At the appointed time the three scouts from Four Corners arrived at the house and busied themselves in helping the other girl scouts prepare the refreshments they planned to serve. Rachel was then left in charge of the goodies and the girls went out to welcome their guests who could be heard laughing and talking as they approached the house.
“Are we too early, girls?” asked Miss Mason, of the scouts of Patrol Number Two.
“Mercy no! We’ve been waiting an hour,” replied Natalie.
Having argued this difference in time to a finish, the two patrols were called to order by the captain. Then the usual ceremony took place. Having ended this the scouts waited eagerly for Miss Mason to announce the rules for the contest.
She addressed the new members of Solomon’s Seal Troop: “Scouts, you will soon end the second week of probation as Tenderfeet and from reports as well as demonstrations, I think you will successfully qualify when the period of probation is over. If you have read and studied carefully the rules given in the handbook for the tying of knots, there is no reason why you should not win this contest with the older members of the troop. But I wish to offer this opportunity for you to watch my girls in Patrol One demonstrate their ways of tying knots before the contest takes place. Those in favor of seeing this work first, rise.”
Of course, every girl stood up and thus voted for a display of ability in knot tying by the other scouts. And Miss Mason smiled as she asked them to be seated again while she read from the book:
“On page 484 we learn the uses for knots and the need for every one to understand how to tie knots.” Then she read aloud the introductory paragraphs to this chapter. Having finished it she called up her scouts of Patrol One to come forward.
“Members of Patrol Two will take notice: each one of my camp scouts has a piece of Manila rope five feet long and about one-quarter of an inch thick. You see that both ends of the rope are whipped to keep them from fraying. Have you scouts done the same with your lengths of rope?”
The scouts of Patrol Number Two replied that they had, so Miss Mason continued: “Scouts of Patrol One will now demonstrate the different kinds of knots mentioned in the book and show these Tenderfeet how quickly and precisely these knots can be made.”
The visiting scouts went through the various forms of knot tying, and when it ended with vociferous applause from the hostesses, Miss Mason said: