nt on declaring her innocence, when the
arrival of a messenger from the Mountain Lake Camp put an end to
the discussion. "He's bringing the answer to our invitation,"
cried the girls, as the young lad came up the path from the dock.

But instead of approaching Nyoda with his message as they
expected, he asked for "Miss Gladys" and handed her the envelope.
Gladys opened the note and read:

"Dear Miss Gladys: The lateness of the hour kept us from having a
pleasant talk on the island the other night, but I hope we may
have an opportunity some other time. If I come for you to-night
will you go out canoeing with me, just you alone? And please get
permission to stay out as long as you like, as the Counsellor in
our lodge will be away to-night and if I'm not in when 'Taps'
blows nobody will know the difference.

"In hopes,

"ED ROBERTS."

Gladys flushed painfully and all the girls crowding around teased
her and asked if it was a love letter. She wrote an answer and
gave it to the boy:

"Dear Mr. Roberts: To-night is our Council Fire and naturally I
would not care to leave camp. I do not think I care to go any
other night, either, as a Winnebago could never take advantage of
a Counsellor's absence to stay out after hours. I am surprised
and disappointed in you."

The boy departed and she threw Ed's note into the fire, simply
telling the girls that he had asked her to go out canoeing that
night and that she had refused. She said nothing about the
underhand business he had proposed or the episode of the other
night. The Camp Fire leaven had done its work thoroughly, and
Gladys had fulfilled that part of the Law which reads, "Be
trustworthy."

Sherry, the Senior Counsellor, left the Mountain Lake Camp in the
gathering dusk, heading his canoe in the opposite direction from
Camp Winnebago. Far out in the lake he turned right about face
and pulled rapidly toward the Winnebago dock. A steady rain was
falling and he drew the canoe up on the sand and turned it upside
down carefully before mounting the path. He thought of course
the girls would be in the shack, and bent his steps thither, but
it was deserted; neither was there a sign of any one in the
tents. He looked into the Mess Tent and into the kitchen end of
the shack, but found no one. "Must be off for a ride," he
reflected. "No, that can't be, either, because all the boats are
in. They must have walked to the village." And with disappointment
s