The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin

The Campfire Girls at Camp
Keewaydin, by

Hildegard G. Frey
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Title: The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin
Author: Hildegard G. Frey
Release Date: January 11, 2004 [eBook #10688]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
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The Camp Fire Girls At Camp Keewaydin
Or, Down Paddles
By Hildegard G. Frey

CHAPTER I
ON THE WAY
"All aboard!" The hoarse voice of Captain MacLaren boomed out like a
fog horn, waking a clatter of echoes among the tall cliffs on the
opposite shore of the river, and sending the seventy-five girls on the
dock all skurrying for the _Carribou's_ gangplank at once.

"Hurry up, Hinpoha! We're getting left behind." Agony strained
forward on the suitcase she was helping Hinpoha to carry down the hill
and endeavored to catch up with the crowd, a proceeding which she
soon acknowledged to be impossible, for Hinpoha, rendered breathless
by the hasty scramble from the train, lagged farther behind with every
step.
"I--can't--go--any--faster!" she panted, and abruptly let go of her end of
the suitcase to fan herself with her hand. "What's the use of rushing so,
anyway?" she demanded plaintively. "They won't go off without us;
they can see us coming down the hill. It wasn't my fault that my camera
got wedged under the seat and made us be the last ones off the train,"
she continued, "and I'm not going to run down this hill and go
sprawling, like I did in the elevator yesterday. Are the other girls on
already?" she asked, searching the crowd below with her eyes for a
sight of the other Winnebagos.
"Sahwah and Oh-Pshaw are on the boat already," replied Agony, "and
Gladys and Migwan are just getting on. I don't see Katherine anywhere,
however. Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "there she is down there in the
crowd. What are they all laughing at, I wonder? Oh, look, Katherine's
suitcase has come open, and all her things are spilled out on the dock. I
thought it would be strange if she made the trip without some kind of a
mishap. Oh, dear, did you ever see anyone so funny as Katherine?"
"Well," observed Hinpoha in a tone of relief, "we don't have to hurry
now. It'll take them at least ten minutes to get that suitcase shut again. I
know, because I helped Katherine pack. I had to sit on it with all my
might to close it."
"All Aboard!" came the second warning roar from Captain MacLaren,
accompanied by a deafening blast of the _Carribou's_ whistle. Agony
picked up Hinpoha's suitcase in one hand and her own in the other, and
with an urgent "Come on!" made a dash down the remainder of the hill
and landed breathless at the gangplank of the waiting steamer just as
the engine began to quiver into motion. Hinpoha was just behind her,
and Katherine trod closely upon Hinpoha's heels, carrying her still
unclosed suitcase out before her like a tray, to keep its contents from

spilling out.
Migwan was waiting for them at the head of the gangplank. "We've
saved a place for you up in the bow," she said. "Hurry up, we're having
such a time holding it for you. The boat is simply packed."
The four girls picked their way through a litter of suitcases, paddles,
cameras, tennis rackets and musical instruments that covered every
inch of deck space between the chairs, and joined the other
Winnebagos in their place in the bow. Hinpoha sank down gratefully
upon a deck chair that Oh-Pshaw had obligingly been holding for her
and Agony disposed herself upon a pile of suitcases, from which
vantage point she could get a good look at the crowd.
The Carribou had turned her nose about and was gliding smoothly
upstream, following the random curvings of the lazy Onawanda as it
wound through the low-lying, wooded hills of the Shenandawah
country, singing a carefree wanderer's song as it flowed. It was a
glorious, balmy day in late June, dazzlingly blue and white, sparklingly
golden. It was the _Carribou's_ big day of the year, that last day of June.
On all other days she made her run demurely from Lower Falls Station
to Upper Falls, carrying freight and a handful of passengers on each trip;
but every year on that last day of June freight and ordinary passengers
stood aside, for the Carribou was chartered to carry the girls of