They all pitched upon the joker, and Mrs. Havel had to come to her rescue 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 more handily they went about the striking of the tents than they had about raising them two months before!
Life in the open had really done wonders for the girls from Denton. They knew how to do things that they had never dreamed of doing at home. Most of them had learned how to swing an axe, although the boys had faithfully paid their forfeit by cutting the firewood for Green Knoll Camp all summer. The girls could use a hammer, too, and tie workman-like knots, and do a host of other things that had never come into their lives before.
“It is well to be sufficient unto one’s self,” Mrs. Havel told them. “A girl cannot always expect to find a boy at her beck and call. It is nice to be waited on by the male sex–and it is good for boys to learn to attend properly upon their girl friends; it is better, however, to know how 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 boys and Professor Skillings appeared ahead of the bateau that was to take all their goods and chattels back to their home town.
“Goodness! aren’t you girls smart?” cried Dave Shepard, the first ashore. “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 and me how to manage the motor boat, we girls sha’n’t need you boys at all.”