“Yes, but that was only a very small one,” replied Marjorie. “No, I really don’t know much about it. But don’t you think there is somebody among all the boys and men on the ranch whom we might let into the secret, and who could help us?”
“Possibly,” said Ethel. “We could sort of hint around till we found out.”
They fell to discussing the amount they wanted to pay for the instrument, and the best place from which to order it. No one, however, seemed to know much about it except Marjorie; so Florence finally put an end to the discussion by moving that their lieutenant be made chairman of a committee to look into the matter.
“Now, another thing that has occurred to me,” said Marjorie. “I know there isn’t much chance around the ranch to do the daily good-turn, but I wish you would all keep it in mind. That really isn’t child’s play, you know, but a principle we ought to practice all our lives. You know how seriously Mrs. Remington always regarded it—well, I think we should think just as much about it as if she were with us to remind us of it. And, along with this same idea is the troop good-turn. Wouldn’t it be great if the whole patrol could do something like the sort of thing we did for Frieda Hammer? Of course I don’t know what, but let’s keep our eyes open.”
“You mean the ‘knights of old’ idea,—helping people in distress, don’t you, Marj?” asked Alice, a trifle teasingly.
Marjorie laughed and admitted that this, roughly, was her thought. Then, reaching for her scout handbook, she turned the pages until she found the place she had marked, and began to talk about actual scout work.
“You know Mrs. Remington expects us to have something definite to show her along this line when the summer is over, and we don’t want to disappoint her. So I have worked out two plans for this, and I want to hear what you think of them.
“First, do you suppose it would be possible for you six girls who haven’t won the Golden Eaglet to prepare for the badges you still lack before you return in the Fall, so that you could pass the examinations then? Ethel and I could help you, and maybe some of the men on the ranch are specialists along certain lines.”
“We’ll be begging favors of Kirk Smith yet!” remarked Alice.
“You might do worse!” said Daisy, quietly.