Mary Lee the Red Cross Girl
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"Those aren't horns, those are its eyes at the very end of what appearto be horns. Watch, it is crawling entirely out of its shell. Isn't itfunny looking, as it crawls along, carrying its shell on its back?"said Mary Lee.
"And to think people eat the horrid little things," said Letty.
"They do?" exclaimed Mary Lee. "Whoever would eat them?"
"The French are very fond of them," explained Letty. "Haven't you everseen the word 'escargots' on the menu cards?"
"I have," said Edith, "but I must confess that my French is so limitedI never dreamed it meant snails, though."
By this time the road led again into the open, with woods on one sideand farm lands on the other. The sun had now disappeared and nightwould soon settle down, so the girls quickened their pace.
"Do you think we can make it before it's pitch dark?" asked Edith, themost timid of the crowd. "It seems to me we have walked about fivemiles already."
"Oh, no, we haven't, but I do think we are within two miles or so ofour destination. Cousin Edna and the Camp Fire Guardian are going towalk out and meet us. I suppose they have started by this time," saidLetty.
"I'm glad we don't have to go through any more woods. This road isfine and hard," said Edith.
It was now quite dark, so Mary Lee walked ahead and flashed on thelight.
Suddenly they heard a strange noise.
"Oh, what is that?" cried Edith, rushing on ahead, not waiting to findout from which direction the sound came.
Suddenly there was a dreadful scream from Edith, on ahead. "Help,help!" she cried. "Oh, girls, where am I?"
Mary Lee and Letty rushed on ahead, flashing the light. In the middleof the road sat Edith and near her was stretched a big cow, halfasleep.
Edith, in trying to run from the mooing cow, had run upon it instead.It had evidently strolled away from a nearby farmhouse.
"The big boob," said Edith, "to stretch itself out in the middle ofthe road. It was a dreadful sensation to fall against that big hotanimal, and not know what it was," she laughingly said, now beginningto see the funny side of the incident.
"Listen," said Letty, "what's that whistle?"
"It's the Campfire Guardian's whistle," exclaimed Mary Lee. "They mustbe near us now."
"What a relief," sighed Edith, picking herself up, and trudging onafter the others.
When Cousin Edna and the Camp Fire Guardian met the girls, there wasgreat rejoicing and before long all five arrived at camp.
The "hikers" were pretty tired, so they soon unstrapped their blanketsand made ready to sleep.
"I'm so glad Cousin Edna could manage to get us cots to sleep on uphere in the tents. I'm too tired to try it on the beach tonight," saidLetty.
"Me too," said Edith. "Falling over that cow in the pitch dark wassensation enough for one night."
"Perhaps we'll feel more like it tomorrow night. I'd hate to go backto town without sleeping down on the beach one night," said Mary Lee,unrolling her blanket.
"Isn't this a scheme to sleep in our bathing suits, so as to be allready to run down and take a dip at sunrise tomorrow morning!"exclaimed Letty.
"I should say so. I do so love to take an early morning plunge," saidMary Lee, jumping into bed.
CHAPTER XXIX
LETTY'S SURPRISE
"My! doesn't this bacon taste delicious!" exclaimed Mary Lee, the nextmorning as the Campfire Girls were gathered for breakfast in the messtent.
"And this corn bread and the cantaloupe," added Letty. "That earlyplunge surely gives one a great appetite, doesn't it?"
"Yes, indeed, but don't eat so slow. Remember we have to wash ourdishes and clear up our own tents before we can do what we like."
"That's so," said Mary Lee, "see, some of the girls are throughalready."
As each girl finished, she gathered up her own dishes, walked to theend of the big table and washed and rinsed them in the big pans,placed there for that purpose.
After breakfast the tents were put in order, and when everything wasready the guardian inspected them all, to see which tent should beawarded first honors for the day.
The Guardian was about to select the tent in which Letty's cousin Ednaslept when she discovered a hair pin sticking up between the boards infront of the tent.
"My, isn't she a strict Campfire Guardian?" whispered Edith to Letty.
"I should say so! Weren't we lucky to have Aunt Madge for ourGuardian?" said Letty, "instead of one like her?"
Cousin Edna came up just then to tell the girls that she wanted themto come over and meet her friend Josephine.
"She's the dearest little French girl. Her father was killed two yearsago over in France. Immediately afterwards she and her mother came tothis country to raise funds for the French Red Cross. The mother can'tthink of anything but the war. She's a regular fanatic on the subject.She gives lectures around at the houses of the 'four hundred' and hasmade no end of big money for the good cause."
"But how did the daughter get to be a Campfire Girl?" asked Edith.
"The Guardian of our camp met her several times at lectures and feltsorry for her. She seemed to be growing melancholy from so much wartalk. She never went anywhere except with her mother, so our Guardiantook her under her wing, asked her to join our camp and now she's thefavorite everywhere. She's getting her color back and is almost jollyat times."
"I suppose she can tell blood-curdling stories about the war scenesshe saw before coming to this country."
"Yes, indeed; but we try to get her mind off the war because it hassuch a depressing effect on her. But she can tell you the mostfascinating things about 'gay Paree' before the war. Her father was amember of President Poincaire's cabinet before he enlisted, and sheused to attend all the state balls at the Elysee Palace."
"How thrilling!" exclaimed Letty. "Do introduce us."
"Isn't she a perfect darling?" whispered Edith to Mary Lee, after theintroduction was over.
The girls then passed a delightful hour, playing their ukuleles andtelling stories.
At eleven o'clock all went down to the beach for a swim. What fun theyhad diving from the spring board and learning the "Australian Crawl."
After dinner they had rest-hour till 2:30. They had to keep prettyquiet, so our three "hikers," Cousin Edna and the French girl decidedto sit outside their tent and read.
"But whatever shall we read?" asked Letty.
"We have some books here," said Cousin Edna, rummaging around in anempty soap box, which stood on end, and took the place of a wash-standin the tent.
"How are these titles: 'Woodland Nymphs,' 'Oh Jerry, Be Careful,' 'Mr.Ripling Sees it Too,' 'The Baby and the Bachelor'?"
"That's the one," cried all the girls in chorus as the last title wascalled out.
The book proved to be an interesting one. In fact, it made them laughso, that it was not long before the Guardian came to hush them up andto remind them that it was "rest hour."
"Are we going to have our beach supper tonight?" asked Cousin Edna.
"Yes, and if you like," replied the Guardian, "we can take ourblankets and sleep all night on the beach."
"Lovely," cried all the girls at once. "Let's get ready at once, shallwe?"
Soon the picnic basket was packed and off they started to a prettypoint two miles down the sandy beach.
The first thing they did upon arriving was to gather enough wood tomake a fire.
Then they hunted up a large clean-looking stone and put it in the fireto heat.
While this was heating some of the girls gathered long blades ofstrong grass and wove two mats the size of the top of the stone.
As soon as the stone was heated, they pulled it out of the fire anddug a big hole in the sand in which they placed it. Around and over itthey put hot ashes. They had brought a supply of nice fresh fishalready cleaned and seasoned. These they placed between the grassmats and then covered the mats over with more ashes.
"Do you mean to say that the fish will cook like that?" asked MaryLee.
"How long will it take to cook them that way?" asked Letty.
"About an hour," replied Cousin Edna. "In the meantime, we can allgather wood for our big fire tonight. We are going to roast corn andtoast marshmallows this evening."
"We have a lot of wood already," said Letty. "See the big pile overthere!"
"Bless you, child, that's nothing. We have to have enough to keep thefire going all night."
"All night?" exclaimed Edith. "Whoever has to sit up and tend it allnight? I'd certainly hate that job."
"Oh, no one has to tend the fire _all_ night. A number of us arechosen and each one has to keep watch an hour at a time," explainedCousin Edna.
"It must be hard to sit up a whole hour; I'm sure I'd go off tosleep," said Letty.
"You can doze if you like, but you have to keep one eye on the fire.You see, it gets very chilly on the beach before morning and the firehelps a lot. Besides, it keeps away the mosquitoes."
What a delicious beach supper they had and what a delightful eveningthey passed afterwards, telling stories, etc.
When nine o'clock came each girl put on her sweater and rolled herselfin her blanket.
"Here's where I sleep," said Letty, throwing herself down on the beachand piling sand into a heap for a pillow.
"Good idea," said Edith, "let's all make pillows out of sand."
The night on the beach proved to be a delightful one, to all but oneof the girls. She woke up next morning with a stiff neck from sleepingin a cramped position, and could not go in bathing.
Thanks, however, to Mary Lee's training under Dr. Payson, and her RedCross first aid lessons, she knew just how to massage the girl's neckand thus relieved the pain in a short time.
After bathing, the girls all walked back to camp, where the cook hadprepared a good substantial breakfast for them. They then passed theday quietly as it was Sunday. Late that afternoon, Letty, Mary Lee andEdith said good-bye and started on their homeward journey.
"Wasn't it a delightful trip?" said Mary Lee, as they finally reachedthe railroad station.
"Just splendid," answered the two other girls in one breath.
"I have some good news for you, too," said Letty.
"Oh, don't keep us in suspense," cried Edith.
"I have invited Cousin Edna and her little French friend Josephine tocome and spend a week with us when we go up to our log cabin in theCatskills in July," said Letty. "Mother said I could invite a party ofgirls for a week, before she begins to fill the house with hercompany. You see, there will be five of us."
"Oh, Letty, you darling," cried Edith, leaning over and giving her ahug.
"That's the best plan of any," said Mary Lee. "I'd love to go if youwill let me devote a part of the time to making those 'housewives'that we have to make. You know, Uncle Sam only provides one housewifefor each four soldiers and that is not enough. Each soldier must havehis own."
"Indeed he should," said Letty. "Now that brother Ted's number waschosen in the draft, I am going to get right down to serious work anddo everything I can to help. We can devote a certain part of each dayto our Red Cross work and in that way set a good example to all thenearby summer colonies. You ought to see the quantity of yarn thatmother is laying away to take up there for knitting wristlets andscarves."
"It won't be like work up there, either," said Mary Lee. "I've heardit's just wonderful up in the Catskill mountains."
"It is," answered Letty, "and our cabin is immense. It has a porchscreened in on three sides, a wonderful fireplace, and the mostfragrant pillows of pine needles. You'll just love it, I know."
"Here we are at the station, already," cried Edith. "After we ferryover, let's take a taxi up home. It's Sunday, you know, and I'd hateto meet anyone in these togs."
"I don't particularly care about how we look, but a taxi would be justthe thing," exclaimed Letty. "I'm beginning to feel tired."
"The next few weeks of school won't drag a particle," said Edith, "nowthat we have our mountain trip to look forward to."
"Indeed not, thanks to Letty," said Mary Lee, giving her hand anaffectionate squeeze.