*CHAPTER XII*
*THE CAMP FIRE*
"No, I don't need your coat. With the heat from the fire the whitescarf is sufficiently warm. I am grateful to you for making me bring italong. I don't think we had best sit still at present. You are sooverheated, it will be wiser to cool off slowly. Do you mind my takingyour arm? I am blind in the dark, blinder than most persons, andalthough this coast is chiefly sand there are a few rocks in unexpectedplaces." The girl extended her hand.
With a groan at Gill's words, Allan Drain half arose to a sittingposture.
"Don't be so sensible; I realize that it would be more intelligent totramp about until we get rid of the stiffness from our cramped positionin the boat and until I feel less like a wet blanket, yet the desire ofmy heart at present is to stretch out here by the fire and not to stirsave to put on fresh firewood."
"Poor woodsman, how long would our few sticks last?" Gill remonstrated."Be a man; if you won't come with me I shall have to go stumbling alongin the dark, picking up more driftwood until we have a supply that willlast all night. After a time we shall probably be too sleepy to exertourselves. It is rather fun, isn't it, playing Robinson Crusoe and hisman Friday, when we cannot be more than a few miles from the house andthe lagoon? At dawn we can reach home in an hour or so, but to gotramping about the island in the dark with no idea of the directionstrikes me as the height of absurdity. I am sorry you do not likesensible persons, because I do try to be sensible on occasions. Isuppose it is too much to expect of a poet. Come with me, please?"
"Did you suppose I would allow you to wander off alone, even if I ampoet, or struggle to be one?" Allan Drain demanded, feeling Gill'sslender fingers close firmly on his arm. "Do you know it never occurredto me that you and I would be friends, but after to-night I shall insistupon it, whether you like me or not. Don't dare say that I do not likesensible persons, I never liked anything better than the calm fashion inwhich you accept our dilemma, treating it as if it were rather a joke,than a disaster. Do you mind if I mention that you have not oncesuggested that there might be any gossip, or even discussion of the factthat you and I are forced to spend the night, in this--in this--well, inthis informal fashion."
Gill laughed and stumbled a little, her companion promptly assistingher.
"Of course I have thought of it, but it makes no difference. This is nospecial virtue on my part; as soon as we are able to explain, none ofthe house party will consider the subject again. Yet I believe I amcapable of going ahead in this world and doing what I think right, evenif people should talk. Perhaps I am mistaken, one really never knowsabout oneself. Isn't that a log I fell over a moment ago? If you takeone end and I the other it will burn a long time. Then in case any onecomes to look for us they can discover us by the sign of the redflower."
"Red flower? What are you talking about?" Allan Drain said irritably,feeling uninterested in further physical exertion, now that he hadlanded Gill safely on the island and had only to wait a few hours beforethey could row or walk home.
"Wait until I can tell you," Gill answered.
A few moments after, when they had carefully laid the old log, cast upon the island after voyaging upon what unknown waters, on the camp fireand stood watching the flames leap up into the night, blue, rose andgold, Gill added:
"Did you not know that in the old days our forefathers called flame, the'Red Flower'? If by any chance the tribal fire died out they wentforth, sometimes to war, to steal the 'Red Flower' from the enemy."
Allan Drain remained silent.
Glancing at him and seeing his face lit by the glow, Gill was startledby his expression.
"You can't guess what you have just done for me? Oh, it may not seem ofimportance to you, and yet I can scarcely explain how much it means tome. For months and months I have been trying to find a title for my newplay and now you have given me the perfect title: 'The Red Flower'. It'sa wonder! The theme of my play is the flame of life that burns for goodor ill in each one of us, and burns with greater beauty and purity in myheroine than in any one else.
"Forgive me, to think of my daring to talk of my play and myself (for attimes they seem the same thing) with you here in the cold and dark,waiting for morning! Shall we continue to walk, or will you rest for alittle, while I explore. It is possible I may find a more comfortableplace than this for you."
Gill sat down, resting her chin in her hand and gazing into the fire.She could hear the waves lapping against the shore of the little islandand behind her the wind rustling in the trees.
After to-night, surely she and Allan Drain must be good friends as hehad stated. In any case her former prejudice against him was vanishing.
If he were willing to believe that this night's experience canceled theinjury she had done him, the price was not severe.
Gill looked up at the stars; it must now be between two and threeo'clock in the morning. She only could hope that her Camp Fireguardian, her hostess and friends were not seriously troubled. Thisthought alone made her unhappy, although she was beginning to feel wearyand lonely now that Allan Drain had disappeared, if only for a fewmoments.
"Miss Gilchrist, Gill," she heard him calling, using her diminutive namein his excitement for the first time in their acquaintance. "I havediscovered a tiny house an eighth of a mile back from the shore, afisherman's cottage I think it must be. I have noticed one or two ofthese huts when I have tramped over the island. It isn't clean and it ispretty dark, but it is under shelter and if you will go in and rest I'llkeep guard outside until daylight."
Gill shook her head.
"Leave our fire and the stars and the outdoors? Thank you, no. We willsit here together and you won't mind if I doze now and then. See here,Mr. Drain, Allan Drain, when we met in the Adirondacks you did not likeme because you thought I was like a boy. I know it is unattractive, butto-night suppose you try to think of me as a boy, as if we were twocomrades who had met with an unexpected adventure, for which one was nomore to blame than the other, and that we were both determined to makethe best of it.
"If you don't mind sitting closer I'll lean against your shoulder a fewmoments. If I am a nuisance don't hesitate to say so."
In ten minutes Allan Drain discovered that his companion was asleep,this time in reality.
Her red-brown hair having tumbled partly down--Gill had unloosened it,so that it hung crisp and straight to her shoulders--her pallor seemedstrangely to have departed with the night's adventure, or else her skinwas warmed by the heat from the fire; her lips, irregular in shape, wereslightly parted.
An interesting face, Allan Drain concluded, if not a beautiful one, anda nature, generous and faulty, which so far was not fully awakened.Doubtless she would fight valiantly for a friend, but might prove aformidable enemy.
Gill stirred, and without being aware of the fact her companion smiled.
After the night's experience would they be enemies or friends? He hopedand intended they should be friends, as he had announced earlier in theevening.
Few girls, in his estimation, possessed the gift for friendship. Andpersonally there was no possibility of a relation deeper than friendshipin his own life for many years; whether as a physician or a writer, hehad a long and difficult road to travel before he could expect even afair amount of wealth.
Now and then during the next few hours Allan dozed. Occasionally hewould have to awaken Gill by rising and going forth in search of freshfirewood.
At dawn they both opened their eyes at the same moment.
A mist was rising from the sea, curling heavenward and scattered bylight winds.
In the sky there was an indefinite, faint glow.
Later the clouds parted and Allan recalled his reading of the Iliad andHomer's description of Apollo and his immortal horses and chariot.Almost one could see them move across the sky trailing clouds of glory.Then the colors blended and day arrived.
In the interval neither Allan nor
Gill spoke after their first goodmorning.
Finally Gill stood up, stretching out her arms, her face radiant.
"Never shall I forget the beauty of this dawn, never as long as I live.I had not thought to see the morning come up out of the ocean. I begyour pardon if I seem too enthusiastic; please remember that I was bornand brought up in Kansas and an island in the midst of the sea is almostas thrilling an experience as the sight of a new planet. Now I'lldescend to realities and go and wash my face in the salt water. Shallwe walk or row back home? I'm starving, aren't you?"
"Then what do you say to remaining an hour longer and catching fish andfrying them for breakfast? Perhaps I can find fishing tackle in the hutI stumbled into last night."
On the way to the water Gill called back over her shoulder.
"Don't tempt me, we must return as soon as possible."
"Then we will row home; it will be quicker and save the trouble ofbringing the boat in later. Besides, how much more dignified to rowcalmly up the blue lagoon than to tramp across the island!"
Gill rejoined him and was attempting to fix her hair.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but there is nothing to suggest dignity ineither one of us at present. I am judging by your appearance andguessing at my own."
"Sure you feel none the worse for the night outdoors?"
Then as she shook her head, Allan made no further comment, althoughconscious of the fact that few persons would have passed through thediscomforts of such a night and on awaking make no reference to anythingsave the beauty of the morning.
There were a number of other circumstances Allan felt he would like tomention--the soreness of his arms and back, the stiffness of his legs, ageneral shiveriness and a sensation of not having been to sleep in ages.Yet in the face of Gill's better sporting instinct he declined tocomplain. The freshness and splendor of the dawn had brought a physicalas well as spiritual exaltation.
Landing at the accustomed place in less than an hour, as they approachedthe old house no one appeared to be stirring except the birds in theeaves.
"Do you suppose by some good fortune no one has missed us? One scarcelyknows whether to be pleased or chagrined. At least I shall awakenBettina and recount our adventure. Good-by, I shall try to sleep mostof the day and see you to-night I hope."
As Gill nodded her farewell, Allan left her at the door of the big houseand went on to one of the cabins nearby, which was at present occupiedby the half dozen masculine guests.
By this time it was approaching six o'clock and Gill discovered that oneof the maids had unlocked the front door. Going in, she went directlyto Bettina's room. When there was no immediate answer to her knock shewalked quietly in.
Bettina sat up in bed, looking like a princess in a fairy tale with hertwo long braids of light hair falling over her shoulders and hernightdress of silk and lace. Notwithstanding Bettina's ideas of serviceand devotion to the less fortunate, her mother insisted, and Bettina wasnot unwilling, that she wear beautiful clothes. As her mother boughtthe clothes and gave them to her, Bettina had no alternative.
"Gill, what _is_ the matter? Are you ill, do you need anything? Whyyou are dressed in the same frock that you wore last night at thedance."
Bettina rubbed her eyes, becoming more aware of her surroundings, asGill stood laughing and gazing down upon her.
"So this is what it means to be shipwrecked and spend the night on anisland in the society of a poet? One returns to find one never has beenmissed."
"Sit down, Gill, and talk sensibly. Shipwrecked? Island? Are you stilldreaming? Did you not go up to your room last night before the dance wasover and retire before the rest of us? When I found you had vanished,Sally told me that you had said you were tired and that no one was topay any attention to you if you disappeared."
"Yes, I did tell Sally that and was about to depart when Allan Drainasked me to go for a walk with him. Afterwards we went to row for ahalf hour on the lagoon, managed to slip into the bay and, when the tideturned, were carried farther out. We discovered the island, but not theblue lagoon and were forced to wait until daylight. I am sorry, Irealized when it was too late that I should not have gone, but tried tomake the best of it and to accept the situation in a matter-of-factfashion. I am going to bed now. Will you explain to your mother andMrs. Burton that I'll go into the details of our adventure when I am notso tired. At least the thing I feared did not occur, you were notfrightened and did not believe the water had swallowed us up."