Miss Phillips evidently enjoyed their consternation, for she made no attempt to explain.
"Can everybody go?" she asked.
"Must everybody go, Captain?" asked Ethel. "I had another engagement——"
"Oh, if there is anything you can't break, like a dentist appointment——"
"No, it's social!"
"Then you must choose for yourself. We should love to have you, but we can get along without anyone except the three patrol leaders. But I am pretty sure I can guarantee you a good time."
"I know it will be!" cried Ruth, her eyes dancing with anticipation. "Don't we just remember how lovely all our Captain's other surprises turned out to be?"
In the end, Ethel, as well as everybody else, decided to go. The mention of a snowstorm and of the Boy Scouts proved too alluring to pass by.
"Wear your Scout suits, take sweaters, and wear woolen caps and heavy coats," Miss Phillips directed.
The weather man's prediction of snow was correct, for when the girls awakened on Saturday morning, they found everything white. By the time lunch was over, however, it had completely stopped snowing, and the paths were comparatively clear.