gainst the sand and to sing
and sing as loud as they liked.

But when the darkness settled down enough so that mysterious shadows
lurked over every shoulder and the stars helped the fire make a light, Ed
announced, "Now let's play Indian."

So they did. Playing Indian, the Merrill girls found, meant a queer
follow-the-leader game. Ed led off first and everybody had to follow. He
ran round and round the fire, prancing and yelling like a wild man. And
the point of the game was for everybody to do exactly as he did. They ran
and jumped and yelled till everybody was breathless with exercise and
laughter and was glad to sit down again and do nothing.

By this time the fire had again died down to a bed of coals.

"_Now_ it's time for the marshmallows, isn't it?" asked Betty. She was
right, it was.

The boxes of marshmallows were opened, wires pulled out of the baskets and
all the children sat around the fire a-toasting. 'Twas just as Betty had
promised. The wires were plenty long enough so that no fingers needed to
be burned or dresses scorched and the bed of coals was big enough to make
room for all.

Betty and Mary Jane thought they would keep count and see who could eat
the most, but after six they lost count, and they ate and ate till they
simply couldn't eat any more.

"Let's play still pond," suggested Frances.

She stood up near the fire and announced, "Twenty steps, two jumps, three
hops and a roll. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
ten--STILL POND."

As she said the numbers off, the children began scampering to a place to
safety. All but Mary Jane. She wasn't used to playing on the slippery,
slidy sand. And though she started off just as big as anybody, she slipped
and stumbled and hadn't more than got to her feet when the words, "Still
pond!" were called. And after that she couldn't move but just to use the
steps, jumps, hops and roll Frances had given them.

To make matters even more exciting, Frances started off exactly in her
direction.

But Mary Jane hadn't played "Still Pond" in her own yard for nothing.
Perhaps she hadn't learned to run on slippery sand as yet, but she did
know how to play that game. Instead of trying to quietly take her twenty
steps in an effort to get out of Frances' way, she took two quick steps,
dropped down on the sand, gave one little roll, and--was safely hidden
under one of the picnic benches they had used for supper!

Frances passed so close Mary Jan