a large amount of property, which she held in trust for a
relative of her late husband, and its recovery through the brilliant and
energetic endeavors of some of the members of the Camp Fire,
particularly Hazel Edwards and Harriet Newcomb. The chief culprit, Percy
Teich, a nephew of Mrs. Hutchins' late husband, had been captured, had
escaped, had been captured again and lodged in jail, and clews as to the
identity of a number of the rest had been worked out by the police, so
that the hope was expressed confidently that eventually they, too, would
be caught.

"Mrs. Hutchins is very grateful for the part this Camp Fire took in the
recovery of the lost securities of which she was trustee," Katherine
announced by way of introducing her "great news" to the members of the
Fire who assembled in response to her call. "Of course Hazel did the
really big things, assisted and encouraged by the companionship of
Harriet and Violet, but Mrs. Hutchins feels like thanking us all for
being here and looking pleasant."

Hazel Edwards, niece of Mrs. Hutchins, was not present during this
conversation. By prearranged purpose, she was absent from the camp when
Katherine put to the other girls the proposition made by the wealthy
aunt of their girl hostess. The reason it was decided best for her to
remain away while the other girls were considering the plan was that it
was feared that her presence might tend to suppress arguments against
its acceptance, and that was a possibility which Hazel and her aunt
wished to avoid. So Katherine was selected to lay the matter before the
Camp Fire because she was no more chummy with Hazel than any of the
other girls.

"Let's make this a special business meeting," suggested Miss Ladd, who
had already discussed the proposition with Katherine and Mrs. Hutchins.
"What Katherine has to say interests you as an organization. You'd have
to bring the matter up at a business meeting anyway to take action on it
and our regular one is two weeks ahead. We can't wait that long if we
are going to do anything on the subject."

It was a little after 10 o'clock and the girls had been working for the
last hour at various occupations which appeared on their several routine
schedules for this part of the day. In fact, all of their regular
academic and handwork study hours were in the morning. Just before
Katherine called the girls together, they were seated here and there in
shaded spots on camp chairs or on the grass in th