“I believe almost everyone who was here to-night bought a box of candy,” she said solemnly as she finished with a heap of nickels and marked down the amount they made on a slip of paper. “We’ve taken in——” She hurriedly calculated the joint receipts. “Would you believe it? I have one hundred and two dollars here. If we keep on like this we won’t have enough candy to last us over to-morrow night.”
“It’s pretty much the same in all the booths. You folks are quite a little ahead of the others, though. You’re the original candy kid, Marjorie. That’s not slang. It’s a compliment.”
“It sounds like both,” laughed Marjorie. “Wasn’t the revue fine, Jerry? Did you ever before see anyone dance like Ronny. She’s a marvel. Not that I liked her dancing a bit better than Connie’s singing,” she added loyally, “but it was so entirely different from anything we’ve ever had at a show. She told me to-night that she made up both those dances herself.”
“She gets curiouser and curiouser,” commented Jerry. “One who didn’t know could never be made to believe that such a gorgeous person was working her way through high school. What puzzles me most is where—— I guess I won’t say it. I’m a Lookout.”
“I know what you mean. I thought of it, too. It’s her own affair. We mustn’t discuss it, or her, either.” Marjorie was equally bent on loyalty.
“There’s something I’ve just got to say, though,” declared Jerry. “Mignon behaved a lot better about the lemonade bowl than I thought. She asked me to change the location of it. Of course I said ‘no.’ She looked pretty stormy for a minute, then she said, ‘Have it your own way,’ and walked off, shrugging her shoulders. I expected she’d make a fuss, and for once she gave me a pleasant surprise. I hope she behaves like a reasonable human being during the other two nights of the Campfire.”
It was on Marjorie’s tongue to relate to Jerry what Mignon had said in the dressing room. Considering it in the light of gossip she refrained from repeating it. She hastened to agree with Jerry that she also hoped for the best regarding Mignon and let the subject drop.
Friday saw the Lookouts and the Guards early at the Armory, hard at work preparing for the rush they trusted that evening would bring. There was much to be done and they spent the day in indefatigable toil, going home only long enough to snatch a hasty luncheon before returning to their tasks. The program of the revue was to remain the same save for a change of songs on the part of the vocalists. There were to be no addresses, however, as on the opening night.
Their painstaking preparations were again rewarded by a crowd of pleasure seekers almost as large as that of the previous evening. Again everything slid gaily along as though on invisible wheels. Midnight again ushered in the counting of large gains. Saturday proved an equally busy day. The youthful promoters of the Campfire were troubled only by the alarming possibility that their wares were sure to give out long before the evening was over. They decided wisely to sell out every last article of which the merchant booths boasted and let the dancing and amusement booths do the rest.
Despite the work of the Campfire, the day nursery received its afternoon quota of two Lookouts. It was an obligation which had to be met, Campfire or no Campfire. Even Mignon La Salle, when asked if she would do duty Saturday afternoon, acquiesced without a murmur, taking care to inquire of Irma Linton, however, before committing herself, as to who would be her partner in the enterprise. Her thoughts centered on the Campfire, Irma had consulted her book and replied absently, “Lucy Warner.” Nor did she note the peculiar gleam in the French girl’s eyes as she answered suavely, “Very well, you may count on me to go with her.”