174Uncle Teddy pounded on the tom-tom. “Will somebody please tell me,” he said, “what’s the matter with you boys and girls. There’s been something going on under the surface for the last week. Just now one of you mentioned a ‘Dark of the Moon Society.’ Will whoever it is please tell?”
There was a rustle from where the girls sat and Sahwah rose to her feet. “The time has come,” she said with twinkling eyes, “for all dread secrets to be revealed. You just asked who the Dark of the Moon Society was. I’ve known for quite a while, and now I’m going to tell.”
You could have heard a pin drop and all eyes were fixed on her expectantly. “There isn’t any DARK OF THE MOON SOCIETY!” she announced. “Or rather, I’m it.”
An incredulous murmur went around the circle.
Sahwah continued. “I kidnapped Eeny-Meeny during the panic yesterday and hid her in that roll of sail cloth. The whole thing is a joke, gotten up for Katherine’s benefit. She was having such a terrible fit of blues Gladys was afraid she would never get over it unless she had something to occupy her mind, so I started this business to give her something to think about. I wrote those mysterious warning notices and posted them around the camp. When I saw what a beautiful effect it was having on Katherine I couldn’t resist the temptation to keep it up. I knew how fond she was of Eeny-Meeny and 175 decided that if anything threatened her Katherine would think of nothing else night and day. I pretended I had heard voices of the boys plotting to take Eeny-Meeny and burn her up tonight.
“That night when Katherine thought I was walking in my sleep I had been up putting a notice on Eeny-Meeny. When I saw Katherine I was afraid she would be suspicious of my being out at that hour and the only thing I could think of was to pretend that I was asleep.” Here Sahwah interrupted herself with a convulsive giggle. “And she tied a string to my foot and kept ahold of it for the rest of the night!”
“And I jumped into that tub of water thinking I was on the trail of the Dark of the Moon Society!” exclaimed Katherine, righteous wrath and amazement struggling for possession of her.
“And I destroyed three perfectly good cans of beans getting up a panic!” said Hinpoha.
“And brought down the house,” added the Captain, who had been one of those caught in the fall of the tent.
“And you mean to say,” demanded Katherine, “that those boys never intended to burn up Eeny-Meeny?”