“Don’t be so independent, Miss,” returned Miss Lavine. “You’ll be glad to 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 should arise—”
“Like a mouse, or a snake,” put in Frank Cameron.
“Goodness!” drawled Grace. “After all the bugs, and worms, and caterpillars, and other monsters we have faced–alone and single-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 of the sex we cannot get over. You all know very well that a boy with a teenty, tinty garter-snake on the end of a stick could chase this whole crowd either into the lake, or into hysterics.”
“Shame!” cried Wyn. “That is rank treachery to the ‘manhood’ of us girls of the Go-Ahead Club.”
“You are right, Wyn,” agreed Mina. “Why, we none of us have any nerves now–but plenty of nerve, of course.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Frank, starting back suddenly. “See that! Is it a spider over your head, Mina?”
Miss Everett uttered an ear-piercing shriek and sprang up, to run madly from the spot. Frank burst into laughter.
“How brave! Such nerve! My, my! we’ll none of us ever be afraid again—”