That's a great promise, you see, Bessie. It's a great honor to be a
Fire-Maker."

"I see, Miss Eleanor. Yes, it must be. How does one get to be a
Fire-Maker? One begins by being a Wood-Gatherer, doesn't one?"

"Yes, and all one has to do to be a Wood-Gatherer is to want to obey the
law of the Fire--the seven points of the law. I'll teach you that Desire
before the Council Fire to-night. To be a Fire-Maker you have to serve
faithfully as a Wood-Gatherer, and you have to do a lot of things that
aren't very easy--though they're not very hard, either."

"And you talked about awarding honors. What are they?"

"Have you seen the necklaces the girls wear?"

"Oh, yes! They're beautiful. They look like the ones I've seen in
pictures of Indians. But I never thought they were so pretty before,
because I've only seen pictures, and they didn't show the different
colors of the beads."

"That's just it, Bessie. Those beads are given for honors, and when a
girl has enough of them they make the necklaces. They're awarded for
all sorts of things--for knowing them, and for doing them, too. And
you'll learn to tell by the colors of the beads just what sort of honors
they are--why the girl who wears them got them, and what she did to earn
them."

"I'm going to work awfully hard to get honors," said Zara, impulsively.
"Then, when I can wear the beads, everyone will know about it, and about
how I worked to get them. Won't they, Miss Eleanor?"

"Yes, but you mustn't think about it just that way, Zara. You won't,
either, when you've earned them. You'll know then that the pleasure of
working for the honors is much greater than being able to wear the
beads."

"I know why--because it means something!"

"That's just it, Bessie. I can see that you're going to be just the sort
of girl I want in my Camp Fire. Anyone who had the money--and they don't
cost much--could buy the beads and string them together. But it's only a
Camp Fire Girl, who's worked for honors herself, who knows what it
really means, and sees that the beads are just the symbol of something
much better."

"Aren't there Torch-Bearers, too, Miss Eleanor?"

"Yes. That's the highest rank of all. We haven't any Torch-Bearer in our
Camp Fire yet, but we will have soon, because when you girls join us
there'll be nineteen girls, and there ought to be a Torch-Bearer."

"She'd help you, wouldn't she, Miss Eleanor?"

"Yes, she'd act as Guardian if I were away, and she'd be my ass