"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 local agent, 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 more permits 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 from station 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. They had 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. The light 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 a real 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 interest the 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 treacherous places 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. Better bring 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 down on 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 you girls 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 of building 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 a mindfulness 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.



CHAPTER XXI.

"SH!"

"Who in the world do you suppose did that?" Hazel Edwards exclaimed, as she hastily examined her own clothes and then quickly struck out a spark that clung to the skirt of Azalia Atwood.

"Quick, girls," cried Miss Ladd; "did any of you do that?"

There was a chorus of indignant denials. No room for doubt remained now that the missile had been hurled by someone outside the semicircle near the bonfire.

All eyes were turned back toward the timber a short distance away, but not a sign of a human being could they see in that direction.

"If we'd been on the other side of the bonfire, we'd have got that shower of sparks right in our faces and all over us," Katherine Crane said indignantly.

"We ought to find out who threw that rock, or whatever it was," Ethel Zimerman declared. "It must be a very dangerous person, who ought to be taken care of."

"If that sort of thing is repeated many times, some of us probably will have to be taken care of," observed Julietta Hyde.

"Listen!" Miss Ladd interrupted, and the occasion of her interruption did not call for explanation. All heard it. A moment later it was repeated.

"Wohelo!"

"No Camp Fire Girl ever made such a noise as that," said Helen Nash disdainfully.

"It sounds like a man's voice," Azalia Atwood remarked.

"I'll bet a Liberty Bond that it is a man," ventured Ruth Hazelton.

"Have you a Liberty Bond?" asked Helen.

"I'm paying for one out of my allowance," Ruth replied.

Just then the "noise" was repeated, a hoarse hollow vocalization of the Camp Fire Watchword. This time it seemed to be farther away.

"The person who gave that call threw the missile into our bonfire," said Miss Ladd in a tone of conviction. "If he bothers us any more we'll find out who he is."

The girls now turned their attention again to the fire. Several pails of water were carried from the lake and dashed into the embers until not a spark remained. Then they returned to their tents and to bed, although apprehensive of further disturbance before morning.

But they heard nothing more of the intruder that night.

Shortly after sunup, the girls arose, put on their bathing suits, and went down to the beach for a before-breakfast plunge. Marie Crismore and Violet Munday reached the water's edge first, and presently they were giving utterance to such unusual expressions, indicative seemingly of anything but pleasure that the other girls hastened down to see what was the matter.

There was no need of explanation. The evidence was before them. The stakes that had been driven into the bed of the lake to hold the rope intended to indicate the safety limit had been pulled out and thrown upon the shore. The rope itself had disappeared.

"There surely are some malicious mischief makers in this vicinity," Helen Nash observed. "I suppose the person who did that was the one who threw a stone into our bonfire and hooted our watchword so hideously."

"What shall we do?" Violet Munday questioned. "We can't let this sort of thing go on indefinitely."

"We must complain to the authorities," Ernestine Johanson suggested.

"Do you suppose they would do anything?" Estelle Adler asked. "I understand it's very hard to get these country officials busy on anything except a murder or a robbery."

"Then we must organize a series of relief watches and take the law into our own hands," Katherine proposed.

"Spoken like a true soldier," commented Miss Ladd approvingly. "I was going to suggest something of the same sort, although not quite so much like anarchy."

"Where do you suppose they hid that rope?" Marion Stanlock inquired.

"Somebody probably needed a clothesline."

"Here come some people who may be able to throw some light on the situation," said Marion.

All looked up and saw two girls apparently in their "upper teens," dressed more suitably for an afternoon tea than a rustic outing. The latter were descending the wooded hill-shore, and had just emerged from a thick arboreal growth into a comparatively clear area a hundred yards away.

"Sh!" Katherine warned quickly. "Be careful what you say or do. Those are the Graham girls."



CHAPTER XXII.

THE GRAHAM GIRLS CALL.

"They're early risers; we must say that much for them," observed Katherine in a low voice. "We must give them credit for not lying in bed until 10 o'clock and, and——"

"And for dressing for an afternoon party before breakfast," Helen Nash concluded.

"Isn't it funny!" Hazel Edwards said with a suppressed titter. "I wonder if they are going in bathing."

"Keep still, girls," Miss Ladd interposed. "They're getting pretty near. Let's not pay too much attention to them. Let them seek our acquaintance, not we theirs. The advantage will be on our side then."

At this suggestion of the Guardian, the girls turned their attention again to the conditions about their bathing beach. A moment later Katherine made a discovery that centered all interest in unaffected earnest upon the latest depredation of their enemy, or enemies. With a stick she fished out one end of a small rope and was soon hauling away at what appeared to be the "clothes line" they had used to indicate the safety limits of their bathing place.

"Well, conditions are not as bad as they might be," said Miss Ladd, as she took hold to assist at hauling the line out of the water. "We have the stakes and the rope and can put them back into place."

"Would you mind telling us what has happened?"

These words drew the attention of the Camp Fire Girls away from the object discovered in the water and to the speaker, who was one of the older of the urbanely clad summer resorters from the Graham cottage.

"Someone has been guilty of some very malicious mischief," Miss Ladd replied. "We had roped in a bathing place after examining it and finding it safe for those who are not good swimmers, and you see what has been done with our work. The stakes were pulled up and the rope hidden in the water. Fortunately we have just discovered the rope."

"Isn't that mean!" said the younger girl, whom the campers surmised correctly to be Olga Graham.

"Mean is no name for it," the other Graham girl declared vengefully. "Haven't you any idea who did it?"

"None that is very tangible," Miss Ladd replied. "There was a mysterious prowler near our camp last evening, but we didn't catch sight of him. He threw a heavy stone into our bonfire and knocked the sparks and embers in every direction, but he kept himself hidden. A little later we heard a hideous call in the timbers, which we were pretty sure was intended to frighten us."

"That's strange," commented the older of the visitors.

"Maybe it's the ghost," suggested Olga with a faint smile.

"Ghost!" repeated several of the Camp Fire Girls in unison.

"I was just joking," the younger Graham girl explained hurriedly.

"Why did you suggest a ghost even as a joke?" inquired Katherine. The utterance of the word ghost, together with the probability that there was a neighborhood story behind it, forced upon her imagination an irrational explanation of the strange occurrences of the last evening.

"Oh, I didn't mean anything by it," Olga reassured, but her words seemed to come with a slightly forced unnaturalness. "But there has been some talk about a ghost around here, you know."

"Did anybody ever see it?" asked Hazel Edwards.

"Not that I know of," avowed Olga. "Of course, I don't believe in such things, but, then, you never can tell. It might be a half-witted person, and I'm sure I don't know which I'd rather meet after dark—a ghost or a crazy man."

"Is there a crazy man running loose around here?" Ernestine Johanson inquired with a shudder.

"There must be," Olga declared with a suggestion of awe in her voice. "If it isn't a ghost—and I don't believe in such things—it must be somebody escaped from a lunatic asylum."

"I saw something mysterious moving through the woods near our cottage one night," Addie Graham interposed at this point. "Nobody else in the family would believe me when I told them about it. It looked like a man in a long white robe and long hair and a long white beard. It was moonlight and I was looking out of my bedroom window. Suddenly this strange being appeared near the edge of the timber. He was looking toward the house, and I suppose he saw me, for he picked up a stone and threw it at the window where I stood. It fell a few feet short of its mark, and then the ghost or the insane man—call him what you please—turned and ran away."

"My sister told us about that next morning, and we all laughed at her," said Olga, continuing the account. "I told her to go out and find the stone, and she went out and picked one up just about where she said the stone that was thrown at her fell."

"Were there any other stones near there?" Marion Stanlock inquired.

"We looked around specially to find out if there were any others near, but didn't find any," Olga answered. "Addie—that's my sister—had the laugh on us all after that."

"Do you live in the cottage over there?" Ethel Zimmerman inquired, pointing toward Graham summer residence.

"Yes," Addie replied. "Our name is Graham. We were very much interested when we learned that a company of Camp Fire Girls were camping near us."

"Don't you girls camp out any?" Katherine asked with the view of possibly bringing out an explanation of the Graham girls' attire, which seemed suited more for promenading along a metropolitan boulevard than for any other purpose.

"Oh, dear no," Olga answered somewhat deprecatingly. "We'd like to well enough, you know, but we're in society so much that we just don't have time."

Katherine wanted to ask the Graham girls if they were going to a stylish reception before breakfast, but restrained the impulse.

Both Katherine and Hazel recognized Addie as the girl whom, on their first trip to Stony Point, they had seen handle roughly the little boy they believed to be Glen Irving, the grandnephew of Mrs. Hutchins' late husband in whose interests they made the present trip of inspection. Whether or not she recognized among the campers the two girls to whom she had behaved so rudely on that occasion did not appear from her manner, which was all sweetness now. She continued her social discourse thus:

"I really wish society did not demand so much of our time, and I'm sure my sister feels the same way about it. There's nothing we'd like better than to become Camp Fire Girls and live close to nature, you know, just the way you girls live. Truly it must be delightful. But when you become an integral figure in society (she really said integral), you are regarded as indispensable, and society won't let go of you."

None of the Camp Fire Girls attempted to reply to this speech. Their plan was to bring about an appearance of friendship between them and the Grahams in order that they might associate with the family that had custody of the little boy in whose interests they were working. Any attempt on their part, they felt, to discuss "society" from the point of view of the Graham girls must result in a betrayal of their utter lack of sympathy with this "social indispensability" of such helpless society victims.

"We'd like, however, to do something for you in your unfortunate situation," Addie Graham continued with a gush of seeming friendliness. "I'm sure my brother James—he's 16 years old—would be glad to assist you in any way he can. I'm going to send him down here, if you say the word, to help you extend that rope around your swimming place. He's a very handy boy, and it would be much better for you to let him do the work than to perform such a laborious task yourselves."

"Thank you ever so much," returned Miss Ladd with a warmth that seemed to indicate acceptance of the offer. The truth was that anything which tended to increase friendly relations between them and the Grahams was acceptable.

"I'll send him around today," the older Graham girl promised. "We must hurry back now for breakfast. We were just out for an early morning constitutional, you know."

"Come and see us any time you wish," Miss Ladd urged. "You'll always be welcome. We haven't made the acquaintance of anybody around here yet. Come over and help us eat one of our constitutional luncheons, or suppers. We have real picnics every day, the jolliest kind of times—except when the ghost walks. Maybe you can help us catch the ghost, also."

"Maybe we can," said Addie. "Well, good-by. You girls come and see us, too."

"Thank you," was the acknowledgment uttered by several of the members of Flamingo Camp Fire as the two Misses Graham stepped primly in their French-heel shoes over the uneven ground and returned homeward along a diagonal course up the side of the hill-shore of Twin One.



CHAPTER XXIII.

"HIGH C."

All the members of Flamingo Camp Fire gathered close together on the sandy beach after the departure of the two Graham girls and held a low-toned discussion of the situation.

"There was only one thing missing this morning," Hazel Edwards observed. "That was the perfume. I suppose they didn't have time to spill it on in proper proportions."

"I wonder why they came down here at this time of day?" said Harriet Newcomb. "There must be something in the air."

"I bet they never got up this early before unless their house was afire," Ethel Zimmerman ventured.

"Do you suppose they wanted to be on hand to witness our discomfiture when we discovered what had been done to our swimming place?" Azalia Atwood asked.

"That would imply that they knew who did it and may even have been a party to the plot," Miss Ladd reasoned.

"And why not?" Azalia returned. "They don't look to me, for a moment, to be above it."

"I feel like a miserable hypocrite," Katherine declared with a sarcastic smile. "I'm not used to extending warm expressions of friendship to people for whom I haven't any use and asking them to call and see me."

"Remember you're a spy now," said Helen Nash slyly. "When engaged in a praiseworthy spy work, always remember your mother and the pantry and the fist in the jam, if you have any doubt as to the worthiness of your occupation."

"Enough said," Katherine announced, "I'm convinced. The jam is well spiced and I smell it already. I shall expect to find it on somebody's fist."

The girls did not forego their morning plunge because of the removal of the "safety line," but were careful to keep well within the approximate limit which they remembered fairly well. After about fifteen minutes in the water they returned to the camp and donned their khaki middies; then they had breakfast.

The breakfast dishes had not long been washed and put away when another caller arrived at the camp. Although not unheralded, the appearance of this new arrival was a surprise to all the girls, for they had not rested much importance upon the promise of Addie Graham to send her brother to them to offer his assistance in repairing the damage done by some mischief-maker in the night before.

The young male scion of the Graham family appeared so suddenly before the eyes of the girl campers that some of them afterward expressed the suspicion that he walked timidly on his tiptoes all the way from his home to the camp. Indeed all the members of Flamingo Fire have today a decided impression that the sound of his voice was the first notice they had of his approach.

Whether this impression be a true one or not, that voice was enough to compel memory of it ahead of anything else. It was the most effeminately high-pitched voice the girls had ever heard.

"Excuse me, young ladies, but my name is James Graham, Jr.," squeaked the treble clef.

There was a general start throughout the camp. Most of the girls were seated upon the grassy plot within the crescent arrangement of the tents and engaged in their forenoon routine, and several of them actually dropped their craft work into their laps so great was their surprise. Ethel Zimmerman uttered a little cry of astonishment in almost the same key as the announcement of the newcomer.

The latter was almost as effeminate in appearance as in voice. First, he was very much overgrown and fleshy. He probably weighed 150 pounds. His face was round and very pale, and his eyes were not over-endowed with expression. He wore a "peaches-and-cream" two-piece suit and a panama fedora and carried a delicate bamboo cane.

"My two thoughtful sisters info'med me that you young ladies were in need of the assistance of a man, and I volunteered to offer my aid," continued young Master Graham.

"Oh dear me," replied Katherine; "it would be a shame to put you to so much trouble. We thank you ever so much for your offer, but we'd much rather retain the friendship of your folks by urging you not to insist. If you really must be so good as you suggest, you might go back and send your hostler or chauffeur, but tell him to bring a pair of rubber boots that reach to his ears."

This rather enigmatical answer puzzled the not very quick-witted James, Jr., and his chin dropped.

"You see, we want a pile-driver out in the lake to sink some posts into the submarine earth," Katherine continued. "But, by the way, come to think of it, you might help us wonderfully if you have a rowboat and would lend it to us for an hour or two."

"Sure I've got a boat," replied the "would-(not)-be ladies' aid," as one of the girls afterward dubbed him. The tone of relief with which he now spoke was unmistakable. "I'll go and row it right over to you."

"We won't want it until about 11 o'clock," said Miss Ladd. "If you need it between now and then you'd better wait."

"Oh we won't want it all day," James, Jr., returned reassuringly. "I'll bring it right away."

"I hope he doesn't tip his boat over on his 'high C'," Hazel Edwards said generously, as the caller disappeared in the timber. "He might be drowned in the billows of his own voice."

"That's his name—High C," declared Estelle Adler enthusiastically. "I refuse to recognize him by any other name. Dear me, girls, did you ever in all your born days hear such a voice?"

"No," cried several in chorus.

"He's just the dearest thing I ever saw," declared Ernestine Johanson, making a face as sour as the reputation of a crabapple.

At this moment the discussion of "High C" was dropped as suddenly as "it" had appeared upon the scene. Another arrival claimed the interest of the girls.

It was a little boy about ten years old, clad in steel-gray Palm Beach knickerbockers and golf cap, but not at all happy in appearance. He was a good looking youth, but there was no sprightly cheerfulness in his countenance. He seemed nervous and on the alert.

"My goodness!" exclaimed Hazel Edwards; "that's Glen Irving, the little boy we——"

Katherine, who was seated close to Hazel, cut the latter's utterance short by clapping her hand over the speaker's mouth.



CHAPTER XXIV.

THE RUNAWAY.

The boy was excited. Evidently he was laboring under anything but normal conditions. He had appeared very suddenly around the north end of the bluff which sheltered the camp on the east. "High C" or "Jimmie Junior," as the girls from now on referred to young Graham, had left the camp around the south extremity of the bluff.

The youth in Palm Beach knickerbockers fairly rushed from the thicket north of the camp and directly toward the girls, all of whom jumped to their feet in astonishment. The newcomer did not slacken his pace, but ran up to the group of startled campers as if seeking their protection from a "Bogy Man." And as he stopped in the midst of the group which circled around him almost as excited as he, the little fellow looked back as if expecting to behold some frightful looking object bearing down upon him.

"I ran away," were his first words; "so—so they couldn't beat me."

"Who wanted to beat you?" inquired Miss Ladd sympathetically, leaning over and taking him gently by the hand.

"Mom—an' Ad.—an' Olg.—an' Jim—they all hit me," he replied, his eyes flashing with anger. "Mom locked me in a room, but I opened a window an' clum out."

"Did they beat you today?" Hazel Edwards questioned.

"No," replied the youth with a puzzled look; "they don't want you to know they whipped me. They stopped it after you came and after a man came and told 'em not to."

"Who is the man?" Hazel asked.

"I don't know. I heard his name, but I forgot."

"Was it Langford?"

"Yes, that's it—Langford. He told 'em all to be good as pie to me while you was here. They thought I was asleep, but I was just pretendin'."

"Did Mr. Langford say why they must be good to you while we were here?" asked Katherine.

"I guess he did," the boy replied slowly. "He said somebody'd take me away and Mom 'u'd lose a lot o' money."

"That's just what we thought," Hazel declared.

"What else did you overhear?" Katherine inquired.

"They're goin' to be awful nice and awful mean."

"Awful nice and awful mean," Katherine repeated. "That's interesting. What do you mean by that?"

"They're goin' to be awful nice to your face, but mean on the sly."

"Have they done anything mean yet?" Miss Ladd interposed, having in mind the depredations of the night before.

"I don't know," the boy answered. "They were talkin' about doing somethin' last night, and the man and Jim went out together."

"You don't know what they proposed to do?"

"No—just somethin', anything they could."

"What is your name, little boy?" Hazel asked.

"Glen" was the answer.

"Glen what?"

"Glen Graham."

"Isn't it Glen Irving?"

The boy looked doubtfully at his interrogator.

"I don't know," he replied slowly. "I guess not."

"Didn't you ever hear the name Irving before?"

The boy's face brightened up suddenly.

"That was my papa's name," he said eagerly.

"Now, I want to ask you an important question," said Miss Ladd impressively. "Try your best to tell us all you can, and don't tell any of the Grahams you were down here talking to us. We won't forget you. If they beat you any more come, and tell us if you can get away. We'll have the police after them. But be sure to keep this to yourself. Now, here's the question I want you to answer: Did anybody outside of the Graham family ever see them beat you?"

"Sure," Glen replied quickly. "Byron Scott did. So did Mrs. Pruitt and Guy Davis and Mark Taylor."

"Where do they live?" was Miss Ladd's next question.

"Byron lives here, so does Mrs. Pruitt. Guy and Mark live in Baltimore."

"Do they live near the Graham's home in Baltimore?"

"Yes, right in the same block. Mark lives next door."

"Good. Now, Glen, we are going to take you back to Mrs. Graham. We haven't any right to keep you here, but if they beat you any more, we will complain to the police and take you away never to come back to them."

"Oh, I wish you would," exclaimed the little fellow, throwing his arms around the neck of the Guardian who had seated herself on the grass before him. "I don't want them to scare you with a ghost."

"Scare us with a ghost!" Miss Ladd repeated in astonishment. "What do you mean by that?"

"They said——" the boy began, but his explanation was interrupted in a manner so confusing that the group of Camp Fire Girls might easily have wondered if the world were suddenly assuming all the absurdities of a clownish paradise in order to be consistent with what was now taking place.

Addie Graham, the girl of ultra-style and perfume who had behaved so rudely to little Glen when she discovered the runaway with Katherine and Hazel in the woods, suddenly dashed into the deeply interested group of Camp Fire inquisitors, seized the boy in her arms, kissed him with apparent passionate fondness, and addressed him with a gush of endearment that must have brought tears to the eyes of an unsophisticated listener.



CHAPTER XXV.

A LITTLE SCRAPPER.

"Oh, you dear little brother, you dear darling child," almost sobbed Addie as she seized Glen Irving in her arms and began to shower kisses on his unwilling face.

The boy shrunk away, or into as small a compass as he was able, to escape from the "affectionate attack." Plainly it was anything but pleasing to him.

The "attack," however, did not cease in response to his protest. Addie held onto her captive with all her strength, at the same time attempting to soothe his wrath or fear, or both, with as many kisses as she could force in between the boy's belligerent arms. Glen, conscious of the presence of friends who, he believed, would go to any extreme to assist him, fought as he had never fought before, desperately, viciously. He used his fists and fingernails to good purpose and pulled Addie's hair until it presented a ludicrous appearance of disarrangement.

Realizing that the boy's actions might prove harmful to his cause if this affair should ever be contested in the courts, Miss Ladd decided to take a hand and do what she could to pacify the young heir who had suddenly been transformed into a veritable wildcat. She had no doubt that there was good cause in his past experience for the development of such character in him, but expediency demanded that it be checked at once.

"Here, let me take him," Miss Ladd urged as she laid her hands on his shoulders and attempted to draw him away. A few gentle words and an exhibition of a kind persuasiveness of manner brought success. She drew the lad back some distance and tried to reason with him, whereupon he burst into convulsive sobbing.

His sobs were not a new expression of an outburst of passion. Miss Ladd was certain of this. Little Glen was weeping not because anger "opened the floodgates of his soul," but because of some picture of dread in his past experience which he feared would be repeated in the future.

But Addie Graham was not equal to the occasion. The veneer of gentleness that she had put on could not withstand the deep-seated spitefulness of her nature, and as she observed a severe scratch on one hand and felt the disarrangement of her hair, she yielded impulsively to vengefulness of spirit that was boiling within her and exclaimed:

"The miserable little pest! Just wait till I get you home, Glen Graham, and I'll——"

She stopped right there, much to the disappointment of the eagerly listening Camp Fire Girls, who fully expected her to open an avenue to the very evidence for which they were looking.

"Why!" she continued, with a desperate effort to control her temper. "I never knew him to act that way before. He's usually such a—such a—sweet dispositioned little dear. I don't know what to make of it. He took me completely by surprise. I don't understand it—I don't know what to make of it—I can't understand the little—the little—d-dear."

"It is strange, very strange," Miss Ladd agreed, purposing, for policy's sake, to help the girl out of her predicament.

"Come to sister, Glennie dear," Addie continued, after she had succeeded in rearranging her hair and restoring her hat to its normal position on her head. "Don't you know sister loves you just lots? Why did you run away? Come back home and sister will give you some candy, just lots of it. Come on, now, that's a good little boy."

"I don't want your candy and you ain't my sister, and I won't go back. You'll beat me, and mom'll beat me and everybody else'll beat me. Don't let her take me back, please don't," Glen concluded, turning his face pleadingly toward Miss Ladd.

"Oh, you must go back, Glen," the Guardian replied, reproachfully. "That's your home, don't you know? Where in the world will you go if you don't go back home? Think of it—no place in the world to go, no place in the world."

There was a tone of awe in the young woman's voice that impressed the boy. He cooled down considerably and looked meditatively at his monitor.

"They'll beat me," he protested earnestly. "They'll tie me to a bed post and strap me."

"Why, how perfectly terrible!" Addie exclaimed. "I never heard of such a thing. I can't understand such remarks."

"I'll tell you what we'll do," Katherine suggested reassuringly. "We'll all go back to the house with you and fix everything up nice. They won't beat you, I'm sure. Come on, Miss Graham, we'll help you, if you don't think we're intruding."

Addie did not know how to reply and did not attempt to. She started toward home and the Camp Fire Girls followed her, Miss Ladd leading the battling runaway by the hand.

Glen was considerably bewildered and apparently submissive during the journey homeward. He said little, and when he spoke, it was only a short reply to something said to him.

At the door of the cottage, they were met by Mrs. Graham, to whom Addie introduced them. None of the girls were well impressed by the woman's appearance or manner. She affected the same ungenuine interest and affection for Glen that had characterized Addie's manner toward him. But they managed to bring about a condition more or less reassuring to the boy and left him, with secret misgivings, in the custody of the family which they held more than ever under suspicion.

"We've got to do some real spy work now," said Miss Ladd after they had reached their camp again. "We've got to find out what is going on in that house when those people have no suspicion that they are being watched."



CHAPTER XXVI.

AMMUNITION AND CATAPULTS.

The thirteen Camp Fire Girls and their Guardian are hardly to be censured because they did little more work of a routine nature that day. One could hardly expect them to fix their minds upon any "even tenor" occupation while the thrills of recent developments supplied so much stimulus for discussion of future prospect.

They were careful in these discussions not to leave open any possibility of their being overheard. Their conversations were always held in low tones and in places where it would be difficult for any of the members of the Graham family to find positions of concealment near enough to overhear what was being said.

One thing decided upon was in line with Miss Ladd's declaration that they must find out "what was going on in the Graham house," having reference, of course, to the treatment received there by little Glen in view of his violent protest against being returned to the care and custody of the people whom he charged with acts of cruelty toward himself. A scouting expedition was planned for the evening, the "official scouts" of the Fire—Katherine and Hazel—being delegated to this work. Katherine proposed that two others be selected to assist them, and Miss Ladd suggested that they choose their assistants themselves.

"We'll think it over and pick them before suppertime," said Katherine after conferring with Hazel.

The result was that before sundown Azalia Atwood and Ernestine Johanson had been added to the spy squad. Their selection came as a result of general discussions of the work in prospect, in the course of which both Azalia and Ernestine made several suggestions that were regarded as clever and helpful for the scouting plans.

Shortly after the girls returned from the Graham cottage to their camp, "Jimmie Junior" of the "treble cleff voice" appeared with the announcement that he had brought his boat to the Camp Fire landing and moored it by tying the painter to a projecting rock. They thanked him and proceeded at once with the task of restoring the safety-guard line to their bathing place. All put on their bathing suits and went down to the beach.

With the aid of the boat their work was much easier than it had been the first time. It is no easy performance for one person to sit on the shoulders of another and wield a mallet on the upper end of a stake held by a third person in water arm-pit deep. If you doubt this assertion, just try it.

Well, this difficult feat was unnecessary this time. The stakes, rope, and mallet were put into the boat, and three of the girls got in and rowed out to the point where the southwest stake had been driven before. Then two of them plunged overboard and, while one of these steadied the boat and the other held the stake in position, the girl in the boat drove it firmly into the sand-clay bed of the lake.

This operation was repeated until the supports of the buoy-line were all restored. Then the rope was stretched from stake to stake and wooden buoys attached as before.

The work was speedily performed and then the girls all had a good swim. When they returned to their camp, it was lunch time and the "gastronomic committee," as Harriet, the "walking dictionary," had dubbed the commissary department, got busy. During the meal, which they ate on a "newspaper tablecloth," picnic-style, the subject of organized self-protection against further depredations was discussed.

"I believe we ought to establish a relief watch system to be kept up all night every night as long as there seems to be any danger of our being molested by prowlers like those who paid us a visit last night," Estelle announced.

"What would we do if we caught anybody at any mischief?" asked Azalia.

"We'd sail right into 'em and give 'em Hail Columbia," declared Hazel like a vigilance committee chairman.

"Yes, we'd pull their hair," said Marie Crismore.

"And scratch their eyes out," Ernestine chimed in.

"And boo-shoo 'em away," added Julietta Hyde.

"I'm positively ashamed of you for talking that way," Miss Ladd interposed. "You're laughing at yourselves because you are girls. Now, you ought not to do that, even in fun. How many of you can do some real boys' stunts just as well as the boys can?"

"I can swim half a mile," announced Hazel.

"I can do a fly-away from the horizontal bar," declared Violet Munday.

"I can run a hundred-yard dash in thirteen seconds," said Ernestine; "and that's better than lots of boys can do it."

"I can throw a ball like a boy," said Helen Nash.

"So can I"—this from Marion Stanlock.

"Oh, several of us can do that," Katherine declared. "We've played ball with the boys. But now you're getting close to what I was driving at. We'll proceed to gather a supply of ammunition."

"Ammunition!" several exclaimed.

"Surely," Katherine replied. "We'll get it down on the beach."

"Oh, I get you," said Estelle. "You mean——"

"Rocks," cried Marie, getting the word in ahead of Estelle.

"That's it," Katherine admitted. "We'll shower rocks at anybody that makes us any more trouble."

"Very ingenious," Miss Ladd said approvingly. "If those persons who visited us last night come again, they'll get a warm reception."

"And a hard one," Marion supplemented.

"I have another idea," Helen announced, and everybody turned attention to her. "I have some heavy rubber bands in my grip. I always carry them because they come in very handy sometimes."

"What can you do with them?" Estelle asked.

"What do you think?" Helen returned.

"I know," cried Ethel Zimmerman. "Make catapults with them."

"Good!" several of the girls exclaimed.

"The boys call them slingshots," said the Guardian.

"How do you make a slingshot?" Julietta inquired.

"I know," Marion announced. "You cut a forked stick, like the letter 'Y.' Then you tie two rubber bands to it, one to each fork. Between the other ends of the bands you tie a little sack, or shallow pocket, made of leather or strong cloth. You put a stone in this pocket and pull it back, stretching the rubber bands, take aim, and let it fly."

"You must have had experience making those things," Katherine suggested.

"No, I never made one," Marion replied: "but I've watched my cousin make them and shoot them, too. He was very skillful at it."

"Can you shoot a catapult?" Katherine inquired.

"I think I can," Marion answered.

"Good," said Katherine. "We'll make several, and those who can't throw stones can use slingshots."

That was a very busy afternoon for this warlike group of girls. While the luncheon dishes were being washed and put away, Katherine and Hazel rowed the boat back to the Graham landing, thanked "Jimmie Junior" for its use, accepted with solemn countenances his "high-C" "You're welcome," and returned to their camp. Then the work of manufacturing arms and ammunition, in anticipation of another midnight invasion, began.



CHAPTER XXVII.

THE GHOST.

Before the "preparedness program" of the afternoon was started, Miss Ladd addressed the group of Camp Fire Girls thus, speaking in low tone, of course, in order that she might not be overheard by any eavesdropper who might be in hiding in the vicinity:

"Now, we want to do this thing right. How many of you feel that you can throw a stone a considerable distance and accurately?"

Katherine, Helen, Marion and Violet held up their hands.

"How many of you would like to use catapults?" was the Guardian's next question.

The hands of Harriet, Marie, Ethel, and Ruth went up promptly. A moment later Estelle and Ernestine also put up theirs.

"I believe I could learn how," said Estelle.

"We don't want too much demonstration around here this afternoon," Miss Ladd warned. "Everything must proceed quietly and as if nothing unusual were taking place. How many rubber bands have you, Helen?"

"Oh, a dozen or twenty," the latter replied.

"Well, we'll proceed to cut half a dozen Y-forks and make them into catapults. We'll start out at once. Hazel, you get a hatchet, and, Marie, you get a saw; the rest of you get your combination knives."

In a few minutes they were in the thick of the timber, searching the small trees and saplings for Y-forks to serve as catapult handles. In half an hour they returned with a dozen of varying degree of symmetry and excellence.

Then the work of assembling the parts of these miniature engines of war began. Some of the girls exhibited a good deal of mechanical skill, while others made moves and suggestions so awkward as to occasion much laughter.

"Well, anyway," said Marie after she had been merrily criticised for sewing up the "mouth" of a "pocket" so narrowly that a stone could hardly fly out of it; "there are lots of boys who would make a worse job sewing on a button. Don't you remember last winter at a button-sewing contest, Paul Wetzler cast the thread over and over and over the side of the button—and he didn't know any better."

"That's a very convenient way to dodge a joke on you, Marie," said Violet. "But just because boys don't know anything is no reason why we shouldn't."

"Whew! some slam at me," Marie exclaimed. "I'm very properly squelched."

After half a dozen catapults had been made, the girls practiced slinging stones for an hour and several of them developed considerable skill. In this way it was determined who should have the preference in the use of these weapons.

Then at the suggestion of Miss Ladd, a dozen slings were made to be tied about the waist for carrying a supply of stones, some the size of an egg, for throwing with the hand and pebbles for use in the catapults. After these were completed, the girls went down to the beach and gathered a plentiful supply and took them back to the camp. Then a score or two of these stones were deposited in the slings, and the latter were put in convenient places in the tents on short notice. The catapults also were turned over to those of the girls who proved most capable of using them skillfully.

The last item of preparations on the program of the day consisted of completing plans for a succession of night watch reliefs. As Katherine, Hazel, Azalia, and Ernestine were assigned to special scout duty immediately after dusk, they were excused from assignment on any of the reliefs. This left ten girls among whom the watches might be divided, which was done in the following manner:

The eight sleeping hours from 9 P. M. to 5 A. M. were divided into five watches of equal length and assignments were made thus:

First watch: Marion Stanlock and Helen Nash. Second watch: Ruth Hazelton and Ethel Zimmerman. Third watch: Violet Munday and Harriet Newcomb. Fourth watch: Julietta Hyde and Marie Crismore. Fifth watch: Estelle Adler and the Guardian, Miss Ladd.

Nothing further of particular interest took place during the rest of the day, except that shortly before suppertime Addie and Olga Graham, both dressed "fit to kill," called at the camp and thanked the girls for their assistance in getting "their brother" back home.

"Is he all right now?" Hazel inquired with genuine concern.

"Yes, he's fine," Addie replied. "You see he has spells of that kind every now and then, and we don't know what to make of it. But today's was the worst spell he ever had."

"Don't you do anything for him?" Hazel asked.

"What can we do?" Addie returned. "He isn't sick. I'm afraid it's just a little distemper. There is absolutely no reason for it."

Miss Ladd asked the Graham girls to remain at the camp for supper, but they "begged to be excused on account of a pressing social engagement."

After darkness had fallen as heavily as could be expected on a clear, though moonless night, the four scouts set out through the timber toward the Graham cottage. All of them carried flashlights and clubs which might easily have been mistaken in the dark for mere walking sticks. The clubs were for protection against dogs or any other living being which might exhibit hostility toward them. Katherine and Hazel had also two of the rubber-band catapults, as they had exhibited no little skill, for novices, in the use of them.

The other girls built a small fire near the tents, to keep the mosquitos away, and sat around it chatting and waited for the scouts to return. Miss Ladd insisted, as soon as dusk began to gather, that they bring out their "ammunition" from the tents and keep it close at hand for immediate use if anything should happen to require it.

And something did happen, something of quite unexpected and startling character. The scouts had been gone about half an hour and the night had settled down to a blanket of darkness on the earth, a sprinkle of starlight in the sky, the croaking of frogs, the songs of katydids and the occasional ripple of water on the lake shore. A poet might have breathed a sigh of delightful awe. Well, the girls were pleasureably impressed with scene and the sounds, if they were not exactly delighted, and the awe was coming.

It came without warning and was before them very suddenly. It was in the form of a man in a long, white robe, long white hair and whiskers, the latter reaching almost to his waist. He stalked, stiffly, unemotionally out of the darkness south of the camp and across the open space within thirty feet of the fire, where sat the startled, chill-thrilled group of girls, speechless with something akin to fear and momentarily powerless to shake off the spell that held them as rigid as statues.



CHAPTER XXVIII.

A BUMP ON THE HEAD.

Suddenly Helen Nash's memory served her so well that she regained control of her wits with a shock. Here is what she remembered:

"I don't want them to scare you with a ghost"—these words uttered by little Glen just before his warning speech was interrupted by the appearance of Addie Graham at the girls' camp.

That recollection was enough for Helen. There was nothing tenuous, elusively subtle, or impenetrably mysterious any longer about the ghostly apparition. Little Glen had something very clear and definite in his mind when he made that remark.

Her muscles having relaxed from their rigid strain of superstitious suspense, Helen reached for the "ammunition sling" that she had placed beside her and drew therefrom one of the catapults they had made in the afternoon, also a pebble about the size of a marble, and fitted the latter in the pocket of the weapon. Then she drew back the pocket and the pebble, stretching the rubber bands as far as she could extend them, and took careful aim.

Helen had practiced with this weapon a good deal in the last two or three hours and acquired considerable proficiency for so short a period of experience. Moreover, she was skilled in amateur archery and could pull a bow with a strong right arm. This experience, together with a general systematic athletic training at school, rendered her particularly well adapted for her present undertaking.

The other girls, under the spell of awe-fascination which had seized and held Helen before it was broken by a sudden jog of her memory, knew nothing of what was going on in their midst until they heard the snap of the rubber bands. And doubtless it would have taken them considerable time to fathom it had the pebble-shooter's aim not proved to be remarkably good. It struck the "ghost" on the head.

Of course even Helen could not follow the pebble through the air with her eyes, nor could she see where it struck, but other unmistakable evidence informed her as to the trueness of her aim and the effect of the blow. A sharp thud informed her that she had hit something of substantial resistance, and the next bit of evidence broke the spell for the other girls with a realization of what had taken place.

The "ghost" wavered and seemed about to topple over, at the same time emitting a groan of pain which proved him to be thoroughly human. Helen was frightened, but there was a new kind of awe in this fright. All suggestion of superstition had left her and in its place was the dread that she might have killed a man.

The latter dread, however, was soon dispelled. The "ghost" did not fall. He staggered, it is true—evidently the pain of the blow had stunned him considerably; but he managed to put speed into his pace, although the evidence of his suffering was even greater after he began to run. In a minute he disappeared in the darkness of the timber.

"My! that was a good shot, Helen," Ethel Zimmerman exclaimed. "And he will surely wear some lump on his head for some time to come."

"I was afraid I pulled too hard," Helen replied with a sigh of relief; "and, believe me, I'd rather be scared by a ghost several times over than with the prospect of having a murder record."

"Who is he?—have you any idea?" Violet asked.

"Can't you guess?" Helen answered. "Isn't he someone connected with the Graham family?"

"What was he trying to do—scare us?" Julietta inquired, addressing the question as much to herself as to anybody else.

"I should imagine something of the kind, although he may be the crazy man the Graham girls spoke about," said Helen.

"I don't believe there is any such person," Miss Ladd volunteered at this point.

"Then why did they suggest such an idea?" Violet questioned.

"I don't know, unless it was to frighten us," the Guardian replied.

"Frighten us away from here," Harriet supplemented.

"Exactly," said Helen. "That's my theory of the affair. Don't you remember what Glen Irving said just before Addie Graham put in her appearance and cut short our interview with the boy?"

"He said something about ghosts," Harriet recalled.

"Not about ghosts, but a ghost," Helen corrected. "It made quite an impression on me. Didn't any of you wonder what he meant?"

"I did," announced Violet; "and I remember exactly what he said. It was this: 'I don't want them to scare you with a ghost.'"

"Those were the very words," Helen declared. "Now do you get the connection between that remark and what just took place? Glen had heard them talking over their plans, isn't it all very clear?"

"At least it is very interesting," commented Miss Ladd.

"Since you have got so near a solution of this affair, perhaps you'll go a step farther and tell your interested audience who that ghost was," Ruth Hazelton suggested.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't be so rash as that," Helen responded; "but if I were going to write to Mrs. Hutchins tonight, I would suggest to her that, if Mr. Pierce Langford should return to Fairberry in the next week or two, she might have somebody examine his head for a bump."

"A phrenological bump?" inquired Harriet, the "walking dictionary."

There was a general laugh.

"Not a phrenological bump," Helen answered.



CHAPTER XXIX.

A CRUEL WOMAN.

Katherine, Hazel, Ernestine and Azalia found it no easy task to pick their way through the dark timber more than half a mile to the Graham cottage. Several times, finding themselves hopelessly entangled in a thicket, or stumbling over disagreeably uneven ground, and fearful of losing their way, they made use of their flash lights until able to continue their journey satisfactorily.

But after they caught their first glimpse of the light in the Graham cottage, they made no further use of the flash lights. Guided by the illuminated windows and their memory of the surroundings, they made their way over the intervening space until within a hundred feet of the house, where they halted and looked and listened for about fifteen minutes.

First, they wished to make sure that there was no dog on the place. They were reasonably certain that the Grahams kept no watchdog, as several of the girls had been careful to check up in this regard when passing near or calling at the cottage. But as additional precaution, they made a careful inspection from a safe distance on this scouting expedition before venturing close to the house.

The night was clear and warm, but no moon was shining. There was a stillness in the air which alone might have been expected to cause a dog to howl for very lonesomeness. Even while the four scouts were waiting for evidence of a canine guard at the Graham place, far away in the distance there came a mournful howl from a mournful hound in a farmyard. The sound was repeated several times, and although there were two or three echoing responses from as many neighboring sources, none came from a kinship kennel of the Graham premises.

At last Katherine and Hazel decided that it was safe to advance nearer to the house. Leaving Azalia and Ernestine at the edge of the timber to watch for any condition or circumstance that might prove unfriendly to their venture, the two leaders advanced across the clearing.

As they neared the building, a sound, which they had not heard before reached their ears and drove from their minds all thought or fear of a watchdog. The sound was like the plaintive cry of a child and seemed to be muffled as if coming through two or three thick walls.

There were two windows on the side of the house nearest the advancing girl scouts. Through the drawn shade of one of these came the rays of incandescent bulbs which lighted the room. The other window was dark.

The advance of Katherine and Hazel was guided now by the seeming source of the muffled cry. As they started for the house, their initial impulse was to direct their steps toward the lighted window. But as they approached the building, almost unconsciously they veered gradually to the right until they found themselves standing close to the unlighted window at the rear.

Without a doubt the muffled sounds came from this part of the cottage. A whispered conversation between the girls resulted in the following procedure: Hazel stood guard at a distance of ten or fifteen feet while Katherine stood close to the window, almost pressing her ear against the glass in order the better to hear the sounds that interested them. For two or three minutes the listener continued in this attitude; then she went to where Hazel stood and the latter advanced to the window and did likewise. She also tried the sash to see if it was locked, succeeding in raising it slightly, so that the sounds within reached her ear more distinctly.

Several minutes later both of these girls returned to the edge of the clearing and rejoined their two companions stationed there. A low-voiced consultation was held, at the close of which Hazel said:

"Well, all this means that we'll have to return to the cottage and stay there until we find out something more. Let's see what we can discover in the front of the house."

She and Katherine accordingly went back and directed their inspection as Hazel had suggested. The shade trees did not cover the lower pane to the full limit and they were able to look in and get a fairly good view of the room.

Mrs. Graham and "Jimmie Junior" apparently were the only members of the family at home, if we may disregard as one of the family, little Glen, who undoubtedly was the author of the muffled sobs. Mrs. Graham was reading a fashion magazine and her son was playing solitaire at a card table.

Almost the first view acquainted the girls with the fact that the woman was much disconcerted over something, and it soon became evident that the cause of this nervousness was the sound of weeping that reached her through the closed door of an adjoining room. Presently she arose, with a hard look on her face and determined manner, and moved in the direction from which the offending noise came.

Katherine and Hazel did not take the additional precaution this time of alternating as watcher and guard. They stood together at the window, and as they saw Mrs. Graham open the door they moved quickly to the window next toward the rear. By the time they reached it, this room also was lighted.

Fortunately a similar condition existed here also with reference to the width of the window shade and they were able to get a fairly good view of this apartment. Mrs. Graham evidently was disposed to lose no time and to leave ground for no misunderstanding as to her purpose. She threw open a second door, this time a closet door, and the girls beheld a sight that fairly made their blood boil.

There sat little Glen on a chair with a rope wound around his body, arms, and legs, securing him so firmly to the article of furniture on which he was seated that he could scarcely move a muscle. His face was wet with tears and a picture of suffering.

For the first time the watchers observed that the woman had a leather strap in her hand, and they were still further horrified when they saw her swing it cruelly against the bare legs of the quivering child.

Once, twice she struck the boy. Hazel and Katherine could hardly contain their indignation. Indeed it is not at all to be doubted that they would have attempted to interfere on the spot if an interruption had not come from another source before the third blow could fall.

There was a disturbance in the front of the house. Somebody had entered and was talking in a loud voice. Mrs. Graham let her arm fall without dealing the third blow for which she had raised it as a man entered the room in anything but mild and pleasant manner.

"What are you doing, Mrs. Graham?" he demanded. "What did I tell you about this conduct of yours? Do you realize that you are bringing things to a climax where I'll wash my hands of the whole affair?"

The speaker was Pierce Langford.



CHAPTER XXX.

THE GIRLS WIN.

Mrs. Graham looked uncomfortable—not ashamed or abashed. Doubtless the conflict within her was between the cruelty of her nature and the fear of financial reverses in consequence of that cruelty. She did not answer the rebuke of her confederate attorney.

The latter drew a knife from his pocket and in a moment was severing the rope that bound the child to the chair. After he had released the boy, who looked gratefully toward him as a protector, the man threw cold water on little Glen's natural feeling of confidence toward him by saying:

"Now, mind you, Mrs. Graham, my interference is not moved by any sentiment of sympathy for the kid. I merely want to inform you that things are coming to such a pass that I may be forced to drop out of this game purely as a move of self-salvation. For instance, it appears very unwise to make any further attempts to frighten that bunch of girls. They simply don't scare. See that?"

Langford indicated the object of his question by taking off his hat, which he had neglected to remove when he entered the house, and caressing gently with two or three fingers a badly swollen wound on the side of his head almost directly over his right ear. Mrs. Graham looked at it curiously, not sympathetically.

"Where did you get that?" she inquired.

"Those girls did it, or one of them, I presume. I thought my make-up would paralyze them, but instead they nearly paralyzed me. I think they fired some rocks at me, for something of that description struck my head, and you see the result.

"I drove my machine into the timber a little farther up the road and put on my ghost outfit. Then I walked through the woods to the girls' camp and stalked past them. You would have thought my appearance was enough to freeze their veins and arteries. Well, they pretty nearly put mine in cold storage for eternity. Now, what do you know about 'first aid to the injured?' Will you get some cold water and alcohol or liniment? I'm going to have a fierce swelling. I don't suppose I can keep it down much now, but I'm going to have an awful headache and I'd like to prevent that as much as possible. Let the kid go to bed, and do something for me."

Glen took advantage of this suggestion and went into another room. Mrs. Graham and the lawyer returned to the living room. Katherine and Hazel watched them for about twenty minutes, but heard little more conversation. Then Langford left the house and Mrs. Graham and her son prepared to retire. As it appeared that they would be able to get no further information of interest to them at the Graham cottage that night, Katherine and Hazel and the other two girls who waited at the edge of the clearing returned to their camp and reported the success of their expedition.

* * * * *

Early next day, Miss Ladd, Katherine, and Hazel went by boat to Twin Lakes and appeared before a magistrate and swore out a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Graham on a charge of cruel and inhuman treatment of a child in her custody. Before leaving Fairberry she had been given authority to take this move if in her judgment such emergency action were advisable. She also asked that Glen Irving be removed from the custody of the Grahams. Then Miss Ladd sent a telegram to Mrs. Hutchins asking her to "come at once."

Mrs. Hutchins arrived at Twin Lakes next day. Meanwhile Mrs. Graham was arrested and the boy was taken temporarily as a ward of the court. When she was confronted with the charges against her and the evidence of the two Camp Fire Girls who had witnessed one instance of outrageous cruelty, her cold resistance was broken and she promised to accede to Mrs. Hutchins demands if the prosecution were dropped.

This seemed to be the best settlement of the whole affair, and it was accepted. By order of court Glen was turned over to Mrs. Hutchins who assumed the obligation of his care and custody.

Mrs. Hutchins remained with the girls a week at their camp at Stony Point, and then all returned to Fairberry, where the tents were pitched again in the broad and scenic ravine known as Fern Hollow. Here they camped again for another week, summarized, tabulated, and classified the achievements of the last few weeks, conferred honors, and finally adjourned to their several homes, there to remain until the autumn opening of school.

But the adventures of the year for this Camp Fire were not complete. More of equally stirring character were in store for three of the girls, and those who would follow these events should read the volume entitled:

CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON A HIKE; or, LOST IN THE GREAT NORTHERN WOODS.

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THE END