And they made up a hiking song to the tune of “Marching Through Georgia,” and sang it until the woods echoed:
“Hurrah, hurrah, said the possum to the ’coon,
Hurrah, hurrah, what makes you come so soon?
We started in the morning, and we’ll get there before noon,
As we go hiking on our snowshoes!”
“Doesn’t Aunt Clara look just like a Teddy Bear in that brown fur coat?” whispered Gladys to Sahwah. Aunt Clara was nearly as broad as she was long, and, wrapped in furs as she was, seemed rounder yet.
“Halt!” cried Uncle Teddy, as the company came out on the edge of a deep ravine. “Oh, I say, Captain, what’s this? It doesn’t seem to me I included this in my order.”
Much confused, the Captain spread his road map on a log and set the compass on it, trying to find out where he had gone wrong. “Shucks,” he said disgustedly, after a moment’s study. “We should have gone at right angles to that hundred-foot pine tree instead of in a line with it. Everybody back up—I mean, right about face. Shucks!” And he handed the map and the compass to Sahwah with as good grace as he could and took the end of the line, as became an officer who had been reduced to the ranks.
Sahwah led them back to the pine tree and in the right direction from it, as indicated on the map, and they soon came to the bridge which spanned the gorge a mile below the spot where the Captain had reached it. Detour and all they reached Catertown at twelve o’clock, where their ravenous appetites worked fearful havoc with the good dinner set before them. Uncle Teddy insisted upon having Slim’s thermos bottle filled with milk, to guard against his getting faint on the way, although Slim blushed and protested. Ten more miles to make in the afternoon. But to these practised hikers the distance before and behind them seemed nothing wonderful and they declared the going was so good on snowshoes that they could keep on forever. Sahwah followed the map accurately, and brought them out at the right crossroads at the end of five miles, where she relinquished her office as pathfinder to Bottomless Pitt, who was next in line. It had been decided en route that five miles should be the length of any leader’s service.
“Honorable discharge,” said Uncle Teddy, patting Sahwah on the head. “I’ll wager there aren’t many girls who could have done that.”