The Girl Scouts at Camp Comalong; Or, Peg of Tamarack Hills

by Lilian Garis

  CHAPTER IV

  AN ANGEL UNAWARES

  Between settling the camp and agreeing with one another on details,the "Bobbies" were a busy little band for days after the canvas hadbeen stretched and the ropes pegged down. It seemed so simple to wishfor a camp and get it, but now that simplicity assumed complexproportions, and while it was all fascinating to the very point ofthrills, yet the details were very exacting.

  The tent was just large enough to take in the eight cots and toshelter such equipment as should be protected from the elements; butit now appeared there was so much to be "sheltered" and so many"luxuries" to be provided for, at the suggestion of the girls who hadnot learned real Scout camping as Corene had done, that the adjunctsin the way of "lean-tos" and annexes being made or proposed to be madeby any or all members of the squad, threatened presently to be biggerand more important than the tent itself.

  Every girl came daily armed with her Scout books, if for no otherpurpose than to offset Corene's objections to "cluttering things up."

  It was first arranged to have a heavy matting put over the sod forflooring, and a rug had been promptly donated, but again the grown-upshad a say, and real flooring was ordered and put on a high foundation,so that there would be less danger of colds from dampness.

  If Cleo could be kept from stringing up strips of cretonne "to givecolor" she might have done something useful; while Julia's joy inbuilding the stone oven outside, threatened to keep her busy for theentire vacation. Louise ran to "table fixin's." She was responsiblefor a rustic "sideboard" made from the empty barrels and discardedfreight boards, curtained effectively with the water-proof burlap, andgaily flaunting a real wood fern in a red nail keg right in the centerof the top shelf. Standing off and viewing these artistic achievementstook a lot of time, and incidentally left a lot of more important workunfinished.

  "Where are we going to put the food?" demanded dainty Julia. "Not outthere for the flies, Weasy!"

  "No, certainly not," said Louise. "I don't have anything to do withthe food. That goes with the kitchen work."

  "And whose work is that?" Corene laid down her hammer to ask.

  "Whose?" asked the others.

  "Everyone's," came back Corene. "We must take turns at that, but wemust make arrangements for the 'eats' right away. Who has been down tothe spring?"

  Everyone had.

  "Could we hang our butter and meat in pails in the water?" askedCorey. She had seen this done in a real Scout camp.

  "We might, but what about the animals?" inquired Cleo.

  "Oh, we can get real strong pails and stake them down so that smallanimals can't touch the food," said the leader.

  "And have horrid, old scaly snakes sniffing it!" protested Grace.

  "We wouldn't eat the sniffs," retorted Corene. "At any rate we musthave a cool place for food and can't think of ice. I wonder what theNorms do?"

  "Oh, the Normal camp girls," explained Cleo. "I think they have grubtraps set in the spring, but it runs directly past their door."

  "It's right over by that rock, isn't it?" asked Corene.

  "Yes, there's a nice little puddley basin in that big stone," repliedJulia.

  "Then it's easy to fix. We can run it right along here," Corene wasdrawing a very crooked line in the trampled earth, with her homemadebroom handle.

  "How can we bring the spring over here?" scoffed Louise. "It goesstraight down the other way."

  "We'll dig a little ditch, of course," insisted Corene. "Or if we'retoo busy to do it, and we probably will be for days to come, we'll getthe boys to make one for us. The earth isn't rooty here, see, it'snice and soft," she poked up a ditch in illustration. "And it will besplendid to have running water at the door for other purposes."

  "Corey, you ought to be a plumber!" roared Grace, precipitating one ofthose unwarranted outbursts of mirth that always ended work for thetime being. The girls were just like that, and they couldn't seem tohelp it.

  The appearance of a surprised bunny on a stump checked the hilarity,and the inexperienced ones wanted to throw cracker crumbs to thestubby-tailed, long-eared little animal.

  "And make a house pet of it!" exclaimed Corene. "Can you imagine thatbunny stealing your fudge, Louise? He wouldn't know it was stealing ifyou made him 'to home' like that."

  "Seems to me," Louise frowned, "knowledge always makes one snippy. Idon't mean that you are snippy, Corey dear, but to turn away a nice,little, gray bunny, because we know he will come again if we treat himdecently. Doesn't it seem a lot nicer to be sociable and take theconsequences?"

  "It does not!" exclaimed Cleo. "Because animals are made to be subjectto man, not to be his equal. Here, Master Sammy Littletail, takeyourself off. Shoo!" and Cleo tossed a harmless little pine cone afterthe scurrying bunny.

  "Oh, all right. If that's the way you feel about it I suppose we willhave to shoo everything. But just the same, I left a nice square holein the back of my outdoor buffet, for a bird sanctuary!" Louiseconfessed naively.

  "Someone's coming!" announced Grace. "Let me straighten my doormat."

  A young woman in camp uniform--the service suit of skirt andblouse--came up from the roadway. She was smiling broadly and sent thatgreeting on ahead to the Scouts.

  "Welcome!" she called out. "We have all been wondering why no GirlScouts came up to our hills, and now our wonder is answered. Here youare!"

  "Yes," admitted Corene, trying to straighten out a very badly wrinkledblouse. "We are just a junior troop, we organized ourselves, youknow," she finished frankly.

  "How could you do that?" questioned the young lady, seating herself onthe biggest and flattest camp-stump. It was regarded as a regularseat, of course.

  "Oh, we are all Scouts at home, you know, and we understand allthe--qualifications," Corene hesitated at this word, fearful of anaccusing glance from someone who might call it a bit big for a juniorto use.

  "But have you no leader? No director nor counsellor?" queried thestranger.

  "I have just come from a big camp," said the little Corene, a bituncertainly.

  A rather critical look was swept over the Bobbie at that statement.

  "Yet you are too young to be a leader," pressed the tall girl.

  "I'm fifteen, but we hadn't quite finished all our plans yet,"admitted the spokesman.

  "We have grown up sisters," tossed in Grace.

  "Do they understand Scouting?" These questions were not asked in anybut the most friendly tone. "I am Marge Mackin of Norm Camp, overthere, and I have been a Scout leader in the city. I called to say Iwould be glad to help you in any way----"

  "Oh, could you come over to our camp?" asked Julia, impulsively. "Wehave plenty of room."

  Miss Mackin rippled a girlish laugh. "That's lovely!" she exclaimed."I'm sure I never thought of thrusting myself on you this way, but ifI can really be of service----"

  "Indeed you can," declared Corene. "We have just gone ahead planningcamp and expecting something would turn up to help us out of thedirector difficulty. Of course, our mothers would have sent an oldersister, perhaps changing the force each week, but it is so much betterto have a real camp leader. If you can come we have saved acounsellor's cot," she finished.

  "Have you, really? What wise little girls," Miss Mackin was glancingaround with unhidden admiration.

  "Won't you come in and inspect?" invited Corene.

  "How splendid!" enthused the caller, passing in under the tent. "Andhow very practically ship-shape! You do show you are familiar withreal camping. And where did you get such splendid equipment?"

  The camp's history was outlined and its prospects forecast, while MissMackin listened approvingly.

  "And you really want a resident manager?" she asked finally.

  "We do, indeed," declared the spokesman Corene, who, more than theothers, realized the value of the unexpected offer.

  "Then suppose I accept, conditionally, of course, and we write ourapplication to headquarters? All being Scouts we might better comeunder direct authority,
don't you think so?"

  "Certainly," chorused the Bobbies.

  "But we won't have to change our name or anything, will we?" ratheranxiously asked Grace.

  "Oh, no, even if there is another Bobolink troop your affix of'junior' will, I think, make that all right. Also you may be calledthe Bobbies, that's a handy little name for an emergency summer troop.I think I'm just as crazy about all this as you are. I dearly loveScout camping, and try to get our young ladies to adhere to it. Butyou see, they are not little girls, and cannot always see the fun ingood team work."

  Miss Mackin was unmistakably attractive and very girlish herself. Shehad the smile called "wide," and it lit up her whole face with rareflashes of dormant humor. The girls knew instantly she would be thevery leader for them, and they felt like hugging the prospect.

  "Now, it's all settled!" proclaimed Julia. She had been fightingvisions of black nights under that canvas tent with no Yale locks norother safety contrivances or erstwhile doors, and here was some oneactually able and willing to "take charge."

  "We are doing some research work up here," Miss Mackin explained, "andparts of my days must be given to that. You are so capable I would bein the way, really, if around all the time; but nights----"

  "Oh, we would need you every night," insisted Corene sincerely.

  "And in my own tent I am almost crowded out, so the plan seemsinspirational," said Miss Mackin. She was surveying Louise's sideboardwhile Louise tried to get behind Grace. The compliment given, however,did not warrant hiding away from it.

  "We intend to move in to-morrow afternoon," said Corene, "if we canget everything moved up here by that time. Could you come to-morrownight?"

  "Easily. The girls will be delighted to have my cot for a visitor. Ireally don't have a whole cot, but I managed to get room to sleep init," she smilingly admitted. "Yet, I hope I have not influenced you totake pity on me," she hurried to protest.

  "You are a real blessing," said Cleo. She was going to say "angel,"but a look from Grace forbade that extreme.

  "We are going exploring this afternoon," announced Julia, as thevisitor prepared to leave.

  "Oh, yes! Don't mind the danger-signs you find stuck around," saidMiss Mackin. "We have seen many of them, but not yet scented any realdanger. Good-bye for a while!" she finished. "I'll be here in time totake charge of the banner-raising." She hesitated in front of the newflagpole, her eyes alight with admiration for the girls' spirit ofloyalty to their Scout principles. Then Miss Mackin hurried off towardCamp Norm.