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The Camp Fire Girls At Camp Keewaydin
Or, Down Paddles
By Hildegard G. Frey
"All aboard!" The hoarse voice of Captain MacLaren boomed out like a foghorn, waking a clatter of echoes among the tall cliffs on the oppositeshore of the river, and sending the seventy-five girls on the dock allskurrying for the Carribou's gangplank at once.
"Hurry up, Hinpoha! We're getting left behind." Agony strained forwardon the suitcase she was helping Hinpoha to carry down the hill andendeavored to catch up with the crowd, a proceeding which she soonacknowledged to be impossible, for Hinpoha, rendered breathless by thehasty scramble from the train, lagged farther behind with every step.
"I—can't—go—any—faster!" she panted, and abruptly let go of her endof the suitcase to fan herself with her hand. "What's the use ofrushing so, anyway?" she demanded plaintively. "They won't go offwithout us; they can see us coming down the hill. It wasn't my faultthat my camera got wedged under the seat and made us be the last onesoff the train," she continued, "and I'm not going to run down this hilland go sprawling, like I did in the elevator yesterday. Are the othergirls on already?" she asked, searching the crowd below with her eyesfor a sight of the other Winnebagos.
"Sahwah and Oh-Pshaw are on the boat already," replied Agony, "and Gladysand Migwan are just getting on. I don't see Katherine anywhere, however.Oh, yes," she exclaimed, "there she is down there in the crowd. What arethey all laughing at, I wonder? Oh, look, Katherine's suitcase has comeopen, and all her things are spilled out on the dock. I thought it wouldbe strange if she made the trip without some kind of a mishap. Oh, dear,did you ever see anyone so funny as Katherine?"
"Well," observed Hinpoha in a tone of relief, "we don't have to hurrynow. It'll take them at least ten minutes to get that suitcase shutagain. I know, because I helped Katherine pack. I had to sit on it withall my might to close it."
"All Aboard!" came the second warning roar from Captain MacLaren,accompanied by a deafening blast of the Carribou's whistle. Agonypicked up Hinpoha's suitcase in one hand and her own in the other, andwith an urgent "Come on!" made a dash down the remainder of the hill andlanded breathless at the gangplank of the waiting steamer just as theengine began to quiver into motion. Hinpoha was just behind her, andKatherine trod closely upon Hinpoha's heels, carrying her still unclosedsuitcase out before her like a tray, to keep its contents from spillingout.
Migwan was waiting for them at the head of the gangplank. "We've saved aplace for you up in the bow," she said. "Hurry up, we're having such atime holding it for you. The boat is simply packed."
The four girls picked their way through a litter of suitcases, paddles,cameras, tennis rackets and musical instruments that covered every inchof deck space between the chairs, and joined the other Winnebagos intheir place in the bow. Hinpoha sank down gratefully upon a deck chairthat Oh-Pshaw had obligingly been holding for her and Agony disposedherself upon a pile of suitcases, from which vantage point she could geta good look at the crowd.
The Carribou had turned her nose about and was gliding smoothlyupstream, following the random curvings of the lazy Onawanda as it woundthr