“Here we are! Let’s give the camp yell,” suggested Nancy. And once again the newcomer’s ears were deafened by the strange cry, “Heia! Hoia! Together! Round Robin!”
There was a high answering call; and down the slip came hurrying a tall, sweet-faced woman in a blue dress and big apron, followed by two little capering boys. The terrier pup could not wait another minute, but leaped out of the boat and ran to greet the children, barking noisily as if trying to tell them about his wonderful trip to the Harbor to meet the Stranger.
The woman, whom everyone called “Tante,” came straight to Anne and took her cordially by both hands. “Welcome to Round Robin, Anne,” she said. “I am very glad to see you. These are my Twins, Eddie and Freddie. Shake hands, boys.”
The Twins stared at Anne with unfeigned interest. “Yes, her hair is a sort of gold—” began Freddie. But Dick interrupted further comment on the Golden Girl by grabbing him up bodily and racing off, followed by Eddie and Doughboy in a tandem.
“I hope you will like our camp, Dear,” said Mrs. Batchelder, as they followed the girls up the path, leaving the young men to bring the luggage. “We have very happy times here together. Though you have never camped before, you will soon get used to the queerness, I am sure.”
There was something so motherly and kind in her manner that a lump came in Anne’s throat. She turned abruptly, in what seemed a sulky way, and said nothing.
“I t’ink s’e is not pleasant, non?” whispered Gilda to Norma. And the latter shrugged her shoulders. “I’m glad she is not my tentmate,” she remarked. “But Beverly can get along with her, if anyone can.”
The pretty path led to a quaint cabin made of rough logs, such as the Pilgrims built in Plymouth when they first landed. There was a broad piazza, however, which those busy Pilgrims would have had no time to enjoy. On it were Gloucester hammocks, rough-finished chairs, and a table which Dick had made. “This is Round Robin,” said Tante, “where we meet to eat and work and dance and spend rainy hours. A real round robin himself has a nest in the top of that spruce tree. And the Twins and I have our nests upstairs. But I am sure you will like sleeping in a tent, Anne. The boys have pitched their tents down that path about fifty rods away, beside their favorite swimming place. That is where Dick does his studying every morning. Now, Beverly, I will turn Anne over to your Southern hospitality. You will make her feel at home as soon as possible, I know.”
The other girls had already disappeared on various errands. “This way to the Fairy Ring!” drawled Beverly, with her pretty smile. “That is what Nancy calls our tent circle. They do look rather like brown mushrooms, don’t they? Do you-all like mushrooms? We are beginning to find lovely ones in the woods.”
“Toadstools!” Anne exclaimed in disgust. “I’m afraid of the nasty things. Of course, I like the ones we get in the city,” she qualified, remembering.