CHAPTER XIV.SPARRING FOR A FEE.
Pierce Langford drove the automobile, in which he made his first trip to Stony Point, up to the end of the drive near the Graham cottage, and advanced to the front entrance. The porch on which he stood awaiting the appearance of someone to answer his knock—there was no bell at the door—was bordered with a railing of rough-hewn, but uniformly selected, limbs of hard wood or saplings. The main structure of the house was of yellow pine, but the outer trimmings were mainly of such rustic material as the railing of the porch.
The front door was open, giving the visitor a fairly good view of the interior. The front room was large and fairly well furnished with light inexpensive furniture, grass rugs and an assortment of nondescript, “catch-as-catch-can,” but not unattractive, art upon the walls. Langford, who was not a sleepy schemer, was able to get a good view of the room before any one appeared to answer his knock.
It was a woman who appeared, a sharp featured, well-dressed matron with a challenging eye. Perhaps no stranger, or person out of the exclusive circle that she assumed to represent ever approached her without being metwith the ocular demand, “Who are you?”
Pierce Langford recognized this demand at once. If he had been of less indolent character this unscrupulous attorney might have made a brilliant success as a criminal lawyer in a metropolis. The fact that he was content with the limitations of a practice in a city of 3,500 inhabitants, Fairberry, his home town, was of itself indicative of his indolence. And yet, when he took a case, he manifested gifts of shrewdness that would have made many another lawyer of much greater practice jealous.
Attorney Langford’s shrewdness and indolence were alternately intermittent. When the nerve centers of his shrewdness were stimulated his indolence lapsed and he was very much on the alert. The present was one of those instances. He knew something, by reputation, of the woman who confronted him. He had had indirect dealing with her before, but he had never met her. However, he was certain that she would recognize his name.
“Is this Mrs. Graham?” he inquired, although he scarcely needed to ask the question.
“It is,” she replied with evidently habitual precision.
“My name is Langford—Pierce Langford,” he announced, and then waited for the effect of this limited information.
The woman started. It was a startled start. The challenge of her countenance wavered;the precision of her manner became an attitude of caution.
“Not—not Pierce Langford of—of—?” she began.
The man smiled on one side of his mouth.
“The very one, none other,” he answered cunningly. “Not to be in the least obscure, I am from the pretty, quiet and somewhat sequestered city of Fairberry. You know the place, I believe.”
“I’ve never been there and hope I shall never have occasion to go to your diminutive metropolis,” she returned rather savagely.
“No?” the visitor commented with a rising inflection for rhetorical effect. “By the way, may I come in?”
“Certainly,” Mrs. Graham answered recovering quickly from a partial lapse of mindfulness of the situation.
The woman turned and led the way into the house and the visitor followed. Mrs. Graham directed the lawyer to a reed rockingchair and herself sat down on another reed-rest of the armchair variety. The woman by this time had recovered something of her former challenging attitude and inquired:
“Well, Mr. Langford, what is the meaning of this visit?”
“Very much meaning, Mrs. Graham,” was the reply; “and of very much significance to you, I suspect. I come here well primed with information which I am sure will cause you towelcome me as you perhaps would welcome nobody else in the world.”
Mrs. Graham leaned forward eagerly, expectantly, apprehensively.
“You come as a friend, I assume,” she said.
“Have you any reason to doubt it?” the man inquired. “If it were otherwise, I must necessarily come as a traitor. I hope you will not entertain any such opinion of me as that. As long as you treat me fairly, you’ll find me absolutely on the square for you and your interests.”
“I hope so,” returned the woman in a tone of voice that could hardly be said to convey any significance other than the dictionary meaning of the words. “But let’s get down to business. What is this information that you come here primed with? Has it to do with the old subject?”
“Certainly, very intimately, and with nothing else.”
“In what way?” Mrs. Graham asked with more eagerness than she intended to disclose.
“Well, there are some spies in this neck of the woods.”
“Spies!” the woman exclaimed, betraying still more of the eagerness she was still struggling against.
“Yes spies. That’s exactly what they call themselves.”
“Who are they?—how do you know they are here to spy on me?”
“I overheard their plans. I got wind in aroundabout way, as a result of talk on the part of Mrs. Hutchins’ servants, that there was something doing, with Twin Lakes as a central point of interest. I suspected at once that your interests were involved; so I stole slyly, Willie Hawkshaw-like, up to their rendezvous one night and listened to some of them as they discussed their plans and—”
“Some of them,” Mrs. Graham interrupted. “How many are there?”
“Oh, a whole troup of them.”
“That’s a funny story,” the woman commented dubiously, searching the face of her visitor for an explanation of his, to her, queer statements.
“Not at all so funny when you hear it in detail,” Langford returned quietly.
“Well hurry up with the details,” the impatient Mrs. Graham demanded.
“There’s no need of being in a hurry,” the lawyer said with provoking calmness. “Business is business, you see, and full confidences should never be exchanged in a situation of this kind until a contract is drawn up, signed, sealed, witnessed, and recorded. In other words, I ought to have an understanding and a retainer before I go any farther.”
Mrs. Graham had no reason to doubt that this was coming sooner or later, but she winced nevertheless when it came.
CHAPTER XV.LANGFORD GETS A CHECK.
“I hope you realize, Mr. Langford, that we are not exactly made of money,” Mrs. Graham remarked tentatively by way of meeting the demand which she read between his words. “Moreover, we were under heavy expenses during the last year and you got a good deal of what we paid out.”
“Not so very much,” Langford corrected, from his point of view. “You must remember that I was working for you through another man and he handled the pay roll, on which he and I were the only payees, and naturally he took what he didn’t absolutely have to give to me.”
“Well, how much do you want for this service?” the woman inquired.
“I ought to have at least $25 a day and my expenses,” the lawyer answered.
“Absolutely out of the question. That’s several times the amount of our income from the source you are interested in. And a considerable part of that has to go for the boy’s clothing, board and education.”
“That is one of the important points to which I am coming,” Langford interrupted. “I come to inform you that Mrs. Hutchins is very much interested in how the boy is being clothed and fed and educated, and also how heis being treated, and she has decided to find those things out.”
“It’s a case of her old suspicions being revived?” Mrs. Graham asked.
“I suppose so; anyway, she’s mighty suspicious.”
“Who’s been peddling stories to her?”
“That’s something I didn’t find out.”
“Don’t you think a $25-a-day man ought to find out?”
“Perhaps; and perhaps I could have discovered that very thing if I had thought it wise to spend the time on it. After the mischief was done, it seemed hardly worth while to expend any effort to find the mischief maker. I decided it was best to get after the mischief itself and stop it.”
“I suppose you’re right,” assented Mrs. Graham. “But it really would be a lot of satisfaction to know who the traitor is.”
“This is no time to waste any of your efforts on revenge. That may come later, not now. But how about my fee?”
“You ask too much.”
“I don’t agree with you. That is a very small fee, compared with what some attorneys get. Why, I know lawyers who never take a case under $100 a day.”
“That’s in the big cities, where they are under heavy expenses—costly offices and office help.”
“Where do you get your information?”
“Oh, I have traveled and lived,” the womanreplied with emphasis on the last word. “And I know there are plenty of judges who get only $10 a day, some less. Now, what do you think of that? Do you think you ought to get more than a judge?”
“Oh, fudge on the judges,” Langford exclaimed in affected disgust. “No big lawyer will take one of those political jobs. There are lots of big lawyers making $50,000 or $100,000 a year, and there are few judges getting more than $10,000.”
“Well, I can’t pay more than $10 a day, and I can’t pay that very long. We’re under heavy expenses here and in Baltimore.”
“You ought to economize, Mrs. Graham,” Langford advised. “Remember, this special income can’t last forever. The boy is past 10 years old now, and if nobody takes it away from you earlier, it will stop when he is 21.”
“Take it away!” Mrs. Graham exclaimed in a startled manner, indicating that her apprehension had not carried her imagination as far as this.
“Sure—why not?” the lawyer returned. “What do you think all this talk about spies has been leading up to?—a Christmas present? If Mrs. Hutchins is suspicious enough to send a lot of spies here to get the goods on you, don’t you think she has some notion of taking some sort of drastic action?”
“What kind of ‘goods’ does she expect to get on me?” the woman inquired.
“Can’t you guess?”
“I can’t imagine, dream, or suspect.”
“Just hurry things along to an agreement tween you and me, and I’ll tell you.”
“I’ll give you $10 a day and reasonable expenses. That doesn’t include your board; only your carfare and such incidentals when you’re away from home. That is all conditioned, of course, on your proving to my satisfaction that you have the information you say you have. There’s no use of my fighting for this income if I have to pay it all out without getting my benefit from it.”
“I’ll try not to be so hard on you as all that,” Langford reassured the woman. “I accept your offer, although it’s the minimum I would consider. I suppose you are prepared to give me a check today?”
“Yes, I can give you something—your expenses thus far and maybe a little besides. Now hurry up and tell your story.”
“I can do it in a few words. Mrs. Hutchins has sent a dozen or more girls up here to find out how you treat the youngster and if he is well fed, clothed and educated. She’s received word from some source to the contrary and is planning to take him away if she discovers that her suspicions are true. These spies are all Camp Fire Girls who were camping on her farm. One of them is her niece. The proof of my statement that they are here to spy on you is in their plan to camp near your cottage and cultivate an intimate acquaintance with your family, particularly your two daughters. Twoof them were up here looking over the lay of the ground; maybe they’re here yet. Undoubtedly you’ll see something of them tomorrow or the next day.”
Mrs. Graham’s eyes flashed dangerously. Langford saw the menace in her look and manner.
“As I am now in your employ as counsel,” he said, “I’ll begin giving advice at once. Cut out this hate business. It’s your worst enemy. Just be all smiles and dimples and give them the sweetest con game welcome imaginable. Pretend to be delighted to meet the bunch of Camp Fire Girls. Tell them you had long held their organization in the highest esteem. Take your two daughters into your full confidence. Tell them they must play their part, too, and play it well. They must be eager to become Camp Fire Girls and seek to be chummy with the spies.
“And as for the boy, in whom they are specially interested, you must treat him as if you regard him the dearest little darling on earth.” (Mrs. Graham’s face soured at this suggestion.) “No, none of that, or you’ll spoil the whole game. Mrs. Hutching means business, and all she needs to do is to prove a few acts of cruelty and neglect, and any court in the land will give her speedy custody of the child, in view of the provisions of his father’s will, which, you know, are very exacting of you and very friendly toward Mrs. Hutchins and her late husband. By the way where arethe child and the other members of your family?”
“My husband is in Baltimore working at his regular employment,” Mrs. Graham answered. “I expect him here next week; his vacation begins then. My son, James, Jr., went up the lakes this morning with some friends of his. Addie, my oldest daughter, went to Twin Lakes to do some shopping, and the other girl, Olga, is in the next room with Glen.”
“By the way, Mrs. Graham, how well is the boy supplied with clothing?” Langford inquired.
“He has some good suits,” Mrs. Graham replied slowly as if going over Glen’s wardrobe piece by piece, in her mind.
“Dress him up in his best and get some more for special occasions. You might be working on some article of clothing for him also. That would indicate strongly that you are interested in his welfare.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I will take my check and go. I’ll be back again, but don’t think it advisable to come often. I have prepared a short telephone cipher code by which we can carry on a commonplace conversation over the wire and let each other know if all is well or if trouble is brewing or has already broken. Here is a copy of it.”
Mrs. Graham wrote the lawyer a check for $35, and he arose to depart.
“Remember,” he said as he stood facing the woman schemer at the doorway; “the successof this little plan of ours rests in the ability of yourself and other members of the family to play the most spontaneously genteel game the cleverest persons ever planned. If you fall down on this, undoubtedly you’ll lose your handsome side-issue income of $3,500 a year.”
Then he went out, cranked his rented automobile, and drove away.
CHAPTER XVI.LANGFORD CHECKS UP.
The twelve girls in the boat landed and proceeded with Katherine and Hazel up the steps to the top of the Point, where a conference was held. The two advance scouts reported developments in detail, much to the interest and delight of the other girls. The progress made thus far was so encouraging that everybody showed a disposition of impatience at the first sign of inactivity.
“We must go right back and get permission from Mr. Ferris to locate our camp somewhere near the Graham home,” said Katherine. “We ought to get our tents pitched just as soon as possible, and we mustn’t run any risk of not being able to find Mr. Ferris today.”
“Don’t you think it would help to allay their suspicions if we all remained here a while and looked around as if interested in the scenery just as tourists?” Azalia Atwood suggested.
“No, I don’t,” Katherine replied quickly. “Either that man Langford suspects us or he doesn’t. If he suspects us, he has grounds for his suspicion, and any such attempt to throw him off the track would result in failure. I think we had better assume that he knows what we are up to and act accordingly, without appearing to admit it.”
“But won’t they try to cover up the evidence that we are after?” Julietta Hyde reasoned.
“Of course they will,” Katherine answered.
“That will be one of the most interesting features of this adventure,” said Helen Nash, who already had a reputation wider than the Camp Fire circle for natural shrewdness. “When they begin to do that, we’ll have some great fun.”
“Can’t you point out from the lake the place or places where you think it would be well for us to locate our camp?” Miss Ladd inquired, addressing Hazel and Katherine.
“You can get a pretty good view of it right from here,” Hazel replied. “It’s right up the shore between those two cottages which are about the same distance up from the water and have similar paths and flights of steps running down to their boat landings. Between those two places is a stretch of timberland that doesn’t seem to be used by anybody in particular. We didn’t explore it because we didn’t have time, but it surely must contain some good camping places. We saw several small open spots near the road that could be used if nothing better is found. We must make a thorough inspection, of course, before we select a site, but that won’t take long and can be done when we bring our outfit up here.”
“We ought to take a run in the boat along the shore and see if we can’t find a good landing place,” Katherine suggested. “Wouldn’t it be delightful if we could find a suitable place on the side of that hill and overlooking the lake? Let’s take enough time for that.”
“It’s a good idea,” said Miss Ladd warmly. “Let’s do that at once and then run back to Twin Lakes. But remember, girls, don’t say anything about our mission on the boat. The boatman would be sure to start some gossip that probably would reach the ears of the very persons we want to keep in the dark as much as possible.”
They were soon back in the large canopied motorboat, and Miss Ladd gave instructions to the pilot. The latter cranked his engine, took his place at the wheel, and backed the vessel away from the landing. A few moments later the “Big Twin,” as the owner facetiously named the boat to distinguish it from a smaller one which he called the “Little Twin,” was dashing along the wooded hill-shore which extended nearly a mile to the north from Stony Point. They obtained a good view of the section of the shore just north of the Graham cottage and picked out several spots which appeared from the distance viewed to be very good camping sites. Then the prow of the boat was turned to the south and they cut along at full speed toward Twin Lakes.
The run was quickly made, and Katherine and Hazel hastened at once to the Ferris real estate office and presented their petition to Mr. Ferris in person. The latter was much interested when he learned that a Fire of Camp Fire Girls desired permission to pitch their tents on land of which he was the localagent, and still more interested when informed that they were students at Hiawatha Institute whose reputation was well known to him. He gave them a pen-and-ink drawing of the vicinity, indicating the approximate lines of the lands owned or leased by cottagers then in possession, and granted them permission, free of charge, to locate their camp at any place they desired so long as they did not encroach on the rights of others.
An hour later the squint-eyed man whose activities have already created much of interest in this narrative entered the office of Mr. Ferris and inquired:
“Are you agent for that land along the lake just north of Stony Point?”
“I am,” the real estate man replied.
“Do you allow campers to pitch their tents on the land for a week or two at a time?”
“I don’t object if they are all right. I always require some sort of credentials. I wouldn’t allow strangers to squat there without giving me some kind of notice. I granted permission to a bunch of Camp Fire Girls today to pitch their tents there.”
“Is that so? Where are they going to locate?”
“Just beyond the Graham cottage, if you know where that is.”
“That is where some friends of mine would like to camp,” said Langford in an affected tone of disappointment.
“I don’t think I’d care to grant any morepermits in that vicinity,” Mr. Ferris announced rather meditatively. “I feel rather a personal interest in the girls and don’t want any strangers to pitch a camp too near them. Your friends might, perhaps, locate half a mile farther up the shore.”
“I’ll tell them what you say,” Langford said as he left the office.
Five minutes later he was in a telephone booth calling for No. 123-M. A woman answered the ring.
“Is this Mrs. Graham?” he inquired.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“This is Langford. I just called to inform you that the parties we were talking about have obtained permission to camp near your cottage. You’ll probably see something of them tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
“And I’ll be at your place tomorrow afternoon between 3 and 4 o’clock.”
“I’ll expect you.”
That ended the conversation.
CHAPTER XVII.A DAY OF HARD WORK.
That evening Miss Ladd received the letter that Mrs. Hutchins had announced in her telegram addressed to the Guardian on the train, would follow that communication. She did not discuss the matter with any of the girls, but quietly passed it around until all had read it.
In her letter Mrs. Hutchins stated little that had not been read between the lines of the telegram, although her views and comments on the circumstances were interesting. She had seen Pierce Langford arrive at the station just as the train was pulling in, buy a ticket and board the train just as it was pulling out. Curiosity, stirred perhaps by the recollection that this man had recently represented interests hostile to the mission of the Thirteen Camp Fire Girls and their Guardian, and might still represent those interests, caused her to inquire of the agent for what point Mr. Langford had purchased his ticket. The reply was “Twin Lakes.”
That was sufficient. The woman asked for a telegram pad and wrote a few lines. Then she gave the message to the operator with these directions:
“I want that to catch Miss Ladd in the limited as soon as possible. Keep it going fromstation to station until it is delivered. Have the operator who succeeds in getting the message into Miss Ladd’s hands wire back ‘delivered’ as soon as she receives it.”
On the day following the advance excursion and inspection of the camping prospects at Stony Point, the “Big Twin” was engaged again to convey the Camp Fire Girls to the prospective camping place. On this occasion the tents and other paraphernalia were taken aboard and conveyed to the scene of the proposed camp. The boat skirted along the shore and a careful examination was made to discover landing places that might provide access from the lake to such camping sites as might later be found.
Several good landing places were found. The one they selected tentatively as a mooring for the boat was a large flat-rock projection a few hundred yards north of the Graham pier. A comparatively level shore margin extended back nearly a hundred feet from this rock to the point, where the wooded incline began. The boatman and a boy of eighteen who had been engaged to assist in handling the heavier paraphernalia, remained in the boat while the girls started off in pairs to explore the nearby territory for the most advantageous and available site.
They came together again half an hour later and compared notes. The result was that the report made by Marion Stanlock and Harriet Newcomb proved the most interesting. Theyhad found a pretty nook half way up the side of the hill shore and sheltered by a bluff on the inland side and trees and bushes at either end, so that no storm short of a hurricane could seriously damage a well-constructed camp in this place. The area was considerable, quite sufficient for the pitching of the complement of tents of the Fire.
After all the girls had inspected this proposed site in a body, a unanimous vote was taken in favor of its adoption. This being their decision, they returned without delay to the boat and the work of carrying their camping outfit a distance of some three hundred yards was begun.
The pilot and the boy assistant took the heavier luggage while the girls carried the lighter articles and supplies. In this manner everything was transported to the camp site in about an hour. The pilot and the boy then assisted in the work of putting up the tents, and after this was finished they were paid and dismissed.
Everything went along smoothly while all this was being done. Not another person appeared in sight during this period, except the occupants of several boats that motored by. The Graham cottage was about a quarter of a mile to the south and farther up on the hill, but the screen of dense foliage shut it off from view at the girls’ camp.
All the rest of the day was required to put the camp into good housekeeper’s condition. Thelight folding cots had to be set up and got ready for sleeping, the kitchen tent also required much domestic art and ingenuity for the most convenient and practical arrangement, and a fireplace for cooking had to be built with rocks brought up principally from the water’s edge.
So eager were they to finish all this work that they did not stop to prepare much of a luncheon. They ate hurriedly-prepared sandwiches, olives, pickles, salmon, and cake, and drank lemonade, picnic style, and kept at their camp preparation “between bites,” as it were. In the evening, however, they had a good Camp Fire Girls’ supper prepared by Hazel Edwards, Julietta Hyde and the Guardian. Then they sat around their fire and chatted, principally about the beauty of the scenery on every hand.
But they were tired girls and needed no urging to seek rest on their cots as the sun sunk behind the hills on the opposite side of the lake. The move “bedward” was almost simultaneous and the drift toward slumberland not far behind. They had one complete day undisturbed with anything of a mysterious or startling nature, and it was quite a relief to find it possible to seek a night’s repose after eight or nine hours of diligent work without being confronted with apprehensions of some impending danger or possible defeat of their plans.
CHAPTER XVIII.PLANNING.
Next morning the girls all awoke bright and early, thoroughly refreshed by their night’s rest. A breakfast of bacon, flapjacks and maple syrup, bread and butter and chocolate invigorated them for a new day of camp life in a new place.
Their program was already pretty well mapped out, being practically the same as that followed while in camp in Fern Hollow near Fairberry. They still did some work on certain lines arranged under the honor lists of the craft, but were giving particular attention to knitting and sewing for the Red Cross, which they aided in an auxiliary capacity.
The program regularly followed by the girls required three hours of routine work each day. This they usually performed between the hours of 7 and 10 or 8 and 11, depending upon the time of their getting up and the speed with which they disposed of the early morning incidentals.
On this morning, in spite of the fact that they had gone to bed thoroughly tired as a result of the exertions of the preceding day, the girls arose shortly after 6 o’clock and by 7:30 all were engaged in various record-making occupations, including the washing of the breakfast dishes and the making of the beds and the general tidying-up of the camp.
After the routine had been attended to, the girls took a hike for the purpose of exploring the country to the north of their camp. This exploration extended about two miles along the shore, their route being generally the automobile road that skirted the lake at varying distances of from a few rods to a quarter of a mile from the water’s edge, depending upon the configuration of the shore line.
During much of this hike, Katherine, Hazel and Miss Ladd walked together and discussed plans for creating a condition of affairs that might be expected to produce results in harmony with the purpose of their mission. They were all at sea at first, but after a short and fruitless discussion of what appeared to be next to nothing, Katherine made a random suggestion which quickly threw a more hopeful light on affairs.
“It seems to me that we’ve got to do something that will attract attention,” she said. “We’ll have to do some sensational, or at least lively, stunts so that everybody will know we are here and will want to know who we are.”
“That’s the very idea,” Miss Ladd said eagerly.
Katherine was a little startled at this reception of her suggestion. When she spoke, she was merely groping for an idea. But Miss Ladd’s approval woke her up to a realization that she had unwittingly hit the nail on the head.
“Yes,” she said, picking up the thread of areal idea as she proceeded; “we have got to attract attention. That’s the only way we can get the people in whom we are most interested to show an interest in us.”
“What shall we do?” Hazel inquired.
“Map out a spectacular program of some sort,” Katherine replied. “We might build a big bonfire, for one thing, on the shore tonight and go through some of our gym exercises, including folk dances.”
“Good,” said Hazel. “Let’s start off with that. And tomorrow we can have some games that will make it necessary for us to run all over the country—hare and hounds, for instance.”
“We ought to find a good safe swimming place near our camp, too,” Katherine said.
“Let’s look for one this afternoon,” Miss Ladd suggested.
“How will we test it?” Hazel inquired.
“That’s easy,” the Guardian replied. “We’ll use poles to try the depth and then one of us will swim out with one end of a rope attached to her and the other end in the hands of two of the girls ready to haul in if she needs assistance. In that way we will be able to locate a good swimming place and not run any risk of anybody’s being drowned.”
“We’ve got a good starter, anyway,” Katherine remarked in a tone of satisfaction. “By the time we’ve taken care of those items something more of the same character ought to occur to us. Yes, that’s the very way to interestthe Grahams in our presence and open the way for an acquaintance.”
The three now separated and mingled with the other girls who were some distance ahead or behind, and communicated the new plan to all of them. It was received with general approval and was the main topic of conversation until they all returned to the camp for luncheon.
CHAPTER XIX.WATCHED.
After luncheon, the girls, with two sharp hatchets among them, began a search through the timber for some long, slim saplings. After a half hour’s search they were in possession of three straight cottonwood poles, ten or twelve feet long, and with these in their possession, they began an examination of the water-depth along the shore for a safe and suitable bathing place.
They might have used their fishing rods for this purpose, but these were not serviceable, as they were of extremely light material and, moreover, were hardly long enough for this purpose. The saplings proved to be excellent “feelers” and the work progressed rapidly from the start.
About 200 yards north of their camp was a sandy beach which extended along the shore a considerable distance. It was here that the girls made their first under-water exploration. They tied a rough stone near one end of each of the poles to increase its specific gravity and then proceeded to “feel” for depth along the water’s edge.
Careful examination with these poles failed to disclose a sudden drop from the gradual downward slope of the beach into the water, so that there appeared to be no treacherousplaces near the shore. Satisfied in this respect, they now arranged for a further test. Azalia Atwood, who was an excellent swimmer, returned to the camp, donned a bathing suit, and then rejoined the other girls, bringing with her a long rope of the clothesline variety. One end of this was looped around her waist, and Marion Stanlock had an opportunity to exhibit her skill at tying a bowline.
While two of the girls held the rope and played it out, Azalia advanced into the water, stepping ahead carefully in order to avoid a surprise of any sort resulting from some hidden danger under the surface of the lake. To some, all this caution might seem foolish, inasmuch as Azalia swam well, but one rule of, Flamingo Camp Fire prohibited even the best swimmers from venturing into water more than arm-pit deep unless they were at a beach provided with expert life-saving facilities.
The purpose of Azalia’s exploration was to wade over as large an area of lake bottom as possible and establish a certainty that it was free from deep step-offs, “bottomless” pockets and treacherous undertow. Soon it became evident that she had a bigger undertaking before her than she had reckoned on, for the bed of the lake sloped very gradually at this point, and Katherine Crane and Estelle Adler volunteered to assist her.
“All right,” said Azalia, welcoming the suggestion. “Go and put on your bathing suits and bring a few more hanks of rope. Betterbring all there is there, for we probably can use it.”
Katherine and Estelle hastened back to camp and in a short time returned, clad in their bathing suits and carrying several hundred feet of rope. In a few minutes they too were in the water and taking part in the exploration, protected against treacherous conditions as Azalia was protected.
In half an hour they had explored and pronounced safe as large a bathing place as their supply of rope would “fence in” and then began the “fencing” process. They cut several stout stakes six feet long and took them to the water’s edge. Then the three girls in bathing suits assumed their new duty as water pile-drivers. They took one of the stakes at a time to a point along the proposed boundary line of the bathing place, also a heavy mallet that had been brought along for this purpose. A wooden mallet, by the way, was much more serviceable than a hatchet for such work, inasmuch as, if dropped, it would not sink, and moreover, it could be wielded with much less danger of injury to any of those working together in the water.
The first stake was taken to the northwest corner of the proposed inclosure. Katherine, who carried the mallet, gave it to Estelle and then climbed to a sitting posture on the latter’s shoulders. Then Azalia stood the stake on its sharpened end and Katherine took hold of it with one hand and began to drive downon the upper end with the mallet, which Estelle handed back to her.
It was hard work for several reasons—hard for Estelle to maintain a steady and firm posture under the moving weight, hard for Katherine to wield the mallet with unerring strokes, hard to force the sharpened point into the well-packed bed of the lake. Katherine’s right arm became very tired before she had driven the stake deep enough to insure a reasonable degree of firmness. While this task was being performed, the girls were still protected against the danger of being swept into deeper water by the ropes looped around their waists and held at the other ends by some of the girls on the sandy beach.
After this stake had been set firmly into the river bed, the girls returned to the shore and got another. This they took to another position about the same distance from the beach as the first one and drove it into the hardened loam under the water. The same process was continued until six such stakes had been driven.
Then they took up the work of extending rope from stake to stake and completing the inclosure. The sags were supported by buoys of light wood tied to the rope, the two extreme ends of which were attached to stakes driven into the shore close to the water.
“There, that is what I call a pretty good job,” declared Miss Ladd gazing with proud satisfaction upon the result of more than three hours’ steady work. “Whenever yougirls come out here to go bathing, you will be well warranted in assuming that you have earned your plunge.”
All the girls by this time had their bathing suits on, but most of them were too tired to remain in the water any longer; so, by common consent, all adjourned to the camp to rest until suppertime.
“Well, it appears that our activities have not yet aroused any special interest in the Graham household,” Hazel Edwards observed as they began their march back toward the sheltered group of tents.
“I’m not so certain of that,” Miss Ladd replied.
“Why not?” Katherine inquired, while several of the girls who were near looked curiously at the Guardian.
“Because I believe I have seen evidences of interest.”
“You have!” exclaimed two or three unguardedly.
“Now, girls, you are forgetting yourselves,” said Miss Ladd warningly. “Remember that the first requisite of skill in your work here is caution. The reason I didn’t say anything to you about what I saw is that I was afraid some of you might betray your interest in the fact that we were being watched. I saw two girls half hidden in a clump of bushes up near the top of the hill. I am sure they were watching us. They were there at least half an hour.”
CHAPTER XX.THE MISSILE.
Five of the members of the Camp Fire were present when Miss Ladd made this startling announcement that they had been watched secretly for a considerable time while roping off the limits of their swimming place. The other girls had taken the lead back to the camp and were a considerable distance ahead.
“Are they watching us yet?” Azalia asked.
“I think not,” the Guardian replied. “I haven’t seen any sign of them during the last twenty minutes.”
“How do you know they are girls?” Katherine inquired. “That’s quite a distance to recognize ages.”
“Oh, they may be old women, but I’ll take a chance on a guess that they are not. The millinery I caught a peep at looked too chic for a grandmother. I’ve got pretty good long-distance eyes, I’ll have you know,” Miss Ladd concluded smartly.
There was no little excitement among the other girls when this bit of news was communicated to them. But they had had good experience-training along the lines of self-control, and just a hint of the unwisdom of loud and extravagant remarks put them on their guard.
Some of the girls proposed that the plan ofbuilding a bonfire in the evening be given up and nobody objected to this suggestion. All the girls felt more like resting under the shade of a tree than doing anything else, and those who had performed the more arduous tasks in the work of the afternoon were “too tired to eat supper,” as one of them expressed it. So nobody felt like hunting through the timber for a big supply of firewood.
The atmosphere had become very warm in the afternoon, but the girls hardly noticed this condition until their work in the water was finished and they returned to the camp. After they had rested a while some of the girls read books and magazines, but little was done before supper.
After supper some of the girls, who felt more vigorous than those who had performed the more exhausting labor of the afternoon, revived the idea of a bonfire and were soon at work gathering a supply of wood. They busied themselves at this until nearly dusk and then called the other girls down to the water’s edge, where on a large rocky ledge arrangements for the fire had been made.
All of the girls congratulated themselves now on the revival of the bonfire idea, for the mosquitos had become so numerous that comfort was no longer possible without some agency to drive them away. A bonfire was just the thing, although it would make the closely surrounding atmosphere uncomfortably warm.
Even the girls who had performed the hardest tasks in the “fencing in” of their swimming place were by this time considerably rested and enjoyed watching the fire seize the wood and then leap up into the air as if for bigger prey.
“Let’s sing,” proposed Harriet Newcomb after the fire had grown into a roaring, crackling blaze, throwing a brilliant glow far out onto the water.
“What shall it be?” asked Ethel Zimmerman.
“Burn Fire, Burn,” Hazel Edwards proposed.
“Marion, you start it,” Miss Ladd suggested, for Marion Stanlock was the “star” soprano of the Fire.
In a moment the well-trained voices of fourteen Camp Fire Girls were sending the clear operatic strains of a special adaptation of the fire chant of the Camp Fire ritual. The music had been composed and arranged by Marion Stanlock and Helen Nash a few months previously, and diligent practice had qualified the members of the Camp Fire to render the production impressively.
This song was succeeded by a chorus-rendering of a similar adaptation of the Fire Maker’s Song. Then followed an impromptu program of miscellaneous songs, interspersed here and there with such musical expressions of patriotism as “America,” “Star Spangled Banner,” and “Over There,” in evidence of amindfulness of the part of the United States in the great international struggle for democracy.
Meanwhile dusk gathered heavier and heavier, the stars came out, and still the fire blazed up brightly and the girls continued to sing songs and tell stories and drink in the vigor and inspiration of the scene. At last, however, the Guardian announced that it was 9 o’clock, which was Flamingo’s curfew, and there was a general move to extinguish the fire, which by this time had been allowed to burn low.
Suddenly all were startled by an astonishing occurrence. A heavy object, probably a stone as large as a man’s fist, fell in the heap of embers, scattering sparks and burning sticks in all directions. There was a chorus of screams, and a frantic examination, by the girls, of one another’s clothes to see if any of them were afire.