A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire
By JANE L. STEWART
CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES
VOLUME I
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK
Made in U. S. A.
COPYRIGHT, MCMXIV
BY
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.
THE CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES
[Illustration]
A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S FIRST COUNCIL FIRE A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S CHUM A CAMPFIRE GIRL IN SUMMER CAMP A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S ADVENTURE A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S TEST OF FRIENDSHIP A CAMPFIRE GIRL'S HAPPINESS
[Illustration: "We'll take you over to camp and you can have dinner with us."]
The Camp Fire Girls In the Woods
CHAPTER I
THE ESCAPE
"Now then, you, Bessie, quit your loafin' and get them dishes washed! An' then you can go out and chop me some wood for the kitchen fire!"
The voice was that of a slatternly woman of middle age, thin and complaining. She had come suddenly into the kitchen of the Hoover farmhouse and surprised Bessie King as the girl sat resting for a moment and reading.
Bessie jumped up alertly at the sound of the voice she knew so well, and started nervously toward the sink.
"Yes, ma'am," she said. "I was awful tired--an' I wanted to rest for a few minutes."
"Tired!" scolded the woman. "Land knows _you_ ain't got nothin' to carry on so about! Ain't you got a good home? Don't we board you and give you a good bed to sleep in? Didn't Paw Hoover give you a nickel for yourself only last week?"
"Yes--an' you took it away from me soon's you found it out," Bessie flashed back. There were tears in her eyes, but she went at her dishes, and Mrs. Hoover, after a minute in which she glared at Bessie, turned and left the kitchen, muttering something about ingratitude as she went.
As she worked, Bessie wondered why it was that she must always do the work about the house when other girls were at school or free to play. But it had been that way for a long time, and she could think of no way of escaping to happier conditions. Mrs. Hoover was no relation to her at all. Bessie had a father and mother, but they had left her with Mrs. Hoover a long time before, and she could scarcely remember them, but she heard about them, her father especially, whenever she did something that Mrs. Hoover didn't like.
"Take after your paw--that's what you do, good-for-nothin' little hussy!" the farmer's wife would say. "Leavin' you here on our hands when he went away--an' promisin' to send board money for you. Did, too, for 'bout a year--an' since then never a cent! I've a mind to send you to the county farm, that I have!"
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Campfire Girl's First Council Fire by Stewart
- 2: And Paw Hoover would sigh and retire
- 3: Bessie had stopped her work to talk to Zara
- 4: Bessie finished her churning quickly
- 5: And she unlocked the padlock and let Zara
- 6: Evidently help had come Paw Hoover
- 7: Always before Zara had seemed the plucky one of the two
- 8: But Maw Hoover thinks Jake's all right
- 9: And Bessie turned pale as she heard Paw Hoover's
- 10: Bessie saw that it was still burning
- 11: She looked curiously at Wanaka
- 12: Wanaka looked at her very kindly
- 13: No matter how Wanaka stared into them
- 14: We must wait until Wanaka comes back
- 15: That Maw Hoover couldn't make her stay
- 16: I'll bring Wanaka back right away
- 17: From whom Wanaka had bought fresh vegetables for the camp
- 18: How would you and Zara like to stay with us
- 19: Did she hear anything about him in Hedgeville
- 20: Zara didn't answer for a minute
- 21: Wanaka looked at her curiously
- 22: But Bessie was to awake before that
- 23: If Jake Hoover caught her well
- 24: Showed her that Bessie alone was missing
- 25: And she told Zara what had happened
- 26: Said Zara so earnestly that Wanaka laughed
- 27: She cried He'll get them to give Zara to him
- 28: He seemed to be driving away from Hedgeville
- 29: If one farmer from Hedgeville had passed already
- 30: Suddenly Bessie started with alarm
- 31: I'd hate to have him for a pop
- 32: Zara had always been a speedy runner
- 33: Bessie thought he looked suspicious
- 34: And presently Zara keen ears detected a sound
- 35: They couldn't make out what Farmer Weeks replied to that
- 36: And now Zara gave a joyful cry
- 37: Will the law make Zara go to him
- 38: But Zara doesn't need a guardian
- 39: Paw Hoover was running the same risk
- 40: There are too many people around the station in Zebulon
- 41: They heard the conductor say to the brakeman
- 42: Conductor and brakeman doubled up with laughter
- 43: Bigger than Hedgeville quite a bit bigger
- 44: There was no sign of Miss Mercer
- 45: Bessie had dragged Zara to her feet
- 46: The other girls crowded around Zara and Bessie
- 47: I was careless and thoughtless
- 48: You've been a good friend to Bessie
- 49: And you talked about awarding honors
- 50: Bessie and Zara rode in the first one
- 51: As she looked at it and pointed it out to Bessie and Zara
- 52: Something that even Zara doesn't know about
- 53: Bessie and Zara followed Eleanor shyly
- 54: And the new Camp Fire the Snug Harbor camp
- 55: Bessie sighed with the beauty of everything
- 56: Where General Seeley keeps a lot of pheasants
- 57: General Seeley was a small man
- 58: General Seeley jumped to his feet
- 59: CHAPTER XIVTHE TRUTH AT LAST But Bessie
- 60: And I'm so glad that you're going to stick by poor Bessie
- 61: Though it was Maw Hoover and Jake who made all my trouble
- 62: She saw General Seeley among them
- 63: Then he turned to Bessie and took off his hat
- 64: It would be hard for Paw Hoover
- 65: And your symbol shall be the chipmunk
- 66: Gathering the fagots for the fire
- 67: And Wanaka took her place in the centre
- 68: Is bound in cloth and has a jacket in colors
- 69: The saalfield publishing company