a deep gorge,
its steep sides thickly covered with flaming maples and oaks, and
brilliant sumachs, stretching on either side as far as they could reach.
"It's too gorgeous to seem real," said Nyoda, shading her eyes and
looking down the valley; "where _does_ Mother Nature keep her pot of
'Diamond Dyes' in the summer time?"

High up along the top of one of the cliffs a narrow road wound along,
and as Nyoda stood looking into the distance she saw an automobile
coming along this road. When it was directly above her it stopped and
two people got out, a woman and a girl. The sunlight fell on a mass of
red curls on the girl's head. "Hinpoha!" exclaimed Nyoda in amazement.
From above came floating down a far-echoing yodel--the familiar
Winnebago call. The girls all looked up in surprise to see Hinpoha
scrambling down the face of the cliff, and aiding Mrs. Evans to descend.

"Why, _mother_!" called Gladys, running up to meet her.

The surprise at the meeting was mutual. Mrs. Evans, spinning along the
country roads, had no idea she was hard on the trail of her daughter and
the other Winnebagos until she came suddenly upon them after they had
gotten out of the launch. "Can't you stay and spend the day with us, now
that you're here?" they pleaded.

Hinpoha's longing soul looked out of her eyes, but she answered, "I'm
afraid not. Aunt Phoebe wouldn't approve."

"Did she say you couldn't?" asked Sahwah.

"No," said Hinpoha, "for I never even asked her if I might go along with
you in the launch. I knew it would be no use."

"Oh, please stay," tempted some of the girls; "your aunt'll never know
the difference."

"Oh, I couldn't do that," said Hinpoha in a tone of horror. A little
approving smile crept around the corners of Nyoda's eyes as she heard
Hinpoha so resolutely bidding Satan get behind her. Mrs. Evans was
genuinely sorry they had encountered the girls, because it made it so
much harder for Hinpoha.

"I wonder," she said musingly, "if I drove on to a house in the road and
telephoned your aunt that she would let you stay?"

"You might try," said Hinpoha doubtfully. Mrs. Evans thought it was
worth trying. She found a house with a telephone and got Aunt Phoebe on
the wire. With the utmost tact she explained how they had met the girls
accidently, and that she had taken a notion that she would like to spend
the day with them, but of course she could not do so unless Hinpoha
would be allowed to stay with her, as she had