fire-stone, an opening had been left, and here to several feet above the
top of the stove, a length of stove-pipe carried all smoke out and above
the heads of the scouts.
The girls had also built a fireless cooker in the ground just beside
their stove, where fish, or any article needing steady heat, could be
placed. This cooking-pit was constructed after the plan adopted by most
scouts, and described fully in the manual.
While Ruth and Betty were busy preparing the chicken, Mrs. Vernon built
a good fire in the stove, and had several of the girls heat the stones
in the fireless cooker, to be ready for use.
Mr. Gilroy had donated several fine lake trout that day, so these were
cleaned and washed and placed in the cooker-pit, where they would need
no watching but be done to a turn when wanted.
The chicken was cut up for a fricasee, and diced onions and potatoes
were prepared to add to the boiling liquid about an hour before serving.
This would provide not only soup for the first course, but chicken with
dumplings for a third course. They proposed having the fish with butter
sauce for the second course.
Just as Julie added the diced potatoes, Hester exclaimed, "Oh, Jule!
what did you do that for? Those duck-potatoes were meant to make the
boys' eyes bulge!"
"What duck-potatoes? I never touched them!" declared Julie, defensively.
"Didn't you cut them up and use them just now?"
"I should say not! After all the work we had in finding and digging
them! Why, they ought to be preserved--not eaten," laughed the Leader.
"Thank goodness!" sighed Hester, in such evident relief that every one
laughed sympathetically.
"Who's doing the Indian cucumbers?" called the Corporal.
"I am!" answered Judith. "They're all peeled and sliced ready to serve.
And Amy gathered the dandelion greens to go with them."
"Fine! Verny is making a mayonnaise to use with the salad. My! Won't
those boys have the wind taken out of their sails when they see the duck
potatoes and Indian cucumbers!" giggled Joan.
Mr. Gilroy had not missed much of all this whispering and joyous
confusion, and he chuckled to himself as he and Hiram finished nailing
the last boards on the sheds and turned Julia into her new home. The
small pigsty was soon completed, and then a fence was built about it,
but it was not calculated to keep a full-grown pig in bounds; it was
strong enough for Antoinette, however, at that time.
Before the pig-pen was quite finished, the scouts heard the whistles and
calls from the Grey Fox boys, as they hiked over the crest trail. So
they fluttered about anxiously to see that not an item on the programme
was forgotten.
Hiram was on his way to the bungalow, and Mr. Gilroy had hurried down to
the lake to wash up and make his dinner toilet, when the boys came gaily
into camp. After greeting their hostesses, the Grey Fox scouts looked
around.
"Well, guess you girls are planning to spread yourselves for dinner,
eh?" asked Alec, jocularly.
"Oh, nothing more than usual; we live high every day," returned Julie,
tossing her head.
Nothing more was said about dinner just then, but a loud call from
"Julia" drew all attention to her shed. The boys stared in surprise at
the two buildings they had never noticed before.
"Isn't that a pig--in that pen?" asked Ned, amazedly.
"No, it's Antoinette--our latest girl scout!" giggled Amy.
The boys laughed, for the name struck them as awfully funny for a pig.
Then they walked from Anty's pen to the shed, which had a door swung on
leather hinges, but it was closed.
"And what sort of scout do you lock up in here?" asked Bob,
condescendingly.
"Bob Veal!" retorted Julie, causing every one to roar at the questioner.
Bob flushed, but walked over to the stove where the Captain stood
stirring the dumplings in the chicken soup. "That's a fine stove,
Captain," ventured he.
"Yes, it is something like the one we built last year in camp. That was
so convenient we decided to have another this summer. Wouldn't you boys
like to examine it closely?"
Thereupon the Grey Foxes did examine it closely, much to their advantage
on useful ideas of kitchen equipment. Then they saw the fireless cooker
that was in use for the time being; so they passed on to inspect the
various birchbark hanging-baskets filled with flowers; the rustic
fern-boxes, and all the useful articles the scouts had manufactured of
birchbark and acorns.
"It takes a girl to do fancywork, all right. Now, we boys are not gifted
that way, you see, but we can make other things, instead," remarked
Alec, bestowing a male's compliments on feminine accomplishments.
"Just what can you make, or have done, that we girls are not able to
do?" demanded Julie.
"Oh, I wasn't personal in any way,--I just meant that it is quite
natural for women to do the light things while men have to look after
the business of life!"
"Well, the quicker you open your eyes to facts, and see that we women of
the present age are fast outstripping the men in _every_ calling, the
better it will be for your own good!" said Julie.
"Just glance around, boys, and tell us if you can make a better showing
for _your_ four years," added Joan, waving her hand at the various
exhibits.
It happened that the girls had each been given a cue by Julie, so that
when the Grey Fox boys came into camp, Judith was found sweeping
carefully with a camp-made broom, Amy and Betty were placing a tabletop
upon its legs and then starting to set the table, and the other scouts
were busy with other unusual things. Now Dick walked over to Judith.
"How did you know you could make a broom like this?" said he.
"Why, this is an old one made the first day we came to camp. You ought
to see our new ones. They are fine!"
Dick examined the broom, and called Alec over. "They can make brooms,
all right, Alec!" said he, showing the article in question. It was made
of long hickory shavings, well bound about a good handle, and promised
to outlast any dozen store brooms.
"But why sweep this grass,--that's foolish," said Alec.
"No, because this is where we will sit about the table. We always sweep
away the crumbs or trash that fall during mealtime, so the ants and
other insects won't annoy us. This morning, however, we were in such a
hurry to get out with Gilly, that we forgot the usual routine work in
camp," explained Judith.
The two boys exchanged glances, but Judith saw them. Alec then said,
smilingly, "Oh, yes! How did that track-hunt come off? I suppose you
scouts knew every animal, eh?"
Judith now realized that Mr. Gilroy had had the whole joke planned out
with the Grey Fox boys, and that the boys were only waiting to have a
good old laugh on the girls. So she deliberately told a lie,--fervently
praying that it be forgiven for the "Cause of Women."
She glanced roguishly up at Alec, and winked one eye. "Wasn't it too
funny for anything,--the way we led Gilly about by the nose?"
The boys stared in surprise for a moment, then Dick said, "What do you
mean? Didn't you scouts go out at dawn with Gilly to study tracks?"
"Sure! But didn't you boys know about the joke we made up on him about
those tracks? That's why he is so late to dinner."
"Tell us about it?" eagerly begged both boys.
"Oh! I can't. I thought you knew something about it or you wouldn't have
grinned the way you did. I'm so sorry I let the cat out of the bag, for
likely, our Leader wants to tell you the story while we all are at
dinner," cried Judith, the picture of regret.
"Oh, come on and tell! Now that you've said so much!" coaxed Dick.
"Well, you boys walk around and look over our work and I'll run and ask
Julie if I may tell you the story," whispered Judith, giggling, and
running over to the Leader's side.
When Julie heard the truth from Judith, she was furious, but she soon
saw that she must thrust anger behind her, and plan some clever way to
reverse the joke and make it fall upon the originator. In fact, at that
moment, the scouts wished all kinds of dreadful things upon their
benefactor, Mr. Gilroy.
He, however, unaware of their ire, was walking up the trail from the
lake to the camp-site. And the boys, who were told to amuse themselves
for a time, were certainly finding more good ideas put into useful form
at that camp than they ever dreamed of.
The large square table was constructed of the boards removed from a
piano-case which Gilly had at the barn. These were all nailed to a frame
and furnished a strong, heavy top that could be placed, at will, on the
four sturdy posts that were driven into the ground. These table-legs
were only fifteen inches above the ground, so one could sit on the grass
and conveniently use the top.
The four boys met at a large rustic shelf-cupboard, constructed of
short-length boards taken from a cereal box, and placed so as to make
four shelves. Two sides were made of boards that came from one of the
packing-cases from the city. This cupboard stood against a great pine
tree that furnished the backing, and on the shelves were the array of
lanterns and candlesticks made and used in camp.
"Gee! They've got the bottle-neck holder, the tin-can lantern, and all
the rest. It seems they know the scout stunts, all right," whispered
Ned.
"Yes, and look at these candles! Do you suppose they made them in camp?
They look like hand-dipped products," added Alec, examining the tallow
candles.
"We won't let on that we're curious, but we'll find out from Gilly just
how they made these candles," suggested Bob.
From the shelves that held candles and some clay ornaments the boys
wandered over to the sun-dial.
"It's better than the one we made," admitted Ned.
"Humph! So it is," said Alec, reluctantly, but willing to be just.
"Whoever did that burnt-wood etching around the edge sure made a fine
job of it. And the numerals are very good," added Bob.
"Gilly said Ruth is the artist of the Troop," said Dick.
But the Grey Foxes never found out that the Indian Clock had been made
during the previous winter when there was ample time to spend over such
a work. The large wooden slab was sent to camp with many other highly
decorative things made the same winter.
Mr. Gilroy now joined the boys and offered to act as official guide in
viewing everything. So interested were the boys in all they saw that
they temporarily forgot about the joke of the tracking.
"Come and see the Indian willow beds the scouts made the first day in
camp," said Mr. Gilroy, boastfully, now that he wanted to impress the
boys.
So the beds, the weaving looms, the birdhouses here and there, and other
things were duly seen and admired. But the exhibit that interested the
boys as much as anything that day was the neat and beautiful work done
with wild flowers and a deal of patience. There were blue-prints of
delicate flowers, as well as shadow-work and pressed and mounted
flower-groups.
Alec recognized the three-leaved arrow-head, and showed it to the other
boys who had never seen it before. This particular specimen was white
and waxen in contrast to the indigo-hued paper.
The spiderwort was a rich blue with its two large petals rounded, while
the third one was tiny and colorless. There was also a purple variety
known as "Job's Tears."
The wild leek and garlic flowers made dainty blue-prints, scarcely
recognizable as coming from such humble family trees as the despised
onion. Wild spikenard, with its crown of tiny white flowers, also
reproduced beautifully in the blue-print. The Seal of Solomon and purple
Twisted Stalk made scraggy pictures easy to identify.
Betty had pressed a white trillium that made an imposing picture,
retaining all its beauty and lines. The boys had the painted trillium
in their collection but had never seen the white one.
In the flower collection made by the other scouts were many
orchids,--fringed-purple, ragged-fringed, yellow-fringed, and others.
Also the Indian pink, the rattlesnake plantain, the pink snake-mouth,
monkshood, bloodroot, pitcher plant, and numerous others that formed a
wonderful exhibit which it would take a long time to do justice to.
While the Grey Foxes were poring over the flower books, Mrs. Vernon came
up beside them. "When you boys are through here, we will sit down to
dinner, as everything is ready to serve."
"Oh, we'll look at the rest of these another time," said Bob, quickly.
So the Captain led them over to the table, where the appearance of the
festive board caused them to smack their lips. Mr. Gilroy and the Grey
Fox boys were seated according to Julie's directions, then the girls all
went over to the cookstove.
At each place on the table sat a flat clay-made plate that was to do
service for many needs. Beside the plate were the birchbark cup to drink
water from, a birchbark napkin ring that held a paper napkin, and the
usual knife, fork and spoon.
In the center of the table stood a lovely fern centerpiece, the holder
woven of split willows, and the fern dug up in the woods and
transplanted into a tin pail that did not show inside the basket.
The fernery was flanked by two other handwoven baskets of sweet-grass.
One held the scout-biscuits just baked, while the other was piled high
with light little puff-cakes. On either side of the centerpiece stood
two large flat clay platters,--one held the Indian cucumber salad, and
the other a dandelion salad.
"Aren't the girls going to sit down, too?" called Alec.
"Yes, but each girl has to serve a boy's soup as well as her own. Then
we will sit down," answered Julie.
Meantime Joan was whispering anxiously, as each girl held out the clay
bowls for soup, "Now remember! Leave the tracking tale to Julie, and
agree with her everytime! Don't you dare be caught napping this time!"
And as each scout left the stove with her two bowls of soup, she
whispered. "No, leave it to me! We'll get the best of Gilly for this
joke."
The chicken soup was highly praised, and truly it was a good broth and
deserved all praise. Then came the fish,--all done to a turn and served
piping hot with butter sauce. The Indian cucumber went well with the
lake trout, and here the boys had another surprise.
"Indian cucumbers! We never knew they grew around here," ventured Alec,
but delighting in the salad just the same.
"Oh, didn't you? Well, you see, it takes a girl's fancy touches to
secure these sort of things. You boys, of course, have to give your time
to doing big things," was Julie's sarcastic reply.
The third course consisted of the chicken and dumplings, stewed bracken,
and a side dish of vegetable that looked for all the world like small
potatoes. The boys studied these curiously.
"It's quite digestible," laughed Mrs. Vernon.
"But be sure to appreciate them,--they are the only Wapitos we've ever
found!" declared Joan, proudly.
"Wapitos! You don't mean it!" exclaimed Alec, eagerly.
"Why, where did you find them?" asked the other boys.
"One morning when we were out tracking," said Julie, with a careless
manner. Then quickly added, "Oh, Captain, where are the Brussels
sprouts? We almost forgot that vegetable."
The Orderly jumped up and ran to the stove where, in one of the niches,
stood the bowl of charlock hearts, a wild green that tastes exactly like
tender sprouts. These are easy to cultivate in a garden, too, and are
not as expensive as Brussels sprouts.
"My, what a spread this is!" sighed Bob, ecstatically.
Every one laughed, for Bob and Anne were the gourmands of the two
troops, and were never ashamed to admit when they enjoyed a thing.
"Yes, it's some dinner, all right. Made a lot of work, didn't it?" added
Alec.
"Oh, not so much as usual," returned Julie. "We really had planned a
more elaborate affair, but the joke we played on Gilly took longer than
we allowed for it, and so we had to scramble the dinner."
Julie smiled benignly upon the guests, but they exchanged looks with Mr.
Gilroy at the mention of a joke. So she continued:
"Because of that joke, you have ordinary chicken for a meat course,
whereas I had hoped to give you a real dainty, stewed wild rabbit. But
our snares were left unbaited while we planned to come in first on Gilly
and his proposed prank. I don't suppose you know a thing about it, do
you?"
The girls gasped at their Leader's mention of a rabbit snare,--this was
the first they knew of such a thing! And since Bunty Grey had taken up
his residence nearby their camp, after his recovery from the old trap
down on River Bend, not one scout girl could be made to taste rabbit.
The boys were keen to hear about the joke on their friend Gilroy, but
_he_ wanted to know about rabbits. So he asked:
"Where did you set any snares? This is news to me!"
"Is it? Why we caught a rabbit in a snare set down by River Bend, but we
haven't stewed it yet," returned Julie, smiling angelically at Mr.
Gilroy.
"Never mind snares, but tell us about the tracking," now urged Alec.
"There isn't much to tell--excepting that we let him indulge himself in
the belief that he was fooling us," began Julie. "While we were at your
camp, to invite you here to-day, Gilly had all his hands turn the
barnyard beasts out and led them a dance about our campgrounds,
believing we would fall for his little game.
"He took so much pains and trouble over the joke, that we hadn't the
heart to undeceive him, so we played the game through.
"But it was hard work to keep straight faces, wasn't it, girls?" Julie
appealed to her companions.
"Yes, indeed! And when Julie left us to bring back the proof of his
joking, that was best of all," added Joan.
"Yes, you see I got him to say that hunters who found a wild animal
could claim it, if it was in season, so I went to the barn where I
_knew_ our 'wild animals' would be, and not only found them, but caught
them, also. Being in season, we claimed them. Thus we turned Gilly's
joke on himself, as he sure was amazed to find that we took him at his
word, and kept the 'ferocious' beasts!" Julie laughed so heartily that
every one joined in, never doubting but that the merriment was natural
and genuine.
"So that is how we became owners of the calf, the pig, and the nice
spring chicken you just finished," added Julie.
Mr. Gilroy now cleared his throat to say something in self-defence, but
every one laughed loudly again, the boys believing Julie's tale, and the
girls hoping to keep up the deception.
"Poor dear old Gilly! We renamed him this morning. He is to be Foxy
Grandpa hereafter, you know; not alone because he told the Grey Foxes
what he was going to do, but because he planned such a beautiful snare
and ran into it himself," said Joan.
"As if you boys would believe we were 'greenies' in camplife! Why, just
look around and see our work! Is there anything here to prove we are
such ignoramuses as to believe a calf-track could possibly be a
deer-print?" asked Julie, scornfully.
"You're right, you girls sure can do scout things," said Alec,
admiringly.
"This dinner alone would prove it!" exclaimed Bob.
"Any one who can find Indian cucumbers and Wapitos, when we boys have
hunted and hunted, and never succeeded, is a first-class scout, and no
mistake about it!" declared Dick, enthusiastically. So Mr. Gilroy
decided not to speak in self-defence any more.
The dinner wound up with wild-current tarts, puff-cakes, and coffee made
from roots and roasted acorns, pulverized.
"Lady Scouts, let me toast you for this wonderful success, not only in
culinary art, but also in founding a curious menagerie," said Mr.
Gilroy, standing and holding up his coffee before drinking it.
"Before we adjourn from this feast, let me ask one question," said Alec,
as they prepared to get up from the table.
"What was it in that salad dressing that gave such a palatable flavor? I
never tasted anything like it before."
The scouts smiled with pleasure, and Mrs. Vernon said, "That taste was
given by adding a few leaves of burnet to the salad. It was not the
dressing; but few people know what a wonderful flavor burnet gives to
salad. It would be used more often did chefs know this simple little
wildwood fact."
While the girls were clearing away the dishes, Mrs. Vernon spoke very
seriously to Julie about the tale she told. "You did not tell an
absolute untruth, yet you did not voice the truth, because we all _were_
taken in by those tracks!"
"But, Verny! surely you wouldn't have these mere males _think_ we were
such gullible scouts, would you? It would be a disgrace for the whole
organization!" cried Julie.
"I never advocate self-righteousness in covering up an error of judgment
or knowledge. The Scout Committee on Ideals would not approve of the
tale you told to vindicate the 'Cause of Women,' as you claim."
"I suppose you are right in your viewpoint, Verny, but it wasn't fair of
Gilly to play that prank on us, and tell those boys beforehand, too,"
pouted Julie.
"Well, let it pass this time, Verny, and we'll promise never to be
guilty of misappropriating the truth again," said Joan.
"And don't give us away to the Grey Foxes!" added Judith.
The Captain shook her head in disapproval, but she said nothing more, so
the girls ran off to whisper to Mr. Gilroy that he was the cause of a
dreadful quarrel!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A CANOE TRIP
The scouts were so busy with canoeing, swimming, and hiking, during the
week following the dinner-party that they saw very little of Mr. Gilroy,
although they knew whenever he called at the camp, because he generally
brought feed for the calf and pig. These two unusual pets were becoming
quite sociable, and would follow the girls around the clearing when
meals were being prepared. Jake always went wherever the scouts went,
and he particularly enjoyed the long walks. But he ignored the calf and
pig completely when in camp.
About a week after the Grey Fox boys had visited Dandelion Camp, Mr.
Gilroy came down early in the morning.
"I have to get up at dawn if I want a word with you scouts, these
times," laughed he, as he caught them eating breakfast.
"Sit down and have some," Julie invited, making room for him beside her.
"Can't--haven't time. I've got an important engagement with the Grey Fox
boys, but you were first on my calling list."
The girls all halted further progress on the breakfast and listened
intently. "What have you plotted, now?" asked Julie.
Mr. Gilroy laughed as he remembered the tracking joke. "I'm almost
afraid to tell you." But after much coaxing he spoke.
"Well, then, I am going on a little fishing trip to Racquette Lake, so I
wondered if you scouts wouldn't like to canoe with the party and spend a
few days that way?"
The girls gave such a chorus of approval that Mr. Gilroy pretended to
stop both ears.
"Oh, do tell them all about it, Gilly, or we'll be deaf!" begged Mrs.
Vernon, laughing at the commotion.
So Mr. Gilroy described the itinerary to the great delight of his
hearers. "But remember, girls, no extra baggage is allowed. You wear
your uniforms, take bathing suits, and sandals, a wide soft hat that
will stick to your head, as few toilet requisites as possible;
individual eating outfit, blanket and sleeping-bag, fishing tackle, and
your powder puffs."
The last item caused a jeer, for the girls hadn't thought of
beautifiers, other than those Nature presented, since they joined the
scout organization. Nor did they need any,--they were all fine and rosy,
with perfect complexions and good health.
"My Indian, Yhon, is going in a canoe with the cooking outfit and other
necessities for so large a party. He is a splendid guide, you know, and
knows the country like a book."
"What can we do about our pets?" Betty asked, concernedly.
"Oh, Jake will go with us, of course, and Julia and Anty will have to
depend on Gilly's man for meals. They will learn to appreciate us if we
are absent a few days," replied Julie, audaciously.
"When did you plan to start?" now asked the Captain.
"Day after to-morrow, as early in the morning as we can. That gives you
all day to-morrow to get ready and come up to the bungalow for supper at
night. Yhon will be ready with the canoes at dawn in the morning, and we
start from our boathouse. The canoe-wagon is coming here to-day to carry
your three canoes over to First Lake so as to be in good shape for the
trip. Yhon will overhaul them all, and look after any caulking or
repairs."
"Dear me, I can't wait for the time to come!" exclaimed several of the
scouts.