“We probably would—though maybe not after we have learned the principles of Scouting.
“Well, anyway, she made a Wigwam of birch bark and a fire by rubbing sticks together, as you saw two of the Boy Scouts do, only she used the lace of her moccasin for a bow-string. She made snares of the inner bark of the willow and of spruce roots, and deadfalls, too, for rabbits. She was starving sometimes, at first, but she ate the buds and inner bark of birch trees till she found a place where there were lots of rabbits. And when she caught some she used every scrap of them. She made a fishing-line of the sinews, and hook of the bones and teeth lashed together with sinew and spruce gum.
“She made a cloak of rabbit skins, sewed with needles of rabbit bone and thread of rabbit sinew, and a lot of dishes of birch bark sewed with spruce roots.
“She spent the whole winter there alone, and when the spring came she was found by Samuel Hearne, the great traveler. Her precious knife was worn down, but she was fat, and happy, and ready to set out for her own people.”
“And is that a true story?” asked Ruth, after a silence of a minute or two.
“Yes,” replied Miss Phillips, “wasn’t she wonderful?”
The girls thanked their Captain for the interesting tale and Frances led in the Scout yell.
They sang one or two of their favorite songs, as they put out the fire, and buried the tin cans and refuse they could not burn. Miss Phillips congratulated them on the appearance of the spot. “A Scout leaves the place in perfect order after she has camped there,” she said approvingly.
It was a happy, weary crowd that trudged into school that night. But after they had bathed and dressed for dinner they felt better, though, as Lily remarked, “glad that the next day was Sunday.”
“And the day after is Monday,” said Marjorie, excitedly—“and we’ll know our marks!”