“Now you’ve got to tell her!” exclaimed Betty, while Joan and Ruth tried to hush her.
“What does this mean—what is there to tell, scouts?” asked Mrs. Vernon, seriously.
“Oh, it isn’t anything—much. Only a little joke we had on you a long time ago,” began Joan, stammeringly.
“Better tell me all about it and end it,” advised Mrs. Vernon, not a little surprised, for she wondered if the girls had ever tried to find the cave, which she knew to be dangerous without a grown person or a lantern to guide them.
“Do you remember the day we built the roof on the hut?” asked Julie, giggling.
“Yes, it was the neatest work you ever did—before or since.”
“But we didn’t do it!” exclaimed Ruth, also giggling.
“You didn’t! Then who did!” gasped the Captain, amazed.
The girls laughed merrily. This was just the sort of a surprise they had looked for. They never thought of the danger in the cave that had worried the Captain, so there was no reason why they should not laugh and enjoy the joke.
Mrs. Vernon saw immediately that there was no ground for her fear, so she managed to laugh too. “What is the joke, girls?”