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The Girl Scouts Series
THE GIRL SCOUTS IN BEECHWOOD FOREST
* * * * * *
BOOKS BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK
THE RANCH GIRLS SERIES
The Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge
The Ranch Girls' Pot of Gold
The Ranch Girls at Boarding School
The Ranch Girls in Europe
The Ranch Girls at Home Again
The Ranch Girls and their Great Adventure
The Ranch Girls and their Heart's Desire
The Ranch Girls and the Silver Arrow
THE RED CROSS SERIES
The Red Cross Girls in the British Trenches
The Red Cross Girls on the French Firing Line
The Red Cross Girls in Belgium
The Red Cross Girls with the Russian Army
The Red Cross Girls with the Italian Army
The Red Cross Girls under the Stars and Stripes
The Red Cross Girls Afloat with the Flag
The Red Cross Girls with Pershing to Victory
The Red Cross Girls with the U. S. Marines
The Red Cross Girls in the National Capital
STORIES ABOUT CAMP FIRE GIRLS
The Camp Fire Girls at Sunrise Hill
The Camp Fire Girls Amid the Snows
The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World
The Camp Fire Girls across the Sea
The Camp Fire Girls' Careers
The Camp Fire Girls in After Years
The Camp Fire Girls on the Edge of the Desert
The Camp Fire Girls at the End of the Trail
The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines
The Camp Fire Girls on the Field of Honor
The Camp Fire Girls in Glorious France
The Camp Fire Girls in Merrie England
The Camp Fire Girls at Half Moon Lake
THE GIRL SCOUTS SERIES
The Girl Scouts of the Eagle's Wing
The Girl Scouts in Beechwood Forest
The Girl Scouts of the Round Table
* * * * * *
[Illustration: She Arranged Two Such Smoke Columns]
* * * * * *
The Girl Scouts Series
THE GIRL SCOUTS IN BEECHWOOD FOREST
by
MARGARET VANDERCOOK
Author of "The Ranch Girls Series,"
"The Red Cross Girls Series," "Stories
About Camp Fire Girls," etc.
Illustrated
The John C. Winston Company
Publishers Philadelphia
Copyright, 1921, by
The John C. Winston Company
Made in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Flame 7
II. Looking Backward 19
III. Their Camp 29
IV. Right About, Face 37
V. A Discussion 47
VI. "The Choros" 62
VII. Other Girls 72
VIII. Light and Shade 85
IX. The Odyssey 97
X. Consultations and Decisions 108
XI. Out of the Past 125
XII. Retrospection 135
XIII. A Portrait 142
XIV. Disagreements 149
XV. The Choice 159
XVI. The Greek Spirit 169
XVII. A Classic Revival 176
XVIII. The Passing 191
XIX. Letters 204
XX. Looking Forward 211
XXI. Kara's Departure 215
CHAPTER I
FLAME
The flame ascended, ending in a little spiral of smoke curling upward
in the night air.
Overhead the stars shone, the pine trees formed dark shadows.
Within the radius of the firelight a girl leaned forward, her eyes
fastened upon a drawing she held in her lap. One could see only vague
outlines. The light danced over the figure of the girl, her bright,
reddish-gold hair, cut short and held in place with an amber comb, her
slender shoulders, the unconsciously graceful poise of her body.
She turned to glance anxiously at another figure lying outstretched
upon the ground only a few feet away.
This girl appeared to be sleeping. Her eyes were closed and she was
breathing fitfully.
Suddenly she opened her eyes and smiled.
"Tory Drew, aren't you ever going to sleep?" she demanded. "Is it your
intention to sit up all night and keep guard over me? I told you that
I was not suffering in the least. My fall seems not to have injured
me, only for some strange reason has made it difficult for me to walk.
We have been longing to spend a night out of doors alone ever since we
arrived at our camp in Beechwood Forest. This is an unexpected
opportunity, yet you do not look grateful. Small wonder if you are
never going to sleep! What time do you think it is?"
Victoria Drew leaned closer toward the fire and looked at her wrist
watch.
"It is half-past twelve o'clock, Kara. The witching hour over and I
have seen no woodland spirits come to haunt us, and no human beings. I
am afraid my signals have failed to attract attention. The other girls
at camp must have decided to give us up for lost and await our return
in the morning; I am sorry for your sake. Are you sure you are not
uncomfortable?"
Tory arose and bent over her companion, not so convinced that the
entire absence from pain, which Kara insisted upon, was absolute proof
that she was not seriously hurt.
In the firelight the other girl's face appeared white and unreal. To
any one so impressionable as Tory the past few hours bore a semblance
of unreality.
Early in the morning of the previous day she and Katherine Moore had
set out from their camp in Beechwood Forest to spend the day alone
among the hills. For some time they had been planning this excursion
when the duties and amusements of camp life made a break possible. How
differently from their plan and expectation this day had gone!
As Kara was beginning to fall asleep again Tory need no longer conceal
her anxiety.
By the fire, now freshly piled with pine cones and branches, she sat
down and propping her chin in her hands, gazed deep into the burning
embers.
The night was very still, save for a light wind in the tree tops.
On the ground beside her, with a stone keeping them from blowing away,
lay the result of her day's work. She had sketched all morning while
Kara wandered about or else rested and read.
Before daylight they had wakened in their Girl Scout Camp in Beechwood
Forest. By dawn, with their luncheon packed and her sketching outfit,
they had set out to explore the heart of the hills, a purple rim
bordering the far side of their own camping site.
During the previous winter in the small Connecticut village Tory
faithfully had fulfilled her promise to her artist father. She had
made no attempt to go on with her drawing and painting, devoting all
her time and energy to her school, her new home and her Girl Scout
Troop.
With summer had come the release from her promise.
These days of camping in the woods with the other Girl Scouts recalled
the enchanting months outdoors she had spent with her father. Every
green tree outlined against the summer sky, their canoes on the lake
before the camping grounds, the Girl Scouts at work or at play, all
were pictures Tory longed to transfer to line and color.
Until to-day the business of getting settled at their summer camp had
left scant opportunity for artistic effort outside the camping
arrangements.
Tory picked up the pile of sketches on the ground beside her. She
studied each one carefully and then tossed it into the fire.
Her present work was valueless; she had become so hopelessly out of
practice.
Finally her eyes rested on a single sheet of drawing paper. On the
instant her expression altered. This sketch was not without worth. She
had drawn it with pastels and in the light from the camp fire. The
lines were crude and the colors too vivid, but it showed the figure of
a girl lying on the ground, her eyelids closed, her figure expressing
a curious quiet.
The lower part of the body was covered.
At present Tory Drew was without the khaki coat which she had worn
earlier in the day. Beside the figure the smoke and flame of the camp
fire formed light and shadow.
Tory sighed.
"At least this will serve for our camp log! The other girls can see
how Kara looked during this interminable night. She will be able to
write the account of her fall. I remember that I was diligently at
work upon an impossible drawing of a line of hills when I heard the
noise of a landslide. There was a sound of earth and rocks being torn
from their foundation and tumbling and sliding down an embankment. I
scarcely looked up. Kara had disappeared for a walk, so there was no
one to whom I might mention the fact. Certainly I had no thought of
associating the noise with her."
Again Tory arose. This time she moved farther from the fire, walking
restlessly up and down toward the clearing which opened into a dark
forest of evergreens.
The night was a mild summer night. There was in the atmosphere the
coolness of the wooded places surrounding them.
Her fire signals had not been observed on either side of the hill.
Tory's impression was that their camp of "The Eagle's Wing" lay to the
west of the hill, although by no means immediately below it. On the
eastern slope and nearer by was the Boy Scout camp. This camp the
girls of her own Troop had been deliberately ignoring.
At present Tory realized that she would gladly accept aid from either
or any direction.
Had Kara been well and awake, or if they had been able to dream beside
one another, the long night would have proved a delightful experience.
From the depth of the woods an owl was crying. Tory repressed a slight
shudder, controlling her nerves by an effort. The sound recalled the
vague moaning that first aroused her to any knowledge of Kara's
accident. Once more she could see Kara lying at the bottom of a tiny
precipice. Her face was covered with rocks and earth, but there was no
sign that she had fallen any distance or been seriously hurt.
Now in retrospection Tory could see Kara smiling up at her in the old
humorous fashion. She could hear her voice with the gentle drawl that
had attracted her so strongly at their original meeting.
"Most extraordinary thing, Tory darling. I slid off that small
embankment a short time ago, bringing most of it along with me. I was
considerably bumped and I presume bruised, but not hurt. However, I
decided to lie still here for a while until I recovered my nerves and
disposition. Then I tried to climb back to you for consolation and
found that my legs _would_ crumple under me in the most absurd
fashion. So I fell to making disagreeable noises so you would come and
find me. What are we going to do, Tory? I can't walk and I weigh too
much for you to carry."
Yet she must have carried her, or else Kara must have been able to
walk a little! Somehow they had managed to reach this clearing nearer
the summit of the hill. Here a fire signal could be more plainly
observed.
Six hours had passed. Not for five minutes had Tory allowed the fire
signal to die down. No one had replied either by another signal or by
coming to their rescue.
Fortunately Kara slept the greater part of the time. Now that the
night was fully advanced she would be more comfortable where she was
than carried down the mountainside, where there was no well defined
path. One had to seek the easiest way between the trees.
For her own part Tory concluded that she might as well attempt to
sleep for as long as her fire could be trusted to continue burning.
The pine wood was filled with brush and the night so bright she could
find without difficulty what she was seeking.
Returning, Tory smothered over the fire so that it might burn for some
time without replenishing. She then lay down beside Kara.
Toward morning she must have dreamed. She woke with the impression
that a number of years had passed, or what seemed a long passage of
time, and in the interval she and Kara had been searching the world
over for each other and unable to meet.
Glad she was to reach over and touch her companion, who scarcely had
stirred.
Already the sky was streaked with light, palest rose and blue.
Strengthened and refreshed, Tory set to work again. The summer morning
was exquisite, the odor of the pine trees never so fragrant, nor the
air so delicious.
Failing in her signals for help the evening before, she now determined
to make a more strenuous effort. Intending to return to camp before
dusk, she and Kara had neglected to bring a flashlight or a lantern
which might have proved more effective.
With the coming of darkness she had not relied on solid columns of
black smoke being seen at any distance. Now on a farther ridge of the
hill she arranged two such smoke columns, remembering that two steady
smokes side by side mean "I am lost, come and help me."
If she failed a second time, she determined to go down the hill until
she was able to secure aid. But this meant leaving Kara alone, which
even for a short time she did not wish to do.
The waiting was the difficult task. To her own embarrassment Tory
realized that she was thinking more of her own hunger than of Kara's
need as the minutes wore on and no one arrived. Fortunately she had
saved a small quantity of coffee in their thermos bottle the day
before. This must be for Kara when she finally awakened.
There was nothing to occupy one save to rise now and then and stir the
hot ashes to a fresh blaze, covering them afterwards with the green
wood of the small beeches that straggled up the hill away from the
shadow of the pines.
The noise of footsteps up the mountainside actually failed to arouse
Tory until they were not far away.
She first heard an exclamation from Kara. She had not been so sound
asleep for the past hour as she had preferred to pretend.
Kara sat up, her arms outstretched as if she were a child begging to
be lifted up.
Tory started toward her. She then turned and ran forward with a cry of
relief. Had Fate allowed her to choose her own and Kara's rescuers she
would have selected the two figures now appearing at the brow of the
east side of the hill. They wore the uniforms of Boy Scouts and were
the brothers of one of the girls in her own Patrol. They were also her
own intimate friends.
"Don, Lance!" Tory exclaimed, a little breathless and incoherent. "How
in the world did you find this impossible place? Kara and I have been
fearing we might have to stay here always!"
Don held out his hand and caught Tory's, giving it a reassuring
pressure. He was a big, blue-eyed fellow with fair hair and a splendid
physique.
In contrast Victoria Drew appeared small and fragile and incapable.
Lance McClain was entirely unlike his brother in appearance. He was
dark and small. He went directly to the girl who seemed most to
require his help.
As she struggled to rise at his approach and was not able, Lance knelt
down on the grass beside her, while Kara explained what had occurred.
Never, Tory Drew decided, would she forget the aspect of their own
camp in Beechwood Forest, when an hour or more later she, in the lead,
caught the first glimpse of it. It was as if one had struggled through
one of the circles of Purgatory to reach Paradise at last.
Actually a few lines from Dante that her father had recited many times
returned to Tory's memory:
"My senses down, when the true path I left;
But when a mountain foot I reached, where closed
The valley that had pierced my heart with dread,
I looked aloft and saw his shoulders broad
Already vested with that planet's beam,
Who leads all wanderers safe through every way."
The way had been difficult with Kara helpless.
With their arms forming a kind of basket chair and Kara's arms about
their necks, Donald and Lance had moved slowly down the hillside.
Once Tory became aware that Lance looked almost as ill and exhausted
as Kara herself.
Don's color continued as ruddy, his eyes as blue and serene and his
expression as steadfast as the moment when they had set out on the
descent of the hill. To call attention to the fact that Lance was less
able to endure the fatigue, Tory knew from past experience would anger
him.
Curious that no one in their own camp appeared to have been alarmed by
their night's absence!
The morning bugle must have sounded more than an hour before. The
early drill was over.
By the open fire Tory now beheld Dorothy McClain and Louise Miller
preparing breakfast.
Placing her hands to her lips she uttered their Scout signal call.