Every girl there put up her hand at once, amid a chorus of laughs and jesting remarks.
"Heavens! Well, you can't all be pathfinders, or there'd be no one to carry the dinner! We'll have to figure out some way of picking out two, because that's all there can be."
"We might draw lots," said Margery.
"I don't like that idea much," said Eleanor. "If you're all so anxious to go, we ought to make it a reward of some sort—a prize. It's too bad I didn't think of it earlier, because then we could have had a really good competition."
She frowned thoughtfully for a moment.
"I know what we'll do," she said. "There are just eight of you, and we'll divide all the dishes from breakfast into eight even piles. We can do that easily. Then you shall all start together—"
"Oh, that's good!" said Dolly. "And the ones who finish first will be pathfinders?"
"Yes, those who finish first, and put their dishes away properly, Dolly—not just finish washing and drying. I'll be the judge. Come on, Margery, we'll arrange the piles."
So the arrangements were made, and then, with each girl standing over her own pile of dishes, they waited eagerly for the word.
"I'll start you," laughed Eleanor. "Now, are you ready? Take dishes—wash!"