The Campfire Girls on Ellen's Isle Part 19

"Let's see you do it," said Hinpoha.

"I will if the other fellows will," said the Captain, looking around at the rest. "Will you, Slim?"

"Sure," said Slim.

"Slim will do anything--once," said Sahwah.

A few minutes later, an old turtle who had been sitting on a log near the water all afternoon poked his head out of his sh.e.l.l in astonishment at the sight of the enormous human crabs who suddenly swarmed over the beach, laughing, tripping, shrieking and rolling over on the sand. The Captain did beautifully, because he was tall and the skirt that fell to him was short and did not impede his progress, but Slim, to whom Sahwah had wickedly given one of Katherine's longest, got so tangled up that he finally turned a somersault right into the water, where he lay kicking and splashing. Katherine rescued him and the skirt, which was rather the worse for the experience, while Uncle Teddy, who was judge, declared the Captain to be the winner. He was the only one who had finished without falling once.

"You're elected to take a lady's part in the next play we give," said Gladys. "Such talent shouldn't be wasted on a desert isle."

The Captain smiled a ladylike smile and minced along, holding an imaginary parasol over his head. "Bertha the Beautiful Cloak Model," he said, laughing. "Now won't somebody rescue Pitt. He's all tied up in a knot back there."

"And he has my skirt on," wailed Gladys. "Do rescue him, somebody."

"Never again," said Pitt solemnly, when he had been helped to his feet and separated from the hampering garment. "How you girls do anything at all with those horrible things on is more than I can see."

"Hurry up, all you who want to go in the launch," called Uncle Teddy, and there was a general scramble. In the excitement of the big crab race the twins had forgotten their quarrel and both sat side by side on the bow.

"Wasn't that crab race the funniest ever?" said Gladys to Katherine, as they gathered up the skirts and wended their way up the path.

"The funniest of all was when Slim fell over backward into the lake,"

said Sahwah from behind them.

"Funny for you, perhaps," replied Katherine, who still was steeped in her indigoes, "but that was my skirt he had on. And he burst it open in three places. It's ruined."

"Cheer up," said Sahwah. "Consider in what a good cause it perished.

You'd have ruined it sooner or later anyhow, but minus the grand spectacle Slim made."

"Maybe so," grumbled Katherine, "but I was thinking that perhaps this one would escape the usual fate. I had a fondness for that skirt."

"Then what did you let him take it for?" asked Hinpoha.

"I didn't give it to him, Sahwah did," replied Katherine.

"Well, you said I might," retorted Sahwah, "and, anyway, I'm as badly off as you. Mine is finished, too."

"Let's not argue over it," said Gladys hastily. "We're getting as bad as the twins. We started the business, so let's be game and not let the boys hear us say anything about the skirts."

"All right," said Sahwah, and the subject was dropped.

"What's this?" asked Hinpoha, as they came to the top of the hill.

"A piece of paper tacked to a tree," said Sahwah. "What does it say?"

They all stopped to read. The only writing on the paper was the legend, THE DARK OF THE MOON SOCIETY. Above it there were three marks done in red paint, which gave them a curiously lurid effect. They consisted of a circle with two diamond-shaped marks underneath it.

"What on earth----!" said Hinpoha.

"Those funny-shaped marks are a blaze," said Sahwah. "It was one of the number we learned, don't you remember, Hinpoha? I believe it means 'warning,' or something like that. 'Important warning,' that's it. Now I remember. This message is supposed to read:

"'IMPORTANT WARNING!

THE DARK OF THE MOON SOCIETY.'"

"What on earth is The Dark of the Moon Society?" asked Katherine.

They all shook their heads. "It's something the boys are up to," said Gladys. "I suppose they are going to play some joke on us in return for our neat little trick the day we climbed the trees and watched them get supper. Just watch out, something will be doing before very long."

"Let's find out what it is and get ahead of them," said Katherine, her eyes beginning to sparkle.

From that time on there was a suppressed feeling of excitement on Ellen's Isle. The Winnebagos watched every movement the Sandwiches made, and it seemed that there was something suspicious about the glances that were constantly being exchanged between the Captain, Slim and the Bottomless Pitt.

"Those three are at the bottom of it," declared Katherine to the other girls who were gathered on her bed. "I don't believe the rest of the Sandwiches know a thing about it. I heard Dan Porter asking the Captain what they were talking about down on the beach awhile ago and the Captain said, 'Oh, nothing,' in that tone of voice that means, 'It's none of your business.'"

"But I saw Slim and Dan and the Monkey slipping off into the woods by themselves just now," said Sahwah, "and they were laughing to themselves and acting mighty mysterious."

The next day Hinpoha found a piece of birchbark in Eeny-Meeny's wooden hand, bearing the now familiar warning blaze and signed with the initials D. M. S.

"The handwriting on the wall again," she said to Gladys. "What can the Dark of the Moon Society be, anyhow?"

After that mysterious warnings appeared all over camp. The girls would find them tacked to the trees in front of their tents, tied to the handles of the water pails and slipped in between the logs piled ready for firewood. True to their agreement they never said a word about finding them to the Sandwiches, but were constantly on the lookout for the joke, which they knew would be sprung sooner or later. Katherine, who had flung her indigoes to the winds at the first hint of mystery, was the most intent on finding out what the boys were planning to do and meant to get ahead of them if she could possibly do it.

"The thing to do first," said she with the air of a general, "is to find out which ones are the Dark of the Moon Society. Then we can watch those particularly."

"They're probably all in it," said Gladys.

"I don't think they are," said Katherine. "I'll lay my wager on the Captain, Slim and the Bottomless Pitt. Those three are mighty chummy all of a sudden. And I saw them go right past one of those signs on a tree and never look at it. That looks suspicious. They saw me and pretended they didn't notice the sign."

That night, Katherine, restless and unable to sleep, developed a thirst from rolling around on her pillow, and rising quietly, made for the water pail at the door of the tent. It was empty. Thirsts had been prevalent that night. She stood a moment irresolute and then, putting on her slippers and her gown, started boldly for the little spring on the hillside. It was bright moonlight and she could find her way easily. She took a drink from the cup hanging on a broken branch beside the spring, and filling the pail so as to be prepared for a return of the thirst, she started back up the hill. Half way up she paused and stood still, looking out over the silvered surface of the lake, drinking in the magic beauty of the scene with eager soul.

"Oh, you wonderful, wonderful lake!" she murmured to herself.

A branch cracked sharply behind her and a small stone came rolling down the hillside. She turned hastily and looked up. Someone was moving among the trees up there. "The Dark of the Moon Society!" thought Katherine, and, dropping the pail of water, she ran up the path. The person above made no effort at flight or concealment, but walked out of the shadow of the trees onto a moonlit rock at the edge of the bluff. Then Katherine saw that it was Sahwah.

"Are you thirsty, too?" she called up. Sahwah made no answer. She took a step nearer the edge of the cliff and stood looking out over the lake.

"She's walking in her sleep again!" exclaimed Katherine. Since the memorable night of the Select Sleeping Party when Sahwah had wandered out into the snow, the Winnebagos lived in constant expectation of some new performance.

As Katherine started toward her to lead her gently back to the tent, Sahwah began to raise her arms slowly above her head, palms together.

"Mercy!" exclaimed Katherine, "she's going to dive off the cliff!" And rushing up pell-mell she seized her around the waist and dragged her back unceremoniously, regardless of the accepted rule about waking sleep walkers suddenly.

"Goodness, how you scared me!" said Katherine, when she had deposited Sahwah in her bed and answered her yawning inquiries as to what was the matter. "You can't be trusted without a bodyguard." And in spite of Sahwah's protests that she had never in her life "walked" twice in the same night, Katherine insisted upon tying a string to her ankle and fastening the other end around her own. Sahwah was asleep again in five minutes, but Katherine lay and watched her for hours, expecting to see her rise and try to wander forth a second time.

Once she thought she heard footsteps on the path along the bluff and rose hastily to investigate, but the string she had tied around her ankle tripped her and jerked Sahwah, who bade her lie down and be quiet.

Katherine subsided, rubbing her knee, which had received a smart b.u.mp, and grimacing with pain in the darkness. She heard the footsteps no more, but she had her suspicions that they belonged to the Dark of the Moon Society.

The next day at noon she called a hasty council on her bed. "Girls," she said in a thrilling whisper, "I've found the place where the Dark of the Moon Society meets!"