CHAPTER XXX
STRIKING CAMP
It was a glorious September morning--and no other month of all the yearcan display such beauties of sky and landscape, such invigorating air,or all Nature in so delightful a mood.
It was a still morning. The newly-kindled fire on Green Knoll sent aspiral of blue smoke mounting skyward. There was the delicious odor ofpancakes and farm-made sausage hovering all about the camp of theGo-Ahead girls. Windmill Farm had supplied these first "goodies" of theautumn and the members of the club enjoyed them to the full.
"But, thanks be! there will be no more dishes to wash for a while,"declared Grace Hedges.
"Nor beds to make," agreed her partner, Percy Havel.
"Nor fires to kindle," sighed Bessie Lavine.
"Well!" exclaimed Frank Cameron, "an outing in the woods isn't_all_ it's cracked up to be, I admit. One might just as well accepta situation as servant in a very untidy household. It would be about thesame thing. But my! we've had some fun between times."
"And such excitement!" declared Mina Everett. "Think of all that'shappened to us since we paddled up from Denton two months and more ago."
"And happened to the boys, too," said Frank, "I understand that TubbyBlaisdell has put on ten additional pounds of flesh since yesterdaymorning."
"Now, Frank! how could he?" gasped Grace.
"Nobody could be much fatter than Tubby already is," added Bess,laughing.
"You never know till you try," chided Mina. "You have put on some fleshyourself, Miss Lavine."
"Bah! they'll soon work it off of me when we're back in school," groanedBessie. "That's the worst of a vacation--there's always work at the endof it."
"Lazy!" cried Percy. "I believe I'll _love_ study when I'm back tothe 'scholastic grind.'"
"You can have my share," grumbled Bess. "But what about Tubby'sadditional avoirdupois, Frankie? He's as big as a haystack anyway."
"'All flesh is grass,' the Scriptures say, So Tubby B.'s a load of hay!"
chuckled Frank. "Is that it? And Tubby is all swelled up now--as big asa barrel."
"That's an awful fib, Frank," declared Mina. "He couldn't be."
"Well, Ferd says he _looks_ so. The boys found a bumble bees' nestand Tubby didn't have any paddle to hit them with. So they all went forpoor Tubby and they stung him so that his face is twice as big asusual--so Ferd says."
"Something is always happening to that boy," said Bess, laughing."Hullo! where have _you_ been, Wyn?"
Wyn came up from the shore. "I know where she's been," cried Frank. "Shehas been down there gloating!"
"Gloating?" repeated Percy.
"Over the boat. Is it all there, Wyn?"
The girls ran to the brow of the bank. There, floating off their beach,was a freshly painted motor boat, its brasswork shining, and everythingspick and span about it. A very commodious and handsome craft she was,with "Go-Ahead" painted on either side of her bow and on herstern-board.
"Oh, she's all there! nobody has run off with her in the night," laughedWyn. "And Mr. Lavine couldn't have found a better boat if he hadtried--Mr. Jarley says so."
"It was good of Dr. Shelton to sell the _Bright Eyes_ to father,"said Bessie Lavine. "And they made a good job of it at the boatyard atthe Forge."
"She's such a fine and roomy boat," declared Frankie. "We couldn't haveexpected such a big one, otherwise."
"And it's big enough for the Busters and Professor Skillings to sailhome with us, too," said Percy. "Mr. Jarley is going to take charge ofthe boys' canoes, as well as ours, and ship them to us."
"Bully! An all-day cruise on the lake and then down the Wintinooski bymoonlight to-night," sighed Wyn. "It will be just scrumptious!"
"Come, then, girls," warned Mrs. Havel. "We must strike camp. Everythingmust be rolled up and secured, ready for shipment on the bateau when itcomes. I saw the sail of the bateau going past the point of GannetIsland early this morning. I expect the boys are all ready before thistime."
"Let's wait for them," said the languid Bess. "What's the use of havingboy friends if you don't make use of them?"
"Listen to her!" exclaimed Wyn, with scorn. "Depend upon the boys?I--rather--guess--not!"
"Don't be so independent, Miss," returned Miss Lavine. "You'll be gladto have Davie at your beck and call again when we get back home."
Wyn laughed. "It's all right to have them within reach if need shouldarise----"
"Like a mouse, or a snake," put in Frank Cameron.
"Goodness!" drawled Grace. "After all the bugs, and worms, andcaterpillars, and other monsters we have faced--alone andsingle-handed--here in the woods, I don't believe I'll _ever_squeal if I put my hand upon a mouse in the pantry."
"Pshaw!" said Frank. "You only _think_ that. It's the frailties ofthe sex we cannot get over. You all know very well that a boy with ateenty, tinty garter-snake on the end of a stick could chase this wholecrowd either into the lake, or into hysterics."
"Shame!" cried Wyn. "That is rank treachery to the 'manhood' of us girlsof the Go-Ahead Club."
"You are right, Wyn," agreed Mina. "Why, we none of us have any nervesnow--but plenty of _nerve_, of course."
"Oh!" exclaimed Frank, starting back suddenly. "See that! Is it a spiderover your head, Mina?"
Miss Everett uttered an ear-piercing shriek and sprang up, to run madlyfrom the spot. Frank burst into laughter.
"How brave! Such nerve! My, my! we'll none of us ever be afraidagain----"
They all pitched upon the joker, and Mrs. Havel had to come to herrescue with the reminder that time was flying.
"If you want to show the boys that you are really fit to camp out alone,get to work!" she commanded.
The next hour was a busy one for the Go-Aheads. But how much morehandily they went about the striking of the tents than they had aboutraising them two months before!
Life in the open had really done wonders for the girls from Denton. Theyknew how to do things that they had never dreamed of doing at home. Mostof them had learned how to swing an axe, although the boys hadfaithfully paid their forfeit by cutting the firewood for Green KnollCamp all summer. The girls could use a hammer, too, and tie workman-likeknots, and do a host of other things that had never come into theirlives before.
"It is well to be sufficient unto one's self," Mrs. Havel told them. "Agirl cannot always expect to find a boy at her beck and call. It is niceto be waited on by the male sex--and it is good for boys to learn toattend properly upon their girl friends; it is better, however, to knowhow to accept favors gracefully from our boy friends, and yet not really_need_ their assistance."
So Green Knoll Camp presented a very orderly appearance when the boysand Professor Skillings appeared ahead of the bateau that was to takeall their goods and chattels back to their home town.
"Goodness! aren't you girls smart?" cried Dave Shepard, the firstashore. "Are you _all_ ready?"
"Every bit," declared Wyn.
"Then we can get off in the _Go-Ahead_ at once?"
"Right," declared Frank, laughing. "And as soon as you can teach Wyn andme how to manage the motor boat, we girls sha'n't need you boys at all."
"A fine lot of suffragettes you are going to make," growled Dave.
"No; we'll never be 'suffering-cats,' Davie," returned Frank, laughing."We don't need to. Let us alone for being able to get the best of youBusters whenever we want to."
"Isn't she right?" cried Ferdinand Roberts, admiringly. "You can't beat'em!"
"No, you can't," snarled Tubby Blaisdell, very puffy about his face, andwith a wry smile. "They even get the goats to help 'em."
"They got your goat, old man," said Dave, chuckling, "that's sure. Butyou blame them for a crime they did not commit, I believe. Remember howmany times you have tried to trick _them_?"
"Huh!" snorted the fat youth. "Did I ever succeed?"
"I hope," said Mrs. Havel, breaking in upon this "give and take"conversation, "that your parents will not blame me if you allappear--both girls a
nd boys--to have lost your good manners here in thewoods. Do simmer down. Remember, you return to civilization to-day."
"Oh, dear! don't remind us--don't, dear Mrs. Havel," cried Frank.
"Just think!" scoffed Ferd. "You girls will have to be all 'dolled up'on Sunday again. Won't you _hate_ it?"
"Rather go around in a tramping skirt and without a hat," admitted Wyn,frankly.
"The tastes of girlhood are much different now from what they were in_my_ day," said the lady, with a sigh. "When I was young we neverthought of doing the things you girls do now."
"Isn't that why you didn't do them?" asked Frank, slily. "Perhaps wegirls of this generation have better-developed imaginations."
"Oh, sure!" cried Ferd, with sarcasm. "You girls are wonders--just assmart as little Hen Rogers was last term when Miss Haley asked him if hecould name any town in Alaska."
"What did he say?" asked Frank, with interest.
"He said, 'Nome'--and she sent him to the foot of the class," chuckledFerd.
"Oh! aren't you smart?" railed Bessie. "That joke is the twin to the oneabout the boy who was asked by the professor in physics if he knew what'nasal organ' meant. And the boy said 'No, sir' and got a 'perfect'mark."
"Come on, folks!" cried Wyn. "Stop telling silly jokes and bear a handhere. All these things have to go into the boat."
Mr. Jarley and Polly joined them just then, Mr. Jarley to collect thecanoes and take them to the Forge, while Polly was to go with the twoclubs aboard the newly-named _Go-Ahead_ to Denton.
Polly, in a brand-new boating costume, was so pretty that the boyscouldn't keep their eyes away from her. She was happy, too, and thisfact gave an entirely different expression to her face.
She was to go home with Wyn, and in a few weeks her father would followand establish a home for them both in Denton. He was going, as Mr.Lavine declared, to start in his old home town just where he had leftoff more than ten years before. And Polly was to enter the academy withthe girls of Green Knoll Camp on the opening day.
The party got under weigh on the _Go-Ahead_ and were some milesdown the lake ere it was discovered that Professor Skillings hadforgotten both his shoes and his hat, for he had paddled over to thegirls' camp barefoot as usual. It was too late to go back then, for thebaggage had all been put aboard the bateau.
So the professor went home with a handkerchief tied around his head anda pair of moccasins on his feet--the latter borrowed from Dr. Shelton,at whose dock they stopped for luncheon.
The bluff doctor insisted that the whole party come ashore and lunchwith him. He had arranged for Polly's tuition at the Denton Academy, hadbought her text-books, and when the party left for home that day hethrust into Polly Jolly's hand a silver chain purse with more money init than the boatman's daughter had ever possessed before.
Polly Jolly was beginning to live up to the loving name that Wyn Malloryhad given to her. She was the very gayest of the gay as the_Go-Ahead_ proceeded down the lake and then down the Wintinooski toDenton.
The last of the journey was taken after they had had a picnic supper,and under the brilliant light of the September moon. The boys and girlssang and told stories, and otherwise enjoyed themselves. But as theydrew near home they quieted down.
The summer was behind them. For more than two months they had skylarked,and enjoyed themselves to the full on the lake and in the woods. They"were going back to civilization," as Frankie said, and it made them abit thoughtful.
"I expect," said Mina Everett, "that we have had just the best time thatwe will ever have in all our lives."
"Why so?" demanded Bess. "Can't we go camping again?"
"Sure we will!" declared Dave Shepard.
"I see what Mina means--and I guess she is right," Wyn remarked,earnestly. "We may go camping again; but it will never be just like thisfirst time. For the girls, I mean. We had never done such a thingbefore. And then--if we go next summer--we'll be a whole year older. Anda year is a long, long time."
"Long enough to spoil some of you girls, I expect," grumbled Ferdinand.
"Spoil us, Mister? How's that?" snapped Bess, at once taking up thegauntlet.
"You'll be wanting to put up your hair and let down your skirts, andwill be wearing all the new-style folderols by next summer," retortedFerd.
"Oh, won't they, just!" groaned Tubby, in agreement.
"You wait and see, Smartie!" cried Frank Cameron.
"We are not like the girls you are thinking of," declared Grace, withsome warmth.
"No, indeed," agreed Percy.
"The Go-Aheads are going to fool you, Ferdie," said Wyn, laughing. "Justyou watch us. _All_ girls aren't in a hurry to grow up and apetheir mothers and older sisters. We're going in for athletics and the'simple life' strongly; aren't we, girls?"
Her fellow club members agreed in a hearty chorus. "Besides," addedBess, "we can have all the fun the other kind of girls have as well asour own kind. We can dance, and go to parties, and wear pretty frocksfor _part_ of the time."
"What did I tell you?" demanded Ferd, grinning.
"Never mind, Ferd, never mind," said Dave, softly. "We'll be a bit thatway ourselves before the winter's over. You know, Ferd, that your folkswill insist on your keeping your hair cut and your finger-nailsmanicured."
"And of course I'll have a blister on my heel from wearing dancing pumpsbefore the season is over," groaned Tubby. "Oh, well! it's notaltogether our fault that we grow up so fast. Our folks make us," and hegroaned again, for dancing school was one of the fat youth's petaversions.
"That is what youth is for," advised Mrs. Havel, who overheard all this."It is a preparation for manhood and womanhood."
"Dear me! Dear me! let's forget it," cried Dave. "This is no time forfeeling solemn. Thank goodness, for two solid months we have forgottenall about the 'duty we owe to posterity,' as the professor expresses it.Maybe next year we can forget it again in our camps upon the shores ofLake Honotonka."
"Well expressed, little boy--well expressed," agreed Wynifred, tweakingone of Dave's curls that would _not_ lie down, no matter what hedid to them. "My! but we _have_ grown serious. This is no way toend our camping days, girls. Come! another lively song----"
The motor boat drifted in to the boathouse landing to the lilt of afamiliar rowing song. Wyn's camping days were over; the outing of theGo-Ahead Club was at an end.
THE END
Wyn's Camping Days; Or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club Page 30