Maud’s mother looked both surprised and confused. The lady continued, as though she noted her not. “You will find the camps about the lake quite as entertaining as Saratoga’s Floral Fête, or indeed any fashionable watering-place amusement.”
“Camps? I don’t quite understand,” Maud’s mother remarked, with a touch of bitterness in her tone, for the darkening wood about, now that night was coming fast, made her slow to relent. It was strange she had chosen to come to such a spot.
“I think one has to visit these camps to understand,” the lady explained. “But you will always find them hospitable, furnishing afternoon tea every day you care to call. And some days there are special fêtes, full of pleasant surprises, when amusements such as the thimble game and proverbs are played, at which prizes are sometimes offered as an added incentive. Last season the hostess of one of the camps gave a children’s party. There happened to be a few here that year, for children are a rarity in the Adirondacks. Of course their parents, uncles, aunts and cousins came, too. That entertainment has been talked about ever since. The party opened with the wild flower hunt. Small bouquets had been hidden among the balsam boughs, low enough for the little ones to reach; others were behind bushes or rocks. These bouquets were made up of clover, daisies and wild roses. Whichever child found the most wild roses received a prize.
“This amusement was followed by the hunt for Cinderella’s Slipper. The successful one at this game also received a prize. After this, the hostess invited all the children into the balsam-covered lean-to, and told them a story about the old man of Humbug Mountain. Humbug Mountain towers just behind, you notice the tallest mountain over there, don’t you?” and the lady motioned to the left, as they faced the lake.
“Yes, but what has reddened the trees so? Why, mother, did you ever see anything as beautiful?” and while pronouncing the word “beautiful,” Maud’s countenance was full of delight.
“That is the afterglow,” the lady replied, but not waiting for further remark, she continued: “I was telling you about the old man of Humbug Mountain. The hostess explained to the children that sometimes he visited her camp, and when he did so he whistled, and that if he should whistle that afternoon, she would take the children back of the lean-to to see him. At that very moment a whistle clear and shrill was heard, and the children, already enamoured with the story, could scarcely be sufficiently restrained to allow the hostess to proceed. When the laughing, curious children ran behind the lean-to, sure enough, as had been promised, there was an old man. He was standing on a table. It was a dwarf skilfully arranged by two people.”
“Oh that was it?” Maud interrupted, for she had listened intently, and was apparently as eager to discover the identity of the old man of Humbug Mountain, as had been the children of the party, and then she added: “I happen to know about that, for I was part of a dwarf once,” and with a wise little shake of her head explained, “It is arranged by two people.”
“Yes, and is it not capital?”
“Fine, when it is well done,” and Maud who was already feeling at home with her companion, added: “And of course the dwarf from the mountain would be well done.”
“Indeed he was. He told short, witty stories, laughed, danced and capered to the children’s great delight. They would clap their hands for joy. It was a rare sight for the grown-ups to watch the color come and go in their expressive faces, their fluffy curls and tangle of waves and braids tumbling about as the little girls shook with laughter, and some of the boys were even more amusing than the girls, because they looked so earnest, even solemn, in their efforts to find an explanation for the old man. One little chap said he would get his father to carry his rifle now all the time, because they might meet the old man sometimes when he wouldn’t feel as jolly, and what then? In fact he was about certain he had seen the old man one day stealing away behind a big stump, and even some of the children laughed when he explained: ‘It was the very same day, that I almost saw a black bear. I could hear him growl. I tell you I ran! Like as not there was a fox too, or a wild cat?”