“Oh, but auntie is going to show us how to make pancakes,” cried Percy.
“I’ll learn to do that,” said Grace, brightening up. “For I love ’em.”
“Of course–piggy-wiggy!” scoffed Bess. “Come, Wyn, you set us our tasks and any girl who kicks about ’em shall be fined.”
“We’ll do better than that. We will use Mina’s idea of drawing lots about the work. There are certain things to be done each week–each day, of course. Two girls must ’tend fires and cook; two girls must air and make beds, clean up about the tents, and wait on table if needed; the other two must get up early and go for the milk and vegetables, gather berries, and do odd jobs. The girls who do the ‘chamber work’ should wash the dishes, too, for the cooks will be too tired and heated after preparing the meals to clean up the tables and mess with the dishwashing.
“Now are those three divisions satisfactory? Every third week, you see, the two who go for the milk, etcetera, will have an easy job. Is it agreed?”
There was no objection raised to this plan, and the girls paired off as they usually did–Wyn and Frank together, Grace and Percy, and Bess and Mina.
Then they drew straws–really grass blades of three lengths–to see which couple should do which. It fell to the lot of Bess and Mina to cook for a week. Grace and Percy Havel were “chambermaids,” and Wyn and Frank Cameron had the good luck to get the shortest blade of grass.
“Of course, I’d have to work hard two weeks before getting a chance to rest,” grumbled Grace. “Probably something will happen after we’re here a fortnight, and we’ll all have to go home.”
“It would take something awful to send me home from this beautiful spot in a fortnight,” cried Mina.
“Just my luck if you all got smallpox, or something equally contagious,” growled Grace.