“If the cake is a success, who is going to eat it?” asked Janet.
“If the scouts in this part of the country weren’t so famished when cake was mentioned, I’d say you all could have a party with it,” laughed Belle.
“I’d say Belle had better finish her experiment first and then talk of parties later. Maybe no one will want to risk their lives with a bite of the cake after she has it baked,” added Natalie.
With teasing and laughing, the breakfast was finished and Janet, Natalie and Frances decided to do the churning that day, Belle said she would be occupied all morning in the kitchen, and Norma decided to put on her raincoat and oilskin cap and go out to see how the flower beds were looking.
Sambo’s dog, Grip, had not evinced any desire to bother anyone at Green Hill Farm because he was seldom to be found about the place, excepting at such times as when he rushed home for a meal or to sleep at night. The scouts of Patrol Number One said they often found him roaming about the woodland down by the stream, and Farmer Ames said he visited them at odd times and begged for a drink of water. Then he would wag his tail and scamper away again.
Sam grinned whenever any one of the girls asked him “what good was a dog like that?” And he generally said apologetically: “Dat Grip ain’t never had such a good time afore, so he don’t know how to enjoy it all at once.”
But Grip disliked the rain and so he lounged about the house and followed the girls to the cellar when they went to try the churn. And he was still prowling about in the corners when he heard Rachel call his name. That always meant something to eat, so he rushed up the cellar stairs in great haste.
Norma had gone out to her garden and the first thing she saw was a rank growth of weeds coming up where the seeds had been planted. This would never do, so she leaned down to pull them up. As she bent over the ground a dreadful odor came from it. She had to straighten up and turn away her nose because the smell was so unpleasant.
She examined everything near the flower garden to see if a dead cat, or rabbit, or other creature, was hidden in some corner, but nothing could be seen. When she turned back to the flower beds again, the odor was still there—overpowering to her delicate sense of smell.
“I’ll go and ask Jimmy if she used a new kind of compost on the ground without my knowledge.” So saying, Norma turned to go in by the kitchen way, but she saw Grip on the stoop very busy with a huge soup bone.