Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains | Page 6

anything it
will fall heaviest on this Camp Fire when it comes."
"Maybe it was just talk, to get us worked up and looking for something
never to come," suggested Ethel Zimmerman. "It would be a pretty
good one for the boys to get us excited and looking for something clear
up to April 1, and then spring an April fool joke, something like a big
dry goods box packed with excelsior."
"Oh, but that wouldn't measure up to expectations," Ruth Hazelton
declared. "It wouldn't be one-two-three with what they did last night,
and they promised something just about as interesting."
"You don't get me," returned Ethel. "The dry goods box filled with
excelsior would be the anti-climax of wondering expectations."

"You're too deep for a twentieth century bunch of girls, Ethel," Hazel
Edwards objected. "That might easily be mistaken for the promised big
stunt. They might compose a lot of ditties and mix them up with the
packing, something like this:
"'Believe not all big things that boys may tell thee, for Great
expectations may produce excelsior'."
"Very clever, indeed, only it sounds like an impossible combination of
Alice in Wonderland and an old maid," said Harriet Newcomb, with a
toss of her head. "I'm surprised at you, Hazel, for suggesting such a
thing. If the boys should put over anything like that, we'd break off
diplomatic relations right away. If they wanted to call us a lot of
rummies, they couldn't do it as effectively by the use of direct language.
Cleverness usually makes a hit with its victims, unless it contains an
element of contempt."
"That is really a brilliant observation," announced the Guardian who
had been listening with quiet interest to the spirited conversation.
"Continued thought along such lines ought to result in a Keda National
Honor for you, Harriet."
"I'll agree to all that if Harriet will take back what she said about my
being an old maid," said Hazel with mock dignity.
"I didn't call you an old maid, my dear," denied the impromptu poet
pertly. "I merely said, or meant to say, that the idea you expressed
might better be expected from an old maid, although I doubt if many
old maids could have expressed it as well as you did."
"Girls, Girls, are you going to turn our vacation into a two-weeks
repartee bee?" Marion broke in with affected desperation. "If you do,
you will force your hostess to go way back and sit down, and that
wouldn't be polite, you know. By the way, if you'll excuse me I'll do
that very thing now for another reason. I've got two letters in my hand
bag that I forgot all about. I'm going to read them right now. You girls
are making too much chatter. I can't read in your midst."

So saying, Marion retired to a chair just far enough away to lend
semblance of reality to her "go way back and sit down" suggestion, and
settled back comfortably to read the two missives that arrived with the
last evening's mail at the Institute.
"Settled back comfortably"--yes, but only for a short time. Marion
never before in her life received two such letters. Both were
anonymous. The first one that she opened aroused enough curiosity to
"unsettle" her. She thought she knew whom it was from--those
ingenious Boy Scouts of Spring Lake--perhaps it was written by cousin
Clifford himself. It was just like him. He was a natural leader among
boys, and often up to mischief of some sort. Marion was sure he was
one of the prime movers of the Scout invasion of Hiawatha Institute.
But the next letter was the real thriller, or rather cold chiller. She knew
very well what it meant. From the point of view of the writer it meant
"business," a threat well calculated to work terror in her own heart and
the heart of every other member of Flamingo Fire. It was a threat
couched in direful words, warning her and her friends not to go to
Hollyhill on their charity mission, as announced, and predicting serious
injury if not death to some of them. It was signed with a skull and
cross-bones.
* * * * *

CHAPTER IV.
STUDYING THE MYSTERY.
Is there any wonder that Marion Stanlock, after reading letter No. 2 was
seriously in doubt as to whether No. 1 was from the Scouts who had
promised another surprise for the Camp Fire Girls in the near future?
Judge for yourself--here is No. 1:
Something Doing Soon Look Out SOMETHING DOING SOON
LOOK OUT =SOMETHING DOING SOON LOOK OUT!=

That was all. The second letter read thus:
"Miss Stanlock: This is to serve you with warning not to take your
friends with you to Hollyhill this vacation to work among the poor