"WHERE THERE IS SMOKE----"
The Outdoor Girls must have a fire. That they had decided at the supper
table. What was the use of having a big fire-place if they never used
it? Betty's theory was, that it was wicked to let anything go to waste.
All this being true, it stood to reason that a fire they must have.
"I wonder if the boys wouldn't come in and help us build it," Grace
suggested, seized with a brilliant idea. "There are already some logs in
the fire-place, but I feel that I would like to have somebody else work
for me to-night."
"Why, of course," said Mollie. "That's what we brought them with us
for--to help out when they were needed."
"They would be flattered if they could hear you," said Amy.
"I don't see why they insist on staying out in the woods and cooking
their own meals. Just think what fun we could have with them, if they
were here now," put in Mollie once again.
"Yes, but then think of all the trouble they would be making us," said
Betty. "Besides," she added, "your aunt didn't say anything about a
troop of noisy boys, Mollie, when she lent us her bungalow for the
summer."
"That's right, too," Mollie reluctantly conceded. "Just the same I hope
they haven't forgotten they are due here at six-thirty to wipe the
dishes. There is _such_ a pile of them!"
"Methinks," Grace announced solemnly, "that even at this moment I hear
the sound of approaching footsteps."
"How can you hear footsteps on the grass?" Mollie demanded rudely. "You
must have better ears than I have."
"Of course I have," Grace retorted calmly. "I knew that long ago."
Before Mollie could answer a head was poked in at the door and an
accompanying voice asked cheerily: "May we come in? Are we on time?"
"You're as welcome as a day in June, Frank," called Betty, as she arose
and started to take the dishes into the kitchen. "We want you to wipe
these for us, and make a fire."
"Anything else?" Frank inquired mildly, while the rest of him followed
his head into the room. "The fellows told me to come on ahead, and say
to you ladies that they would be here as soon as they got through
scouring their frying pan."
"Poor boys," said Amy impulsively. "Why don't they bring the things
here?"
But Mollie's thoughts took another direction. "I hope they bring back
the sapolio," she said practically. "It was the only cake we had."
Betty paused half way to the kitchen and balanced her pile of dishes on
one hand. "Mollie," she cried in dismay, "they will never think of it!
Don't you think you had better go back and tell them, Frank?" she said.
"Sure!" he answered obligingly, while he sunk into an easy chair with a
sigh of content. Evidently he was settled for the evening.
"Then why don't you go?" Mollie demanded impatiently. "If boys aren't
the most aggravating things, when they want to be!" she added.
"There's plenty of time," Frank assured her calmly. "I left the fellows
in the first throes of cleaning up--they won't be through for half an
hour at least."
"Well, I don't care," said Betty, continuing her journeyings into the
kitchen. "If we haven't anything to scour the pans with, then they'll
not get scoured--that's all."
"That's the spirit I like to see," said Frank, and Betty could have
thrown something at him, with the greatest of pleasure. "It's fine to
see anybody resigned to the inevitable."
"Well, I know one thing," Mollie threatened, "if you don't go back in
five minutes, I will," and for emphasis she banged the salt cellar
forcibly upon the table.
"What's the matter with our going together?" Frank inquired, moving his
head slightly to bring Mollie within his range of vision. "The distance
won't seem half as far if I have such pleasant company," he added
gallantly.
"Don't do it," Betty, coming in from the kitchen, advised. "Make him
work a little."
"Oh, you're only jealous because I didn't ask you," Frank teased. "I
always knew you thought a good deal of me, Betty."
She made a little face at him, but did not deign to reply. Indeed, why
should she--the accusation was so plainly absurd?
Long before they had expected, voices were heard in the distance and the
most unearthly noises broke the woodland stillness. There was a banging
of wood upon tin and the clatter of utensils mingling with the
outrageous uproar from three pairs of sound and healthy lungs. There
were shouts and war cries and yells, combining in a weird clamor that
could be heard for miles around--or so it seemed to the girls.
The girls looked at each other inquiringly--then made a concerted rush
for the door.
"Oh, what a noise!" cried Betty. "It's just as well there isn't anybody
else in this part of the wood."
A moment later the boys rushed upon them, vigorously pounding utensils,
and shouting at the top of their voices. The girls gave way before them,
and the roisterers tumbled in and took possession as though they were
really the Redskins, whose cries they were successfully imitating. They
raced about the house like madmen, while the girls watched their antics
in a peculiar frame of mind. If the truth must be told, they were
undecided whether to be displeased or amused. Amusement conquered in the
end, however, for the boys were irresistibly funny, and the girls
laughed till they ached and the tears rolled down their cheeks.
After considerable time they all managed to quiet down enough to talk
sense.
"The girls want us to make a fire, fellows," said Frank. "The idea looks
good to me."
"It is good," Allen agreed. "Give us the wood and matches, and we will
have a fire going in no time."
"The wood is in the fire-place," Betty answered, "and Mollie has the
matches, I think."
With this the boys set to work energetically, while the girls and Mrs.
Irving stood about them in a semi-circle.
"It's so different from building a fire in the open," Amy commented. "I
always love them. Can't we toast marshmallows? That's the most fun of
all."
"We could if we had any," Grace replied dryly. "I have some chocolates
but you can't roast them, and nobody had the sense to think to buy
marshmallows to-day."
At this last remark, Frank sat back upon his heels and favored Mollie
with a sly wink--while that young lady smiled mysteriously.
"Thereby hangs a tale of which you shall hear later," he said, and, in
spite of all their urging, he could not be made to say another word.
However, their curiosity was forgotten a moment later--forgotten in the
excitement caused by a strange and curious happening.
Suddenly the smoke which had been rolling in clouds up the chimney,
refused to roll farther. There being no other exit except into the room,
the girls and boys suddenly found themselves suffocating. They choked,
and the boys stumbled to their feet and followed the fleeing girls into
the dining room.
There was a chorus of sneezes and smothered cries of "I'm choking! Open
the window, some one, quick!"
"The windows are open and the doors, too," gasped Frank, in answer to
this last request.
"Don't be alarmed, any one," Allen commanded. "It's nothing but a
clogged-up chimney, and that won't hurt anybody."
"But the smoke!" gasped Mollie. "Why, the house will be ruined. What
will Aunt Elvira say?"
"Oh, it won't hurt anything," said Betty, making a brave attempt to push
her way through the smoke into the living room. "But it is terrible.
Can't we do something to stop it, boys?"
"I don't know how we can--unless----" Roy turned quickly to Mollie. "Did
your aunt say anything about a blower?" he asked eagerly.
"I don't remember--I--I don't remember," stammered poor Mollie, whose
memory was being taxed to the utmost. "You might look though, and see
what you can find."
"Oh, do hurry, somebody!" begged Grace. "I'll take to the woods in
another minute."
"Oh, have a little patience, Sis, can't you?" cried Will, losing his
temper. "We are all doing the best we can."
"But look," said Mollie, suddenly pointing to the other room. "The
smoke is beginning to clear and the wood isn't half burned out yet."
"Let's investigate," Frank suggested. "Maybe we can find out what is
wrong with the thing. Come on," and in they all trooped, coughing and
choking, but dauntless.
"Get me a stick, will you, girls," Roy entreated, as he went nearer to
inspect the fire-place. "A broom will do. Or anything else you happen to
have around."
Mollie disappeared into the kitchen and returned a moment later,
bringing back with her an old stick that looked as though it might have
been a clothespole in its better days.
"Will this do?" she asked, holding it out to Roy. "It was the only thing
I could find."
"Just what I wanted," Roy answered. "Now, fellows, let's see what we can
do with the thing."
The four boys crowded around, peering up into the opening as if they
hoped to find the solution of the mystery there, while the girls watched
them with breathless interest.
It was then that it happened. Roy poked upward inquiringly with his
stick, and for answer a cloud of soot and ashes discharged itself from
the chimney, showering the boys' faces with grimy dust.
They drew back with cries of disgust and began rubbing their eyes and
faces furiously. Then the four blackened adventurers turned to the girls
appealingly. They looked so funny, standing there with their faces black
and their clothes bespattered with grime and a look of sheepish chagrin
on their faces, that the girls burst into gales of uncontrolled
laughter.
"You look just like candidates for a minstrel show," gasped Mollie,
while the boys stood regarding her reproachfully. "Oh, boys, if you only
had a mirror! If you only had!"