ra. Isn't that lady with the brown hair
pretty? And she's older than the rest, too. You can see that, can't
you?"

"Listen, Bessie! She just called one of the girls. And did you hear
what she called her? Minnehaha--that's a funny name, isn't it?"

"It's an Indian name, Zara. It means Laughing Water. That's the name of
the girl that Hiawatha loved, in the poem. I've read that, haven't you?"

"I've never been able to read very much, Bessie. But that girl isn't an
Indian. She's ever so much lighter than I am--she's as fair as you. And
Indians are red, aren't they?"

"She's not an Indian, Zara. That's right enough. It must be some sort of
a game. Oh, listen!"

For the older girl, the one Zara had pointed out, had spied Bessie's
peeping face suddenly.

"Look, girls!" she cried, pointing.

And then, without a word of signal all the girls suddenly broke out into
a song--a song Bessie had never heard before.

"Wohelo for aye, Wohelo for aye,
Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for aye;
Wohelo for work, Wohelo for health,
Wohelo, Wohelo, Wohelo for love!"

As they ended the song, all the girls, with laughing faces, followed the
eyes of their leader and looked at Bessie, who, frightened at first when
she saw that she had been discovered, now returned the look shyly. There
was something so kind, so friendly, about the manner of these strange
girls that her fear had vanished.

"Won't you come out and talk to us?" asked the leader of the crowd.

She came forward alone toward the door of the cabin, looking at Bessie
with interest.

"My name is Wanaka--that is, my Camp Fire name," said the stranger. "We
are Manasquan Camp Fire Girls, you know, and we've been camping out by
this lake. Do you live here?"

"No--not exactly, ma'am," said Bessie, still a little shy.

"Then you must be camping out, too? It's fun, isn't it? But you're not
alone, are you? Didn't I see another head peeping out?"

"That's Zara. She's my friend, and she's with me," said Bessie. "And my
name's Bessie King."

She looked curiously at Wanaka. Bessie had never heard of the Camp Fire
Girls, and the great movement they had begun, meant to do for American
girls what the Boy Scout movement had begun so well for their brothers.

"Well, won't you and Zara spend the day with us, if you are by
yourselves?" asked Wanaka. "We'll take you over to camp in the canoes,
and you can have dinner with us. We're going back now to cook