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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33532-8.txt b/33532-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16137dc --- /dev/null +++ b/33532-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5434 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines, by +Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + +Author: Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +Release Date: August 26, 2010 [EBook #33532] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + + + + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND THE LINES + + BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK + + Author of "The Ranch Girls" Series, "The Red Cross Girls" Series, etc. + +ILLUSTRATED + +PHILADELPHIA +THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. +PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1918, by +The John C. Winston Company + + +[Illustration: A Sentry Ordered Dan to Stop His Car] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. "EL CAMINO REAL" + +II. THE LAND OF ROMANCE + +III. THE CALL TO SERVICE + +IV. THE CAMP AND TEMPERAMENTAL EXCURSIONS + +V. ABALONE SHELLS + +VI. "MY OWN WILL COME TO ME" + +VII. THE SACRIFICE OF YOUTH + +VIII. FELIPE + +IX. THE CANTONMENT + +X. PLANS + +XI. THE DANCE + +XII. "AS YOU LIKE IT" + +XIII. HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY + +XIV. THE NIGHT OF THE PLAY + +XV. "I WILL MARRY YOU, IF EVER I MARRY WOMAN" + +XVI. GERRY'S OPPORTUNITY + +XVII. FOLLY AND COURAGE + +XVIII. THE SUMMONS + +XIX. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE + +XX. BITTER WATERS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A SENTRY ORDERED DAN TO STOP HIS CAR + +THEIR HOST LED THE WAY THROUGH THE OUTER COURT INTO THE ENCLOSED ONE + +ON ONE OCCASION GERRY AND FELIPE DISCOVERED THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY +DANCING ALONE + +AS MRS. BURTON DREW NEAR SHE RECOGNIZED ONE OF THEM AS DAN WEBSTER + + + + +The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"El Camino Real" + + +A small cavalcade was slowly winding down a steep, white road. + +The bare, brown hills rose up on one side like the earth's friars of St. +Francis, while on the other, at some distance away, the Pacific Ocean +showed green and still. Near the shore the waves broke into white +sprites of foam against the deep, incurving cliffs. + +A girl riding at the head of the column reined in her horse, afterwards +making a mysterious sign in the air with one upraised hand. + +In answer to her signal the other riders, a group of Camp Fire girls, +also stopped their horses. Across many miles sounded faintly the +deep-toned voices of old mission bells. + +"I believe the mission is ringing a farewell to us," one of the girls +remarked to the companion whose western pony had stopped nearest her +own. "To me, of all the Spanish missions we have seen so far, Carmel was +the loveliest. '_Carmelo_'--why, the very name has an enchanting sound! + + "Bells of the Past, whose long-forgotten music + Still fills the wide expanse, + Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present + With colors of romance! + + "I hear you call, and see the sun descending + On rock and wave and sand, + As down the coast the mission voices, blending, + Girdle the heathen land! + + "Borne on the swell 'of your long waves receding, + I touch the farther Past-- + I see the dying glow of Spanish glory, + The sunset dream and last!" + +The girl who had been reciting possessed an odd, charming voice with a +slightly hoarse note. She was small and had bright, almost +copper-colored hair. Her slender nose, which had a queer little twist +at the end, destroyed any claim she might otherwise have had to +conventional beauty and yet curiously enough added to the fascination of +her expression. + +The other girl shook her head. + +"I don't agree with you, Marta. You seem to me in as great a state of +enthusiasm over everything we have seen in California as if you were a +native. I confess to you I am a little weary of visiting old Spanish +missions. Personally I shall be glad when we are in our summer camp. The +missions are so empty and so sleepy these days with their queer, dreamy +old gardens and no one to be seen except an occasional tourist and a few +old monks. Nevertheless I liked your recitation. Sometimes I wonder, +Marta, if you intend imitating our Camp Fire guardian's career?" + +Gerry Williams spoke in a voice of amused superiority she often employed +in talking with other girls. + +Marta Clark's eyes, which had the strange characteristic of appearing to +change in color according to her moods, now darkened slightly as she +turned to gaze steadily at her companion. + +"Do you know, Gerry, I have an idea the old missions would never have +bored you, if you had any thought that a prince might come and discover +you in one of them!" + +"Certainly not," Gerry laughed. + +Gerry was alluring. Her hat was hanging over the pommel of her saddle so +that her fair hair was blowing about her face. Now that the sun and wind +had tanned her delicate skin, her blue eyes looked bluer than ever. + +Instead of replying, Marta Clark, at this instant, turned her horse with +the intention of riding beside one of the other girls. + +Marta Clark was the latest addition to the new group of Sunrise Hill +Camp Fire girls. The summer before she had met them in Arizona where +they were camping at the "End of the Trail." At that time she was living +nearby in a tent with her brother who had been seriously ill. Her +brother's health had improved and he had written a successful play. +Afterwards his marriage to Ellen Deal, one of the older Camp Fire girls, +had made it possible for Marta Clark to accept Mrs. Burton's invitation +to join her Camp Fire group. As her guests they were now traveling +along the Pacific coast, visiting the old Spanish missions. + +The King's Highway, called in the old Spanish tongue, _El Camino Real_, +stretches from northern California to the southernmost end. + +One of the other Camp Fire girls turned her head as Marta came near her. +All the horses were moving on again. + +"I wonder why the automobile has not caught up with us?" Peggy Webster +remarked. "I supposed the car would have passed us long ago. As it is +time for tea, and I am already tired, I think it would have been more +sensible if we had remained together." + +The little riding party of six girls was accompanied by a large wagon +filled with a camping outfit. The wagon was drawn by a small pair of +gray mules and driven by a tall, raw-boned man, a typical western +plainsman. Beside him sat a young fellow about seventeen years old. The +wagon was following a few yards behind the riders. + +"Then suppose we stop and have tea while we wait and watch for the +others," Bettina Graham proposed, having overheard Peggy's lament. + +"I don't believe they could have lost their way, since one has only to +follow the guide posts of the old mission bells. Nevertheless Tante has +a most eccentric fashion of suddenly deciding to explore along small +byways. But they must surely come along here finally." + +Peggy Webster shook her head. + +"We had best ride on for a little while longer in order to make the +distance we planned to make today. Perhaps by that time the car will +have joined us. In any case we can find a better place to watch and to +prepare tea." + +At the present time on each side the road the mustard plants were +blooming, making a broad field of the cloth of gold broken only by the +long trail. + +Further along down the slope of a hillside a miniature orange grove had +been planted with trees no larger than would have comfortably shaded +dolls' houses. + +Then, as they rode on, the Camp Fire girls drew nearer to the fine of +the coast. A fog was blowing in from the sea. + +Finally, standing up in her stirrups for an instant, Peggy Webster +pointed ahead. + +"See those three rocks down there that look like 'the Big Bear, the +Middle-Sized Bear and the Little Bear,' in the fairy story! Don't you +think they would form a comfortable background for our tea party? At +least they will be a protection from the wind. If we go on and the fog +grows much thicker we shall not be able even to see each other." + +Soon after the horses and the wagon halted and Dan Webster climbed down, +bearing the tea basket. Mr. Simpson, who was continuing to act as guide, +took charge of the horses. + +The coast looked bare and wind-swept. There were no trees nearby and no +driftwood along the shore. + +However, nearly two hundred years before, when Father Juniper Serra +founded and built the Spanish missions of California, he and his brother +monks left behind them a golden harvest. In all their pilgrimages from +land's end to land's end they flung the seed of the mustard plant along +their route. + +Leaving the other girls to unpack the tea basket, Marta Clark and +Bettina walked quickly back along the road until not a quarter of a mile +away they discovered another field of the omnipresent mustard. + +Then the two girls began searching for the dried stems of the mustard +plant in order to start their camp fire. + +Bettina was standing with her arms filled with the long stems when Marta +Clark came close up beside her. Both of the girls were knee deep among +the golden flowers. + +"You look like Ruth among the corn, Bettina," Marta remarked, surveying +the other girl with generous admiration. + +"Do you remember the story of Ruth in the Bible? 'So she gleaned in the +field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And she took it up +and went into the city.'" + +Bettina shook her head. "No, I do not remember. It is wonderful to me, +your ability to quote so correctly. If ever you are able to do the thing +you desire, your memory will be a wonderful help. But I am not going to +talk about it. I know you feel as embarrassed over your ambition as I do +over mine." + +In the past few weeks Marta Clark and Bettina were beginning to feel a +deep interest in each other. This was but natural, for although they +were unlike in character they had many tastes in common. Marta was quick +and passionate, while Bettina was apt to appear almost too serene and +self-controlled. Yet they both cared for books, for human beauty and the +beauty of the great outdoors. + +During the few moments the girls were talking the fog had been closing +in more thickly about them until it was only possible to see the road a +few yards away through a cloak of mist. + +At this instant they distinctly heard the noise of an approaching motor +car. + +Mrs. Richard Burton, better known to the world as the famous actress, +Polly O'Neill Burton, and guardian to the group of Sunrise Hill Camp +Fire girls, had chosen to make the journey down the California coast in +her automobile. + +This afternoon her sister, Mrs. Webster, her nephew, Billy Webster, Vera +Lagerloff and the maid, Marie, were traveling with her. + +The plan had been that the Camp Fire girls should start on their riding +trip several hours ahead and that they meet later and camp for the night +at some agreeable place along their journey. + +Marta and Bettina ran forward, intending to stop the approaching car. +Both girls were thinking that the car was moving much more swiftly than +usual. + +Almost immediately they saw that the automobile coming toward them was +not Mrs. Burton's, but a small khaki-colored roadster driven by a United +States officer with another soldier on the seat beside him. + +They were going along at full speed as if they were carrying information +of great importance. + +Then suddenly, without Marta or Bettina recognizing the cause, the car +swerved, made a wide detour and quickly overturned. A few seconds later +when the two girls, hoping to be of service, had reached the car, the +young United States officer was crawling slowly out from beneath the +wreck. + +He tried to stand up and to smile reassuringly at Bettina, who chanced +to be ahead, but the next moment if she had not put out her arm to +steady him he would have fallen. + +A little while after he was sitting unheroically amid the dust of the +roadside, smiling somewhat quizzically up at his rescuer. + +"I don't believe I am seriously hurt," he remarked cheerfully, "but as I +know you are patriotic and would like to try your first-aid remedies +upon me, please go ahead. I am Lieutenant Carson and at present I appear +to be a somewhat unsuccessful Paul Revere. But would you mind +explaining, while you are washing the dirt out of this plagued cut on my +forehead, why you are wearing a costume that seems to suggest a +combination of an Indian princess' outfit and a soldier's uniform?" + +Marta Clark was devoting her attention to the other soldier, who did not +appear to be hurt but only slightly dazed from his mishap. + +Bettina for an instant regretted that she was unable to change places +with Marta. She had studied first aid, of course, along with her Camp +Fire work, but was not accustomed to masculine patients. + +Moreover, Bettina considered that the young officer was showing an +unwarranted personal interest in his first war nurse. As a matter of +fact, she entirely refused to pay any attention to his questioning. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Land of Romance + + +Two weeks later two women were walking up and down a garden path in the +moonlight. + +Across from them stood a long, low adobe house of a single story. The +veranda, extending from one end to the other, was so thickly covered +with a flowering vine that even in the moonlight one could get the +reflection of its brilliant color. The air was scented with the fragrant +perfume of roses and the blossoms of orange and lemon trees. From behind +the soft shading of the vine across the road came the brilliant twanging +of a guitar and a mandolin. Two voices were singing a Spanish love song. + +Farther away under the deeper shadow of the moon a white cross arose +above a mass of fallen stone. + +"I declare, Mollie, this is the old world, not the new, isn't it? I feel +as if we had traveled away from our own country today into a foreign +land; but what land I cannot say, because this place tonight must be +more beautiful and more romantic than even Spain itself. Yet one is not +sorry to forget for a little while the present world and its tragedies!" + +The other woman shook her head. The two sisters were the same height, +had nearly the same character of features and the same coloring; +nevertheless were curiously unlike. + +One conspicuous difference was in their voices. + +"Do you know, Polly, I think perhaps you have made a mistake in bringing +the Camp Fire girls to spend the summer in so picturesque a place. We +probably shall have a romance on our hands before the season is over," +Mrs. Webster answered. "It is natural of course that _you_ should be +affected by such surroundings. But when a night like this has an +influence upon a woman of my age with an almost grown-up family, it +makes me feel extremely nervous when I consider the girls." + +Mrs. Burton laughed. + +"Nevertheless, my beloved Mollie, even if you _have_ a grown-up family +and I have no children, I don't see what difference the fact makes in +our ages, as we happen to be twins. Besides, I never could see why age +should destroy one's susceptibility to beauty! My only feeling is that +perhaps we have no right to ease and enjoyment of any kind this summer, +now that the United States has entered the war. I don't think I should +have invited the girls on this long trip had I known beforehand. I feel +I ought to be devoting all my energies to war work; however, we must do +whatever we can out here. Richard seemed to think it impossible to have +me near the southern camp where he is located." + +Mrs. Webster sighed gently in response. She was unhappy over the war, +too, but not so inclined as her sister to take deeply to heart the +sorrows of the world when they did not touch her personally. + +"Well, I am glad we can be together for a few months longer, Polly. I +realize it is selfish of me, and yet I do rejoice that neither Dan nor +Billy is old enough to be drafted. Dan's desire to volunteer is of +course ridiculous! At least, I shall safe-guard my boys. I am also glad +my husband is doing war work by increasing the amount of food raised +upon our place, instead of entering the service as an ordnance officer +as your husband has. Dear me, I really think it is very fine of Richard +at his age!" + +Shrugging her shoulders, Mrs. Burton smiled a little ruefully. + +"You are determined to dwell upon our great age tonight, aren't you, +Mollie mine? Please remember that your daughter Peggy bestowed her +affections upon Ralph Marshall last summer when we were at the Grand +Canyon and not in southern California. Yet I do feel that with the +possibility of young soldiers and officers turning up at any moment in +our midst, you and I will have to be unusually vigilant chaperons. + +"But do let us go now and find what has become of the girls. We have had +a long journey and should soon be in bed." + +Mrs. Burton slipped her arm inside her sister's and drew her away from +the old hotel garden across the gleaming road. + +To the right of them, bathed in the half-tropic moonlight, was the old +Spanish mission of San Juan Capistrano, named in honor of a +warrior-saint of the Crusades. It was the loveliest place in all +California. + +As they walked slowly on Mrs. Burton recited in an undertone, and with +the emotional sweetness which had captivated countless audiences and +which never failed to thrill her sister: + + "Up from the south slow filed a train, + Priests and soldiers of old Spain, + Who through the sunlit country wound + With cross and lance, intent to found + A mission in that wild to John, + Soldier saint of Capistran." + +They stopped a moment as if to let the beauty sink deep, and then the +two women entered the gate of the old mission grounds. + +Early in the afternoon the Sunrise Camp Fire party had arrived at the +little half-foreign town of Capistrano, set midway, like a link with the +past, between the two modern cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. For +hours they had been exploring the old mission. Then, after dinner, the +Camp Fire girls, with Dan and Billy Webster to act as escorts had asked +the privilege of returning to remain in the old mission garden until +bedtime. + +Tonight, to Mrs. Burton's eyes at least, the mission looked like a +half-ruined palace of dreams. Once the mission of San Juan Capistrano +held a great stone church, a pillared court, a portico, a rectangle; +here the Franciscan fathers had their cells, and many rooms for +distinguished guests. It was the richest and most splendid mission in +old California. + +But at present only the ruins of its past remained. + +Above, in one of the crumbling arches of the colonnade, an owl hooted so +hoarsely that Mrs. Webster clutched her sister's arm in a tighter clasp. +The greeting had sounded, not like a welcome, but a warning. + +There was no one to be seen and the place was wrapped in a kind of +ghostly silence. + +"It is most extraordinary how the girls and Dan and Billy have +disappeared," Mrs. Burton whispered plaintively, scarcely daring to +speak in a natural tone. + +She and Mrs. Burton had passed through one of the colonnades and were +now in the old court in the rear. Along one side ran a line of forsaken +cloisters. + +"Wait a moment, Mollie, please," Mrs. Burton murmured. + +Adding to the enchantment of the present scene she could hear again the +sound of music. The two musicians who had been singing on the veranda +across from their hotel also must have wandered into the mission +grounds. + +Then, almost at the same instant, Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster +discovered the Camp Fire girls. + +Beyond the enclosed space of the old mission lay a broad piece of open +ground. Over it tonight poured the unbroken radiance of the moon. In +time long past this ground had been devoted to the use of the Indians +who were being taught Christianity and the habits of civilization by the +Spanish fathers. In those days this ground was encircled by a row of +Indian huts. One part was set apart for the Indian women and girls, and +here the Indian maiden remained in seclusion until her wedding day. + +But tonight, in some mysterious fashion, the past seemed to have came +back, for a group of Indian maidens had returned to their former +dwelling place. + +"The picture is too lovely to disturb," Mrs. Burton whispered +irresolutely. + +In the moonlight one could not discern the differences in the costumes +of the Camp Fire girls, nor their fairer coloring. + +Bettina, Marta, Peggy and Alice Ashton were seated upon the ground, +forming a square, with Dan standing apparently hovering like a guardian +angel above them. + +As usual, Billy Webster was lying gazing up at the sky and Vera +Lagerloff was sitting beside him. + +A little apart from the others Gerry Williams and Sally Ashton were +strolling up and down with their arms intertwined. + +"Do you think we should speak of our plan immediately?" Bettina Graham +was inquiring of the other three girls. "Unless we can carry it out I +don't feel that we have the right to our Camp Fire summer together." + +In the moonlight her yellow brown hair had turned a bright gold. + +Peggy, who was ever a direct and sensible person, shook her head. + +"We must wait until we have found the location for our camp and are +fairly well settled," she replied. "At present our own ideas as to what +we can do to help with the war work are much too vague. But I suppose we +shall be near the great National Guard war training camp, and that in +itself ought to be an inspiration. Have you ever heard from your wounded +lieutenant, Bettina? It was amusing to have him and his friend to tea in +so unexpected a fashion. I shall never forget how amazed the family was +on discovering us with soldier guests. I am sorry we have never seen +either of them again." + +"I have had one note from Lieutenant Carson, saying that he was all +right," Bettina answered. "He will probably be stationed at the +cantonment near here. I wish for your sake Ralph Marshall was to be +there instead." + +There was no engagement existing between Peggy Webster and Ralph +Marshall. But Peggy was too transparent a person to conceal her interest +in Ralph after their past summer of misunderstanding and final +reconciliation. As Ralph had volunteered and joined the aviation corps +soon after the entry of the United States into the war, she had not +seen him in many months. But it was understood that they wrote to each +other and Peggy openly expressed her pride in Ralph's courage and +ability. Ralph had been offered an opportunity to remain in his own +country and act as an aviation instructor, but instead had chosen to go +to France. At the present time he was in a camp on Long Island waiting +his hour for sailing. + +Before Peggy could make a reply to Bettina's final speech, the four +girls saw their Camp Fire guardians approaching and rose to greet them. + +"You girls look too picturesque to disturb, and yet we must not remain +outdoors all night, no matter how the beauty of the night tempts us. I +trust we may have many other nights as radiant as this before our summer +is over," said Mrs. Burton, half apologizing for her own and her +sister's intrusion. + +A few moments later the Sunrise Camp Fire girls were walking slowly away +from the mission grounds to their own rose-covered hotel. + +Not by accident, but because of a common purpose, Sally and Gerry +managed to linger a few yards behind the others. + +The singing which had so fascinated Mrs. Burton and added to the +witchery of the night had also attracted the attention of the two girls. +But it was not the music alone which had charmed them. In their careless +strolling up and down apart from their companions, Sally and Gerry had +dimly seen the figures of the two musicians. + +The mysterious singers had kept always in the background, only +approaching sufficiently near for their songs to be heard; and yet, +notwithstanding this, Sally and Gerry had managed to find out that they +were two young men dressed in Mexican costumes. But whether they were +Mexicans or Americans they could not guess, since it was impossible to +see their faces and they seemed able to sing Spanish or English songs +with equal ease. + +The fact was that Gerry and Sally had arranged a scheme between them by +which they hoped to make a desired discovery. Their scheme would have +appalled the other Camp Fire girls, but they chanced to have unlike +views in regard to the agreeable adventures and experiences of life. +Moreover, they often preferred bestowing their confidences only upon +each other. + +As the rest of the Camp Fire party moved on, both Sally and Gerry became +aware that the musicians were growing bolder and were drawing nearer. + +Both girls would have liked to turn round and deliberately look back. +Yet they had scarcely the courage for this breach of taste, in spite of +the fact that it was night and the redeeming grace of the moonlight +rested over them. + +Sally was carrying a little beaded Indian bag which she managed to drop +without any one, aside from Gerry, noticing. + +After going on a little further, unexpectedly they turned back to pick +up the lost possession. + +The two young men were thus within only a few feet of them. + +There was but little satisfaction in the adventure, nevertheless, for +although one of the musicians stepped forward and gravely presented +Sally with the Indian bag he had observed on the ground between them; +yet neither he nor his companion spoke and it was impossible, with +their broad Mexican hats, to obtain a satisfactory view of their faces +without revealing too great curiosity. + +As a matter of fact, the entire Camp Fire party was unaware of the +interest their appearance in the little town of Capistrano during the +afternoon had excited. There were always tourists visiting the old +mission, especially at this season of the year. But the number and +appearance of the girls, their picturesque, half Indian costumes, which +always puzzled people unacquainted with the Camp Fire uniform, and the +big wagon carrying their large camping outfit, gave them a unique +distinction. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Call to Service + + +On a ledge of rock with the Pacific Ocean as a background a girl was +standing, holding a bugle to her lips and with it sounding a clear, +musical call. + +Not far off a number of persons were seated about a smouldering camp +fire. All day the sun had been hot, almost as a tropic sun, but now with +the coming of the late afternoon a cool breeze was blowing in from the +sea. + +The feminine members of the little circle were knitting and sewing. + +One of the two young men was holding a hank of wool, which a +brown-haired, brown-eyed girl was winding slowly and carefully into a +great ball. The other was lying full length on the ground looking toward +the water. + +"Why is my Sister Peggy sounding taps or a reveille, since at present +it is neither morning nor night?" he questioned. "It seems impossible +these days to get away from the sights and sounds which suggest war. I +had hoped that when we were in camp out here in this far-away country we +might at least have a _little_ rest." + +Billy Webster's manner was that of a spoiled and fretful boy; +nevertheless an uncomfortable silence followed his speech. + +Ever it appears impossible in this world, even among a small group of +persons, to preserve entire harmony! In spite of his youth and his +fragility, in spite of his quiet voice and oftentimes gentle manner, +Billy Webster, from the time he ceased wearing dresses, had been able to +sow discord. The trouble was that Billy always refused to think like the +people surrounding him. + +At present, when the entire Camp Fire party was interested heart and +soul in the successful carrying on of the war, Billy had announced +himself a pacifist. If he had contented himself with the mere +announcement, his friends and family would have accepted his point of +view with comparative equanimity. But with Billy the frequent +exposition of his opinions was as the breath of life. + +At this moment Vera Lagerloff leaned over to say in a whisper: + +"For goodness' sake, Billy, please don't start an argument now on the +subject of the war. You know how intensely Mrs. Burton disapproves of +your ideas and how angry you make Dan." + +Peggy descended from her rocky platform at this instant and joined the +group. She was wearing her workaday Camp Fire costume and had her dark +hair braided in two braids with a red band about her forehead. + +"What is it, Peggy? You look as if you had something important to +confide to us?" Mrs. Burton asked quickly, hoping to stem the flood of +eloquence with which her nephew ordinarily met opposition. "I confess I +am as curious as Billy to know why you sounded a bugle call at this hour +of the afternoon." + +Peggy sat down in camp-fire fashion on the ground, frowning and looking +extremely serious. A bunch of pale lavender sea verbena she had gathered +nearer the shore, she dropped in her mother's lap. + +She did not know what Billy had been saying, but she was conscious that +the atmosphere about her was uncomfortable. + +Dan had not moved from his patient attitude, in order that Sally Ashton +might continue to unwind her wool, yet his expression was not like his +usual sweet-tempered one. Peggy at once surmised that Billy was in some +way responsible for the unrest. + +"Perhaps my bugle call was a little theatrical," she began; +"nevertheless it was the call to service of our new order of 'Camp Fire +Minute Girls.'" + +Mrs. Burton nodded. "Yes, I remember. The 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' are +to pledge themselves to help in winning the war by food conservation, by +praying for the triumph of the right, and by economizing in every +possible way. I received a little booklet containing our new pledge and +meant to speak of it to you." + +In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton was talking, she was not actually +interested in what she was saying at the moment. Somewhere in the last +row of her knitting she had dropped a stitch and while she spoke she was +endeavoring to find it. As head of their small Red Cross society, Mrs. +Webster was determined that their work should come up to the required +standard. Knitting was not a natural art with Mrs. Burton and she +particularly disliked unraveling her work after she supposed it +finished. + +Peggy reached over and quietly removed the gray sweater from her aunt's +hands. + +"You cannot pay attention to what anyone is saying and knit at the same +time, Tante; I have seen you make the attempt before," Peggy remarked +persuasively, "so please cease your efforts for a moment, as we have +something of the utmost importance to talk about. Bettina, now that I +have prepared the way, suppose you make things clearer. I have not your +gift of words." + +"It is only that we have been talking of the 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' +and consider that we should follow the pledge very earnestly this +summer," Bettina began. "We feel that really we ought to organize our +camp fire on a new war basis. You have always been so generous to us, +but this summer we wish to use only the new war recipes and to save and +serve in every possible way. The advantage will be not only for the +present time, but perhaps later with our own families. Peggy and I +thought that we might even start a little garden near our camp, as +vegetables grow so quickly in California. I suppose our ideas of +helpfulness are rather vague and foolish, but that is why we wished to +talk the situation over with you and Mrs. Webster and arrange some +definite plan." + +Mrs. Burton nodded. "An excellent idea, Bettina, and the sooner we +Americans learn some method of less extravagant living the nearer we are +to victory and the ending of the war. I wish I were a more apt pupil +myself. Of course I am willing to agree with whatever you girls think +best." + +"Then we may help the soldiers in any way we like?" Sally Ashton +inquired with such unexpected enthusiasm that everybody laughed. + +"I do not care for any too strikingly original ideas of first-aid +service, Sally," Mrs. Burton remonstrated. + +Billy roused himself from his recumbent position and leaned forward. A +single flame which had shot up from the smouldering fire cast a glow +over his colorless face. + +"I have been traveling with the Camp Fire party now for a good many +weeks," he remarked in the suspiciously gentle manner with which he +often began his verbal attacks, "and I am yet to hear one single word +about an immediate peace. I cannot see what difference it will make in +the end which country is victor. What the whole world must attain to is +justice for every human being. I thought women were supposed to be the +natural peace makers." Billy smiled--a malicious little smile which was +vaguely irritating. "Women never have been peace makers or peace lovers. +If they had do you suppose men would have continued fighting one another +forever?" + +"But, Billy--" Mrs. Burton began and suddenly ceased. A glance at her +sister's face had been sufficient. + +Besides, Dan Webster, released from his attention to Sally, had walked +over and stood facing his mother and brother. + +The two brothers, though, twins, were utterly unlike in appearance. For +one thing, Dan was nearly six feet tall and splendidly built, with a +vivid color and a suggestion of unusual physical health and power. + +"I am sorry, Mother," he said in the voice he kept especially for his +mother, "but I can't stay here and listen to Billy's nonsense and +disloyalty. He is simply in love with the sound of his own voice and +always has been. He has not the faintest understanding of the big things +he talks about. I have stood a good deal from Billy first and last from +the time we were children, because he was little and delicate and I was +not supposed to treat him as I would have treated other fellows. I tell +you candidly what Billy needs right now and what he always has needed is +to have his head punched. He always has taken refuge in his delicacy and +hidden behind women. He is doing the same thing now with all this peace +talk and half-baked socialism. I wonder how far socialism would have +traveled if men had never fought for their rights and the rights of +other people? I wish the socialists in this country would think of that +little fact now and then. I suppose if no one had ever _fought_ for +liberty, most of us would be slaves. But I seem to be talking as much as +Billy! It is only this, Mother, don't you see that Billy and I cannot +both remain with the Camp Fire party this summer? I don't wish it to +happen, but I am afraid if he goes on as he has been doing--and you know +nothing ever stops him--why, there will be trouble between us, that is +all. If you will only give your consent I am sure I can persuade father +to allow me to volunteer." + +Mrs. Webster's eyes filled with tears. Dan was too interested in +watching his mother to pay any attention to Billy's good-natured drawl. + +"Good old Dan, there is some truth in what you say, I suppose. There is +a little truth in most people's opinions. But what a story-book hero you +will make some day! It is all right, your rubbing it in about my not +being as strong as other fellows; I suppose you don't know that hurts a +little." + +"My dear Dan, I did not dream you could be so unreasonable!" Mrs. +Webster returned, having finally gained sufficient control of her voice +to speak. "You know perfectly well I shall never give my consent to your +volunteering for any branch of the army until you have reached the draft +age. Moreover, if you have a difficulty with Billy you know how much +sorrow that means for me. Besides, your aunt and the girls and I need +you here with us at our camp fire this summer. If I could, I would send +Billy back to the farm instead of you, but he still needs the benefit of +this southern climate." + +Poor Mrs. Webster, like many other mothers, often found her children too +great a problem for her solving. + +By this time Billy was again prostrate on the earth with his eyes fixed +upon the sky and apparently perfectly serene. Even his mother's +statement in regard to sending him home had not disturbed him, although +he and his father chronically misunderstood each other. + +Dan was repentant. "Sorry, Mother," he said; "this was not the time or +place for me to open this discussion with you. I am sure I beg +everybody's pardon." + +Then he turned and walked away. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Camp and Temperamental Excursions + + +This summer in California for the first time the Sunrise camp was +located near the sea. + +After several days of investigating the countryside, in the meanwhile +using the little mission town of Capistrano as their headquarters, the +travelers discovered what they considered the ideal situation further +south along the coast. + +Near the border of one of the immense ranches for which southern +California is famous they came upon a little stream of water flowing +inside a channel. The channel had been deepened in order that the supply +might last through the dry season. Not far away stood a small frame +house. In harvest times the laborers on the ranch occupied this small +house as a lodging for the night when the distance made it impossible +for them to return to their own homes. + +By a piece of rare good fortune Mrs. Burton was able for almost a +nominal sum to rent this little place for her sister and herself. + +The shack was lightly built, the roof formed of dried palm branches laid +the one upon the other until the effect was like a thatched roof, +although neither so warm nor so secure. Since it never rains during the +summer in southern California, one requires only protection from the sun +and wind. Near the house the camp-fire tents were set up in the form of +a crescent. + +Behind them the ranch stretched on for miles, a thousand-acre carpet of +small green plants. For, as Marta Clark remarked when they were +traveling down the state, it appeared as if California were preparing to +provide the world with one gigantic bean feast. + +Several hundreds of yards away the beach was silver and purple and rose +with the sea verbena and ice plants which spread like a colorful +embroidery over the sands. Here and there were tiny coves and clumps of +rocks. + +Near the camping site there was no main traveled road, but a small +branch one which would improve with use. The closest place of human +habitation was a seaside colony of artists, perhaps a mile or more +beyond. + +Here Mrs. Burton was able to find a garage for her automobile. + +Partly because she was actually in need of his services and more to +impress him with the idea, Mrs. Burton had persuaded Dan Webster to take +charge of her car during the summer. As a matter of fact, aside from +Billy, who did not always count, Dan was the only masculine person at +the Sunrise camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having departed as casually as +he originally had arrived, soon after the tents were set up. + +Mrs. Burton preferred being shut away from strangers during their +holidays and presumed the girls shared her desire. + +Soon after their conversation about the camp fire a new régimé of war +economy was established at Sunrise camp. There were uncomfortable +moments when strange dishes of none too appetizing a character were +produced. But always the cooks declared it the fault of the too +particular persons who refused to partake of them and not of the food +itself. They did acquire new methods of bread making, substituting bran +and corn-meal for wheat flour which were really improvements on the old. +Moreover, the summer before the Indian girl, Dawapa, had taught the +Sunrise Camp Fire members a number of the old Indian uses of corn. With +perishable fruits and vegetables so abundant, it was unnecessary, during +the summer at least, to suffer any real discomfort from war economies. + +Now and then one of the girls would develop a too rigorous idea of +self-denial to meet with the approval of her Camp Fire guardian. But +after a time Mrs. Burton ceased to worry over original departures, +permitting the girls to adjust matters for themselves. + +However, it is not the adjustment of mere material things which is the +difficult problem with human beings in living together, but the +adjustment of one unlike nature with another. + +As much as possible after his open disagreement with Billy, Dan Webster +endeavored to avoid his brother's society. They never had been +congenial or spent much time together since the days when they were +children. But at present Dan and Billy were sleeping in the same tent at +night and in the daytime Billy was always mooning about camp insisting +upon one of the girls listening to him. He preferred Vera, but if she +were too busy, any one of the other girls could substitute. + +This would have made no difference to Dan except that Billy blandly and +serenely continued to expound his views upon peace in spite of the fact +that every member of Sunrise camp disagreed with him. + +Hard as it was to endure, Dan's hands were tied, for he had solemnly +promised his mother not to use physical violence with Billy, and nothing +else would stop the flow of his misplaced eloquence. + +So, as Dan was an ardent fisherman, he used to spend days away from camp +fishing and swimming. He was fond of the Camp Fire girls, especially of +Marta Clark and of Sally Ashton, but he could not endure too large a +diet of exclusively feminine society. Moreover, Dan was too accomplished +an athlete and too fine a fellow all round not to make friends wherever +he went among men. + +One afternoon it chanced that Dan was alone and preparing to go in +swimming at a rather dangerous point about three miles below Sunrise +camp. + +The spot was deserted and Dan was beginning to undress when he became +conscious of the uncomfortable sensation that some one at no great +distance off was watching him. + +Glancing about, Dan discovered the calm figure of his brother standing +only a few yards away when he had sincerely hoped that at least several +miles separated them. + +In reply to Billy's friendly "hello," his brother returned no answer. +Nevertheless Billy strolled quietly across the space between them, +taking a seat on the rocky cliff, apparently as cheerful and undisturbed +as if he considered himself a welcome interruption. + +"Better not go in swimming from this cliff, Dan; this place looks pretty +unsafe. The waves are so violent you might be thrown against the rocks," +he began, offering his entirely unsolicited advice in the most affable +manner. + +As a matter of fact, upon most occasions, Dan Webster was rather +unusually sweet tempered. But at present, because of his own +disappointment over not being allowed to volunteer for some branch of +war service, and because of what he considered his brother's disloyal +opinions, the very sight of Billy enraged him. + +"Billy Webster, I wonder if you are a coward about every mortal thing? I +suppose you understand that cowardice is what I believe lies at the back +of your pacifism. I suppose it is natural to wish to call an ugly fact +by a pretty name. Besides, it is a lot pleasanter and easier to talk +about the beauty and sacredness of peace and the rights of men than to +fight and die for them. But please don't trouble about me and run along +back to camp. I don't want to go into this subject with you again as I +came away largely to get rid of your society." Dan made an effort to +speak quietly. + +"All right, I'll be off in a moment; don't wish to worry you," Billy +agreed, and, except for a slight flush which Dan did not observe, he +appeared unmoved. "Do you know I am glad you reopened this subject. +Ever since you spoke of the same thing the other day I have been +wondering if what you said was true and I am a pacifist because I am a +physical coward. Of course I know I am afraid of a lot of things that +don't frighten you, but I believe you are mistaken about this business, +Dan. If I were up against a stiff proposition I might still be afraid +and yet go through with it. My feeling about peace really has nothing to +do with the part I may some day be called upon to play in this war, a +pretty poor part at best I expect. I wish you would believe this if you +can. But good-by; I am off." + + +Then, before Dan could make any response, Billy moved away. Once out of +sight, he lay down upon the beach with his head propped on his slender +hands, keeping a watchful outlook upon Dan, who was swimming nearly a +mile out from the shore. When Dan had finished and climbed back up the +cliff, then only did Billy set out for Sunrise camp. + +There were also temperamental difficulties, needing adjustment among the +Camp Fire girls. + +Frankly, both Sally Ashton and Gerry Williams had been bored by their +long journey down the California coast and their many pilgrimages to the +old Spanish missions along their route. With their natures it was +impossible for either of them to understand how any human being could +obtain a great deal of pleasure from mere scenery and what persons were +pleased to call romantic atmosphere. To Sally and Gerry romance took +shape in a very different guise. + +During the trip they were at least sustained by the hope that, once +settled in their summer camp, they would begin making agreeable +acquaintances, notwithstanding, up to the present time, Sunrise camp had +developed about as many social opportunities as a desert island. + +Therefore, one morning, with the perfectly definite plan of going forth +in search of adventure, Sally and Gerry set out upon a little +temperamental excursion. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Abalone Shells + + +After their summer holiday together at the Grand Canyon the Sunrise Camp +Fire girls had been separated during the previous winter, returning to +their own homes. Nevertheless, they kept in touch with one another and, +as a matter of fact, among the seven girls only Gerry Williams' history +had remained a mystery to the others. + +From the moment of her appearance upon the west-bound train with Mrs. +Burton, who had introduced her as the new member of their Camp Fire +group, not a word had been spoken concerning Gerry's past. Mrs. Burton +must have regarded her friendship as a sufficient guarantee, since ever +afterwards she and Gerry had continued equally reticent, not even +confiding under what circumstances they originally had learned to know +each other. + +Naturally such secrecy aroused a certain degree of curiosity, and now +and then one of the Camp Fire girls would ask Gerry a question, thinking +her answer must betray some small fact in her past. But either she would +evade the question or else politely decline to answer. + +She was poor--no one could continue blind to this actuality--but whether +her parents were living or dead, whether she had any other relatives, no +one could find out from Gerry herself or from her Camp Fire guardian. + +In truth, Gerry made no effort to conceal how intensely disagreeable she +considered a lack of money, freely announcing that poverty always had +been the bane of her past existence and that she asked nothing more from +the future than to be safely delivered from it. + +Occasionally some one would whisperingly question whether Mrs. Burton +would continue her bounty to Gerry when the Camp Fire holidays were +over; yet no one had sufficiently bad taste to make this inquiry. Mrs. +Webster knew no more than the others. She made no effort to keep up with +her Sister Polly's many generosities, which were frequently as erratic +as the lady herself. Only to her husband would Mrs. Burton confide the +extent of her efforts to help other people. She preferred doing things +in her own way. + +One circumstance was freely discussed between Mrs. Burton and her +protégé. During the past winter Gerry had developed a desire to study +art and Mrs. Burton had arranged for her lessons. Yet Gerry made no +pretense of having any especial talent or of being very deeply +interested in her work. She was also frank in stating that she did not +care a great deal for the outdoor camping life, aside from the fact that +Mrs. Burton considered the influence of living with the other Camp Fire +girls of value to her. The great attraction in the experience for Gerry, +as she freely stated, was the opportunity it offered to be near her +famous friend. + +Nevertheless, after a winter's study at the Art Institute in Chicago, +Gerry had learned to make pretty outdoor studies of flowers and other +small objects. She had a good deal of feeling for color and design, +which she declared due to her interest in clothes. Her Camp Fire +guardian encouraged her attention to art as much as possible, often +excusing Gerry from everyday tasks, that she might give more time to her +sketching. + +Just why she should be thus favored the other Camp Fire girls did not +understand, yet Gerry appreciated the reason. + +Also less was always expected of her, and her weaknesses were more +readily forgiven. The one foolish act of revenge upon Bettina had caused +the only serious difficulty with her Camp Fire guardian, and apparently +even this had been forgotten. + +On the morning of their excursion Gerry had announced that she wished to +spend the day sketching along the coast and that Sally had been kind +enough to agree to accompany her. + +The greater part of the time the two girls were extremely intimate and +if now and then a slight coolness arose between them it never continued +long, as they had too many common bonds of interest. + +Both girls were charmingly pretty and an entire contrast. Sally Ashton's +eyes and hair were brown, her lips full with an up-ward curve and her +skin, which the sun and wind never seemed to tan, as soft and white as a +baby's. She was small and plump and her figure had no angles. + +One might have been deluded by Sally's yielding and feminine appearance +into the impression that she could be easily influenced by stronger +natures than her own. The fact is that Sally was never really influenced +except when she chose to be. + +Realizing this, Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt her friendship +with Gerry Williams, which was just as well since nothing is more +difficult than to interfere with a friendship between two girls who feel +a mutual attraction and see each other frequently. + +Gerry Williams' prettiness was of a more unusual character. She had the +delicate fairness which one so rarely sees in its perfection. Her hair +was a pale gold, yet the gold was undeniably there. Her eyes were light +blue and held the clearness, the indelible, transparent blueness of +certain pieces of rare old china. Her small head was set upon a rather +long fair throat and as she walked with a peculiar lightness and grace +it was almost as if she might at any moment break into dancing steps. +About Gerry's nature there were elements which were frankly commonplace, +nevertheless her appearance suggested one of the dancing figures upon an +ancient Greek frieze. + +This morning she and Sally wore their everyday Camp Fire costumes, and +because it was cool their Navajo sweater coats, Gerry's a bright scarlet +and Sally's an Oxford blue. They intended being away all day, and +besides Gerry's sketching outfit they carried their luncheon. + +The girls had chosen to go in the direction of the artists' colony only +a few miles away. Over both the water and land there was the haze of the +early hours at the seaside, and yet the mist was only a light one and +more agreeable than the hot sun which would come later in the day. + +The land was gay with flowers. On the hillside there were tall bunches +of cacti, one variety bearing a bright yellow flower like a silken +poppy. The ordinary jimson weed grew so large that each blossom looked +like a great white lily. + +On the side toward the beach the tiny beads of water glistening amid the +rose color of the ice plants shone like tiny fairy jewels. + +Past the groups of houses which presumably sheltered famous artists as +well as amateurs, perhaps with no more ability than Gerry, the two girls +wandered on, absorbed in their own conversation. + +They were not especially disappointed at finding no one in the +neighborhood of the colony who seemed to be of interest. There were +three or four girls idling in one of the yards who stared curiously as +the Camp Fire girls passed, but Sally and Gerry paid but slight +attention to them in return, having previously confessed to each other +that they were a little tired of so much feminine society. + +A tall old gentleman with a white, closely trimmed beard strode by, +carrying a large canvas under his arm. He frowned portentously, as if he +would have the girls appreciate that he was a genius in the grasp of a +creative impulse and so must not be disturbed. Neither Sally nor Gerry +had the faintest impulse toward disturbing him, yet his appearance +suggested a train of thought to Sally. + +"I wonder, Gerry, why you decided so suddenly that you wished to study +art?" she said. "Until this summer I have never even heard you mention +the subject. Do you intend making a business of it some day? You won't +mind my speaking of this, but you have always said you had to do +something or other to make your own living." + +Instead of replying at once Gerry hummed the first line of a song, also +moving on so quickly that Sally, who was averse to violent exercise, had +difficulty in keeping up with her. + +"Certainly not, Sally," she answered finally. "Besides, if I ever should +develop such a foolish idea, who do you think would buy my silly little +pictures, except perhaps Mrs. Burton? I do wish she were my real aunt; I +am oftentimes jealous of Peggy. But really I began studying art last +winter chiefly on her account. She insisted that I should not idle away +all my time, so I concluded that I would prefer being an art student to +attending a regular school. + +"Mrs. Burton was delighted, because she thinks it would be a good plan +for me to become a dressmaker or a designer. I am so fond of clothes and +she believes the art lessons will be of value to my future work. +However, my dear Sally, nothing is further from my own expectations. You +and I for different reasons must make marriage our career. You were +created for domesticity and I, well, I simply must marry some one with +money. I used to hope that Mrs. Burton might do a great deal for me some +day, before I knew about her own family and her Camp Fire group. Now I +realize that she only intends helping me to help myself, as the highly +moral phrase goes." + +"But haven't you any people of your own, or any close friends?" Sally +demanded with the persistency which belonged to her disposition. Half a +dozen times before she had asked this same question without receiving a +satisfactory reply. + +Gerry only laughed good naturedly. Sally's curiosity amused her. + +"_No_ people and _no_ friends I care to talk about, my dear. You know I +have told you this several times before." + +In spite of the fact that by this time the girls had walked for three or +four miles, up until now Gerry had not suggested sitting down to begin +her sketching. At this moment she moved over to the edge of a cliff, +glancing down at the beach below. + +"Come, Sally, see what a fascinating place I have discovered. Suppose we +climb down to the beach; you must be tired and I may be able to work for +a little while. I do want to have something to show Mrs. Burton as a +result of our day." + +On the beach the girls saw a little wooden hut with a huge kettle filled +with boiling water standing before the door. Half a mile or more out in +the ocean two Japanese fishermen were diving for the famous abalone +shells, while on the sands a dozen of the shells, having been thoroughly +cleansed, now lay drying in the sun; their inner surfaces of +mother-of-pearl held all the colors of the dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"My Own Will Come to Me" + + +Whether consciously or unconsciously, the thing we most desire in this +world will come to us in the end. + +Rather precipitately Sally and Gerry climbed down the side of the cliff +to the beach. The way was steep and now and then Sally had to be +encouraged and assisted until both girls finally arrived on the sands a +little out of breath. + +The beach stretched on further than one could see, a pale golden carpet +now that the mists were clearing. It was divided at this point by a +narrow gully. On one side of the gully were uneven platforms of rocks +and between these rocks ran little streams of salt water from the ocean, +creating tiny tidal lakes and rivulets. + +Up and down these rocks, sometimes disappearing inside the water, at +others clinging perilously above its edge, or hiding behind sprays of +sea lichen or fern, were innumerable small sea monsters. At times the +sides of the rocks were alive with hundreds, even thousands, of tiny +crabs; then one single unexpected noise and off they scuttled like an +army, not in dignified retreat but in utter rout. + +The girls having descended the cliff, rested for a few moments and then +wandered along these ledges. They were not of a dangerous character, for +most of the stones were flat and not too far apart to be safely crossed. + +Yet they walked slowly. Occasionally they stopped to watch two fishermen +at work. The men were Japanese divers, and it was fascinating to see +them swim with quiet, even strokes out into the deep water and then dive +down heads first to remain under a terrifying length of time. Yet as +each man rose again usually he had secured one or more of the large +abalone shells. + +In spite of their interest, Sally Ashton pleaded that they remain at a +safe distance from the two men. As a matter of fact, Sally frequently +suffered from the small timidities which belonged to her particular +type of intensely feminine character. Although not in the least timid +herself, Gerry agreed, it being a wise custom of hers to give way to her +companion in unimportant matters. Moreover, she really intended working +seriously for a few hours. Now that she and Sally were both weary, this +sheltered place along the beach would be as suitable as any other to +begin her painting. + +Finding a comfortable surface of clean sand on a broad ledge of rock, +with other rocks in the background, Gerry sat down. Here there was less +wind than in other places and sufficient room for Sally to lie close +beside her. + +At about the correct distance away, a small boat moored to some hidden +anchor moved back and forth with the movement of the waves. + +This boat appeared a suitable subject to Gerry for her sketch. She had +no idea of making a success of so ambitious a subject, but since all +that Mrs. Burton asked of her was industry and not high artistry, Gerry +was willing to work now and then. She really did wish to please her Camp +Fire guardian, and if her motives were a little mixed and not all of +them of the noblest character, well, there are others of us in this +world who have mixed motives beside Gerry Williams! + +After the first few moments of settling down to her task, Gerry began to +feel mildly interested in her effort. + +Her surroundings were in themselves an inspiration. + +Nearby, and using her friend's crimson sweater as a pillow, Sally Ashton +had curled herself up in the sunshine. She was wearing her own blue one +for warmth. There was but little breeze stirring and the sun had grown +suddenly hot, but Sally had a passionate affection for warmth. She had +also an endless capacity for sleeping when there was nothing of interest +in life to make wakefulness worth while. + +For a few moments she watched Gerry at work, thinking she had never seen +her look so pretty or labor so industriously. Then Sally viewed the +small boat whose continuous movement impressed her like the sleepy +swaying of a cradle. Afterwards she fell into a state of semi-conscious +dreaming. + +But Gerry kept on with her sketching certainly for more than an hour. +By the end of that time she was surprised to find what a lovely sketch +she had made. In spite of the fact that her boat was out of drawing, the +color in her sky line was beautiful and the waves of the sea suggested +real water and a real ocean. + +After gazing at her painting with wholly unexpected admiration, Gerry +put it carefully away in her sketch book. She was feeling a little +tired, but her act was inspired more by discretion than weariness. To +work upon her sketch any longer would probably destroy the value it at +present possessed and Mrs. Burton would be pleased by her success. + +Believing Sally to be fast asleep and not wishing to disturb her for a +time, Gerry, leaning forward and resting her chin on her two folded +hands, fell to dreaming. + +For the past ten days or more, ever since her arrival in southern +California, it seemed to Gerry Williams that never had her dreams and +her desires been so insistent. She did not know that this was the +influence of the semi-tropical climate upon her physical and spiritual +development. + +In truth, Gerry's past life had been a trying one and there was no +reason why she should have been content with it, or why she should not +hope for a happier future. + +These summers in Arcady with Mrs. Burton--for they had been as summers +in Arcady to the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls--had been the fairest +experiences in Gerry's history. Yet she professed no ardent love for the +outdoors as the other girls did. Neither was she so young as some of +them, since within a few weeks she would be eighteen. + +There would be other summers to come, Gerry realized, when she would not +be Mrs. Burton's guest. Indeed, the Camp Fire guardian had frankly +stated that if the war continued they would not be able to have their +holidays together. In the future she must devote her money, her time and +her energy to war service. + +So today, looking out over the water, but now that her sketching was +over, no longer interested in the view, Gerry faced what seemed to her +an interminable number of lonely summers and winters and springs and +autumns. In her earlier acquaintance with Mrs. Burton, when the great +lady had revealed an unexpected interest in her, Gerry, as she had +lately confessed to Sally Ashton, had dreamed impossible dreams. In +those days she had imagined herself as Mrs. Burton's ward, living in her +home, or traveling about with her over the world meeting rich and famous +people. + +Then at the last Gerry's vision had always been a wealthy marriage. A +foolish dream perhaps, and yet not original or uncommon! + +She did not think of her marriage as bringing her love or spiritual +happiness, only wealth and social prominence. But at this time in her +life Gerry of course believed that the last two possessions represented +the character of happiness she sought. + +Having awakened to reality with regard to Mrs. Burton's attitude, +appreciating that she felt for her only a kindly interest and a moderate +affection, Gerry was the more intent upon discovering some immediate +solution for her own future. + +From this summer in California she had hoped a great deal. She had +thought through Mrs. Burton's prominence that it might be possible to +make wealthy and worth-while friends. Now it appeared that the Camp Fire +guardian intended to have her group of girls spend a secluded summer, +deriving their entertainment from their life together outdoors in this +beautiful place. + +In consequence Gerry was deeply disappointed. Today she felt that the +prospect ahead was dreary and dissatisfying. Mrs. Burton expected her to +work and had no notion of assisting her toward any other fate. She had +made her own way in the world and believed that work brought one the +finest satisfaction. But Gerry recognized her own commonplaceness and +understood that unconsciously Mrs. Burton was not altogether fair. Of +course, if one possessed great talent, then work lifted you above +dullness and routine, brought you beauty and joy. Yet she could only +picture herself pursuing some stupid task, since she had neither +education nor especial ability in any direction. Her only gifts, +prettiness and her desire for the refinements of life which always had +been denied her, little in truth to offer when there was no one to +help! + +Then, intending to banish her attack of blues, Gerry jumped up +hurriedly. As she did so she noticed the two Japanese divers. They had +left their work and had come softly over the sands until at the present +moment they were only a few feet off. They were talking in excited +voices, holding up the deep-bowled abalone shells, now polished and +shining, and evidently trying to attract attention. + +For an instant Gerry was puzzled. Then, before she could speak or even +stir again, Sally, startled from sleep, also leaped to her feet. She may +have been frightened by Gerry's sudden movement and now, catching sight +of the Japanese fishermen, may have been under the impression that they +had frightened Gerry. Whatever the cause, with an exclamation of terror, +she started running, uttering funny little cries of alarm. + +First Gerry merely called out reassuringly, then, perceiving that Sally +would not stop, she ran after her. + +Sally was awkward; she kept stumbling and sliding over the ledges of +rock, making no effort to be sure of her foothold or to choose the +easiest way. In the beginning Gerry was amused, then she grew a little +nervous. Sally was always the least athletic of the Camp Fire girls. + +"Do be careful; the men are only trying to sell us their shells. They +have no idea of frightening you," Gerry expostulated. + +She expected to reach Sally in time to keep her from injuring herself. +But suddenly Sally gave an exclamation both of fright and pain; having +made a false estimate of the space between two ledges of rock, she found +herself falling into a small ravine. + +The ravine was not deep; nevertheless Sally's rescue was not simple, +since she would not help herself. Finally Gerry had to summon to her +assistance the two Japanese, who had innocently caused the catastrophe. +At last a bruised and tearful Sally was deposited upon a comfortable +resting place. But here Sally declared she must remain indefinitely, as +she was "far too seriously hurt ever to walk again." + +The situation was trying, and Gerry was at her wits' end till one small +inspiration came to her. Since food had ever a reviving effect upon +Sally, they could have their luncheon and perhaps afterwards she would +feel stronger. + +But although her appetite remained unaffected by her accident, the +afternoon wore on with Sally still insisting that she could not stir one +step. Moreover, any suggestion of Gerry's leaving to find help always +reduced her to tears. + +Yet something must be done! + + +Long ago the little Japanese fishermen had returned to their tasks. +Sitting cross-legged on the sand at some distance off, Gerry could see +them patiently at work cleaning and polishing their shells. She +remembered that they had seemed to understand what she had said, +although speaking only a few English words. + +Walking over to them Gerry as simply as possible presented their +predicament. + +When she had finished speaking the small bright-eyed men glanced at each +other and nodded. + +"Alle-ight," one of them answered for both. + +Then off they trotted, this time disappearing inside their small hut. +Next moment they returned carrying on their shoulders a flat straw +basket set upon two long poles. It was scarcely a basket, so much as a +woven straw mat, which the divers probably used at odd times for +transporting their sea merchandise. + +Ultimately Sally was persuaded to allow herself to be hoisted upon this +mat, which was fairly strong since it suffered her weight. Then the two +little men bore her off, swinging easily between them. They ran lightly +from rock to rock until climbing up the cliff they reached the road at +the summit, with Gerry following as swiftly as possible. + +They had arranged not to attempt to carry Sally to camp but to some +place nearer at hand, where she could receive aid. + +Originally when they had made this plan it appeared to Gerry as a +reasonable one and not one to cause anxiety. Now as she pursued the two +strange little men, who were carrying Sally with such ease and quickness +to a perfectly unknown destination she had a curious sensation more of +bewilderment than fear. + +However, one had to keep moving so rapidly that there was small +opportunity for clear thinking. + +Leaving the main road, the little men struck into another, which went +first up a bare brown hill and then down again. The second hill was +green with a crop of the ever-present beans. + + +Finally they climbed to the top of a mesa and brought Sally to a resting +place before a clump of dusty, gray-green pepper trees. + +On their left was a hedge of untrimmed shrubs and in front an open +court. Beyond stood an old Spanish ranch house. + +After whispering together, one of the little men rang a bell, which hung +on a stand outside this court. + +A few moments later a Japanese servant appeared and the three men spoke +to one another in Japanese. Then the servant turned away. + +It was all very unusual and puzzling. Before Sally and Gerry could be +overwhelmed by uneasiness, to their relief they observed an older man +and two young men approaching. They were obviously gentlemen, and one of +them Gerry thought the most attractive fellow she had ever seen in her +life. Yet he did not look like an American, but what her imagination had +pictured as a Spaniard. He must have been about twenty-two or three and +possessed unusually dark hair and eyes and skin. + +When Gerry had explained their difficulty and apologized for their +intrusion, their host led the way through the outer court into the +enclosed one. + +[Illustration: Their Host Led the Way Through the Outer Court into the +Enclosed One] + +Sally continued to be borne aloft like a foreign princess upon the +shoulders of her faithful Caryatids. + +The inside court was a miniature fairyland. + +Like all really old Spanish ranch houses, this house was built in the +form of a square with the garden in the center. It was of one story with +the veranda also on the inside and running the entire length of the +house. + +In days long past this veranda would have been filled with people, for +when the Spanish ranch houses were the center of California's social +life all the play and work of the Spanish families, their friends and +servants took place outdoors. + +Now the two Camp Fire girls saw no one save their hosts and the one man +servant; there was no faintest suggestion of the presence of a woman. + +The place looked old and ramshackle, as if its owners had preferred to +enjoy life rather than to improve their estate. Even the enclosed +garden, notwithstanding it was a sheer glory of flowers, showed neglect. +A bougainvillea vine had been allowed to grow so large that it covered +one-third of the veranda, hanging like a flowery canopy above one +portion of the garden. Along the paths oleanders were set out in +unpainted wooden tubs and the rose bushes had gone so long untrimmed +that they were now of great size and covered with tiny white and yellow +flowers. + +Once this garden had been carefully planned and cared for, yet, perhaps, +at present it held an even deeper charm. + +Naturally, soon after their arrival their host, Mr. Philip Morris, had +introduced himself and his younger companions, and Gerry Williams had +given her own and Sally's name. Gerry also had explained the +circumstances of Sally's accident and the fact that they were members of +a camping party who were spending the summer on the California coast. + +The young man who had originally attracted her attention proved to be +the son of Mr. Morris. In introducing him the father accorded the +Spanish pronunciation to his name, "Felipe," which he had not used with +his own. + +Later it developed that Felipe's mother had been Spanish and the old +ranch the property of her family from the days when California was a +province of Spain. But as she was dead it was true that at present no +woman was a member of their household. + +The other young fellow, Merton Anderson, was the son of a neighbor and a +guest. As he had ridden over to the Morris ranch on horseback he offered +to take back any message Sally and Gerry might care to send their +friends, for Mr. Morris insisted that Sally must not be moved again +until she had seen a physician. + +At last Gerry wrote a note to Mrs. Burton explaining what had occurred +and asking advice. If it were possible would she not drive over to the +ranch in her automobile and bear Sally safely back to camp? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Sacrifice of Youth + + +About ten o'clock on the evening of the same day Mrs. Burton and Mr. +Morris were sitting before the open door of the old Spanish house +looking out over the countryside. + +In the neighborhood of the California coast the moonlight has a rare +brilliancy. The mists of the early morning and late afternoons usually +disappear and seem to float overhead in white and silver clouds. + +"You are very kind to allow us to impose upon your hospitality in this +fashion, Mr. Morris," Mrs. Burton declared, in the voice whose rare +quality gave even to her ordinary statements a charm beyond other +persons. "I don't believe I have ever seen so beautiful a view in +California as I am having from your house tonight, and yet a few hours +ago I would not have believed this possible." + +Immediately upon receipt of Gerry Williams' note Mrs. Burton had motored +over to the Morris ranch, using Merton Anderson as her guide. She was +anxious, of course, in regard to Sally's injuries, but anxious also to +learn the character of her rescuers. Naturally the girls could not be +allowed to remain alone over night with strangers. Unless Sally were in +a really critical condition, she could certainly be moved without +danger. + +Within a few minutes after Mrs. Burton's arrival at the ranch, the +physician who had been telephoned for some time before, appeared in +answer to the summons. + +After seeing Sally he announced that she was not seriously hurt, only +bruised and shaken, and could be moved without difficulty. Despite this +assurance, the two girls and Mrs. Burton were spending the night at the +ranch. + +"I don't believe you appreciate, Mrs. Burton, how great a pleasure and +an honor your presence in our home is both to my son and me. We are so +far out of the world and with no women in our family are often extremely +lonely. However, we are not so remote that we have not heard of Mrs. +Burton's distinguished reputation." + +Mr. Morris spoke with an old-fashioned courtesy and admiration which no +one could fail to appreciate. + +His guest preferred not to talk of her professional life during her +summer holidays with the Camp Fire girls. + +"At least I am sure we shall never forget our own pleasure," Mrs. Burton +returned. "The fact of the matter was I discovered at once that Sally +and Gerry were determined upon remaining as soon as you and your son +were kind enough to invite us. It is my private belief that Sally even +pretended to be more seriously hurt in order to influence my decision. +She appears to be enjoying the rôle of injured heroine, and yet I can +scarcely criticise the girls, as I did not require a great deal of +persuasion." + +As a matter of fact, soon after her arrival she also had fallen a victim +to the beauty and romantic aspect of the old Spanish estate and to the +charm and hospitality of its owners. Moreover, Mrs. Burton realized that +Mr. Morris and his son were sincerely desirous of having them as guests. +Their invitation had not been merely a conventional one and the old +house seemed to possess an almost indefinite number of shabby bedrooms. + +With an expressive gesture of her hands Mrs. Burton suddenly arose and +walked with her host to the edge of the hill which sloped down from the +front of his house. + +"You are not very far out of the world when, as you tell me, the new +National Guard camp is being built on the broad mesa below you. Is it +where I see the little row of lights? Wherever our soldiers are is the +only world that is of much importance these days! I am to drive over +soon and see the new cantonment. My Camp Fire girls and I are anxious to +find out if we can be of the least possible service. Recently, for the +first time in my life, there have been moments when I was sorry to be a +woman." + +"And yet it is a sadder thing to be an old man, Mrs. Burton. I offered +my services at the beginning, but I am past sixty and--well--well, they +were right, of course; I am not a trained soldier and not even a +competent business man and I should only have been a nuisance." + +In the impetuous fashion which had always been characteristic of her +girlhood as Polly O'Neill and which she had never lost, Mrs. Burton +turned around. + +"Yes, it is hard. Women are not soldiers at heart, in spite of those +thrilling Russian women and their great 'Battalion of Death.' We are not +intended for the actual fighting and can only do our work behind the +lines until the world is purified forever from the scourge of war. But +you have your son to take your place." + +For a few moments Mr. Morris made no reply. Then he replied slowly in a +tone of hesitation and of embarrassment: + +"I wonder if you will allow me to make a confidant of you? I am in great +trouble, Mrs. Burton, and although we were strangers before this evening +I know your life must have taught you to understand human nature. My son +does not wish to enter the war. I tried to persuade him to volunteer. He +refused. Now the draft has come and his number has been called, he is +still making every effort to escape military service, pleading exemption +upon entirely unnecessary grounds. The fact is inexplicable to me. When +my son was born my wife and I were no longer young and she died a short +time after. Felipe has grown up here with me, with his friends and his +flowers and his music, to which he is sincerely devoted, and nothing has +ever been required of him. I knew he was indolent and selfish perhaps, +but until the United States entered the war I failed to appreciate that +Felipe was not a man. Another circumstance which has added to our +difficulty, instead of clearing it away, is that Felipe and I have +recently inherited a large sum of money. Until recently, as our home +must have revealed to you, we have been poor and not very industrious. +Now our inheritance has made my son more than ever eager for a life of +ease and pleasure. He has been planning to fix up the old place until it +looks as it did many years ago. He wishes also to study singing, as he +has a really beautiful voice, and has been talking of going to Spain, +now that the other European countries are at present out of the +question. You can see I scarcely know what to do. Felipe's exemption +claim is almost sure to be denied, and yet I cannot discuss the matter +with our friends and neighbors. I do not wish to prejudice them against +my boy. What is it I can do, Mrs. Burton, when I confess to you that I +appear to have no influence with my son upon the subject of his +responsibility to his country?" + +Mrs. Burton continued looking down upon the extraordinary view. + +The hills toward the east were black and eerie, the sea to the west a +shining mirror, with the valleys like shadows in between. + +"Mr. Morris, I wish you and your son would come over to our camp some +day soon," she remarked later with apparent irrelevance. "Of course I +wish you to know my sister, but I should also like you to meet her sons. +One of them, Dan Webster, is one of the finest type of American boys. He +is strong and clean and good looking and has no dearer wish in life than +to be allowed to volunteer. In another year I presume my sister will be +forced to give her consent--Dan is only seventeen at present. My other +nephew, Billy--well, I hardly know how to describe Billy, because he is +like no other human being I have ever known. He is one of the most +impossible and obstinate boys in the world, and one never knows from one +moment to the next what he is going to do or say. At present he is the +trial of all our lives at Sunrise camp; he has proclaimed himself a +pacifist, and feels called upon to convert everybody he meets. He is +filled with Tolstoi's beautiful theories of universal peace. As he is +still too young for the draft his ideas so far have not proved a serious +menace, and yet I worry over him a good deal. Nevertheless, do you know +I am not sure Billy would not be as heroic as Dan if the test ever comes +and he is once convinced peace can only follow the tragic sacrifice of +war. + +"I am not saying all this to you, Mr. Morris, because I am unsympathetic +about your son. It is perhaps because I believe I may understand his +attitude. Forgive me if you do not agree with me, but I wonder if we +older people are fully appreciating what tremendous sacrifices this war +is demanding of youth. We have no right to expect all of them to give up +their individual hopes and dreams for the future without hesitating and +without flinching. They cannot all be made of the blood of heroes. The +amazing fact is that so many of them have been. Personally I cannot help +being a little sorry for your son. He will do the right thing in time, I +am sure, but it cannot be easy to surrender this exquisite home and his +ambition for a musical life. Felipe is probably afflicted with the +artistic temperament, or else inspired by it, and the ways of the +artistic temperament are past finding out," Mrs. Burton concluded, +endeavoring to add a somewhat lighter tone to the conversation. + +Her host shook his head gravely. + +"You are very kind, Madame, and yet I am afraid I cannot accept your +defense of my son. His ancestors were Spanish adventurers and soldiers +and my own fought with Washington. However, I shall be delighted to +visit your camp. One of the many reasons I wished to persuade you to +remain over night with us was in order that Felipe might learn to know +the girls who are with you. I fancied that he was immediately interested +in one of them. Perhaps later she may prove an inspiration, a spur to +him. American girls must have no patience with slackers these days. But +suppose we cease talking about the war which haunts us all so +everlastingly. Won't you walk with me and look at some of the other +views about the old place by moonlight?" + +Mrs. Burton and her host entered the front door of the house, crossed +the large sitting room and came out upon one of the paths of the +enclosed garden. + +Now the air was almost suffocatingly sweet with the night fragrances of +the semi-tropical flowers. + +Under the deep magenta canopy of the bougainvillea vine the older woman +discovered Gerry and her younger host. + +Felipe Morris was holding a guitar, but for the moment he and Gerry were +quietly talking. Feeling too shaken and uncomfortable to remain out of +bed, and realizing by feminine intuition that Felipe would prefer to be +alone with Gerry, Sally Ashton had retired some time before. + +Now, although Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt Gerry's whispered +conversation with Felipe Morris, she did wonder a little curiously what +her influence upon the young man would be, if by chance he had been +attracted by her. + +There was no denying Gerry's exquisite prettiness; tonight with her pale +gold hair, her fairness and grace she seemed in tune with the beauty of +this old-world garden. Yet Mrs. Burton believed that Gerry was shallow +and vain and that her ideas of life included less of devotion to duty +and self-sacrifice than Felipe's. It was difficult to conceive of her +acting as a motive force to high endeavor, Gerry, who dreamed only of +money and pretty clothes and what she was pleased to consider "society." + +Then Mrs. Burton sighed as she followed her host into the land which lay +on the other side of the hedge. Had one the right to demand that Gerry +and Felipe think of war tonight in a shrine, dedicated like this +enclosed garden, to the service of youth and romance? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Felipe + + +As soon as Mrs. Burton and his father were out of sight Felipe began +singing: + + "I will make you brooches and toys for your delight + Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night. + I will make a palace fit for you and me, + Of green days in forests and blue days at sea. + + "I will make my kitchen and you shall keep your room + Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom + And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white + In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night. + + "And this shall be for music when no one else is near, + The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear! + That only I remember, that only you admire, + On the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire." + +Then Felipe's song ended, and yet it seemed to Gerry that she could +still hear the inflections of his voice. + +"Thank you; that was lovely. I did not know I cared so much for music +before," the girl answered simply and without the least touch of +coquetry which one might have expected of a girl like Gerry in such +surroundings. "But what an exquisite voice you have and what a beautiful +night it is! I am sure I do not remember another half so lovely." + +Then Gerry leaned forward a little so that she could see more clearly +out into the garden. + +"I don't wonder you feel that you cannot give all this up," she +continued, with a graceful movement of her hand. "It seems to me wicked +that you should be forced into the war, hating it as you do and perhaps +spoiling your future as a singer. I agree with you, one ought to live +his own life. All men are not equally fitted to be soldiers." + +Gerry spoke with an unexpected vehemence which rather surprised her. For +the past hour Felipe Morris had been pouring forth his side of the war +problem to her, but as he was an entire stranger there was no especial +reason why she should be so disturbed over the thought of his being +forced to enter the army. + +"I suppose I understand why you so hate giving up your home and your +life here on the ranch and your music and all the rest, because I have +never had a home of my own, or any possessions of much value," Gerry +ended in a quieter voice and manner. + +"You possess nothing of value!" Felipe Morris repeated, and although he +said nothing more Gerry felt oddly flattered and happy. + +Then Felipe laughed unexpectedly. + +"I wonder if you realize, Miss Williams, that we have seen each other +before tonight, probably about ten days or more ago? My friend Merton +Anderson and I chanced to be spending the night at San Juan Capistrano +when you and your friends rode into the old mission town. You don't know +how much curiosity your appearance excited. You gave the old town the +greatest thrill it has had in a long time. You see the little town is +more than half foreign; there are Spaniards and Mexicans and half-breed +Indians. You were dressed in a kind of compromise Indian costume, and +down there we had never seen or heard of the Camp Fire. Merton and I hid +ourselves on one of the verandas and sang a duet for your benefit. Then +later, when it was too dark for us to see one another distinctly, we +followed your party about the mission grounds." + +Gerry frowned and then blushed a little from embarrassment. + +"Were you wearing Mexican costumes? I confess Sally and I did become +interested in you, but we supposed of course that you were either +Mexicans or Spaniards. Your song was in Spanish so that we could not +understand it." + +"Shall I sing to you in Spanish now?" Felipe returned. "I speak the +language as readily as I do English. You see my mother was of Spanish +origin and she and an old nurse who lives near here always spoke in +Spanish to me when I was a kid. You were right about the Mexican +costumes. Anderson and I had been over into Mexico for a few days and +were on our way home. I like to escape over there now and then when +life at the ranch becomes too slow. I can be mistaken for a Mexican when +I wish and it is sometimes amusing." + +Gerry nodded, preferring to have Felipe talk to her rather than to offer +him confidences. Oddly she was wishing tonight that she had read as many +books as the other Camp Fire girls and had enjoyed the same advantages. + +"Then you saw all seven of us at Capistrano?" she asked at length; +adding, "There are five other girls in our Camp Fire group." + +Felipe laughed. "Yes, I saw all of you, yet it was you alone I +remembered," he murmured with true Spanish gallantry. + +"Thank you for that compliment, although obviously I fished for it," +Gerry returned, smiling. "But won't you tell me, now that the draft has +been ordered and your number called, how are you going to manage to +escape? Of course I shall not speak to any one else of what you tell +me." + +"I am glad enough to tell you," Felipe Morris continued boyishly. "You +can't imagine how hard it has been to have no one to sympathize with +me. I have wished many times since war was declared that my mother was +alive and I could have talked the situation over with her. My father, as +I told you, is dead against me. He thinks I am a renegade and a disgrace +to him and to his name, and a lot of stuff like that. It seems his +brothers all fought in the Civil War and were officers and it has been +the regret of his life he was too young. I wish he had the chance +offered him now instead of me," he concluded like a surly boy, with all +his gallantry departed. + +"But what are you going to do?" Gerry insisted, her interest in him +remaining so far unaffected by his attitude. + +"Oh, I am too plagued healthy, so the doctor won't help me out. I hoped +to be released on the score of ill health at first. But later I sent in +a claim saying I could not be released for war service because I was the +sole support of my parent and had to be left here to look after the +ranch. I don't see why raising beans cannot be considered war work? +Father insists he can run the place himself and I am afraid he won't +stand by me when the exemption board asks him concerning the truth of +my claim. Pretty tough when a fellow's own father is anxious to get him +off his hands to the extent of possibly being killed." + +Felipe laid his guitar down on the piazza and in spite of the fact that +he must have been at least twenty-two or twenty-three years old, Gerry +found herself with a ridiculous desire to comfort him. + +"It is just a difference of opinion," she said softly. "I don't believe +if I were you I would blame my father, and he should have the same +respect for you. I never thought of the question before, but I have +decided tonight I do not believe in the draft. Isn't there anything else +you can do, if this one exemption claim fails?" + +Felipe Morris rose up, shrugging his shoulders impatiently. He was so +foreign in his appearance that the movement seemed natural. + +"Oh, yes, I can slip away into Mexico and remain until the war is over. +I have been thinking of it as a possibility. But of course if I am +caught I shall be put into prison as a deserter." + +Then he stood gazing down upon Gerry with a bewildered expression. + +"I wonder why I have entrusted my fate to you in this fashion? You +understand that if you should ever tell what I have confided to you, +things would be all over with me." + +Gerry also rose. "Shall we walk about your garden for a little?" she +said. "I am tired of sitting still so long. I expect Mrs. Burton will be +here in a little time and think we should go to bed. But you need not +worry with regard to my ever mentioning a word of what you have said to +me--not under any possible circumstances." + +Then as they wandered about the tiny garden Felipe gathered a bunch of +the small white and yellow roses. + +"Keep these in your room tonight." + +Afterwards discovering that Mrs. Burton and his father had returned to +the garden and were coming toward them, he added hurriedly: + +"Tell me, please, when and where I can see you again, alone? It has +meant so much to me to be able to talk to you so freely and I have an +idea we are going to be friends." + +"But you have agreed to come over to our camp," Gerry answered, feeling +at the same time that she would like selfishly to preserve Felipe's +interest entirely for herself. Of course when he was introduced to the +other Camp Fire girls he would naturally take less pleasure in her +society. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, I am coming to your camp. Anderson and I would not +miss the opportunity for a good deal. But I want to see you by yourself, +not with a dozen other people chattering around. Surely you can manage +to make an engagement to see me alone. You would if you liked me half as +much as I do you." + +Again Felipe spoke like a spoiled boy, but Gerry had no time to reply, +for at this instant Mrs. Burton and Mr. Morris reached them. + +Truth to tell, she had a distinct sense of relief as, slipping her arm +inside her Camp Fire guardian's, together they said their formal +good-nights. + +Already Felipe Morris was demanding more of Gerry than either of them +realized. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Cantonment + + +A few days after their visit at the ranch, arrangements were made for +Mrs. Burton and members of her party to drive over to the new cantonment +which was situated on a broad mesa not many miles away. + +Gerry Williams announced that because of the dust and discomfort she +preferred being left behind. + +Sally Ashton also declined, stating that she was not well enough to +consider undertaking the long drive and then being forced to walk about +over whatever portion of the camp they were permitted to inspect. After +her mishap, which Sally considered no one had regarded with sufficient +seriousness, she had acquired a prejudice against excursions of any +character. + +Sally's attitude the Camp Fire guardian understood, although she was +somewhat puzzled by Gerry Williams, as always before Gerry had been +enthusiastic over change and excitement. One would have supposed that +among all the girls she would have been most interested in the new war +camp and the possibility of seeing and meeting the young American +soldiers. + +Mrs. Webster would not consider the trip, feeling that her heart would +only be torn by the sight of so many war preparations, and more if she +should chance to come in contact with an unusually homesick boy. Her +sister could bring back word of whatever she could actually _do_ to be +of service, since often enough she was the pioneer who went forth in +search of new ideas which Mrs. Webster put into execution. + +Dan Webster was of course essential to the expedition, as he was +chauffeur. Billy was not only invited, but Mrs. Burton insisted upon his +accompanying them after he had very generously demurred, saying there +was no reason why he should crowd the others when he really was not +interested in war camps. She hoped, however, that the sight of the +cantonment might exert either a mental or a spiritual influence upon +him. + +It was possible to manage eight in the car, although ordinarily it held +but seven, yet one was willing to be a little inconvenienced under the +circumstances, so the five girls, Vera Lagerloff, Bettina Graham, Alice +Ashton, Marta Clark and Peggy Webster also accompanied Mrs. Burton. + +The first part of the drive followed the now familiar line of the shore. +Yet the outlook was never the same! Now and then one would see a heron +or sand crane standing upon one leg near the water, apparently lost in +immortal thought; sea gulls were dipping in and out, or else riding +serenely on the waves; occasionally a buzzard, grim as Odin, soared +overhead. + +Once Marta Clark, who was on the front seat with Dan, gave a cry of +surprise. She had discovered that what she supposed a great bird winging +its flight over their car, was in reality an aeroplane on a long +practice flight from North Island. + +Finally leaving the coast, the automobile began a long climb over an +undulating line of hills. The hills were bare except for occasional +bunches of cacti and bushes of bright yellow tar weed. There were acres +and acres of sage brush, sometimes a field of wild buckwheat and once in +a while a small grove of live oak shrubs or of red and blue gum trees. + +The mesa upon which the new cantonment was springing up like a magic +city was a great desert of sand and sage. For years the thousands of +acres had been of no use because of the lack of water. Now great +irrigating ditches had been laid and the camp was being plentifully +supplied with water by the city of San Diego. + +The surroundings of the camp were cheerless enough, it is true, yet +there was nothing cheerless in the atmosphere of the place itself. Even +as the Camp Fire party approached they felt the undercurrent of the fine +new force, the splendid vitality which the war has awakened in the +world. + +A sentry ordered Dan to stop his car within a few yards of the officers' +quarters and Mrs. Burton was told that she must receive an official +permit for their inspection of certain features of the camp. + +From inside the little house, which looked like a miniature bungalow of +unpainted pine, one heard the noise, not of the rattle of musketry, but +the endless tip, tap, tap of many typewriters. + +Captain Mason, who had been told of Mrs. Burton's intended visit, came +out to greet her and her party. + +He explained that just at present there were only a few hundred soldiers +within the cantonment, although they were expecting many thousands +within the next few weeks. + +An army of workmen were at present engaged in preparing the way for the +coming of the soldiers and the big artillery. + +Strolling apart from the other laborers and still carrying a large +hammer, Mr. Jefferson Simpson, the late Camp Fire guide, philosopher and +friend, walked over to speak to Mrs. Burton and her companions. He +offered no explanation for his presence at the camp, but it was obvious +he had concluded that his efforts here were of more importance than his +previous occupation. The Sunrise Camp Fire had always considered his +remaining with them for so long a time an obvious absurdity and presumed +that it was because of Mr. Simpson's continuing interest in Marie, +although he had paid no attention to her since the breaking of their +engagement. + +But apparently his leading motive in life was to discover the number and +variety of vocations in which he could engage. + +After receiving a written order from the commanding officer for the day, +Captain Mason led the way with Mrs. Burton walking beside him. + +They were to be allowed to see only places of minor importance, the +temporary tents and mess room, the Y. M. C. A. quarters. Mrs. Burton had +explained that one of the chief reasons for their visit was a desire to +find out how they might be of service in even the smallest possible way. + + +"You see, Captain Mason," she suggested, "we are living for the present +not far behind the lines of this American war camp. In a different sense +every woman and girl in our country should be a reserve soldier behind +the lines until the war is over. One need not wear a uniform, or carry a +gun to serve! Our American Camp Fire girls feel that they ought to be +able to give as valuable service to the country as the Boy Scouts. I +confess we have not yet altogether found our way." + +By this time Mrs. Burton and Captain Mason had reached the Red Cross +tent and now had paused for a moment outside to wait for the five girls +and Dan and Billy Webster to join them. + +Captain Mason nodded, waving his hand toward the open flap of the tent. + +"You can help us keep our boys amused. I tell you that is the greatest +problem we older officers have to meet with young, untrained soldiers. +Discipline is comparatively easy, for few of the boys resent it; but +look in there!" + +Mrs. Burton did look, while Bettina and Marta and Peggy, who were +nearest, also gazed in over her shoulders. + +Several soldiers were sitting by a long board table looking at a pile of +magazines, not because they were interested, but plainly because they +had nothing else on earth they could think of to do. + +On a raised platform a phonograph was playing an Italian love song. Some +one must have started it, although at present no one apparently was +listening to the music. + +Several of the soldiers were writing letters, others were yawning and +half lying down on the hard wooden benches, bored and listless and +homesick. + + +Hearing voices outside the Y.M.C.A. tent, one young officer, who also +had been writing, lifted his eyes. + +The same instant Bettina Graham walked quickly inside the tent, holding +out her hand. + +"Why, here is my lieutenant!" she exclaimed. "May I call you my +lieutenant, although Marta Clark will dispute the title? For I did reach +you first after your accident and it is my first-aid treatment you seem +to have survived. I did not know you had arrived at this cantonment, +Lieutenant Carson. I do hope you have entirely recovered." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Plans + + +One afternoon, after resting for an hour or more, Mrs. Burton appeared +at her little front door, wondering why she was encompassed by so +unusual a silence. + +The fact that at present the Sunrise camp was situated several miles +from any other human habitation, with the sea stretching before it and a +great ranch as its background, did not ordinarily insure it an essential +silence. As a matter of fact, there were generally nine youthful +persons, engaged in strenuous occupations of one kind or another, in its +immediate vicinity. + +This afternoon Mrs. Burton discovered that they had withdrawn to some +distance from the camping grounds. + +A camp fire was burning and the girls were seated about it in ceremonial +fashion, with Mrs. Webster also forming one of the group. A little +further off her two sons were characteristically engaged, Dan in +bringing small pieces of driftwood up from the shore and Billy in lying +upon his back, gazing toward the sky. + +In truth only their Camp Fire guardian appeared deliberately to have +been left out of the gathering. + + +Mrs. Burton suffered a distinct sensation of aggrievement. + +Evidently the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls were deep in a consultation +of some important character, so that it seemed scarcely fair that they +should have ignored her completely. + +Not wishing to go back into her room, which had grown a little close, +and yet not desiring to interrupt the proceedings, from which her +presence had been so carefully excluded, Mrs. Burton hesitated a moment +just outside her house. If she were seen wandering about nearby, as a +matter of good manners she would have to be invited to the camp fire. +With Mrs. Webster already there, she had not the excuse that her +presence might be necessary. Often the girls seemed to prefer giving her +sister their confidence. + +At this instant one of the Camp Fire group observed her and gave the +information to the others. Peggy began beckoning violently, while +Bettina Graham and Marta Clark both jumped up and were coming toward +her. + +"You are lazy, Tante, we have been waiting for you to wake up for ages!" +Bettina remarked, slipping her arm through the older woman's. She was +several inches taller than her Camp Fire guardian, and oftentimes at a +distance Mrs. Burton was mistaken for another girl, she was so slender +and so youthfully and ardently alive both in body and spirit. + +"Yes, you seem to have been tremendously anxious for my society," she +returned in the voice and manner both Bettina and Peggy understood. If +the other Camp Fire girls were at times a little in awe of their famous +guardian, Peggy and Bettina appreciated that she was much like other +persons and now and then behaved like a somewhat spoiled young girl. +Certainly she never regarded her own achievements as placing her upon a +pedestal. + +From her present speech and manner Bettina realized that she was both +jealous and hurt over their apparent disregard of her, for she had an +almost ridiculous craving for affection as an ordinary human being, +caring but little for the admiration which was a tribute to her as an +artist rather than a woman. + +Nevertheless Bettina laughed in an entirely unsympathetic fashion. + +"Well, we did wish to discuss something before you put in an appearance, +but now the discussion has been over for some time, we very much desire +your society. Yet only if you are amiable, because just at this time it +is enormously important that you should be." + +Mrs. Burton frowned and then laughed, a little teased by Bettina's too +evident understanding of her state of mind. + +Marta Clark said nothing. She had not yet acquired the habit of +regarding her Camp Fire guardian in any spirit save one of devoted +admiration. But Marta was the latest of the group of Sunrise Camp Fire +girls and of necessity knew her less well than the others. Moreover, +Marta also dreamed of a future dramatic career and it was not so easy +to take simply the one woman who personified her own ideals. + +In the circle on the ground Peggy Webster had arranged a leather cushion +ornamented with Camp Fire designs as a seat of honor for their guardian +when she finally arrived. + +Sitting down, Mrs. Burton clasped her hands over her knees, gazing +curiously around. + +"Is this a conspiracy or rebellion, or a plot?" she demanded. "It seems +to me, Mollie Webster, not only because you are my sister, but because +we alone belong to the same generation, that you at least should not +have been one of the conspirators." + +Like the proverbial Charlotte in "Wilhelm Meister," who went on cutting +bread and butter, Mrs. Webster, without replying, continued knitting. + +"Oh, our plot is not dangerous, or at least we do not think it is, +although you may feel differently," Peggy Webster announced, to whom the +task of imparting the information evidently had been awarded. "We have +merely been discussing the idea of forming a Camp Fire branch to the War +Camp Recreation League. You remember this League is to do whatever is +possible for the entertainment of the soldiers and we talked of our +share in it after our visit to the war camp the other day." + +Mrs. Burton appeared slightly suspicious. + +"I also remember, Peggy, that it was agreed I was to be allowed to +choose what form our activities should take. Moreover, whatever plan +presented itself to us was first to be submitted to an officer at camp +to find out if the plan met with military approval. Camp Fire girls, +however clever, are scarcely the proper persons to decide upon the ways +and means for providing entertainment for our American soldiers, +valuable as their aid may be in the entertainment itself. But there, +forgive me, I do not intend being disagreeable, and I have no doubt you +have thought up some thrilling scheme! Only why not wait until our +little dinner party and dance for the soldiers tomorrow evening is over +before we precipitate ourselves into a fresh undertaking?" + +"Oh, our party is just a _small_ matter compared to the plan we have +been working out this afternoon," Peggy continued, refusing to be +snubbed or argued into silence. "Our idea is that if we are to become a +branch of the War Recreation Fund Committee we must raise money for the +organization. We wish to give a play and present to the fund whatever +money we make." + +Mrs. Burton shook her head. "Give a play out here in this +semi-wilderness? Well, the idea is agreeable enough if you wish to amuse +yourselves, but how you expect to make money or secure an audience is +beyond my imagination! However, if you have set your hearts upon the +scheme and think it would amuse you, do as you like. I only ask to be +left out altogether. Remember, I am resting from a histrionic career." + +Mrs. Burton made a movement as if she contemplated leaving, but Peggy +resolutely held her in her place. + +"We _do_ expect you to help; more, we expect you to be almost the entire +thing!" Bettina interrupted with more vigor than clearness. "We are not +contemplating a silly little amateur performance here at camp; we have +more important things to interest us. We wish to give a real play at +that exquisite open-air theater near the seaside resort that we saw the +other day on our drive. Ever since then Marta and Peggy and I have been +dreaming of little else and talking of little else to the other girls +until now they are as enthusiastic as we are. It was Marta Clark who +actually put our present scheme into our minds, and she merely spoke of +how much she would enjoy seeing you act outdoors in so lovely a place." + +"I am sure Marta is very kind," Mrs. Burton answered, but without +revealing a profound appreciation of the compliment. "But don't be +foolish, please. You know I try to do whatever is possible toward making +our summers together happy and satisfying. Yet one of my chief reasons +for living outdoors is to have a complete rest from my work and to get +away from the whole thought of it as much as possible. I have given all +the money to war causes I can afford at present. Later I shall do more, +of course----" + +"That is just the point," Peggy interrupted. "If people out here in +California learn you are to appear in an outdoor performance, they will +positively flock to see you. You know you could earn a lot of money for +the Recreation Fund, besides we all think it would be great fun to act +with you and have already selected the play that would be the most +interesting to produce." + +"Really, Peggy, I think you have gone somewhat too far," Mrs. Burton +answered, although with a slightly dazed expression. "I don't believe I +have ever had a theatrical manager who made every arrangement, even to +selecting the play in which I was to appear, without consulting me. The +whole thing is preposterous. Mollie, I really cannot understand your +allowing the girls to become so absorbed in such a nonsensical project! +I think you might have spared me the difficulty of refusing." + +"But you don't appear to be having any difficulty in refusing, Polly," +Mrs. Webster answered with her usual placidity. Nevertheless, she +realized how greatly this same placidity annoyed her beloved twin +sister in moments of agitation. "Yet I am sorry that I agreed to permit +the girls to broach the subject to you, since the idea seems to trouble +you so much. Personally I am afraid I also found the idea charming. You +have not acted for a long time and many of your friends are giving +theatrical benefits for the Red Cross or some war need. The girls +thought they would like to present 'As You Like It,' with you as +_Rosalind_; you know you have played _Rosalind_ dozens of times before. +The open-air theater would make an exquisite Forest of Arden. Besides, I +am sure our present group of Camp Fire girls could not act, so poorly as +you used to, now and then, in private theatricals in the old days. You +know, my dear, none of us imagined then that you were to turn out a +genius." + +Mrs. Burton flushed. "No one imagines it now, Mollie." She answered with +obvious irritability. Then her manner became more apologetic: + +"You girls are not angry with me for refusing?" + +Wisely Peggy shook her head, "No, we are only disappointed." + +Then everybody in the little company remained silent for several +moments, which was a most unusual state of affairs among the Sunrise +Hill Camp Fire girls. + +Plainly Mrs. Burton suffered from the depressing influence, for suddenly +she got up. + +"Please leave me alone for a little while. I must think the question +over?" she announced, as if she had not already issued her ultimatum. +The next moment she turned away and walked down toward the beach. + +"What do you think Tante will decide, Mother?" Peggy anxiously inquired. + +Mrs. Webster shook her head. "My dear, Polly and I are twins, and I have +known her ever since I have known anything. But to tell beforehand how +she will make up her mind upon any subject is beyond me. I am a little +sorry we have made this request of her. She takes her work so seriously, +and after all she is doing so much for us without the addition of this." + +At this instant a cool voice was heard speaking in the background. + +The voice was Billy Webster's. + +"I believe Tante will have the time of her life acting with you girls, +of course she will consent, although probably no one else on earth with +her reputation would take such a risk." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Dance + + +The next day Mrs. Burton announced that having written her husband she +would await his reply before reaching an absolutely definite decision in +regard to their presentation of "As You Like It." In the meantime she +insisted that the whole question of the performance be neither thought +of nor discussed. + +Appreciating that he had grown too old to make a valuable soldier and +yet unwilling to be left out of war service, Mrs. Burton's husband, +Richard Burton, had taken the necessary examinations and had received a +commission in the Ordnance Department. He was now stationed at a +southern camp. + +Despite the Camp Fire guardian's request, there was a good deal of +speculation among the girls concerning the possible outcome of their +hopes. During the following day they were too much absorbed by the +prospect immediately before them to give much time to the consideration +of the future. + +Having arranged a small dance and invited a number of soldiers from the +nearby camp to be their guests, the girls had promised to do whatever +work was necessary for their entertainment. This included the cooking of +the party food as well as the other arrangements. But by this time, +after several summers of camping life, each girl considered that she had +become an artist in the preparation of one or more superior dishes. + +Ordinarily the most indolent of the girls, on occasions of especial +festivity Sally Ashton always assumed supreme command of the cooking. It +was Sally who, with Gerry and Vera as her assistants, made both the +bread and cake, articles of food of particular importance. + +In the present ménu she was especially interested, as recently she had +been experimenting with a number of new war recipes, finding them +extremely successful. Now Sally wished to repeat the recipes for a +larger company than their Camp Fire group. + +Having by this time recovered from her accident, secretly Sally Ashton +felt that she was being repaid for what she had suffered. She had +secured a very agreeable new acquaintance, who showed the symptoms Sally +so well understood of becoming one of her many admirers. The young man +was Merton Anderson, who had been a guest at the Morris ranch and had +ridden over to camp with the news of the accident. + +Since then, with Mr. Morris and Felipe Morris, he had made several calls +upon Mrs. Burton and ostensibly upon her group of Camp Fire girls. +However, after Merton Anderson's first visit, Sally appreciated that the +rest of his calls were due to her presence. No one could have explained +how she managed, not even Sally herself, yet she had a fashion of seeing +and conquering almost immediately both young men and old. No one ever +observed her making an effort to attract attention. She was even +unusually demure; nevertheless the attraction was going on in a subtle +and scientific fashion. + +Of Felipe Morris' attitude toward her, Gerry Williams was by no means so +assured. Not since their original meeting at his home had she an +opportunity of speaking to him alone, nor had she made the effort to +secure such an opportunity. For some reason Gerry felt a certain shyness +toward her new acquaintance, almost as if she were afraid of the +influence he might be able to exert upon her. + +Certainly she had no idea of making an appointment to meet him anywhere +alone. Apart from the fact that Mrs. Burton would not approve, Gerry had +been trained in a sufficiently hard school of experience to recognize +the lack of wisdom in such a proceeding. If she wished Felipe to like +her especially, and she was by no means sure at this time that she did +wish it, then she must not allow herself to become cheapened in his +eyes. Social conventions Gerry understood were of value and more +especially to a girl in her position. However, Felipe had appeared to be +courteous, although extraordinarily determined upon securing his own +way. + +In return for their kindness and also because she liked both young men, +Mrs. Burton had invited Felipe Morris and Merton Anderson to their Camp +Fire entertainment. The entertainment was to be more than an ordinary +dance, since the guests had been invited to a swimming party in the +afternoon, then dinner and the dance later. + + +Since the girls were to spend a portion of the afternoon in swimming, +most of the preparations for their party necessarily had to be made +beforehand. Mrs. Webster had promised to look after final details, and +also there was Marie, who was temperamental, but who could be relied +upon to accomplish marvels when she was in the proper mood. Since the +entry of the United States into the war, Marie, who was an ardent French +woman, had adopted the American soldier as her especial protégé. + +Moreover, on the morning before their dance Alice Ashton and Peggy +Webster had motored into town, purchasing the provisions they considered +too troublesome to prepare. They bought two roast hams and a roast of +beef and half a dozen varieties of fruit. Their ménu was to consist of +cold meats, baked beans, which were a Camp Fire speciality, roast +potatoes and corn, which could be cooked over the outdoor fire, +cornbread, fruit salad, coffee and cake. + +In the afternoon the girls were to wear their Camp Fire bathing suits, +but at night they had concluded to appear in white dresses, with their +honor beads, almost as beautiful and as effective as jewels. + +The ceremonial Camp Fire costumes were somewhat too heavy and too warm +for dancing on a midsummer night in a semi-tropical land. + +The girls were naturally a trifle shy over the prospect of guests, +nearly all of whom were complete strangers. Among them were only two +with whom they had any previous acquaintance. They were Lieutenant +Geoffrey Carson and Private George Ferguson, the soldiers who were aided +after an accident in their motor car, by the Camp Fire girls during +their riding trip down the coast. + +Two of the soldiers were members of one of the regimental bands and had +promised to play for the dancers, since the girls possessed only a +much-used victrola and were too far off in the country to be able to +engage the services of professional musicians. + +No dance could have been less conventional, when for one thing the +white, smooth sands of the beach below the camp were to serve as the +ballroom floor. + +Truly here indeed were the colors of romance, the moon and the sea, +youth and a wind-swept shore! + +That night, dancing with Felipe Morris, Gerry believed that she had +never been so happy. + +With his Southern ancestry and musical gifts, naturally Felipe was a +wonderful dancer, possessing an almost perfect sense of rhythm and time. + +On one occasion Gerry and Felipe discovered that they were actually +dancing alone, their companions having stopped for a moment to watch +them. Then they were only brought to a realization of what had taken +place by hearing Mrs. Burton cry: "Bravo!" and afterwards the applause +of a dozen pairs of hands. + +[Illustration: On One Occasion Gerry and Felipe Discovered that They +were Actually Dancing Alone] + +A little while before Felipe had lifted their right arms and he and +Gerry had danced in and out in semi-circles until they formed the petals +of a flower; reaching the center they revolved slowly in a circle, until +almost ceasing to move. + +Mrs. Burton decided that seldom had she seen a more enchanting +picture--Gerry with her delicate blonde prettiness, Felipe Morris so +complete a contrast. But then a great deal may have been due to the +effect of the outdoor scene and the moonlight! + +Before midnight, after dancing for several hours and after their long +afternoon swim, the dancers must have grown weary, for they wandered off +and sat down in little groups on the sand. + +This was Gerry's and Felipe's opportunity, for at once Felipe led her to +a place where they were in sight of the others and yet where they could +not be overheard. + +The rock Felipe had chosen rose above an amethyst carpet of sea verbena +where Gerry sat enthroned while he lay down on the floral carpet. + +Felipe could adopt an attitude of careless grace with more assurance +than the usual American youth. Indeed, he looked utterly unlike any of +the other young men who were the guests of the Camp Fire girls this +night. + +They wore their uniforms and were bronzed and fit. + +At this time the soldiers of the National Guard were beginning slowly to +fill their new military camps, as they were to be the first regiments +ordered to France after the regular army had crossed. The drafted men +were not yet ready for service. During this memorable first summer, +after the entry of the United States into the war, the lists of the +drafted men were being prepared with great difficulty. + +Therefore no one of the soldier guests questioned Felipe Morris' +position. It was presumed that he and Merton Anderson were in the +attitude of waiting for their call to the colors. + +Among the small company only Gerry and Mrs. Burton and Merton Anderson +were aware of Felipe's attempt to claim exemption. Naturally the matter +was not one that he cared to discuss with strangers, and more especially +not with young men near his own age, who had volunteered rather than +wait for the drafting. + +However, Felipe was at present pleasantly sure of Gerry's sympathy. + +"Fine looking soldiers, our American warriors!" he began in a lazy, +good-humored tone, which nevertheless held a slight suggestion of +disparagement. "I suppose one ought to rejoice that there are some men +among us who have the masculine passion for fighting so long as the +Kaiser's Huns are still abroad in the world. But personally I don't feel +I should make a success as a soldier." + +Such a conversation would not have made the slightest impression upon +any one of the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls except Gerry. + +It was obvious that Felipe preferred some one else to shoulder his +responsibility and do his duty. Selfishness is neither original nor +unique! + +But Gerry was not given to deep reflection and was already more under +her companion's influence than she realized. + +"When are we going to have a meeting together somewhere off to +ourselves?" Felipe asked. "There are so many things I want to talk to +you about; it is tantalizing to see you for only a few moments at a time +now and then. Why can't you come over and stay again at the ranch? My +father does nothing but read war news all day and either Shakespeare or +Cervantes in the evening, so we would be virtually alone." + +The prospect sounded alluring to Gerry, nevertheless she slowly shook +her head. + +"I should like it, of course," she answered, smiling and showing her +small but very regular white teeth, "only, like a good many other +pleasant things in this world, it is out of the question for me. I +cannot stay at your home alone with just your father and yourself. +Besides, your father would never think of inviting me, and although I +should enjoy seeing you alone at some other time, I am afraid even that +is impossible. Mrs. Burton would not----" + +Here Felipe laughed in a teasing fashion. + +"Is this the vaunted freedom of the American girl? I thought only the +other evening you confided to me that you had always been forced to +depend upon yourself ever since you were a little girl and that there +had been no one in your life who had ever influenced your decisions! Now +you speak of Mrs. Burton as if you were a tiny school girl. Let me +assure you--if assurance be necessary--that I intended nothing wicked or +even unconventional. I only wished you to take a walk with me some +afternoon, or a sail. I have a motor boat, and there are hours when the +sea is not rough. As a matter of fact, I meant to ask Mrs. Burton's +permission, in case I had your consent first. Mrs. Burton strikes me as +a charming person and not one who would be too strict a chaperon. +Naturally, as I have spent all my life in this neighborhood, I know the +attractive parts of the country." + +Felipe's tone was not so much annoyed as it was patronizing, and Gerry +accepted it in this spirit. + +She disliked making social mistakes, and she had had so little social +training and experience that she was apt to regard her mistakes as of +more importance than they actually were. + +Now she supposed that she had misunderstood Felipe from the beginning +and that her own stupidity had been at fault. So she replied somewhat +humbly: + +"I am sorry. If Mrs. Burton is willing, of course I shall enjoy walking +or sailing with you. But don't let me keep you away from the other +girls too long tonight. Suppose we walk over and join Mrs. Burton." + +As if she intended rising, Gerry made a slight movement. Her companion +did not stir. + +"Sit down, please, I am afraid you are angry," he returned. "I do wish I +had my guitar with me; I should like to sing to you. Mrs. Burton asked +me to bring it over tonight, but I had rather not sing before the +others." + +So Gerry stayed on and allowed Felipe to talk, while she said little in +reply, only glancing now and then from the figure at her feet to the +beauty of the moonlit ocean. Vaguely she wondered why she had always +been convinced she did not care for the outdoor world. It was stupid +never to have realized its loveliness until tonight! + +But, while Gerry and Felipe were having their talk together, only a +short distance away Lieutenant Geoffrey Carson and Bettina Graham were +engaged in a very different character of conversation. + +It chanced that Lieutenant Carson, who was a Virginian, had an uncle +who had been a representative in Congress for a number of years. Having +visited his uncle, Lieutenant Carson had not only heard of Bettina's +distinguished father, but had met him and knew of his effort to persuade +his country to take her high place among the nations in the fight for a +world-wide democracy. + +So, since Bettina Graham's father was her idol, she experienced none of +her customary shyness in talking to the young National Guard officer. +She had liked him in their former meetings, not resenting his quiet +sense of humor, a contrast to her own seriousness. + +"Then you are in absolute sympathy with our having entered the war, +Lieutenant Carson?" Bettina inquired, adding: "I think I always have +been--and yet now and then one cannot help feeling that all war must be +wrong." + +Before the young officer could reply, they heard some one approaching +and glancing up Bettina discovered Billy Webster. + +The next moment, without awaiting their invitation, Billy took a seat on +the sands beside them. + +Bettina was not surprised, for few persons who knew Billy intimately +continued to be surprised by his unexpected actions. Indeed, they would +have been surprised had he behaved otherwise. Now, although Bettina was +a little annoyed at having her conversation interrupted, she made no +effort to interfere with his intention. + +The turning of Billy Webster from the accomplishment of his desire +required a tremendous amount of energy which the result scarcely ever +justified. + +So far as Lieutenant Carson was concerned, because Billy looked so much +younger than he actually was, he regarded him merely as a presuming +small boy. + +Moreover, at the beginning of their talk, certainly Billy behaved like +one. First he stared at Lieutenant Carson's dress uniform, with the +single bar on his collar and sleeve and then up into the officer's firm, +smooth-shaven face. Finally, leaning over close to his companion, he +fastened his large visionary blue eyes upon the officer's steadfast +brown ones. + +"Why did you do it?" Billy inquired. Then, because he was accustomed to +being compelled to explain himself, he continued: "I mean why did you +volunteer, why go through all the hard work and rigmarole to be +appointed an officer in the army? You look as if you had an unusual lot +of sense, so I cannot imagine that you do not understand there are finer +things to do with one's life than killing people. I should think _you_ +could see how much more men are called upon to conquer poverty and +injustice and the crime that comes of it, than they are called upon to +conquer one another. Of course if you had been drafted that would have +been a different matter. Most people do what other people tell them to +do. That is why I believe if all the leaders of the world would preach +peace, all war would end." + +Instead of appearing to take the youthful pacifist seriously, Lieutenant +Carson smiled. Billy was a little offensive and misguided, nevertheless +there was something interesting about the boy; he had such an intense +manner, such an appearance of being convinced of his own point of view. +And Billy's personality suggested the thinker, not the man of action. + +"Then you are under the impression we are over there in our encampment +for the fun of it and in order to kill time which we might be spending +in better ways?" he inquired, thinking that perhaps he might answer +Bettina's anxious questionings and Billy's impertinence at the same +time. "Well, as a matter of fact, our encampment is not a very +attractive place up to the present. Did you think so when you made us +the visit? One job we have been tackling recently is to clear away the +underbrush from a good many thousands of acres of desert which have +remained undisturbed from the year one until now. We killed ninety +rattlesnakes as a part of the first day's work. Later on we are going to +drive artillery across those wastes of sand. Does not sound like play, +does it?" + +"No," Billy returned patiently, wondering why people would not sometimes +answer his questions directly, without first preaching long sermons +which seemed to have but little bearing upon them. + +"It is because I think a soldier's life is so hard and must be so +distasteful to a lot of men that I wonder why you would rather give +your energy to fighting than to trying to make the world happier and +wiser in other ways." + +Lieutenant Carson frowned. He knew the things Billy was saying were +being said by a good many people the world over, who were older and +wiser, or who should have been wiser, than Billy. But he also realized +that these same sentiments were not easy to answer, because they had in +them so much of the germ of truth, which was to blossom and flower at +some future day. + +Moreover, unexpectedly he experienced an impulse to help the boy to see +the present world struggle in a clearer light. + +"Billy," he added, "you will agree with me, won't you, that pretty +nearly everybody is saying the same thing these days? We all claim that +we wish the world to enjoy universal peace, that we long for greater +justice and happiness and a deeper sense of brotherhood. There is only +one point that divides you and me just at present. We all want peace, +but some of us want it so much that we are willing to pay for it by the +final last sacrifice of our youth and our blood. There are others who +think it may be obtained, and apparently you are one of them, simply by +sitting still and talking the whole subject over. This is pretty +difficult as things are at present. So long as the devil is such a +scrapper, those of us who believe in the triumph of right have got to +learn to fight back harder and even more successfully than he can +fight." + +Billy was silent for a moment, then with an egotism which was eminently +characteristic, he remarked: "Well, perhaps that is the way some people +must see the thing. Do you know I have always believed that some day I +am going to have a tremendous influence upon people just through talking +to them." + +Then, by the time Lieutenant Carson had recovered from his surprise at +Billy's audacity, he had made up his mind that the hour had arrived for +their return to camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"As You Like It" + + +The more Mrs. Burton dwelt upon the idea of giving a play for the +recreation fund of the soldiers, the more the idea pleased her. Upon +going more deeply into the subject she discovered that an effort was +being made to secure funds for the building of a theater in each war +camp in the United States. + +To initiate the movement and to be the first contributor to the fund +here in their immediate neighborhood, Mrs. Burton realized would give +her great pleasure. If her fellow players were offering to act at these +theaters, traveling from one to the other in a regular circuit during +the coming winter, then surely the theaters should be provided! + +Moreover, after having first suffered a natural objection to acting with +novices, Mrs. Burton changed her point of view to the extent of +considering that it might be rather charming to play with her own Camp +Fire girls in a comedy fresh and sparkling as Shakespeare's "As You Like +It." The play itself was in the spirit of a summer vacation, full of the +outdoors and delicious improbabilities. Besides the effort would be a +valuable experience for her Camp Fire girls. + +Captain Burton had written, expressing not only his approval of the +suggestion, but a real enthusiasm, provided Mrs. Burton felt well enough +to undertake it. Also he suggested that Mrs. Burton find some +professional actor in California who would play _Orlando_ to her +_Rosalind_. Then the contrast between her acting and that of her amateur +company need not be so conspicuous. He also proposed that she secure the +assistance of a professional stage manager to assist in the training of +her players. + +In the beginning of their discussion concerning the production of "As +You Like It," Mrs. Burton had announced as insurmountable the obstacle +that the cast required a greater number of men than of women characters. +It appeared that the girls already had considered this fact and were +prepared with a proposal. + +Peggy and Bettina had talked the matter over quietly with Lieutenant +Carson on the night of their dance, begging him not to speak of it if +nothing came of their idea. But they were thus able to report that +Lieutenant Carson believed his commanding officer would permit a few of +the soldiers to act with them in "As You Like It," provided the +rehearsals did not interfere with their army work. + +Later, when the performance became an actual possibility, Lieutenant +Carson inquired among his soldier companions until he discovered the men +who had some past dramatic experience and would also be acceptable in a +social way. + +Besides the soldiers Mrs. Burton later on invited Felipe Morris and +Merton Anderson to become members of her cast. + +Merton Anderson declined. No one knew the reason for his refusal except +Sally Ashton, who, as a matter of fact, had begged him not to take part. +Personally she did not approve of the outdoor play and had no idea of +making the effort necessary to portray the least important character. +Therefore Sally did not wish her latest admirer to become involved in +an interest which would separate him from her society. + +Felipe Morris appeared delighted to take part, and it was his aid which +Mrs. Burton desired. She was confident that he would be able to act with +unusual grace and self-assurance for a novice, and at least he possessed +good looks and a naturally artistic temperament. + +Moreover, Mrs. Burton and Felipe's father had become good friends, so +that she believed that Mr. Morris would be pleased to have Felipe drawn +into an intimate association with certain of the soldiers of the +National Guard, trusting that they might influence him. Personally Mrs. +Burton thought the one thing necessary was to entice Felipe away from +his music and his indolent dreaming into the world of real men where he +would awaken to his duty. + +She knew of his friendship with Gerry and of the somewhat marked +interest they apparently felt in each other, but she did not take the +fact seriously. Already he had asked several times that he and Gerry be +allowed to spend an afternoon together and Mrs. Burton had promptly +consented. No longer did she cherish the illusion that she could hide +away her Camp Fire girls in even the remotest corners of the globe +without their being discovered. Therefore, after her foolish alarm over +Bettina and her unconventional Indian friendship, she had concluded not +to be so nervous a second time, but to trust to the discretion of the +girls themselves. + +Among the seven Camp Fire girls Gerry was exceptionally pretty and so +could not fail to receive attention. But not for a single moment did +Mrs. Burton dream that there was anything more than a superficial +attraction between Gerry and Felipe. Of course she considered Gerry too +young, not realizing that Felipe Morris was four years her senior and +that Gerry's history had made her older than most girls of her age. + +Yet after the verdict was reached and the actors secured, there still +remained many details to be settled, the most important being the +selection of the characters for the production of the Shakespearean +comedy. Then, although there was a good deal of discussion, and Mrs. +Burton allowed a free expression of opinion, in each choice she +remained the court of final decision. + +It was she who at the beginning of the discussion settled upon Marta +Clark for the character of _Celia_, sweet cousin to _Rosalind_ and +second only in importance. In consequence Marta, who had not expected +the honor, suffered a confusion of emotions, surprise, pleasure, alarm! +Mrs. Burton had not forgotten their absurd first meeting, nor Marta's +shy confession of an ambition to follow in her footsteps. If she had +ability--and it was more than probable since her brother had lately +written a clever play showing a dramatic gift in the family--Mrs. Burton +had every intention of aiding Marta in her desire when the right moment +arrived. This would be but a slight return in memory of the friend who +so generously had helped her in the old days. + +Moreover, Mrs. Burton felt that she and Marta must learn to know each +other better. To play beside her as _Celia_, to be with each other +constantly at rehearsals would not only afford her the chance to test +Marta's talent, but would give them an opportunity to become better +friends. + +Marta possessed vivacity, a love of poetry and of nature; these things +Mrs. Burton had found out. Also her face depended upon the passing mood +for its charm, a superior gift to beauty in an emotional actress. + +Gerry Williams and Peggy were to impersonate _Phebe_, a shepherdess, and +_Audrey_, a country wench, after a good-natured argument in which Peggy +insisted upon this division of honors because of Gerry's superior +prettiness. + +_Touchstone_, the gay clown in "As You Like It," sings several of the +most charming ballads in all Shakespeare. Because of his beautiful voice +and his grace as a dancer Mrs. Burton begged Felipe Morris to play +_Touchstone_, and he appeared pleased to accept. + +Lieutenant Carson agreed to portray _Jaques_, whose soliloquy, "All the +world's a stage," is one of the greatest speeches in English literature. + +Dan Webster determined upon the character of _Adam_, servant to +_Orlando_, while Billy Webster together with Sally Ashton refused to +show the slightest interest in the approaching performance. + +The other members of the cast were the officers and soldiers from the +nearby cantonment. They expressed a great deal of enthusiasm over the +relief the rehearsals afforded from the hard physical labor of these +early days of their army training. Moreover, they would not even attempt +to express their pleasure in associating so informally with a number of +agreeable girls. + +Bettina, Alice and Vera Lagerloff were to be ladies-in-waiting at the +court of the _Duke_. + +If Sally Ashton's refusal to play any part was due to her inherent +indolence, Billy's lack of interest was ascribable to the wholly +opposite cause. + +Now and then for a passing moment when she had time to think of her +always erratic nephew, Mrs. Burton wished that Billy had been yielding +to his usual slothfulness. But recently he had awakened to an amazing +energy and was working as he never had worked in his life. + +After his brief conversation with Lieutenant Carson, for no reason which +he chose to explain, Billy proceeded to find out whatever was possible +in regard to the details of the new war camps. The monthly magazines +and newspapers to which his aunt, or any one else at Sunrise camp +subscribed, he searched diligently for all war information. Then he +would disappear on long walks, announcing on his return that he had been +over in the direction of the new National Guard cantonment, following +the railroad tracks which had recently been laid from the city. + +Finally he imparted the surprising information that he had secured work +as a day laborer at the war camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having vouched +for him. Moreover, Billy declared that he had given his aunt's name as a +security for his trustworthiness and that Captain Mason had remembered +his original visit to camp with Mrs. Burton's party. + +Of Billy's value as a day laborer his family and friends felt extremely +uncertain. But Billy explained that he was only expected to stand around +and to hand the carpenters who were at work the tools they happened to +need at the moment. He also carried buckets of water back and forth and +in short did whatever chores he was ordered to do. + +Mrs. Webster and Peggy were touched by Billy's unexpected display of +patriotism, knowing how abhorrent labor of this kind had always been to +him. Never, except under absolute coercion, had Billy ever performed the +slightest manual work upon their own farm! + +Mrs. Burton, Dan Webster and even the usually trustful Vera were not so +enthusiastic over Billy's latest departure. Without confessing the fact, +they suffered vague discomfort. + +What possible plan had Billy in mind? If one only could believe he had +chosen this method of "doing his bit!" But this would have been a +commonplace attitude, and Billy was never commonplace. + +There were moments when Mrs. Burton wondered if Billy were intent upon +preaching his childish ideas upon pacifism and had chosen the one place +where they would be most troublesome and dangerous! However, she was too +deeply absorbed in making a success of the play which she and the Camp +Fire girls had undertaken to allow much time to the consideration of her +nephew. + +The Camp Fire girls were learning to know their guardian in a new light. +Under ordinary circumstances she was extremely lenient and more than +willing to allow them to do as they liked. + +But now they were to see her not in a holiday mood, but as an artist at +work at her task. Since they had insisted upon the production of "As You +Like It," the penalty rested upon them. Therefore she would suffer no +idleness and accept no excuses for delay or carelessness. + +At one of the rehearsals, Peggy having appeared uncertain of her lines, +was publicly lectured and sent back to her tent with the suggestion that +if she were unwilling to do her duty, some one else had best take her +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Human Psychology + + +Billy Webster, who had difficulty in living peacefully and happily with +the people in his own walk of life, possessed a curious genius for +making himself popular with the so-called "working classes." + +At first the workmen at the new National Guard camp paid no especial +attention to the delicate looking boy who suddenly appeared among them. +But in a short time Billy proved unexpectedly useful. + +For one thing he made no effort to talk. He merely stood about in places +where he thought he might be of service, doing what he was told and +asking no questions. Several times he displayed an intelligent +initiative. And when each man is trying to do the work of two or three, +every small saving of unnecessary effort through some one else counts. + +At the present time there were fifteen hundred laborers employed on the +cantonment. They were building barracks and small wooden bungalows and +large store-houses for provisions and supplies from the ordnance and +quartermaster departments. Every hour or so freight had to be unloaded +from cars, so that they might be removed from the tracks and others take +their place. + +The soldiers were more often employed in the construction of roads and +the clearing away of a century's growth of underbrush. + +There was little in the camp that escaped Billy's quiet observation. The +very fact that he did not talk, when ordinarily he had a passion as well +as a gift for conversation was in itself a suspicious circumstance. + +For once in his life Billy was finding it more worth while to listen and +receive information rather than to impart his own ideas. + +At first the great drawback was that the laborers did not have time, or +else they did not feel the inclination to talk at all seriously. They +would simply exchange jokes with one another, or sing snatches of +popular songs. + +The laborers belonged to a company under bond to the government that +there would be no traitors employed at the war camps. Therefore if the +men held any views connected with the war, they gave no expression to +them. Moreover, the officers and soldiers were constantly in and out +among the men at all hours. Nevertheless, Billy became more and more +convinced that if a man were willing to sacrifice his own life in case +he were discovered, it was impossible even with the strictest +regulations to avoid the peril of a spy. + +One day at lunch time the boy was sitting alone in the shadow made by a +pile of lumber, which afforded a little relief from the heat of the noon +sun, when two of his fellow laborers came and sat down only a few feet +away. They saw him, of course, but seemed not to resent his presence; +so, after smiling with the innocent, boyish expression peculiar to him, +Billy continued eating. He brought his lunch with him every day in a +basket as the other laborers did. + +One of the two men, whom he thought a Swede, was rather an especial +friend, although the only fashion in which they so far had expressed +their friendliness was by smiling whenever they met. + +He was a dull, good-natured fellow, blond and mild of manner. "Seems a +pity to have to bring all these boys away from their homes and their +mothers and sweethearts to plant them down in this desert in the heat of +summer," he remarked to his companion, after he had bitten off a large +hunk of sour bread and was slowly chewing on it like a cud. Finally, +taking out his soiled handkerchief, he wiped the perspiration from his +forehead. + +"I have not been in the West very long, and it is sure enough God's +country?" the blond workman went on. "But what a lot of waste land +waiting for men to water and then plough and sow it! I thought all this +desert land was soon to be redeemed and now all the young men have to go +away from their own country into another land to fight. Sometimes it's a +hard thing for a dull, common man to understand the good of war." + +Billy stopped eating and slid over a few feet nearer. His blue eyes were +beginning to shine. + +"Wouldn't it be great if each man who has pledged his life to serve his +country would do some deed which would _save_ life instead of _taking_ +it?" he demanded. Then Billy paused and grew hot and cold by turns. He +was not very sure of what he was trying to argue except in a vague +fashion, and there was something about his last remark which held a +suggestion of treason. He did not intend being disloyal. It was only +that his preconceived ideas of right and wrong had been greatly troubled +by the present war, and Billy was not willing to accept conditions as he +found them, possessing the spirit which must solve its own problems. + +He reddened as he found his new acquaintances staring at him +suspiciously. + +"Then you think peace brings the great mass of the people better fortune +than war?" asked the other man, who had been quiet until now. He was a +little, dark man, probably of Italian origin. + +Billy hesitated. "I don't know," he answered, "I only believe peace +should make men wiser and kinder to each other. But recently everything +has gotten so dreadfully mixed in my mind, I can't be sure of anything. +Perhaps I am mistaken." + +"War has to be, young man," Billy's mild-mannered friend announced, +nodding his head. + +"Yes, that is what everybody says," the boy agreed. + +Then the somewhat pointless conversation was obliged to end, as the hour +for lunch had passed. + +Among the experiences which Billy Webster was particularly enjoying at +this time were his long walks back and forth from the place where he was +spending his nights to the scene of his daily labors. + +For, literally, he only spent his nights at the Sunrise camp. He arrived +at home after the others had finished dinner, and rose and went away +each morning just after daylight. But instead of the long, fatiguing +walks, added to the unusual work of the war camp, injuring Billy's +health--never had he appeared so strong and well. + +Not that any one, aside from his mother, was paying particular attention +to Billy's vagaries. Even Vera Lagerloff, for the first time in their +long friendship, temporarily was neglecting Billy's welfare in her +enthusiasm over the approaching production of "As You Like It." + +However, Billy rejoiced in his new freedom. + +He took pleasure in slipping out of his tent in the early morning, +leaving Dan still asleep. Then he would prepare his own breakfast of +coffee, fruit and eggs which were always left where he could readily +find them. Afterwards, with his basket of lunch that his mother made +ready the night before, Billy would move quietly off. + +Even the dawns in this southwestern world were unlike the dawns Billy +remembered in his own New Hampshire hills. Not that he would have +claimed the New Hampshire hills as his possession because of a mere +accident of birth. Billy cared infinitely more for the softness, the +warmth and strangeness of this new country and climate than he had ever +cared for the austerity of New England. It was awakening in him new +strength and new purposes which so far he scarcely understood. + +The way the dawn broke here in the western coast Billy particularly +loved; it was so serene. There was not the drear, melancholy darkness +and then the swift coming of light. But first a pearl-gray mist covered +the sky, afterwards lavender and rose shone behind it and finally a pure +gold, with the ocean as a mirror of the sky. + +A part of the trip he could make by street car, nevertheless this left +many miles to be traveled at either end of the line. + +However, as Billy wished to think things out for himself, these walks +afforded a wonderful opportunity. The difficulty of his life had always +been due to his refusal to accept any judgment except his own. He +honestly could not understand why his family even thought they had the +right to interfere with him. Yet now he was up against the great fact of +human discipline, the law which so often forces us to submit to a higher +power. + +The boys at the National Guard camp were not much older than himself, at +least some of them were not. Nevertheless they were engaged upon tasks +which he knew must be hard and distasteful and were prepared to face far +worse things later on. Some of them had thought the question over for a +long time, nearly three years in fact, until they were prepared to fight +the enemy, body and soul, to a finish. Others of the soldiers were not +given to thinking, but were obeying a good fighting instinct. All of +them, however, were acknowledging an authority higher than their own and +obeying a higher will. + +Often Billy wondered how he should feel if the war lasted long enough to +make the same demand upon him? Would he give up his belief in peace and +the unrighteousness of war to serve as a common soldier in the ranks? +And even if he did do this, was it in him to make a good soldier, to +sacrifice himself for a common cause? Sometimes Billy prayed to be +delivered from the test. + +Yet whatever his own mental problems, there was one big fact of which +Billy became daily more assured and that was his tremendous personal +admiration for the new National Guard soldiers. Certainly theirs was the +road of heroism and self-sacrifice, while the pacifists, even if right +in principle, were skulking behind the protection the soldiers gave to +them. + +There were moments when Billy became a little scornful of the pacifists, +himself included, who preferred the easiest way. + +Ordinarily the boy took his long tramps to and from camp alone, but on +the day after his brief conversation with the two workmen, the men +joined him at the close of the day, walking for a short distance one on +either side. Billy felt absurdly proud, as if the men at last regarded +him as one of them. They even spoke of labor unions in his presence and +Billy was glad to announce that he approved of unions. + +Afterwards, perhaps four or five days later, Billy did not return to the +Sunrise camp, even at the comparatively late hour which had become his +habit. + +Mrs. Webster suffered a good deal of uneasiness. Billy explained that he +had been compelled to go into the nearest town on important business, so +she was not to worry. One could scarcely say beforehand what demands war +work might make upon one's time and strength. + +Mrs. Webster steeled herself to bear the strain, even when Billy's new +passion for helping to win the war kept him away from the Sunrise camp +until nearly midnight for several nights in succession. + +Just at this time she was extremely busy assisting with the preparation +of the costumes for the Sunrise Camp Fire production of "As You Like +It." In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton had sent east for several +trunks of costumes, there were many alterations to be made, and every +member of the entire cast, maid and man, asked of Mrs. Webster either +advice or aid, or both. + +No matter how great her weariness, Mrs. Webster always remained awake +until her son's return, in order that she might know he was well and +have him eat a carefully saved-over dinner. + +Gently Billy endeavored to persuade his mother to give up this plan, +insisting that he always had food in town. But although Mrs. Webster +made no effort to interfere with his actions, on this one point she was +adamant. She must be sure that her son was safely at camp in order to be +able to sleep. + +Realizing this to be true, for several nights Billy returned to camp at +the usual time. Then a night arrived when he reached home even later +than before. + +It chanced that on this night, without Billy's being aware of the fact, +Mrs. Burton and her cast had been going through a dress rehearsal of +their play. + +When Billy finally reached camp, the Sunrise Hill tents were dark and +still. + +Yet to the left a camp fire was burning and a woman's figure was seated +near it. + +A pang of remorse stirred Billy, in spite of his own weariness. + +Coming forward with his arms outstretched, instead of his mother, he +discovered Vera Lagerloff. + +"Goodness, Vera, I never saw you look so wonderful!" Billy exclaimed, +bowing with the air of a courtier and a grace which he knew well how to +assume. + +For Vera was wearing a court costume, a skirt of a deep rose-colored +satin and a polonaise and basque of white with a design of roses. + +Her dark hair was piled high on her head and her cheeks were slightly +rouged, since every preparation for the actual stage performance had +been made. + +Billy had never seen Vera so handsome, nor dreamed it possible that she +could ever look as she did tonight. But then Billy had thought little of +Vera's appearance, or of that of any other girl. He had simply cared for +her with a curious boyish selfishness and affection. Unconsciously he +always planned his future with Vera beside him to hear of his trials and +conquests, but had never thought of how this could be managed. + +Yet tonight Vera paid no attention to his unusual flattery. + +Her expression suggested annoyance and reproach. + +"Wait here, Billy, I'll find you something to eat. I made your mother go +to bed and she and Mrs. Burton agreed that I might wait for you." + +But Billy would not let her go. "I'm not hungry, Vera. Besides you look +like a queen, not a kitchen maid. What's up? Fire away." + +"That is what I wish to have you tell _me_," Vera returned, with the +deep and abiding gentleness, which usually overcame Billy's obstinacy +where other people and other methods failed. + +He laughed. "I thought as much. Nothing doing, Vera. I am not going to +tell anybody anything. Yes, I know I promised not to get into mischief +again, after that last escapade of mine. But what did it amount to, +going to jail for a little while, it was merely an interesting +experience!" + +Billy took Vera's hand in his own almost equally slender one, since +Vera's was the hand of a peasant ancestry and Billy's the opposite. + +"See here, dear, I am not sorry to have you and mother and Tante begin +worrying about me, fearing I am going to do something foolish. You never +seem to think me capable of anything else. But this time, between you +and me, Vera, if I could tell you what is interesting me right now--and +I confess it is not only my work at the war camp, although it has a +close connection--well, I don't believe you would consider me foolish." + +"Then, why won't you tell me what is interesting you, Billy? You know I +don't always think ideas are foolish, but oftentimes I don't think your +judgment wise. Besides, I am afraid something may happen to you!" + +Billy shook his head, still holding her hand with boyish affection. + +"These are war times, Vera. You and I used to disagree on the +subject--one of the first questions we have ever seriously disagreed +upon since we were little children. Anyhow, what I am interested in at +present has something to do with the war. I cannot tell you details, as +I must not confide in any one just now. Only promise me you'll see that +mother does not worry and that neither she nor Tante makes a scene to +try to force me into giving up my present work. I should simply go on +with it anyhow, Vera." + +Vera sighed. The problem of Billy Webster had always been too much for +other people. Was he in the future to become a problem too big for her? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Night of the Play + + +During the weeks of rehearsal before the performance of "As You Like +It," the Camp Fire girls and the young officers and soldiers from the +National Guard camp had delightful opportunities for developing new +friendships. + +When the emotion which existed between Felipe Morris and Gerry Williams +became more than an ordinary friendship, the chances for exchanging +confidences were more frequent than one would readily guess. + +Felipe possessed a talent for pursuing the ends he desired in a quiet, +unostentatious fashion. There were moments when merely passing by Gerry +with other people near, he would whisper a few words which only she +could hear. Then, when neither of them expected to be called for their +share in a rehearsal, they used to slip away together to some secluded +place for more intimate conversations. + +The final rehearsals took place at the open-air theater near one of the +most fashionable seaside resorts in southern California, and Felipe was +familiar with the coast and the surrounding country. + +There were no long, dull waits for them between the moments when they +were actually upon the stage, no sense of fatigue and boredom of which +the other amateur players occasionally complained. + +Gerry appeared to be happy to listen and Felipe to talk to her +indefinitely. + +Of course the other actors were aware of Gerry's and Felipe's interest +in each other and tried teasing them now and then, but since neither +denied the fact, the effort lost its piquancy. + +Nor were Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster entirely blind, although they did +not accept the situation seriously. It was ridiculous to presume that +every friendship between a girl and a man must be regarded with +solemnity. Nevertheless it is more than possible that if Mrs. Burton had +not been so absorbed in the coming performance she would have noticed +some tell-tale circumstances. Her extreme preoccupation was her chief +excuse. + +She did mention to her sister several times that she never had seen +Gerry look so pretty or appear as happy as she had for the past few +weeks. + +"Why, the child is like a field of wild flowers; her hair is the color +of buttercups, her eyes are cornflowers and her cheeks----" + +But here Mrs. Burton's flow of imagery had been stopped by Mrs. +Webster's protest. + +"Please don't be so absurd, Polly. You know conversation of that +character merely strikes me as foolish." So Mrs. Burton had laughed and +the subject of Gerry was dismissed. + +Gerry was becoming aware of a change in her own life, not in her mere +appearance, but in a way far deeper. There were moments when she even +hoped her own drab, lonely existence was past forever and that a life as +radiant as these past weeks would endure. She tried not to hope too much +from Felipe's manner and the kind things he said to her now and then. Of +course she was too young for him to think of seriously. Nevertheless +Gerry could not refrain from occasionally seeing a happy image of +herself at the old ranch with Felipe and his father! + +In her dream the old house was not in its present dilapidated condition, +but had been made beautiful and luxurious following the plans which +Felipe had more than once confided to her. + +For always he talked of beautifying his old home and of his music and +travel and of other delightful things, but never of war, or +self-sacrifice, or hard work. + +Felipe had not been informed whether his claim for exemption from war +service had been accepted, and yet he seemed to regard the matter as +settled. + +So Gerry also forgot what was going on in the world about them, forgot +what was being required of other young men, even though she had daily +talks with the soldiers. + +But at last the night for the public performance of "As You Like It" +arrived. + +The Camp Fire girls had not erred in their prediction that their +guardian's reputation was sufficient to insure them a large audience. +Mrs. Burton had secured the aid of a well-known California actor, Arthur +Whitney, to play _Orlando_ to her _Rosalind_. For the past two weeks he +had been living in one of the hotels near the open-air theater, where he +had many friends. + +In the neighboring cities and towns the newspapers had devoted columns +of unpaid advertising to notices of the play and the opportunity it +afforded for seeing the famous American actress. Added to this was the +fact that the proceeds from the performance were to be devoted to the +recreation fund for the boys in the southern California cantonment. + +Long before the night of the performance, every ticket of admission to +the theater had been sold, and as much standing room as possible. + +Fronting the entrance to the open-air theater stood three or four palm +trees so trimmed as to give the effect of a green canopy. + +Inside the theater were rows of rustic benches and in the foreground the +open-air stage surrounded by a background of shrubs. Around the +enclosure was a thick hedge. + +Once inside the little theater and one was in so unique a setting, it +was as if one were shut away in an enchanted world. + +No more charming place could have been discovered for the performance of +Shakespeare's comedy. The atmosphere and the scenery of the "Forest of +Arden" were already secure. + +A thrill of anticipation ran through the audience with the tinkling of a +number of bells to announce the opening of the play. + +Then the actors entered from behind a screen of shrubs to the left of +the stage. The first conversation is between _Orlando_ and old _Adam_. + +The real interest of the audience waited, of course, upon the appearance +of the star, and soon after _Rosalind_ and _Celia_ appeared on the lawn +before the _Duke's_ palace. + +Mrs. Burton had played the character of _Rosalind_ many times; the +courage and gaiety of one of the most charming of all Shakespeare's +heroines were essentially her own characteristics. + +Tonight, on making her entrance, she had to pause for a moment to +acknowledge the storm of applause. The first speech was _Marta's_, and +Mrs. Burton was glad of the respite, remembering her own tragic first +appearance and wondering if Marta could be suffering half so much. + +Several times before the actual performance, she had been afraid that +her solicitude for her amateur company would seriously interfere with +her own acting. + +Marta managed her first speech as _Celia_ bravely. If one recalls her +line, it is a brief one: + +"I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry." + +Then _Rosalind_ takes the center of the stage and while she is there, +but few eyes are turned away from her. All the grace and charm of the +one-time Polly O'Neill returned to the great actress in the hours when +she was playing, and now added to her natural gifts were the long years +of experience and training. + +Tonight Mrs. Burton's voice charmed her audience with its peculiar +magic, her every movement kept one fascinated. + +Marta Clark too scored a distinct success as _Celia_. She had been +awkward and self-conscious at rehearsals and no one had believed in +her. But whether she needed the spur of the actual production, or had +learned more than any one realized from playing with Mrs. Burton, +certainly she showed unusual ease and pliancy for an amateur actress. +More than once during the performance Mrs. Burton managed to whisper her +congratulations, stirring Marta to fresh efforts. + +Gerry did not do a great deal of acting, but as _Phebe_ she was such a +ravishingly pretty shepherdess that one thought of little else. Peggy's +character study of _Audrey_, the country wench, showed such an amusing +combination of stupidity and common sense that in spite of the +unimportance of the part, she won a real triumph. + +Lieutenant Carson at least presented a fine appearance as the melancholy +_Jaques_. + +The one failure among the company of youthful artists was Felipe Morris, +upon whose natural ability Mrs. Burton and all the other players had +depended. + +It was surprising, for during all the rehearsals Felipe had always acted +so agreeably that even the stage manager had only words of praise for +him. + +Yet the _Touchstone_ who danced gracefully out before the footlights on +the occasion of the real performance was a different _Touchstone_. + +By a kind of natural instinct Mrs. Burton instantly recognized the fact. +Even through his make-up and his motley costume of stripes and caps and +bells, one could discern that Felipe's thoughts were not concentrated +upon his performance. + + +_Touchstone_ spoke his lines with the proper combination of drollery and +impertinence, yet there was no suggestion of real wit or merriment. The +very jangling of his bells was depressing. + +Once in a hurried moment behind the scenes Mrs. Burton managed to +inquire: "Is there anything the matter, Felipe? Are you not well?" + +Felipe only laughed and shook his head. "What should be the matter? Am I +falling down on my part? I shall try and brace up in the next act." + +If _Touchstone_ was a failure in his acting, Felipe sang as never +before. It was not Gerry alone, listening behind the scenes, who was +completely fascinated. + +One of _Touchstone's_ ballads is of the eternal romance of love and +spring time. Felipe's voice held a freshness, a clear sweetness that +went straight to the hearts of his audience. + + "It was a lover and his lass, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, + That o'er the green corn-field did pass + In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, + When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding; + Sweet lovers love the spring." + +The play was finally over, and if the curtain could not be rung down, at +least the players bowed their thanks and farewells, standing together in +a long line with Mrs. Burton in the center. + + +In order that they might avoid the confusion and fatigue of meeting so +many strangers and receiving their congratulations after the play had +ended, Mrs. Burton previously had invited her company of actors to motor +over to Sunrise camp to a supper party as soon as they could slip away. + +Gerry was returning in the motor with Mrs. Burton. + +She chanced to be standing alone for a moment waiting for the others who +were shaking hands with some new acquaintances, when Felipe Morris +touched her upon the arm. + +"Gerry, I must speak to you by yourself tonight after we reach the +Sunrise camp. Please, no matter what happens, let nothing interfere with +my seeing you. I have something to tell you and something to ask you +which will affect all our future." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"I Will Marry You, if Ever I Marry Woman" + + +To Gerry Williams it seemed as if their long supper party would never +end. + +The supper was served outdoors on a number of small tables. Through an +accident Gerry was seated at so great a distance from Felipe that it was +not possible to see his face and so guess from his expression something +of what he desired to tell her. + +Gerry was puzzled. If what he wished to say had to do with their future +happiness, why had he looked so disturbed? And why should it be +imperative that he make his confession tonight? + +Already it was late, past midnight, and they were both weary. There +would be tomorrow and other days. + +Really she would have preferred not to talk with Felipe alone tonight. +To slip away from the others would be difficult, and without Mrs. +Burton's consent Gerry did not like the idea. Yet she did not dare ask +for permission, being convinced that because of the lateness of the hour +her request would be refused. + +She felt that she must do what Felipe had begged of her. There had been +something in his manner at once imperative and beseeching. + +An unaccustomed shyness, almost a sense of fear, had seized upon Gerry; +nevertheless she was prepared to follow Felipe's bidding, no matter how +difficult. + +To eat or talk gaily to the others was hard. In a half-hearted fashion, +Gerry accomplished both results. + +Immediately after the supper was finished the guests began saying their +farewells. + +The hour was long past the one when the young officers and soldiers were +required to return to the cantonment. But owing to the play and Mrs. +Burton's efforts in their behalf, they had received a special permit +from the officer in command of their camp to remain away several hours +later than their regulations demanded. + +In the midst of the good-bys Gerry and Felipe moved swiftly toward each +other. + +"We must get away _now_, Felipe, while no one is thinking of us. I can +only talk to you for a moment." + +Even as she spoke Gerry was walking toward the beach with the young man +following. In this way at least what they had to say to each other would +not be overheard. There was no nearby place where they could actually +escape observation. + +In front of Sunrise camp the beach stretched long and level, broken only +by small rocks, which afforded a shadow, not a shelter. Behind the +little group of tents and Mrs. Burton's house were the level fields of a +great ranch. There were no trees worthy of the name in sight. + +"But I can't say what I must to you in _one_ minute, Gerry. I must have +time to explain many things. Surely you will go somewhere else with me. +Here on the open beach we may be interrupted at any moment." + +Gerry only moved on more rapidly. "I don't know where else to go, +Felipe. We can walk along the beach until perhaps we are out of sight of +the others. Then afterwards I can tell Mrs. Burton that we only +intended taking a short walk." + +"Very well," Felipe murmured, but Gerry could guess that he was annoyed. + +"I suppose to a girl, Gerry, conventions are dearer than anything else +in life. So since what I intend is to ask you to break one of them, +perhaps I might as well not speak to you," he began, when they had +nearly reached the water. + +The ocean was not so calm as usual tonight on this particular line of +coast. Great waves were rolling in, breaking and curling in white +spirals of foam. If there had been a storm, it was somewhere out in the +ocean, for although there was no moon the stars were everywhere a +shining glory. + +"I don't know what you mean, Felipe," Gerry answered quietly. + +She was still wearing her lovely shepherdess costume of pale blue and +white, the pointed bodice and panniers of blue satin, the skirt and +sleeves of muslin and lace. Mrs. Burton had insisted on Gerry's using a +long white coat which was her property, so coming back in the motor she +had slipped this on over her dress. Now the wind was blowing the coat +open, revealing the soft comeliness of the satin and lace costume +beneath. + +Her shepherdess hat she had discarded and instead had tied a blue +chiffon scarf around her hair. + +Nevertheless, in spite of her frivolous and charming costume, Gerry +Williams' expression was entirely serious. + +"No, of course you do not understand. I am sorry," Felipe apologized. +"You see, it has been such a horrible evening for me with all the +foolishness of the play and my acting a clown's part, when I have been +wishing every minute to get you away and tell you what has happened." + +"But what _has_ happened?" Gerry inquired anxiously and yet with +patience. + +"The exemption board has refused my claim. I only heard the pleasant +news late this afternoon," Felipe answered. + +Gerry's first sensation was one of intense personal sympathy. + +Simply and naturally she slipped her hand inside Felipe's. + +"I don't know what to say to you. I am so grieved for you. It is too +dreadful, your being forced to join the army when you so hate the whole +idea. Can't something more be done? Surely you and your father must have +influence out here!" + +Felipe shook his head. "Influence does not count; besides, if father has +any influence he would not use it in my behalf, not in this connection. +When I told him this afternoon what had occurred he merely said: 'I wish +you had done your duty in the beginning, my son, without bringing the +stigma of disgrace upon our name by trying to escape your +responsibility. I did not suppose your claim for exemption would be +considered, as your excuse was too flimsy.'" + +For an instant Gerry hesitated, then she said, her voice shaking. "I do +not mean to be rude, but I can not understand your father. You are his +only son and are no relation to me, and yet it does not seem to me I can +bear your going over to France, where you will be so unhappy, where you +may be wounded. But I must not talk of these things. How soon must you +begin your training, Felipe, and do you think you will be in a camp near +your home?" + +Until this instant Gerry had not considered herself, had not realized +the failure of her dream. Now she had a little sinking sense of +loneliness and disappointment. Nevertheless Felipe was still first in +her thoughts. + +"I wish I could do something to help you." + +"You can, Gerry," Felipe returned, strengthening his hold on her hand. +"I am not going to be drafted, Gerry. I am going over the border into +Mexico tomorrow to remain until the war is over. I told you that I had +no difficulty in being taken for a Mexican. I can speak the language and +I don't look unlike one. This isn't an entirely new idea on my part, for +I have been thinking and planning what I should do if my exemption claim +were refused. I tell you I can not endure a soldier's existence, the +dirt and the hard work and the discipline and then worse, blood and +suffering and death. For even if all this does not come to me, I must +see it. Oh, I know I am not a _man_, Gerry, and you probably despise me +for feeling like this. But I can not help it. I was born for beauty and +happiness, for music and--well, we are not all made alike." + +"No, Felipe, I don't despise you; I think I understand," Gerry replied +instantly. But there was no question with her of understanding. She was +thinking of Felipe's happiness, of his safety. "Isn't it pretty +dangerous what you are planning to do? If you are caught won't you be +imprisoned?" she asked. + +Felipe nodded. "Yes, but I am going to take the chance. It is worth the +danger to me." + +"You are intending to say good-by to me tonight then?" Gerry questioned. +"I am glad you told me. No one in the world will ever be able to force +your secret from me." + +"Then you could be brave for my sake?" Felipe demanded. + +But when Gerry did not answer, he began walking impatiently up and down +within a few feet of her. + +"I don't know what to say or do, Gerry," he continued after a moment. "I +am not a rogue and I do not want to do you an injustice. But you told me +once that you had no people of your own, that your father is dead and +that your mother always has left you in common boarding houses, with no +one to look after you, since you were a tiny girl. You told me that you +had no real friend until Mrs. Burton took a fancy to you and has tried +to give you some happiness. Now I can't bear the thought of your going +so far away to live by yourself when I care for you so much. After +tonight we may never even be able to see each other again in many years. +Still I realize that you are very young, Gerry, and the fact that I am +four or five years older makes the whole thing much more my +responsibility than yours. Besides there is the danger of your crossing +into Mexico with me and being forced to live there, one cannot say how +long." + +Gerry appeared utterly bewildered and unhappy. "But what do you mean, +Felipe? I don't think I understand you." + +"I mean I am asking you to marry me, Gerry." Felipe answered with an +entire softening of his manner and expression. "But I realize I am +asking you more than that, because I want you to marry me without +telling any one and then slip over the border into Mexico with me to +live until the war is past. If anything happens and I am caught, why, at +least you will be safe, for my father will look after you. I did not +want to ask you to marry me in this way, Gerry, I do not like the idea +any more than you do. I had planned to tell you I cared for you and to +tell Mrs. Burton also. I was even willing to wait for a year or more if +you both thought it necessary. But now this difficulty of mine alters +everything, and these are war times, when one is not expected to behave +in an ordinary fashion." + +In order to insure his own way, Felipe was in truth a good pleader. +Besides, Gerry was already deeply under his influence. + +Now Felipe's unexpected request made her both happy and unhappy, for she +could not fail to be glad that he cared for her, although she knew she +had no right to agree to his request. + +The ethical side of the question of Felipe's intention to escape +military service apparently made no impression upon Gerry one way or +the other; the question seemed so entirely his to decide. Her feeling +was merely that she could not bear to marry him and not tell even Mrs. +Burton until afterwards. + +If she were a little older she believed the situation would have +appeared less formidable, then she would have had a clearer right to +decide for herself. Under the circumstances she must not consider +Felipe's suggestion even for a moment. + +Yet she had only to answer, "No," and things would be as before. + +For Felipe himself was uncertain and frightened of what he was asking. +If he did not appreciate the full selfishness and wrong of it, +nevertheless he did realize it in part. Gerry faced the alternative +before replying. If she refused Felipe's offer, in a little while she +must return to Chicago to take up her old existence in a common boarding +house with nothing in her future except to learn to make her own living. +But these things were no longer so important, the one important fact was +that she might be losing Felipe forever. + +Gerry cherished few illusions. If Felipe were successful in escaping +military service they could not meet again until the war was over and in +that time many changes would have occurred. Would Felipe remember her, +or would he be less lonely in his self-imposed exile if she were to +spend it with him? Whatever trouble she and Felipe might have to face, +would she not prefer to face it with him rather than have him leave her +alone? + +"I cannot bear to deceive Mrs. Burton, Felipe. I owe her so much; she +has been kinder than I have ever told you, kinder than perhaps you +imagine. Besides, I care for her a great deal and I don't see how such a +difficult idea as you have suggested can ever be arranged." + +In Gerry's last words lay her confession. Felipe had triumphed. Had she +tried she might have persuaded him to face his obligation, to make the +sacrifice of himself which his country demanded. She was not equal to +the test. + +"But I do know how to manage," Felipe answered. "And I shall be very +careful. I understand certain things better than you do. I have an old +nurse who is married and lives not far away. She will come with us and +stay with you until the ceremony is over. Afterwards she will return and +explain what we have done to Mrs. Burton and my father. You can write +and beg Mrs. Burton to forgive you; she will after a time, I am sure. We +will be so happy, Gerry dear. I have plenty of money, as I drew all I +possessed out of the bank this afternoon. I am sure it will last us for +a time and then I can get hold of more." + +The thing which Gerry and Felipe were planning to do was not only a +foolish thing; it held dishonor and sorrow, and yet neither of them at +the time seemed to appreciate this. + +"Be ready the day after tomorrow, please, Gerry. I'll ask Mrs. Burton to +allow you to go for a walk or a drive with me. I promise you there shall +be no difficulties. But, quick, good-night; some one is coming." + +Mrs. Burton herself was walking down the beach toward them. "Come, +Gerry, please, it is time you were in bed. I was frightened when I found +you were not with the other girls. Felipe, I don't think it quite fair +of you to have kept Gerry away from us so long. Will you thank your +father for the roses he sent me tonight?" + +Felipe held out his hand. + +"You are awfully kind, Mrs. Burton, and I do deserve a scolding. Gerry +and I had not realized how long we had been talking, as there are so +many things we like saying to each other. Will you forgive me and let me +come back soon again?" + +Mrs. Burton put her arm about Gerry. + +"Not too soon, please, Felipe. Goodnight." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Gerry's Opportunity + + +The next day, weary from the long strain of the rehearsals and the final +production of their play, and feeling a comfortable sense of relaxation +following a labor well accomplished, the Sunrise Camp Fire members spent +an unusually quiet day. + +Mrs. Burton remained in her little house resting and reading. + +After accomplishing the necessary domestic tasks, Mrs. Webster and the +girls sat about in little groups, knitting and talking over the +unexpectedly brilliant success of their play. + +Of the Camp Fire girls, Gerry Williams alone kept apart from the others +for the greater part of the day. Now and then she would appear with her +knitting and dropping down beside some one would remain for perhaps half +an hour, but seldom longer. By the end of that time she seemed to grow +restless and would start off on walks by herself, but never a great +distance from camp. Once disappearing inside her sleeping tent, which +was unoccupied, she stayed there alone for several hours. + +No one paid any particular attention to Gerry or realized that she was +in an unusual frame of mind. The Camp Fire girls had spent so many +months together that they did not take one another's moods seriously; +besides, Gerry was not an especial favorite or intimate with any one of +the girls except Sally Ashton. And Sally frequently considered Gerry far +too addicted to moods, which were disturbing to her own comfortable +placidity. + +Indeed, Gerry's only real friend in the Sunrise Camp Fire, the only +person who in any way understood her temperament and the circumstances +of her past sufficiently well to offer her real sympathy and affection, +was Mrs. Burton. + +On this same day it chanced that Dan Webster was away looking after a +small business matter. + +Billy was engaged with his labors at the war camp. But now that the play +was over Mrs. Webster was beginning to concern herself more seriously +with the behavior of her erratic son. Billy had taken advantage of the +absorption of his family and friends to continue to pursue his own way +in an even more determined and secretive fashion. + +If Mrs. Burton had not spent the day inside her house, whether or not +she would have observed Gerry's restlessness, her troubled expression, +her moments of pallor and the swift flush succeeding them, no one can +say. + +Certainly all that day never for long did Gerry have Mrs. Burton out of +her mind. First she would think of Felipe and what he had asked of her +and then immediately after of Mrs. Burton's friendship and kindness. + +The facts of Gerry's life were commonplace enough, but for that reason +they seemed to Gerry the harder to endure. + +Her mother and father had married when they were young and clerking +together in a small village store. After Gerry's birth they conceived +the idea of becoming traveling sales people. + +When Gerry was a tiny child they tried taking her about with them, often +leaving her alone for long, lonely hours in strange hotel rooms. After +she grew older, arrangements were made for her to board in Chicago, the +city her parents visited oftener than any other. But when Gerry was +fourteen her father died and a year later her mother married a little +town store keeper. + +It was at this time Gerry Williams realized she would be forced to face +the future for herself. It is true her mother and stepfather offered her +a home with them and the opportunity to work in their shop. But Gerry +had never cared for her mother and now hated her stepfather, while the +thought of the little town store was abhorrent. Yet there was no +particular reason for this attitude save that Gerry had always been +antagonistic to her environment for as long as she could remember. + +She was so utterly unlike her own people both in appearance, manner and +nature that she was a puzzle to all of them. No one of them could have +told from whom she inherited her delicate prettiness, her love of luxury +and refinement. + +One day, learning of Mrs. Burton's presence in Chicago, suddenly Gerry +conceived the idea of going to her and applying for the position of +maid. If she must work she thought that she would like better than most +things to live with a famous woman and perhaps travel with her and see +something of the world. + +At the moment of Gerry's arrival it chanced that by accident Mrs. Burton +was at home and free from other engagements, so she decided to see and +talk to her. Naturally Gerry was too young and untrained for the +position she desired; moreover, Mrs. Burton had no need for the services +of a maid, since Marie had been living with her a number of years. But +she grew interested in her pretty guest, and feeling the need of +sympathy, Gerry was glad to pour forth her story. + +Ever after this visit, although no member of her family aside from her +husband had been informed of the fact, Mrs. Burton had been paying +Gerry's board in Chicago during the winters, only urging her to try to +educate herself for some work in the future. For several summers, as we +know, Gerry had been invited to be a member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +group. + +Therefore in a measure Gerry realized how poor a return she would be +offering should she slip away with Felipe without confessing her +intention to Mrs. Burton. + +Not once, but perhaps a dozen times, her mind was almost made up to find +Mrs. Burton and tell her everything. For Gerry believed that by some +method she could induce her friend to understand how deeply she cared +for Felipe. There would be the argument of youth against their immediate +marriage; but youth is not always _only_ a question of the number of +years one has lived, and Gerry felt convinced that she suddenly had +grown old. + +Nevertheless there was always this stumbling block. How could she +acknowledge her own intention and Felipe's without betraying Felipe's +secret? To divulge the fact that he was planning to escape military +service by crossing over the border into Mexico and hiding there was out +of the question. + +Undoubtedly Gerry should have more fully appreciated the enormity of +Felipe's purpose, his selfishness and disloyalty. Strange that she +should expect to find happiness with a man who wished to begin their +life together by an act of deception and cowardice! Nevertheless, by +this time one must have learned to understand Gerry's disposition +sufficiently well to accept the fact that she did not _fully_ +understand, so completely was she under Felipe's influence. Yet Felipe +must not be allowed to bear the entire burden of their wrong doing. +Certainly Gerry was not marrying Felipe for his sake only, but also for +the happiness and the ease which she believed the future would insure +her. + +Notwithstanding this, since life is seldom guided by one clear motive, +but by many mixed ones, Gerry was also ardently and sincerely in love. + +Her failure to grasp the extent of the danger she and Felipe were facing +and the possible injury to her own reputation was due to three causes. +The first of these was sheer stupidity, the second an actual lack of +education and the third Gerry's conviction that this was her solitary +chance for saving Felipe from the difficulties and dangers of a +soldier's life and at the same time securing him for herself. + +In the end, as one might have guessed, Gerry Williams made no +confession. + +Instead, in the hours when she had remained alone in her sleeping tent, +she had packed a few possessions in her satchel, hiding the bag under +her bed and wondering at the same time how she would ever manage to get +it away the next day without exciting comment. + +The next day Fortune appeared to favor Gerry, as the fickle Dame does +now and then, when one had best be thwarted. + +Immediately after their luncheon the Camp Fire girls decided to go upon +a long walk. So much time had been given to the rehearsals of "As You +Like It" that they had been exercising far less than usual in the past +weeks. + +The wool for knitting and materials for making bandages having recently +given out, Mrs. Webster offered to go into town with Dan to buy whatever +was required. + +So, through a combination of quite ordinary circumstances, Sunrise camp +was deserted except by Mrs. Burton, Marie and Gerry. + +Mrs. Burton did not feel equal to the long hike and Gerry simply +declined without giving a reason. + +Since her farewell to Felipe about thirty hours before, she had received +no word from him and yet this afternoon Gerry knew he would appear. Now +and then she even hoped he would not come, at least not until the next +day, or even the one after that. + +Soon after the other girls departed, Mrs. Burton asked Gerry to sit +beside her and talk while she rested in the sunshine. + +A small fire was always kept burning at Sunrise camp, no matter how warm +the day, for the small amount of heat made no appreciable difference and +the fire was always being needed for cooking. + +So Marie arranged an Indian blanket upon the ground away from the +windward side of the fire and then went into her tent to write letters. + +Afterwards Mrs. Burton lay down in such a position that she could look +closely at Gerry. + +In the few minutes they had been together without the others, she had +noticed that Gerry looked pale and depressed. + +"You are not worrying over anything, Gerry?" Mrs. Burton asked. + +Gerry shook her head. "Certainly not. What have I to worry about--except +everything?" + +Perhaps it was unfortunate that Mrs. Burton chose this time to talk to +Gerry about her future, although, since her mind really was made up, +probably nothing would have altered her decision. + +"I don't want to worry you, or to have you worry, dear," Mrs. Burton +began, "but I do wish it were possible for you to find some occupation +that would interest you. It would make you ever so much happier! Forgive +me if I have seen that you are more restless, less content than the +other Camp Fire girls. And whatever work you wish to do, I do not wish +you to go into it unprepared, a woman needs more training these days to +make a success than a man. It has meant so much to me to give my time +and energy to the art I love. I want you to have the same luck, Gerry." + +Then Mrs. Burton reached out her hand, but her companion did not seem to +observe it. + +"I am sorry, I know I am a disappointment," she answered. "But the +trouble with me is that I am stupid and no work of any character +interests me. I might as well tell you the truth." + +For a moment Mrs. Burton did not reply. Gerry's answer had made her +impatient, and for this reason she felt it best not to argue. + +"Very well, perhaps the interest will come later. You are young enough +to wait, Gerry, and please do not think I am not more than anxious to +help you. You know it is only on your account I worry. I so wish the +circumstances of your life were happier, my dear. I hate your being +lonely." + +Then as Gerry's eyes were filling with tears and when she was having a +struggle not to break down entirely and make her confession, she and +Mrs. Burton both heard at the same instant a gay voice singing as it +approached nearer to them: + + "It was a lover and his lass, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino." + +"Here comes _Touchstone_, Gerry! What a charming voice Felipe has! I +know you must feel relieved to be released from such a prosy talk as we +were having." + + +If Felipe had not been a particularly successful actor at the production +of their play, Gerry was amazed by his present acting. + +He had suggested that they were either to motor or to drive away from +Sunrise camp. Now he appeared on foot in the most casual fashion with +his guitar swung over his shoulder. + +After bowing politely to Gerry, he immediately dropped down upon the +ground beside Mrs. Burton and finished his song: + + "And therefore take the present time, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino; + For love is crowned with the prime + In springtime...." + +Nor did Felipe rise, or ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him after +his song was concluded. He merely continued talking in a casual fashion +with Mrs. Burton. + +In half an hour, having finished their errands unexpectedly early, Mrs. +Webster and Dan returned to camp. Dan went away immediately to put up +the car and Mrs. Burton arose to go indoors with her sister. + +Not until then did Felipe ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him. He +made the request with apparent indifference. + +Mrs. Burton hesitated. + +"Gerry thought she was too tired to walk with the girls! But never mind. +If you won't go very far or stay too long, I suppose I must pay my +actors in some fashion for their services, and I have had no opportunity +to thank you." + +Then, as she moved away, she called back: + +"Don't forget to take your coat or a sweater with you, Gerry; it may +turn unexpectedly cool." + +So Gerry, feeling that her face was flushing crimson and her hands +becoming like ice, was able to disappear inside her tent at the moment +she desired. + +When she came out with her satchel the coat was hanging over it; +besides, there was no one in sight to observe her own and Felipe's +departure. + +But the moment they started Felipe said quickly: + +"Don't be worried, Gerry darling. I have a motor waiting for us about a +mile away and my old nurse is there to take care of you. Her husband is +with her and they are perfectly respectable and devoted to me. They will +come back as soon as we are safely married and let Mrs. Burton and +father know. They can't tell them _where_ we have gone, of course. They +can simply say we have gone on a honeymoon. It will be all right. Lots +of people run away and are married; it saves such a lot of fuss for one +thing. Later on, if you like, we can write where we are, because neither +Mrs. Burton nor father would betray us. I want, if possible, to cross +over the border into Mexico tonight at dusk." + +The rest of the afternoon passed like a strange and not a happy dream to +Gerry. + +But whatever arrangements were necessary, whatever the law required of +them, Felipe seemed to have managed all the formalities. As they drove +from one place to another Gerry sat in the back of the automobile next +to Felipe's old nurse, not even making an effort to talk to her and +saying nothing to Felipe. Now and then Felipe made little anxious +inquiries to find out if she were all right and Gerry only nodded her +head in reply. + +In the house of a clergyman in a small town not many miles away the +ceremony was finally performed. Gerry declared that her parents had +given their consent, knowing well enough they would be delighted to hear +of her marriage. Felipe Morris was of course several years more than the +legal age. Besides Felipe's nurse and her husband the wife and daughter +of the clergyman also appeared as witnesses. + +But when the moment came for parting with their companions, Gerry begged +that she be allowed to write a note to Mrs. Burton. The note was very +short; Gerry scarcely understood what she was writing, nevertheless it +said a great deal: + + "DEAR MRS. BURTON: + + "You will never be able to forgive me and I know I do not + deserve that you should. Only pray I may be happy, because now + the wedding ceremony is over and Felipe Morris and I are + married, I am dreadfully frightened. + + "Yours with all love, + + "GERRY." + +The rest of the late afternoon was even more like a strange dream. + +At the border between Mexico and the United States Felipe managed +successfully to deceive the guard. He had changed his costume and wore a +Mexican one, he spoke Spanish and gave a name which was not his own. +Gerry, who was wearing a veil tied closely about her head, the guard +scarcely noticed. + +Felipe explained that he and his wife had driven over into California +earlier in the day and were now on their way back to their home in +Mexico. By a stroke of good fortune the guard had only been on duty a +few hours, having changed places with another soldier. Therefore he had +no way of disproving Felipe's story; moreover, he happened to be new to +his work. + +Never so long as she lived was Gerry to forget her first sight of the +strange desert land of Mexico, which she saw when dusk was falling. + +The earth was a sea of sand with funny little hut-like houses sprinkled +here and there, hung with gay signs written in a language Gerry did not +comprehend. Beyond them was a fringe of high bare hills, now purple in +the evening shadows. + +Suddenly she realized her own and Felipe's exile. They were without home +or country; worse, they were deserters. + +For fear he was suffering an even deeper regret and remorse than had +laid hold upon her, Gerry dared not look or speak to Felipe as their car +carried them further and further away from their friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Folly and Courage + + +Before information of any kind concerning her mysterious disappearance +was received from Gerry Williams, every member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +had become alarmed. But it must be confessed that the girls were more +annoyed than they were agitated. + +Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster were necessarily anxious, yet as Mrs. +Webster had never felt an especial interest or affection for Gerry, she +was less so than her sister. + +The Camp Fire girls had returned from their walk in time for a late +afternoon tea. They were just finishing when Marta Clark inquired what +had become of Gerry, and why she was not having tea with them? + +Then for the first time Mrs. Burton mentioned that Gerry had gone away +from camp with Felipe Morris several hours before. But as she had +promised to return in a short time, already she was beginning to feel +worried for fear something had happened. + +Then another hour went by and the dusk began to descend. But since it +was late summer and the days were long, some time would still elapse +before actual darkness. + +Nevertheless Mrs. Burton at first betrayed her nervousness by walking +alone up and down the little traveled road beyond the camp. Finally she +came back to the group of girls, who were still loitering about their +camp fire before clearing away the tea things. + +"Do be good to me, Peggy. I know you are already tired from your long +walk and I won't go far," she promised. "But somehow I am so +uncomfortable about Gerry I cannot keep still. I know I am absurd, but I +have one of those ridiculous premonitions which never amount to +anything. If she does not come back in another hour, I shall motor over +to the ranch to inquire if Mr. Morris has received any word from +Felipe." + +In spite of the fact that Peggy was tired and also annoyed at what she +presumed to be Gerry's selfish unconcern, she got up instantly at Mrs. +Burton's request, and as they started off on their walk placed her arm +affectionately inside her aunt's. + +"I don't see why you allow yourself to become so worked up over Gerry's +staying away from camp with Felipe longer than you approve," said Peggy +with her usual directness. "If you do not realize how much she is +interested in him, you are the only one of us who is blind. Gerry has +not cared for anything except her friendship with Felipe all this +summer. She has an affection for you, but except for you everything in +our Camp Fire life has bored her." + +Knowing by her aunt's expression that she was annoyed by her critical +attitude, nevertheless Peggy, who was not in a good humor, went on with +her plain speaking. + +"Sometimes I have thought Gerry was really in love with Felipe; at other +times I have simply thought she liked him just because he was a man and +showed her some attention. Gerry is the type of girl who has not the +faintest interest in other girls." + +"Is this your opinion alone, or the opinion of all the Camp Fire +girls?" Mrs. Burton inquired in a tone it was difficult to translate. + +Peggy flushed. "Perhaps it is my opinion alone, since it sounds rather +hateful. In any case, I have no right to speak except for myself. But if +you wish to know the truth, the opinion is pretty general." + +"Have the girls the same attitude toward you, Peggy, because of your +interest in Ralph Marshall?" Mrs. Burton demanded. "You know how much of +your time and thought you give to him these days, even though you rarely +mention his name, and you have many more people to care for than Gerry, +who is rather singularly alone. If you girls are not fond of her I am +not surprised that she prefers Felipe Morris, who, after all, is +exceptionally attractive." + +Peggy was suddenly upon the defensive. + +"I don't think I have allowed my interest in Ralph to interfere with my +friendships with the Camp Fire girls," she argued defensively. "But I +did not intend being disagreeable about Gerry. She is always amiable and +sweet, only it is difficult not to resent her indifference and her +absorption in herself." + +After this speech Mrs. Burton and Peggy continued their walk in silence +for a few moments. Then Mrs. Burton said in a different tone: + +"When Gerry comes back this evening, Peggy, I wish you would try to be +particularly nice to her. If she has become too much interested in +Felipe I cannot help being sorry for her. I have never told you girls +much of Gerry's history because she preferred my not telling. But she +has had a hard time and no one has ever really cared for her. Her father +is dead and her mother an impossibly common person without any good +traits of character, so far as I have been able to discover, which would +redeem her commonness. So things will be all the more difficult for +Gerry if she is under the impression she cares for Felipe. In a little +time our Camp Fire summer will be over and they will be separated." + +Peggy nodded. "I will do my best. I am sorry to have been so critical. +At least Gerry does not make disagreeable speeches about other people! +But you are mistaken if you think any of us has ever been unkind to +her; it is only that we have found it impossible to become intimate. Of +course she and Sally like each other. But if there are facts in Gerry's +life she does not wish to discuss, I can understand why she prefers not +to develop too close an intimacy with the rest of us, who know almost +everything about one another. But don't worry, I presume some accident +has delayed Gerry and Felipe. Suppose we return to camp? They may have +taken some other route and arrived by this time." + +But of course Gerry was not at the Sunrise camp. Within five minutes +after Mrs. Burton's and Peggy's return, an automobile appeared +containing an unknown man and woman. + +The woman asked to be permitted to speak to Mrs. Burton alone. + +Then, as she stood hesitating, trying to make up her mind what to say +first, suddenly she remembered Gerry's crumpled little note. + +For Gerry's sake it was as well that the news of her runaway marriage +was imparted to her Camp Fire guardian and friend in this fashion, for +the note revealed infinitely more than Gerry realized. With Mrs. +Burton's understanding of human nature she understood something of the +struggle, something of the temptation to which Gerry had yielded. +Therefore in the midst of her surprise and anger she could not forget +the note's final pathetic appeal. + +Neither the woman nor man would tell much more than the bare facts of +Gerry's and Felipe's marriage. They insisted that the ceremony was +entirely legal and that immediately afterwards the young couple had gone +away. In truth, they could not tell more, since as a matter of +precaution Felipe had not informed either his nurse or her husband of +his plans. + +After appreciating that the marriage had become a reality and that there +was nothing she could do or say which would make any difference, Mrs. +Burton asked but few questions. She knew that Felipe's father would come +to her as soon as he learned what had taken place and she preferred to +discuss the situation with him and not with strangers. + +Of necessity it was Mrs. Burton who imparted the information to the Camp +Fire girls, but she merely told what she knew as briefly as possible, +adding no comment. Then she went away to be alone. She was not thinking +of Gerry's ingratitude, of the poor return she had made for her interest +and assistance, but she was thinking of Gerry herself. Gerry was so +young and she and Felipe knew each other so slightly. Then, as Mrs. +Burton knew nothing at present of Felipe's attempt to hide in Mexico, it +also occurred to her that he might soon be forced to join the army. + +Left to themselves, the Camp Fire girls were not so lenient in their +condemnation. It was Alice Ashton who chanced to voice the general +sentiment. + +"I cannot understand how any human being could behave as Gerry has done! +Certainly she has proved how little the Camp Fire influence has meant to +her! But there is no point in our criticising her, because some day +Gerry will have to pay dearly enough." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Summons + + +Later in the same night, being unable to sleep, Mrs. Burton was aroused +by hearing the approach of another motor car. It must have been between +two and three o'clock in the dark hours before dawn when the earth is so +strangely quiet. Moreover, cars were not in the habit of passing Sunrise +camp at any hour, as it was too far from the main road to allure +travelers. + +Mrs. Burton quietly slipped on her dressing gown and slippers in order +not to disturb her sister, who slept in the room with her. As she walked +to the front door she was under the impression that Gerry must have +returned home to camp and would wish to see her. + +But outside it was so dark that for a moment she could see nothing. Then +at a little distance off she discovered two figures standing close +together. As Mrs. Burton drew nearer she recognized one of them as Dan +Webster, and as Dan was fully dressed he could not have been in bed +during the night. The other man was Lieutenant Carson. + +[Illustration: As Mrs. Burton Drew Near She Recognized One of Them as +Dan Webster] + +"Yes, I have been worried all night," she overheard Dan say. "I +persuaded mother to go to bed fairly early by telling her I would wait +for Billy. But after midnight when he did not come I have not known what +to do. I had no idea where to go to look for him. I was afraid something +had happened. Is the accident serious?" + +"If it were not I would never have wakened you at such an hour," +Lieutenant Carson answered. "Please break the news to your mother and +sister as quickly as you can and ask them to hurry. I brought over one +of our army cars, so there need be no delay. On the way to camp I will +tell you as much as I know." + +Then Mrs. Burton stepped out of the shadow. + +"Billy is hurt," she began, not asking a question, but stating a +conviction. "What has he done?" she hesitated, her voice breaking. + +"He has done something so wonderful there is not a soldier in camp who +would not be proud to accomplish one-half so much. But he has been +injured and----" Lieutenant Carson tried to keep his own tones from +becoming husky. + +"I'll see your mother, Dan," said Mrs. Burton. "Will you please waken +Vera and Peggy? If Billy is conscious when we arrive he will wish to +have Vera near him." + +Within ten minutes the four women and Dan were on their way with +Lieutenant Carson to the army cantonment. + +The lieutenant had asked Dan to drive the car during the first part of +the journey so that he might explain what had occurred. + +"Yes, Mrs. Webster, your son is in our Red Cross hospital and everything +possible is being done for him. A doctor reached him almost at once. But +I wish I could tell you exactly what happened. As it is I can only +repeat the story the little chap told himself. No one knows anything +else, but he has been perfectly conscious all along and I am told is not +suffering a great deal," Lieutenant Carson faltered, wishing that the +task in which he was engaged had fallen to some one else. + +"Please tell us everything you can," Peggy urged. "I feel my mother had +best know the truth before we reach Billy." + +"As far as I could find out there have been two laborers employed at our +camp who are traitors. In spite of all the official red tape and +investigations, your son Billy seems to have been the only person who +discovered the fact. The little fellow apparently called himself a +pacifist and made friends with the men. Anyhow they must have believed +he sympathized with them, for he has been watching them for some time. I +don't know how long, I am having to guess a part of this. But they must +have finally decided he was one of them, as they allowed him to find out +their secrets. It is amazing. I don't see how he managed!" + +"But you have not yet told us how Billy chanced to be at your camp +tonight and how he came to be hurt, Lieutenant Carson," Peggy pleaded, +knowing that the same thought was in all their minds. + +"Billy knew there was mischief brewing without knowing exactly what the +ruffians were planning to do, at least, that is the way I understand +the facts," the young officer continued. "But it seems that when he had +followed them to their meeting place earlier in the evening, he found +out they had placed a bomb in one of our big buildings at camp which was +set to go off at a certain hour tonight. Billy says he made the men +believe he considered this a great idea, otherwise they would never have +allowed him to escape. He seems to have had the nerve to get up and +spout a little speech on pacifism before about half a dozen of them. I +believe he said that if only the men managed to destroy our war camps, +the United States would never be able to enter the war in Europe and so +peace would soon have to be declared as the Allies couldn't go on +without America's aid. Anyhow, after a while they let the little fellow +go and he pretended to be starting for home. But instead he made for our +camp. + +"Perhaps he could have managed better. What I should have done in his +place I don't know; but he was a little chap up against a pretty big +proposition. He did not know how to get the news to camp unless he told +some one out here what was about to take place. He was trying to slip +into camp with his news when one of our sentries shot him. He was just +able to tell the soldier who picked him up what his business was +and--well, we found the infernal machine where he told us to look for +it. And God only knows how many lives Billy has saved!" + +"But my son will live?" Mrs. Webster inquired, with the quiet fortitude +which comes now and then to some of us in the really great moments of +our lives. + +"I don't know, Mrs. Webster," Lieutenant Carson answered honestly. "I +was only ordered to bring you to camp as quickly as possible." + +Then the young officer took charge of the car, as he was more familiar +with the road than Dan. + +The southern dawn which Billy had learned to love in these past weeks +was breaking into pale lavender and rose when the army automobile +arrived at camp. + +A good many of the soldiers were walking about, not caring to go back to +sleep after what had occurred. More of them than one would imagine +remembered seeing Billy about camp in the past few weeks, the delicate +young fellow with the extraordinary blue eyes. Lucky thing for them that +he had been around, but hard on him! + +Captain Mason and Major Anderson, two of the officers who were friends +of Mrs. Burton's, came forward to meet her and Mrs. Webster. + +They led the way to the hospital, with the girls and Dan and Lieutenant +Carson following. + +"Your son has been asking for you, Mrs. Webster, only he said you were +not to be frightened about him and we were not to let you know what had +happened until breakfast time," Major Anderson remarked with that same +huskiness in his voice which Lieutenant Carson had been unable to +conceal. "This war has made many heroes and will make many more, but I +don't know of a finer thing than your son has done. He must have known +the risk he ran when he came out here alone tonight on such an errand." + +At the door of the hospital, which was only a wooden house with a Red +Cross flag outside, the doctor met the little company. + +"You will be as quiet as you can and try not to excite him," he said, +and there was something in his voice which made all questioning +impossible. + +Then Mrs. Webster and Dan and Peggy went inside the little hospital. +Within a few moments Dan came out again with his head bowed and went +away by himself without speaking. + +"Will it be many hours, Doctor?" Mrs. Burton inquired. + +The doctor shook his head. + +"Not many." + +Mrs. Burton was standing with her arm about Vera Lagerloff, feeling +Vera's grief almost as deeply as her own. Without a tie of blood, +without the right to be near him which his family had, Vera was yet +closer to Billy in many ways than any other human being in the world. + +"You shall see him soon, dear," Mrs. Burton murmured. + +Vera nodded. + +"Billy will send for me; there will be so many things he will wish to +say," she replied and her tone was one of love and understanding. + +"I don't think I can get on without Billy afterwards, Mrs. Burton. No +one else has realized how wonderful he was, what beautiful things he was +planning to do with his life." Vera was shivering so Mrs. Burton could +only hold her more closely. + +"I know, dear, and yet how could one do more than Billy has done? +Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his +friend. Billy's friends, remember, were never merely the few people he +knew; his idea of friendship was a bigger thing than ours." + +"Billy wishes to speak to you, Tante, and to Vera," Peggy said at this +instant appearing at the open door. "Don't be unhappy at seeing him. He +is not frightened and yet he understands perfectly he has only a little +while." + +Billy was lying on a cot with a nurse on one side of him and his mother +on the other, but, except for this, looking much as he usually did. + +His face was paler and the blue eyes even wider open, yet for once in +his life they seemed to have lost their questioning look. + +"I promised you not to get into mischief, Tante. Well, this is the last +time; at least, I suppose it is my last. But after all one does not +know; there may be other chances over there." + +Billy was trying to smile and Mrs. Burton leaned over and kissed him. + + +"I know there will be, Billy, and you will take them as gallantly as you +have done this one. Don't worry, old chap, I'll look after your mother +and Peggy." + +Then she turned away. + +Vera had kneeled down and was hiding her face in the bed clothes. + +It was to her Billy turned like a little boy. + +"Please look at me, Vera, and tell me you are sorry. It was like me to +do the right thing in the wrong way, wasn't it? Yet there are so many +things I want to say, want to explain to people. You see it is all a +question of our learning to understand each other better to end fighting +and all the rest of it. You believed in me, didn't you, Vera? Yet you +understand that I could not let the soldiers out here be killed when +they are getting ready to give their lives for ours. What is that we +read about Christ the other day, Vera?" + +Vera held Billy's two hands folded closely in her own. + +"Listen, dear, and remember this: + +"'Christ is courage, Christ is adventure, he fights for us and with us +against death.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Plans for the Future + + +In a large hotel sitting-room a number of girls were grouped in various +attitudes, discussing a question which evidently interested them. + +"Does any one know _why_ we are _not_ to start east tomorrow as we +planned?" Marta Clark inquired, glancing up from a city map which she +had been studying. + +"Why, no, not exactly," Bettina Graham answered her. "Tante did not tell +us definitely. She merely said that something had occurred which made +her feel it would be wiser for her to remain in California a few days +longer, unless we were compelled to leave for home at once. Personally I +cannot imagine what is keeping her here, as I know she is anxious to go +home, now that our Camp Fire summer is over and Peggy and Aunt Mollie +and Dan Webster have gone. I think it was wonderfully good of her to +continue with our camping party after Billy's death, when she must have +wished to leave with the others." + +"I think _I_ know why she seemed to change her mind so unexpectedly +yesterday and canceled all our reservations for berths," Sally Ashton +announced in the mysterious manner which Sally often assumed to the +annoyance of the other girls. Since her arrival in the city, Sally +temporarily had forsworn her war and Camp Fire abstinence and was at +this moment engaged in eating chocolates which had just arrived by +parcel post from Merton Anderson. + +"How absurd you are, Sally! You know no more than the rest of us!" Alice +Ashton argued with sisterly frankness. + +Instead of replying, sanctimoniously tightening her lips, Sally added +nothing to her original statement. + +"Nevertheless, won't you _please_ tell us what you think, Sally?" Vera +Lagerloff requested, and because it was Vera who made the request Sally +agreed. + +Since Billy's death the Camp Fire girls had been as unobtrusively kind +to Vera as they knew how to be. In a measure they appreciated what his +loss must mean to her, although it was out of the question that they +could fully understand the extent of Vera's loneliness, the feeling of +emptiness which the future now seemed to offer her. + +Vera's long and devoted friendship with Billy had separated her from the +usual intimacy with other girls, nevertheless she was a general +favorite. For a good many years Billy had required whatever time and +thought she could spare from her ordinary duties and affections. + +"I think, Vera, that Tante recently has heard some unexpected news of +Gerry," Sally finally announced with the proper degree of solemnity and +with a due sense of dramatic values. + +At least she was a dramatic success to the extent of surprising her +audience. + +"What authority have you for such a statement, Sally?" Alice Ashton +demanded in the superior voice and manner which Alice now and then +affected. + +Sally shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't any authority, I have a +'hunch'," she returned, appreciating how painfully her slang would annoy +her intellectual sister. + +"But how is it possible that Gerry could have written? Don't you think +she and Felipe are still hiding in Mexico? We know that much from what +Mr. Morris has told us! If Gerry should write to Mrs. Burton she might +betray her own and Felipe's secret and she would not do that," Marta +Clark protested. + +"I did not say Gerry had written, I only said that I believed Tante had +received some information concerning her," Sally answered, undisturbed +by criticism. + +In response to this speech the expressions on the faces of the four +other girls became curiously alike. + +"I don't believe if I were Mrs. Burton I should ever take an interest in +Gerry again," Marta Clark announced. "Perhaps I am more in a position to +say this than any of the rest of you, because all of you have some past +association with Mrs. Burton; she was an intimate friend of your +mothers. She simply chose to be kind to me and to invite me to spend +this summer with her Camp Fire group without any especial reason, just +as she has been good to Gerry. If I should repay her kindness as Gerry +has done, I should never dare make the effort to see her again, or to +ask her forgiveness, no matter how greatly I might desire it." + +"I feel just as you do, Marta," Bettina Graham agreed. + +But Sally gave a little protesting cough, holding a chocolate drop +suspended in the air for an instant. + +"Judge not, lest ye be judged," she declared sententiously, and then +with a somewhat less self-righteous expression, "Was that quotation from +the Bible or Shakespeare and did I quote correctly? The truth is I wish +that all of you would not be so hard upon Gerry. I know you think it +silly and impossible for a girl not yet eighteen to be _really_ in love, +but just the same Gerry is in love with Felipe. As she is in love with +him and he has been a coward and is now a fugitive from his own country, +I don't suppose Gerry is so happy that all of you need be disagreeable +about her. Personally I am perfectly sure that if Gerry wishes Tante's +sympathy and help again, Tante would be sure to do whatever she could to +help her." + +"Hats off to Sally!" Bettina Graham remarked and no one disputed the +suggestion. "Still of course, Sally dear, it is impossible that any news +could have been received from Gerry, since she and Felipe must remain +out of the country until the war is over and the whole circumstance of +Felipe is forgotten," Bettina continued. "But suppose when Tante returns +we inquire why we are to wait over in Los Angeles a few days more? I +presume she would not object to explaining. I believe no one asked her +the direct question." + +"Yes, but she would have volunteered to tell had she wished us to know," +Alice Ashton argued. + +Vera Lagerloff, who had been sitting by an open window looking out +toward a circle of hills which were like giant amethysts in the +afternoon light, turned toward the other girls. + +"Suppose if we have no other plans we spend tomorrow on Mount Lowe and +give Mrs. Burton the opportunity to be alone," she suggested. "We have +been at the seashore so long I am anxious for a day among the hills." + +Then she addressed Marta Clark. + +"You are mistaken, Marta, if you think all of us here, aside from you, +have some past association with Mrs. Burton. I have none except that +Billy and I always have been friends and he asked his aunt to take an +interest in me. Now Mrs. Burton is going to do something for me which +seems more wonderful than anything she has ever done for any one else, +although I know she has been a fairy godmother to a good many people. +But she is to pay my expenses and allow me to go to France to work in +the devastated country which has lately been cleared of the Germans. +'The Field of Honor' is the name for this part of France which I like +best. I hope to work among the homeless children. But in any case I have +been brought up on a farm and can do farming work, which I have heard is +especially needed. I am to study in New York City before I sail. Courses +of study are being given there under the auspices of the French Huguenot +societies." + +An unusual silence followed Vera's long speech and then it was Sally +Ashton who spoke first. + +"For your sake, Vera, I am so glad, for I know the new life and the new +work will mean a great deal to you just now. I only wish I were going +with you." + +"But you, Sally, what on earth could you do that would be useful in +France?" Alice remonstrated, not because she wished to be disagreeable +but to relieve the little tension which Vera's confidence had wrought. + +"At least I can cook, which is a more useful accomplishment than any you +can offer, Alice," Sally returned with such ridiculous spitefulness that +the other girls laughed. + +"I believe I am also envious of you, Vera," Bettina remarked. "All +summer I have been feeling that we were not doing enough to help with +the war merely by economizing and sewing and knitting, all the hundred +and one small things we have tried to do. If we were boys we would be +going through at least a little military training and in a few years +would be able to volunteer. It is simply amazing what the girls and +women are doing in England. So far we have not nearly approached their +efforts. Do you know there is a 'Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps' already +in France working directly behind the lines. I believe the Tommies call +them 'The Tommy-waacs.' We have been talking about being behind the +lines this summer, but I wish we could be more directly there." + + +"But what is the exact work the English girls are doing?" Alice +demanded, as if she were seriously weighing a problem in her mind. "I am +sure we can do the same things if they become necessary." + +"I don't know all the varieties of war work of course, Alice," Bettina +returned. "In Great Britain women and girls have taken the places of the +men in more departments of labor than we can imagine. Of course we know +they are working in munition shops and aeroplane factories and in ship +building, and are telephone and telegraph operators. Now they are also +working among the blind, being specially trained for the work, of +course, and are actually driving ambulances and motor trucks near the +fighting line. But I will bore you if I go on enumerating even the +little I know. Personally I agree with, Vera, I should prefer to work +among the children. Madame Montessori, the great Italian teacher, has +been in the United States this summer trying to establish what she calls +the order of the 'White Cross.' The members of the White Cross are to +devote themselves to the care of the children who have suffered from the +war. She says there is no hope of their growing into healthy and normal +men and women unless they receive special care." + +"Is there an organization anything like our own Camp Fire girls in +France?" Sally Ashton demanded unexpectedly. "I know there is in England +where they call themselves the 'Girl Scouts.' But I should think that +young girls living and working together in France as we have been trying +to do, might help each other and be useful to other people as well." + +"I quite agree with you, Sally," Bettina returned. "Odd, that no one of +us can answer your question! But as soon as we return East I mean to +make it my business to find out if there is a French Camp Fire. At least +we could write to the French Camp Fire girls if they exist." + +At this instant the girls' conversation was interrupted by the sudden +opening of a door and Mrs. Burton's entrance. + +She was not in mourning but was wearing a black dress and hat which were +unbecoming and made her look older. + + +"Why is everybody so serious?" she instantly demanded. + +Before any one else could reply Sally Ashton answered: + +"We are serious because we are thinking that some day we may ask you to +take us to France to form Camp Fire clubs over there and to do whatever +we can to help. Oh, of course I know we must learn more of what will be +required of us and be prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices." + +Flinging her hat on the bed with as great carelessness as if she were a +girl and also as if she were pleased to be rid of it, Mrs. Burton +replied: + +"You are an amazing child, Sally. Even if I had the courage for such an +undertaking, which I have not, do you suppose I would have sufficient +influence with the parents of any one of you to persuade them to allow +you to stir one foot away from your own land at a time like this? But I +understand you have been hearing Vera's news. The circumstances with +Vera are exceptional. Wait here another moment, there is something I +have to tell you." + +Then Mrs. Burton disappeared into her bedroom which adjoined their hotel +sitting-room. Their hotel was not in the center of the city but in a +suburb a few miles out. + +A few moments later she returned wearing a lavender crepe dressing gown +and looking younger and more attractive. + +For some reason she sat down next to Sally and put her arm about Sally's +shoulders. + +"I hope my information may interest you," she began with a slight +suggestion of appeal in her voice, glancing from one of the girls to the +other. + +"Two days ago I received a letter from Mr. Morris telling me that Felipe +had been arrested by the United States authorities. He had crossed over +into California for the day in order to attend to some private business. +I believe he wished to get some money from his father. He trusted, of +course, in not being discovered, but was arrested within an hour." + +"I suppose I ought to say I am sorry, if that is what you wish, Tante? +But really I cannot. It seems to me exactly the fate that Felipe Morris +deserves," Bettina Graham answered coldly. + +"What will be done to Felipe as a punishment for having tried to escape +the draft?" asked Alice Ashton. "I believe the punishment is very +severe, is it not?" + +"His father is afraid he will receive three years' imprisonment," Mrs. +Burton replied without comment. + +Then she heard a little horrified exclamation from the girl nearest her +and Sally's face had whitened and her expression changed. + +"But Gerry! What is to become of Gerry?" she demanded. "I know that she +behaved very badly and that she ought to have persuaded Felipe to do his +duty, instead of helping him to run away from it. But Gerry was +dreadfully under Felipe's influence, and, anyhow, I don't care, I _am_ +terribly sorry for her," Sally ended incoherently, hiding her brown eyes +behind her hand. + +"I also am very sorry, Sally," Mrs. Burton added. "The fact of having +done a wrong has never yet made any human being's punishment easier to +bear. But I can tell you one thing about Gerry, Sally dear, since you +alone seem interested. She is in California and is coming to see me +tomorrow. She returned to California as soon as she received word of +Felipe's arrest. She has been with Mr. Morris, and they of course will +do whatever is in their power to have Felipe's sentence made as light as +possible. I am afraid they cannot do very much. In all probability an +example will be made of him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Bitter Waters + + +Following Vera's suggestion, the next morning the five girls decided +that they would spend the day in making the journey up the famous Mount +Lowe, a few miles away. Afterwards they intended taking one of the long +trail trips over the mountain, so that it would be impossible for them +to return to their hotel until late afternoon. + +For many reasons it seemed best that Mrs. Burton should be alone when +she received the visit from Gerry. Surely Gerry would wish to have at +least this first interview without interruption! + +Believing it impossible that her guest could arrive before noon, Mrs. +Burton spent the early hours of the morning in writing letters to her +husband and sister, including several business notes as well. She would +not confess it to herself; nevertheless she felt nervous over her first +meeting with Gerry, for although only a few weeks had passed they had +been crowded so tragically close with events in Gerry's life and in her +own. There had been the unexpected tragedy of Billy's death, Billy who +had been so unlike other boys in his life and in his final beautiful +surrender of life. + +Therefore when a knock came at her sitting-room door at some time +between half-past ten and eleven, presuming one of the hotel servants +was outside, Mrs. Burton said, "Come in," without raising her eyes from +the paper upon which she was writing. + +Afterwards the door opened softly and the next instant some one had +entered the room, but instead of attending to whatever duty had made the +intrusion necessary, the figure stood hesitating just inside the +threshold. + +After a little while, becoming vaguely conscious of this fact, Mrs. +Burton glanced up. + +"Gerry, you poor child!" she exclaimed with such sudden, warm sympathy +and with such an utter lack of criticism or reproach that any human +being would have been moved to gratitude and remorse. + +Gerry stumbled forward. Poor Gerry, who had changed so completely in the +past few weeks that even her delicate prettiness seemed to have vanished +forever! She was so white and worn looking, so thin and unhappy. + +"Then you forgive me?" she began. + +Mrs. Burton took both her hands. + +"We are not going to talk about forgiveness. You had your own life to +live, Gerry, and it was natural that you should do the thing you +supposed to be for your happiness without thinking of your gratitude or +obligation to me. If it had been for your happiness I should not have +expected you to think of me, although it would have been kinder of you. +But of course, dear, when girls do reckless things, the reason older +persons are grieved and angry is because of the consequences they are +sure to bring upon themselves. Being young you cannot understand this! +Yet it seems to me that you are having to pay rather more than other +people. Do sit down, dear; the other girls have gone away for the day so +we shall be entirely alone." + +As if she were really too tired to stand, Gerry sank into the nearest +chair. + +"I am sorry; I have not been able to sleep since Felipe was arrested. I +am told he keeps asking for me and I am not allowed to see him. He +thinks he has done me a great injustice, but that is not true and +besides I do not care." + +Gerry spoke with entire self-forgetfulness. + +"Mrs. Burton, I don't think you or perhaps anyone can understand, +although I have tried to make Mr. Morris see. But Felipe and I have been +perfectly miserable ever since we were married. Oh, it is not because we +do not care for each other, because we do care very, very deeply! Only +neither Felipe nor I seemed to realize the weakness and wrong of what we +were doing until we were safely out of our own country and had time to +face the truth. Then Felipe confessed to me he had been a coward. He +seemed to think that no matter what happened in our future together, I +must always think of him as a coward and compare him with other men who +had done their duty. I don't know why he did not think of all this +before. But Felipe has written me that he is almost glad he has been +arrested. Anything which may happen to him will be better than having to +live as a fugitive until the war is over. Besides, even afterwards, he +could never look another American fellow in the face, remembering his +own weakness! Can you understand how anyone could change a point of view +so quickly, Mrs. Burton?" Gerry inquired wistfully. "It is hard even for +me, and yet I realize that Felipe and I simply woke up from our selfish +dream of happiness to realizing we had been traitors and cowards." + +"I can understand almost any weakness and almost any strength in human +beings, Gerry dear, after the years I have lived and the men and women I +have known," Mrs. Burton answered, forgetting for the moment Gerry's +youth. But the bitter waters of experience and regret having passed over +Gerry, she was no longer young. + +Suddenly Mrs. Burton got up and began walking up and down the room with +the graceful impatience which was ever characteristic of her. + +For a moment, watching her, Gerry felt her old charm so deeply that +temporarily she forgot her own sorrow. The peculiar shining quality +which Polly O'Neill had revealed as a girl in times of keen emotion she +had never lost. + +"I declare, Gerry, I cannot endure the thought that you and Felipe have +so spoiled your lives at the age when you should have been happiest. If +anything happens, if Felipe is kept in prison for a time, what do you +intend to do?" + +Gerry glanced down apparently at her hands which were lightly clasped +together in her lap. + +When she looked up at her companion she was smiling, even if somewhat +tremulously. + +"I am going to _work_, Mrs. Burton, although it may be difficult for you +to believe after the effort I have made to escape even the thought of +work. But I think at last I have found something which will interest me. +Mr. Morris is very kind; of course he must dislike me under the +circumstances and feel I influenced Felipe, nevertheless he has asked me +to live with him at the ranch indefinitely. But I won't do that, not +after Felipe's trial is over. I shall do some kind of war work and I +don't care now how menial or how humble it is. After a time perhaps I +may learn to be useful. Felipe and I have talked things over and we want +to do whatever is possible to atone for our mistake. If we only had it +all to do over again! But then, of course, I realize what a foolish +thing that is to say!" + +"It may be foolish, Gerry, but it is universal." + +After this remark Mrs. Burton did not sit down, nor did she speak again +for several moments. Instead she stood, frowning and looking peculiarly +determined and intense. + +"Gerry, if Felipe were released from prison, do you think he would be +willing to go into the army and do whatever he could to make himself a +good soldier? I don't believe Felipe is a physical coward, he was merely +a spiritual one. He is rash and impetuous and in a moment of actual +fighting no one would be braver or perhaps more reckless. What he +dreaded was the discipline, the _thought_ of war, the having to +relinquish the ease and beauty and pleasure of his daily life. Well, +there must have been other boys like him, boys who fought with their own +disinclination more gallantly than Felipe! Yet it would be foolish for +the United States to lose a soldier for her army in order to gain a +prisoner. Don't you think Mr. Morris and you also, Gerry, can persuade +Felipe's judges to view the situation in this light? Let him accept +whatever punishment they see fit to bestow, only they must not spoil his +one chance of redeeming his mistake by fighting for his country." + +Mrs. Burton might have been pleading with a court instead of addressing +the solitary figure of one unhappy girl. However, she was merely +thinking aloud. + +"Mr. Morris is to make that plea for Felipe, although he has very little +hope," Gerry answered. "Felipe would be willing to give even his life +now to blot out the past." + +Mrs. Burton walked over and placed her hands on Gerry's shoulders. + +"My dear," she said, "I am going to stay here in California with you +for a time at least and see what I can do to help. I may not have much +influence, but I shall do my best. The girls can go home alone; they do +not require me to chaperon them. I have no doubt they will have more +pleasure in traveling without me. Besides, it seems to me that no one at +present has the same need for me that you have, Gerry!" + +Slowly in these past few weeks Gerry's soul had been coming to the +light. The revelation of it now shone through her eyes, yet she made no +effort to express her thanks in words. + +"When the time arrives and Felipe _is_ allowed to go to France to fight, +perhaps I shall have learned to be useful. Do you think they will ever +allow American girls to work behind the lines?" + +Mrs. Burton shook her head. + +"I don't know. Yet the call of France rings in all our ears and all our +hearts today, Gerry. We can only answer the call when our opportunity +arises." + + * * * * * + +The next volume in the Camp Fire series will deal with the work of the +Camp Fire girls in France. They will establish Camp Fires among the +young French girls. The old care-free days having passed away, they will +also devote their energies to aiding the children of France and to doing +"their bit" toward the restoration of that land of our affection, +France, where, in the future as in the past, Beauty and Liberty must +walk hand in hand. The title will be "The Camp Fire Girls on the Field +of Honor." + + + + +STORIES ABOUT CAMP FIRE GIRLS + + The Camp Fire Girls at Sunrise Hill + The Camp Fire Girls Amid the Snows + The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World + The Camp Fire Girls Across the Sea + The Camp Fire Girls' Careers + The Camp Fire Girls in After Years + The Camp Fire Girls at the Edge of the Desert + The Camp Fire Girls at the End of the Trail + The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + The Camp Fire Girls on the Field of Honor + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines, by +Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + +***** This file should be named 33532-8.txt or 33532-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/3/33532/ + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + +Author: Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +Release Date: August 26, 2010 [EBook #33532] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + + + + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND THE LINES</h1> + +<h2>BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK</h2> + +<h3>Author of "The Ranch Girls" Series, "The Red Cross Girls" Series, etc.</h3> + + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED</h3> + +<h3>PHILADELPHIA<br /> +THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.<br /> +PUBLISHERS</h3> + +<h3>Copyright, 1918, by<br /> +<span class="smcap">The John C. Winston Company</span></h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="front" id="front"></a> +<img src="images/front.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Sentry Ordered Dan to Stop His Car</span></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. "<span class="smcap">El Camino Real</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Land of Romance</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Call to Service</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">The Camp and Temperamental Excursions</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Abalone Shells</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. "<span class="smcap">My Own Will Come to Me</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">The Sacrifice of Youth</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Felipe</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">The Cantonment</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Plans</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">The Dance</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. "<span class="smcap">As You Like It</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Human Psychology</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">The Night of the Play</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. "<span class="smcap">I Will Marry You, if Ever I Marry Woman</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Gerry's Opportunity</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Folly and Courage</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Summons</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Plans for the Future</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Bitter Waters</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#STORIES_ABOUT_CAMP_FIRE_GIRLS">STORIES ABOUT CAMP FIRE GIRLS</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#front"><span class="smcap">A Sentry Ordered Dan to Stop His Car</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus1"><span class="smcap">Their Host Led the Way Through the Outer Court into the Enclosed One</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2"><span class="smcap">On One Occasion Gerry and Felipe Discovered that They were Actually +Dancing Alone</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3"><span class="smcap">As Mrs. Burton Drew Near She Recognized One of Them as Dan Webster</span></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>"<span class="smcap">El Camino Real</span>"</h3> + + +<p>A small cavalcade was slowly winding down a steep, white road.</p> + +<p>The bare, brown hills rose up on one side like the earth's friars of St. +Francis, while on the other, at some distance away, the Pacific Ocean +showed green and still. Near the shore the waves broke into white +sprites of foam against the deep, incurving cliffs.</p> + +<p>A girl riding at the head of the column reined in her horse, afterwards +making a mysterious sign in the air with one upraised hand.</p> + +<p>In answer to her signal the other riders, a group of Camp Fire girls, +also stopped their horses. Across many miles sounded faintly the +deep-toned voices of old mission bells.</p> + +<p>"I believe the mission is ringing a farewell to us," one of the girls +remarked to the companion whose western pony had stopped nearest her +own. "To me, of all the Spanish missions we have seen so far, Carmel was +the loveliest. '<i>Carmelo</i>'—why, the very name has an enchanting sound!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bells of the Past, whose long-forgotten music<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Still fills the wide expanse,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With colors of romance!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I hear you call, and see the sun descending<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On rock and wave and sand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As down the coast the mission voices, blending,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Girdle the heathen land!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Borne on the swell 'of your long waves receding,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I touch the farther Past—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I see the dying glow of Spanish glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sunset dream and last!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The girl who had been reciting possessed an odd, charming voice with a +slightly hoarse note. She was small and had bright, almost +copper-colored hair. Her slender nose, which had a queer little twist +at the end, destroyed any claim she might otherwise have had to +conventional beauty and yet curiously enough added to the fascination of +her expression.</p> + +<p>The other girl shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don't agree with you, Marta. You seem to me in as great a state of +enthusiasm over everything we have seen in California as if you were a +native. I confess to you I am a little weary of visiting old Spanish +missions. Personally I shall be glad when we are in our summer camp. The +missions are so empty and so sleepy these days with their queer, dreamy +old gardens and no one to be seen except an occasional tourist and a few +old monks. Nevertheless I liked your recitation. Sometimes I wonder, +Marta, if you intend imitating our Camp Fire guardian's career?"</p> + +<p>Gerry Williams spoke in a voice of amused superiority she often employed +in talking with other girls.</p> + +<p>Marta Clark's eyes, which had the strange characteristic of appearing to +change in color according to her moods, now darkened slightly as she +turned to gaze steadily at her companion.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Gerry, I have an idea the old missions would never have +bored you, if you had any thought that a prince might come and discover +you in one of them!"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," Gerry laughed.</p> + +<p>Gerry was alluring. Her hat was hanging over the pommel of her saddle so +that her fair hair was blowing about her face. Now that the sun and wind +had tanned her delicate skin, her blue eyes looked bluer than ever.</p> + +<p>Instead of replying, Marta Clark, at this instant, turned her horse with +the intention of riding beside one of the other girls.</p> + +<p>Marta Clark was the latest addition to the new group of Sunrise Hill +Camp Fire girls. The summer before she had met them in Arizona where +they were camping at the "End of the Trail." At that time she was living +nearby in a tent with her brother who had been seriously ill. Her +brother's health had improved and he had written a successful play. +Afterwards his marriage to Ellen Deal, one of the older Camp Fire girls, +had made it possible for Marta Clark to accept Mrs. Burton's invitation +to join her Camp Fire group. As her guests they were now traveling +along the Pacific coast, visiting the old Spanish missions.</p> + +<p>The King's Highway, called in the old Spanish tongue, <i>El Camino Real</i>, +stretches from northern California to the southernmost end.</p> + +<p>One of the other Camp Fire girls turned her head as Marta came near her. +All the horses were moving on again.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why the automobile has not caught up with us?" Peggy Webster +remarked. "I supposed the car would have passed us long ago. As it is +time for tea, and I am already tired, I think it would have been more +sensible if we had remained together."</p> + +<p>The little riding party of six girls was accompanied by a large wagon +filled with a camping outfit. The wagon was drawn by a small pair of +gray mules and driven by a tall, raw-boned man, a typical western +plainsman. Beside him sat a young fellow about seventeen years old. The +wagon was following a few yards behind the riders.</p> + +<p>"Then suppose we stop and have tea while we wait and watch for the +others," Bettina Graham proposed, having overheard Peggy's lament.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe they could have lost their way, since one has only to +follow the guide posts of the old mission bells. Nevertheless Tante has +a most eccentric fashion of suddenly deciding to explore along small +byways. But they must surely come along here finally."</p> + +<p>Peggy Webster shook her head.</p> + +<p>"We had best ride on for a little while longer in order to make the +distance we planned to make today. Perhaps by that time the car will +have joined us. In any case we can find a better place to watch and to +prepare tea."</p> + +<p>At the present time on each side the road the mustard plants were +blooming, making a broad field of the cloth of gold broken only by the +long trail.</p> + +<p>Further along down the slope of a hillside a miniature orange grove had +been planted with trees no larger than would have comfortably shaded +dolls' houses.</p> + +<p>Then, as they rode on, the Camp Fire girls drew nearer to the fine of +the coast. A fog was blowing in from the sea.</p> + +<p>Finally, standing up in her stirrups for an instant, Peggy Webster +pointed ahead.</p> + +<p>"See those three rocks down there that look like 'the Big Bear, the +Middle-Sized Bear and the Little Bear,' in the fairy story! Don't you +think they would form a comfortable background for our tea party? At +least they will be a protection from the wind. If we go on and the fog +grows much thicker we shall not be able even to see each other."</p> + +<p>Soon after the horses and the wagon halted and Dan Webster climbed down, +bearing the tea basket. Mr. Simpson, who was continuing to act as guide, +took charge of the horses.</p> + +<p>The coast looked bare and wind-swept. There were no trees nearby and no +driftwood along the shore.</p> + +<p>However, nearly two hundred years before, when Father Juniper Serra +founded and built the Spanish missions of California, he and his brother +monks left behind them a golden harvest. In all their pilgrimages from +land's end to land's end they flung the seed of the mustard plant along +their route.</p> + +<p>Leaving the other girls to unpack the tea basket, Marta Clark and +Bettina walked quickly back along the road until not a quarter of a mile +away they discovered another field of the omnipresent mustard.</p> + +<p>Then the two girls began searching for the dried stems of the mustard +plant in order to start their camp fire.</p> + +<p>Bettina was standing with her arms filled with the long stems when Marta +Clark came close up beside her. Both of the girls were knee deep among +the golden flowers.</p> + +<p>"You look like Ruth among the corn, Bettina," Marta remarked, surveying +the other girl with generous admiration.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember the story of Ruth in the Bible? 'So she gleaned in the +field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And she took it up +and went into the city.'"</p> + +<p>Bettina shook her head. "No, I do not remember. It is wonderful to me, +your ability to quote so correctly. If ever you are able to do the thing +you desire, your memory will be a wonderful help. But I am not going to +talk about it. I know you feel as embarrassed over your ambition as I do +over mine."</p> + +<p>In the past few weeks Marta Clark and Bettina were beginning to feel a +deep interest in each other. This was but natural, for although they +were unlike in character they had many tastes in common. Marta was quick +and passionate, while Bettina was apt to appear almost too serene and +self-controlled. Yet they both cared for books, for human beauty and the +beauty of the great outdoors.</p> + +<p>During the few moments the girls were talking the fog had been closing +in more thickly about them until it was only possible to see the road a +few yards away through a cloak of mist.</p> + +<p>At this instant they distinctly heard the noise of an approaching motor +car.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Richard Burton, better known to the world as the famous actress, +Polly O'Neill Burton, and guardian to the group of Sunrise Hill Camp +Fire girls, had chosen to make the journey down the California coast in +her automobile.</p> + +<p>This afternoon her sister, Mrs. Webster, her nephew, Billy Webster, Vera +Lagerloff and the maid, Marie, were traveling with her.</p> + +<p>The plan had been that the Camp Fire girls should start on their riding +trip several hours ahead and that they meet later and camp for the night +at some agreeable place along their journey.</p> + +<p>Marta and Bettina ran forward, intending to stop the approaching car. +Both girls were thinking that the car was moving much more swiftly than +usual.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately they saw that the automobile coming toward them was +not Mrs. Burton's, but a small khaki-colored roadster driven by a United +States officer with another soldier on the seat beside him.</p> + +<p>They were going along at full speed as if they were carrying information +of great importance.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly, without Marta or Bettina recognizing the cause, the car +swerved, made a wide detour and quickly overturned. A few seconds later +when the two girls, hoping to be of service, had reached the car, the +young United States officer was crawling slowly out from beneath the +wreck.</p> + +<p>He tried to stand up and to smile reassuringly at Bettina, who chanced +to be ahead, but the next moment if she had not put out her arm to +steady him he would have fallen.</p> + +<p>A little while after he was sitting unheroically amid the dust of the +roadside, smiling somewhat quizzically up at his rescuer.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I am seriously hurt," he remarked cheerfully, "but as I +know you are patriotic and would like to try your first-aid remedies +upon me, please go ahead. I am Lieutenant Carson and at present I appear +to be a somewhat unsuccessful Paul Revere. But would you mind +explaining, while you are washing the dirt out of this plagued cut on my +forehead, why you are wearing a costume that seems to suggest a +combination of an Indian princess' outfit and a soldier's uniform?"</p> + +<p>Marta Clark was devoting her attention to the other soldier, who did not +appear to be hurt but only slightly dazed from his mishap.</p> + +<p>Bettina for an instant regretted that she was unable to change places +with Marta. She had studied first aid, of course, along with her Camp +Fire work, but was not accustomed to masculine patients.</p> + +<p>Moreover, Bettina considered that the young officer was showing an +unwarranted personal interest in his first war nurse. As a matter of +fact, she entirely refused to pay any attention to his questioning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Land of Romance</span></h3> + + +<p>Two weeks later two women were walking up and down a garden path in the +moonlight.</p> + +<p>Across from them stood a long, low adobe house of a single story. The +veranda, extending from one end to the other, was so thickly covered +with a flowering vine that even in the moonlight one could get the +reflection of its brilliant color. The air was scented with the fragrant +perfume of roses and the blossoms of orange and lemon trees. From behind +the soft shading of the vine across the road came the brilliant twanging +of a guitar and a mandolin. Two voices were singing a Spanish love song.</p> + +<p>Farther away under the deeper shadow of the moon a white cross arose +above a mass of fallen stone.</p> + +<p>"I declare, Mollie, this is the old world, not the new, isn't it? I feel +as if we had traveled away from our own country today into a foreign +land; but what land I cannot say, because this place tonight must be +more beautiful and more romantic than even Spain itself. Yet one is not +sorry to forget for a little while the present world and its tragedies!"</p> + +<p>The other woman shook her head. The two sisters were the same height, +had nearly the same character of features and the same coloring; +nevertheless were curiously unlike.</p> + +<p>One conspicuous difference was in their voices.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Polly, I think perhaps you have made a mistake in bringing +the Camp Fire girls to spend the summer in so picturesque a place. We +probably shall have a romance on our hands before the season is over," +Mrs. Webster answered. "It is natural of course that <i>you</i> should be +affected by such surroundings. But when a night like this has an +influence upon a woman of my age with an almost grown-up family, it +makes me feel extremely nervous when I consider the girls."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton laughed.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, my beloved Mollie, even if you <i>have</i> a grown-up family +and I have no children, I don't see what difference the fact makes in +our ages, as we happen to be twins. Besides, I never could see why age +should destroy one's susceptibility to beauty! My only feeling is that +perhaps we have no right to ease and enjoyment of any kind this summer, +now that the United States has entered the war. I don't think I should +have invited the girls on this long trip had I known beforehand. I feel +I ought to be devoting all my energies to war work; however, we must do +whatever we can out here. Richard seemed to think it impossible to have +me near the southern camp where he is located."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster sighed gently in response. She was unhappy over the war, +too, but not so inclined as her sister to take deeply to heart the +sorrows of the world when they did not touch her personally.</p> + +<p>"Well, I am glad we can be together for a few months longer, Polly. I +realize it is selfish of me, and yet I do rejoice that neither Dan nor +Billy is old enough to be drafted. Dan's desire to volunteer is of +course ridiculous! At least, I shall safe-guard my boys. I am also glad +my husband is doing war work by increasing the amount of food raised +upon our place, instead of entering the service as an ordnance officer +as your husband has. Dear me, I really think it is very fine of Richard +at his age!"</p> + +<p>Shrugging her shoulders, Mrs. Burton smiled a little ruefully.</p> + +<p>"You are determined to dwell upon our great age tonight, aren't you, +Mollie mine? Please remember that your daughter Peggy bestowed her +affections upon Ralph Marshall last summer when we were at the Grand +Canyon and not in southern California. Yet I do feel that with the +possibility of young soldiers and officers turning up at any moment in +our midst, you and I will have to be unusually vigilant chaperons.</p> + +<p>"But do let us go now and find what has become of the girls. We have had +a long journey and should soon be in bed."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton slipped her arm inside her sister's and drew her away from +the old hotel garden across the gleaming road.</p> + +<p>To the right of them, bathed in the half-tropic moonlight, was the old +Spanish mission of San Juan Capistrano, named in honor of a +warrior-saint of the Crusades. It was the loveliest place in all +California.</p> + +<p>As they walked slowly on Mrs. Burton recited in an undertone, and with +the emotional sweetness which had captivated countless audiences and +which never failed to thrill her sister:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Up from the south slow filed a train,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Priests and soldiers of old Spain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who through the sunlit country wound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With cross and lance, intent to found<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mission in that wild to John,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Soldier saint of Capistran."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They stopped a moment as if to let the beauty sink deep, and then the +two women entered the gate of the old mission grounds.</p> + +<p>Early in the afternoon the Sunrise Camp Fire party had arrived at the +little half-foreign town of Capistrano, set midway, like a link with the +past, between the two modern cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. For +hours they had been exploring the old mission. Then, after dinner, the +Camp Fire girls, with Dan and Billy Webster to act as escorts had asked +the privilege of returning to remain in the old mission garden until +bedtime.</p> + +<p>Tonight, to Mrs. Burton's eyes at least, the mission looked like a +half-ruined palace of dreams. Once the mission of San Juan Capistrano +held a great stone church, a pillared court, a portico, a rectangle; +here the Franciscan fathers had their cells, and many rooms for +distinguished guests. It was the richest and most splendid mission in +old California.</p> + +<p>But at present only the ruins of its past remained.</p> + +<p>Above, in one of the crumbling arches of the colonnade, an owl hooted so +hoarsely that Mrs. Webster clutched her sister's arm in a tighter clasp. +The greeting had sounded, not like a welcome, but a warning.</p> + +<p>There was no one to be seen and the place was wrapped in a kind of +ghostly silence.</p> + +<p>"It is most extraordinary how the girls and Dan and Billy have +disappeared," Mrs. Burton whispered plaintively, scarcely daring to +speak in a natural tone.</p> + +<p>She and Mrs. Burton had passed through one of the colonnades and were +now in the old court in the rear. Along one side ran a line of forsaken +cloisters.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, Mollie, please," Mrs. Burton murmured.</p> + +<p>Adding to the enchantment of the present scene she could hear again the +sound of music. The two musicians who had been singing on the veranda +across from their hotel also must have wandered into the mission +grounds.</p> + +<p>Then, almost at the same instant, Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster +discovered the Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>Beyond the enclosed space of the old mission lay a broad piece of open +ground. Over it tonight poured the unbroken radiance of the moon. In +time long past this ground had been devoted to the use of the Indians +who were being taught Christianity and the habits of civilization by the +Spanish fathers. In those days this ground was encircled by a row of +Indian huts. One part was set apart for the Indian women and girls, and +here the Indian maiden remained in seclusion until her wedding day.</p> + +<p>But tonight, in some mysterious fashion, the past seemed to have came +back, for a group of Indian maidens had returned to their former +dwelling place.</p> + +<p>"The picture is too lovely to disturb," Mrs. Burton whispered +irresolutely.</p> + +<p>In the moonlight one could not discern the differences in the costumes +of the Camp Fire girls, nor their fairer coloring.</p> + +<p>Bettina, Marta, Peggy and Alice Ashton were seated upon the ground, +forming a square, with Dan standing apparently hovering like a guardian +angel above them.</p> + +<p>As usual, Billy Webster was lying gazing up at the sky and Vera +Lagerloff was sitting beside him.</p> + +<p>A little apart from the others Gerry Williams and Sally Ashton were +strolling up and down with their arms intertwined.</p> + +<p>"Do you think we should speak of our plan immediately?" Bettina Graham +was inquiring of the other three girls. "Unless we can carry it out I +don't feel that we have the right to our Camp Fire summer together."</p> + +<p>In the moonlight her yellow brown hair had turned a bright gold.</p> + +<p>Peggy, who was ever a direct and sensible person, shook her head.</p> + +<p>"We must wait until we have found the location for our camp and are +fairly well settled," she replied. "At present our own ideas as to what +we can do to help with the war work are much too vague. But I suppose we +shall be near the great National Guard war training camp, and that in +itself ought to be an inspiration. Have you ever heard from your wounded +lieutenant, Bettina? It was amusing to have him and his friend to tea in +so unexpected a fashion. I shall never forget how amazed the family was +on discovering us with soldier guests. I am sorry we have never seen +either of them again."</p> + +<p>"I have had one note from Lieutenant Carson, saying that he was all +right," Bettina answered. "He will probably be stationed at the +cantonment near here. I wish for your sake Ralph Marshall was to be +there instead."</p> + +<p>There was no engagement existing between Peggy Webster and Ralph +Marshall. But Peggy was too transparent a person to conceal her interest +in Ralph after their past summer of misunderstanding and final +reconciliation. As Ralph had volunteered and joined the aviation corps +soon after the entry of the United States into the war, she had not +seen him in many months. But it was understood that they wrote to each +other and Peggy openly expressed her pride in Ralph's courage and +ability. Ralph had been offered an opportunity to remain in his own +country and act as an aviation instructor, but instead had chosen to go +to France. At the present time he was in a camp on Long Island waiting +his hour for sailing.</p> + +<p>Before Peggy could make a reply to Bettina's final speech, the four +girls saw their Camp Fire guardians approaching and rose to greet them.</p> + +<p>"You girls look too picturesque to disturb, and yet we must not remain +outdoors all night, no matter how the beauty of the night tempts us. I +trust we may have many other nights as radiant as this before our summer +is over," said Mrs. Burton, half apologizing for her own and her +sister's intrusion.</p> + +<p>A few moments later the Sunrise Camp Fire girls were walking slowly away +from the mission grounds to their own rose-covered hotel.</p> + +<p>Not by accident, but because of a common purpose, Sally and Gerry +managed to linger a few yards behind the others.</p> + +<p>The singing which had so fascinated Mrs. Burton and added to the +witchery of the night had also attracted the attention of the two girls. +But it was not the music alone which had charmed them. In their careless +strolling up and down apart from their companions, Sally and Gerry had +dimly seen the figures of the two musicians.</p> + +<p>The mysterious singers had kept always in the background, only +approaching sufficiently near for their songs to be heard; and yet, +notwithstanding this, Sally and Gerry had managed to find out that they +were two young men dressed in Mexican costumes. But whether they were +Mexicans or Americans they could not guess, since it was impossible to +see their faces and they seemed able to sing Spanish or English songs +with equal ease.</p> + +<p>The fact was that Gerry and Sally had arranged a scheme between them by +which they hoped to make a desired discovery. Their scheme would have +appalled the other Camp Fire girls, but they chanced to have unlike +views in regard to the agreeable adventures and experiences of life. +Moreover, they often preferred bestowing their confidences only upon +each other.</p> + +<p>As the rest of the Camp Fire party moved on, both Sally and Gerry became +aware that the musicians were growing bolder and were drawing nearer.</p> + +<p>Both girls would have liked to turn round and deliberately look back. +Yet they had scarcely the courage for this breach of taste, in spite of +the fact that it was night and the redeeming grace of the moonlight +rested over them.</p> + +<p>Sally was carrying a little beaded Indian bag which she managed to drop +without any one, aside from Gerry, noticing.</p> + +<p>After going on a little further, unexpectedly they turned back to pick +up the lost possession.</p> + +<p>The two young men were thus within only a few feet of them.</p> + +<p>There was but little satisfaction in the adventure, nevertheless, for +although one of the musicians stepped forward and gravely presented +Sally with the Indian bag he had observed on the ground between them; +yet neither he nor his companion spoke and it was impossible, with +their broad Mexican hats, to obtain a satisfactory view of their faces +without revealing too great curiosity.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the entire Camp Fire party was unaware of the +interest their appearance in the little town of Capistrano during the +afternoon had excited. There were always tourists visiting the old +mission, especially at this season of the year. But the number and +appearance of the girls, their picturesque, half Indian costumes, which +always puzzled people unacquainted with the Camp Fire uniform, and the +big wagon carrying their large camping outfit, gave them a unique +distinction.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Call to Service</span></h3> + + +<p>On a ledge of rock with the Pacific Ocean as a background a girl was +standing, holding a bugle to her lips and with it sounding a clear, +musical call.</p> + +<p>Not far off a number of persons were seated about a smouldering camp +fire. All day the sun had been hot, almost as a tropic sun, but now with +the coming of the late afternoon a cool breeze was blowing in from the +sea.</p> + +<p>The feminine members of the little circle were knitting and sewing.</p> + +<p>One of the two young men was holding a hank of wool, which a +brown-haired, brown-eyed girl was winding slowly and carefully into a +great ball. The other was lying full length on the ground looking toward +the water.</p> + +<p>"Why is my Sister Peggy sounding taps or a reveille, since at present +it is neither morning nor night?" he questioned. "It seems impossible +these days to get away from the sights and sounds which suggest war. I +had hoped that when we were in camp out here in this far-away country we +might at least have a <i>little</i> rest."</p> + +<p>Billy Webster's manner was that of a spoiled and fretful boy; +nevertheless an uncomfortable silence followed his speech.</p> + +<p>Ever it appears impossible in this world, even among a small group of +persons, to preserve entire harmony! In spite of his youth and his +fragility, in spite of his quiet voice and oftentimes gentle manner, +Billy Webster, from the time he ceased wearing dresses, had been able to +sow discord. The trouble was that Billy always refused to think like the +people surrounding him.</p> + +<p>At present, when the entire Camp Fire party was interested heart and +soul in the successful carrying on of the war, Billy had announced +himself a pacifist. If he had contented himself with the mere +announcement, his friends and family would have accepted his point of +view with comparative equanimity. But with Billy the frequent +exposition of his opinions was as the breath of life.</p> + +<p>At this moment Vera Lagerloff leaned over to say in a whisper:</p> + +<p>"For goodness' sake, Billy, please don't start an argument now on the +subject of the war. You know how intensely Mrs. Burton disapproves of +your ideas and how angry you make Dan."</p> + +<p>Peggy descended from her rocky platform at this instant and joined the +group. She was wearing her workaday Camp Fire costume and had her dark +hair braided in two braids with a red band about her forehead.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Peggy? You look as if you had something important to +confide to us?" Mrs. Burton asked quickly, hoping to stem the flood of +eloquence with which her nephew ordinarily met opposition. "I confess I +am as curious as Billy to know why you sounded a bugle call at this hour +of the afternoon."</p> + +<p>Peggy sat down in camp-fire fashion on the ground, frowning and looking +extremely serious. A bunch of pale lavender sea verbena she had gathered +nearer the shore, she dropped in her mother's lap.</p> + +<p>She did not know what Billy had been saying, but she was conscious that +the atmosphere about her was uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>Dan had not moved from his patient attitude, in order that Sally Ashton +might continue to unwind her wool, yet his expression was not like his +usual sweet-tempered one. Peggy at once surmised that Billy was in some +way responsible for the unrest.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps my bugle call was a little theatrical," she began; +"nevertheless it was the call to service of our new order of 'Camp Fire +Minute Girls.'"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton nodded. "Yes, I remember. The 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' are +to pledge themselves to help in winning the war by food conservation, by +praying for the triumph of the right, and by economizing in every +possible way. I received a little booklet containing our new pledge and +meant to speak of it to you."</p> + +<p>In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton was talking, she was not actually +interested in what she was saying at the moment. Somewhere in the last +row of her knitting she had dropped a stitch and while she spoke she was +endeavoring to find it. As head of their small Red Cross society, Mrs. +Webster was determined that their work should come up to the required +standard. Knitting was not a natural art with Mrs. Burton and she +particularly disliked unraveling her work after she supposed it +finished.</p> + +<p>Peggy reached over and quietly removed the gray sweater from her aunt's +hands.</p> + +<p>"You cannot pay attention to what anyone is saying and knit at the same +time, Tante; I have seen you make the attempt before," Peggy remarked +persuasively, "so please cease your efforts for a moment, as we have +something of the utmost importance to talk about. Bettina, now that I +have prepared the way, suppose you make things clearer. I have not your +gift of words."</p> + +<p>"It is only that we have been talking of the 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' +and consider that we should follow the pledge very earnestly this +summer," Bettina began. "We feel that really we ought to organize our +camp fire on a new war basis. You have always been so generous to us, +but this summer we wish to use only the new war recipes and to save and +serve in every possible way. The advantage will be not only for the +present time, but perhaps later with our own families. Peggy and I +thought that we might even start a little garden near our camp, as +vegetables grow so quickly in California. I suppose our ideas of +helpfulness are rather vague and foolish, but that is why we wished to +talk the situation over with you and Mrs. Webster and arrange some +definite plan."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton nodded. "An excellent idea, Bettina, and the sooner we +Americans learn some method of less extravagant living the nearer we are +to victory and the ending of the war. I wish I were a more apt pupil +myself. Of course I am willing to agree with whatever you girls think +best."</p> + +<p>"Then we may help the soldiers in any way we like?" Sally Ashton +inquired with such unexpected enthusiasm that everybody laughed.</p> + +<p>"I do not care for any too strikingly original ideas of first-aid +service, Sally," Mrs. Burton remonstrated.</p> + +<p>Billy roused himself from his recumbent position and leaned forward. A +single flame which had shot up from the smouldering fire cast a glow +over his colorless face.</p> + +<p>"I have been traveling with the Camp Fire party now for a good many +weeks," he remarked in the suspiciously gentle manner with which he +often began his verbal attacks, "and I am yet to hear one single word +about an immediate peace. I cannot see what difference it will make in +the end which country is victor. What the whole world must attain to is +justice for every human being. I thought women were supposed to be the +natural peace makers." Billy smiled—a malicious little smile which was +vaguely irritating. "Women never have been peace makers or peace lovers. +If they had do you suppose men would have continued fighting one another +forever?"</p> + +<p>"But, Billy—" Mrs. Burton began and suddenly ceased. A glance at her +sister's face had been sufficient.</p> + +<p>Besides, Dan Webster, released from his attention to Sally, had walked +over and stood facing his mother and brother.</p> + +<p>The two brothers, though, twins, were utterly unlike in appearance. For +one thing, Dan was nearly six feet tall and splendidly built, with a +vivid color and a suggestion of unusual physical health and power.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, Mother," he said in the voice he kept especially for his +mother, "but I can't stay here and listen to Billy's nonsense and +disloyalty. He is simply in love with the sound of his own voice and +always has been. He has not the faintest understanding of the big things +he talks about. I have stood a good deal from Billy first and last from +the time we were children, because he was little and delicate and I was +not supposed to treat him as I would have treated other fellows. I tell +you candidly what Billy needs right now and what he always has needed is +to have his head punched. He always has taken refuge in his delicacy and +hidden behind women. He is doing the same thing now with all this peace +talk and half-baked socialism. I wonder how far socialism would have +traveled if men had never fought for their rights and the rights of +other people? I wish the socialists in this country would think of that +little fact now and then. I suppose if no one had ever <i>fought</i> for +liberty, most of us would be slaves. But I seem to be talking as much as +Billy! It is only this, Mother, don't you see that Billy and I cannot +both remain with the Camp Fire party this summer? I don't wish it to +happen, but I am afraid if he goes on as he has been doing—and you know +nothing ever stops him—why, there will be trouble between us, that is +all. If you will only give your consent I am sure I can persuade father +to allow me to volunteer."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster's eyes filled with tears. Dan was too interested in +watching his mother to pay any attention to Billy's good-natured drawl.</p> + +<p>"Good old Dan, there is some truth in what you say, I suppose. There is +a little truth in most people's opinions. But what a story-book hero you +will make some day! It is all right, your rubbing it in about my not +being as strong as other fellows; I suppose you don't know that hurts a +little."</p> + +<p>"My dear Dan, I did not dream you could be so unreasonable!" Mrs. +Webster returned, having finally gained sufficient control of her voice +to speak. "You know perfectly well I shall never give my consent to your +volunteering for any branch of the army until you have reached the draft +age. Moreover, if you have a difficulty with Billy you know how much +sorrow that means for me. Besides, your aunt and the girls and I need +you here with us at our camp fire this summer. If I could, I would send +Billy back to the farm instead of you, but he still needs the benefit of +this southern climate."</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Webster, like many other mothers, often found her children too +great a problem for her solving.</p> + +<p>By this time Billy was again prostrate on the earth with his eyes fixed +upon the sky and apparently perfectly serene. Even his mother's +statement in regard to sending him home had not disturbed him, although +he and his father chronically misunderstood each other.</p> + +<p>Dan was repentant. "Sorry, Mother," he said; "this was not the time or +place for me to open this discussion with you. I am sure I beg +everybody's pardon."</p> + +<p>Then he turned and walked away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Camp and Temperamental Excursions</span></h3> + + +<p>This summer in California for the first time the Sunrise camp was +located near the sea.</p> + +<p>After several days of investigating the countryside, in the meanwhile +using the little mission town of Capistrano as their headquarters, the +travelers discovered what they considered the ideal situation further +south along the coast.</p> + +<p>Near the border of one of the immense ranches for which southern +California is famous they came upon a little stream of water flowing +inside a channel. The channel had been deepened in order that the supply +might last through the dry season. Not far away stood a small frame +house. In harvest times the laborers on the ranch occupied this small +house as a lodging for the night when the distance made it impossible +for them to return to their own homes.</p> + +<p>By a piece of rare good fortune Mrs. Burton was able for almost a +nominal sum to rent this little place for her sister and herself.</p> + +<p>The shack was lightly built, the roof formed of dried palm branches laid +the one upon the other until the effect was like a thatched roof, +although neither so warm nor so secure. Since it never rains during the +summer in southern California, one requires only protection from the sun +and wind. Near the house the camp-fire tents were set up in the form of +a crescent.</p> + +<p>Behind them the ranch stretched on for miles, a thousand-acre carpet of +small green plants. For, as Marta Clark remarked when they were +traveling down the state, it appeared as if California were preparing to +provide the world with one gigantic bean feast.</p> + +<p>Several hundreds of yards away the beach was silver and purple and rose +with the sea verbena and ice plants which spread like a colorful +embroidery over the sands. Here and there were tiny coves and clumps of +rocks.</p> + +<p>Near the camping site there was no main traveled road, but a small +branch one which would improve with use. The closest place of human +habitation was a seaside colony of artists, perhaps a mile or more +beyond.</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Burton was able to find a garage for her automobile.</p> + +<p>Partly because she was actually in need of his services and more to +impress him with the idea, Mrs. Burton had persuaded Dan Webster to take +charge of her car during the summer. As a matter of fact, aside from +Billy, who did not always count, Dan was the only masculine person at +the Sunrise camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having departed as casually as +he originally had arrived, soon after the tents were set up.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton preferred being shut away from strangers during their +holidays and presumed the girls shared her desire.</p> + +<p>Soon after their conversation about the camp fire a new régimé of war +economy was established at Sunrise camp. There were uncomfortable +moments when strange dishes of none too appetizing a character were +produced. But always the cooks declared it the fault of the too +particular persons who refused to partake of them and not of the food +itself. They did acquire new methods of bread making, substituting bran +and corn-meal for wheat flour which were really improvements on the old. +Moreover, the summer before the Indian girl, Dawapa, had taught the +Sunrise Camp Fire members a number of the old Indian uses of corn. With +perishable fruits and vegetables so abundant, it was unnecessary, during +the summer at least, to suffer any real discomfort from war economies.</p> + +<p>Now and then one of the girls would develop a too rigorous idea of +self-denial to meet with the approval of her Camp Fire guardian. But +after a time Mrs. Burton ceased to worry over original departures, +permitting the girls to adjust matters for themselves.</p> + +<p>However, it is not the adjustment of mere material things which is the +difficult problem with human beings in living together, but the +adjustment of one unlike nature with another.</p> + +<p>As much as possible after his open disagreement with Billy, Dan Webster +endeavored to avoid his brother's society. They never had been +congenial or spent much time together since the days when they were +children. But at present Dan and Billy were sleeping in the same tent at +night and in the daytime Billy was always mooning about camp insisting +upon one of the girls listening to him. He preferred Vera, but if she +were too busy, any one of the other girls could substitute.</p> + +<p>This would have made no difference to Dan except that Billy blandly and +serenely continued to expound his views upon peace in spite of the fact +that every member of Sunrise camp disagreed with him.</p> + +<p>Hard as it was to endure, Dan's hands were tied, for he had solemnly +promised his mother not to use physical violence with Billy, and nothing +else would stop the flow of his misplaced eloquence.</p> + +<p>So, as Dan was an ardent fisherman, he used to spend days away from camp +fishing and swimming. He was fond of the Camp Fire girls, especially of +Marta Clark and of Sally Ashton, but he could not endure too large a +diet of exclusively feminine society. Moreover, Dan was too accomplished +an athlete and too fine a fellow all round not to make friends wherever +he went among men.</p> + +<p>One afternoon it chanced that Dan was alone and preparing to go in +swimming at a rather dangerous point about three miles below Sunrise +camp.</p> + +<p>The spot was deserted and Dan was beginning to undress when he became +conscious of the uncomfortable sensation that some one at no great +distance off was watching him.</p> + +<p>Glancing about, Dan discovered the calm figure of his brother standing +only a few yards away when he had sincerely hoped that at least several +miles separated them.</p> + +<p>In reply to Billy's friendly "hello," his brother returned no answer. +Nevertheless Billy strolled quietly across the space between them, +taking a seat on the rocky cliff, apparently as cheerful and undisturbed +as if he considered himself a welcome interruption.</p> + +<p>"Better not go in swimming from this cliff, Dan; this place looks pretty +unsafe. The waves are so violent you might be thrown against the rocks," +he began, offering his entirely unsolicited advice in the most affable +manner.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, upon most occasions, Dan Webster was rather +unusually sweet tempered. But at present, because of his own +disappointment over not being allowed to volunteer for some branch of +war service, and because of what he considered his brother's disloyal +opinions, the very sight of Billy enraged him.</p> + +<p>"Billy Webster, I wonder if you are a coward about every mortal thing? I +suppose you understand that cowardice is what I believe lies at the back +of your pacifism. I suppose it is natural to wish to call an ugly fact +by a pretty name. Besides, it is a lot pleasanter and easier to talk +about the beauty and sacredness of peace and the rights of men than to +fight and die for them. But please don't trouble about me and run along +back to camp. I don't want to go into this subject with you again as I +came away largely to get rid of your society." Dan made an effort to +speak quietly.</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll be off in a moment; don't wish to worry you," Billy +agreed, and, except for a slight flush which Dan did not observe, he +appeared unmoved. "Do you know I am glad you reopened this subject. +Ever since you spoke of the same thing the other day I have been +wondering if what you said was true and I am a pacifist because I am a +physical coward. Of course I know I am afraid of a lot of things that +don't frighten you, but I believe you are mistaken about this business, +Dan. If I were up against a stiff proposition I might still be afraid +and yet go through with it. My feeling about peace really has nothing to +do with the part I may some day be called upon to play in this war, a +pretty poor part at best I expect. I wish you would believe this if you +can. But good-by; I am off."</p> + + +<p>Then, before Dan could make any response, Billy moved away. Once out of +sight, he lay down upon the beach with his head propped on his slender +hands, keeping a watchful outlook upon Dan, who was swimming nearly a +mile out from the shore. When Dan had finished and climbed back up the +cliff, then only did Billy set out for Sunrise camp.</p> + +<p>There were also temperamental difficulties, needing adjustment among the +Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>Frankly, both Sally Ashton and Gerry Williams had been bored by their +long journey down the California coast and their many pilgrimages to the +old Spanish missions along their route. With their natures it was +impossible for either of them to understand how any human being could +obtain a great deal of pleasure from mere scenery and what persons were +pleased to call romantic atmosphere. To Sally and Gerry romance took +shape in a very different guise.</p> + +<p>During the trip they were at least sustained by the hope that, once +settled in their summer camp, they would begin making agreeable +acquaintances, notwithstanding, up to the present time, Sunrise camp had +developed about as many social opportunities as a desert island.</p> + +<p>Therefore, one morning, with the perfectly definite plan of going forth +in search of adventure, Sally and Gerry set out upon a little +temperamental excursion.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Abalone Shells</span></h3> + + +<p>After their summer holiday together at the Grand Canyon the Sunrise Camp +Fire girls had been separated during the previous winter, returning to +their own homes. Nevertheless, they kept in touch with one another and, +as a matter of fact, among the seven girls only Gerry Williams' history +had remained a mystery to the others.</p> + +<p>From the moment of her appearance upon the west-bound train with Mrs. +Burton, who had introduced her as the new member of their Camp Fire +group, not a word had been spoken concerning Gerry's past. Mrs. Burton +must have regarded her friendship as a sufficient guarantee, since ever +afterwards she and Gerry had continued equally reticent, not even +confiding under what circumstances they originally had learned to know +each other.</p> + +<p>Naturally such secrecy aroused a certain degree of curiosity, and now +and then one of the Camp Fire girls would ask Gerry a question, thinking +her answer must betray some small fact in her past. But either she would +evade the question or else politely decline to answer.</p> + +<p>She was poor—no one could continue blind to this actuality—but whether +her parents were living or dead, whether she had any other relatives, no +one could find out from Gerry herself or from her Camp Fire guardian.</p> + +<p>In truth, Gerry made no effort to conceal how intensely disagreeable she +considered a lack of money, freely announcing that poverty always had +been the bane of her past existence and that she asked nothing more from +the future than to be safely delivered from it.</p> + +<p>Occasionally some one would whisperingly question whether Mrs. Burton +would continue her bounty to Gerry when the Camp Fire holidays were +over; yet no one had sufficiently bad taste to make this inquiry. Mrs. +Webster knew no more than the others. She made no effort to keep up with +her Sister Polly's many generosities, which were frequently as erratic +as the lady herself. Only to her husband would Mrs. Burton confide the +extent of her efforts to help other people. She preferred doing things +in her own way.</p> + +<p>One circumstance was freely discussed between Mrs. Burton and her +protégé. During the past winter Gerry had developed a desire to study +art and Mrs. Burton had arranged for her lessons. Yet Gerry made no +pretense of having any especial talent or of being very deeply +interested in her work. She was also frank in stating that she did not +care a great deal for the outdoor camping life, aside from the fact that +Mrs. Burton considered the influence of living with the other Camp Fire +girls of value to her. The great attraction in the experience for Gerry, +as she freely stated, was the opportunity it offered to be near her +famous friend.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, after a winter's study at the Art Institute in Chicago, +Gerry had learned to make pretty outdoor studies of flowers and other +small objects. She had a good deal of feeling for color and design, +which she declared due to her interest in clothes. Her Camp Fire +guardian encouraged her attention to art as much as possible, often +excusing Gerry from everyday tasks, that she might give more time to her +sketching.</p> + +<p>Just why she should be thus favored the other Camp Fire girls did not +understand, yet Gerry appreciated the reason.</p> + +<p>Also less was always expected of her, and her weaknesses were more +readily forgiven. The one foolish act of revenge upon Bettina had caused +the only serious difficulty with her Camp Fire guardian, and apparently +even this had been forgotten.</p> + +<p>On the morning of their excursion Gerry had announced that she wished to +spend the day sketching along the coast and that Sally had been kind +enough to agree to accompany her.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the time the two girls were extremely intimate and +if now and then a slight coolness arose between them it never continued +long, as they had too many common bonds of interest.</p> + +<p>Both girls were charmingly pretty and an entire contrast. Sally Ashton's +eyes and hair were brown, her lips full with an up-ward curve and her +skin, which the sun and wind never seemed to tan, as soft and white as a +baby's. She was small and plump and her figure had no angles.</p> + +<p>One might have been deluded by Sally's yielding and feminine appearance +into the impression that she could be easily influenced by stronger +natures than her own. The fact is that Sally was never really influenced +except when she chose to be.</p> + +<p>Realizing this, Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt her friendship +with Gerry Williams, which was just as well since nothing is more +difficult than to interfere with a friendship between two girls who feel +a mutual attraction and see each other frequently.</p> + +<p>Gerry Williams' prettiness was of a more unusual character. She had the +delicate fairness which one so rarely sees in its perfection. Her hair +was a pale gold, yet the gold was undeniably there. Her eyes were light +blue and held the clearness, the indelible, transparent blueness of +certain pieces of rare old china. Her small head was set upon a rather +long fair throat and as she walked with a peculiar lightness and grace +it was almost as if she might at any moment break into dancing steps. +About Gerry's nature there were elements which were frankly commonplace, +nevertheless her appearance suggested one of the dancing figures upon an +ancient Greek frieze.</p> + +<p>This morning she and Sally wore their everyday Camp Fire costumes, and +because it was cool their Navajo sweater coats, Gerry's a bright scarlet +and Sally's an Oxford blue. They intended being away all day, and +besides Gerry's sketching outfit they carried their luncheon.</p> + +<p>The girls had chosen to go in the direction of the artists' colony only +a few miles away. Over both the water and land there was the haze of the +early hours at the seaside, and yet the mist was only a light one and +more agreeable than the hot sun which would come later in the day.</p> + +<p>The land was gay with flowers. On the hillside there were tall bunches +of cacti, one variety bearing a bright yellow flower like a silken +poppy. The ordinary jimson weed grew so large that each blossom looked +like a great white lily.</p> + +<p>On the side toward the beach the tiny beads of water glistening amid the +rose color of the ice plants shone like tiny fairy jewels.</p> + +<p>Past the groups of houses which presumably sheltered famous artists as +well as amateurs, perhaps with no more ability than Gerry, the two girls +wandered on, absorbed in their own conversation.</p> + +<p>They were not especially disappointed at finding no one in the +neighborhood of the colony who seemed to be of interest. There were +three or four girls idling in one of the yards who stared curiously as +the Camp Fire girls passed, but Sally and Gerry paid but slight +attention to them in return, having previously confessed to each other +that they were a little tired of so much feminine society.</p> + +<p>A tall old gentleman with a white, closely trimmed beard strode by, +carrying a large canvas under his arm. He frowned portentously, as if he +would have the girls appreciate that he was a genius in the grasp of a +creative impulse and so must not be disturbed. Neither Sally nor Gerry +had the faintest impulse toward disturbing him, yet his appearance +suggested a train of thought to Sally.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, Gerry, why you decided so suddenly that you wished to study +art?" she said. "Until this summer I have never even heard you mention +the subject. Do you intend making a business of it some day? You won't +mind my speaking of this, but you have always said you had to do +something or other to make your own living."</p> + +<p>Instead of replying at once Gerry hummed the first line of a song, also +moving on so quickly that Sally, who was averse to violent exercise, had +difficulty in keeping up with her.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, Sally," she answered finally. "Besides, if I ever should +develop such a foolish idea, who do you think would buy my silly little +pictures, except perhaps Mrs. Burton? I do wish she were my real aunt; I +am oftentimes jealous of Peggy. But really I began studying art last +winter chiefly on her account. She insisted that I should not idle away +all my time, so I concluded that I would prefer being an art student to +attending a regular school.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Burton was delighted, because she thinks it would be a good plan +for me to become a dressmaker or a designer. I am so fond of clothes and +she believes the art lessons will be of value to my future work. +However, my dear Sally, nothing is further from my own expectations. You +and I for different reasons must make marriage our career. You were +created for domesticity and I, well, I simply must marry some one with +money. I used to hope that Mrs. Burton might do a great deal for me some +day, before I knew about her own family and her Camp Fire group. Now I +realize that she only intends helping me to help myself, as the highly +moral phrase goes."</p> + +<p>"But haven't you any people of your own, or any close friends?" Sally +demanded with the persistency which belonged to her disposition. Half a +dozen times before she had asked this same question without receiving a +satisfactory reply.</p> + +<p>Gerry only laughed good naturedly. Sally's curiosity amused her.</p> + +<p>"<i>No</i> people and <i>no</i> friends I care to talk about, my dear. You know I +have told you this several times before."</p> + +<p>In spite of the fact that by this time the girls had walked for three or +four miles, up until now Gerry had not suggested sitting down to begin +her sketching. At this moment she moved over to the edge of a cliff, +glancing down at the beach below.</p> + +<p>"Come, Sally, see what a fascinating place I have discovered. Suppose we +climb down to the beach; you must be tired and I may be able to work for +a little while. I do want to have something to show Mrs. Burton as a +result of our day."</p> + +<p>On the beach the girls saw a little wooden hut with a huge kettle filled +with boiling water standing before the door. Half a mile or more out in +the ocean two Japanese fishermen were diving for the famous abalone +shells, while on the sands a dozen of the shells, having been thoroughly +cleansed, now lay drying in the sun; their inner surfaces of +mother-of-pearl held all the colors of the dawn.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>"<span class="smcap">My Own Will Come to Me</span>"</h3> + + +<p>Whether consciously or unconsciously, the thing we most desire in this +world will come to us in the end.</p> + +<p>Rather precipitately Sally and Gerry climbed down the side of the cliff +to the beach. The way was steep and now and then Sally had to be +encouraged and assisted until both girls finally arrived on the sands a +little out of breath.</p> + +<p>The beach stretched on further than one could see, a pale golden carpet +now that the mists were clearing. It was divided at this point by a +narrow gully. On one side of the gully were uneven platforms of rocks +and between these rocks ran little streams of salt water from the ocean, +creating tiny tidal lakes and rivulets.</p> + +<p>Up and down these rocks, sometimes disappearing inside the water, at +others clinging perilously above its edge, or hiding behind sprays of +sea lichen or fern, were innumerable small sea monsters. At times the +sides of the rocks were alive with hundreds, even thousands, of tiny +crabs; then one single unexpected noise and off they scuttled like an +army, not in dignified retreat but in utter rout.</p> + +<p>The girls having descended the cliff, rested for a few moments and then +wandered along these ledges. They were not of a dangerous character, for +most of the stones were flat and not too far apart to be safely crossed.</p> + +<p>Yet they walked slowly. Occasionally they stopped to watch two fishermen +at work. The men were Japanese divers, and it was fascinating to see +them swim with quiet, even strokes out into the deep water and then dive +down heads first to remain under a terrifying length of time. Yet as +each man rose again usually he had secured one or more of the large +abalone shells.</p> + +<p>In spite of their interest, Sally Ashton pleaded that they remain at a +safe distance from the two men. As a matter of fact, Sally frequently +suffered from the small timidities which belonged to her particular +type of intensely feminine character. Although not in the least timid +herself, Gerry agreed, it being a wise custom of hers to give way to her +companion in unimportant matters. Moreover, she really intended working +seriously for a few hours. Now that she and Sally were both weary, this +sheltered place along the beach would be as suitable as any other to +begin her painting.</p> + +<p>Finding a comfortable surface of clean sand on a broad ledge of rock, +with other rocks in the background, Gerry sat down. Here there was less +wind than in other places and sufficient room for Sally to lie close +beside her.</p> + +<p>At about the correct distance away, a small boat moored to some hidden +anchor moved back and forth with the movement of the waves.</p> + +<p>This boat appeared a suitable subject to Gerry for her sketch. She had +no idea of making a success of so ambitious a subject, but since all +that Mrs. Burton asked of her was industry and not high artistry, Gerry +was willing to work now and then. She really did wish to please her Camp +Fire guardian, and if her motives were a little mixed and not all of +them of the noblest character, well, there are others of us in this +world who have mixed motives beside Gerry Williams!</p> + +<p>After the first few moments of settling down to her task, Gerry began to +feel mildly interested in her effort.</p> + +<p>Her surroundings were in themselves an inspiration.</p> + +<p>Nearby, and using her friend's crimson sweater as a pillow, Sally Ashton +had curled herself up in the sunshine. She was wearing her own blue one +for warmth. There was but little breeze stirring and the sun had grown +suddenly hot, but Sally had a passionate affection for warmth. She had +also an endless capacity for sleeping when there was nothing of interest +in life to make wakefulness worth while.</p> + +<p>For a few moments she watched Gerry at work, thinking she had never seen +her look so pretty or labor so industriously. Then Sally viewed the +small boat whose continuous movement impressed her like the sleepy +swaying of a cradle. Afterwards she fell into a state of semi-conscious +dreaming.</p> + +<p>But Gerry kept on with her sketching certainly for more than an hour. +By the end of that time she was surprised to find what a lovely sketch +she had made. In spite of the fact that her boat was out of drawing, the +color in her sky line was beautiful and the waves of the sea suggested +real water and a real ocean.</p> + +<p>After gazing at her painting with wholly unexpected admiration, Gerry +put it carefully away in her sketch book. She was feeling a little +tired, but her act was inspired more by discretion than weariness. To +work upon her sketch any longer would probably destroy the value it at +present possessed and Mrs. Burton would be pleased by her success.</p> + +<p>Believing Sally to be fast asleep and not wishing to disturb her for a +time, Gerry, leaning forward and resting her chin on her two folded +hands, fell to dreaming.</p> + +<p>For the past ten days or more, ever since her arrival in southern +California, it seemed to Gerry Williams that never had her dreams and +her desires been so insistent. She did not know that this was the +influence of the semi-tropical climate upon her physical and spiritual +development.</p> + +<p>In truth, Gerry's past life had been a trying one and there was no +reason why she should have been content with it, or why she should not +hope for a happier future.</p> + +<p>These summers in Arcady with Mrs. Burton—for they had been as summers +in Arcady to the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls—had been the fairest +experiences in Gerry's history. Yet she professed no ardent love for the +outdoors as the other girls did. Neither was she so young as some of +them, since within a few weeks she would be eighteen.</p> + +<p>There would be other summers to come, Gerry realized, when she would not +be Mrs. Burton's guest. Indeed, the Camp Fire guardian had frankly +stated that if the war continued they would not be able to have their +holidays together. In the future she must devote her money, her time and +her energy to war service.</p> + +<p>So today, looking out over the water, but now that her sketching was +over, no longer interested in the view, Gerry faced what seemed to her +an interminable number of lonely summers and winters and springs and +autumns. In her earlier acquaintance with Mrs. Burton, when the great +lady had revealed an unexpected interest in her, Gerry, as she had +lately confessed to Sally Ashton, had dreamed impossible dreams. In +those days she had imagined herself as Mrs. Burton's ward, living in her +home, or traveling about with her over the world meeting rich and famous +people.</p> + +<p>Then at the last Gerry's vision had always been a wealthy marriage. A +foolish dream perhaps, and yet not original or uncommon!</p> + +<p>She did not think of her marriage as bringing her love or spiritual +happiness, only wealth and social prominence. But at this time in her +life Gerry of course believed that the last two possessions represented +the character of happiness she sought.</p> + +<p>Having awakened to reality with regard to Mrs. Burton's attitude, +appreciating that she felt for her only a kindly interest and a moderate +affection, Gerry was the more intent upon discovering some immediate +solution for her own future.</p> + +<p>From this summer in California she had hoped a great deal. She had +thought through Mrs. Burton's prominence that it might be possible to +make wealthy and worth-while friends. Now it appeared that the Camp Fire +guardian intended to have her group of girls spend a secluded summer, +deriving their entertainment from their life together outdoors in this +beautiful place.</p> + +<p>In consequence Gerry was deeply disappointed. Today she felt that the +prospect ahead was dreary and dissatisfying. Mrs. Burton expected her to +work and had no notion of assisting her toward any other fate. She had +made her own way in the world and believed that work brought one the +finest satisfaction. But Gerry recognized her own commonplaceness and +understood that unconsciously Mrs. Burton was not altogether fair. Of +course, if one possessed great talent, then work lifted you above +dullness and routine, brought you beauty and joy. Yet she could only +picture herself pursuing some stupid task, since she had neither +education nor especial ability in any direction. Her only gifts, +prettiness and her desire for the refinements of life which always had +been denied her, little in truth to offer when there was no one to +help!</p> + +<p>Then, intending to banish her attack of blues, Gerry jumped up +hurriedly. As she did so she noticed the two Japanese divers. They had +left their work and had come softly over the sands until at the present +moment they were only a few feet off. They were talking in excited +voices, holding up the deep-bowled abalone shells, now polished and +shining, and evidently trying to attract attention.</p> + +<p>For an instant Gerry was puzzled. Then, before she could speak or even +stir again, Sally, startled from sleep, also leaped to her feet. She may +have been frightened by Gerry's sudden movement and now, catching sight +of the Japanese fishermen, may have been under the impression that they +had frightened Gerry. Whatever the cause, with an exclamation of terror, +she started running, uttering funny little cries of alarm.</p> + +<p>First Gerry merely called out reassuringly, then, perceiving that Sally +would not stop, she ran after her.</p> + +<p>Sally was awkward; she kept stumbling and sliding over the ledges of +rock, making no effort to be sure of her foothold or to choose the +easiest way. In the beginning Gerry was amused, then she grew a little +nervous. Sally was always the least athletic of the Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>"Do be careful; the men are only trying to sell us their shells. They +have no idea of frightening you," Gerry expostulated.</p> + +<p>She expected to reach Sally in time to keep her from injuring herself. +But suddenly Sally gave an exclamation both of fright and pain; having +made a false estimate of the space between two ledges of rock, she found +herself falling into a small ravine.</p> + +<p>The ravine was not deep; nevertheless Sally's rescue was not simple, +since she would not help herself. Finally Gerry had to summon to her +assistance the two Japanese, who had innocently caused the catastrophe. +At last a bruised and tearful Sally was deposited upon a comfortable +resting place. But here Sally declared she must remain indefinitely, as +she was "far too seriously hurt ever to walk again."</p> + +<p>The situation was trying, and Gerry was at her wits' end till one small +inspiration came to her. Since food had ever a reviving effect upon +Sally, they could have their luncheon and perhaps afterwards she would +feel stronger.</p> + +<p>But although her appetite remained unaffected by her accident, the +afternoon wore on with Sally still insisting that she could not stir one +step. Moreover, any suggestion of Gerry's leaving to find help always +reduced her to tears.</p> + +<p>Yet something must be done!</p> + + +<p>Long ago the little Japanese fishermen had returned to their tasks. +Sitting cross-legged on the sand at some distance off, Gerry could see +them patiently at work cleaning and polishing their shells. She +remembered that they had seemed to understand what she had said, +although speaking only a few English words.</p> + +<p>Walking over to them Gerry as simply as possible presented their +predicament.</p> + +<p>When she had finished speaking the small bright-eyed men glanced at each +other and nodded.</p> + +<p>"Alle-ight," one of them answered for both.</p> + +<p>Then off they trotted, this time disappearing inside their small hut. +Next moment they returned carrying on their shoulders a flat straw +basket set upon two long poles. It was scarcely a basket, so much as a +woven straw mat, which the divers probably used at odd times for +transporting their sea merchandise.</p> + +<p>Ultimately Sally was persuaded to allow herself to be hoisted upon this +mat, which was fairly strong since it suffered her weight. Then the two +little men bore her off, swinging easily between them. They ran lightly +from rock to rock until climbing up the cliff they reached the road at +the summit, with Gerry following as swiftly as possible.</p> + +<p>They had arranged not to attempt to carry Sally to camp but to some +place nearer at hand, where she could receive aid.</p> + +<p>Originally when they had made this plan it appeared to Gerry as a +reasonable one and not one to cause anxiety. Now as she pursued the two +strange little men, who were carrying Sally with such ease and quickness +to a perfectly unknown destination she had a curious sensation more of +bewilderment than fear.</p> + +<p>However, one had to keep moving so rapidly that there was small +opportunity for clear thinking.</p> + +<p>Leaving the main road, the little men struck into another, which went +first up a bare brown hill and then down again. The second hill was +green with a crop of the ever-present beans.</p> + + +<p>Finally they climbed to the top of a mesa and brought Sally to a resting +place before a clump of dusty, gray-green pepper trees.</p> + +<p>On their left was a hedge of untrimmed shrubs and in front an open +court. Beyond stood an old Spanish ranch house.</p> + +<p>After whispering together, one of the little men rang a bell, which hung +on a stand outside this court.</p> + +<p>A few moments later a Japanese servant appeared and the three men spoke +to one another in Japanese. Then the servant turned away.</p> + +<p>It was all very unusual and puzzling. Before Sally and Gerry could be +overwhelmed by uneasiness, to their relief they observed an older man +and two young men approaching. They were obviously gentlemen, and one of +them Gerry thought the most attractive fellow she had ever seen in her +life. Yet he did not look like an American, but what her imagination had +pictured as a Spaniard. He must have been about twenty-two or three and +possessed unusually dark hair and eyes and skin.</p> + +<p>When Gerry had explained their difficulty and apologized for their +intrusion, their host led the way through the outer court into the +enclosed one.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Their Host Led the Way Through the Outer Court into the +Enclosed One</span></h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Sally continued to be borne aloft like a foreign princess upon the +shoulders of her faithful Caryatids.</p> + +<p>The inside court was a miniature fairyland.</p> + +<p>Like all really old Spanish ranch houses, this house was built in the +form of a square with the garden in the center. It was of one story with +the veranda also on the inside and running the entire length of the +house.</p> + +<p>In days long past this veranda would have been filled with people, for +when the Spanish ranch houses were the center of California's social +life all the play and work of the Spanish families, their friends and +servants took place outdoors.</p> + +<p>Now the two Camp Fire girls saw no one save their hosts and the one man +servant; there was no faintest suggestion of the presence of a woman.</p> + +<p>The place looked old and ramshackle, as if its owners had preferred to +enjoy life rather than to improve their estate. Even the enclosed +garden, notwithstanding it was a sheer glory of flowers, showed neglect. +A bougainvillea vine had been allowed to grow so large that it covered +one-third of the veranda, hanging like a flowery canopy above one +portion of the garden. Along the paths oleanders were set out in +unpainted wooden tubs and the rose bushes had gone so long untrimmed +that they were now of great size and covered with tiny white and yellow +flowers.</p> + +<p>Once this garden had been carefully planned and cared for, yet, perhaps, +at present it held an even deeper charm.</p> + +<p>Naturally, soon after their arrival their host, Mr. Philip Morris, had +introduced himself and his younger companions, and Gerry Williams had +given her own and Sally's name. Gerry also had explained the +circumstances of Sally's accident and the fact that they were members of +a camping party who were spending the summer on the California coast.</p> + +<p>The young man who had originally attracted her attention proved to be +the son of Mr. Morris. In introducing him the father accorded the +Spanish pronunciation to his name, "Felipe," which he had not used with +his own.</p> + +<p>Later it developed that Felipe's mother had been Spanish and the old +ranch the property of her family from the days when California was a +province of Spain. But as she was dead it was true that at present no +woman was a member of their household.</p> + +<p>The other young fellow, Merton Anderson, was the son of a neighbor and a +guest. As he had ridden over to the Morris ranch on horseback he offered +to take back any message Sally and Gerry might care to send their +friends, for Mr. Morris insisted that Sally must not be moved again +until she had seen a physician.</p> + +<p>At last Gerry wrote a note to Mrs. Burton explaining what had occurred +and asking advice. If it were possible would she not drive over to the +ranch in her automobile and bear Sally safely back to camp?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Sacrifice of Youth</span></h3> + + +<p>About ten o'clock on the evening of the same day Mrs. Burton and Mr. +Morris were sitting before the open door of the old Spanish house +looking out over the countryside.</p> + +<p>In the neighborhood of the California coast the moonlight has a rare +brilliancy. The mists of the early morning and late afternoons usually +disappear and seem to float overhead in white and silver clouds.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind to allow us to impose upon your hospitality in this +fashion, Mr. Morris," Mrs. Burton declared, in the voice whose rare +quality gave even to her ordinary statements a charm beyond other +persons. "I don't believe I have ever seen so beautiful a view in +California as I am having from your house tonight, and yet a few hours +ago I would not have believed this possible."</p> + +<p>Immediately upon receipt of Gerry Williams' note Mrs. Burton had motored +over to the Morris ranch, using Merton Anderson as her guide. She was +anxious, of course, in regard to Sally's injuries, but anxious also to +learn the character of her rescuers. Naturally the girls could not be +allowed to remain alone over night with strangers. Unless Sally were in +a really critical condition, she could certainly be moved without +danger.</p> + +<p>Within a few minutes after Mrs. Burton's arrival at the ranch, the +physician who had been telephoned for some time before, appeared in +answer to the summons.</p> + +<p>After seeing Sally he announced that she was not seriously hurt, only +bruised and shaken, and could be moved without difficulty. Despite this +assurance, the two girls and Mrs. Burton were spending the night at the +ranch.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you appreciate, Mrs. Burton, how great a pleasure and +an honor your presence in our home is both to my son and me. We are so +far out of the world and with no women in our family are often extremely +lonely. However, we are not so remote that we have not heard of Mrs. +Burton's distinguished reputation."</p> + +<p>Mr. Morris spoke with an old-fashioned courtesy and admiration which no +one could fail to appreciate.</p> + +<p>His guest preferred not to talk of her professional life during her +summer holidays with the Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>"At least I am sure we shall never forget our own pleasure," Mrs. Burton +returned. "The fact of the matter was I discovered at once that Sally +and Gerry were determined upon remaining as soon as you and your son +were kind enough to invite us. It is my private belief that Sally even +pretended to be more seriously hurt in order to influence my decision. +She appears to be enjoying the rôle of injured heroine, and yet I can +scarcely criticise the girls, as I did not require a great deal of +persuasion."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, soon after her arrival she also had fallen a victim +to the beauty and romantic aspect of the old Spanish estate and to the +charm and hospitality of its owners. Moreover, Mrs. Burton realized that +Mr. Morris and his son were sincerely desirous of having them as guests. +Their invitation had not been merely a conventional one and the old +house seemed to possess an almost indefinite number of shabby bedrooms.</p> + +<p>With an expressive gesture of her hands Mrs. Burton suddenly arose and +walked with her host to the edge of the hill which sloped down from the +front of his house.</p> + +<p>"You are not very far out of the world when, as you tell me, the new +National Guard camp is being built on the broad mesa below you. Is it +where I see the little row of lights? Wherever our soldiers are is the +only world that is of much importance these days! I am to drive over +soon and see the new cantonment. My Camp Fire girls and I are anxious to +find out if we can be of the least possible service. Recently, for the +first time in my life, there have been moments when I was sorry to be a +woman."</p> + +<p>"And yet it is a sadder thing to be an old man, Mrs. Burton. I offered +my services at the beginning, but I am past sixty and—well—well, they +were right, of course; I am not a trained soldier and not even a +competent business man and I should only have been a nuisance."</p> + +<p>In the impetuous fashion which had always been characteristic of her +girlhood as Polly O'Neill and which she had never lost, Mrs. Burton +turned around.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is hard. Women are not soldiers at heart, in spite of those +thrilling Russian women and their great 'Battalion of Death.' We are not +intended for the actual fighting and can only do our work behind the +lines until the world is purified forever from the scourge of war. But +you have your son to take your place."</p> + +<p>For a few moments Mr. Morris made no reply. Then he replied slowly in a +tone of hesitation and of embarrassment:</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you will allow me to make a confidant of you? I am in great +trouble, Mrs. Burton, and although we were strangers before this evening +I know your life must have taught you to understand human nature. My son +does not wish to enter the war. I tried to persuade him to volunteer. He +refused. Now the draft has come and his number has been called, he is +still making every effort to escape military service, pleading exemption +upon entirely unnecessary grounds. The fact is inexplicable to me. When +my son was born my wife and I were no longer young and she died a short +time after. Felipe has grown up here with me, with his friends and his +flowers and his music, to which he is sincerely devoted, and nothing has +ever been required of him. I knew he was indolent and selfish perhaps, +but until the United States entered the war I failed to appreciate that +Felipe was not a man. Another circumstance which has added to our +difficulty, instead of clearing it away, is that Felipe and I have +recently inherited a large sum of money. Until recently, as our home +must have revealed to you, we have been poor and not very industrious. +Now our inheritance has made my son more than ever eager for a life of +ease and pleasure. He has been planning to fix up the old place until it +looks as it did many years ago. He wishes also to study singing, as he +has a really beautiful voice, and has been talking of going to Spain, +now that the other European countries are at present out of the +question. You can see I scarcely know what to do. Felipe's exemption +claim is almost sure to be denied, and yet I cannot discuss the matter +with our friends and neighbors. I do not wish to prejudice them against +my boy. What is it I can do, Mrs. Burton, when I confess to you that I +appear to have no influence with my son upon the subject of his +responsibility to his country?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton continued looking down upon the extraordinary view.</p> + +<p>The hills toward the east were black and eerie, the sea to the west a +shining mirror, with the valleys like shadows in between.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Morris, I wish you and your son would come over to our camp some +day soon," she remarked later with apparent irrelevance. "Of course I +wish you to know my sister, but I should also like you to meet her sons. +One of them, Dan Webster, is one of the finest type of American boys. He +is strong and clean and good looking and has no dearer wish in life than +to be allowed to volunteer. In another year I presume my sister will be +forced to give her consent—Dan is only seventeen at present. My other +nephew, Billy—well, I hardly know how to describe Billy, because he is +like no other human being I have ever known. He is one of the most +impossible and obstinate boys in the world, and one never knows from one +moment to the next what he is going to do or say. At present he is the +trial of all our lives at Sunrise camp; he has proclaimed himself a +pacifist, and feels called upon to convert everybody he meets. He is +filled with Tolstoi's beautiful theories of universal peace. As he is +still too young for the draft his ideas so far have not proved a serious +menace, and yet I worry over him a good deal. Nevertheless, do you know +I am not sure Billy would not be as heroic as Dan if the test ever comes +and he is once convinced peace can only follow the tragic sacrifice of +war.</p> + +<p>"I am not saying all this to you, Mr. Morris, because I am unsympathetic +about your son. It is perhaps because I believe I may understand his +attitude. Forgive me if you do not agree with me, but I wonder if we +older people are fully appreciating what tremendous sacrifices this war +is demanding of youth. We have no right to expect all of them to give up +their individual hopes and dreams for the future without hesitating and +without flinching. They cannot all be made of the blood of heroes. The +amazing fact is that so many of them have been. Personally I cannot help +being a little sorry for your son. He will do the right thing in time, I +am sure, but it cannot be easy to surrender this exquisite home and his +ambition for a musical life. Felipe is probably afflicted with the +artistic temperament, or else inspired by it, and the ways of the +artistic temperament are past finding out," Mrs. Burton concluded, +endeavoring to add a somewhat lighter tone to the conversation.</p> + +<p>Her host shook his head gravely.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, Madame, and yet I am afraid I cannot accept your +defense of my son. His ancestors were Spanish adventurers and soldiers +and my own fought with Washington. However, I shall be delighted to +visit your camp. One of the many reasons I wished to persuade you to +remain over night with us was in order that Felipe might learn to know +the girls who are with you. I fancied that he was immediately interested +in one of them. Perhaps later she may prove an inspiration, a spur to +him. American girls must have no patience with slackers these days. But +suppose we cease talking about the war which haunts us all so +everlastingly. Won't you walk with me and look at some of the other +views about the old place by moonlight?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton and her host entered the front door of the house, crossed +the large sitting room and came out upon one of the paths of the +enclosed garden.</p> + +<p>Now the air was almost suffocatingly sweet with the night fragrances of +the semi-tropical flowers.</p> + +<p>Under the deep magenta canopy of the bougainvillea vine the older woman +discovered Gerry and her younger host.</p> + +<p>Felipe Morris was holding a guitar, but for the moment he and Gerry were +quietly talking. Feeling too shaken and uncomfortable to remain out of +bed, and realizing by feminine intuition that Felipe would prefer to be +alone with Gerry, Sally Ashton had retired some time before.</p> + +<p>Now, although Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt Gerry's whispered +conversation with Felipe Morris, she did wonder a little curiously what +her influence upon the young man would be, if by chance he had been +attracted by her.</p> + +<p>There was no denying Gerry's exquisite prettiness; tonight with her pale +gold hair, her fairness and grace she seemed in tune with the beauty of +this old-world garden. Yet Mrs. Burton believed that Gerry was shallow +and vain and that her ideas of life included less of devotion to duty +and self-sacrifice than Felipe's. It was difficult to conceive of her +acting as a motive force to high endeavor, Gerry, who dreamed only of +money and pretty clothes and what she was pleased to consider "society."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Burton sighed as she followed her host into the land which lay +on the other side of the hedge. Had one the right to demand that Gerry +and Felipe think of war tonight in a shrine, dedicated like this +enclosed garden, to the service of youth and romance?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Felipe</span></h3> + + +<p>As soon as Mrs. Burton and his father were out of sight Felipe began +singing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I will make you brooches and toys for your delight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I will make a palace fit for you and me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I will make my kitchen and you shall keep your room<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And this shall be for music when no one else is near,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That only I remember, that only you admire,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then Felipe's song ended, and yet it seemed to Gerry that she could +still hear the inflections of his voice.</p> + +<p>"Thank you; that was lovely. I did not know I cared so much for music +before," the girl answered simply and without the least touch of +coquetry which one might have expected of a girl like Gerry in such +surroundings. "But what an exquisite voice you have and what a beautiful +night it is! I am sure I do not remember another half so lovely."</p> + +<p>Then Gerry leaned forward a little so that she could see more clearly +out into the garden.</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder you feel that you cannot give all this up," she +continued, with a graceful movement of her hand. "It seems to me wicked +that you should be forced into the war, hating it as you do and perhaps +spoiling your future as a singer. I agree with you, one ought to live +his own life. All men are not equally fitted to be soldiers."</p> + +<p>Gerry spoke with an unexpected vehemence which rather surprised her. For +the past hour Felipe Morris had been pouring forth his side of the war +problem to her, but as he was an entire stranger there was no especial +reason why she should be so disturbed over the thought of his being +forced to enter the army.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I understand why you so hate giving up your home and your +life here on the ranch and your music and all the rest, because I have +never had a home of my own, or any possessions of much value," Gerry +ended in a quieter voice and manner.</p> + +<p>"You possess nothing of value!" Felipe Morris repeated, and although he +said nothing more Gerry felt oddly flattered and happy.</p> + +<p>Then Felipe laughed unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you realize, Miss Williams, that we have seen each other +before tonight, probably about ten days or more ago? My friend Merton +Anderson and I chanced to be spending the night at San Juan Capistrano +when you and your friends rode into the old mission town. You don't know +how much curiosity your appearance excited. You gave the old town the +greatest thrill it has had in a long time. You see the little town is +more than half foreign; there are Spaniards and Mexicans and half-breed +Indians. You were dressed in a kind of compromise Indian costume, and +down there we had never seen or heard of the Camp Fire. Merton and I hid +ourselves on one of the verandas and sang a duet for your benefit. Then +later, when it was too dark for us to see one another distinctly, we +followed your party about the mission grounds."</p> + +<p>Gerry frowned and then blushed a little from embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Were you wearing Mexican costumes? I confess Sally and I did become +interested in you, but we supposed of course that you were either +Mexicans or Spaniards. Your song was in Spanish so that we could not +understand it."</p> + +<p>"Shall I sing to you in Spanish now?" Felipe returned. "I speak the +language as readily as I do English. You see my mother was of Spanish +origin and she and an old nurse who lives near here always spoke in +Spanish to me when I was a kid. You were right about the Mexican +costumes. Anderson and I had been over into Mexico for a few days and +were on our way home. I like to escape over there now and then when +life at the ranch becomes too slow. I can be mistaken for a Mexican when +I wish and it is sometimes amusing."</p> + +<p>Gerry nodded, preferring to have Felipe talk to her rather than to offer +him confidences. Oddly she was wishing tonight that she had read as many +books as the other Camp Fire girls and had enjoyed the same advantages.</p> + +<p>"Then you saw all seven of us at Capistrano?" she asked at length; +adding, "There are five other girls in our Camp Fire group."</p> + +<p>Felipe laughed. "Yes, I saw all of you, yet it was you alone I +remembered," he murmured with true Spanish gallantry.</p> + +<p>"Thank you for that compliment, although obviously I fished for it," +Gerry returned, smiling. "But won't you tell me, now that the draft has +been ordered and your number called, how are you going to manage to +escape? Of course I shall not speak to any one else of what you tell +me."</p> + +<p>"I am glad enough to tell you," Felipe Morris continued boyishly. "You +can't imagine how hard it has been to have no one to sympathize with +me. I have wished many times since war was declared that my mother was +alive and I could have talked the situation over with her. My father, as +I told you, is dead against me. He thinks I am a renegade and a disgrace +to him and to his name, and a lot of stuff like that. It seems his +brothers all fought in the Civil War and were officers and it has been +the regret of his life he was too young. I wish he had the chance +offered him now instead of me," he concluded like a surly boy, with all +his gallantry departed.</p> + +<p>"But what are you going to do?" Gerry insisted, her interest in him +remaining so far unaffected by his attitude.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am too plagued healthy, so the doctor won't help me out. I hoped +to be released on the score of ill health at first. But later I sent in +a claim saying I could not be released for war service because I was the +sole support of my parent and had to be left here to look after the +ranch. I don't see why raising beans cannot be considered war work? +Father insists he can run the place himself and I am afraid he won't +stand by me when the exemption board asks him concerning the truth of +my claim. Pretty tough when a fellow's own father is anxious to get him +off his hands to the extent of possibly being killed."</p> + +<p>Felipe laid his guitar down on the piazza and in spite of the fact that +he must have been at least twenty-two or twenty-three years old, Gerry +found herself with a ridiculous desire to comfort him.</p> + +<p>"It is just a difference of opinion," she said softly. "I don't believe +if I were you I would blame my father, and he should have the same +respect for you. I never thought of the question before, but I have +decided tonight I do not believe in the draft. Isn't there anything else +you can do, if this one exemption claim fails?"</p> + +<p>Felipe Morris rose up, shrugging his shoulders impatiently. He was so +foreign in his appearance that the movement seemed natural.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I can slip away into Mexico and remain until the war is over. +I have been thinking of it as a possibility. But of course if I am +caught I shall be put into prison as a deserter."</p> + +<p>Then he stood gazing down upon Gerry with a bewildered expression.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why I have entrusted my fate to you in this fashion? You +understand that if you should ever tell what I have confided to you, +things would be all over with me."</p> + +<p>Gerry also rose. "Shall we walk about your garden for a little?" she +said. "I am tired of sitting still so long. I expect Mrs. Burton will be +here in a little time and think we should go to bed. But you need not +worry with regard to my ever mentioning a word of what you have said to +me—not under any possible circumstances."</p> + +<p>Then as they wandered about the tiny garden Felipe gathered a bunch of +the small white and yellow roses.</p> + +<p>"Keep these in your room tonight."</p> + +<p>Afterwards discovering that Mrs. Burton and his father had returned to +the garden and were coming toward them, he added hurriedly:</p> + +<p>"Tell me, please, when and where I can see you again, alone? It has +meant so much to me to be able to talk to you so freely and I have an +idea we are going to be friends."</p> + +<p>"But you have agreed to come over to our camp," Gerry answered, feeling +at the same time that she would like selfishly to preserve Felipe's +interest entirely for herself. Of course when he was introduced to the +other Camp Fire girls he would naturally take less pleasure in her +society.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed, I am coming to your camp. Anderson and I would not +miss the opportunity for a good deal. But I want to see you by yourself, +not with a dozen other people chattering around. Surely you can manage +to make an engagement to see me alone. You would if you liked me half as +much as I do you."</p> + +<p>Again Felipe spoke like a spoiled boy, but Gerry had no time to reply, +for at this instant Mrs. Burton and Mr. Morris reached them.</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, she had a distinct sense of relief as, slipping her arm +inside her Camp Fire guardian's, together they said their formal +good-nights.</p> + +<p>Already Felipe Morris was demanding more of Gerry than either of them +realized.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Cantonment</span></h3> + + +<p>A few days after their visit at the ranch, arrangements were made for +Mrs. Burton and members of her party to drive over to the new cantonment +which was situated on a broad mesa not many miles away.</p> + +<p>Gerry Williams announced that because of the dust and discomfort she +preferred being left behind.</p> + +<p>Sally Ashton also declined, stating that she was not well enough to +consider undertaking the long drive and then being forced to walk about +over whatever portion of the camp they were permitted to inspect. After +her mishap, which Sally considered no one had regarded with sufficient +seriousness, she had acquired a prejudice against excursions of any +character.</p> + +<p>Sally's attitude the Camp Fire guardian understood, although she was +somewhat puzzled by Gerry Williams, as always before Gerry had been +enthusiastic over change and excitement. One would have supposed that +among all the girls she would have been most interested in the new war +camp and the possibility of seeing and meeting the young American +soldiers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster would not consider the trip, feeling that her heart would +only be torn by the sight of so many war preparations, and more if she +should chance to come in contact with an unusually homesick boy. Her +sister could bring back word of whatever she could actually <i>do</i> to be +of service, since often enough she was the pioneer who went forth in +search of new ideas which Mrs. Webster put into execution.</p> + +<p>Dan Webster was of course essential to the expedition, as he was +chauffeur. Billy was not only invited, but Mrs. Burton insisted upon his +accompanying them after he had very generously demurred, saying there +was no reason why he should crowd the others when he really was not +interested in war camps. She hoped, however, that the sight of the +cantonment might exert either a mental or a spiritual influence upon +him.</p> + +<p>It was possible to manage eight in the car, although ordinarily it held +but seven, yet one was willing to be a little inconvenienced under the +circumstances, so the five girls, Vera Lagerloff, Bettina Graham, Alice +Ashton, Marta Clark and Peggy Webster also accompanied Mrs. Burton.</p> + +<p>The first part of the drive followed the now familiar line of the shore. +Yet the outlook was never the same! Now and then one would see a heron +or sand crane standing upon one leg near the water, apparently lost in +immortal thought; sea gulls were dipping in and out, or else riding +serenely on the waves; occasionally a buzzard, grim as Odin, soared +overhead.</p> + +<p>Once Marta Clark, who was on the front seat with Dan, gave a cry of +surprise. She had discovered that what she supposed a great bird winging +its flight over their car, was in reality an aeroplane on a long +practice flight from North Island.</p> + +<p>Finally leaving the coast, the automobile began a long climb over an +undulating line of hills. The hills were bare except for occasional +bunches of cacti and bushes of bright yellow tar weed. There were acres +and acres of sage brush, sometimes a field of wild buckwheat and once in +a while a small grove of live oak shrubs or of red and blue gum trees.</p> + +<p>The mesa upon which the new cantonment was springing up like a magic +city was a great desert of sand and sage. For years the thousands of +acres had been of no use because of the lack of water. Now great +irrigating ditches had been laid and the camp was being plentifully +supplied with water by the city of San Diego.</p> + +<p>The surroundings of the camp were cheerless enough, it is true, yet +there was nothing cheerless in the atmosphere of the place itself. Even +as the Camp Fire party approached they felt the undercurrent of the fine +new force, the splendid vitality which the war has awakened in the +world.</p> + +<p>A sentry ordered Dan to stop his car within a few yards of the officers' +quarters and Mrs. Burton was told that she must receive an official +permit for their inspection of certain features of the camp.</p> + +<p>From inside the little house, which looked like a miniature bungalow of +unpainted pine, one heard the noise, not of the rattle of musketry, but +the endless tip, tap, tap of many typewriters.</p> + +<p>Captain Mason, who had been told of Mrs. Burton's intended visit, came +out to greet her and her party.</p> + +<p>He explained that just at present there were only a few hundred soldiers +within the cantonment, although they were expecting many thousands +within the next few weeks.</p> + +<p>An army of workmen were at present engaged in preparing the way for the +coming of the soldiers and the big artillery.</p> + +<p>Strolling apart from the other laborers and still carrying a large +hammer, Mr. Jefferson Simpson, the late Camp Fire guide, philosopher and +friend, walked over to speak to Mrs. Burton and her companions. He +offered no explanation for his presence at the camp, but it was obvious +he had concluded that his efforts here were of more importance than his +previous occupation. The Sunrise Camp Fire had always considered his +remaining with them for so long a time an obvious absurdity and presumed +that it was because of Mr. Simpson's continuing interest in Marie, +although he had paid no attention to her since the breaking of their +engagement.</p> + +<p>But apparently his leading motive in life was to discover the number and +variety of vocations in which he could engage.</p> + +<p>After receiving a written order from the commanding officer for the day, +Captain Mason led the way with Mrs. Burton walking beside him.</p> + +<p>They were to be allowed to see only places of minor importance, the +temporary tents and mess room, the Y. M. C. A. quarters. Mrs. Burton had +explained that one of the chief reasons for their visit was a desire to +find out how they might be of service in even the smallest possible way.</p> + + +<p>"You see, Captain Mason," she suggested, "we are living for the present +not far behind the lines of this American war camp. In a different sense +every woman and girl in our country should be a reserve soldier behind +the lines until the war is over. One need not wear a uniform, or carry a +gun to serve! Our American Camp Fire girls feel that they ought to be +able to give as valuable service to the country as the Boy Scouts. I +confess we have not yet altogether found our way."</p> + +<p>By this time Mrs. Burton and Captain Mason had reached the Red Cross +tent and now had paused for a moment outside to wait for the five girls +and Dan and Billy Webster to join them.</p> + +<p>Captain Mason nodded, waving his hand toward the open flap of the tent.</p> + +<p>"You can help us keep our boys amused. I tell you that is the greatest +problem we older officers have to meet with young, untrained soldiers. +Discipline is comparatively easy, for few of the boys resent it; but +look in there!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton did look, while Bettina and Marta and Peggy, who were +nearest, also gazed in over her shoulders.</p> + +<p>Several soldiers were sitting by a long board table looking at a pile of +magazines, not because they were interested, but plainly because they +had nothing else on earth they could think of to do.</p> + +<p>On a raised platform a phonograph was playing an Italian love song. Some +one must have started it, although at present no one apparently was +listening to the music.</p> + +<p>Several of the soldiers were writing letters, others were yawning and +half lying down on the hard wooden benches, bored and listless and +homesick.</p> + + +<p>Hearing voices outside the Y.M.C.A. tent, one young officer, who also +had been writing, lifted his eyes.</p> + +<p>The same instant Bettina Graham walked quickly inside the tent, holding +out her hand.</p> + +<p>"Why, here is my lieutenant!" she exclaimed. "May I call you my +lieutenant, although Marta Clark will dispute the title? For I did reach +you first after your accident and it is my first-aid treatment you seem +to have survived. I did not know you had arrived at this cantonment, +Lieutenant Carson. I do hope you have entirely recovered."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Plans</span></h3> + + +<p>One afternoon, after resting for an hour or more, Mrs. Burton appeared +at her little front door, wondering why she was encompassed by so +unusual a silence.</p> + +<p>The fact that at present the Sunrise camp was situated several miles +from any other human habitation, with the sea stretching before it and a +great ranch as its background, did not ordinarily insure it an essential +silence. As a matter of fact, there were generally nine youthful +persons, engaged in strenuous occupations of one kind or another, in its +immediate vicinity.</p> + +<p>This afternoon Mrs. Burton discovered that they had withdrawn to some +distance from the camping grounds.</p> + +<p>A camp fire was burning and the girls were seated about it in ceremonial +fashion, with Mrs. Webster also forming one of the group. A little +further off her two sons were characteristically engaged, Dan in +bringing small pieces of driftwood up from the shore and Billy in lying +upon his back, gazing toward the sky.</p> + +<p>In truth only their Camp Fire guardian appeared deliberately to have +been left out of the gathering.</p> + + +<p>Mrs. Burton suffered a distinct sensation of aggrievement.</p> + +<p>Evidently the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls were deep in a consultation +of some important character, so that it seemed scarcely fair that they +should have ignored her completely.</p> + +<p>Not wishing to go back into her room, which had grown a little close, +and yet not desiring to interrupt the proceedings, from which her +presence had been so carefully excluded, Mrs. Burton hesitated a moment +just outside her house. If she were seen wandering about nearby, as a +matter of good manners she would have to be invited to the camp fire. +With Mrs. Webster already there, she had not the excuse that her +presence might be necessary. Often the girls seemed to prefer giving her +sister their confidence.</p> + +<p>At this instant one of the Camp Fire group observed her and gave the +information to the others. Peggy began beckoning violently, while +Bettina Graham and Marta Clark both jumped up and were coming toward +her.</p> + +<p>"You are lazy, Tante, we have been waiting for you to wake up for ages!" +Bettina remarked, slipping her arm through the older woman's. She was +several inches taller than her Camp Fire guardian, and oftentimes at a +distance Mrs. Burton was mistaken for another girl, she was so slender +and so youthfully and ardently alive both in body and spirit.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you seem to have been tremendously anxious for my society," she +returned in the voice and manner both Bettina and Peggy understood. If +the other Camp Fire girls were at times a little in awe of their famous +guardian, Peggy and Bettina appreciated that she was much like other +persons and now and then behaved like a somewhat spoiled young girl. +Certainly she never regarded her own achievements as placing her upon a +pedestal.</p> + +<p>From her present speech and manner Bettina realized that she was both +jealous and hurt over their apparent disregard of her, for she had an +almost ridiculous craving for affection as an ordinary human being, +caring but little for the admiration which was a tribute to her as an +artist rather than a woman.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless Bettina laughed in an entirely unsympathetic fashion.</p> + +<p>"Well, we did wish to discuss something before you put in an appearance, +but now the discussion has been over for some time, we very much desire +your society. Yet only if you are amiable, because just at this time it +is enormously important that you should be."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton frowned and then laughed, a little teased by Bettina's too +evident understanding of her state of mind.</p> + +<p>Marta Clark said nothing. She had not yet acquired the habit of +regarding her Camp Fire guardian in any spirit save one of devoted +admiration. But Marta was the latest of the group of Sunrise Camp Fire +girls and of necessity knew her less well than the others. Moreover, +Marta also dreamed of a future dramatic career and it was not so easy +to take simply the one woman who personified her own ideals.</p> + +<p>In the circle on the ground Peggy Webster had arranged a leather cushion +ornamented with Camp Fire designs as a seat of honor for their guardian +when she finally arrived.</p> + +<p>Sitting down, Mrs. Burton clasped her hands over her knees, gazing +curiously around.</p> + +<p>"Is this a conspiracy or rebellion, or a plot?" she demanded. "It seems +to me, Mollie Webster, not only because you are my sister, but because +we alone belong to the same generation, that you at least should not +have been one of the conspirators."</p> + +<p>Like the proverbial Charlotte in "Wilhelm Meister," who went on cutting +bread and butter, Mrs. Webster, without replying, continued knitting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, our plot is not dangerous, or at least we do not think it is, +although you may feel differently," Peggy Webster announced, to whom the +task of imparting the information evidently had been awarded. "We have +merely been discussing the idea of forming a Camp Fire branch to the War +Camp Recreation League. You remember this League is to do whatever is +possible for the entertainment of the soldiers and we talked of our +share in it after our visit to the war camp the other day."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton appeared slightly suspicious.</p> + +<p>"I also remember, Peggy, that it was agreed I was to be allowed to +choose what form our activities should take. Moreover, whatever plan +presented itself to us was first to be submitted to an officer at camp +to find out if the plan met with military approval. Camp Fire girls, +however clever, are scarcely the proper persons to decide upon the ways +and means for providing entertainment for our American soldiers, +valuable as their aid may be in the entertainment itself. But there, +forgive me, I do not intend being disagreeable, and I have no doubt you +have thought up some thrilling scheme! Only why not wait until our +little dinner party and dance for the soldiers tomorrow evening is over +before we precipitate ourselves into a fresh undertaking?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, our party is just a <i>small</i> matter compared to the plan we have +been working out this afternoon," Peggy continued, refusing to be +snubbed or argued into silence. "Our idea is that if we are to become a +branch of the War Recreation Fund Committee we must raise money for the +organization. We wish to give a play and present to the fund whatever +money we make."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton shook her head. "Give a play out here in this +semi-wilderness? Well, the idea is agreeable enough if you wish to amuse +yourselves, but how you expect to make money or secure an audience is +beyond my imagination! However, if you have set your hearts upon the +scheme and think it would amuse you, do as you like. I only ask to be +left out altogether. Remember, I am resting from a histrionic career."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton made a movement as if she contemplated leaving, but Peggy +resolutely held her in her place.</p> + +<p>"We <i>do</i> expect you to help; more, we expect you to be almost the entire +thing!" Bettina interrupted with more vigor than clearness. "We are not +contemplating a silly little amateur performance here at camp; we have +more important things to interest us. We wish to give a real play at +that exquisite open-air theater near the seaside resort that we saw the +other day on our drive. Ever since then Marta and Peggy and I have been +dreaming of little else and talking of little else to the other girls +until now they are as enthusiastic as we are. It was Marta Clark who +actually put our present scheme into our minds, and she merely spoke of +how much she would enjoy seeing you act outdoors in so lovely a place."</p> + +<p>"I am sure Marta is very kind," Mrs. Burton answered, but without +revealing a profound appreciation of the compliment. "But don't be +foolish, please. You know I try to do whatever is possible toward making +our summers together happy and satisfying. Yet one of my chief reasons +for living outdoors is to have a complete rest from my work and to get +away from the whole thought of it as much as possible. I have given all +the money to war causes I can afford at present. Later I shall do more, +of course——"</p> + +<p>"That is just the point," Peggy interrupted. "If people out here in +California learn you are to appear in an outdoor performance, they will +positively flock to see you. You know you could earn a lot of money for +the Recreation Fund, besides we all think it would be great fun to act +with you and have already selected the play that would be the most +interesting to produce."</p> + +<p>"Really, Peggy, I think you have gone somewhat too far," Mrs. Burton +answered, although with a slightly dazed expression. "I don't believe I +have ever had a theatrical manager who made every arrangement, even to +selecting the play in which I was to appear, without consulting me. The +whole thing is preposterous. Mollie, I really cannot understand your +allowing the girls to become so absorbed in such a nonsensical project! +I think you might have spared me the difficulty of refusing."</p> + +<p>"But you don't appear to be having any difficulty in refusing, Polly," +Mrs. Webster answered with her usual placidity. Nevertheless, she +realized how greatly this same placidity annoyed her beloved twin +sister in moments of agitation. "Yet I am sorry that I agreed to permit +the girls to broach the subject to you, since the idea seems to trouble +you so much. Personally I am afraid I also found the idea charming. You +have not acted for a long time and many of your friends are giving +theatrical benefits for the Red Cross or some war need. The girls +thought they would like to present 'As You Like It,' with you as +<i>Rosalind</i>; you know you have played <i>Rosalind</i> dozens of times before. +The open-air theater would make an exquisite Forest of Arden. Besides, I +am sure our present group of Camp Fire girls could not act, so poorly as +you used to, now and then, in private theatricals in the old days. You +know, my dear, none of us imagined then that you were to turn out a +genius."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton flushed. "No one imagines it now, Mollie." She answered with +obvious irritability. Then her manner became more apologetic:</p> + +<p>"You girls are not angry with me for refusing?"</p> + +<p>Wisely Peggy shook her head, "No, we are only disappointed."</p> + +<p>Then everybody in the little company remained silent for several +moments, which was a most unusual state of affairs among the Sunrise +Hill Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>Plainly Mrs. Burton suffered from the depressing influence, for suddenly +she got up.</p> + +<p>"Please leave me alone for a little while. I must think the question +over?" she announced, as if she had not already issued her ultimatum. +The next moment she turned away and walked down toward the beach.</p> + +<p>"What do you think Tante will decide, Mother?" Peggy anxiously inquired.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster shook her head. "My dear, Polly and I are twins, and I have +known her ever since I have known anything. But to tell beforehand how +she will make up her mind upon any subject is beyond me. I am a little +sorry we have made this request of her. She takes her work so seriously, +and after all she is doing so much for us without the addition of this."</p> + +<p>At this instant a cool voice was heard speaking in the background.</p> + +<p>The voice was Billy Webster's.</p> + +<p>"I believe Tante will have the time of her life acting with you girls, +of course she will consent, although probably no one else on earth with +her reputation would take such a risk."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Dance</span></h3> + + +<p>The next day Mrs. Burton announced that having written her husband she +would await his reply before reaching an absolutely definite decision in +regard to their presentation of "As You Like It." In the meantime she +insisted that the whole question of the performance be neither thought +of nor discussed.</p> + +<p>Appreciating that he had grown too old to make a valuable soldier and +yet unwilling to be left out of war service, Mrs. Burton's husband, +Richard Burton, had taken the necessary examinations and had received a +commission in the Ordnance Department. He was now stationed at a +southern camp.</p> + +<p>Despite the Camp Fire guardian's request, there was a good deal of +speculation among the girls concerning the possible outcome of their +hopes. During the following day they were too much absorbed by the +prospect immediately before them to give much time to the consideration +of the future.</p> + +<p>Having arranged a small dance and invited a number of soldiers from the +nearby camp to be their guests, the girls had promised to do whatever +work was necessary for their entertainment. This included the cooking of +the party food as well as the other arrangements. But by this time, +after several summers of camping life, each girl considered that she had +become an artist in the preparation of one or more superior dishes.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily the most indolent of the girls, on occasions of especial +festivity Sally Ashton always assumed supreme command of the cooking. It +was Sally who, with Gerry and Vera as her assistants, made both the +bread and cake, articles of food of particular importance.</p> + +<p>In the present ménu she was especially interested, as recently she had +been experimenting with a number of new war recipes, finding them +extremely successful. Now Sally wished to repeat the recipes for a +larger company than their Camp Fire group.</p> + +<p>Having by this time recovered from her accident, secretly Sally Ashton +felt that she was being repaid for what she had suffered. She had +secured a very agreeable new acquaintance, who showed the symptoms Sally +so well understood of becoming one of her many admirers. The young man +was Merton Anderson, who had been a guest at the Morris ranch and had +ridden over to camp with the news of the accident.</p> + +<p>Since then, with Mr. Morris and Felipe Morris, he had made several calls +upon Mrs. Burton and ostensibly upon her group of Camp Fire girls. +However, after Merton Anderson's first visit, Sally appreciated that the +rest of his calls were due to her presence. No one could have explained +how she managed, not even Sally herself, yet she had a fashion of seeing +and conquering almost immediately both young men and old. No one ever +observed her making an effort to attract attention. She was even +unusually demure; nevertheless the attraction was going on in a subtle +and scientific fashion.</p> + +<p>Of Felipe Morris' attitude toward her, Gerry Williams was by no means so +assured. Not since their original meeting at his home had she an +opportunity of speaking to him alone, nor had she made the effort to +secure such an opportunity. For some reason Gerry felt a certain shyness +toward her new acquaintance, almost as if she were afraid of the +influence he might be able to exert upon her.</p> + +<p>Certainly she had no idea of making an appointment to meet him anywhere +alone. Apart from the fact that Mrs. Burton would not approve, Gerry had +been trained in a sufficiently hard school of experience to recognize +the lack of wisdom in such a proceeding. If she wished Felipe to like +her especially, and she was by no means sure at this time that she did +wish it, then she must not allow herself to become cheapened in his +eyes. Social conventions Gerry understood were of value and more +especially to a girl in her position. However, Felipe had appeared to be +courteous, although extraordinarily determined upon securing his own +way.</p> + +<p>In return for their kindness and also because she liked both young men, +Mrs. Burton had invited Felipe Morris and Merton Anderson to their Camp +Fire entertainment. The entertainment was to be more than an ordinary +dance, since the guests had been invited to a swimming party in the +afternoon, then dinner and the dance later.</p> + + +<p>Since the girls were to spend a portion of the afternoon in swimming, +most of the preparations for their party necessarily had to be made +beforehand. Mrs. Webster had promised to look after final details, and +also there was Marie, who was temperamental, but who could be relied +upon to accomplish marvels when she was in the proper mood. Since the +entry of the United States into the war, Marie, who was an ardent French +woman, had adopted the American soldier as her especial protégé.</p> + +<p>Moreover, on the morning before their dance Alice Ashton and Peggy +Webster had motored into town, purchasing the provisions they considered +too troublesome to prepare. They bought two roast hams and a roast of +beef and half a dozen varieties of fruit. Their ménu was to consist of +cold meats, baked beans, which were a Camp Fire speciality, roast +potatoes and corn, which could be cooked over the outdoor fire, +cornbread, fruit salad, coffee and cake.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon the girls were to wear their Camp Fire bathing suits, +but at night they had concluded to appear in white dresses, with their +honor beads, almost as beautiful and as effective as jewels.</p> + +<p>The ceremonial Camp Fire costumes were somewhat too heavy and too warm +for dancing on a midsummer night in a semi-tropical land.</p> + +<p>The girls were naturally a trifle shy over the prospect of guests, +nearly all of whom were complete strangers. Among them were only two +with whom they had any previous acquaintance. They were Lieutenant +Geoffrey Carson and Private George Ferguson, the soldiers who were aided +after an accident in their motor car, by the Camp Fire girls during +their riding trip down the coast.</p> + +<p>Two of the soldiers were members of one of the regimental bands and had +promised to play for the dancers, since the girls possessed only a +much-used victrola and were too far off in the country to be able to +engage the services of professional musicians.</p> + +<p>No dance could have been less conventional, when for one thing the +white, smooth sands of the beach below the camp were to serve as the +ballroom floor.</p> + +<p>Truly here indeed were the colors of romance, the moon and the sea, +youth and a wind-swept shore!</p> + +<p>That night, dancing with Felipe Morris, Gerry believed that she had +never been so happy.</p> + +<p>With his Southern ancestry and musical gifts, naturally Felipe was a +wonderful dancer, possessing an almost perfect sense of rhythm and time.</p> + +<p>On one occasion Gerry and Felipe discovered that they were actually +dancing alone, their companions having stopped for a moment to watch +them. Then they were only brought to a realization of what had taken +place by hearing Mrs. Burton cry: "Bravo!" and afterwards the applause +of a dozen pairs of hands.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">On One Occasion Gerry and Felipe Discovered that They +were Actually Dancing Alone</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>A little while before Felipe had lifted their right arms and he and +Gerry had danced in and out in semi-circles until they formed the petals +of a flower; reaching the center they revolved slowly in a circle, until +almost ceasing to move.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton decided that seldom had she seen a more enchanting +picture—Gerry with her delicate blonde prettiness, Felipe Morris so +complete a contrast. But then a great deal may have been due to the +effect of the outdoor scene and the moonlight!</p> + +<p>Before midnight, after dancing for several hours and after their long +afternoon swim, the dancers must have grown weary, for they wandered off +and sat down in little groups on the sand.</p> + +<p>This was Gerry's and Felipe's opportunity, for at once Felipe led her to +a place where they were in sight of the others and yet where they could +not be overheard.</p> + +<p>The rock Felipe had chosen rose above an amethyst carpet of sea verbena +where Gerry sat enthroned while he lay down on the floral carpet.</p> + +<p>Felipe could adopt an attitude of careless grace with more assurance +than the usual American youth. Indeed, he looked utterly unlike any of +the other young men who were the guests of the Camp Fire girls this +night.</p> + +<p>They wore their uniforms and were bronzed and fit.</p> + +<p>At this time the soldiers of the National Guard were beginning slowly to +fill their new military camps, as they were to be the first regiments +ordered to France after the regular army had crossed. The drafted men +were not yet ready for service. During this memorable first summer, +after the entry of the United States into the war, the lists of the +drafted men were being prepared with great difficulty.</p> + +<p>Therefore no one of the soldier guests questioned Felipe Morris' +position. It was presumed that he and Merton Anderson were in the +attitude of waiting for their call to the colors.</p> + +<p>Among the small company only Gerry and Mrs. Burton and Merton Anderson +were aware of Felipe's attempt to claim exemption. Naturally the matter +was not one that he cared to discuss with strangers, and more especially +not with young men near his own age, who had volunteered rather than +wait for the drafting.</p> + +<p>However, Felipe was at present pleasantly sure of Gerry's sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Fine looking soldiers, our American warriors!" he began in a lazy, +good-humored tone, which nevertheless held a slight suggestion of +disparagement. "I suppose one ought to rejoice that there are some men +among us who have the masculine passion for fighting so long as the +Kaiser's Huns are still abroad in the world. But personally I don't feel +I should make a success as a soldier."</p> + +<p>Such a conversation would not have made the slightest impression upon +any one of the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls except Gerry.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that Felipe preferred some one else to shoulder his +responsibility and do his duty. Selfishness is neither original nor +unique!</p> + +<p>But Gerry was not given to deep reflection and was already more under +her companion's influence than she realized.</p> + +<p>"When are we going to have a meeting together somewhere off to +ourselves?" Felipe asked. "There are so many things I want to talk to +you about; it is tantalizing to see you for only a few moments at a time +now and then. Why can't you come over and stay again at the ranch? My +father does nothing but read war news all day and either Shakespeare or +Cervantes in the evening, so we would be virtually alone."</p> + +<p>The prospect sounded alluring to Gerry, nevertheless she slowly shook +her head.</p> + +<p>"I should like it, of course," she answered, smiling and showing her +small but very regular white teeth, "only, like a good many other +pleasant things in this world, it is out of the question for me. I +cannot stay at your home alone with just your father and yourself. +Besides, your father would never think of inviting me, and although I +should enjoy seeing you alone at some other time, I am afraid even that +is impossible. Mrs. Burton would not——"</p> + +<p>Here Felipe laughed in a teasing fashion.</p> + +<p>"Is this the vaunted freedom of the American girl? I thought only the +other evening you confided to me that you had always been forced to +depend upon yourself ever since you were a little girl and that there +had been no one in your life who had ever influenced your decisions! Now +you speak of Mrs. Burton as if you were a tiny school girl. Let me +assure you—if assurance be necessary—that I intended nothing wicked or +even unconventional. I only wished you to take a walk with me some +afternoon, or a sail. I have a motor boat, and there are hours when the +sea is not rough. As a matter of fact, I meant to ask Mrs. Burton's +permission, in case I had your consent first. Mrs. Burton strikes me as +a charming person and not one who would be too strict a chaperon. +Naturally, as I have spent all my life in this neighborhood, I know the +attractive parts of the country."</p> + +<p>Felipe's tone was not so much annoyed as it was patronizing, and Gerry +accepted it in this spirit.</p> + +<p>She disliked making social mistakes, and she had had so little social +training and experience that she was apt to regard her mistakes as of +more importance than they actually were.</p> + +<p>Now she supposed that she had misunderstood Felipe from the beginning +and that her own stupidity had been at fault. So she replied somewhat +humbly:</p> + +<p>"I am sorry. If Mrs. Burton is willing, of course I shall enjoy walking +or sailing with you. But don't let me keep you away from the other +girls too long tonight. Suppose we walk over and join Mrs. Burton."</p> + +<p>As if she intended rising, Gerry made a slight movement. Her companion +did not stir.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, please, I am afraid you are angry," he returned. "I do wish I +had my guitar with me; I should like to sing to you. Mrs. Burton asked +me to bring it over tonight, but I had rather not sing before the +others."</p> + +<p>So Gerry stayed on and allowed Felipe to talk, while she said little in +reply, only glancing now and then from the figure at her feet to the +beauty of the moonlit ocean. Vaguely she wondered why she had always +been convinced she did not care for the outdoor world. It was stupid +never to have realized its loveliness until tonight!</p> + +<p>But, while Gerry and Felipe were having their talk together, only a +short distance away Lieutenant Geoffrey Carson and Bettina Graham were +engaged in a very different character of conversation.</p> + +<p>It chanced that Lieutenant Carson, who was a Virginian, had an uncle +who had been a representative in Congress for a number of years. Having +visited his uncle, Lieutenant Carson had not only heard of Bettina's +distinguished father, but had met him and knew of his effort to persuade +his country to take her high place among the nations in the fight for a +world-wide democracy.</p> + +<p>So, since Bettina Graham's father was her idol, she experienced none of +her customary shyness in talking to the young National Guard officer. +She had liked him in their former meetings, not resenting his quiet +sense of humor, a contrast to her own seriousness.</p> + +<p>"Then you are in absolute sympathy with our having entered the war, +Lieutenant Carson?" Bettina inquired, adding: "I think I always have +been—and yet now and then one cannot help feeling that all war must be +wrong."</p> + +<p>Before the young officer could reply, they heard some one approaching +and glancing up Bettina discovered Billy Webster.</p> + +<p>The next moment, without awaiting their invitation, Billy took a seat on +the sands beside them.</p> + +<p>Bettina was not surprised, for few persons who knew Billy intimately +continued to be surprised by his unexpected actions. Indeed, they would +have been surprised had he behaved otherwise. Now, although Bettina was +a little annoyed at having her conversation interrupted, she made no +effort to interfere with his intention.</p> + +<p>The turning of Billy Webster from the accomplishment of his desire +required a tremendous amount of energy which the result scarcely ever +justified.</p> + +<p>So far as Lieutenant Carson was concerned, because Billy looked so much +younger than he actually was, he regarded him merely as a presuming +small boy.</p> + +<p>Moreover, at the beginning of their talk, certainly Billy behaved like +one. First he stared at Lieutenant Carson's dress uniform, with the +single bar on his collar and sleeve and then up into the officer's firm, +smooth-shaven face. Finally, leaning over close to his companion, he +fastened his large visionary blue eyes upon the officer's steadfast +brown ones.</p> + +<p>"Why did you do it?" Billy inquired. Then, because he was accustomed to +being compelled to explain himself, he continued: "I mean why did you +volunteer, why go through all the hard work and rigmarole to be +appointed an officer in the army? You look as if you had an unusual lot +of sense, so I cannot imagine that you do not understand there are finer +things to do with one's life than killing people. I should think <i>you</i> +could see how much more men are called upon to conquer poverty and +injustice and the crime that comes of it, than they are called upon to +conquer one another. Of course if you had been drafted that would have +been a different matter. Most people do what other people tell them to +do. That is why I believe if all the leaders of the world would preach +peace, all war would end."</p> + +<p>Instead of appearing to take the youthful pacifist seriously, Lieutenant +Carson smiled. Billy was a little offensive and misguided, nevertheless +there was something interesting about the boy; he had such an intense +manner, such an appearance of being convinced of his own point of view. +And Billy's personality suggested the thinker, not the man of action.</p> + +<p>"Then you are under the impression we are over there in our encampment +for the fun of it and in order to kill time which we might be spending +in better ways?" he inquired, thinking that perhaps he might answer +Bettina's anxious questionings and Billy's impertinence at the same +time. "Well, as a matter of fact, our encampment is not a very +attractive place up to the present. Did you think so when you made us +the visit? One job we have been tackling recently is to clear away the +underbrush from a good many thousands of acres of desert which have +remained undisturbed from the year one until now. We killed ninety +rattlesnakes as a part of the first day's work. Later on we are going to +drive artillery across those wastes of sand. Does not sound like play, +does it?"</p> + +<p>"No," Billy returned patiently, wondering why people would not sometimes +answer his questions directly, without first preaching long sermons +which seemed to have but little bearing upon them.</p> + +<p>"It is because I think a soldier's life is so hard and must be so +distasteful to a lot of men that I wonder why you would rather give +your energy to fighting than to trying to make the world happier and +wiser in other ways."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Carson frowned. He knew the things Billy was saying were +being said by a good many people the world over, who were older and +wiser, or who should have been wiser, than Billy. But he also realized +that these same sentiments were not easy to answer, because they had in +them so much of the germ of truth, which was to blossom and flower at +some future day.</p> + +<p>Moreover, unexpectedly he experienced an impulse to help the boy to see +the present world struggle in a clearer light.</p> + +<p>"Billy," he added, "you will agree with me, won't you, that pretty +nearly everybody is saying the same thing these days? We all claim that +we wish the world to enjoy universal peace, that we long for greater +justice and happiness and a deeper sense of brotherhood. There is only +one point that divides you and me just at present. We all want peace, +but some of us want it so much that we are willing to pay for it by the +final last sacrifice of our youth and our blood. There are others who +think it may be obtained, and apparently you are one of them, simply by +sitting still and talking the whole subject over. This is pretty +difficult as things are at present. So long as the devil is such a +scrapper, those of us who believe in the triumph of right have got to +learn to fight back harder and even more successfully than he can +fight."</p> + +<p>Billy was silent for a moment, then with an egotism which was eminently +characteristic, he remarked: "Well, perhaps that is the way some people +must see the thing. Do you know I have always believed that some day I +am going to have a tremendous influence upon people just through talking +to them."</p> + +<p>Then, by the time Lieutenant Carson had recovered from his surprise at +Billy's audacity, he had made up his mind that the hour had arrived for +their return to camp.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>"<span class="smcap">As You Like It</span>"</h3> + + +<p>The more Mrs. Burton dwelt upon the idea of giving a play for the +recreation fund of the soldiers, the more the idea pleased her. Upon +going more deeply into the subject she discovered that an effort was +being made to secure funds for the building of a theater in each war +camp in the United States.</p> + +<p>To initiate the movement and to be the first contributor to the fund +here in their immediate neighborhood, Mrs. Burton realized would give +her great pleasure. If her fellow players were offering to act at these +theaters, traveling from one to the other in a regular circuit during +the coming winter, then surely the theaters should be provided!</p> + +<p>Moreover, after having first suffered a natural objection to acting with +novices, Mrs. Burton changed her point of view to the extent of +considering that it might be rather charming to play with her own Camp +Fire girls in a comedy fresh and sparkling as Shakespeare's "As You Like +It." The play itself was in the spirit of a summer vacation, full of the +outdoors and delicious improbabilities. Besides the effort would be a +valuable experience for her Camp Fire girls.</p> + +<p>Captain Burton had written, expressing not only his approval of the +suggestion, but a real enthusiasm, provided Mrs. Burton felt well enough +to undertake it. Also he suggested that Mrs. Burton find some +professional actor in California who would play <i>Orlando</i> to her +<i>Rosalind</i>. Then the contrast between her acting and that of her amateur +company need not be so conspicuous. He also proposed that she secure the +assistance of a professional stage manager to assist in the training of +her players.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of their discussion concerning the production of "As +You Like It," Mrs. Burton had announced as insurmountable the obstacle +that the cast required a greater number of men than of women characters. +It appeared that the girls already had considered this fact and were +prepared with a proposal.</p> + +<p>Peggy and Bettina had talked the matter over quietly with Lieutenant +Carson on the night of their dance, begging him not to speak of it if +nothing came of their idea. But they were thus able to report that +Lieutenant Carson believed his commanding officer would permit a few of +the soldiers to act with them in "As You Like It," provided the +rehearsals did not interfere with their army work.</p> + +<p>Later, when the performance became an actual possibility, Lieutenant +Carson inquired among his soldier companions until he discovered the men +who had some past dramatic experience and would also be acceptable in a +social way.</p> + +<p>Besides the soldiers Mrs. Burton later on invited Felipe Morris and +Merton Anderson to become members of her cast.</p> + +<p>Merton Anderson declined. No one knew the reason for his refusal except +Sally Ashton, who, as a matter of fact, had begged him not to take part. +Personally she did not approve of the outdoor play and had no idea of +making the effort necessary to portray the least important character. +Therefore Sally did not wish her latest admirer to become involved in +an interest which would separate him from her society.</p> + +<p>Felipe Morris appeared delighted to take part, and it was his aid which +Mrs. Burton desired. She was confident that he would be able to act with +unusual grace and self-assurance for a novice, and at least he possessed +good looks and a naturally artistic temperament.</p> + +<p>Moreover, Mrs. Burton and Felipe's father had become good friends, so +that she believed that Mr. Morris would be pleased to have Felipe drawn +into an intimate association with certain of the soldiers of the +National Guard, trusting that they might influence him. Personally Mrs. +Burton thought the one thing necessary was to entice Felipe away from +his music and his indolent dreaming into the world of real men where he +would awaken to his duty.</p> + +<p>She knew of his friendship with Gerry and of the somewhat marked +interest they apparently felt in each other, but she did not take the +fact seriously. Already he had asked several times that he and Gerry be +allowed to spend an afternoon together and Mrs. Burton had promptly +consented. No longer did she cherish the illusion that she could hide +away her Camp Fire girls in even the remotest corners of the globe +without their being discovered. Therefore, after her foolish alarm over +Bettina and her unconventional Indian friendship, she had concluded not +to be so nervous a second time, but to trust to the discretion of the +girls themselves.</p> + +<p>Among the seven Camp Fire girls Gerry was exceptionally pretty and so +could not fail to receive attention. But not for a single moment did +Mrs. Burton dream that there was anything more than a superficial +attraction between Gerry and Felipe. Of course she considered Gerry too +young, not realizing that Felipe Morris was four years her senior and +that Gerry's history had made her older than most girls of her age.</p> + +<p>Yet after the verdict was reached and the actors secured, there still +remained many details to be settled, the most important being the +selection of the characters for the production of the Shakespearean +comedy. Then, although there was a good deal of discussion, and Mrs. +Burton allowed a free expression of opinion, in each choice she +remained the court of final decision.</p> + +<p>It was she who at the beginning of the discussion settled upon Marta +Clark for the character of <i>Celia</i>, sweet cousin to <i>Rosalind</i> and +second only in importance. In consequence Marta, who had not expected +the honor, suffered a confusion of emotions, surprise, pleasure, alarm! +Mrs. Burton had not forgotten their absurd first meeting, nor Marta's +shy confession of an ambition to follow in her footsteps. If she had +ability—and it was more than probable since her brother had lately +written a clever play showing a dramatic gift in the family—Mrs. Burton +had every intention of aiding Marta in her desire when the right moment +arrived. This would be but a slight return in memory of the friend who +so generously had helped her in the old days.</p> + +<p>Moreover, Mrs. Burton felt that she and Marta must learn to know each +other better. To play beside her as <i>Celia</i>, to be with each other +constantly at rehearsals would not only afford her the chance to test +Marta's talent, but would give them an opportunity to become better +friends.</p> + +<p>Marta possessed vivacity, a love of poetry and of nature; these things +Mrs. Burton had found out. Also her face depended upon the passing mood +for its charm, a superior gift to beauty in an emotional actress.</p> + +<p>Gerry Williams and Peggy were to impersonate <i>Phebe</i>, a shepherdess, and +<i>Audrey</i>, a country wench, after a good-natured argument in which Peggy +insisted upon this division of honors because of Gerry's superior +prettiness.</p> + +<p><i>Touchstone</i>, the gay clown in "As You Like It," sings several of the +most charming ballads in all Shakespeare. Because of his beautiful voice +and his grace as a dancer Mrs. Burton begged Felipe Morris to play +<i>Touchstone</i>, and he appeared pleased to accept.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Carson agreed to portray <i>Jaques</i>, whose soliloquy, "All the +world's a stage," is one of the greatest speeches in English literature.</p> + +<p>Dan Webster determined upon the character of <i>Adam</i>, servant to +<i>Orlando</i>, while Billy Webster together with Sally Ashton refused to +show the slightest interest in the approaching performance.</p> + +<p>The other members of the cast were the officers and soldiers from the +nearby cantonment. They expressed a great deal of enthusiasm over the +relief the rehearsals afforded from the hard physical labor of these +early days of their army training. Moreover, they would not even attempt +to express their pleasure in associating so informally with a number of +agreeable girls.</p> + +<p>Bettina, Alice and Vera Lagerloff were to be ladies-in-waiting at the +court of the <i>Duke</i>.</p> + +<p>If Sally Ashton's refusal to play any part was due to her inherent +indolence, Billy's lack of interest was ascribable to the wholly +opposite cause.</p> + +<p>Now and then for a passing moment when she had time to think of her +always erratic nephew, Mrs. Burton wished that Billy had been yielding +to his usual slothfulness. But recently he had awakened to an amazing +energy and was working as he never had worked in his life.</p> + +<p>After his brief conversation with Lieutenant Carson, for no reason which +he chose to explain, Billy proceeded to find out whatever was possible +in regard to the details of the new war camps. The monthly magazines +and newspapers to which his aunt, or any one else at Sunrise camp +subscribed, he searched diligently for all war information. Then he +would disappear on long walks, announcing on his return that he had been +over in the direction of the new National Guard cantonment, following +the railroad tracks which had recently been laid from the city.</p> + +<p>Finally he imparted the surprising information that he had secured work +as a day laborer at the war camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having vouched +for him. Moreover, Billy declared that he had given his aunt's name as a +security for his trustworthiness and that Captain Mason had remembered +his original visit to camp with Mrs. Burton's party.</p> + +<p>Of Billy's value as a day laborer his family and friends felt extremely +uncertain. But Billy explained that he was only expected to stand around +and to hand the carpenters who were at work the tools they happened to +need at the moment. He also carried buckets of water back and forth and +in short did whatever chores he was ordered to do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster and Peggy were touched by Billy's unexpected display of +patriotism, knowing how abhorrent labor of this kind had always been to +him. Never, except under absolute coercion, had Billy ever performed the +slightest manual work upon their own farm!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton, Dan Webster and even the usually trustful Vera were not so +enthusiastic over Billy's latest departure. Without confessing the fact, +they suffered vague discomfort.</p> + +<p>What possible plan had Billy in mind? If one only could believe he had +chosen this method of "doing his bit!" But this would have been a +commonplace attitude, and Billy was never commonplace.</p> + +<p>There were moments when Mrs. Burton wondered if Billy were intent upon +preaching his childish ideas upon pacifism and had chosen the one place +where they would be most troublesome and dangerous! However, she was too +deeply absorbed in making a success of the play which she and the Camp +Fire girls had undertaken to allow much time to the consideration of her +nephew.</p> + +<p>The Camp Fire girls were learning to know their guardian in a new light. +Under ordinary circumstances she was extremely lenient and more than +willing to allow them to do as they liked.</p> + +<p>But now they were to see her not in a holiday mood, but as an artist at +work at her task. Since they had insisted upon the production of "As You +Like It," the penalty rested upon them. Therefore she would suffer no +idleness and accept no excuses for delay or carelessness.</p> + +<p>At one of the rehearsals, Peggy having appeared uncertain of her lines, +was publicly lectured and sent back to her tent with the suggestion that +if she were unwilling to do her duty, some one else had best take her +place.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Human Psychology</span></h3> + + +<p>Billy Webster, who had difficulty in living peacefully and happily with +the people in his own walk of life, possessed a curious genius for +making himself popular with the so-called "working classes."</p> + +<p>At first the workmen at the new National Guard camp paid no especial +attention to the delicate looking boy who suddenly appeared among them. +But in a short time Billy proved unexpectedly useful.</p> + +<p>For one thing he made no effort to talk. He merely stood about in places +where he thought he might be of service, doing what he was told and +asking no questions. Several times he displayed an intelligent +initiative. And when each man is trying to do the work of two or three, +every small saving of unnecessary effort through some one else counts.</p> + +<p>At the present time there were fifteen hundred laborers employed on the +cantonment. They were building barracks and small wooden bungalows and +large store-houses for provisions and supplies from the ordnance and +quartermaster departments. Every hour or so freight had to be unloaded +from cars, so that they might be removed from the tracks and others take +their place.</p> + +<p>The soldiers were more often employed in the construction of roads and +the clearing away of a century's growth of underbrush.</p> + +<p>There was little in the camp that escaped Billy's quiet observation. The +very fact that he did not talk, when ordinarily he had a passion as well +as a gift for conversation was in itself a suspicious circumstance.</p> + +<p>For once in his life Billy was finding it more worth while to listen and +receive information rather than to impart his own ideas.</p> + +<p>At first the great drawback was that the laborers did not have time, or +else they did not feel the inclination to talk at all seriously. They +would simply exchange jokes with one another, or sing snatches of +popular songs.</p> + +<p>The laborers belonged to a company under bond to the government that +there would be no traitors employed at the war camps. Therefore if the +men held any views connected with the war, they gave no expression to +them. Moreover, the officers and soldiers were constantly in and out +among the men at all hours. Nevertheless, Billy became more and more +convinced that if a man were willing to sacrifice his own life in case +he were discovered, it was impossible even with the strictest +regulations to avoid the peril of a spy.</p> + +<p>One day at lunch time the boy was sitting alone in the shadow made by a +pile of lumber, which afforded a little relief from the heat of the noon +sun, when two of his fellow laborers came and sat down only a few feet +away. They saw him, of course, but seemed not to resent his presence; +so, after smiling with the innocent, boyish expression peculiar to him, +Billy continued eating. He brought his lunch with him every day in a +basket as the other laborers did.</p> + +<p>One of the two men, whom he thought a Swede, was rather an especial +friend, although the only fashion in which they so far had expressed +their friendliness was by smiling whenever they met.</p> + +<p>He was a dull, good-natured fellow, blond and mild of manner. "Seems a +pity to have to bring all these boys away from their homes and their +mothers and sweethearts to plant them down in this desert in the heat of +summer," he remarked to his companion, after he had bitten off a large +hunk of sour bread and was slowly chewing on it like a cud. Finally, +taking out his soiled handkerchief, he wiped the perspiration from his +forehead.</p> + +<p>"I have not been in the West very long, and it is sure enough God's +country?" the blond workman went on. "But what a lot of waste land +waiting for men to water and then plough and sow it! I thought all this +desert land was soon to be redeemed and now all the young men have to go +away from their own country into another land to fight. Sometimes it's a +hard thing for a dull, common man to understand the good of war."</p> + +<p>Billy stopped eating and slid over a few feet nearer. His blue eyes were +beginning to shine.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be great if each man who has pledged his life to serve his +country would do some deed which would <i>save</i> life instead of <i>taking</i> +it?" he demanded. Then Billy paused and grew hot and cold by turns. He +was not very sure of what he was trying to argue except in a vague +fashion, and there was something about his last remark which held a +suggestion of treason. He did not intend being disloyal. It was only +that his preconceived ideas of right and wrong had been greatly troubled +by the present war, and Billy was not willing to accept conditions as he +found them, possessing the spirit which must solve its own problems.</p> + +<p>He reddened as he found his new acquaintances staring at him +suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Then you think peace brings the great mass of the people better fortune +than war?" asked the other man, who had been quiet until now. He was a +little, dark man, probably of Italian origin.</p> + +<p>Billy hesitated. "I don't know," he answered, "I only believe peace +should make men wiser and kinder to each other. But recently everything +has gotten so dreadfully mixed in my mind, I can't be sure of anything. +Perhaps I am mistaken."</p> + +<p>"War has to be, young man," Billy's mild-mannered friend announced, +nodding his head.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is what everybody says," the boy agreed.</p> + +<p>Then the somewhat pointless conversation was obliged to end, as the hour +for lunch had passed.</p> + +<p>Among the experiences which Billy Webster was particularly enjoying at +this time were his long walks back and forth from the place where he was +spending his nights to the scene of his daily labors.</p> + +<p>For, literally, he only spent his nights at the Sunrise camp. He arrived +at home after the others had finished dinner, and rose and went away +each morning just after daylight. But instead of the long, fatiguing +walks, added to the unusual work of the war camp, injuring Billy's +health—never had he appeared so strong and well.</p> + +<p>Not that any one, aside from his mother, was paying particular attention +to Billy's vagaries. Even Vera Lagerloff, for the first time in their +long friendship, temporarily was neglecting Billy's welfare in her +enthusiasm over the approaching production of "As You Like It."</p> + +<p>However, Billy rejoiced in his new freedom.</p> + +<p>He took pleasure in slipping out of his tent in the early morning, +leaving Dan still asleep. Then he would prepare his own breakfast of +coffee, fruit and eggs which were always left where he could readily +find them. Afterwards, with his basket of lunch that his mother made +ready the night before, Billy would move quietly off.</p> + +<p>Even the dawns in this southwestern world were unlike the dawns Billy +remembered in his own New Hampshire hills. Not that he would have +claimed the New Hampshire hills as his possession because of a mere +accident of birth. Billy cared infinitely more for the softness, the +warmth and strangeness of this new country and climate than he had ever +cared for the austerity of New England. It was awakening in him new +strength and new purposes which so far he scarcely understood.</p> + +<p>The way the dawn broke here in the western coast Billy particularly +loved; it was so serene. There was not the drear, melancholy darkness +and then the swift coming of light. But first a pearl-gray mist covered +the sky, afterwards lavender and rose shone behind it and finally a pure +gold, with the ocean as a mirror of the sky.</p> + +<p>A part of the trip he could make by street car, nevertheless this left +many miles to be traveled at either end of the line.</p> + +<p>However, as Billy wished to think things out for himself, these walks +afforded a wonderful opportunity. The difficulty of his life had always +been due to his refusal to accept any judgment except his own. He +honestly could not understand why his family even thought they had the +right to interfere with him. Yet now he was up against the great fact of +human discipline, the law which so often forces us to submit to a higher +power.</p> + +<p>The boys at the National Guard camp were not much older than himself, at +least some of them were not. Nevertheless they were engaged upon tasks +which he knew must be hard and distasteful and were prepared to face far +worse things later on. Some of them had thought the question over for a +long time, nearly three years in fact, until they were prepared to fight +the enemy, body and soul, to a finish. Others of the soldiers were not +given to thinking, but were obeying a good fighting instinct. All of +them, however, were acknowledging an authority higher than their own and +obeying a higher will.</p> + +<p>Often Billy wondered how he should feel if the war lasted long enough to +make the same demand upon him? Would he give up his belief in peace and +the unrighteousness of war to serve as a common soldier in the ranks? +And even if he did do this, was it in him to make a good soldier, to +sacrifice himself for a common cause? Sometimes Billy prayed to be +delivered from the test.</p> + +<p>Yet whatever his own mental problems, there was one big fact of which +Billy became daily more assured and that was his tremendous personal +admiration for the new National Guard soldiers. Certainly theirs was the +road of heroism and self-sacrifice, while the pacifists, even if right +in principle, were skulking behind the protection the soldiers gave to +them.</p> + +<p>There were moments when Billy became a little scornful of the pacifists, +himself included, who preferred the easiest way.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily the boy took his long tramps to and from camp alone, but on +the day after his brief conversation with the two workmen, the men +joined him at the close of the day, walking for a short distance one on +either side. Billy felt absurdly proud, as if the men at last regarded +him as one of them. They even spoke of labor unions in his presence and +Billy was glad to announce that he approved of unions.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, perhaps four or five days later, Billy did not return to the +Sunrise camp, even at the comparatively late hour which had become his +habit.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster suffered a good deal of uneasiness. Billy explained that he +had been compelled to go into the nearest town on important business, so +she was not to worry. One could scarcely say beforehand what demands war +work might make upon one's time and strength.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Webster steeled herself to bear the strain, even when Billy's new +passion for helping to win the war kept him away from the Sunrise camp +until nearly midnight for several nights in succession.</p> + +<p>Just at this time she was extremely busy assisting with the preparation +of the costumes for the Sunrise Camp Fire production of "As You Like +It." In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton had sent east for several +trunks of costumes, there were many alterations to be made, and every +member of the entire cast, maid and man, asked of Mrs. Webster either +advice or aid, or both.</p> + +<p>No matter how great her weariness, Mrs. Webster always remained awake +until her son's return, in order that she might know he was well and +have him eat a carefully saved-over dinner.</p> + +<p>Gently Billy endeavored to persuade his mother to give up this plan, +insisting that he always had food in town. But although Mrs. Webster +made no effort to interfere with his actions, on this one point she was +adamant. She must be sure that her son was safely at camp in order to be +able to sleep.</p> + +<p>Realizing this to be true, for several nights Billy returned to camp at +the usual time. Then a night arrived when he reached home even later +than before.</p> + +<p>It chanced that on this night, without Billy's being aware of the fact, +Mrs. Burton and her cast had been going through a dress rehearsal of +their play.</p> + +<p>When Billy finally reached camp, the Sunrise Hill tents were dark and +still.</p> + +<p>Yet to the left a camp fire was burning and a woman's figure was seated +near it.</p> + +<p>A pang of remorse stirred Billy, in spite of his own weariness.</p> + +<p>Coming forward with his arms outstretched, instead of his mother, he +discovered Vera Lagerloff.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, Vera, I never saw you look so wonderful!" Billy exclaimed, +bowing with the air of a courtier and a grace which he knew well how to +assume.</p> + +<p>For Vera was wearing a court costume, a skirt of a deep rose-colored +satin and a polonaise and basque of white with a design of roses.</p> + +<p>Her dark hair was piled high on her head and her cheeks were slightly +rouged, since every preparation for the actual stage performance had +been made.</p> + +<p>Billy had never seen Vera so handsome, nor dreamed it possible that she +could ever look as she did tonight. But then Billy had thought little of +Vera's appearance, or of that of any other girl. He had simply cared for +her with a curious boyish selfishness and affection. Unconsciously he +always planned his future with Vera beside him to hear of his trials and +conquests, but had never thought of how this could be managed.</p> + +<p>Yet tonight Vera paid no attention to his unusual flattery.</p> + +<p>Her expression suggested annoyance and reproach.</p> + +<p>"Wait here, Billy, I'll find you something to eat. I made your mother go +to bed and she and Mrs. Burton agreed that I might wait for you."</p> + +<p>But Billy would not let her go. "I'm not hungry, Vera. Besides you look +like a queen, not a kitchen maid. What's up? Fire away."</p> + +<p>"That is what I wish to have you tell <i>me</i>," Vera returned, with the +deep and abiding gentleness, which usually overcame Billy's obstinacy +where other people and other methods failed.</p> + +<p>He laughed. "I thought as much. Nothing doing, Vera. I am not going to +tell anybody anything. Yes, I know I promised not to get into mischief +again, after that last escapade of mine. But what did it amount to, +going to jail for a little while, it was merely an interesting +experience!"</p> + +<p>Billy took Vera's hand in his own almost equally slender one, since +Vera's was the hand of a peasant ancestry and Billy's the opposite.</p> + +<p>"See here, dear, I am not sorry to have you and mother and Tante begin +worrying about me, fearing I am going to do something foolish. You never +seem to think me capable of anything else. But this time, between you +and me, Vera, if I could tell you what is interesting me right now—and +I confess it is not only my work at the war camp, although it has a +close connection—well, I don't believe you would consider me foolish."</p> + +<p>"Then, why won't you tell me what is interesting you, Billy? You know I +don't always think ideas are foolish, but oftentimes I don't think your +judgment wise. Besides, I am afraid something may happen to you!"</p> + +<p>Billy shook his head, still holding her hand with boyish affection.</p> + +<p>"These are war times, Vera. You and I used to disagree on the +subject—one of the first questions we have ever seriously disagreed +upon since we were little children. Anyhow, what I am interested in at +present has something to do with the war. I cannot tell you details, as +I must not confide in any one just now. Only promise me you'll see that +mother does not worry and that neither she nor Tante makes a scene to +try to force me into giving up my present work. I should simply go on +with it anyhow, Vera."</p> + +<p>Vera sighed. The problem of Billy Webster had always been too much for +other people. Was he in the future to become a problem too big for her?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Night of the Play</span></h3> + + +<p>During the weeks of rehearsal before the performance of "As You Like +It," the Camp Fire girls and the young officers and soldiers from the +National Guard camp had delightful opportunities for developing new +friendships.</p> + +<p>When the emotion which existed between Felipe Morris and Gerry Williams +became more than an ordinary friendship, the chances for exchanging +confidences were more frequent than one would readily guess.</p> + +<p>Felipe possessed a talent for pursuing the ends he desired in a quiet, +unostentatious fashion. There were moments when merely passing by Gerry +with other people near, he would whisper a few words which only she +could hear. Then, when neither of them expected to be called for their +share in a rehearsal, they used to slip away together to some secluded +place for more intimate conversations.</p> + +<p>The final rehearsals took place at the open-air theater near one of the +most fashionable seaside resorts in southern California, and Felipe was +familiar with the coast and the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>There were no long, dull waits for them between the moments when they +were actually upon the stage, no sense of fatigue and boredom of which +the other amateur players occasionally complained.</p> + +<p>Gerry appeared to be happy to listen and Felipe to talk to her +indefinitely.</p> + +<p>Of course the other actors were aware of Gerry's and Felipe's interest +in each other and tried teasing them now and then, but since neither +denied the fact, the effort lost its piquancy.</p> + +<p>Nor were Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster entirely blind, although they did +not accept the situation seriously. It was ridiculous to presume that +every friendship between a girl and a man must be regarded with +solemnity. Nevertheless it is more than possible that if Mrs. Burton had +not been so absorbed in the coming performance she would have noticed +some tell-tale circumstances. Her extreme preoccupation was her chief +excuse.</p> + +<p>She did mention to her sister several times that she never had seen +Gerry look so pretty or appear as happy as she had for the past few +weeks.</p> + +<p>"Why, the child is like a field of wild flowers; her hair is the color +of buttercups, her eyes are cornflowers and her cheeks——"</p> + +<p>But here Mrs. Burton's flow of imagery had been stopped by Mrs. +Webster's protest.</p> + +<p>"Please don't be so absurd, Polly. You know conversation of that +character merely strikes me as foolish." So Mrs. Burton had laughed and +the subject of Gerry was dismissed.</p> + +<p>Gerry was becoming aware of a change in her own life, not in her mere +appearance, but in a way far deeper. There were moments when she even +hoped her own drab, lonely existence was past forever and that a life as +radiant as these past weeks would endure. She tried not to hope too much +from Felipe's manner and the kind things he said to her now and then. Of +course she was too young for him to think of seriously. Nevertheless +Gerry could not refrain from occasionally seeing a happy image of +herself at the old ranch with Felipe and his father!</p> + +<p>In her dream the old house was not in its present dilapidated condition, +but had been made beautiful and luxurious following the plans which +Felipe had more than once confided to her.</p> + +<p>For always he talked of beautifying his old home and of his music and +travel and of other delightful things, but never of war, or +self-sacrifice, or hard work.</p> + +<p>Felipe had not been informed whether his claim for exemption from war +service had been accepted, and yet he seemed to regard the matter as +settled.</p> + +<p>So Gerry also forgot what was going on in the world about them, forgot +what was being required of other young men, even though she had daily +talks with the soldiers.</p> + +<p>But at last the night for the public performance of "As You Like It" +arrived.</p> + +<p>The Camp Fire girls had not erred in their prediction that their +guardian's reputation was sufficient to insure them a large audience. +Mrs. Burton had secured the aid of a well-known California actor, Arthur +Whitney, to play <i>Orlando</i> to her <i>Rosalind</i>. For the past two weeks he +had been living in one of the hotels near the open-air theater, where he +had many friends.</p> + +<p>In the neighboring cities and towns the newspapers had devoted columns +of unpaid advertising to notices of the play and the opportunity it +afforded for seeing the famous American actress. Added to this was the +fact that the proceeds from the performance were to be devoted to the +recreation fund for the boys in the southern California cantonment.</p> + +<p>Long before the night of the performance, every ticket of admission to +the theater had been sold, and as much standing room as possible.</p> + +<p>Fronting the entrance to the open-air theater stood three or four palm +trees so trimmed as to give the effect of a green canopy.</p> + +<p>Inside the theater were rows of rustic benches and in the foreground the +open-air stage surrounded by a background of shrubs. Around the +enclosure was a thick hedge.</p> + +<p>Once inside the little theater and one was in so unique a setting, it +was as if one were shut away in an enchanted world.</p> + +<p>No more charming place could have been discovered for the performance of +Shakespeare's comedy. The atmosphere and the scenery of the "Forest of +Arden" were already secure.</p> + +<p>A thrill of anticipation ran through the audience with the tinkling of a +number of bells to announce the opening of the play.</p> + +<p>Then the actors entered from behind a screen of shrubs to the left of +the stage. The first conversation is between <i>Orlando</i> and old <i>Adam</i>.</p> + +<p>The real interest of the audience waited, of course, upon the appearance +of the star, and soon after <i>Rosalind</i> and <i>Celia</i> appeared on the lawn +before the <i>Duke's</i> palace.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton had played the character of <i>Rosalind</i> many times; the +courage and gaiety of one of the most charming of all Shakespeare's +heroines were essentially her own characteristics.</p> + +<p>Tonight, on making her entrance, she had to pause for a moment to +acknowledge the storm of applause. The first speech was <i>Marta's</i>, and +Mrs. Burton was glad of the respite, remembering her own tragic first +appearance and wondering if Marta could be suffering half so much.</p> + +<p>Several times before the actual performance, she had been afraid that +her solicitude for her amateur company would seriously interfere with +her own acting.</p> + +<p>Marta managed her first speech as <i>Celia</i> bravely. If one recalls her +line, it is a brief one:</p> + +<p>"I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry."</p> + +<p>Then <i>Rosalind</i> takes the center of the stage and while she is there, +but few eyes are turned away from her. All the grace and charm of the +one-time Polly O'Neill returned to the great actress in the hours when +she was playing, and now added to her natural gifts were the long years +of experience and training.</p> + +<p>Tonight Mrs. Burton's voice charmed her audience with its peculiar +magic, her every movement kept one fascinated.</p> + +<p>Marta Clark too scored a distinct success as <i>Celia</i>. She had been +awkward and self-conscious at rehearsals and no one had believed in +her. But whether she needed the spur of the actual production, or had +learned more than any one realized from playing with Mrs. Burton, +certainly she showed unusual ease and pliancy for an amateur actress. +More than once during the performance Mrs. Burton managed to whisper her +congratulations, stirring Marta to fresh efforts.</p> + +<p>Gerry did not do a great deal of acting, but as <i>Phebe</i> she was such a +ravishingly pretty shepherdess that one thought of little else. Peggy's +character study of <i>Audrey</i>, the country wench, showed such an amusing +combination of stupidity and common sense that in spite of the +unimportance of the part, she won a real triumph.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Carson at least presented a fine appearance as the melancholy +<i>Jaques</i>.</p> + +<p>The one failure among the company of youthful artists was Felipe Morris, +upon whose natural ability Mrs. Burton and all the other players had +depended.</p> + +<p>It was surprising, for during all the rehearsals Felipe had always acted +so agreeably that even the stage manager had only words of praise for +him.</p> + +<p>Yet the <i>Touchstone</i> who danced gracefully out before the footlights on +the occasion of the real performance was a different <i>Touchstone</i>.</p> + +<p>By a kind of natural instinct Mrs. Burton instantly recognized the fact. +Even through his make-up and his motley costume of stripes and caps and +bells, one could discern that Felipe's thoughts were not concentrated +upon his performance.</p> + + +<p><i>Touchstone</i> spoke his lines with the proper combination of drollery and +impertinence, yet there was no suggestion of real wit or merriment. The +very jangling of his bells was depressing.</p> + +<p>Once in a hurried moment behind the scenes Mrs. Burton managed to +inquire: "Is there anything the matter, Felipe? Are you not well?"</p> + +<p>Felipe only laughed and shook his head. "What should be the matter? Am I +falling down on my part? I shall try and brace up in the next act."</p> + +<p>If <i>Touchstone</i> was a failure in his acting, Felipe sang as never +before. It was not Gerry alone, listening behind the scenes, who was +completely fascinated.</p> + +<p>One of <i>Touchstone's</i> ballads is of the eternal romance of love and +spring time. Felipe's voice held a freshness, a clear sweetness that +went straight to the hearts of his audience.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"It was a lover and his lass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That o'er the green corn-field did pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweet lovers love the spring."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The play was finally over, and if the curtain could not be rung down, at +least the players bowed their thanks and farewells, standing together in +a long line with Mrs. Burton in the center.</p> + + +<p>In order that they might avoid the confusion and fatigue of meeting so +many strangers and receiving their congratulations after the play had +ended, Mrs. Burton previously had invited her company of actors to motor +over to Sunrise camp to a supper party as soon as they could slip away.</p> + +<p>Gerry was returning in the motor with Mrs. Burton.</p> + +<p>She chanced to be standing alone for a moment waiting for the others who +were shaking hands with some new acquaintances, when Felipe Morris +touched her upon the arm.</p> + +<p>"Gerry, I must speak to you by yourself tonight after we reach the +Sunrise camp. Please, no matter what happens, let nothing interfere with +my seeing you. I have something to tell you and something to ask you +which will affect all our future."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">"I Will Marry You, if Ever I Marry Woman"</span></h3> + + +<p>To Gerry Williams it seemed as if their long supper party would never +end.</p> + +<p>The supper was served outdoors on a number of small tables. Through an +accident Gerry was seated at so great a distance from Felipe that it was +not possible to see his face and so guess from his expression something +of what he desired to tell her.</p> + +<p>Gerry was puzzled. If what he wished to say had to do with their future +happiness, why had he looked so disturbed? And why should it be +imperative that he make his confession tonight?</p> + +<p>Already it was late, past midnight, and they were both weary. There +would be tomorrow and other days.</p> + +<p>Really she would have preferred not to talk with Felipe alone tonight. +To slip away from the others would be difficult, and without Mrs. +Burton's consent Gerry did not like the idea. Yet she did not dare ask +for permission, being convinced that because of the lateness of the hour +her request would be refused.</p> + +<p>She felt that she must do what Felipe had begged of her. There had been +something in his manner at once imperative and beseeching.</p> + +<p>An unaccustomed shyness, almost a sense of fear, had seized upon Gerry; +nevertheless she was prepared to follow Felipe's bidding, no matter how +difficult.</p> + +<p>To eat or talk gaily to the others was hard. In a half-hearted fashion, +Gerry accomplished both results.</p> + +<p>Immediately after the supper was finished the guests began saying their +farewells.</p> + +<p>The hour was long past the one when the young officers and soldiers were +required to return to the cantonment. But owing to the play and Mrs. +Burton's efforts in their behalf, they had received a special permit +from the officer in command of their camp to remain away several hours +later than their regulations demanded.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the good-bys Gerry and Felipe moved swiftly toward each +other.</p> + +<p>"We must get away <i>now</i>, Felipe, while no one is thinking of us. I can +only talk to you for a moment."</p> + +<p>Even as she spoke Gerry was walking toward the beach with the young man +following. In this way at least what they had to say to each other would +not be overheard. There was no nearby place where they could actually +escape observation.</p> + +<p>In front of Sunrise camp the beach stretched long and level, broken only +by small rocks, which afforded a shadow, not a shelter. Behind the +little group of tents and Mrs. Burton's house were the level fields of a +great ranch. There were no trees worthy of the name in sight.</p> + +<p>"But I can't say what I must to you in <i>one</i> minute, Gerry. I must have +time to explain many things. Surely you will go somewhere else with me. +Here on the open beach we may be interrupted at any moment."</p> + +<p>Gerry only moved on more rapidly. "I don't know where else to go, +Felipe. We can walk along the beach until perhaps we are out of sight of +the others. Then afterwards I can tell Mrs. Burton that we only +intended taking a short walk."</p> + +<p>"Very well," Felipe murmured, but Gerry could guess that he was annoyed.</p> + +<p>"I suppose to a girl, Gerry, conventions are dearer than anything else +in life. So since what I intend is to ask you to break one of them, +perhaps I might as well not speak to you," he began, when they had +nearly reached the water.</p> + +<p>The ocean was not so calm as usual tonight on this particular line of +coast. Great waves were rolling in, breaking and curling in white +spirals of foam. If there had been a storm, it was somewhere out in the +ocean, for although there was no moon the stars were everywhere a +shining glory.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean, Felipe," Gerry answered quietly.</p> + +<p>She was still wearing her lovely shepherdess costume of pale blue and +white, the pointed bodice and panniers of blue satin, the skirt and +sleeves of muslin and lace. Mrs. Burton had insisted on Gerry's using a +long white coat which was her property, so coming back in the motor she +had slipped this on over her dress. Now the wind was blowing the coat +open, revealing the soft comeliness of the satin and lace costume +beneath.</p> + +<p>Her shepherdess hat she had discarded and instead had tied a blue +chiffon scarf around her hair.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, in spite of her frivolous and charming costume, Gerry +Williams' expression was entirely serious.</p> + +<p>"No, of course you do not understand. I am sorry," Felipe apologized. +"You see, it has been such a horrible evening for me with all the +foolishness of the play and my acting a clown's part, when I have been +wishing every minute to get you away and tell you what has happened."</p> + +<p>"But what <i>has</i> happened?" Gerry inquired anxiously and yet with +patience.</p> + +<p>"The exemption board has refused my claim. I only heard the pleasant +news late this afternoon," Felipe answered.</p> + +<p>Gerry's first sensation was one of intense personal sympathy.</p> + +<p>Simply and naturally she slipped her hand inside Felipe's.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to say to you. I am so grieved for you. It is too +dreadful, your being forced to join the army when you so hate the whole +idea. Can't something more be done? Surely you and your father must have +influence out here!"</p> + +<p>Felipe shook his head. "Influence does not count; besides, if father has +any influence he would not use it in my behalf, not in this connection. +When I told him this afternoon what had occurred he merely said: 'I wish +you had done your duty in the beginning, my son, without bringing the +stigma of disgrace upon our name by trying to escape your +responsibility. I did not suppose your claim for exemption would be +considered, as your excuse was too flimsy.'"</p> + +<p>For an instant Gerry hesitated, then she said, her voice shaking. "I do +not mean to be rude, but I can not understand your father. You are his +only son and are no relation to me, and yet it does not seem to me I can +bear your going over to France, where you will be so unhappy, where you +may be wounded. But I must not talk of these things. How soon must you +begin your training, Felipe, and do you think you will be in a camp near +your home?"</p> + +<p>Until this instant Gerry had not considered herself, had not realized +the failure of her dream. Now she had a little sinking sense of +loneliness and disappointment. Nevertheless Felipe was still first in +her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could do something to help you."</p> + +<p>"You can, Gerry," Felipe returned, strengthening his hold on her hand. +"I am not going to be drafted, Gerry. I am going over the border into +Mexico tomorrow to remain until the war is over. I told you that I had +no difficulty in being taken for a Mexican. I can speak the language and +I don't look unlike one. This isn't an entirely new idea on my part, for +I have been thinking and planning what I should do if my exemption claim +were refused. I tell you I can not endure a soldier's existence, the +dirt and the hard work and the discipline and then worse, blood and +suffering and death. For even if all this does not come to me, I must +see it. Oh, I know I am not a <i>man</i>, Gerry, and you probably despise me +for feeling like this. But I can not help it. I was born for beauty and +happiness, for music and—well, we are not all made alike."</p> + +<p>"No, Felipe, I don't despise you; I think I understand," Gerry replied +instantly. But there was no question with her of understanding. She was +thinking of Felipe's happiness, of his safety. "Isn't it pretty +dangerous what you are planning to do? If you are caught won't you be +imprisoned?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Felipe nodded. "Yes, but I am going to take the chance. It is worth the +danger to me."</p> + +<p>"You are intending to say good-by to me tonight then?" Gerry questioned. +"I am glad you told me. No one in the world will ever be able to force +your secret from me."</p> + +<p>"Then you could be brave for my sake?" Felipe demanded.</p> + +<p>But when Gerry did not answer, he began walking impatiently up and down +within a few feet of her.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to say or do, Gerry," he continued after a moment. "I +am not a rogue and I do not want to do you an injustice. But you told me +once that you had no people of your own, that your father is dead and +that your mother always has left you in common boarding houses, with no +one to look after you, since you were a tiny girl. You told me that you +had no real friend until Mrs. Burton took a fancy to you and has tried +to give you some happiness. Now I can't bear the thought of your going +so far away to live by yourself when I care for you so much. After +tonight we may never even be able to see each other again in many years. +Still I realize that you are very young, Gerry, and the fact that I am +four or five years older makes the whole thing much more my +responsibility than yours. Besides there is the danger of your crossing +into Mexico with me and being forced to live there, one cannot say how +long."</p> + +<p>Gerry appeared utterly bewildered and unhappy. "But what do you mean, +Felipe? I don't think I understand you."</p> + +<p>"I mean I am asking you to marry me, Gerry." Felipe answered with an +entire softening of his manner and expression. "But I realize I am +asking you more than that, because I want you to marry me without +telling any one and then slip over the border into Mexico with me to +live until the war is past. If anything happens and I am caught, why, at +least you will be safe, for my father will look after you. I did not +want to ask you to marry me in this way, Gerry, I do not like the idea +any more than you do. I had planned to tell you I cared for you and to +tell Mrs. Burton also. I was even willing to wait for a year or more if +you both thought it necessary. But now this difficulty of mine alters +everything, and these are war times, when one is not expected to behave +in an ordinary fashion."</p> + +<p>In order to insure his own way, Felipe was in truth a good pleader. +Besides, Gerry was already deeply under his influence.</p> + +<p>Now Felipe's unexpected request made her both happy and unhappy, for she +could not fail to be glad that he cared for her, although she knew she +had no right to agree to his request.</p> + +<p>The ethical side of the question of Felipe's intention to escape +military service apparently made no impression upon Gerry one way or +the other; the question seemed so entirely his to decide. Her feeling +was merely that she could not bear to marry him and not tell even Mrs. +Burton until afterwards.</p> + +<p>If she were a little older she believed the situation would have +appeared less formidable, then she would have had a clearer right to +decide for herself. Under the circumstances she must not consider +Felipe's suggestion even for a moment.</p> + +<p>Yet she had only to answer, "No," and things would be as before.</p> + +<p>For Felipe himself was uncertain and frightened of what he was asking. +If he did not appreciate the full selfishness and wrong of it, +nevertheless he did realize it in part. Gerry faced the alternative +before replying. If she refused Felipe's offer, in a little while she +must return to Chicago to take up her old existence in a common boarding +house with nothing in her future except to learn to make her own living. +But these things were no longer so important, the one important fact was +that she might be losing Felipe forever.</p> + +<p>Gerry cherished few illusions. If Felipe were successful in escaping +military service they could not meet again until the war was over and in +that time many changes would have occurred. Would Felipe remember her, +or would he be less lonely in his self-imposed exile if she were to +spend it with him? Whatever trouble she and Felipe might have to face, +would she not prefer to face it with him rather than have him leave her +alone?</p> + +<p>"I cannot bear to deceive Mrs. Burton, Felipe. I owe her so much; she +has been kinder than I have ever told you, kinder than perhaps you +imagine. Besides, I care for her a great deal and I don't see how such a +difficult idea as you have suggested can ever be arranged."</p> + +<p>In Gerry's last words lay her confession. Felipe had triumphed. Had she +tried she might have persuaded him to face his obligation, to make the +sacrifice of himself which his country demanded. She was not equal to +the test.</p> + +<p>"But I do know how to manage," Felipe answered. "And I shall be very +careful. I understand certain things better than you do. I have an old +nurse who is married and lives not far away. She will come with us and +stay with you until the ceremony is over. Afterwards she will return and +explain what we have done to Mrs. Burton and my father. You can write +and beg Mrs. Burton to forgive you; she will after a time, I am sure. We +will be so happy, Gerry dear. I have plenty of money, as I drew all I +possessed out of the bank this afternoon. I am sure it will last us for +a time and then I can get hold of more."</p> + +<p>The thing which Gerry and Felipe were planning to do was not only a +foolish thing; it held dishonor and sorrow, and yet neither of them at +the time seemed to appreciate this.</p> + +<p>"Be ready the day after tomorrow, please, Gerry. I'll ask Mrs. Burton to +allow you to go for a walk or a drive with me. I promise you there shall +be no difficulties. But, quick, good-night; some one is coming."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton herself was walking down the beach toward them. "Come, +Gerry, please, it is time you were in bed. I was frightened when I found +you were not with the other girls. Felipe, I don't think it quite fair +of you to have kept Gerry away from us so long. Will you thank your +father for the roses he sent me tonight?"</p> + +<p>Felipe held out his hand.</p> + +<p>"You are awfully kind, Mrs. Burton, and I do deserve a scolding. Gerry +and I had not realized how long we had been talking, as there are so +many things we like saying to each other. Will you forgive me and let me +come back soon again?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton put her arm about Gerry.</p> + +<p>"Not too soon, please, Felipe. Goodnight."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Gerry's Opportunity</span></h3> + + +<p>The next day, weary from the long strain of the rehearsals and the final +production of their play, and feeling a comfortable sense of relaxation +following a labor well accomplished, the Sunrise Camp Fire members spent +an unusually quiet day.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton remained in her little house resting and reading.</p> + +<p>After accomplishing the necessary domestic tasks, Mrs. Webster and the +girls sat about in little groups, knitting and talking over the +unexpectedly brilliant success of their play.</p> + +<p>Of the Camp Fire girls, Gerry Williams alone kept apart from the others +for the greater part of the day. Now and then she would appear with her +knitting and dropping down beside some one would remain for perhaps half +an hour, but seldom longer. By the end of that time she seemed to grow +restless and would start off on walks by herself, but never a great +distance from camp. Once disappearing inside her sleeping tent, which +was unoccupied, she stayed there alone for several hours.</p> + +<p>No one paid any particular attention to Gerry or realized that she was +in an unusual frame of mind. The Camp Fire girls had spent so many +months together that they did not take one another's moods seriously; +besides, Gerry was not an especial favorite or intimate with any one of +the girls except Sally Ashton. And Sally frequently considered Gerry far +too addicted to moods, which were disturbing to her own comfortable +placidity.</p> + +<p>Indeed, Gerry's only real friend in the Sunrise Camp Fire, the only +person who in any way understood her temperament and the circumstances +of her past sufficiently well to offer her real sympathy and affection, +was Mrs. Burton.</p> + +<p>On this same day it chanced that Dan Webster was away looking after a +small business matter.</p> + +<p>Billy was engaged with his labors at the war camp. But now that the play +was over Mrs. Webster was beginning to concern herself more seriously +with the behavior of her erratic son. Billy had taken advantage of the +absorption of his family and friends to continue to pursue his own way +in an even more determined and secretive fashion.</p> + +<p>If Mrs. Burton had not spent the day inside her house, whether or not +she would have observed Gerry's restlessness, her troubled expression, +her moments of pallor and the swift flush succeeding them, no one can +say.</p> + +<p>Certainly all that day never for long did Gerry have Mrs. Burton out of +her mind. First she would think of Felipe and what he had asked of her +and then immediately after of Mrs. Burton's friendship and kindness.</p> + +<p>The facts of Gerry's life were commonplace enough, but for that reason +they seemed to Gerry the harder to endure.</p> + +<p>Her mother and father had married when they were young and clerking +together in a small village store. After Gerry's birth they conceived +the idea of becoming traveling sales people.</p> + +<p>When Gerry was a tiny child they tried taking her about with them, often +leaving her alone for long, lonely hours in strange hotel rooms. After +she grew older, arrangements were made for her to board in Chicago, the +city her parents visited oftener than any other. But when Gerry was +fourteen her father died and a year later her mother married a little +town store keeper.</p> + +<p>It was at this time Gerry Williams realized she would be forced to face +the future for herself. It is true her mother and stepfather offered her +a home with them and the opportunity to work in their shop. But Gerry +had never cared for her mother and now hated her stepfather, while the +thought of the little town store was abhorrent. Yet there was no +particular reason for this attitude save that Gerry had always been +antagonistic to her environment for as long as she could remember.</p> + +<p>She was so utterly unlike her own people both in appearance, manner and +nature that she was a puzzle to all of them. No one of them could have +told from whom she inherited her delicate prettiness, her love of luxury +and refinement.</p> + +<p>One day, learning of Mrs. Burton's presence in Chicago, suddenly Gerry +conceived the idea of going to her and applying for the position of +maid. If she must work she thought that she would like better than most +things to live with a famous woman and perhaps travel with her and see +something of the world.</p> + +<p>At the moment of Gerry's arrival it chanced that by accident Mrs. Burton +was at home and free from other engagements, so she decided to see and +talk to her. Naturally Gerry was too young and untrained for the +position she desired; moreover, Mrs. Burton had no need for the services +of a maid, since Marie had been living with her a number of years. But +she grew interested in her pretty guest, and feeling the need of +sympathy, Gerry was glad to pour forth her story.</p> + +<p>Ever after this visit, although no member of her family aside from her +husband had been informed of the fact, Mrs. Burton had been paying +Gerry's board in Chicago during the winters, only urging her to try to +educate herself for some work in the future. For several summers, as we +know, Gerry had been invited to be a member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +group.</p> + +<p>Therefore in a measure Gerry realized how poor a return she would be +offering should she slip away with Felipe without confessing her +intention to Mrs. Burton.</p> + +<p>Not once, but perhaps a dozen times, her mind was almost made up to find +Mrs. Burton and tell her everything. For Gerry believed that by some +method she could induce her friend to understand how deeply she cared +for Felipe. There would be the argument of youth against their immediate +marriage; but youth is not always <i>only</i> a question of the number of +years one has lived, and Gerry felt convinced that she suddenly had +grown old.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless there was always this stumbling block. How could she +acknowledge her own intention and Felipe's without betraying Felipe's +secret? To divulge the fact that he was planning to escape military +service by crossing over the border into Mexico and hiding there was out +of the question.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly Gerry should have more fully appreciated the enormity of +Felipe's purpose, his selfishness and disloyalty. Strange that she +should expect to find happiness with a man who wished to begin their +life together by an act of deception and cowardice! Nevertheless, by +this time one must have learned to understand Gerry's disposition +sufficiently well to accept the fact that she did not <i>fully</i> +understand, so completely was she under Felipe's influence. Yet Felipe +must not be allowed to bear the entire burden of their wrong doing. +Certainly Gerry was not marrying Felipe for his sake only, but also for +the happiness and the ease which she believed the future would insure +her.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this, since life is seldom guided by one clear motive, +but by many mixed ones, Gerry was also ardently and sincerely in love.</p> + +<p>Her failure to grasp the extent of the danger she and Felipe were facing +and the possible injury to her own reputation was due to three causes. +The first of these was sheer stupidity, the second an actual lack of +education and the third Gerry's conviction that this was her solitary +chance for saving Felipe from the difficulties and dangers of a +soldier's life and at the same time securing him for herself.</p> + +<p>In the end, as one might have guessed, Gerry Williams made no +confession.</p> + +<p>Instead, in the hours when she had remained alone in her sleeping tent, +she had packed a few possessions in her satchel, hiding the bag under +her bed and wondering at the same time how she would ever manage to get +it away the next day without exciting comment.</p> + +<p>The next day Fortune appeared to favor Gerry, as the fickle Dame does +now and then, when one had best be thwarted.</p> + +<p>Immediately after their luncheon the Camp Fire girls decided to go upon +a long walk. So much time had been given to the rehearsals of "As You +Like It" that they had been exercising far less than usual in the past +weeks.</p> + +<p>The wool for knitting and materials for making bandages having recently +given out, Mrs. Webster offered to go into town with Dan to buy whatever +was required.</p> + +<p>So, through a combination of quite ordinary circumstances, Sunrise camp +was deserted except by Mrs. Burton, Marie and Gerry.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton did not feel equal to the long hike and Gerry simply +declined without giving a reason.</p> + +<p>Since her farewell to Felipe about thirty hours before, she had received +no word from him and yet this afternoon Gerry knew he would appear. Now +and then she even hoped he would not come, at least not until the next +day, or even the one after that.</p> + +<p>Soon after the other girls departed, Mrs. Burton asked Gerry to sit +beside her and talk while she rested in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>A small fire was always kept burning at Sunrise camp, no matter how warm +the day, for the small amount of heat made no appreciable difference and +the fire was always being needed for cooking.</p> + +<p>So Marie arranged an Indian blanket upon the ground away from the +windward side of the fire and then went into her tent to write letters.</p> + +<p>Afterwards Mrs. Burton lay down in such a position that she could look +closely at Gerry.</p> + +<p>In the few minutes they had been together without the others, she had +noticed that Gerry looked pale and depressed.</p> + +<p>"You are not worrying over anything, Gerry?" Mrs. Burton asked.</p> + +<p>Gerry shook her head. "Certainly not. What have I to worry about—except +everything?"</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was unfortunate that Mrs. Burton chose this time to talk to +Gerry about her future, although, since her mind really was made up, +probably nothing would have altered her decision.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to worry you, or to have you worry, dear," Mrs. Burton +began, "but I do wish it were possible for you to find some occupation +that would interest you. It would make you ever so much happier! Forgive +me if I have seen that you are more restless, less content than the +other Camp Fire girls. And whatever work you wish to do, I do not wish +you to go into it unprepared, a woman needs more training these days to +make a success than a man. It has meant so much to me to give my time +and energy to the art I love. I want you to have the same luck, Gerry."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Burton reached out her hand, but her companion did not seem to +observe it.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, I know I am a disappointment," she answered. "But the +trouble with me is that I am stupid and no work of any character +interests me. I might as well tell you the truth."</p> + +<p>For a moment Mrs. Burton did not reply. Gerry's answer had made her +impatient, and for this reason she felt it best not to argue.</p> + +<p>"Very well, perhaps the interest will come later. You are young enough +to wait, Gerry, and please do not think I am not more than anxious to +help you. You know it is only on your account I worry. I so wish the +circumstances of your life were happier, my dear. I hate your being +lonely."</p> + +<p>Then as Gerry's eyes were filling with tears and when she was having a +struggle not to break down entirely and make her confession, she and +Mrs. Burton both heard at the same instant a gay voice singing as it +approached nearer to them:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"It was a lover and his lass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Here comes <i>Touchstone</i>, Gerry! What a charming voice Felipe has! I +know you must feel relieved to be released from such a prosy talk as we +were having."</p> + + +<p>If Felipe had not been a particularly successful actor at the production +of their play, Gerry was amazed by his present acting.</p> + +<p>He had suggested that they were either to motor or to drive away from +Sunrise camp. Now he appeared on foot in the most casual fashion with +his guitar swung over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>After bowing politely to Gerry, he immediately dropped down upon the +ground beside Mrs. Burton and finished his song:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And therefore take the present time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For love is crowned with the prime<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In springtime...."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nor did Felipe rise, or ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him after +his song was concluded. He merely continued talking in a casual fashion +with Mrs. Burton.</p> + +<p>In half an hour, having finished their errands unexpectedly early, Mrs. +Webster and Dan returned to camp. Dan went away immediately to put up +the car and Mrs. Burton arose to go indoors with her sister.</p> + +<p>Not until then did Felipe ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him. He +made the request with apparent indifference.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Gerry thought she was too tired to walk with the girls! But never mind. +If you won't go very far or stay too long, I suppose I must pay my +actors in some fashion for their services, and I have had no opportunity +to thank you."</p> + +<p>Then, as she moved away, she called back:</p> + +<p>"Don't forget to take your coat or a sweater with you, Gerry; it may +turn unexpectedly cool."</p> + +<p>So Gerry, feeling that her face was flushing crimson and her hands +becoming like ice, was able to disappear inside her tent at the moment +she desired.</p> + +<p>When she came out with her satchel the coat was hanging over it; +besides, there was no one in sight to observe her own and Felipe's +departure.</p> + +<p>But the moment they started Felipe said quickly:</p> + +<p>"Don't be worried, Gerry darling. I have a motor waiting for us about a +mile away and my old nurse is there to take care of you. Her husband is +with her and they are perfectly respectable and devoted to me. They will +come back as soon as we are safely married and let Mrs. Burton and +father know. They can't tell them <i>where</i> we have gone, of course. They +can simply say we have gone on a honeymoon. It will be all right. Lots +of people run away and are married; it saves such a lot of fuss for one +thing. Later on, if you like, we can write where we are, because neither +Mrs. Burton nor father would betray us. I want, if possible, to cross +over the border into Mexico tonight at dusk."</p> + +<p>The rest of the afternoon passed like a strange and not a happy dream to +Gerry.</p> + +<p>But whatever arrangements were necessary, whatever the law required of +them, Felipe seemed to have managed all the formalities. As they drove +from one place to another Gerry sat in the back of the automobile next +to Felipe's old nurse, not even making an effort to talk to her and +saying nothing to Felipe. Now and then Felipe made little anxious +inquiries to find out if she were all right and Gerry only nodded her +head in reply.</p> + +<p>In the house of a clergyman in a small town not many miles away the +ceremony was finally performed. Gerry declared that her parents had +given their consent, knowing well enough they would be delighted to hear +of her marriage. Felipe Morris was of course several years more than the +legal age. Besides Felipe's nurse and her husband the wife and daughter +of the clergyman also appeared as witnesses.</p> + +<p>But when the moment came for parting with their companions, Gerry begged +that she be allowed to write a note to Mrs. Burton. The note was very +short; Gerry scarcely understood what she was writing, nevertheless it +said a great deal:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mrs. Burton</span>:</p> + +<p>"You will never be able to forgive me and I know I do not +deserve that you should. Only pray I may be happy, because now +the wedding ceremony is over and Felipe Morris and I are +married, I am dreadfully frightened.</p> + +<p>"Yours with all love,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Gerry</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The rest of the late afternoon was even more like a strange dream.</p> + +<p>At the border between Mexico and the United States Felipe managed +successfully to deceive the guard. He had changed his costume and wore a +Mexican one, he spoke Spanish and gave a name which was not his own. +Gerry, who was wearing a veil tied closely about her head, the guard +scarcely noticed.</p> + +<p>Felipe explained that he and his wife had driven over into California +earlier in the day and were now on their way back to their home in +Mexico. By a stroke of good fortune the guard had only been on duty a +few hours, having changed places with another soldier. Therefore he had +no way of disproving Felipe's story; moreover, he happened to be new to +his work.</p> + +<p>Never so long as she lived was Gerry to forget her first sight of the +strange desert land of Mexico, which she saw when dusk was falling.</p> + +<p>The earth was a sea of sand with funny little hut-like houses sprinkled +here and there, hung with gay signs written in a language Gerry did not +comprehend. Beyond them was a fringe of high bare hills, now purple in +the evening shadows.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she realized her own and Felipe's exile. They were without home +or country; worse, they were deserters.</p> + +<p>For fear he was suffering an even deeper regret and remorse than had +laid hold upon her, Gerry dared not look or speak to Felipe as their car +carried them further and further away from their friends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Folly and Courage</span></h3> + + +<p>Before information of any kind concerning her mysterious disappearance +was received from Gerry Williams, every member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +had become alarmed. But it must be confessed that the girls were more +annoyed than they were agitated.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster were necessarily anxious, yet as Mrs. +Webster had never felt an especial interest or affection for Gerry, she +was less so than her sister.</p> + +<p>The Camp Fire girls had returned from their walk in time for a late +afternoon tea. They were just finishing when Marta Clark inquired what +had become of Gerry, and why she was not having tea with them?</p> + +<p>Then for the first time Mrs. Burton mentioned that Gerry had gone away +from camp with Felipe Morris several hours before. But as she had +promised to return in a short time, already she was beginning to feel +worried for fear something had happened.</p> + +<p>Then another hour went by and the dusk began to descend. But since it +was late summer and the days were long, some time would still elapse +before actual darkness.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless Mrs. Burton at first betrayed her nervousness by walking +alone up and down the little traveled road beyond the camp. Finally she +came back to the group of girls, who were still loitering about their +camp fire before clearing away the tea things.</p> + +<p>"Do be good to me, Peggy. I know you are already tired from your long +walk and I won't go far," she promised. "But somehow I am so +uncomfortable about Gerry I cannot keep still. I know I am absurd, but I +have one of those ridiculous premonitions which never amount to +anything. If she does not come back in another hour, I shall motor over +to the ranch to inquire if Mr. Morris has received any word from +Felipe."</p> + +<p>In spite of the fact that Peggy was tired and also annoyed at what she +presumed to be Gerry's selfish unconcern, she got up instantly at Mrs. +Burton's request, and as they started off on their walk placed her arm +affectionately inside her aunt's.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you allow yourself to become so worked up over Gerry's +staying away from camp with Felipe longer than you approve," said Peggy +with her usual directness. "If you do not realize how much she is +interested in him, you are the only one of us who is blind. Gerry has +not cared for anything except her friendship with Felipe all this +summer. She has an affection for you, but except for you everything in +our Camp Fire life has bored her."</p> + +<p>Knowing by her aunt's expression that she was annoyed by her critical +attitude, nevertheless Peggy, who was not in a good humor, went on with +her plain speaking.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I have thought Gerry was really in love with Felipe; at other +times I have simply thought she liked him just because he was a man and +showed her some attention. Gerry is the type of girl who has not the +faintest interest in other girls."</p> + +<p>"Is this your opinion alone, or the opinion of all the Camp Fire +girls?" Mrs. Burton inquired in a tone it was difficult to translate.</p> + +<p>Peggy flushed. "Perhaps it is my opinion alone, since it sounds rather +hateful. In any case, I have no right to speak except for myself. But if +you wish to know the truth, the opinion is pretty general."</p> + +<p>"Have the girls the same attitude toward you, Peggy, because of your +interest in Ralph Marshall?" Mrs. Burton demanded. "You know how much of +your time and thought you give to him these days, even though you rarely +mention his name, and you have many more people to care for than Gerry, +who is rather singularly alone. If you girls are not fond of her I am +not surprised that she prefers Felipe Morris, who, after all, is +exceptionally attractive."</p> + +<p>Peggy was suddenly upon the defensive.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I have allowed my interest in Ralph to interfere with my +friendships with the Camp Fire girls," she argued defensively. "But I +did not intend being disagreeable about Gerry. She is always amiable and +sweet, only it is difficult not to resent her indifference and her +absorption in herself."</p> + +<p>After this speech Mrs. Burton and Peggy continued their walk in silence +for a few moments. Then Mrs. Burton said in a different tone:</p> + +<p>"When Gerry comes back this evening, Peggy, I wish you would try to be +particularly nice to her. If she has become too much interested in +Felipe I cannot help being sorry for her. I have never told you girls +much of Gerry's history because she preferred my not telling. But she +has had a hard time and no one has ever really cared for her. Her father +is dead and her mother an impossibly common person without any good +traits of character, so far as I have been able to discover, which would +redeem her commonness. So things will be all the more difficult for +Gerry if she is under the impression she cares for Felipe. In a little +time our Camp Fire summer will be over and they will be separated."</p> + +<p>Peggy nodded. "I will do my best. I am sorry to have been so critical. +At least Gerry does not make disagreeable speeches about other people! +But you are mistaken if you think any of us has ever been unkind to +her; it is only that we have found it impossible to become intimate. Of +course she and Sally like each other. But if there are facts in Gerry's +life she does not wish to discuss, I can understand why she prefers not +to develop too close an intimacy with the rest of us, who know almost +everything about one another. But don't worry, I presume some accident +has delayed Gerry and Felipe. Suppose we return to camp? They may have +taken some other route and arrived by this time."</p> + +<p>But of course Gerry was not at the Sunrise camp. Within five minutes +after Mrs. Burton's and Peggy's return, an automobile appeared +containing an unknown man and woman.</p> + +<p>The woman asked to be permitted to speak to Mrs. Burton alone.</p> + +<p>Then, as she stood hesitating, trying to make up her mind what to say +first, suddenly she remembered Gerry's crumpled little note.</p> + +<p>For Gerry's sake it was as well that the news of her runaway marriage +was imparted to her Camp Fire guardian and friend in this fashion, for +the note revealed infinitely more than Gerry realized. With Mrs. +Burton's understanding of human nature she understood something of the +struggle, something of the temptation to which Gerry had yielded. +Therefore in the midst of her surprise and anger she could not forget +the note's final pathetic appeal.</p> + +<p>Neither the woman nor man would tell much more than the bare facts of +Gerry's and Felipe's marriage. They insisted that the ceremony was +entirely legal and that immediately afterwards the young couple had gone +away. In truth, they could not tell more, since as a matter of +precaution Felipe had not informed either his nurse or her husband of +his plans.</p> + +<p>After appreciating that the marriage had become a reality and that there +was nothing she could do or say which would make any difference, Mrs. +Burton asked but few questions. She knew that Felipe's father would come +to her as soon as he learned what had taken place and she preferred to +discuss the situation with him and not with strangers.</p> + +<p>Of necessity it was Mrs. Burton who imparted the information to the Camp +Fire girls, but she merely told what she knew as briefly as possible, +adding no comment. Then she went away to be alone. She was not thinking +of Gerry's ingratitude, of the poor return she had made for her interest +and assistance, but she was thinking of Gerry herself. Gerry was so +young and she and Felipe knew each other so slightly. Then, as Mrs. +Burton knew nothing at present of Felipe's attempt to hide in Mexico, it +also occurred to her that he might soon be forced to join the army.</p> + +<p>Left to themselves, the Camp Fire girls were not so lenient in their +condemnation. It was Alice Ashton who chanced to voice the general +sentiment.</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand how any human being could behave as Gerry has done! +Certainly she has proved how little the Camp Fire influence has meant to +her! But there is no point in our criticising her, because some day +Gerry will have to pay dearly enough."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Summons</span></h3> + + +<p>Later in the same night, being unable to sleep, Mrs. Burton was aroused +by hearing the approach of another motor car. It must have been between +two and three o'clock in the dark hours before dawn when the earth is so +strangely quiet. Moreover, cars were not in the habit of passing Sunrise +camp at any hour, as it was too far from the main road to allure +travelers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton quietly slipped on her dressing gown and slippers in order +not to disturb her sister, who slept in the room with her. As she walked +to the front door she was under the impression that Gerry must have +returned home to camp and would wish to see her.</p> + +<p>But outside it was so dark that for a moment she could see nothing. Then +at a little distance off she discovered two figures standing close +together. As Mrs. Burton drew nearer she recognized one of them as Dan +Webster, and as Dan was fully dressed he could not have been in bed +during the night. The other man was Lieutenant Carson.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">As Mrs. Burton Drew Near She Recognized One of Them as +Dan Webster</span></h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Yes, I have been worried all night," she overheard Dan say. "I +persuaded mother to go to bed fairly early by telling her I would wait +for Billy. But after midnight when he did not come I have not known what +to do. I had no idea where to go to look for him. I was afraid something +had happened. Is the accident serious?"</p> + +<p>"If it were not I would never have wakened you at such an hour," +Lieutenant Carson answered. "Please break the news to your mother and +sister as quickly as you can and ask them to hurry. I brought over one +of our army cars, so there need be no delay. On the way to camp I will +tell you as much as I know."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Burton stepped out of the shadow.</p> + +<p>"Billy is hurt," she began, not asking a question, but stating a +conviction. "What has he done?" she hesitated, her voice breaking.</p> + +<p>"He has done something so wonderful there is not a soldier in camp who +would not be proud to accomplish one-half so much. But he has been +injured and——" Lieutenant Carson tried to keep his own tones from +becoming husky.</p> + +<p>"I'll see your mother, Dan," said Mrs. Burton. "Will you please waken +Vera and Peggy? If Billy is conscious when we arrive he will wish to +have Vera near him."</p> + +<p>Within ten minutes the four women and Dan were on their way with +Lieutenant Carson to the army cantonment.</p> + +<p>The lieutenant had asked Dan to drive the car during the first part of +the journey so that he might explain what had occurred.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Webster, your son is in our Red Cross hospital and everything +possible is being done for him. A doctor reached him almost at once. But +I wish I could tell you exactly what happened. As it is I can only +repeat the story the little chap told himself. No one knows anything +else, but he has been perfectly conscious all along and I am told is not +suffering a great deal," Lieutenant Carson faltered, wishing that the +task in which he was engaged had fallen to some one else.</p> + +<p>"Please tell us everything you can," Peggy urged. "I feel my mother had +best know the truth before we reach Billy."</p> + +<p>"As far as I could find out there have been two laborers employed at our +camp who are traitors. In spite of all the official red tape and +investigations, your son Billy seems to have been the only person who +discovered the fact. The little fellow apparently called himself a +pacifist and made friends with the men. Anyhow they must have believed +he sympathized with them, for he has been watching them for some time. I +don't know how long, I am having to guess a part of this. But they must +have finally decided he was one of them, as they allowed him to find out +their secrets. It is amazing. I don't see how he managed!"</p> + +<p>"But you have not yet told us how Billy chanced to be at your camp +tonight and how he came to be hurt, Lieutenant Carson," Peggy pleaded, +knowing that the same thought was in all their minds.</p> + +<p>"Billy knew there was mischief brewing without knowing exactly what the +ruffians were planning to do, at least, that is the way I understand +the facts," the young officer continued. "But it seems that when he had +followed them to their meeting place earlier in the evening, he found +out they had placed a bomb in one of our big buildings at camp which was +set to go off at a certain hour tonight. Billy says he made the men +believe he considered this a great idea, otherwise they would never have +allowed him to escape. He seems to have had the nerve to get up and +spout a little speech on pacifism before about half a dozen of them. I +believe he said that if only the men managed to destroy our war camps, +the United States would never be able to enter the war in Europe and so +peace would soon have to be declared as the Allies couldn't go on +without America's aid. Anyhow, after a while they let the little fellow +go and he pretended to be starting for home. But instead he made for our +camp.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he could have managed better. What I should have done in his +place I don't know; but he was a little chap up against a pretty big +proposition. He did not know how to get the news to camp unless he told +some one out here what was about to take place. He was trying to slip +into camp with his news when one of our sentries shot him. He was just +able to tell the soldier who picked him up what his business was +and—well, we found the infernal machine where he told us to look for +it. And God only knows how many lives Billy has saved!"</p> + +<p>"But my son will live?" Mrs. Webster inquired, with the quiet fortitude +which comes now and then to some of us in the really great moments of +our lives.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Mrs. Webster," Lieutenant Carson answered honestly. "I +was only ordered to bring you to camp as quickly as possible."</p> + +<p>Then the young officer took charge of the car, as he was more familiar +with the road than Dan.</p> + +<p>The southern dawn which Billy had learned to love in these past weeks +was breaking into pale lavender and rose when the army automobile +arrived at camp.</p> + +<p>A good many of the soldiers were walking about, not caring to go back to +sleep after what had occurred. More of them than one would imagine +remembered seeing Billy about camp in the past few weeks, the delicate +young fellow with the extraordinary blue eyes. Lucky thing for them that +he had been around, but hard on him!</p> + +<p>Captain Mason and Major Anderson, two of the officers who were friends +of Mrs. Burton's, came forward to meet her and Mrs. Webster.</p> + +<p>They led the way to the hospital, with the girls and Dan and Lieutenant +Carson following.</p> + +<p>"Your son has been asking for you, Mrs. Webster, only he said you were +not to be frightened about him and we were not to let you know what had +happened until breakfast time," Major Anderson remarked with that same +huskiness in his voice which Lieutenant Carson had been unable to +conceal. "This war has made many heroes and will make many more, but I +don't know of a finer thing than your son has done. He must have known +the risk he ran when he came out here alone tonight on such an errand."</p> + +<p>At the door of the hospital, which was only a wooden house with a Red +Cross flag outside, the doctor met the little company.</p> + +<p>"You will be as quiet as you can and try not to excite him," he said, +and there was something in his voice which made all questioning +impossible.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Webster and Dan and Peggy went inside the little hospital. +Within a few moments Dan came out again with his head bowed and went +away by himself without speaking.</p> + +<p>"Will it be many hours, Doctor?" Mrs. Burton inquired.</p> + +<p>The doctor shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Not many."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton was standing with her arm about Vera Lagerloff, feeling +Vera's grief almost as deeply as her own. Without a tie of blood, +without the right to be near him which his family had, Vera was yet +closer to Billy in many ways than any other human being in the world.</p> + +<p>"You shall see him soon, dear," Mrs. Burton murmured.</p> + +<p>Vera nodded.</p> + +<p>"Billy will send for me; there will be so many things he will wish to +say," she replied and her tone was one of love and understanding.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I can get on without Billy afterwards, Mrs. Burton. No +one else has realized how wonderful he was, what beautiful things he was +planning to do with his life." Vera was shivering so Mrs. Burton could +only hold her more closely.</p> + +<p>"I know, dear, and yet how could one do more than Billy has done? +Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his +friend. Billy's friends, remember, were never merely the few people he +knew; his idea of friendship was a bigger thing than ours."</p> + +<p>"Billy wishes to speak to you, Tante, and to Vera," Peggy said at this +instant appearing at the open door. "Don't be unhappy at seeing him. He +is not frightened and yet he understands perfectly he has only a little +while."</p> + +<p>Billy was lying on a cot with a nurse on one side of him and his mother +on the other, but, except for this, looking much as he usually did.</p> + +<p>His face was paler and the blue eyes even wider open, yet for once in +his life they seemed to have lost their questioning look.</p> + +<p>"I promised you not to get into mischief, Tante. Well, this is the last +time; at least, I suppose it is my last. But after all one does not +know; there may be other chances over there."</p> + +<p>Billy was trying to smile and Mrs. Burton leaned over and kissed him.</p> + + +<p>"I know there will be, Billy, and you will take them as gallantly as you +have done this one. Don't worry, old chap, I'll look after your mother +and Peggy."</p> + +<p>Then she turned away.</p> + +<p>Vera had kneeled down and was hiding her face in the bed clothes.</p> + +<p>It was to her Billy turned like a little boy.</p> + +<p>"Please look at me, Vera, and tell me you are sorry. It was like me to +do the right thing in the wrong way, wasn't it? Yet there are so many +things I want to say, want to explain to people. You see it is all a +question of our learning to understand each other better to end fighting +and all the rest of it. You believed in me, didn't you, Vera? Yet you +understand that I could not let the soldiers out here be killed when +they are getting ready to give their lives for ours. What is that we +read about Christ the other day, Vera?"</p> + +<p>Vera held Billy's two hands folded closely in her own.</p> + +<p>"Listen, dear, and remember this:</p> + +<p>"'Christ is courage, Christ is adventure, he fights for us and with us +against death.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Plans for the Future</span></h3> + + +<p>In a large hotel sitting-room a number of girls were grouped in various +attitudes, discussing a question which evidently interested them.</p> + +<p>"Does any one know <i>why</i> we are <i>not</i> to start east tomorrow as we +planned?" Marta Clark inquired, glancing up from a city map which she +had been studying.</p> + +<p>"Why, no, not exactly," Bettina Graham answered her. "Tante did not tell +us definitely. She merely said that something had occurred which made +her feel it would be wiser for her to remain in California a few days +longer, unless we were compelled to leave for home at once. Personally I +cannot imagine what is keeping her here, as I know she is anxious to go +home, now that our Camp Fire summer is over and Peggy and Aunt Mollie +and Dan Webster have gone. I think it was wonderfully good of her to +continue with our camping party after Billy's death, when she must have +wished to leave with the others."</p> + +<p>"I think <i>I</i> know why she seemed to change her mind so unexpectedly +yesterday and canceled all our reservations for berths," Sally Ashton +announced in the mysterious manner which Sally often assumed to the +annoyance of the other girls. Since her arrival in the city, Sally +temporarily had forsworn her war and Camp Fire abstinence and was at +this moment engaged in eating chocolates which had just arrived by +parcel post from Merton Anderson.</p> + +<p>"How absurd you are, Sally! You know no more than the rest of us!" Alice +Ashton argued with sisterly frankness.</p> + +<p>Instead of replying, sanctimoniously tightening her lips, Sally added +nothing to her original statement.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, won't you <i>please</i> tell us what you think, Sally?" Vera +Lagerloff requested, and because it was Vera who made the request Sally +agreed.</p> + +<p>Since Billy's death the Camp Fire girls had been as unobtrusively kind +to Vera as they knew how to be. In a measure they appreciated what his +loss must mean to her, although it was out of the question that they +could fully understand the extent of Vera's loneliness, the feeling of +emptiness which the future now seemed to offer her.</p> + +<p>Vera's long and devoted friendship with Billy had separated her from the +usual intimacy with other girls, nevertheless she was a general +favorite. For a good many years Billy had required whatever time and +thought she could spare from her ordinary duties and affections.</p> + +<p>"I think, Vera, that Tante recently has heard some unexpected news of +Gerry," Sally finally announced with the proper degree of solemnity and +with a due sense of dramatic values.</p> + +<p>At least she was a dramatic success to the extent of surprising her +audience.</p> + +<p>"What authority have you for such a statement, Sally?" Alice Ashton +demanded in the superior voice and manner which Alice now and then +affected.</p> + +<p>Sally shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't any authority, I have a +'hunch'," she returned, appreciating how painfully her slang would annoy +her intellectual sister.</p> + +<p>"But how is it possible that Gerry could have written? Don't you think +she and Felipe are still hiding in Mexico? We know that much from what +Mr. Morris has told us! If Gerry should write to Mrs. Burton she might +betray her own and Felipe's secret and she would not do that," Marta +Clark protested.</p> + +<p>"I did not say Gerry had written, I only said that I believed Tante had +received some information concerning her," Sally answered, undisturbed +by criticism.</p> + +<p>In response to this speech the expressions on the faces of the four +other girls became curiously alike.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe if I were Mrs. Burton I should ever take an interest in +Gerry again," Marta Clark announced. "Perhaps I am more in a position to +say this than any of the rest of you, because all of you have some past +association with Mrs. Burton; she was an intimate friend of your +mothers. She simply chose to be kind to me and to invite me to spend +this summer with her Camp Fire group without any especial reason, just +as she has been good to Gerry. If I should repay her kindness as Gerry +has done, I should never dare make the effort to see her again, or to +ask her forgiveness, no matter how greatly I might desire it."</p> + +<p>"I feel just as you do, Marta," Bettina Graham agreed.</p> + +<p>But Sally gave a little protesting cough, holding a chocolate drop +suspended in the air for an instant.</p> + +<p>"Judge not, lest ye be judged," she declared sententiously, and then +with a somewhat less self-righteous expression, "Was that quotation from +the Bible or Shakespeare and did I quote correctly? The truth is I wish +that all of you would not be so hard upon Gerry. I know you think it +silly and impossible for a girl not yet eighteen to be <i>really</i> in love, +but just the same Gerry is in love with Felipe. As she is in love with +him and he has been a coward and is now a fugitive from his own country, +I don't suppose Gerry is so happy that all of you need be disagreeable +about her. Personally I am perfectly sure that if Gerry wishes Tante's +sympathy and help again, Tante would be sure to do whatever she could to +help her."</p> + +<p>"Hats off to Sally!" Bettina Graham remarked and no one disputed the +suggestion. "Still of course, Sally dear, it is impossible that any news +could have been received from Gerry, since she and Felipe must remain +out of the country until the war is over and the whole circumstance of +Felipe is forgotten," Bettina continued. "But suppose when Tante returns +we inquire why we are to wait over in Los Angeles a few days more? I +presume she would not object to explaining. I believe no one asked her +the direct question."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but she would have volunteered to tell had she wished us to know," +Alice Ashton argued.</p> + +<p>Vera Lagerloff, who had been sitting by an open window looking out +toward a circle of hills which were like giant amethysts in the +afternoon light, turned toward the other girls.</p> + +<p>"Suppose if we have no other plans we spend tomorrow on Mount Lowe and +give Mrs. Burton the opportunity to be alone," she suggested. "We have +been at the seashore so long I am anxious for a day among the hills."</p> + +<p>Then she addressed Marta Clark.</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken, Marta, if you think all of us here, aside from you, +have some past association with Mrs. Burton. I have none except that +Billy and I always have been friends and he asked his aunt to take an +interest in me. Now Mrs. Burton is going to do something for me which +seems more wonderful than anything she has ever done for any one else, +although I know she has been a fairy godmother to a good many people. +But she is to pay my expenses and allow me to go to France to work in +the devastated country which has lately been cleared of the Germans. +'The Field of Honor' is the name for this part of France which I like +best. I hope to work among the homeless children. But in any case I have +been brought up on a farm and can do farming work, which I have heard is +especially needed. I am to study in New York City before I sail. Courses +of study are being given there under the auspices of the French Huguenot +societies."</p> + +<p>An unusual silence followed Vera's long speech and then it was Sally +Ashton who spoke first.</p> + +<p>"For your sake, Vera, I am so glad, for I know the new life and the new +work will mean a great deal to you just now. I only wish I were going +with you."</p> + +<p>"But you, Sally, what on earth could you do that would be useful in +France?" Alice remonstrated, not because she wished to be disagreeable +but to relieve the little tension which Vera's confidence had wrought.</p> + +<p>"At least I can cook, which is a more useful accomplishment than any you +can offer, Alice," Sally returned with such ridiculous spitefulness that +the other girls laughed.</p> + +<p>"I believe I am also envious of you, Vera," Bettina remarked. "All +summer I have been feeling that we were not doing enough to help with +the war merely by economizing and sewing and knitting, all the hundred +and one small things we have tried to do. If we were boys we would be +going through at least a little military training and in a few years +would be able to volunteer. It is simply amazing what the girls and +women are doing in England. So far we have not nearly approached their +efforts. Do you know there is a 'Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps' already +in France working directly behind the lines. I believe the Tommies call +them 'The Tommy-waacs.' We have been talking about being behind the +lines this summer, but I wish we could be more directly there."</p> + + +<p>"But what is the exact work the English girls are doing?" Alice +demanded, as if she were seriously weighing a problem in her mind. "I am +sure we can do the same things if they become necessary."</p> + +<p>"I don't know all the varieties of war work of course, Alice," Bettina +returned. "In Great Britain women and girls have taken the places of the +men in more departments of labor than we can imagine. Of course we know +they are working in munition shops and aeroplane factories and in ship +building, and are telephone and telegraph operators. Now they are also +working among the blind, being specially trained for the work, of +course, and are actually driving ambulances and motor trucks near the +fighting line. But I will bore you if I go on enumerating even the +little I know. Personally I agree with, Vera, I should prefer to work +among the children. Madame Montessori, the great Italian teacher, has +been in the United States this summer trying to establish what she calls +the order of the 'White Cross.' The members of the White Cross are to +devote themselves to the care of the children who have suffered from the +war. She says there is no hope of their growing into healthy and normal +men and women unless they receive special care."</p> + +<p>"Is there an organization anything like our own Camp Fire girls in +France?" Sally Ashton demanded unexpectedly. "I know there is in England +where they call themselves the 'Girl Scouts.' But I should think that +young girls living and working together in France as we have been trying +to do, might help each other and be useful to other people as well."</p> + +<p>"I quite agree with you, Sally," Bettina returned. "Odd, that no one of +us can answer your question! But as soon as we return East I mean to +make it my business to find out if there is a French Camp Fire. At least +we could write to the French Camp Fire girls if they exist."</p> + +<p>At this instant the girls' conversation was interrupted by the sudden +opening of a door and Mrs. Burton's entrance.</p> + +<p>She was not in mourning but was wearing a black dress and hat which were +unbecoming and made her look older.</p> + + +<p>"Why is everybody so serious?" she instantly demanded.</p> + +<p>Before any one else could reply Sally Ashton answered:</p> + +<p>"We are serious because we are thinking that some day we may ask you to +take us to France to form Camp Fire clubs over there and to do whatever +we can to help. Oh, of course I know we must learn more of what will be +required of us and be prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices."</p> + +<p>Flinging her hat on the bed with as great carelessness as if she were a +girl and also as if she were pleased to be rid of it, Mrs. Burton +replied:</p> + +<p>"You are an amazing child, Sally. Even if I had the courage for such an +undertaking, which I have not, do you suppose I would have sufficient +influence with the parents of any one of you to persuade them to allow +you to stir one foot away from your own land at a time like this? But I +understand you have been hearing Vera's news. The circumstances with +Vera are exceptional. Wait here another moment, there is something I +have to tell you."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Burton disappeared into her bedroom which adjoined their hotel +sitting-room. Their hotel was not in the center of the city but in a +suburb a few miles out.</p> + +<p>A few moments later she returned wearing a lavender crepe dressing gown +and looking younger and more attractive.</p> + +<p>For some reason she sat down next to Sally and put her arm about Sally's +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I hope my information may interest you," she began with a slight +suggestion of appeal in her voice, glancing from one of the girls to the +other.</p> + +<p>"Two days ago I received a letter from Mr. Morris telling me that Felipe +had been arrested by the United States authorities. He had crossed over +into California for the day in order to attend to some private business. +I believe he wished to get some money from his father. He trusted, of +course, in not being discovered, but was arrested within an hour."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I ought to say I am sorry, if that is what you wish, Tante? +But really I cannot. It seems to me exactly the fate that Felipe Morris +deserves," Bettina Graham answered coldly.</p> + +<p>"What will be done to Felipe as a punishment for having tried to escape +the draft?" asked Alice Ashton. "I believe the punishment is very +severe, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"His father is afraid he will receive three years' imprisonment," Mrs. +Burton replied without comment.</p> + +<p>Then she heard a little horrified exclamation from the girl nearest her +and Sally's face had whitened and her expression changed.</p> + +<p>"But Gerry! What is to become of Gerry?" she demanded. "I know that she +behaved very badly and that she ought to have persuaded Felipe to do his +duty, instead of helping him to run away from it. But Gerry was +dreadfully under Felipe's influence, and, anyhow, I don't care, I <i>am</i> +terribly sorry for her," Sally ended incoherently, hiding her brown eyes +behind her hand.</p> + +<p>"I also am very sorry, Sally," Mrs. Burton added. "The fact of having +done a wrong has never yet made any human being's punishment easier to +bear. But I can tell you one thing about Gerry, Sally dear, since you +alone seem interested. She is in California and is coming to see me +tomorrow. She returned to California as soon as she received word of +Felipe's arrest. She has been with Mr. Morris, and they of course will +do whatever is in their power to have Felipe's sentence made as light as +possible. I am afraid they cannot do very much. In all probability an +example will be made of him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Bitter Waters</span></h3> + + +<p>Following Vera's suggestion, the next morning the five girls decided +that they would spend the day in making the journey up the famous Mount +Lowe, a few miles away. Afterwards they intended taking one of the long +trail trips over the mountain, so that it would be impossible for them +to return to their hotel until late afternoon.</p> + +<p>For many reasons it seemed best that Mrs. Burton should be alone when +she received the visit from Gerry. Surely Gerry would wish to have at +least this first interview without interruption!</p> + +<p>Believing it impossible that her guest could arrive before noon, Mrs. +Burton spent the early hours of the morning in writing letters to her +husband and sister, including several business notes as well. She would +not confess it to herself; nevertheless she felt nervous over her first +meeting with Gerry, for although only a few weeks had passed they had +been crowded so tragically close with events in Gerry's life and in her +own. There had been the unexpected tragedy of Billy's death, Billy who +had been so unlike other boys in his life and in his final beautiful +surrender of life.</p> + +<p>Therefore when a knock came at her sitting-room door at some time +between half-past ten and eleven, presuming one of the hotel servants +was outside, Mrs. Burton said, "Come in," without raising her eyes from +the paper upon which she was writing.</p> + +<p>Afterwards the door opened softly and the next instant some one had +entered the room, but instead of attending to whatever duty had made the +intrusion necessary, the figure stood hesitating just inside the +threshold.</p> + +<p>After a little while, becoming vaguely conscious of this fact, Mrs. +Burton glanced up.</p> + +<p>"Gerry, you poor child!" she exclaimed with such sudden, warm sympathy +and with such an utter lack of criticism or reproach that any human +being would have been moved to gratitude and remorse.</p> + +<p>Gerry stumbled forward. Poor Gerry, who had changed so completely in the +past few weeks that even her delicate prettiness seemed to have vanished +forever! She was so white and worn looking, so thin and unhappy.</p> + +<p>"Then you forgive me?" she began.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton took both her hands.</p> + +<p>"We are not going to talk about forgiveness. You had your own life to +live, Gerry, and it was natural that you should do the thing you +supposed to be for your happiness without thinking of your gratitude or +obligation to me. If it had been for your happiness I should not have +expected you to think of me, although it would have been kinder of you. +But of course, dear, when girls do reckless things, the reason older +persons are grieved and angry is because of the consequences they are +sure to bring upon themselves. Being young you cannot understand this! +Yet it seems to me that you are having to pay rather more than other +people. Do sit down, dear; the other girls have gone away for the day so +we shall be entirely alone."</p> + +<p>As if she were really too tired to stand, Gerry sank into the nearest +chair.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry; I have not been able to sleep since Felipe was arrested. I +am told he keeps asking for me and I am not allowed to see him. He +thinks he has done me a great injustice, but that is not true and +besides I do not care."</p> + +<p>Gerry spoke with entire self-forgetfulness.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Burton, I don't think you or perhaps anyone can understand, +although I have tried to make Mr. Morris see. But Felipe and I have been +perfectly miserable ever since we were married. Oh, it is not because we +do not care for each other, because we do care very, very deeply! Only +neither Felipe nor I seemed to realize the weakness and wrong of what we +were doing until we were safely out of our own country and had time to +face the truth. Then Felipe confessed to me he had been a coward. He +seemed to think that no matter what happened in our future together, I +must always think of him as a coward and compare him with other men who +had done their duty. I don't know why he did not think of all this +before. But Felipe has written me that he is almost glad he has been +arrested. Anything which may happen to him will be better than having to +live as a fugitive until the war is over. Besides, even afterwards, he +could never look another American fellow in the face, remembering his +own weakness! Can you understand how anyone could change a point of view +so quickly, Mrs. Burton?" Gerry inquired wistfully. "It is hard even for +me, and yet I realize that Felipe and I simply woke up from our selfish +dream of happiness to realizing we had been traitors and cowards."</p> + +<p>"I can understand almost any weakness and almost any strength in human +beings, Gerry dear, after the years I have lived and the men and women I +have known," Mrs. Burton answered, forgetting for the moment Gerry's +youth. But the bitter waters of experience and regret having passed over +Gerry, she was no longer young.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Mrs. Burton got up and began walking up and down the room with +the graceful impatience which was ever characteristic of her.</p> + +<p>For a moment, watching her, Gerry felt her old charm so deeply that +temporarily she forgot her own sorrow. The peculiar shining quality +which Polly O'Neill had revealed as a girl in times of keen emotion she +had never lost.</p> + +<p>"I declare, Gerry, I cannot endure the thought that you and Felipe have +so spoiled your lives at the age when you should have been happiest. If +anything happens, if Felipe is kept in prison for a time, what do you +intend to do?"</p> + +<p>Gerry glanced down apparently at her hands which were lightly clasped +together in her lap.</p> + +<p>When she looked up at her companion she was smiling, even if somewhat +tremulously.</p> + +<p>"I am going to <i>work</i>, Mrs. Burton, although it may be difficult for you +to believe after the effort I have made to escape even the thought of +work. But I think at last I have found something which will interest me. +Mr. Morris is very kind; of course he must dislike me under the +circumstances and feel I influenced Felipe, nevertheless he has asked me +to live with him at the ranch indefinitely. But I won't do that, not +after Felipe's trial is over. I shall do some kind of war work and I +don't care now how menial or how humble it is. After a time perhaps I +may learn to be useful. Felipe and I have talked things over and we want +to do whatever is possible to atone for our mistake. If we only had it +all to do over again! But then, of course, I realize what a foolish +thing that is to say!"</p> + +<p>"It may be foolish, Gerry, but it is universal."</p> + +<p>After this remark Mrs. Burton did not sit down, nor did she speak again +for several moments. Instead she stood, frowning and looking peculiarly +determined and intense.</p> + +<p>"Gerry, if Felipe were released from prison, do you think he would be +willing to go into the army and do whatever he could to make himself a +good soldier? I don't believe Felipe is a physical coward, he was merely +a spiritual one. He is rash and impetuous and in a moment of actual +fighting no one would be braver or perhaps more reckless. What he +dreaded was the discipline, the <i>thought</i> of war, the having to +relinquish the ease and beauty and pleasure of his daily life. Well, +there must have been other boys like him, boys who fought with their own +disinclination more gallantly than Felipe! Yet it would be foolish for +the United States to lose a soldier for her army in order to gain a +prisoner. Don't you think Mr. Morris and you also, Gerry, can persuade +Felipe's judges to view the situation in this light? Let him accept +whatever punishment they see fit to bestow, only they must not spoil his +one chance of redeeming his mistake by fighting for his country."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton might have been pleading with a court instead of addressing +the solitary figure of one unhappy girl. However, she was merely +thinking aloud.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Morris is to make that plea for Felipe, although he has very little +hope," Gerry answered. "Felipe would be willing to give even his life +now to blot out the past."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton walked over and placed her hands on Gerry's shoulders.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, "I am going to stay here in California with you +for a time at least and see what I can do to help. I may not have much +influence, but I shall do my best. The girls can go home alone; they do +not require me to chaperon them. I have no doubt they will have more +pleasure in traveling without me. Besides, it seems to me that no one at +present has the same need for me that you have, Gerry!"</p> + +<p>Slowly in these past few weeks Gerry's soul had been coming to the +light. The revelation of it now shone through her eyes, yet she made no +effort to express her thanks in words.</p> + +<p>"When the time arrives and Felipe <i>is</i> allowed to go to France to fight, +perhaps I shall have learned to be useful. Do you think they will ever +allow American girls to work behind the lines?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burton shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Yet the call of France rings in all our ears and all our +hearts today, Gerry. We can only answer the call when our opportunity +arises."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The next volume in the Camp Fire series will deal with the work of the +Camp Fire girls in France. They will establish Camp Fires among the +young French girls. The old care-free days having passed away, they will +also devote their energies to aiding the children of France and to doing +"their bit" toward the restoration of that land of our affection, +France, where, in the future as in the past, Beauty and Liberty must +walk hand in hand. The title will be "The Camp Fire Girls on the Field +of Honor."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="STORIES_ABOUT_CAMP_FIRE_GIRLS" id="STORIES_ABOUT_CAMP_FIRE_GIRLS"></a>STORIES ABOUT CAMP FIRE GIRLS</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls at Sunrise Hill</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls Amid the Snows</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls Across the Sea</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls' Careers</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls in After Years</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls at the Edge of the Desert</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls at the End of the Trail</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Camp Fire Girls on the Field of Honor</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines, by +Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + +***** This file should be named 33532-h.htm or 33532-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/3/33532/ + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + +Author: Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +Release Date: August 26, 2010 [EBook #33532] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + + + + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND THE LINES + + BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK + + Author of "The Ranch Girls" Series, "The Red Cross Girls" Series, etc. + +ILLUSTRATED + +PHILADELPHIA +THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. +PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1918, by +The John C. Winston Company + + +[Illustration: A Sentry Ordered Dan to Stop His Car] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. "EL CAMINO REAL" + +II. THE LAND OF ROMANCE + +III. THE CALL TO SERVICE + +IV. THE CAMP AND TEMPERAMENTAL EXCURSIONS + +V. ABALONE SHELLS + +VI. "MY OWN WILL COME TO ME" + +VII. THE SACRIFICE OF YOUTH + +VIII. FELIPE + +IX. THE CANTONMENT + +X. PLANS + +XI. THE DANCE + +XII. "AS YOU LIKE IT" + +XIII. HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY + +XIV. THE NIGHT OF THE PLAY + +XV. "I WILL MARRY YOU, IF EVER I MARRY WOMAN" + +XVI. GERRY'S OPPORTUNITY + +XVII. FOLLY AND COURAGE + +XVIII. THE SUMMONS + +XIX. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE + +XX. BITTER WATERS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +A SENTRY ORDERED DAN TO STOP HIS CAR + +THEIR HOST LED THE WAY THROUGH THE OUTER COURT INTO THE ENCLOSED ONE + +ON ONE OCCASION GERRY AND FELIPE DISCOVERED THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY +DANCING ALONE + +AS MRS. BURTON DREW NEAR SHE RECOGNIZED ONE OF THEM AS DAN WEBSTER + + + + +The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"El Camino Real" + + +A small cavalcade was slowly winding down a steep, white road. + +The bare, brown hills rose up on one side like the earth's friars of St. +Francis, while on the other, at some distance away, the Pacific Ocean +showed green and still. Near the shore the waves broke into white +sprites of foam against the deep, incurving cliffs. + +A girl riding at the head of the column reined in her horse, afterwards +making a mysterious sign in the air with one upraised hand. + +In answer to her signal the other riders, a group of Camp Fire girls, +also stopped their horses. Across many miles sounded faintly the +deep-toned voices of old mission bells. + +"I believe the mission is ringing a farewell to us," one of the girls +remarked to the companion whose western pony had stopped nearest her +own. "To me, of all the Spanish missions we have seen so far, Carmel was +the loveliest. '_Carmelo_'--why, the very name has an enchanting sound! + + "Bells of the Past, whose long-forgotten music + Still fills the wide expanse, + Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present + With colors of romance! + + "I hear you call, and see the sun descending + On rock and wave and sand, + As down the coast the mission voices, blending, + Girdle the heathen land! + + "Borne on the swell 'of your long waves receding, + I touch the farther Past-- + I see the dying glow of Spanish glory, + The sunset dream and last!" + +The girl who had been reciting possessed an odd, charming voice with a +slightly hoarse note. She was small and had bright, almost +copper-colored hair. Her slender nose, which had a queer little twist +at the end, destroyed any claim she might otherwise have had to +conventional beauty and yet curiously enough added to the fascination of +her expression. + +The other girl shook her head. + +"I don't agree with you, Marta. You seem to me in as great a state of +enthusiasm over everything we have seen in California as if you were a +native. I confess to you I am a little weary of visiting old Spanish +missions. Personally I shall be glad when we are in our summer camp. The +missions are so empty and so sleepy these days with their queer, dreamy +old gardens and no one to be seen except an occasional tourist and a few +old monks. Nevertheless I liked your recitation. Sometimes I wonder, +Marta, if you intend imitating our Camp Fire guardian's career?" + +Gerry Williams spoke in a voice of amused superiority she often employed +in talking with other girls. + +Marta Clark's eyes, which had the strange characteristic of appearing to +change in color according to her moods, now darkened slightly as she +turned to gaze steadily at her companion. + +"Do you know, Gerry, I have an idea the old missions would never have +bored you, if you had any thought that a prince might come and discover +you in one of them!" + +"Certainly not," Gerry laughed. + +Gerry was alluring. Her hat was hanging over the pommel of her saddle so +that her fair hair was blowing about her face. Now that the sun and wind +had tanned her delicate skin, her blue eyes looked bluer than ever. + +Instead of replying, Marta Clark, at this instant, turned her horse with +the intention of riding beside one of the other girls. + +Marta Clark was the latest addition to the new group of Sunrise Hill +Camp Fire girls. The summer before she had met them in Arizona where +they were camping at the "End of the Trail." At that time she was living +nearby in a tent with her brother who had been seriously ill. Her +brother's health had improved and he had written a successful play. +Afterwards his marriage to Ellen Deal, one of the older Camp Fire girls, +had made it possible for Marta Clark to accept Mrs. Burton's invitation +to join her Camp Fire group. As her guests they were now traveling +along the Pacific coast, visiting the old Spanish missions. + +The King's Highway, called in the old Spanish tongue, _El Camino Real_, +stretches from northern California to the southernmost end. + +One of the other Camp Fire girls turned her head as Marta came near her. +All the horses were moving on again. + +"I wonder why the automobile has not caught up with us?" Peggy Webster +remarked. "I supposed the car would have passed us long ago. As it is +time for tea, and I am already tired, I think it would have been more +sensible if we had remained together." + +The little riding party of six girls was accompanied by a large wagon +filled with a camping outfit. The wagon was drawn by a small pair of +gray mules and driven by a tall, raw-boned man, a typical western +plainsman. Beside him sat a young fellow about seventeen years old. The +wagon was following a few yards behind the riders. + +"Then suppose we stop and have tea while we wait and watch for the +others," Bettina Graham proposed, having overheard Peggy's lament. + +"I don't believe they could have lost their way, since one has only to +follow the guide posts of the old mission bells. Nevertheless Tante has +a most eccentric fashion of suddenly deciding to explore along small +byways. But they must surely come along here finally." + +Peggy Webster shook her head. + +"We had best ride on for a little while longer in order to make the +distance we planned to make today. Perhaps by that time the car will +have joined us. In any case we can find a better place to watch and to +prepare tea." + +At the present time on each side the road the mustard plants were +blooming, making a broad field of the cloth of gold broken only by the +long trail. + +Further along down the slope of a hillside a miniature orange grove had +been planted with trees no larger than would have comfortably shaded +dolls' houses. + +Then, as they rode on, the Camp Fire girls drew nearer to the fine of +the coast. A fog was blowing in from the sea. + +Finally, standing up in her stirrups for an instant, Peggy Webster +pointed ahead. + +"See those three rocks down there that look like 'the Big Bear, the +Middle-Sized Bear and the Little Bear,' in the fairy story! Don't you +think they would form a comfortable background for our tea party? At +least they will be a protection from the wind. If we go on and the fog +grows much thicker we shall not be able even to see each other." + +Soon after the horses and the wagon halted and Dan Webster climbed down, +bearing the tea basket. Mr. Simpson, who was continuing to act as guide, +took charge of the horses. + +The coast looked bare and wind-swept. There were no trees nearby and no +driftwood along the shore. + +However, nearly two hundred years before, when Father Juniper Serra +founded and built the Spanish missions of California, he and his brother +monks left behind them a golden harvest. In all their pilgrimages from +land's end to land's end they flung the seed of the mustard plant along +their route. + +Leaving the other girls to unpack the tea basket, Marta Clark and +Bettina walked quickly back along the road until not a quarter of a mile +away they discovered another field of the omnipresent mustard. + +Then the two girls began searching for the dried stems of the mustard +plant in order to start their camp fire. + +Bettina was standing with her arms filled with the long stems when Marta +Clark came close up beside her. Both of the girls were knee deep among +the golden flowers. + +"You look like Ruth among the corn, Bettina," Marta remarked, surveying +the other girl with generous admiration. + +"Do you remember the story of Ruth in the Bible? 'So she gleaned in the +field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And she took it up +and went into the city.'" + +Bettina shook her head. "No, I do not remember. It is wonderful to me, +your ability to quote so correctly. If ever you are able to do the thing +you desire, your memory will be a wonderful help. But I am not going to +talk about it. I know you feel as embarrassed over your ambition as I do +over mine." + +In the past few weeks Marta Clark and Bettina were beginning to feel a +deep interest in each other. This was but natural, for although they +were unlike in character they had many tastes in common. Marta was quick +and passionate, while Bettina was apt to appear almost too serene and +self-controlled. Yet they both cared for books, for human beauty and the +beauty of the great outdoors. + +During the few moments the girls were talking the fog had been closing +in more thickly about them until it was only possible to see the road a +few yards away through a cloak of mist. + +At this instant they distinctly heard the noise of an approaching motor +car. + +Mrs. Richard Burton, better known to the world as the famous actress, +Polly O'Neill Burton, and guardian to the group of Sunrise Hill Camp +Fire girls, had chosen to make the journey down the California coast in +her automobile. + +This afternoon her sister, Mrs. Webster, her nephew, Billy Webster, Vera +Lagerloff and the maid, Marie, were traveling with her. + +The plan had been that the Camp Fire girls should start on their riding +trip several hours ahead and that they meet later and camp for the night +at some agreeable place along their journey. + +Marta and Bettina ran forward, intending to stop the approaching car. +Both girls were thinking that the car was moving much more swiftly than +usual. + +Almost immediately they saw that the automobile coming toward them was +not Mrs. Burton's, but a small khaki-colored roadster driven by a United +States officer with another soldier on the seat beside him. + +They were going along at full speed as if they were carrying information +of great importance. + +Then suddenly, without Marta or Bettina recognizing the cause, the car +swerved, made a wide detour and quickly overturned. A few seconds later +when the two girls, hoping to be of service, had reached the car, the +young United States officer was crawling slowly out from beneath the +wreck. + +He tried to stand up and to smile reassuringly at Bettina, who chanced +to be ahead, but the next moment if she had not put out her arm to +steady him he would have fallen. + +A little while after he was sitting unheroically amid the dust of the +roadside, smiling somewhat quizzically up at his rescuer. + +"I don't believe I am seriously hurt," he remarked cheerfully, "but as I +know you are patriotic and would like to try your first-aid remedies +upon me, please go ahead. I am Lieutenant Carson and at present I appear +to be a somewhat unsuccessful Paul Revere. But would you mind +explaining, while you are washing the dirt out of this plagued cut on my +forehead, why you are wearing a costume that seems to suggest a +combination of an Indian princess' outfit and a soldier's uniform?" + +Marta Clark was devoting her attention to the other soldier, who did not +appear to be hurt but only slightly dazed from his mishap. + +Bettina for an instant regretted that she was unable to change places +with Marta. She had studied first aid, of course, along with her Camp +Fire work, but was not accustomed to masculine patients. + +Moreover, Bettina considered that the young officer was showing an +unwarranted personal interest in his first war nurse. As a matter of +fact, she entirely refused to pay any attention to his questioning. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Land of Romance + + +Two weeks later two women were walking up and down a garden path in the +moonlight. + +Across from them stood a long, low adobe house of a single story. The +veranda, extending from one end to the other, was so thickly covered +with a flowering vine that even in the moonlight one could get the +reflection of its brilliant color. The air was scented with the fragrant +perfume of roses and the blossoms of orange and lemon trees. From behind +the soft shading of the vine across the road came the brilliant twanging +of a guitar and a mandolin. Two voices were singing a Spanish love song. + +Farther away under the deeper shadow of the moon a white cross arose +above a mass of fallen stone. + +"I declare, Mollie, this is the old world, not the new, isn't it? I feel +as if we had traveled away from our own country today into a foreign +land; but what land I cannot say, because this place tonight must be +more beautiful and more romantic than even Spain itself. Yet one is not +sorry to forget for a little while the present world and its tragedies!" + +The other woman shook her head. The two sisters were the same height, +had nearly the same character of features and the same coloring; +nevertheless were curiously unlike. + +One conspicuous difference was in their voices. + +"Do you know, Polly, I think perhaps you have made a mistake in bringing +the Camp Fire girls to spend the summer in so picturesque a place. We +probably shall have a romance on our hands before the season is over," +Mrs. Webster answered. "It is natural of course that _you_ should be +affected by such surroundings. But when a night like this has an +influence upon a woman of my age with an almost grown-up family, it +makes me feel extremely nervous when I consider the girls." + +Mrs. Burton laughed. + +"Nevertheless, my beloved Mollie, even if you _have_ a grown-up family +and I have no children, I don't see what difference the fact makes in +our ages, as we happen to be twins. Besides, I never could see why age +should destroy one's susceptibility to beauty! My only feeling is that +perhaps we have no right to ease and enjoyment of any kind this summer, +now that the United States has entered the war. I don't think I should +have invited the girls on this long trip had I known beforehand. I feel +I ought to be devoting all my energies to war work; however, we must do +whatever we can out here. Richard seemed to think it impossible to have +me near the southern camp where he is located." + +Mrs. Webster sighed gently in response. She was unhappy over the war, +too, but not so inclined as her sister to take deeply to heart the +sorrows of the world when they did not touch her personally. + +"Well, I am glad we can be together for a few months longer, Polly. I +realize it is selfish of me, and yet I do rejoice that neither Dan nor +Billy is old enough to be drafted. Dan's desire to volunteer is of +course ridiculous! At least, I shall safe-guard my boys. I am also glad +my husband is doing war work by increasing the amount of food raised +upon our place, instead of entering the service as an ordnance officer +as your husband has. Dear me, I really think it is very fine of Richard +at his age!" + +Shrugging her shoulders, Mrs. Burton smiled a little ruefully. + +"You are determined to dwell upon our great age tonight, aren't you, +Mollie mine? Please remember that your daughter Peggy bestowed her +affections upon Ralph Marshall last summer when we were at the Grand +Canyon and not in southern California. Yet I do feel that with the +possibility of young soldiers and officers turning up at any moment in +our midst, you and I will have to be unusually vigilant chaperons. + +"But do let us go now and find what has become of the girls. We have had +a long journey and should soon be in bed." + +Mrs. Burton slipped her arm inside her sister's and drew her away from +the old hotel garden across the gleaming road. + +To the right of them, bathed in the half-tropic moonlight, was the old +Spanish mission of San Juan Capistrano, named in honor of a +warrior-saint of the Crusades. It was the loveliest place in all +California. + +As they walked slowly on Mrs. Burton recited in an undertone, and with +the emotional sweetness which had captivated countless audiences and +which never failed to thrill her sister: + + "Up from the south slow filed a train, + Priests and soldiers of old Spain, + Who through the sunlit country wound + With cross and lance, intent to found + A mission in that wild to John, + Soldier saint of Capistran." + +They stopped a moment as if to let the beauty sink deep, and then the +two women entered the gate of the old mission grounds. + +Early in the afternoon the Sunrise Camp Fire party had arrived at the +little half-foreign town of Capistrano, set midway, like a link with the +past, between the two modern cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. For +hours they had been exploring the old mission. Then, after dinner, the +Camp Fire girls, with Dan and Billy Webster to act as escorts had asked +the privilege of returning to remain in the old mission garden until +bedtime. + +Tonight, to Mrs. Burton's eyes at least, the mission looked like a +half-ruined palace of dreams. Once the mission of San Juan Capistrano +held a great stone church, a pillared court, a portico, a rectangle; +here the Franciscan fathers had their cells, and many rooms for +distinguished guests. It was the richest and most splendid mission in +old California. + +But at present only the ruins of its past remained. + +Above, in one of the crumbling arches of the colonnade, an owl hooted so +hoarsely that Mrs. Webster clutched her sister's arm in a tighter clasp. +The greeting had sounded, not like a welcome, but a warning. + +There was no one to be seen and the place was wrapped in a kind of +ghostly silence. + +"It is most extraordinary how the girls and Dan and Billy have +disappeared," Mrs. Burton whispered plaintively, scarcely daring to +speak in a natural tone. + +She and Mrs. Burton had passed through one of the colonnades and were +now in the old court in the rear. Along one side ran a line of forsaken +cloisters. + +"Wait a moment, Mollie, please," Mrs. Burton murmured. + +Adding to the enchantment of the present scene she could hear again the +sound of music. The two musicians who had been singing on the veranda +across from their hotel also must have wandered into the mission +grounds. + +Then, almost at the same instant, Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster +discovered the Camp Fire girls. + +Beyond the enclosed space of the old mission lay a broad piece of open +ground. Over it tonight poured the unbroken radiance of the moon. In +time long past this ground had been devoted to the use of the Indians +who were being taught Christianity and the habits of civilization by the +Spanish fathers. In those days this ground was encircled by a row of +Indian huts. One part was set apart for the Indian women and girls, and +here the Indian maiden remained in seclusion until her wedding day. + +But tonight, in some mysterious fashion, the past seemed to have came +back, for a group of Indian maidens had returned to their former +dwelling place. + +"The picture is too lovely to disturb," Mrs. Burton whispered +irresolutely. + +In the moonlight one could not discern the differences in the costumes +of the Camp Fire girls, nor their fairer coloring. + +Bettina, Marta, Peggy and Alice Ashton were seated upon the ground, +forming a square, with Dan standing apparently hovering like a guardian +angel above them. + +As usual, Billy Webster was lying gazing up at the sky and Vera +Lagerloff was sitting beside him. + +A little apart from the others Gerry Williams and Sally Ashton were +strolling up and down with their arms intertwined. + +"Do you think we should speak of our plan immediately?" Bettina Graham +was inquiring of the other three girls. "Unless we can carry it out I +don't feel that we have the right to our Camp Fire summer together." + +In the moonlight her yellow brown hair had turned a bright gold. + +Peggy, who was ever a direct and sensible person, shook her head. + +"We must wait until we have found the location for our camp and are +fairly well settled," she replied. "At present our own ideas as to what +we can do to help with the war work are much too vague. But I suppose we +shall be near the great National Guard war training camp, and that in +itself ought to be an inspiration. Have you ever heard from your wounded +lieutenant, Bettina? It was amusing to have him and his friend to tea in +so unexpected a fashion. I shall never forget how amazed the family was +on discovering us with soldier guests. I am sorry we have never seen +either of them again." + +"I have had one note from Lieutenant Carson, saying that he was all +right," Bettina answered. "He will probably be stationed at the +cantonment near here. I wish for your sake Ralph Marshall was to be +there instead." + +There was no engagement existing between Peggy Webster and Ralph +Marshall. But Peggy was too transparent a person to conceal her interest +in Ralph after their past summer of misunderstanding and final +reconciliation. As Ralph had volunteered and joined the aviation corps +soon after the entry of the United States into the war, she had not +seen him in many months. But it was understood that they wrote to each +other and Peggy openly expressed her pride in Ralph's courage and +ability. Ralph had been offered an opportunity to remain in his own +country and act as an aviation instructor, but instead had chosen to go +to France. At the present time he was in a camp on Long Island waiting +his hour for sailing. + +Before Peggy could make a reply to Bettina's final speech, the four +girls saw their Camp Fire guardians approaching and rose to greet them. + +"You girls look too picturesque to disturb, and yet we must not remain +outdoors all night, no matter how the beauty of the night tempts us. I +trust we may have many other nights as radiant as this before our summer +is over," said Mrs. Burton, half apologizing for her own and her +sister's intrusion. + +A few moments later the Sunrise Camp Fire girls were walking slowly away +from the mission grounds to their own rose-covered hotel. + +Not by accident, but because of a common purpose, Sally and Gerry +managed to linger a few yards behind the others. + +The singing which had so fascinated Mrs. Burton and added to the +witchery of the night had also attracted the attention of the two girls. +But it was not the music alone which had charmed them. In their careless +strolling up and down apart from their companions, Sally and Gerry had +dimly seen the figures of the two musicians. + +The mysterious singers had kept always in the background, only +approaching sufficiently near for their songs to be heard; and yet, +notwithstanding this, Sally and Gerry had managed to find out that they +were two young men dressed in Mexican costumes. But whether they were +Mexicans or Americans they could not guess, since it was impossible to +see their faces and they seemed able to sing Spanish or English songs +with equal ease. + +The fact was that Gerry and Sally had arranged a scheme between them by +which they hoped to make a desired discovery. Their scheme would have +appalled the other Camp Fire girls, but they chanced to have unlike +views in regard to the agreeable adventures and experiences of life. +Moreover, they often preferred bestowing their confidences only upon +each other. + +As the rest of the Camp Fire party moved on, both Sally and Gerry became +aware that the musicians were growing bolder and were drawing nearer. + +Both girls would have liked to turn round and deliberately look back. +Yet they had scarcely the courage for this breach of taste, in spite of +the fact that it was night and the redeeming grace of the moonlight +rested over them. + +Sally was carrying a little beaded Indian bag which she managed to drop +without any one, aside from Gerry, noticing. + +After going on a little further, unexpectedly they turned back to pick +up the lost possession. + +The two young men were thus within only a few feet of them. + +There was but little satisfaction in the adventure, nevertheless, for +although one of the musicians stepped forward and gravely presented +Sally with the Indian bag he had observed on the ground between them; +yet neither he nor his companion spoke and it was impossible, with +their broad Mexican hats, to obtain a satisfactory view of their faces +without revealing too great curiosity. + +As a matter of fact, the entire Camp Fire party was unaware of the +interest their appearance in the little town of Capistrano during the +afternoon had excited. There were always tourists visiting the old +mission, especially at this season of the year. But the number and +appearance of the girls, their picturesque, half Indian costumes, which +always puzzled people unacquainted with the Camp Fire uniform, and the +big wagon carrying their large camping outfit, gave them a unique +distinction. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Call to Service + + +On a ledge of rock with the Pacific Ocean as a background a girl was +standing, holding a bugle to her lips and with it sounding a clear, +musical call. + +Not far off a number of persons were seated about a smouldering camp +fire. All day the sun had been hot, almost as a tropic sun, but now with +the coming of the late afternoon a cool breeze was blowing in from the +sea. + +The feminine members of the little circle were knitting and sewing. + +One of the two young men was holding a hank of wool, which a +brown-haired, brown-eyed girl was winding slowly and carefully into a +great ball. The other was lying full length on the ground looking toward +the water. + +"Why is my Sister Peggy sounding taps or a reveille, since at present +it is neither morning nor night?" he questioned. "It seems impossible +these days to get away from the sights and sounds which suggest war. I +had hoped that when we were in camp out here in this far-away country we +might at least have a _little_ rest." + +Billy Webster's manner was that of a spoiled and fretful boy; +nevertheless an uncomfortable silence followed his speech. + +Ever it appears impossible in this world, even among a small group of +persons, to preserve entire harmony! In spite of his youth and his +fragility, in spite of his quiet voice and oftentimes gentle manner, +Billy Webster, from the time he ceased wearing dresses, had been able to +sow discord. The trouble was that Billy always refused to think like the +people surrounding him. + +At present, when the entire Camp Fire party was interested heart and +soul in the successful carrying on of the war, Billy had announced +himself a pacifist. If he had contented himself with the mere +announcement, his friends and family would have accepted his point of +view with comparative equanimity. But with Billy the frequent +exposition of his opinions was as the breath of life. + +At this moment Vera Lagerloff leaned over to say in a whisper: + +"For goodness' sake, Billy, please don't start an argument now on the +subject of the war. You know how intensely Mrs. Burton disapproves of +your ideas and how angry you make Dan." + +Peggy descended from her rocky platform at this instant and joined the +group. She was wearing her workaday Camp Fire costume and had her dark +hair braided in two braids with a red band about her forehead. + +"What is it, Peggy? You look as if you had something important to +confide to us?" Mrs. Burton asked quickly, hoping to stem the flood of +eloquence with which her nephew ordinarily met opposition. "I confess I +am as curious as Billy to know why you sounded a bugle call at this hour +of the afternoon." + +Peggy sat down in camp-fire fashion on the ground, frowning and looking +extremely serious. A bunch of pale lavender sea verbena she had gathered +nearer the shore, she dropped in her mother's lap. + +She did not know what Billy had been saying, but she was conscious that +the atmosphere about her was uncomfortable. + +Dan had not moved from his patient attitude, in order that Sally Ashton +might continue to unwind her wool, yet his expression was not like his +usual sweet-tempered one. Peggy at once surmised that Billy was in some +way responsible for the unrest. + +"Perhaps my bugle call was a little theatrical," she began; +"nevertheless it was the call to service of our new order of 'Camp Fire +Minute Girls.'" + +Mrs. Burton nodded. "Yes, I remember. The 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' are +to pledge themselves to help in winning the war by food conservation, by +praying for the triumph of the right, and by economizing in every +possible way. I received a little booklet containing our new pledge and +meant to speak of it to you." + +In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton was talking, she was not actually +interested in what she was saying at the moment. Somewhere in the last +row of her knitting she had dropped a stitch and while she spoke she was +endeavoring to find it. As head of their small Red Cross society, Mrs. +Webster was determined that their work should come up to the required +standard. Knitting was not a natural art with Mrs. Burton and she +particularly disliked unraveling her work after she supposed it +finished. + +Peggy reached over and quietly removed the gray sweater from her aunt's +hands. + +"You cannot pay attention to what anyone is saying and knit at the same +time, Tante; I have seen you make the attempt before," Peggy remarked +persuasively, "so please cease your efforts for a moment, as we have +something of the utmost importance to talk about. Bettina, now that I +have prepared the way, suppose you make things clearer. I have not your +gift of words." + +"It is only that we have been talking of the 'Camp Fire Minute Girls' +and consider that we should follow the pledge very earnestly this +summer," Bettina began. "We feel that really we ought to organize our +camp fire on a new war basis. You have always been so generous to us, +but this summer we wish to use only the new war recipes and to save and +serve in every possible way. The advantage will be not only for the +present time, but perhaps later with our own families. Peggy and I +thought that we might even start a little garden near our camp, as +vegetables grow so quickly in California. I suppose our ideas of +helpfulness are rather vague and foolish, but that is why we wished to +talk the situation over with you and Mrs. Webster and arrange some +definite plan." + +Mrs. Burton nodded. "An excellent idea, Bettina, and the sooner we +Americans learn some method of less extravagant living the nearer we are +to victory and the ending of the war. I wish I were a more apt pupil +myself. Of course I am willing to agree with whatever you girls think +best." + +"Then we may help the soldiers in any way we like?" Sally Ashton +inquired with such unexpected enthusiasm that everybody laughed. + +"I do not care for any too strikingly original ideas of first-aid +service, Sally," Mrs. Burton remonstrated. + +Billy roused himself from his recumbent position and leaned forward. A +single flame which had shot up from the smouldering fire cast a glow +over his colorless face. + +"I have been traveling with the Camp Fire party now for a good many +weeks," he remarked in the suspiciously gentle manner with which he +often began his verbal attacks, "and I am yet to hear one single word +about an immediate peace. I cannot see what difference it will make in +the end which country is victor. What the whole world must attain to is +justice for every human being. I thought women were supposed to be the +natural peace makers." Billy smiled--a malicious little smile which was +vaguely irritating. "Women never have been peace makers or peace lovers. +If they had do you suppose men would have continued fighting one another +forever?" + +"But, Billy--" Mrs. Burton began and suddenly ceased. A glance at her +sister's face had been sufficient. + +Besides, Dan Webster, released from his attention to Sally, had walked +over and stood facing his mother and brother. + +The two brothers, though, twins, were utterly unlike in appearance. For +one thing, Dan was nearly six feet tall and splendidly built, with a +vivid color and a suggestion of unusual physical health and power. + +"I am sorry, Mother," he said in the voice he kept especially for his +mother, "but I can't stay here and listen to Billy's nonsense and +disloyalty. He is simply in love with the sound of his own voice and +always has been. He has not the faintest understanding of the big things +he talks about. I have stood a good deal from Billy first and last from +the time we were children, because he was little and delicate and I was +not supposed to treat him as I would have treated other fellows. I tell +you candidly what Billy needs right now and what he always has needed is +to have his head punched. He always has taken refuge in his delicacy and +hidden behind women. He is doing the same thing now with all this peace +talk and half-baked socialism. I wonder how far socialism would have +traveled if men had never fought for their rights and the rights of +other people? I wish the socialists in this country would think of that +little fact now and then. I suppose if no one had ever _fought_ for +liberty, most of us would be slaves. But I seem to be talking as much as +Billy! It is only this, Mother, don't you see that Billy and I cannot +both remain with the Camp Fire party this summer? I don't wish it to +happen, but I am afraid if he goes on as he has been doing--and you know +nothing ever stops him--why, there will be trouble between us, that is +all. If you will only give your consent I am sure I can persuade father +to allow me to volunteer." + +Mrs. Webster's eyes filled with tears. Dan was too interested in +watching his mother to pay any attention to Billy's good-natured drawl. + +"Good old Dan, there is some truth in what you say, I suppose. There is +a little truth in most people's opinions. But what a story-book hero you +will make some day! It is all right, your rubbing it in about my not +being as strong as other fellows; I suppose you don't know that hurts a +little." + +"My dear Dan, I did not dream you could be so unreasonable!" Mrs. +Webster returned, having finally gained sufficient control of her voice +to speak. "You know perfectly well I shall never give my consent to your +volunteering for any branch of the army until you have reached the draft +age. Moreover, if you have a difficulty with Billy you know how much +sorrow that means for me. Besides, your aunt and the girls and I need +you here with us at our camp fire this summer. If I could, I would send +Billy back to the farm instead of you, but he still needs the benefit of +this southern climate." + +Poor Mrs. Webster, like many other mothers, often found her children too +great a problem for her solving. + +By this time Billy was again prostrate on the earth with his eyes fixed +upon the sky and apparently perfectly serene. Even his mother's +statement in regard to sending him home had not disturbed him, although +he and his father chronically misunderstood each other. + +Dan was repentant. "Sorry, Mother," he said; "this was not the time or +place for me to open this discussion with you. I am sure I beg +everybody's pardon." + +Then he turned and walked away. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Camp and Temperamental Excursions + + +This summer in California for the first time the Sunrise camp was +located near the sea. + +After several days of investigating the countryside, in the meanwhile +using the little mission town of Capistrano as their headquarters, the +travelers discovered what they considered the ideal situation further +south along the coast. + +Near the border of one of the immense ranches for which southern +California is famous they came upon a little stream of water flowing +inside a channel. The channel had been deepened in order that the supply +might last through the dry season. Not far away stood a small frame +house. In harvest times the laborers on the ranch occupied this small +house as a lodging for the night when the distance made it impossible +for them to return to their own homes. + +By a piece of rare good fortune Mrs. Burton was able for almost a +nominal sum to rent this little place for her sister and herself. + +The shack was lightly built, the roof formed of dried palm branches laid +the one upon the other until the effect was like a thatched roof, +although neither so warm nor so secure. Since it never rains during the +summer in southern California, one requires only protection from the sun +and wind. Near the house the camp-fire tents were set up in the form of +a crescent. + +Behind them the ranch stretched on for miles, a thousand-acre carpet of +small green plants. For, as Marta Clark remarked when they were +traveling down the state, it appeared as if California were preparing to +provide the world with one gigantic bean feast. + +Several hundreds of yards away the beach was silver and purple and rose +with the sea verbena and ice plants which spread like a colorful +embroidery over the sands. Here and there were tiny coves and clumps of +rocks. + +Near the camping site there was no main traveled road, but a small +branch one which would improve with use. The closest place of human +habitation was a seaside colony of artists, perhaps a mile or more +beyond. + +Here Mrs. Burton was able to find a garage for her automobile. + +Partly because she was actually in need of his services and more to +impress him with the idea, Mrs. Burton had persuaded Dan Webster to take +charge of her car during the summer. As a matter of fact, aside from +Billy, who did not always count, Dan was the only masculine person at +the Sunrise camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having departed as casually as +he originally had arrived, soon after the tents were set up. + +Mrs. Burton preferred being shut away from strangers during their +holidays and presumed the girls shared her desire. + +Soon after their conversation about the camp fire a new regime of war +economy was established at Sunrise camp. There were uncomfortable +moments when strange dishes of none too appetizing a character were +produced. But always the cooks declared it the fault of the too +particular persons who refused to partake of them and not of the food +itself. They did acquire new methods of bread making, substituting bran +and corn-meal for wheat flour which were really improvements on the old. +Moreover, the summer before the Indian girl, Dawapa, had taught the +Sunrise Camp Fire members a number of the old Indian uses of corn. With +perishable fruits and vegetables so abundant, it was unnecessary, during +the summer at least, to suffer any real discomfort from war economies. + +Now and then one of the girls would develop a too rigorous idea of +self-denial to meet with the approval of her Camp Fire guardian. But +after a time Mrs. Burton ceased to worry over original departures, +permitting the girls to adjust matters for themselves. + +However, it is not the adjustment of mere material things which is the +difficult problem with human beings in living together, but the +adjustment of one unlike nature with another. + +As much as possible after his open disagreement with Billy, Dan Webster +endeavored to avoid his brother's society. They never had been +congenial or spent much time together since the days when they were +children. But at present Dan and Billy were sleeping in the same tent at +night and in the daytime Billy was always mooning about camp insisting +upon one of the girls listening to him. He preferred Vera, but if she +were too busy, any one of the other girls could substitute. + +This would have made no difference to Dan except that Billy blandly and +serenely continued to expound his views upon peace in spite of the fact +that every member of Sunrise camp disagreed with him. + +Hard as it was to endure, Dan's hands were tied, for he had solemnly +promised his mother not to use physical violence with Billy, and nothing +else would stop the flow of his misplaced eloquence. + +So, as Dan was an ardent fisherman, he used to spend days away from camp +fishing and swimming. He was fond of the Camp Fire girls, especially of +Marta Clark and of Sally Ashton, but he could not endure too large a +diet of exclusively feminine society. Moreover, Dan was too accomplished +an athlete and too fine a fellow all round not to make friends wherever +he went among men. + +One afternoon it chanced that Dan was alone and preparing to go in +swimming at a rather dangerous point about three miles below Sunrise +camp. + +The spot was deserted and Dan was beginning to undress when he became +conscious of the uncomfortable sensation that some one at no great +distance off was watching him. + +Glancing about, Dan discovered the calm figure of his brother standing +only a few yards away when he had sincerely hoped that at least several +miles separated them. + +In reply to Billy's friendly "hello," his brother returned no answer. +Nevertheless Billy strolled quietly across the space between them, +taking a seat on the rocky cliff, apparently as cheerful and undisturbed +as if he considered himself a welcome interruption. + +"Better not go in swimming from this cliff, Dan; this place looks pretty +unsafe. The waves are so violent you might be thrown against the rocks," +he began, offering his entirely unsolicited advice in the most affable +manner. + +As a matter of fact, upon most occasions, Dan Webster was rather +unusually sweet tempered. But at present, because of his own +disappointment over not being allowed to volunteer for some branch of +war service, and because of what he considered his brother's disloyal +opinions, the very sight of Billy enraged him. + +"Billy Webster, I wonder if you are a coward about every mortal thing? I +suppose you understand that cowardice is what I believe lies at the back +of your pacifism. I suppose it is natural to wish to call an ugly fact +by a pretty name. Besides, it is a lot pleasanter and easier to talk +about the beauty and sacredness of peace and the rights of men than to +fight and die for them. But please don't trouble about me and run along +back to camp. I don't want to go into this subject with you again as I +came away largely to get rid of your society." Dan made an effort to +speak quietly. + +"All right, I'll be off in a moment; don't wish to worry you," Billy +agreed, and, except for a slight flush which Dan did not observe, he +appeared unmoved. "Do you know I am glad you reopened this subject. +Ever since you spoke of the same thing the other day I have been +wondering if what you said was true and I am a pacifist because I am a +physical coward. Of course I know I am afraid of a lot of things that +don't frighten you, but I believe you are mistaken about this business, +Dan. If I were up against a stiff proposition I might still be afraid +and yet go through with it. My feeling about peace really has nothing to +do with the part I may some day be called upon to play in this war, a +pretty poor part at best I expect. I wish you would believe this if you +can. But good-by; I am off." + + +Then, before Dan could make any response, Billy moved away. Once out of +sight, he lay down upon the beach with his head propped on his slender +hands, keeping a watchful outlook upon Dan, who was swimming nearly a +mile out from the shore. When Dan had finished and climbed back up the +cliff, then only did Billy set out for Sunrise camp. + +There were also temperamental difficulties, needing adjustment among the +Camp Fire girls. + +Frankly, both Sally Ashton and Gerry Williams had been bored by their +long journey down the California coast and their many pilgrimages to the +old Spanish missions along their route. With their natures it was +impossible for either of them to understand how any human being could +obtain a great deal of pleasure from mere scenery and what persons were +pleased to call romantic atmosphere. To Sally and Gerry romance took +shape in a very different guise. + +During the trip they were at least sustained by the hope that, once +settled in their summer camp, they would begin making agreeable +acquaintances, notwithstanding, up to the present time, Sunrise camp had +developed about as many social opportunities as a desert island. + +Therefore, one morning, with the perfectly definite plan of going forth +in search of adventure, Sally and Gerry set out upon a little +temperamental excursion. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Abalone Shells + + +After their summer holiday together at the Grand Canyon the Sunrise Camp +Fire girls had been separated during the previous winter, returning to +their own homes. Nevertheless, they kept in touch with one another and, +as a matter of fact, among the seven girls only Gerry Williams' history +had remained a mystery to the others. + +From the moment of her appearance upon the west-bound train with Mrs. +Burton, who had introduced her as the new member of their Camp Fire +group, not a word had been spoken concerning Gerry's past. Mrs. Burton +must have regarded her friendship as a sufficient guarantee, since ever +afterwards she and Gerry had continued equally reticent, not even +confiding under what circumstances they originally had learned to know +each other. + +Naturally such secrecy aroused a certain degree of curiosity, and now +and then one of the Camp Fire girls would ask Gerry a question, thinking +her answer must betray some small fact in her past. But either she would +evade the question or else politely decline to answer. + +She was poor--no one could continue blind to this actuality--but whether +her parents were living or dead, whether she had any other relatives, no +one could find out from Gerry herself or from her Camp Fire guardian. + +In truth, Gerry made no effort to conceal how intensely disagreeable she +considered a lack of money, freely announcing that poverty always had +been the bane of her past existence and that she asked nothing more from +the future than to be safely delivered from it. + +Occasionally some one would whisperingly question whether Mrs. Burton +would continue her bounty to Gerry when the Camp Fire holidays were +over; yet no one had sufficiently bad taste to make this inquiry. Mrs. +Webster knew no more than the others. She made no effort to keep up with +her Sister Polly's many generosities, which were frequently as erratic +as the lady herself. Only to her husband would Mrs. Burton confide the +extent of her efforts to help other people. She preferred doing things +in her own way. + +One circumstance was freely discussed between Mrs. Burton and her +protege. During the past winter Gerry had developed a desire to study +art and Mrs. Burton had arranged for her lessons. Yet Gerry made no +pretense of having any especial talent or of being very deeply +interested in her work. She was also frank in stating that she did not +care a great deal for the outdoor camping life, aside from the fact that +Mrs. Burton considered the influence of living with the other Camp Fire +girls of value to her. The great attraction in the experience for Gerry, +as she freely stated, was the opportunity it offered to be near her +famous friend. + +Nevertheless, after a winter's study at the Art Institute in Chicago, +Gerry had learned to make pretty outdoor studies of flowers and other +small objects. She had a good deal of feeling for color and design, +which she declared due to her interest in clothes. Her Camp Fire +guardian encouraged her attention to art as much as possible, often +excusing Gerry from everyday tasks, that she might give more time to her +sketching. + +Just why she should be thus favored the other Camp Fire girls did not +understand, yet Gerry appreciated the reason. + +Also less was always expected of her, and her weaknesses were more +readily forgiven. The one foolish act of revenge upon Bettina had caused +the only serious difficulty with her Camp Fire guardian, and apparently +even this had been forgotten. + +On the morning of their excursion Gerry had announced that she wished to +spend the day sketching along the coast and that Sally had been kind +enough to agree to accompany her. + +The greater part of the time the two girls were extremely intimate and +if now and then a slight coolness arose between them it never continued +long, as they had too many common bonds of interest. + +Both girls were charmingly pretty and an entire contrast. Sally Ashton's +eyes and hair were brown, her lips full with an up-ward curve and her +skin, which the sun and wind never seemed to tan, as soft and white as a +baby's. She was small and plump and her figure had no angles. + +One might have been deluded by Sally's yielding and feminine appearance +into the impression that she could be easily influenced by stronger +natures than her own. The fact is that Sally was never really influenced +except when she chose to be. + +Realizing this, Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt her friendship +with Gerry Williams, which was just as well since nothing is more +difficult than to interfere with a friendship between two girls who feel +a mutual attraction and see each other frequently. + +Gerry Williams' prettiness was of a more unusual character. She had the +delicate fairness which one so rarely sees in its perfection. Her hair +was a pale gold, yet the gold was undeniably there. Her eyes were light +blue and held the clearness, the indelible, transparent blueness of +certain pieces of rare old china. Her small head was set upon a rather +long fair throat and as she walked with a peculiar lightness and grace +it was almost as if she might at any moment break into dancing steps. +About Gerry's nature there were elements which were frankly commonplace, +nevertheless her appearance suggested one of the dancing figures upon an +ancient Greek frieze. + +This morning she and Sally wore their everyday Camp Fire costumes, and +because it was cool their Navajo sweater coats, Gerry's a bright scarlet +and Sally's an Oxford blue. They intended being away all day, and +besides Gerry's sketching outfit they carried their luncheon. + +The girls had chosen to go in the direction of the artists' colony only +a few miles away. Over both the water and land there was the haze of the +early hours at the seaside, and yet the mist was only a light one and +more agreeable than the hot sun which would come later in the day. + +The land was gay with flowers. On the hillside there were tall bunches +of cacti, one variety bearing a bright yellow flower like a silken +poppy. The ordinary jimson weed grew so large that each blossom looked +like a great white lily. + +On the side toward the beach the tiny beads of water glistening amid the +rose color of the ice plants shone like tiny fairy jewels. + +Past the groups of houses which presumably sheltered famous artists as +well as amateurs, perhaps with no more ability than Gerry, the two girls +wandered on, absorbed in their own conversation. + +They were not especially disappointed at finding no one in the +neighborhood of the colony who seemed to be of interest. There were +three or four girls idling in one of the yards who stared curiously as +the Camp Fire girls passed, but Sally and Gerry paid but slight +attention to them in return, having previously confessed to each other +that they were a little tired of so much feminine society. + +A tall old gentleman with a white, closely trimmed beard strode by, +carrying a large canvas under his arm. He frowned portentously, as if he +would have the girls appreciate that he was a genius in the grasp of a +creative impulse and so must not be disturbed. Neither Sally nor Gerry +had the faintest impulse toward disturbing him, yet his appearance +suggested a train of thought to Sally. + +"I wonder, Gerry, why you decided so suddenly that you wished to study +art?" she said. "Until this summer I have never even heard you mention +the subject. Do you intend making a business of it some day? You won't +mind my speaking of this, but you have always said you had to do +something or other to make your own living." + +Instead of replying at once Gerry hummed the first line of a song, also +moving on so quickly that Sally, who was averse to violent exercise, had +difficulty in keeping up with her. + +"Certainly not, Sally," she answered finally. "Besides, if I ever should +develop such a foolish idea, who do you think would buy my silly little +pictures, except perhaps Mrs. Burton? I do wish she were my real aunt; I +am oftentimes jealous of Peggy. But really I began studying art last +winter chiefly on her account. She insisted that I should not idle away +all my time, so I concluded that I would prefer being an art student to +attending a regular school. + +"Mrs. Burton was delighted, because she thinks it would be a good plan +for me to become a dressmaker or a designer. I am so fond of clothes and +she believes the art lessons will be of value to my future work. +However, my dear Sally, nothing is further from my own expectations. You +and I for different reasons must make marriage our career. You were +created for domesticity and I, well, I simply must marry some one with +money. I used to hope that Mrs. Burton might do a great deal for me some +day, before I knew about her own family and her Camp Fire group. Now I +realize that she only intends helping me to help myself, as the highly +moral phrase goes." + +"But haven't you any people of your own, or any close friends?" Sally +demanded with the persistency which belonged to her disposition. Half a +dozen times before she had asked this same question without receiving a +satisfactory reply. + +Gerry only laughed good naturedly. Sally's curiosity amused her. + +"_No_ people and _no_ friends I care to talk about, my dear. You know I +have told you this several times before." + +In spite of the fact that by this time the girls had walked for three or +four miles, up until now Gerry had not suggested sitting down to begin +her sketching. At this moment she moved over to the edge of a cliff, +glancing down at the beach below. + +"Come, Sally, see what a fascinating place I have discovered. Suppose we +climb down to the beach; you must be tired and I may be able to work for +a little while. I do want to have something to show Mrs. Burton as a +result of our day." + +On the beach the girls saw a little wooden hut with a huge kettle filled +with boiling water standing before the door. Half a mile or more out in +the ocean two Japanese fishermen were diving for the famous abalone +shells, while on the sands a dozen of the shells, having been thoroughly +cleansed, now lay drying in the sun; their inner surfaces of +mother-of-pearl held all the colors of the dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"My Own Will Come to Me" + + +Whether consciously or unconsciously, the thing we most desire in this +world will come to us in the end. + +Rather precipitately Sally and Gerry climbed down the side of the cliff +to the beach. The way was steep and now and then Sally had to be +encouraged and assisted until both girls finally arrived on the sands a +little out of breath. + +The beach stretched on further than one could see, a pale golden carpet +now that the mists were clearing. It was divided at this point by a +narrow gully. On one side of the gully were uneven platforms of rocks +and between these rocks ran little streams of salt water from the ocean, +creating tiny tidal lakes and rivulets. + +Up and down these rocks, sometimes disappearing inside the water, at +others clinging perilously above its edge, or hiding behind sprays of +sea lichen or fern, were innumerable small sea monsters. At times the +sides of the rocks were alive with hundreds, even thousands, of tiny +crabs; then one single unexpected noise and off they scuttled like an +army, not in dignified retreat but in utter rout. + +The girls having descended the cliff, rested for a few moments and then +wandered along these ledges. They were not of a dangerous character, for +most of the stones were flat and not too far apart to be safely crossed. + +Yet they walked slowly. Occasionally they stopped to watch two fishermen +at work. The men were Japanese divers, and it was fascinating to see +them swim with quiet, even strokes out into the deep water and then dive +down heads first to remain under a terrifying length of time. Yet as +each man rose again usually he had secured one or more of the large +abalone shells. + +In spite of their interest, Sally Ashton pleaded that they remain at a +safe distance from the two men. As a matter of fact, Sally frequently +suffered from the small timidities which belonged to her particular +type of intensely feminine character. Although not in the least timid +herself, Gerry agreed, it being a wise custom of hers to give way to her +companion in unimportant matters. Moreover, she really intended working +seriously for a few hours. Now that she and Sally were both weary, this +sheltered place along the beach would be as suitable as any other to +begin her painting. + +Finding a comfortable surface of clean sand on a broad ledge of rock, +with other rocks in the background, Gerry sat down. Here there was less +wind than in other places and sufficient room for Sally to lie close +beside her. + +At about the correct distance away, a small boat moored to some hidden +anchor moved back and forth with the movement of the waves. + +This boat appeared a suitable subject to Gerry for her sketch. She had +no idea of making a success of so ambitious a subject, but since all +that Mrs. Burton asked of her was industry and not high artistry, Gerry +was willing to work now and then. She really did wish to please her Camp +Fire guardian, and if her motives were a little mixed and not all of +them of the noblest character, well, there are others of us in this +world who have mixed motives beside Gerry Williams! + +After the first few moments of settling down to her task, Gerry began to +feel mildly interested in her effort. + +Her surroundings were in themselves an inspiration. + +Nearby, and using her friend's crimson sweater as a pillow, Sally Ashton +had curled herself up in the sunshine. She was wearing her own blue one +for warmth. There was but little breeze stirring and the sun had grown +suddenly hot, but Sally had a passionate affection for warmth. She had +also an endless capacity for sleeping when there was nothing of interest +in life to make wakefulness worth while. + +For a few moments she watched Gerry at work, thinking she had never seen +her look so pretty or labor so industriously. Then Sally viewed the +small boat whose continuous movement impressed her like the sleepy +swaying of a cradle. Afterwards she fell into a state of semi-conscious +dreaming. + +But Gerry kept on with her sketching certainly for more than an hour. +By the end of that time she was surprised to find what a lovely sketch +she had made. In spite of the fact that her boat was out of drawing, the +color in her sky line was beautiful and the waves of the sea suggested +real water and a real ocean. + +After gazing at her painting with wholly unexpected admiration, Gerry +put it carefully away in her sketch book. She was feeling a little +tired, but her act was inspired more by discretion than weariness. To +work upon her sketch any longer would probably destroy the value it at +present possessed and Mrs. Burton would be pleased by her success. + +Believing Sally to be fast asleep and not wishing to disturb her for a +time, Gerry, leaning forward and resting her chin on her two folded +hands, fell to dreaming. + +For the past ten days or more, ever since her arrival in southern +California, it seemed to Gerry Williams that never had her dreams and +her desires been so insistent. She did not know that this was the +influence of the semi-tropical climate upon her physical and spiritual +development. + +In truth, Gerry's past life had been a trying one and there was no +reason why she should have been content with it, or why she should not +hope for a happier future. + +These summers in Arcady with Mrs. Burton--for they had been as summers +in Arcady to the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls--had been the fairest +experiences in Gerry's history. Yet she professed no ardent love for the +outdoors as the other girls did. Neither was she so young as some of +them, since within a few weeks she would be eighteen. + +There would be other summers to come, Gerry realized, when she would not +be Mrs. Burton's guest. Indeed, the Camp Fire guardian had frankly +stated that if the war continued they would not be able to have their +holidays together. In the future she must devote her money, her time and +her energy to war service. + +So today, looking out over the water, but now that her sketching was +over, no longer interested in the view, Gerry faced what seemed to her +an interminable number of lonely summers and winters and springs and +autumns. In her earlier acquaintance with Mrs. Burton, when the great +lady had revealed an unexpected interest in her, Gerry, as she had +lately confessed to Sally Ashton, had dreamed impossible dreams. In +those days she had imagined herself as Mrs. Burton's ward, living in her +home, or traveling about with her over the world meeting rich and famous +people. + +Then at the last Gerry's vision had always been a wealthy marriage. A +foolish dream perhaps, and yet not original or uncommon! + +She did not think of her marriage as bringing her love or spiritual +happiness, only wealth and social prominence. But at this time in her +life Gerry of course believed that the last two possessions represented +the character of happiness she sought. + +Having awakened to reality with regard to Mrs. Burton's attitude, +appreciating that she felt for her only a kindly interest and a moderate +affection, Gerry was the more intent upon discovering some immediate +solution for her own future. + +From this summer in California she had hoped a great deal. She had +thought through Mrs. Burton's prominence that it might be possible to +make wealthy and worth-while friends. Now it appeared that the Camp Fire +guardian intended to have her group of girls spend a secluded summer, +deriving their entertainment from their life together outdoors in this +beautiful place. + +In consequence Gerry was deeply disappointed. Today she felt that the +prospect ahead was dreary and dissatisfying. Mrs. Burton expected her to +work and had no notion of assisting her toward any other fate. She had +made her own way in the world and believed that work brought one the +finest satisfaction. But Gerry recognized her own commonplaceness and +understood that unconsciously Mrs. Burton was not altogether fair. Of +course, if one possessed great talent, then work lifted you above +dullness and routine, brought you beauty and joy. Yet she could only +picture herself pursuing some stupid task, since she had neither +education nor especial ability in any direction. Her only gifts, +prettiness and her desire for the refinements of life which always had +been denied her, little in truth to offer when there was no one to +help! + +Then, intending to banish her attack of blues, Gerry jumped up +hurriedly. As she did so she noticed the two Japanese divers. They had +left their work and had come softly over the sands until at the present +moment they were only a few feet off. They were talking in excited +voices, holding up the deep-bowled abalone shells, now polished and +shining, and evidently trying to attract attention. + +For an instant Gerry was puzzled. Then, before she could speak or even +stir again, Sally, startled from sleep, also leaped to her feet. She may +have been frightened by Gerry's sudden movement and now, catching sight +of the Japanese fishermen, may have been under the impression that they +had frightened Gerry. Whatever the cause, with an exclamation of terror, +she started running, uttering funny little cries of alarm. + +First Gerry merely called out reassuringly, then, perceiving that Sally +would not stop, she ran after her. + +Sally was awkward; she kept stumbling and sliding over the ledges of +rock, making no effort to be sure of her foothold or to choose the +easiest way. In the beginning Gerry was amused, then she grew a little +nervous. Sally was always the least athletic of the Camp Fire girls. + +"Do be careful; the men are only trying to sell us their shells. They +have no idea of frightening you," Gerry expostulated. + +She expected to reach Sally in time to keep her from injuring herself. +But suddenly Sally gave an exclamation both of fright and pain; having +made a false estimate of the space between two ledges of rock, she found +herself falling into a small ravine. + +The ravine was not deep; nevertheless Sally's rescue was not simple, +since she would not help herself. Finally Gerry had to summon to her +assistance the two Japanese, who had innocently caused the catastrophe. +At last a bruised and tearful Sally was deposited upon a comfortable +resting place. But here Sally declared she must remain indefinitely, as +she was "far too seriously hurt ever to walk again." + +The situation was trying, and Gerry was at her wits' end till one small +inspiration came to her. Since food had ever a reviving effect upon +Sally, they could have their luncheon and perhaps afterwards she would +feel stronger. + +But although her appetite remained unaffected by her accident, the +afternoon wore on with Sally still insisting that she could not stir one +step. Moreover, any suggestion of Gerry's leaving to find help always +reduced her to tears. + +Yet something must be done! + + +Long ago the little Japanese fishermen had returned to their tasks. +Sitting cross-legged on the sand at some distance off, Gerry could see +them patiently at work cleaning and polishing their shells. She +remembered that they had seemed to understand what she had said, +although speaking only a few English words. + +Walking over to them Gerry as simply as possible presented their +predicament. + +When she had finished speaking the small bright-eyed men glanced at each +other and nodded. + +"Alle-ight," one of them answered for both. + +Then off they trotted, this time disappearing inside their small hut. +Next moment they returned carrying on their shoulders a flat straw +basket set upon two long poles. It was scarcely a basket, so much as a +woven straw mat, which the divers probably used at odd times for +transporting their sea merchandise. + +Ultimately Sally was persuaded to allow herself to be hoisted upon this +mat, which was fairly strong since it suffered her weight. Then the two +little men bore her off, swinging easily between them. They ran lightly +from rock to rock until climbing up the cliff they reached the road at +the summit, with Gerry following as swiftly as possible. + +They had arranged not to attempt to carry Sally to camp but to some +place nearer at hand, where she could receive aid. + +Originally when they had made this plan it appeared to Gerry as a +reasonable one and not one to cause anxiety. Now as she pursued the two +strange little men, who were carrying Sally with such ease and quickness +to a perfectly unknown destination she had a curious sensation more of +bewilderment than fear. + +However, one had to keep moving so rapidly that there was small +opportunity for clear thinking. + +Leaving the main road, the little men struck into another, which went +first up a bare brown hill and then down again. The second hill was +green with a crop of the ever-present beans. + + +Finally they climbed to the top of a mesa and brought Sally to a resting +place before a clump of dusty, gray-green pepper trees. + +On their left was a hedge of untrimmed shrubs and in front an open +court. Beyond stood an old Spanish ranch house. + +After whispering together, one of the little men rang a bell, which hung +on a stand outside this court. + +A few moments later a Japanese servant appeared and the three men spoke +to one another in Japanese. Then the servant turned away. + +It was all very unusual and puzzling. Before Sally and Gerry could be +overwhelmed by uneasiness, to their relief they observed an older man +and two young men approaching. They were obviously gentlemen, and one of +them Gerry thought the most attractive fellow she had ever seen in her +life. Yet he did not look like an American, but what her imagination had +pictured as a Spaniard. He must have been about twenty-two or three and +possessed unusually dark hair and eyes and skin. + +When Gerry had explained their difficulty and apologized for their +intrusion, their host led the way through the outer court into the +enclosed one. + +[Illustration: Their Host Led the Way Through the Outer Court into the +Enclosed One] + +Sally continued to be borne aloft like a foreign princess upon the +shoulders of her faithful Caryatids. + +The inside court was a miniature fairyland. + +Like all really old Spanish ranch houses, this house was built in the +form of a square with the garden in the center. It was of one story with +the veranda also on the inside and running the entire length of the +house. + +In days long past this veranda would have been filled with people, for +when the Spanish ranch houses were the center of California's social +life all the play and work of the Spanish families, their friends and +servants took place outdoors. + +Now the two Camp Fire girls saw no one save their hosts and the one man +servant; there was no faintest suggestion of the presence of a woman. + +The place looked old and ramshackle, as if its owners had preferred to +enjoy life rather than to improve their estate. Even the enclosed +garden, notwithstanding it was a sheer glory of flowers, showed neglect. +A bougainvillea vine had been allowed to grow so large that it covered +one-third of the veranda, hanging like a flowery canopy above one +portion of the garden. Along the paths oleanders were set out in +unpainted wooden tubs and the rose bushes had gone so long untrimmed +that they were now of great size and covered with tiny white and yellow +flowers. + +Once this garden had been carefully planned and cared for, yet, perhaps, +at present it held an even deeper charm. + +Naturally, soon after their arrival their host, Mr. Philip Morris, had +introduced himself and his younger companions, and Gerry Williams had +given her own and Sally's name. Gerry also had explained the +circumstances of Sally's accident and the fact that they were members of +a camping party who were spending the summer on the California coast. + +The young man who had originally attracted her attention proved to be +the son of Mr. Morris. In introducing him the father accorded the +Spanish pronunciation to his name, "Felipe," which he had not used with +his own. + +Later it developed that Felipe's mother had been Spanish and the old +ranch the property of her family from the days when California was a +province of Spain. But as she was dead it was true that at present no +woman was a member of their household. + +The other young fellow, Merton Anderson, was the son of a neighbor and a +guest. As he had ridden over to the Morris ranch on horseback he offered +to take back any message Sally and Gerry might care to send their +friends, for Mr. Morris insisted that Sally must not be moved again +until she had seen a physician. + +At last Gerry wrote a note to Mrs. Burton explaining what had occurred +and asking advice. If it were possible would she not drive over to the +ranch in her automobile and bear Sally safely back to camp? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Sacrifice of Youth + + +About ten o'clock on the evening of the same day Mrs. Burton and Mr. +Morris were sitting before the open door of the old Spanish house +looking out over the countryside. + +In the neighborhood of the California coast the moonlight has a rare +brilliancy. The mists of the early morning and late afternoons usually +disappear and seem to float overhead in white and silver clouds. + +"You are very kind to allow us to impose upon your hospitality in this +fashion, Mr. Morris," Mrs. Burton declared, in the voice whose rare +quality gave even to her ordinary statements a charm beyond other +persons. "I don't believe I have ever seen so beautiful a view in +California as I am having from your house tonight, and yet a few hours +ago I would not have believed this possible." + +Immediately upon receipt of Gerry Williams' note Mrs. Burton had motored +over to the Morris ranch, using Merton Anderson as her guide. She was +anxious, of course, in regard to Sally's injuries, but anxious also to +learn the character of her rescuers. Naturally the girls could not be +allowed to remain alone over night with strangers. Unless Sally were in +a really critical condition, she could certainly be moved without +danger. + +Within a few minutes after Mrs. Burton's arrival at the ranch, the +physician who had been telephoned for some time before, appeared in +answer to the summons. + +After seeing Sally he announced that she was not seriously hurt, only +bruised and shaken, and could be moved without difficulty. Despite this +assurance, the two girls and Mrs. Burton were spending the night at the +ranch. + +"I don't believe you appreciate, Mrs. Burton, how great a pleasure and +an honor your presence in our home is both to my son and me. We are so +far out of the world and with no women in our family are often extremely +lonely. However, we are not so remote that we have not heard of Mrs. +Burton's distinguished reputation." + +Mr. Morris spoke with an old-fashioned courtesy and admiration which no +one could fail to appreciate. + +His guest preferred not to talk of her professional life during her +summer holidays with the Camp Fire girls. + +"At least I am sure we shall never forget our own pleasure," Mrs. Burton +returned. "The fact of the matter was I discovered at once that Sally +and Gerry were determined upon remaining as soon as you and your son +were kind enough to invite us. It is my private belief that Sally even +pretended to be more seriously hurt in order to influence my decision. +She appears to be enjoying the role of injured heroine, and yet I can +scarcely criticise the girls, as I did not require a great deal of +persuasion." + +As a matter of fact, soon after her arrival she also had fallen a victim +to the beauty and romantic aspect of the old Spanish estate and to the +charm and hospitality of its owners. Moreover, Mrs. Burton realized that +Mr. Morris and his son were sincerely desirous of having them as guests. +Their invitation had not been merely a conventional one and the old +house seemed to possess an almost indefinite number of shabby bedrooms. + +With an expressive gesture of her hands Mrs. Burton suddenly arose and +walked with her host to the edge of the hill which sloped down from the +front of his house. + +"You are not very far out of the world when, as you tell me, the new +National Guard camp is being built on the broad mesa below you. Is it +where I see the little row of lights? Wherever our soldiers are is the +only world that is of much importance these days! I am to drive over +soon and see the new cantonment. My Camp Fire girls and I are anxious to +find out if we can be of the least possible service. Recently, for the +first time in my life, there have been moments when I was sorry to be a +woman." + +"And yet it is a sadder thing to be an old man, Mrs. Burton. I offered +my services at the beginning, but I am past sixty and--well--well, they +were right, of course; I am not a trained soldier and not even a +competent business man and I should only have been a nuisance." + +In the impetuous fashion which had always been characteristic of her +girlhood as Polly O'Neill and which she had never lost, Mrs. Burton +turned around. + +"Yes, it is hard. Women are not soldiers at heart, in spite of those +thrilling Russian women and their great 'Battalion of Death.' We are not +intended for the actual fighting and can only do our work behind the +lines until the world is purified forever from the scourge of war. But +you have your son to take your place." + +For a few moments Mr. Morris made no reply. Then he replied slowly in a +tone of hesitation and of embarrassment: + +"I wonder if you will allow me to make a confidant of you? I am in great +trouble, Mrs. Burton, and although we were strangers before this evening +I know your life must have taught you to understand human nature. My son +does not wish to enter the war. I tried to persuade him to volunteer. He +refused. Now the draft has come and his number has been called, he is +still making every effort to escape military service, pleading exemption +upon entirely unnecessary grounds. The fact is inexplicable to me. When +my son was born my wife and I were no longer young and she died a short +time after. Felipe has grown up here with me, with his friends and his +flowers and his music, to which he is sincerely devoted, and nothing has +ever been required of him. I knew he was indolent and selfish perhaps, +but until the United States entered the war I failed to appreciate that +Felipe was not a man. Another circumstance which has added to our +difficulty, instead of clearing it away, is that Felipe and I have +recently inherited a large sum of money. Until recently, as our home +must have revealed to you, we have been poor and not very industrious. +Now our inheritance has made my son more than ever eager for a life of +ease and pleasure. He has been planning to fix up the old place until it +looks as it did many years ago. He wishes also to study singing, as he +has a really beautiful voice, and has been talking of going to Spain, +now that the other European countries are at present out of the +question. You can see I scarcely know what to do. Felipe's exemption +claim is almost sure to be denied, and yet I cannot discuss the matter +with our friends and neighbors. I do not wish to prejudice them against +my boy. What is it I can do, Mrs. Burton, when I confess to you that I +appear to have no influence with my son upon the subject of his +responsibility to his country?" + +Mrs. Burton continued looking down upon the extraordinary view. + +The hills toward the east were black and eerie, the sea to the west a +shining mirror, with the valleys like shadows in between. + +"Mr. Morris, I wish you and your son would come over to our camp some +day soon," she remarked later with apparent irrelevance. "Of course I +wish you to know my sister, but I should also like you to meet her sons. +One of them, Dan Webster, is one of the finest type of American boys. He +is strong and clean and good looking and has no dearer wish in life than +to be allowed to volunteer. In another year I presume my sister will be +forced to give her consent--Dan is only seventeen at present. My other +nephew, Billy--well, I hardly know how to describe Billy, because he is +like no other human being I have ever known. He is one of the most +impossible and obstinate boys in the world, and one never knows from one +moment to the next what he is going to do or say. At present he is the +trial of all our lives at Sunrise camp; he has proclaimed himself a +pacifist, and feels called upon to convert everybody he meets. He is +filled with Tolstoi's beautiful theories of universal peace. As he is +still too young for the draft his ideas so far have not proved a serious +menace, and yet I worry over him a good deal. Nevertheless, do you know +I am not sure Billy would not be as heroic as Dan if the test ever comes +and he is once convinced peace can only follow the tragic sacrifice of +war. + +"I am not saying all this to you, Mr. Morris, because I am unsympathetic +about your son. It is perhaps because I believe I may understand his +attitude. Forgive me if you do not agree with me, but I wonder if we +older people are fully appreciating what tremendous sacrifices this war +is demanding of youth. We have no right to expect all of them to give up +their individual hopes and dreams for the future without hesitating and +without flinching. They cannot all be made of the blood of heroes. The +amazing fact is that so many of them have been. Personally I cannot help +being a little sorry for your son. He will do the right thing in time, I +am sure, but it cannot be easy to surrender this exquisite home and his +ambition for a musical life. Felipe is probably afflicted with the +artistic temperament, or else inspired by it, and the ways of the +artistic temperament are past finding out," Mrs. Burton concluded, +endeavoring to add a somewhat lighter tone to the conversation. + +Her host shook his head gravely. + +"You are very kind, Madame, and yet I am afraid I cannot accept your +defense of my son. His ancestors were Spanish adventurers and soldiers +and my own fought with Washington. However, I shall be delighted to +visit your camp. One of the many reasons I wished to persuade you to +remain over night with us was in order that Felipe might learn to know +the girls who are with you. I fancied that he was immediately interested +in one of them. Perhaps later she may prove an inspiration, a spur to +him. American girls must have no patience with slackers these days. But +suppose we cease talking about the war which haunts us all so +everlastingly. Won't you walk with me and look at some of the other +views about the old place by moonlight?" + +Mrs. Burton and her host entered the front door of the house, crossed +the large sitting room and came out upon one of the paths of the +enclosed garden. + +Now the air was almost suffocatingly sweet with the night fragrances of +the semi-tropical flowers. + +Under the deep magenta canopy of the bougainvillea vine the older woman +discovered Gerry and her younger host. + +Felipe Morris was holding a guitar, but for the moment he and Gerry were +quietly talking. Feeling too shaken and uncomfortable to remain out of +bed, and realizing by feminine intuition that Felipe would prefer to be +alone with Gerry, Sally Ashton had retired some time before. + +Now, although Mrs. Burton made no effort to interrupt Gerry's whispered +conversation with Felipe Morris, she did wonder a little curiously what +her influence upon the young man would be, if by chance he had been +attracted by her. + +There was no denying Gerry's exquisite prettiness; tonight with her pale +gold hair, her fairness and grace she seemed in tune with the beauty of +this old-world garden. Yet Mrs. Burton believed that Gerry was shallow +and vain and that her ideas of life included less of devotion to duty +and self-sacrifice than Felipe's. It was difficult to conceive of her +acting as a motive force to high endeavor, Gerry, who dreamed only of +money and pretty clothes and what she was pleased to consider "society." + +Then Mrs. Burton sighed as she followed her host into the land which lay +on the other side of the hedge. Had one the right to demand that Gerry +and Felipe think of war tonight in a shrine, dedicated like this +enclosed garden, to the service of youth and romance? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Felipe + + +As soon as Mrs. Burton and his father were out of sight Felipe began +singing: + + "I will make you brooches and toys for your delight + Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night. + I will make a palace fit for you and me, + Of green days in forests and blue days at sea. + + "I will make my kitchen and you shall keep your room + Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom + And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white + In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night. + + "And this shall be for music when no one else is near, + The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear! + That only I remember, that only you admire, + On the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire." + +Then Felipe's song ended, and yet it seemed to Gerry that she could +still hear the inflections of his voice. + +"Thank you; that was lovely. I did not know I cared so much for music +before," the girl answered simply and without the least touch of +coquetry which one might have expected of a girl like Gerry in such +surroundings. "But what an exquisite voice you have and what a beautiful +night it is! I am sure I do not remember another half so lovely." + +Then Gerry leaned forward a little so that she could see more clearly +out into the garden. + +"I don't wonder you feel that you cannot give all this up," she +continued, with a graceful movement of her hand. "It seems to me wicked +that you should be forced into the war, hating it as you do and perhaps +spoiling your future as a singer. I agree with you, one ought to live +his own life. All men are not equally fitted to be soldiers." + +Gerry spoke with an unexpected vehemence which rather surprised her. For +the past hour Felipe Morris had been pouring forth his side of the war +problem to her, but as he was an entire stranger there was no especial +reason why she should be so disturbed over the thought of his being +forced to enter the army. + +"I suppose I understand why you so hate giving up your home and your +life here on the ranch and your music and all the rest, because I have +never had a home of my own, or any possessions of much value," Gerry +ended in a quieter voice and manner. + +"You possess nothing of value!" Felipe Morris repeated, and although he +said nothing more Gerry felt oddly flattered and happy. + +Then Felipe laughed unexpectedly. + +"I wonder if you realize, Miss Williams, that we have seen each other +before tonight, probably about ten days or more ago? My friend Merton +Anderson and I chanced to be spending the night at San Juan Capistrano +when you and your friends rode into the old mission town. You don't know +how much curiosity your appearance excited. You gave the old town the +greatest thrill it has had in a long time. You see the little town is +more than half foreign; there are Spaniards and Mexicans and half-breed +Indians. You were dressed in a kind of compromise Indian costume, and +down there we had never seen or heard of the Camp Fire. Merton and I hid +ourselves on one of the verandas and sang a duet for your benefit. Then +later, when it was too dark for us to see one another distinctly, we +followed your party about the mission grounds." + +Gerry frowned and then blushed a little from embarrassment. + +"Were you wearing Mexican costumes? I confess Sally and I did become +interested in you, but we supposed of course that you were either +Mexicans or Spaniards. Your song was in Spanish so that we could not +understand it." + +"Shall I sing to you in Spanish now?" Felipe returned. "I speak the +language as readily as I do English. You see my mother was of Spanish +origin and she and an old nurse who lives near here always spoke in +Spanish to me when I was a kid. You were right about the Mexican +costumes. Anderson and I had been over into Mexico for a few days and +were on our way home. I like to escape over there now and then when +life at the ranch becomes too slow. I can be mistaken for a Mexican when +I wish and it is sometimes amusing." + +Gerry nodded, preferring to have Felipe talk to her rather than to offer +him confidences. Oddly she was wishing tonight that she had read as many +books as the other Camp Fire girls and had enjoyed the same advantages. + +"Then you saw all seven of us at Capistrano?" she asked at length; +adding, "There are five other girls in our Camp Fire group." + +Felipe laughed. "Yes, I saw all of you, yet it was you alone I +remembered," he murmured with true Spanish gallantry. + +"Thank you for that compliment, although obviously I fished for it," +Gerry returned, smiling. "But won't you tell me, now that the draft has +been ordered and your number called, how are you going to manage to +escape? Of course I shall not speak to any one else of what you tell +me." + +"I am glad enough to tell you," Felipe Morris continued boyishly. "You +can't imagine how hard it has been to have no one to sympathize with +me. I have wished many times since war was declared that my mother was +alive and I could have talked the situation over with her. My father, as +I told you, is dead against me. He thinks I am a renegade and a disgrace +to him and to his name, and a lot of stuff like that. It seems his +brothers all fought in the Civil War and were officers and it has been +the regret of his life he was too young. I wish he had the chance +offered him now instead of me," he concluded like a surly boy, with all +his gallantry departed. + +"But what are you going to do?" Gerry insisted, her interest in him +remaining so far unaffected by his attitude. + +"Oh, I am too plagued healthy, so the doctor won't help me out. I hoped +to be released on the score of ill health at first. But later I sent in +a claim saying I could not be released for war service because I was the +sole support of my parent and had to be left here to look after the +ranch. I don't see why raising beans cannot be considered war work? +Father insists he can run the place himself and I am afraid he won't +stand by me when the exemption board asks him concerning the truth of +my claim. Pretty tough when a fellow's own father is anxious to get him +off his hands to the extent of possibly being killed." + +Felipe laid his guitar down on the piazza and in spite of the fact that +he must have been at least twenty-two or twenty-three years old, Gerry +found herself with a ridiculous desire to comfort him. + +"It is just a difference of opinion," she said softly. "I don't believe +if I were you I would blame my father, and he should have the same +respect for you. I never thought of the question before, but I have +decided tonight I do not believe in the draft. Isn't there anything else +you can do, if this one exemption claim fails?" + +Felipe Morris rose up, shrugging his shoulders impatiently. He was so +foreign in his appearance that the movement seemed natural. + +"Oh, yes, I can slip away into Mexico and remain until the war is over. +I have been thinking of it as a possibility. But of course if I am +caught I shall be put into prison as a deserter." + +Then he stood gazing down upon Gerry with a bewildered expression. + +"I wonder why I have entrusted my fate to you in this fashion? You +understand that if you should ever tell what I have confided to you, +things would be all over with me." + +Gerry also rose. "Shall we walk about your garden for a little?" she +said. "I am tired of sitting still so long. I expect Mrs. Burton will be +here in a little time and think we should go to bed. But you need not +worry with regard to my ever mentioning a word of what you have said to +me--not under any possible circumstances." + +Then as they wandered about the tiny garden Felipe gathered a bunch of +the small white and yellow roses. + +"Keep these in your room tonight." + +Afterwards discovering that Mrs. Burton and his father had returned to +the garden and were coming toward them, he added hurriedly: + +"Tell me, please, when and where I can see you again, alone? It has +meant so much to me to be able to talk to you so freely and I have an +idea we are going to be friends." + +"But you have agreed to come over to our camp," Gerry answered, feeling +at the same time that she would like selfishly to preserve Felipe's +interest entirely for herself. Of course when he was introduced to the +other Camp Fire girls he would naturally take less pleasure in her +society. + +"Oh, yes, indeed, I am coming to your camp. Anderson and I would not +miss the opportunity for a good deal. But I want to see you by yourself, +not with a dozen other people chattering around. Surely you can manage +to make an engagement to see me alone. You would if you liked me half as +much as I do you." + +Again Felipe spoke like a spoiled boy, but Gerry had no time to reply, +for at this instant Mrs. Burton and Mr. Morris reached them. + +Truth to tell, she had a distinct sense of relief as, slipping her arm +inside her Camp Fire guardian's, together they said their formal +good-nights. + +Already Felipe Morris was demanding more of Gerry than either of them +realized. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Cantonment + + +A few days after their visit at the ranch, arrangements were made for +Mrs. Burton and members of her party to drive over to the new cantonment +which was situated on a broad mesa not many miles away. + +Gerry Williams announced that because of the dust and discomfort she +preferred being left behind. + +Sally Ashton also declined, stating that she was not well enough to +consider undertaking the long drive and then being forced to walk about +over whatever portion of the camp they were permitted to inspect. After +her mishap, which Sally considered no one had regarded with sufficient +seriousness, she had acquired a prejudice against excursions of any +character. + +Sally's attitude the Camp Fire guardian understood, although she was +somewhat puzzled by Gerry Williams, as always before Gerry had been +enthusiastic over change and excitement. One would have supposed that +among all the girls she would have been most interested in the new war +camp and the possibility of seeing and meeting the young American +soldiers. + +Mrs. Webster would not consider the trip, feeling that her heart would +only be torn by the sight of so many war preparations, and more if she +should chance to come in contact with an unusually homesick boy. Her +sister could bring back word of whatever she could actually _do_ to be +of service, since often enough she was the pioneer who went forth in +search of new ideas which Mrs. Webster put into execution. + +Dan Webster was of course essential to the expedition, as he was +chauffeur. Billy was not only invited, but Mrs. Burton insisted upon his +accompanying them after he had very generously demurred, saying there +was no reason why he should crowd the others when he really was not +interested in war camps. She hoped, however, that the sight of the +cantonment might exert either a mental or a spiritual influence upon +him. + +It was possible to manage eight in the car, although ordinarily it held +but seven, yet one was willing to be a little inconvenienced under the +circumstances, so the five girls, Vera Lagerloff, Bettina Graham, Alice +Ashton, Marta Clark and Peggy Webster also accompanied Mrs. Burton. + +The first part of the drive followed the now familiar line of the shore. +Yet the outlook was never the same! Now and then one would see a heron +or sand crane standing upon one leg near the water, apparently lost in +immortal thought; sea gulls were dipping in and out, or else riding +serenely on the waves; occasionally a buzzard, grim as Odin, soared +overhead. + +Once Marta Clark, who was on the front seat with Dan, gave a cry of +surprise. She had discovered that what she supposed a great bird winging +its flight over their car, was in reality an aeroplane on a long +practice flight from North Island. + +Finally leaving the coast, the automobile began a long climb over an +undulating line of hills. The hills were bare except for occasional +bunches of cacti and bushes of bright yellow tar weed. There were acres +and acres of sage brush, sometimes a field of wild buckwheat and once in +a while a small grove of live oak shrubs or of red and blue gum trees. + +The mesa upon which the new cantonment was springing up like a magic +city was a great desert of sand and sage. For years the thousands of +acres had been of no use because of the lack of water. Now great +irrigating ditches had been laid and the camp was being plentifully +supplied with water by the city of San Diego. + +The surroundings of the camp were cheerless enough, it is true, yet +there was nothing cheerless in the atmosphere of the place itself. Even +as the Camp Fire party approached they felt the undercurrent of the fine +new force, the splendid vitality which the war has awakened in the +world. + +A sentry ordered Dan to stop his car within a few yards of the officers' +quarters and Mrs. Burton was told that she must receive an official +permit for their inspection of certain features of the camp. + +From inside the little house, which looked like a miniature bungalow of +unpainted pine, one heard the noise, not of the rattle of musketry, but +the endless tip, tap, tap of many typewriters. + +Captain Mason, who had been told of Mrs. Burton's intended visit, came +out to greet her and her party. + +He explained that just at present there were only a few hundred soldiers +within the cantonment, although they were expecting many thousands +within the next few weeks. + +An army of workmen were at present engaged in preparing the way for the +coming of the soldiers and the big artillery. + +Strolling apart from the other laborers and still carrying a large +hammer, Mr. Jefferson Simpson, the late Camp Fire guide, philosopher and +friend, walked over to speak to Mrs. Burton and her companions. He +offered no explanation for his presence at the camp, but it was obvious +he had concluded that his efforts here were of more importance than his +previous occupation. The Sunrise Camp Fire had always considered his +remaining with them for so long a time an obvious absurdity and presumed +that it was because of Mr. Simpson's continuing interest in Marie, +although he had paid no attention to her since the breaking of their +engagement. + +But apparently his leading motive in life was to discover the number and +variety of vocations in which he could engage. + +After receiving a written order from the commanding officer for the day, +Captain Mason led the way with Mrs. Burton walking beside him. + +They were to be allowed to see only places of minor importance, the +temporary tents and mess room, the Y. M. C. A. quarters. Mrs. Burton had +explained that one of the chief reasons for their visit was a desire to +find out how they might be of service in even the smallest possible way. + + +"You see, Captain Mason," she suggested, "we are living for the present +not far behind the lines of this American war camp. In a different sense +every woman and girl in our country should be a reserve soldier behind +the lines until the war is over. One need not wear a uniform, or carry a +gun to serve! Our American Camp Fire girls feel that they ought to be +able to give as valuable service to the country as the Boy Scouts. I +confess we have not yet altogether found our way." + +By this time Mrs. Burton and Captain Mason had reached the Red Cross +tent and now had paused for a moment outside to wait for the five girls +and Dan and Billy Webster to join them. + +Captain Mason nodded, waving his hand toward the open flap of the tent. + +"You can help us keep our boys amused. I tell you that is the greatest +problem we older officers have to meet with young, untrained soldiers. +Discipline is comparatively easy, for few of the boys resent it; but +look in there!" + +Mrs. Burton did look, while Bettina and Marta and Peggy, who were +nearest, also gazed in over her shoulders. + +Several soldiers were sitting by a long board table looking at a pile of +magazines, not because they were interested, but plainly because they +had nothing else on earth they could think of to do. + +On a raised platform a phonograph was playing an Italian love song. Some +one must have started it, although at present no one apparently was +listening to the music. + +Several of the soldiers were writing letters, others were yawning and +half lying down on the hard wooden benches, bored and listless and +homesick. + + +Hearing voices outside the Y.M.C.A. tent, one young officer, who also +had been writing, lifted his eyes. + +The same instant Bettina Graham walked quickly inside the tent, holding +out her hand. + +"Why, here is my lieutenant!" she exclaimed. "May I call you my +lieutenant, although Marta Clark will dispute the title? For I did reach +you first after your accident and it is my first-aid treatment you seem +to have survived. I did not know you had arrived at this cantonment, +Lieutenant Carson. I do hope you have entirely recovered." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Plans + + +One afternoon, after resting for an hour or more, Mrs. Burton appeared +at her little front door, wondering why she was encompassed by so +unusual a silence. + +The fact that at present the Sunrise camp was situated several miles +from any other human habitation, with the sea stretching before it and a +great ranch as its background, did not ordinarily insure it an essential +silence. As a matter of fact, there were generally nine youthful +persons, engaged in strenuous occupations of one kind or another, in its +immediate vicinity. + +This afternoon Mrs. Burton discovered that they had withdrawn to some +distance from the camping grounds. + +A camp fire was burning and the girls were seated about it in ceremonial +fashion, with Mrs. Webster also forming one of the group. A little +further off her two sons were characteristically engaged, Dan in +bringing small pieces of driftwood up from the shore and Billy in lying +upon his back, gazing toward the sky. + +In truth only their Camp Fire guardian appeared deliberately to have +been left out of the gathering. + + +Mrs. Burton suffered a distinct sensation of aggrievement. + +Evidently the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls were deep in a consultation +of some important character, so that it seemed scarcely fair that they +should have ignored her completely. + +Not wishing to go back into her room, which had grown a little close, +and yet not desiring to interrupt the proceedings, from which her +presence had been so carefully excluded, Mrs. Burton hesitated a moment +just outside her house. If she were seen wandering about nearby, as a +matter of good manners she would have to be invited to the camp fire. +With Mrs. Webster already there, she had not the excuse that her +presence might be necessary. Often the girls seemed to prefer giving her +sister their confidence. + +At this instant one of the Camp Fire group observed her and gave the +information to the others. Peggy began beckoning violently, while +Bettina Graham and Marta Clark both jumped up and were coming toward +her. + +"You are lazy, Tante, we have been waiting for you to wake up for ages!" +Bettina remarked, slipping her arm through the older woman's. She was +several inches taller than her Camp Fire guardian, and oftentimes at a +distance Mrs. Burton was mistaken for another girl, she was so slender +and so youthfully and ardently alive both in body and spirit. + +"Yes, you seem to have been tremendously anxious for my society," she +returned in the voice and manner both Bettina and Peggy understood. If +the other Camp Fire girls were at times a little in awe of their famous +guardian, Peggy and Bettina appreciated that she was much like other +persons and now and then behaved like a somewhat spoiled young girl. +Certainly she never regarded her own achievements as placing her upon a +pedestal. + +From her present speech and manner Bettina realized that she was both +jealous and hurt over their apparent disregard of her, for she had an +almost ridiculous craving for affection as an ordinary human being, +caring but little for the admiration which was a tribute to her as an +artist rather than a woman. + +Nevertheless Bettina laughed in an entirely unsympathetic fashion. + +"Well, we did wish to discuss something before you put in an appearance, +but now the discussion has been over for some time, we very much desire +your society. Yet only if you are amiable, because just at this time it +is enormously important that you should be." + +Mrs. Burton frowned and then laughed, a little teased by Bettina's too +evident understanding of her state of mind. + +Marta Clark said nothing. She had not yet acquired the habit of +regarding her Camp Fire guardian in any spirit save one of devoted +admiration. But Marta was the latest of the group of Sunrise Camp Fire +girls and of necessity knew her less well than the others. Moreover, +Marta also dreamed of a future dramatic career and it was not so easy +to take simply the one woman who personified her own ideals. + +In the circle on the ground Peggy Webster had arranged a leather cushion +ornamented with Camp Fire designs as a seat of honor for their guardian +when she finally arrived. + +Sitting down, Mrs. Burton clasped her hands over her knees, gazing +curiously around. + +"Is this a conspiracy or rebellion, or a plot?" she demanded. "It seems +to me, Mollie Webster, not only because you are my sister, but because +we alone belong to the same generation, that you at least should not +have been one of the conspirators." + +Like the proverbial Charlotte in "Wilhelm Meister," who went on cutting +bread and butter, Mrs. Webster, without replying, continued knitting. + +"Oh, our plot is not dangerous, or at least we do not think it is, +although you may feel differently," Peggy Webster announced, to whom the +task of imparting the information evidently had been awarded. "We have +merely been discussing the idea of forming a Camp Fire branch to the War +Camp Recreation League. You remember this League is to do whatever is +possible for the entertainment of the soldiers and we talked of our +share in it after our visit to the war camp the other day." + +Mrs. Burton appeared slightly suspicious. + +"I also remember, Peggy, that it was agreed I was to be allowed to +choose what form our activities should take. Moreover, whatever plan +presented itself to us was first to be submitted to an officer at camp +to find out if the plan met with military approval. Camp Fire girls, +however clever, are scarcely the proper persons to decide upon the ways +and means for providing entertainment for our American soldiers, +valuable as their aid may be in the entertainment itself. But there, +forgive me, I do not intend being disagreeable, and I have no doubt you +have thought up some thrilling scheme! Only why not wait until our +little dinner party and dance for the soldiers tomorrow evening is over +before we precipitate ourselves into a fresh undertaking?" + +"Oh, our party is just a _small_ matter compared to the plan we have +been working out this afternoon," Peggy continued, refusing to be +snubbed or argued into silence. "Our idea is that if we are to become a +branch of the War Recreation Fund Committee we must raise money for the +organization. We wish to give a play and present to the fund whatever +money we make." + +Mrs. Burton shook her head. "Give a play out here in this +semi-wilderness? Well, the idea is agreeable enough if you wish to amuse +yourselves, but how you expect to make money or secure an audience is +beyond my imagination! However, if you have set your hearts upon the +scheme and think it would amuse you, do as you like. I only ask to be +left out altogether. Remember, I am resting from a histrionic career." + +Mrs. Burton made a movement as if she contemplated leaving, but Peggy +resolutely held her in her place. + +"We _do_ expect you to help; more, we expect you to be almost the entire +thing!" Bettina interrupted with more vigor than clearness. "We are not +contemplating a silly little amateur performance here at camp; we have +more important things to interest us. We wish to give a real play at +that exquisite open-air theater near the seaside resort that we saw the +other day on our drive. Ever since then Marta and Peggy and I have been +dreaming of little else and talking of little else to the other girls +until now they are as enthusiastic as we are. It was Marta Clark who +actually put our present scheme into our minds, and she merely spoke of +how much she would enjoy seeing you act outdoors in so lovely a place." + +"I am sure Marta is very kind," Mrs. Burton answered, but without +revealing a profound appreciation of the compliment. "But don't be +foolish, please. You know I try to do whatever is possible toward making +our summers together happy and satisfying. Yet one of my chief reasons +for living outdoors is to have a complete rest from my work and to get +away from the whole thought of it as much as possible. I have given all +the money to war causes I can afford at present. Later I shall do more, +of course----" + +"That is just the point," Peggy interrupted. "If people out here in +California learn you are to appear in an outdoor performance, they will +positively flock to see you. You know you could earn a lot of money for +the Recreation Fund, besides we all think it would be great fun to act +with you and have already selected the play that would be the most +interesting to produce." + +"Really, Peggy, I think you have gone somewhat too far," Mrs. Burton +answered, although with a slightly dazed expression. "I don't believe I +have ever had a theatrical manager who made every arrangement, even to +selecting the play in which I was to appear, without consulting me. The +whole thing is preposterous. Mollie, I really cannot understand your +allowing the girls to become so absorbed in such a nonsensical project! +I think you might have spared me the difficulty of refusing." + +"But you don't appear to be having any difficulty in refusing, Polly," +Mrs. Webster answered with her usual placidity. Nevertheless, she +realized how greatly this same placidity annoyed her beloved twin +sister in moments of agitation. "Yet I am sorry that I agreed to permit +the girls to broach the subject to you, since the idea seems to trouble +you so much. Personally I am afraid I also found the idea charming. You +have not acted for a long time and many of your friends are giving +theatrical benefits for the Red Cross or some war need. The girls +thought they would like to present 'As You Like It,' with you as +_Rosalind_; you know you have played _Rosalind_ dozens of times before. +The open-air theater would make an exquisite Forest of Arden. Besides, I +am sure our present group of Camp Fire girls could not act, so poorly as +you used to, now and then, in private theatricals in the old days. You +know, my dear, none of us imagined then that you were to turn out a +genius." + +Mrs. Burton flushed. "No one imagines it now, Mollie." She answered with +obvious irritability. Then her manner became more apologetic: + +"You girls are not angry with me for refusing?" + +Wisely Peggy shook her head, "No, we are only disappointed." + +Then everybody in the little company remained silent for several +moments, which was a most unusual state of affairs among the Sunrise +Hill Camp Fire girls. + +Plainly Mrs. Burton suffered from the depressing influence, for suddenly +she got up. + +"Please leave me alone for a little while. I must think the question +over?" she announced, as if she had not already issued her ultimatum. +The next moment she turned away and walked down toward the beach. + +"What do you think Tante will decide, Mother?" Peggy anxiously inquired. + +Mrs. Webster shook her head. "My dear, Polly and I are twins, and I have +known her ever since I have known anything. But to tell beforehand how +she will make up her mind upon any subject is beyond me. I am a little +sorry we have made this request of her. She takes her work so seriously, +and after all she is doing so much for us without the addition of this." + +At this instant a cool voice was heard speaking in the background. + +The voice was Billy Webster's. + +"I believe Tante will have the time of her life acting with you girls, +of course she will consent, although probably no one else on earth with +her reputation would take such a risk." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Dance + + +The next day Mrs. Burton announced that having written her husband she +would await his reply before reaching an absolutely definite decision in +regard to their presentation of "As You Like It." In the meantime she +insisted that the whole question of the performance be neither thought +of nor discussed. + +Appreciating that he had grown too old to make a valuable soldier and +yet unwilling to be left out of war service, Mrs. Burton's husband, +Richard Burton, had taken the necessary examinations and had received a +commission in the Ordnance Department. He was now stationed at a +southern camp. + +Despite the Camp Fire guardian's request, there was a good deal of +speculation among the girls concerning the possible outcome of their +hopes. During the following day they were too much absorbed by the +prospect immediately before them to give much time to the consideration +of the future. + +Having arranged a small dance and invited a number of soldiers from the +nearby camp to be their guests, the girls had promised to do whatever +work was necessary for their entertainment. This included the cooking of +the party food as well as the other arrangements. But by this time, +after several summers of camping life, each girl considered that she had +become an artist in the preparation of one or more superior dishes. + +Ordinarily the most indolent of the girls, on occasions of especial +festivity Sally Ashton always assumed supreme command of the cooking. It +was Sally who, with Gerry and Vera as her assistants, made both the +bread and cake, articles of food of particular importance. + +In the present menu she was especially interested, as recently she had +been experimenting with a number of new war recipes, finding them +extremely successful. Now Sally wished to repeat the recipes for a +larger company than their Camp Fire group. + +Having by this time recovered from her accident, secretly Sally Ashton +felt that she was being repaid for what she had suffered. She had +secured a very agreeable new acquaintance, who showed the symptoms Sally +so well understood of becoming one of her many admirers. The young man +was Merton Anderson, who had been a guest at the Morris ranch and had +ridden over to camp with the news of the accident. + +Since then, with Mr. Morris and Felipe Morris, he had made several calls +upon Mrs. Burton and ostensibly upon her group of Camp Fire girls. +However, after Merton Anderson's first visit, Sally appreciated that the +rest of his calls were due to her presence. No one could have explained +how she managed, not even Sally herself, yet she had a fashion of seeing +and conquering almost immediately both young men and old. No one ever +observed her making an effort to attract attention. She was even +unusually demure; nevertheless the attraction was going on in a subtle +and scientific fashion. + +Of Felipe Morris' attitude toward her, Gerry Williams was by no means so +assured. Not since their original meeting at his home had she an +opportunity of speaking to him alone, nor had she made the effort to +secure such an opportunity. For some reason Gerry felt a certain shyness +toward her new acquaintance, almost as if she were afraid of the +influence he might be able to exert upon her. + +Certainly she had no idea of making an appointment to meet him anywhere +alone. Apart from the fact that Mrs. Burton would not approve, Gerry had +been trained in a sufficiently hard school of experience to recognize +the lack of wisdom in such a proceeding. If she wished Felipe to like +her especially, and she was by no means sure at this time that she did +wish it, then she must not allow herself to become cheapened in his +eyes. Social conventions Gerry understood were of value and more +especially to a girl in her position. However, Felipe had appeared to be +courteous, although extraordinarily determined upon securing his own +way. + +In return for their kindness and also because she liked both young men, +Mrs. Burton had invited Felipe Morris and Merton Anderson to their Camp +Fire entertainment. The entertainment was to be more than an ordinary +dance, since the guests had been invited to a swimming party in the +afternoon, then dinner and the dance later. + + +Since the girls were to spend a portion of the afternoon in swimming, +most of the preparations for their party necessarily had to be made +beforehand. Mrs. Webster had promised to look after final details, and +also there was Marie, who was temperamental, but who could be relied +upon to accomplish marvels when she was in the proper mood. Since the +entry of the United States into the war, Marie, who was an ardent French +woman, had adopted the American soldier as her especial protege. + +Moreover, on the morning before their dance Alice Ashton and Peggy +Webster had motored into town, purchasing the provisions they considered +too troublesome to prepare. They bought two roast hams and a roast of +beef and half a dozen varieties of fruit. Their menu was to consist of +cold meats, baked beans, which were a Camp Fire speciality, roast +potatoes and corn, which could be cooked over the outdoor fire, +cornbread, fruit salad, coffee and cake. + +In the afternoon the girls were to wear their Camp Fire bathing suits, +but at night they had concluded to appear in white dresses, with their +honor beads, almost as beautiful and as effective as jewels. + +The ceremonial Camp Fire costumes were somewhat too heavy and too warm +for dancing on a midsummer night in a semi-tropical land. + +The girls were naturally a trifle shy over the prospect of guests, +nearly all of whom were complete strangers. Among them were only two +with whom they had any previous acquaintance. They were Lieutenant +Geoffrey Carson and Private George Ferguson, the soldiers who were aided +after an accident in their motor car, by the Camp Fire girls during +their riding trip down the coast. + +Two of the soldiers were members of one of the regimental bands and had +promised to play for the dancers, since the girls possessed only a +much-used victrola and were too far off in the country to be able to +engage the services of professional musicians. + +No dance could have been less conventional, when for one thing the +white, smooth sands of the beach below the camp were to serve as the +ballroom floor. + +Truly here indeed were the colors of romance, the moon and the sea, +youth and a wind-swept shore! + +That night, dancing with Felipe Morris, Gerry believed that she had +never been so happy. + +With his Southern ancestry and musical gifts, naturally Felipe was a +wonderful dancer, possessing an almost perfect sense of rhythm and time. + +On one occasion Gerry and Felipe discovered that they were actually +dancing alone, their companions having stopped for a moment to watch +them. Then they were only brought to a realization of what had taken +place by hearing Mrs. Burton cry: "Bravo!" and afterwards the applause +of a dozen pairs of hands. + +[Illustration: On One Occasion Gerry and Felipe Discovered that They +were Actually Dancing Alone] + +A little while before Felipe had lifted their right arms and he and +Gerry had danced in and out in semi-circles until they formed the petals +of a flower; reaching the center they revolved slowly in a circle, until +almost ceasing to move. + +Mrs. Burton decided that seldom had she seen a more enchanting +picture--Gerry with her delicate blonde prettiness, Felipe Morris so +complete a contrast. But then a great deal may have been due to the +effect of the outdoor scene and the moonlight! + +Before midnight, after dancing for several hours and after their long +afternoon swim, the dancers must have grown weary, for they wandered off +and sat down in little groups on the sand. + +This was Gerry's and Felipe's opportunity, for at once Felipe led her to +a place where they were in sight of the others and yet where they could +not be overheard. + +The rock Felipe had chosen rose above an amethyst carpet of sea verbena +where Gerry sat enthroned while he lay down on the floral carpet. + +Felipe could adopt an attitude of careless grace with more assurance +than the usual American youth. Indeed, he looked utterly unlike any of +the other young men who were the guests of the Camp Fire girls this +night. + +They wore their uniforms and were bronzed and fit. + +At this time the soldiers of the National Guard were beginning slowly to +fill their new military camps, as they were to be the first regiments +ordered to France after the regular army had crossed. The drafted men +were not yet ready for service. During this memorable first summer, +after the entry of the United States into the war, the lists of the +drafted men were being prepared with great difficulty. + +Therefore no one of the soldier guests questioned Felipe Morris' +position. It was presumed that he and Merton Anderson were in the +attitude of waiting for their call to the colors. + +Among the small company only Gerry and Mrs. Burton and Merton Anderson +were aware of Felipe's attempt to claim exemption. Naturally the matter +was not one that he cared to discuss with strangers, and more especially +not with young men near his own age, who had volunteered rather than +wait for the drafting. + +However, Felipe was at present pleasantly sure of Gerry's sympathy. + +"Fine looking soldiers, our American warriors!" he began in a lazy, +good-humored tone, which nevertheless held a slight suggestion of +disparagement. "I suppose one ought to rejoice that there are some men +among us who have the masculine passion for fighting so long as the +Kaiser's Huns are still abroad in the world. But personally I don't feel +I should make a success as a soldier." + +Such a conversation would not have made the slightest impression upon +any one of the Sunrise Hill Camp Fire girls except Gerry. + +It was obvious that Felipe preferred some one else to shoulder his +responsibility and do his duty. Selfishness is neither original nor +unique! + +But Gerry was not given to deep reflection and was already more under +her companion's influence than she realized. + +"When are we going to have a meeting together somewhere off to +ourselves?" Felipe asked. "There are so many things I want to talk to +you about; it is tantalizing to see you for only a few moments at a time +now and then. Why can't you come over and stay again at the ranch? My +father does nothing but read war news all day and either Shakespeare or +Cervantes in the evening, so we would be virtually alone." + +The prospect sounded alluring to Gerry, nevertheless she slowly shook +her head. + +"I should like it, of course," she answered, smiling and showing her +small but very regular white teeth, "only, like a good many other +pleasant things in this world, it is out of the question for me. I +cannot stay at your home alone with just your father and yourself. +Besides, your father would never think of inviting me, and although I +should enjoy seeing you alone at some other time, I am afraid even that +is impossible. Mrs. Burton would not----" + +Here Felipe laughed in a teasing fashion. + +"Is this the vaunted freedom of the American girl? I thought only the +other evening you confided to me that you had always been forced to +depend upon yourself ever since you were a little girl and that there +had been no one in your life who had ever influenced your decisions! Now +you speak of Mrs. Burton as if you were a tiny school girl. Let me +assure you--if assurance be necessary--that I intended nothing wicked or +even unconventional. I only wished you to take a walk with me some +afternoon, or a sail. I have a motor boat, and there are hours when the +sea is not rough. As a matter of fact, I meant to ask Mrs. Burton's +permission, in case I had your consent first. Mrs. Burton strikes me as +a charming person and not one who would be too strict a chaperon. +Naturally, as I have spent all my life in this neighborhood, I know the +attractive parts of the country." + +Felipe's tone was not so much annoyed as it was patronizing, and Gerry +accepted it in this spirit. + +She disliked making social mistakes, and she had had so little social +training and experience that she was apt to regard her mistakes as of +more importance than they actually were. + +Now she supposed that she had misunderstood Felipe from the beginning +and that her own stupidity had been at fault. So she replied somewhat +humbly: + +"I am sorry. If Mrs. Burton is willing, of course I shall enjoy walking +or sailing with you. But don't let me keep you away from the other +girls too long tonight. Suppose we walk over and join Mrs. Burton." + +As if she intended rising, Gerry made a slight movement. Her companion +did not stir. + +"Sit down, please, I am afraid you are angry," he returned. "I do wish I +had my guitar with me; I should like to sing to you. Mrs. Burton asked +me to bring it over tonight, but I had rather not sing before the +others." + +So Gerry stayed on and allowed Felipe to talk, while she said little in +reply, only glancing now and then from the figure at her feet to the +beauty of the moonlit ocean. Vaguely she wondered why she had always +been convinced she did not care for the outdoor world. It was stupid +never to have realized its loveliness until tonight! + +But, while Gerry and Felipe were having their talk together, only a +short distance away Lieutenant Geoffrey Carson and Bettina Graham were +engaged in a very different character of conversation. + +It chanced that Lieutenant Carson, who was a Virginian, had an uncle +who had been a representative in Congress for a number of years. Having +visited his uncle, Lieutenant Carson had not only heard of Bettina's +distinguished father, but had met him and knew of his effort to persuade +his country to take her high place among the nations in the fight for a +world-wide democracy. + +So, since Bettina Graham's father was her idol, she experienced none of +her customary shyness in talking to the young National Guard officer. +She had liked him in their former meetings, not resenting his quiet +sense of humor, a contrast to her own seriousness. + +"Then you are in absolute sympathy with our having entered the war, +Lieutenant Carson?" Bettina inquired, adding: "I think I always have +been--and yet now and then one cannot help feeling that all war must be +wrong." + +Before the young officer could reply, they heard some one approaching +and glancing up Bettina discovered Billy Webster. + +The next moment, without awaiting their invitation, Billy took a seat on +the sands beside them. + +Bettina was not surprised, for few persons who knew Billy intimately +continued to be surprised by his unexpected actions. Indeed, they would +have been surprised had he behaved otherwise. Now, although Bettina was +a little annoyed at having her conversation interrupted, she made no +effort to interfere with his intention. + +The turning of Billy Webster from the accomplishment of his desire +required a tremendous amount of energy which the result scarcely ever +justified. + +So far as Lieutenant Carson was concerned, because Billy looked so much +younger than he actually was, he regarded him merely as a presuming +small boy. + +Moreover, at the beginning of their talk, certainly Billy behaved like +one. First he stared at Lieutenant Carson's dress uniform, with the +single bar on his collar and sleeve and then up into the officer's firm, +smooth-shaven face. Finally, leaning over close to his companion, he +fastened his large visionary blue eyes upon the officer's steadfast +brown ones. + +"Why did you do it?" Billy inquired. Then, because he was accustomed to +being compelled to explain himself, he continued: "I mean why did you +volunteer, why go through all the hard work and rigmarole to be +appointed an officer in the army? You look as if you had an unusual lot +of sense, so I cannot imagine that you do not understand there are finer +things to do with one's life than killing people. I should think _you_ +could see how much more men are called upon to conquer poverty and +injustice and the crime that comes of it, than they are called upon to +conquer one another. Of course if you had been drafted that would have +been a different matter. Most people do what other people tell them to +do. That is why I believe if all the leaders of the world would preach +peace, all war would end." + +Instead of appearing to take the youthful pacifist seriously, Lieutenant +Carson smiled. Billy was a little offensive and misguided, nevertheless +there was something interesting about the boy; he had such an intense +manner, such an appearance of being convinced of his own point of view. +And Billy's personality suggested the thinker, not the man of action. + +"Then you are under the impression we are over there in our encampment +for the fun of it and in order to kill time which we might be spending +in better ways?" he inquired, thinking that perhaps he might answer +Bettina's anxious questionings and Billy's impertinence at the same +time. "Well, as a matter of fact, our encampment is not a very +attractive place up to the present. Did you think so when you made us +the visit? One job we have been tackling recently is to clear away the +underbrush from a good many thousands of acres of desert which have +remained undisturbed from the year one until now. We killed ninety +rattlesnakes as a part of the first day's work. Later on we are going to +drive artillery across those wastes of sand. Does not sound like play, +does it?" + +"No," Billy returned patiently, wondering why people would not sometimes +answer his questions directly, without first preaching long sermons +which seemed to have but little bearing upon them. + +"It is because I think a soldier's life is so hard and must be so +distasteful to a lot of men that I wonder why you would rather give +your energy to fighting than to trying to make the world happier and +wiser in other ways." + +Lieutenant Carson frowned. He knew the things Billy was saying were +being said by a good many people the world over, who were older and +wiser, or who should have been wiser, than Billy. But he also realized +that these same sentiments were not easy to answer, because they had in +them so much of the germ of truth, which was to blossom and flower at +some future day. + +Moreover, unexpectedly he experienced an impulse to help the boy to see +the present world struggle in a clearer light. + +"Billy," he added, "you will agree with me, won't you, that pretty +nearly everybody is saying the same thing these days? We all claim that +we wish the world to enjoy universal peace, that we long for greater +justice and happiness and a deeper sense of brotherhood. There is only +one point that divides you and me just at present. We all want peace, +but some of us want it so much that we are willing to pay for it by the +final last sacrifice of our youth and our blood. There are others who +think it may be obtained, and apparently you are one of them, simply by +sitting still and talking the whole subject over. This is pretty +difficult as things are at present. So long as the devil is such a +scrapper, those of us who believe in the triumph of right have got to +learn to fight back harder and even more successfully than he can +fight." + +Billy was silent for a moment, then with an egotism which was eminently +characteristic, he remarked: "Well, perhaps that is the way some people +must see the thing. Do you know I have always believed that some day I +am going to have a tremendous influence upon people just through talking +to them." + +Then, by the time Lieutenant Carson had recovered from his surprise at +Billy's audacity, he had made up his mind that the hour had arrived for +their return to camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"As You Like It" + + +The more Mrs. Burton dwelt upon the idea of giving a play for the +recreation fund of the soldiers, the more the idea pleased her. Upon +going more deeply into the subject she discovered that an effort was +being made to secure funds for the building of a theater in each war +camp in the United States. + +To initiate the movement and to be the first contributor to the fund +here in their immediate neighborhood, Mrs. Burton realized would give +her great pleasure. If her fellow players were offering to act at these +theaters, traveling from one to the other in a regular circuit during +the coming winter, then surely the theaters should be provided! + +Moreover, after having first suffered a natural objection to acting with +novices, Mrs. Burton changed her point of view to the extent of +considering that it might be rather charming to play with her own Camp +Fire girls in a comedy fresh and sparkling as Shakespeare's "As You Like +It." The play itself was in the spirit of a summer vacation, full of the +outdoors and delicious improbabilities. Besides the effort would be a +valuable experience for her Camp Fire girls. + +Captain Burton had written, expressing not only his approval of the +suggestion, but a real enthusiasm, provided Mrs. Burton felt well enough +to undertake it. Also he suggested that Mrs. Burton find some +professional actor in California who would play _Orlando_ to her +_Rosalind_. Then the contrast between her acting and that of her amateur +company need not be so conspicuous. He also proposed that she secure the +assistance of a professional stage manager to assist in the training of +her players. + +In the beginning of their discussion concerning the production of "As +You Like It," Mrs. Burton had announced as insurmountable the obstacle +that the cast required a greater number of men than of women characters. +It appeared that the girls already had considered this fact and were +prepared with a proposal. + +Peggy and Bettina had talked the matter over quietly with Lieutenant +Carson on the night of their dance, begging him not to speak of it if +nothing came of their idea. But they were thus able to report that +Lieutenant Carson believed his commanding officer would permit a few of +the soldiers to act with them in "As You Like It," provided the +rehearsals did not interfere with their army work. + +Later, when the performance became an actual possibility, Lieutenant +Carson inquired among his soldier companions until he discovered the men +who had some past dramatic experience and would also be acceptable in a +social way. + +Besides the soldiers Mrs. Burton later on invited Felipe Morris and +Merton Anderson to become members of her cast. + +Merton Anderson declined. No one knew the reason for his refusal except +Sally Ashton, who, as a matter of fact, had begged him not to take part. +Personally she did not approve of the outdoor play and had no idea of +making the effort necessary to portray the least important character. +Therefore Sally did not wish her latest admirer to become involved in +an interest which would separate him from her society. + +Felipe Morris appeared delighted to take part, and it was his aid which +Mrs. Burton desired. She was confident that he would be able to act with +unusual grace and self-assurance for a novice, and at least he possessed +good looks and a naturally artistic temperament. + +Moreover, Mrs. Burton and Felipe's father had become good friends, so +that she believed that Mr. Morris would be pleased to have Felipe drawn +into an intimate association with certain of the soldiers of the +National Guard, trusting that they might influence him. Personally Mrs. +Burton thought the one thing necessary was to entice Felipe away from +his music and his indolent dreaming into the world of real men where he +would awaken to his duty. + +She knew of his friendship with Gerry and of the somewhat marked +interest they apparently felt in each other, but she did not take the +fact seriously. Already he had asked several times that he and Gerry be +allowed to spend an afternoon together and Mrs. Burton had promptly +consented. No longer did she cherish the illusion that she could hide +away her Camp Fire girls in even the remotest corners of the globe +without their being discovered. Therefore, after her foolish alarm over +Bettina and her unconventional Indian friendship, she had concluded not +to be so nervous a second time, but to trust to the discretion of the +girls themselves. + +Among the seven Camp Fire girls Gerry was exceptionally pretty and so +could not fail to receive attention. But not for a single moment did +Mrs. Burton dream that there was anything more than a superficial +attraction between Gerry and Felipe. Of course she considered Gerry too +young, not realizing that Felipe Morris was four years her senior and +that Gerry's history had made her older than most girls of her age. + +Yet after the verdict was reached and the actors secured, there still +remained many details to be settled, the most important being the +selection of the characters for the production of the Shakespearean +comedy. Then, although there was a good deal of discussion, and Mrs. +Burton allowed a free expression of opinion, in each choice she +remained the court of final decision. + +It was she who at the beginning of the discussion settled upon Marta +Clark for the character of _Celia_, sweet cousin to _Rosalind_ and +second only in importance. In consequence Marta, who had not expected +the honor, suffered a confusion of emotions, surprise, pleasure, alarm! +Mrs. Burton had not forgotten their absurd first meeting, nor Marta's +shy confession of an ambition to follow in her footsteps. If she had +ability--and it was more than probable since her brother had lately +written a clever play showing a dramatic gift in the family--Mrs. Burton +had every intention of aiding Marta in her desire when the right moment +arrived. This would be but a slight return in memory of the friend who +so generously had helped her in the old days. + +Moreover, Mrs. Burton felt that she and Marta must learn to know each +other better. To play beside her as _Celia_, to be with each other +constantly at rehearsals would not only afford her the chance to test +Marta's talent, but would give them an opportunity to become better +friends. + +Marta possessed vivacity, a love of poetry and of nature; these things +Mrs. Burton had found out. Also her face depended upon the passing mood +for its charm, a superior gift to beauty in an emotional actress. + +Gerry Williams and Peggy were to impersonate _Phebe_, a shepherdess, and +_Audrey_, a country wench, after a good-natured argument in which Peggy +insisted upon this division of honors because of Gerry's superior +prettiness. + +_Touchstone_, the gay clown in "As You Like It," sings several of the +most charming ballads in all Shakespeare. Because of his beautiful voice +and his grace as a dancer Mrs. Burton begged Felipe Morris to play +_Touchstone_, and he appeared pleased to accept. + +Lieutenant Carson agreed to portray _Jaques_, whose soliloquy, "All the +world's a stage," is one of the greatest speeches in English literature. + +Dan Webster determined upon the character of _Adam_, servant to +_Orlando_, while Billy Webster together with Sally Ashton refused to +show the slightest interest in the approaching performance. + +The other members of the cast were the officers and soldiers from the +nearby cantonment. They expressed a great deal of enthusiasm over the +relief the rehearsals afforded from the hard physical labor of these +early days of their army training. Moreover, they would not even attempt +to express their pleasure in associating so informally with a number of +agreeable girls. + +Bettina, Alice and Vera Lagerloff were to be ladies-in-waiting at the +court of the _Duke_. + +If Sally Ashton's refusal to play any part was due to her inherent +indolence, Billy's lack of interest was ascribable to the wholly +opposite cause. + +Now and then for a passing moment when she had time to think of her +always erratic nephew, Mrs. Burton wished that Billy had been yielding +to his usual slothfulness. But recently he had awakened to an amazing +energy and was working as he never had worked in his life. + +After his brief conversation with Lieutenant Carson, for no reason which +he chose to explain, Billy proceeded to find out whatever was possible +in regard to the details of the new war camps. The monthly magazines +and newspapers to which his aunt, or any one else at Sunrise camp +subscribed, he searched diligently for all war information. Then he +would disappear on long walks, announcing on his return that he had been +over in the direction of the new National Guard cantonment, following +the railroad tracks which had recently been laid from the city. + +Finally he imparted the surprising information that he had secured work +as a day laborer at the war camp, Mr. Jefferson Simpson having vouched +for him. Moreover, Billy declared that he had given his aunt's name as a +security for his trustworthiness and that Captain Mason had remembered +his original visit to camp with Mrs. Burton's party. + +Of Billy's value as a day laborer his family and friends felt extremely +uncertain. But Billy explained that he was only expected to stand around +and to hand the carpenters who were at work the tools they happened to +need at the moment. He also carried buckets of water back and forth and +in short did whatever chores he was ordered to do. + +Mrs. Webster and Peggy were touched by Billy's unexpected display of +patriotism, knowing how abhorrent labor of this kind had always been to +him. Never, except under absolute coercion, had Billy ever performed the +slightest manual work upon their own farm! + +Mrs. Burton, Dan Webster and even the usually trustful Vera were not so +enthusiastic over Billy's latest departure. Without confessing the fact, +they suffered vague discomfort. + +What possible plan had Billy in mind? If one only could believe he had +chosen this method of "doing his bit!" But this would have been a +commonplace attitude, and Billy was never commonplace. + +There were moments when Mrs. Burton wondered if Billy were intent upon +preaching his childish ideas upon pacifism and had chosen the one place +where they would be most troublesome and dangerous! However, she was too +deeply absorbed in making a success of the play which she and the Camp +Fire girls had undertaken to allow much time to the consideration of her +nephew. + +The Camp Fire girls were learning to know their guardian in a new light. +Under ordinary circumstances she was extremely lenient and more than +willing to allow them to do as they liked. + +But now they were to see her not in a holiday mood, but as an artist at +work at her task. Since they had insisted upon the production of "As You +Like It," the penalty rested upon them. Therefore she would suffer no +idleness and accept no excuses for delay or carelessness. + +At one of the rehearsals, Peggy having appeared uncertain of her lines, +was publicly lectured and sent back to her tent with the suggestion that +if she were unwilling to do her duty, some one else had best take her +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Human Psychology + + +Billy Webster, who had difficulty in living peacefully and happily with +the people in his own walk of life, possessed a curious genius for +making himself popular with the so-called "working classes." + +At first the workmen at the new National Guard camp paid no especial +attention to the delicate looking boy who suddenly appeared among them. +But in a short time Billy proved unexpectedly useful. + +For one thing he made no effort to talk. He merely stood about in places +where he thought he might be of service, doing what he was told and +asking no questions. Several times he displayed an intelligent +initiative. And when each man is trying to do the work of two or three, +every small saving of unnecessary effort through some one else counts. + +At the present time there were fifteen hundred laborers employed on the +cantonment. They were building barracks and small wooden bungalows and +large store-houses for provisions and supplies from the ordnance and +quartermaster departments. Every hour or so freight had to be unloaded +from cars, so that they might be removed from the tracks and others take +their place. + +The soldiers were more often employed in the construction of roads and +the clearing away of a century's growth of underbrush. + +There was little in the camp that escaped Billy's quiet observation. The +very fact that he did not talk, when ordinarily he had a passion as well +as a gift for conversation was in itself a suspicious circumstance. + +For once in his life Billy was finding it more worth while to listen and +receive information rather than to impart his own ideas. + +At first the great drawback was that the laborers did not have time, or +else they did not feel the inclination to talk at all seriously. They +would simply exchange jokes with one another, or sing snatches of +popular songs. + +The laborers belonged to a company under bond to the government that +there would be no traitors employed at the war camps. Therefore if the +men held any views connected with the war, they gave no expression to +them. Moreover, the officers and soldiers were constantly in and out +among the men at all hours. Nevertheless, Billy became more and more +convinced that if a man were willing to sacrifice his own life in case +he were discovered, it was impossible even with the strictest +regulations to avoid the peril of a spy. + +One day at lunch time the boy was sitting alone in the shadow made by a +pile of lumber, which afforded a little relief from the heat of the noon +sun, when two of his fellow laborers came and sat down only a few feet +away. They saw him, of course, but seemed not to resent his presence; +so, after smiling with the innocent, boyish expression peculiar to him, +Billy continued eating. He brought his lunch with him every day in a +basket as the other laborers did. + +One of the two men, whom he thought a Swede, was rather an especial +friend, although the only fashion in which they so far had expressed +their friendliness was by smiling whenever they met. + +He was a dull, good-natured fellow, blond and mild of manner. "Seems a +pity to have to bring all these boys away from their homes and their +mothers and sweethearts to plant them down in this desert in the heat of +summer," he remarked to his companion, after he had bitten off a large +hunk of sour bread and was slowly chewing on it like a cud. Finally, +taking out his soiled handkerchief, he wiped the perspiration from his +forehead. + +"I have not been in the West very long, and it is sure enough God's +country?" the blond workman went on. "But what a lot of waste land +waiting for men to water and then plough and sow it! I thought all this +desert land was soon to be redeemed and now all the young men have to go +away from their own country into another land to fight. Sometimes it's a +hard thing for a dull, common man to understand the good of war." + +Billy stopped eating and slid over a few feet nearer. His blue eyes were +beginning to shine. + +"Wouldn't it be great if each man who has pledged his life to serve his +country would do some deed which would _save_ life instead of _taking_ +it?" he demanded. Then Billy paused and grew hot and cold by turns. He +was not very sure of what he was trying to argue except in a vague +fashion, and there was something about his last remark which held a +suggestion of treason. He did not intend being disloyal. It was only +that his preconceived ideas of right and wrong had been greatly troubled +by the present war, and Billy was not willing to accept conditions as he +found them, possessing the spirit which must solve its own problems. + +He reddened as he found his new acquaintances staring at him +suspiciously. + +"Then you think peace brings the great mass of the people better fortune +than war?" asked the other man, who had been quiet until now. He was a +little, dark man, probably of Italian origin. + +Billy hesitated. "I don't know," he answered, "I only believe peace +should make men wiser and kinder to each other. But recently everything +has gotten so dreadfully mixed in my mind, I can't be sure of anything. +Perhaps I am mistaken." + +"War has to be, young man," Billy's mild-mannered friend announced, +nodding his head. + +"Yes, that is what everybody says," the boy agreed. + +Then the somewhat pointless conversation was obliged to end, as the hour +for lunch had passed. + +Among the experiences which Billy Webster was particularly enjoying at +this time were his long walks back and forth from the place where he was +spending his nights to the scene of his daily labors. + +For, literally, he only spent his nights at the Sunrise camp. He arrived +at home after the others had finished dinner, and rose and went away +each morning just after daylight. But instead of the long, fatiguing +walks, added to the unusual work of the war camp, injuring Billy's +health--never had he appeared so strong and well. + +Not that any one, aside from his mother, was paying particular attention +to Billy's vagaries. Even Vera Lagerloff, for the first time in their +long friendship, temporarily was neglecting Billy's welfare in her +enthusiasm over the approaching production of "As You Like It." + +However, Billy rejoiced in his new freedom. + +He took pleasure in slipping out of his tent in the early morning, +leaving Dan still asleep. Then he would prepare his own breakfast of +coffee, fruit and eggs which were always left where he could readily +find them. Afterwards, with his basket of lunch that his mother made +ready the night before, Billy would move quietly off. + +Even the dawns in this southwestern world were unlike the dawns Billy +remembered in his own New Hampshire hills. Not that he would have +claimed the New Hampshire hills as his possession because of a mere +accident of birth. Billy cared infinitely more for the softness, the +warmth and strangeness of this new country and climate than he had ever +cared for the austerity of New England. It was awakening in him new +strength and new purposes which so far he scarcely understood. + +The way the dawn broke here in the western coast Billy particularly +loved; it was so serene. There was not the drear, melancholy darkness +and then the swift coming of light. But first a pearl-gray mist covered +the sky, afterwards lavender and rose shone behind it and finally a pure +gold, with the ocean as a mirror of the sky. + +A part of the trip he could make by street car, nevertheless this left +many miles to be traveled at either end of the line. + +However, as Billy wished to think things out for himself, these walks +afforded a wonderful opportunity. The difficulty of his life had always +been due to his refusal to accept any judgment except his own. He +honestly could not understand why his family even thought they had the +right to interfere with him. Yet now he was up against the great fact of +human discipline, the law which so often forces us to submit to a higher +power. + +The boys at the National Guard camp were not much older than himself, at +least some of them were not. Nevertheless they were engaged upon tasks +which he knew must be hard and distasteful and were prepared to face far +worse things later on. Some of them had thought the question over for a +long time, nearly three years in fact, until they were prepared to fight +the enemy, body and soul, to a finish. Others of the soldiers were not +given to thinking, but were obeying a good fighting instinct. All of +them, however, were acknowledging an authority higher than their own and +obeying a higher will. + +Often Billy wondered how he should feel if the war lasted long enough to +make the same demand upon him? Would he give up his belief in peace and +the unrighteousness of war to serve as a common soldier in the ranks? +And even if he did do this, was it in him to make a good soldier, to +sacrifice himself for a common cause? Sometimes Billy prayed to be +delivered from the test. + +Yet whatever his own mental problems, there was one big fact of which +Billy became daily more assured and that was his tremendous personal +admiration for the new National Guard soldiers. Certainly theirs was the +road of heroism and self-sacrifice, while the pacifists, even if right +in principle, were skulking behind the protection the soldiers gave to +them. + +There were moments when Billy became a little scornful of the pacifists, +himself included, who preferred the easiest way. + +Ordinarily the boy took his long tramps to and from camp alone, but on +the day after his brief conversation with the two workmen, the men +joined him at the close of the day, walking for a short distance one on +either side. Billy felt absurdly proud, as if the men at last regarded +him as one of them. They even spoke of labor unions in his presence and +Billy was glad to announce that he approved of unions. + +Afterwards, perhaps four or five days later, Billy did not return to the +Sunrise camp, even at the comparatively late hour which had become his +habit. + +Mrs. Webster suffered a good deal of uneasiness. Billy explained that he +had been compelled to go into the nearest town on important business, so +she was not to worry. One could scarcely say beforehand what demands war +work might make upon one's time and strength. + +Mrs. Webster steeled herself to bear the strain, even when Billy's new +passion for helping to win the war kept him away from the Sunrise camp +until nearly midnight for several nights in succession. + +Just at this time she was extremely busy assisting with the preparation +of the costumes for the Sunrise Camp Fire production of "As You Like +It." In spite of the fact that Mrs. Burton had sent east for several +trunks of costumes, there were many alterations to be made, and every +member of the entire cast, maid and man, asked of Mrs. Webster either +advice or aid, or both. + +No matter how great her weariness, Mrs. Webster always remained awake +until her son's return, in order that she might know he was well and +have him eat a carefully saved-over dinner. + +Gently Billy endeavored to persuade his mother to give up this plan, +insisting that he always had food in town. But although Mrs. Webster +made no effort to interfere with his actions, on this one point she was +adamant. She must be sure that her son was safely at camp in order to be +able to sleep. + +Realizing this to be true, for several nights Billy returned to camp at +the usual time. Then a night arrived when he reached home even later +than before. + +It chanced that on this night, without Billy's being aware of the fact, +Mrs. Burton and her cast had been going through a dress rehearsal of +their play. + +When Billy finally reached camp, the Sunrise Hill tents were dark and +still. + +Yet to the left a camp fire was burning and a woman's figure was seated +near it. + +A pang of remorse stirred Billy, in spite of his own weariness. + +Coming forward with his arms outstretched, instead of his mother, he +discovered Vera Lagerloff. + +"Goodness, Vera, I never saw you look so wonderful!" Billy exclaimed, +bowing with the air of a courtier and a grace which he knew well how to +assume. + +For Vera was wearing a court costume, a skirt of a deep rose-colored +satin and a polonaise and basque of white with a design of roses. + +Her dark hair was piled high on her head and her cheeks were slightly +rouged, since every preparation for the actual stage performance had +been made. + +Billy had never seen Vera so handsome, nor dreamed it possible that she +could ever look as she did tonight. But then Billy had thought little of +Vera's appearance, or of that of any other girl. He had simply cared for +her with a curious boyish selfishness and affection. Unconsciously he +always planned his future with Vera beside him to hear of his trials and +conquests, but had never thought of how this could be managed. + +Yet tonight Vera paid no attention to his unusual flattery. + +Her expression suggested annoyance and reproach. + +"Wait here, Billy, I'll find you something to eat. I made your mother go +to bed and she and Mrs. Burton agreed that I might wait for you." + +But Billy would not let her go. "I'm not hungry, Vera. Besides you look +like a queen, not a kitchen maid. What's up? Fire away." + +"That is what I wish to have you tell _me_," Vera returned, with the +deep and abiding gentleness, which usually overcame Billy's obstinacy +where other people and other methods failed. + +He laughed. "I thought as much. Nothing doing, Vera. I am not going to +tell anybody anything. Yes, I know I promised not to get into mischief +again, after that last escapade of mine. But what did it amount to, +going to jail for a little while, it was merely an interesting +experience!" + +Billy took Vera's hand in his own almost equally slender one, since +Vera's was the hand of a peasant ancestry and Billy's the opposite. + +"See here, dear, I am not sorry to have you and mother and Tante begin +worrying about me, fearing I am going to do something foolish. You never +seem to think me capable of anything else. But this time, between you +and me, Vera, if I could tell you what is interesting me right now--and +I confess it is not only my work at the war camp, although it has a +close connection--well, I don't believe you would consider me foolish." + +"Then, why won't you tell me what is interesting you, Billy? You know I +don't always think ideas are foolish, but oftentimes I don't think your +judgment wise. Besides, I am afraid something may happen to you!" + +Billy shook his head, still holding her hand with boyish affection. + +"These are war times, Vera. You and I used to disagree on the +subject--one of the first questions we have ever seriously disagreed +upon since we were little children. Anyhow, what I am interested in at +present has something to do with the war. I cannot tell you details, as +I must not confide in any one just now. Only promise me you'll see that +mother does not worry and that neither she nor Tante makes a scene to +try to force me into giving up my present work. I should simply go on +with it anyhow, Vera." + +Vera sighed. The problem of Billy Webster had always been too much for +other people. Was he in the future to become a problem too big for her? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Night of the Play + + +During the weeks of rehearsal before the performance of "As You Like +It," the Camp Fire girls and the young officers and soldiers from the +National Guard camp had delightful opportunities for developing new +friendships. + +When the emotion which existed between Felipe Morris and Gerry Williams +became more than an ordinary friendship, the chances for exchanging +confidences were more frequent than one would readily guess. + +Felipe possessed a talent for pursuing the ends he desired in a quiet, +unostentatious fashion. There were moments when merely passing by Gerry +with other people near, he would whisper a few words which only she +could hear. Then, when neither of them expected to be called for their +share in a rehearsal, they used to slip away together to some secluded +place for more intimate conversations. + +The final rehearsals took place at the open-air theater near one of the +most fashionable seaside resorts in southern California, and Felipe was +familiar with the coast and the surrounding country. + +There were no long, dull waits for them between the moments when they +were actually upon the stage, no sense of fatigue and boredom of which +the other amateur players occasionally complained. + +Gerry appeared to be happy to listen and Felipe to talk to her +indefinitely. + +Of course the other actors were aware of Gerry's and Felipe's interest +in each other and tried teasing them now and then, but since neither +denied the fact, the effort lost its piquancy. + +Nor were Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster entirely blind, although they did +not accept the situation seriously. It was ridiculous to presume that +every friendship between a girl and a man must be regarded with +solemnity. Nevertheless it is more than possible that if Mrs. Burton had +not been so absorbed in the coming performance she would have noticed +some tell-tale circumstances. Her extreme preoccupation was her chief +excuse. + +She did mention to her sister several times that she never had seen +Gerry look so pretty or appear as happy as she had for the past few +weeks. + +"Why, the child is like a field of wild flowers; her hair is the color +of buttercups, her eyes are cornflowers and her cheeks----" + +But here Mrs. Burton's flow of imagery had been stopped by Mrs. +Webster's protest. + +"Please don't be so absurd, Polly. You know conversation of that +character merely strikes me as foolish." So Mrs. Burton had laughed and +the subject of Gerry was dismissed. + +Gerry was becoming aware of a change in her own life, not in her mere +appearance, but in a way far deeper. There were moments when she even +hoped her own drab, lonely existence was past forever and that a life as +radiant as these past weeks would endure. She tried not to hope too much +from Felipe's manner and the kind things he said to her now and then. Of +course she was too young for him to think of seriously. Nevertheless +Gerry could not refrain from occasionally seeing a happy image of +herself at the old ranch with Felipe and his father! + +In her dream the old house was not in its present dilapidated condition, +but had been made beautiful and luxurious following the plans which +Felipe had more than once confided to her. + +For always he talked of beautifying his old home and of his music and +travel and of other delightful things, but never of war, or +self-sacrifice, or hard work. + +Felipe had not been informed whether his claim for exemption from war +service had been accepted, and yet he seemed to regard the matter as +settled. + +So Gerry also forgot what was going on in the world about them, forgot +what was being required of other young men, even though she had daily +talks with the soldiers. + +But at last the night for the public performance of "As You Like It" +arrived. + +The Camp Fire girls had not erred in their prediction that their +guardian's reputation was sufficient to insure them a large audience. +Mrs. Burton had secured the aid of a well-known California actor, Arthur +Whitney, to play _Orlando_ to her _Rosalind_. For the past two weeks he +had been living in one of the hotels near the open-air theater, where he +had many friends. + +In the neighboring cities and towns the newspapers had devoted columns +of unpaid advertising to notices of the play and the opportunity it +afforded for seeing the famous American actress. Added to this was the +fact that the proceeds from the performance were to be devoted to the +recreation fund for the boys in the southern California cantonment. + +Long before the night of the performance, every ticket of admission to +the theater had been sold, and as much standing room as possible. + +Fronting the entrance to the open-air theater stood three or four palm +trees so trimmed as to give the effect of a green canopy. + +Inside the theater were rows of rustic benches and in the foreground the +open-air stage surrounded by a background of shrubs. Around the +enclosure was a thick hedge. + +Once inside the little theater and one was in so unique a setting, it +was as if one were shut away in an enchanted world. + +No more charming place could have been discovered for the performance of +Shakespeare's comedy. The atmosphere and the scenery of the "Forest of +Arden" were already secure. + +A thrill of anticipation ran through the audience with the tinkling of a +number of bells to announce the opening of the play. + +Then the actors entered from behind a screen of shrubs to the left of +the stage. The first conversation is between _Orlando_ and old _Adam_. + +The real interest of the audience waited, of course, upon the appearance +of the star, and soon after _Rosalind_ and _Celia_ appeared on the lawn +before the _Duke's_ palace. + +Mrs. Burton had played the character of _Rosalind_ many times; the +courage and gaiety of one of the most charming of all Shakespeare's +heroines were essentially her own characteristics. + +Tonight, on making her entrance, she had to pause for a moment to +acknowledge the storm of applause. The first speech was _Marta's_, and +Mrs. Burton was glad of the respite, remembering her own tragic first +appearance and wondering if Marta could be suffering half so much. + +Several times before the actual performance, she had been afraid that +her solicitude for her amateur company would seriously interfere with +her own acting. + +Marta managed her first speech as _Celia_ bravely. If one recalls her +line, it is a brief one: + +"I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry." + +Then _Rosalind_ takes the center of the stage and while she is there, +but few eyes are turned away from her. All the grace and charm of the +one-time Polly O'Neill returned to the great actress in the hours when +she was playing, and now added to her natural gifts were the long years +of experience and training. + +Tonight Mrs. Burton's voice charmed her audience with its peculiar +magic, her every movement kept one fascinated. + +Marta Clark too scored a distinct success as _Celia_. She had been +awkward and self-conscious at rehearsals and no one had believed in +her. But whether she needed the spur of the actual production, or had +learned more than any one realized from playing with Mrs. Burton, +certainly she showed unusual ease and pliancy for an amateur actress. +More than once during the performance Mrs. Burton managed to whisper her +congratulations, stirring Marta to fresh efforts. + +Gerry did not do a great deal of acting, but as _Phebe_ she was such a +ravishingly pretty shepherdess that one thought of little else. Peggy's +character study of _Audrey_, the country wench, showed such an amusing +combination of stupidity and common sense that in spite of the +unimportance of the part, she won a real triumph. + +Lieutenant Carson at least presented a fine appearance as the melancholy +_Jaques_. + +The one failure among the company of youthful artists was Felipe Morris, +upon whose natural ability Mrs. Burton and all the other players had +depended. + +It was surprising, for during all the rehearsals Felipe had always acted +so agreeably that even the stage manager had only words of praise for +him. + +Yet the _Touchstone_ who danced gracefully out before the footlights on +the occasion of the real performance was a different _Touchstone_. + +By a kind of natural instinct Mrs. Burton instantly recognized the fact. +Even through his make-up and his motley costume of stripes and caps and +bells, one could discern that Felipe's thoughts were not concentrated +upon his performance. + + +_Touchstone_ spoke his lines with the proper combination of drollery and +impertinence, yet there was no suggestion of real wit or merriment. The +very jangling of his bells was depressing. + +Once in a hurried moment behind the scenes Mrs. Burton managed to +inquire: "Is there anything the matter, Felipe? Are you not well?" + +Felipe only laughed and shook his head. "What should be the matter? Am I +falling down on my part? I shall try and brace up in the next act." + +If _Touchstone_ was a failure in his acting, Felipe sang as never +before. It was not Gerry alone, listening behind the scenes, who was +completely fascinated. + +One of _Touchstone's_ ballads is of the eternal romance of love and +spring time. Felipe's voice held a freshness, a clear sweetness that +went straight to the hearts of his audience. + + "It was a lover and his lass, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, + That o'er the green corn-field did pass + In the spring time, the only pretty ring time, + When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding; + Sweet lovers love the spring." + +The play was finally over, and if the curtain could not be rung down, at +least the players bowed their thanks and farewells, standing together in +a long line with Mrs. Burton in the center. + + +In order that they might avoid the confusion and fatigue of meeting so +many strangers and receiving their congratulations after the play had +ended, Mrs. Burton previously had invited her company of actors to motor +over to Sunrise camp to a supper party as soon as they could slip away. + +Gerry was returning in the motor with Mrs. Burton. + +She chanced to be standing alone for a moment waiting for the others who +were shaking hands with some new acquaintances, when Felipe Morris +touched her upon the arm. + +"Gerry, I must speak to you by yourself tonight after we reach the +Sunrise camp. Please, no matter what happens, let nothing interfere with +my seeing you. I have something to tell you and something to ask you +which will affect all our future." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"I Will Marry You, if Ever I Marry Woman" + + +To Gerry Williams it seemed as if their long supper party would never +end. + +The supper was served outdoors on a number of small tables. Through an +accident Gerry was seated at so great a distance from Felipe that it was +not possible to see his face and so guess from his expression something +of what he desired to tell her. + +Gerry was puzzled. If what he wished to say had to do with their future +happiness, why had he looked so disturbed? And why should it be +imperative that he make his confession tonight? + +Already it was late, past midnight, and they were both weary. There +would be tomorrow and other days. + +Really she would have preferred not to talk with Felipe alone tonight. +To slip away from the others would be difficult, and without Mrs. +Burton's consent Gerry did not like the idea. Yet she did not dare ask +for permission, being convinced that because of the lateness of the hour +her request would be refused. + +She felt that she must do what Felipe had begged of her. There had been +something in his manner at once imperative and beseeching. + +An unaccustomed shyness, almost a sense of fear, had seized upon Gerry; +nevertheless she was prepared to follow Felipe's bidding, no matter how +difficult. + +To eat or talk gaily to the others was hard. In a half-hearted fashion, +Gerry accomplished both results. + +Immediately after the supper was finished the guests began saying their +farewells. + +The hour was long past the one when the young officers and soldiers were +required to return to the cantonment. But owing to the play and Mrs. +Burton's efforts in their behalf, they had received a special permit +from the officer in command of their camp to remain away several hours +later than their regulations demanded. + +In the midst of the good-bys Gerry and Felipe moved swiftly toward each +other. + +"We must get away _now_, Felipe, while no one is thinking of us. I can +only talk to you for a moment." + +Even as she spoke Gerry was walking toward the beach with the young man +following. In this way at least what they had to say to each other would +not be overheard. There was no nearby place where they could actually +escape observation. + +In front of Sunrise camp the beach stretched long and level, broken only +by small rocks, which afforded a shadow, not a shelter. Behind the +little group of tents and Mrs. Burton's house were the level fields of a +great ranch. There were no trees worthy of the name in sight. + +"But I can't say what I must to you in _one_ minute, Gerry. I must have +time to explain many things. Surely you will go somewhere else with me. +Here on the open beach we may be interrupted at any moment." + +Gerry only moved on more rapidly. "I don't know where else to go, +Felipe. We can walk along the beach until perhaps we are out of sight of +the others. Then afterwards I can tell Mrs. Burton that we only +intended taking a short walk." + +"Very well," Felipe murmured, but Gerry could guess that he was annoyed. + +"I suppose to a girl, Gerry, conventions are dearer than anything else +in life. So since what I intend is to ask you to break one of them, +perhaps I might as well not speak to you," he began, when they had +nearly reached the water. + +The ocean was not so calm as usual tonight on this particular line of +coast. Great waves were rolling in, breaking and curling in white +spirals of foam. If there had been a storm, it was somewhere out in the +ocean, for although there was no moon the stars were everywhere a +shining glory. + +"I don't know what you mean, Felipe," Gerry answered quietly. + +She was still wearing her lovely shepherdess costume of pale blue and +white, the pointed bodice and panniers of blue satin, the skirt and +sleeves of muslin and lace. Mrs. Burton had insisted on Gerry's using a +long white coat which was her property, so coming back in the motor she +had slipped this on over her dress. Now the wind was blowing the coat +open, revealing the soft comeliness of the satin and lace costume +beneath. + +Her shepherdess hat she had discarded and instead had tied a blue +chiffon scarf around her hair. + +Nevertheless, in spite of her frivolous and charming costume, Gerry +Williams' expression was entirely serious. + +"No, of course you do not understand. I am sorry," Felipe apologized. +"You see, it has been such a horrible evening for me with all the +foolishness of the play and my acting a clown's part, when I have been +wishing every minute to get you away and tell you what has happened." + +"But what _has_ happened?" Gerry inquired anxiously and yet with +patience. + +"The exemption board has refused my claim. I only heard the pleasant +news late this afternoon," Felipe answered. + +Gerry's first sensation was one of intense personal sympathy. + +Simply and naturally she slipped her hand inside Felipe's. + +"I don't know what to say to you. I am so grieved for you. It is too +dreadful, your being forced to join the army when you so hate the whole +idea. Can't something more be done? Surely you and your father must have +influence out here!" + +Felipe shook his head. "Influence does not count; besides, if father has +any influence he would not use it in my behalf, not in this connection. +When I told him this afternoon what had occurred he merely said: 'I wish +you had done your duty in the beginning, my son, without bringing the +stigma of disgrace upon our name by trying to escape your +responsibility. I did not suppose your claim for exemption would be +considered, as your excuse was too flimsy.'" + +For an instant Gerry hesitated, then she said, her voice shaking. "I do +not mean to be rude, but I can not understand your father. You are his +only son and are no relation to me, and yet it does not seem to me I can +bear your going over to France, where you will be so unhappy, where you +may be wounded. But I must not talk of these things. How soon must you +begin your training, Felipe, and do you think you will be in a camp near +your home?" + +Until this instant Gerry had not considered herself, had not realized +the failure of her dream. Now she had a little sinking sense of +loneliness and disappointment. Nevertheless Felipe was still first in +her thoughts. + +"I wish I could do something to help you." + +"You can, Gerry," Felipe returned, strengthening his hold on her hand. +"I am not going to be drafted, Gerry. I am going over the border into +Mexico tomorrow to remain until the war is over. I told you that I had +no difficulty in being taken for a Mexican. I can speak the language and +I don't look unlike one. This isn't an entirely new idea on my part, for +I have been thinking and planning what I should do if my exemption claim +were refused. I tell you I can not endure a soldier's existence, the +dirt and the hard work and the discipline and then worse, blood and +suffering and death. For even if all this does not come to me, I must +see it. Oh, I know I am not a _man_, Gerry, and you probably despise me +for feeling like this. But I can not help it. I was born for beauty and +happiness, for music and--well, we are not all made alike." + +"No, Felipe, I don't despise you; I think I understand," Gerry replied +instantly. But there was no question with her of understanding. She was +thinking of Felipe's happiness, of his safety. "Isn't it pretty +dangerous what you are planning to do? If you are caught won't you be +imprisoned?" she asked. + +Felipe nodded. "Yes, but I am going to take the chance. It is worth the +danger to me." + +"You are intending to say good-by to me tonight then?" Gerry questioned. +"I am glad you told me. No one in the world will ever be able to force +your secret from me." + +"Then you could be brave for my sake?" Felipe demanded. + +But when Gerry did not answer, he began walking impatiently up and down +within a few feet of her. + +"I don't know what to say or do, Gerry," he continued after a moment. "I +am not a rogue and I do not want to do you an injustice. But you told me +once that you had no people of your own, that your father is dead and +that your mother always has left you in common boarding houses, with no +one to look after you, since you were a tiny girl. You told me that you +had no real friend until Mrs. Burton took a fancy to you and has tried +to give you some happiness. Now I can't bear the thought of your going +so far away to live by yourself when I care for you so much. After +tonight we may never even be able to see each other again in many years. +Still I realize that you are very young, Gerry, and the fact that I am +four or five years older makes the whole thing much more my +responsibility than yours. Besides there is the danger of your crossing +into Mexico with me and being forced to live there, one cannot say how +long." + +Gerry appeared utterly bewildered and unhappy. "But what do you mean, +Felipe? I don't think I understand you." + +"I mean I am asking you to marry me, Gerry." Felipe answered with an +entire softening of his manner and expression. "But I realize I am +asking you more than that, because I want you to marry me without +telling any one and then slip over the border into Mexico with me to +live until the war is past. If anything happens and I am caught, why, at +least you will be safe, for my father will look after you. I did not +want to ask you to marry me in this way, Gerry, I do not like the idea +any more than you do. I had planned to tell you I cared for you and to +tell Mrs. Burton also. I was even willing to wait for a year or more if +you both thought it necessary. But now this difficulty of mine alters +everything, and these are war times, when one is not expected to behave +in an ordinary fashion." + +In order to insure his own way, Felipe was in truth a good pleader. +Besides, Gerry was already deeply under his influence. + +Now Felipe's unexpected request made her both happy and unhappy, for she +could not fail to be glad that he cared for her, although she knew she +had no right to agree to his request. + +The ethical side of the question of Felipe's intention to escape +military service apparently made no impression upon Gerry one way or +the other; the question seemed so entirely his to decide. Her feeling +was merely that she could not bear to marry him and not tell even Mrs. +Burton until afterwards. + +If she were a little older she believed the situation would have +appeared less formidable, then she would have had a clearer right to +decide for herself. Under the circumstances she must not consider +Felipe's suggestion even for a moment. + +Yet she had only to answer, "No," and things would be as before. + +For Felipe himself was uncertain and frightened of what he was asking. +If he did not appreciate the full selfishness and wrong of it, +nevertheless he did realize it in part. Gerry faced the alternative +before replying. If she refused Felipe's offer, in a little while she +must return to Chicago to take up her old existence in a common boarding +house with nothing in her future except to learn to make her own living. +But these things were no longer so important, the one important fact was +that she might be losing Felipe forever. + +Gerry cherished few illusions. If Felipe were successful in escaping +military service they could not meet again until the war was over and in +that time many changes would have occurred. Would Felipe remember her, +or would he be less lonely in his self-imposed exile if she were to +spend it with him? Whatever trouble she and Felipe might have to face, +would she not prefer to face it with him rather than have him leave her +alone? + +"I cannot bear to deceive Mrs. Burton, Felipe. I owe her so much; she +has been kinder than I have ever told you, kinder than perhaps you +imagine. Besides, I care for her a great deal and I don't see how such a +difficult idea as you have suggested can ever be arranged." + +In Gerry's last words lay her confession. Felipe had triumphed. Had she +tried she might have persuaded him to face his obligation, to make the +sacrifice of himself which his country demanded. She was not equal to +the test. + +"But I do know how to manage," Felipe answered. "And I shall be very +careful. I understand certain things better than you do. I have an old +nurse who is married and lives not far away. She will come with us and +stay with you until the ceremony is over. Afterwards she will return and +explain what we have done to Mrs. Burton and my father. You can write +and beg Mrs. Burton to forgive you; she will after a time, I am sure. We +will be so happy, Gerry dear. I have plenty of money, as I drew all I +possessed out of the bank this afternoon. I am sure it will last us for +a time and then I can get hold of more." + +The thing which Gerry and Felipe were planning to do was not only a +foolish thing; it held dishonor and sorrow, and yet neither of them at +the time seemed to appreciate this. + +"Be ready the day after tomorrow, please, Gerry. I'll ask Mrs. Burton to +allow you to go for a walk or a drive with me. I promise you there shall +be no difficulties. But, quick, good-night; some one is coming." + +Mrs. Burton herself was walking down the beach toward them. "Come, +Gerry, please, it is time you were in bed. I was frightened when I found +you were not with the other girls. Felipe, I don't think it quite fair +of you to have kept Gerry away from us so long. Will you thank your +father for the roses he sent me tonight?" + +Felipe held out his hand. + +"You are awfully kind, Mrs. Burton, and I do deserve a scolding. Gerry +and I had not realized how long we had been talking, as there are so +many things we like saying to each other. Will you forgive me and let me +come back soon again?" + +Mrs. Burton put her arm about Gerry. + +"Not too soon, please, Felipe. Goodnight." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Gerry's Opportunity + + +The next day, weary from the long strain of the rehearsals and the final +production of their play, and feeling a comfortable sense of relaxation +following a labor well accomplished, the Sunrise Camp Fire members spent +an unusually quiet day. + +Mrs. Burton remained in her little house resting and reading. + +After accomplishing the necessary domestic tasks, Mrs. Webster and the +girls sat about in little groups, knitting and talking over the +unexpectedly brilliant success of their play. + +Of the Camp Fire girls, Gerry Williams alone kept apart from the others +for the greater part of the day. Now and then she would appear with her +knitting and dropping down beside some one would remain for perhaps half +an hour, but seldom longer. By the end of that time she seemed to grow +restless and would start off on walks by herself, but never a great +distance from camp. Once disappearing inside her sleeping tent, which +was unoccupied, she stayed there alone for several hours. + +No one paid any particular attention to Gerry or realized that she was +in an unusual frame of mind. The Camp Fire girls had spent so many +months together that they did not take one another's moods seriously; +besides, Gerry was not an especial favorite or intimate with any one of +the girls except Sally Ashton. And Sally frequently considered Gerry far +too addicted to moods, which were disturbing to her own comfortable +placidity. + +Indeed, Gerry's only real friend in the Sunrise Camp Fire, the only +person who in any way understood her temperament and the circumstances +of her past sufficiently well to offer her real sympathy and affection, +was Mrs. Burton. + +On this same day it chanced that Dan Webster was away looking after a +small business matter. + +Billy was engaged with his labors at the war camp. But now that the play +was over Mrs. Webster was beginning to concern herself more seriously +with the behavior of her erratic son. Billy had taken advantage of the +absorption of his family and friends to continue to pursue his own way +in an even more determined and secretive fashion. + +If Mrs. Burton had not spent the day inside her house, whether or not +she would have observed Gerry's restlessness, her troubled expression, +her moments of pallor and the swift flush succeeding them, no one can +say. + +Certainly all that day never for long did Gerry have Mrs. Burton out of +her mind. First she would think of Felipe and what he had asked of her +and then immediately after of Mrs. Burton's friendship and kindness. + +The facts of Gerry's life were commonplace enough, but for that reason +they seemed to Gerry the harder to endure. + +Her mother and father had married when they were young and clerking +together in a small village store. After Gerry's birth they conceived +the idea of becoming traveling sales people. + +When Gerry was a tiny child they tried taking her about with them, often +leaving her alone for long, lonely hours in strange hotel rooms. After +she grew older, arrangements were made for her to board in Chicago, the +city her parents visited oftener than any other. But when Gerry was +fourteen her father died and a year later her mother married a little +town store keeper. + +It was at this time Gerry Williams realized she would be forced to face +the future for herself. It is true her mother and stepfather offered her +a home with them and the opportunity to work in their shop. But Gerry +had never cared for her mother and now hated her stepfather, while the +thought of the little town store was abhorrent. Yet there was no +particular reason for this attitude save that Gerry had always been +antagonistic to her environment for as long as she could remember. + +She was so utterly unlike her own people both in appearance, manner and +nature that she was a puzzle to all of them. No one of them could have +told from whom she inherited her delicate prettiness, her love of luxury +and refinement. + +One day, learning of Mrs. Burton's presence in Chicago, suddenly Gerry +conceived the idea of going to her and applying for the position of +maid. If she must work she thought that she would like better than most +things to live with a famous woman and perhaps travel with her and see +something of the world. + +At the moment of Gerry's arrival it chanced that by accident Mrs. Burton +was at home and free from other engagements, so she decided to see and +talk to her. Naturally Gerry was too young and untrained for the +position she desired; moreover, Mrs. Burton had no need for the services +of a maid, since Marie had been living with her a number of years. But +she grew interested in her pretty guest, and feeling the need of +sympathy, Gerry was glad to pour forth her story. + +Ever after this visit, although no member of her family aside from her +husband had been informed of the fact, Mrs. Burton had been paying +Gerry's board in Chicago during the winters, only urging her to try to +educate herself for some work in the future. For several summers, as we +know, Gerry had been invited to be a member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +group. + +Therefore in a measure Gerry realized how poor a return she would be +offering should she slip away with Felipe without confessing her +intention to Mrs. Burton. + +Not once, but perhaps a dozen times, her mind was almost made up to find +Mrs. Burton and tell her everything. For Gerry believed that by some +method she could induce her friend to understand how deeply she cared +for Felipe. There would be the argument of youth against their immediate +marriage; but youth is not always _only_ a question of the number of +years one has lived, and Gerry felt convinced that she suddenly had +grown old. + +Nevertheless there was always this stumbling block. How could she +acknowledge her own intention and Felipe's without betraying Felipe's +secret? To divulge the fact that he was planning to escape military +service by crossing over the border into Mexico and hiding there was out +of the question. + +Undoubtedly Gerry should have more fully appreciated the enormity of +Felipe's purpose, his selfishness and disloyalty. Strange that she +should expect to find happiness with a man who wished to begin their +life together by an act of deception and cowardice! Nevertheless, by +this time one must have learned to understand Gerry's disposition +sufficiently well to accept the fact that she did not _fully_ +understand, so completely was she under Felipe's influence. Yet Felipe +must not be allowed to bear the entire burden of their wrong doing. +Certainly Gerry was not marrying Felipe for his sake only, but also for +the happiness and the ease which she believed the future would insure +her. + +Notwithstanding this, since life is seldom guided by one clear motive, +but by many mixed ones, Gerry was also ardently and sincerely in love. + +Her failure to grasp the extent of the danger she and Felipe were facing +and the possible injury to her own reputation was due to three causes. +The first of these was sheer stupidity, the second an actual lack of +education and the third Gerry's conviction that this was her solitary +chance for saving Felipe from the difficulties and dangers of a +soldier's life and at the same time securing him for herself. + +In the end, as one might have guessed, Gerry Williams made no +confession. + +Instead, in the hours when she had remained alone in her sleeping tent, +she had packed a few possessions in her satchel, hiding the bag under +her bed and wondering at the same time how she would ever manage to get +it away the next day without exciting comment. + +The next day Fortune appeared to favor Gerry, as the fickle Dame does +now and then, when one had best be thwarted. + +Immediately after their luncheon the Camp Fire girls decided to go upon +a long walk. So much time had been given to the rehearsals of "As You +Like It" that they had been exercising far less than usual in the past +weeks. + +The wool for knitting and materials for making bandages having recently +given out, Mrs. Webster offered to go into town with Dan to buy whatever +was required. + +So, through a combination of quite ordinary circumstances, Sunrise camp +was deserted except by Mrs. Burton, Marie and Gerry. + +Mrs. Burton did not feel equal to the long hike and Gerry simply +declined without giving a reason. + +Since her farewell to Felipe about thirty hours before, she had received +no word from him and yet this afternoon Gerry knew he would appear. Now +and then she even hoped he would not come, at least not until the next +day, or even the one after that. + +Soon after the other girls departed, Mrs. Burton asked Gerry to sit +beside her and talk while she rested in the sunshine. + +A small fire was always kept burning at Sunrise camp, no matter how warm +the day, for the small amount of heat made no appreciable difference and +the fire was always being needed for cooking. + +So Marie arranged an Indian blanket upon the ground away from the +windward side of the fire and then went into her tent to write letters. + +Afterwards Mrs. Burton lay down in such a position that she could look +closely at Gerry. + +In the few minutes they had been together without the others, she had +noticed that Gerry looked pale and depressed. + +"You are not worrying over anything, Gerry?" Mrs. Burton asked. + +Gerry shook her head. "Certainly not. What have I to worry about--except +everything?" + +Perhaps it was unfortunate that Mrs. Burton chose this time to talk to +Gerry about her future, although, since her mind really was made up, +probably nothing would have altered her decision. + +"I don't want to worry you, or to have you worry, dear," Mrs. Burton +began, "but I do wish it were possible for you to find some occupation +that would interest you. It would make you ever so much happier! Forgive +me if I have seen that you are more restless, less content than the +other Camp Fire girls. And whatever work you wish to do, I do not wish +you to go into it unprepared, a woman needs more training these days to +make a success than a man. It has meant so much to me to give my time +and energy to the art I love. I want you to have the same luck, Gerry." + +Then Mrs. Burton reached out her hand, but her companion did not seem to +observe it. + +"I am sorry, I know I am a disappointment," she answered. "But the +trouble with me is that I am stupid and no work of any character +interests me. I might as well tell you the truth." + +For a moment Mrs. Burton did not reply. Gerry's answer had made her +impatient, and for this reason she felt it best not to argue. + +"Very well, perhaps the interest will come later. You are young enough +to wait, Gerry, and please do not think I am not more than anxious to +help you. You know it is only on your account I worry. I so wish the +circumstances of your life were happier, my dear. I hate your being +lonely." + +Then as Gerry's eyes were filling with tears and when she was having a +struggle not to break down entirely and make her confession, she and +Mrs. Burton both heard at the same instant a gay voice singing as it +approached nearer to them: + + "It was a lover and his lass, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino." + +"Here comes _Touchstone_, Gerry! What a charming voice Felipe has! I +know you must feel relieved to be released from such a prosy talk as we +were having." + + +If Felipe had not been a particularly successful actor at the production +of their play, Gerry was amazed by his present acting. + +He had suggested that they were either to motor or to drive away from +Sunrise camp. Now he appeared on foot in the most casual fashion with +his guitar swung over his shoulder. + +After bowing politely to Gerry, he immediately dropped down upon the +ground beside Mrs. Burton and finished his song: + + "And therefore take the present time, + With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino; + For love is crowned with the prime + In springtime...." + +Nor did Felipe rise, or ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him after +his song was concluded. He merely continued talking in a casual fashion +with Mrs. Burton. + +In half an hour, having finished their errands unexpectedly early, Mrs. +Webster and Dan returned to camp. Dan went away immediately to put up +the car and Mrs. Burton arose to go indoors with her sister. + +Not until then did Felipe ask that Gerry be allowed to walk with him. He +made the request with apparent indifference. + +Mrs. Burton hesitated. + +"Gerry thought she was too tired to walk with the girls! But never mind. +If you won't go very far or stay too long, I suppose I must pay my +actors in some fashion for their services, and I have had no opportunity +to thank you." + +Then, as she moved away, she called back: + +"Don't forget to take your coat or a sweater with you, Gerry; it may +turn unexpectedly cool." + +So Gerry, feeling that her face was flushing crimson and her hands +becoming like ice, was able to disappear inside her tent at the moment +she desired. + +When she came out with her satchel the coat was hanging over it; +besides, there was no one in sight to observe her own and Felipe's +departure. + +But the moment they started Felipe said quickly: + +"Don't be worried, Gerry darling. I have a motor waiting for us about a +mile away and my old nurse is there to take care of you. Her husband is +with her and they are perfectly respectable and devoted to me. They will +come back as soon as we are safely married and let Mrs. Burton and +father know. They can't tell them _where_ we have gone, of course. They +can simply say we have gone on a honeymoon. It will be all right. Lots +of people run away and are married; it saves such a lot of fuss for one +thing. Later on, if you like, we can write where we are, because neither +Mrs. Burton nor father would betray us. I want, if possible, to cross +over the border into Mexico tonight at dusk." + +The rest of the afternoon passed like a strange and not a happy dream to +Gerry. + +But whatever arrangements were necessary, whatever the law required of +them, Felipe seemed to have managed all the formalities. As they drove +from one place to another Gerry sat in the back of the automobile next +to Felipe's old nurse, not even making an effort to talk to her and +saying nothing to Felipe. Now and then Felipe made little anxious +inquiries to find out if she were all right and Gerry only nodded her +head in reply. + +In the house of a clergyman in a small town not many miles away the +ceremony was finally performed. Gerry declared that her parents had +given their consent, knowing well enough they would be delighted to hear +of her marriage. Felipe Morris was of course several years more than the +legal age. Besides Felipe's nurse and her husband the wife and daughter +of the clergyman also appeared as witnesses. + +But when the moment came for parting with their companions, Gerry begged +that she be allowed to write a note to Mrs. Burton. The note was very +short; Gerry scarcely understood what she was writing, nevertheless it +said a great deal: + + "DEAR MRS. BURTON: + + "You will never be able to forgive me and I know I do not + deserve that you should. Only pray I may be happy, because now + the wedding ceremony is over and Felipe Morris and I are + married, I am dreadfully frightened. + + "Yours with all love, + + "GERRY." + +The rest of the late afternoon was even more like a strange dream. + +At the border between Mexico and the United States Felipe managed +successfully to deceive the guard. He had changed his costume and wore a +Mexican one, he spoke Spanish and gave a name which was not his own. +Gerry, who was wearing a veil tied closely about her head, the guard +scarcely noticed. + +Felipe explained that he and his wife had driven over into California +earlier in the day and were now on their way back to their home in +Mexico. By a stroke of good fortune the guard had only been on duty a +few hours, having changed places with another soldier. Therefore he had +no way of disproving Felipe's story; moreover, he happened to be new to +his work. + +Never so long as she lived was Gerry to forget her first sight of the +strange desert land of Mexico, which she saw when dusk was falling. + +The earth was a sea of sand with funny little hut-like houses sprinkled +here and there, hung with gay signs written in a language Gerry did not +comprehend. Beyond them was a fringe of high bare hills, now purple in +the evening shadows. + +Suddenly she realized her own and Felipe's exile. They were without home +or country; worse, they were deserters. + +For fear he was suffering an even deeper regret and remorse than had +laid hold upon her, Gerry dared not look or speak to Felipe as their car +carried them further and further away from their friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Folly and Courage + + +Before information of any kind concerning her mysterious disappearance +was received from Gerry Williams, every member of the Sunrise Camp Fire +had become alarmed. But it must be confessed that the girls were more +annoyed than they were agitated. + +Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Webster were necessarily anxious, yet as Mrs. +Webster had never felt an especial interest or affection for Gerry, she +was less so than her sister. + +The Camp Fire girls had returned from their walk in time for a late +afternoon tea. They were just finishing when Marta Clark inquired what +had become of Gerry, and why she was not having tea with them? + +Then for the first time Mrs. Burton mentioned that Gerry had gone away +from camp with Felipe Morris several hours before. But as she had +promised to return in a short time, already she was beginning to feel +worried for fear something had happened. + +Then another hour went by and the dusk began to descend. But since it +was late summer and the days were long, some time would still elapse +before actual darkness. + +Nevertheless Mrs. Burton at first betrayed her nervousness by walking +alone up and down the little traveled road beyond the camp. Finally she +came back to the group of girls, who were still loitering about their +camp fire before clearing away the tea things. + +"Do be good to me, Peggy. I know you are already tired from your long +walk and I won't go far," she promised. "But somehow I am so +uncomfortable about Gerry I cannot keep still. I know I am absurd, but I +have one of those ridiculous premonitions which never amount to +anything. If she does not come back in another hour, I shall motor over +to the ranch to inquire if Mr. Morris has received any word from +Felipe." + +In spite of the fact that Peggy was tired and also annoyed at what she +presumed to be Gerry's selfish unconcern, she got up instantly at Mrs. +Burton's request, and as they started off on their walk placed her arm +affectionately inside her aunt's. + +"I don't see why you allow yourself to become so worked up over Gerry's +staying away from camp with Felipe longer than you approve," said Peggy +with her usual directness. "If you do not realize how much she is +interested in him, you are the only one of us who is blind. Gerry has +not cared for anything except her friendship with Felipe all this +summer. She has an affection for you, but except for you everything in +our Camp Fire life has bored her." + +Knowing by her aunt's expression that she was annoyed by her critical +attitude, nevertheless Peggy, who was not in a good humor, went on with +her plain speaking. + +"Sometimes I have thought Gerry was really in love with Felipe; at other +times I have simply thought she liked him just because he was a man and +showed her some attention. Gerry is the type of girl who has not the +faintest interest in other girls." + +"Is this your opinion alone, or the opinion of all the Camp Fire +girls?" Mrs. Burton inquired in a tone it was difficult to translate. + +Peggy flushed. "Perhaps it is my opinion alone, since it sounds rather +hateful. In any case, I have no right to speak except for myself. But if +you wish to know the truth, the opinion is pretty general." + +"Have the girls the same attitude toward you, Peggy, because of your +interest in Ralph Marshall?" Mrs. Burton demanded. "You know how much of +your time and thought you give to him these days, even though you rarely +mention his name, and you have many more people to care for than Gerry, +who is rather singularly alone. If you girls are not fond of her I am +not surprised that she prefers Felipe Morris, who, after all, is +exceptionally attractive." + +Peggy was suddenly upon the defensive. + +"I don't think I have allowed my interest in Ralph to interfere with my +friendships with the Camp Fire girls," she argued defensively. "But I +did not intend being disagreeable about Gerry. She is always amiable and +sweet, only it is difficult not to resent her indifference and her +absorption in herself." + +After this speech Mrs. Burton and Peggy continued their walk in silence +for a few moments. Then Mrs. Burton said in a different tone: + +"When Gerry comes back this evening, Peggy, I wish you would try to be +particularly nice to her. If she has become too much interested in +Felipe I cannot help being sorry for her. I have never told you girls +much of Gerry's history because she preferred my not telling. But she +has had a hard time and no one has ever really cared for her. Her father +is dead and her mother an impossibly common person without any good +traits of character, so far as I have been able to discover, which would +redeem her commonness. So things will be all the more difficult for +Gerry if she is under the impression she cares for Felipe. In a little +time our Camp Fire summer will be over and they will be separated." + +Peggy nodded. "I will do my best. I am sorry to have been so critical. +At least Gerry does not make disagreeable speeches about other people! +But you are mistaken if you think any of us has ever been unkind to +her; it is only that we have found it impossible to become intimate. Of +course she and Sally like each other. But if there are facts in Gerry's +life she does not wish to discuss, I can understand why she prefers not +to develop too close an intimacy with the rest of us, who know almost +everything about one another. But don't worry, I presume some accident +has delayed Gerry and Felipe. Suppose we return to camp? They may have +taken some other route and arrived by this time." + +But of course Gerry was not at the Sunrise camp. Within five minutes +after Mrs. Burton's and Peggy's return, an automobile appeared +containing an unknown man and woman. + +The woman asked to be permitted to speak to Mrs. Burton alone. + +Then, as she stood hesitating, trying to make up her mind what to say +first, suddenly she remembered Gerry's crumpled little note. + +For Gerry's sake it was as well that the news of her runaway marriage +was imparted to her Camp Fire guardian and friend in this fashion, for +the note revealed infinitely more than Gerry realized. With Mrs. +Burton's understanding of human nature she understood something of the +struggle, something of the temptation to which Gerry had yielded. +Therefore in the midst of her surprise and anger she could not forget +the note's final pathetic appeal. + +Neither the woman nor man would tell much more than the bare facts of +Gerry's and Felipe's marriage. They insisted that the ceremony was +entirely legal and that immediately afterwards the young couple had gone +away. In truth, they could not tell more, since as a matter of +precaution Felipe had not informed either his nurse or her husband of +his plans. + +After appreciating that the marriage had become a reality and that there +was nothing she could do or say which would make any difference, Mrs. +Burton asked but few questions. She knew that Felipe's father would come +to her as soon as he learned what had taken place and she preferred to +discuss the situation with him and not with strangers. + +Of necessity it was Mrs. Burton who imparted the information to the Camp +Fire girls, but she merely told what she knew as briefly as possible, +adding no comment. Then she went away to be alone. She was not thinking +of Gerry's ingratitude, of the poor return she had made for her interest +and assistance, but she was thinking of Gerry herself. Gerry was so +young and she and Felipe knew each other so slightly. Then, as Mrs. +Burton knew nothing at present of Felipe's attempt to hide in Mexico, it +also occurred to her that he might soon be forced to join the army. + +Left to themselves, the Camp Fire girls were not so lenient in their +condemnation. It was Alice Ashton who chanced to voice the general +sentiment. + +"I cannot understand how any human being could behave as Gerry has done! +Certainly she has proved how little the Camp Fire influence has meant to +her! But there is no point in our criticising her, because some day +Gerry will have to pay dearly enough." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +The Summons + + +Later in the same night, being unable to sleep, Mrs. Burton was aroused +by hearing the approach of another motor car. It must have been between +two and three o'clock in the dark hours before dawn when the earth is so +strangely quiet. Moreover, cars were not in the habit of passing Sunrise +camp at any hour, as it was too far from the main road to allure +travelers. + +Mrs. Burton quietly slipped on her dressing gown and slippers in order +not to disturb her sister, who slept in the room with her. As she walked +to the front door she was under the impression that Gerry must have +returned home to camp and would wish to see her. + +But outside it was so dark that for a moment she could see nothing. Then +at a little distance off she discovered two figures standing close +together. As Mrs. Burton drew nearer she recognized one of them as Dan +Webster, and as Dan was fully dressed he could not have been in bed +during the night. The other man was Lieutenant Carson. + +[Illustration: As Mrs. Burton Drew Near She Recognized One of Them as +Dan Webster] + +"Yes, I have been worried all night," she overheard Dan say. "I +persuaded mother to go to bed fairly early by telling her I would wait +for Billy. But after midnight when he did not come I have not known what +to do. I had no idea where to go to look for him. I was afraid something +had happened. Is the accident serious?" + +"If it were not I would never have wakened you at such an hour," +Lieutenant Carson answered. "Please break the news to your mother and +sister as quickly as you can and ask them to hurry. I brought over one +of our army cars, so there need be no delay. On the way to camp I will +tell you as much as I know." + +Then Mrs. Burton stepped out of the shadow. + +"Billy is hurt," she began, not asking a question, but stating a +conviction. "What has he done?" she hesitated, her voice breaking. + +"He has done something so wonderful there is not a soldier in camp who +would not be proud to accomplish one-half so much. But he has been +injured and----" Lieutenant Carson tried to keep his own tones from +becoming husky. + +"I'll see your mother, Dan," said Mrs. Burton. "Will you please waken +Vera and Peggy? If Billy is conscious when we arrive he will wish to +have Vera near him." + +Within ten minutes the four women and Dan were on their way with +Lieutenant Carson to the army cantonment. + +The lieutenant had asked Dan to drive the car during the first part of +the journey so that he might explain what had occurred. + +"Yes, Mrs. Webster, your son is in our Red Cross hospital and everything +possible is being done for him. A doctor reached him almost at once. But +I wish I could tell you exactly what happened. As it is I can only +repeat the story the little chap told himself. No one knows anything +else, but he has been perfectly conscious all along and I am told is not +suffering a great deal," Lieutenant Carson faltered, wishing that the +task in which he was engaged had fallen to some one else. + +"Please tell us everything you can," Peggy urged. "I feel my mother had +best know the truth before we reach Billy." + +"As far as I could find out there have been two laborers employed at our +camp who are traitors. In spite of all the official red tape and +investigations, your son Billy seems to have been the only person who +discovered the fact. The little fellow apparently called himself a +pacifist and made friends with the men. Anyhow they must have believed +he sympathized with them, for he has been watching them for some time. I +don't know how long, I am having to guess a part of this. But they must +have finally decided he was one of them, as they allowed him to find out +their secrets. It is amazing. I don't see how he managed!" + +"But you have not yet told us how Billy chanced to be at your camp +tonight and how he came to be hurt, Lieutenant Carson," Peggy pleaded, +knowing that the same thought was in all their minds. + +"Billy knew there was mischief brewing without knowing exactly what the +ruffians were planning to do, at least, that is the way I understand +the facts," the young officer continued. "But it seems that when he had +followed them to their meeting place earlier in the evening, he found +out they had placed a bomb in one of our big buildings at camp which was +set to go off at a certain hour tonight. Billy says he made the men +believe he considered this a great idea, otherwise they would never have +allowed him to escape. He seems to have had the nerve to get up and +spout a little speech on pacifism before about half a dozen of them. I +believe he said that if only the men managed to destroy our war camps, +the United States would never be able to enter the war in Europe and so +peace would soon have to be declared as the Allies couldn't go on +without America's aid. Anyhow, after a while they let the little fellow +go and he pretended to be starting for home. But instead he made for our +camp. + +"Perhaps he could have managed better. What I should have done in his +place I don't know; but he was a little chap up against a pretty big +proposition. He did not know how to get the news to camp unless he told +some one out here what was about to take place. He was trying to slip +into camp with his news when one of our sentries shot him. He was just +able to tell the soldier who picked him up what his business was +and--well, we found the infernal machine where he told us to look for +it. And God only knows how many lives Billy has saved!" + +"But my son will live?" Mrs. Webster inquired, with the quiet fortitude +which comes now and then to some of us in the really great moments of +our lives. + +"I don't know, Mrs. Webster," Lieutenant Carson answered honestly. "I +was only ordered to bring you to camp as quickly as possible." + +Then the young officer took charge of the car, as he was more familiar +with the road than Dan. + +The southern dawn which Billy had learned to love in these past weeks +was breaking into pale lavender and rose when the army automobile +arrived at camp. + +A good many of the soldiers were walking about, not caring to go back to +sleep after what had occurred. More of them than one would imagine +remembered seeing Billy about camp in the past few weeks, the delicate +young fellow with the extraordinary blue eyes. Lucky thing for them that +he had been around, but hard on him! + +Captain Mason and Major Anderson, two of the officers who were friends +of Mrs. Burton's, came forward to meet her and Mrs. Webster. + +They led the way to the hospital, with the girls and Dan and Lieutenant +Carson following. + +"Your son has been asking for you, Mrs. Webster, only he said you were +not to be frightened about him and we were not to let you know what had +happened until breakfast time," Major Anderson remarked with that same +huskiness in his voice which Lieutenant Carson had been unable to +conceal. "This war has made many heroes and will make many more, but I +don't know of a finer thing than your son has done. He must have known +the risk he ran when he came out here alone tonight on such an errand." + +At the door of the hospital, which was only a wooden house with a Red +Cross flag outside, the doctor met the little company. + +"You will be as quiet as you can and try not to excite him," he said, +and there was something in his voice which made all questioning +impossible. + +Then Mrs. Webster and Dan and Peggy went inside the little hospital. +Within a few moments Dan came out again with his head bowed and went +away by himself without speaking. + +"Will it be many hours, Doctor?" Mrs. Burton inquired. + +The doctor shook his head. + +"Not many." + +Mrs. Burton was standing with her arm about Vera Lagerloff, feeling +Vera's grief almost as deeply as her own. Without a tie of blood, +without the right to be near him which his family had, Vera was yet +closer to Billy in many ways than any other human being in the world. + +"You shall see him soon, dear," Mrs. Burton murmured. + +Vera nodded. + +"Billy will send for me; there will be so many things he will wish to +say," she replied and her tone was one of love and understanding. + +"I don't think I can get on without Billy afterwards, Mrs. Burton. No +one else has realized how wonderful he was, what beautiful things he was +planning to do with his life." Vera was shivering so Mrs. Burton could +only hold her more closely. + +"I know, dear, and yet how could one do more than Billy has done? +Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his +friend. Billy's friends, remember, were never merely the few people he +knew; his idea of friendship was a bigger thing than ours." + +"Billy wishes to speak to you, Tante, and to Vera," Peggy said at this +instant appearing at the open door. "Don't be unhappy at seeing him. He +is not frightened and yet he understands perfectly he has only a little +while." + +Billy was lying on a cot with a nurse on one side of him and his mother +on the other, but, except for this, looking much as he usually did. + +His face was paler and the blue eyes even wider open, yet for once in +his life they seemed to have lost their questioning look. + +"I promised you not to get into mischief, Tante. Well, this is the last +time; at least, I suppose it is my last. But after all one does not +know; there may be other chances over there." + +Billy was trying to smile and Mrs. Burton leaned over and kissed him. + + +"I know there will be, Billy, and you will take them as gallantly as you +have done this one. Don't worry, old chap, I'll look after your mother +and Peggy." + +Then she turned away. + +Vera had kneeled down and was hiding her face in the bed clothes. + +It was to her Billy turned like a little boy. + +"Please look at me, Vera, and tell me you are sorry. It was like me to +do the right thing in the wrong way, wasn't it? Yet there are so many +things I want to say, want to explain to people. You see it is all a +question of our learning to understand each other better to end fighting +and all the rest of it. You believed in me, didn't you, Vera? Yet you +understand that I could not let the soldiers out here be killed when +they are getting ready to give their lives for ours. What is that we +read about Christ the other day, Vera?" + +Vera held Billy's two hands folded closely in her own. + +"Listen, dear, and remember this: + +"'Christ is courage, Christ is adventure, he fights for us and with us +against death.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Plans for the Future + + +In a large hotel sitting-room a number of girls were grouped in various +attitudes, discussing a question which evidently interested them. + +"Does any one know _why_ we are _not_ to start east tomorrow as we +planned?" Marta Clark inquired, glancing up from a city map which she +had been studying. + +"Why, no, not exactly," Bettina Graham answered her. "Tante did not tell +us definitely. She merely said that something had occurred which made +her feel it would be wiser for her to remain in California a few days +longer, unless we were compelled to leave for home at once. Personally I +cannot imagine what is keeping her here, as I know she is anxious to go +home, now that our Camp Fire summer is over and Peggy and Aunt Mollie +and Dan Webster have gone. I think it was wonderfully good of her to +continue with our camping party after Billy's death, when she must have +wished to leave with the others." + +"I think _I_ know why she seemed to change her mind so unexpectedly +yesterday and canceled all our reservations for berths," Sally Ashton +announced in the mysterious manner which Sally often assumed to the +annoyance of the other girls. Since her arrival in the city, Sally +temporarily had forsworn her war and Camp Fire abstinence and was at +this moment engaged in eating chocolates which had just arrived by +parcel post from Merton Anderson. + +"How absurd you are, Sally! You know no more than the rest of us!" Alice +Ashton argued with sisterly frankness. + +Instead of replying, sanctimoniously tightening her lips, Sally added +nothing to her original statement. + +"Nevertheless, won't you _please_ tell us what you think, Sally?" Vera +Lagerloff requested, and because it was Vera who made the request Sally +agreed. + +Since Billy's death the Camp Fire girls had been as unobtrusively kind +to Vera as they knew how to be. In a measure they appreciated what his +loss must mean to her, although it was out of the question that they +could fully understand the extent of Vera's loneliness, the feeling of +emptiness which the future now seemed to offer her. + +Vera's long and devoted friendship with Billy had separated her from the +usual intimacy with other girls, nevertheless she was a general +favorite. For a good many years Billy had required whatever time and +thought she could spare from her ordinary duties and affections. + +"I think, Vera, that Tante recently has heard some unexpected news of +Gerry," Sally finally announced with the proper degree of solemnity and +with a due sense of dramatic values. + +At least she was a dramatic success to the extent of surprising her +audience. + +"What authority have you for such a statement, Sally?" Alice Ashton +demanded in the superior voice and manner which Alice now and then +affected. + +Sally shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't any authority, I have a +'hunch'," she returned, appreciating how painfully her slang would annoy +her intellectual sister. + +"But how is it possible that Gerry could have written? Don't you think +she and Felipe are still hiding in Mexico? We know that much from what +Mr. Morris has told us! If Gerry should write to Mrs. Burton she might +betray her own and Felipe's secret and she would not do that," Marta +Clark protested. + +"I did not say Gerry had written, I only said that I believed Tante had +received some information concerning her," Sally answered, undisturbed +by criticism. + +In response to this speech the expressions on the faces of the four +other girls became curiously alike. + +"I don't believe if I were Mrs. Burton I should ever take an interest in +Gerry again," Marta Clark announced. "Perhaps I am more in a position to +say this than any of the rest of you, because all of you have some past +association with Mrs. Burton; she was an intimate friend of your +mothers. She simply chose to be kind to me and to invite me to spend +this summer with her Camp Fire group without any especial reason, just +as she has been good to Gerry. If I should repay her kindness as Gerry +has done, I should never dare make the effort to see her again, or to +ask her forgiveness, no matter how greatly I might desire it." + +"I feel just as you do, Marta," Bettina Graham agreed. + +But Sally gave a little protesting cough, holding a chocolate drop +suspended in the air for an instant. + +"Judge not, lest ye be judged," she declared sententiously, and then +with a somewhat less self-righteous expression, "Was that quotation from +the Bible or Shakespeare and did I quote correctly? The truth is I wish +that all of you would not be so hard upon Gerry. I know you think it +silly and impossible for a girl not yet eighteen to be _really_ in love, +but just the same Gerry is in love with Felipe. As she is in love with +him and he has been a coward and is now a fugitive from his own country, +I don't suppose Gerry is so happy that all of you need be disagreeable +about her. Personally I am perfectly sure that if Gerry wishes Tante's +sympathy and help again, Tante would be sure to do whatever she could to +help her." + +"Hats off to Sally!" Bettina Graham remarked and no one disputed the +suggestion. "Still of course, Sally dear, it is impossible that any news +could have been received from Gerry, since she and Felipe must remain +out of the country until the war is over and the whole circumstance of +Felipe is forgotten," Bettina continued. "But suppose when Tante returns +we inquire why we are to wait over in Los Angeles a few days more? I +presume she would not object to explaining. I believe no one asked her +the direct question." + +"Yes, but she would have volunteered to tell had she wished us to know," +Alice Ashton argued. + +Vera Lagerloff, who had been sitting by an open window looking out +toward a circle of hills which were like giant amethysts in the +afternoon light, turned toward the other girls. + +"Suppose if we have no other plans we spend tomorrow on Mount Lowe and +give Mrs. Burton the opportunity to be alone," she suggested. "We have +been at the seashore so long I am anxious for a day among the hills." + +Then she addressed Marta Clark. + +"You are mistaken, Marta, if you think all of us here, aside from you, +have some past association with Mrs. Burton. I have none except that +Billy and I always have been friends and he asked his aunt to take an +interest in me. Now Mrs. Burton is going to do something for me which +seems more wonderful than anything she has ever done for any one else, +although I know she has been a fairy godmother to a good many people. +But she is to pay my expenses and allow me to go to France to work in +the devastated country which has lately been cleared of the Germans. +'The Field of Honor' is the name for this part of France which I like +best. I hope to work among the homeless children. But in any case I have +been brought up on a farm and can do farming work, which I have heard is +especially needed. I am to study in New York City before I sail. Courses +of study are being given there under the auspices of the French Huguenot +societies." + +An unusual silence followed Vera's long speech and then it was Sally +Ashton who spoke first. + +"For your sake, Vera, I am so glad, for I know the new life and the new +work will mean a great deal to you just now. I only wish I were going +with you." + +"But you, Sally, what on earth could you do that would be useful in +France?" Alice remonstrated, not because she wished to be disagreeable +but to relieve the little tension which Vera's confidence had wrought. + +"At least I can cook, which is a more useful accomplishment than any you +can offer, Alice," Sally returned with such ridiculous spitefulness that +the other girls laughed. + +"I believe I am also envious of you, Vera," Bettina remarked. "All +summer I have been feeling that we were not doing enough to help with +the war merely by economizing and sewing and knitting, all the hundred +and one small things we have tried to do. If we were boys we would be +going through at least a little military training and in a few years +would be able to volunteer. It is simply amazing what the girls and +women are doing in England. So far we have not nearly approached their +efforts. Do you know there is a 'Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps' already +in France working directly behind the lines. I believe the Tommies call +them 'The Tommy-waacs.' We have been talking about being behind the +lines this summer, but I wish we could be more directly there." + + +"But what is the exact work the English girls are doing?" Alice +demanded, as if she were seriously weighing a problem in her mind. "I am +sure we can do the same things if they become necessary." + +"I don't know all the varieties of war work of course, Alice," Bettina +returned. "In Great Britain women and girls have taken the places of the +men in more departments of labor than we can imagine. Of course we know +they are working in munition shops and aeroplane factories and in ship +building, and are telephone and telegraph operators. Now they are also +working among the blind, being specially trained for the work, of +course, and are actually driving ambulances and motor trucks near the +fighting line. But I will bore you if I go on enumerating even the +little I know. Personally I agree with, Vera, I should prefer to work +among the children. Madame Montessori, the great Italian teacher, has +been in the United States this summer trying to establish what she calls +the order of the 'White Cross.' The members of the White Cross are to +devote themselves to the care of the children who have suffered from the +war. She says there is no hope of their growing into healthy and normal +men and women unless they receive special care." + +"Is there an organization anything like our own Camp Fire girls in +France?" Sally Ashton demanded unexpectedly. "I know there is in England +where they call themselves the 'Girl Scouts.' But I should think that +young girls living and working together in France as we have been trying +to do, might help each other and be useful to other people as well." + +"I quite agree with you, Sally," Bettina returned. "Odd, that no one of +us can answer your question! But as soon as we return East I mean to +make it my business to find out if there is a French Camp Fire. At least +we could write to the French Camp Fire girls if they exist." + +At this instant the girls' conversation was interrupted by the sudden +opening of a door and Mrs. Burton's entrance. + +She was not in mourning but was wearing a black dress and hat which were +unbecoming and made her look older. + + +"Why is everybody so serious?" she instantly demanded. + +Before any one else could reply Sally Ashton answered: + +"We are serious because we are thinking that some day we may ask you to +take us to France to form Camp Fire clubs over there and to do whatever +we can to help. Oh, of course I know we must learn more of what will be +required of us and be prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices." + +Flinging her hat on the bed with as great carelessness as if she were a +girl and also as if she were pleased to be rid of it, Mrs. Burton +replied: + +"You are an amazing child, Sally. Even if I had the courage for such an +undertaking, which I have not, do you suppose I would have sufficient +influence with the parents of any one of you to persuade them to allow +you to stir one foot away from your own land at a time like this? But I +understand you have been hearing Vera's news. The circumstances with +Vera are exceptional. Wait here another moment, there is something I +have to tell you." + +Then Mrs. Burton disappeared into her bedroom which adjoined their hotel +sitting-room. Their hotel was not in the center of the city but in a +suburb a few miles out. + +A few moments later she returned wearing a lavender crepe dressing gown +and looking younger and more attractive. + +For some reason she sat down next to Sally and put her arm about Sally's +shoulders. + +"I hope my information may interest you," she began with a slight +suggestion of appeal in her voice, glancing from one of the girls to the +other. + +"Two days ago I received a letter from Mr. Morris telling me that Felipe +had been arrested by the United States authorities. He had crossed over +into California for the day in order to attend to some private business. +I believe he wished to get some money from his father. He trusted, of +course, in not being discovered, but was arrested within an hour." + +"I suppose I ought to say I am sorry, if that is what you wish, Tante? +But really I cannot. It seems to me exactly the fate that Felipe Morris +deserves," Bettina Graham answered coldly. + +"What will be done to Felipe as a punishment for having tried to escape +the draft?" asked Alice Ashton. "I believe the punishment is very +severe, is it not?" + +"His father is afraid he will receive three years' imprisonment," Mrs. +Burton replied without comment. + +Then she heard a little horrified exclamation from the girl nearest her +and Sally's face had whitened and her expression changed. + +"But Gerry! What is to become of Gerry?" she demanded. "I know that she +behaved very badly and that she ought to have persuaded Felipe to do his +duty, instead of helping him to run away from it. But Gerry was +dreadfully under Felipe's influence, and, anyhow, I don't care, I _am_ +terribly sorry for her," Sally ended incoherently, hiding her brown eyes +behind her hand. + +"I also am very sorry, Sally," Mrs. Burton added. "The fact of having +done a wrong has never yet made any human being's punishment easier to +bear. But I can tell you one thing about Gerry, Sally dear, since you +alone seem interested. She is in California and is coming to see me +tomorrow. She returned to California as soon as she received word of +Felipe's arrest. She has been with Mr. Morris, and they of course will +do whatever is in their power to have Felipe's sentence made as light as +possible. I am afraid they cannot do very much. In all probability an +example will be made of him." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Bitter Waters + + +Following Vera's suggestion, the next morning the five girls decided +that they would spend the day in making the journey up the famous Mount +Lowe, a few miles away. Afterwards they intended taking one of the long +trail trips over the mountain, so that it would be impossible for them +to return to their hotel until late afternoon. + +For many reasons it seemed best that Mrs. Burton should be alone when +she received the visit from Gerry. Surely Gerry would wish to have at +least this first interview without interruption! + +Believing it impossible that her guest could arrive before noon, Mrs. +Burton spent the early hours of the morning in writing letters to her +husband and sister, including several business notes as well. She would +not confess it to herself; nevertheless she felt nervous over her first +meeting with Gerry, for although only a few weeks had passed they had +been crowded so tragically close with events in Gerry's life and in her +own. There had been the unexpected tragedy of Billy's death, Billy who +had been so unlike other boys in his life and in his final beautiful +surrender of life. + +Therefore when a knock came at her sitting-room door at some time +between half-past ten and eleven, presuming one of the hotel servants +was outside, Mrs. Burton said, "Come in," without raising her eyes from +the paper upon which she was writing. + +Afterwards the door opened softly and the next instant some one had +entered the room, but instead of attending to whatever duty had made the +intrusion necessary, the figure stood hesitating just inside the +threshold. + +After a little while, becoming vaguely conscious of this fact, Mrs. +Burton glanced up. + +"Gerry, you poor child!" she exclaimed with such sudden, warm sympathy +and with such an utter lack of criticism or reproach that any human +being would have been moved to gratitude and remorse. + +Gerry stumbled forward. Poor Gerry, who had changed so completely in the +past few weeks that even her delicate prettiness seemed to have vanished +forever! She was so white and worn looking, so thin and unhappy. + +"Then you forgive me?" she began. + +Mrs. Burton took both her hands. + +"We are not going to talk about forgiveness. You had your own life to +live, Gerry, and it was natural that you should do the thing you +supposed to be for your happiness without thinking of your gratitude or +obligation to me. If it had been for your happiness I should not have +expected you to think of me, although it would have been kinder of you. +But of course, dear, when girls do reckless things, the reason older +persons are grieved and angry is because of the consequences they are +sure to bring upon themselves. Being young you cannot understand this! +Yet it seems to me that you are having to pay rather more than other +people. Do sit down, dear; the other girls have gone away for the day so +we shall be entirely alone." + +As if she were really too tired to stand, Gerry sank into the nearest +chair. + +"I am sorry; I have not been able to sleep since Felipe was arrested. I +am told he keeps asking for me and I am not allowed to see him. He +thinks he has done me a great injustice, but that is not true and +besides I do not care." + +Gerry spoke with entire self-forgetfulness. + +"Mrs. Burton, I don't think you or perhaps anyone can understand, +although I have tried to make Mr. Morris see. But Felipe and I have been +perfectly miserable ever since we were married. Oh, it is not because we +do not care for each other, because we do care very, very deeply! Only +neither Felipe nor I seemed to realize the weakness and wrong of what we +were doing until we were safely out of our own country and had time to +face the truth. Then Felipe confessed to me he had been a coward. He +seemed to think that no matter what happened in our future together, I +must always think of him as a coward and compare him with other men who +had done their duty. I don't know why he did not think of all this +before. But Felipe has written me that he is almost glad he has been +arrested. Anything which may happen to him will be better than having to +live as a fugitive until the war is over. Besides, even afterwards, he +could never look another American fellow in the face, remembering his +own weakness! Can you understand how anyone could change a point of view +so quickly, Mrs. Burton?" Gerry inquired wistfully. "It is hard even for +me, and yet I realize that Felipe and I simply woke up from our selfish +dream of happiness to realizing we had been traitors and cowards." + +"I can understand almost any weakness and almost any strength in human +beings, Gerry dear, after the years I have lived and the men and women I +have known," Mrs. Burton answered, forgetting for the moment Gerry's +youth. But the bitter waters of experience and regret having passed over +Gerry, she was no longer young. + +Suddenly Mrs. Burton got up and began walking up and down the room with +the graceful impatience which was ever characteristic of her. + +For a moment, watching her, Gerry felt her old charm so deeply that +temporarily she forgot her own sorrow. The peculiar shining quality +which Polly O'Neill had revealed as a girl in times of keen emotion she +had never lost. + +"I declare, Gerry, I cannot endure the thought that you and Felipe have +so spoiled your lives at the age when you should have been happiest. If +anything happens, if Felipe is kept in prison for a time, what do you +intend to do?" + +Gerry glanced down apparently at her hands which were lightly clasped +together in her lap. + +When she looked up at her companion she was smiling, even if somewhat +tremulously. + +"I am going to _work_, Mrs. Burton, although it may be difficult for you +to believe after the effort I have made to escape even the thought of +work. But I think at last I have found something which will interest me. +Mr. Morris is very kind; of course he must dislike me under the +circumstances and feel I influenced Felipe, nevertheless he has asked me +to live with him at the ranch indefinitely. But I won't do that, not +after Felipe's trial is over. I shall do some kind of war work and I +don't care now how menial or how humble it is. After a time perhaps I +may learn to be useful. Felipe and I have talked things over and we want +to do whatever is possible to atone for our mistake. If we only had it +all to do over again! But then, of course, I realize what a foolish +thing that is to say!" + +"It may be foolish, Gerry, but it is universal." + +After this remark Mrs. Burton did not sit down, nor did she speak again +for several moments. Instead she stood, frowning and looking peculiarly +determined and intense. + +"Gerry, if Felipe were released from prison, do you think he would be +willing to go into the army and do whatever he could to make himself a +good soldier? I don't believe Felipe is a physical coward, he was merely +a spiritual one. He is rash and impetuous and in a moment of actual +fighting no one would be braver or perhaps more reckless. What he +dreaded was the discipline, the _thought_ of war, the having to +relinquish the ease and beauty and pleasure of his daily life. Well, +there must have been other boys like him, boys who fought with their own +disinclination more gallantly than Felipe! Yet it would be foolish for +the United States to lose a soldier for her army in order to gain a +prisoner. Don't you think Mr. Morris and you also, Gerry, can persuade +Felipe's judges to view the situation in this light? Let him accept +whatever punishment they see fit to bestow, only they must not spoil his +one chance of redeeming his mistake by fighting for his country." + +Mrs. Burton might have been pleading with a court instead of addressing +the solitary figure of one unhappy girl. However, she was merely +thinking aloud. + +"Mr. Morris is to make that plea for Felipe, although he has very little +hope," Gerry answered. "Felipe would be willing to give even his life +now to blot out the past." + +Mrs. Burton walked over and placed her hands on Gerry's shoulders. + +"My dear," she said, "I am going to stay here in California with you +for a time at least and see what I can do to help. I may not have much +influence, but I shall do my best. The girls can go home alone; they do +not require me to chaperon them. I have no doubt they will have more +pleasure in traveling without me. Besides, it seems to me that no one at +present has the same need for me that you have, Gerry!" + +Slowly in these past few weeks Gerry's soul had been coming to the +light. The revelation of it now shone through her eyes, yet she made no +effort to express her thanks in words. + +"When the time arrives and Felipe _is_ allowed to go to France to fight, +perhaps I shall have learned to be useful. Do you think they will ever +allow American girls to work behind the lines?" + +Mrs. Burton shook her head. + +"I don't know. Yet the call of France rings in all our ears and all our +hearts today, Gerry. We can only answer the call when our opportunity +arises." + + * * * * * + +The next volume in the Camp Fire series will deal with the work of the +Camp Fire girls in France. They will establish Camp Fires among the +young French girls. The old care-free days having passed away, they will +also devote their energies to aiding the children of France and to doing +"their bit" toward the restoration of that land of our affection, +France, where, in the future as in the past, Beauty and Liberty must +walk hand in hand. The title will be "The Camp Fire Girls on the Field +of Honor." + + + + +STORIES ABOUT CAMP FIRE GIRLS + + The Camp Fire Girls at Sunrise Hill + The Camp Fire Girls Amid the Snows + The Camp Fire Girls in the Outside World + The Camp Fire Girls Across the Sea + The Camp Fire Girls' Careers + The Camp Fire Girls in After Years + The Camp Fire Girls at the Edge of the Desert + The Camp Fire Girls at the End of the Trail + The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines + The Camp Fire Girls on the Field of Honor + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Camp Fire Girls Behind the Lines, by +Margaret O'Bannon Womack Vandercook + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS BEHIND *** + +***** This file should be named 33532.txt or 33532.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/3/33532/ + +Produced by Mary Meehan and The Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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