After that the days just fairly flew. Dolly changed her mind completely and concluded that camp life was one of the jolliest things in the world.
Talking things over with Dotty, she explained her lonesomeness and homesickness that first night.
"Yes, I understand," and Dotty wagged her head sagaciously. "Most everybody doesn't like camp at first and we didn't have any fun that first night, but, you see, we all knew the fun was coming next days and you didn't."
"It was partly that," said Dolly, honestly, "and partly 'cause I felt that Imustsee Mother. You see, I've never been away from her all night before, and it was so queer sleeping outdoors, and I was sort of cold, and—"
"I know! You were hungry! There's nothing makes anybody as homesick as being hungry. Supper was skinny that night, I remember, and I was hungry too, only I went to sleep and forgot all about it. Come on, Doll, let's go over to the Norrises."
"All right," and having informed Mrs. Rose oftheir intention the two girls set off for the Norris camp, which was but a short distance away.
To their disappointment, when they reached there, they learned that Mrs. Norris had taken both Maisie and Jack to town with her to do some shopping, and they would not be back before six o'clock.
It was Sarah, the nurse girl, who told them this, as she sat on the verandah taking care of Gladys, the two-year-old Norris baby.
"Let's stay a few minutes and play with the kiddy," said Dolly, patting the little fat hand of the smiling child.
"All right," agreed Dotty; "let's take her in the swing."
The two girls with Gladys between them sat in the wide porch swing and Sarah said diffidently, "Would you two young ladies mind keeping the baby for half an hour, while I run down the road a piece to see my sister? She's awful sick."
"Go ahead, Sarah," said Dolly, good-naturedly. "We'll take care of Gladys. She won't cry, will she?"
"That she won't. She's the best baby in the world. There's a couple of crackers you can give her if she's hungry, or the cook will give you a cup of milk for her. I won't be gone long."
"Don't stay more than half an hour, Sarah," said Dotty; "I'd just as lieve keep the baby but I don't know as Mrs. Norris would like it to have you go away from the child."
"Oh, pshaw!" said Dolly; "the baby is all right with us. Stay as long as you want to, Sarah; I just love to take care of babies."
So Sarah went away and the two girls proceeded to give Gladys the time of her life. They soon tired of the swing and took the baby out into the woods, where they crowned her with leaves and called her Queen of the May.
The child laughed and crowed, and as her language was limited she called both the girls Doddy, and beamed on them both impartially. Herself she called Daddy, being unable to achieve her own name.
"Two Doddies take Daddy saily-bye!" she cried, waving her fat hands toward the lake.
"Oh, no," said Dolly; "Daddy go saily-bye when Jack comes home."
"No! no wait for Dak! Daddy 'ant to go sailynow! Daddy go in boat! Two Doddy go in boat and sail Daddy far, far away!" The two little arms waved as if indicating a journey round the world, and the baby face beamed so coaxingly that Dolly couldn't resist it.
"We'll go down to the shore," she said, "and Gladys can paddle her hands in the water; that will be nice."
"Ess!" and the baby danced with glee as the three went down to the lake.
There was a short bit of fairly good beach at the Norrises' place, and here the children sat down to play. A sail boat, a row boat and a canoe were tied there and soon Gladys renewed her plea to go sailing.
The girls tried to divert her mind, for they were not willing to take the responsibility of taking the little girl out on the water.
"Maybe we might take her out in the row boat," suggested Dotty, but Dolly said, "No, I'd rather not. I can row well enough, but you can't do much with your weak arm and suppose anything should happen to this blessed child! No, siree, Dot; I'm not going to take any such risk."
"I think you're silly. We could row around near shore and it would please the baby a heap. She's going to cry if you don't."
Dotty's prediction seemed in imminent danger of being fulfilled, but Dolly sprang up and began a frolicking song and dance intended to divert the baby's attention.
But for a few moments only Gladys was pleasedwith this entertainment. With the persistency of her kind, she returned again and again to the subject of her greatly desired water trip.
Still being denied, she set up a first class crying act. It scarcely seemed possible that so many tears could come from those two blue eyes! She didn't scream or howl, but she cried desperately, continuously, and with heartbroken sobs until the two caretakers were filled with consternation.
No effort to divert her was successful. In no game or play would she show any interest, and as the little face grew red from the continued sobbing, Dotty exclaimed, "That child will have a fit, if she doesn't get what she wants! Now look here, Doll; we won't go in a boat, but let's put the baby in the canoe and just pull her back and forth gently by the rope. It's tied fast to the post."
Dolly looked doubtful, but as the baby sensed Dotty's words a heavenly smile broke over her face and she exclaimed, "Ess, ess! Daddy go saily-bye all aloney!"
Dolly still hesitated, but Dotty picked up the eager child and plumped her down in the middle of the canoe, which was partly drawn up on the shelving beach. A little push set it afloat and grasping the rope firmly, Dotty gently pushed and pulled thecanoe back and forth, while the baby squealed with delight.
"That can't do any harm," said Dotty, pleased with the success of her scheme, and Dolly agreed that Gladys was safe enough as long as she sat still.
"Even if she should spill out, she'd only get wet," said Dotty; "the water isn't six inches deep where she is. And youwillsit still, won't you, baby?"
"Ess, Daddy sit still," and the baby folded her hands and sat motionless in the canoe, only swaying slightly with the motion as Dotty slowly pulled her in shore and then let her drift back again.
"It's like a new-fashioned cradle," said Dolly; "I'll hold the rope for awhile, Dot."
"All right, take it; it hurts your hand a little after awhile."
So Dolly pulled the rope and the two girls sitting on the beach chatted away while the baby floated back and forth.
"Let me take it now," said Dotty after a time; "you must be tired."
"No, I'm not a bit tired, and I can use two hands while you can use only one. You oughtn't to use that left flapper of yours much while it's weak, Dot."
"Pooh, it isn't weak! It's as strong as anything. Give me that rope!"
"No, sir, I won't do it," and there was a good-natured scuffle for the possession of the rope as the four hands grabbed at it and each pair tried to get the other pair off.
"Let go, you!" cried Dotty, pulling at Dolly's hands.
"Let go yourself!" Dolly replied, laughingly, and then,—they never knew quite how it happened, but somehow their scramble had pulled the rope loose from the post, and as they twisted each other's hands, the rope slipped away from them and slid away under the water.
The lake was full of cross currents and even before they realised what had happened the canoe was several feet from shore. To Gladys it seemed like some new game and she clapped her hands and shouted in glee, "Daddy saily all aloney,—far, far away!" She waved her baby arms and rocked back and forth in joy.
Dotty and Dolly were for a moment paralysed with fright. Then Dotty, grabbing Dolly's arm, said, "Don'tstand there like that! We mustdosomething! That baby will drown! Let's holler for help."
Dotty tried to scream, but her heart was beating so wildly and her nerves pulsing so rapidly she could make scarcely any sound, and her wail of agony died away in a whisper.
"I can't yell, either," said Dolly, hoarsely, as she trembled like a leaf. "But we mustdosomething!Don'tgo to pieces, Dotty—"
"Go to pieces nothing! You're going to faint yourself. Now stop it, Dollyrinda," and Dotty gave her a shake. "We've got to save that child, no matter how we do it!— Sit still, baby, won't you?" she called to Gladys.
But the child bounced about in her new-found freedom and grasping each side of the canoe with her little hands began to rock it as hard as her baby strength would allow.
"Oh!" breathed Dolly, who was watching with staring eyes; "sit still, little Gladys; don't rock the boat, dearie."
"Ess; rock-a-by-baby, in a saily boat!" and again Gladys swayed the little craft from side to side.
"We must make her stop that first of all," and Dotty wrung her hands as she stepped down to the water's edge and even into the water as she called to the baby. "Gladys, sit very still, and Doddy come out there in another boat. Sitverystill."
Gladys did sit still, and the canoe floated steadily on the smooth lake. But it drifted farther and farther from land and now about twenty feet of water separated the baby from the shore.
"We've got to get in the row boat and go out there," said Dotty, who was already untying the rope.
"Yes, it's the only thing to do," agreed Dolly; "but you can't row, Dot, and I can. So I'll take the boat, and you run for help. I don't know whether you'd better go to the Norrises; I don't think there's anybody there but the cook, or whether you'd better make straight for home and get your father to come."
"I'll do both! I can run, if I can't row!" and Dotty flew off like a deer up the hill toward the Norris camp.
Dolly stepped into the boat and shipped the oars. It was a large flat-bottomed boat and the oars were heavy. Dolly knew how to row but she was not expert at it, and, too, she dreaded to turn around with her back to the baby. "Though," she thought to herself, in an agony of conflicting ideas, "I've got to row out there, and I can't do it and keep watch of Gladys both."
She pulled a few strokes, twisting her head betweeneach to get a glimpse of the baby who was now sitting quietly in the canoe, drifting out toward the middle of the lake.
Not a motor boat or craft of any kind that might lend assistance was in sight. They were at the extreme upper end of the lake and most of the camps were farther down. Vainly Dolly scanned the water for a boat of any kind, but saw none. Bravely she pulled at the big oars, but she was not an athletic girl, and having been laid up so long with a broken leg her muscles were weak.
She pulled as hard as she could, in a straight line toward the canoe, but though she succeeded in lessening the distance between them she could not get very near the baby, for the canoe drifted steadily away.
At last, by almost superhuman efforts, she came within a few feet of the child, and then fearing to bump into the canoe and upset it, she turned around and tried to back water gently. But the big oars were ungainly and the task was not easy.
Moreover, Gladys was overjoyed at seeing Dolly in the other boat and she expressed her joy by leaning over the side of the canoe.
Dolly's heart seemed to stop beating as she saw the wobbly little boat careen with the laughing babyleaning far over the edge. She knew she must not alarm the child and so in a desperate endeavour to speak naturally, she called out, "Sit up straight, baby; see how straight you can sit!"
"So straight!" and Gladys emphasised her straightness by putting both arms up in the air.
"Yes, dear. Now fold your arms and sit straight."
Gladys obeyed and folded her chubby arms and sat motionless right in the middle of the canoe.
Dolly's heart bounded with thankfulness as with aching arms she pushed her way nearer the drifting canoe. She was moving stern first and tried to manœuvre to try to come up sideways against the canoe. Then if she could lift the baby safely into her own flat-bottomed boat she would be content to drift about until help came.
How many times she tried! But just as her boat would near the other, a chance current or a puff of wind would take the canoe just out of her reach. Paddling now with one oar she came very near the unsteady little craft, so near that Gladys suddenly decided to jump into Dolly's boat.
The child scrambled to her knees and leaned over the side of the canoe till she was almost in the water.
"Sit down!" screamed Dolly frantically, forgetting the danger of suddenness.
Gladys was startled and instead of sitting down leaned farther over the edge, and the canoe capsized!
Dolly's face blanched, her oars dropped from her hands and every muscle in her body went limp. Then the impulse came to jump in the water after the child. Seizing the row-lock, she was about to plunge, blindly, heedlessly, but obeying the irresistible impulse, when something white appeared on the water, right at her very side. It was Gladys's white dress, and Dolly made a grab for it just as it was again about to sink from sight.
She held on firmly, though it seemed as if her strength was ebbing rapidly away.
She strove with all her might to pull the baby into her own boat, but she could not lift the heavy child over the edge. How glad she was now that she was in the big flat-bottomed boat, which was in little if any danger of upsetting.
Not knowing whether the baby was dead or alive, she hung on to the precious burden, still trying to lift her over the edge, but unable to do so. It was all she could do to keep her grasp on the wet clothing and keep the child's head above water as the eddies tossed her boat around on the rough surface of thelake. The waves were choppy and every time she would nearly succeed in lifting the baby in, a sudden lurch would almost make her lose her grip.
It was when at last she almost felt the little form slipping from her grasp that she heard the chug-chug of a motor boat and a cheery, loud voice sang out, "Hang on, Dolly; hang on! All right, we're coming!"
Dolly didn't dare look up, but with her last ounce of strength she hung on to the baby's white dress, which she had already torn to ribbons in her clutches. She heard the swift oncoming of the motor boat and feared lest its waves might even yet wash the little form away that she held so insecurely. She refused to lift her eyes as the sound of the engine grew louder and she felt a sickening fear of the first waves that might reach her from the motor boat.
To her dismay she felt her hold loosening. Her muscles were powerless longer to stand the strain of the baby's weight. She heard the motor and she felt, or imagined she did, the first of the rhythmic waves that would, she felt certain, as they grew stronger, tear the child from her grasp. In desperation she bunched up a portion of the little white dress and leaning her head down clinched it firmly in her teeth.
But even as she did so, she knew she could not holdit there. The wet cloth choked her, and the water dashed in her face and blinded her. A sickening conviction came to her that it was all over and in another instant little Gladys would fall away from her helpless hands, and drown.
But to her ears there came a sound of a human voice. Not a shout, not even a loud call, but a calm, pleasant voice close to her, that said: "All right Dolly! Let go. You have saved Gladys!"
Mechanically obeying, though scarcely knowing what she did, Dolly opened her teeth and as the baby slid from her numbed fingers the child was grasped by strong arms, and Mr. Rose's face appeared to Dolly's view. He had swum from the motor boat, and now holding Gladys in one arm he hung on to the row boat with the other.
"Take her in," he said, as he lifted the child over the edge into the boat.
The reaction brought back Dolly's lost nerve. Gladly she received the little form in her arms and in another moment Mr. Rose had himself scrambled, big and dripping, into the boat also.
"You little trump!" he exclaimed; "you brick! you heroine! Let me take the baby. Why, she's all right!"
Gladys, though she had been partly unconscious,while in the water, was really unharmed and as Mr. Rose held her to him she opened her eyes and smiled.
Swiftly the motor boat came and took the three on board, and dragging the row boat behind them, they made quickly for the shore.
"Well, I swan!" exclaimed Long Sam, who was at the wheel, "if you Dolly ain't the rippenest little mortal! However you managed to keep a grip on that there kid is more'n I can tell!"
"I'm sure I can't tell you," and Dolly smiled, out of sheer happiness at Gladys' safety.
They reached the shore in a few moments and Mrs. Rose was there with a big blanket in which to wrap the baby while they carried her up to the house. Sarah the nurse was there, and soon Gladys, warmed and fed and arrayed in dry clothes, was pronounced by all to be none the worse for her thrilling experience.
Dolly, however, was exhausted. Mrs. Rose, after leaving the baby to the nurse, hurried Dolly home and put her to bed.
"Yes, my dear," she said as Dolly objected; "you have an ordeal to go through with as heroine of this occasion. When Mrs. Norris comes home, she will come over here to give you a medal for bravery and heroism and general life-saving attributes. So you must go to bed now and get rested up to receive herthanks. You're going to have a cup of hot broth and a good rest and perhaps a nap, and you'll wake up just as bright and happy as ever."
And Mrs. Rose's treatment was just what Dolly needed. She slept an hour or more and then awoke to find Dotty's black eyes gazing into her own.
"You beautiful, splendid Dollyrinda!" she exclaimed. "You're a Red Cross heroine and a Legion of Honour Girl and I don't know what all!"
"Nonsense, Dot; I didn't do any more than you did. If you hadn't had the gumption to run and get your father, Gladys would—well,—things would have been different."
"It was all my fault, though," and the tears came into Dotty's eyes. "I did the wrong in putting the baby in the canoe in the first place."
"I did that just as much as you did. We both did wrong there, I expect. And we both did wrong in scrabbling over the rope. Oh, we did wrong all right, but neither of us was worse than the other. What will Mrs. Norris say to us?"
"She's here now," said Dotty, "waiting for you to come down. She doesn't blame us, she blames Sarah for going away and leaving the baby."
"That isn't fair!" and Dolly sprang out of bed; "we told Sarah she could go. Tie up my hair, please,Dotty, I want to go down and tell Mrs. Norris all about it."
But as it turned out, Mrs. Norris was so glad and happy that little Gladys was safe, that she wouldn't allow the two D's to be blamed at all. And as the girls besought her not to blame the nurse, for what had really been their doing, they all agreed to ignore the question of blame and dwell only on their gladness and happiness at the safety of everybody concerned.
"Whatisa phantom party?" asked Dolly.
"Oh, it's lots of fun," Dotty replied; "everybody is rigged up in sheets, with a head-thing made of a pillow-case, and a little white mask over your face, so nobody knows you."
"Can I go?" asked Genie, her black eyes dancing.
"No," said her mother, "you're too young, dearie, this party of Edith Holmes' is an evening party; it begins at seven o'clock and only the big girls can go to it."
"Oh, dear, will I ever get grown up!" and Genie sighed with envy of her sister and Dolly.
"But how do you know who anybody is?" went on Dolly, who had never heard of this game before.
"You don't! that's the fun of it. You can't tell the girls from the boys, and you must try to make your voice different, so nobody will know who youare. Have you plenty of sheets, Mother, to fix us up?"
"Yes, indeed; one apiece will do you I think, if they are wide ones."
"We'll make our own masks," said Dotty, who had attended parties of this sort before.
So they cut masks from white muslin, with a little frill across the bottom and holes to fit their eyes.
"Now we must put a piece of gauze or net behind these eye-holes," said Dotty, out of her full experience, "for if we don't, they'd know your eyes and mine in a minute, Dollyrinda."
"Then how can we see where we're going?"
"Oh, we can see through the thin stuff easily enough, but our eyes don't show plainly to other people."
So insets of fine white net were put in the eye-holes and the dainty white masks were really pretty affairs.
They had made them not exactly alike, lest duplicates should lead to suspicion of their identity.
When it was time to get ready for the party Mrs. Rose pinned the girls into their sheet draperies.
"Make us as different as possible, Mother," advised Dotty, "so they'll never think we're us."
Mrs. Rose pinned Dolly's sheet into the semblanceof a Japanese kimono, while she arranged Dotty's in full folds round the neck and let it hang in a Mother Hubbard effect.
Dolly's pillow-case headdress was bunched on either side of her head, like rosettes over her ears, and Dotty's hung in a plain flat fold down her back like an Italian girl's.
The masks were adjusted and the girls were ready to start. They wore white gloves and white shoes and looked like a pair of very lively ghosts.
Mr. Rose escorted them over to the Holmes Camp, or nearly there,—for it was the plan that each phantom must sneak in as stealthily as possible, in order to remain unknown.
So sometime before they reached their destination, Dotty ran on ahead, and with great manœuvring, managed to slip in unseen and saunter among the crowd already gathered.
Silently, among the trees, Mr. Rose led Dolly until he saw a good opportunity and then with a whispered "Scoot in there!" he indicated a chance for her to make her entrance, and he himself went back home.
It was dusk, not dark, but the light of the big camp fire made convenient shadows to screen the entrance of the guests.
It seemed a weird sight to Dolly as she somewhattimidly made her way in. Twenty or thirty white-robed figures were bowing and scraping or dancing wildly about or talking to each other in high squeaky voices and short sentences.
"Know me?" somebody said, stopping in front of Dolly.
The voice seemed a little familiar, and yet Dolly couldn't quite place it. It might be Jack Norris, or it might be one of the Holmes boys. But in a spirit of fun she nodded her head affirmatively, with great vigour, as if to declare that she knew the speaker perfectly well, but she would not speak herself.
"Who?" squeaked the high voice, hoping Dolly would speak and thus reveal her own identity.
But Dolly was too canny for this. Instead she joined together her thumb and forefinger of each hand and held them up to her eyes, making circles like eye-glass rims. Now, in sunny weather, Guy Holmes wore big glasses with shell rims, and as this described him fairly well, it was a stroke of triumph on Dolly's part. For it was Guy Holmes himself, and he doubled up with laughter at the clever identification.
But he shook his head as if Dolly were greatly mistaken in her guess, and so she didn't know whether she had been right or not.
When all had arrived, they danced in a circle round the fire, chanting wild sounds that had no meaning or rhythm but were supposed to be ghostlike wails and groans.
Then a game was played, under the direction of Mr. Holmes, by which it was endeavoured to learn who the different phantoms were.
Their host led them to what was really the drying-ground for the family laundry. A clothesline stretched on four posts formed a square, and from the clothesline depended brown paper bags of varying sizes, from large to tiny, each held by a slender string.
"One at a time," Mr. Holmes explained, "our ghostly friends will go into the square, and being blindfolded, will endeavour to hit a bag with a stick. If the attempt is successful the ghost may return unchallenged, but if he fail to hit a bag the others may guess from his gestures who it is."
The bags were not very near together, there being only three or four on each side of the clothesline square.
Mr. Holmes selected one of the phantoms and escorted it to the middle of the square, placed a stick in the outstretched hand, blindfolded the motionless figure, turned it round with a whirl and said, "Stepforward, and hit where you choose, and see if you can bring down a bag."
The ghost was very evidently a boy, for two vigorous arms grasped the stick and with a couple of long strides the white figure stalked forward.
A vigorous blow ensued, but the stick came down between two of the bags and made no hit.
"Now you may guess who it is," said Mr. Holmes, "as our friend ghost did not strike anything. If you guess right, he must take off his mask, but if not he may retain it. Only one guess allowed."
Somebody sung out the name of Jack Norris, as the ghost was about his height, but the white figure shook its head vigorously and glided back among the crowd.
The game went on. Sometimes a ghost would hit a bag and the flimsy paper would burst and a quantity of peanuts or popcorn would scatter on the grass, to be scrabbled for by the rollicking phantoms.
One bag held confetti which scattered through the air in a gay shower of colour.
When it was Dolly's turn, she was determined that she would act as differently as possible from her usual manner and so fool everybody. After she was blindfolded and turned round, she took the stickand with little mincing steps, imitated exactly the gait of Josie Holmes. She made a wild dash with the stick, but failed to hit a bag and Maisie Norris called out at once, "You're Josie Holmes! I know that walk!"
Dolly shook her head vigorously and ran back to the crowd. She chanced to stand next to a very tall ghost who gravely patted her cheek as she stood beside him. Dolly looked up quickly, for she did not like this familiarity from a stranger, and she was sure the phantom was too tall to be any of the boys she knew. Of course, as the party was large, there were many of the guests whom Dolly had never met, and she resented the act of the stranger and drawing herself up with great dignity turned her back upon him.
But the tall ghost jumped around in front of her and patted her other cheek, the while he gave a cackling, rattling, ghostly chuckle.
To be sure Dolly's cheek was covered by her mask and the ghost wore white cotton gloves, but she did not at all like his familiar manner and she walked quickly away from him.
A few moments later the tall ghost himself went to take his turn with the stick.
Blindfolded and whirled about, he went with short,steady steps straight forward, and with a big whack he chanced to bring down a good sized bag. It was filled with the feathers of a whole pillow, and great laughter ensued as, like snowflakes, the feathers flew through the air. His heavy stroke had sent the bag flying upward and as it burst the feathers descended in a shower.
Since he had broken a bag, the identity of the tall ghost was not even guessed at, so Dolly had no chance to learn his name.
However, everybody was laughing and sneezing, as the feathers drifted down and flew into their mouths or tickled their ears.
Only a few of the ghosts' names were guessed correctly, as many of them had carefully disguised their shapes and sizes. Thin people had put on sweaters or bulky coats to make themselves appear stout, and short people had built up high headdresses in an effort to seem taller.
By the time the game was over every one was in most hilarious mood, and the few who had been guessed and so had removed their masks, were teasing the others in efforts to make them talk.
"I know you," said Elmer Holmes, pausing in front of Dolly. "You're Dotty Rose!"
"How do you know?" And Dolly spoke in low, guttural tones, way down in her throat.
"Oh, you needn't growl like a little bear cub! I know you, because you're so careful of that left wing of yours. You thought nobody would notice it, did you? But I spied it, and Iknowyou're Dot! You've got on a couple of coats or something to make you look fatter, but you're Dotty, all right."
Dolly shook with laughter, for she had pretended to shield her left arm with a gesture that was purposely copied from Dotty.
Just then the tall ghost appeared again at Dolly's side. He laid his hand on her shoulder and bent down a little to look in her eyes.
Dolly drew away from him and turned to Elmer Holmes.
"Who?" she said, in a hoarse whisper, pointing to the tall phantom.
"That's telling," said Elmer, laughing. "Ask him yourself who he is."
"Who?" grunted Dolly again, addressing herself to the tall one.
"Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater!" and the tall ghost grunted out the words from one corner of hismouth and Dolly could not recognise the voice. As the ghost spoke he patted Dolly on the head.
Dolly disliked his manner, for none of the other boys were other than correctly formal and polite, so she turned away from him, making a gesture of dismissal with her hand.
Apparently "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater" was desolated, for he put his hands to his eyes and rocked himself back and forth with wailing groans of despair. He was funny, and Dolly had a great desire to know who he might be, but she did not like the familiarity of his manner, and she turned away to speak to some one else.
"Take partners for a Virginia reel," called out Mr. Holmes, "and after that, we will unmask for supper."
The next moment Dolly found the tall ghost bowing before her and evidently asking her to dance with him.
But instinctively she felt that she preferred not to dance with a partner who was what she called "fresh" in his manner and she shook her head in refusal.
"Peter" urged and begged her, in dumb show, to consent. Dolly was tempted to do so, for his gestures were pleasantly wheedlesome, but as she heldout her hand in half consent, Peter grasped it and falling on one knee kissed it with his hand on his heart with all the effect of a most devoted cavalier.
"He's too silly!" Dolly thought to herself; "I won't dance with him, for I don't know how he would carry on. But I wonder who he is."
So Dolly turned decidedly away from the tall suitor and found two other ghosts bowing before her and evidently requesting her to dance.
She looked at the two figures and having no idea who they might be, she hesitated which to choose.
Finally, with a white-gloved finger, she touched each in turn, "counting out."
"My—mother—told—me—to—take—this—one!" She mumbled, in a monotonous singsong tone.
And then as her final choice rested on one of the ghosts, she went away with him to take her place in the lines that were forming for the dance.
Dolly was at the end of the line of girls and opposite her, of course, was her partner. Next to Dolly's partner stood the tall ghost and as Dolly looked at him, he waved his hand at her and then lightly blew her a kiss from the tips of his white-gloved fingers.
"Freshy!" said Dolly to herself. "I think he'shorrid! to act like that, when he doesn't know me at all, for I know I've not met any boy up here as tall as he is."
The dance began and there was much gay laughter as the phantoms advanced and retreated in their respective turns. The boys pranced awkwardly in their unaccustomed draperies, while the girls minced around prettily and flung their sheets in graceful whirls.
When it came Dolly's turn, she suddenly realised that as the tall ghost stood next to her own partner it was the obnoxious Peter with whom she would have to go through the figures of the old-fashioned dance.
With a very stately air she went forward as the tall ghost came to meet her half-way. They bowed with great dignity and turned to their places while the other couple did their part.
Next they must join right hands and swing around and this time the tall ghost whirled Dolly around so vigorously that he almost swung her off her feet.
Dolly began to be really annoyed, but she determined not to show it and stepped gracefully up for the next figure. This was the left hand twirl, and Peter turned her around more gently this time, but the next, when they joined both hands, Peterswung her swiftly round twice instead of once, his own feet clumping as if in a clog dance.
The next time the pair merely walked round each other back to back, and Dolly was very careful to keep as far distant as possible from the obnoxious Peter.
The dance would soon be over, she knew, and then he would have to unmask and she could see who this unpleasantly forward youth might be.
It was during the last of the grand march when it came Dolly's turn to dance gaily down the line with her own partner, whom she did not yet know by name, that Peter unceremoniously pushed Dolly's partner aside, and himself taking Dolly's hand, whirled her down the long aisle between the two lines of ghosts who clapped their hands and chanted or whistled in time to the music.
So rapidly did Peter whirl Dolly around that she had no choice but to follow, and she realised suddenly that the tall ghost was a most awkward dancer, and that unless she was very nimble herself he would tread on her toes.
Too angry now to think of disguising her voice, Dolly whispered to Peter as they danced along. "You are most rude and unmannerly! I have never met a boy so fresh and horrid! As soon as we reachthe other end of the line I command you to let me go and I wish you never to speak to me again!"
Dolly was thoroughly angry, but as she preferred not to let the others know of her annoyance, she danced on with Peter toward the end of the line, though she suddenly realised that he was guiding her so as to make their progress as slow as possible.
"Oh, now,—oh, now, don't get mad!" and the squeaky voiced, choked with laughter, was almost inaudible.
"Iammad! Ihateyou! you're not a nice boy at all, and I wonder Edith Holmes invited you!"
"She didn't!" was squeaked into Dolly's ear, and then, as they reached the end of the line the audacious Peter lifted the frill of Dolly's mask and kissed her cheek. Then with a bow, he released her and turned away to his place in the line.
But as Peter had taken the place of Dolly's partner, and as her partner had apparently not resented this act, Dolly had no choice but to join hands with Peter and march back under an arch-way formed by the clasped hands of the other ghosts. Rather than make an unpleasant scene by refusing, Dolly thought better to do this, as it would end the dance. So giving her finger-tips to thehorrid Peter she bent to go under the raised hands.
Tall Peter had to bend a great deal, and as for some reason or other he was decidedly clumsy with his feet and forever tripping on his trailing robe, the pair could think of nothing but their progress along the line, and as they reached the end, the dance was over and the music stopped.
"Now," thought Dolly to herself, "I'll see who that horrid boy is, though of course it's no one I know, and as he said Edith didn't invite him, he must be some intruder who hasn't any business here. But I can't see why he pickedmeout to annoy with his bad manners. I hope nobody saw him."
"Masks off!" sang out Mr. Holmes, and each ghost began to untie the strings of his concealing disguise. It was not always easy and many had to ask help from their neighbours before they could release themselves.
Dolly untied her mask quickly and stood with angry eyes awaiting a revelation of Peter's identity.
With one hand behind his head, as he loosened his mask, the tall ghost stepped to Dolly's side and said in a squeaky whisper, "Won't you forgive me?"
"No," said Dolly sternly, as she frowned at him."You have been unpardonable, and I have no wish to know you."
"Aw, now, Dollydoodle," and the mask was whisked off and smiling down at her stood—Dolly's brother, Bert!
Dolly stared at him in utter amazement and then burst into laughter as she realised what it all meant.
"You goose!" she exclaimed, as the brother and sister stood choking with laughter at the situation.
"But howcouldI know you?" said Dolly, "What makes you so tall?"
"I have big blocks of wood fastened to my shoe soles," explained Bert, "and, my, but it makes me clumsy-footed!"
"I should think so! I don't see how you danced at all! Wheredidyou come from? How did you get here? Oh, Bert, I'm so glad it wasyou, for I was so mad when I thought some stranger was acting up like that."
"It was a shame, Dollypops, to tease you, but I just couldn't help it. I had no intention of acting up like that, but when I just patted your hand you got so mad, that I thought it would be fun to go on. I'm glad youaresuch a little touch-me-not."
"Well, I should hope Iwouldn'twant strange boys patting me like that! And when you kissed me,Bert, I thought I should scream, I was so mad, but honestly I was ashamed to make a scene and let people know what you had done."
"You'll forgive me, sister, won't you?" and Bert's big blue eyes looked into Dolly's, as for a moment he did feel ashamed of himself for teasing her so. But his love of a joke was so great, that he had thoroughly enjoyed fooling Dolly and his affectionate sister willingly forgave him.
"Don't know yet who was your partner, do you, Dolly?" said a voice near her, and turning, Dolly saw Bob Rose.
"Oh, wereyou?" and Dolly turned to him, laughing.
"I sure was! I resigned in favour of Bert at the last, because he commanded me to."
"When did you come up here?" and the amazed Dolly began to realise how matters stood.
"To-night," said Bert. "We were at Crosstrees before you girls left, but Mrs. Rose kept us hidden and after you were gone, she togged us up in sheets, and here we are."
"But why did you make yourself tall, Bert? Nobody up here would know you anyhow, except Dot and me."
"Oh, just did it for fun. Thought I'd make animpression as the tallest ghost in captivity. Where's Dotty? And I want to meet a few of these other ghost girls. I'll shake you now, Dollikins, and you can have your own partner back." Bert went away leaving Bob with Dolly, who escorted her to supper.
The supper was served in true camp-fire fashion. There was no table, the ghosts, all unmasked now, sat round the big fire on camp stools or cushions, and the boys waited on the girls in true picnic style. There were substantial viands, as the evening air caused hearty appetites, and Dolly settled herself comfortably on a divan improvised of evergreen boughs and gratefully accepted a cup of hot bouillon and some sandwiches that Bob brought.
Edith Holmes was sitting by Dolly, and she was chuckling with laughter as Bert told her the joke he had played on his sister.
After supper the merry young people sang songs and glees round the fire until it was time to go home.
"Daddy said he'd come for us," said Dotty laughingly to Dolly, "but of course he didn't mean it for he knew the boys would be here to take us home."
"I'll just remove these blocks of wood before Istart," said Bert, as he quickly tore off the clumsy and cumbersome things.
"Now I can walk better," and he stood on his own shoe soles and at his own height.
"I'm awfully glad you're here again, Bob," said Edith Holmes, as they said good-night, "and I'm glad you're here too," she added to Bert Fayre. "Our camps are so near that we must play together a lot."
"Nice girl," commented Bert, as the quartette walked away. "Lots of nice people at that party."
"Yes," agreed Bob, "girls are nice at parties, but sometimes we don't want them around. Be sure to be up, old man, by sunrise to-morrow morning, for we're going fishing early."
"Can't we go?" asked Dotty.
"No, ma'am! No girls need apply. A real fishing trip is a serious matter and we can't be bothered with girls. When we come home to-morrow night, if Mother says you've been good children all day, you can have some of our fish."
To Dolly's surprise she discovered that Bob and Bert were in earnest regarding their preference for expeditions that did not include girls. Nearly every day the two boys went off fishing or motor boating with a lot of their cronies, but the girls were seldom asked.
"They're always like that," said Dotty, carelessly. "They like to ramble through the woods or cruise around the lake by themselves. They wear old flannel shirts and disreputable hats, and they eat their lunch any old way, without any frills or fuss. I don't like that sort of picnicking myself, I like pretty table fixings even if they're only paper napkins and pasteboard dishes. But the boys like tin pails and old frying pans and they catch their fish and cook 'em and eat 'em like a horde of savages."
"All right," agreed Dolly, "we can have fun enough without them; but I think they might take us along sometimes. Let's get up a rival picnic some day, and see if they won't come to it."
"They won't," said Dotty, "but we can try it,if you like. And anyway we can have our own fun."
So one day when all the boys of the neighbouring camps were going on a fishing trip, the girls arranged a picnic of their own.
The two Holmes girls, Maisie Norris, Dolly and Dotty, and three or four others, were in the crowd and they were to go in two motor boats to Bramble Brook, the very spot where the boys were trout fishing that day.
Long Sam navigated one boat and the Norris's man engineered the other.
Dolly had evolved a plan for a great joke on the boys, which, she flattered herself, would even up with Bert for the joke he had played on her.
In pursuance of their plan, the girls were taking with them a most marvellous luncheon.
There were boxes of devilled eggs, each gold and white confection in a case of fringed white paper. Sandwiches in tiny rolls and fancy shapes. Dishes of salad that were pictures in themselves, and platters of cold meats cut in appetising slices and garnished with aspic jelly in quivering translucence. Platters of cold chicken, delicately browned and garnished with parsley and lemon slices. Dainty baskets of little frosted cakes and tartlets filled with tempting jam covered with frosting.
Oh, Dolly had planned well for her little joke, and if successful, it would be rare sport.
The boys had been gone for hours when the girls started, and in their fresh linen dresses and bright hair-ribbons they were a jolly looking crowd who filled the two motor boats as they left the Crosstrees pier.
Mrs. Rose waved a good-bye, knowing the young people were safe, in charge of Long Sam and old Ephraim, the tried and trusted factotum of the Norris family.
"In you go!" cried Long Sam as he deftly handed the girls into the boats, and the laughing crowd settled themselves to enjoy the trip.
It was a beautiful mid-summer day, and the heat sufficiently tempered by the cool breezes that swept across the lake. The girls chattered and sang and called to each other as the two boats kept close together on their way.
When they reached Bramble Brook they did not go to the regular landing place, but Long Sam cleverly found a concealed nook where they could land without danger of being seen by the boys who were already there.
The trout stream was a long one, but all of itsmeanderings were well known to Sam and Ephraim, who were old residents of the locality.
The girls waited while the two men went to reconnoitre.
After a time the scouts returned.
"They're away up the brook," said Long Sam, "but all their grub and things is stacked in the clearing, and I reckon they'll be coming along back in about an hour to feed. They started pretty early and I reckon they can't hold out much longer 'thout their grub. What next, ladies?"
"You, Sam, help us unpack our hampers," said Dolly, who was directing affairs, "and you, Ephraim, go and gather up all their foodstuff and either hide it around there or bring it back here."
"Yes'm," and old Ephraim trudged away, intent only on obeying orders to the letter.
He returned with a big basket on either arm.
"Thought I'd better fetch it along," he said; "them chaps would hunt it out wherever I hid it. I left 'em all their cooking things, pots and pans, but poor fellers, they won't have nothin' to cook!"
"Here's their coffee," cried Edith Holmes, who was peering into the baskets. "And here's bacon and eggs, oh, what horrid looking stuff! And loavesof dry bread! Guy and Elmer just hate plain bread.May bethey won't care for our sandwiches!"
"Let's make coffee!" said Dotty; "there's nothing so good at a camp feast as coffee. Don't you love it, Edith?"
"Mother doesn't let me have it, but make it all the same, the boys adore it."
"We can have one cup," said Dotty; "Mother allows that. But I'm going to make it, the boys will be crazy about it. You scoot back and get the coffee pot, Ephraim, and the big long spoon, they'll probably have one."
Back went Ephraim on his errand, and when he returned his eyes were greeted by the sight of the daintily spread luncheon.
Heavy brown papers had been spread on the ground, and these were covered with a tablecloth of white crepe paper with a design of green ferns for a border. Real ferns were laid here and there under the dishes of good things, and piles of white pasteboard plates and paper napkins were in readiness.
"What about coffee cups?" exclaimed Maisie. "I know they only have horrid old tin things."
"Oh, we've lots of paper drinking cups," said Dotty, "those pretty pleated ones, they'll be lovely for coffee. Say, Sam, I want this coffee to be justright, and I wish you'd make it. I know how, but I'm sure yours will be better."
Long Sam was greatly flattered at this compliment, and he proceeded to build a fire and make the coffee with a practised hand that betokened long experience in these arts.
"Isn't the table lovely!" exclaimed Josie Holmes, as she brought a few wild flowers she had found, and placed them gracefully among the ferns that decorated the feast.
"And thank goodness I haven't seen a spider nor an ant!" cried Nellie North, who had been, with another girl, told off to keep the table free of any such marauders. One venturesome grasshopper had made a spring toward the food, but had been caught and had his energies turned in a far different direction.
"S'pose we have to wait an awful long time," said Edith, as she looked longingly at the tempting dishes.
"Never mind if we do!" said Dotty; "there's nothing that can take any hurt. There's nothing to get cold except the coffee, and Sam will attend to that. The glass fruit jars full of lemonade are in the brook, so that will be lovely and cool when we want it. Oh, everything is all right; and we've only just got to wait. So you girls may as well make up your mind to it."
Although the wait seemed long, after a time, Long Sam, scouting about, heard the boys' voices in the distance. He warned the girls and they were all quiet as mice, awaiting developments.
The crowd of boys came nearer, laughing and shouting, as they reached their own headquarters.
Sam beckoned to the girls to come and peep through the bushes at the amazed group, who had suddenly discovered that their food was missing.
"Somebody has swiped it!" cried Elmer Holmes, angrily. "All our grub is gone! I say, fellows, what shall we do?"
"Do! Go after them and get it back!" cried Jack Norris, and then a chorus of shouts went up; "the coffee pot's gone!" "All the bacon and eggs are gone!" "And the bread, too!"
"They sure made a clean sweep," said Bert Fayre. "Who do you s'pose did it?"
"Some other crowd of fishing chaps," said Bob Rose, confidently, "but it doesn't often happen,—a thing like that. No decent fellows would do it."
The girls, only a few rods distant, were peeping through the bushes and shaking with silent laughter at the discomfited boys. Such looks of chagrin and dismay as they showed! and such belligerent determinationto hunt the marauders and duly punish them.
"Just you wait till I get hold of the thieves!" cried Elmer Holmes, "I'll give them what for!"
"You won't catch them," said Bert; "they're probably miles away by this time, and they've probably eaten up all our snacks. Wow, but I'm hungry!"
"So say we all of us!" chorused the boys, as they flung themselves around in disconsolate attitudes.
"Not a snip-jack of anything," Jack went on, peering vainly into a few empty baskets that Sam had left behind him. "The nerve of them, to steal our coffee and then take our coffee pot to make it in! Honest, fellows, I never knew such a thing to happen before. I've been up here a lot of summers and I never struck a crowd that would do such a thing as this."
"That's so," agreed Bob Rose, "why, often a lot of strange chaps will share their grub with you, but I never knew 'em to hook it! Must be an awful mean crowd."
"Well, all the same," said Bert, "what are we going to do for lunch? I rousted out at sunup, and to be sure, I had my breakfast, but it's forgotten in the dim past."
"We can cook our fish," said one of the boys "but we'll miss the coffee and potatoes and bread and such various staffs of life. We haven't such a lot of fish anyhow."
"No; we depended on bacon and eggs for our mainstay. I move we go home."
"S'pose we'll have to," and Bob looked rueful, "We can't put in a whole afternoon on empty stomachs. What do you say, shall we cook the fish, or light right out for home?"
"Here's a cracker they dropped," cried Bert, who spied a soda biscuit on the ground and brushing it off, began to eat it.
"Aw, give a starving comrade a bite," and Guy held out his hand eagerly.
"By jiminy, here's another!" and Jack found another cracker farther along.
Now this was part of the plan, and it was at Dolly's directions that Long Sam had carefully planted a few crackers at intervals to lure the unsuspecting boys to the surprise that awaited them.
Dolly and Dotty, with their arms around each other, were peeping through the trees, and they shook with glee as they saw the boys eagerly hunting for the stray crackers.
"Funny how they came to drop 'em along," saidGuy and Elmer responded, "Must have been eating them on their way. But say, they've left a trail; let's follow it."
The group of boys—there were eight of them—moved slowly along toward where the girls were hidden. The trail of crackers had been adroitly arranged to bring them finally within sight of the appetising luncheon so daintily set forth.
As the boys came nearer to the little clearing, and as the sight of the feast must in a moment burst upon their eyes, the girls scampered to hide behind trees to watch the astonished faces.
Nor were they disappointed. In a moment more the boys came in sight of the luncheon and stopped suddenly.
"By gum!"
"Well, what do you know about that!"
"Jiminy crickets!"
"Ah there, my size!"
And various other boyish exclamations gave voice to surprise and delight on the part of the onlookers. But they paused several steps away from the feast.
"That's a girls' layout," said Bert Fayre, nodding his head sagaciously; "no fellows ever set up that dinky business! But it looks good to me!"
"Good!" exclaimed Jack; "I'd face a term inState's prison to nab that loot! Wonder who owns it!"
"Certainly not the people who stole our grub; so we can't claim this in return. Oh, I smell coffee! 'M-mm!"
Unwilling to intrude further on what was so evidently a girls' picnic, and yet equally unable to tear themselves away from the enticing scene, the boys stood, a comically eager crowd, looking vainly about for signs of the picnic party.
"Seems 'sif I must grab one sandwich," said Bob, rolling his eyes comically toward the piled-up dishes.
"Well, you won't," said Bert, who had no fear that Bob would be guilty of such a thing, but he wasn't quite so sure of some of the other boys, and so they stood like a lot of hungry tramps, a little bewildered at the situation and greatly tantalised by the sight of the feast and the odour of steaming coffee.
"Nothing doing," said Bob, at last. "We can't touch other people's property, and we might as well go on home. But if the ladies belonging to this church sociable would show themselves, I'd sit up and beg for a bone of that fried chicken over there."
"Maybe we all wouldn't!" commented several, andthen, at a signal from Dolly, the girls sprang from their hiding-places and stood laughing at the crowd of hungry boys.
"Oh, you Dotty Rose!" cried Jack Norris, as he caught Dotty's dancing black eyes, "I might have known you were at the head of this!"
"No more than Dolly Fayre," cried Dotty, "and all the rest of us. Are you hungry, boys?"
"Are we hungry? We should smile! We've been hungry all the while!" came in chorus from the famished tramps.
"Wouldyou care to come to lunch with us?" said Dolly, her blue eyes dancing as she put the question.
"Would we care to!" and Jack grinned at her. "We're hungry enough to eat you girls; but, alas! kind ladies, we're obliged to regret your invitation as we're not in proper society garb."
Suddenly the boys became aware of their flannel shirts and old hats and general fishermanlike appearance.
"We'll forgive that for once," cried Dotty; "we'll pretend we're a rescue party and you're a lot of starving soldiers, so we won't mind your tattered uniforms."
"Rescue party!" cried Bob; "I like that!Aren't you the sly ones who raided our commissariat department? Own up, now!"
"What makes you think so?" And Edith Holmes looked the picture of injured innocence.
"Oh, yes! 'What makes us think so!' What makes us think that's our coffee boiling in our coffee pot! Fair ladies, we invite you to lunch with us, on our coffee and our bacon and eggs. And if you'll wait a few minutes, we'll cook our trout for you."
"Well, I'll tell you what," and golden-haired Dolly settled the question; "we'll eat our luncheon now, as it's all ready, and then, if you like, you can cook your fish afterward."
"That suits me," said Bob, "and I'm free to confess that I can't wait another minute to attack this Ladies'-Own-Cooking-School Lay Out! Take seats, everybody— I mean you girls sit down, and us chaps will wait on you."
"All right," laughed Dolly; "we resign in your favour. I can tell you girls get hungry, too."
So the girls sat around, and the boys quickly passed plates and napkins and then the dishes of delicious food.
Then they served themselves, and sitting down by the girls, rapidly demolished the contents of their well-filled plates.
"I'm not going to rub it in," said Dolly, dimpling with smiles, "but for boys who don't want girls along on their picnics you seem to enjoy our society fairly well."
"It isn't our society they're enjoying," said Nellie North; "it's our stuffed eggs and cold chicken."
"It's both, adorable damsels," declared Bob. "Just let us appease our hunger, and goodness knows you've enough stuff here for a regiment, and then we'll show you how we appreciate the blessing of your society. We'll entertain you any way you choose."
"That we will," agreed Guy. "We'll give you a circus performance, a concert, lecture, or song and dance, as you decree."
But it took a long time to satisfy the boys' appetites. It seemed as if they could never get enough of the various delicacies, and though they pretended to make fun of what they called the fiddly-faddly frills, they thoroughly relished the good things.
"These eggs ought to be shaved," said Bob, as he picked the little fringes of white tissue paper from a devilled egg.
"No critical remarks, please," said Dolly, offering him a rolled up sandwich tied with a narrow white ribbon.
"Oh, my goodness! do I eat ribbon and all? I can do magical stunts for you afterward, like the chap who pulls yards of ribbon out of his mouth, on the stage."
"Anybody who makes fun of our things can't have any," declared Josie.
"Oh, I'm not making fun," and Bob took half a dozen of the tiny sandwiches. "Why, I always have my meals tied up in ribbons. I have sashes on my griddle-cakes and neckties on my eggs, always."
"I like these orange-peel baskets filled with fruit salad," said Bert, as he helped himself to another; "I think food in baskets is the only real proper way."
But at last, even the hungry fishermen declared they couldn't eat another bite, and the young people left the feast and sat on the rocks and tree stumps near by, while Long Sam and Ephraim cleared away and packed up the things to take home.
The boys were as good as their word, and entertained the girls by singing college songs and giving gay imitations and stunts, and everybody declared, as the picnic finally broke up, that it had been the very best one of the season.