“At least, the captain arrives for them,” said Frank, giving Wyn’s arm a little squeeze. “We wouldn’t get far in our ‘go-ahead’ plans if it wasn’t for you, Wynnie.”
“Such flattery!” protested the captain.
“You didn’t have an easy time convincing my mother–I know that,” said Mina, shaking her head. “You know, she’s so afraid of water.”
“And my mother is afraid of high winds,” confessed Bessie. “Wyn had to coax to bring her around.”
“And of course, Gracie’s mother is afraid of fire,” chuckled Frank; “and there you have the three elements. You can plainly see that Gracie knows very little about fire. She never built one in her life until we formed our camping club.”
“Oh, well,” observed Grace, trying to rub the smut off her face with a handkerchief and the aid of a pocket-mirror, “this is about the end of the fire season, thank goodness! If we go into camp after school closes, on Lake Honotonka, there won’t be any fires to build.”
“Oh, won’t there?” cried Bessie. “You just wait. Instead of taking turns at being fireman for the week, as we do through the winter, we’ll draw lots to see who shall build all the fires. And you know very well, Gracie, that you always are unlucky.”
“Sure she is,” agreed Frank. “She always draws the very boobiest of all booby prizes out of the grab-bag.”
“Oh, dear me!” wailed Grace, who was big, and handsome, and not a little lazy, “I do so hate to work, too. If there had been another set of girls I liked at Denton Academy, I’d never have joined the Go-Ahead Club.”
“Right. Gracie is better fitted for a Fall-Behind Club,” observed Wyn.