Danny left Sophie’s chair and scooted over to sit on his mother’s lap.
Sophie tried to calm Ginette, “It’s just Miss Rosy and Miss Bonny. They’re pretending.”
But Ginette gaped with huge eyes at the two counsellors. She cringed in her chair behind Margaret. Sophie was about to try to reassure her, but the two counsellors began running around in a panic and screaming.
“Oh, help us!” Miss Rosy shouted. “You’ve got to save us!” She flailed her arms.
“Save you? Save you from what?” Miss Bottomly asked, a look of grave concern on her face.
Ginette appeared to grow smaller as she slumped even lower.
“They’re all after us!” Miss Bonny exclaimed. “They’ll catch us! They want our map! They’re going to steal it!”
“What map?” Miss Bottomly asked.
“The map to the treasure,” both counsellors replied.
“What treasure?”
“The treasure that—”
Another loud bang shook the door, and the counsellors jumped.
Ginette slipped to the floor and curled into a tight, frightened ball with her arms over her head. Sophie knelt beside her and patted her back gently. Ginette’s back was shaking.
“C’est rien, Ginette. C’est juste une histoire,” Sophie murmured into the girl’s ear over and over. She couldn’t see the action now because they were hidden behind the chairs. But she heard Mr. Buzz open the door again.
“Now what?” he asked.
Sophie peeked over Margaret’s shoulder. Two more rough-looking characters, both wearing big black gum boots and raincoats, barged through the door. One of them wore an old brown felt hat with a dripping brim and yelled, “Hey, you two. Give us back our map!”
“Your map?” Miss Bonny said. “It’s not your map. We found it fair and square! So there!”
“Yes, finders keepers, losers weepers. Losers, losers!” Miss Rosy chanted, jumping up and down. She took a crumpled paper from an inner pocket in her overcoat and waved it in front of the character wearing the dripping felt hat.
Felt Hat grabbed the paper but slipped on the wet floor, ripping the map in two.
“Look what you’ve done!” Miss Rosy cried. “Our treasure map is all ripped up. Now none of us will ever find the treasure.”
The two other characters fell to the floor, sobbing “Boo-hoo, boo-hoo!” in really loud voices.
“Regardes, Ginette. C’est Mademoiselle Rosy.” Sophie told Ginette, pulling her up.
Ginette lifted her head and nervously watched the events, clutching Sophie’s sweater tightly.
One of the counsellors sprang up. Sophie thought it was Miss Naomi. She said, “Listen, you guys, maybe we can glue the map together, then we can all share the treasure.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea!” Miss Rosy said. “But let’s hurry and get to Treasure Island before all those other guys do.”
“What guys?” the other counsellors cried.
“Those guys,” Miss Rosy said, pointing at the audience.
“You’re right!” Miss Naomi said. “Into the boats and man your stations, sailors!”
As the four raced out of the mess hall, one of them yelled, “And the last one out’s a rotten egg!”
The campers all shouted and clapped. Sophie tried to pull Ginette back up to sit in her chair. “It’s okay, Ginette,” she whispered.
“You see. It wasn’t real. C’est une histoire comique. They were just playing a joke. A funny joke.”
But Ginette shook her head and wouldn’t get up off the floor.
“That was great! Come on back and give us a bow,” Miss Bottomly called after the departing counsellors.
“See, Ginette, they’re coming back in. It was just Miss Rosy and the other counsellors,” Sophie said, urging Ginette to get up.
The four counsellors trooped back into the mess hall and joined Miss Bottomly. They pulled off their funny hats, wigs, and floppy moustaches and bowed low. Miss Naomi, Miss Bonny, Miss Linda and, last of all, Miss Rosy.
The campers hooted and clapped some more. Ginette seemed to relax as the characters became the counsellors again. Slowly she slipped back onto her chair. Sophie hoped no one had noticed that Ginette had been such a scaredy-cat.
Miss Bottomly started singing, “For they’re jolly good fellows, for they’re jolly good fellows.” All the campers joined in. Sophie sang the loudest, but Ginette wouldn’t open her mouth.
“Well, that’s it for tonight, girls,” Miss Bottomly said when the song was finished. “We’ve all had a long day. So it’s beddy-byes for everyone. Lights out at nine o’clock. That’s when our generator goes off, so be sure to be in bed with your flashlights before then. The only light that stays on is an oil lamp in the washroom cabin. A storm has been forecast tonight—very windy and wet—so be sure that all the cabin windows and doors are tightly closed. Now let’s see which cabin will be dismissed first.”
The girls marched out after their counsellors and along the path back to their cabins. Sophie’s hands felt restless in her empty pockets. She gazed longingly at the dock. Despite the rain, it might still be light enough to see into the water if she went right away. But it would be pitch-dark soon. Maybe she could sneak away with her flashlight. When they got back into the cabin, she got her flashlight out of her suitcase and followed Ginette and the other girls to the washroom cabin with their toothbrushes and extra towels. Their other towels that were on the clothesline had been soaked by the rain, and someone had pinned them all up on drying racks lining a wall in the washroom cabin.
Suddenly someone screeched from inside the washroom. “Look! It jumped under the sink!”
Girls cowered around the door. Ginette ducked behind a bush.
“What is it?” Sophie asked as she poked her head into the washroom.
“Something jumped right out at me,” Elizabeth squealed, flapping her elbows. “Something huge! Then it went under that sink.”
Sophie peeked into the darkness under the sink.
“Croak!”
“Ha! It’s just a little frog,” Sophie said. She soon caught the frog in her cupped hand. Some of the girls yelped again and backed away.
“Nothing to be afraid of,” Sophie told them. “It’s just a little Pacific tree frog. I bet plenty of them live around here. You can tell he’s a Pacific tree frog because of this dark stripe from his nostril to his eye, then down to his armpit. Can you see that?” She opened her hand, and shiny black eyes peered out at the girls. They leaned closer.
“And look,” Sophie said. “He’s got tiny suction cups at the end of his fingers. Oh, he’s so cute! Look, Ginette.” Sophie felt good. All the girls were crowding around her for a change.
But Ginette wouldn’t budge.
“You’re right,” Margaret said. “He is cute, but I wouldn’t want to hold him. Doesn’t he feel all slimy?”
“Not at all,” Sophie said. “He just tickles a little.” The frog opened his flap of a mouth and gave a high-pitched croak again. “He’s just lost in here and wants to go back to his tree outside.” Sophie gently carried him out and set him down carefully on a nearby bush.
“How come you’re such an expert about frogs?” Margaret asked when Sophie came back into the washroom. “You’re like some kind of frog girl.”
“We studied frogs in science at school last year,” Sophie told her. “And once I even had a couple frogs for pets.”
“We didn’t do anything that interesting in science at our school,” Margaret said.
Sophie washed her hands and face, then squirted toothpaste on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Ginette was brushing her teeth, as well. When Sophie finished, she followed the other girls back to cabin four.
Everyone looked at the thick wet brush beside the path, hoping to spot a small green Pacific tree frog. They didn’t see one, but they could hear high-pitched croaks. Sophie forgot about going down to the dock to search for her ball until sh
e reached the cabin. Was there time to go now before bedtime?
She tucked her flashlight under her arm and was about to leave when Miss Rosy announced, “Five minutes until lights out. Everyone in bed. Get all comfy and cozy.”
Ah, zut! Double zut! Sophie thought. She sighed and rolled her damp towel around her flashlight for a pillow.
Sophie pulled on her nightgown and quickly crawled under the covers before anyone noticed that her nightgown was decorated with dancing Christmas reindeers. She hadn’t wanted to bring along her warm winter flannelette nightgown, but Maman had insisted, saying that the nights on the island might be too cold for her thin summer baby-doll pajamas. She wished she had thought of packing a proper pillow. Her rolled-up towel was damp and lumpy over the flashlight. She tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position.
Girls were whispering and giggling in their bunks, and Ginette moved restlessly in the bunk above. Sophie took a deep breath, and suddenly tiredness swept over her like a fog. She could barely keep her eyes open.
“Good night, troop!” Miss Rosy called out from behind her screen. “Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
Sophie inhaled deeply again, but she couldn’t even get her lips open to say good-night back. It seemed like forever since she had left home that morning. It sounded as if everyone else in the cabin was exhausted, as well. There were just a few muffled, sleepy “Good night” replies.
SEVEN
The next morning the weather was cool and overcast, but it had stopped raining. The ferns and bushes along the path to their cabin were shiny and green after the night rain.
“Do we all have to go on the hike?” Margaret whined.
“Yes, we do,” Miss Rosy said. “It’s not really warm enough this morning to go swimming in the cove, but it’s perfect weather for a good hike up to the lake.”
“Couldn’t we go paddling in the canoes instead?” Elizabeth asked.
“The girls from cabins one and two are doing that. We’ll have our turn later if we get back from our hike on time. Come on, let’s hurry and get our teeth brushed and our cabin all spick-and-span. Then we can come back to the mess hall and get our picnic supplies. First cabin back always gets the best supplies, so let’s step on it, troop.”
The girls rushed through brushing their teeth except for Ginette. Sophie had to wait for her as usual.
“Come on, Ginette,” she nagged. “Miss Rosy said we’ve got to hurry. Everyone else is finished.”
Sophie was hoping to slip down to the dock to look for her Star Girl Super Bounce Ball. Although after the stormy night, it probably had drifted out to sea. Maybe it had floated all the way to Japan by now. Sophie couldn’t stand thinking about that. She just had to get her ball back.
When they returned to the cabin, Miss Rosy was again urging the girls to hurry. “Brenda and Betty, your clothes are all over the place. What a mess! Clean it up. Everyone, hurry and change into your bathing suits and grab your towels. We want to get good picnic supplies. First come, first served, you know.”
“But why do we need our bathing suits to go on a hike?” Margaret asked.
“The lake has the best swimming on the island. Even on a cloudy day like this the water there will be as warm as the water in a bathtub.”
Sophie took off her sweater, shorts, and underwear, and skinned on her bathing suit. It was still damp from swimming and getting rained on the previous day and made her shiver. She pulled her sweater and shorts over top and straightened her bedroll. When she piled her extra clothes into her suitcase, she felt the bottom. Yes! Her Star Girl comics were still there. She hadn’t had a second to read them since coming to the island. Sophie patted them and thought again about her Star Girl ball. She just had to get to the dock to search for it. Sophie started out the door, determined to find it right now.
“Just a minute, Sophie,” Miss Rosy said. “Take your jacket. It might rain before we get back. And wait for the rest of us.”
Sophie went back for her jacket.
“Okay, everyone ready?” Miss Rosy asked. “Let’s go.” She led the cabin four girls along the trail to the mess hall. Sophie gazed longingly at the water. She imagined her ball right there, bouncing against the edge of the dock, waiting for her to pick it up.
In the mess hall, picnic supplies were laid out on the counter. For each cabin there were two piles of fresh buns wrapped in wax paper, a bowl of hard-boiled eggs, nine oranges, five canteens of water, and a large, delicious-looking banana loaf.
“How do we carry all this stuff?” Betty asked.
“Here are some drawstring bags,” Miss Rosy said. “Let’s divide it all up. So who wants to carry what?”
Before anyone could answer, Ginette took the banana loaf and slipped it into a drawstring bag.
“I’ll take one of those water canteens, I guess,” Margaret said. “At least it’s got a carry strap.”
“I’ll take one, too,” Elizabeth said. “Imagine having to carry your own drinking water all the way up a mountain.”
Miss Rosy raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll take the oranges,” Sophie said.
“Thank you, Sophie,” Miss Rosy said. “Buns, anyone else?”
The other girls each took the buns and eggs, and the extra water canteens.
“I think we’re all set to go,” Miss Rosy said. “Don’t forget your drinking cups.”
Each girl took a tin cup from the pile and put it into her own pocket.
While they were getting loaded up, Sophie saw little Danny Carson in a red sweater, peeking out at them from behind the door leading to the kitchen. She smiled and waved at him, and he waved and grinned back.
“Can you play hide-and-seek now?” he asked her.
“We’re going on a hike now, but maybe we could play later when we get back,” Sophie told him.
Danny followed the girls as they walked to the flagpole where Miss Bottomly gave the girls from cabins three, four, and five last-minute instructions for their hikes. “You must stay with your group and especially with your buddies. I don’t want to frighten you, but there have been recent sightings of bears around the island. Generally the island bears are very shy and won’t approach a group of people, but we still have to be careful. It’s very important for you to stay with your group at all times, and make plenty of noise. Now that shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”
Elizabeth and Margaret glanced at each other with big eyes.
“You’ll all have a great time, I’m sure,” Miss Bottomly continued. “And we’ll see you back here this afternoon.”
“Okay, troop, let’s go,” Miss Rosy said. She led the girls along the path past the cabins and onto the lake trail, following the girls from the other cabins. Margaret and Elizabeth hiked right behind her.
Sophie wanted to walk with Elizabeth and Margaret, but Ginette hung back. She halted to buckle the straps on her shiny white shoes, so Sophie had to stop and wait for her while all the other girls went on ahead.
“Come on, Ginette. We’re supposed to stick with our group. I don’t want to be left behind.”
Finally Ginette was ready. Sophie slung the bag of oranges over one shoulder and her towel over the other, and they headed up the trail, which went through high bushes and ferns still wet from the night rain. The rest of the girls were so far ahead now that Sophie couldn’t see them.
As they turned the corner to go into the woods, Sophie glimpsed something red out of the corner of her eye. “Was that Danny Carson with his red sweater?” she asked Ginette.
Ginette shrugged.
“I hope he’s not following us,” Sophie said. “He could get lost out here.” She turned back and looked hard, but she didn’t spot anyone. “Danny!” she called into the bushes. “Don’t you dare try to follow us. Go on straight back down the hill and see your mother. What should we do?” she asked Ginette.
Ginette merely shrugged again and turned away.
Sophie knew they shouldn’t stop. If they did, they
would be left behind. She took one last look down the trail and into the bushes, but now she didn’t see anything red. Maybe she had imagined it. She turned and hurried along the trail to catch up with the other girls. She was almost running, the heavy bag of oranges bouncing against her legs. Ginette jogged behind her.
“Finally,” Sophie mumbled to herself, “she’s listening to me.”
As they hiked up the narrow trail, Sophie peered nervously past the thick ferns and into the bushes, looking for the bears Miss Bottomly had mentioned. There was no sign of them, thank goodness. She reached into her jacket pocket where her Star Girl ball should have been. Her heart thudded. She was always braver when she could feel the ball.
“Come on, Ginette, we’ve got to hurry,” she urged again. When they came to a fork in the trail, someone had drawn an arrow in the dirt path, pointing which way they were to go. “This looks like the right direction,” Sophie said, hurrying up the trail. “The others can’t be that far ahead.”
They made several turns in the trail before they finally caught up to Miss Rosy and their cabin mates. Miss Rosy had stopped in front of a tall, prickly bush. “Oh, there you two are,” the counsellor said. “I was starting to worry. Now these are salmonberries, and they’re delicious if you can find ripe ones.”
Sophie nodded, trying to catch her breath.
“They’re so yummy,” Betty said. “Especially these purple ones.”
“I’ve had them before,” Brenda said. “They taste a bit like raspberries. You should try one, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “No thanks. They might have a worm or something inside.”
“Yuck!” Margaret said, spitting out the one she had just popped into her mouth.
But Ginette loved the berries. The girl couldn’t get enough. She picked them by the handful and crammed them into her mouth until purple juice dribbled down her chin.
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