ANOTHER KITCHEN.
The night of the last Camp Fire Meeting Gladys and Nyoda might have been
seen in close consultation. "The first pleasant Saturday," said Nyoda.
"Remember, it's my treat," said Gladys.
The first week in November was as balmy as May, with every promise of
fine weather on Saturday. Accordingly, Nyoda gathered all the Winnebagos
around her desk on Thursday and made an announcement. Sahwah forgot that
she was in a class room and started to raise a joyful whoop, but Nyoda
stifled it in time by putting her hand over her mouth. "I can't help
it!" cried Sahwah; "we're going on a trip up the river! I'm going to
paddle the _Keewaydin_ once more!"
The plan suggested by Gladys and just announced by Nyoda was this: The
following Saturday they would charter a launch big enough to hold them
all, and follow the course of the Cuyahoga River upstream to the dam at
the falls, where they would land and cook their dinner over an open
fire. They would tow the _Keewaydin_, Sahwah's birchbark canoe, behind
the launch, and some time during the day would manage to let every one
go for a paddle. The Winnebagos thrilled with pleasurable anticipation,
all but Hinpoha, who crept sadly away, for she could not bear to hear
about the fun that was being planned when she could not have a part in
it.
One desire of her heart was being fulfilled, and she was getting thin.
What a whole summer of rigid dieting had not been able to accomplish was
brought to pass by a few weeks of mental suffering, and her clothes were
beginning to hang on her. Her appetite began to fail her, and her aunt,
noticing this, bought her a big bottle of tonic, which, taken before
meals, killed any small desire for food she may have had. Then Aunt
Phoebe decided that the two-mile walk to school was too much for her,
and had her taken and called for in the machine, much to Hinpoha's
disgust, for that walk was her chief joy these days. After a week of the
tonic her soul rebelled against the nauseous dose, and when the first
bottle was empty and Aunt Phoebe sent her to get it refilled, she
"refilled" it herself with a mixture of licorice candy and water, which
produced a black syrup similar in appearance to the original medicine,
but minus the bad taste and the stigma of "patent medicine," a thing
which the Winnebagos had promised their Guardian they would not take. As
this was deceiving her aunt she felt obliged to put a blot on her head
'scutcheon, in the form of a black record, but she was so inwardly
amused at it that her appetite improved of its own accord, and Aunt
Phoebe remarked in a gratified way that she had never known the equal of
Mullin's Modifier as a tonic.
Migwan finished her story, copied it carefully on foolscap and sent it
away to a magazine, confident that in a very short time she would behold
it in print, and the payment she would receive for it would keep her in
spending money throughout the school year. So with a light and merry
heart she set out for Gladys's house on Saturday morning, where the
girls were all to meet for the outing. It was one of those dream-like
days in late autumn, when the earth, still decked in her brilliant
garments, seems to lie spellbound in the sunshine, as if there were no
such thing as the coming of winter.
The girls, clad in blue skirts and white middies and heavy sweaters,
were whirled down to the dock in the Evans's automobile, with the
_Keewaydin_ tied upright at the back. The launch was waiting for them,
at one of the big boat docks, sandwiched in between two immense lake
steamers. Nothing could have been a greater contrast to their trip up
the Shadow River the summer before than this excursion. On that other
trip they had been the only living beings on the horizon, and nature was
supreme everywhere, but here they were fairly engulfed by the works of
man. The tiny craft nosed her way among giant steamers, six-hundred-foot
freighters, coal barges, lighters, fire boats, tugs, scows, and all the
other kinds of vessels that crowd the river-harbor of a great lake port.
Viewed from below, the steel structure of the viaduct over the river
stretched out like the monstrous skeleton of some prehistoric beast.
Whistles shrieked deafeningly in their ears and trains pounded jarringly
over railroad bridges. A jack-knife bridge began to descend over their
very heads. Over where the new bridge was being constructed men stood on
slender girders high in the air, catching red-hot rivets that were being
tossed them, while an automatic riveting hammer filled the air with its
nerve-destroying clamor. Everywhere was bustle and confusion, and noise,
noise, noise.
And in the midst of this tumult the tiny launch, filled with laughing
girls, threaded its way up the black river, flying the Winnebago banner,
while behind it trailed a birchbark canoe, with Sahwah squatting calmly
in the stern, leaning her back against her paddle. Many times they had
to bury their noses in their handkerchiefs to shut out the smells that
assailed them on every side. On they chugged, past the lumber yards with
their acres of stacked boards, some of which had come from the very
neighborhood of Camp Winnebago; past the chemical works, pouring out its
darkly polluted streams into the river. "Ugh," said Gladys with a
shiver, "to think that that stuff flows on into the lake and we drink
lake water!"
"It seems like a different world altogether," said Migwan, looking out
across the miles of factory-covered "flats." She was perfectly
fascinated by the rolling mills, with their rows of black stacks
standing out against the sky like organ pipes, and by the long trains of
oil-tank cars curving through the valley like huge worms, the divisions
giving the effect of body sections.
While the Winnebagos were gliding along among scenes strange and new,
Hinpoha was vainly trying to comfort herself for having to stay at home
by catching in a bottle the bees which were crawling in and out of the
cosmos blossoms in the garden. Interesting as the bees were, however,
they could not keep her thoughts from turning to the Winnebagos afloat
on the river, and it was a very doleful face that bent over the flowers.
Her dismal reflections were interrupted by the sharp voice of Aunt
Phoebe calling her to come in. "What is it?" she asked listlessly, as
she came up on the porch.
"Mrs. Evans is here," said her aunt in the doorway, "and she has asked
to see you." Hinpoha was very glad to see Mrs. Evans, who rose smilingly
and took her hands in hers.
"How thin you are getting, child!" she exclaimed, smoothing back the red
curls. "I don't believe you get out enough. By the way," she said to
Aunt Phoebe, "may I borrow this girl for to-day? I have considerable
driving about to do and it is rather tiresome going alone. Gladys has
gone on an all-day boat ride."
Aunt Phoebe could not very well refuse, for driving about in a machine
with an older woman was a very proper form of recreation indeed, in her
estimation.
Hinpoha flew upstairs and deposited her bottle of bees on the table in
her room for future observation and started off with Mrs. Evans. "We
will not be back for lunch, and possibly not for supper," said Gladys's
mother as she bade Aunt Phoebe a gracious good-bye, "but it will not be
long after that."
"And now for a grand spin," she said, as she started the car and sent it
crackling through the dry leaves on the pavement.
"Now I see why the Indians named this river 'Cuyahoga,' or 'Crooked,'"
said Migwan, as they rounded bend after bend in the stream. "It coils
back on itself like a snake, and I have already counted seven coils
within the city limits. I didn't believe it when the captain of a
freighter told me that there was a place in the river which his boat
couldn't pass because two sharp turns came so near together, but now I
see how that could easily be possible."
As the launch putt-putt-putt-ed steadily up the river the water
gradually became less black, and the factories along the shore gave way
to open stretches of country. By noon they reached the dam and went
ashore to look for a place to build a fire. They were in a deep gorge,
its steep sides thickly covered with flaming maples and oaks, and
brilliant sumachs, stretching on either side as far as they could reach.
"It's too gorgeous to seem real," said Nyoda, shading her eyes and
looking down the valley; "where _does_ Mother Nature keep her pot of
'Diamond Dyes' in the summer time?"
High up along the top of one of the cliffs a narrow road wound along,
and as Nyoda stood looking into the distance she saw an automobile
coming along this road. When it was directly above her it stopped and
two people got out, a woman and a girl. The sunlight fell on a mass of
red curls on the girl's head. "Hinpoha!" exclaimed Nyoda in amazement.
From above came floating down a far-echoing yodel--the familiar
Winnebago call. The girls all looked up in surprise to see Hinpoha
scrambling down the face of the cliff, and aiding Mrs. Evans to descend.
"Why, _mother_!" called Gladys, running up to meet her.
The surprise at the meeting was mutual. Mrs. Evans, spinning along the
country roads, had no idea she was hard on the trail of her daughter and
the other Winnebagos until she came suddenly upon them after they had
gotten out of the launch. "Can't you stay and spend the day with us, now
that you're here?" they pleaded.
Hinpoha's longing soul looked out of her eyes, but she answered, "I'm
afraid not. Aunt Phoebe wouldn't approve."
"Did she say you couldn't?" asked Sahwah.
"No," said Hinpoha, "for I never even asked her if I might go along with
you in the launch. I knew it would be no use."
"Oh, please stay," tempted some of the girls; "your aunt'll never know
the difference."
"Oh, I couldn't do that," said Hinpoha in a tone of horror. A little
approving smile crept around the corners of Nyoda's eyes as she heard
Hinpoha so resolutely bidding Satan get behind her. Mrs. Evans was
genuinely sorry they had encountered the girls, because it made it so
much harder for Hinpoha.
"I wonder," she said musingly, "if I drove on to a house in the road and
telephoned your aunt that she would let you stay?"
"You might try," said Hinpoha doubtfully. Mrs. Evans thought it was
worth trying. She found a house with a telephone and got Aunt Phoebe on
the wire. With the utmost tact she explained how they had met the girls
accidently, and that she had taken a notion that she would like to spend
the day with them, but of course she could not do so unless Hinpoha
would be allowed to stay with her, as she had charge of her for the day.
What was Aunt Phoebe to do? She was not equal to telling the admired
Mrs. Evans to forego her pleasure because of Hinpoha, and gave a
grudging consent to her keeping her niece with her on the condition that
she would bring her home in the machine and not let her come back in the
launch with the Winnebagos. Jubilant, they returned to the girls in the
gorge and told the good news.
"Cheer for Mrs. Evans," cried Sahwah, and the Winnebagos gave it with a
hearty good will.
Hinpoha, with Sahwah close beside her, began I searching for firewood
industriously. "It seems just like last summer," she said, chopping
sticks with Sahwah's hatchet. The two had wandered off a short distance
from the others, following a tiny footpath. Suddenly they came upon a
huge rock formation, that looked like an immense fireplace, about forty
feet wide and twenty or more feet high. Under that great stone arch a
dozen spits, each big enough to hold a whole ox, might easily have
swung. Sahwah and Hinpoha looked at it in amazement and then called for
the other girls to come and see.
"Why, that's the 'Old Maid's Kitchen,'" said Mrs. Evans, when she
arrived on the scene. "I've been here before. Just why it should be
called the _Old Maid's_ Kitchen is more than I can tell, for it looks
like the fireplace belonging to the grand-mother of all giantesses."
"Let's build our fire inside of it," said Nyoda.
"The original 'Old Maid' had a convenience that didn't usually go with
open fireplaces," said Gladys, "and that is running water," and she held
her cup under a tiny stream that trickled out between two rocks, cold as
ice and clear as crystal.
"Wouldn't this be a grand place for a Ceremonial Meeting?" said Migwan,
as they all stood round the blazing fire roasting "wieners" and bacon.
The Kitchen had a floor of smooth slabs of rock, and the arch of the
fireplace formed a roof over their heads, while its wide opening
afforded them a wonderful view of the gorge.
"Whenever you want to come here again, just say so," said Mrs. Evans,
"and I'll bring you down in the machine." Mrs. Evans was enjoying
herself as much as any of the girls. It was the first time she had ever
cooked wieners and bacon over an open fire on green sticks, and she was
perfectly delighted with the experience. "If my husband could only see
me now," she said, laughing like a girl as she dropped her last wiener
in the dirt and calmly washed it off in the trickling stream. "How good
this hot cocoa tastes!" she exclaimed, drinking down a whole cupful
without stopping. "What kind is it?"
"Camp Fire Girl Cocoa," answered the girls.
"What kind is that?" asked Mrs. Evans.
"It is a brand that is put up by a New York firm for the Camp Fire Girls
to sell," answered Nyoda.
"Why have we never had any of this at our house?" asked Mrs. Evans,
turning to Gladys.
"You have always insisted that you would use no other kind than Van
Horn's," replied Gladys, "so I thought there would be no use in
mentioning it."
"I like this better than Van Horn's," said her mother. "Is there any to
be had now?"
"There certainly is," answered Nyoda. "We are trying to dispose of a
hundred-can lot to pay our annual dues."
"Let me have a dozen cans," said Mrs. Evans. "I will serve Camp Fire
Girl Cocoa to my Civic Club next Wednesday afternoon. I----"
Here a terrific shriek from Migwan brought them all to their feet. She
had been poking about in the corner of the Kitchen, when something had
suddenly jumped out at her, unfolded itself like a fan and was whirling
around her head. "It's a bat!" cried Sahwah, and they all laughed
heartily at Migwan's fright. The bat wheeled around, blind in the
daylight, and went bumping against the girls, causing them to run in
alarm lest it should get entangled in their hair. It finally found its
way back to the dark corner of the Kitchen and hung itself up neatly the
way Migwan had found it and the dinner proceeded.
"What kind of a bat was it?" asked Gladys.
"Must have been a _bacon bat_," said Sahwah, dodging the acorn that
Hinpoha threw at her for making a pun.
"Tell us a new game to play, Nyoda," said Gladys, "or Sahwah will go
right on making puns."
"Here is one I thought of on the way down," answered Nyoda. "Think of
all the things that you know are manufactured in Cleveland, or form an
important part of the shipping industry. Then we'll go around the
circle, naming them in alphabetical order. Each girl may have ten
seconds in which to think when her turn comes, and if she misses she is
out of the game. She may only come in again by supplying a word when
another has missed, before the next girl in the circle can think of
one."
"And let the two that hold out the longest have the first ride in the
canoe," suggested Sahwah.
The game started. Nyoda had the first chance. "Automobiles," she began.
"Bricks," said Gladys.
"Clothing," said Migwan.
"Drugs," said Sahwah.
"Engines," said Hinpoha.
"Flour," said Mrs. Evans.
"Gasoline," said Nakwisi.
"Hardware," said Chapa.
"Iron," said Medmangi.
Nyoda hesitated, fishing for a "J." "One, two, three, four, five, six,"
began Sahwah.
"Jewelry!" cried Nyoda on the tenth count.
"Knitted goods," continued Gladys.
"Lamps," said Migwan.
"Macaroni," said Sahwah.
"That reminds me," said Mrs. Evans, "I meant to order some macaroni
to-day and forgot it."
"N," said Hinpoha, "N,--why, Nothing!" The girls laughed at the witty
application, but she was ruled out nevertheless.
"Nails," said Mrs. Evans.
"Oil," said Nakwisi.
"Paint," said Chapa.
Medmangi sat down. Nyoda began to count. "Quadrupeds!" cried Medmangi
hastily.
"Explain yourself," said Nyoda.
"Tables and chairs," said Medmangi. The girls shouted in derision, but
Nyoda ruled the answer in, and the game proceeded.
"Refrigerators," said Nyoda.
"Salt," said Gladys.
"Tents," said Migwan, with a reminiscent sigh.
"Umbrellas," said Sahwah.
Mrs. Evans fell down on "V." "Varnish," said Chapa.
"W" was too much for Medmangi. "Wire," said Nyoda.
"X," said Sahwah, "there is no such thing. Oh, yes, there is, too;
Xylophones, they're made here."
Gladys and Migwan met their Waterloo on "Y." "Yeast," said Nyoda.
"Z," sent Chapa and Nakwisi to the dummy corner and it came back to
Sahwah. "Zerolene," she said.
"What's that?" they all cried.
"I don't know," she answered, "but I saw it on one of the big oil tanks
as we passed."
Sahwah and Nyoda won the right to take the first paddle in the
_Keewaydin_. They carried the canoe on their heads, portage fashion,
around the dam, and launched it up above, where the confined waters had
spread out into a wide pond. "Oh, what a joy to dip a paddle again!"
sighed Sahwah blissfully, sending the _Keewaydin_ flying through the
water with long, vigorous strokes. "I'd love to paddle all the way
home." She had completely forgotten that there was such a thing as
school and lessons in the world. She was the Daughter of the River, and
this was a joyous homecoming.
"Time to go back and let the rest have a turn," said Nyoda. Reluctantly
Sahwah steered the canoe around and returned to the waiting group. Mrs.
Evans watched with interest as Gladys and Hinpoha pushed out from shore.
Could this be her once frail daughter, who had despised all strenuous
sports and hated water above all things, who was swinging her paddle so
lustily and steering the _Keewaydin_ so skilfully? What was this strange
Something that the Camp Fire had instilled into her? She caught her
breath with the beauty of it, as the girls glided along between the
radiant banks, the two paddles flashing in and out in perfect rhythm.
They were singing a favorite boating song, and their voices floated back
on the breeze:
"Through the mystic haze of the autumn days
Like a phantom ghost I glide,
Where the big moose sees the crimson trees
Mirrored on the silver tide,
And the blood red sun when day is done
Sinks below the hill,
The night hawk swoops, the lily droops,
And all the world is still!"
Sahwah lingered on the river after the others had gone in a body to try
to climb to the top of the rocky fireplace. She was all alone in the
_Keewaydin_, and sent it darting around like a water spider on the
surface of the stream. So absorbed was she in the joy of paddling that
she did not see a sign on a tree beside the river which warned people in
boats to go no further than that point, neither did she realize the
significance of the quicker progress which the _Keewaydin_ was making.
When she did realize that she was getting dangerously near the edge of
the dam, and attempted to turn back, she discovered to her horror that
it was impossible to turn back. The _Keewaydin_ was being swept
helplessly and irresistibly onward. Recent rains had swollen the stream
and the water was pouring over the dam. Sahwah screamed aloud when she
saw the peril in which she was. Nyoda and Mrs. Evans and the girls,
standing up on the rocks, turned and saw her. Help was out of the
question. Frozen to the spot they saw her rushing along to that descent
of waters. Gladys moaned and covered her face with her hands. Below the
falls the great rocks jutted out, jagged and bare. Any boat going over
would be dashed to pieces.
The _Keewaydin_ shot forward, gaining speed with every second. The roar
of the falls filled Sahwah's ears. Not ten feet from the brink a rock
jutted up a little above the surface, just enough to divide the current
into two streams. When the _Keewaydin_ reached this point it turned
sharply and was hurled into the current nearest the shore. On the bank
right at the brink of the falls stood a great willow tree, its long
branches drooping far out over the water. It was one chance in a million
and Sahwah saw it. As she passed under the tree she reached up and
caught hold of a branch, seized it firmly and jumped clear of the canoe,
which went over the falls almost under her feet. Then, swinging along by
her arms, she reached the shore and stood in safety. It had all happened
so quickly the girls could hardly comprehend it. Gladys, who had hidden
her eyes to shut out the dreadful sight, heard an incredulous shout from
the girls and looked down to see the _Keewaydin_ landing on the rocks
below, empty, and Sahwah standing on the bank.
"How did you ever manage to do it?" gasped Hinpoha, when they had
surrounded her with exclamations of joy and amazement. "You're a heroine
again."
"You're nothing of the sort," said Nyoda. "It was sheer foolhardiness or
carelessness that got you into that scrape. A girl who doesn't know
enough to keep out of the current isn't to be trusted with a canoe, no
matter what a fine paddler she is. I certainly thought better of you
than that, Sahwah. I never used to have the slightest anxiety when you
were on the water, I had such a perfect trust in your common sense, but
now I can never feel quite sure of you again."
Sahwah hung her head in shame, for she felt the truth of Nyoda's words.
"I think you can trust me after this," she said humbly. "I have learned
my lesson." She was not likely to forget the horror of the moment when
she had heard the water roaring over the dam and thought her time had
come. Sahwah liked to be thought clever as well as daring, and it was
certainly far from clever to run blindly into danger as she had done.
She sank dejectedly down on the bank, feeling disgraced forever in the
eyes of the Winnebagos.
"Girls," said Mrs. Evans, wishing to take their minds off the fright
they had received, "do you know that we are not many miles from one of
the model dairy farms of the world? I could take you over in the car and
bring you back here in time to go home in the launch."
"Let's do it, Nyoda," begged all the Winnebagos, and into the machine
they piled. When they were still far in the distance they could see the
high towers of the barns rising in the air. "We're nearly there," said
Mrs. Evans; "here is the beginning to the cement fence that runs all the
way around the four-thousand-acre farm." Mrs. Evans knew some of the
people in charge of the farm and they had no difficulty gaining
admittance. That visit to the Carter Farm was a long-remembered one. The
girls walked through the long stables exclaiming at everything they saw.
"Why, there's an electric fan in each stall!" gasped Migwan, "and the
windows are screened!"
"Oo, look at the darling calf," gurgled Hinpoha, on her knees before one
of the stalls, caressing a ten-thousand-dollar baby.
"It doesn't look a bit like its mother," observed Nyoda, comparing it
with the cow standing beside it.
"That isn't its mother, that's its nurse," said the man who was showing
them around.
"Its what?" said Nyoda. Then the man explained that the milk from the
blooded cows was too valuable to be fed to calves, as it commanded a
high price on the market, and so a herd of common cows were kept to feed
the aristocratic babies. The lovely little creatures were as tame as
kittens and allowed the girls to fondle them to their hearts' content.
Sometimes a pair of polished horns would come poking between a calf and
the visitors, and a soft-eyed cow would view the proceedings with a
comically anxious face, and then it was easy to tell which calf was with
its mother.
In one of the largest stalls they saw the champion Guernsey of the
world. Her coat was like satin and her horns were polished until they
shone. She did not seem to be in the least set up on account of her
great reputation and thrust out her nose in the friendliest manner
possible to be patted and fussed over. She eyed Gladys, who stood next
to her, with amiable curiosity, and then suddenly licked her face. Mrs.
Evans watched Gladys in surprise. Instead of quivering all over with
disgust as she would have a year ago she simply laughed and patted the
cow's nose. "What is going to happen?" said Mrs. Evans to herself,
"Gladys isn't afraid of cows any more!" But the most interesting part
came when the cows were milked. They were driven into another barn for
this performance and their heads fastened into sort of metal hoops
suspended from the ceiling. These turned in either direction and caused
them no discomfort, but kept them standing in one place. The milking was
done with vacuum-suction machines run by electricity and took only a
short time.
When the girls had watched the process as long as they wished they were
taken to see the prize hogs and chickens, and then went through the hot
houses. There were rows and rows of glass houses filled with grapes, the
great bunches hanging down from the roof and threatening to fall with
their own weight. And one did fall, just as they were going through, and
came smashing down in the path at their feet. Nakwisi ran to pick it up
and the guide said she might have it, adding that such a bunch,
unbruised, sold for twenty-five cents in the city market. "Oh, how
delicious!" cried Nakwisi,' tasting the grapes and dividing them among
the girls. Mrs. Evans bought a basketful and let them eat all they
wanted. In some of the hothouses tangerines were growing, and in some
persimmons, while others were given over to the raising of roses,
carnations and rare orchids. It was a trip through fairyland for the
girls, and they could hardly tear themselves away when the time came.
"There is something else I must show you while we are in the
neighborhood," said Mrs. Evans, as they passed through Akron. "Does
anybody know what two historical things are near here?" Nobody knew.
Mrs. Evans began humming, "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the
Grave."
"What has that to do with it?" asked Gladys.
"Everything, with one of them," said Mrs. Evans.
"Did you know that John Brown, owner of the said body, was born in
Akron, and there is a monument here to his memory?"
"Oh how lovely," cried Migwan, "let us see it." So Mrs. Evans drove them
over to the monument and they all stood around it and sang "John Brown's
Body" in his honor.
"Now, what's the other thing?" they asked.
"I believe I know," said Nyoda. "Doesn't the old Portage Trail run
through here somewhere?"
"That's it," said Mrs. Evans.
Then Nyoda told them about the Portage Path of Indian days, before the
canal was built, that extended from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. "The
part that runs through Akron is still called Portage Path," said Mrs.
Evans, and the girls were eager to see it.
"Why, it's nothing but a paved street!" exclaimed Migwan in
disappointment, when they had reached the historical spot.
"That's all it is now," answered Mrs. Evans, "but it is built over the
old Portage Trail, and some of these old trees undoubtedly shaded the
original path." In the minds of the girls the handsome residences faded
from sight, and in place of the wide street they saw the narrow path
trailing off through the forest, with dusky forms stealing along it on
their long journey southward.
"It's time to strike our own trail now," said Nyoda, breaking the
silence, and they started back to the river. Every one was anxious to
make it as pleasant as possible for Hinpoha, and the jests came thick
and fast as they drove along. "Who is the best Latin scholar here?"
asked Nyoda.
"I am," said Sahwah, mischievously.
"Then you can undoubtedly tell me what Caesar said on the Fourth of
July, 45 B.C." said Nyoda.
"I don't seem to recollect," said Sahwah.
"Then read for yourself," said Nyoda, scribbling a few words on a leaf
from her notebook and handing it to her.
"What's this?" said Sahwah, spelling out the words. On the paper was
written,
_Quis crudis enim rufus, albus et expiravit._
Sahwah tried to translate. "_Quis,_ who; _crudis_, raw; _enim_--what's
_enim_?"
"For," answered Migwan.
"And _expiravit_" said Sahwah, "what's that from?"
"_Expiro_" answered Migwan, "_expirare, expiravi, expiratus_. It means
'blow,' '_Expiravit_' is 'have blown.'"
"_Rufus_ is 'red,'" continued Sahwah, "and is _albus_ 'white'?" Migwan
nodded, and Sahwah went back to the beginning and began to read: "_Who
raw for red white and have blown._"
Nyoda shouted. "That last word is _blew_, not _have blown_" she said.
"I have it!" cried Migwan, jumping up. "It's '_Who raw for the red,
white and blew.' 'Hoorah for the red, white and blue!_'"
"Such wit!" said Sahwah, laughing with the rest.
"Now, I'll make a motto for Sahwah," said Migwan, seizing the pencil.
Migwan was a Senior and took French, and having a sudden inspiration,
she wrote, "_Pas de lieu Rhone que nous!_" The girls could not translate
it and Nyoda puzzled over it for a long time.
"I don't seem to be able to make anything out of it," she said at
length.
"Don't try to translate it," said Migwan, "just read it out loud," Nyoda
complied and Sahwah caught it immediately.
"It's '_Paddle your own canoe!_" she cried.
Thus, laughing and joking, they followed the road back to the dam and
embarked in the launch with all speed, for the sun was already sinking
beneath the treetops and they had a two-hour ride ahead of them. Mrs.
Evans took Hinpoha back in the machine and delivered her to her aunt
safe and sound at eight o'clock, with many expressions of pleasure at
the fun she had had with the Camp Fire Girls, which were intended as
seeds to be planted in Aunt Phoebe's mind.
"I think your mother's a perfect dear," said Sahwah to Gladys on the
trip home. "I used to be frightened to death of her, because she always
looked so straight-laced and proper, but she isn't like that at all.
She's a regular Camp Fire Girl!"