A LOSS AND A DINNER
"Oh! girls," exclaimed Ethel, "I must get my ring. I left it on the box
where I washed dishes," and she ran to the kitchen tent, but there was
no ring in sight. "I laid it down here and I emptied the water myself,"
she almost sobbed. "It was a beautiful ring--a diamond cluster.
Grandmamma gave it to me. It was her engagement ring."
Kate now came in and they hunted. The girls looked where the water had
been thrown but no sign. They swept the tent and searched thoroughly.
Mollie Long went back to where Ethel stood half in tears and reported
nothing doing.
"Who was with you in the tent?" she asked.
"No one but you and Nora," replied Ethel.
"You remember, Kate," said Ethel, "it was Grandmamma's engagement ring.
I'd have lost anything I own rather than that."
"It's unfortunate," replied Kate, "but perhaps it may turn up."
Poor Ethel took her walk with Patty and Mollie but she was very quiet.
That noon she watched a dinner cooked in the open. Two perpendicular
stakes with forked ends had been driven in the ground, while lying
horizontally across them was another upon which to hang one or more
kettles. Each kettle had an iron hook to place on the cross stake, and
from them hung the kettles. A roaring fire had been made. The potatoes
were laid in the hot ashes and covered. In one kettle the peas were put.
Ethel and Mollie had shelled until their fingers ached.
"Now, girls," said Kate, "someone time those peas. They must not cook
longer than three-quarters of an hour, and they must not be covered."
When the salad had been prepared, the bread and butter spread, and the
water pitchers filled from the brook it was time to cook the steak.
Four of the girls took forks made from tree branches, placed the steak
upon them, and started in. Mollie and Nora in the meanwhile, after
draining off nearly all of the water, had put some salt and a little
sugar in the peas, adding at the last a large piece of butter, and had
placed them in their kettle which stood near the potatoes.
The steak when finished was laid on a large platter and covered
plentifully with butter. Then each girl took and opened her potato, and
what a potato it was!--so unlike those cooked in an oven. The peas were
served in saucers, and the sight of the steak covered with gravy--hot
and juicy--made them hungry.
Each sat on the ground with her plate on her lap, and her saucer and
glass beside her. They ate up every vestige of food.
"Goodnight!" said Nora. "Shure a dog would starve in this crowd."
After an appetizing salad dressed with a suspicion of garlic and a fine
French dressing, came the bread pudding made by Sallie Davis. It was
filled with raisins and each girl passed her plate twice.
"Ethel, what do you think of our Camp Fire dinner?" asked Kate.
"It is simply fine," replied the girl. "I have never tasted one half so
good."
"Poor Ethel, she is unhappy over her ring," said Edna, "and I don't blame
her. Cheer up! it may be found yet," she added.
But Ethel was unhappy, not for the loss of the ring, but because it had
belonged to old Mrs. Hollister.
"I never should have brought it," she said to Kate. "I should have left
it with Aunt Susan. I know it was right on the box when I left the tent,
and it's so unpleasant," she confided to Kate. "One suspects everyone."
"Yes, that's the unfortunate part of it," replied her cousin. "The
innocent suffer for the guilty; that is, if it has been taken by anyone,
but I have an idea that it may have been thrown out with the water."
Ethel studied hard every day. She learned rapidly and one night she
received her first bead. She had learned how to row a boat and she rowed
well. In five days she had rowed twenty miles, which entitled her to
one honor. Before the next two weeks she had learned how to swim; and
she swam one mile in five days. The rule was to swim one mile in six
days, but she went one better; so at one of the council fires she
received her two beads. As her honors came under "health craft" her
beads were red.
Her ceremonial gown had been made for some time. She had worked on it
during rainy days, and when she had finished behold! it was perfect.
"Why, you're entitled to another honor. This comes under 'hand craft,'"
said Patty.
So now she had won three--two red beads and one of green.
"That's good work," ejaculated Nora Casey. "She'll outstrip us all."
Of course each girl won daily. Some had strings nearly half a yard long.
At every council fire the Guardian would distribute them to the girls,
but Sallie Davis had the most beads. She was clever and won many for
cooking.
About the middle of July there came another set of Camp Fires. They
occupied the woods about half a mile away. It seemed that the
Guardian--a Miss Andrews--was a schoolmate of Kate Hollister's. They
were called the "Columbus Camp Fires." The girls were friendly and
together they had great sport.