +listening to the conversation. He was fishing for an invitation for the +Sandwiches. + +“We certainly are going by ourselves,” said Sahwah, to his +disappointment. “We haven’t been off by ourselves for a long time. We’re +going in a lonely place and have a Ceremonial Meeting on the shore of the +lake and tell secrets and do stunts and have a beautiful time. It’s +strictly a Winnebago affair—a hen party, you’d call it.” + +Slim sighed and consoled himself with five pieces of fudge and an apple. +He was one of those boys who like to be around girls all the time. Too +fat to enjoy the more strenuous society of the boys, he preferred to sit +with his gentler friends and dip his hand into the dishes of candy that +they usually had standing around. The fact that they made no end of fun +of him and never took him seriously only increased his desire for them. +And, like the Captain, he delighted to look upon the hair when it was +red. He admired Hinpoha with all his corpulent soul. + +The winter and spring months had flown by with swifter wings than the +white-tailed swallow, and the clock of the year was once more striking +June. Saturday found the Winnebagos skimming over the blue waters of the +lake in the big daily excursion boat bound for Rock Island. Nakwisi, of +course, had her spy glass and was carefully scrutinizing the empty +horizon. “Has Katherine come into your range of vision yet?” asked Nyoda, +a trifle anxiously. Katherine had boarded the boat with them safely +enough, for she had been personally conducted from home by the whole six, +but had disappeared within ten minutes after the boat started. + +Nakwisi lowered her glass and laughed. “No, I don’t see her in the sky,” +she said, “though I shouldn’t be very greatly surprised if I did.” + +And they began a thorough search of the boat from top to bottom and +finally found her hanging over the rail of a gangway, trying to touch the +snowy foam flying in the swirling wake of the paddle wheel. It was the +first time she had ever been on a lake, and she took a perfectly childish +delight in the racing water. Pulled back to safety by Nyoda, she gave an +animated account of her adventures since seeing them last, in the course +of which she had nearsightedly walked into the pilot house and caught +hold of the wheel to steady herself when the boat gave a lurch, and had +been summarily put out by an angry first mate. “I’ve been everywhere on +the boat except down the smokestack,” she concluded triumphantly. + +Soon Rock Island appeared as a speck on the horizon in Nakwisi’s glass, +then as a long black streak which they could all see, and finally grew by +leaps and bounds into a beautiful wooded island with trees and lawns and +beautiful summer cottages shining in the sunlight. Shouldering their +ponchos, they went ashore, and walked around the point of the island to +the cottage where they were to spend the night. It was close to the +water, where a curving indentation of the shore line made a lovely little +beach. If Sahwah did not make the record at poncho rolling, she left them +all behind in getting into her bathing suit, and five minutes after the +door was unlocked her hands clove the water in a flying dive from the end +of the pier. + +Katherine splashed about courageously, trying to swim, and finally +succeeded in propelling herself through the water by a series of jerks +and splashes unlike any stroke ever invented by the mind of man. “This is +too hard on my dellyket constitooshun,” she remarked at last, clambering +out and draping her ungainly length around a rock, thereby disclosing the +fact that her bathing suit was minus one sleeve. Katherine regarded the +yawning armhole with mild vexation. “Broke my needle when my suit was all +done but putting in the one sleeve,” she remarked serenely, “and there +wasn’t time to go out and buy one—I finished the suit at eleven o’clock +last night—so I just pasted that sleeve in with adhesive tape, and it +didn’t show a bit. But it must have let go in the water,” she finished +plaintively. Nyoda looked at the girls, and the girls looked at Nyoda, +and once more they were dumb. + +Tired of swimming, they dressed and explored the island and then sat down +on the big boat dock and dangled their feet over the edge. Soon a tug +came up alongside the pier and the sailor who ran it chanced to be a man +whom Nyoda had met the previous summer on the island. “Hello, Captain +McMichael,” she called. + +The sunburnt sailor looked up. “Hello, hello,” he answered. “What are you +doing up here so early in the season?” When Nyoda had explained that she +had brought the girls up on a sightseeing trip, Captain McMichael +promptly offered to take them for a ride in the tug. “Got to go over to +Jackson’s Island and get a lighter of limestone,” he said. “I’d have to +set you ashore on Randall’s Island while I went over to Jackson’s to get +the lighter,” he continued, “because you’d get all covered with lime dust +if you stayed in the tug while they were loading, and it’s no place for +ladies to go ashore. But Randall’s is all right. The quarries there +aren’t worked any more and there are only a few summer cottages. But +there are excellent wild strawberries,” he finished with a twinkle in his +eye. “I’ll call for you on the way back and get you here before dark. +Will you come?” + +“Oh, Nyoda, may we?” cried the girls, delighted at the prospect. + +“Why, yes,” answered Nyoda. “I think that will be a delightful way to +spend the afternoon. I have always wanted to explore Randall’s Island; it +looks so interesting from the steamer. We accept your invitation with +pleasure, Captain McMichael.” + +“Glad to have you,” responded the tug master heartily, as he set the +powerful engine throbbing. + +“Don’t fall overboard,” he yelled above the steam exhaust a minute later +as Katherine hung over the stern and trailed her hands in the water. +Nyoda clung to her dress and the rest sang in chorus: + + “Sailing, sailing, + Over to Randall’s I, + And dear Sister K would fall into the bay + If Nyoda weren’t nigh!” + +The run to Randall’s Island took just fifteen minutes and Katherine +managed to get there without accident, other than upsetting an oil can +into her lap. The wild strawberries were as abundant and as delicious as +Captain McMichael had promised, and it was with sighs of regret that they +finally admitted they could hold no more. Then they scrambled around in +the abandoned limestone quarries until Nyoda, coming face to face with +Katherine, announced it was time to play something else. Katherine had +torn her dress on sharp points until it was nearly a wreck; she had +stepped into a puddle up to her shoetops, her hat brim hung down in a +discouraged loop and her hands and face were scratched with briers. + +“If one more thing happens to you, Katherine Adams,” said Nyoda sternly, +“you’ll have to spend the rest of your life on this island, for you won’t +be respectable enough to take home.” + +“Then I’ll be Miss Robinson Crusoe,” said Katherine, “and eat up all the +strawberries on the island, and not have to write the class paper. I +believe I’ll consider your offer. Our literary member, Migwan, can write +a book about it—_Living on Limestone_, or _The Queen of the Quarry_. +Wouldn’t that be a fine sounding title!” + +“What is that long stone building way over there?” asked Hinpoha, as they +promenaded decorously over the island beyond the quarries, two of them +arm-in-arm with Katherine, to keep her in the straight and narrow path. + +“Looks like a fort,” said Sahwah, with immediate interest. “Is it a fort, +Nyoda?” + +“I doubt it very much,” answered Nyoda. “I never heard of a fort on any +of these islands. Let’s go over and investigate.” + +Katherine hung back, screwing up her face and rolling her eyes like an +old negress. “Don’ lead dis child into temptation,” she begged. “Feel lak +de climbin’ debbil would get into mah feet agin foh sartin sure, ef ah +went near dat pile of stone, an’ den good-bye, dress! Only safe way’s to +keep dis child far away!” + +Her veiled, husky voice made her imitation indescribably droll, and the +girls shouted with laughter. “Never fear, my weak sister,” said Gladys, +“we’ll all keep you out of danger.” + +“I can’t imagine what this could have been,” said Hinpoha, when they had +reached the ruin. “It looks more like a mill than a fort.” + +“Mill!” exclaimed Sahwah scornfully. “There isn’t any wheel, and there +isn’t a sign of a stream. Mills are always on streams.” + +“Maybe this was a windmill,” suggested Katherine. “It’s windy enough to +set any kind of machinery going,” and she started in pursuit of her hat, +which that moment had been whirled from her head by a mischievous zephyr. + +The ruin which the girls had found that afternoon was the remains of an +old wine cellar which had been used for storing great quantities of grape +wine in the old days when Randall’s Island had been in the heart of the +grape region, before quarrying became the chief industry. Nothing was +left now to tell what valuable stores it had once sheltered, only stones +and crumbling brick walls, overgrown with high weeds and wild vines. + +“It’s an enchanted castle,” said Hinpoha. “A beautiful princess used to +live here, only she got married and moved to—to the big hotel on Rock +Island, and when she left the bad imps came and knocked out the mortar +with their little hammers and it all fell to pieces.” + +“Oh, wonderful,” drawled Katherine. “Let’s poke about a bit in the ruins +and see if we can find any of the solid gold toothpicks the princes used +to strew around after a meal.” + +The ruined wine cellar proved utterly fascinating. They could still see +where it had been divided into rooms; and here and there a thick wall +still stood higher than their heads. + +“Hi, what’s this?” asked Katherine, as they stood before a doorway +partially filled with débris, behind which a black hole yawned. + +“It’s a cave,” said Sahwah, poking her head forward into the hole like a +turtle. “Let’s explore it,” she continued, stepping carefully over the +pile of bricks. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder; “it’s perfectly +wonderful. It’s a room, but it’s under the hill. Come on in.” + +“Are there any bats?” asked Gladys, hanging back. + +“Nothing but brickbats,” came Sahwah’s cheerful voice from within. + +Gladys and Hinpoha crawled through the opening, and Katherine, with a +resigned, “Goodbye, dress,” followed with Nyoda and Nakwisi and Medmangi. +The room was nothing more than an extension of the cellar, built into the +side of the hill, but to them it was filled with romantic possibilities. + +“What do you suppose it was?” asked Hinpoha, straining her eyes in the +semi-darkness. + +“The dungeon, of course,” answered Katherine promptly. “Here’s where your +beautiful princess confined the lovers that didn’t suit her +fancy—light-haired ones and fat ones, especially. She chained them to the +wall and the rats nibbled their toes.” + +“Oh-oh-oh!” shrieked Hinpoha, stopping her ears. “Don’t say such dreadful +things. I can feel the rats nibbling at my toes this minute.” + +The walls of this cellar were badly crumbled, and at the farther side the +girls discovered another cave-like opening. This was entirely dark and +they hesitated before going in. Then Nyoda took her pocket flash and +Gladys found hers, and by the combined glimmer of the two the girls found +their way into the farther cave. At first they had to keep the light on +the ground to see where to put their feet and they were all inside before +Nyoda turned her flash on the walls. Then a great cry of amazement burst +from every girl, ending in a breathless gasp. The walls and roof of the +cave seemed to be made of precious stones—pearls, sapphires, emeralds, +amethysts and diamonds. They caught the gleam from the pocket flashes and +twinkled and reflected in a hundred points of dancing light. Great masses +of crystal, faceted like diamonds, hung suspended from the roof almost +touching their heads, seemingly held up by magic. + +“Am I dreaming,” cried Hinpoha, “or is this Alladin’s cave? What is it, +Nyoda? Where are we?” + +Nyoda laughed at their open mouths and staring eyes. “Only in one of +Nature’s treasure vaults,” she said. “This is one of the famous crystal +caves that are found throughout these islands. It’s a form of rock +crystal, strontia, I believe some people call it, and I don’t doubt but +what it’s related to the limestone in the quarries. Take a good look at +it, for some of these crystals are simply marvellous.” + +Their voices echoed and re-echoed weirdly, as they called to each other, +the sound seeming to roll along the low ceiling. “Look at this mass over +here,” cried Sahwah, penetrating deeper into the cave, “it looks like a +man standing against the wall.” + +“And this one looks like a dog lying down,” said Hinpoha, pointing to +another. + +Laughing, shouting, exclaiming, they explored the wonders of the cave +until a heavy shock as of something falling, accompanied by a deafening +crash, rooted them to the ground with fright. “What is it? What has +happened?” they asked one another, and made their way back to the +entrance. But the entrance was no longer there. Where it had been there +was a solid wall of stone. Their climbing around among the ruined walls +had sent some of the bricks sliding and these had released a large rock +which had rolled down directly over the opening into the crystal cave. +With desperate force they pushed against the rock, but their sevenfold +strength made no more impression than a fly brushing its wings against +it. With white faces they turned to each other when they realized the +truth. They were imprisoned in the cave! + +“The other direction!” cried Sahwah, shaking off her terror and setting +her wits to work. “We may be able to get out the other way.” Taking the +flashlight from Gladys, whose trembling fingers threatened to drop it, +she led the way into the gloomy recesses of the cave, whose depths they +had penetrated only a short distance before. They shuddered at the icicle +like crystals, which now seemed like long fingers reaching down to catch +a hold of them, and shrank back from the crystal masses that took the +forms of men and animals. These now seemed like ghosts of creatures that +had been trapped in the cave as they were. For trapped they were. In a +few moments their progress was barred by impassable masses of crystal. +Back again they went to the rock-blocked entrance and beat upon it and +pushed with all their might. All in vain. The rock stood firm as +Gibraltar. They shouted and called and screamed until the echoes clamored +hideously, but no answering call came from the outside. From somewhere, +far in the distance, came the dismal sound of falling water, chilling the +blood in their veins. + +Helplessly the girls all turned to Nyoda, asking, “What shall we do?” + +Nyoda stood still and tried to face the situation calmly. She held her +flashlight close to the rock and looked carefully all around the edge. At +one side there was a tiny fissure, not more than half an inch wide and +about six inches long, caused by the irregular shape of the rock. Nyoda +regarded this minute opening thoughtfully. “If we could put something +through that opening which would act as a signal, we might attract +somebody’s attention who wouldn’t be able to hear us calling,” she said +at length. “Our voices are so muffled in here they can’t carry very far +outside.” + +“Is there anybody on the island to see it?” asked Gladys doubtfully. + +“There are some people here,” answered Nyoda, “because the fishermen stay +all the year round. You remember those houses we passed on the other side +of the quarry, where the nets were hanging in the yard?” + +“What shall we use for a signal of distress?” asked Gladys. “Not one of +us has a tie or a ribbon on today.” + +“Use my dress skirt,” said Katherine generously. “It’s so torn anyway +that it’ll never feel the same again, even if it recovers from this +trip.” Which was perfectly true. So they tore the wide hem from her +dress, which made a pennant about six feet long. Then Sahwah had a +further inspiration, and, dipping her finger into a dark puddle formed on +the floor by a thin stream of moisture trickling down the wall, she wrote +the word HELP on the strip. Nyoda poked the end through the opening and +shoved the rest out after it, keeping the other end in her hand, and she +could feel by the tugging at the strip that the high wind had caught the +portion outside and was whipping it about. + +“Now shout for all you’re worth,” commanded Nyoda. + +Early that Saturday morning the Captain had aroused Slim from his +peaceful slumbers unceremoniously. “Hurry up and come over,” he said, in +response to Slim’s protesting grunt. “Uncle Theodore’s here with his +automobile and he’s going to take a run over to Freeport this morning and +he said he would take all the fellows along that were ready at nine +o’clock. Hurry.” + +Slim needed no second invitation and roused himself immediately, while +the Captain sped to collect the remainder of the Sandwiches, which was +accomplished in short order, as none of the other invitations involved +resurrection. Nine o’clock found them all on the curbstone before the +Captain’s house, standing beside Uncle Theodore’s big car, waiting for +the word to pile in. The ride to Freeport was accomplished in a few +hours’ time and after dinner Uncle Theodore turned the boys loose to see +the town by themselves while he transacted the business which had taken +him thither. Freeport had no attraction outside of its harbor, and +thither the boys betook themselves without delay. Passenger steamers left +every half hour for the various islands nearby; lime boats, tugs and +scows crowded the mouth of the river, and the whole atmosphere breathed +of ships. The boys stood and watched a while and then pined for something +to do. + +“Let’s hire a launch,” suggested the Captain, who felt that it was up to +him to furnish the amusement, inasmuch as he had invited them to come +along, “and go out on the lake.” + +Launches were readily to be had and soon they were curving around in +great circles through the waves, drenched with the spray, and enjoying it +as only boys can enjoy the sensation of riding in a speed boat. + +“Let’s go to Rock Island,” said Slim, who had not forgotten who else had +planned to go there that day. + +“What for?” asked the Captain. + +“Oh, nothing,” answered Slim, “except that there’s a pretty nice aquarium +there, and—and the girls said they were going to be there.” + +“But we were politely invited to stay home, if I remember rightly,” said +Bottomless Pitt. “They’re going to have a pow-wow, or something like +that.” + +“But if we should run into them accidentally they would probably be glad +to see us,” persisted Slim. Slim was fond of picnics gotten up by girls +on account of the superior quality of the “grub”; he was especially fond +of Winnebago picnics, because the Winnebagos treated him better than any +other girls he knew, and as mentioned before, he had a decided weakness +for red hair. Hence his ingenuous desire to go to Rock Island. The +Captain, knowing Slim like a book, laughed. But he, too, wished he had +been invited to the picnic, and his reasons coincided in their last item +with Slim’s. + +“All right,” he said, and turned the boat’s head toward the green outline +of Rock Island. Half of the distance across the bay the launch wheezed +and stopped dead. + +“Pshaw,” said Slim disgustedly, when the Captain announced that they had +run out of gasoline. They had come to a stop just off a small rocky +island and with the aid of the one oar the launch boasted the Captain +proceeded to paddle in to shore, in the hope that he could obtain +gasoline there. + +“Regular desert island,” grunted Slim, as they walked and met no one. +“None of the cottages seem to be occupied.” + +“Cheer up; we’ll find someone,” said the Captain. “The fishermen live on +these islands all winter. Look at the limestone quarries over there.” + +“And the ruined something or other behind them,” said the Bottomless +Pitt. + +“Let’s cut across here,” said Slim, who was ever on the lookout for short +cuts. “I see some houses over there.” + +“And break our necks crawling over those stones,” said Monkey. “Not +much.” + +So they started to follow the path that led around the curve of the +shore. “Wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to cut across, anyway,” +said the Captain, when they had gone some distance. “These blooming +little stones are worse to walk on than spikes. Those rocks couldn’t have +been much worse.” And he stood still and looked thoughtfully back at the +ruined cellar. + +“Hi!” he exclaimed suddenly. “What’s that?” + +“What’s what?” asked Slim. + +“That white rag flying from the rock over there. It surely wasn’t there a +minute ago.” + +“Probably was, only you didn’t see it,” said Slim, impatient to go on. + +“I’m positive it wasn’t,” said the Captain. “I’m going over to have a +look at it. When rags start out of rocks there’s something in the wind.” +And he walked briskly toward it, the rest following. As they drew near +their startled eyes fell on the black letters of the word HELP, traced in +wobbly lines. + +“Yay!” shouted the boys at the top of their lungs. “Where are you and +what’s the matter?” + +Apparently from inside the rock came the feeble echo of a shout: “We’re +in the cave! The rock covered the doorway!” + +“Wait a minute!” called the Captain in answer, and boylike tried to move +the rock himself. “Lend a hand, fellows,” he said, after one shove +against its solid side. They lent all the hands they had, but could not +budge it. “Pull the bricks out from around it,” commanded the Captain, +taking charge of the affair like a general, “and look out for your feet +when she lunges over!” They set to work, dislodging the bricks that held +it in, and before long it moved, tottered, grated and finally, with a +great crash, lunged over and rolled down a little slope. + +Pale and shaken, the Winnebagos emerged into the light of day. Had the +ghosts of their great grandmothers appeared before them the boys could +not have been more surprised. Questions and answers flew back and forth +thick and fast until the tale of their finding the cave was told. + +“And I’ll never, never, explore anything again!” finished Hinpoha, in an +emphatic tone. + +“Oh, yes, you will,” said Gladys; “and so will we all, but the next time +we’ll have a company of guides fore and aft.” + +“Wouldn’t it be a better plan,” suggested the Captain mildly, “to take us +along with you wherever you go? I notice we generally have to come to the +rescue, anyway.” + +And the Winnebagos promised to consider the matter. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + KINDLING THE TORCH + + +Hinpoha and Sahwah were patiently teaching Katherine hand signs one +Saturday afternoon when Gladys burst in with a tragic face. + +“Girls,” she cried, with extravagant emphasis, “have you heard the +_news_?” Then, without waiting for reply, she continued: “Nyoda’s going +to be _married_!” + +“We know she is,” answered Hinpoha, “a year from this summer.” + +“No, not a year from this summer,” said Gladys, swelling with the +importance of the announcement she was about to make, “_this_ summer. +This very month!” + +An incredulous exclamation burst from the three. + +“It’s true,” continued Gladys. “Sherry’s going to be sent away on a long +trip and he wants to take her with him, so they’re going to be married +right away.” + +All four sat stricken, trying to realize that the evil day which they had +dreaded so and which they had thought far in the future was actually upon +them. Only two more weeks and their idolized Guardian, who for three +years had been a part of nearly everything they did, would be gone from +them. It seemed that the world was coming to an end. + +In the days that followed gloom hung thick over the House of the Open +Door. Now that Nyoda was to be in it no longer the Winnebagos lost all +joy in its possession. Each article of furniture that she had helped to +make, each sketch of hers on the wall telling in clever little +pictographs the tale of some adventure or frolic, gripped them with a +fresh pang. Plans for summer excursions and activities were dropped. + +“And we were all going ca-camping togu-gether!” wailed Hinpoha, and damp +weather prevailed for many minutes. + +But this was the end of their Senior year in high school, crowded to the +limit with all the bustle and excitement and festivity of Commencement +time, and the Winnebagos were so busy with examinations and essays and +clothes and songs and parties that there was no time to fold their hands +and grieve. Katherine, as editor of the class paper, was the star +performer on Class Night, although Miss Snively, who trained the +speakers, had tried to sandpaper her speech of everything clever. +Katherine agreed to every change she suggested with suspicious readiness, +and then when the night arrived calmly read her original paper, while the +chandeliers dripped giggles and Miss Snively made sarcastic remarks about +the cracked-voice orator. Somehow the story of Miss Snively’s attempt to +make a hero out of her fiancé had gotten out, although Katherine always +looked preoccupied whenever the subject was mentioned, and of late Miss +Snively had found the seats in her recitation room occupied by rows of +wise grins, which somewhat disturbed her lofty dignity. It was well that +this was to be her last year of teaching. + +One of the big events of the last week was the interscholastic track meet +and athletic contest, to be held on the Washington High athletic field, +in which ten big schools took part. The field was thronged with +spectators, the grand stand was crowded, school colors floated from tree +and pole, cheers burst from groups of students every few minutes and the +air was electric with suppressed excitement. + +First came the track events, and in these Washington High was tied with +Carnegie Mechanic for second place. The Winnebagos were glad it was so, +because now the Sandwiches could not crow over them. The Captain finished +first in one of the hundred-yard dashes right in front of Hinpoha, where +she sat in the grandstand, and he looked over the heads of the cheering +boys straight at her. Hinpoha dared not applaud him, because he belonged +to Washington’s bitterest rival, but she smiled brightly, and he dropped +his eyes, flushing suddenly. + +The girls’ events opened with a game of volley ball between Washington +High and Carnegie Mechanic. Much to the surprise of the Winnebagos, they +saw Katherine come in with the Washington players. Katherine was not on +the team. But just before the game opened the girl’s gymnasium director +had spied Katherine sitting at one side of the field, unconcernedly +shaking a pebble out of her shoe in full view of the grandstand, and +hurried over to her. “Will you fill in this game?” she asked +breathlessly. “One of our team can’t come and we’re short a girl.” + +“But I’ve never played volley ball,” protested Katherine. + +“Oh,” said the gymnasium teacher disappointedly. Then she added in a kind +of desperation, “Well, I don’t know as it makes any difference. I don’t +seem to be able to find a girl who has played. Just stay in the +background and strike at the ball with the palms of your hands every time +it comes near you. Let the girls in front get it over the net.” + +Katherine uncurled her length from the ground and followed the gymnasium +teacher obligingly. She was not in the least sensitive about being asked +at the eleventh hour to “fill in,” when she had not been asked to be on +the team before. Washington’s volley ball team was not a very strong one, +and went all to pieces against the concentrated team work of the Carnegie +Mechanicals. The score rolled up against Washington steadily. The +deafening yells from the grandstand bewildered them, and they could +neither volley the ball over the net nor return the Mechanicals’ volleys. +They were helpless from stage fright. + +Katherine dutifully stayed in the background, sending the ball to the +girls at the net, her brow drawing into anxious puckers, as they fumbled +it time after time. She began to comprehend the rules of the game and was +“getting the hang of it.” The Mechanicals, with fifteen points to their +credit, had just lost the ball by sending it out of bounds. It was time +to do something. Katherine had noticed that most of the Washington girls +had been trying to volley the ball across the net from the back line, +instead of passing it on, as she had been doing, and had been falling +short nearly every time. With a commanding gesture, she claimed the +attention of her team. + +“Get back on the volley line in a row,” she ordered. They obeyed her like +sheep. Then she took her place half-way between the volley line and the +net, facing the girls. “Now,” she said crisply, “whosoever’s turn it is +to volley, shoot the ball to me and not an inch farther. I’ll get it over +the net. The first one that shoots it over my head is going to get ducked +in the swimming pool!” + +In their surprise at this sudden rising up of a leader, they forgot the +racket around them, and the triumphantly clamoring team on the other side +of the net, and calmed down. The girl with the ball sent it straight +toward Katherine, and with a windmill motion of her powerful arms, she +hit it a sounding whack and sent it over the net like a meteor. There was +no returning such a volley. + +“One!” cried the scorekeeper, and the Washington corner of the grandstand +gave its first yell of triumph. + +“Now, everyone of you do just the same thing, one after another,” +commanded Katherine to the volley line. Her utter lack of excitement was +bringing them out of their confusion. The next girl made an equally good +throw and another loud whack announced that Katherine was volleying. +Backing the net, she could not see where it was going, but a squeal told +her that the girl who should be returning the ball was fleeing it. Then +the machine started to work. As long as one side scored it was privileged +to keep the volley. + +When in operation the machine sounded like this: “Next!” Whack! Bump! +That was all. Katherine’s command to the server; the impact of her palms +on the ball; and the thump of the ball on the ground on the Mechanical +side of the net. Up went the Washington score. + +Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! + + “Washington Rah! + Washington Rah! + Katherine Adams, + Rah! Rah! Rah!” + +The atmosphere was rent with the yell. + +Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen! + +“Next!” Whack! Bump! + +SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN! EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN! TWENTY! + + “WASHINGTON RAH! + KATHERINE RAH! + KATHERINE AD——” + +TWENTY-ONE! + + +The umpire ran along the net, holding up her hands, and the teams broke +ranks. + +“Washington High winner in the volley ball game!” shouted the scorekeeper +through her megaphone. “Score, twenty-one to fifteen!” + +And the grandstand thundered at Katherine, who suddenly got stage fright +when it was all over and stood pigeon-toed with her head hanging down. +Then she noticed for the first time that her middy was on hind side +before and the long collar was down in front. Her horrified expression +threw the spectators into convulsions. They had been laughing at it all +through the game, but her amazing performance had made it a secondary +consideration. + +A few moments later she strolled nonchalantly into the grandstand and sat +down among the Winnebagos. “That certainly is a strenuous game for a +person with a dellyket constitooshun like mine,” she remarked ruefully, +rubbing her swollen knuckles. Three fingers were sprained as a result of +doing all the volleying for twelve girls, but she didn’t think it worth +while to mention the matter. + +Thus passed the days, filled to overflowing with fun and excitement. +Katherine, thoroughly uncomfortable in a crisp new white dress and blue +sash, tripped blithely along the elm-shaded avenue in the glow of the +late June sunset. It was the night of the class banquet, and her mind was +intent on the speech she was to make. Thus absorbed, she did not watch +where she was going, and a sprawling root from a big tree tripped her +unexpectedly and brought her to her knees on the soft lawn. Brought into +such close contact with the ground, she spied something lying at the foot +of the giant oak beside which she had fallen. It was a black leather bill +fold, with a heavy elastic band around it. + +“Daggers and dirks!” said Katherine, borrowing the Captain’s favorite +expression. “What’s this?” She slipped off the elastic band and opened +the bill fold. Across the inner flap there was a name printed in gold +letters. Katherine squinted at the name and explored the inner recesses +of the wallet. She took one look and hastily bound the wallet together +again with its elastic and dropped it gingerly into her hand bag, as if +it were red hot. Then she proceeded on her way, more absorbed than ever, +but the thing her brain was intent on now was not her banquet speech. + +Crossing the little park-like square, which lay on the way to school, she +came upon Veronica walking slowly up and down the sidewalk, intently +searching for something on the ground. She was very pale and showed signs +of great agitation. It was the first time Katherine had met her face to +face since she had left the group. + +“Have you lost something?” asked Katherine abruptly. + +“No,” said Veronica, straightening up and flushing deeply, “that is, +nothing much, I—I just dropped a—something out of my purse along here +somewhere.” + +“What was it?” asked Katherine. + +Veronica gave a last frantic look along the walk. + +“It was a—” She hesitated, and then burst out: + +“Oh, Katherine, it was my bill fold, and it had five hundred dollars in +it!” + +“Five hundred dollars!” echoed Katherine faintly. + +Veronica ran back and forth along the walk, looking desperately into +every crack and crevice. Every few minutes she held up her hand and +looked at her wrist watch; then she would return to the search with more +energy than before. Katherine also looked at her watch. + +“I’ll help you hunt,” she said, taking the other side of the walk. “Are +you sure you lost it along here?” she asked. + +“Pretty sure,” answered Veronica. “I know I had it when I was back on Elm +Street, because I looked to make sure.” + +“The last time you saw it was back on Elm Street,” mused Katherine. +“That’s two blocks behind us. We’ll have to go all the way back.” + +“By the way,” said Katherine, a few minutes later, “it’s none of my +business, I suppose, but what on earth were you doing with five hundred +dollars in your bag?” + +Veronica started and looked confused for a minute. But she answered +naturally enough. “I drew it from the bank this afternoon to give my +uncle to pay for some investment he is making for me, and I was to take +it over to his studio, but I was detained and he had gone when I got +there, so I was just bringing it home when I lost it.” She stared up the +road with widening eyes, not toward Elm Street, where the purse might +lie, but toward the big avenue in the other direction, where the +streetcars clanged townward. Katherine stared thoughtfully at the +suitcase Veronica had with her. + +“Have you been away?” she asked casually. + +“No,” said Veronica, with a start. Then, as her eyes followed +Katherine’s, she added: “I’ve just been carrying some—things in there.” + +Katherine looked at her watch again. “What did your bill fold look like?” +she asked. + +“It was a small black one,” answered Veronica, “with an elastic band +around it. It had my name in gold letters across the inner flap.” + +“Hadn’t we better go home and tell your uncle,” suggested Katherine, “and +get him to help us find it?” + +“No, no!” cried Veronica, shrinking back in alarm. “Don’t tell him! I +wouldn’t have him know for worlds that I’ve lost it.” + +“But if you don’t find it he’ll know about it, anyway,” said Katherine +practically. + +Veronica’s face went white again and she returned to the search with +desperate haste. “I must find it! I must find it!” she was saying over +and over again under her breath. + +Katherine was just as diligent in her search. She pawed through the +bushes with her white gloves and sank on her knees in the soft grass, +accumulating more and more grass stains all the while. The last streak of +daylight faded and the big arc lights began to blaze among the tall +trees, and still they searched—Katherine in a patient, systematic way, +Veronica hysterically. The few people who crossed the square were closely +questioned as to whether or not they had found anything, but the same +disappointing answer came from all of them. Veronica looked at her watch +with ever-increasing anxiety; Katherine looked at her furtively almost as +often. + +After two hours of nerve-wracking search a steeple clock nearby boomed +out nine strokes; slowly, deliberately, its clamor shattered the summer +night’s stillness. Veronica sank down on a stone which bordered the walk +and covered her face with her hands. Katherine straightened up and stood +for a moment looking thoughtfully at Veronica; then she went on searching +methodically. Veronica sat huddled on the stone for fully five minutes; +then, with an expression which was strangely like relief, she rose up and +followed Katherine’s example. Fifteen minutes more went by with scarcely +a word from either girl. Then the steeple clock chimed the quarter hour. +A moment later came the sound of a train whistle, far off, but borne +clearly on the still air, followed by the faint rumble of distant cars +going over a culvert. + +Katherine stood still until the sound had died away, then she went up to +Veronica, led her to an iron bench nearby, and shoved her into it. Then +she opened her handbag and took out a small black wallet fastened round +with an elastic band, and laid it on Veronica’s knee without a word. + +Veronica looked at it and uttered an incredulous scream of joy. “Where +did you find it?” she gasped. + +“Back on Elm Street, before I met you,” said Katherine quietly. + +“Back on Elm Street, before you met me?” repeated Veronica wonderingly. +“You had it all this while?” Katherine nodded. “Then why did you keep it +all this while?” demanded Veronica. “Why didn’t you give it to me at once +and save all this agony?” + +Katherine looked at her narrowly. “I didn’t dare give it to you _before +nine o’clock_,” she said significantly. + +Veronica started and clutched Katherine’s arm nervously. “What do you +mean?” she asked faintly. + +Katherine put her arm around Veronica and drew her toward her so she +could look into her face. The light from the swinging arc was directly +upon her. “You were going to run away on that nine o’clock train, weren’t +you?” she asked quietly. + +Veronica jerked away and turned dreadfully pale. “How—how did you know?” +she faltered. + +“I didn’t, for sure,” said Katherine. “But I made a pretty good guess. +You see, when I found that wallet, I naturally looked inside. There I saw +your name, five hundred dollars in bills, and a note which read: + +“‘Take the New York Central Flyer at nine o’clock Wednesday night.’ It +was signed with the initials A. T., which I suppose stand for that friend +of yours with the plush whiskers, Alex Toboggan.” + +“Alex Tobin,” corrected Veronica under her breath. + +“That looked suspicious to me,” continued Katherine. “I’ve seen him +around with you a good deal, and I don’t like his looks, not a little +bit. Then a minute later I came upon you with a suitcase, hunting your +wallet and looking at your watch as if you were crazy. So I came to the +conclusion that you were planning to run away on that nine o’clock train, +and decided to hold you up by keeping the money until the train was gone. +Am I right?” + +Veronica’s eyes dropped and her face was crimson. “You are right,” she +said unsteadily. “I was planning to run away on that train. After I +dropped out of the Camp Fire Group I had no girl friends and became +lonelier and lonelier all the while. The only interest I had was my +music, and the only place to which I went was to hear the Symphony +Orchestra rehearse. There, Alex Tobin, who is really a fine violinist, +was always very friendly to me and kept telling me I should go to New +York and study with Martini, who is the best teacher in the country. +Uncle would not let me go because he said I was too young and he could +not go with me. But Alex Tobin kept telling me that uncle was jealous of +my talent and was trying to keep me back on purpose, and if I had any +money in my own right I should take it and go anyhow. Uncle quarreled +with Alex Tobin and after that he forbade me to have anything to do with +him, but he used to meet me outside, and always he talked about my +talent, and what a shame it was I could not study with Martini, and +things like that, until I began to think I was abused. I was very lonely, +you know, and had nothing else to think about. + +“Well, this week was the end of the Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, and +Alex Tobin was going home to New York. He promised me that if I would +play in a restaurant there in which he is interested he would see me +safely there and introduce me to Martini. He talked so much about it that +I finally yielded and said I would go. I had money in the bank, but could +not draw it out without uncle’s consent. However, just this week he +wanted to invest five hundred dollars for me and gave me his signature so +I could get it. You know how easy uncle is about money matters, and he +thought it was perfectly all right to send me to the bank alone. I have +gone about by myself so much, you know. But instead of going to his +studio with it, as I was supposed to, I kept it with me and did not go +home at all. + +“I was to meet Mr. Tobin in the station at a quarter before nine. If I +was not there when the train went he was going without me. I was so +excited all day I did not have time to stop and think what I was doing, +and how terrible it was to run away from uncle and aunt, when they had +been so kind to me, even to study with Martini. I looked upon Alex Tobin +as my friend and benefactor, instead of a horrid, scheming man, as I see +he is now. He just wanted me to play in that restaurant of his for +nothing, and draw crowds, and beyond that he really didn’t care what +became of me. + +“When I lost the money I was nearly frantic, because I was afraid I would +miss the train. But when the clock struck nine and I knew the train was +gone, I suddenly felt glad, glad, although I had been so anxious to go. +For I had come to myself and felt sick at the thought of what I had +almost done. Oh, Katherine, how can I ever thank you for keeping me from +doing it?” + +“Don’t try,” said Katherine cheerfully, rubbing away at a grass stain on +her skirt with the wreck of a white silk glove. + +For the first time Veronica noticed Katherine’s white dress. “Oh, +Katherine,” she exclaimed in distress, “tonight is your class banquet! I +heard some of the other girls talking about it. And you have missed it +for my sake!” + +“Why, so it is,” said Katherine, with a well-feigned start of +recollection. “I had forgotten all about it.” + +“No, you didn’t forget it,” persisted Veronica; “you deliberately spent +the time here with me.” + +“Well, never mind about that,” said Katherine soothingly. “It was worth +it.” + +“Worth it? Oh, Katherine, after the way I have treated you! I once called +you a peasant, but you are noble—you are a princess! It is I who am not +fit to associate with you!” + +“O Glory!” exclaimed Katherine in an embarrassed way. Katherine was like +a fish out of water when anyone began to express emotion. “Forget about +the whole business,” she said, “and come back into the group. You need to +have something on your mind.” + +“They will never take me back now,” said Veronica sadly, “after this +dreadful thing I did.” + +“But you didn’t do it,” maintained Katherine, “you came to your senses in +time. We all have done some pretty foolish things, I guess, if they +weren’t quite so startling as the one you planned. But anyway, they’ll +never know a thing about it, so they can’t have the laugh on you.” + +“You mean you’ll never tell anyone?” cried Veronica unbelievingly. + +“Not a soul,” said Katherine earnestly. “Not any of the Winnebagos, nor +your uncle, nor your aunt, nor even Nyoda. Never a word, on my honor as +a—a peasant! If I had intended telling anyone I’d have taken your wallet +to your uncle right away, with the note in it, instead of keeping you +back in the way I did. But I knew you’d come to yourself presently, and +there was no use making a fuss. I’ll keep your secret, never fear. I +won’t even have to explain my absence from the class banquet. They all +know how absent-minded I am, and they will simply think I forgot. That’s +the advantage of having a reputation!” And Veronica, looking into +Katherine’s homely, honest face, knew that her word would stand against +flood and earthquake. + +“Do you really think the Winnebagos will take me back?” she asked +timidly. + +For answer Katherine picked up Veronica’s suitcase, linked her arm +through hers, and started homeward at a lively pace. “You _are_ back,” +she said simply. “You never were really ‘put out,’ you know. You left of +your own accord and we have missed you very much and were just waiting +for you to say the word. Oh, I’m so glad!” And her feet began to shuffle +back and forth in a lively manner, and she began to hum in sprightly +tones the tune, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” Thus it was that the +Torch, carried by Katherine, drew Veronica to the Fire after all, +although Katherine did not even know that she held the Torch in her hand. + + +The last meeting of the Winnebagos with Nyoda came, oh, much too soon! +The boys were warned to stay away, for not even these dear friends were +to be allowed to disturb the sacredness of that gathering. They cooked +supper for the last time, trying to be riotously cheerful, with the tears +dripping off the ends of their noses into the dishes. All the favorite +Winnebago messes were cooked, because Nyoda couldn’t decide which one she +wanted most. There was Shrimp Wiggle and Slumgullion and scones and ice +cream with Wohelo Special Sauce, which was a heavenly mixture of maple +syrup, chocolate and chopped nuts. + +The feast was soon spread, and they gathered around the table to sing the +Camp Fire blessing, + + “If we have earned the right to eat this bread,” + +and most of the voices quavered before they came to the end. + +That supper remained in their memories many years afterward. Katherine +had to deliver all her familiar speeches over and over again; Migwan, who +had come home from college in time to attend the farewell meeting, gave a +fine history of the group from its beginning; Gladys danced her best +dances; and all the favorite stunts were gone through and the favorite +songs sung. And Nyoda looked upon and listened to it all with a smiling +face and tear-dimmed eyes. The Winnebagos had formed a large part of her +life for the past three years. Veronica, who was at the supper, and had +been welcomed back into the group with open arms upon her humble apology, +wept disconsolately most of the time. To have been restored to the good +graces of this wonderful young woman, only to lose her again immediately +afterward! She bitterly regretted her withdrawing from the group during +the winter and thus losing her last opportunity of comradeship with +Nyoda. + +Supper over they wandered out into the warm June twilight to watch for +the evening stars before beginning the ceremonial meeting. “We’ll have +the same stars as you do, anyhow,” said Hinpoha, “and when they come out +we’ll think of each other, will you, Nyoda?” + +“Indeed I will,” said Nyoda, heartily. + +“And when Cassiopea comes out the W will stand for Winnebago,” added +Gladys. + +“And that long scraggly constellation will remind you of me,” said +Katherine, and they all had to laugh in spite of their sadness. + +By and by they wandered back to the House of the Open Door and Nyoda went +up alone and left them standing before the door. Then pretty soon the +signal bird calls floated up and Nyoda’s voice called down from above, +saying, “Who’s there?” and they answered with the foolish passwords and +countersigns that they loved because they were so foolish. One by one +they climbed the ladder and took their places in the circle, their eyes +on Nyoda, as she twirled the drill with the bow, kindling their last +Council Fire. The spark came immediately and leapt into flame and kindled +the fagots piled on the hearth. Feeling the spell of it as they never had +before, they sang “Burn, Fire, Burn.” + +Then came the last roll call. Nyoda’s voice lingered lovingly on each +name: “Hinpoha; Sahwah; Geyahi (Gladys); Iagoonah; Medmangi; Nakwisi; +Waban (Veronica).” + +Migwan read the Count, written in her inimitable lilting metre, which +touched on the many happy times they had had together, and ended, + + “All too brief that Moon of Gladness, + Long shall be the years of parting!” + +Then Hinpoha put her head on her knee with a stifled sob, and at that +they all broke down and cried together, with their arms around Nyoda. + +“Come girls, be good,” said Nyoda, after a minute, sitting up and wiping +her eyes. “Stand up and take your honors like men!” + +And she proceeded to raise all the girls who had not already taken that +honor, to the rank of Torchbearer, excepting, of course, Veronica. As she +awarded the pins she spoke a few words to each girl, telling in what way +she had become worthy of this highest rank. When she came to Katherine, +she laid her hand on her shoulder. “Good wine needs no bush,” she said +with a whimsical smile. “And Katherine needs no advocate. Her actions +speak for themselves. Her masterly handling of that volley ball game the +other day gives the keynote to her character. The ability to snatch +victory from seeming defeat is a gift which will carry one far in the +world. And do not forget that Katherine went into that game as a humble +filler-in, simply to oblige the team, and without a thought of gaining +any glory thereby. That is what I meant by losing one’s self in the +common cause which is a necessary qualification for a Torchbearer. +Katherine would go to any trouble to help somebody else get glory for +themselves, or to help them out of trouble.” And Veronica almost burst +with the desire to tell of the last great service Katherine had done her. + +Katherine blushed at Nyoda’s words and winked back the tears and dropped +the pin, and murmured brokenly that she would try to be a worthy +Torchbearer, and would do her best to stop being so absent-minded. And +then all the Torchbearers, new and old, joined hands in a circle and +repeated their desire: + + “The light that has been given to me + I desire to pass undimmed unto others.” + +“And now a word about the future,” said Nyoda, putting wood on the fire +and sending the flames roaring up the chimney. “You girls declare you do +not want another Guardian. I heartily agree with you in this. That does +not mean that I would be jealous of a possible successor. But I think the +time has come when you no longer need a Guardian. For three years you +have been bound together by ties stronger than sisterhood, and have had +all the fun that it is possible for girls to have, working always as a +unit. You have stood in a close circle, always facing inward. Now you +must turn around and face outward. You have been leaders from the +beginning, and I have trained you as leaders. And a leader must stand +alone. Each one of you will have a different way of passing on the light. +The time has come to begin. The old order has passed when you did every +thing under my direction. You must kindle new Camp Fires now and teach to +others the things you have learned.” + +“Oh, Nyoda,” cried Gladys sorrowfully, “do you mean that all our good +times together are over? That this is the end of it all?” + +“No, dear, this is not the end,” said Nyoda cheerfully, “this is the +‘beginning of it all.’ I do not mean for a moment that you girls are not +to meet and frolic together any more; but that must not be the main +thing. You must begin leading groups of younger girls and teaching them +to have a good time as you have learned to. What wonderful Guardians you +will make in time!” she said musingly. + +“Besides,” she added, after a moment’s silence, while the girls +thoughtfully pondered the new idea she had given them, “you had come to +the parting of the ways, although you didn’t seem to realize it. You have +graduated from school, and next year Hinpoha and Gladys and Katherine are +going away to college, each one to a different city, and Nakwisi is to +travel with her aunt, and Veronica will be going to New York to study +music sooner or later. That leaves only Sahwah and Medmangi here in the +city. You couldn’t go on as you have in the past, even if I were not +going away. But come,” she cried in an animated tone, “enough of solemn +talk! We’ve had three years together, and nobody can take them away from +us, never. And we’re all together now. Let the future take care of +itself; this is today! Come, come, a song!” + +And once more the rafters rang: + + “O we are Winnebagos and we’re loyal friends and true, + We always work in harmony in everything we do, + We always think the weather’s fine, in sunshine or in snow, + We’re happy all the time because we’re maids of Wohelo!” + +The echoes died away and then sprang into life again. + + “For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + And that’s why we’re so spry!” + +“A toast!” cried Nyoda, “a toast to the future!” And they drank it in the +remains of the cocoa. Their eyes met as they clinked the cups, and +overflowed. “Oh, my girls,” cried Nyoda, trying to get her arms around +all of them at once, “there never _was_ such a group! And there never +_will_ be such a group! I just can’t leave you!” Then she pulled herself +up again. The time was passing and she must hasten, for she was leaving +on the train late that night. Her marriage was to take place in the East. +“Come, girls, ‘Mystic Fire.’” And once again their voices rose in musical +chant: + + “With hand uplifted we claim thy power, + Guide and keep us as we go, + True to Wohelo. + Thy law is our law from this hour, + Thy mystic spirit’s flame will show + Us the way to go.” + +And so on to the end. + +But when they stood in the close circle with which the song ends, Nyoda +stooped to the hearth, and, plucking forth a burning brand, held it aloft +as a torch, and the girls passed in front of her, each carrying a tiny +torch in her hand, which she lit from the big one. Then the circle stood +complete once more, a ring of shining light. Silence fell on all. The +moment of parting had come. + +“Don’t say good-bye,” begged Nyoda. “Act as if I were a guest just +leaving for a short time.” + +And bravely, with voices that did not falter to the end, they sang the +familiar guest song: + + “Our guest, may she come again soon——” + +and followed it with a fervent cheer: + + “O Nyoda, here’s to you, + Our hearts will e’er be true, + We will never find your equal + Though we search the whole world through!” + +Then the circle turned resolutely and faced outward. A moment more they +lingered, and then they went forth into the night, carrying their torches +with them. + + + THE END + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + +--Silently corrected palpable typos in spelling and punctuation + +--Adjusted front matter to give a complete list of the series + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, by +Hildegard G. Frey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + +***** This file should be named 38934-0.txt or 38934-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/9/3/38934/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. 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: + + https://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/38934-0.zip b/38934-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fcbfa6 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-0.zip diff --git a/38934-8.txt b/38934-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e20bc6b --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6870 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, 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' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: February 20, 2012 [EBook #38934] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Camp Fire Girls' + Larks and Pranks + + + OR + The House of the Open Door + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + The Camp Fire Girls Series + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + Publishers New York + + + + + THE + Camp Fire Girls Series + + A Series of Stories for Camp Fire Girls Endorsed by + the Officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization + + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + + The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods + or, The Winnebago's Go Camping + + The Camp Fire Girls at School + or, The Wohelo Weavers + + The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + + The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way + + The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + + The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen's Isle + or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars + + The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit + or, Over The Top With the Winnebago's + + The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery + or, The Christmas Adventures at Carver House + + The Camp Fire Girls at Camp Keewaydin + or, Down Paddles + + + Copyright, 1917 + By A. L. Burt Company + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' + LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE HOUSE OF THE OPEN DOOR + + +It was the crisp chill of an early October evening; in the still air the +dead leaves came rustling down with a soft sound like whispers, while the +crickets chirped a cheery welcome from the waiting earth. Over the +treetops a big yellow hunter's moon was rising; its comical face grinning +good-naturedly. It looked down on the dark outlines of a large barn +standing in the shadow of a tall tree and the grin widened perceptibly. +Evidently something was happening on earth. + +A dark form stole softly up the long drive leading to the barn and paused +before the door. Through the silence there rose the whistling wail of the +whippoorwill, repeated three times, and ending abruptly in the squall of +a catbird. From within the blackness of the barn came an echo of the +whippoorwill's call, followed by a much more cheerful note--the carol of +the bluebird. Then a clear voice called from inside, "Who goes there?" + +"A friend," came the reply. + +"Stand and give the countersign," commanded the voice inside. + +"Other Council Fires were here before," responded the newcomer. + +"Advance and give the Inner Password," said the invisible sentinel. + +The figure passed through the dark entrance and came to a halt just +inside, crying, "Kolah Olowan!" + +"Mount!" commanded the voice above, and the stranger lost no time in +obeying the invitation. Scrambling up the ladder fastened to the wall +which did duty as a staircase, she thrust aside the curtain at the top +and stepped out into the lighted upper chamber. + +Anyone seeing that dark and deserted looking building from the outside +would never guess how bright and cheerful was that upper room within. A +wood fire roared in a cobblestone fireplace, its gleam lighting up walls +hung with leather skins and gay Indian blankets and festooned with sprays +of bittersweet. Several more Indian blankets were spread out on the floor +in lieu of rugs, while from the rafters were suspended woven baskets and +pieces of pottery. Ranged around the sides of the chamber, where the +sloping roof met the floor, were four beds, all different, and only one +indicating that the dwellers in that secret lodge were civilized persons. +The first was a neat cot bed with blankets tucked in smoothly all around, +and a dust cover folded up at the foot; the second was an "Indian bed" +made of pine branches, dried ferns and sweet grasses, piled several feet +high and ingeniously confined by woven reeds and pliant twigs. The scent +of the sweet grasses, mingled with the aromatic odor of the pine, filled +the room with a dreamy fragrance that seemed like a charm to lure down +the Sleep Manitou. The third was a pile of bearskins and the fourth was +another kind of Indian bed, made of smooth round willow rods tied +together with ropes and laid across two poles fastened into the wall. + +No windows were visible, as these had been covered with skins. Except for +the camp bed, the wide hearthstone and one other detail it might have +been the lodge of some Indian Chief of olden time. That other detail was +a green felt pennant stretched across the chimney above the stone shelf +of the fireplace, bearing in clean-cut English letters the word +WINNEBAGO. Most of our readers have probably guessed the truth before +this--the Indian lodge we have been describing is the meeting place of +the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls and the solitary visitor who uttered the +plaintive cry of the whippoorwill with its grotesque ending in a cat call +is none other than our old friend, Sahwah the Sunfish. + +"O Nyoda, such larks!" cried Sahwah, skipping across the room and +bestowing a hasty embrace on the sentinel guarding the fire, whom the +reader has doubtless suspected of being Miss Kent, the Guardian of the +Winnebago group. + +Nyoda laughingly shook herself free and smoothed out the Ceremonial dress +she held in her hand, which had become sadly crumpled during the process +of Sahwah's bear hug. "What mischief are you into this time?" she asked +fondly, smiling down into Sahwah's dancing eyes. + +Sahwah went into a gale of giggles before she could explain. "You know +Gladys was going to drive all of us girls down in the Glow-worm +to-night," she said, controlling her laughter with an effort, "and she +telephoned Hinpoha while I was there to dinner that she was over at Mrs. +Varden's, the dressmaker's, having a fit, and the Glow-worm was standing +out in front of the house, so we should gather up the other girls and get +into the car and wait for her to come out, to save her the time of going +around after the girls, for her fit threatened to be a lengthy one. So +Hinpoha started out after Medmangi and Nakwisi and I went back home after +these apples, which I'd forgotten to take along to Hinpoha's. When I got +to the corner of the street along came Gladys in the Glow-worm and said +she had an errand to do for her mother in a hurry and we had better come +straight out here without her and she would come later. I hurried over to +Mrs. Varden's house to tell the girls, but when I got nearly there I saw +a black car standing out in front and Hinpoha and Nakwisi and Medmangi +sitting in it as cool as cucumbers, thinking they were in the Glow-worm. +I recognized the car as belonging to that horribly bashful son of Mrs. +Varden's, and I couldn't resist the temptation to let the girls sit in it +until he came out. So I stole back up the street, keeping in the shadow +of the trees so the girls wouldn't see me, and came out here. Oh, won't +there be a situation though, when 'Dolly' Varden comes out and finds his +nice bachelor car full of bold, bad girls!" + +The picture was too much for Sahwah, and she rolled on the bed shrieking +with laughter, in which Nyoda joined heartily. "I wonder how long it will +be before they come," said Sahwah, rising from the bed and wiping her +eyes. "What shall we do to pass away the time?" + +"If I were you," advised Nyoda, "I would spend it searching a nice safe +retreat to which you can fly when they come and find out you didn't tell +them." + +Hardly had she spoken the words when there floated up from below the +familiar cry of the whippoorwill, followed successively by the long, +eerie laugh of the loon, the blithe whistle of the quail and the song of +the robin. "There they are!" exclaimed Sahwah in mock terror. "Where +shall I hide? Oh, I have it, I'll get inside of that pile of bearskins +and listen while they tell their tale of woe to you and then I'll hop out +and laugh at them." Quick as a flash she jumped into the bearskin bed and +pulled the skins over her so that she was entirely concealed. + +With a great deal of chattering and giggling the three arrivals were +mounting the ladder. "Keep on going, Hinpoha!" exclaimed Nakwisi, "you're +stepping on my hand." + +"Keep on going yourself," retorted Hinpoha, "you haven't a pie in your +hand." Just at that moment her foot slipped and she clutched wildly at +the ladder for support. + +"There goes the pie!" shrieked someone, as it described a circle in the +air and landed with a thud. Hinpoha wrung her hands in grief, for her +mouth was already watering for that crisp pastry. + +Medmangi walked over to view the remains. "It isn't hurt a mite," she +said calmly, picking it up and dusting it off. "Fortunately it landed +right side up in the tin." + +"O Nyoda," cried Hinpoha, beaming once more now that the feast of pie was +assured, "we had the most fun getting here! Gladys told us the Glow-worm +was standing out in front of the Varden's house and we should get in and +wait for her, and we saw a car and got in. Pretty soon out came young Mr. +Varden, got into the front seat without looking to the right or left and +drove off. We thought of course he was driving Gladys' car away and we +all three shrieked at him at once. He pretty nearly dropped dead when he +heard us, and stopped the car so suddenly we all flew out of the seat. +But he was perfectly grand about it when we found out our mistake. He +told us Gladys had gone home fifteen minutes before, but he would be +perfectly delighted to drive us where we wanted to go. And so he brought +us out," she finished with a dramatic flourish, and sat down heavily on +top of the bearskin bed where Sahwah lay hidden. Immediately there was an +upheaval and a grotesque animal sprang from the bed, an animal which had +the skin of a bear and two red stockinged legs which capered wildly about +while their owner shrieked piercingly, "She sat on my breathing apparatus +and I won't be able to talk for a week!" + +"You _are_ talking, you goose," said Hinpoha, calmly seating herself +again after poking the bed to see if it were further inhabited. + +"You missed it, Sahwah, by going home," she continued. "Too bad you +weren't along to share the fun." + +Sahwah's expression was funny to behold when she learned how the joke had +turned out, for it was not on the girls after all, but on herself, for +she had walked all the way to the lodge by herself. She looked rather +silly as she caught Nyoda's eye, but while Nyoda twinkled mischievously +at her Sahwah knew that she would never give her away. But of course when +Gladys arrived a few minutes later and heard the story, Sahwah's part in +it came out and she had to stand the gibes of the others because her joke +had turned round on herself, until Nyoda called the beginning of the +Ceremonial and peace was restored. + +One name has been dropped from the Count Book of the Winnebagos since +last we heard the roll called, and to another there is no reply, although +it is always called. Early in the fall Chapa the Chipmunk moved to a +distant city, and so for the first time the close circle of the +Winnebagos was broken. Then shortly afterward Migwan went away to college +and her departure caused a fresh bereavement. Though Migwan had been of +such a very quiet nature, her influence had been widely felt, and the +girls missed her more and more as the days went on. Hinpoha, especially, +was almost inconsolable, for she and Migwan had always stood a little +closer together than the rest of the girls. This was the first Ceremonial +Meeting without the two and it seemed very strange indeed to omit Chapa's +name from the roll, and when Migwan's name was called and was followed by +silence, Hinpoha sniffed audibly and wiped her eyes. + +"Sister, this is a very solemn occasion," said Sahwah the irrepressible, +in such a forced tone of sorrow that it was impossible not to laugh at +her. + +"That's right," said Nyoda. "It won't do for us to pull long faces. We +have vowed to 'be happy' you know. Think how much worse off Chapa is +alone in a strange city. Come, be cheerful and tell what kind deeds you +have seen done today. You begin, Sahwah." + +Sahwah took hold of her toes with her hands and tilted back and forth on +the floor as she spoke. "Sally Jones did me a great service yesterday in +composition class. You know Sally Jones--the one they call the +Blunderbuss. Well, you know what a pig I am when it comes to writing +composition. I never wrote one yet that I didn't get a blot on. Last week +when I handed mine in Miss Snively said that if there was a blot on my +paper this week she would mark me zero for the month. So yesterday when +we had to write one in class I took the utmost care and got it all done +spotlessly and was just signing my name when Anna Green behind me tried +to pick a thread off my collar and laid her fishy cold hand against my +neck. I jumped and wriggled and the result was a beautiful blot on my +composition. There wasn't time to copy it over because it was almost the +end of the hour, so I resigned myself to a nice fat cipher on my report +card this month. Then Miss Snively sent Sally around to collect the +papers and when she came to my desk she leaned across it in such an +awkward way that she upset my inkwell all over my composition and my one +small blot was completely hidden by the deluge. Miss Snively graciously +requested me to do it over in rest hour, which I did, and handed it in in +perfect shape. Upsetting that inkwell was the kindest thing anybody ever +did for me." + +There was a moment of laughter at Sahwah's tale of kindness and then +quiet fell on the group again. "Tell us a story, Nyoda," begged Hinpoha, +breaking the silence, "we're getting low in our minds again." + +"Yes, do," begged the others. + +Nyoda sat silent a moment staring thoughtfully into the fire. Her hands +were clasped around her knees and the light shone on the diamond ring +which now encircled the fourth finger of her left hand--the only thing +which made the girls realize that their amazing adventures of the first +week in September had been a reality and not a dream. + +"In a village in eastern Hungary," began Nyoda, "there lived a girl about +your age. Her father was a very wealthy man, and lived on a great estate. +Veronica--that was the girl's name--was the only child, and had +everything that her heart desired. The thing she loved to do the best was +ride horse-back and she had a beautiful horse for her very own. She +showed great talent on the violin and had the best masters. Veronica grew +to be seventeen as happy as a girl could be, with an indulgent father and +a beautiful, sweet mother. Then a dreadful thing happened. War was +declared in the country and the village where they lived was taken by the +enemy. Her father was killed, their home was burned and her mother died. +Veronica, with the rest of the people in the village, ran away toward the +mountains when the village burned. But Veronica became separated from her +friends and fell, and could not get up again, for her leg was broken. She +lay there a long time, and gave herself up for lost, when she heard a +whinny beside her and there was her pet horse, who had been following her +all the way. She managed to swing herself up on his back and he galloped +away to the safety of the mountains. They found their way across the +border into another country where some kind people took care of the +orphan girl. The faithful horse fell after he had brought her to safety +and hurt himself so badly that he had to be shot. The people who took +care of Veronica sent her across the ocean to her aunt and uncle. So, sad +and lonesome, she came to this country to be an American." + +Here Nyoda paused for breath, and Hinpoha burst out quickly, "Oh, how I +wish this had happened in our time and that poor lonely girl had come to +this city and we had met her and made her happy. Wouldn't we be kind to +her, though, if we had a chance?" + +Nyoda proceeded quietly. "All this _has_ happened in your time, and this +lonesome girl _has_ come to our city, and you are going to have a chance +to be kind to her often." + +"Nyoda!" shrieked all the girls at once. "You mean she lives in our city, +and you actually know her?" "Where does she live?" "When will we see +her?" "What is her whole name?" "How old did you say she was?" + +"Have mercy!" exclaimed Nyoda, putting her hands over her ears. "I can +only answer ten questions at once. Veronica's uncle is Mr. Lehar, the +conductor of the Temple Theatre orchestra. I live next door to them, you +know, and am well acquainted with Mrs. Lehar. She told me about Veronica +some time ago and last week she went to New York to get her. I +immediately asked her to allow her niece to join the Winnebago group, if +you girls were willing to take her, that she might not be lonely here. +Will you take her in, girls?" + +"We certainly will!" cried Gladys and Hinpoha in a breath, and Sahwah +sprang to her feet exclaiming vehemently, "Well, I guess so!" + +"When is she coming?" they wanted to know next. + +"I'll bring her to the next meeting," promised Nyoda, "and I want you +girls to--" + +What it was she wanted them to do they never found out, for just at that +minute there was a terrific thump on the floor below followed by the +hurried clatter of heavy footsteps, then the scraping of feet on the +ladder, a great waving and billowing of the curtain at the top and then +it was wrenched aside, and into the Council Chamber there burst the +fattest boy they had ever seen. His great cheeks hung down over his +collar; his eyes were nearly buried. His face was purple from violent +exertion and he sat limply against the bearskin bed, panting heavily. The +girls stared open-mouthed at the intruder. Before they had recovered +sufficiently from their astonishment to utter a single word, the barn +below was filled with the noise of many footsteps and the shouting of +many voices, and the next minute the sacred Council Chamber of the +Winnebagos was filled to overflowing with boys. + +At the sight of the lighted chamber and the girls in Indian costumes the +intruders stopped and stared in speechless surprise. Then with one accord +seven hats were snatched from as many heads and seven voices exclaimed as +one, "Beg pardon, we didn't know anyone was here." + +It was so funny to hear them all saying the same thing at once that the +Winnebagos could not help laughing aloud. The confusion of the boys was +so painful that the girls actually felt sorry for them. + +"There are only _seven_ of you," said Sahwah, as usual breaking the +silence first. "I thought at first there were _hundreds_." + +Here one of the boys found his voice to speak. He was a tall boy with +curly brown hair and nice eyes, and his face was suffused with blushes of +embarrassment. "Sorry to disturb you girls," he said soberly, but with a +twinkle in his eye. "We were chasing _him_"--and he pointed to the fat +boy still puffing away for dear life on the floor--"and we couldn't see +any light from the outside and we didn't know anybody was up here and +when Slim ran in we just followed him. We'll go right away again, and let +you go on with your meeting." + +Nyoda looked from one face to the other--nice refined boys they were, she +decided, and it would do no hurt to show them courtesy. "You needn't be +in such a great hurry to go," she said cordially. "You may at least stay +until you have recovered your breath." And she looked quizzically at the +fat boy leaning against the bearskins who did not seem ever to be going +to breathe again. + +He tried to show his appreciation of her hospitality by getting up and +making a bow, which threw him into such an advanced stage of +breathlessness that he sank down again directly and had to be fanned. +This caused another general laugh and the boys and girls rubbed elbows so +closely trying to revive him that all feeling of embarrassment vanished +and it suddenly seemed as if they were old friends, in spite of the fact +that none of them knew the others' names. Nyoda came to herself with a +start. + +"Excuse us, boys," she said, "for not introducing ourselves. I am Miss +Kent, Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, and these are the +Winnebagos," and she named them in order. "We were having a rather +doleful time when you arrived. You broke up the spell of gloom and we are +deeply grateful." + +The tall boy spoke again, this time smiling broadly. "We're the ones who +ought to apologize for not introducing ourselves," he said in a pleasant +voice, "since we have caused so much disturbance. We're the Sandwich +Club," he continued, including all the boys in a sweeping gesture of his +hand. "We go to Carnegie Mechanic. That's Slim over there," he said, +pointing to the fat one, while all the girls laughed. "His real name's +Lewis Carlton, but it's so long since anyone has called him that that +he's forgotten what it is himself. We chase him all over the country to +reduce him, but sometimes he gives us the slip and hides and it takes us +so long to find him that in the meantime he gains more than he lost while +we were chasing him." + +The girls fairly shouted at this and Slim doubled up a cushion-like fist +and declared in a choking voice that if the fellows didn't leave him in +peace he'd sit down on them some day and that would be the end of them. +The tall boy who was doing the introducing smiled sweetly at Slim and +went on with the introductions. + +"This one," he said, indicating an extremely thin, hungry-looking, +gaunt-featured lad with sombre brown eyes and a grave mouth, "is Bill +Pitt. 'Bottomless Pitt,' we call him, because it's impossible to fill him +up. You girls have heard of the Sheep Eaters?" he asked suddenly, looking +from one to the other. + +"Yes," chorused the Winnebagos, not wishing to appear ignorant, but not +sure whether the Sheep Eaters were beasts of prey or persons overfond of +mutton. + +"Well," continued the spokesman, pointing to the "Bottomless Pitt," "he's +a Pie Eater, he is. He eats 'em whole." + +Hinpoha's glance strayed nervously to the shelf where the apple pie stood +awaiting the end of the Ceremonial Meeting. The tall boy's eyes followed +here and his teeth showed in a wide smile, as he seemed to read her +thoughts. Hinpoha blushed fiery red and dropped her eyes. But he looked +away again immediately and did not increase her embarrassment. + +"This," he said, drawing forward a spidery little fellow with red hair +and freckles all over his face, "is Munson K. McKee, called for short, +Monkey, and those," indicating the other three, "are Dan Porter, Peter +Jenkins and Harry Raymond. We seven boys have always gone together, so we +decided to form a club, and we all like sandwiches so well that we named +ourselves the Sandwich Club. There, now you know all about us." + +"But you haven't told us _your_ name," said the Winnebagos, who were +beginning to like the spokesman very much, and were anxiously waiting to +hear him introduce himself. + +"Haven't I?" he asked. "That's right, I haven't. My name," he said +solemnly, but with that suggestion of a twinkle in his eye again, "is +Cicero St. John--and the fellows _don't_ call me Cissy for short." Here +the corners of his mouth twitched as at some humorous memory. + +"You bet they don't call him Cissy!" put in the Bottomless Pitt. + +Hinpoha's eyes met Gladys' in comical dismay. How could anyone in their +right senses name a boy--an American boy--Cicero! The St. John part +sounded very fine, but that awful Cicero! + +"How do you keep them from calling you--Cissy?" ventured Sahwah. + +"He licked the tar out of them!" spoke up the Monkey. "And he dumped one +fellow overboard out in the lake when he tried it. Everybody calls him +'Cap' now, because he's captain of the football team." + +"Indeed," murmured the Winnebagos, looking at Cicero St. John with fresh +interest and great respect, for all the world loves a football player. + +And then the boys wanted to know all about the Winnebagos, and thought +their symbolic names and "queer duds" even funnier than the girls had +considered theirs. But they all voiced their unqualified approval of the +Camp Fire Girls when they heard that the Ceremonial Meeting was to be +topped off with a feast of apple pie, doughnuts and cider, and did not +need to be asked more than once to stay, and share the feast. + +"Say, this is a peach of a meeting place," said the Captain with his +mouth full. "How did you happen to get it, and whoever thought of putting +a fireplace upstairs in a barn?" + +"We got it as the result of a sort of wager," explained Hinpoha. "Gladys' +father promised that if we could go on an automobile trip all by +ourselves without once telegraphing to him for aid he would build us a +Lodge to hold our meetings in, and we did and so he did." + +"'So _they_ did, and _he_ did, and the bears did,'" quoted Nyoda +teasingly. + +Hinpoha laughed and went on. "He owned this empty barn out here in the +field and he turned it over to us. But we just had to have a fireplace or +it wouldn't have been a regular Camp Fire Lodge, so he built this +splendid chimney. We have named the Lodge 'The House of the Open Door,' +or the 'Open Door Lodge,' to signify hospitality. Mr. Evans wanted to +build a fine stairway, too, but we wouldn't have it. It's lots more fun +to climb the ladder." + +"Why don't you use the ground floor?" asked Slim, who could never see the +sense of exerting one's self needlessly. + +"It's much cosier up here," replied Hinpoha. "We have these adorable +peaks and gables to hang things on. Besides, we wanted to leave the big +floor downstairs clear for dancing." + +"Dancing? Do you dance?" cried the boys, pricking up their ears. + +"We surely do," replied the girls. "Would you like to come down and try?" + +Down the ladder they went in a hurry, Slim being pushed from above and +pulled from below, and landing on the floor in his usual breathless +state. A few lanterns were hung around the walls and the big door opened +wide to let in the bright rays of the full moon and the place was nearly +as light as day. Nyoda played her banjo and the twelve pairs of feet +shuffled merrily to the lively strains. As there were only five girls, +Slim and Peter Jenkins were left without partners and consoled themselves +by dancing together. Peter came just to Slim's shoulder and weighed +ninety-five pounds against Slim's two hundred and thirty, and the result +was so ludicrous that the rest could hardly dance for laughing. It was +like a monkey dancing with an elephant. Slim took mincing little steps +and looked down at his partner with a simpering, languishing expression, +while Peter strained heroically to encircle his fair one's waist with his +arm. Rocking back and forth in exaggerated rhythm, Slim tripped over a +board and fell with a great crash, pinning his gallant partner under him. +The rest flew to the rescue and propped Peter up against the wall, +fanning him vigorously. + +"He'll recover," pronounced the Captain, after a thorough going over of +his bones, "but he'll never be the same again." + +"All is over between us," said Slim, wringing his hands in mock despair. +"Miss Kent, won't _you_ dance with me?" + +"It's time we were going home," said Nyoda calmly. "Come, girls." + +"Go home!" echoed the Captain. "I thought you lived here." + +"But how about all the beds upstairs?" asked the Captain. + +"Oh," explained Nyoda, "we all constructed different kinds of beds to win +honors, and left them there in case we might want to stay some time." + +"It's a pretty fine clubhouse, I'll say," remarked the Bottomless Pitt in +a tone of envy. "I wish we Sandwiches had one like it. We have no place +to call our own." + +Hinpoha's thoughts leaped to the Fire Song, the words of which hung +beside the fireplace up above: + + "_Whose house is bare and dark and cold,_ + _Whose house is cold,_ + _This is his own._" + +She spoke impulsively. "Oh, Nyoda, couldn't we let them use the ground +floor to hold their meeting in?" + +A cheer burst from the seven boys' lips. "Hooray! May we, Miss Kent?" + +Nyoda was silent and looked at the boys with a troubled expression, and +her glance as it rested on Hinpoha held a reproof. There was an awkward +silence. Then the Captain spoke up. + +"I understand what you mean, Miss Kent," he said simply and +straightforwardly. "You don't know anything about us and of course you +wouldn't want to share your club house with us on such short +acquaintance. We wouldn't think much of you if you did. It was all right +of course for you to ask us to stay and dance with the girls this one +evening when you were here with us, but that doesn't mean that you're +willing to adopt us. But we like you girls first rate, and want to know +you better if you will let us. You can go to any of the teachers at +Carnegie Mechanic and find out all you want to know about us. Pitt's +father is Math teacher there and my father is Dr. Cicero St. John. It was +simply great of you to offer to let us come here and hold our meetings, +and if you'll still keep the offer open after you have investigated us to +your satisfaction we'll be mighty grateful and will promise not to bother +you upstairs." + +The boy's face was so open and manly that it was impossible not to +believe in him then and there. Nyoda smiled into his earnest face. "All +right, Captain," she said, "we'll agree to put you on probation, and if +you stand the test we'll consider the matter of sharing the Open Door +Lodge." + +The Captain smiled back at her and held out his hand. "You're a peach and +I like you," he said emphatically, and the two were sworn friends from +that moment on. + + + + + CHAPTER II + VERONICA + + +At four o'clock one afternoon some few days later Hinpoha and Sahwah, +breathless from hurrying, ran up the steps of the house where Nyoda lived +and rang the bell. The other Winnebagos were already assembled when they +entered, and Nyoda was not there. + +"Where's Nyoda?" demanded Sahwah. + +"Sh, she's gone over to get--_her_," answered Gladys, smoothing out the +folds of her pretty new pleated dress with one hand and tucking in a +stray lock with the other. + +"What did you say 'sh' for?" demanded Sahwah curiously. "There's no one +sleeping, is there?" + +"I don't know why I said it," answered Gladys, rumpling up the hair she +had just tidied, "I'm so excited about meeting Veronica that I don't know +what I'm doing. I just can't sit still." And she jumped up from her chair +and began to pace nervously up and down the room. + +"Doesn't it remind you of the time we stood on the dock at Loon Lake and +waited for Gladys to make her first appearance?" said Hinpoha to Sahwah. +"Don't you remember how we wondered what she would be like and you and +Migwah nearly fought over whose affinity she was going to be?" + +"Did you really, girls?" said Gladys, pausing in her walk. "And was I as +nice as you hoped I'd be?" + +Footsteps on the porch saved Hinpoha from having to reply and Gladys +hurried to her chair and seated herself properly. A moment later Nyoda +entered the room with a young girl beside her whom she led into the +center of the group. + +"Girls," she said, with one hand on the stranger's shoulder, "this is our +new member, Veronica Lehar." + +All eyes centered on the newcomer. She was a small, slender girl with +short curly black hair, olive complexion, bright red lips and a straight, +finely modeled nose. She wore a dark red velvet dress which suited her +complexion wonderfully, and fell in soft folds about her lithe form. She +was as straight as an arrow and as graceful as a deer. From the crown of +her finely poised head to her little fur-topped boots she was an +aristocrat. The simple Winnebagos were abashed before her. Never had they +met such a high-born little lady. There was an air about her which they +could never acquire if they lived a hundred years. They felt like +peasants in the presence of a queen. But they forgot her aristocratic air +when they looked into her eyes. Large and dark and velvety as a pansy, +but so sad it almost broke your heart to look into them. All the sympathy +which the girls had worked up for her since hearing her story came back +in a rush and they surrounded her with cordial greetings and expressions +of welcome. Veronica held her violin, which she had brought over with +her, under one arm while she shook hands politely with all the girls. She +answered all their pretty speeches in a friendly manner, but she never +once smiled, and her eyes had a look as if her thoughts were not there in +the room at all, but back in the far country across the ocean. Although +she had an accent she spoke a beautiful English, in fact, she used far +better language than the majority of American schoolgirls, and more than +once the girls felt embarrassed when they had forgotten themselves so far +as to utter a slang phrase. + +Conversation soon languished, for Veronica did not seem inclined to talk, +so Nyoda started the girls singing camp songs to amuse her, and led the +talk around to the Winnebagos' doings which she was now to take part in. +Of course the new lodge was the main topic of conversation with the +Winnebagos and they waxed so enthusiastic over its splendors that +Veronica exclaimed with some show of warmth, "Oh, I must see it soon!" +Then she added, "Tell me what I must do to become a Camp Fire Girl like +yourselves." + +"You must have a symbolic name," answered Gladys eagerly, anxious to be +the one to explain things to Veronica, "and a Ceremonial dress, and learn +the songs, and know the Camp Fire Girls' Desire, and the Winnebago +passwords and oh, lots of delightful things." + +"What are they, the Winnebago passwords, and what are they for?" asked +Veronica. + +"Well," answered Gladys, "you know what a password is, don't you? Well, +we have passwords to admit us into the Lodge on Ceremonial night. But +before I tell you about the passwords I must tell you about the signal +calls, for they come first in order. You see, the general signal of the +Winnebagos is the call of the whippoorwill, like this"--and she +illustrated her words with a clear call. "You repeat that three times and +at the end of it you must give your own individual bird call. We all have +different ones. Mine is the robin, like this. Nyoda's is the bluebird; +Hinpoha's the loon; Medmangi's is the owl; Nakwisi's the meadowlark and +Sahwah's the catbird." + +"Whatever made you take such a hideous screech for your call, Sahwah?" +interrupted Hinpoha. "There are lots of nicer bird calls than that of the +catbird." + +"I don't care, I wanted the catbird," returned Sahwah. "It suits my +individuality, as my dear friend, Miss Snively, would say. I am the 'cat +that walks by himself and all places are alike to me!'" + +"Be a catbird as much as you like," said Gladys pacifically, "as long as +you don't eat us poor bird-birds. But to go back to the passwords. You +see, Nyoda is Guardian of the Fire, and she always goes up to the Lodge +room first on Ceremonial night. If any of us get there ahead of her we +have to stay out until she comes. Then we announce our coming by giving +the call of the whippoorwill and she knows one of the Winnebagos is +below; and she knows which one it is by the individual bird call. So she +calls out 'Who goes there?' and we answer 'A friend.' When she says, +'Stand and give the countersign,' we have to say, 'Other Council Fires +were here before.'" + +"What does that mean, 'Other Council Fires were here before?'" asked +Veronica. + +The girls looked at one another. "What does it mean?" asked Gladys. + +"I don't know," said Sahwah. + +"I don't know," said Hinpoha. + +"You insisted on our having it, Sahwah," said Gladys. "Why did you choose +it if you didn't know what it meant?" + +"Oh," explained Sahwah lightly, "I saw it written over the door of one of +the historical buildings at the Exposition, and it sounded as if it might +mean something grand, so I chose it. You girls were all delighted with +it, so that's proof it's a good catch-word." + +"It is a good countersign," said Nyoda, "although I confess I can't tell +wherein the charm lies." + +"Well, to proceed," said Gladys, "after you have given the countersign +you will be asked to give the Inner Pass Word, and then you must say +'Kolah Olowan.' That means 'Song Friend.' You know we pride ourselves on +being a singing group, that is, we have a great many songs that we sing +together, and I think our dearest friends are those we sing with. So we +Winnebagos call each other 'Song Friends,' or friends bound together by +the power of our familiar songs. That's why we chose bird notes for our +personal symbols. The birds are the original Song Friends. What bird are +you going to choose for your own, Veronica?" + +Veronica's sad eyes stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment. Then +they filled with a smouldering light. "I shall be the gull that flies +over the sea," she said in a low voice, "because some day I am going to +fly over the sea to my dear home." + +"We were all nearly ready to cry when she said that," wrote Gladys to +Migwan, "only Nyoda popped up then and asked Hinpoha and Sahwah to sing +'The Owl and the Pussycat,' and they climbed on the sofa for the +beautiful pea-green boat--you know what a beautiful pea-green it is--and +for a small guitar Nyoda gave Sahwah a little pasteboard fiddle that +produced three notes when you turned a crank, and the whole thing was so +ridiculous that we laughed until our sides ached." + +After the Owl and the Pussycat had sung themselves over the back of the +sofa and down on the floor with a thump Nyoda made tea in her new +electric teapot and passed platefuls of thin sandwiches, and Sahwah upset +her cup into her lap demonstrating how perfectly she could balance it on +her knee and had to stand before the fire to dry her skirt. + +"You brought your violin along; won't you play for us?" asked Nyoda of +Veronica when the excitement over Sahwah's mishap had subsided. + +In graceful compliance with Nyoda's request, and without waiting to be +urged, Veronica took her violin from its case, settled it under her chin +with a movement that was a caress, and drew the bow across the strings. +With the first note teacups and sandwiches were forgotten and the girls +sat in a spellbound circle, while Sahwah stopped mopping her skirt with +her handkerchief and the wet spot dried and scorched unheeded. Such a +witching melody as rose from the strings--now light as a fairy dancing on +a bubble, now hurrying like the brook over its pebbles, now sighing like +the wind in a rose tree, now slow and stately like the curtseying of a +grande dame in the movements of a court dance. When it came to an end the +girls sat breathless, too dazed to applaud. + +"Play some more!" begged Gladys in a whisper. It seemed like a +desecration to talk. + +Veronica played on, now fast, now slow, now sad and now gay, and finally +whirled into a wild gypsy dance that set the blood tingling in her +hearers' veins as the swift measures followed on each other's heels, +until they could see in their mind's eye the leaping figures of the +dancers in their bright costumes. Faster, faster, flashed the bow on the +magic strings and Veronica's whole soul was in her eyes as she played the +familiar strains of her homeland. Her lips parted in a flashing smile and +one foot tapped the carpet in time to the music. + +Suddenly a string snapped with a discordant crash. Veronica came to +herself with a start. The light left her eyes and she stood staring into +the fire with a sad, bitter expression. + + + + + CHAPTER III + AN UNINVITED GUEST + + +Rain fell in torrents on the roof of the hospitable House of the Open +Door, and the wind howled dismally around its friendly gables. Inside the +"lofty loft" of the Winnebagos the fire shone brightly on the hearth and +the rafters rang with merriment. Sahwah had a new hobby, and was riding +it to death. This was a Hawaiian guitar, known as a "ukelele," from which +she was producing a series of hair-raising noises. + +"Sounds like a cat in its last agony," remarked Hinpoha. + +"Well, that just suits me," replied Sahwah, undisturbed, drawing a long +shivering wail from the strings. "I am the cat that walks by himself----" + +"And all racket is alike to you," finished Hinpoha. "Who's getting supper +tonight, Nyoda? I'm nearly starving." + +"I appointed Gladys and Veronica," answered Nyoda. "The combination of +blonde and brunette ought to produce something pretty good." + +Gladys promptly laid down the bit of leather in which she was cutting a +pattern and moved toward the "kitchen end" of the Lodge. "Come on, +Veronica," she said, "let's make a carload of scones for these hungry +wolves." + +Veronica looked up at her without moving. On her face was an expression +of surprise; almost amazement. "What, _I_ cook?" she asked scornfully. +"That is for servants to do!" + +Then it was the Winnebagos' turn to look amazed. Sahwah dropped her +instrument on the floor with a clatter, and the rest sat silent, not +knowing what to say to Veronica. Nyoda bridged over the embarrassing +situation as best she could. "I'll be cook tonight," she said quietly. As +she moved about helping Gladys she thought and thought how this new +problem must be met. "It's the fault of her training," she told herself, +"and she really isn't a snob at heart. She'll be all right when she has +been with the girls awhile and watched them. It won't do to insist on her +doing the things she considers beneath her. She must be made to want to +do them first. But we'll make a real Winnebago of her in time!" And her +eyes strayed thoughtfully over to the corner of the hearth where Veronica +sat, a little apart from the rest, her brooding eyes on the fire, her +sensitive lip twisting into involuntary shivers of disgust when Sahwah +produced a particularly ear-splitting yowl. + +"Hear and attend and listen, everybody," said Nyoda when the buttered +scones had been reduced to crumbs. "I have been doing some important +research work lately and am now ready to present the result of my +investigations." + +"What are you talking about?" asked Hinpoha curiously. + +"Two weeks ago tonight," continued Nyoda, "our meeting was broken up by a +band of young braves bearing the appetizing title of 'The Sandwich Club,' +who implored us to let them come and play with us in our Lodge and be +lodgers--kindly overlook the pun; it was quite unintentional--providing +we weighed them in the balance and found them not wanting." + +"Is there any scale on which 'Slim' would be found wanting?" giggled +Sahwah, + +"I have spent the last two weeks obtaining information," resumed Nyoda, +"which I am happy to report is of a highly satisfactory nature. So, all +things considered, and in spite of the informality of the request, I +humbly recommend that the aforesaid braves be allowed to lodge in the +bottom half of our Lodge at any and all times they may so desire. I might +add that I have already obtained the consent of our Bountiful Benefactor, +Gladys' papa. All in favor of letting in the Sandwich Club say 'Aye.'" + +There was a perfect shout of "Ayes," followed by a ringing cheer. + +"When are they going to take possession?" Sahwah wanted to know. + +"I'm to tell them tomorrow what your decision was," replied Nyoda. "It +being Saturday, I suppose they will be down in a body to fix up according +to their own ideas." + +"What will the interior of a Sandwich Club look like, I wonder?" said +Gladys. + +"Hark, what was that noise?" asked Nyoda abruptly. The girls listened +intently. From the lower floor of the barn there came a thumping noise, +followed by a subdued crash. + +"Somebody's in the barn," said Hinpoha in a frightened whisper. + +The sound came again, thump, thump, and a noise as of a box being shoved +aside. "It's a burglar!" said Sahwah, and Nakwisi gave a frightened +squeak which Sahwah stifled with a sofa cushion. + +"There's nothing in here to steal," said Nyoda. "Perhaps it's a tramp." +Again came the noise from below. Leaving the curtain drawn over the +opening, Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called down, "Who's +there?" There was no answer but another thump. "We have a gun," said +Nyoda coolly, taking Sahwah's little rifle down from the wall, "and if +you put one foot on the ladder I'll shoot." Still no answer. + +"I'm going down to investigate," said Nyoda. "This is growing uncanny." + +"Don't go down," begged the girls, clinging to her, "something dreadful +will happen to you." + +"If you go I'm going with you," declared Sahwah when Nyoda appeared +determined to rush into the jaws of danger. Nyoda threw aside the curtain +and flashed her bug light on the floor below. Nothing was visible within +the radius of the light, but over in the far corner where the old horse +stall was something was moving and thumping about and a sound like a +groan came from the darkness. + +"Somebody's hurt," said Nyoda, hastening down the ladder. "Bring a +lantern with you, Sahwah." + +Together they moved toward the corner while the girls above crowded +around the opening and watched in breathless suspense. The light revealed +a small donkey lying on the floor of the stall. He was kicking out with +his hind feet against the partition wall and it was this sound that had +frightened the girls above. At Sahwah's shout the others came hurrying +down to behold the find. The donkey made no effort to rise and looked at +the faces around him with an imploring look in his eyes as if to say, +"Help me, I'm in trouble." + +"What's the matter, old chap?" asked Nyoda, kneeling down beside him. The +donkey answered with a distressed bray that was more like a groan and +pawed the air with his front feet, which seemed to be fastened together +in some manner. Nyoda turned the lantern around so the light fell +directly on him and then they saw what the matter was. A length of barbed +wire had become tangled around his front legs, binding them together, and +his frantic efforts to get it off had resulted in its becoming deeply +imbedded in the flesh, lacerating it badly. The girls shuddered when they +saw it and drew back. + +"This won't do, girls," said Nyoda firmly; "we've got to get that wire +off the poor animal's leg. Medmangi, have you the nerve to do it? I'm +afraid I can't." + +"His hind legs would have to be tied together first, so he can't kick," +said Medmangi. The girls looked at each other and all drew back. All but +Veronica. She came forward quietly and took the rope which the others +were afraid to use and skilfully slipped a noose over the tiny heels and +fastened them down to a ring in the floor. + +"I have done it before, when a horse was sick," she explained in response +to the girls' expressions of amazement at the neat performance. The +girls' liking for her, which had suffered a sudden chill at the cooking +episode, warmed again, and they were inclined to overlook that now that +she had stepped so neatly into the breach when they were helpless. + +Then Medmangi, the Medicine Man Girl who was going to be a doctor, and +had no horror of surgery, bent calmly to her task while the others held +the lantern for her. Quickly and skilfully she worked, removing the cruel +points as gently as possible. Then she washed the wounds with an +antiseptic solution from the First Aid Cabinet upstairs and bound them up +with clean bandages. Then Veronica took the rope from the donkey's hind +legs and he struggled to his feet, plainly delighted to find his front +legs in working order again in spite of the pain. He looked at the girls +with a dog-like devotion in his intelligent eyes and when Medmangi patted +him soothingly he laid his head on her shoulder affectionately. "My first +lover--a donkey!" she said laughingly. + +"Poor little mule," said Hinpoha, stroking him from the other side. "He +knew the right place to come to all right. 'Whose house is bare and dark +and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own,'" she quoted +dramatically. "We certainly have succeeded in creating the right +atmosphere of hospitality if even a lonely donkey can feel it and come +straight to our 'Open Portals!'" + +"Now that he has come," said Nyoda, rather puzzled, "the question is what +to do with him. If he goes wandering off again he'll have those bandages +off in no time--he probably will anyhow--and his legs will get so sore he +will have to be shot. He undoubtedly belongs to somebody--very likely +some children's pet--and I think we had better keep him right here in the +barn until we find the owner. The boys will have to postpone their taking +possession in favor of the other donkey if his presence interferes with +their activities." Here the "other donkey" leaned against the wall in +such a pathetic attitude, as if his weight were too much for his sore +legs, that if they had had any intentions of turning him out into the +rain they would have speedily relented. + +"It's a good thing this old stall is still here," said Gladys. "There +isn't any straw, but there is a box of excelsior and we can spread that +out and cover it with a blanket and make him a soft bed. We can give him +water tonight and bring food in the morning." + +"And I'll telephone the Sandwiches about him," said Nyoda, "so if they +are coming over tomorrow they won't turn him out." + +But that telephone message was unnecessary, for at that moment a number +of dark figures appeared in the doorway and after a moment of hesitation, +entered. + +"Why, here are the Sandwiches," exclaimed Nyoda cordially, advancing with +extended hand. "We were just talking about you. Speaking of angels--you +know the rest." + +"We were just going by," said the Captain (it was likely that they were +"just going by" that out of the way place in the rain!) "and saw your +light now you've left the windows uncovered, and thought we'd just step +in and inquire our fate. We just couldn't wait until tomorrow," he +finished in a boyish outburst. "Is it going to be the Open Door for us?" + +"Bless you, yes," said Nyoda, smiling reassuringly at this manly lad who +was already her favorite, "there wasn't a dissenting vote in the jury +box. We----" but the remainder of her sentence was drowned in an +ear-splitting cheer that was decidedly less musical than the Winnebago +cheers, but none the less hearty. + +"Pedigrees satisfactory, and all that?" inquired the Captain. + +"Perfect," answered Nyoda with twinkling eyes. "I've dug up more facts +about you than you know yourselves. So," she added demurely, "if you're +still minded to 'know us better,' as you flatteringly remarked on the +occasion of our first meeting, why, we're perfectly willing to be known. + +"But you can't take immediate possession of your club room because we've +rented it temporarily to another don--another fellow," she said +mischievously, turning the light of the lantern away from the stall where +the donkey was. The boys' eager faces fell a trifle. + +"Of course," they answered politely, "that's your privilege." + +"He's a very nice chap," pursued Nyoda, with a warning glance at the +girls behind her, who were stuffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths +in an effort not to laugh. + +"Yes," assented the boys without enthusiasm. + +"Is it anyone we know?" asked the Captain politely, trying to make +conversation after a moment of silence. + +"Maybe you do know him," answered Nyoda. "He's here tonight. Would you +like to meet him?" + +She led the way to the stall and turned the light on the donkey. There +was a moment of surprised silence, followed by a perfect explosion of +laughter. "Where'd you get the donkey with the trousers on?" squeaked +Slim in his high thin voice. In the dim light of the lantern the bandages +on the donkey's front legs looked like a pair of trousers. Then the +girls, after their laugh was out, explained about the visitor who had +come to them from out of the vast, and the Sandwiches declared that they +did not in the least mind sharing their club room with a needy donkey, +and offered to relieve the girls of the entire care of him, besides +trying to find the owner. + +They were as good as their word about taking care of him, but the weeks +slipped by and no amount of advertising produced anything in the shape of +an owner. + +"We'll have to adopt him," the Winnebagos decided. "A Camp Fire Donkey +sounds thrilling to me," said Sahwah. "Think of all the fun we'll have +with him. As long as the boys don't mind, we can keep him right here in +the stall." + +"What shall we name him?" asked Gladys. + +"Call him 'Wohelo,'" advised Hinpoha. "It was the spirit of Wohelo that +led him to us. From now on he'll be a symbolic donkey." + +"But where do we come in on this?" inquired the Captain. "We take care of +him and he lives in our house." + +"That's right," said Hinpoha. "Then let's call him 'Sandwich-Wohelo,' +contracted to 'Sandhelo.'" And "Sandhelo" he was until the end of the +chapter. His sore legs became very stiff until they were healed and he +hobbled painfully when he walked at all, which was very seldom. But the +scratches healed at last and the day came when Medmangi took off the +bandages for good, and led him around the barn for exercise. + +Then an amazing thing happened. Sahwah was upstairs in the Lodge, amusing +herself with a mouth organ she had just discovered in the depths of her +bed. But she had no sooner blown half a dozen notes when Sandhelo jerked +up his head, pulling the bridle out of Medmangi's hands, and rose up on +his hind legs. Then he walked on his hind legs over to a box, climbed up +on it and sat there with his feet in the air, like a dog sitting up. +Medmangi screamed and brought the Winnebagos flying from all directions, +to behold the marvel in open-mouthed astonishment. + +"He's a trick mule!" shouted Sahwah, tumbling down the ladder in her +excitement and never stopping to pick herself up. "Now I know where he +came from. He was with that dog and pony show that was in town a few +weeks ago. He must have strayed from the show and got left behind. Hats +off to the newest member of the Winnebago group! We certainly do have a +way of attracting all the best talent in town to our ranks!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV + A SANDEBAGO CIRCUS + + +Just how it started nobody ever knew--it may have been Sandhelo's turning +out to be a trick mule, or it may have been because Slim was fat and +would make such a beautiful clown, besides being fine for a sideshow--but +before they knew it the Winnebagos and the Sandwich Club were hard at +work getting up a circus. The Sandwiches had taken possession of their +half of the Open Door Lodge and had converted it into a gymnasium. They +had built it on purpose to reduce Slim, they carefully explained to their +friends, and regularly put him through a course of exercises strenuous +enough to reduce a hippopotamus to an antelope in three weeks, but at the +end of that time he had gained just five pounds, so the Sandwiches +declared their efforts to be love's labor lost and left him in peace. + +Sandhelo was becoming a well-known and conspicuous figure in the streets. +Hitched to an old pony cart of Gladys', with bells jingling around his +neck and ribbons flying from his harness, he never failed to attract a +crowd of children. He had all the vagaries of the artistic temperament, +some of which caused his drivers no little inconvenience. For one thing, +he would not go at all unless he heard music, and it was no small +accomplishment to drive with one hand and play a mouth organ with the +other if you happened to be alone in the cart. And then, if he happened +to pass anything unusual in the street he had a way of sitting back on +his haunches and holding up his front feet and looking at them. As he +invariably sat down unexpectedly, the cart would go on and bump into him +and the shock would throw the driver from her seat, besides making a +great mess of the harness. Several times he had done this in the middle +of a busy crossing and held up traffic in both directions, while motormen +fumed and policemen threatened, and Sahwah (it usually was Sahwah, +because she drove him more than the others) played her sweetest on the +mouth organ in an effort to make him go on. Nothing would make him move +until his curiosity was satisfied and then he would dash off like an +arrow from the bow for half a block, after which he would slow down and +look over his shoulder to see how his driver was getting on. There was +always such a look of anxious solicitude in his eye on these occasions +that it was impossible to be angry with him and he continued to exercise +his temperament without reproof. + +After half a dozen of these free shows Sahwah declared that such an +ability to draw a crowd was worth money, and they had better give a real +show and charge admissions. + +The big space in front of the Open Door Lodge was an ideal place for the +ring. Seating arrangements for the audience gave them some anxiety at +first. + +"We ought to have a grand stand," said the Captain, who had been chosen +Ringmaster. + +"Well, we can't build one," said the Bottomless Pit. "The audience will +have to stand through the performance, and that'll be a grand stand, all +right." + +"Innovation in circuses," said Nyoda. "Have the audience stand and the +circus sit down. Like the picture of the bride standing while the groom +sprawls at ease in the photographer's gilt chair." + +"I think I can get a lot of chairs from a man who rents them out," said +the Captain. "He lets people have them for nothing if it's a charitable +enterprise." + +"Do you call a circus a charitable enterprise?" asked Nyoda. + +"Well, ours will be," said the Captain. "We're doing it to make money so +we can buy the new apparatus for the gym, which will surely make Slim +thin, and that surely is charity." + +Upstairs in the Lodge the six Winnebagos were all seated on the bearskin +bed having a lively argument as to who should drive Slim in the Chair-iot +Race. The Chair-iot Race was a grand inspiration of Sahwah's, who was +keen on features in the circus line. Once, on a rummage, through Gladys' +attic, they had found six horsehair covered chairs furnished with +excellent china castors, which caused the chairs to roll with enchanting +speed. Sahwah now thought of the chairs and conceived the brilliant idea +of harnessing a Sandwich to each one, seat a Winnebago in the chair, and +race six abreast down the long cement walk from the barn to the road. The +idea was hailed with delight until the Winnebagos began comparing the +merits of the prospective steeds, and nobody wanted to be the one to +drive Slim and go lumbering along like an ice-wagon in the rear of the +others. + +"It's too bad the Captain had to be Ringmaster and can't take part in the +show," sighed Hinpoha. "Then there'd be enough without Slim." + +"We wouldn't dare leave him out, anyway," said Gladys. "It would hurt his +feelings. So we'll just have to draw lots for him, and whoever gets him +will have to make the best of it, that's all." So they drew slips of +paper from a hat and Hinpoha drew Slim, just as she had feared right +along. Sahwah drew the Monkey, which suited her down to the ground, for +he was a famous sprinter, and she lost no time getting the girls to ask +the boys whose names they had drawn in that secret ballot upstairs to be +their steeds in the race. Slim's face lighted up with such a delighted +smile when Hinpoha apparently chose him for her own that her heart smote +her when she thought how this choice had been thrust upon her. Slim was +already beginning to learn the bitter truth that nobody loves a fat man. +Nyoda and the Captain plotted the circus parade and it was a triumph of +ingenuity. The advance bills which they scattered broadcast among their +friends announced that the parade would embrace "Five ferocious animals +from the Other Side of Nowhere, these animals being respectively The +Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster, and The +Salmonkey. + +Other numbers on the program were as follows: + + Ivan Awfulitch, world's greatest magician; royal entertainer to the + King of Spain. Was banished to Siberia; escaped and swam to America; + has now opened up a complete line of magic. One day only. + + Mr. Skygack, from Mars, in a special song feature entitled the + Mars-y-lays. + + La Zingara, the bareback rider. + + Sandhelo, the famous trick mule. As intelligent as two men and a school + teacher. + + Mr. Avoirdupois Slim, fattest man on earth. Will sit on a toothpick. + + Mr. E. Lastic, Inja rubber man. + + Archibald Dimples the better baby. + + Chair-iot Race. Feat never attemped before on any stage. + + Monkey, the Aerial Gymnast, in the sensational dupe-the-dupes. + + Twenty Other Great Features + + + ALL CHILDREN WILL GET A FREE RIDE ON SANDELHO, + THE FAMOUS TRICK MULE, AFTER + THE PERFORMANCE + + +Bottomless Pitt owned a little hand-printing press and printed wonderful +tickets to be sold at five cents apiece, which Gladys declared were worth +the money as souvenirs, with the circus thrown in extra. + +"What are you making, a circus tent?" asked Gladys, dropping into the +Lodge, where Nyoda sat stitching together great lengths of red and white +striped material. + +"No; only a clown suit for Slim," laughed Nyoda. "Gracious, how much it +does take!" + +"It reminds me of the riddle: 'If it takes thirty yards of cloth to make +a shirtwaist for an elephant, etc.,'" said Gladys. "Poor Slim! You would +have died to see him practice his clown stunt with Sandhelo. You know the +boys built him a tiny red cart with two big wheels, and when he sat down +in it, it tilted way over backward and the shafts stuck up in the air and +pulled poor little Sandhelo right up off his feet, and there he dangled, +pawing for dear life. But, whatever are you making, Hinpoha?" she +finished, examining the thing which Hinpoha was working on and which +resembled nothing in the universe. + +"This is Peter's costume," answered Hinpoha; "he's the hind leg of the +Kangarooster, you know. By the way, Nyoda, has a Kangarooster one hump or +two?" + +"None at all," answered Nyoda hastily. "The humps are on the 'Cam' part +of the Camelk. That reminds me, have we something to stuff the humps +with?" + +"Take excelsior," advised Gladys. "Dear me, who's screeching like that +downstairs?" + +They all crowded down the ladder at the sound of a lusty yell from below +and found Sahwah hanging head downward from a heavy hook in the wall. She +had improved a moment's leisure to climb up to the top of the window with +a spray of bittersweet to see how it would look, and in descending had +caught her skirt on the hook and lost her footing. The skirt tore through +until the stout serge hem was reached and that offered successful +resistance, and Sahwah hung, as Nyoda remarked, like a lamb on the spit. + +"I got an idea hanging upside down," were the first words she gasped as +they restored her to the perpendicular and revived her with peanuts. + +"It's the only way you ever would get an idea," said Hinpoha. + +"Is that so?" returned Sahwah, with spirit "Who thought up the Chair-iot +Race, I'd like to know?" + +"Stop bickering and tell us your idea," said Nyoda. + +"Why, it's this," said Sahwah. "Sell hot cocoa with marshmallows in it +after the show. Everybody'll be cold sitting around. We can make almost +as much money that way as with the circus." + +"A lake of hot cocoa with an island of marshmallows in it is my dream of +heaven," said Hinpoha, clasping her hands in ecstasy. "Sahwah, you're a +genius. I yield the palm to you without a struggle. You have a 'head in +your mind,' as absent-minded old Fuzzytop used to say. There's nothing in +the whole world that'll separate a nickel from its owner like a cup of +hot cocoa with a marshmallow floating in it on a cold day." + +"Another innovation," said Nyoda. "We'll have that instead of circus +lemonade. See to getting the supplies, will you, Sahwah dear? I have so +many details to look after now that I simply cannot be responsible for +another thing, or my head will burst and out will come everything that's +safely packed in now. Come in, Captain. What's on your mind?" + +"Slim," said the Captain, with a look of comical despair, as he sat down +among the girls. "I'm afraid he won't do for a Better Baby. He's smashed +three perambulators and a high chair and we can't get any more. And the +biggest size white dress we could buy in the store won't go half-way +around him." + +Nyoda knitted her brows. "We simply have to have a Better Baby," she +affirmed. "It's one of the best features. We'll drape cheesecloth around +him for a dress and he can play on a quilt on the floor--I mean the +ground--instead of being taken for a ride by his nurse in a +perambulator." + +"Poor Slim!" said Hinpoha. "How many more things are going to be wished +on him? I'm afraid his 'gall will be divided into three parts,' too!" + +"That would have been a very clever thing for you to say," remarked the +Captain, "if it had been original, but it wasn't. They spring that over +at our school, too. Slim isn't doing any more than the rest of us at +that. Only he's so conspicuous that everything he does seems like a lot +more than it really is." + +"How are the tickets going?" asked Sahwah. + +"We've sold over a hundred," announced the Captain with pride. "We're +famous people, we are." + +"Speak for yourself," said Sahwah. "It isn't we who are the attraction, +though--it's Sandhelo. I rode him through the streets and sold nearly +fifty tickets to the children that followed us. They're all attracted by +the promise of a free ride after the show." + +"It'll probably take all evening to give them the ride, and we'll never +get to that jubilation spread we're going to have after the show, but we +have to make our word good," said Nyoda. + +"Put them on four at once and we'll get done somehow," said Sahwah. + +Hinpoha laid down her sewing and stretched her arms above her head. "I +never knew circuses were such a pile of work," she sighed. + + "'Wohelo means work,' + So dig like a Turk," + +chanted Sahwah. + +"I move we all go to the 'movies' tonight and see 'If I Were King,'" +continued Hinpoha. + +"Can't," said Nyoda briefly, checking up on her fingers the things she +still had to do. "I still have to evolve a tail for the Salmonkey and a +frontispiece for the Camelk, make four banners, rehearse the living +statuary, make a bonnet for the Better Baby, teach the Crabbit how to hop +and crawl at the same time and make a costume for the bareback rider." + +"I'd come and help you," said Sahwah, "but we're going to have a test in +Latin tomorrow and I have to cram tonight. I'll just have time to +practice with the band." + +"A test in time saves nine," murmured Hinpoha. "What are the Sandwiches +doing now?" + +"Erecting the flying trapeze," answered Sahwah, looking out of the +window. "Captain is hanging by his eyebrow to the top of a pole and +Bottomless Pitt is standing below, waiting to catch him when he falls." + +The Captain caught her eye, as she leaned over the sill and shouted: + + "All right below, + O Wohelo, + Now _please_ go mix some pancake dough!" + +"All right," called Sahwah cheerily. "You'll soon smell something +doughing!" + +Nyoda and Gladys went home on an errand, and Hinpoha, worn out with her +arduous labors with the needle, stretched out on the bearskin bed and +fell sound asleep in the warmth of the fire. Sahwah puttered about +collecting the ingredients for flapjacks to make a treat for the boys, +who had worked like Trojans ever since school was out. The wood in the +fireplace had burned down to lovely glowing embers, and she laid the +toaster on top of them to act as a rest for the frying-pan. The Captain, +tying ropes into the branches of the big tree just outside of the window, +looked in and admired the scene. Hinpoha, with her marvellous red curls +falling around her face in the light of the fire, looked like a sleeping +princess in a fairy tale, and Sahwah, holding her dish of batter in one +hand and skilfully putting grease into the pan with the other, was a +cheery little housewife indeed. Through the half-open window he could +hear her singing "A Warrior Bold." + +A moment he looked in, filled with whole-souled admiration for these +many-sided girls who were his new friends, and then without warning +something happened inside. The panful of sizzling fat suddenly burst into +a sheet of flame that left the confines of the fireplace and seemed to +leap all around Sahwah. A burning spark shot out and fell into a pile of +cheesecloth lying on the floor at the far side of the room, and it blazed +up instantly, the flames enveloping the sleeping Hinpoha. It took less +than a moment for the Captain to spring down from the tree, run into the +barn and up the ladder. But it was too late for him to do anything. In +the twinkling of an eye Sahwah had seized the burning cheesecloth and +flung it into the fireplace, thrown a bearskin rug over Hinpoha and now +stood calmly pouring sand from a bucket on top of the burning fat in the +pan. And all the while she was doing it she had never stopped singing! +The Captain stood still in his amazement and listened idly to the words: + + "So what care I, though death be nigh? + I'll live for love or die----" + +A hoarse sound made her turn around and she saw the Captain standing +beside her with face pale as ashes. The dreadful sight he had seen from +the tree when the room seemed filled with flame was still in his mind. + +"How did you manage to keep so cool and do everything so quickly?" he +asked in amazement. + +Sahwah laughed at his expression of astonishment. "That's not the first +fire I've put out," she said calmly. "We always keep both water and sand +on hand whenever we have an open fire, to prevent serious accidents. +Having the cheesecloth go up at the same time rather complicated matters, +but I got it into the fireplace without any trouble. I don't know what +made the fat in the pan take fire; it's never done that before up here. +But don't worry; I'll get your flapjacks made, all right." + +The Captain looked at her with more admiration than ever. "Most girls +would have been in a faint by that time, and have had to be doused with +smelling salts," he told the Sandwiches later, "instead of coolly +promising you your flapjacks anyway and apologizing for the delay!" + +"Your hands are burned!" he exclaimed in concern, as he saw Sahwah +looking ruefully at her blackened fingers. "Let me do something for +them." + +"Nothing serious," said Sahwah, turning them down so he could not see the +blistered palms. + +"They are, too!" persisted the Captain. "Have you any oil handy?" + +"In the First Aid box over there," said Sahwah. "It's in that bottle +labeled A Burned Child Dreads the Fire." + +The Captain returned with cotton and gauze and the oil and proceeded to +bandage the scorched hands that had been so quick to avert disaster. + +"Won't Hinpoha be furious when she wakes up and finds her costume that +she worked so hard on all burned up?" she said, as he wound the bandages +under her direction. "I hated to throw it into the fire, but it had to be +done." + +"She'd better not be furious," returned the Captain. "She's got you to +thank that she didn't burn up herself. She had a close call that time, +and if you hadn't snatched that burning rag off her and covered her with +a rug I'd hate to think what would have happened. I tell you it's great +to be able to do the right thing at the right time. A lot of people talk +about what they would do in an emergency, but very few of them ever do +it." + +"Well," returned Sahwah coolly, holding up her hands and inspecting the +bandages with a critical eye, "there is an emergency before us right now. +Suppose you stop talking and get busy and fry those pancakes for the +boys. They're dying of starvation outside." + +The Captain started, blushed and looked at her keenly to see if she were +making fun of him, and then fell to work without a word finishing +Sahwah's interrupted labor. + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE ARRIVAL OF KATHERINE + + +Preparations were completed and the day for the presentation of the +greatest show on earth had arrived. It was crisply cool, but clear and +sunshiny, as the last Saturday in beloved October should be; and not too +cold to sit still and witness an out-of-doors performance. Tickets had +sold with such gratifying readiness that a second edition had been +necessary, and the Committee on Seating Arrangements was nearly in +despair over providing enough seats. + +"It's no use," declared Bottomless Pitt, "we've done the best we could +and half of them will still have to stand. It'll be a case of 'first +come, first served.'" + +Sahwah and Hinpoha, their arms filled with bundles of "props," which they +had spent the morning in collecting, sank wearily down at a table in the +"Neapolitan" soda dispensary and ordered their favorite sundaes. "Now, +are you perfectly sure we have everything?" asked Hinpoha, between +spoonfuls. + +"There's the Better Baby's rattle," recounted Sahwah, identifying her +parcels by feeling of them, "the Magician's natural hair a foot long, the +china eggs he finds in the lady's handbag, the bareback rider's spangles, +and--O Hinpoha!" she cried in dismay, dropping her spoon on the tile +floor with a great clatter, "we forgot the red, white and blue cockade +for Sandhelo. I'll have to go back to Nelson's and get it. Dear me, it's +eleven o'clock now and we still have to go out home and dress. And the +marshmallows have to be bought yet; that's another thing I promised Nyoda +I'd see about. Won't you please get them, Hinpoha, while I run up to +Nelson's? There's a dear. Get them at Raymond's--theirs are the freshest; +and then you had better go right on home without waiting for me. It will +take me a little longer, but I'll hurry as fast as I can. And please tell +Nyoda that I didn't forget the marshmallows this time; I just turned the +responsibility over to you." And Sahwah gathered up her bundles and +retraced her steps toward the big up-town store, while Hinpoha took her +way to Raymond's. Five pounds of marshmallows make a pretty big box, and +Hinpoha had several other parcels to carry. She had them all laid out on +the counter with an eye to tying some of them together to facilitate +transportation when a voice suddenly called out: "Dorothy! Dorothy +Bradford!" She turned and saw Miss Parker, one of the teachers at +Washington High, at the other end of the counter. "Come and meet my +cousin," said Miss Parker, and brought forward a young girl she had with +her. "This is Katherine Adams," said Miss Parker. "Katherine, I would +like you to meet one of my pupils, Dorothy Bradford." + +Hinpoha acknowledged the introduction cordially, but it was all she could +do to suppress a smile at Katherine's appearance. She was an extremely +tall, lanky girl, narrow chested and stoop shouldered, with scanty +straw-colored hair drawn into a tight knot at the back of her neck, and +pale, near-sighted eyes peering through glasses. She wore a long +drab-colored coat, cut as severely plain as a man's, and a narrow-brimmed +felt sailor hat. She wore no gloves and her hands were large and bony. +Her shoes--Hinpoha looked twice in her astonishment to make sure--yes, +there was no mistake, the shoes she had on were not mates! One was a +cloth-top button and the other a heavy laced walking boot. Miss Parker +followed Hinpoha's surprised glance and looked distressed. But Katherine +was not at all disconcerted when she discovered the discrepancy in her +footgear. + +"That's what you get for interrupting me in the middle of my dressing," +she said coolly. "Now, I've forgotten which pair I intended to wear." She +had an odd, husky voice, that made everything she said sound funny. + +Miss Parker seemed rather anxious that her cousin should make a good +impression on Hinpoha. Katherine was from Spencer, Arkansas, she +explained, and had gone as far in school as she could out there and had +now come east to stay with her cousin and take the last year in high +school. Hinpoha promised to introduce her around to the girls in the +class, with her eyes on the clock all the while and her mind on the +performance she should be helping to prepare that minute instead of +standing there talking. + +"Won't you come to our circus this afternoon?" she said politely, fishing +among the small "props" in her handbag. "Here's a ticket. It's going to +be in the big field at the corner of May and ----th streets. Come into +the barn if you come and I'll introduce you to some of my friends." + +Miss Parker and her caricature of a cousin finally departed, and Hinpoha +hastily gathered up her bundles. Something about the package of +marshmallows struck her as unfamiliar, and she examined it in +consternation. It certainly was not her package, though like it in shape. +Somebody had taken hers by mistake. She looked around the store and was +just in time to see her box being carried out the front door under the +arm of a woman. Hinpoha gathered her packages into her arms hit and miss +and rushed after her. But impeded as she was she got stuck in the +revolving door and was delayed a full minute before she escaped to the +sidewalk. She was just in time to see the object of her pursuit board a +car at the corner. Before Hinpoha could reach the corner the car had +started. Hinpoha stamped her foot with vexation, mostly directed toward +Miss Parker and her freak cousin for taking her attention away from her +belongings. Then she considered. The car the woman had boarded must make +a loop and come out a block below and it would be possible to catch it +there. Hinpoha puffed along the sidewalk at a great rate, worming her way +through the Saturday noon crowds and colliding with people right and +left. She reached the corner just as the car did and made a mad dash over +the pavement, dodging in among wagons and automobiles at dire peril of +life and limb. She scrambled aboard and landed sprawling on the back +platform, while her bundles scattered over the floor in every direction. +Breathless and embarrassed, she gathered them up and entered the car just +in time to see the lady carrying her box of marshmallows get out of the +front door. Hinpoha made a wild dash for the rear exit, but the door was +closed and the car already in motion. She rang the bell frantically, at +the same time following the woman with her eyes to see in which direction +she went. The car finally released her two blocks up street, and then +began the mad chase back again. Poor Hinpoha was never built for speed; +her breath gave out and she developed an agonizing pain in her side. Her +bundles weighed her down and her hat flopped into her eyes. Chugging +along thus she ran smartly into someone and again her packages covered +the sidewalk. + +"Oh, excuse me!" she gasped, struggling to get her hat back on her head. +"I couldn't see where I was going. _Why, Captain_----" For it was none +other than he with whom she had collided. + +"Pretty well loaded down, aren't you?" said the Captain, stooping to pick +up the litter on the sidewalk. + +"Never mind them," said Hinpoha hastily, "go after _her_." + +"Go after _her_?" repeated the Captain in a tone of bewilderment. + +Hinpoha pointed speechlessly up the street and then with a mighty effort +regained a speck of her breath and panted "Lady--blue coat--plush +collar--our marshmallows--left this--Raymond's--go get them," and, +shoving the stranger's package into his hands, she indicated with waving +arms that he was to pursue the lady in question and regain the club's +property. The Captain started off obediently, though her explanation was +not yet clear in his mind, but the truth flashed over him when he +presently overtook a lady that fitted the description just turning into +the door of Raymond's store with a large package under her arm, and he +soon made his errand known and recovered the marshmallows. She was just +in the act of returning them to Raymond's, having discovered her mistake. + +Hinpoha was out in front when the Captain emerged from the store, and she +surrendered her bundles to him gratefully, saying with a breathless sigh, +"Boys _are_ useful to have around once in a while, after all." + +"Only once in a while?" asked the Captain. + +"Well, maybe twice in a while, then," said Hinpoha graciously. + +Hinpoha arrived on the scene of action so late that there was no time to +press her for explanations; she was summarily hustled out of her street +clothes and into her orchestra costume. The audience was arriving in +crowds and the Sandwiches, who were detailed as ticket takers, had much +to do to keep legions of small boys from climbing the fence and seeing +the show without the formality of buying a ticket. + +The Grand Parade, "including every single member of the entire show," was +scheduled to start promptly at two. The parade was necessarily held in +sections, as all hands were needed for each section. The clock in a +neighboring steeple had not finished chiming the hour when there was an +unearthly blare of trumpets and crashing of drums, and the band issued +from the entrance of the Open Door Lodge. Nyoda led the band and made a +stunning drum major in a fur hat a foot high, made out of a muff. The +members of the band were dressed as Spanish troubadours in costumes of +blinding scarlet, with their instruments hung around their neck by +ribbons. They marched around the ring at a lively pace, playing the music +of a popular football song, which made the audience cheer wildly, for it +was largely composed of students from the two great rival schools, +Washington High and Carnegie Mechanic. In the wake of the troubadours +stumbled an enormously fat clown in a suit half red and half white, +blowing up a rubber bladder, which emitted a plaintive squawk. Loud +applause greeted every move the clown made and when he accidentally +stumbled into a hole and measured his length on the ground the small boys +shrieked in ecstasy. + +The band made a stately and melodious exit in the House of the Open Door +and once inside broke ranks in haste to prepare for the second section of +the parade--the procession of the animals. This was a much more +complicated matter than the band had been, but it had been so well +rehearsed that the crowd, who were being amused by the antics of the +clown, had not time to grow impatient before they were ready. Shrieks of +delight went up at the appearance of the five ferocious animals from +Nowhere--The Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster +and The Salmonkey, and they had to go around the ring five times before +being allowed to retire. The parade being such an unqualified success, it +is needless to say that the circus proper went even better. The actors +had all worked themselves up into the right mood for it. + +The magician gave more entertainment than he had counted on, for the +mice, which he had concealed in his pocket ready to produce from under +the folded handkerchief, bit him before their turn in the show came, and +the beholders were startled to see the magician suddenly spring into the +air, uttering a wild yell and, thrusting his hand into his hip pocket, +throw the cause of the disturbance half-way across the ring. The Fattest +Man on Earth, who was Slim, with the addition of several pillows fore and +aft, mounted the small stage and laboriously sat on a toothpick, breaking +down the stage in the process; and the Inja Rubber Man did such amazing +contortions that the audience began to hold their breath for fear he +would never come untangled again. + +When it happened to be her turn to go out in one of the numbers Hinpoha +looked the audience over to see if Katherine Adams had come in response +to her invitation, but she did not see her. But, while looking for +Katherine, her eye was caught by a strange figure, the like of which she +had never seen before. She was a woman, old and bent, and dressed in such +old-fashioned clothes that she looked like a caricature out of a funny +page. She had on a tight green basque, which flared out below the waist +in a ripple and a very full red skirt, held out in a ridiculous curve by +that atrocity of bygone days known as a "bustle." She was climbing +stiffly up and down among the spectators trying to sell papers which she +was crying in a shrill voice. As she went up and down among the benches +she held up her skirt in her hand, disclosing purple stockings and +enormous flapping slippers. Wherever she went she was followed by a +ripple of laughter; the audience seemed to be getting as much fun out of +her as they were out of the show. Hinpoha told Nyoda about it when she +was in the barn again and Nyoda asked all the players not to do anything +to drive her away, as she was no doubt trying to make an honest living by +selling papers wherever there was a crowd, and she was adding an +unexpected touch to the circus to amuse the audience. + +The bareback rider proved a real sensation. Up to that time the numbers +had merely been in the nature of stunts--clever and original and highly +diverting, and yet something which any group of young people could +produce. But here was something different. Veronica was so dark that in +her costume she looked like a real gypsy, and as she was not yet well +known she was not recognized. She came in riding a beautiful black horse +that belonged to Mr. Evans, and, after galloping around the ring several +times and making him rear up on his hind legs until the audience thought +she must slide off, she set him to leaping obstacles, keeping her seat +all the while with amazing ease. There was a touch of realism in her act, +too, which made the audience tingle for a while. In their eagerness to +see the horse and the daring rider the children down in the front row had +pressed forward until they were fairly under the ropes. Without warning a +little girl lost her balance and fell out into the ring, rolling right +into the path of the galloping horse. An exclamation of horror went up +from the crowd, and many covered their eyes with their hands. The others, +gazing as if fascinated, saw the horse in obedience to a quick command +leap into the air with all four feet and come down several feet beyond +the little form on the ground. Shouts rose up from every side and cheers +for the skilful horsewoman who had been able to avert a tragedy when it +was too late to turn aside. But Veronica sat unmoved, a graceful statue +on the beautiful horse, looking out over the audience with brooding eyes +that saw them not. + +Of course the _piece de resistance_ of the whole show was the trick mule, +Sandhelo. He had been the most widely advertised feature and had been the +means of selling the most tickets. The small boys came lured by the +promise of a free ride after the show and could hardly wait for that time +to come. His appearance in the ring was hailed with tumultuous applause. +Led by the clown, who played the mouth organ constantly to assure his +continuous locomotion, he did his tricks over and over again, lying down +as if dead when Slim played "John Brown's Body," and springing to his +feet with a lively bray when he played "Yankee Doodle"; and sitting up on +the table and waving his fore feet at the audience while he tossed a lump +of sugar on his nose. + +Then the clown tried to ride him and fell off, first on one side and then +the other, and after several vain attempts offered a quarter to anyone in +the audience who would come out and ride him around the ring. As the +players along knew that Sandhelo would only go to music, they anticipated +no little fun from this business. Sandhelo was perfectly safe to ride--he +was as gentle as a kitten--but his refusal to stir when commanded made +him appear a very balky mule indeed, and there was no response to Slim's +invitation for somebody to come out and ride him. Even the small boys, +who were eager to ride him, preferred to wait until the show was over +before making the trial. + +"Don't all come at once," appealed Slim in derision. "One at a time, +please. Who'll ride the famous trick mule, Sandhelo, around the ring and +win the handsome prize of twenty-five cents, a whole quarter of a +dollar?" Still no volunteers. Sandhelo yawned and looked bored to death. +Slim stretched out his hands to the audience imploringly. + +Suddenly there was a commotion at one end of the seats and down from the +top of the picnic tables, where the raised seats were, there climbed the +little old woman who had gone around selling papers. "I'll ride him for +twenty-five cents," she cackled in her high shrill voice. And she hobbled +across the ring to where Sandhelo stood. The players were ready to hug +themselves with joy. Here was a real circus-y touch they had not counted +on. + +"Aren't you afraid she'll get hurt?" whispered Hinpoha to Nyoda. + +"No danger," returned Nyoda. "Sandhelo won't go a step without the mouth +organ." + +The little old woman, her back bent almost double, shuffled over and +grasped Sandhelo, not by the bridle, but by the cockade on his head. Then +she suddenly straightened up and a gasp of astonishment went around the +circle. She was taller than the tallest of them. Without assistance from +anyone she climbed on Sandhelo's back and sat with her face toward his +tail. The audience, suspecting that it was a "put-up job," and this was +another stunt, roared its appreciation, but the players looked at each +other in utter bewilderment. Who was this strange character? + +Sandhelo was a very small donkey, standing no higher than a Shetland +pony, and when the old lady was seated on his back her feet dragged on +the ground. Calmly crossing them underneath his body, she gave his tail a +smart jerk, accompanied by the shrill command, "Giddap!" Sandhelo, +mortified to death at the undignified position of his rider, had but one +idea in his mind--to escape from the gibing crowd and hide his head in +his stable. Around the ring he flew as fast as his tiny legs would carry +him, the old woman sticking to him like a burr, her bonnet strings flying +in the wind, her big slippers flapping against his sides, and her shrill +voice urging him on to greater speed. The act brought down the house and +a whole row of folding camp chairs collapsed under the strain of the +applause. + +Beside himself with rage and shame, Sandhelo bolted into the barn and +carried his strange rider into the midst of the company of players. +Sliding off his back, she looked around the ring of curious faces before +her with little twinkling gray eyes. Then she held out her hand +suggestively. "Where's the quarter I git fer ridin' the mule?" she asked. +Something in her voice awakened a memory in Hinpoha's mind. In a +twinkling she was carried back to the incident at Raymond's that noon +when Miss Parker stopped to present her cousin from the west. Surely +there never were two such voices! At the same time Hinpoha noticed that +the old woman's gray hair was sliding back on her head, and a long wisp +of yellowish hair was hanging out underneath. She stared at the curious +figure in growing wonder, and the woman stared back at her with a knowing +grin that became wider every moment. Then with a quick movement the old +woman snatched off a gray wig, mopped a damp handkerchief over her face, +produced a pair of glasses from some pocket in the wide skirt, and stood +before them the same awkward, ungainly creature that Hinpoha had met that +noon. It was Katherine Adams, Miss Parker's cousin. + +Such a babel there was when Hinpoha recognized the strange comedian and +presented her to the others! The waiting audience was completely +forgotten as they listened fascinated while Katherine explained how she +had come "by special invitation" to the circus and had decided that +people who had "pep" enough to get up a circus were worth knowing, and +the best way to get acquainted with the players was to be in the show +herself. So she had joined the company without the formality of being +asked. + +"You're appointed assistant clown for the remainder of the circus," said +Nyoda. + +"And you're invited to the spread upstairs afterwards," said Hinpoha. + +"It's time for the Chair-iot Race," said the Captain warningly, and the +players returned to their duties with a guilty start. The new comedian +proved such a diversion and put the regular clown up to so many tricks +that he would never have thought of by himself, that the audience refused +to go home when the big show was over, and called for encore after +encore. + +"Let's get her to sell cocoa," suggested Gladys; "they'll buy from her +when they wouldn't from us." + +So Katherine, who up until a few hours ago had never heard of the +Winnebagos and Sandwiches, did more for them in the way of dispensing +cups of cocoa at five cents a cup than they were able to do for +themselves. She made such inimitably droll speeches in her efforts to +advertise her wares that the audience crowded around her just to hear her +talk, and bought and bought until the huge kettles were empty and the +paper box till was full. The small boys crowded around the Ringmaster, +demanding their ride on the trick mule, and, tearing himself away from +the fascinating orator, he betook himself to the barn, followed by the +whole string of would-be riders. But when he arrived there the stall was +empty and Sandhelo was nowhere to be found. Loud chorus of disappointment +from the small boys. The Captain turned their interest in Sandhelo to +account by enlisting them in the search for him, but it was vain. Nowhere +could they find a trace of him. His shame at the indignity heaped upon +him that afternoon had been too great. Finding his stall left open in the +excitement he had escaped and wandered off while the attention of +everyone was riveted on the antics of the new comedian, and hid his head +among new scenes and faces. The small boys finally gave up and went home, +partly consoled by the assurance that if Sandhelo ever turned up again +the promised ride would still be theirs, and the players, rather +exhausted, but exulting over the success of the performance, gathered in +the Winnebago room of the Open Door Lodge for the jollification spread. + +Katherine Adams was the lioness of the evening. Begged for a speech, she +obligingly mounted the table and held a discourse that left her hearers +limp with merriment. What she said was sidesplitting enough, but her +gestures, her expression and her voice were beyond description. She spoke +in a lazy southern drawl, mixed up with a nasal twang, and the peculiarly +veiled, husky quality of her voice gave it a sound the like of which was +never heard before. She still wore the big flapping slippers and had much +ado to keep them on when she climbed on the table with the mincing air of +a young miss making an elocution lesson. She planted her feet carefully, +heels together and toes apart, taking several minutes in the operation, +and then surveyed them with a silly smirk of satisfaction that was +convulsing. When her discourse became a little heated the feet suddenly +flew around and toed in until both heels and toes were in a straight +line. At the ripple of laughter which this called forth she looked down +at her feet with a sad, pained expression and carefully set them right +again. A few moments later she again waxed eloquent and again the feet +turned, seemingly of themselves, and this time her toes pointed outward +until toes and heels were all one straight line. The shrieks of delight +made her look down again, with that same puzzled, pained expression, and +again she set them right in an affected manner. + +When the speech was over the boys and girls begged her to do it again, +and kept her speechifying until she declared she had no voice left to +whisper. "You know I have to be very careful of my voice," she said in a +tone of confiding simplicity. "It's so sweet that I'm afraid of cracking +it all the time." + +Katherine was too good to be true. "Just like a character out of a book," +the delighted Winnebagos whispered to one another. Before the evening was +over they had unanimously decided to urge--not merely invite, mind you, +but urge--her to become a Winnebago. Katherine was delighted with the +idea and accepted the invitation with another convulsing speech. It +seemed incredible to the girls that they had met her just that afternoon. +It seemed as if they had known her always. She fitted into their group +like a thumb on a hand. She was plied with slumgullion and every other +delicacy, and her health was drunk in numerous cups of cocoa. The +continual flow of banter which the Winnebagos usually kept up among +themselves was hushed, and everyone was willing to put the soft pedal on +her own speech if only Katherine would talk some more. She told +fascinating things about her life on a big stock farm out in Arkansas. + +"Are there any Indians around there?" asked Veronica, whose ideas of the +American Far West were rather hazy and romantic. + +"Indians!" said Katherine. "I should say there were! They're something +terrible. Why, you don't dare hang your clothes on the line, because the +Indians will shoot them full of arrows! And then," she continued, as she +saw Veronica's eyes becoming saucerlike, "there are all kind of wild +animals out there, too. We can't keep milk standing around in the pantry +because the wildcats come in and drink it up, and the bears shed their +hair all over the carpet! Why, one day I came in from the yard and there +was a rattlesnake curled up on the piano stool!" + +The Winnebagos and the Sandwiches doubled up with merriment at her awful +"yarns," but Veronica believed every word of it. + +"O Katherine, you awful thing, I'm in love with you," cried Hinpoha, in +rather mixed metaphor, and drew her down on the bearskin bed beside her. +"Goodness, Veronica, don't look so excited. All the Indians there are in +this country now are on reservations, and they're entirely peaceable. You +mustn't believe a word she says." + +The jollification supper ended in a hilarious Virginia Reel, which hardly +anyone could dance for laughing at Katherine's big slippers, as she +shuffled up and down the line. + +"What a day this has been," sighed Hinpoha to Gladys, with whom she was +spending the night, as she sank down on the bed with all her clothes on. +"We've made enough money to equip the Sandwiches' gym be-yoo-tifully; +we've made Veronica famous as a horsewoman; we've lost our trick mule and +gained a new member for the Winnebagos. In the classic words of our +gallant Captain, I think that's 'going some.'" + + + + + CHAPTER VI + A MORAL OBLIGATION + + +Katherine's entry into High School life was a complete success--one of +those rare, astonishing successes that happen about once in a decade. The +regular members of the class, who have been together since the beginning, +will by constant effort have attained a fair measure of popularity by the +fourth year, when suddenly a personality will appear out of the vast and +seize and hold the center of the stage. Katherine's spectacular exploit +at the Sandebago Circus was heralded far and wide, and when she entered +school the following Monday morning she found herself already famous. +Everywhere she was pointed out as "the girl who had ridden the donkey," +"the girl with the funny voice," "the girl who made the screaming +speeches." Teachers agreed unanimously that she was the most erratically +brilliant student they had ever had in their classes--when she could +remember to turn her work in. Her compositions were read out in class and +brought down the house. When she rose to recite you could hear a pin +drop. It was an open secret that the two English teachers had drawn lots +to see who would get her, and not a few pupils suddenly discovered +conflicts in their recitations and got themselves changed into the class +where Katherine was. + +Her absent-mindedness soon became proverbial. Odd shoes--gloves of two +different colors--hat on hind side before, or somebody else's hat +altogether--these were everyday occurrences. Her friends told with +chuckles how she had climbed one flight of stairs too many on her way to +Math class and walked into a Freshman English class, her mind busy +working out the solution of a problem in geometry. When some other +Katherine was called upon to recite she rose solemnly and, going to the +board, gave a masterly demonstration of a knotty theorem in solid +geometry, and then marched out with the class, serenely unconscious of +her mistake, oblivious to the laughter of the class and the amusement of +the teacher, who let her go on without interruption to see how far she +would go. Her bewilderment when asked by the regular geometry teacher to +explain why she had cut class that morning was comical. + +Possessing neither beauty, style, pretty clothes, nor all the dozen other +things that make the ordinary girl popular, her very unusualness gave her +a distinction, and inside of two weeks she was the best-known girl in the +whole school. To be counted as one of her friends was an honor, and to be +able to say, "Katherine told me this," or, "Katherine did this up at our +house," was to incite the envy of less favored ones. The Uranians, the +most exclusive and select girl's society in the school, voted her in as a +member because they must have all the prominent girls, although they +generally scorned both worth and brains, if clothed in poor garments, and +great was their chagrin to find that their disdained rivals, the clever +and democratic Dramatic Club, had held a special meeting and taken her in +the afternoon before. Urania had not noticed that Katherine had been +wearing the Dramatic Club pin a whole day because she had stuck it over a +hole in her stocking which she did not have time to mend. + +How the Winnebagos exulted because Hinpoha had been polite enough to +invite her to the circus and she had consequently landed in their bosom +the first thing! No other group of girls would ever know her as +intimately as they would. The Camp Fire idea appealed to her from the +start. The Open Door Lodge was a paradise for her. The ladder stairs were +a constant source of delight. + +"One would think you had never climbed a ladder before," said Hinpoha, +watching curiously as Katherine climbed up and down and up again just for +the fun of the thing. Katherine draped her feet around a rung to support +herself and sat on the top bar. + +"I never did," she said simply. + +"Never climbed a ladder!" said Hinpoha incredulously. "Why, where did you +live?" + +"In Arkansas," answered Katherine significantly. "Do you know," she went +on, "that until I came east I had never seen a flight of stairs? _I had +never seen a flight of stairs!_" she repeated, as Hinpoha and the other +girls in the Lodge gasped unbelievingly. "We lived in a one-story house, +the floor level with the ground, so you just walked in from the outside +without going up steps. The house was in the middle of a big farm, as +level and flat as this floor. I rode ten miles to school and that was +built just like our house. Oh, of course I knew there were such things as +stairs, because I had seen them in pictures, but until I came here I had +never seen any." + +"But didn't you see any when you went traveling?" asked Hinpoha, still +incredulous. + +"Never went traveling," returned Katherine. "It took considerable +hustling to stay right where we were. One year the locusts ate up +everything, down to the clothes on the line, and we couldn't get enough +feed to fatten the stock; the next year there were prairie fires that +licked the earth as clean as a plate; one year the cattle all died of +disease, and so on. It wasn't until this year that we came out ahead +enough to send me here to school." + +And when the girls heard what a hard time she had had they adored her +more than ever because she could be so funny when she had had so little +to be funny about. + +Another thing that charmed her beyond measure was the color of the autumn +leaves. The Winnebagos could hardly pull her past a tree. "There was only +one tree in sight on our farm," she would tell them, "and that wasn't +green like the trees are in the east; it was just a dusty, greenish gray. +And the leaves didn't turn colors in the fall; they just withered up and +dropped off. Oh-h-h, look at that one over there--isn't it just too +gorgeous for words?" + +When we said that both teachers and pupils regarded Katherine as too good +to be true, we should have made one exception. That exception was Miss +Snively, the Senior Oratory teacher. Most of the teachers were liked by +some scholars and disliked by some, according to disposition or +circumstance; but all pupils agreed heartily that they did not like Miss +Snively. She was neither old nor bad looking; in fact, she was rather +handsome when you saw her for the first time, but she was so bitingly +sarcastic that her classes stood in fear and trembling of being singled +out for some poisoned shaft. Sarcasm and ridicule are the most deadly +weapons to use against boys and girls of the high school age. They are +not old enough to know how to come back, and can only nurse the smart and +writhe impotently. And of all classes to have a sarcastic teacher, Senior +Oratory is the worst. It is bad enough to stand up and make a speech with +appropriate gestures before a sympathetic teacher who corrects +diplomatically and never, never laughs, but to have one who eyes you +coldly all the while and then gets up and does it the way you did, only +ten times worse--more buckets of tears had been shed over Senior Oratory +than all other subjects put together. + +When Katherine entered the class Miss Snively took immediate exception to +her voice. Miss Snively's particular hobby was Woman's Voice. Hers was +high and artificially sweet--it fairly oozed syrup--and she did her level +best to make her girl pupils imitate it. So when Katherine began reading +in her husky nasal drawl, Miss Snively promptly read the piece after her, +imitating her voice as best she could, and then looked around the room +for the laughter of the pupils which would complete Katherine's +mortification. But nobody laughed. They all sympathized with Katherine. +They had been in her shoes themselves. The blood mounted to Katherine's +temples when she realized that Miss Snively was deliberately making fun +of her, and a hurt look came into her eyes. She was sensitive about her +voice, even if she did get endless fun out of it. When Miss Snively +handed her the book again and bade her in sarcastic tones to read further +for the edification of the class, Katherine sat silent. To her horror she +found there was a lump in her throat and she would most likely break down +utterly if she tried to say a word. She did not mean to be stubborn--she +was only waiting for control of her voice, for she was too proud to let +Miss Snively see how badly she felt. So she sat silent, miserably +twisting her handkerchief in her hands. + +"Go back to your session room," said Miss Snively sharply, who boasted of +her summary measures with her scholars. So Katherine left the room in +disgrace. From that time on there was a marked antagonism between those +two. Miss Snively lost no chance to make Katherine ridiculous in class, +and, while Katherine had too much respect for teachers to openly defy +her, she "took off" her affected manners to delighted audiences outside +of class, and Miss Snively knew it and was powerless to stop it. But, +outside of her skirmishes with Miss Snively, Katherine's progress through +school was a triumphal march. + +In every school, and Washington High was no exception, there will be +found various elements--some good and some bad. Color rushes, which had +given an annual vent to the mysterious feeling of hostility which always +exists between junior and senior classes, had been abolished. But the +feeling still existed, and manifested itself in various skirmishes. The +year before, when the juniors gave their annual dance, the seniors +carried away the refreshments. On the night of the senior dance the +lights refused to work, and, of course, the juniors were at the bottom of +the mystery. The principal, thinking rightly that pranks of this kind +reflected little credit on his school, wrathfully declared that if any of +the seniors attempted to spoil the juniors' party this year there would +be trouble. But there were certain lawless spirits in the senior class +who still thought pranks of that nature funny, and it was not long before +plans were hatching as merrily as before. It was all very vague, what was +going to be done and who was going to do it, but it was in the air, and +everybody who was up on school affairs knew there was a storm brewing. + +The first definite news came to the Winnebagos through Katherine. "I've +been asked to a select party," she announced one night up in the Open +Door Lodge, spreading her bony hands out before the blazing log on the +hearth. "It's something like the Boston Tea Party," she went on. + +"Must be going to be quite an affair," said Gladys, who was stirring +fudge over the fire. "May we inquire where?" + +"Oh, girls," said Katherine, with a serious face, "do you know what's in +the wind? The Seniors are to put a lot of live mice through the windows +in the middle of the Junior dance." + +"The Seniors?" exclaimed Hinpoha and Gladys in one breath. "What +Seniors?" + +"Oh, Charlie Hughes and Eddie Myers and that bunch. You know the half +dozen that go around together and call themselves the Clan? Well, those. +They were mixed up in the business last year." Although Katherine was a +newcomer in the school she was already well versed in its history. + +"How did you find it out?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Cora Burton told me." Cora was one of Katherine's devoted admirers and +tried hard to be chummy with her, although Katherine did not care for her +in the least. "Cora's a particular friend of Charlie Hughes, and she and +some other girls are going along to see the fun. But she couldn't keep it +secret and told me today and asked if I wanted to go along." + +"Oh, Katherine, you're not going?" said Sahwah anxiously. + +The disgusted expression on Katherine's face was answer enough. + +"Hadn't we better tell some of the teachers?" asked Gladys, pausing in +her stirring. "I wish Nyoda were here." Miss Kent had been called out of +town on account of the death of an aunt and would be away until after the +party. + +"We ought to, I think," said Hinpoha. + +Katherine stood up beside the fireplace, and resting one elbow on the +shelf humped her shoulders in her favorite attitude and began to speak. +"Girls," she said, "this Junior-Senior business is going to be an awful +mess, and the result will be that somebody will be expelled or not +permitted to graduate. Students are going to take sides in the affair and +there will be no end of hard feelings. I for one don't care to play the +rle of informer. So far we Winnebagos have kept entirely out of anything +of this kind and wish we could get along without having any connection +with this." + +"But the teachers would never tell who told them," said Hinpoha. + +"The teachers wouldn't," answered Katherine, "but Cora Burton would. And +then maybe someone would say that I had been in the thing to start with +and then grew afraid and told on the others. You know how those stories +grow. Stay out of it altogether, say I, and avoid publicity." + +"But don't you think it's our duty to try and stop such horrid pranks?" +asked Hinpoha doubtfully. + +"I certainly do," said Katherine, "and if we were the only ones who +suspected anything it would be different. But all the teachers know that +something is going to happen and they will be on the lookout. And the +Juniors know it also, and they will be on their guard. I doubt very much +if those mice ever get into the room, even if we keep silent." + +And the Winnebagos, remembering Hinpoha's sad experience the year before, +decided that it was perhaps better after all to keep out of the affair +altogether. + +"I thought you'd see it my way after you'd considered all sides," said +Katherine, reaching out her long fingers and taking three pieces of fudge +off the plate where it was cooling, "but that isn't what I wanted to talk +about tonight. It's Cora Burton that bothers me. She isn't a bad sort of +girl, and I can't see why she should want to get mixed up in that sort of +thing, especially when there's bound to be trouble later. If she were to +be seen with those boys Friday night it would go hard with her. I suppose +she thinks she's right in the swim being connected with a prank, because +she isn't very popular otherwise. The other girls that are in it aren't +ladylike and it's not much use getting after them, but Cora's different, +somehow. I wish something could be done about it." And she crunched a +piece of fudge between her teeth with violence. + +"We might get up a show that night and each one bring a friend, and you +could invite Cora," suggested Sahwah. "Counter attraction, you know." + +The suggestion was voted a good one and promptly acted upon. But Cora +declined Katherine's cordial invitation. "What's to be done now?" asked +Katherine of the hastily called meeting of the Winnebagos. "Our counter +attraction didn't work." + +"Girls," said Gladys solemnly, "I believe it's our duty to keep Cora away +from that business somehow. If we were smart enough we'd find a way. I +don't believe we ought to let the matter drop and say if she wants to get +into trouble let her do it, it's none of our affair. It _is_ our affair, +because we're pledged to Give Service, and it would be doing Cora a great +service to keep her out of this. If she's weak and we're strong we must +hold her out of water. You remember what Dr. Harper said at the lecture +about saving people from themselves. Well, I think we ought to save Cora +from herself." + +The phrase, "Save Cora from herself," sounded very fine to the ears of +the Winnebagos, and they decided that Cora must be saved from herself at +all costs. But how? + +"I think I can manage it," said Katherine, who had been buried deep in +thought all the while the last discussion was going on. "It'll be quite +an undertaking, but the end justifies the means." + +"Tell us," begged the girls. + +"Why, it's this," said Katherine. "I shall tell Cora that I've changed my +mind and want to go with her Friday night and will meet her on the corner +of her street at eight o'clock. When I've met her I'll tell her that I +left my purse up here and ask her to come along till I get it. You know +she doesn't live very far from here. Once up here we'll keep her safely +all evening. Oh, I know that holding people against their will isn't one +of the rules of polite society, but in her case I think we're justified. +She'll thank us for it before very long. And we'll try to make it +pleasant for her. We'll give the show just as we intended and have a +spread and her captivity won't seem long." + +As there seemed no other way out of the difficulty, Katherine's plan was +accepted. + +"It's working fine," she confided to the Winnebagos the next day. "Cora +was tickled to pieces because I wanted to go with her. She agreed to meet +me on the corner, as I suggested, and we're both going to wear green +veils so we won't be recognized so easily. Hoop la!" and she did a double +shuffle with her toes turned in down the aisle of the empty class room +where the girls had gathered. + +On Friday night the Winnebagos met early in the House of the Open Door. +Mrs. Evans, Gladys' mother, was acting as leader tonight in the absence +of Nyoda. She had been let into the secret about Cora and under the +circumstances thought that their action was right. Cora lived with an old +uncle, who was stone deaf and didn't care a rap what she did, so there +was no use talking to her folks about it. Several girl friends of the +Winnebagos were present, all having raptures over the decorations of the +Lodge, and watching with interest the waving curtain in the corner, +behind which Sahwah was making herself up as a Topsy for their +entertainment later on. Gladys was making sandwiches in another corner +and lamenting because the bread knife was broken half off, and was +accusing Sahwah of prying bricks apart with it, when stealthy footsteps +sounded on the walk below, together with the noise of the door being +pushed back quietly. Gladys heard it and started nervously. She was +beginning to feel rather embarrassed at the thought of meeting Cora +Burton, and wondered just how it would come out, anyway. She wished it +were safely over. + +Katherine and her prisoner seemed a long time in reaching the foot of the +ladder. Did Cora suspect something, perhaps, and was refusing to mount? +Gladys strained her ears to listen and thought she heard a smothered +giggle from below, but she could not be sure. The next minute the lights +flashed below and the patent signal knock of the Sandwiches sounded on +the wall. + +"Here come the boys!" cried Hinpoha, hastening to answer the signal with +a series of mystic thumps on the wall with the poker. + +Then the Captain's voice sounded at the foot of the ladder. "How many of +you are up there?" + +"Five," answered Hinpoha, "and three guests." + +"Is Miss Kent there?" + +"No." + +"What are you doing?" + +"We're going to have a show. Want to come up?" + +"Well, maybe, later," answered the Captain. "Won't you come down a +minute? We've got something to show you." And again Gladys thought she +heard a smothered giggle from below stairs. + +The girls trooped down the ladder, Sahwah running out with her face +blackened and her hair in tiny pigtails, to see what the excitement was +about. All seven of the Sandwiches stood there with sparkling eyes and +prenaturally solemn faces. On the floor stood a good-sized box. + +"What's in the box?" asked Sahwah. + +"Oh, nothing," answered the Captain, trying to speak indifferently. + +"There is too, something," said Sahwah, looking critically at the express +tags fastened to it. "Oh, I know what is is," she cried, suddenly jumping +up and clapping her hands in glee. "Your uncle in Boston has sent you the +electric motor he promised you!" + +The Captain tried to look indifferent and failed utterly. His lips would +twitch into a smile in spite of all he could do. + +"Do open it and let us see it," said Hinpoha, and all the girls crowded +closely around. + +"You may have the honor, Miss Brewster," said the Captain, bowing +formally to Sahwah. The nails had been drawn and all Sahwah had to do was +lift off the cover of the box, which she did with a great flourish. The +next moment the girls sprang back in dismay and scattered wildly. The box +was full of live mice, which jumped out and ran in all directions. +Screaming at the tops of their voices the girls fled toward the ladder +and crowded up as fast as they could go. Sahwah jumped for the swinging +rings, which hung from the ceiling of the barn, and dangled safely in +mid-air, making horrible faces at the Captain, at which he laughed +uproariously. Sahwah and the Captain were always playing tricks on each +other and this time she had to admit that he had scored heavily. So the +Captain jeered and Sahwah vowed vengeance and the other Sandwiches stood +around and laughed until their sides ached, for Sahwah, with blackened +face and Topsy braids, hanging in the rings and sputtering, was the +funniest sight imaginable. + +"Joke's over now, boys," said the Captain, when the mice had run around +the barn for several minutes. "We've had enough of a good thing. Let's +catch them and put them back into the box." + +The girls above sat around the ladder opening and watched the +proceedings. + +"Wherever did you get so many mice, boys?" asked Mrs. Evans. + +"We found them," said the Captain, "all boxed up, just like this, They +were right out in the middle of that field over there. We were on the way +over here and saw the box and looked in. When we saw what it was we +thought we could play a joke on the girls. So we brought them along. +Looks as though someone had fixed them that way for a joke. Probably were +going to send them by express. They were in an express box, although it +was not nailed shut." + +The girls began to look at one another significantly. The same thought +came into all their minds at once. Were not these the mice that were to +attend the Junior party? + +"The joke is on the Seniors, after all," said Hinpoha. + +"What do you mean?" asked the boys. "The joke is on the Seniors?" + +"Shall we tell them?" asked Hinpoha. + +"I don't see any harm now," said Gladys. "The scheme has collapsed like a +pricked balloon." + +And they told the Sandwiches what they knew about the plot of the Senior +boys to interrupt the Junior party. + +"Wasn't such a bad idea to try to play a joke on you girls after all, was +it?" said the Captain. "Because if we hadn't done it we wouldn't have +nipped their little scheme in the bud. We'll play lots more jokes on +them, won't we, Slim? Don't you girls think you ought to invite us up to +supper to celebrate?" + +"Not until the last mouse is back in the box," said Gladys firmly. + +The boys worked hard to catch them again and the girls sat above and +cheered their efforts, and in the middle of it in came Katherine and her +companion, swathed in green veils. There was such an uproar in the barn +that Cora never noticed that Katherine locked the door and put the key in +her pocket. Cora gave a great start at the sight of the mice, which was +not all from fright, and the girls could not help enjoying the situation. +What must be her thoughts by this time? But Cora, obeying the natural +impulse of women at the sight of mice, fled up the ladder with Katherine. +If she thought it odd that the barn was full of girls and boys when she +had gained the impression that it was empty and dark, she made no sign, +but stood still with her veil over her face. With all those horrible +creatures running around the floor downstairs she made no move to escape. + +"Won't you take off your things?" asked Katherine, beginning gently to +break the news to Cora that she was to stay for the evening. Without +demur Cora unfastened her coat and slid it off and then took off her hat +and veil. The girls stood as if turned to stone. The person who stood +before them was not Cora Burton. It was Miss Snively. _It was Miss +Snively!_ + +She looked around her with a sneering smile and a snapping light in her +eyes. "You may think it was a master stroke on your part to lure me here +and lock me in so I could not join the conspirators and thus find out who +they were," she said with biting emphasis. "But you shall pay dearly for +this, my young friends. I know who you all are--you needn't try to hide +behinds the others, Gladys Evans--and the information I shall be able to +give Mr. Jackson tonight is what he has been trying to find out for a +long time. Katherine Adams, you are the ringleader of this affair, as we +might have expected. I know all about the plan to put the mice into the +dance hall, and while the boys downstairs who are getting them ready are +not the ones I should have expected to be doing it, it is just like you +to get strange boys to do it for you, hoping to get away unsuspected. But +it didn't work, I am happy to say. You are very clever, Miss Adams, but +not clever enough. I overheard you asking Cora Burton to meet you on the +corner this evening. I took the liberty of being there first. I thought I +had deceived you perfectly, not knowing that you were bringing me right +into the mouse's nest, so to speak." + +She paused for breath and looked around her with an expression of relish +at the consternation visible on the faces before her. For Katherine was +staring at her with startled, unbelieving eyes; Gladys was clutching her +mother's arm in a frightened manner; Hinpoha had sunk weakly down on the +bearskin bed, and Sahwah stood with her mouth open and the perspiration +running down her face in black streaks, and the others were dumb with +astonishment. The boys, not knowing just what was going on, but guessing +that something was the matter, stood by the ladder opening, silently +taking in the scene. The girls looked helplessly into each other's eyes. +Somebody must speak and explain. They all looked at Katherine. + +"But we aren't mixed up in the House Party at all, Miss Snively," she +said earnestly. "We heard about it, and I found out that Cora Burton was +going to be in it and I tried to make her stay home and she refused, so +we girls decided we would take action to take her out of it by luring her +up here and keeping her until the thing was over. That's why I asked Cora +to meet me on the corner, and I really thought you were Cora all the +while. You imitated her squeaky voice to perfection." + +As Katherine was telling her perfectly truthful story she had a dreadful +feeling that it didn't sound plausible at all. Under Miss Snively's cold +eye nothing seemed real. + +"Likely story!" said Miss Snively sneeringly. "And how does it happen +that if you wanted to bring Cora out of temptation you should take her to +the place where the mice were being boxed up ready to be taken to the +party?" All the girls looked so disconcerted. Those dreadful mice did +complicate matters so! They would have given anything if Nyoda had been +there then. + +The Captain was beginning to take in the situation. He came forward +frankly. "It's our fault about the mice," he said, looking Miss Snively +straight in the eye. "We found them in a field near here all boxed up and +thought it would be a good joke on the girls to bring them over here and +let them out. We don't know anything about your squabbles at Washington +High, except what little the girls here have told us; we're all from +Carnegie Mechanic. And we know the girls didn't have a hand in it, +because they were giving a show here to-night." + +His story was backed up by all the other boys, and then Mrs. Evans got in +a word and declared that Katherine was telling the whole truth about +Cora, and Miss Snively was forced, however ungraciously, to admit that +she had been mistaken in her suspicions. + +"If she'd been a man I'd have made her eat her words," declared Slim +wrathfully, after Miss Snively had departed from the scene. + +Mrs. Evans and Gladys, with perfect courtesy, offered to drive her home +in their car, and for the present oil was poured on the troubled waters. + +Katherine sat hunched gloomily before the fire and held-forth to the +Winnebagos. "I don't know whether the joke's on her or on us," she said +pessimistically; "but one thing I'm sure of, and that is, that never, +never, as long as I live, will I ever again try to save a girl from +herself." + +And the Winnebagos wearily agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + AN ADVENTURE IN PHILANTHROPY + + +Katherine became officially a member of the Winnebago Camp Fire Group at +the first Ceremonial after the circus, with the Fire Name of Iagoonah, +the Story Maker. The name itself was an accident and the manner of its +bestowing is cherished in the chronicles of the Winnebagos as one of the +group's best jokes. Just about the time Katherine was to be installed as +a Winnebago, word was received that the Chief Guardian of the city was +going to be present at the meeting and would take charge of the +Ceremonial. Katherine had chosen the name, "Prairie Dandelion," because +she came from the plains, and because her hair was so fly-away. During +the supper which preceded the Ceremonial meeting Katherine made such +funny speeches and told such outrageous yarns about her life in the West +that Nyoda said jestingly: "Your name ought to be Iagoo, the Marvellous +Story Teller." And the others began calling her Iagoo in fun. The Chief +Guardian heard them calling her Iagoo and supposed that was the Camp Fire +name she wished to take. So, when she was receiving Katherine into the +ranks, she said: "Your name is Iagoo, isn't it?" + +Katherine, sobered and almost voiceless from the solemnity of the +occasion, mumbled half-inarticulately, "Iagoo? Nah!" + +And before anyone knew what had happened she had been officially +installed as _Iagoonah_! The joke was so good that the name stuck, and +Katherine was known to the Winnebago Circle as Iagoonah to the end of the +chapter, although they did consent to change the interpretation to Story +Maker instead of Story Teller as being more dignified and not so +suggestive. + +Katherine was one of the most enthusiastic Camp Fire Girls that ever +lived, and her inspirations led the girls into more activities and +adventures than they had ever dreamed of before. It was Katherine who +started the Philanthropic Idea. They had been talking about the different +things Camp Fire Girls could do together for the good of the community. + +"Girls," said Katherine, standing in her favorite attitude beside the +fireplace, with her toes turned in and her elbow on the shelf, "I don't +believe we're doing all we ought. We're having a royal good time among +ourselves and learning no end of things to our own advantage, but what +are we doing for others? Nothing, that I can see." + +"We gave a Thanksgiving basket to Katie, the laundress," said Hinpoha, +"and we collected a barrel of clothes for the Shimky's when their house +burned down, and we gave a benefit performance to pay little Jane +Goldman's expenses in the hospital, and we send toys and scrapbooks to +the Sunshine Nursery every Christmas." + +"And I earned three dollars and gave it to the Red Cross," said Sahwah. +"Don't you call that doing something for other people? We haven't meant +to be selfish, I'm sure. By the way, Katherine, your elbow's in the +fudge." + +Katherine shoved the dish away absently and returned to her subject. +"Yes," she admitted, "the Winnebagos have done a great deal that way, but +it's all been _giving_ something. We haven't _done_ anything. It's easy +enough to pack a basket and hand it to someone, and collect a lot of old +clothes from people who are anxious to get rid of them anyway, or pay the +bill for somebody else to do something. But I think we ought to do +something ourselves--give up our own time and put our own touch into it." + +"What do you mean we should do?" asked Gladys, hunting through the dish +for a piece of fudge that had not been demolished by Katherine's elbow. + +"Well, there's the Foreign Settlement," said Katherine. "I'm sure we +could find something to do there. It's a grand and noble thing to show +the foreigners how to live better." And she launched into such an +eloquent plea in behalf of the poor overburdened washerwomen who had to +neglect their babies while they went to work that the girls wiped their +eyes and declared it was a cruel world and things weren't fairly divided, +and surely they must do what they could to lighten the burdens of their +sisters in the Settlement. + +"What will we do, and when will we do it?" asked Hinpoha, all on fire to +get the noble work started. + +"Tomorrow's Saturday," answered Katherine. "We ought to go out into the +Settlement and see what's to be done. We'll make a survey, sort of, and +then we'll step in and see where we're needed most." + +Nyoda, appealed to for advice, told them to go ahead. She liked the idea +of their trying to find out for themselves what needed a helping hand. +She could not go with them to the Settlement on Saturday morning, but it +was all right for them to go by themselves in daylight. + +So, full of a generous desire to help somebody else, the Winnebagos +followed Katherine's lead toward the Settlement the next day. The +Settlement, as it was called, embraced some three or four square miles of +land adjacent to several large factories. In it dwelt some few thousand +Slovaks, Poles and Bohemians, packed like sardines in narrow quarters. +The Settlement had its own churches, stores, schools, theaters, dance +halls and amusement gardens, and looked more like an old world city than +a section of a great American Metropolis, with its queer houses and signs +in every language but English. The girls wandered up and down the narrow +dirty streets, filled with chickens and children, and tried to decide +what they should do first. They met the village baker, carrying a +washbasket full of enormous round loaves of rye bread without a sign of a +wrapping. He was going from house to house, delivering the loaves, and if +no one came to the door he laid the loaf on the doorstep and went on. + +Before one house, which had a small front yard, between twenty and +twenty-five men were lounging on the steps, on the two benches and +against the fence. "What do you suppose all those men are doing in front +of that house?" whispered Hinpoha curiously. + +Just then a woman came from the house carrying in her hand a huge iron +frying-pan full of pancakes. She passed it around and each man took a +pancake in his hand and ate it where he stood. + +"They're having their dinner!" exclaimed Gladys. "It's just a little past +noon. That's one way of disposing of the dishwashing problem. I'll store +up that idea for use the next time it's my turn to cook supper at a +meeting. What a large family that woman has, though. I wonder if they are +all her husbands?" + +"Gracious no," said Katherine. "These people aren't poly--poly--you know +what I mean, even if they are foreigners. Those men are boarders. Every +family has some. Let's go into that big house over there and ask if there +are any babies the mothers would like to leave with us while they go +washing." + +They picked their way across the muddy road toward a large building which +opened right on to the sidewalk. The hall door stood open and they went +in. There were more than a dozen doors leading from the hall on the first +floor. "Gracious, what a number of people live here!" said Gladys, +putting her arm through Katherine's. + +While they stood there, trying to make up their minds at which door to +knock, one was opened and a barefooted woman came out, carrying a pan of +dishwater, which she threw out on the sidewalk. At the same time another +door opened and out came another woman, who stopped short when she saw +the first one, and began to talk in a harsh foreign tongue. The second +woman replied angrily and the girls could see that they were quarreling. +Before long they were shaking fists in front of each other's noses and +shouting at the tops of their voices. Doors everywhere flew open and the +hall was soon filled with excited women who took sides with one or the +other and shook fists at each other while the girls huddled under the +stairway, expecting to be set upon and beaten. The quarrel was waxing +more violent, when the girls spied a door at the end of a hallway which +had been opened to let in some of the shouting women. As quickly and as +quietly as they could they darted down this passageway and out of the +door which brought them into the back yard of the place. Terrified, they +fled up the street and stood on the corner, discouraged and irresolute. +Hinpoha was for going home right away. But Katherine talked her out of +it. + +"Let's go up to the Neighborhood Mission on the hill and ask them for +something to do," suggested Katherine, when the rest inquired what they +should do next. So they turned their footsteps toward the white building +at the end of the street. + +"If you really want to do something," said the mission worker to whom +they explained their errand, "come down here next Saturday morning and +help take care of the children that are left with us. Two of the nurses +will be away and we will be short-handed." + +The Winnebagos were charmed with the idea. "Oh, may we each take one home +for the day?" begged Katherine, "if we promise to bring them back all +right?" + +Permission was granted for the next Saturday and Katherine was jubilant +over the good beginning of their work. "I thought it best that we each +take one home and take care of it by ourselves," she explained. "We'll +have such fun telling experiences and comparing notes afterward." + +Promptly at nine o'clock the next Saturday morning the four Winnebagos, +Katherine, Gladys, Hinpoha and Sahwah, presented themselves at the +Neighborhood Mission and drove away ten minutes later in Gladys' +automobile, each with a youngster in tow. + +At eight that night there was a lively experience meeting in the House of +the Open Door. "Oh, girls, you never saw such a dirty baby as the one I +had," cried Gladys, with a little shiver of disgust at the remembrance. + +"It couldn't have been any worse than the one I had," broke in Hinpoha. + +"But I gave him a bath," said Gladys, with a satisfied air, "and put all +new clothes on him, and he was as sweet as a rose when I took him home." + +"Mine beat them all," said Katherine, when she was able to get in a word +edgewise. "He had a little fur tail of some kind tied around his neck on +a string. I suppose it was meant for a 'pacifier,' for he was sucking it +all the while." + +"Why, mine had one of those on, too," said Gladys. + +"So did mine," said Hinpoha. + +"There must have been a million germs on it," continued Katherine. "I +took it off and burned it up." + +"So did I," said Gladys. + +"So did I," echoed Hinpoha. + +After all things were talked over the Winnebagos decided that they had +done pretty good work that day in cleaning up the dirty babies and +unanimously voted to take them again the next Saturday. + +When they arrived at the Neighborhood Mission the next Saturday morning +they were met on the walk by half a dozen excited women with +handkerchiefs on their heads, who formed a circle around them, shouting +in a foreign tongue and making fierce gestures. + +"What is the matter? What are they saying?" gasped Hinpoha in terror to +Katherine, struggling to pull away from the hand that was clutching her +coat lapel. + +"I don't know," answered Katherine, completely at sea and vainly trying +to understand the gibberish that was being uttered by the brown-skinned +woman dancing up and down before her. + +A startled group of workers ran from the Mission to see what the trouble +was, and, forcing themselves through the circle, drew the frightened +girls inside the fence of the Mission. Then from the group of women +outside there arose a voice in broken English, demanding angrily: "Where +is the charm that hung on the neck of my Stefan? The charm to keep away +the fever and the sore eyes? I give you my boy to watch, you steal away +the charm. Give it back! Give it back!" Here the angry shouting and +gesticulating began again and threatening hands were waved over the +fence. + +"What does she mean?" asked Hinpoha. "What charm?" + +"We didn't steal any charms," said Katherine indignantly. "We didn't take +a thing off the babies except some dirty old rabbits' tails that were +full of germs. We burned them up, and a good thing it was, too." + +Here the angry shouts of the women gave way to wails of despair. "They +burned the rabbits' tails!" groaned one woman, who could talk English, +lifting her hands heavenward, "the rabbits' tails that the Wonder Woman +tied about their necks on Easter Sunday! Now Stefan will get the fever +and the sore eyes and the teeth will not come through!" And she beat her +breast in despair. Then her anger blazed forth again and she fell to +berating the girls in her own language, and the other women fell in with +her until there was a perfect hubbub. The workers at the Mission hustled +the girls inside the building and the women finally departed, shaking +fists at the Mission and raging at all the dwellers. + +"It was nothing but a dirty old rabbit's tail," declared Hinpoha +tearfully, as the shaken Winnebagos hastened homeward. "I hate +foreigners! I guess we'll never try to do anything for them again." + +"Oh, yes, we will," answered Katherine optimistically; "we'll learn not +to make mistakes in time." + +"Look at that donkey over there," said Sahwah. "Doesn't he remind you of +Sandhelo?" + +"Poor old Sandhelo," mourned Hinpoha. "I wonder what became of him? We +certainly had fun with him, even if he never would go unless he heard +music." + +"Seems to be characteristic of the donkey tribe not to want to go," +observed Katherine. "That one over there is balking, too. Doesn't the +fellow that's trying to drive him look like a pirate, though? I wouldn't +go for him either, if I were a donkey." + +"O look!" cried Sahwah in amazement, and they all stopped still. + +A small boy was coming down the street blowing lustily on a wheezy horn, +and as soon as the donkey heard it he wheeled around, facing the music, +pricked up his ears, uttered a squeal of rapture and rose up on his hind +legs, almost upsetting the queer little cart to which he was harnessed. + +"Katherine! I do believe it _is_ Sandhelo," cried Sahwah, excitedly +gripping Katherine's arm. + +The man sprang from the cart and seizing the donkey by the bit brought +him down to earth with a rough pull that almost jerked his head off, +shouting abuse at him in a foreign tongue. The little boy, frightened at +the uproar, ran away, taking his music with him. The man got into the +cart again and tried to drive away. The donkey refused to move. The man +began to beat him unmercifully. + +"Oh, girls, we must do something to stop him!" cried Hinpoha, hopping up +and down in distress. + +"Here, you, stop that!" shouted Katherine, running forward and waving her +muff at him threateningly. "I'll have the law on you!" The man either did +not understand, or did not care, for he paid not the slightest heed to +her words. "Stop it, stop it, I say!" she commanded, stamping her foot +angrily and wildly wishing she were a man, that she might beat this bully +even as he was beating the poor little beast. + +The man looked at her and grinned derisively. "Who says so?" he growled. + +"I say so!" said a voice behind Katherine, and she turned to see the +Captain standing beside her. "You stop beating that donkey or I'll punch +your head." He put his fingers to his lips and uttered a long shrill +whistle which the girls recognized as the call of the Sandwiches, and the +next minute the other boys came running up the side street, Bottomless +Pitt, Monkey, Dan, Peter and Harry, with Slim trailing along in the rear, +puffing violently in his efforts to keep up with the rest. They +surrounded the cart threateningly and the man sulkily left off beating +the donkey. + +Sahwah went forward and stroked the little animal's head and then she +uttered a triumphant cry. + +"It _is_ Sandhelo!" she exclaimed. "Here's part of his red, white and +blue cockade still sticking in his hair." + +"That's our donkey," cried all the girls and boys, pressing close around. +"Where did you get him?" + +"He is not," declared the man angrily. "I raise him myself since he was +young." + +"That is not true," said Sahwah shrewdly. "If you had had him very long +you would know how to make him go. It seems to me that this is the first +time you've ever tried to drive him." + +"He is mine, he is mine," declared the man. "I know how to make him go. +He always go for me." + +"Then make him go," said Sahwah coolly. + +The man tried to urge the donkey forward, but in vain. + +"Now, _we'll_ show you how to make him go," said Sahwah. "Where's that +boy with the horn?" She ran up the street a distance and found the boy +seated on a doorstep and bribed him with a few pennies to let her take +the horn. Then, walking along ahead of Sandhelo she played a half dozen +lively notes, such as had sent him flying round the circus ring. No +sooner had she started than he started at a great rate. When she stopped +he stopped. + +"It's Sandhelo without mistake," they all cried, and the last doubt +vanished when he came up alongside of Sahwah and laid his head on her +shoulder the way he always had done. + +"He belongs to us," said the Captain, looking the man in the eye, "and +you'll have to give him up." + +The man shifted his gaze. "I give him to you for five dollar," he +muttered. "I pay so much for him." + +"Not much," said the Captain. "Nobody sold you a donkey for five dollars +and you can't get that much out of us. Now you either give him to us or +we'll report it to the police." The man protested loudly, but he was +evidently thinking all the while that a donkey that only went when he +heard music was not such a good bargain after all, even if he did get it +by the simple and inexpensive method of finding it in his dooryard and +tying it up. So, after growling some more that they were robbing him, he +suffered Sandhelo to be unharnessed from the cart and led away in triumph +in the wake of the horn. + +"Well, our charitable enterprise didn't turn out so badly, after all," +said Katherine, when Sandhelo was once more established in his cozy stall +in the House of the Open Door. "If it hadn't been for that fuss about the +babies we wouldn't have been on the street in time to see Sandhelo. And +if we hadn't wanted to help those people there wouldn't have been any +fuss. It does really seem that virtue is its own reward and one good turn +deserves another. Let's do it some more." + +And as usual the others agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + A SELECT SLEEPING PARTY + + +"Gracious, Katherine, what is the matter with your fingers?" asked Gladys +curiously, as Katherine came into the room with all five fingers on her +right hand tied up. + +"Oh," replied Katherine cheerfully, "I burned one, cut one, pounded one +with a hammer and slammed the door on one, and that left only one good +one, so I tied that up, too, for safe-keeping and only take it out when I +want to use it. It's a good thing I don't need my hand to sing carols +with, or I would be out of the running. Are we all here?" + +"All but Veronica," answered Nyoda, "and Sahwah--and Sahwah will be here +presently. By the way, where is Veronica?" + +"She's over at the theater where her uncle is orchestra director," +answered Gladys. "She goes over there almost every Saturday afternoon. I +believe she plays sometimes when one of the regular violinists is +absent." + +Veronica, it must be confessed, was a great puzzle to the Winnebagos. Try +as they might, they could never get her to enter into their work and fun +with any degree of vim. She always sat aloof, her brooding eyes staring +off into space. Not that they loved her any the less--they were too +genuinely sorry for her--but they never seemed to be able to break down +the barrier between them and her. They constantly stood abashed before +her aristocratic airs. When the friends went together to get ice cream +Veronica had a way of flinging a dollar bill down on the table and +bidding the waitress keep the change that made the others feel cheap +somehow, although they knew it was useless extravagance. When a poor +woman came to the door one day, just as she was going out, and asked if +she had any old clothes to give away she promptly took off her expensive +furs and gave them to her. + +The girls were mightily impressed by this act until Nyoda talked it over +with them and made them see that the gift was entirely inappropriate. So +while they admired her to distraction and each one secretly hoped that +Veronica would single her out as a special friend, they had to admit that +as yet they had not made much headway. + +"If Sahwah doesn't come in five minutes, we'll have to start without +her," said Hinpoha, walking impatiently to the window. "Carol practice +begins at two and it's half-past one now." + +Just then the telephone rang. "It's Sahwah," reported Hinpoha, upon +answering, "and she says she's got a real charity case for us to look +into--some old woman--and she's down at Sahwah's house now and we should +all come down. She says it's the saddest thing she ever heard. What shall +we do, girls, shall we go?" + +"Of course," said Katherine promptly. + +"What about carol practice?" asked Gladys. "Won't it make us dreadfully +late?" + +"We'll just have to be late, then," said Katherine, jabbing her hatpins +in swiftly. "Come on." + +Sahwah met them at the door with an unusually solemn countenance. "You're +a load of bricks to come, girls," she said, "but I knew you would. Come +right upstairs. In here," she said, pausing before the door of her room. +"Maybe you'd better go in one at a time. You go first, Hinpoha." + +Hinpoha, feeling queer, passed in. The next minute those outside heard a +great shout. "Migwan! My Migwan! When did you come? We thought you +weren't coming for two whole days yet. Sahwah, you wretch, how could you +get us so worked up?" + +The others burst in and smothered Migwan in embraces while Katherine +stood looking on curiously, until Gladys remembered her manners. "This is +our Katherine," she said, drawing her forward, "that we have all written +you about. Make a speech, Katherine, to show her how you do it!" + +And Katherine obligingly complied and Migwan laughed extravagantly and +was soon sitting on the bed beside her with her arm locked in hers, and +talking to her as if she had known her all her life instead of only five +minutes. That was the effect Katherine had on everybody. + +Then they dragged Migwan out to the House of the Open Door and introduced +her to the Sandwiches, who were playing basket ball in their half of the +barn. The Sandwiches began to plan a Christmas barn dance in her honor on +the spot, and nobody thought of carol practice again until it was too +late to go. Migwan had to explain how she got through with her work at +college two days earlier than she had expected and came home to surprise +them. She went to see Sahwah first and Sahwah worked the little stratagem +which brought them all down to her house in such a hurry. Each one +insisted upon Migwan's going home with her to spend the night, but she +could not be enticed away from her own home. "I guess you'd want to stay +at home, too, if you hadn't seen your mother for three months." But she +promised to attend a select sleeping party some night up in the House of +the Open Door, which Sahwah had just "germed." + +"There's a loose shingle on the roof and the snow comes in a little," +said Hinpoha regretfully. "It really ought to be fixed." + +"Never mind the shingle," cried the others. "When did the Winnebagos ever +balk at a snowflake or two on their beds?" + +The barn dance was a grand success in spite of the fact that Slim fell +down the ladder in his excitement and sprained all the portions of his +anatomy that he needed most for dancing, besides demolishing a frosted +cake in the tumble. + +"Too bad you can't dance," said the Captain sympathetically, when Slim's +ankles had been strapped with plaster and he had been comfortably settled +on a pile of bearskins brought down from the bed upstairs. "But you don't +need to waste your time. You can be musician and play the banjo while the +rest of us dance." + +"But I can't play the banjo," objected Slim. + +"Play anyway," commanded the Captain. "Here, I'll teach you a couple of +tunes that you can play with one finger that we can do most of the dances +to." So Slim learned to play the banjo under pressure and picked +banefully away while the rest whirled about on the floor. Sometimes he +got his tunes or his time so badly mixed that it was impossible to dance +and then the Captain would make him sing and beat time with a hatchet on +the floor. Finally Nyoda took pity on him and took over the banjo, +producing such lively strains and keeping the dancers going at such a mad +pace that they sank down breathless one by one, and a series of loud +thumps from Sandhelo's stall told them that he was also capering to the +music and nearly battering his stall down in the process. + +The boys went home reluctantly at eleven o'clock and the girls climbed +the ladder to the joys of the "select sleeping party." This was the first +time any of them had stayed all night in the House of the Open Door. +"Covers were laid for nine," as Katherine wrote in the Count Book. Nyoda +had her camp bed, Sahwah had her pile of bearskins, Gladys her Indian Bed +and Nakwisi her willow bed. Migwan was invited to share them all and +chose the bearskins. Katherine had brought a couch hammock, which she +declared surpassed them all in comfort. The rest of the girls played John +Kempo for the privilege of sleeping with Nyoda, and Veronica got it, and +the other two spread their blankets on mattresses on the floor. The +fireplace was filled with glowing hard coals, which would keep all night, +and the Lodge was as warm as toast, so the snowflakes which drifted in +through the hole in the roof were never noticed. Of course they talked +half the night, for there was so much to tell Migwan and so much she had +to tell them it seemed they never would get it all told. But finally the +conversation was punctuated by steadily lengthening yawns, and then +trailed off into silence. + +Nyoda was awakened by the touch of a cold hand on her face. "What is it?" +she asked, sitting up. + +"It's I--Migwan," said the figure standing beside her. "Do you know where +Sahwah is?" + +"Isn't she in bed with you?" asked Nyoda, still in a low tone of voice, +so as not to disturb the other girls. + +"No, she isn't," whispered Migwan. "I woke up a minute ago and felt +around for her and she wasn't there. I called and asked where she was and +there was no answer." + +Nyoda got up and lit a candle, and looked carefully around the room. All +the other girls were sound asleep in their beds; Sahwah's clothes lay on +a chair, but there was no sign of Sahwah. "She can't be under the bed," +said Migwan, "because this bed has no 'under.'" + +Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called: "Sahwah, are you down +there?" No answer. All was dark and silent below. When it was evident +that Sahwah was not in the barn, Nyoda roused all the sleepers +unceremoniously. + +"What's the matter? What's happened?" they all cried sleepily. There was +a great uproar when Sahwah's disappearance became known. "Where could she +have gone without her clothes?" they all asked. + +"Do you think she was dragged from her bed, Nyoda?" asked Hinpoha +anxiously, filled with the wildest fears. + +"No, I don't," answered Nyoda promptly, suddenly remembering certain +facts in Sahwah's history. "I think she's walking in her sleep again. She +always does when she gets excited. She's probably gotten out of the barn +and is wandering around somewhere and we must find her and bring her in +without delay. This is altogether too cold a night to be promenading +without a coat on." She had dressed herself fully while she was talking +and the others followed suit with all speed. + +The barn door was carefully closed, but the big inside bolt was +unfastened and they knew by that that Sahwah was outside somewhere. The +wind had swept the snow off the drive and there was not a footprint to be +seen. They spent some time looking all around the barn and up on the roof +and then concluded that she must have gone down the drive, because, if +she had gone anywhere else, there would be footprints. The snow in the +road had been so packed down by passing vehicles that a person walking +would leave no trace. + +"Where can she be?" exclaimed Nyoda anxiously after a fruitless search of +some ten minutes. + +"Do you think she could have climbed a tree?" asked Hinpoha. + +"And be roosting on a branch?" asked Katherine, and they all had to laugh +in spite of their concern. + +"Well, you never can tell what Sahwah will do next," returned Hinpoha, +"especially in her sleep. You haven't known her as long as we have. Once +in camp she climbed to the top of the diving tower and jumped off. So I +guess climbing a tree wouldn't be impossible for her." + +"Hark, girls," said Nyoda, bending her head in a listening attitude. +"Don't you hear music?" The others listened, but could hear nothing. +"When that breath of wind came in this direction I thought I heard it," +said Nyoda. "There it is, again." This time they all heard it, faint and +far, a soft strain of music, but what kind of music or whence it came +they could not make out. + +"It came with the wind," said Nyoda, "so we must walk against the wind +and see if we can find it." Heading into the wind they walked up the +road. They shivered as they walked and the snow crunched under their +feet. The very moonlight seemed cold as it touched them and the stars +glistened like splintered icicles. Verily, it was a cold night to be +sleepwalking. The music began to sound more clearly now, and at a turn in +the road they stopped still in amazement at the sight before their eyes. +There in the road just ahead of them ambled Sandhelo, and by his side +walked Sahwah, dressed in her troubadour costume, the red cloak flying +out in the breeze. She held her mouth organ to her lips, and the drawing +of her breath in and out of it was producing the strains of music which +the girls had followed. As they suspected, she was sound asleep. They +hurried forward to waken Sahwah, and she turned around and faced them. +Her eyes were wide open in the moonlight. A moment she looked at them and +then turned suddenly and swung herself onto Sandhelo's back. At her touch +on his bridle Sandhelo started and then began running down the road as +fast as he could. Sahwah woke up, gave one shriek of fright, and then +mechanically dug her knees into his sides and hung on. Sandhelo did not +have his regular harness on, only his bridle, and she was riding bareback +in this strange adventure. The girls pursued as fast as they could, +shouting at the top of their voices, but of course they were soon left +behind. Far ahead of them in the moonlit road they saw Sandhelo stop +suddenly and slide his rider over his head into a snowdrift and then sit +down on his haunches beside her like a dog. Sahwah had emerged from her +drift and was shaking the snow off when the others came up. "What's the +matter?" she asked in a bewildered tone. "How did I get out here?" + +"Home first, explanations afterward," said Nyoda, wrapping her in the +bear rug she had brought with her. And they made Sahwah run every step of +the way back to the Lodge, and swallow quarts of hot lemonade before they +would tell her a single thing. + +Migwan insisted on tying Sahwah's foot to the post of Nyoda's bed for the +rest of the night to insure her being there in the morning. They had just +gotten quieted down when the ropes of Katherine's hammock broke and down +she came with a resounding crash. + +Morning found them heavy-eyed and full of yawns, but to all inquirers +they stoutly maintained that the select sleeping party had been the best +ever. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE CANDLE IN THE WINDOW + + +"What's all this about singing carols?" asked Migwan. "Everywhere I go +the talk is all of carols, carols, carols. And the air is full of 'God +Rest You, Merry Gentlemen,' and similar melodies." + +"It's the Music Club League," explained Gladys. "They have revived the +old custom of going through the streets on Christmas Eve with lanterns +and singing carols, and are training the boys and girls all over the city +to sing them. People who are interested in the work of the Music Club +League and wish to give a gift of money for its support will put a candle +in their windows and we will stop outside and sing carols for them. Isn't +it a pretty idea?" + +"Beautiful," said Migwan. "I wish I might have attended the rehearsals so +I could go around with you." + +"We'll teach you the carols," said Gladys eagerly, "and I'll explain to +Miss Jones and I know she'll let you be in our group. We've been given +one of the best districts in the city--Garfield Avenue, from the +Cathedral to the Park, where all the rich people live--and we expect to +bring in more money than any other group. There was great rivalry among +the groups for that district, and Miss Jones tested and tested us to see +which sang the best. I nearly passed away from surprise when she decided +in favor of our group. Oh, won't it be glorious, though, stopping before +all those fine houses?" and Gladys and Hinpoha, unable to keep still any +longer, got up and began to dance. + +"That isn't the best part of it, though," said Sahwah. "All the carolers +are invited to the Music League's clubhouse after the singing is over for +an oyster supper and a frolic. And the troupe of midgets that are playing +in the Mansfield Theater this week are coming and will give a real Punch +and Judy show. Hurrah for the Music Club League! Hurrah for carols! +Hurrah for Christmas!" + +"I smell something burning," said Gladys, sniffing the air suspiciously. + +"It's probably something that has been spilled on the stove," said +Katherine serenely. They were all up at Katherine's house. + +"Here are the carols we are going to sing," said Gladys, pulling Migwan +toward the piano. "We might as well begin at once." + +"Do you really think Miss Jones will let me do it?" asked Migwan rather +doubtfully. + +"I'm sure she will," said Gladys, "if we all----Katherine, there _is_ +something burning; it smells like cloth." And she rushed off +unceremoniously to investigate. The kitchen was full of smoke when she +reached it, proceeding from the ironing board, where Katherine had left +the electric iron standing without being turned off. + +"You ought to have a leather medal, Katherine," scolded Hinpoha, +switching off the current and setting the smoking board outside the back +door, while Katherine stood idly by with such a look of pained surprise +on her face that the others went into gales of laughter. + +"I can't get used to these self-starting, big city flat-irons, nohow," +she drawled mildly in self-defense. "Back where I come from the irons +cool off when you leave them by themselves; here they start heatin' up." +Katherine always left off her g's when she spoke earnestly. + +"Katherine, you're hopeless," said Hinpoha with a sigh, and then she +added affectionately, "that's why we love you so." + +"There's Slim outside with his big bob-sled," said Sahwah, looking out of +the window. "He promised to take us all coasting down College Hill this +afternoon. Come on." And they trooped out. + +Nyoda took a few round trips on the bob with the girls, and then, having +other things to do, walked home by herself through the early winter +twilight. A few blocks from her home she saw Veronica walking along just +ahead of her. By her side walked a young man whom Nyoda recognized as +Alex Tobin, one of the violins in the Temple Theater Orchestra. He was +talking animatedly and earnestly to her, his white teeth showing often in +a smile beneath his small black moustache. Veronica was listening eagerly +with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. As Nyoda drew near she heard +Veronica say: "Oh, a chance to study with him would be the greatest +happiness of my life, but uncle would never allow it. Never!" + +And Alex Tobin answered: "Does it have to depend upon your uncle's +permission? You have money in your own right, have you not?" + +And then Veronica noticed that Nyoda was behind her and turned and spoke +and Alex Tobin took his departure down the cross street. Nyoda looked +after him thoughtfully. She was not fond of Alex Tobin, although she knew +him only very slightly. He was a young Pole, and quite handsome, but +there was something about his eyes that made a keen observer dislike him. + +"I was at the rehearsal of the Symphony Orchestra this afternoon," said +Veronica, with more animation than Nyoda had ever seen her display. "You +know uncle plays this year and he lets me go along and listen, that I may +benefit from the director's criticisms." + +"Does Mr. Tobin play in the Symphony Orchestra, too?" asked Nyoda idly. + +"Yes," answered Veronica. "He's a wonderful player; and so kind to me. He +takes such an interest in my playing. He says I will play at concerts in +time." + +"I don't doubt it in the least," said Nyoda heartily. "But you mustn't +study music to the exclusion of everything else. You are growing quite +thin. You must stay out of doors more and romp with the girls. You are +missing all the coasting and skating. 'Hold on to Health,' you know." + +"Yes, of course," murmured Veronica absently, and fell silent, as if she +were day-dreaming. + + +"The Midgets are going to give Punch and Judy dolls to the carol singers +as souvenirs of the occasion," announced Sahwah, as the Winnebagos +assembled before starting out for the singing on Christmas Eve. "Won't +they be jolly to put up in our rooms?" + +"And did you know that Jeffry, the famous bird imitator, was going to be +there and give some of his wonderful bird calls?" asked Gladys. "Migwan, +you're in luck, being home this week to take in all the good things." + +"The frolic afterwards is going to be as much fun as the carol singing," +said Hinpoha. "I wouldn't miss it for anything. And the group that brings +in the most money is going to get a prize," she added, "and have its +picture in the Sunday paper. Oh, I do hope we'll get the most! We must +sing our very best." + +"Oh, what a glorious night!" they all cried, as they passed out into the +sparkling snow. + +"Oh, but I'm glad I'm a carol singer," said Katherine, and slipped and +sat down on her lantern in her enthusiasm. + +"Have you time to walk over to Division Street with me before we go to +Mrs. Salisbury's?" asked Gladys, as they went down the street. Mrs. +Salisbury was the lady who had gathered together the band of carolers to +which the Winnebagos belonged, and they were all to meet at her house. + +"It's early yet," said Hinpoha, "we ought to have time. Come on." + +So they all went with Gladys to deliver a Christmas parcel to a poor +family whom Gladys' mother had taken under her wing. Along the big +avenues through which they walked candles were already glimmering in +windows in friendly invitation to the coming singers. But there were no +candles in the windows on Division Street. The houses were all poor +little one-story ones, with never a wreath or a bit of decoration +anywhere to show that it was Christmas. The very lamp-posts burned dimly +with a discouraged air. The girls delivered their bundle and hastened +back up the dark street. + +"Let's stop a minute and sing the songs through once more so Migwan will +be sure of them," suggested Hinpoha. "We wanted to before we left the +house, you know, and then we forgot it." + +So they stood still before a bleak, empty looking house, and sang through +all the songs they were to sing with the group that night on Garfield +Avenue. + + * * * * * * + +In a bare little room in the shabbiest house on Division Street a young +girl lay in bed day after day, staring wistfully through the flawed +window pane at the dingy row of houses opposite. She suffered from hip +disease and could not walk, and a frail little mother cleaned offices to +support them both. Living was cruelly high and there was no thought of +spending anything for Christmas. Martha dreaded its coming, for she could +remember other days when Christmas had been very different. Besides, +Martha was very lonely. She and her mother were strangers in town, having +come only six months before, and in all that time not a soul had come to +see them. And because Martha felt so lonely and so left out of the busy, +happy world, the treatment for which she had come to the city was doing +her no good, and she was not improving at all. And her mother saw the +trouble and sorrowed, but did not know how to mend the matter. Martha +read in books about the good times girls had together and longed with all +her soul to be part of such frolics, until it seemed that she could not +bear her loneliness any longer. + +Her mother often brought home newspapers from the offices and in them +Martha read about the groups of boys and girls who were going through the +streets on Christmas Eve singing carols before the houses where the +candles shone in the windows. + +"How I wish I could hear those carols sung!" she sighed enviously. "How +wonderful it must be to be rich and live in a fine house and put a candle +in the window to make the singers stop outside! And I must always stay in +the darkness, and miss all the fun! Oh, Mother, it isn't fair!" + +The sad-eyed little mother cast about in her mind for some way to amuse +her lonely daughter this dreary Christmas Eve. "Let us pretend that we +are rich and great," she said soothingly, "and play that we are putting a +lighted candle in our window and listening to the fine songs of the +singers below and giving them large sums of money for their good cause." + +"What good would it do to play it?" asked Martha. "We would have to +imagine it all. We haven't even a candle!" + +"Let's play it, anyway," coaxed her mother. "What color candle shall we +use tonight?" + +"A red one, with gold designs on it, and a cut glass candlestick," said +Martha, playing the game to please her mother. + +So they pretended to set a shining glass candlestick holding a red and +gold candle on the window sill. "Now we must wait awhile in our elegant +parlor for the singers to come," said her mother, playing the game with +spirit. + +Then a wonderful thing happened. There was a sound of footsteps in the +creaking snow outside, footsteps that came to a halt beneath the window, +and then the air was filled with joyous, ringing melody: + + "God rest you, merry gentlemen, + Let nothing you may dismay, + For Jesus Christ our Savior + Was born this happy day!" + +Martha and her mother looked at each other with faces suddenly grown +pale, and listened with unbelieving ears. The song changed as the singers +swung into the measures of a new carol. Surely these were human voices +and not a band of fairies! The mother crept silently to the window and +looked out. + + * * * * * * + +When the last note of the songs had died away the door of the dark house +opened and a woman came out on the steps. "Thank you a thousand times for +the singing," she said. "Won't you come in where my daughter can see you? +She won't believe you are real. She is so sick and lonesome. Please do." + +The Winnebagos started in surprise and looked at each other somewhat +doubtfully. They had not been aware that they were singing to an +audience. It was getting near the time when they should be meeting the +rest of the group. But this was Christmas Eve and here was a girl sick +and lonesome---- + +"Let's go in for a minute," said Gladys and Hinpoha together. They went +in, singing as they went, and swinging their little lighted lanterns. + +Martha's mother lit the one pale little gas flame, for they had been +sitting in the dark before, and by its light the girls saw the shabby +room and the wan girl lying on the bed. So amazed was Martha at the +sudden appearance of the carolers out of the night that she forgot to be +shy, and before she knew it she had told them all about the Christmas Eve +game she and her mother had been playing and how they had set the +imaginary candle in the window. And all of the six months' loneliness was +in that little tale, and the girls as they listened became afflicted with +a queer weakness of the eyes that made them turn their faces away from +the light. Over on the lighted avenue the twinkling candles beckoned in +the gleaming windows of the most beautiful homes in the city; still +farther on the revellers at the singers' party stretched out gay hands to +them; but over it all each one seemed to see the words of the Fire Law +written in letters made of Christmas stars: + + ----"Whose house is bare and dark and cold----" + +Mysterious communications and hand signs flew back and forth between the +Winnebagos. Like magic Gladys and Hinpoha slid out of the door and like +magic they returned a few minutes later, loaded down with bundles. As the +enchanted forests rise in the fairy tales, so the room was swiftly +transformed and began to blossom in green and red. Garlands and wreaths +hung from the head and the foot of the bed, and from the gas-jet. Riotous +little bells swung from the doorways; sprigs of holly and gorgeous +poinsettias framed the cheap pictures; bright candles in cheerful red +shades burned on the table. + +Other bundles when opened revealed the "makings" of the grandest spread +the Winnebagos had ever had. The Lonesome House was turned into the Home +of Joyous Spirits. Gladys poked up the fire and made her most tempting +Shrimp Wiggle; Sahwah made the best pan of fudge she had ever made; +Katherine made cocoa, and the rest spread sandwiches with delicious +"Wohelo Special" chicken salad, and cut up cake and dished ice cream. +Then there followed such a joyous feast as Martha had never conceived in +her rosiest dreams. Healths were drunk in cocoa, side-splitting toasts +proposed by the witty toastmistress, Migwan, and songs sung that made the +roof ring. Gladys did her prettiest dances; Sahwah and Hinpoha did their +famous stunt of the goat that ate the two red shirts right off the line, +and Katherine gave her very funniest speech--the one about Wimmen's +Rights--three times; once voluntarily and twice more by special request. +Martha laughed until she could laugh no more, and applauded every number +enthusiastically, her usually pale cheeks glowing red with excitement and +her eyes shining like stars. It was late when they left her, promising to +come again soon, and slipping into her hands various packages containing +gifts of things every girl loves, which Gladys had hastily bought when +she had slipped out to get the supplies. Among them was a beautifully +intricate puzzle which would keep her interested for months to come. + +Thus it was that the candle which was never lit guided the feet of the +Song Friends to the Dark House, and gave into their tending yet another +fire. Reports of the gay party at the Music League Club House came to the +Winnebagos from all sides, and loud expressions of regret that they had +missed it. And the group they were to have sung with brought in by far +the most money, carrying off the prize and getting its picture in the +Sunday paper--and the Winnebagos were not in it. + +But over on Division Street a wonderful new look had come into the face +of a sad-eyed girl--a look of happiness and ambition, and the Winnebagos, +having seen that look, were content. + + + + + CHAPTER X + A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT + + +January closed with its immemorial thaw and February drew near in a mist +of speculation as to whether it would come in like a lion or a lamb. But +whatever may have been the state of the weather outside when the new +month arrived, the Winnebago barometer registered a tempest in a teapot. +It was Katherine who was responsible for that particular barometric +activity. That is, it was she who attached the fuse to the bomb and set +the match to it. All the bomb did was blow up. + +The Winnebagos were all over at Katherine's one Friday afternoon after +school, painting a buffalo robe that was to hang on the wall in the Open +Door Lodge and cover an unsightly board. Veronica was in one of her rare +cheerful moods and played gay tunes on her violin while the other girls +worked. She was gradually thawing toward the girls, although she was +still very conservative in her friendships. She was most friendly toward +Gladys and Hinpoha, the two girls who came from the best family. She was +not particularly drawn to merry, tomboyish Sahwah, because she was not +musical, although they got along. Thus also it was with Medmangi and +Nakwisi. But from the first Katherine Adams had seemed to rub her the +wrong way. Big, clumsy, awkward Katherine, uncultured and hopelessly +plebeian! She always managed to step on Veronica's dainty shoes or sit on +her cherished violin or spill cocoa on her dress. And her flyaway +appearance constantly jarred on Veronica's artistic nature. And that +ridiculous, unmusical voice! + +Looking only at these defects, Veronica failed to appreciate the +wonderful magnetism of Katherine's personality and the unfailing good +nature which made her a boon companion any hour out of the twenty-four +whatever the weather might be. Not being American-born, Veronica believed +firmly in class distinctions, and to her Katherine was a peasant and thus +an inferior. + +However, to the others it seemed that the strangeness between them and +Veronica was wearing away, and this afternoon they felt closer to her +than they ever had before. She even asked, actually _asked_, to be shown +how to make "slumgullion"--she who a few months before had scornfully +maintained that cooking was for servants and not for ladies. "She's +getting there!" whispered Gladys to Hinpoha, with a delighted squeeze. +Spirits ran high and before long everybody felt they must dance or burst. + +"It's too bad we haven't Nyoda's old banjo over here," said Sahwah. "Then +some of the rest of us could play and Veronica could dance." + +"I'll go over and get it," said Katherine obligingly. So she went over to +Nyoda's house and got the banjo, and it was on this errand that her feet +became entangled in the fuse that led to the bomb. On the doorstep of the +house next to Nyoda's, the house where Veronica dwelt, there sat a snowy +white poodle, fresh from a bath and rivalling in purity a field of virgin +snow. This was Fifi, Veronica's French poodle, who had come to her as a +Christmas gift, and whose pedigree was considerably longer than he was. +Fifi did not share his young mistress's ideas as to the unfitness of the +peasantry for association with the high born, and took a decided fancy to +Katherine at first sight. Just how much he was influenced by half a sugar +cookie, which she held out to him over the fence, it is impossible to +say, but when Katherine turned out of Nyoda's yard and went up the +street, Fifi was at her heels and refused to be shooed home. + +"Well, come along, then, if you want to," she said good-naturedly. "I +suppose you're lonesome with all your folks gone and want some improvin' +company, like us. A great hostess I'd be, if I turned down a dog that +wanted to come to my At Home Day." + +The January thaw was still in progress, although it was the first of +February, and the streets were lakes of slush and mud. Katherine did not +mind mud in the least and stepped cheerfully into the puddles. Fifi did +likewise. By the time they arrived at the house the comparison of the +field of virgin snow no longer held good. Even Katherine hesitated about +admitting him. + +Veronica shrieked when she saw him and did not share his delight at the +unexpected meeting. "Oh-oh-oh!" she exclaimed in dismay. "He is to go to +the Dog Show tonight. Katie spent all morning washing and combing him. +How did he ever get out? She must have left the door open. And then you +had to coax him over here, and now look at him!" After a hasty glance the +rest decided they would rather not look at him. + +"Well," said Katherine, much taken aback, but still mistress of the +situation, "I'll just give him a nice bath and carry him home and +everything will be all right. Go on dancing, girls, there's the banjo; +Fifi and I will entertain ourselves in the basement." + +She set the squirming lump of mud into one of the wash tubs and let warm +water run over him from a faucet for a few minutes to remove the clods. +Then she set to work in earnest. She hesitated for some time about what +kind of soap to use and finally decided that dog's hair was the same as +camel's hair; camel's hair was wool; and therefore, according to the most +familiar problem in the whole geometry, Fifi was all wool and needed Wool +Soap. Now the mud through which Fifi and Katherine had come was the +yellow clayey kind that sticketh closer than a brother, and Wool Soap was +not designed especially to dissolve it. After three scrubbings and +rinsings Fifi was still a muddy, yellowish gray, and there was no hope +that he would dry into a field of virgin white as a yellow popcorn kernel +bursts into snowy blossom. + +Katherine was discouraged. Then she suddenly remembered something. +"Clothes always come out yellow if you wash them in just soap," she said +triumphantly to herself. "It's the bluing that makes them white. Fifi +needs bluing!" + +But a thorough search of the laundry room failed to reveal any bluing. +"Shucks!" exclaimed Katherine in vexation. "We're out of it. I heard Aunt +Anna mention it this morning. And the stores are closed this afternoon. +What will I do? I don't dare produce Fifi unless he's all white and +nice." Then it was that Katherine's mighty genius set to work. A less +resourceful person would have been at a standstill when confronted with +such a difficulty; a genius makes a way when there is none. In one +respect Katherine was an equal of the gods--what she wished and did not +have she created. She wished bluing; she must have it; so she calmly set +about making it. Katherine took chemistry and knew that iodine, applied +to starch, will turn it blue. There was iodine in the house and there was +starch. The pucker vanished from her brow. A far-sighted person would +have foreseen other results from the mixture beside the chemical action +of the iodine on the starch. But Katherine was not a far-sighted person. +She was a genius. It is said that geniuses, entirely absorbed in one +idea, often forget the most commonplace fact altogether. Thus it was that +Katherine, filled with the idea that starch turns blue when mixed with +iodine, forgot the original purpose for which starch was invented. And +Katherine had used flat-iron starch, the kind that gets stiff without +boiling. It turned blue--a beautiful bright purple blue--and she immersed +Fifi again and again. Katherine had to admit that he looked dreadfully +blue when he emerged from the final dip, but serene in the belief that he +would dry pure white like the clothes did, she rolled him up in a piece +of carpet and set him in a wash basket beside the furnace to dry. Then +she went upstairs and joined the dancers, announcing with a sigh of +relief that Fifi was clean once more and could come up as soon as he was +dry. + +Having been told that Fifi was clean, they naturally looked for a white +dog, and it was not their fault that they did not recognize the creature +that slunk into their midst in the middle of the revels. As an Animal +from Nowhere he would have taken the prize over the head of the famous +Salmonkey. His hair was pasted flat to his sides in long, stringy waves, +giving him a queer, corrugated effect. His head was a dirty, yellowish +white, for, in keeping his eyes out of the blue bath, Katherine had held +his whole head out; and the rest of him was a bright purplish blue. With +his excited red tongue hanging out in front he looked like a dilapidated +remnant of the American flag. The girls shrieked and fled before him. +Katherine sank weakly down on the couch and viewed him in consternation. + +"Whatever did you do to him?" wailed Veronica, when informed that this +was actually Fifi and not some freak animal from the Zoo. + +"I wanted to blue him to make him nice and silvery white," explained +Katherine ruefully, "and there wasn't any bluing, so I made some with +iodine and starch. I thought he would come out all nice and fluffy, but +instead of that he got--all--stiff!" + +The Winnebagos burst out into a wild peal of laughter that made the +windows rattle. They were simply helpless, and laughed until they sank +limply on each other's shoulders. The simplicity of Katherine's +inspirations was nothing short of sublime. + +Gaining a measure of control over themselves, they became aware that +Veronica was standing before them with eyes flashing lightning, in such a +passion as they had never seen any girl display. Holding her translated +pet in her arms, she stamped her foot and almost hissed at Katherine: +"Don't you ever come near me again, you--you great big kangaroo from out +of the west! + +"And the rest of you are just as bad," she cried, blazing at them +collectively. "You think it's funny. I wish I had never met you, and from +this day I am no more a Camp Fire Girl! I am through with you!" And +before they could collect their wits to reply she had rushed out of the +house like a whirlwind. + +Completely sobered by the result of her act, Katherine called herself one +name after another and proposed the most extravagant things in the nature +of penance. She and Nyoda talked it over a long time, and Nyoda made her +see how a habit of doing things without thinking of the consequences led +to more trouble than deliberately planned evil did, and she promised +faithfully that this was the last rash act she would ever perform. + +"Now that Veronica has had time to think it over and see the funny side, +and realize that Fifi is not hurt, I think you may go over and present +your sincere apologies and make your peace with Veronica," said Nyoda. +And Katherine, humble as the dust, set forth. + +But Veronica would have none of her peace offerings. She received her +apology coldly, and declared she would never come back into the ranks of +the Winnebagos. Then did Katherine go to Nyoda and offer to resign from +the group if that would bring Veronica back. "She has a better right to +be in it than I," she said. "She was in it first." + +But Nyoda would not consent to that at all. "The whole thing isn't worth +such heroic measures," she declared. "I'll talk to Veronica myself." + +And she did, with no better results than Katherine. Veronica would not be +appeased, even now that Fifi was white once more, and had suffered no +evil effects from his bluing. Veronica declared that Katherine was low +class, and not fit for her to associate with. And she wouldn't forgive +the others for laughing. So Nyoda had to go back and report her failure +to the other girls. And sadly they realized that their hope of making +Veronica into a Winnebago had evaporated. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + A WINTER HIKE + + +A long cherished wish of the Winnebagos came true that winter, for they +all got snowshoes for Christmas. So did the Sandwiches. They brought them +down to the Open Door Lodge to show to the girls. "See what we've got," +said the Captain, with a slightly superior air as becomes the owner of a +pair of snowshoes in the presence of a mere girl. + +"Wait until you see ours," returned the girls merrily, producing their +"slush walkers," as Katherine had dubbed them. + +"You didn't all get them, did you?" asked the Sandwiches, in comical +surprise. It was hard for them to realize that the Winnebagos were as +adept at outdoor sports as they were. + +"We surely did," answered Sahwah. "What good would it do us for some to +have them and some not? We always travel together." + +The Captain had Hinpoha's in his hand and was examining them critically. +"You girls haven't the right kind of harness on your snowshoes," he said, +with the air of an expert. "Straps like yours, that buckle over the toes +and around the heel are 'tenderfoot' harness. They don't give enough to +your motions and you are likely to freeze your feet. See our bindings. +They are made of lamp wicking and calfskin thongs. By putting your foot +on the shoe so that your toes come just under the bridle and binding it +fast with the wick, making a half-hitch on each side and tying a knot at +the back of your shoe you can make a fastening that will hold tightly as +long as you want it too, but will permit you to free your foot with a +single twist in an emergency." + +"Did you learn all that down at Tech?" asked Hinpoha, with just a touch +of sarcasm. It seemed to her that the Captain was trying to show off his +knowledge. + +"He won't admit that we know as much as they do about some things," she +was saying to herself. "They couldn't get ahead of us by getting +snowshoes, so now they must claim that theirs are right and ours are +wrong. Ours are more expensive, that's the whole trouble." + +"My uncle told me about it," said the Captain earnestly. "He's been up +north and he knows all about snowshoes. Wait a minute, and I'll show you +what I mean." He bound his snowshoes on his feet in the approved fashion, +and then, by stepping on one shoe with the other foot, skilfully wriggled +his toe free without injuring the binding. "You couldn't do that if it +were buckled," he said simply, turning to Nyoda for approval. + +"You're right," said Nyoda. "We never thought of that side of it before. +Don't you think, girls, we'd better change ours?" They all agreed, all +except Hinpoha. For some odd reason she still fancied that the Captain +was crowing over her, and she was determined to show him that his opinion +meant nothing to her. + +"I like the straps much better," she declared. "And the buckles look so +pretty flashing in the sunlight. Much prettier than your old lamp wicks. +They'll be dirty in no time." And they could not induce her to change the +bindings. + +Followed days of learning how to run on snowshoes. It was not so very +difficult, after all, not nearly so hard as the skiing Sahwah had tried +the winter before. There were tumbles, of course, when they struck +unexpected snags, but the snow was soft and no one was hurt. Hinpoha was +glad she didn't change her smart buckle binding for the wicking-thong +affair of the others, because hers looked much nicer, and there was no +occasion for getting out of them suddenly. The first day everybody +returned home full of enthusiasm for the new sport. Sahwah in particular +was so anxious for the morrow to come when she could be at it again, that +she could hardly go to sleep. But when she woke up in the morning she +felt a strange disinclination to get up. Her limbs ached so fiercely that +she could hardly stand. Her muscles were so cramped and sore that she was +ready to shriek with the pain. She limped stiffly into the class room +half an hour late, to see Gladys going in just ahead of her, traveling +with a sidewise motion like a crab, and stumbling as though her feet were +made of wood. Poor Hinpoha never appeared in school at all that day. +"What's the matter with us?" they groaned, dropping into Nyoda's class +room at lunch hour. "We're ruined for life." Nyoda could not conceal a +smile of amusement. "I knew you'd get it," she said, with gentle +raillery. "That's why I advised you not to stay out more than fifteen +minutes the first day. But you were bound to stick to it all afternoon." + +"What did you know we'd get?" they asked in tones of concern. "Are we +lamed for life?" + +"Hardly as bad as that," laughed Nyoda. "I have good hopes of your +ultimate recovery. You have what the French call 'mal de racquette'--the +snowshoe sickness. You use a different set of muscles when snowshoeing +than you do ordinarily, and these muscles become very stiff and sore. All +you need is a little limbering oil. Little Sisters of the Snow, you are +learning by experience!" + +It was fully a week before either the Winnebagos or Sandwiches went +snowshoeing again, although they made excellent excuses. Neither group +would admit to the other that they had become stiff, and would not limp +for worlds when in the sight of the others, although it nearly killed +them to walk naturally. Nevertheless, they understood each other +perfectly. + +In February came a three days' snow storm that covered the earth with a +blanket several feet thick, and a slight thaw followed by a zero snap +produced an excellent crust. The Winnebagos were having a solemn +ceremonial meeting in the Open Door Lodge when without warning there was +a sound of scrambling up the ladder and the Captain burst in among them. + +"Oh, I say," he shouted, and then stopped suddenly as he became aware +that the girls were engaged in singing some kind of a motion song. +"Excuse me," he stammered in confusion, "I didn't know you were having a +pow-wow. I heard you singing up here and thought you were just having a +good time." + +"What news can you be bringing that made you burst in on us in such a +fashion?" said Nyoda sternly, but with a twinkle in her eye. "Speak sir, +the queen commands." + +The Captain seemed ready to burst with his message and fired his words +like bullets from an automatic pistol. "My Uncle Theodore's here, you +know, the one I said had been up north, and he knows a dandy place in the +country where there are some log cabins and he wants us all to go down +there on our snowshoes for a winter hike and stay three days over the +Washington's Birthday holiday. Oh, please, can you girls come?" + +"But----" began Nyoda. + +"Oh, I forgot," went on the Captain, "my aunt's here, too, and she's just +as good on snowshoes as Uncle Theodore is, and she's going along, too, +and will see that you girls don't take cold or anything. Please say +you'll come." + +There never was such sport as a winter hike. The preliminaries were +arranged with much reassuring of parents and relatives; buying of +all-wool clothing and blankets; selecting of cooking utensils and what +the boys elegantly referred to as "grub." "Uncle Theodore" was a real +woodsman, who had spent most of his life in lumber camps; bluff, hale and +hearty; a man to whom you would be perfectly willing to entrust your life +after the first meeting. "Aunt Clara" was a little round dumpling of a +woman, who radiated smiles like sunshine, and declared the Winnebagos +were the handiest girls she had ever seen. It was their skilful way of +packing supplies that called forth this praise. + +Food and blankets were sent down by automobile a day ahead, so that the +hikers would have to carry nothing but their cameras and notebooks. The +morning of Washington's Birthday found them all assembled on the station +platform, for they were to go by cars to a certain town down state and +from there to strike across the open country on their snowshoes. + +"What are you going to do with the torpedo?" shouted the Captain, as Slim +appeared carrying a strange looking package. + +Slim smiled mysteriously. "Shoot rabbits," he replied evasively. + +"It isn't a torpedo," said quick-witted Sahwah, after one look at the +package. "It's a thermos bottle." + +A chorus of derision went up. "Better Baby has to have his bottle!" "Oh, +Slim! Are you afraid you'll starve before we get our dinner?" "What's in +it, Slim, let's see!" + +Slim turned fiery red and shot a dark look at Sahwah. + +"It's hot chocolate, I know," continued his red-cheeked tormentor. "Slim +has to have a dose every hour or he feels faint." Sahwah had long ago +discovered Slim's pet weakness. + +"Where's Katherine?" said somebody suddenly. + +"Why, isn't she here?" said Nyoda, counting over the group. "I thought I +saw her here." + +"She hasn't come yet," declared Hinpoha and Gladys. + +"Oh, I hope she hasn't had an absent-minded fit and forgotten this is +Washington's Birthday," said Sahwah, clasping her hands in distress. + +Uncle Teddy pulled out his watch. "It's too late to go and look for her," +he said, "just five minutes until train time." + +Consternation reigned in the group. The Captain gallantly offered to miss +the train and hunt her up, but the others would not hear of it. Hasty +telephoning to her house brought the news that Katherine had left half an +hour ago for the station. + +"Then she'll be here," said Nyoda, eyeing the clock nervously. "If she +doesn't make it she'll have to miss it, that's all." There were times +when she would have liked to shake Katherine for her unbusiness-like +ways. + +But eight twenty-five came and no Katherine. The long train pulled in and +Uncle Teddy swung them all aboard, and with a great cheering and waving +of snowshoes they were off. Other passengers looked with interest at the +lively group that occupied one whole end of the car, singing, laughing, +shouting nonsense at one another. + +"Time for the Better Baby to have his bottle!" said the Bottomless Pitt, +gaining possession of the thermos bottle. He unscrewed the lid and held +it to Slim's lips, making him drink willy-nilly. It was hot chocolate, as +Sahwah had guessed. Slim choked and sputtered and had to be patted on the +back. + +"Do behave, children," said Nyoda, as the fun threatened to block the +aisle, "that magazine man can't get through." + +The man stood in the midst of the scufflers, patiently trying to cry his +wares above the din. + +"Buy a maggyzine," he chanted. "All the latest maggyzines!" + + "Good ones for the ladies, + Bad ones for the gents; + All the latest maggyzines + For fifteen cents!" + +Amused, they stopped talking to listen to his ridiculous singsong. + +"Buy a maggyzine, lady?" he said, holding one out to Nyoda. On the last +sentence his voice cracked in three directions and leaped up the scale a +full octave, so the word "lady" was uttered in a high falsetto squeak. + +"Katherine!" exclaimed Nyoda, seizing the magazine seller by the arm in +amazement. + +"At yer service, mum," replied that worthy, with a low bow. + +Then, amid the hubbub that ensued she calmly proceeded to remove the +fuzzy little black mustache that had adorned her upper lip, took off the +fur cap that had covered her hair and threw back the long ulster that +covered her from neck to heels, and stood smiling wickedly at them. + +"Katherine, you awful, awful, wonderful, wonderful girl, how did you +manage to do it?" gasped Gladys, breathless with astonishment. + +"And when did you get on the train?" cried Hinpoha in the same breath. +"You didn't get on with us." + +"I got into the wrong street car this morning," replied Katherine, +producing her glasses from her sweater pocket and polishing them on the +end of her muffler, "and got carried east instead of west. When I found +it out there wasn't time to come back to the Union Station, so I went on +out to the Lakeside Station and go on the train there. I had planned to +be waiting for you on the step when we got into the Union, but on the way +out I met a magazine seller and had an inspiration. I bribed him to let +me take his cap and books and coat for ten minutes. The mustache I had +with me. I thought it might be useful in case I should be called up to +perform a 'stunt' at Lonesome Creek. The rest you already know, as they +say in the novels." She tossed the borrowed plumage into an empty seat +and settled herself beside Slim. + +"By the way," she said quizzically, looking at the boys, "what was it I +heard you declaring a while ago, that no girl could masquerade as a boy +and really fool a boy?" + +"Pooh, you didn't really fool us," said Slim. + +"Oh, no, I didn't," jeered Katherine. + +"Well, we'd have found you out before long," said the Captain. + +"Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn't," said Katherine. "The only thing +I noticed you doing was looking with envy at my little mustache." + +The Captain blushed furiously and the rest shouted with laughter. + +"Anyway, Nyoda knew me first," she continued, "and that shows that girls +are smarter than boys. I can just see us being fooled by one of you +dressed as a girl." + +"I bet I could do it," said the Captain. + +"Maybe _you_ could, Cicero," said Hinpoha sweetly. Relations between her +and the Captain were somewhat strained these days, but how it began or +what it was all about, no one could tell. + +The Captain turned angrily at the taunting use of his name. He knew it +was meant to imply that he was "Cissy" enough to pass off for a girl. "So +you think I'm a Cissy, do you?" he said hotly. If Hinpoha had been a boy +there would have been a scuffle right there, but as it was he was +helpless. + +"Tell them how you trailed the fox up in Ontario, father," interrupted +Aunt Clara hastily, and Uncle Teddy began a thrilling tale of adventure +in the backwoods that held them spellbound until they reached their +station. + +"Now for the long white trail!" cried Uncle Teddy cheerily, when all +snowshoes were adjusted to their owners' satisfaction. "Nine o'clock and +all's well! Catertown and dinner at twelve o'clock, ten miles due south +as the crow flies! Here, Captain, you be the first pathfinder. Here is a +map of the way we are to take. You may be leader until you get us off the +track, and then we'll let one of the girls try her hand. Forward, march!" + +Whole new worlds lie before the hiker on snowshoes. All the ugliness in +Nature is concealed by the soft white mantle of snow, like a scratched +and stained old table covered with a spotless cloth, and everything is +glistening and wonderful and beautiful. The snowshoes are seven league +boots in very truth. On them you go right over stumps and fences and +hummocks and stones and little hollows. You do not need to keep to the +road or to the beaten track. Dame Frost, like Sir Walter Raleigh, has +spread her mantle over the unpleasant places and over it you may pass in +safety. + +"Where are we now?" asked the Bottomless Pitt. + +"Casey's Woods," replied the Captain, referring to his map. + +"Oh," cried Sahwah, "don't you remember how we wanted to come here to a +picnic once in the summer, but we couldn't go into the woods at all, +because the mosquitoes were just terrible? Why didn't we ever think of +holding a picnic in the winter? There are no ants to crawl into your +shoes and no spiders to get into your cocoa." + +"And no poison ivy," said Gladys. "Why, winter is the very best time to +hold a picnic!" + +And they made up a hiking song to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia," +and sang it until the woods echoed: + + "Hurrah, hurrah, said the possum to the 'coon, + Hurrah, hurrah, what makes you come so soon? + We started in the morning, and we'll get there before noon, + As we go hiking on our snowshoes!" + +"Doesn't Aunt Clara look just like a Teddy Bear in that brown fur coat?" +whispered Gladys to Sahwah. Aunt Clara was nearly as broad as she was +long, and, wrapped in furs as she was, seemed rounder yet. + +"Halt!" cried Uncle Teddy, as the company came out on the edge of a deep +ravine. "Oh, I say, Captain, what's this? It doesn't seem to me I +included this in my order." + +Much confused, the Captain spread his road map on a log and set the +compass on it, trying to find out where he had gone wrong. "Shucks," he +said disgustedly, after a moment's study. "We should have gone at right +angles to that hundred-foot pine tree instead of in a line with it. +Everybody back up--I mean, right about face. Shucks!" And he handed the +map and the compass to Sahwah with as good grace as he could and took the +end of the line, as became an officer who had been reduced to the ranks. + +Sahwah led them back to the pine tree and in the right direction from it, +as indicated on the map, and they soon came to the bridge which spanned +the gorge a mile below the spot where the Captain had reached it. Detour +and all they reached Catertown at twelve o'clock, where their ravenous +appetites worked fearful havoc with the good dinner set before them. +Uncle Teddy insisted upon having Slim's thermos bottle filled with milk, +to guard against his getting faint on the way, although Slim blushed and +protested. Ten more miles to make in the afternoon. But to these +practised hikers the distance before and behind them seemed nothing +wonderful and they declared the going was so good on snowshoes that they +could keep on forever. Sahwah followed the map accurately, and brought +them out at the right crossroads at the end of five miles, where she +relinquished her office as pathfinder to Bottomless Pitt, who was next in +line. It had been decided en route that five miles should be the length +of any leader's service. + +"Honorable discharge," said Uncle Teddy, patting Sahwah on the head. +"I'll wager there aren't many girls who could have done that." + +"All of us could," answered Sahwah, eager to sing the praises of the +group as a whole. + +The Captain said nothing. He felt that he had disgraced the Sandwiches by +letting a girl get ahead of him. It did not help him any to note that +Hinpoha was looking at him and evidently thinking the same thing. The +Captain was very sore at heart. He liked and admired Hinpoha more than +any of the other Winnebagos, and they had always been the best of friends +until suddenly, for some reason which he could not explain, she had +turned against him. And she had done the one thing to him that he could +never forgive. She had called him "Cicero." All was over between them. +Winter hikes weren't such a lot of fun after all, he told himself. + +"Hi, look at the rabbit," shouted Pitt, pointing out an inquisitive bunny +that sat upon his haunches under a tree, "to see the parade go by." + +"Don't hurt him, don't hurt him," cried Sahwah, dancing up and down and +trying to focus her camera on him. + +"Who's hurting him?" said the Captain. "We haven't anything to hurt him +with, unless Slim steps on him." Sahwah clicked her camera and at the +click Br'er Bunny vanished into space. + +"Let's see what kind of tracks he made," said Sahwah, and they all +willingly detoured a trifle to examine the footprints in the snow. + +"There are some others beside his," said Bottomless Pitt. "What kind of +an animal is that, Uncle Teddy?" + +Uncle Teddy examined the tracks and nodded his head with a satisfied air. +"You boys ought to know those tracks," he said provokingly. "What kind of +scouts are you, anyway? Here, Captain, quit your scowling like a +thundercloud and tell us what animal has been taking a walk. I certainly +have taught you enough about woodcraft to know that." + +The Captain looked at the tracks closely. "I think it's a 'coon," he said +finally. + +"Think so!" scoffed Uncle Teddy. "Don't you know so? Pitt, what do you +say?" + +"Looks like a 'coon to me," answered Pitt. + +"And what do you say, Redbird?" asked Uncle Teddy, pulling Sahwah's hair. + +"There's where you boys have us beaten," said Sahwah frankly. "We never +have had a chance to learn animal tracks." + +"I'm sure it's a 'coon," said the Captain, his spirits rising with the +chance to crow over the girls. + +"All right, if you're sure of it, we'll follow the trail awhile and see +where he is," said Uncle Teddy. "But you always want to be sure of what +you see, after you've learned it once. A good woodsman always fixes a +thing in his mind so he'll know it the next time he sees it." + +"I'm sure it's a 'coon," repeated the Captain. "May we follow the trail +awhile?" Eagerly they trotted along beside the footprints in the snow, +impatient to have a sight of the animal. This was a new sport to the +Winnebagos and they were greatly excited about it. The Captain had +forgotten his low spirits and was in the lead now. + +"I say, the fellow that spies him first ought to be pathfinder for the +rest of the way," he said. + +"What does a 'coon look like?" panted Sahwah, trying to keep up with him. + +"He has a short, thick, striped tail," said the Captain, "and a---- Oh, +goodness gracious! Oh, Methuselah's great grandmother!" For just then the +wind began to blow strongly from the direction in which they were going, +carrying with it an unmistakable odor. With one accord they took to their +heels. + +"O Uncle Teddy," said the Captain, furious at himself, "you knew what it +was all the while! Why didn't you tell us?" + +"Well," said Uncle Teddy dryly, "you were so blooming sure it was a 'coon +that I couldn't contradict you very well without being impolite. 'There's +nothing like being dead sure,' I says to myself. And I knew you would +never be satisfied until you had found out for yourself." + +The Captain, permanently abashed, retired to the rear of the line and +ventured no more opinions about anything they saw, and took not the +slightest interest when Hinpoha discovered a rare little moosewood maple +and identified it by its beautiful green bark. + +"Last lap!" shouted Pitt, consulting the map for the hundred and fortieth +time. "Turn east by the twin oaks and approach the camp from the rear! +Company, forward march!" + +"There are the cabins now," cried the Monkey, throwing his cap into the +air. "Maybe I won't sit down and hold my feet up, though!" + +"Maybe you won't jump around and get some firewood, though!" remarked +Uncle Teddy. "End of the hike, messmates," he shouted, executing a droll +dance on his snowshoes and waving his long arms like windmills. "All +together, now, three cheers and a tiger for the end of the hike!" And +they gave them with a will. + +The place where they were to spend that night and the next was an +abandoned sugar camp. It had once been a fine grove of trees, but so many +had been killed by the boring worms that it was no longer profitable. Two +cabins remained standing and were used on and off by hunters during the +season. + +"Oh-h-h, ours is a real log cabin," cried Sahwah, dancing around in +ecstasy when quarters had been assigned. "It's lots nicer than the old +board shack the boys are going to have. I'll feel just like Abraham +Lincoln to-night, only so much more elegant, because Abraham Lincoln had +to split his own rails, and we can sit at ease and let the boys tote our +wood for us." + +"But--where are the beds?" cried Hinpoha, in perplexity, as they went +inside. + +"Why, _those_," said Aunt Clara, pointing to some bin-like things ranged +in a double tier along one wall. "Those are our bunks." + +"Bunks!" echoed the girls in rather a dismayed tone. "We didn't think +we'd have to sleep in bunks. We expected camp beds, at least." + +"They're quite comfortable," said Aunt Clara reassuringly, "when they're +filled with clean straw. Our blankets are in that big box and we'd better +get our beds made the first thing, so we can roll into them as soon as we +get tired." She bustled around, smoothing out the straw in the bunks with +a practised hand and showing the girls how to fold their blankets to the +best advantage. "Be sure you have just as much under you as over you," +she advised them again and again. "Camping in winter is a very different +proposition from sleeping out in summer." + +Now that the girls had gotten used to the idea of the bunks, they began +to think it was a jolly good lark to sleep in them. "If bunks it must be, +bunks it is," said Katherine, in a lugubrious tone that sent them all +into gales of laughter, "but I never thought I'd live to see the day!" + +"Me for the upper berth," said Sahwah, standing on a table to accomplish +the spreading of her blankets. It was not long before they were all +singing: + + "Oh, we're bunking tonight on the side of the wall, + Give us a ladder, please, + We've slept in many beds, both hard and soft, + But never in bunks like these!" + + "Bunking tonight, + Bunking tonight, + Bunking on the side of the wall!" + +And they raised such a din with the chorus that the boys came streaming +over to see what the fun was about and to inquire casually if supper +wasn't nearly ready. + +"Goodness, no," answered Nyoda; "we've just got our beds made. Go +overpower Slim, if you are hungry, and take his bottle away from him. By +the way, which cabin is to be honored by the smell of the cooking?" + +"The log cabin is the largest," said Uncle Teddy, "and it has both the +fireplace and the little stove. The other is just a sleeping cabin. I +guess the honor is yours. All aboard for the dining car! Where's that +canned soup? Bring in the wood, boys, and make a cooking fire in the +stove. You know what a cooking fire is, I suppose. Everybody get to work. +Too many cooks can't spoil this broth." + +They flew around, getting in each other's way dreadfully, but under Uncle +Teddy's and Aunt Clara's able management they did contrive to accomplish +the things they were trying to do, and in less than no time the supper +was steaming on the table. + +"Maybe I won't do anything to that soup and that creamed fish!" sighed +Slim, his face beaming at the sight of the banquet spread before him. + +"Maybe it won't do anything to him!" said Katherine in an aside to +Sahwah. "I got a whole teaspoonful of Hinpoha's old talcum powder in the +cream sauce before I discovered it wasn't flour, and then it was too late +to take it out again." + +"Never mind," Sahwah giggled back, "it's so hot you can't taste it, and +it won't last long enough to get cold. Your secret is safe in our +stomachs!" + +The paper plates made a grand glare in the fireplace after supper was +over and in its light Katherine and Slim gave a Punch and Judy show until +Slim showed symptoms of bursting from want of breath, whereupon the play +came to an end and it was discovered that Bottomless Pitt had fallen +asleep in a corner. + +"Hide his shoes!" suggested the Monkey, and promptly took them off and +tied them by strings to a tack in the ceiling. + +"Let's enchant him altogether," said the gifted Katherine, and fastened +the little mustache to his lip. Then they stuck his head full of paper +curls and powdered his face with flour. The effect when he woke up was +all they had hoped for. They had set a small wall mirror on the floor +beside him, so he got the full benefit of his altered appearance on his +first glance around. Uttering a startled yell, he sprang to his feet, +looking wildly around. Brought to himself by the laughter on all sides, +he shook his fist fiercely at Slim and the Captain, declaring that he +would make the fellow who did that eat soap. As Katherine was the +"fellow" in question this only increased the merriment at his expense. +Slim leaned against the wall so helpless from laughter that he didn't +even resist when Pitt climbed on his shoulders to haul down his shoes, +but went on chuckling violently until he sagged to one side and down came +both boys in a heap, shoes, tack and all. + +"I wish you boys would go home," said Katherine primly. "You're +altogether too rough for us little girls to play with. I think it's +horrid and nasty to play tricks on people when they're asleep." From her +gently shocked and disapproving expression you never would have guessed +that she was the one who had started it all. + +"Come on home, fellows, we're invited out," said Uncle Teddy, with a +pretended injured air. "It's time we little gentlemen were in the hay--I +mean the straw. Come on, Pitt, never mind looking for the tack; Mother +will find it when she gets up in her stocking feet to see if she locked +the door!" With which shot he retired in haste through the doorway and +over to the other cabin, and just in time, for Aunt Clara sent a snowball +flying after him that fell short by a bare inch. + +Then she closed and barred the door, fixed the fire with hardwood which +would last the rest of the night, plastered adhesive strips over the +various blisters which the Winnebago feet had acquired on the long march, +and tucked them all in warmly with a motherly pat and a goodnight kiss. +After a twenty-mile walk in the open air a hard plank would be a +comfortable resting place, and the straw filled and blanket padded bunks +were far from the hard plank class. For the first time in the history of +Winnebago sleeping parties there was strictly "nothing doing" after they +were tucked in. Most of them fell asleep during the process of tucking. + +Thus it was that when the first thump came at the door nobody stirred. A +second thump followed like a blow from a battering ram. Aunt Clara sat +up. + +"Who's there?" she called. No answer save a series of blows and thumps +that threatened to break the door down. The rest were awake by this time, +trembling in their beds. + +"Theodore, is that you?" shrieked Aunt Clara above the noise. "What do +you want?" Again came a shower of blows, as if somebody were trying to +force their way in with an axe. This time the bars gave way and the door +swung inward. There was a loud bellowing, roaring sound, which seemed to +their startled ears like a deep-throated whistle, and into the cabin +there walked a cow. The girls shrieked and disappeared under the +bed-clothes, for to their excited fancy she looked like a wild animal. + +"Shoo, get out!" shouted Aunt Clara, throwing her slipper with neat aim +into the cow's face. Bossy looked reproachfully at her and walked farther +into the cabin, standing close beside the row of bunks. + +Katherine raised her head from the blanket to see what was going on and +looked right into the open mouth of the creature as it stood over her. +"Murder! It's going to eat me up!" she shrieked, diving under the covers +with a prolonged howl. + +By this time Aunt Clara had found the whistle with which she always +summoned her husband when she needed him and blew a long, shrill blast. A +few minutes later Uncle Teddy appeared at the door, with a string of +startled boys running out of their cabin behind him, and at a word of +command from him, accompanied by several emphatic pokes and proddings, +Mrs. Bossy meekly turned and walked out through the doorway, which was +considerably the worse for her entrance. She had probably strayed from +the nearest farmhouse and was suffering from the intense cold. Attracted +by the light streaming from the little window of the cabin she had come +to find shelter, and when nobody answered her first gentle knocks with +her horns, she had taken matters into her own hands and become +housebreaker. She was stabled in a lean-to shelter for the rest of the +night and made comfortable with straw and a blanket. + +"Isn't it funny how all the suffering critters come to our hospitable +door for shelter?" said Katherine at the breakfast table. "Just like +Sandhelo. He came of his own accord, also." + +"They must know that we keep the Fire Law," answered Hinpoha. "'Whose +house is bare and dark and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own'!" + +"Isn't it strange that she came to our door, and not to the boys'," said +Gladys. "They had a light shining, too, but her footprints show that she +came past their door to stop at ours." + +"That's because she was a lady," replied Uncle Teddy, helping himself to +his fifth slice of fried bacon, "and no lady would come bustling into a +gentleman's apartment like that. Hurry up and get your chores done, you +housekeepers and wood-gatherers, and let's go out and make a snow man." + +"Let's make a totem-pole," suggested Katherine, when they were all out +playing in the snow. "It's lots more epic than making a snow man." + +"You mean a 'snowtem pole,'" observed Uncle Teddy. + +So they set to work and made a marvellous totem-pole, higher than the +cabin, with figures carved into its sides such as were never on land or +sea. Then Uncle Teddy and the boys, who had done less carving on their +sections and consequently were finished first, set up a barber pole on +the other side of the doorway, containing the stripes with a crimson of +their own concocting, which was a secret, but which involved several +trips to the kitchen and the food supply box. All this time the Captain +had never spoken one word to Hinpoha. Whenever he would have relented +under the spell of the jolly larks they were having, something whispered +to him, "She called me Cicero! I won't stand that from anyone!" + +"Who's ripe for a trifling sprint of five miles this afternoon?" asked +Uncle Teddy at the dinner table, taking three scones at once from the +plate. + +"I! I! I!" cried a chorus of voices, and a dozen hands waved frantically +above the table. + +"Have you any special place in mind?" asked Aunt Clara, pretending not to +see Uncle Teddy stealing yet another buttered scone from her plate. + +"Well," said Uncle Teddy, "I happen to know that there's a real sugar +camp in action somewhere about here, and I think five miles covers it, +there and back. It might not be the worst idea in the world to look in +and see how they are getting on. I dare say most of these folks here have +never seen maple syrup outside of a can." + +A sigh of delight ran around the table. "Hurry up, everybody, and put +everything you have left into your mouths, so I can collect the plates," +said Sahwah, impatient to start at once. + +But when the time came to start Hinpoha had developed such a dizzy +headache that going along was out of the question. "It's nothing +serious," she stoutly maintained, in reply to anxious inquiries. "Too +much noise, that's all. We might call it 'Mal de racket'!" She would not +hear of any of them staying at home with her, however, although Aunt +Clara and Nyoda both insisted. "Go on, all of you," she begged, pressing +her hand to her throbbing temples. "It would make it so much worse if I +thought I had kept you away from the fun. All I want is to lie down +quietly. I'll be perfectly all right here. If I feel better soon I'll +follow your tracks and either catch up with you or meet you there and +come back home with you. Please go." And so insistent was she that they +went without her. + +"Be sure you lock the door carefully," called Aunt Clara. + +"And be sure you put out a sign, NO COWS ADMITTED," said Sahwah. And +laughing they set out, leaving her tucked in her bunk. With the cessation +of the noise that had almost lifted the roof of the cabin during the +dinner hour, the headache gradually disappeared, and in an hour Hinpoha +was herself again. Swiftly buckling on her snowshoes she ran out into the +stinging air, which seemed like a cool hand laid on her forehead. + +She found the trail of the others easily, for the crust was slightly +dented in by every step. The way led through a thick strip of woods. +Hinpoha noticed that there were many tracks of animals here and wished +with all her heart that she knew what they were. "It would be such a +grand thing to say to the folks at home, 'I followed the trail of a +'coon,' and be sure it was a 'coon," she said to herself, and then +laughed aloud at the ridiculous mistake of the Captain. Then she stood +still in delight, for just before her a dark, furry body was slipping +along over the snow. "I believe that really is one," she said to herself +joyfully. "I can't catch him, of course, but maybe he'll run up a +tree--people always talk about 'coons being treed--and then I can see +what he looks like." And she sped after the little animal, who took alarm +at her first step and disappeared between the trunks of the trees. + +Hinpoha looked for him for a while and then realized it was a hopeless +search and with a sigh turned to resume her own way through the woods. +Then she stopped in dismay. The broad trail she had been following so +easily had vanished from the earth! The only marks on the white ground +were those of her own snowshoes. "Of course," she said, coming to herself +with a shake, "I got off the trail when I followed that 'coon. I'll +follow my own tracks back." But her own tracks led her round and round in +a circle, in and out among the tree trunks, and did not end up in what +she sought. It took her some minutes to realize that she was actually +lost in the woods. Then, of course, the first thing she did was to go +into a panic, and run wildly back and forth. "Come, this will never do," +she told herself severely, standing still. "I must stop and think before +I do anything else. Let me see, what was it Migwan did the time she was +lost up in the Maine woods? She sat down on the ground and wrote poetry, +and waited until we came and found her! I can't write poetry, that's out +of the question, and I can't sit on the ground, either, it's too cold. +I'll have to stand up and wait." But that proved a dreary amusement. It +was getting bitterly cold, and a strong wind whistled through the bare +branches till it made her flesh creep. To make things worse, an early +twilight was setting in and the light was rapidly fading. To keep from +taking cold she walked up and down bravely among the trees, growing more +terrified every minute. She tried to sing, to call, to shout, to make her +voice carry across the snow, but it was lost in the moaning of the wind. +Her feet grew numb with the cold and she stamped them vigorously to start +up the blood. The crust broke through, and down she went through several +feet of snow to her waist. She braced herself with her hands and tried to +draw her feet out, but they went through also and she floundered with her +face in the icy snowflakes. Then with a growing sense of horror she +realized what had happened. The ends of her snowshoes had become firmly +wedged under the roots of a tree, and she was unable to pull them out. +And her feet, tightly bound to the snowshoes by the pretty straps and +buckles, were trapped. She struggled furiously, and only sank deeper in +the snow. + + +As the "syrup party," as they called themselves, were just ready to cool +off the bit of boiled sap that had been given them to taste, the Captain +suddenly sprang to his feet and smote his forehead. "Daggers and dirks!" +he exclaimed, "I left my sweater hanging right in front of the fire when +we came away--you remember it got all wet in the snowball fight this +morning--and I bet it's scorched to cinders by this time. Do you folks +mind if I go back to the cabin in a hurry? I got that sweater for +Christmas and I hate to lose it so soon. I'm all right, uncle, I can find +the way, even if it is getting dark. Don't hurry yourselves. Give my +share of the syrup to Slim. He's getting thin." And adjusting his +snowshoes with a skilled "jiffy twist," he was off down the trail. + +Now the Captain, although he had been mistaken about the tracks the day +before, was nevertheless an observant lad, and when he came to the place +where Hinpoha had left the trail, he noticed the marks going off in +another direction and stood still and looked at them. He knew that they +most likely belonged to Hinpoha, and he knew also that she had not +arrived at the sugar camp and he had not met her on the trail coming +home, so, putting two and two together, he decided that she must be in +the woods somewhere. A mean little instinct whispered to him to go on his +way and let her be wherever she was, and get a good fright until the rest +found her; then his better nature rose to the top and he decided to hunt +her up and show her the trail to meet the others. + +"Glory, she certainly did mess up the trail some," he said to himself, as +he followed the marks which wandered up and down and doubled back on +themselves and crisscrossed everywhere. It was slow going, for the +darkness was hiding the footprints and he had to bend down to the ground +to see them clearly. He almost stepped on her at last when he did find +her. She was numb from the cold and very nearly asleep and he thought she +was dead. The imprisoned snowshoes held her down and he could not pull +her out of the snow at first. Finally he suspected what had happened and +dug down in and loosened the buckles. It took a good deal of working +after she was freed to get life back into the numb feet and ankles, but +it was accomplished at last and Hinpoha was ready to walk home. + +Then a moment of embarrassment fell between them. Hinpoha flushed and +looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry I called you Cicero," she said, with a +sneeze between every word. "You aren't a Cissy at all. You're a hero!" +And then for no reason at all, except that the afternoon's strenuous +adventure had unstrung her nerves, she burst into tears. + +"Here," said the Captain, entirely light-hearted again, and holding up +the little bucket he had carried away from the sugar camp, "cry into the +pail. Evaporate the water. Save the salt. It's worth money." + +And Hinpoha giggled foolishly and dried her tears and raced back to the +cabin as fast as she could go, to stave off pneumonia on her arrival with +hot blankets and steaming drinks. + +"He _is_ a hero," she murmured dreamily to Gladys, who hovered around her +like an anxious grandmother, after the others were satisfied that she was +all right, and had set to work getting supper; "he never once said, 'I +told you so'!" + + + + + CHAPTER XII + HINPOHA'S ROMANCE + + +An indistinct murmur floated down from the Winnebago room of the Open +Door Lodge, punctuated by little squeals and exclamations. The firelight +shown on four tense faces, and four pairs of eyes were riveted on the two +figures in the center of the group who were engaged in a very singular +occupation. Balanced between two stiffly outstretched and quivering right +forefingers hung a key, and suspended from it by a string was a +black-covered book, supposed to be set apart from all secular uses. In a +breathless undertone Hinpoha--for she was the owner of one of the +aforesaid fingers--was chanting a passage of scripture designed for a +widely different application. A strained hush was followed by another +outbreak of exclamations. "Look, it's turning! It began to turn the +minute she said, 'Turn, my beloved.' What letter did it turn on, 'Poha?" + +"D," replied Hinpoha, in a solemn whisper. + +"D," repeated the chorus, "what does that stand for?" + +"Daniel," supplied Sahwah promptly. + +"His name's going to be Daniel," chanted the chorus. "Now try for the +last name." + +Again the mystic rite was performed. At "I" the Bible trembled with a +premonitory movement. "It's turning!" whispered the chorus in an awed +tone. "No, it isn't either; it's still again." After that one tremor the +soothsaying volume remained bafflingly motionless through the recitation +of the mysteries which accompanied the letter J. K likewise began +uneventfully. But no sooner had Hinpoha uttered the fateful words, "Turn, +my beloved," when with a suddenness that scared them half out of their +wits the key turned sharply in the supporting fingers, twisted itself +free and fell to the floor with an emphatic bang. + +"It's K," cried Hinpoha, covering her face with her hands. "What names +begin with K?" + +"King," said Gladys. + +"Knight," suggested Katherine. + +"All the noble names," said Nakwisi dreamily. + +"Mrs. Daniel King," said Sahwah experimentally, whereupon Hinpoha hid her +face in the bearskin rug. + +"You try it, Katherine," said Gladys. "I'll hold the key with you." + +"Oh, I'm afraid to try it," said Katherine, hanging back and looking +uncomfortable. "It's no use, anyway; nobody'd have me for a gift." + +"It always tells the truth," said the blushing Hinpoha. "You know Miss +Vining, Clara Morrison's old maid aunt? Well, Clara persuaded her to try +it and it wouldn't turn for her at all, and they went through the +alphabet three times in succession." + +With a skeptical expression Katherine suffered herself to be placed on +the box covered with an old piece of tapestry displaying a threadbare +figure of the three fates, which was the seat of those engaged in the +mysteries. "My beloved is mine, and I am his," she recited jerkily, +keeping her eyes glued to the key. "He feedeth upon a row of lilies----" + +"It's 'He feedeth upon the lilies,' just 'the lilies'; the 'row' part +comes later," interrupted Gladys in a sharp whisper. + +"He feedeth upon the lilies, just the lilies, the row part----" repeated +Katherine dutifully. + +"No, no; it's all wrong," said Gladys impatiently. "Begin again." + +"My beloved is mine----" + +"Katherine! Oh-h-h-h Katherine! Are you up there?" the voice of Slim +suddenly called from below. + +The girls all started guiltily and fell into confusion. "Sh! Hide the +Bible, quick!" cried Hinpoha in a sibilant whisper, darting forward and +snatching it from Katherine's hand and concealing it under the bear rug. + +"What are you girls doing up there?" came from below. + +"Oh, nothing," floated down the illuminating reply from above. + +If Nyoda had not been so completely engrossed in her private affairs just +at this time she would have noticed the subtle undercurrent which seemed +to have caught hold of the toes of the entire feminine half of the senior +class at Washington High. It was not the Winnebagos only. In fact, they +had caught it from the others. Every class has its epidemic, be it +tonsillitis, friendship link bracelets or Knox hats. This year it was +fortune telling. Where the mystic rite described above originated nobody +could exactly tell, but in less than a week every girl in the class had +been initiated into the secret, and was busy discovering what her future +initials were to be. The performance was always carried on behind locked +doors or in places otherwise secure from adult eyes, and was often +interrupted right at the most exciting point by approaching footsteps, +but questions as to how the innocent maids had been improving the shining +hour invariably brought out the reply, "Oh, we weren't doing +_anything_--much." Missing keys and books of family worship led to +embarrassing questions once in a while, but somehow the situation was +always bridged over and parents and teachers never really did find out +what the fascinating something was that drew their young friends off into +groups by themselves from which they emerged to day dream instead of +getting their lessons and to make mysterious references to certain +initials. + +The book and key oracle reigned supreme for several weeks and then gave +place to the horoscope. For ten cents in stamps a certain seer dwelling +in a remote town in Oregon offered to "cast" the principal events, past, +present and future, in the lives of all young lady correspondents. It was +not long before intimate heads were bent over scraps of paper comparing +horoscopes. Hinpoha's was acknowledged by all to be the gem of the +collection. + +"You have a brilliant future before you," it read. "You will have a +romantic love affair and will marry your first lover. He is a great +scholar who will afterwards become president. You will meet him when you +are very young." Then followed a dozen lines more of brilliant prophecy. +The special friends of Hinpoha, who had been allowed to peep at her +fortune, Gladys, Sahwah, Katherine, Nakwisi and Medmangi, and one or two +others, who had fore-gathered ostensibly to rehearse a school song, sat +back and regarded their fortunate friend with awe. None of their fortunes +had contained anything so dazzling. + +"You're going to be the President's wife!" murmured Sahwah. "You won't +forget us, will you?" + +"Never!" declared Hinpoha magnanimously, stealing a sly glance into the +mirror. + +"I hope you won't be ashamed of me when I'm married and come calling at +the White House," said Katherine, rather dolefully. "All I drew was a +farmer." + +"I only got an automobile manufacturer," echoed Gladys. + +"That's what comes of having red hair," said Sahwah enviously. "Her +fortune said he would be drawn to her by her beautiful tresses." + +When Hinpoha was preparing for bed that night she stood fully an hour +before the mirror and regarded her shining curls. Up until now she had +never paid much attention to them except when the boys called her redhead +and pretended to light matches on her head, and then she wished with all +her heart, like the little girl in the song, that she had been "born a +blonde." Now for the first time her hair appeared beautiful to her. She +arranged the curls this way and that, piling them on her head and letting +them fall over her white shoulders. And all night she dreamed of standing +up in a carriage and bowing graciously to cheering multitudes and +clasping in her arms the forms of her girlhood friends who were among the +crowd. + +The horoscopes had their day and gave way to something still more +exciting, something so secret that at first it could not be mentioned in +words, but was only alluded to by mysterious references. + +"Marjorie King went," said Gladys to Hinpoha, "and she won't tell a thing +she found out, but she says it was the grandest thing." + +"I don't believe it's worth fifty cents," said Sahwah skeptically. +"Anyhow, I haven't that much to spend." + +"You don't ever dare tell anybody, they say, not a soul," reported Gladys +later. "If you do, the nice things won't happen and the bad ones surely +will." + +"She's the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter," observed Hinpoha in +an awe-stricken tone. "Did you ever hear of anything so wonderful?" + +"Are _you_?" asked Sahwah anxiously, of Hinpoha. + +This last question was entirely unrelated to the preceding statement +concerning the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter. It was part of the +cryptic jargon employed in the discussion of a momentous question. + +"I don't know," answered Hinpoha uncertainly. "Would you?" + +"Oh, do," begged Gladys, "and then if you find out something nice we'll +go in after you. Oh, I forgot, you can't tell us anything." + +"Would your mother mind if you did?" asked Hinpoha, hesitating on the +brink. + +"She really wouldn't mind, but she'd think it awfully silly," answered +Gladys, "so I don't believe I'll tell her." + +"You might find out the whole name," said Sahwah, looking at Hinpoha. + +"And just when it's going to happen," finished Gladys. + +Hinpoha suddenly made up her mind. "I believe I will," she said, looking +at Sahwah. + +Where Hinpoha's thoughts were the next day in school nobody knew, but +they were certainly not on her lessons. She failed signally in every +class. + +"And what were the initials of the great poet, Longfellow?" cooed Miss +Snively, in her honeydrip voice. + +The word "initials" penetrated Hinpoha's wandering mind. "D. K.," she +murmured dreamily. + +"Indeed?" purred Miss Snively. "Can it be that I have been misinformed?" +But today sarcasm was lost on Hinpoha. + +After school was out a select group, half of which seemed to be hanging +back and being coaxed on by the other half, walked ten blocks to an +unfamiliar car line and transferred to a cross-town line. There was a +much more direct route to their destination, but that laid them open to +the risk of meeting friends and relatives who might casually inquire +whither they were bound. Just wherein lay the crime in what they were +doing, no one could have told, nor why it should be kept such a dark +secret, but singly and collectively they would have died rather than +reveal the nature of the latest epidemic. + +By devious ways they reached the end of their journey and stood +irresolute on the sidewalk before a house which bore a plate on the door +announcing that that same roof sheltered the object of their desire. + +"Shall we all go in together?" whispered Gladys. There was no need of +whispering, for no one was within earshot, but with one accord they +lowered their voices. They went up the steps and held another +consultation. "You ring the bell," said Gladys. + +"No, you ring it," said Hinpoha. Thus encouraged, Hinpoha pushed the +button, the door swung inward and they passed through. An hour later they +stood on the corner again, waiting for the car to take them home. + +"Did she say anything about--about----" inquired Gladys. + +Hinpoha clapped her hand over her mouth and made inarticulate sounds +beneath it, but her eyes were sparkling, as they never sparkled before. + +"Excuse me," gasped Gladys; "I forgot you mustn't tell." + +"Can't you give us a hint?" begged Sahwah, who had gone along for moral +support. + +Hinpoha shook her head and retained her finger on her lips to stop any +leaks. + +"Well, it couldn't have been any nicer than mine," said Gladys, with an +air of satisfaction. "Mine was just splendid. Maybe yours +wasn't--favorable?" she added, stricken with a sudden doubt as to the +superiority of Hinpoha's future. + +"It was, too!" declared Hinpoha. "If you took all the nice things out of +ten fortunes it wouldn't be as nice as mine!" + +Gladys looked unconvinced. "Well, we'll wait a year or two until they +begin to come true, and then we'll see which had the nicer," she +remarked. + +Hinpoha laughed outright. "I don't have to wait a year or two before mine +comes true," she announced triumphantly. "It's coming true in the very +near future. I'm going to meet a light-haired young man and he's going to +admire my hair and fall in love with me, so there! Is yours any nicer +than that?" + +"Oh, you told," cried Sahwah. "Now it won't come true." + +Hinpoha stopped in dismay. "Well, Gladys made me," she wailed. "If she +hadn't said hers was better----" The car came along then and a truce was +patched up. Such a delicate subject could not be discussed openly in the +street-car, even to quarrel about it. + +But if Hinpoha spent a bad night mourning because she had broken the +spell of her good fortune, the next day sent all doubts flying to the +winds. The week before the bald-headed teacher of the literature class +had occasioned a bad break in the routine of the course by +inconsiderately dying of pneumonia in the middle of the term. For several +days thereafter the grief of the class was tempered by the fact that +there were no recitations. But on the day after Gladys and Hinpoha, with +Sahwah and Katherine as chaperones, had visited the Seventh Daughter of a +Seventh Daughter, an announcement appeared on the session room blackboard +to the effect that literature recitations would be resumed that morning. +As they filed into the literature class room they were greeted by the +sight of the new teacher standing beside the desk. + +"Boys and girls," said the principal, who was doing the honors, "this is +Mr. David Knoblock, who will have charge of this class in the future." +And he hurried out. + +"David Knoblock!" whispered the wit of the class to his neighbor. +"Knoblock, No Block, see?" And a titter ran through the class. + +"David Knoblock!" said Katherine to herself. "He looks as though his name +might be Percy Pimpernell." + +"David Knoblock!" repeated Hinpoha to herself, and sat mute before the +workings of fate. David Knoblock. D. K. The Car of Destiny had stopped +before her door and from it had alighted the fair-haired stranger! + +Standing before the class in the glory of his yellow hair, pale, +sprouting mustache, blue eyes and pink cheeks, Mr. Knoblock seemed to +them a composite of Adonis, Paris and Apollo Belvidere, whose mythical +charms had been impressed upon them by the late lamented instructor. + +"What has the class been reading, Miss--ah--Miss Katherine?" he inquired, +consulting the class roll. + +"Tennyson, Mr. Knoblock," answered Katherine briefly. + +"_Professor_ Knoblock, if you please," he corrected gently. "Ah, yes; +Tennyson." And turning the pages of his book with a manicured finger, he +found the place and began to read aloud, glancing up at one or another of +his girl pupils from time to time. More and more often that glance rested +on Hinpoha, for with the sun shining through the window on her hair she +was the most vivid spot of color in the room. Finally he did not take his +eyes away at all, and, looking her straight in the face, he read in +sentimental tones: + + "Queen of the rosebud garden of girls, + Come hither, the dances are done, + In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, + Queen, lily and rose, in one; + Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, + To the flowers, and be their sun." + +In the blaze of that glance Hinpoha's romantic heart melted like a lump +of wax. The room swam in a rose-colored mist. The great thing that she +had read about in books had happened to her; she was in love! It was not +long before the whole school knew about the affair. Whenever there was a +sentimental passage in the book Professor Knoblock looked at Hinpoha and +at her alone. He often detained her a moment after class to inquire if +that last paragraph had been entirely clear to her; he thought she had +looked not quite satisfied with his explanation. As he roomed in the next +street to her home he generally met her on the corner in the morning and +walked to school with her. Certain sour-dispositioned damsels in the +class, who had made eyes at the new Lochinvar in vain, made sneering +remarks about a girl who had so few boy friends in the class that she had +to ogle a teacher; others sighed enviously when they looked at her +woman's crown of glory and realized their handicap; the Winnebagos +regarded the whole thing as the workings of fate, pure and simple, for +was it not even as the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter had +predicted? + +As for Hinpoha herself, she was too transported to care what anyone else +thought about it. She was surrounded by a rarified atmosphere and the +voices of earth troubled her not. Just now she sat blushing deeply and +crushing in her hand a note which had appeared mysteriously between the +pages of her _Selections from the Standard English Poets_. It was written +in Mr. Knoblock's slanting backhand, and read: + + +"My Dear Miss Bradford: + +"Never have I seen such glorious hair as yours. I cannot take my eyes +from it while you are in the room, and it haunts me by night. May I ask a +great favor of you--that you grant me one lock, one small lock, as a +keepsake? I fear you will be too modest to make this gift in person, and +all I ask is that you slip it into the dictionary on my desk." + + +The signature was a long ornamental K, with a running vine entwined about +its upright stroke. + +Hinpoha scarcely raised her eyes above the level of her book during the +whole recitation. She sat nervously toying with a long perfect curl that +hung down over her shoulder. Toward the close of the recitation period +she came out of her abstraction and touched the boy in front of her on +the shoulder. "Lend me your penknife," she whispered in answer to his +look of inquiry. The Senior Literature Class occupied the last hour of +the day, and as Mr. Knoblock had no session room, the passing of the +class left the room empty. On this day Mr. Knoblock left the room with +the class on the stroke of the bell, and the boys and girls, trooping out +in a hurry to get home, did not notice that Hinpoha loitered. She glanced +around nervously, satisfied herself that she was unobserved and then +darted toward the dictionary on Mr. Knoblock's desk. Going out of the +door a minute later she ran violently into Katherine, who had carried out +her inkwell instead of her English book, and was coming back to replace +it. Katherine looked at her curiously. + +"Excuse me," said Hinpoha in a flustered tone, "I really didn't see you. +I was thinking about something." + +Hinpoha looked at Mr. Knoblock with an air of expectancy when she entered +the room the next morning, looking for some sign of gratitude for the +lock of hair, but he said, "Good morning, Miss Bradford," in his usual +tone and made no further remarks. But before the hour was over he took +occasion to borrow her book for a moment, and directly after he returned +it a note fell from its pages into her lap. With starry eyes she unfolded +it and read: + + "O Morning Star that smilest in the blue, + O star, my morning dream hath proven true, + Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me." + +The lines were from "Gareth and Lynette." The universe turned into song. +It was getting altogether too much for Hinpoha to hold and that afternoon +before the fire in the Open Door Lodge she revealed the progress of her +romance to the other Winnebagos. + +"Did you really give him a lock of your hair?" asked Gladys. + +Hinpoha nodded. "Just a tiny curl. It doesn't show much at all where I +cut it out." + +"Collecting locks of hair doesn't mean so terribly much," said Katherine +dryly. "I read about a boy once who begged a lock of hair from every girl +he met and then had his sister embroider a sofa cushion with them. And +another one used them for paint brushes." + +"Oh, but this is--different," said Hinpoha with lofty pity. It had just +dawned on her that Katherine was jealous. The same miracle that had +dropped the scales from her eyes and revealed to her the fact that she +was beautiful had also made her realize that Katherine was hopelessly +plain. + +"And then the verse he wrote afterward," said Gladys, hastening to uphold +Hinpoha. "That proves he is in earnest. And, anyway, it must be true. +Didn't all the fortunes say he was fair and his initials were D. K., and +he was a great scholar, and would be president, and he would fall in love +with Hinpoha's hair?" And Katherine had to admit that whatsoever was +written in the stars was written. + +It mattered little to any of them, Hinpoha least of all, that Professor +Knoblock had thus far said nothing openly upon the subject to Hinpoha. + +"Isn't his bashfulness adorable?" cooed Gladys. "He's too shy to express +himself face to face with her; he puts all his--his passion into +writing." + +"Won't those notes be lovely to read over together when you're old?" said +Sahwah, also stricken with a sentimental fit. But at the mere mention of +such a thing Hinpoha fled with burning cheeks. + +"Hello, Red," said a cheerful voice in her ear, as she went dreaming down +the street one day. "Where have you been keeping yourself for the last +few weeks? You haven't been down in the gym once." + +"Hello, Captain," she said sweetly. (How young he was, she was thinking. +How hopelessly kiddish beside the manly form of Professor Knoblock!) + +"Say, you must have your tin ear on today," remarked the Captain +jovially. "I had to call you three times before you answered." + +"I was thinking," said Hinpoha, and blushed. + +"Must have been an awful hard think," remarked the Captain, stooping to +throw a stone at a cat. (He's nothing but a kid, thought Hinpoha for the +second time.) + +It was on this occasion that the Captain, happily believing all was well +between himself and Hinpoha, invited her to go to the Senior dance at +Washington High with him. + +"I'm awfully sorry, Captain," she said kindly, "but I'm going +with--someone else." + +"Who?" asked the Captain blankly. The "bid" for that party had cost the +Captain just a dollar and a half, as he was not a member of the class, +and he had made the investment for the sake of going with Hinpoha and no +one else. So he repeated in a startled tone, "Who?" + +"Oh, someone," answered Hinpoha tantalizingly, and with that he had to be +content. To herself she was saying, "How foolish it would be to promise +to go with the Captain and then not be able to accept when--when _he_ +asks me." For word had gone round the school that all the faculty were +going to honor the Senior Dance with their presence, and whom else would +Professor Knoblock ask but herself? + +But of all things to happen just at this time, the very next day Hinpoha +came down with the mumps, or rather the mump, for only one side of her +throat was affected. The first half she had had in childhood. + +"That horrid mump stayed away on purpose before," she wailed, "and waited +all these years to jump out on me just at this time. And my new party +dress is too sweet for anything, and my gilt slippers--oh-oh-oh-oh was +there ever such a disappointment?" Gladys and Sahwah and Katherine, who +had all had theirs "on both sides" and were therefore allowed to call, +were consumed with sympathy, and were loud in their efforts to console +the stricken mumpee. + +"Has _he_ come to see you?" ventured Gladys. + +Hinpoha shook her head, which was a somewhat painful process. + +"Of course he can't come," said Sahwah, "he probably hasn't had them." + +Katherine's expression seemed to say that a really brave knight wouldn't +hesitate to expose himself to any danger for the sake of seeing his lady, +seeing which Hinpoha croaked hoarsely, "They probably wouldn't let him +come," the "they" in this case presumably referring to the school +authorities. + +"I saw him down in Forester's this noon when I was ordering the flowers +for mother's birthday," said Gladys, and they all sighed. + +Just then the doorbell rang and Gladys, who was sent to answer it, +returned with a long box in her hand addressed to "Miss Dorothy +Bradford." + +"From Foresters," said Sahwah breathlessly. + +"Flowers!" said Gladys. "Hurry and open them." + +The box disclosed a dozen, long-stemmed pink roses. "Oh! Ah!" echoed the +four in unison. + +"From--him?" asked Gladys. + +"There's no card in the box," said Hinpoha, vainly searching. + +"They must be from him," said Gladys decidedly. "Wasn't he in Forester's +this morning? And it seemed to me I heard him asking for pink roses." + +Hinpoha put the flowers in a tall vase and regarded them with rapture. +They were the first flowers ever sent to her by a man. In them she found +comfort for having to miss the dance. + +"Was he there?" she inquired falteringly of Gladys, the day after the +party. + +Gladys answered in the affirmative. "Did--did any of you dance with him?" +Hinpoha wanted to know further. + +Gladys shook her head. "I saw him dancing once or twice with Miss +Snively," she said. "I don't believe he stayed very long. He disappeared +before it was half over." + +Hinpoha was satisfied. He had not enjoyed himself without her. "Wasn't it +noble of him to dance with Miss Snively?" she said enthusiastically. "No +one else would, I'm sure." + +At Commencement time the year before an old Washington High graduate, who +had attained fame and fortune since his school days, presented the school +with funds to build a swimming pool. Work had progressed during the year +and now the pool was completed and about to be dedicated. An elaborate +pageant was being prepared for the occasion. Mermaids and water nymphs +were to gambol about in the green, glassy depths and lie on the painted +coral reefs; Neptune was to rise from the deep with his trident; a +garland bedecked barge was to bear a queen and her attendants; and then +after the pageant there were to be swimming races, an exhibition of +diving and then a stunt contest. + +The Winnebagos, being experienced swimmers, were very much in the show. +Sahwah had invented a brand new and difficult dive, which she had +christened Mammy Moon; Hinpoha had learned the amazing trick of sitting +down in the water and clasping her hands around her knees; Gladys could +swim the entire length of the pool with the leg stroke only, holding a +parasol over her head with her hands, thus giving the impression that she +was taking a stroll on a sunshiny day. Katherine, alas, could not swim. +The largest body of water she had seen at home had been the cistern, and +most of the time it was low tide in that. But this did not prevent her +from thinking up new and ludicrous stunts for the others to do. It was +she who invented the "Kite-tail" stunt, which was one of the signal +successes on the night of the pageant. In this one of the senior boys, +who was a very powerful swimmer, swam ahead with a rope tied around his +waist, to which another performer clung. Behind this second one four or +five more boys were strung out like the tail of a kite, each one holding +on to the heels of the one ahead, and all towed by the first swimmer. + +The great night arrived and the building which housed the pool was +crowded to the doors. The Senior girls and boys had spent hours +decorating the hall with festoons of greens and potted palms and ferns, +so that it looked like the depths of a forest in the center of which the +pool glittered like a magic spring. Cries of admiration rose from the +audience all around. Hinpoha, who in the first part of the performance +was a mermaid, with water lilies plaited in her shining hair, saw only +one face in the crowd, and that was Professor Knoblock, as he leaned over +the polished brass rail and looked at her, and looked, and looked, and +looked. Only that day Hinpoha, filled with the spirit of romance, had +slipped a note into the dictionary on his desk, at the beginning of the +letter "L," the place where she had put the lock of hair, thanking +Professor Knoblock for the flowers. An hour later, in sudden terror that +he would not find it there and someone else would, she had gone to remove +it. But it had vanished, and in its place was another verse from Gareth +and Lynette: + + "O birds that warble to the morning sky, + O birds that warble as the day goes by, + Sing sweetly; twice my love hath smiled on me." + +The opening of the pool was a success in every way. The nymphs nymphed, +and the mermaids wagged their spangled tails to the delight and wonder of +the spectators, and the royal barge swept up and down to the strains of +stately music. Then the pageant retired, the islands folded up their +tents and vanished, and the swimmers went behind the scenes to prepare +for the races and the stunts. To bridge over this interval, Hinpoha had +been left in the pool all alone to amuse the crowd by floating on a +barrel and trying to balance a tray on her head as she bobbed up and +down. The crowd shouted with laughter and cheered her wildly. All but +one. With arms crossed triumphantly over her breast and tray steady on +her head, Hinpoha looked up to see Miss Snively standing by the edge +regarding her with a coldly sarcastic expression. It was as if she said +in words, "Only such a flathead as you could balance a tray on it." But +the great happiness that surged inside of Hinpoha made her charitable and +forgiving toward all the world, and she sent a sweet and friendly smile +into Miss Snively's face. But that marble-hearted lady looked away. The +next minute there was a slip, a shriek, the flash of a silk dress, and a +splash, and Miss Snively had disappeared beneath the surface at the deep +end of the pool. Hurling the tray into space Hinpoha made a magnificent +plunge for distance toward the spot where Miss Snively had gone down. +Simultaneously with her plunge there was another movement in the crowd, +and Professor Knoblock, stripping off his coat, jumped over the rail into +the pool. Hinpoha reached Miss Snively first, just as the blue silk +appeared on the surface, and, evading her wildly clutching hand, managed +to hold her head above water while she struck out for the rail toward the +hands that were stretched down to her everywhere. Then she became aware +of another figure struggling at her side. Professor Knoblock had come up +after his plunge, struck out blindly and then suddenly doubled up and +gone down again. Thrusting Miss Snively hastily toward the helping hands, +Hinpoha turned and rescued her professor, who had miscalculated his leap +and struck his head on the side of the pool. The whole business had not +taken two minutes since the first alarm, but Hinpoha was the heroine of +the hour. She was cheered and praised and petted and patted on the head +and exclaimed over until she was quite bewildered. Her heart was thumping +until it deafened her. She had saved her lover's life, and, bashful as he +was, she knew that now he must speak. It would not happen tonight. They +had rushed him home in a taxicab. But tomorrow---- + +Somehow she managed to finish her part in the program and drink fruit +punch in the gymnasium afterward. While she stood in a corner cooling her +burning cheeks at an open window somebody came and stood beside her. +Hinpoha turned and faced the Captain, and listened absent-mindedly to his +words of praise. Then one sentence he said caught her attention. "Say," +he said bashfully, "how did you like the flowers?" + +"What flowers?" asked Hinpoha wonderingly. + +"The roses--pink ones--I sent you when you had the mumps." + +Hinpoha stared at him blankly, unbelievingly. No, no, it could not be +true, the roses had come from her light-haired professor. "Did _you_ send +them?" she asked in a tone in which no one could have detected any degree +of appreciation for the favor. + +"Wasn't there any card in the box?" asked the Captain. "I gave one to Mr. +Forester to put in." + +"No," answered Hinpoha, with a gulp, "there wasn't; and I +thought--somebody else sent them." + +"Didn't you like them?" asked the Captain, feeling in the air that +something was wrong somewhere. "Don't you like roses?" + +Hinpoha pulled herself together with an effort. Tears of disappointment +were standing in her eyes. "Ye-es," she answered politely, but without +enthusiasm, "they were lovely; perfectly lovely." And she ran hurriedly +out of the corner, leaving the Captain staring after her in bewilderment. + +"I don't believe he sent them to me at all!" she told herself in the +solitude of her own room that night. "The horrid thing found out that I +got them and told me that just to tease me. Anyway, it doesn't make a +particle of difference about Professor Knoblock." And she fell asleep +whispering to herself with bated breath, "Tomorrow!" + +She walked to school with lagging steps the next morning. Now that the +great hour was at hand she was filled with a desire to flee. Then she +heard footsteps behind her, and, glancing out of the corner of her eye, +saw the professor approaching. With a wildly beating heart she walked on, +her face straight to the front. He was coming. He was overtaking her. Now +he was upon her. With a great effort she turned her head to look at him, +her lips parted in a tremulous smile. Professor Knoblock raised his hat +stiffly, nodded frigidly and passed on without a word, leaving Hinpoha +staring after him stunned. Unseeingly she stumbled on to school. One +question was racing back and forth in her mind like a shuttle in a +loom--what was the meaning of it? Classes recited around her in school; +she heard them as in a dream. Professor Knoblock did not look at her as +she entered the Literature class room; he was taking two of the boys +sharply to task for never being able to recite. Hinpoha sat with her eyes +fixed on her book. Professor Knoblock was evidently ill-humored this +morning, though apparently none the worse for his mishap the evening +before. He was dealing out zero marks right and left if the recitations +did not go like clock-work. And as was only to be expected the morning +after such an elaborate affair as the dedication of a swimming pool, +clock-work recitations were very few and far between. + +The professor finally lost all patience. "Take your books," he commanded, +"open and study the lesson the remainder of the hour, and the first one I +see dawdling or whispering will be sent back to the session room." +Hinpoha's eyes followed the lines on the page, but she could not have +told what she was reading. The question was still beating back and forth +in her mind. + +"Lend me your pencil," whispered her neighbor. Mechanically she held it +out to him and when he took it he thrust a stick of gum into her hand. He +was still in a festive mood. Professor Knoblock caught the movement. At +the same moment another pair in the back of the room began giggling about +something. + +"You two are out of order!" shouted the professor. "Leave the room!" All +eyes were turned toward the two in the back. + +"I mean you, George Hancock, and you, Dorothy Bradford," said the +Professor severely. Hinpoha turned pleading, unbelieving eyes on him. +"Leave the room," he repeated with rising anger, "go back to your session +room!" And with the world rocking under her feet, Hinpoha went. + +As the pupils came back from their respective classes that noon there was +a sensation in the air. Groups of girls stood around whispering to one +another and exclaiming. "Did you ever hear anything like it?" rose on all +sides. "Who would ever dream of her getting----" + +Hinpoha, dumb and miserable, sat apart, until some one dragged her into +the center of a group. "Have you heard the news?" + +"No," she answered dully. + +"Miss Snively's engaged!" announced a young lady, in the same tone she +would have said: "The sky has fallen!" + +"She is!" said Hinpoha. "To whom?" + +"Professor Knoblock!" continued the speaker. "They've been engaged a long +time--but it just leaked out yesterday in a teachers' meeting. That's why +he came here to teach." + +"But the notes he wrote me," moaned Hinpoha to the Winnebagos, who had +gathered for an indignation meeting that afternoon. "And the curl I gave +him---- Oh-oh-oh!" and she hid her face in her hands and groaned. + +Katherine had been poking about in a corner of the room during the +preliminary wail. She now came forward carrying a box in her hand which +she laid on Hinpoha's knee. + +"What's this?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Open it and see," advised Katherine. + +Hinpoha complied and there fell into her lap a long, curling, red ringlet +and a piece of paper written over in Hinpoha's hand. + +"I have a confession to make," said Katherine, striking a dramatic +attitude. "I put that note into your book asking for the lock of hair, +and watched until you put it into the dictionary. Then I took it out +after you left the room. I wrote the notes that followed to keep the ball +rolling. I don't believe Professor Knoblock knows a thing about his great +romance with you." + +"You did it!" cried Hinpoha blankly, turning fiercely upon Katherine. +"You made such a fool out of me that I'll never be able to show my face +again as long as I live. You--you----" sobs choked her and cut off all +utterance. + +"But the flowers," gasped Gladys, "who sent them?" + +"Captain did, the mean old thing!" sobbed Hinpoha. + +"But the Key, and the Horoscope, and the Fortune Teller," continued +Gladys, "they all said he would be the one. I don't see how it could have +come out any other way." + +Katherine rose from her knees and rapped on the table for attention. +"Girls," she said seriously, "I suppose you think it was a very unkind +and low-down sort of joke I played on Hinpoha, getting her all worked up +like that with those notes, and under ordinary circumstances it would +have been. But isn't there a saying somewhere 'that awfully sick people +need awfully strong medicine,' or something to that effect? Here you all +were gone completely loony--excuse the expression, but it's just what you +were--gone perfectly loony about this fortune-telling business. You did +it so much that I actually believe you began to think it was true. Then +that fool fortune-teller told Hinpoha about the light-haired man that was +coming into her life soon, and when the new professor arrived you all +thought he was the one. I just happened to find out soon after he came +that he was engaged to Miss Snively. I knew if I told you then you +wouldn't believe it, so I waited until it came out. But I was afraid +Hinpoha would do something really silly before she got through, and +decided to take a hand in the game myself. When I wrote that note about +the hair I was sure she would see through it and come to her senses. The +fact that she swallowed it shows how far out of her right mind she was. I +never believed she would put a lock of hair into the dictionary. But when +she seemed to take it all for gospel truth I couldn't resist the +temptation to go on and have some more fun." + +"But--his handwriting," said Hinpoha faintly. + +"Easiest thing in the world to imitate," said Katherine, saying nothing +about the weary hours it had taken her to accomplish that feat. "And I +signed my own initial, 'K.,' which was certainly not taking the +professor's name in vain. I never told a soul, so there's nobody to crow +over you. You stand just exactly where you did at first with the +professor." + +"But," said Gladys, still not satisfied, "why did he always look at +Hinpoha when he read the sentimental passages?" + +"Because he's built that way," answered Katherine scornfully. "There are +plenty of men who will make eyes at every pretty girl they see, whether +they have any right to or not. Besides I heard him tell one of the other +teachers once that your red hair reminded him of the hair that belonged +to a dear friend he 'lost in youth.'" + +After hearing Katherine's clean-cut and sensible version of the affair +the whole thing seemed unutterably ridiculous and one by one they began +to think that she was right, and had played the part of the friend +instead of the mischief-maker, in shocking Hinpoha back into common +sense. Hinpoha advanced shakily and held out her hand. "I thank you, +Katherine," she said, "for 'saving me from myself'!" And Katherine seized +her hand in a crushing grip, and soon they were hugging each other, and +their friendship, instead of being shaken to its foundations, was +cemented more strongly. + +"I think he's horrid," said Gladys, "and if I were you, Hinpoha, I'd +never look at him again--the way he treated you this morning, after you +had taken the trouble to fish him out of the pool last night. He's an +ungrateful wretch, and doesn't deserve to be rescued." + +Katherine was looking at them with a queer expression. "There's something +else I suppose I ought to tell you," she said, "although I wasn't going +to at first. But now he's acted so you really ought to know. Miss +Snively's falling into the pool wasn't exactly an accident." + +"Did he push her in?" asked Gladys in a horrified tone. + +"Goodness, no," said Katherine. Then she added: "Yes, in a way he did, +too, for he was responsible for her falling in. You know what a dub the +boys all think him; they never call him anything but 'that mutt,' or +'that cissy.' He couldn't help seeing it, and it bothered him that he +wasn't a hero in their eyes. Besides," she continued shrewdly, "if he was +thinking of getting married he probably was looking for promotion, and he +never would get it as long as he couldn't control the boys. So he +complained to Miss Snively about it and she obligingly offered to fall +into the pool and have him rescue her, and so make a hero out of him +overnight. I heard them planning it yesterday; they were on one side of a +big pile of greens waiting to go up and I was on the other. She was to do +it during the intermission when no one was in the pool. They didn't seem +to know that you were going to be in then. But she did it anyway, +thinking that the professor would reach her first. But you were too quick +for them. That's why he's so furious with you; you kept him from being a +hero, and got all the praise he expected to get. Then when he bumped his +head on the side of the tank and had to be rescued himself, it put the +finishing touch to the tragedy." + +"Gee!" exclaimed Hinpoha and Sahwah and Gladys and the other two girls, +all in a breath. In moments of great emotional stress refined language +seems an utter failure as a vehicle of expression. Slang is the only +thing that adequately expresses the feelings. They said it again, +intentionally and emphatically--"_Gee!_" + +"What a foolish thing to do," said Sahwah, when they had all recovered +somewhat, "falling into the pool to give a man a chance to be a hero. She +might have been drowned." + +"She didn't run such an awful risk," observed Katherine, the all-knowing. +"She's a good swimmer herself; I've heard people say so." + +And again the girls sought relief in the expression not sanctioned by the +grammar. + +"Going to the Lodge?" said the Captain's voice in Hinpoha's ear a few +days later, as she swung along the street. The Captain's manner was +decidedly diffident. He was not at all sure how she would treat him this +time. + +Hinpoha nodded companionably. "I'm going to practice with the handball," +she said energetically. "Come on, I'll race you across the field." + +"That was great, wasn't it?" she cried laughingly, as she stopped before +the door, breathless, with her hair flying around her face. + +"Say, give us a curl, will you?" begged the Captain, tugging at one that +hung over the collar of her coat. + +"Don't be silly, Captain," she said reprovingly. "You know I hate people +who are sentimental." + +Hinpoha's romance was a thing of the past. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + RANDALL'S ISLAND + + +"I can't help it, it simply won't roll!" exclaimed Katherine in despair. +"I've tugged and tugged until my fingernails are all broken, and it just +naturally won't turn over!" And Katherine sat down with a discouraged +thud and fanned herself with a hair-brush. + +"Well, we'll 'just naturally' have to stop and see what's the matter with +it," said Nyoda soothingly. The Winnebagos were having a contest in +poncho rolling to be in practice for the coming summer's camping trips. +The aim of each one just now was to accomplish this in two minutes. Two +minutes to spread out a poncho, two blankets and enough clothes for an +overnight trip, roll it up into a neat stove-pipe, bend it into a tidy +horseshoe and fasten the ends together with a rope tied in square knots. + +The record was held by Medmangi, quiet, neat Medmangi, who, while the +others were working like mad, had serenely completed her task in a minute +and three-quarters. + +"She's a regular phenomenay, that woman," said Sahwah, who had thought +she was doing wonders when she straightened up at the end of two minutes +exactly. "She must have four hands, or else she packed with her feet. But +what else could you expect of a girl who's going to be a doctor?" + +Poor Katherine, alas, made no time at all that could be recorded in +Nyoda's book. It was only her second attempt at poncho rolling, but it is +doubtful whether it would have been any different if it had been her +hundred and second. She simply was not built for order and speediness. At +the end of ten minutes she still sat beside her pile of belongings, the +poncho askew, the blankets askew on it and hanging over the edge, the +extra middy bundled up into a wrinkled lump and the small articles +sliding off on all sides. She had begun to roll it from the wrong end, +and after one or two turns it absolutely refused to go any farther, in +spite of forceful attempts. + +"Here, spread your things out properly, and then it will go," said Nyoda +patiently, picking up the blankets. Out rolled the object which had +obstructed the wheels of progress--an umbrella, which had been tucked +under the blankets lengthwise of the roll. "No wonder it wouldn't roll!" +exclaimed Nyoda, laughing aloud. "Did you expect the umbrella to bend +round and round like a hose? Whatever would you want an umbrella for, +anyway?" + +"For rain," answered Katherine with touching simplicity. Nyoda and the +other Winnebagos doubled up in silent mirth. Katherine's inspirations +invariably left them without power of comment. + +"Katherine, you're _positively_ hopeless," sighed Gladys affectionately. +"The only safe way is to divide your things up among the other ponchos; +yours would never arrive at a journey's end, anyhow." + +"Oh, if I had only been born neat instead of handsome!" said Katherine +plaintively, and then joined heartily in the irresistible laughter that +followed. + +"Hush, girls!" said Nyoda. "There's somebody down at the door. Don't you +hear somebody rapping?" + +Hinpoha, who was nearest the window, peeped down. "It's a whole bunch of +girls," she reported in an excited whisper. "All strangers. I don't know +any of them. What can they want?" + +"Want to see us, probably," said matter-of-fact Sahwah. "Isn't somebody +going down to let them in?" + +"The way this place looks!" sighed Nyoda, looking at the floor strewn +with the contents of Katherine's poncho. "Gladys, you and Hinpoha go down +and let them in and detain them downstairs until the rest of us can put +this room in order. It's a disgrace to the Winnebagos." + +Gladys and Hinpoha descended the ladder and threw open the door. +"Welcome," they cried, "whoever you are! Welcome to the House of the Open +Door!" + +The six strange girls came in. One who was tall and thin and had hair +almost as red as Hinpoha's, stepped forward. "We are members of the +San-Clu Camp Fire," she said. "We have heard quite a bit about you +Winnebagos and thought we would come and call. Is this your famous +Lodge?" + +"It certainly is," said Gladys hospitably. "We are delighted to become +acquainted with you. Make yourselves at home. This gymnasium outfit +belongs to a club of boys who share our Lodge, and over there is +Sandhelo's stall. Sandhelo is our pet donkey; you must see him right +away." She led the girls to the stall and kept them there telling about +Sandhelo's exploits until she was sure from the sounds above that the +room was in order. Then she invited them to ascend the ladder. + +"The San-Clu Camp Fire have come visiting," she announced, as she stepped +out on the floor. + +"All Hail to the San-Clu Camp Fire from the Winnebagos," chanted the +hostess ceremoniously, and seven pairs of hands performed the fire sign. + +"San-Clu returns All Hail," responded the guests with no less ceremony. + +The newcomers were shown the beauties of the Winnebago Lodge, and it +seemed they would never get done exclaiming over the rugs and skins and +pottery, and most of all, the beds. + +"They aren't so terribly hard to make," the Winnebagos assured them +modestly, but at the same time glowing with a feeling of superiority. The +San-Clu girls were plainly older than the Winnebagos; they all wore +dresses down to their ankles and seemed quite grown up, almost enough to +be guardians themselves; yet they did not appear to have won nearly so +many honors as the younger Winnebagos. + +During the tour of inspection Nyoda and Gladys held a whispered +consultation in one end of the room. "Nothing here to make a spread +with," said Gladys. "I'll have to hurry out and get something." + +"Do," said Nyoda. Gladys nudged Hinpoha and drew her down the ladder and +together they sped after canned shrimp and condensed milk. + +"Now, if you'll excuse us a minute," said Nyoda to the San-Clus, "we'll +retire behind our curtains and prepare to do the stunt with which we +always inflict company. Come, girls," she added in a whisper, "the Battle +of Blenheim." And the players retired to array themselves in the +necessary sheets. + +Five minutes later the curtains were shoved aside, and the players stood +before the audience. They looked in bewilderment. For seated where they +had left the San-Clu Camp Fire Girls were the Captain, Bottomless Pitt, +the Monkey, Dan Porter, Peter Jenkins and Harry Raymond. The girls had +vanished. + +"Why, when did you come in, boys?" asked Nyoda in surprise. "And where +are the girls?" + +"What girls?" asked the Captain. + +"Why, the San-Clu Camp Fire girls," said Nyoda, "who were visiting us." + +"Here they are," said the six boys, rising and speaking together. "We are +the 'San-Clu' Camp Fire Girls. 'San-Clu'--short for Sandwich Club! +Ho-ho-ho, Katherine! You'd know us in a minute with girls' clothes on, +would you!" And from under the rugs and furniture they drew the dresses, +hats, gloves and wigs which the late San-Clus had worn a-calling. +"Oh-h-h, Katherine, we do this to each other!" + +The girls sat staring, speechless for a minute, unable to believe that +there really had been no girls there. But the evidence was before their +eyes and it could not be doubted. And they were far too game not to see +that the joke was on them, and laughed just as heartily over it as the +boys did. + +"We'll have to have the spread, anyhow, for your benefit," said Nyoda, +taking up the cans of supplies that Hinpoha and Gladys had just brought +in. "You carried that off too splendidly not to be rewarded. We +congratulate you on your ability to act, and confess that we were +completely taken in. Where's Slim?" + +"We left him behind the fence," said the Captain, with a start of +recollection. "We didn't dare let him come in with us, because you'd have +recognized him right away." + +"Figures never lie, especially stout ones," laughed Nyoda. "Go and bring +him to the spread." + +"Are you folks going on a trip?" inquired the Monkey, with his mouth full +of Shrimp Wiggle and his eyes on the ponchos piled in the corner. + +"We are, next Saturday," answered Sahwah. "We were just practicing +rolling the ponchos today. Saturday we're going to take the steamer +across the lake to Rock Island. Some friends of Nyoda's have a cottage +there, but they haven't gone up yet and they said we might stay in it all +night if we wanted to. We're coming home on the boat Sunday night." + +"Are you going by yourselves?" asked Slim, leaning across the table and +listening to the conversation. He was fishing for an invitation for the +Sandwiches. + +"We certainly are going by ourselves," said Sahwah, to his +disappointment. "We haven't been off by ourselves for a long time. We're +going in a lonely place and have a Ceremonial Meeting on the shore of the +lake and tell secrets and do stunts and have a beautiful time. It's +strictly a Winnebago affair--a hen party, you'd call it." + +Slim sighed and consoled himself with five pieces of fudge and an apple. +He was one of those boys who like to be around girls all the time. Too +fat to enjoy the more strenuous society of the boys, he preferred to sit +with his gentler friends and dip his hand into the dishes of candy that +they usually had standing around. The fact that they made no end of fun +of him and never took him seriously only increased his desire for them. +And, like the Captain, he delighted to look upon the hair when it was +red. He admired Hinpoha with all his corpulent soul. + +The winter and spring months had flown by with swifter wings than the +white-tailed swallow, and the clock of the year was once more striking +June. Saturday found the Winnebagos skimming over the blue waters of the +lake in the big daily excursion boat bound for Rock Island. Nakwisi, of +course, had her spy glass and was carefully scrutinizing the empty +horizon. "Has Katherine come into your range of vision yet?" asked Nyoda, +a trifle anxiously. Katherine had boarded the boat with them safely +enough, for she had been personally conducted from home by the whole six, +but had disappeared within ten minutes after the boat started. + +Nakwisi lowered her glass and laughed. "No, I don't see her in the sky," +she said, "though I shouldn't be very greatly surprised if I did." + +And they began a thorough search of the boat from top to bottom and +finally found her hanging over the rail of a gangway, trying to touch the +snowy foam flying in the swirling wake of the paddle wheel. It was the +first time she had ever been on a lake, and she took a perfectly childish +delight in the racing water. Pulled back to safety by Nyoda, she gave an +animated account of her adventures since seeing them last, in the course +of which she had nearsightedly walked into the pilot house and caught +hold of the wheel to steady herself when the boat gave a lurch, and had +been summarily put out by an angry first mate. "I've been everywhere on +the boat except down the smokestack," she concluded triumphantly. + +Soon Rock Island appeared as a speck on the horizon in Nakwisi's glass, +then as a long black streak which they could all see, and finally grew by +leaps and bounds into a beautiful wooded island with trees and lawns and +beautiful summer cottages shining in the sunlight. Shouldering their +ponchos, they went ashore, and walked around the point of the island to +the cottage where they were to spend the night. It was close to the +water, where a curving indentation of the shore line made a lovely little +beach. If Sahwah did not make the record at poncho rolling, she left them +all behind in getting into her bathing suit, and five minutes after the +door was unlocked her hands clove the water in a flying dive from the end +of the pier. + +Katherine splashed about courageously, trying to swim, and finally +succeeded in propelling herself through the water by a series of jerks +and splashes unlike any stroke ever invented by the mind of man. "This is +too hard on my dellyket constitooshun," she remarked at last, clambering +out and draping her ungainly length around a rock, thereby disclosing the +fact that her bathing suit was minus one sleeve. Katherine regarded the +yawning armhole with mild vexation. "Broke my needle when my suit was all +done but putting in the one sleeve," she remarked serenely, "and there +wasn't time to go out and buy one--I finished the suit at eleven o'clock +last night--so I just pasted that sleeve in with adhesive tape, and it +didn't show a bit. But it must have let go in the water," she finished +plaintively. Nyoda looked at the girls, and the girls looked at Nyoda, +and once more they were dumb. + +Tired of swimming, they dressed and explored the island and then sat down +on the big boat dock and dangled their feet over the edge. Soon a tug +came up alongside the pier and the sailor who ran it chanced to be a man +whom Nyoda had met the previous summer on the island. "Hello, Captain +McMichael," she called. + +The sunburnt sailor looked up. "Hello, hello," he answered. "What are you +doing up here so early in the season?" When Nyoda had explained that she +had brought the girls up on a sightseeing trip, Captain McMichael +promptly offered to take them for a ride in the tug. "Got to go over to +Jackson's Island and get a lighter of limestone," he said. "I'd have to +set you ashore on Randall's Island while I went over to Jackson's to get +the lighter," he continued, "because you'd get all covered with lime dust +if you stayed in the tug while they were loading, and it's no place for +ladies to go ashore. But Randall's is all right. The quarries there +aren't worked any more and there are only a few summer cottages. But +there are excellent wild strawberries," he finished with a twinkle in his +eye. "I'll call for you on the way back and get you here before dark. +Will you come?" + +"Oh, Nyoda, may we?" cried the girls, delighted at the prospect. + +"Why, yes," answered Nyoda. "I think that will be a delightful way to +spend the afternoon. I have always wanted to explore Randall's Island; it +looks so interesting from the steamer. We accept your invitation with +pleasure, Captain McMichael." + +"Glad to have you," responded the tug master heartily, as he set the +powerful engine throbbing. + +"Don't fall overboard," he yelled above the steam exhaust a minute later +as Katherine hung over the stern and trailed her hands in the water. +Nyoda clung to her dress and the rest sang in chorus: + + "Sailing, sailing, + Over to Randall's I, + And dear Sister K would fall into the bay + If Nyoda weren't nigh!" + +The run to Randall's Island took just fifteen minutes and Katherine +managed to get there without accident, other than upsetting an oil can +into her lap. The wild strawberries were as abundant and as delicious as +Captain McMichael had promised, and it was with sighs of regret that they +finally admitted they could hold no more. Then they scrambled around in +the abandoned limestone quarries until Nyoda, coming face to face with +Katherine, announced it was time to play something else. Katherine had +torn her dress on sharp points until it was nearly a wreck; she had +stepped into a puddle up to her shoetops, her hat brim hung down in a +discouraged loop and her hands and face were scratched with briers. + +"If one more thing happens to you, Katherine Adams," said Nyoda sternly, +"you'll have to spend the rest of your life on this island, for you won't +be respectable enough to take home." + +"Then I'll be Miss Robinson Crusoe," said Katherine, "and eat up all the +strawberries on the island, and not have to write the class paper. I +believe I'll consider your offer. Our literary member, Migwan, can write +a book about it--_Living on Limestone_, or _The Queen of the Quarry_. +Wouldn't that be a fine sounding title!" + +"What is that long stone building way over there?" asked Hinpoha, as they +promenaded decorously over the island beyond the quarries, two of them +arm-in-arm with Katherine, to keep her in the straight and narrow path. + +"Looks like a fort," said Sahwah, with immediate interest. "Is it a fort, +Nyoda?" + +"I doubt it very much," answered Nyoda. "I never heard of a fort on any +of these islands. Let's go over and investigate." + +Katherine hung back, screwing up her face and rolling her eyes like an +old negress. "Don' lead dis child into temptation," she begged. "Feel lak +de climbin' debbil would get into mah feet agin foh sartin sure, ef ah +went near dat pile of stone, an' den good-bye, dress! Only safe way's to +keep dis child far away!" + +Her veiled, husky voice made her imitation indescribably droll, and the +girls shouted with laughter. "Never fear, my weak sister," said Gladys, +"we'll all keep you out of danger." + +"I can't imagine what this could have been," said Hinpoha, when they had +reached the ruin. "It looks more like a mill than a fort." + +"Mill!" exclaimed Sahwah scornfully. "There isn't any wheel, and there +isn't a sign of a stream. Mills are always on streams." + +"Maybe this was a windmill," suggested Katherine. "It's windy enough to +set any kind of machinery going," and she started in pursuit of her hat, +which that moment had been whirled from her head by a mischievous zephyr. + +The ruin which the girls had found that afternoon was the remains of an +old wine cellar which had been used for storing great quantities of grape +wine in the old days when Randall's Island had been in the heart of the +grape region, before quarrying became the chief industry. Nothing was +left now to tell what valuable stores it had once sheltered, only stones +and crumbling brick walls, overgrown with high weeds and wild vines. + +"It's an enchanted castle," said Hinpoha. "A beautiful princess used to +live here, only she got married and moved to--to the big hotel on Rock +Island, and when she left the bad imps came and knocked out the mortar +with their little hammers and it all fell to pieces." + +"Oh, wonderful," drawled Katherine. "Let's poke about a bit in the ruins +and see if we can find any of the solid gold toothpicks the princes used +to strew around after a meal." + +The ruined wine cellar proved utterly fascinating. They could still see +where it had been divided into rooms; and here and there a thick wall +still stood higher than their heads. + +"Hi, what's this?" asked Katherine, as they stood before a doorway +partially filled with dbris, behind which a black hole yawned. + +"It's a cave," said Sahwah, poking her head forward into the hole like a +turtle. "Let's explore it," she continued, stepping carefully over the +pile of bricks. "Come on," she called over her shoulder; "it's perfectly +wonderful. It's a room, but it's under the hill. Come on in." + +"Are there any bats?" asked Gladys, hanging back. + +"Nothing but brickbats," came Sahwah's cheerful voice from within. + +Gladys and Hinpoha crawled through the opening, and Katherine, with a +resigned, "Goodbye, dress," followed with Nyoda and Nakwisi and Medmangi. +The room was nothing more than an extension of the cellar, built into the +side of the hill, but to them it was filled with romantic possibilities. + +"What do you suppose it was?" asked Hinpoha, straining her eyes in the +semi-darkness. + +"The dungeon, of course," answered Katherine promptly. "Here's where your +beautiful princess confined the lovers that didn't suit her +fancy--light-haired ones and fat ones, especially. She chained them to +the wall and the rats nibbled their toes." + +"Oh-oh-oh!" shrieked Hinpoha, stopping her ears. "Don't say such dreadful +things. I can feel the rats nibbling at my toes this minute." + +The walls of this cellar were badly crumbled, and at the farther side the +girls discovered another cave-like opening. This was entirely dark and +they hesitated before going in. Then Nyoda took her pocket flash and +Gladys found hers, and by the combined glimmer of the two the girls found +their way into the farther cave. At first they had to keep the light on +the ground to see where to put their feet and they were all inside before +Nyoda turned her flash on the walls. Then a great cry of amazement burst +from every girl, ending in a breathless gasp. The walls and roof of the +cave seemed to be made of precious stones--pearls, sapphires, emeralds, +amethysts and diamonds. They caught the gleam from the pocket flashes and +twinkled and reflected in a hundred points of dancing light. Great masses +of crystal, faceted like diamonds, hung suspended from the roof almost +touching their heads, seemingly held up by magic. + +"Am I dreaming," cried Hinpoha, "or is this Alladin's cave? What is it, +Nyoda? Where are we?" + +Nyoda laughed at their open mouths and staring eyes. "Only in one of +Nature's treasure vaults," she said. "This is one of the famous crystal +caves that are found throughout these islands. It's a form of rock +crystal, strontia, I believe some people call it, and I don't doubt but +what it's related to the limestone in the quarries. Take a good look at +it, for some of these crystals are simply marvellous." + +Their voices echoed and re-echoed weirdly, as they called to each other, +the sound seeming to roll along the low ceiling. "Look at this mass over +here," cried Sahwah, penetrating deeper into the cave, "it looks like a +man standing against the wall." + +"And this one looks like a dog lying down," said Hinpoha, pointing to +another. + +Laughing, shouting, exclaiming, they explored the wonders of the cave +until a heavy shock as of something falling, accompanied by a deafening +crash, rooted them to the ground with fright. "What is it? What has +happened?" they asked one another, and made their way back to the +entrance. But the entrance was no longer there. Where it had been there +was a solid wall of stone. Their climbing around among the ruined walls +had sent some of the bricks sliding and these had released a large rock +which had rolled down directly over the opening into the crystal cave. +With desperate force they pushed against the rock, but their sevenfold +strength made no more impression than a fly brushing its wings against +it. With white faces they turned to each other when they realized the +truth. They were imprisoned in the cave! + +"The other direction!" cried Sahwah, shaking off her terror and setting +her wits to work. "We may be able to get out the other way." Taking the +flashlight from Gladys, whose trembling fingers threatened to drop it, +she led the way into the gloomy recesses of the cave, whose depths they +had penetrated only a short distance before. They shuddered at the icicle +like crystals, which now seemed like long fingers reaching down to catch +a hold of them, and shrank back from the crystal masses that took the +forms of men and animals. These now seemed like ghosts of creatures that +had been trapped in the cave as they were. For trapped they were. In a +few moments their progress was barred by impassable masses of crystal. +Back again they went to the rock-blocked entrance and beat upon it and +pushed with all their might. All in vain. The rock stood firm as +Gibraltar. They shouted and called and screamed until the echoes clamored +hideously, but no answering call came from the outside. From somewhere, +far in the distance, came the dismal sound of falling water, chilling the +blood in their veins. + +Helplessly the girls all turned to Nyoda, asking, "What shall we do?" + +Nyoda stood still and tried to face the situation calmly. She held her +flashlight close to the rock and looked carefully all around the edge. At +one side there was a tiny fissure, not more than half an inch wide and +about six inches long, caused by the irregular shape of the rock. Nyoda +regarded this minute opening thoughtfully. "If we could put something +through that opening which would act as a signal, we might attract +somebody's attention who wouldn't be able to hear us calling," she said +at length. "Our voices are so muffled in here they can't carry very far +outside." + +"Is there anybody on the island to see it?" asked Gladys doubtfully. + +"There are some people here," answered Nyoda, "because the fishermen stay +all the year round. You remember those houses we passed on the other side +of the quarry, where the nets were hanging in the yard?" + +"What shall we use for a signal of distress?" asked Gladys. "Not one of +us has a tie or a ribbon on today." + +"Use my dress skirt," said Katherine generously. "It's so torn anyway +that it'll never feel the same again, even if it recovers from this +trip." Which was perfectly true. So they tore the wide hem from her +dress, which made a pennant about six feet long. Then Sahwah had a +further inspiration, and, dipping her finger into a dark puddle formed on +the floor by a thin stream of moisture trickling down the wall, she wrote +the word HELP on the strip. Nyoda poked the end through the opening and +shoved the rest out after it, keeping the other end in her hand, and she +could feel by the tugging at the strip that the high wind had caught the +portion outside and was whipping it about. + +"Now shout for all you're worth," commanded Nyoda. + +Early that Saturday morning the Captain had aroused Slim from his +peaceful slumbers unceremoniously. "Hurry up and come over," he said, in +response to Slim's protesting grunt. "Uncle Theodore's here with his +automobile and he's going to take a run over to Freeport this morning and +he said he would take all the fellows along that were ready at nine +o'clock. Hurry." + +Slim needed no second invitation and roused himself immediately, while +the Captain sped to collect the remainder of the Sandwiches, which was +accomplished in short order, as none of the other invitations involved +resurrection. Nine o'clock found them all on the curbstone before the +Captain's house, standing beside Uncle Theodore's big car, waiting for +the word to pile in. The ride to Freeport was accomplished in a few +hours' time and after dinner Uncle Theodore turned the boys loose to see +the town by themselves while he transacted the business which had taken +him thither. Freeport had no attraction outside of its harbor, and +thither the boys betook themselves without delay. Passenger steamers left +every half hour for the various islands nearby; lime boats, tugs and +scows crowded the mouth of the river, and the whole atmosphere breathed +of ships. The boys stood and watched a while and then pined for something +to do. + +"Let's hire a launch," suggested the Captain, who felt that it was up to +him to furnish the amusement, inasmuch as he had invited them to come +along, "and go out on the lake." + +Launches were readily to be had and soon they were curving around in +great circles through the waves, drenched with the spray, and enjoying it +as only boys can enjoy the sensation of riding in a speed boat. + +"Let's go to Rock Island," said Slim, who had not forgotten who else had +planned to go there that day. + +"What for?" asked the Captain. + +"Oh, nothing," answered Slim, "except that there's a pretty nice aquarium +there, and--and the girls said they were going to be there." + +"But we were politely invited to stay home, if I remember rightly," said +Bottomless Pitt. "They're going to have a pow-wow, or something like +that." + +"But if we should run into them accidentally they would probably be glad +to see us," persisted Slim. Slim was fond of picnics gotten up by girls +on account of the superior quality of the "grub"; he was especially fond +of Winnebago picnics, because the Winnebagos treated him better than any +other girls he knew, and as mentioned before, he had a decided weakness +for red hair. Hence his ingenuous desire to go to Rock Island. The +Captain, knowing Slim like a book, laughed. But he, too, wished he had +been invited to the picnic, and his reasons coincided in their last item +with Slim's. + +"All right," he said, and turned the boat's head toward the green outline +of Rock Island. Half of the distance across the bay the launch wheezed +and stopped dead. + +"Pshaw," said Slim disgustedly, when the Captain announced that they had +run out of gasoline. They had come to a stop just off a small rocky +island and with the aid of the one oar the launch boasted the Captain +proceeded to paddle in to shore, in the hope that he could obtain +gasoline there. + +"Regular desert island," grunted Slim, as they walked and met no one. +"None of the cottages seem to be occupied." + +"Cheer up; we'll find someone," said the Captain. "The fishermen live on +these islands all winter. Look at the limestone quarries over there." + +"And the ruined something or other behind them," said the Bottomless +Pitt. + +"Let's cut across here," said Slim, who was ever on the lookout for short +cuts. "I see some houses over there." + +"And break our necks crawling over those stones," said Monkey. "Not +much." + +So they started to follow the path that led around the curve of the +shore. "Wonder if it wouldn't have been better to cut across, anyway," +said the Captain, when they had gone some distance. "These blooming +little stones are worse to walk on than spikes. Those rocks couldn't have +been much worse." And he stood still and looked thoughtfully back at the +ruined cellar. + +"Hi!" he exclaimed suddenly. "What's that?" + +"What's what?" asked Slim. + +"That white rag flying from the rock over there. It surely wasn't there a +minute ago." + +"Probably was, only you didn't see it," said Slim, impatient to go on. + +"I'm positive it wasn't," said the Captain. "I'm going over to have a +look at it. When rags start out of rocks there's something in the wind." +And he walked briskly toward it, the rest following. As they drew near +their startled eyes fell on the black letters of the word HELP, traced in +wobbly lines. + +"Yay!" shouted the boys at the top of their lungs. "Where are you and +what's the matter?" + +Apparently from inside the rock came the feeble echo of a shout: "We're +in the cave! The rock covered the doorway!" + +"Wait a minute!" called the Captain in answer, and boylike tried to move +the rock himself. "Lend a hand, fellows," he said, after one shove +against its solid side. They lent all the hands they had, but could not +budge it. "Pull the bricks out from around it," commanded the Captain, +taking charge of the affair like a general, "and look out for your feet +when she lunges over!" They set to work, dislodging the bricks that held +it in, and before long it moved, tottered, grated and finally, with a +great crash, lunged over and rolled down a little slope. + +Pale and shaken, the Winnebagos emerged into the light of day. Had the +ghosts of their great grandmothers appeared before them the boys could +not have been more surprised. Questions and answers flew back and forth +thick and fast until the tale of their finding the cave was told. + +"And I'll never, never, explore anything again!" finished Hinpoha, in an +emphatic tone. + +"Oh, yes, you will," said Gladys; "and so will we all, but the next time +we'll have a company of guides fore and aft." + +"Wouldn't it be a better plan," suggested the Captain mildly, "to take us +along with you wherever you go? I notice we generally have to come to the +rescue, anyway." + +And the Winnebagos promised to consider the matter. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + KINDLING THE TORCH + + +Hinpoha and Sahwah were patiently teaching Katherine hand signs one +Saturday afternoon when Gladys burst in with a tragic face. + +"Girls," she cried, with extravagant emphasis, "have you heard the +_news_?" Then, without waiting for reply, she continued: "Nyoda's going +to be _married_!" + +"We know she is," answered Hinpoha, "a year from this summer." + +"No, not a year from this summer," said Gladys, swelling with the +importance of the announcement she was about to make, "_this_ summer. +This very month!" + +An incredulous exclamation burst from the three. + +"It's true," continued Gladys. "Sherry's going to be sent away on a long +trip and he wants to take her with him, so they're going to be married +right away." + +All four sat stricken, trying to realize that the evil day which they had +dreaded so and which they had thought far in the future was actually upon +them. Only two more weeks and their idolized Guardian, who for three +years had been a part of nearly everything they did, would be gone from +them. It seemed that the world was coming to an end. + +In the days that followed gloom hung thick over the House of the Open +Door. Now that Nyoda was to be in it no longer the Winnebagos lost all +joy in its possession. Each article of furniture that she had helped to +make, each sketch of hers on the wall telling in clever little +pictographs the tale of some adventure or frolic, gripped them with a +fresh pang. Plans for summer excursions and activities were dropped. + +"And we were all going ca-camping togu-gether!" wailed Hinpoha, and damp +weather prevailed for many minutes. + +But this was the end of their Senior year in high school, crowded to the +limit with all the bustle and excitement and festivity of Commencement +time, and the Winnebagos were so busy with examinations and essays and +clothes and songs and parties that there was no time to fold their hands +and grieve. Katherine, as editor of the class paper, was the star +performer on Class Night, although Miss Snively, who trained the +speakers, had tried to sandpaper her speech of everything clever. +Katherine agreed to every change she suggested with suspicious readiness, +and then when the night arrived calmly read her original paper, while the +chandeliers dripped giggles and Miss Snively made sarcastic remarks about +the cracked-voice orator. Somehow the story of Miss Snively's attempt to +make a hero out of her fianc had gotten out, although Katherine always +looked preoccupied whenever the subject was mentioned, and of late Miss +Snively had found the seats in her recitation room occupied by rows of +wise grins, which somewhat disturbed her lofty dignity. It was well that +this was to be her last year of teaching. + +One of the big events of the last week was the interscholastic track meet +and athletic contest, to be held on the Washington High athletic field, +in which ten big schools took part. The field was thronged with +spectators, the grand stand was crowded, school colors floated from tree +and pole, cheers burst from groups of students every few minutes and the +air was electric with suppressed excitement. + +First came the track events, and in these Washington High was tied with +Carnegie Mechanic for second place. The Winnebagos were glad it was so, +because now the Sandwiches could not crow over them. The Captain finished +first in one of the hundred-yard dashes right in front of Hinpoha, where +she sat in the grandstand, and he looked over the heads of the cheering +boys straight at her. Hinpoha dared not applaud him, because he belonged +to Washington's bitterest rival, but she smiled brightly, and he dropped +his eyes, flushing suddenly. + +The girls' events opened with a game of volley ball between Washington +High and Carnegie Mechanic. Much to the surprise of the Winnebagos, they +saw Katherine come in with the Washington players. Katherine was not on +the team. But just before the game opened the girl's gymnasium director +had spied Katherine sitting at one side of the field, unconcernedly +shaking a pebble out of her shoe in full view of the grandstand, and +hurried over to her. "Will you fill in this game?" she asked +breathlessly. "One of our team can't come and we're short a girl." + +"But I've never played volley ball," protested Katherine. + +"Oh," said the gymnasium teacher disappointedly. Then she added in a kind +of desperation, "Well, I don't know as it makes any difference. I don't +seem to be able to find a girl who has played. Just stay in the +background and strike at the ball with the palms of your hands every time +it comes near you. Let the girls in front get it over the net." + +Katherine uncurled her length from the ground and followed the gymnasium +teacher obligingly. She was not in the least sensitive about being asked +at the eleventh hour to "fill in," when she had not been asked to be on +the team before. Washington's volley ball team was not a very strong one, +and went all to pieces against the concentrated team work of the Carnegie +Mechanicals. The score rolled up against Washington steadily. The +deafening yells from the grandstand bewildered them, and they could +neither volley the ball over the net nor return the Mechanicals' volleys. +They were helpless from stage fright. + +Katherine dutifully stayed in the background, sending the ball to the +girls at the net, her brow drawing into anxious puckers, as they fumbled +it time after time. She began to comprehend the rules of the game and was +"getting the hang of it." The Mechanicals, with fifteen points to their +credit, had just lost the ball by sending it out of bounds. It was time +to do something. Katherine had noticed that most of the Washington girls +had been trying to volley the ball across the net from the back line, +instead of passing it on, as she had been doing, and had been falling +short nearly every time. With a commanding gesture, she claimed the +attention of her team. + +"Get back on the volley line in a row," she ordered. They obeyed her like +sheep. Then she took her place half-way between the volley line and the +net, facing the girls. "Now," she said crisply, "whosoever's turn it is +to volley, shoot the ball to me and not an inch farther. I'll get it over +the net. The first one that shoots it over my head is going to get ducked +in the swimming pool!" + +In their surprise at this sudden rising up of a leader, they forgot the +racket around them, and the triumphantly clamoring team on the other side +of the net, and calmed down. The girl with the ball sent it straight +toward Katherine, and with a windmill motion of her powerful arms, she +hit it a sounding whack and sent it over the net like a meteor. There was +no returning such a volley. + +"One!" cried the scorekeeper, and the Washington corner of the grandstand +gave its first yell of triumph. + +"Now, everyone of you do just the same thing, one after another," +commanded Katherine to the volley line. Her utter lack of excitement was +bringing them out of their confusion. The next girl made an equally good +throw and another loud whack announced that Katherine was volleying. +Backing the net, she could not see where it was going, but a squeal told +her that the girl who should be returning the ball was fleeing it. Then +the machine started to work. As long as one side scored it was privileged +to keep the volley. + +When in operation the machine sounded like this: "Next!" Whack! Bump! +That was all. Katherine's command to the server; the impact of her palms +on the ball; and the thump of the ball on the ground on the Mechanical +side of the net. Up went the Washington score. + +Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! + + "Washington Rah! + Washington Rah! + Katherine Adams, + Rah! Rah! Rah!" + +The atmosphere was rent with the yell. + +Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen! + +"Next!" Whack! Bump! + +SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN! EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN! TWENTY! + + "WASHINGTON RAH! + KATHERINE RAH! + KATHERINE AD----" + +TWENTY-ONE! + + +The umpire ran along the net, holding up her hands, and the teams broke +ranks. + +"Washington High winner in the volley ball game!" shouted the scorekeeper +through her megaphone. "Score, twenty-one to fifteen!" + +And the grandstand thundered at Katherine, who suddenly got stage fright +when it was all over and stood pigeon-toed with her head hanging down. +Then she noticed for the first time that her middy was on hind side +before and the long collar was down in front. Her horrified expression +threw the spectators into convulsions. They had been laughing at it all +through the game, but her amazing performance had made it a secondary +consideration. + +A few moments later she strolled nonchalantly into the grandstand and sat +down among the Winnebagos. "That certainly is a strenuous game for a +person with a dellyket constitooshun like mine," she remarked ruefully, +rubbing her swollen knuckles. Three fingers were sprained as a result of +doing all the volleying for twelve girls, but she didn't think it worth +while to mention the matter. + +Thus passed the days, filled to overflowing with fun and excitement. +Katherine, thoroughly uncomfortable in a crisp new white dress and blue +sash, tripped blithely along the elm-shaded avenue in the glow of the +late June sunset. It was the night of the class banquet, and her mind was +intent on the speech she was to make. Thus absorbed, she did not watch +where she was going, and a sprawling root from a big tree tripped her +unexpectedly and brought her to her knees on the soft lawn. Brought into +such close contact with the ground, she spied something lying at the foot +of the giant oak beside which she had fallen. It was a black leather bill +fold, with a heavy elastic band around it. + +"Daggers and dirks!" said Katherine, borrowing the Captain's favorite +expression. "What's this?" She slipped off the elastic band and opened +the bill fold. Across the inner flap there was a name printed in gold +letters. Katherine squinted at the name and explored the inner recesses +of the wallet. She took one look and hastily bound the wallet together +again with its elastic and dropped it gingerly into her hand bag, as if +it were red hot. Then she proceeded on her way, more absorbed than ever, +but the thing her brain was intent on now was not her banquet speech. + +Crossing the little park-like square, which lay on the way to school, she +came upon Veronica walking slowly up and down the sidewalk, intently +searching for something on the ground. She was very pale and showed signs +of great agitation. It was the first time Katherine had met her face to +face since she had left the group. + +"Have you lost something?" asked Katherine abruptly. + +"No," said Veronica, straightening up and flushing deeply, "that is, +nothing much, I--I just dropped a--something out of my purse along here +somewhere." + +"What was it?" asked Katherine. + +Veronica gave a last frantic look along the walk. + +"It was a--" She hesitated, and then burst out: + +"Oh, Katherine, it was my bill fold, and it had five hundred dollars in +it!" + +"Five hundred dollars!" echoed Katherine faintly. + +Veronica ran back and forth along the walk, looking desperately into +every crack and crevice. Every few minutes she held up her hand and +looked at her wrist watch; then she would return to the search with more +energy than before. Katherine also looked at her watch. + +"I'll help you hunt," she said, taking the other side of the walk. "Are +you sure you lost it along here?" she asked. + +"Pretty sure," answered Veronica. "I know I had it when I was back on Elm +Street, because I looked to make sure." + +"The last time you saw it was back on Elm Street," mused Katherine. +"That's two blocks behind us. We'll have to go all the way back." + +"By the way," said Katherine, a few minutes later, "it's none of my +business, I suppose, but what on earth were you doing with five hundred +dollars in your bag?" + +Veronica started and looked confused for a minute. But she answered +naturally enough. "I drew it from the bank this afternoon to give my +uncle to pay for some investment he is making for me, and I was to take +it over to his studio, but I was detained and he had gone when I got +there, so I was just bringing it home when I lost it." She stared up the +road with widening eyes, not toward Elm Street, where the purse might +lie, but toward the big avenue in the other direction, where the +streetcars clanged townward. Katherine stared thoughtfully at the +suitcase Veronica had with her. + +"Have you been away?" she asked casually. + +"No," said Veronica, with a start. Then, as her eyes followed +Katherine's, she added: "I've just been carrying some--things in there." + +Katherine looked at her watch again. "What did your bill fold look like?" +she asked. + +"It was a small black one," answered Veronica, "with an elastic band +around it. It had my name in gold letters across the inner flap." + +"Hadn't we better go home and tell your uncle," suggested Katherine, "and +get him to help us find it?" + +"No, no!" cried Veronica, shrinking back in alarm. "Don't tell him! I +wouldn't have him know for worlds that I've lost it." + +"But if you don't find it he'll know about it, anyway," said Katherine +practically. + +Veronica's face went white again and she returned to the search with +desperate haste. "I must find it! I must find it!" she was saying over +and over again under her breath. + +Katherine was just as diligent in her search. She pawed through the +bushes with her white gloves and sank on her knees in the soft grass, +accumulating more and more grass stains all the while. The last streak of +daylight faded and the big arc lights began to blaze among the tall +trees, and still they searched--Katherine in a patient, systematic way, +Veronica hysterically. The few people who crossed the square were closely +questioned as to whether or not they had found anything, but the same +disappointing answer came from all of them. Veronica looked at her watch +with ever-increasing anxiety; Katherine looked at her furtively almost as +often. + +After two hours of nerve-wracking search a steeple clock nearby boomed +out nine strokes; slowly, deliberately, its clamor shattered the summer +night's stillness. Veronica sank down on a stone which bordered the walk +and covered her face with her hands. Katherine straightened up and stood +for a moment looking thoughtfully at Veronica; then she went on searching +methodically. Veronica sat huddled on the stone for fully five minutes; +then, with an expression which was strangely like relief, she rose up and +followed Katherine's example. Fifteen minutes more went by with scarcely +a word from either girl. Then the steeple clock chimed the quarter hour. +A moment later came the sound of a train whistle, far off, but borne +clearly on the still air, followed by the faint rumble of distant cars +going over a culvert. + +Katherine stood still until the sound had died away, then she went up to +Veronica, led her to an iron bench nearby, and shoved her into it. Then +she opened her handbag and took out a small black wallet fastened round +with an elastic band, and laid it on Veronica's knee without a word. + +Veronica looked at it and uttered an incredulous scream of joy. "Where +did you find it?" she gasped. + +"Back on Elm Street, before I met you," said Katherine quietly. + +"Back on Elm Street, before you met me?" repeated Veronica wonderingly. +"You had it all this while?" Katherine nodded. "Then why did you keep it +all this while?" demanded Veronica. "Why didn't you give it to me at once +and save all this agony?" + +Katherine looked at her narrowly. "I didn't dare give it to you _before +nine o'clock_," she said significantly. + +Veronica started and clutched Katherine's arm nervously. "What do you +mean?" she asked faintly. + +Katherine put her arm around Veronica and drew her toward her so she +could look into her face. The light from the swinging arc was directly +upon her. "You were going to run away on that nine o'clock train, weren't +you?" she asked quietly. + +Veronica jerked away and turned dreadfully pale. "How--how did you know?" +she faltered. + +"I didn't, for sure," said Katherine. "But I made a pretty good guess. +You see, when I found that wallet, I naturally looked inside. There I saw +your name, five hundred dollars in bills, and a note which read: + +"'Take the New York Central Flyer at nine o'clock Wednesday night.' It +was signed with the initials A. T., which I suppose stand for that friend +of yours with the plush whiskers, Alex Toboggan." + +"Alex Tobin," corrected Veronica under her breath. + +"That looked suspicious to me," continued Katherine. "I've seen him +around with you a good deal, and I don't like his looks, not a little +bit. Then a minute later I came upon you with a suitcase, hunting your +wallet and looking at your watch as if you were crazy. So I came to the +conclusion that you were planning to run away on that nine o'clock train, +and decided to hold you up by keeping the money until the train was gone. +Am I right?" + +Veronica's eyes dropped and her face was crimson. "You are right," she +said unsteadily. "I was planning to run away on that train. After I +dropped out of the Camp Fire Group I had no girl friends and became +lonelier and lonelier all the while. The only interest I had was my +music, and the only place to which I went was to hear the Symphony +Orchestra rehearse. There, Alex Tobin, who is really a fine violinist, +was always very friendly to me and kept telling me I should go to New +York and study with Martini, who is the best teacher in the country. +Uncle would not let me go because he said I was too young and he could +not go with me. But Alex Tobin kept telling me that uncle was jealous of +my talent and was trying to keep me back on purpose, and if I had any +money in my own right I should take it and go anyhow. Uncle quarreled +with Alex Tobin and after that he forbade me to have anything to do with +him, but he used to meet me outside, and always he talked about my +talent, and what a shame it was I could not study with Martini, and +things like that, until I began to think I was abused. I was very lonely, +you know, and had nothing else to think about. + +"Well, this week was the end of the Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, and +Alex Tobin was going home to New York. He promised me that if I would +play in a restaurant there in which he is interested he would see me +safely there and introduce me to Martini. He talked so much about it that +I finally yielded and said I would go. I had money in the bank, but could +not draw it out without uncle's consent. However, just this week he +wanted to invest five hundred dollars for me and gave me his signature so +I could get it. You know how easy uncle is about money matters, and he +thought it was perfectly all right to send me to the bank alone. I have +gone about by myself so much, you know. But instead of going to his +studio with it, as I was supposed to, I kept it with me and did not go +home at all. + +"I was to meet Mr. Tobin in the station at a quarter before nine. If I +was not there when the train went he was going without me. I was so +excited all day I did not have time to stop and think what I was doing, +and how terrible it was to run away from uncle and aunt, when they had +been so kind to me, even to study with Martini. I looked upon Alex Tobin +as my friend and benefactor, instead of a horrid, scheming man, as I see +he is now. He just wanted me to play in that restaurant of his for +nothing, and draw crowds, and beyond that he really didn't care what +became of me. + +"When I lost the money I was nearly frantic, because I was afraid I would +miss the train. But when the clock struck nine and I knew the train was +gone, I suddenly felt glad, glad, although I had been so anxious to go. +For I had come to myself and felt sick at the thought of what I had +almost done. Oh, Katherine, how can I ever thank you for keeping me from +doing it?" + +"Don't try," said Katherine cheerfully, rubbing away at a grass stain on +her skirt with the wreck of a white silk glove. + +For the first time Veronica noticed Katherine's white dress. "Oh, +Katherine," she exclaimed in distress, "tonight is your class banquet! I +heard some of the other girls talking about it. And you have missed it +for my sake!" + +"Why, so it is," said Katherine, with a well-feigned start of +recollection. "I had forgotten all about it." + +"No, you didn't forget it," persisted Veronica; "you deliberately spent +the time here with me." + +"Well, never mind about that," said Katherine soothingly. "It was worth +it." + +"Worth it? Oh, Katherine, after the way I have treated you! I once called +you a peasant, but you are noble--you are a princess! It is I who am not +fit to associate with you!" + +"O Glory!" exclaimed Katherine in an embarrassed way. Katherine was like +a fish out of water when anyone began to express emotion. "Forget about +the whole business," she said, "and come back into the group. You need to +have something on your mind." + +"They will never take me back now," said Veronica sadly, "after this +dreadful thing I did." + +"But you didn't do it," maintained Katherine, "you came to your senses in +time. We all have done some pretty foolish things, I guess, if they +weren't quite so startling as the one you planned. But anyway, they'll +never know a thing about it, so they can't have the laugh on you." + +"You mean you'll never tell anyone?" cried Veronica unbelievingly. + +"Not a soul," said Katherine earnestly. "Not any of the Winnebagos, nor +your uncle, nor your aunt, nor even Nyoda. Never a word, on my honor as +a--a peasant! If I had intended telling anyone I'd have taken your wallet +to your uncle right away, with the note in it, instead of keeping you +back in the way I did. But I knew you'd come to yourself presently, and +there was no use making a fuss. I'll keep your secret, never fear. I +won't even have to explain my absence from the class banquet. They all +know how absent-minded I am, and they will simply think I forgot. That's +the advantage of having a reputation!" And Veronica, looking into +Katherine's homely, honest face, knew that her word would stand against +flood and earthquake. + +"Do you really think the Winnebagos will take me back?" she asked +timidly. + +For answer Katherine picked up Veronica's suitcase, linked her arm +through hers, and started homeward at a lively pace. "You _are_ back," +she said simply. "You never were really 'put out,' you know. You left of +your own accord and we have missed you very much and were just waiting +for you to say the word. Oh, I'm so glad!" And her feet began to shuffle +back and forth in a lively manner, and she began to hum in sprightly +tones the tune, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Thus it was that the +Torch, carried by Katherine, drew Veronica to the Fire after all, +although Katherine did not even know that she held the Torch in her hand. + + +The last meeting of the Winnebagos with Nyoda came, oh, much too soon! +The boys were warned to stay away, for not even these dear friends were +to be allowed to disturb the sacredness of that gathering. They cooked +supper for the last time, trying to be riotously cheerful, with the tears +dripping off the ends of their noses into the dishes. All the favorite +Winnebago messes were cooked, because Nyoda couldn't decide which one she +wanted most. There was Shrimp Wiggle and Slumgullion and scones and ice +cream with Wohelo Special Sauce, which was a heavenly mixture of maple +syrup, chocolate and chopped nuts. + +The feast was soon spread, and they gathered around the table to sing the +Camp Fire blessing, + + "If we have earned the right to eat this bread," + +and most of the voices quavered before they came to the end. + +That supper remained in their memories many years afterward. Katherine +had to deliver all her familiar speeches over and over again; Migwan, who +had come home from college in time to attend the farewell meeting, gave a +fine history of the group from its beginning; Gladys danced her best +dances; and all the favorite stunts were gone through and the favorite +songs sung. And Nyoda looked upon and listened to it all with a smiling +face and tear-dimmed eyes. The Winnebagos had formed a large part of her +life for the past three years. Veronica, who was at the supper, and had +been welcomed back into the group with open arms upon her humble apology, +wept disconsolately most of the time. To have been restored to the good +graces of this wonderful young woman, only to lose her again immediately +afterward! She bitterly regretted her withdrawing from the group during +the winter and thus losing her last opportunity of comradeship with +Nyoda. + +Supper over they wandered out into the warm June twilight to watch for +the evening stars before beginning the ceremonial meeting. "We'll have +the same stars as you do, anyhow," said Hinpoha, "and when they come out +we'll think of each other, will you, Nyoda?" + +"Indeed I will," said Nyoda, heartily. + +"And when Cassiopea comes out the W will stand for Winnebago," added +Gladys. + +"And that long scraggly constellation will remind you of me," said +Katherine, and they all had to laugh in spite of their sadness. + +By and by they wandered back to the House of the Open Door and Nyoda went +up alone and left them standing before the door. Then pretty soon the +signal bird calls floated up and Nyoda's voice called down from above, +saying, "Who's there?" and they answered with the foolish passwords and +countersigns that they loved because they were so foolish. One by one +they climbed the ladder and took their places in the circle, their eyes +on Nyoda, as she twirled the drill with the bow, kindling their last +Council Fire. The spark came immediately and leapt into flame and kindled +the fagots piled on the hearth. Feeling the spell of it as they never had +before, they sang "Burn, Fire, Burn." + +Then came the last roll call. Nyoda's voice lingered lovingly on each +name: "Hinpoha; Sahwah; Geyahi (Gladys); Iagoonah; Medmangi; Nakwisi; +Waban (Veronica)." + +Migwan read the Count, written in her inimitable lilting metre, which +touched on the many happy times they had had together, and ended, + + "All too brief that Moon of Gladness, + Long shall be the years of parting!" + +Then Hinpoha put her head on her knee with a stifled sob, and at that +they all broke down and cried together, with their arms around Nyoda. + +"Come girls, be good," said Nyoda, after a minute, sitting up and wiping +her eyes. "Stand up and take your honors like men!" + +And she proceeded to raise all the girls who had not already taken that +honor, to the rank of Torchbearer, excepting, of course, Veronica. As she +awarded the pins she spoke a few words to each girl, telling in what way +she had become worthy of this highest rank. When she came to Katherine, +she laid her hand on her shoulder. "Good wine needs no bush," she said +with a whimsical smile. "And Katherine needs no advocate. Her actions +speak for themselves. Her masterly handling of that volley ball game the +other day gives the keynote to her character. The ability to snatch +victory from seeming defeat is a gift which will carry one far in the +world. And do not forget that Katherine went into that game as a humble +filler-in, simply to oblige the team, and without a thought of gaining +any glory thereby. That is what I meant by losing one's self in the +common cause which is a necessary qualification for a Torchbearer. +Katherine would go to any trouble to help somebody else get glory for +themselves, or to help them out of trouble." And Veronica almost burst +with the desire to tell of the last great service Katherine had done her. + +Katherine blushed at Nyoda's words and winked back the tears and dropped +the pin, and murmured brokenly that she would try to be a worthy +Torchbearer, and would do her best to stop being so absent-minded. And +then all the Torchbearers, new and old, joined hands in a circle and +repeated their desire: + + "The light that has been given to me + I desire to pass undimmed unto others." + +"And now a word about the future," said Nyoda, putting wood on the fire +and sending the flames roaring up the chimney. "You girls declare you do +not want another Guardian. I heartily agree with you in this. That does +not mean that I would be jealous of a possible successor. But I think the +time has come when you no longer need a Guardian. For three years you +have been bound together by ties stronger than sisterhood, and have had +all the fun that it is possible for girls to have, working always as a +unit. You have stood in a close circle, always facing inward. Now you +must turn around and face outward. You have been leaders from the +beginning, and I have trained you as leaders. And a leader must stand +alone. Each one of you will have a different way of passing on the light. +The time has come to begin. The old order has passed when you did every +thing under my direction. You must kindle new Camp Fires now and teach to +others the things you have learned." + +"Oh, Nyoda," cried Gladys sorrowfully, "do you mean that all our good +times together are over? That this is the end of it all?" + +"No, dear, this is not the end," said Nyoda cheerfully, "this is the +'beginning of it all.' I do not mean for a moment that you girls are not +to meet and frolic together any more; but that must not be the main +thing. You must begin leading groups of younger girls and teaching them +to have a good time as you have learned to. What wonderful Guardians you +will make in time!" she said musingly. + +"Besides," she added, after a moment's silence, while the girls +thoughtfully pondered the new idea she had given them, "you had come to +the parting of the ways, although you didn't seem to realize it. You have +graduated from school, and next year Hinpoha and Gladys and Katherine are +going away to college, each one to a different city, and Nakwisi is to +travel with her aunt, and Veronica will be going to New York to study +music sooner or later. That leaves only Sahwah and Medmangi here in the +city. You couldn't go on as you have in the past, even if I were not +going away. But come," she cried in an animated tone, "enough of solemn +talk! We've had three years together, and nobody can take them away from +us, never. And we're all together now. Let the future take care of +itself; this is today! Come, come, a song!" + +And once more the rafters rang: + + "O we are Winnebagos and we're loyal friends and true, + We always work in harmony in everything we do, + We always think the weather's fine, in sunshine or in snow, + We're happy all the time because we're maids of Wohelo!" + +The echoes died away and then sprang into life again. + + "For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + And that's why we're so spry!" + +"A toast!" cried Nyoda, "a toast to the future!" And they drank it in the +remains of the cocoa. Their eyes met as they clinked the cups, and +overflowed. "Oh, my girls," cried Nyoda, trying to get her arms around +all of them at once, "there never _was_ such a group! And there never +_will_ be such a group! I just can't leave you!" Then she pulled herself +up again. The time was passing and she must hasten, for she was leaving +on the train late that night. Her marriage was to take place in the East. +"Come, girls, 'Mystic Fire.'" And once again their voices rose in musical +chant: + + "With hand uplifted we claim thy power, + Guide and keep us as we go, + True to Wohelo. + Thy law is our law from this hour, + Thy mystic spirit's flame will show + Us the way to go." + +And so on to the end. + +But when they stood in the close circle with which the song ends, Nyoda +stooped to the hearth, and, plucking forth a burning brand, held it aloft +as a torch, and the girls passed in front of her, each carrying a tiny +torch in her hand, which she lit from the big one. Then the circle stood +complete once more, a ring of shining light. Silence fell on all. The +moment of parting had come. + +"Don't say good-bye," begged Nyoda. "Act as if I were a guest just +leaving for a short time." + +And bravely, with voices that did not falter to the end, they sang the +familiar guest song: + + "Our guest, may she come again soon----" + +and followed it with a fervent cheer: + + "O Nyoda, here's to you, + Our hearts will e'er be true, + We will never find your equal + Though we search the whole world through!" + +Then the circle turned resolutely and faced outward. A moment more they +lingered, and then they went forth into the night, carrying their torches +with them. + + + THE END + + + + + Transcriber's Notes + + +--Silently corrected palpable typos in spelling and punctuation + +--Adjusted front matter to give a complete list of the series + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, by +Hildegard G. Frey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + +***** This file should be named 38934-8.txt or 38934-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/9/3/38934/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. 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: + + https://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/38934-8.zip b/38934-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..28ee434 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-8.zip diff --git a/38934-h.zip b/38934-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3a6d3a --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-h.zip diff --git a/38934-h/38934-h.htm b/38934-h/38934-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7fe964f --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-h/38934-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8062 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<!-- terminate if block for class html --> + +<meta name="author" content="Hildegarde G. Frey (1891-1957)" /> +<link rel="schema.DC" href="http://dublincore.org/documents/1998/09/dces/" /> +<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Hildegarde G. Frey (1891-1957)" /> +<meta name="DC.Title" content="The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks" /> +<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> +<meta name="DC.Format" content="text/html" /> +<title>The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, by Hildegard G. Frey</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/* == XML-ONLY MARKUP == + */ +/* == GLOBAL MARKUP == */ +body, table.twocol tr td { margin-left:2em; margin-right:2em; } /* BODY */ +h1, h2, h3, h5, h6, .titlepg p { text-align:center; clear:right; } /* HEADINGS */ +h2 { margin-top:2.5em; } +h3 { font-variant:small-caps; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2.5em; } +h6 { font-size:100%; font-style:italic; } +h6.var { font-size:80%; font-style:normal; } +.titlepg { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; border-style:double; clear:both; } +.dbox { border-style:double; margin-bottom:2em; max-width:25em; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto; margin-top:2em; } +div.box { border-style:solid; margin-bottom:2em; max-width:25em; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto; margin-top:2em; border-width:1px; } +div.subbox { border-style:solid; margin:.2em; border-width:1px; } +h4 { font-size:80%; text-align:center; clear:right; } +span.chaptertitle { font-style:normal; display:block; text-align:center; font-size:150%; } +p, blockquote, li { text-align:justify; max-width:25em; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto; } /* PARAGRAPHS */ +p.bq { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; max-width:23em; } +div.verse { font-size:100%; max-width:25em; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto;} +p.indent {text-indent:2em; text-align:left; } +p.tb, p.tbcenter { margin-top:2em; } +span.pb, div.pb, dt.pb, p.pb { text-align: right; float:right; } /* PAGE BREAKS */ +div.pb { display:inline; } +.pb { text-align:right; float:right; margin-left: 1.5em; +margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em; display:inline; +font-size:80%; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; } +.bq div.pb, .bq span.pb { font-size:90%; margin-right:2em; } +.index dt { margin-left:3em; text-indent:-3em; } +.index dd { margin-left:3em; text-indent:-1em; } +div.img, body a img {text-align:center; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em; } +sup { font-size:75%; vertical-align:100%; line-height:50%; } +.center, .tbcenter { text-align:center; clear:both; } /* TEXTUAL MARKUP */ +table.center { clear:both; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto; } +.small { font-size:80%; } +.smaller { font-size:66%; } +.smallest { font-size:50%; } +.larger { font-size:150%; } +.large { font-size:125%; } +.gs { letter-spacing:1em; } +.gs3 { letter-spacing:1.5em; } +.gslarge { letter-spacing:.3em; font-size:110%; } +.sc { font-variant:small-caps; font-style: normal; } +.sc i { font-variant:normal; } +.rubric { color: red; } +hr { width:20%; } +.shorthr { width:5%; } +.jl { text-align:left; } +.jr { text-align:right; } +.jr1 { text-align:right; margin-right:2em; } +.ind1 { text-align:left; margin-left:2em; } +.u { text-decoration:underline; } +table.center { border-style: groove; } +table.center, table.hymntab { clear:both; margin-right:auto; margin-left:auto; } +dd.t { text-align:left; margin-left: 5.5em; } +span.date, span.author { text-align:right; font-variant:small-caps; display:block; margin-right:1em; color:green; } +span.center { text-align:center; display:block; color:green; } +.biblio dt { max-width:18em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-top:1em; } +.biblio dd { max-width:17em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; font-size:90%; } +/* INDEX (.INDEX) */ +div.notes p { margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em; /* FOOTNOTE BLOCKS */ +text-align:justify; } +.lnum { text-align:right; float:right; margin-left:.5em; /* POETRY LINE NUMBER */ +display:inline; } +.hymn { text-align:left; } /* HYMN AND VERSE: HTML */ +.verse { text-align:left; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:0em; } +p.t0, p.l, .t0, .l, div.l, l { margin-left:4em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.tw, div.tw, .tw { margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t, div.t, .t { margin-left:5em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t2, div.t2, .t2 { margin-left:6em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t3, div.t3, .t3 { margin-left:7em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t4, div.t4, .t4 { margin-left:8em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t5, div.t5, .t5 { margin-left:9em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t6, div.t6, .t6 { margin-left:10em; text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t7, div.t7, .t7 { margin-left:11em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t8, div.t8, .t8 { margin-left:12em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t9, div.t9, .t9 { margin-left:13em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t10,div.t10,.t10 { margin-left:14em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t11,div.t11,.t11 { margin-left:15em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t12,div.t12,.t12 { margin-left:16em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t13,div.t13,.t13 { margin-left:17em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t14,div.t14,.t14 { margin-left:18em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +p.t15,div.t15,.t15 { margin-left:19em;text-indent:-3em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-align:left; } +.clear { clear:both; } +.htab { margin-left:8em; } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, 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' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: February 20, 2012 [EBook #38934] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div id="cover" class="img"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="The Camp Fire Girls’ Larks and Pranks" width="500" height="746" /> +</div> +<div class="box"> +<div class="subbox"> +<h1>The Camp Fire Girls’ +<br /><span class="small">Larks and Pranks</span></h1> +</div> +<div class="subbox"> +<p class="center"><span class="small">OR</span> +<br /><span class="large"><b>The House of the Open Door +<br /><br />By HILDEGARD G. FREY</b></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="small">AUTHOR OF</span> +<br />The Camp Fire Girls Series</p> +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/fire.png" alt="A Campfire" width="216" height="173" /> +</div> +</div> +<div class="subbox"> +<p class="center">A. L. BURT COMPANY +<br />Publishers <span class="htab">New York</span></p> +</div> +</div> +<div class="box"> +<p class="center"><b><span class="small">THE</span> +<br /><span class="large"><span class="sc">Camp Fire Girls Series</span></span></b></p> +<p class="center"><span class="small">A Series of Stories for Camp Fire Girls Endorsed by +the Officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization</span></p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<p class="center">By HILDEGARD G. FREY</p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<dl class="biblio"> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods</dt> +<dd>or, The Winnebago’s Go Camping</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls at School</dt> +<dd>or, The Wohelo Weavers</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House</dt> +<dd>or, The Magic Garden</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring</dt> +<dd>or, Along the Road That Leads the Way</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls’ Larks and Pranks</dt> +<dd>or, The House of the Open Door</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen’s Isle</dt> +<dd>or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road</dt> +<dd>or, Glorify Work</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit</dt> +<dd>or, Over The Top With the Winnebago’s</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery</dt> +<dd>or, The Christmas Adventures at Carver House</dd> +<dt>The Camp Fire Girls at Camp Keewaydin</dt> +<dd>or, Down Paddles</dd> +</dl> +<hr /> +<p class="center"><span class="small">Copyright, 1917 +<br /><span class="sc">By A. L. Burt Company</span></span></p> +<hr class="shorthr" /> +<p class="center"><span class="small">THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS’ LARKS AND PRANKS</span></p> +</div> +<div id="front" class="img"> +<img src="images/front.jpg" alt="She was numb from the cold and very nearly asleep when the captain found her." width="500" height="796" /> +<p class="center"><span class="small">SHE WAS NUMB FROM THE COLD AND VERY NEARLY ASLEEP WHEN THE +CAPTAIN FOUND HER. +<br /><i>The Camp-Fire Girls’ Larks and Pranks. +<a href="#Page_178">Page 178.</a></i></span></p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_3">[3]</div> +<h2>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS’ +<br /><span class="small">LARKS AND PRANKS</span></h2> +<h2 id="c1">CHAPTER I +<br /><span class="small">THE HOUSE OF THE OPEN DOOR</span></h2> +<p>It was the crisp chill of an early October evening; +in the still air the dead leaves came rustling down +with a soft sound like whispers, while the crickets +chirped a cheery welcome from the waiting earth. +Over the treetops a big yellow hunter’s moon was +rising; its comical face grinning good-naturedly. It +looked down on the dark outlines of a large barn +standing in the shadow of a tall tree and the grin +widened perceptibly. Evidently something was happening +on earth.</p> +<p>A dark form stole softly up the long drive leading +to the barn and paused before the door. Through +the silence there rose the whistling wail of the whippoorwill, +repeated three times, and ending abruptly +in the squall of a catbird. From within the blackness +of the barn came an echo of the whippoorwill’s +call, followed by a much more cheerful note—the +carol of the bluebird. Then a clear voice called from +inside, “Who goes there?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_4">[4]</div> +<p>“A friend,” came the reply.</p> +<p>“Stand and give the countersign,” commanded the +voice inside.</p> +<p>“Other Council Fires were here before,” responded +the newcomer.</p> +<p>“Advance and give the Inner Password,” said the +invisible sentinel.</p> +<p>The figure passed through the dark entrance and +came to a halt just inside, crying, “Kolah Olowan!”</p> +<p>“Mount!” commanded the voice above, and the +stranger lost no time in obeying the invitation. +Scrambling up the ladder fastened to the wall which +did duty as a staircase, she thrust aside the curtain +at the top and stepped out into the lighted upper +chamber.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_5">[5]</div> +<p>Anyone seeing that dark and deserted looking +building from the outside would never guess how +bright and cheerful was that upper room within. A +wood fire roared in a cobblestone fireplace, its gleam +lighting up walls hung with leather skins and gay +Indian blankets and festooned with sprays of bittersweet. +Several more Indian blankets were spread +out on the floor in lieu of rugs, while from the rafters +were suspended woven baskets and pieces of pottery. +Ranged around the sides of the chamber, +where the sloping roof met the floor, were four beds, +all different, and only one indicating that the dwellers +in that secret lodge were civilized persons. The +first was a neat cot bed with blankets tucked in +smoothly all around, and a dust cover folded up at +the foot; the second was an “Indian bed” made of +pine branches, dried ferns and sweet grasses, piled +several feet high and ingeniously confined by woven +reeds and pliant twigs. The scent of the sweet +grasses, mingled with the aromatic odor of the pine, +filled the room with a dreamy fragrance that seemed +like a charm to lure down the Sleep Manitou. The +third was a pile of bearskins and the fourth was another +kind of Indian bed, made of smooth round willow +rods tied together with ropes and laid across two +poles fastened into the wall.</p> +<p>No windows were visible, as these had been covered +with skins. Except for the camp bed, the wide +hearthstone and one other detail it might have been +the lodge of some Indian Chief of olden time. That +other detail was a green felt pennant stretched across +the chimney above the stone shelf of the fireplace, +bearing in clean-cut English letters the word WINNEBAGO. +Most of our readers have probably +guessed the truth before this—the Indian lodge we +have been describing is the meeting place of the Winnebago +Camp Fire Girls and the solitary visitor who +uttered the plaintive cry of the whippoorwill with its +grotesque ending in a cat call is none other than our +old friend, Sahwah the Sunfish.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_6">[6]</div> +<p>“O Nyoda, such larks!” cried Sahwah, skipping +across the room and bestowing a hasty embrace on +the sentinel guarding the fire, whom the reader has +doubtless suspected of being Miss Kent, the Guardian +of the Winnebago group.</p> +<p>Nyoda laughingly shook herself free and +smoothed out the Ceremonial dress she held in her +hand, which had become sadly crumpled during the +process of Sahwah’s bear hug. “What mischief are +you into this time?” she asked fondly, smiling down +into Sahwah’s dancing eyes.</p> +<p>Sahwah went into a gale of giggles before she +could explain. “You know Gladys was going to +drive all of us girls down in the Glow-worm to-night,” +she said, controlling her laughter with an effort, +“and she telephoned Hinpoha while I was there +to dinner that she was over at Mrs. Varden’s, the +dressmaker’s, having a fit, and the Glow-worm was +standing out in front of the house, so we should +gather up the other girls and get into the car and +wait for her to come out, to save her the time of +going around after the girls, for her fit threatened +to be a lengthy one. So Hinpoha started out after +Medmangi and Nakwisi and I went back home after +these apples, which I’d forgotten to take along to +Hinpoha’s. When I got to the corner of the street +along came Gladys in the Glow-worm and said she +had an errand to do for her mother in a hurry and +we had better come straight out here without her +and she would come later. I hurried over to Mrs. +Varden’s house to tell the girls, but when I got +nearly there I saw a black car standing out in front +and Hinpoha and Nakwisi and Medmangi sitting in +it as cool as cucumbers, thinking they were in the +Glow-worm. I recognized the car as belonging to +that horribly bashful son of Mrs. Varden’s, and I +couldn’t resist the temptation to let the girls sit in it +until he came out. So I stole back up the street, +keeping in the shadow of the trees so the girls +wouldn’t see me, and came out here. Oh, won’t +there be a situation though, when ‘Dolly’ Varden +comes out and finds his nice bachelor car full of +bold, bad girls!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_7">[7]</div> +<p>The picture was too much for Sahwah, and she +rolled on the bed shrieking with laughter, in which +Nyoda joined heartily. “I wonder how long it will +be before they come,” said Sahwah, rising from the +bed and wiping her eyes. “What shall we do to +pass away the time?”</p> +<p>“If I were you,” advised Nyoda, “I would spend +it searching a nice safe retreat to which you can fly +when they come and find out you didn’t tell them.”</p> +<p>Hardly had she spoken the words when there +floated up from below the familiar cry of the whippoorwill, +followed successively by the long, eerie +laugh of the loon, the blithe whistle of the quail and +the song of the robin. “There they are!” exclaimed +Sahwah in mock terror. “Where shall I hide? +Oh, I have it, I’ll get inside of that pile of bearskins +and listen while they tell their tale of woe to you +and then I’ll hop out and laugh at them.” Quick as +a flash she jumped into the bearskin bed and pulled +the skins over her so that she was entirely concealed.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_8">[8]</div> +<p>With a great deal of chattering and giggling the +three arrivals were mounting the ladder. “Keep on +going, Hinpoha!” exclaimed Nakwisi, “you’re stepping +on my hand.”</p> +<p>“Keep on going yourself,” retorted Hinpoha, +“you haven’t a pie in your hand.” Just at that moment +her foot slipped and she clutched wildly at the +ladder for support.</p> +<p>“There goes the pie!” shrieked someone, as it described +a circle in the air and landed with a thud. +Hinpoha wrung her hands in grief, for her mouth +was already watering for that crisp pastry.</p> +<p>Medmangi walked over to view the remains. “It +isn’t hurt a mite,” she said calmly, picking it up and +dusting it off. “Fortunately it landed right side up +in the tin.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_9">[9]</div> +<p>“O Nyoda,” cried Hinpoha, beaming once more +now that the feast of pie was assured, “we had the +most fun getting here! Gladys told us the Glow-worm +was standing out in front of the Varden’s +house and we should get in and wait for her, and +we saw a car and got in. Pretty soon out came +young Mr. Varden, got into the front seat without +looking to the right or left and drove off. We +thought of course he was driving Gladys’ car away +and we all three shrieked at him at once. He pretty +nearly dropped dead when he heard us, and stopped +the car so suddenly we all flew out of the seat. But +he was perfectly grand about it when we found out +our mistake. He told us Gladys had gone home fifteen +minutes before, but he would be perfectly delighted +to drive us where we wanted to go. And so +he brought us out,” she finished with a dramatic +flourish, and sat down heavily on top of the bearskin +bed where Sahwah lay hidden. Immediately +there was an upheaval and a grotesque animal sprang +from the bed, an animal which had the skin of a +bear and two red stockinged legs which capered +wildly about while their owner shrieked piercingly, +“She sat on my breathing apparatus and I won’t be +able to talk for a week!”</p> +<p>“You <i>are</i> talking, you goose,” said Hinpoha, +calmly seating herself again after poking the bed +to see if it were further inhabited.</p> +<p>“You missed it, Sahwah, by going home,” she +continued. “Too bad you weren’t along to share +the fun.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_10">[10]</div> +<p>Sahwah’s expression was funny to behold when +she learned how the joke had turned out, for it was +not on the girls after all, but on herself, for she had +walked all the way to the lodge by herself. She +looked rather silly as she caught Nyoda’s eye, but +while Nyoda twinkled mischievously at her Sahwah +knew that she would never give her away. But of +course when Gladys arrived a few minutes later and +heard the story, Sahwah’s part in it came out and she +had to stand the gibes of the others because her +joke had turned round on herself, until Nyoda called +the beginning of the Ceremonial and peace was restored.</p> +<p>One name has been dropped from the Count Book +of the Winnebagos since last we heard the roll called, +and to another there is no reply, although it is always +called. Early in the fall Chapa the Chipmunk +moved to a distant city, and so for the first time the +close circle of the Winnebagos was broken. Then +shortly afterward Migwan went away to college and +her departure caused a fresh bereavement. Though +Migwan had been of such a very quiet nature, her +influence had been widely felt, and the girls missed +her more and more as the days went on. Hinpoha, +especially, was almost inconsolable, for she and Migwan +had always stood a little closer together than +the rest of the girls. This was the first Ceremonial +Meeting without the two and it seemed very strange +indeed to omit Chapa’s name from the roll, and when +Migwan’s name was called and was followed by silence, +Hinpoha sniffed audibly and wiped her eyes.</p> +<p>“Sister, this is a very solemn occasion,” said Sahwah +the irrepressible, in such a forced tone of sorrow +that it was impossible not to laugh at her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_11">[11]</div> +<p>“That’s right,” said Nyoda. “It won’t do for us +to pull long faces. We have vowed to ‘be happy’ +you know. Think how much worse off Chapa is +alone in a strange city. Come, be cheerful and tell +what kind deeds you have seen done today. You +begin, Sahwah.”</p> +<p>Sahwah took hold of her toes with her hands and +tilted back and forth on the floor as she spoke. +“Sally Jones did me a great service yesterday in +composition class. You know Sally Jones—the one +they call the Blunderbuss. Well, you know what a +pig I am when it comes to writing composition. I +never wrote one yet that I didn’t get a blot on. Last +week when I handed mine in Miss Snively said that +if there was a blot on my paper this week she would +mark me zero for the month. So yesterday when +we had to write one in class I took the utmost care +and got it all done spotlessly and was just signing +my name when Anna Green behind me tried to pick +a thread off my collar and laid her fishy cold hand +against my neck. I jumped and wriggled and the +result was a beautiful blot on my composition. +There wasn’t time to copy it over because it was almost +the end of the hour, so I resigned myself to a +nice fat cipher on my report card this month. Then +Miss Snively sent Sally around to collect the papers +and when she came to my desk she leaned across it +in such an awkward way that she upset my inkwell +all over my composition and my one small blot was +completely hidden by the deluge. Miss Snively +graciously requested me to do it over in rest hour, +which I did, and handed it in in perfect shape. Upsetting +that inkwell was the kindest thing anybody +ever did for me.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_12">[12]</div> +<p>There was a moment of laughter at Sahwah’s tale +of kindness and then quiet fell on the group again. +“Tell us a story, Nyoda,” begged Hinpoha, breaking +the silence, “we’re getting low in our minds +again.”</p> +<p>“Yes, do,” begged the others.</p> +<p>Nyoda sat silent a moment staring thoughtfully +into the fire. Her hands were clasped around her +knees and the light shone on the diamond ring which +now encircled the fourth finger of her left hand—the +only thing which made the girls realize that their +amazing adventures of the first week in September +had been a reality and not a dream.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_13">[13]</div> +<p>“In a village in eastern Hungary,” began Nyoda, +“there lived a girl about your age. Her father was +a very wealthy man, and lived on a great estate. +Veronica—that was the girl’s name—was the only +child, and had everything that her heart desired. +The thing she loved to do the best was ride horse-back +and she had a beautiful horse for her very own. +She showed great talent on the violin and had the +best masters. Veronica grew to be seventeen as +happy as a girl could be, with an indulgent father +and a beautiful, sweet mother. Then a dreadful +thing happened. War was declared in the country +and the village where they lived was taken by the +enemy. Her father was killed, their home was +burned and her mother died. Veronica, with the +rest of the people in the village, ran away toward +the mountains when the village burned. But Veronica +became separated from her friends and fell, +and could not get up again, for her leg was broken. +She lay there a long time, and gave herself up for +lost, when she heard a whinny beside her and there +was her pet horse, who had been following her all +the way. She managed to swing herself up on his +back and he galloped away to the safety of the +mountains. They found their way across the border +into another country where some kind people +took care of the orphan girl. The faithful horse +fell after he had brought her to safety and hurt +himself so badly that he had to be shot. The people +who took care of Veronica sent her across the ocean +to her aunt and uncle. So, sad and lonesome, she +came to this country to be an American.”</p> +<p>Here Nyoda paused for breath, and Hinpoha +burst out quickly, “Oh, how I wish this had happened +in our time and that poor lonely girl had +come to this city and we had met her and made her +happy. Wouldn’t we be kind to her, though, if we +had a chance?”</p> +<p>Nyoda proceeded quietly. “All this <i>has</i> happened +in your time, and this lonesome girl <i>has</i> come to our +city, and you are going to have a chance to be kind +to her often.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_14">[14]</div> +<p>“Nyoda!” shrieked all the girls at once. “You +mean she lives in our city, and you actually know +her?” “Where does she live?” “When will we see +her?” “What is her whole name?” “How old did +you say she was?”</p> +<p>“Have mercy!” exclaimed Nyoda, putting her +hands over her ears. “I can only answer ten questions +at once. Veronica’s uncle is Mr. Lehar, the +conductor of the Temple Theatre orchestra. I live +next door to them, you know, and am well acquainted +with Mrs. Lehar. She told me about Veronica +some time ago and last week she went to New York +to get her. I immediately asked her to allow her niece +to join the Winnebago group, if you girls were willing +to take her, that she might not be lonely here. +Will you take her in, girls?”</p> +<p>“We certainly will!” cried Gladys and Hinpoha +in a breath, and Sahwah sprang to her feet exclaiming +vehemently, “Well, I guess so!”</p> +<p>“When is she coming?” they wanted to know +next.</p> +<p>“I’ll bring her to the next meeting,” promised +Nyoda, “and I want you girls to—”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_15">[15]</div> +<p>What it was she wanted them to do they never +found out, for just at that minute there was a terrific +thump on the floor below followed by the hurried +clatter of heavy footsteps, then the scraping of +feet on the ladder, a great waving and billowing of +the curtain at the top and then it was wrenched aside, +and into the Council Chamber there burst the fattest +boy they had ever seen. His great cheeks hung +down over his collar; his eyes were nearly buried. +His face was purple from violent exertion and he +sat limply against the bearskin bed, panting heavily. +The girls stared open-mouthed at the intruder. Before +they had recovered sufficiently from their astonishment +to utter a single word, the barn below +was filled with the noise of many footsteps and the +shouting of many voices, and the next minute the +sacred Council Chamber of the Winnebagos was +filled to overflowing with boys.</p> +<p>At the sight of the lighted chamber and the girls +in Indian costumes the intruders stopped and stared +in speechless surprise. Then with one accord seven +hats were snatched from as many heads and seven +voices exclaimed as one, “Beg pardon, we didn’t +know anyone was here.”</p> +<p>It was so funny to hear them all saying the same +thing at once that the Winnebagos could not help +laughing aloud. The confusion of the boys was +so painful that the girls actually felt sorry for them.</p> +<p>“There are only <i>seven</i> of you,” said Sahwah, as +usual breaking the silence first. “I thought at first +there were <i>hundreds</i>.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_16">[16]</div> +<p>Here one of the boys found his voice to speak. +He was a tall boy with curly brown hair and nice +eyes, and his face was suffused with blushes of embarrassment. +“Sorry to disturb you girls,” he said +soberly, but with a twinkle in his eye. “We were +chasing <i>him</i>”—and he pointed to the fat boy still +puffing away for dear life on the floor—“and we +couldn’t see any light from the outside and we didn’t +know anybody was up here and when Slim ran in we +just followed him. We’ll go right away again, and +let you go on with your meeting.”</p> +<p>Nyoda looked from one face to the other—nice +refined boys they were, she decided, and it would do +no hurt to show them courtesy. “You needn’t be in +such a great hurry to go,” she said cordially. “You +may at least stay until you have recovered your +breath.” And she looked quizzically at the fat boy +leaning against the bearskins who did not seem ever +to be going to breathe again.</p> +<p>He tried to show his appreciation of her hospitality +by getting up and making a bow, which threw +him into such an advanced stage of breathlessness +that he sank down again directly and had to be +fanned. This caused another general laugh and the +boys and girls rubbed elbows so closely trying to revive +him that all feeling of embarrassment vanished +and it suddenly seemed as if they were old friends, +in spite of the fact that none of them knew the others’ +names. Nyoda came to herself with a start.</p> +<p>“Excuse us, boys,” she said, “for not introducing +ourselves. I am Miss Kent, Guardian of the Winnebago +Camp Fire Girls, and these are the Winnebagos,” +and she named them in order. “We were +having a rather doleful time when you arrived. You +broke up the spell of gloom and we are deeply grateful.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_17">[17]</div> +<p>The tall boy spoke again, this time smiling +broadly. “We’re the ones who ought to apologize +for not introducing ourselves,” he said in a pleasant +voice, “since we have caused so much disturbance. +We’re the Sandwich Club,” he continued, including +all the boys in a sweeping gesture of his hand. “We +go to Carnegie Mechanic. That’s Slim over there,” +he said, pointing to the fat one, while all the girls +laughed. “His real name’s Lewis Carlton, but it’s +so long since anyone has called him that that he’s +forgotten what it is himself. We chase him all over +the country to reduce him, but sometimes he gives +us the slip and hides and it takes us so long to find +him that in the meantime he gains more than he lost +while we were chasing him.”</p> +<p>The girls fairly shouted at this and Slim doubled +up a cushion-like fist and declared in a choking voice +that if the fellows didn’t leave him in peace he’d sit +down on them some day and that would be the end +of them. The tall boy who was doing the introducing +smiled sweetly at Slim and went on with the introductions.</p> +<p>“This one,” he said, indicating an extremely thin, +hungry-looking, gaunt-featured lad with sombre +brown eyes and a grave mouth, “is Bill Pitt. ‘Bottomless +Pitt,’ we call him, because it’s impossible to +fill him up. You girls have heard of the Sheep Eaters?” +he asked suddenly, looking from one to the +other.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_18">[18]</div> +<p>“Yes,” chorused the Winnebagos, not wishing to +appear ignorant, but not sure whether the Sheep +Eaters were beasts of prey or persons overfond of +mutton.</p> +<p>“Well,” continued the spokesman, pointing to the +“Bottomless Pitt,” “he’s a Pie Eater, he is. He eats +’em whole.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha’s glance strayed nervously to the shelf +where the apple pie stood awaiting the end of the +Ceremonial Meeting. The tall boy’s eyes followed +here and his teeth showed in a wide smile, as he +seemed to read her thoughts. Hinpoha blushed fiery +red and dropped her eyes. But he looked away +again immediately and did not increase her embarrassment.</p> +<p>“This,” he said, drawing forward a spidery little +fellow with red hair and freckles all over his face, +“is Munson K. McKee, called for short, Monkey, +and those,” indicating the other three, “are Dan Porter, +Peter Jenkins and Harry Raymond. We seven +boys have always gone together, so we decided to +form a club, and we all like sandwiches so well that +we named ourselves the Sandwich Club. There, +now you know all about us.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_19">[19]</div> +<p>“But you haven’t told us <i>your</i> name,” said the +Winnebagos, who were beginning to like the spokesman +very much, and were anxiously waiting to hear +him introduce himself.</p> +<p>“Haven’t I?” he asked. “That’s right, I haven’t. +My name,” he said solemnly, but with that suggestion +of a twinkle in his eye again, “is Cicero St. +John—and the fellows <i>don’t</i> call me Cissy for +short.” Here the corners of his mouth twitched as +at some humorous memory.</p> +<p>“You bet they don’t call him Cissy!” put in the +Bottomless Pitt.</p> +<p>Hinpoha’s eyes met Gladys’ in comical dismay. +How could anyone in their right senses name a boy—an +American boy—Cicero! The St. John part +sounded very fine, but that awful Cicero!</p> +<p>“How do you keep them from calling you—Cissy?” +ventured Sahwah.</p> +<p>“He licked the tar out of them!” spoke up the +Monkey. “And he dumped one fellow overboard +out in the lake when he tried it. Everybody calls +him ‘Cap’ now, because he’s captain of the football +team.”</p> +<p>“Indeed,” murmured the Winnebagos, looking at +Cicero St. John with fresh interest and great respect, +for all the world loves a football player.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_20">[20]</div> +<p>And then the boys wanted to know all about the +Winnebagos, and thought their symbolic names and +“queer duds” even funnier than the girls had considered +theirs. But they all voiced their unqualified +approval of the Camp Fire Girls when they heard +that the Ceremonial Meeting was to be topped off +with a feast of apple pie, doughnuts and cider, and +did not need to be asked more than once to stay, +and share the feast.</p> +<p>“Say, this is a peach of a meeting place,” said the +Captain with his mouth full. “How did you happen +to get it, and whoever thought of putting a +fireplace upstairs in a barn?”</p> +<p>“We got it as the result of a sort of wager,” explained +Hinpoha. “Gladys’ father promised that if +we could go on an automobile trip all by ourselves +without once telegraphing to him for aid he would +build us a Lodge to hold our meetings in, and we +did and so he did.”</p> +<p>“‘So <i>they</i> did, and <i>he</i> did, and the bears did,’” +quoted Nyoda teasingly.</p> +<p>Hinpoha laughed and went on. “He owned this +empty barn out here in the field and he turned it +over to us. But we just had to have a fireplace or +it wouldn’t have been a regular Camp Fire Lodge, +so he built this splendid chimney. We have named +the Lodge ‘The House of the Open Door,’ or the +‘Open Door Lodge,’ to signify hospitality. Mr. +Evans wanted to build a fine stairway, too, but we +wouldn’t have it. It’s lots more fun to climb the +ladder.”</p> +<p>“Why don’t you use the ground floor?” asked +Slim, who could never see the sense of exerting +one’s self needlessly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_21">[21]</div> +<p>“It’s much cosier up here,” replied Hinpoha. +“We have these adorable peaks and gables to hang +things on. Besides, we wanted to leave the big +floor downstairs clear for dancing.”</p> +<p>“Dancing? Do you dance?” cried the boys, pricking +up their ears.</p> +<p>“We surely do,” replied the girls. “Would you +like to come down and try?”</p> +<p>Down the ladder they went in a hurry, Slim being +pushed from above and pulled from below, and landing +on the floor in his usual breathless state. A few +lanterns were hung around the walls and the big +door opened wide to let in the bright rays of the +full moon and the place was nearly as light as day. +Nyoda played her banjo and the twelve pairs of feet +shuffled merrily to the lively strains. As there were +only five girls, Slim and Peter Jenkins were left +without partners and consoled themselves by dancing +together. Peter came just to Slim’s shoulder +and weighed ninety-five pounds against Slim’s two +hundred and thirty, and the result was so ludicrous +that the rest could hardly dance for laughing. It +was like a monkey dancing with an elephant. Slim +took mincing little steps and looked down at his +partner with a simpering, languishing expression, +while Peter strained heroically to encircle his fair +one’s waist with his arm. Rocking back and forth +in exaggerated rhythm, Slim tripped over a board +and fell with a great crash, pinning his gallant partner +under him. The rest flew to the rescue and +propped Peter up against the wall, fanning him vigorously.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_22">[22]</div> +<p>“He’ll recover,” pronounced the Captain, after a +thorough going over of his bones, “but he’ll never +be the same again.”</p> +<p>“All is over between us,” said Slim, wringing his +hands in mock despair. “Miss Kent, won’t <i>you</i> +dance with me?”</p> +<p>“It’s time we were going home,” said Nyoda +calmly. “Come, girls.”</p> +<p>“Go home!” echoed the Captain. “I thought you +lived here.”</p> +<p>“But how about all the beds upstairs?” asked the +Captain.</p> +<p>“Oh,” explained Nyoda, “we all constructed different +kinds of beds to win honors, and left +them there in case we might want to stay some +time.”</p> +<p>“It’s a pretty fine clubhouse, I’ll say,” remarked +the Bottomless Pitt in a tone of envy. “I wish we +Sandwiches had one like it. We have no place to +call our own.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha’s thoughts leaped to the Fire Song, the +words of which hung beside the fireplace up above:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“<i>Whose house is bare and dark and cold,</i></p> +<p class="t0"><i>Whose house is cold,</i></p> +<p class="t0"><i>This is his own.</i>”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_23">[23]</div> +<p>She spoke impulsively. “Oh, Nyoda, couldn’t we +let them use the ground floor to hold their meeting +in?”</p> +<p>A cheer burst from the seven boys’ lips. “Hooray! +May we, Miss Kent?”</p> +<p>Nyoda was silent and looked at the boys with a +troubled expression, and her glance as it rested on +Hinpoha held a reproof. There was an awkward +silence. Then the Captain spoke up.</p> +<p>“I understand what you mean, Miss Kent,” he +said simply and straightforwardly. “You don’t +know anything about us and of course you wouldn’t +want to share your club house with us on such short +acquaintance. We wouldn’t think much of you if +you did. It was all right of course for you to ask +us to stay and dance with the girls this one evening +when you were here with us, but that doesn’t mean +that you’re willing to adopt us. But we like you +girls first rate, and want to know you better if you +will let us. You can go to any of the teachers at +Carnegie Mechanic and find out all you want to +know about us. Pitt’s father is Math teacher there +and my father is Dr. Cicero St. John. It was simply +great of you to offer to let us come here and +hold our meetings, and if you’ll still keep the offer +open after you have investigated us to your satisfaction +we’ll be mighty grateful and will promise +not to bother you upstairs.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_24">[24]</div> +<p>The boy’s face was so open and manly that it was +impossible not to believe in him then and there. +Nyoda smiled into his earnest face. “All right, +Captain,” she said, “we’ll agree to put you on probation, +and if you stand the test we’ll consider the +matter of sharing the Open Door Lodge.”</p> +<p>The Captain smiled back at her and held out his +hand. “You’re a peach and I like you,” he said +emphatically, and the two were sworn friends from +that moment on.</p> +<h2 id="c2">CHAPTER II +<br /><span class="small">VERONICA</span></h2> +<p>At four o’clock one afternoon some few days +later Hinpoha and Sahwah, breathless from hurrying, +ran up the steps of the house where Nyoda +lived and rang the bell. The other Winnebagos +were already assembled when they entered, and +Nyoda was not there.</p> +<p>“Where’s Nyoda?” demanded Sahwah.</p> +<p>“Sh, she’s gone over to get—<i>her</i>,” answered +Gladys, smoothing out the folds of her pretty new +pleated dress with one hand and tucking in a stray +lock with the other.</p> +<p>“What did you say ‘sh’ for?” demanded Sahwah +curiously. “There’s no one sleeping, is there?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_25">[25]</div> +<p>“I don’t know why I said it,” answered Gladys, +rumpling up the hair she had just tidied, “I’m so +excited about meeting Veronica that I don’t know +what I’m doing. I just can’t sit still.” And she +jumped up from her chair and began to pace nervously +up and down the room.</p> +<p>“Doesn’t it remind you of the time we stood on +the dock at Loon Lake and waited for Gladys to +make her first appearance?” said Hinpoha to Sahwah. +“Don’t you remember how we wondered what +she would be like and you and Migwah nearly fought +over whose affinity she was going to be?”</p> +<p>“Did you really, girls?” said Gladys, pausing in +her walk. “And was I as nice as you hoped I’d +be?”</p> +<p>Footsteps on the porch saved Hinpoha from having +to reply and Gladys hurried to her chair and +seated herself properly. A moment later Nyoda +entered the room with a young girl beside her whom +she led into the center of the group.</p> +<p>“Girls,” she said, with one hand on the stranger’s +shoulder, “this is our new member, Veronica Lehar.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_26">[26]</div> +<p>All eyes centered on the newcomer. She was a +small, slender girl with short curly black hair, olive +complexion, bright red lips and a straight, finely +modeled nose. She wore a dark red velvet dress +which suited her complexion wonderfully, and fell +in soft folds about her lithe form. She was as +straight as an arrow and as graceful as a deer. +From the crown of her finely poised head to her +little fur-topped boots she was an aristocrat. The +simple Winnebagos were abashed before her. Never +had they met such a high-born little lady. There +was an air about her which they could never acquire +if they lived a hundred years. They felt like +peasants in the presence of a queen. But they forgot +her aristocratic air when they looked into her +eyes. Large and dark and velvety as a pansy, but +so sad it almost broke your heart to look into them. +All the sympathy which the girls had worked up +for her since hearing her story came back in a rush +and they surrounded her with cordial greetings and +expressions of welcome. Veronica held her violin, +which she had brought over with her, under one +arm while she shook hands politely with all the girls. +She answered all their pretty speeches in a friendly +manner, but she never once smiled, and her eyes had +a look as if her thoughts were not there in the room +at all, but back in the far country across the ocean. +Although she had an accent she spoke a beautiful +English, in fact, she used far better language than +the majority of American schoolgirls, and more +than once the girls felt embarrassed when they had +forgotten themselves so far as to utter a slang +phrase.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_27">[27]</div> +<p>Conversation soon languished, for Veronica did +not seem inclined to talk, so Nyoda started the girls +singing camp songs to amuse her, and led the talk +around to the Winnebagos’ doings which she was +now to take part in. Of course the new lodge was +the main topic of conversation with the Winnebagos +and they waxed so enthusiastic over its splendors +that Veronica exclaimed with some show of warmth, +“Oh, I must see it soon!” Then she added, “Tell +me what I must do to become a Camp Fire Girl +like yourselves.”</p> +<p>“You must have a symbolic name,” answered +Gladys eagerly, anxious to be the one to explain +things to Veronica, “and a Ceremonial dress, and +learn the songs, and know the Camp Fire Girls’ Desire, +and the Winnebago passwords and oh, lots of +delightful things.”</p> +<p>“What are they, the Winnebago passwords, and +what are they for?” asked Veronica.</p> +<p>“Well,” answered Gladys, “you know what a +password is, don’t you? Well, we have passwords +to admit us into the Lodge on Ceremonial night. +But before I tell you about the passwords I must +tell you about the signal calls, for they come first +in order. You see, the general signal of the Winnebagos +is the call of the whippoorwill, like this”—and +she illustrated her words with a clear call. “You +repeat that three times and at the end of it you +must give your own individual bird call. We all +have different ones. Mine is the robin, like this. +Nyoda’s is the bluebird; Hinpoha’s the loon; Medmangi’s +is the owl; Nakwisi’s the meadowlark and +Sahwah’s the catbird.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_28">[28]</div> +<p>“Whatever made you take such a hideous screech +for your call, Sahwah?” interrupted Hinpoha. +“There are lots of nicer bird calls than that of the +catbird.”</p> +<p>“I don’t care, I wanted the catbird,” returned Sahwah. +“It suits my individuality, as my dear friend, +Miss Snively, would say. I am the ‘cat that walks +by himself and all places are alike to me!’”</p> +<p>“Be a catbird as much as you like,” said Gladys +pacifically, “as long as you don’t eat us poor bird-birds. +But to go back to the passwords. You see, +Nyoda is Guardian of the Fire, and she always goes +up to the Lodge room first on Ceremonial night. If +any of us get there ahead of her we have to stay +out until she comes. Then we announce our coming +by giving the call of the whippoorwill and she +knows one of the Winnebagos is below; and she +knows which one it is by the individual bird call. +So she calls out ‘Who goes there?’ and we answer +‘A friend.’ When she says, ‘Stand and give the +countersign,’ we have to say, ‘Other Council Fires +were here before.’”</p> +<p>“What does that mean, ‘Other Council Fires were +here before?’” asked Veronica.</p> +<p>The girls looked at one another. “What does it +mean?” asked Gladys.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Sahwah.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_29">[29]</div> +<p>“I don’t know,” said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“You insisted on our having it, Sahwah,” said +Gladys. “Why did you choose it if you didn’t know +what it meant?”</p> +<p>“Oh,” explained Sahwah lightly, “I saw it written +over the door of one of the historical buildings +at the Exposition, and it sounded as if it might mean +something grand, so I chose it. You girls were all +delighted with it, so that’s proof it’s a good catch-word.”</p> +<p>“It is a good countersign,” said Nyoda, “although +I confess I can’t tell wherein the charm lies.”</p> +<p>“Well, to proceed,” said Gladys, “after you have +given the countersign you will be asked to give the +Inner Pass Word, and then you must say ‘Kolah +Olowan.’ That means ‘Song Friend.’ You know +we pride ourselves on being a singing group, that is, +we have a great many songs that we sing together, +and I think our dearest friends are those we sing +with. So we Winnebagos call each other ‘Song +Friends,’ or friends bound together by the power of +our familiar songs. That’s why we chose bird notes +for our personal symbols. The birds are the original +Song Friends. What bird are you going to +choose for your own, Veronica?”</p> +<p>Veronica’s sad eyes stared thoughtfully into the +fire for a moment. Then they filled with a smouldering +light. “I shall be the gull that flies over the +sea,” she said in a low voice, “because some day I +am going to fly over the sea to my dear home.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_30">[30]</div> +<p>“We were all nearly ready to cry when she said +that,” wrote Gladys to Migwan, “only Nyoda popped +up then and asked Hinpoha and Sahwah to sing +‘The Owl and the Pussycat,’ and they climbed on +the sofa for the beautiful pea-green boat—you know +what a beautiful pea-green it is—and for a small +guitar Nyoda gave Sahwah a little pasteboard fiddle +that produced three notes when you turned a crank, +and the whole thing was so ridiculous that we +laughed until our sides ached.”</p> +<p>After the Owl and the Pussycat had sung themselves +over the back of the sofa and down on the +floor with a thump Nyoda made tea in her new +electric teapot and passed platefuls of thin sandwiches, +and Sahwah upset her cup into her lap demonstrating +how perfectly she could balance it on her +knee and had to stand before the fire to dry her +skirt.</p> +<p>“You brought your violin along; won’t you play +for us?” asked Nyoda of Veronica when the excitement +over Sahwah’s mishap had subsided.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_31">[31]</div> +<p>In graceful compliance with Nyoda’s request, and +without waiting to be urged, Veronica took her +violin from its case, settled it under her chin with a +movement that was a caress, and drew the bow +across the strings. With the first note teacups and +sandwiches were forgotten and the girls sat in a +spellbound circle, while Sahwah stopped mopping +her skirt with her handkerchief and the wet spot +dried and scorched unheeded. Such a witching +melody as rose from the strings—now light as a +fairy dancing on a bubble, now hurrying like the +brook over its pebbles, now sighing like the wind +in a rose tree, now slow and stately like the curtseying +of a grande dame in the movements of a court +dance. When it came to an end the girls sat breathless, +too dazed to applaud.</p> +<p>“Play some more!” begged Gladys in a whisper. +It seemed like a desecration to talk.</p> +<p>Veronica played on, now fast, now slow, now sad +and now gay, and finally whirled into a wild gypsy +dance that set the blood tingling in her hearers’ +veins as the swift measures followed on each other’s +heels, until they could see in their mind’s eye the +leaping figures of the dancers in their bright costumes. +Faster, faster, flashed the bow on the magic +strings and Veronica’s whole soul was in her eyes +as she played the familiar strains of her homeland. +Her lips parted in a flashing smile and one foot +tapped the carpet in time to the music.</p> +<p>Suddenly a string snapped with a discordant +crash. Veronica came to herself with a start. The +light left her eyes and she stood staring into the +fire with a sad, bitter expression.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_32">[32]</div> +<h2 id="c3">CHAPTER III +<br /><span class="small">AN UNINVITED GUEST</span></h2> +<p>Rain fell in torrents on the roof of the hospitable +House of the Open Door, and the wind howled dismally +around its friendly gables. Inside the “lofty +loft” of the Winnebagos the fire shone brightly on +the hearth and the rafters rang with merriment. +Sahwah had a new hobby, and was riding it to death. +This was a Hawaiian guitar, known as a “ukelele,” +from which she was producing a series of hair-raising +noises.</p> +<p>“Sounds like a cat in its last agony,” remarked +Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“Well, that just suits me,” replied Sahwah, undisturbed, +drawing a long shivering wail from the +strings. “I am the cat that walks by himself——”</p> +<p>“And all racket is alike to you,” finished Hinpoha. +“Who’s getting supper tonight, Nyoda? I’m +nearly starving.”</p> +<p>“I appointed Gladys and Veronica,” answered +Nyoda. “The combination of blonde and brunette +ought to produce something pretty good.”</p> +<p>Gladys promptly laid down the bit of leather in +which she was cutting a pattern and moved toward +the “kitchen end” of the Lodge. “Come on, Veronica,” +she said, “let’s make a carload of scones for +these hungry wolves.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_33">[33]</div> +<p>Veronica looked up at her without moving. On +her face was an expression of surprise; almost +amazement. “What, <i>I</i> cook?” she asked scornfully. +“That is for servants to do!”</p> +<p>Then it was the Winnebagos’ turn to look amazed. +Sahwah dropped her instrument on the floor with a +clatter, and the rest sat silent, not knowing what to +say to Veronica. Nyoda bridged over the embarrassing +situation as best she could. “I’ll be cook tonight,” +she said quietly. As she moved about helping +Gladys she thought and thought how this new +problem must be met. “It’s the fault of her training,” +she told herself, “and she really isn’t a snob at +heart. She’ll be all right when she has been with +the girls awhile and watched them. It won’t do to +insist on her doing the things she considers beneath +her. She must be made to want to do them first. +But we’ll make a real Winnebago of her in time!” +And her eyes strayed thoughtfully over to the corner +of the hearth where Veronica sat, a little apart +from the rest, her brooding eyes on the fire, her +sensitive lip twisting into involuntary shivers of disgust +when Sahwah produced a particularly ear-splitting +yowl.</p> +<p>“Hear and attend and listen, everybody,” said +Nyoda when the buttered scones had been reduced +to crumbs. “I have been doing some important research +work lately and am now ready to present the +result of my investigations.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_34">[34]</div> +<p>“What are you talking about?” asked Hinpoha +curiously.</p> +<p>“Two weeks ago tonight,” continued Nyoda, “our +meeting was broken up by a band of young braves +bearing the appetizing title of ‘The Sandwich Club,’ +who implored us to let them come and play with us +in our Lodge and be lodgers—kindly overlook the +pun; it was quite unintentional—providing we +weighed them in the balance and found them not +wanting.”</p> +<p>“Is there any scale on which ‘Slim’ would be +found wanting?” giggled Sahwah,</p> +<p>“I have spent the last two weeks obtaining information,” +resumed Nyoda, “which I am happy to +report is of a highly satisfactory nature. So, all +things considered, and in spite of the informality of +the request, I humbly recommend that the aforesaid +braves be allowed to lodge in the bottom half +of our Lodge at any and all times they may so +desire. I might add that I have already obtained +the consent of our Bountiful Benefactor, Gladys’ +papa. All in favor of letting in the Sandwich Club +say ‘Aye.’”</p> +<p>There was a perfect shout of “Ayes,” followed by +a ringing cheer.</p> +<p>“When are they going to take possession?” Sahwah +wanted to know.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_35">[35]</div> +<p>“I’m to tell them tomorrow what your decision +was,” replied Nyoda. “It being Saturday, I suppose +they will be down in a body to fix up according to +their own ideas.”</p> +<p>“What will the interior of a Sandwich Club look +like, I wonder?” said Gladys.</p> +<p>“Hark, what was that noise?” asked Nyoda abruptly. +The girls listened intently. From the lower +floor of the barn there came a thumping noise, followed +by a subdued crash.</p> +<p>“Somebody’s in the barn,” said Hinpoha in a +frightened whisper.</p> +<p>The sound came again, thump, thump, and a noise +as of a box being shoved aside. “It’s a burglar!” +said Sahwah, and Nakwisi gave a frightened squeak +which Sahwah stifled with a sofa cushion.</p> +<p>“There’s nothing in here to steal,” said Nyoda. +“Perhaps it’s a tramp.” Again came the noise from +below. Leaving the curtain drawn over the opening, +Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called +down, “Who’s there?” There was no answer but +another thump. “We have a gun,” said Nyoda +coolly, taking Sahwah’s little rifle down from the +wall, “and if you put one foot on the ladder I’ll +shoot.” Still no answer.</p> +<p>“I’m going down to investigate,” said Nyoda. +“This is growing uncanny.”</p> +<p>“Don’t go down,” begged the girls, clinging to +her, “something dreadful will happen to you.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_36">[36]</div> +<p>“If you go I’m going with you,” declared Sahwah +when Nyoda appeared determined to rush into the +jaws of danger. Nyoda threw aside the curtain and +flashed her bug light on the floor below. Nothing +was visible within the radius of the light, but over +in the far corner where the old horse stall was +something was moving and thumping about and a +sound like a groan came from the darkness.</p> +<p>“Somebody’s hurt,” said Nyoda, hastening down +the ladder. “Bring a lantern with you, Sahwah.”</p> +<p>Together they moved toward the corner while the +girls above crowded around the opening and watched +in breathless suspense. The light revealed a small +donkey lying on the floor of the stall. He was +kicking out with his hind feet against the partition +wall and it was this sound that had frightened the +girls above. At Sahwah’s shout the others came +hurrying down to behold the find. The donkey made +no effort to rise and looked at the faces around him +with an imploring look in his eyes as if to say, +“Help me, I’m in trouble.”</p> +<p>“What’s the matter, old chap?” asked Nyoda, +kneeling down beside him. The donkey answered +with a distressed bray that was more like a groan +and pawed the air with his front feet, which seemed +to be fastened together in some manner. Nyoda +turned the lantern around so the light fell directly +on him and then they saw what the matter was. +A length of barbed wire had become tangled around +his front legs, binding them together, and his frantic +efforts to get it off had resulted in its becoming +deeply imbedded in the flesh, lacerating it badly. +The girls shuddered when they saw it and drew +back.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_37">[37]</div> +<p>“This won’t do, girls,” said Nyoda firmly; “we’ve +got to get that wire off the poor animal’s leg. Medmangi, +have you the nerve to do it? I’m afraid I +can’t.”</p> +<p>“His hind legs would have to be tied together +first, so he can’t kick,” said Medmangi. The girls +looked at each other and all drew back. All but +Veronica. She came forward quietly and took the +rope which the others were afraid to use and skilfully +slipped a noose over the tiny heels and fastened +them down to a ring in the floor.</p> +<p>“I have done it before, when a horse was sick,” +she explained in response to the girls’ expressions +of amazement at the neat performance. The girls’ +liking for her, which had suffered a sudden chill at +the cooking episode, warmed again, and they were +inclined to overlook that now that she had stepped +so neatly into the breach when they were helpless.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_38">[38]</div> +<p>Then Medmangi, the Medicine Man Girl who was +going to be a doctor, and had no horror of surgery, +bent calmly to her task while the others held the +lantern for her. Quickly and skilfully she worked, +removing the cruel points as gently as possible. Then +she washed the wounds with an antiseptic solution +from the First Aid Cabinet upstairs and bound them +up with clean bandages. Then Veronica took the +rope from the donkey’s hind legs and he struggled +to his feet, plainly delighted to find his front legs +in working order again in spite of the pain. He +looked at the girls with a dog-like devotion in his +intelligent eyes and when Medmangi patted him +soothingly he laid his head on her shoulder affectionately. +“My first lover—a donkey!” she said +laughingly.</p> +<p>“Poor little mule,” said Hinpoha, stroking him +from the other side. “He knew the right place to +come to all right. ‘Whose house is bare and dark +and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own,’” she +quoted dramatically. “We certainly have succeeded +in creating the right atmosphere of hospitality if +even a lonely donkey can feel it and come straight +to our ‘Open Portals!’”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_39">[39]</div> +<p>“Now that he has come,” said Nyoda, rather +puzzled, “the question is what to do with him. If +he goes wandering off again he’ll have those bandages +off in no time—he probably will anyhow—and +his legs will get so sore he will have to be shot. +He undoubtedly belongs to somebody—very likely +some children’s pet—and I think we had better keep +him right here in the barn until we find the owner. +The boys will have to postpone their taking possession +in favor of the other donkey if his presence +interferes with their activities.” Here the “other +donkey” leaned against the wall in such a pathetic +attitude, as if his weight were too much for his sore +legs, that if they had had any intentions of turning +him out into the rain they would have speedily +relented.</p> +<p>“It’s a good thing this old stall is still here,” said +Gladys. “There isn’t any straw, but there is a box +of excelsior and we can spread that out and cover +it with a blanket and make him a soft bed. We +can give him water tonight and bring food in the +morning.”</p> +<p>“And I’ll telephone the Sandwiches about him,” +said Nyoda, “so if they are coming over tomorrow +they won’t turn him out.”</p> +<p>But that telephone message was unnecessary, for +at that moment a number of dark figures appeared +in the doorway and after a moment of hesitation, +entered.</p> +<p>“Why, here are the Sandwiches,” exclaimed Nyoda +cordially, advancing with extended hand. “We +were just talking about you. Speaking of angels—you +know the rest.”</p> +<p>“We were just going by,” said the Captain (it +was likely that they were “just going by” that out +of the way place in the rain!) “and saw your light +now you’ve left the windows uncovered, and thought +we’d just step in and inquire our fate. We just +couldn’t wait until tomorrow,” he finished in a boyish +outburst. “Is it going to be the Open Door +for us?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_40">[40]</div> +<p>“Bless you, yes,” said Nyoda, smiling reassuringly +at this manly lad who was already her favorite, +“there wasn’t a dissenting vote in the jury box. +We——” but the remainder of her sentence was +drowned in an ear-splitting cheer that was decidedly +less musical than the Winnebago cheers, but none +the less hearty.</p> +<p>“Pedigrees satisfactory, and all that?” inquired +the Captain.</p> +<p>“Perfect,” answered Nyoda with twinkling eyes. +“I’ve dug up more facts about you than you know +yourselves. So,” she added demurely, “if you’re +still minded to ‘know us better,’ as you flatteringly +remarked on the occasion of our first meeting, why, +we’re perfectly willing to be known.</p> +<p>“But you can’t take immediate possession of your +club room because we’ve rented it temporarily to +another don—another fellow,” she said mischievously, +turning the light of the lantern away from +the stall where the donkey was. The boys’ eager +faces fell a trifle.</p> +<p>“Of course,” they answered politely, “that’s your +privilege.”</p> +<p>“He’s a very nice chap,” pursued Nyoda, with a +warning glance at the girls behind her, who were +stuffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths in an +effort not to laugh.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_41">[41]</div> +<p>“Yes,” assented the boys without enthusiasm.</p> +<p>“Is it anyone we know?” asked the Captain politely, +trying to make conversation after a moment +of silence.</p> +<p>“Maybe you do know him,” answered Nyoda. +“He’s here tonight. Would you like to meet him?”</p> +<p>She led the way to the stall and turned the light +on the donkey. There was a moment of surprised +silence, followed by a perfect explosion of laughter. +“Where’d you get the donkey with the trousers on?” +squeaked Slim in his high thin voice. In the dim +light of the lantern the bandages on the donkey’s +front legs looked like a pair of trousers. Then the +girls, after their laugh was out, explained about the +visitor who had come to them from out of the vast, +and the Sandwiches declared that they did not in +the least mind sharing their club room with a needy +donkey, and offered to relieve the girls of the entire +care of him, besides trying to find the owner.</p> +<p>They were as good as their word about taking +care of him, but the weeks slipped by and no amount +of advertising produced anything in the shape of an +owner.</p> +<p>“We’ll have to adopt him,” the Winnebagos decided. +“A Camp Fire Donkey sounds thrilling to +me,” said Sahwah. “Think of all the fun we’ll have +with him. As long as the boys don’t mind, we can +keep him right here in the stall.”</p> +<p>“What shall we name him?” asked Gladys.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_42">[42]</div> +<p>“Call him ‘Wohelo,’” advised Hinpoha. “It was +the spirit of Wohelo that led him to us. From now +on he’ll be a symbolic donkey.”</p> +<p>“But where do we come in on this?” inquired the +Captain. “We take care of him and he lives in our +house.”</p> +<p>“That’s right,” said Hinpoha. “Then let’s call +him ‘Sandwich-Wohelo,’ contracted to ‘Sandhelo.’” +And “Sandhelo” he was until the end of the chapter. +His sore legs became very stiff until they were +healed and he hobbled painfully when he walked at +all, which was very seldom. But the scratches healed +at last and the day came when Medmangi took off +the bandages for good, and led him around the +barn for exercise.</p> +<p>Then an amazing thing happened. Sahwah was +upstairs in the Lodge, amusing herself with a mouth organ +she had just discovered in the depths of her +bed. But she had no sooner blown half a dozen +notes when Sandhelo jerked up his head, pulling +the bridle out of Medmangi’s hands, and rose up on +his hind legs. Then he walked on his hind legs over +to a box, climbed up on it and sat there with his +feet in the air, like a dog sitting up. Medmangi +screamed and brought the Winnebagos flying from +all directions, to behold the marvel in open-mouthed +astonishment.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_43">[43]</div> +<p>“He’s a trick mule!” shouted Sahwah, tumbling +down the ladder in her excitement and never stopping +to pick herself up. “Now I know where he +came from. He was with that dog and pony show +that was in town a few weeks ago. He must have +strayed from the show and got left behind. Hats +off to the newest member of the Winnebago group! +We certainly do have a way of attracting all the +best talent in town to our ranks!”</p> +<h2 id="c4">CHAPTER IV +<br /><span class="small">A SANDEBAGO CIRCUS</span></h2> +<p>Just how it started nobody ever knew—it may +have been Sandhelo’s turning out to be a trick mule, +or it may have been because Slim was fat and would +make such a beautiful clown, besides being fine for +a sideshow—but before they knew it the Winnebagos +and the Sandwich Club were hard at work +getting up a circus. The Sandwiches had taken possession +of their half of the Open Door Lodge and +had converted it into a gymnasium. They had built +it on purpose to reduce Slim, they carefully explained +to their friends, and regularly put him +through a course of exercises strenuous enough to +reduce a hippopotamus to an antelope in three weeks, +but at the end of that time he had gained just five +pounds, so the Sandwiches declared their efforts to +be love’s labor lost and left him in peace.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_44">[44]</div> +<p>Sandhelo was becoming a well-known and conspicuous +figure in the streets. Hitched to an old +pony cart of Gladys’, with bells jingling around +his neck and ribbons flying from his harness, he +never failed to attract a crowd of children. He +had all the vagaries of the artistic temperament, +some of which caused his drivers no little inconvenience. +For one thing, he would not go at all +unless he heard music, and it was no small accomplishment +to drive with one hand and play a mouth organ +with the other if you happened to be alone in +the cart. And then, if he happened to pass anything +unusual in the street he had a way of sitting +back on his haunches and holding up his front feet +and looking at them. As he invariably sat down unexpectedly, +the cart would go on and bump into +him and the shock would throw the driver from her +seat, besides making a great mess of the harness. +Several times he had done this in the middle of a +busy crossing and held up traffic in both directions, +while motormen fumed and policemen threatened, +and Sahwah (it usually was Sahwah, because she +drove him more than the others) played her sweetest +on the mouth organ in an effort to make him +go on. Nothing would make him move until his +curiosity was satisfied and then he would dash off +like an arrow from the bow for half a block, after +which he would slow down and look over his shoulder +to see how his driver was getting on. There +was always such a look of anxious solicitude in his +eye on these occasions that it was impossible to be +angry with him and he continued to exercise his +temperament without reproof.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_45">[45]</div> +<p>After half a dozen of these free shows Sahwah +declared that such an ability to draw a crowd was +worth money, and they had better give a real show +and charge admissions.</p> +<p>The big space in front of the Open Door Lodge +was an ideal place for the ring. Seating arrangements +for the audience gave them some anxiety at +first.</p> +<p>“We ought to have a grand stand,” said the Captain, +who had been chosen Ringmaster.</p> +<p>“Well, we can’t build one,” said the Bottomless +Pit. “The audience will have to stand through the +performance, and that’ll be a grand stand, all +right.”</p> +<p>“Innovation in circuses,” said Nyoda. “Have +the audience stand and the circus sit down. Like +the picture of the bride standing while the groom +sprawls at ease in the photographer’s gilt chair.”</p> +<p>“I think I can get a lot of chairs from a man +who rents them out,” said the Captain. “He lets +people have them for nothing if it’s a charitable enterprise.”</p> +<p>“Do you call a circus a charitable enterprise?” +asked Nyoda.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_46">[46]</div> +<p>“Well, ours will be,” said the Captain. “We’re +doing it to make money so we can buy the new +apparatus for the gym, which will surely make Slim +thin, and that surely is charity.”</p> +<p>Upstairs in the Lodge the six Winnebagos were +all seated on the bearskin bed having a lively argument +as to who should drive Slim in the Chair-iot +Race. The Chair-iot Race was a grand inspiration +of Sahwah’s, who was keen on features in the circus +line. Once, on a rummage, through Gladys’ +attic, they had found six horsehair covered chairs +furnished with excellent china castors, which caused +the chairs to roll with enchanting speed. Sahwah +now thought of the chairs and conceived the brilliant +idea of harnessing a Sandwich to each one, +seat a Winnebago in the chair, and race six abreast +down the long cement walk from the barn to the +road. The idea was hailed with delight until the +Winnebagos began comparing the merits of the +prospective steeds, and nobody wanted to be the +one to drive Slim and go lumbering along like an +ice-wagon in the rear of the others.</p> +<p>“It’s too bad the Captain had to be Ringmaster +and can’t take part in the show,” sighed Hinpoha. +“Then there’d be enough without Slim.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_47">[47]</div> +<p>“We wouldn’t dare leave him out, anyway,” said +Gladys. “It would hurt his feelings. So we’ll just +have to draw lots for him, and whoever gets him +will have to make the best of it, that’s all.” So +they drew slips of paper from a hat and Hinpoha +drew Slim, just as she had feared right along. Sahwah +drew the Monkey, which suited her down to +the ground, for he was a famous sprinter, and she +lost no time getting the girls to ask the boys whose +names they had drawn in that secret ballot upstairs +to be their steeds in the race. Slim’s face lighted +up with such a delighted smile when Hinpoha apparently +chose him for her own that her heart smote +her when she thought how this choice had been +thrust upon her. Slim was already beginning to +learn the bitter truth that nobody loves a fat man. +Nyoda and the Captain plotted the circus parade +and it was a triumph of ingenuity. The advance +bills which they scattered broadcast among their +friends announced that the parade would embrace +“Five ferocious animals from the Other Side of +Nowhere, these animals being respectively <span class="sc">The +Camelk</span>, <span class="sc">The Crabbit</span>, <span class="sc">The Alligatortoise</span>, +<span class="sc">The Kangarooster</span>, and <span class="sc">The Salmonkey</span>.</p> +<p>Other numbers on the program were as follows:</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Ivan Awfulitch</span>, world’s greatest magician; +royal entertainer to the King of Spain. Was +banished to Siberia; escaped and swam to +America; has now opened up a complete line +of magic. One day only.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Mr. Skygack, from Mars</span>, in a special song +feature entitled the Mars-y-lays.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">La Zingara</span>, the bareback rider.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_48">[48]</div> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Sandhelo</span>, the famous trick mule. As intelligent +as two men and a school teacher.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Mr. Avoirdupois Slim</span>, fattest man on earth. +Will sit on a toothpick.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Mr. E. Lastic</span>, Inja rubber man.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Archibald Dimples</span> the better baby.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Chair-iot Race.</span> Feat never attemped before +on any stage.</p> +<p class="bq"><span class="sc">Monkey, the Aerial Gymnast</span>, in the sensational +dupe-the-dupes.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="sc">Twenty Other Great Features</span></p> +<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">ALL CHILDREN WILL GET A FREE RIDE ON SANDELHO, +<br />THE FAMOUS TRICK MULE, AFTER +<br />THE PERFORMANCE</span></p> +<p class="tb">Bottomless Pitt owned a little hand-printing press +and printed wonderful tickets to be sold at five +cents apiece, which Gladys declared were worth the +money as souvenirs, with the circus thrown in extra.</p> +<p>“What are you making, a circus tent?” asked +Gladys, dropping into the Lodge, where Nyoda sat +stitching together great lengths of red and white +striped material.</p> +<p>“No; only a clown suit for Slim,” laughed Nyoda. +“Gracious, how much it does take!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_49">[49]</div> +<p>“It reminds me of the riddle: ‘If it takes thirty +yards of cloth to make a shirtwaist for an elephant, +etc.,’” said Gladys. “Poor Slim! You +would have died to see him practice his clown stunt +with Sandhelo. You know the boys built him a +tiny red cart with two big wheels, and when he +sat down in it, it tilted way over backward and the +shafts stuck up in the air and pulled poor little +Sandhelo right up off his feet, and there he dangled, +pawing for dear life. But, whatever are you +making, Hinpoha?” she finished, examining the thing +which Hinpoha was working on and which resembled +nothing in the universe.</p> +<p>“This is Peter’s costume,” answered Hinpoha; +“he’s the hind leg of the Kangarooster, you know. +By the way, Nyoda, has a Kangarooster one hump +or two?”</p> +<p>“None at all,” answered Nyoda hastily. “The +humps are on the ‘Cam’ part of the Camelk. That +reminds me, have we something to stuff the humps +with?”</p> +<p>“Take excelsior,” advised Gladys. “Dear me, +who’s screeching like that downstairs?”</p> +<p>They all crowded down the ladder at the sound +of a lusty yell from below and found Sahwah hanging +head downward from a heavy hook in the wall. +She had improved a moment’s leisure to climb up +to the top of the window with a spray of bittersweet +to see how it would look, and in descending +had caught her skirt on the hook and lost her footing. +The skirt tore through until the stout serge +hem was reached and that offered successful resistance, +and Sahwah hung, as Nyoda remarked, like a +lamb on the spit.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_50">[50]</div> +<p>“I got an idea hanging upside down,” were the +first words she gasped as they restored her to the +perpendicular and revived her with peanuts.</p> +<p>“It’s the only way you ever would get an idea,” +said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“Is that so?” returned Sahwah, with spirit +“Who thought up the Chair-iot Race, I’d like to +know?”</p> +<p>“Stop bickering and tell us your idea,” said +Nyoda.</p> +<p>“Why, it’s this,” said Sahwah. “Sell hot cocoa +with marshmallows in it after the show. Everybody’ll +be cold sitting around. We can make almost +as much money that way as with the circus.”</p> +<p>“A lake of hot cocoa with an island of marshmallows +in it is my dream of heaven,” said Hinpoha, +clasping her hands in ecstasy. “Sahwah, +you’re a genius. I yield the palm to you without a +struggle. You have a ‘head in your mind,’ as absent-minded +old Fuzzytop used to say. There’s +nothing in the whole world that’ll separate a nickel +from its owner like a cup of hot cocoa with a marshmallow +floating in it on a cold day.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_51">[51]</div> +<p>“Another innovation,” said Nyoda. “We’ll have +that instead of circus lemonade. See to getting the +supplies, will you, Sahwah dear? I have so many +details to look after now that I simply cannot be +responsible for another thing, or my head will +burst and out will come everything that’s safely +packed in now. Come in, Captain. What’s on your +mind?”</p> +<p>“Slim,” said the Captain, with a look of comical +despair, as he sat down among the girls. “I’m afraid +he won’t do for a Better Baby. He’s smashed three +perambulators and a high chair and we can’t get +any more. And the biggest size white dress we +could buy in the store won’t go half-way around +him.”</p> +<p>Nyoda knitted her brows. “We simply have to +have a Better Baby,” she affirmed. “It’s one of the +best features. We’ll drape cheesecloth around him +for a dress and he can play on a quilt on the floor—I +mean the ground—instead of being taken for +a ride by his nurse in a perambulator.”</p> +<p>“Poor Slim!” said Hinpoha. “How many more +things are going to be wished on him? I’m afraid +his ‘gall will be divided into three parts,’ too!”</p> +<p>“That would have been a very clever thing for you +to say,” remarked the Captain, “if it had been original, +but it wasn’t. They spring that over at our +school, too. Slim isn’t doing any more than the +rest of us at that. Only he’s so conspicuous that +everything he does seems like a lot more than it +really is.”</p> +<p>“How are the tickets going?” asked Sahwah.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_52">[52]</div> +<p>“We’ve sold over a hundred,” announced the +Captain with pride. “We’re famous people, we +are.”</p> +<p>“Speak for yourself,” said Sahwah. “It isn’t +we who are the attraction, though—it’s Sandhelo. +I rode him through the streets and sold nearly fifty +tickets to the children that followed us. They’re +all attracted by the promise of a free ride after the +show.”</p> +<p>“It’ll probably take all evening to give them the +ride, and we’ll never get to that jubilation spread +we’re going to have after the show, but we have to +make our word good,” said Nyoda.</p> +<p>“Put them on four at once and we’ll get done +somehow,” said Sahwah.</p> +<p>Hinpoha laid down her sewing and stretched her +arms above her head. “I never knew circuses were +such a pile of work,” she sighed.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“‘Wohelo means work,’</p> +<p class="t0">So dig like a Turk,”</p> +</div> +<p>chanted Sahwah.</p> +<p>“I move we all go to the ‘movies’ tonight and see +‘If I Were King,’” continued Hinpoha.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_53">[53]</div> +<p>“Can’t,” said Nyoda briefly, checking up on her +fingers the things she still had to do. “I still have +to evolve a tail for the Salmonkey and a frontispiece +for the Camelk, make four banners, rehearse +the living statuary, make a bonnet for the Better +Baby, teach the Crabbit how to hop and crawl at +the same time and make a costume for the bareback +rider.”</p> +<p>“I’d come and help you,” said Sahwah, “but we’re +going to have a test in Latin tomorrow and I have +to cram tonight. I’ll just have time to practice with +the band.”</p> +<p>“A test in time saves nine,” murmured Hinpoha. +“What are the Sandwiches doing now?”</p> +<p>“Erecting the flying trapeze,” answered Sahwah, +looking out of the window. “Captain is hanging by +his eyebrow to the top of a pole and Bottomless Pitt +is standing below, waiting to catch him when he +falls.”</p> +<p>The Captain caught her eye, as she leaned over +the sill and shouted:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“All right below,</p> +<p class="t0">O Wohelo,</p> +<p class="t0">Now <i>please</i> go mix some pancake dough!”</p> +</div> +<p>“All right,” called Sahwah cheerily. “You’ll +soon smell something doughing!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_54">[54]</div> +<p>Nyoda and Gladys went home on an errand, and +Hinpoha, worn out with her arduous labors with +the needle, stretched out on the bearskin bed and +fell sound asleep in the warmth of the fire. Sahwah +puttered about collecting the ingredients for +flapjacks to make a treat for the boys, who had +worked like Trojans ever since school was out. The +wood in the fireplace had burned down to lovely +glowing embers, and she laid the toaster on top of +them to act as a rest for the frying-pan. The Captain, +tying ropes into the branches of the big tree +just outside of the window, looked in and admired +the scene. Hinpoha, with her marvellous red curls +falling around her face in the light of the fire, looked +like a sleeping princess in a fairy tale, and Sahwah, +holding her dish of batter in one hand and skilfully +putting grease into the pan with the other, was a +cheery little housewife indeed. Through the half-open +window he could hear her singing “A Warrior +Bold.”</p> +<p>A moment he looked in, filled with whole-souled +admiration for these many-sided girls who were his +new friends, and then without warning something +happened inside. The panful of sizzling fat suddenly +burst into a sheet of flame that left the confines +of the fireplace and seemed to leap all around +Sahwah. A burning spark shot out and fell into a +pile of cheesecloth lying on the floor at the far side +of the room, and it blazed up instantly, the flames +enveloping the sleeping Hinpoha. It took less than +a moment for the Captain to spring down from the +tree, run into the barn and up the ladder. But it +was too late for him to do anything. In the twinkling +of an eye Sahwah had seized the burning +cheesecloth and flung it into the fireplace, thrown a +bearskin rug over Hinpoha and now stood calmly +pouring sand from a bucket on top of the burning +fat in the pan. And all the while she was doing it +she had never stopped singing! The Captain stood +still in his amazement and listened idly to the words:</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_55">[55]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“So what care I, though death be nigh?</p> +<p class="t0">I’ll live for love or die——”</p> +</div> +<p>A hoarse sound made her turn around and she +saw the Captain standing beside her with face pale +as ashes. The dreadful sight he had seen from the +tree when the room seemed filled with flame was +still in his mind.</p> +<p>“How did you manage to keep so cool and do +everything so quickly?” he asked in amazement.</p> +<p>Sahwah laughed at his expression of astonishment. +“That’s not the first fire I’ve put out,” she +said calmly. “We always keep both water and sand +on hand whenever we have an open fire, to prevent +serious accidents. Having the cheesecloth go up at +the same time rather complicated matters, but I got +it into the fireplace without any trouble. I don’t +know what made the fat in the pan take fire; it’s +never done that before up here. But don’t worry; +I’ll get your flapjacks made, all right.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_56">[56]</div> +<p>The Captain looked at her with more admiration +than ever. “Most girls would have been in a faint +by that time, and have had to be doused with smelling +salts,” he told the Sandwiches later, “instead of +coolly promising you your flapjacks anyway and +apologizing for the delay!”</p> +<p>“Your hands are burned!” he exclaimed in concern, +as he saw Sahwah looking ruefully at her +blackened fingers. “Let me do something for them.”</p> +<p>“Nothing serious,” said Sahwah, turning them +down so he could not see the blistered palms.</p> +<p>“They are, too!” persisted the Captain. “Have +you any oil handy?”</p> +<p>“In the First Aid box over there,” said Sahwah. +“It’s in that bottle labeled <span class="sc">A Burned Child +Dreads the Fire</span>.”</p> +<p>The Captain returned with cotton and gauze and +the oil and proceeded to bandage the scorched hands +that had been so quick to avert disaster.</p> +<p>“Won’t Hinpoha be furious when she wakes up +and finds her costume that she worked so hard on +all burned up?” she said, as he wound the bandages +under her direction. “I hated to throw it into the +fire, but it had to be done.”</p> +<p>“She’d better not be furious,” returned the Captain. +“She’s got you to thank that she didn’t burn +up herself. She had a close call that time, and if +you hadn’t snatched that burning rag off her and +covered her with a rug I’d hate to think what would +have happened. I tell you it’s great to be able to +do the right thing at the right time. A lot of people +talk about what they would do in an emergency, but +very few of them ever do it.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_57">[57]</div> +<p>“Well,” returned Sahwah coolly, holding up her +hands and inspecting the bandages with a critical +eye, “there is an emergency before us right now. +Suppose you stop talking and get busy and fry those +pancakes for the boys. They’re dying of starvation +outside.”</p> +<p>The Captain started, blushed and looked at her +keenly to see if she were making fun of him, and +then fell to work without a word finishing Sahwah’s +interrupted labor.</p> +<h2 id="c5">CHAPTER V +<br /><span class="small">THE ARRIVAL OF KATHERINE</span></h2> +<p>Preparations were completed and the day for +the presentation of the greatest show on earth had +arrived. It was crisply cool, but clear and sunshiny, +as the last Saturday in beloved October should be; +and not too cold to sit still and witness an out-of-doors +performance. Tickets had sold with such +gratifying readiness that a second edition had been +necessary, and the Committee on Seating Arrangements +was nearly in despair over providing enough +seats.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_58">[58]</div> +<p>“It’s no use,” declared Bottomless Pitt, “we’ve +done the best we could and half of them will still +have to stand. It’ll be a case of ‘first come, first +served.’”</p> +<p>Sahwah and Hinpoha, their arms filled with bundles +of “props,” which they had spent the morning +in collecting, sank wearily down at a table in the +“Neapolitan” soda dispensary and ordered their favorite +sundaes. “Now, are you perfectly sure we +have everything?” asked Hinpoha, between spoonfuls.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_59">[59]</div> +<p>“There’s the Better Baby’s rattle,” recounted Sahwah, +identifying her parcels by feeling of them, +“the Magician’s natural hair a foot long, the china +eggs he finds in the lady’s handbag, the bareback +rider’s spangles, and—O Hinpoha!” she cried in +dismay, dropping her spoon on the tile floor with a +great clatter, “we forgot the red, white and blue +cockade for Sandhelo. I’ll have to go back to Nelson’s +and get it. Dear me, it’s eleven o’clock now +and we still have to go out home and dress. And +the marshmallows have to be bought yet; that’s another +thing I promised Nyoda I’d see about. Won’t +you please get them, Hinpoha, while I run up to +Nelson’s? There’s a dear. Get them at Raymond’s—theirs +are the freshest; and then you had better go +right on home without waiting for me. It will take +me a little longer, but I’ll hurry as fast as I can. +And please tell Nyoda that I didn’t forget the +marshmallows this time; I just turned the responsibility +over to you.” And Sahwah gathered up her +bundles and retraced her steps toward the big up-town +store, while Hinpoha took her way to Raymond’s. +Five pounds of marshmallows make a +pretty big box, and Hinpoha had several other parcels +to carry. She had them all laid out on the +counter with an eye to tying some of them together +to facilitate transportation when a voice suddenly +called out: “Dorothy! Dorothy Bradford!” She +turned and saw Miss Parker, one of the teachers +at Washington High, at the other end of the counter. +“Come and meet my cousin,” said Miss Parker, +and brought forward a young girl she had with her. +“This is Katherine Adams,” said Miss Parker. +“Katherine, I would like you to meet one of my +pupils, Dorothy Bradford.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha acknowledged the introduction cordially, +but it was all she could do to suppress a smile at +Katherine’s appearance. She was an extremely tall, +lanky girl, narrow chested and stoop shouldered, +with scanty straw-colored hair drawn into a tight +knot at the back of her neck, and pale, near-sighted +eyes peering through glasses. She wore a long drab-colored +coat, cut as severely plain as a man’s, and +a narrow-brimmed felt sailor hat. She wore no +gloves and her hands were large and bony. Her +shoes—Hinpoha looked twice in her astonishment +to make sure—yes, there was no mistake, the shoes +she had on were not mates! One was a cloth-top +button and the other a heavy laced walking boot. +Miss Parker followed Hinpoha’s surprised glance +and looked distressed. But Katherine was not at all +disconcerted when she discovered the discrepancy in +her footgear.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_60">[60]</div> +<p>“That’s what you get for interrupting me in the +middle of my dressing,” she said coolly. “Now, +I’ve forgotten which pair I intended to wear.” She +had an odd, husky voice, that made everything she +said sound funny.</p> +<p>Miss Parker seemed rather anxious that her +cousin should make a good impression on Hinpoha. +Katherine was from Spencer, Arkansas, she explained, +and had gone as far in school as she could +out there and had now come east to stay with her +cousin and take the last year in high school. Hinpoha +promised to introduce her around to the girls +in the class, with her eyes on the clock all the while +and her mind on the performance she should be helping +to prepare that minute instead of standing there +talking.</p> +<p>“Won’t you come to our circus this afternoon?” +she said politely, fishing among the small “props” +in her handbag. “Here’s a ticket. It’s going to be +in the big field at the corner of May and ——th +streets. Come into the barn if you come and I’ll +introduce you to some of my friends.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_61">[61]</div> +<p>Miss Parker and her caricature of a cousin finally +departed, and Hinpoha hastily gathered up her bundles. +Something about the package of marshmallows +struck her as unfamiliar, and she examined it +in consternation. It certainly was not her package, +though like it in shape. Somebody had taken hers +by mistake. She looked around the store and was +just in time to see her box being carried out the +front door under the arm of a woman. Hinpoha +gathered her packages into her arms hit and miss +and rushed after her. But impeded as she was she +got stuck in the revolving door and was delayed a +full minute before she escaped to the sidewalk. She +was just in time to see the object of her pursuit +board a car at the corner. Before Hinpoha could +reach the corner the car had started. Hinpoha +stamped her foot with vexation, mostly directed +toward Miss Parker and her freak cousin for taking +her attention away from her belongings. Then she +considered. The car the woman had boarded must +make a loop and come out a block below and it would +be possible to catch it there. Hinpoha puffed along +the sidewalk at a great rate, worming her way +through the Saturday noon crowds and colliding +with people right and left. She reached the corner +just as the car did and made a mad dash over the +pavement, dodging in among wagons and automobiles +at dire peril of life and limb. She scrambled +aboard and landed sprawling on the back platform, +while her bundles scattered over the floor in every +direction. Breathless and embarrassed, she gathered +them up and entered the car just in time to see +the lady carrying her box of marshmallows get out +of the front door. Hinpoha made a wild dash for +the rear exit, but the door was closed and the car +already in motion. She rang the bell frantically, at +the same time following the woman with her eyes +to see in which direction she went. The car finally +released her two blocks up street, and then began +the mad chase back again. Poor Hinpoha was +never built for speed; her breath gave out and she +developed an agonizing pain in her side. Her bundles +weighed her down and her hat flopped into her +eyes. Chugging along thus she ran smartly into +someone and again her packages covered the sidewalk.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_62">[62]</div> +<p>“Oh, excuse me!” she gasped, struggling to get +her hat back on her head. “I couldn’t see where I +was going. <i>Why, Captain</i>——” For it was none +other than he with whom she had collided.</p> +<p>“Pretty well loaded down, aren’t you?” said the +Captain, stooping to pick up the litter on the sidewalk.</p> +<p>“Never mind them,” said Hinpoha hastily, “go +after <i>her</i>.”</p> +<p>“Go after <i>her</i>?” repeated the Captain in a tone of +bewilderment.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_63">[63]</div> +<p>Hinpoha pointed speechlessly up the street and +then with a mighty effort regained a speck of her +breath and panted “Lady—blue coat—plush collar—our +marshmallows—left this—Raymond’s—go get +them,” and, shoving the stranger’s package into his +hands, she indicated with waving arms that he was +to pursue the lady in question and regain the club’s +property. The Captain started off obediently, +though her explanation was not yet clear in his +mind, but the truth flashed over him when he presently +overtook a lady that fitted the description just +turning into the door of Raymond’s store with a +large package under her arm, and he soon made his +errand known and recovered the marshmallows. +She was just in the act of returning them to Raymond’s, +having discovered her mistake.</p> +<p>Hinpoha was out in front when the Captain +emerged from the store, and she surrendered her +bundles to him gratefully, saying with a breathless +sigh, “Boys <i>are</i> useful to have around once in a +while, after all.”</p> +<p>“Only once in a while?” asked the Captain.</p> +<p>“Well, maybe twice in a while, then,” said Hinpoha +graciously.</p> +<p>Hinpoha arrived on the scene of action so late +that there was no time to press her for explanations; +she was summarily hustled out of her street clothes +and into her orchestra costume. The audience was +arriving in crowds and the Sandwiches, who were +detailed as ticket takers, had much to do to keep +legions of small boys from climbing the fence and +seeing the show without the formality of buying a +ticket.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_64">[64]</div> +<p>The Grand Parade, “including every single member +of the entire show,” was scheduled to start +promptly at two. The parade was necessarily held +in sections, as all hands were needed for each section. +The clock in a neighboring steeple had not +finished chiming the hour when there was an unearthly +blare of trumpets and crashing of drums, +and the band issued from the entrance of the Open +Door Lodge. Nyoda led the band and made a stunning +drum major in a fur hat a foot high, made out +of a muff. The members of the band were dressed +as Spanish troubadours in costumes of blinding scarlet, +with their instruments hung around their neck +by ribbons. They marched around the ring at a +lively pace, playing the music of a popular football +song, which made the audience cheer wildly, for it +was largely composed of students from the two great +rival schools, Washington High and Carnegie Mechanic. +In the wake of the troubadours stumbled an +enormously fat clown in a suit half red and half +white, blowing up a rubber bladder, which emitted +a plaintive squawk. Loud applause greeted every +move the clown made and when he accidentally +stumbled into a hole and measured his length on the +ground the small boys shrieked in ecstasy.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_65">[65]</div> +<p>The band made a stately and melodious exit in +the House of the Open Door and once inside broke +ranks in haste to prepare for the second section of +the parade—the procession of the animals. This +was a much more complicated matter than the band +had been, but it had been so well rehearsed that +the crowd, who were being amused by the antics +of the clown, had not time to grow impatient before +they were ready. Shrieks of delight went up +at the appearance of the five ferocious animals from +Nowhere—<span class="sc">The Camelk</span>, <span class="sc">The Crabbit</span>, <span class="sc">The Alligatortoise</span>, +<span class="sc">The Kangarooster</span> and <span class="sc">The Salmonkey</span>, +and they had to go around the ring five +times before being allowed to retire. The parade +being such an unqualified success, it is needless to +say that the circus proper went even better. The +actors had all worked themselves up into the right +mood for it.</p> +<p>The magician gave more entertainment than he +had counted on, for the mice, which he had concealed +in his pocket ready to produce from under +the folded handkerchief, bit him before their turn +in the show came, and the beholders were startled +to see the magician suddenly spring into the air, +uttering a wild yell and, thrusting his hand into his +hip pocket, throw the cause of the disturbance half-way +across the ring. The Fattest Man on Earth, +who was Slim, with the addition of several pillows +fore and aft, mounted the small stage and laboriously +sat on a toothpick, breaking down the stage +in the process; and the Inja Rubber Man did such +amazing contortions that the audience began to +hold their breath for fear he would never come untangled +again.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_66">[66]</div> +<p>When it happened to be her turn to go out in +one of the numbers Hinpoha looked the audience +over to see if Katherine Adams had come in response +to her invitation, but she did not see her. +But, while looking for Katherine, her eye was +caught by a strange figure, the like of which she +had never seen before. She was a woman, old and +bent, and dressed in such old-fashioned clothes that +she looked like a caricature out of a funny page. +She had on a tight green basque, which flared out +below the waist in a ripple and a very full red skirt, +held out in a ridiculous curve by that atrocity of +bygone days known as a “bustle.” She was climbing +stiffly up and down among the spectators trying +to sell papers which she was crying in a shrill voice. +As she went up and down among the benches she +held up her skirt in her hand, disclosing purple +stockings and enormous flapping slippers. Wherever +she went she was followed by a ripple of laughter; +the audience seemed to be getting as much fun +out of her as they were out of the show. Hinpoha +told Nyoda about it when she was in the barn again +and Nyoda asked all the players not to do anything +to drive her away, as she was no doubt trying to +make an honest living by selling papers wherever +there was a crowd, and she was adding an unexpected +touch to the circus to amuse the audience.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_67">[67]</div> +<p>The bareback rider proved a real sensation. Up +to that time the numbers had merely been in the nature +of stunts—clever and original and highly diverting, +and yet something which any group of +young people could produce. But here was something +different. Veronica was so dark that in her +costume she looked like a real gypsy, and as she +was not yet well known she was not recognized. +She came in riding a beautiful black horse that belonged +to Mr. Evans, and, after galloping around +the ring several times and making him rear up on +his hind legs until the audience thought she must +slide off, she set him to leaping obstacles, keeping +her seat all the while with amazing ease. There +was a touch of realism in her act, too, which made +the audience tingle for a while. In their eagerness +to see the horse and the daring rider the children +down in the front row had pressed forward until +they were fairly under the ropes. Without warning +a little girl lost her balance and fell out into the ring, +rolling right into the path of the galloping horse. +An exclamation of horror went up from the crowd, +and many covered their eyes with their hands. The +others, gazing as if fascinated, saw the horse in +obedience to a quick command leap into the air with +all four feet and come down several feet beyond the +little form on the ground. Shouts rose up from +every side and cheers for the skilful horsewoman +who had been able to avert a tragedy when it was +too late to turn aside. But Veronica sat unmoved, +a graceful statue on the beautiful horse, looking out +over the audience with brooding eyes that saw them +not.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_68">[68]</div> +<p>Of course the <i>piece de resistance</i> of the whole +show was the trick mule, Sandhelo. He had been +the most widely advertised feature and had been +the means of selling the most tickets. The small +boys came lured by the promise of a free ride after +the show and could hardly wait for that time to +come. His appearance in the ring was hailed with +tumultuous applause. Led by the clown, who played +the mouth organ constantly to assure his continuous +locomotion, he did his tricks over and over again, +lying down as if dead when Slim played “John +Brown’s Body,” and springing to his feet with a +lively bray when he played “Yankee Doodle”; and +sitting up on the table and waving his fore feet at +the audience while he tossed a lump of sugar on his +nose.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_69">[69]</div> +<p>Then the clown tried to ride him and fell off, +first on one side and then the other, and after several +vain attempts offered a quarter to anyone in +the audience who would come out and ride him +around the ring. As the players along knew that +Sandhelo would only go to music, they anticipated +no little fun from this business. Sandhelo was perfectly +safe to ride—he was as gentle as a kitten—but +his refusal to stir when commanded made him +appear a very balky mule indeed, and there was no +response to Slim’s invitation for somebody to come +out and ride him. Even the small boys, who were +eager to ride him, preferred to wait until the show +was over before making the trial.</p> +<p>“Don’t all come at once,” appealed Slim in derision. +“One at a time, please. Who’ll ride the famous +trick mule, Sandhelo, around the ring and win +the handsome prize of twenty-five cents, a whole +quarter of a dollar?” Still no volunteers. Sandhelo +yawned and looked bored to death. Slim +stretched out his hands to the audience imploringly.</p> +<p>Suddenly there was a commotion at one end of +the seats and down from the top of the picnic tables, +where the raised seats were, there climbed the little +old woman who had gone around selling papers. +“I’ll ride him for twenty-five cents,” she cackled in +her high shrill voice. And she hobbled across the +ring to where Sandhelo stood. The players were +ready to hug themselves with joy. Here was a real +circus-y touch they had not counted on.</p> +<p>“Aren’t you afraid she’ll get hurt?” whispered +Hinpoha to Nyoda.</p> +<p>“No danger,” returned Nyoda. “Sandhelo won’t +go a step without the mouth organ.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_70">[70]</div> +<p>The little old woman, her back bent almost double, +shuffled over and grasped Sandhelo, not by the +bridle, but by the cockade on his head. Then she +suddenly straightened up and a gasp of astonishment +went around the circle. She was taller than +the tallest of them. Without assistance from anyone +she climbed on Sandhelo’s back and sat with +her face toward his tail. The audience, suspecting +that it was a “put-up job,” and this was another +stunt, roared its appreciation, but the players looked +at each other in utter bewilderment. Who was this +strange character?</p> +<p>Sandhelo was a very small donkey, standing no +higher than a Shetland pony, and when the old lady +was seated on his back her feet dragged on the +ground. Calmly crossing them underneath his body, +she gave his tail a smart jerk, accompanied by the +shrill command, “Giddap!” Sandhelo, mortified to +death at the undignified position of his rider, had +but one idea in his mind—to escape from the gibing +crowd and hide his head in his stable. Around the +ring he flew as fast as his tiny legs would carry him, +the old woman sticking to him like a burr, her bonnet +strings flying in the wind, her big slippers flapping +against his sides, and her shrill voice urging +him on to greater speed. The act brought down +the house and a whole row of folding camp chairs +collapsed under the strain of the applause.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_71">[71]</div> +<p>Beside himself with rage and shame, Sandhelo +bolted into the barn and carried his strange rider +into the midst of the company of players. Sliding +off his back, she looked around the ring of curious +faces before her with little twinkling gray eyes. +Then she held out her hand suggestively. “Where’s +the quarter I git fer ridin’ the mule?” she asked. +Something in her voice awakened a memory in +Hinpoha’s mind. In a twinkling she was carried +back to the incident at Raymond’s that noon when +Miss Parker stopped to present her cousin from the +west. Surely there never were two such voices! +At the same time Hinpoha noticed that the old woman’s +gray hair was sliding back on her head, and a +long wisp of yellowish hair was hanging out underneath. +She stared at the curious figure in growing +wonder, and the woman stared back at her with a +knowing grin that became wider every moment. +Then with a quick movement the old woman +snatched off a gray wig, mopped a damp handkerchief +over her face, produced a pair of glasses from +some pocket in the wide skirt, and stood before them +the same awkward, ungainly creature that Hinpoha +had met that noon. It was Katherine Adams, Miss +Parker’s cousin.</p> +<p>Such a babel there was when Hinpoha recognized +the strange comedian and presented her to the others! +The waiting audience was completely forgotten +as they listened fascinated while Katherine explained +how she had come “by special invitation” to +the circus and had decided that people who had +“pep” enough to get up a circus were worth knowing, +and the best way to get acquainted with the +players was to be in the show herself. So she had +joined the company without the formality of being +asked.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_72">[72]</div> +<p>“You’re appointed assistant clown for the remainder +of the circus,” said Nyoda.</p> +<p>“And you’re invited to the spread upstairs afterwards,” +said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“It’s time for the Chair-iot Race,” said the Captain +warningly, and the players returned to their +duties with a guilty start. The new comedian +proved such a diversion and put the regular clown +up to so many tricks that he would never have +thought of by himself, that the audience refused +to go home when the big show was over, and called +for encore after encore.</p> +<p>“Let’s get her to sell cocoa,” suggested Gladys; +“they’ll buy from her when they wouldn’t from +us.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_73">[73]</div> +<p>So Katherine, who up until a few hours ago had +never heard of the Winnebagos and Sandwiches, did +more for them in the way of dispensing cups of +cocoa at five cents a cup than they were able to do +for themselves. She made such inimitably droll +speeches in her efforts to advertise her wares that +the audience crowded around her just to hear her +talk, and bought and bought until the huge kettles +were empty and the paper box till was full. The +small boys crowded around the Ringmaster, demanding +their ride on the trick mule, and, tearing +himself away from the fascinating orator, he betook +himself to the barn, followed by the whole +string of would-be riders. But when he arrived +there the stall was empty and Sandhelo was nowhere +to be found. Loud chorus of disappointment +from the small boys. The Captain turned their interest +in Sandhelo to account by enlisting them in +the search for him, but it was vain. Nowhere +could they find a trace of him. His shame at the +indignity heaped upon him that afternoon had been +too great. Finding his stall left open in the excitement +he had escaped and wandered off while the +attention of everyone was riveted on the antics of +the new comedian, and hid his head among new +scenes and faces. The small boys finally gave up +and went home, partly consoled by the assurance +that if Sandhelo ever turned up again the promised +ride would still be theirs, and the players, rather +exhausted, but exulting over the success of the performance, +gathered in the Winnebago room of the +Open Door Lodge for the jollification spread.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_74">[74]</div> +<p>Katherine Adams was the lioness of the evening. +Begged for a speech, she obligingly mounted the +table and held a discourse that left her hearers limp +with merriment. What she said was sidesplitting +enough, but her gestures, her expression and her +voice were beyond description. She spoke in a lazy +southern drawl, mixed up with a nasal twang, and +the peculiarly veiled, husky quality of her voice gave +it a sound the like of which was never heard before. +She still wore the big flapping slippers and had much +ado to keep them on when she climbed on the table +with the mincing air of a young miss making an elocution +lesson. She planted her feet carefully, heels +together and toes apart, taking several minutes in +the operation, and then surveyed them with a silly +smirk of satisfaction that was convulsing. When +her discourse became a little heated the feet suddenly +flew around and toed in until both heels and +toes were in a straight line. At the ripple of laughter +which this called forth she looked down at her +feet with a sad, pained expression and carefully set +them right again. A few moments later she again +waxed eloquent and again the feet turned, seemingly +of themselves, and this time her toes pointed outward +until toes and heels were all one straight line. +The shrieks of delight made her look down again, +with that same puzzled, pained expression, and again +she set them right in an affected manner.</p> +<p>When the speech was over the boys and girls +begged her to do it again, and kept her speechifying +until she declared she had no voice left to whisper. +“You know I have to be very careful of my +voice,” she said in a tone of confiding simplicity. +“It’s so sweet that I’m afraid of cracking it all the +time.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_75">[75]</div> +<p>Katherine was too good to be true. “Just like a +character out of a book,” the delighted Winnebagos +whispered to one another. Before the evening was +over they had unanimously decided to urge—not +merely invite, mind you, but urge—her to become a +Winnebago. Katherine was delighted with the idea +and accepted the invitation with another convulsing +speech. It seemed incredible to the girls that they +had met her just that afternoon. It seemed as if +they had known her always. She fitted into their +group like a thumb on a hand. She was plied with +slumgullion and every other delicacy, and her health +was drunk in numerous cups of cocoa. The continual +flow of banter which the Winnebagos usually +kept up among themselves was hushed, and everyone +was willing to put the soft pedal on her own +speech if only Katherine would talk some more. She +told fascinating things about her life on a big stock +farm out in Arkansas.</p> +<p>“Are there any Indians around there?” asked +Veronica, whose ideas of the American Far West +were rather hazy and romantic.</p> +<p>“Indians!” said Katherine. “I should say there +were! They’re something terrible. Why, you don’t +dare hang your clothes on the line, because the Indians +will shoot them full of arrows! And then,” +she continued, as she saw Veronica’s eyes becoming +saucerlike, “there are all kind of wild animals out +there, too. We can’t keep milk standing around in +the pantry because the wildcats come in and drink it +up, and the bears shed their hair all over the carpet! +Why, one day I came in from the yard and there +was a rattlesnake curled up on the piano stool!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_76">[76]</div> +<p>The Winnebagos and the Sandwiches doubled up +with merriment at her awful “yarns,” but Veronica +believed every word of it.</p> +<p>“O Katherine, you awful thing, I’m in love with +you,” cried Hinpoha, in rather mixed metaphor, +and drew her down on the bearskin bed beside her. +“Goodness, Veronica, don’t look so excited. All +the Indians there are in this country now are on +reservations, and they’re entirely peaceable. You +mustn’t believe a word she says.”</p> +<p>The jollification supper ended in a hilarious Virginia +Reel, which hardly anyone could dance for +laughing at Katherine’s big slippers, as she shuffled +up and down the line.</p> +<p>“What a day this has been,” sighed Hinpoha to +Gladys, with whom she was spending the night, as +she sank down on the bed with all her clothes on. +“We’ve made enough money to equip the Sandwiches’ +gym be-yoo-tifully; we’ve made Veronica +famous as a horsewoman; we’ve lost our trick mule +and gained a new member for the Winnebagos. In +the classic words of our gallant Captain, I think +that’s ‘going some.’”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_77">[77]</div> +<h2 id="c6">CHAPTER VI +<br /><span class="small">A MORAL OBLIGATION</span></h2> +<p>Katherine’s entry into High School life was a +complete success—one of those rare, astonishing +successes that happen about once in a decade. The +regular members of the class, who have been together +since the beginning, will by constant effort +have attained a fair measure of popularity by the +fourth year, when suddenly a personality will appear +out of the vast and seize and hold the center of the +stage. Katherine’s spectacular exploit at the Sandebago +Circus was heralded far and wide, and when +she entered school the following Monday morning +she found herself already famous. Everywhere +she was pointed out as “the girl who had ridden +the donkey,” “the girl with the funny voice,” “the +girl who made the screaming speeches.” Teachers +agreed unanimously that she was the most erratically +brilliant student they had ever had in their +classes—when she could remember to turn her work +in. Her compositions were read out in class and +brought down the house. When she rose to recite +you could hear a pin drop. It was an open secret +that the two English teachers had drawn lots to see +who would get her, and not a few pupils suddenly +discovered conflicts in their recitations and got themselves +changed into the class where Katherine was.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_78">[78]</div> +<p>Her absent-mindedness soon became proverbial. +Odd shoes—gloves of two different colors—hat on +hind side before, or somebody else’s hat altogether—these +were everyday occurrences. Her friends +told with chuckles how she had climbed one flight +of stairs too many on her way to Math class and +walked into a Freshman English class, her mind +busy working out the solution of a problem in geometry. +When some other Katherine was called upon +to recite she rose solemnly and, going to the board, +gave a masterly demonstration of a knotty theorem +in solid geometry, and then marched out with the +class, serenely unconscious of her mistake, oblivious +to the laughter of the class and the amusement of +the teacher, who let her go on without interruption +to see how far she would go. Her bewilderment +when asked by the regular geometry teacher to explain +why she had cut class that morning was comical.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_79">[79]</div> +<p>Possessing neither beauty, style, pretty clothes, +nor all the dozen other things that make the ordinary +girl popular, her very unusualness gave her a +distinction, and inside of two weeks she was the +best-known girl in the whole school. To be counted +as one of her friends was an honor, and to be +able to say, “Katherine told me this,” or, “Katherine +did this up at our house,” was to incite the envy +of less favored ones. The Uranians, the most exclusive +and select girl’s society in the school, voted +her in as a member because they must have all the +prominent girls, although they generally scorned +both worth and brains, if clothed in poor garments, +and great was their chagrin to find that their disdained +rivals, the clever and democratic Dramatic +Club, had held a special meeting and taken her in +the afternoon before. Urania had not noticed that +Katherine had been wearing the Dramatic Club pin +a whole day because she had stuck it over a hole in +her stocking which she did not have time to mend.</p> +<p>How the Winnebagos exulted because Hinpoha +had been polite enough to invite her to the circus +and she had consequently landed in their bosom the +first thing! No other group of girls would ever +know her as intimately as they would. The Camp +Fire idea appealed to her from the start. The Open +Door Lodge was a paradise for her. The ladder +stairs were a constant source of delight.</p> +<p>“One would think you had never climbed a ladder +before,” said Hinpoha, watching curiously as +Katherine climbed up and down and up again just +for the fun of the thing. Katherine draped her +feet around a rung to support herself and sat on the +top bar.</p> +<p>“I never did,” she said simply.</p> +<p>“Never climbed a ladder!” said Hinpoha incredulously. +“Why, where did you live?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_80">[80]</div> +<p>“In Arkansas,” answered Katherine significantly. +“Do you know,” she went on, “that until I came +east I had never seen a flight of stairs? <i>I had never +seen a flight of stairs!</i>” she repeated, as Hinpoha +and the other girls in the Lodge gasped unbelievingly. +“We lived in a one-story house, the floor +level with the ground, so you just walked in from +the outside without going up steps. The house was +in the middle of a big farm, as level and flat as this +floor. I rode ten miles to school and that was built +just like our house. Oh, of course I knew there +were such things as stairs, because I had seen them +in pictures, but until I came here I had never seen +any.”</p> +<p>“But didn’t you see any when you went traveling?” +asked Hinpoha, still incredulous.</p> +<p>“Never went traveling,” returned Katherine. “It +took considerable hustling to stay right where we +were. One year the locusts ate up everything, down +to the clothes on the line, and we couldn’t get +enough feed to fatten the stock; the next year there +were prairie fires that licked the earth as clean as a +plate; one year the cattle all died of disease, and so +on. It wasn’t until this year that we came out ahead +enough to send me here to school.”</p> +<p>And when the girls heard what a hard time she +had had they adored her more than ever because +she could be so funny when she had had so little +to be funny about.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_81">[81]</div> +<p>Another thing that charmed her beyond measure +was the color of the autumn leaves. The Winnebagos +could hardly pull her past a tree. “There +was only one tree in sight on our farm,” she would +tell them, “and that wasn’t green like the trees are +in the east; it was just a dusty, greenish gray. And +the leaves didn’t turn colors in the fall; they just +withered up and dropped off. Oh-h-h, look at that +one over there—isn’t it just too gorgeous for +words?”</p> +<p>When we said that both teachers and pupils regarded +Katherine as too good to be true, we should +have made one exception. That exception was Miss +Snively, the Senior Oratory teacher. Most of the +teachers were liked by some scholars and disliked +by some, according to disposition or circumstance; +but all pupils agreed heartily that they did not like +Miss Snively. She was neither old nor bad looking; +in fact, she was rather handsome when you +saw her for the first time, but she was so bitingly +sarcastic that her classes stood in fear and trembling +of being singled out for some poisoned shaft. +Sarcasm and ridicule are the most deadly weapons +to use against boys and girls of the high school age. +They are not old enough to know how to come back, +and can only nurse the smart and writhe impotently. +And of all classes to have a sarcastic teacher, +Senior Oratory is the worst. It is bad enough to +stand up and make a speech with appropriate gestures +before a sympathetic teacher who corrects +diplomatically and never, never laughs, but to have +one who eyes you coldly all the while and then gets +up and does it the way you did, only ten times +worse—more buckets of tears had been shed over +Senior Oratory than all other subjects put together.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_82">[82]</div> +<p>When Katherine entered the class Miss Snively +took immediate exception to her voice. Miss Snively’s +particular hobby was Woman’s Voice. Hers +was high and artificially sweet—it fairly oozed syrup—and +she did her level best to make her girl pupils +imitate it. So when Katherine began reading in her +husky nasal drawl, Miss Snively promptly read the +piece after her, imitating her voice as best she could, +and then looked around the room for the laughter +of the pupils which would complete Katherine’s mortification. +But nobody laughed. They all sympathized +with Katherine. They had been in her shoes +themselves. The blood mounted to Katherine’s temples +when she realized that Miss Snively was deliberately +making fun of her, and a hurt look came into +her eyes. She was sensitive about her voice, even +if she did get endless fun out of it. When Miss +Snively handed her the book again and bade her in +sarcastic tones to read further for the edification of +the class, Katherine sat silent. To her horror she +found there was a lump in her throat and she would +most likely break down utterly if she tried to say +a word. She did not mean to be stubborn—she was +only waiting for control of her voice, for she was +too proud to let Miss Snively see how badly she felt. +So she sat silent, miserably twisting her handkerchief +in her hands.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_83">[83]</div> +<p>“Go back to your session room,” said Miss +Snively sharply, who boasted of her summary measures +with her scholars. So Katherine left the room +in disgrace. From that time on there was a marked +antagonism between those two. Miss Snively lost +no chance to make Katherine ridiculous in class, +and, while Katherine had too much respect for +teachers to openly defy her, she “took off” her affected +manners to delighted audiences outside of +class, and Miss Snively knew it and was powerless +to stop it. But, outside of her skirmishes with Miss +Snively, Katherine’s progress through school was a +triumphal march.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_84">[84]</div> +<p>In every school, and Washington High was no +exception, there will be found various elements—some +good and some bad. Color rushes, which had +given an annual vent to the mysterious feeling of +hostility which always exists between junior and +senior classes, had been abolished. But the feeling +still existed, and manifested itself in various skirmishes. +The year before, when the juniors gave +their annual dance, the seniors carried away the +refreshments. On the night of the senior dance +the lights refused to work, and, of course, the juniors +were at the bottom of the mystery. The principal, +thinking rightly that pranks of this kind reflected +little credit on his school, wrathfully declared +that if any of the seniors attempted to spoil the +juniors’ party this year there would be trouble. But +there were certain lawless spirits in the senior class +who still thought pranks of that nature funny, and +it was not long before plans were hatching as merrily +as before. It was all very vague, what was +going to be done and who was going to do it, but +it was in the air, and everybody who was up on +school affairs knew there was a storm brewing.</p> +<p>The first definite news came to the Winnebagos +through Katherine. “I’ve been asked to a select +party,” she announced one night up in the Open +Door Lodge, spreading her bony hands out before +the blazing log on the hearth. “It’s something like +the Boston Tea Party,” she went on.</p> +<p>“Must be going to be quite an affair,” said Gladys, +who was stirring fudge over the fire. “May we inquire +where?”</p> +<p>“Oh, girls,” said Katherine, with a serious face, +“do you know what’s in the wind? The Seniors are +to put a lot of live mice through the windows in +the middle of the Junior dance.”</p> +<p>“The Seniors?” exclaimed Hinpoha and Gladys in +one breath. “What Seniors?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_85">[85]</div> +<p>“Oh, Charlie Hughes and Eddie Myers and that +bunch. You know the half dozen that go around +together and call themselves the Clan? Well, those. +They were mixed up in the business last year.” Although +Katherine was a newcomer in the school she +was already well versed in its history.</p> +<p>“How did you find it out?” asked Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“Cora Burton told me.” Cora was one of Katherine’s +devoted admirers and tried hard to be +chummy with her, although Katherine did not care +for her in the least. “Cora’s a particular friend of +Charlie Hughes, and she and some other girls are +going along to see the fun. But she couldn’t keep it +secret and told me today and asked if I wanted to +go along.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Katherine, you’re not going?” said Sahwah +anxiously.</p> +<p>The disgusted expression on Katherine’s face was +answer enough.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t we better tell some of the teachers?” +asked Gladys, pausing in her stirring. “I wish Nyoda +were here.” Miss Kent had been called out of +town on account of the death of an aunt and would +be away until after the party.</p> +<p>“We ought to, I think,” said Hinpoha.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_86">[86]</div> +<p>Katherine stood up beside the fireplace, and resting +one elbow on the shelf humped her shoulders +in her favorite attitude and began to speak. “Girls,” +she said, “this Junior-Senior business is going to be +an awful mess, and the result will be that somebody +will be expelled or not permitted to graduate. Students +are going to take sides in the affair and there +will be no end of hard feelings. I for one don’t +care to play the rôle of informer. So far we Winnebagos +have kept entirely out of anything of this +kind and wish we could get along without having +any connection with this.”</p> +<p>“But the teachers would never tell who told +them,” said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“The teachers wouldn’t,” answered Katherine, +“but Cora Burton would. And then maybe someone +would say that I had been in the thing to start +with and then grew afraid and told on the others. +You know how those stories grow. Stay out of it +altogether, say I, and avoid publicity.”</p> +<p>“But don’t you think it’s our duty to try and stop +such horrid pranks?” asked Hinpoha doubtfully.</p> +<p>“I certainly do,” said Katherine, “and if we were +the only ones who suspected anything it would be +different. But all the teachers know that something +is going to happen and they will be on the lookout. +And the Juniors know it also, and they will be on +their guard. I doubt very much if those mice ever +get into the room, even if we keep silent.”</p> +<p>And the Winnebagos, remembering Hinpoha’s +sad experience the year before, decided that it was +perhaps better after all to keep out of the affair +altogether.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_87">[87]</div> +<p>“I thought you’d see it my way after you’d considered +all sides,” said Katherine, reaching out her +long fingers and taking three pieces of fudge off +the plate where it was cooling, “but that isn’t what +I wanted to talk about tonight. It’s Cora Burton +that bothers me. She isn’t a bad sort of girl, and I +can’t see why she should want to get mixed up in +that sort of thing, especially when there’s bound to +be trouble later. If she were to be seen with those +boys Friday night it would go hard with her. I +suppose she thinks she’s right in the swim being connected +with a prank, because she isn’t very popular +otherwise. The other girls that are in it aren’t +ladylike and it’s not much use getting after them, +but Cora’s different, somehow. I wish something +could be done about it.” And she crunched a piece +of fudge between her teeth with violence.</p> +<p>“We might get up a show that night and each one +bring a friend, and you could invite Cora,” suggested +Sahwah. “Counter attraction, you know.”</p> +<p>The suggestion was voted a good one and +promptly acted upon. But Cora declined Katherine’s +cordial invitation. “What’s to be done now?” +asked Katherine of the hastily called meeting of +the Winnebagos. “Our counter attraction didn’t +work.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_88">[88]</div> +<p>“Girls,” said Gladys solemnly, “I believe it’s our +duty to keep Cora away from that business somehow. +If we were smart enough we’d find a way. +I don’t believe we ought to let the matter drop and +say if she wants to get into trouble let her do it, +it’s none of our affair. It <i>is</i> our affair, because we’re +pledged to Give Service, and it would be doing Cora +a great service to keep her out of this. If she’s weak +and we’re strong we must hold her out of water. +You remember what Dr. Harper said at the lecture +about saving people from themselves. Well, I think +we ought to save Cora from herself.”</p> +<p>The phrase, “Save Cora from herself,” sounded +very fine to the ears of the Winnebagos, and they +decided that Cora must be saved from herself at all +costs. But how?</p> +<p>“I think I can manage it,” said Katherine, who +had been buried deep in thought all the while the +last discussion was going on. “It’ll be quite an undertaking, +but the end justifies the means.”</p> +<p>“Tell us,” begged the girls.</p> +<p>“Why, it’s this,” said Katherine. “I shall tell +Cora that I’ve changed my mind and want to go +with her Friday night and will meet her on the corner +of her street at eight o’clock. When I’ve met +her I’ll tell her that I left my purse up here and +ask her to come along till I get it. You know she +doesn’t live very far from here. Once up here we’ll +keep her safely all evening. Oh, I know that holding +people against their will isn’t one of the rules of +polite society, but in her case I think we’re justified. +She’ll thank us for it before very long. And we’ll +try to make it pleasant for her. We’ll give the show +just as we intended and have a spread and her captivity +won’t seem long.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_89">[89]</div> +<p>As there seemed no other way out of the difficulty, +Katherine’s plan was accepted.</p> +<p>“It’s working fine,” she confided to the Winnebagos +the next day. “Cora was tickled to pieces because +I wanted to go with her. She agreed to meet +me on the corner, as I suggested, and we’re both +going to wear green veils so we won’t be recognized +so easily. Hoop la!” and she did a double shuffle +with her toes turned in down the aisle of the +empty class room where the girls had gathered.</p> +<p>On Friday night the Winnebagos met early in the +House of the Open Door. Mrs. Evans, Gladys’ +mother, was acting as leader tonight in the absence +of Nyoda. She had been let into the secret about +Cora and under the circumstances thought that their +action was right. Cora lived with an old uncle, who +was stone deaf and didn’t care a rap what she did, +so there was no use talking to her folks about it. +Several girl friends of the Winnebagos were present, +all having raptures over the decorations of the +Lodge, and watching with interest the waving curtain +in the corner, behind which Sahwah was making +herself up as a Topsy for their entertainment +later on. Gladys was making sandwiches in another +corner and lamenting because the bread knife +was broken half off, and was accusing Sahwah of +prying bricks apart with it, when stealthy footsteps +sounded on the walk below, together with the noise +of the door being pushed back quietly. Gladys +heard it and started nervously. She was beginning +to feel rather embarrassed at the thought of meeting +Cora Burton, and wondered just how it would come +out, anyway. She wished it were safely over.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_90">[90]</div> +<p>Katherine and her prisoner seemed a long time +in reaching the foot of the ladder. Did Cora suspect +something, perhaps, and was refusing to +mount? Gladys strained her ears to listen and +thought she heard a smothered giggle from below, +but she could not be sure. The next minute the +lights flashed below and the patent signal knock of +the Sandwiches sounded on the wall.</p> +<p>“Here come the boys!” cried Hinpoha, hastening +to answer the signal with a series of mystic thumps +on the wall with the poker.</p> +<p>Then the Captain’s voice sounded at the foot of +the ladder. “How many of you are up there?”</p> +<p>“Five,” answered Hinpoha, “and three guests.”</p> +<p>“Is Miss Kent there?”</p> +<p>“No.”</p> +<p>“What are you doing?”</p> +<p>“We’re going to have a show. Want to come +up?”</p> +<p>“Well, maybe, later,” answered the Captain. +“Won’t you come down a minute? We’ve got +something to show you.” And again Gladys thought +she heard a smothered giggle from below stairs.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_91">[91]</div> +<p>The girls trooped down the ladder, Sahwah running +out with her face blackened and her hair in +tiny pigtails, to see what the excitement was about. +All seven of the Sandwiches stood there with sparkling +eyes and prenaturally solemn faces. On the +floor stood a good-sized box.</p> +<p>“What’s in the box?” asked Sahwah.</p> +<p>“Oh, nothing,” answered the Captain, trying to +speak indifferently.</p> +<p>“There is too, something,” said Sahwah, looking +critically at the express tags fastened to it. “Oh, +I know what is is,” she cried, suddenly jumping up +and clapping her hands in glee. “Your uncle in +Boston has sent you the electric motor he promised +you!”</p> +<p>The Captain tried to look indifferent and failed +utterly. His lips would twitch into a smile in spite +of all he could do.</p> +<p>“Do open it and let us see it,” said Hinpoha, and +all the girls crowded closely around.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_92">[92]</div> +<p>“You may have the honor, Miss Brewster,” said +the Captain, bowing formally to Sahwah. The nails +had been drawn and all Sahwah had to do was lift +off the cover of the box, which she did with a great +flourish. The next moment the girls sprang back in +dismay and scattered wildly. The box was full of +live mice, which jumped out and ran in all directions. +Screaming at the tops of their voices the girls fled +toward the ladder and crowded up as fast as they +could go. Sahwah jumped for the swinging rings, +which hung from the ceiling of the barn, and dangled +safely in mid-air, making horrible faces at the +Captain, at which he laughed uproariously. Sahwah +and the Captain were always playing tricks on +each other and this time she had to admit that he +had scored heavily. So the Captain jeered and Sahwah +vowed vengeance and the other Sandwiches +stood around and laughed until their sides ached, +for Sahwah, with blackened face and Topsy braids, +hanging in the rings and sputtering, was the funniest +sight imaginable.</p> +<p>“Joke’s over now, boys,” said the Captain, when +the mice had run around the barn for several minutes. +“We’ve had enough of a good thing. Let’s +catch them and put them back into the box.”</p> +<p>The girls above sat around the ladder opening +and watched the proceedings.</p> +<p>“Wherever did you get so many mice, boys?” +asked Mrs. Evans.</p> +<p>“We found them,” said the Captain, “all boxed +up, just like this, They were right out in the middle +of that field over there. We were on the way +over here and saw the box and looked in. When +we saw what it was we thought we could play a +joke on the girls. So we brought them along. Looks +as though someone had fixed them that way for a +joke. Probably were going to send them by express. +They were in an express box, although it +was not nailed shut.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_93">[93]</div> +<p>The girls began to look at one another significantly. +The same thought came into all their minds +at once. Were not these the mice that were to attend +the Junior party?</p> +<p>“The joke is on the Seniors, after all,” said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” asked the boys. “The +joke is on the Seniors?”</p> +<p>“Shall we tell them?” asked Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“I don’t see any harm now,” said Gladys. “The +scheme has collapsed like a pricked balloon.”</p> +<p>And they told the Sandwiches what they knew +about the plot of the Senior boys to interrupt the +Junior party.</p> +<p>“Wasn’t such a bad idea to try to play a joke on +you girls after all, was it?” said the Captain. “Because +if we hadn’t done it we wouldn’t have nipped +their little scheme in the bud. We’ll play lots more +jokes on them, won’t we, Slim? Don’t you girls +think you ought to invite us up to supper to celebrate?”</p> +<p>“Not until the last mouse is back in the box,” said +Gladys firmly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_94">[94]</div> +<p>The boys worked hard to catch them again and +the girls sat above and cheered their efforts, and in +the middle of it in came Katherine and her companion, +swathed in green veils. There was such an +uproar in the barn that Cora never noticed that +Katherine locked the door and put the key in her +pocket. Cora gave a great start at the sight of the +mice, which was not all from fright, and the girls +could not help enjoying the situation. What must +be her thoughts by this time? But Cora, obeying +the natural impulse of women at the sight of mice, +fled up the ladder with Katherine. If she thought +it odd that the barn was full of girls and boys +when she had gained the impression that it was +empty and dark, she made no sign, but stood still +with her veil over her face. With all those horrible +creatures running around the floor downstairs she +made no move to escape.</p> +<p>“Won’t you take off your things?” asked Katherine, +beginning gently to break the news to Cora +that she was to stay for the evening. Without demur +Cora unfastened her coat and slid it off and +then took off her hat and veil. The girls stood as +if turned to stone. The person who stood before +them was not Cora Burton. It was Miss Snively. +<i>It was Miss Snively!</i></p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_95">[95]</div> +<p>She looked around her with a sneering smile and +a snapping light in her eyes. “You may think it +was a master stroke on your part to lure me here +and lock me in so I could not join the conspirators +and thus find out who they were,” she said with +biting emphasis. “But you shall pay dearly for this, +my young friends. I know who you all are—you +needn’t try to hide behinds the others, Gladys Evans—and +the information I shall be able to give Mr. +Jackson tonight is what he has been trying to find +out for a long time. Katherine Adams, you are +the ringleader of this affair, as we might have expected. +I know all about the plan to put the mice +into the dance hall, and while the boys downstairs +who are getting them ready are not the ones I should +have expected to be doing it, it is just like you to +get strange boys to do it for you, hoping to get +away unsuspected. But it didn’t work, I am happy +to say. You are very clever, Miss Adams, but not +clever enough. I overheard you asking Cora Burton +to meet you on the corner this evening. I took +the liberty of being there first. I thought I had +deceived you perfectly, not knowing that you were +bringing me right into the mouse’s nest, so to speak.”</p> +<p>She paused for breath and looked around her with +an expression of relish at the consternation visible +on the faces before her. For Katherine was staring +at her with startled, unbelieving eyes; Gladys was +clutching her mother’s arm in a frightened manner; +Hinpoha had sunk weakly down on the bearskin +bed, and Sahwah stood with her mouth open and the +perspiration running down her face in black +streaks, and the others were dumb with astonishment. +The boys, not knowing just what was going +on, but guessing that something was the matter, +stood by the ladder opening, silently taking in the +scene. The girls looked helplessly into each other’s +eyes. Somebody must speak and explain. They all +looked at Katherine.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_96">[96]</div> +<p>“But we aren’t mixed up in the House Party at +all, Miss Snively,” she said earnestly. “We heard +about it, and I found out that Cora Burton was going +to be in it and I tried to make her stay home and +she refused, so we girls decided we would take action +to take her out of it by luring her up here and +keeping her until the thing was over. That’s why I +asked Cora to meet me on the corner, and I really +thought you were Cora all the while. You imitated +her squeaky voice to perfection.”</p> +<p>As Katherine was telling her perfectly truthful +story she had a dreadful feeling that it didn’t sound +plausible at all. Under Miss Snively’s cold eye +nothing seemed real.</p> +<p>“Likely story!” said Miss Snively sneeringly. +“And how does it happen that if you wanted to +bring Cora out of temptation you should take her +to the place where the mice were being boxed up +ready to be taken to the party?” All the girls +looked so disconcerted. Those dreadful mice did +complicate matters so! They would have given +anything if Nyoda had been there then.</p> +<p>The Captain was beginning to take in the situation. +He came forward frankly. “It’s our fault +about the mice,” he said, looking Miss Snively +straight in the eye. “We found them in a field +near here all boxed up and thought it would be a +good joke on the girls to bring them over here and +let them out. We don’t know anything about your +squabbles at Washington High, except what little +the girls here have told us; we’re all from Carnegie +Mechanic. And we know the girls didn’t have a +hand in it, because they were giving a show here to-night.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_97">[97]</div> +<p>His story was backed up by all the other boys, +and then Mrs. Evans got in a word and declared +that Katherine was telling the whole truth about +Cora, and Miss Snively was forced, however ungraciously, +to admit that she had been mistaken in her +suspicions.</p> +<p>“If she’d been a man I’d have made her eat her +words,” declared Slim wrathfully, after Miss +Snively had departed from the scene.</p> +<p>Mrs. Evans and Gladys, with perfect courtesy, +offered to drive her home in their car, and for the +present oil was poured on the troubled waters.</p> +<p>Katherine sat hunched gloomily before the fire +and held-forth to the Winnebagos. “I don’t know +whether the joke’s on her or on us,” she said pessimistically; +“but one thing I’m sure of, and that is, +that never, never, as long as I live, will I ever again +try to save a girl from herself.”</p> +<p>And the Winnebagos wearily agreed with her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_98">[98]</div> +<h2 id="c7">CHAPTER VII +<br /><span class="small">AN ADVENTURE IN PHILANTHROPY</span></h2> +<p>Katherine became officially a member of the +Winnebago Camp Fire Group at the first Ceremonial +after the circus, with the Fire Name of Iagoonah, +the Story Maker. The name itself was an +accident and the manner of its bestowing is cherished +in the chronicles of the Winnebagos as one of +the group’s best jokes. Just about the time Katherine +was to be installed as a Winnebago, word was +received that the Chief Guardian of the city was +going to be present at the meeting and would take +charge of the Ceremonial. Katherine had chosen +the name, “Prairie Dandelion,” because she came +from the plains, and because her hair was so fly-away. +During the supper which preceded the Ceremonial +meeting Katherine made such funny speeches +and told such outrageous yarns about her life +in the West that Nyoda said jestingly: “Your +name ought to be Iagoo, the Marvellous Story Teller.” +And the others began calling her Iagoo in +fun. The Chief Guardian heard them calling her +Iagoo and supposed that was the Camp Fire name +she wished to take. So, when she was receiving +Katherine into the ranks, she said: “Your name is +Iagoo, isn’t it?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_99">[99]</div> +<p>Katherine, sobered and almost voiceless from the +solemnity of the occasion, mumbled half-inarticulately, +“Iagoo? Nah!”</p> +<p>And before anyone knew what had happened she +had been officially installed as <i>Iagoonah</i>! The joke +was so good that the name stuck, and Katherine +was known to the Winnebago Circle as Iagoonah +to the end of the chapter, although they did consent +to change the interpretation to Story Maker instead +of Story Teller as being more dignified and not so +suggestive.</p> +<p>Katherine was one of the most enthusiastic Camp +Fire Girls that ever lived, and her inspirations led +the girls into more activities and adventures than +they had ever dreamed of before. It was Katherine +who started the Philanthropic Idea. They had been +talking about the different things Camp Fire Girls +could do together for the good of the community.</p> +<p>“Girls,” said Katherine, standing in her favorite +attitude beside the fireplace, with her toes turned in +and her elbow on the shelf, “I don’t believe we’re +doing all we ought. We’re having a royal good +time among ourselves and learning no end of things +to our own advantage, but what are we doing for +others? Nothing, that I can see.”</p> +<p>“We gave a Thanksgiving basket to Katie, the +laundress,” said Hinpoha, “and we collected a barrel +of clothes for the Shimky’s when their house +burned down, and we gave a benefit performance to +pay little Jane Goldman’s expenses in the hospital, +and we send toys and scrapbooks to the Sunshine +Nursery every Christmas.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_100">[100]</div> +<p>“And I earned three dollars and gave it to the +Red Cross,” said Sahwah. “Don’t you call that +doing something for other people? We haven’t +meant to be selfish, I’m sure. By the way, Katherine, +your elbow’s in the fudge.”</p> +<p>Katherine shoved the dish away absently and returned +to her subject. “Yes,” she admitted, “the +Winnebagos have done a great deal that way, but +it’s all been <i>giving</i> something. We haven’t <i>done</i> +anything. It’s easy enough to pack a basket and +hand it to someone, and collect a lot of old clothes +from people who are anxious to get rid of them +anyway, or pay the bill for somebody else to do +something. But I think we ought to do something +ourselves—give up our own time and put our own +touch into it.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean we should do?” asked +Gladys, hunting through the dish for a piece of +fudge that had not been demolished by Katherine’s +elbow.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_101">[101]</div> +<p>“Well, there’s the Foreign Settlement,” said +Katherine. “I’m sure we could find something to +do there. It’s a grand and noble thing to show the +foreigners how to live better.” And she launched +into such an eloquent plea in behalf of the poor +overburdened washerwomen who had to neglect +their babies while they went to work that the girls +wiped their eyes and declared it was a cruel world +and things weren’t fairly divided, and surely they +must do what they could to lighten the burdens of +their sisters in the Settlement.</p> +<p>“What will we do, and when will we do it?” +asked Hinpoha, all on fire to get the noble work +started.</p> +<p>“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” answered Katherine. +“We ought to go out into the Settlement and see +what’s to be done. We’ll make a survey, sort of, +and then we’ll step in and see where we’re needed +most.”</p> +<p>Nyoda, appealed to for advice, told them to go +ahead. She liked the idea of their trying to find +out for themselves what needed a helping hand. +She could not go with them to the Settlement on +Saturday morning, but it was all right for them to +go by themselves in daylight.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_102">[102]</div> +<p>So, full of a generous desire to help somebody +else, the Winnebagos followed Katherine’s lead +toward the Settlement the next day. The Settlement, +as it was called, embraced some three or four +square miles of land adjacent to several large factories. +In it dwelt some few thousand Slovaks, +Poles and Bohemians, packed like sardines in narrow +quarters. The Settlement had its own churches, +stores, schools, theaters, dance halls and amusement +gardens, and looked more like an old world city +than a section of a great American Metropolis, with +its queer houses and signs in every language but +English. The girls wandered up and down the narrow +dirty streets, filled with chickens and children, +and tried to decide what they should do first. They +met the village baker, carrying a washbasket full +of enormous round loaves of rye bread without a +sign of a wrapping. He was going from house to +house, delivering the loaves, and if no one came to +the door he laid the loaf on the doorstep and went +on.</p> +<p>Before one house, which had a small front yard, +between twenty and twenty-five men were lounging +on the steps, on the two benches and against the +fence. “What do you suppose all those men are +doing in front of that house?” whispered Hinpoha +curiously.</p> +<p>Just then a woman came from the house carrying +in her hand a huge iron frying-pan full of pancakes. +She passed it around and each man took a pancake +in his hand and ate it where he stood.</p> +<p>“They’re having their dinner!” exclaimed Gladys. +“It’s just a little past noon. That’s one way of disposing +of the dishwashing problem. I’ll store up +that idea for use the next time it’s my turn to cook +supper at a meeting. What a large family that +woman has, though. I wonder if they are all her +husbands?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_103">[103]</div> +<p>“Gracious no,” said Katherine. “These people +aren’t poly—poly—you know what I mean, even if +they are foreigners. Those men are boarders. +Every family has some. Let’s go into that big +house over there and ask if there are any babies the +mothers would like to leave with us while they go +washing.”</p> +<p>They picked their way across the muddy road +toward a large building which opened right on to +the sidewalk. The hall door stood open and they +went in. There were more than a dozen doors leading +from the hall on the first floor. “Gracious, +what a number of people live here!” said Gladys, +putting her arm through Katherine’s.</p> +<p>While they stood there, trying to make up their +minds at which door to knock, one was opened and +a barefooted woman came out, carrying a pan of +dishwater, which she threw out on the sidewalk. +At the same time another door opened and out +came another woman, who stopped short when she +saw the first one, and began to talk in a harsh foreign +tongue. The second woman replied angrily +and the girls could see that they were quarreling. +Before long they were shaking fists in front of each +other’s noses and shouting at the tops of their voices. +Doors everywhere flew open and the hall was soon +filled with excited women who took sides with one +or the other and shook fists at each other while the +girls huddled under the stairway, expecting to be set +upon and beaten. The quarrel was waxing more +violent, when the girls spied a door at the end of a +hallway which had been opened to let in some of +the shouting women. As quickly and as quietly as +they could they darted down this passageway and +out of the door which brought them into the back +yard of the place. Terrified, they fled up the street +and stood on the corner, discouraged and irresolute. +Hinpoha was for going home right away. But +Katherine talked her out of it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_104">[104]</div> +<p>“Let’s go up to the Neighborhood Mission on +the hill and ask them for something to do,” suggested +Katherine, when the rest inquired what they +should do next. So they turned their footsteps +toward the white building at the end of the +street.</p> +<p>“If you really want to do something,” said the +mission worker to whom they explained their errand, +“come down here next Saturday morning and +help take care of the children that are left with us. +Two of the nurses will be away and we will be +short-handed.”</p> +<p>The Winnebagos were charmed with the idea. +“Oh, may we each take one home for the day?” +begged Katherine, “if we promise to bring them +back all right?”</p> +<p>Permission was granted for the next Saturday +and Katherine was jubilant over the good beginning +of their work. “I thought it best that we each +take one home and take care of it by ourselves,” +she explained. “We’ll have such fun telling experiences +and comparing notes afterward.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_105">[105]</div> +<p>Promptly at nine o’clock the next Saturday morning +the four Winnebagos, Katherine, Gladys, Hinpoha +and Sahwah, presented themselves at the +Neighborhood Mission and drove away ten minutes +later in Gladys’ automobile, each with a youngster +in tow.</p> +<p>At eight that night there was a lively experience +meeting in the House of the Open Door. “Oh, +girls, you never saw such a dirty baby as the one I +had,” cried Gladys, with a little shiver of disgust +at the remembrance.</p> +<p>“It couldn’t have been any worse than the one I +had,” broke in Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“But I gave him a bath,” said Gladys, with a +satisfied air, “and put all new clothes on him, and +he was as sweet as a rose when I took him home.”</p> +<p>“Mine beat them all,” said Katherine, when she +was able to get in a word edgewise. “He had a +little fur tail of some kind tied around his neck on +a string. I suppose it was meant for a ‘pacifier,’ +for he was sucking it all the while.”</p> +<p>“Why, mine had one of those on, too,” said +Gladys.</p> +<p>“So did mine,” said Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“There must have been a million germs on it,” +continued Katherine. “I took it off and burned it +up.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_106">[106]</div> +<p>“So did I,” said Gladys.</p> +<p>“So did I,” echoed Hinpoha.</p> +<p>After all things were talked over the Winnebagos +decided that they had done pretty good work that +day in cleaning up the dirty babies and unanimously +voted to take them again the next Saturday.</p> +<p>When they arrived at the Neighborhood Mission +the next Saturday morning they were met on the +walk by half a dozen excited women with handkerchiefs +on their heads, who formed a circle around +them, shouting in a foreign tongue and making +fierce gestures.</p> +<p>“What is the matter? What are they saying?” +gasped Hinpoha in terror to Katherine, struggling +to pull away from the hand that was clutching her +coat lapel.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” answered Katherine, completely +at sea and vainly trying to understand the gibberish +that was being uttered by the brown-skinned +woman dancing up and down before her.</p> +<p>A startled group of workers ran from the Mission +to see what the trouble was, and, forcing themselves +through the circle, drew the frightened girls +inside the fence of the Mission. Then from the +group of women outside there arose a voice in broken +English, demanding angrily: “Where is the charm +that hung on the neck of my Stefan? The charm +to keep away the fever and the sore eyes? I give +you my boy to watch, you steal away the charm. +Give it back! Give it back!” Here the angry +shouting and gesticulating began again and threatening +hands were waved over the fence.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_107">[107]</div> +<p>“What does she mean?” asked Hinpoha. “What +charm?”</p> +<p>“We didn’t steal any charms,” said Katherine indignantly. +“We didn’t take a thing off the babies +except some dirty old rabbits’ tails that were full of +germs. We burned them up, and a good thing it +was, too.”</p> +<p>Here the angry shouts of the women gave way +to wails of despair. “They burned the rabbits’ +tails!” groaned one woman, who could talk English, +lifting her hands heavenward, “the rabbits’ tails that +the Wonder Woman tied about their necks on Easter +Sunday! Now Stefan will get the fever and the +sore eyes and the teeth will not come through!” +And she beat her breast in despair. Then her anger +blazed forth again and she fell to berating the girls +in her own language, and the other women fell in +with her until there was a perfect hubbub. The +workers at the Mission hustled the girls inside the +building and the women finally departed, shaking +fists at the Mission and raging at all the dwellers.</p> +<p>“It was nothing but a dirty old rabbit’s tail,” declared +Hinpoha tearfully, as the shaken Winnebagos +hastened homeward. “I hate foreigners! I +guess we’ll never try to do anything for them +again.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_108">[108]</div> +<p>“Oh, yes, we will,” answered Katherine optimistically; +“we’ll learn not to make mistakes in time.”</p> +<p>“Look at that donkey over there,” said Sahwah. +“Doesn’t he remind you of Sandhelo?”</p> +<p>“Poor old Sandhelo,” mourned Hinpoha. “I +wonder what became of him? We certainly had +fun with him, even if he never would go unless +he heard music.”</p> +<p>“Seems to be characteristic of the donkey tribe +not to want to go,” observed Katherine. “That +one over there is balking, too. Doesn’t the fellow +that’s trying to drive him look like a pirate, though? +I wouldn’t go for him either, if I were a donkey.”</p> +<p>“O look!” cried Sahwah in amazement, and they +all stopped still.</p> +<p>A small boy was coming down the street blowing +lustily on a wheezy horn, and as soon as the +donkey heard it he wheeled around, facing the music, +pricked up his ears, uttered a squeal of rapture and +rose up on his hind legs, almost upsetting the queer +little cart to which he was harnessed.</p> +<p>“Katherine! I do believe it <i>is</i> Sandhelo,” cried +Sahwah, excitedly gripping Katherine’s arm.</p> +<p>The man sprang from the cart and seizing the +donkey by the bit brought him down to earth with +a rough pull that almost jerked his head off, shouting +abuse at him in a foreign tongue. The little +boy, frightened at the uproar, ran away, taking his +music with him. The man got into the cart again +and tried to drive away. The donkey refused to +move. The man began to beat him unmercifully.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_109">[109]</div> +<p>“Oh, girls, we must do something to stop him!” +cried Hinpoha, hopping up and down in distress.</p> +<p>“Here, you, stop that!” shouted Katherine, running +forward and waving her muff at him threateningly. +“I’ll have the law on you!” The man either +did not understand, or did not care, for he paid not +the slightest heed to her words. “Stop it, stop it, +I say!” she commanded, stamping her foot angrily +and wildly wishing she were a man, that she might +beat this bully even as he was beating the poor little +beast.</p> +<p>The man looked at her and grinned derisively. +“Who says so?” he growled.</p> +<p>“I say so!” said a voice behind Katherine, and +she turned to see the Captain standing beside her. +“You stop beating that donkey or I’ll punch your +head.” He put his fingers to his lips and uttered a +long shrill whistle which the girls recognized as +the call of the Sandwiches, and the next minute the +other boys came running up the side street, Bottomless +Pitt, Monkey, Dan, Peter and Harry, with Slim +trailing along in the rear, puffing violently in his +efforts to keep up with the rest. They surrounded +the cart threateningly and the man sulkily left off +beating the donkey.</p> +<p>Sahwah went forward and stroked the little animal’s +head and then she uttered a triumphant cry.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_110">[110]</div> +<p>“It <i>is</i> Sandhelo!” she exclaimed. “Here’s part of +his red, white and blue cockade still sticking in his +hair.”</p> +<p>“That’s our donkey,” cried all the girls and boys, +pressing close around. “Where did you get him?”</p> +<p>“He is not,” declared the man angrily. “I raise +him myself since he was young.”</p> +<p>“That is not true,” said Sahwah shrewdly. “If +you had had him very long you would know how to +make him go. It seems to me that this is the first +time you’ve ever tried to drive him.”</p> +<p>“He is mine, he is mine,” declared the man. “I +know how to make him go. He always go for me.”</p> +<p>“Then make him go,” said Sahwah coolly.</p> +<p>The man tried to urge the donkey forward, but +in vain.</p> +<p>“Now, <i>we’ll</i> show you how to make him go,” said +Sahwah. “Where’s that boy with the horn?” She +ran up the street a distance and found the boy seated +on a doorstep and bribed him with a few pennies +to let her take the horn. Then, walking along ahead +of Sandhelo she played a half dozen lively notes, +such as had sent him flying round the circus ring. +No sooner had she started than he started at a great +rate. When she stopped he stopped.</p> +<p>“It’s Sandhelo without mistake,” they all cried, +and the last doubt vanished when he came up alongside +of Sahwah and laid his head on her shoulder +the way he always had done.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_111">[111]</div> +<p>“He belongs to us,” said the Captain, looking the +man in the eye, “and you’ll have to give him up.”</p> +<p>The man shifted his gaze. “I give him to you for +five dollar,” he muttered. “I pay so much for him.”</p> +<p>“Not much,” said the Captain. “Nobody sold +you a donkey for five dollars and you can’t get that +much out of us. Now you either give him to us or +we’ll report it to the police.” The man protested +loudly, but he was evidently thinking all the while +that a donkey that only went when he heard music +was not such a good bargain after all, even if he +did get it by the simple and inexpensive method of +finding it in his dooryard and tying it up. So, after +growling some more that they were robbing him, +he suffered Sandhelo to be unharnessed from the +cart and led away in triumph in the wake of the +horn.</p> +<p>“Well, our charitable enterprise didn’t turn out +so badly, after all,” said Katherine, when Sandhelo +was once more established in his cozy stall in the +House of the Open Door. “If it hadn’t been for +that fuss about the babies we wouldn’t have been +on the street in time to see Sandhelo. And if we +hadn’t wanted to help those people there wouldn’t +have been any fuss. It does really seem that virtue +is its own reward and one good turn deserves another. +Let’s do it some more.”</p> +<p>And as usual the others agreed with her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_112">[112]</div> +<h2 id="c8">CHAPTER VIII +<br /><span class="small">A SELECT SLEEPING PARTY</span></h2> +<p>“Gracious, Katherine, what is the matter with +your fingers?” asked Gladys curiously, as Katherine +came into the room with all five fingers on her right +hand tied up.</p> +<p>“Oh,” replied Katherine cheerfully, “I burned one, +cut one, pounded one with a hammer and slammed +the door on one, and that left only one good one, +so I tied that up, too, for safe-keeping and only +take it out when I want to use it. It’s a good thing +I don’t need my hand to sing carols with, or I would +be out of the running. Are we all here?”</p> +<p>“All but Veronica,” answered Nyoda, “and Sahwah—and +Sahwah will be here presently. By the +way, where is Veronica?”</p> +<p>“She’s over at the theater where her uncle is +orchestra director,” answered Gladys. “She goes +over there almost every Saturday afternoon. I believe +she plays sometimes when one of the regular +violinists is absent.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_113">[113]</div> +<p>Veronica, it must be confessed, was a great puzzle +to the Winnebagos. Try as they might, they +could never get her to enter into their work and +fun with any degree of vim. She always sat aloof, +her brooding eyes staring off into space. Not that +they loved her any the less—they were too genuinely +sorry for her—but they never seemed to be able to +break down the barrier between them and her. They +constantly stood abashed before her aristocratic +airs. When the friends went together to get ice +cream Veronica had a way of flinging a dollar bill +down on the table and bidding the waitress keep +the change that made the others feel cheap somehow, +although they knew it was useless extravagance. +When a poor woman came to the door one +day, just as she was going out, and asked if she +had any old clothes to give away she promptly took +off her expensive furs and gave them to her.</p> +<p>The girls were mightily impressed by this act +until Nyoda talked it over with them and made +them see that the gift was entirely inappropriate. +So while they admired her to distraction and each +one secretly hoped that Veronica would single her +out as a special friend, they had to admit that as +yet they had not made much headway.</p> +<p>“If Sahwah doesn’t come in five minutes, we’ll +have to start without her,” said Hinpoha, walking +impatiently to the window. “Carol practice begins +at two and it’s half-past one now.”</p> +<p>Just then the telephone rang. “It’s Sahwah,” +reported Hinpoha, upon answering, “and she says +she’s got a real charity case for us to look into—some +old woman—and she’s down at Sahwah’s +house now and we should all come down. She says +it’s the saddest thing she ever heard. What shall +we do, girls, shall we go?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_114">[114]</div> +<p>“Of course,” said Katherine promptly.</p> +<p>“What about carol practice?” asked Gladys. +“Won’t it make us dreadfully late?”</p> +<p>“We’ll just have to be late, then,” said Katherine, +jabbing her hatpins in swiftly. “Come on.”</p> +<p>Sahwah met them at the door with an unusually +solemn countenance. “You’re a load of bricks to +come, girls,” she said, “but I knew you would. +Come right upstairs. In here,” she said, pausing +before the door of her room. “Maybe you’d better +go in one at a time. You go first, Hinpoha.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha, feeling queer, passed in. The next minute +those outside heard a great shout. “Migwan! +My Migwan! When did you come? We thought +you weren’t coming for two whole days yet. Sahwah, +you wretch, how could you get us so worked +up?”</p> +<p>The others burst in and smothered Migwan in embraces +while Katherine stood looking on curiously, +until Gladys remembered her manners. “This is +our Katherine,” she said, drawing her forward, +“that we have all written you about. Make a speech, +Katherine, to show her how you do it!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_115">[115]</div> +<p>And Katherine obligingly complied and Migwan +laughed extravagantly and was soon sitting on the +bed beside her with her arm locked in hers, and +talking to her as if she had known her all her life +instead of only five minutes. That was the effect +Katherine had on everybody.</p> +<p>Then they dragged Migwan out to the House of +the Open Door and introduced her to the Sandwiches, +who were playing basket ball in their half +of the barn. The Sandwiches began to plan a +Christmas barn dance in her honor on the spot, and +nobody thought of carol practice again until it was +too late to go. Migwan had to explain how she +got through with her work at college two days +earlier than she had expected and came home to +surprise them. She went to see Sahwah first and +Sahwah worked the little stratagem which brought +them all down to her house in such a hurry. Each +one insisted upon Migwan’s going home with her +to spend the night, but she could not be enticed +away from her own home. “I guess you’d want to +stay at home, too, if you hadn’t seen your mother +for three months.” But she promised to attend a +select sleeping party some night up in the House of +the Open Door, which Sahwah had just “germed.”</p> +<p>“There’s a loose shingle on the roof and the snow +comes in a little,” said Hinpoha regretfully. “It +really ought to be fixed.”</p> +<p>“Never mind the shingle,” cried the others. +“When did the Winnebagos ever balk at a snowflake +or two on their beds?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_116">[116]</div> +<p>The barn dance was a grand success in spite of +the fact that Slim fell down the ladder in his excitement +and sprained all the portions of his anatomy +that he needed most for dancing, besides demolishing +a frosted cake in the tumble.</p> +<p>“Too bad you can’t dance,” said the Captain sympathetically, +when Slim’s ankles had been strapped +with plaster and he had been comfortably settled +on a pile of bearskins brought down from the bed +upstairs. “But you don’t need to waste your time. +You can be musician and play the banjo while the +rest of us dance.”</p> +<p>“But I can’t play the banjo,” objected Slim.</p> +<p>“Play anyway,” commanded the Captain. “Here, +I’ll teach you a couple of tunes that you can play +with one finger that we can do most of the dances +to.” So Slim learned to play the banjo under pressure +and picked banefully away while the rest +whirled about on the floor. Sometimes he got his +tunes or his time so badly mixed that it was impossible +to dance and then the Captain would make +him sing and beat time with a hatchet on the floor. +Finally Nyoda took pity on him and took over the +banjo, producing such lively strains and keeping +the dancers going at such a mad pace that they +sank down breathless one by one, and a series of +loud thumps from Sandhelo’s stall told them that he +was also capering to the music and nearly battering +his stall down in the process.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_117">[117]</div> +<p>The boys went home reluctantly at eleven o’clock +and the girls climbed the ladder to the joys of the +“select sleeping party.” This was the first time any +of them had stayed all night in the House of the +Open Door. “Covers were laid for nine,” as Katherine +wrote in the Count Book. Nyoda had her +camp bed, Sahwah had her pile of bearskins, Gladys +her Indian Bed and Nakwisi her willow bed. Migwan +was invited to share them all and chose the +bearskins. Katherine had brought a couch hammock, +which she declared surpassed them all in +comfort. The rest of the girls played John Kempo +for the privilege of sleeping with Nyoda, and Veronica +got it, and the other two spread their blankets +on mattresses on the floor. The fireplace was filled +with glowing hard coals, which would keep all night, +and the Lodge was as warm as toast, so the snowflakes +which drifted in through the hole in the roof +were never noticed. Of course they talked half the +night, for there was so much to tell Migwan and +so much she had to tell them it seemed they never +would get it all told. But finally the conversation +was punctuated by steadily lengthening yawns, and +then trailed off into silence.</p> +<p>Nyoda was awakened by the touch of a cold hand +on her face. “What is it?” she asked, sitting up.</p> +<p>“It’s I—Migwan,” said the figure standing beside +her. “Do you know where Sahwah is?”</p> +<p>“Isn’t she in bed with you?” asked Nyoda, still in +a low tone of voice, so as not to disturb the other +girls.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_118">[118]</div> +<p>“No, she isn’t,” whispered Migwan. “I woke up +a minute ago and felt around for her and she +wasn’t there. I called and asked where she was and +there was no answer.”</p> +<p>Nyoda got up and lit a candle, and looked carefully +around the room. All the other girls were +sound asleep in their beds; Sahwah’s clothes lay +on a chair, but there was no sign of Sahwah. “She +can’t be under the bed,” said Migwan, “because this +bed has no ‘under.’”</p> +<p>Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called: +“Sahwah, are you down there?” No answer. All +was dark and silent below. When it was evident +that Sahwah was not in the barn, Nyoda roused all +the sleepers unceremoniously.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter? What’s happened?” they all +cried sleepily. There was a great uproar when +Sahwah’s disappearance became known. “Where +could she have gone without her clothes?” they all +asked.</p> +<p>“Do you think she was dragged from her bed, +Nyoda?” asked Hinpoha anxiously, filled with the +wildest fears.</p> +<p>“No, I don’t,” answered Nyoda promptly, suddenly +remembering certain facts in Sahwah’s history. +“I think she’s walking in her sleep again. +She always does when she gets excited. She’s probably +gotten out of the barn and is wandering around +somewhere and we must find her and bring her in +without delay. This is altogether too cold a night +to be promenading without a coat on.” She had +dressed herself fully while she was talking and the +others followed suit with all speed.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_119">[119]</div> +<p>The barn door was carefully closed, but the big +inside bolt was unfastened and they knew by that +that Sahwah was outside somewhere. The wind +had swept the snow off the drive and there was not +a footprint to be seen. They spent some time looking +all around the barn and up on the roof and then +concluded that she must have gone down the drive, +because, if she had gone anywhere else, there would +be footprints. The snow in the road had been so +packed down by passing vehicles that a person walking +would leave no trace.</p> +<p>“Where can she be?” exclaimed Nyoda anxiously +after a fruitless search of some ten minutes.</p> +<p>“Do you think she could have climbed a tree?” +asked Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“And be roosting on a branch?” asked Katherine, +and they all had to laugh in spite of their concern.</p> +<p>“Well, you never can tell what Sahwah will do +next,” returned Hinpoha, “especially in her sleep. +You haven’t known her as long as we have. Once +in camp she climbed to the top of the diving tower +and jumped off. So I guess climbing a tree wouldn’t +be impossible for her.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_120">[120]</div> +<p>“Hark, girls,” said Nyoda, bending her head in a +listening attitude. “Don’t you hear music?” The +others listened, but could hear nothing. “When +that breath of wind came in this direction I thought +I heard it,” said Nyoda. “There it is, again.” This +time they all heard it, faint and far, a soft strain +of music, but what kind of music or whence it +came they could not make out.</p> +<p>“It came with the wind,” said Nyoda, “so we +must walk against the wind and see if we can find +it.” Heading into the wind they walked up the +road. They shivered as they walked and the snow +crunched under their feet. The very moonlight +seemed cold as it touched them and the stars glistened +like splintered icicles. Verily, it was a cold +night to be sleepwalking. The music began to sound +more clearly now, and at a turn in the road they +stopped still in amazement at the sight before their +eyes. There in the road just ahead of them ambled +Sandhelo, and by his side walked Sahwah, dressed +in her troubadour costume, the red cloak flying out +in the breeze. She held her mouth organ to her +lips, and the drawing of her breath in and out of it +was producing the strains of music which the girls +had followed. As they suspected, she was sound +asleep. They hurried forward to waken Sahwah, +and she turned around and faced them. Her eyes +were wide open in the moonlight. A moment she +looked at them and then turned suddenly and swung +herself onto Sandhelo’s back. At her touch on his +bridle Sandhelo started and then began running +down the road as fast as he could. Sahwah woke +up, gave one shriek of fright, and then mechanically +dug her knees into his sides and hung on. Sandhelo +did not have his regular harness on, only his bridle, +and she was riding bareback in this strange adventure. +The girls pursued as fast as they could, +shouting at the top of their voices, but of course they +were soon left behind. Far ahead of them in the +moonlit road they saw Sandhelo stop suddenly and +slide his rider over his head into a snowdrift and +then sit down on his haunches beside her like a dog. +Sahwah had emerged from her drift and was shaking +the snow off when the others came up. “What’s +the matter?” she asked in a bewildered tone. “How +did I get out here?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_121">[121]</div> +<p>“Home first, explanations afterward,” said Nyoda, +wrapping her in the bear rug she had brought +with her. And they made Sahwah run every step +of the way back to the Lodge, and swallow quarts +of hot lemonade before they would tell her a single +thing.</p> +<p>Migwan insisted on tying Sahwah’s foot to the +post of Nyoda’s bed for the rest of the night to insure +her being there in the morning. They had just +gotten quieted down when the ropes of Katherine’s +hammock broke and down she came with a resounding +crash.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_122">[122]</div> +<p>Morning found them heavy-eyed and full of +yawns, but to all inquirers they stoutly maintained +that the select sleeping party had been the best ever.</p> +<h2 id="c9">CHAPTER IX +<br /><span class="small">THE CANDLE IN THE WINDOW</span></h2> +<p>“What’s all this about singing carols?” asked +Migwan. “Everywhere I go the talk is all of carols, +carols, carols. And the air is full of ‘God Rest You, +Merry Gentlemen,’ and similar melodies.”</p> +<p>“It’s the Music Club League,” explained Gladys. +“They have revived the old custom of going through +the streets on Christmas Eve with lanterns and +singing carols, and are training the boys and girls +all over the city to sing them. People who are interested +in the work of the Music Club League and +wish to give a gift of money for its support will put +a candle in their windows and we will stop outside +and sing carols for them. Isn’t it a pretty idea?”</p> +<p>“Beautiful,” said Migwan. “I wish I might have +attended the rehearsals so I could go around with +you.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_123">[123]</div> +<p>“We’ll teach you the carols,” said Gladys eagerly, +“and I’ll explain to Miss Jones and I know she’ll let +you be in our group. We’ve been given one of the +best districts in the city—Garfield Avenue, from the +Cathedral to the Park, where all the rich people +live—and we expect to bring in more money than +any other group. There was great rivalry among +the groups for that district, and Miss Jones tested +and tested us to see which sang the best. I nearly +passed away from surprise when she decided in +favor of our group. Oh, won’t it be glorious, +though, stopping before all those fine houses?” and +Gladys and Hinpoha, unable to keep still any longer, +got up and began to dance.</p> +<p>“That isn’t the best part of it, though,” said Sahwah. +“All the carolers are invited to the Music +League’s clubhouse after the singing is over for an +oyster supper and a frolic. And the troupe of +midgets that are playing in the Mansfield Theater +this week are coming and will give a real Punch and +Judy show. Hurrah for the Music Club League! +Hurrah for carols! Hurrah for Christmas!”</p> +<p>“I smell something burning,” said Gladys, sniffing +the air suspiciously.</p> +<p>“It’s probably something that has been spilled on +the stove,” said Katherine serenely. They were all +up at Katherine’s house.</p> +<p>“Here are the carols we are going to sing,” said +Gladys, pulling Migwan toward the piano. “We +might as well begin at once.”</p> +<p>“Do you really think Miss Jones will let me do +it?” asked Migwan rather doubtfully.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_124">[124]</div> +<p>“I’m sure she will,” said Gladys, “if we all——Katherine, +there <i>is</i> something burning; it smells like +cloth.” And she rushed off unceremoniously to investigate. +The kitchen was full of smoke when she +reached it, proceeding from the ironing board, +where Katherine had left the electric iron standing +without being turned off.</p> +<p>“You ought to have a leather medal, Katherine,” +scolded Hinpoha, switching off the current and setting +the smoking board outside the back door, while +Katherine stood idly by with such a look of pained +surprise on her face that the others went into gales +of laughter.</p> +<p>“I can’t get used to these self-starting, big city +flat-irons, nohow,” she drawled mildly in self-defense. +“Back where I come from the irons cool off +when you leave them by themselves; here they start +heatin’ up.” Katherine always left off her g’s when +she spoke earnestly.</p> +<p>“Katherine, you’re hopeless,” said Hinpoha with +a sigh, and then she added affectionately, “that’s +why we love you so.”</p> +<p>“There’s Slim outside with his big bob-sled,” said +Sahwah, looking out of the window. “He promised +to take us all coasting down College Hill this afternoon. +Come on.” And they trooped out.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_125">[125]</div> +<p>Nyoda took a few round trips on the bob with +the girls, and then, having other things to do, walked +home by herself through the early winter twilight. +A few blocks from her home she saw Veronica +walking along just ahead of her. By her side +walked a young man whom Nyoda recognized as +Alex Tobin, one of the violins in the Temple Theater +Orchestra. He was talking animatedly and earnestly +to her, his white teeth showing often in a +smile beneath his small black moustache. Veronica +was listening eagerly with flushed cheeks and sparkling +eyes. As Nyoda drew near she heard Veronica +say: “Oh, a chance to study with him would be +the greatest happiness of my life, but uncle would +never allow it. Never!”</p> +<p>And Alex Tobin answered: “Does it have to +depend upon your uncle’s permission? You have +money in your own right, have you not?”</p> +<p>And then Veronica noticed that Nyoda was behind +her and turned and spoke and Alex Tobin took +his departure down the cross street. Nyoda looked +after him thoughtfully. She was not fond of Alex +Tobin, although she knew him only very slightly. +He was a young Pole, and quite handsome, but +there was something about his eyes that made a keen +observer dislike him.</p> +<p>“I was at the rehearsal of the Symphony Orchestra +this afternoon,” said Veronica, with more animation +than Nyoda had ever seen her display. “You +know uncle plays this year and he lets me go along +and listen, that I may benefit from the director’s +criticisms.”</p> +<p>“Does Mr. Tobin play in the Symphony Orchestra, +too?” asked Nyoda idly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_126">[126]</div> +<p>“Yes,” answered Veronica. “He’s a wonderful +player; and so kind to me. He takes such an interest +in my playing. He says I will play at concerts +in time.”</p> +<p>“I don’t doubt it in the least,” said Nyoda heartily. +“But you mustn’t study music to the exclusion +of everything else. You are growing quite thin. +You must stay out of doors more and romp with +the girls. You are missing all the coasting and skating. +‘Hold on to Health,’ you know.”</p> +<p>“Yes, of course,” murmured Veronica absently, +and fell silent, as if she were day-dreaming.</p> +<p class="tb">“The Midgets are going to give Punch and Judy +dolls to the carol singers as souvenirs of the occasion,” +announced Sahwah, as the Winnebagos assembled +before starting out for the singing on +Christmas Eve. “Won’t they be jolly to put up in +our rooms?”</p> +<p>“And did you know that Jeffry, the famous bird +imitator, was going to be there and give some of his +wonderful bird calls?” asked Gladys. “Migwan, +you’re in luck, being home this week to take in all +the good things.”</p> +<p>“The frolic afterwards is going to be as much +fun as the carol singing,” said Hinpoha. “I wouldn’t +miss it for anything. And the group that brings in +the most money is going to get a prize,” she added, +“and have its picture in the Sunday paper. Oh, I +do hope we’ll get the most! We must sing our very +best.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_127">[127]</div> +<p>“Oh, what a glorious night!” they all cried, as +they passed out into the sparkling snow.</p> +<p>“Oh, but I’m glad I’m a carol singer,” said Katherine, +and slipped and sat down on her lantern in +her enthusiasm.</p> +<p>“Have you time to walk over to Division Street +with me before we go to Mrs. Salisbury’s?” asked +Gladys, as they went down the street. Mrs. Salisbury +was the lady who had gathered together the +band of carolers to which the Winnebagos belonged, +and they were all to meet at her house.</p> +<p>“It’s early yet,” said Hinpoha, “we ought to have +time. Come on.”</p> +<p>So they all went with Gladys to deliver a Christmas +parcel to a poor family whom Gladys’ mother +had taken under her wing. Along the big avenues +through which they walked candles were already +glimmering in windows in friendly invitation to the +coming singers. But there were no candles in the +windows on Division Street. The houses were all +poor little one-story ones, with never a wreath or a +bit of decoration anywhere to show that it was +Christmas. The very lamp-posts burned dimly with +a discouraged air. The girls delivered their bundle +and hastened back up the dark street.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_128">[128]</div> +<p>“Let’s stop a minute and sing the songs through +once more so Migwan will be sure of them,” suggested +Hinpoha. “We wanted to before we left the +house, you know, and then we forgot it.”</p> +<p>So they stood still before a bleak, empty looking +house, and sang through all the songs they were to +sing with the group that night on Garfield Avenue.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="gs3">* * * * * *</span></p> +<p>In a bare little room in the shabbiest house on +Division Street a young girl lay in bed day after +day, staring wistfully through the flawed window +pane at the dingy row of houses opposite. She suffered +from hip disease and could not walk, and a +frail little mother cleaned offices to support them +both. Living was cruelly high and there was no +thought of spending anything for Christmas. Martha +dreaded its coming, for she could remember +other days when Christmas had been very different. +Besides, Martha was very lonely. She and her +mother were strangers in town, having come only +six months before, and in all that time not a soul +had come to see them. And because Martha felt so +lonely and so left out of the busy, happy world, +the treatment for which she had come to the city was +doing her no good, and she was not improving at +all. And her mother saw the trouble and sorrowed, +but did not know how to mend the matter. Martha +read in books about the good times girls had together +and longed with all her soul to be part of +such frolics, until it seemed that she could not bear +her loneliness any longer.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_129">[129]</div> +<p>Her mother often brought home newspapers from +the offices and in them Martha read about the +groups of boys and girls who were going through +the streets on Christmas Eve singing carols before +the houses where the candles shone in the windows.</p> +<p>“How I wish I could hear those carols sung!” +she sighed enviously. “How wonderful it must be +to be rich and live in a fine house and put a candle +in the window to make the singers stop outside! +And I must always stay in the darkness, and miss +all the fun! Oh, Mother, it isn’t fair!”</p> +<p>The sad-eyed little mother cast about in her mind +for some way to amuse her lonely daughter this +dreary Christmas Eve. “Let us pretend that we are +rich and great,” she said soothingly, “and play that +we are putting a lighted candle in our window and +listening to the fine songs of the singers below and +giving them large sums of money for their good +cause.”</p> +<p>“What good would it do to play it?” asked Martha. +“We would have to imagine it all. We +haven’t even a candle!”</p> +<p>“Let’s play it, anyway,” coaxed her mother. +“What color candle shall we use tonight?”</p> +<p>“A red one, with gold designs on it, and a cut +glass candlestick,” said Martha, playing the game to +please her mother.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_130">[130]</div> +<p>So they pretended to set a shining glass candlestick +holding a red and gold candle on the window +sill. “Now we must wait awhile in our elegant +parlor for the singers to come,” said her mother, +playing the game with spirit.</p> +<p>Then a wonderful thing happened. There was +a sound of footsteps in the creaking snow outside, +footsteps that came to a halt beneath the window, +and then the air was filled with joyous, ringing +melody:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“God rest you, merry gentlemen,</p> +<p class="t">Let nothing you may dismay,</p> +<p class="t0">For Jesus Christ our Savior</p> +<p class="t">Was born this happy day!”</p> +</div> +<p>Martha and her mother looked at each other with +faces suddenly grown pale, and listened with unbelieving +ears. The song changed as the singers swung +into the measures of a new carol. Surely these +were human voices and not a band of fairies! The +mother crept silently to the window and looked out.</p> +<p class="center"><span class="gs3">* * * * * *</span></p> +<p>When the last note of the songs had died away the +door of the dark house opened and a woman came +out on the steps. “Thank you a thousand times +for the singing,” she said. “Won’t you come in +where my daughter can see you? She won’t believe +you are real. She is so sick and lonesome. Please +do.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_131">[131]</div> +<p>The Winnebagos started in surprise and looked +at each other somewhat doubtfully. They had not +been aware that they were singing to an audience. +It was getting near the time when they should be +meeting the rest of the group. But this was Christmas +Eve and here was a girl sick and lonesome——</p> +<p>“Let’s go in for a minute,” said Gladys and Hinpoha +together. They went in, singing as they went, +and swinging their little lighted lanterns.</p> +<p>Martha’s mother lit the one pale little gas flame, +for they had been sitting in the dark before, and +by its light the girls saw the shabby room and the +wan girl lying on the bed. So amazed was Martha +at the sudden appearance of the carolers out of the +night that she forgot to be shy, and before she +knew it she had told them all about the Christmas +Eve game she and her mother had been playing and +how they had set the imaginary candle in the window. +And all of the six months’ loneliness was in +that little tale, and the girls as they listened became +afflicted with a queer weakness of the eyes that made +them turn their faces away from the light. Over +on the lighted avenue the twinkling candles beckoned +in the gleaming windows of the most beautiful +homes in the city; still farther on the revellers at +the singers’ party stretched out gay hands to them; +but over it all each one seemed to see the words of +the Fire Law written in letters made of Christmas +stars:</p> +<p class="center">——“Whose house is bare and dark and cold——”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_132">[132]</div> +<p>Mysterious communications and hand signs flew +back and forth between the Winnebagos. Like +magic Gladys and Hinpoha slid out of the door and +like magic they returned a few minutes later, loaded +down with bundles. As the enchanted forests rise +in the fairy tales, so the room was swiftly transformed +and began to blossom in green and red. +Garlands and wreaths hung from the head and the +foot of the bed, and from the gas-jet. Riotous little +bells swung from the doorways; sprigs of holly and +gorgeous poinsettias framed the cheap pictures; +bright candles in cheerful red shades burned on the +table.</p> +<p>Other bundles when opened revealed the “makings” +of the grandest spread the Winnebagos had +ever had. The Lonesome House was turned into +the Home of Joyous Spirits. Gladys poked up the +fire and made her most tempting Shrimp Wiggle; +Sahwah made the best pan of fudge she had ever +made; Katherine made cocoa, and the rest spread +sandwiches with delicious “Wohelo Special” chicken +salad, and cut up cake and dished ice cream. Then +there followed such a joyous feast as Martha had +never conceived in her rosiest dreams. Healths +were drunk in cocoa, side-splitting toasts proposed +by the witty toastmistress, Migwan, and songs sung +that made the roof ring. Gladys did her prettiest +dances; Sahwah and Hinpoha did their famous +stunt of the goat that ate the two red shirts right +off the line, and Katherine gave her very funniest +speech—the one about Wimmen’s Rights—three +times; once voluntarily and twice more by special +request. Martha laughed until she could laugh no +more, and applauded every number enthusiastically, +her usually pale cheeks glowing red with excitement +and her eyes shining like stars. It was late +when they left her, promising to come again soon, +and slipping into her hands various packages containing +gifts of things every girl loves, which Gladys +had hastily bought when she had slipped out to get +the supplies. Among them was a beautifully intricate +puzzle which would keep her interested for +months to come.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_133">[133]</div> +<p>Thus it was that the candle which was never lit +guided the feet of the Song Friends to the Dark +House, and gave into their tending yet another fire. +Reports of the gay party at the Music League Club +House came to the Winnebagos from all sides, and +loud expressions of regret that they had missed it. +And the group they were to have sung with brought +in by far the most money, carrying off the prize and +getting its picture in the Sunday paper—and the +Winnebagos were not in it.</p> +<p>But over on Division Street a wonderful new look +had come into the face of a sad-eyed girl—a look +of happiness and ambition, and the Winnebagos, +having seen that look, were content.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_134">[134]</div> +<h2 id="c10">CHAPTER X +<br /><span class="small">A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT</span></h2> +<p>January closed with its immemorial thaw and +February drew near in a mist of speculation as to +whether it would come in like a lion or a lamb. But +whatever may have been the state of the weather +outside when the new month arrived, the Winnebago +barometer registered a tempest in a teapot. +It was Katherine who was responsible for that particular +barometric activity. That is, it was she who +attached the fuse to the bomb and set the match to +it. All the bomb did was blow up.</p> +<p>The Winnebagos were all over at Katherine’s one +Friday afternoon after school, painting a buffalo +robe that was to hang on the wall in the Open Door +Lodge and cover an unsightly board. Veronica was +in one of her rare cheerful moods and played gay +tunes on her violin while the other girls worked. +She was gradually thawing toward the girls, although +she was still very conservative in her friendships. +She was most friendly toward Gladys and +Hinpoha, the two girls who came from the best +family. She was not particularly drawn to merry, +tomboyish Sahwah, because she was not musical, +although they got along. Thus also it was with +Medmangi and Nakwisi. But from the first Katherine +Adams had seemed to rub her the wrong way. +Big, clumsy, awkward Katherine, uncultured and +hopelessly plebeian! She always managed to step +on Veronica’s dainty shoes or sit on her cherished +violin or spill cocoa on her dress. And her flyaway +appearance constantly jarred on Veronica’s artistic +nature. And that ridiculous, unmusical voice!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_135">[135]</div> +<p>Looking only at these defects, Veronica failed to +appreciate the wonderful magnetism of Katherine’s +personality and the unfailing good nature which +made her a boon companion any hour out of the +twenty-four whatever the weather might be. Not +being American-born, Veronica believed firmly in +class distinctions, and to her Katherine was a peasant +and thus an inferior.</p> +<p>However, to the others it seemed that the strangeness +between them and Veronica was wearing away, +and this afternoon they felt closer to her than they +ever had before. She even asked, actually <i>asked</i>, +to be shown how to make “slumgullion”—she who +a few months before had scornfully maintained that +cooking was for servants and not for ladies. “She’s +getting there!” whispered Gladys to Hinpoha, with +a delighted squeeze. Spirits ran high and before +long everybody felt they must dance or burst.</p> +<p>“It’s too bad we haven’t Nyoda’s old banjo over +here,” said Sahwah. “Then some of the rest of us +could play and Veronica could dance.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_136">[136]</div> +<p>“I’ll go over and get it,” said Katherine obligingly. +So she went over to Nyoda’s house and got +the banjo, and it was on this errand that her feet +became entangled in the fuse that led to the bomb. +On the doorstep of the house next to Nyoda’s, the +house where Veronica dwelt, there sat a snowy +white poodle, fresh from a bath and rivalling in +purity a field of virgin snow. This was Fifi, Veronica’s +French poodle, who had come to her as a +Christmas gift, and whose pedigree was considerably +longer than he was. Fifi did not share his +young mistress’s ideas as to the unfitness of the peasantry +for association with the high born, and took +a decided fancy to Katherine at first sight. Just +how much he was influenced by half a sugar cookie, +which she held out to him over the fence, it is impossible +to say, but when Katherine turned out of +Nyoda’s yard and went up the street, Fifi was at +her heels and refused to be shooed home.</p> +<p>“Well, come along, then, if you want to,” she +said good-naturedly. “I suppose you’re lonesome +with all your folks gone and want some improvin’ +company, like us. A great hostess I’d be, if I turned +down a dog that wanted to come to my At Home +Day.”</p> +<p>The January thaw was still in progress, although +it was the first of February, and the streets were +lakes of slush and mud. Katherine did not mind +mud in the least and stepped cheerfully into the puddles. +Fifi did likewise. By the time they arrived +at the house the comparison of the field of virgin +snow no longer held good. Even Katherine hesitated +about admitting him.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_137">[137]</div> +<p>Veronica shrieked when she saw him and did not +share his delight at the unexpected meeting. “Oh-oh-oh!” +she exclaimed in dismay. “He is to go to +the Dog Show tonight. Katie spent all morning +washing and combing him. How did he ever get +out? She must have left the door open. And then +you had to coax him over here, and now look at +him!” After a hasty glance the rest decided they +would rather not look at him.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Katherine, much taken aback, but +still mistress of the situation, “I’ll just give him a +nice bath and carry him home and everything will +be all right. Go on dancing, girls, there’s the +banjo; Fifi and I will entertain ourselves in the +basement.”</p> +<p>She set the squirming lump of mud into one of +the wash tubs and let warm water run over him +from a faucet for a few minutes to remove the clods. +Then she set to work in earnest. She hesitated for +some time about what kind of soap to use and finally +decided that dog’s hair was the same as camel’s +hair; camel’s hair was wool; and therefore, according +to the most familiar problem in the whole geometry, +Fifi was all wool and needed Wool Soap. Now +the mud through which Fifi and Katherine had +come was the yellow clayey kind that sticketh closer +than a brother, and Wool Soap was not designed +especially to dissolve it. After three scrubbings and +rinsings Fifi was still a muddy, yellowish gray, and +there was no hope that he would dry into a field of +virgin white as a yellow popcorn kernel bursts into +snowy blossom.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_138">[138]</div> +<p>Katherine was discouraged. Then she suddenly +remembered something. “Clothes always come out +yellow if you wash them in just soap,” she said +triumphantly to herself. “It’s the bluing that makes +them white. Fifi needs bluing!”</p> +<p>But a thorough search of the laundry room failed +to reveal any bluing. “Shucks!” exclaimed Katherine +in vexation. “We’re out of it. I heard Aunt +Anna mention it this morning. And the stores are +closed this afternoon. What will I do? I don’t +dare produce Fifi unless he’s all white and nice.” +Then it was that Katherine’s mighty genius set to +work. A less resourceful person would have been +at a standstill when confronted with such a difficulty; +a genius makes a way when there is none. +In one respect Katherine was an equal of the gods—what +she wished and did not have she created. +She wished bluing; she must have it; so she calmly +set about making it. Katherine took chemistry and +knew that iodine, applied to starch, will turn it blue. +There was iodine in the house and there was starch. +The pucker vanished from her brow. A far-sighted +person would have foreseen other results from the +mixture beside the chemical action of the iodine on +the starch. But Katherine was not a far-sighted +person. She was a genius. It is said that geniuses, +entirely absorbed in one idea, often forget the most +commonplace fact altogether. Thus it was that +Katherine, filled with the idea that starch turns blue +when mixed with iodine, forgot the original purpose +for which starch was invented. And Katherine had +used flat-iron starch, the kind that gets stiff without +boiling. It turned blue—a beautiful bright purple +blue—and she immersed Fifi again and again. +Katherine had to admit that he looked dreadfully +blue when he emerged from the final dip, but +serene in the belief that he would dry pure white +like the clothes did, she rolled him up in a piece of +carpet and set him in a wash basket beside the furnace +to dry. Then she went upstairs and joined the +dancers, announcing with a sigh of relief that Fifi +was clean once more and could come up as soon as +he was dry.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_139">[139]</div> +<p>Having been told that Fifi was clean, they naturally +looked for a white dog, and it was not their +fault that they did not recognize the creature that +slunk into their midst in the middle of the revels. +As an Animal from Nowhere he would have taken +the prize over the head of the famous Salmonkey. +His hair was pasted flat to his sides in long, stringy +waves, giving him a queer, corrugated effect. His +head was a dirty, yellowish white, for, in keeping +his eyes out of the blue bath, Katherine had held +his whole head out; and the rest of him was a bright +purplish blue. With his excited red tongue hanging +out in front he looked like a dilapidated remnant of +the American flag. The girls shrieked and fled before +him. Katherine sank weakly down on the +couch and viewed him in consternation.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_140">[140]</div> +<p>“Whatever did you do to him?” wailed Veronica, +when informed that this was actually Fifi and not +some freak animal from the Zoo.</p> +<p>“I wanted to blue him to make him nice and silvery +white,” explained Katherine ruefully, “and +there wasn’t any bluing, so I made some with iodine +and starch. I thought he would come out all nice +and fluffy, but instead of that he got—all—stiff!”</p> +<p>The Winnebagos burst out into a wild peal of +laughter that made the windows rattle. They were +simply helpless, and laughed until they sank limply +on each other’s shoulders. The simplicity of Katherine’s +inspirations was nothing short of sublime.</p> +<p>Gaining a measure of control over themselves, +they became aware that Veronica was standing before +them with eyes flashing lightning, in such a +passion as they had never seen any girl display. +Holding her translated pet in her arms, she stamped +her foot and almost hissed at Katherine: “Don’t +you ever come near me again, you—you great big +kangaroo from out of the west!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_141">[141]</div> +<p>“And the rest of you are just as bad,” she cried, +blazing at them collectively. “You think it’s funny. +I wish I had never met you, and from this day I am +no more a Camp Fire Girl! I am through with +you!” And before they could collect their wits to +reply she had rushed out of the house like a whirlwind.</p> +<p>Completely sobered by the result of her act, Katherine +called herself one name after another and proposed +the most extravagant things in the nature of +penance. She and Nyoda talked it over a long time, +and Nyoda made her see how a habit of doing +things without thinking of the consequences led to +more trouble than deliberately planned evil did, and +she promised faithfully that this was the last rash +act she would ever perform.</p> +<p>“Now that Veronica has had time to think it over +and see the funny side, and realize that Fifi is not +hurt, I think you may go over and present your +sincere apologies and make your peace with Veronica,” +said Nyoda. And Katherine, humble as the +dust, set forth.</p> +<p>But Veronica would have none of her peace offerings. +She received her apology coldly, and declared +she would never come back into the ranks of +the Winnebagos. Then did Katherine go to Nyoda +and offer to resign from the group if that would +bring Veronica back. “She has a better right to +be in it than I,” she said. “She was in it first.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_142">[142]</div> +<p>But Nyoda would not consent to that at all. “The +whole thing isn’t worth such heroic measures,” she +declared. “I’ll talk to Veronica myself.”</p> +<p>And she did, with no better results than Katherine. +Veronica would not be appeased, even now that +Fifi was white once more, and had suffered no evil +effects from his bluing. Veronica declared that +Katherine was low class, and not fit for her to associate +with. And she wouldn’t forgive the others +for laughing. So Nyoda had to go back and report +her failure to the other girls. And sadly they realized +that their hope of making Veronica into a +Winnebago had evaporated.</p> +<h2 id="c11">CHAPTER XI +<br /><span class="small">A WINTER HIKE</span></h2> +<p>A long cherished wish of the Winnebagos came +true that winter, for they all got snowshoes for +Christmas. So did the Sandwiches. They brought +them down to the Open Door Lodge to show to the +girls. “See what we’ve got,” said the Captain, with +a slightly superior air as becomes the owner of a +pair of snowshoes in the presence of a mere girl.</p> +<p>“Wait until you see ours,” returned the girls merrily, +producing their “slush walkers,” as Katherine +had dubbed them.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_143">[143]</div> +<p>“You didn’t all get them, did you?” asked the +Sandwiches, in comical surprise. It was hard for +them to realize that the Winnebagos were as adept +at outdoor sports as they were.</p> +<p>“We surely did,” answered Sahwah. “What +good would it do us for some to have them and some +not? We always travel together.”</p> +<p>The Captain had Hinpoha’s in his hand and was +examining them critically. “You girls haven’t the +right kind of harness on your snowshoes,” he said, +with the air of an expert. “Straps like yours, that +buckle over the toes and around the heel are ‘tenderfoot’ +harness. They don’t give enough to your +motions and you are likely to freeze your feet. See +our bindings. They are made of lamp wicking and +calfskin thongs. By putting your foot on the shoe +so that your toes come just under the bridle and +binding it fast with the wick, making a half-hitch +on each side and tying a knot at the back of your +shoe you can make a fastening that will hold tightly +as long as you want it too, but will permit you to +free your foot with a single twist in an emergency.”</p> +<p>“Did you learn all that down at Tech?” asked +Hinpoha, with just a touch of sarcasm. It seemed +to her that the Captain was trying to show off his +knowledge.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_144">[144]</div> +<p>“He won’t admit that we know as much as they +do about some things,” she was saying to herself. +“They couldn’t get ahead of us by getting snowshoes, +so now they must claim that theirs are right +and ours are wrong. Ours are more expensive, +that’s the whole trouble.”</p> +<p>“My uncle told me about it,” said the Captain +earnestly. “He’s been up north and he knows all +about snowshoes. Wait a minute, and I’ll show +you what I mean.” He bound his snowshoes on +his feet in the approved fashion, and then, by stepping +on one shoe with the other foot, skilfully wriggled +his toe free without injuring the binding. “You +couldn’t do that if it were buckled,” he said simply, +turning to Nyoda for approval.</p> +<p>“You’re right,” said Nyoda. “We never thought +of that side of it before. Don’t you think, girls, +we’d better change ours?” They all agreed, all +except Hinpoha. For some odd reason she still +fancied that the Captain was crowing over her, and +she was determined to show him that his opinion +meant nothing to her.</p> +<p>“I like the straps much better,” she declared. +“And the buckles look so pretty flashing in the sunlight. +Much prettier than your old lamp wicks. +They’ll be dirty in no time.” And they could not induce +her to change the bindings.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_145">[145]</div> +<p>Followed days of learning how to run on snowshoes. +It was not so very difficult, after all, not +nearly so hard as the skiing Sahwah had tried the +winter before. There were tumbles, of course, when +they struck unexpected snags, but the snow was +soft and no one was hurt. Hinpoha was glad she +didn’t change her smart buckle binding for the +wicking-thong affair of the others, because hers +looked much nicer, and there was no occasion for +getting out of them suddenly. The first day everybody +returned home full of enthusiasm for the new +sport. Sahwah in particular was so anxious for +the morrow to come when she could be at it again, +that she could hardly go to sleep. But when she +woke up in the morning she felt a strange disinclination +to get up. Her limbs ached so fiercely that +she could hardly stand. Her muscles were so +cramped and sore that she was ready to shriek with +the pain. She limped stiffly into the class room half +an hour late, to see Gladys going in just ahead of +her, traveling with a sidewise motion like a crab, +and stumbling as though her feet were made of +wood. Poor Hinpoha never appeared in school at +all that day. “What’s the matter with us?” they +groaned, dropping into Nyoda’s class room at lunch +hour. “We’re ruined for life.” Nyoda could not +conceal a smile of amusement. “I knew you’d get +it,” she said, with gentle raillery. “That’s why I +advised you not to stay out more than fifteen minutes +the first day. But you were bound to stick to it +all afternoon.”</p> +<p>“What did you know we’d get?” they asked +in tones of concern. “Are we lamed for +life?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_146">[146]</div> +<p>“Hardly as bad as that,” laughed Nyoda. “I +have good hopes of your ultimate recovery. You +have what the French call ‘mal de racquette’—the +snowshoe sickness. You use a different set of +muscles when snowshoeing than you do ordinarily, +and these muscles become very stiff and sore. All +you need is a little limbering oil. Little Sisters of +the Snow, you are learning by experience!”</p> +<p>It was fully a week before either the Winnebagos +or Sandwiches went snowshoeing again, although +they made excellent excuses. Neither group would +admit to the other that they had become stiff, and +would not limp for worlds when in the sight of the +others, although it nearly killed them to walk naturally. +Nevertheless, they understood each other +perfectly.</p> +<p>In February came a three days’ snow storm that +covered the earth with a blanket several feet thick, +and a slight thaw followed by a zero snap produced +an excellent crust. The Winnebagos were having a +solemn ceremonial meeting in the Open Door Lodge +when without warning there was a sound of scrambling +up the ladder and the Captain burst in among +them.</p> +<p>“Oh, I say,” he shouted, and then stopped suddenly +as he became aware that the girls were engaged +in singing some kind of a motion song. “Excuse +me,” he stammered in confusion, “I didn’t +know you were having a pow-wow. I heard you +singing up here and thought you were just having a +good time.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_147">[147]</div> +<p>“What news can you be bringing that made you +burst in on us in such a fashion?” said Nyoda +sternly, but with a twinkle in her eye. “Speak sir, +the queen commands.”</p> +<p>The Captain seemed ready to burst with his message +and fired his words like bullets from an automatic +pistol. “My Uncle Theodore’s here, you +know, the one I said had been up north, and he +knows a dandy place in the country where there +are some log cabins and he wants us all to go down +there on our snowshoes for a winter hike and stay +three days over the Washington’s Birthday holiday. +Oh, please, can you girls come?”</p> +<p>“But——” began Nyoda.</p> +<p>“Oh, I forgot,” went on the Captain, “my aunt’s +here, too, and she’s just as good on snowshoes as +Uncle Theodore is, and she’s going along, too, and +will see that you girls don’t take cold or anything. +Please say you’ll come.”</p> +<p>There never was such sport as a winter hike. The +preliminaries were arranged with much reassuring +of parents and relatives; buying of all-wool clothing +and blankets; selecting of cooking utensils and +what the boys elegantly referred to as “grub.” +“Uncle Theodore” was a real woodsman, who had +spent most of his life in lumber camps; bluff, hale +and hearty; a man to whom you would be perfectly +willing to entrust your life after the first meeting. +“Aunt Clara” was a little round dumpling of a +woman, who radiated smiles like sunshine, and declared +the Winnebagos were the handiest girls she +had ever seen. It was their skilful way of packing +supplies that called forth this praise.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_148">[148]</div> +<p>Food and blankets were sent down by automobile +a day ahead, so that the hikers would have to carry +nothing but their cameras and notebooks. The +morning of Washington’s Birthday found them all +assembled on the station platform, for they were to +go by cars to a certain town down state and from +there to strike across the open country on their snowshoes.</p> +<p>“What are you going to do with the torpedo?” +shouted the Captain, as Slim appeared carrying a +strange looking package.</p> +<p>Slim smiled mysteriously. “Shoot rabbits,” he +replied evasively.</p> +<p>“It isn’t a torpedo,” said quick-witted Sahwah, +after one look at the package. “It’s a thermos bottle.”</p> +<p>A chorus of derision went up. “Better Baby has +to have his bottle!” “Oh, Slim! Are you afraid +you’ll starve before we get our dinner?” “What’s +in it, Slim, let’s see!”</p> +<p>Slim turned fiery red and shot a dark look at +Sahwah.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_149">[149]</div> +<p>“It’s hot chocolate, I know,” continued his red-cheeked +tormentor. “Slim has to have a dose every +hour or he feels faint.” Sahwah had long ago discovered +Slim’s pet weakness.</p> +<p>“Where’s Katherine?” said somebody suddenly.</p> +<p>“Why, isn’t she here?” said Nyoda, counting over +the group. “I thought I saw her here.”</p> +<p>“She hasn’t come yet,” declared Hinpoha and +Gladys.</p> +<p>“Oh, I hope she hasn’t had an absent-minded fit +and forgotten this is Washington’s Birthday,” said +Sahwah, clasping her hands in distress.</p> +<p>Uncle Teddy pulled out his watch. “It’s too late +to go and look for her,” he said, “just five minutes +until train time.”</p> +<p>Consternation reigned in the group. The Captain +gallantly offered to miss the train and hunt her +up, but the others would not hear of it. Hasty +telephoning to her house brought the news that +Katherine had left half an hour ago for the station.</p> +<p>“Then she’ll be here,” said Nyoda, eyeing the +clock nervously. “If she doesn’t make it she’ll have +to miss it, that’s all.” There were times when she +would have liked to shake Katherine for her unbusiness-like +ways.</p> +<p>But eight twenty-five came and no Katherine. +The long train pulled in and Uncle Teddy swung +them all aboard, and with a great cheering and waving +of snowshoes they were off. Other passengers +looked with interest at the lively group that occupied +one whole end of the car, singing, laughing, +shouting nonsense at one another.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_150">[150]</div> +<p>“Time for the Better Baby to have his bottle!” +said the Bottomless Pitt, gaining possession of the +thermos bottle. He unscrewed the lid and held it +to Slim’s lips, making him drink willy-nilly. It +was hot chocolate, as Sahwah had guessed. Slim +choked and sputtered and had to be patted on the +back.</p> +<p>“Do behave, children,” said Nyoda, as the fun +threatened to block the aisle, “that magazine man +can’t get through.”</p> +<p>The man stood in the midst of the scufflers, patiently +trying to cry his wares above the din.</p> +<p>“Buy a maggyzine,” he chanted. “All the latest +maggyzines!”</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Good ones for the ladies,</p> +<p class="t">Bad ones for the gents;</p> +<p class="t0">All the latest maggyzines</p> +<p class="t">For fifteen cents!”</p> +</div> +<p>Amused, they stopped talking to listen to his ridiculous +singsong.</p> +<p>“Buy a maggyzine, lady?” he said, holding one +out to Nyoda. On the last sentence his voice +cracked in three directions and leaped up the scale a +full octave, so the word “lady” was uttered in a high +falsetto squeak.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_151">[151]</div> +<p>“Katherine!” exclaimed Nyoda, seizing the +magazine seller by the arm in amazement.</p> +<p>“At yer service, mum,” replied that worthy, with +a low bow.</p> +<p>Then, amid the hubbub that ensued she calmly +proceeded to remove the fuzzy little black mustache +that had adorned her upper lip, took off the +fur cap that had covered her hair and threw back +the long ulster that covered her from neck to heels, +and stood smiling wickedly at them.</p> +<p>“Katherine, you awful, awful, wonderful, wonderful +girl, how did you manage to do it?” gasped +Gladys, breathless with astonishment.</p> +<p>“And when did you get on the train?” cried Hinpoha +in the same breath. “You didn’t get on with +us.”</p> +<p>“I got into the wrong street car this morning,” replied +Katherine, producing her glasses from her +sweater pocket and polishing them on the end of her +muffler, “and got carried east instead of west. When +I found it out there wasn’t time to come back to the +Union Station, so I went on out to the Lakeside +Station and go on the train there. I had planned +to be waiting for you on the step when we got into +the Union, but on the way out I met a magazine seller +and had an inspiration. I bribed him to let me +take his cap and books and coat for ten minutes. +The mustache I had with me. I thought it might +be useful in case I should be called up to perform a +‘stunt’ at Lonesome Creek. The rest you already +know, as they say in the novels.” She tossed the +borrowed plumage into an empty seat and settled +herself beside Slim.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_152">[152]</div> +<p>“By the way,” she said quizzically, looking at the +boys, “what was it I heard you declaring a while +ago, that no girl could masquerade as a boy and +really fool a boy?”</p> +<p>“Pooh, you didn’t really fool us,” said +Slim.</p> +<p>“Oh, no, I didn’t,” jeered Katherine.</p> +<p>“Well, we’d have found you out before long,” +said the Captain.</p> +<p>“Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn’t,” +said Katherine. “The only thing I noticed you +doing was looking with envy at my little mustache.”</p> +<p>The Captain blushed furiously and the rest +shouted with laughter.</p> +<p>“Anyway, Nyoda knew me first,” she continued, +“and that shows that girls are smarter than boys. +I can just see us being fooled by one of you dressed +as a girl.”</p> +<p>“I bet I could do it,” said the Captain.</p> +<p>“Maybe <i>you</i> could, Cicero,” said Hinpoha sweetly. +Relations between her and the Captain were somewhat +strained these days, but how it began or what +it was all about, no one could tell.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_153">[153]</div> +<p>The Captain turned angrily at the taunting use +of his name. He knew it was meant to imply that +he was “Cissy” enough to pass off for a girl. “So +you think I’m a Cissy, do you?” he said hotly. If +Hinpoha had been a boy there would have been a +scuffle right there, but as it was he was helpless.</p> +<p>“Tell them how you trailed the fox up in Ontario, +father,” interrupted Aunt Clara hastily, and +Uncle Teddy began a thrilling tale of adventure in +the backwoods that held them spellbound until they +reached their station.</p> +<p>“Now for the long white trail!” cried Uncle +Teddy cheerily, when all snowshoes were adjusted +to their owners’ satisfaction. “Nine o’clock and +all’s well! Catertown and dinner at twelve o’clock, +ten miles due south as the crow flies! Here, Captain, +you be the first pathfinder. Here is a map of +the way we are to take. You may be leader until +you get us off the track, and then we’ll let one of +the girls try her hand. Forward, march!”</p> +<p>Whole new worlds lie before the hiker on snowshoes. +All the ugliness in Nature is concealed by +the soft white mantle of snow, like a scratched and +stained old table covered with a spotless cloth, and +everything is glistening and wonderful and beautiful. +The snowshoes are seven league boots in very +truth. On them you go right over stumps and fences +and hummocks and stones and little hollows. You +do not need to keep to the road or to the beaten +track. Dame Frost, like Sir Walter Raleigh, has +spread her mantle over the unpleasant places and +over it you may pass in safety.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</div> +<p>“Where are we now?” asked the Bottomless Pitt.</p> +<p>“Casey’s Woods,” replied the Captain, referring +to his map.</p> +<p>“Oh,” cried Sahwah, “don’t you remember how +we wanted to come here to a picnic once in the summer, +but we couldn’t go into the woods at all, because +the mosquitoes were just terrible? Why didn’t +we ever think of holding a picnic in the winter? +There are no ants to crawl into your shoes and no +spiders to get into your cocoa.”</p> +<p>“And no poison ivy,” said Gladys. “Why, winter +is the very best time to hold a picnic!”</p> +<p>And they made up a hiking song to the tune of +“Marching Through Georgia,” and sang it until the +woods echoed:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Hurrah, hurrah, said the possum to the ’coon,</p> +<p class="t0">Hurrah, hurrah, what makes you come so soon?</p> +<p class="t0">We started in the morning, and we’ll get there before noon,</p> +<p class="t0">As we go hiking on our snowshoes!”</p> +</div> +<p>“Doesn’t Aunt Clara look just like a Teddy Bear +in that brown fur coat?” whispered Gladys to Sahwah. +Aunt Clara was nearly as broad as she was +long, and, wrapped in furs as she was, seemed +rounder yet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div> +<p>“Halt!” cried Uncle Teddy, as the company came +out on the edge of a deep ravine. “Oh, I say, Captain, +what’s this? It doesn’t seem to me I included +this in my order.”</p> +<p>Much confused, the Captain spread his road map +on a log and set the compass on it, trying to find out +where he had gone wrong. “Shucks,” he said disgustedly, +after a moment’s study. “We should have +gone at right angles to that hundred-foot pine tree +instead of in a line with it. Everybody back up—I +mean, right about face. Shucks!” And he handed +the map and the compass to Sahwah with as good +grace as he could and took the end of the line, as +became an officer who had been reduced to the +ranks.</p> +<p>Sahwah led them back to the pine tree and in the +right direction from it, as indicated on the map, +and they soon came to the bridge which spanned the +gorge a mile below the spot where the Captain had +reached it. Detour and all they reached Catertown +at twelve o’clock, where their ravenous appetites +worked fearful havoc with the good dinner set before +them. Uncle Teddy insisted upon having +Slim’s thermos bottle filled with milk, to guard +against his getting faint on the way, although Slim +blushed and protested. Ten more miles to make in +the afternoon. But to these practised hikers the +distance before and behind them seemed nothing +wonderful and they declared the going was so good +on snowshoes that they could keep on forever. Sahwah +followed the map accurately, and brought them +out at the right crossroads at the end of five miles, +where she relinquished her office as pathfinder to +Bottomless Pitt, who was next in line. It had been +decided en route that five miles should be the length +of any leader’s service.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</div> +<p>“Honorable discharge,” said Uncle Teddy, patting +Sahwah on the head. “I’ll wager there aren’t +many girls who could have done that.”</p> +<p>“All of us could,” answered Sahwah, eager to +sing the praises of the group as a whole.</p> +<p>The Captain said nothing. He felt that he had +disgraced the Sandwiches by letting a girl get ahead +of him. It did not help him any to note that Hinpoha +was looking at him and evidently thinking the +same thing. The Captain was very sore at heart. +He liked and admired Hinpoha more than any of +the other Winnebagos, and they had always been +the best of friends until suddenly, for some reason +which he could not explain, she had turned against +him. And she had done the one thing to him that +he could never forgive. She had called him “Cicero.” +All was over between them. Winter hikes +weren’t such a lot of fun after all, he told himself.</p> +<p>“Hi, look at the rabbit,” shouted Pitt, pointing +out an inquisitive bunny that sat upon his haunches +under a tree, “to see the parade go by.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</div> +<p>“Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him,” cried Sahwah, +dancing up and down and trying to focus her camera +on him.</p> +<p>“Who’s hurting him?” said the Captain. “We +haven’t anything to hurt him with, unless Slim steps +on him.” Sahwah clicked her camera and at the +click Br’er Bunny vanished into space.</p> +<p>“Let’s see what kind of tracks he made,” said +Sahwah, and they all willingly detoured a trifle to +examine the footprints in the snow.</p> +<p>“There are some others beside his,” said Bottomless +Pitt. “What kind of an animal is that, Uncle +Teddy?”</p> +<p>Uncle Teddy examined the tracks and nodded his +head with a satisfied air. “You boys ought to know +those tracks,” he said provokingly. “What kind of +scouts are you, anyway? Here, Captain, quit your +scowling like a thundercloud and tell us what animal +has been taking a walk. I certainly have taught +you enough about woodcraft to know that.”</p> +<p>The Captain looked at the tracks closely. “I +think it’s a ’coon,” he said finally.</p> +<p>“Think so!” scoffed Uncle Teddy. “Don’t you +know so? Pitt, what do you say?”</p> +<p>“Looks like a ’coon to me,” answered Pitt.</p> +<p>“And what do you say, Redbird?” asked Uncle +Teddy, pulling Sahwah’s hair.</p> +<p>“There’s where you boys have us beaten,” said +Sahwah frankly. “We never have had a chance +to learn animal tracks.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</div> +<p>“I’m sure it’s a ’coon,” said the Captain, his spirits +rising with the chance to crow over the girls.</p> +<p>“All right, if you’re sure of it, we’ll follow the +trail awhile and see where he is,” said Uncle Teddy. +“But you always want to be sure of what you see, +after you’ve learned it once. A good woodsman +always fixes a thing in his mind so he’ll know it the +next time he sees it.”</p> +<p>“I’m sure it’s a ’coon,” repeated the Captain. +“May we follow the trail awhile?” Eagerly they +trotted along beside the footprints in the snow, impatient +to have a sight of the animal. This was a +new sport to the Winnebagos and they were greatly +excited about it. The Captain had forgotten his +low spirits and was in the lead now.</p> +<p>“I say, the fellow that spies him first ought to be +pathfinder for the rest of the way,” he said.</p> +<p>“What does a ’coon look like?” panted Sahwah, +trying to keep up with him.</p> +<p>“He has a short, thick, striped tail,” said the +Captain, “and a—— Oh, goodness gracious! Oh, +Methuselah’s great grandmother!” For just then +the wind began to blow strongly from the direction +in which they were going, carrying with it an unmistakable +odor. With one accord they took to +their heels.</p> +<p>“O Uncle Teddy,” said the Captain, furious at +himself, “you knew what it was all the while! Why +didn’t you tell us?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</div> +<p>“Well,” said Uncle Teddy dryly, “you were so +blooming sure it was a ’coon that I couldn’t contradict +you very well without being impolite. ‘There’s +nothing like being dead sure,’ I says to myself. +And I knew you would never be satisfied until you +had found out for yourself.”</p> +<p>The Captain, permanently abashed, retired to the +rear of the line and ventured no more opinions about +anything they saw, and took not the slightest interest +when Hinpoha discovered a rare little moosewood +maple and identified it by its beautiful green +bark.</p> +<p>“Last lap!” shouted Pitt, consulting the map for +the hundred and fortieth time. “Turn east by the +twin oaks and approach the camp from the rear! +Company, forward march!”</p> +<p>“There are the cabins now,” cried the Monkey, +throwing his cap into the air. “Maybe I won’t sit +down and hold my feet up, though!”</p> +<p>“Maybe you won’t jump around and get some +firewood, though!” remarked Uncle Teddy. “End +of the hike, messmates,” he shouted, executing a +droll dance on his snowshoes and waving his long +arms like windmills. “All together, now, three +cheers and a tiger for the end of the hike!” And +they gave them with a will.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</div> +<p>The place where they were to spend that night +and the next was an abandoned sugar camp. It had +once been a fine grove of trees, but so many had +been killed by the boring worms that it was no +longer profitable. Two cabins remained standing +and were used on and off by hunters during the +season.</p> +<p>“Oh-h-h, ours is a real log cabin,” cried Sahwah, +dancing around in ecstasy when quarters had been +assigned. “It’s lots nicer than the old board shack +the boys are going to have. I’ll feel just like Abraham +Lincoln to-night, only so much more elegant, +because Abraham Lincoln had to split his own rails, +and we can sit at ease and let the boys tote our +wood for us.”</p> +<p>“But—where are the beds?” cried Hinpoha, in +perplexity, as they went inside.</p> +<p>“Why, <i>those</i>,” said Aunt Clara, pointing to some +bin-like things ranged in a double tier along one +wall. “Those are our bunks.”</p> +<p>“Bunks!” echoed the girls in rather a dismayed +tone. “We didn’t think we’d have to sleep in bunks. +We expected camp beds, at least.”</p> +<p>“They’re quite comfortable,” said Aunt Clara reassuringly, +“when they’re filled with clean straw. +Our blankets are in that big box and we’d better +get our beds made the first thing, so we can roll into +them as soon as we get tired.” She bustled around, +smoothing out the straw in the bunks with a practised +hand and showing the girls how to fold their +blankets to the best advantage. “Be sure you have +just as much under you as over you,” she advised +them again and again. “Camping in winter is a +very different proposition from sleeping out in summer.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</div> +<p>Now that the girls had gotten used to the idea +of the bunks, they began to think it was a jolly good +lark to sleep in them. “If bunks it must be, bunks +it is,” said Katherine, in a lugubrious tone that sent +them all into gales of laughter, “but I never thought +I’d live to see the day!”</p> +<p>“Me for the upper berth,” said Sahwah, standing +on a table to accomplish the spreading of her blankets. +It was not long before they were all singing:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Oh, we’re bunking tonight on the side of the wall,</p> +<p class="t">Give us a ladder, please,</p> +<p class="t0">We’ve slept in many beds, both hard and soft,</p> +<p class="t">But never in bunks like these!”</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Bunking tonight,</p> +<p class="t0">Bunking tonight,</p> +<p class="t0">Bunking on the side of the wall!”</p> +</div> +<p>And they raised such a din with the chorus that +the boys came streaming over to see what the fun +was about and to inquire casually if supper wasn’t +nearly ready.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div> +<p>“Goodness, no,” answered Nyoda; “we’ve just +got our beds made. Go overpower Slim, if you are +hungry, and take his bottle away from him. By +the way, which cabin is to be honored by the smell +of the cooking?”</p> +<p>“The log cabin is the largest,” said Uncle Teddy, +“and it has both the fireplace and the little stove. +The other is just a sleeping cabin. I guess the honor +is yours. All aboard for the dining car! Where’s +that canned soup? Bring in the wood, boys, and +make a cooking fire in the stove. You know what +a cooking fire is, I suppose. Everybody get to work. +Too many cooks can’t spoil this broth.”</p> +<p>They flew around, getting in each other’s way +dreadfully, but under Uncle Teddy’s and Aunt +Clara’s able management they did contrive to accomplish +the things they were trying to do, and in +less than no time the supper was steaming on the +table.</p> +<p>“Maybe I won’t do anything to that soup and that +creamed fish!” sighed Slim, his face beaming at the +sight of the banquet spread before him.</p> +<p>“Maybe it won’t do anything to him!” said Katherine +in an aside to Sahwah. “I got a whole teaspoonful +of Hinpoha’s old talcum powder in the +cream sauce before I discovered it wasn’t flour, and +then it was too late to take it out again.”</p> +<p>“Never mind,” Sahwah giggled back, “it’s so hot +you can’t taste it, and it won’t last long enough to +get cold. Your secret is safe in our stomachs!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_163">[163]</div> +<p>The paper plates made a grand glare in the fireplace +after supper was over and in its light Katherine +and Slim gave a Punch and Judy show until Slim +showed symptoms of bursting from want of breath, +whereupon the play came to an end and it was discovered +that Bottomless Pitt had fallen asleep in a +corner.</p> +<p>“Hide his shoes!” suggested the Monkey, and +promptly took them off and tied them by strings to +a tack in the ceiling.</p> +<p>“Let’s enchant him altogether,” said the gifted +Katherine, and fastened the little mustache to his +lip. Then they stuck his head full of paper curls +and powdered his face with flour. The effect when +he woke up was all they had hoped for. They had +set a small wall mirror on the floor beside him, so +he got the full benefit of his altered appearance on +his first glance around. Uttering a startled yell, he +sprang to his feet, looking wildly around. Brought +to himself by the laughter on all sides, he shook his +fist fiercely at Slim and the Captain, declaring that +he would make the fellow who did that eat soap. +As Katherine was the “fellow” in question this only +increased the merriment at his expense. Slim leaned +against the wall so helpless from laughter that he +didn’t even resist when Pitt climbed on his shoulders +to haul down his shoes, but went on chuckling violently +until he sagged to one side and down came +both boys in a heap, shoes, tack and all.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_164">[164]</div> +<p>“I wish you boys would go home,” said Katherine +primly. “You’re altogether too rough for us little +girls to play with. I think it’s horrid and nasty to +play tricks on people when they’re asleep.” From +her gently shocked and disapproving expression you +never would have guessed that she was the one who +had started it all.</p> +<p>“Come on home, fellows, we’re invited out,” said +Uncle Teddy, with a pretended injured air. “It’s +time we little gentlemen were in the hay—I mean +the straw. Come on, Pitt, never mind looking for +the tack; Mother will find it when she gets up in +her stocking feet to see if she locked the door!” With +which shot he retired in haste through the doorway +and over to the other cabin, and just in time, for +Aunt Clara sent a snowball flying after him that +fell short by a bare inch.</p> +<p>Then she closed and barred the door, fixed the +fire with hardwood which would last the rest of the +night, plastered adhesive strips over the various blisters +which the Winnebago feet had acquired on the +long march, and tucked them all in warmly with a +motherly pat and a goodnight kiss. After a twenty-mile +walk in the open air a hard plank would be a +comfortable resting place, and the straw filled and +blanket padded bunks were far from the hard plank +class. For the first time in the history of Winnebago +sleeping parties there was strictly “nothing doing” +after they were tucked in. Most of them fell +asleep during the process of tucking.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_165">[165]</div> +<p>Thus it was that when the first thump came at +the door nobody stirred. A second thump followed +like a blow from a battering ram. Aunt Clara sat +up.</p> +<p>“Who’s there?” she called. No answer save a +series of blows and thumps that threatened to break +the door down. The rest were awake by this time, +trembling in their beds.</p> +<p>“Theodore, is that you?” shrieked Aunt Clara +above the noise. “What do you want?” Again +came a shower of blows, as if somebody were trying +to force their way in with an axe. This time +the bars gave way and the door swung inward. +There was a loud bellowing, roaring sound, which +seemed to their startled ears like a deep-throated +whistle, and into the cabin there walked a cow. +The girls shrieked and disappeared under the bed-clothes, +for to their excited fancy she looked like +a wild animal.</p> +<p>“Shoo, get out!” shouted Aunt Clara, throwing +her slipper with neat aim into the cow’s face. Bossy +looked reproachfully at her and walked farther into +the cabin, standing close beside the row of bunks.</p> +<p>Katherine raised her head from the blanket to +see what was going on and looked right into the +open mouth of the creature as it stood over her. +“Murder! It’s going to eat me up!” she shrieked, +diving under the covers with a prolonged howl.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_166">[166]</div> +<p>By this time Aunt Clara had found the whistle +with which she always summoned her husband when +she needed him and blew a long, shrill blast. A few +minutes later Uncle Teddy appeared at the door, +with a string of startled boys running out of their +cabin behind him, and at a word of command from +him, accompanied by several emphatic pokes and +proddings, Mrs. Bossy meekly turned and walked +out through the doorway, which was considerably +the worse for her entrance. She had probably +strayed from the nearest farmhouse and was suffering +from the intense cold. Attracted by the light +streaming from the little window of the cabin she +had come to find shelter, and when nobody answered +her first gentle knocks with her horns, she +had taken matters into her own hands and become +housebreaker. She was stabled in a lean-to shelter +for the rest of the night and made comfortable with +straw and a blanket.</p> +<p>“Isn’t it funny how all the suffering critters come +to our hospitable door for shelter?” said Katherine +at the breakfast table. “Just like Sandhelo. He +came of his own accord, also.”</p> +<p>“They must know that we keep the Fire Law,” +answered Hinpoha. “‘Whose house is bare and +dark and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own’!”</p> +<p>“Isn’t it strange that she came to our door, and +not to the boys’,” said Gladys. “They had a light +shining, too, but her footprints show that she came +past their door to stop at ours.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_167">[167]</div> +<p>“That’s because she was a lady,” replied Uncle +Teddy, helping himself to his fifth slice of fried +bacon, “and no lady would come bustling into a +gentleman’s apartment like that. Hurry up and get +your chores done, you housekeepers and wood-gatherers, +and let’s go out and make a snow man.”</p> +<p>“Let’s make a totem-pole,” suggested Katherine, +when they were all out playing in the snow. “It’s +lots more epic than making a snow man.”</p> +<p>“You mean a ‘snowtem pole,’” observed Uncle +Teddy.</p> +<p>So they set to work and made a marvellous totem-pole, +higher than the cabin, with figures carved into +its sides such as were never on land or sea. Then +Uncle Teddy and the boys, who had done less carving +on their sections and consequently were finished +first, set up a barber pole on the other side of the +doorway, containing the stripes with a crimson of +their own concocting, which was a secret, but which +involved several trips to the kitchen and the food +supply box. All this time the Captain had never +spoken one word to Hinpoha. Whenever he would +have relented under the spell of the jolly larks they +were having, something whispered to him, “She +called me Cicero! I won’t stand that from anyone!”</p> +<p>“Who’s ripe for a trifling sprint of five miles this +afternoon?” asked Uncle Teddy at the dinner table, +taking three scones at once from the plate.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_168">[168]</div> +<p>“I! I! I!” cried a chorus of voices, and a dozen +hands waved frantically above the table.</p> +<p>“Have you any special place in mind?” asked +Aunt Clara, pretending not to see Uncle Teddy stealing +yet another buttered scone from her plate.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Uncle Teddy, “I happen to know +that there’s a real sugar camp in action somewhere +about here, and I think five miles covers it, there +and back. It might not be the worst idea in the +world to look in and see how they are getting on. +I dare say most of these folks here have never seen +maple syrup outside of a can.”</p> +<p>A sigh of delight ran around the table. “Hurry +up, everybody, and put everything you have left +into your mouths, so I can collect the plates,” said +Sahwah, impatient to start at once.</p> +<p>But when the time came to start Hinpoha had +developed such a dizzy headache that going along +was out of the question. “It’s nothing serious,” +she stoutly maintained, in reply to anxious inquiries. +“Too much noise, that’s all. We might call it +‘Mal de racket’!” She would not hear of any of +them staying at home with her, however, although +Aunt Clara and Nyoda both insisted. “Go on, all +of you,” she begged, pressing her hand to her throbbing +temples. “It would make it so much worse if +I thought I had kept you away from the fun. All I +want is to lie down quietly. I’ll be perfectly all right +here. If I feel better soon I’ll follow your tracks +and either catch up with you or meet you there and +come back home with you. Please go.” And so +insistent was she that they went without her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_169">[169]</div> +<p>“Be sure you lock the door carefully,” called +Aunt Clara.</p> +<p>“And be sure you put out a sign, NO COWS +ADMITTED,” said Sahwah. And laughing they +set out, leaving her tucked in her bunk. With the +cessation of the noise that had almost lifted the roof +of the cabin during the dinner hour, the headache +gradually disappeared, and in an hour Hinpoha was +herself again. Swiftly buckling on her snowshoes +she ran out into the stinging air, which seemed like +a cool hand laid on her forehead.</p> +<p>She found the trail of the others easily, for +the crust was slightly dented in by every step. The +way led through a thick strip of woods. Hinpoha +noticed that there were many tracks of animals here +and wished with all her heart that she knew what +they were. “It would be such a grand thing to say +to the folks at home, ‘I followed the trail of a +’coon,’ and be sure it was a ’coon,” she said to herself, +and then laughed aloud at the ridiculous mistake +of the Captain. Then she stood still in delight, +for just before her a dark, furry body was slipping +along over the snow. “I believe that really is one,” +she said to herself joyfully. “I can’t catch him, of +course, but maybe he’ll run up a tree—people always +talk about ’coons being treed—and then I can see +what he looks like.” And she sped after the little +animal, who took alarm at her first step and disappeared +between the trunks of the trees.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_170">[170]</div> +<p>Hinpoha looked for him for a while and then +realized it was a hopeless search and with a sigh +turned to resume her own way through the woods. +Then she stopped in dismay. The broad trail she +had been following so easily had vanished from the +earth! The only marks on the white ground were +those of her own snowshoes. “Of course,” she +said, coming to herself with a shake, “I got off the +trail when I followed that ’coon. I’ll follow my +own tracks back.” But her own tracks led her round +and round in a circle, in and out among the tree +trunks, and did not end up in what she sought. It +took her some minutes to realize that she was actually +lost in the woods. Then, of course, the first +thing she did was to go into a panic, and run wildly +back and forth. “Come, this will never do,” she +told herself severely, standing still. “I must stop +and think before I do anything else. Let me see, +what was it Migwan did the time she was lost up +in the Maine woods? She sat down on the ground +and wrote poetry, and waited until we came and +found her! I can’t write poetry, that’s out of the +question, and I can’t sit on the ground, either, it’s +too cold. I’ll have to stand up and wait.” But that +proved a dreary amusement. It was getting bitterly +cold, and a strong wind whistled through the +bare branches till it made her flesh creep. To make +things worse, an early twilight was setting in and +the light was rapidly fading. To keep from taking +cold she walked up and down bravely among the +trees, growing more terrified every minute. She +tried to sing, to call, to shout, to make her voice +carry across the snow, but it was lost in the moaning +of the wind. Her feet grew numb with the cold +and she stamped them vigorously to start up the +blood. The crust broke through, and down she +went through several feet of snow to her waist. She +braced herself with her hands and tried to draw her +feet out, but they went through also and she floundered +with her face in the icy snowflakes. Then +with a growing sense of horror she realized what +had happened. The ends of her snowshoes had become +firmly wedged under the roots of a tree, and +she was unable to pull them out. And her feet, +tightly bound to the snowshoes by the pretty straps +and buckles, were trapped. She struggled furiously, +and only sank deeper in the snow.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_171">[171]</div> +<p class="tb">As the “syrup party,” as they called themselves, +were just ready to cool off the bit of boiled sap +that had been given them to taste, the Captain suddenly +sprang to his feet and smote his forehead. +“Daggers and dirks!” he exclaimed, “I left my +sweater hanging right in front of the fire when we +came away—you remember it got all wet in the +snowball fight this morning—and I bet it’s scorched +to cinders by this time. Do you folks mind if I +go back to the cabin in a hurry? I got that sweater +for Christmas and I hate to lose it so soon. I’m +all right, uncle, I can find the way, even if it is +getting dark. Don’t hurry yourselves. Give my +share of the syrup to Slim. He’s getting thin.” +And adjusting his snowshoes with a skilled “jiffy +twist,” he was off down the trail.</p> +<p>Now the Captain, although he had been mistaken +about the tracks the day before, was nevertheless +an observant lad, and when he came to the place +where Hinpoha had left the trail, he noticed the +marks going off in another direction and stood still +and looked at them. He knew that they most likely +belonged to Hinpoha, and he knew also that she had +not arrived at the sugar camp and he had not met +her on the trail coming home, so, putting two and +two together, he decided that she must be in the +woods somewhere. A mean little instinct whispered +to him to go on his way and let her be wherever she +was, and get a good fright until the rest found her; +then his better nature rose to the top and he decided +to hunt her up and show her the trail to meet +the others.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_172">[172]</div> +<p>“Glory, she certainly did mess up the trail some,” +he said to himself, as he followed the marks which +wandered up and down and doubled back on themselves +and crisscrossed everywhere. It was slow +going, for the darkness was hiding the footprints +and he had to bend down to the ground to see them +clearly. He almost stepped on her at last when he +did find her. She was numb from the cold and +very nearly asleep and he thought she was dead. +The imprisoned snowshoes held her down and he +could not pull her out of the snow at first. Finally +he suspected what had happened and dug down in +and loosened the buckles. It took a good deal of +working after she was freed to get life back into +the numb feet and ankles, but it was accomplished +at last and Hinpoha was ready to walk home.</p> +<p>Then a moment of embarrassment fell between +them. Hinpoha flushed and looked uncomfortable. +“I’m sorry I called you Cicero,” she said, with a +sneeze between every word. “You aren’t a Cissy at +all. You’re a hero!” And then for no reason at +all, except that the afternoon’s strenuous adventure +had unstrung her nerves, she burst into tears.</p> +<p>“Here,” said the Captain, entirely light-hearted +again, and holding up the little bucket he had carried +away from the sugar camp, “cry into the pail. +Evaporate the water. Save the salt. It’s worth +money.”</p> +<p>And Hinpoha giggled foolishly and dried her +tears and raced back to the cabin as fast as she +could go, to stave off pneumonia on her arrival with +hot blankets and steaming drinks.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_173">[173]</div> +<p>“He <i>is</i> a hero,” she murmured dreamily to Gladys, +who hovered around her like an anxious grandmother, +after the others were satisfied that she was +all right, and had set to work getting supper; “he +never once said, ‘I told you so’!”</p> +<h2 id="c12">CHAPTER XII +<br /><span class="small">HINPOHA’S ROMANCE</span></h2> +<p>An indistinct murmur floated down from the +Winnebago room of the Open Door Lodge, punctuated +by little squeals and exclamations. The firelight +shown on four tense faces, and four pairs of +eyes were riveted on the two figures in the center +of the group who were engaged in a very singular +occupation. Balanced between two stiffly outstretched +and quivering right forefingers hung a +key, and suspended from it by a string was a black-covered +book, supposed to be set apart from all +secular uses. In a breathless undertone Hinpoha—for +she was the owner of one of the aforesaid fingers—was +chanting a passage of scripture designed +for a widely different application. A strained hush +was followed by another outbreak of exclamations. +“Look, it’s turning! It began to turn the minute she +said, ‘Turn, my beloved.’ What letter did it turn +on, ’Poha?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_174">[174]</div> +<p>“D,” replied Hinpoha, in a solemn whisper.</p> +<p>“D,” repeated the chorus, “what does that stand +for?”</p> +<p>“Daniel,” supplied Sahwah promptly.</p> +<p>“His name’s going to be Daniel,” chanted the +chorus. “Now try for the last name.”</p> +<p>Again the mystic rite was performed. At “I” the +Bible trembled with a premonitory movement. “It’s +turning!” whispered the chorus in an awed tone. +“No, it isn’t either; it’s still again.” After that one +tremor the soothsaying volume remained bafflingly +motionless through the recitation of the mysteries +which accompanied the letter J. K likewise began +uneventfully. But no sooner had Hinpoha uttered +the fateful words, “Turn, my beloved,” when with a +suddenness that scared them half out of their wits +the key turned sharply in the supporting fingers, +twisted itself free and fell to the floor with an +emphatic bang.</p> +<p>“It’s K,” cried Hinpoha, covering her face with +her hands. “What names begin with K?”</p> +<p>“King,” said Gladys.</p> +<p>“Knight,” suggested Katherine.</p> +<p>“All the noble names,” said Nakwisi dreamily.</p> +<p>“Mrs. Daniel King,” said Sahwah experimentally, +whereupon Hinpoha hid her face in the bearskin +rug.</p> +<p>“You try it, Katherine,” said Gladys. “I’ll hold +the key with you.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_175">[175]</div> +<p>“Oh, I’m afraid to try it,” said Katherine, hanging +back and looking uncomfortable. “It’s no use, +anyway; nobody’d have me for a gift.”</p> +<p>“It always tells the truth,” said the blushing Hinpoha. +“You know Miss Vining, Clara Morrison’s +old maid aunt? Well, Clara persuaded her to try +it and it wouldn’t turn for her at all, and they went +through the alphabet three times in succession.”</p> +<p>With a skeptical expression Katherine suffered +herself to be placed on the box covered with an old +piece of tapestry displaying a threadbare figure of +the three fates, which was the seat of those engaged +in the mysteries. “My beloved is mine, and +I am his,” she recited jerkily, keeping her eyes glued +to the key. “He feedeth upon a row of lilies——”</p> +<p>“It’s ‘He feedeth upon the lilies,’ just ‘the lilies’; +the ‘row’ part comes later,” interrupted Gladys in a +sharp whisper.</p> +<p>“He feedeth upon the lilies, just the lilies, the +row part——” repeated Katherine dutifully.</p> +<p>“No, no; it’s all wrong,” said Gladys impatiently. +“Begin again.”</p> +<p>“My beloved is mine——”</p> +<p>“Katherine! Oh-h-h-h Katherine! Are you up +there?” the voice of Slim suddenly called from below.</p> +<p>The girls all started guiltily and fell into confusion. +“Sh! Hide the Bible, quick!” cried Hinpoha +in a sibilant whisper, darting forward and snatching +it from Katherine’s hand and concealing it under +the bear rug.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_176">[176]</div> +<p>“What are you girls doing up there?” came from +below.</p> +<p>“Oh, nothing,” floated down the illuminating reply +from above.</p> +<p>If Nyoda had not been so completely engrossed in +her private affairs just at this time she would have +noticed the subtle undercurrent which seemed to +have caught hold of the toes of the entire feminine +half of the senior class at Washington High. It +was not the Winnebagos only. In fact, they had +caught it from the others. Every class has its epidemic, +be it tonsillitis, friendship link bracelets or +Knox hats. This year it was fortune telling. +Where the mystic rite described above originated +nobody could exactly tell, but in less than a week +every girl in the class had been initiated into the +secret, and was busy discovering what her future +initials were to be. The performance was always +carried on behind locked doors or in places otherwise +secure from adult eyes, and was often interrupted +right at the most exciting point by approaching +footsteps, but questions as to how the innocent +maids had been improving the shining hour invariably +brought out the reply, “Oh, we weren’t doing +<i>anything</i>—much.” Missing keys and books of family +worship led to embarrassing questions once in a +while, but somehow the situation was always bridged +over and parents and teachers never really did find +out what the fascinating something was that drew +their young friends off into groups by themselves +from which they emerged to day dream instead of +getting their lessons and to make mysterious references +to certain initials.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_177">[177]</div> +<p>The book and key oracle reigned supreme for +several weeks and then gave place to the horoscope. +For ten cents in stamps a certain seer dwelling in a +remote town in Oregon offered to “cast” the principal +events, past, present and future, in the lives of +all young lady correspondents. It was not long before +intimate heads were bent over scraps of paper +comparing horoscopes. Hinpoha’s was acknowledged +by all to be the gem of the collection.</p> +<p>“You have a brilliant future before you,” it read. +“You will have a romantic love affair and will marry +your first lover. He is a great scholar who will +afterwards become president. You will meet him +when you are very young.” Then followed a dozen +lines more of brilliant prophecy. The special friends +of Hinpoha, who had been allowed to peep at her +fortune, Gladys, Sahwah, Katherine, Nakwisi and +Medmangi, and one or two others, who had fore-gathered +ostensibly to rehearse a school song, sat +back and regarded their fortunate friend with awe. +None of their fortunes had contained anything so +dazzling.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_178">[178]</div> +<p>“You’re going to be the President’s wife!” murmured +Sahwah. “You won’t forget us, will you?”</p> +<p>“Never!” declared Hinpoha magnanimously, +stealing a sly glance into the mirror.</p> +<p>“I hope you won’t be ashamed of me when I’m +married and come calling at the White House,” said +Katherine, rather dolefully. “All I drew was a +farmer.”</p> +<p>“I only got an automobile manufacturer,” echoed +Gladys.</p> +<p>“That’s what comes of having red hair,” said +Sahwah enviously. “Her fortune said he would be +drawn to her by her beautiful tresses.”</p> +<p>When Hinpoha was preparing for bed that night +she stood fully an hour before the mirror and regarded +her shining curls. Up until now she had +never paid much attention to them except when the +boys called her redhead and pretended to light +matches on her head, and then she wished with all +her heart, like the little girl in the song, that she +had been “born a blonde.” Now for the first time +her hair appeared beautiful to her. She arranged +the curls this way and that, piling them on her head +and letting them fall over her white shoulders. And +all night she dreamed of standing up in a carriage +and bowing graciously to cheering multitudes and +clasping in her arms the forms of her girlhood +friends who were among the crowd.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_179">[179]</div> +<p>The horoscopes had their day and gave way to +something still more exciting, something so secret +that at first it could not be mentioned in words, but +was only alluded to by mysterious references.</p> +<p>“Marjorie King went,” said Gladys to Hinpoha, +“and she won’t tell a thing she found out, but she +says it was the grandest thing.”</p> +<p>“I don’t believe it’s worth fifty cents,” said Sahwah +skeptically. “Anyhow, I haven’t that much to +spend.”</p> +<p>“You don’t ever dare tell anybody, they say, not +a soul,” reported Gladys later. “If you do, the nice +things won’t happen and the bad ones surely will.”</p> +<p>“She’s the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh +Daughter,” observed Hinpoha in an awe-stricken +tone. “Did you ever hear of anything so wonderful?”</p> +<p>“Are <i>you</i>?” asked Sahwah anxiously, of Hinpoha.</p> +<p>This last question was entirely unrelated to the +preceding statement concerning the Seventh Daughter +of a Seventh Daughter. It was part of the cryptic +jargon employed in the discussion of a momentous +question.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” answered Hinpoha uncertainly. +“Would you?”</p> +<p>“Oh, do,” begged Gladys, “and then if you find +out something nice we’ll go in after you. Oh, I +forgot, you can’t tell us anything.”</p> +<p>“Would your mother mind if you did?” asked +Hinpoha, hesitating on the brink.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_180">[180]</div> +<p>“She really wouldn’t mind, but she’d think it +awfully silly,” answered Gladys, “so I don’t believe +I’ll tell her.”</p> +<p>“You might find out the whole name,” said Sahwah, +looking at Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“And just when it’s going to happen,” finished +Gladys.</p> +<p>Hinpoha suddenly made up her mind. “I believe +I will,” she said, looking at Sahwah.</p> +<p>Where Hinpoha’s thoughts were the next day in +school nobody knew, but they were certainly not on +her lessons. She failed signally in every class.</p> +<p>“And what were the initials of the great poet, +Longfellow?” cooed Miss Snively, in her honeydrip +voice.</p> +<p>The word “initials” penetrated Hinpoha’s wandering +mind. “D. K.,” she murmured dreamily.</p> +<p>“Indeed?” purred Miss Snively. “Can it be that +I have been misinformed?” But today sarcasm was +lost on Hinpoha.</p> +<p>After school was out a select group, half of which +seemed to be hanging back and being coaxed on +by the other half, walked ten blocks to an unfamiliar +car line and transferred to a cross-town line. +There was a much more direct route to their destination, +but that laid them open to the risk of meeting +friends and relatives who might casually inquire +whither they were bound. Just wherein lay the +crime in what they were doing, no one could have +told, nor why it should be kept such a dark secret, +but singly and collectively they would have died +rather than reveal the nature of the latest epidemic.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_181">[181]</div> +<p>By devious ways they reached the end of their +journey and stood irresolute on the sidewalk before +a house which bore a plate on the door announcing +that that same roof sheltered the object of their desire.</p> +<p>“Shall we all go in together?” whispered Gladys. +There was no need of whispering, for no one was +within earshot, but with one accord they lowered +their voices. They went up the steps and held another +consultation. “You ring the bell,” said Gladys.</p> +<p>“No, you ring it,” said Hinpoha. Thus encouraged, +Hinpoha pushed the button, the door swung +inward and they passed through. An hour later +they stood on the corner again, waiting for the car +to take them home.</p> +<p>“Did she say anything about—about——” inquired +Gladys.</p> +<p>Hinpoha clapped her hand over her mouth and +made inarticulate sounds beneath it, but her eyes +were sparkling, as they never sparkled before.</p> +<p>“Excuse me,” gasped Gladys; “I forgot you +mustn’t tell.”</p> +<p>“Can’t you give us a hint?” begged Sahwah, who +had gone along for moral support.</p> +<p>Hinpoha shook her head and retained her finger +on her lips to stop any leaks.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_182">[182]</div> +<p>“Well, it couldn’t have been any nicer than mine,” +said Gladys, with an air of satisfaction. “Mine was +just splendid. Maybe yours wasn’t—favorable?” +she added, stricken with a sudden doubt as to the +superiority of Hinpoha’s future.</p> +<p>“It was, too!” declared Hinpoha. “If you took +all the nice things out of ten fortunes it wouldn’t +be as nice as mine!”</p> +<p>Gladys looked unconvinced. “Well, we’ll wait a +year or two until they begin to come true, and then +we’ll see which had the nicer,” she remarked.</p> +<p>Hinpoha laughed outright. “I don’t have to wait +a year or two before mine comes true,” she announced +triumphantly. “It’s coming true in the +very near future. I’m going to meet a light-haired +young man and he’s going to admire my hair and +fall in love with me, so there! Is yours any nicer +than that?”</p> +<p>“Oh, you told,” cried Sahwah. “Now it won’t +come true.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha stopped in dismay. “Well, Gladys made +me,” she wailed. “If she hadn’t said hers was better——” +The car came along then and a truce was +patched up. Such a delicate subject could not be +discussed openly in the street-car, even to quarrel +about it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_183">[183]</div> +<p>But if Hinpoha spent a bad night mourning because +she had broken the spell of her good fortune, +the next day sent all doubts flying to the +winds. The week before the bald-headed teacher of +the literature class had occasioned a bad break in +the routine of the course by inconsiderately dying of +pneumonia in the middle of the term. For several +days thereafter the grief of the class was tempered +by the fact that there were no recitations. But on +the day after Gladys and Hinpoha, with Sahwah +and Katherine as chaperones, had visited the Seventh +Daughter of a Seventh Daughter, an announcement +appeared on the session room blackboard to the +effect that literature recitations would be resumed +that morning. As they filed into the literature class +room they were greeted by the sight of the new +teacher standing beside the desk.</p> +<p>“Boys and girls,” said the principal, who was +doing the honors, “this is Mr. David Knoblock, who +will have charge of this class in the future.” And +he hurried out.</p> +<p>“David Knoblock!” whispered the wit of the class +to his neighbor. “Knoblock, No Block, see?” And +a titter ran through the class.</p> +<p>“David Knoblock!” said Katherine to herself. +“He looks as though his name might be Percy Pimpernell.”</p> +<p>“David Knoblock!” repeated Hinpoha to herself, +and sat mute before the workings of fate. David +Knoblock. D. K. The Car of Destiny had stopped +before her door and from it had alighted the fair-haired +stranger!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_184">[184]</div> +<p>Standing before the class in the glory of his yellow +hair, pale, sprouting mustache, blue eyes and +pink cheeks, Mr. Knoblock seemed to them a composite +of Adonis, Paris and Apollo Belvidere, whose +mythical charms had been impressed upon them by +the late lamented instructor.</p> +<p>“What has the class been reading, Miss—ah—Miss +Katherine?” he inquired, consulting the class +roll.</p> +<p>“Tennyson, Mr. Knoblock,” answered Katherine +briefly.</p> +<p>“<i>Professor</i> Knoblock, if you please,” he corrected +gently. “Ah, yes; Tennyson.” And turning the +pages of his book with a manicured finger, he found +the place and began to read aloud, glancing up at +one or another of his girl pupils from time to time. +More and more often that glance rested on Hinpoha, +for with the sun shining through the window +on her hair she was the most vivid spot of color in +the room. Finally he did not take his eyes away +at all, and, looking her straight in the face, he read +in sentimental tones:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Queen of the rosebud garden of girls,</p> +<p class="t">Come hither, the dances are done,</p> +<p class="t0">In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls,</p> +<p class="t">Queen, lily and rose, in one;</p> +<p class="t0">Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls,</p> +<p class="t">To the flowers, and be their sun.”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_185">[185]</div> +<p>In the blaze of that glance Hinpoha’s romantic +heart melted like a lump of wax. The room swam +in a rose-colored mist. The great thing that she +had read about in books had happened to her; she +was in love! It was not long before the whole +school knew about the affair. Whenever there was +a sentimental passage in the book Professor Knoblock +looked at Hinpoha and at her alone. He often +detained her a moment after class to inquire if that +last paragraph had been entirely clear to her; he +thought she had looked not quite satisfied with his +explanation. As he roomed in the next street to +her home he generally met her on the corner in the +morning and walked to school with her. Certain +sour-dispositioned damsels in the class, who had +made eyes at the new Lochinvar in vain, made sneering +remarks about a girl who had so few boy friends +in the class that she had to ogle a teacher; others +sighed enviously when they looked at her woman’s +crown of glory and realized their handicap; the +Winnebagos regarded the whole thing as the workings +of fate, pure and simple, for was it not even as +the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter had +predicted?</p> +<p>As for Hinpoha herself, she was too transported +to care what anyone else thought about it. She was +surrounded by a rarified atmosphere and the voices +of earth troubled her not. Just now she sat blushing +deeply and crushing in her hand a note which +had appeared mysteriously between the pages of +her <i>Selections from the Standard English Poets</i>. +It was written in Mr. Knoblock’s slanting backhand, +and read:</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_186">[186]</div> +<p class="tb">“<span class="sc">My Dear Miss Bradford</span>:</p> +<p>“Never have I seen such glorious hair as yours. +I cannot take my eyes from it while you are in the +room, and it haunts me by night. May I ask a great +favor of you—that you grant me one lock, one small +lock, as a keepsake? I fear you will be too modest +to make this gift in person, and all I ask is that you +slip it into the dictionary on my desk.”</p> +<p class="tb">The signature was a long ornamental K, with a +running vine entwined about its upright stroke.</p> +<p>Hinpoha scarcely raised her eyes above the level +of her book during the whole recitation. She sat +nervously toying with a long perfect curl that hung +down over her shoulder. Toward the close of the +recitation period she came out of her abstraction +and touched the boy in front of her on the shoulder. +“Lend me your penknife,” she whispered in answer +to his look of inquiry. The Senior Literature Class +occupied the last hour of the day, and as Mr. Knoblock +had no session room, the passing of the class +left the room empty. On this day Mr. Knoblock +left the room with the class on the stroke of the +bell, and the boys and girls, trooping out in a hurry +to get home, did not notice that Hinpoha loitered. +She glanced around nervously, satisfied herself that +she was unobserved and then darted toward the dictionary +on Mr. Knoblock’s desk. Going out of the +door a minute later she ran violently into Katherine, +who had carried out her inkwell instead of her English +book, and was coming back to replace it. Katherine +looked at her curiously.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_187">[187]</div> +<p>“Excuse me,” said Hinpoha in a flustered tone, +“I really didn’t see you. I was thinking about something.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha looked at Mr. Knoblock with an air of +expectancy when she entered the room the next +morning, looking for some sign of gratitude for the +lock of hair, but he said, “Good morning, Miss +Bradford,” in his usual tone and made no further +remarks. But before the hour was over he took +occasion to borrow her book for a moment, and +directly after he returned it a note fell from its pages +into her lap. With starry eyes she unfolded it and +read:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“O Morning Star that smilest in the blue,</p> +<p class="t0">O star, my morning dream hath proven true,</p> +<p class="t0">Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me.”</p> +</div> +<p>The lines were from “Gareth and Lynette.” The +universe turned into song. It was getting altogether +too much for Hinpoha to hold and that afternoon +before the fire in the Open Door Lodge she revealed +the progress of her romance to the other Winnebagos.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_188">[188]</div> +<p>“Did you really give him a lock of your hair?” +asked Gladys.</p> +<p>Hinpoha nodded. “Just a tiny curl. It doesn’t +show much at all where I cut it out.”</p> +<p>“Collecting locks of hair doesn’t mean so terribly +much,” said Katherine dryly. “I read about a +boy once who begged a lock of hair from every girl +he met and then had his sister embroider a sofa +cushion with them. And another one used them for +paint brushes.”</p> +<p>“Oh, but this is—different,” said Hinpoha with +lofty pity. It had just dawned on her that Katherine +was jealous. The same miracle that had dropped +the scales from her eyes and revealed to her the +fact that she was beautiful had also made her realize +that Katherine was hopelessly plain.</p> +<p>“And then the verse he wrote afterward,” said +Gladys, hastening to uphold Hinpoha. “That proves +he is in earnest. And, anyway, it must be true. +Didn’t all the fortunes say he was fair and his initials +were D. K., and he was a great scholar, and +would be president, and he would fall in love with +Hinpoha’s hair?” And Katherine had to admit that +whatsoever was written in the stars was written.</p> +<p>It mattered little to any of them, Hinpoha least +of all, that Professor Knoblock had thus far said +nothing openly upon the subject to Hinpoha.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_189">[189]</div> +<p>“Isn’t his bashfulness adorable?” cooed Gladys. +“He’s too shy to express himself face to face with +her; he puts all his—his passion into writing.”</p> +<p>“Won’t those notes be lovely to read over together +when you’re old?” said Sahwah, also stricken +with a sentimental fit. But at the mere mention of +such a thing Hinpoha fled with burning cheeks.</p> +<p>“Hello, Red,” said a cheerful voice in her ear, as +she went dreaming down the street one day. “Where +have you been keeping yourself for the last few +weeks? You haven’t been down in the gym once.”</p> +<p>“Hello, Captain,” she said sweetly. (How young +he was, she was thinking. How hopelessly kiddish +beside the manly form of Professor Knoblock!)</p> +<p>“Say, you must have your tin ear on today,” remarked +the Captain jovially. “I had to call you +three times before you answered.”</p> +<p>“I was thinking,” said Hinpoha, and blushed.</p> +<p>“Must have been an awful hard think,” remarked +the Captain, stooping to throw a stone at a cat. +(He’s nothing but a kid, thought Hinpoha for the +second time.)</p> +<p>It was on this occasion that the Captain, happily +believing all was well between himself and Hinpoha, +invited her to go to the Senior dance at Washington +High with him.</p> +<p>“I’m awfully sorry, Captain,” she said kindly, +“but I’m going with—someone else.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_190">[190]</div> +<p>“Who?” asked the Captain blankly. The “bid” +for that party had cost the Captain just a dollar and +a half, as he was not a member of the class, and he +had made the investment for the sake of going with +Hinpoha and no one else. So he repeated in a startled +tone, “Who?”</p> +<p>“Oh, someone,” answered Hinpoha tantalizingly, +and with that he had to be content. To herself she +was saying, “How foolish it would be to promise +to go with the Captain and then not be able to accept +when—when <i>he</i> asks me.” For word had gone +round the school that all the faculty were going to +honor the Senior Dance with their presence, and +whom else would Professor Knoblock ask but herself?</p> +<p>But of all things to happen just at this time, the +very next day Hinpoha came down with the mumps, +or rather the mump, for only one side of her throat +was affected. The first half she had had in childhood.</p> +<p>“That horrid mump stayed away on purpose before,” +she wailed, “and waited all these years to +jump out on me just at this time. And my new +party dress is too sweet for anything, and my gilt +slippers—oh-oh-oh-oh was there ever such a disappointment?” +Gladys and Sahwah and Katherine, +who had all had theirs “on both sides” and were +therefore allowed to call, were consumed with sympathy, +and were loud in their efforts to console the +stricken mumpee.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_191">[191]</div> +<p>“Has <i>he</i> come to see you?” ventured Gladys.</p> +<p>Hinpoha shook her head, which was a somewhat +painful process.</p> +<p>“Of course he can’t come,” said Sahwah, “he +probably hasn’t had them.”</p> +<p>Katherine’s expression seemed to say that a really +brave knight wouldn’t hesitate to expose himself to +any danger for the sake of seeing his lady, seeing +which Hinpoha croaked hoarsely, “They probably +wouldn’t let him come,” the “they” in this case +presumably referring to the school authorities.</p> +<p>“I saw him down in Forester’s this noon when I +was ordering the flowers for mother’s birthday,” +said Gladys, and they all sighed.</p> +<p>Just then the doorbell rang and Gladys, who was +sent to answer it, returned with a long box in her +hand addressed to “Miss Dorothy Bradford.”</p> +<p>“From Foresters,” said Sahwah breathlessly.</p> +<p>“Flowers!” said Gladys. “Hurry and open them.”</p> +<p>The box disclosed a dozen, long-stemmed pink +roses. “Oh! Ah!” echoed the four in unison.</p> +<p>“From—him?” asked Gladys.</p> +<p>“There’s no card in the box,” said Hinpoha, vainly +searching.</p> +<p>“They must be from him,” said Gladys decidedly. +“Wasn’t he in Forester’s this morning? And it +seemed to me I heard him asking for pink roses.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_192">[192]</div> +<p>Hinpoha put the flowers in a tall vase and regarded +them with rapture. They were the first +flowers ever sent to her by a man. In them she +found comfort for having to miss the dance.</p> +<p>“Was he there?” she inquired falteringly of +Gladys, the day after the party.</p> +<p>Gladys answered in the affirmative. “Did—did +any of you dance with him?” Hinpoha wanted to +know further.</p> +<p>Gladys shook her head. “I saw him dancing +once or twice with Miss Snively,” she said. “I +don’t believe he stayed very long. He disappeared +before it was half over.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha was satisfied. He had not enjoyed himself +without her. “Wasn’t it noble of him to dance +with Miss Snively?” she said enthusiastically. “No +one else would, I’m sure.”</p> +<p>At Commencement time the year before an old +Washington High graduate, who had attained fame +and fortune since his school days, presented the +school with funds to build a swimming pool. Work +had progressed during the year and now the pool +was completed and about to be dedicated. An elaborate +pageant was being prepared for the occasion. +Mermaids and water nymphs were to gambol about +in the green, glassy depths and lie on the painted +coral reefs; Neptune was to rise from the deep with +his trident; a garland bedecked barge was to bear +a queen and her attendants; and then after the pageant +there were to be swimming races, an exhibition +of diving and then a stunt contest.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_193">[193]</div> +<p>The Winnebagos, being experienced swimmers, +were very much in the show. Sahwah had invented +a brand new and difficult dive, which she had christened +Mammy Moon; Hinpoha had learned the +amazing trick of sitting down in the water and +clasping her hands around her knees; Gladys could +swim the entire length of the pool with the leg +stroke only, holding a parasol over her head with +her hands, thus giving the impression that she was +taking a stroll on a sunshiny day. Katherine, alas, +could not swim. The largest body of water she had +seen at home had been the cistern, and most of the +time it was low tide in that. But this did not prevent +her from thinking up new and ludicrous stunts +for the others to do. It was she who invented the +“Kite-tail” stunt, which was one of the signal successes +on the night of the pageant. In this one of +the senior boys, who was a very powerful swimmer, +swam ahead with a rope tied around his waist, to +which another performer clung. Behind this second +one four or five more boys were strung out like the +tail of a kite, each one holding on to the heels of +the one ahead, and all towed by the first swimmer.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_194">[194]</div> +<p>The great night arrived and the building which +housed the pool was crowded to the doors. The +Senior girls and boys had spent hours decorating +the hall with festoons of greens and potted palms +and ferns, so that it looked like the depths of a forest +in the center of which the pool glittered like a +magic spring. Cries of admiration rose from the +audience all around. Hinpoha, who in the first part +of the performance was a mermaid, with water lilies +plaited in her shining hair, saw only one face in the +crowd, and that was Professor Knoblock, as he +leaned over the polished brass rail and looked at her, +and looked, and looked, and looked. Only that day +Hinpoha, filled with the spirit of romance, had +slipped a note into the dictionary on his desk, at the +beginning of the letter “L,” the place where she had +put the lock of hair, thanking Professor Knoblock +for the flowers. An hour later, in sudden terror +that he would not find it there and someone else +would, she had gone to remove it. But it had vanished, +and in its place was another verse from Gareth +and Lynette:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“O birds that warble to the morning sky,</p> +<p class="t0">O birds that warble as the day goes by,</p> +<p class="t0">Sing sweetly; twice my love hath smiled on me.”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_195">[195]</div> +<p>The opening of the pool was a success in every +way. The nymphs nymphed, and the mermaids +wagged their spangled tails to the delight and wonder +of the spectators, and the royal barge swept up +and down to the strains of stately music. Then the +pageant retired, the islands folded up their tents +and vanished, and the swimmers went behind the +scenes to prepare for the races and the stunts. To +bridge over this interval, Hinpoha had been left in +the pool all alone to amuse the crowd by floating on +a barrel and trying to balance a tray on her head +as she bobbed up and down. The crowd shouted with +laughter and cheered her wildly. All but one. With +arms crossed triumphantly over her breast and tray +steady on her head, Hinpoha looked up to see Miss +Snively standing by the edge regarding her with a +coldly sarcastic expression. It was as if she said in +words, “Only such a flathead as you could balance +a tray on it.” But the great happiness that surged +inside of Hinpoha made her charitable and forgiving +toward all the world, and she sent a sweet and +friendly smile into Miss Snively’s face. But that +marble-hearted lady looked away. The next minute +there was a slip, a shriek, the flash of a silk dress, +and a splash, and Miss Snively had disappeared beneath +the surface at the deep end of the pool. Hurling +the tray into space Hinpoha made a magnificent +plunge for distance toward the spot where Miss +Snively had gone down. Simultaneously with her +plunge there was another movement in the crowd, +and Professor Knoblock, stripping off his coat, +jumped over the rail into the pool. Hinpoha +reached Miss Snively first, just as the blue silk appeared +on the surface, and, evading her wildly +clutching hand, managed to hold her head above +water while she struck out for the rail toward the +hands that were stretched down to her everywhere. +Then she became aware of another figure struggling +at her side. Professor Knoblock had come up after +his plunge, struck out blindly and then suddenly +doubled up and gone down again. Thrusting Miss +Snively hastily toward the helping hands, Hinpoha +turned and rescued her professor, who had miscalculated +his leap and struck his head on the side of +the pool. The whole business had not taken two +minutes since the first alarm, but Hinpoha was the +heroine of the hour. She was cheered and praised +and petted and patted on the head and exclaimed +over until she was quite bewildered. Her heart was +thumping until it deafened her. She had saved her +lover’s life, and, bashful as he was, she knew that +now he must speak. It would not happen tonight. +They had rushed him home in a taxicab. But tomorrow——</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_196">[196]</div> +<p>Somehow she managed to finish her part in the +program and drink fruit punch in the gymnasium +afterward. While she stood in a corner cooling her +burning cheeks at an open window somebody came +and stood beside her. Hinpoha turned and faced +the Captain, and listened absent-mindedly to his +words of praise. Then one sentence he said caught +her attention. “Say,” he said bashfully, “how did +you like the flowers?”</p> +<p>“What flowers?” asked Hinpoha wonderingly.</p> +<p>“The roses—pink ones—I sent you when you had +the mumps.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_197">[197]</div> +<p>Hinpoha stared at him blankly, unbelievingly. +No, no, it could not be true, the roses had come from +her light-haired professor. “Did <i>you</i> send them?” +she asked in a tone in which no one could have detected +any degree of appreciation for the favor.</p> +<p>“Wasn’t there any card in the box?” asked the +Captain. “I gave one to Mr. Forester to put in.”</p> +<p>“No,” answered Hinpoha, with a gulp, “there +wasn’t; and I thought—somebody else sent them.”</p> +<p>“Didn’t you like them?” asked the Captain, feeling +in the air that something was wrong somewhere. +“Don’t you like roses?”</p> +<p>Hinpoha pulled herself together with an effort. +Tears of disappointment were standing in her eyes. +“Ye-es,” she answered politely, but without enthusiasm, +“they were lovely; perfectly lovely.” And she +ran hurriedly out of the corner, leaving the Captain +staring after her in bewilderment.</p> +<p>“I don’t believe he sent them to me at all!” she +told herself in the solitude of her own room that +night. “The horrid thing found out that I got them +and told me that just to tease me. Anyway, it +doesn’t make a particle of difference about Professor +Knoblock.” And she fell asleep whispering to +herself with bated breath, “Tomorrow!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_198">[198]</div> +<p>She walked to school with lagging steps the next +morning. Now that the great hour was at hand she +was filled with a desire to flee. Then she heard +footsteps behind her, and, glancing out of the corner +of her eye, saw the professor approaching. With +a wildly beating heart she walked on, her face +straight to the front. He was coming. He was +overtaking her. Now he was upon her. With a +great effort she turned her head to look at him, her +lips parted in a tremulous smile. Professor Knoblock +raised his hat stiffly, nodded frigidly and passed +on without a word, leaving Hinpoha staring after +him stunned. Unseeingly she stumbled on to school. +One question was racing back and forth in her +mind like a shuttle in a loom—what was the meaning +of it? Classes recited around her in school; she +heard them as in a dream. Professor Knoblock did +not look at her as she entered the Literature class +room; he was taking two of the boys sharply to task +for never being able to recite. Hinpoha sat with her +eyes fixed on her book. Professor Knoblock was +evidently ill-humored this morning, though apparently +none the worse for his mishap the evening before. +He was dealing out zero marks right and left +if the recitations did not go like clock-work. And +as was only to be expected the morning after such +an elaborate affair as the dedication of a swimming +pool, clock-work recitations were very few and far +between.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_199">[199]</div> +<p>The professor finally lost all patience. “Take +your books,” he commanded, “open and study the +lesson the remainder of the hour, and the first one I +see dawdling or whispering will be sent back to the +session room.” Hinpoha’s eyes followed the lines +on the page, but she could not have told what she +was reading. The question was still beating back +and forth in her mind.</p> +<p>“Lend me your pencil,” whispered her neighbor. +Mechanically she held it out to him and when he +took it he thrust a stick of gum into her hand. He +was still in a festive mood. Professor Knoblock +caught the movement. At the same moment another +pair in the back of the room began giggling about +something.</p> +<p>“You two are out of order!” shouted the professor. +“Leave the room!” All eyes were turned +toward the two in the back.</p> +<p>“I mean you, George Hancock, and you, Dorothy +Bradford,” said the Professor severely. Hinpoha +turned pleading, unbelieving eyes on him. “Leave +the room,” he repeated with rising anger, “go back +to your session room!” And with the world rocking +under her feet, Hinpoha went.</p> +<p>As the pupils came back from their respective +classes that noon there was a sensation in the air. +Groups of girls stood around whispering to one another +and exclaiming. “Did you ever hear anything +like it?” rose on all sides. “Who would ever +dream of her getting——”</p> +<p>Hinpoha, dumb and miserable, sat apart, until +some one dragged her into the center of a group. +“Have you heard the news?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_200">[200]</div> +<p>“No,” she answered dully.</p> +<p>“Miss Snively’s engaged!” announced a young +lady, in the same tone she would have said: “The +sky has fallen!”</p> +<p>“She is!” said Hinpoha. “To whom?”</p> +<p>“Professor Knoblock!” continued the speaker. +“They’ve been engaged a long time—but it just +leaked out yesterday in a teachers’ meeting. That’s +why he came here to teach.”</p> +<p>“But the notes he wrote me,” moaned Hinpoha +to the Winnebagos, who had gathered for an indignation +meeting that afternoon. “And the curl I +gave him—— Oh-oh-oh!” and she hid her face in +her hands and groaned.</p> +<p>Katherine had been poking about in a corner of +the room during the preliminary wail. She now +came forward carrying a box in her hand which she +laid on Hinpoha’s knee.</p> +<p>“What’s this?” asked Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“Open it and see,” advised Katherine.</p> +<p>Hinpoha complied and there fell into her lap a +long, curling, red ringlet and a piece of paper written +over in Hinpoha’s hand.</p> +<p>“I have a confession to make,” said Katherine, +striking a dramatic attitude. “I put that note into +your book asking for the lock of hair, and watched +until you put it into the dictionary. Then I took it +out after you left the room. I wrote the notes that +followed to keep the ball rolling. I don’t believe +Professor Knoblock knows a thing about his great +romance with you.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_201">[201]</div> +<p>“You did it!” cried Hinpoha blankly, turning +fiercely upon Katherine. “You made such a fool +out of me that I’ll never be able to show my face +again as long as I live. You—you——” sobs +choked her and cut off all utterance.</p> +<p>“But the flowers,” gasped Gladys, “who sent +them?”</p> +<p>“Captain did, the mean old thing!” sobbed Hinpoha.</p> +<p>“But the Key, and the Horoscope, and the Fortune +Teller,” continued Gladys, “they all said he +would be the one. I don’t see how it could have +come out any other way.”</p> +<p>Katherine rose from her knees and rapped on the +table for attention. “Girls,” she said seriously, “I +suppose you think it was a very unkind and low-down +sort of joke I played on Hinpoha, getting her +all worked up like that with those notes, and under +ordinary circumstances it would have been. But +isn’t there a saying somewhere ‘that awfully sick +people need awfully strong medicine,’ or something +to that effect? Here you all were gone completely +loony—excuse the expression, but it’s just what you +were—gone perfectly loony about this fortune-telling +business. You did it so much that I actually +believe you began to think it was true. Then that +fool fortune-teller told Hinpoha about the light-haired +man that was coming into her life soon, and +when the new professor arrived you all thought he +was the one. I just happened to find out soon after +he came that he was engaged to Miss Snively. I +knew if I told you then you wouldn’t believe it, so +I waited until it came out. But I was afraid Hinpoha +would do something really silly before she got +through, and decided to take a hand in the game myself. +When I wrote that note about the hair I was +sure she would see through it and come to her +senses. The fact that she swallowed it shows how +far out of her right mind she was. I never believed +she would put a lock of hair into the dictionary. +But when she seemed to take it all for gospel truth +I couldn’t resist the temptation to go on and have +some more fun.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_202">[202]</div> +<p>“But—his handwriting,” said Hinpoha faintly.</p> +<p>“Easiest thing in the world to imitate,” said Katherine, +saying nothing about the weary hours it had +taken her to accomplish that feat. “And I signed +my own initial, ‘K.,’ which was certainly not taking +the professor’s name in vain. I never told a soul, so +there’s nobody to crow over you. You stand just +exactly where you did at first with the professor.”</p> +<p>“But,” said Gladys, still not satisfied, “why did +he always look at Hinpoha when he read the sentimental +passages?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_203">[203]</div> +<p>“Because he’s built that way,” answered Katherine +scornfully. “There are plenty of men who will +make eyes at every pretty girl they see, whether +they have any right to or not. Besides I heard him +tell one of the other teachers once that your red +hair reminded him of the hair that belonged to a +dear friend he ‘lost in youth.’”</p> +<p>After hearing Katherine’s clean-cut and sensible +version of the affair the whole thing seemed unutterably +ridiculous and one by one they began to +think that she was right, and had played the part +of the friend instead of the mischief-maker, in +shocking Hinpoha back into common sense. Hinpoha +advanced shakily and held out her hand. “I +thank you, Katherine,” she said, “for ‘saving me +from myself’!” And Katherine seized her hand in +a crushing grip, and soon they were hugging each +other, and their friendship, instead of being shaken +to its foundations, was cemented more strongly.</p> +<p>“I think he’s horrid,” said Gladys, “and if I were +you, Hinpoha, I’d never look at him again—the way +he treated you this morning, after you had taken +the trouble to fish him out of the pool last night. +He’s an ungrateful wretch, and doesn’t deserve to +be rescued.”</p> +<p>Katherine was looking at them with a queer expression. +“There’s something else I suppose I ought +to tell you,” she said, “although I wasn’t going to +at first. But now he’s acted so you really ought to +know. Miss Snively’s falling into the pool wasn’t +exactly an accident.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_204">[204]</div> +<p>“Did he push her in?” asked Gladys in a horrified +tone.</p> +<p>“Goodness, no,” said Katherine. Then she +added: “Yes, in a way he did, too, for he was responsible +for her falling in. You know what a +dub the boys all think him; they never call him anything +but ‘that mutt,’ or ‘that cissy.’ He couldn’t +help seeing it, and it bothered him that he wasn’t a +hero in their eyes. Besides,” she continued +shrewdly, “if he was thinking of getting married +he probably was looking for promotion, and he +never would get it as long as he couldn’t control the +boys. So he complained to Miss Snively about it +and she obligingly offered to fall into the pool and +have him rescue her, and so make a hero out of him +overnight. I heard them planning it yesterday; they +were on one side of a big pile of greens waiting to +go up and I was on the other. She was to do it +during the intermission when no one was in the pool. +They didn’t seem to know that you were going to +be in then. But she did it anyway, thinking that the +professor would reach her first. But you were too +quick for them. That’s why he’s so furious with +you; you kept him from being a hero, and got all the +praise he expected to get. Then when he bumped +his head on the side of the tank and had to be rescued +himself, it put the finishing touch to the tragedy.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_205">[205]</div> +<p>“Gee!” exclaimed Hinpoha and Sahwah and +Gladys and the other two girls, all in a breath. In +moments of great emotional stress refined language +seems an utter failure as a vehicle of expression. +Slang is the only thing that adequately expresses +the feelings. They said it again, intentionally and +emphatically—“<i>Gee!</i>”</p> +<p>“What a foolish thing to do,” said Sahwah, when +they had all recovered somewhat, “falling into the +pool to give a man a chance to be a hero. She +might have been drowned.”</p> +<p>“She didn’t run such an awful risk,” observed +Katherine, the all-knowing. “She’s a good swimmer +herself; I’ve heard people say so.”</p> +<p>And again the girls sought relief in the expression +not sanctioned by the grammar.</p> +<p>“Going to the Lodge?” said the Captain’s voice in +Hinpoha’s ear a few days later, as she swung along +the street. The Captain’s manner was decidedly +diffident. He was not at all sure how she would +treat him this time.</p> +<p>Hinpoha nodded companionably. “I’m going to +practice with the handball,” she said energetically. +“Come on, I’ll race you across the field.”</p> +<p>“That was great, wasn’t it?” she cried laughingly, +as she stopped before the door, breathless, +with her hair flying around her face.</p> +<p>“Say, give us a curl, will you?” begged the Captain, +tugging at one that hung over the collar of her +coat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_206">[206]</div> +<p>“Don’t be silly, Captain,” she said reprovingly. +“You know I hate people who are sentimental.”</p> +<p>Hinpoha’s romance was a thing of the past.</p> +<h2 id="c13">CHAPTER XIII +<br /><span class="small">RANDALL’S ISLAND</span></h2> +<p>“I can’t help it, it simply won’t roll!” exclaimed +Katherine in despair. “I’ve tugged and tugged until +my fingernails are all broken, and it just naturally +won’t turn over!” And Katherine sat down +with a discouraged thud and fanned herself with a +hair-brush.</p> +<p>“Well, we’ll ‘just naturally’ have to stop and see +what’s the matter with it,” said Nyoda soothingly. +The Winnebagos were having a contest in poncho +rolling to be in practice for the coming summer’s +camping trips. The aim of each one just now was +to accomplish this in two minutes. Two minutes to +spread out a poncho, two blankets and enough +clothes for an overnight trip, roll it up into a neat +stove-pipe, bend it into a tidy horseshoe and fasten +the ends together with a rope tied in square knots.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_207">[207]</div> +<p>The record was held by Medmangi, quiet, neat +Medmangi, who, while the others were working like +mad, had serenely completed her task in a minute +and three-quarters.</p> +<p>“She’s a regular phenomenay, that woman,” said +Sahwah, who had thought she was doing wonders +when she straightened up at the end of two minutes +exactly. “She must have four hands, or else +she packed with her feet. But what else could you +expect of a girl who’s going to be a doctor?”</p> +<p>Poor Katherine, alas, made no time at all that +could be recorded in Nyoda’s book. It was only +her second attempt at poncho rolling, but it is doubtful +whether it would have been any different if it +had been her hundred and second. She simply was +not built for order and speediness. At the end of +ten minutes she still sat beside her pile of belongings, +the poncho askew, the blankets askew on it +and hanging over the edge, the extra middy bundled +up into a wrinkled lump and the small articles +sliding off on all sides. She had begun to roll it +from the wrong end, and after one or two turns it +absolutely refused to go any farther, in spite of +forceful attempts.</p> +<p>“Here, spread your things out properly, and then +it will go,” said Nyoda patiently, picking up the +blankets. Out rolled the object which had obstructed +the wheels of progress—an umbrella, which +had been tucked under the blankets lengthwise of +the roll. “No wonder it wouldn’t roll!” exclaimed +Nyoda, laughing aloud. “Did you expect the umbrella +to bend round and round like a hose? Whatever +would you want an umbrella for, anyway?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_208">[208]</div> +<p>“For rain,” answered Katherine with touching +simplicity. Nyoda and the other Winnebagos doubled +up in silent mirth. Katherine’s inspirations invariably +left them without power of comment.</p> +<p>“Katherine, you’re <i>positively</i> hopeless,” sighed +Gladys affectionately. “The only safe way is to +divide your things up among the other ponchos; +yours would never arrive at a journey’s end, anyhow.”</p> +<p>“Oh, if I had only been born neat instead of +handsome!” said Katherine plaintively, and then +joined heartily in the irresistible laughter that followed.</p> +<p>“Hush, girls!” said Nyoda. “There’s somebody +down at the door. Don’t you hear somebody rapping?”</p> +<p>Hinpoha, who was nearest the window, peeped +down. “It’s a whole bunch of girls,” she reported +in an excited whisper. “All strangers. I don’t +know any of them. What can they want?”</p> +<p>“Want to see us, probably,” said matter-of-fact +Sahwah. “Isn’t somebody going down to let them +in?”</p> +<p>“The way this place looks!” sighed Nyoda, looking +at the floor strewn with the contents of Katherine’s +poncho. “Gladys, you and Hinpoha go down +and let them in and detain them downstairs until +the rest of us can put this room in order. It’s a +disgrace to the Winnebagos.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_209">[209]</div> +<p>Gladys and Hinpoha descended the ladder and +threw open the door. “Welcome,” they cried, +“whoever you are! Welcome to the House of the +Open Door!”</p> +<p>The six strange girls came in. One who was +tall and thin and had hair almost as red as Hinpoha’s, +stepped forward. “We are members of the +San-Clu Camp Fire,” she said. “We have heard +quite a bit about you Winnebagos and thought we +would come and call. Is this your famous Lodge?”</p> +<p>“It certainly is,” said Gladys hospitably. “We +are delighted to become acquainted with you. Make +yourselves at home. This gymnasium outfit belongs +to a club of boys who share our Lodge, and over +there is Sandhelo’s stall. Sandhelo is our pet donkey; +you must see him right away.” She led the +girls to the stall and kept them there telling about +Sandhelo’s exploits until she was sure from the +sounds above that the room was in order. Then she +invited them to ascend the ladder.</p> +<p>“The San-Clu Camp Fire have come visiting,” +she announced, as she stepped out on the floor.</p> +<p>“All Hail to the San-Clu Camp Fire from the +Winnebagos,” chanted the hostess ceremoniously, +and seven pairs of hands performed the fire sign.</p> +<p>“San-Clu returns All Hail,” responded the guests +with no less ceremony.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_210">[210]</div> +<p>The newcomers were shown the beauties of the +Winnebago Lodge, and it seemed they would never +get done exclaiming over the rugs and skins and +pottery, and most of all, the beds.</p> +<p>“They aren’t so terribly hard to make,” the Winnebagos +assured them modestly, but at the same time +glowing with a feeling of superiority. The San-Clu +girls were plainly older than the Winnebagos; +they all wore dresses down to their ankles and +seemed quite grown up, almost enough to be guardians +themselves; yet they did not appear to have +won nearly so many honors as the younger Winnebagos.</p> +<p>During the tour of inspection Nyoda and Gladys +held a whispered consultation in one end of the +room. “Nothing here to make a spread with,” said +Gladys. “I’ll have to hurry out and get something.”</p> +<p>“Do,” said Nyoda. Gladys nudged Hinpoha and +drew her down the ladder and together they sped +after canned shrimp and condensed milk.</p> +<p>“Now, if you’ll excuse us a minute,” said Nyoda +to the San-Clus, “we’ll retire behind our curtains +and prepare to do the stunt with which we always +inflict company. Come, girls,” she added in a whisper, +“the Battle of Blenheim.” And the players retired +to array themselves in the necessary sheets.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_211">[211]</div> +<p>Five minutes later the curtains were shoved aside, +and the players stood before the audience. They +looked in bewilderment. For seated where they had +left the San-Clu Camp Fire Girls were the Captain, +Bottomless Pitt, the Monkey, Dan Porter, Peter +Jenkins and Harry Raymond. The girls had vanished.</p> +<p>“Why, when did you come in, boys?” asked Nyoda +in surprise. “And where are the girls?”</p> +<p>“What girls?” asked the Captain.</p> +<p>“Why, the San-Clu Camp Fire girls,” said Nyoda, +“who were visiting us.”</p> +<p>“Here they are,” said the six boys, rising and +speaking together. “We are the ‘San-Clu’ Camp +Fire Girls. ‘San-Clu’—short for Sandwich Club! +Ho-ho-ho, Katherine! You’d know us in a minute +with girls’ clothes on, would you!” And from under +the rugs and furniture they drew the dresses, +hats, gloves and wigs which the late San-Clus had +worn a-calling. “Oh-h-h, Katherine, we do this to +each other!”</p> +<p>The girls sat staring, speechless for a minute, unable +to believe that there really had been no girls +there. But the evidence was before their eyes and +it could not be doubted. And they were far too +game not to see that the joke was on them, and +laughed just as heartily over it as the boys did.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_212">[212]</div> +<p>“We’ll have to have the spread, anyhow, for your +benefit,” said Nyoda, taking up the cans of supplies +that Hinpoha and Gladys had just brought in. +“You carried that off too splendidly not to be rewarded. +We congratulate you on your ability to +act, and confess that we were completely taken in. +Where’s Slim?”</p> +<p>“We left him behind the fence,” said the Captain, +with a start of recollection. “We didn’t dare let +him come in with us, because you’d have recognized +him right away.”</p> +<p>“Figures never lie, especially stout ones,” laughed +Nyoda. “Go and bring him to the spread.”</p> +<p>“Are you folks going on a trip?” inquired the +Monkey, with his mouth full of Shrimp Wiggle and +his eyes on the ponchos piled in the corner.</p> +<p>“We are, next Saturday,” answered Sahwah. +“We were just practicing rolling the ponchos today. +Saturday we’re going to take the steamer across the +lake to Rock Island. Some friends of Nyoda’s have +a cottage there, but they haven’t gone up yet and +they said we might stay in it all night if we wanted +to. We’re coming home on the boat Sunday +night.”</p> +<p>“Are you going by yourselves?” asked Slim, leaning +across the table and listening to the conversation. +He was fishing for an invitation for the Sandwiches.</p> +<p>“We certainly are going by ourselves,” said Sahwah, +to his disappointment. “We haven’t been off +by ourselves for a long time. We’re going in a +lonely place and have a Ceremonial Meeting on the +shore of the lake and tell secrets and do stunts and +have a beautiful time. It’s strictly a Winnebago +affair—a hen party, you’d call it.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_213">[213]</div> +<p>Slim sighed and consoled himself with five pieces +of fudge and an apple. He was one of those boys +who like to be around girls all the time. Too fat to +enjoy the more strenuous society of the boys, he +preferred to sit with his gentler friends and dip his +hand into the dishes of candy that they usually had +standing around. The fact that they made no end +of fun of him and never took him seriously only +increased his desire for them. And, like the Captain, +he delighted to look upon the hair when it was +red. He admired Hinpoha with all his corpulent +soul.</p> +<p>The winter and spring months had flown by with +swifter wings than the white-tailed swallow, and +the clock of the year was once more striking June. +Saturday found the Winnebagos skimming over the +blue waters of the lake in the big daily excursion +boat bound for Rock Island. Nakwisi, of course, +had her spy glass and was carefully scrutinizing the +empty horizon. “Has Katherine come into your +range of vision yet?” asked Nyoda, a trifle anxiously. +Katherine had boarded the boat with them +safely enough, for she had been personally conducted +from home by the whole six, but had disappeared +within ten minutes after the boat started.</p> +<p>Nakwisi lowered her glass and laughed. “No, I +don’t see her in the sky,” she said, “though I +shouldn’t be very greatly surprised if I did.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_214">[214]</div> +<p>And they began a thorough search of the boat +from top to bottom and finally found her hanging +over the rail of a gangway, trying to touch the +snowy foam flying in the swirling wake of the paddle +wheel. It was the first time she had ever been on a +lake, and she took a perfectly childish delight in the +racing water. Pulled back to safety by Nyoda, she +gave an animated account of her adventures since +seeing them last, in the course of which she had +nearsightedly walked into the pilot house and caught +hold of the wheel to steady herself when the boat +gave a lurch, and had been summarily put out by +an angry first mate. “I’ve been everywhere on the +boat except down the smokestack,” she concluded +triumphantly.</p> +<p>Soon Rock Island appeared as a speck on the +horizon in Nakwisi’s glass, then as a long black +streak which they could all see, and finally grew by +leaps and bounds into a beautiful wooded island +with trees and lawns and beautiful summer cottages +shining in the sunlight. Shouldering their ponchos, +they went ashore, and walked around the point of +the island to the cottage where they were to spend +the night. It was close to the water, where a curving +indentation of the shore line made a lovely little +beach. If Sahwah did not make the record at +poncho rolling, she left them all behind in getting +into her bathing suit, and five minutes after the +door was unlocked her hands clove the water in a +flying dive from the end of the pier.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_215">[215]</div> +<p>Katherine splashed about courageously, trying to +swim, and finally succeeded in propelling herself +through the water by a series of jerks and splashes +unlike any stroke ever invented by the mind of man. +“This is too hard on my dellyket constitooshun,” +she remarked at last, clambering out and draping +her ungainly length around a rock, thereby disclosing +the fact that her bathing suit was minus one +sleeve. Katherine regarded the yawning armhole +with mild vexation. “Broke my needle when my suit +was all done but putting in the one sleeve,” she remarked +serenely, “and there wasn’t time to go out +and buy one—I finished the suit at eleven o’clock +last night—so I just pasted that sleeve in with adhesive +tape, and it didn’t show a bit. But it must +have let go in the water,” she finished plaintively. +Nyoda looked at the girls, and the girls looked at +Nyoda, and once more they were dumb.</p> +<p>Tired of swimming, they dressed and explored the +island and then sat down on the big boat dock and +dangled their feet over the edge. Soon a tug came +up alongside the pier and the sailor who ran it +chanced to be a man whom Nyoda had met the previous +summer on the island. “Hello, Captain McMichael,” +she called.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_216">[216]</div> +<p>The sunburnt sailor looked up. “Hello, hello,” +he answered. “What are you doing up here so early +in the season?” When Nyoda had explained that +she had brought the girls up on a sightseeing trip, +Captain McMichael promptly offered to take them +for a ride in the tug. “Got to go over to Jackson’s +Island and get a lighter of limestone,” he said. “I’d +have to set you ashore on Randall’s Island while I +went over to Jackson’s to get the lighter,” he continued, +“because you’d get all covered with lime dust +if you stayed in the tug while they were loading, +and it’s no place for ladies to go ashore. But Randall’s +is all right. The quarries there aren’t worked +any more and there are only a few summer cottages. +But there are excellent wild strawberries,” he finished +with a twinkle in his eye. “I’ll call for you +on the way back and get you here before dark. Will +you come?”</p> +<p>“Oh, Nyoda, may we?” cried the girls, delighted +at the prospect.</p> +<p>“Why, yes,” answered Nyoda. “I think that will +be a delightful way to spend the afternoon. I have +always wanted to explore Randall’s Island; it looks +so interesting from the steamer. We accept your +invitation with pleasure, Captain McMichael.”</p> +<p>“Glad to have you,” responded the tug master +heartily, as he set the powerful engine throbbing.</p> +<p>“Don’t fall overboard,” he yelled above the steam +exhaust a minute later as Katherine hung over the +stern and trailed her hands in the water. Nyoda +clung to her dress and the rest sang in chorus:</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_217">[217]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Sailing, sailing,</p> +<p class="t">Over to Randall’s I,</p> +<p class="t0">And dear Sister K would fall into the bay</p> +<p class="t">If Nyoda weren’t nigh!”</p> +</div> +<p>The run to Randall’s Island took just fifteen minutes +and Katherine managed to get there without +accident, other than upsetting an oil can into her +lap. The wild strawberries were as abundant and +as delicious as Captain McMichael had promised, +and it was with sighs of regret that they finally admitted +they could hold no more. Then they scrambled +around in the abandoned limestone quarries until +Nyoda, coming face to face with Katherine, announced +it was time to play something else. Katherine +had torn her dress on sharp points until it +was nearly a wreck; she had stepped into a puddle +up to her shoetops, her hat brim hung down in a +discouraged loop and her hands and face were +scratched with briers.</p> +<p>“If one more thing happens to you, Katherine +Adams,” said Nyoda sternly, “you’ll have to spend +the rest of your life on this island, for you won’t +be respectable enough to take home.”</p> +<p>“Then I’ll be Miss Robinson Crusoe,” said Katherine, +“and eat up all the strawberries on the island, +and not have to write the class paper. I believe I’ll +consider your offer. Our literary member, Migwan, +can write a book about it—<i>Living on Limestone</i>, or +<i>The Queen of the Quarry</i>. Wouldn’t that be a fine +sounding title!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_218">[218]</div> +<p>“What is that long stone building way over +there?” asked Hinpoha, as they promenaded decorously +over the island beyond the quarries, two of +them arm-in-arm with Katherine, to keep her in the +straight and narrow path.</p> +<p>“Looks like a fort,” said Sahwah, with immediate +interest. “Is it a fort, Nyoda?”</p> +<p>“I doubt it very much,” answered Nyoda. “I +never heard of a fort on any of these islands. +Let’s go over and investigate.”</p> +<p>Katherine hung back, screwing up her face and +rolling her eyes like an old negress. “Don’ lead dis +child into temptation,” she begged. “Feel lak de +climbin’ debbil would get into mah feet agin foh +sartin sure, ef ah went near dat pile of stone, an’ den +good-bye, dress! Only safe way’s to keep dis child +far away!”</p> +<p>Her veiled, husky voice made her imitation indescribably +droll, and the girls shouted with laughter. +“Never fear, my weak sister,” said Gladys, “we’ll +all keep you out of danger.”</p> +<p>“I can’t imagine what this could have been,” said +Hinpoha, when they had reached the ruin. “It +looks more like a mill than a fort.”</p> +<p>“Mill!” exclaimed Sahwah scornfully. “There +isn’t any wheel, and there isn’t a sign of a stream. +Mills are always on streams.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_219">[219]</div> +<p>“Maybe this was a windmill,” suggested Katherine. +“It’s windy enough to set any kind of machinery +going,” and she started in pursuit of her hat, +which that moment had been whirled from her head +by a mischievous zephyr.</p> +<p>The ruin which the girls had found that afternoon +was the remains of an old wine cellar which had +been used for storing great quantities of grape wine +in the old days when Randall’s Island had been in +the heart of the grape region, before quarrying became +the chief industry. Nothing was left now to +tell what valuable stores it had once sheltered, only +stones and crumbling brick walls, overgrown with +high weeds and wild vines.</p> +<p>“It’s an enchanted castle,” said Hinpoha. “A +beautiful princess used to live here, only she got +married and moved to—to the big hotel on Rock +Island, and when she left the bad imps came and +knocked out the mortar with their little hammers +and it all fell to pieces.”</p> +<p>“Oh, wonderful,” drawled Katherine. “Let’s +poke about a bit in the ruins and see if we can find +any of the solid gold toothpicks the princes used to +strew around after a meal.”</p> +<p>The ruined wine cellar proved utterly fascinating. +They could still see where it had been divided into +rooms; and here and there a thick wall still stood +higher than their heads.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_220">[220]</div> +<p>“Hi, what’s this?” asked Katherine, as they stood +before a doorway partially filled with débris, behind +which a black hole yawned.</p> +<p>“It’s a cave,” said Sahwah, poking her head forward +into the hole like a turtle. “Let’s explore it,” +she continued, stepping carefully over the pile of +bricks. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder; +“it’s perfectly wonderful. It’s a room, but it’s under +the hill. Come on in.”</p> +<p>“Are there any bats?” asked Gladys, hanging +back.</p> +<p>“Nothing but brickbats,” came Sahwah’s cheerful +voice from within.</p> +<p>Gladys and Hinpoha crawled through the opening, +and Katherine, with a resigned, “Goodbye, +dress,” followed with Nyoda and Nakwisi and Medmangi. +The room was nothing more than an extension +of the cellar, built into the side of the hill, +but to them it was filled with romantic possibilities.</p> +<p>“What do you suppose it was?” asked Hinpoha, +straining her eyes in the semi-darkness.</p> +<p>“The dungeon, of course,” answered Katherine +promptly. “Here’s where your beautiful princess +confined the lovers that didn’t suit her fancy—light-haired +ones and fat ones, especially. She chained +them to the wall and the rats nibbled their toes.”</p> +<p>“Oh-oh-oh!” shrieked Hinpoha, stopping her +ears. “Don’t say such dreadful things. I can feel +the rats nibbling at my toes this minute.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_221">[221]</div> +<p>The walls of this cellar were badly crumbled, and +at the farther side the girls discovered another cave-like +opening. This was entirely dark and they hesitated +before going in. Then Nyoda took her pocket +flash and Gladys found hers, and by the combined +glimmer of the two the girls found their way into +the farther cave. At first they had to keep the light +on the ground to see where to put their feet and +they were all inside before Nyoda turned her flash +on the walls. Then a great cry of amazement burst +from every girl, ending in a breathless gasp. The +walls and roof of the cave seemed to be made of +precious stones—pearls, sapphires, emeralds, amethysts +and diamonds. They caught the gleam from +the pocket flashes and twinkled and reflected in a +hundred points of dancing light. Great masses of +crystal, faceted like diamonds, hung suspended from +the roof almost touching their heads, seemingly held +up by magic.</p> +<p>“Am I dreaming,” cried Hinpoha, “or is this Alladin’s +cave? What is it, Nyoda? Where are we?”</p> +<p>Nyoda laughed at their open mouths and staring +eyes. “Only in one of Nature’s treasure vaults,” +she said. “This is one of the famous crystal caves +that are found throughout these islands. It’s a form +of rock crystal, strontia, I believe some people call +it, and I don’t doubt but what it’s related to the limestone +in the quarries. Take a good look at it, for +some of these crystals are simply marvellous.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_222">[222]</div> +<p>Their voices echoed and re-echoed weirdly, as +they called to each other, the sound seeming to roll +along the low ceiling. “Look at this mass over +here,” cried Sahwah, penetrating deeper into the +cave, “it looks like a man standing against the wall.”</p> +<p>“And this one looks like a dog lying down,” said +Hinpoha, pointing to another.</p> +<p>Laughing, shouting, exclaiming, they explored the +wonders of the cave until a heavy shock as of something +falling, accompanied by a deafening crash, +rooted them to the ground with fright. “What is +it? What has happened?” they asked one another, +and made their way back to the entrance. But the +entrance was no longer there. Where it had been +there was a solid wall of stone. Their climbing +around among the ruined walls had sent some of +the bricks sliding and these had released a large +rock which had rolled down directly over the opening +into the crystal cave. With desperate force +they pushed against the rock, but their sevenfold +strength made no more impression than a fly brushing +its wings against it. With white faces they +turned to each other when they realized the truth. +They were imprisoned in the cave!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_223">[223]</div> +<p>“The other direction!” cried Sahwah, shaking off +her terror and setting her wits to work. “We may +be able to get out the other way.” Taking the flashlight +from Gladys, whose trembling fingers threatened +to drop it, she led the way into the gloomy recesses +of the cave, whose depths they had penetrated +only a short distance before. They shuddered at the +icicle like crystals, which now seemed like long fingers +reaching down to catch a hold of them, and +shrank back from the crystal masses that took the +forms of men and animals. These now seemed like +ghosts of creatures that had been trapped in the +cave as they were. For trapped they were. In a +few moments their progress was barred by impassable +masses of crystal. Back again they went to the +rock-blocked entrance and beat upon it and pushed +with all their might. All in vain. The rock stood +firm as Gibraltar. They shouted and called and +screamed until the echoes clamored hideously, but +no answering call came from the outside. From +somewhere, far in the distance, came the dismal +sound of falling water, chilling the blood in their +veins.</p> +<p>Helplessly the girls all turned to Nyoda, asking, +“What shall we do?”</p> +<p>Nyoda stood still and tried to face the situation +calmly. She held her flashlight close to the rock +and looked carefully all around the edge. At one +side there was a tiny fissure, not more than half an +inch wide and about six inches long, caused by the +irregular shape of the rock. Nyoda regarded this +minute opening thoughtfully. “If we could put +something through that opening which would act as +a signal, we might attract somebody’s attention who +wouldn’t be able to hear us calling,” she said at +length. “Our voices are so muffled in here they +can’t carry very far outside.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_224">[224]</div> +<p>“Is there anybody on the island to see it?” asked +Gladys doubtfully.</p> +<p>“There are some people here,” answered Nyoda, +“because the fishermen stay all the year round. You +remember those houses we passed on the other side +of the quarry, where the nets were hanging in the +yard?”</p> +<p>“What shall we use for a signal of distress?” +asked Gladys. “Not one of us has a tie or a ribbon +on today.”</p> +<p>“Use my dress skirt,” said Katherine generously. +“It’s so torn anyway that it’ll never feel the same +again, even if it recovers from this trip.” Which +was perfectly true. So they tore the wide hem from +her dress, which made a pennant about six feet long. +Then Sahwah had a further inspiration, and, dipping +her finger into a dark puddle formed on the +floor by a thin stream of moisture trickling down the +wall, she wrote the word HELP on the strip. Nyoda +poked the end through the opening and shoved +the rest out after it, keeping the other end in her +hand, and she could feel by the tugging at the strip +that the high wind had caught the portion outside +and was whipping it about.</p> +<p>“Now shout for all you’re worth,” commanded +Nyoda.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_225">[225]</div> +<p>Early that Saturday morning the Captain had +aroused Slim from his peaceful slumbers unceremoniously. +“Hurry up and come over,” he said, in +response to Slim’s protesting grunt. “Uncle Theodore’s +here with his automobile and he’s going to +take a run over to Freeport this morning and he +said he would take all the fellows along that were +ready at nine o’clock. Hurry.”</p> +<p>Slim needed no second invitation and roused himself +immediately, while the Captain sped to collect +the remainder of the Sandwiches, which was accomplished +in short order, as none of the other invitations +involved resurrection. Nine o’clock found +them all on the curbstone before the Captain’s house, +standing beside Uncle Theodore’s big car, waiting +for the word to pile in. The ride to Freeport was +accomplished in a few hours’ time and after dinner +Uncle Theodore turned the boys loose to see the +town by themselves while he transacted the business +which had taken him thither. Freeport had no attraction +outside of its harbor, and thither the boys +betook themselves without delay. Passenger steamers +left every half hour for the various islands +nearby; lime boats, tugs and scows crowded the +mouth of the river, and the whole atmosphere +breathed of ships. The boys stood and watched a +while and then pined for something to do.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_226">[226]</div> +<p>“Let’s hire a launch,” suggested the Captain, who +felt that it was up to him to furnish the amusement, +inasmuch as he had invited them to come along, +“and go out on the lake.”</p> +<p>Launches were readily to be had and soon they +were curving around in great circles through the +waves, drenched with the spray, and enjoying it as +only boys can enjoy the sensation of riding in a +speed boat.</p> +<p>“Let’s go to Rock Island,” said Slim, who had +not forgotten who else had planned to go there that +day.</p> +<p>“What for?” asked the Captain.</p> +<p>“Oh, nothing,” answered Slim, “except that +there’s a pretty nice aquarium there, and—and the +girls said they were going to be there.”</p> +<p>“But we were politely invited to stay home, if I +remember rightly,” said Bottomless Pitt. “They’re +going to have a pow-wow, or something like that.”</p> +<p>“But if we should run into them accidentally they +would probably be glad to see us,” persisted Slim. +Slim was fond of picnics gotten up by girls on account +of the superior quality of the “grub”; he was +especially fond of Winnebago picnics, because the +Winnebagos treated him better than any other girls +he knew, and as mentioned before, he had a decided +weakness for red hair. Hence his ingenuous desire +to go to Rock Island. The Captain, knowing Slim +like a book, laughed. But he, too, wished he had +been invited to the picnic, and his reasons coincided +in their last item with Slim’s.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_227">[227]</div> +<p>“All right,” he said, and turned the boat’s head +toward the green outline of Rock Island. Half of +the distance across the bay the launch wheezed and +stopped dead.</p> +<p>“Pshaw,” said Slim disgustedly, when the Captain +announced that they had run out of gasoline. +They had come to a stop just off a small rocky +island and with the aid of the one oar the launch +boasted the Captain proceeded to paddle in to shore, +in the hope that he could obtain gasoline there.</p> +<p>“Regular desert island,” grunted Slim, as they +walked and met no one. “None of the cottages +seem to be occupied.”</p> +<p>“Cheer up; we’ll find someone,” said the Captain. +“The fishermen live on these islands all winter. +Look at the limestone quarries over there.”</p> +<p>“And the ruined something or other behind +them,” said the Bottomless Pitt.</p> +<p>“Let’s cut across here,” said Slim, who was ever +on the lookout for short cuts. “I see some houses +over there.”</p> +<p>“And break our necks crawling over those stones,” +said Monkey. “Not much.”</p> +<p>So they started to follow the path that led around +the curve of the shore. “Wonder if it wouldn’t +have been better to cut across, anyway,” said the +Captain, when they had gone some distance. “These +blooming little stones are worse to walk on than +spikes. Those rocks couldn’t have been much +worse.” And he stood still and looked thoughtfully +back at the ruined cellar.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_228">[228]</div> +<p>“Hi!” he exclaimed suddenly. “What’s that?”</p> +<p>“What’s what?” asked Slim.</p> +<p>“That white rag flying from the rock over there. +It surely wasn’t there a minute ago.”</p> +<p>“Probably was, only you didn’t see it,” said Slim, +impatient to go on.</p> +<p>“I’m positive it wasn’t,” said the Captain. “I’m +going over to have a look at it. When rags start +out of rocks there’s something in the wind.” And +he walked briskly toward it, the rest following. As +they drew near their startled eyes fell on the black +letters of the word HELP, traced in wobbly lines.</p> +<p>“Yay!” shouted the boys at the top of their lungs. +“Where are you and what’s the matter?”</p> +<p>Apparently from inside the rock came the feeble +echo of a shout: “We’re in the cave! The rock +covered the doorway!”</p> +<p>“Wait a minute!” called the Captain in answer, +and boylike tried to move the rock himself. “Lend +a hand, fellows,” he said, after one shove against +its solid side. They lent all the hands they had, but +could not budge it. “Pull the bricks out from +around it,” commanded the Captain, taking charge +of the affair like a general, “and look out for your +feet when she lunges over!” They set to work, dislodging +the bricks that held it in, and before long +it moved, tottered, grated and finally, with a great +crash, lunged over and rolled down a little slope.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_229">[229]</div> +<p>Pale and shaken, the Winnebagos emerged into +the light of day. Had the ghosts of their great +grandmothers appeared before them the boys could +not have been more surprised. Questions and answers +flew back and forth thick and fast until the +tale of their finding the cave was told.</p> +<p>“And I’ll never, never, explore anything again!” +finished Hinpoha, in an emphatic tone.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, you will,” said Gladys; “and so will we +all, but the next time we’ll have a company of guides +fore and aft.”</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t it be a better plan,” suggested the +Captain mildly, “to take us along with you wherever +you go? I notice we generally have to come to the +rescue, anyway.”</p> +<p>And the Winnebagos promised to consider the +matter.</p> +<h2 id="c14">CHAPTER XIV +<br /><span class="small">KINDLING THE TORCH</span></h2> +<p>Hinpoha and Sahwah were patiently teaching +Katherine hand signs one Saturday afternoon when +Gladys burst in with a tragic face.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_230">[230]</div> +<p>“Girls,” she cried, with extravagant emphasis, +“have you heard the <i>news</i>?” Then, without waiting +for reply, she continued: “Nyoda’s going to be +<i>married</i>!”</p> +<p>“We know she is,” answered Hinpoha, “a year +from this summer.”</p> +<p>“No, not a year from this summer,” said Gladys, +swelling with the importance of the announcement +she was about to make, “<i>this</i> summer. This very +month!”</p> +<p>An incredulous exclamation burst from the three.</p> +<p>“It’s true,” continued Gladys. “Sherry’s going +to be sent away on a long trip and he wants to take +her with him, so they’re going to be married right +away.”</p> +<p>All four sat stricken, trying to realize that the +evil day which they had dreaded so and which they +had thought far in the future was actually upon +them. Only two more weeks and their idolized +Guardian, who for three years had been a part of +nearly everything they did, would be gone from +them. It seemed that the world was coming to an +end.</p> +<p>In the days that followed gloom hung thick over +the House of the Open Door. Now that Nyoda was +to be in it no longer the Winnebagos lost all joy in +its possession. Each article of furniture that she +had helped to make, each sketch of hers on the wall +telling in clever little pictographs the tale of some +adventure or frolic, gripped them with a fresh pang. +Plans for summer excursions and activities were +dropped.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_231">[231]</div> +<p>“And we were all going ca-camping togu-gether!” +wailed Hinpoha, and damp weather prevailed for +many minutes.</p> +<p>But this was the end of their Senior year in high +school, crowded to the limit with all the bustle and +excitement and festivity of Commencement time, +and the Winnebagos were so busy with examinations +and essays and clothes and songs and parties that +there was no time to fold their hands and grieve. +Katherine, as editor of the class paper, was the star +performer on Class Night, although Miss Snively, +who trained the speakers, had tried to sandpaper +her speech of everything clever. Katherine agreed +to every change she suggested with suspicious readiness, +and then when the night arrived calmly read +her original paper, while the chandeliers dripped +giggles and Miss Snively made sarcastic remarks +about the cracked-voice orator. Somehow the story +of Miss Snively’s attempt to make a hero out of her +fiancé had gotten out, although Katherine always +looked preoccupied whenever the subject was mentioned, +and of late Miss Snively had found the seats +in her recitation room occupied by rows of wise +grins, which somewhat disturbed her lofty dignity. +It was well that this was to be her last year of teaching.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_232">[232]</div> +<p>One of the big events of the last week was the +interscholastic track meet and athletic contest, to +be held on the Washington High athletic field, in +which ten big schools took part. The field was +thronged with spectators, the grand stand was +crowded, school colors floated from tree and pole, +cheers burst from groups of students every few +minutes and the air was electric with suppressed +excitement.</p> +<p>First came the track events, and in these Washington +High was tied with Carnegie Mechanic for +second place. The Winnebagos were glad it was +so, because now the Sandwiches could not crow over +them. The Captain finished first in one of the hundred-yard +dashes right in front of Hinpoha, where +she sat in the grandstand, and he looked over the +heads of the cheering boys straight at her. Hinpoha +dared not applaud him, because he belonged to +Washington’s bitterest rival, but she smiled brightly, +and he dropped his eyes, flushing suddenly.</p> +<p>The girls’ events opened with a game of volley +ball between Washington High and Carnegie Mechanic. +Much to the surprise of the Winnebagos, +they saw Katherine come in with the Washington +players. Katherine was not on the team. But just +before the game opened the girl’s gymnasium director +had spied Katherine sitting at one side of the +field, unconcernedly shaking a pebble out of her shoe +in full view of the grandstand, and hurried over to +her. “Will you fill in this game?” she asked breathlessly. +“One of our team can’t come and we’re short +a girl.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_233">[233]</div> +<p>“But I’ve never played volley ball,” protested +Katherine.</p> +<p>“Oh,” said the gymnasium teacher disappointedly. +Then she added in a kind of desperation, “Well, I +don’t know as it makes any difference. I don’t seem +to be able to find a girl who has played. Just stay +in the background and strike at the ball with the +palms of your hands every time it comes near you. +Let the girls in front get it over the net.”</p> +<p>Katherine uncurled her length from the ground +and followed the gymnasium teacher obligingly. +She was not in the least sensitive about being asked +at the eleventh hour to “fill in,” when she had not +been asked to be on the team before. Washington’s +volley ball team was not a very strong one, and +went all to pieces against the concentrated team +work of the Carnegie Mechanicals. The score rolled +up against Washington steadily. The deafening +yells from the grandstand bewildered them, and they +could neither volley the ball over the net nor return +the Mechanicals’ volleys. They were helpless +from stage fright.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_234">[234]</div> +<p>Katherine dutifully stayed in the background, +sending the ball to the girls at the net, her brow +drawing into anxious puckers, as they fumbled it +time after time. She began to comprehend the rules +of the game and was “getting the hang of it.” The +Mechanicals, with fifteen points to their credit, had +just lost the ball by sending it out of bounds. It +was time to do something. Katherine had noticed +that most of the Washington girls had been trying +to volley the ball across the net from the back line, +instead of passing it on, as she had been doing, and +had been falling short nearly every time. With a +commanding gesture, she claimed the attention of +her team.</p> +<p>“Get back on the volley line in a row,” she ordered. +They obeyed her like sheep. Then she took +her place half-way between the volley line and the +net, facing the girls. “Now,” she said crisply, “whosoever’s +turn it is to volley, shoot the ball to me and +not an inch farther. I’ll get it over the net. The +first one that shoots it over my head is going to get +ducked in the swimming pool!”</p> +<p>In their surprise at this sudden rising up of a +leader, they forgot the racket around them, and the +triumphantly clamoring team on the other side of +the net, and calmed down. The girl with the ball +sent it straight toward Katherine, and with a windmill +motion of her powerful arms, she hit it a sounding +whack and sent it over the net like a meteor. +There was no returning such a volley.</p> +<p>“One!” cried the scorekeeper, and the Washington +corner of the grandstand gave its first yell of +triumph.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_235">[235]</div> +<p>“Now, everyone of you do just the same thing, +one after another,” commanded Katherine to the +volley line. Her utter lack of excitement was bringing +them out of their confusion. The next girl +made an equally good throw and another loud whack +announced that Katherine was volleying. Backing +the net, she could not see where it was going, but a +squeal told her that the girl who should be returning +the ball was fleeing it. Then the machine started +to work. As long as one side scored it was privileged +to keep the volley.</p> +<p>When in operation the machine sounded like this: +“Next!” Whack! Bump! That was all. Katherine’s +command to the server; the impact of her +palms on the ball; and the thump of the ball on the +ground on the Mechanical side of the net. Up went +the Washington score.</p> +<p>Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! +Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve!</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Washington Rah!</p> +<p class="t0">Washington Rah!</p> +<p class="t0">Katherine Adams,</p> +<p class="t0">Rah! Rah! Rah!”</p> +</div> +<p>The atmosphere was rent with the yell.</p> +<p>Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen!</p> +<p>“Next!” Whack! Bump!</p> +<p>SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN! EIGHTEEN! +NINETEEN! TWENTY!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_236">[236]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“WASHINGTON RAH!</p> +<p class="t0">KATHERINE RAH!</p> +<p class="t0">KATHERINE AD——”</p> +</div> +<p>TWENTY-ONE!</p> +<p class="tb">The umpire ran along the net, holding up her +hands, and the teams broke ranks.</p> +<p>“Washington High winner in the volley ball +game!” shouted the scorekeeper through her megaphone. +“Score, twenty-one to fifteen!”</p> +<p>And the grandstand thundered at Katherine, who +suddenly got stage fright when it was all over and +stood pigeon-toed with her head hanging down. +Then she noticed for the first time that her middy +was on hind side before and the long collar was +down in front. Her horrified expression threw the +spectators into convulsions. They had been laughing +at it all through the game, but her amazing performance +had made it a secondary consideration.</p> +<p>A few moments later she strolled nonchalantly +into the grandstand and sat down among the Winnebagos. +“That certainly is a strenuous game for a +person with a dellyket constitooshun like mine,” she +remarked ruefully, rubbing her swollen knuckles. +Three fingers were sprained as a result of doing all +the volleying for twelve girls, but she didn’t think it +worth while to mention the matter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_237">[237]</div> +<p>Thus passed the days, filled to overflowing with +fun and excitement. Katherine, thoroughly uncomfortable +in a crisp new white dress and blue sash, +tripped blithely along the elm-shaded avenue in the +glow of the late June sunset. It was the night of +the class banquet, and her mind was intent on the +speech she was to make. Thus absorbed, she did +not watch where she was going, and a sprawling +root from a big tree tripped her unexpectedly and +brought her to her knees on the soft lawn. Brought +into such close contact with the ground, she spied +something lying at the foot of the giant oak beside +which she had fallen. It was a black leather bill +fold, with a heavy elastic band around it.</p> +<p>“Daggers and dirks!” said Katherine, borrowing +the Captain’s favorite expression. “What’s this?” +She slipped off the elastic band and opened the bill +fold. Across the inner flap there was a name printed +in gold letters. Katherine squinted at the name and +explored the inner recesses of the wallet. She took +one look and hastily bound the wallet together again +with its elastic and dropped it gingerly into her hand +bag, as if it were red hot. Then she proceeded on +her way, more absorbed than ever, but the thing her +brain was intent on now was not her banquet speech.</p> +<p>Crossing the little park-like square, which lay on +the way to school, she came upon Veronica walking +slowly up and down the sidewalk, intently searching +for something on the ground. She was very +pale and showed signs of great agitation. It was +the first time Katherine had met her face to face +since she had left the group.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_238">[238]</div> +<p>“Have you lost something?” asked Katherine abruptly.</p> +<p>“No,” said Veronica, straightening up and flushing +deeply, “that is, nothing much, I—I just dropped +a—something out of my purse along here somewhere.”</p> +<p>“What was it?” asked Katherine.</p> +<p>Veronica gave a last frantic look along the walk.</p> +<p>“It was a—” She hesitated, and then burst out:</p> +<p>“Oh, Katherine, it was my bill fold, and it had five +hundred dollars in it!”</p> +<p>“Five hundred dollars!” echoed Katherine faintly.</p> +<p>Veronica ran back and forth along the walk, looking +desperately into every crack and crevice. Every +few minutes she held up her hand and looked at her +wrist watch; then she would return to the search +with more energy than before. Katherine also +looked at her watch.</p> +<p>“I’ll help you hunt,” she said, taking the other +side of the walk. “Are you sure you lost it along +here?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Pretty sure,” answered Veronica. “I know I +had it when I was back on Elm Street, because I +looked to make sure.”</p> +<p>“The last time you saw it was back on Elm +Street,” mused Katherine. “That’s two blocks behind +us. We’ll have to go all the way back.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_239">[239]</div> +<p>“By the way,” said Katherine, a few minutes +later, “it’s none of my business, I suppose, but what +on earth were you doing with five hundred dollars +in your bag?”</p> +<p>Veronica started and looked confused for a minute. +But she answered naturally enough. “I drew +it from the bank this afternoon to give my uncle to +pay for some investment he is making for me, and +I was to take it over to his studio, but I was detained +and he had gone when I got there, so I was +just bringing it home when I lost it.” She stared +up the road with widening eyes, not toward Elm +Street, where the purse might lie, but toward the +big avenue in the other direction, where the streetcars +clanged townward. Katherine stared thoughtfully +at the suitcase Veronica had with her.</p> +<p>“Have you been away?” she asked casually.</p> +<p>“No,” said Veronica, with a start. Then, as her +eyes followed Katherine’s, she added: “I’ve just +been carrying some—things in there.”</p> +<p>Katherine looked at her watch again. “What did +your bill fold look like?” she asked.</p> +<p>“It was a small black one,” answered Veronica, +“with an elastic band around it. It had my name in +gold letters across the inner flap.”</p> +<p>“Hadn’t we better go home and tell your uncle,” +suggested Katherine, “and get him to help us find +it?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_240">[240]</div> +<p>“No, no!” cried Veronica, shrinking back in +alarm. “Don’t tell him! I wouldn’t have him know +for worlds that I’ve lost it.”</p> +<p>“But if you don’t find it he’ll know about it, anyway,” +said Katherine practically.</p> +<p>Veronica’s face went white again and she returned +to the search with desperate haste. “I must +find it! I must find it!” she was saying over and +over again under her breath.</p> +<p>Katherine was just as diligent in her search. She +pawed through the bushes with her white gloves and +sank on her knees in the soft grass, accumulating +more and more grass stains all the while. The last +streak of daylight faded and the big arc lights began +to blaze among the tall trees, and still they +searched—Katherine in a patient, systematic way, +Veronica hysterically. The few people who crossed +the square were closely questioned as to whether or +not they had found anything, but the same disappointing +answer came from all of them. Veronica +looked at her watch with ever-increasing anxiety; +Katherine looked at her furtively almost as often.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_241">[241]</div> +<p>After two hours of nerve-wracking search a +steeple clock nearby boomed out nine strokes; +slowly, deliberately, its clamor shattered the summer +night’s stillness. Veronica sank down on a +stone which bordered the walk and covered her face +with her hands. Katherine straightened up and +stood for a moment looking thoughtfully at Veronica; +then she went on searching methodically. Veronica +sat huddled on the stone for fully five +minutes; then, with an expression which was +strangely like relief, she rose up and followed Katherine’s +example. Fifteen minutes more went by +with scarcely a word from either girl. Then the +steeple clock chimed the quarter hour. A moment +later came the sound of a train whistle, far off, +but borne clearly on the still air, followed by the +faint rumble of distant cars going over a culvert.</p> +<p>Katherine stood still until the sound had died +away, then she went up to Veronica, led her to an +iron bench nearby, and shoved her into it. Then +she opened her handbag and took out a small black +wallet fastened round with an elastic band, and laid +it on Veronica’s knee without a word.</p> +<p>Veronica looked at it and uttered an incredulous +scream of joy. “Where did you find it?” she +gasped.</p> +<p>“Back on Elm Street, before I met you,” said +Katherine quietly.</p> +<p>“Back on Elm Street, before you met me?” repeated +Veronica wonderingly. “You had it all this +while?” Katherine nodded. “Then why did you +keep it all this while?” demanded Veronica. “Why +didn’t you give it to me at once and save all this +agony?”</p> +<p>Katherine looked at her narrowly. “I didn’t +dare give it to you <i>before nine o’clock</i>,” she said +significantly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_242">[242]</div> +<p>Veronica started and clutched Katherine’s arm +nervously. “What do you mean?” she asked +faintly.</p> +<p>Katherine put her arm around Veronica and drew +her toward her so she could look into her face. The +light from the swinging arc was directly upon her. +“You were going to run away on that nine o’clock +train, weren’t you?” she asked quietly.</p> +<p>Veronica jerked away and turned dreadfully pale. +“How—how did you know?” she faltered.</p> +<p>“I didn’t, for sure,” said Katherine. “But I made +a pretty good guess. You see, when I found that +wallet, I naturally looked inside. There I saw your +name, five hundred dollars in bills, and a note which +read:</p> +<p>“‘Take the New York Central Flyer at nine +o’clock Wednesday night.’ It was signed with the +initials A. T., which I suppose stand for that friend +of yours with the plush whiskers, Alex Toboggan.”</p> +<p>“Alex Tobin,” corrected Veronica under her +breath.</p> +<p>“That looked suspicious to me,” continued Katherine. +“I’ve seen him around with you a good deal, +and I don’t like his looks, not a little bit. Then a +minute later I came upon you with a suitcase, hunting +your wallet and looking at your watch as if you +were crazy. So I came to the conclusion that you +were planning to run away on that nine o’clock +train, and decided to hold you up by keeping the +money until the train was gone. Am I right?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_243">[243]</div> +<p>Veronica’s eyes dropped and her face was crimson. +“You are right,” she said unsteadily. “I was +planning to run away on that train. After I dropped +out of the Camp Fire Group I had no girl friends +and became lonelier and lonelier all the while. The +only interest I had was my music, and the only +place to which I went was to hear the Symphony +Orchestra rehearse. There, Alex Tobin, who is +really a fine violinist, was always very friendly to +me and kept telling me I should go to New York +and study with Martini, who is the best teacher in +the country. Uncle would not let me go because he +said I was too young and he could not go with me. +But Alex Tobin kept telling me that uncle was jealous +of my talent and was trying to keep me back on +purpose, and if I had any money in my own right I +should take it and go anyhow. Uncle quarreled +with Alex Tobin and after that he forbade me to +have anything to do with him, but he used to meet +me outside, and always he talked about my talent, +and what a shame it was I could not study with +Martini, and things like that, until I began to think +I was abused. I was very lonely, you know, and +had nothing else to think about.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_244">[244]</div> +<p>“Well, this week was the end of the Symphony +Orchestra rehearsals, and Alex Tobin was going +home to New York. He promised me that if I +would play in a restaurant there in which he is interested +he would see me safely there and introduce +me to Martini. He talked so much about it that I +finally yielded and said I would go. I had money in +the bank, but could not draw it out without uncle’s +consent. However, just this week he wanted to invest +five hundred dollars for me and gave me his +signature so I could get it. You know how easy +uncle is about money matters, and he thought it was +perfectly all right to send me to the bank alone. I +have gone about by myself so much, you know. But +instead of going to his studio with it, as I was supposed +to, I kept it with me and did not go home at +all.</p> +<p>“I was to meet Mr. Tobin in the station at a quarter +before nine. If I was not there when the train +went he was going without me. I was so excited all +day I did not have time to stop and think what I +was doing, and how terrible it was to run away +from uncle and aunt, when they had been so kind +to me, even to study with Martini. I looked upon +Alex Tobin as my friend and benefactor, instead of +a horrid, scheming man, as I see he is now. He just +wanted me to play in that restaurant of his for nothing, +and draw crowds, and beyond that he really +didn’t care what became of me.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_245">[245]</div> +<p>“When I lost the money I was nearly frantic, because +I was afraid I would miss the train. But +when the clock struck nine and I knew the train +was gone, I suddenly felt glad, glad, although I +had been so anxious to go. For I had come to myself +and felt sick at the thought of what I had +almost done. Oh, Katherine, how can I ever thank +you for keeping me from doing it?”</p> +<p>“Don’t try,” said Katherine cheerfully, rubbing +away at a grass stain on her skirt with the wreck of +a white silk glove.</p> +<p>For the first time Veronica noticed Katherine’s +white dress. “Oh, Katherine,” she exclaimed in +distress, “tonight is your class banquet! I heard +some of the other girls talking about it. And you +have missed it for my sake!”</p> +<p>“Why, so it is,” said Katherine, with a well-feigned +start of recollection. “I had forgotten all +about it.”</p> +<p>“No, you didn’t forget it,” persisted Veronica; +“you deliberately spent the time here with me.”</p> +<p>“Well, never mind about that,” said Katherine +soothingly. “It was worth it.”</p> +<p>“Worth it? Oh, Katherine, after the way I have +treated you! I once called you a peasant, but you +are noble—you are a princess! It is I who am not +fit to associate with you!”</p> +<p>“O Glory!” exclaimed Katherine in an embarrassed +way. Katherine was like a fish out of water +when anyone began to express emotion. “Forget +about the whole business,” she said, “and come back +into the group. You need to have something on your +mind.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_246">[246]</div> +<p>“They will never take me back now,” said Veronica +sadly, “after this dreadful thing I did.”</p> +<p>“But you didn’t do it,” maintained Katherine, +“you came to your senses in time. We all have +done some pretty foolish things, I guess, if they +weren’t quite so startling as the one you planned. +But anyway, they’ll never know a thing about it, so +they can’t have the laugh on you.”</p> +<p>“You mean you’ll never tell anyone?” cried Veronica +unbelievingly.</p> +<p>“Not a soul,” said Katherine earnestly. “Not any +of the Winnebagos, nor your uncle, nor your aunt, +nor even Nyoda. Never a word, on my honor as a—a +peasant! If I had intended telling anyone I’d +have taken your wallet to your uncle right away, +with the note in it, instead of keeping you back in +the way I did. But I knew you’d come to yourself +presently, and there was no use making a fuss. I’ll +keep your secret, never fear. I won’t even have to +explain my absence from the class banquet. They +all know how absent-minded I am, and they will +simply think I forgot. That’s the advantage of +having a reputation!” And Veronica, looking into +Katherine’s homely, honest face, knew that her +word would stand against flood and earthquake.</p> +<p>“Do you really think the Winnebagos will take +me back?” she asked timidly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_247">[247]</div> +<p>For answer Katherine picked up Veronica’s suitcase, +linked her arm through hers, and started homeward +at a lively pace. “You <i>are</i> back,” she said +simply. “You never were really ‘put out,’ you +know. You left of your own accord and we have +missed you very much and were just waiting for +you to say the word. Oh, I’m so glad!” And her +feet began to shuffle back and forth in a lively manner, +and she began to hum in sprightly tones the +tune, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” +Thus it was that the Torch, carried by Katherine, +drew Veronica to the Fire after all, although Katherine +did not even know that she held the Torch in +her hand.</p> +<p class="tb">The last meeting of the Winnebagos with Nyoda +came, oh, much too soon! The boys were warned +to stay away, for not even these dear friends were +to be allowed to disturb the sacredness of that gathering. +They cooked supper for the last time, trying +to be riotously cheerful, with the tears dripping off +the ends of their noses into the dishes. All the +favorite Winnebago messes were cooked, because +Nyoda couldn’t decide which one she wanted most. +There was Shrimp Wiggle and Slumgullion and +scones and ice cream with Wohelo Special Sauce, +which was a heavenly mixture of maple syrup, chocolate +and chopped nuts.</p> +<p>The feast was soon spread, and they gathered +around the table to sing the Camp Fire blessing,</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_248">[248]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“If we have earned the right to eat this bread,”</p> +</div> +<p>and most of the voices quavered before they came +to the end.</p> +<p>That supper remained in their memories many +years afterward. Katherine had to deliver all her +familiar speeches over and over again; Migwan, +who had come home from college in time to attend +the farewell meeting, gave a fine history of the +group from its beginning; Gladys danced her best +dances; and all the favorite stunts were gone +through and the favorite songs sung. And Nyoda +looked upon and listened to it all with a smiling face +and tear-dimmed eyes. The Winnebagos had +formed a large part of her life for the past three +years. Veronica, who was at the supper, and had +been welcomed back into the group with open arms +upon her humble apology, wept disconsolately most +of the time. To have been restored to the good +graces of this wonderful young woman, only to +lose her again immediately afterward! She bitterly +regretted her withdrawing from the group during +the winter and thus losing her last opportunity of +comradeship with Nyoda.</p> +<p>Supper over they wandered out into the warm +June twilight to watch for the evening stars before +beginning the ceremonial meeting. “We’ll have the +same stars as you do, anyhow,” said Hinpoha, “and +when they come out we’ll think of each other, will +you, Nyoda?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_249">[249]</div> +<p>“Indeed I will,” said Nyoda, heartily.</p> +<p>“And when Cassiopea comes out the W will stand +for Winnebago,” added Gladys.</p> +<p>“And that long scraggly constellation will remind +you of me,” said Katherine, and they all had to +laugh in spite of their sadness.</p> +<p>By and by they wandered back to the House of +the Open Door and Nyoda went up alone and left +them standing before the door. Then pretty soon +the signal bird calls floated up and Nyoda’s voice +called down from above, saying, “Who’s there?” +and they answered with the foolish passwords and +countersigns that they loved because they were so +foolish. One by one they climbed the ladder and +took their places in the circle, their eyes on Nyoda, +as she twirled the drill with the bow, kindling their +last Council Fire. The spark came immediately and +leapt into flame and kindled the fagots piled on the +hearth. Feeling the spell of it as they never had before, +they sang “Burn, Fire, Burn.”</p> +<p>Then came the last roll call. Nyoda’s voice lingered +lovingly on each name: “Hinpoha; Sahwah; +Geyahi (Gladys); Iagoonah; Medmangi; Nakwisi; +Waban (Veronica).”</p> +<p>Migwan read the Count, written in her inimitable +lilting metre, which touched on the many happy +times they had had together, and ended,</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_250">[250]</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“All too brief that Moon of Gladness,</p> +<p class="t0">Long shall be the years of parting!”</p> +</div> +<p>Then Hinpoha put her head on her knee with a +stifled sob, and at that they all broke down and cried +together, with their arms around Nyoda.</p> +<p>“Come girls, be good,” said Nyoda, after a minute, +sitting up and wiping her eyes. “Stand up and +take your honors like men!”</p> +<p>And she proceeded to raise all the girls who had +not already taken that honor, to the rank of Torchbearer, +excepting, of course, Veronica. As she +awarded the pins she spoke a few words to each +girl, telling in what way she had become worthy of +this highest rank. When she came to Katherine, +she laid her hand on her shoulder. “Good wine +needs no bush,” she said with a whimsical smile. +“And Katherine needs no advocate. Her actions +speak for themselves. Her masterly handling of +that volley ball game the other day gives the keynote +to her character. The ability to snatch victory +from seeming defeat is a gift which will carry one +far in the world. And do not forget that Katherine +went into that game as a humble filler-in, simply to +oblige the team, and without a thought of gaining +any glory thereby. That is what I meant by losing +one’s self in the common cause which is a necessary +qualification for a Torchbearer. Katherine would +go to any trouble to help somebody else get glory +for themselves, or to help them out of trouble.” +And Veronica almost burst with the desire to tell +of the last great service Katherine had done her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_251">[251]</div> +<p>Katherine blushed at Nyoda’s words and winked +back the tears and dropped the pin, and murmured +brokenly that she would try to be a worthy Torchbearer, +and would do her best to stop being so absent-minded. +And then all the Torchbearers, new +and old, joined hands in a circle and repeated their +desire:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“The light that has been given to me</p> +<p class="t0">I desire to pass undimmed unto others.”</p> +</div> +<p>“And now a word about the future,” said Nyoda, +putting wood on the fire and sending the flames +roaring up the chimney. “You girls declare you do +not want another Guardian. I heartily agree with +you in this. That does not mean that I would be +jealous of a possible successor. But I think the +time has come when you no longer need a Guardian. +For three years you have been bound together by ties +stronger than sisterhood, and have had all the fun +that it is possible for girls to have, working always +as a unit. You have stood in a close circle, always +facing inward. Now you must turn around and +face outward. You have been leaders from the beginning, +and I have trained you as leaders. And a +leader must stand alone. Each one of you will +have a different way of passing on the light. The +time has come to begin. The old order has passed +when you did every thing under my direction. You +must kindle new Camp Fires now and teach to +others the things you have learned.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_252">[252]</div> +<p>“Oh, Nyoda,” cried Gladys sorrowfully, “do you +mean that all our good times together are over? +That this is the end of it all?”</p> +<p>“No, dear, this is not the end,” said Nyoda cheerfully, +“this is the ‘beginning of it all.’ I do not +mean for a moment that you girls are not to meet +and frolic together any more; but that must not be +the main thing. You must begin leading groups of +younger girls and teaching them to have a good +time as you have learned to. What wonderful +Guardians you will make in time!” she said musingly.</p> +<p>“Besides,” she added, after a moment’s silence, +while the girls thoughtfully pondered the new idea +she had given them, “you had come to the parting +of the ways, although you didn’t seem to realize it. +You have graduated from school, and next year +Hinpoha and Gladys and Katherine are going away +to college, each one to a different city, and Nakwisi +is to travel with her aunt, and Veronica will be going +to New York to study music sooner or later. That +leaves only Sahwah and Medmangi here in the city. +You couldn’t go on as you have in the past, even if +I were not going away. But come,” she cried in an +animated tone, “enough of solemn talk! We’ve had +three years together, and nobody can take them +away from us, never. And we’re all together now. +Let the future take care of itself; this is today! +Come, come, a song!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_253">[253]</div> +<p>And once more the rafters rang:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“O we are Winnebagos and we’re loyal friends and true,</p> +<p class="t0">We always work in harmony in everything we do,</p> +<p class="t0">We always think the weather’s fine, in sunshine or in snow,</p> +<p class="t0">We’re happy all the time because we’re maids of Wohelo!”</p> +</div> +<p>The echoes died away and then sprang into life +again.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“For we are Winnebagos,</p> +<p class="t0">For we are Winnebagos,</p> +<p class="t0">For we are Winnebagos,</p> +<p class="t0">And that’s why we’re so spry!”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_254">[254]</div> +<p>“A toast!” cried Nyoda, “a toast to the future!” +And they drank it in the remains of the cocoa. +Their eyes met as they clinked the cups, and overflowed. +“Oh, my girls,” cried Nyoda, trying to get +her arms around all of them at once, “there never +<i>was</i> such a group! And there never <i>will</i> be such a +group! I just can’t leave you!” Then she pulled +herself up again. The time was passing and she +must hasten, for she was leaving on the train late +that night. Her marriage was to take place in the +East. “Come, girls, ‘Mystic Fire.’” And once +again their voices rose in musical chant:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“With hand uplifted we claim thy power,</p> +<p class="t0">Guide and keep us as we go,</p> +<p class="t0">True to Wohelo.</p> +<p class="t0">Thy law is our law from this hour,</p> +<p class="t0">Thy mystic spirit’s flame will show</p> +<p class="t0">Us the way to go.”</p> +</div> +<p>And so on to the end.</p> +<p>But when they stood in the close circle with which +the song ends, Nyoda stooped to the hearth, and, +plucking forth a burning brand, held it aloft as a +torch, and the girls passed in front of her, each +carrying a tiny torch in her hand, which she lit +from the big one. Then the circle stood complete +once more, a ring of shining light. Silence fell on +all. The moment of parting had come.</p> +<p>“Don’t say good-bye,” begged Nyoda. “Act as if +I were a guest just leaving for a short time.”</p> +<p>And bravely, with voices that did not falter to +the end, they sang the familiar guest song:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Our guest, may she come again soon——”</p> +</div> +<div class="pb" id="Page_255">[255]</div> +<p>and followed it with a fervent cheer:</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“O Nyoda, here’s to you,</p> +<p class="t0">Our hearts will e’er be true,</p> +<p class="t0">We will never find your equal</p> +<p class="t0">Though we search the whole world through!”</p> +</div> +<p>Then the circle turned resolutely and faced outward. +A moment more they lingered, and then they +went forth into the night, carrying their torches +with them.</p> +<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">THE END</span></p> +<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> +<ul><li>Silently corrected palpable typos in spelling and punctuation</li> +<li>Adjusted front matter to give a complete list of the series</li> +</ul> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, by +Hildegard G. Frey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + +***** This file should be named 38934-h.htm or 38934-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/9/3/38934/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. 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: + + https://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. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/38934-h/images/cover.jpg b/38934-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32570e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/38934-h/images/fire.png b/38934-h/images/fire.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..893b5f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-h/images/fire.png diff --git a/38934-h/images/front.jpg b/38934-h/images/front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..816e3be --- /dev/null +++ b/38934-h/images/front.jpg diff --git a/38934.txt b/38934.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa6734c --- /dev/null +++ b/38934.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6870 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, 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' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + +Author: Hildegard G. Frey + +Release Date: February 20, 2012 [EBook #38934] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Camp Fire Girls' + Larks and Pranks + + + OR + The House of the Open Door + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + AUTHOR OF + The Camp Fire Girls Series + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + Publishers New York + + + + + THE + Camp Fire Girls Series + + A Series of Stories for Camp Fire Girls Endorsed by + the Officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization + + + By HILDEGARD G. FREY + + + The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods + or, The Winnebago's Go Camping + + The Camp Fire Girls at School + or, The Wohelo Weavers + + The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House + or, The Magic Garden + + The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way + + The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks + or, The House of the Open Door + + The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen's Isle + or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars + + The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road + or, Glorify Work + + The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit + or, Over The Top With the Winnebago's + + The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery + or, The Christmas Adventures at Carver House + + The Camp Fire Girls at Camp Keewaydin + or, Down Paddles + + + Copyright, 1917 + By A. L. Burt Company + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' + LARKS AND PRANKS + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE HOUSE OF THE OPEN DOOR + + +It was the crisp chill of an early October evening; in the still air the +dead leaves came rustling down with a soft sound like whispers, while the +crickets chirped a cheery welcome from the waiting earth. Over the +treetops a big yellow hunter's moon was rising; its comical face grinning +good-naturedly. It looked down on the dark outlines of a large barn +standing in the shadow of a tall tree and the grin widened perceptibly. +Evidently something was happening on earth. + +A dark form stole softly up the long drive leading to the barn and paused +before the door. Through the silence there rose the whistling wail of the +whippoorwill, repeated three times, and ending abruptly in the squall of +a catbird. From within the blackness of the barn came an echo of the +whippoorwill's call, followed by a much more cheerful note--the carol of +the bluebird. Then a clear voice called from inside, "Who goes there?" + +"A friend," came the reply. + +"Stand and give the countersign," commanded the voice inside. + +"Other Council Fires were here before," responded the newcomer. + +"Advance and give the Inner Password," said the invisible sentinel. + +The figure passed through the dark entrance and came to a halt just +inside, crying, "Kolah Olowan!" + +"Mount!" commanded the voice above, and the stranger lost no time in +obeying the invitation. Scrambling up the ladder fastened to the wall +which did duty as a staircase, she thrust aside the curtain at the top +and stepped out into the lighted upper chamber. + +Anyone seeing that dark and deserted looking building from the outside +would never guess how bright and cheerful was that upper room within. A +wood fire roared in a cobblestone fireplace, its gleam lighting up walls +hung with leather skins and gay Indian blankets and festooned with sprays +of bittersweet. Several more Indian blankets were spread out on the floor +in lieu of rugs, while from the rafters were suspended woven baskets and +pieces of pottery. Ranged around the sides of the chamber, where the +sloping roof met the floor, were four beds, all different, and only one +indicating that the dwellers in that secret lodge were civilized persons. +The first was a neat cot bed with blankets tucked in smoothly all around, +and a dust cover folded up at the foot; the second was an "Indian bed" +made of pine branches, dried ferns and sweet grasses, piled several feet +high and ingeniously confined by woven reeds and pliant twigs. The scent +of the sweet grasses, mingled with the aromatic odor of the pine, filled +the room with a dreamy fragrance that seemed like a charm to lure down +the Sleep Manitou. The third was a pile of bearskins and the fourth was +another kind of Indian bed, made of smooth round willow rods tied +together with ropes and laid across two poles fastened into the wall. + +No windows were visible, as these had been covered with skins. Except for +the camp bed, the wide hearthstone and one other detail it might have +been the lodge of some Indian Chief of olden time. That other detail was +a green felt pennant stretched across the chimney above the stone shelf +of the fireplace, bearing in clean-cut English letters the word +WINNEBAGO. Most of our readers have probably guessed the truth before +this--the Indian lodge we have been describing is the meeting place of +the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls and the solitary visitor who uttered the +plaintive cry of the whippoorwill with its grotesque ending in a cat call +is none other than our old friend, Sahwah the Sunfish. + +"O Nyoda, such larks!" cried Sahwah, skipping across the room and +bestowing a hasty embrace on the sentinel guarding the fire, whom the +reader has doubtless suspected of being Miss Kent, the Guardian of the +Winnebago group. + +Nyoda laughingly shook herself free and smoothed out the Ceremonial dress +she held in her hand, which had become sadly crumpled during the process +of Sahwah's bear hug. "What mischief are you into this time?" she asked +fondly, smiling down into Sahwah's dancing eyes. + +Sahwah went into a gale of giggles before she could explain. "You know +Gladys was going to drive all of us girls down in the Glow-worm +to-night," she said, controlling her laughter with an effort, "and she +telephoned Hinpoha while I was there to dinner that she was over at Mrs. +Varden's, the dressmaker's, having a fit, and the Glow-worm was standing +out in front of the house, so we should gather up the other girls and get +into the car and wait for her to come out, to save her the time of going +around after the girls, for her fit threatened to be a lengthy one. So +Hinpoha started out after Medmangi and Nakwisi and I went back home after +these apples, which I'd forgotten to take along to Hinpoha's. When I got +to the corner of the street along came Gladys in the Glow-worm and said +she had an errand to do for her mother in a hurry and we had better come +straight out here without her and she would come later. I hurried over to +Mrs. Varden's house to tell the girls, but when I got nearly there I saw +a black car standing out in front and Hinpoha and Nakwisi and Medmangi +sitting in it as cool as cucumbers, thinking they were in the Glow-worm. +I recognized the car as belonging to that horribly bashful son of Mrs. +Varden's, and I couldn't resist the temptation to let the girls sit in it +until he came out. So I stole back up the street, keeping in the shadow +of the trees so the girls wouldn't see me, and came out here. Oh, won't +there be a situation though, when 'Dolly' Varden comes out and finds his +nice bachelor car full of bold, bad girls!" + +The picture was too much for Sahwah, and she rolled on the bed shrieking +with laughter, in which Nyoda joined heartily. "I wonder how long it will +be before they come," said Sahwah, rising from the bed and wiping her +eyes. "What shall we do to pass away the time?" + +"If I were you," advised Nyoda, "I would spend it searching a nice safe +retreat to which you can fly when they come and find out you didn't tell +them." + +Hardly had she spoken the words when there floated up from below the +familiar cry of the whippoorwill, followed successively by the long, +eerie laugh of the loon, the blithe whistle of the quail and the song of +the robin. "There they are!" exclaimed Sahwah in mock terror. "Where +shall I hide? Oh, I have it, I'll get inside of that pile of bearskins +and listen while they tell their tale of woe to you and then I'll hop out +and laugh at them." Quick as a flash she jumped into the bearskin bed and +pulled the skins over her so that she was entirely concealed. + +With a great deal of chattering and giggling the three arrivals were +mounting the ladder. "Keep on going, Hinpoha!" exclaimed Nakwisi, "you're +stepping on my hand." + +"Keep on going yourself," retorted Hinpoha, "you haven't a pie in your +hand." Just at that moment her foot slipped and she clutched wildly at +the ladder for support. + +"There goes the pie!" shrieked someone, as it described a circle in the +air and landed with a thud. Hinpoha wrung her hands in grief, for her +mouth was already watering for that crisp pastry. + +Medmangi walked over to view the remains. "It isn't hurt a mite," she +said calmly, picking it up and dusting it off. "Fortunately it landed +right side up in the tin." + +"O Nyoda," cried Hinpoha, beaming once more now that the feast of pie was +assured, "we had the most fun getting here! Gladys told us the Glow-worm +was standing out in front of the Varden's house and we should get in and +wait for her, and we saw a car and got in. Pretty soon out came young Mr. +Varden, got into the front seat without looking to the right or left and +drove off. We thought of course he was driving Gladys' car away and we +all three shrieked at him at once. He pretty nearly dropped dead when he +heard us, and stopped the car so suddenly we all flew out of the seat. +But he was perfectly grand about it when we found out our mistake. He +told us Gladys had gone home fifteen minutes before, but he would be +perfectly delighted to drive us where we wanted to go. And so he brought +us out," she finished with a dramatic flourish, and sat down heavily on +top of the bearskin bed where Sahwah lay hidden. Immediately there was an +upheaval and a grotesque animal sprang from the bed, an animal which had +the skin of a bear and two red stockinged legs which capered wildly about +while their owner shrieked piercingly, "She sat on my breathing apparatus +and I won't be able to talk for a week!" + +"You _are_ talking, you goose," said Hinpoha, calmly seating herself +again after poking the bed to see if it were further inhabited. + +"You missed it, Sahwah, by going home," she continued. "Too bad you +weren't along to share the fun." + +Sahwah's expression was funny to behold when she learned how the joke had +turned out, for it was not on the girls after all, but on herself, for +she had walked all the way to the lodge by herself. She looked rather +silly as she caught Nyoda's eye, but while Nyoda twinkled mischievously +at her Sahwah knew that she would never give her away. But of course when +Gladys arrived a few minutes later and heard the story, Sahwah's part in +it came out and she had to stand the gibes of the others because her joke +had turned round on herself, until Nyoda called the beginning of the +Ceremonial and peace was restored. + +One name has been dropped from the Count Book of the Winnebagos since +last we heard the roll called, and to another there is no reply, although +it is always called. Early in the fall Chapa the Chipmunk moved to a +distant city, and so for the first time the close circle of the +Winnebagos was broken. Then shortly afterward Migwan went away to college +and her departure caused a fresh bereavement. Though Migwan had been of +such a very quiet nature, her influence had been widely felt, and the +girls missed her more and more as the days went on. Hinpoha, especially, +was almost inconsolable, for she and Migwan had always stood a little +closer together than the rest of the girls. This was the first Ceremonial +Meeting without the two and it seemed very strange indeed to omit Chapa's +name from the roll, and when Migwan's name was called and was followed by +silence, Hinpoha sniffed audibly and wiped her eyes. + +"Sister, this is a very solemn occasion," said Sahwah the irrepressible, +in such a forced tone of sorrow that it was impossible not to laugh at +her. + +"That's right," said Nyoda. "It won't do for us to pull long faces. We +have vowed to 'be happy' you know. Think how much worse off Chapa is +alone in a strange city. Come, be cheerful and tell what kind deeds you +have seen done today. You begin, Sahwah." + +Sahwah took hold of her toes with her hands and tilted back and forth on +the floor as she spoke. "Sally Jones did me a great service yesterday in +composition class. You know Sally Jones--the one they call the +Blunderbuss. Well, you know what a pig I am when it comes to writing +composition. I never wrote one yet that I didn't get a blot on. Last week +when I handed mine in Miss Snively said that if there was a blot on my +paper this week she would mark me zero for the month. So yesterday when +we had to write one in class I took the utmost care and got it all done +spotlessly and was just signing my name when Anna Green behind me tried +to pick a thread off my collar and laid her fishy cold hand against my +neck. I jumped and wriggled and the result was a beautiful blot on my +composition. There wasn't time to copy it over because it was almost the +end of the hour, so I resigned myself to a nice fat cipher on my report +card this month. Then Miss Snively sent Sally around to collect the +papers and when she came to my desk she leaned across it in such an +awkward way that she upset my inkwell all over my composition and my one +small blot was completely hidden by the deluge. Miss Snively graciously +requested me to do it over in rest hour, which I did, and handed it in in +perfect shape. Upsetting that inkwell was the kindest thing anybody ever +did for me." + +There was a moment of laughter at Sahwah's tale of kindness and then +quiet fell on the group again. "Tell us a story, Nyoda," begged Hinpoha, +breaking the silence, "we're getting low in our minds again." + +"Yes, do," begged the others. + +Nyoda sat silent a moment staring thoughtfully into the fire. Her hands +were clasped around her knees and the light shone on the diamond ring +which now encircled the fourth finger of her left hand--the only thing +which made the girls realize that their amazing adventures of the first +week in September had been a reality and not a dream. + +"In a village in eastern Hungary," began Nyoda, "there lived a girl about +your age. Her father was a very wealthy man, and lived on a great estate. +Veronica--that was the girl's name--was the only child, and had +everything that her heart desired. The thing she loved to do the best was +ride horse-back and she had a beautiful horse for her very own. She +showed great talent on the violin and had the best masters. Veronica grew +to be seventeen as happy as a girl could be, with an indulgent father and +a beautiful, sweet mother. Then a dreadful thing happened. War was +declared in the country and the village where they lived was taken by the +enemy. Her father was killed, their home was burned and her mother died. +Veronica, with the rest of the people in the village, ran away toward the +mountains when the village burned. But Veronica became separated from her +friends and fell, and could not get up again, for her leg was broken. She +lay there a long time, and gave herself up for lost, when she heard a +whinny beside her and there was her pet horse, who had been following her +all the way. She managed to swing herself up on his back and he galloped +away to the safety of the mountains. They found their way across the +border into another country where some kind people took care of the +orphan girl. The faithful horse fell after he had brought her to safety +and hurt himself so badly that he had to be shot. The people who took +care of Veronica sent her across the ocean to her aunt and uncle. So, sad +and lonesome, she came to this country to be an American." + +Here Nyoda paused for breath, and Hinpoha burst out quickly, "Oh, how I +wish this had happened in our time and that poor lonely girl had come to +this city and we had met her and made her happy. Wouldn't we be kind to +her, though, if we had a chance?" + +Nyoda proceeded quietly. "All this _has_ happened in your time, and this +lonesome girl _has_ come to our city, and you are going to have a chance +to be kind to her often." + +"Nyoda!" shrieked all the girls at once. "You mean she lives in our city, +and you actually know her?" "Where does she live?" "When will we see +her?" "What is her whole name?" "How old did you say she was?" + +"Have mercy!" exclaimed Nyoda, putting her hands over her ears. "I can +only answer ten questions at once. Veronica's uncle is Mr. Lehar, the +conductor of the Temple Theatre orchestra. I live next door to them, you +know, and am well acquainted with Mrs. Lehar. She told me about Veronica +some time ago and last week she went to New York to get her. I +immediately asked her to allow her niece to join the Winnebago group, if +you girls were willing to take her, that she might not be lonely here. +Will you take her in, girls?" + +"We certainly will!" cried Gladys and Hinpoha in a breath, and Sahwah +sprang to her feet exclaiming vehemently, "Well, I guess so!" + +"When is she coming?" they wanted to know next. + +"I'll bring her to the next meeting," promised Nyoda, "and I want you +girls to--" + +What it was she wanted them to do they never found out, for just at that +minute there was a terrific thump on the floor below followed by the +hurried clatter of heavy footsteps, then the scraping of feet on the +ladder, a great waving and billowing of the curtain at the top and then +it was wrenched aside, and into the Council Chamber there burst the +fattest boy they had ever seen. His great cheeks hung down over his +collar; his eyes were nearly buried. His face was purple from violent +exertion and he sat limply against the bearskin bed, panting heavily. The +girls stared open-mouthed at the intruder. Before they had recovered +sufficiently from their astonishment to utter a single word, the barn +below was filled with the noise of many footsteps and the shouting of +many voices, and the next minute the sacred Council Chamber of the +Winnebagos was filled to overflowing with boys. + +At the sight of the lighted chamber and the girls in Indian costumes the +intruders stopped and stared in speechless surprise. Then with one accord +seven hats were snatched from as many heads and seven voices exclaimed as +one, "Beg pardon, we didn't know anyone was here." + +It was so funny to hear them all saying the same thing at once that the +Winnebagos could not help laughing aloud. The confusion of the boys was +so painful that the girls actually felt sorry for them. + +"There are only _seven_ of you," said Sahwah, as usual breaking the +silence first. "I thought at first there were _hundreds_." + +Here one of the boys found his voice to speak. He was a tall boy with +curly brown hair and nice eyes, and his face was suffused with blushes of +embarrassment. "Sorry to disturb you girls," he said soberly, but with a +twinkle in his eye. "We were chasing _him_"--and he pointed to the fat +boy still puffing away for dear life on the floor--"and we couldn't see +any light from the outside and we didn't know anybody was up here and +when Slim ran in we just followed him. We'll go right away again, and let +you go on with your meeting." + +Nyoda looked from one face to the other--nice refined boys they were, she +decided, and it would do no hurt to show them courtesy. "You needn't be +in such a great hurry to go," she said cordially. "You may at least stay +until you have recovered your breath." And she looked quizzically at the +fat boy leaning against the bearskins who did not seem ever to be going +to breathe again. + +He tried to show his appreciation of her hospitality by getting up and +making a bow, which threw him into such an advanced stage of +breathlessness that he sank down again directly and had to be fanned. +This caused another general laugh and the boys and girls rubbed elbows so +closely trying to revive him that all feeling of embarrassment vanished +and it suddenly seemed as if they were old friends, in spite of the fact +that none of them knew the others' names. Nyoda came to herself with a +start. + +"Excuse us, boys," she said, "for not introducing ourselves. I am Miss +Kent, Guardian of the Winnebago Camp Fire Girls, and these are the +Winnebagos," and she named them in order. "We were having a rather +doleful time when you arrived. You broke up the spell of gloom and we are +deeply grateful." + +The tall boy spoke again, this time smiling broadly. "We're the ones who +ought to apologize for not introducing ourselves," he said in a pleasant +voice, "since we have caused so much disturbance. We're the Sandwich +Club," he continued, including all the boys in a sweeping gesture of his +hand. "We go to Carnegie Mechanic. That's Slim over there," he said, +pointing to the fat one, while all the girls laughed. "His real name's +Lewis Carlton, but it's so long since anyone has called him that that +he's forgotten what it is himself. We chase him all over the country to +reduce him, but sometimes he gives us the slip and hides and it takes us +so long to find him that in the meantime he gains more than he lost while +we were chasing him." + +The girls fairly shouted at this and Slim doubled up a cushion-like fist +and declared in a choking voice that if the fellows didn't leave him in +peace he'd sit down on them some day and that would be the end of them. +The tall boy who was doing the introducing smiled sweetly at Slim and +went on with the introductions. + +"This one," he said, indicating an extremely thin, hungry-looking, +gaunt-featured lad with sombre brown eyes and a grave mouth, "is Bill +Pitt. 'Bottomless Pitt,' we call him, because it's impossible to fill him +up. You girls have heard of the Sheep Eaters?" he asked suddenly, looking +from one to the other. + +"Yes," chorused the Winnebagos, not wishing to appear ignorant, but not +sure whether the Sheep Eaters were beasts of prey or persons overfond of +mutton. + +"Well," continued the spokesman, pointing to the "Bottomless Pitt," "he's +a Pie Eater, he is. He eats 'em whole." + +Hinpoha's glance strayed nervously to the shelf where the apple pie stood +awaiting the end of the Ceremonial Meeting. The tall boy's eyes followed +here and his teeth showed in a wide smile, as he seemed to read her +thoughts. Hinpoha blushed fiery red and dropped her eyes. But he looked +away again immediately and did not increase her embarrassment. + +"This," he said, drawing forward a spidery little fellow with red hair +and freckles all over his face, "is Munson K. McKee, called for short, +Monkey, and those," indicating the other three, "are Dan Porter, Peter +Jenkins and Harry Raymond. We seven boys have always gone together, so we +decided to form a club, and we all like sandwiches so well that we named +ourselves the Sandwich Club. There, now you know all about us." + +"But you haven't told us _your_ name," said the Winnebagos, who were +beginning to like the spokesman very much, and were anxiously waiting to +hear him introduce himself. + +"Haven't I?" he asked. "That's right, I haven't. My name," he said +solemnly, but with that suggestion of a twinkle in his eye again, "is +Cicero St. John--and the fellows _don't_ call me Cissy for short." Here +the corners of his mouth twitched as at some humorous memory. + +"You bet they don't call him Cissy!" put in the Bottomless Pitt. + +Hinpoha's eyes met Gladys' in comical dismay. How could anyone in their +right senses name a boy--an American boy--Cicero! The St. John part +sounded very fine, but that awful Cicero! + +"How do you keep them from calling you--Cissy?" ventured Sahwah. + +"He licked the tar out of them!" spoke up the Monkey. "And he dumped one +fellow overboard out in the lake when he tried it. Everybody calls him +'Cap' now, because he's captain of the football team." + +"Indeed," murmured the Winnebagos, looking at Cicero St. John with fresh +interest and great respect, for all the world loves a football player. + +And then the boys wanted to know all about the Winnebagos, and thought +their symbolic names and "queer duds" even funnier than the girls had +considered theirs. But they all voiced their unqualified approval of the +Camp Fire Girls when they heard that the Ceremonial Meeting was to be +topped off with a feast of apple pie, doughnuts and cider, and did not +need to be asked more than once to stay, and share the feast. + +"Say, this is a peach of a meeting place," said the Captain with his +mouth full. "How did you happen to get it, and whoever thought of putting +a fireplace upstairs in a barn?" + +"We got it as the result of a sort of wager," explained Hinpoha. "Gladys' +father promised that if we could go on an automobile trip all by +ourselves without once telegraphing to him for aid he would build us a +Lodge to hold our meetings in, and we did and so he did." + +"'So _they_ did, and _he_ did, and the bears did,'" quoted Nyoda +teasingly. + +Hinpoha laughed and went on. "He owned this empty barn out here in the +field and he turned it over to us. But we just had to have a fireplace or +it wouldn't have been a regular Camp Fire Lodge, so he built this +splendid chimney. We have named the Lodge 'The House of the Open Door,' +or the 'Open Door Lodge,' to signify hospitality. Mr. Evans wanted to +build a fine stairway, too, but we wouldn't have it. It's lots more fun +to climb the ladder." + +"Why don't you use the ground floor?" asked Slim, who could never see the +sense of exerting one's self needlessly. + +"It's much cosier up here," replied Hinpoha. "We have these adorable +peaks and gables to hang things on. Besides, we wanted to leave the big +floor downstairs clear for dancing." + +"Dancing? Do you dance?" cried the boys, pricking up their ears. + +"We surely do," replied the girls. "Would you like to come down and try?" + +Down the ladder they went in a hurry, Slim being pushed from above and +pulled from below, and landing on the floor in his usual breathless +state. A few lanterns were hung around the walls and the big door opened +wide to let in the bright rays of the full moon and the place was nearly +as light as day. Nyoda played her banjo and the twelve pairs of feet +shuffled merrily to the lively strains. As there were only five girls, +Slim and Peter Jenkins were left without partners and consoled themselves +by dancing together. Peter came just to Slim's shoulder and weighed +ninety-five pounds against Slim's two hundred and thirty, and the result +was so ludicrous that the rest could hardly dance for laughing. It was +like a monkey dancing with an elephant. Slim took mincing little steps +and looked down at his partner with a simpering, languishing expression, +while Peter strained heroically to encircle his fair one's waist with his +arm. Rocking back and forth in exaggerated rhythm, Slim tripped over a +board and fell with a great crash, pinning his gallant partner under him. +The rest flew to the rescue and propped Peter up against the wall, +fanning him vigorously. + +"He'll recover," pronounced the Captain, after a thorough going over of +his bones, "but he'll never be the same again." + +"All is over between us," said Slim, wringing his hands in mock despair. +"Miss Kent, won't _you_ dance with me?" + +"It's time we were going home," said Nyoda calmly. "Come, girls." + +"Go home!" echoed the Captain. "I thought you lived here." + +"But how about all the beds upstairs?" asked the Captain. + +"Oh," explained Nyoda, "we all constructed different kinds of beds to win +honors, and left them there in case we might want to stay some time." + +"It's a pretty fine clubhouse, I'll say," remarked the Bottomless Pitt in +a tone of envy. "I wish we Sandwiches had one like it. We have no place +to call our own." + +Hinpoha's thoughts leaped to the Fire Song, the words of which hung +beside the fireplace up above: + + "_Whose house is bare and dark and cold,_ + _Whose house is cold,_ + _This is his own._" + +She spoke impulsively. "Oh, Nyoda, couldn't we let them use the ground +floor to hold their meeting in?" + +A cheer burst from the seven boys' lips. "Hooray! May we, Miss Kent?" + +Nyoda was silent and looked at the boys with a troubled expression, and +her glance as it rested on Hinpoha held a reproof. There was an awkward +silence. Then the Captain spoke up. + +"I understand what you mean, Miss Kent," he said simply and +straightforwardly. "You don't know anything about us and of course you +wouldn't want to share your club house with us on such short +acquaintance. We wouldn't think much of you if you did. It was all right +of course for you to ask us to stay and dance with the girls this one +evening when you were here with us, but that doesn't mean that you're +willing to adopt us. But we like you girls first rate, and want to know +you better if you will let us. You can go to any of the teachers at +Carnegie Mechanic and find out all you want to know about us. Pitt's +father is Math teacher there and my father is Dr. Cicero St. John. It was +simply great of you to offer to let us come here and hold our meetings, +and if you'll still keep the offer open after you have investigated us to +your satisfaction we'll be mighty grateful and will promise not to bother +you upstairs." + +The boy's face was so open and manly that it was impossible not to +believe in him then and there. Nyoda smiled into his earnest face. "All +right, Captain," she said, "we'll agree to put you on probation, and if +you stand the test we'll consider the matter of sharing the Open Door +Lodge." + +The Captain smiled back at her and held out his hand. "You're a peach and +I like you," he said emphatically, and the two were sworn friends from +that moment on. + + + + + CHAPTER II + VERONICA + + +At four o'clock one afternoon some few days later Hinpoha and Sahwah, +breathless from hurrying, ran up the steps of the house where Nyoda lived +and rang the bell. The other Winnebagos were already assembled when they +entered, and Nyoda was not there. + +"Where's Nyoda?" demanded Sahwah. + +"Sh, she's gone over to get--_her_," answered Gladys, smoothing out the +folds of her pretty new pleated dress with one hand and tucking in a +stray lock with the other. + +"What did you say 'sh' for?" demanded Sahwah curiously. "There's no one +sleeping, is there?" + +"I don't know why I said it," answered Gladys, rumpling up the hair she +had just tidied, "I'm so excited about meeting Veronica that I don't know +what I'm doing. I just can't sit still." And she jumped up from her chair +and began to pace nervously up and down the room. + +"Doesn't it remind you of the time we stood on the dock at Loon Lake and +waited for Gladys to make her first appearance?" said Hinpoha to Sahwah. +"Don't you remember how we wondered what she would be like and you and +Migwah nearly fought over whose affinity she was going to be?" + +"Did you really, girls?" said Gladys, pausing in her walk. "And was I as +nice as you hoped I'd be?" + +Footsteps on the porch saved Hinpoha from having to reply and Gladys +hurried to her chair and seated herself properly. A moment later Nyoda +entered the room with a young girl beside her whom she led into the +center of the group. + +"Girls," she said, with one hand on the stranger's shoulder, "this is our +new member, Veronica Lehar." + +All eyes centered on the newcomer. She was a small, slender girl with +short curly black hair, olive complexion, bright red lips and a straight, +finely modeled nose. She wore a dark red velvet dress which suited her +complexion wonderfully, and fell in soft folds about her lithe form. She +was as straight as an arrow and as graceful as a deer. From the crown of +her finely poised head to her little fur-topped boots she was an +aristocrat. The simple Winnebagos were abashed before her. Never had they +met such a high-born little lady. There was an air about her which they +could never acquire if they lived a hundred years. They felt like +peasants in the presence of a queen. But they forgot her aristocratic air +when they looked into her eyes. Large and dark and velvety as a pansy, +but so sad it almost broke your heart to look into them. All the sympathy +which the girls had worked up for her since hearing her story came back +in a rush and they surrounded her with cordial greetings and expressions +of welcome. Veronica held her violin, which she had brought over with +her, under one arm while she shook hands politely with all the girls. She +answered all their pretty speeches in a friendly manner, but she never +once smiled, and her eyes had a look as if her thoughts were not there in +the room at all, but back in the far country across the ocean. Although +she had an accent she spoke a beautiful English, in fact, she used far +better language than the majority of American schoolgirls, and more than +once the girls felt embarrassed when they had forgotten themselves so far +as to utter a slang phrase. + +Conversation soon languished, for Veronica did not seem inclined to talk, +so Nyoda started the girls singing camp songs to amuse her, and led the +talk around to the Winnebagos' doings which she was now to take part in. +Of course the new lodge was the main topic of conversation with the +Winnebagos and they waxed so enthusiastic over its splendors that +Veronica exclaimed with some show of warmth, "Oh, I must see it soon!" +Then she added, "Tell me what I must do to become a Camp Fire Girl like +yourselves." + +"You must have a symbolic name," answered Gladys eagerly, anxious to be +the one to explain things to Veronica, "and a Ceremonial dress, and learn +the songs, and know the Camp Fire Girls' Desire, and the Winnebago +passwords and oh, lots of delightful things." + +"What are they, the Winnebago passwords, and what are they for?" asked +Veronica. + +"Well," answered Gladys, "you know what a password is, don't you? Well, +we have passwords to admit us into the Lodge on Ceremonial night. But +before I tell you about the passwords I must tell you about the signal +calls, for they come first in order. You see, the general signal of the +Winnebagos is the call of the whippoorwill, like this"--and she +illustrated her words with a clear call. "You repeat that three times and +at the end of it you must give your own individual bird call. We all have +different ones. Mine is the robin, like this. Nyoda's is the bluebird; +Hinpoha's the loon; Medmangi's is the owl; Nakwisi's the meadowlark and +Sahwah's the catbird." + +"Whatever made you take such a hideous screech for your call, Sahwah?" +interrupted Hinpoha. "There are lots of nicer bird calls than that of the +catbird." + +"I don't care, I wanted the catbird," returned Sahwah. "It suits my +individuality, as my dear friend, Miss Snively, would say. I am the 'cat +that walks by himself and all places are alike to me!'" + +"Be a catbird as much as you like," said Gladys pacifically, "as long as +you don't eat us poor bird-birds. But to go back to the passwords. You +see, Nyoda is Guardian of the Fire, and she always goes up to the Lodge +room first on Ceremonial night. If any of us get there ahead of her we +have to stay out until she comes. Then we announce our coming by giving +the call of the whippoorwill and she knows one of the Winnebagos is +below; and she knows which one it is by the individual bird call. So she +calls out 'Who goes there?' and we answer 'A friend.' When she says, +'Stand and give the countersign,' we have to say, 'Other Council Fires +were here before.'" + +"What does that mean, 'Other Council Fires were here before?'" asked +Veronica. + +The girls looked at one another. "What does it mean?" asked Gladys. + +"I don't know," said Sahwah. + +"I don't know," said Hinpoha. + +"You insisted on our having it, Sahwah," said Gladys. "Why did you choose +it if you didn't know what it meant?" + +"Oh," explained Sahwah lightly, "I saw it written over the door of one of +the historical buildings at the Exposition, and it sounded as if it might +mean something grand, so I chose it. You girls were all delighted with +it, so that's proof it's a good catch-word." + +"It is a good countersign," said Nyoda, "although I confess I can't tell +wherein the charm lies." + +"Well, to proceed," said Gladys, "after you have given the countersign +you will be asked to give the Inner Pass Word, and then you must say +'Kolah Olowan.' That means 'Song Friend.' You know we pride ourselves on +being a singing group, that is, we have a great many songs that we sing +together, and I think our dearest friends are those we sing with. So we +Winnebagos call each other 'Song Friends,' or friends bound together by +the power of our familiar songs. That's why we chose bird notes for our +personal symbols. The birds are the original Song Friends. What bird are +you going to choose for your own, Veronica?" + +Veronica's sad eyes stared thoughtfully into the fire for a moment. Then +they filled with a smouldering light. "I shall be the gull that flies +over the sea," she said in a low voice, "because some day I am going to +fly over the sea to my dear home." + +"We were all nearly ready to cry when she said that," wrote Gladys to +Migwan, "only Nyoda popped up then and asked Hinpoha and Sahwah to sing +'The Owl and the Pussycat,' and they climbed on the sofa for the +beautiful pea-green boat--you know what a beautiful pea-green it is--and +for a small guitar Nyoda gave Sahwah a little pasteboard fiddle that +produced three notes when you turned a crank, and the whole thing was so +ridiculous that we laughed until our sides ached." + +After the Owl and the Pussycat had sung themselves over the back of the +sofa and down on the floor with a thump Nyoda made tea in her new +electric teapot and passed platefuls of thin sandwiches, and Sahwah upset +her cup into her lap demonstrating how perfectly she could balance it on +her knee and had to stand before the fire to dry her skirt. + +"You brought your violin along; won't you play for us?" asked Nyoda of +Veronica when the excitement over Sahwah's mishap had subsided. + +In graceful compliance with Nyoda's request, and without waiting to be +urged, Veronica took her violin from its case, settled it under her chin +with a movement that was a caress, and drew the bow across the strings. +With the first note teacups and sandwiches were forgotten and the girls +sat in a spellbound circle, while Sahwah stopped mopping her skirt with +her handkerchief and the wet spot dried and scorched unheeded. Such a +witching melody as rose from the strings--now light as a fairy dancing on +a bubble, now hurrying like the brook over its pebbles, now sighing like +the wind in a rose tree, now slow and stately like the curtseying of a +grande dame in the movements of a court dance. When it came to an end the +girls sat breathless, too dazed to applaud. + +"Play some more!" begged Gladys in a whisper. It seemed like a +desecration to talk. + +Veronica played on, now fast, now slow, now sad and now gay, and finally +whirled into a wild gypsy dance that set the blood tingling in her +hearers' veins as the swift measures followed on each other's heels, +until they could see in their mind's eye the leaping figures of the +dancers in their bright costumes. Faster, faster, flashed the bow on the +magic strings and Veronica's whole soul was in her eyes as she played the +familiar strains of her homeland. Her lips parted in a flashing smile and +one foot tapped the carpet in time to the music. + +Suddenly a string snapped with a discordant crash. Veronica came to +herself with a start. The light left her eyes and she stood staring into +the fire with a sad, bitter expression. + + + + + CHAPTER III + AN UNINVITED GUEST + + +Rain fell in torrents on the roof of the hospitable House of the Open +Door, and the wind howled dismally around its friendly gables. Inside the +"lofty loft" of the Winnebagos the fire shone brightly on the hearth and +the rafters rang with merriment. Sahwah had a new hobby, and was riding +it to death. This was a Hawaiian guitar, known as a "ukelele," from which +she was producing a series of hair-raising noises. + +"Sounds like a cat in its last agony," remarked Hinpoha. + +"Well, that just suits me," replied Sahwah, undisturbed, drawing a long +shivering wail from the strings. "I am the cat that walks by himself----" + +"And all racket is alike to you," finished Hinpoha. "Who's getting supper +tonight, Nyoda? I'm nearly starving." + +"I appointed Gladys and Veronica," answered Nyoda. "The combination of +blonde and brunette ought to produce something pretty good." + +Gladys promptly laid down the bit of leather in which she was cutting a +pattern and moved toward the "kitchen end" of the Lodge. "Come on, +Veronica," she said, "let's make a carload of scones for these hungry +wolves." + +Veronica looked up at her without moving. On her face was an expression +of surprise; almost amazement. "What, _I_ cook?" she asked scornfully. +"That is for servants to do!" + +Then it was the Winnebagos' turn to look amazed. Sahwah dropped her +instrument on the floor with a clatter, and the rest sat silent, not +knowing what to say to Veronica. Nyoda bridged over the embarrassing +situation as best she could. "I'll be cook tonight," she said quietly. As +she moved about helping Gladys she thought and thought how this new +problem must be met. "It's the fault of her training," she told herself, +"and she really isn't a snob at heart. She'll be all right when she has +been with the girls awhile and watched them. It won't do to insist on her +doing the things she considers beneath her. She must be made to want to +do them first. But we'll make a real Winnebago of her in time!" And her +eyes strayed thoughtfully over to the corner of the hearth where Veronica +sat, a little apart from the rest, her brooding eyes on the fire, her +sensitive lip twisting into involuntary shivers of disgust when Sahwah +produced a particularly ear-splitting yowl. + +"Hear and attend and listen, everybody," said Nyoda when the buttered +scones had been reduced to crumbs. "I have been doing some important +research work lately and am now ready to present the result of my +investigations." + +"What are you talking about?" asked Hinpoha curiously. + +"Two weeks ago tonight," continued Nyoda, "our meeting was broken up by a +band of young braves bearing the appetizing title of 'The Sandwich Club,' +who implored us to let them come and play with us in our Lodge and be +lodgers--kindly overlook the pun; it was quite unintentional--providing +we weighed them in the balance and found them not wanting." + +"Is there any scale on which 'Slim' would be found wanting?" giggled +Sahwah, + +"I have spent the last two weeks obtaining information," resumed Nyoda, +"which I am happy to report is of a highly satisfactory nature. So, all +things considered, and in spite of the informality of the request, I +humbly recommend that the aforesaid braves be allowed to lodge in the +bottom half of our Lodge at any and all times they may so desire. I might +add that I have already obtained the consent of our Bountiful Benefactor, +Gladys' papa. All in favor of letting in the Sandwich Club say 'Aye.'" + +There was a perfect shout of "Ayes," followed by a ringing cheer. + +"When are they going to take possession?" Sahwah wanted to know. + +"I'm to tell them tomorrow what your decision was," replied Nyoda. "It +being Saturday, I suppose they will be down in a body to fix up according +to their own ideas." + +"What will the interior of a Sandwich Club look like, I wonder?" said +Gladys. + +"Hark, what was that noise?" asked Nyoda abruptly. The girls listened +intently. From the lower floor of the barn there came a thumping noise, +followed by a subdued crash. + +"Somebody's in the barn," said Hinpoha in a frightened whisper. + +The sound came again, thump, thump, and a noise as of a box being shoved +aside. "It's a burglar!" said Sahwah, and Nakwisi gave a frightened +squeak which Sahwah stifled with a sofa cushion. + +"There's nothing in here to steal," said Nyoda. "Perhaps it's a tramp." +Again came the noise from below. Leaving the curtain drawn over the +opening, Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called down, "Who's +there?" There was no answer but another thump. "We have a gun," said +Nyoda coolly, taking Sahwah's little rifle down from the wall, "and if +you put one foot on the ladder I'll shoot." Still no answer. + +"I'm going down to investigate," said Nyoda. "This is growing uncanny." + +"Don't go down," begged the girls, clinging to her, "something dreadful +will happen to you." + +"If you go I'm going with you," declared Sahwah when Nyoda appeared +determined to rush into the jaws of danger. Nyoda threw aside the curtain +and flashed her bug light on the floor below. Nothing was visible within +the radius of the light, but over in the far corner where the old horse +stall was something was moving and thumping about and a sound like a +groan came from the darkness. + +"Somebody's hurt," said Nyoda, hastening down the ladder. "Bring a +lantern with you, Sahwah." + +Together they moved toward the corner while the girls above crowded +around the opening and watched in breathless suspense. The light revealed +a small donkey lying on the floor of the stall. He was kicking out with +his hind feet against the partition wall and it was this sound that had +frightened the girls above. At Sahwah's shout the others came hurrying +down to behold the find. The donkey made no effort to rise and looked at +the faces around him with an imploring look in his eyes as if to say, +"Help me, I'm in trouble." + +"What's the matter, old chap?" asked Nyoda, kneeling down beside him. The +donkey answered with a distressed bray that was more like a groan and +pawed the air with his front feet, which seemed to be fastened together +in some manner. Nyoda turned the lantern around so the light fell +directly on him and then they saw what the matter was. A length of barbed +wire had become tangled around his front legs, binding them together, and +his frantic efforts to get it off had resulted in its becoming deeply +imbedded in the flesh, lacerating it badly. The girls shuddered when they +saw it and drew back. + +"This won't do, girls," said Nyoda firmly; "we've got to get that wire +off the poor animal's leg. Medmangi, have you the nerve to do it? I'm +afraid I can't." + +"His hind legs would have to be tied together first, so he can't kick," +said Medmangi. The girls looked at each other and all drew back. All but +Veronica. She came forward quietly and took the rope which the others +were afraid to use and skilfully slipped a noose over the tiny heels and +fastened them down to a ring in the floor. + +"I have done it before, when a horse was sick," she explained in response +to the girls' expressions of amazement at the neat performance. The +girls' liking for her, which had suffered a sudden chill at the cooking +episode, warmed again, and they were inclined to overlook that now that +she had stepped so neatly into the breach when they were helpless. + +Then Medmangi, the Medicine Man Girl who was going to be a doctor, and +had no horror of surgery, bent calmly to her task while the others held +the lantern for her. Quickly and skilfully she worked, removing the cruel +points as gently as possible. Then she washed the wounds with an +antiseptic solution from the First Aid Cabinet upstairs and bound them up +with clean bandages. Then Veronica took the rope from the donkey's hind +legs and he struggled to his feet, plainly delighted to find his front +legs in working order again in spite of the pain. He looked at the girls +with a dog-like devotion in his intelligent eyes and when Medmangi patted +him soothingly he laid his head on her shoulder affectionately. "My first +lover--a donkey!" she said laughingly. + +"Poor little mule," said Hinpoha, stroking him from the other side. "He +knew the right place to come to all right. 'Whose house is bare and dark +and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own,'" she quoted +dramatically. "We certainly have succeeded in creating the right +atmosphere of hospitality if even a lonely donkey can feel it and come +straight to our 'Open Portals!'" + +"Now that he has come," said Nyoda, rather puzzled, "the question is what +to do with him. If he goes wandering off again he'll have those bandages +off in no time--he probably will anyhow--and his legs will get so sore he +will have to be shot. He undoubtedly belongs to somebody--very likely +some children's pet--and I think we had better keep him right here in the +barn until we find the owner. The boys will have to postpone their taking +possession in favor of the other donkey if his presence interferes with +their activities." Here the "other donkey" leaned against the wall in +such a pathetic attitude, as if his weight were too much for his sore +legs, that if they had had any intentions of turning him out into the +rain they would have speedily relented. + +"It's a good thing this old stall is still here," said Gladys. "There +isn't any straw, but there is a box of excelsior and we can spread that +out and cover it with a blanket and make him a soft bed. We can give him +water tonight and bring food in the morning." + +"And I'll telephone the Sandwiches about him," said Nyoda, "so if they +are coming over tomorrow they won't turn him out." + +But that telephone message was unnecessary, for at that moment a number +of dark figures appeared in the doorway and after a moment of hesitation, +entered. + +"Why, here are the Sandwiches," exclaimed Nyoda cordially, advancing with +extended hand. "We were just talking about you. Speaking of angels--you +know the rest." + +"We were just going by," said the Captain (it was likely that they were +"just going by" that out of the way place in the rain!) "and saw your +light now you've left the windows uncovered, and thought we'd just step +in and inquire our fate. We just couldn't wait until tomorrow," he +finished in a boyish outburst. "Is it going to be the Open Door for us?" + +"Bless you, yes," said Nyoda, smiling reassuringly at this manly lad who +was already her favorite, "there wasn't a dissenting vote in the jury +box. We----" but the remainder of her sentence was drowned in an +ear-splitting cheer that was decidedly less musical than the Winnebago +cheers, but none the less hearty. + +"Pedigrees satisfactory, and all that?" inquired the Captain. + +"Perfect," answered Nyoda with twinkling eyes. "I've dug up more facts +about you than you know yourselves. So," she added demurely, "if you're +still minded to 'know us better,' as you flatteringly remarked on the +occasion of our first meeting, why, we're perfectly willing to be known. + +"But you can't take immediate possession of your club room because we've +rented it temporarily to another don--another fellow," she said +mischievously, turning the light of the lantern away from the stall where +the donkey was. The boys' eager faces fell a trifle. + +"Of course," they answered politely, "that's your privilege." + +"He's a very nice chap," pursued Nyoda, with a warning glance at the +girls behind her, who were stuffing their handkerchiefs into their mouths +in an effort not to laugh. + +"Yes," assented the boys without enthusiasm. + +"Is it anyone we know?" asked the Captain politely, trying to make +conversation after a moment of silence. + +"Maybe you do know him," answered Nyoda. "He's here tonight. Would you +like to meet him?" + +She led the way to the stall and turned the light on the donkey. There +was a moment of surprised silence, followed by a perfect explosion of +laughter. "Where'd you get the donkey with the trousers on?" squeaked +Slim in his high thin voice. In the dim light of the lantern the bandages +on the donkey's front legs looked like a pair of trousers. Then the +girls, after their laugh was out, explained about the visitor who had +come to them from out of the vast, and the Sandwiches declared that they +did not in the least mind sharing their club room with a needy donkey, +and offered to relieve the girls of the entire care of him, besides +trying to find the owner. + +They were as good as their word about taking care of him, but the weeks +slipped by and no amount of advertising produced anything in the shape of +an owner. + +"We'll have to adopt him," the Winnebagos decided. "A Camp Fire Donkey +sounds thrilling to me," said Sahwah. "Think of all the fun we'll have +with him. As long as the boys don't mind, we can keep him right here in +the stall." + +"What shall we name him?" asked Gladys. + +"Call him 'Wohelo,'" advised Hinpoha. "It was the spirit of Wohelo that +led him to us. From now on he'll be a symbolic donkey." + +"But where do we come in on this?" inquired the Captain. "We take care of +him and he lives in our house." + +"That's right," said Hinpoha. "Then let's call him 'Sandwich-Wohelo,' +contracted to 'Sandhelo.'" And "Sandhelo" he was until the end of the +chapter. His sore legs became very stiff until they were healed and he +hobbled painfully when he walked at all, which was very seldom. But the +scratches healed at last and the day came when Medmangi took off the +bandages for good, and led him around the barn for exercise. + +Then an amazing thing happened. Sahwah was upstairs in the Lodge, amusing +herself with a mouth organ she had just discovered in the depths of her +bed. But she had no sooner blown half a dozen notes when Sandhelo jerked +up his head, pulling the bridle out of Medmangi's hands, and rose up on +his hind legs. Then he walked on his hind legs over to a box, climbed up +on it and sat there with his feet in the air, like a dog sitting up. +Medmangi screamed and brought the Winnebagos flying from all directions, +to behold the marvel in open-mouthed astonishment. + +"He's a trick mule!" shouted Sahwah, tumbling down the ladder in her +excitement and never stopping to pick herself up. "Now I know where he +came from. He was with that dog and pony show that was in town a few +weeks ago. He must have strayed from the show and got left behind. Hats +off to the newest member of the Winnebago group! We certainly do have a +way of attracting all the best talent in town to our ranks!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV + A SANDEBAGO CIRCUS + + +Just how it started nobody ever knew--it may have been Sandhelo's turning +out to be a trick mule, or it may have been because Slim was fat and +would make such a beautiful clown, besides being fine for a sideshow--but +before they knew it the Winnebagos and the Sandwich Club were hard at +work getting up a circus. The Sandwiches had taken possession of their +half of the Open Door Lodge and had converted it into a gymnasium. They +had built it on purpose to reduce Slim, they carefully explained to their +friends, and regularly put him through a course of exercises strenuous +enough to reduce a hippopotamus to an antelope in three weeks, but at the +end of that time he had gained just five pounds, so the Sandwiches +declared their efforts to be love's labor lost and left him in peace. + +Sandhelo was becoming a well-known and conspicuous figure in the streets. +Hitched to an old pony cart of Gladys', with bells jingling around his +neck and ribbons flying from his harness, he never failed to attract a +crowd of children. He had all the vagaries of the artistic temperament, +some of which caused his drivers no little inconvenience. For one thing, +he would not go at all unless he heard music, and it was no small +accomplishment to drive with one hand and play a mouth organ with the +other if you happened to be alone in the cart. And then, if he happened +to pass anything unusual in the street he had a way of sitting back on +his haunches and holding up his front feet and looking at them. As he +invariably sat down unexpectedly, the cart would go on and bump into him +and the shock would throw the driver from her seat, besides making a +great mess of the harness. Several times he had done this in the middle +of a busy crossing and held up traffic in both directions, while motormen +fumed and policemen threatened, and Sahwah (it usually was Sahwah, +because she drove him more than the others) played her sweetest on the +mouth organ in an effort to make him go on. Nothing would make him move +until his curiosity was satisfied and then he would dash off like an +arrow from the bow for half a block, after which he would slow down and +look over his shoulder to see how his driver was getting on. There was +always such a look of anxious solicitude in his eye on these occasions +that it was impossible to be angry with him and he continued to exercise +his temperament without reproof. + +After half a dozen of these free shows Sahwah declared that such an +ability to draw a crowd was worth money, and they had better give a real +show and charge admissions. + +The big space in front of the Open Door Lodge was an ideal place for the +ring. Seating arrangements for the audience gave them some anxiety at +first. + +"We ought to have a grand stand," said the Captain, who had been chosen +Ringmaster. + +"Well, we can't build one," said the Bottomless Pit. "The audience will +have to stand through the performance, and that'll be a grand stand, all +right." + +"Innovation in circuses," said Nyoda. "Have the audience stand and the +circus sit down. Like the picture of the bride standing while the groom +sprawls at ease in the photographer's gilt chair." + +"I think I can get a lot of chairs from a man who rents them out," said +the Captain. "He lets people have them for nothing if it's a charitable +enterprise." + +"Do you call a circus a charitable enterprise?" asked Nyoda. + +"Well, ours will be," said the Captain. "We're doing it to make money so +we can buy the new apparatus for the gym, which will surely make Slim +thin, and that surely is charity." + +Upstairs in the Lodge the six Winnebagos were all seated on the bearskin +bed having a lively argument as to who should drive Slim in the Chair-iot +Race. The Chair-iot Race was a grand inspiration of Sahwah's, who was +keen on features in the circus line. Once, on a rummage, through Gladys' +attic, they had found six horsehair covered chairs furnished with +excellent china castors, which caused the chairs to roll with enchanting +speed. Sahwah now thought of the chairs and conceived the brilliant idea +of harnessing a Sandwich to each one, seat a Winnebago in the chair, and +race six abreast down the long cement walk from the barn to the road. The +idea was hailed with delight until the Winnebagos began comparing the +merits of the prospective steeds, and nobody wanted to be the one to +drive Slim and go lumbering along like an ice-wagon in the rear of the +others. + +"It's too bad the Captain had to be Ringmaster and can't take part in the +show," sighed Hinpoha. "Then there'd be enough without Slim." + +"We wouldn't dare leave him out, anyway," said Gladys. "It would hurt his +feelings. So we'll just have to draw lots for him, and whoever gets him +will have to make the best of it, that's all." So they drew slips of +paper from a hat and Hinpoha drew Slim, just as she had feared right +along. Sahwah drew the Monkey, which suited her down to the ground, for +he was a famous sprinter, and she lost no time getting the girls to ask +the boys whose names they had drawn in that secret ballot upstairs to be +their steeds in the race. Slim's face lighted up with such a delighted +smile when Hinpoha apparently chose him for her own that her heart smote +her when she thought how this choice had been thrust upon her. Slim was +already beginning to learn the bitter truth that nobody loves a fat man. +Nyoda and the Captain plotted the circus parade and it was a triumph of +ingenuity. The advance bills which they scattered broadcast among their +friends announced that the parade would embrace "Five ferocious animals +from the Other Side of Nowhere, these animals being respectively The +Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster, and The +Salmonkey. + +Other numbers on the program were as follows: + + Ivan Awfulitch, world's greatest magician; royal entertainer to the + King of Spain. Was banished to Siberia; escaped and swam to America; + has now opened up a complete line of magic. One day only. + + Mr. Skygack, from Mars, in a special song feature entitled the + Mars-y-lays. + + La Zingara, the bareback rider. + + Sandhelo, the famous trick mule. As intelligent as two men and a school + teacher. + + Mr. Avoirdupois Slim, fattest man on earth. Will sit on a toothpick. + + Mr. E. Lastic, Inja rubber man. + + Archibald Dimples the better baby. + + Chair-iot Race. Feat never attemped before on any stage. + + Monkey, the Aerial Gymnast, in the sensational dupe-the-dupes. + + Twenty Other Great Features + + + ALL CHILDREN WILL GET A FREE RIDE ON SANDELHO, + THE FAMOUS TRICK MULE, AFTER + THE PERFORMANCE + + +Bottomless Pitt owned a little hand-printing press and printed wonderful +tickets to be sold at five cents apiece, which Gladys declared were worth +the money as souvenirs, with the circus thrown in extra. + +"What are you making, a circus tent?" asked Gladys, dropping into the +Lodge, where Nyoda sat stitching together great lengths of red and white +striped material. + +"No; only a clown suit for Slim," laughed Nyoda. "Gracious, how much it +does take!" + +"It reminds me of the riddle: 'If it takes thirty yards of cloth to make +a shirtwaist for an elephant, etc.,'" said Gladys. "Poor Slim! You would +have died to see him practice his clown stunt with Sandhelo. You know the +boys built him a tiny red cart with two big wheels, and when he sat down +in it, it tilted way over backward and the shafts stuck up in the air and +pulled poor little Sandhelo right up off his feet, and there he dangled, +pawing for dear life. But, whatever are you making, Hinpoha?" she +finished, examining the thing which Hinpoha was working on and which +resembled nothing in the universe. + +"This is Peter's costume," answered Hinpoha; "he's the hind leg of the +Kangarooster, you know. By the way, Nyoda, has a Kangarooster one hump or +two?" + +"None at all," answered Nyoda hastily. "The humps are on the 'Cam' part +of the Camelk. That reminds me, have we something to stuff the humps +with?" + +"Take excelsior," advised Gladys. "Dear me, who's screeching like that +downstairs?" + +They all crowded down the ladder at the sound of a lusty yell from below +and found Sahwah hanging head downward from a heavy hook in the wall. She +had improved a moment's leisure to climb up to the top of the window with +a spray of bittersweet to see how it would look, and in descending had +caught her skirt on the hook and lost her footing. The skirt tore through +until the stout serge hem was reached and that offered successful +resistance, and Sahwah hung, as Nyoda remarked, like a lamb on the spit. + +"I got an idea hanging upside down," were the first words she gasped as +they restored her to the perpendicular and revived her with peanuts. + +"It's the only way you ever would get an idea," said Hinpoha. + +"Is that so?" returned Sahwah, with spirit "Who thought up the Chair-iot +Race, I'd like to know?" + +"Stop bickering and tell us your idea," said Nyoda. + +"Why, it's this," said Sahwah. "Sell hot cocoa with marshmallows in it +after the show. Everybody'll be cold sitting around. We can make almost +as much money that way as with the circus." + +"A lake of hot cocoa with an island of marshmallows in it is my dream of +heaven," said Hinpoha, clasping her hands in ecstasy. "Sahwah, you're a +genius. I yield the palm to you without a struggle. You have a 'head in +your mind,' as absent-minded old Fuzzytop used to say. There's nothing in +the whole world that'll separate a nickel from its owner like a cup of +hot cocoa with a marshmallow floating in it on a cold day." + +"Another innovation," said Nyoda. "We'll have that instead of circus +lemonade. See to getting the supplies, will you, Sahwah dear? I have so +many details to look after now that I simply cannot be responsible for +another thing, or my head will burst and out will come everything that's +safely packed in now. Come in, Captain. What's on your mind?" + +"Slim," said the Captain, with a look of comical despair, as he sat down +among the girls. "I'm afraid he won't do for a Better Baby. He's smashed +three perambulators and a high chair and we can't get any more. And the +biggest size white dress we could buy in the store won't go half-way +around him." + +Nyoda knitted her brows. "We simply have to have a Better Baby," she +affirmed. "It's one of the best features. We'll drape cheesecloth around +him for a dress and he can play on a quilt on the floor--I mean the +ground--instead of being taken for a ride by his nurse in a +perambulator." + +"Poor Slim!" said Hinpoha. "How many more things are going to be wished +on him? I'm afraid his 'gall will be divided into three parts,' too!" + +"That would have been a very clever thing for you to say," remarked the +Captain, "if it had been original, but it wasn't. They spring that over +at our school, too. Slim isn't doing any more than the rest of us at +that. Only he's so conspicuous that everything he does seems like a lot +more than it really is." + +"How are the tickets going?" asked Sahwah. + +"We've sold over a hundred," announced the Captain with pride. "We're +famous people, we are." + +"Speak for yourself," said Sahwah. "It isn't we who are the attraction, +though--it's Sandhelo. I rode him through the streets and sold nearly +fifty tickets to the children that followed us. They're all attracted by +the promise of a free ride after the show." + +"It'll probably take all evening to give them the ride, and we'll never +get to that jubilation spread we're going to have after the show, but we +have to make our word good," said Nyoda. + +"Put them on four at once and we'll get done somehow," said Sahwah. + +Hinpoha laid down her sewing and stretched her arms above her head. "I +never knew circuses were such a pile of work," she sighed. + + "'Wohelo means work,' + So dig like a Turk," + +chanted Sahwah. + +"I move we all go to the 'movies' tonight and see 'If I Were King,'" +continued Hinpoha. + +"Can't," said Nyoda briefly, checking up on her fingers the things she +still had to do. "I still have to evolve a tail for the Salmonkey and a +frontispiece for the Camelk, make four banners, rehearse the living +statuary, make a bonnet for the Better Baby, teach the Crabbit how to hop +and crawl at the same time and make a costume for the bareback rider." + +"I'd come and help you," said Sahwah, "but we're going to have a test in +Latin tomorrow and I have to cram tonight. I'll just have time to +practice with the band." + +"A test in time saves nine," murmured Hinpoha. "What are the Sandwiches +doing now?" + +"Erecting the flying trapeze," answered Sahwah, looking out of the +window. "Captain is hanging by his eyebrow to the top of a pole and +Bottomless Pitt is standing below, waiting to catch him when he falls." + +The Captain caught her eye, as she leaned over the sill and shouted: + + "All right below, + O Wohelo, + Now _please_ go mix some pancake dough!" + +"All right," called Sahwah cheerily. "You'll soon smell something +doughing!" + +Nyoda and Gladys went home on an errand, and Hinpoha, worn out with her +arduous labors with the needle, stretched out on the bearskin bed and +fell sound asleep in the warmth of the fire. Sahwah puttered about +collecting the ingredients for flapjacks to make a treat for the boys, +who had worked like Trojans ever since school was out. The wood in the +fireplace had burned down to lovely glowing embers, and she laid the +toaster on top of them to act as a rest for the frying-pan. The Captain, +tying ropes into the branches of the big tree just outside of the window, +looked in and admired the scene. Hinpoha, with her marvellous red curls +falling around her face in the light of the fire, looked like a sleeping +princess in a fairy tale, and Sahwah, holding her dish of batter in one +hand and skilfully putting grease into the pan with the other, was a +cheery little housewife indeed. Through the half-open window he could +hear her singing "A Warrior Bold." + +A moment he looked in, filled with whole-souled admiration for these +many-sided girls who were his new friends, and then without warning +something happened inside. The panful of sizzling fat suddenly burst into +a sheet of flame that left the confines of the fireplace and seemed to +leap all around Sahwah. A burning spark shot out and fell into a pile of +cheesecloth lying on the floor at the far side of the room, and it blazed +up instantly, the flames enveloping the sleeping Hinpoha. It took less +than a moment for the Captain to spring down from the tree, run into the +barn and up the ladder. But it was too late for him to do anything. In +the twinkling of an eye Sahwah had seized the burning cheesecloth and +flung it into the fireplace, thrown a bearskin rug over Hinpoha and now +stood calmly pouring sand from a bucket on top of the burning fat in the +pan. And all the while she was doing it she had never stopped singing! +The Captain stood still in his amazement and listened idly to the words: + + "So what care I, though death be nigh? + I'll live for love or die----" + +A hoarse sound made her turn around and she saw the Captain standing +beside her with face pale as ashes. The dreadful sight he had seen from +the tree when the room seemed filled with flame was still in his mind. + +"How did you manage to keep so cool and do everything so quickly?" he +asked in amazement. + +Sahwah laughed at his expression of astonishment. "That's not the first +fire I've put out," she said calmly. "We always keep both water and sand +on hand whenever we have an open fire, to prevent serious accidents. +Having the cheesecloth go up at the same time rather complicated matters, +but I got it into the fireplace without any trouble. I don't know what +made the fat in the pan take fire; it's never done that before up here. +But don't worry; I'll get your flapjacks made, all right." + +The Captain looked at her with more admiration than ever. "Most girls +would have been in a faint by that time, and have had to be doused with +smelling salts," he told the Sandwiches later, "instead of coolly +promising you your flapjacks anyway and apologizing for the delay!" + +"Your hands are burned!" he exclaimed in concern, as he saw Sahwah +looking ruefully at her blackened fingers. "Let me do something for +them." + +"Nothing serious," said Sahwah, turning them down so he could not see the +blistered palms. + +"They are, too!" persisted the Captain. "Have you any oil handy?" + +"In the First Aid box over there," said Sahwah. "It's in that bottle +labeled A Burned Child Dreads the Fire." + +The Captain returned with cotton and gauze and the oil and proceeded to +bandage the scorched hands that had been so quick to avert disaster. + +"Won't Hinpoha be furious when she wakes up and finds her costume that +she worked so hard on all burned up?" she said, as he wound the bandages +under her direction. "I hated to throw it into the fire, but it had to be +done." + +"She'd better not be furious," returned the Captain. "She's got you to +thank that she didn't burn up herself. She had a close call that time, +and if you hadn't snatched that burning rag off her and covered her with +a rug I'd hate to think what would have happened. I tell you it's great +to be able to do the right thing at the right time. A lot of people talk +about what they would do in an emergency, but very few of them ever do +it." + +"Well," returned Sahwah coolly, holding up her hands and inspecting the +bandages with a critical eye, "there is an emergency before us right now. +Suppose you stop talking and get busy and fry those pancakes for the +boys. They're dying of starvation outside." + +The Captain started, blushed and looked at her keenly to see if she were +making fun of him, and then fell to work without a word finishing +Sahwah's interrupted labor. + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE ARRIVAL OF KATHERINE + + +Preparations were completed and the day for the presentation of the +greatest show on earth had arrived. It was crisply cool, but clear and +sunshiny, as the last Saturday in beloved October should be; and not too +cold to sit still and witness an out-of-doors performance. Tickets had +sold with such gratifying readiness that a second edition had been +necessary, and the Committee on Seating Arrangements was nearly in +despair over providing enough seats. + +"It's no use," declared Bottomless Pitt, "we've done the best we could +and half of them will still have to stand. It'll be a case of 'first +come, first served.'" + +Sahwah and Hinpoha, their arms filled with bundles of "props," which they +had spent the morning in collecting, sank wearily down at a table in the +"Neapolitan" soda dispensary and ordered their favorite sundaes. "Now, +are you perfectly sure we have everything?" asked Hinpoha, between +spoonfuls. + +"There's the Better Baby's rattle," recounted Sahwah, identifying her +parcels by feeling of them, "the Magician's natural hair a foot long, the +china eggs he finds in the lady's handbag, the bareback rider's spangles, +and--O Hinpoha!" she cried in dismay, dropping her spoon on the tile +floor with a great clatter, "we forgot the red, white and blue cockade +for Sandhelo. I'll have to go back to Nelson's and get it. Dear me, it's +eleven o'clock now and we still have to go out home and dress. And the +marshmallows have to be bought yet; that's another thing I promised Nyoda +I'd see about. Won't you please get them, Hinpoha, while I run up to +Nelson's? There's a dear. Get them at Raymond's--theirs are the freshest; +and then you had better go right on home without waiting for me. It will +take me a little longer, but I'll hurry as fast as I can. And please tell +Nyoda that I didn't forget the marshmallows this time; I just turned the +responsibility over to you." And Sahwah gathered up her bundles and +retraced her steps toward the big up-town store, while Hinpoha took her +way to Raymond's. Five pounds of marshmallows make a pretty big box, and +Hinpoha had several other parcels to carry. She had them all laid out on +the counter with an eye to tying some of them together to facilitate +transportation when a voice suddenly called out: "Dorothy! Dorothy +Bradford!" She turned and saw Miss Parker, one of the teachers at +Washington High, at the other end of the counter. "Come and meet my +cousin," said Miss Parker, and brought forward a young girl she had with +her. "This is Katherine Adams," said Miss Parker. "Katherine, I would +like you to meet one of my pupils, Dorothy Bradford." + +Hinpoha acknowledged the introduction cordially, but it was all she could +do to suppress a smile at Katherine's appearance. She was an extremely +tall, lanky girl, narrow chested and stoop shouldered, with scanty +straw-colored hair drawn into a tight knot at the back of her neck, and +pale, near-sighted eyes peering through glasses. She wore a long +drab-colored coat, cut as severely plain as a man's, and a narrow-brimmed +felt sailor hat. She wore no gloves and her hands were large and bony. +Her shoes--Hinpoha looked twice in her astonishment to make sure--yes, +there was no mistake, the shoes she had on were not mates! One was a +cloth-top button and the other a heavy laced walking boot. Miss Parker +followed Hinpoha's surprised glance and looked distressed. But Katherine +was not at all disconcerted when she discovered the discrepancy in her +footgear. + +"That's what you get for interrupting me in the middle of my dressing," +she said coolly. "Now, I've forgotten which pair I intended to wear." She +had an odd, husky voice, that made everything she said sound funny. + +Miss Parker seemed rather anxious that her cousin should make a good +impression on Hinpoha. Katherine was from Spencer, Arkansas, she +explained, and had gone as far in school as she could out there and had +now come east to stay with her cousin and take the last year in high +school. Hinpoha promised to introduce her around to the girls in the +class, with her eyes on the clock all the while and her mind on the +performance she should be helping to prepare that minute instead of +standing there talking. + +"Won't you come to our circus this afternoon?" she said politely, fishing +among the small "props" in her handbag. "Here's a ticket. It's going to +be in the big field at the corner of May and ----th streets. Come into +the barn if you come and I'll introduce you to some of my friends." + +Miss Parker and her caricature of a cousin finally departed, and Hinpoha +hastily gathered up her bundles. Something about the package of +marshmallows struck her as unfamiliar, and she examined it in +consternation. It certainly was not her package, though like it in shape. +Somebody had taken hers by mistake. She looked around the store and was +just in time to see her box being carried out the front door under the +arm of a woman. Hinpoha gathered her packages into her arms hit and miss +and rushed after her. But impeded as she was she got stuck in the +revolving door and was delayed a full minute before she escaped to the +sidewalk. She was just in time to see the object of her pursuit board a +car at the corner. Before Hinpoha could reach the corner the car had +started. Hinpoha stamped her foot with vexation, mostly directed toward +Miss Parker and her freak cousin for taking her attention away from her +belongings. Then she considered. The car the woman had boarded must make +a loop and come out a block below and it would be possible to catch it +there. Hinpoha puffed along the sidewalk at a great rate, worming her way +through the Saturday noon crowds and colliding with people right and +left. She reached the corner just as the car did and made a mad dash over +the pavement, dodging in among wagons and automobiles at dire peril of +life and limb. She scrambled aboard and landed sprawling on the back +platform, while her bundles scattered over the floor in every direction. +Breathless and embarrassed, she gathered them up and entered the car just +in time to see the lady carrying her box of marshmallows get out of the +front door. Hinpoha made a wild dash for the rear exit, but the door was +closed and the car already in motion. She rang the bell frantically, at +the same time following the woman with her eyes to see in which direction +she went. The car finally released her two blocks up street, and then +began the mad chase back again. Poor Hinpoha was never built for speed; +her breath gave out and she developed an agonizing pain in her side. Her +bundles weighed her down and her hat flopped into her eyes. Chugging +along thus she ran smartly into someone and again her packages covered +the sidewalk. + +"Oh, excuse me!" she gasped, struggling to get her hat back on her head. +"I couldn't see where I was going. _Why, Captain_----" For it was none +other than he with whom she had collided. + +"Pretty well loaded down, aren't you?" said the Captain, stooping to pick +up the litter on the sidewalk. + +"Never mind them," said Hinpoha hastily, "go after _her_." + +"Go after _her_?" repeated the Captain in a tone of bewilderment. + +Hinpoha pointed speechlessly up the street and then with a mighty effort +regained a speck of her breath and panted "Lady--blue coat--plush +collar--our marshmallows--left this--Raymond's--go get them," and, +shoving the stranger's package into his hands, she indicated with waving +arms that he was to pursue the lady in question and regain the club's +property. The Captain started off obediently, though her explanation was +not yet clear in his mind, but the truth flashed over him when he +presently overtook a lady that fitted the description just turning into +the door of Raymond's store with a large package under her arm, and he +soon made his errand known and recovered the marshmallows. She was just +in the act of returning them to Raymond's, having discovered her mistake. + +Hinpoha was out in front when the Captain emerged from the store, and she +surrendered her bundles to him gratefully, saying with a breathless sigh, +"Boys _are_ useful to have around once in a while, after all." + +"Only once in a while?" asked the Captain. + +"Well, maybe twice in a while, then," said Hinpoha graciously. + +Hinpoha arrived on the scene of action so late that there was no time to +press her for explanations; she was summarily hustled out of her street +clothes and into her orchestra costume. The audience was arriving in +crowds and the Sandwiches, who were detailed as ticket takers, had much +to do to keep legions of small boys from climbing the fence and seeing +the show without the formality of buying a ticket. + +The Grand Parade, "including every single member of the entire show," was +scheduled to start promptly at two. The parade was necessarily held in +sections, as all hands were needed for each section. The clock in a +neighboring steeple had not finished chiming the hour when there was an +unearthly blare of trumpets and crashing of drums, and the band issued +from the entrance of the Open Door Lodge. Nyoda led the band and made a +stunning drum major in a fur hat a foot high, made out of a muff. The +members of the band were dressed as Spanish troubadours in costumes of +blinding scarlet, with their instruments hung around their neck by +ribbons. They marched around the ring at a lively pace, playing the music +of a popular football song, which made the audience cheer wildly, for it +was largely composed of students from the two great rival schools, +Washington High and Carnegie Mechanic. In the wake of the troubadours +stumbled an enormously fat clown in a suit half red and half white, +blowing up a rubber bladder, which emitted a plaintive squawk. Loud +applause greeted every move the clown made and when he accidentally +stumbled into a hole and measured his length on the ground the small boys +shrieked in ecstasy. + +The band made a stately and melodious exit in the House of the Open Door +and once inside broke ranks in haste to prepare for the second section of +the parade--the procession of the animals. This was a much more +complicated matter than the band had been, but it had been so well +rehearsed that the crowd, who were being amused by the antics of the +clown, had not time to grow impatient before they were ready. Shrieks of +delight went up at the appearance of the five ferocious animals from +Nowhere--The Camelk, The Crabbit, The Alligatortoise, The Kangarooster +and The Salmonkey, and they had to go around the ring five times before +being allowed to retire. The parade being such an unqualified success, it +is needless to say that the circus proper went even better. The actors +had all worked themselves up into the right mood for it. + +The magician gave more entertainment than he had counted on, for the +mice, which he had concealed in his pocket ready to produce from under +the folded handkerchief, bit him before their turn in the show came, and +the beholders were startled to see the magician suddenly spring into the +air, uttering a wild yell and, thrusting his hand into his hip pocket, +throw the cause of the disturbance half-way across the ring. The Fattest +Man on Earth, who was Slim, with the addition of several pillows fore and +aft, mounted the small stage and laboriously sat on a toothpick, breaking +down the stage in the process; and the Inja Rubber Man did such amazing +contortions that the audience began to hold their breath for fear he +would never come untangled again. + +When it happened to be her turn to go out in one of the numbers Hinpoha +looked the audience over to see if Katherine Adams had come in response +to her invitation, but she did not see her. But, while looking for +Katherine, her eye was caught by a strange figure, the like of which she +had never seen before. She was a woman, old and bent, and dressed in such +old-fashioned clothes that she looked like a caricature out of a funny +page. She had on a tight green basque, which flared out below the waist +in a ripple and a very full red skirt, held out in a ridiculous curve by +that atrocity of bygone days known as a "bustle." She was climbing +stiffly up and down among the spectators trying to sell papers which she +was crying in a shrill voice. As she went up and down among the benches +she held up her skirt in her hand, disclosing purple stockings and +enormous flapping slippers. Wherever she went she was followed by a +ripple of laughter; the audience seemed to be getting as much fun out of +her as they were out of the show. Hinpoha told Nyoda about it when she +was in the barn again and Nyoda asked all the players not to do anything +to drive her away, as she was no doubt trying to make an honest living by +selling papers wherever there was a crowd, and she was adding an +unexpected touch to the circus to amuse the audience. + +The bareback rider proved a real sensation. Up to that time the numbers +had merely been in the nature of stunts--clever and original and highly +diverting, and yet something which any group of young people could +produce. But here was something different. Veronica was so dark that in +her costume she looked like a real gypsy, and as she was not yet well +known she was not recognized. She came in riding a beautiful black horse +that belonged to Mr. Evans, and, after galloping around the ring several +times and making him rear up on his hind legs until the audience thought +she must slide off, she set him to leaping obstacles, keeping her seat +all the while with amazing ease. There was a touch of realism in her act, +too, which made the audience tingle for a while. In their eagerness to +see the horse and the daring rider the children down in the front row had +pressed forward until they were fairly under the ropes. Without warning a +little girl lost her balance and fell out into the ring, rolling right +into the path of the galloping horse. An exclamation of horror went up +from the crowd, and many covered their eyes with their hands. The others, +gazing as if fascinated, saw the horse in obedience to a quick command +leap into the air with all four feet and come down several feet beyond +the little form on the ground. Shouts rose up from every side and cheers +for the skilful horsewoman who had been able to avert a tragedy when it +was too late to turn aside. But Veronica sat unmoved, a graceful statue +on the beautiful horse, looking out over the audience with brooding eyes +that saw them not. + +Of course the _piece de resistance_ of the whole show was the trick mule, +Sandhelo. He had been the most widely advertised feature and had been the +means of selling the most tickets. The small boys came lured by the +promise of a free ride after the show and could hardly wait for that time +to come. His appearance in the ring was hailed with tumultuous applause. +Led by the clown, who played the mouth organ constantly to assure his +continuous locomotion, he did his tricks over and over again, lying down +as if dead when Slim played "John Brown's Body," and springing to his +feet with a lively bray when he played "Yankee Doodle"; and sitting up on +the table and waving his fore feet at the audience while he tossed a lump +of sugar on his nose. + +Then the clown tried to ride him and fell off, first on one side and then +the other, and after several vain attempts offered a quarter to anyone in +the audience who would come out and ride him around the ring. As the +players along knew that Sandhelo would only go to music, they anticipated +no little fun from this business. Sandhelo was perfectly safe to ride--he +was as gentle as a kitten--but his refusal to stir when commanded made +him appear a very balky mule indeed, and there was no response to Slim's +invitation for somebody to come out and ride him. Even the small boys, +who were eager to ride him, preferred to wait until the show was over +before making the trial. + +"Don't all come at once," appealed Slim in derision. "One at a time, +please. Who'll ride the famous trick mule, Sandhelo, around the ring and +win the handsome prize of twenty-five cents, a whole quarter of a +dollar?" Still no volunteers. Sandhelo yawned and looked bored to death. +Slim stretched out his hands to the audience imploringly. + +Suddenly there was a commotion at one end of the seats and down from the +top of the picnic tables, where the raised seats were, there climbed the +little old woman who had gone around selling papers. "I'll ride him for +twenty-five cents," she cackled in her high shrill voice. And she hobbled +across the ring to where Sandhelo stood. The players were ready to hug +themselves with joy. Here was a real circus-y touch they had not counted +on. + +"Aren't you afraid she'll get hurt?" whispered Hinpoha to Nyoda. + +"No danger," returned Nyoda. "Sandhelo won't go a step without the mouth +organ." + +The little old woman, her back bent almost double, shuffled over and +grasped Sandhelo, not by the bridle, but by the cockade on his head. Then +she suddenly straightened up and a gasp of astonishment went around the +circle. She was taller than the tallest of them. Without assistance from +anyone she climbed on Sandhelo's back and sat with her face toward his +tail. The audience, suspecting that it was a "put-up job," and this was +another stunt, roared its appreciation, but the players looked at each +other in utter bewilderment. Who was this strange character? + +Sandhelo was a very small donkey, standing no higher than a Shetland +pony, and when the old lady was seated on his back her feet dragged on +the ground. Calmly crossing them underneath his body, she gave his tail a +smart jerk, accompanied by the shrill command, "Giddap!" Sandhelo, +mortified to death at the undignified position of his rider, had but one +idea in his mind--to escape from the gibing crowd and hide his head in +his stable. Around the ring he flew as fast as his tiny legs would carry +him, the old woman sticking to him like a burr, her bonnet strings flying +in the wind, her big slippers flapping against his sides, and her shrill +voice urging him on to greater speed. The act brought down the house and +a whole row of folding camp chairs collapsed under the strain of the +applause. + +Beside himself with rage and shame, Sandhelo bolted into the barn and +carried his strange rider into the midst of the company of players. +Sliding off his back, she looked around the ring of curious faces before +her with little twinkling gray eyes. Then she held out her hand +suggestively. "Where's the quarter I git fer ridin' the mule?" she asked. +Something in her voice awakened a memory in Hinpoha's mind. In a +twinkling she was carried back to the incident at Raymond's that noon +when Miss Parker stopped to present her cousin from the west. Surely +there never were two such voices! At the same time Hinpoha noticed that +the old woman's gray hair was sliding back on her head, and a long wisp +of yellowish hair was hanging out underneath. She stared at the curious +figure in growing wonder, and the woman stared back at her with a knowing +grin that became wider every moment. Then with a quick movement the old +woman snatched off a gray wig, mopped a damp handkerchief over her face, +produced a pair of glasses from some pocket in the wide skirt, and stood +before them the same awkward, ungainly creature that Hinpoha had met that +noon. It was Katherine Adams, Miss Parker's cousin. + +Such a babel there was when Hinpoha recognized the strange comedian and +presented her to the others! The waiting audience was completely +forgotten as they listened fascinated while Katherine explained how she +had come "by special invitation" to the circus and had decided that +people who had "pep" enough to get up a circus were worth knowing, and +the best way to get acquainted with the players was to be in the show +herself. So she had joined the company without the formality of being +asked. + +"You're appointed assistant clown for the remainder of the circus," said +Nyoda. + +"And you're invited to the spread upstairs afterwards," said Hinpoha. + +"It's time for the Chair-iot Race," said the Captain warningly, and the +players returned to their duties with a guilty start. The new comedian +proved such a diversion and put the regular clown up to so many tricks +that he would never have thought of by himself, that the audience refused +to go home when the big show was over, and called for encore after +encore. + +"Let's get her to sell cocoa," suggested Gladys; "they'll buy from her +when they wouldn't from us." + +So Katherine, who up until a few hours ago had never heard of the +Winnebagos and Sandwiches, did more for them in the way of dispensing +cups of cocoa at five cents a cup than they were able to do for +themselves. She made such inimitably droll speeches in her efforts to +advertise her wares that the audience crowded around her just to hear her +talk, and bought and bought until the huge kettles were empty and the +paper box till was full. The small boys crowded around the Ringmaster, +demanding their ride on the trick mule, and, tearing himself away from +the fascinating orator, he betook himself to the barn, followed by the +whole string of would-be riders. But when he arrived there the stall was +empty and Sandhelo was nowhere to be found. Loud chorus of disappointment +from the small boys. The Captain turned their interest in Sandhelo to +account by enlisting them in the search for him, but it was vain. Nowhere +could they find a trace of him. His shame at the indignity heaped upon +him that afternoon had been too great. Finding his stall left open in the +excitement he had escaped and wandered off while the attention of +everyone was riveted on the antics of the new comedian, and hid his head +among new scenes and faces. The small boys finally gave up and went home, +partly consoled by the assurance that if Sandhelo ever turned up again +the promised ride would still be theirs, and the players, rather +exhausted, but exulting over the success of the performance, gathered in +the Winnebago room of the Open Door Lodge for the jollification spread. + +Katherine Adams was the lioness of the evening. Begged for a speech, she +obligingly mounted the table and held a discourse that left her hearers +limp with merriment. What she said was sidesplitting enough, but her +gestures, her expression and her voice were beyond description. She spoke +in a lazy southern drawl, mixed up with a nasal twang, and the peculiarly +veiled, husky quality of her voice gave it a sound the like of which was +never heard before. She still wore the big flapping slippers and had much +ado to keep them on when she climbed on the table with the mincing air of +a young miss making an elocution lesson. She planted her feet carefully, +heels together and toes apart, taking several minutes in the operation, +and then surveyed them with a silly smirk of satisfaction that was +convulsing. When her discourse became a little heated the feet suddenly +flew around and toed in until both heels and toes were in a straight +line. At the ripple of laughter which this called forth she looked down +at her feet with a sad, pained expression and carefully set them right +again. A few moments later she again waxed eloquent and again the feet +turned, seemingly of themselves, and this time her toes pointed outward +until toes and heels were all one straight line. The shrieks of delight +made her look down again, with that same puzzled, pained expression, and +again she set them right in an affected manner. + +When the speech was over the boys and girls begged her to do it again, +and kept her speechifying until she declared she had no voice left to +whisper. "You know I have to be very careful of my voice," she said in a +tone of confiding simplicity. "It's so sweet that I'm afraid of cracking +it all the time." + +Katherine was too good to be true. "Just like a character out of a book," +the delighted Winnebagos whispered to one another. Before the evening was +over they had unanimously decided to urge--not merely invite, mind you, +but urge--her to become a Winnebago. Katherine was delighted with the +idea and accepted the invitation with another convulsing speech. It +seemed incredible to the girls that they had met her just that afternoon. +It seemed as if they had known her always. She fitted into their group +like a thumb on a hand. She was plied with slumgullion and every other +delicacy, and her health was drunk in numerous cups of cocoa. The +continual flow of banter which the Winnebagos usually kept up among +themselves was hushed, and everyone was willing to put the soft pedal on +her own speech if only Katherine would talk some more. She told +fascinating things about her life on a big stock farm out in Arkansas. + +"Are there any Indians around there?" asked Veronica, whose ideas of the +American Far West were rather hazy and romantic. + +"Indians!" said Katherine. "I should say there were! They're something +terrible. Why, you don't dare hang your clothes on the line, because the +Indians will shoot them full of arrows! And then," she continued, as she +saw Veronica's eyes becoming saucerlike, "there are all kind of wild +animals out there, too. We can't keep milk standing around in the pantry +because the wildcats come in and drink it up, and the bears shed their +hair all over the carpet! Why, one day I came in from the yard and there +was a rattlesnake curled up on the piano stool!" + +The Winnebagos and the Sandwiches doubled up with merriment at her awful +"yarns," but Veronica believed every word of it. + +"O Katherine, you awful thing, I'm in love with you," cried Hinpoha, in +rather mixed metaphor, and drew her down on the bearskin bed beside her. +"Goodness, Veronica, don't look so excited. All the Indians there are in +this country now are on reservations, and they're entirely peaceable. You +mustn't believe a word she says." + +The jollification supper ended in a hilarious Virginia Reel, which hardly +anyone could dance for laughing at Katherine's big slippers, as she +shuffled up and down the line. + +"What a day this has been," sighed Hinpoha to Gladys, with whom she was +spending the night, as she sank down on the bed with all her clothes on. +"We've made enough money to equip the Sandwiches' gym be-yoo-tifully; +we've made Veronica famous as a horsewoman; we've lost our trick mule and +gained a new member for the Winnebagos. In the classic words of our +gallant Captain, I think that's 'going some.'" + + + + + CHAPTER VI + A MORAL OBLIGATION + + +Katherine's entry into High School life was a complete success--one of +those rare, astonishing successes that happen about once in a decade. The +regular members of the class, who have been together since the beginning, +will by constant effort have attained a fair measure of popularity by the +fourth year, when suddenly a personality will appear out of the vast and +seize and hold the center of the stage. Katherine's spectacular exploit +at the Sandebago Circus was heralded far and wide, and when she entered +school the following Monday morning she found herself already famous. +Everywhere she was pointed out as "the girl who had ridden the donkey," +"the girl with the funny voice," "the girl who made the screaming +speeches." Teachers agreed unanimously that she was the most erratically +brilliant student they had ever had in their classes--when she could +remember to turn her work in. Her compositions were read out in class and +brought down the house. When she rose to recite you could hear a pin +drop. It was an open secret that the two English teachers had drawn lots +to see who would get her, and not a few pupils suddenly discovered +conflicts in their recitations and got themselves changed into the class +where Katherine was. + +Her absent-mindedness soon became proverbial. Odd shoes--gloves of two +different colors--hat on hind side before, or somebody else's hat +altogether--these were everyday occurrences. Her friends told with +chuckles how she had climbed one flight of stairs too many on her way to +Math class and walked into a Freshman English class, her mind busy +working out the solution of a problem in geometry. When some other +Katherine was called upon to recite she rose solemnly and, going to the +board, gave a masterly demonstration of a knotty theorem in solid +geometry, and then marched out with the class, serenely unconscious of +her mistake, oblivious to the laughter of the class and the amusement of +the teacher, who let her go on without interruption to see how far she +would go. Her bewilderment when asked by the regular geometry teacher to +explain why she had cut class that morning was comical. + +Possessing neither beauty, style, pretty clothes, nor all the dozen other +things that make the ordinary girl popular, her very unusualness gave her +a distinction, and inside of two weeks she was the best-known girl in the +whole school. To be counted as one of her friends was an honor, and to be +able to say, "Katherine told me this," or, "Katherine did this up at our +house," was to incite the envy of less favored ones. The Uranians, the +most exclusive and select girl's society in the school, voted her in as a +member because they must have all the prominent girls, although they +generally scorned both worth and brains, if clothed in poor garments, and +great was their chagrin to find that their disdained rivals, the clever +and democratic Dramatic Club, had held a special meeting and taken her in +the afternoon before. Urania had not noticed that Katherine had been +wearing the Dramatic Club pin a whole day because she had stuck it over a +hole in her stocking which she did not have time to mend. + +How the Winnebagos exulted because Hinpoha had been polite enough to +invite her to the circus and she had consequently landed in their bosom +the first thing! No other group of girls would ever know her as +intimately as they would. The Camp Fire idea appealed to her from the +start. The Open Door Lodge was a paradise for her. The ladder stairs were +a constant source of delight. + +"One would think you had never climbed a ladder before," said Hinpoha, +watching curiously as Katherine climbed up and down and up again just for +the fun of the thing. Katherine draped her feet around a rung to support +herself and sat on the top bar. + +"I never did," she said simply. + +"Never climbed a ladder!" said Hinpoha incredulously. "Why, where did you +live?" + +"In Arkansas," answered Katherine significantly. "Do you know," she went +on, "that until I came east I had never seen a flight of stairs? _I had +never seen a flight of stairs!_" she repeated, as Hinpoha and the other +girls in the Lodge gasped unbelievingly. "We lived in a one-story house, +the floor level with the ground, so you just walked in from the outside +without going up steps. The house was in the middle of a big farm, as +level and flat as this floor. I rode ten miles to school and that was +built just like our house. Oh, of course I knew there were such things as +stairs, because I had seen them in pictures, but until I came here I had +never seen any." + +"But didn't you see any when you went traveling?" asked Hinpoha, still +incredulous. + +"Never went traveling," returned Katherine. "It took considerable +hustling to stay right where we were. One year the locusts ate up +everything, down to the clothes on the line, and we couldn't get enough +feed to fatten the stock; the next year there were prairie fires that +licked the earth as clean as a plate; one year the cattle all died of +disease, and so on. It wasn't until this year that we came out ahead +enough to send me here to school." + +And when the girls heard what a hard time she had had they adored her +more than ever because she could be so funny when she had had so little +to be funny about. + +Another thing that charmed her beyond measure was the color of the autumn +leaves. The Winnebagos could hardly pull her past a tree. "There was only +one tree in sight on our farm," she would tell them, "and that wasn't +green like the trees are in the east; it was just a dusty, greenish gray. +And the leaves didn't turn colors in the fall; they just withered up and +dropped off. Oh-h-h, look at that one over there--isn't it just too +gorgeous for words?" + +When we said that both teachers and pupils regarded Katherine as too good +to be true, we should have made one exception. That exception was Miss +Snively, the Senior Oratory teacher. Most of the teachers were liked by +some scholars and disliked by some, according to disposition or +circumstance; but all pupils agreed heartily that they did not like Miss +Snively. She was neither old nor bad looking; in fact, she was rather +handsome when you saw her for the first time, but she was so bitingly +sarcastic that her classes stood in fear and trembling of being singled +out for some poisoned shaft. Sarcasm and ridicule are the most deadly +weapons to use against boys and girls of the high school age. They are +not old enough to know how to come back, and can only nurse the smart and +writhe impotently. And of all classes to have a sarcastic teacher, Senior +Oratory is the worst. It is bad enough to stand up and make a speech with +appropriate gestures before a sympathetic teacher who corrects +diplomatically and never, never laughs, but to have one who eyes you +coldly all the while and then gets up and does it the way you did, only +ten times worse--more buckets of tears had been shed over Senior Oratory +than all other subjects put together. + +When Katherine entered the class Miss Snively took immediate exception to +her voice. Miss Snively's particular hobby was Woman's Voice. Hers was +high and artificially sweet--it fairly oozed syrup--and she did her level +best to make her girl pupils imitate it. So when Katherine began reading +in her husky nasal drawl, Miss Snively promptly read the piece after her, +imitating her voice as best she could, and then looked around the room +for the laughter of the pupils which would complete Katherine's +mortification. But nobody laughed. They all sympathized with Katherine. +They had been in her shoes themselves. The blood mounted to Katherine's +temples when she realized that Miss Snively was deliberately making fun +of her, and a hurt look came into her eyes. She was sensitive about her +voice, even if she did get endless fun out of it. When Miss Snively +handed her the book again and bade her in sarcastic tones to read further +for the edification of the class, Katherine sat silent. To her horror she +found there was a lump in her throat and she would most likely break down +utterly if she tried to say a word. She did not mean to be stubborn--she +was only waiting for control of her voice, for she was too proud to let +Miss Snively see how badly she felt. So she sat silent, miserably +twisting her handkerchief in her hands. + +"Go back to your session room," said Miss Snively sharply, who boasted of +her summary measures with her scholars. So Katherine left the room in +disgrace. From that time on there was a marked antagonism between those +two. Miss Snively lost no chance to make Katherine ridiculous in class, +and, while Katherine had too much respect for teachers to openly defy +her, she "took off" her affected manners to delighted audiences outside +of class, and Miss Snively knew it and was powerless to stop it. But, +outside of her skirmishes with Miss Snively, Katherine's progress through +school was a triumphal march. + +In every school, and Washington High was no exception, there will be +found various elements--some good and some bad. Color rushes, which had +given an annual vent to the mysterious feeling of hostility which always +exists between junior and senior classes, had been abolished. But the +feeling still existed, and manifested itself in various skirmishes. The +year before, when the juniors gave their annual dance, the seniors +carried away the refreshments. On the night of the senior dance the +lights refused to work, and, of course, the juniors were at the bottom of +the mystery. The principal, thinking rightly that pranks of this kind +reflected little credit on his school, wrathfully declared that if any of +the seniors attempted to spoil the juniors' party this year there would +be trouble. But there were certain lawless spirits in the senior class +who still thought pranks of that nature funny, and it was not long before +plans were hatching as merrily as before. It was all very vague, what was +going to be done and who was going to do it, but it was in the air, and +everybody who was up on school affairs knew there was a storm brewing. + +The first definite news came to the Winnebagos through Katherine. "I've +been asked to a select party," she announced one night up in the Open +Door Lodge, spreading her bony hands out before the blazing log on the +hearth. "It's something like the Boston Tea Party," she went on. + +"Must be going to be quite an affair," said Gladys, who was stirring +fudge over the fire. "May we inquire where?" + +"Oh, girls," said Katherine, with a serious face, "do you know what's in +the wind? The Seniors are to put a lot of live mice through the windows +in the middle of the Junior dance." + +"The Seniors?" exclaimed Hinpoha and Gladys in one breath. "What +Seniors?" + +"Oh, Charlie Hughes and Eddie Myers and that bunch. You know the half +dozen that go around together and call themselves the Clan? Well, those. +They were mixed up in the business last year." Although Katherine was a +newcomer in the school she was already well versed in its history. + +"How did you find it out?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Cora Burton told me." Cora was one of Katherine's devoted admirers and +tried hard to be chummy with her, although Katherine did not care for her +in the least. "Cora's a particular friend of Charlie Hughes, and she and +some other girls are going along to see the fun. But she couldn't keep it +secret and told me today and asked if I wanted to go along." + +"Oh, Katherine, you're not going?" said Sahwah anxiously. + +The disgusted expression on Katherine's face was answer enough. + +"Hadn't we better tell some of the teachers?" asked Gladys, pausing in +her stirring. "I wish Nyoda were here." Miss Kent had been called out of +town on account of the death of an aunt and would be away until after the +party. + +"We ought to, I think," said Hinpoha. + +Katherine stood up beside the fireplace, and resting one elbow on the +shelf humped her shoulders in her favorite attitude and began to speak. +"Girls," she said, "this Junior-Senior business is going to be an awful +mess, and the result will be that somebody will be expelled or not +permitted to graduate. Students are going to take sides in the affair and +there will be no end of hard feelings. I for one don't care to play the +role of informer. So far we Winnebagos have kept entirely out of anything +of this kind and wish we could get along without having any connection +with this." + +"But the teachers would never tell who told them," said Hinpoha. + +"The teachers wouldn't," answered Katherine, "but Cora Burton would. And +then maybe someone would say that I had been in the thing to start with +and then grew afraid and told on the others. You know how those stories +grow. Stay out of it altogether, say I, and avoid publicity." + +"But don't you think it's our duty to try and stop such horrid pranks?" +asked Hinpoha doubtfully. + +"I certainly do," said Katherine, "and if we were the only ones who +suspected anything it would be different. But all the teachers know that +something is going to happen and they will be on the lookout. And the +Juniors know it also, and they will be on their guard. I doubt very much +if those mice ever get into the room, even if we keep silent." + +And the Winnebagos, remembering Hinpoha's sad experience the year before, +decided that it was perhaps better after all to keep out of the affair +altogether. + +"I thought you'd see it my way after you'd considered all sides," said +Katherine, reaching out her long fingers and taking three pieces of fudge +off the plate where it was cooling, "but that isn't what I wanted to talk +about tonight. It's Cora Burton that bothers me. She isn't a bad sort of +girl, and I can't see why she should want to get mixed up in that sort of +thing, especially when there's bound to be trouble later. If she were to +be seen with those boys Friday night it would go hard with her. I suppose +she thinks she's right in the swim being connected with a prank, because +she isn't very popular otherwise. The other girls that are in it aren't +ladylike and it's not much use getting after them, but Cora's different, +somehow. I wish something could be done about it." And she crunched a +piece of fudge between her teeth with violence. + +"We might get up a show that night and each one bring a friend, and you +could invite Cora," suggested Sahwah. "Counter attraction, you know." + +The suggestion was voted a good one and promptly acted upon. But Cora +declined Katherine's cordial invitation. "What's to be done now?" asked +Katherine of the hastily called meeting of the Winnebagos. "Our counter +attraction didn't work." + +"Girls," said Gladys solemnly, "I believe it's our duty to keep Cora away +from that business somehow. If we were smart enough we'd find a way. I +don't believe we ought to let the matter drop and say if she wants to get +into trouble let her do it, it's none of our affair. It _is_ our affair, +because we're pledged to Give Service, and it would be doing Cora a great +service to keep her out of this. If she's weak and we're strong we must +hold her out of water. You remember what Dr. Harper said at the lecture +about saving people from themselves. Well, I think we ought to save Cora +from herself." + +The phrase, "Save Cora from herself," sounded very fine to the ears of +the Winnebagos, and they decided that Cora must be saved from herself at +all costs. But how? + +"I think I can manage it," said Katherine, who had been buried deep in +thought all the while the last discussion was going on. "It'll be quite +an undertaking, but the end justifies the means." + +"Tell us," begged the girls. + +"Why, it's this," said Katherine. "I shall tell Cora that I've changed my +mind and want to go with her Friday night and will meet her on the corner +of her street at eight o'clock. When I've met her I'll tell her that I +left my purse up here and ask her to come along till I get it. You know +she doesn't live very far from here. Once up here we'll keep her safely +all evening. Oh, I know that holding people against their will isn't one +of the rules of polite society, but in her case I think we're justified. +She'll thank us for it before very long. And we'll try to make it +pleasant for her. We'll give the show just as we intended and have a +spread and her captivity won't seem long." + +As there seemed no other way out of the difficulty, Katherine's plan was +accepted. + +"It's working fine," she confided to the Winnebagos the next day. "Cora +was tickled to pieces because I wanted to go with her. She agreed to meet +me on the corner, as I suggested, and we're both going to wear green +veils so we won't be recognized so easily. Hoop la!" and she did a double +shuffle with her toes turned in down the aisle of the empty class room +where the girls had gathered. + +On Friday night the Winnebagos met early in the House of the Open Door. +Mrs. Evans, Gladys' mother, was acting as leader tonight in the absence +of Nyoda. She had been let into the secret about Cora and under the +circumstances thought that their action was right. Cora lived with an old +uncle, who was stone deaf and didn't care a rap what she did, so there +was no use talking to her folks about it. Several girl friends of the +Winnebagos were present, all having raptures over the decorations of the +Lodge, and watching with interest the waving curtain in the corner, +behind which Sahwah was making herself up as a Topsy for their +entertainment later on. Gladys was making sandwiches in another corner +and lamenting because the bread knife was broken half off, and was +accusing Sahwah of prying bricks apart with it, when stealthy footsteps +sounded on the walk below, together with the noise of the door being +pushed back quietly. Gladys heard it and started nervously. She was +beginning to feel rather embarrassed at the thought of meeting Cora +Burton, and wondered just how it would come out, anyway. She wished it +were safely over. + +Katherine and her prisoner seemed a long time in reaching the foot of the +ladder. Did Cora suspect something, perhaps, and was refusing to mount? +Gladys strained her ears to listen and thought she heard a smothered +giggle from below, but she could not be sure. The next minute the lights +flashed below and the patent signal knock of the Sandwiches sounded on +the wall. + +"Here come the boys!" cried Hinpoha, hastening to answer the signal with +a series of mystic thumps on the wall with the poker. + +Then the Captain's voice sounded at the foot of the ladder. "How many of +you are up there?" + +"Five," answered Hinpoha, "and three guests." + +"Is Miss Kent there?" + +"No." + +"What are you doing?" + +"We're going to have a show. Want to come up?" + +"Well, maybe, later," answered the Captain. "Won't you come down a +minute? We've got something to show you." And again Gladys thought she +heard a smothered giggle from below stairs. + +The girls trooped down the ladder, Sahwah running out with her face +blackened and her hair in tiny pigtails, to see what the excitement was +about. All seven of the Sandwiches stood there with sparkling eyes and +prenaturally solemn faces. On the floor stood a good-sized box. + +"What's in the box?" asked Sahwah. + +"Oh, nothing," answered the Captain, trying to speak indifferently. + +"There is too, something," said Sahwah, looking critically at the express +tags fastened to it. "Oh, I know what is is," she cried, suddenly jumping +up and clapping her hands in glee. "Your uncle in Boston has sent you the +electric motor he promised you!" + +The Captain tried to look indifferent and failed utterly. His lips would +twitch into a smile in spite of all he could do. + +"Do open it and let us see it," said Hinpoha, and all the girls crowded +closely around. + +"You may have the honor, Miss Brewster," said the Captain, bowing +formally to Sahwah. The nails had been drawn and all Sahwah had to do was +lift off the cover of the box, which she did with a great flourish. The +next moment the girls sprang back in dismay and scattered wildly. The box +was full of live mice, which jumped out and ran in all directions. +Screaming at the tops of their voices the girls fled toward the ladder +and crowded up as fast as they could go. Sahwah jumped for the swinging +rings, which hung from the ceiling of the barn, and dangled safely in +mid-air, making horrible faces at the Captain, at which he laughed +uproariously. Sahwah and the Captain were always playing tricks on each +other and this time she had to admit that he had scored heavily. So the +Captain jeered and Sahwah vowed vengeance and the other Sandwiches stood +around and laughed until their sides ached, for Sahwah, with blackened +face and Topsy braids, hanging in the rings and sputtering, was the +funniest sight imaginable. + +"Joke's over now, boys," said the Captain, when the mice had run around +the barn for several minutes. "We've had enough of a good thing. Let's +catch them and put them back into the box." + +The girls above sat around the ladder opening and watched the +proceedings. + +"Wherever did you get so many mice, boys?" asked Mrs. Evans. + +"We found them," said the Captain, "all boxed up, just like this, They +were right out in the middle of that field over there. We were on the way +over here and saw the box and looked in. When we saw what it was we +thought we could play a joke on the girls. So we brought them along. +Looks as though someone had fixed them that way for a joke. Probably were +going to send them by express. They were in an express box, although it +was not nailed shut." + +The girls began to look at one another significantly. The same thought +came into all their minds at once. Were not these the mice that were to +attend the Junior party? + +"The joke is on the Seniors, after all," said Hinpoha. + +"What do you mean?" asked the boys. "The joke is on the Seniors?" + +"Shall we tell them?" asked Hinpoha. + +"I don't see any harm now," said Gladys. "The scheme has collapsed like a +pricked balloon." + +And they told the Sandwiches what they knew about the plot of the Senior +boys to interrupt the Junior party. + +"Wasn't such a bad idea to try to play a joke on you girls after all, was +it?" said the Captain. "Because if we hadn't done it we wouldn't have +nipped their little scheme in the bud. We'll play lots more jokes on +them, won't we, Slim? Don't you girls think you ought to invite us up to +supper to celebrate?" + +"Not until the last mouse is back in the box," said Gladys firmly. + +The boys worked hard to catch them again and the girls sat above and +cheered their efforts, and in the middle of it in came Katherine and her +companion, swathed in green veils. There was such an uproar in the barn +that Cora never noticed that Katherine locked the door and put the key in +her pocket. Cora gave a great start at the sight of the mice, which was +not all from fright, and the girls could not help enjoying the situation. +What must be her thoughts by this time? But Cora, obeying the natural +impulse of women at the sight of mice, fled up the ladder with Katherine. +If she thought it odd that the barn was full of girls and boys when she +had gained the impression that it was empty and dark, she made no sign, +but stood still with her veil over her face. With all those horrible +creatures running around the floor downstairs she made no move to escape. + +"Won't you take off your things?" asked Katherine, beginning gently to +break the news to Cora that she was to stay for the evening. Without +demur Cora unfastened her coat and slid it off and then took off her hat +and veil. The girls stood as if turned to stone. The person who stood +before them was not Cora Burton. It was Miss Snively. _It was Miss +Snively!_ + +She looked around her with a sneering smile and a snapping light in her +eyes. "You may think it was a master stroke on your part to lure me here +and lock me in so I could not join the conspirators and thus find out who +they were," she said with biting emphasis. "But you shall pay dearly for +this, my young friends. I know who you all are--you needn't try to hide +behinds the others, Gladys Evans--and the information I shall be able to +give Mr. Jackson tonight is what he has been trying to find out for a +long time. Katherine Adams, you are the ringleader of this affair, as we +might have expected. I know all about the plan to put the mice into the +dance hall, and while the boys downstairs who are getting them ready are +not the ones I should have expected to be doing it, it is just like you +to get strange boys to do it for you, hoping to get away unsuspected. But +it didn't work, I am happy to say. You are very clever, Miss Adams, but +not clever enough. I overheard you asking Cora Burton to meet you on the +corner this evening. I took the liberty of being there first. I thought I +had deceived you perfectly, not knowing that you were bringing me right +into the mouse's nest, so to speak." + +She paused for breath and looked around her with an expression of relish +at the consternation visible on the faces before her. For Katherine was +staring at her with startled, unbelieving eyes; Gladys was clutching her +mother's arm in a frightened manner; Hinpoha had sunk weakly down on the +bearskin bed, and Sahwah stood with her mouth open and the perspiration +running down her face in black streaks, and the others were dumb with +astonishment. The boys, not knowing just what was going on, but guessing +that something was the matter, stood by the ladder opening, silently +taking in the scene. The girls looked helplessly into each other's eyes. +Somebody must speak and explain. They all looked at Katherine. + +"But we aren't mixed up in the House Party at all, Miss Snively," she +said earnestly. "We heard about it, and I found out that Cora Burton was +going to be in it and I tried to make her stay home and she refused, so +we girls decided we would take action to take her out of it by luring her +up here and keeping her until the thing was over. That's why I asked Cora +to meet me on the corner, and I really thought you were Cora all the +while. You imitated her squeaky voice to perfection." + +As Katherine was telling her perfectly truthful story she had a dreadful +feeling that it didn't sound plausible at all. Under Miss Snively's cold +eye nothing seemed real. + +"Likely story!" said Miss Snively sneeringly. "And how does it happen +that if you wanted to bring Cora out of temptation you should take her to +the place where the mice were being boxed up ready to be taken to the +party?" All the girls looked so disconcerted. Those dreadful mice did +complicate matters so! They would have given anything if Nyoda had been +there then. + +The Captain was beginning to take in the situation. He came forward +frankly. "It's our fault about the mice," he said, looking Miss Snively +straight in the eye. "We found them in a field near here all boxed up and +thought it would be a good joke on the girls to bring them over here and +let them out. We don't know anything about your squabbles at Washington +High, except what little the girls here have told us; we're all from +Carnegie Mechanic. And we know the girls didn't have a hand in it, +because they were giving a show here to-night." + +His story was backed up by all the other boys, and then Mrs. Evans got in +a word and declared that Katherine was telling the whole truth about +Cora, and Miss Snively was forced, however ungraciously, to admit that +she had been mistaken in her suspicions. + +"If she'd been a man I'd have made her eat her words," declared Slim +wrathfully, after Miss Snively had departed from the scene. + +Mrs. Evans and Gladys, with perfect courtesy, offered to drive her home +in their car, and for the present oil was poured on the troubled waters. + +Katherine sat hunched gloomily before the fire and held-forth to the +Winnebagos. "I don't know whether the joke's on her or on us," she said +pessimistically; "but one thing I'm sure of, and that is, that never, +never, as long as I live, will I ever again try to save a girl from +herself." + +And the Winnebagos wearily agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + AN ADVENTURE IN PHILANTHROPY + + +Katherine became officially a member of the Winnebago Camp Fire Group at +the first Ceremonial after the circus, with the Fire Name of Iagoonah, +the Story Maker. The name itself was an accident and the manner of its +bestowing is cherished in the chronicles of the Winnebagos as one of the +group's best jokes. Just about the time Katherine was to be installed as +a Winnebago, word was received that the Chief Guardian of the city was +going to be present at the meeting and would take charge of the +Ceremonial. Katherine had chosen the name, "Prairie Dandelion," because +she came from the plains, and because her hair was so fly-away. During +the supper which preceded the Ceremonial meeting Katherine made such +funny speeches and told such outrageous yarns about her life in the West +that Nyoda said jestingly: "Your name ought to be Iagoo, the Marvellous +Story Teller." And the others began calling her Iagoo in fun. The Chief +Guardian heard them calling her Iagoo and supposed that was the Camp Fire +name she wished to take. So, when she was receiving Katherine into the +ranks, she said: "Your name is Iagoo, isn't it?" + +Katherine, sobered and almost voiceless from the solemnity of the +occasion, mumbled half-inarticulately, "Iagoo? Nah!" + +And before anyone knew what had happened she had been officially +installed as _Iagoonah_! The joke was so good that the name stuck, and +Katherine was known to the Winnebago Circle as Iagoonah to the end of the +chapter, although they did consent to change the interpretation to Story +Maker instead of Story Teller as being more dignified and not so +suggestive. + +Katherine was one of the most enthusiastic Camp Fire Girls that ever +lived, and her inspirations led the girls into more activities and +adventures than they had ever dreamed of before. It was Katherine who +started the Philanthropic Idea. They had been talking about the different +things Camp Fire Girls could do together for the good of the community. + +"Girls," said Katherine, standing in her favorite attitude beside the +fireplace, with her toes turned in and her elbow on the shelf, "I don't +believe we're doing all we ought. We're having a royal good time among +ourselves and learning no end of things to our own advantage, but what +are we doing for others? Nothing, that I can see." + +"We gave a Thanksgiving basket to Katie, the laundress," said Hinpoha, +"and we collected a barrel of clothes for the Shimky's when their house +burned down, and we gave a benefit performance to pay little Jane +Goldman's expenses in the hospital, and we send toys and scrapbooks to +the Sunshine Nursery every Christmas." + +"And I earned three dollars and gave it to the Red Cross," said Sahwah. +"Don't you call that doing something for other people? We haven't meant +to be selfish, I'm sure. By the way, Katherine, your elbow's in the +fudge." + +Katherine shoved the dish away absently and returned to her subject. +"Yes," she admitted, "the Winnebagos have done a great deal that way, but +it's all been _giving_ something. We haven't _done_ anything. It's easy +enough to pack a basket and hand it to someone, and collect a lot of old +clothes from people who are anxious to get rid of them anyway, or pay the +bill for somebody else to do something. But I think we ought to do +something ourselves--give up our own time and put our own touch into it." + +"What do you mean we should do?" asked Gladys, hunting through the dish +for a piece of fudge that had not been demolished by Katherine's elbow. + +"Well, there's the Foreign Settlement," said Katherine. "I'm sure we +could find something to do there. It's a grand and noble thing to show +the foreigners how to live better." And she launched into such an +eloquent plea in behalf of the poor overburdened washerwomen who had to +neglect their babies while they went to work that the girls wiped their +eyes and declared it was a cruel world and things weren't fairly divided, +and surely they must do what they could to lighten the burdens of their +sisters in the Settlement. + +"What will we do, and when will we do it?" asked Hinpoha, all on fire to +get the noble work started. + +"Tomorrow's Saturday," answered Katherine. "We ought to go out into the +Settlement and see what's to be done. We'll make a survey, sort of, and +then we'll step in and see where we're needed most." + +Nyoda, appealed to for advice, told them to go ahead. She liked the idea +of their trying to find out for themselves what needed a helping hand. +She could not go with them to the Settlement on Saturday morning, but it +was all right for them to go by themselves in daylight. + +So, full of a generous desire to help somebody else, the Winnebagos +followed Katherine's lead toward the Settlement the next day. The +Settlement, as it was called, embraced some three or four square miles of +land adjacent to several large factories. In it dwelt some few thousand +Slovaks, Poles and Bohemians, packed like sardines in narrow quarters. +The Settlement had its own churches, stores, schools, theaters, dance +halls and amusement gardens, and looked more like an old world city than +a section of a great American Metropolis, with its queer houses and signs +in every language but English. The girls wandered up and down the narrow +dirty streets, filled with chickens and children, and tried to decide +what they should do first. They met the village baker, carrying a +washbasket full of enormous round loaves of rye bread without a sign of a +wrapping. He was going from house to house, delivering the loaves, and if +no one came to the door he laid the loaf on the doorstep and went on. + +Before one house, which had a small front yard, between twenty and +twenty-five men were lounging on the steps, on the two benches and +against the fence. "What do you suppose all those men are doing in front +of that house?" whispered Hinpoha curiously. + +Just then a woman came from the house carrying in her hand a huge iron +frying-pan full of pancakes. She passed it around and each man took a +pancake in his hand and ate it where he stood. + +"They're having their dinner!" exclaimed Gladys. "It's just a little past +noon. That's one way of disposing of the dishwashing problem. I'll store +up that idea for use the next time it's my turn to cook supper at a +meeting. What a large family that woman has, though. I wonder if they are +all her husbands?" + +"Gracious no," said Katherine. "These people aren't poly--poly--you know +what I mean, even if they are foreigners. Those men are boarders. Every +family has some. Let's go into that big house over there and ask if there +are any babies the mothers would like to leave with us while they go +washing." + +They picked their way across the muddy road toward a large building which +opened right on to the sidewalk. The hall door stood open and they went +in. There were more than a dozen doors leading from the hall on the first +floor. "Gracious, what a number of people live here!" said Gladys, +putting her arm through Katherine's. + +While they stood there, trying to make up their minds at which door to +knock, one was opened and a barefooted woman came out, carrying a pan of +dishwater, which she threw out on the sidewalk. At the same time another +door opened and out came another woman, who stopped short when she saw +the first one, and began to talk in a harsh foreign tongue. The second +woman replied angrily and the girls could see that they were quarreling. +Before long they were shaking fists in front of each other's noses and +shouting at the tops of their voices. Doors everywhere flew open and the +hall was soon filled with excited women who took sides with one or the +other and shook fists at each other while the girls huddled under the +stairway, expecting to be set upon and beaten. The quarrel was waxing +more violent, when the girls spied a door at the end of a hallway which +had been opened to let in some of the shouting women. As quickly and as +quietly as they could they darted down this passageway and out of the +door which brought them into the back yard of the place. Terrified, they +fled up the street and stood on the corner, discouraged and irresolute. +Hinpoha was for going home right away. But Katherine talked her out of +it. + +"Let's go up to the Neighborhood Mission on the hill and ask them for +something to do," suggested Katherine, when the rest inquired what they +should do next. So they turned their footsteps toward the white building +at the end of the street. + +"If you really want to do something," said the mission worker to whom +they explained their errand, "come down here next Saturday morning and +help take care of the children that are left with us. Two of the nurses +will be away and we will be short-handed." + +The Winnebagos were charmed with the idea. "Oh, may we each take one home +for the day?" begged Katherine, "if we promise to bring them back all +right?" + +Permission was granted for the next Saturday and Katherine was jubilant +over the good beginning of their work. "I thought it best that we each +take one home and take care of it by ourselves," she explained. "We'll +have such fun telling experiences and comparing notes afterward." + +Promptly at nine o'clock the next Saturday morning the four Winnebagos, +Katherine, Gladys, Hinpoha and Sahwah, presented themselves at the +Neighborhood Mission and drove away ten minutes later in Gladys' +automobile, each with a youngster in tow. + +At eight that night there was a lively experience meeting in the House of +the Open Door. "Oh, girls, you never saw such a dirty baby as the one I +had," cried Gladys, with a little shiver of disgust at the remembrance. + +"It couldn't have been any worse than the one I had," broke in Hinpoha. + +"But I gave him a bath," said Gladys, with a satisfied air, "and put all +new clothes on him, and he was as sweet as a rose when I took him home." + +"Mine beat them all," said Katherine, when she was able to get in a word +edgewise. "He had a little fur tail of some kind tied around his neck on +a string. I suppose it was meant for a 'pacifier,' for he was sucking it +all the while." + +"Why, mine had one of those on, too," said Gladys. + +"So did mine," said Hinpoha. + +"There must have been a million germs on it," continued Katherine. "I +took it off and burned it up." + +"So did I," said Gladys. + +"So did I," echoed Hinpoha. + +After all things were talked over the Winnebagos decided that they had +done pretty good work that day in cleaning up the dirty babies and +unanimously voted to take them again the next Saturday. + +When they arrived at the Neighborhood Mission the next Saturday morning +they were met on the walk by half a dozen excited women with +handkerchiefs on their heads, who formed a circle around them, shouting +in a foreign tongue and making fierce gestures. + +"What is the matter? What are they saying?" gasped Hinpoha in terror to +Katherine, struggling to pull away from the hand that was clutching her +coat lapel. + +"I don't know," answered Katherine, completely at sea and vainly trying +to understand the gibberish that was being uttered by the brown-skinned +woman dancing up and down before her. + +A startled group of workers ran from the Mission to see what the trouble +was, and, forcing themselves through the circle, drew the frightened +girls inside the fence of the Mission. Then from the group of women +outside there arose a voice in broken English, demanding angrily: "Where +is the charm that hung on the neck of my Stefan? The charm to keep away +the fever and the sore eyes? I give you my boy to watch, you steal away +the charm. Give it back! Give it back!" Here the angry shouting and +gesticulating began again and threatening hands were waved over the +fence. + +"What does she mean?" asked Hinpoha. "What charm?" + +"We didn't steal any charms," said Katherine indignantly. "We didn't take +a thing off the babies except some dirty old rabbits' tails that were +full of germs. We burned them up, and a good thing it was, too." + +Here the angry shouts of the women gave way to wails of despair. "They +burned the rabbits' tails!" groaned one woman, who could talk English, +lifting her hands heavenward, "the rabbits' tails that the Wonder Woman +tied about their necks on Easter Sunday! Now Stefan will get the fever +and the sore eyes and the teeth will not come through!" And she beat her +breast in despair. Then her anger blazed forth again and she fell to +berating the girls in her own language, and the other women fell in with +her until there was a perfect hubbub. The workers at the Mission hustled +the girls inside the building and the women finally departed, shaking +fists at the Mission and raging at all the dwellers. + +"It was nothing but a dirty old rabbit's tail," declared Hinpoha +tearfully, as the shaken Winnebagos hastened homeward. "I hate +foreigners! I guess we'll never try to do anything for them again." + +"Oh, yes, we will," answered Katherine optimistically; "we'll learn not +to make mistakes in time." + +"Look at that donkey over there," said Sahwah. "Doesn't he remind you of +Sandhelo?" + +"Poor old Sandhelo," mourned Hinpoha. "I wonder what became of him? We +certainly had fun with him, even if he never would go unless he heard +music." + +"Seems to be characteristic of the donkey tribe not to want to go," +observed Katherine. "That one over there is balking, too. Doesn't the +fellow that's trying to drive him look like a pirate, though? I wouldn't +go for him either, if I were a donkey." + +"O look!" cried Sahwah in amazement, and they all stopped still. + +A small boy was coming down the street blowing lustily on a wheezy horn, +and as soon as the donkey heard it he wheeled around, facing the music, +pricked up his ears, uttered a squeal of rapture and rose up on his hind +legs, almost upsetting the queer little cart to which he was harnessed. + +"Katherine! I do believe it _is_ Sandhelo," cried Sahwah, excitedly +gripping Katherine's arm. + +The man sprang from the cart and seizing the donkey by the bit brought +him down to earth with a rough pull that almost jerked his head off, +shouting abuse at him in a foreign tongue. The little boy, frightened at +the uproar, ran away, taking his music with him. The man got into the +cart again and tried to drive away. The donkey refused to move. The man +began to beat him unmercifully. + +"Oh, girls, we must do something to stop him!" cried Hinpoha, hopping up +and down in distress. + +"Here, you, stop that!" shouted Katherine, running forward and waving her +muff at him threateningly. "I'll have the law on you!" The man either did +not understand, or did not care, for he paid not the slightest heed to +her words. "Stop it, stop it, I say!" she commanded, stamping her foot +angrily and wildly wishing she were a man, that she might beat this bully +even as he was beating the poor little beast. + +The man looked at her and grinned derisively. "Who says so?" he growled. + +"I say so!" said a voice behind Katherine, and she turned to see the +Captain standing beside her. "You stop beating that donkey or I'll punch +your head." He put his fingers to his lips and uttered a long shrill +whistle which the girls recognized as the call of the Sandwiches, and the +next minute the other boys came running up the side street, Bottomless +Pitt, Monkey, Dan, Peter and Harry, with Slim trailing along in the rear, +puffing violently in his efforts to keep up with the rest. They +surrounded the cart threateningly and the man sulkily left off beating +the donkey. + +Sahwah went forward and stroked the little animal's head and then she +uttered a triumphant cry. + +"It _is_ Sandhelo!" she exclaimed. "Here's part of his red, white and +blue cockade still sticking in his hair." + +"That's our donkey," cried all the girls and boys, pressing close around. +"Where did you get him?" + +"He is not," declared the man angrily. "I raise him myself since he was +young." + +"That is not true," said Sahwah shrewdly. "If you had had him very long +you would know how to make him go. It seems to me that this is the first +time you've ever tried to drive him." + +"He is mine, he is mine," declared the man. "I know how to make him go. +He always go for me." + +"Then make him go," said Sahwah coolly. + +The man tried to urge the donkey forward, but in vain. + +"Now, _we'll_ show you how to make him go," said Sahwah. "Where's that +boy with the horn?" She ran up the street a distance and found the boy +seated on a doorstep and bribed him with a few pennies to let her take +the horn. Then, walking along ahead of Sandhelo she played a half dozen +lively notes, such as had sent him flying round the circus ring. No +sooner had she started than he started at a great rate. When she stopped +he stopped. + +"It's Sandhelo without mistake," they all cried, and the last doubt +vanished when he came up alongside of Sahwah and laid his head on her +shoulder the way he always had done. + +"He belongs to us," said the Captain, looking the man in the eye, "and +you'll have to give him up." + +The man shifted his gaze. "I give him to you for five dollar," he +muttered. "I pay so much for him." + +"Not much," said the Captain. "Nobody sold you a donkey for five dollars +and you can't get that much out of us. Now you either give him to us or +we'll report it to the police." The man protested loudly, but he was +evidently thinking all the while that a donkey that only went when he +heard music was not such a good bargain after all, even if he did get it +by the simple and inexpensive method of finding it in his dooryard and +tying it up. So, after growling some more that they were robbing him, he +suffered Sandhelo to be unharnessed from the cart and led away in triumph +in the wake of the horn. + +"Well, our charitable enterprise didn't turn out so badly, after all," +said Katherine, when Sandhelo was once more established in his cozy stall +in the House of the Open Door. "If it hadn't been for that fuss about the +babies we wouldn't have been on the street in time to see Sandhelo. And +if we hadn't wanted to help those people there wouldn't have been any +fuss. It does really seem that virtue is its own reward and one good turn +deserves another. Let's do it some more." + +And as usual the others agreed with her. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + A SELECT SLEEPING PARTY + + +"Gracious, Katherine, what is the matter with your fingers?" asked Gladys +curiously, as Katherine came into the room with all five fingers on her +right hand tied up. + +"Oh," replied Katherine cheerfully, "I burned one, cut one, pounded one +with a hammer and slammed the door on one, and that left only one good +one, so I tied that up, too, for safe-keeping and only take it out when I +want to use it. It's a good thing I don't need my hand to sing carols +with, or I would be out of the running. Are we all here?" + +"All but Veronica," answered Nyoda, "and Sahwah--and Sahwah will be here +presently. By the way, where is Veronica?" + +"She's over at the theater where her uncle is orchestra director," +answered Gladys. "She goes over there almost every Saturday afternoon. I +believe she plays sometimes when one of the regular violinists is +absent." + +Veronica, it must be confessed, was a great puzzle to the Winnebagos. Try +as they might, they could never get her to enter into their work and fun +with any degree of vim. She always sat aloof, her brooding eyes staring +off into space. Not that they loved her any the less--they were too +genuinely sorry for her--but they never seemed to be able to break down +the barrier between them and her. They constantly stood abashed before +her aristocratic airs. When the friends went together to get ice cream +Veronica had a way of flinging a dollar bill down on the table and +bidding the waitress keep the change that made the others feel cheap +somehow, although they knew it was useless extravagance. When a poor +woman came to the door one day, just as she was going out, and asked if +she had any old clothes to give away she promptly took off her expensive +furs and gave them to her. + +The girls were mightily impressed by this act until Nyoda talked it over +with them and made them see that the gift was entirely inappropriate. So +while they admired her to distraction and each one secretly hoped that +Veronica would single her out as a special friend, they had to admit that +as yet they had not made much headway. + +"If Sahwah doesn't come in five minutes, we'll have to start without +her," said Hinpoha, walking impatiently to the window. "Carol practice +begins at two and it's half-past one now." + +Just then the telephone rang. "It's Sahwah," reported Hinpoha, upon +answering, "and she says she's got a real charity case for us to look +into--some old woman--and she's down at Sahwah's house now and we should +all come down. She says it's the saddest thing she ever heard. What shall +we do, girls, shall we go?" + +"Of course," said Katherine promptly. + +"What about carol practice?" asked Gladys. "Won't it make us dreadfully +late?" + +"We'll just have to be late, then," said Katherine, jabbing her hatpins +in swiftly. "Come on." + +Sahwah met them at the door with an unusually solemn countenance. "You're +a load of bricks to come, girls," she said, "but I knew you would. Come +right upstairs. In here," she said, pausing before the door of her room. +"Maybe you'd better go in one at a time. You go first, Hinpoha." + +Hinpoha, feeling queer, passed in. The next minute those outside heard a +great shout. "Migwan! My Migwan! When did you come? We thought you +weren't coming for two whole days yet. Sahwah, you wretch, how could you +get us so worked up?" + +The others burst in and smothered Migwan in embraces while Katherine +stood looking on curiously, until Gladys remembered her manners. "This is +our Katherine," she said, drawing her forward, "that we have all written +you about. Make a speech, Katherine, to show her how you do it!" + +And Katherine obligingly complied and Migwan laughed extravagantly and +was soon sitting on the bed beside her with her arm locked in hers, and +talking to her as if she had known her all her life instead of only five +minutes. That was the effect Katherine had on everybody. + +Then they dragged Migwan out to the House of the Open Door and introduced +her to the Sandwiches, who were playing basket ball in their half of the +barn. The Sandwiches began to plan a Christmas barn dance in her honor on +the spot, and nobody thought of carol practice again until it was too +late to go. Migwan had to explain how she got through with her work at +college two days earlier than she had expected and came home to surprise +them. She went to see Sahwah first and Sahwah worked the little stratagem +which brought them all down to her house in such a hurry. Each one +insisted upon Migwan's going home with her to spend the night, but she +could not be enticed away from her own home. "I guess you'd want to stay +at home, too, if you hadn't seen your mother for three months." But she +promised to attend a select sleeping party some night up in the House of +the Open Door, which Sahwah had just "germed." + +"There's a loose shingle on the roof and the snow comes in a little," +said Hinpoha regretfully. "It really ought to be fixed." + +"Never mind the shingle," cried the others. "When did the Winnebagos ever +balk at a snowflake or two on their beds?" + +The barn dance was a grand success in spite of the fact that Slim fell +down the ladder in his excitement and sprained all the portions of his +anatomy that he needed most for dancing, besides demolishing a frosted +cake in the tumble. + +"Too bad you can't dance," said the Captain sympathetically, when Slim's +ankles had been strapped with plaster and he had been comfortably settled +on a pile of bearskins brought down from the bed upstairs. "But you don't +need to waste your time. You can be musician and play the banjo while the +rest of us dance." + +"But I can't play the banjo," objected Slim. + +"Play anyway," commanded the Captain. "Here, I'll teach you a couple of +tunes that you can play with one finger that we can do most of the dances +to." So Slim learned to play the banjo under pressure and picked +banefully away while the rest whirled about on the floor. Sometimes he +got his tunes or his time so badly mixed that it was impossible to dance +and then the Captain would make him sing and beat time with a hatchet on +the floor. Finally Nyoda took pity on him and took over the banjo, +producing such lively strains and keeping the dancers going at such a mad +pace that they sank down breathless one by one, and a series of loud +thumps from Sandhelo's stall told them that he was also capering to the +music and nearly battering his stall down in the process. + +The boys went home reluctantly at eleven o'clock and the girls climbed +the ladder to the joys of the "select sleeping party." This was the first +time any of them had stayed all night in the House of the Open Door. +"Covers were laid for nine," as Katherine wrote in the Count Book. Nyoda +had her camp bed, Sahwah had her pile of bearskins, Gladys her Indian Bed +and Nakwisi her willow bed. Migwan was invited to share them all and +chose the bearskins. Katherine had brought a couch hammock, which she +declared surpassed them all in comfort. The rest of the girls played John +Kempo for the privilege of sleeping with Nyoda, and Veronica got it, and +the other two spread their blankets on mattresses on the floor. The +fireplace was filled with glowing hard coals, which would keep all night, +and the Lodge was as warm as toast, so the snowflakes which drifted in +through the hole in the roof were never noticed. Of course they talked +half the night, for there was so much to tell Migwan and so much she had +to tell them it seemed they never would get it all told. But finally the +conversation was punctuated by steadily lengthening yawns, and then +trailed off into silence. + +Nyoda was awakened by the touch of a cold hand on her face. "What is it?" +she asked, sitting up. + +"It's I--Migwan," said the figure standing beside her. "Do you know where +Sahwah is?" + +"Isn't she in bed with you?" asked Nyoda, still in a low tone of voice, +so as not to disturb the other girls. + +"No, she isn't," whispered Migwan. "I woke up a minute ago and felt +around for her and she wasn't there. I called and asked where she was and +there was no answer." + +Nyoda got up and lit a candle, and looked carefully around the room. All +the other girls were sound asleep in their beds; Sahwah's clothes lay on +a chair, but there was no sign of Sahwah. "She can't be under the bed," +said Migwan, "because this bed has no 'under.'" + +Nyoda went to the top of the ladder and called: "Sahwah, are you down +there?" No answer. All was dark and silent below. When it was evident +that Sahwah was not in the barn, Nyoda roused all the sleepers +unceremoniously. + +"What's the matter? What's happened?" they all cried sleepily. There was +a great uproar when Sahwah's disappearance became known. "Where could she +have gone without her clothes?" they all asked. + +"Do you think she was dragged from her bed, Nyoda?" asked Hinpoha +anxiously, filled with the wildest fears. + +"No, I don't," answered Nyoda promptly, suddenly remembering certain +facts in Sahwah's history. "I think she's walking in her sleep again. She +always does when she gets excited. She's probably gotten out of the barn +and is wandering around somewhere and we must find her and bring her in +without delay. This is altogether too cold a night to be promenading +without a coat on." She had dressed herself fully while she was talking +and the others followed suit with all speed. + +The barn door was carefully closed, but the big inside bolt was +unfastened and they knew by that that Sahwah was outside somewhere. The +wind had swept the snow off the drive and there was not a footprint to be +seen. They spent some time looking all around the barn and up on the roof +and then concluded that she must have gone down the drive, because, if +she had gone anywhere else, there would be footprints. The snow in the +road had been so packed down by passing vehicles that a person walking +would leave no trace. + +"Where can she be?" exclaimed Nyoda anxiously after a fruitless search of +some ten minutes. + +"Do you think she could have climbed a tree?" asked Hinpoha. + +"And be roosting on a branch?" asked Katherine, and they all had to laugh +in spite of their concern. + +"Well, you never can tell what Sahwah will do next," returned Hinpoha, +"especially in her sleep. You haven't known her as long as we have. Once +in camp she climbed to the top of the diving tower and jumped off. So I +guess climbing a tree wouldn't be impossible for her." + +"Hark, girls," said Nyoda, bending her head in a listening attitude. +"Don't you hear music?" The others listened, but could hear nothing. +"When that breath of wind came in this direction I thought I heard it," +said Nyoda. "There it is, again." This time they all heard it, faint and +far, a soft strain of music, but what kind of music or whence it came +they could not make out. + +"It came with the wind," said Nyoda, "so we must walk against the wind +and see if we can find it." Heading into the wind they walked up the +road. They shivered as they walked and the snow crunched under their +feet. The very moonlight seemed cold as it touched them and the stars +glistened like splintered icicles. Verily, it was a cold night to be +sleepwalking. The music began to sound more clearly now, and at a turn in +the road they stopped still in amazement at the sight before their eyes. +There in the road just ahead of them ambled Sandhelo, and by his side +walked Sahwah, dressed in her troubadour costume, the red cloak flying +out in the breeze. She held her mouth organ to her lips, and the drawing +of her breath in and out of it was producing the strains of music which +the girls had followed. As they suspected, she was sound asleep. They +hurried forward to waken Sahwah, and she turned around and faced them. +Her eyes were wide open in the moonlight. A moment she looked at them and +then turned suddenly and swung herself onto Sandhelo's back. At her touch +on his bridle Sandhelo started and then began running down the road as +fast as he could. Sahwah woke up, gave one shriek of fright, and then +mechanically dug her knees into his sides and hung on. Sandhelo did not +have his regular harness on, only his bridle, and she was riding bareback +in this strange adventure. The girls pursued as fast as they could, +shouting at the top of their voices, but of course they were soon left +behind. Far ahead of them in the moonlit road they saw Sandhelo stop +suddenly and slide his rider over his head into a snowdrift and then sit +down on his haunches beside her like a dog. Sahwah had emerged from her +drift and was shaking the snow off when the others came up. "What's the +matter?" she asked in a bewildered tone. "How did I get out here?" + +"Home first, explanations afterward," said Nyoda, wrapping her in the +bear rug she had brought with her. And they made Sahwah run every step of +the way back to the Lodge, and swallow quarts of hot lemonade before they +would tell her a single thing. + +Migwan insisted on tying Sahwah's foot to the post of Nyoda's bed for the +rest of the night to insure her being there in the morning. They had just +gotten quieted down when the ropes of Katherine's hammock broke and down +she came with a resounding crash. + +Morning found them heavy-eyed and full of yawns, but to all inquirers +they stoutly maintained that the select sleeping party had been the best +ever. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE CANDLE IN THE WINDOW + + +"What's all this about singing carols?" asked Migwan. "Everywhere I go +the talk is all of carols, carols, carols. And the air is full of 'God +Rest You, Merry Gentlemen,' and similar melodies." + +"It's the Music Club League," explained Gladys. "They have revived the +old custom of going through the streets on Christmas Eve with lanterns +and singing carols, and are training the boys and girls all over the city +to sing them. People who are interested in the work of the Music Club +League and wish to give a gift of money for its support will put a candle +in their windows and we will stop outside and sing carols for them. Isn't +it a pretty idea?" + +"Beautiful," said Migwan. "I wish I might have attended the rehearsals so +I could go around with you." + +"We'll teach you the carols," said Gladys eagerly, "and I'll explain to +Miss Jones and I know she'll let you be in our group. We've been given +one of the best districts in the city--Garfield Avenue, from the +Cathedral to the Park, where all the rich people live--and we expect to +bring in more money than any other group. There was great rivalry among +the groups for that district, and Miss Jones tested and tested us to see +which sang the best. I nearly passed away from surprise when she decided +in favor of our group. Oh, won't it be glorious, though, stopping before +all those fine houses?" and Gladys and Hinpoha, unable to keep still any +longer, got up and began to dance. + +"That isn't the best part of it, though," said Sahwah. "All the carolers +are invited to the Music League's clubhouse after the singing is over for +an oyster supper and a frolic. And the troupe of midgets that are playing +in the Mansfield Theater this week are coming and will give a real Punch +and Judy show. Hurrah for the Music Club League! Hurrah for carols! +Hurrah for Christmas!" + +"I smell something burning," said Gladys, sniffing the air suspiciously. + +"It's probably something that has been spilled on the stove," said +Katherine serenely. They were all up at Katherine's house. + +"Here are the carols we are going to sing," said Gladys, pulling Migwan +toward the piano. "We might as well begin at once." + +"Do you really think Miss Jones will let me do it?" asked Migwan rather +doubtfully. + +"I'm sure she will," said Gladys, "if we all----Katherine, there _is_ +something burning; it smells like cloth." And she rushed off +unceremoniously to investigate. The kitchen was full of smoke when she +reached it, proceeding from the ironing board, where Katherine had left +the electric iron standing without being turned off. + +"You ought to have a leather medal, Katherine," scolded Hinpoha, +switching off the current and setting the smoking board outside the back +door, while Katherine stood idly by with such a look of pained surprise +on her face that the others went into gales of laughter. + +"I can't get used to these self-starting, big city flat-irons, nohow," +she drawled mildly in self-defense. "Back where I come from the irons +cool off when you leave them by themselves; here they start heatin' up." +Katherine always left off her g's when she spoke earnestly. + +"Katherine, you're hopeless," said Hinpoha with a sigh, and then she +added affectionately, "that's why we love you so." + +"There's Slim outside with his big bob-sled," said Sahwah, looking out of +the window. "He promised to take us all coasting down College Hill this +afternoon. Come on." And they trooped out. + +Nyoda took a few round trips on the bob with the girls, and then, having +other things to do, walked home by herself through the early winter +twilight. A few blocks from her home she saw Veronica walking along just +ahead of her. By her side walked a young man whom Nyoda recognized as +Alex Tobin, one of the violins in the Temple Theater Orchestra. He was +talking animatedly and earnestly to her, his white teeth showing often in +a smile beneath his small black moustache. Veronica was listening eagerly +with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. As Nyoda drew near she heard +Veronica say: "Oh, a chance to study with him would be the greatest +happiness of my life, but uncle would never allow it. Never!" + +And Alex Tobin answered: "Does it have to depend upon your uncle's +permission? You have money in your own right, have you not?" + +And then Veronica noticed that Nyoda was behind her and turned and spoke +and Alex Tobin took his departure down the cross street. Nyoda looked +after him thoughtfully. She was not fond of Alex Tobin, although she knew +him only very slightly. He was a young Pole, and quite handsome, but +there was something about his eyes that made a keen observer dislike him. + +"I was at the rehearsal of the Symphony Orchestra this afternoon," said +Veronica, with more animation than Nyoda had ever seen her display. "You +know uncle plays this year and he lets me go along and listen, that I may +benefit from the director's criticisms." + +"Does Mr. Tobin play in the Symphony Orchestra, too?" asked Nyoda idly. + +"Yes," answered Veronica. "He's a wonderful player; and so kind to me. He +takes such an interest in my playing. He says I will play at concerts in +time." + +"I don't doubt it in the least," said Nyoda heartily. "But you mustn't +study music to the exclusion of everything else. You are growing quite +thin. You must stay out of doors more and romp with the girls. You are +missing all the coasting and skating. 'Hold on to Health,' you know." + +"Yes, of course," murmured Veronica absently, and fell silent, as if she +were day-dreaming. + + +"The Midgets are going to give Punch and Judy dolls to the carol singers +as souvenirs of the occasion," announced Sahwah, as the Winnebagos +assembled before starting out for the singing on Christmas Eve. "Won't +they be jolly to put up in our rooms?" + +"And did you know that Jeffry, the famous bird imitator, was going to be +there and give some of his wonderful bird calls?" asked Gladys. "Migwan, +you're in luck, being home this week to take in all the good things." + +"The frolic afterwards is going to be as much fun as the carol singing," +said Hinpoha. "I wouldn't miss it for anything. And the group that brings +in the most money is going to get a prize," she added, "and have its +picture in the Sunday paper. Oh, I do hope we'll get the most! We must +sing our very best." + +"Oh, what a glorious night!" they all cried, as they passed out into the +sparkling snow. + +"Oh, but I'm glad I'm a carol singer," said Katherine, and slipped and +sat down on her lantern in her enthusiasm. + +"Have you time to walk over to Division Street with me before we go to +Mrs. Salisbury's?" asked Gladys, as they went down the street. Mrs. +Salisbury was the lady who had gathered together the band of carolers to +which the Winnebagos belonged, and they were all to meet at her house. + +"It's early yet," said Hinpoha, "we ought to have time. Come on." + +So they all went with Gladys to deliver a Christmas parcel to a poor +family whom Gladys' mother had taken under her wing. Along the big +avenues through which they walked candles were already glimmering in +windows in friendly invitation to the coming singers. But there were no +candles in the windows on Division Street. The houses were all poor +little one-story ones, with never a wreath or a bit of decoration +anywhere to show that it was Christmas. The very lamp-posts burned dimly +with a discouraged air. The girls delivered their bundle and hastened +back up the dark street. + +"Let's stop a minute and sing the songs through once more so Migwan will +be sure of them," suggested Hinpoha. "We wanted to before we left the +house, you know, and then we forgot it." + +So they stood still before a bleak, empty looking house, and sang through +all the songs they were to sing with the group that night on Garfield +Avenue. + + * * * * * * + +In a bare little room in the shabbiest house on Division Street a young +girl lay in bed day after day, staring wistfully through the flawed +window pane at the dingy row of houses opposite. She suffered from hip +disease and could not walk, and a frail little mother cleaned offices to +support them both. Living was cruelly high and there was no thought of +spending anything for Christmas. Martha dreaded its coming, for she could +remember other days when Christmas had been very different. Besides, +Martha was very lonely. She and her mother were strangers in town, having +come only six months before, and in all that time not a soul had come to +see them. And because Martha felt so lonely and so left out of the busy, +happy world, the treatment for which she had come to the city was doing +her no good, and she was not improving at all. And her mother saw the +trouble and sorrowed, but did not know how to mend the matter. Martha +read in books about the good times girls had together and longed with all +her soul to be part of such frolics, until it seemed that she could not +bear her loneliness any longer. + +Her mother often brought home newspapers from the offices and in them +Martha read about the groups of boys and girls who were going through the +streets on Christmas Eve singing carols before the houses where the +candles shone in the windows. + +"How I wish I could hear those carols sung!" she sighed enviously. "How +wonderful it must be to be rich and live in a fine house and put a candle +in the window to make the singers stop outside! And I must always stay in +the darkness, and miss all the fun! Oh, Mother, it isn't fair!" + +The sad-eyed little mother cast about in her mind for some way to amuse +her lonely daughter this dreary Christmas Eve. "Let us pretend that we +are rich and great," she said soothingly, "and play that we are putting a +lighted candle in our window and listening to the fine songs of the +singers below and giving them large sums of money for their good cause." + +"What good would it do to play it?" asked Martha. "We would have to +imagine it all. We haven't even a candle!" + +"Let's play it, anyway," coaxed her mother. "What color candle shall we +use tonight?" + +"A red one, with gold designs on it, and a cut glass candlestick," said +Martha, playing the game to please her mother. + +So they pretended to set a shining glass candlestick holding a red and +gold candle on the window sill. "Now we must wait awhile in our elegant +parlor for the singers to come," said her mother, playing the game with +spirit. + +Then a wonderful thing happened. There was a sound of footsteps in the +creaking snow outside, footsteps that came to a halt beneath the window, +and then the air was filled with joyous, ringing melody: + + "God rest you, merry gentlemen, + Let nothing you may dismay, + For Jesus Christ our Savior + Was born this happy day!" + +Martha and her mother looked at each other with faces suddenly grown +pale, and listened with unbelieving ears. The song changed as the singers +swung into the measures of a new carol. Surely these were human voices +and not a band of fairies! The mother crept silently to the window and +looked out. + + * * * * * * + +When the last note of the songs had died away the door of the dark house +opened and a woman came out on the steps. "Thank you a thousand times for +the singing," she said. "Won't you come in where my daughter can see you? +She won't believe you are real. She is so sick and lonesome. Please do." + +The Winnebagos started in surprise and looked at each other somewhat +doubtfully. They had not been aware that they were singing to an +audience. It was getting near the time when they should be meeting the +rest of the group. But this was Christmas Eve and here was a girl sick +and lonesome---- + +"Let's go in for a minute," said Gladys and Hinpoha together. They went +in, singing as they went, and swinging their little lighted lanterns. + +Martha's mother lit the one pale little gas flame, for they had been +sitting in the dark before, and by its light the girls saw the shabby +room and the wan girl lying on the bed. So amazed was Martha at the +sudden appearance of the carolers out of the night that she forgot to be +shy, and before she knew it she had told them all about the Christmas Eve +game she and her mother had been playing and how they had set the +imaginary candle in the window. And all of the six months' loneliness was +in that little tale, and the girls as they listened became afflicted with +a queer weakness of the eyes that made them turn their faces away from +the light. Over on the lighted avenue the twinkling candles beckoned in +the gleaming windows of the most beautiful homes in the city; still +farther on the revellers at the singers' party stretched out gay hands to +them; but over it all each one seemed to see the words of the Fire Law +written in letters made of Christmas stars: + + ----"Whose house is bare and dark and cold----" + +Mysterious communications and hand signs flew back and forth between the +Winnebagos. Like magic Gladys and Hinpoha slid out of the door and like +magic they returned a few minutes later, loaded down with bundles. As the +enchanted forests rise in the fairy tales, so the room was swiftly +transformed and began to blossom in green and red. Garlands and wreaths +hung from the head and the foot of the bed, and from the gas-jet. Riotous +little bells swung from the doorways; sprigs of holly and gorgeous +poinsettias framed the cheap pictures; bright candles in cheerful red +shades burned on the table. + +Other bundles when opened revealed the "makings" of the grandest spread +the Winnebagos had ever had. The Lonesome House was turned into the Home +of Joyous Spirits. Gladys poked up the fire and made her most tempting +Shrimp Wiggle; Sahwah made the best pan of fudge she had ever made; +Katherine made cocoa, and the rest spread sandwiches with delicious +"Wohelo Special" chicken salad, and cut up cake and dished ice cream. +Then there followed such a joyous feast as Martha had never conceived in +her rosiest dreams. Healths were drunk in cocoa, side-splitting toasts +proposed by the witty toastmistress, Migwan, and songs sung that made the +roof ring. Gladys did her prettiest dances; Sahwah and Hinpoha did their +famous stunt of the goat that ate the two red shirts right off the line, +and Katherine gave her very funniest speech--the one about Wimmen's +Rights--three times; once voluntarily and twice more by special request. +Martha laughed until she could laugh no more, and applauded every number +enthusiastically, her usually pale cheeks glowing red with excitement and +her eyes shining like stars. It was late when they left her, promising to +come again soon, and slipping into her hands various packages containing +gifts of things every girl loves, which Gladys had hastily bought when +she had slipped out to get the supplies. Among them was a beautifully +intricate puzzle which would keep her interested for months to come. + +Thus it was that the candle which was never lit guided the feet of the +Song Friends to the Dark House, and gave into their tending yet another +fire. Reports of the gay party at the Music League Club House came to the +Winnebagos from all sides, and loud expressions of regret that they had +missed it. And the group they were to have sung with brought in by far +the most money, carrying off the prize and getting its picture in the +Sunday paper--and the Winnebagos were not in it. + +But over on Division Street a wonderful new look had come into the face +of a sad-eyed girl--a look of happiness and ambition, and the Winnebagos, +having seen that look, were content. + + + + + CHAPTER X + A TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT + + +January closed with its immemorial thaw and February drew near in a mist +of speculation as to whether it would come in like a lion or a lamb. But +whatever may have been the state of the weather outside when the new +month arrived, the Winnebago barometer registered a tempest in a teapot. +It was Katherine who was responsible for that particular barometric +activity. That is, it was she who attached the fuse to the bomb and set +the match to it. All the bomb did was blow up. + +The Winnebagos were all over at Katherine's one Friday afternoon after +school, painting a buffalo robe that was to hang on the wall in the Open +Door Lodge and cover an unsightly board. Veronica was in one of her rare +cheerful moods and played gay tunes on her violin while the other girls +worked. She was gradually thawing toward the girls, although she was +still very conservative in her friendships. She was most friendly toward +Gladys and Hinpoha, the two girls who came from the best family. She was +not particularly drawn to merry, tomboyish Sahwah, because she was not +musical, although they got along. Thus also it was with Medmangi and +Nakwisi. But from the first Katherine Adams had seemed to rub her the +wrong way. Big, clumsy, awkward Katherine, uncultured and hopelessly +plebeian! She always managed to step on Veronica's dainty shoes or sit on +her cherished violin or spill cocoa on her dress. And her flyaway +appearance constantly jarred on Veronica's artistic nature. And that +ridiculous, unmusical voice! + +Looking only at these defects, Veronica failed to appreciate the +wonderful magnetism of Katherine's personality and the unfailing good +nature which made her a boon companion any hour out of the twenty-four +whatever the weather might be. Not being American-born, Veronica believed +firmly in class distinctions, and to her Katherine was a peasant and thus +an inferior. + +However, to the others it seemed that the strangeness between them and +Veronica was wearing away, and this afternoon they felt closer to her +than they ever had before. She even asked, actually _asked_, to be shown +how to make "slumgullion"--she who a few months before had scornfully +maintained that cooking was for servants and not for ladies. "She's +getting there!" whispered Gladys to Hinpoha, with a delighted squeeze. +Spirits ran high and before long everybody felt they must dance or burst. + +"It's too bad we haven't Nyoda's old banjo over here," said Sahwah. "Then +some of the rest of us could play and Veronica could dance." + +"I'll go over and get it," said Katherine obligingly. So she went over to +Nyoda's house and got the banjo, and it was on this errand that her feet +became entangled in the fuse that led to the bomb. On the doorstep of the +house next to Nyoda's, the house where Veronica dwelt, there sat a snowy +white poodle, fresh from a bath and rivalling in purity a field of virgin +snow. This was Fifi, Veronica's French poodle, who had come to her as a +Christmas gift, and whose pedigree was considerably longer than he was. +Fifi did not share his young mistress's ideas as to the unfitness of the +peasantry for association with the high born, and took a decided fancy to +Katherine at first sight. Just how much he was influenced by half a sugar +cookie, which she held out to him over the fence, it is impossible to +say, but when Katherine turned out of Nyoda's yard and went up the +street, Fifi was at her heels and refused to be shooed home. + +"Well, come along, then, if you want to," she said good-naturedly. "I +suppose you're lonesome with all your folks gone and want some improvin' +company, like us. A great hostess I'd be, if I turned down a dog that +wanted to come to my At Home Day." + +The January thaw was still in progress, although it was the first of +February, and the streets were lakes of slush and mud. Katherine did not +mind mud in the least and stepped cheerfully into the puddles. Fifi did +likewise. By the time they arrived at the house the comparison of the +field of virgin snow no longer held good. Even Katherine hesitated about +admitting him. + +Veronica shrieked when she saw him and did not share his delight at the +unexpected meeting. "Oh-oh-oh!" she exclaimed in dismay. "He is to go to +the Dog Show tonight. Katie spent all morning washing and combing him. +How did he ever get out? She must have left the door open. And then you +had to coax him over here, and now look at him!" After a hasty glance the +rest decided they would rather not look at him. + +"Well," said Katherine, much taken aback, but still mistress of the +situation, "I'll just give him a nice bath and carry him home and +everything will be all right. Go on dancing, girls, there's the banjo; +Fifi and I will entertain ourselves in the basement." + +She set the squirming lump of mud into one of the wash tubs and let warm +water run over him from a faucet for a few minutes to remove the clods. +Then she set to work in earnest. She hesitated for some time about what +kind of soap to use and finally decided that dog's hair was the same as +camel's hair; camel's hair was wool; and therefore, according to the most +familiar problem in the whole geometry, Fifi was all wool and needed Wool +Soap. Now the mud through which Fifi and Katherine had come was the +yellow clayey kind that sticketh closer than a brother, and Wool Soap was +not designed especially to dissolve it. After three scrubbings and +rinsings Fifi was still a muddy, yellowish gray, and there was no hope +that he would dry into a field of virgin white as a yellow popcorn kernel +bursts into snowy blossom. + +Katherine was discouraged. Then she suddenly remembered something. +"Clothes always come out yellow if you wash them in just soap," she said +triumphantly to herself. "It's the bluing that makes them white. Fifi +needs bluing!" + +But a thorough search of the laundry room failed to reveal any bluing. +"Shucks!" exclaimed Katherine in vexation. "We're out of it. I heard Aunt +Anna mention it this morning. And the stores are closed this afternoon. +What will I do? I don't dare produce Fifi unless he's all white and +nice." Then it was that Katherine's mighty genius set to work. A less +resourceful person would have been at a standstill when confronted with +such a difficulty; a genius makes a way when there is none. In one +respect Katherine was an equal of the gods--what she wished and did not +have she created. She wished bluing; she must have it; so she calmly set +about making it. Katherine took chemistry and knew that iodine, applied +to starch, will turn it blue. There was iodine in the house and there was +starch. The pucker vanished from her brow. A far-sighted person would +have foreseen other results from the mixture beside the chemical action +of the iodine on the starch. But Katherine was not a far-sighted person. +She was a genius. It is said that geniuses, entirely absorbed in one +idea, often forget the most commonplace fact altogether. Thus it was that +Katherine, filled with the idea that starch turns blue when mixed with +iodine, forgot the original purpose for which starch was invented. And +Katherine had used flat-iron starch, the kind that gets stiff without +boiling. It turned blue--a beautiful bright purple blue--and she immersed +Fifi again and again. Katherine had to admit that he looked dreadfully +blue when he emerged from the final dip, but serene in the belief that he +would dry pure white like the clothes did, she rolled him up in a piece +of carpet and set him in a wash basket beside the furnace to dry. Then +she went upstairs and joined the dancers, announcing with a sigh of +relief that Fifi was clean once more and could come up as soon as he was +dry. + +Having been told that Fifi was clean, they naturally looked for a white +dog, and it was not their fault that they did not recognize the creature +that slunk into their midst in the middle of the revels. As an Animal +from Nowhere he would have taken the prize over the head of the famous +Salmonkey. His hair was pasted flat to his sides in long, stringy waves, +giving him a queer, corrugated effect. His head was a dirty, yellowish +white, for, in keeping his eyes out of the blue bath, Katherine had held +his whole head out; and the rest of him was a bright purplish blue. With +his excited red tongue hanging out in front he looked like a dilapidated +remnant of the American flag. The girls shrieked and fled before him. +Katherine sank weakly down on the couch and viewed him in consternation. + +"Whatever did you do to him?" wailed Veronica, when informed that this +was actually Fifi and not some freak animal from the Zoo. + +"I wanted to blue him to make him nice and silvery white," explained +Katherine ruefully, "and there wasn't any bluing, so I made some with +iodine and starch. I thought he would come out all nice and fluffy, but +instead of that he got--all--stiff!" + +The Winnebagos burst out into a wild peal of laughter that made the +windows rattle. They were simply helpless, and laughed until they sank +limply on each other's shoulders. The simplicity of Katherine's +inspirations was nothing short of sublime. + +Gaining a measure of control over themselves, they became aware that +Veronica was standing before them with eyes flashing lightning, in such a +passion as they had never seen any girl display. Holding her translated +pet in her arms, she stamped her foot and almost hissed at Katherine: +"Don't you ever come near me again, you--you great big kangaroo from out +of the west! + +"And the rest of you are just as bad," she cried, blazing at them +collectively. "You think it's funny. I wish I had never met you, and from +this day I am no more a Camp Fire Girl! I am through with you!" And +before they could collect their wits to reply she had rushed out of the +house like a whirlwind. + +Completely sobered by the result of her act, Katherine called herself one +name after another and proposed the most extravagant things in the nature +of penance. She and Nyoda talked it over a long time, and Nyoda made her +see how a habit of doing things without thinking of the consequences led +to more trouble than deliberately planned evil did, and she promised +faithfully that this was the last rash act she would ever perform. + +"Now that Veronica has had time to think it over and see the funny side, +and realize that Fifi is not hurt, I think you may go over and present +your sincere apologies and make your peace with Veronica," said Nyoda. +And Katherine, humble as the dust, set forth. + +But Veronica would have none of her peace offerings. She received her +apology coldly, and declared she would never come back into the ranks of +the Winnebagos. Then did Katherine go to Nyoda and offer to resign from +the group if that would bring Veronica back. "She has a better right to +be in it than I," she said. "She was in it first." + +But Nyoda would not consent to that at all. "The whole thing isn't worth +such heroic measures," she declared. "I'll talk to Veronica myself." + +And she did, with no better results than Katherine. Veronica would not be +appeased, even now that Fifi was white once more, and had suffered no +evil effects from his bluing. Veronica declared that Katherine was low +class, and not fit for her to associate with. And she wouldn't forgive +the others for laughing. So Nyoda had to go back and report her failure +to the other girls. And sadly they realized that their hope of making +Veronica into a Winnebago had evaporated. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + A WINTER HIKE + + +A long cherished wish of the Winnebagos came true that winter, for they +all got snowshoes for Christmas. So did the Sandwiches. They brought them +down to the Open Door Lodge to show to the girls. "See what we've got," +said the Captain, with a slightly superior air as becomes the owner of a +pair of snowshoes in the presence of a mere girl. + +"Wait until you see ours," returned the girls merrily, producing their +"slush walkers," as Katherine had dubbed them. + +"You didn't all get them, did you?" asked the Sandwiches, in comical +surprise. It was hard for them to realize that the Winnebagos were as +adept at outdoor sports as they were. + +"We surely did," answered Sahwah. "What good would it do us for some to +have them and some not? We always travel together." + +The Captain had Hinpoha's in his hand and was examining them critically. +"You girls haven't the right kind of harness on your snowshoes," he said, +with the air of an expert. "Straps like yours, that buckle over the toes +and around the heel are 'tenderfoot' harness. They don't give enough to +your motions and you are likely to freeze your feet. See our bindings. +They are made of lamp wicking and calfskin thongs. By putting your foot +on the shoe so that your toes come just under the bridle and binding it +fast with the wick, making a half-hitch on each side and tying a knot at +the back of your shoe you can make a fastening that will hold tightly as +long as you want it too, but will permit you to free your foot with a +single twist in an emergency." + +"Did you learn all that down at Tech?" asked Hinpoha, with just a touch +of sarcasm. It seemed to her that the Captain was trying to show off his +knowledge. + +"He won't admit that we know as much as they do about some things," she +was saying to herself. "They couldn't get ahead of us by getting +snowshoes, so now they must claim that theirs are right and ours are +wrong. Ours are more expensive, that's the whole trouble." + +"My uncle told me about it," said the Captain earnestly. "He's been up +north and he knows all about snowshoes. Wait a minute, and I'll show you +what I mean." He bound his snowshoes on his feet in the approved fashion, +and then, by stepping on one shoe with the other foot, skilfully wriggled +his toe free without injuring the binding. "You couldn't do that if it +were buckled," he said simply, turning to Nyoda for approval. + +"You're right," said Nyoda. "We never thought of that side of it before. +Don't you think, girls, we'd better change ours?" They all agreed, all +except Hinpoha. For some odd reason she still fancied that the Captain +was crowing over her, and she was determined to show him that his opinion +meant nothing to her. + +"I like the straps much better," she declared. "And the buckles look so +pretty flashing in the sunlight. Much prettier than your old lamp wicks. +They'll be dirty in no time." And they could not induce her to change the +bindings. + +Followed days of learning how to run on snowshoes. It was not so very +difficult, after all, not nearly so hard as the skiing Sahwah had tried +the winter before. There were tumbles, of course, when they struck +unexpected snags, but the snow was soft and no one was hurt. Hinpoha was +glad she didn't change her smart buckle binding for the wicking-thong +affair of the others, because hers looked much nicer, and there was no +occasion for getting out of them suddenly. The first day everybody +returned home full of enthusiasm for the new sport. Sahwah in particular +was so anxious for the morrow to come when she could be at it again, that +she could hardly go to sleep. But when she woke up in the morning she +felt a strange disinclination to get up. Her limbs ached so fiercely that +she could hardly stand. Her muscles were so cramped and sore that she was +ready to shriek with the pain. She limped stiffly into the class room +half an hour late, to see Gladys going in just ahead of her, traveling +with a sidewise motion like a crab, and stumbling as though her feet were +made of wood. Poor Hinpoha never appeared in school at all that day. +"What's the matter with us?" they groaned, dropping into Nyoda's class +room at lunch hour. "We're ruined for life." Nyoda could not conceal a +smile of amusement. "I knew you'd get it," she said, with gentle +raillery. "That's why I advised you not to stay out more than fifteen +minutes the first day. But you were bound to stick to it all afternoon." + +"What did you know we'd get?" they asked in tones of concern. "Are we +lamed for life?" + +"Hardly as bad as that," laughed Nyoda. "I have good hopes of your +ultimate recovery. You have what the French call 'mal de racquette'--the +snowshoe sickness. You use a different set of muscles when snowshoeing +than you do ordinarily, and these muscles become very stiff and sore. All +you need is a little limbering oil. Little Sisters of the Snow, you are +learning by experience!" + +It was fully a week before either the Winnebagos or Sandwiches went +snowshoeing again, although they made excellent excuses. Neither group +would admit to the other that they had become stiff, and would not limp +for worlds when in the sight of the others, although it nearly killed +them to walk naturally. Nevertheless, they understood each other +perfectly. + +In February came a three days' snow storm that covered the earth with a +blanket several feet thick, and a slight thaw followed by a zero snap +produced an excellent crust. The Winnebagos were having a solemn +ceremonial meeting in the Open Door Lodge when without warning there was +a sound of scrambling up the ladder and the Captain burst in among them. + +"Oh, I say," he shouted, and then stopped suddenly as he became aware +that the girls were engaged in singing some kind of a motion song. +"Excuse me," he stammered in confusion, "I didn't know you were having a +pow-wow. I heard you singing up here and thought you were just having a +good time." + +"What news can you be bringing that made you burst in on us in such a +fashion?" said Nyoda sternly, but with a twinkle in her eye. "Speak sir, +the queen commands." + +The Captain seemed ready to burst with his message and fired his words +like bullets from an automatic pistol. "My Uncle Theodore's here, you +know, the one I said had been up north, and he knows a dandy place in the +country where there are some log cabins and he wants us all to go down +there on our snowshoes for a winter hike and stay three days over the +Washington's Birthday holiday. Oh, please, can you girls come?" + +"But----" began Nyoda. + +"Oh, I forgot," went on the Captain, "my aunt's here, too, and she's just +as good on snowshoes as Uncle Theodore is, and she's going along, too, +and will see that you girls don't take cold or anything. Please say +you'll come." + +There never was such sport as a winter hike. The preliminaries were +arranged with much reassuring of parents and relatives; buying of +all-wool clothing and blankets; selecting of cooking utensils and what +the boys elegantly referred to as "grub." "Uncle Theodore" was a real +woodsman, who had spent most of his life in lumber camps; bluff, hale and +hearty; a man to whom you would be perfectly willing to entrust your life +after the first meeting. "Aunt Clara" was a little round dumpling of a +woman, who radiated smiles like sunshine, and declared the Winnebagos +were the handiest girls she had ever seen. It was their skilful way of +packing supplies that called forth this praise. + +Food and blankets were sent down by automobile a day ahead, so that the +hikers would have to carry nothing but their cameras and notebooks. The +morning of Washington's Birthday found them all assembled on the station +platform, for they were to go by cars to a certain town down state and +from there to strike across the open country on their snowshoes. + +"What are you going to do with the torpedo?" shouted the Captain, as Slim +appeared carrying a strange looking package. + +Slim smiled mysteriously. "Shoot rabbits," he replied evasively. + +"It isn't a torpedo," said quick-witted Sahwah, after one look at the +package. "It's a thermos bottle." + +A chorus of derision went up. "Better Baby has to have his bottle!" "Oh, +Slim! Are you afraid you'll starve before we get our dinner?" "What's in +it, Slim, let's see!" + +Slim turned fiery red and shot a dark look at Sahwah. + +"It's hot chocolate, I know," continued his red-cheeked tormentor. "Slim +has to have a dose every hour or he feels faint." Sahwah had long ago +discovered Slim's pet weakness. + +"Where's Katherine?" said somebody suddenly. + +"Why, isn't she here?" said Nyoda, counting over the group. "I thought I +saw her here." + +"She hasn't come yet," declared Hinpoha and Gladys. + +"Oh, I hope she hasn't had an absent-minded fit and forgotten this is +Washington's Birthday," said Sahwah, clasping her hands in distress. + +Uncle Teddy pulled out his watch. "It's too late to go and look for her," +he said, "just five minutes until train time." + +Consternation reigned in the group. The Captain gallantly offered to miss +the train and hunt her up, but the others would not hear of it. Hasty +telephoning to her house brought the news that Katherine had left half an +hour ago for the station. + +"Then she'll be here," said Nyoda, eyeing the clock nervously. "If she +doesn't make it she'll have to miss it, that's all." There were times +when she would have liked to shake Katherine for her unbusiness-like +ways. + +But eight twenty-five came and no Katherine. The long train pulled in and +Uncle Teddy swung them all aboard, and with a great cheering and waving +of snowshoes they were off. Other passengers looked with interest at the +lively group that occupied one whole end of the car, singing, laughing, +shouting nonsense at one another. + +"Time for the Better Baby to have his bottle!" said the Bottomless Pitt, +gaining possession of the thermos bottle. He unscrewed the lid and held +it to Slim's lips, making him drink willy-nilly. It was hot chocolate, as +Sahwah had guessed. Slim choked and sputtered and had to be patted on the +back. + +"Do behave, children," said Nyoda, as the fun threatened to block the +aisle, "that magazine man can't get through." + +The man stood in the midst of the scufflers, patiently trying to cry his +wares above the din. + +"Buy a maggyzine," he chanted. "All the latest maggyzines!" + + "Good ones for the ladies, + Bad ones for the gents; + All the latest maggyzines + For fifteen cents!" + +Amused, they stopped talking to listen to his ridiculous singsong. + +"Buy a maggyzine, lady?" he said, holding one out to Nyoda. On the last +sentence his voice cracked in three directions and leaped up the scale a +full octave, so the word "lady" was uttered in a high falsetto squeak. + +"Katherine!" exclaimed Nyoda, seizing the magazine seller by the arm in +amazement. + +"At yer service, mum," replied that worthy, with a low bow. + +Then, amid the hubbub that ensued she calmly proceeded to remove the +fuzzy little black mustache that had adorned her upper lip, took off the +fur cap that had covered her hair and threw back the long ulster that +covered her from neck to heels, and stood smiling wickedly at them. + +"Katherine, you awful, awful, wonderful, wonderful girl, how did you +manage to do it?" gasped Gladys, breathless with astonishment. + +"And when did you get on the train?" cried Hinpoha in the same breath. +"You didn't get on with us." + +"I got into the wrong street car this morning," replied Katherine, +producing her glasses from her sweater pocket and polishing them on the +end of her muffler, "and got carried east instead of west. When I found +it out there wasn't time to come back to the Union Station, so I went on +out to the Lakeside Station and go on the train there. I had planned to +be waiting for you on the step when we got into the Union, but on the way +out I met a magazine seller and had an inspiration. I bribed him to let +me take his cap and books and coat for ten minutes. The mustache I had +with me. I thought it might be useful in case I should be called up to +perform a 'stunt' at Lonesome Creek. The rest you already know, as they +say in the novels." She tossed the borrowed plumage into an empty seat +and settled herself beside Slim. + +"By the way," she said quizzically, looking at the boys, "what was it I +heard you declaring a while ago, that no girl could masquerade as a boy +and really fool a boy?" + +"Pooh, you didn't really fool us," said Slim. + +"Oh, no, I didn't," jeered Katherine. + +"Well, we'd have found you out before long," said the Captain. + +"Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn't," said Katherine. "The only thing +I noticed you doing was looking with envy at my little mustache." + +The Captain blushed furiously and the rest shouted with laughter. + +"Anyway, Nyoda knew me first," she continued, "and that shows that girls +are smarter than boys. I can just see us being fooled by one of you +dressed as a girl." + +"I bet I could do it," said the Captain. + +"Maybe _you_ could, Cicero," said Hinpoha sweetly. Relations between her +and the Captain were somewhat strained these days, but how it began or +what it was all about, no one could tell. + +The Captain turned angrily at the taunting use of his name. He knew it +was meant to imply that he was "Cissy" enough to pass off for a girl. "So +you think I'm a Cissy, do you?" he said hotly. If Hinpoha had been a boy +there would have been a scuffle right there, but as it was he was +helpless. + +"Tell them how you trailed the fox up in Ontario, father," interrupted +Aunt Clara hastily, and Uncle Teddy began a thrilling tale of adventure +in the backwoods that held them spellbound until they reached their +station. + +"Now for the long white trail!" cried Uncle Teddy cheerily, when all +snowshoes were adjusted to their owners' satisfaction. "Nine o'clock and +all's well! Catertown and dinner at twelve o'clock, ten miles due south +as the crow flies! Here, Captain, you be the first pathfinder. Here is a +map of the way we are to take. You may be leader until you get us off the +track, and then we'll let one of the girls try her hand. Forward, march!" + +Whole new worlds lie before the hiker on snowshoes. All the ugliness in +Nature is concealed by the soft white mantle of snow, like a scratched +and stained old table covered with a spotless cloth, and everything is +glistening and wonderful and beautiful. The snowshoes are seven league +boots in very truth. On them you go right over stumps and fences and +hummocks and stones and little hollows. You do not need to keep to the +road or to the beaten track. Dame Frost, like Sir Walter Raleigh, has +spread her mantle over the unpleasant places and over it you may pass in +safety. + +"Where are we now?" asked the Bottomless Pitt. + +"Casey's Woods," replied the Captain, referring to his map. + +"Oh," cried Sahwah, "don't you remember how we wanted to come here to a +picnic once in the summer, but we couldn't go into the woods at all, +because the mosquitoes were just terrible? Why didn't we ever think of +holding a picnic in the winter? There are no ants to crawl into your +shoes and no spiders to get into your cocoa." + +"And no poison ivy," said Gladys. "Why, winter is the very best time to +hold a picnic!" + +And they made up a hiking song to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia," +and sang it until the woods echoed: + + "Hurrah, hurrah, said the possum to the 'coon, + Hurrah, hurrah, what makes you come so soon? + We started in the morning, and we'll get there before noon, + As we go hiking on our snowshoes!" + +"Doesn't Aunt Clara look just like a Teddy Bear in that brown fur coat?" +whispered Gladys to Sahwah. Aunt Clara was nearly as broad as she was +long, and, wrapped in furs as she was, seemed rounder yet. + +"Halt!" cried Uncle Teddy, as the company came out on the edge of a deep +ravine. "Oh, I say, Captain, what's this? It doesn't seem to me I +included this in my order." + +Much confused, the Captain spread his road map on a log and set the +compass on it, trying to find out where he had gone wrong. "Shucks," he +said disgustedly, after a moment's study. "We should have gone at right +angles to that hundred-foot pine tree instead of in a line with it. +Everybody back up--I mean, right about face. Shucks!" And he handed the +map and the compass to Sahwah with as good grace as he could and took the +end of the line, as became an officer who had been reduced to the ranks. + +Sahwah led them back to the pine tree and in the right direction from it, +as indicated on the map, and they soon came to the bridge which spanned +the gorge a mile below the spot where the Captain had reached it. Detour +and all they reached Catertown at twelve o'clock, where their ravenous +appetites worked fearful havoc with the good dinner set before them. +Uncle Teddy insisted upon having Slim's thermos bottle filled with milk, +to guard against his getting faint on the way, although Slim blushed and +protested. Ten more miles to make in the afternoon. But to these +practised hikers the distance before and behind them seemed nothing +wonderful and they declared the going was so good on snowshoes that they +could keep on forever. Sahwah followed the map accurately, and brought +them out at the right crossroads at the end of five miles, where she +relinquished her office as pathfinder to Bottomless Pitt, who was next in +line. It had been decided en route that five miles should be the length +of any leader's service. + +"Honorable discharge," said Uncle Teddy, patting Sahwah on the head. +"I'll wager there aren't many girls who could have done that." + +"All of us could," answered Sahwah, eager to sing the praises of the +group as a whole. + +The Captain said nothing. He felt that he had disgraced the Sandwiches by +letting a girl get ahead of him. It did not help him any to note that +Hinpoha was looking at him and evidently thinking the same thing. The +Captain was very sore at heart. He liked and admired Hinpoha more than +any of the other Winnebagos, and they had always been the best of friends +until suddenly, for some reason which he could not explain, she had +turned against him. And she had done the one thing to him that he could +never forgive. She had called him "Cicero." All was over between them. +Winter hikes weren't such a lot of fun after all, he told himself. + +"Hi, look at the rabbit," shouted Pitt, pointing out an inquisitive bunny +that sat upon his haunches under a tree, "to see the parade go by." + +"Don't hurt him, don't hurt him," cried Sahwah, dancing up and down and +trying to focus her camera on him. + +"Who's hurting him?" said the Captain. "We haven't anything to hurt him +with, unless Slim steps on him." Sahwah clicked her camera and at the +click Br'er Bunny vanished into space. + +"Let's see what kind of tracks he made," said Sahwah, and they all +willingly detoured a trifle to examine the footprints in the snow. + +"There are some others beside his," said Bottomless Pitt. "What kind of +an animal is that, Uncle Teddy?" + +Uncle Teddy examined the tracks and nodded his head with a satisfied air. +"You boys ought to know those tracks," he said provokingly. "What kind of +scouts are you, anyway? Here, Captain, quit your scowling like a +thundercloud and tell us what animal has been taking a walk. I certainly +have taught you enough about woodcraft to know that." + +The Captain looked at the tracks closely. "I think it's a 'coon," he said +finally. + +"Think so!" scoffed Uncle Teddy. "Don't you know so? Pitt, what do you +say?" + +"Looks like a 'coon to me," answered Pitt. + +"And what do you say, Redbird?" asked Uncle Teddy, pulling Sahwah's hair. + +"There's where you boys have us beaten," said Sahwah frankly. "We never +have had a chance to learn animal tracks." + +"I'm sure it's a 'coon," said the Captain, his spirits rising with the +chance to crow over the girls. + +"All right, if you're sure of it, we'll follow the trail awhile and see +where he is," said Uncle Teddy. "But you always want to be sure of what +you see, after you've learned it once. A good woodsman always fixes a +thing in his mind so he'll know it the next time he sees it." + +"I'm sure it's a 'coon," repeated the Captain. "May we follow the trail +awhile?" Eagerly they trotted along beside the footprints in the snow, +impatient to have a sight of the animal. This was a new sport to the +Winnebagos and they were greatly excited about it. The Captain had +forgotten his low spirits and was in the lead now. + +"I say, the fellow that spies him first ought to be pathfinder for the +rest of the way," he said. + +"What does a 'coon look like?" panted Sahwah, trying to keep up with him. + +"He has a short, thick, striped tail," said the Captain, "and a---- Oh, +goodness gracious! Oh, Methuselah's great grandmother!" For just then the +wind began to blow strongly from the direction in which they were going, +carrying with it an unmistakable odor. With one accord they took to their +heels. + +"O Uncle Teddy," said the Captain, furious at himself, "you knew what it +was all the while! Why didn't you tell us?" + +"Well," said Uncle Teddy dryly, "you were so blooming sure it was a 'coon +that I couldn't contradict you very well without being impolite. 'There's +nothing like being dead sure,' I says to myself. And I knew you would +never be satisfied until you had found out for yourself." + +The Captain, permanently abashed, retired to the rear of the line and +ventured no more opinions about anything they saw, and took not the +slightest interest when Hinpoha discovered a rare little moosewood maple +and identified it by its beautiful green bark. + +"Last lap!" shouted Pitt, consulting the map for the hundred and fortieth +time. "Turn east by the twin oaks and approach the camp from the rear! +Company, forward march!" + +"There are the cabins now," cried the Monkey, throwing his cap into the +air. "Maybe I won't sit down and hold my feet up, though!" + +"Maybe you won't jump around and get some firewood, though!" remarked +Uncle Teddy. "End of the hike, messmates," he shouted, executing a droll +dance on his snowshoes and waving his long arms like windmills. "All +together, now, three cheers and a tiger for the end of the hike!" And +they gave them with a will. + +The place where they were to spend that night and the next was an +abandoned sugar camp. It had once been a fine grove of trees, but so many +had been killed by the boring worms that it was no longer profitable. Two +cabins remained standing and were used on and off by hunters during the +season. + +"Oh-h-h, ours is a real log cabin," cried Sahwah, dancing around in +ecstasy when quarters had been assigned. "It's lots nicer than the old +board shack the boys are going to have. I'll feel just like Abraham +Lincoln to-night, only so much more elegant, because Abraham Lincoln had +to split his own rails, and we can sit at ease and let the boys tote our +wood for us." + +"But--where are the beds?" cried Hinpoha, in perplexity, as they went +inside. + +"Why, _those_," said Aunt Clara, pointing to some bin-like things ranged +in a double tier along one wall. "Those are our bunks." + +"Bunks!" echoed the girls in rather a dismayed tone. "We didn't think +we'd have to sleep in bunks. We expected camp beds, at least." + +"They're quite comfortable," said Aunt Clara reassuringly, "when they're +filled with clean straw. Our blankets are in that big box and we'd better +get our beds made the first thing, so we can roll into them as soon as we +get tired." She bustled around, smoothing out the straw in the bunks with +a practised hand and showing the girls how to fold their blankets to the +best advantage. "Be sure you have just as much under you as over you," +she advised them again and again. "Camping in winter is a very different +proposition from sleeping out in summer." + +Now that the girls had gotten used to the idea of the bunks, they began +to think it was a jolly good lark to sleep in them. "If bunks it must be, +bunks it is," said Katherine, in a lugubrious tone that sent them all +into gales of laughter, "but I never thought I'd live to see the day!" + +"Me for the upper berth," said Sahwah, standing on a table to accomplish +the spreading of her blankets. It was not long before they were all +singing: + + "Oh, we're bunking tonight on the side of the wall, + Give us a ladder, please, + We've slept in many beds, both hard and soft, + But never in bunks like these!" + + "Bunking tonight, + Bunking tonight, + Bunking on the side of the wall!" + +And they raised such a din with the chorus that the boys came streaming +over to see what the fun was about and to inquire casually if supper +wasn't nearly ready. + +"Goodness, no," answered Nyoda; "we've just got our beds made. Go +overpower Slim, if you are hungry, and take his bottle away from him. By +the way, which cabin is to be honored by the smell of the cooking?" + +"The log cabin is the largest," said Uncle Teddy, "and it has both the +fireplace and the little stove. The other is just a sleeping cabin. I +guess the honor is yours. All aboard for the dining car! Where's that +canned soup? Bring in the wood, boys, and make a cooking fire in the +stove. You know what a cooking fire is, I suppose. Everybody get to work. +Too many cooks can't spoil this broth." + +They flew around, getting in each other's way dreadfully, but under Uncle +Teddy's and Aunt Clara's able management they did contrive to accomplish +the things they were trying to do, and in less than no time the supper +was steaming on the table. + +"Maybe I won't do anything to that soup and that creamed fish!" sighed +Slim, his face beaming at the sight of the banquet spread before him. + +"Maybe it won't do anything to him!" said Katherine in an aside to +Sahwah. "I got a whole teaspoonful of Hinpoha's old talcum powder in the +cream sauce before I discovered it wasn't flour, and then it was too late +to take it out again." + +"Never mind," Sahwah giggled back, "it's so hot you can't taste it, and +it won't last long enough to get cold. Your secret is safe in our +stomachs!" + +The paper plates made a grand glare in the fireplace after supper was +over and in its light Katherine and Slim gave a Punch and Judy show until +Slim showed symptoms of bursting from want of breath, whereupon the play +came to an end and it was discovered that Bottomless Pitt had fallen +asleep in a corner. + +"Hide his shoes!" suggested the Monkey, and promptly took them off and +tied them by strings to a tack in the ceiling. + +"Let's enchant him altogether," said the gifted Katherine, and fastened +the little mustache to his lip. Then they stuck his head full of paper +curls and powdered his face with flour. The effect when he woke up was +all they had hoped for. They had set a small wall mirror on the floor +beside him, so he got the full benefit of his altered appearance on his +first glance around. Uttering a startled yell, he sprang to his feet, +looking wildly around. Brought to himself by the laughter on all sides, +he shook his fist fiercely at Slim and the Captain, declaring that he +would make the fellow who did that eat soap. As Katherine was the +"fellow" in question this only increased the merriment at his expense. +Slim leaned against the wall so helpless from laughter that he didn't +even resist when Pitt climbed on his shoulders to haul down his shoes, +but went on chuckling violently until he sagged to one side and down came +both boys in a heap, shoes, tack and all. + +"I wish you boys would go home," said Katherine primly. "You're +altogether too rough for us little girls to play with. I think it's +horrid and nasty to play tricks on people when they're asleep." From her +gently shocked and disapproving expression you never would have guessed +that she was the one who had started it all. + +"Come on home, fellows, we're invited out," said Uncle Teddy, with a +pretended injured air. "It's time we little gentlemen were in the hay--I +mean the straw. Come on, Pitt, never mind looking for the tack; Mother +will find it when she gets up in her stocking feet to see if she locked +the door!" With which shot he retired in haste through the doorway and +over to the other cabin, and just in time, for Aunt Clara sent a snowball +flying after him that fell short by a bare inch. + +Then she closed and barred the door, fixed the fire with hardwood which +would last the rest of the night, plastered adhesive strips over the +various blisters which the Winnebago feet had acquired on the long march, +and tucked them all in warmly with a motherly pat and a goodnight kiss. +After a twenty-mile walk in the open air a hard plank would be a +comfortable resting place, and the straw filled and blanket padded bunks +were far from the hard plank class. For the first time in the history of +Winnebago sleeping parties there was strictly "nothing doing" after they +were tucked in. Most of them fell asleep during the process of tucking. + +Thus it was that when the first thump came at the door nobody stirred. A +second thump followed like a blow from a battering ram. Aunt Clara sat +up. + +"Who's there?" she called. No answer save a series of blows and thumps +that threatened to break the door down. The rest were awake by this time, +trembling in their beds. + +"Theodore, is that you?" shrieked Aunt Clara above the noise. "What do +you want?" Again came a shower of blows, as if somebody were trying to +force their way in with an axe. This time the bars gave way and the door +swung inward. There was a loud bellowing, roaring sound, which seemed to +their startled ears like a deep-throated whistle, and into the cabin +there walked a cow. The girls shrieked and disappeared under the +bed-clothes, for to their excited fancy she looked like a wild animal. + +"Shoo, get out!" shouted Aunt Clara, throwing her slipper with neat aim +into the cow's face. Bossy looked reproachfully at her and walked farther +into the cabin, standing close beside the row of bunks. + +Katherine raised her head from the blanket to see what was going on and +looked right into the open mouth of the creature as it stood over her. +"Murder! It's going to eat me up!" she shrieked, diving under the covers +with a prolonged howl. + +By this time Aunt Clara had found the whistle with which she always +summoned her husband when she needed him and blew a long, shrill blast. A +few minutes later Uncle Teddy appeared at the door, with a string of +startled boys running out of their cabin behind him, and at a word of +command from him, accompanied by several emphatic pokes and proddings, +Mrs. Bossy meekly turned and walked out through the doorway, which was +considerably the worse for her entrance. She had probably strayed from +the nearest farmhouse and was suffering from the intense cold. Attracted +by the light streaming from the little window of the cabin she had come +to find shelter, and when nobody answered her first gentle knocks with +her horns, she had taken matters into her own hands and become +housebreaker. She was stabled in a lean-to shelter for the rest of the +night and made comfortable with straw and a blanket. + +"Isn't it funny how all the suffering critters come to our hospitable +door for shelter?" said Katherine at the breakfast table. "Just like +Sandhelo. He came of his own accord, also." + +"They must know that we keep the Fire Law," answered Hinpoha. "'Whose +house is bare and dark and cold, whose house is cold, this is his own'!" + +"Isn't it strange that she came to our door, and not to the boys'," said +Gladys. "They had a light shining, too, but her footprints show that she +came past their door to stop at ours." + +"That's because she was a lady," replied Uncle Teddy, helping himself to +his fifth slice of fried bacon, "and no lady would come bustling into a +gentleman's apartment like that. Hurry up and get your chores done, you +housekeepers and wood-gatherers, and let's go out and make a snow man." + +"Let's make a totem-pole," suggested Katherine, when they were all out +playing in the snow. "It's lots more epic than making a snow man." + +"You mean a 'snowtem pole,'" observed Uncle Teddy. + +So they set to work and made a marvellous totem-pole, higher than the +cabin, with figures carved into its sides such as were never on land or +sea. Then Uncle Teddy and the boys, who had done less carving on their +sections and consequently were finished first, set up a barber pole on +the other side of the doorway, containing the stripes with a crimson of +their own concocting, which was a secret, but which involved several +trips to the kitchen and the food supply box. All this time the Captain +had never spoken one word to Hinpoha. Whenever he would have relented +under the spell of the jolly larks they were having, something whispered +to him, "She called me Cicero! I won't stand that from anyone!" + +"Who's ripe for a trifling sprint of five miles this afternoon?" asked +Uncle Teddy at the dinner table, taking three scones at once from the +plate. + +"I! I! I!" cried a chorus of voices, and a dozen hands waved frantically +above the table. + +"Have you any special place in mind?" asked Aunt Clara, pretending not to +see Uncle Teddy stealing yet another buttered scone from her plate. + +"Well," said Uncle Teddy, "I happen to know that there's a real sugar +camp in action somewhere about here, and I think five miles covers it, +there and back. It might not be the worst idea in the world to look in +and see how they are getting on. I dare say most of these folks here have +never seen maple syrup outside of a can." + +A sigh of delight ran around the table. "Hurry up, everybody, and put +everything you have left into your mouths, so I can collect the plates," +said Sahwah, impatient to start at once. + +But when the time came to start Hinpoha had developed such a dizzy +headache that going along was out of the question. "It's nothing +serious," she stoutly maintained, in reply to anxious inquiries. "Too +much noise, that's all. We might call it 'Mal de racket'!" She would not +hear of any of them staying at home with her, however, although Aunt +Clara and Nyoda both insisted. "Go on, all of you," she begged, pressing +her hand to her throbbing temples. "It would make it so much worse if I +thought I had kept you away from the fun. All I want is to lie down +quietly. I'll be perfectly all right here. If I feel better soon I'll +follow your tracks and either catch up with you or meet you there and +come back home with you. Please go." And so insistent was she that they +went without her. + +"Be sure you lock the door carefully," called Aunt Clara. + +"And be sure you put out a sign, NO COWS ADMITTED," said Sahwah. And +laughing they set out, leaving her tucked in her bunk. With the cessation +of the noise that had almost lifted the roof of the cabin during the +dinner hour, the headache gradually disappeared, and in an hour Hinpoha +was herself again. Swiftly buckling on her snowshoes she ran out into the +stinging air, which seemed like a cool hand laid on her forehead. + +She found the trail of the others easily, for the crust was slightly +dented in by every step. The way led through a thick strip of woods. +Hinpoha noticed that there were many tracks of animals here and wished +with all her heart that she knew what they were. "It would be such a +grand thing to say to the folks at home, 'I followed the trail of a +'coon,' and be sure it was a 'coon," she said to herself, and then +laughed aloud at the ridiculous mistake of the Captain. Then she stood +still in delight, for just before her a dark, furry body was slipping +along over the snow. "I believe that really is one," she said to herself +joyfully. "I can't catch him, of course, but maybe he'll run up a +tree--people always talk about 'coons being treed--and then I can see +what he looks like." And she sped after the little animal, who took alarm +at her first step and disappeared between the trunks of the trees. + +Hinpoha looked for him for a while and then realized it was a hopeless +search and with a sigh turned to resume her own way through the woods. +Then she stopped in dismay. The broad trail she had been following so +easily had vanished from the earth! The only marks on the white ground +were those of her own snowshoes. "Of course," she said, coming to herself +with a shake, "I got off the trail when I followed that 'coon. I'll +follow my own tracks back." But her own tracks led her round and round in +a circle, in and out among the tree trunks, and did not end up in what +she sought. It took her some minutes to realize that she was actually +lost in the woods. Then, of course, the first thing she did was to go +into a panic, and run wildly back and forth. "Come, this will never do," +she told herself severely, standing still. "I must stop and think before +I do anything else. Let me see, what was it Migwan did the time she was +lost up in the Maine woods? She sat down on the ground and wrote poetry, +and waited until we came and found her! I can't write poetry, that's out +of the question, and I can't sit on the ground, either, it's too cold. +I'll have to stand up and wait." But that proved a dreary amusement. It +was getting bitterly cold, and a strong wind whistled through the bare +branches till it made her flesh creep. To make things worse, an early +twilight was setting in and the light was rapidly fading. To keep from +taking cold she walked up and down bravely among the trees, growing more +terrified every minute. She tried to sing, to call, to shout, to make her +voice carry across the snow, but it was lost in the moaning of the wind. +Her feet grew numb with the cold and she stamped them vigorously to start +up the blood. The crust broke through, and down she went through several +feet of snow to her waist. She braced herself with her hands and tried to +draw her feet out, but they went through also and she floundered with her +face in the icy snowflakes. Then with a growing sense of horror she +realized what had happened. The ends of her snowshoes had become firmly +wedged under the roots of a tree, and she was unable to pull them out. +And her feet, tightly bound to the snowshoes by the pretty straps and +buckles, were trapped. She struggled furiously, and only sank deeper in +the snow. + + +As the "syrup party," as they called themselves, were just ready to cool +off the bit of boiled sap that had been given them to taste, the Captain +suddenly sprang to his feet and smote his forehead. "Daggers and dirks!" +he exclaimed, "I left my sweater hanging right in front of the fire when +we came away--you remember it got all wet in the snowball fight this +morning--and I bet it's scorched to cinders by this time. Do you folks +mind if I go back to the cabin in a hurry? I got that sweater for +Christmas and I hate to lose it so soon. I'm all right, uncle, I can find +the way, even if it is getting dark. Don't hurry yourselves. Give my +share of the syrup to Slim. He's getting thin." And adjusting his +snowshoes with a skilled "jiffy twist," he was off down the trail. + +Now the Captain, although he had been mistaken about the tracks the day +before, was nevertheless an observant lad, and when he came to the place +where Hinpoha had left the trail, he noticed the marks going off in +another direction and stood still and looked at them. He knew that they +most likely belonged to Hinpoha, and he knew also that she had not +arrived at the sugar camp and he had not met her on the trail coming +home, so, putting two and two together, he decided that she must be in +the woods somewhere. A mean little instinct whispered to him to go on his +way and let her be wherever she was, and get a good fright until the rest +found her; then his better nature rose to the top and he decided to hunt +her up and show her the trail to meet the others. + +"Glory, she certainly did mess up the trail some," he said to himself, as +he followed the marks which wandered up and down and doubled back on +themselves and crisscrossed everywhere. It was slow going, for the +darkness was hiding the footprints and he had to bend down to the ground +to see them clearly. He almost stepped on her at last when he did find +her. She was numb from the cold and very nearly asleep and he thought she +was dead. The imprisoned snowshoes held her down and he could not pull +her out of the snow at first. Finally he suspected what had happened and +dug down in and loosened the buckles. It took a good deal of working +after she was freed to get life back into the numb feet and ankles, but +it was accomplished at last and Hinpoha was ready to walk home. + +Then a moment of embarrassment fell between them. Hinpoha flushed and +looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry I called you Cicero," she said, with a +sneeze between every word. "You aren't a Cissy at all. You're a hero!" +And then for no reason at all, except that the afternoon's strenuous +adventure had unstrung her nerves, she burst into tears. + +"Here," said the Captain, entirely light-hearted again, and holding up +the little bucket he had carried away from the sugar camp, "cry into the +pail. Evaporate the water. Save the salt. It's worth money." + +And Hinpoha giggled foolishly and dried her tears and raced back to the +cabin as fast as she could go, to stave off pneumonia on her arrival with +hot blankets and steaming drinks. + +"He _is_ a hero," she murmured dreamily to Gladys, who hovered around her +like an anxious grandmother, after the others were satisfied that she was +all right, and had set to work getting supper; "he never once said, 'I +told you so'!" + + + + + CHAPTER XII + HINPOHA'S ROMANCE + + +An indistinct murmur floated down from the Winnebago room of the Open +Door Lodge, punctuated by little squeals and exclamations. The firelight +shown on four tense faces, and four pairs of eyes were riveted on the two +figures in the center of the group who were engaged in a very singular +occupation. Balanced between two stiffly outstretched and quivering right +forefingers hung a key, and suspended from it by a string was a +black-covered book, supposed to be set apart from all secular uses. In a +breathless undertone Hinpoha--for she was the owner of one of the +aforesaid fingers--was chanting a passage of scripture designed for a +widely different application. A strained hush was followed by another +outbreak of exclamations. "Look, it's turning! It began to turn the +minute she said, 'Turn, my beloved.' What letter did it turn on, 'Poha?" + +"D," replied Hinpoha, in a solemn whisper. + +"D," repeated the chorus, "what does that stand for?" + +"Daniel," supplied Sahwah promptly. + +"His name's going to be Daniel," chanted the chorus. "Now try for the +last name." + +Again the mystic rite was performed. At "I" the Bible trembled with a +premonitory movement. "It's turning!" whispered the chorus in an awed +tone. "No, it isn't either; it's still again." After that one tremor the +soothsaying volume remained bafflingly motionless through the recitation +of the mysteries which accompanied the letter J. K likewise began +uneventfully. But no sooner had Hinpoha uttered the fateful words, "Turn, +my beloved," when with a suddenness that scared them half out of their +wits the key turned sharply in the supporting fingers, twisted itself +free and fell to the floor with an emphatic bang. + +"It's K," cried Hinpoha, covering her face with her hands. "What names +begin with K?" + +"King," said Gladys. + +"Knight," suggested Katherine. + +"All the noble names," said Nakwisi dreamily. + +"Mrs. Daniel King," said Sahwah experimentally, whereupon Hinpoha hid her +face in the bearskin rug. + +"You try it, Katherine," said Gladys. "I'll hold the key with you." + +"Oh, I'm afraid to try it," said Katherine, hanging back and looking +uncomfortable. "It's no use, anyway; nobody'd have me for a gift." + +"It always tells the truth," said the blushing Hinpoha. "You know Miss +Vining, Clara Morrison's old maid aunt? Well, Clara persuaded her to try +it and it wouldn't turn for her at all, and they went through the +alphabet three times in succession." + +With a skeptical expression Katherine suffered herself to be placed on +the box covered with an old piece of tapestry displaying a threadbare +figure of the three fates, which was the seat of those engaged in the +mysteries. "My beloved is mine, and I am his," she recited jerkily, +keeping her eyes glued to the key. "He feedeth upon a row of lilies----" + +"It's 'He feedeth upon the lilies,' just 'the lilies'; the 'row' part +comes later," interrupted Gladys in a sharp whisper. + +"He feedeth upon the lilies, just the lilies, the row part----" repeated +Katherine dutifully. + +"No, no; it's all wrong," said Gladys impatiently. "Begin again." + +"My beloved is mine----" + +"Katherine! Oh-h-h-h Katherine! Are you up there?" the voice of Slim +suddenly called from below. + +The girls all started guiltily and fell into confusion. "Sh! Hide the +Bible, quick!" cried Hinpoha in a sibilant whisper, darting forward and +snatching it from Katherine's hand and concealing it under the bear rug. + +"What are you girls doing up there?" came from below. + +"Oh, nothing," floated down the illuminating reply from above. + +If Nyoda had not been so completely engrossed in her private affairs just +at this time she would have noticed the subtle undercurrent which seemed +to have caught hold of the toes of the entire feminine half of the senior +class at Washington High. It was not the Winnebagos only. In fact, they +had caught it from the others. Every class has its epidemic, be it +tonsillitis, friendship link bracelets or Knox hats. This year it was +fortune telling. Where the mystic rite described above originated nobody +could exactly tell, but in less than a week every girl in the class had +been initiated into the secret, and was busy discovering what her future +initials were to be. The performance was always carried on behind locked +doors or in places otherwise secure from adult eyes, and was often +interrupted right at the most exciting point by approaching footsteps, +but questions as to how the innocent maids had been improving the shining +hour invariably brought out the reply, "Oh, we weren't doing +_anything_--much." Missing keys and books of family worship led to +embarrassing questions once in a while, but somehow the situation was +always bridged over and parents and teachers never really did find out +what the fascinating something was that drew their young friends off into +groups by themselves from which they emerged to day dream instead of +getting their lessons and to make mysterious references to certain +initials. + +The book and key oracle reigned supreme for several weeks and then gave +place to the horoscope. For ten cents in stamps a certain seer dwelling +in a remote town in Oregon offered to "cast" the principal events, past, +present and future, in the lives of all young lady correspondents. It was +not long before intimate heads were bent over scraps of paper comparing +horoscopes. Hinpoha's was acknowledged by all to be the gem of the +collection. + +"You have a brilliant future before you," it read. "You will have a +romantic love affair and will marry your first lover. He is a great +scholar who will afterwards become president. You will meet him when you +are very young." Then followed a dozen lines more of brilliant prophecy. +The special friends of Hinpoha, who had been allowed to peep at her +fortune, Gladys, Sahwah, Katherine, Nakwisi and Medmangi, and one or two +others, who had fore-gathered ostensibly to rehearse a school song, sat +back and regarded their fortunate friend with awe. None of their fortunes +had contained anything so dazzling. + +"You're going to be the President's wife!" murmured Sahwah. "You won't +forget us, will you?" + +"Never!" declared Hinpoha magnanimously, stealing a sly glance into the +mirror. + +"I hope you won't be ashamed of me when I'm married and come calling at +the White House," said Katherine, rather dolefully. "All I drew was a +farmer." + +"I only got an automobile manufacturer," echoed Gladys. + +"That's what comes of having red hair," said Sahwah enviously. "Her +fortune said he would be drawn to her by her beautiful tresses." + +When Hinpoha was preparing for bed that night she stood fully an hour +before the mirror and regarded her shining curls. Up until now she had +never paid much attention to them except when the boys called her redhead +and pretended to light matches on her head, and then she wished with all +her heart, like the little girl in the song, that she had been "born a +blonde." Now for the first time her hair appeared beautiful to her. She +arranged the curls this way and that, piling them on her head and letting +them fall over her white shoulders. And all night she dreamed of standing +up in a carriage and bowing graciously to cheering multitudes and +clasping in her arms the forms of her girlhood friends who were among the +crowd. + +The horoscopes had their day and gave way to something still more +exciting, something so secret that at first it could not be mentioned in +words, but was only alluded to by mysterious references. + +"Marjorie King went," said Gladys to Hinpoha, "and she won't tell a thing +she found out, but she says it was the grandest thing." + +"I don't believe it's worth fifty cents," said Sahwah skeptically. +"Anyhow, I haven't that much to spend." + +"You don't ever dare tell anybody, they say, not a soul," reported Gladys +later. "If you do, the nice things won't happen and the bad ones surely +will." + +"She's the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter," observed Hinpoha in +an awe-stricken tone. "Did you ever hear of anything so wonderful?" + +"Are _you_?" asked Sahwah anxiously, of Hinpoha. + +This last question was entirely unrelated to the preceding statement +concerning the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter. It was part of the +cryptic jargon employed in the discussion of a momentous question. + +"I don't know," answered Hinpoha uncertainly. "Would you?" + +"Oh, do," begged Gladys, "and then if you find out something nice we'll +go in after you. Oh, I forgot, you can't tell us anything." + +"Would your mother mind if you did?" asked Hinpoha, hesitating on the +brink. + +"She really wouldn't mind, but she'd think it awfully silly," answered +Gladys, "so I don't believe I'll tell her." + +"You might find out the whole name," said Sahwah, looking at Hinpoha. + +"And just when it's going to happen," finished Gladys. + +Hinpoha suddenly made up her mind. "I believe I will," she said, looking +at Sahwah. + +Where Hinpoha's thoughts were the next day in school nobody knew, but +they were certainly not on her lessons. She failed signally in every +class. + +"And what were the initials of the great poet, Longfellow?" cooed Miss +Snively, in her honeydrip voice. + +The word "initials" penetrated Hinpoha's wandering mind. "D. K.," she +murmured dreamily. + +"Indeed?" purred Miss Snively. "Can it be that I have been misinformed?" +But today sarcasm was lost on Hinpoha. + +After school was out a select group, half of which seemed to be hanging +back and being coaxed on by the other half, walked ten blocks to an +unfamiliar car line and transferred to a cross-town line. There was a +much more direct route to their destination, but that laid them open to +the risk of meeting friends and relatives who might casually inquire +whither they were bound. Just wherein lay the crime in what they were +doing, no one could have told, nor why it should be kept such a dark +secret, but singly and collectively they would have died rather than +reveal the nature of the latest epidemic. + +By devious ways they reached the end of their journey and stood +irresolute on the sidewalk before a house which bore a plate on the door +announcing that that same roof sheltered the object of their desire. + +"Shall we all go in together?" whispered Gladys. There was no need of +whispering, for no one was within earshot, but with one accord they +lowered their voices. They went up the steps and held another +consultation. "You ring the bell," said Gladys. + +"No, you ring it," said Hinpoha. Thus encouraged, Hinpoha pushed the +button, the door swung inward and they passed through. An hour later they +stood on the corner again, waiting for the car to take them home. + +"Did she say anything about--about----" inquired Gladys. + +Hinpoha clapped her hand over her mouth and made inarticulate sounds +beneath it, but her eyes were sparkling, as they never sparkled before. + +"Excuse me," gasped Gladys; "I forgot you mustn't tell." + +"Can't you give us a hint?" begged Sahwah, who had gone along for moral +support. + +Hinpoha shook her head and retained her finger on her lips to stop any +leaks. + +"Well, it couldn't have been any nicer than mine," said Gladys, with an +air of satisfaction. "Mine was just splendid. Maybe yours +wasn't--favorable?" she added, stricken with a sudden doubt as to the +superiority of Hinpoha's future. + +"It was, too!" declared Hinpoha. "If you took all the nice things out of +ten fortunes it wouldn't be as nice as mine!" + +Gladys looked unconvinced. "Well, we'll wait a year or two until they +begin to come true, and then we'll see which had the nicer," she +remarked. + +Hinpoha laughed outright. "I don't have to wait a year or two before mine +comes true," she announced triumphantly. "It's coming true in the very +near future. I'm going to meet a light-haired young man and he's going to +admire my hair and fall in love with me, so there! Is yours any nicer +than that?" + +"Oh, you told," cried Sahwah. "Now it won't come true." + +Hinpoha stopped in dismay. "Well, Gladys made me," she wailed. "If she +hadn't said hers was better----" The car came along then and a truce was +patched up. Such a delicate subject could not be discussed openly in the +street-car, even to quarrel about it. + +But if Hinpoha spent a bad night mourning because she had broken the +spell of her good fortune, the next day sent all doubts flying to the +winds. The week before the bald-headed teacher of the literature class +had occasioned a bad break in the routine of the course by +inconsiderately dying of pneumonia in the middle of the term. For several +days thereafter the grief of the class was tempered by the fact that +there were no recitations. But on the day after Gladys and Hinpoha, with +Sahwah and Katherine as chaperones, had visited the Seventh Daughter of a +Seventh Daughter, an announcement appeared on the session room blackboard +to the effect that literature recitations would be resumed that morning. +As they filed into the literature class room they were greeted by the +sight of the new teacher standing beside the desk. + +"Boys and girls," said the principal, who was doing the honors, "this is +Mr. David Knoblock, who will have charge of this class in the future." +And he hurried out. + +"David Knoblock!" whispered the wit of the class to his neighbor. +"Knoblock, No Block, see?" And a titter ran through the class. + +"David Knoblock!" said Katherine to herself. "He looks as though his name +might be Percy Pimpernell." + +"David Knoblock!" repeated Hinpoha to herself, and sat mute before the +workings of fate. David Knoblock. D. K. The Car of Destiny had stopped +before her door and from it had alighted the fair-haired stranger! + +Standing before the class in the glory of his yellow hair, pale, +sprouting mustache, blue eyes and pink cheeks, Mr. Knoblock seemed to +them a composite of Adonis, Paris and Apollo Belvidere, whose mythical +charms had been impressed upon them by the late lamented instructor. + +"What has the class been reading, Miss--ah--Miss Katherine?" he inquired, +consulting the class roll. + +"Tennyson, Mr. Knoblock," answered Katherine briefly. + +"_Professor_ Knoblock, if you please," he corrected gently. "Ah, yes; +Tennyson." And turning the pages of his book with a manicured finger, he +found the place and began to read aloud, glancing up at one or another of +his girl pupils from time to time. More and more often that glance rested +on Hinpoha, for with the sun shining through the window on her hair she +was the most vivid spot of color in the room. Finally he did not take his +eyes away at all, and, looking her straight in the face, he read in +sentimental tones: + + "Queen of the rosebud garden of girls, + Come hither, the dances are done, + In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, + Queen, lily and rose, in one; + Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, + To the flowers, and be their sun." + +In the blaze of that glance Hinpoha's romantic heart melted like a lump +of wax. The room swam in a rose-colored mist. The great thing that she +had read about in books had happened to her; she was in love! It was not +long before the whole school knew about the affair. Whenever there was a +sentimental passage in the book Professor Knoblock looked at Hinpoha and +at her alone. He often detained her a moment after class to inquire if +that last paragraph had been entirely clear to her; he thought she had +looked not quite satisfied with his explanation. As he roomed in the next +street to her home he generally met her on the corner in the morning and +walked to school with her. Certain sour-dispositioned damsels in the +class, who had made eyes at the new Lochinvar in vain, made sneering +remarks about a girl who had so few boy friends in the class that she had +to ogle a teacher; others sighed enviously when they looked at her +woman's crown of glory and realized their handicap; the Winnebagos +regarded the whole thing as the workings of fate, pure and simple, for +was it not even as the Seventh Daughter of a Seventh Daughter had +predicted? + +As for Hinpoha herself, she was too transported to care what anyone else +thought about it. She was surrounded by a rarified atmosphere and the +voices of earth troubled her not. Just now she sat blushing deeply and +crushing in her hand a note which had appeared mysteriously between the +pages of her _Selections from the Standard English Poets_. It was written +in Mr. Knoblock's slanting backhand, and read: + + +"My Dear Miss Bradford: + +"Never have I seen such glorious hair as yours. I cannot take my eyes +from it while you are in the room, and it haunts me by night. May I ask a +great favor of you--that you grant me one lock, one small lock, as a +keepsake? I fear you will be too modest to make this gift in person, and +all I ask is that you slip it into the dictionary on my desk." + + +The signature was a long ornamental K, with a running vine entwined about +its upright stroke. + +Hinpoha scarcely raised her eyes above the level of her book during the +whole recitation. She sat nervously toying with a long perfect curl that +hung down over her shoulder. Toward the close of the recitation period +she came out of her abstraction and touched the boy in front of her on +the shoulder. "Lend me your penknife," she whispered in answer to his +look of inquiry. The Senior Literature Class occupied the last hour of +the day, and as Mr. Knoblock had no session room, the passing of the +class left the room empty. On this day Mr. Knoblock left the room with +the class on the stroke of the bell, and the boys and girls, trooping out +in a hurry to get home, did not notice that Hinpoha loitered. She glanced +around nervously, satisfied herself that she was unobserved and then +darted toward the dictionary on Mr. Knoblock's desk. Going out of the +door a minute later she ran violently into Katherine, who had carried out +her inkwell instead of her English book, and was coming back to replace +it. Katherine looked at her curiously. + +"Excuse me," said Hinpoha in a flustered tone, "I really didn't see you. +I was thinking about something." + +Hinpoha looked at Mr. Knoblock with an air of expectancy when she entered +the room the next morning, looking for some sign of gratitude for the +lock of hair, but he said, "Good morning, Miss Bradford," in his usual +tone and made no further remarks. But before the hour was over he took +occasion to borrow her book for a moment, and directly after he returned +it a note fell from its pages into her lap. With starry eyes she unfolded +it and read: + + "O Morning Star that smilest in the blue, + O star, my morning dream hath proven true, + Smile sweetly, thou! my love hath smiled on me." + +The lines were from "Gareth and Lynette." The universe turned into song. +It was getting altogether too much for Hinpoha to hold and that afternoon +before the fire in the Open Door Lodge she revealed the progress of her +romance to the other Winnebagos. + +"Did you really give him a lock of your hair?" asked Gladys. + +Hinpoha nodded. "Just a tiny curl. It doesn't show much at all where I +cut it out." + +"Collecting locks of hair doesn't mean so terribly much," said Katherine +dryly. "I read about a boy once who begged a lock of hair from every girl +he met and then had his sister embroider a sofa cushion with them. And +another one used them for paint brushes." + +"Oh, but this is--different," said Hinpoha with lofty pity. It had just +dawned on her that Katherine was jealous. The same miracle that had +dropped the scales from her eyes and revealed to her the fact that she +was beautiful had also made her realize that Katherine was hopelessly +plain. + +"And then the verse he wrote afterward," said Gladys, hastening to uphold +Hinpoha. "That proves he is in earnest. And, anyway, it must be true. +Didn't all the fortunes say he was fair and his initials were D. K., and +he was a great scholar, and would be president, and he would fall in love +with Hinpoha's hair?" And Katherine had to admit that whatsoever was +written in the stars was written. + +It mattered little to any of them, Hinpoha least of all, that Professor +Knoblock had thus far said nothing openly upon the subject to Hinpoha. + +"Isn't his bashfulness adorable?" cooed Gladys. "He's too shy to express +himself face to face with her; he puts all his--his passion into +writing." + +"Won't those notes be lovely to read over together when you're old?" said +Sahwah, also stricken with a sentimental fit. But at the mere mention of +such a thing Hinpoha fled with burning cheeks. + +"Hello, Red," said a cheerful voice in her ear, as she went dreaming down +the street one day. "Where have you been keeping yourself for the last +few weeks? You haven't been down in the gym once." + +"Hello, Captain," she said sweetly. (How young he was, she was thinking. +How hopelessly kiddish beside the manly form of Professor Knoblock!) + +"Say, you must have your tin ear on today," remarked the Captain +jovially. "I had to call you three times before you answered." + +"I was thinking," said Hinpoha, and blushed. + +"Must have been an awful hard think," remarked the Captain, stooping to +throw a stone at a cat. (He's nothing but a kid, thought Hinpoha for the +second time.) + +It was on this occasion that the Captain, happily believing all was well +between himself and Hinpoha, invited her to go to the Senior dance at +Washington High with him. + +"I'm awfully sorry, Captain," she said kindly, "but I'm going +with--someone else." + +"Who?" asked the Captain blankly. The "bid" for that party had cost the +Captain just a dollar and a half, as he was not a member of the class, +and he had made the investment for the sake of going with Hinpoha and no +one else. So he repeated in a startled tone, "Who?" + +"Oh, someone," answered Hinpoha tantalizingly, and with that he had to be +content. To herself she was saying, "How foolish it would be to promise +to go with the Captain and then not be able to accept when--when _he_ +asks me." For word had gone round the school that all the faculty were +going to honor the Senior Dance with their presence, and whom else would +Professor Knoblock ask but herself? + +But of all things to happen just at this time, the very next day Hinpoha +came down with the mumps, or rather the mump, for only one side of her +throat was affected. The first half she had had in childhood. + +"That horrid mump stayed away on purpose before," she wailed, "and waited +all these years to jump out on me just at this time. And my new party +dress is too sweet for anything, and my gilt slippers--oh-oh-oh-oh was +there ever such a disappointment?" Gladys and Sahwah and Katherine, who +had all had theirs "on both sides" and were therefore allowed to call, +were consumed with sympathy, and were loud in their efforts to console +the stricken mumpee. + +"Has _he_ come to see you?" ventured Gladys. + +Hinpoha shook her head, which was a somewhat painful process. + +"Of course he can't come," said Sahwah, "he probably hasn't had them." + +Katherine's expression seemed to say that a really brave knight wouldn't +hesitate to expose himself to any danger for the sake of seeing his lady, +seeing which Hinpoha croaked hoarsely, "They probably wouldn't let him +come," the "they" in this case presumably referring to the school +authorities. + +"I saw him down in Forester's this noon when I was ordering the flowers +for mother's birthday," said Gladys, and they all sighed. + +Just then the doorbell rang and Gladys, who was sent to answer it, +returned with a long box in her hand addressed to "Miss Dorothy +Bradford." + +"From Foresters," said Sahwah breathlessly. + +"Flowers!" said Gladys. "Hurry and open them." + +The box disclosed a dozen, long-stemmed pink roses. "Oh! Ah!" echoed the +four in unison. + +"From--him?" asked Gladys. + +"There's no card in the box," said Hinpoha, vainly searching. + +"They must be from him," said Gladys decidedly. "Wasn't he in Forester's +this morning? And it seemed to me I heard him asking for pink roses." + +Hinpoha put the flowers in a tall vase and regarded them with rapture. +They were the first flowers ever sent to her by a man. In them she found +comfort for having to miss the dance. + +"Was he there?" she inquired falteringly of Gladys, the day after the +party. + +Gladys answered in the affirmative. "Did--did any of you dance with him?" +Hinpoha wanted to know further. + +Gladys shook her head. "I saw him dancing once or twice with Miss +Snively," she said. "I don't believe he stayed very long. He disappeared +before it was half over." + +Hinpoha was satisfied. He had not enjoyed himself without her. "Wasn't it +noble of him to dance with Miss Snively?" she said enthusiastically. "No +one else would, I'm sure." + +At Commencement time the year before an old Washington High graduate, who +had attained fame and fortune since his school days, presented the school +with funds to build a swimming pool. Work had progressed during the year +and now the pool was completed and about to be dedicated. An elaborate +pageant was being prepared for the occasion. Mermaids and water nymphs +were to gambol about in the green, glassy depths and lie on the painted +coral reefs; Neptune was to rise from the deep with his trident; a +garland bedecked barge was to bear a queen and her attendants; and then +after the pageant there were to be swimming races, an exhibition of +diving and then a stunt contest. + +The Winnebagos, being experienced swimmers, were very much in the show. +Sahwah had invented a brand new and difficult dive, which she had +christened Mammy Moon; Hinpoha had learned the amazing trick of sitting +down in the water and clasping her hands around her knees; Gladys could +swim the entire length of the pool with the leg stroke only, holding a +parasol over her head with her hands, thus giving the impression that she +was taking a stroll on a sunshiny day. Katherine, alas, could not swim. +The largest body of water she had seen at home had been the cistern, and +most of the time it was low tide in that. But this did not prevent her +from thinking up new and ludicrous stunts for the others to do. It was +she who invented the "Kite-tail" stunt, which was one of the signal +successes on the night of the pageant. In this one of the senior boys, +who was a very powerful swimmer, swam ahead with a rope tied around his +waist, to which another performer clung. Behind this second one four or +five more boys were strung out like the tail of a kite, each one holding +on to the heels of the one ahead, and all towed by the first swimmer. + +The great night arrived and the building which housed the pool was +crowded to the doors. The Senior girls and boys had spent hours +decorating the hall with festoons of greens and potted palms and ferns, +so that it looked like the depths of a forest in the center of which the +pool glittered like a magic spring. Cries of admiration rose from the +audience all around. Hinpoha, who in the first part of the performance +was a mermaid, with water lilies plaited in her shining hair, saw only +one face in the crowd, and that was Professor Knoblock, as he leaned over +the polished brass rail and looked at her, and looked, and looked, and +looked. Only that day Hinpoha, filled with the spirit of romance, had +slipped a note into the dictionary on his desk, at the beginning of the +letter "L," the place where she had put the lock of hair, thanking +Professor Knoblock for the flowers. An hour later, in sudden terror that +he would not find it there and someone else would, she had gone to remove +it. But it had vanished, and in its place was another verse from Gareth +and Lynette: + + "O birds that warble to the morning sky, + O birds that warble as the day goes by, + Sing sweetly; twice my love hath smiled on me." + +The opening of the pool was a success in every way. The nymphs nymphed, +and the mermaids wagged their spangled tails to the delight and wonder of +the spectators, and the royal barge swept up and down to the strains of +stately music. Then the pageant retired, the islands folded up their +tents and vanished, and the swimmers went behind the scenes to prepare +for the races and the stunts. To bridge over this interval, Hinpoha had +been left in the pool all alone to amuse the crowd by floating on a +barrel and trying to balance a tray on her head as she bobbed up and +down. The crowd shouted with laughter and cheered her wildly. All but +one. With arms crossed triumphantly over her breast and tray steady on +her head, Hinpoha looked up to see Miss Snively standing by the edge +regarding her with a coldly sarcastic expression. It was as if she said +in words, "Only such a flathead as you could balance a tray on it." But +the great happiness that surged inside of Hinpoha made her charitable and +forgiving toward all the world, and she sent a sweet and friendly smile +into Miss Snively's face. But that marble-hearted lady looked away. The +next minute there was a slip, a shriek, the flash of a silk dress, and a +splash, and Miss Snively had disappeared beneath the surface at the deep +end of the pool. Hurling the tray into space Hinpoha made a magnificent +plunge for distance toward the spot where Miss Snively had gone down. +Simultaneously with her plunge there was another movement in the crowd, +and Professor Knoblock, stripping off his coat, jumped over the rail into +the pool. Hinpoha reached Miss Snively first, just as the blue silk +appeared on the surface, and, evading her wildly clutching hand, managed +to hold her head above water while she struck out for the rail toward the +hands that were stretched down to her everywhere. Then she became aware +of another figure struggling at her side. Professor Knoblock had come up +after his plunge, struck out blindly and then suddenly doubled up and +gone down again. Thrusting Miss Snively hastily toward the helping hands, +Hinpoha turned and rescued her professor, who had miscalculated his leap +and struck his head on the side of the pool. The whole business had not +taken two minutes since the first alarm, but Hinpoha was the heroine of +the hour. She was cheered and praised and petted and patted on the head +and exclaimed over until she was quite bewildered. Her heart was thumping +until it deafened her. She had saved her lover's life, and, bashful as he +was, she knew that now he must speak. It would not happen tonight. They +had rushed him home in a taxicab. But tomorrow---- + +Somehow she managed to finish her part in the program and drink fruit +punch in the gymnasium afterward. While she stood in a corner cooling her +burning cheeks at an open window somebody came and stood beside her. +Hinpoha turned and faced the Captain, and listened absent-mindedly to his +words of praise. Then one sentence he said caught her attention. "Say," +he said bashfully, "how did you like the flowers?" + +"What flowers?" asked Hinpoha wonderingly. + +"The roses--pink ones--I sent you when you had the mumps." + +Hinpoha stared at him blankly, unbelievingly. No, no, it could not be +true, the roses had come from her light-haired professor. "Did _you_ send +them?" she asked in a tone in which no one could have detected any degree +of appreciation for the favor. + +"Wasn't there any card in the box?" asked the Captain. "I gave one to Mr. +Forester to put in." + +"No," answered Hinpoha, with a gulp, "there wasn't; and I +thought--somebody else sent them." + +"Didn't you like them?" asked the Captain, feeling in the air that +something was wrong somewhere. "Don't you like roses?" + +Hinpoha pulled herself together with an effort. Tears of disappointment +were standing in her eyes. "Ye-es," she answered politely, but without +enthusiasm, "they were lovely; perfectly lovely." And she ran hurriedly +out of the corner, leaving the Captain staring after her in bewilderment. + +"I don't believe he sent them to me at all!" she told herself in the +solitude of her own room that night. "The horrid thing found out that I +got them and told me that just to tease me. Anyway, it doesn't make a +particle of difference about Professor Knoblock." And she fell asleep +whispering to herself with bated breath, "Tomorrow!" + +She walked to school with lagging steps the next morning. Now that the +great hour was at hand she was filled with a desire to flee. Then she +heard footsteps behind her, and, glancing out of the corner of her eye, +saw the professor approaching. With a wildly beating heart she walked on, +her face straight to the front. He was coming. He was overtaking her. Now +he was upon her. With a great effort she turned her head to look at him, +her lips parted in a tremulous smile. Professor Knoblock raised his hat +stiffly, nodded frigidly and passed on without a word, leaving Hinpoha +staring after him stunned. Unseeingly she stumbled on to school. One +question was racing back and forth in her mind like a shuttle in a +loom--what was the meaning of it? Classes recited around her in school; +she heard them as in a dream. Professor Knoblock did not look at her as +she entered the Literature class room; he was taking two of the boys +sharply to task for never being able to recite. Hinpoha sat with her eyes +fixed on her book. Professor Knoblock was evidently ill-humored this +morning, though apparently none the worse for his mishap the evening +before. He was dealing out zero marks right and left if the recitations +did not go like clock-work. And as was only to be expected the morning +after such an elaborate affair as the dedication of a swimming pool, +clock-work recitations were very few and far between. + +The professor finally lost all patience. "Take your books," he commanded, +"open and study the lesson the remainder of the hour, and the first one I +see dawdling or whispering will be sent back to the session room." +Hinpoha's eyes followed the lines on the page, but she could not have +told what she was reading. The question was still beating back and forth +in her mind. + +"Lend me your pencil," whispered her neighbor. Mechanically she held it +out to him and when he took it he thrust a stick of gum into her hand. He +was still in a festive mood. Professor Knoblock caught the movement. At +the same moment another pair in the back of the room began giggling about +something. + +"You two are out of order!" shouted the professor. "Leave the room!" All +eyes were turned toward the two in the back. + +"I mean you, George Hancock, and you, Dorothy Bradford," said the +Professor severely. Hinpoha turned pleading, unbelieving eyes on him. +"Leave the room," he repeated with rising anger, "go back to your session +room!" And with the world rocking under her feet, Hinpoha went. + +As the pupils came back from their respective classes that noon there was +a sensation in the air. Groups of girls stood around whispering to one +another and exclaiming. "Did you ever hear anything like it?" rose on all +sides. "Who would ever dream of her getting----" + +Hinpoha, dumb and miserable, sat apart, until some one dragged her into +the center of a group. "Have you heard the news?" + +"No," she answered dully. + +"Miss Snively's engaged!" announced a young lady, in the same tone she +would have said: "The sky has fallen!" + +"She is!" said Hinpoha. "To whom?" + +"Professor Knoblock!" continued the speaker. "They've been engaged a long +time--but it just leaked out yesterday in a teachers' meeting. That's why +he came here to teach." + +"But the notes he wrote me," moaned Hinpoha to the Winnebagos, who had +gathered for an indignation meeting that afternoon. "And the curl I gave +him---- Oh-oh-oh!" and she hid her face in her hands and groaned. + +Katherine had been poking about in a corner of the room during the +preliminary wail. She now came forward carrying a box in her hand which +she laid on Hinpoha's knee. + +"What's this?" asked Hinpoha. + +"Open it and see," advised Katherine. + +Hinpoha complied and there fell into her lap a long, curling, red ringlet +and a piece of paper written over in Hinpoha's hand. + +"I have a confession to make," said Katherine, striking a dramatic +attitude. "I put that note into your book asking for the lock of hair, +and watched until you put it into the dictionary. Then I took it out +after you left the room. I wrote the notes that followed to keep the ball +rolling. I don't believe Professor Knoblock knows a thing about his great +romance with you." + +"You did it!" cried Hinpoha blankly, turning fiercely upon Katherine. +"You made such a fool out of me that I'll never be able to show my face +again as long as I live. You--you----" sobs choked her and cut off all +utterance. + +"But the flowers," gasped Gladys, "who sent them?" + +"Captain did, the mean old thing!" sobbed Hinpoha. + +"But the Key, and the Horoscope, and the Fortune Teller," continued +Gladys, "they all said he would be the one. I don't see how it could have +come out any other way." + +Katherine rose from her knees and rapped on the table for attention. +"Girls," she said seriously, "I suppose you think it was a very unkind +and low-down sort of joke I played on Hinpoha, getting her all worked up +like that with those notes, and under ordinary circumstances it would +have been. But isn't there a saying somewhere 'that awfully sick people +need awfully strong medicine,' or something to that effect? Here you all +were gone completely loony--excuse the expression, but it's just what you +were--gone perfectly loony about this fortune-telling business. You did +it so much that I actually believe you began to think it was true. Then +that fool fortune-teller told Hinpoha about the light-haired man that was +coming into her life soon, and when the new professor arrived you all +thought he was the one. I just happened to find out soon after he came +that he was engaged to Miss Snively. I knew if I told you then you +wouldn't believe it, so I waited until it came out. But I was afraid +Hinpoha would do something really silly before she got through, and +decided to take a hand in the game myself. When I wrote that note about +the hair I was sure she would see through it and come to her senses. The +fact that she swallowed it shows how far out of her right mind she was. I +never believed she would put a lock of hair into the dictionary. But when +she seemed to take it all for gospel truth I couldn't resist the +temptation to go on and have some more fun." + +"But--his handwriting," said Hinpoha faintly. + +"Easiest thing in the world to imitate," said Katherine, saying nothing +about the weary hours it had taken her to accomplish that feat. "And I +signed my own initial, 'K.,' which was certainly not taking the +professor's name in vain. I never told a soul, so there's nobody to crow +over you. You stand just exactly where you did at first with the +professor." + +"But," said Gladys, still not satisfied, "why did he always look at +Hinpoha when he read the sentimental passages?" + +"Because he's built that way," answered Katherine scornfully. "There are +plenty of men who will make eyes at every pretty girl they see, whether +they have any right to or not. Besides I heard him tell one of the other +teachers once that your red hair reminded him of the hair that belonged +to a dear friend he 'lost in youth.'" + +After hearing Katherine's clean-cut and sensible version of the affair +the whole thing seemed unutterably ridiculous and one by one they began +to think that she was right, and had played the part of the friend +instead of the mischief-maker, in shocking Hinpoha back into common +sense. Hinpoha advanced shakily and held out her hand. "I thank you, +Katherine," she said, "for 'saving me from myself'!" And Katherine seized +her hand in a crushing grip, and soon they were hugging each other, and +their friendship, instead of being shaken to its foundations, was +cemented more strongly. + +"I think he's horrid," said Gladys, "and if I were you, Hinpoha, I'd +never look at him again--the way he treated you this morning, after you +had taken the trouble to fish him out of the pool last night. He's an +ungrateful wretch, and doesn't deserve to be rescued." + +Katherine was looking at them with a queer expression. "There's something +else I suppose I ought to tell you," she said, "although I wasn't going +to at first. But now he's acted so you really ought to know. Miss +Snively's falling into the pool wasn't exactly an accident." + +"Did he push her in?" asked Gladys in a horrified tone. + +"Goodness, no," said Katherine. Then she added: "Yes, in a way he did, +too, for he was responsible for her falling in. You know what a dub the +boys all think him; they never call him anything but 'that mutt,' or +'that cissy.' He couldn't help seeing it, and it bothered him that he +wasn't a hero in their eyes. Besides," she continued shrewdly, "if he was +thinking of getting married he probably was looking for promotion, and he +never would get it as long as he couldn't control the boys. So he +complained to Miss Snively about it and she obligingly offered to fall +into the pool and have him rescue her, and so make a hero out of him +overnight. I heard them planning it yesterday; they were on one side of a +big pile of greens waiting to go up and I was on the other. She was to do +it during the intermission when no one was in the pool. They didn't seem +to know that you were going to be in then. But she did it anyway, +thinking that the professor would reach her first. But you were too quick +for them. That's why he's so furious with you; you kept him from being a +hero, and got all the praise he expected to get. Then when he bumped his +head on the side of the tank and had to be rescued himself, it put the +finishing touch to the tragedy." + +"Gee!" exclaimed Hinpoha and Sahwah and Gladys and the other two girls, +all in a breath. In moments of great emotional stress refined language +seems an utter failure as a vehicle of expression. Slang is the only +thing that adequately expresses the feelings. They said it again, +intentionally and emphatically--"_Gee!_" + +"What a foolish thing to do," said Sahwah, when they had all recovered +somewhat, "falling into the pool to give a man a chance to be a hero. She +might have been drowned." + +"She didn't run such an awful risk," observed Katherine, the all-knowing. +"She's a good swimmer herself; I've heard people say so." + +And again the girls sought relief in the expression not sanctioned by the +grammar. + +"Going to the Lodge?" said the Captain's voice in Hinpoha's ear a few +days later, as she swung along the street. The Captain's manner was +decidedly diffident. He was not at all sure how she would treat him this +time. + +Hinpoha nodded companionably. "I'm going to practice with the handball," +she said energetically. "Come on, I'll race you across the field." + +"That was great, wasn't it?" she cried laughingly, as she stopped before +the door, breathless, with her hair flying around her face. + +"Say, give us a curl, will you?" begged the Captain, tugging at one that +hung over the collar of her coat. + +"Don't be silly, Captain," she said reprovingly. "You know I hate people +who are sentimental." + +Hinpoha's romance was a thing of the past. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + RANDALL'S ISLAND + + +"I can't help it, it simply won't roll!" exclaimed Katherine in despair. +"I've tugged and tugged until my fingernails are all broken, and it just +naturally won't turn over!" And Katherine sat down with a discouraged +thud and fanned herself with a hair-brush. + +"Well, we'll 'just naturally' have to stop and see what's the matter with +it," said Nyoda soothingly. The Winnebagos were having a contest in +poncho rolling to be in practice for the coming summer's camping trips. +The aim of each one just now was to accomplish this in two minutes. Two +minutes to spread out a poncho, two blankets and enough clothes for an +overnight trip, roll it up into a neat stove-pipe, bend it into a tidy +horseshoe and fasten the ends together with a rope tied in square knots. + +The record was held by Medmangi, quiet, neat Medmangi, who, while the +others were working like mad, had serenely completed her task in a minute +and three-quarters. + +"She's a regular phenomenay, that woman," said Sahwah, who had thought +she was doing wonders when she straightened up at the end of two minutes +exactly. "She must have four hands, or else she packed with her feet. But +what else could you expect of a girl who's going to be a doctor?" + +Poor Katherine, alas, made no time at all that could be recorded in +Nyoda's book. It was only her second attempt at poncho rolling, but it is +doubtful whether it would have been any different if it had been her +hundred and second. She simply was not built for order and speediness. At +the end of ten minutes she still sat beside her pile of belongings, the +poncho askew, the blankets askew on it and hanging over the edge, the +extra middy bundled up into a wrinkled lump and the small articles +sliding off on all sides. She had begun to roll it from the wrong end, +and after one or two turns it absolutely refused to go any farther, in +spite of forceful attempts. + +"Here, spread your things out properly, and then it will go," said Nyoda +patiently, picking up the blankets. Out rolled the object which had +obstructed the wheels of progress--an umbrella, which had been tucked +under the blankets lengthwise of the roll. "No wonder it wouldn't roll!" +exclaimed Nyoda, laughing aloud. "Did you expect the umbrella to bend +round and round like a hose? Whatever would you want an umbrella for, +anyway?" + +"For rain," answered Katherine with touching simplicity. Nyoda and the +other Winnebagos doubled up in silent mirth. Katherine's inspirations +invariably left them without power of comment. + +"Katherine, you're _positively_ hopeless," sighed Gladys affectionately. +"The only safe way is to divide your things up among the other ponchos; +yours would never arrive at a journey's end, anyhow." + +"Oh, if I had only been born neat instead of handsome!" said Katherine +plaintively, and then joined heartily in the irresistible laughter that +followed. + +"Hush, girls!" said Nyoda. "There's somebody down at the door. Don't you +hear somebody rapping?" + +Hinpoha, who was nearest the window, peeped down. "It's a whole bunch of +girls," she reported in an excited whisper. "All strangers. I don't know +any of them. What can they want?" + +"Want to see us, probably," said matter-of-fact Sahwah. "Isn't somebody +going down to let them in?" + +"The way this place looks!" sighed Nyoda, looking at the floor strewn +with the contents of Katherine's poncho. "Gladys, you and Hinpoha go down +and let them in and detain them downstairs until the rest of us can put +this room in order. It's a disgrace to the Winnebagos." + +Gladys and Hinpoha descended the ladder and threw open the door. +"Welcome," they cried, "whoever you are! Welcome to the House of the Open +Door!" + +The six strange girls came in. One who was tall and thin and had hair +almost as red as Hinpoha's, stepped forward. "We are members of the +San-Clu Camp Fire," she said. "We have heard quite a bit about you +Winnebagos and thought we would come and call. Is this your famous +Lodge?" + +"It certainly is," said Gladys hospitably. "We are delighted to become +acquainted with you. Make yourselves at home. This gymnasium outfit +belongs to a club of boys who share our Lodge, and over there is +Sandhelo's stall. Sandhelo is our pet donkey; you must see him right +away." She led the girls to the stall and kept them there telling about +Sandhelo's exploits until she was sure from the sounds above that the +room was in order. Then she invited them to ascend the ladder. + +"The San-Clu Camp Fire have come visiting," she announced, as she stepped +out on the floor. + +"All Hail to the San-Clu Camp Fire from the Winnebagos," chanted the +hostess ceremoniously, and seven pairs of hands performed the fire sign. + +"San-Clu returns All Hail," responded the guests with no less ceremony. + +The newcomers were shown the beauties of the Winnebago Lodge, and it +seemed they would never get done exclaiming over the rugs and skins and +pottery, and most of all, the beds. + +"They aren't so terribly hard to make," the Winnebagos assured them +modestly, but at the same time glowing with a feeling of superiority. The +San-Clu girls were plainly older than the Winnebagos; they all wore +dresses down to their ankles and seemed quite grown up, almost enough to +be guardians themselves; yet they did not appear to have won nearly so +many honors as the younger Winnebagos. + +During the tour of inspection Nyoda and Gladys held a whispered +consultation in one end of the room. "Nothing here to make a spread +with," said Gladys. "I'll have to hurry out and get something." + +"Do," said Nyoda. Gladys nudged Hinpoha and drew her down the ladder and +together they sped after canned shrimp and condensed milk. + +"Now, if you'll excuse us a minute," said Nyoda to the San-Clus, "we'll +retire behind our curtains and prepare to do the stunt with which we +always inflict company. Come, girls," she added in a whisper, "the Battle +of Blenheim." And the players retired to array themselves in the +necessary sheets. + +Five minutes later the curtains were shoved aside, and the players stood +before the audience. They looked in bewilderment. For seated where they +had left the San-Clu Camp Fire Girls were the Captain, Bottomless Pitt, +the Monkey, Dan Porter, Peter Jenkins and Harry Raymond. The girls had +vanished. + +"Why, when did you come in, boys?" asked Nyoda in surprise. "And where +are the girls?" + +"What girls?" asked the Captain. + +"Why, the San-Clu Camp Fire girls," said Nyoda, "who were visiting us." + +"Here they are," said the six boys, rising and speaking together. "We are +the 'San-Clu' Camp Fire Girls. 'San-Clu'--short for Sandwich Club! +Ho-ho-ho, Katherine! You'd know us in a minute with girls' clothes on, +would you!" And from under the rugs and furniture they drew the dresses, +hats, gloves and wigs which the late San-Clus had worn a-calling. +"Oh-h-h, Katherine, we do this to each other!" + +The girls sat staring, speechless for a minute, unable to believe that +there really had been no girls there. But the evidence was before their +eyes and it could not be doubted. And they were far too game not to see +that the joke was on them, and laughed just as heartily over it as the +boys did. + +"We'll have to have the spread, anyhow, for your benefit," said Nyoda, +taking up the cans of supplies that Hinpoha and Gladys had just brought +in. "You carried that off too splendidly not to be rewarded. We +congratulate you on your ability to act, and confess that we were +completely taken in. Where's Slim?" + +"We left him behind the fence," said the Captain, with a start of +recollection. "We didn't dare let him come in with us, because you'd have +recognized him right away." + +"Figures never lie, especially stout ones," laughed Nyoda. "Go and bring +him to the spread." + +"Are you folks going on a trip?" inquired the Monkey, with his mouth full +of Shrimp Wiggle and his eyes on the ponchos piled in the corner. + +"We are, next Saturday," answered Sahwah. "We were just practicing +rolling the ponchos today. Saturday we're going to take the steamer +across the lake to Rock Island. Some friends of Nyoda's have a cottage +there, but they haven't gone up yet and they said we might stay in it all +night if we wanted to. We're coming home on the boat Sunday night." + +"Are you going by yourselves?" asked Slim, leaning across the table and +listening to the conversation. He was fishing for an invitation for the +Sandwiches. + +"We certainly are going by ourselves," said Sahwah, to his +disappointment. "We haven't been off by ourselves for a long time. We're +going in a lonely place and have a Ceremonial Meeting on the shore of the +lake and tell secrets and do stunts and have a beautiful time. It's +strictly a Winnebago affair--a hen party, you'd call it." + +Slim sighed and consoled himself with five pieces of fudge and an apple. +He was one of those boys who like to be around girls all the time. Too +fat to enjoy the more strenuous society of the boys, he preferred to sit +with his gentler friends and dip his hand into the dishes of candy that +they usually had standing around. The fact that they made no end of fun +of him and never took him seriously only increased his desire for them. +And, like the Captain, he delighted to look upon the hair when it was +red. He admired Hinpoha with all his corpulent soul. + +The winter and spring months had flown by with swifter wings than the +white-tailed swallow, and the clock of the year was once more striking +June. Saturday found the Winnebagos skimming over the blue waters of the +lake in the big daily excursion boat bound for Rock Island. Nakwisi, of +course, had her spy glass and was carefully scrutinizing the empty +horizon. "Has Katherine come into your range of vision yet?" asked Nyoda, +a trifle anxiously. Katherine had boarded the boat with them safely +enough, for she had been personally conducted from home by the whole six, +but had disappeared within ten minutes after the boat started. + +Nakwisi lowered her glass and laughed. "No, I don't see her in the sky," +she said, "though I shouldn't be very greatly surprised if I did." + +And they began a thorough search of the boat from top to bottom and +finally found her hanging over the rail of a gangway, trying to touch the +snowy foam flying in the swirling wake of the paddle wheel. It was the +first time she had ever been on a lake, and she took a perfectly childish +delight in the racing water. Pulled back to safety by Nyoda, she gave an +animated account of her adventures since seeing them last, in the course +of which she had nearsightedly walked into the pilot house and caught +hold of the wheel to steady herself when the boat gave a lurch, and had +been summarily put out by an angry first mate. "I've been everywhere on +the boat except down the smokestack," she concluded triumphantly. + +Soon Rock Island appeared as a speck on the horizon in Nakwisi's glass, +then as a long black streak which they could all see, and finally grew by +leaps and bounds into a beautiful wooded island with trees and lawns and +beautiful summer cottages shining in the sunlight. Shouldering their +ponchos, they went ashore, and walked around the point of the island to +the cottage where they were to spend the night. It was close to the +water, where a curving indentation of the shore line made a lovely little +beach. If Sahwah did not make the record at poncho rolling, she left them +all behind in getting into her bathing suit, and five minutes after the +door was unlocked her hands clove the water in a flying dive from the end +of the pier. + +Katherine splashed about courageously, trying to swim, and finally +succeeded in propelling herself through the water by a series of jerks +and splashes unlike any stroke ever invented by the mind of man. "This is +too hard on my dellyket constitooshun," she remarked at last, clambering +out and draping her ungainly length around a rock, thereby disclosing the +fact that her bathing suit was minus one sleeve. Katherine regarded the +yawning armhole with mild vexation. "Broke my needle when my suit was all +done but putting in the one sleeve," she remarked serenely, "and there +wasn't time to go out and buy one--I finished the suit at eleven o'clock +last night--so I just pasted that sleeve in with adhesive tape, and it +didn't show a bit. But it must have let go in the water," she finished +plaintively. Nyoda looked at the girls, and the girls looked at Nyoda, +and once more they were dumb. + +Tired of swimming, they dressed and explored the island and then sat down +on the big boat dock and dangled their feet over the edge. Soon a tug +came up alongside the pier and the sailor who ran it chanced to be a man +whom Nyoda had met the previous summer on the island. "Hello, Captain +McMichael," she called. + +The sunburnt sailor looked up. "Hello, hello," he answered. "What are you +doing up here so early in the season?" When Nyoda had explained that she +had brought the girls up on a sightseeing trip, Captain McMichael +promptly offered to take them for a ride in the tug. "Got to go over to +Jackson's Island and get a lighter of limestone," he said. "I'd have to +set you ashore on Randall's Island while I went over to Jackson's to get +the lighter," he continued, "because you'd get all covered with lime dust +if you stayed in the tug while they were loading, and it's no place for +ladies to go ashore. But Randall's is all right. The quarries there +aren't worked any more and there are only a few summer cottages. But +there are excellent wild strawberries," he finished with a twinkle in his +eye. "I'll call for you on the way back and get you here before dark. +Will you come?" + +"Oh, Nyoda, may we?" cried the girls, delighted at the prospect. + +"Why, yes," answered Nyoda. "I think that will be a delightful way to +spend the afternoon. I have always wanted to explore Randall's Island; it +looks so interesting from the steamer. We accept your invitation with +pleasure, Captain McMichael." + +"Glad to have you," responded the tug master heartily, as he set the +powerful engine throbbing. + +"Don't fall overboard," he yelled above the steam exhaust a minute later +as Katherine hung over the stern and trailed her hands in the water. +Nyoda clung to her dress and the rest sang in chorus: + + "Sailing, sailing, + Over to Randall's I, + And dear Sister K would fall into the bay + If Nyoda weren't nigh!" + +The run to Randall's Island took just fifteen minutes and Katherine +managed to get there without accident, other than upsetting an oil can +into her lap. The wild strawberries were as abundant and as delicious as +Captain McMichael had promised, and it was with sighs of regret that they +finally admitted they could hold no more. Then they scrambled around in +the abandoned limestone quarries until Nyoda, coming face to face with +Katherine, announced it was time to play something else. Katherine had +torn her dress on sharp points until it was nearly a wreck; she had +stepped into a puddle up to her shoetops, her hat brim hung down in a +discouraged loop and her hands and face were scratched with briers. + +"If one more thing happens to you, Katherine Adams," said Nyoda sternly, +"you'll have to spend the rest of your life on this island, for you won't +be respectable enough to take home." + +"Then I'll be Miss Robinson Crusoe," said Katherine, "and eat up all the +strawberries on the island, and not have to write the class paper. I +believe I'll consider your offer. Our literary member, Migwan, can write +a book about it--_Living on Limestone_, or _The Queen of the Quarry_. +Wouldn't that be a fine sounding title!" + +"What is that long stone building way over there?" asked Hinpoha, as they +promenaded decorously over the island beyond the quarries, two of them +arm-in-arm with Katherine, to keep her in the straight and narrow path. + +"Looks like a fort," said Sahwah, with immediate interest. "Is it a fort, +Nyoda?" + +"I doubt it very much," answered Nyoda. "I never heard of a fort on any +of these islands. Let's go over and investigate." + +Katherine hung back, screwing up her face and rolling her eyes like an +old negress. "Don' lead dis child into temptation," she begged. "Feel lak +de climbin' debbil would get into mah feet agin foh sartin sure, ef ah +went near dat pile of stone, an' den good-bye, dress! Only safe way's to +keep dis child far away!" + +Her veiled, husky voice made her imitation indescribably droll, and the +girls shouted with laughter. "Never fear, my weak sister," said Gladys, +"we'll all keep you out of danger." + +"I can't imagine what this could have been," said Hinpoha, when they had +reached the ruin. "It looks more like a mill than a fort." + +"Mill!" exclaimed Sahwah scornfully. "There isn't any wheel, and there +isn't a sign of a stream. Mills are always on streams." + +"Maybe this was a windmill," suggested Katherine. "It's windy enough to +set any kind of machinery going," and she started in pursuit of her hat, +which that moment had been whirled from her head by a mischievous zephyr. + +The ruin which the girls had found that afternoon was the remains of an +old wine cellar which had been used for storing great quantities of grape +wine in the old days when Randall's Island had been in the heart of the +grape region, before quarrying became the chief industry. Nothing was +left now to tell what valuable stores it had once sheltered, only stones +and crumbling brick walls, overgrown with high weeds and wild vines. + +"It's an enchanted castle," said Hinpoha. "A beautiful princess used to +live here, only she got married and moved to--to the big hotel on Rock +Island, and when she left the bad imps came and knocked out the mortar +with their little hammers and it all fell to pieces." + +"Oh, wonderful," drawled Katherine. "Let's poke about a bit in the ruins +and see if we can find any of the solid gold toothpicks the princes used +to strew around after a meal." + +The ruined wine cellar proved utterly fascinating. They could still see +where it had been divided into rooms; and here and there a thick wall +still stood higher than their heads. + +"Hi, what's this?" asked Katherine, as they stood before a doorway +partially filled with debris, behind which a black hole yawned. + +"It's a cave," said Sahwah, poking her head forward into the hole like a +turtle. "Let's explore it," she continued, stepping carefully over the +pile of bricks. "Come on," she called over her shoulder; "it's perfectly +wonderful. It's a room, but it's under the hill. Come on in." + +"Are there any bats?" asked Gladys, hanging back. + +"Nothing but brickbats," came Sahwah's cheerful voice from within. + +Gladys and Hinpoha crawled through the opening, and Katherine, with a +resigned, "Goodbye, dress," followed with Nyoda and Nakwisi and Medmangi. +The room was nothing more than an extension of the cellar, built into the +side of the hill, but to them it was filled with romantic possibilities. + +"What do you suppose it was?" asked Hinpoha, straining her eyes in the +semi-darkness. + +"The dungeon, of course," answered Katherine promptly. "Here's where your +beautiful princess confined the lovers that didn't suit her +fancy--light-haired ones and fat ones, especially. She chained them to +the wall and the rats nibbled their toes." + +"Oh-oh-oh!" shrieked Hinpoha, stopping her ears. "Don't say such dreadful +things. I can feel the rats nibbling at my toes this minute." + +The walls of this cellar were badly crumbled, and at the farther side the +girls discovered another cave-like opening. This was entirely dark and +they hesitated before going in. Then Nyoda took her pocket flash and +Gladys found hers, and by the combined glimmer of the two the girls found +their way into the farther cave. At first they had to keep the light on +the ground to see where to put their feet and they were all inside before +Nyoda turned her flash on the walls. Then a great cry of amazement burst +from every girl, ending in a breathless gasp. The walls and roof of the +cave seemed to be made of precious stones--pearls, sapphires, emeralds, +amethysts and diamonds. They caught the gleam from the pocket flashes and +twinkled and reflected in a hundred points of dancing light. Great masses +of crystal, faceted like diamonds, hung suspended from the roof almost +touching their heads, seemingly held up by magic. + +"Am I dreaming," cried Hinpoha, "or is this Alladin's cave? What is it, +Nyoda? Where are we?" + +Nyoda laughed at their open mouths and staring eyes. "Only in one of +Nature's treasure vaults," she said. "This is one of the famous crystal +caves that are found throughout these islands. It's a form of rock +crystal, strontia, I believe some people call it, and I don't doubt but +what it's related to the limestone in the quarries. Take a good look at +it, for some of these crystals are simply marvellous." + +Their voices echoed and re-echoed weirdly, as they called to each other, +the sound seeming to roll along the low ceiling. "Look at this mass over +here," cried Sahwah, penetrating deeper into the cave, "it looks like a +man standing against the wall." + +"And this one looks like a dog lying down," said Hinpoha, pointing to +another. + +Laughing, shouting, exclaiming, they explored the wonders of the cave +until a heavy shock as of something falling, accompanied by a deafening +crash, rooted them to the ground with fright. "What is it? What has +happened?" they asked one another, and made their way back to the +entrance. But the entrance was no longer there. Where it had been there +was a solid wall of stone. Their climbing around among the ruined walls +had sent some of the bricks sliding and these had released a large rock +which had rolled down directly over the opening into the crystal cave. +With desperate force they pushed against the rock, but their sevenfold +strength made no more impression than a fly brushing its wings against +it. With white faces they turned to each other when they realized the +truth. They were imprisoned in the cave! + +"The other direction!" cried Sahwah, shaking off her terror and setting +her wits to work. "We may be able to get out the other way." Taking the +flashlight from Gladys, whose trembling fingers threatened to drop it, +she led the way into the gloomy recesses of the cave, whose depths they +had penetrated only a short distance before. They shuddered at the icicle +like crystals, which now seemed like long fingers reaching down to catch +a hold of them, and shrank back from the crystal masses that took the +forms of men and animals. These now seemed like ghosts of creatures that +had been trapped in the cave as they were. For trapped they were. In a +few moments their progress was barred by impassable masses of crystal. +Back again they went to the rock-blocked entrance and beat upon it and +pushed with all their might. All in vain. The rock stood firm as +Gibraltar. They shouted and called and screamed until the echoes clamored +hideously, but no answering call came from the outside. From somewhere, +far in the distance, came the dismal sound of falling water, chilling the +blood in their veins. + +Helplessly the girls all turned to Nyoda, asking, "What shall we do?" + +Nyoda stood still and tried to face the situation calmly. She held her +flashlight close to the rock and looked carefully all around the edge. At +one side there was a tiny fissure, not more than half an inch wide and +about six inches long, caused by the irregular shape of the rock. Nyoda +regarded this minute opening thoughtfully. "If we could put something +through that opening which would act as a signal, we might attract +somebody's attention who wouldn't be able to hear us calling," she said +at length. "Our voices are so muffled in here they can't carry very far +outside." + +"Is there anybody on the island to see it?" asked Gladys doubtfully. + +"There are some people here," answered Nyoda, "because the fishermen stay +all the year round. You remember those houses we passed on the other side +of the quarry, where the nets were hanging in the yard?" + +"What shall we use for a signal of distress?" asked Gladys. "Not one of +us has a tie or a ribbon on today." + +"Use my dress skirt," said Katherine generously. "It's so torn anyway +that it'll never feel the same again, even if it recovers from this +trip." Which was perfectly true. So they tore the wide hem from her +dress, which made a pennant about six feet long. Then Sahwah had a +further inspiration, and, dipping her finger into a dark puddle formed on +the floor by a thin stream of moisture trickling down the wall, she wrote +the word HELP on the strip. Nyoda poked the end through the opening and +shoved the rest out after it, keeping the other end in her hand, and she +could feel by the tugging at the strip that the high wind had caught the +portion outside and was whipping it about. + +"Now shout for all you're worth," commanded Nyoda. + +Early that Saturday morning the Captain had aroused Slim from his +peaceful slumbers unceremoniously. "Hurry up and come over," he said, in +response to Slim's protesting grunt. "Uncle Theodore's here with his +automobile and he's going to take a run over to Freeport this morning and +he said he would take all the fellows along that were ready at nine +o'clock. Hurry." + +Slim needed no second invitation and roused himself immediately, while +the Captain sped to collect the remainder of the Sandwiches, which was +accomplished in short order, as none of the other invitations involved +resurrection. Nine o'clock found them all on the curbstone before the +Captain's house, standing beside Uncle Theodore's big car, waiting for +the word to pile in. The ride to Freeport was accomplished in a few +hours' time and after dinner Uncle Theodore turned the boys loose to see +the town by themselves while he transacted the business which had taken +him thither. Freeport had no attraction outside of its harbor, and +thither the boys betook themselves without delay. Passenger steamers left +every half hour for the various islands nearby; lime boats, tugs and +scows crowded the mouth of the river, and the whole atmosphere breathed +of ships. The boys stood and watched a while and then pined for something +to do. + +"Let's hire a launch," suggested the Captain, who felt that it was up to +him to furnish the amusement, inasmuch as he had invited them to come +along, "and go out on the lake." + +Launches were readily to be had and soon they were curving around in +great circles through the waves, drenched with the spray, and enjoying it +as only boys can enjoy the sensation of riding in a speed boat. + +"Let's go to Rock Island," said Slim, who had not forgotten who else had +planned to go there that day. + +"What for?" asked the Captain. + +"Oh, nothing," answered Slim, "except that there's a pretty nice aquarium +there, and--and the girls said they were going to be there." + +"But we were politely invited to stay home, if I remember rightly," said +Bottomless Pitt. "They're going to have a pow-wow, or something like +that." + +"But if we should run into them accidentally they would probably be glad +to see us," persisted Slim. Slim was fond of picnics gotten up by girls +on account of the superior quality of the "grub"; he was especially fond +of Winnebago picnics, because the Winnebagos treated him better than any +other girls he knew, and as mentioned before, he had a decided weakness +for red hair. Hence his ingenuous desire to go to Rock Island. The +Captain, knowing Slim like a book, laughed. But he, too, wished he had +been invited to the picnic, and his reasons coincided in their last item +with Slim's. + +"All right," he said, and turned the boat's head toward the green outline +of Rock Island. Half of the distance across the bay the launch wheezed +and stopped dead. + +"Pshaw," said Slim disgustedly, when the Captain announced that they had +run out of gasoline. They had come to a stop just off a small rocky +island and with the aid of the one oar the launch boasted the Captain +proceeded to paddle in to shore, in the hope that he could obtain +gasoline there. + +"Regular desert island," grunted Slim, as they walked and met no one. +"None of the cottages seem to be occupied." + +"Cheer up; we'll find someone," said the Captain. "The fishermen live on +these islands all winter. Look at the limestone quarries over there." + +"And the ruined something or other behind them," said the Bottomless +Pitt. + +"Let's cut across here," said Slim, who was ever on the lookout for short +cuts. "I see some houses over there." + +"And break our necks crawling over those stones," said Monkey. "Not +much." + +So they started to follow the path that led around the curve of the +shore. "Wonder if it wouldn't have been better to cut across, anyway," +said the Captain, when they had gone some distance. "These blooming +little stones are worse to walk on than spikes. Those rocks couldn't have +been much worse." And he stood still and looked thoughtfully back at the +ruined cellar. + +"Hi!" he exclaimed suddenly. "What's that?" + +"What's what?" asked Slim. + +"That white rag flying from the rock over there. It surely wasn't there a +minute ago." + +"Probably was, only you didn't see it," said Slim, impatient to go on. + +"I'm positive it wasn't," said the Captain. "I'm going over to have a +look at it. When rags start out of rocks there's something in the wind." +And he walked briskly toward it, the rest following. As they drew near +their startled eyes fell on the black letters of the word HELP, traced in +wobbly lines. + +"Yay!" shouted the boys at the top of their lungs. "Where are you and +what's the matter?" + +Apparently from inside the rock came the feeble echo of a shout: "We're +in the cave! The rock covered the doorway!" + +"Wait a minute!" called the Captain in answer, and boylike tried to move +the rock himself. "Lend a hand, fellows," he said, after one shove +against its solid side. They lent all the hands they had, but could not +budge it. "Pull the bricks out from around it," commanded the Captain, +taking charge of the affair like a general, "and look out for your feet +when she lunges over!" They set to work, dislodging the bricks that held +it in, and before long it moved, tottered, grated and finally, with a +great crash, lunged over and rolled down a little slope. + +Pale and shaken, the Winnebagos emerged into the light of day. Had the +ghosts of their great grandmothers appeared before them the boys could +not have been more surprised. Questions and answers flew back and forth +thick and fast until the tale of their finding the cave was told. + +"And I'll never, never, explore anything again!" finished Hinpoha, in an +emphatic tone. + +"Oh, yes, you will," said Gladys; "and so will we all, but the next time +we'll have a company of guides fore and aft." + +"Wouldn't it be a better plan," suggested the Captain mildly, "to take us +along with you wherever you go? I notice we generally have to come to the +rescue, anyway." + +And the Winnebagos promised to consider the matter. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + KINDLING THE TORCH + + +Hinpoha and Sahwah were patiently teaching Katherine hand signs one +Saturday afternoon when Gladys burst in with a tragic face. + +"Girls," she cried, with extravagant emphasis, "have you heard the +_news_?" Then, without waiting for reply, she continued: "Nyoda's going +to be _married_!" + +"We know she is," answered Hinpoha, "a year from this summer." + +"No, not a year from this summer," said Gladys, swelling with the +importance of the announcement she was about to make, "_this_ summer. +This very month!" + +An incredulous exclamation burst from the three. + +"It's true," continued Gladys. "Sherry's going to be sent away on a long +trip and he wants to take her with him, so they're going to be married +right away." + +All four sat stricken, trying to realize that the evil day which they had +dreaded so and which they had thought far in the future was actually upon +them. Only two more weeks and their idolized Guardian, who for three +years had been a part of nearly everything they did, would be gone from +them. It seemed that the world was coming to an end. + +In the days that followed gloom hung thick over the House of the Open +Door. Now that Nyoda was to be in it no longer the Winnebagos lost all +joy in its possession. Each article of furniture that she had helped to +make, each sketch of hers on the wall telling in clever little +pictographs the tale of some adventure or frolic, gripped them with a +fresh pang. Plans for summer excursions and activities were dropped. + +"And we were all going ca-camping togu-gether!" wailed Hinpoha, and damp +weather prevailed for many minutes. + +But this was the end of their Senior year in high school, crowded to the +limit with all the bustle and excitement and festivity of Commencement +time, and the Winnebagos were so busy with examinations and essays and +clothes and songs and parties that there was no time to fold their hands +and grieve. Katherine, as editor of the class paper, was the star +performer on Class Night, although Miss Snively, who trained the +speakers, had tried to sandpaper her speech of everything clever. +Katherine agreed to every change she suggested with suspicious readiness, +and then when the night arrived calmly read her original paper, while the +chandeliers dripped giggles and Miss Snively made sarcastic remarks about +the cracked-voice orator. Somehow the story of Miss Snively's attempt to +make a hero out of her fiance had gotten out, although Katherine always +looked preoccupied whenever the subject was mentioned, and of late Miss +Snively had found the seats in her recitation room occupied by rows of +wise grins, which somewhat disturbed her lofty dignity. It was well that +this was to be her last year of teaching. + +One of the big events of the last week was the interscholastic track meet +and athletic contest, to be held on the Washington High athletic field, +in which ten big schools took part. The field was thronged with +spectators, the grand stand was crowded, school colors floated from tree +and pole, cheers burst from groups of students every few minutes and the +air was electric with suppressed excitement. + +First came the track events, and in these Washington High was tied with +Carnegie Mechanic for second place. The Winnebagos were glad it was so, +because now the Sandwiches could not crow over them. The Captain finished +first in one of the hundred-yard dashes right in front of Hinpoha, where +she sat in the grandstand, and he looked over the heads of the cheering +boys straight at her. Hinpoha dared not applaud him, because he belonged +to Washington's bitterest rival, but she smiled brightly, and he dropped +his eyes, flushing suddenly. + +The girls' events opened with a game of volley ball between Washington +High and Carnegie Mechanic. Much to the surprise of the Winnebagos, they +saw Katherine come in with the Washington players. Katherine was not on +the team. But just before the game opened the girl's gymnasium director +had spied Katherine sitting at one side of the field, unconcernedly +shaking a pebble out of her shoe in full view of the grandstand, and +hurried over to her. "Will you fill in this game?" she asked +breathlessly. "One of our team can't come and we're short a girl." + +"But I've never played volley ball," protested Katherine. + +"Oh," said the gymnasium teacher disappointedly. Then she added in a kind +of desperation, "Well, I don't know as it makes any difference. I don't +seem to be able to find a girl who has played. Just stay in the +background and strike at the ball with the palms of your hands every time +it comes near you. Let the girls in front get it over the net." + +Katherine uncurled her length from the ground and followed the gymnasium +teacher obligingly. She was not in the least sensitive about being asked +at the eleventh hour to "fill in," when she had not been asked to be on +the team before. Washington's volley ball team was not a very strong one, +and went all to pieces against the concentrated team work of the Carnegie +Mechanicals. The score rolled up against Washington steadily. The +deafening yells from the grandstand bewildered them, and they could +neither volley the ball over the net nor return the Mechanicals' volleys. +They were helpless from stage fright. + +Katherine dutifully stayed in the background, sending the ball to the +girls at the net, her brow drawing into anxious puckers, as they fumbled +it time after time. She began to comprehend the rules of the game and was +"getting the hang of it." The Mechanicals, with fifteen points to their +credit, had just lost the ball by sending it out of bounds. It was time +to do something. Katherine had noticed that most of the Washington girls +had been trying to volley the ball across the net from the back line, +instead of passing it on, as she had been doing, and had been falling +short nearly every time. With a commanding gesture, she claimed the +attention of her team. + +"Get back on the volley line in a row," she ordered. They obeyed her like +sheep. Then she took her place half-way between the volley line and the +net, facing the girls. "Now," she said crisply, "whosoever's turn it is +to volley, shoot the ball to me and not an inch farther. I'll get it over +the net. The first one that shoots it over my head is going to get ducked +in the swimming pool!" + +In their surprise at this sudden rising up of a leader, they forgot the +racket around them, and the triumphantly clamoring team on the other side +of the net, and calmed down. The girl with the ball sent it straight +toward Katherine, and with a windmill motion of her powerful arms, she +hit it a sounding whack and sent it over the net like a meteor. There was +no returning such a volley. + +"One!" cried the scorekeeper, and the Washington corner of the grandstand +gave its first yell of triumph. + +"Now, everyone of you do just the same thing, one after another," +commanded Katherine to the volley line. Her utter lack of excitement was +bringing them out of their confusion. The next girl made an equally good +throw and another loud whack announced that Katherine was volleying. +Backing the net, she could not see where it was going, but a squeal told +her that the girl who should be returning the ball was fleeing it. Then +the machine started to work. As long as one side scored it was privileged +to keep the volley. + +When in operation the machine sounded like this: "Next!" Whack! Bump! +That was all. Katherine's command to the server; the impact of her palms +on the ball; and the thump of the ball on the ground on the Mechanical +side of the net. Up went the Washington score. + +Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven! Twelve! + + "Washington Rah! + Washington Rah! + Katherine Adams, + Rah! Rah! Rah!" + +The atmosphere was rent with the yell. + +Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen! + +"Next!" Whack! Bump! + +SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN! EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN! TWENTY! + + "WASHINGTON RAH! + KATHERINE RAH! + KATHERINE AD----" + +TWENTY-ONE! + + +The umpire ran along the net, holding up her hands, and the teams broke +ranks. + +"Washington High winner in the volley ball game!" shouted the scorekeeper +through her megaphone. "Score, twenty-one to fifteen!" + +And the grandstand thundered at Katherine, who suddenly got stage fright +when it was all over and stood pigeon-toed with her head hanging down. +Then she noticed for the first time that her middy was on hind side +before and the long collar was down in front. Her horrified expression +threw the spectators into convulsions. They had been laughing at it all +through the game, but her amazing performance had made it a secondary +consideration. + +A few moments later she strolled nonchalantly into the grandstand and sat +down among the Winnebagos. "That certainly is a strenuous game for a +person with a dellyket constitooshun like mine," she remarked ruefully, +rubbing her swollen knuckles. Three fingers were sprained as a result of +doing all the volleying for twelve girls, but she didn't think it worth +while to mention the matter. + +Thus passed the days, filled to overflowing with fun and excitement. +Katherine, thoroughly uncomfortable in a crisp new white dress and blue +sash, tripped blithely along the elm-shaded avenue in the glow of the +late June sunset. It was the night of the class banquet, and her mind was +intent on the speech she was to make. Thus absorbed, she did not watch +where she was going, and a sprawling root from a big tree tripped her +unexpectedly and brought her to her knees on the soft lawn. Brought into +such close contact with the ground, she spied something lying at the foot +of the giant oak beside which she had fallen. It was a black leather bill +fold, with a heavy elastic band around it. + +"Daggers and dirks!" said Katherine, borrowing the Captain's favorite +expression. "What's this?" She slipped off the elastic band and opened +the bill fold. Across the inner flap there was a name printed in gold +letters. Katherine squinted at the name and explored the inner recesses +of the wallet. She took one look and hastily bound the wallet together +again with its elastic and dropped it gingerly into her hand bag, as if +it were red hot. Then she proceeded on her way, more absorbed than ever, +but the thing her brain was intent on now was not her banquet speech. + +Crossing the little park-like square, which lay on the way to school, she +came upon Veronica walking slowly up and down the sidewalk, intently +searching for something on the ground. She was very pale and showed signs +of great agitation. It was the first time Katherine had met her face to +face since she had left the group. + +"Have you lost something?" asked Katherine abruptly. + +"No," said Veronica, straightening up and flushing deeply, "that is, +nothing much, I--I just dropped a--something out of my purse along here +somewhere." + +"What was it?" asked Katherine. + +Veronica gave a last frantic look along the walk. + +"It was a--" She hesitated, and then burst out: + +"Oh, Katherine, it was my bill fold, and it had five hundred dollars in +it!" + +"Five hundred dollars!" echoed Katherine faintly. + +Veronica ran back and forth along the walk, looking desperately into +every crack and crevice. Every few minutes she held up her hand and +looked at her wrist watch; then she would return to the search with more +energy than before. Katherine also looked at her watch. + +"I'll help you hunt," she said, taking the other side of the walk. "Are +you sure you lost it along here?" she asked. + +"Pretty sure," answered Veronica. "I know I had it when I was back on Elm +Street, because I looked to make sure." + +"The last time you saw it was back on Elm Street," mused Katherine. +"That's two blocks behind us. We'll have to go all the way back." + +"By the way," said Katherine, a few minutes later, "it's none of my +business, I suppose, but what on earth were you doing with five hundred +dollars in your bag?" + +Veronica started and looked confused for a minute. But she answered +naturally enough. "I drew it from the bank this afternoon to give my +uncle to pay for some investment he is making for me, and I was to take +it over to his studio, but I was detained and he had gone when I got +there, so I was just bringing it home when I lost it." She stared up the +road with widening eyes, not toward Elm Street, where the purse might +lie, but toward the big avenue in the other direction, where the +streetcars clanged townward. Katherine stared thoughtfully at the +suitcase Veronica had with her. + +"Have you been away?" she asked casually. + +"No," said Veronica, with a start. Then, as her eyes followed +Katherine's, she added: "I've just been carrying some--things in there." + +Katherine looked at her watch again. "What did your bill fold look like?" +she asked. + +"It was a small black one," answered Veronica, "with an elastic band +around it. It had my name in gold letters across the inner flap." + +"Hadn't we better go home and tell your uncle," suggested Katherine, "and +get him to help us find it?" + +"No, no!" cried Veronica, shrinking back in alarm. "Don't tell him! I +wouldn't have him know for worlds that I've lost it." + +"But if you don't find it he'll know about it, anyway," said Katherine +practically. + +Veronica's face went white again and she returned to the search with +desperate haste. "I must find it! I must find it!" she was saying over +and over again under her breath. + +Katherine was just as diligent in her search. She pawed through the +bushes with her white gloves and sank on her knees in the soft grass, +accumulating more and more grass stains all the while. The last streak of +daylight faded and the big arc lights began to blaze among the tall +trees, and still they searched--Katherine in a patient, systematic way, +Veronica hysterically. The few people who crossed the square were closely +questioned as to whether or not they had found anything, but the same +disappointing answer came from all of them. Veronica looked at her watch +with ever-increasing anxiety; Katherine looked at her furtively almost as +often. + +After two hours of nerve-wracking search a steeple clock nearby boomed +out nine strokes; slowly, deliberately, its clamor shattered the summer +night's stillness. Veronica sank down on a stone which bordered the walk +and covered her face with her hands. Katherine straightened up and stood +for a moment looking thoughtfully at Veronica; then she went on searching +methodically. Veronica sat huddled on the stone for fully five minutes; +then, with an expression which was strangely like relief, she rose up and +followed Katherine's example. Fifteen minutes more went by with scarcely +a word from either girl. Then the steeple clock chimed the quarter hour. +A moment later came the sound of a train whistle, far off, but borne +clearly on the still air, followed by the faint rumble of distant cars +going over a culvert. + +Katherine stood still until the sound had died away, then she went up to +Veronica, led her to an iron bench nearby, and shoved her into it. Then +she opened her handbag and took out a small black wallet fastened round +with an elastic band, and laid it on Veronica's knee without a word. + +Veronica looked at it and uttered an incredulous scream of joy. "Where +did you find it?" she gasped. + +"Back on Elm Street, before I met you," said Katherine quietly. + +"Back on Elm Street, before you met me?" repeated Veronica wonderingly. +"You had it all this while?" Katherine nodded. "Then why did you keep it +all this while?" demanded Veronica. "Why didn't you give it to me at once +and save all this agony?" + +Katherine looked at her narrowly. "I didn't dare give it to you _before +nine o'clock_," she said significantly. + +Veronica started and clutched Katherine's arm nervously. "What do you +mean?" she asked faintly. + +Katherine put her arm around Veronica and drew her toward her so she +could look into her face. The light from the swinging arc was directly +upon her. "You were going to run away on that nine o'clock train, weren't +you?" she asked quietly. + +Veronica jerked away and turned dreadfully pale. "How--how did you know?" +she faltered. + +"I didn't, for sure," said Katherine. "But I made a pretty good guess. +You see, when I found that wallet, I naturally looked inside. There I saw +your name, five hundred dollars in bills, and a note which read: + +"'Take the New York Central Flyer at nine o'clock Wednesday night.' It +was signed with the initials A. T., which I suppose stand for that friend +of yours with the plush whiskers, Alex Toboggan." + +"Alex Tobin," corrected Veronica under her breath. + +"That looked suspicious to me," continued Katherine. "I've seen him +around with you a good deal, and I don't like his looks, not a little +bit. Then a minute later I came upon you with a suitcase, hunting your +wallet and looking at your watch as if you were crazy. So I came to the +conclusion that you were planning to run away on that nine o'clock train, +and decided to hold you up by keeping the money until the train was gone. +Am I right?" + +Veronica's eyes dropped and her face was crimson. "You are right," she +said unsteadily. "I was planning to run away on that train. After I +dropped out of the Camp Fire Group I had no girl friends and became +lonelier and lonelier all the while. The only interest I had was my +music, and the only place to which I went was to hear the Symphony +Orchestra rehearse. There, Alex Tobin, who is really a fine violinist, +was always very friendly to me and kept telling me I should go to New +York and study with Martini, who is the best teacher in the country. +Uncle would not let me go because he said I was too young and he could +not go with me. But Alex Tobin kept telling me that uncle was jealous of +my talent and was trying to keep me back on purpose, and if I had any +money in my own right I should take it and go anyhow. Uncle quarreled +with Alex Tobin and after that he forbade me to have anything to do with +him, but he used to meet me outside, and always he talked about my +talent, and what a shame it was I could not study with Martini, and +things like that, until I began to think I was abused. I was very lonely, +you know, and had nothing else to think about. + +"Well, this week was the end of the Symphony Orchestra rehearsals, and +Alex Tobin was going home to New York. He promised me that if I would +play in a restaurant there in which he is interested he would see me +safely there and introduce me to Martini. He talked so much about it that +I finally yielded and said I would go. I had money in the bank, but could +not draw it out without uncle's consent. However, just this week he +wanted to invest five hundred dollars for me and gave me his signature so +I could get it. You know how easy uncle is about money matters, and he +thought it was perfectly all right to send me to the bank alone. I have +gone about by myself so much, you know. But instead of going to his +studio with it, as I was supposed to, I kept it with me and did not go +home at all. + +"I was to meet Mr. Tobin in the station at a quarter before nine. If I +was not there when the train went he was going without me. I was so +excited all day I did not have time to stop and think what I was doing, +and how terrible it was to run away from uncle and aunt, when they had +been so kind to me, even to study with Martini. I looked upon Alex Tobin +as my friend and benefactor, instead of a horrid, scheming man, as I see +he is now. He just wanted me to play in that restaurant of his for +nothing, and draw crowds, and beyond that he really didn't care what +became of me. + +"When I lost the money I was nearly frantic, because I was afraid I would +miss the train. But when the clock struck nine and I knew the train was +gone, I suddenly felt glad, glad, although I had been so anxious to go. +For I had come to myself and felt sick at the thought of what I had +almost done. Oh, Katherine, how can I ever thank you for keeping me from +doing it?" + +"Don't try," said Katherine cheerfully, rubbing away at a grass stain on +her skirt with the wreck of a white silk glove. + +For the first time Veronica noticed Katherine's white dress. "Oh, +Katherine," she exclaimed in distress, "tonight is your class banquet! I +heard some of the other girls talking about it. And you have missed it +for my sake!" + +"Why, so it is," said Katherine, with a well-feigned start of +recollection. "I had forgotten all about it." + +"No, you didn't forget it," persisted Veronica; "you deliberately spent +the time here with me." + +"Well, never mind about that," said Katherine soothingly. "It was worth +it." + +"Worth it? Oh, Katherine, after the way I have treated you! I once called +you a peasant, but you are noble--you are a princess! It is I who am not +fit to associate with you!" + +"O Glory!" exclaimed Katherine in an embarrassed way. Katherine was like +a fish out of water when anyone began to express emotion. "Forget about +the whole business," she said, "and come back into the group. You need to +have something on your mind." + +"They will never take me back now," said Veronica sadly, "after this +dreadful thing I did." + +"But you didn't do it," maintained Katherine, "you came to your senses in +time. We all have done some pretty foolish things, I guess, if they +weren't quite so startling as the one you planned. But anyway, they'll +never know a thing about it, so they can't have the laugh on you." + +"You mean you'll never tell anyone?" cried Veronica unbelievingly. + +"Not a soul," said Katherine earnestly. "Not any of the Winnebagos, nor +your uncle, nor your aunt, nor even Nyoda. Never a word, on my honor as +a--a peasant! If I had intended telling anyone I'd have taken your wallet +to your uncle right away, with the note in it, instead of keeping you +back in the way I did. But I knew you'd come to yourself presently, and +there was no use making a fuss. I'll keep your secret, never fear. I +won't even have to explain my absence from the class banquet. They all +know how absent-minded I am, and they will simply think I forgot. That's +the advantage of having a reputation!" And Veronica, looking into +Katherine's homely, honest face, knew that her word would stand against +flood and earthquake. + +"Do you really think the Winnebagos will take me back?" she asked +timidly. + +For answer Katherine picked up Veronica's suitcase, linked her arm +through hers, and started homeward at a lively pace. "You _are_ back," +she said simply. "You never were really 'put out,' you know. You left of +your own accord and we have missed you very much and were just waiting +for you to say the word. Oh, I'm so glad!" And her feet began to shuffle +back and forth in a lively manner, and she began to hum in sprightly +tones the tune, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Thus it was that the +Torch, carried by Katherine, drew Veronica to the Fire after all, +although Katherine did not even know that she held the Torch in her hand. + + +The last meeting of the Winnebagos with Nyoda came, oh, much too soon! +The boys were warned to stay away, for not even these dear friends were +to be allowed to disturb the sacredness of that gathering. They cooked +supper for the last time, trying to be riotously cheerful, with the tears +dripping off the ends of their noses into the dishes. All the favorite +Winnebago messes were cooked, because Nyoda couldn't decide which one she +wanted most. There was Shrimp Wiggle and Slumgullion and scones and ice +cream with Wohelo Special Sauce, which was a heavenly mixture of maple +syrup, chocolate and chopped nuts. + +The feast was soon spread, and they gathered around the table to sing the +Camp Fire blessing, + + "If we have earned the right to eat this bread," + +and most of the voices quavered before they came to the end. + +That supper remained in their memories many years afterward. Katherine +had to deliver all her familiar speeches over and over again; Migwan, who +had come home from college in time to attend the farewell meeting, gave a +fine history of the group from its beginning; Gladys danced her best +dances; and all the favorite stunts were gone through and the favorite +songs sung. And Nyoda looked upon and listened to it all with a smiling +face and tear-dimmed eyes. The Winnebagos had formed a large part of her +life for the past three years. Veronica, who was at the supper, and had +been welcomed back into the group with open arms upon her humble apology, +wept disconsolately most of the time. To have been restored to the good +graces of this wonderful young woman, only to lose her again immediately +afterward! She bitterly regretted her withdrawing from the group during +the winter and thus losing her last opportunity of comradeship with +Nyoda. + +Supper over they wandered out into the warm June twilight to watch for +the evening stars before beginning the ceremonial meeting. "We'll have +the same stars as you do, anyhow," said Hinpoha, "and when they come out +we'll think of each other, will you, Nyoda?" + +"Indeed I will," said Nyoda, heartily. + +"And when Cassiopea comes out the W will stand for Winnebago," added +Gladys. + +"And that long scraggly constellation will remind you of me," said +Katherine, and they all had to laugh in spite of their sadness. + +By and by they wandered back to the House of the Open Door and Nyoda went +up alone and left them standing before the door. Then pretty soon the +signal bird calls floated up and Nyoda's voice called down from above, +saying, "Who's there?" and they answered with the foolish passwords and +countersigns that they loved because they were so foolish. One by one +they climbed the ladder and took their places in the circle, their eyes +on Nyoda, as she twirled the drill with the bow, kindling their last +Council Fire. The spark came immediately and leapt into flame and kindled +the fagots piled on the hearth. Feeling the spell of it as they never had +before, they sang "Burn, Fire, Burn." + +Then came the last roll call. Nyoda's voice lingered lovingly on each +name: "Hinpoha; Sahwah; Geyahi (Gladys); Iagoonah; Medmangi; Nakwisi; +Waban (Veronica)." + +Migwan read the Count, written in her inimitable lilting metre, which +touched on the many happy times they had had together, and ended, + + "All too brief that Moon of Gladness, + Long shall be the years of parting!" + +Then Hinpoha put her head on her knee with a stifled sob, and at that +they all broke down and cried together, with their arms around Nyoda. + +"Come girls, be good," said Nyoda, after a minute, sitting up and wiping +her eyes. "Stand up and take your honors like men!" + +And she proceeded to raise all the girls who had not already taken that +honor, to the rank of Torchbearer, excepting, of course, Veronica. As she +awarded the pins she spoke a few words to each girl, telling in what way +she had become worthy of this highest rank. When she came to Katherine, +she laid her hand on her shoulder. "Good wine needs no bush," she said +with a whimsical smile. "And Katherine needs no advocate. Her actions +speak for themselves. Her masterly handling of that volley ball game the +other day gives the keynote to her character. The ability to snatch +victory from seeming defeat is a gift which will carry one far in the +world. And do not forget that Katherine went into that game as a humble +filler-in, simply to oblige the team, and without a thought of gaining +any glory thereby. That is what I meant by losing one's self in the +common cause which is a necessary qualification for a Torchbearer. +Katherine would go to any trouble to help somebody else get glory for +themselves, or to help them out of trouble." And Veronica almost burst +with the desire to tell of the last great service Katherine had done her. + +Katherine blushed at Nyoda's words and winked back the tears and dropped +the pin, and murmured brokenly that she would try to be a worthy +Torchbearer, and would do her best to stop being so absent-minded. And +then all the Torchbearers, new and old, joined hands in a circle and +repeated their desire: + + "The light that has been given to me + I desire to pass undimmed unto others." + +"And now a word about the future," said Nyoda, putting wood on the fire +and sending the flames roaring up the chimney. "You girls declare you do +not want another Guardian. I heartily agree with you in this. That does +not mean that I would be jealous of a possible successor. But I think the +time has come when you no longer need a Guardian. For three years you +have been bound together by ties stronger than sisterhood, and have had +all the fun that it is possible for girls to have, working always as a +unit. You have stood in a close circle, always facing inward. Now you +must turn around and face outward. You have been leaders from the +beginning, and I have trained you as leaders. And a leader must stand +alone. Each one of you will have a different way of passing on the light. +The time has come to begin. The old order has passed when you did every +thing under my direction. You must kindle new Camp Fires now and teach to +others the things you have learned." + +"Oh, Nyoda," cried Gladys sorrowfully, "do you mean that all our good +times together are over? That this is the end of it all?" + +"No, dear, this is not the end," said Nyoda cheerfully, "this is the +'beginning of it all.' I do not mean for a moment that you girls are not +to meet and frolic together any more; but that must not be the main +thing. You must begin leading groups of younger girls and teaching them +to have a good time as you have learned to. What wonderful Guardians you +will make in time!" she said musingly. + +"Besides," she added, after a moment's silence, while the girls +thoughtfully pondered the new idea she had given them, "you had come to +the parting of the ways, although you didn't seem to realize it. You have +graduated from school, and next year Hinpoha and Gladys and Katherine are +going away to college, each one to a different city, and Nakwisi is to +travel with her aunt, and Veronica will be going to New York to study +music sooner or later. That leaves only Sahwah and Medmangi here in the +city. You couldn't go on as you have in the past, even if I were not +going away. But come," she cried in an animated tone, "enough of solemn +talk! We've had three years together, and nobody can take them away from +us, never. And we're all together now. Let the future take care of +itself; this is today! Come, come, a song!" + +And once more the rafters rang: + + "O we are Winnebagos and we're loyal friends and true, + We always work in harmony in everything we do, + We always think the weather's fine, in sunshine or in snow, + We're happy all the time because we're maids of Wohelo!" + +The echoes died away and then sprang into life again. + + "For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + For we are Winnebagos, + And that's why we're so spry!" + +"A toast!" cried Nyoda, "a toast to the future!" And they drank it in the +remains of the cocoa. Their eyes met as they clinked the cups, and +overflowed. "Oh, my girls," cried Nyoda, trying to get her arms around +all of them at once, "there never _was_ such a group! And there never +_will_ be such a group! I just can't leave you!" Then she pulled herself +up again. The time was passing and she must hasten, for she was leaving +on the train late that night. Her marriage was to take place in the East. +"Come, girls, 'Mystic Fire.'" And once again their voices rose in musical +chant: + + "With hand uplifted we claim thy power, + Guide and keep us as we go, + True to Wohelo. + Thy law is our law from this hour, + Thy mystic spirit's flame will show + Us the way to go." + +And so on to the end. + +But when they stood in the close circle with which the song ends, Nyoda +stooped to the hearth, and, plucking forth a burning brand, held it aloft +as a torch, and the girls passed in front of her, each carrying a tiny +torch in her hand, which she lit from the big one. Then the circle stood +complete once more, a ring of shining light. Silence fell on all. The +moment of parting had come. + +"Don't say good-bye," begged Nyoda. "Act as if I were a guest just +leaving for a short time." + +And bravely, with voices that did not falter to the end, they sang the +familiar guest song: + + "Our guest, may she come again soon----" + +and followed it with a fervent cheer: + + "O Nyoda, here's to you, + Our hearts will e'er be true, + We will never find your equal + Though we search the whole world through!" + +Then the circle turned resolutely and faced outward. A moment more they +lingered, and then they went forth into the night, carrying their torches +with them. + + + THE END + + + + + Transcriber's Notes + + +--Silently corrected palpable typos in spelling and punctuation + +--Adjusted front matter to give a complete list of the series + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks, by +Hildegard G. Frey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS, PRANKS *** + +***** This file should be named 38934.txt or 38934.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/9/3/38934/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. 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: + + https://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/38934.zip b/38934.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3dbd498 --- /dev/null +++ b/38934.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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..dae5e7e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #38934 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38934) |
