Part 11 (2/2)
”In boarding-houses the guests object every time it is served, but we have the great advantage over city boarders whose hash is made merely with chopped meat and eggs and milk! We have Nature's appetizer to season our dish, so that it becomes nectar and ambrosia in this camp,”
explained the Captain, smilingly.
The hash went the way of the cereal, and the girls looked anxiously in the pot to see if there could be a second helping.
”Oh, thanks to our lucky stars and Verny, she made a lot of it!” called Julie, waving a spoon at her comrades.
”But where is the toast? Verny--the toast is gone!” shouted Joan, gazing fearfully under the stones to see if it could have slipped from the oven-rock.
”Ha! that's my secret! Eat the hash, girls, and I will tell you where the toast is.”
It needed no second invitation to finish all signs of hash, then Ruth demanded to know where the toast was hidden.
The Captain ran over to Ruth and touched the spot where the stomach is located. ”You've had your share of toast and it is in there!” laughed Mrs. Vernon.
”We haven't! We only had has.h.!.+” retorted Ruth, wonderingly.
”The hash was made of toast and other things. I only had about a spoonful of corned beef left from last night. But toast, when broken into bits, will taste so like meat that few people know the difference.
That's how I managed to cook a second helping.”
”As long as it was not wasted I don't care much whether I ate the toast in hash or had it with tea,” said Julie.
”But I can eat more breakfast,” commented Joan.
”'Enough is as good as a feast,' and I'm sure you girls must admit you've had enough to sustain you until noon,” said Mrs. Vernon.
”Oh, certainly!” agreed Joan, ”making the best of a famine is my especial virtue.”
This started a laugh, and merry words were exchanged while the dishes were cleared away and the camp was left in good order.
”Now shall we start in to finish the hut, Verny?” asked Betty.
”I thought I'd like to read aloud from the handbook, 'Scouting for Girls,' and see how many of the laws and customs you girls know.”
”You'll find us in the A-B-C-cla.s.s, I'm afraid,” said Joan.
”Then the sooner you are promoted out of it the better,” declared Mrs.
Vernon, seating herself on a stump and opening the manual.
”First question: 'How do you start a Patrol?'” asked the Captain.
”Oh, we know that, Verny, 'cause we had to learn it by heart in order to advise those girls who wanted to join, you see,” chorused the girls.
”Well, then, are we a Patrol now?” asked Mrs. Vernon.
”In the real sense, we are not, as there are only four members at present; but we are _going_ to be one, aren't we?” said Julie.
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