The girls stood in silent guilt, wondering how to respond.
Miss Rebecca laughed. “I’ll tell you what, girls. I don’t even want to know what you’ve been up to. But I want you all to march right back into your rooms and get some clean clothes on. Come with me.”
Sydney began speaking loudly, hoping that Elizabeth and Kate, still inside the room, would hear. “Yes, Miss Rebecca! We’ll go inside this very minute to change our clothes! We are coming inside right now!”
The girls stood in front of their door, none of them wanting to open it while Miss Rebecca was with them. The counselor, with an expression of confused amusement, stepped forward and opened the door herself.
As the door groaned open, Kate and Elizabeth stood there innocently, ready to head out the door. “Oh, hello everyone! We were just leaving. See you all later!” Elizabeth called as she and Kate left the room. The counselor just shook her head and continued down the hall. The girls all sighed in relief that she didn’t notice what the rest of them saw clearly. The backpack draped over Elizabeth’s shoulders was moving.
The four girls quickly changed their clothes and hurried to their next classes.
The next few days passed in a whirlwind of camping activity and Biscuit training. Before long, the young dog knew how to sit, stay, fetch, and roll over. The girls learned that as long as he wasn’t left alone, he wouldn’t howl. But keeping him with someone at all times was becoming more and more difficult.
“I have an idea,” said Bailey one evening as the girls prepared for bed. “I’ve visited the golf course several times a day to practice, and I haven’t seen Mr. Gerhardt there since that first day. But every time I go, I see new places where someone has been digging. He must dig at night.…Anyway, why don’t we leave Biscuit at the golf course during the day? It’s far enough away from the camp that if he howls no one will think anything of it.”
“That’s a great idea, Bailey!” said Elizabeth, combing out her blond tresses. “That would sure make things easier. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve had some pretty close calls with the little guy.”
“Me too!” said the other five girls.
“Hmm…” Alex fluffed her pillow and crawled under her covers. “I wonder why the Grouch has disappeared during the day. And why in the world would he dig at night?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” said Bailey. “I kind of like having the golf course to myself. I stay away from him, he stays away from me, and everything’s good.”
The girls turned the light out and stopped talking, until Bailey broke the silence. “But then, there are still those noises.”
Sydney sat up, flipped on the lamp by her bed, and asked, “Noises?”
Bailey covered her eyes with the pillow and said, “Turn that thing off!”
“Bailey, what noises?” McKenzie asked.
Bailey rubbed her eyes. “Well, there’s that weird laughing thing that happened on the first day. And sometimes I hear moans and howls and a deep, low growly thing.”
The other girls were wide-awake. “Bailey, what are you talking about? Why on earth would you keep going down there?” Elizabeth asked her.
“Well, the first couple of times it happened, it scared me. Good thing I had my inhaler with me! But I finally figured out that it must just be the golf course. Those noises are wired up somehow—probably to make the course more interesting. They don’t even bother me anymore.”
Alex dangled her feet from her bunk and asked, “Do you hear the noises every time?”
“No,” Bailey answered. “A couple of times I’ve been there and nothing has happened. But I think the digging must have tripped a wire or something.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Kate.
“Because every time I go near a hole, I hear one of those freaky noises. As long as I stay clear of the holes, everything stays quiet.”
The girls thought about that for a moment, and then Alex piped up. “I remember an episode of Scooby-Doo where—”
The other five moaned, and Kate threw her pillow at the pretty brunette. “Not again, Alex! You and your Hollywood mystery solving…”
“Seriously, you guys! Listen to me! In one episode…actually, in several episodes, there were these spooky noises! They almost always turn out to be someone hiding and making the noises go off when the characters are close to solving the mystery! The noises are a fear tactic. Whoever is causing them doesn’t want Bailey near those holes!”
The room grew silent as each girl digested Alex’s information. Once again, Bailey broke the silence. “Well, that’s just great. I was getting used to the noises. Now I’m going to have to use my inhaler again.”
“You could just stay away from the golf course,” Elizabeth told her.
“Are you kidding? I have to practice my strokes! You’ll be glad too when I’m rich and famous. You’ll be able to say, ‘I knew her when…’”
The girls laughed, and Sydney turned off the lamp. “We’d better get some sleep,” she said. “We’ll talk about this more in the morning.”
Early the next morning, before the trumpet wake-up call, Alex sat up in bed. “I have a great idea!” she called to her roommates.
The girls groaned and moaned, but Alex didn’t let that stop her. She hopped out of bed and continued chattering. “We can attach Kate’s tiny recorder to Biscuit’s collar, and we’ll leave him at the golf course. Then, we can hear the noises Bailey told us about. If they go on and off all day, we’ll know they’re just random. But if they only sound when people are there, we’ll know someone is making them go off.”
“Yes, but what if it’s Bailey making them go off? What if she’s just accidentally stepping on something?” asked Sydney.
“We’ll figure that out later. First, let’s just find out if they happen all the time or just when people are around,” Alex told her.
“Uh, guys, you’re forgetting one thing.” Everyone looked at Kate, who was still in bed. Her muffled voice came from under the covers. “If we leave Biscuit alone at the golf course, he will howl all day. That’s all we will hear.”
Alex sighed. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that.”
The conversation was interrupted by the wretched trumpet music, and the rest of the girls began crawling from their beds. When the song ended, Elizabeth spoke. “We could try it anyway. Maybe we’ll hear something in the background, even over Biscuit’s howling. It can’t hurt to try.”
Hearing his name, the puppy poked his head from beneath the covers at Kate’s feet and barked.
“Come on, boy. I’ll take you outside.” Elizabeth scooped up the small dog and tucked him into the folds of her robe. She carried him outside, behind the small cabin, and waited for him to do his business. Biscuit had just disappeared behind some trees when she was startled by a voice behind her.
“Elizabeth, what are you doing out here?” Mr. Anzer called from the road. He was making his morning golf-cart drive through the camp.
“Oh! Mr. Anzer, you startled me! I was, uh…I was just out enjoying the sunrise!” Elizabeth smiled at her old friend.
Mr. Anzer gave her a puzzled look. “Elizabeth, how many years have you come to this camp?”
“This is my third year, sir.”
“Then you should know that the sun rises in the east. You are facing west.”
Elizabeth giggled nervously. “Oh, I guess that’s why I missed it. I never was very good with directions.”
Mr. Anzer shook his head, waved goodbye, and drove away. The girl breathed a sigh of relief and scooped up the puppy, who was now at her feet. “Biscuit, you are a lot of trouble, you know that?” she scolded the dog, then kissed him on his cold, wet nose. “But I suppose you’re worth it.”
The girls hurried to the old golf course before breakfast. When they arrived there, Kate knelt to check Biscuit’s collar. “The recorder is attached securely, and…there. I turned it on. So now, we’ll just wait and see what happens.” She gave the little dog one last hug, placed him inside the gate, and closed the latch.
Sydney and Alex jogged around the course to make sure no other gates were open. When they were convinced that all was secure, they called goodbye to the little dog, who had retrieved a golf club and sat expectantly wagging his tail. When the girls turned to walk away, his tail sank. He dropped the golf club, gazed after them with sad eyes, and began howling.
“Just keep walking,” said Elizabeth as Kate and Bailey paused. “Going back will just make it harder.”
“This is breaking my heart,” said McKenzie, trying not to turn around. Somehow, they ignored the dog’s soulful cries and kept walking to the dining hall.
As the six roommates stepped into line, they were rudely pushed aside by Amberlie and her crew. “Pardon me, excuse me, step aside, please,” said Amberlie in a commanding voice. “Make way for the Princess Pack. We won the clean cabin award yesterday, so we go first. Move out of the way.”
Elizabeth stifled a laugh, Bailey let out an exasperated moan, and Sydney tried to keep from rolling her eyes. “Oh my, my,” said Sydney. “The Princess Pack? We cannot, and I repeat, cannot let Amberlie win this competition. What are those counselors thinking, awarding her more points than the rest of us?”
“Don’t worry, we can catch up,” Elizabeth told her friends. “So far, the only real points awarded are for clean cabins. Let’s just make sure ours is really clean today. But first we need to come up with a team name.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Bailey. “I think it should have something to do with the fact that we’re at camp.”
“Let’s make it a name to reveal that we are members of an elite group,” said Alex.
“How about the Discovery Lake Discoverers?” suggested McKenzie. “No, it’s too much of a tongue twister.”
“I think we should keep it simple,” said Elizabeth. “Something easy for everyone to remember.”
“So…we want to have a camp club, or something like that,” said Kate.
“I’ve got it!” said Bailey. “We can be the Camp Club Girls!”
“I like it! It’s simple and to the point,” said Sydney.
“Very well then. We are the Camp Club Girls!” said Elizabeth, and the group let out a cheer.
After breakfast, the Camp Club Girls hurried back to their cabin and cleaned it to a high shine. “I love Biscuit, but he sure is messy! It’s a lot easier to clean without him dragging everybody’s socks out!” said McKenzie.
“Tell me about it! He thinks my panda is an intruder! Every time I take it off my bed to make it up, he attacks it!” said Bailey.
“We need to decide who will compete in which camp event,” Elizabeth told them. “McKenzie is the natural choice for horseback riding. We’ll also need a team for the canoe races and someone to compete in the nature studies quiz. And, of course, the talent competition.”
The girls talked at once, discussing who wanted to do what.
“Kate, why don’t you do the nature studies quiz, and I’ll do the scripture memory competition,” Elizabeth suggested as she helped Bailey straighten the covers on her bed.
“I think this competition is in the bag!” exclaimed Bailey, heaving her giant panda back onto her bed.
“I do think we have a good chance, but it will be tough. Amberlie seems pretty competitive. She really wants to win,” McKenzie told her friends.
“She can want it all she wants,” said Sydney, “but we want it more. And we’re gonna win!”
Kate left her nature studies class, pressing past campers returning to their cabins. When she was halfway to the golf course, Elizabeth caught up with her.
“I’ll bet I know where you’re headed,” said the fourteen-year-old.
Kate sighed. “I feel guilty about leaving Biscuit alone. But I know it’s best this way. I’ve just never had a pet before. I wish I could talk Mom and Dad into letting me keep Biscuit.”
Elizabeth smiled. “‘Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,’ Psalm 37:4. That’s today’s Discovery verse. I guess you could say that a dog is one of the desires of your heart.”
“Yes, it is. I guess I’ll have to think more about that verse. Maybe there is hope, after all,” Kate responded. “Come on, let’s go. I miss Biscuit!”
They jogged the rest of the way to the golf course. As they approached, they heard the low, mournful howls that told them two things: Biscuit was safe, and Biscuit was very, very sad.
The little dog lunged at Kate, nearly knocking her to the ground as soon as she slipped inside the gate. “Biscuit!” she exclaimed. “I’ve missed you too, boy! I’m sad when we’re apart!”
The dog attacked her with slobbery kisses and muddy paws.
“Hey! Stop that!” Kate laughed at the dog’s enthusiasm.
Elizabeth smiled at the girl and dog who were so in love with each other. “Boy, that bath didn’t last very long,” she said. “Now be still, Biscuit, and let us listen to your collar.”
Alex and Bailey returned from their crafts class, each holding a small wooden treasure box. Bailey’s sparkled with glitter and plastic jewels, while Alex’s was painted with bold stripes. Arriving at their room, they stopped. They stared. Then the girls jumped up and down, cheering.
A cardboard trophy with the glittered words CLEAN DORM WINNER—25 POINTS hung on their door.
“We won!” The two girls squealed.
That is how Kate and Elizabeth found their two friends moments later. They had run all the way from the golf course, and now they were panting. “Girls, listen…”
Kate stopped and fell onto her bed, trying to catch her breath. Holding up the small recorder, she said, “Listen.”
They were interrupted by Sydney and McKenzie, who had seen the trophy on their way in the door.
“Hey, cool! We won! Now, unless Amberlie can rack up some serious character points, we’ll be first in line all day tomorrow,” said McKenzie with a grin.
“I can’t wait to see Amberlie’s face when we pass her,” Sydney said.
“Well, don’t act too smug. The Princess Pack is still way ahead of us in overall points. Remember, they’ve won three days in a row! We still have some serious catching up to do,” said Elizabeth.
Kate, now recuperated from her run, waved her arms. “Guys,” she called out. “I think this is more important than standing first in line. Listen to what was on Biscuit’s recorder!”
The girls gathered around Kate’s bed and leaned in to hear the tiny device.
“Sounds like howling, just like you said,” McKenzie told her.
“Shhhh! Just listen.”
The girls strained to hear something, anything, over Biscuit’s desperate howling. Then, after about thirty seconds, the howling stopped.