Tommy regarded the slender looking buck-board apprehensively.

"Buthter better walk," she decided. "The wagon won't hold her."

"Now, now, Tommy, do stop teasing Buster. If the wagon goes down Margery will go down with it," answered Harriet laughingly.

"And she will fall a great deal harder than will you," added Miss Elting, at which there was a merry laugh.

It was late in the afternoon when they finally climbed into the buck-board which sagged in the middle until all the girls began to grow apprehensive.

They started away along a country road a gay party, indeed, but Harriet noted that horse and driver were not well matched. The horse she could plainly see was young and fractious, and she wondered what the old man would do should the animal prove unmanageable. Their driver, however, appeared to have perfect control over the animal, so Harriet dismissed the disturbing thought from her mind and prepared to enjoy the ride.

The drive to the camp was fully twenty miles. Having come by train they had covered nearly twice the distance that would have been necessary had they driven direct from Meadow-Brook. The fields through which they were driving were green, the air was fresh and fragrant after a shower that had fallen earlier in the day and the girls in the buck-board wagon were in high spirits.

"I'll tell you what, girls," cried Harriet after they had sung all the songs they knew and discussed the country through which they were passing until the latter subject had been worn out. "I'll tell you what we ought to have."

"Ith it thomething nithe?" questioned Grace.

"It is a yell, Tommy."

"A yell? I can yell."

"I don't mean it in that way. Something like a high school or a college yell. We are the Meadow-Brook Girls, you know. We have a name, now we must have a yell."

"Oh, Mith Elting, give uth a yell, a loud one," urged Tommy, her eyes sparkling.

Miss Elting smiled tolerantly.

"You had better arrange one to suit yourselves," she answered. "Harriet, you will have to provide the yell now that you have suggested it."

Harriet already had a pencil in her hand. She sat holding the pencil poised above the fly leaf of a book that she had brought along to read, but had not up to this moment, so much as opened. Her brow was wrinkled in thought. Tommy was regarding her keenly.

"Well, aren't you going to yell!"

All at once Harriet's face relaxed. She began to write. Margery craned her neck to see what was being written, but Harriet held the cover of the book in such a position that Buster could not see what was being jotted down.

"It isn't polite to look over another person's shoulder in that way,"

reproved Hazel.

"Well, you wouldn't exthpect Buthter to be polite when she ith away from home, would you?" demanded Grace.

"I have it," announced Harriet. "Listen, girls and see how you like this:

"'Rah, rah, rah, Rah, rah, rah Meadow-Brook, Meadow-Brook, Sis, boom ah!'"

"What do you think of that, girls? Isn't that simply fine?" cried Miss Elting enthusiastically. But her voice was lost in the chorus that welled forth from the throats of the Meadow-Brook Girls, who had taken up the yell with a will. Tommy's "thith boom ah!" at the end of the yell sent not only the girls, but Miss Elting as well into peals of merry laughter.

Jasper never smiled. He stroked his long whiskers reflectively. Harriet who occupied the seat beside him, stole a glance at the old man out of the corner of one eye.

"I suppose you are used to girls, aren't you!" she asked.

"Ya-a-a-s," drawled Jasper then relapsed into silence. The girls promptly broke the silence again by giving the Meadow-Brook yell. They continued to give it until their throats ached. Now and then three of them would stop short of the last line in order to catch more clearly Tommy's "thith boom ah!" which always sent them into screams of laughter. Finally Tommy became angry and refused to yell. But the little lisping girl was like an April day. Her frowns of displeasure were replaced by smiles within a very few minutes. The girls had learned not to take Grace's fits of temper seriously. When she became ruffled, they simply left her to herself for a few moments well knowing that the clouds would soon pass and the sun shine again.

"There are the woods! Oh, girls, look at them," cried Harriet. The wagon had reached the top of a high knoll in the road, when below them was revealed the dark blue of a forest that stretched straight ahead and to the right and left as far as the eye could reach.

"Yes, that is Pocono Woods," Miss Elting informed them. "Are they large enough to suit you?"

"What would we do if we were to get lost in there?" gasped Margery.

"I know what I'd do," piped Tommy. "I'd yell like thixthty."

"You are likely to do that even though you are not lost," chuckled the guardian.

"How far into the woods do we go?" wondered Harriet.

"'Bout ten mile, I reckon," answered Jasper.

"Ten miles? Listen to that, girls. Oh, isn't it perfectly splendid?"

exclaimed Harriet. "I never dreamed that I should have such a glorious vacation as this is going to be. How many girls are there in camp, Miss Elting?"

"Forty or fifty I should say. I do not know the exact number. You will find a happy lot of young women. Are you hungry?"

There was a general assent to the question.

Miss Elting produced a small hamper in which were sandwiches, cold tea, milk and fruit. It was a delightful surprise to the girls. They showed their further appreciation by eating every crumb of the luncheon, while Jasper contented himself with nibbling at a single sandwich which he held in one hand, driving the young horse with the other.

In this way they drove into the forest, entered the cool dark shadows of the big woods, and were greeted with a chorus of piping twitters from hundreds of forest birds, varied now and then by the hoarse caw of a distant crow whose voice perhaps had started the woodland chorus. The fragrance of the woods mingled delightfully with the perfume of the wild honey-suckle. The Meadow-Brook Girls fell silent under the majesty of the forest. Tommy was the first to break the spell.

"Thith ith a thpooky old plathe," she declared with a shiver. "Oh, Mr.

Jathper, are there any fairieth in thethe woodth?"

"Any what?"

"Fairies," explained Harriet, smiling absently.

"Never seen none," answered the old man gruffly.

"Isn't it simply glorious?" breathed Hazel.

"It is too wonderful for words," agreed Harriet.

Miss Elting nodded, smiling happily at the enthusiasm of the girls. The wagon was following an old logging road. Small bushes grew up in the middle of the road. The wheels sank down into deep ruts that had been cut by the tires of the heavy logging wagons, but in general the way was free of obstructions, though the bushes in the road tickled the hide of the young horse until he began to prance from one side of the road to the other in an effort to avoid them. Harriet wanted to suggest to Jasper that he use both hands to drive, but she did not quite like to do so. He undoubtedly would resent her interference, nor could she blame him for doing so.

"Jasper, are you sure the horse is perfectly safe?" questioned Miss Elting apprehensively.

"Hasn't been doing nothing for nigh onto a week. Jest feels his oats, that's all."

Harriet was not fully satisfied with the explanation, though the others appeared to be. Harriet watched the animal now even more closely than she had done before.

"Gid-ap!" commanded Jasper, giving the horse an unexpected slap with the reins after a particularly quick swerve to one side of the road on the animal's part. The horse cleared the road with a single leap sideways. He had been pricked by the sharp top of a bush at the instant the reins were brought down on his back. The reins not being under the full control of the driver at that moment, the animal took advantage of the fact and shying clear out of the narrow road, plunged in among the trees in a panic of fear.