They all slept in one house, which
contained only sleeping rooms, and, because of the smoke, which was
still being blown across the lake when they went to bed, windows had to
be closed. The house was ventilated by leaving a big door open in the
rear and on the side away from the wind and the smoke, and of course
all the doors of the sleeping rooms were also left open.

"I'm awfully sorry that smoke is blowing this way," said Dolly. "Look
here, Bessie, there's a regular porch running all the way around the
house. And do you see these screens that you can let down? I bet they
sleep out here."

"They do," said Eleanor. "This sleeping porch arrangement is one of
the very best things about this camp, I think. But I don't see how we
can use it to-night, for the smoke is much too thick."

So they regretfully closed their windows. And in the morning they
found that visitors had been at the house during the night. Every
window was firmly closed from the outside, wedges having been driven in
in such a fashion that it was impossible to open the windows from
within. The doors, too, were barred in some manner.

"That's a joke those girls from the next camp played on us!" cried
Dolly, furiously. "Look there! They must have done it. No one else
could have managed it."

The house resembled nothing so much as a hive of angry bees. The girls
buzzed with indignation, and loud were the threats of vengeance.

"How are we going to get out?" cried Margery, indignantly. "What a
wicked thing to do! Suppose the place had caught fire? We might all
have been burned up just because of their joke!"

But Bessie had busied herself in seeking a means of escape instead of
planning revenge, and now she called out her discovery.

"Here's a little bit of a window, but I think I can get through it,"
she said, emerging from a closet that no one had noticed. "If you'll
boost me up I'm pretty sure I can get out."

"But you'll only be on the porch when you do get out, Bessie," said
Dolly.

"I think maybe I can get those wedges out of the windows if I get out
there. If I can't, I'm quite sure I can manage to get to the ground
and get help. You see, everything downstairs is barred the same way.
I don't see how they could have done all that without our hearing them."

"We were sleeping pretty soundly, Bessie," said Eleanor, her cheeks red
with indignation at the trick that had been played upon her girls. "If
the windows had been o