he hillsides; an
occasional glimpse of a far distant mountain peak wreathed in mist, and
near by many a merry little stream romping down a hillside into the
mother arms of the Onawanda. Gradually the shores had drawn close
together until the travelers could look into the cool depths of the
forests past which they were gliding, and could hear the calling of the
wild birds in their leafy sanctuary.

Just past a long stretch of woods which Hinpoha thought might be
enchanted, because the trees stood so stiffly straight, the _Carribou_
rounded a bend, and there flashed into sight an irregular row of white
tents scattered among the pines on a rise of ground some hundred or more
feet back from the river.

"There's camp," Sahwah tried to say to Hinpoha, but her voice was
drowned in the shriek of ecstasy which rose from the old campers.
Handkerchiefs waved wildly; paddles smote the deck with deafening
thumps; cheer after cheer rolled up, accompanied by the loud tooting of
the _Carribou's_ whistle. Captain MacLaren always joined in the racket
of arrival as heartily as the girls themselves, taking delight in seeing
how much noise he could coax from the throat of his steam siren.

Amid the racket the little vessel nosed her way up alongside a wooden
dock, and before she was fairly fast the younger members of last year's
delegation had leapt over the rail and were scurrying up the path. The
older ones followed more sedately, having stopped to pick up their
luggage, and to greet the camp directors who stood on the dock with
welcoming hands outstretched. Last of all came the new girls, looking
about them inquiringly, and already beginning to fall in love with the
place.

CHAPTER II

GETTING SETTLED

Along the bluff overlooking the river, and half buried in the pine
trees, stretched a long, low, rustic building, the pillars of whose wide
piazza were made of tree trunks with the bark left on. A huge chimney
built of cobblestones almost covered the one end. The great pines
hovered over it protectingly; their branches caressing its roof as they
waved gently to and fro in the light breeze. On the peak of one of its
gables a little song sparrow, head tilted back and body a-tremble,
trilled forth an ecstasy of song.

"Isn't it be-yoo-tiful?" sighed Hinpoha, her artistic soul delighting in
the lovely scene before her. "I wonder what that house is for?"

"I don't know," replied Sahwah, equally enchanted. "There's another
hou