The Camp Fire Girls at School; Or, The Wohelo WeaversFrey, Hildegard G.
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The Camp Fire Girls at School; Or, The Wohelo Weavers
Frey, Hildegard G.
Camp Fire Girls -- Juvenile fiction; Schools -- Fiction
"I don't know," she answered, "but I saw it on one of the big oil tanks
as we passed."
Sahwah and Nyoda won the right to take the first paddle in the
_Keewaydin_. They carried the canoe on their heads, portage fashion,
around the dam, and launched it up above, where the confined waters had
spread out into a wide pond. "Oh, what a joy to dip a paddle again!"
sighed Sahwah blissfully, sending the _Keewaydin_ flying through the
water with long, vigorous strokes. "I'd love to paddle all the way
home." She had completely forgotten that there was such a thing as
school and lessons in the world. She was the Daughter of the River, and
this was a joyous homecoming.
"Time to go back and let the rest have a turn," said Nyoda. Reluctantly
Sahwah steered the canoe around and returned to the waiting group. Mrs.
Evans watched with interest as Gladys and Hinpoha pushed out from shore.
Could this be her once frail daughter, who had despised all strenuous
sports and hated water above all things, who was swinging her paddle so
lustily and steering the _Keewaydin_ so skilfully? What was this strange
Something that the Camp Fire had instilled into her? She caught her
breath with the beauty of it, as the girls glided along between the
radiant banks, the two paddles flashing in and out in perfect rhythm.
They were singing a favorite boating song, and their voices floated back
on the breeze:
"Through the mystic haze of the autumn days
Like a phantom ghost I glide,
Where the big moose sees the crimson trees
Mirrored on the silver tide,
And the blood red sun when day is done
Sinks below the hill,
The night hawk swoops, the lily droops,
And all the world is still!"
Sahwah lingered on the river after the others had gone in a body to try
to climb to the top of the rocky fireplace. She was all alone in the
_Keewaydin_, and sent it darting around like a water spider on the
surface of the stream. So absorbed was she in the joy of paddling that
she did not see a sign on a tree beside the river which warned people in
boats to go no further than that point, neither did she realize the
significance of the quicker progress which the _Keewaydin_ was making.
When she did realize that she was getting dangerously near the edge of
the dam, and attempted to turn back, she discovered to her horror that
it was impossible to turn back. The _Keewaydin_ was being swept
helplessly and irresistibly onward. Recent rains had swollen the stream
and the water was pouring over the dam. Sahwah screamed aloud when she
saw the peril in which she was. Nyoda and Mrs. Evans and the girls,
standing up on the rocks, turned and saw her. Help was out of the
question. Frozen to the spot they saw her rushing along to that descent
of waters. Gladys moaned and covered her face with her hands. Below the
falls the great rocks jutted out, jagged and bare. Any boat going over
would be dashed to pieces.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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