come on, girls. Our campsite lies just there beyond that cluster of giant pines that rear their heads high above the surrounding forest trees,” said Mrs. Vernon, leading the way across the plateau.
The sound of falling water became plainer as they went, and soon, between the trunks of the trees skirting the plateau, the girls spied a beautiful waterfall. It tumbled from one great boulder to another, until it splashed into a basin worn deep in the farthest end of the plateau; thence it sought the easiest way to reach the valley, making many sparkling pools and musical waterfalls in its descent.
“How perfectly lovely!” breathed Betty, standing with clasped hands and a gaze that was riveted on the falls.
“You had plenty of water for cooking and bathing, didn’t you?” said practical Julie.
“Yes, and that was one reason we chose this spot for our camp. You see this high rocky wall made a fine wind-shield from the north, and where could one find a more convenient gymnasium than that flat? The pines and waterfall over here provided shelter and supply. So we built our hut against the wall under those trees.”
“Hut? You never told us you built a hut,” exclaimed Joan.
“No, because I have no idea of finding it here. I suppose the logs have rotted away years ago,” returned Mrs. Vernon.
“We might build another one, Verny, ’cause I see plenty of down-timber,” suggested Betty.
“And it will be great sport to play carpenter,” added Joan.
Mrs. Vernon forced a way through the tangle of briars and bushes that had grown up since that long-ago, and the scouts followed directly after her.
“Girls, here is the pool where we used to swim – isn’t it lovely?”
The girls stood still, admiring the clear water and the reflection of green trees in the pool; then the Captain turned and began breaking down slender twigs and bending aside green berry-bushes, as she eagerly blazed a trail towards the wall.
Here, not fifty feet from the pool, was glimpsed the old frame and timbers of a log cabin. A mass of vines and moss almost hid the hut from view, so that one would unconsciously pass it by, thinking it but the trunk of a cluster of old trees against the wall.
“Oh, we must have built well to have had it survive all these years, girls!” cried Mrs. Vernon, joyfully, as she stood and looked at the handiwork of her friends of years long gone.
“Verny, this is the way we girls will build, too. We will erect a hut alongside this, and show it to our children many years from now,” said Betty, fervently.
“I don’t see why we can’t use this hut, too,” said Julie.
“The frame and floor beams are solid enough,” added Joan, examining the posts.
“It will need a roof and some new side-logs – that is all,” Ruth said, taking a lively interest in the camp-plan.
“Yes, we can easily repair it, and then you girls can build your own hut as an annex to this hotel,” said Mrs. Vernon, still smiling with satisfaction at the discovery of the cabin.
“Dear me! I wish we had brought our camp outfit to-day and could stay to begin work,” complained Joan.
“I’m crazy to start, too,” admitted Julie.
“But we have to have those tools, and some others besides. I shall ask Uncle Verny to sell us some of his extra ones. He has several hammers, screw-drivers, and other implements he can spare,” said Mrs. Vernon.
“Now what can we look at?” inquired Ruth, quickly wearying of one thing. This was one of the weak tendencies Mrs. Vernon hoped to cure that summer.
“You can bring the hampers over to the pool, if you like, and when we are through planning here, we will join you and have our picnic.”
“Why, I don’t want to carry them alone! Can’t we all go now and do it?”
“I want to snoop about here a little more,” said Julie.
“And I want to figure out how many tree-trunks we’ll have to drag over here before we can have a cabin as good as this one,” called Joan, as she measured the length of logs with a hair-ribbon.
“Mercy! Aren’t any of you going to eat before you finish that nonsense?” Ruth asked plaintively.
Mrs. Vernon smiled. Then she turned to Joan and said: “If you girls will really promise to build and finish a hut, I will ask Uncle Verny to loan us the farm-horse to haul the timbers. You girls could never drag them, you know. But Hepsy is accustomed to hauling and heavy work, so we need have no fear of straining her.”
“Just the thing! Hepsy forever!” shouted Joan, throwing her hat in the air for a salute.
“Can you remember all the things we still need this summer, Verny?” asked Julie, anxiously.
“We’ll jot down everything as we remember it, then we can compare lists when we go to order the things,” said Mrs. Vernon.
“Won’t the girls at school look green with envy when we tell them we are going to have a strange girl camp with us this summer?” laughed Julie, as a thought struck her.
“Who is she?” gasped the other girls in surprise.
“Ho! did I get you on that?” teased Julie.
“This is the first hint we’ve had of it,” complained Joan.
“Why no! Verny suggested the plan herself – didn’t you, Verny?”
But Mrs. Vernon shook her head doubtfully, while Julie shouted with delight at their mystification. Then, eager to share her fun, she cried laughingly: “Hepsy, the dear old girl!”
Of course when one is happy and gay it takes but little to cause loud and long merriment, and so it was in this instance. They laughed uproariously at the joke, and decided then and there to tease the other girls at school who were so anxious to join a Patrol, but would not weed the dandelions to earn money for a camp.
As weeding had been the best test of endurance and patience Mrs. Vernon could think of at the time, she had felt rather relieved to find that only four responded to the initiation invitation. In doing things according to the Handbook for Captains, she felt she would find four girls sufficient material to practice upon for the first season.
When the luncheon was unpacked and spread out, Mrs. Vernon smiled continuously at the happy chatter of the four girls, and the thousand-and-one plans they made for the camp that summer. Then all sat down to enjoy the feast, for nothing had ever tasted so good to them before, and then – did Verny say it was time to start for home?
“Oh, no! It can’t be late, Verny!” exclaimed Ruth.
“Why, we’ve only been here half a minute, Verny,” added Joan.
The Captain glanced at her wrist watch. “We have been here more than two hours, girls, and it is a two hour drive back, you know.”
“Dear, dear! the only comfort I have in leaving now is the hope of being here for all summer in another week!” cried Betty.
“Then
