The judge went into the other room and got out his Latin lexicon from the book-cases there. Jean did not disturb him while he turned the pages and scribbled a little on the back of an envelope.
“Here is one that you might have,” he said at last, turning over the envelope and writing the words in a large hand.
“If you must ‘prowl,’ you might say, ‘Pro bono, non malo, circumcursamus.’ It means ‘we prowl, or run around for good and not for evil.’
“Or here is another Latin sentence that might do. Of course, I’m making them up. It isn’t from the classics. ‘Bonum non malum insequimur’ sounds still better, but only means ‘we follow good, not evil.’ How do you like these?”
“Fine. We need some mottos for our club room anyhow.”
“Why not ‘Sans peur’?” suggested Mrs. Gordon, who had followed her husband and daughter into the living room.
“Oh, Mother!” cried Jean. “Why didn’t I think of that before? Here we’ve been studying French and everything! It begins with S. P., you know.”
“Sure enough,” smiled Judge Gordon, who did not mind in the least that Jean showed more enthusiasm over her mother’s suggestion than his own. “Why don’t you make that the name of your club as well?”
“The girls will like it,” said Jean, sitting down in a chair with a beatific expression. “And the boys will be surprised. Since the party they’ve been calling us the Sibyl Prophetesses or Priestesses, and Billy said, ‘Come now Jean, isn’t “sibyl” a part of it’?”
“Sans peur will be a fine motto for you wild hikers,” concluded Judge Gordon, rising and patting the young shoulder as he passed Jean to leave the room for the hall. “I must go to the office. Better call a meeting, Jean, and change Stealthy Prowlers to something better.”