[Picture: Book cover] A Summer in a Cañon A CALIFORNIA STORY: _By_ KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN [Picture: Decorative graphic] GAY AND HANCOCK, LTD. 12 AND 13 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN LONDON 1914 _All rights reserved_ * * * * * _Popular Edition_ 1914 _Reprinted_ 1914 * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER I PREPARATION AND DEPARTURE CHAPTER II THE JOURNEY CHAPTER III LIFE IN THE CAÑON—THE HEIR APPARENT LOSES HIMSELF CHAPTER IV RHYME AND REASON CHAPTER V THE FOREST OF ARDEN—GOOD NEWS CHAPTER VI QUEEN ELSIE VISITS THE COURT CHAPTER VII POLLY’S BIRTHDAY: FIRST HALF IN WHICH SHE REJOICES AT THE MERE FACT OF HER EXISTENCE CHAPTER VIII POLLY’S BIRTHDAY: SECOND HALF CHAPTER IX ROUND THE CAMP-FIRE CHAPTER X MORE CAMP-FIRE STORIES CHAPTER XI BREAKING CAMP SCENE: _A Camping Ground in the Cañon Las Flores_. PEOPLE IN THE TENTS. DR. PAUL WINSHIP _Mine Host_. MRS. TRUTH WINSHIP _The Guardian Angel_. DICKY WINSHIP _A Small Scamp of Six Years_. BELL WINSHIP _The Camp Poetess_. POLLY OLIVER _A Sweet but Saucy Lass_. MARGERY NOBLE _A Nut-Brown Mayde_. PHILIP NOBLE _The Useful Member_. GEOFFREY STRONG _A Harvard Boy_. JACK HOWARD _Prince of Mischief_. HOP YET _A Heathen Chinee_. PANCHO GUTIERREZ _A Mexican man-of-all-work_. CHAPTER I PREPARATION AND DEPARTURE ‘One to make ready, and two to prepare.’ IT was nine o’clock one sunny California morning, and Geoffrey Strong stood under the live-oak trees in Las Flores Cañon, with a pot of black paint in one hand and a huge brush in the other. He could have handled these implements to better purpose and with better grace had not his arms been firmly held by three laughing girls, who pulled not wisely, but too well. He was further incommoded by the presence of a small urchin who lay on the dusty ground beneath his feet, fastening an upward clutch on the legs of his trousers. There were three large canvas tents directly in front of them, yet no one of these seemed to be the object of dissension, but rather a redwood board, some three feet in length, which was nailed on a tree near by. ‘Camp Frolic! Please let us name it Camp Frolic!’ cried Bell Winship, with a persuasive twitch of her cousin’s sleeve. ‘No, no; not Camp Frolic,’ pleaded Polly Oliver. ‘Pray, pray let us have Camp Ha-Ha; my heart is set upon it.’ ‘As you are Strong, be merciful,’ quoted Margery Noble, coaxingly; ‘take my advice and call it Harmony Camp.’