A RECKLESS EXCURSION
In the morning, when the girls awoke, there was no sign of the guides
who had cooked that tempting and delicious supper the night before.
"Well, we're on our own resources now, girls," said the Guardian. "This
may be a sort of Eden--I hope we'll find it so. But it's going to be a
manless one. There'll be no men here until we get ready to go away, if I
can help it--except as visitors."
"Well, I guess we can get along without them all right, for a change,"
said Dolly, blushing a little.
"Some of the men I know who are interested in the Boy Scouts think the
Camp Fire Girls are a good deal of a joke," said Eleanore, with a light
in her eyes that might have made some of the scoffers she referred to
anxious to eat their words. "They say we get along all right because we
always have some man ready to help us out if we get into any trouble. So
I planned this camp just to show them that we can do just as well as any
troop of Boy Scouts ever did."
"I bet we can, too," said Dolly, eagerly. "Why, with such a lot of us to
do the work, it won't be very hard for any one of us."
"Not if we all do our share, Dolly," said Eleanor, looking at her rather
pointedly. "But if some of us are always managing to disappear just when
there's work to be done, someone will have to do double duty--and that's
not fair."
"I won't--really I won't, Miss Eleanor," said Dolly. "I know I've
shirked sometimes, but I'm not going to this time. I'm going to work
hard now to be a Fire Maker. I think I've been a Wood Gatherer long
enough, don't, you?"
"You've served more time than is needed for promotion, Dolly. It's all
up to you, as the boys say. As soon as you win the honors you need you
can be a Fire Maker. You can have your new rank just as soon as you earn
it."
"Bessie and I are going to be made Fire Makers together, if we can, Miss
Eleanor. We talked that over the other day, at the farm, and I think
well be ready at the first camp fire we have after we get home."
"Well, you'll please me very much if you do. It's time the other girls
were getting up now--we've got to cook breakfast now. I'll call them
while you two build a fire--there's plenty of wood for to-day, piled up
over there."
AS Dolly had said, with each girl doing her share, the work of the camp
was light. While some of the girls did the cooking, others prepared the
"dining table"--a smooth place on the ground--and others pinned up the
bottom flaps of; the tents, after turning out the bedding, so that the
floors of the tents might be well aired. And then they all sat down,
happily and hungrily, to a breakfast that tasted just as good as had
supper the night before.
"Can we swim in the lake, Miss Eleanor?" asked Margery Burton.
"If you want to," said Eleanor, with a smile. "It's pretty cold water,
though; a good deal colder than it was at the sea shore last year. You
see, this lake is fed by springs, and in the spring the ice melts, and
the water in April and May is just like ice water. But you'll get used
to it, if you only stay in a couple of minutes at first, and get
accustomed to the chill gradually. But remember the rule: no one is ever
to go unless I'm right at hand, and there must always be someone in a
boat, ready to help if a girl gets a cramp or any other sort of
trouble."
"Oh, are there boats?" cried Dolly. "That's fine! Where are they, Miss
Eleanor?"
"You shall see them after we've cleared away the breakfast things and
washed up. But there's a rule about the boats, too: no one is to go out
in them except in bathing suits. And remember this, when you're out on
the lake. It's very narrow, and it looks very calm and safe, now.
"But at this time of the year there are often severe squalls up here,
and they come over the hills so quickly that it's easy to get caught
unless you're very careful. I think there had better always be two girls
in each boat. We don't want any accidents."
"Can we go for walks through the woods, Miss Eleanor?"
"Oh, yes; that's the most beautiful part of being up here. But it's easy
to get lost. When you start on a trail always stick to it. Don't be
tempted to go off exploring. I'm going to give you all some lessons in
finding your way in the woods. You know, the moss is always on the south
side of a tree, and there are other ways of telling direction, by the
leaves. I expect you all to be regular woodsmen when we go away from
here, and I'm sure you'll learn things about the woods that will give
you a good many pleasant times in the future"
"Isn't there anyone else at all up here, Miss Eleanor? I should think
there'd be a hotel or something like that here."
"No, not yet; not right near here. This lake is part of a big preserve
that is owned by a lot of men in the city. My father is one of them, and
they have tried to keep all this part of the woods just as nature left
it. There are a lot of deer here, and in the fall, when hunters come
into the woods, they have to keep out of this part of them. A few deer
are shot here, because if only a few are taken each year, it's all
right. But there will be no hotels in this tract. Hotels mean the end of
the real woods life. There are half a dozen lakes in the preserve, and
each of the families that owns a share in it has a camp at one of the
lakes. I mean a regular camp, with wooden buildings, where one can stay
in the winter, even. But this lake was set apart for trips like this,
where people can get right back to nature, and sleep in tents."
"Then we can go over and see some of the other lakes?"
"Yes; I don't know whether we'll find anyone at home in any of the camps
or not, but they'll be glad to see us if they are there. A lot of people
wait until later in the year to come up here--until the hunting season
begins. But we can do some hunting even now, though it's against the law
to do any shooting."
"Oh, I know what you mean, Miss Eleanor--with a camera?"
It was Margery Burton who thought of that.
"Yes. And that's really the best sort of hunting, I think. If you've
ever seen a deer, and had it look at you with its big, soft eyes, I
don't see how you can kill it. It's almost as hard to get a good picture
of e deer as it is to kill it--in fact, I think it's harder, because you
have to get so much closer to it And it's awfully good fun at night.
"You go to one of their runways, and settle down with your camera and a
flashlight powder, and then when the deer comes, if you're very quick,
you can get a really beautiful picture. The deer may be a little
frightened, but he isn't hurt, and you have a picture that you can keep
for years and show to people. And an experienced hunter will tell you
that any time you can get close enough to a deer to get a good
flashlight picture of him you could easily have killed him."
"Why is it so very hard to do that?"
"Well, for lots of reasons. You have to figure on the wind--because if
the wind is blowing away from you and toward the deer he can smell you
long before he's in sight, and off he goes, afraid to come any nearer."
"But how can you tell where a deer will be?"
"They have regular runways--just as we have trails. And at night they
come down to the lake to drink. So you can station yourself on one of
those runways, and be pretty sure that sooner or later a deer will come
along."
The morning passed quickly and happily. To the girls who had never
before been in that country, there seemed to be an unending number of
new discoveries. Timid as the deer might be, there was nothing nervous
about the squirrels and chipmunks which abounded in the woods near the
lake, and as soon as they saw the girls they came running about, so that
there were often half a dozen or more begging noisily for dainties to
afford them a change from their diet of nuts, sitting up, and chattering
prettily as they got the morsels that were tossed to them.
"I never saw them so tame, even at home," said Bessie, surprised. "We
had plenty of them there, but I suppose they were wilder because the
boys used to shoot them. They don't do that here, I suppose?"
"No; the people who hunt around here go in for bigger game. They would
think they were wasting their time if they bothered to shoot chipmunks
and squirrels."
"I've seen them tame before, but that was in the park, at home, and it
isn't the same thing at all," said Dolly.
"No; though they're very cute, and I'm glad there are so many of them
there. But here, of course, they're in their real home, and it's
different, and much nicer, I think."
Then, after luncheon, Miss Eleanor divided the girls into watches.
"I think we'll have more fun if a certain number stay home every
afternoon to prepare dinner and cook it," she said. "Then the rest of
you can go for walks, or do anything you like, so long as you are back
in time for dinner. In that way, some of you will be free every
afternoon, and those who have to work won't mind, because they will know
that the next day they will be free, and so on."
Zara was one of those who drew a piece of paper marked "work" from the
big hat in which Miss Eleanor put a slip of paper for every girl, while
Bessie and Dolly each drew a slip marked "play."
"To-morrow the girls who work to-day will play," said Miss Eleanor, "and
those who play to-day will draw again. Four of them will play again
to-morrow, and the other four will work, and then, on the third day,
those who play tomorrow will work, and on the fourth day to-day's four
will work again. That will give everyone two days off and one day to
work while we're in camp. And I think that's fair."
So did everyone else, and Dolly, always willing to put off work as long
as she could, was delighted.
"Let's take a long walk this afternoon, Bessie," she said. "The air up
here makes me feel more like walking than I ever do when I'm at home.
There I usually take a car whenever I can, though I've been trying to
walk more lately, so as to get an honor bead."
"I'll be glad to take a walk, Dolly," said Bessie, laughing. "I think
you ought to be encouraged any time you really want to do something
that's good for you."
"Oh, if I stay with you long enough I'll be too good to keep on living,"
said Dolly. "Don't you see the difference between us, Bessie? You're
good because you like to do the things you ought to do. And when anyone
tells me something's good for me, I always get so that I don't want to
do it. We'll start right after lunch, shall we?"
"All right," said Bessie.
But before it was time to make a start she sought out Miss Eleanor.
"I'm not really afraid, Wanaka," she said, using the Indian name, since,
here in the woods, it seemed natural to do it. "But I thought I ought to
ask you if you think it's all right for me to go off with Dolly? I
suppose none of those people who were trying to get hold of me would do
anything up here, would they?"
"Oh, I don't think so, Bessie. No, I think you're just as safe anywhere
in these woods as you would be right here in the camp. There are a few
guides around--they have to be kept here to warn people who make camp
and don't put out their fires properly. You see, my father and the rest
of the people don't mind letting nice people come here into their
preserve to camp, but they've got to be careful about fire.
"You can imagine what would happen here if the woods caught fire; it
would be dreadful. Further on, the woods are only just beginning to grow
up again. They were all burned out a year or so ago, and they look
horrid. This preserve is so beautiful that we all want to keep it
looking just as nice as possible. But the guides would look after you;
there's nothing to be afraid of with them.
"And I don't believe that you'd be at all likely to meet anyone else.
Suppose you take the trail that starts at the far end of the lake, and
follow it straight over until you come to Little Bear Lake. That's a
very pretty walk. But don't go off the preserve. There's a trail that
leads over to Loon Pond, but you'd better not try that until we all go
as a party."
So, when the midday meal had been eaten, Bessie and Dolly started off,
skirting the edge of the lake until they came to the beginning of the
trail Miss Mercer had spoken of, which was marked by a birch bark sign
on a tree. There they left the lake, and plunged so quickly into thick
woods that the water was soon out of sight.
"Isn't this lovely? Oh, I could walk miles and miles here and never get
tired at all, I believe!" said Dolly. "But I do sort of wish there was a
hotel somewhere around. They have dances, and parties, and all sorts of
fun at those hotels. And, Bessie, do you know I heard there was one near
here, at a place called Loon Pond?"
"Is there?"
"Yes; I think it would be fun to go there some time."
"Well, maybe we can, some time, Dolly. When Miss Eleanor is along. But
we'd better not do it today. You know she said we were to stick to the
preserve."
"Oh, bother; as if we could get into any mischief up here! But I suppose
there wouldn't be any use in trying to persuade you; you always do just
as you're told."
"Oh, I'd like to see the hotel, too, Dolly, but not today. The woods
are enough for me now. And we can go there some other time, I'm sure."
Dolly said nothing more just then, and for a time they walked along
quietly.
"We're about half way to Little Bear Lake now," announced Dolly, after a
spell of silence.
"Why, how do you know?"
"Because I saw a map, and this ridge we've just come to is half way
between the two lakes."
"Oh," said Bessie.
"Yes. We've been coming up hill so far now, the rest of the way is down
hill, so it will be easier walking."
"That's good; it means that when we're going home we'll be going down
for the last half of the trip, when we're tired. That's much easier than
if it was the other way, I think."
"You look tired, Bessie; why don't you sit down and rest!"
"Well, that's not a bad idea, Dolly. I'm not used to so much walking
lately."
"All right, sit down. I'm thirsty. I think I'll just run ahead and see
if I can find a spring while you rest."
So Dolly ran ahead, and disappeared after a moment. Presently, when
Bessie was rested, she started again, and soon overtook Dolly.
"We turn here," said Dolly. "See, here's another trail, and the signs
show which one we're to take."
"That's funny," said Bessie, puzzled. "I thought we went to Little Bear
in a perfectly straight line. Miss Eleanor didn't say anything about
changing direction."
"Well, there's the sign, Bessie. If we keep straight on it says that
we'll come to Loon Pond. We turn off to the right here to get to Little
Bear."
"Well, I guess the sign must be right. But it certainly seems funny. I
hope there isn't any mistake."
"Mistake! How can there be? Don't be silly, Bessie. There wouldn't be
any chance of that. Come on."
So they turned off, and, as they followed the new trail, the trees began
to grow thinner, presently. The whole character of the woods seemed to
change, too. They passed numerous places where picnic parties had
evidently eaten their meals, and had left blackened spots, and the
remnants of their feasts.
"It seems to me some of the people who've been here have been very
careless, Dolly," said Bessie, "Look, there's a place where a fire
started. It didn't get very far, but it burnt over quite a little bit of
ground before it was put out."
The trail began to dip sharply, too, and before long they were walking
in what was almost open country. Stumps of trees were all about, and
evidently wood-cutters had been at work.
"This isn't half as pretty as Long Lake," said Bessie. "Oh, Dolly, look!
What's that?"
Dolly laughed in a peculiar fashion. For they had come in sight of a
sheet of water, and, in plain view, not far from them, by the shore of
the lake, they saw a place that could not be mistaken. It proclaimed its
nature at once--a regular summer hotel, with wide piazzas, full of
people. And on the water there were a score of boats and canoes, and one
or two launches.
"This isn't Little Bear Lake!" said Bessie.
"Of course it isn't, silly; it's Loon Pond. I changed the signs while
you rested, because I meant to come here, and I knew you wouldn't, if
you knew what you were doing!"