The Camp Fire Girls in the Woods | Page 8

to wake up, aroused Zara, and then peeped from the door of the cabin.
There on the beach, their hair spread out in the sun, were half a dozen
girls in bathing dresses. Beside them were a couple of canoes, drawn up
on the beach, and they were laughing and singing merrily as they dried
their hair. Looking over across the lake, in the direction of the fire she
had seen the night before, Bessie saw that it was still burning. A pillar
of smoke rose straight in the still air, and beyond it, gleaming among
the trees, Bessie saw the white sides of three or four tents. Astonished,
she called Zara.
"They're not from around here, Zara," she whispered, not ready yet for
the strangers to discover her. "Girls around here don't swim -- it's only
the boys who do that."
"I'll bet they're from the city and here on vacation," said Zara.
"They look awful happy, Zara. Isn't that lady with the brown hair pretty?
And she's older than the rest, too. You can see that, can't you?"
"Listen, Bessie! She just called one of the girls. And did you hear what
she called her? Minnehaha -- that's a funny name, isn't it?"
"It's an Indian name, Zara. It means Laughing Water. That's the name
of the girl that Hiawatha loved, in the poem. I've read that, haven't
you?"
"I've never been able to read very much, Bessie. But that girl isn't an
Indian. She's ever so much lighter than I am -- she's as fair as you. And

Indians are red, aren't they?"
"She's not an Indian, Zara. That's right enough. It must be some sort of
a game. Oh, listen!"
For the older girl, the one Zara had pointed out, had spied Bessie's
peeping face suddenly.
"Look, girls!" she cried, pointing.
And then, without a word of signal all the girls suddenly broke out into
a song -- a song Bessie had never heard before.
"Wohelo for aye, Wohelo for aye, "Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for aye;
"Wohelo for work, Wohelo for health, "Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for
love!"
As they ended the song, all the girls, with laughing faces, followed the
eyes of their leader and looked at Bessie, who, frightened at first when
she saw they had been discovered, now returned the look shyly. There
was something so kind, so friendly, about the manner of these strange
girls that her fear had vanished.
"Won't you come out and talk to us?" asked the leader of the crowd.
She came alone toward the door of the cabin, looking at Bessie with
interest.
"My name is Wanaka -- that is, my Camp Fire name," said the stranger.
"We are Manasquan Camp Fire Girls, you know, and we've been
camping out by this lake. Do you live here?"
"No -- not exactly ma'am," said Bessie, still a little shy.
"Then you must be camping out, too? It's fun, isn't it? But you're not
alone, are you? Didn't I see another head peeping out?"
"That's Zara. She's my friend, and she's with me," said Bessie. "And my
name's Bessie King."

She looked curiously at Wanaka. Bessie had never heard of the Camp
Fire Girls, and the great movement they had begun, meant to do for
American girls what the Boy Scout movement had begun so well for
their brothers.
"Well, won't you and Zara spend the day with us, if you are by
yourselves?" asked Wanaka. "We'll take you over to camp in the
canoes, and you can have dinner with us. We're going back now to
cook it. The other girls have begun to prepare it already."
"Oh, we'd like to!" cried Bessie. "I'm awfully hungry -- and I'm sure
Zara is, too."
Bessie hadn't meant to say that. But the thought of a real meal had been
too much for her.
"Hungry!" cried Wanaka. "Why, haven't you had breakfast? Did you
oversleep?"
She looked about curiously. And Bessie saw that she could not deceive
this tall, slim girl, with the wise eyes that seemed to see everything.
"We -- we haven't anything to eat," she said. And suddenly she was
overcome with the thought of how hard things were going to be,
especially for Zara, and tears filler her eyes.
"You shall tell me all about it afterwards," said Wanaka, with decision.
"Just now you've got to come over with us and have something to eat,
right away. Girls, launch the canoes! We have two guests here who
haven't had any breakfast, and they're simply starving to death."
Any girls Bessie had ever known would have rushed toward her at once,
overwhelming her with questions, fussing around, and getting nothing
done. But these girls were different. They didn't talk; they did things. In
a moment, as it seemed, the canoes