e first to
volunteer his services to the good old army of the U. S. A., and while
he had gone over only a buck private, he had come back a lieutenant.

There was Will Ford, Grace's brother, whom Grace and Amy both adored.
Will had been in the secret service when our country entered the war,
and because of this he had been the victim of considerable
misunderstanding. Afterward he had joined the army with the other boys.
This was after some skillful secret service work that won the praise of
the government, as well as the fervent admiration of the boys and girls.

The other two boys were Frank Haley and Roy Anderson who had come into
the little group because of their friendship for Will and Allen. They
were fine, clean-cut, likable boys, who had come through the war with
colors flying.

The young folks had lived all their lives in Deepdale, a thriving little
city with a population of about fifteen thousand people and situated in
the heart of New York State. Deepdale was situated on the Argono River,
a beautiful and romantic stream where pleasure craft of all sorts
disported themselves. A branch line of the railroad connected with the
main line directly to what the four Outdoor Girls believed to be the
most wonderful of all cities, New York.

The name of "Outdoor Girls" had come to the quartette from the fact
that they invariably spent their summer vacations, and winter holidays
also, in some sort of outdoor sport. They could ride, swim, play tennis,
drive, and, in fact, do everything that is expected of the athletic
young girl of to-day.

They would never forget that first tramping tour when they had tramped
for miles over the country, meeting with a great many unusual adventures
on the way, as related in the first volume of this series, entitled,
"The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale." Nor those other times at Rainbow Lake,
in Florida, at Ocean View, and later at Pine Island, where they had come
across that marvelous, mysterious gypsy cave.

Then had come the war with the boys on the other side, and the girls
doing their "bit" at a Hostess House. And a little later what black
distress overwhelmed them, when Will Ford was reported wounded and
Allen's name was among the missing! This all happened while they were at
Bluff Point taking a much-needed vacation from their work at the Hostess
House.

In the volume directly preceding this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls at
Wild Rose Lodge," the girls had had same very exciting expe