instead of eating it at home," added Mr. Gilroy.
"We may have quail or partridge for dinner if we track the birds
carefully," suggested Joan, giggling.
"Venison steaks are better," hinted Mrs. Vernon.
"What's the matter with bear steaks, while we're about it? They're said
to be gamier in flavor," laughed Julie.
"We'll have all three, and serve a ten-course dinner to the boys," added
Ruth.
With light banter the scouts left Mr. Gilroy where the trails
diverged,--they to cross the crest and invite the boys over for supper
the next day, and Mr. Gilroy to go home to find the "bait."
Dandelion Camp was abandoned for a long time that day, and it was too
late in the afternoon when the scouts returned, to ask what had been
done in the woods during their absence; but a great deal had taken place
there, as Hiram and his master could have told had they been so
inclined. Even Jake could have testified to mysterious actions, and many
queer maneuvers of familiar animals from the barnyard, but the girls
never asked _him_. Their faith in Mr. Gilroy was sublime!
While the Dandelioners sat eating their camp supper, they discussed the
boys they had visited that day.
"I declare! I wonder if we ever _will_ know as much about the woods as
those Grey Fox boys do," sighed Hester, taking a bite of baked potato.
"Sure! We know almost as much as they do already," bragged Joan.
"They gave us a lovely luncheon--and all with nothing to do it with,"
added Judith.
"And it's up to us, girls, to give them a dinner that will make their
eyes pop out to-morrow!" declared Ruth.
"Let's plan it now, and do as much towards it as possible, then we can
give that much extra time to tracking," suggested Julie.
"And, scouts! I want you to display every bit of fine work you have done
since we've been in camp, and all the work we did at camp last summer,
as well, and brought with us this year," advised the Captain.
"Yes, we don't want those boys to think we don't know a thing! The stuff
we've made is so different from what they have, too," admitted the
leader.
So the evening was employed in arranging many exhibits to impress the
visitors the following afternoon. Then the scouts rolled into bed.
"Verny, you'd better set the alarm clock for four in the morning,"
called Julie, the last thing.
"Yes, we want to be up and ready to start when Gilly comes for us,"
added Joan, the Corporal.
"All right. Go to sleep now, or you'll all over-sleep," laughed the
Captain from her tent.
But there was no need of an alarm clock. The girls were up half an hour
before it rang, and were impatiently waiting for the arrival of their
instructor in tracking. Some of the scouts had gone into the bushes to
begin a search, but had found nothing.
It took but a few moments after Mr. Gilroy arrived to outline his plans
for the work and fun. "We will scatter in couples to hunt for any sort
of track whatever. The first couple that discovers any genuine track
must call out, then we all will run and study it for what it is, or
where it leads to. Now, pair off, scouts, but the Captain and I will
follow at a distance and hurry to the first pair who find a track."
"There are nine of us--how about the odd one?" asked Julie.
"Let the three youngest go together," returned the Captain. So Amy,
Betty and Judith hunted in trio.
It was a "still hunt" for a time, since every one was too intent on
finding a track to speak. Most of the scouts took to the dense bushes
and woods, but the Leader sought in a clearing and was the first to
summon the others.
"Oh, come, every one! We've found a great big track!" called Julie, as
she and her companion knelt to inspect the prints.
Every one raced wildly to the clearing, and, sure enough, there were
hoof prints distinctly marked in the soil. The trail led across the
clearing into the dense forest.
"Aren't they big?" excitedly asked Joan.
"They're made by a deer!" said Julie, boastfully.
"Are they, Gilly?" asked the girls as the Judge came up.
He pretended to study them carefully, and then said: "I shall have to
wait and compare them with those in the book."
"Maybe it is a reindeer?" suggested Betty, eagerly.
"Mercy no! We don't have reindeers south of the Pole!" declared her
sister.
"Look here, girls! This creature only had two legs--it left only two
hoofmarks, one for each side," cried Judith now.
"Then I know what it was! It was that familiar animal that carries a
pitchfork, smells of sulphur and is known to have hoofs," retorted
Julie, making them all laugh merrily.
"I'm sure I have no desire to trail _him_!" said the Captain, holding up
both hands as if to ward off such a danger. "Let him go to his lair in
peace!"
"All joking aside, girls, this is a queer track--only two feet instead
of four. Let's follow and see where it goes," suggested Mr. Gilroy.
So they trailed the plainly visible tracks, and after a distance, Julie
said: "Whatever it is, it couldn't have traveled so far as this if it
was a cripple. It just _couldn't_ walk on two hind legs all this way."
Mr. Gilroy had to laugh loudly at this, but he said, "No, but don't give
up hope! You may stumble right over the prostrate buck."
But the trail now crossed itself several times, and the scouts wondered
which way the two-legged creature finally went, for all tracks were
obliterated after that criss-cross place in a tiny clearing.
The Corporal was determined to pick it up again somewhere, so she
finally came out to the trail that ran from the camp to the bungalow.
Here she wandered up and down for a short distance, and then spied the
tracks again.
"Oh, I've got him again. He goes right up this trail," so she followed.
The others followed at a distance, and then she shouted, "He prowled
around Gilly's house, too, last night, for I see the hoofmarks here."
Julie would have gone after the tracks to the right "lair," but Hiram
came forward from the barnyard to meet her. He had heard her call to the
others, and offered a solution to the problem.
"I seen them tracks this mornin', too, Miss Julie, and I'm sure that
animal come to the barnyard las' night to feed offen the hay and corn he
could find around there."
"Oh, really! Would one do that?" asked Julie, amazed.
"Sure he would, if he was a deer. An' them tracks ain't no grizzly, er
fox, er other critter, you know."
"No; of course, it is a deer, as one can see by the tracks. But I'm
sorry we have to end in such an ordinary place as the barnyard," sighed
Julie.
"I see'd some queer tracks down by that log where Jake caught the
skunk," now hinted Hiram.
That was enough! In another moment every scout was bounding down the
trail in order to reach the spot first and win honor by knowing the
track correctly.
Hester found these tracks first, and shouted to her friends, "This has
small cloven feet, but there are only two legs, also! Now and then you
can see where one track looks as if a hind foot had broken in on another
one!"
"Oh, girls! That explains that other two-footed animal!" now exclaimed
Julie, quickly.
"What, what?" demanded every one eagerly.
"Most likely the deer stepped daintily with its hind feet directly in
the same track made by its forefeet. It said something about that in the
book, you know."
"Do you think that is it, Gilly?" now asked several anxious voices.
"Exactly! I was hoping you'd find that out," agreed he.
"Well, does this creature show any unusual tendencies, girls, by which
you can recognize it?" laughed Mrs. Vernon.
"Not a thing! It starts from the trail and goes right through the brush
where we broke a way that day the skunk was killed, and it stopped to
question nothing. It must have been in a hurry to get a drink,"
explained Joan.
The trail plainly led to the brook, and ended there. No sign of anything
going back again could be found, although the girls looked carefully
over the entire place. Then Julie thought she saw something in the soft
soil upon the opposite bank. To make sure, she waded through the shallow
but swiftly running water, and there, on the steep bank, she saw the
tracks again.
"Ha! I found 'em! plain as day. Come and follow!" called she. And off
she started.
Not more than a dozen yards along the top of the bank she found the
tracks go down again; and through the brook she went, up the other
side, and back to the brush-clearing on a new trail, following the
cloven-footed tracks. Out on the hard trail they were lost.
"Now, that makes two I've trailed and lost. It's a shame!" cried Julie,
stamping her foot.
"'Better to have trailed and lost than never to have found at all,'"
misquoted Mrs. Vernon, laughingly.
"If the first one was a deer, this second one must have been a little
fawn," said Judith.
"Is there any other animal that wears hoofs?" asked Ruth, of no one in
particular.
Now, Mr. Gilroy must have dreaded the reply, for he quickly changed the
subject. "How many of you brought the plaster and bottle of water?"
Every one had.
"Well, why not make a little cast of both the tracks you do not
recognize and then compare them with those in the book when we go back
to camp?"
This sounded fine, so the scouts were soon busy making casts of the
tracks. When hard, they were handed to the Captain and Mr. Gilroy to
carry carefully until they all reached camp.
Quite near the camp ground Hester made a discovery. "Oh, come and see!
Here is something with toes. As big as a wildcat, or maybe a little
bear!"
Yes, there were toes in this animal's tracks--as plain as could be. So
the scouts guessed every animal known, excepting the coyote and
water-loving creatures. After many futile suggestions, they made a
plaster cast of these tracks also.
"I'm going to carry this load back to camp, girls, and be ready for the
next one you give me," announced Mr. Gilroy, starting to go down the
trail.
The next two tracks, one that of a large-toed animal and the other of
one whose tracks showed how the hair grew down low on the hind
legs,--for the hair showed in several of the imprints made of
plaster,--strangely ended near the bungalow, and on the other side of
the hard trail again, they ran as far as the barnyard.
"I never saw the beat of it! Any one would think Gilly hung the bait on
the barn door to entice the animals here," said Julie, who was angry at
winding up at such a place three times running. Mr. Gilroy had to laugh
in spite of himself.
"Say, where did you put that bait, anyway, Gilly?" demanded the scout
leader, watching the man skeptically.
"Where we knew it would attract the best results."
"Gilly, I verily believe you are hoaxing us!" cried Julie. Mrs. Vernon
smiled at her bright scout, but Mr. Gilroy shook his head protestingly.
"Why should I hoax any one? I was laughing at the way you brave scouts
dodged when Joan said the animal they lost might be crouching on a
bough of the trees."
"No, that wasn't what made you laugh." Then Julie went over and held a
secret conference with her corporal and Ruth, and they, grinning, urged
her to do as she suggested.
So Julie took a sample of the different casts made in the tracks, and
left the others engaged in finding new and intricate tracks. Mr. Gilroy
and the Captain were not taken into the three scouts' confidence, but
they must have suspected where Julie proposed going, for soon after she
had gone Mrs. Vernon said:
"Girls, if we expect to entertain the Grey Fox boys at dinner this
afternoon, we'd better go back now and begin work."
"Without a clue to any wild animal we tracked?" sighed Judith.
"Oh, yes, Judy--we've got some fine clues, and by the time we're at camp
and have our books out, Julie will be back with proofs! Come on," was
Joan's assurance to the girls.
On the way, the scouts discussed the last track they had discovered. "I
was sure it was a crow's," asserted Amy.
"No, it was more like a chicken-hawk's," Hester added.
"There wouldn't be any chicken-hawk around here in these woods," said
Joan.
"Maybe it was the American Eagle," laughed Mr. Gilroy.
"Yes, it got tired of sitting on the flagpole where the colors have hung
for four days without being taken in at night, as they should be,"
remarked the Captain.
"Dear me, Verny, there is so much to remember in camp. We always
remember the flag after we are in bed at night," complained Ruth.
"The Orderly will have to appoint a flagman for each day after this,"
said Mrs. Vernon.
They finally reached camp, and had a light luncheon ready before Julie
returned. She came down the trail sprightly, with one hand holding
something behind her, and singing as she came.
"Where have you been, Julie?" asked several of the scouts.
"Did you find out what you went for?" asked others.
"Yep! I learned that we have among us the queerest sort of creature,
girls. It really walks on two legs, holds its head upright, and belongs
to the fox class. I tracked it right to our midst," laughed Julie.
The scouts seemed perplexed, and Julie, too full of her discoveries to
tease very long, said, "His name is 'Foxy Grandpa,' and you all know him
well!"
Every eye glanced at Mr. Gilroy, and he laughingly replied, "Why do you
all seem to think I am that animal?"
"Because you are, Gilly!" retorted Julie. "And I'll prove it now, to
every one's satisfaction."
"First, then: Did Hiram miss any calves or pigs or other domestic
animals from his barnyard yesterday?"
Mr. Gilroy threw up both hands in submission when he saw the knowing
look in the leader's eyes.
"Because here are the molds we made of the tracks found in the forest,
girls. And here are molds I made of the heifer, a pig, the Great Dane,
and a chicken, at the bungalow. Can you find any difference?"
Both the Captain and Mr. Gilroy laughed, but the scouts gasped in
unbelief, "Would Gilly do such a thing?"
Not one bit of difference was found when comparing the molds of each
animal, and then Mr. Gilroy had to tell how he did it. Of course, the
scouts laughed mirthlessly, for they were thinking of how those Grey Fox
boys would jeer at their woodcraft. But Julie now brought out in front,
the hand which had held something behind her.
"Here is the hawk--or American Eaglet. I brought it with me for dinner
to-night. To Gilly it will be crow-pie, but to us it will be spring
chicken." And the Leader tossed a dead chicken upon the grass. Then she
added:
"That's what happens to all 'critters' that trespass on our land. Hiram
tells me that when a farmer catches an animal on his land, he generally
holds it for ransom, or for food for himself, so we have not fared so
badly, scouts, in this day's work!
"Behold the other trophies coming! I took them because they broke the
law and trespassed on our estates last night." Julie waved a hand
dramatically towards the trail, and every one turned to look.
Hiram was slowly advancing toward camp, leading with one hand a
fractious pig, and with the other hand dragging an unwilling half-grown
heifer on a chain. Jake was jumping about and barking excitedly as they
came over and stood like prisoners at the bar.
"Mr. Foxy Grandpa," began Julie, as severely as she could, "because of
your crime of misleading trusting scouts into a snare, I pronounce this
judgment upon you, and therefore levy upon your property to satisfy the
judgment.
"This wild deer and its little fawn shall henceforth be the property of
the injured ones--insulted past all forgiveness by your fraud. And the
innocent victims used to perpetrate your schemes, being as free from
guile as the scouts themselves, shall dwell henceforth together in peace
and tranquillity!"
Every one laughed heartily at the denouement for it was so like Julie;
but Mrs. Vernon added, "Julie you speak exactly like the millennial
times, when the lion and the lamb shall dwell in love and peace
together."
"The lion will dwell with the lamb, all right, but the lamb will be the
_piece_ inside the lion," added Mr. Gilroy; "just as this pig will live
in camp! Such a life as it will lead you!"
"No good talking 'sour grapes', now, Gilly," advised Julie, wisely. "The
calf and the pig remain, no matter what sort of life they lead us."
"What can you expect to do with two such pets?" asked Mr. Gilroy, who
was honestly amazed at the scouts' unexpected appropriation.
"First, build a pen for them, and second, have veal and pork before we
leave for home!" retorted Julie. She then ordered all the scouts to fall
to work and construct a temporary shelter for the two creatures.
Mr. Gilroy seemed too surprised to comment, and when Hiram finally
delivered the calf and pig into Julie's custody, Mr. Gilroy turned to
her and said, "Do you _really_ mean to keep the beasts, here in camp?"
"Why, of course! Why should we go to all this fuss for nothing?"
"Well, I can't see, yet, why you should?"
When the calf and pig were temporarily tied to a tree, where they seemed
as much at home as back in the barnyard, Julie said, "By the way, Gilly,
what did you call the pets when they were yours?"
"They have never been christened, because I waited for an opportune
time. It is here now!" returned Mr. Gilroy, picking up one of the
bottles of water that had done duty to make plaster casts that morning.
He held it over the calf's head and poured half of its contents out
while he said solemnly:
"Dear little deer, henceforth you shall be known as Julia, in honor of
the intrepid scout that captured you, single-handed.
"Likewise, this sweet little fawn, known by its tracks through the
wilderness, shall be named Ant-and-ett because of its peculiar
habits,--busy as an ant and eats all that comes its way!" Then the rest
of the water was emptied over the pig's head.
"_Antoinette_ it shall be, now and forever," declared Julie, while the
other scouts laughed uproariously. But the two names stuck, and
thereafter the calf was "Julia" and the pig was generally called by the
name of "Anty."
After the christening Mr. Gilroy beckoned for the Captain to join him
where the girls could not over-hear his conversation. "You don't suppose
the girls are in earnest about keeping the pig and calf at camp, do
you?" asked he, anxiously.
"Yes, certainly," laughed Mrs. Vernon. "You don't know girls of this
age, or you'd understand that they enjoy all these silly pranks
thoroughly, and really, they act as safety-valves."
CHAPTER TEN
THE GIRL SCOUTS ENTERTAIN
"Now, Gilly, you've got to help us build the sheds for Julia and Anty,
or go home until its time for the party," exclaimed the Leader, calling
to the still-wondering man.
"If we're to have any dinner ready for the Grey Foxes; I think Hiram and
Gilly ought to do the building of the sheds, and let us get busy with
the cooking," added the Corporal.
"Yes, that's a better plan," admitted Julie. "Come on, now, Gilly, don't
shirk your duty!"
So Mr. Gilroy and his man were set to do construction work, while the
scouts ran to and fro, fetching and carrying, arranging exhibits,
baking, cooking, and what-not, that Dandelion Troop need not take a
"back seat" in comparison with the Grey Foxes.
"Verny," whispered Julie, soon after the two men were sawing and nailing
at the sheds, "it's as plain as the nose on my face, that Gilly thinks
those boys are far cleverer than we girls."
"What makes you think so, Julie?" asked Joan, who was passing at the
time.
"Never mind, now, Jo, but we've just got to show him, as well as his
boys, that girl scouts know a heap more than they talk about. That's why
I'm anxious to make a 'ten-strike' with dinner!"
"It is too bad we were tricked with false tracks," said Mrs. Vernon.
"I don't believe those boys would have known any better, under the
circumstances, but of course, they won't admit it."
"Forget it!" said Julie, shortly. "And listen to me. Take all the
contents of our boxes out upon the cots, and call upon all the girls you
need to help in the work. Turn the packing cases upside down and cover
them with some of our embroidered covers; then arrange to the best
advantage, everything we can show for our past year in scoutdom.
"Try to group our exhibits according to their relationship with each
other, but leave all the Indian pots and dishes scattered about
carelessly as if we were accustomed to using them daily. The birchbark
baskets and articles can be hung about on tents or trees where they will
show off best,--but don't let it look as if the stunt was done on
purpose for this occasion--see?"
Joan smiled. "Yes, I see! Leave it to the Girl Scouts!"
So, although there was plenty of activity before, now there was no end
of rushing and laughing and planning between the scouts. The pots and
dishes Julie spoke of were left to Mrs. Vernon to place, and she
accomplished the task of studying carefully the apparent carelessness of
leaving the vessels about.
These Indian pots and dishes were the most interesting things the scouts
had made. It was simple work, and took but little time and no cost to
produce the results. And most effective they were.
They took a lump of clay and worked out all the hard bits, and sticks or
stones, then shaped it for the bottom of a bowl or pot. In its first
step it looked like a flat saucer, then it was left an hour or two,
according to the thickness of the clay, to dry well. After that the
sides were built up on this saucerlike bottom.
It was shaped the desired form, and patted into the thickness required,
then smoothed out nicely, both inside and out, and again dried as
before. Now it was baked in a hot fire for several hours, so that when
it was cool it was a fireproof bowl.
The only trouble the girls had had with this interesting art was the
carelessness of a few of them in cooling the dishes too quickly. They
found the clay invariably cracked when the pots were too quickly cooled
after taking them from the fire. But by slow degrees of cooling, which
took about three hours, they came out perfect.
The scouts had decorated their pots as they felt inclined, so that they
presented a varied and pleasing array as they stood about camp, in
places where the eye would see them to their best advantage. Some were
painted with wood-dyes, and others were etched in relief patterns.
When the Captain had finished her task, she silently drew the attention
of the scouts to the groups, and they all stood and smiled proudly at
their handiwork.
"We didn't see anything like that at Grey Fox Camp," bragged Judith to
Joan.
"No sir! Nor did they have a cookstove like ours! Alec may have made a
roasting-fan such as we never heard of before, but we can show him a
thing or two when he comes over!" exclaimed Joan.
At this moment Julie was heard calling the Orderly.
"How about that chicken? Some one's got to draw it so it can be cooked.
It ought to go on the fire in another half hour."
At this Mr. Gilroy called out, "You're not going to eat my chicken, are
you?"
"Sure! That's why I had Hiram wring its neck. I knew the poor thing
wouldn't object to being cooked if once its breath was gone," laughed
Julie.
"Dear me! It's my turn to draw the fowl and I hate it!" complained Ruth.
"S-sh!" warned Julie, waving a frying-pan at Ruth, "it is for the Cause
of Woman this time, so don't cry, Ruthy!"
"I'll help do it, Ruth," Betty now offered kindly. "I know how you
dislike the work, but 'Liza showed me how to do it so that it really
isn't half bad."
Betty poured scalding water over the chicken, and the feathers came off
easily. Then she slit the throat and breast and removed the entrails
without causing any repulsion in Ruth. When it was ready, Ruth admitted
that she knew she could do the work the next time without a qualm.
The cookstove the scouts were so proud of was a remarkable affair--even
Mr. Gilroy admitted that. Mrs. Vernon had discovered a heap of fine flat
stones, such as a surveyor uses for his "corners," and these were used.
The largest stones were placed against a tree that would act as draught
to the fire, and the mound was built up until it was a convenient height
to use without bending uncomfortably low, as is necessary with
campfires.
Through the center of this mound was a well, and on four sides of the
rounded mound were windowlike openings backed with tin; in these niches
various pots or pans could be kept hot while other viands were cooking
on top of the stove.
The top was made of a sheet of thin stove-iron which the Captain had
brought from home, and near the bottom of the mound was a tipping-stone
upon which the fire was laid. When the fire was out, its ashes could be
removed by tipping the flat stone over and letting the cinders fall to
the bottom, where they could be raked away quite easily.