and dropped her chin into it.

"Please don't laugh; I think an American folk dance might be like
these young beech trees. I know that sounds absurd. What I mean is,
the dance should show youth and freshness and grace, beautiful things
like a primeval American forest. Oh, I don't suppose you understand
me. I am sure I don't quite understand myself!

"Since I have been at camp Miss Mason has allowed me to come here an
hour each morning to practice. May I show you the dance I have been
trying to compose. I don't mind if you laugh at the dance or at me, I
do it so badly. I shall learn some day. I like to call it 'The Dance
of the Young Beeches'."

Without waiting for Kara's or Tory's agreement, Evan was up and away.
Slowly she again circled around the beautiful dancing ground, her arms
and body waving with gentle, fanciful undulations.

Now and then she seemed to be swept by light winds; again a storm
pressed upon her and she bowed and swayed as if resisting with all her
strength. Afterwards, wishing to suggest that the storm had passed and
the sun was shining and the birds singing, she tiptoed about, her arms
gently undulating, her face looking upward.

The dancing was crude and yet would have been attractive to eyes more
accustomed to trained dancing than Tory's or Kara's.

Tory's first sensation was one of pure, artistic pleasure. Then
glancing at Kara she felt a deeper joy. A moment Kara appeared to have
forgotten her own misfortune. She looked more interested, more
entertained than in many days.

"Don't you think, Evan, that if your mother is well she might be
persuaded to come to your camp and teach us dancing?" Kara demanded,
as if she too could be included in the lessons. "I know when we first
decided to have our camp in Beechwood Forest one of the things we
talked of doing was learning outdoor dancing. We hoped Miss Mason
would be able to teach us. She only knows ordinary dances, and insists
she does not even know the newest of these. She has not gone into
society since the death of the young officer to whom she was engaged,"
Kara confided. "Sometimes I wonder if being Captain of our Girl Scout
Troop has not helped her almost as much as the rest of us?"

She stopped abruptly.

Farther off in the woods the three girls heard a strange sound.

It was as if some one were calling. Yet the noise was not the Girl
Scout signal.

Ten minutes later, on the way back to camp, unexpectedly the three
girls beheld