RAINBOW'S END
It was a gala day in Flosston. True Tred Troop and Venture Troop Girl
Scouts seemed to comprise a veritable army, as the girls in their brown
uniforms congregated and scattered, then scattered and congregated, in
that way girls have of imitating the "inimitable" bee.
Long before the hour set for assembly on the green, knots and groups
gathered there, and when finally Captain Clark and Captain Cosgrove
appeared (we prefer to call each her separate captain), both True Treds
and Venture troops were ready and eager to start for River Bend Woods.
Grace, Cleo, Madaline and Margaret had managed to "fall in" in one
line, so that the march out was unspoiled by difficulties in
conversation, which would have followed any other formation.
"If only--if only--" faltered Grace; then she laughed rather sheepishly.
"But we may see him," surmised Cleo.
"Any man or beast in that woods will come out of his lair when we get
there!" predicted Margaret.
"Oh, what a lovely showing! Just look back!" exclaimed Madaline, "and
how finely the boy scouts drum and fife. Will they eat all our picnic
stuff, do you suppose?"
"Surely Hal Crane is entitled to some," replied Grace, "and there's
Benny. He helped me before we got Hal. I shall have to share with him,
of course."
"We're starting!" cautioned Cleo. "Look out for your feet. Don't let
our line get out of step!"
"The boys aren't going all the way out," said Grace presently. "I just
heard a girl say they are only going to escort us to the city line."
"Then we won't have to feed them," Madaline remarked, her words being
discounted by the joking tone of her voice.
It was an imposing spectacle, and all Flosston seemed to appreciate the
occasion, for windows were jammed with faces, doors were blocked with
figures, and even low roofs were spotted with waving, shouting
energetic youths. Not since a wartime parade had there been so much
excitement, and only a word from the superintendent to the engineer of
Fluffdown mills prevented the latter from blowing the big whistle.
"It might make it look too much like a labor parade," the
superintendant decided.
Crossing the line from the borough into the county, the escort of boy
scouts switched off to Oakleigh, where they were to take up their own
special activities, the principal feature of the afternoon being a ball
game with the Marvels.
From this point it was but a short distance to hike to River Bend
Woods, and nearing the noted territory the four scout girls experienced
a sort of thrill. Grace felt something must happen to clear the mystery
of her cave correspondent, and the other girls sincerely hoped
something would happen.
Just before entering the pine grove the two captains, Clark and
Cosgrove, halted their troops and issued instructions.
No girl was to leave the ranks, no girl was to make any advance, and no
girl was to disobey the slightest order until the call for break ranks
would be sounded.
These orders were given with precision which indicated some very
particular program, and served to "thrill" the quartette with new
expectations.
"Some one else is having a picnic!" whispered Grace. "I see a lot of
bright things through the trees!"
"Hush!" cautioned Margaret, for the patrol leaders were inspecting each
line.
"Now, girls!" called Captain Clark. "When I blow the whistle you are to
follow your leaders, and rush forward. No one is to push, or crowd, but
to advance in a solid line, battle formation. Then when I blow three
whistles, halt instantly!"
The ground was quite clear at this entrance to the woods, and at the
command a grand rush forward was so cleverly executed it seemed the
line scarcely lost step making the dash.
Then the whistle sounded three times and behold!
"Oh! oh! oh!"
The woods rang with the cries!
What a sight! A woodland play or Fairyland let loose!
Quickly as astonished eyes could separate the view into its component
parts, Grace realized the stage was set on her hollow rock!
Then Madaline recognized the Queen seated on her throne was none other
than the little girl to whom she had given her four-leaf clover!
While the next moment a figure came from behind the big tree, the tree
Grace had tied her victim to, and this was surely the very same man!
His suit was that exact brownish mixture--and sure enough he was waving
the very piece of rope Grace had tied him with.
It was all glorious, beautiful! The fairy queen was seated on the
rock--the throne simply lost in flowers. She wore a robe that sparkled
with something like spangled crystals, and she held in her hand a
golden wand.
Seated at the foot of the rock was a girl dressed simply and
representing the Wayfarer.
And now we have guessed these characters are none other than Jacqueline
and Tessie!
"What a perfectly beautiful picture!" On every lip and tongue were such
exclamations, when suddenly from the "victim at the tree" a weird sort
of whistle music, made on the most artistically shaped instrument, like
the pipes of Pan, sounded through the woodland.
"Oh!" was all Grace could articulate, and with its ejaculation had
pinched Cleo's arm into a promising "black and blue!"
After the piper had played his tune Captain Clark gave the signal for
the troops to be seated, then she stepped forward and stood on a stone
by the side of the Queen's throne.
"This is the end of the rainbow!" began the captain, "and I am sure we
are satisfied now that all Fairyland is not limited to books. I want to
introduce Miss Jacqueline Douglass," indicating the queen, "and her
brother, Mr. Gerald Douglass," pointing to "Pan." "Last spring we took
a hike to this wood and one of our members tried to do a humane service
by making a capture!"
(Grace felt her cheeks would ignite, but Cleo was trying to reassure
her.)
"It is not always what we do, but it is always what we try to do," went
on Captain Clark, "and Grace Philow tried to capture a tramp. In the
attempt she made fast a staunch friend, for Mr. Douglass now stands as
our ally, rather than our victim!"
A shrill blast on his pipes signified "Pan's" agreement, and the troops
applauded until the echo came back from the other side of the river.
"I heard the bandit say she was after Mrs. Johnston's wash," Pan
declared, with Captain Clark's permission, "and she gave me a merry
chase after my 'gob bag.' Little sister Jack and I had been spending an
afternoon in the woods, and while she went out to the road in her chair
I was to lug the bag. You really are an expert little highwayman,
Bandit!" he finished, addressing Grace, who stood right at the end of
the line.
"And now I shall ask a word from our queen," announced Captain Clark.
Jacqueline smiled and the girls could not help but exclaim how pretty
she was.
"You see I have been unable to walk since last winter," spoke the
queen, "and when brother Gerald told me about the woodland girls, I
begged him to play out the game, and you see he did. He wrote the
letters, and hid them in this rock, then the girls sent the scout I
wanted, and oh, it has been altogether so wonderful! We will have to
have a real rally to tell you all about it, for the doctors say I will
be all right again very soon."
Cheers greeted this news and Jacqueline waved her wand in appreciation.
During all this Tessie was not the one least surprised. In fact, she
was so astonished she could no longer keep her place on the rock, and
she now whispered to Jacqueline she would like to speak to a friend in
the troop.
At almost the same time Rose had discovered Tessie, and she, too,
stepped aside when the girl left the rock, and the next moment the two
girls were clasped in each other's arms.
"Dagmar!"
"Tessie!"
Girls looking on knew nothing of the story of this reunion, but it was
plain the captains were in the secret, and they did not call the
stranger and the patrol leader back to their places. The emotion these
girls were experiencing surely deserved consideration, and so they were
left almost to themselves, a little distance from the troops.
"And now we have some True Tred awards to make," again announced the
captain. "Venture Troop will make theirs later."
"To Cleo Harris goes the first Bronze Cross awarded our troop!"
There was a shout, cheers, then questions!
"Not only did she save a human life by stopping a runaway horse a few
feet from a railway crossing, down the tracks of which was dashing an
express, but she thought she had entirely succeeded in hiding her
identity. She did not want the world to know of her deed, but we have
discovered it!"
Then, completely dumfounded, Cleo was urged forward, and she acted as
she felt, like a girl in a dream, when Captain Clark pinned on her
blouse the highest award, the Bronze Cross hanging from its bright red
ribbon.
She had won the first B. C.!
Scarcely had the confusion subsided when Grace was called up to receive
the merit badge for "successfully spreading scout influence and
bringing joy into the life of a disabled child."
Jacqueline had insisted mention be made of the "joy" the woods play had
brought to her. So the award was made in that way.
Madaline was admiring Cleo's cross when she heard her name called.
Captain Clark announced: "A tiny four-leaf clover picked and bestowed
in love as a nature gift is not too small to be recognized, and when
Madaline Mower hurried after the wheel-chair of this little queen she
touched a secret spring. An honor badge' must mark the result," and the
much-astonished Madaline also received an award from the queen.
"And who in this troop lost a merit badge?" joyously asked the queen,
as soon as her words could be heard through the growing excitement.
"Oh, I did!" almost shouted Margaret Slowden, rushing forward without
waiting to be called.
There was the much-prized merit badge! The one originally bestowed upon
her on such an auspicious occasion.
When Captain Clark again pinned it on Margaret's breast it seemed like
a blessing that had grown greater by reason of its loss. And how
delighted the girls were! It was a clear case of "No questions asked."
Over on a little moss-covered tree stump Tessie and Rose alone knew the
complete story of that lost badge, and only their eyes attempted to
give an expression to the details.
The call to "fall in ranks" was not sounded for a full hour later, for
such a picnic as these girls enjoyed had never been heard of in River
Bend Woods.
All the wealth and generosity of Gerald Douglass seemed poured out in
his sister's woody banquet; and as we have guessed he was by no means a
stranger to the attractive Captain Clark. In fact, the way these two
worked to "lay out the spread" caused even the experienced Captain
Cosgrove to raise an inquisitorial finger.
And now our mythical May-pole has swung around until its pretty ends
all entwine the staff like a monument of mirth.
Rose and Tessie were reunited and nothing but the insistance of
Jacqueline that Stacia (this name now became permanent, as did the
brief title Dagmar had chosen) stay with her, kept the two companions
even temporarily separated by the short distance of two intervening
villages.
As Stacia was assisting the queen back to earth, and thence to her big
limousine late that afternoon, she overheard Jacqueline telling Captain
Cosgrove about the completion of her accounts for the Shut In Benefit.
"Cousin Marcia Osborne went to the coast a week ago," Jacqueline said,
"and she told me before she went she knew the returns would be made all
right in time. So when Stacia handed me the envelope the other day I
wrote her immediately that it was all settled by now."
Then Pan blew a reveille on his pipes and the troops left the woods, so
we must leave them, to meet again in the next volume of the Scouts, to
be called "The Girl Scouts at Bellair: or, Maid Mary's Awakening."
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's The Girl Scout Pioneers, by Lillian C. Garis