The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea; Or, The Loss of The Lonesome Bar

by Janet Aldridge

  CHAPTER X

  SUMMONED TO THE COUNCIL

  "They're saved! They're saved!" shouted fifty voices, their ownersalmost wild with delight. With one common impulse they gathered upTommy and Harriet and started to carry them into camp. Tommy offeredno resistance. She submitted willingly. With Harriet it was different.She struggled, freed herself from the detaining arms, and sprang awayfrom her rejoicing companions, laughing softly.

  "I am perfectly able to take care of myself, thank you," she said.

  "You certainly do not look it," declared the Chief Guardian. Harriet'sface was pale, her eyes sunken, with dark rings underneath them, butin other ways she appeared to be her old self. "We shall both be aswell as ever after we have had something warm to eat and drink."

  "Tell us, oh, tell us about it," cried several girls in chorus.

  "Not a word until after the girls have had something to eat and drink.They are completely exhausted." Mrs. Livingston gazed wonderingly atHarriet Burrell, knowing full well that the latter had borne thegreater share of the burden in the battle that she must have had tofight through the long, dark night.

  The cook girls were already making coffee and warming up food leftover from their own breakfast, as being the quickest way to preparesomething for the returned Meadow-Brook Girls. That meal strengthenedand cheered them wonderfully. Tommy began to chatter after havingdrunk her first cup of coffee. Their companions sat about in asemi-circle watching them, scarcely able to restrain their curiosityas to what had happened during the night. Jane opened the recital by aquestion.

  "Did you really mean that you wished fish for breakfast, Tommy?" sheasked.

  Grace regarded her with a frowning squint.

  "I didn't want any fithh for breakfatht. It wath the fithh that wantedme for their breakfatht."

  "And there are sharks off this coast, too!" gasped one of the girls.

  "Were you in the water for long?" asked Miss Elting.

  "It seemed like a long time, it seemed like hours and hours," admittedHarriet, accompanying the words with a bright smile that the keen-eyedChief Guardian saw was forced.

  "For hours!" cried the girls in chorus.

  "If you feel able, please tell us about it," urged Hazel.

  Mrs. Livingston shook her head.

  "Both girls are going to bed immediately. Please fix up two cots forthem in my tent. No, no," she added in answer to Harriet's protests,"it is my order. You are to turn in and sleep until supper time, ifyou wish; by that time we shall have the camp put to rights and youmay talk to your hearts' content."

  The Chief Guardian led the two girls to her tent, assisting them toremove their damp clothing, putting them in warm flannel night gownsand tucking them in their cots. Harriet insisted that she did not wishto be "babied," but, the guardian was firm. After tucking them in Mrs.Livingston sat down on the edge of Tommy's cot and began asking herquestions, all of which Tommy answered volubly, Harriet now and thenoffering objections to her companion's praise. In a few moments theChief Guardian was in possession of the whole story of the night'sexperiences.

  "You are the same brave Harriet that we came to know so well at ourcamp in the Pocono Woods," said Mrs. Livingston. "There are not manylike you; but we shall speak of your achievements later. Now I willdraw the flap, and I do not wish to see it opened until sundown. Iknow that I may depend upon you to obey orders."

  Harriet nodded. "There is something I should like to ask. Did you seeanything of a sail boat in the bay this morning?"

  "No. Why?"

  "I saw one come in last night before the blow. It anchored in thecove. They had put out their lights before coming in, which made mewonder."

  "Are you sure about that?"

  "Yes, I know. I wondered if they had been blown ashore?"

  "We should have known of it if such had been the case. But I can'tunderstand what a boat could be doing in here. This is a remote placewhere people seldom come. That was why I chose it for our summercamping place. I will ask the girls if they saw anything of the boatyou mention, but it is doubtful."

  "Another thing. Oh, I'm not going to keep you here talking with me allday."

  "No; I want to go to thleep," interjected Grace.

  "I saw a cabin down on that long point of land just this side of thebay. What is it?"

  "A fisherman's cabin. It is not occupied, nor has it been in a verylong time."

  "Then why can't we Meadow-Brook Girls use it while we are in camp? Ishould love to be down by the water, with the sea almost at my feet."

  "I should think you would have had enough of the sea, after yourdreadful experience of last night," laughed Mrs. Livingston.

  "I am fascinated with the sea. It is wonderful! Do you think we couldhave the cabin?"

  "I will consult with Miss Elting. If she thinks it wise, I will seewhat can be done. Of course, it is a little farther from the camp thanI like. I prefer to have my girls where I can have an eye on them atall times. But the Meadow-Brook Girls can be depended upon to takecare of themselves, save that they are too venturesome. Yes, I willsee what can be done."

  "Oh, thank you ever so much," answered Harriet with glowing eyes."Then, if we wish, we may sleep out on the sands when the nights arewarm."

  "I shall have to think about that, my dear. Now go to sleep. Thisevening I shall have more to say."

  Tommy was already asleep. Harriet dropped into a heavy slumber withina very few moments after the Chief Guardian's departure. She did notawaken until the sun had dipped into the sea. As she forced herself toa realization of her surroundings, the merry chatter of voices wasborne to her ears and the savory odor of camp cooking to her nostrils.

  In the meantime an active day had been spent by the Camp Girls. Therewas much to be done, for the camp was in a confused condition afterthe storm of the preceding evening. A day of labor had given a keenzest to the appetites of the campers; added to this was thesatisfaction of having completed their work. The camp now was in trimcondition. Acting upon the orders of the Chief Guardian, the wood hadbeen laid for a council fire. The orders had been issued for the girlsto don ceremonial dress and report for a council at eight o'clock thatevening.

  The girls wondered what important subject was to come up forconsideration, as it was not the evening for the regular weeklycouncil fire that was always held during the summer encampment. Of allthis Harriet was unaware. When she awakened she found dry clothinglaid out for her to put on. The same had been done for Grace, who wasstill sleeping soundly. Harriet shook the little girl awake.

  "It is nearly night, dear," she said. "How do you feel?"

  Tommy blinked several times before replying. "How do I feel? Not thowet ath I did latht night. I thmell thupper!" exclaimed Tommy, sittingup suddenly.

  "I told you it was nearly night. Let's go out and see the girls. Howgood they all are to us!"

  "I thuppothe they will all be looking at me and following me about aththough I wath thome thort of curiothity," complained Grace.

  "Of course you would not like that. It would embarrass you, wouldn'tit, Tommy?"

  "It would embarrath me more if they didn't," answered Tommy honestly,puckering her face into frowns and squinting up at Harriet sowhimsically that the older girl burst into a peal of merry laughter.

  Instantly following the laugh, Jane's head was thrust through the tentopening. The head was in disorder, for Jane had found no time toattend to her hair. She had been working, which meant that she hadbeen accomplishing things, for Jane was a host in herself when it cameto work.

  "Excuse the condition of my crowning glory, darlin's, but I couldn'twait to comb it. I have been sent to tell you that the grease is onthe bacon and the potatoes are popping open in the hot ashes of thecook fire. We're going to cut off the tops of them, dig out a tunneland fill the tunnel with butter. Um, um! Now, what do you think ofthat?"

  In a twinkling Tommy was out of bed and gleefully hurrying into herclothes.

  "I thought it would interest you, darlin'," chuckled Jane.
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  "You dress as if you were going to a fire," declared Harriet, with agood-natured laugh.

  "She is," answered Crazy Jane; "the camp fire--the cook fire, I shouldsay."

  Tommy, during this dialogue, had not uttered a word. Finally, havinggot into her clothes to her satisfaction, she darted from the tent,spinning Jane half-way around as she dashed past her, the little girltwisting her hair into a hard knot as she ran.

  "I want a potato with a hole in it," she shouted the moment she camein sight of the cook fire. Some one snatched a hot tuber from theashes and tossed it to her. Tommy caught the potato, but dropped itinstantly and began cooling her fingers. "I want one with a hole init," she insisted.

  "Bring it here and you shall have it," replied Miss Elting. Instead ofpicking up the potato and carrying it, Tommy propelled it along withthe toe of her boot. She did not propose to burn her fingers again.The guardian gouged out a hole to the bottom, filling the hole withbutter, Tommy's eyes growing larger and larger. Then she began to eatthe potato with great relish, after having seasoned it with salt andpepper. This was no time for words, nor were any uttered untilnothing but the blackened skin of the potato was left.

  "Thave me!" gasped Tommy. "Pleathe, may I have another?"

  "Don't you think it would be well to wait for supper?" suggested MissElting. "In your greediness you have forgotten the others."

  "I beg your pardon, but I wath tho hungry! If you had been a fithhthwimming in the ocean all night you, too, would have an appetite. Howwould you like to be a fithh, Mith Livingthton?"

  "I am quite content to be a mere human being," was the ChiefGuardian's laughing reply. "Were you afraid when you found yourselfout in the ocean all alone?"

  "Afraid? I--I gueth I didn't think about that. I wath too buthy tryingto keep from filling up with thalt water. Did you ever drink any ofthat water, Mith Livingthton?"

  "Hardly."

  "Then take the advice of a fithh, and don't."

  All hands were called to supper, thus putting an end to theconversation, which had been heartily enjoyed by Mrs. Livingston.Tommy always was a source of amusement to her. She appreciated theactive mind and the keen, if sometimes rude, retorts and ready answersof the little lisping girl.

  After supper a short time was spent in visiting among the girlsprincipally to discuss the marvelous experience of the twoMeadow-Brook Girls; then one by one the girls left to go to theirtents to don their ceremonial dress, and in place of the regulationserge uniform of the Camp Girls figures clad in the ceremonial dress,their hair hanging in two braids over their shoulders, and beadsglistening about their necks, began to make their appearance.

  Barely had the girls put on their ceremonial costumes before amoccasined Wau-Wau girl ran at an Indian lope through the camp, cryingout the call for the council fire:

  "Gather round the council fire, The chieftain waits you there,"

  chanted the runner, circling the camp after having gone straightthrough the center from her own tent. The girls began moving toward adark spot in the young forest where the wood for the fire had beenpiled, but not yet lighted.

  "What are we going to do?" questioned Tommy.

  Miss Elting said she could not say; that the Chief Guardian had calledthe council. Silent figures took their places, sitting on the ground,curling their feet underneath them, speaking no words, waiting for theflame that would open the Wau-Wau council. At last all were seated.From among the number there stepped forward a dark figure who haltedbefore the pile of dry wood, then, stooping, began rubbing two stickstogether, while the circle of Camp Girls chanted:

  "Flicker, flicker, flicker, flame; Burn, fire, burn!"

  A tiny blaze sprang from the two sticks, then the chant rose higherand higher, figures rose up, swaying their bodies from side to side inunison as the blaze grew into a flame and the flame into a roaringfire, the tongues of which reached almost to the tops of the slendertrees that surrounded the camp of the Wau-Wau Girls.

  "I light the light of health for Wau-Wau," announced the firemaker,turning her back to the flames and facing part of the circle ofexpectant faces on which the lights and shadows from the fire wereplaying weirdly.

  This completed the opening ceremony. The council fire was in order,the purpose of the meeting would soon be explained, thus relieving thecuriosity of some fifty girls who were burning to know what it was allabout. Not the least curious of these was Tommy Thompson.