Silent figures took their places, sitting on the ground,
curling their feet underneath them, speaking no words, waiting for the
flame that would open the Wau-Wau council. At last all were seated.
From among the number there stepped forward a dark figure who halted
before the pile of dry wood, then, stooping, began rubbing two sticks
together, while the circle of Camp Girls chanted:
"Flicker, flicker, flicker, flame;
Burn, fire, burn!"
A tiny blaze sprang from the two sticks, then the chant rose higher
and higher, figures rose up, swaying their bodies from side to side in
unison as the blaze grew into a flame and the flame into a roaring
fire, the tongues of which reached almost to the tops of the slender
trees that surrounded the camp of the Wau-Wau Girls.
"I light the light of health for Wau-Wau," announced the firemaker,
turning her back to the flames and facing part of the circle of
expectant faces on which the lights and shadows from the fire were
playing weirdly.
This completed the opening ceremony. The council fire was in order,
the purpose of the meeting would soon be explained, thus relieving the
curiosity of some fifty girls who were burning to know what it was all
about. Not the least curious of these was Tommy Thompson.
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