fted 233
XIX. Clear Shining After Darkness 243

I

THE CAMP IN THE FOREST

"Wohelo--wohelo--wo-_he_-lo!"

The clear, musical call, rising from the green tangle of the forest that
fringed the bay, seemed to float lingeringly above the treetops and out
over the wide stretch of gleaming water, to a girl in a green canoe, who
listened intently until the last faint echo died away, then began
paddling rapidly towards the wooded slope. The sun, just dropping below
the horizon, flooded the western sky with a blaze of colour that turned
the wide waters into a sea of gold, through which the little craft
glided swiftly, scattering from its slender prow showers of shining
drops.

"I'm going to find out what that means," the girl said under her breath.
"It sounds like an Indian call, but I'm sure those were not Indian
voices."

On and on, steadily, swiftly, swept the green canoe, until, rounding a
wooded point, it slipped suddenly into a beautiful little cove where
there was a floating dock with a small fleet of canoes and rowboats
surrounding it, and steps leading up the slope. The girl smiled as she
stepped lightly out on the dock, and fastened her canoe to one of the
rings.

"A girls' camp it surely is," she said to herself. "I'm going to get a
glimpse of it anyhow."

Running up the steps, she followed a well-trodden path through a pine
grove, and in a few minutes, through the trees, she caught the gleam of
white tents and stopped to reconnoitre. A dozen or more tents were set
irregularly around an open space; also there was a large frame building
with canvas instead of boarding on two sides, and adjoining this a small
frame shack, evidently a kitchen--and girls were everywhere.

"O, I'm hungry for girls!" breathed the one peering through the green
branches. "I wonder if I dare venture----" She broke off abruptly,
staring in surprise at a group approaching her. Then she ran forward
crying out, "Why, Anne Wentworth--to think of finding you here!"

"To think of finding _you_ here, Laura Haven! Where did you drop from?"
cried the other. The two were holding each other's hands and looking
into each other's faces with eyes full of glad surprise.

"I? I didn't drop--I climbed--up the steps from the landing," Laura
laughed. "I was out on the bay in my canoe--we came up yesterday in the
yacht--and I heard that beautiful Indian call, and I just _had_ to find
out