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[Illustration: CAMP-FIRE GIRLS _In the_ ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS
_or_
A CHRISTMAS SUCCESS AGAINST ODDS]
[Illustration: Campfire Girls in the Mountains]
Campfire Girls in the
Allegheny Mountains;
OR,
A Christmas Success Against Odds
By
STELLA M. FRANCIS
M.A. DONOHUE & CO.
CHICAGO NEW YORK
CAMPFIRE GIRLS' SERIES
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS IN THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS;
or, A Christmas Success Against Odds.=
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS IN THE COUNTRY; or, The Secret
Aunt Hannah Forgot.=
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS' TRIP UP THE RIVER; or, Ethel
Hollister's First Lesson.=
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS' OUTING; or, Ethel Hollister's Second
Summer in Camp.=
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS' ON A HIKE; or, Lost in the Great
North Woods.=
=CAMPFIRE GIRLS AT TWIN LAKES; or, The Quest of
a Summer Vacation.=
1918
M.A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
MADE in U.S.A.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I The Grand Council Fire
II The Boy Scouts' Invasion
III The Skull and Cross-Bones
IV Studying the Mystery
V Girls Courageous
VI The Punster Makes a Find
VII To the Rescue
VIII The Eavesdropper
IX Mr. Stanlock Surprised
X Mr. Stanlock Amused
XI A Man of Big Heart and Queer Notions
XII A Mysterious Disappearance
XIII "Find Her, or I'll Find Her Myself"
XIV Trapped
XV A Pile of Scrap Lumber
XVI Helen and the Strike Leader's Wife
XVII Helen Declares Herself
XVIII Helen in the Mountains
XIX The Subterranean Avenue
XX Twelve Girls in the Mountains
XXI Thirteen Girls in the Mountains
XXII A Sleighride Home
"Camp Fire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains"
OR
"A Christmas Success Against Odds"
By STELLA M. FRANCIS.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
THE GRAND COUNCIL FIRE.
"Wo-he-lo for aye,
Wo-he-lo for aye,
Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo for aye!
Wo-he-lo for work,
Wo-he-lo for health,
Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo, Wo-he-lo for love."
Two hundred and thirty-nine girl voices chanted the Wo-he-lo Cheer
with weird impressiveness. The scene alone would have been impressive
enough, but Camp Fire Girls are not satisfied with that kind of
"enough." Once their imagination is stimulated with the almost
limitless possibilities of the craft, they are not easily pleased with
anything but a finished product.
The occasion was the last Grand Council Fire of Hiawatha Institute for
Camp Fire Girls located in the Allegheny city of Westmoreland. The
classroom work had been rushed a day ahead, examinations were made
almost perfunctory, and for them also the clock had been turned
twenty-four hours forward. The curriculum was finished, and the day
just closed had been devoted to preparation for a Grand Council
wind-up for the fifteen Fires of the Institute, which would "break
ranks" on the following day and scatter in all directions for home and
the Christmas holidays.
And there was literal truth in this "break ranks" method of dismissing
school at the Institute. Since the United States entered the European
war on the side of the anti-frightfulness allies, Hiawatha had become
something of a military school. The girls actually drilled with guns,
and they would shoot those guns with all the grim fatality of so many
boys. Not that they expected to go to war and descend into the
trenches and fire hail-storms of steel-coated death-messengers at the
enemy. Oh, no. They might, but they were sensible enough not to let
their imagination carry them so far. But preparedness was in the air,
and the girls voted to a--a--girl (I almost said man, for they were as
brave as men in many respects) to take up military drill and tactics
two hours a week as a part of their curriculum.
Madame Cleaver, head of the Institute, did not start the military
movement rashly. She was carefully diplomatic in the conduct of her
school, for she must satisfy the critical tastes and ideas of a
high-class parentage clientele. But she also kept her fingers on the
pulse of affairs and knew pretty well how to strike a popular vein.
Hence the membership of her classes was always on the increase.
Indeed, at the beginning of this school year, she had to turn away
something like forty applicants, for want of room and accommodations.
Hiawatha Institute was founded as a Camp Fire Girls' school, and when
Uncle Sam became involved in the European war, the national need for
nurses appealed strongly to Camp Fire Girls everywhere. What could
they do? The very nature of the training of the girls from Wood
Gatherer to Torch Bearer made the question, so far as they were
concerned, a self-answering one. They had all the broad commonsense
rudiments of nursing. With some advanced science on top of this, they
would be experts.
But military authorities said that the nurses ought to have some
military drill. War nurses must be organized, and there was no better
method of effecting this orderly requisite than by military training.
One well-known captain of infantry informed Madame Cleaver that war
nurses could not reach the highest grade of efficiency unless they
were able to march in columns from one camp to another and be
distributed in squads at the points needed.
With all this information at her tongue's end, the madame put the
matter to her uniformed girls in the assembly hall. Rumor of what was
coming had reached them in advance, so that it did not fall as a
surprise. The vote was unanimous in favor of the plan. The needed
nursing expert was already a member of the faculty. The classes were
formed a few days later.
These were the girls that gathered around a big out-door campfire--it
was really a bonfire--in the snow of mid-winter on the evening of the
opening of this story. Most of them were rich men's daughters, but
there were no snobs among them. They were girls of vigor and vim,
intelligence and imagination, practical and industrious. They were
lively and fond of a good time, but--most of them, at least,--would
not slight a duty for pleasure. Behind every enjoyment was a pathway
of tasks well done.
Madame Cleaver was Chief Guardian of the fifteen Camp Fires of the
Institute. The faculty was not large enough to supply all the adult
guardians required, but that fact did not prove by any means an
insurmountable difficulty. More than enough young women in
Westmoreland, well qualified to fill positions of this kind,
volunteered to donate their services in order to make the Camp Fire
organization of the school complete. Indeed, these volunteer Guardians
added materially to their influence and rank in the community by
becoming connected with the Institute. There was, in fact, a waiting
list of volunteers constantly among the social leaders of the place.
The Chief Guardian was mistress of ceremonies at the Grand Council
Fire. Two hundred and thirty-nine girls in uniform, brown coats,
campfire hats, and brown duck hiking boots, stood around the fire
answering "Kolah" in unison by groups as the roll of the Fires was
called. As each Fire was called and the answer returned, the Guardian
stepped forward and gave a little recitation of current achievements.
This program was varied here and there with music by a girls' chorus
and a girls' orchestra. Everything went along with the smoothness,
although with some of the deep dips and lofty lifts, of Grand Opera,
until the name of the last Camp Fire, Flamingo, was called. Miss
Harriet Ladd, the Guardian, stepped forward and said:
"Madame Chief Guardian, associate guardians, and Camp Fire Girls of
Hiawatha Institute, I bring to you a message of things planned by
Flamingo Camp Fire Girls, thirteen in number. As you know, there is in
an adjoining state a strike of coal miners that has caused much
suffering among the poor families of the strikers. High Peak lives in
a mountain mining district. Her father is a mine owner and has given
his consent to the extending of an invitation to Flamingo Camp Fire to
work among these poor families and give them relief during the
Christmas holidays. The arrangements have been completed, and the
girls will start for Hollyhill tomorrow."
"Hooray, hooray, hooray! Hooray for High Peak! Hooray for Marion
Stanlock! Hooray for Flamingo Camp Fire."
The cheers, shrill on the sharp winter air, now in unison, now in
confusion, came not from the assembled Camp Fire Girls, although from
nearly as many voices. Out from the timber thicket to the west of the
campus rushed a small army of khaki-clad figures. There were a few
screams among the girls, but not many. To be sure, everybody was
thrilled, but nobody fainted. There were a few moments of suspense,
followed by bursts of laughter and applause from the girls.
"It's the Spring Lake Boy Scouts," cried Marion Stanlock, who was
first to announce an explanation of the surprise. "Clifford, Clifford
Long, are you responsible for this?"
The Boy Scout patrol leader thus addressed did not reply, though he
recognized the challenge with a wave of his hand.
He was busy bringing his patrol in matching line with the other
patrols. As if realizing their purpose, the circle around the camp
fire was broken at a point nearest the newly arrived invaders, and an
avenue of approach was formed by the lining up of some of the girls in
two rows extended out towards the Boy Scouts. In double file a hundred
and fifty boys marched in and around the campfire; then faced toward
the outer ring of Camp Fire Girls and bowed acknowledgment of the
courteous reception.
* * * * *