When the two girls hauling timber responded to the call, they seemed right glad to exchange labor with the excavators.
“You’ll find this digging a pit is simply awful, girls!” exclaimed Ruth, pretending she could not straighten her backbone.
“It can’t be a patch on the job we’ve been doing!” cried Joan, looking at her hands with pity in her eyes.
“That’s right! When you’ve had to steer or roll a log a mile long, you’ll have something to say about hard work!” added Julie.
“One would think, after hearing you girls, that you were too soft and delicate to proceed further in your scout tests,” said Mrs. Vernon seriously. That stopped all complaints instantly.
But Ruth could not help adding: “Girl scouts never work like this in camp—I’m sure of it.”
“Girl scouts would never call this hard work! They’d laugh at any one for hinting at such a thing. And you’ll do the same thing before the summer’s over,” said Mrs. Vernon.
“Ah well! Let’s prepare for the end of the summer, girls,” sighed Julie, ludicrously.
“Come on, Ruth—take the reins from Julie and let’s start,” said Betty, taking the hook and starting down the road.
“By the time you two girls get back here, Betty, we’ll show you how you should dig a cellar,” retorted Julie. “Why, you only managed to dig up a square yard in all this time. You should have had half of the pit finished.”