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 payed 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.”
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