In half an hour they had explored and pronounced safe as large a bathing place as their supply of rope would “fence in” and then began the “fencing” process. They cut several stout stakes six feet long and took them to the water’s edge. Then the three girls in bathing suits assumed their new duty as water pile-drivers. They took one of the stakes at a time to a point along the proposed boundary line of the bathing place, also a heavy mallet that had been brought along for this purpose. A wooden mallet, by the way, was much more serviceable than a hatchet for such work, inasmuch as, if dropped, it would not sink, and moreover, it could be wielded with much less danger of injury to any of those working together in the water.
The first stake was taken to the northwest corner of the proposed inclosure. Katherine, who carried the mallet, gave it to Estelle and then climbed to a sitting posture on the latter’s shoulders. Then Azalia stood the stake on its sharpened end and Katherine took hold of it with one hand and began to drive down on the upper end with the mallet, which Estelle handed back to her.
It was hard work for several reasons—hard for Estelle to maintain a steady and firm posture under the moving weight, hard for Katherine to wield the mallet with unerring strokes, hard to force the sharpened point into the well-packed bed of the lake. Katherine’s right arm became very tired before she had driven the stake deep enough to insure a reasonable degree of firmness. While this task was being performed, the girls were still protected against the danger of being swept into deeper water by the ropes looped around their waists and held at the other ends by some of the girls on the sandy beach.
After this stake had been set firmly into the river bed, the girls returned to the shore and got another. This they took to another position about the same distance from the beach as the first one and drove it into the hardened loam under the water. The same process was continued until six such stakes had been driven.
Then they took up the work of extending rope from stake to stake and completing the inclosure. The sags were supported by buoys of light wood tied to the rope, the two extreme ends of which were attached to stakes driven into the shore close to the water.
“There, that is what I call a pretty good job,” declared Miss Ladd gazing with proud satisfaction upon the result of more than three hours’ steady work. “Whenever you girls come out here to go bathing, you will be well warranted in assuming that you have earned your plunge.”
All the girls by this time had their bathing suits on, but most of them were too tired to remain in the water any longer; so, by common consent, all adjourned to the camp to rest until suppertime.
“Well, it appears that our activities have not yet aroused any special interest in the Graham household,” Hazel Edwards observed as they began their march back toward the sheltered group of tents.
“I’m not so certain of that,” Miss Ladd replied.
“Why not?” Katherine inquired, while several of the girls who were near looked curiously at the Guardian.