It did not take the two pathfinders long to get so far ahead of the main party that they were out of sight and almost out of hearing. The girls who carried the necessary provisions and utensils, however, made their way light by singing Camp Fire songs as they walked, and their voices echoed through the woods.
"This is great! Oh, I love it!" said Dolly, happily. "I'm so glad you beat Margery, Bessie!"
"I thought you liked Margery, Dolly?"
"I do, but you're my very dearest chum, Bessie! I think Margery's great, but she is just a little bit superior, sometimes. I expect I deserve it when she gives me a lecture, but I like you because you don't preach, though you're just as good as she is any day in the week!"
"I'll probably lecture you some time, Dolly, if I think you need it."
"Go ahead! I don't mind when you do it, or if you do it. I don't know why, but it's the same way with Miss Eleanor. She's scolded me sometimes, but she isn't a bit like my Aunt Mabel, or the teachers at school."
"How do you mean? They're kind to you, I suppose? It isn't that that makes the difference?"
"No. I don't just know what it is, except that she makes me feel as if I had made her unhappy, and they always talk just as if they thought it was their duty."
"It probably is, Dolly. You ought to have had the sort of scoldings I used to get from Maw Hoover! Then you'd know what a real scolding is like."
"Oh, I just hate that woman, Bessie, for the way she treated you. Don't you hate her, too?"