âGirl Pi-o-neers! Now give a cheer! For our hostess so kind and dear! Girl Pi-o-neers! again we cheer, This time for Miss Nita, the dear!â
As the cheering ceased Mrs. Van Vorst stood again, and in a few words declared she felt impelled to say that the Pioneers should be very proud of a young lady in their group who had so ably helped her in the arrangements and the getting up of the afternoonâs festivity. She would mention no namesâNathalieâs face was a full-blown roseâas they all knew to whom she referred, but she would like it known that the invitation to the Lake had been given not only to furnish pleasure to the Pioneers, but in appreciation of the great kindness, sympathy, and aid that had been given to her daughter and herself by that same Pioneer, a kindness that she would always remember.
The girls, laughing and talking about the pleasure of the _Kraeg_, of the joys and the future held in store for them at camp, now returned to the sitting room. Here they were greeted with another surprise in the shape of a huge, unwieldy figure in baggy knee-breeches, full skirted coat, wide-brimmed hat and long white beard and locks, whom Mrs. Van Vorst presented as Father Knickerbocker, although several declared that he was the exact counterpart of the famous pictures of Rip Van Winkle.
Whomever he personated was a matter of indifference to the girls as long as his identity was concealed, which was ably done behind a red-checked mask, through the eye-holes of which two eyes glinted humorously in merry jest or pleasantry as he joined the girls in a game of quoits or a game of nine-pins which Peter had arranged on an old billiard table.
As Nathalie and Helen were doing their best to beat this strange antagonist, and at the same time to provoke him to speechâas he would persist in playing he was deaf and dumbâPeter led in an old darkey who, with fiddle in hand, was soon squeaking away to the delight of the girls. In a few moments old-time melodies were heard, and they went flying over the floor in waltz, schottische, polka, and in many of the long-forgotten dances.
When the dancing began the mysterious guest was seen to edge towards the door, but Nathalie and Helen were too quick for him, and in a moment he was surrounded by a bevy of girls, each one begging him to dance the Virginia reel with her. Even these many honors failed to loosen the strings of his tongue, but Nathalie did not despair.