er a long time.

"I don't know about the Council Fire to-night, Eleanor," she said,
looking doubtfully at the rain. "It's too damp, I'm afraid, to have it
outdoors, and you know that there are so many times when we have to hold
the ceremonial fires indoors, that I hate to do it when, by waiting a
day, we can have it in this beautiful place."

"Yes, that's so," said Eleanor. "It's almost sure to be clear to-morrow.
And in winter, when it gets cold, we can't even hope to be outdoors very
much, except for skating and snowshoeing. Do you know, girls, that in
winter we sometimes use three candles instead of a real fire?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Chester. "Of course, after all, it's the meaning of the
fire, and not just the fire itself that counts. But I think it's better
to have both when we can. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait until
to-morrow night for your first Council Fire, girls."

Eleanor looked at them. Then she laughed.

"Really, it's a good thing, after all," she said. "They're so tired that
they can hardly keep their eyes open now, Mrs. Chester. I hope there's
going to be a good, hot supper."

"There certainly is, my dear! And your girls won't have to cook it,
either. Just for to-night you're to be guests of honor. And the new
Camp Fire--the Snug Harbor camp, you know--begged me so hard to be
allowed to cook the meal and serve it, that I agreed. Julia Kent has
done wonders with those girls. You'd think they'd been cooking and
working all their lives, instead of it having been just the other way
'round. And they simply worship her. Well, there are your tents over
there. You'll hear the call to supper in a few minutes."

She turned and left them, and Eleanor led the way to the tents she had
pointed out.

"I'm so delighted to hear about the Snug Harbor girls," she told Bessie
and Zara. "You know we've wondered how that was going to turn out. There
are about a dozen of them, and they're all girls whose parents are rich.
They go to Europe, and have motor cars, and lovely clothes, and
servants--two or three of them have their own maids, and they've never
even learned to keep their own rooms neat."

"But if they're going to cook our supper--"

"That's just it, Bessie. That's what the Camp Fire has done for them.
It has taught them that instead of being proud of never having to do
anything for themselves, they ought to be ashamed of not knowing how.
And before the summer's over I believe they'll be the best of all th