CHAPTER IV THE FIRST ENCAMPMENT

“You made your landings rather well,” remarked Miss Phillips, as the girls pulled their canoes up on the shore. “I think you won’t have much difficulty in passing that part of the Sailor test.”

“Now, Captain, where do we go from here?” asked Ethel.

Miss Phillips looked about her, and seeing a small clearing about twenty-five yards from the landing place, she said,

“Let’s go over there in that open place; that looks like a good camping ground.”

“Then we won’t have to chop any trees down?” remarked Ruth, lightly. “Well, that’s a relief.”

“It surely is,” laughed Alice; “my arms are stiff already.”

They commenced unloading the canoes, and when they had everything out they pulled them higher upon the bank and turned them upside down. Then, shouldering the luggage, they carried it to the clearing, making several trips.

“Phew, what a load!” gasped Ruth, as she dropped the last of her equipment to the ground.

38 “And yet you know that we have only the necessities,” said Miss Phillips, who overheard the exclamation. “Now you can understand why I warned you not to bring any superfluous things.”

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t,” answered Ruth. “When do we eat? Where’s the cook?”

“We’ll put up the tents first, while it’s light; that’s the reason I wanted to make camp early today,” said the captain. “The tents are new to you. Then Frieda will start to prepare the supper, and Ruth, since you are in such a hurry, you may be her assistant for tonight, and gather wood, keep up the fire, and help her in any way you can. Now everyone put the bundles of food and general supplies in one pile over there, so that I can cover it all with a rubber tarpaulin which I brought along for that purpose. We’ll put up the tents in a line over here, facing the east. Get out your tents, girls.”

“They look awfully small,” commented Doris, weighing hers in her hand.

“That is because they are so light,” answered the captain. “They’re made of a kind of a silk; but they will turn water, and really afford adequate protection on a trip like ours. An experienced canoeist recommended them, and when they are up, you will find them more roomy than you think.”

With Frieda’s help, she proceeded to raise her own tent, and then Frieda’s next to it. The girls watched the process with intense interest; then, without39 difficulty, each pair of canoe-mates erected their own. Each tent had a floor covering of the same material as the tent, which was sewed on for protection against mosquitos and other insects. Miss Phillips showed them how to put up their mosquito nettings most conveniently, and how to arrange their equipment so as to leave in the tent a maximum of space for them to move about in. And around each tent they dug shallow gutters or trenches, to drain off the water if it rained.

“Now that the tents are up, the hardest part of the work is over,” said Miss Phillips. “It took comparatively long this time, but after you become used to it, and know just how to proceed, you’ll find that you can put one up and take it down in half the time. I think we’ll get our beds ready. We won’t have any difficulty in filling our bed-sacks here.”

The bed-sacks consisted of flat canvas bags, open at one end, and long and wide enough for one person to lie on. The girls wandered about, gathered dry leaves with which to fill them, and then arranged their beds for the night. Although they had been camping before, they had experienced nothing so primitive as this. Before, they had found their tents already set up, provided with wooden floors and folding cots, and they had prepared their meals on a camp stove. But they liked the primitiveness of this new experience; to many of them the prospect of the evenings seemed best of all.

40 Frieda busied herself in the preparation of supper, with Ruth as assistant; but she also found many other willing hands to help. The scouts enjoyed the well-cooked, substantial meal, which they literally devoured, they were so ravenous. Then, after the things were cleared away, the fire was built up to a blaze, and they established themselves comfortably around it.

“If anybody gets homesick,” remarked Ethel, “I’m going to shake them.”

“Oh, nobody will,” said Marjorie. “We’re too happy for that.”

“No, I promise I won’t either,” said Alice Endicott. “Remember how homesick I was last year at school?”

“I certainly do remember,” replied Marjorie. “It was all our fault too. But there won’t be any homesick girls next year!”

“No, I mean to do my share, too,” added Alice.

“Girls,” began Miss Phillips, interrupting the conversation and changing the subject, “I have a new lieutenant for you.”

“Good! Who is she?”

“Maybe not so good,” said Ruth. “Tell us quick!”

“Guess!”

“A teacher?” asked Marjorie.

“No.”

41 “Not Edith Evans back again?” suggested Lily, hopefully.

“No. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. Frances Wright has successfully passed the lieutenant’s test and since she was eighteen the first of this month, she has received the commission. The day that we stop to take the Sailor test, I thought we would have a formal meeting in the evening, and install her in office.”

The congratulations that followed assured the captain that she had not made a mistake in her choice.

It was around nine o’clock when the fire died down and the conversation commenced to lag, and they all voted that they were ready to go to bed. The strange croaking of the frogs, and hum of the insects, the distant ripple of the flowing water, and the breeze now and then moving the branches of the trees were the only sounds that broke the stillness of the woods. Tired, happy, and at peace with the world, the girls crept into their tents, and with their blankets wrapped around them, soon fell asleep.