t cowards,' said one, belligerently, 'and I'll fight anybody
that says we are,' after which they all looked sheepish and started off
in twos and threes, calling to each other that they'd better hurry and
finish that game in the field--it would be getting dark soon!"

"You always did have a way with the young folks, Lucy," smiled her
guardian; "but that was a real act of kindness. What did old Jim do?"

"Oh, he gave me a sort of wintry smile and said, 'Thank'ee little gal. I
couldn't lick the lot of 'em myself, 'count of Bull here!' Then he
stumbled on, muttering to the dog.

"Poor old Bull," Lucile concluded. "His glory had departed forever and
ever----"

"Oh, Fire, long years ago----" the words came from ten girls' hearts,
low, sweet, and vibrant with feeling.

Their guardian sat as if turned to stone.

CHAPTER VII

THE MAGIC CITY

The last sweet note hesitated, sighed, and softly merged in the crackling
of the fire, and still their guardian did not move.

For a long moment she sat upright and still, her hands clutching the arms
of her chair, her gaze fixed steadily on the tiny, darting flames.
Perhaps she saw there even more than the girls sensed, for when she
turned to them, her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"Girls, dear girls," she cried, unsteadily, "what a welcome you have
given me! And I had begun to think you had forgotten all about your
guardian," and as she spoke she held out her arms so that the girls came
rushing.

Then such a hugging and kissing and asking of foolish questions and
answering of them in like, but delightful manner, until Mrs. Wescott was
forced to say, laughingly and in the same old tone they had heard so
often in camp:

"Girls, don't you think it would be better to hear one at a time?"

The girls laughed gaily and settled themselves so near their guardian
that "they couldn't possibly miss a word," as Jessie explained afterward
when describing the scene to her mother.

"Oh, it's a sight for sore eyes to see all my camp-fire girls again,"
said Mrs. Wescott, as her eyes traveled happily over the little group
about her.

Some threw themselves on the floor at her feet, while others were curled
up on the huge divan, and Marjorie and Jessie perched on the arms of her
chair. But all the bright faces were turned toward her with such happy
and expectant interest that a lump seemed to rise in her throat, and she
had much ado to speak at all.

"It is wonderful to have