CHAPTER XX.

TWELVE GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS.


Ethel Zimmerman and Ernestine Johnson fainted. All of the rest of the
twelve girls who had been decoyed into the Buchholz house by the
"sympathetic Mrs. Eddy" were thrown into a panic. And the terror of
the situation was not mollified in the least by the sudden appearance
on the scene of five men.

Where the men came from so suddenly was not at all clear. Undoubtedly
they had been hidden somewhere, but that place could not be
determined, for none of the girls remembered from what direction they
had made their appearance, north, south, east, west, up, or down. They
were just there, and that was all there was to it.

The men did not look like ruffians exactly, although they were not
clad in "gentlemen's clothes." The girls were huddled together in the
dark scantily-furnished front room, which at some time probably had
served the purpose of a combined parlor and reception room. The next
apartment, probably designed as a living room, was lighted by a single
gas jet turned low.

Ethel and Ernestine fainted in the midst of the address of warning and
command from the spokesman of the plotters. This was a signal for a
rally to their aid on the part of the other Camp Fire Girls best
gifted with presence of mind. Marion led this move, and was quickly
assisted by Ruth Hazelton, Julietta Hyde, and Marie Crismore. No
objection was offered by the men to this proceeding, as they were