Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains

by Stella M. Francis

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE PUNSTER MAKES A FIND.

  When Marion Stanlock selected the term High Peak as her Camp Firename, her deliberations carried her back from Hiawatha Institute tothe scene of most of the years of her child life in Hollyhill.Confronted with the task of choosing a name, she first consulted herideals to determine what associations she wished to have in mind whenin after years she recalled the motive and circumstances of herselection.

  Home surroundings had always had much of beauty for Marion. From thebeginning of his business career, Mr. Stanlock had had a large incomeand was able to supply his family with many of the expensive luxuries,as well as all the so-called necessities of life. But for Marion theartificial luxuries had little special attraction. She accepted themas a matter of course, but that is about all the claim they had uponher. She enjoyed the use of her father's automobiles, but she wonderedsometimes at the scheme of things which entitled her to an electricrunabout or a limousine and a chauffeur, while thousands of otherquite as deserving girls were not nearly as well favored.

  The ability and the disposition to look at things occasionally fromthis point of view contributed much to the generosity of Marion'snature. She was a favorite among rich and poor alike, except amongthose rich who could "understand" why the wealthy ought to bespecially favored, and those poor too narrow and circumscribed tocredit any wealthy person with genuine generosity.

  Being of this artless and unartificial trend of mind, Marion mustnaturally turn to either nature or human merit for the selection ofher Camp Fire name. She was not sufficiently mature to pick a poeticidea from the achievements of men, and so it fell to nature to supplya quaint notion as a foundation for her "nom-de-fire."

  Seated in her room at Hiawatha Institute one evening, Marion castabout her mental horizon for some scene or association in her lifethat would suggest the desired name. The first that came to her wasthe picture of a towering mountain, conspicuous not so much for itsactual loftiness as for its deceptive appearance of great height. Inall her experiences at home, it had never occurred to Marion to thinkof this individual portion of prehistoric geologic upheaval as a massof earth and stones. She thought of it only as the most beautifulexpression of nature she had ever seen, graceful of form, rich in theseasons' decorations.

  This mountain was probably about as slender as it is possible for amountain to be. Compared, or contrasted, with a nearby andcharacteristic mountain of the range, it was as a lady's finger to atelescoped giant's thumb. High Peak, as the tapering sugar-loaf ofearth was called, was located west of Hollyhill, close to the town. Infact the portion of the city inhabited by the main colony of miners'families was built on the sloping ground that formed a foothill of themountain.

  And so when Marion named herself as a Camp Fire Girl after thismountain she had in mind an ideal expressed in the first injunction ofthe Law of the Camp Fire, which is to

  "Seek Beauty."

  High Peak was her ideal of beauty and grandeur. It stood also, withher, for lofty aspiration. Thus she pictured the physicalrepresentation of the name she chose as a member of the great army ofgirls who seek romance, beauty, and adventure in every-day life.

  On the day when the Flamingo Camp Fire arrived at Hollyhill, anothertrain pulled in at the principal station several hours earlier. Itcame from the same direction and might, indeed, have borne thethirteen girls and their guardian if they had seen fit to get up earlyenough to catch a 3 o'clock train.

  But the thirteen girls would have been much interested if they couldhave beheld the eight boy passengers as they got off in a group andlooked around to see if there was anyone at the depot who knew any ofthem.

  Relieved at the apparent absence of anybody who might recognize theone of their number whose home was in Hollyhill or another who hadbeen a frequent visitor there, the eight boys hastened to a cornerhalf a square away from the depot and boarded a street car that waswaiting for the time to start from this terminal point. The carstarted almost immediately after they had seated themselves, moving ina southwesterly direction through the business section of the city andthen directly west toward High Peak, passing along the northern borderof the mining colony and then making a curve to the north through amore prosperous residence district.

  The eight boys all wore Scout uniforms. They were the full membershipof one Spring Lake patrol, the leader of which was Ernest Hunter,whose home was in Hollyhill, and who had invited all the Scouts of hispatrol to be his guests during the holidays. This invitation followedthe receipt of information that Marion Stanlock had invited themembers of her Camp Fire to spend the Christmas holidays with her.

  Ernest Hunter was well prepared to entertain his guests in real scoutfashion. His parents' home was not large enough to afford sleepingquarters and other ordinary conveniences for seven visitors inaddition to the regular personnel of the family, but the boy had takencare of this deficiency long before he had ever dreamed that it mightoccur. The Hunter home included a large tract of land running clear upto the foot of the mountain, which, at this point, was rocky andcovered with a plentiful growth of white pine, hemlock and blackspruce. Hidden behind an irregular heap of boulders and a small timberforeground was a cave, formed by nature and nature's anarchisticelements, that could not fail to delight the most fastidiouswonder-seeker. The entrance was about the size of an ordinary doorway,flanked by twin boulders like columns for an arched shelter. Withinwas a large room with fairly smooth walls and ceiling of Silurian rockand sandstone.

  The cave as it now appeared would hardly have been recognized by itsaboriginal frequenters. It had been converted into a place of civilabode or resort, retaining only enough of its pristine wildness forromantic effect. Ernie Hunter had done his work well. He had providedfor heat for the cave by running a galvanized stovepipe up through acrevice in the rocks and filling with stones and cement all thesurrounding vents to guard against the draining in of water from themountain side. He also collected and stored at home a supply of oldmattresses, blankets, kitchen utensils, a laundry stove, and otherdomestic conveniences usable in a place of this kind. A week beforevacation he wrote thus to his 12-year-old brother, Paul:

  "I'm going to bring seven boys home with me. We are going to spend thevacation in the mountains, with the cave as headquarters. Will youhave the stove hauled there and set up and keep a fire in it a gooddeal of the time to dry the place out thoroughly? We will come toHollyhill on an early train, so as to have plenty of time to haul themattresses and other outfittings to the cave and get it ready forhabitation. We will all have guns and will have some great timesshooting game. Of course, you will be in on all this."

  Paul did as requested. When the patrol arrived at the Hunter home, hereported to his brother that the latter's instructions had beencarried out and all was in readiness for the removal of the outingoutfit from the storeroom over the garage to the cave. Everything butthe mattresses were piled into Mr. Hunter's seven-passenger touringcar, the eight boys piled in on top and the first run to their holidayheadquarters was made.

  As the machine drove up toward the mouth of the cave, the boys werestartled at seeing two rough looking men emerge from the entrance andslink away to the south, half hidden by the unevenness of the groundand the thick shrubbery. Their hurried movements and evident desire toavoid meeting the boys marked them as suspicious characters. Fearingthat they might have committed some malicious act to render the placeuninhabitable, Ernie hastened toward the cave, followed by the otherboys, to make an inspection.

  Before entering, however, Ernie, who was the patrol leader, asked fourof the boys to return and watch the automobile. Division of thepatrol with this in view was quickly arranged, and Ernie, CliffordLong, Harry, Gilbert, and Jerry McCracken proceeded into the cave.

  The entrance of the cave was protected against the cold by a heavyblanket hung over a pole anchored at either end in the rocky side atthe top. Pushing aside this wilderness portiere, the fourinvestigators stepped in, lighting their way with two or threeelectric
flash lights.

  They were relieved to discover that no damage had been done to thecave or to the stove set up within. After satisfying themselves onthis score they proceeded to replenish the fire, by putting in severalcuts of spruce, a good supply of which had been provided by Ernie'sbrother. The cave was still warm and had been well dried out by thesteady fire kept up by Paul for two or three days.

  The entire patrol now reassembled and mapped out a plan for completingtheir day's work. It was decided that Ernie should return in theautomobile to his home a mile and a half away and bring the mattressesand a supply of food that was being prepared for them at the house,while the others took upon themselves the task of cutting a supply ofbrushwood to lay on the floor of the cave as a kind of spring supportfor the mattresses. Accordingly Ernie got into the machine and droveaway, while the other boys got busy with the task assigned to them.

  The patrol leader returned, in less than an hour, accompanied by Pauland a farm hand employed by Mr. Hunter. They brought with them notonly four mattresses, but the shotguns and rifles shipped by the boysfrom the academy for their mid-winter hunting. Ernie announced thattheir trunks and valises also had arrived and that George, the farmhand, would return for them in the automobile.

  The work progressed rapidly and by the time the trunks and valisesarrived the mattresses were all in position, the food and cookingutensils were stored away in the narrowest compass of space that couldbe arranged for them and a large pile of resinous wood had beengathered.

  It was now 4 o'clock and the boys felt that they were entitled to arest. A large boulder with a flat end two and a half feet in diameterwas rolled into the cave and propped into position, with slabs ofstone for a table. On this was placed a large kerosene lamp, which,when burning, lighted up the cave very well. A supply of camp chairshad been brought with the first load, so that everybody had a seat.

  "I call this something swell, from the point of view of a smart rusticwho hasn't absorbed any city nonsense," observed Miles Berryman,seating himself comfortably in a chair and gazing about with greatsatisfaction. "I think, Ernie, that we must all agree that you are avery wide-awake opportunist."

  "Is that the kind of musician who plays an opportune at everyopportunity?" inquired John St. John in a tone of gravity as deep asthe cavern in which they were housed.

  "Now, see here, Johnnie Two Times," exclaimed Miles portentously: "youknow what we came near doing to you six months ago for springing thatkind of stuff."

  "We came near ducking him in the lake," reminded Earl Hamilton.

  "Yes," continued Miles in the attitude of a stage threat, "and if wecan't find a lake around here we can find a deep snowdrift to throwhim into."

  "I wonder if he catches the drift of that argument," said CliffordLong, with a wink at Miles.

  "He not only catches it, but he understands, and hence he does snowdrift (does know drift) of what the menacing Miles means," declaredJohn, who had long answered to the nickname of "Johnnie Two Times,"because of the combination of baptismal and family names by which hewas legally known.

  A roar of pun-protesting groans filled the cavern, and as several ofthe boys arose in attitudes of vengeance, the punster made a dive forthe exit and disappeared beyond the blanket portiere. None of theprotestors followed. They did not feel like engaging in any vigoroussport following the strenuous exercises they had had.

  Five minutes later "Johnnie Two Times" returned. One glance at hisface was sufficient guarantee that he had lost all his punningfacetiousness. He held in his hand a bit of paper which he laid on thestone table by the lamp.

  "Read that, boys!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "I found it outside. Thosemen must have dropped it. They're after Mr. Stanlock--going to holdhim up."

  The ten other boys needed no second bidding. They crowded around soeagerly that nobody could read.

  "Here, I'll read it aloud," said Clifford, picking up the paper andholding it close to the lamp. Here is what he read:

  "I will bring Old Stanlock along the foothill pike. Will slow up inthe sand stretch. Be there ready to grab him. Jake."

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