“Oh,” gasped Migwan, trying not to laugh at him, “I thank you ever so much, but we’re not really drowning. We upset the raft on purpose.”
“Upset it on purpose!” said Calvin, in astonishment.
“Yes,” answered Migwan, “we were playing Lorelei, you know.”
Then Calvin noticed for the first time that the victims of the upset were all dressed in bathing-suits, and that they seemed to be very much at home in the water. “It looked like a dreadful smashup,” he said, “and I forgot that the river isn’t very deep here. Do you generally play such quiet games?”
“Sometimes we play much more quiet ones,” said Sahwah meaningly.
“It was too bad to frighten you so,” said Nyoda. “We’ll have to warn spectators the next time we do anything. We’ll have to have a flag that says ‘Stunt coming; look out for the splash!’ and whoever runs may read.” At this moment Hinpoha jumped from the rock, out into the middle of the stream, where it was deep, swam under water toward the bank, and came up suddenly beside Calvin so that he was quite startled.
“Say,” he said, looking around at the group of girls who were doing various astonishing things, “do you belong to the circus?”
The girls laughed at this inquiry. “Oh, no,” said Migwan, “we are only Camp Fire Girls.”
“Camp Fire Girls?” said Calvin. “I’ve heard of them, but I never knew any. Is that why you call each other by such funny names?”
“Yes,” answered Migwan, and she told him their names and their meanings.