“But she still has enough left to find fault with,” laughed the Captain.
“And Betty isn’t so preachy as she was when we weeded dandelions on your lawn,” commented Ruth.
“Betty is beginning to have more confidence, too,” added Julie, gazing at her twin in a speculative way.
“What about me—how have I improved?” eagerly asked Joan, looking from one to the other of her companions.
“You—oh, Joan, you are hopeless!” laughed Julie, whereupon Joan fell upon her and they had a rough-and-tumble time on the grass.
“Thus endeth every serious lesson I try to teach,” laughed Mrs. Vernon, when the contestants came back to the fire.
“I say, scouts: can any one see the improvement in Verny?” now called Julie, in rebuttal of the Captain’s last words.
But the girls refused to testify, and then a new subject was introduced. “I am sure I heard thunder just then.”
“I thought I saw a flash a little time ago,” added Joan.
“Maybe we had better get our things in under cover, then, and be ready to go to bed if it rains,” suggested the Captain.