Campfire Girls at Twin Lakes
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Stella M. Francis >> Campfire Girls at Twin Lakes
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"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:
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