CHAPTER XI
THE CALL OF THE FIRE
"Wo-he-lo!"
How they did thrill at the sound of the watchword of the Camp Fire! Howclearly, now, they understood the meaning of the three syllables, thathad seemed to them so mysterious, so utterly without meaning, when theyhad first heard them on the shores of the lake, as, surprised, theypeeped out and saw the merry band of girls who had awakened them aftertheir flight from Hedgeville.
For a moment, so overjoyed were they, they couldn't move at all. Butthen the spell was broken, as the call sounded again, loud and clear,rising above the noises of the engine that was puffing and snorting onthe other side of the station. Farmer Weeks, a black look in his eyes ashe shot them a parting glance full of malice, was forgotten as he slunkoff.
"Thank you, oh, thank you!" cried Bessie to the astonished policeman,who looked as if he were about to begin asking them questions. "Come on,Zara!"
And, hand in hand, they raced around to the other side of the stationagain, but blithely, happily this time, and not in terror of theirenemy, as they had come. And there, looking about her in all directions,was Eleanor Mercer, and behind her all the girls of the Manasquan CampFire.
"Oh, I'm so glad! I was afraid something had happened to you!" criedEleanor. "But now it's all right! We're all here, and safe. In thisstate no one can hurt you--either of you!"
Laughing and full of questions, the other girls crowded around Zara andBessie, so happily restored to them.
"We feel as if you were real Camp Fire Girls already!" said EleanorMercer, half crying with happiness. "The girls were wild with anxietywhen they found you had gone away, too, Bessie, even though we hadn'ttold them everything. But they were delighted when I got back and toldthem you were safe."
"We were, indeed," said Minnehaha. "But it was awful, Bessie, not toknow what had become of you, or how to help you! We'd have done anythingwe could, but we didn't know a single thing to do. So we had just towait, and that's the hardest thing there is, when someone you love is introuble."
Bessie almost broke down at that. Until this wonderful meeting with theCamp Fire Girls no one but Zara had loved her, and the idea that thesegirls really did love her as they said--and had so nobly proved--wasalmost too much for her. She tried to say so.
"Of course we love one another," said Eleanor. "That's one of the lawsof the Fire, and it's one of the words we use to make up Wo-he-lo, too.So you see that it's just as important as it can be, Bessie."
"Yes, indeed, I do see that. I'd be awfully stupid if I didn't, afterthe splendid way you've helped us, Miss Eleanor. What are we going todo now?"
"We're going to join the big camp not far from here. Three or four CampFires are there together, and Mrs. Chester, who is Chief Guardian in thecity, wants us to join them. I talked to her about you two over thelong-distance telephone before we got on the train, and she's so anxiousto see you, and help me to decide what is best for you to do. You'lllove her, Bessie; you're sure to. She's so good and sweet to everyone.All the girls just worship her."
"If she's half as nice as you, we're sure to love her," said Zara.
Eleanor laughed.
"I'm not half as wonderful as you think I am, Zara. But I'm nicer than Iused to be, I think."
"Oh!"
"Yes, indeed! I used to be selfish and thoughtless, caring only abouthaving a good time myself, and never thinking about other people at all.But Mrs. Chester talked to me."
"I'll bet she never had a chance to scold you."
"I'm afraid she did, Zara; but she didn't want to. That's not her way.She never scolds people. She just talks to them in that wonderful, quietway of hers, and makes them see that they haven't been doing right."
"But I don't believe you ever did anything that wasn't right."
"Maybe I didn't mean to, and maybe it wasn't what I did that was wrong.It was more what I didn't do."
"I don't see what you mean."
"Well, I was careless and thoughtless, just as I said. I used to dance,and play games, and go to parties all the time."
"I think that must be fine! Didn't you have to work at home, though?"
"No; and that was just the trouble, you see. My people had plenty ofmoney, and they just wanted me to have a good time. And I did--but I'vehad a better one since I started doing things for other people."
"I bet you always did, really--"
"I'm not an angel now, Zara, and I certainly never used to be, nor a bitlike one. Just because I've happened to be able to help you two alittle, you think altogether too much of me."
"Oh, no; we couldn't--"
"Well, as I was saying, Mrs. Chester saw how things were going, and shestarted to talk to me. I was horrid to her at first, and wouldn't payany attention to her at all."
"I'm going to ask her about that. I don't believe you ever were horridto anyone."
"Probably Mrs. Chester won't admit it, but it's true, just the same,Bessie. But she talked to me, and kept on talking, and she made me thinkabout all the poorer girls who had to work so hard and couldn't go toparties. And I began to feel sorry, and wonder what I could do to makethem happier."
"You see, that's just what we said! You weren't selfish at all!"
"I tried to stop as soon as I found out that I had been, Zara; that'sall. And I think anyone would do that. It's because people don't thinkof the unhappiness and misery of others that there's so much suffering,not because they really want other people to be unhappy."
"I guess that's so. I suppose even Farmer Weeks wouldn't be mean if hereally thought about it."
"I'm sure he wouldn't--and we'll have to try to reform him, too, beforewe're done with him. You see, if there were more people like Mrs.Chester, things would be ever so much nicer. She heard about the CampFire Girls, and she saw right away that it meant a chance to make thingsbetter, right in our home town."
"Is that how it all started?"
"Yes, with us. And it was the same way all over the country, because,really, there are lots and lots of noble, unselfish women like Mrs.Chester, who want everyone to be happy."
"Is she as pretty as you, Miss Eleanor?"
"Much prettier, Zara; but you won't think about that after you'vetalked to her. She got hold of me and some of the other girls like me,who had lots of time and money, and she made us see that we'd be twiceas happy if we spent some of our time doing things for other people,instead of thinking about ourselves the whole time. And she's beenperfectly right."
"I knew you enjoyed doing things like that--"
"Yes; so you see it isn't altogether unselfish, after all. But Mrs.Chester says that we ought all try to be happy ourselves, because that'sthe best way to make other people happy, after all, as long as we neverforget that there are others, and that we ought to think of servingthem."
"That's like in the Bible where it says, 'It is more blessed to givethan to receive,' isn't it?"
"That's the very idea, Bessie! I'm glad you thought of that yourself.That's just the lesson we've all got to learn."
"But we haven't been able to help anyone yet, Miss Eleanor. Everyone'shelping us--"
"Don't you worry about that, Bessie. You'll have lots of chances tohelp others--ever so many! Just you wait until you get to the city.There are lots of girls there who are more wretched than you--girls whodon't get enough to eat, and have to work so hard that they never haveany fun at all, because when they get through with their work they're sotired they have to go right to sleep."
"Bessie was like that, Miss Eleanor."
"I'm afraid she was, Zara. But we're going to change all that. Mrs.Chester has promised to help, and that means that everything will be allright."
"Do you think I could ever do anything to help anyone else, MissEleanor?"
"I'm sure you have already, Zara. You've been a good friend to Bessie,and I know you've cheered her up and helped her to get through days whenshe was feeling pretty bad."
"Indeed she has, Miss Eleanor! Many and many a time! Since I've knownher I'
ve often wondered how I ever got along at all before she came toHedgeville!"
"You see, Zara, doing things for others doesn't mean always that you'respending money or actually doing something. Sometimes the very best helpyou can give is by just being cheerful and friendly."
"I hadn't thought of that. But I'm going to try always to be like that.Miss Eleanor, when can we be real Camp Fire Girls?"
"I talked to Mrs. Chester about that to-day, and I think it will beto-night, Bessie."
"Oh, that will be splendid!"
"Yes, won't it? You see, it's the night for our Council Fire--that'swhen we take in new members, and award honors and report what we'vedone. We hold one every moon. That's the Indian name for month. You see,month just means moon, really. This is the Thunder Moon of the Indians,the great copper red moon. It's our month of July."
"And will we learn to sing the songs like the other girls?"
"Yes, indeed. You'll find them very easy. They're very beautiful songsand I think we're very lucky to have them."
"Who wrote them? Girls that belong?"
"Some of them, but not all, or nearly all. We have found many beautifulsongs about fire and the things we love that were written by other poetswho never heard of the Camp Fire Girls at all. And yet they seem to bejust the right songs for us."
"That's funny, isn't it, Miss Eleanor?"
"Not a bit, Zara. Because the Camp Fire isn't a new thing, really. Notthe big idea that's back of it, that you'll learn as you stay with us,and get to know more about us. All we hope to do is to make our girlsfine, strong women when they get older, like all the great brave womenthat we read about in history. They've all been women who loved thehome, and all it means--and the fire is the great symbol of the home. Itwas fire that made it possible for people to have real homes."
"I've read lots and lots of things about fire," said Bessie."Longfellow, and Tennyson, and other poets."
But then her face darkened suddenly.
"It was fire that got me into trouble, though," she said. "The fire thatJake Hoover used to set the woodshed afire."
"That was because he was misusing the fire, Bessie. Fire is a greatservant. It's the most wonderful thing man ever did--learning to make afire, and tend it, and control it. Have you heard what it says in theFire-Maker's Desire? But, of course, you haven't. You haven't been at aCouncil Fire yet. Listen:
"For I will tend, As my fathers have tended And my father's fathers Since Time began The Fire that is called The love of man for man-- The love of man for God."
"That's a great promise, you see, Bessie. It's a great honor to be aFire-Maker."
"I see, Miss Eleanor. Yes, it must be. How does one get to be aFire-Maker? One begins by being a Wood-Gatherer, doesn't one?"
"Yes, and all one has to do to be a Wood-Gatherer is to want to obey thelaw of the Fire--the seven points of the law. I'll teach you that Desirebefore the Council Fire to-night. To be a Fire-Maker you have to servefaithfully as a Wood-Gatherer, and you have to do a lot of things thataren't very easy--though they're not very hard, either."
"And you talked about awarding honors. What are they?"
"Have you seen the necklaces the girls wear?"
"Oh, yes! They're beautiful. They look like the ones I've seen inpictures of Indians. But I never thought they were so pretty before,because I've only seen pictures, and they didn't show the differentcolors of the beads."
"That's just it, Bessie. Those beads are given for honors, and when agirl has enough of them they make the necklaces. They're awarded forall sorts of things--for knowing them, and for doing them, too. Andyou'll learn to tell by the colors of the beads just what sort of honorsthey are--why the girl who wears them got them, and what she did to earnthem."
"I'm going to work awfully hard to get honors," said Zara, impulsively."Then, when I can wear the beads, everyone will know about it, and abouthow I worked to get them. Won't they, Miss Eleanor?"
"Yes, but you mustn't think about it just that way, Zara. You won't,either, when you've earned them. You'll know then that the pleasure ofworking for the honors is much greater than being able to wear thebeads."
"I know why--because it means something!"
"That's just it, Bessie. I can see that you're going to be just the sortof girl I want in my Camp Fire. Anyone who had the money--and they don'tcost much--could buy the beads and string them together. But it's only aCamp Fire Girl, who's worked for honors herself, who knows what itreally means, and sees that the beads are just the symbol of somethingmuch better."
"Aren't there Torch-Bearers, too, Miss Eleanor?"
"Yes. That's the highest rank of all. We haven't any Torch-Bearer in ourCamp Fire yet, but we will have soon, because when you girls join usthere'll be nineteen girls, and there ought to be a Torch-Bearer."
"She'd help you, wouldn't she, Miss Eleanor?"
"Yes, she'd act as Guardian if I were away, and she'd be my assistant.This is her desire, you know, 'That light which has been given to me, Idesire to pass undimmed to others.'"
"I'm going to try to be a Torch-Bearer whenever I can," said Zara.
"There's no reason why you shouldn't be, Zara. That ought to be theambition of every Camp Fire Girl--to be able, sometime, to help othersto get as much good from the Camp Fire as she has herself."
While they talked it had been growing darker. And now Miss Mercer calledto the girls.
"We're going to be driven over to the big camp, girls," she said. "Ithink we've had quite enough tramping for one day. I don't want you tobe so tired that you won't enjoy the Council Fire to-night."
There was a chorus of laughter at that, as if the idea that they couldever be too tired to enjoy a Council Fire was a great joke--as, indeed,it was.
But, just the same, the idea of a ride wasn't a bit unwelcome. Thetroubles of Bessie and Zara had caused a sudden change in the plans ofthe Camp Fire, as Miss Mercer had made them originally, and they had hada long and strenuous day. So they greeted the big farm wagons thatpresently rolled up with a chorus of laughs and cheers, and the driversblinked with astonishment as they heard the Wohelo cheer ring out.
There were two of the wagons, so that there was room for all of themwithout crowding. Bessie and Zara rode in the first one, close toWanaka, who had, of course, taken them under her wing.
"You stay close by me," she said to them. "I want you to meet Mrs.Chester as soon as we get to the camp."
"Where is it?"
"That's the surprise I told the girls I had for them this morning. Afriend of Mrs. Chester, who has a beautiful place near here, has let ususe it for a camping ground. It's the most wonderful place you ever saw.There are deer, quite tame, and all sorts of lovely things. But you'llsee more of that in the morning, of course. We've all got to be ever socareful, though, not to frighten the deer or to hurt anything about theplace. It's very good of General Seeley to let us be there at all, andwe must show him that we are grateful. For the girls who couldn't getfar away from the city it's been particularly splendid, because theycouldn't possibly have such a good time anywhere else that's near by."
"Oh!" cried Bessie, a moment later, as the wagons turned from the roadinto a lane that was flanked on both sides by great trees. "I never sawa place so pretty!"
Wide lawns stretched all around them. But in the distance a pink glow,among a grove of trees, marked the real home of the Camp Fire.