The Camp Fire Girls
At the Seashore

CHAPTER I
FROM THE ASHES

The sun rose over Plum Beach to shine down on a scene of confusion and wreckage that might have caused girls less determined and courageous than those who belonged to the Manasquan Camp Fire of the Camp Fire Girls of America to feel that there was only one thing to do–pack up and move away. But, though the camp itself was in ruins, there were no signs of discouragement among the girls themselves. Merry laughter vied with the sound of the waves, and the confusion among the girls was more apparent than real.

“Have you got everything sorted, Margery–the things that are completely ruined and those that are worth saving?” asked Eleanor Mercer, the Guardian of the Camp Fire.

“Yes, and there’s more here that we can save and still use than anyone would have dreamed just after we got the fire put out,” replied Margery Burton, one of the older girls, who was a Fire-Maker. In the Camp Fire there are three ranks–the Wood-Gatherers, to which all girls belong when they join; the Fire-Makers, next in order, and, finally, the Torch-Bearers, of which Manasquan Camp Fire had none. These rank next to the Guardian in a Camp Fire, and, as a rule, there is only one in each Camp Fire. She is a sort of assistant to the Guardian, and, as the name of the rank implies, she is supposed to hand on the light of what the Camp Fire has given her, by becoming a Guardian of a new Camp Fire as soon as she is qualified.

“What’s next?” cried Bessie King, who had been working with some of the other girls in sorting out the things which could be used, despite the damage done by the fire that had almost wiped out the camp during the night.

“Why, we’ll start a fire of our own!” said Eleanor. “There’s no sort of use in keeping any of this rubbish, and the best way to get rid of it is just to burn it. All hands to work now, piling it up and seeing that there is a good draught underneath, so that it will burn up. We can get rid of ashes easily, but half-burned things are a nuisance.”

“Where are we going to sleep to-night?” asked Dolly Ransom, ruefully surveying the places where the tents had stood. Only two remained, which were used for sleeping quarters by some of the girls.

“I’m more bothered about what we’re going to eat,” said Eleanor, with a laugh. “Do you realize that we’ve been so excited that we haven’t had any breakfast? I should think you’d be starved, Dolly. You’ve had a busier morning than the rest of us, even.”

“I am hungry, when I’m reminded of it,” said Dolly, with, a comical gesture. “What ever are we going to do, Miss Eleanor?”

“I’m just teasing you, Dolly,” said Eleanor. “Mr. Salters came over from Green Cove in his boat, when he saw the fire, to see if he couldn’t help in some way, and he’s gone in to Bay City. He’ll be out pretty soon with a load of provisions, and as many other things as he can stuff into the Sally S.”

“Then we’re really going to stay here?” said Bessie King.

“We certainly are!” said Eleanor, her eyes flashing. “I don’t see why we should let a little thing like this fire drive us away! We are going to stay here, and, what’s more, we’re going to have just as good a time as we planned to have when we came here–if not a better one!”

“Good!” cried half a dozen of the girls together.

Soon all the rubbish was collected, and a fire had been built. And, while Margery Burton applied a light to it, the girls formed a circle about it, and danced around, singing the while the most popular of Camp Fire songs, Wo-he-lo.

“That’s like turning all the unpleasant things that have happened to us, isn’t it?” said Eleanor. “We just toss them into the flames, and they’re gone! What’s left is clean and good and useful, and we will make all the better use of it for having lost what is burning now.”

“Isn’t it strange, Miss Eleanor,” said Bessie King, “that this should have happened to us so soon after the fire that burned up the Pratt’s farm?”

“Yes, it is,” replied Eleanor. “And there’s a lesson in it for us, just as there was for them in their fire. We didn’t expect to find them in such trouble when we started to walk there, but we were able to help them, and to show them that there was a way of rising from the ruin of their home, and being happier and more prosperous than they had been before.”

“We’re going to do that, too,” said Dolly, with spirit. “I felt terrible when I first saw the place in the light, after the fire was all out, but it looks different already.”

“Mr. Salters will be here soon,” said Eleanor. “And now there’s nothing more to do until he comes. We’ll have a fine meal–and if you’re half as hungry as I am you’ll be glad of that–and we’ll spend the afternoon in getting the place to rights. But just now the best thing for all of us to do is to rest.”

“I’ll be glad to do that,” said Dolly Ransom, as she linked her arm with Bessie’s and drew her away. “I am pretty tired.”

“I should think you would be, Dolly. I haven’t had a chance to thank you yet for what you did for me.”

“Oh, nonsense, Bessie!” said Dolly, flushing. “You’d have done it for me, wouldn’t you? I’m only just as glad as I can be that I was able to do anything to get you away from Mr. Holmes–you and Zara.”

“Zara’s gone to pieces completely, Dolly. She was terribly frightened–more than I was, I think, and yet I don’t see how that can be, because I was as frightened as I think anyone could have been.”

“I never saw them get hold of you at all, Bessie. How did it happen?”

“Well, that’s pretty hard to say, Dolly. You know, after we found out that that yacht was here just to watch us, I was nervous, and so were you.”

“I think we had reason to be nervous, don’t you?”

“I should say so! Well, anyhow, as soon as I saw that the tents were on fire, I was sure that the men on the yacht had had something to do with it. But, of course, there wasn’t anything to do but try as hard as I could to help put out the fire, and it was so exciting that I didn’t think about any other danger until I saw a man from the boat that had come ashore pick Zara up and start to carry her out to it.”

“They pretended to be helping us with the fire, and they really did help, Bessie. I guess we wouldn’t have saved any of the tents at all if it hadn’t been for them.”

“Oh, I saw what they were doing! When I saw the man pick Zara up, though, I knew right away what their plan was. And I was just going to scream when another man got hold of me, and he kept me from shouting, and carried me off to the yacht in the boat. Zara had fainted, and they kept us down below in a cabin and said they were going to take us along the coast until we came to the coast of the state Zara and I were in when we met you girls first.”

“We guessed that, Bessie. That was one of the things we were all worrying about when we came here–that they might try to carry you two off that way. I don’t see how it can be that you’re all right as long as you’re in this state, and in danger as soon as you go back to the one you came from.”

“Well, you see, Zara and I really did run away, I suppose. Zara’s father is in prison, so they said she had to have a