The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin | Page 8

get over it," replied Miss Armstrong prophetically.
If Miss Armstrong was a novelty to the tenants of Bedlam, the
councilor in Ponemah also seemed an odd character to the three girls
she was to chaperon--only she was a much less agreeable surprise. She
was a stout, fussy woman of about forty with thick eye-glasses which
pinched the corners of her eyes into a strained expression. She greeted
the girls briefly when they presented themselves to her, and in the next
breath began giving orders about the arrangement of the tent. The beds
must stand thus and so; the washstand must be on the other side from
where it was; the mirror must stay on this side. And she must have half
of the swinging shelf for her own; she could not possibly do with less;
the others could get along as best they might with what was left.
"We're supposed to divide the shelf up equally," announced Bengal
Virden, who had begun to look upon Miss Peckham--that was her
name--with extreme disapproval from the moment of their introduction.
Bengal was a girl whose every feeling was written plainly upon her
face; she could not mask her emotions under an inscrutable
countenance. Her dislike of Miss Peckham was so evident that Migwan
and Gladys had expected an outbreak before this; but Bengal had
merely stood scowling while the beds were being moved about. With
the episode of the swinging shelf, however, she flared into open
defiance.
"We're all to have an equal share of the shelf," she repeated.
"Nonsense," replied Miss Peckham in an emphatic tone. "I'm a
councilor and I need more space."

Bengal promptly burst into tears. "I want to be in Pom-pom's tent!" she
wailed, and fled from the scene, to throw herself upon Pom-pom in the
next tent and pour out her tale of woe.
Migwan and Gladys looked at each other rather soberly as they went
out to fill their water pitcher.
"What a strange person to have as councilor," ventured Gladys. "I
thought councilors at camps were always as sweet as they could be.
Miss Peckham looks as though she could be horrid without half trying."
"Maybe it's just her way, though," replied Migwan good temperedly.
"She may be very nice inside after we get to know her. She's probably
never been a councilor before, and thinks she must show her authority."
"Authority!" cried Gladys. "But we're not babies; we're grown up. I'm
afraid she's not going to be a very agreeable proctor."
"Oh, well," replied Migwan gently, "let's make the best of her and have
a good time anyway. We mustn't let her spoil our fun for us. We'll
probably find something to like in her before long."
"I wish I had your angelic disposition," sighed Gladys, "but I just can't
like people when they rub me the wrong way, and Miss Peckham does
that to me."
"There's going to be trouble with the Elephant's Child," remarked
Migwan soberly. "She has already taken a strong dislike to Miss
Peckham, and she is still childish enough to show it."
"Yes, I'm afraid there will be trouble between Bengal and Miss
Peckham," echoed Gladys, "and we'll be constantly called upon to
make peace. It's a role I'm not anxious for."
"Let's not worry about it beforehand," said Migwan, charmed into a
blissful attitude of mind toward the whole world by the sheer beauty of
the scene that unrolled before her. The river, tinged by the long rays of
the late afternoon sun, gleamed like a river of living gold, blinding her

eyes and setting her to dreaming of magic seas and far countries. She
stood very still for many minutes, lost in golden fancies, until Gladys
took her gently by the arm.
"Come, Migwan, are you going to day-dream here forever? There is the
spring we are looking for, just at the end of that little path."
Migwan came slowly out of her reverie and followed Gladys down the
hill to the spring.
"It's all so beautiful," she sighed in ecstasy, turning to look back once
more at the shimmering water, "it just makes me ache. It makes
everything unworthy in me want to crawl away and lose itself, while
everything good in me wants to sing. Don't you feel that way about it,
too?"
"Something like that," replied Gladys softly. "When Nature is so lovely,
it makes me want to be lovely, too, to match. I don't see how anyone
could ever be angry here, or selfish, or mean. It's just like being made
over, with all the bad left out."
"It does seem that way," replied Migwan.
"Here is the spring!" cried both girls in unison, as they reached the end
of the path and came upon a deep, rocky basin, filled with crystal clear
water