were glad to rent it at a low price.

To "Sunrise Camp" therefore, after due preparation, Miss Helen Campbell,
the Motor Maids and Mr. Campbell, who went up to install them, departed.
At the station next day they found the "Comet," still attired in his
blue suit acquired in Japan, in charge of a chauffeur from a nearby
hotel. Along twenty-five miles of mountainous road the faithful car
carried them, patiently climbing the last steep grade which led to a
kind of shelf in the mountain whereon stood "Sunrise Camp."

CHAPTER II.

THE CAMP.

"Hurrah!" cried Billie, trying to pretend that she was not at all tired
after the interminable hot journey on the train and across the
mountains.

But her enthusiasm was not echoed by the others. Even Mr. Campbell, who
always felt the heat, sat silent and dejected. Billie, however, usually
endeavored to live up to her theories, and she had believed that pure
mountain air would act as an instantaneous tonic on their jaded spirits.
She was trying now to persuade herself that she was not hot and dusty
and excessively weary.

They had drawn up in front of a rustic hut built of logs with the bark
left on. The roof had a graceful slant from the central peak, and over
the gallery in front was another low-hanging roof like the visor of a
cap. On one side of the camp, at no great distance from the house, a
majestic army of pine trees had ranged itself in the manner of a silent
and faithful guard. At the other side, the ledge sloped down in natural,
uneven terraces to the valley far below. From the sleeping porches in
the back could be seen a broad vista of low country encircled by a wall
of mountains, now clothed in a mantle of purple shadows as the sun sank
behind the crests of the opposite range. The air was hot and sweet and
very dry, and the atmosphere vibrated with the hum of insects like the
low, steady accompaniment of stringed instruments in a great orchestra.
But at close view, it must be confessed, Nature was very dingy. The pine
trees had a rusty look and the parched earth cried out for rain.

"Well, ladies, we are here," remarked Mr. Campbell, "and I hope you'll
find it to your several tastes."

"I am sure we will," answered Mary politely, while the others moved in
a silent procession toward the house.

Miss Campbell was already wondering how long they could endure this
crude and lonely existence a hundred miles from anywhere. The contagion
of doubt had indeed spre