“Well,” she heard one girl exclaim, as she sped away, “one would think we were—Indians.”
Nora’s ears stung as her cheeks flamed.
“There! Wasn’t that just what one might expect? As if a girl couldn’t do just as she pleased in the woodlands! And they were her own Cousin Jerry’s lands too,” Nora scoffed.
“What’s the matter, Nora?” asked Mrs. Manton, as she panting, sank down on a freshly-cut stump. “You don’t mean to tell me you are actually afraid of those little girls, just because they wear uniforms?”
“Oh, no, Cousin Ted, I am not afraid of them,” her voice would shake somehow, “but I didn’t know them.”
“I see. Well, we must all get acquainted in these pretty parts. The birds and the furry things never wait for an introduction,” replied Ted, kindly.
“Come along with me, Bobbs,” called Jerry, who was packing up his instruments. “I need help with this chain; it is bound to snarl.”
“Jerry!” called out Mrs. Ted rather sharply. “You really must not interfere every time I attempt to tell Nora something useful. I want her to know the Girl Scouts, and the sooner she makes up her mind to do so the happier she will be. The Scouts are all over this place you know, Jerry,” and the laughter of the girls up at the bower attested to the truth of that statement. “Anyone who is not interested in Scouting will have a poor chance of a real vacation in the woodlands,” concluded Mrs. Manton.
“But we are going to scout,” insisted the man with the tripod on his shoulder. “The only thing is, we are going to do it in our own way. Isn’t that so, Bobbs?”
Young and simple minded as was Nora, she was fully conscious of a difference of opinions regarding her management. Jerry was surely siding with her, even in her whims, whereas Ted, mother-like, felt the necessity of giving advice.